In contrast to the Mauritania tragedy, the deportation of Russian citizens from the Far East was immediately forgotten by the world. The waters of the Atlantic Ocean are still cold even in the fourth month of the Jesus calendar, and now it is only the beginning of the third month of the Jesus calendar, once the cruise ship capsizes, even if they escape from the cabin, the passengers can not hold out in the icy sea for a few minutes, so even if the nearby fishing boats hear the news and come to the rescue, they can only save those who are lucky enough to climb into the lifeboat, but they are only facing a sea of corpses.

The people of the world, or rather the people of the United States, were shocked! Not to mention the loss of 304 Americans, the misfortune of those 2,083 passengers alone is enough to have a great sense of justice and believe in the clear destiny of the American cowboys. As in history, British and American public opinion unanimously agreed that this was a premeditated massacre, while Germany insisted that it had stated in advance in the newspapers that it would be dangerous for itself to take a belligerent cruise ship through the war zone, and claimed that the fact that a 30,000-ton cruise ship hit a torpedo and completely indulged in it in just ten minutes was simply caused by the large amount of arms and ammunition on the cruise ship.

The German arguments were justified in their own eyes, but they were the most outrageous sophistries in the eyes of British and French public opinion, and the British people spontaneously expelled the German expatriates in the country, smashed the glass of the German shops, and even set fire to their houses in order to force them to leave their places of residence, while the adult men were all imprisoned and imprisoned in concentration camps. And in the United States. As the public declared war on Germany became louder and louder, President Wilson issued a stern diplomatic note to Germany, putting all the pressure on Germany to abandon its unrestricted submarine warfare.

Wilson's impudent demands were unbearable even for Secretary of State Brian. Not only did he discover that the sunken Mausitaria was indeed carrying a huge amount of munitions, but he was inclined to accept the German ambassador's suggestion that Britain abandon its starvation blockade of Germany. And Germany will abandon submarine warfare in the form of a qiē. He also spoke-for-tat about Wilson's hidden double standard, 'If no one is against starving a country.' So why all the fuss about drowning a few people? ’

Clearly, Bryan's remarks angered Wilson, and a month later he resigned as secretary of state, replacing him with Robert Brown. Lansing. Lansing adhered to Wilson's concept of justice and continued to put pressure on Germany, but at this time, because Wilson was about to face a second general election, and his campaign slogan was 'he keeps us away from war', the matter of pressuring Germany to abandon unlimited submarine warfare eventually came to an end.

The international situation is changing. After learning that the entire Renaissance Army had been dispatched to drive out the Russians in the northeast, the revolutionaries in Kunming only felt that black clouds were crushing the city, and that most of the munitions coming ashore from Annam had been blown up during transportation.

In the eight provincial capitals of Kunming and the headquarters of the Revolutionary Army, the people who were still hanging black cloths for Cai Yi, who was assassinated by the spies of the Fuxing Society, were discussing whether to retreat or stay. Unlike when he was in Vietnam, Chen Qimei at this time advocated that if the revival army attacked, his own side should defend step by step, and every inch of land would be contested; And Hu Hanmin and others, who advocated an attack before. At this time, in the name of the scarcity of ammunition and the lack of training of soldiers, he hoped to retreat to Annam to preserve his strength first, and then attack when the soldiers were fully trained.

The rhetoric of Hu Hanmin and others only made Chen Qimei smile, but it was for the sake of unity. He was not good at being sarcastic in person, so he had to report this matter to Sun Wen and let him decide. Sun Wen was also extremely contradictory about this, during this time the revolutionary army and the revival army exchanged fire in the direction of Xufu and Qujing, although it was mountainous. However, the artillery fire of the Fuxing Army was extremely fierce, and Yizuo (present-day Fuyuan County) had not been reinforced by the Cantonese army. That's almost lost. Later, it was found in the China Times that there was only one battalion of the Fuxing Army attacking that day, not a brigade of the First Army, which was always estimated by Hu Yisheng. His original revolutionary pride suddenly fell into the abyss.

