"Yang, does that mean that the war is going to continue?" After thinking about it, Morrison skipped the issue of peace talks.

"Of course it will continue, and the war will continue until the Manchu rule is completely overthrown." Yang Rui said, extremely firm.

"But the Diet has been convened, and now everyone is thinking about changing the face of the country, and there are many people who fear that the revolution will interrupt the process and tear the country apart. Yang, is it true that in your mindset the question of who will rule is more important than the development of the country as a whole and the happiness of the people? Morrison asked questions entirely from a reformist point of view, and I don't know if it was because he supported the idea of gradual improvement, or if he wanted to use it to put pressure on Yang Rui and gain something.

"Who will rule is not contradictory to the development of the country and the happiness of the people." Yang Rui directly attacked his assumptions, "Even, when the question of who will rule is solved, will the country's development and people's happiness be accelerated." The Manchu government was a corrupt government, and he collected 20,000 taels of silver a year, but because of internal corruption, the people actually paid several times this amount in taxes, and after these taxes were collected, more than half of the taxes were wasted and embezzled by the completely corrupt bureaucracy.

Reform is not going to give a new life to an already rotten bureaucracy, a corrupt bureaucracy that cannot be reborn will never bring any development to China, it will only drain the blood and sweat of the people, and then make those people, I mean the Manchus, government officials, and members of the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies. so that they may live the life of a superior human being, and most shamefully, when they put the leftovers on their plates. When the change in their pockets is given to those who are hungry because of their oppression, they also gain a reputation for mercy.

This is a thoroughly corrupt bureaucracy, a thoroughly corrupt society. On one side are the old pedants who still adhere to the Confucian Three Principles and Five Constants, and these people are called the White Vote Party in the Congress; On the other side are the new gentlemen who embrace Western utilitarianism, known in Congress as the Blue Vote Party. The former are extremely stubborn, and they don't want any real change in China. The well-being of the people is never always of paramount importance to them; The latter, on the other hand, is extremely utilitarian, and the development of the country and the happiness of the people are always just chips or slogans in their pockets. They want to gain greater fame, higher positions.

The revolution of the Fuxing Society was not only to overthrow the Manchu rule and establish an efficient and clean bureaucracy, but also to reform two cultures, one of the Confucian Three Principles and Five Constants. The other is utilitarianism, which originated in the West. The only way to do this is to mobilize the entire population. If you are not bound and do not seek utilitarian gains, then the whole country can truly develop and the people can be truly happy. ”

Yang Rui spoke extremely quickly, and the same paragraph was always shorter in Chinese than in English, so when he finished speaking, Morrison couldn't see his expression. I'm just burying my head in the memory. Only after Yang Rui drank a few sips of tea did he stop writing. looked at Yang Rui and said, "Dear Yang, you almost convinced me." But I still can't imagine what kind of country will be built according to the Chinese tradition, which is the nationalism that you promote. I may have a very limited history of China, but in what I know, China has no tradition of democracy, and there is no tradition of holding parliaments. Yang, is China still an authoritarian country after the revolution? ”

Morrison finally asked the question that Yang Rui had guessed before, and it was also the problem that the League and Liang Qichao and others were now overwhelmingly attacking the Renaissance Society, the former attacking the authoritarianism of the Renaissance Society, and the latter attacking the Renaissance Society for not following the religion and falsely claiming to be the quintessence of the country. However, since Morrison will be interviewed, Yang Rui is not worried about this issue.

"Mr. Morrison, if I sue you three thousand years ago, China had a democratic tradition, similar to the National Congress, do you think I am lying?" Yang Rui asked with a smile, confident.

"It can't be!" Morrison also laughed, he only thought that there was something wrong with the ultra-nationalists in front of him, three thousand years ago, when Europe was a wasteland.

