Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 75

Lin Xinyi looked up at him, then shook his head and said, “It’s not contradictory, because the British Empire doesn’t belong solely to Britain. You could say the British Empire is a union of Britannia and its overseas colonies. Once Britain loses its overseas colonies, it can no longer call itself the British Empire. What we need to defeat are the Britannians within the British Empire, and what we seek cooperation with is the trade mechanism within the British Empire. They are not entirely overlapping. Of course, it’s still too early to say this now; we need to constantly verify it in practice…”

Seeing Lin Xinyi put the telegram down, Li Gen realized he still had official business to discuss with the other party. So he ended his inquiry and said, "Nepal is ready. Shouldn't we take action now?"

After glancing at the telegram, Lin Xinyi said, "Let's call everyone to the conference room on the first floor for a meeting. I think we can discuss the situation in Nepal and the next phase of our work..."

Besides Lin Feng, Li Tang, Li Gen, Chen Jingcun, and Deng Yulin, the Shannan Military and Political Committee also included Hari Singh, Rasmi, Tudonanga, and Uyan Wangchuck. Tudonanga and Uyan Wangchuck were currently in Gangtok dealing with the aftermath, while the others were in Kalimpong and soon received a notice to come to the Commissioner's Office for a meeting.

After nearly a month of rest and reorganization, the Shannan Detachment had expanded from about three battalions to ten. Except for the Sikh battalion of 400 men, which remained unchanged, the Gurkha battalion had expanded to three, and the Chinese battalion to six, bringing the total strength to nearly six thousand. It should be said that if it weren't for the military supplies left behind by the British in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the Shannan Detachment could not have expanded so rapidly.

As the British Admiralty stated, the British Empire was able to transport the supplies needed for two years for 50,000 to 60,000 troops to Hong Kong within eight weeks of the outbreak of war. Similarly, the British Indian government provided sufficient military supplies to the Tibetan Expeditionary Force, although they were all located in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

As early as 1902, the British had already made ample preparations for their invasion of Tibet, including expanding their barracks in Darjeeling and Kalimpong and constructing a mountain road from Kalimpong to Yatung. During the war, the British also attempted to build an emergency transport road in Bhutan. At the heart of all this was the problem that large quantities of supplies transported from Calcutta by rail were piling up in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, making it difficult to transport them to the Tibetan Plateau.

Although the Tibetan Expeditionary Force, including transport personnel, numbered only around 10,000, the British Indian government spent £500,000, or 7.5 million rupees, on this army before July 1904. The monthly salary of an Indian soldier was only 7 rupees, which means that the British Indian government did indeed prepare enough supplies for this army for two years, although most of them were in Darjeeling.

After July, in order to provide support to the Tibetan Expeditionary Force, the British Indian government urgently allocated another £200,000. Thanks to the strong support of the British Indian government's railway department, at least £100,000 worth of supplies had already arrived in Darjeeling before the reinforcements. As a result, after the Shannan Detachment captured Kalimpong and Darjeeling, everyone suddenly found themselves rich.

The British had stockpiled enough supplies in Darjeeling and Kalimpong to power an army of 20,000 for a whole year. At present, many members of the Shannan Detachment were as confident as the Afghans who seized the British armory in Kabul in 1841, believing that there was no need to compromise with the British now, and that they could simply expand their army.

For the Shannan Detachment, expanding the army was not a problem. The poor farmers who had been relocated from Nepal by the British had seized the land originally belonging to the Sikkimese to develop tea plantations, which made the Sikkimese extremely dissatisfied. This is why, after the rescue of King Tudor Namgyal, the Sikkimese immediately responded to the king's call and launched a struggle against the pro-British nobles.

The impoverished farmers who were relocated from Nepal by the British were equally ungrateful to the British, because they did not receive land here but became slaves to the tea plantations. Due to the conflict between the Sikkimese and the tea plantations, the Nepalese were unable to unite with the Sikkimese, because the Sikkimese viewed the Nepalese as accomplices of the British. As a result, the Nepalese could not go anywhere except to stay in the tea plantations.

