The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Comrades, what is revolution? This is revolution. Leading everyone to a better life is revolution. Rebellion is simply overthrowing a group of masters and becoming the master yourself. It's a matter of taking turns to be the boss. I, Zhang Yinghao, will never agree to this.

Let me be clear here: if anyone among us wants to act like a lord again, to bully us poor people from a high position, you can leave at any time. Just write a report and say you no longer want to make revolution, and no longer want to create a better future and seek happiness for us poor peasants. Make it clear, and you can leave at any time. Our revolution is entirely voluntary, not forced or intimidated!

"For those landlords and wealthy people who have committed no crime, we will conduct labor reform on them, not slaughter them without reason. Our revolution is to save people, not to kill them. So what is the first step in our revolution? It is land revolution, which means that all our peasant comrades will have land to cultivate. Comrades, we must make revolution and cannot let any working people like us starve or freeze to death."

"Our revolution is to ensure that everyone who participates in labor can eat, wear clothes, have a house to live in, and their children can afford to go to school. Look at us in Zhangjiagou and you will know that as long as everyone works together, it is possible. As for those who do not work, those who eat us, wear us, rob us, and enslave us, as long as they have not committed crimes, we will transform them through revolution. Let them also become workers and become self-reliant laborers. As for those who have committed heinous crimes, we will publicly try them and send them to see the king of hell."

"Comrades, think about it: it would be a wonderful thing if all the people in the country could have enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, good houses to live in, and their children could go to school. So I hope that you will work with me to create a happy and beautiful new China! Do you have any questions about this?"

At this time, a farmer representative said: "Captain Zhang, can this be done?"

Zhang Yinghao said with certainty, "This is definitely achievable. Haven't we already achieved it in several nearby villages? The stronger we become, the more people will achieve this goal. If we can achieve this here, then others can achieve it too. If we continue to revolutionize one village at a time, it will eventually lead to a better life for the people of the entire country. Then, won't that mean we have achieved it?"

"But what if there's a famine or disaster? If there's no harvest, there will always be people who won't have enough to eat."

Zhang Yinghao immediately replied, "So we build reservoirs, dig ditches, repair canals, build dams, and dig ponds here! This is to ensure there's water in years of famine and food in years of disaster. So wherever we go, we organize the local people to build water conservancy projects so that everyone can live a good life."

Of course, if the disaster is particularly severe, then only the country can provide relief. When one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid. Comrade, you have a thousand kilograms of surplus grain in your warehouse. Would you mind giving out a hundred kilograms for disaster relief?

"can!"

Isn't that right, comrades? Where does a happy life come from? It's created through labor! We can live a good life through labor. In the past, everyone couldn't live a good life because the fruits of their labor were exploited by corrupt officials and landlords. We have previously conducted an accounting class for you comrades, remember? Those comrades who haven't taken the accounting class can find the relevant documents and read them a few times, or ask those who have taken the class and you will understand.

"Those landlords have a saying: 'You can't get rich without killing the poor.' What they mean is that if the poor don't starve or freeze to death, they'll have more to eat, and the landlords will have to eat less. We work every day just to get enough to eat and wear, but these exploiters take too much from us, so we can't eat enough or wear warm clothes. That's why people starve to death and freeze to death every year. Isn't it true? The landlords' good life is achieved by exploiting the poor, even depriving them of their lives. Our comrades must all understand the principle of exploitation."

Chapter 38: Talking about Money and the Party as Preparations

3873 words

One person can go very fast, but a group of people can go very far. The farther you go, the more you need a lofty ideal. — Quotes from Zhang Yinghao

Zhang Yinghao emphasized his tone, deliberately making his voice more gruff to sound solemn. "Comrades, we've been working so hard, yet we haven't had enough to eat or wear. It's not that we peasants and workers aren't diligent enough. It's that the exploiters have taken too much of what belongs to us workers. Everyone must remember and understand this."

"Comrades, do you have any questions about this? I'm giving a lecture here. If you don't understand something, or if you don't understand something, feel free to ask. You can also discuss it with each other. Don't pretend to know when you don't. Confucius said two thousand years ago, 'To know what you know, to know; to know what you don't know.'"