In the words of the Russian Major General Madahan, soldiers can be trained in a short time, but officers cannot, low-level officers must not only have the determination to dare to die, but also have the ability to act at the opportunity, while middle and high-level officers must read the battlefield and be good at organizing plans, so that the army can guarantee victory, and now the Guangdong army and the Yunnan army are all troops that have never fought before, so if they want to win, they must pay extremely heavy sacrifices.

Ma Dahan's words seemed to be still in his ears, and Sun Wen pondered for a while before asking, "Ince, Hanmin, do you say that Yunnan can be defended?" ”

"Sir,......" Hu Hanmin and Chen Qimei replied in unison, but the two always have a first, and Chen Qimei asked Hu Hanmin to speak first as usual.

"Sir, the people's livelihood in Yunnan is withering, even if the previous government excavated the tax source, the fiscal revenue was only 10 million taels, and we have lost the hearts of the people and the army in our ...... here, and we cannot build a peasant association like the Fuxing Association in a short period of time, and the taxes that can be collected are very small. The Russians have already supported us in two batches of arms and ammunition, and now that the price of arms is getting more and more expensive, I am afraid that it is impossible for them to support again......"

Hu Hanmin nagged, he was against the killing of Cai Yi, and he didn't want Chen Qimei to cut through the mess quickly, so he killed Cai Yi and the Yunnan officers in one night, and in the end, Luo Peijin, Li Gengen, Li Liejun and others also deviated from morality. The 39 master army was discouraged, although the rumors in the army were suppressed by killing people later, but who would dare to use such a Yunnan army? According to the feedback from the front, they broke up at every turn on the front line, and even if there was a supervising team in charge, most of the time they would shoot their guns into the sky, and when it was dark, they would not be able to fight at all.

Hu Hanmin seems to be reasonable, but in Chen Qimei's view, the fundamental reason for the 39th Division's behavior is that Mr. is too kind-hearted, and he wants to save face, and he refuses to kill all the Yunnan officers, so he has to keep some of them to show mercy. In fact, starting from the poisoning of Cai Yi, this matter can only be done more and more wrongly, and if there is still one officer in the army who was born in the Yunnan Martial Arts Hall, it will affect the morale of the entire army, unless these people accept the name - they themselves also kill a few Yunnan officers.

As for money and soldiers, this is not a problem at all. If the landlords and rich households are killed and their property and land are divided, how can there be a saying that the people's livelihood is withered and the tax revenue is limited? And those soldiers, either let them participate in the killing, or leave their families in Kunming. In this way, what kind of deserters will there be.

Hu Hanmin chattered. Chen Qimei muttered in her heart, waiting for Hu Hanmin to finish speaking. When Sun Wen looked at him, he said: "Sir, this is not the time to look ahead and look backwards, and the kindness of a woman, the road in Yunnan is steep, the ravines are crisscrossed, and what if the Revival Army has artillery?" Ten years ago, the Fuxing Society held Yanzhou, and the reason why it was able to hold it all lay out the soldiers' lives and the terrain was dangerous. Yanzhou is only a state, and Yunnan is a province, and our manpower, financial resources, guns, and roundabout range are much better than when they were in Yanzhou.

The most important thing now is to unify the ideas of the revolution. What is the idea of revolution? That is, the idea that power belongs to the revolution, Yunnan's manpower, financial resources, and all kinds of resources can be used for the sake of the revolution free of charge, and those who do not obey are opposed to the revolution and should be severely punished, only in this way can the revolution have hope of success.

I remember that when the Revival Society was in Yanzhou, it not only confiscated all the property of the wealthy families and landlords in Yanzhou, but also distributed their acres of land equally to the tenants, and the peasant associations that are all over the world today were born from this. Now the whole of China is the Yanzhou of the Renaissance Society. Although they did not confiscate the property and land of the rich and landlords at this time, their purpose was the same, and this time the land reform was nothing more than a copy of the confiscation in Yanzhou that year, but the method used was relatively modest. We should also be like the revival committee did in Yanzhou. confiscate the land of wealthy households and landlords......"

