The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Why did we hold a hundred-day celebration in the past? It was simply because after the hundredth day, the chances of a child surviving increased. But after that, the child would not be so likely to die.

Of course, this only means that we are capable of raising our children well. Most importantly, as the chairman of the Progressive Party, I must set an example myself and not set a precedent. Otherwise, there will be endless trouble.

Zhang Yinghao hadn't received formal political education within the Party in his previous life, so he wasn't sure if what he said was correct, but the general idea was probably correct. What was the fundamental solution to the cycle of order and chaos? Taizu said it was the people's democratic dictatorship. Zhang Yinghao knew that gift-giving as a bribery tactic had existed since ancient times, and that "officials" loved gifts. Many even resorted to devious banquets specifically to receive them.

In the past, when power was monopolized and hereditary, these issues were not a problem, hence the saying, "The more gifts, the less blame." This is because no matter how these people gave gifts, it was a transfer of benefits, an exchange of interests, and generally would not harm their colleagues. Ultimately, the only ones who suffered were the lower-class people. However, after the rules of the game of power division were broken, the people began to hate "corrupt officials." They wanted civil servants who served them, not these corrupt officials. Although officials in the officialdom are prone to mutual protection, and everyone has the impulse to be greedy, since these "officials" are employees of the Progressive Party or the People's Power, the people will naturally fight these corrupt officials resolutely.

While there's a certain sour grapes aspect to this, the reality is that the public doesn't want corrupt officials. Furthermore, while addressing corruption can be done from the top down, fundamentally, it still requires mobilizing the people. Without public oversight and struggle, the government will perish, and everything will ultimately be in vain. Privilege and corruption were one of the reasons for the Soviet Union's demise.

Zhang Yinghao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his mother nod. Even a judge couldn't easily judge family affairs. Sometimes, conflicts of interest within a family were extremely sharp. In the zero-sum game of profit distribution, family struggles could sometimes be life-or-death, regardless of wealth or status, driven by personal gain.

Just as Zhang Yinghao was about to say something to Xue'er, the messenger ran in breathlessly. He saluted Zhang Yinghao and said, "Chairman, we just received a report that plague-like cases have been found on a merchant ship that just arrived in Wuhan. Comrades from Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places have also sent telegrams, reporting plague-like deaths in many coastal cities."

“Deaths!”

Hearing this, Zhang Yinghao was so shocked that he stood up and immediately understood. The Qing Dynasty was like a grandson in front of the foreign powers. How could it hold its head high? The Qing Dynasty certainly did not have the ability to blockade and isolate the foreign ships. In addition, the people under them were afraid of foreigners and were muddling along, pretending to obey but secretly disobeying. His previous warnings probably had little effect. Now the epidemic may have begun to spread in some places.

"Have the people on the ship that arrived in Wuhan been quarantined now?" "Mr. Chairman, they have been quarantined."

Zhang Yinghao couldn't be affectionate with Xue'er any longer. He immediately let go of Xue'er's hand, turned around and said, "Mom, Xue'er, I'm going back to the office. You don't have to wait for me to eat. Xue'er, take care of yourself. You can ask for leave from work and focus on your pregnancy. Remember to wear a mask when you go out recently. Do you understand?"

"Well, I know everything. You have to be careful."

Zhang Yinghao no longer cared about his wife's pregnancy. He immediately called personnel from relevant departments such as health, scientific research, publicity, foreign affairs, and logistics to a meeting in his office to deploy related work for epidemic prevention. If an epidemic with such a high mortality rate as pneumonic plague spreads without any preparation, it is really unknown how many people will be infected.

Zhang Yinghao wasn't one to dilly-dally. After everyone arrived, he immediately circulated the Vladivostok plague information and related observation data around the conference room. Although everyone here knew about the plague outbreak in Vladivostok, many were only now realizing its severity.

"Comrades, this plague is a highly contagious, highly lethal, pneumonic plague. Therefore, all units must take this seriously. Led by comrades from the Ministry of Health, and personally in charge, with responsibilities assigned to individuals, we will establish an epidemic prevention committee for joint prevention and control, specifically for future similar epidemics. Epidemic prevention and control in Wuhan is now a top priority. It's not just the plague outbreak in Vladivostok that needs attention. As the saying goes, after a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic. In places like Hunan, Guangdong, and Anhui, where floods have weakened the people to begin with, we must also ensure effective epidemic prevention. We must rely on the masses, and collectively implement relevant epidemic prevention measures. In particular, we must launch a national patriotic health campaign to popularize basic health sciences..."

The Patriotic Health Campaign must be carried out, and it must be carried out repeatedly. In the past, the whole nation accepted the habit of drinking boiled water only after the founding of the People's Republic of China under the advocacy of the National Patriotic Health Campaign. If the whole nation drinks boiled water in this era, many diseases will be greatly reduced, such as parasitic diseases such as ascariasis, acute gastroenteritis and bacterial dysentery, etc. This is a very good thing.

