The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

"You signed a treaty with the Qing Dynasty, so you should go to the Qing Dynasty to maintain the treaty. However, the Qing Dynasty has been overthrown. Your treaty lacks a legal entity and is no longer valid. Moreover, we are opposing the Qing Dynasty, so our actions are just. Wuhan is now under the management of the new Wuhan government, and our public security action this time is to reclaim the French Concession in Wuhan."

"This is an act of war. You will be responsible for all consequences." "Hey, aren't the great powers attacking the liberated areas right now? So, any of your shouting will be futile. I'll give you twenty seconds to think. Hand over your guns immediately and come out to surrender."

The rebel leader knew this was not the end, but he didn't dare to fire. He believed that if he did, he would be shot to pieces. However, he absolutely did not dare and would not surrender to the Chinese. This was a matter of French pride. He was prepared. If the Chinese came in and laid down their weapons, he would let them do so. However, he would never surrender voluntarily, at least not by the word "surrender."

The armed police waited twenty seconds, then, at the command, rushed forward, guns drawn, without a word. Any patrolman who tried to resist was knocked to the ground with the butts of their rifles. As for the leader of the resistance, who had refused to surrender, he was still receiving the beatings, though the blows were a bit harsh, and he groaned as he lay on the ground.

The armed police captain ordered: "Beat him until he shuts up."

Upon hearing this, the rebel leader immediately shut his mouth and dared not make a sound even when fighting again. He could no longer maintain the pride of France.

At the same time, the comrades who had been negotiating with Germany to reclaim the concessions also entered the German concession. Zhang Yinghao did not want to take drastic measures against Germany at this time, hoping to reclaim the German concession peacefully. However, Zhang Yinghao was not in a hurry, as he knew that if the People's Liberation Army defeated the armies of the foreign powers, reclaiming the concessions would be easy. Reclaiming the French and German concessions by different means was also a means of dividing France and Germany.

In Guangzhou, after the British and French concessions were reclaimed, in order to boost the morale of the Guangzhou military and civilians, captured foreigners who had dared to resist the reclaiming of the concessions were immediately dragged out and paraded through the streets in prison vans. These foreigners, disheveled, listless, and pale, were paraded through the streets by armed police. They formed a long line, and any foreigner who dared to resist was subjected to this treatment.

The Guangzhou residents were thrilled to see the usually arrogant and imposing foreigners being pulled into a long line and displayed like prisoners. Having been bullied by the foreigners for so long, they naturally wanted revenge. They threw rotten eggs and rotten vegetable leaves at the foreigners.

After two rounds of propaganda and a parade through the streets, a public trial was immediately held, allowing the public to file complaints. Anyone found guilty of numerous crimes and with irrefutable evidence was executed in front of the public. When the People's Liberation Army came to Guangzhou to provide disaster relief, the people were already grateful to the PLA. This public trial of the foreigners further strengthened their support for the PLA.

Why did Zhang Yinghao organize such parades across the country? First, to tell foreigners that their days of rampant bullying in China were over. Second, to boost public morale, to tell the people that the Progressive Party and the People's Liberation Army were not afraid of foreigners at all, and to build up the people's resolve to resist them.

At this time, not only Wuhan and Guangzhou, but all places where foreigners lived in the liberated areas were within the scope of the action. Foreigners who committed many evil deeds and their running dogs were attacked and tried, and other foreigners were ordered to register at designated locations and complete temporary residence procedures.

Jordan, Lu Ban, and other members of the diplomatic corps were momentarily disoriented upon seeing the Chinese armed police enter the French Concession. However, upon learning that British warships had sunk Chinese vessels, they had already anticipated this outcome: war had already broken out. Although the diplomatic corps protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and requested a meeting with Zhang Yinghao, Zhang Yinghao was unavailable. He was currently discussing the next steps and had no desire to address the foreign ministers. The diplomatic corps could only accept their fate of being temporarily under surveillance.

If time could be turned back, if there were a pill to regret, if Jordan and his men still had the power, the great powers would certainly not allow their warships to leave the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Instead, they would bombard cities along the Yangtze River to force the liberated areas to compromise. The purpose of the great powers' warships on the Yangtze River was to protect their interests, their expatriates, missionaries, and merchants. But now, it was too late, and everything was over.

The British warship "Wrath" was relieved after firing a barrage of shots, but how would the Liberated Areas deal with the foreigners still in the Liberated Areas? The Liberated Areas not only reclaimed the concessions and confiscated British and French property there, but also paraded the foreigners through the streets, a blatant statement of their stance. By parading them through the streets, the Liberated Areas had made their stance clear to Britain and France. At this time, Jordan was filled with anxiety. Was the order built by the British Empire in the Far East coming to an end?

