In October, the autumn in Shanghai is high and cool, the Huangpu River is densely packed with ships, and the shore is even more crowded, although Shanghai is familiar after a long absence, but there are many differences, especially on the Huangpu Beach there is a huge five-story building under construction, Yang Rui, who has read the report, knows that it is the new commercial mouth to get out of the Chinese business securities trading building. In fact, there have been exchanges in Shanghai for a long time, but they are mainly for foreign-funded companies, and the scale is not very large. This project was established with the Kwantung Bank as the backbone, and the Ningbo merchants, the Hui merchants, and the Dongting Gang, which was the most powerful comprador among the foreign banks. Yang Rui doesn't care who he pulls in, the most important thing is that his own people are in control, and ownership is often not as good as the right to use.

The ship slowly docked, Yang Rui and his party got off the boat, and he felt very cordial when he heard the voice of Nong Allah, as the first place to set foot in the crossing, he felt that this was his hometown.

Yang Rui got off the boat, but a few foreigners boarded a French steamer on the dock (note). They were all officers of the General Staff of the French garrison in Tianjin, and this time they came to Shanghai to board the ship, not to return to Tianjin, but to meet a person, a person who would be of great help to the cause of French Indochina.

Major Bugape led his entourage and interpreter to the cabin, and a short Japanese man in a white suit held out his hand to greet him, but he spoke not Japanese, but English, "Please ask Mr. Bugape, I am Sun Wen." ”

"Oh...... Are you Mr. Sun Wen? "Bugabei can't understand English, and he can only communicate with Sun Wen through a guò translator. He came on the orders of the French Minister of War, and he was very curious about Sun Wen before, but now he sees people. It feels a little weird, he is still used to using braids as a sign of Chinese, and now Sun Wen has short hair, plus he is not tall - only one meter five eight, always thinking that he is Japanese.

Sun Wen was full of smiles, and he didn't take his doubts seriously, since Gengzi Nian and the French Governor of Indochina, Tao Mei, got involved. His relationship with the French political and business circles gradually strengthened, and the original Indochinese Governor Tao Mei was already the speaker of the French Chamber of Deputies. Sun Wen had good contacts with many parliamentarians and financiers, and before returning to Tokyo in the first half of the year, he even met with Leo of the French Foreign Ministry. Diplomacy with France won a great victory. Coupled with the newly established League in Tokyo, Sun Wen only felt that the success of the revolution was just around the corner.

Sitting down with the Frenchman, Sun Wen said in a loud voice, "Mr. Bugape, maybe you don't know much about the Chinese revolution, I think it's necessary for me to introduce the Chinese revolution." Seeing Bugabei nodding, Sun Wen said again: "In today's China, revolution is already the consensus of everyone. It is precisely because of this that the Manchu emperor had to send five ministers abroad to inspect the constitution. They hope to use a fake constitution to ease domestic contradictions and continue their authoritarian rule, but they will not succeed. The assassinations in Beijing and Tianjin were planned and carried out by the League I led. ”

Looking at the revolutionary party that was blown up and shattered, he couldn't help but express his deep admiration for the revolutionaries under the leadership of Sun Wen in front of him, but as a soldier, he had to say, "But Mr. Sun, as far as I know, although they were very brave, they did not stop this plan of the Qing government, and even no minister died because of it." ”

"Nope. Monsieur Bugape, sacrifice is not about achieving any result, we just hope that through the sacrifice, more people will be inspired to revolution, and then they will stand with us. When Sun Wen arrived in Shanghai, he also received the news that the assassination had failed again, but he didn't care about the result, what he wanted was actually just sacrifice, and the more sacrifices and the more blood flowed, the more people would join the revolution.

Major Bugape still couldn't understand this theory that "sacrifice is to make more people revolutionary", so he had to nod his head and let the clerk record these words of Sun Wen.

