Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 119

As a strong admirer of British culture, after the birth of her eldest son, Matilda hired a British tutor and nanny for him, just to prevent him from picking up the bad habits of Indians. When the partition of Bengal in 1904 brought about social unrest in India, Matilda simply sent her completely British-influenced eldest son to study in England to avoid her family being attacked by nationalists.

Frankly, Motilar was not optimistic about India's nationalist movement. He looked down on both the moderates of the Congress Party and the extremists who only shouted slogans. He believed that it was irresponsible for the extremists to incite young people to rebel against the British Indian government, because it was just using the blood of these young people to force the British to make concessions. This was also the reason why he sent his son abroad. He did not want his son to sacrifice himself in such a hopeless struggle.

However, the struggle between Indian nationalists and the British over the past two years has gradually begun to revise his thinking. In particular, today, as he sat in his study reading the newspaper, he saw an article published in the official gazette. This article mainly praised Mr. Morley for disregarding his personal safety and personally going to the rebel camp to have frank conversations with the Chinese and the rebel leaders, laying a solid foundation for peace in India.

To ordinary people, the unrest in Bengal might seem to be gradually subsiding, but to Motilal, the British, who had never bowed their heads in India, were showing signs of backing down for the first time. He put down his newspaper, went to the balcony, and looked at the Ganges River in the distance, feeling an emptiness in his heart, as if a firm belief had suddenly vanished.

This article certainly didn't just shock Motilar, one of India's elites. Soon, several of his friends came to his door with the newspaper, asking him what changes the article would bring to India.

By this time, Motilal had recovered somewhat from the shock of the morning, and he understood what his friends were confused about. Like him, they believed that Indian culture was inferior and that if India wanted to develop, it had to abandon its own traditions and introduce British civilization. He was the one who had gone the furthest among them, actually putting this idea into practice with his family.

None of them had anticipated this situation, so he said to his friends, "I still believe that India's traditions are the biggest obstacle to India's progress. Look at what has happened in the last two years. What truly earned Indians the respect of the British? Was it India's caste culture or the infighting between Hindus and Muslims? No, it was the land reform plan brought by the Chinese and the socialist ideas they learned from Europe."

If the Chinese hadn't instigated and united the Indian peasants, the national movement would have fragmented when the Muslim League was established. Therefore, it's not that the Chinese were stronger than us, but rather that they more thoroughly embraced European culture. Thus, only by fundamentally transforming traditional Indian culture can India gain the respect of Europeans.

Several Indian elites present smiled and shook their heads at Motilar's views, indicating respect for him and a degree of agreement. However, some asked Motilar and his companions, "If the government reaches a peace agreement with the Chinese and the People's Committee, how will the People's Committee's rule in Bihar and Assam be handled? Given the People's Committee's previous hardline stance, they shouldn't be handing over their power to the government. Does this mean the government will recognize these areas as under the People's Committee's rule?"

In fact, this was the question that everyone sitting in the Motila's drawing room was most concerned about. Their concern about the British compromise with the People's Committee was also about how the British would deal with the areas currently controlled by the People's Committee, because this meant that a part of the Indians had gained the right to self-government. Although this could not be considered Indian independence, it represented that Indian independence had finally taken a substantial step forward.

The newspapers didn't reveal much more information, which is why everyone gathered to discuss it, hoping someone had more definitive information. But clearly, they were too far removed from the power center in Calcutta to obtain any further inside information.

“Why don’t we go to Burnia ourselves and find out for ourselves?” Motilar calmly offered a suggestion as he watched his friends argue. After they focused their attention on him, he continued, “Things have come to this point, the People’s Committee has become the future of India, can we still stand idly by?”

Any laws enacted by the People's Committee now will ultimately become part of Indian history that is difficult to alter after independence. If we cannot correct them now, we will be forfeiting the opportunity to shape the history of Indian independence. I don't know what you think, but I don't want to miss this opportunity.

After a moment of silence, one of the friends hesitated and said, "This is indeed a good opportunity, but under what pretext should we go? If we go in our personal capacity, will the People's Committee take our suggestion seriously?"

