SWDnovel Chapter 67 These people should be useful
Chapter 67 These people should be useful
Chapter 67 These people should be useful
Liu Yulong looked at the list of members of the three kingdoms' delegation, mainly focusing on the names he recognized.
After the initial shock and surprise, I gradually came to realize that this was actually a good thing.
The Han dynasty still seems to have a strong appeal to Europeans, so we should take advantage of that.
The engineers in the Three Kingdoms delegation were probably there to seek investment and support, showcasing their inventions.
Many of their inventions are already present in the Han Dynasty, and some are even better.
However, some technologies and inventions are still useful to the Han Dynasty today.
Although the scope of research at the Gewu Institute is broad, it does not completely cover all areas of the world.
The advantage of centralization is that it is quick to take effect, but the disadvantage is that the sources are not wide enough and the ideas are somewhat limited.
For the technology of the Great Han to continue its rapid development, it must concentrate its efforts on key breakthroughs while drawing on the strengths of others.
Europe and America also have hundreds of millions of people, although most of them are useless, but there are also some genius engineers and scholars who can create some useful technologies.
The Han Dynasty should give these engineers and scholars who come to us of their own accord the most basic respect.
Even if the inventions they brought were no longer of any use to the Han Dynasty, they should not be ignored or driven away.
Ideally, this would create a special trend where engineers and scholars worldwide would consider the Han Dynasty's recognition of them an honor.
When they have any new inventions or creations, they habitually take the initiative to "present their treasures" to the Han Dynasty in order to gain the Han Dynasty's approval.
DaHan selected useful and valuable technologies, focused on key breakthroughs, and quickly implemented them to achieve maximum results.
After considering it for a while, Liu Yulong felt that such a plan was possible.
Compared to Europe, where war could break out at any time, the Han Dynasty's homeland should be able to maintain long-term stability and be more prosperous than the United States.
After much deliberation, Liu Yulong sent an eunuch to summon Wu Qijun, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, and Zheng Fuguang, the Grand Academician of the Academy of Natural Sciences: "Both of you, please go to Leting. Minister Wu will be in charge of managing the affairs of the three kingdoms' delegation on-site."
"Zheng Qing first took charge of the engineers and scholars of the Three Kingdoms."
"Let them bring samples of their inventions, or descriptions of the patents they obtained in the three countries."
"I followed Zheng Qingxian by train to Beijing and settled in an official residence in the western part of the city."
"Then ask them what the purpose of their inventions is, why they came to the Great Han, and what they want to do."
"Give me a table with the statistics, and wait for my summons."
"Then, Wu Qing went to take over the representatives arranged by the three kingdoms' courts and received their official documents and correspondence."
"We led them to the capital by train and settled them in official residences in the eastern part of the city."
"Find out their demands and await my summons."
"The other ordinary members of the mission, including ordinary sailors and officers, and their cargo, are temporarily housed in the port of Laoting, awaiting further arrangements."
In the present-day Jingzhao City, there are a number of official houses in both the east and west sections. These are houses built by the imperial court and are public rental housing owned by the imperial court, for officials who do not own their own houses.
The East City was mainly for ordinary bureaucrats and clerks, while the West City was mainly for officials, scholars, and craftsmen of the Institute of Natural Sciences.
Zheng Fuguang and Wu Qi bowed in agreement after hearing this.
Liu Yulong further cautioned, "These engineers and scholars from Europe might be very curious about our trains and other machines."
"The principle of secrecy applied to them is the same as that applied to ordinary Han Chinese citizens."
"The information that has been included in the list of items that must not be disclosed cannot be told to them without my permission."
"For example, converter steelmaking, propeller shape design, oil seal and sealing design, seamless steel pipes, etc."
Zheng Fuguang and Wu Qi once again bowed and accepted the order.
Liu Yulong casually gave some more details and mentioned a few people who might be useful, telling them to pay a little more attention to them when receiving them and not to be too contemptuous or disrespectful.
Then, the secretary drafted an authorization edict on the spot, and the two men took the edict to summon people to carry out their duties.
It was 2 PM on the 17th day of the fourth month of the second year of the Hanchang era.
The three ships carrying the main members of the delegations from the United States, France, and Britain to Wuhan were moored in sequence at the designated dock under the direction of the port pilot.
Officials from the Court of State Ceremonies, the Imperial Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Port of Leting boarded the ship simultaneously to meet and negotiate with the main leaders of the three delegations and verify the identities of the key personnel on the three ships.
Then, according to the passengers' identities, they were arranged to disembark in batches and dispersed at the gangway.
Stephenson and Talbot were specially invited by the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, so they served as the head and representative of the engineering corps.
The two, along with Faraday and several of the most renowned British scholars, and envoys from the Kingdom of Britain, including Palmerston and Staunton, were the first to disembark.
Stephenson, thinking of the great Han emperor's high regard for him, and looking at the trains unloading at the coal yard in the distance, followed Palmerston as the second to exit the cabin, feeling both excited and melancholy.
Stephenson looked up at the scene on the dock and saw a large number of soldiers standing below the gangway.
The soldiers were clearly divided into several columns, with three passageways left between them for people to pass through.
The leading soldier was also holding a huge sign.
The sign had a few simple words written in Chinese, British, and French.
The central passage reads "Craftsmen, scholars, inventors, and other personnel who possess skills, knowledge, and art."
The sign on the left reads "Royal Family Members, Officials, Clerks, and Other Civil Servants".