Bhutan was originally part of Tibet, and Lhasa had a greater influence in Bhutan than Sikkim. When the British invaded Tibet, some Bhutanese nobles advocated that they should stand with Tibet. Therefore, when the Shannan Detachment defeated the British and captured Kalimpong and Darjeeling, many were willing to join the Shannan Detachment to fight the British.

However, Lin Xinyi advocated against absorbing too many local power brokers, instead urging the inclusion of liberated tea workers and a small number of intellectuals. Simply put, he understood better than others the dangers of allowing local power brokers like Ugyen Wangchuck to control the army. Regarding the supplies left behind by the British army, he preferred to use them to aid the tea workers and impoverished Sikkimeses rather than leave them all for the army to expand.

Even under such suppression, the Shannan army's strength tripled in less than a month. This made Li Tang, Li Gen, Chen Jingcun, Deng Yulin, and others eager to go down the mountain to rescue the farmers in Bangladesh, while Sikhs such as Hari Singh supported Gurkhas such as Rasmi, believing that Nepal should be liberated first, and then they should march on Punjab to return to their homeland.

Although the Shannan Detachment's military training was not yet complete, and everyone was still discussing a possibility without truly forming a consensus within the group, the rudiments of small groups from various regions and ethnic groups within the Shannan Detachment were beginning to emerge. Previously, the reason everyone was able to follow Lin Xinyi down the mountain without any other thoughts was mainly because the British were too powerful; everyone felt that this enemy was difficult to defeat, so following Lin Xinyi forward was a viable option.

However, after capturing Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and temporarily liberating Siliguri, both supplies and manpower became plentiful. At this point, everyone felt that the British were not as powerful as they seemed, and thus some small ideas began to emerge. In the eyes of the Free Gurkha League, liberating the Gurkha was the top priority. In the view of Li Tang, Li Gen, Chen Jingcun, Deng Yulin, and others, further damaging the prestige of the British Empire and prompting the British Empire to negotiate peace with China was the top priority. As for Sikhs such as Harry Singh, they began to truly regard restoring the freedom of the Sikhs as their primary goal.

Although Sikhs have little affection for Gurkhas because Gurkhas fight for money and honor, how could Sikhs possibly have any goodwill towards Gurkhas who suppressed Indian national uprisings? However, the Sikhs' homeland is in northwestern India, not in Bangladesh, and they cannot return to their homeland without going through Nepal. Therefore, they have no choice but to support the Gurkhas' claims.

During the meeting, Lin Xinyi listened attentively to everyone's thoughts and took detailed notes. Clearly, everyone shared a fairly consistent and united view on the summary of the previous phase, but they each had their own opinions on the next steps. However, one positive aspect was that everyone was filled with optimistic expectations for the revolution. This series of victories had obviously given everyone sufficient confidence.

Chapter 261 A Battle of Wits and Military Defense

Neither side could convince the other at the meeting. Although Li Tang, Li Gen, Chen Jingcun, and Deng Yulin occupied more than half of the attendees, they were also well aware that without the support of the Sikhs and Gurkhas, they could not penetrate the mountains at all, because only the Sikhs and Gurkhas were closer to the Indians in terms of language and customs. The Sikkimese and Bhutanese were actually branches of the Tibetans.

Seeing that Lin Xinyi hadn't spoken, Li Tang simply turned to him for advice. Everyone stopped arguing and looked at Lin Xinyi. It was Lin Xinyi who had brought them here, so when deciding on the path forward, everyone rationally felt that only the path Lin Xinyi agreed with was truly feasible.

Lin Xinyi put down his pen, glanced at the committee members at the conference table, and then said slowly, "I think that when deciding on the next stage of the roadmap, we must first figure out who our next opponent is. Without figuring out this, we certainly cannot come up with the right roadmap."

Deng Yulin couldn't help but say, "Isn't our opponent the British Empire?"

Lin Xinyi nodded and then shook his head, saying, "The British Empire is not our opponent; it is the opponent of the Chinese people, the Indian people, and the people of the world. If we consider the entire British Empire as our opponent, then the British Empire could crush us with just one finger."

Therefore, we must correctly understand our opponents, and first and foremost, we must correctly understand ourselves. We are but a small part of the people of the world, so our opponents can only be a small part of the British Empire. But after we have defeated our own opponents, we can help people in other places defeat theirs. As long as we continue to accumulate victories, eventually the people of the world can unite to overthrow the seemingly invincible giant that is the British Empire.

