Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 70

After a moment of silence, Zhang Zhidong said, “If I had a solution, I wouldn’t have gone back to await punishment; I would have come to apologize to the Empress Dowager first. If this man didn’t have such confidence, why would he advocate convening a national assembly to draft a constitution? If he had even a shred of fear for the court, he should be calling on the people to rise up and overthrow the court, establishing an irreconcilable conflict and leaving the people with no other choice. Now he only requests to convene a national assembly, but doesn’t advocate overthrowing the court. This shows that he has already reached an agreement with the people. Even if I return to Hubei, I will find it difficult to force them to change course…”

Chapter 242 Changes

The military council meeting in the East Warm Pavilion finally ended. Although the demands from Huguang to convene a national assembly, confiscate the property of Li Hongzhang's family, and fight against Russia with Britain had seriously embarrassed the court, what bothered Cixi was not these things, but the demands from Huguang to examine Emperor Guangxu's body and to say that if Emperor Guangxu died before her, it would definitely be an unnatural death.

Although the authorities in Hubei and Hunan did not explicitly state the consequences of Emperor Guangxu's unnatural death, for Empress Dowager Cixi, this demand was no different from a demand for her to step down. This meant that it would be difficult for her to maintain her posthumous reputation after death, which was an intolerable provocation for a ruler who had held supreme power in the country for more than forty years.

Although Empress Dowager Cixi maintained restraint at the Grand Council meeting, she instructed Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai to join forces with foreign powers to pressure Wuhan, attempting to force Wuhan to voluntarily abandon its actions that offended the court under military and diplomatic pressure. However, after the meeting, she still kept Prince Qing behind for a private conversation, essentially saying that she was already seventy years old and that if she could just endure it a little longer, her time would come; she did not want another westward flight.

Prince Qing understood Empress Dowager Cixi's true intentions. The Empress Dowager no longer wanted to fight anyone, whether it was the Russians, the British, or the rebels in Wuhan. She simply wanted to live out the rest of her days in peace. In short, the Boxer Rebellion had truly extinguished her fighting spirit; she had no desire to go on another escape.

However, when the Qing government sought help from the foreign powers, significant rifts had emerged among them. Russia was willing to assist the Qing government, but demanded that it first sign a treaty ceding Manchuria and Outer Mongolia. Britain, Japan, and the United States firmly opposed any compromise between the Qing government and Russia. Germany advised the Qing government to resolve the matter peacefully, preventing other powers from interfering in Hubei affairs, as Germany had significant interests in Hubei.

The United States also advised the Qing government to resolve the issue peacefully, but advocated for North-South peace talks under the auspices of the great powers. Japan remained in a state of diplomatic uncertainty, stemming from internal divisions. Some Japanese politicians believed in supporting the Qing government, while others advocated supporting the revolutionary government in Wuhan, which the Japanese considered a revolution rather than a mutiny.

The British attitude was quite strange. They pointed the finger at the Germans, believing that the Wuhan mutiny was orchestrated by the Germans with the intention of turning Hubei into a German sphere of influence. This had clearly violated the Anglo-German Yangtze River Agreement. Therefore, the British began to pressure the Germans, demanding that they abandon their attempt to monopolize Hubei's interests.

It was only then that the Germans realized that although the British army was not very capable, the British navy was indeed able to eliminate German influence in Asia one by one. For example, although Germany could force the Chinese to make concessions in Shandong, once British warships appeared off the coast of Qingdao, the Germans in Qingdao became prisoners in a prison. They could neither expect warships from their homeland to rescue them, nor could they expect the local Chinese to help them.

In the Wuhan area, the British warships' attempt to control the Yangtze River section near Wuhan angered the newly established Hubei-Hunan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee. After negotiations failed to get the British warships to withdraw from the Yangtze River section near Wuhan, the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee began to seek a more forceful way to confront the British, which greatly reduced the pressure on the Germans.

On December 15, the eleventh day after the establishment of the Hubei-Hunan Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Committee, 36 out of the 66 counties and prefectures in Hubei Province announced their obedience to the committee. The remaining counties and prefectures were observing but no one stepped forward to fight against the rebellion on behalf of the court. The court only had one stronghold left in Hubei, which was Mancheng in Jingzhou.

At this time, the General of Jingzhou was Qingrui, a member of the Mongol Bordered Yellow Banner, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the Guiwei year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, and had been in office for less than a month. The Left Wing Deputy Commander was Long Bin, who was even more unfortunate, having taken office on the very day the mutiny broke out in Wuhan. The Right Wing Deputy Commander was Delu, who, although he had served in Jingzhou for over a decade, was often ill and rarely handled affairs.

