1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 45

Zhao Yan helped Zhao Hao up and sat him down beside him. Looking at the boy in front of him, he realized that the other party was just a young boy of eighteen or nineteen years old.

How could I not be at fault? Forcing these teenagers, who should still be growing up, to bear such heavy responsibilities at such a young age.

"Ah Hao, remember this: brothers can argue, fight, and even have a brawl if they disagree, but in the end, you should still lend a helping hand."

The future is uncertain, and the road ahead is destined to be full of hardships and dangers. I don't know how far I can go, but I can help you prove which path is right and which is wrong.

"As long as I can keep going, you will follow. If I can't keep going and I collapse, you will find another path and continue on. Don't be afraid, and don't regret it. Brothers, we are of one mind, and we will eventually overcome this challenge."

Zhao Yan could tolerate anything, but he couldn't tolerate these teenagers fighting amongst themselves in front of him back then. Although that hadn't happened yet, there were already some signs of it.

But there was no good solution, so Zhao Yan could only try to bring them together.

Zhao Hao wiped the corners of his eyes and said firmly, "As long as we dare to take risks, I firmly believe that there is no road we cannot overcome. Teacher, please don't lose heart!"

"Where there's a will, there's a way; man can conquer nature. That's what you taught us. As long as we're united, what obstacle can't we overcome?"

Zhao Yan laughed: "Yes, that's the spirit. That's what young people should be like. Don't think about those messy things, and don't get tainted by the outdated thinking of those bureaucrats."

They still cling to the old-fashioned hierarchical relationship between ruler and subject, completely outdated!

"Go and get some rest. Let me have some peace and quiet!"

Zhao Hao nodded: "Teacher, you should get some rest too!"

Zhao Yan waved his hand: "Go ahead, you don't need to worry about it."

Late at night, Zhao Hao left. As he walked out the door, he turned back and saw that the lamp in the imperial study was still on.

The following day, the presidential palace held another meeting, still to discuss war preparedness. However, during the meeting, Zhang Mingqi raised objections to the recent tax collection and sale of national bonds in many regions, believing that the people below were becoming increasingly outrageous in their actions, ignoring the advice of local officials, and that the methods of tax collection and sale of national bonds were too radical.

The Finance Minister also raised objections, arguing that the Ministry of Finance's tax system only stipulates tax amounts and tax exemption limits, and does not implement any outrageous tax systems. This act of unilaterally changing the tax system is going too far.

Zhao Yan raised his eyelids but did not speak. In front of close people, he could be helpless and bewildered, but in this public setting, Zhao Yan's aura was absolutely overwhelming.

Zhao Yan looked around at everyone, and none of the attendees dared to look him in the eye. Even Zhang Mingqi turned her head slightly away.

"Have you said everything? Have you finished complaining?"

"Did the taxes collected by the subordinates go to embezzle, or did they line their own pockets?"

"All the money and grain have gone into the national treasury without missing a penny. What's a little tax reform? What's wrong with taking more radical measures? The most important thing is that the mission has been accomplished!"

"Without their threats of violence, do you think those landlords and gentry would have obediently handed over their money?"

Zhao Yan tapped the table lightly with his fingers: "I think the changes are good, that's how they should be changed!"

"You all have twenty or thirty years of official careers, yet in the end you still have to let a bunch of greenhorns teach you how to do things?"

"I think you've all forgotten who you are now that you've moved into the Forbidden City. You used to be local officials, and every little thing in the local government was difficult to handle. Without the decisiveness to cut through the mess, how can you shoulder the responsibility at this crucial moment?"

"In times of chaos, harsh measures are necessary. I don't care about the process; I just want to see the result. If we can't win this war next year, everyone will lose their heads. Who has the time to talk about this and that? I also want to ask the Prime Minister's Office about the progress of the Northeast Development Program?"

"Come here, Zhang Mingqi, Premier Zhang, tell me about this!"

Zhang Mingqi looked at Zhao Yan helplessly, his eyes filled with resentment: "Aren't you being a little too protective of your own?" With a few casual words, those bastards under his command were not only blameless but also credited, and even turned around and questioned the Prime Minister's Office about the matter.

Zhao Yan's eyes were unwavering: That's right, it's none of your business to worry about my disciples!

Zhang Mingqi met the gaze in defeat, then reluctantly withdrew his eyes and honestly replied, "Your Majesty, it is currently deep winter, the weather in the north is frigid, and the northeast is completely frozen. The large-scale development strategy has been completely halted. This is due to the necessities of nature, and there is nothing that can be done by human effort!"

Zhao Yan pressed on, "Don't give me excuses, just tell me the result!"