Taking a book from Chen Guangshou's hand, Yang Rui said with a smile: "This is a book, a history book written in China for more than 2,000 years, and it records the history of the three earliest dynasties in China, the Xia, Shang and Zhou. In the 11th century BC, King Wu of Zhou, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, defeated the Shang Dynasty's army and captured the Shang Dynasty's national capital, Chaoge. Zhou was just a tribe of the West Hammer, and he took advantage of the Shang Dynasty's army to fight outside, and only then did he succeed in his sneak attack on Chaoge. In order to rule this extremely large country, King Wu of Zhou asked the minister of the Shang Dynasty, Jizi, for advice on how to govern the country, and Jizi looked at King Wu of Zhou, who had perished his dynasty, and left after advising him on the nine-point outline of governance, which he said was called Hongfan Jiuchou in the history books, and China's earliest democracy and parliamentary system were among them. ”

Xie Jintai's translation did not add "Long-long-age", but Mo Lixun still looked at Yang Rui dumbfounded, and he believed that this was a legend rather than history. "Yang, is this true?" He asked.

"Yes. This is a classic that has been passed down in China for more than 2,000 years, and its legitimacy is recognized by all. Yang Rui handed the book into his hands, and then said: "It said that if the monarch has a major matter to decide, then in addition to divination, he must also consult with the secretary, and at the same time consult with the common people. The monarch agrees, the turtle Bu agrees, the Zhu Zhu agrees, the secretary agrees, and the common people agree, then it is called Datong; The monarch agrees, the turtle agrees, the scholar agrees, the common people oppose, then it is called auspicious; The common people agree, the ministers agree, the Zhu Zhu agrees, the turtle agrees, but the monarch opposes, which is also called auspicious; If the king agrees, the turtle agrees, the ruler opposes, the common people oppose it, then it is auspicious to act at home, and it is unlucky to act abroad.

Mr. Morrison, excluding divination due to the factors of the times, the monarch, the ministers, and the common people, the monarch did not have too many privileges, even if he objected, but the result of the deliberation was still auspicious. This is China's earliest democracy, which does not just collect opinions from the ministers and ordinary people, but allows them to participate in decision-making and ultimately determine the country's internal and external policies. It's no different from parliament. Although we do not yet know whether the ministers and commoners who participate in decision-making are elected or appointed, at least they are the status of ministers and commoners.

Jizi left after admonishing King Wu of Zhou about the nine-point governing outline. Finally went to Korea, where he is now revered as his ancestor by the Koreans, and King Wu of Zhou died within a few years of accepting the Nine Guidelines, and his younger brother King Wen of Zhou abandoned the Nine Principles when he came to power, and established a system of rituals that has been passed down to the present day. China's autocracy lies in the autocracy of the religion, and in China before the implementation of the religion, he was not completely authoritarian. The opposition and approval of the least common people can affect the policy of the entire country, but after King Wen of Zhou, the common people no longer have any political power. They are just cattle and horses.

Mr. Morrisson, the nationalism advocated by the Revival Society does not include Confucian rites, which are the most authoritarian. We only want to establish a state system in which the ministers and the common people can jointly decide on the affairs of the state. Perhaps the philosophies are all the same, and the histories of the East and the West are even more strikingly similar. This is a model in which everyone participates in the decisions of national affairs. In the West it is called the Republic, but in Chinese history, it is called Datong......"

The system of 3,000 years ago?! Morrison only felt a little dizzy, but the questions after that were not sharp, and the two sides chatted very happily. It's just that at the end, he couldn't help but ask a question: "Dear Yang, I heard such a rumor, it is your wife Cheng." It was she who sniped the Empress Dowager Cixi, and now the Qing government is preparing to arrest her. I wonder what you think about this? ”

"Cixi should be executed!" Yang Rui had just learned about this matter, but he didn't know if it was leaked out by someone from the Alliance, or someone from his own side. "As the culprit of the Gengzi Incident, she declared war on various countries without authorization, but she was not punished at all afterwards, she was still prosperous and rich, with fine clothes and food, but asked the people to compensate the countries for her mistake A huge sum of 45,000 taels of silver, such a person deserved to be sniped."

"So, the Revival also supports assassinations?" In his concept, the Revival Society never carried out assassinations, but that another revolutionary organization, the League, often carried out assassinations, such as the bombing of Qianmen in Beijing, the bombing of Tianjin, and the assassination of the famous Empress Dowager Cixi. As a gentleman of the civilized world, he may agree with the revolution, but he has always been against assassinations, especially those that would harm innocents.

