Xu Shichang was not interested in listening to the play, so he took Li Yu to a quiet corner.
"Master Imperial, I have some small requests." Xu Shichang said.
Li Yu said: "It's okay for Zuo Cheng to say it."
Xu Shichang said: "We have already established the Ministry of Commerce, but now it only governs railway and mining matters. The only enterprises in the Beijing-Tianjin area are mostly government-supervised and privately run, and there are very few purely private enterprises. I heard that Emperor Shichang established a Ministry of Commerce in the United States.
Company, I wonder if Dishi can also open a factory in the Beijing-Tianjin area as an example?"
Tang Wenzhi also mentioned: "We have petitioned the court to pass the law on establishing companies as soon as possible. This matter has been approved by the minister, and I think the court will officially issue it as soon as possible."
The Qing government promulgated the "Company Law" in early 1904, which was regarded as the first of modern company legislation.
Although it was too late compared to other major powers, it still passed some practical decrees.
This "Company Law" is relatively rough in some provisions. The most important thing is that it has not established the very core concept of "legal person", which is relatively limited.
It was not until ten years later, during the Republic of China, that the Beiyang government re-issued a more complete "Company Regulations" that made company law more reliable.
Therefore, it is not yet considered a company under the strict rule of law concept, but with the support of Xu Shichang and others, Li Yu does not have to worry too much.
Li Yu said: "My company LY in the United States currently mainly produces key automotive parts, various system units, and more technical radio equipment. I am afraid that it is not yet available in China. However, I will speed up the training of manpower and start manufacturing as soon as possible.
Establishing a company domestically.”
Originally, this was what Li Yu wanted to do in the future.
Xu Shichang said: "What Imperial Master produces are all sophisticated things made by foreigners. Is there anything more down-to-earth?"
Li Yu thought of the miserable people today, so he said: "I will try to build some food-related companies to help the folks."
Xu Shichang's eyes lit up: "What a great idea!"
What Li Yu thought of was very simple: instant noodles and MSG.
Even if they are used as military rations, instant noodles are very useful and you won’t have to worry about selling them.
In fact, something similar was used in Han Xin's army during the Han Dynasty, but it was non-fried.
It's just that at the beginning of the 20th century, instant noodles were almost a luxury product, but it was more convenient for the troops.
After making money, you can use simpler noodles to help the victims.
MSG, on the other hand, is more accessible to ordinary people’s homes.
It is said that MSG has experienced a history of being smeared since then. In fact, it is harmless. It was originally made up by Americans due to discrimination against Chinese people, and it happened in the 1960s and 1970s.
I don’t know why when it was introduced into China at the beginning of the 21st century, many people actually believed it to be true, forcing many major MSG manufacturers to death...
The ingredients of MSG are very simple, just sodium glutamate, nothing special.
Although it is true that excessive sodium intake will cause edema and other phenomena, in the era of poverty, there were not many obese people, how could they have the money to eat so much salt, and even ordinary people would be deficient in sodium.
In addition, these two things are very easy to open up the market in Japan and can make a lot of Japanese money.
Xu Shichang immediately said: "I will complete the procedures for Mr. Emperor as soon as possible. After the "Company Law" is promulgated, it is not a bad idea to award the first company established to your company!"
Tang Wenzhi added: "Don't worry about the land used to build the factory. There is a lot of usable land in the suburbs."
Li Yu smiled and said: "Thank you both, I will complete the research and development of the product as soon as possible."
Xu Shichang wondered: "Does food still need to be studied?"
Li Yu said: "Yes, it requires a bit of chemical knowledge. Fortunately, it is not particularly difficult, as long as you can get sodium glutamate crystals."
"What? Crystal?" Xu Shichang was even more confused.
Tang Wenzhi said to him: "Teacher Juren, Mr. Academician naturally has his more scientific methods. We don't have to worry about it. It is enough to help him deal with renting land, building factories, and recruiting workers."
Xu Shichang thought it made sense, and now that he was in the Ministry of Commerce, he "talked about business in business" and told Li Yu some guarantees they could provide.
After all, Li Yu has many connections with Beiyang, and everyone can see that he is very capable. Although Yuan Shikai and his subordinates Beiyang are inevitably greedy, at least they are still doing things.
Of course they knew that Li Yu was a person who could accomplish great things, and they would naturally spare no effort wherever they could provide help.
Li Yu cupped his fists and said, "Thank you both very much!"
