"Principal James is not someone who just has time to drink coffee with others. You are quite respectable," Sierra said.
Li Yu smiled and said, "They are all debts of gratitude that must be repaid."
"Then let's leave quickly. My car has been waiting for a long time." Sierra said.
"Car?" Sierra pointed to a car at the door: "Here, there." Good guy, the logo of the car in front of him immediately stunned Li Yu. Although it was not exactly the same as that of later generations, the shield The outline is too obvious.
Li Yu said in surprise: "This is... a Cadillac?!" Sierra was also surprised: "How do you know? There are only a few of them in the United States now." Li Yu was a car fan in his previous life, and he looked carefully.
"What an incredible big baby!" Four years ago, in 1899, Henry Ford founded the first automobile company, the Detroit Motor Company, in Detroit, the once glorious automobile city in the United States.
However, the company soon collapsed, and Henry Ford left to start his own Ford Company.
Two investors in the bankrupt Detroit Motor Company were unwilling to fail, so they received funding from Henry Leland, allowing the Detroit Motor Company to continue producing cars using engines, transmissions, and steering machinery produced by Leland Company, and renamed them Cadillac.
As for the name Cadillac, it actually commemorates the founder and first mayor of Detroit, a Frenchman more than two hundred years ago.
Li Yu had seen cars several times in the UK and found the hood skillfully. After opening it, he said, "Sure enough! Single cylinder, 10 horsepower, Otto cycle." Sierra was even more surprised: "How do you know so much about it?"
"Hi!" Li Yu said with a smile,
"How can a man not love cars? By the way, can I drive it?" Sierra asked again: "Can you drive?"
"It should be no problem," Li Yu sat in the driver's seat. The current car did not have a seat belt, and said to Sierra,
"You have to take care of it!" If future generations look at this car, it will be almost the size of a small three-wheeler. It belongs to the category of mini-cars and can only seat two people side by side.
Sierra sat down with doubt on her face.
"Okay! This is a gift from Mr. Leland to grandpa. I won't be able to tell you if it gets damaged."
"Don't worry!" Li Yu hadn't touched a car for a long time. Cars made more than 100 years ago had more mechanical properties in their original appearance - of course, there were really no electronic components.
Although
"Single cylinder, 10 horsepower" sounds weak, but it was really not weak in 1903. There are many car memes in later generations, what?
"Highway Lightning",
"The three aunts on the road", but they all have more than 100 horsepower. If they are similar in size, such as mini cars, some have only 27 horsepower, but these are electric cars, and the torque comes very quickly, so they cannot be compared.
Except for the K-car with only 50 or 60 horsepower, which is a unique situation in Japan, there are few other pure fuel cars with less than 100 horsepower.
As for single-cylinders, they are basically only seen in motorcycles in later generations. Cars generally have four-cylinders and above, and some have three-cylinders, but consumers are not very accepting of them.
After all, this was the beginning of the 20th century, and 10 horsepower could be said to be at the level of a sports car, capable of killing everyone.
I still remember that when Li Yu was in London, England, the speed of that car was less than 20km/h. At present, most manufacturers' products are basically only four or five horsepower.
But starting from the beginning of the 20th century, automobiles developed rapidly. Five years later, Henry Ford's Model T would roll off the assembly line, suddenly increasing the power of conventional cars to about 20 horsepower.
So at present, this Cadillac is indeed not simple. In the racing competition held that year, this car was also the best.
After Li Yu started the car, he felt that its speed was not bad, almost reaching a top speed of forty or fifty kilometers. Although it still felt average compared with later generations, it was still pretty good.
"Don't be stunned!" Li Yu said,
"Show me the way!" Sierra calmed down and said,
"I never thought you drove a good car." Carnegie now lives on the top floor of a luxury apartment building in Chicago. Like most wealthy Americans, he also likes such high-rise buildings.
"Grandpa, I brought Li Yu." Sierra came in and said. Carnegie is now 67 years old, but he is in good health and in good spirits.
Carnegie looked at Li Yu and said,
"Yes, it's amazing that you can have such achievements in scientific research at your age." Sierra smiled: "He can also write science fiction."