"The Renaissance Society did not support assassinations and never gave the order to assassinate Cixi. If the revolution succeeds, then we will execute the guilty Manchu magnates by trial, not by assassination, such as Aixinjue Luo Zaiyi, the leader of the Gengzi Revolution. Speaking of this, Yang Rui sighed very much, "Mr. Moritson, no matter how you look at it, you will find that the Manchu government is an extremely authoritarian government, just to make his son the emperor, he forged letters, so that the country blindly declared war on the outside world, and there is no need for such a government to survive." If Western governments are truly as civilized as they claim to be, they should support the revival of the renaissance to overthrow such an authoritarian government and establish a civilized China. ”

Morrisun's interview with Yang Rui lasted for several hours, and in these hours, Yang Rui answered his questions seriously, and his notebook seemed to be out of place. Excluding the Tongguò Revolution gaining power, Morrison believes that Yang Rui did see the disease of the entire empire, that is, the traditional Confucian civilization was disintegrating, but a new civilization suitable for the present had not been established; The closed and self-sufficient smallholder economy is disintegrating, but a new economic system that is well integrated into the world economy has not yet been established. To do this, a strong government, a clean and efficient government, but the current Manchu government is clearly not, and they are still walking birds and doing nothing in the glory brought by their ancestors. Even if the Diet is open now, because the members of the Diet are not universal, they only represent the interests of the gentry everywhere, and the interests of the people are ignored - now the civil unrest in various places is getting more and more intense, and there are several cases every day of shooting, destroying new schools, nailing house plates, etc. Clearly, Congress is only going to make things worse.

Back at his apartment in Beijing, Morrison didn't go anywhere, but took the time to sort out this unforgettable interview, and it took him a week before he mailed the article he had written and the full-body photo given by Yang Rui to the British Times newspaper; For China's Beijing-Tianjin Times, he wrote a separate story and slightly changed the wording of some of the sentences to make his position appear more neutral. I also attached a photo and sent it out.

Raymond, the editor of the Beijing-Tianjin Times, was a little surprised to receive Morrisson's letter, especially the full-body photo of Yang Jingcheng, the leader of the revolutionary party, in the propaganda of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The legendary leader of the revolutionary party, Yang Jingcheng, is a murderer and a butcher, but from this photograph he looks mild like an English gentleman. Raymond suppressed the excitement in his heart, and then opened Morrison's article, only to see the title: The Ancient Republic.

The Beijing-Tianjin Times is entirely the bible of foreigners in northern China, but the main thrust of the newspaper has always been to "import Western culture to inspire reform in China", as for China's historical tradition. is often the target of his fierce criticism. Raymond frowned a little when he first saw the title, but after reading through the entire article, he thought it was just an interview and not an editorial. Coupled with the fact that this is completely exclusive and the clearest photo of Yang Jingcheng so far, he still made the decision to publish the full text.

On April 25, the circulation of the Beijing-Tianjin Times hit a miracle. Although two thousand five hundred copies have been reprinted. But the newspaper was sold out before noon, and then it continued to print 5,000 copies, but it was still not enough, until the unresponsive Tianjin Patrol Police Bureau—or this could not be considered dull, after all, it was a foreigner's newspaper distributed in the concession—sent a note to the Ministry of Industry of the Concession, and the Bureau of Industry called the newspaper office to stop printing, and the printing stopped. But even so, the Beijing-Tianjin Times sold more than 10,000 copies that day. This had to be a miracle for a foreigner-run newspaper.

The Times was mainly bought by the gentry and students in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as from distribution stations across the country. After Yanzhou's big victory. In the eyes of the Manchu magnates and gentry, Yang Jingcheng has become a giant like Hong Yang, depicted with a green face and fangs, and a hideous appearance, and what he did was exactly like Hong Yang, to break off the Confucian tradition of poetry, writing, etiquette and music for thousands of years, so as to promote the quintessence of the country and national studies. Although these things are not as ridiculous as Hong Xiuquan's worship of God, they are more heretical than worship of God. This time, the Chinese edition of The Times has a full-body photo of Yang Jingcheng, and there is also an exclusive interview with foreign reporter Dr. Mo, so the adults naturally want to buy it and read it to see what this new "Yang Xiuqing" has to say.

