Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 128

Seeing the soldiers' high morale during the march, Cai E felt more confident about the upcoming battle plan. On March 11, after arriving in Datong, Cai E convened a military conference for the First Army Group, where he announced two things.

"Based on the current situation of the war in the north, and due to the different missions, the Military Commission has decided to divide the First Army Group into two: Fu Cixiang's troops in the Jinzhou direction will be separately established as the Northeast Detachment, and the troops west of Zhangjiakou will be established as the Northern Army Group, comprising the First Division, the Seventh Division, the Fourteenth Division, and the First, Second, and Fourth Cavalry Divisions..."

The second thing is that the Party Central Committee and the Military Commission have approved our submitted Northern Plan and supplementary proposal. In the next two months, the Military Commission will draw the Third and Ninth Divisions as our reserve forces…”

The news announced by Cai E brought mixed feelings of joy and worry to the generals attending the meeting. They were pleased because they had the opportunity to take on a major responsibility. Although they had won the Battle of Zhangjiakou, they had, in principle, been supporting the Beiyang Army in the Shanhaiguan campaign, blocking the Russian flank attack. After the Beiyang Army launched the Battle of Jinzhou, the victory at Zhangjiakou seemed somewhat less significant.

After all, nominally Yuan Shikai was the true commander-in-chief of the war against Russia. From Shanhaiguan to Zhangjiakou, the Wuhan army was at most just assisting the Beiyang Army. Domestic public opinion attributed the credit for the war against Russia to Yuan Shikai, and ordinary people could not tell the difference at all.

Therefore, those generals from Wuhan felt somewhat resentful. They were clearly the ones who deserved the most credit, and even the Beiyang Army itself thought so. However, due to the hype in the media, Yuan Shikai became the biggest contributor. Cai E's Northern Plan naturally gained their support; they hoped to prove themselves through an independent war.

However, the Northern Plan was initially only intended to recapture Kulun. Now, with Cai E's continuous additions to the plan, the goal has become to directly cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway. This has made everyone hesitant, wondering whether the plan can succeed.

Cai E clearly had a comprehensive plan. He walked to the map and said to the generals, "Our goal is actually only one: Verkhovnsk on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This city is only about 70 kilometers away from Lake Baikal. Before the railway was built, it was a trade transit point between Kyakhta and Irkutsk, which is why the town prospered."

However, before the railway opened in 1899, the town's population was less than 10,000. After the railway opened, the town's population grew rapidly due to its location between Irkutsk, Chita, and Kulun, and it is now said to have over 10,000 inhabitants. This city is also the most populous city between Irkutsk and Chita, and it has the largest military presence in the Transbaikal region of Russia, second only to Chita.

Having captured this city, the surrounding villages and towns have no chance to retaliate. If the Russian army wants to retake it, they will have to launch an attack from Irkutsk or Chita.

Although Irkutsk is relatively close to Verkhovna Udinsk and connected by rail, the terrain on the southern shore of Lake Baikal is complex. If the railway line is blocked, it will be difficult for the Russian army to launch a large-scale offensive. While the road from Chita to Verkhovna Udinsk is relatively easy to traverse, the Russian army is currently deploying large numbers of troops into Manchuria. Therefore, I conclude that the forces in Chita are certainly insufficient to confront our army.

Although Russia had hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Manchuria, it did not have a real industrial base in the Far East. In other words, once the Trans-Siberian Railway was cut off, the Russian forces in Manchuria lost their ability to supply themselves.

The Japanese army is currently attempting to launch the Battle of Mukden and the Battle of Harbin against the Russian army. This means that once we cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Russian army in Manchuria will inevitably run out of ammunition and food within six months. Therefore, as long as we can successfully capture Udinsk and hold it for at least three months, this war can be over.

In order to end the war as soon as possible and enter a period of peaceful reconstruction, we must take a risk…

The concerns of the crowd were ultimately dispelled by Cai E's advocacy for a swift end to the war. Although, from a strategic perspective, the entry of Japan into the war was actually favoring China, the news of Russia continuously reinforcing its troops in Manchuria still put considerable pressure on everyone. With the exception of a few, most people still viewed Russia as an invincible power. Even if they had encountered setbacks at sea, as long as the war on land continued, the endless stream of Russian troops would eventually overwhelm them.

