Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 52

Whether it's the bourgeoisie or progressive intellectuals, their revolutions all have a destination: that the revolution must not affect them personally. Once they feel their interests are sufficiently protected, they will abandon the revolution and instead demand that the working class and the masses endure for the sake of the greater good.

I am not saying that a revolution cannot temporarily retreat when the situation is unfavorable, but such a retreat is for the purpose of accumulating strength to move forward further, not for the purpose of remaining at this stage forever.

Attempting to perpetually freeze the revolution at a certain stage is essentially no different from the actions of the current Qing Dynasty; they too hoped the world would remain in that stage forever, thus ensuring the Manchu rule for eternity. The assertion that the world is static and its various parts are unconnected is certainly not materialism, and naturally, it cannot be Marxism.

Tian Junyi kept Lin Xinyi's words in mind. Everyone else regarded him as a leader of the revolution, but Tian Junyi knew that he wasn't as firm in his convictions about the future of the revolution as everyone imagined. Most of the time, he also took Lin Xinyi's words as the guiding principle of the revolution.

Faced with Lin Xinyi's unwavering resolve, Tian Junyi finally gave up trying to persuade him and instead said, "Since it's for the revolution, then I have nothing more to say. I hope you return victorious. However, how confident are you about this mission to Tibet?"

After thinking for a few seconds, Lin Xinyi said, "It's fifty-fifty. The hope of this victory lies with the Tibetan and Indian people. My job is to ignite the fire. If we can successfully ignite this fire, then the revolution will be a self-driven history; otherwise, we will have lost this time."

Tian Junyi didn't ask again why he would risk trying when he knew the chances of success were slim, because he knew it was a foolish question. In this era, every attempt by young people who devoted themselves to the revolution was a risk. If Lin Xinyi hadn't pointed out this revolutionary path, they probably would have taken a different path during the Boxer Rebellion.

Lin Xinyi then changed the subject, discussing the logistical supply and propaganda work for the troops entering Tibet, to which Tian Junyi made arrangements. Upon learning that the Hanyang Arsenal would prioritize supplying the Expeditionary Force with a batch of weapons, including landmines, grenades, and semi-finished smokeless gunpowder, so the Expeditionary Force could process them after entering Tibet, and that the optical instruments and radio equipment ordered from Germany were already at sea, Lin Xinyi felt much relieved.

He hesitated for a moment before turning to Tian Junyi and saying, "Although this war has nothing to do with capitalism, it will still have a certain impact on world capitalism in an objective way. I suggest that the committee seize this opportunity to accumulate some funds for the revolution."

Tian Junyi asked, somewhat bewildered, "Impact? What kind of impact?"

Lin Xinyi looked at him and said, “Going south from Tibet, one must inevitably pass through Darjeeling and Bengal. Darjeeling is the tea-growing center of the British Empire, and Bengal is a major jute-producing area. This means that either the revolution didn't take place, or if a revolution did take place in this region, it would inevitably drive up the international prices of tea and jute products. These two products are also the main cash crops of the Huguang region…”

Tian Junyi really didn't expect that an expedition to Tibet would involve so many things, but he still accepted Lin Xinyi's suggestion and prepared to have the Economic Development and Urban Construction Committee make some adjustments to the hemp and tea industries.

On March 22, Zhang Yintang, accompanied by 100 guards provided by Duanfang, boarded two small steamers and headed to Chongqing. The guard commander was Wu Luzhen, who was also the commander of the first battalion of new soldiers who were going to Tibet.

Zhang Yintang initially tried to win over Wu Luzhen, knowing the immense risks of this trip to Tibet. He feared for his safety if the army didn't side with him. Wu Luzhen was eloquent and insightful, unlike most martial artists, and Zhang desperately wanted him on his side. However, even after disembarking at Chaotianmen in Chongqing, he hadn't managed to gain Wu's complete trust.

The two weeks spent on the ship had helped them get to know each other better, but Wu's arrogance was giving Zhang Yintang a real headache. Of course, Zhang Yintang also admitted that Wu did have reason to be arrogant; he had indeed researched the historical anecdotes between Sichuan and Tibet very thoroughly and was quite confident about the route they would take to Tibet.

Of course, he had even higher hopes for the group led by Wu. Almost everyone was literate, more than half had qualifications of at least the rank of Zhengmu (正目), a quarter had experience in military academies or studying abroad, and even the least educated among them had attended private schools for a few years. During the conversation, Zhang Yintang couldn't help but praise Wu Luzhen, saying, "Commander Xiang's vision is indeed far-sighted. The New Army soldiers are so well-educated; no wonder their discipline is so excellent. Is this how the entire Hubei New Army is?"

