Lu Ming didn't go to the cram school the next day.
Instead, he came to VIP Room 88 of the Windebao Club.
On the desk in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, there were various newspaper and magazine clippings, all of which were reports on the lawsuit involving the Japanese. There were serious official media reports, gossip tabloid news, and a pile of information about the Japanese that Wen Liangyu had collected in just two days.
The suspect, Kato Shoichi, is a member of the Kato family, lord of Yagido in Yingzhou Kingdom, and the cousin of the current lord, Kato Juku.
The five federations of the Federal Empire are the Kingdom of Griffinni, the Kingdom of Yingzhou, the Alliance of Free Cities in the Western Region, the Collection of Brave Chiefdoms in the South, and the Four Provinces in the Northern Region.
Among them, the Griffinni people are commonly known as Westerners, and the king of the Griffinni Kingdom customarily inherits the throne of the great emperor of the empire.
The remaining federations also have their own systems and armed forces.
Even each federal entity has its own foreign affairs department to conduct foreign affairs with other federal entities.
After all, the federal empire evolved from the feudal empire and inevitably carried the shadow of feudalism.
The Kingdom of Yingzhou is an oriental island country off the coast of the imperial continent, so it is also called Dongying. There are many princes in it, and the queen is only the nominal ruler of many princes.
The population and economic strength of Yakido, ruled by the Kato family, ranked in the middle in terms of the Yingzhou Kingdom.
Moreover, the Japanese people in Yaki have the custom of doing business, and the Kato family has been working in the business world for generations. The Kato Bank they run has achieved some success and has branches in the imperial capital and the East China Sea.
Masakazu Kato is a member of the Tokai board of directors of Kato Bank. Because of his surname Kato, he holds a high position in the board of directors.
The case of his molesting and killing a boy was exposed by a gossip newspaper called "Two Cents".
It took more than three months from the fermentation of this matter to the police investigation, but it is still shrouded in mystery. The bodies of the victims could not be found at all. Based solely on the stories of the survivors and the reporter from "Two Cents", it is estimated that six or seven victims were killed. The only survivor also suffered mental abnormalities due to excessive shock. Although it can be generally heard from his story that Kato Masakazu killed many of his companions who had been imprisoned with him, that was preconceived, based on guesswork and association, and could not be used as evidence at all.
Therefore, it is difficult to obtain direct evidence to accuse Kato Shoichi.
Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Yingzhou Kingdom has sent a note to the East China Sea Committee, requesting the East China Sea Committee to allow Kato Masakazu to return to the country, and protesting against the East China Sea Prosecutor's Office for still prohibiting Kato Masakazu from returning to the country in the absence of insufficient evidence.
The relationship between the federations of the Imperial Federation is very loose, and even in the areas directly ruled by Westerners, the structure is also loose.
For example, the East China Sea metropolitan area was the capital of the Zhongzhou Dynasty a thousand years ago. After the Zhongzhou Dynasty was destroyed, the capital of the Zhongzhou Dynasty became the private territory of Queen Alice. Queen Alice was also given the title of Duke of East China Sea. From then on, East China Sea became a free city-state under the protection of Queen Alice.
Even today, the East Sea Metropolitan Area still maintains the characteristics of an autonomous city-state, with its own armed forces and trade rules.
Therefore, there seemed to be a diplomatic dispute between the Yingzhou Kingdom and the East China Sea because of Kato Masakazu's case.
Although there are only a few hundred thousand Westerners in Donghai, less than one-tenth of the population of the metropolitan area, they are the real rulers of Donghai. Among the seven members of the Donghai Management Committee, there are usually 4-5 Westerners.
Westerners are usually closer to the Japanese. After all, they were allies who destroyed the Central Plains Dynasty together. Therefore, the Management Committee is ready to allow Kato Masakazu to return to his country.
However, as public opinion continued to ferment, the management committee quickly withdrew its decision to directly intervene in the case.
Lu Ming flipped through the materials and felt more and more uncomfortable.
