Cai Yuanpei looked back on the old events in Xinhai, and he couldn't express his feelings, he has been locked up in prison since the Hangzhou uprising, and it is precisely because he did not participate in it that he has been carefully understanding how the Revival Society later swept the world; And Yang Rui, many times will also mention the old things before the founding of the country, over the years, what happened in Hangzhou after him, he knows better than Yu Zixun, who has been overseas.

"What about the Sino-Japanese War?" Yu Zixun listened to his statement and asked for a while. "Why did Britain support Japan and ......Russia if they didn't want unrest in the Far East?"

"War is about to break out, but when exactly it will break out, no one knows. At that time, China and Germany were getting closer and closer, and once China also joined the Allied Powers, then Britain's Far East colonies, India and other places would all be under the threat of the Allied Powers. On the Russian side, in addition to Britain, Germany also instigated it, because once Russia occupied Manchuria, the pressure on his north would be greatly reduced. However, according to the diplomatic materials found from Petersburg during the Russian Revolution, Japan and Russia had an agreement before the war in Manchuria and Northeast China, and this time it was no longer a death match like the Russo-Japanese War, and Petersburg believed that only 200,000 people could easily solve the battle. ”

Cai Yuanpei said, he couldn't help but sigh again, "Yang Huizi is right, this world is the Warring States Period. During the Warring States Period, a weak country had to look at the face of a strong country, and it was better to have thousands of troops than to give a word to the prime minister of Wei or the king of Qin. In China before Xinhai, except for the Jiangnan Bureau in Shanghai and the Hubei Gun Factory, which could make cannons, other places could make guns at most, and the guns that could be made were also made of imported steel. Not to mention gunpowder. You look at the setting of the Baath Army, artillery first. Machine guns second, fighting is said to be cannons and bayonets. There is no artillery, no shells, what to take and fight with the Manchurian and Mongolian new army? It's not easy to get this far! ”

"But now that I've been able to get here, I'm wondering if I can go further." Yu Zixun took Cai Yuanpei's words, "But if you go further, you will fall down the cliff, and the signing of the Sino-Japanese Alliance Treaty is the beginning of falling off the cliff." ”

"What do you say?" Cai Yuanpei is clear about the past things in China, but he is not so clear about the current situation.

"The Americans were very dissatisfied with the Sino-Japanese alliance. There was a great deal of controversy in the Senate over whether to ratify the Washington Naval Treaty, and in the end it was passed by a vote of forty-nine to forty-six. Yu Zixun said, "The reason why it was able to pass was because it gave up all capital ships, and also promised not to build battleships, but only aircraft carriers." Civilian, with what you know about him, this is really abandoning the navy. Or do you pretend to abandon the Navy and hope for new arms, like the original Panzer Division? ”

"Abandoning the Navy, of course, is a fake." Cai Yuanpei smiled. In the face of strong enemies, Yang Rui is good at flanking detours, which is the experience he summed up when he was in Hangzhou. At that time, he was in control of the fate of the rebel army. I had to study Yang Rui in order to imitate it.

"Yes, many U.S. admirals and senators are also aware of this, and this kind of concession is actually giving up the present, gambling later. But the Harding administration was the worst administration in American history. Secretary Hughes had to get by, and that's why it came to be. Yu Zixun said: "Actually, this is not a good thing. If the United States had been exerting pressure, it might not have dared to sign an alliance treaty with Japan. If he doesn't sign a contract with Japan, he won't have the strength to do what he needs to do next.

You know what? In the Far East we can subvert the previous order, and that is because of the word 'far', if it were in the Near East, such as the Ottomans, it would be absolutely impossible to achieve such a state. Now is the best period for China, and if we want to go one step further and join Japan to challenge Britain and the United States, the result can only be death without a place to be buried.

