Chapter 42: The Wind Rises

  Tan Yanqun, who was fleeing in disarray, did not know that his wife on the bed had already woken up. He couldn't remember anything about last night, but this also achieved his goal - escaping marriage. Although this escape was self-deceptive, it seemed to him that there was no other way out. His rare encounters with women in his previous life made him both yearn for and fear marriage. After coming to this era, it wasn't difficult for him to find a beautiful woman to be his wife, given his conditions. The difficulty lay in the chasm created by the differences in their thinking. Tan Yanqun couldn't expect his partner to thoroughly understand him.

  For Fang Qiu Ying, Tan Yan Kuan really had nothing to say, she was truly too beautiful. Although still very young, she was already a standard beauty. Unfortunately, marriage wasn't just about having a pretty face, there were many other things to consider in the future! If one were to say that Tan Yan Kuan was a saint who didn't indulge in carnal desires, even he himself would probably object. The love of beauty is something everyone has, and Tan Yan Kuan was no exception. However, compared to others, this era's aesthetic standards weren't his. Most importantly, in his eyes, Fang Qiu Ying was still just a child, despite him being only eighteen years old himself.

  Yan Kuan's daily routine includes practicing calligraphy, but today his mind keeps wandering as if he has done something wrong. When he hears the noise from inside, he puts down his brush and walks out to the courtyard to practice boxing - he has made up his mind to become a turtle, locking himself in his shell, pretending this wedding doesn't exist.

  However, it was clear that Tan Yanqian's evasion was of no use. He had just set up a starting pose in the courtyard when a maid hastily walked in and said: "Young Master, the old master and mistress are waiting for you and your wife to go and pay respects with tea in the inner hall!"

  "Alright, you go down first, we'll be right there!" A clear voice sounded from behind Tan Yan's body.

  Yahuan glanced at Tan Yanqian, who was already in a daze, and tapped the beautiful bride's shoulder. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she quickly walked out of the courtyard.

  Tan Yanqin turned around to see Fang Rong wearing a white embroidered dress, with a bun at the back - exactly the standard headdress of a married woman.

  "Y...you're good..." Tan Yanqin's face stiffened into a smile, stuttering out a greeting, and then suddenly reacted to the fact that this greeting seemed off...

  Fang Qiong saw Tan Yanqing's appearance, which seemed to have lost a hundred thousand taels of silver, and couldn't help but laugh in her heart. She felt that the gentle and refined "Little Governor" she had heard from others was completely different from the husband she saw before her. With a faint smile, she said: "Sir, you should hurry up and wash your face, it's not good to keep Grandpa and Grandma waiting!"

  Tan Yanqun was choked with anger, but also felt helpless. The "little woman" in front of him seemed to have grasped his weakness, and her eyes always seemed to reveal a hint of cleverness. However, he tried to put aside these annoying thoughts, quickly washed up and tidied himself, then went to the living room with Fang Congqin, where they politely served tea to the old man and his mother according to custom.

  It can be imagined that Tan Yanjin's first day after marriage was spent in great pain. He, on the contrary, had been in a state of constant anxiety lately, and after giving his father-in-law tea, he immediately rushed to the wool textile factory, but only halfway there did he remember why he was running there? There is still a more powerful Tang Bowen in the Governor's Mansion! Thinking of this, he again ordered the coachman to turn back. The driver who drove him couldn't help but wonder, what disease did the young master get today?

  Tang Bowen lived in the front yard. Although his background was not small, with an old man sitting in town, Tan's family was still extremely traditional. When Tan Yanqin arrived at Tang Bowen's residence, Tang Bowen happened to be walking into the courtyard, rubbing his head, and looking at him with a sleepy face, Tan Yanqin knew that this brother had been messed up by himself last night. Last night, Tan Yanqin showed off his divine power at the wedding banquet, and those who were closer to him, including the director of the Rongyang Textile Mill, and of course, Tang Bowen with a strong foreign flavor, were all on his "wanted" list. These people were eventually carried out, if not for the old man's severe rebuke, these people would have really "died" at the wine table.

  "Zu An, you really are in high spirits! I don't know if it's because of good news or a good night's sleep, but how did you manage to get up so early today?!" Tang Bowen said with a wry smile as he saw Tan Yanqian.

  "Brother Ji Meng, you're joking, right? Today is a special invitation for you to see something extremely novel and interesting. I'm sure Brother Ji Meng is very interested in it, and it's also very useful. Even the respected Master Zhong is eagerly anticipating this thing!" Tan Yanqin replied evasively, saying that to be honest, he himself didn't know what he had done the night before, and if not for the help of his servants, he might have even spent his wedding night in the horse stable.

  "What on earth is it? Why is Guan Zhong so mysterious?!"

  "Brother Ji Meng will understand its wonderful use at a glance, no need to ask more!" Tan Yanqian smiled and teased with a hint of mystery.

