Master Yuan, start!

In order to meet the political enthusiasm of the people of Hubei, countless newspapers emerged in the three towns of Wuhan.

As soon as the National Defense Army entered Jiangning, the front-line reporters covering the important news of the Three Chu States hurriedly asked someone to pass the news back to Wuchang.

After the news of the National Revolutionary Army breaking through the Russian defense line on the Tumen River came out, the reporter of the Central China International News stationed in Korea also spent a lot of money to immediately send the news back to Wuchang via the civilian telegraph in Seoul.

There is a nine-headed bird in the sky and a Hubei guy on the ground.

A phrase originally used to mock the cunning and tricky people of Hubei has been forcibly turned by these reporters into a synonym for highlighting the intelligence, ability, and agility of the people of Hubei.

Therefore, after such big news broke, everyone in the three towns of Wuhan was extremely concerned about the situation in the north and south and wanted to express their opinions.

This was true for the street vendors and the general of the new army.

"Song Qing, you are quite leisurely and elegant, even having time to read the newspaper."

In the barracks of the Huguang New Army, Li Yuanhong, the general of the right wing, was reading the latest issue of the Central China International News with great interest, and he didn't notice anyone approaching.

"Huh! You scared me!"

Li Yuanhong looked back suddenly and found that it was Zhang Biao, the general of the left wing, who was speaking. He immediately put away the newspaper and said:

"Zhang Huchen, why are you coming here to scare me instead of focusing on the reorganization of the new army?"

Li Yuanhong and Zhang Biao were the generals of the right and left wings of the Hubei New Army respectively. They were Zhang Zhidong's right-hand men and they always had a good relationship.

"How can the reorganization of the new army be as important as the situation between the north and the south?" Zhang Biao pulled up a chair and sat down, saying:

"It's only been a short while since the fight started again.

Li Hongzhang wants to be the King of the South, but Yuan Shikai will definitely not agree. The reduction of the feudal system is a foregone conclusion. If a war breaks out, won't Hubei be attacked from all sides?

When Li Yuanhong heard this, his eyes dimmed.

Yes, it is not easy for Hubei to remain unscathed in the chaotic world situation.

Neither the struggle between the emperor and the empress, nor Yuan's expedition to Hunan and his anti-Manchu and anti-Russian campaigns affected Hubei.

However, after such a long period of good times of sitting back and counting money, the Hubei New Army, soaked in money, no longer has much combat effectiveness.

Li Yuanhong knew that the Hubei Army was no match for either the Southern Army or the Northern Army.

So no matter what, we can't let them fight.

"Both Yuan Shikai and Li Hongzhang appear to be seeking peace, but whether a war will break out remains to be seen." Li Yuanhong rubbed his chin, thinking.

“However, we cannot help but be on guard.

Let's go, you and I will go see Marshal Xiang and discuss how to deal with this situation."

Li Yuanhong put away the newspaper, pulled Zhang Biao out of the barracks, and planned to meet Zhang Zhidong.

...

At the same time, in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, Beijing.

Yuan Xiangcheng, the creator of the big news, was also holding a newspaper and reading.

Yuan Shikai did not expect that the person who was most anxious in the telegram exchange between him and Li Hongzhang was not the two parties involved, but Zhang Zhidong who was caught in the middle.

The news that "Governor Zhang wants to reconcile the differences between the North and the South" was published in large letters on the front page of newspapers across the country.

Even the Shuntian Times in Beijing is no exception.

After a while, Yuan Xiangcheng closed the newspaper with both hands, raised his eyebrows, and asked:

"What about Zhang Zhidong? What did Zhang Zhidong say?"

Xu Shichang, who was standing by, recalled the telegram from Wuchang and said, "He's been busy entertaining those secret societies lately."

"A secret society?" Yuan Xiangcheng asked puzzledly.

"These secret societies were once the very people the Qing government wanted to kill. How come Zhang Zhidong, a mere governor, is inviting them to a banquet?"

In Yuan Xiangcheng's understanding, the secret society is a folk gang organization.

But in fact, the term "secret society" was originally neutral and had no specific meaning before the Republic of China.

In the original time and space, Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries equated the party with a secret group that was anti-Qing and had underworld characteristics.

In this time and space, after the founding of the Republic, Yuan Shikai more than once loudly shouted the slogan of republican politics.

So over the past six months, after studying the political systems of the United States and France, people from all over the country have started a wave of establishing political parties.

However, at that time, it was not popular for political parties to be called "XX Party", and they were more inclined to be called "XX Association".

At that time, the land of China was in turmoil, and students and scholars set up various "associations" in teahouses, taverns, and schools.

There are more and more various social organizations and political parties in the country.

There are political parties with names like Qiang Guo Hui, Patriotic Hui, and Xing Guo Hui that cover the entire country.

There are also parties with obvious local characteristics such as the Strengthen Hubei Association, the Strengthen Guangdong Association, the Promote Sichuan Association, and the Promote Zhejiang Association.

In addition, in order to catch up with this trend, the gangs and associations that were originally established to facilitate traveling around the world also transformed themselves and turned their gang organizations into "associations".

The Gelaohui claimed that they were also a society; the Tiandihui claimed that they had upheld the idea of ​​overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty since their establishment, and that they were the most orthodox society.

There was no concept of political parties in China at the end of the 19th century. With the involvement of gang organizations from all over the country, the already immature political party market in Republican China has become dazzling and overwhelming.

There are at least 100 social organizations and political parties established in various places, if not 50.