Because Britain and the United States are not just Britain and the United States, it is a world order that has been created over hundreds of years. The revival of China is just an echo of a dying civilization stimulated by Western culture, which is unlikely to succeed, and at most we will retain our own characters and some traditions, and then integrate them into the world system. All that Jingcheng did was to take the country with him, to keep his head in the dark, and to build another set of order. But in the end, it can only be in vain, we revive too late and too late, if it is two hundred years earlier, even if it is a hundred years earlier, maybe there will be a chance, but now everything is too late. ”

Cai Yuanpei has never considered the problem from this aspect, and now when he heard Yu Zixun say, he couldn't help asking: "Zixun is saying that we can't beat Britain and the United States?" ”

"It's not a question of being beatable or unbeatable, it's a question of the whole world system being manipulated by Britain and the United States, who believe in the same God, whether Christian or Catholic; They are all white, and once there is a big war, it is very likely to develop into a race-based showdown, and China and Japan can confront the whole world? Can the resources of China and Japan compete with the resources of the world? Can the technology of China and Japan be compared with the technology of the world? Can China and Japan compete with the rest of the world in terms of money?

It is obvious that the war is actually about money. China's GDP last year was 26 billion Chinese dollars [Note 121], while Japan's was only 13.3 billion yen [Note 122], adding up to a total of 39.3 billion Chinese dollars, or less than $19.7 billion. Not to mention the proportion of industrial GDP, it is more than two-thirds worse than the GDP of more than 70 billion yuan in the United States, and the GDP of the United Kingdom, France, and Europe are not counted. The Sino-Japanese alliance is challenging Europe and the United States, and he is leading everyone on this road, and he calls it 'rejuvenation', hehe......"

Cai Yuanpei has little understanding of military affairs, and he is even more ignorant of GDP, so he wants to grasp the straw and say: "But didn't the American newspaper say that the British delegation strongly praised our country for giving up the capital ship and supporting the signing?" There are also contradictions between Britain and the United States. ”

"Britain and the United States are contradictory, and Britain hopes to find an opponent for the United States on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, and this opponent is the Sino-Japanese alliance. If someone contains China and Japan, then her colonies in the South Seas, Indian colonies, and Middle East colonies will be safe. Yu Zixun said. But this is only a state-to-country calculation, if China and Japan are not fighting for colonies, but challenging the entire world order, then Britain and the United States will unite, in a more popular way: the Yellow Peril! ”

"What about Russia?" Cai Yuanpei thought of his neighbor to the north, and this time it was said that the Russian high-level led a team to visit China. Although he does not focus on reporting in China, he knows it from internal reference sources. Russia's aim is a world revolution and the overthrow of the entire capitalist system. "They want a world revolution. This is the sworn enemy of Europe and the United States? ”

"Russia is a more dangerous existence than Britain and the United States! Moreover, Russia was beaten back in Poland by the Allied troops, Polish troops, and especially the more than 100,000 Siberian troops that had been captured by us. Russia has been at war since the beginning of the war in Europe, Poland was defeated, Russia has lost the best opportunity to start a world revolution, and now he is recuperating, and it is said that more than 10 million people died in Russia because of the famine in the civil war.

If the Russians had recuperated, they would have attacked Western Europe, which had been difficult to shake before him. Or turn around and invade our country or Central Asia, Persia and other countries? This is an obvious question. When we challenge Europe and the United States, or after the challenge fails, if Russia takes the opportunity to move east or south, and attack from the north and south, will we really be able to defend it? Yu Zixun said.

He saw that Cai Yuanpei was still suspicious, and said again: "Don't be deceived by the Russians, if the Russians cut off their white skin, they will be a Mongol from the time of Genghis Khan, and the Mongols at that time were the most cunning." Sweet words. It's all about countless vicious hearts. When the Outer Northeast was demarcated, taking advantage of the fact that the Qing court was frightened by the British and French forces, Russia not only robbed the Outer Northeast in the name of protecting Manchuria. It also enclosed the estuaries of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, in the name of common defense against Japan, the Eastern Qing Railway was built. and forcibly occupied the military port of Arthur; The Gengzi incident, not to mention the heaviest looting and killing by the Russian army. It is also ready to turn Manchuria into Yellow Russia, if not for the Japanese ....... As you said, this is not in line with the British Empire's strategy towards Germany, so Britain instigated Japan to go to war against Russia, if it were not for this, maybe Beijing would now be a frontier.

All this shows that the Russians are not at all as rigid as the Japanese, and they will not only intimidate and blackmail, but will never be soft when they want to be tough, and such a combination of soft and hard will be difficult for anyone to resist. Now that Russia has become a spreading ground for Marxism, and in addition to our own country and Japan, Europe and even the United States are contaminated by the Bolsheviks, and there are strikes everywhere, what if Russia infiltrates us?

