Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 487 The countdown begins

After Xiong Chengji was arrested, he completely avoided the plan of the Mishan Uprising in order to protect others.

In addition, his sudden death meant that the people outside who were trying to rescue him had no time to react. Therefore, all rescue plans were cancelled.

However, the frequent activities of these people aroused some suspicion from the Qing court.

Therefore, the imperial court ordered the governors of the three northeastern provinces to strictly investigate the revolutionaries hiding in the Northeast.

Those revolutionaries active in the Northeast had to stop their activities, disperse, and do their best to join schools, the army, the police, etc.

Shang Zhen was admitted to the New Army's 20th Regiment School, while Cheng Qilu and Li Peiji were admitted to the Northeastern Military Academy.

Later, these people were admitted to the Northeastern Provinces Army Surveying and Mapping School as a cover for their secret activities.

The new year begins, and everything is renewed. In an atmosphere of celebration and peace, the second year of the Xuantong reign arrives.

Last year, families were unable to celebrate the New Year properly, and this year, as there are no restrictions, everyone is trying to make up for it.

So starting from the first day of the first lunar month, the governor's mansion was very lively, with people coming to pay New Year's greetings in an endless stream.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Qu Shaoyang held a party in the largest theater in the provincial capital and invited people from all walks of life to attend and celebrate the Spring Festival.

During the banquet, everyone couldn't help but sing praises of Qu Shaoyang, praising his integrity, diligence, pragmatism, and love for the people, and saying that he was deeply loved by the people.

Qu Shaoyang had been in office in Jilin Province for nearly eight years. He held various positions, from general to governor, and was in charge of the military and political affairs of the province, making him a high-ranking official.

During his tenure, Qu Shaoyang rectified local public security, encouraged land reclamation, developed water conservancy projects, built railways, established factories, built schools, and built hospitals. It can be said that he did a lot of practical and good things.

Jilin Province has developed steadily in recent years, its population has almost doubled, and the economic situation has also been improving. Qu Shaoyang has indeed made an indelible contribution to this.

Of course, no one is perfect, and no one can devote themselves wholeheartedly to benefiting others without any self-interest.

Qu Shaoyang also had selfish motives. Taking advantage of opportunities, the Qu family's businesses spread across various industries in the three northeastern provinces. Almost all money-making industries had the shadow of the Qu family.

Qu Shaoyang never denied this point, and he said that he had done enough.

At least he doesn't do those things to exploit the land, doesn't exploit the people, and doesn't increase taxes privately.

Since he took office, the lives of the people in Jilin Province have been much better than before.

Therefore, Qu Shaoyang had a very good reputation in Jilin Province. Whenever the people mentioned this governor, they all gave him a thumbs up and called him a rare good official.

Of course, facing everyone's compliments and praise, Qu Shaoyang still has to be humble.

I would like to say that I still have many shortcomings and I sincerely ask the elders of Jilin City to give me more criticism and suggestions.

There was toasting at the banquet, singing and dancing on the stage, everyone was drinking and talking, it was very lively.

The provincial government has a lot of things to do, so it naturally cannot wait until the 16th day of the first lunar month to start work as it did in the past.

After the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, we started to deal with some urgent matters.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the imperial court ordered the abolition of the Yanbian Border Affairs Supervisory Office and transferred Wu Luzhen back to Fengtian.

Wu Luzhen did a lot of things in his position as assistant director of border affairs in Yanji.

Apart from the Jiandao issue, he also built border garrison buildings, strengthened border defense forces, managed border residents, and planned the construction of the Goryeo Reclamation School, built roads, developed forest resources, etc. It can be said that his contributions were not small.

Of course, Wu Luzhen had close contacts with the revolutionaries and had previously funded Xiong Chengji.

Although the Qing court had no direct evidence, it did not dare to allow Wu Luzhen's power in Yanbian to continue to expand, so it abolished the Border Affairs Inspectorate Office on the pretext of financial constraints.