China has many natural disasters, so establishing an epidemic prevention committee is a very good thing. It not only accumulates experience and lessons for epidemic prevention, but also can play a huge role in saving and protecting more people's lives and property when facing disasters such as floods, droughts, fires, mudslides, and earthquakes in the future.

Chapter 696: First update!

Doctors of this era had no idea, nor were they willing to believe, that the plague could be transmitted through human-to-human droplets. Instead, they all believed that the plague must have been transmitted to humans by rats carrying lice or fleas. Zhang Yinghao wondered if this plague had been brought forward by the butterfly effect, as he remembered that in his previous life, the plague had broken out in Siberia, Tsarist Russia, long before. Due to the small population and dispersed residents in Siberia, as well as the epidemic prevention measures, a large-scale outbreak was avoided.

But the irresponsible Tsarist government, in modern terms, was ruthless, intending to use biological weapons against China. Consequently, the Tsarist government strictly suppressed news of the plague, burned houses in affected areas, and deported unsuspecting laborers, primarily from Northeast China, who were infected. This impulsive shifting of blame unleashed an unprecedented, horrific disaster upon the entire Northeast.

These Chinese workers returned to China by train, and the plague began to spread explosively along the railway lines from Manchuria. Because the plague spread rapidly and had an extremely high mortality rate, people fled the three northeastern provinces, causing the plague to spread further into the interior of China, further exacerbating the spread of the plague. The plague broke out in the three northeastern provinces and threatened to spread to Zhi (present-day Hebei Province, including Tianjin) and Shandong Province.

The plague spread to Harbin via Manchuria via the Chinese Eastern Railway, and subsequently swept across Northeast China. This pandemic, shocking the world at the time, is widely recognized as the most horrific large-scale plague since the Black Death in Europe. According to incomplete official statistics, the plague affected Northeast China, Hebei, Shandong, and southern Russia. In less than six months, it caused over 60,000 deaths in China alone, though the actual death toll far exceeded this figure. The Qing government invested over 10 million taels of silver to establish the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Epidemic Prevention Bureau, the Beijing Health Police, and the Fengtian International Plague Research Institute, marking the beginning of China's health care efforts.

Zhang Yinghao knew the situation was dire. Although the plague's spread had completely shifted away from its previous southbound route along the railway, it had now reached coastal and riverside cities. This had its upsides: at least, as long as prevention measures were taken in Northeast China, the plague wouldn't spread unchecked. Of course, the prerequisite was to effectively control the epidemic, disseminate scientific knowledge about it, and challenge tradition by cremating the bodies to eliminate the source of infection...

After the meeting, Zhang Yinghao immediately began arranging for factories to mass-produce cotton masks and other protective gear, even repurposing several sanitary napkin production lines to produce masks. Dock workers are a key target for protection during this epidemic. To survive, these workers must continue to work, so masks must be widely used and worn to prevent infection. Furthermore, masks must be collected and recycled to prevent cross-infection or the collection of masks for other uses.

For the liberated areas, where the epidemic had just been discovered, strict prevention and control were essential. Before the invention of antibiotics, the most effective treatment for infectious diseases like plague was isolation, severing the chain of transmission between people. This would naturally control the spread and scale of the plague. All discovered cases were isolated and graded to prevent cross-infection. However, strict prevention and control alone was not enough; drugs were also needed to combat bacteria and viruses. Zhang Yinghao knew that the best treatment was to target bacteria, viruses, and their secretions.

Therefore, Zhang Yinghao secretly established the Microbiology Research Institute and relocated all the comrades who had previously researched penicillin to this new research center. Penicillin was not very effective against the plague, and even after so much time, penicillin production remained very low, still not reaching the level of industrial production. Industrial production still had a long way to go.

Zhang Yinghao knew penicillin was profitable, but at this time, he was still weak. If the liquid gold of penicillin were to be publicized, the Liberated Areas would be in jeopardy. Even if Zhang Yinghao could produce large quantities of penicillin, he wouldn't do so immediately. He would only use it secretly in military hospitals and other places to save lives. The whereabouts of every drop of the drug must be clearly recorded. For a drug like penicillin, large-scale use would not be permitted until they had the capability to counter the naval power of the foreign powers.

For Zhang Yinghao, cremation and autopsies are straightforward orders, enabling more scientific research and epidemic prevention. Unlike his previous life, everything required a gradual exploration, requiring considerable time, effort, and risk. Now with lung biopsies from plague-infected individuals, Zhang Yinghao is confident that a drug to suppress the plague will eventually be discovered. Streptomyces bacteria are readily available; with more experimentation, a plague cure, streptomycin, will surely be discovered. So, even with the urgency of the situation, Zhang Yinghao simply continues to work step by step. Haste is useless; in this day and age, haste is useless.

