Liang Qichao and Li Yu's speeches at Columbia University were more successful, but Columbia University is currently a research university that focuses more on science, engineering and economics and management, and the entire United States now worships industrialization, so Li Yu's limelight is even greater.
Principal Seth Luo knew that Li Yu had a designated laboratory in New York and would be in New York often, so he invited him: "Academician Li Yu, can you agree to become an honorary professor of our school?"
Li Yu said: "I'm afraid my age is not suitable yet."
Seth Low didn't care, who told him that his academic achievements were so high now: "It doesn't hinder it, there is nothing wrong with your ability."
Li Yu said: "I'm worried that I don't have much time."
Seth Luo said: "Don't worry, sir, we won't give you too many teaching tasks, just some lectures at most."
Li Yu thought for a while and said: "If I win the Nobel Prize in Physics again in the future, I will be qualified to accept your invitation. For now, at most, I will only be a visiting professor."
Visiting professors are generally temporary and have to be renewed after one year.
Seth Luo smiled and said: "Mr. Academician means that there is a betting contract. In this case, the bet should be larger. If you can win the Nobel Prize, not only will Columbia University give you the position of honorary professor, but it will also recruit at least 10 international students from your country.”
It was probably Ding Long who gave him the idea, so Li Yu suddenly couldn't refuse: "It's interesting, I accept it."
In fact, the Nobel Prize cannot escape Li Yu's grasp. What is now entangled is the Nobel Prize Selection Committee. They had just nominated Li Yu for the Nobel Prize based on the law of entropy increase and the third law, and then Li Yu came up with an even more explosive X-ray diffraction experiment. I didn’t even know what to choose!
Liang Qichao was quite happy when he saw Li Yu's popularity. He knew that his popularity was largely due to an oriental mystery.
And Li Yu's popularity is really scientifically convinced by Europe and the United States.
After leaving Columbia, Li Yu took him to Detroit to visit his factory.
Liang Qichao was greatly comforted when he saw the bustling scene in the factory and the smiles on the faces of many Chinese workers.
The situation here is completely different from Chinatown.
After all, five dollars a day is really not a low income. It is more than 1,300 dollars a year, which is equivalent to nearly 700 taels in silver.
If converted according to purchasing power, it is almost equivalent to about 210,000 yuan in later generations.
Looking back at the domestic situation at this time, the average farmer's annual income was only about 5 to 10 taels, which was 1,500 to 3,000 yuan in later generations. It was absolutely a world of difference.
Liang Qichao said to Li Yu: "I heard that capitalists' hands are stained with blood, but I think you are not."
Li Yu said: "This sentence is true to a certain extent. When Europe occupied and plundered the whole world, there were mountains of corpses and seas of blood. There used to be tens of millions of indigenous people in the American continent, but now there are not many left."
Liang Qichao's eyes twitched: "Ten million?!"
Li Yu just nodded.
Liang Qichao sighed: "It seems that Europe and the United States are not perfect. You can never see what is behind the mirror."
After walking around in a circle, he asked: "Will you also bring these industries back to China in the future?"
Li Yu said: "It will definitely happen. The Ministry of Commerce has already issued the land to me."
Liang Qichao could only say: "It is not easy to do business under the eyes of the imperial court. You must be careful."
Li Yu said: "Thank you, Brother Zhuoru, for reminding me."
Liang Qichao stayed for a whole day before saying goodbye and leaving the next day.
Of course, the way back to Japan is to take a train to San Francisco and then take a ship back to Japan along the Pacific Northern Line.
The flight from California to Japan is very short, about ten days at most.
As usual, he went to see Kang Youwei to say goodbye.
Kang Youwei was quite satisfied with Liang Qichao's recent performance: "Qichao, your article is still sharp enough. Since your article was published in the newspaper, the current fundraising situation has greatly improved. I am even looking forward to Europe."
Liang Qichao said: "The disciple will focus on handling various affairs in Japan in the future, and I am afraid that he will not be able to travel to Europe to accompany him."
Without Liang Qichao's help, it would be difficult for Kang Youwei to receive much donations in Europe, but Japan is indeed more important and cannot be separated from Liang Qichao's presiding over the overall situation.
Kang Youwei could only produce such a capable person, and the other party still had a grudge in his heart.
Thinking about it, I can only say: "With a stable source of donations from the Americas, it should be enough for now."
Liang Qichao said: "In addition, my disciple once visited Li Yu's factory. I observed the Chinese workers inside and found that they were indeed happy to work for them. Li Yu himself even plans to return to China to build a factory in the future. I think..."