Zhang Mingqi turned his head and glanced at the Minister of Civil Affairs, who immediately stood up with a stiff upper lip: "Your Majesty, the central government ordered the creation of three provinces in the Northeast and the re-establishment of officials in the middle of the year. Currently, the Northeast provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang have a population of 11.12 million, of which 750,000 are migrants from the Central Plains around the time of the autumn harvest."

After the snow melts next spring, the government will continue to mobilize and organize immigrants to the Northeast. Relevant propaganda and mobilization work has already begun, and impoverished people in the Central Plains are very enthusiastic about going to the Northeast to reclaim wasteland. The relevant "Reclamation Law" has already been established and improved.

Zhao Yan interrupted the report with dissatisfaction: "Why all the fuss? All I heard is that there are less than a million immigrants so far. You're mainly doing propaganda, mobilization, and legislative work. How long has it been? And you're still just doing superficial work!"

"Can't we work in the freezing cold? Organize those immigrants to build roads! The Beijing-Shenyang Railway is still not fully connected, and there isn't a single highway. They're all just old Qing Dynasty official roads."

The infrastructure is in such a terrible state, and you're still doing propaganda and mobilization? If you could get things done just by talking, why would I need you sitting high in the court? When it comes to talking, who can beat me?

"Sit down, stop making a fool of yourself!"

The Minister of Civil Affairs sat down awkwardly, and Zhang Mingqi was equally embarrassed.

Zhao Yan continued, "It's cold in winter. Those poor people will just starve and freeze if they stay at home. They might as well come out and do some work."

"The government can't afford to support lazy people, much less provide free relief to able-bodied individuals, but it can certainly pay them to work."

Where is Minister Zhan Tianyou of the Ministry of Transportation?

Zhan Tianyou immediately stood up: "Yes, Your Excellency!"

Zhao Yan nodded: "You are the Minister of Transportation whom I specially invited. Let me ask you, how much would it cost to build a railway that completely connects the three northeastern provinces, plus a paved national highway built to the same standards as the Changguang Highway?"

Without a second thought, Zhan Tianyou confidently quoted a figure: "At least thirty million taels of silver!"

Zhao Yan said, "That's too little. I'm not a stingy person. I'll give you fifty million taels of silver! How long will it take to get it repaired?"

Zhan Tianyou's face flushed red on the spot, and he became very excited: "Your Excellency, I assure you that it will be completed in 1908. As long as the personnel and materials do not lag behind, the last 80 kilometers of the Beijing-Shenyang Railway can be completed before the New Year!"

Zhao Yan nodded: "These are the officials we need! I don't want to hear any reasons or excuses. I just want to see you take action instead of just complaining!"

"Where is the Minister of Civil Affairs?"

The Minister of Civil Affairs stood up again: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Yan pounded on the table and said heavily, "I'll give you five million in funding. You can build supply points, medical points, and temporary accommodation and rest points along the way for the immigrants."

You have to take care of all the necessary farm tools, land reclamation supplies, and even weapons and ammunition. You can't just rely on empty words and expect the people to pack their bags and go to Northeast China empty-handed.

The government can't just collect taxes and then just embezzle without doing any work; it has to get the important stuff done. Officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, get to the front lines and get things done!

"What kind of supplies of food and water, medical care, and rest stops are needed along the way for the immigrants? What tools are needed for reclamation after arriving at the destination? What to do if they encounter bandits and remnants of the Manchu Qing dynasty? Do they need weapons and ammunition?"

How to settle down during the land reclamation process, how to confirm land ownership, and how to develop and maintain the land afterwards.

"Your Ministry of Civil Affairs should resolve these issues one by one. If you can resolve them, great; if you can't, I'll resolve the issues with your Ministry of Civil Affairs!"

"Yes, Führer!"

Standing outside the door, Zhao Hao looked at Zhao Yan, who was now domineering on the conference table, and finally felt a little more at ease. This was the teacher he knew best.

Chapter 83 Anglo-Japanese Allied Forces

January 25, 1907, Nagasaki Port, Japan.

One after another, transport ships from Europe were docking, fully loaded with large quantities of military equipment and various war preparation materials needed by Japan.

After Sino-British relations deteriorated rapidly and even broke off diplomatic ties in the middle of last year, the British began to continuously increase their aid to Japan.

Last October, the British government approved a suspension of interest payments on Japan's existing debt and also approved a massive loan of £35 million to the Japanese government.

Of course, these benefits weren't free; those who received them had to do the work, and both the British and Japanese knew exactly who they were working for.

If you asked the Japanese to fight Russia again, they definitely wouldn't dare, because the Russians were too reckless, and even if they won, they wouldn't gain anything and would suffer huge losses.