Everyone fell silent, but soon Li Tang asked uncertainly, "If that's the case, then our opponent should be the British Indian government. Therefore, going down the mountain and attacking the Bengal plains is the right thing to do."

Li Gen, Chen Jingcun, Deng Yulin and others immediately nodded in agreement. Harry Singh, Rasmi and the others could only remain silent. Although they were still somewhat unwilling, they had no complaints about the reasons given by Lin Xinyi.

Lin Xinyi then said, "I also believe that our next opponent will be the British Indian government. However, I don't think we can draw the conclusion that we should go down the mountain and invade the Bengal plains right now. We need to analyze the strength of the British Indian government, who its opponents are, and what it wants us to do and what it doesn't want us to do. How can we draw the conclusion that we should go down the mountain if we don't figure these things out first?"

The committee members then became quite active, each expressing their own views. Amidst the lively discussion, Harry Singh articulated several of the most important points. He believed that the British Indian government's two most important forces were the army and the police; the opponents of British India were Indian peasants and a segment of landowners and intellectuals; and the British Indian government preferred the situation where the rebels concentrated in the plains, allowing them to concentrate their forces to encircle and suppress them.

Harry Singh's views largely stemmed from his own personal experiences and the teachings of his predecessors, making his understanding far more profound than that of others, most of whom had never lived in India, with the exception of Lin Xinyi. After reviewing the materials he had brought back from the foot of the mountain, he had gained a considerable understanding of the situation in Bengal. Combined with his later knowledge of India, he was aware of the current predicament of the British Indian government.

Therefore, after praising Harry Singh's remarks, he briefly summarized them and said, "On the surface, it's not wrong that the army and police were the source of power for the British Indian government. However, if we only see this, then it will be very difficult to overthrow the British Indian government."

I believe that the true pillars of the British Indian government in India were actually the local landowners. Although there were constant conflicts between the British Indian government and the Indian landowners, these conflicts were mostly reconcilable.

For example, while Indian landowners and intellectuals were dissatisfied with the British Indian government's over-reliance on British personnel, they did not want to overthrow the government. Instead, they hoped the British would relinquish more positions to them. They believed Indians understood India better and could therefore contribute more effectively to the British Empire.

A glance at the Congress Party's appeals to London and the Viceroy of India published in Indian newspapers in the past reveals that they did not care whether the lower-class peasants could maintain their livelihoods; what they cared about was that the British government's increase in land rent would harm the interests of landowners.

Because the farmers' productivity had not increased to the level deemed appropriate by the British tax authorities, the land tax, based on inflated land yields, would be deducted from the landowners' income rather than the farmers' income, since the farmers were unable to pay such inflated taxes.

Furthermore, the British tax collectors in the counties did not collect land taxes according to the law, but rather levied them at their own discretion, forcing landowners to cover the shortfall out of their own pockets. The landowners' complaints against these tax collectors received little support from the British government; instead, they often lost their land due to unpaid taxes.

So you see, once the British government offered some positions to appease the landowners and intellectuals and set land taxes according to fair principles, the landowners in various places would side with the British government because they needed such a government to help them suppress peasant uprisings.

Why do farmers rebel? Even in Bangladesh, where land rents are relatively low, farmers only receive 50% of the harvest each year. For those with less than 10 acres of land, their annual income is insufficient to cover farming and living expenses. In some impoverished villages in northern Bangladesh, most farmers, after deducting land rent and usurious interest, have only enough food for 6-9 months a year—this is their income in a normal year. If the harvest is poor, they are forced to sell their land or starve to death.

According to British records, major famines occurred in the Bengal plains, Madras, and Bombay, with several famines resulting in over a million deaths, and years with tens of thousands of deaths were considered normal. However, Britain collected more and more land taxes in India each year, even as food prices continued to fall.

It is inconceivable to force peasants to hand over their food when they are starving, without the use of force. However, such military suppression cannot be achieved by the British alone. At most, the British can only suppress a few key rebellious areas. Widespread suppression must come from the landowning class.

