Chapter 100: Yanjing Palace
“Professor Lin, this is the best Chinese restaurant in all of Washington D.C.
Rumor has it the chef previously worked in the palace in China, specially cooking for the Emperor of China.”
Inside a private room of a Chinese restaurant on Connecticut Avenue, McNamara was enthusiastically introducing his carefully selected Chinese restaurant.
From a modern perspective, the decor of this restaurant called Yanjing Palace was quite outdated.
It could even be described as poor.
But it truly was the best restaurant in Washington at the time.
Entering the interior of the restaurant, a small front hall featured a wooden reception desk, next to which were Chinese screens or tapestries with patterns including dragons, phoenixes, and Chinese landscapes.
The walls of the main hall were possibly painted in warm golden tones, paired with dark wooden furniture and pendant lights shaped like Chinese lanterns, emitting soft light to create a cozy atmosphere.
The private room where Lin Ran and the others were had orchid potted plants and a faint scent of sandalwood.
Moreover, only Lin Ran didn’t recognize its value; if Lin Ran did, he would know that describing Yanjing Palace as renowned was somewhat understating it.
Because this place was the location of the final meeting between the representatives of both sides during the negotiations to avoid nuclear war in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“Come, come, Professor Lin, try this—it’s said to be their signature dish.”
Being able to eat Yanjing roast duck in Washington showed real effort; Lin Ran was even a bit moved, but with just two people dining, McNamara had prepared a full eight dishes.
This made Lin Ran find it hard to hold back laughter; it was a bit too wasteful.
Mainly because his status had changed, but he hadn’t eaten much Chinese food, so he hadn’t adjusted in this regard and couldn’t quite accept such wasteful behavior.
“Robert, is there something I can help you with?” Lin Ran really couldn’t hold back any longer.
Coming to 1960, this was the first time he had been on the passive side during negotiations with someone else.
You have to know, previously whether with Haines or John Morgan, or even the suddenly appearing Korolev, he had firmly held the initiative in negotiations.
This time facing this guy Robert McNamara, Lin Ran felt for the first time that he had lost the initiative in negotiations.
He thought to himself, maybe the other party wanted a piece of the action in setting shipping standards—fine, let him have it, after all, a minister was also a big shot.
“Nothing, I just simply want to consult you on some questions.
During World War II, I worked under General LeMay; the main topic I researched back then was how to improve the bombing efficiency of B-29 bombers against Japan.”
Lin Ran immediately perked up—this topic I like; if you want to research this, I won’t be sleepy.
Whenever the bombing, I’ll research a full-coverage proposal for you.
“We discovered at the time that taking off from Shudu in China or Karagpur in India required carrying too much fuel, which reduced the effective bomb load.
At my suggestion, the takeoff point was shifted from those two places to the Mariana Islands.
Back then we relied entirely on flight logs, bombing reports, and target reconnaissance photos for analysis.
We used the most basic simplex method.
I’d like to consult you: is there any better algorithm to solve this problem?”
This was an early application of operations research.
“There should have been mechanical calculators by then, right?” Lin Ran asked.
Robert McNamara nodded: “Yes, we used IBM punch card machines back then.”
Lin Ran said: “In that case, a curve fitting can be done.
Simply put, use the least squares method for manual calculation of slope and intercept to find a theoretical optimal method.
Estimate the optimal fuel ratio through the fitting equation.”
“Additionally, if more advanced, abstract the combat system into a matrix.
Introducing matrix analysis and eigenvalue optimization is also a proposal.
You see, we abstract the B-29 combat system as a matrix A, where rows represent resources—the three locations you mentioned: Shudu, Karagpur, and Mariana Islands, right.
Columns represent targets; let’s casually pick three: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya.
Then each matrix element αij represents the efficiency value from base i to target j, like area destroyed per ton of fuel.
Thus, the simplest matrix is constructed.
The next step is to find the value that maximizes efficiency.”
From a modern perspective, this was already the most basic mathematical modeling problem.
But at the time, the traditional method was table-by-table adjustment.
Lin Ran abstracted these variables into a system, described the interrelationships with a matrix, and found the optimal configuration through eigenvalue analysis, greatly elevating the theoretical level and efficiency of the analysis.
Because matrix methods were not yet widely used in operations research, it formed a completely new shocking experience for McNamara.
After Lin Ran finished explaining, he himself pulled out pen and paper from his briefcase and started calculating, plugging in the scant data from his memory over a dozen years ago.
“Professor Lin, sure enough, just as you calculated: eigenvalue approximately 1.5, eigenvector vmax approximately [0.4, 0.5, 0.6], and the result suggests allocating resources to the Mariana Islands.”