However, deep down, the Japanese are more than willing to continue fighting China, their defeated adversary. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan suffered heavy losses and was burdened with a mountain of debt. If they could defeat China again and obtain a large amount of reparations or even cede territory, it would greatly benefit Japan's postwar recovery.

Japan has now initially restored the strength of twelve standing divisions, bringing the size of its standing army to over 250,000. Furthermore, the troops that were gradually demobilized after the Russo-Japanese War are also being restored, bringing the total strength of the Japanese army to over 600,000.

The Japanese Army Ministry used British loans to continuously expand its strength, which made the Navy quite envious, but there was nothing they could do, as the Chinese Navy's strength was simply not worth the expansion of the Combined Fleet.

The British have also pledged to deploy Commonwealth troops in this "punitive war" against China. The British Empire is now in dire need of a victory to maintain its waning hegemonic glory.

The previous war in South Africa was a disastrous defeat for the British army, which made the British Empire lose face. This time, they were confident in taking advantage of the weaker enemy, the Chinese.

The British Empire will send an expeditionary force consisting of two divisions from its homeland, and Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, have also pledged to send troops.

In Europe, the British had few henchmen they could contact, and Germany directly rejected the invitation to send troops. The German Emperor, who had been advocating the Yellow Peril theory, was bewildered by the €70 million order from the Far East and even tried to mediate between China and Britain to avoid war. This move was rejected by both China and Britain without hesitation.

Kaiser Wilhelm's "Yellow Peril" theory has always been a joke in Europe. Even Kaiser Wilhelm himself felt that such a statement was unreliable. How could the "sick man of East Asia" be a threat to Europe?

Kaiser Wilhelm's "Yellow Peril" theory was merely an excuse and justification for Germany's intervention in the Far East to acquire colonies and markets. Now that the Chinese have opened their markets to Germany and placed exorbitant orders, the Kaiser has no choice but to change his attitude.

The German business and financial sectors all hoped to avoid this war, preferring to wait until they had made all the money from the Chinese before fighting.

France, another major power, also refused the invitation to send troops to China. French usurers have already lent 150 million francs to the Chinese, not to buy government bonds but as real loans, with an exorbitant annual interest rate of 8.5%, but the French really like such customers.

The United States did not accept the invitation to send troops to China. They were even willing to mediate the war, but the United States had too little say in the matter.

Aside from the Commonwealth, the only countries that have agreed to send troops to participate in future wars are the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal.

The Russians volunteered to participate in the joint operation, but were rejected by Britain. What a joke! The Russo-Japanese War took so much effort to cut off your eastward advance, and you still want to reach out?

After gathering their allies, the British swiftly began preparations for war.

Large numbers of European and Commonwealth troops were also preparing to set sail from their homelands to Japan to assemble. The British had gathered approximately 80,000 troops to participate in the war against China.

However, in the eyes of the British, the greatest role of these white troops was not to participate in the war, but to keep an eye on the Japanese, tighten the chain around their necks, and prevent the mad dog Japan from becoming too powerful in the Far East.

The main purpose of the army brought in by the British Empire was to demonstrate its global hegemony and influence in the Far East, and to prove that it was the world's dominant power.

The joint forces, primarily composed of British and Japanese forces, are expected to be fully assembled by mid-year, as top-secret intelligence shared by Japan indicates that Zhao Yan, the leader of the Chinese revolution, intends to launch an offensive against Japanese colonies in Northeast Asia next summer.

It is estimated that at least 200,000 regular troops and an unspecified number of reservists will be mobilized for the war, and there is even a fanciful decision to take the Liaodong Peninsula in three months to end the war.

This intelligence was obtained through secret channels and is said to be the result of discussions at a core meeting in Beijing's central government. It is highly credible because Zhao Yan told it to a group of top military and political leaders in the government.

Meetings of that level are practically a manifestation of the national will. The British and Japanese believed this intelligence, after all, a national leader would not deceive his core military and political ministers, would he?

Therefore, the Anglo-Japanese Allied Forces decided to give the Chinese a surprise by launching a preemptive strike against China in the middle of this year, giving Zhao Yan a huge surprise.

That's how war is; no one can faithfully follow your plan. The two sides in a war are constantly changing.

In fact, if Zhao Yan's revolutionary army hadn't easily defeated the Beiyang Army, the Allied forces wouldn't have even bothered with the most basic war preparations and would have just led their troops to attack.

After all, an opponent capable of defeating the Six Divisions of Beiyang must have some fighting strength. After all, China was no longer ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but by Zhao Yan, who was famous for his nationalist revolution.

But that was all the Allied forces paid attention to the Chinese army. No one took Zhao Yan's National Defense Army seriously, considering it just a peasant army, not even as good as the grey cattle of Tsarist Russia.