Therefore, the landowning class in India and the British Indian government formed a symbiotic relationship. The British needed these landowners to help them collect rent and suppress small-scale peasant uprisings, while the landowners needed the British to help them suppress large-scale peasant revolts.

This is the fundamental reason why the Indian people's resistance over the past century has ultimately failed: the Indian nation that the landowners proclaimed was merely a slogan to bargain with the British. As long as the British offered a suitable price, they would forget about the Indian nation.

Of course, from another perspective, although India's landowning class constantly deceived the Indian people with slogans of nationalism, this deception did indeed lead to the formation of a unified national consciousness among the various states of India.

Therefore, the biggest opponent of the British Indian government at present is actually the Indian people, who are also our most reliable allies. The Indian landowning class is not a reliable ally. However, if we want to isolate the British Indian government, we must first keep the Indian landowning class neutral. Those landownings who are devoted to following the British should be resolutely eliminated.

Once the British Indian government lost the support of the Indian landowning class, it effectively lost its eyes and ears and its ally in suppressing the Indian people. Although India was the most populous overseas colony of the British Empire, the number of British people in India was actually less than half the population of New Zealand.

Without the support of Indian landowners, it would be 3 million Indians against less than a million British. Aside from some port cities and transport hubs, the British would lose control of all inland and rural areas. This is the best way for us to deal with the British government: to undermine its rule on the Indian subcontinent, rather than directly engaging in a war of attrition in terms of manpower and resources.

After listening to Lin Xinyi's analysis, everyone felt a sudden clarity in their minds. They had only thought about rushing down the mountain and hadn't really considered how to win. However, the British army's previous poor performance had given them considerable courage, leading them to believe that if they were a little braver, they could continue to create miracles.

However, after listening to Lin Xinyi's analysis, they now clearly understood how to achieve victory, and naturally, their anxiety lessened considerably. Harry Singh, Rasmi, and the others were also convinced, feeling that Lin Xinyi indeed saw further ahead than they did, and thus lost their last trace of resistance to his subsequent arrangements.

Seeing that everyone nodded silently in agreement with his analysis, Lin Xinyi continued, "Therefore, our best offensive strategy at present is not a military offensive, but a political offensive against the surrounding areas, backed by military force, and to transform Shannan and the surrounding areas into our base, so that the British cannot extend their reach."

To achieve this, we must first train peasant cadres, teaching them propaganda and organizational skills for the peasant movement. Then, we must send them down to the mountains to connect with tea workers, tribal people, and tenant farmers, thereby turning them into our supporters. As our base expands, we will replace British rule in the local areas, and the army will be used to resist the British government's military offensive, protect the peasant movement, and suppress reactionary landlords…”

Chapter 262 Li Gen's Doubts

Everyone agreed that Lin Hsin-yi's summary was feasible, but one committee member still asked Lin Hsin-yi, "Then how should Shannan get along with Nepal?"

This is a matter of great concern to everyone, because the Free Gurkha League has now become the most important ally of the Shannan Military and Political Committee. They not only help the Shannan Military and Political Committee connect tea workers in various tea gardens, but also have made great efforts in expanding the Gurkha camp.

According to the Alliance, the Shannan Military and Political Committee should march eastward at this time and cooperate with the Alliance comrades in Kathmandu to overthrow the rule of Chandela Shamsheer Rana, thereby liberating Nepal.

Whether or not to attack Nepal will definitely change the Free Gurkha Union's stance. Regarding this question, Lin Xinyi confidently stated, "Based on our intelligence, the Rana family's rule in Nepal actually relies on two pillars: the Rana family's army and the support of the British."

Chandra Shamsher was a shrewd politician who used the power of the conservatives to oust Deva Sumsher from power. He also manipulated the situation between Lhasa and Calcutta, reneged on the defensive alliance with Lhasa, and maintained the logistics of the British Tibetan Expeditionary Force without directly sending troops to help the British.

This shows that he was well aware that his ruling position in Nepal was not secure, so he tried his best to avoid getting involved in the wars in the surrounding area and focused on consolidating his position in Nepal.