Due to the previous propaganda of the Forward Party and the plague outbreak in coastal and river ports, these cities experienced a panicked exodus of people. Those who could afford it left these coastal and river cities, either to hide in the countryside or to seek work in other inland cities. Prosperous cities like Shanghai and Nanjing also experienced a period of decline in a short period of time. Furthermore, due to the arrival of the epidemic, foreigners in Shanghai also came into contact with plague patients, resulting in the death of many foreigners. The plague also spread to the concessions and military camps, and was also spread to the warships of the great powers due to officers and soldiers disembarking and wandering around. This caused panic among the foreign armies in Shanghai. Even the diplomats were worried. Once infected with the pneumonic plague, death was almost certain in that era. Moreover, the foreigners of that era had no idea how the plague spread. When the foreign doctors examined the infected patients, they did not wear masks, just like the traditional Chinese medicine practitioners of that era who did not have modern medicine. This led to multiple doctors being infected with the plague, and the plague spread rapidly among the foreigners.

Zhang Yinghao naturally didn't care about these changes, and of course, he couldn't do anything about them now. However, he truly understood the sheer power of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners of this era. They completely disregarded their own lives, even directly contacting epidemic patients and treating them according to their own medical theories, with no regrets. In their minds, failing to treat patients and infecting or even killing themselves was simply a matter of inadequacy, a matter of course.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been passed down in China for thousands of years, from the time of Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs to the present day. It has saved countless lives, and its value is undoubtedly significant. However, despite its long history, by the time Zhang Yinghao traveled through time, a staggering 99.7% of TCM patents were held overseas. Countless prescriptions were being purchased for small sums for research purposes, a truly tragic situation. Furthermore, some TCM practitioners who lacked a medical license were severely fined, stripped of their licenses, and prohibited from practicing, especially in remote areas.

Zhang Yinghao couldn't understand this. Some "experts" refuted it and made a big fuss about it on the Internet, arrogantly shouting that "the law is the law" and that those barefoot Chinese medicine doctors must be fined and not allowed to practice medicine in accordance with laws and regulations. Some judges even pretended to wear suits and ties to visit local areas for investigations, and said some sympathetic words, but in the end they still "acted in accordance with the law."

These "experts" shout, "The law is the law," as if they are the authority, they represent justice, and no one can surpass them. In fact, their actions are a mechanistic admission that society is no longer changing, no longer progressing, and that the situation across the country is the same. They lack any understanding of dialectical materialism or historical materialism.

Zhang Yinghao knew that the sentiments of these carnivores were not those of ordinary people. They simply didn't feel pain until they were struck. It was like a TV show he'd seen in his previous life, where a renovation malfunction led to several cancer cases. When these cancer patients filed for compensation, the female head of the HR department resorted to all sorts of deceitful tactics, using threats and coercion to reduce compensation, claiming she was protecting the company's interests. It wasn't until one day, when she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer, that she felt the pain, realized how despicable she had been, how awful her boss had been, and realized the deep harm her actions had inflicted on the sick employees.

Therefore, these meat eaters live in the city and enjoy the best medical services. Naturally, they don’t know the suffering of the local poor people. They just sit in their comfortable offices and point fingers. How can they know the lack of medical services in these places? Without investigation, there is no right to speak. Only when these meat eaters live in the local area for a period of time and know the actual local situation, will they be qualified to clamor.

Therefore, the true decision on whether to strip a doctor of their medical license should be made by the local people, and a popular vote should be the most appropriate way to determine whether a doctor can continue to practice medicine. After all, some of these mountain doctors have been practicing for decades, and some even come from traditional Chinese medicine families. How can a few words from a pedagogical expert disqualify them? The local people don't care whether these doctors have medical licenses or not; they simply need someone to treat their illnesses and provide them with medical services...

Just like when urban management officers want to drive away street vendors, shouldn't they give them one or two warnings before confiscating or fining them? They shouldn't just beat people up or smash up the stalls with impunity, right? Perhaps this stall is the vendor's livelihood, his livelihood, his entire fortune. Urban management officers are paid by the government, so why would ordinary people go back and offend them unless they have no other choice? Or really, how many people are willing to do this?

So, while the law may be correct, and it's indeed intended to protect the rights of the people and prevent harm from mediocre doctors, the law fails to account for the specific conditions of these mountainous areas, which remain impoverished and underdeveloped. If better modern medical services were available to the local population, would doctors be willing to travel to these desolate and backward areas to practice medicine? Would the locals refuse? If locals knew a Chinese medicine doctor couldn't cure their illnesses, would anyone still seek him out?

Zhang Yinghao knew that there were many ailments that TCM couldn't cure, especially conditions like acute appendicitis, which required surgery. However, he also knew that there were some ailments that Western medicine wasn't very effective for, but TCM could cure, especially when it came to conditioning the body, where TCM had a natural advantage. Of course, there were also many ailments that both Western and Chinese medicine could treat, hence the saying "Western medicine treats symptoms, while TCM treats the root cause." However, TCM required extensive practical experience and knowledge of pharmacology, while Western medicine could produce treatments like an industrial assembly line. It was an indisputable fact that training TCM practitioners was much more difficult than Western medicine.

So, from this perspective, the decline of traditional Chinese medicine is inevitable, but traditional Chinese medicine cannot be abandoned along with it. We cannot say that traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine are feudal superstitions and then discard them!

