The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Zhang Yinghao still remembers 1999. Back then, he couldn't even afford the several hundred yuan in tuition. He relied on selling the pigs his family raised to make enough cash to pay. He also remembers several times in elementary school when his pigs died of illness, leaving him with unpaid tuition by the end of the semester. His teacher didn't even give him his summer homework books, instead telling him to go home and ask his parents to pay. He returned home in tears.

Zhang Yinghao feels heartbroken every time he thinks about it. Back then, he felt his father was incompetent, unable to even afford tuition fees, a mere few hundred yuan. Thinking back, it can only be attributed to the rural economy being particularly poor at the time, with few job opportunities. It also illustrates the vast disparity between rural and urban areas. After all, as long as someone in the family worked outside, they wouldn't need a few hundred yuan.

Zhang Yinghao has a special feeling for the life of poverty. He believes that it is necessary to improve the treatment of workers within his ability. He believes that distributing some of the clothes and pants he produces is not a problem. People in this era are simple-minded and free from material temptations. They are content with a job and can stay satisfied.

Zhang Yinghao is now like a training teacher, focusing on training his comrades. A lot of work has been delegated to the lower-level committees, so he has some time to accompany Xueer.

Chapter 102:

Zhang Yinghao listened intently to the people's discussions on the streets about the Revolutionary Army and the Forward Party. Even then, many were still debating whether to return to the countryside or remain in the city. Large-scale infrastructure and road construction were underway in the countryside, and Zhang Yinghao even saw them posting job openings in the city. Everything was changing, changing every day.

Zhang Yinghao looked around and felt that the city needed more infrastructure development. However, for now, they could only maintain the status quo due to a lack of manpower. Maintaining external pressure while also developing internally was a real challenge. If Zhang Yinghao hadn't seized a large amount of supplies from the landlords while also conducting trade in Chongqing and keeping labor costs to a minimum, he might have collapsed long ago.

Zhang Yinghao now realized there were two paths to development. The first was the imperialist path! Domestic exploitation and external plunder. Britain's domestic exploitation was a ruthless act, while external plunder enabled it to colonize the entire world. Japan's domestic exploitation led to frequent rice riots, while its external plunder deflected conflicts, causing China to suffer greatly at the hands of the Japanese.

Another path is to tap into internal potential, accumulate wealth through the hard work of one or two generations, and then release this wealth to society for economic development. Currently, we are building the most basic projects, minimizing costs. This means we are not relying on the power of capital to carry out construction. For example, the Chinese workers on the American Western Railway were the cheapest labor force, but the railways they built were the foundation of America's rise.

Zhang Yinghao is currently using the cheapest labor to build infrastructure, and the resulting benefits will be shared by all of society. Why is infrastructure development so difficult in the 21st century in the United States? It's because the costs are so high that any infrastructure built is a money-losing venture. In a capitalist society, capital is driven by profit; who would pursue something that doesn't generate profit?

The superiority of socialism lies in concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks. The entire nation works as one, mobilizing all necessary resources and concentrating all its efforts to achieve a specific goal. It can be said that many Chinese projects are made possible by the combined efforts of the entire nation, something that cannot be matched by the power of capital. Take, for example, the development of lithography machines. Once China achieves a breakthrough in lithography machines, foreign counterparts immediately cut prices in an attempt to stifle China's lithography technology. However, China's lithography machines are developed for strategic purposes, not profit-driven, and China will continue to research these machines.

Zhang Yinghao and Xueer were walking in a quiet street lane. It was quiet inside. Zhang Yinghao was thinking about something and trying to empty himself. From time to time, he would pay attention to Xueer, and then they would look at each other affectionately. Occasionally, he would see Xueer purse her lips and smile.

Zhang Yinghao felt happy and thoroughly enjoyed the rare quiet of the afternoon. It was like taking a sip of tea, closing his eyes slightly, and savoring its sweetness and fragrance.

How to lead the masses was a pressing issue for Zhang Yinghao and the Forward Party. Zhang Yinghao had never been a leader in his previous life, nor had he led the masses. Of course, Zhang Yinghao didn't buy into the idea that a sudden surge of power would attract heroes and nobles. He didn't want to dwell on the heavy industry development issues right now; just thinking about them gave him a splitting headache.

