In the cabinet room of the West Wing of the White House, the memories of preparing to go to Europe to participate in the war were being held, but the meeting was temporarily suspended due to the sudden Zhengyangmen incident. In the president's office, the topic of the meeting was changed to how the U.S. military should rescue and protect the expatriates and punish the Chinese if the Chinese attacked the U.S. embassy in China.

Secretary of State Lansing, Secretary of War Newton. Dir. Baker, Army Chief of Staff Hugh. Admiral Scott, Secretary of the Navy Josephs. Daniels, Director of the Far East Division, and Major Nolan of the newly formed Army Intelligence Department participated in the discussions. Unlike the ambitious Secretary of the Navy Daniels, the Secretary of War and Secretary of War Baker was not optimistic about the war with China, believing that the Chinese Army in the Sino-Japanese War did not have more than two million and more trained troops, and there was no way to intervene in China, even if Tianjin was not defended, but the large number of submarines that China had would make the landing a nightmare.

And this country is ten times as strategic deep as Germany, so what if it can capture some coastal cities? The occupation of Beijing is not the end of the war, but the beginning of the war, in that barbaric land, the glory of the Lord has not yet fully shone, and without decades of indoctrination, the Chinese simply have no way to get rid of barbarism and move towards civilization.

Although China is backward now, it does not have 40 million, but in fact 80 million or even nearly 100 million Christians in a hundred years, even if you count Catholics, because of the trend of apostasy, in China, there are less than one million people who believe in God. It is only 1 in 500 of the total population, a third of what it was a decade ago.

Lack of guidance and help from God's followers. This intervention would eventually turn into a crusade, and seventeen years ago there were only the Boxers in China. But now China has a powerful army that is not inferior to that of any civilized country, and their weapons, discipline, tactics, and above all numbers are of concern to all civilized nations - General Pereira (GeorgeEdward, 1865-1923, Chinese name Boreira) of the British Army, who had been in China for many years and had observed the entire Sino-Japanese War, had said that the Chinese army should not be fought on land at any time.

As soon as this statement came out, it caused a sensation in Europe. The French said it was the British who were frightened by the barbarians, while the Germans, though conceited, vaguely acknowledged this considering China as their potential ally, albeit with a rhetorical expression. In the face of the Baath Army, with equal numbers, the German Army would have won.

Seeing that the Minister of War also promoted the views of the British, Secretary of the Navy Daniels immediately stood up to refute this fallacy, believing that a war against China did not require a landing, as long as the navies of various countries united and blockaded the coast. However, his approach was not without flaws, before China opened its ports and conducted trade. It is already a self-sufficient country, and for such a country that has everything, the last thing he worries about is the blockade.

Moreover, the total trade between China and the United States now exceeds $200 million. Although it does not account for a large proportion of U.S. foreign trade, it is still a loss after the blockade; And if the United States imposes a blockade, will other countries such as Japan agree? The Anbong Railway in northeastern China leads directly to North Korea. And North Korea's Pusan is close to Japan, can the American fleet blockade the Tsushima Strait?

The Battle of Tsushima twelve years ago took everyone by surprise. In this war, Japan was finally respected by the rest of the world. Become a great power. If the US Navy wants to carry out a blockade mission in the Tsushima Strait, it is tantamount to taking the initiative to provoke such a strong enemy, although the tonnage gap between the two sides is not small, but what reason does the US Navy have to patrol the Tsushima Strait?

After just a few discussions, a reality that people do not want to face is exposed to everyone: that is, China is now free from interference, and force no longer has the effect of deterrence. In Wilson's wordless silence, William, the director of the Far East Division, said, "Mr. President, the most important thing in China is that the number of Christians can no longer be reduced, and this is crucial! According to the statistics of the Church in China, the number of people who believe in Jesus Christ has now dropped from 230,000 five years ago[note 1:] to 80,000 before the riots. The number of Catholics also dropped from 1.4 million[note 2] to 500,000 before the riots. It's pretty scary!

The Chinese are purposefully and systematically excluding and exterminating Catholics and Christians, and the Pope of Rome has declared last year that those two miraculous Chinese prophets are messengers of Satan the Devil, who deceive God's people according to the devil's will and lure them into the arms of the devil, but these two prophets are not exactly the key to the matter, the Chinese peasant association organization is degenerating, they are no longer just associations discussing cultivation and influencing politics, but according to the plan of the dead Minister of Agriculture Tao, It is becoming an organization that covers the lives of peasants. Christians and Catholics were treated unjustly because they did not participate in the peasant associations. ”

Originally, it was to interfere in the discussion of China, but I didn't want Methodist to lead it to Christianity. It may not be that other countries would have cared about this matter, but President Wilson, a high-ranking figure in the United States, has been following the missionary cause in China, and he has heard this: "Mr. Wesley, the advisers we have sent to China are not Chinese to get rid of ......."