However, his refusal to pay the wages and compensation of those who provided logistical support to the Tibetan Expeditionary Force severely damaged his credibility within the military and among ethnic groups in the country. He even expelled those who traveled to Kathmandu seeking compensation, sparking several protests in Kathmandu…

In this situation, Chandela Shamsheer needs the support of the British Indian government even more; otherwise, he will be unable to stabilize the domestic situation. So how did the British Indian government last invade Sikkim? Wasn't it with the cooperation of the Nepalese army that they captured Sikkim?

Therefore, as long as we continue our political propaganda in northern Bengal and Assam, the British will surely ask Nepal to send troops again, and Chandra Shamsheer will certainly not dare to disobey the British orders.

We need to wait for Chandela Shamsheer to move his troops from Kathmandu to the eastern border, and then for an uprising to break out in Kathmandu to overthrow his rule. This is the least resource-intensive way for us to liberate Nepal, and it's much easier than sending troops to Kathmandu.

I want everyone to remember one thing: liberating Nepal is not our ultimate goal; liberating the Indian people below the mountains is our ultimate goal. Chandra Shamsheer is only a secondary enemy to us. As long as we can keep track of the main enemy's movements, this operation against the enemy will not escape our control…”

Lin Hsin-yi's proposals once again left everyone speechless, given that it was precisely his previous actions in Tibet, which had created instability in Nepal, that had led to the release of Nepalese laborers. The Free Gurkha Union, at best, united a group of tribes and soldiers opposed to Chandela Shamsher within the context of the Nepalese situation created by Lin Hsin-yi.

Chandra Shamsheer refused to pay compensation to these people because Lin Xinyi offered them three times the market price in Nepal, totaling nearly £30. Although the Rana family had the financial means, they were not willing to be taken advantage of.

After all, Chandra Shamsher had only been in power for less than two years, and he had already spent a lot of his wealth to buy off supporters within his family, as well as those in the army and tribes. If he were to use the Rana family's wealth to cover this deficit, he would inevitably face opposition from within the family. Therefore, he had no choice but to refuse to pay compensation.

The Nepalese, who initially hadn't expected much from their losses, believed they were entitled to compensation because Lin Xinyi had issued them a certificate, arguing that Chandela could obtain it from the British. However, Chandela refused, stating he wouldn't seek compensation from the British, which fueled resentment towards Chandela from the tribes behind them.

Although these Nepalese laborers were sent by Chandela, they were actually dispatched by various tribes in eastern Nepal, similar to a form of Ula labor service. Their wages, livestock, and compensation belonged to their respective tribes. The economy of the eastern mountainous region was inherently less developed than that of the west, and the tribes there were more closely related to Tibetan culture. The west, bordering the Indian plains, was closer to Indian culture; the Rana family, for example, were Indianized Nepalese.

During the Rana dynasty's rule, the west consistently suppressed the east. After Chandela Shamsheel ousted Deva Shamsheel, he exiled him to the eastern region, knowing that Deva would not only receive no support there but might also be killed by tribes that hated the Rana dynasty. After Deva's assassination attempt on Chandela failed, he simply went down the mountain to live in India.

Forcing these eastern tribes to serve the British Expeditionary Force in Tibet was, in Chandela Shamshere's view, a way to weaken their power and maintain his rule. Under the British military intimidation, the eastern tribes naturally dared not resist this order, thus strengthening his control over the tribes in the four eastern regions.

But who could have imagined that the British expedition to Tibet would fail, and that the Chinese would not mistreat or kill the Nepalese in the expeditionary force? If such a thing happened, it would be a good thing for Kathmandu, as it would incite resentment among the tribes of the four eastern regions towards the Chinese and strengthen their loyalty to Kathmandu.

However, the long-standing discontent among the tribes of the four eastern regions with the western regions and their resentment towards the Rana family has led to their discontent with the rule of Chandela Shamsheer. Furthermore, the British failure in Tibet has emboldened the tribes of the four eastern regions to challenge Kathmandu. Coupled with the liaison and guidance of the Free Gurkha Union, signs of instability have emerged within Nepal.