Zhang Yinghao finally understood why the country had to lean towards the Soviet Union in the early days of its founding. Once blocked, it could only build heavy industry without help from others.

It's a foolish dream to want to build it yourself...

Zhang Yinghao and Xue'er walked out of the alley and onto the busy street. Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted Zhang Yinghao's thoughts.

He walked over, stopped to watch for a while, and then he knew what was going on. It turned out to be a mother and daughter who were fleeing. They didn't know how they heard that there was a way to survive in Guang'an, so they ran thousands of miles to Guang'an.

Zhang Yinghao had no interest in where the mother and daughter came from. His concern was that they hadn't received the care they deserved since arriving here, and now they were kneeling on the ground, trying to sell their daughter. The mother knelt on the ground, moving on her knees, kowtowed repeatedly, and occasionally tugged at the trouser legs of onlookers, hoping someone would take pity on them and give her some money or buy her daughter.

Xue'er's hands suddenly tightened, and she looked up at Zhang Yinghao: "Brother Yinghao..."

Zhang Yinghao glanced into Xue'er's eyes, nodded slightly, and took Xue'er's hand as they pushed their way through the crowd. Even without Xue'er's reminder, Zhang Yinghao couldn't stand it any longer. He knew this kind of thing was unavoidable, but he still felt a wave of shame. It was simply wrong that someone had come all the way to his territory seeking a living and yet received no care.

Although Zhang Yinghao had anticipated this situation, he hadn't taken appropriate action. After all, he had already imported a large number of laborers from Chongqing. But now that this mother and daughter had reached the heart of the base, they hadn't received the necessary care. This was truly unacceptable and a clear sign of a flaw in the system.

Zhang Yinghao walked over to the woman, released Xue'er's hand, and instructed her to pull her up. He then bent over and lifted the kneeling little girl to her feet. Then, he crouched down, picked her up, and walked over to the woman. The little girl felt so light and airy, Zhang Yinghao almost felt like he was holding a tiny doll instead of a person. Fortunately, Zhang Yinghao wasn't well-known at the moment, otherwise he would have been surrounded by onlookers again.

Zhang Yinghao saw the woman stand up, so he turned around and was about to leave. At the same time, he moved his arm slightly so that the little girl could look to the side and see her mother behind her. The little girl probably felt that Zhang Yinghao had no ill intentions, so she hugged Zhang Yinghao's neck with both hands. Zhang Yinghao saw the crowd around him squeeze towards him.

Seeing the momentum coming, they started shouting: "Everyone, please go away. There's nothing to see in selling children. Please make way and go away."

Zhang Yinghao shouted as he pushed his way out of the crowd. Xue'er followed behind, supporting the woman. Once outside, Zhang Yinghao took a closer look at the little girl. She looked about seven or eight years old, with a grubby face and skinny features, but her eyes were large and piercing, her chin pointed, her lips thin, her figure frail, and her clothes ragged.

Zhang Yinghao took them to a shop selling porridge and said to the owner, "Please give me two cups of warm water with a little salt in it, not too salty, just a little salty taste, and a bowl of porridge and two bowls of noodles. The porridge should be warm, not too hot, thank you."

When the boss heard the word "thank you", he looked up at Zhang Yinghao and the others and immediately said, "Okay, please take a seat. It will be ready soon."

Zhang Yinghao carried Yaya to an empty table and sat down, and Xueer took the woman to sit at the seat next to them.

"Little sister, what's your name?"

The little girl looked at her mother and said in a thin voice: "Brother, my name is Yaya."

Zhang Yinghao then glanced at the woman. She was young, perhaps even quite young. Her face was dusty and travel-weary, her lips chapped. It was obvious she was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Her tattered clothes were unusually loose, and she looked frail, as if she would fall over in the slightest breeze.

Zhang Yinghao smiled and touched her head and said, "Yaya is so good. How old are you?"

When asking the little girl how old she was, Zhang Yinghao saw that her mother's face turned pale, but now she didn't dare to speak. She just lowered her head slightly, as if waiting for the judgment of fate.