Someone nearby immediately chimed in, "Hasn't the Congress Party been inviting us to join them? Or we could join the Congress Party first, and then go there in the name of the Congress Party..."

This person's proposal received support from others, and after the Congress Party appointed a veteran as its chairman, the conflict between the moderates and extremists eased considerably. Of course, this was also largely due to the fact that many extremists had left the party to join the Labour Party. Thus, in 1906, the internal divisions within the Congress Party were largely healed. Of course, the moderates also made many concessions; for example, they stopped opposing the nationalist movement.

With the Labour Party, a faction advocating armed struggle, on the left, and the Muslim League, a loyalist faction supporting the British Indian government, on the right, the Congress Party had become a centrist nationalist party. Under these circumstances, the British Indian government had to ease its pressure on the Congress Party to prevent this centrist nationalist party from turning towards armed struggle.

As a result, the Congress Party gained considerable influence in 1906. It benefited from the support of grassroots nationalists and the tolerance of the British Indian government, thus resolving many grassroots conflicts. Compared to the Labour Party and other minor nationalist parties that were heavily suppressed by the British Indian government, the Congress Party became the best refuge for some nationalists, allowing them to safely fight against the British within the party.

However, after thinking for a while, Motilal still spoke up: "No, I will first go and see how the People's Committee actually operates in my personal capacity. I'm still unsure whether to join the Congress Party. Although I don't agree with the Labour Party's practice of forcibly confiscating land from landlords, I still find it hard to accept that the Congress Party is completely on the side of protecting the interests of landlords..."

Scenes like those in Allahabad have occurred in many places across India. The British compromise shattered the Indian intellectuals' preconceived notion that the British were invincible. They all believed that India's independence had taken a huge step forward. However, some wanted to wait and see, while others planned to go and see for themselves how the People's Committee had managed to get the British to compromise.

Faced with the increasing number of visitors to Burnia, Lin Xinyi instructed the Indian People's Committee to treat everyone equally, allowing everyone to see what they could see, and prohibiting anyone from seeing what they could not see. Suggestions from these people were assigned to a separate department for processing and then distributed to various departments for further study on their feasibility.

Unlike the optimistic outlook of Indians regarding the prospect of Indian independence, Lin Xinyi had already immersed himself in the next phase of his work. As he told his secretary, Keshavlaar Kuji, "Reaching a peace agreement with the British does not mean we have given up the struggle; it simply means that the struggle has shifted from face-to-face resistance to a more covert struggle, one that conforms to British law. If we treat peace as the result of the struggle rather than its form, then the British capitalists will soon use legal means to defeat us, because the law represents the will of the ruling class, and we cannot defeat them within the cage they have set..."

At first, Kuji didn't quite understand what Commissioner Lin meant. As a follower of Tilak, Kuji was quite outstanding among the youth. He was sent here because Tilak believed he could absorb Chinese knowledge and bring it back to Maharashtra. Although Tilak had a great influence among the people of Maharashtra, he also admitted that he lacked the ability to defeat the British.

The achievements of the Chinese in North Bengal gave Tilak hope, so he sent him over. However, in front of Lin Feng, Kuji felt like a stubborn rock. If Tilak was like the Himalayas, then Lin Feng was like the ocean. The height of the mountain can be seen, but the depth of the ocean is immeasurable.

Just like Lin Feng's negotiations with the British, it opened up a whole new world for him, letting him know how unpredictable legal struggles could be. These negotiations with the British here don't refer to the negotiations with representatives of the British Indian government, but rather to the negotiations with representatives of the Tea Association of India. As the representative of London, Morley wouldn't care about the losses of the Tea Association of India. After all, London wasn't even concerned about the interests of investors in East India Company stocks worth £1200 million, so naturally, it would be even less willing to care about investors in Darjeeling and Assam tea plantations with an annual output value of five to six million pounds.

Chapter 422 Investment Meeting 1

For Thomas, Oliver, and other representatives of the Indian Tea Association, London's compromise with the Chinese was not unexpected. As early as after the British counterattack against Darjeeling failed, they believed that London would eventually have to compromise with the Chinese, because the Chinese military commanders were obviously more ambitious than the British generals.