Kang Youwei interrupted him: "What, you went to see Li Yu?"
Liang Qichao quickly said: "Disciple is just exploring the truth."
Kang Youwei frowned: "Master, I noticed that you are becoming more and more independent."
Liang Qichao said: "Only by knowing ourselves and our enemies can we contribute to our reform cause. And, as he said, neither reform nor revolution can be separated from industrial development."
"Industry?" Kang Youwei snorted, "Those are all trivial matters! Don't you still understand the priorities of things?"
Liang Qichao said: "If I realize my mistake, I should learn from it."
Kang Youwei reprimanded: "I hope you will stand firm when you are in Japan."
"Disciple noted it down."
Liang Qichao sighed inwardly and did not refute further.
The next day, we boarded the ship back to Yokohama, Japan.
Liang Qichao is a person who is always making progress. Even though he has changed his opinions many times and is a bit like a "fence-rider", he is indeed making progress.
And some people, at the age of 41, their progressive minds are actually dead.
——
Li Yu, on the other side, continues to stay in Detroit and is not in a hurry to leave. After finally coming to the United States, he must get more patents.
It just so happened that we had the conditions now, and Xie Yuxi had another unique advantage.
"You want to use a steel mill's laboratory?" Xie Yuxi said in surprise after hearing Li Yu's request.
Li Yu nodded: "If that doesn't work, just have a stove."
Xie Yuxi thought about it: "As for laboratories, they are not available in Detroit, but they are easy to find in Pittsburgh. Although grandpa sold the company, many small workshops are still doing daily business for us."
Pittsburgh is Carnegie's home base and the "Steel Capital" of the United States.
When Morgan purchased Carnegie's steel company for US$500 million, when he handed him the check, he said: "Congratulations, you have become the richest man in the world."
The US$500 million around 1900 was absolutely an astronomical figure, and the fiscal expenditure of the United States in a year was only about US$500 million.
You can imagine how rich Carnegie was.
In terms of the scale of liquidity, Carnegie is definitely among the top three in the United States, or second only to Rockefeller.
The reason why Morgan spent a lot of money to acquire Carnegie Steel Company is because the American industry is now too deeply involved.
It's really super serious.
As mentioned before, the United States built 270,000 kilometers of railways in half a century, making it the first generation of infrastructure maniacs.
However, in the 19th century, the top-down management in Lao America was very chaotic, and official control over the lower levels was out of the question.
Vicious competition is very serious.
The railway industry is one of the key areas supported by the United States. Just like when new energy vehicles first appeared in later generations, a subsidy policy was adopted: according to the mileage of repairs, the more repairs were made, the greater the subsidies.
This gives many companies an opportunity to make money. Some railways can run straight, but they are forced to run in a serpentine shape.
Anyway, after half a century, the United States has been covered with railroads like instant noodles.
The prosperity of railways naturally led to the growth of the upstream steel industry.
The supply has even exceeded the demand.
This belongs to the macro level.
At the micro level, that is, for each specific railway company, internal management is also very chaotic.
At that time, the management and shareholders of many companies were separated, and the shareholders of the company did not participate in the management. As a result, many management behaviors occurred that harmed the interests of shareholders.
Management would secretly form a new company to build a section of railway next to the existing railway to compete with the company they worked for. The purpose is to force shareholders to acquire this section of railway for personal gain.
Such things happen endlessly.
That's why Morgan wanted to come out and change the status quo.
The way he changed the industry was finance.
Morgan’s understanding of finance was far ahead of this era, and “equity trust” was his earliest invention and application.
The real power of finance does not lie in having enough funds, but in the ability to connect funds.
Morgan concentrated the stocks of dispersed small and medium investors through equity trusts, and Morgan Bank unified the exercise of power. At the same time, it installed people on the board of directors to firmly control the company, and then carried out rational reforms.
This set of boxing combinations is the so-called "Morganization".
In this way, Morgan established a "trust", which is a monopoly organization. A trust is different from another form of monopoly called a "syndicate". The trust itself is an enterprise, and the board of directors has the highest decision-making power.
Morgan's trust unified shipping costs, eliminated duplication of construction, improved the level of management, and changed the state of disorderly competition.
Then Morgan used the same method to establish the steel industry super trust.
Steel and railroads are the absolute backbone of the United States today. Morgan himself controls 65% of U.S. steel production!
That's why Morgan has such a high status in the United States.
Li Yu immediately took the group with him to take the train to Pittsburgh. Xie Yuxi easily found a steel plant laboratory for them.
Due to Li Yu’s great reputation, Carnegie Mellon University was also invited to come.