Therefore, Zhang Yinghao tried his best to gather together those traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and local doctors who had no knowledge of modern medicine for training so that they could better serve the people. The training center was even upgraded to a professional Chinese and Western medical school, making a huge contribution to the construction of the medical system in the liberated areas.

Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in backward areas should not be mindlessly fined or cruelly deprived of their medical qualifications. Instead, they should be provided with corresponding further education services based on the attitude of punishing the past and curing diseases and saving lives. They can be allowed to re-examine, be given opportunities for learning and training, and be provided with some cases for their treatment to determine their medical skills and issue corresponding certificates. This is the attitude to solve the problem, instead of shouting "the law is the law" and doing everything according to the law.

Zhang Yinghao wants to ask: if a TCM doctor's license is revoked, and local residents fall ill and don't receive timely treatment, leading to death or other serious complications, and even a lack of local medical services, do these judges and experts need to bear joint liability? Can they be forced to pay compensation, or even prosecuted for intentional homicide? After all, if they hadn't revoked the doctor's license, perhaps this accident wouldn't have happened. Aren't these judges and experts then violating the Constitution and indirectly infringing on the local residents' right to life and health?

The law is one of the tools of the ruling class. It should be obeyed, not blindly believed in. The law maintains order and the interests of the ruling class. However, how can the ruling class demand that people in places where the law doesn't reach obey it? For example, the laws enacted in the liberated areas don't need to be obeyed by the people of Xi Jinping, who are still under serfdom. To force Xi Jinping to obey the laws enacted in the liberated areas, Xi Jinping must be brought within the scope of legal class rule.

Moreover, after these places are liberated, relevant training services should be provided to Xz's doctors, rather than harming their interests, imposing fines, or depriving them of their medical qualifications. Therefore, this is social injustice, and it is mainly the government's responsibility and an act of lazy governance.

In the next hundred or even several hundred years in China, if urbanization cannot reach more than 80% and if all the people in remote and backward areas in the mountainous areas cannot be relocated, then poor and backward areas will still exist. This is an objective fact. No matter how fair and just the law is, it cannot take care of all regions and all groups, so specific issues must be analyzed specifically.

The Constitution states that the right to life and health is supreme. If judges, experts, and even the law fail to provide medical services to local residents and address the issue of underdeveloped local medical care, and instead deprive local Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors of their licenses rather than helping them treat and save lives, they are nothing more than executioners, disregarding human life and violating the Constitution.

To get back to the point, the Qing dynasty's policy of keeping the people ignorant and rampant with literary inquisitions suppressed the Han Chinese from learning cultural knowledge. Especially in the early and middle Qing dynasties, private schools were prohibited, and in some places, those who opened them were even imprisoned. Even fathers and sons were forbidden from teaching cultural knowledge. It wasn't until the end of the Qing dynasty, when their rule weakened, that they were forced to relax some of the restrictions. This resulted in a still alarmingly low literacy rate across China, and an extreme shortage of talent in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

The liberated areas had just experienced war, flooding, and extreme material shortages. The Forward Party's energies were completely focused on resolving internal problems, and calls for overthrowing the Qing Dynasty had almost completely faded. The Qing Dynasty had accumulated an enormous debt over the past two centuries. The vast liberated areas lacked a significant amount of infrastructure: dikes, roads, water conservancy, and education. This so-called Qing Empire adhered to a patchwork approach to all basic areas, with no systematic development at all.

When nothing bad happened, the Qing dynasty turned a blind eye to all possible situations. When something bad happened, they would find a few officials to blame and mobilize the local landlords and gentry to help with the disaster relief. For the sake of their own rule, the Qing dynasty royal family didn't care about the lives of the common people. If all else failed, they would just chop off a few officials' heads to appease the so-called public grievances.

The Forward Party and the People's Liberation Army have always faced this situation. Aside from the Qing Dynasty's mandatory tax system, the liberated areas could only take over a few factories left behind by the Qing Dynasty. As for the rest, almost all of it needed to be built and improved by the Forward Party comrades themselves. The People's Liberation Army is now the most organized and powerful force in the liberated areas, responsible for land reclamation, organizing civilians to build roads, open mines, develop water conservancy projects, and suppress counter-revolutionaries and returning militias. No place is without the army.

Fortunately, after the People's Liberation Army liberated the two lakes area, it immediately began to develop production with all its strength, and had a certain reserve of crops such as potatoes. Otherwise, this flood would have caused the liberated area to collapse.

This is why, after taking Guangzhou, Zhang Yinghao's primary concern was restoring production order in the Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River Delta covers over 55,000 square kilometers, boasting fertile soil capable of two or even three crops per year. With careful cultivation, there's still enormous potential to be tapped.

However, with tens of thousands of troops scattered across the region, with an average of one soldier per square kilometer, it was clearly unrealistic to suppress the populous Pearl River Delta solely through military force.