Just like Zhang Jian still cannot do business without dealing with the officialdom, Li Yu knows that if he wants to develop industries in the country, he must have a good relationship with those in power.
Xu Shichang said: "I have observed that Western countries now have many emerging industrial products. I hope that Mr. can guide the bright path of our country's industry."
Li Yu said: "I can't say clearly, but I will definitely do something practical. Maybe it won't be long before we can not only export tea, porcelain or silk, but also export industrial products to Europe, the United States and Japan."
Xu Shichang didn't dare to have this idea at all: "How is it possible!"
Li Yu said with a smile: "Nowadays, Westerners lack many things, and even many daily chemical products are still only available to a few people. For example, soap for bathing is a luxury product."
Tang Wenzhi was stunned: "So not all foreigners can afford soap if they want to take a bath?"
"It is true," Li Yu said, "So if many things can be successfully developed and mass-produced under the premise of controlling costs, they will have good sales. Not only will more of our own citizens be able to use excellent industrial
It is definitely not impossible to export products.”
Although products close to soap have been available in both the East and the West since ancient times, at the beginning of the 20th century, even if they were as powerful as those in the United States, they were still luxury goods.
Napoleon originally bought a piece of turmeric soap for 2 francs, while the average monthly consumption of ordinary people was only about 6 francs.
European aristocrats have always had the "stinky habit" of not liking to bathe, and this has even spawned the perfume industry to a certain extent in order to mask the smell.
As for our country, around the Qin and Han Dynasties, people used soap locust to wash clothes and hair, and of course plant ash, rice water, etc.
Then in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was more common for wealthy people to use scented soap. For example, "Jin Ping Mei" mentioned using "jasmine soap" when washing your face. "A Dream of Red Mansions" also mentioned using "scented soap" when washing your face in the early morning.
It's just that this kind of soap is not the same thing as soap in the modern sense. People call it "pancreas", which means that pig pancreas is used in it.
The lard in the pancreas is partially decomposed into fatty acids by lipase, and then saponified by sodium carbonate into real fatty acid soap (the main component of modern soap). It can be said that it is only one step away from modern soap.
But there are too few pig pancreas.
Soap produced by modern industry was introduced into China around the middle of the 19th century. The more reliable record is an advertisement issued by a British businessman in Shanghai in 1854, but these soaps were all for foreigners.
Then in 1860, some foreign firms in Shanghai began to purchase goods in bulk and sold them to various places.
By 1894, the country imported soap worth 380,000 taels of silver, and in the early years of the Republic of China, imports increased to 2.68 million taels.
It’s all just money! Besides, it’s not a difficult industry, so it’s better to cultivate a national industry.
In the eyes of modern people, soap may be just for cleaning, and they don't pay much attention to it.
But don’t underestimate the word “clean”. Everyone is accustomed to it because of the popularization of modern hygiene knowledge for nearly a century.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, whether in China or Europe and the United States, the concept of "sanitation" had just been established, and people's awareness of it was generally very low.
To put it more directly, soap can greatly reduce the occurrence of diarrhea and improve the survival rate of children.
After all, the mortality rate of infants and young children in ancient times was extremely high.
Due to the age, we cannot have very accurate figures, but conservatively speaking, the infant mortality rate in ancient times would have been above 20%, or even higher.
Even the royal family was the same. Kangxi had 35 sons, but 11 of them died before they reached adulthood. This ratio has exceeded 30%.
Although there are many causes of death, the high mortality rate of children in ancient times can be intuitively reflected.
Even in peacetime in ancient times, the average age was not high, largely due to the high mortality rate among children.
Because children are not fully developed yet, they are vulnerable to various diseases.
Ensuring their hygiene and diet can at least reduce the mortality rate to a certain extent.
Whether it is soap, MSG or instant noodles, they are all relatively accessible to ordinary people.
——We can’t just engage in high-precision industries such as automobiles and communications.
But Li Yu is not prepared to make money from the daily chemical and food industries at all. As long as he does not lose money, it will be used to cultivate related national industries as much as possible and then provide relief to the people.
Ever since he fired a gun in Harbin and had human lives on his hands, Li Yu's mentality has been somewhat turbulent. Even though the person he killed was a hateful little devil, Li Yu was not a professional soldier after all, and his psychology was related to the matter of killing.
Construction is still a bit worse than those of Duan Qirui.
It was inconvenient for more people to know about this matter, so Li Yu could only adjust himself slowly as much as possible.