Comrades, please speak up if you don't understand something. You can also ask me privately and I'll answer it. If I don't understand something, we can discuss it together. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Is there anything else you don't understand? If not, let's take a break. If you do, you can ask me after class."

......

"This class is about money. Everyone knows about money. Who doesn't know about money? Is there anyone who doesn't? Right? The reason I'm training you now is to tell you that we've developed a special kind of paper. I plan to use this paper to print the currency of our base, that is, money. From now on, we will pay you workers here with money we print ourselves, and only money we print ourselves. One penny today is equivalent to one cent in our currency, and one ounce of silver is equivalent to ten yuan in our currency. The most important thing is that the prices of grain and salt in our supply and marketing cooperatives are fixed. In other words, the supply and marketing cooperatives we open in the future will only accept money we print ourselves, and the prices of grain and salt will always be the same, regardless of famine or disaster."

Zhang Yinghao's primary focus is issuing banknotes. He doesn't understand ink production, but he does know the difference between hydrophilic and oleophilic inks, and between intaglio and relief printing. China isn't far behind in research on these topics; after all, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang issued the Ming Baochao. Coupled with the Eastern nation's impressive craftsmanship, breakthroughs in double-sided printing led to the banknotes Zhang Yinghao is preparing to issue.

Zhang Yinghao knew that if he controlled the money, he could control many things. Especially when he was weak, the money he printed could not be used anywhere else. The people from the base were left penniless when they went to other places. This was like forcibly tying the people in the base to his car, forcing them to follow him.

Zhang Yinghao, unconcerned with his own creditworthiness, began printing on a small scale. Of course, by tying the prices of grain and salt to the currency, he could forcibly imbue his printed notes with value. In previous generations, the Communist Party (GC) had used this method within its base areas to imbue the RMB with value. During the Republican era alone, over three thousand official banknotes were issued. Many warlords also forcibly issued their own custom-made notes within their respective territories, extracting wealth from the people to fund their military spending.

Zhang Yinghao had barely seen silver in his previous life, let alone gold. He had no concept of precious metals. If he walked into a gold jewelry store and saw those bright yellow things, he wouldn't be able to tell whether they were gold or not. To Zhang Yinghao, the currency he issued was essentially a variation of a food stamp, not linked to a precious metal; it was purely a credit currency.

"Everyone knows about money, but I think no one has ever thought about what money is. Wang Daqiang, what do you think money is?"

Wang Daqiang stood up and said, "Money is silver!"

Everyone laughed after hearing this. Zhang Yinghao also smiled and said, "Money is silver. I think many people think so! We all know that silver can buy food, meat, cloth, and lamp oil. That's right, so it's correct to say that silver is money. However, the logic here is a bit wrong. Money is not all silver. At least everyone knows that gold is money, and copper coins are also money. This is understandable, right?"

Seeing some people suddenly enlightened, others looking bewildered, Zhang Yinghao sometimes felt like he couldn't continue his lectures. He knew it was time to teach only a select few. These people had no idea what was going on, and the more he explained, the more confused they became. But he couldn't stop explaining, either. He had to use words they could understand, and Zhang Yinghao had to rack his brains.

However, to be honest, these things are indeed quite difficult. Zhang Yinghao remembers that even when he was in high school, it took him a lot of time to understand the concept of general equivalents.

"Let me give you an example. One pound of pork can be exchanged for half a pound of mutton, one pound of pork can be exchanged for three feet of cloth, one pound of pork can be exchanged for three pounds of rice, and one pound of pork can be exchanged for half a pound of lamp oil. So, can these half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of rice, and half a pound of lamp oil be exchanged for each other? Yes, right?"

"can!"

Zhang Yinghao turned around and wrote mutton, cloth, rice, etc. around pork on the blackboard, and then drew equal signs in order.

"Look everyone, these things are the same value. That means half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of rice, and half a pound of lamp oil are all worth the same as one pound of pork, right?"

"That's right!"

"Everyone think it over, right?"

"That's right!"

