The Shanghai Concession was indeed very prosperous at this time, and the Shili Foreign Market lived up to its reputation, and was even comparable to some major European cities.
Li Yu was about to buy some fruits to eat on the ship when he suddenly bumped into Chen Tianhua who was in a hurry.
Li Yu greeted him, and Chen Tianhua saw Li Yu pause for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Okamoto, Qiutong is in trouble, can you rescue him?"
Okamoto is the internal code name used by Huang Xing when he founded the Huaxing Society, and Qiutong is the code name of Zhang Shizhao.
Li Yu asked: "What happened?"
Chen Tianhua said: "Brother Okamoto sent a righteous man, Wan Fuchun, to assassinate the former governor of Guangxi. The incident failed, the righteous man was arrested, and Brother Okamoto and Brother Qiutong were also implicated and imprisoned."
The former governor of Guangxi is named Wang Zhichun. He aroused public outrage a few years ago for selling mineral rights and road rights. During the Russo-Japanese War in the past two years, and because he was on a diplomatic mission to Russia, he repeatedly made remarks criticizing Shanghai's anti-Russian movement.
Huang Xing sent Wan Fuchun to assassinate him at Sima Road (today's Fuzhou Road) in the Shanghai Concession. Unexpectedly, they were inexperienced and the gun they took was defective. The firing pin was old and could not fire, so the assassination attempt failed.
Chen Tianhua took Li Yu to Cai Yuanpei's residence, where many people were discussing countermeasures.
Cai Yuanpei said: "The righteous man Wan Fuhua may not be released from prison, but the two brothers Huang Xing and Zhang Shizhao should try to rescue him."
Tao Chengzhang worried: "I'm afraid that the Qing court will send someone to intervene. If the capital is escorted, it will be very bad."
When Cai Yuanpei saw Li Yu arriving, he immediately invited him to sit down and said, "Brother Shucai, you are welcome."
Li Yu immediately asked: "Are they in the patrol house in the concession now?"
"Yes," Cai Yuanpei said, "since the assassin was the former governor of Guangxi, we were worried about being taken away."
Li Yu said: "Then what are you waiting for? Find a lawyer quickly, find a lawyer in the concession, and keep the case in the concession. And it is best to find a British lawyer. As long as the money is available, the big problem can definitely be reduced."
Cai Yuanpei said: "It is difficult to find lawyers in the UK, and their fees are quite high."
At present, these revolutionary groups are indeed very short of money. The reason why everyone is eagerly looking forward to Mr. Zhongshan is also because they feel that he is very capable and can raise money abroad.
Li Yu said: "As for the lawyer, I can go to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau and try to contact him."
Cai Yuanpei knew that Li Yu had had several large-scale transactions with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau, and he was able to speak out. He said happily: "If brothers Shucai can accomplish this, it will be a great achievement!"
Li Yu stopped talking nonsense and immediately went to the Ministry of Industry Bureau. On the pretext that he needed to find a lawyer to draft a contract, he got the contact information of a British lawyer in Shanghai.
This lawyer is called Danwen, and fortunately he is a relatively objective lawyer.
However, generally, lawyers in the concession do not like to deal with Chinese cases, and the incident still happened in the French Concession, where management is relatively loose.
But only after Li Yuliang showed that he was a foreign academician of the Royal Society and the royal medal in his hand, and was willing to pay generous rewards, did Dan Wen agree to take the case.
The case is not complicated, but the attempted assassination cannot be handled, so Wan Fuchun, the martyr who committed the assassination, will definitely spend several years in prison.
But Wan Fuchun was very tough, insisting that he did it alone and had nothing to do with anyone else.
It was indeed impossible for the court to produce evidence that Huang Xing and Zhang Shizhao were involved, so the case was hastily closed and Huang Xing and Zhang Shizhao were acquitted.
Huang Xing was quite emotional. When he saw Li Yu, he said: "Thanks to you this time, otherwise I don't know how much more suffering I would have suffered. If he is extradited to the capital, I am afraid that his life will be at risk."
Li Yu asked: "What is Brother Okamoto going to do next?"
Huang Xing said: "Mr. Zhongshan sent a secret report from Japan and ordered me to go to Tokyo."
Li Yu said: "It's better to avoid the limelight."
Zhang Shizhao said: "Now I feel that my talents are indeed weak and I have repeatedly brought trouble to my brothers and colleagues. I am also preparing to go to Japan and study hard."
The two were arrested because Zhang Shizhao accidentally exposed the truth when he went to the patrol room.
Li Yu said: "Your Excellency, this is the right path."
Huang Xing extended an invitation to Li Yu again: "Sir, you are talented and righteous. Can you join our organization this time?"
Li Yu still declined politely: "I have my own way of serving the country, but brother Okamoto, don't worry, I will definitely reach the same goal as you by different means."
Huang Xing cupped his fists and said, "Then we'll meet again later."
A few of them were worried that the Qing government would continue to pursue the case, so they hurriedly took the ferry to Japan.
Li Yu boarded another ship and parted ways with them.
——
On the ship, the sea breeze is cool and cool.
Li Yu stood on the deck and looked at the ship of Huang Xing and others. A man came next to him: "Emperor Master."
Li Yu turned around and looked: "Brother Zhan, why are you on the boat too?"
Zhan Tianyou said: "I was originally surveying the Chaoshan Railway in Guangdong, but I didn't expect that the right of way of this railway was actually in the hands of the Japanese. I really didn't want to work for them, so I left angrily. It happened that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway wanted to hire me as the general manager.
