Hangzhou's electrification shocked the world, the officialdom was connected in tandem, and the business gentry were also gathering and discussing. It's just that there are many businessmen in Zhejiang, and there are many guilds, but they all do their own business, each has its own guild, Hangzhou people have Qianjiang guild hall, Ningbo people have Siming hall, Shaoxing people have Shaoxing guild hall, Huzhou people have Huzhou guild hall. Only last year, when the Zhejiang Provincial Railway Company was established, the province's eleven governments sent representatives to participate, and Tang Shouqian was elected as the company's prime minister, and Liu Jinzao, the second son of Liu Yong, the richest man in Nanxun, was the vice premier, and there was also a director in each province of the province, a total of 11 directors, plus five auditors.

The railway company is the equivalent of a small Zhejiang provincial council. This time the revival will make such a big move in Zhejiang, and even announced the independence and autonomy of Zhejiang, but all the gentry were startled, and many Zhejiang gentry in Shanghai got together again that day, but because of the rush of time, some directors were not in Shanghai, but the matter was urgent, and everyone still discussed the matter in the Zhening Hall of Tianhou Palace. These people include Tang Shouqian, the premier of the railway company, Liu Jinzao, the deputy manager, and the directors are Shen Xinsan of Jiaxing, Jiang Haichou of Hangzhou, Yu Qiaqing of Ningbo, Sun Wenqing of Shaoxing, and Hu Huan of Wenzhou, and some leading figures of Zhejiang businessmen such as Yan Xinhou, Zhu Baosan, and Yu Huizu.

Tang Shouqian, the general manager of the railway company, is a standard professional manager, and he was the first to inform everyone present of the news gathered from all over the place, "Hangzhou was recovered by the Fuxing Society at five o'clock this morning, and the patrol battalions, training regiments, and new troops stationed in various places, as well as the full battalions in the city, were all captured by the revolutionary army. All parts of the city were under the control of the Renaissance Society. In addition to Hangzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing, Shengxian, and Haining were also accused by the Fuxing Society, and everywhere said that they had strict military discipline. There is no offense with Minqiu.

Now the Zhejiang Governor of the Fuxing Association is Zhong Mei, a native of Yuhang, who was born in Juren, and is said to be a standard in the Fuxing Society, who used to take some Shengxian people and Liaodong horse bandits in the three eastern provinces to resist Russia together, and made outstanding achievements in war, and killed thousands of Russian soldiers. Before the decisive battle between Japan and Russia. It is said that he led people to blow up the Songhua River Bridge, which made the Russian army unable to reinforce, and the Japanese army finally won a big victory. Afterwards, the Emperor of Japan awarded him the Order of the Treasure Star. He politely refused......"

When Tang Shouqian said this, everyone present didn't know who took the lead in applauding, so everyone in the room clapped, and Jiang Haichou, the director of Hangzhou, and his son Jiang Yuwei said: "I've seen him." His family lives in Hongyuanfang. He used to be at Nanyang College, and later ...... I didn't think of going to the three eastern provinces. ”

After Jiang Yuwei finished speaking, he was stopped by his father, and now it is a gathering of gentry in the province, and it is very unsafe for him to speak like this. Although the speech was interrupted, the host Tang Shouqian was full of smiles, Zhejiang can produce such a heroic figure, it should be the blessing of Zhejiang, and everyone here applauded because of this. Seeing that everyone had stopped, he cleared his throat and said, "Now Hangzhou has been restored by the Revival Society." The reactions of all parties were different, and there was no news in the capital, but it was expected that the governors of the provinces only wanted to establish a constitution and open the National Assembly, and would not immediately send troops to encircle and suppress it, and the foreigners saw that the Revival Society did not infringe on their interests, and did not immediately make any statement, for fear that they would be neutral. ”

Before Tang Shouqian's words fell, Zhu Baosan said: "The foreigners received the news earlier than us, when I came, I heard that the consuls of various countries in Shanghai had already held a meeting, in order not to expand the war, they have sent warships to blockade the Qiantang River (Hangzhou Bay) in Hangzhou, they hope that Zhejiang will reconcile with the imperial court." The British did not want any war to take place along the Yangtze River. ”

"Can you reconcile?" Yan Xinhou, the most famous among the Zhejiang merchants, said in a deep voice, he looked at Yu Qiaqing and Yu Huizu when he spoke, and their relationship with the Fuxing Association was understood by everyone present.

