Yang Rui, who is in the northeast, did not expect that the public opinion stirred up by the revival meeting had changed some historical details. But even if he knew, Yang Rui didn't care, although he admired the revolutionaries very much, but he was loveless to the alliance that was infiltrated by the Black Dragon Society. He was sitting in the barracks at this time holding a newspaper in the Times, after the Russo-Japanese War, the battle line was stalemate on the Changtu and Siping lines, except for the independent army that had to train troops from time to time to rush new recruits into battle, and constantly shoot at the Japanese army on the opposite side, the battle situation was very calm.

"The Fuxing Society, an anti-Qing group founded in Shanghai the year before, has recently organized a number of protests against the government." The Far East Review of the British newspaper The Times wrote, "The cause of the incident was the earlier murder in Shanghai, and the whole Qing society was extremely dissatisfied with the government's mishandling." While the demonstrations were in protest, a sound film called the Fuxing Army was shown in various Qing concessions, and Qing people, including students, gentry, merchants, townspeople, and coolies on the docks, went to watch it. The film is an interview with a narrow-minded American journalist (note) with soldiers of the Renaissance Society, and if there is anything to be praised, it is probably a military song adapted from "March of the Grenadiers", except that this is perhaps the world's first sound film. Despite this, the film still had a great impact, but because it was screened in the concession and the film did not involve anti-government content, the Qing government could not stop it......"

Although there is a system of summarizing foreign-language newspapers within the Renaissance Society, the British Times has always been the focus of Yang Rui's attention, and he still asked Kannai to send the newspapers directly to the northeast. The public opinion offensive launched by Zou Rong's case was a great success with the addition of blood and life, and in the end, Yang Rui released the long-term sound film of the political zhì department. Thus causing an even greater sensation. In fact, for a Manchu ruler, it is not terrible to oppose the Qing Dynasty, but what is most feared is to oppose the Qing Dynasty in the name of patriotism, and now, the Revival Society is such an organization that is both patriotic and anti-Qing.

Yang Rui finished reading the Far East Review, and then looked at other news, there was nothing to pay attention to, the only thing worth noting was only two things, one was the recent boycott of American goods initiated by Zeng Zhu and others at the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce; The other is that the gentry in the provinces began to make a constitution, which is actually in the digest of the meeting. The constitutionalists believed that "Japan may be small, but the patriotic spirit of the people is vigorous." Every time the people go to the battlefield, they are committed to protecting the country's rights, and they don't care about life or death. Can a despotic country be the same as the Japanese language? "Although the Russo-Japanese naval war was not over, the anti-Qing wave was set off by the revival society. The impact of constitutionalism was widespread.

Yang Rui has no impression of boycotting American goods. None of the books he read recorded this matter, so he quickly skipped it, not understanding how much of a stir it would stir up, and he knew about the constitutionalism, but in his opinion the constitutionalism of the Manchu Qing was nothing more than a playhouse, for the central court. It's just self-defeating.

Seeing that Yang Rui had basically finished reading the newspaper, Chen Guangshou said, "Sir, the guerrillas have sent a message saying that the American reporter wants to interview the leader of the Renaissance Association. ”

It's really hard to find reporters in this part of the Northeast. It's not that there aren't many reporters, it's that the reporters all walk together in groups, and at the same time they are protected by Japanese soldiers. When the Renaissance Society was looking for a reporter, it had no choice but to wait for the rabbit, and finally found a bold American reporter, who had done an exclusive interview with the guerrillas. In fact, this American journalist did not pay much attention to the guerrillas, but after experiencing an ambush, he was extremely polite to the fighters, and after the armistice between Japan and Russia, a film about the guerrillas was also filmed. After his reporting had a huge impact, the American wanted to interview the president of the Revival Society.

"Oh......" Yang Rui pondered, if he agreed to the interview, then the Manchu Qing Dynasty would step up the extermination of the guerrillas, which would not be conducive to the guerrillas' establishment of a base in western Liaoning in the future, and at the same time, if the reporter asked the question of the Fuxing's attitude towards the West, it would be very difficult to answer, and if the foreigners compromised, then the domestic indignant youth would criticize, and if they were tough on the foreigners, then there would be a lot of trouble in the future uprising, but it would be absolutely impossible to make a revolution in the shadows.

"You let the political department arrange it, and I'll meet him." Yang Rui said softly, after hiding the sword for two years, it is time for everyone to listen to the voice of the president of the Revival Association.

At the time of the meeting with McCormick, in a village fifty kilometers west of Changtu, Yang Rui was dressed up in a specially dressed outfit - he was dressed in a guerrilla camouflage uniform, a pair of polished military boots, his ear-length hair was carefully combed, and his unshaven beard was also kept into a mustache according to the custom of this era—the sides of which were slightly upturned.