Britain and the United States to the southeast and Russia to the northwest, and we are right in the middle. If he made peace with Britain and the United States to attack Russia, he would have nothing to fear; But not now, this time the Sino-Japanese alliance is actually to guard against the United States, and looking at the friendly visit of the Russians this time, the strategy that has actually been achieved is obviously to befriend Russia and make enemies of Britain and the United States. Now that Russia's national strength has been greatly damaged, of course, there is a possibility of friendship, but when Russia's vitality recovers, she can't defeat it in the west, and turns to the southeast to open up? People who often win money in the casino, over time, will have a sense of invincibility, thinking that everything is in their own control, in fact, the world is changeable, even if it is a fairy, you can't win without betting. ”

Nothing else, but when it comes to Russian Marxism, Cai Yuanpei is extremely frightened, he saw too many Bolshevik reports before going abroad, and in the United States in those years, strikes were extremely frequent, and the newspapers often mentioned the Bolsheviks, thinking that these must have something to do with the Russian Revolution. If there were Bolsheviks in China, and there had been a tragedy like the Russian Revolution, he would have tried to stop it to the death. Thinking of this, Cai Yuanpei said: "How can we avoid this result?" ”

"Things are going according to plan. There are only two ways to avoid the failure of the challenge to Britain and the United States and the eventual devouring of Russia. First, to dismantle the foundation of the Renaissance Society's government, that is, to promote local self-government, which is the fundamental solution to the problem, but he will not agree, and the vested interests in the Association will not agree. Second, let him step down. ”

"Step down?!" Cai Yuanpei was extremely surprised, he had never thought about this problem.

"Yes, step down." Yu Zixun said. "Judging from the industrial plan and the progress of scientific research projects that Xiao Xu has mastered before, fifteen years later, it will be the time to challenge Britain and the United States. He has been the prime minister for ten years, and another fifteen years will be twenty-five years, and if the Inspectorate is counted every five years, this is the fifth prime minister, which is too long.

Do you know that when the Hong Kong conference was first held, one night on the rooftop, for some reason, when it came to the premier's term of office, he said to Uncle Mei in front of everyone: 'I'm not worried about the prime minister's term, we can all have a turn in the seat'. ”

"Prime Minister?" Cai Yuanpei was still in prison at the time, and he didn't know the details of the meeting.

"At that time, the government agreed to be three ministries and twelve ministries, and the Prime Minister's Office was the Prime Minister's Office." Yu Zixun said. "If local autonomy fails, we can only bring out what we said at that time. We don't ask everyone to do it again. We just want him to step down after one more term as prime minister. It may not be that we are the prime minister, as long as it is not Mr. Hua Feng. There is also Xu Guantian of the peasant association; Second, after the prime minister steps down, military power must be handed over to the next prime minister. ”

"The prime minister is different from the president. There is no constitutional term of office, and some people have said that the first prime minister of the United Kingdom will serve for more than 20 years. It turned out that there was nothing bad done in the past ten years, and if he stepped down, everyone would be dissatisfied. Cai Yuanpei said.

"It's not a question of whether he does well or not, it's a question of the system, and it's the system that is more reliable than people. If the prime minister's term of office exceeds the three realms, it is very inappropriate. You and Xiao Xu are both members of the Standing Committee, and this time everyone gathered, it was just right to mention this matter. You can declare in advance that you will not be Prime Minister. But I don't want the premier's term to last more than three terms, and Xiao Xu or I can mention the affairs of Hong Kong on the side......" Yu Zixun sighed: "Hanzhang...... It's too early, and if Hanzhang is there, a lot of things are easy to say. ”

Yu Zixun's way was to force the palace with his term, and Cai Yuanpei suddenly twisted his goatee and thought about it. He didn't think about it from this aspect before, but now after being reminded by Yu Zixun, he feels that this is indeed a way, and it is above board, as long as he declares that he will never be the prime minister. There is enough morality over there to bring up this matter in the Standing Committee. "For another term?" He asked.

"Yes, one more term at most." Yu Zixun said, "After that, Mr. Hua Feng should come to power, and he only has one or two possibilities." Then Xiao Xu and Xian Feng came to power, which allowed them to govern when the big industrial plan was completed, so as not to challenge Britain and the United States. Conform to the general trend in order to seek the next round of civilization and the alternation of east and west. ”

"The next round of civilization alternates?" Cai Yuanpei smiled. Only then did he discover that Yu Zixun was actually also a revival of the Nationalist Party.