"Joke!" Chen Qimei's words Liao Zhongkai couldn't hear half a sentence, especially when he heard that he wanted to learn from the practice of the Revival Society in Yanzhou, he really couldn't help it. "Brother Ince. Mr. Takayama's lifelong pursuit was a democratic republic, and a democratic republic recognizes private property. Today, we are waging a war to protect the law, and its purpose is because Yang Jingcheng has betrayed the constitution and seized the people's wealth. If we were like them. Then what law do we still protect? And in the past few months, the revolutionary aspirants in the provinces who defected to us because they did not accept Yang Jingcheng's tyranny, what will these revolutionary youths think? ”

"Now is not the time to talk about the rule of law and democracy, now we are facing a war, if we lose, then how can this law be protected?" Chen Qimei is not good at theory, only good at practice, and in the face of Liao Zhongkai's questioning, he can only talk about things.

"The vitality of our party lies in the fact that democracy and republic are the trend of the people and the general trend of history. The imperial autocracy of the Renaissance Society will one day be abandoned by the people, and if our Party is like the Renaissance Society and usurps the people's wealth and ignores the people's will, then our foundation will be lost. Whether it is a victory in Yunnan for a while, or a victory in the hearts of the people for a long time, Ince and your comrades should have their own estimates. Liao Zhongkai said. "A comrade in the United States called and said that President Wilson had privately expressed his strong support for China's ongoing movement to protect the law, which he called 'the most gratifying awakening of the authoritarian empire.'" It's just that because of the general election, it is not easy for him to express his support for us in public. But if we, like the Renaissance, would President Wilson think? ”

"If you can't hold Yunnan, you can't fight. What good would it do if the whole world supported us? "The debate seems to be mastered by Liao Zhongkai, who is familiar with theory, and Chen Qimei, who has no culture, has to put facts and reason." Let's not forget, what help has Wilson given us in the past few years of displacement? Now that Yang has made a good deal with Japan, he has made this voice, but even so, what can he support us? After all, there is no real conflict of interest between the United States and China, and they just support us in words. On the contrary, it is Russia that has an urgent territorial dispute with China, which is why they have supported us several times. Now the tsar is very dissatisfied with us, and he thinks that it is better to give the money back to Xinjiang than to give it back to us. ”

The confrontation between the tsar and President Wilson gave Sun Wen a real headache, and he hoped that the United States, which supported him, was often cold to him, but was given the greatest support to the revolutionary party by his despised autocratic emperor, which may be the helplessness of reality. Seeing that Liao Zhongkai and Chen Qimei were still arguing, he coughed and spoke: "At the beginning of the establishment of the alliance, there was 'the establishment of the Republic of China and equal land rights' in the program, and now although we only have one province in Yunnan, the average land rights can still be effectively implemented, especially now in the war period, I agree with the idea of a qiē power being returned to the revolution in principle, and the key is how this should be operated......

Seeing that Sun Wen agreed to his request, Chen Qimei was overjoyed and said, "Sir, this qiē is planned," he said and coughed, glancing at Dai Jitao, who was sitting at the bottom. Dai Jitao came to Yunnan after handing over the work in Shanghai to Shao Piaoping, but the propaganda work here was presided over by Hu Hanmin, Liao Zhongkai and others, and he could only be a cold bench.

Now in full view, Chen Qimei pushed it out. He glanced at the people above very unconfidently, and said respectfully: "Sir has a foresight for today's situation. The theory of equal land rights and the cultivator's own land is aimed at this. ”

As soon as Dai Jitao opened his mouth, he was a sycophant, which made the Cantonese people who had long been disdainful of him. But since he opened his mouth, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue, he said: "In order to protect the self-cultivated peasant households and rich peasants, the small households within 50 mu are basically fully compensated for the land price; For those landlords, they were discounted, and the reason they gave was that the landlords took advantage of the famine to exploit the peasants and collect the land at a low price, so the discount should be. The average land price in the country is 221 mu, and even if it is discounted and discounted, it is more than 100 million taels. They couldn't come up with the money, so they had to use the grain to offset it and give it in installments. In the final analysis, this is still to pay the rent, but the rent is only paid for ten years and then there is no need to pay, this method seems fair, but in fact it is very exploitative......"