"That's right," said Carnegie.
"I've read that book. It's very well written, versatile, and even better. I can't even wait to see the follow-up." Li Yu said with a smile: "I didn't expect this book to be so popular. I really want to complete the sequel as soon as possible. "Mr. White told me." Sierra made two cups of coffee for them. Carnegie picked it up and said, "I knew it from the moment you set foot on the west coast of the United States."
"Mr. White?" Li Yu asked. This name is too common in the United States. Carnegie said: "Mr. White was the first president of Cornell University." It turned out to be Andrew Dickson White.
Li Yu is familiar with Cornell University. This university was one of several well-known American universities that was friendly to Chinese students in the early 20th century.
Carnegie continued: "Although Mr. White has left Cornell University and became a senator, he is still more concerned about education and the East. It was also he who made Sierra find Mr. White, and he thinks very highly of you. High, it can be said to be a dazzling level." Li Yu said with a smile: "If you win a prize, you will win a prize." The U.S. Congress is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, of which the Senate is the upper house. There are two from each state, and there are only 100 people in the United States.
The Senate is the upper house and has a higher status. And unlike members of the House of Representatives, senators are usually white elites with high social status and wealth, and have the right to vote in support of some of the president's proposals; many important treaties involving domestic and foreign affairs must also be voted by senators.
They are the truly influential political elite in the United States. Carnegie said: "Sierra happened to have studied with Mr. White for a period of time, and also knew about the East and the Chinese language. Mr. White was a knowledgeable man and was the top graduate of Yale University at that time. If it were not for the restriction that Yale University does not recruit women, According to the school rules, I'm afraid Sierra will also be a student at Yale University." Carnegie didn't say much information in his words, but
The words "top graduate of Yale University" directly shocked Li Yu. No wonder Sierra knows her whereabouts so well!
If nothing unexpected happens, this White is most likely to be a famous one.
A member of the "Skull and Bones". There are many such so-called mysterious organizations in the West, such as Freemasonry and Illuminati.
But most of them are mysterious, and many widespread conspiracy theories are related to these organizations. The most traceable among them should be the Skull and Bones Society.
In fact, Yale University recruits 15 outstanding third-year students into the association every year, and its members include many later important figures in American politics, business, and education.
And as Yale University's influence grows, these students are also very powerful, making the Skull and Bones Society more and more famous. It's hard to say what it is like now.
But just to think about it: People who are familiar with studying abroad should know that there are too many good universities in the United States; the United States is also a large country in terms of geography and population, and a Skull and Bones Society at Yale University cannot have any so-called power to control the United States.
Because in addition to the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, many top universities have similar organizations. But it cannot be said that it is not powerful. After all, there are many people in important positions like White among the students, and their energy is not small.
For example, White's classmate at Yale, Gilman, was the first president of Johns Hopkins University, and he was also a member of the Skull and Bones Society.
Cornell and Johns Hopkins! Li Yu looked at Sierra, she was just sitting there as if nothing had happened.
Li Yu thought about it again and understood. In a country like the United States where money is paramount, the rich have good relationships with high-level politicians. To put it bluntly, this is the case all over the world, or it should be said that it has been the same since ancient times.
But since they didn't say it clearly
"Skull and Bones Society", Li Yu had to pretend not to know. At the beginning of the 20th century, very few people knew about this organization.
Li Yu said casually: "Harvard University is also top-notch. There is nothing to regret if you can't go to Yale." Sierra smiled and said: "I think so too." Carnegie added: "Mr. White told me that, although now The Qing Dynasty seems to be in dilapidated condition, but it has been able to withstand the attacks of more than ten Western powers in the past few decades without being destroyed, which shows that the Chinese are indeed capable, and while Eastern civilization has not yet fully evolved, perhaps we can absorb more students from the Qing Dynasty. ." I didn't expect that this White could see things very accurately, and he was very close to Secretary of State Haiyin and President of the University of Illinois James.