It was precisely because of the dissatisfaction shown by the tribes of the four eastern regions towards Kathmandu that the Free Gurkha League believed that the southern mountain army could unite with the tribes of the four eastern regions to march on Kathmandu and overthrow Chandra Shamsheer's rule. Even though Li Tang and others opposed the attack on Kathmandu, it was not because they thought it was impossible to conquer, but because they believed there were more important objectives in the mountains.

Since Lin Xinyi had meticulously planned every step, even considering the creation of internal divisions in Nepal before the capture of Darjeeling, no one had any objections. The next phase of the plan was quickly formulated. At the same time, the meeting also made a decision: to send a telegram, together with the Tibet Military and Political Committee, to support the Hubei Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Congress, and to send representatives from Shannan Prefecture to attend the congress alongside Tibetan representatives to discuss constitutional issues.

Chen Jingcun, Deng Yulin, and a few others were the most enthusiastic about this resolution, because they knew very well that this meant Shannan would join China as a formal province rather than a vassal state. Although the territory of Shannan was not yet completely fixed, the British access route to Tibet was effectively blocked.

After the meeting ended, Li Gen lingered, waiting until everyone else had left before standing in front of Lin Xinyi and earnestly asking him, "Actually, I've always had a question I'd like to ask you. I wonder if you could give me a genuine answer?"

Lin Xinyi tidied up the notes and drawings in front of him, then nodded to him and said, "As long as it's not a personal matter or official business that you shouldn't know, I will answer you about anything else that I know."

After a moment of silence, Li Gen said, "In your opinion, what exactly is Japan's national policy toward Korea? Is it to liberate Korea from China and gain its freedom, or is it for some other purpose?"

Lin Xinyi raised his eyebrows, looking at him with great surprise, and replied, "Do you really need to ask me to know the answer to such a question? I thought you studied in Japan for a year and then came all this way with us, so you should have the answer by now. If you still don't know, it's not that you really don't know, but that you're unwilling to think about the answer. Who can wake someone who's pretending to be asleep?"

After a long silence, Li Gen said, "I do have an answer in my heart, but seeing how you've come this far, I hope my answer is wrong. Since you can sincerely help the Chinese and Indians to be liberated from British imperialism, why can't other Japanese do the same?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi said, "To be honest, I'm not helping the Chinese and Indians, but the Japanese."

Li Gen was genuinely confused. He asked, "You said that your fighting against the British in Tibet and India was helping the Japanese. Isn't that consistent with the idea of ​​Asian unity to achieve the liberation of all Asian peoples?"

Lin Xinyi shook his head and said, "What I have always advocated is the unity of the Asian working class and the self-liberation of the Asian people. I oppose the so-called theory that Asian unity can bring about the self-liberation of all Asian nations. The Japanese army oppressed the Korean working class in Korea, so did they not oppress the Japanese working class at home?"

This kind of Asian unity is nothing more than advocating the unity of the Asian bourgeoisie and landlord class in order to expel the capitalists of the great powers from plundering Asian wealth. However, they will not abandon their oppression of the working class in their own country and neighboring countries, because the working class cannot sustain itself without such oppression. Just like the Indian landlord class, they wanted to expel the British because they felt the British had taken too much wealth, not because they thought the working class was receiving too little.

They used nationalism to call on the working class to rise up and fight the British, yet they forbade the working class to resist their own oppression. If the working class attempted to do so, they would rather have the British suppress them. Therefore, the liberation of Asian nations can only be built on the foundation of the liberation of the Asian working class; without the self-liberation of the working class, there can be no so-called national liberation.

If Japanese capitalists and landowners are unwilling to liberate their domestic working class, how could they possibly liberate the working classes of Korea, China, or other Asian nations? Do you then believe that their advocacy for Asian unity even exists?

Chapter 263 Tirak's House

Lee Geun-ryong remained silent for a long time. He wasn't stupid; otherwise, he wouldn't have harbored such doubts. However, he accepted the Japanese theory of the transformation of China into a barbarian state, believing that China had become barbarized and could no longer be the suzerain state of Korea. He overlooked the latter part of the Japanese argument, such as that Japan was the place that preserved the complete Chinese culture, and therefore, after the Manchu conquest of China, Japan became the new legitimate successor of China.