"Is there such a thing?!" Yuan Xiangcheng was dumbfounded after hearing what Xu Shichang said.

He didn't expect that history would develop like this.

Political organizations and underworld organizations are actually confused with each other.

Chapter 358 Political Parties and the Examination System with Voting 4

"Brother Jidao, what do you think of Yan Fu's calligraphy?"

After pondering for a moment, Yuan Xiangcheng asked Yan Fu, who was standing beside him in deep thought.

Upon hearing this, Yan Fu took out a stack of papers and said, "This is the number of secret societies established in Beijing, Tianjin, Yantai, Renmin, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, which was counted by the Red Search Section a few days ago. There are 33 of them.

If we include the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hubei, a rough estimate would put the number at close to a hundred.”

Yuan Xiangcheng picked up the document provided by Yan Fu, read it quickly, and nodded in agreement from time to time.

Originally, all party affairs within the Red Confucian Society were handled by Xu Shichang, assisted by Qu Nan.

However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, many things became complicated. Due to the nature of the anti-Manchu revolution, some bannermen outside the Great Wall were afraid of the National Revolutionary Army and were unwilling to cooperate with the work.

In view of this, the Republican government sent Qu Nan to serve as the prefect of Shengjing to deal with the problems between the bannermen and the Han people outside the Great Wall.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yuan Shikai deliberately downplayed the distinction between the Manchus and the Han. As long as they were honest civilians and took Han surnames, they would be regarded as Han people and no further action would be taken.

Qu Nan was originally a Han army bannerman, so his identity was suitable.

Xu Shichang also had another important task. He served as the Prime Minister of the government and gradually shifted his focus to government affairs.

In this way, Yan Fu, who served as the Minister of Propaganda of the Red Confucian Society, became the number one person in the society's party affairs.

Yan Fu in history was both a great thinker and a great educator.

He was obsessed with translating Western theories on society, politics, philosophy, and natural sciences. When he served as the principal of Imperial University of Peking, Fudan Public School, and Anqing Normal School, he spread the theories he translated to a group of students.

Although Yan Fu in this time and space failed to become a great educator, after joining the Red Confucian Society, he became more interested in studying Western party systems and ideological theories.

In the early days of the Red Confucian Society, Yuan Xiangcheng translated Marx's Manifesto and Capital.

But later, books such as The Situation of the British Working Class, Class Struggles in France from 1848 to 1850, The French Civil War, and The Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science, which detailed the history of the development of socialism, were all translated by Yan Fu.

It can be said that compared with Yuan Shikai, Yan Fu was more like a fundamentalist socialist supporter.

Although compared with those European theorists who study communism every day, Yan Fu is nothing.

But in East Asia, it is absolutely not an exaggeration to call Yan Fu a master of communism.

Among the Red Confucian Society, only Yuan Shikai could be on par with Yan Fu in terms of theoretical knowledge.

But Yuan Xiangcheng relied on the memory of a time traveler, while Yan Fu relied on his solid theoretical foundation.

Therefore, looking at the document in his hand that was the result of Yan Fu's detailed investigation, Yuan Xiangcheng was very satisfied.

"It is a blessing for the Red Confucian Society and for the people of the world that we have attracted a few of you to join us," Yuan Xiangcheng said to Yan Fu.

"Brother Jidao, just based on the knowledge you possess, you are worthy of being called China's top-notch talent in party building."

"Chief Instructor, please do not flatter others."

When Yan Fu heard Yuan Xiangcheng praising him so much, he quickly declined: "The Red Confucian Society was founded by the chief instructor, and the Republic was established through the bloody battles of the National Revolutionary Army.

What he has accomplished is merely insignificant, far less than saving the country and the people."

Yuan Xiangcheng smiled and waved his hands after hearing this, saying, "That's not true, brothers. Party affairs are of paramount importance. If an organization wants to lead China forward, how can it be without builders?

You may not be good at economics or military affairs, but you are indispensable to the Red Confucian Society's party building."

In Yuan Xiangcheng's view, it was impossible for him to focus on handling the internal organizational affairs of the Red Confucian Society, while Xu Shichang came from an old bureaucratic background and was more suitable for handling government affairs, but he had no sensitivity to party building.

Yuan Shikai needed someone who not only understood foreign political theories but also had traditional scholar thinking to help him build the Red Confucian Society.

Before the next generation of young people grows up, Yan Fu is the best choice.

The reason why Yuan Xiangcheng felt that Yan Fu was trustworthy was only because of an old incident.

A year ago, Yan Fu got some information from somewhere and wrote a letter to the Second International in London, wanting to introduce China's Red Confucian Society to European socialists, claiming that the Red Confucian Society was a political party established to realize socialism.

However, Yan Fu did not receive a reply from the Second International.

Today's Second International has no permanent central body and is a loose organization.

After the London Congress, the participants of the Second International returned to the European continent to focus on the development of workers' parties in their own countries.

However, even though he did not successfully communicate with his European colleagues, Yan Fu continued to improve his theoretical knowledge by reading and translating various European socialist thought articles.

Putting away the report, Yuan Xiangcheng asked:

"Brother Jidao, what do you think are the advantages of the Red Confucian Society compared to these large and small organizations?"

"The advantage is naturally the advantage of spanning the country. The Red Confucian Society has been established for a long time and has a certain degree of organization.

Once the National Revolutionary Army captured a city, the Red Confucian Society could start operating there.

Compared to other local secret societies, this is a world of difference."

Yan Fu was very optimistic about the development of the Red Confucian Society and praised it highly.