Sun Wen only felt that he had been calmed down, and said with a smile: "In July of this year, I have formed a nationwide revolutionary group in Tokyo, and branches have been established in all eighteen provinces of China, and these eighteen branches will lead the uprisings in each province in the future. And I went to Nanyang this time to establish a branch of the Nanyang Alliance, and at that time, there will be more than 40 branches at home and abroad. Millions, if not tens of millions, of revolutionary backbones, although they all had a strong revolutionary will and were unswervingly determined to overthrow the Manchu government. Still, I hope that the French comrades will guide them, so that the revolution can succeed as soon as possible and a French republic can be established. ”

The numbers of millions, tens of millions startled Major Bugape, and after Sun Wen finished speaking, he said: "Mr. Sun, are there really so many revolutionary backbones? ”

"Yes. For the sake of conservatism, and for the sake of not deceiving your country, I have already said very little about this number. In fact, there are already more than 10 million revolutionaries in China, and they are scattered all over China, but they are all at my command. And this time, the reason why I invited Mr. Bugape here is to ask your subordinates and my subordinates to go together to check the revolutionaries everywhere, and I believe that this will make you believe in my strength. ”

Looking at the stunned Bugape, Sun Wen laughed, what he said was actually the number of party associations in various places, and the number of party associations in China was actually not known to him, but in order to suppress the French, he had to say a figure of tens of millions. The population of France is less than 40 million, but Sun Wen's revolutionary backbone is more than 10 million, which he can't imagine.

He asked the clerk to carefully record all this information, and then said, "Mr. Sun, I think I should report this conversation to China, and then I can determine how to reply to you." Personally, I admire your republican ideals and think that France should help China with the revolution. Bugape made his position clear, and then asked: "Mr. Sun, I would like to know if another revolutionary organization, the Revival Society, has any connection with you?" In China, there are a lot of reports about them. ”

"They're asking to work with us." Sun Wen smiled even more kindly. affirmed, "In the last Shanghai bloody case, many of their backbones were sacrificed. Their leader, Wang Jitong, was also injured, and as a local revolutionary organization, they were eager to cooperate with us. I believe that soon we will become a cooperative relationship, and even, in the near future, the two organizations will merge......"

France's intelligence service in China was only established at the beginning of the year. In July, Bugape was appointed head of the Intelligence Service, for such a short period of time. The Gallic chickens, who wore the colored glasses of Catholics and civilized people, knew nothing about China, and their conversation with Sun Wen followed his rhythm, and after an hour, they were sent away by Sun Wen in a friendly manner.

After the French are gone. The concubine Ah Fen handed the newly received telegram to Sun Wen. After reading Chen Shaobai's telegram from Hong Kong, his previous good mood suddenly disappeared without a trace, and Chen Shaobai said in code words in the telegram: Li Jitang and Huang Shizhong have gone to Shanghai with Xie Jintai, and they are afraid that they have contacted the Revival Association......

Xie Zhangtai, Li Jitang and others, who worried Sun Wen, have been living in the Longmen Inn in Shanghai for several days, and they have been hoping to meet with the president Mr. Jingcheng after joining the club, and Yang Rui was led here by Yu Ziyi not long after he arrived in Shanghai. After reading the briefing, he knocked on Xie Zhangtai's door.

Yu Ziyi was the first to go. introduced to everyone in the room: "This is Mr. Yang Jingcheng, the president." ”

Because of Yang Rui's delay in Tianjin, Xie Jintai had been waiting for many days, and at this time he said that the chairman was coming, and they all immediately got up and looked at Yang Jingcheng, who was missing the dragon. I saw that this man was about thirty years old, very tall and strong, smiling at everyone, and arching his hands to salute.

Yang Rui's attitude made everyone in the room feel good, in fact, even Xie Jintai, who has lived overseas for a long time, doesn't like the handshake ceremony of foreigners, he only thinks that it is very Chinese, there is nothing, so many things in the West do not learn, but learn this kind of etiquette. When the two sides were looking at each other, Yu Ziyi introduced: "This is Mr. Xie Chongan, this is Mr. Li Jitang, and this is Mr. Huang Shizhong." ”

The three of them are all in their thirties, one of them is dressed in a suit, and some foreigners are Xie Zhangtai, and the Chinese-style dress, with a slender beard and a rich face is Li Jitang, and the last one who wears glasses and is bookish is Huang Shizhong. Several of them are in the southern Cantonese vernacular, Yang Rui is difficult to understand, and when he can't communicate, everyone can only talk in writing - in the era when there is no Mandarin, only Chinese characters are connected, so written talk is the only way for scholars from different regions to communicate. However, after a pen talk, Yang Rui and Xie Jintai communicated in English, which was much more convenient to speak.