"Yes. There is a way to lose China, and to survive the four ruins. That's actually what it means. Once a prosperous place, one day will decline, and her civilization can always find a new life in the once wild place, and then, the wild land becomes the capital of civilization, and the former capital of civilization has declined.

In the case of China, this is exactly the case in China and Japan; In Europe, the same is true for South-Central Europe and Western Europe; In the world, the same is true of Europe and the United States; If we take a long-term view, after the decline of the United States in a few hundred years, it is likely that East Asia will flourish. It's not impossible for us to build our own world system, what we need is to wait, for hundreds of years, nearly a thousand years. During this period, to ensure that the culture is immortal and the text is not extinguished, that is to win. Yu Zixun said.

Yu Zixun thought so far away, Cai Yuanpei was a little stunned, he looked at him a few times through the light, and said silently: "So none of our people, as well as those behind us, can take risks?" ”

"Well, you must not take any chances, and the most taboo thing is Russia and Marxism, which I agree with Chengcheng. The difference is that he hopes to borrow from Russia, and I think that we should stay away from Russia, and never imagine that the Russians will support us when we are hostile to Britain and the United States, and they will only stab us in the back, and the result will be that everything that happened in Russia will be repeated in China. Yu Zixun said. He was about to say something when there was a sharp knock on the door outside......

"Mr. Xiaomin, Lord Mayor, please go to Huifuli quickly!" A city government official who Yu Qiaqing stayed here to serve said eagerly, his eyes full of uneasiness.

"Is Hanzhang awake?" Yu Zixun was worried that he would be said to be plotting with Cai Yuanpei late at night, and he hid behind the door before, but now he heard that he was going to Huifuli, and what he thought was that Yu Huizu should wake up.

Yes, Yu Huizu is awake at this time. From his eyes that had been clear for a long time, he saw that the people in front of the bed were all old people, and he suddenly felt a joy in his heart, especially Zixun and Xiaomin, who were also there—he thought that he couldn't wait for the two of them to come back. Knowing that he didn't have much time, he wanted to say a happy word, but he didn't want to say it in his head, but his throat was not strong, and there was only an irregular clicking sound in his throat. Seeing that Yu Huizu wanted to speak, Yu Zixun, who was the most anxious, hurriedly stepped forward to hold his hand, and then he finally tried his best to say, "It's all here...... Good... Good ......"

The doctor of Chinese and Western medicine had told the patient about the situation, and the limit was tonight, and now it was just a return to the light, so that no one stopped him from speaking. Zhang Taiyan, who was standing at the front, said loudly: "Hanzhang!" What's on your mind! You said! We've got you covered! ”

Yu Huizu smiled after hearing the words for a while, although this life is not long, but seeing Huaxia rising from the trough, he really has nothing to worry about; And he is the head of the household. He left more than 10 billion Chinese dollars in office, and he thought that the whole of China would be able to build as modern as the West. is like the novel "New China" that I read when I was sick. The World Exposition will be held in Pudong, Shanghai, and the Pudong Iron Bridge and the Cross-River Tunnel will be built on the Huangpu River, in addition to these. Also in the book are Prime Minister Huang Hanjie, geologist Jin Guanou, Navy Admiral Zhou Rongyi, and medical expert Su Hanmin......

Yu Huizu recalled the descriptions in the book, feeling that they were all alive. Some have already come true, such as the abolition of extrajudicial rights, such as the resumption of mining rights; Some of them did not come true, but they will soon come true, such as the World Expo and the cross-river iron bridge tunnel, such as the 'world's first navy and land army', such as 'medical heart and awakening'.

After Zhang Taiyan finished asking, he didn't see Yu Huizu answer for a long time, and then the light looked over, only to see that his eyes were closed, and his white paper face was full of smiles. Just as he was relieved, Yu Huizu opened his eyes again. Looking for something in a daze, he said forcefully: "It's a ......"