"That is, if someone brings a pound of pork, they can exchange it for half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of grain, or half a pound of lamp oil, right?"

"Yes."

Zhang Yinghao turned around and drew equal signs for each other on the blackboard, then said, "Then there must be someone who has lamp oil but doesn't need pork, and you need lamp oil. That person also knows that your pound of pork is equivalent to half a pound of lamp oil, but he doesn't need pork. What should we do? Everyone, tell me what to do."

At this time, Wang Daqiang said loudly: "Then give me silver!"

Everyone laughed when they heard it.

Zhang Yinghao said, "Don't laugh, Comrade Daqiang is absolutely right. That's the principle. It's about giving silver. Let's assume one pound of pork costs three taels of silver."

Then he wrote three taels of silver next to the pork and said, "Now let's see if these three taels of silver are equivalent to half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of rice, and half a pound of lamp oil."

"Yes."

"Then why are some people unwilling to trade pork for lamp oil when all these things are of the same value? Comrade Bao Shilin, tell me."

Bao Shilin stood up and said, "Because silver doesn't spoil easily, but pork will go bad in a few days."

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard it.

Zhang Yinghao said: "Don't laugh, everyone. This is the truth. Why do some people not recognize pork but only want silver? It is because silver is recognized by everyone. Any day, any time, as long as you need it, you can take out three taels of silver to buy the above things. But what about pork? If you take a pound of pork to exchange for cloth, others may not want it. Why? First, pork will go bad after two days. The pork that was worth three taels of silver yesterday has become stinky pork today. Is it still worth three taels of silver? It is not worth it! No one wants it even if you give it away, so pork will depreciate.

Secondly, some people don't need this pork. Even if you give me a big piece of fat meat, I still don't need it. So some people don't consider this pork as money. Everyone, don't you think this is the truth?

"Yes."

"So, silver, you can't eat it, you can't wear it. But because it can be stored for a long time without losing value, everyone recognizes it as money. In other words, as long as you use silver to buy things, everyone recognizes that silver can buy things. Right?"

"Correct!"

"So we now have a term for silver called a general equivalent. That is, three taels of silver is equivalent to half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of rice, and half a pound of lamp oil. Or vice versa: half a pound of mutton, three feet of cloth, three pounds of rice, and half a pound of lamp oil are equivalent to three taels of silver. This means that meat, grain, and oil can all be priced using this general equivalent. So, one tael of silver is one foot of cloth, or one tael of silver is one pound of rice, okay?"

"can."

"So now we stipulate that 10 yuan equals one liang of silver, so one yuan equals one fen of silver, one jiao equals one qian of silver, and one fen equals one li of silver. Then we can interchange the above units, that is, one jiao equals one foot of cloth, and one jiao equals one jin of grain. Or three jiao can be exchanged for half a jin of mutton, three feet of cloth, three jin of grain, and half a jin of lamp oil. Do you understand?"

Seeing those bewildered faces, Zhang Yinghao said, "Don't understand? From now on, we'll pay you with our own printed money. And when you go to our supply and marketing cooperative to buy things, you can only use our printed money. We won't accept silver. We've also set up a rural credit cooperative. If you want to use money, you can only wait until you get paid or go to the credit cooperative to exchange your silver for our printed money before you can buy things. Do you understand?"

"Oh."

"Our currency is called Renminbi. I've named it the Poor Man's Currency, or food stamps. It's the paper currency that we working people earn through our labor and use to buy food, ensuring that all of us working people no longer suffer from hunger and cold. So if anyone here, or anyone outside, dares to imitate and print our currency, I, Zhang Yinghao, will do everything in my power to kill them. Do you understand now?"

Most people understood the rest of the story, though some still didn't understand why they could buy things with printed money. But after hearing the word "death," they couldn't help but understand. Zhang Yinghao didn't care. As long as they used the money they had printed, they would immediately understand what was going on.