In fact, when the Chinese shifted the battlefield from Tibet to the foothills and incited the Sikkimese, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Indians against Britain without any scruples, they believed that Britain could no longer win the war.

Because the British Empire wanted India's security but did not want to completely occupy China, it meant that the British Empire had tied its own hands and feet. A big guy who has his hands and feet tied cannot win against a small guy who has no scruples, especially since China does not look like a small guy.

The only problem was that they hadn't anticipated the Indian resistance would be so fierce that by the time London sought a compromise with the Chinese, the tea plantations in northeastern India were already under the control of the People's Committee of India. Thus, the Indian tea plantation owners suffered the greatest harm after the compromise; the British Indian government returned the traditional Sikkim and Bhutanese-controlled areas to the Chinese, and also accepted the autonomy of the states of Bihar, Assam, and Nagaland.

Although this autonomous state of Assam was much smaller than before the war, a large area in southeastern Assam remained in the hands of the British Indian government and became the state of South Assam. However, most of the tea plantations established by the British were located at the foot of the Himalayas, especially the best tea plantations in the Darjeeling region. This meant that the assets of the tea plantation owners were mostly outside the control of the British Indian government.

This led to some disputes over these assets. The Chinese and Indian People's Committees argued that none of these tea plantations had paid land transfer fees to the local people, therefore the tea plantation owners should first compensate the landowners for their losses before discussing the ownership of the tea plantation assets. In areas where the landowners of the tea plantations cannot be traced, the land belongs to the state or the public asset management department represented by the local people.

For those tea plantation owners who refused to cooperate with the Chinese in the first place, it didn't matter much. They had already lost control of their tea plantations long ago, and now they could negotiate to get back some of their shares. Given that London had already compromised, this was actually a way to recoup their losses.

However, this outcome was unacceptable to the tea plantation owners who had been cooperating with the Chinese. They believed that they had already reached a compromise with the Chinese and therefore their tea plantations had been granted land rights. How could they now be asked to pay for the land transfer fees?

These tea plantation owners were key figures in the smuggling trade with the Chinese. They felt they could still negotiate prices with the Chinese, even though the war was over. The majority of the supplies to the Chinese still came from them, not to mention that the tea exported to Britain was also processed through their channels.

Furthermore, the changes in the administrative divisions of British India have not only harmed British investors in Indian tea plantations. All kinds of British investments in the three autonomous regions face confiscation or recovery of land fees by the People's Committee of India. Therefore, these representatives of the Indian Tea Association are essentially a way for these British investors to understand the Chinese perspective and clarify their own position on the three autonomous states of India.

Regarding the demands raised by the British, there are two main opinions on the Chinese and Indian sides. One view is that the war is over, and these British are no longer of any use to them. Moreover, they have made a considerable profit from smuggling, so their demands should not be heeded. The other view is that the British have not withdrawn from India after all, and this ceasefire does not mean that the British have given up on eliminating them. Even if the British withdraw from India in the future, the strength of the British navy is enough to blockade the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, they should still be given some incentives to maintain relations between the two sides.

Keshavlal Kuji's position was somewhere in between. Emotionally, he supported the first opinion, believing that the traces left by the British in India should be completely erased. However, rationally, he felt that the second opinion was correct, as the struggle between India and Britain was not over and these moderates within Britain should not be turned into enemies of India.

However, Lin Xinyi offered a third opinion. After hearing that the Tea Association of India was dissatisfied with its policy on the disposal of Indian tea gardens, he met with representatives of the Tea Association of India.

During the meeting, he first listened attentively to the protests raised by Thomas and Oliver as their representatives, and learned about the demands of the Indian tea plantation owners. Only then did he calmly say to the British men, "I believe that business must be orderly. If there is no order, even if the business is very profitable, it will not last long. What do you all think?"

Thomas, Oliver, and the others naturally did not object to this statement, and Thomas even took the opportunity to say, "I support your view. But the problem now is that it is not us who want to disrupt the order, but the new policies you have formulated."

Under this new policy, tea plantation investors' past investments have been plundered, and we still need to continue investing in tea plantations to maintain production. But if we can't secure our investments, who will dare to continue investing in tea plantations? We can't just fertilize someone else's land, can we?