The sign on the right reads "Merchants and Other Personnel".
The interpreter from the Court of State Ceremonial, who was in charge of guiding the way down the gangway, led Palmyr and the others toward the passage on the left.
Stephenson, Faraday, and others were led into the central aisle.
Babbage and Owen, having received special instructions from Liu Yulong, were also arranged to be among the first to disembark.
Owen followed behind Talbot, looking at the scene and muttering to himself, "The Foreign Minister of the Great Han didn't come to greet us. As expected, they still don't treat Europeans equally."
"However, the fact that learned people were placed in the middle, rather than members of the royal family and officials, shows that the Han people indeed valued knowledge and technology more."
In fact, Wu Qi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Han Dynasty, was at Leting Port at this time.
However, Wu Qi also felt that he did not need to go to the dock to greet these European and American envoys; waiting in the waiting room for the train transfer was enough to show respect.
Owen originally thought he should be considered a businessman, but the translator led him into the middle passage.
Owen asked the interpreter from the Court of State Ceremonial, somewhat surprised, "Do you know me? I'm supposed to be a merchant?"
The translator said in a serious tone, "His Majesty the Emperor has instructed that Mr. Irving is a scholar."
Owen was visibly surprised: "The Emperor of the Han Dynasty actually knows me? And insists on receiving me as a scholar?"
The translator, quite surprised, said, "Yes, His Majesty the Emperor knows Mr. Owen. Please go to the waiting room first."
As Owen walked into the passage, he muttered to himself incredulously, "Is my reputation really that great? Even the Emperor of the Han Dynasty knows about me?"
"Or do you know about my failure in the United States?"
Robert Irving is the man featured in high school history textbooks, the "father of modern human resource management."
They once advocated for banning child labor, proactively shortened workers' working hours, and provided basic education for workers' children.
In 1824, they purchased 120 square kilometers of land in Indiana, USA.
It was intended to create a "new harmonious commune" to experiment with public ownership, but ultimately failed.
In 1833, Irving called on trade unions across Britain to unite and form the British National Trade Union Confederation, and served as its first chairman.
As Irving walked forward in the corridor, he first noticed that the soldiers were generally very tall, at least five feet six inches (168 cm) tall.
The tallest one was definitely over six feet (183 centimeters), a head taller than many of the scholars who passed by, and standing there really looked like a wall.
Moreover, they were all physically strong and in good spirits; none of them were thin or hunchbacked.
In Irving's memory, when large groups of ordinary European soldiers gathered together, they usually looked like a bunch of vagrants or thugs carrying guns.
Many soldiers were ravaged by alcohol and opium, their bodies and minds ruined, their faces gaunt, their bodies sunken, their bodies dull and numb.
But these burly soldiers were like country knights, and none of them seemed like alcoholics or opium addicts; their physical and mental health was admirable.
Owen believed that just two or three hundred of these soldiers would be enough to easily defeat a European army of a thousand men.
With this thought in mind, Owen continued to observe the soldiers' formation and soon discovered that the other two passages they formed were actually slanted.
However, this tilt must have been intentional.
As the officials and merchants on both sides of the passageway moved forward, they would gradually distance themselves from the scholars, including Irving.
When everyone came out from the other end of the passage, the three different types of people on site had already been divided into three small groups, each gathering together.
This practice of using soldiers to divert crowds was left over from Liu Desheng's time.
Ordinary people don't think there's anything worth caring about in this simple diversion arrangement.
However, Irving is very astute in personnel management and thought this approach was quite ingenious.
People in the passage don't feel like they're being specifically guided; they naturally walk forward along the passage.
The sloping passageway keeps different people apart, preventing them from falling back into chaos.
Irving sensed a certain order from it and felt that he had learned something new, a skill in on-site scheduling and event management.
But Owen soon realized that this skill seemed to be of little use to him, as Britain did not have the environment or personnel to provide it.
The state of ordinary British workers was mostly more chaotic than that of soldiers.
Irving and the other scholars were gathered together and led by translators to the waiting hall inside the dock.
Here they met with representatives from the other two countries and finally met the people who had come to receive them.
The interpreter from the Court of State Ceremonial introduced Zheng Fuguang's identity to Owen, Stephenson, Faraday, Babbage, Lussac, Daguerre, Morse, and others in both French and British languages: "This is Mr. Zheng Fuguang, a second-rank scholar of the Imperial Academy of the Great Han Dynasty and a senior secretary to His Majesty the Emperor."
"Assisting His Majesty the Emperor in managing the daily affairs of the Royal Society and overseeing research related to iron and steel metallurgy."
Irwin and others roughly understood Zheng Fuguang's identity: the emperor's court secretary and manager of the Royal Society, while also being a researcher himself.
This status is high enough; most people present, even in European countries, do not have this status.
The group began to feel that the Han Dynasty valued them highly.
Zheng Fuguang straightened up and cupped his hands in greeting to his European colleagues: "Welcome, everyone. Please rest here for a while."
"Then come with me to the carriage and we will travel together to the capital to await the emperor's summons."
Some people were about to reach out and shake hands with Zheng Fuguang, but they saw Zheng Fuguang cupping his hands in their direction.
Everyone immediately realized that the big man seemed to lack the etiquette of shaking hands.
Then, one after another, they followed Zheng Fuguang's example and cupped their hands in greeting, saying thank you in a jumbled mess: "Thank you, Secretary, please lead the way—"