Li Yu said: "Ambassador Liang Cheng and I have met with President Roosevelt, and he agreed to once again open a channel for the Qing Dynasty to study in the United States."
"Oh?" Carnegie said,
"This is good news!" Li Yu said: "Also, I think Mr. President will also agree to return the Boxer Indemnity in the future to fund education."
"Education is a good thing." Carnegie said. The biggest thing Carnegie has to do every day now is how to do charity and how to spend money.
I don’t really care about returning the compensation, because although there are still more than 10 million taels left in the Boxer compensation in the United States, which is almost 10 to 20 million dollars in U.S. dollars, this amount of money is simply a huge amount compared to Carnegie’s huge sum of 500 million U.S. dollars. Small case.
When it came to education, Carnegie was interested.
"Last year, Mr. White brought back many East Asian books to Cornell University, and I became more interested in the East after reading them. And it happened to be last year that a Qing man named Li Yu came into the world of science. What a coincidence. !" It's a bit of a coincidence... but Carnegie never expected that Li Yu was a time traveler.
In 1902, Cornell University really introduced many East Asian books. Li Yu said: "Cornell University loves Eastern culture, I feel very happy." Sierra interjected: "I know this, Mr. White took me there, Cornell University is really strange, their school motto is to accept any People of any culture, and it was then that I learned that they admitted girls." When Cornell University was founded in 1868, its motto was
"Create an institution where anyone can get instruction in any subject," or, as it can be translated, "let anyone learn what they want to learn at Cornell."
Two years after the founding of the school, Cornell University began to admit women, becoming the first coeducational university in the Ivy League.
To a certain extent, it is also related to the fact that Cornell University is a public university. It has long been a land-grant school in New York State, so it naturally undertakes many public welfare things.
In addition to Cornell, many American universities have received land grants from local state governments, and their area is rapidly expanding.
Carnegie said: "When Congress passes the President's proposal to open a channel to study in the United States, I think Mr. White will soon propose the establishment of an international student program at Cornell University." In fact, before the document notification has been officially issued, Three years later, Cornell University opened six scholarship programs for Chinese students.
Carnegie continued: "Under the influence of Mr. White and my own wishes, I hope to create an education fund specifically for the Qing Dynasty. As the initial breakthrough point, the best person I can think of is you. After all, you are already a member of the British Royal Family. I am a foreign academician of the Society, and Mr. White told me that the American Astronomical Society will also grant you membership soon, so I couldn’t have chosen you more.” It seems that this foreign academician and the membership of the Astronomical Society are really timely and valuable.
Li Yu said excitedly: "The respect in my heart is beyond words." Carnegie waved his hand: "This is what I want to do myself." Carnegie established many charitable funds, too many to count, and many of them were foreign projects.
The most famous American philanthropic fund in China in history should be the Rockefeller Foundation established ten years later. This fund focuses more on medicine. The famous Union Hospital and Union Medical College were funded by it.
In the United States, Johns Hopkins Medical School is also funded by this fund. Carnegie touched the coffee cup in his hand and continued: "I hope that by establishing this fund, I can see the benefits it deserves. In fact, I had a similar idea before, and a Chinese named Kang Youwei also wanted to meet me. But Mr. White told me that he was not trustworthy, and many officials of the Qing court were not trustworthy either. So I entrusted him to conduct some inspections on you and found that you have excellent conduct and academic knowledge, and you are a trustworthy person." Fortunately, he did not see Kang Shengren.
Carnegie added: "I will first inject $8 million into this fund, and the fund will first be supervised by my granddaughter Sierra." They seemed to have discussed it long ago. Sierra just flashed her eyes and said, "Grandpa, don't worry, I will start from White I learned a lot from Mr. Li Yu." Carnegie said: "If there are significant results in the future, I can continue to invest more. The most important thing is that I think Mr. Li Yu will be able to make this education fund have sufficient effects." Well, Sierra turned into her own money bag.
But that's fine, the strength of the Carnegie family should not be underestimated. In fact, the Carnegie family also has marriages with other big tycoons in the United States. One of their granddaughters, Nancy, married into the Rockefeller family.