Fortunately, Ruixing, the former military governor of Jingzhou and acting general of Jingzhou, had not yet left Jingzhou. This Manchu of the Plain Yellow Banner was descended from the brother of Empress Xiaogongren, the birth mother of Emperor Yongzheng. He was a true member of the Eight Banners nobility. With such a major event happening in Wuhan, the Manchus of Jingzhou naturally looked to Ruixing to take charge.

Born in 1839, Ruixing was already an old man, but he never gave up one hobby: raising cats and dogs. In his home, his beloved dogs held a higher status than his concubines. Besides his love for animals, another of his hobbies was smoking opium.

Upon hearing news of the mutiny in Wuhan, Ruixing regretted not leaving sooner. As for the Manchus in Jingzhou demanding that he stay and take charge, he absolutely refused. In fact, he had been inquiring about foreign passenger ships, trying to escape this dangerous place by boarding one.

Although Ruixing didn't usually care about military affairs, he was still a figure who had experienced the Taiping Rebellion and wasn't completely ignorant about military matters. At least he was very clear about one thing: the value of Jingzhou was that when the Han people rebelled in Hubei, Jingzhou was a thorn planted by the imperial court in Hubei, preventing the Han people from expanding outwards. They had to seize Jingzhou first to control the Jianghan Plain and provide Wuhan with a rear base.

Therefore, the Han Chinese rebellions at the beginning of the dynasty failed each time because the court consistently held Jingzhou. However, the Qing Dynasty of today is not the Qing Dynasty of the past. He knew all too well the character of the Eight Banners soldiers in Jingzhou; expecting them to defend the city was as difficult as him giving up opium. Moreover, even if they were to manage to hold Jingzhou, would the court send troops to its rescue?

Ruixing wanted to escape, but Qingrui and the others wouldn't let him. These Eight Banner generals incited the Manchus in the city to surround Ruixing's house, giving him no chance to take his family to the dock. Ruixing was forced to stay, but he refused to send troops to rescue Wuchang or even send anyone to ask the Governor-General of Sichuan for help.

Ruixing saw things very clearly. He bluntly told several Eight Banner generals, "When the Han people rise up in rebellion, Xiliang and the General of Chengdu will be lucky to protect themselves. How can we expect them to come to our rescue? I think it would be good enough if the rebellion didn't spread to Sichuan."

As for rescuing Wuchang, what can we use to do so? Haven't all the Manchu bannermen with any ambition in Jingzhou already gone to Wuchang to join the army? The rest of us, let alone firing guns and cannons, have very few who can even ride horses and shoot arrows anymore. I'm still hoping the capital will send someone to rescue us…”

Ruixing's stance was to obey Governor Duanfang's orders and make peace with the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee. Initially, there were some dissenting voices among the Manchus in Jingzhou, but as the garrison from Yichang moved towards Jingzhou, it became clear that they were not there to protect the Manchus. The voices opposing the peace talks with the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee quickly diminished. The Manchus in Jingzhou had caused no small amount of harm to the Han people in the area, so they were well aware of how the surrounding Han people viewed them.

Ruixing's proposal finally gained the support of the Manchus in Jingzhou. Ruixing, who usually had good relations with the Han people, immediately contacted acquaintances to persuade the Yichang garrison to halt their attack on Jingzhou. Meanwhile, he contacted Wuhan, expressing his willingness to obey their orders. The surrender of the Manchus in Jingzhou further shattered the faith of those local officials who still had faith in the court. These officials either sided with Wuhan or resigned their posts to return home and observe the changing situation.

When the Manchus surrendered in Jingzhou, the first Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers of Huguang was held in Hankou. About 400 people attended, three-quarters of whom came from 15 counties and prefectures in Wuchang and Hanyang. Workers and soldiers made up about two-thirds of the total, while the rest were merchants, gentry, educators and peasants.

Although farmers comprised 80% of Hubei's population, they only accounted for about 10% of the delegates. Furthermore, these delegates were hardly purely farmers; most were rural artisans, small merchants, or part-time workers. This was because the farmers at the time were almost all supporters of the local gentry. While they resented the economic oppression they suffered at the hands of the gentry, they politically chose to support them.

This situation forced the Workers' Party to reduce the proportion of peasant representatives and exclude peasants who were completely controlled by the gentry from the list of representatives. Although time was short and the method of selecting representatives was not very democratic, the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee still managed to convene the Congress of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Representatives of the Hubei and Hunan Regions on the afternoon of December 15, 1904.

The convening of this congress meant that the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee truly possessed the legal authority to control the Hubei and Hunan regions, and was no longer a rebellious armed force. However, for the Workers' Party, convening the congress was only the beginning; the internal and external situation they faced did not appear so optimistic.

Under the threat of British force, the Germans showed signs of backing down. This allowed the members of the Workers' Party to see the weak nature of imperialism. No matter how much these powers exaggerated their strength in words, they would start to act cautiously when faced with the real risk of war. The British were indeed not a paper tiger.

