Master Yuan, start!

"Sir Zhou, the French army is on a long expedition and it is too arduous to just accept the transfer of sovereignty. If you are indecisive, General Courbet will head north in an instant, and then it will not be as simple as these three places!" Translator Hong taught Zhou Bingzhang a lesson in an arrogant manner.

If a commoner scolded the Governor of Zhejiang in public, no one outside the hall would believe it, but this was the courage given to him by the French.

Hearing that a mere interpreter was being so rude to him, Zhou Bingzhang's face flushed red. He took a deep breath before speaking slowly, "If that's the case, I'll need to report it to the court. Please give me a few more days."

"Only three days, no waiting after that!" Translator Hong waved his sleeves domineeringly, as if to see the guest out.

Veins bulged on Zhou Bingzhang's forehead, but he still turned around and walked away with heavy steps, not wanting to be humiliated by Hong the translator any further.

"Hong, didn't the Qing people disagree just now?" Although Courbet could not speak Chinese, he could still see the clues from the expressions of both parties.

"General Courbet, the Qing people say that Taiwan Island is proof of the achievements of their ancestral emperor and it is impossible to cede it." Translator Hong gave an exaggerated description.

"The Qing people also said that he would never agree to this condition. The order he received was to transfer the sovereignty of Vietnam. If you want to cede Hainan, Taiwan and Dinghai, you have to make the emperor in the capital change his mind." Translator Hong raised his head and looked at the expression on Courbet's face, hoping to observe something.

8 As expected, Courbet was furious. He was just a negotiating representative, and the defeated party, yet he dared to plot against him.

7 He immediately ordered the French troops to enter the city, returned to the Baya and prepared to lead the fleet back to Taiwan to recruit people, and to fight to Tianjin.

6 After waiting for three days, Zhou Bingzhang re-entered Zhenhai City with a telegram from Li Hongzhang saying "Keep the French stable, I will be in Hangzhou soon", but he found that the city was already deserted.

6 By this time, Courbet had already led his fleet back to Taiwan, and more than Japanese soldiers were stationed in Keelung City shortly after Courbet left.

3 Courbet, who was short of manpower, invited the Japanese to board the ship. After sending someone to ask the government, the Japanese leader Taro Kobayashi immediately agreed to Courbet's invitation without waiting for a reply.

4 In this way, more than 20 large and small warships, carrying more than 15000 French and Japanese soldiers, set out from Keelung Port in a mighty force.

The four armies were approaching Beijing step by step as Courbet had envisioned.

At this time, in the Jinzhou military camp, before the war came, Qu Nan, who had studied in the Beiyang Academy for half a year, had a big argument with Yuan Shikai.

Qu Nan and Han Bei, one is dull and the other is smart. Han Bei has no opinion of his own and basically listens to whatever Yuan Xiangcheng says.

Qu Nan was different. He studied ideological theories very seriously and even set up a study group in the Beiyang Tianjin School, setting aside a fixed time every ten days for debates.

However, in the process of studying the declaration, he had doubts more than once about what Yuan Shikai was going to do.

"Chief Instructor, doesn't the manifesto say that promoting the growth of the proletariat is our historical mission? Why is it that what we are doing has nothing to do with the proletariat?"

“Qu Nan, since you studied the Manifesto in school, you must also be familiar with the theory of contradiction that I mentioned.

What is the main contradiction in China today? Is it the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie?

"No...no." Qu Nan was a little timid under Yuan Xiangcheng's questioning.

“Don’t be afraid just because I refute you.

Mr. Ma should have said that we need to analyze specific issues specifically. The examples mentioned in the declaration are European countries. Are they the same as the current situation in China? "Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng patiently analyzed it to Qu Nan.

"Qu Nan, you think the peasants who work hard in the countryside every day are oppressed by the landlords, so you think class contradictions are the main issue, right?"

"Yes, Chief Instructor, that's exactly what I thought." Seeing Yuan Xiangcheng point out what he was thinking, Qu Nan immediately replied.

“The inequality in Europe is due to the fact that they have been hereditary aristocrats for generations and have not done anything else. The people have also been hereditary for generations and have become a career.

For example, a farmer who tills the land will have his descendants become farmers for generations; a doctor who practices medicine will have his descendants become doctors for generations; and the descendants of princes and nobles will also be princes and nobles for generations. In Europe, there may be commoners who became prime ministers and were granted the title of prince, but most princes and nobles are hereditary.

But since the advent of the imperial examination system, has any position in China been hereditary for life? Even the throne of the Son of Heaven would be passed down through a new family every 300 years at the latest. The iron-hat kings of the Qing Dynasty were inherited by countless branches and could be re-elected at any time.

If a farmer's son is well educated and passes the imperial examination, he can become an official. Although China has had classes for more than two thousand years, today's China does not have the clear-cut classes like those in Europe.

"So you mean there is no class oppression in China?" Qu Nan was a little confused. This was different from what was written in the book.

Yuan Xiangcheng was amused by Qu Nan for a moment. Why is this kid so stubborn?

