After arriving in Tianjin, Tang Shaoyi still had to report to the Tianjin Customs and Taxation Department first.
Li Yu had nothing to do, so he went with him.
Tang Shaoyi was a member of the customs system, and the guard did not stop them. They entered the building directly.
As soon as they entered the corridor, Li Yu and the others heard voices and laughter coming from the office.
Hoover said: "I received a telegram from the coal mine that the Qing Governor-General of Zhili had taken Zhang Yi away."
De Cuilin was confident: "Mr. Hoover, what are you afraid of? Now it's written in black and white, the contract has been in effect for two years, and the British army has infiltrated. There will be nothing they can do."
Hoover said: "What if they want to litigate?"
De Cuilin laughed loudly: "Fighting a lawsuit? Your time in China is still too short. Check out their legal provisions. Do they have company law or contract law? Even if they want to file a lawsuit, I'm afraid they have to go to the UK for a court hearing.
, even if the judge rules in favor of them, do you think it will be useful?"
Hoover then said with relief: "What I'm talking about is, how can the judgment of the British court be enforceable in the Qing Dynasty?"
"So, don't worry about that!" De Cuilin lit a cigar, "Let's take a look at this equity book. The Molin Company we established now has the absolute property rights of the Kaiping Coal Mine. I hold 45% of the shares. You
Accounting for 35%, the poor Chinese Zhang Yi has 5%. Of course the rest must be filial to the British aristocrats."
Hoover was very satisfied: "You still have a way to get such a big coal mine so easily. If my friends in Australia knew about it, they would be so jealous that they would not be able to sleep."
De Cuilin said proudly: "Of course, if they know that you earned 4 million US dollars so quickly in China, I think they will take a boat to China the next day."
Tang Shaoyi outside the door heard it clearly, frowned and cursed secretly.
Li Yu asked from the side: "I heard there was a person named Hoover?"
Tang Shaoyi snorted coldly: "Yes, he is an American. I heard that he worked as a mining engineer in Australia before and was sent to China two years ago. He usually looks like a gentleman, but I didn't expect that he has so many crooked ideas in his heart."
Li Yu was surprised, good guy, isn't this the American President Hoover during the Great Depression!
Who would have thought that Hoover, a dignified president of the United States and honored as "the worst president in history" by Americans themselves, made his first pot of gold by cunningly robbing a coal mine in the late Qing Dynasty.
Four million U.S. dollars is equivalent to about 8 million taels of silver.
Hoover continued to engage in a lot of mining, which accumulated a large amount of funds for his subsequent presidential campaign.
"Dong dong dong!"
Tang Shaoyi knocked on the door.
De Cuilin said: "Please come in."
Tang Shaoyi pushed the door open and walked in. He held up the document in his hand and said, "This is the imperial court's approval document on customs tax collection last year."
De Cuilin said: "I know, put it here."
When Hoover saw someone coming, he said, "You guys talk, I'll leave first."
"No need," De Cuilin stopped, "We still haven't finished talking about the stock. He will leave immediately."
For De Cuilin, making money is the first priority, and work comes second.
When Tang Shaoyi saw the stocks on the table, she felt disgusted and said, "Taxation Secretary, I'm leaving."
Deculin didn't stop him. As soon as he walked out of the office, Deculin behind him continued to say to Hoover: "Come to the racetrack with me later. I just bought a racehorse."
Hoover was surprised and said: "Horse racing? I have seen Mr. Hurd's horse. It is too short and can only be ridden on a daily basis. I didn't expect that you can buy a horse racing horse in Tianjin."
De Cuilin smiled and said: "Lord Hurd? Don't be kidding me. His horse only cost ten taels of silver, which is less than one percent of my horse racing. How can we compare it to that!"
De Cuilin was really profligate and even gambled. Hurd warned him many times, but De Cuilin was indifferent. Even though her annual salary had reached 12,000 taels, it was still not enough for him, so she had a bad intention to take over the Kaiping Coal Mine.
Hoover said: "Only a thousand taels? I'll buy one too. It would be too boring to play horse racing alone."
The two laughed heartily together.
Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "Let's go back to the Governor's Mansion quickly, these foreign liars!"
After arriving at the Governor's Mansion in Zhili, Tang Shaoyi immediately found Yuan Shikai: "Mr. Governor, something bad has happened. The Kaiping Coal Mine seems to have been taken away by foreigners!"
Yuan Shikai said: "I already know, but it's a pity that it's too late. The British military and capital have penetrated in, and there is not much room for maneuver."
Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "Is it possible that such a large coal mine was given to foreigners so easily?"
Yuan Shikai said helplessly: "I will report to the court later, and I can only find a way to do it diplomatically."
Yuan Shikai said: "Don't think in a bad direction anymore, do your best and listen to fate."
Li Yu listened, and of course he knew that they could not take back the coal mines either through legal or diplomatic means.