"After many days in Shanghai, I was really touched, especially why the revolution in the past was not successful. With this kind of development of our Revival, it is easy to encompass the whole world. It's just that there's still something unclear. ”

Yang Rui smiled, "Please speak." ”

What will this revolutionary strategy be, and how should it be launched in the future? If we talk about the uprising in Liangguang, then now we have to start arranging. Seeing that the strength of the Revival Society was so huge, Xie Jintai immediately had deep confidence in the revolution, and he was now thinking about the future uprising of the Revival Society.

Yang Rui heard what he said "We are the Revival Society", and smiled secretly in his heart, it seems that after joining the Revival Association, this Xie Zhangtai still agrees with the Revival Association, and immediately said in a virtual and real way: "If it is a qiē shun lì, it is better to raise righteousness in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River." ”

"The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River?"

"Yes. This is the best place to do this. ”

"But the strength of the Revival Society is in the Northeast."

"That's true." Yang Rui thought in his heart, how to say it well, "But the Northeast Japan and Russia, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the United States, the four forces are staggered, and the Northeast can be won, thank God." If you want to get in, this is absolutely impossible. ”

Xie Jintai originally thought that the revival would be a manchurian trick, entering the customs from outside the border, destroying Beijing, and seizing the world, but Yang Rui put the nearest place to launch the uprising in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. "Then why does it have to be in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River? If you can't do it outside the border, then you can also start from Liangguang, there have always been many parties in Liangguang, if someone raises his arm and waves, then overthrowing the Manchu Qing will get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Yang Rui shook his head and said, "If it was a few decades earlier, such as Hong Xiuquan's gang, it would be okay, Guangxi has many mountains and lands, and the people are the poorest. However, in this era, China's future is not in the hands of the Chinese themselves, but in the hands of foreigners, according to this form. In the early stage, under certain circumstances, it was more advantageous for China not to be unified than to be unified. ”

Yang Rui's point of view is extremely strange, although Xie Zhangtai has grown up in the West since he was a child. But I still don't understand what Yang Rui means by this, especially the sentence "China's non-reunification is more beneficial than reunification" made him very uneasy, he translated Yang Rui's words to Li Jitang and Huang Shizhong, Huang Shizhong said urgently: "After the revolution, China must be reunified, and if we don't reunify, we will be sinners for the ages." ”

He spoke in a hurry, but fortunately there was Xie Zhangtai interpreting. Otherwise, Yang Rui really didn't know what he was talking about. Looking at the puzzled eyes of several people, Yang Rui felt that he still had to make his words clear with them, otherwise it would not be good for the words to spread. He cleared his throat and said, "From the first day." The success of the Chinese revolution is indispensable for the support of foreigners, and no matter how capable the revolutionary organization is, the revolution cannot succeed without a strong and strongly supported foreign power. Even if it succeeds. Then domestic construction can't go smoothly. This is all because although China is big, it is weak, and the revolution can only succeed by relying on foreigners. We give privileges to foreigners, and foreigners give us weapons, food, and diplomatic support, and then, when the situation changes, we take back the privileges we have ceded before, and this is the current pattern of revolution. ”

Yang Rui's words were harsh. The three of them have different shapes, and Xie Jintai's eyes are bright. was very approving, while Li Jitang was contemplative, and Huang Shizhong was glaring.

Yang Rui didn't care about their reactions, but just said to himself, "But even if we have the support of the great powers, he may not let us unify China, because China is too big, the population is large, and although the resources are poor, once it develops, it will be another United States, so for any foreigner, a weak China, or a China that is not unified in essence, is in line with their intention to control China." It's not worth it to really pay money and time for a unified name. As long as the Chinese in these places use Chinese characters in the Chinese dialect, they will come back one day. Therefore, not only can we not deliberately unify China, but even our own territory will be divided, so that foreigners can rest assured when they see it, and the process will go smoothly. ”

"Broken up yourself?" Xie Jintai felt more and more that Yang Rui was different, he only found that Sun Wen had such an understanding before, but he didn't expect that the Fuxing Society, which has always emphasized self-reliance, would also have such an understanding.