  Because Tang Bowen's study was right next to his bedroom, it wasn't convenient for him to go over there, so Tan Yanqing moved the wireless telegraph machine into the Curtain Friends' Hall. This set of wireless telegraph equipment had been assembled by Tan Yanqing himself and had already undergone testing and experimentation, basically without any problems, but since it was an original model, slightly moving it around

  It took him half a day of debugging to finally get it working.

  Tang Bowen didn't know what Tan Yankai was doing, but he had seen the telegraph machine before. The more he looked at it, the more it seemed like a telegraph machine. Moreover, Tan Yankai had purchased the telegraph machine through him, and the price was sold to Tan Yankai at cost. Looking at the two small wooden boxes with foreign nameplates from the telegraph machine factory, he became even more certain that this was the set of telegraph machines sold to Tan Yankai. However, this set of telegraph machines had been dismantled by Tan Yankai and there were no copper wires connecting them in the middle. After Tan Yankai finished his work, he put the two devices in different rooms and asked two operators who had been brought from the Guangdong Telegraph Bureau to guard each machine separately.

  Tan Yanqian busied himself with a satisfied smile and said, "Brother Ji Meng, you first stay here and say something to this telegraph operator, let him translate it into a telegram and send it out. I'll go to another room to receive it. Let's see if we can successfully receive your message!"

  Tang Bowen's head immediately went blank: "This is impossible. Isn't this a telegraph machine? How can we receive messages without any connecting lines?"

  Tan Yanqian smiled and said, "If there is a connection in between, why bother me with so much trouble? What I want is to be able to receive and send messages without any connections, this is the great value of this method. I suppose Ji Meng brother can think of it?"

  Tan Yanqing walked out of the house and went to another room to prepare for receiving reports, leaving Tang Bowen and the telegraph operator staring at each other in dismay. This was the first time they had encountered such a thing. Tan Yanqing had not asked the telegraph operator to try out his self-assembled wireless telegraph machine, but instead had only sent some highly regular telegraph signals himself, while another telegraph machine had a light bulb on it. The flashing frequency of the light bulb matched the frequency of the signal he was sending, which meant success. Initially, this very primitive wireless telegraph machine equipment was just Tan Yanqing adding a wireless telegraph system to a wired telegraph machine, and he had purchased a large number of experimental devices from Europe, using them not only for replicating Hertz's experiment but also for assembling the telegraph machine, even disassembling a wired telegraph machine to barely build such a system.

  This era had not yet entered the electronic age, and vacuum tubes had not been invented. Tan Yunqin relied on his knowledge of mathematics and physics from his previous life to reproduce all the experiments done by Hertz. He understood how to use the scientific equipment of this era to build a wireless telegraph system, including locking frequencies, amplifying power, antenna placement, etc. If he hadn't repeated Hertz's experiments, even if these components were placed in front of him, he wouldn't have known how to use them. Fortunately, he had done sufficient preparatory work beforehand, and all the equipment from Hertz's experiment had been purchased. Moreover, two sets were prepared, and after busy working for nearly two months, there was today's result.

  "Just send him a 'good morning'!" Tang Bowen said to the radio operator who was still a bit nervous beside him.

  Tan Yanxin's wireless telegraph equipment was still the same as wired telegraph in use, although the telegrapher had never touched this thing before. The device was assembled on the basis of a wired telegraph machine, so the telegrapher easily sent out the three words "good morning" by telegram.

  "Good morning" was translated into a four-digit telegram code, which consisted of only twelve signals. The telegram had just been sent out for a while when Tan Yanqing excitedly ran in with a piece of paper and said with a smile: "Brother Ji Meng, good morning?!"

  —

  Tang Bowen and the telegraph operator were both stunned, and the telegraph operator was even more interesting. He stood up and turned around in front of the wireless device that covered a table full of scattered parts, wanting to see if there was a wire leading to another room.

  Tan Yanqin smiled and said: "No need to look for it, this is wireless telegraphy! Hehe, I didn't think I finally made it, but I don't know how far the effective distance is?"

  Tan Yunxian's high school physics textbook had a brief introduction to Marconi's telegraph invention, which was initially only one or two hundred meters away. Tan Yunxian used his knowledge to improve the wireless telegraph device, but the effective distance had not been strictly calculated.

  "Brother Ji Meng, this is my invention of wireless telegraph technology. In Europe, some scientists have already proven the existence of wireless electricity, but they haven't yet utilized it to create a practical telegraph technology. Of course, this technology is still imperfect and there are many areas that need urgent improvement, especially the problem of transmission distance. However, I've already achieved the ability to send and receive telegrams using wireless electricity. Can you see what's possible from this, Brother Ji Meng?" Tan Yanjin asked with a smile.

  "If wireless telegraphy can be the same as wired telegraphy, then a large amount of copper wire can be saved and the cost of establishing a telegraph network will be greatly reduced!" Tan Bowen reacted very quickly, he had been abroad for many years and his mind was very agile.

