The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Our ideal lies in the field of hope.

The seedlings grow in the farmer's sweat, and the cattle and sheep grow to the sound of the shepherd's flute.

People in Xicun are spinning cotton (that) and casting nets in Donggang, while people in Beijiang (yo) are sowing seeds and threshing in the south.

Hey~ cough~ diyaer yieryo

Ah! Generations of us have worked in these fields, dressing her up and doing her makeup.

Our future lies in the fields of hope.

People live under the bright sunshine, and life changes through their labor.

The old people raised their glasses (that), the children laughed, the boys played the piano (yo), and the girls sang.

Hey~ cough~ Liyaeryieryo

Hey! We have been working on this field for generations.

For her happiness, for her glory. For her happiness, for her glory~ Cher: On this hopeful afternoon, songs bring us joy and teach us about the code of conduct. The country is in ruins, and people's livelihoods are in decline. But now Comrade Zhang Yinghao has led us to divide up the land, establish our own army and political party, and work for the benefit of us ordinary people. Now, please welcome Comrade Zhang Yinghao to sing for us: "Song of Strictly Observing Discipline."

The bugles sounded, the marches were in sync, and the revolutionary army had iron discipline. Obeying orders was our duty, and the rules and regulations must be memorized.

Orders must be carried out and prohibitions must be observed, and we must consciously unite into a fighting collective. Ah, discipline, discipline

I am in discipline and you are in discipline. There is infinite fighting power in discipline.

All actions must be carried out under command, and the pace must lead to victory.

Hey! Victory comes in unison!

Zhang Yinghao: Comrades, fellow villagers, the New Year is coming soon. I would like to wish you all a happy New Year. May your life become more prosperous year by year. In the future, everyone will have land to farm, food to eat, clothes to wear, and meat to eat every day. Well, that's all for today. The meeting is adjourned!"

This was the first time this kind of singing competition had been held; it wasn't a temple fair, and Zhang Yinghao could only sing like this. However, Zhang Yinghao's promotional objectives had been achieved. Promotion isn't something that can be achieved overnight, nor can it be stopped after a few days. It required hundreds, even thousands, of promotions, until they became a natural progression. Only then could Zhang Yinghao achieve the desired effect. Much like the later concept of serving the people, this made all Chinese people feel that this was the natural course of things, that no one would find it problematic. This was the result of daily promotion through all channels.

Zhang Yinghao wasn't impressed by the speed with which songs spread in this era, but he also hoped that this event would encourage more people to join the revolutionary movement. Honestly, I wonder what kind of reputation Zhang Yinghao has in Zhangjiagou, but it's certainly not entirely positive. The arrested landlords, in particular, compared him to a demon and a devil during forced labor, hurling insults at him, likening him to "the end of his family lineage." But Zhang Yinghao paid no mind to the insults.

Zhang Yinghao knew that it was easy to mobilize the masses in this era. In the late Qing Dynasty, the people were forced to go to the north and had nowhere to go. It was easy to mobilize the masses. As long as you have money and food, countless people will come to you. But Zhang Yinghao did not want to mobilize the masses casually.

This will completely disrupt social order, and it will ultimately be the people who suffer.

However, Zhang Yinghao would not think that he could completely control the situation.

Development, that's not a pragmatic approach. Zhang Yinghao can only increase training for the military and Party members. There's no point in training administrative personnel right now; the territory is still too small. Everyone's just watching. Zhang Jianhao now feels like he's already maxed out his troops; any more would be enough. "Food and supplies are one thing, but a shortage of officers is another."

Now Zhang Yinghao also trains military personnel as core personnel, especially officers, who must complete basic training and instruction.

After training, they were immediately assigned to participate in land reform and learn how to do it. Later, Zhang Yinghao simply made new requirements for all core personnel.

The requirement is that all these comrades are required to write work and study diaries. No matter where Zhang Yinghao goes, he will collect their work and study diaries.

Come and spend time correcting and reading the work and study diaries of comrades.

Zhang Yinghao found that this effect was surprisingly good, because the process of writing is a process of learning and reflection, and those who take this matter seriously

Zhi is growing rapidly. Zhang Yinghao's current goal is to use every possible method to accelerate the development of these individuals, who have just put down their hoes and hammers. He also assigns them tasks and increases their workload. Mistakes are fine, as long as they aren't subjective. This is how it works in the early stages of a startup.