Besides external pressure from foreign powers, internal conflicts also arose after the convening of the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Congress. Although most of the gentry in Huguang considered the Congress ridiculous and not a proper parliament because it was not recognized by the imperial court, their representatives began to vie with the Workers' Party for control of the Congress and even the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee after its convening.

The local gentry who were able to attend the congress were known for their enlightened image, which naturally earned them the favor of many local people and the support of their representatives. As a result, after the congress was held, the appeal of these gentry representatives actually surpassed that of the Labor Party. At this time, the Labor Party was only able to maintain its presence with a few people such as Tang Caichang and Tian Junyi, who were also local celebrities in the past.

Faced with this situation, debates arose within the Workers' Party. Some members believed that the congress was to legitimize the party, not to allow the gentry to reap the benefits. Others argued that the gentry held considerable influence among the masses and that cooperation with them was crucial for the party to accelerate its control over the region; otherwise, if the imperial court mobilized troops or reached an agreement with foreigners to attack, Hubei would be unable to withstand the imperial offensive. Still other members were centrists, hoping to reconcile the two factions and maintain unity.

Chapter 243 Position

After listening to the speeches of the committee members, Tian Junyi stood up and asked everyone a question: "Comrades, do you think that it is our Labor Party that is protecting workers and peasants, or that it is workers and peasants that are protecting our Labor Party?"

Tang Caichang, who advocated prioritizing military affairs, and Qin Lishan, who advocated prioritizing diplomacy, fell silent. The other committee members also fell silent. Tian Junyi then continued, "Whether it's foreign powers or gentry, as long as they are willing to stand on the side of the court, are they afraid that the court will not give them benefits? The reason they bargain with us is because they can wait for a higher price, not because they can only trade with us."

The only people the imperial court could not buy off were the workers and peasants, because the court used the interests of workers and peasants to buy off landlords and foreign powers. How could the court possibly offend landlords and foreign powers for the sake of the interests of workers and peasants?

You think that siding with the workers and peasants will offend the landlords and foreign powers, ultimately causing great difficulties for the Party's cause. But isn't the Party's cause precisely to seek happiness for the workers and peasants? If we seek compromise with the landlords and foreign powers, then what kind of Party cause is there to speak of? If we don't stand on the side of the workers and peasants to fight for their interests, then why would they risk their lives to support and defend us?

The eight-hour workday did indeed harm the interests of capitalists, the land reform of "land to the tiller" offended landlords, and the demand to abolish unequal treaties was intolerable to the great powers. But comrades, if it weren't for the fact that others couldn't do these things, how could the workers and peasants expect us to do them?

Under Tian Junyi's questioning, no one stood up to refute him. As the main organizer of this uprising, Tian Junyi gained more respect and his leadership position within the party was truly acknowledged. Before this revolution, Tang Caichang's reputation within the party was actually higher, after all, Tang Caichang was already a well-known figure in Hunan before joining the Workers' Party.

However, everyone had to admit that in terms of organizational ability and revolutionary theory, Tian Junyi was ultimately stronger. You know, Tang Caichang almost led everyone into a trap last time. Many of the Hubei Provincial Committee members present were the leaders of the Self-Reliance Army. If Tian Junyi hadn't given them a warning in advance, most of them would have been captured by Liang Dingfen.

However, under Tian Junyi's planning, the Hubei New Army and the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee were successfully brought under the control of the Workers' Party, and even Tie Liang, Duan Fang, and Liang Dingfen were arrested. In comparison, everyone naturally had more faith in Tian Junyi's leadership abilities.

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Tian Junyi continued, "The soldiers' representatives are demanding the abolition of corporal punishment and humiliating practices in the military, and the realization of equality between officers and soldiers. Everyone supports this. Why?"

Because the soldiers have guns, if we don't satisfy them, they certainly won't follow us in rebelling against the government. This shows that you are not unaware of the importance of power to the Party's cause; you simply don't acknowledge that workers and peasants possess the same power as soldiers.

But I must say that these ideas are wrong and extremely dangerous. Comrade Lin Feng said that revolution needs armed forces, therefore the work of the army is the primary task of the revolution, and there can be no revolutionary regime without revolutionary armed forces.

However, the army is not an independent class; it cannot exist alone. If we regard the army as the sole pillar of the revolution, then the revolution will be dominated by a purely military perspective, and ultimately a Napoleonic figure will emerge to steal the fruits of the revolution. The failure of the French Revolution has already proven this point, and we need not repeat the same path of failure.

To ensure that the army remains revolutionary, it must establish an inseparable bond with the working class and peasantry. The army must understand which class it fights for and to which class it belongs. If the army cannot understand this, then it is impossible for it to sacrifice itself for the interests of the working class and peasantry.

