Chapter 375 Crane Sound
Chapter 375 Crane Sound
"Brother Shao, Maxwell took the note you approved this afternoon and took a check for 10 million taels of silver from me. Are you crazy to give him so much money?"
This was a conversation the couple had alone at night, and Wenxiu called Shao "Brother".
Shao Quanzhong sighed, "I was fooled by MacArthur and Babbage. Although I don't understand science, I know that MacArthur, a great scientist who appears once every few hundred years, would not make up stories. I invest in computer technology so that my grandchildren can dominate the world."
"That doesn't require 10 million taels. Can't we just take it slow and steady?"
"Three million taels are for accelerating the production of the Analytical Engine. The other seven million taels I approved for Maxwell."
"That guy said that at the normal rate of scientific development of mankind, electromagnetically controlled computers will appear in 70 years. Damn it, I probably won't live to see 70 years."
"I have money, and I'm spending it to promote the rapid development of electromagnetism. I'm being willful for once, just so that while I'm still alive, I can see that China can be far ahead of the world."
"Old Mac didn't expect me to be so open and forthright. He almost knelt down before me. I resigned from my position as president of the Academy of Sciences and started looking for people, organizing equipment, preparing experiments, and promoting the development of electromagnetism."
"Old Mac had achieved success and was planning to retire and stay as dean for the rest of his life. Now he has regained his momentum and formed an electromagnetic research group, appointing himself as the group leader. He even quit his job as dean of the Academy of Sciences and plans to do something big."
"It was not enough to find good talents in Hailing University and Ziqiang Academy. We also sent more than 100 telegrams in one go to recruit physicists from all over the world to come to Hailing to work together on electromagnetism."
"Now the scientific community all over the world knows that Hailing has a big brain and spent huge amounts of money on researching electromagnetics which will not produce any results in the short term. I hope that Old Mac is reliable, otherwise my investment this time will make me a laughing stock in the world."
"Well, Brother Shao, you are a prince. We have hundreds of millions of taels of funds now. It's okay for you to spend 10 million taels just for once. Even if it doesn't work out, we can still have a lot more scientists, right? It's always a good thing."
"By the way, that Babbage is a real high-level talent. He is now the chief consultant of the industrial group under our Wen Group."
Shao Quanzhong was puzzled. "What industry can a computer designer understand?"
"The capable are capable of anything. When he built the six-digit difference engine himself, he operated a machine tool factory in England for ten years. As a byproduct of building the difference engine, he developed the division of labor in industry."
"He divided the workers into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled types, divided the work and cooperated with each other, and turned production into an assembly line."
"They also suggested that we manage workers by changing the system from paying them based on their skills to a fixed salary plus a performance bonus. KPI performance assessments were set up for each position to increase workers' enthusiasm."
"According to what he said, our factory's efficiency has increased by 30% in the past two months, and it is still improving. We have made a lot of money."
Wow, this guy in a wheelchair has this ability? What a treasure.
"It's just that Doctor Fei said that his health is too poor. Even if he takes good care of himself, he can only live for two more years at most. Doctor Fei's prescription lacks real thousand-year-old ginseng. I have sent people to Changbai Mountain to look for it. If we can find it, Babbage will be able to recover and live many more years."
Shao Quanzhong slammed the table and said, "Go get rid of the hair on Changbai Mountain?"
He immediately raised his voice, "Maria! Send Haiqing a telegram and ask him to get me the thousand-year-old ginseng that Nurhaci left behind in the palace. The little emperor is asking for trouble. No matter how much ginseng he eats, it will be useless. It is better to use it to save useful scientists."
Hearing Maria leave as ordered, Wenxiu sighed, "This Qiao Garden is nice, but it's not as good as the Leopard House. Ping'er has always wanted to live in the Leopard House, why are you——"
"I think you are anxious to become the empress. This matter cannot be rushed. Don't worry, in a few years, the new army of the Qing Dynasty will no longer obey the court. As long as the power of the Huai Army is in hand, then the court will ask me to return to take charge of the overall situation."
"When the time comes, it's up to you if you want to live in the East Warm Pavilion."
"Humph, I won't live next door to your wild woman. I think the Leopard Room is enough for me. By the way, you can't stay here all the time. You have to go to Liu Niang and Ping'er's room."
"Xiu'er, you are so generous and have the style of a queen. Even Ci'an can't compare to you."
"Ah, don't mention your bunch of wild women. The five beauties in your harem are pretty good, right? Then why did you go back to Hailing?"
"Ah - you are rebelling. You dare to twist my ear. Maria, protect me!" No one is protecting me. Maria has not returned yet after sending a message to Haiqing. Even when she returns, she dares not to offend the queen.
"It must be that bastard eunuch Hai Qing who leaked the state secrets. If I don't find Brother Tian and beat him up..."
…………
In Japan, between Shinano, Echigo and Kinki, on both sides of Lake Biwa, in Iga Valley and Koga Valley, there were flames of war everywhere.
The area north of Azuchi Castle, south of Inabayama Castle, and along the shores of Lake Biwa had become a huge trench warfare battlefield.
Kogoro was holding a Mauser breech-loading rifle, staring in a daze at the densely packed trenches opposite.
The Chechen rebels over there have built trenches that stretch as far as the eye can see and filled them with barbed wire. How long will this fight last?
"Kogoro, come out, it's time to distribute rice balls."
Alas, distributing rice balls means I have to charge forward again and fight hard. I miss my hometown in Kyushu Island so much.
Each person had four rice balls and a bowl of miso soup. After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, suddenly everyone in the front knelt down.
No matter what happened, Kogoro knelt down like everyone else, and suddenly he heard a crane sound that he could not understand.
"Tokugawa Yoshinobu is so mad that he wants to bring the Nanyang Kirishin into Fuso, destroying our Shintoism. We Yamato men will never surrender. Charge ahead. I am right behind you."
His Majesty came in person to boost morale. The person standing next to him was Liu Mingchuan, the Governor-General of Fuso appointed by the Qing Dynasty.
Your Majesty has been conferred the title of King Zhongyi and has a house by the Chaobai River in Shunyi, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, and is a neighbor of King Zhongshun from Kokand.
However, Liu Mingchuan kept His Majesty to serve. With His Majesty around, the Fuso soldiers had the morale to attack the rebels.
"Boom! Boom!"
The Krupp cannon of the Qing Dynasty was indeed powerful. The barbed wire on the opposite side was blown apart. The soldiers, who had just been encouraged by the crane sound and were full of morale, rushed forward with guns in hand.
Kogoro threw the sandbag on his back into the trench and put the empty gun on his back. The words "Good Fruit" were printed on the butt of the gun, but this thing was not very effective in hand-to-hand combat.
Kogoro took out the engineer shovel behind him, which had the word "Wen" stamped on it.
It was time to fight to the death. Kogoro and his companions shouted "It's dark, get on board!" and rushed to the next trench.
Behind the trenches were the Chechen rebels from the north, and occasionally you could see Irish red-heads.
"boom!"
An extra-large grenade fired from a grenade launcher exploded next to Kogoro. Kogoro felt a heat in his heart and slowly sat down.
Yingzi, I did it, and I will return to my hometown for Your Majesty.
I miss the cherry blossoms in my hometown so much, and I want to eat the sushi made by Yingzi and the saury dripped with green orange juice again...
(End of this chapter)