After receiving the order from the court, Wu Luzhen had no choice but to resign and leave. Before returning to Fengtian, he came to Jilin City to visit Qu Shaoyang.

Qu Shaoyang affirmed Wu Luzhen's achievements in Yanji, and gave him a lot of gold and silver, saying that if he had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely recommend Wu Luzhen.

In this way, Wu Luzhen left Jilin and returned to Fengtian.

Not long after, he was transferred back to the capital and appointed as the deputy governor of the Bordered Red Banner Mongolian Army.

Later, Wu Luzhen was sent to Germany and France to inspect military affairs.

Although Wu Luzhen was transferred away, Han Dengju still served as the Yanbian garrison commander and was stationed in Hunchun.

After so many battles, the Japanese army did not gain much advantage.

In addition, the Yanbian area had already opened a commercial port, so the Japanese army did not harass or invade on a large scale just because Wu Luzhen left.

However, the Japanese garrison stationed in Gongzhuling arrived at Jilin City via Yitong Prefecture on the pretext of investigating the terrain.

When Qu Shaoyang learned about this, he immediately sent a patrol team to expel them. At the same time, he reported to the court, requesting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have a serious negotiation with the Japanese side.

If any garrison leaves the South Manchuria territory without permission again, we will not tolerate it.

The second year of the Xuantong reign was a year of rising revolutionary sentiment. Constitutionalists from all over the country took advantage of this opportunity to launch a petition campaign for the rapid convening of the National Assembly, in order to turn the Qing government's fake constitutionalism into a real one.

At the beginning of the year, representatives from the consultative bureaus of Fengtian and Jilin provinces joined the petition group of 16 provinces which held a meeting within the year.

In February, the advisory councils of Fengtian, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces selected representatives to hold a meeting and jointly submitted a petition to the Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces.

I petition for the prompt convening of Congress to save the three provinces and preserve the overall situation. I respectfully request the Governor to make this petition on my behalf.

At the end of February, the Japanese Consul General in Fengtian, Koike Zhangzo, negotiated with the Fengtian envoy, Han Guojun, on matters related to building an iron bridge across the Yalu River and laying rails to pass trains.

Since Andong was under the jurisdiction of Qu Shaoyang and the Anfeng Railway was also funded and built by Jilin Province, South Korea had no say in the matter, so the Japanese envoy found Qu Shaoyang.

Qu Shaoyang directly rejected the other party's proposal, saying that if an iron bridge needed to be built, Jilin Province could build it on its own and there was no need for Japan to intervene.

The Japanese envoy was very dissatisfied with this and protested to Qu Shaoyang, but Qu Shaoyang ignored him.

After the Japanese envoy left, Qu Shaoyang instructed his family to bring more attendants and guards with them when going out in the future.

Although the Japanese are not yet so arrogant, we still have to be careful and guard against them.

After all, Qu Shaoyang had offended the Japanese many times, and he was afraid that they would do something desperate.

In early March, Taoktaohu, the fourth-rank taiji of Gorlos Front Banner, led 45 remaining bandits and crossed the border from Dorokkalun in Sangbei Banner to join Tsarist Russia after his anti-reclamation uprising failed.

Afterwards, Tsarist Russia took the families of Taoktohu and others to Harbin by ship, and sent them to Tsarist Russia by train.

This matter attracted the attention of Qu Shaoyang. He reported to the court and suggested that the Mongolian movements be closely monitored to prevent more tribes from surrendering to Tsarist Russia and causing unrest.

However, Qu Shaoyang's memorial did not attract the attention of the court.

On March 17, Fengtian Governor Cheng Dequan was transferred to be the Jiangsu Governor. On March 19, the court announced the abolition of Fengtian Governor and ordered Xi Liang, the Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces, to take charge of the governor's affairs.

As a result, the post of Fengtian Governor was no longer established, leaving only the Jilin and Heilongjiang Governors.

At the end of April, Zhenjie, Zhenmin, Jialing, and a group of outstanding students were sent to study in the United States, Britain, Germany and other countries.