The People's Liberation Army continued its offensive, and other troops were advancing from all directions, aiming to completely liberate the two cities south of the Yangtze River: Nanjing and Shanghai. Zhang Yinghao had already decided to liberate Nanjing and Shanghai. Attacking Nanjing and Shanghai at this time was extremely dangerous, as it risked the bombardment of the imperialist warships. However, Zhang Yinghao had already made up his mind, even if the imperialist warships rained down their shells on Nanjing and Shanghai, reducing them to rubble. Zhang Yinghao knew that if the liberated areas showed any fear of Western powers destroying these cities, or of warships firing, the imperialist powers would seize the opportunity and intensify their attacks. As the saying goes, "no desire makes one strong." Zhang Yinghao also brought up the attitude Taizu had expressed regarding nuclear war in his speech to the Soviet Union: Even if half the population perished, wouldn't there still be 300 million people? Even with half the population, China could still complete its reconstruction. Liberating Nanjing and Shanghai now would be no worse than the Nanjing Massacre unleashed by Japan.

When the armed police of the Progressive Party entered the British and French concessions, Uchida Yasuya knew that Japan's opportunity had come. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was about to take effect, and Japan needed to immediately stand up for Britain. So he tried every means to pass the news back to Japan. After the Japanese obtained the intelligence, the naval fleet immediately set out, aiming directly at Shanghai and other places.

Not only did Japan take action, but French Indochina's army also assembled on the Sino-Vietnamese border, and warships in Guangzhou Bay also left port, preparing to bombard coastal cities and intimidate the liberated areas. Upon receiving this news, the People's Liberation Army, prepared to gather its deliberately dispersed troops in Huazhou, Lianjiang, and Maoming, and launched a forced march to Guangzhou Bay, forcibly reclaiming this French colony.

Upon hearing the news, Britain and Portugal began to impose curfews in Hong Kong and Macau, restricting the activities of Chinese people in Hong Kong and Macau. Furthermore, actions were not only taken in Hong Kong and Macau, but also in the Yunnan-Myanmar border and India regions. After receiving the news, they immediately took action and began to move north. A full-scale border war, a war stretching thousands of miles, might be about to begin.

Chapter 1: First update!

Wars are fought for money, so in addition to issuing patriotic bonds in the liberated areas to recycle currency and avoid excessive inflation, Zhang Yinghao had to find a way to use the war to obtain money. Zhang Yinghao came to Bai Guangliang's studio and asked: "How are you doing now?"

"Chairman, the situation is very good right now. Before we launched the war against North Korea, we used US dollars deposited in US banks in Japan as collateral to borrow Japanese yen. Now that the Japanese yen is on the gold standard, directly linked to gold, we quickly converted the borrowed yen into gold and deposited it in US banks. After our troops entered North Korea, the yen depreciated by over 40%. We then took out some of the gold and exchanged it for devalued yen and returned it to Japan. The remaining gold was our profit, a profit of over 30% in one operation. As long as the war continues and the yen continues to depreciate, and as long as the yen remains linked to gold, we can continue this business."

Zhang Yinghao nodded, then shook his head and said, "Not right, not right. Japan's plate is too small, the risk is too great, and it's easy to cause trouble at the slightest disturbance."

"The Chairman is worried that Japan's trading volume is too small. We only reaped a small profit, exchanging a few million dollars for gold, and we nearly brought down Japan's financial system. Now the Japanese government has intervened and is investigating, and we're almost unable to get our funds out. Japan is going crazy right now, and they're really capable of anything."

"Yes, our main targets should be Britain and France, especially Britain. It is now the world's financial center and has a large enough market. Britain also has South African gold mines and has plenty of gold. It is more reassuring to travel around and make money."

"Don't worry, Chairman! When the great powers were advocating for war, we went long in Europe and made millions of francs and hundreds of thousands of pounds. Before we drove out the coalition forces and warships, we quickly sold them and went short, reaping another wave of profits. I believe in our soldiers and I believe in the Chairman, so we can continue to short the pound and franc as we did in Japan, and then amplify this matter infinitely to attract more funds to enter the market and continue to suck the blood of Britain and France."

Zhang Yinghao knew that all the great powers were now on the gold standard, and their currencies were all linked to gold. This was actually a loophole, a buff. As long as he seized the opportunity and had the support of national power, he could make a lot of money in the financial market. So what if there was no short-selling mechanism? As long as he could freely exchange gold, then all problems would not be a problem.

When Zhang Yinghao thought about this problem, he recalled the events in the past life when the United States linked the dollar to oil, and then launched a war and manipulated oil prices. It was simply a crazy way of harvesting the whole world, and the speed of harvesting was faster than that of a money printing machine. It was difficult for the United States not to be rich.

Zhang Yinghao felt a bit obsessed again. If waging a war could yield massive profits, it could become addictive. Seeing such huge numbers was truly intoxicating. Unable to resolve internal issues on their own, he would then vent his conflict externally. While this was a solution, it wasn't the right path. However, he couldn't care less now. He was being driven mad. He would take whatever he could get, trying his best to minimize the losses of the war. Wearing down the enemy was the best path.