Lin Xinyi nodded slightly, then quickly shook his head and said, "So-called order is a social contract that both parties agree to. If one party uses its power to force the other party to unilaterally abide by the contract it has made, it will lead to violent resistance. Charles I and Louis XVI both proved that a social contract made by violence is not order, but the fuse for violent revolution."

The old order you perceive was founded from the outset on British military oppression of the Indian and Chinese people. If we accepted such an order as legitimate, we wouldn't be sitting here today. In fact, the new policies we are now formulating are precisely aimed at establishing a cooperative contract that truly reflects the wishes of both parties, thereby eliminating the unequal and coercive contracts of the past.

This is precisely the basis upon which the Chinese and Indian peoples desire peaceful coexistence with the British people. If this basis is denied, then no one can establish any order on this land, because the people will not accept an order that oppresses them. Without order, there is naturally no business.

The British people in the room all looked quite grim. Although they didn't think Lin Feng's words were unreasonable, they still couldn't accept such reasoning when it came to their own interests. Just like the Indian government bonds that the Indians demanded be cancelled, if it weren't for the possibility that the entire Indian Empire might break away from the British Empire, London would never have recognized that these Indian government bonds weren't Indian debts.

Oliver whispered among himself and his companions for a while, then spoke to Lin Xinyi in a more conciliatory tone: “We acknowledge that many people have acquired their wealth in India in a less than honorable way, but not all investments in India are based on plunder. Your new policies are undoubtedly causing losses to honest investors. If you insist on this approach, I believe no one will be willing to invest a penny in a place without any security… and we will also file a lawsuit in London regarding the losses of these tea plantation investors.”

A hundred years from now, if an Englishman tells you he's going to sue you in a London court, you can treat it as a joke. But in this era, if an Englishman says he's going to sue you in a London court, it's a real threat. The level of this threat is similar to an American suing you in an American court a hundred years from now.

The people around Lin Xinyi seemed unconvinced. They felt that even London had already yielded, so what could the British courts possibly do? However, Lin Xinyi knew that the British courts could still do a lot. At least in terms of hindering their foreign trade, the British courts still had a considerable deterrent effect on their trading partners.

So he said to the British, "We will not compromise on the restructuring of the old investments, but I have a plan to compensate these investors for their losses. Would you be interested in hearing it?"

Oliver glanced at his companions, then nodded to Lin Xinyi and replied, "Of course, we'd love to hear your proposal."

After a moment's thought, Lin Xinyi said, "India has 3 million people, China has 4.5 million people, and if you add the populations of Japan, North Korea, and Southeast Asia, the population of this region approaches or exceeds 10 billion, roughly half of the world's population..."

Although Oliver and the others found this opening somewhat puzzling—how could they not know such common sense—they still listened patiently.

"...These 1 billion people are mostly agricultural workers. Even in Japan, which is the most developed, over 60% of the population is still engaged in agriculture. In other words, if they wanted to establish modern agriculture like that of Europe, they would need a large amount of steel tools and cement-built irrigation systems. If they wanted to live a life as convenient as Europeans, they would need to build a large number of transportation facilities with steel and cement, as well as a large amount of electricity and communication equipment. Compared to the industrialization needs of 1 billion people, what is India's tea industry, worth less than 10 million pounds?"

Thomas looked at Lin Xinyi dismissively and said, "This wonderful idea you're talking about was conceived by Europeans decades ago. However, after we opened China's doors, the Chinese only really liked opium, and they completely disregarded modern technology. If you want this so-called huge market in exchange for our concessions, then I think you're going to be disappointed."

Lin Xinyi smiled and replied, "That's because those Europeans haven't found a partner like us. If they had, they wouldn't have been disappointed. I believe you've also heard that our agreement with Mr. Morley includes a fund for India's development. No matter what India becomes in the future, at least this sum of over 3000 million pounds is real, isn't it?"

Chapter 423 Investment Meeting II

Upon hearing Lin Xinyi mention the £3000 million India Development Fund, the British fell silent. Their eagerness to approach them stemmed largely from concerns about the fund's future. To protect the over £2 million in Indian government bonds and British investments in India, London clearly couldn't afford not to contribute the £3000 million to the India Development Fund.