Cai E then made significant revisions to the previous plan. The original plan was to advance step by step, first capturing Kulun, and then using Kulun as a base to threaten the Trans-Siberian Railway, thereby forcing the Russian army to divide its forces in the Selenga Valley. However, Cai E now advocated using cavalry divisions as the vanguard to launch a desperate forward assault, cutting off the connections between the various Russian strongholds, and then having the infantry follow up to gradually eliminate the Russian strongholds, thus forming a rapid breakthrough into the Russian defense zone between Kulun and the Selenga Valley.

Chapter 455 The War of Information

The discussions on the Manchu monarchical system that began in February and the anti-Confucian movement launched in Wuhan spread from local discussions to all parts of the country by March.

At the beginning of this new cultural movement, people from all walks of life—opposing the monarchical system, supporting the monarchical system, opposing traditional culture, and opposing Western culture—actively expressed their views.

However, Wuhan ultimately prevailed, not only because it had a propaganda department led by progressive intellectuals such as Chen Tianhua and Zou Rong, which was specifically responsible for studying the monarchical system and criticizing Confucianism and Confucius, but also because Wuhan had sufficient funds to support this war of public opinion.

The most important aspect of the war of public opinion is not possessing the truth, but rather convincing the public that what you possess is the truth. In a late Qing society rife with intellectual confusion, most people lacked the knowledge to discern the truth; they simply accepted what they could persevere with as the truth.

In 1907, to make your ideas known to people all over the country, it would cost at least 2 silver dollars. Just sending your ideas to major newspapers would cost several hundred silver dollars in telegram fees. For an individual, this was an astonishing sum; to engage in a verbal battle with someone, one would have to give up the income from at least several hundred acres of land.

Although China's newspaper industry had not yet entered the era of daily publications like those in Europe and America, news reporting every three days was still quite feasible. This meant that you needed to respond at least eight or nine times a month to maintain a public debate. If you only responded once or twice a month, while others could publish eight or nine articles attacking you, onlookers would simply think you had run out of arguments.

By the end of March, individuals had almost entirely withdrawn from this war of public opinion, and those who persisted were all spokespeople with connections. Even so, the old intellectuals who firmly supported the monarchical system and Confucianism were already in a position of being abandoned by mainstream society.

As discussed in Wuhan's research on the Manchu monarchical system, "...the Manchu monarchical system differed from Western monarchical systems because it lacked the core principle of protecting the people..."

The Qing dynasty's monarchical system differed from that of ancient China. While ancient China acknowledged the emperor as the Son of Heaven, the emperor's duty was to govern the people on behalf of Heaven, not to oppress and abuse them. Therefore, when a monarch failed to govern in accordance with the will of Heaven, he lost the Mandate of Heaven, and the dynasty ended…

Nurhaci's founding of the Qing dynasty involved massacring starving people in Liaodong, and Dorgon's entry into the Central Plains led to widespread slaughter of the Chinese people. Therefore, the Manchu conquest of China was not an act of submission to destiny, but rather a conquest by force. The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors further altered the core of the ancient Chinese monarchical system, combining the orthodox and legal systems into one, thus giving birth to the Manchu autocratic monarchy.

In ancient China's monarchical system, the world belonged to all the people, so the change of dynasties did not lead to the severance of the orthodox tradition. However, the Manchu Qing dynasty's autocratic monarchy emphasized that the world belonged to the Aisin Gioro clan, the Manchus. Therefore, the fall of the Qing dynasty meant the end of the imperial system…

The Wuhan study on the Manchu monarchical system essentially argues that a constitutional monarchy could not be established under the Manchu autocratic system, and that the Manchu monarchical system had come to an end. It was also impossible to establish a Han dynasty to implement a constitutional monarchy. Therefore, the National Assembly should not be discussing constitutional monarchy now, but rather how to end the dying Manchu monarchical system and usher in a new era of republic.

In discussions about the Qing dynasty's monarchical system, criticisms of Confucianism and Confucius began to resonate with the common people. After the abolition of the imperial examination system, Confucianism had essentially become a zombie, as fresh blood could no longer be injected into it. Those willing to defend Confucianism and Confucius were mostly so-called great Confucian scholars.

These great Confucian scholars relied on Confucianism and Confucius to maintain their status. During the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, these great Confucian scholars could not uphold their loyalty, filial piety, and integrity to the death. Many of them followed Empress Dowager Cixi and fled the capital. However, after they returned to the capital, they forced their wives and daughters who had survived the foreigners to commit suicide. With the opening of newspapers, this hypocritical face had long been spread.