Yu Huizu was not easy to speak, but Yu Qiaqing observed his words and looks, and when he saw that everyone was looking at him, he said: "I am familiar with the people of the Fuxing Society, but I am not too familiar with them." Now that Guangxu has come to power, as soon as he comes out, he will be as aggressive as in previous years, and he is still holding on to power and unwilling to open a congress. It is also good that there is a revival that will stimulate those yellow belts in the capital, and if there is still no parliament in this case, then we will go to the capital with the governors of various places to reason with those royal relatives and nobles. ”

Although Yu Qiaqing's words were not half an anti-word, everyone present could understand the anti-Qing meaning, but Yan Xinhou stroked his beard when he heard this, laughed, and asked, "If Emperor Guangxu agrees to open the National Assembly, what then?" ”

As soon as he said this, everyone began to ponder, and Yu Qiaqing said: "Then how much power can this parliament have?" ”

The National Assembly is the center of gravity of state power, but if you want to hand over all the power of the Manchurians, then the people of the world will not believe it, and the Manchus will not be willing to do so. Yu Qiaqing is a businessman, and he knows very well what the market is, and now the Fuxing Society does not occupy all the land in the province, and it is difficult to make too much power to the Manchurians. However, his question reminded everyone here that if this parliament is really opened, how much power can it have?

"Half." Yan Xinhou replied.

"Half?" They don't know.

Yan Xinhou said again: "If the parliament is opened, then the King James members and the elected members will be half each. Because Zhejiang is the land of righteousness, it can give three more places. ”

Yan Xinhou was actually sent by Sheng Xuanhuai today, and Sheng Xuanhuai did this at the behest of Baylor Zaize. Zai Ze is bent on opening a parliament to be the prime minister, but the reality of the revolutionary party in Zhejiang is uncertain, so he wants to use the parliamentary plan he made before to get to the bottom of the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to understand the meaning here. He hoped that as soon as Guangxu announced the opening of the National Assembly, then the swords and soldiers would rest on the Zhejiang side, so that everything would be fine.

As soon as the conditions were opened, everyone looked at each other, and after a while, Zhu Baosan, the leader of the Ningbo Gang, said: "Brother Zhufang, who agreed to this condition?" ”

"Bao San, don't inquire about this. Just believe it. "Yan Xin is very strict, and he actually wants everyone to believe it.

Liu Jinzao, deputy manager of the railway company, said: "There are two official words, and now that they are forced to agree to this, it is unknown what will happen in the future." In my opinion, there must be one condition, that is, Zhejiang Province will be completely autonomous in the future. We have to pay taxes and indemnities in the past, and the rest of the court will not ask about it in the future, and how to govern it is the business of our Zhejiang people. ”

As soon as they heard that Zhejiang Province was completely autonomous, everyone's eyes lit up. However, Yan Xinhou said: "What about the revival army? Now I heard that Hangzhou is recruiting. It seems that it is going to be a northern expedition. ”

What Yan Xinhou said is really a problem, if all the conditions of the imperial court are agreed, what should I do if the Revival Society still has to go on a northern expedition? At this time, everyone looked at Yu Qiaqing and Yu Huizu again. Only at this time, Yu Huizu had to speak, "The independence of Zhejiang Province is not only the credit of the Zhejiang people, but now that the matter has become, I am anxious for Zhejiang to become independent, so what about the other provinces?" The most important thing now is to pull the team up first. If you don't have a gun in your hand, will the court listen to us businessmen? Who here hasn't reciprocated? Don't talk about the imperial court, even the magistrate of Huzhou, we can't deal with it. Now is not the time for peace talks. As soon as the revolutionary army is dispersed, we will still be slaughtered by the Manchurians. ”

Yu Huizu felt very uncomfortable when he heard Liu Jinzao's words, if it weren't for the fact that this person was the leader of the silk merchants in Huzhou, he would have scolded him. What kind of person is this? When revival is going to war on him.