Therefore, we must stand on the side of the workers and peasants and unhesitatingly safeguard their interests. Only when we prove this will workers and peasants rally around us and become our most reliable comrades.

Qin Lishan couldn't help but speak up: "But under the current circumstances, implementing an eight-hour workday will make it difficult for us to obtain enough supplies for the market. After a large number of workers have been mobilized, there is already a labor shortage in the factories. If we reduce working hours further, many factories will find it difficult to complete their production tasks. Moreover, aren't we currently striving to build a nation of workers and peasants? The working class should be able to understand this."

Tian Junyi shook his head and retorted: "No, if before and after the revolution, the working class still worked 12-hour shifts, received the same wages as before, and still had to risk their lives to fight against the government and foreign powers, do you think they would still think that the revolution was for their own liberation?"

Qin Lishan was speechless for a moment, and Tian Junyi continued, "We must let the workers, peasants, and soldiers feel their own liberation before persuading them to defend their liberation, instead of telling them that they will be liberated someday. If we do that, what's the difference between us and those priests? The priests say that believers can go to heaven after they die. We say that after the revolution, we will have everything."

Lies may deceive for a time, but they will never deceive the workers and peasants forever. If the workers and peasants regard us as liars, then no amount of talk about a bright future will matter. To gain their trust, we must give them what they want, and we must give it to them now; we cannot deceive them with promises.

You say those peasants believe the gentry but not us, but have those gentry ever really given the peasants anything? When have they not always made empty promises? If we were to act like them, only spouting empty words to the peasants, then I dare say we certainly couldn't compete with those gentry, because they still have to cultivate the gentry's land. Even if they were to be deceived, they would rather be deceived by the gentry and landlords than by us…”

Qin Lishan spread his hands and said, "Then what about the production tasks? We need steel and guns. If no one is working, these supplies won't just fall from the sky."

Without the slightest hesitation, Tian Junyi replied, “I request that our comrades work overtime for the future of the working class. This is not an order, but a request. The trade union should earnestly tell our comrades about the difficulties we face, and then request their help. This is not a revolution of a few individuals, nor a revolution of a single party, but a revolutionary action of an entire class. This is the work that the Party should be doing…”

This response moved the committee members present. Although some members doubted whether the workers truly understood the message, several worker representatives excitedly stood up and applauded Tian Junyi. They expressed their determination to convey Tian Junyi's words to their fellow workers and believed that the workers would accept the suggestion. The workers' feelings are certainly different when they are ordered to work 12 hours a day versus working for their own future.

Tian Junyi's proposal received unanimous support from the committee members, and the Labor Party then put forward a proposal at the congress representing the interests of workers and farmers. The main contents were to guarantee an eight-hour workday, guarantee basic safety for workers in factories and a minimum wage, advocate for a 25% rent reduction for tenant farmers, and restrict usury.

Previously, the gentry representatives who had spoken at length about the benefits of constitutional monarchy at the congress regarded constitutional monarchy as a panacea for solving all the problems of the Qing Dynasty. They believed that Britain and Japan had become rich and powerful by following the path of constitutional monarchy, and therefore, if the Qing Dynasty wanted to escape the crisis of national subjugation, it had to take the path of constitutional monarchy.

However, these so-called enlightened gentry, though they yearn for constitutional monarchy, actually know nothing about what a constitution is. The true core figures of the constitutionalists are still studying abroad. Therefore, the constitutional monarchy advocated by these gentry is mostly based on their own conjecture, but it is enough to fool the peasants and uneducated citizens.

The Labour Party representatives had been debating with the gentry representatives at the assembly, but the debates yielded no good results because the representatives and onlookers couldn't understand the arguments; they simply supported whoever had the most reputation. However, the situation changed after the Labour Party put forward practical bills that concerned the interests of workers and peasants.

The Labour Party representatives didn't need to explain the bills at all; both the representatives and the citizens understood them. It was the gentry representatives, who had been talking a lot, who started stammering and couldn't offer any response to the Labour Party representatives' proposals. These representatives could understand constitutional monarchy, which the workers and peasants couldn't, but they couldn't understand the eight-hour workday and the 25% rent reduction.

So at the meeting in Hankou Park, the gentry representatives began to evade the questions raised by the Labor Party representatives. Although they tried to fight back, such as questioning whether the Labor Party was trying to plunder the property of the rich, the Labor Party replied, "Land to the tiller is an ideal advocated by the sages. We believe that enabling laborers to obtain most of the wealth they create, although it cannot yet be called land to the tiller, is at least moving in that direction. I wonder if your representative thinks it is right for the rich to exploit the poor by relying on land?"