The Kong family, in particular, first knelt before Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, then before Queen Elizabeth II of England, and even solemnly enshrined their photographs. This shameless behavior, amplified by Wuhan's vigorous propaganda, quickly became widely known. Therefore, when Wuhan launched its critique of Confucianism and Confucius, the Kong family's act of kneeling before foreign monarchs became the perfect weapon against Confucianism.

The rise of newspapers and vernacular Chinese meant that public opinion was no longer controlled by a small number of intellectuals. In fact, propaganda in the late Qing Dynasty was mainly aimed at the urban class. The Opium War and the Self-Strengthening Movement led to the disintegration of China's small-scale peasant economy. Large numbers of laborers emerged in open ports such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Wuhan, which completely changed the allocation and flow of resources in the small-scale peasant era.

During the Taiping Rebellion, the peasant army controlled the traditionally prosperous Jiangnan region, but was eventually suppressed by the Qing Dynasty. A key factor was that the foreign powers provided the Qing Dynasty with abundant material resources through the port city of Shanghai, which enabled the Qing Dynasty to suppress the peasant army even though it lost the Jiangnan region.

Following the signing of the Boxer Protocol, the Qing Dynasty's further opening to foreign powers allowed port cities to gain greater control over the resources of surrounding rural areas. For example, by 1907, Shanghai had surpassed Nanjing to become the center for resource circulation and allocation in the Liangjiang region. Therefore, although the Hunan clique held the position of Governor-General of Liangjiang, it was unable to integrate the manpower and resources of the region, while the constitutionalists from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, backed by foreign powers, gradually rose to prominence.

Needless to say, Wuhan's import and export trade volume surpassed Shanghai's in 1906, making it China's number one import and export trading port. The expansion of the Labor Party's influence in central China relied on Wuhan, as an industrial and commercial center, as its driving force. The same was true for Yuan Shikai's Beiyang clique; from Zhoucun in Shandong to Tianjin, industrial and commercial centers became the core foundation for the rise of various forces.

Whoever controlled these industrial and commercial centers effectively controlled the surrounding region. However, unlike Wuhan, the port cities along the coast, while developing rapidly, were mostly subject to the industrial and trade systems of the great powers, making it difficult for them to break free from their control. When the great powers cut off trade channels to these cities, they could no longer operate independently and thus lost their ability to function as regional production centers.

The so-called war of public opinion is essentially about winning over the urban middle class in these emerging industrial and commercial cities. The forces they favor will inevitably win the war of public opinion because the resources controlled by this group are the majority of the agricultural surplus that China can currently draw upon from the countryside. In the absence of interference from the great powers, whoever obtains these resources will be able to truly dominate China.

Of course, there is another way to counter this part of the urban population, which is the land revolution that Wuhan is promoting in the countryside. By redistributing land, the distribution of rural income is adjusted, and the agricultural surplus that was previously held by landlords is transferred to one's own hands. In this way, one can control more resources than this part of the urban population.

However, it is clear that apart from the Workers' Party in Wuhan, no other force would take such action. After all, in contemporary China, apart from the Workers' Party claiming to represent the interests of workers and peasants, other forces all asserted that they were defending the interests of the propertied class. Although the Tongmenghui, led by Sun Yat-sen, adhered to the revolutionary program of the Three Principles of the People, the principle of equal land ownership within the Three Principles of the People was almost universally rejected by its members.

Although outside of Wuhan, other forces were not very clear about which class they were trying to win over in this propaganda war; they could only vaguely regard the target as the entire nation.

However, the Beiyang clique and the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) still consciously safeguarded the interests of their respective groups and classes. As a union of Han Chinese bureaucrats and landlords, the Beiyang clique naturally opposed the Qing dynasty's autocratic monarchy, and even the constitutional monarchy was ambivalent. However, they opposed the criticism of Confucianism.

The Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) was a staunch anti-Manchu movement, opposing the continuation of the constitutional monarchy under the Qing dynasty. They supported replacing the Qing monarchy with a genuine republic, while offering limited support for the criticism of Confucianism. According to the Tongmenghui's principles, traditional culture was not entirely bad; when washing a child, one should not throw the child out with the bathwater.

Amidst such fierce resistance, although Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao still insisted on a constitutional monarchy, the constitutionalists of Jiangsu and Zhejiang began to hesitate about whether to continue adhering to the constitutional monarchy. While some members of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang constitutionalists held favorable views towards the Qing Dynasty, many others looked down on the Manchus. It was only to avoid a violent revolution that led to dynastic change that these individuals advocated for a constitutional monarchy within the existing monarchical system.