This is the fourth group of Qu family children to go abroad.

Zhenbang and others who were among the first group to go abroad have been studying in Germany for nearly four years. A while ago, Zhenbang wrote to me, saying that he had completed his undergraduate studies ahead of schedule, and his advisor wanted to keep him to study for a doctorate, but he refused.

If you study for a doctorate, it would conservatively take five years before you can return, and it might even take eight years. After all, Germany is notoriously difficult to graduate from.

Of course, a German PhD is of considerable value.

Zhenbang felt that it was not the right time for him to study for a doctorate and that his father needed him more, so he rejected his supervisor's invitation and decided to return to China.

As for Xinyuan, his academic progress is not so good and he probably won’t be able to graduate this year but next year.

Zhao Yinglan, He Zewen and others are also doing well in Germany.

Especially He Zewen, this girl is very good, she excels in all subjects and the tutor likes her very much.

The children went abroad one after another, leaving Chen Xiuyun with only the two brothers Zhentang and Zhenxiang.

Zhentang is fifteen years old this year and is already in middle school. This kid is naughty all day long, just like Zhenwu, and doesn't like to study very much.

He also announced early on that he did not plan to study abroad, and that he wanted to enter the Military Academy or join the Dingbian Army and start as a soldier.

The children have grown up and each has their own ambitions, so Qu Shaoyang and his wife can't force them.

With so many children in the family, it is impossible for all of them to be successful. There will always be a few drawbacks.

Chen Xiuyun gave birth to six children in total, four of whom went abroad to study. This is already a great achievement for the Qu family. What else do they want?
As for these kids later on, let them do whatever they want and let them develop according to their personalities.

As I said, just don't be a spendthrift, don't be a traitor, and just be an upright person.

By the end of May, the imperial court approved the reorganization of Jilin's original First Army Brigade and the 27th Battalion of the Jilin Patrol Team's left, right, center and rear routes into the 23rd National Army Regiment.

Originally, the court wanted Meng Enyuan to be the commander-in-chief. Qu Shaoyang came up with a plan and appointed Xu Shiyang as the commander-in-chief of the 23rd Town and Zheng Tiezhu as the deputy commander-in-chief.

Meng Enyuan was from Tianjin. He used to be a big teapot in a brothel. He joined the Huai Army at the age of 30.

In the year of Jiawu, Meng Enyuan served as a sentry officer in the Dingwu Army. Later, when Yuan Shikai trained troops in Xiaozhan, Meng Enyuan and a group of former Dingwu Army members were absorbed.

When Xu Shichang was the governor-general of the three northeastern provinces, Meng Enyuan accompanied him and served as the Jilin patrol supervisor.

As for Xu Shiyang, he was none other than Xu Shichang's sixth brother, and Zhenye's future father-in-law.

He came to Northeast China with Xu Shichang and served in the Jilin New Army.

With his own family around, why would Qu Shaoyang give the position of commander to someone else?

So Xu Shiyang was recommended as commander-in-chief and Zheng Tiezhu as deputy commander-in-chief.

This is equivalent to keeping the officers and soldiers of the 23rd Regiment firmly in his own hands.

As for Meng Enyuan, he was transferred to Fengtian to serve as the commander of the new army.

In June, representatives of the gentry and people from the three northeastern provinces, such as Qiao Zhanjiu, participated in the second petition meeting of various provinces and all walks of life.

Not long after, the Privy Council was established.

Zhao Zhenqing and Niu Guangsheng, students from the three northeastern provinces studying in Beijing, went to the gate of the Regent's Palace, cut their arms with great pain, wrote a blood letter requesting the convening of the National Assembly, and participated in the third national petition for the National Assembly.

The characteristic of the third petition campaign is that it was very loud.

Zhan Dianchen, deputy chairman of the Heilongjiang Advisory Bureau, and Sun Baihu, deputy chairman of the Fengtian Advisory Bureau, went to Beijing to attend the first meeting of the Advisory Bureau Federation. The conference decided to unite with the advisory bureaus of various provinces to promote the early convening of the National Assembly.