Zhang Yinghao thought for a moment and said, "You must be careful of those financial groups and families in Europe and the United States, such as the Rothschilds, Wallenbergs, Mendelssohns, DuPonts, Lehmans, Morgans, etc. In short, you must be careful of these Jewish family financial groups and those bankers. These people are ruthless and will eat people without leaving any bones. Our current action is to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. We must be careful that these people will encircle and suppress us or simply use other forces without following the rules. Otherwise, we may suffer heavy losses."

“The Rothschilds? What kind of family is that?”

Zhang Yinghao remembered that he knew this family from a book called "Currency Wars" in his previous life, so he said, "The Rothschilds were once a family that could rival the nation. In the last century, the Rothschilds were undoubtedly the richest family in the world. Their wealth may not be as exaggerated as the rumored 80% of the world's wealth, but it was at least 50%.

This means that the combined wealth of this family is likely greater than the combined wealth of all the other people in the world. Because of their wealth, the Rothschilds were called the Sixth Empire, surpassing Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Russia. Even the Morgan Group, the nerve center of Wall Street, owes its existence to this family.

“So powerful?”

"It's more powerful than you think. But the Rothschilds are just like us now. They made a fortune by gaining advance knowledge of the war and controlling British finance through bonds. Now, for every pound printed in Britain, one portion is Rothschild's money. Can you imagine how wealthy the Rothschilds are?"

"This is truly impressive. Chairman, these families appear to be conglomerates, right?"

"Yes, forming a consortium creates an internal cycle, through which wealth continues to grow, which is why monopoly capitalism has developed. These consortiums can also absorb more money from the outside. Therefore, the consortium will become richer and richer, while the people outside the consortium will become poorer and poorer. Of course, a family is a consortium, especially Jewish families. In order to prevent the outflow of wealth, these families choose to marry cousins."

"Chairman, speaking of Jews, we have the Eli Kadoorie family, the Hardoon family, the Ezra family, and especially the Sassoon family, who founded the Sassoon Company and the Foreign Trade Company and were once the largest opium traffickers in our country. There are also a series of other Jewish families such as the Abraham, Solomon, Toig, Haim, Sof, etc., all of whom have been involved in the opium trade and are now extremely wealthy by sucking the blood of the Chinese people."

Zhang Yinghao nodded and said, "Then collect the information and let them taste the fist of the proletarian dictatorship. Taking advantage of this war, wherever we fight, we will confiscate all the illegal money of the opium traffickers there and use it to build our country. However, we must also hire Jews as consultants and learn from them about banking and financial management. We can't suffer losses due to lack of knowledge. However, we must also impose a restriction in the future. Jews entering our country are not allowed to engage in the financial lending industry. Our country's financial industry must strengthen its internal strength within the next 30 years and implement a "going out" strategy instead of opening up to the outside world. We should then gradually open up..."

Zhang Yinghao left Bai Guangliang's studio and came to a temporary meeting room of high-level party, government and military personnel.

Looking at the noisy conference room, I saw that the comrades present were indignant about the actions of Britain, Japan, France and other countries.

Zhang Yinghao sneered inwardly. The comrades present had followed him in the revolution, and while there had been occasional setbacks, everything had been going smoothly. He hadn't yet experienced true despair. In his previous life, China had not only suffered from the long-term civil wars between domestic warlords, which had completely eroded the nation's vitality, but Japan had also invaded China with a million-strong army, resulting in tens of millions of casualties among Chinese soldiers and civilians. That was true despair.

Therefore, Zhang Yinghao is not really heartless, but the bombardment of the great powers is just a drizzle in Zhang Yinghao's view.

The noisy meeting hall slowly quieted down after Zhang Yinghao entered. After the meeting had completely quieted down, Zhang Yinghao took the chair and slowly spoke: "Now, comrades, you have all seen this. This is a bloody lesson. The reason I didn't liberate the coastal provinces before was because I was worried about something like this happening again. We must resolutely retaliate against the shelling of our coastal areas by Britain, Japan, and other countries. Why do they dare to shell our coastal areas now? First, our liberated areas appear to be very weak. These powers may think that shelling our coastal cities will force us to surrender."

"Chairman, we will never surrender!"

"The great powers are bullying us too much. If they want to fight, we will fight them."

After the comrades finished speaking, Zhang Yinghao asked: "What is the basis for our unwavering resolve to never surrender? It's not just about talking tough! Where does our strength to fight the foreign powers come from? Why do the people support us in our war? Why does the People's Liberation Army fight the foreign powers to the death?"

Zhang Yinghao didn't intend to let his comrades answer, but instead spoke directly: "War cannot scare the heroic Chinese people. What the Chinese people have to lose in this revolution are only chains on their heads, and what they will gain is a new world. However, although the people need revolution, they don't understand these principles. Can't we just ask the people to support us and they will support us? War is not just about courage; it's about logistics. Therefore, we must gain the support of the people for the war. But how can we gain the people's selfless and full support? How can we get the people to stand with us? This is the problem we most need to solve now."