However, now, the two major power factions in the country clearly do not support the continuation of the Qing Dynasty. Although Yuan Shikai did not openly oppose the constitutional monarchy after winning the Battle of Jinzhou, he also expressed doubts about the Qing Dynasty's autocratic monarchy. Since the death of Emperor Xianfeng, the Qing central government had never been normal. One coup after another eventually created Empress Dowager Cixi, who controlled the government for decades, causing the country to decline continuously.

Yuan Shikai asked the reporter who came to interview him, "Liang Qichao often said that constitutional monarchy is excellent, and it seems that most of China's problems stem from the lack of a constitutional monarchy. I don't know much about constitutional monarchy, but if the monarchical system is so bad, can establishing a constitution really change the face of China?"

According to Wuhan, the Qing dynasty's autocratic monarchy reached its zenith, with the emperor's power surpassing not only that of foreign monarchs but also that of Chinese monarchs throughout history. Yet, this monarch with unlimited power was easily placed under house arrest by the Empress Dowager in Yingtai for eight or nine years, while everyone in the world turned a deaf ear. Who questioned this matter?

In my opinion, constitutionalism is about making the emperor follow the rules, but our country is precisely the least rule-abiding nation. Even a monarch with unlimited power can be placed under house arrest by a mere woman. Can a mere document really make the emperor follow the rules? What if the emperor doesn't follow the rules? I can't think of a solution. I wonder if Mr. Kang Youwei and Mr. Liang Qichao have any ideas…”

Chapter 456 Showdown

Aside from vehemently criticizing Yuan Shikai, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao could do nothing about this matter. This inability didn't stem from a lack of power to counter the political pressure exerted by Wuhan and the Beiyang clique, but rather from their inability to theoretically answer Yuan Shikai's final question.

Although Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao shifted from the Reform Movement to the constitutional monarchy, their fundamental stance remained on the enlightened autocracy of the monarch. The distinction between the monarch and his subjects was quite clear. Constitutionalism was intended to assist the monarch in better governance, not to limit the monarch's power. That's why they proclaimed themselves as loyal subjects of the emperor.

Yuan Shikai and his Beiyang military leaders did not understand what constitutional monarchy was. From Yuan Shikai's perspective, restoring the autocratic monarchy meant relinquishing his power, which was obviously unacceptable to him. The political abilities of the Beiyang generals below them were even worse. They simply felt that there were more and more supporters of constitutional monarchy, so they chose to follow the crowd.

Many constitutionalists in various regions did not actually understand what constitutionalism meant. They merely used it as an excuse to defend the traditional rights of the gentry. With the decline of central authority and the continuous expansion of foreign powers into the interior, the traditional alliance of officials and gentry could no longer resist the new forces of compradors and foreign powers. The pursuit of a new order that could protect their rights became the goal of these gentry.

Only a handful of people, such as Yang Du, truly wanted to introduce the Western constitutional monarchy system to politically transform old China and make up for the shortcomings caused by the Self-Strengthening Movement's focus on reforming society without changing politics.

Simply put, at that time, only one or two people in China truly understood what Western constitutional monarchy was: Yang Du and Liang Qichao. However, the latter was still pretending to be ignorant, trying to replace the core spirit of Western constitutional monarchy with traditional Eastern thought in order to maintain the continuation of the old tradition.

Because Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao only harbored the intention of exploiting constitutional monarchy to achieve Emperor Guangxu's goal of assuming personal rule, they were unable to refute Yuan Shikai's arguments. They knew they couldn't propose limiting imperial power; otherwise, their faction would have split.

Although Emperor Guangxu remained relatively calm upon seeing the interview with Yuan Shikai published in the newspaper, he said to those around him, "Yuan Shikai was never a loyal minister. Do you think I would expect him to support me?"

However, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao could no longer discuss cooperation with Yuan Shikai. In order to counter the growing military and political power of Wuhan, Kang and Liang had to propose a united front of various forces on the basis of constitutional monarchy to counter Wuhan. After all, apart from Wuhan and the Tongmenghui, other parties at least nominally supported the theory of constitutional monarchy.

Yuan Shikai's appointment of Yang Du as his political spokesperson provided a basis for a possible alliance between Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and the constitutionalists from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as there was still hope for cooperation under the common goal of establishing a constitutional monarchy.

However, with Yuan Shikai's question, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao could no longer obfuscate their views. Their pursuit of constitutional monarchy aimed to bring Emperor Guangxu back to the political center, while Yuan Shikai's question was to completely turn the emperor into a figurehead. If they agreed to this view, it would mean that the reformers would be purged from the political center, because they were a real monarchist who could only implement their political views by attaching themselves to the monarch.