Yan Xinhou listened to what Yu Huizu said. said: "Hanzhang, then if the imperial court agrees to these conditions, the revival will still have to go on a northern expedition?" Hit the capital? ”

Seeing that Yan Xinhou was focusing on himself, Yu Huizu did not defend himself that he was not from the Revival Society, and his relationship with the Revival Society was well known in the internal and small circles. He also looked at Yan Xinhou and said, "Mr. Xuanfang, there are several kinds of this Congress, some of which are British, and they are full of power. There are German ones, half the power. There are Japanese ones, which have very little power, and even more Russian ones, which are completely ornamental. Now what kind of Congress is the gentleman is talking about? If you are like the Russians, you can get some random positions to coax everyone, then it is better to fight to the end. ”

Qian Ye is Yan Xinhou's specialty, but the parliamentary government is not known to him, as soon as Yu Huizu said that there are so many kinds of parliaments, Yan Xinhou was dumbfounded, he stroked his beard and said: "I can ask the capital tomorrow to see how powerful this parliament is, now the most important thing in Beijing is that if the parliament that everyone wants is opened, Zhejiang will also be autonomous, will the revival meeting be postponed?" ”

After everyone was woken up by Yu Huizu's series of congressional introductions, they looked at Yu Huizu at this time, in fact, Yu Huizu didn't know what to say in this group of businessmen, businessmen are realistic, what they care about is substantive things, like what drives out the Tartars, they don't care. Sensing everyone's concern, Yu Huizu smiled and said: "Mr. Yu Fang, I am not Yang Jingcheng, the president of the Revival Association, how can I, an outsider, know if I want to fight or not." However, this revival society and the Manchus already have a blood feud, if the flag really dies down, then the Manchus can let go of the revival people? ”

Zai Ze always has a good plan to dare to find out, and Yan Xin said: "This is not difficult." The meaning of Beijing is that the congress will pay for it, such as Zhong Mei, the governor of Zhejiang, etc., when he gives 30,000 taels of silver, and then he takes the money to go abroad to study for a few years, and after returning to the country, he will change his name to a new one, and the official will do it, but he will not be able to enter the new army. The other members of the Revival Association can also be dismissed in this way, and the president Yang Jingcheng can give 100,000 taels of silver, but he is only white, so he doesn't want to be an official anymore, doesn't he like to write and teach, he can go to the Beijing Normal University Hall, or he can go to Nanyang Public School in Shanghai, and the position of general office can be let him do it, but he can no longer encourage students to rebel. And Cai Yuanpei is the same, he is from Hanlin, he can go to the school to be a waiter first, and the school can also be handed over to him in the future......"

When Yu Huizu told Cai Yuanpei about these things the next afternoon, Cai Yuanpei immediately laughed and said: "Who's plan at this time is really a scheming." ”

Yu Huizu shook his head and said: "In today's capital, there are only a few people who want to open a congress, either Zai Ze or Qi Shan, I think it is more likely that he is only Qi Shan, this person is known as a virtuous king, and he is in charge of the patrol department, I am afraid that he knows a lot about the revolutionary party." ”

Cai Yuanpei said: "The Manchurian side can ignore him first, what do the gentry say?" ”

"They all have families and businesses, and no one wants to fight to the end." Yu Huizu said that he couldn't say a lot of things in the hall yesterday, "but they still recommended Tang Shouqian as the speaker of the Zhejiang Provincial Assembly, and some people were also elected from other provinces, and they were going to return to Hangzhou to convene the provincial council in a few days." ”

"They'll just go back. In this way, at least in Zhejiang Province, we have a great sense of righteousness. Cai Yuanpei was sure that the step of opening the council was not wrong, but in the face of such a situation, he couldn't cope with it alone. Zhong Guanguan of Germany, Yu Zixun of the United States, and Xu Huafeng of Tonghua are all unfamiliar with military affairs and government affairs, and the students under them are too young to have any good construction without experience. He couldn't help but sigh: "If only it had been here." ”

"Haven't you found anyone yet?" Yu Huizu also learned about Yang Rui today.