From the perspective of Koreans, after the Manchu conquest of China, it was Korea that was qualified to replace China. Therefore, King Hyojong once harbored the ambition to launch a northern expedition to restore China. Thus, his view on the First Sino-Japanese War was that Japan had liberated Korea from the hands of barbarians, and from then on, there would be no longer a distinction of superiority or inferiority among the three East Asian countries; everyone would be equal from then on.

This viewpoint forms the basis of Asiaticism and the theory of East Asian unification, and it has many followers. Even the Chinese themselves firmly believed in it, and many cheered for the Qing government's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. However, the subsequent Treaty of Shimonoseki brought many to their senses, realizing that the Japanese were clearly not there to liberate China.

Seeing Lin Xinyi about to get up and leave, Li Gen finally couldn't help but ask, "Can the working classes of different countries really unite? Perhaps the working classes of Korea, China, and India can unite, and maybe even the working classes of Japan can. But why would the working classes of the Western powers unite with us? They advocate nationalism and patriotism."

Lin Xinyi looked at him for a while before saying, "A dog can't change its nature of eating shit. The purpose of capitalists is to exploit the proletariat. If they don't exploit the proletariat, they can't exist."

In other words, as long as capitalists cannot obtain substantial profits overseas, they will intensify their oppression of the domestic proletariat. I don't believe that the proletariat of any great power country can endure the oppression of the bourgeoisie while simultaneously advocating nationalism and patriotism.

Our alliance with the proletariat of the great powers is not in the expectation that they will come to our rescue, but in the expectation that they will come to our rescue, and we will help them fight against the oppression of capitalism.

Take Japan today, for example. The working class pays heavy taxes and fights for Japanese capitalists and landlords on the battlefield. So who benefits from Korea? Isn't it the military and capitalists? Those Japanese nationalists and patriots boast about how much they have benefited from China and Korea, but the taxes paid by the Japanese working class are double what they were before the First Sino-Japanese War, while their wages have not increased much.

The Chinese reparations were all used to expand their military and upgrade their equipment. What was this army used for? To suppress the resistance of the domestic working class. Therefore, whenever capitalists suffered defeats abroad, they could only intensify their oppression of the domestic working class, at which point the working class in the great powers would awaken.

So-called national and ethnic interests are ultimately less real than class interests. What common interests can a nation possibly have if it can't even achieve equality within its own ethnic group, and can't provide for the country with an eight-hour workday?

Lee Kun finally had nothing more to say, but as Lin Xinyi was about to leave the meeting room, he couldn't help but ask one last question: "So, how do you think North Korea should defend its independence?"

Lin Xinyi glanced back at him and said, “Aren’t we defending Korea’s independence? We’ve liberated the Indian people from British imperialism and the Indian landlord class and bourgeoisie, liberated the Chinese people from imperialism, capitalism and the landlord class, and liberated the Russian people from the Tsarist government. So why are you worried that the Korean and Japanese people cannot be liberated…”

In Pune, Professor Sri Aurobindo Gosh of Baroda University, a member of the Indian National Congress, visited Paul Gangadhar Tilak, editor of The Lion and leader of the radical wing of the Congress Party. This was not the first time the two had met. Sri Aurobindo Gosh had visited Tilak shortly after returning from England. Because the two shared many political views, they had maintained close contact ever since.

Tirak was delighted that the high man had come to visit him and warmly welcomed him into his home. Pune has a mild climate and, as the former capital of the Marathi Kingdom, boasts numerous historical buildings. Located on the slopes of the Western Ghats, it is also lush with trees and offers beautiful scenery.

Tilak's house was a garden surrounded by flowers, where one could not feel the chill of winter at all. After admiring Tilak's garden, the high-ranking official asked him, "What are your thoughts on the Siliguri Declaration?"

Without even thinking, Tilak blurted out, “Although it is a declaration made by the Chinese, I think this is what the Indian nation needs. We can no longer expect the British to bestow democracy and freedom upon us. Perhaps the British claim to have democracy and freedom, but they will not bestow them upon us, no matter how humble and subservient we may appear in front of them.”

Gao Shi agreed, saying, "Yes, that's how I see the declaration issued by the Chinese. India cannot gain freedom by mere subservience; to gain freedom, we must resist the unreasonable tyranny of British imperialism. Since the Chinese were able to do this with just a few hundred people, there's no reason why we Indians can't."