Britain and Japan launched various channels to try to find out about China's war preparations, but they were confused by all sorts of different intelligence.

All sorts of military units, including standing divisions of the National Defense Force, reserve divisions, militia divisions, armed police forces, construction corps, and garrison brigades, suddenly appeared.

But after making a few inquiries, it turned out that most of them were just for show. For example, the so-called infrastructure corps were just engineers carrying hoes to build roads, and the so-called militia divisions were just armed immigrants.

The coalition intelligence agencies chose to ignore these military forces, considering them just a group of civilians with a big reputation. The most noteworthy force was the standing division of the National Defense Force.

To date, the Chinese military has reorganized 18 standing divisions, all of which are giant divisions with a scale of 20,000 people. Eight of these divisions have been deployed to local areas: the Second Division in Jiangnan, the Sixth Division in Southeast China, the Fifth and Fourth Divisions in Southwest China, the Seventh Division in Outer Mongolia, the Eighth Division in Guanzhong, and the Ninth Division, which is advancing into the Western Regions.

At most, only ten divisions of regular troops could be deployed to the front lines, which is exactly the 200,000 regular troops shown in the intelligence.

Britain and Japan had no doubt about this intelligence and did not investigate further. In their view, it was normal for the Chinese to have borrowed so much money and made such a large-scale military buildup, yet only have a nominal standing army of 200,000.

Both Britain and Japan were well aware of the inefficiency and corruption of Chinese bureaucrats. They even considered it remarkable that the Chinese could muster 200,000 standing troops in a year and a half of war preparation time, suggesting that leader Zhao Yan had put in a great deal of effort.

Neither Britain nor Japan believed the Chinese plan to build a million-strong army, which had been making a great fuss. They thought it was just a ridiculous strategic deception by the Chinese, who were trying to teach a fish to swim.

Japan even planned to deploy only seven standing divisions to conquer the entire Northeast, advance into Beijing, and completely destroy the detestable new regime established by Zhao Yan!

As for the choice of battlefield, the Japanese did not pay attention to the Kwantung State mentioned in the intelligence. This was not because the Japanese saw through Zhao Yan's deception, but because the defense of the Kwantung State only needed to be strengthened.

The Japanese fought a tremendous battle and lost tens of thousands of lives to capture it, while the Chinese, with their so-called 200,000 regular troops, thought they could take over Kwantung Leased Territory—it was simply a joke.

In the eyes of the Japanese, given the fighting strength of the Chinese, even if all 200,000 regular troops were wiped out, they might not be able to get close to the Lushun Fortress!

Japan chose Northeast China as its main battlefield. They planned to send troops from Korea, directly into Northeast China, and then advance into the interior of China. Regardless of whether the British were willing or not, the Japanese Empire had to swallow up Northeast China this time.

The Japanese plan was to keep their interests within the Great Wall unchanged, while the Northeast outside the Great Wall was the real prize they needed to seize.

The Japanese had no intention of defending the Kwantung Leased Territory; offense was their forte. How could mere Chinese be worthy of the Imperial Japanese Army's defense?

The only thing that worried the Japanese was not the outcome of the war. In their view, they were already destined to be the winners before the war even started.

What troubled the Japanese most was the leash the British had put around their necks. The British had repeatedly warned that this war was a "punitive" war, prohibiting Japan from acquiring more colonies and territories in China. Reparations were no problem, but territorial concessions were absolutely out of the question; a balance had to be struck in the Far East.

Moreover, the British were too slow, insisting on waiting until the Commonwealth and European troops had all arrived in Japan before launching the war.

The British are not slow, but the armies of Commonwealth countries and European countries are much slower, and it is expected that they will not be able to complete their assembly until at least August or September.

However, Japan is confident that it can completely defeat China before winter arrives; good things come to those who wait.

That's how war preparation works. No large-scale war can be started on a whim. Wars involving a few thousand or tens of thousands of people can be launched quickly, but large-scale wars involving hundreds of thousands of people cannot be launched without a year or two of meticulous preparation.

Chapter 84 There is a traitor among us!

January 1907, 2, New Year's Eve.

Today, Zhao Yan ordered that all civil servants of the fifth rank and above in the capital be invited to a banquet in the palace. No one is allowed to ask for leave or be absent. Even if someone is paralyzed, they must be carried over!

The republican government abolished the Qing Dynasty's nine-rank and six-ministry system, eliminated the distinction between officials and clerks, and uniformly adopted a civil service system.

The new civil servants are equal in political status, and there is no need for them to kneel or be manipulated by their superiors. The only distinction between them is the nine-level statutory administrative rank.