Because the Workers' Party's values ​​did not shy away from advocating the expropriation of landlords' land, the gentry representatives were rendered speechless. After all, in their value system, expropriating landlords' land was the most heinous crime in the world, something to be condemned by the "social mainstream." However, the current social mainstream in Wuhan was not the gentry, but the workers and citizens.

The establishment of the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committees made the voices of workers and ordinary people heard by the masses, and the gentry and landlords who had previously dominated public opinion could no longer deceive the masses. In such debates over practical interests, the hypocritical masks of the enlightened gentry were gradually stripped away, causing the masses who had blindly trusted them to begin to awaken to the truth.

Once the halo bestowed upon the gentry was removed, the words and actions of these gentry representatives appeared foolish and laughable in the eyes of the masses. For example, Wu Qingtao, a well-known representative from Xiangyang among the gentry, became enraged under Qin Lishan's repeated questioning and said, "Are you trying to rebel? Rebellion is punishable by death."

Qin Lishan chuckled for a moment and retorted, "Brother, we're carrying out a revolution right now. Don't you know that?"

Qin Lishan's answer caused a burst of laughter in the room. Wu Qingtao, blushing, retreated into the crowd and left Hankou that night to return to his hometown of Xiangyang.

Chapter 244 Committee

The Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee was located not far from the venue of the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Congress. It was a three-story building north of Hankou Park, originally built as the Hankou Commercial Exhibition Hall. The commercial exhibition hall was a new form of introducing goods, introduced from abroad, similar to a regular trade fair.

After Britain held the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations at the Crystal Palace in 1851 to showcase its industrial and technological level, countries began to compete to hold exhibitions to demonstrate their national power. However, they soon discovered that such international exhibitions were very beneficial to promoting their own trade, so they began to hold exhibitions of all sizes to promote their own products, and eventually, the concept of trade exhibition halls emerged.

Hankou was already a major commercial center. Before it opened to foreign trade, its markets offered more than 230 kinds of goods, most of which came from other places. After the opening of the port, foreign ships could directly reach Hankou, and the variety of goods on the market became increasingly rich. By 1900, local products accounted for only 10-20% of the market, and most daily necessities were foreign goods. Hankou gradually became a port for exporting resources and importing finished products.

Although Zhang Zhidong had tried his best to reverse the situation when he was in charge of Huguang, and had successfully grasped the key point, believing that if the steel industry did not prosper, all other industries would decline, and had put a lot of effort into establishing the Hanyang Ironworks, the times had changed. The West was no longer on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, but had already completed the First Industrial Revolution, and even the Second Industrial Revolution was nearing its end. A single steel plant was simply no match for an entire industrial system.

After 1900, Tian Jun began to lead the economic development of Hubei and Hunan provinces. This time, he focused on completing the industrial system, investing heavily in infrastructure and supporting industries such as energy, building materials, steel, and chemicals. Thus, Zhang Zhidong's long-held dream of transforming Hankou into an industrial production base and processing local resources into finished products for sale finally began to be realized.

In agriculture, Hubei's annual grain output in 1900 was slightly over 90 billion jin, cotton 30 dan, and soybeans over 120 million dan. After the Economic Commission's large-scale construction of water conservancy and transportation facilities, the promotion of improved varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides, and the establishment of cooperatives, Hubei's grain output exceeded 500 billion jin in 1904, cotton reached 134 million dan, and soybeans around 4 million dan. Agricultural output value increased by approximately 29% compared to four years prior.

Industrially, an industrial base was taking shape around Hanyang and Hankou. The installed power capacity of Hanyang and Hankou in 1904 was 2.5 kilowatts, and the power generation that year was more than 8000 million kilowatt-hours. Based on the consumption of 7 pounds of coal per kilowatt-hour, the coal consumption for power generation alone reached 26 tons. In 1904, the coal consumption for production and daily life in the three towns of Wuhan exceeded one million tons, which was three times that of 1900.

The development of the power industry has brought considerable benefits. It has provided convenience for the people of Wuhan and greatly reduced manufacturing costs. Factories using electricity have a 25% lower cost than those using steam engines. This has greatly promoted the development of manufacturing industries in Hanyang and Hankou, especially the food processing industry, which has little technological content.

The Economic Commission's massive investment in infrastructure finally yielded results in 1904. Hankou's import and export trade exceeded 1.8 million taels of silver. Imports of production materials and chemical raw materials began to surpass imports of finished industrial products. Imports of cotton yarn began to stagnate, but cotton yarn produced in Hubei and Hunan provinces experienced tremendous growth, reaching 12 bales in 1904, and the number of spindles in Wuhan yarn factories reached 25.