Doing something wrong and violating laws and discipline are not the same thing. Doing something wrong means not understanding scientific principles and not handling things properly. Violating laws and discipline is done intentionally, and they may also be aware of the consequences, but they simply think they can do it without anyone noticing, so there's no problem. These are completely different things. Therefore, Zhang Yinghao must bear responsibility for comrades who have done something wrong. This is the cost of making a mistake. Violating laws and discipline requires serious action.

Zhang Yinghao's quote: People live in the inertia of their past lives.

Chapter 46

By reading and correcting the study and work diaries of these comrades, Zhang Yinghao could know their learning situation and quickly discover some available talents. Zhang Yinghao could even see the progress of these comrades. Later, this method was transferred to the Organization Department and became a basis for personnel promotion and appointment.

Zhang Yinghao didn't want to see a group of masters defeated, only for the newcomers to quickly become masters themselves, replacing the previous ones, or for the dragon slayers to eventually become dragons. He had to properly reform these newly liberated people, otherwise they would become the very people he hated, immediately becoming oppressors again, or quickly becoming bureaucratized. This was not what Zhang Yinghao wanted.

"Chairman, Comrade Liu Xinsheng is back." "Oh, let him in quickly."

"Haha, Captain, I'm back."

"New student, I'm glad you came back safely. How was your trip? Did you have a good trip?"

"Captain, look."

After Liu Xinsheng finished speaking, he took out a Mauser pistol from his arms and handed it to Zhang Yinghao. Zhang Yinghao took it and weighed it. It was quite heavy.

"Captain, to be honest, this gun isn't very useful. It weighs two and a half pounds empty. Most people can't hold it steady, and they can't shoot accurately. Most importantly, it's too expensive."

Zhang Yinghao listened for a moment and asked, "How much is one?"

"The price was one hundred taels of silver per piece, but I managed to bargain it down to sixty. It's too expensive. Ordinary people like us only earn a few taels of silver a year. Sixty taels of silver could be a person's lifetime income."

"Hehe, do you know how many of our comrades a gun can protect? And how many lives can it cost?"

"Well, this..."

Seeing Liu Xinsheng, he was so embarrassed that he couldn't speak.

"But you're right. Even for a working-class family, it would take two or three years of hard work to afford a gun. This gun is really too expensive. Alas, who can blame us for not being able to make one? By the way, how many bullets does a gun come with?"

"With five hundred rounds of ammunition. And a holster."

Zhang Yinghao nodded, a glimmer of recollection dawning on him. Mauser pistols were indeed expensive in those days, but their manufacturing process was complex, requiring fine materials and numerous parts, making them difficult and time-consuming to manufacture, thus keeping costs high. It was precisely because of these numerous shortcomings that they were unpopular in Germany that they were sought after in the Chinese market, where they were not included in the arms sales ban.

Zhang Yinghao suddenly thought of another question. The Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing and seized so many weapons, so they must have a batch of weapons to sell. And because of the war, there must be a group of arms dealers smuggling weapons to the Far East. Shanghai is the best place. It all depends on whether you can meet those arms dealers.

"What about the Mauser pistol repair machines and the bullet production line?"

"The German company said we could buy spare parts and ammunition from the Germans. Now those foreigners won't sell us the machines."

Zhang Yinghao frowned and said, "Humph, these foreign devils are crazy about making money. How many Mauser pistols have they bought?"

"I'm here to report to you now. How many should we buy?"

Zhang Yinghao thought for a moment. In his past life, he had disassembled a Type 92 pistol and hadn't found any parts that couldn't be manufactured. He thought he should be able to replicate this Mauser pistol. So he said, "Wait a moment, messenger. Go get Comrade Yuan Kesheng and Comrade Chen Yiwei right away."

“Yes. Yes.”

"You must be thirsty. Have some tea."

Zhang Yinghao poured Liu Xinsheng a cup of tea before saying, "The German company should be purchasing supplies, right?"

"Yes, specialties like pig bristles and tung oil, but the most famous buyers of pig bristles are the British."

"Well, Comrade Liu Xinsheng, Chongqing is a bridgehead that we must occupy. We will also need to use Chongqing as a window to do business with foreigners in the future. I would like to send you to work in Chongqing. What do you think?"

"I have no objection, but what exactly will my job be in Chongqing?"

