196 winners

"Mr. Tripp, this is your book, thank you for your generosity." John Taylor handed a Dutch version of the book to a young man standing behind him, smiling.

He returned a book entitled "Principles of Machinery" published and distributed in the United Provinces, which mainly dealt with the operating principles of some common machines and the maintenance and manufacture of major parts. It is one of the older books on the East Coast, but it is very classic and practical, and much of its content is still out of date even today.

When the East Coast people had a good relationship with the Dutch, there was an intensive transfer of a number of so-called obsolete technologies, and this "Principles of Machinery" should have been published and distributed in the Netherlands at that time. I don't know why, the United Provinces are just a sea away from England, why "Principles of Machinery" has been published in Amsterdam for so many years, and why it has not yet become popular in England, which can be called the "home of machine building" in Europe. Thinking about it, it can only be attributed to the fact that the spread of knowledge in this era was valuable, books (especially books containing a lot of knowledge) were not readable by everyone, and the existence of various exclusive guilds also greatly hindered people's motivation to acquire knowledge - for example, a blacksmith who was self-taught could not open a business, because there was no guild acquaintance to introduce him, which greatly dampened people's enthusiasm to acquire knowledge - so the spread of knowledge was relatively slow.

Just like the young man in England with a young face in front of him, in order to learn this "Principles of Machinery", he had to find a way to learn some rudimentary Dutch, and then relied on even guessing ("Principles of Machinery" has more pictures than words) to gnaw down this book that he felt was very rewarding. At the same time, he was more eager to see if there were any differences in the Chinese version of "Principles of Mechanism", and more Chinese books similar to "Principles of Mechanism".

It's just that the price of learning Chinese is expensive, and it's not something that a primary school apprentice like him can afford. God blessed that a good old man was willing to teach him Dutch for free, and he really couldn't imagine that someone would teach him Chinese for free - no doubt, that was the preserve of the aristocracy, and with the scarcity of Chinese talents today, not everyone in London's upper class families could hire such teachers, let alone low-level workers like Taylor.

"Little John, I just don't want to waste your talent." Mr. Tripp, who was also very young, wandered through the jingle machine shop, watching the craftsmen who were concentrating on the bolt parts, and said, "The steam engine in the central power shop for which you are responsible has had the lowest failure rate in the last three years, and no one can compare to you." This is a great way to keep the factory productive, and I'm very happy, John. From next year onwards, your weekly salary will rise to four shillings, and the collection of books in my office will be open to you if you need it. Your talent is unique, and I don't want it to be wasted. ”

John Taylor was moved. At the beginning, he was desperate to find a job in the factory where this "outsider" started, and five or six years have passed. In the past five or six years, he has spent an unknown amount of hard work and sweat to finally get to where he is today. He was proud of his achievements far beyond his peers, but also more humble, because he saw a whole new world in the magical mechanical and mathematical books, and realized that there are people outside of people.

He was even glad at times. If Mr. Tripp hadn't come to Birmingham from Amsterdam to start his own business, he would have been, like most of his childhood friends, either a dirty, hard-working, ignorant shepherd, spending his life in the country, seeing every old man prostrate on the ground and kissing the tips of his boots; Or become a cheap mercenary, chasing every war like a shark that smells of blood, and then rot in the damp and muddy trenches paralyzed by alcohol and prostitutes.

This is the life of the vast majority of people at the bottom. They have no capital or right to education, they can only serve as cheap cannon fodder or labor, burning their lives for the upper class, contributing their own blood and sweat, unless you can get qualitative changes in the process and upgrade your class, but how difficult is this.

John Taylor was undoubtedly lucky. In his own youth, he met the benevolent Monsieur Victor Tripp, and an old Dutch craftsman who was willing to teach him knowledge and language. They were immigrants fed up with the endless infighting and lingering spectre of war in the United Provinces, and they came from across the sea to bring with them the capital, technology, and new ideas that England desperately needed, and to breathe a breath of fresh air into England's somewhat dreary air, and it was at this time that Taylor, the lucky one, seized the opportunity of a lifetime.

He vowed to fight for the factory of Mr. Tripp, a good man, for the rest of his life, not only because Mr. Tripp paid him more than the average skilled craftsman, but also because the Tripp family was already a well-known family in Amsterdam and was worthy of his own following.

Taylor vaguely heard that the Tripp family had arranged a weapons and equipment business for the navy and army of the United Province more than ten years ago, and also owned copper mines, iron mines, and a number of smelting workshops in Sweden. However, after the Prince of Orange came to power, the family still took over a lot of the arms business – this is the advantage of betting on both sides, and either faction will have its own benefits – but it has also been challenged by many new families. Thus, after careful consideration, the Tripp family, like many Dutch capitalists of the time, began to transfer their property and technology to England, which was also a Protestant country, in order to reap greater profits in the future.

As the most prosperous country in Europe's industrial technology, it is understandable that England is favored by Dutch industrial capital, not to mention that this country is still a Protestant country, with a strong navy and no foreign invasion, which can be called an excellent haven, so since the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, a large number of Dutch merchants, mechanics and scholars have flocked to England, injecting new impetus into the development of this country.

