Chapter 35 The Secret of the Killer
Li Qiwei stayed in Switzerland for a few more days, during which he had academic discussions with Einstein and Grossmann. Finally, with the reluctant looks in their eyes, he resolutely boarded the return train.
This time, Li Qiwei and his two servants will first take a train to Paris, then transfer back to London, and then return to Cambridge.
While passing through Paris, Ridgway had intended to visit several celebrities.
At that time, there were also many famous physicists in France, such as the Curies, Paul Langevin, Henri Becquerel, Jean Perrin, etc.
Each of these people will be a future winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
However, Li Qiwei changed his mind and felt that this trip was too much trouble, and it was really inconvenient to bring Hong'er, a girl, with him.
Besides, the background of the killer I met in Berlin is still unclear, so for safety's sake, it's better to keep a low profile.
So he canceled his plan and chose to go back directly.
After a few more days of bumpy journey, when Li Qiwei and the other two returned to their residence in Cambridge County, it was almost mid-August, and there were only about ten days left before school started.
Li Qiwei slept enough for three consecutive days at home before he regained his energy and spirit.
In the era without airplanes and high-speed trains, traveling far away was simply a torture. Two months of vacation was not even enough to travel from London to Shanghai.
Early that morning, after Li Qiwei got up, he was writing the teaching materials for the Spark Project. Suddenly, Li San came running over in a hurry.
"Master, there's a telegram from the family. Check to see if there's any news about the killer."
Li Qiwei was startled and quickly stood up, took the telegram and read it carefully.
It turned out that when the three of them were in Switzerland, Li Qiwei sent messages to his family through the local telegraph company.
He wanted to find out when he had offended the Chinese assassins, and he also asked about the progress of the Spark Project's personnel search.
Finally, he asked the family not to save money and replied by telegram, leaving his Cambridge address.
Therefore, since returning, Li Qiwei asked Li San to go to the post office every day to guard it, and once a telegram was received, he would immediately bring back the news.
At this time, Europe's wired telegraph business had become relatively mature.
Cambridge University is a world-renowned university, so the British Post Office launched a telegraph service here.
While Li San was anxiously waiting, Li Qiwei finally finished reading the letter and figured out what was going on.
He combined his own guesses and told Li San the whole story.
It turned out that this year, that is, on June 6st of the 21th year of the Guangxu period, because of the "Boxer Rebellion", the old witch Cixi of the Qing court directly declared war on eleven countries at the same time.
In order to protect the vitality of China, the powerful governors headed by Li Hongzhang discussed how to protect the stability of several southeastern provinces, which was called the Southeast Mutual Protection.
Li Hongzhang even sent a direct message to the imperial court: "This is a chaotic order. Guangdong will not obey it."
This telegram also encouraged the governors and governors-general of the southeastern provinces. Zhang Zhidong, the governor-general of Huguang, then proposed the "Li Hongzhang President" plan: if Beijing was lost, they would jointly nominate Li Hongzhang as China's "president" to preside over the overall situation.
This move undoubtedly angered the Qing court, and even more so Cixi.
Many Manchu nobles clamored that the Han people were going to rebel and that they must be taught a lesson.
It can be said that the Southeast Mutual Protection essentially undermined the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and from then on, the political structure of Manchu-Han integration collapsed.
The Li family, to which Li Qiwei belonged, was a large Han Chinese family in Guangzhou City and a staunch supporter of the Southeast Mutual Protection Policy.
Li Qiwei's father had met Li Hongzhang before. Therefore, the Li family was naturally targeted by those with ulterior motives.
Although the high and mighty Empress Dowager Cixi and the Manchu princes and ministers would not care about the small Li family, the same might not be true for their subordinates.
After all, everyone wants to climb up.
The Li family members are all in Guangzhou city, where the Han people are very powerful, so the evil hands lurking in the dark cannot find any opportunity.