Wu Luzhen frankly stated, "Of course it's not that exaggerated. These officers were specially selected from various units specifically for this mission to Tibet. Since we can't mobilize a large number of troops to the plateau in a short time, we can only hope to train Tibetans for self-defense. This is the only way to improve the Tibetans' defensive capabilities in a short period of time; there's really no other way. But speaking of military discipline, do you know how the Beiyang Army fares in the north?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yintang said to him, "Yuan Shikai is a master of military administration. The Beiyang Army is arguably the best in the Northern Army. Orders are obeyed without question, and no one dares to disobey military orders..."

However, once the new army landed at Chaotianmen Wharf and set foot on Chongqing soil, it gave Zhang Yintang a different feeling. The seemingly imposing soldiers also possessed a touch of scholarly air. The reason Zhang Yintang had this feeling was that the new army did not rush to go shopping and find women after landing.

Gambling and prostitution were practically ingrained problems in the Qing army. Even Yuan Shikai could only ban opium, not prevent his soldiers from gambling and prostitution. Some Beiyang officers even secretly gambled in their camps. As for prostitution, it was already a great favor to Yuan Shikai if he didn't bring prostitutes into the camp, but it wasn't uncommon for high-ranking officers to keep mistresses near their camps.

However, after this group of Hubei soldiers landed, they did not disperse to seek pleasure. Instead, they began to preach at the bustling dock. Although Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan each have their own dialects, Wuhan, as a major port on the Yangtze River, has no shortage of merchants from various provinces. These soldiers had obviously learned Sichuan dialect, and although they did not speak it very well, at least the Sichuanese could understand them.

Zhang Yintang listened attentively to the New Army's presentation for a while, while Wu Luzhen translated the gist for him. The main points were: why they had come to Sichuan, why the British had invaded Tibet, how many places the British had previously occupied, and how many indigenous people they had killed. Therefore, the people of Sichuan should be vigilant to prevent Sichuan from becoming the next target of the British.

Although Zhang Yintang felt he had gone a bit too far, he hesitated for a moment and remained silent. However, Chongqing had already opened as a treaty port, and there were many foreign firms there, most of which were British. Soon, the British intervened, arguing that the army was inciting the people against Britain, which was prohibited by the Boxer Protocol.

At first, not many passersby stopped to listen to the propaganda. After all, the people of the Qing Dynasty had been educated for two hundred years that the common people should not fight against officials or the military, and in recent decades, they also needed to keep their distance from foreigners. Therefore, no matter what these Hubei soldiers were saying, passersby just quickened their pace as if they had traveled back in time, afraid of being stopped by the soldiers. Only a few scholars in long robes were not afraid of the soldiers and dared to stop and listen for a while, but they did not express any opinions.

However, as the foreigners intervened, onlookers gathered, as they felt there was no risk in observing. Lin Xinyi also took the opportunity to have his men explain to the onlookers why the foreigners were interfering with the military's propaganda.

For a time, the people of Sichuan felt great sympathy for the soldiers. After all, the opening of Chongqing as a treaty port by the foreign powers, the opening of steamships, and the direct purchase of raw materials by foreign firms had caused losses to Sichuan's boat owners and merchants. Therefore, when conflicts arose between Hubei soldiers and foreigners, the people of Sichuan naturally sided with the soldiers. The British, who intervened, ultimately could not treat the army with the same arrogance they showed to civilians. Zhang Yintang refused to stand up for the foreigners, and in the end, the British left with a harsh threat, saying they would have their consul protest to the Chinese government.

As the British left, the onlookers became increasingly excited. Some even dared to ask the soldiers who had been giving their speeches what they were talking about. Seeing this, Zhang Yintang called Wu Luzhen aside and said, "While this is satisfying, provoking the British like this isn't the solution. Can't we just quietly enter Tibet?"

Chapter 178 Chongqing

Wu Luzhen could understand Zhang Yintang's thoughts, because he used to think the same way. He believed that protecting the country was the government's business, so there was no need to talk too much about it with the people. However, after seeing the Japanese people's support for the country during his studies in Japan and later accepting some socialist ideas within the Labor Party, his thinking changed a lot.

Faced with Zhang Yintang's questioning, Wu Luzhen replied seriously, "Does Lord Zhang really think that we, with only 100 people, can stand against the British army invading Tibet?"

Zhang Yintang naturally knew this was impossible. He shook his head and said, "Precisely because we can't, we mustn't provoke the British. Otherwise, how can we conduct diplomacy with them and persuade them to back down? If the British get angry, it won't just be a problem in Tibet anymore. You should know that Russia is also eyeing us covetously in the north. If Britain and Russia join forces, our country will be in real trouble."