“I’m not saying there’s no class oppression in China today, I’m just saying that what people feel most strongly about is not class oppression, but national oppression.

All Chinese people are poor. There is no special class of the rich, only ordinary poverty. Even Chinese landlords are only slightly poor compared to the big landlords and capitalists abroad.

What is the point of forcibly making the very poor and the less poor the same?

In terms of class, China's landlords and capitalists in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places are certainly richer than the common people; but in terms of nationality, the Chinese bourgeoisie is also poor compared with foreign countries.

The root cause of a country's weakness does not lie in the exploitation of the proletariat by the domestic bourgeoisie, but in the fact that people like the emperor and the empress dowager do not fight back against foreign invasions, but only cede land and pay indemnities, leaving the people impoverished and suffering from poverty.

Can you say that this suffering is caused by the capitalists and landlords?

If landlords collect less grain, farmers can indeed survive, and if factory owners pay workers a few more cents, workers can live better, but why can't the court pay less compensation of a few taels of silver?

The fear was that even if the landlords collected less grain, the imperial court would still have to pay compensation to the foreigners, and in the end the peasants would still have to pay more grain taxes;

If factory owners increase the cost of goods by a few cents in order to protect their workers, they will immediately be defeated by foreign products.

Thanks to the imperial court, foreigners did not have to pay taxes when their goods came in, but the Chinese had to pay likin again and again when transporting their goods across counties and states.

All you see is that landlords are unwilling to lower rents, factory owners are unwilling to increase wages, and farmers and workers are extremely resentful.

That's because the common people didn't have any contact with the emperor on a daily basis, so they naturally took their grievances out on the landlords and factory owners."

"Chief Instructor, I understand. You mean that the root cause of China's current poverty lies with the Emperor and the Empress Dowager."

"Yes, but no. Is it enough to just replace the emperor and the empress dowager? Qu Nan, will the country become strong if we replace them with a Manchu emperor and empress dowager?

Why were the Manchu emperors unwilling to enlighten the people? Why did they deceive the people of the world and only select those who were loyal to the Manchus and servile to enter the court?

It was because they were afraid. They were afraid that after the Han people became wise, they would realize that the root cause of China's poverty and weakness lies in the Manchu emperor in the Forbidden City. That's why they tried their best to keep the people ignorant for generations.

How could a China of 300 million people be pushed forward by relying solely on a few million blood-sucking Manchurians? How could they compete with European countries with a per capita population of over 10 million, not to mention that they had developed a hundred years ahead of time?

Even the launch of Westernization was only reluctantly carried out after much hesitation by Manchu ministers and the persuasion of loyal Han servants.

The so-called Westernization Movement only focused on learning Europe’s guns and cannons, but did not know how to learn the essence of European science.

Therefore, if one wanted to build a harmonious society, it was necessary to overthrow the Manchu emperor. Only by overthrowing the Manchu emperor could one get rid of the ideological control of the Qing Dynasty and widely introduce advanced European ideas.

Therefore, the most important issue in China today is ethnic conflicts. It is not only the conflict of foreign nations bullying the Chinese nation, but also the conflict of the Manchus suppressing the Han people for three hundred years.

Qu Nan, your ancestors were Han army flags, probably because they were bondservants of a Manchu soldier. Do you know that Han bondservants even had to offer their wives to their masters?

Can you bear it?

What’s more, it’s not that class contradictions are not resolved, but that China, under the current circumstances, uses class contradictions to unify other contradictions, and instead loses the opportunity to resolve class contradictions.

You go and unite the descendants of the Qing emperors and the princes and ministers, and ask them to stop being emperors and princes and study, train, do exercises, and practice target shooting with you every day. Will they be willing?

Even if these people are forced to surrender temporarily under the pressure of the musket in your hand, they may still feel that it is you who has prevented them from becoming emperor or king of the palace, and they will definitely be dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction will accumulate, and when they finally go to the battlefield, they may shoot you in the back.

Therefore, only after we have liquidated the Manchu nobles and, at the same time, eliminated a group of Han people who have abandoned the Confucian ideals of the ancient sages and kowtowed to the barbarians, and sorted out the ethnic contradictions, can we proceed to the next step and deal with class contradictions.

Yuan Xiangcheng spoke earnestly and told Qu Nan everything he thought, not only because he felt that Qu Nan was a thinking talent, but also because he wanted to use Qu Nan's mouth to spread his ideas further to the students in the school.

After listening to Yuan Xiangcheng's long speech, Qu Nan was thoughtful, but he raised a sharp question: "General Instructor, according to what you said, if we overthrow the Manchu emperor, we Chinese can liberate our minds and catch up with the Westerners.

But by then, without the oppression of the Manchus, wouldn't class contradictions within the Han people become the main contradiction? How could we ensure that Han landlords and capitalists would not oppress the lower-class Han people? And by then, how could we guarantee the establishment of the Great Harmony Society that the Confucian sages talked about?