Of the 134 million dan (a unit of weight) of cotton produced in Hubei, 500,000 to 600,000 dan were consumed locally. Through production-sales cooperatives, local cotton farmers sold their cotton to the cooperatives, then received the cotton yarn to spin into homespun cloth, which was either resold to the cooperatives or used by their own families. This greatly stimulated the cotton textile industry. As for Wuhan, the production of machine-made cloth reached 4 million bolts, thus forming a considerable cloth market.

In the past, matches were entirely foreign products, initially from Europe, and now from Japan. However, by 1904, the Hankou Match Factory had captured one-third of the local market. It can be said that in the past four years, Hanyang and Hankou have truly begun to resemble the "Chicago of the East." The development speed of these four years is similar to that of Chicago's urban construction back then. It is no longer just a name associated with the Hanyang Ironworks.

Had it not been for this unexpected event, the Economic Commission originally planned to hold a Hankou Commercial Fair next year to showcase its industrial capabilities to the nation and promote domestic products. However, this incident disrupted the Commission's plans, forcing Wuhan to shift from economic development to wartime production.

Although the interruption of the economic development plan disappointed many members of the Economic Committee, with the establishment of the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Committee, these former members of the Economic Committee suddenly realized that many of the restrictions that had previously limited them had disappeared. Now they could fully implement the development plan according to the most suitable approach, instead of compromising and bickering with the authorities above and the local officials below.

While the old development plan was no longer feasible, the power to formulate a new one had fallen into everyone's hands, making their work easier in comparison. The Economic Commission's original work was more administrative, or rather, required administrative cooperation in drafting plans. Now that it had been transformed into the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers' Committee, no one felt uncomfortable at all; on the contrary, they felt a sense of freedom and expansiveness.

In the case of a typical rebellion, aside from personnel reforms, the rebel army is unlikely to significantly alter the local economy and power structure. This is because even after seizing power, the rebels still rely on local tax revenue to sustain themselves. Therefore, local officials are generally hesitant to join the rebels, as their work remains the same, but the risks are multiplied many times over; if the imperial court were to retake the country, they would face execution.

However, the Economic Commission didn't have any particular opinions on local personnel matters. They were more concerned with whether local governments were upholding and implementing the various production plans they had formulated. Although local tax revenue was important, the Economic Commission could still keep track of local tax revenue even without changing local officials. However, the Commission members were more concerned with the local supply of materials to Wuhan and the sales of Wuhan goods in the local areas, because indirect taxes in Hubei and Hunan had begun to exceed direct taxes.

This is also the main reason why there was almost no will to resist after the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee took control of Wuhan on December 5. Because the production and consumption in various places had become more closely linked with Wuhan, apart from the Manchus in Jingzhou who did not engage in production at all and relied solely on government funding, the people in other counties of Hubei opposed severing their ties with Wuhan.

For example, Shashi, located near Jingzhou, immediately blocked the road from Jingzhou to Shashi upon hearing news of the mutiny in Wuhan, and sent a telegram to the Economic Commission stating that the local gentry and people would fully obey the Commission's orders. This action was partly due to the Shashi people's resentment towards the Manchus of Jingzhou, and partly due to the close commercial ties between Shashi and Wuhan; the local gentry and merchants did not want to disrupt their businesses.

With the support of the local people, the internal order in Hubei was restored in just half a month, but the external pressure on Hubei is becoming increasingly heavy.

During the meeting of the Military Commission, after discussion and exchange of opinions, Tian Junyi and other members of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party ultimately rejected the proposal to establish a military government. They decided to maintain the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee as the command organization for the uprising, and to set up various standing and temporary meetings under the name of the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee to manage various tasks.

The Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee had two main standing meetings. The first was the Economic and Labor Committee, which was responsible for all work except military and judicial matters. In fact, military and judicial work still required the committee's support, so the Economic and Labor Committee almost replaced the powers and responsibilities of the former Governor-General's Office of Huguang. The second was the Military Committee.

Although the Military Commission was responsible for military affairs, with the influx of a large number of armed workers, it also essentially undertook the political work of reforming the old army. Tian Junyi began reforming the army after the uprising forces controlled Hanyang, causing the uprising army to disintegrate before it could form its own organization.

Although the Wuchang garrison was somewhat more intact, the Wuchang Uprising forces did not take Wuchang city on their own. Instead, they only managed to defeat the government troops in Wuchang with the support of the Hanyang Uprising forces. In addition, Li Yuanhong's troops were in a peaceful uprising, so the composition of the Wuchang garrison was quite complex. Even the members of the Workers' Party in the Wuchang army mostly believed that the old army should be disbanded first, and a brand-new workers' and peasants' armed force should be established.

Although the Workers' Party successfully infiltrated the Hubei New Army, its main recruitment efforts were among the lower-ranking officers and soldiers. The mid- to upper-level officers were either supporters of the Qing government or nationalists driven by national humiliation; very few truly believed that the working class should hold power. Even high-ranking officers like Li Yuanhong, who enjoyed a good reputation in the army, opposed revolution and advocated reform. However, he initially failed to recognize it as a revolution, mistaking it for a mutiny, and thus dared not get involved.