In fact, even the concept of a general equivalent hasn't been established in these people's heads. It would take a few gray hairs to get them to understand the complex relationships involved. Zhang Yinghao has no choice. It doesn't matter if they don't understand. Economics is inherently complex. Even in the 21st century, how many people have truly understood it? Many people are still nagging about pegging the RMB to gold. Isn't that nonsense? So Zhang Yinghao doesn't care how much they understand. He just wants them to accept and use the money he prints to buy things.

A true understanding of the economy will depend on the next generation, and even beyond that, it will depend on many generations to come. Zhang Yinghao couldn't do anything about this; he himself didn't understand it very well. He could only cross the river by feeling the stones and take his time.

......

"Now let's start talking about the most important thing that happened during this training, which may be related to the fate of China. I recently saw a word in a book called "Party unity to attack dissidents". Party unity to attack dissidents comes from "Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Preface to the Biographies of Party Factions": "Since Emperor Wu, people have respected Confucianism, embraced classics and combined techniques, and gathered everywhere. There was even the theory of the Shiqu division and the theory of party unity to attack dissidents, and those who adhered to the classics were prevalent at the time.

What does it mean? It means defending those who agree with one's own views and attacking those who disagree. Originally referring to the struggles between academic factions, it later came to refer to all struggles between academic, political, or social groups. In the late Ming Dynasty, there was the so-called struggle between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, which was one of the factors that led to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty.

The origin of the "Party-to-Party" movement is that in 141 BC, when Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, ascended the throne, Dong Zhongshu wrote three essays, all discussing the relationship between heaven and man. They are collectively known as "Three Strategies of Heaven and Man," or "Strategies for Selecting Virtuous and Talented People." They promoted the theory of "correspondence between heaven and man." This theory deified feudal rule, especially the power of the emperor: anyone who opposed the emperor was opposing heaven and committing treason.

This marked the beginning of the exclusive veneration of Confucius and his Confucian classics, in order to achieve political unification through cultural domination. This is the so-called "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone."

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, Confucianism had become the orthodox ideology that maintained feudal rule, and Confucianism was even more prevalent. Liu Xun himself commissioned Xiao Wangzhi, a renowned scholar of the Five Classics, to teach the crown prince. However, due to differing interpretations of the Five Classics among Confucian scholars at the time, Emperor Xuan decided to hold a discussion. During the discussion, Confucian scholars identified those who shared their views as partisans, rallying them together and attacking those who disagreed. The Book of the Later Han, commenting on this phenomenon, termed it "Party Tong Fa Yi," meaning uniting those who shared the same views to attack those who disagreed.

Chapter 39: Clarifying the Truth and Taking a Stand

3864 words

The people and the number of people you serve determine your success. — Quotes from Zhang Yinghao

Zhang Yinghao then said in a serious tone: "Comrades, I will now establish the party, which means that we will also start to unite the party and fight against dissidents. Those who agree with our ideas are our comrades, and those who oppose our ideas we will examine whether their opposition is right or wrong. If it is right, we will accept it, and if it is wrong, we will encourage it.

Everyone here, is there anyone who wants to quit? Our party is voluntary to join and voluntary to quit. But once you join, you must abide by the discipline we have established together. If you fail to abide by our discipline, you will be subject to the punishment we have set internally.

Comrades, since we are united within the Party and against dissent, whose interests does our Party represent? We represent the interests of the working class. We have the peasant class as our ally, so we are an alliance of working people.

As for those who don't work, those who feed on our flesh and blood, we must attack them and overthrow them. Therefore, we must practice the principle of unity with the Party and the suppression of dissidents. Within the areas we control, the only slogan is "Long live the workers." Now, in the outside world, the slogan is "Long live the landlords and exploiters." We cannot coexist with them. Either we, the awakened workers, die, or they accept our rule and live honestly under the rules we set. There is no third way.

Some might still be unconvinced, pointing out that some landlords do good things. Are there any? Of course there are. Landlord Zhou Weiren is quite famous in our area; his family even organized the people to build bridges and roads. But comrades, our struggle with the exploiting class is a struggle between two different systems. Our desire to eliminate landlords has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad.

Everyone must remember that we only advocate for the principles of us working people. So what are the principles of us working people? They are to have enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, a roof over our heads, and access to education. Our principles are that the land of the world feeds the people of the world, ensuring that no one in the world starves to death.