"Hehe, this is just an exaggeration, don't take it seriously." Yang Rui is not good at telling all the ideas, which involves confidentiality matters in the future. He has been thinking about this strategy for a long time, and he consciously has no flaws. In his vision, the future China is a divided China, and even the territory of the Revival Society is divided, such as the Northeast, and it will never be easy to defeat without pitting the Japanese. He is not worried that it will get out of control, as long as he grasps the grassroots, finances and the army, the leaders of those regions are just actors, let them perform and scold each other, and even the armies of various regions will only shoot into the sky like the warlords in the early Republic of China, which is still very fun.

Seeing that several people were digesting their words, Huang Shizhong's eyes began to soften, and Yang Rui said again: "The reason why righteousness can't start from Liangguang is because Liangguang is the territory of the French, and his status in the international community is not high, even if there is a Franco-Russian alliance, his strength is weaker than Germany." Among the Western countries, Britain is the strongest, so if you want to find foreigners, you still have to find British. It is precisely because of this that our place of righteousness must be in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. ”

Xie Jintai was a little puzzled again, and asked, "But what if the British don't support us?" ”

"I'm afraid that he won't support it, so we're going to do justice here."

"This ......" seems to have a problem with logic, Xie Zhangtai said: "Isn't it to get the support of Britain first, and then we will do justice." For example, Sun Wen, who had an extraordinary relationship with the French earlier, promised to grant the French the privileges of road and mining in Liangguang in order to get the French to support the revolution, so that the French would support him to launch an uprising in Guangxi via Vietnam. ”

"It's too soft, we need to be harder!" Speaking of Sun Wen Yang Rui, he was very angry, he waved his hand, a great man's attitude, and said loudly, "Let's take down the Yangtze River provinces first, so that we can force the British to support us." No, these provinces are broken, affecting trade, and the biggest loss is still Britain. ”

"But what if he sends troops to help suppress it?" Xie Jintai couldn't help but think of Hong Xiuquan.

"No, first of all, we have to occupy it quickly, he can't have it. The second is that Britain and France have signed a treaty, the situation in Europe is becoming more and more serious, and by the time we raise our rights, his power in the Far East is extremely weak. And we attacked from the north and south of the Yangtze River, and the Yellow River valley was Germany's sphere of influence, and we knocked down Shandong. The British will be delighted. For the sake of two billion World War I dividends, Yang Rui could only throw the Germans aside, who made him unable to win.

This is the general strategy that Yang Rui can say. Even so, he felt that he was talking too much. But to Xie Zhangtai's ears, he only said three points, one is that the current revolution cannot be separated from the support of foreigners, the second is that China's reunification should be more beneficial to a weak China, and the third is that the uprising must be launched from the Yangtze River. This will help to gain support from the UK.

Yang Rui's three assertions sounded very uncomfortable at first, but when you think about it, this is the truth, and the interference of foreigners in China is increasing day by day. Even domestic revolutionaries will interfere. Against this background, the revolution must take into account external factors. This is true of the question of unification, as well as of gaining revolutionary support. In fact, in the final analysis, the reunification of the country is a matter of strength, and strength is there. Not only will the country be unified, but its territory will also be expanded. If the country is weak, it will naturally be divided. If China wants to develop among the great powers, it is inevitable that it will have to move forward and backward in terms of strategy, and it will have to play its grandson when it should be a grandson, and it must play the guitar when it is time to play the guitar.

Yang Rui's cunning, or thoughtful consideration of the revolution, made Xie Jintai and Li Jitang immediately sympathetic. Since it is a revolution, it is easier to gain recognition as a bad person than a good person. And Huang Shizhong always has the ambition of the Scholar Gang. Although what Yang Rui said was very reasonable, his heart still couldn't accept a China that was not unified, and seemed to sense his worry, Yang Rui said: "Brother Shizhong, believe me." Our generation will not only reunify, but also regain all the land that has been lost. Including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Ryukyus. ”

Literati are always attracted by a grand ideal, Huang Shizhong heard Yang Rui's promise, suddenly raised his head and his glasses almost fell off, he held the glasses with one hand, stood up and said: "Mr. Cheng, really... Is that really the case? ”

Yang Rui looked at him excitedly, also stood up, stepped forward and grabbed his hand and said, "It must be true!" I promise! ”

Huang Shizhong was overjoyed, and also grabbed Yang Rui's hand and shook it, Xie Jintai and Li Jitang also came up, and the four pairs of big hands grabbed each other together, and everyone was very excited for a while. Li Jitang even said: "President Chengcheng, Li still has some family wealth in Hong Kong, if the revolution needs it, I can donate it all." ”