McNamara was full of delight.
Lin Ran was already speechless—just for this you had to call me?
“Actually, Professor John von Neumann and Professor Oskar Morgenstern’s ‘Theory of Games and Economic Behavior’ can also be applied here.
We can construct a zero-sum game model to find the Nash equilibrium strategy.
We assume allied high-altitude bombing has characteristics of low hit rate and high survivability, while low-altitude bombing has high hit rate and low survivability.
Japan’s high-altitude defenses are for intercepting high-altitude airplanes, low-altitude defenses for intercepting low-altitude airplanes; thus, a payoff matrix can be constructed based on the zero-sum game model of game theory.
It assumes the area destroyed per ton of bombs.”
Lin Ran briefly explained another model that was a bit more complex than the previous elementary one.
After the explanation, McNamara had a feeling of astonishment.
This feeling was like your idol being even more awesome than you thought.
“Oh my God, Professor Lin, your genius exceeds my imagination by far.” McNamara exclaimed.
“I need to use the restroom.” From the other’s expression, Lin Ran could confirm this guy was just here to consult him on math problems.
Lin Ran was thoroughly speechless and wanted to step out for some air; he really couldn’t stand the other guy alternating between looking at his notebook and gazing at him with adoration.
Simps are like that.
McNamara nodded repeatedly: “Sure, I still need to think carefully about what you said.
Professor, I have only one thought now: if only the professor teaching me calculus at Berkeley back then had been you.”
Lin Ran didn’t respond and went straight out, but who would have thought that when he was about to return to the private room, a man of Chinese descent was standing at the door:
“Professor, give me five minutes to say a few simple words to you, no more than five sentences at most.”
The other’s fluent Chinese language and Chinese appearance, plus this location, made Lin Ran vaguely guess something inwardly.
He didn’t answer, just nodded.
The other made a “please” gesture.
Lin Ran followed him into the nearest private room.
On Washington turf, no one would dare do anything to him.
Plus security personnel were all waiting in the main hall.
It couldn’t be that Washington was full of holes too.
“Professor, I am the founder of this restaurant, Long Sifan; my father is Long*.”
The other’s two short sentences shocked Lin Ran.
Because his father’s name was too familiar—a former warlord.
Long Sifan was sent to the University of South Carolina to study politics in 1945 and opened Yanjing Palace ten years later.
This place had once played an important role.
(The above information is based on a 1978 Washington Post report: Host of Two Worlds – The Washington Post)
Seeing Lin Ran not speaking.
Long Sifan didn’t mind: “Professor, I know what you’re worried about.
So I’ll just say this.
Your concept of Cultural China, combined with the soon-to-be-promoted shipping standards, anyone paying attention can see your purpose.
Hong Kong nominally belongs to England, but in reality the English only have temporary say; it’s not a question of sooner or later taking it back, but whether Yanjing wants to take it back.
So developing Hong Kong is essentially leaving a gift for China.
As a fellow Chinese person, I am impressed.
Being overseas, many things are beyond my power, but on this matter, I think I can still help you a bit.
If you need any help or face any danger, you can come to Yanjing Palace anytime; I dare not promise more, but buying you half an hour is absolutely no problem.
Additionally, if you leave from here, no one can find out your direction from me.
Whatever help you ask for, I’ll do my utmost if I can.
The one who invited you to dinner is the former CEO of Ford Group; he has strong connections inside Ford.
The Japanese have always wanted to develop the automobile industry.
If shipping standardization starts at Hong Kong’s docks, delaying dock modifications in Japan, Hong Kong will have an advantage in shipping costs; with that person helping to make introductions, it’s not impossible for Ford to outsource some components production to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong might be able to take some of Japan’s share.
Later I’ll come say hello; you just need to say as fellow Chinese people, help introduce me, and nothing else needs saying from you.
I’ll find a way to bring some automobile industry to Hong Kong.”
What this person said was completely different from Lin Ran’s guess.
The other was a player from the previous version.
The other said Lin Ran didn’t need to speak because there was no foundation of mutual trust, so if there was some hidden recording device, it would be very unfavorable to Lin Ran.
Lin Ran went from somewhat surprised at the start to quickly calming down.
He had plenty of ways to verify the other’s identity and words.
As for the existence of the gate, Yanjing Palace wasn’t needed yet.
But if that day really came, using it to cover the gate’s existence would be a good method.
In this era, all sorts of strange things and strange people could pop up anytime.
Lin Ran nodded, said nothing, turned and left, thinking to himself: “I hope you can really pull it off.”
Another day of daily ten thousand; for the sake of daily ten thousand, give the crow some monthly votes, woo woo woo!