If the old army is not reformed, the Labour Party will soon become weak in the new army. The army is a group that emphasizes class and obedience. When an uprising occurs, it can disrupt the class and discipline in the army. However, once order is restored, officers will naturally have the power to control the soldiers. The Labour Party's activities within the army will become very awkward. They will either become officers themselves or be rejected by the officers.

However, after Tian Junyi decisively ordered the reform of the old army, the Workers' Party's leadership over the army was consolidated. Officers were no longer the sole commanders in the army; party representatives and soldiers' committees became the new sources of power in the modern army. Officers, while still having the power to command soldiers militarily, lost their control over the soldiers' lives and politics.

A number of incompetent former officers were ordered to retire or transfer to local positions, while capable but politically problematic officers were assigned to educational institutions to train military cadres for the workers' and peasants' armed forces. On the day the military committee seized power in Hubei and Hunan, its first order was to disband the province's old army, establish the workers' and peasants' armed forces, renamed the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and merge a series of military academies in Wuhan into a new school, the Army Command Academy. A group of workers and soldiers were selected to enter the academy for short-term training as a source of military cadres for the workers' and peasants' armed forces. The military committee abolished the title of "officer" and replaced it with "military cadre."

Although Li Yuanhong was a meritorious figure in the uprising, he was stripped of his command of the army by the Military Commission and appointed as the principal of the Army Command School and a vice-committee member of the Military Commission. By December 20, the fifteen counties and prefectures in the Wuhan area were firmly under the control of the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee, and the army in the Wuhan area had expanded to 45 battalions, while the Hubei and Hunan regions outside Wuhan had 12 battalions. Wuhan had formed an overwhelming military force over the surrounding areas, but the Qing government was completely unaware of this.

Chapter 245 Military Direction

"...Jiujiang is the confluence of three rivers, a thoroughfare connecting seven provinces, and a strategically vital location. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, it has been a crucial point controlling the east and west of the Yangtze River. With Jiujiang in my hands, not only will Jiangxi be under my control, but the warships of foreign powers will also find it difficult to sail upstream and threaten the three towns of Wuhan. Therefore, to prevent the westward advance of the Jianghuai army, Jiujiang must be taken..."

Li Yuanhong explained the urgent military priorities to the committee members on the map. At this moment, he still sincerely hoped to block the first wave of the imperial court's attack. Although he had reluctantly sided with the uprising forces, he had no choice but to consider his future. Only by helping the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee block the imperial court's attack could the court make an exception for those of them who had been forced to join the uprising.

After experiencing the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Yuanhong understood a crucial lesson: when the imperial court punished a general, it didn't consider how much responsibility he bore for the defeat, but rather whether he still possessed significant power. Li Hongzhang, who still had power, could at least continue to serve as governor-general with prestige, while Zeng Guofan, who voluntarily relinquished his army, was humiliated by the court.

Therefore, when the court accuses you of treason, you'd better actually have the strength to rebel, so the court doesn't easily arrest and execute you. Besides, the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee is quite organized and efficient, able to quell the unrest in the three towns of Wuhan in such a short time and reorganize the army. Li Yuanhong had no choice but to serve the Committee faithfully.

However, although he had seniority in the Military Commission, the Commission was ultimately an organization for holding meetings to solve problems, not a place for superiors and subordinates to assign tasks. If Li Yuanhong wanted to turn his proposals into a Military Commission plan and ultimately gain the approval of the members, he couldn't rely on his seniority to scare people away. He needed to come up with reasons to persuade them.

Just as Tian Junyi's complete reorganization of the army was met with opposition from some officers, Li Yuanhong had to admit that restoring order to the uprising forces couldn't be achieved simply by sending them back to their camps. Thoroughly reorganizing the old army to create a completely new force was also a very effective way to restore discipline. This is why Tian Junyi's suggestion ultimately gained the support of the majority.

While the army was being reorganized, the Military Commission did not share a consensus on the army's next operational plan. For Li Yuanhong, the primary concern was the military threat posed to the Wuhan area. Based on his military experience, the greatest threat to Wuhan clearly came from the Yangtze River, not from the land routes to the north and south. The enemy on the northern land could defend themselves using the Dabie Mountains, and Hunan in the south had little strength, as did Sichuan. Therefore, the greatest risk came from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

However, Sun Wu, Wang Chuzhen, and others did not see it that way. They were more concerned about the territory of Henan and believed that Hubei should take the initiative and seize Henan before the court sent troops to Hubei. This way, they could threaten Beijing or cut off the connection between the Jianghuai region and the north, thereby further shaking the Qing Dynasty's rule.