"Nope. The entire Mud City Bridge has been searched, and other places have also been searched, but no one has been found. Cai Yuanpei's brows were really painful, he took off his glasses, pinched his tightly locked brows and said, "It's been three or four days, hey......"

"Is the Ministry of Industry still arresting people now? Didn't we already note to them? There are also Uncle Mei and Xiao Xu, they should also be released. "The headquarters can't rely on Cai Yuanpei alone. Since Yang Rui can't find it, Zhang Taiyan and Wang Jitong should always come out first.

"It's useless to note it. Uncle Mei is okay, the Ministry of Labor and the Bureau of Xiao Xugong actually wanted to prosecute him for arson. The British are ready to kill us. You see, I couldn't stay there anymore, so I moved to the French Concession. "Hangzhou sent a note, and Shanghai sent someone to send a note yesterday afternoon. But none of them can improve the attitude of the Ministry of Industry and the Bureau towards the Renaissance Society.

"Then I'll go to the U.S. Consul Gunna. He can still say something. Seeing that the British side did not change its hostile attitude, Yu Huizu had no choice but to use his connections to lobby the American consul. Compare, because of the Tonghua Railway and last year's boycott of American goods, he is now recognized as an American minion.

"With a chapter, it's useless. Foreigners have a legation in Beijing and a consular corps in Shanghai. Everything is discussed and dealt with by the legation and the consular corps, and once a resolution is made, no country can violate it. "Cai Yuanpei has already sent someone to meet the Germans. I roughly know the attitude of foreigners, and the situation is very bad. "Now over there in Hangzhou. Because they did not kill foreigners, they were not in a hurry to intervene, but the fleets of various countries in Shanghai went to Hangzhou Bay yesterday afternoon before the telegram was opened, saying that they were going to prevent a bad situation and ensure the safety of the lives and property of their own nationals, but in fact they were going to blockade Hangzhou Bay and deter the revolutionary army. A call came from Hangzhou saying that they had seized the merchant ship carrying arms. ”

Hearing that all the foreigners were on the side of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Yu Huizu was also a little discouraged, the Revival Army is still weak, if the ammunition and firearms outside are cut off, then how can this battle be fought? After he was flustered, he said: "What about the imperial court, when will the Qing soldiers arrive in Hangzhou?" ”

"The shape of the imperial court is quite beneficial to us, now that the Beiyang mutiny has just been quelled, Yuan Shikai has just been dismissed from his post by the lax management of the army, and it is impossible to transfer Beiyang. The Hubei New Army did not open its troops under the pretext of insufficient food and wages, but there were no soldiers that could be sent from other places. I heard that Guangxu lost his temper in the early dynasty, saying that if the domestic governor did not immediately send troops to suppress it, he would borrow foreign troops to help suppress it. ”

"Borrowing foreign soldiers to help suppress?!" Yu Huizu was shocked: "Which country's foreign soldiers are borrowed to help suppress?" ”

"There was news in the capital that Japanese soldiers were borrowed, but the British were said to be against it. As for why it is opposed, we don't know. "After the Beiyang Mutiny subsided, some dignitaries who fled to Tianjin were transferred back to the capital, and everyone wanted to flee when the Fuxing Army moved, but when they heard that it was in Zhejiang, far away from the capital, they were temporarily relieved, so the business of the Eight Hutongs became better, and the Eight Hutongs had business, and the Fuxing Society had intelligence. These are all news from Beijing.