Dai Jitao was also as nagging as Hu Hanmin, and just when everyone was about to stop, he said: "Mr. traveled to Mijing in the past and said: 'The country makes silver paper, the sun rises and the sun is more, and the people are not good and have no money. The country is also not good and has no money, and if the Chinese revolution succeeds in the future, it can be printed more silver paper in this way. The country will be rich and strong. [Note:]'Now that there is a shortage of money for the average land rights, why not print more silver paper, and use the silver paper to purchase the cultivated land of the landlords in exchange for the gold and silver of the rich households. In this way, not only can the land rights be equalized, but also the military salary can be enriched. ”

Dai Jitao must be called Mr. Liao Zhongkai Some people are not good at-for-tat at the moment, and Fang Shengtao and others want to question it. Under the table, I don't know who pulled me. A room full of party members looked at Sun Wen and wondered how he would decide. Sun Wen knew that his words and deeds had long been recorded by Feng Freedom, but he didn't know that his trip to the American continent more than ten years ago was well known to this young man in front of him, he was happy in his heart, and said in a harmonious voice: "This comrade is ......"

There are so many people in the revolutionary party, not every great leader remembers, now that the great leader asks for his name, Dai Jitao's face suddenly heated, and he hurriedly stood up and bowed: "Mr. Hui, my name is Dai Jitao." ”

"Good. Good. Sun Wenlian said two good, and praised this young man who was good at summarizing what he said and did, and was good at flexible application, and he said: "Comrade Ji Tao said very well. Now we don't have so much gold and silver to buy the landlord's land, so we can only redeem it with silver paper, and unlike the Revival Society, we don't need to discount and pay in installments, and we redeem the land expropriated by the government in full; The money used in the province will also be changed to silver paper, prohibiting the circulation of gold and silver, so that the value of those silver paper can be reflected, and then the landlords will not say that we give a blank paper, but real gold and silver that can buy things. In addition, we can use the gold and silver obtained by exchanging huàn silver paper to buy guns and ammunition in the United States, which is a good move! ”

Sun Wen was full of smiles, only feeling that a big problem had been solved, and he couldn't help but look at Dai Jitao a few more times, becoming more and more satisfied with him. After he finished speaking, he asked Hu Hanmin: "Hanmin, I remember that when we came to Yunnan, we seemed to have brought a hand-cranked printing press that used to print revolutionary public bonds, right?" ”

"Yes, sir, it has been brought." Hu Hanmin said.

"Then change the revolutionary public debt to revolutionary silver paper." Sun Wen commanded. "In addition, as soon as the silver paper is printed, a notice from the military government will be posted, requiring that only silver paper be used in the market, and no gold or silver should be used. Then there is the announcement that the cultivators have their own land, and it must be made clear that our expropriation of cultivated land is a full redemption, and the people do not need to pay grain in installments, and the land rent will be exempted from this year. ”

Sun Wen's words were full of momentum, and the audience applauded. It's just that after the meeting ended, Chen Qimei's brother Chen Qicai pulled him and said, "Second brother, what are you doing here?" If it weren't for the Russians' desperate efforts to procure arms, so much paper money they lent to the peasants last year would have been run on long ago. You don't have any gold or silver reserves now, how can you issue paper money indiscriminately? Now those Cantonese guys don't like you, and if something happens, you will be the first person to be thrown out to atone for the crime. ”

The relationship between banknotes and gold and silver is fully known to Chen Qicai, who was born in Wuxing, and even Chen Qimei, who has been working in a pawnshop for more than ten years, knows what the banknotes are used for. Now when he heard his younger brother's question, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, we don't have gold and silver, but we can control the food in our hands." If you have food, you will have money, and this trick will not help. ”

"Grain?" Chen Qicai's mind turned around when he heard this, and he shook his head again and said, "This is also not good." Yunnan transportation is inconvenient, it is very convenient for people to carry paper money, and it is too difficult to transport grain, how can you not keep up with those who take paper money to trade. ”