Landlords and other exploitative classes are completely different. Their logic is that debts must be repaid, but they never mention the 100% interest they charge, compounding interest, with nine out of ten returning. They don't care if you go bankrupt. They'll tell you that farming and paying rent are natural, but they always want to take our food. They don't care if we live or die. Only we poor people die of starvation; who has ever heard of a landlord starving to death?

Therefore, we only speak the truths of us poor people, we only speak the truths of us working people, this is our party’s unity and rejection of dissidents.

Why do some people think landlords are good people? They even sometimes help the poor. The reason is simple: on the one hand, they need reputation. A landlord's family member becomes an official, and a good reputation paves the way for their career. But on the other hand, the land these officials own will only grow. The land of the poor is sold to these families first, leaving no room for argument.

On the other hand, the poor are dying, and these landlords don't work. They need food and drink, and they need people to work for them. So, after they take our food, we all starve to death, and they can't enslave us. Unless these landlords are fools, they certainly won't let us all starve to death. And think about it, if the landlords were truly that good, why would they be so ferocious when collecting rent every year, forcing people to death every year? The landlord class's principle is that they can't get rich without killing the poor. They have never considered eliminating poverty; they only kill the poor.

Think about it, everyone. If the landlords helped us last year, they'll take more from us this year. So, in order to live forever, and for their descendants to continue exploiting us, including our descendants, the landlords can only keep some people alive. Isn't that the truth?

At that time, no one had ever heard such a bloody truth. Some people were at a loss, some were restless, but most people were still filled with righteous indignation.

"So it's not that we have a grudge against the landlords, but that they and we are from two different worlds. We all need land to farm, and after farming, we need food to eat, otherwise we won't have the good life of the landlords. As the saying goes, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. We are not only cutting off their financial resources, but also cutting off the roots of their wealth and killing their families. Anyone who has illusions and hopes in the landlord class is murdering our own comrades. Who is our enemy and who is our friend? This is the primary question of the revolution. To be kind to the enemy is to be cruel to ourselves and our comrades.

Of course, as revolutionaries, we must adopt a revolutionary attitude. For those who have committed heinous crimes, we will publicly try them and execute them. However, for those landlords who have not committed any crimes, we will reform them and enable them to become self-reliant workers. As long as they can still be saved, we will provide policies and solutions.

But right now, our forces are very weak, so we can't deploy them everywhere to prevent them. We can only gather them together for surveillance and, at the same time, subject them to labor reform. When we liberate all of China in the future, this small group of people won't be able to cause any unrest. We can then release them, distribute land to them if they want to farm, and factories to those who want to work, but they must be self-sufficient workers.

In the future, when we go out to liberate more working people, we must first control these exploiting classes of the old era and prevent them from retaliating against the local people. We will gather them for labor reform or send them to places where labor is needed for labor reform.

We now have a large number of reservoirs to build, a large number of canals to dig, and a large number of roads to repair. So, comrades, we are very busy and do not have much time to guard against these landlords. Everyone must remember this, otherwise you will make a big mistake.

Everyone laughed immediately when they heard Zhang Yinghao say this.

"Comrades, let's start by expressing our stances one by one. Do you side with the landlords or with us, the working people? First, let me make it clear that I firmly stand on the side of the working people, firmly committed to the happiness of our toiling masses and to creating a better future. If you haven't made up your mind, you can leave now. I won't blame you. Revolution is entirely voluntary. We don't force anyone to participate in our revolution. Is there anything else you don't understand?"

Zhang Yinghao saw Chen Yiwei opening his mouth to speak, so he said, "Comrade Chen Yiwei, what do you think?"

Chen Yiwei has now joined the core circle. As someone who studied in the United States, he also hopes for the prosperity of the country, but he has given up hope on the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant. He has seen hope in Zhang Yinghao, so he joined without hesitation and has been working very hard during this period.

Chen Yiwei said: "I have relatives and friends who are landlords..."