McCormick wanted to take a picture when he saw Yang Rui, but gave up at the signal of the political workers. Yang Rui smiled and stretched out his hand to shake his hand, and then said in English: "It's really my honor to meet you!" Mr. McCormick. ”

McCormick thought he would behave like a Chinese, but he didn't expect it to be a handshake, and he spoke English, and he said happily, "It's also my honor to meet you." Mr. President. ”

McCormick was in his thirties, with blond hair, a full forehead, a well-proportioned figure, wearing a dark suit, completely civilized in his dress, he adhered to the reporter's unique curiosity, looked at Yang Rui from high to toe, and then said: "I really didn't think we could talk so freely, please forgive me, I really thought you should be a red beard." ”

Yang Rui smiled, "Mr. McCormick, there is nothing strange about this. China is gradually opening up – whether this is forced by war or out of necessity. Yang Rui read the lines prepared by the political department, and he was very twisted, but what made him even more disgusting was the back.

After interviewing the Baath Army (guerrillas), he wanted to meet the founder of this army, because he had always felt that the founder of this army was mysterious and did many things that ordinary people could not do, which made him very curious.

He asked, "Mr. President, when did you decide to form the Revival Society and at the same time decide to go to the northeast to fight the Russian army?" ”

"I first had this idea in 1900, when the Qing government made a very wrong declaration of war on various countries, which was extremely unwise and brought great losses to everyone, and at that time I thought that this government should be overthrown. So a few friends and I discussed the formation of an organization to oppose the Qing government. In the Northeast, it was in April 1903. ”

……

McCormick asked a question that was not within the scope of the interview, and he said, "Mr. President, I would like to know very much, where does your knowledge come from?" I feel like I'm not talking to a Chinese, I'm talking to a foreigner. ”

The staff next to him wanted to stop this redundant question, but Yang Rui stopped him. He smiled at McCormick and said, "I think I would be surprised if I said it, my childhood was actually spent in the United States......"

Before Yang Rui finished speaking, McCormick suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! Oh, God. Is this time really? ”

"Of course. Of course it's true, Mr. McCormick. I came to the U.S. when I was seven years old and spent a year in the West. Then he spent eight years in New York. I still remember it so well, and then I went to England, where a relative of mine was there, where I inherited a small inheritance, but I still couldn't afford to pay for university, so I had to study in the library of the British Museum. Or go to the nearby University College London to audit a professor's class, I didn't have braids at the time, they saw me more as a Japanese......" Yang Rui told about his beautiful childhood according to the identity he had made up before, despite the experience of fraud at the University of Germany and Berlin. But after thinking about it, he still felt that he should give up Germany's qiē and just talk about Britain and the United States.

McCormick was very excited because of this exceptional issue, and his joy was not so much that this revolutionary had such a rich childhood, but that his upbringing in the United States would resonate greatly with the American people, and thinking about a Chinese revolutionary actually spent his childhood in the United States and New York would make all Americans excited. Again, he asked the previous question, "If the revolution succeeds, will the country of the future be American?" ”

Yang Rui still said according to the previously prepared answer: "The United States is the core of the free world, the protector of democracy, the friend of the people, the enemy of autocrats, all feudal rulers regard the United States as a thorn in their side, and the United States is an example of a successful model of human society." The future of China's ......" said this, Yang Rui, who consciously said very disgusting, paused, jumped out of the original answer and said: "But now China is very immature in all aspects, and it will be very unsuitable to rashly refer to the American model, I think we can only realize this dream after a long, long time of hard work." ”

McCormick also noticed the inconsistency in his answer, and asked, "How long will that take?" ”

Yang Rui smiled, "I just think a hundred years is too short." In fact, China today is like the American South in 1860, agriculture is the main industry in this country, and farmers and slaves are bound to the land and are very poor. Even though the United States had the Civil War and the support of the North, it took a long time for the South to integrate into the North. China is now in such a situation that there is no strong North that has been capitalized, and at the same time there are several times as many farmers as the South, so it will take a long time for her to achieve a republic in the true sense of the word. ”

Tell the United States that China can only borrow American history, or they will not understand, and apparently, McCormick is extremely satisfied with Yang Rui's statement, he has been in China for five years, this is a completely ancient and ignorant country, rich people have this strange hobby, they value the land they own and the number of wives they have, completely more than money. He believes that Yang Rui is a very Westernized person who has a deep understanding of China itself, and he believes that as long as the interview with Yang Rui is launched in the United States, it will definitely cause a sensation, especially since he has actually lived in the United States for nearly ten years.