In fact, the Kaiping Mining Bureau (later merged with the Luanzhou Mining Bureau and collectively known as the Kailuan Coal Mine) was not truly recovered until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
Tang Shaoyi was very angry, but seemed helpless and could only curse: "Damn foreigners!"
Li Yu said: "We can't let it go like this. At least punish the culprit. We can't let Tianjin Taxation Department De Cuilin get such a big advantage."
Tang Shaoyi slapped her thigh: "By the way, Mr. Governor, I have a lot of clues about De Cuilin. This guy has been gambling and embezzling public funds. Although I don't have much evidence, it is enough to bring him down!"
"Okay!" Yuan Shikai was so angry that he had nowhere to vent his anger, "I also want to take a good look at him. Tianjin is my territory no matter what, and I will never let him stay in the Tianjin Taxation Department any longer! I can't even let him go anywhere else.
Tang Daotai, who works in a Chinese institution, you have to go back to the capital again to put pressure on Hurd."
Tang Shaoyi said: "Don't worry, sir. I know what to do. Anyway, I spent a lot of time at the customs road. It can be seen that Hurd is already dissatisfied with De Cuilin. All he needs is a push from me and everything will be fine."
It can be done.”
Yuan Shikai said: "Never mess up again."
After arranging this matter, Tang Shaoyi continued to mention Li Yu: "One more thing, sir, you haven't agreed to American John's naval power plan yet, have you?"
Yuan Shikai said: "Not yet, but it has reached the final stage. As long as the demonstration is passed, 5 million taels will be worth it."
Tang Shaoyi breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Fortunately, this matter has caught up! Mr. Li Yu mentioned to me that John's plan is also..."
"What is that too?" Yuan Shikai asked.
"It's also a scam." Tang Shaoyi said.
I originally thought that directly telling Yuan Shikai that he was deceived would hurt his face, but with such a big figure of 5 million taels, I had to tell him.
"No?" Yuan Shikai didn't believe it. "I have seen his drawings, and General Manager Feng and General Manager Duan have also communicated with him. I feel there are no loopholes."
Tang Shaoyi said: "But Mr. Li Yu categorically said that John's plan was a scam. I didn't quite understand it, so I called him here. Mr. Li Yu, please tell me."
Li Yu stepped forward and said: "Master Yuan, John is indeed a liar, because in terms of thermodynamics, the so-called perpetual motion machine is completely unfeasible."
Yuan Shikai touched his chin and said: "But he also showed me many drawings of powerful foreign inventors at that time. They seemed to be called Leonardo da Vinci and Boyer. They looked really convincing."
Li Yu said: "My lord, it's Boyle. The drawings they designed are even more unbelievable. Decades ago, the British and French academies of science made it clear that they were impossible to achieve. If you don't believe it, you can just ask him to do it."
One comes out."
The design of Leonardo da Vinci and Boyle belonged to the first type of perpetual motion machine, which violated the conservation of energy, but Li Yu could not explain much physics knowledge to Yuan Shikai.
Yuan Shikai clicked his tongue: "But I see that his drawings are very advanced."
Li Yu said: "I can only say that they made the scam look real and they are high-level liars. But I am sure that he will never be able to make the actual power system. His purpose is nothing more than to get 5 million taels of silver and then run away."
."
Yuan Shikai originally believed in foreigners, especially John who pretended to be an inventor and an American, which was very confusing.
However, he had just experienced a scam by a foreigner today, and his heart was already starting to waver. In addition, he knew Li Yu's level and could not directly call others a liar without any reason.
Yuan Shikai asked: "Is it true or false?"
Li Yu said: "You should remember that I once wrote a paper about the second law of thermodynamics, which is about this matter. And Lord Kelvin, the former president of the Royal Society, also discussed the second law of thermodynamics. You can give it directly to
Sir, one of the simplest expressions of the second law of thermodynamics is: the second type of perpetual motion machine cannot be realized. I think this American John is working on the second type of perpetual motion machine."
Li Yu spoke in the simplest terms and brought out the British Royal Society. Yuan Shikai finally became more convinced. He said: "Well, you can go to today's argument. I want to see if he is a liar."
How did you deceive me again?"
"No problem. Don't worry, sir. I will definitely expose him. People like this talk about inventions, but in fact they are all about business. They understand very well."
Li Yu had seen too many similar things in his previous life, not only those who studied perpetual motion machines, but also more powerful and 21st century methods.
For example, hydro-hydrogen cars...or cars built using PPT, the plans are all lavish, and then they get the investment and run away.
As for John, for Li Yu, it was just a child's play.
Yuan Shikai was a little angry: "If it's really a liar, it's really abominable. A bunch of foreign liars dare to ride on me! Do you really think I'm the one who's been taken advantage of?"
Well, Yuan Shikai doesn't know now, but he was actually called "Yuan Datou" later, but that was a silver dollar...
Li Yu said: "Let's go find him as soon as possible."
Yuan Shikai said: "He is now in the Beiyang Army and in the Beiyang Armed Forces Rapid School. Let's go together."