Because I have had very little contact with Westerners, and even less contact with Japanese people, I feel that this world is not much different from my previous life.
But this case vaguely reminded me of my previous life, a very humiliating historical period.
"Brother Qianxing!" With a hearty laugh, the person who pushed the door open was Wen Liangyu.
He has always been well-mannered and more of a law-abiding businessman than Liu Laocai. Just looking at his appearance and behavior, it is difficult to associate him with the largest gang family in Beiguan.
Looking at the various newspapers and magazines spread out on the desk in front of Lu Ming, Wen Liangyu smiled and said, "I hope I won't disturb you?"
“Don’t disturb me, don’t disturb me…” Lu Ming stood up with a smile.
Wen Liangyu helped to find a lot of information, but he didn't ask any more questions, such as whether he wanted to take this case or defend Kato Shoichi.
"I have two friends and I want to introduce them to you, but it depends on whether you are interested." Wen Liangyu said with a smile.
"Oh? What kind of friend is he? Are you very familiar with Brother Wen?" Lu Ming walked over and sat down on the soft sofa with Wen Liangyu.
"It's like this, have you heard of Sanmai Aviation Company?" Wen Liangyu asked.
Lu Ming shook his head.
"We made all kinds of aircraft, such as airships and flying machines. We were quite famous in our heyday." Wen Liangyu smiled bitterly. "It seems that you don't know much about aircraft. So forget it. If I betray you, I will be guilty of a great crime."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Tell me about it."
Wen Liangyu smiled bitterly and said, "Forget it, forget it. Although he is my old friend, his father and my father were good friends. As for him and I, we were childhood playmates, but we became estranged after we grew up. After all, he is a Westerner and belongs to the upper class. Now that he has come to me, it seems that he has really encountered a huge difficulty. I thought that since you run a technology company and have a unique vision, you should have a lot of talented people under you, and you should be able to evaluate his new ideas. But since you are not involved in this area, forget it!"
Lu Ming smiled slightly: "We can meet and talk."
In this world, the aircraft industry is lagging behind in development.
Because the entire empire is on one continent, even the Yingzhou Kingdom is an archipelago near the coast.
The vast oceans in the east and south, the vast deserts in the west, and the barbarian lands in the far north are filled with various electromagnetic storms that are beyond the reach of human power.
Therefore, in the Empire's aircraft industry, airships are more developed. After all, electromagnetic storms cannot interfere with airships, and as explorers, they are safer than airplanes.
As for airplanes, the empire is still in the era of multi-wing propellers. Because they are not very practical, whether for passenger or cargo transportation, their prospects are far inferior to those of trains that run in all directions. Most aircraft companies focus their research and development on airships to increase their safety.
Competition in the airship industry is also extremely fierce.
From what Wen Liangyu said, it seemed that another aircraft company had lost in the competition.
"Don't meet him yet. Let me talk to you briefly. Sanmai Company used to be somewhat competitive in the airship industry, but as trains have become more and more widespread, the Empire is less and less willing to explore those wild places, and the airship market has become smaller and smaller. My friend, Madison, said he is planning to develop an engine that generates power through fuel ejection to replace propeller power. He believes that if successful, fixed-wing aircraft will definitely be able to compete with airships."
"He said very little, but in fact, I checked and found that Sanmai Company was about to go bankrupt. I felt that he might just be drawing a big pie to raise funds. But seeing that he was sincere, I also thought that if you have talents in this area, you could study whether it is feasible."
Lu Ming nodded slightly. It sounded like they were preparing to develop a jet aircraft.
But to be honest, after all, the theoretical basis of physics has reached this stage. Many people can think of the concept of a jet aircraft, but it is extremely difficult to actually produce a prototype, not to mention mass production, which is another matter.
In fact, even if he came to talk to me, I would have no idea whether his research and development direction was correct, let alone whether it would be successful.
But after thinking about it, Lu Ming smiled and said, "Let me meet him, Brother Wen, how much money does he need in general?"
Wen Liangyu smiled bitterly: "He hopes that I can help him raise 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, but I can see that this amount is probably not enough. He will probably try his luck elsewhere."