To put it more clearly, if Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao had agreed with Yuan Shikai's views, then the people currently surrounding them would have completely dispersed. They would either have gone to Yuan Shikai or to Wuhan, otherwise they would have no chance to rise in the future because their political path would have been cut off.

The previous cooperative relationship under the constitutional monarchy theory collapsed due to the disagreement between the real monarch and the figurehead monarch. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, besides vehemently criticizing Yuan Shikai, really had little else to do, unless they abandoned their own political views.

Also harmed was Yang Du, who had been specially invited by Yuan Shikai to promote constitutional monarchy. Yang Du completely failed to understand the significance of Yuan Shikai releasing such an interview at this time, which rendered his efforts over the past few months in uniting various constitutionalists in vain.

Aside from Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, other forces supporting constitutionalism also hoped to establish an equal constitution under a common monarch. They were willing to let Yuan Shikai be the leader, but that did not mean that Yuan Shikai could be above everyone else. So what was the difference between Yuan Shikai and Wuhan?

Although Emperor Guangxu was not highly regarded, he still held a legitimate title, and people did not feel too humiliated to draft a constitution of equal status under such a monarch. However, Yuan Shikai now clearly intended to set aside the monarch and become the leader to whom the constitutionalists pledged allegiance, which was unacceptable.

Some believe that although the Qing dynasty's path seems untenable, with concerted efforts, a miracle like the Tongzhi Restoration could perhaps be recreated, given that China's current problems lie externally, not internally. However, if a change of dynasty were to occur, could Yuan Shikai withstand the bullying of the foreign powers?

Even with the Beiyang Fleet's victory at the Battle of Jinzhou, few believed it could withstand the invasion of the Western powers. After all, the main Russian forces were tied down by the Japanese, and the Beiyang Fleet merely benefited from an easy win. Putting aside other factors, if the Japanese navy hadn't defeated the Russian navy, how would the Qing Dynasty have resisted the rampage of Russian warships?

If, after Yuan Shikai came to power, everyone still had to kowtow to the foreign powers, then they might as well have remained loyal subjects of the Qing Dynasty, at least avoiding the stigma of being traitors. To put it more bluntly, if they couldn't preserve their power, it would have been better to choose a more capable force, at least one that could prevent China from being further devoured by the foreign powers. Clearly, Wuhan was more suitable to lead the country than Beiyang.

Therefore, once Yuan Shikai's interview was published, the constitutional alliance that Yang Du had painstakingly forged immediately collapsed, which naturally infuriated Yang Du. He stormed to Yuan Shikai's residence to resign, and despite Yuan Shikai's repeated attempts to persuade him to stay, it was to no avail. In the end, Yuan Shikai could only offer Yang Du a generous sum of travel expenses and respectfully see him off.

Yuan Shikai's confidants were puzzled by his sudden change of stance on constitutional monarchy. One of them couldn't help but ask privately, "If the Grand Secretary is worried that constitutional monarchy will strengthen the Emperor's power, then he could have waited until the process of constitutional monarchy was started before raising this issue. Isn't it all for naught now?"

Faced with his confidants' confusion, Yuan Shikai remained silent for a while before replying, "When Qin Lishan visited me last time, he asked me a question: which monarch can still trust me? I've thought about it for a long time, but I really can't find an answer. Do you think there's an answer to this question?"

This is, of course, a question without an answer. After betraying both Emperor Guangxu and the Empress Dowager, no matter who became emperor, it was impossible for them to believe that Yuan Shikai was a loyal subject. Even a traitor like Yuan Shikai, who was clearly opposed to the monarchical system, was now considered much more reliable by Emperor Guangxu than Yuan Shikai.

If we delve deeper into this question, it becomes even more perplexing. If a constitutional monarchy were established and the people were once again loyal to the monarch, could Yuan Shikai still control the Beiyang Army? Even if Yuan Shikai made the Beiyang officers and soldiers shout every day that they were eating the emperor's food and receiving the emperor's salary, how would Yuan Shikai support this army if the court didn't provide funding?

In order to maintain control over the Beiyang government, Yuan Shikai would inevitably need to establish regional separatist regimes. These regimes would be tantamount to opposing the central government's restoration of authority. Therefore, if a constitutional monarchy were to succeed, it would be tantamount to him digging his own grave. Thus, Yuan Shikai, who had previously attempted to unite various factions against Wuhan through a constitutional monarchy, quickly abandoned the idea due to personal interests.