"I'm already eight years old. Brother, are you going to buy me? I'm very well behaved. I can already light a fire and cook. I'll cook for you every day."

Zhang Yinghao's heart ached when he heard this. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the woman shudder and immediately look up, her eyes filled with hope and anxiety. Zhang Yinghao knew that these words were probably taught by the woman, but the fact that they said them proved that the two were extremely desperate. Otherwise, who would sell their own children?

Zhang Yinghao smiled and said, "I won't buy you."

At this time, the woman was about to stand up, but Zhang Yinghao turned around and waved to her, motioning her to sit down. Then he said to Yaya, "Yaya, you are so sensible. Why don't you go to school? I will find a job for your mother. Then you will have money to eat and your mother won't have to sell you anymore, okay?"

The woman immediately stood up and knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "You are my benefactor, thank you, my benefactor, Yaya come here and kneel down to me..."

The woman moved so quickly that Xue'er couldn't stop her. Zhang Yinghao, holding Yaya in his arms, heard her mother's words and wanted to get down. Zhang Yinghao quickly held her tightly to prevent her from kneeling down as well, then said, "Okay, you've already knelt. Don't kneel so easily from now on. Stand up and talk. I want to ask you something."

"Thank you, benefactor, thank you, benefactor..." she kept saying, but she still stood up slowly. Zhang Yinghao waved for her to sit down. At this time, the boss brought two bowls of salt water and gently placed them on the table. Then, like a line on TV, he said: "Enjoy your meal, my dear guest."

"Thank you."

Zhang Yinghao thanked her, pushed a bowl to the woman, and picked up another bowl for Yaya.

"Come, drink some salt water to replenish your salt intake and cleanse your stomach." Then he put Yaya on the other side of the long bench and watched her pick up the bowl and drink slowly.

“Where are you from?”

"In reply to my benefactor, we came from Zhongzhou, Chongqing. It hasn't rained much there since last year, and people are starving to death this year. Many people have fled to other places to make a living. I was afraid that my daughter would be stolen, so I ran away too. I accidentally heard that there was a way to make a living here, so I begged for food all the way here."

"It's not easy. Do you two have any relatives in Guang'an?" "No."

"What are your plans?" "It all depends on you, benefactor."

"Don't call me 'Gong Gong' anymore. Yaya calls me brother, so it's not wrong for me to call you aunt. My name is Zhang Yinghao, so you can just call me Ah Hao. I see that you speak quite well. Have you ever been educated?"

"Ah...Ah Hao, my name is Li Dahua. I'm uneducated. My husband is a scholar, and I just learned a few words. My husband was a good man, but he was beaten to death by the Boxers some time ago..."

"Oh, are you Chungju Boxers causing a lot of trouble?"

"My benefactor, the situation over there is really fierce. I heard that the foreigners have beaten several people to death. My husband was just doing some work for the foreigners, and he was beaten to death by those bandits. Wuwuwu..."

"Are you hungry, Yaya?" "Yes."

"You'll have porridge soon. Eat more and drink up the water now." "Okay!"

The boss brought a bowl of porridge and two bowls of noodles on a tray. Zhang Yinghao checked the porridge and found it wasn't hot. So he picked up the porridge and poured some into Yaya's bowl of salt water, then placed the rest in front of Li Dahua.

"Aunt Li, you are starving now. You can't eat too much, otherwise your stomach won't be able to bear it. Drink some porridge first to nourish your stomach, and then eat later. Noodles will be fine. Yaya, eat slowly. After you finish eating, I will find a job for your mother. From now on, Yaya will go to school and study hard, okay?"

Yaya said "hmm" heavily and nodded.

Zhang Yinghao pushed another bowl of noodles in front of Xue'er and said, "Xue, this bowl is yours. Eat it for dinner."

"it is good."

Zhang Yinghao didn't hesitate either. He picked up a spoon, scooped a large spoonful of chili sauce into the bowl, stirred it, picked up the chopsticks and started eating. It was spicy and fragrant, and it was so delicious.