Seeing the young scholar's agitated state, Tilak remained silent for a moment before asking him, "What do you intend to do?"

Gao Shi looked at him warmly and said, “I have resigned from my teaching position and plan to return to Calcutta to start a newspaper and support the struggle of the people there against the partition plan for Bengal. If possible, I also hope to get in touch with the Chinese and learn about their views on the Indian national liberation movement.”

Tilak nodded and said, “Indeed, the fiercest battleground is in Bengal. If the people of Bengal can force the Viceroy Council to reject the partition plan, it will boost the confidence of the Indian nation. This will be a great encouragement to all Indians who are fighting for Indian freedom.”

However, if we cannot defend our claims by force, the British will not heed our protests. We need to learn from the Chinese experience in fighting; a hundred protests to the British are less effective than defeating them once, and this will make them respect the opinions of the Indian people. The Boers set the best example for us; even in ultimate defeat, they were able to force the British to treat them well.

Gao Shi agreed with Tilak's view that the Boer War did indeed teach Indian intellectuals a great deal, showing them that the British Empire was not as powerful as they had imagined, and that as long as they took up arms and fought against the British, they could ultimately preserve their dignity. This is also why young Indians began to embrace radicalism after the Boer War.

He and Tilak tended to support the youth's advocacy for struggle and began to despise the moderate members of the Congress Party who only pleaded with the British, because such pleading had no practical significance. Apart from making the British remember a few moderates and giving them official positions, the Congress Party's political ideas were not accepted by the British Indian government in the slightest.

Although the Congress Party recounts every year how much hard currency Great Britain has taken from India, depriving India of the capital for development, their complaints cannot change any of the policies of the British Indian government. As a result, they complain about the same old problems every year, turning the annual meeting into a meeting of complainers.

At first, the Indian public may have listened attentively to the Congress Party's annual report, but now they've begun to ridicule the congress as doing nothing but eating and drinking. Seeing the masses turning away from the Congress Party has naturally caused discontent among some nationalists within the party towards the moderates, who believe that if the Congress Party doesn't change course, it will likely be abandoned by the Indian people sooner or later.

The partition plan for Bengal sparked widespread protests among the Bengalisan people, which naturally presented a good opportunity for these Congress Party radicals to lead the masses in an anti-British struggle. Both Tilak and Gosh believed that if necessary, a mass uprising should be launched in Bengal, and then the people of all India should be called upon to rise up in resistance.

The only thing they hadn't expected was that the Chinese would actually defeat the seemingly invincible British army and invade India. This was simply unbelievable, considering that just four years earlier, the Chinese had their capital invaded by the Eight-Nation Alliance due to the Boxer Rebellion. They truly couldn't understand how the Chinese had become so capable in warfare.

Gao Shi thought for a moment, then asked Tirac, "What do the moderates within the party think of the declaration? Do they support it or oppose it?"

Tilak frowned upon hearing this question, and finally shook his head, saying, "Of course they are against it. They believe that at this time we should stand with Great Britain to condemn the Chinese invasion, because we are part of the British Empire. In their view, the Chinese declaration is not only a declaration of war against Great Britain, but also a declaration of war against India."

They did not accept the Chinese statements in the declaration. They believed that while the British Empire's governance in India had its flaws, its merits ultimately outweighed its faults in the context of over a century of rule. They argued that without the British bringing civilization to India, India would now be divided among other Western countries, therefore they did not acknowledge the need for the Indian nation to be liberated from British rule…

Although Gao Shi had little hope for the moderates, he still hoped that they would stand neutral this time and not side with the British Indian government, but it is clear that his expectations were not met.

However, recalling the words of Romesh Chandra Dutt, a leader of the moderate faction, in the preface to his new book, he found the moderates' decision unsurprising. He still remembered what those words said:

"The Indians' sincere desire for a long-term connection with Great Britain stems not from sentimental loyalty, but… from a sense of self-interest. They still believe that through the rule of a Western power, they can gain many benefits from close contact with the West. They are determined to share Great Britain's fate and be united with British rule, and they sincerely hope that British rule will last forever…"