Chapter 322 Salt Industry
These papers still need time and experimental verification. It is enough for Zhang Xingjiu to achieve the goal of being the first. The rest is to wait for these papers to ferment slowly and see how the Nobel Prize Committee reacts.
Before he knew it, it was Chinese New Year again. Zhang Xingjiu took his wife and children back to Shaoxing to celebrate the New Year as usual. As soon as he arrived in Shanghai after the New Year, he held a meeting with Ma Xiangbo, Zhang Jian and other school directors to discuss the work priorities of Aurora University this year.
Yan Fu once again brought up the abolition of the imperial examination system. "Yuan Xiangcheng, Zhang Xiangshuai and others are really serious this time. Some people have already started to write letters to test the waters. If it were in the past, they would definitely be rejected and the people who wrote letters would be sent away. But this time it is not the case. So in my opinion, the abolition of the imperial examination system will probably happen this year, so our Aurora University must speed up the construction of school buildings and the recruitment of teachers."
"That's true. The news I heard is similar to that of my brothers. Many well-informed people have already started looking for other ways out for their children. When the summer enrollment season comes, even if the court does not issue an imperial decree to abolish the imperial examination system, the number of applicants to our Aurora University will increase!" Zhang Jian echoed. He was a top scholar and had a big business. In terms of connections, he was even stronger than Yan Fu.
After hearing what they said, the other school directors also believed it without a doubt and began to discuss the pros and cons of abolishing the imperial examination system.
Zhang Xingjiu did not participate in these discussions, but just muttered in his heart, didn't Yuan Xiangcheng know how much of a blow the abolition of the imperial examination would bring to the Qing Dynasty? With his vision, he could definitely see it, but he still chose to write letters again and again. Was he trying to dig up the roots of the Qing Dynasty?
Come to think of it, he is now in power, but the court is doubly wary of him. Those bastards who are not Manchu princes and nobles still treat him as a slave. How can this be tolerated? Then they talked about another thing, that is, the call for constitutionalism. In the past two months, the Japanese and the Russians fought fiercely in the Northeast, and the Japanese actually won one after another, which shocked the Qing court. The court and the people generally linked the victory or defeat of this war with the national political system, believing that Japan won with constitutionalism and Russia lost with autocracy. "It is not that a small country can defeat a big country, but that constitutionalism can defeat autocracy."
Does this sound familiar? It's just like the people on the Internet who are always complaining that it's all about the system.
Zhang Jian was also very enthusiastic about constitutionalism. Zhang Xingjiu guessed that Zhang Jian had been abroad for inspection many times and had a good impression of the constitutional system. Moreover, as the top scholar in the imperial examination, he could only be a businessman, so he must have felt a little unwilling. If constitutionalism was successful, he might be able to make a difference in the political arena.
This matter was not as closely related to Aurora University as the abolition of the imperial examination system, so they just talked about it for a while and the school directors continued to discuss how to buy land, how to build school buildings, how to prepare for the summer entrance examination, etc.
After discussing all these things, Zhang Jian brought up a new question. He looked at Zhang Xingjiu and asked, "Zhou Ping, I remember you said last year that if our business encounters technical problems, we can pay the school to do research? Is this true?"
"Of course you can. Not only you, but other companies in Shanghai can also cooperate with us and entrust us to conduct special research. Many universities in Europe and the United States have similar cooperation with companies." Zhang Xingjiu was immediately cheered up. If they could use this opportunity to set an example, Aurora University would have another channel to attract funds.
"That's good. This is what happened!" Zhang Jian nodded and continued, "You may also know that I was lucky enough to pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar because my essay on 'salt and iron' won the favor of the court."
"I have always been very interested in the salt industry. I have done some research before. When I went abroad for inspection, I often paid attention to the salt industry in other countries. I was shocked when I saw it. The crude salt consumed by the Chinese people contains less than 50% sodium chloride and contains a lot of harmful ingredients. Europe has stipulated that the sodium chloride content of salt for livestock must reach 80%."
"That means the salt we Chinese people eat is not even as good as the salt that European livestock eat. I was so ashamed when I heard that, and I decided to start a salt company to produce salt of better quality and cheaper price."
"In recent years, the imperial court has relaxed its control over the salt industry, and I was finally able to run my salt company. Before opening it, I went to Japan to learn about salt production at the Matsunaga Salt Factory. I also invited three Japanese technicians, Nobuo Horita, Otogoro Tokuda, and Chiyokichi Ishii, to come and survey the salt pan test area and provide guidance and supervision."
"We spent more than 40,000 taels of silver, cleared 120 mu of land in the north of Beihejie, built a dike and opened a port, built 30 mu of salt fields and corresponding Japanese-style kitchens, set up kettles for trial production, and worked hard for a year, but only harvested 91 barrels of refined salt. Although the quality is good, the output is too small."
"So I would like to ask Zhou Ping to select a few teachers and students who are familiar with the salt industry to go to the salt field for investigation and analysis. If you can find a way to increase the output of refined salt, I will definitely reward you generously!"
Zhang Xingjiu immediately expressed his opinion, "It is a great thing that the champion wants to promote industry. If we can take this opportunity to promote the development of China's salt industry, reduce the burden on the people and improve their physical fitness, it will be a great merit. So I will select the right people for this matter."
Having said that, the rules still had to be followed. Zhang Xingjiu introduced him to the model of technical cooperation. Aurora University would first send people to evaluate the project. If it was possible, they would give Zhang Jian a quote. If Zhang Jian could accept it, the two parties would sign a contract to confirm it. Zhang Jian would then make payments in stages according to the progress of the project until the project was finally completed.
Moreover, Zhang Xingjiu also felt that the salt industry had great prospects. Salt was not only a necessity in people's daily lives, but also an important basic chemical raw material. It was entirely possible to build a comprehensive chemical plant based on the salt industry.
So, on behalf of Aurora University, he proposed to invest in Zhang Jian's Tongrentai Salt Company. In this way, if the salt company made a profit in the future, Aurora University would also be able to receive dividends, thus having an additional source of funds.
Zhang Jian did not make a decision at that time. He only asked Zhang Xingjiu to send someone to investigate as soon as possible. As for the issue of shares, he would wait until the results of the investigation came out.
Zhang Xingjiu agreed and quickly selected candidates, asking them to go to the production plant of Tongrentai Salt Company to conduct a preliminary investigation.
When they arrived at the factory, Zhang Jian was there. He came out to greet them immediately. He began to wonder if the leader was too young. He looked to be in his early twenties. Could he have such ability? Zhang Jian suppressed his annoyance and asked the visitor's name. The visitor introduced himself as "Fan Yuanrang, a student with the courtesy name Mingjun. I am a junior in the Department of Chemistry at Aurora University."
There will be more later (end of this chapter)
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