To be precise, Mellon has not invested yet, so it can only be called Carnegie Institute of Technology.
This school was invested and constructed by Carnegie. Its original purpose was to provide talents for the industrial and construction industries, which exactly matched Pittsburgh's status as an industrial city.
Li Yu deliberately released the news in advance because he needed to find some people to help.
The college must sell the Carnegie family's face and send a very outstanding young man named Drummond.
The young man Drummond is of Scottish descent and is also Li Yu's little fan. Hearing that Li Yu needed help, he volunteered without saying a word.
Li Yu roughly stated his original intention of refining a kind of "magic steel".
The most surprised person was Xie Yuxi: "Are you going to follow grandpa's old path?"
Li Yu laughed and said, "It's just a small patent."
"You actually know how to smelt?" asked Konoe Akiyuki.
Li Yu scratched his head: "It should be said that he knows the formula. The specific smelting depends on the factory workers and our new guy."
There are all kinds of experimental materials in the steel factory, but in addition to conventional iron and carbon, Li Yu only needs some chromium. These things are not hard to get.
As soon as you hear the word chromium, you will know that what Li Yu wants to invent is stainless steel.
In fact, the process of stainless steel is very simple. You only need to add chromium when making steel. With such a powerful steel mill laboratory, it doesn’t even take too many times to successfully test.
Later generations produced various other complex types of stainless steel, such as those mixed with nickel, titanium, etc., but they are not currently used.
It is enough to just produce ordinary stainless steel that is corrosion-resistant and smooth.
What Li Yu knew was the general formula, and the specific smelting process was carried out by factory workers and Drummond. 33
— is almost a daily routine for them.
After dozens of experiments, a more suitable ratio was obtained.
Several students brought by Li Yu from China also observed and participated in the whole process.
Finally, Xie Yuxi looked at the shiny iron lump in front of her and said, "Is this it?"
Li Yu said: "It's almost there. Don't underestimate it. It is different from other steels in that it can resist corrosion and will not rust, so I call it stainless steel."
"Is it really so powerful?" Konoe Akiyuki said, "Then can't it be used in various outdoor or military applications?"
In fact, the stainless steel project was originally initiated when the British wanted to develop a corrosion-resistant steel for use in making gun bores during World War I.
But Li Yu did not want to get involved in the military industry, saying: "It is a pity that it cannot be used in the military. Because although this new material is corrosion-resistant, it is not wear-resistant."
Konoe Akiyuki was slightly disappointed: "Then what can it do?"
Li Yu said proudly: "It's very useful! It can be used to make tableware, and it is also very useful in the construction industry."
"tableware?"
Everyone was surprised.
Li Yu called Drummond over: "Go and buy some knife and fork molds, fruit knives, washbasins, etc."
Drummond bought it quickly, and with the materials and tools, stamping was easy.
It didn't take long for them to create dazzling knives and forks, spoons, washbasins, fruit knives and so on.
Li Yu and other Chinese people don't use knives and forks, but Americans are so happy to see it. The market for this thing is bigger than zippers and expansion screws.
When the construction industry opens up the market in the future, there will be no need to worry about sales.
Xie Yuxi smiled and said: "Are you going to go back to your old business in the future?"
Li Yu said: "You can produce it yourself, or of course you can sell the patent. Its value is much greater, and it must be valued carefully."
Xie Yuxi said: "I suddenly feel that the laboratories in New York can no longer satisfy you."
Li Yu asked: "Why do you say that?"
"Because you span so many industries, it's almost impossible to guess." Xie Yuxi said.
Li Yu said: "Anyway, I have to ask you to apply for a patent again."
Xie Yuxi has become accustomed to it, and even the US Patent Office regards her as a regular visitor.
The Scottish young man Drummond said eagerly: "Mr. Li Yu, can I follow you and join your company in the future? I not only know smelting, but also many other industrial productions."
The young man seemed very sincere. What Li Yu needed was someone who had just graduated and looked like a blank slate, which was easier to train. Moreover, it was too tiring to let Zou Zhou manage production by himself. He planned to let him take a management position in the future, so he said, "Okay, but starting a startup is very hard."
Drummond said happily: "I am satisfied to be able to follow you."
It seems that with your own name, it is indeed easy to recruit people.
Xie Yuxi and others also saw that this technology called "stainless steel" has a broad market, but Konoe Akiyuki was quietly making trouble.
During this period of time together, it was obvious that Li Yu had amazing academic abilities. He seemed to be able to do many things, and he also had countless knowledge hidden in his head.
Gotta find a way to dig it out!
Some people died, but not completely...