But a young master of the Li family was actually studying in the UK.
This left an opportunity for Luo Fuyu, the Qing Dynasty's ambassador to Britain and the special commissioner to Britain.
Luo Fuyu was a close confidant of Prince Qing, and he was able to get such a good job because of the other party's strong recommendation.
As for what kind of person Prince Qing is, he is greedy, lustful, cruel and ruthless. At this moment, as the Minister of the Prime Minister's Office of the Qing Dynasty, he is in a high position of power. He is making a lot of money while suppressing the Han people.
Therefore, Luo Fuyu tried every means to please Prince Qing, whether by giving him money or doing things for him, in the hope of being able to move up to the next level.
After all, it is easier to be an official if there are talented people in the court.
So, when Luo Fuyu knew that Li Qiwei was the young master of the Li family, he was very excited.
He quickly sent his subordinate Feng Jin to get information, and what he found out was that Li Qiwei was actually an extremely smart person.
Although Luo Fuyu didn't know what quantum mechanics was, he was impressed by the many foreign scholars who saw him.
It is clear that the other party is definitely not an ordinary person, and he may even be learning some strange skills in an attempt to subvert the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, Luo Fuyu was determined to kill him. Such a person would sooner or later be a disaster to the Qing Dynasty.
However, although he was the ambassador to the UK, he had no military power and only had a few personal soldiers he brought from China.
And Feng Jin is the leader of these personal soldiers.
So he gave Feng Jin an order to keep an eye on Li Qiwei at all times and make sure to find an opportunity to kill him with one strike.
But you must not be discovered by anyone, and you must not let the foreigners find you by following the clues.
Otherwise it would be a huge diplomatic incident.
During this era, when people from the Qing Dynasty saw foreigners, they would immediately lower themselves to the ground, even officials were no exception.
Against this background, Feng Jin took one of his men and planned the assassination in Berlin.
After hearing this, Li San finally understood what was going on.
He gnashed his teeth in hatred and was even ready to pick up his rifle and shoot the bastard to death.
However, he was stopped by Li Qiwei.
"Third brother, don't worry. Now that we know the details of the enemy, there is no need to be afraid."
"We are now in the UK. Even if Luo Fuyu had ten times the courage, he would not dare to assassinate me."
"Besides, he is far away overseas, alone, and he certainly doesn't have many troops under his command. We still have pistols on us, so we are not afraid at all."
"Hehe, the more he wants to assassinate me, the more I will make a big noise and see what he will do."
So Li Qiwei called Hong'er over and gave them some instructions.
After Hong'er knew the truth, she finally felt relieved.
The place where they live is an important academic place in the UK, with very good public security policies, so there is no need to worry about Luo Fuyu and his group.
And with Li San in charge, it is even safer.
Although Hong'er often quarreled with him, she was well aware of his strength.
Then, Li Qiwei asked Li San and Hong'er to go about their business, and he looked at another thing in the letter.
In the letter, Li Qiwei's father said that he didn't know what kind of fame Li Qiwei had made in the UK. Some time ago, several young people wanted to visit him and ask about physicist Li Qiwei.
The father dealt with it by saying that he didn't know at the moment, and wanted to ask Li Qiwei what was going on.
After reading it, Li Qiwei smiled. It seemed that his fame had spread to China.
However, those who can come to the door at this time must be children from wealthy families, otherwise they would not have access to this information.
This is a good thing. For these people, going abroad is not a scary thing, which is very conducive to the development of the Spark Project.
So, Li Qiwei began to write letters, telling his father what to do next and to wait for his notification.
He planned to convey this matter by letter, not telegram, because telegrams were too expensive, and even the great Li Da Shao did not dare to send them frequently.
He also plans to save the money for big things.
(Note: In actual history, the ambassador to the UK was Luo Fenglu. For the needs of the plot, the author has processed it a bit. Let’s just regard it as the butterfly effect.)
(End of this chapter)