Most of the students in Tianjin, Beijing and other places bought the English version in order to seek the original taste, and most of them were celebrators after the Manchu Qing announced the opening of the Congress, but the Congress was open for almost a year, and only saw the parliamentarians arguing, and there were taxes and donations in various places, and many students began to agree with the propaganda of the Revival Society, that is, the overall corruption of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could not bring any benefits to the country, but only brought more harm. Of course, more students put the responsibility of raising taxes and donations on the head of the Revival Association, and it is precisely because they want to exterminate the rebellious party of the Revival Association that they will increase donations and taxes. Now that the leader of the revolution, or rather, the leader of the chaotic party, has an exclusive interview with a foreign journalist, it must be bought and seen.

In addition to the gentry and students, the patrol police in Beijing and Tianjin also bought no less than 2,000 copies, and for the police sergeants who were paid only a few oceans a month, buying a five-cent newspaper was very likely to have a profit of 300,000 taels -- if they were familiar with Yang Jingcheng's appearance, if they were caught by great luck, they would be rewarded with 300,000 taels of silver regardless of whether they lived or died, and this money was enough for the family to be prosperous and rich for eight lifetimes.

Ordinary people buy or watch the excitement, or point fingers, but for some powerful people in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it is an excellent material for studying Yang Jingcheng. In Prince Su's mansion, Shanqi read the newspaper and then said to Cheng Jiaqi: "What kind of person is Yang Jingcheng?" Have you seen him? ”

"Back to the prince, this person saw it when he was in Tokyo." Cheng Jiaqi had read this newspaper long before Shanqi summoned him, and he admired the revival society for being able to pull out Hong Fan Jiuchou to cheer for nationalism, and he couldn't help but think of Zhang Taiyan, which was probably what he turned out of the pile of old papers. However, as a die-hard supporter of Sun Wen, he did not approve of the national essence of the Renaissance Society, but believed that this was just the political propaganda of the Renaissance Society, and its purpose was to suppress the Three People's Doctrine of the League. For this reason, when Shanqi wanted to listen to his opinion on Yang Jingcheng, he said calmly: "Lord Wang, if Daqing is really going to die, it must be in the hands of this person." ”

Cheng Jiatan's language was sharp, but Shanqi was still full of smiles, and only asked, "Why do you say this?" ”

"Lord Wang, Yang has always been a person who has always planned and then moved, and he has never lied, and his revival army is a division of a hundred battles, and it will take time. That must be the Northern Expedition. Besides, this revival society has always liked to take root in the countryside, but now there is civil unrest all over the country, once it is used. The consequences are unpredictable. "Cheng Jiaqi incarnated as a good counselor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and his single-mindedness seemed to be only for the Qing Dynasty, which only made Shanqi feel very inappropriate.

"It turns out that the revolutionary party also has party disputes." Shanqi closed his eyes for a while, and said with regret and sigh.

"Lord Wang, there are right and wrong revolutions." Cheng Jiaqi did not hide his identity as an alliance, and replied very calmly.

"Where is the right and wrong, I'm afraid it's a struggle for power and profit." Shanqi smiled. As a nobleman, he still understands the things in the depths of the court, and he also understands the strife within the revolutionary party. "I think this Yang actually becomes more reasonable than what your Sun Wen said. My Qing Dynasty is really rotten to the roots, and if the problems on this root are not removed, how can the branches of the trees grow luxuriantly, but it's a pity! What a pity! If it weren't for his bent on rebelling. I also asked him to be a cabinet minister. But. Now, this Yang Jingcheng still has to be eliminated, and he is the number one enemy of my Qing Dynasty. ”

Seeing that Shanqi listed Yang Jingcheng as the number one enemy of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Cheng Jiaqi didn't care about his sarcasm, but just bowed down and said: "Wang Ye Mingjian." ”

In the answering room of Prince Su's mansion, Liang Qichao in the imperial study in the palace was also answering similar questions from Guangxu, but unlike the calm Cheng Jiatian, he was sweating. "Your Majesty. Although there is some truth in what Yang Jingcheng said, it cannot be generalized. The revolutionary party is a lonely person with no concern. Rectifying the rule of officials can just make room for their own people, and the court can't be corrupt at will, once this happens, those gentry and officials will turn the sky upside down, which is a matter of self-chaos. ”