After listening to the news from Beijing, Yu Huizu was a little relieved, he said: "Now it's up to Emperor Guangxu, if he still can't hold a congress with the governors of various places, then we can have more time, if he suddenly changes his temper and softens, then we will be in danger." ”

"That's right! That's it! But I think this Guangxu's temper is not better than before, but worse than before. I don't think the first encirclement and suppression will hurt him, and he will not be soft on the governors of various places. Cai Yuanpei saw the shape more and more clearly, but it was the shape that became clearer and clearer, the more he felt a kind of helplessness, the revival society now seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, unable to break free - defeat the Qing army, then Guangxu obeyed the soft opening of the Congress, and finally the revival would be surrounded and suppressed by Guangxu, local governors, and the gentry who supported the constitution, and the incident failed; If you don't defeat the Qing army, you won't be able to occupy the territory, and you will eventually become a rogue, and you will fail. No matter how the revival meeting is calculated, it is all for people to marry, and Cai Yuanpei can't think of any way to break this situation.

The situation was stalemate between the Renaissance Society, local governors, gentry, the imperial court, and foreigners. However, there was no first encirclement and suppression as Cai Yuanpei imagined, on the sixth day of the electrification in Hangzhou. Guangxu issued a decree that the election would begin at the end of this year and that the National Assembly would be convened in the middle of next year. And Guangxu is said to have made this compromise. It was because Prince Su was excited about the deliberations, and when Guangxu once again denied that the ministers convened the Congress, he shouted 'the ancestors of the Great Qing Dynasty', and then hit the pillar to seek death. Then Liang Qichao, who was already walking in the study, also frequently persuaded that the holy decree of the opening of the Congress was issued.

Guangxu made a choice, which won the praise of the governor and the gentry. Cai Yuanpei also had to make a choice, but when he saw the outline of the King James Constitution published in the newspaper on the second day, especially the first article, it was written: "The Qing Emperor ruled the Qing Empire." eternally a lineage, forever honored", it was surprisingly angry. When is it, this Qing emperor still wants to "have a family for all generations." Forever and ever"!

Hold back your anger. He read the full text again, only to see that the above describes the power of the monarch and the power of the subjects, although most of the internal power is assigned to the cabinet, but the military power is still in the hands of Guangxu, and the judicial and diplomatic Guangxu can still intervene, in addition, Guangxu also has the right to convene, open and close, suspend and dissolve the Congress. Although this constitutional outline is not Russian, it is a completely German and Japanese version, and the imperial power is not fundamentally constrained. Cai Yuanpei couldn't think of why the governors and gentry everywhere could be bought so easily. He couldn't think of it, but the governors and gentry everywhere were all tacitly acknowledging and raising their hands to celebrate. In their opinion. Parliament is only a form, and as long as this form is established, the opening will become bigger and bigger, just like in England, and the imperial power will be ceded from the House of Lords to the House of Commons little by little.

In response to Guangxu's move to open the Congress, the Fuxing Society once again telegraphed the whole country, in addition to holding high the banner of the Manchus, that is, accusing the Manchu Qing of this constitution as a fake constitution, this parliament as a fake Congress, and calling on all Han people to stand up and overthrow the corrupt rule of the Manchu Qing. On the second day, however, many remarks were made in the newspapers of various places accusing the Fuxing Society of insisting on filling the revolution into a chaotic country, and such a war would eventually lead to foreign interference, and the great powers also expressed their stance to the Hangzhou military government the next day, believing that the Fuxing Society would insist on provoking war and would destroy the harmony in the Far East, which the governments regretted very much.

When the whole country condemned the revival meeting, Zhao Fengchang visited Cai Yuanpei again, this time Zhao Fengchang was not as anxious as last time, but there was a kind of calmness in the palm of his hand, and the conditions offered by the imperial court for the revival meeting remained unchanged, that is, Zhejiang's limited autonomy, the revival society was dissolved, and the leaders gave money abroad. However, the negotiations ended quickly, and this time Cai Yuanpei did not hide the ultimate goal of the Fuxing Society's revolution, but only told Zhao Fengchang and those behind Zhao Fengchang with certainty: The Fuxing Society and the Manchu court are incompatible!