Guangdong had only just been liberated, and without a strong grassroots organization, many plans naturally couldn't be implemented. Furthermore, the conflicts between the natives and the Hakkas in Guangdong and Guangxi were extremely intense, and propaganda must be conducted from a perspective that transcended these conflicts. Therefore, nationalism and other approaches were necessary to replace the subsided conflicts. However, this was only a temporary solution, not a fundamental solution. The most important thing was to develop land reform and the economy. Only through land reform and economic development, when everyone no longer struggled for food, would these conflicts naturally and gradually resolve.

In today's China, many conflicts can be resolved through the Chinese nation's community. From the founding of the revolutionary army, the troops have focused on political education. As a latecomer, Zhang Yinghao deeply understands that politics is deeply integrated with society. Politics cannot be separated from the participation of the general public, and the Progressive Party cannot be separated from the support of the people. This is also Zhang Yinghao's deepest feeling when leading the troops. It is precisely because of this that the Progressive Party can truly implement the principle of the party commanding the gun and avoid the birth of warlords.

Chapter 697: First update!

As the highest leader of the liberated areas, Zhang Yinghao's most important task is training to ensure a sufficient supply of talent. This is especially true for those with strong political convictions, a knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, science, technology, and management skills, who are in short supply in the liberated areas. Therefore, Zhang Yinghao not only personally and diligently trains these individuals, but also establishes various schools to cultivate specialized talent, or arranges for relevant personnel to attend these schools for training.

As a time traveler, Zhang Yinghao naturally initially believed that conquering the world depended on a strong political party and military strength. However, after Zhang Yinghao led his troops to start the revolution, he immediately realized that strong strength includes advanced political concepts. If the people completely fail to understand these advanced political concepts, if the political party does not know the class it represents, and if the army does not know who it fights for, then it is not truly strong. Only in this way can the heroic Chinese people overcome any difficulties.

Zhang Yinghao had never been abroad and didn't know if foreign schools offered political education. However, after he began his revolution, he realized the absolute importance of political education. The closer one gets to proletarian dictatorship, the more emphasis must be placed on political correctness. In the past, New China believed that every citizen was a reserve force for the future ruling class, so the curriculum was entirely geared towards educating the ruling class.

Elementary school has moral education courses, middle school has political science courses, and graduate school has political exams. Remember, before Zhang Yinghao traveled through time, graduate school was the highest level of education in China. Regardless of whether or not everyone in school believed in communism, once everyone understood the goal, even a small step forward would be a significant step forward for society and the country as a whole.

Zhang Yinghao was a native of Guangdong in his previous life, having lived in Guangzhou for over a decade, so he's quite familiar with the city. This life has given him even more experience, especially after learning about the conditions of the Communist Party's serfdom system. This has given him a clearer understanding, allowing him to understand many things. Currently, China is experiencing the coexistence of multiple levels of productivity, and the coexistence of systems suitable for these multiple levels of productivity.

Slavery, feudalism, and capitalism—three systems in one country—are actually the best examples, enabling our comrades to deeply understand the relationship between productivity and institutions. And the only systems capable of simultaneously transforming all three are communism and its early socialist predecessor.

China in the 21st century is undergoing a period of extremely rapid industrialization. The theory that science and technology are the primary productive forces and that productivity is the greatest driving force for social development is extremely easy to identify and accept.

Zhang Yinghao had covered these productivity-related courses extensively during training. Therefore, many of the courses for this cadre selection training focused on productivity. After all, the People's Liberation Army originated in Sichuan and has traveled thousands of miles, so its comrades come from all over the country.

Starting from Sichuan, to Shaanxi, then to Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu, and Qinghai, and later to the two lakes, Mongolia, and Northeast China. It can be said that from the mountains to the plains, from south to north, from west to east, along the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Pearl River, which region or province did not have PLA soldiers and forward-looking Party comrades?

These comrades gathered in Wuhan, which was like traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books. As a member of the ruling class reserve force who had received a full set of examination-oriented education, how could Zhang Yinghao not have something to say?

The Progressive Party requires integrating theory with practice. While Zhang Yinghao's presentation on productivity was profound, with numerous examples, the comrades embraced it much more quickly than expected. Zhang Yinghao wasn't afraid of smart people, but he was worried about stubborn ones.

Zhang Yinghao began by explaining the backward productivity of places like Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, and the slavery that accompanied it. He then went on to discuss the social customs and lifestyles that corresponded to different levels of productivity and systems. With this foundation and examples, the comrades naturally understood. Zhang Yinghao then discovered a question that arose naturally, without any need for guidance. That question was: which class did the Forward Party, founded by Zhang Yinghao, represent, and whose interests did it represent?

Each system has a different ruling class. Does the Forward Party represent the interests of the slave-owning aristocracy or the slaves? Does the Forward Party represent the interests of the landlord class, the tenant farmers, or the small and medium-sized farmers? Does the Forward Party represent the interests of the bourgeoisie or the proletariat?

Any political or military group that fails to represent the interests of a particular stratum or class will inevitably be isolated from society. This is inevitable. Whether it's slaves, tenant farmers, or the proletariat, they all have many things in common: they are oppressed, exploited, and required to work hard...