Wu Luzhen was now speechless. In his view, when faced with foreign aggression, the court should not be concerned with whether it could win, but rather with how to organize resistance. However, he also knew that such arguments would not sway Zhang Yintang. During the two weeks on the ship, the two had become quite close, and he knew that this assistant minister had his own agenda; he genuinely wanted to use international law to demand that the British withdraw from Tibet.

This is why Zhang Yintang couldn't win him over on the ship—their ideas were completely diametrically opposed. However, he also couldn't persuade him with the theory of prioritizing military strength. If the imperial court truly had the ability to repel the British in Tibet, then Zhang Yintang wouldn't have been chosen as the assistant minister.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Luzhen said, "I have a clerk in my camp. He suggested that we conduct propaganda during the journey into Tibet, and I think he makes a lot of sense. If you don't mind, sir, why don't I ask him to come over and explain it to you directly?"

Zhang Yintang didn't understand Wu Luzhen's meaning. The reason he was willing to treat Wu Luzhen as an equal was because Wu Luzhen was, after all, a graduate of the Japanese Military Academy, which was equivalent to a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial civil service examination) but below the Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination). As the imperial court continued to promote new policies, studying abroad had become the most active part of these policies, because studying abroad was equivalent to obtaining the Juren degree, which was much easier than directly taking the Juren exam.

When the imperial court appointed officials, it was discovered that overseas students were at least capable of doing things, while most of the successful candidates in the imperial examinations were bookworms who neither understood the outside world nor knew anything about practical matters. Their only skills were reciting the classics of the sages and writing a few poems.

In the past, the imperial court did not need to deal with foreigners, so these officials could at least maintain the court's rule in the local areas. However, now the gates of the Qing Dynasty have been opened by foreigners. Not to mention the coastal ports, even the barren inland areas have foreign missionaries. At this time, the important thing is no longer to control the local areas, but how to deal with foreigners and quell disputes between Chinese and foreigners.

Those officials who came from the orthodox path of the imperial examinations were rarely able to quell disputes between Chinese and foreigners. They were either suffering from a phobia of foreigners or blindly xenophobic. The combined effect of these two factors ultimately led to the Boxer Rebellion. Faced with the consequences of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of Beijing, the reformist Westernization Movement and the overseas-educated bureaucrats naturally criticized the imperial examination system, believing that this way of cultivating old-style bureaucrats was no longer viable. They argued that if a new batch of bureaucrats who could open their eyes to the world were not cultivated, the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance would be repeated.

If, before the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty's daily rule consisted of suppressing dissidents—whether they supported or opposed the Qing, anyone advocating for changes to ancestral rules was to be suppressed—then after the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty's daily rule revolved around appeasing foreign powers. This explains why Zhang Yintang, a reformer, was able to be reinstated, while the court only sought to appease Russia and Britain when they invaded Manchuria and Tibet.

Judging from Wu Luzhen's study abroad experience, he was naturally in the same camp and of the same social class as Zhang Yintang, who had ties to the reformists, which is why they could interact on an equal footing. But how could a mere clerk sit down with them to discuss decision-making?

Seeing the change in Zhang Yintang's expression, Wu Luzhen immediately realized what was going on and quickly added, "Although Lin Jun is a clerk, he is also a student who studied in Japan. He only returned to China to join the army after hearing about the British invasion of Tibet. He is not an ordinary soldier."

Hearing this, Zhang Yintang's expression softened. After glancing around, he pointed to a teahouse in the distance and said, "Let's go to that teahouse and find a private room to talk quietly..."

Upon hearing Wu Luzhen's invitation, Lin Xinyi didn't say much. He simply instructed the people around him, "Don't be afraid of saying the wrong thing, but make sure everyone tries to talk to the people and explain why they are participating in this war. Any job is difficult at the beginning, but it's not difficult once you get used to it. If we don't practice our ability to interact with the people now, it will be even more difficult to carry out our work when we arrive in Tibet, where we don't speak the language."

Chen Jingcun and the others nodded repeatedly to Lin Xinyi. During the two weeks on the ship, Lin Xinyi, through the organization of the Labor Party, established a branch meeting and a soldiers' committee within this small unit, thus bringing the troops together around him. Although Wu Luzhen was the highest military commander, in daily and political life, everyone began to recognize the party branch meeting led by Representative Lin.

