Chapter 774 Defeat "MADE IN DAMING" (Second update, please subscribe)
Stealing trade secrets.
It has never been rare from ancient times to the present. For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, an Indian monk hid Chinese silkworm eggs in a hollow bamboo stick and brought them back to the Byzantine Empire, which opened the history of silkworm breeding and silk reeling in the West and broke the Chinese monopoly on silk.
For example, France secretly recruited mirror craftsmen from Venice, cracked the secret of mirrors, and broke Venice’s monopoly on mirrors. The original luxury goods then became common goods.
There is also the porcelain manufacturing technology stolen by the French in China, and the tea tree planting technology stolen by the British...
From ancient times to the present, commercial espionage has always been common, and it is even more common in modern times. Take Germany as an example. How did Germany, as a backward country, catch up with Britain? On the one hand, it relied on education, but on the other hand, it also relied on stealing. Although German factories and workshops opened up a certain market by "copying" British goods, the quality of German goods was generally poor and far behind British goods. In the final analysis, it was because of inferior technology. What to do? Then they could only rely on stealing.
The Germans steal both secretly and openly. The so-called "open stealing" is to send craftsmen to work in Britain, where they learn manufacturing techniques in British factories and then bring them back to Germany.
From the 1830s to the 1880s, millions of Germans worked in various factories and workshops in Britain.
While Britain obtained cheap labor, German workers learned technology, which they brought back to Germany, directly promoting Germany's industrial level and making great contributions to the rise of German manufacturing.
Even though the British knew that German workers were stealing Germany's technology, they were unable to resist Germany's high-quality, cheap labor.
To a certain extent, the same is true for the Ming Dynasty now. Britain needs Germany's cheap labor, while the Ming Dynasty needs experts, scholars, technicians and skilled workers from various European countries.
As an emerging country, the Ming Dynasty had to introduce a large amount of foreign intellectual resources to meet the needs of industrial and commercial economic development.
From factories to universities, from banks to government agencies, there are European employees in every industry in the Ming Dynasty. Among them are both naturalized citizens and contract employees.
Brian is a technician at Phoenix Bicycle Company, and like many people, he has been considering the issue of naturalization.
That day, like any other, he came to the restaurant he often ate at alone to have dinner.
"Hello, Mr. Bryan."
Brian, who was having dinner, looked up at the visitor with some confusion - he was British, and his English pronunciation revealed his identity.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"Can I sit down?"
The visitor asked politely.
"certainly."
Kent said after pulling out a chair and sitting down.
"Mr. Brian, you work for the bicycle company, right?"
"Yes, is there anything I can do for you?"
Brian looked at his fellow countryman in front of him with some confusion - he was also British.
"No, I'm helping you now, Mr. Bryan."
Kent said with a smile.
"What?"
"Mr. Brian, you are now a third-level employee in the company, with a monthly income of about 65 pounds. This income is of course quite good, considering your pension, it is really good, but now, I can give you a chance to earn 200 pounds a month, and also have a 10% stake in a factory."
"What?"
Brian asked, his eyes wide in shock.
"What did you say? What factory? What shares?"
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Kent Foss, and I'm from Shelfield. You're from Shelfield too."
After briefly introducing himself, Kent continued.
"I'm talking about the bicycle factory."
"Bicycle factory?"
"Yes."
Kent said, pointing to the bicycle parked on the side of the road.
"This type of bicycle was invented by Daming more than a decade ago. It seems that there is no technical threshold for this kind of thing. An ordinary bicycle is composed of 25 components and more than 150 kinds of parts. According to their functions and performances, they can be divided into four categories: transmission parts, load-bearing parts, brake parts and accessories. These things are essentially industrial products. As long as there are steel and machine tools, they can be produced."
Brian looked at his fellow countryman in front of him with some confusion. What was he talking about? As an engineer in a bicycle factory, he knew everything about bicycles.
"But in reality, it is not that easy. The simplest example is the pneumatic tire technology. It is made of vulcanized rubber. This technology has been invented for decades. However, before they invented the pneumatic tire, the wheels of European carriages were all made of wood and iron. Vulcanized rubber was expensive, so almost no one would use it on wheels. The emergence of pneumatic tires changed everything. This tire with low resistance and the ability to reduce bumps attracted the attention of Europeans as soon as it came out.
This technology, like the bicycle technology of the Ming Dynasty, has been widely copied in Britain, France and other countries. As for the patent, it only needs to slightly change the appearance and size, and then it can be copied. The lawsuit... by the time the lawsuit is over, the patent period may have expired. "
"Not quite, sir."
Brian said, interrupting Kent.
"Although those European factories copied our bicycles, the quality of their bicycles was very poor. First of all, due to the price of steel in the past, European and American bicycles used a lot of wrought iron instead of steel, which meant that their body quality was poor. As for the pneumatic tires copied by Britain and the United States, the quality was far from that of the Ming Dynasty tires.
Even now they use steel to make bicycles, but the quality gap with Ming Dynasty is still very obvious, so much so that Ming Dynasty bicycles imported into Europe and the United States are high-end products, and the others are just crappy goods. "
Of course Kent knew everything Brian said, otherwise he wouldn't have come here.
"Why is this happening? Mr. Brian, our materials are almost the same as theirs."
Facing his fellow countryman's question, Brian continued.
"There are gaps in technology and craftsmanship. For example, the lifespan of the flywheel and chain of European bicycles is very short. This is not only because of the special steel we use, but also because of the special heat treatment process..."
Brian stopped talking, his expression changed a little, and he spoke cautiously.
"Excuse me, sir. I think we don't need to discuss the following topic any further. After all, this involves the company's technical secrets."
As an engineer in the company, he was well aware of the constraints imposed on him by the company's confidentiality system, so he just mentioned it briefly and then stopped talking immediately.
"Mr. Bryan,"
Kent said with a smile.
"That's why I came to you, 10% of the shares, a salary of 200 pounds, plus... Britain!"
If the other party was not an engineer from a bicycle company, he would never have offered such generous conditions.
Looking out the window, Kent said in a very seductive tone.
"Although this is indeed a fascinating place, Brian, England is your hometown, where you have family and friends. Isn't Shelfield more fascinating than here?"
Faced with the sudden invitation, Brian was a little confused.
A monthly salary of 200 pounds and 10% of the factory shares, this is really tempting! More than tempting, it is simply enough to make everyone excited, after all, it is 200 pounds!
Is he really worth that much money?
If it wasn't worth that much, the other party would definitely not offer such a high price. But he still quickly calmed down.
"Sir, what do you want to do?"
Since the guy in front of me has offered such generous conditions, he must have some ulterior motive.
Kent smiled and said in response to Brian's question.
"Mr. Brian, my idea is very simple, I want to beat MADE IN DAMING in the UK!"
(End of this chapter)
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