Zhang Yinghao was well aware of his fortunate birthplace, coinciding with the Second Industrial Revolution, which saw rapid growth in productivity and leaps in science and technology. Zhang Yinghao and the Forward Party he founded fully represented the direction of productivity. Therefore, as long as Zhang Yinghao diligently developed productivity and created wealth far superior to that of the feudal landlords, slaveholders, and aristocrats, he could achieve victory in the class struggle and establish a brand new nation, without relying on the support of the old classes.

The key to victory lies within. Science and technology require human mastery to unleash their full potential. Zhang Yinghao naturally focused on cultivating his inner strength. As long as his inner strength was strong, he wouldn't fear demons or monsters. Zhang Yinghao willingly shared his entire knowledge with his comrades, a quality everyone admired. In particular, his Chinese Pinyin alphabet, multiplication tables, and simplified Chinese character Xinhua Dictionary are all examples of Zhang Yinghao's indelible contributions.

To Zhang Yinghao, this knowledge wasn't precious at all, as it was already known to almost everyone in later generations. However, for people of his time, it provided immense convenience, enabling the Liberated Areas to grow stronger more quickly and allowing eager learners to master knowledge more quickly. It was also with this knowledge that the comrades learned more, won countless battles, and overcame countless difficulties.

Therefore, although the various social systems Zhang Yinghao has been talking about are unheard of, Zhang Yinghao's explanations, combined with reality and case studies, have enabled comrades to understand the world very accurately. They not only see the surface of the world, but also see the soul of the world.

Taizu once said that the achievements of peasant uprisings throughout history had been usurped. This is not necessarily the case; given the limitations of history and the constant productivity, radically new political ideas generally do not emerge. Without revolutionary ideas, there can be no revolutionary action.

Therefore, any regime of some significance needs a political philosophy. In an era of underdeveloped productivity, before a class emerged that didn't rely on the land for its livelihood, how could the political ideals of peasant uprisings, those simple ideals of having enough food and clothing, and dividing up the land, possibly be as "humane" as the political ideals of the landlord class?

After all, in an era of underdeveloped productivity, food is the biggest problem. The landlord class that controls the land is the class that everyone truly yearns for. When land annexation is inevitable, the final result of the peasant uprising is bound to be failure. Even if the uprising seizes power and establishes a dynasty, what can it do? When they become the ruling class, they will naturally transform into the landlord class that controls the land, and will naturally and spontaneously safeguard the interests of the landlord class.

Therefore, even if peasant uprisings occasionally achieved brief victories, they inevitably quickly sided with the landlord class. After all, in feudal society, the landlord class represented advanced productivity. In ancient times, the vast majority of those who could read were from the landlord class, representing the landlord class. Even if children from poor families became officials and rulers, their first priority was to purchase land and settle their families. Therefore, in the end, the political ideologies of the landlord class naturally became the ultimate ideological platform for the peasant uprisings.

Just like Wang Mang, reforms that are too advanced are a disaster. When productivity is underdeveloped, or when conditions are immature, reforms are bound to fail. Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that it was impossible to conquer the country without relying on the talent and resources of the landlord class, and that it was impossible to establish a new regime solely through peasant uprisings. Therefore, this genuine grassroots rebel immediately chose to break with the Red Turban Army and instead became a spokesperson for the interests of the landlord class. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang constantly emphasized that he represented the interests of the people of the world, what did he do? In reality, the class interests he represented were those of the landlord class, and there was no fundamental change.

Zhang Yinghao naturally wouldn't represent the interests of the landlord class. He also didn't want the violent revolutionaries he led, coming from the lower classes, to become the traditional feudal landlord class. That's why Zhang Yinghao was so eager to establish a political party. Even if it wasn't an industrialist party, it could at least unite some comrades to carry out the industrial revolution, recruit more workers, and become a party representing the interests of the working class, thereby introducing policies conducive to industrial development and creating a system suitable for industrial development.

Zhang Yinghao must create a proletariat in China, a class that can only survive and have a better life through work. As long as a group of vested interests in industry and commerce are cultivated, the development of the times will form a torrent and there will be no more pauses. All reactionaries will eventually be crushed.

At this point, everything began to move towards Zhang Yinghao's expected goal, so Zhang Yinghao was very satisfied with his current achievements!

Just when Zhang Yinghao was conducting a large-scale new round of training and education for his comrades, the PLA's "Autumn Wind" operation to march into Xinjiang officially kicked off. "Autumn Wind" means that the military operation to march into Xinjiang is like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. The PLA wants to sweep all the reactionaries in Xinjiang like the autumn wind sweeping these outdated yellow leaves off the trees, in preparation for the growth of new leaves next year.

As part of the unified Qing dynasty, Hami Prefecture was governed by the Qing government, along with garrison troops and other military affairs. In Xinjiang, there were also Hui kings, who typically maintained a small number of their own armed forces, along with a small number of guards and other protective forces. In times of war, Hui kings often organized their subjects into Hui troops to assist or directly join the Qing army in combat.