"There are a large number of coolies at the Chongqing docks. These people are the most oppressed. You should organize literacy classes among these coolies and workers to develop our

Oh, by the way, you haven't joined the party yet. When Comrade Chen Wei and his team come over, we will directly recommend you to join the party. Of course, we will not just send you to Chongqing to work. All our stores in Chongqing will also be

I will do my best to cooperate with your work. Well, also, we are developing in secret for the time being, don’t make it public…”

"Chairman, are you looking for us?"

"Yes, what a coincidence, you two arrived together." "Haha, it's really a coincidence that we met on the road." "Come, have some tea."

Zhang Yinghao poured a cup of tea for Yuan Kesheng and Chen Yiwei respectively and said, "Comrade Yiwei, take a look at this Mauser pistol. Can we copy it?"

Chen Yiwei took the Mauser pistol from Zhang Yinghao and examined it carefully. No one said anything, just quietly sipping their tea. After a long moment, Chen Yiwei raised his head and said, "It's quite difficult, but we can copy it. However, our accuracy and other aspects are definitely not as good as this gun. But Chairman, do you know the Sichuan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau?"

"I don't know, tell me."

Zhang Yinghao had indeed never heard of it, whether in his past life or in this era. He hadn't heard of it in later generations either, perhaps because the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau had been abolished by the revolution.

"The Sichuan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau was built at the request of Ding Baozhen. All the machinery and equipment were purchased from abroad. It was completed in 1879 and was capable of manufacturing various guns, bullets, copper caps, and black powder."

"What's happening with the Machine Building Bureau now?"

"It fell into decline, corruption was rampant, and the quality of the guns it produced was substandard, so production was halted for a time."

"So, what do you mean?"

"There should be quite a few technicians still alive there, and we should make use of them. The machinery and equipment there are probably outdated now, but at least they're still usable. The Machinery Manufacturing Bureau also has a lot of machine tools, pneumatic hammers, boilers, and other equipment that we need. Let's see if we can get our hands on some."

After listening to this, Zhang Yinghao looked at Yuan Kesheng and said, "How to do it depends on how hard Comrade Yuan Kesheng works. How come Comrade Chen Yiwei's mentor Yu Jinao, whom Comrade Luo Zelin introduced last time, hasn't been invited here yet?"

"Um, Chairman, I'll do it right away."

"We must do this well, understand? Our intelligence personnel are now beginning to expand into the cities along the Yangtze River. You two will serve as introducers and introduce Comrade Liu Xinsheng to the Party. I plan to send Comrade Liu Xinsheng to oversee our work in Chongqing and vigorously develop our comrades there. Your intelligence department must cooperate with their work."

"Alright. But Chairman, Comrade Li Tianqiao is currently working in our intelligence department and is very outstanding. Do you think we should put him in charge of this matter?"

"Yes, that's a responsible approach. Comrade Chen Yiwei is now responsible for replicating the Mauser pistol. If you need any machinery and equipment that you can design and manufacture yourself, you can manufacture it yourself. If you can't manufacture it yourself, you can consult with the trade department and purchase it from foreign companies. However, foreign companies are still relatively expensive, so it's best to purchase directly from abroad. The intelligence department must also cooperate in this regard and collect as much trade information as possible.

Furthermore, while the Eight-Nation Alliance is currently in Beijing, I imagine that a large quantity of guns and ammunition must be sold in coastal cities like Shanghai and Qingdao. Our intelligence departments must be established in these coastal cities and along the Yangtze River. Our comrades are running literacy classes and training institutes in these cities to develop our own comrades. Furthermore, foreigners are setting up factories in our country, and their technology is blocked from us, but these jobs still require people. Therefore, you still need to investigate these things and accumulate technical data for our own factories.

Comrade Liu Xinsheng, you'll be responsible for purchasing this batch of Mauser pistols, temporarily purchasing one thousand. Ask the people at that foreign company if we can barter with them. We'll trade tung oil, pig bristles, and other items. Tell them we're in this for the long term. I'm sure these foreigners will agree.

"Last time, Comrade Luo Zelin left Comrade in Wuhan, and Comrade Hu Songhui also left Comrade in Shanghai. You should contact them immediately and inquire about the relevant information on arms sales. The most important task at present is to develop our party members in these cities. Only in this way can we get everything we want. Do you understand?"

"clear."

"Also, we are now secretly inviting those comrades who meet the requirements to join the party, especially in the areas under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. You must not reveal your identity, otherwise your life will be in danger. You must set up literacy classes and training institutes while secretly recruiting members, introducing them to the party, giving them party classes, and explaining our party's policies and guidelines..."