Seeing that Wilson still did not understand the situation in China, Methodist had to interrupt him, "Mr. President, the pastors continue to insist that China abolish Chinese characters and adopt the alphabet [note 3:], but Chinese still use Chinese characters. Our previous judgment of Yang Jingcheng was wrong, he did not think that we are civilized and China is barbaric, on the contrary, he thinks that we are barbaric and China is civilized. This raises doubts about whether he really lived in the United States and Europe for nearly two decades, as he himself claimed. ”

Mr. Yang said that he had lived in New York for 13 years, and that his friendship with the Roosevelt family and the birth of his wife in Honolulu made him popular with Americans and politicians. Before the Sino-Japanese armistice in 1914, he was a foreign hero in the hearts of almost all Americans, but this cunning wolf of the Far East deceived the innocent and kind American people, and he actually reconciled ambiguously with the Japanese! Not only did Wall Street get the benefits of Manchuria and Korea at all, but the vested Liaodong was also encircled and strangled by Chinese and Japanese forces. What a liar.

Although the interests have been lost, what is even more serious is that the cause of Christ has been fatally dealt a blow in China. This is the focus of this administration; The Republican Party and diplomatic circles are constantly criticizing the current administration's China strategy, believing that Wilson is constantly pushing China toward Japan. The loss of another India by the United States and the Chinese Navy's ordering of warships in Japan are the best examples of Wilson's failure in China policy. Faced with the realities of the predicament and the accusations of political opponents, if he had not privately assured Wall Street of his strategy toward Europe, Hughes would probably be sitting in the White House now.

"So," Wilson asked very seriously, looking at Willy, the director of the Far Eastern Division, "what should we do?" ”

"We don't have a more concrete way now, but it's not wise to continue to be hostile to the Chinese, because that's it." The Lord's cause will be ruined. Mr. President, with all due respect, economic and political interests are not important, the most important thing is to change the thinking of the Chinese, and the most important way to change the thinking is to proselytize. We had great success, especially after the Riots, when large numbers of peasants threw themselves into the arms of the Lord, but now they are leaving in large numbers, and we need to find a way to solve this problem. Methodist was not only a missionary in China. He also served as a consul in China for a long time, and he was greatly distressed by reports of the plague of the church in China, and if the Lord's cause were really ruined in China. Then he will go to hell when he dies.

The room was full of Christians, and the distress of Methodist was the distress of others, and Secretary of State Lansing said, "Edward." You just said that Christians are being treated unjustly, can you elaborate on this? ”

"Yes. I'd love to. "It's a long time before the fist mess." The Chinese peasants were controlled by the Confucian gentry, but after the Sino-Japanese War, the prestige of the gentry began to decline, and the Lord's cause began to expand. And the Confucians were not willing to accept such a result, so the fist rebellion occurred.

Gentlemen, behind every lesson plan there is the shadow of Confucians, that is, those so-called readers, who are instigating the peasants to massacre the parishioners and clergy, but this situation was fundamentally reversed after the fist rebellion, the Confucians succumbed, and a few years later the imperial examination system, which was most important to Confucians, was abolished by the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese began to study abroad on a large scale, and the Lord's cause began to prosper.

However, although Yang Jingcheng did not like Confucianism, he did not eradicate Confucianism, and he also started the imperial examination again, although there are some differences from the previous examinations, but after all, Confucianism can pass the guò examination to become officials......"

"But they don't know the ...... science," interjected Attorney General Gregory, who was also deeply concerned about the progress of the Lord's cause across the ocean, and believed that as Chinese began to pursue democracy and science, it would be a matter of time before they were fully Christianized.

"Mr. Minister, the Chinese government not only classifies officials, but also trains officials who pass the examination. As long as they are not technical officials, they don't know much about science. Weslie glanced at Gregory, not satisfied with his interruption, "...... Through the peasant association and land reform, Yang Jingcheng cleared the last rights of the gentry in the countryside, and he completely controlled the more than 300 million peasants in the country. If this was only economic and political, it would have been of great help to the Lord's cause, but the dead Tao introduced the New Village Plan, which included a religious element, or more precisely they used both Buddhists and Taoists.