Zhang Yinghao went on to say, "China faces many problems today. The main contradictions in Chinese society include those between the feudal ruling class and the broad masses of the people, and between the Chinese nation and foreign powers. These contradictions have led to social unrest and a deepening national crisis, but have also spurred China's exploration of modernization, such as the Westernization Movement and the Hundred Days' Reform.

But China's most fundamental problem is how to mobilize the masses, how to get them to participate in the revolution. Without the participation of the vast majority of the people, without the awakening of the vast majority of the people, our revolution will inevitably go down the road of failure."

Zhang Yinghao's words are absolutely not alarmist. If China carries out a revolution in the current situation of internal and external troubles, without the participation of the entire nation, it will inevitably be unable to defeat the Western powers, the armed running dogs of the powers, and the feudalism with a thousand-year tradition.

"Therefore, we must let the broadest masses of the people know who our friends are and who our enemies are, because this is the primary question of the revolution. We sang in the 'Chinese Revolutionary Song': The most hateful are those poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts that devour our flesh and blood! So, who are the poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts?

The most venomous and ferocious beast is the Western imperialist powers. Through brutal wars of aggression and rhetoric and intimidation, they forced the corrupt and weak Qing Dynasty to sign a series of unequal treaties, attempting to control and manipulate China politically, economically, and culturally, ultimately maximizing their economic benefits. In the course of their invasions of China, they committed murder, arson, looting, and other atrocities, committing countless crimes against the Chinese people. Therefore, in foreign wars, as long as the people understand that the imperialist powers want China's national destruction and extermination, they will inevitably support us, because this is in the interests of all the people.

The second most venomous beast is the remnant of feudalism. Although we overthrew the Qing Dynasty feudal monarchy, Yuan Shikai still went against the times and became that lousy emperor again. This is enough to prove that the feudal ideology, decadent traditions, and backward cultural doctrines accumulated over thousands of years are still shackled in the minds of the people.

Where are they more manifested? To give a few simple examples, after the landlords have money, they never think about investing in industry and developing production, but always want to buy more land to exploit farmers, or use it for personal material enjoyment; the traditional and backward money houses still have conservative miserly ideas, and are still at the stage of charging storage fees for deposits and making profits by lending at high interest rates; those traditional literati, once they have the opportunity, either promote the Confucian ideas of the emperor, or scold the revolutionaries for worshipping foreigners and forgetting their ancestors, etc.

The third most venomous beast is the comprador class of bureaucrats, landlords, and other powerful individuals. These individuals dare to do anything, profiting themselves but ultimately selling out the nation and its people. The imperialist powers established a network of comprador and usurer exploitation, stretching from China's trading cities to its remote countryside. This created a comprador and usurer class that served imperialism, exploiting the vast majority of Chinese peasants and other people, and continually sucking blood from China. Typical examples include the state-owned merchant Sheng Xuanhuai and HSBC's largest comprador in China, Xi Zhengfu. China was previously the largest producer of raw silk, but pricing power was controlled by foreigners. Hu Xueyan, seeking to change this situation and secure benefits for the people, purchased large quantities of raw silk, attempting to wrest pricing power from the foreigners. However, Sheng Xuanhuai and Xi Zhengfu joined forces with the foreign powers to strangle Hu Xueyan. Using intrigue and deception, they disregarded national interests and severed Hu Xueyan's funding, forcing him into bankruptcy.

People like Sheng Xuanhuai and Xi Zhengfu only see their own immediate interests, completely unaware that they are betraying their country. Foreigners are rampant and tyrannical in China, landlords and usurers exploit the people, and compradors collude with foreigners to sell out national interests and squeeze out Chinese merchants. Therefore, we must make the masses understand and know this. When the time comes, heaven and earth will unite; when luck is gone, heroes will be helpless. When we overthrow the three mountains that weigh on the people, we must ensure that the people themselves recognize these three mountains and form a momentum to overthrow them. Only then can everyone work together to overthrow them. The Forward Party and the People's Liberation Army alone cannot do it."

Zhang Yinghao was well aware that the primary reason the Xinhai Revolution ultimately failed was its failure to mobilize the broad masses of the people and their lack of widespread participation. The saying, "Revolutionary armies rise, revolutionary parties vanish," became a prevailing trend in public opinion. "Both the general public and within the revolutionary party, many believed that the overthrow of the monarchy would bring the revolution to an end." This suggests that the vast majority of the public lacked a clear understanding of the revolutionary army, the revolutionary party, and the Mingzhu republic, and their understanding of Mingzhu was limited. Ultimately, the Xinhai Revolution failed to achieve its mission of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism.

The second is that after the revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty, there was no revolutionary ideal, no goals were set, and the country was not immediately built. Instead, it fell into a vortex of power struggle and could not extricate itself. The final result was endless internal strife, warlord fighting, and the decline of national strength.