Li Jitang is a bold person, has always been the rich man of the revolutionary party, after the death of his father, the inheritance of millions of family funds has been funding the revolution, but the revolution seems to be a bottomless pit, especially the year before the Ming Shun Heavenly Kingdom, he alone raised 500,000 yuan to help the revolution, and finally failed to do so, and lost most of the family wealth. Looking at his serious appearance, Yang Rui said: "Cousin Ji, there is no shortage of eggs in the revival society, only chickens, and the thing of killing chickens and taking eggs will not be done. ”

Yang Rui said this truthfully, not to donate money, but to say that he wanted to make the family business under his name bigger and donate money, Li Jitang listened very comfortably in his heart, if it weren't for the rules in the meeting that he could not worship, he would have already become a brother with Yang Rui, excited, Li Jitang said: "Then I will listen to the president." ”

After the four of them finished discussing, and then sent Yang Rui's name, Xie Zhangtai came out again, and he wanted to talk to Yang Rui alone about many things.

"Actually, how should Guangdong be revolutionized?"

The revival of the model of the revolution in Guannai is still exploring, and Yang Rui had no choice but to say to him: "Guangdong is an extremely important province, and it is also a province that opens early. The Revival Society is now in a stage of transition, and it is still necessary to explore how to make a revolution in Kannai. However, no matter how much it changes, there are a few things that remain the same, one is that only with money can revolution, so the business side will take Cousin Ji as a signboard and do a solid job, Hong Kong is a good place to do business, close to Nanyang, and if you run well, you will make millions of profits a year. ”

Since the Revival Association has such a scale and has set up a military academy in South Africa, it must have a lot of funds, Yang Rui said that he earns millions a year Xie Jintai fully believes it.

"The second is to run education, the revolution is simple, the construction is difficult, Guangdong is close to Hong Kong, and there are many overseas Chinese, how to make good use of this advantage, running education well is a problem, the third is to know the party, especially the upper strata of the party is difficult to rely on, so the development of society at the lower level is the general trend of the revolution, but how to develop can be less resistant, and can go deep into the foundation, we are still studying."

Yang Rui said that Xie Zhangtai very much agreed, especially for the party's evaluation of him deeply. The Revival Society does not have the idea of doing everything in one go, but rather belongs to the thinking of gradual and steady progress. In Xingzhonghui, the revolution is like gambling, collecting a qiē resource, and then choosing a gambling table, "snapping" all bets, success or failure depends on this hand, completely depends on God; The Renaissance Society, on the other hand, is well organized, with a clear division of labor among various departments, just like the steamer he took when he came, slowly advancing without hurrying or slow, and although the revolution does not know when it will succeed, everyone believes that the front is victory.

After talking about the matter in Guangdong, Xie Zhangtai said again: "Then what should South Africa do?" The miners over there, as long as they can be rescued, must be the best revolutionary comrades. ”

Yang Rui has been paying attention to the affairs of South Africa, but Leo's words before leaving also made Yang Rui continue to think deeply, especially the issue of this army returning to China is extremely difficult. Now the ships are all to add coal and water along the way, once docked, the customs on the ship to search, then it is clear whether it is a migrant worker or a soldier, especially this is tens of thousands of people.

"I think I'm going to go to South Africa once in the near future and I'll see what is going on in South Africa. In fact, the most difficult thing for these miners is what to redeem, how to cover up, and finally how to transport them back, these three links can't go wrong. ”

Xie Jintai also understood the difficulty of this matter, and said at the moment: "It should indeed be so." Ay. The year before last, I failed to do anything, and my father also died depressed, even I felt that this revolution was difficult to succeed, but when I arrived in Shanghai, I felt that the success of this revolution was just around the corner. It's right in front of you. Zhaochun, do you know, do you know, the success of the revolution is just around the corner......"

As Xie Zhangtai spoke, he suddenly burst into tears, and the last thing he shouted was Yang Quyun, who died in the Manchu assassination, the leader of the Furen Literary Society and the Xingzhong Society. Yang Rui saw that he was sad, and his eyes were a little moist, revolution, revolution, when will you succeed?! (To be continued......)

PS: Note: On October 8, 1905, Sun Wen left Yokohama for Shanghai, about a week earlier because of the butterfly effect.