After the meal, Zhang Yinghao took Li Dahua to the textile factory and arranged for her to work there. After all, there was a cafeteria and dormitory there, and most importantly, there was an elementary school where Yaya could go to school.

"Aunt Li, you can work in this factory first and get used to the environment. You can leave later if you have any concrete plans. There is night school in this factory, and you can read. Study hard for a while. If you do well in the future, you can become a teacher in the factory's affiliated primary school or find other jobs in the future. There is a cafeteria in this factory, and employees can eat for free. It's also cheap here. You can take Yaya to buy some food for her during meal times this month.

As for Yaya, we can't delay the child, so let's send her to school. This way, you don't have to take care of her all the time. For the time being, her safety is guaranteed in our base."

After saying that, Zhang Yinghao squatted down and said to Yaya: "Yaya, can I send you to school?"

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Chapter 103:

"Haha, you're so angry after eating that you don't recognize me. Oh, Yaya, your face is red and you're shy. You have to listen to your mother, okay?"

Zhang Yinghao stood up, touched Yaya's head, then took out some money from his pocket and handed it to Li Dahua, saying, "Aunt Li, take this money first. It's for Yaya to buy food. If you still don't understand something, you can ask Aunt Ying. She's your class monitor. Remember to send Yaya to school. Yaya, goodbye. Study hard, okay? I'll come to see you again in the future. Goodbye!"

After saying that, he touched Yaya's head and turned around, holding Xue'er's hand and walking back. Then he heard Li Dahua say to Yaya: "Yaya, come on, say goodbye to your brother!"

At this time, Yaya cried out in a sobbing voice: "Brother, goodbye!......"

Zhang Yinghao turned around and said, "Goodbye, Yaya. Go in and rest."

After that, he took Xue'er and walked towards home. When they were about to turn a corner after walking a long way, Zhang Yinghao turned around and saw Li Dahua and Yaya standing there to say goodbye. Zhang Yinghao waved.

He waved goodbye and turned away from their sight.

Zhang Yinghao thought for a moment and said to Xue'er as they walked, "Xue'er, are you interested in doing this? Let's work with the Women's Federation to establish a shelter for women and children, gather those who have wandered into our base area, and provide them with assistance. Just like what we did with Li Dahua and the others, we could find them jobs within their capabilities and help send those children to school."

“How should we do this?”

"I haven't done it specifically, so I don't know how it works, but we can't abandon the principle that those who don't work don't eat, unless they are completely unable to work. For these people, we can find a place to temporarily house them and provide them with appropriate training so that they can master a skill. We can then find them jobs in the future. The training fees can be stated in advance and deducted from their wages. We are now building more and more factories, so we don't have to worry about them not finding jobs.

As for those children, if conditions permit, they can be arranged to attend schools nearby. As for orphans, I will mobilize married Party members and cadres to adopt those without parents. As for the tuition and living expenses of the remaining children, I plan to establish an education and national salvation fund. We will temporarily allocate a portion of the funds we seized from our campaign against landlords, and we will mobilize Party members and cadres to donate some funds to specifically serve these children. Your responsibilities could include teaching these women some cultural and literary lessons, arranging for them to interview at job openings, or specifically managing and approving expenditures from this education fund.

"Brother Yinghao, I don't think any of the things you mentioned are reliable!"

"Um... what's there to be sure of? No one has ever done this kind of work before. The more you do it, the more confident you become. A lot of the work we're doing here is new to the industry. Completing any task depends on our own initiative, taking the initiative to overcome difficulties and solve problems. It's normal to encounter difficulties and troubles. Only by resolving them can we improve our abilities!"

"Okay then. I'm teaching people to read and write right now, so I'll teach them to read and write here too!"

"Well... you are still responsible for this matter. I will assign a few comrades to you and you will run this business together. I will raise the issue of money during the meeting and approve it for you. I will also issue a notice here.

If the problems of these homeless women and children can be solved locally, they will be absorbed there. If they cannot be solved locally, they will be sent to this core base.