Even Li Yuanhong could sense that these young soldiers were subtly opposing the Hubei-Hunan autonomy plan proposed by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, attempting to achieve their goal in one fell swoop, taking advantage of the national upheaval to storm Beijing and directly overthrow Manchu rule. Li Yuanhong dared not support such radical ideas, not because he was particularly loyal to the Manchus, but because he felt that this plan had little chance of success.

Although most of the gentry in Hubei did not oppose the rule of the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee, this did not mean they had accepted its ideology, but rather that they felt the committee's power was too great and they were unclear about the imperial court's attitude towards the mutiny. If the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee were to transfer its forces from Hubei to Henan, would the local gentry still only verbally oppose it?

Moreover, Li Yuanhong felt that the committee still had a chance to defend Hubei and Wuhan. After all, the soldiers' homeland was here, and with the belief in defending their homeland, everyone's morale was quite high. This could be seen from the fact that the workers and citizens were much braver than the soldiers on the night of the mutiny.

But having left their homeland to fight in a foreign land, Li Yuanhong didn't believe this army could maintain such high morale. He'd seen this all the time. Why was the Huai Army so ineffective in Korea? Wasn't it because there was no point in fighting so desperately in a foreign land? That's just how militias are; they can fight to a standstill against regular troops in their hometowns, but they easily flee when they're away.

Besides, the governors and viceroys in various places were not dead. The committee had a separatist regime in Hubei, and frankly speaking, it did not infringe on their interests. They could turn a blind eye to it. But if the committee wanted to destroy the country, these local governors and viceroys would unite to support the court, because their power came from the court, not themselves. After the court collapsed, they could continue to serve as officials in the localities.

Besides differing opinions within the Military Commission, members of the Economic and Labor Commission also had their own views. For example, Zhou Cangbai, who spoke after Li Yuanhong, objected, saying, "I think Jiujiang is probably not the most important issue at the moment. The real issue is ensuring smooth traffic flow from Changsha and Zhuzhou to Pingxiang."

This morning, coal prices in Japan rose again, with first-grade coal reaching 9 taels per ton and second-grade coal breaking the 7 taels per ton mark. Moreover, the Japanese are unwilling to sell more, saying that the British seem poised to blockade the Yangtze River waterway, and coal prices may rise further in a couple of days.

Coal is to industry what food is to people. People can't go a day without food, and industry can't go a day without coal. Now, Changsha has cut off transportation and is even trying to send troops to occupy the Pingxiang coal mine. If there's no coal, the machines in Wuhan's factories can't start. What's the point of us occupying Jiujiang or even Jiangning then? The three towns of Wuhan are already dead.

The army's primary task is to keep Wuhan alive, because if Wuhan dies, neither the regime nor the army will survive..."

Therefore, aside from the Sichuan side, which everyone believed could be ignored for the time being, the north, east, and south all had reasons to attack, and these reasons also received support from some committee members. However, although everyone felt that their reasons were sufficient, after listening to the opinions of others, they also found them to be reasonable. In the end, everyone turned their attention to Tang Caichang and Tian Junyi.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Tian Jun suddenly felt the pressure on his shoulders. He knew very well that everyone expected him to make the decision, not because they completely trusted his abilities, but because they felt they couldn't bear the responsibility. Even Tang Caichang, after hesitating for a moment, turned his gaze to him, clearly losing his composure in the current situation.

Indeed, Wuhan currently appears to have a bright future, but it is also fraught with crises. Everyone hopes to move towards that bright future, rather than stepping into a quagmire. Tang Caichang, having already stepped into such a quagmire, is therefore even more cautious about his current choices.

The advantage of collective leadership lies in this: when unsure of something, there's no need to force your way in; simply step back. While stepping back too much might cause subordinates to lose faith in you, it's far better than making a wrong decision that alienates them completely. Although Tang Caichang wasn't used to this committee system in the past, he now finds it has its merits.

Tian Junyi remained silent for a long time, but finally felt that he should take on this responsibility, because he knew that there was a path in front of everyone. It was not that they couldn't see it, but that no one could make such a decision.

He cleared his throat and said, "Militarily, we'll defend; politically, we'll attack. I believe that since this general policy has already been decided, it cannot be changed unless you can propose a better one. Has anyone suggested a new approach?"

Under Tian Junyi's gaze, the committee members in the room remained silent. Seeing that no one had proposed any new directions, he continued, "Now that the general policy has been determined, I will share my own views."

Firstly, attacking the Qing court from the north is a dead end. It's not that overthrowing the Manchu court is wrong, but the timing is wrong. With the Russians occupying Manchuria and Outer Mongolia, what other possibility is there for us to attack Beijing, other than hastening a peace treaty between Beijing and Russia?