On February 18, 1901, New Year’s Eve, the annual Spring Festival arrived.

Zhang Yinghao led cadres to personally visit the front lines to express their condolences, something that had never happened before. Zhang Yinghao hoped that this practice of leaders visiting the grassroots during holidays would be consistently implemented. Even if it was just for show, a face-saving project, it should be done with a proper attitude. Therefore, Zhang Yinghao must take the lead and personally visit the grassroots to express his condolences. Then, relevant documents would be issued, and finally, a relevant condolence system would be established. Leading cadres should stand guard for their comrades when they should, and keep watch when they should, so that the grassroots comrades could feel the warmth of the leadership and bring the warmth of the leadership to the front lines.

Throughout history, the only high-ranking officials who truly connected with the people at the grassroots level were the founding emperors. Subsequent leaders rarely engaged with the people at the grassroots. Since ancient times, officials, often high-handed or intellectuals, have looked down on the working class, often relying on local landlords and gentry to handle matters. Without their support, nothing could be accomplished.

Therefore, since ancient times, officials who achieved success, except during the founding of a nation, did not need to target the landlords and gentry to achieve sufficient political achievements. In the middle and late stages of dynasties, if you open the history books, you will find that in which dynasty did officials with achievements not fight against the gentry and landlords?

In the early years of a dynasty, when large numbers of people died, officials could achieve success by siding with the gentry and landlords. In the middle and late stages, with massive land annexation and irreconcilable conflicts, the only way to achieve outstanding political achievements was to wrest food from the mouths of the landlords and gentry. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, relied on the Red Turban Army, or poor working people, when he began his uprising. Later, realizing the difficulty of achieving success this way, he immediately betrayed his original stance and sided with the gentry and landlords.

Why was this so? Because in the feudal era, while the landlord class didn't represent the direction of productivity development, it did represent advanced production relations. Land was concentrated, and tenant farmers were exploited. Without significant productivity gains, the landlord class's more advanced production relations, compared to those of the poor peasants, better served the interests of the ruling class.

Why did Zhang Yinghao dare to carry out land reform? He contracted out land to all the poor peasants for cultivation. It was because productivity had greatly increased in this era, and the advanced production relations the landlord class relied on were completely inadequate to offset the vast amounts of material resources brought about by this growth of productivity. Zhang Yinghao was fully confident that he could defeat the landlords through industrial production. After all, wars were fought over money and food.

This year, the area around Zhangjiagou is bustling with activity. Zhang Yinghao is busy arranging the distribution of New Year's goods to workers in the iron and coal mines, garment factories, bamboo factories, salt factories, paper mills, printing factories, and other places, as well as to farmers who have joined Zhang Yinghao's labor team. The New Year's goods aren't much: just a little rice, flour, and salt. Of course, there's also a calendar with festive New Year pictures printed on it. This seemingly insignificant item is incredibly important in our lives.

Zhang Yinghao's Quotation: To do or not to do is not a question of choice, but a question of attitude and ability.

Chapter 47

Zhang Yinghao used a calendar that combined the lunar and solar calendars. He then printed some traditional auspicious and inauspicious signs on it, along with some of Zhang Yinghao's previous pronouncements, such as: "Workers, peasants, and soldiers unite! Grasp the revolution and promote production! Women's liberation! Foot binding is prohibited! The working people are the masters of their own destiny." Add a festive New Year picture, and the result is a beautiful calendar.

Zhang Yinghao sometimes felt he'd gone a bit overboard with propaganda, indoctrinating the people in the base whenever he could. But there was nothing Zhang Yinghao could do. Information traveled too slowly in today's society. People really had to walk to get out, not to the point where they had to shout to talk with the phone. With the widespread availability of telephones, being able to shout to talk was already a huge improvement. Zhang Yinghao could only use whatever he could to spread his propaganda.

Zhang Yinghao also made dumplings with the soldiers during the Spring Festival. Yu Wenzhongyun's art soldiers held a concert in the army. Zhang Yinghao felt that he was very happy with these soldiers.

Being together was his happiest time. Young, promising, and full of energy, it reminded him of his student days. In the barracks, meals were provided, and for many comrades, it was the first time they could eat all-you-can-eat meat. The rest of the time was spent training and studying. Wasn't that just like his student days?