By the way, Xue'er, your most important job for these people is to find them jobs as quickly as possible and arrange for them to be employed. If you find someone suitable, you can also have them join you. Of course, if they can't find a job, you can also find them a partner. You can contact the matchmakers in the area and ask them to set them up if they find a suitable match. Especially for our retired disabled soldiers, if there's a suitable match, you can introduce them to each other. Or you can introduce them to each other and see if you can solve the personal problems of these disabled soldiers."

Zhang Yinghao suddenly stood still and thought carefully for a moment, feeling that something was missing. He thought and thought, and suddenly realized something. He immediately used a little force to pull Xue'er to the front, standing face to face with her. He looked at Xue'er affectionately and said, "It seems a bit unreasonable to let you take charge of these tasks like this."

Suddenly, Zhang Yinghao knelt on one knee, looked up at Xue'er and said, "Xue'er, although we have been engaged since birth, I still want to propose to you alone because I love you. Xue'er, let's get married. Marry me!"

At this time, the crowd around saw a man suddenly kneeling in front of a woman and felt puzzled, but after hearing what Zhang Yinghao said, the scene instantly became quiet, which was equivalent to a cold reception.

The audience at that time was not the audience of the 21st century, who were trained to shout: "Promise him, promise him..." People nowadays haven't even been trained to applaud. Zhang Yinghao waited for a while and suddenly realized the problem, so he shouted again: "Xue'er, I like you, marry me. If you don't answer, it means you agree!"

Zhang Yinghao actually didn’t want to get married so early, at least until he was twenty years old.

But now, for Xueer's work needs, since marriage can solve those problems, then let's get married, sooner or later doesn't matter. Zhang Yinghao's thoughts are so simple. As for Xueer! Now she was confused by Zhang Yinghao's sudden action and didn't know what to say.

Zhang Yinghao knew that Xue'er had been engaged since childhood, so a proposal wasn't necessary. He could simply find a matchmaker and go to Xue'er's house to propose. However, Zhang Yinghao still felt that proposing and having Xue'er personally agree would ensure he had no regrets.

Xue'er gradually came to her senses, her face instantly red as a rosy apple. She frantically tried to pull Zhang Yinghao up and away. This sort of thing was still unprecedented in China at that time, and Zhang Yinghao didn't expect Xue'er to transcend the limitations of time and space. So, as Xue'er pulled herself up with both hands, Zhang Yinghao also stood up, picked up Xue'er, and spun her around three times, shouting, "Let's go, it's time to pay the betrothal gifts..."

Xue'er didn't dare to raise her head, huddled in Zhang Yinghao's arms. Zhang Yinghao held Xue'er lightly as he squeezed out of the crowd, jokingly saying, "Thank you, everyone! I'm going home to propose marriage soon. Please don't delay me. I welcome everyone to the wedding. Thank you!..."

After sending Xue'er home, Zhang Yinghao held her hand. Xue'er had finally recovered and kept complaining about Zhang Yinghao for embarrassing her. Zhang Yinghao looked at her blushing face and said to her affectionately, "Xue'er, I'm proposing to you so that we won't have any regrets in the future. Although we were engaged as children, I'm marrying you because I love you so much. I will take good care of you for the rest of my life."

Without waiting for Xue'er to reply, Zhang Yinghao gently kissed her smooth forehead and said softly, "Come home! I'll ask my mother to find someone to propose marriage, and then you'll be my beautiful daughter-in-law."

Xueer turned around, then suddenly turned back and hugged Zhang Yinghao tightly and said: "Brother Yinghao, I believe you!" Then she ran into the house without looking back.

Zhang Yinghao looked at her from behind and started to chuckle. Only after Xue'er closed the door did Zhang Yinghao turn around and reluctantly go home.

Throughout human history, marriage and the preservation of offspring have been considered paramount. An ancient Chinese proverb goes, "It is better to demolish ten temples than to destroy a marriage." There are three forms of unfilial behavior: the worst is to have no descendants.

In foreign works, whether it is the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Koran or the Jewish Talmud, marriage and childbirth are described as extremely sacred things.

For example, the Old Testament Book of Genesis records that after God created Adam, the first human being, He thought, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." So He took a rib from Adam and created the first woman, Eve. God paired them together and placed them in the beautiful Garden of Eden, saying, "A man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." He also commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth."