Once Yuan Shikai realized what was happening, his confidants naturally dared not continue to persuade him to support the constitutional monarchy. From Yuan Shikai's personal perspective, he only had a chance of survival under a republican system; under a monarchy, his downfall was inevitable. After all, the Beiyang government could easily replace its leader to survive, but without the Beiyang government's support, he simply couldn't withstand the fate of being purged by the imperial court.

The once-booming wave of constitutional monarchy was dealt a heavy blow by an interview with Yuan Shikai, and public opinion began to split in an instant. This rapid shift in public opinion also shows that there was no basis for constitutional monarchy in the country at all; it was just a matter of listening to the loudest voice moving forward.

In early April, Qin Lishan visited Emperor Guangxu, hoping to have a private conversation with him. Emperor Guangxu then invited Qin Lishan to take a walk in the back garden. On the garden path, Qin Lishan bluntly told Emperor Guangxu: "Actually, I came to see Your Majesty on behalf of the Wuhan Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Committee. The committee wants to know how Your Majesty views the monarchy, constitutional monarchy, and republic."

Our Labor Party's position is that both monarchy and constitutional monarchy are outdated and cannot save China. Therefore, we are determined to push China towards a republican system...

Emperor Guangxu stopped and looked at the peach trees in full bloom by the pond. After thinking for a while, he said, "The West Garden is bigger than the entire Prince Qing's Mansion, but the only place I can stay is a few courtyards in Yingtai. At that time, I often thought, what is a monarch who possesses the wealth of the world? He can't even leave a small island."

Ten years ago, Tan Sitong and others told me that only I could save China. But in reality, I couldn't even save them, those around me, or even myself. I don't know if a republic could save China, but at least a monarchy can't. I'm powerless to save the country. If you believe it's beneficial, why should I oppose it?

Chapter 457 Ripples

In mid-April, Emperor Guangxu published a statement in the newspaper, mainly expressing his attitude in response to the debate between supporters of constitutional monarchy and republicanism during this period.

The statement asserts that regardless of whether it is an absolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, or a republic, it is not a crime for the people to express their opinions. The literary inquisitions implemented during the Qing Dynasty were indeed a major evil and the root cause of the current dynasty's inability to progress. Therefore, if the country wants to eliminate these malpractices, it must first achieve freedom of speech; otherwise, society cannot progress.

While Emperor Guangxu's statement resembled the Five Articles Oath, it went a step further. Although the Five Articles Oath claimed that all matters should be decided by public opinion, it did not address the Emperor's status. This statement, however, essentially opened the floodgates for discussions on ending the Qing Dynasty and the imperial system, allowing revolutionaries to openly discuss what constituted a republican system. Previously, such discussions about republicanism could only take place under the rule of Wuhan or abroad.

This statement dealt a heavy blow to the conservative gentry in the country, and even the people of Korea, Vietnam and Japan were shaken. No matter how much the East Asian countries disapproved of the Manchus' entry into China, after more than 200 years of Manchu rule, they still recognized the legitimacy of the Aisin Gioro imperial family.

Even without Emperor Guangxu's statement, the mere fact that the Chinese people in Wuhan were attempting to overthrow the Manchu imperial family had already begun to shake the foundations of the monarchical system. If the Chinese could overthrow their own monarch, did the people of Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and other countries have the right to overthrow their own monarchs?

Emperor Guangxu's statement further shook the people's belief in the monarchical system. The idea that the monarch's survival represented the survival of the country was replaced by the view that the monarch and the state should be separated. In order for the country to continue, it was acceptable to end the monarch's rule.

Intellectuals in Vietnam and Korea were the first to accept this change in China, as both countries faced the brink of national extinction. Although the people of these two countries had hoped that their monarchs could work hard like Japan and strengthen the country through reforms to escape the fate of being colonized, they found that their dreams were ultimately just empty words.

The person who felt this most deeply was Ahn Jung-geun, who had returned from India. As a descendant of the Enlightenment Party, he did not have much respect for the monarch of Joseon, because this king put the interests of the royal family above the interests of the country. In order to maintain the rule of the Joseon royal family, he did not hesitate to switch back and forth between the reformists and the conservatives, and in the end, he also exhausted the vitality of Joseon.

To weaken the pro-Manchu Daewongun, the King of Joseon supported the Enlightenment Party, which introduced Japanese influence to the Korean Peninsula. After the First Sino-Japanese War, as the Enlightenment Party's power grew, the King of Joseon supported the conservative faction, which introduced Russian influence to the peninsula. Seeing the increasing strength of the Russians on the peninsula, he once again feigned cooperation with the Japanese.