He is indeed a good seedling, Yuan Xiangcheng secretly admired him.

Qu Nan pointed out the biggest loophole in Yuan Xiangcheng's theory, that is, if the Manchu emperor was overthrown and replaced by a Han emperor, would the lower-class people be free from oppression?

9758745 old man teaches flow

Yuan Xiangcheng did not have a good solution to this problem and could only hope for the organization's later institutional and legal constraints.

Because at this point in time in 1885, he had neither the possibility nor the ability to launch a proletarian revolution. He could only resolve ethnic conflicts first, and then establish a framework to protect the lower classes, and delay the accumulation of class conflicts as much as possible before he gave up.

At the same time, as a founder, he must also leave some good rules and regulations for the subsequent leaders to maintain the advanced nature of the organization as much as possible.

Therefore, Yuan Xiangcheng pondered for a moment, and then replied in a deep voice:

"Qu Nan, you're right. If you're like the big landowners in Europe or the big capitalists in the United States, who have already built up a lot of power, it's really not easy to resolve class contradictions.

However, there are no such big landlords and big capitalists in China today. The problems of ordinary small landlords and small factory owners are not very serious and can be solved.

By then, if we abandon the Confucian idea of ​​hierarchy that is outdated and respect the people-oriented philosophy of the Confucian sages, and if everyone is kind, righteous, polite, wise, and trustworthy, gentle, respectful, frugal, and modest, it may not be impossible to ease class contradictions.

What's more, Qu Nan, you have forgotten the Red Confucian thought. If the Manchu emperor was overthrown and China went astray, don't we still have the Red Confucian Society?

Do you still remember the guiding ideology of the Red Confucian Society?"

Qu Nan clasped his fists and replied loudly:

"Respecting Confucianism and ancestors, restoring China, putting the people first, and achieving universal peace. These four principles I dare not forget."

"That's right, so Qu Nan, what we have to do now is to raise the banner of respecting Confucianism and honoring our ancestors and take it as our responsibility to restore China. As for what happens next, let's talk about it after China is restored." Yuan Xiangcheng said with emotion.

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There is no other way. Times create heroes. Without the huge Chinese proletariat and the Soviet Union as precedents, Yuan Shikai could only rely on his own strength to promote the development of the times.

The most appealing doctrine of this era is undoubtedly Confucianism. Even though it has many loopholes and has been alienated into a tool of hierarchical rule in thousands of years of feudal society, it still has unparalleled appeal.

Confucianism is not static. Each generation has its own interpretation and extension.

Yuan Shikai only used the skin of Confucianism to promote the parts of it that were beneficial to moral education. As for the ideas that could truly transform the world, he still had to rely on the modified Marxism-Leninism.

Originally, Confucianism after Emperor Wu of Han was a half-finished product that was neither fish nor fowl. It was Confucian in appearance but Legalist in nature. Part of Confucianism was only used for self-cultivation, while the real governance of the country was still played by Legalism.

Yuan Xiangcheng now gave Confucianism a red core, turning Legal Confucianism into Red Confucianism, which is not a bad idea in today's era.

Daring to be the first, Yuan Xiangcheng is willing to blaze a different path in a parallel time and space!

Chapter 51: Conquer Weihai and Defend Lushun

This conversation was not only told to Qu Nan, but also further strengthened Yuan Xiangcheng's thinking.

Just as Yuan Shikai and Qu Nan concluded their conversation, which was later called the "Jinzhou Declaration," hundreds of miles to the south, Weihaiwei was a scene of continuous artillery fire.

The French, with the elite of the Far East Navy and French and Japanese infantry, left Taiwan and headed north to attack Weihaiwei, the base of the Beiyang Fleet.

At this time, the Beiyang Fleet was far from being the complete one it became in later generations. The famous Zhenyuan and Dingyuan were still in the German shipyard and had not yet been launched.

The most common boats docked in Weihaiwei are mosquito boats, including Longxiong, Huwei, Feiting and Cedian, which were launched more than ten years ago and have been in service ever since.

There are also the four ships Zhendong, Zhenxi, Zhennan and Zhenbei purchased five years ago, plus the three cruisers Weiyuan, Chaoyong and Yangwei that escorted Yuan Shikai to Korea.

It was almost all the property of the Beiyang Fleet.

There seemed to be more than ten warships, but most of them were just bluffs, especially the mosquito boats.

Simply put, a mosquito ship is a small boat with a cannon. A cannon with a caliber of more than 200 mm is installed on a small boat to ensure firepower.

But the gunboat itself has no protection, just like a mosquito. Although it is small and its sting is painful, it can be easily killed by a slap. It can be declared scrapped if hit by the main gun, and there is even a risk of capsizing if the wind and waves are strong.

Therefore, most of the Beiyang Fleet's warships stayed in the port of Weihaiwei on a daily basis and rarely sailed far.

This just happened to give the French an opportunity to take everything in one fell swoop.

"Adjust the angle and aim at the Qing fleet. Everyone, listen to my orders!"