The comrades of the Forward Party naturally could not know this. After Zhang Yinghao finished his theoretical lecture, he immediately began to tell the comrades what they should do. Worldview and methodology are inseparable. Then Zhang Yinghao continued: "We must mobilize the masses and want the broadest masses to support us. In our poor and weak situation, we can only unswervingly carry out the people's revolution and the land revolution. Only in this way can we gain the support of the broadest masses. Then, as long as the Forward Party and the People's Liberation Army have the support of the people, they will have a force that cannot be shaken by the great powers. It is our liberated areas, not the Western powers or the Beiyang government, that will dominate China's situation and future."

Zhang Yinghao knew his comrades were concerned about the prospect of war against the imperialist powers, so he continued, "War is a continuation of politics, and its ultimate goal is subordinate to political objectives. The imperialist powers' goal is to force us to recognize the unfair treaties signed by the Qing Dynasty, which is absolutely impossible. Conversely, war is the final and ultimate means of resolving a political issue. Western powers like Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and Portugal are now resorting to their last resort: military invasion. But why can they only bombard our coastal areas and not send a large army into Wuhan? It's because they currently lack the strength to penetrate the heart of our liberated areas. Therefore, the imperialist powers' bombardment of coastal cities is one of their most potent means of forcing us. Perhaps they are simply waiting for us to surrender, for us to beg their warships to stop bombarding us. Therefore, what we must do now is to remain uncompromising and continue to strike the imperialist powers from land, eliminating their influence and privileges in China, and seizing the benefits they have illegally seized, thus cleaning up the mess."

After hearing Zhang Yinghao's analysis and understanding the current situation, the comrades were immediately enraged: "Damn, these foreign devils are trying to scare us now? Forcing us to compromise and surrender to them? What a wishful thinking."

"Chairman, you said shelling us is one of the most powerful means, then what about the second and third?"

"Second? Haha, that's sending troops to invade our border areas. Isn't southern Xinjiang still very chaotic right now? Isn't the Yunnan-Myanmar border and the Tibet-India border busy again? As for the third option, that's blockading China, stopping trade with the liberated areas or prohibiting the export of certain machines to China."

"What does the Chairman mean? Are Britain, France, Japan, Russia and others desperate now?" "I have said before that China has been part of the world since ancient times. Now everyone knows that if all the resources in the Northeast region were fully developed, it would be almost enough for our country to complete the development needs of the primary stage of socialism. So, in the end, will our 400 million people rely more on the Western powers, or will the Western powers rely more on us? Therefore, I have always said that as long as we solve China's own problems, the powers will naturally rely on us one day.

The Japanese had previously been driven out of Manchuria by our People's Liberation Army, and now we were invading Korea. Naturally, they were taking advantage of the frenzy among the great powers to carve up China in an attempt to retaliate against us, killing more Chinese and weakening China's strength. Of course, why did the Western powers dare to bombard us now? It was because we were not strong enough, because our artillery was not large enough, because we had not yet liberated the entire country. They believed we were not prepared for military struggle.

But what I want to say to my comrades is this: peace survives when it is sought through struggle, but it dies when it is sought through compromise. As long as we unswervingly follow the path of people's revolution, as long as we always stand with the broad masses of the people, we will only grow stronger and stronger. Therefore, it is not us who are riding the tiger's back, but Britain, Japan, and other powerful countries that are in a difficult position. If these powers dare to send large armies into Chinese territory, they will be drowned in the vast sea of ​​the people.

Therefore, we must do a good job in land reform, implement it, and organize the hundreds of millions of people in our country. This is the only foundation for our Progressive Party and the People's Liberation Army to achieve final victory, and it is our strongest guarantee of victory. Even if we establish our own country in the future, the same will apply. Do we need to kneel before the great powers to recognize our identity? Do we need to kneel before the great powers to establish diplomatic relations with us? Our Progressive Party and the People's Liberation Army only need to be responsible to the people of our country, nothing more.

"Chairman, we must expedite land reform throughout the country and quickly eliminate those who oppose it."

Zhang Yinghao listened, and this was a change from right to left. He said helplessly: "We talk about seeking truth from facts, the issue of major contradictions and minor contradictions. Although this time is very urgent, the great powers are bombarding our coastal areas. But the main contradiction in our country is still the land issue, the issue of being beaten and starving, so land reform must be resolutely and thoroughly implemented. But our work must be meticulous, not simple and crude. Everyone really doesn't need to treat the great powers as a dish now. Even if they are twice as strong, they can't destroy our great China. In my opinion, as long as we organize the Chinese people, the great powers, imperialism, and the Beiyang government are really nothing. Carrying out land reform well and doing it well is the kingly way. Because we have everything we have now because of the good land reform, as long as we do a good job of land reform, we will have everything, so we must not rush into things because of the problems of the great powers."