Under this so-called political balance of monarchical power, Korea lost its best opportunity for self-reform. With the start of this Far East war, Japan launched a large-scale military intervention in the Korean Peninsula. It was foreseeable that after the war, Japan would further control the peninsula, and Korea would find it difficult to have an independent foreign policy.

After returning to Korea last December, what Ahn Jung-geun saw was Japanese soldiers swaggering around the country, while Korean officials and civilians could only meekly step aside and congratulate these Japanese soldiers on their long military success. For a moment, he almost thought that Korea had been colonized by Japan.

Judging from the Japanese army's unbridled actions on the Korean Peninsula, Ahn Jung-geun finally admitted that Lin Xinyi was right: Japan had no intention of liberating Korea from Russia; they simply wanted to turn Korea into their prey.

When Ahn Jung-geun sought connections to make the court's high-ranking officials aware of Japan's ambitions, he suddenly discovered that almost no one in the country's upper echelons cared about Japan's ambition to annex Korea. They were only concerned about whether they could keep their own positions, and even desperately tried to get closer to Japan in order to erase the fact that they had previously made a wrong bet on Russia.

These high-ranking officials, including the King of Joseon, cared nothing for the future of the country or the Korean people. They only cared about one thing: how to ensure the continuation of the old order. To this end, they were willing to kneel before the Japanese and grovel in a pathetic display of subservience.

What surprised Ahn Jung-geun the most was that North Korea itself was already in dire straits, yet some "clever people" in the country were still dreaming of "losing one thing but gaining another."

For example, Li Fanyun, the "Northern Reclamation Island Observation Commissioner," was ordered by the court to go to the border to resolve the "Gando issue" between China and South Korea. The so-called Gando issue was actually about the yangban landlords in Korea exploiting tenant farmers too much, forcing these tenant farmers to flee to wasteland outside the country to cultivate in order to survive. This was originally just a temporary measure, but the Qing Dynasty's policy of confinement to Northeast China and the decline of the Qing Dynasty's power after the First Sino-Japanese War led to more and more Korean refugees crossing the border, and so what was not a problem became a problem.

Korean refugees crossed more than just the Yalu and Tumen Rivers; there were also large numbers of Korean refugees east of the Ussuri River. However, with Russia's power so great, the Korean Kingdom dared not discuss with the Russians that the wasteland cultivated by Koreans was Korean territory.

It was after the First Sino-Japanese War that Koreans began to look down on their former suzerain state, even daring to change their country's name to the Korean Empire and proclaim themselves Emperors of Korea, which led to the Gando issue. Korea itself had not yet truly broken free from the control of Japan and Russia, but some of the Yangban (Korean elites) in Korea had already begun to subtly harbor imperialist ambitions.

While embroiled in a dispute with China over the ownership of Gando, Lee Beom-yoon began plundering money from the Koreans in the border region to purchase weapons and build an army, attempting to resolve the issue of Gando's ownership by force. Upon hearing of this, Hanyang not only did not order an attempt to stop him, but also allocated him a batch of weapons, tacitly approving his actions.

At that time, Russia considered Manchuria as its own property and did not allow Li Fanyun's army to enter Gando. In fact, Russia even wanted to disarm this army in order to further control the North Korean region, so the Gando issue was shelved.

However, with Japan joining the war, Lee Beom-yoon's ideas became active again. He believed that while China was unable to take care of Manchuria, Korea should bring Gando under its actual control, so that it could have more favorable negotiations with China after the war.

Meanwhile, some yangban officials in the Hanyang court felt that regardless of whether Japan or Russia won the war, Korea would likely suffer losses. Therefore, they thought it would be better to seize a piece of land from China to compensate for Korea's lost interests. For the yangban officials, whose domestic land had already been divided up, the newly developed Gando reclamation area was indeed a lucrative target. Yi Beom-yoon easily plundered over 100,000 taels of silver, demonstrating the wealth of this reclamation area.

These yangban (aristocrats) didn't believe China would win the war at all, so they thought they were cutting flesh from a dead tiger and wouldn't face any risks. When Ahn Jung-geun received this news, he was greatly shocked. He immediately wrote to the court, trying to dissuade King Yi from doing such a foolish thing that would harm others and himself.

However, before King Lee could give him any reply, news of Lee Beom-yoon's defeat had already reached them. Lee Beom-yoon, who had made confident pronouncements at Hanyang before the battle, led five or six thousand Korean troops into Yanbian, only to be defeated by the Qing army there in less than a week later. The Korean army's incompetence led the Japanese to consider canceling their conscription of Korean troops.