The Uyghurs are the majority ethnic group in the Hami region, and Islam is universally practiced. Religion significantly influences all aspects of the region's socioeconomic landscape, and the rule of the Hui kings was inevitably intertwined with religion. The ruling institutions of the royal palace were closely integrated with religious institutions, and religious figures served as government officials, managing not only religious affairs but also other administrative matters. Imams at local mosques not only oversee local religious affairs but also participate in the administration of the local government. They oversee religious trials, religious affairs, the management of uninherited property, marriages, religious life, and worship. In short, religion governs every aspect of local life, penetrating every corner of social life.

Other small and medium-sized mosques in Hami have positions such as imams, maizens, and general managers. Generally, medium-sized mosques have one each, while small mosques only have one imam and one maizen. The imam is the head of the mosque, responsible for religious affairs, religious regulations, and property management; the maizen is his deputy, primarily assisting him with religious affairs; and the general manager generally assists him with property and miscellaneous items.

Hami Prefecture has established a systematic religious system through a network of mosques, large, medium, and small. As a member of the Hui king's ruling core group, the Grand Imam oversees all religious affairs according to the king's "will." Through the Grand Imam, the Hui king controls the entire mosque system. The Grand Imam is appointed by the Hui king, who can decide their appointment or removal at any time. Imams at all levels in the two major mosques are nominated by the Grand Imam and reported to the Hui king for approval. The Imams and Maizens of Hami's nine districts are appointed by the Grand Imam and the Grand Imams stationed in each district.

The Hami Hui King had legislative and judicial privileges within his territory and used Islamic law, along with the royal court's regulations and the Hui King's will, as the law to govern.

The Hui king can deal with the subjects at will. The chief imam directly controls the religious judicial power of the Hui king. However, when the religious judgment violates the interests of the royal palace, the Hui king can

The king could arbitrarily declare a judgment invalid. The Qing government in Hami did not intervene in any civil or criminal cases involving Uyghurs under the Hui king's jurisdiction; such cases were handled independently by the Hui king. Uyghurs who violated Qing laws and were apprehended by the Hami local government were also handed over to the Hui king's palace for prosecution. However, lawsuits between Uyghurs and Han Chinese were heard by the Hami local government.

Religious laws and regulations touch upon nearly every aspect of social life. All civil and criminal cases are heard by religious courts at various levels within the Grand Mosque and other monasteries in the Hui City. Among the Uyghurs, there is also the practice of setting up private courts within the homes of imams. If dissatisfied with the ruling of a religious court, a party may appeal to the royal palace, which will make the final decision.

There were many types of punishments used by the Inquisition, ranging from fines, flogging, caning, exile, hard labor, expulsion to imprisonment and death.

For Zhang Yinghao, religions should do what religions should do, and secular governments should do what secular governments should do. In particular, religious courts and corporal punishment must be abolished. Religions have the freedom to practice their beliefs, and if they do something wrong, they are naturally subject to national law. Religious laws cross the line, and "one country, two laws" is unacceptable to a modern secular government.

Of course, Xinjiang did make some progress. Successive Hami Hui kings made numerous pilgrimages to Beijing, gaining extensive exposure to and familiarity with Han culture. In particular, after Xinjiang was established as a province in 1884, Xinjiang Governor Liu Jintang proposed establishing free schools in each county. King Shamuhusot funded the establishment of four Uyghur schools, where Han teachers began teaching Chinese and exposed students to Confucianism. Later, Shamuhusot founded the Yizhou Academy, the highest institution of learning in Hami, where students studied the Four Books and Five Classics, beginning a comprehensive and systematic study of Confucian classics.

In 1902, the Qing government promulgated and implemented the "Imperially-Decreed School Regulations", proposing that all charity schools be converted into primary schools. Shamuhusot then converted Yizhou Academy into the first and second private primary schools. Later, in accordance with the educational purpose of "loyalty to the emperor, respect for Confucius, public spirit, martial spirit, and pragmatism" promulgated by the Qing court, the two schools were renamed "Zhongai Chinese Primary School".

The establishment of these schools played a huge role in spreading Han Chinese Confucianism among the Uyghurs in the Hami region. At the same time, the Confucian concept of "loyalty to the emperor" was also used and combined with Islamic teachings to maintain their rule.

Shamuhusot also often wore clothes with dragon patterns, which symbolizes the emperor in Han culture, to receive distinguished guests or attend ceremonies to show his noble status.

During the reign of the Hui King, a large number of Han Chinese from the Central Plains migrated to Hami, bringing with them production tools and advanced farming methods from the Central Plains. Through their interactions with the Uyghurs, both sides learned from each other, promoting production exchanges. Weights and measures from the Central Plains also gradually spread to the Uyghurs.

In addition, the influence of Han culture has gradually expanded in architectural art, clothing, food, living habits, etc., combining with the inherent customs of the Uyghurs, and blending and communicating with each other.

Like a number of Xinjiang rulers, Shamuhusot was extremely loyal to the Qing court, but he cruelly exploited and oppressed his subjects. Their rule was extremely brutal. The serfs and peasants in the territory could not bear the oppression and rose up in resistance many times. There were many small-scale rebellions and uprisings throughout Xinjiang.