By this time, Zhang Yinghao had learned the secret to national leadership: to establish a shared interest with the vast majority of the grassroots, or to become their spokesperson. China's peasantry was the largest population, so as long as Zhang Yinghao aligned himself with the peasants, established a shared interest, and became their spokesperson, he would be able to lead them. As long as he persisted in industrialization, he would represent the interests of the working class and become their spokesperson. With his comrades, he would establish a shared cause, working together for the cause of China's liberation and prosperity. With his comrades in the Party Committee and the Military Commission, he would establish a spiritual community, a community of faith. At this level, only spiritual joy and satisfaction were what Zhang Yinghao sought.

"Chairman, do we have any other work to do next?"

Zhang Yinghao pondered for a moment and said, "In addition to land reform, our most important task now is to organize production and prepare for a long-term war. This will allow our PLA soldiers to fight peacefully on the front lines, eliminate the invading enemies, and eliminate all reactionaries. What we must do is ensure that our soldiers do not have guns without bullets or fight on an empty stomach..."

Chapter 742: Second update!

Zhang Yinghao had barely finished unifying his thoughts when he received a telegram announcing another large-scale artillery engagement with the foreign powers near Jiajiang. The fighting was fierce, and the artillery roared. A PLA artillery piece had fortuitously hit a Japanese warship's ammunition depot, causing the ammunition to explode and break the warship in two, sinking it. A French warship and a British warship were also stranded and captured by our forces. The PLA Navy's gunboats, the Jiangzhen and Chuyou, had also been hit and run aground.

Zhang Yinghao knew that this war would not be so simple and would not end so easily. The war had not yet reached its most intense stage.

At this time, because of the liberated areas' tough attitude of fighting at all costs, the great powers had begun to split. Warships from Germany, the United States, Austria-Hungary and other countries had already sailed towards Shanghai, intending to leave the Yangtze River.

Zhang Yinghao knew that after the great powers saw the determination of the Forward Party and the People's Liberation Army to protect the Yangtze River waterway, those who did not want to go to war directly with the People's Liberation Army would have no choice but to leave the Yangtze River.

"It's better to leave. After you leave, you won't have a chance to come back." Zhang Yinghao currently had in his hands the cruisers Haichang, Haichou, Hairong, and Haichen, the training ship Tongji, the destroyer Feiying, the transport ship Baomin, and the torpedo boats Chen, Su, Lie, Zhang, Husun, Huying, and Hu'e. In addition to these warships, gunboats, and torpedo boats, there were also a large number of lake surface vessels, most of which had surrendered and revolted in the liberated areas.

It would be impossible to send these warships out to sea and fight against the great powers now; they would surely be annihilated. However, in the future, it would be no problem to have them guard the Yangtze River Estuary and the Pearl River Estuary. Zhang Yinghao attached great importance to China's remaining naval forces. They were the seeds of the future; in the future, their protection would be needed for the vast seas.

In his previous life, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the Chinese navy was practically starting from scratch. The great powers used aircraft carriers, while China only had cruisers. Meanwhile, the British-built dreadnought-class battleships were only launched last year, and production of the super-dreadnought battleships hadn't even begun yet! So, Zhang Yinghao still had plenty of time. Furthermore, whether in this life or the previous, the navy rarely obstructed the revolution, instead adapting to the trend of the times and joining the revolution. After all, the navy was composed of educated and highly qualified personnel, and they knew more.

Zhang Yinghao knew that the navy would suffer heavy losses in this artillery battle, but as long as they could force the warships of the great powers to leave the Yangtze River, then everything would be worth it. After all, these warships would not leave unless they were forcibly driven away. The British, in particular, had a deep impression on Zhang Yinghao of the Amethyst incident.

"Order the Yangtze River Bureau to continue the offensive and drive all the foreign powers' warships into the sea."

Zhang Yinghao knew that there would inevitably be losses in war, but when he heard that the warship was lost again, Zhang Yinghao naturally needed to take a break, so he went to Li Guihong's house for a meal. After being well fed and warm, he thought about sex and had sex in broad daylight. As a result, when he returned to the command room, he heard the news that Zhang Yinghao least wanted to hear: Beiyang was dispatched.

Zhang Yinghao took the telegram and read it carefully. He was indeed right. The Beiyang army had launched a surprise attack on Niangzi Pass and attacked Shanxi.

Zhang Yinghao held up the telegram, looked at his comrades, and said, "The truly difficult time has arrived. The war to liberate the entire country will begin immediately, and the scale of the war is now unpredictable."

Although he had been prepared for this, Zhang Yinghao was still deeply saddened by the news. He knew the PLA would eventually fight the Beiyang government, but he hadn't imagined it would happen under these circumstances. Zhang Yinghao knew that some of the Beiyang government's members were destined to be etched in history's shame.