Members of the Indian Tea Association believed that if they had suffered losses on their tea plantations, they should be compensated in other ways. However, they hadn't expected Lin Feng to bring up the money before they even addressed the issue, so they listened even more attentively.

However, after briefly mentioning the £3000 million India Development Fund, Lin Xinyi did not continue on this topic of great interest. Instead, he brought up a completely unrelated news story: "...There was a big news story in the United States this year. I don't know if you've seen it?"

As the British looked at him with puzzled expressions, wondering why the topic had shifted to Americans, Lin Xinyi continued, "The hearing committee formed by New York State last fall regarding the Fair Life Insurance Association of New York has issued a report. It confirms that there was indeed a relationship of collusion between Fair Life Insurance and Wall Street bankers. However, the hearing committee did not prosecute the directors of Fair Life Insurance; it simply dismissed them, announced the sale of the company, and then concluded the investigation. What are your thoughts on this matter?"

Oliver did recall this incident. It began in 1899 when James Hyde succeeded his father as president of Fair Insurance. His inauguration ceremony, costing over $20, caused a sensation and prompted an official investigation by New York State. American life insurance companies invest clients' savings, not truly own them; therefore, James Hyde's extravagant spending naturally provoked discontent among Americans.

In Oliver's view, this is the best proof of the depravity of Americans. They let a group of thieves guard their property and then expect these thieves to have any noble character. Of course, the wealth of Americans was originally tainted. They seized the land from the Native Americans and forced people of color to work for them, eventually accumulating this ill-gotten wealth.

But the most ridiculous thing is American law. James Hyde sold his stock to Morgan and then easily escaped. As an American newspaper commented on this matter, "In actual judicial proceedings, the criminal intent of the wealthy and powerful who have committed wrongdoings is always unknown. Trial farces will play out for a while, but even if it's just a formality, it won't happen to any rich person with enormous wealth."

Thomas couldn't help but ask Lin Xinyi, "Perhaps this is indeed an unfair judicial fraud case, but that's an American matter. What does it have to do with our conversation today?"

Lin Xinyi looked at Thomas and said, "Of course it's related. How could it not be? The issues of compensation for British investors and the resource supply for future industrialization in Asia lie with the United States."

Thomas was now somewhat bewildered, but Oliver, who was next to him, seemed to have a sudden idea and spoke up to help his companion out of the predicament: "Or you could tell us in more detail. We came here hoping to have a frank conversation with you."

Lin Xinyi nodded and said, "Of course, our past cooperation has always been pleasant, so I am naturally willing to continue to cooperate with you all."

In the last decade of the last century, American companies began a large-scale merger and acquisition spree. Major companies such as Standard Oil and U.S. Steel completed their deals almost entirely during the turn of the century. The U.S. Steel deal alone was worth a staggering $14 billion, making it the world's first billion-dollar company.

According to American newspapers, there were 1200 mergers and acquisitions in the United States in 1899, totaling more than $20 billion. In 1901, the year the U.S. Steel Company was founded, the total value of mergers and acquisitions among American companies once again exceeded $20 billion.

A rough estimate suggests that the total amount spent on mergers and acquisitions by American companies over the past decade, plus the market value of newly listed companies' stocks, amounts to approximately $5 billion. Five years ago, Americans claimed that the value of securities on the New York Stock Exchange exceeded $600 billion; now, the estimated value of securities on the New York Stock Exchange is close to $100 billion.

So who exactly is buying U.S. securities? Long-term foreign investment in the U.S. is said to exceed $30 billion, with more than half coming from the UK. Based on the Fair Insurance case, we can actually conclude that these insurance companies are the major buyers of U.S. securities.

Indeed, in 1902, life insurance policy sales in the United States exceeded $20 billion, setting an astonishing record. However, conversely, American savings did not grow much after entering the 20th century. Therefore, in the American financial market, insurance companies now have more money than banks, but the money of insurance companies does not belong to the company, but to the customers.