Wu Luzhen had no objection to this change, because under the leadership of the branch meeting, the unit was much more cohesive than before. It was true that the Hubei New Army had many intellectuals, but the biggest problem with intellectuals was their lack of unity. If the divisions within the old army were mostly due to the distribution of power and interests, then the divisions within the New Army often began with differences in the ideologies of intellectuals.

Although the New Army had many intellectuals, not all of them were progressive; there were also quite a few royalists. Even within the revolutionaries, there were divisions between constitutional monarchists, republicans, and radicals. While the Workers' Party absorbed radical intellectuals who advocated thorough land reform, abolishing the monarchical system, and establishing a people's republic, this faction was actually quite small. The mainstream of the revolutionaries was still constitutional monarchists and republicans, and this group also included members of these two factions.

In the past, Wu Luzhen could only unite the two factions through his position as an officer and nationalist revolutionary slogans. However, this unity was actually very weak, because it was difficult to grasp their true thoughts at crucial moments. But under the branch meetings and soldiers' committees established by Lin Xinyi, the army began to carry out ideological and organizational reforms on all officers and soldiers.

In short, the Soldiers' Council cut off the influence of the other two factions on the soldiers, while the branch meetings began to correct the constitutional monarchists' and republicans' misconceptions about the world.

Only after truly putting the theory of establishing Party branches at the company level into practice did Lin Xinyi understand why the instructors had proposed this military ideology. In fact, once the company was transformed into a small, closed society, it became clear that the Party branch meeting was equivalent to a government that controlled public opinion, and the soldiers were equivalent to the masses. When the government controlled and guided public opinion, intellectuals with different political views became the non-mainstream value system.

Even Western governments can use such methods of public opinion control to manage the thoughts of the masses, thereby creating a kind of "political correctness" within society and ultimately excluding non-mainstream values ​​from people's lives. How much more so for the Labor Party, which has grasped the correct political direction.

In the absence of other effective communication tools and given the low level of public awareness, a group of 100-200 people is the ideal size for a social organization to conduct ideological dissemination and political activities. Beyond this range, branch meetings cannot maintain close contact with the masses; below this range, they easily become small groups of a few people, thus losing the support of the masses.

Especially in a closed society like the military, using branch meetings to unify soldiers' thoughts is actually more efficient. This is because the military itself is a team that requires organization and discipline. In order to complete military activities, the military will consciously or unconsciously pursue the unity of the group. The Qing Dynasty merely replaced the unity of thought in the military by prohibiting officers and soldiers from thinking and by requiring loyalty to the emperor. It did not mean that the unity of thought in the military was truly abandoned.

So when Lin Xinyi started building party organizations and political life for soldiers in this army of selected progressive-minded soldiers, just as Wu Luzhen was shocked by, the army quickly changed. If the army was only inclined to revolution before boarding the ship, by the time they disembarked in Chongqing, the army had generally supported the revolution.

After passing through a stone staircase, you'll see the best teahouse by the roadside. As the first gateway between Sichuan and mainland China, Chongqing Wharf is characterized by its numerous teahouses of all sizes. These teahouses not only provide tea and meals for the dockworkers but also offer quiet places for merchants to conduct their business negotiations.

Zhang Yintang chose the best-looking teahouse around the dock. The two followed the waiter through the bustling lobby on the first floor, up the slightly worn stairs to the second floor, where the waiter eagerly led them to the superior room facing the Yangtze River and opened the door.

Zhang Yintang, dressed in a long blue robe, was sitting by the window drinking tea and gazing at the river view. Hearing the door open, he turned around, glanced at the two men, and then gestured for them to sit down and talk. He first inquired about Lin Feng's background. Tian Junyi's fabricated family history for Lin Xinyi was almost entirely true, even describing the specific scenery of his hometown. Therefore, Lin Xinyi answered fluently without revealing any flaws.

Zhang Yintang was then satisfied and steered the conversation to the main point, "It is certainly a righteous act for you to give up your studies abroad and return to serve your country. However, patriotism should also be compromised with reality. Now that the country is weak, it is like a patient suffering from a serious illness. At this time, when we prescribe medicine, we should first consider saving the patient's life, not curing the disease."

While this mission to Tibet is indeed to assert China's sovereignty, Britain is a first-rate power, not one that the Qing Dynasty can contend with. We cannot afford to go to war with Britain; that would only be a repeat of the Boxer Rebellion. Your current high-profile promotion of this mission to Tibet, if it incites a popular uprising, will only put us at a greater diplomatic disadvantage…”

After listening to Zhang Yintang's long, rambling explanation, Lin Xinyi roughly understood that this man truly placed the key to resolving the Tibet issue on diplomacy. After pondering for a long time, he asked Zhang Yintang a question, "Lord Zhang, do you intend to negotiate with the British in Lhasa, or outside of Tibet?"

