Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 347: Reward of Nobility
On the afternoon of New Year's Day, when Li Mingyuan was accompanying his two young wives to enjoy the scenery in the back garden, he received a message from the Royal Academy of Sciences.

"Your Majesty, is there any good news?"

Seeing Li Mingyuan’s smiling face, Queen Wu Lingxuan asked curiously.

"It's good news."

Li Mingyuan unfolded the letter in his hand, placed it in front of the two women, and explained, "This morning, several researchers from the Royal Academy of Sciences tested the performance of a new dye at the Susong Textile Factory. The trial production results were very successful. The grey cloth soaked in the new dye has a bright color, does not fade, and does not wrinkle. It can be said to be a first-class, high-quality finished cloth."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. The Royal Academy of Sciences has developed a new type of dye. In the future, the finished cloth produced by the Susong Textile Factory using the new dye will surely be more popular among local people."

"There's more than one piece of good news."

Li Mingyuan was in a good mood and said, "Research on picric acid, rubber, plastics, etc. has also made considerable progress. After ten years of financial investment and support, the chemical industry has finally ushered in its first new technology explosion period."

"Your Majesty, I have seen rubber trees. When I was in Songkhla, my father had planted a large area of ​​them on his estate outside the city. But what are plastic and picric acid? Are they important to Your Majesty?"

Wu Lingxuan was puzzled.

"Plastic is a plastic material. For example, the film in the locally produced cameras contains plastic components. Picric acid is a new type of gunpowder. When ignited, it is more powerful than traditional black powder. When used as artillery ammunition, it is more powerful.
When it is burned, it does not produce combustion smoke like black powder does. "

Li Mingyuan briefly explained to the two women, and then said, "The level of science and technology in Western countries is higher than that in South America. If the government wants to protect the lives of eight million people in South America, it must make early arrangements in some emerging technology fields and catch up with the technological level of Western countries.

Xuan'er, Baoyi, although we have been married for a short time, we have also known each other for a period of time before we got married. You should have a general understanding of my temperament. I am not a stubborn and conservative man. If you feel bored staying in the palace, or want to learn about Western technology, culture and other aspects, you can tell me, and I will send someone to collect relevant books and send them to you. "

"The living environment in the palace is very good. I have no difficulty adapting to it. Besides, I usually just like to play the piano and chess with Your Majesty. I am not good at playing Western things. Your Majesty, please don't bother to worry about me."

"Baoyi, foreign cameras and pianos are fun. If you don't know how, I can teach you."

Wu Lingxuan was in high spirits, and said to Li Mingyuan coquettishly, "Your Majesty, I want to take a photo of you myself, using the camera in the palace. Is that okay?"

"Not today. I have to go to the outer court to meet with some officials later. Maybe next time. Next time, I will personally accompany you to take photos."

Li Mingyuan smiled and patted Wu Lingxuan's hand, then chatted with the two girls for a while. After the two guards came to the back garden to inform the officials that they were all there, he said goodbye to the two girls and hurriedly left the back garden.

The Daming Palace was built in the Ji Hall. Because the court was closed on New Year's Day, only a dozen officials and researchers from the Academy of Sciences stood in the spacious palace. "Everyone, please take a look at the materials in your hands first. After reading them, if you feel that there is something inappropriate, you can give your opinions."

Li Mingyuan sat high in the center of the front hall of the palace and spoke.

More than ten minutes later, an official spoke first, "Your Majesty, I think there is nothing wrong with establishing a new Chemical Society within the Royal Academy of Sciences.

But is the reward for Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe too high? Although they have made some achievements in the research of gunpowder and dyes, if they are granted hereditary baronies, will some officials and generals who have not been granted hereditary barons think that the court is too generous to scientific and technological personnel? "

"In the eleven years since we were established in South America, there are many officials and generals who have made contributions of varying degrees. However, the first list of those who were awarded hereditary titles only has fifty-one people. Hereditary titles are limited, and it is impossible for every meritorious official and general to have a share. Some people did not receive hereditary titles because their contributions did not meet the standards for being awarded. However, Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe are different. Although they have not fought for the country on the battlefield, the progress they have made in chemical technology is no less than their exploits on the battlefield.