Americans invest in insurance companies hoping to earn higher returns than savings while guaranteeing their principal. However, the Fair Insurance case reveals that insurance company managers did not protect their clients' funds; they merely used the guise of high interest rates to invest clients' money in high-risk stocks.

For example, the Morgan financial group created the first billion-dollar company—U.S. Steel—whose funding likely came largely from these insurance companies. Similarly, the mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. over the past decade have created hundreds of American millionaires, and the funding for these acquisitions is also estimated to have largely come from insurance companies.

So, do these companies' stocks really have value? The American International Merchant Marine (AIM) company, organized by Morgan Stanley, was once rejected by the New York Stock Exchange for being overvalued. Four years after its listing, it is said that nearly 4% of the shares are still tied up in the hands of the underwriters. Therefore, Morgan Stanley had to take over the operation of AIM itself.

All of this comes from publicly available reports. You can check American newspapers to see if what I'm saying is true...

Thomas seemed to realize what was going on, and he tentatively asked, "You mean we can get compensation by shorting the US stock market? That's certainly one way, but we don't know when the US stock market will fall. Isn't that too risky? I don't think the tea plantation investors would accept such a high-risk proposal..."

Lin Xinyi waved his hand at him and said, "I haven't finished yet. The invention of electricity has brought modern industry into the era of electricity-driven power, and the most cost-effective metal for transmitting electricity is copper. The world's annual copper production is about 20-22 billion pounds, half of which comes from the United States. In other words, while American stocks may be inflated, American resources are truly valuable."

The current international copper price is around £50 per ton. The Americans once pushed the price up to £75 per ton, but because the European and American markets were already saturated, and Chile discovered many large copper mines, the Americans' plan to raise copper prices by hoarding copper ultimately failed.

However, we are different. We have already determined the direction of industrialization for India and China, which means that copper prices are bound to rise sharply in the future. Therefore, by squeezing the stock of US copper mining companies to an oversold level, then taking control of US copper mines in the hands of British investors, and then announcing India's industrial plan, international copper prices will surge, and the stock of US copper mining companies will recover rapidly.

Manna Copper and Union Copper Corporation of the United States together account for 80% of the country's annual copper production. Gaining control of either of these companies would bring us enormous profits.

Of course, we need to establish a unified investment fund and then conduct professional stock trading. However, I believe London should not lack such talent. Next, we only need to borrow a portion of the £30 million fund, which of course requires your cooperation. Only when you all obtain positions at the India Development Fund can we safely and discreetly utilize its funds.”

This is indeed a feasible plan. Almost all the British people present had this idea. In name, everyone would contribute money, but in reality, the bulk of the money would come from the Indian Development Fund. If ten million pounds of it could be mobilized, then the stock of American Copper could be manipulated, not to mention that the US stock market was indeed in a state of overvaluation.

Compared to this grand plan, the land transfer fee for the tea plantations was indeed a minor issue. The most interesting aspect was that this operation allowed for two profits: first from stock price fluctuations, and second from the premium on copper resources. While the tea plantations were controlled by Chinese and Indians, this plan was actually under their control.

While everyone was pondering, Thomas somewhat rashly asked, "So how should these profits be distributed?"

The other Englishmen instinctively glared at him. Of course, they'd go back and calculate things before discussing it with the Chinese. Oliver immediately spoke up, forcefully changing the subject: "Mr. Thomas doesn't mean that. Our view is that doing so might damage Anglo-American relations, and we would face significant reputational pressure that cannot be compensated for by a small amount of money..."

Lin Xinyi smiled and said, "No, no, I don't think this is a bad thing. We are trying to prevent American capitalists from continuing to deceive the American people and to expose the lies woven by American capital in advance. From a certain perspective, we are saving the future of the American people."

Moreover, the US stock market is full of stock-manipulating fraudsters. If you all go back and look around, you'll always find a few fraudsters willing to take the risk. We just need to get these fraudsters to target the stocks we specify..."

The British quickly left Burnia. Before leaving, Oliver told Lin Xinyi that the Indian Tea Association was sincere in its commitment to maintaining peace in India and that they would certainly expedite the passage of the Moli-Lin Agreement through Parliament.