  Tan Yanqing smiled and shook his head: "Brother Ji Meng said that it is indeed correct from the perspective of civil use, this wireless telegraph has already greatly surpassed the wired telegraph currently in use. However, this is not its most important purpose. Brother Ji Meng can think about it, if such a wireless telegraph device were installed on the warships of the Beiyang Fleet, during a naval battle, if the signal tower of the flagship was hit by the enemy and unable to transmit messages, what would happen then? Moreover, after installing the wireless telegraph device on the warship, one can respond to the situation at the fastest speed, as long as the distance between the

  Even if it's far away, synchronized command on land is also possible!

  Tan Yanqing thought of the Yellow Sea Battle during the First Sino-Japanese War, where the Beiyang Fleet's flagship was hit and lost its unified command. The fleet immediately became disorganized and was defeated by the Japanese Combined Fleet. Not even one enemy warship was sunk. Tan Yanqing was eager to explore wireless telegraphy technology in order to arm the Beiyang Fleet with this advanced technology first. The Qing Empire had become worn out, and Tan Yanqing did not want to share its fate. However, he could not abandon his nation and country. The First Sino-Japanese War was a turning point for both China and Japan - one led to further decline, while the other led to becoming a major power. In Tan Yanqing's eyes, as long as he could cause trouble for the Japanese, he would be happy to do so. From squeezing out Japanese textiles from the Chinese market to improving the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Fleet, anything he could do, he would try his best. He did not hope to completely change the fate of the First Sino-Japanese War, but only to give the Japanese some trouble. If the Beiyang Fleet was lucky enough to make a comeback, that would be the best outcome.

  As for Tan Yankai's statement about the application of wireless telegraph machines in military affairs, Tang Bowen did not find it difficult to understand. However, he was also aware of China's weakness in science and technology at this time. Although Western powers did not restrict China from purchasing the most advanced weapons from them, if they wanted to rely on Chinese people themselves to develop modern technology, that would be somewhat unrealistic.

  However, Tan's wireless telegraph machine was right in front of him. Moreover, he had never heard of a similar machine in the West that could send and receive telegrams without using wires. Tang Shaoyi is now one of the most informed people in China about foreign news, although Sheng Xuanhuai is in charge of telegram business, but as part of the same system, he is very clear about the development trend of telegram - Tan's wireless telegraph machine is absolutely original!

  Tang Bowen's heart warmed up at this point, and he said excitedly: "Zu An, this is a very important invention! I estimate when it can really reach the application level you mentioned?!"

  Tan Yanqing smiled and said: "The basic invention of the wireless telegraph machine is considered complete, but it will take some time to put it into use. What I want to do most is to send someone to register this invention in Western powers first, after all, they are not fools, and they must have thought of using wireless for telegraphs too. As for the application, it still needs to wait for a while, and if you want to meet the needs of naval warfare, the wireless telegraph machine still needs to be improved a lot, at least in terms of transmission distance, it should reach hundreds of kilometers or more, and if you want to replace the existing wired telegraph machine, the road ahead will be even longer!"

  Tang Bowen thought for a moment and said, "Registering patents is essential. In Western countries, many inventors have made their fortunes by registering patents. It's just that the Qing Dynasty's modern science and technology are backward, and there is a lack of talent, so no one has been able to make any achievements in this area. You're actually a pioneer!"

  "In fact, I've already had several patents registered in Europe. The Mauser 93 rifle and the Box Cannon produced by your Tianjin Machinery Bureau are my patented products, which have been sold to the Prussian Mauser Arms Factory. Otherwise, how could we get such favorable conditions for importing production equipment?" Tan Yankai said with a smile.

  Tang Bowen patted his forehead and laughed, giving Yan Yanzhi a thumbs up: "Still, Zou Anli is formidable, not only did he excel in the imperial examination, but also in Western studies, he's second to none!"

  "Compared to my other inventions, this wireless telegraph is far more advanced and has a much greater impact! I'll send a telegram to my assistant in Britain right away, asking him to safely deliver the prototype of this wireless telegraph machine into his hands, and register the patent first! Of course, I won't slack off in improving the technology of the wireless telegraph machine either. We should strive to use this equipment on ourselves as soon as possible, after all, war is cruel and every extra layer of protection means an extra layer of victory..."

  Tang Bohan naturally understood what "war is cruel and dangerous" meant in Tan Yanqin's mouth, thinking of the increasingly tense political atmosphere between China and Japan, he couldn't help but feel a little desolate.

  "I didn't want to trouble you by attending your wedding, but last month's issue of 'Strong Academic Digest' published some information about the Donghak movement in Korea. You also predicted that the situation in Korea would be unstable and could become a spark for war between China and Japan... The article and your comments were carefully read by Lord Zhong, who even sent a telegram to inquire about the current situation in Korea. The results are very worrying... Lord Zhong has sent me here not only to congratulate you but also to ask for your views on the Korean situation." Tang Bowen said with a worried expression.

  "Has Master Zhongtan already inquired about the Donghak-dong matter?" Tan Yanqian asked, Donghak-dong being the name that would later be used by people of this country to refer to the Eastern Learning Party of Korea.

  "It's worse than that, in fact. The Donghak Peasant Movement has already risen up more than 20 days ago!" Tang Bowen said in a low voice.