It turns out that by this time, the foreign invaders were extremely anxious and panicked. Their warships had been damaged and sunk in the Yangtze River, and their defeat was too swift. These foreign powers knew that if they only sent troops directly without the Beiyang Army sending troops, it would be absolutely not in the interests of the foreign powers. So, they finally shed blood and persuaded Emperor Yuan to immediately dispatch the Beiyang Army to cooperate with the foreign powers' attack and defeat the People's Liberation Army.

At this point, the Beiyang government had no choice but to send troops, as it would collapse if it did not. A Beiyang soldier's monthly salary was about 4.5 taels of silver, which was enough for a soldier to enjoy a rich life in that era. The battalion commander's salary was even higher, reaching 20 taels of silver per month. Adding the monthly public expenses of 140 taels, it far exceeded the salary of an average provincial official. According to the Qing Dynasty currency conversion, 1 tael of silver was equivalent to about 175 yuan today, which means that the battalion commander's annual salary is equivalent to 336,000 yuan today.

In addition to Emperor Yuan's monthly salary of 24,000 yuan, he also had to pay 40,000 yuan each for official expenses and social expenses. A first-rank minister received a monthly salary of over 1,500 yuan, while ministers received over 1,000 yuan. Officials below the minister received salaries divided into different levels, ranging from 1,000 yuan to 50 yuan, depending on their rank. Local officials also had to pay a certain amount for their office expenses. Besides their salaries, which accounted for over 60%, they also had to pay "office expenses, travel expenses, allowances... and various unnecessary miscellaneous expenses, which together accounted for another 20 to 30 percent."

In this era of underdeveloped productivity, the Beiyang government's wages were simply too high. They simply couldn't support so many people. To pay them such high wages was simply like looking for trouble - it was like asking for death!

The Beiyang government only held Zhili, most of Shandong, most of Jiangsu, and most of Henan, yet it had to support no fewer officials than the Qing. Furthermore, the Beiyang government was a military-style clique, unconcerned with developing production, and inherited the unfair treaties left by the Qing. Had it not plundered the Qing imperial family, the Beiyang government would have collapsed long ago.

In addition, due to the continuous natural and man-made disasters, the serious inflation was not fundamentally curbed, and unemployment led to famine and unrest. If Emperor Yuan did not launch a war to divert the contradictions, not only would he be ousted, but the Beiyang government would also fall into an abyss of no return.

Moreover, the financial backers, the great powers, wanted Emperor Yuan to send troops to attack the liberated areas. Without the support of the great powers, Emperor Yuan would go bankrupt and step down in minutes. Under the pressure of the great powers, Emperor Yuan had no choice but to send troops.

Zhang Yinghao pointed at the sand table with a stick and said, "Immediately send a telegram to comrades in Inner Mongolia, Shanhaiguan, Henan, Shandong, and Xuzhou, asking about the situation in the Beiyang Army and whether the Beiyang Army under surveillance has launched an attack. Remind them to be careful of a surprise attack from the Beiyang Army."

"Yes, Chairman."

Zhang Yinghao glanced at the map of Shanxi again. He almost laughed out loud. Shanxi was called "Inner and Outer Mountains" because it bordered the Yellow River on the outside and the Taihang and Lüliang Mountains on the inside. The terrain was difficult to defend and easy to attack.

Shanxi is a place with many ravines and valleys. Even though the two places seem very close, if you want to go to the other side, you will have to take a lot of detours. So how difficult is it to completely occupy Shanxi? Just look at the drama and you will know. Didn’t the Japanese fail to completely occupy Shanxi in the end?

Shanxi was ideally suited to the cold-blooded tactics of the PLA. After the PLA entered Shanxi, they would launch a widespread offensive, cracking down on bandits, local tyrants, and evil gentry, implementing land reform policies. No force could expel the Forward Party and the PLA from Shanxi. Even if the Beiyang government truly invaded Shanxi's heartland, it would surely be forced to retreat or even be annihilated in no time.

After sending the inquiry telegram, Zhang Yinghao soon received a reply telegram. The staff officer reported: "Report to the Chairman, there is no sign of the Beiyang Army from Zhangjiakou, Shanhaiguan, and Jinan sending any troops. However, part of the Beiyang Army in Henan has reached Luoyang, and part is heading south, possibly preparing to attack Hubei and support the foreign powers' war of aggression against China."

"Chairman, the Beiyang government is attacking us now. They are a bunch of traitors and traitors. They are betraying China and the Chinese nation."

Zhang Yinghao frowned, waved his hand, and said, "Although there are certainly traitors and traitors, we can't generalize. At least the Beiyang Army in Shanhaiguan, Zhangjiakou, Jinan, and other places didn't take action. Perhaps this indicates that the Beiyang Army is divided, even split, and some people don't listen to Emperor Yuan. Of course, it's also possible that the Beiyang Army is implementing a strategy of defending the north and attacking the south."

"Damn, why has our country always had so many traitors and traitors?"