Chapter 424 Beihai Shelling Incident

Keshavlár Couchey didn't quite understand why Lin Xinyi would join forces with the British to harm Americans. Although this did resolve the resistance of some British people to the policies implemented by the People's Committee, he still felt morally uneasy about it.

In response to Kuji's question, Lin Xinyi replied after some thought: "Socialism is based on the public ownership of the means of production, not on morality. Morality is a product of class consciousness and is not an isolated and eternal existence."

For example, the Indian landowning class in the past believed that the caste system was the highest moral standard, but both laborers and capitalists knew that the caste system was just an excuse to legitimize the oppression of others, and was backward and ignorant.

Therefore, the socialism we pursue essentially embodies two tasks: how to rapidly increase productivity to meet the needs of the people, and how to ensure that the fruits of labor can be distributed reasonably to the people.

Industrialization can only solve the first problem; we are still exploring how to solve the second. Currently, capitalist countries almost universally rely on market principles to address wealth distribution, while feudal dynasties relied on power to distribute wealth.

Objectively speaking, the Party's current distribution of wealth also relies on power. We force capitalists to use most of their profits to improve the situation of workers. Without power, capitalists would not accept our orders. In state-owned enterprises and collective communes, we also require workers to sacrifice a portion of their labor to accumulate state capital in order to accelerate industrialization.

The Party is still able to fairly fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to it by the proletariat because the Party has not enough resources. Without the support of the proletariat, we would not be able to fight against the capitalists and landlords.

However, as industrialization progresses and the Party's organization expands, the resources in the Party's hands will one day completely overwhelm the domestic landlord class and capitalists, and confront foreign capitalists. At that point, will the Party still be able to serve the interests of the proletariat? Will the Party develop its own interests?

The power of feudal dynasties originated from the theory of bloodline and the deified hierarchy. If one day the theory of bloodline and the hierarchy also appeared within the party, then what would be the difference between the power of the party and the power of a feudal dynasty? In that case, the distribution of the fruits of labor by power would become a celebration for a minority, and what would be the difference between this and the power of a feudal dynasty?

Capitalist market economies, at least, know how to establish a legal system to regulate the flow of money. However, once power is solidified, it cannot be returned to the proletariat. Therefore, capitalism is the target that socialism aims to overthrow, but at the present stage, capitalism is still more advanced than feudalism.

Before the people know how to defend their rights, it is necessary and beneficial to understand how capitalism works. Our current alliance with the British against American capitalists is progress, not oppression of the American people. Only when we stand on the side of British capitalists against the resistance of the American people would we truly be violating proletarian morality…”

Although Kuji didn't quite understand Lin Xinyi's explanation, he still kept those words in mind. Meanwhile, after the representatives of the Indian Tea Association returned to Calcutta, someone immediately sent a long telegram to the board of directors of the Assam Tea Company in London, briefly reporting on their negotiations with the Chinese.

Established in 1840, the Assam Tea Company was the first and largest British company to cultivate tea in India. Given the substantial amount of investment the Assam Tea Company made in Northeast India, its directors were naturally very interested in the negotiations between the Indian government and the Chinese.

Upon receiving the long telegram from India, the company's directors immediately sent people to inquire about the situation on the US stock market. As the world's financial center, although the British didn't pay much attention to American financial issues, Americans had to issue bonds in London to raise funds, because they could only obtain US dollars domestically, and the credibility of the US dollar internationally was even lower than that of the Italian lira.

This means that the best way for Americans to launch overseas investments is to raise funds in London. The dollar only has value when conducting mergers and acquisitions domestically. Therefore, London bankers are no strangers to the American financial market, and when these directors inquired, they frankly advised that there was little to invest in American stocks because they were too inflated.

For example, several years ago, when American railroad tycoons were merging with each other, some even issued company stock without limit, leaving the acquiring party with a silent loss. Such an unregulated market is clearly unsuitable for investment. Furthermore, the creditworthiness of American city bonds is not high; many city bonds issued by American cities in London have become worthless because the Americans simply went bankrupt.