The Japanese army was pleased with the Koreans' aggression towards Yanbian. On the one hand, it could completely destroy relations between China and Korea, allowing them to occupy Korea without worrying about Chinese opposition; on the other hand, the Chinese territory occupied by the Koreans would eventually become part of Japan, so why not?

However, the incompetence of the South Korean army drew protests from the Chinese side against the Japanese army. The Japanese army's entry into Chinese territory to plunder cattle, horses, and grain, forcibly conscript laborers, and use worthless military scrip for forced buying and selling had long been a source of resentment among the Chinese. Chinese loggers on the Yalu River border, unable to endure the forced labor by the Japanese army, even launched attacks on small Japanese units. This time, the Chinese also held the Japanese accountable.

Because of the battles of Zhangjiakou and Jinzhou, the Japanese army now values ​​China much more than before the war. After more than half a year of entering the war, Japan's domestic war potential has been almost exhausted. In the upcoming war against Russia, the Japanese army will need the cooperation of the Chinese army. Therefore, Japan can no longer ignore the protests from China.

According to some high-ranking Japanese army officials, disbanding the Korean army under the pretext of Chinese protests might not be a bad thing. The Japanese weren't just talking; Yi Beom-yoon's troops and several garrison units in the south were withdrawn. This derailed Ahn Jung-geun's plan, which was to persuade the court to grant him a force to enter China to support China's war against Russia.

However, because Ri Beom-yun provoked the Gando conflict, the Chinese clearly could no longer allow organized North Korean troops to enter their territory. Furthermore, Japan's actions to disband its North Korean forces indicated that Japan was accelerating its plans to annex Korea. If he were still the same Ahn Jung-geun, he would now be plunged into despair, as he saw no hope for North Korea's future.

However, after contacting the Workers' Party in Wuhan, he was no longer without support. The Wuhan side indicated that they would help him resolve the mediation issue regarding the entry of North Korean armed forces into Chinese territory, but also stated that the size of this armed force should preferably not exceed 300 people, in order to avoid provoking the emotions of Chinese border residents.

Thus began Ahn Jung-geun's arduous journey to find revolutionary comrades. He focused on his bodyguard, an army trained by Russians. Although small in number, this force was more militarily disciplined than local garrison troops, and most of them were literate. They were also deeply dissatisfied with the status quo in Korea. In March and April, Ahn Jung-geun selected fifty or sixty men from his bodyguard of over a thousand, and together with more than two hundred recruited by his cousin and other comrades, they boarded a naval transport ship and headed towards Chongjin.

Although the army wanted to disband North Korea's military, the navy was not enthusiastic about it. However, Ahn Jung-geun's background at the Naval Academy and his status as a member of the Naval Research Institute secured him funding from the navy. In a sense, Ahn Jung-geun felt the influence of the Naval Research Institute founded by Lim Shin-ui. As the ship left Incheon Port, Ahn Jung-geun sighed deeply, unsure when he would be able to return.

Chapter 458 Resumption of Trade

In April, spring is already in sight in mainland China, but in Outer Mongolia, it is still covered in snow. However, the temperature in Outer Mongolia has begun to rise, and it is no longer as prone to heavy snowfall as in previous months.

The herders stationed in their winter camps began to look forward to the arrival of spring, and some energetic young men started to venture out of the camps to explore, as they had been cooped up all winter.

In a camp in Daolin, some Mongolian women were preparing lunch when a boy suddenly ran back shouting, "Caravan! I see a caravan coming..."

The women stopped what they were doing and looked at the boy who had run back with the message in surprise. Soon a man came out of the yurt and scolded him with a stern face: "Children who lie will be beaten."

It's no wonder that people find it hard to believe. It's clearly not the season for caravans to travel at this time of year. Daolin is a necessary route on the Zhangku Road, and the herders here are very familiar with the caravan travel times. Moreover, it's wartime now, and caravans from the interior haven't come to Kulun for more than two years.

However, impatient men soon rode out to observe. For the nomadic herders on the grasslands, caravans were a lifeline. After all, herding alone could not sustain a tribe's survival, which was why the Mongols, even with unpayable debts to the caravans, dared not sever trade ties. Of course, with the arrival of Russian merchants, Outer Mongolia's dependence on inland caravans greatly decreased, leading some Mongol princes to feel that the past Mongol debts were unreasonable.