Chapter 179 The Significance of Preaching

Zhang Yintang originally believed that Hubei, with its talents like Tian Junyi and Wu Luzhen, had already fulfilled the description of a land of outstanding people and abundant resources. However, he truly hadn't expected that a casually sent document could so directly pinpoint the key to resolving the Tibet issue diplomatically. Indeed, the location where negotiations would begin was the core of this diplomatic solution to the Tibet issue.

The Boxer Protocol, signed under the bayonets of the Eight-Nation Alliance after the Boxer Rebellion, was a humiliating agreement that was entirely detrimental to China. If it weren't for the strong discontent shown by the people of Southeast China, which led to the possibility of a revolution, the various countries would not have made concessions on this agreement.

As a reformist official with considerable diplomatic experience, Zhang Yintang could certainly see that if negotiations began after the British troops entered Lhasa, the so-called diplomatic solution to the Tibet issue would likely turn into another humiliating treaty involving ceding territory and paying indemnities, which was clearly not the outcome he desired.

If his only goal was to sign a humiliating treaty that would cede national sovereignty, why would he bother coming to Tibet? He might as well have let Youtai sign it. After all, the consensus among the Chinese people is that the Eight Banners were responsible for the country's downfall, and no one would be surprised no matter how much Youtai betrayed national interests. But if he did this, he would be ruining his own reputation.

Zhang Yintang certainly wouldn't be willing to ruin his reputation for the current court. He was loyal to the Qing Dynasty, not Empress Dowager Cixi and those Manchu nobles. His elder brother had died at the hands of these people, so how could he possibly risk his reputation and bring shame upon his family for them?

Realizing that this was at least a figure of the same caliber as Wu Luzhen, Zhang Yintang finally changed his mindset and spoke to the other party in a more equal tone: "Being able to negotiate with the British outside of Tibet is naturally the best option, but since the British army has already entered Tibet, it will probably be difficult for them to withdraw easily. I think that being able to negotiate with the British in an area outside of Lhasa is already the least bad situation."

Lin Xinyi immediately said, "With just our hundred-man force, can we really stop the British army from entering Lhasa? In the end, we still need to rely on the Tibetans' own strength to make the British army stop their advance into Lhasa and seek peace talks with us. Therefore, the Tibetans' stance and attitude towards this war are the key to this negotiation."

Lord Zhang, do you think the Tibetans will welcome or be disappointed to see our group of one hundred arrive in Lhasa? If the British make excessive demands on Tibet in the treaty, will the Tibetans resent the British or the central government?

The best and worst possible outcome that Lord Zhang envisioned were both based on the perspective of the imperial court. However, from the Tibetan perspective, the fact that the central government was already eager to negotiate with the British before they had even withdrawn from Tibet was undoubtedly a betrayal. Regardless of the contents of the agreement, the Tibetans would find it difficult to accept.

Therefore, the day this agreement was signed marked the beginning of Tibet's attempt to secede from China.

Zhang Yintang opened his mouth but couldn't speak. This was a perspective he hadn't considered before, but upon reflection, it wasn't entirely impossible. Let alone Tibetans, the number of Han Chinese wanting independence from the Qing Dynasty after the signing of the Boxer Protocol was increasing daily. Everyone felt it was a national humiliation; the court refused reforms and blindly waged war against all nations, ultimately leading to this outcome. So who would continue to be loyal to this traitorous court?

Ultimately, the imperial court bears a large share of the responsibility for the Tibet issue. The Resident Minister in Tibet, who advocated supporting Tibetan resistance against the British's constant border incursions, was dismissed. His replacement, however, was solely focused on appeasement, which led to the British's current precarious situation. This Resident Minister, who complied with the court's instructions and yielded to the British, quickly became irreconcilably opposed to the anti-British Dalai Lama. Even after British troops entered Tibet, You Tai still criticized the Dalai Lama in his memorials for his impulsive and unauthorized uprising.

Although he had not yet arrived in Tibet, Zhang Yintang, who had read the Tibet documents of the past two years before leaving Beijing, had a better understanding of the situation than others. The current situation in Tibet was not just about the British invasion. The dissatisfaction of Tibetans with the Resident Minister in Tibet, and the conflicts between temples, chieftains, and government officials along the Sichuan-Tibet border were all issues that he urgently needed to deal with during his trip to Tibet.

The thought of these problems gave him a slight headache, so he could only put aside his chaotic thoughts and ask Lin Feng, "So, if we keep spreading these messages, will we be able to solve the problem? The British army can't possibly retreat just because of public opinion in our country. To put it bluntly, the transportation between Tibet and the mainland is inconvenient, so the British army simply can't hear the voice of our people."