In this era, the world view is completely different from that of a hundred years later. Even ordinary people in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries have little value in life, but there are more wealthy people in Europe, the United States and Japan.
The death of those Japanese people is probably just a small wave in the eyes of the Japanese military headquarters, not even a ripple: if they die, they are dead, and there are still young people anyway.
Xu Shichang and Tang Wenzhi both had great confidence in Li Yu. At the banquet, several people continued to discuss business matters in depth, which was somewhat incompatible with the cheering sounds around them.
——
While Li Yu was taking the train on the Siberian Railway, he had already written the outline of the Star Wars prequel and took it to Lu Bicheng for polishing as usual.
Lu Bicheng's enthusiasm has been completely ignited after seeing the hot sales in Europe, and she is extremely busy every day. Not only does she have to write poems and write articles for Ta Kung Pao, but she also polishes the Star Wars prequels and translates Grimm's fairy tales and Andersen's fairy tales.
.
He is simply busier than Li Yu.
Li Yu gave her a set of pens and ink and asked her to practice hard-pen calligraphy.
In terms of efficiency, the hard pen is indeed higher.
However, Lu Bicheng didn't know how to hold a pen at all. Li Yu showed her several times, but her writing was still crooked, mainly because her pen-holding posture was easily deformed.
"You have to do this, use your middle finger to hold it." Li Yu showed her his pen-holding posture again.
But Lu Bicheng still did it, but her grasp was still not very accurate.
Li Yu grabbed her finger, "Put your index finger here, pinch it with your thumb and index finger, that's right!"
"So that's it...you..." Lu Bicheng withdrew her hand and blushed: "I learned, you, if you are fine, just go back, I will continue to write the manuscript."
Li Yu had no choice but to walk out of the room, then rubbed his fingers, "It's quite slippery."
——
Xiyuan.
The Minister of Military Aircraft and Bachelor of Arts Qu Hongji was reporting to Cixi on the important military affairs.
"The Queen Mother, Heilongjiang General reported that typhoid fever has occurred in the Harbin area. Hundreds of people have been infected, and sixty or seventy people have died."
Cixi blew a sip of tea: "Harbin? Aren't the Russians in charge of it now?"
The Heilongjiang general's office is in Qiqihar, not Harbin.
Qu Hongji said: "Despite this, it is still our territory of the Qing Dynasty. If a disease occurs and most of the dead are our people, we must report it."
Cixi snorted: "Foreigners are really useless! They can't manage it well. If anything dirty happens, the court will still have to bear it."
Qu Hongji asked: "The Queen Mother, the Heilongjiang general asked if he could send a doctor there. They can't handle it. We..."
"No!" Cixi said flatly, "What kind of doctor should we send? Why should we wipe the foreigners' butts? We have to let them know that they can't control our Qing Dynasty. It's best to spread it. They themselves will also contract typhoid fever and die.
Then quit when faced with difficulties!"
"But the Queen Mother..." Qu Hongji couldn't bear it, "After all, she is my subject of the Qing Dynasty."
If ordinary people contradicted Cixi like this, they would definitely be scolded, but Qu Hongji was still very much cared for by Cixi.
The reason is quite interesting, because Captain Qu Hong is very similar to Cixi’s deceased son, Emperor Tongzhi.
When Qu Hongji was admitted as a Jinshi, he came to the palace to express gratitude. Cixi saw at a glance that he was very similar to Emperor Tongzhi who had just passed away. She couldn't help but feel sad, and motherly love overflowed. After that, Qu Hongji's career was very smooth, and he worked as an examiner.
, fat jobs like academic administration.
This man was quite honest, and was highly praised by both the government and the public. With the support of both parties, Qu Hongji eventually became the Minister of Military and Aircraft, a bachelor, and ranked at the pinnacle of human affairs.
Cixi glanced at Qu Hongji and sighed: "You, you still have to learn many things from Prince Qing."
Although Qu Hongji was dedicated to serving the country, he was not good at operating in the officialdom. After all, the officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty was so rotten that it was difficult for an upright official like him to integrate.
He also didn't understand Yuan Shikai's tactful way and his inability to play both sides. At this moment, he didn't understand Cixi's intention, but instead said: "Queen Mother, the Northeast is the land of Longxing, we can't let it go."
Ci Xi's eyebrows narrowed: "You have talked a bit too much today. Go back to the military aircraft office to deal with your affairs."
No matter how stupid Qu Hongji was, he could sense Cixi's displeasure and did not dare to disobey, so he could only thank him and leave.