Student days were a painful time of learning, but that was all there was to it. Actually, it wasn't painful, just stressful. Now, these soldiers just study, train, train, study. Is there anything else? Aside from a bit of homesickness, that's all. Many comrades do miss home, but they don't want to go home. Going home means starvation, a life of numbness, a life without hope. In the barracks, there are young people just like us, competing with each other, learning from each other. Therefore, among all current organizations, the military experiences the fastest learning and progress.

Zhang Yinghao is now planning to turn the army into a place for talent export. No one is more reliable than those who come from the army. Zhang Yinghao still remembers that the principal of his elementary school in his previous life was a retired soldier.

Moreover, the army must master a lot of knowledge. Only by turning the car camp into a military academy, the people who come in are a group of people from the old era, and the people who come out are a group of people from the old era.

A batch of educated and disciplined newcomers will be needed to better implement policies. As the most organized force in modern society, Zhang Yinghao naturally wants to maximize its role. The military must have higher standards and a higher moral standard, and it must play the role of a combat team, a work team, and a propaganda team.

Zhang Yinghao now understands a truth after traveling through time, that is, the more powerful the authority of the violent organs, the better the social order.

I don’t know much about the crackdowns in the 1980s and 1990s, but I heard from my uncles that after the crackdown, social order was unprecedentedly good, almost to the point where people did not pick up things on the streets and did not lock their doors at night.

Furthermore, at that time, there was a crime called hooliganism. Touching a woman's hand was a crime, and could result in imprisonment. Zhang Yinghao now feels that this law is not just good now, but extremely disappointing. So, Zhang Yinghao is now bringing up the crime of hooliganism. Modern people cannot imagine how low the status of women was in the late Qing Dynasty. If women cannot be effectively protected when they are out in public, then they should not be allowed out. Since Zhang Yinghao wants these women to work, he naturally has to protect them. Zhang Yinghao is now going too far, using dictatorial methods to deal with these hooligan elements.

Zhang Yinghao also adopted a cumulative offense system. For the first or second offense, the punishment might be very light, just a warning or a fine. However, for the third or subsequent offenses, the punishment would be at least six months of reform through labor. There's no such thing as too much free labor. If someone still refuses to change, they'll be paraded through the streets and eventually treated to peanuts.

Zhang Yinghao deeply detests these types of people who refuse to change despite repeated admonitions. They quietly corrupt public morals, causing good people to fear the bad, and kind people to fear the wicked. These people are actually more harmful than hostile elements. They unknowingly alter society's morale. It's like being unable to help someone who's fallen down in modern times. It's become so commonplace that people ask, "Why call 120 if you didn't hit someone?" These people can't be controlled under modern law; they can only be morally condemned. Zhang Yinghao believes that during the crackdown, they would have been treated to peanuts or a free meal.

Being so busy, Zhang Yinghao immediately

The army was dispatched to start a new round of fighting to divide up the land. At first, the targets were those landlords with bad reputations who could be publicly charged. These landlords usually had a certain amount of military power. For Zhang Yangjiami, fighting these landlords was beneficial to training the troops and quickly improving the army's basic tactics.

Maturity is also conducive to the rapid maturity of the administrative team.

On the other hand, although Zhang Yinghao wanted to join forces with the foreign devils immediately to buy some equipment, such as textile machines, the tools in the north were too backward to be used for large-scale production.

I gave up temporarily.

The foreigners are still in the capital now. If I come to them on my own initiative, then I might be able to win the second round of the game. When the foreigners can't calm down, it would be better to negotiate business with them when I am alone.

Zhang Yinghao now felt he had to adopt the strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside. With the Qing still in existence, occupying the cities would put Yun Shi in a passive position, potentially forcing him to abandon them. But Zhang Yinghao truly despised the current cities; they simply had more buildings, and they weren't as bustling and lively as the small towns of the 1970s and 1980s. As long as the countryside was well developed, the cities would collapse easily.

When Zhang Yinghao said that they would not attack the cities for the time being, some comrades were still very confused. Zhang Yinghao said: "Comrades, we will enter the city.

What are you doing? Can someone answer me?

Seeing that no one spoke, Zhang Yinghao said, "We are the vanguard of the proletariat, and this position cannot be wrong. Every time we conquer a village, everyone knows how welcome we are by the villagers who understand our policies. When we arrive in a place to work, or conquer a village, the first thing we do is organize people to carry out construction, recruit soldiers, and organize study sessions for the villagers. We have all done this work. It sounds easy, but we all know it is very difficult to do it. Even some villagers don't understand us.

But comrades, we must find those comrades who are willing to follow us through hard work, so that more people can join us.