Lin Xinyi said confidently, "Although we cannot solve the problem of the British troops withdrawing, we can take this opportunity to solve the following problems."

First, we want the people of Sichuan to know that our Hubei troops' deployment to Tibet is not only to defend Tibet, but also to protect Sichuan. If the British were to occupy Tibet, Sichuan would suffer greatly as well. The British went so far as to ram wooden ships blocking their way in order to open up waterways into Sichuan. If they were to occupy Tibet, would they still maintain peaceful relations with Sichuan?

There are only a few routes for troops from the mainland to enter Tibet, with the Sichuan route being the most important. Sichuan is densely populated and capable of procuring various supplies; to support the war effort in Tibet, the support of the Sichuanese is essential. How to gain the support of the Sichuanese—isn't explaining the purpose of the war the primary consideration? Without the support of the Sichuanese, even if we reach Lhasa, we will lose our rear support and fail.

Zhang Yintang nodded and said, "That is indeed the case. Without the support of the Sichuanese, it is impossible to fight in Tibet."

Lin Xinyi continued, "Secondly, it's about the greater good. According to the information I've seen, the chieftains and temples between Sichuan and Tibet are quite wary of the officials and soldiers from the mainland, fearing that the imperial court will implement the policy of replacing chieftains with centrally appointed officials. If we send a small number of officials and soldiers into Tibet, it won't cause any conflicts, but if the number is too large, trouble will arise. If we don't make our purpose for entering Tibet clear, it's not impossible that the Tibetan people might be instigated by a few ambitious individuals to attack our army."

Zhang Yintang's vision was suddenly broadened. In fact, carrying out some reforms in the Sichuan-Tibet region under the banner of righteousness would probably be a natural progression. The reason why the chieftains and temples in Sichuan and Tibet were able to resist the imperial court was because of their appeal to the Tibetan people. Once this appeal was lost, the chieftains and temples would be powerless to resist reforms in these areas.

So he nodded to Lin Feng to continue, and Lin Xinyi continued without hesitation: "Although the main task of this mission to Tibet is to protect Tibet, the real goal is to safeguard the unity between the Han and Tibetan people and eliminate any barriers between them."

As long as the relationship between the Han and Tibetan people remains close, even if the British army gains a slight advantage, it will not be able to gain any benefits in Tibet. This is because Tibet is too vast and too desolate, and even with Britain's national strength, it is impossible to maintain a strong army stationed in Tibet for a long time.

Therefore, the essence of defending Tibet lies first and foremost in maintaining Han-Tibetan relations. Without widespread and in-depth propaganda, how can Tibetans and Han people trust each other?

Zhang Yintang finally smiled and clapped his hands in praise, saying, "Brother Lin is absolutely right. With these three points, the diplomacy concerning Tibet will have a foothold..."

Wu Luzhen glanced at Zhang Yintang with some surprise. He had spoken with the man many times, but this was the first time he had seen him so disoriented. However, he quickly looked away and quietly continued to listen.

After their conversation at the teahouse, Zhang Yintang agreed that Lin Feng could go ahead and give his presentation. After Lin Feng left, Zhang Yintang couldn't help but sigh to Wu Luzhen beside him, "Hubei is truly full of talented people. It already has the flair of the young talents from Hunan back in the day."

Wu Luzhen hesitated for a moment before saying, "What's the point of having many talented people if the court can't use them?"

Zhang Yintang glanced at Wu Luzhen but ultimately said nothing. They stayed in Chongqing for three days before hiring porters to travel to Chengdu. There were two routes from Chongqing to Chengdu: one a small path over Gele Mountain, and the other, while avoiding the mountain pass, was a longer route. Merchants preferred the smaller path, while officials used the main road to deliver messages.

The convoy departed from Tongyuan Gate in Chongqing. Although the army entering Sichuan consisted of only 100 men, almost every one of them was equipped with rifles and pistols, as well as various field equipment. In addition, there were an extra 500 rifles and a large amount of military supplies, totaling nearly 300 tons. Zhang Yintang's entourage numbered only 10 people, but their luggage was not small, so they hired more than 150 carts, making it a truly grand and imposing force.

The post road from Chongqing to Chengdu consisted of three main streets, five post stations, four towns, and seventy-two outposts. Each outpost was 15 li (approximately 7.5 kilometers) long, with a total length of 1080 li (approximately 540 kilometers). It took ordinary travelers about 20 days to walk, while official express mail could be delivered in as little as 8 hours. A new horse was used every 15 li.