In September, the Jilin Provincial Advisory Council, with the slogan of representing all the people, wrote a tearful letter to the Governor-General of the Three Northeastern Provinces Xi Liang and the Jilin Governor Qu Shaoyang, calling on them to ask the Emperor to issue an immediate decree to establish a parliament.

In order to call on the people to resist foreign humiliation and restore national prestige.

Two days later, the Jilin Provincial Chamber of Commerce wrote to the governor, citing the "difficult situation and demoralized people" and requested a quick convening of the National Assembly to rally the people and save the situation.

In their memorial, they specifically mentioned that “within a few days of the signing of the treaty between Japan and Russia, the Japanese used their insidious means to annex Goryeo.

The three northeastern provinces are in imminent danger of extinction. If no effort is made to save them, they will inevitably become the successor of Goryeo."

Then, Wang Bingchen and 630 other gentry and common people from Changshou County jointly wrote to the governor of Jilin, asking Qu Shaoyang to consider the people of the world, follow public opinion, and report to the emperor on their behalf to convene a national congress.

"These people still have illusions about the Qing Dynasty, and they keep shouting about convening a national congress.

What's the point of holding a congress? Do you really think that holding a congress can solve the current predicament?"

Qu Shaoyang was extremely annoyed by these petitions, but he couldn't say anything outside, so he could only complain to his wife in the evening.

"Well, I've read those petitions, and they all see the establishment of a parliament and the implementation of a constitutional monarchy as an effective means of winning the hearts of the people at home and defending against powerful enemies abroad.

I have to say that these people had good intentions, but this idea was a bit naive.”

Chen Xiuyun has been influenced by Qu Shaoyang in recent years and has some insights into current affairs.

“Yes, these people are too naive. The court is just using constitutional monarchy as a cover to fool the people.

Constitutional monarchy cannot change the situation where the country is poor and weak and is bullied by the great powers.

Only a thorough revolution, with the people taking charge, can change the world and create a new situation. "Qu Shaoyang followed with emotion.

Chen Xiuyun was shocked when she heard this, "Shaoyang, you don't want to get involved in the revolution, do you? You didn't say that before."

Qu Shaoyang was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "No, you think too much, I just speak my mind.

I don’t have such noble sentiments, nor do I have such a great mind. I just hope that my family can live in peace and happiness.”

Chen Xiuyun felt a little relieved after hearing this, "Well, it's not easy for our family to get to where we are today, so we can't get involved in those things just because we are hot-headed.

I don't ask for anything else, as long as you and the children are fine, let's live a good life and don't make trouble."

The couple chatted for a while and then fell asleep.

Faced with these petitions, Qu Shaoyang was not sure how to express his position clearly, so he tried his best to deal with the Advisory Council and praised everyone's enthusiasm in submitting the petitions.

At the same time, he said that the best way is to go to the relevant departments in Beijing, state the request, make multi-faceted appeals, and unite with other provinces. If the whole country is united, it will definitely be effective.

In view of the strong pressure from internal and external voices, the Privy Council had no choice but to approve a draft memorial requesting the court to convene the National Assembly as soon as possible.

Regent Zaifeng believed that it was difficult to extinguish the flames of constitutional petitions in various places, so he had to plan to set up a new cabinet first and then convene the National Assembly in advance.

Afterwards, on October 3, Prince Regent Zaifeng announced that the period would be shortened by three years, to establish the National Assembly in the fifth year of the Xuantong reign, and stated that this decision "must not be changed again."

Otherwise, the imperial court will not hesitate to resort to repressive measures to deal with activities in various places.

However, everyone knew that the decision to first establish a cabinet and then postpone the convening of the National Assembly was a completely reversed approach, which also showed that the Qing government was adopting a coping strategy.

Constitutionalists in various provinces expressed dissatisfaction with the imperial edict.

(End of this chapter)