Peasants who joined the peasant associations had two days a month to meet at the local temple and listen to the monks and Taoist priests, something that Christians and Catholics could not do. And during the time of prayer for the Lord, the peasant association had other activities, which put them in a dilemma. As a result, if you want to join the peasant association, you have to renounce your faith in the Lord, and the devout believers, because they cannot join the peasant association, will not be able to enjoy the treatment enjoyed by the members of the peasant association. For example, discounted farm tools, fertilizers, seeds and loans, as well as higher-priced agricultural products and all-important planting instructions.

The Chinese peasants were very poor, and most of them believed in the Lord to get a better life, which is why the Chinese missionary work spent a huge amount of money every year, but when the peasant associations could give the peasants a better life, they ruthlessly abandoned their faith. Gentlemen, the interests of the United States in China are not dollars, nor privileges, but faith, and only by protecting the cause of the Lord can China truly transform into a civilized country under our expectations. ”

"We should protest to the Chinese government on this issue!" Minister of the Navy Daniels was impatient with the fact that the council had turned into a synod, but he did not dare to complain. Because he understands very well that the United States is not Britain, and that British diplomacy is centered on utility, while American diplomacy is centered on God.

"Can't protest." Methody has long thought about this problem, "This is actually like the big trust in the United States sweeping small and medium-sized companies, countless farmers are organized into peasant associations, and the peasant union is a big trust, the cost of purchasing raw materials for agriculture is much lower than that of non-agricultural members, and the cost of selling agricultural products is higher than that of non-agricultural members, they control the processing plants, means of transportation and sales channels of agricultural products, and it is impossible for a single farmer to personally transport his agricultural harvest to the city, but the peasant association can." ”

"Then we can only ask the Chinese government to protect the parishioners and give them the same treatment as the peasant associations." Secretary of State Lansing glanced at the silent president and said.

"Then the Chinese government will require them to join the peasant associations, and joining the peasant associations is tantamount to renunciating their faith." Wei Li shook his head. "We have tried to do this, but China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture believe that it is just an economic act and has nothing to do with politics or religion. For example, they say that China's chemical fertilizer factories are now controlled by the China General Farmers' Association, and the ex-factory price for selling to farmers' association members and non-farmers' association members is actually the same, but the farmers' associations buy directly and do not store zài dealers, while non-farmers' associations store zài; In terms of fertilizer transportation, the farmers' association is self-transporting rather than the farmers' association is transporting it by others, which has caused a huge price difference.

This is true for fertilizers, but also for farm tools, seeds, selling produce, and so on, and this is really an economic issue. Of course, there are also political issues, such as the peasant associations where all the agricultural subsidies and preferences given by the government are given to the peasant associations, not to the people. The number of Catholics in China is so small and scattered that they have no way to gain political power. ”

"Edward, I need you to give me a detailed report on the problems of the missionary work in China." Wilson finally spoke. His good friend Colonel House, who had persuaded him to change his China strategy last time, was now in Europe, and he suddenly regretted that he had changed his China policy in a hurry, bringing China and Japan closer together.

However, there is often a great contradiction between ideals and reality, and from the perspective of practical interests, neither the Sino-Japanese alliance nor the rise of China is in the interests of the United States; Ideally, it would be most in line with American values for Chinese to abolish Chinese characters and believe in Christ, but the two are in conflict. Under the strong leadership of Yang Jingcheng, China will surely rise, and if the United States prevents it, the Lord's cause will be damaged; If it is not stopped, there will be a formidable enemy on the other side of the Pacific, especially the tendency of China and Japan to form an alliance, and this fusion should be prevented not only by the United States, but also by the entire civilized world.

Thinking of this, Wilson said to Lansing, "I need to see Mr. Rice right away[note 4:]. You sue him that the matter is related to world peace. (To be continued......)

PS: Note 1: 11,2808 million in 1900, 2,350,000 in 1912, 700,000 in 1949 (official), Brief History of National Christianity, p248;

Note 2: 369,441 in 1870, 741,562 in 1900, 1,519,100 in 1915, 2,700,000 in 1949 (official) Bren's Historiography, p325

Note 3: Hu Shi, Forty Self-Reports, Biography of Famous Artists, edited by Xinyuan Literary Society, 1934 edition, p107.

Note 4: British Ambassador to the United States.