After fooling McCormick and sending him away, Yang Rui took off his leather boots, his previous leather boots were too long, so he didn't wear them, and now he found a pair of boots that were too narrow, and he only felt the pain of his foot clamp after wearing them for a long time. He jumped on his horse and went to the four parallel under the escort of the guard company.

Yang Rui, who returned to the camp, seemed to have nothing to do, Japan and Russia were waiting for the results of the naval battle, the grievance meeting of the independent army had ended, and the soldiers were crying again. But after all, the independent army fought the Japanese, and the bullets were enough, but the shells were less. In Shanghai, Wang Jitong has been discharged from the hospital and recuperated at home. The bullet hit him in the chest and passed between the heart and lungs, which was regarded as picking up a life - Yang Rui called him back to agree to the march, but he explained that he and Cai Yuanpei couldn't go, but he couldn't bear to see the students sent to death like this. Yang Rui later knew the situation in Shanghai, and he couldn't speak for a long time. It's really free. Yang Rui, who has nothing to do, wants to go to Tonghua to take a look, Xu Huafeng is about to arrive, and that is the foundation of the Fuxing Association.

After a long journey of more than ten days, when Yang Rui was about to arrive in Tonghua New Town, the news of the start of the Battle of Tsushima came. He was not surprised or delighted with the telegram, which he had known for a long time. London's money is just waiting to be withdrawn back home. Although naval battles are not the same as those of land warfare before them. It is believed that there is a huge disparity in strength - Russia will win and lose one day, but the total annihilation of the Russian fleet in two days is still very sensational, and the fluctuation of the national debt is not as great as the battle of Mukden, but it can still make a lot of money.

Thinking that he was rich, Yang Rui couldn't help but be happy, but after a while, he felt that Japan was really shit luck, if he informed the commander of the Russian fleet in advance of the big turn in Dongxiang. Even if the Russians don't believe it, once Togo does this, the shelling time of the Russian army is not two minutes in history, but eight minutes. Or even ten minutes. Yang Rui thought beautifully, in fact, he didn't know anything about naval warfare, even if the Russian fleet really shelled Dongxiang for ten minutes, the result would not make much difference, at this time, the cap shell invented by Makarov had not been equipped, and the Russian armor-piercing shell could not penetrate the armor of the Japanese battleship at all; Not to mention that the Baltic Fleet is already remarkable if it can sail ships to the Far East, and if it can still win, then God must be the Russians.

Handing the telegram back to Chen Guangshou, Yang Rui flipped through the notebook with a password for the list of major events, and shook his head at the day of the Battle of Zhao, which was one day earlier than history, not knowing that the outcome of the naval battle was still the same as in history. For the traverser, what he is most afraid of is that history will be changed, but it is impossible for him to do something without changing history, which is really a problem.

Yang Rui arrived at Madang Town in the evening of the same day, and after arriving here, he didn't ride a horse, and went directly to the Erdaojiang River on the minecart of the copper mine, the mountain breeze blew in the dark night, it was very cool, and he sat on the car for a few minutes, and saw the lights of Erdaojiang New Town, which was very dazzling in the dark night.

"Brother Qiufan!" Yang Rui greeted happily, it has been more than half a year since the last goodbye, and it is very cordial to see him again.

"It did." He shouted in a low voice, but the handshake was with both hands, not with one hand like Yang Rui.

Yang Rui seemed to enjoy the feeling of being warmly welcomed by his subordinates, and he also clenched his hands with both hands, and seemed to be emotional: "It's been hard for you for a short time, and after Xian Feng leaves, this Tonghua will all depend on you to support it." ”

Du Yaquan was a little excited, and said: "The foundation left by Xian Feng is good, and the original plan in the meeting is good." I'm just a supervisor now, and I just need to follow up step by step. ”

Yang Rui nodded, this time he didn't fake anything, Du Yaquan told the truth, his job is actually to execute according to the plan, but it is also very difficult to do so, there are always many unexpected places in the plan, and the improvised kung fu of the executor is very important. He shook Du Yaquan's hand again, "Anyway, this job can't be done without you." ”

There is no reporting work in the Fuxing Society, and at the same time, the commercial mouth does not need to report any ideological work to Yang Rui, the usual progress is reflected in the weekly and monthly reports, although Yang Rui only looks at the text filtered by the clerical team, but he still knows the major events on the Tonghua side, one of the biggest problems is the railway, one is that the Anbong Railway built in Japan is now changing the small train railway, which is very threatening to the Tonghua Railway Company, and the protest documents have long been handed to Beijing, under the operation of Yixuan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already sent a note to JapanIt's just that Japan used the excuse that the war was not over, so there was no progress in the matter, and according to history, the Manchu Qing Dynasty finally agreed to the Japanese on this railway, but how to destroy it?