Lu Ming nodded. He still had about 500,000 yuan in his account because Knicks Automotive transferred another 100,000 yuan to him last night.
It is expected that 100,000 new cars will be produced in the second half of the year, all of which will be equipped with three-point seat belts.
Moreover, the first batch of cars with three-point seat belts, about one thousand units, should be launched on the market in half a month.
These cars actually originally had two-point seat belts and had already rolled off the production line. Now their original seat belts have been removed and new ones have been installed.
It has to be said that Lingwei Auto's efficiency is far from satisfactory, and it is definitely not a fluke that Nix Auto has become one of the top automotive giants in the empire.
…
Madison and Wen Liangyu are about the same age, in their forties. They are handsome middle-aged men wearing black tuxedos and black bowler hats, looking like old-fashioned gentlemen.
It seemed that he was really desperate and was trying every possible means. Although he was surprised at first to see that Lu Ming was just a young man under 20 years old, he still kept a low profile and told Lu Ming his ideas, such as air compressor and turbine shaft.
Lu Ming didn't understand what he said at all, but he did have some confidence in this person. After all, he was a boss who understood technology.
Today is different from the future. The aircraft market is a small one and a giant is in its initial stage. It will not work if the start-ups do not understand the technology.
"Well, I don't quite understand. Tomorrow, I'll ask my engineer to come and talk to you!" Madison felt secretly annoyed when he saw the young man in front of him yawning. When it comes to expressing ideas in a humorous way, he is not as good as his right-hand man. However, the young man can't speak the Central Plains language and looks down on the people of Central Plains. That's why he didn't bring him with him to avoid any bad things.
"No need!" Lu Ming smiled.
Madison was immediately disappointed and looked to Wen Liangyu for help. Wen Liangyu said that the young man was a family member of an invisible consortium and was very interested in new products. He also had a technology company. Such a person was exactly the investor he wanted. He had sufficient funds and would not interfere with his work. He was only interested in seeing benefits.
Lu Ming thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Madison, I can provide 500,000 yuan to inject into your company and become your partner."
Madison was stunned, totally unprepared.
Lu Ming pondered and continued, "Mr. Madison, don't worry. I won't interfere with any of your business plans. However, the 500,000 yuan I invested is not just for the research and development of your new concept. I still hope that you can get the company on the right track first, rather than risking everything on developing new technologies in an attempt to turn things around in one fell swoop. Let's not develop airships for now, but we should first develop the propeller aircraft market. You have production lines and skilled workers, right? The main reason is that you don't have customers and a market."
Madison nodded slightly.
"Then let's change our thinking. What kind of customer needs a propeller plane? Have you ever thought about military use? Can it be specially improved to suit the military?"
Madison was stunned. Military aircraft? The Empire did purchase some, but they were all from a few fixed large factories, and the quantity was limited. They might not purchase many in three to five years. Moreover, the Empire had been peaceful for a thousand years, and there were no major wars. The military purchased more airships to explore the dangerous places around.
Therefore, the militarization level of propeller aircraft is indeed not high. If you think about it this way, if it is used specifically for military purposes, there are still many areas for improvement.
"For civilian use, don't focus on carrying passengers for now. Think about the freight market. For goods that need to be transported quickly, can we produce special cargo planes?"
"Of course, I'm just sharing my layman's thoughts. The details are still up to you to consider!"
"If you have thought these plans through and if they are feasible, we can talk about them again."
"Okay, okay!" Madison nodded repeatedly, but she was also a little worried.
Lu Ming sighed inwardly. Five hundred thousand was gone again. His money came quickly and went away even faster.
In fact, I have already made preparations. As long as the difference is not too big, I will invest this money into Sanmai.
Cast a wide net and give any industry you feel has a future a try. Especially since the aircraft industry is in its infancy, it would be great if your investment is successful, but if not, at least you have tried and this is a rare opportunity to enter this industry.
Moreover, I have also thought about how to help the aircraft company in which I invested.