The San Francisco earthquake in April of this year caused $300 million to $350 million in damage to the United States. Starting in October, the damage to the US economy from the San Francisco earthquake finally became apparent. Because San Francisco had city fire insurance, many US insurance companies suffered heavy losses and were forced to liquidate their stocks and securities, thus impacting the New York stock market. Now is definitely not a good time to invest in US securities.

Even the British economy was dragged down by the San Francisco earthquake, because many American insurance companies had reinsured their British counterparts, and the UK paid out at least $6500 million in insurance payouts. This caused a large amount of gold to flow into the American market, so British bankers were naturally even less willing to let anyone invest in the American stock market at this time.

These bankers' responses were indeed good news for the directors of the Assam Tea Company, because it meant that the Chinese were right, and this was an opportunity to short the US stock market and a good time to acquire US resources, as long as they could connect with the industrialization of India and China.

The directors of the Assam Tea Company immediately sprang into action. On one hand, they telegraphed the Indian Tea Association in Calcutta, requesting further detailed discussions with the Chinese. On the other hand, they began to unite investors with Indian assets and start preparing to push through Parliament the peace agreement brought back by Moli, with the key goal of securing oversight of the Indian Development Fund.

Meanwhile, news broke in London that the Russian-built Second Pacific Fleet had shelled a British trawler fleet as it passed through the North Sea on December 5, an event that further accelerated Britain's determination to quell the conflict in the East.

Despite the ongoing debates within the St. Petersburg leadership, Nicholas II ultimately decided to order the Baltic Fleet to reinforce the Far East as soon as possible. This was partly due to the unfavorable situation for the Russian army on the Far Eastern battlefield, as the Japanese had cut off Vladivostok's external communications and were reportedly already besieging the city.

Although Vladivostok's fortifications began earlier than those of Port Arthur, construction of Vladivostok's fortifications slowed down after Port Arthur became a military fortress. Before 1900, Vladivostok mainly established two lines of defense at sea, primarily consisting of coastal fortifications.

In 1899, Colonel K.I. Vilichko of the Engineering Corps designed a systematic land defense plan for Vladivostok. However, Vladivostok had an insufficient local population, and after 1900, the manpower of the Russian Far East residents was used for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the garrison in Manchuria. Therefore, the land defense system was only 60-70% complete by the summer of 1906.

The core defensive line consists of fortresses 1, 2, and 3, with the largest fortress, fortress 2, only recently under construction; fortresses 4 and 5 are nearing completion; however, the three "spectacle fortresses" are only at the foundation stage, and many of the trenches protected by breastworks between the fortresses are not yet connected. This means that attacking Vladivostok by land would be much easier than attacking by sea.

From St. Petersburg's perspective, if Vladivostok fell into Japanese hands, it would not only relieve the Japanese of the threat from the Sea of ​​Japan, but also put greater pressure on northern Manchuria. If the Japanese army really concentrated its forces to capture Harbin, then the hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in Manchuria would really be surrounded by China and Japan.

To resolve this issue, it was imperative to regain control of the sea and prevent Japan from launching a reckless attack on Vladivostok, or at least to transport troops to the coastal region. Furthermore, the Baltic winter was fast approaching, and if they didn't set sail soon, the campaign would be delayed until next year. Therefore, under these urgent circumstances, the St. Petersburg bureaucracy finally sprang into action, appointing Admiral Rozhestvensky as commander of the Second Pacific Fleet.

On November 25th, the hastily assembled Second Pacific Fleet, consisting mainly of seven battleships and two cruisers, departed from Liebesburg. Frankly, while the St. Petersburg bureaucracy made an exception and increased efficiency, this did not translate into improved logistics for the fleet. Consequently, when the Second Pacific Fleet set sail, the ships were inadequate in both ammunition and coal, and many sailors were recruited from schools and merchant fleets.

The involvement of these individuals from the public led to a surge of news from society reaching the closed military ranks. At this time, the most talked-about news was that two Russian cruisers had angered the British by intercepting merchant ships in the Red Sea, and that the British were reportedly pursuing the two Russian cruisers. Some tabloids embellished the story, claiming that Japanese warships were operating alongside British warships, and that Britain might soon join the war and declare war on Russia.