In addition to the Japanese Anfeng, and then their own Antongfeng, the Japanese army has not allowed the railway company to build a railway near Mukden, and the coal railway from Fushun to Mukden that was robbed before was only connected to the Dongqing Railway, plus the Japanese army forcibly built the new Fengfeng line, so that Antongfeng has no way to communicate with the railway inside and outside the Guan. What should I do?

Yang Rui kept looking at the map, falling asleep with these two questions, and when he woke up in the morning, it was already ten o'clock. He only felt that he woke up too early, and slept until noon when he was hungry before getting up. I didn't see the appearance of Tonghua New Town at night. As soon as I opened the door during the day, I saw that there were chimneys outside, and the billowing gray smoke was blown away by the wind as soon as the chimneys came out, and they dispersed in the lush forest.

In the afternoon, I took a turn in Tonghua New Town, and there was nothing to see in the iron and copper factory, so I only took a mine car to the direction of the iron mine in the evening, got off after the iron factory town, and then walked ten miles to the Tonghua Arsenal. At this time, it was already ten o'clock at night, and the person in charge of the factory, Xu Jianyin's eldest son Xu Jiabao, was already waiting.

Yang Rui laughed and said, "Brother Xianting has been waiting for a long time. ”

Xu Jiabao said: "How dare you." ”

Accompanied by Xu Jiabao. Yang Rui walked through the entire arsenal, in fact, there is nothing to see, the military equipment ordered by Germany has not yet arrived, only a lot of houses have been built here, and some are just the production of grenades and mortar shells. The technicians were all brought by Xu Jiabao from the customs, as for the workers. Basically, they are always reliable people who are selected from among the refugees. Once they are in the factory, they can't leave the factory.

Nothing improved in the dark night, the factory didn't take a closer look, but by the jars of synthetic ammonia, Yang Rui stopped for a long time, these are high-temperature and high-pressure resistant cans specially customized in accordance with the process requirements after the success of synthetic ammonia in Germany, Yang Rui asked: "These things should have just arrived." ”

"Yes. It was only shipped in a few days ago. "Xu Jiabao knows exactly what this is for. I was a little excited when I replied, "As long as the third uncle comes back, we can start trial ammonia production." ”

Unlike his optimism, Yang Rui received the news of Xu Huafeng's successful test in Germany. But that's just an experiment, and it's still going to be a lot of trouble to recycle production, he shook his head and patted these big cans and said, "This is a new technology, and it will take a lot of time to really mature." We are not in a hurry, we will be thankful for success in three years. ”

After Xu Jiabao joined the club, he already knew that Yang Rui was the leader, this was the first time he had seen the leader, and he didn't know much about this person. The synthetic ammonia in Germany ran smoothly for 20 days before there was a deliberate accident, and then our process only needs to be changed slightly, and there is no need to make major adjustments. ”

Yang Rui is concerned about synthetic ammonia, but in addition to providing technical information, nothing else is understood, some time ago received a report from Xu Huafeng in Germany that the equipment was running successfully, so he ordered an accident to destroy the factory. didn't know that Xu Huafeng had been running for twenty days without reluctance. He was surprised, "Haha. Good. If that's the case, then our waist pole ....... ”

didn't wait for Yang Rui to finish speaking, Xu Jiabao said again: "Yes, this ammonia is made, but if you want to make explosives, you must first make ammonia into concentrated nitric acid, otherwise you can't make explosives." ”

Yang Rui was stunned by his words, but Ma Deng couldn't see that he was deliberately sarcastic, so he was not unhappy. In fact, Yang Rui's thinking is problematic, he only remembers that synthetic ammonia is equal to explosives, but he forgets that after jì ammonia is made, concentrated nitric acid must be synthesized, and then explosives can be made. He bowed his hand to Xu Jiabao and said, "Brother Xianting, I think it's simple." Just thinking about this synthetic ammonia, I didn't think that synthetic ammonia is a new process, and the production of nitric acid from synthetic ammonia is also a new process. This is also something that needs to be studied with a good amount of time. ”

Seeing Yang Rui's politeness, Xu Jiabao was embarrassed, he has been studying chemistry and physics since he was a child, and he has always been right about things and not people, and he has been taught a lesson by the general office of the official before, and he felt inappropriate after interrupting Yang Rui just now, I thought that Yang Rui would be displeased, but who knew that he saluted himself, and he immediately returned a salute, and said sincerely: "It turned out to be really Haihan." (To be continued......)

PS: Note: This is the American Fredlick. McCormick, a reporter for the New York Herald, came to China in 1900, reported on the Russo-Japanese War for the Associated Press in 1904, and published the 447-page book "The Magnificent Republic" in 1913, which was highly regarded by American scholars. The Herald's stance has always been anti-The Times.