In Morrison's interview, Yang Rui discussed the most important reason for the incorrigibility of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was the corruption of Manchu officials. Guangxu was deeply impressed by this, when the Beiyang Fleet was formed earlier, an egg in the palace cost ten taels of silver, but the eggs sold outside were only a few cents at most, thousands of times worse, and the forbidden palace was so corrupt, let alone the officials outside. After returning to power, Guangxu wanted to purge the officials, but his position was not stable, and he did not dare to act rashly, and then the Hangzhou Revolutionary Party raised the uprising, and finally the Congress was convened, and things happened one after another. When the Congress is convened, it is not for him to be able to act arbitrarily and arbitrarily to purge the rule of officials, even if the Congress passes a bill to eliminate corruption, it will have no effect, and the corrupt officials are not individual, but all, not in one year or two, but since the Qianlong period.

"Zhuoru, then I ask you, how to solve the current situation?" Thinking of the Congress, Guangxu only felt a burst of resentment, but the last time Yanzhou was defeated, his hand that slapped the glass in anger still hurt faintly, so he had to calm down and ask Liang Qichao carefully.

"Back to the emperor, for the sake of today's plan, there is only one way to clear the eradication, and to clear the eradication, the only way is to train the soldiers. Now the 36 towns across the country have stopped practicing, and the emperor is asked to retrain with grace. Since the Yanzhou side was defeated, it was necessary to encircle and not suppress it first, wait for the new army in various places to be successful, and then mobilize hundreds of thousands of new troops to attack the Yanzhou Revolutionary Party. After the defeat of Yanzhou, Liang Qichao asked his beloved apprentice Cai Jie, and as a soldier, Cai Yi had long been concerned about the situation in Yanzhou. In the battle in the mountains, the terrain is not familiar, and only by pressing every inch as the plan formulated by the War Department in the previous time can we have a chance of winning, and if we want to drill the ravine with the revolutionary army, we will not be able to defeat them.

"So you have to donate more?" Guangxu looked unwilling.

"Go back to the emperor. It is true that it is necessary to increase donations and increase the number of units in order to organize and train the new army, and only by forming and training the new army can the Yanzhou Revolutionary Army be exterminated. Now that the whole country is in turmoil, if we can't do everything possible to exterminate the revolutionary party, I am afraid that they will take advantage of the chaos to rise up. Liang Qichao said.

"Now that Yanzhou's military expenditure has spent nearly 20 million taels, and then the new army is being trained, what did Yuan Shikai say earlier? The start-up cost of a town is at least 1.5 million taels, and the annual army is at least 1.2 million taels. Now that the new army in the seven towns and the 50,000 or 60,000 patrol troops are not able to make contributions, is it really necessary for 200,000 new troops to be wiped out? 200,000 new troops, not to mention the rest, the operating expenses alone will cost more than 20 million taels, plus the war expenses will cost more than 50 or 60 million taels. The more Guangxu said, the more angry he became, he only hated being tied by the Congress, and he was even more ruthless that those minions were useless and couldn't make contributions in a war.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty!" Liang Qichao looked at Zi Guangxu urgently, and could only think of a way to persuade him, "Organizing and training the new army is what the imperial court wants to do, and the 200,000 new army is only 20 towns, which is far from the plan of the new army in 36 towns, so the start-up cost of more than 2,000 taels is just a matter of going out early and coming late, and it is not too much, and the 30 million taels of war expenses ......, if you can make a contribution in one battle, then maybe you don't need to spend so much money." After he said this, seeing that Guangxu was still worried, he knelt on the ground with a puff and said: "Your Majesty, you must not forget the Battle of the First Sino-Japanese War, when the Japanese raised tens of thousands of yuan in military expenses, and I only had tens of millions of taels in the Qing Dynasty, although I saved money when the war started, but in the end I lost 20,000 taels of silver." If Beiyang could have 50 million taels of military spending back then, I am afraid that the Qing Dynasty would not lose that war. (To be continued......)