Chapter 94 Sudden changes, calm arrangements
On November 10, 1901, Li Qiwei received a message from his father via telegraph.
He was shocked. He did not expect that his winning of the Nobel Prize in Physics would cause such an uproar in the country.
Especially the "Declaration" also swore that Emperor Guangxu valued himself.
This made him laugh and cry, thinking that the main writers of "Shenbao" were talking nonsense. How could they know what the emperor said.
This is actually due to Li Qiwei's lack of knowledge.
In real history, "Shen Shen" had informants in the palace. When Guangxu was seriously ill, a small newspaper was published every three days, and a large newspaper was published every five days.
The content is written in a clear and precise manner, and even the medicines to be taken are reported.
However, this is ultimately a good thing for Li Qiwei.
The awakening of the domestic people gave Li Qiwei hope.
He is not afraid that the Spark Project requires large funds and personnel, but he is afraid that most people are indifferent to science and technology.
In that case, no matter how much physical and chemical knowledge you have, it will be useless.
Fortunately, the response to his deeds has been strong, and many young people are willing to take the initiative to learn Western knowledge of objects.
It’s time to start planning and preparing for the second batch of Spark Project.
Just as Li Qiwei was excited about the enthusiastic response in the country, three days later, a piece of bad news came.
The master of the central hall, Li Hongzhang, died of illness!
Li Qiwei was in a daze while holding the telegram. Although it was sudden to others, it was inevitable to him.
He didn't feel any sadness or joy, it was just a pity.
I will never have the chance to meet such a legendary figure who has been highlighted in history books.
Without discussing his merits and demerits, his influence on the direction of Chinese history has been profound.
Li Qiwei still had many questions that he wanted to ask the other party, but now he could only bury them in his heart.
Soon, he gathered his emotions and chose to continue to look forward.
In the future, he will experience more and more of this kind of thing.
After the death of the boss, everything related to him will be reshuffled.
Whether it is an enemy or a friend, they will examine the latest situation and make a choice that is beneficial to themselves.
In the final analysis, there is only two words in this world: interests, and all respect, timidity, weakness, and provocation are just appearances.
Sure enough, my father later mentioned in the telegram that he should not be too sharp.
Because he got inside information, Cixi was very unhappy with the Times report, thinking it was a conspiracy and that foreigners were deliberately disgusting the Qing Dynasty.
This is incredible. As the highest authority in the empire, Cixi’s words are more sacred than the imperial edict.
Her every word and deed, her happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy are the most important things that countless people ponder day and night.
The phrase "grandstanding" is enough to make many people make up their minds.
Even the Li family has been affected, and the attitudes of many business partners who used to cooperate have become somewhat ambiguous.
Business with foreigners does not have much impact.
When Li Qiwei saw this, he understood clearly in his heart, one praised and the other criticized.
The two supreme beings of the Qing Dynasty had completely opposite views on him.
It seems that this is an open and covert struggle between Guangxu and Cixi.
Although Guangxu suffered a complete defeat before and became a puppet, his own appearance may have brought him hope again.
Li Qiwei thought to himself, the more intense your internal fighting, the better, and I will reap the benefits.
As for Cixi's reaction, he was a little surprised. He thought that the other party would not care.
It seems that she was beaten violently by the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, and she ran around like a lost dog.
So she was so angry that she hated anything from foreigners.
I was unlucky and happened to hit the muzzle of the gun.
However, the problem is not big for the time being. Cixi is still on her way back to the capital, and has no time to worry about the small Li family.
If Li Qiwei remembers correctly, Cixi returned to Luang on January 8, 1902, which is November 29 according to the lunar calendar. She probably wanted to go back to celebrate the New Year as soon as possible. The old witch's requirements for enjoyment were too high.
Finally, it was the news from Xu Jianyin that puzzled Li Qiwei.
Zhang Zhidong asked himself to help arrange for domestic workers to learn Western experience?
This was a bit beyond his expectation, what the other party was going to do.
With his status as a border official, if he casually talks to the German Minister or the British Minister stationed in China, he will definitely be carefully arranged.
Do you need to trouble yourself?
Li Qiwei couldn't figure it out, so he didn't think about it. It just happened to be a favor, and he originally planned to find someone from the family to bring over.
The Li family's industrial fields are very wide, exporting tea, porcelain, silk, etc., and importing various industrial products from abroad.
At the same time, we also have many small-scale factories that produce some nails, machine parts, etc.
Of course, it cannot be compared with domestic giants such as Hanyang Iron Works, Steamship Investment Bureau, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, and Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.
But it can be considered as a little bit involved in the current industrial system, which is better than a small workshop.
After reading all the messages, Li Qiwei began to reply.
He first persuaded his father not to be busy expanding the family business for the time being, but to focus on low-key contraction and prepare for crises that may come at any time.
As long as you are careful and don't leave any clues to others, there won't be much risk.
At the same time, the family will select a few people with business acumen and experience in running factories and send them all together for other uses.
Then he told Xu Jianyin that he agreed to Zhang Zhidong's request, but the premise was that the essence should not be expensive.
It is best to have less than five people, and the people must be technically qualified, able to understand mechanical drawings, etc., and have certain management experience.
For this reason, he also specifically mentioned the term senior engineer. I believe Xu Jianyin can understand what he means.
After handling all the matters, Li Qiwei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since he won the first Nobel Prize in Physics, he has not stopped for a moment, and a large number of letters have come to him like a snowflake.
Although some of these letters are discussing physics issues, most of them want his autographed letters.
He was even asked to review his own results. Li Qiwei looked at the other person's research, which was only at the junior high school physics level, and could only encourage him silently.
Of course, there were a very few who cursed, but they were all ignored by him. Only mediocre people would not be criticized.
So, during this period of time, he even had less time to go to the laboratory, because he was worried about affecting other people's work.
However, this made Thomson very scared. He thought that after Li Qiwei won the Nobel Prize in Physics, he wanted to graduate directly with a Ph.D.
Logically speaking, with the other party's current achievements, it is more than enough to be a professor at Cambridge University, let alone a Ph.D.
But neither Caldwell nor Thomson wanted that.
The former is because we had a gentleman's agreement with Li Qiwei before.
At the same time, Cardwell also wanted to use his name to ask the government for more resources.
The latter is purely thinking about Li Qiwei. He is too young and can easily lose himself when he suddenly reaches the top.
Thomson doesn't want to see a genius fall. The opponent still has a lot of time and it is entirely possible to go higher. Don't let the momentary glory go to your head.
So he went to Li Qiwei and asked him insinuatingly what his plans were.
Li Qiwei understood Thomson's thoughts and immediately said that he was just an ordinary doctor now.
How can I graduate before my doctoral thesis is completed?
After hearing this, Thomson felt relieved and joked that he should prepare for the speech in a month.
Li Qiwei smiled sheepishly.
December 10th is the Nobel Prize award ceremony.
Except for the Peace Prize in Norway, the remaining four awards are all held in Stockholm, Sweden.
That’s when it really attracted worldwide attention.
To be honest, Li Qiwei was really nervous and didn’t know what to say.
After all, I had no experience in this matter in my previous life.
Thank you for your support and rewards, thank you all.
(End of this chapter)