It has never been uncommon since ancient times. For example, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, an Indian monk hid silkworm eggs from China in a hollow bamboo stick and brought them back to the Byzantine Empire. This started the history of silkworm rearing and silk reeling in the West and broke China's monopoly on silk.
.
For another example, France secretly recruited mirror craftsmen from Venice, cracked the secret of mirrors, broke Venice's monopoly on mirrors, and turned the original luxury goods into mass merchandise.
There is also the porcelain manufacturing technology stolen by the French in China, and the tea tree planting technology stolen by the British...
From ancient times to the present, commercial espionage has always been common, and it has become even more common in modern times. Take Germany as an example. How did Germany, as a backward country, catch up with Britain? On the one hand, it certainly relies on education, but on the other hand, it also relies on education.
Stealing, although the "copycat" British goods passed by German factories and workshops have opened up a certain market, the quality of German goods is generally poor and far behind British goods. In the final analysis, it is because the technology is inferior to humans, what should we do? Then just
You can rely on stealing.
The Germans' stealing included covert stealing and overt stealing. The so-called "covert stealing" was to send craftsmen to work in the UK. The craftsmen learned manufacturing techniques in British factories and then brought them back to Germany.
From the 1830s to the 1880s, millions of Germans worked in various factories and workshops in Britain.
While Britain obtained cheap labor, German workers learned the technology, which they brought back to Germany, which directly promoted the level of German industry and contributed greatly to the rise of German manufacturing.
Even if the British knew that German workers were stealing from them, they could not refuse Germany's high-quality and cheap labor force.
To a certain extent, the same is true for the Ming Dynasty now. Britain needs cheap labor from Germany, while the Ming Dynasty needs experts, scholars, technicians and skilled craftsmen from various European countries.
As a rising country, Ming Dynasty must introduce a large number of foreign intellectual resources to meet the needs of industrial and commercial economic development.
From factories to universities, from banks to government agencies, there are European employees in various industries in the Ming Dynasty. Among them, there are both naturalized citizens and employees who have signed contracts.
Brian is a technician at Phoenix Bicycle Company. Like many people, he has been considering the issue of naturalization.
This day was like any other day. He came to the restaurant where he often ate alone and wanted to have dinner.
"Hello, Mr. Bryan."
Brian, who was having his dinner, raised his head and looked at the visitor with some confusion - he was British, and his English pronunciation gave away his identity.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"Can I sit down?"
The visitor asked politely.
"certainly."
After pulling out the chair and sitting down, Kent said.
"Mr. Brian, you work for a bicycle company, right?"
"Yes, how can I help you?"
Brian looked at the fellow countryman in front of him with some confusion - he was also British.
"No, I'm helping you now, Mr. Bryan."
Kent said with a smile.
"What?"
"Mr. Brian, you are currently a third-level employee in the company. Your monthly income is about 65 pounds. Of course, this income is quite good. Considering your pension, it is indeed very good. But now, I can give you
You have a chance to earn 200 pounds a month and have a 10% stake in a factory."
"What?"
Brian opened his eyes wide in shock and asked.
"What did you say? What factory? What shares?"
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Kent Force. I come from Shelffield. You are also from Shelffield."
After briefly introducing himself, Kent continued.
"I'm talking about the bicycle factory."
"Bicycle factory?"
"Yes."
Kent said, pointing to the bicycle parked on the roadside.
"This kind of bicycle was invented by Ming Dynasty more than ten years ago. It seems that there is no technical threshold for this kind of thing. An ordinary bicycle consists of 25 parts and more than 150 parts. According to its function and performance, it can
They are divided into four categories: transmission parts, load-bearing parts, braking parts and accessories. These things are essentially industrial products, and as long as steel is available, machine tools can produce them.”
Brian looked at the fellow countryman sitting in front of him with some confusion. What was he talking about? As an engineer at a bicycle factory, he knew everything about bicycles.
"But in fact, it's not that easy. One of the simplest examples is pneumatic tire technology. It is made of vulcanized rubber. This technology has been invented for decades, but before they invented pneumatic tires, European carriage wheels were all
It is a wooden iron wheel. Because vulcanized rubber is expensive, almost no one will use it on the wheel. The emergence of pneumatic tires has changed everything. This kind of tire with low resistance and can reduce bumps has attracted the attention of Europeans as soon as it came out.
.
This technology, like Ming Dynasty's bicycle technology, has been imitated in large numbers in Britain, France and other countries. As for the patent, you only need to slightly change the appearance and size, and then you can imitate it. The lawsuit... maybe after the lawsuit is over, the patent period
It’s passed.”
"Not really, sir."
Interrupting Kent, Brian said.
"Although those European factories copied our bicycles, the quality of their bicycles was very poor. First of all, in the past, due to the price of steel, European and American bicycles used a large amount of wrought iron instead of steel, which meant that their bodywork was of poor quality.
The quality of the imitation pneumatic tires produced by countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States is far from those of Daming's tires.
Even now they use steel to make bicycles, but the quality gap with Daming bicycles is still very obvious, so much so that Daming bicycles imported from European and American countries are high-end goods, while others are just crappy goods."
Of course Kent knew everything Brian said, otherwise, he wouldn't be here.
"Why is this happening? Mr. Bryan, our materials are almost the same as theirs."
Faced with the rhetorical question from his fellow countrymen, Brian continued.
"There are gaps in technology and workmanship. For example, the life of European bicycle flywheels and chains is very short. This is not only because of the special steel we use, but also because of the special heat treatment process..."
When the words came to his lips, Brian stopped, his expression changed somewhat, and he said cautiously.
"Sorry, sir, I think there is no need for us to talk about the next topic. After all, it involves the company's technical secrets."
As an engineer of the company, he was very aware of the constraints imposed on him by the company's confidentiality system, so he only mentioned it briefly and stopped immediately.
"Mr. Bryan,"
Kent said with a smile.
"That's why I came to you, 10% of the shares, a salary of 200 pounds, plus... Britain!"
If it weren't for the fact that the other party was an engineer from a bicycle company, he wouldn't have offered such generous terms.
Looking out the window, Kent said in a very seductive tone.
"Although this is indeed a very fascinating place, Brian, England is your hometown, where you have your family and friends. Isn't Sherfield even more fascinating than here?"
Faced with the sudden invitation, Brian was a little confused.
A monthly salary of 200 pounds and 10% of the factory shares are indeed very tempting! It is more than tempting, it can make everyone excited. After all, it is only 200 pounds!
Is he really worth that much money?
If it wasn't worth so much money, the other party would definitely not offer such a high price. But he still calmed down quickly.
"Sir, what do you want to do?"
Since the guy in front of me offered such a generous offer, he must have something up his sleeve.
Faced with Brian's inquiry, Kent said with a smile.
"Mr. Bryan, my idea is very simple. I want to defeat made in daming in the UK!"