This trend continues today. As Britain and continental Europe gradually opened up a gap in industrial technology - now the steam engine has been widely used in England, it may be an exaggeration to say that it is blooming everywhere, but the word "widely used" is worthy - and the French military threat to the real situation in the Low Countries, the Dutch elite became more and more uneasy, so that investment and immigration to England have gradually become a trend, so that the English do nothing, and the economy can grow a large wave every year, because of the influx of foreign capital and technology.

In addition, the persecution of the Huguenots by King Louis XIV of France also prompted a large number of French elites to go into exile in England, which in disguised form strengthened their power. Don't believe it, although the Huguenots in France do not make up a large proportion of the total population, they are mostly concentrated in the fields of industry, commerce, art and thought, and have a higher social status and more wealth in their hands. Colbert, for example, had feared that Louis XIV's actions against the Huguenots might lead to a decrease in French trade revenues, since a significant portion of the import and export trade was in the hands of the Huguenots.

Thus, when more and more Huguenots chose to emigrate to England because they feared Louis XIV's religious policies, it injected a new shot in the arm for the country's industrial and commercial development. From this point of view, the island nation of England has really been the big winner in Europe in the last two decades. Without fighting a war, without spending much money, he obtained a large amount of capital, technology and elite immigration, and at the same time, there were also overseas connections, market contacts, etc., and the benefits are really indescribable.

Compared with them, the French kingdom, which has killed and injured a lot of people, spent countless money, and at the same time greatly deteriorated its international relations, although it occupies a lot of land, it is really difficult to say that it is the first winner. England will have a faint hint of being the stronghold of the anti-French forces in Europe, and it will naturally attract the wealth, technology, and talent of the anti-French countries, and it seems reasonable to say that it is the first winner.

Of course, at the level of John Taylor, it may not be possible to comprehend these advanced things, which are only learned by the direct adult men of the Tripp family. Now Taylor has only just obtained a decent salary in London, and at the same time, he is full of longing for the technologically advanced and socially civilized country in the New World in the south, and fantasizes that one day when he earns enough money, he will buy a ticket to the east coast and go to the place he longs for.

He felt that it didn't matter if he didn't know the language, and with his ability to maintain and manage steam engines, he wouldn't be able to find a job if he went. He could study while working, learn freely in that temple of knowledge, and then return to England to surprise those who had once looked down on him.

There are many people who think the same way as Taylor, mostly in academia and business. Academics often discuss the various institutions of the East Coast, including the political, economic, and military systems, and also study the country's ideas such as free trade and people's rights, and then use them as a comparison to reflect on the country's decadent and backward system and culture.

The business community has a deeper understanding than the academic world, that is, the East Coast's superior industrial technology, seafaring technology, financial system, commercial system, and the resulting superhuman ability to trade, have never dazzled them. But this kind of thing can't be copied to their country, for no other reason, the national and social conditions are different, and the cultural traditions are also different. What's more, there are still many rotten traditions and institutional constraints in the country, and it is not as easy as a blank sheet of paper for the people on the East Coast, and it is always very difficult to implement.

Either way, the success of the East Coasters is unquestionable. No one can pretend to turn a blind eye to it anymore, and even the most corrupt and backward Catholic world has begun to change after being beaten so badly. It's a pity that the East Coast country rarely accepts foreign students, and even if there is, it must be approved by them, so it is difficult to systematically learn the knowledge of the East Coast and understand their system, and if you don't live in their society for a long time, you don't dare to say that you understand, and this has led to everyone who has lived on the East Coast for some years to become the guest of the monarchs and dignitaries of various countries, and talents are rare!

Victor Tripp ran a rifle factory in England for several years, and the business was good and profitable, and he also maintained a good relationship with the traditional English aristocracy and merchant community in Birmingham and even London, and can be said to be one of the more successful Dutch merchants who immigrated to England (of course, this is also related to his strong family background). But even so, he still had the urge to put down his workshop and go to the East Coast to see what was so magical about the country that had been supplying a lot of cheap industrial products on the European market for a long time.

Victor Tripp found it interesting, a new experience, and even if it might delay him for years and cause him to fall behind in the competition of the new generation of his family, it was still worth it, because it might help him break through the bottleneck and reach heights that he had never dared to achieve before.

From this point of view, Taylor and Tripp are actually the same kind of people, even though their identities, status, and wealth are very different now, but they are highly consistent in their yearning for the East Coast. And if you look at it in detail, in these decades of turmoil on the European continent, how can the Eastern Republic not be a big winner? They provided a safe and stable environment to attract Italian capital, merchants, scholars, and mechanics from the more enlightened United Provinces of Europe, England, and North Germany through developed industry and commerce, and a vote of Mediterranean countries through their great maritime power (a reputation forged by a few hard-fought naval battles), and in doing so, they continued to grow and create a virtuous circle.

Today, with a population of more than 6 million, a strong economy, and steadily increasing military investment, the country's foundations are solid. After struggling for decades, the Europeans finally began a painful transformation, the bourgeoisie grew stronger and more active, and slowly began to evolve in the direction of a modern state (although there is still a long way to go), and in the future it is inevitable to start an all-round competition with the East Coast, although its chances of victory are very small because of the factors of land, population and resources, but this competition is inevitable, and its time span is likely to extend to tens or even hundreds of years later.