Upon hearing this, the comrades immediately felt the same way. One comrade said, "Yes, recently, there are those many compradors and people like Li Hongzhang, who sell out the country with great pleasure. More recently, there are people like Shi Jingtang, Qin Hui, Wu Sangui, Fan Wencheng, Hong Chengchou, and others. There has indeed always been no shortage of such people."

"Yes, when those foreigners first came to China, how could they speak Mandarin? They still had to rely on compradors to translate. Without these people, how could the foreigners establish a network of exploitation and oppression?"

Hearing his comrade's words drifting off, Zhang Yinghao knocked on the table and said, "Traitor and traitor to the nation are moral judgments made within a historical context. We cannot transcend that historical context to discuss the actions of historical figures. I've said before that a nation is an imagined community, and a state is the product of irreconcilable class contradictions—that is, a state is a tool for one class to rule over another."

Our country is one of the four ancient countries with a long history of civilization. It is also a beacon of human civilization for most periods of human history.

During the slavery period of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the nation and the people were one. It was the Central Plains dynasty that conquered the barbarians and expanded the territory. No one would go to the barbarians and bring them to attack the Central Plains dynasty!

By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the exception of states like Chu, Wu, and Yue, which were considered barbarians by the Central Plains states, most of the states were vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty. Prior to this period, there had been no nationalities, with peoples referred to as Chu, Qi, Qin, and Zhao. However, talent flowed between these states, all striving to realize their ambitions and strengthen their nations and enrich their peoples. There was no talk of traitors. States sometimes united to attack Chu, while others joined forces to attack other states. Therefore, national interests far outweighed the interests of groups like the Qin and Chu peoples.

The true emergence of the Chinese nation began with the Han Dynasty. People from tribes and countries adjacent to the Han Dynasty called the people of the Han Dynasty Han people, and thus the Han ethnic group was born. The struggle between the Han and the Xiongnu was a struggle between countries and ethnic groups, and at this time, traitors began to appear.

But comrades, you can go and take a look at the Han envoys of that time. Those envoys sent out were not like envoys at all. They killed the Xiongnu envoys in Zheng Shanguo, scolded the King of Joseon, slept with the Queen Mother of Yue to create civil strife, etc. The Central Plains looked down on the small countries around them. How many traitors were there?

After the Han Dynasty came the Three Kingdoms. During the Three Kingdoms period, people were so out of their minds that they were traitors. They were all striving for national unity, so national interests were the only criterion. The Jin Dynasty unified China, but just a few years later, the Rebellion of the Eight Princes broke out. The Sima family, driven by their own selfish interests, resorted to extremes, allowing the Hu people to cross the Great Wall and enter the Central Plains. Therefore, the eight Sima princes cared neither about national interests nor about national interests, only about their own interests.

Finally, at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji used the Eight Banners of Han and Mongolian to enter the Central Plains and massacred people of all ethnic groups. After the peasant uprising broke out, the landlord class represented by the Ming Dynasty even chose to cease fire and reconcile with the Qing Dynasty, or even jointly suppress the uprising, rather than let the peasant uprising succeed.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus colluded with foreign powers to suppress the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion. Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on these powers and was defeated. Consequently, she issued an imperial edict stating, "Measure China's resources and win the favor of other nations." This indicated that the Manchus had compromised with the foreign powers, becoming a tool for them to invade, oppress, and exploit the Chinese people.

The history of other countries is actually quite similar, so we should never forget class struggle. Before the ruling class and the entire nation form a unified whole, the interests of the masses, the state, and the nation are not unified. Because countries and nations are composed of people, there are only the interests of the ruling class and the rulers.

The victors should not be condemned, and neither should history. People say the Beiyang government betrayed China and the interests of the Chinese nation, but that's only because they failed. Therefore, this is wrong. If the Beiyang government had joined forces with the foreign powers to suppress our revolution, who would have said we were right? For example, during the Kangxi and Qianlong eras, who called people like Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng traitors? Aren't those who understand the times truly outstanding?

So, from our perspective, it was because the Beiyang government did not represent the interests of the broad masses of the people, nor did it represent the voice of the masses. In fact, from the Beiyang government's perspective, we carried out the land revolution and the people's revolution, but we actually damaged the interests of the Beiyang government. Because the Beiyang government represented the interests of the feudal bureaucratic landlord comprador class, while we, the Forward Party, represented the interests of the working people. This was a completely irreconcilable contradiction. Therefore, some people in the Beiyang government betrayed the interests of the broad masses.

However, while there was no class that betrayed its interests, there were individuals who betrayed theirs. We must distinguish between rulers and the ruling class. The Beiyang government's joint attack on the liberated areas with the foreign powers may have served the interests of some rulers, and the Beiyang government's recognition of the unequal treaties signed by the Qing Dynasty may also have served the interests of some rulers. However, these actions were not in the interests of all members of the Beiyang group. Therefore, the Beiyang government was bound to split, and there were bound to be people who betrayed the Beiyang government.