Engineer, he returned to Beijing again."
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is Zhan Tianyou's most famous project.
When Li Yu was in Tianjin, he heard Liang Dunyan, the new Tianjin Dao Tai, talk about this line.
Many railways are located in the Zhili area. Yuan Shikai's suggestion is to use the surplus from the repaired Guanwai and Guanwai railways for the construction of this line and no longer use foreign capital.
Zhan Tianyou had gained quite a reputation in railway construction in recent years, so Liang Dunyan advocated for his old classmate to be the chief engineer.
Li Yu said: "Brother Zhan is running around, it's really hard."
Zhan Tianyou said: "Hard work is nothing. I am just afraid that I will not be able to do a good job in railway construction. Our terrain is very different from what I saw in the United States. It is much more complicated. Every project is an unprecedented test for me."
.I just regret that I didn’t bring back enough books, and many times I needed to do trial and error testing.”
It was already 1881 when Zhan Tianyou graduated from the Civil Engineering Department of Yale University in the United States. After being recalled to China, he had no use at all. He worked as a seaman for seven or eight years, and only after teaching did he have the opportunity to contact railway engineering.
The recall was very hasty and not enough books were brought back.
Anyone who has done engineering knows that it is impossible not to have thick specifications and other information at hand during the survey and design stage.
Li Yu said: "I spent a lot of time in Europe and the United States last year and shipped back a lot of books, including a lot of engineering information. If Brother Zhan needs it, just take it and use it."
Li Yu spent a lot of money to buy these original English books, but fortunately some of them can be used with the foundation's money.
Zhan Tianyou said happily: "Thank you, Master, this is of great help to me."
Li Yu said: "They are all in English. If it needs to be published for others to read, Brother Zhan needs to translate it himself."
Zhan Tianyou said: "This matter does not worry the emperor. Moreover, I am preparing to unify the railways built in the future into standard gauges, and the materials purchased from the United States can be fully used."
Zhan Tianyou wanted to stay in Tanggu and go to Liang Dunyan to continue studying the follow-up handover, while Li Yu returned directly to the capital.
He began to figure out what he needed to bring with him to Dunhuang. The first was money and two wireless devices.
After more than a year, although there are not enough base stations in China, most major cities have purchased Li Yu's radio equipment. In the west, Xi'an and Lanzhou government offices are also equipped.
In addition, Li Yu contacted Huo Yuanjia and asked him to bring a team of escorts to set off together.
While he was busy, Wang Chonglie, the son of Wang Yirong, the discoverer of oracle bone inscriptions, came to find Li Yu.
——Bad news again.
I learned from his mouth that something had happened to Liu E.
The matter has something to do with railways. There were several most important railway lines in modern China, including the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.
Since the Beijing-Shanghai Railway needs to cross the Yangtze River, the northern section is actually built to Pukou.
Because of the Pukou Railway Station, Pukou's status was very important in modern times. Liu E bought a piece of land in Pukou in his early years. It happened that a commercial port was to be opened here, and the price of the land doubled instantly.
However, some local officials wanted to buy back the land at the original price, so Liu E naturally refused.
The Yuanwailang found out some things about old sesame seeds and rotten millet: when there was a disaster, Liu E bought rice from the granary controlled by the Russians to provide disaster relief. The Yuanwailang accused Liu E of "privately selling granary grain".
This official had a strong relationship with the DPRK and China, so he quickly convicted Liu E and ordered him to be sent to Xinjiang.
Historically, Liu E finally died in Urumqi.
Li Yu quickly found Tang Shaoyi in Beijing to see if he could think of a solution.
After thinking about it, Tang Shaoyi gave Li Yu an idea: "The distribution is irreversible, but if we can bribe the governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, it will save him from having to go so far. Gansu is already as far away as the sky and the emperor, and no one will continue to ask whether he has any
You haven’t been to Xinjiang. Even if you ask, they won’t be able to verify it if you mention it.”
Li Yu shouted for a clever plan. It happened that Tang Shaoyi had a good relationship with the son of the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. The two were colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he wrote a letter for Li Yu.
Li Yu took the letter to find Liu E who was in prison.
Liu E was in a bad mood at this time. He still had a lot of things to do, but he was inexplicably charged with such a crime, so he had to give up everything.
After Liu E saw Li Yu, he sighed: "I'm so talented. I didn't expect that my life will be so bad. I'm afraid I won't be able to see him again in the future."
Li Yu said: "Brother Lao Can, don't be so pessimistic."
Liu E smiled bitterly: "Pessimistic? Of course pessimistic, I am completely disappointed with the current situation!"
Li Yu said: "Actually, there is nothing to do in the northwest frontier. There is still much to do after Old Can is gone. In the Hexi Corridor, the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions were so prosperous that they left countless gold and stone treasures."
Liu E was a master of metallurgy, and he could only use his hobbies to ignite his enthusiasm.
After hearing this, Liu E's brows actually relaxed: "I wonder if I will be free by then and if I can bring my tools and materials with me."
Li Yu took out the letter: "I have asked for a letter for you, allowing you to stay in Gansu. In fact, I also want to visit Gansu. There is a place that you will definitely be interested in."
Li Yu talked about things in Dunhuang, and Liu E really became interested: "Okay! I have seen enough of the intrigues and mutual strife in the capital. Going to the northwest frontier to do lifelong research and stay away from worldly worries is just what I want!"