Zhang Yinghao said: "I want everyone to express their stance on whether they are on the side of the landlords or the side of the workers. It doesn't matter if you have relatives who are landlords. I think how to deal with the issue of relatives who are landlords should be considered separately:

The fact that our first relatives were landlords was not a choice we made; it was an objective reality. We could not avoid it, but their being landlords had nothing to do with us politically.

Secondly, we never ask anyone to kill their parents or relatives to prove their revolutionary nature, and I wouldn’t dare allow such a person to join our team.

Third, since they are landlords, we must treat them according to our methods. There are no exceptions. After depriving them of their land, if some of you offer them material assistance, such as money, that is fine as long as it does not violate our principles. However, if anyone abuses their power for personal gain, bends the law, or violates our principles, I will absolutely not allow it. Do you understand?

Zhang Yinghao saw several people sighing with relief. A thought suddenly crossed his mind: "Class origin determines one's stance." But then he felt a bit neurotic. After talking about struggle for so long, he now wanted to fight everything he saw. However, Zhang Yinghao knew that there were only individuals who betrayed their interests, not classes that betrayed their interests. The ultimate outcome depended on his own development speed and the balance of power in the future showdown with the landlord class.

"Is there anything else you don't understand? If not, start expressing your opinions, Zhang Feng."

Zhang Feng immediately stood up and said loudly: "I firmly stand on the side of the working people."

Bao Shilin

“I firmly stand on the side of the working people.”

……

Although Zhang Yinghao felt that this statement was old-fashioned, and he didn't believe that a single sentence could truly represent the party's stance, it was necessary. Only with this statement could there be a unified stance and perspective, and only then could there be democracy within the party. Otherwise, the party would be in disarray, suffering from severe internal friction and lacking fighting power.

Zhang Yinghao read off the names one by one, his heart filled with mixed emotions. These people had followed him, and he had changed the trajectory of their lives. In the end, he didn't know how many would fall on the road to progress, and how many would actually live to see China's liberation.

After letting all the members express their opinions, Zhang Yinghao said, "Our party is called the Forward Communist Party of China. Forward means that everyone should keep moving forward, keep learning and making progress. Even if I, Zhang Yinghao, die, you can still move forward for our ideals. Where are we going to? That is our highest goal, the communist society. What is communism? Communism means public property. The world belongs to the public, and the world is almost the same. If there is a highest goal, there will naturally be a minimum goal. What is our minimum goal? That is what we said before: everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in. This is our minimum goal.

Now, to put it simply, if you want to farm, you can farm; if you want to work, you can work; if you want to do business, you can do business. In other words, the principles of us working people should prevail throughout the world, not the principles of the landlords. The principles that everyone in the world practices are the principles we recognize, so we say that the world is for all. If those who disagree with our principles don't oppose us, we will let them live a good life and educate them. But if they oppose us, we will struggle against them, force them into labor reform, or even physically eliminate them. I call this dictatorship.

We are called the Communist Party of China, or the Progressive Party for short. So what kind of people should we Progressive Party members be? That is what I will discuss below: the three major styles of Progressive Party members:

Integrating theory with practice

Close ties with the masses

Criticism and self-criticism."

We don't have much theory right now, but Comrade Li Tianqiao has read nearly all of my articles and speeches, which contain a lot of theory, including the material I taught in class on accounting. We won't hide any of this; it's all open to everyone. It contains theories about the exploiting and oppressing classes, and everyone can connect them to reality after reading it.

Maintaining close ties with the masses means staying close to them, relying on them, coming from them, and going to them. We ourselves are part of the masses, and to lead them to a better life, we must listen to what they say, think, and want, and serve them wholeheartedly. You can't just arrive at a place and start rambling and talking nonsense, not understanding the actual needs of the masses, being divorced from them, and not relying on them—that's a mistake.

Finally, there's criticism and self-criticism. Confucius, a scholar from Shandong, once said, "I examine myself three times a day." This means daily self-criticism and self-reflection. We must identify where we went wrong and where we can improve. Our soldiers now hold post-battle debriefing meetings to summarize lessons learned and address areas of weakness. This is a form of criticism and self-criticism, and it's proven highly effective.