Zhang Yintang's group moved extremely fast. Under Wu Luzhen's arrangement, they advanced entirely according to the standard of a military march. Two groups of people rode ahead to arrange food and lodging. When the group arrived at a destination, they could rest briefly, then eat and continue on their way. There was nothing to worry about when they camped at night, as lodging and hot water had already been prepared.

Even during this march, whenever possible, Lin Xinyi would have people preach on the streets and distribute the anti-colonial pamphlets he carried. Thus, before the army arrived in Chengdu, the people of Sichuan already knew that Hubei had sent an army to Tibet to fight against the British.

In the context of the current situation, this news is undoubtedly encouraging. Since the Boxer Rebellion, everyone has heard that foreigners are encroaching step by step, while the imperial court is making concessions at every turn. Foreigners have even come to travel and explore in places like the heart of Sichuan and the border regions of Tibet, treating China as their own territory.

The most frightening thing was that people realized this wasn't just the foreigners' misperception, but a fact. When foreigners had disputes with the local people, they would readily pull out weapons to threaten or even open fire, and the government would do nothing about it, even protecting the foreigners and dispersing the crowds who surrounded them demanding an explanation.

The Hubei army's high-profile entry into Tibet to fight the British naturally attracted the attention of the people of Sichuan. At first, the Hubei army's street propaganda did not attract many listeners, but after arriving in Jianyang, some people even came from other places to listen to the propaganda and took the initiative to ask the army for propaganda brochures. 2000 brochures were distributed before even reaching Chengdu.

Chapter 180 Sichuanese

On April 22, Zhang Yintang and his entourage arrived at Yinghui Gate in Chengdu. The area outside the East Gate is an important commercial center in Chengdu. Seeing such a group of soldiers, everyone was very curious and stopped to watch.

Since entering Sichuan, Lin Xinyi had noticed that the people had little fear of them, who wore modern military uniforms, but were terrified of Qing soldiers in their old uniforms. Wherever Qing soldiers appeared, passersby would avoid them. This was because Sichuan had just begun implementing new policies, and most Sichuanese had never seen soldiers in modern uniforms and probably hadn't yet associated them with the image of Qing soldiers.

Because of this advantage, Lin Xinyi and his group were able to communicate with the local people relatively smoothly. However, the desolate state of the countryside they saw along the way made even Wu Luzhen somewhat disheartened.

Looking at the overgrown, dilapidated state of the Chengdu city walls, Wu Luzhen couldn't help but say to Lin Xinyi beside him, "Sichuan has been known as the Land of Abundance since ancient times, how has it become such a horrible sight? Along the way, I haven't seen a single village where people don't smoke opium. Sichuan's opium production accounts for 30% of the national total. Besides abundant opium, we have no shortage of grain, cotton cloth, or cooking oil. Can this place still serve as a base for supporting Tibet?"

Lin Xinyi could understand Wu Luzhen's concerns. Sichuan was essentially a larger version of the Golden Triangle. The Qing government's relaxation of the ban on opium, coupled with the opening of steamships to Chongqing, allowed opium to be quickly transported to various parts of the country, which naturally stimulated the opium cultivation industry in Sichuan.

What they saw most in Chongqing were teahouses and opium dens. Opium had shifted from a luxury for the wealthy to a widespread phenomenon among the common people. It wasn't that most commoners smoked opium for pleasure, but rather that opium was cheaper than traditional Chinese medicine. So, poor people who couldn't afford medical treatment initially hoped to use opium for pain relief, but they quickly became addicted and unable to break free.

Because Sichuan is only separated from India by Tibet, Yunnan, and Myanmar, opium cultivation in Sichuan began even before the Opium Wars. It is said that opium cultivation was introduced to Yunnan in the 20s and quickly spread to Sichuan. After half a century of development, opium cultivation in Sichuan has overwhelmed other cash crops and become Sichuan's number one export product.

Since 1901, annual production has been around 150,000 to 160,000 dan (a unit of weight), occupying nearly 15% of Sichuan's arable land. Correspondingly, opium addicts accounted for a quarter of Sichuan's population, according to statistics from the British Customs in Chongqing. However, Lin Xinyi, after traveling around, felt that the number of opium addicts was probably more than a quarter of the population, because even in remote mountain villages, he could see private opium dens.

However, after glancing at the group of young people following behind him, he turned to Wu Luzhen and said, "This is the meaning of our revolution. If the Manchus continue to rule, China will become a ghost town. However, I think Sichuan needs a revolution more urgently than Huguang, because the people there suffer even more severe oppression..."