Yang Rui thought at this time that people will always die, but only a hundred years, listening to him call himself, he immediately stood a few steps forward, at this time Yu Huizu stretched out his hand with great effort and grabbed his hand firmly; Then he used his other hand to pull Zhang Taiyan's hand over, and then Yu Zixun's hand. He tried his best to protect these three hands with one hand, and said with the last trace of strength: "Don't quarrel anymore, you guys... Solidarity ......"

That's it. The rapid breathing finally stopped, and the half-raised hand hung limply. Zhang Taiyan knew that the Si people had gone, so he couldn't help howling, while Yu Zixun was only sobbing. Yang Rui knew that Yu Huizu usually didn't speak, but he understood everything in his heart, and the real contradictions in the revival meeting were his three people. Thinking that he had been using his concessions to maintain the unity of everyone, tears also fell down his cheeks. There is a kind of person who is always obscure when he is there. But when that day he was suddenly gone, the huge loss was like a piece of heart missing. It can never be filled.

With Zhang Taiyan's dry howl, the room was full of sobs, and the doctor on one side hurriedly rushed forward, checked the patient, and then reluctantly retreated, and recorded this carefully. The electric light went out for a while, and the waning moon outside the window suddenly broke through the clouds, and under the cold moonlight, the room was covered with a few plain whites, and in the interlacing of white and black, everything looked extremely solemn.

When Yu Hui's grandmother's wife and children entered to cry, under the greeting of Xu Huafeng, everyone avoided the side room. Zhang Taiyan, whose voice was hoarse because of the dry howl, said: "I'll take care of the following things." ”

What Zhang Taiyan said is actually a state funeral, and the body will be transported to the capital today and tomorrow, and then the funeral will be held on a selected day. Yang Rui had no opinion on this, just looked at everyone and said, "Leave everything to Uncle Mei." After Hanzhang left, all the affairs of the household department were handed over to Wang Yongjiang, and this person Hanzhang also praised it, so you can find him for money in the future. ”

Wang Yongjiang was designated as the next head of the household department two years ago, and everyone has no opinion on this. At this time, Yu Huizu's wife and children came out of the house, and Yang Rui and the others stepped forward to comfort for a long time, and the night was over.

The next day, the portrait of Yu Huizu was published in all the newspapers, and the national and foreign embassies lowered their flags at half-mast to mourn. George made a special speech in Whitehall, not only praising Yu Huizu for bringing great wealth to China, but also praised him for leading the shipbuilding program in the world war, saying that it made a great contribution to the final victory of the Allies. Lloyd's. After George's speech, the presidents, prime ministers, and secretaries of state of France, Japan, and the United States also made similar speeches.

Yang Rui is not interested in the praise of foreigners, but the people are in a state of loss and joy. No one has ever brought such a huge amount of wealth to China, and there has never been so many leaders of Western countries who praise a Chinese person in unison, and this kind of mixed joy and sorrow makes people feel at a loss, until Yang Rui returned to the capital to deliver a speech, announcing that Wang Yongjiang would take over as the head of the household department, and at the same time said that the current government will continue to step up construction, and the people were relieved from their sorrows. At present, China has become a big construction site, and the Chinese people can only live up to the wishes of the martyrs by carrying forward the past and forging ahead into the future. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 121: Based on the national GDP of 8 billion taels of silver in 1911, or 6.5 billion US dollars, and the average annual growth rate from 1911 to 1921 was 7%, the GDP in 1921 was 13 billion US dollars; Because of the huge amount of foreign exchange and continuous infrastructure investment, from 1921 to the world economic crisis, it maintained a growth rate of more than 7%; Barring no surprises, GDP growth slowed after that.

Note 122: Narumi Hijikata, The Structure of National Income, 1933 edition, p13. This is a figure for 1919, and the economic downturn in 1920 was 9.4 billion yen, but considering the pull of the Chinese market on Japan in the book, 11.4 billion yen in 1924 is cited as Japan's 1921 figure.

In addition, this data is the National Income (GNI).

Because: National Income (GNI) + Indirect Taxes + Government Subsidies = Net Domestic Product (NDP); Net Domestic Product (NDP) + Depreciation = Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the depreciation of fixed assets cannot be estimated in real time, and it is generally considered that NDP: GDP = 10:11.

So: GDP = 11.4 billion (GNI) + 730 million (1920 taxes) + allowance (0) / 10x11 = 13.3 billion yen.

Exchange rate: 1 yen = 1 Chinese dollar = 0.5 US dollars