Cai Yuanpei sent Zhao Fengchang, who was full of regret, but an unexpected person came over. However, looking at Sun Wen, who was only 1.58 meters and dressed in a Western-style style, Cai Yuanpei felt uncomfortable for a while. The foreigners are very tall, and the suit has a very confident taste on them, but if it is worn on Sun Wen, who is short in stature but pretends to be old and has a mustache, it is a little unnatural.

"Why did Mr. Sun come here?" In a secluded teahouse in the French Concession, Cai Yuanpei looked at Sun Wen and said.

"Heqing, now the shape is extremely unfavorable to the revolution, I am here to see Mr. Cheng Cheng of your association, and then we will discuss the revolutionary plan together. Together, we will drive the revolution to success. As soon as Sun Wen opened his mouth, he pointed out the current shape and wanted to see Yang Rui.

"Actually, Cheng is not in Shanghai now, Mr. Sun should tell me if there is anything." Speaking of Yang Rui, Cai Yuanpei's heart is dark, it's been almost ten days, and he hasn't seen anyone yet, I'm afraid it's already unexpected.

The Fuxing Association did not find Yang Rui, nor did the Ministry of Industry Bureau and Ying Guixin, as soon as Cai Yuanpei said this, the gloom in his eyes was immediately seen by Chen Qimei, who came with Sun Wen, and the corners of his mouth smiled slightly, thinking that Yang Rui could be determined to be dead. And Sun Wen had long known about this assassination, and when he heard that Yang Rui was not in Shanghai, he could roughly guess the reason, so he didn't mention Yang Rui again, but said directly: "The current court is already a puppet of foreigners, and if the revolution wants to succeed, it must gain the support of foreigners." This is the experience I have gained from more than 20 years of revolutionary life, and I think it will not be wrong to put it today. ”

Sun Wen is indeed a good orator, he looked at Cai Yuanpei's expression while saying his opinions, saw that Cai Yuanpei was already listening intently, and said loudly: "I have been adrift for the revolution for many years, although there is no result, but there are still some relationships. I think that if we can use these connections, it will be of great help to the revolution. My teacher, Conderley, was very familiar with British politicians from all walks of life, and he was able to influence and influence British policy in the Far East on many occasions. And in the United States, there is a man named Homer who wants to follow me in the revolution, he is very enthusiastic about the Chinese revolution, before Kang Youwei's royalist army, he trained, the Secretary of State of the United States Rutt has a relationship with him, and he is also familiar with the big bankers in New York; As for Japan and France, they have also been supporting the Chinese revolution. Our revolution should not only look at the domestic form, but also the foreign form, and we must not only think about relying on domestic forces, but also rely on foreign forces, so that the revolution can achieve twice the result ......with half the effort."

Sun Wen was short, but his voice was really loud, especially his view that the revolution must rely on domestic and foreign forces, and Cai Yuanpei had to get rid of his contempt and begin to re-examine this person. After Sun Wen finished speaking at length, Cai Yuanpei said: "What Mr. Sun said is extremely true, so what should we do now?" ”

As soon as he heard Cai Yuanpei say "we", Sun Wen laughed in his heart, he said: "After more than 20 years of revolution, today I finally saw the dawn, which is really happy!" I am going to go to Europe immediately and lobby governments to support the Chinese revolution. In addition, although the Alliance does not have a strong army like the Revival Society, there are still dead soldiers, and they are now on their way to Hangzhou, and some have already arrived in Hangzhou. I hope that Heqing can eliminate partisan prejudices and let all revolutionaries unite to defend Hangzhou together! ”

Seeing that Sun Wen neither sought fame nor wealth, let alone the merger of the two associations, but was bent on how to make the revolution successful, Cai Yuanpei only felt that the previous revival would misunderstand him too deeply, and immediately stood up and clasped Sun Wen's hand and said: "Mr. Sun was a model of revolution at that time!" The people admired it very much. (To be continued......)