Zhou Sheng was one of the first local students to study in Germany. He went abroad in 1870 and returned to China in 1874. After returning, he stayed in the Royal Academy of Sciences for five years in obscurity. During this period, in addition to studying chemical engineering knowledge such as "Organic Chemistry" and "Inorganic Chemistry" written by me personally, he also accepted teaching tasks at the Polytechnic University, helping to cultivate a group of chemical technical talents locally.

The contribution of Congo red dye alone may not earn him a hereditary baronship, but considering the group of chemical talents he has trained for the local area and the technological progress he has made in textile chemistry in recent years, it is not an exaggeration to grant him a hereditary baronship. "

As a new type of high-tech industry with great prospects, the big chemical industry strategy has received great attention from Li Mingyuan. Li Mingyuan can call out the name of Zhou Sheng, Lin Shenhe and more than 200 Chinese technicians engaged in chemical technology research in the entire Royal Academy of Sciences.

In order to support the development of chemical technology and to set an example for the people, Li Mingyuan publicly announced that half of the annual income from all industries controlled by the royal family would be invested in the research of chemical technology. At the same time, the number of palace maids and female officials in the imperial palace under construction was reduced from the originally planned 1000 to 300. When an ordinary emperor ascended the throne, the activity of selecting concubines was only held once before he became emperor. After leaving 300 palace maids and female officials, it was temporarily banned.

Li Mingyuan's behavior may not be completely clean in the eyes of future generations. Take the two matters of selecting beauties and using money to support chemical technology research. He has already selected 300 beauties, and then announced that he would no longer conduct talent shows in the future. It feels a bit secretive.

As for supporting chemical technology research, although the government's propaganda focuses on Li Mingyuan's spending money to take into account the direction of the big chemical industry strategy, in fact, the money is not wasted. For those new technologies developed with the support of royal industry funds, more than 60% of the patent fees and product licensing production fees belong to the royal family. From a long-term perspective, Li Mingyuan's investment will not only not lose money, but will enable the royal family to own more high-quality industries.

Taking into account the interests of the country and the royal family itself, only when the country continues to develop healthily, the status of the royal family and the monarchy will not be shaken. Li Mingyuan is well aware of the relationship between the two, so he also attaches great importance to improving the status of researchers and rewarding them.

After a short pause, Li Mingyuan continued, "The significance of smokeless gunpowder to the combat effectiveness of the army is self-evident. Western countries' research on smokeless gunpowder was no later than ours. It's just that due to some factors, our country developed the method of making picric acid earlier than Western countries. But in fact, our country's technical foundation in explosives is not as high as that of Westerners. Therefore, we should reward researchers who promote technological development and set an example for other scientific and technological researchers, so that they know clearly that Chinese people also have their own scientists, and we can still independently develop science and technology that surpasses Western countries."

The long-established prestige and the importance of encouraging the first batch of local scientific and technological researchers to boost national confidence made officials accept Li Mingyuan's argument.

The proposal to confer titles on Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe was successfully passed. After the two parties expressed their gratitude, a new suggestion was made to integrate the chemical engineering disciplines of various local universities and re-establish a chemical engineering college affiliated to the Royal Academy of Sciences.

There is a shortage of talents in various local industrial categories. In the current realistic environment, it is necessary to concentrate a small number of technical talents to specifically overcome certain important technical problems. Considering that future countries have had similar plans, Li Mingyuan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. He agreed to build a new engineering university with chemical engineering as its main discipline and chemical-related disciplines as its auxiliary disciplines. It will be named Chang'an University of Technology, affiliated with the Royal Academy of Sciences, and under the dual leadership of the Ministry of Education and the Royal Academy of Sciences.

(End of this chapter)