If you savor it carefully, you will find that this passage is so profound. You should know that this passage was passed down thousands of years ago, which shows that from ancient times to the present, the ancestors of any nation have attached great importance to the inheritance of their descendants.

The Old Testament, Deuteronomy, states that if brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the deceased's wife cannot marry a stranger. Her husband's brother must fulfill the duty of a brother to his wife and have intercourse with her. The firstborn son of the woman must be named after her deceased brother, lest his name be blotted out from Israel.

If a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, his brother's wife must go to the elders at the gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to raise up his brother's name in Israel; he has not fulfilled the duty of a brother to me."

The elders of the city shall summon the man and question him. If he persists and says, "I do not want to marry her,"

His brother's wife shall go to him in the presence of the elders, take off his shoe, spit in his face, and say, "This is how you shall treat anyone who does not build a house for his brother."

In Israel, his name will be called "The House of the Shoeless." So, what can't be done to preserve his legacy?

Of course, the punishments for unfaithful women throughout history, both in China and abroad, have been severe, including burning at the stake, immersion in a pig cage, swallowing feces, riding a wooden donkey, and so on. Of course, in order to restrain the vast majority of women, unscrupulous Chinese scholars invented a series of cruel practices against them, such as foot binding and the idea that the husband is the head of the wife. Regarding women, Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianism even said, "Starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a great sin."

Zhu Xi's comment on "People" is: "This is a prostitute who was abandoned by others and tells her story to express her regret."

When Zhang Yinghao was studying "The People" in high school, he was very disgusted with Zhu Xi's comments. There must be a limit to bullying people.

Later I learned that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism proposed that women should observe the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues", namely: obey their fathers at home, obey their husbands after marriage, obey their sons after their death, etc. This has become a serious spiritual shackle that has bound women for hundreds and thousands of years, and it is understandable that men can still have three wives and four concubines.

You should know that after the Song Dynasty, if a woman married into her husband's family and her husband died before she turned 20, she would be a widow for life. Some women who were engaged as children also advocated widowhood if their husband died before they married. This was called "Wangmen Gua" (王门寡), and was highly praised at the time as a strong and heroic woman.

However, before the Song Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han's mother, Empress Wang Zhi, had a daughter with her ex-husband. Princess Taiping of the Tang Dynasty gave her concubine to Empress Wu Zetian. Many Tang Dynasty princesses had troops and rebelled like men, and some were killed for rebelling. Han Dynasty princesses also pursued power and fiefdoms.

So, while the early feudal dynasties were also a society where men were superior to women, before the Song Dynasty, Chinese customs were generally open-minded. Ordinary women divorced and remarried. Princesses and queens kept concubines in their backyards, a common practice in previous dynasties. Even for the empress Wu Zetian, female officials, and prime ministers, keeping male favorites was commonplace and unsurprising. At the time, there were no strict restrictions on chastity, allowing women to broaden their horizons and highlight their talents. Is it a good thing for such customs to continue to be passed down?

However, Zhu Xi wanted to confine women to bound feet and the home. The Song Dynasty prioritized civil service over military power, constantly ceding land and paying indemnities, and the map became smaller and smaller. Therefore, many people think that the Song Dynasty was a waste, a typical example of being tolerant on the outside but cruel on the inside.

After the Song Dynasty, unscrupulous scholars, in particular, began to poison people through rituals and ethics. By the Ming Dynasty, these rituals and ethics had reached unprecedented strength and became the dominant culture of society. They demanded unwavering and consistent chastity. Women were expected to be loyal and chaste to their husbands. Men were expected to be loyal and chaste to the monarch and the feudal dynasty.

In fact, Confucianism and Confucius haven't always enjoyed a strong market over the past two thousand years. Confucianism's monopoly on the market was brief, primarily during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This refers to the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties, which emphasized upholding the principles of Heaven, suppressing human desires, and advocating self-discipline. But these unscrupulous scholars demanded this of others, but of themselves, of course, they had numerous wives and concubines. They were truly detached and self-disciplined in ordinary times, only to die for their king in times of crisis. Oh, wrong, in times of crisis, they said the water was too cold.