"What if you can't keep up?" Chen Qimei sneered, "Each person's daily purchase must be limited, and buying more is disrupting the economic order. Haha......" Chen Qimei laughed when she finished speaking, and her tears were about to come out. He said: "In fact, the specific revolutionary strategy will go through the road according to the Revival Society, and Yang Jingcheng can have today, and this set of methods has made great contributions." In this way, not only can the rich households in the province be stripped away, but also a lot of good words and support from mud legs. What we have to do is nothing more than to fight the world with the money of the rich and the lives of the poor. When the revolution is successful, the rich will promote a few councillors or members to appease and appease; If the poor let them recuperate, they will be grateful. ”

In Chen Qimei's view, in addition to Yang Jingcheng's ability to seize the opportunity, more reason is the proper use of strategy. Now he also grasped the Sino-Russian war, as well as the relationship between Liang Qichao's master and apprentice here, and went public in Yunnan through a backdoor listing, and the next thing to use is the tricks that the Fuxing Association used in Yanzhou back then, he does not seek to defend Yunnan for four or five years like the Fuxing Society, he only needs to hold it for one or two years, and when the European war is over, Yunnan, which is backed by Britain and France, will still have a glimmer of life.

As for his younger brother's belief that once the matter is not done, he will be thrown out by Sun Wen and others to atone for the crime, he is not worried. As the saying goes, 'the husband is not afraid of death, and he is afraid of death', if there is no such burden, then how can the revolution be made? Besides, Mr. Chungsan has already put his heart on him, and if he wants to become the first person to revolutionize under him, he must make some achievements.

On the same day, a letter from the revolutionary military government was printed with a proclamation announcing the need for equal land rights, and the whole city of Kunming was shocked. Although the proclamation said that all the cultivated land would be expropriated at market value, no one believed that the revolutionary party had any money because of the rubles that no one wanted, and the day after the proclamation was posted, some people packed up and left the city. I didn't want Chen Qimei to expect this, the rich people in the city had also investigated clearly, and those who wanted to leave were immediately arrested, convicted of being a traitor, and beheaded at the gate of the military government.

This shocked the whole of Yunnan. Those who had not been converted to the Church before should now hurry up and join the Church, so that the foreign priests and priests can protect themselves; Those who can walk away will find every opportunity to leave. However, at this time, due to the acceleration of the progress of the Russian drive from the Outer Northeast, the Beijing government has announced that it will send troops to quell the Yunnan rebellion, and its offensive route is the same as that of Fu Youde to Yunnan in the early Ming Dynasty, all the way from Xufu (Yibin) in Sichuan to Yunnan through Zhaotong; The other way marched directly from Panxian in Guizhou, attacked Qujing and approached Kunming.

The first road is more than 600 kilometers, which is not in a hurry, but the latter road is much closer, only less than 300 kilometers, and this road is led by Xie Ruyi and other Yunnan generals who were transferred by the central government the year before last, and they knew that the revolutionary party had killed their former comrades in the army in Kunming, and they were eager to fly to Kunming to crush Sun Wen and others to ashes, so the offensive was extremely fierce. Within a few days, Yizuo was captured, and then without waiting for a rest, he attacked Baishui Pass (now Baishui Town, Zhanyi County) at night, and defeated Hu Yi, the commander-in-chief of the First Army of the Revolutionary Army, who was personally stationed here.

As soon as the Baishui Pass is lost, the first thing to bear the brunt is Zhanyi, and Zhanyi is called the key to Yunnan since ancient times, and it is the gateway to Qujing, and Qujing is also known as the leader of Yunnan. If Qujing is broken, then the whole province of Yunnan will not be able to defend it. Before openly and covertly expelling Cai Yi's rescue division to Yunnan to rebel, the General Staff had drawn up a plan to attack Qujing from Panzhou, Guizhou, and the necessary materials had arrived in Guiyang as soon as possible. In the current situation, the success or failure of Yunnan is all in the battle of benefits. (To be continued......)

PS: Note: Huang Sande's oral account, the history of the Hongmen Revolution, 7. The experience of the tour.