Wu Luzhen also subconsciously glanced behind him. He could see the spirited expressions on the faces of those young people, something he never saw in the surrounding commoners. In Huguang or other places, those who joined secret societies were almost all from the lower classes. Upper-class people joined secret societies almost always to incite them to join the revolution, but in reality, they didn't really look down on secret societies and considered these people no different from criminals.

For revolutionaries, secret societies were merely tools to be used; no one truly wanted to become a member. Those secret society leaders who joined the revolution essentially wanted to escape their secret society affiliation and pursue a legitimate path. However, in Sichuan, joining a secret society became a necessity for survival.

Not only did the lower classes need to join secret societies, but even the upper classes had to join to protect themselves, because social order in Sichuan had completely collapsed and could only be maintained by secret societies. The lower classes who joined secret societies were mostly "muddy water gangs," meaning their daily activities were related to crime. The upper classes, on the other hand, mostly joined "clean water gangs," mainly to maintain a name within the society and avoid becoming targets of the muddy water gangs.

The reason why secret societies were so rampant in Sichuan was fundamentally due to the economic collapse caused by opium cultivation. Twenty years ago, Sichuan was a cotton-producing region, but now it needs to import large quantities of cotton and cotton yarn, and even the price of rice has risen from 16 wen per jin to 30 wen per jin. In the past, Sichuan sold its rice to other provinces, but now it still needs to import rice from other provinces.

Land concentration in Sichuan is not low. The rise in agricultural product prices means that the cost of living for most people has increased, but their wages have not risen with prices. This is because Sichuan's main export is opium, which has little to do with the labor of most people, but has made landlords rich.

This is precisely why most educated young people in Sichuan feel immense suffering, unable to see a way out. They either indulge in a life of debauchery or follow in their parents' footsteps, becoming mature, self-serving individuals. As for those uneducated young people, they have long been numbed by the hardships of life.

Sichuan's isolated geographical environment fostered a closed society. Coupled with the deliberate suppression by the Manchu Qing dynasty, even in the wealthiest Chengdu Plain, the literacy rate did not exceed 2%. As a result, Sichuan's social atmosphere was conservative, and the people could even be described as relatively ignorant.

However, when they arrived in Sichuan, breaking through the walls of this closed society, the fresh air immediately revitalized some of the young people. At first, they simply listened to the new army's speeches, but soon they followed the new army, partly because they wanted to hear more speeches, and partly because they didn't want to return to their dull lives.

These Sichuan educated youths' eagerness to embrace a new life quickly made them the first group of supporters of the Hubei aid-to-Tibet army. Although Wu Luzhen had also developed revolutionary comrades in the past, whether during the Self-Reliance Army period or in the Hubei New Army, he could naturally feel the current Chinese youth's eagerness to change China's impoverished and weak state, because he himself was one of them.

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, China could still comfort itself by believing that although the Qing Dynasty was inferior to the Western powers, it could catch up with effort. After all, China was vast and rich in resources, had a large population, and possessed the wisdom of the sages; its only weakness was lagging behind Westerners in machinery manufacturing. The First Sino-Japanese War shattered this illusion. China, which was also learning from the West but refused to completely copy its economic and political systems, was defeated by a fully Westernized Japan. This shattered the myth of the wisdom of the sages.

The aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion brought about a new change. This was no longer simply a matter of Chinese scholarship being inferior to that of the Western powers; it was a question of whether China would perish as a nation and its people. Under these circumstances, intellectuals unwilling to become subjugated turned to seeking innovation and change, even to the point of considering the theories of the revolutionary party worth trying.

However, this was the first time Wu Luzhen had ever seen a group of educated youth willingly follow the army based solely on a few lectures. After all, in the past, when they talked about revolution and nationalism, it would take at least several months to convince young people that only revolution could prevent China from being partitioned.

However, during these marches, Lin Xinyi attracted a large number of Sichuanese who wanted to join the army simply by maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude among the troops. His sermons during the marches further drew in a number of educated youth. To use an analogy, in the past, recruiting revolutionary comrades was like fishing with nets in the Yangtze River; Lin Xinyi, on the other hand, built a fishpond, and the fish jumped in willingly.

Lin Xinyi did not advocate recruiting all the young people who were attracted to the army. Instead, after investigating their origins and backgrounds, he persuaded some to go home to promote the new army, and others to become the new army's liaison representatives in the local areas. He only recruited a portion of young people with clean backgrounds and no bad habits. By the time they arrived in Chengdu, their team had already exceeded 300 people.

In response, Wu Luzhen could not help but nod and say to Lin Xinyi, "Indeed, there is still hope for the people of Sichuan..."