In Zhang Yinghao's eyes, one of the most important criteria for determining whether something is a rebellion or an uprising is that an uprising is the overthrow of oppression and exploitation, while a rebellion is an act of massacre or division of the motherland in the name of race, ethnicity or religion.

Zhang Yinghao considers uprisings such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Taiping Rebellion, which aimed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and oppose aggression. However, the Yakub Beg Rebellion, the Hui Rebellion in western Yunnan, and the Hui Rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, which were ethnic or national massacres or attempts to split the motherland and harm the interests of the Chinese people, are naturally rebellions. The Khoja and Khoja Rebellions, while having elements of uprisings, were designed to split the motherland, and therefore can also be considered rebellions.

Even without the British orchestrating and supporting the rebellion in southern Xinjiang, Xinjiang was already a dilapidated, leaky place. Russia, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and others all held significant influence and interests in Xinjiang. Therefore, the path to liberating Xinjiang for the Forward Party and the People's Liberation Army was destined to be a bumpy one.

At this time, the Qing forces in Xinjiang were already in a state of panic, and people from Britain, Russia and other countries naturally tried to win over the remaining forces of the Qing in Xinjiang.

When people’s fate is at stake, there are always people who will sell out the interests of the country and the nation for their own personal gain.

Some people accelerated the pace of differentiation, while many people still maintained their national integrity and refused to be wooed by Britain and Russia.

However, the rebellion in southern Xinjiang left these people powerless to stop the PLA's advance into Xinjiang. The PLA, with cavalry leading the charge, marched from Anxi, crossed Xingxing Gorge, and headed straight for Hami. This force intended to retrace Zuo Zongtang's route to recapture Xinjiang, passing through Hami, Turpan, Aksu, Kashgar, and finally liberating Khotan.

Zuo Zongtang's strategy for reconquering Xinjiang was to advance north first, then south, with a slow, swift attack. The Qing army advanced from both sides, attacking Gucheng and Manas, and finally attacking Changji. Yakub Beg's forces fled from Urumqi, passing through Toksun, Karashar, Kuche, Wushi, and finally to Yingjisha. Ultimately, the Qing army recaptured all of Xinjiang except Ili, achieving a resounding victory.

The PLA's battles on home soil were more intense where the fighting was fierce and where the people were suffering, making it easier for them to gain a foothold. Therefore, as the PLA advanced, they provided aid to the people along the way, especially military doctors, who easily won the hearts of the local people when they treated them.

After the PLA captured Hami's Sandaling, the troops on their way temporarily stopped and focused on consolidating the newly liberated areas of Hami, Jixi, and Sandaling. One of the purposes of this was to expose all the rebels and remnants of the Qing Dynasty in Xinjiang, eliminate all enemies at once, and through a one-time revolutionary suppression, allow Xinjiang to gain at least a few decades of stability.

Due to weather conditions, the PLA troops in Xinjiang concluded Operation "Autumn Wind." After stabilizing the front, they organized the people in Hami, Zhenxi, and Sandaoling to carry out various production and construction projects. The remaining Qing forces in Xinjiang lacked the capacity to initiate an offensive. Aside from a few minor skirmishes along the front line east of Qijiaojing and between Sandaoling, no major fighting occurred. Consequently, the PLA also launched offensives, eliminating small bandit gangs in the area. From a bird's-eye view, the road from Xi'an, Shaanxi, to Hami is now filled with convoys transporting supplies, a testament to the sheer hard work of the people.

Chapter 698: Second update!

The Progressive Party has been established in Shaanxi and Gansu for over three years. During this time, land reform has long been completed. While irrigation and water conservancy projects are currently under construction in northern Shaanxi, Anxi, and Hehuang districts, small and medium-sized irrigation and water conservancy projects in several other administrative districts have been largely completed. The completion of these projects will ensure that the people in these areas no longer have to worry about food and clothing in the face of minor disasters.

Farmland irrigation has been addressed, and road transportation hasn't lagged behind. By expanding existing roads, major dirt roads connecting counties in Longdong, Ningxia, Longzhong, Longxi, and Hexi have been largely completed. Construction is also underway in northern Shaanxi, Hehuang, and Anxi. Construction has been greatly accelerated, thanks to the use of construction engineering troops and grain purchased from overseas.

Although the Progressive Party did not have the appeal of its predecessor to mobilize thousands of people to work for free, it still mobilized the enthusiasm of the general public for construction through patriotic propaganda, working for oneself, labor assignments, and small subsidies such as food and salt.

Zhang Yinghao knew that once the masses were organized, they could unleash an unimaginable force, powerful enough to transform the world. In the absence of sufficient machinery and equipment, he could only compensate with the manpower of tens of thousands. Even if a reservoir, built by 21st-century standards, would have taken two or three years to build, thanks to the selfless dedication of tens of millions of people, armed with hoes and shovels, it could be completed in just a year. The cost was still incomparable.