Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 36

Artoni Cohen finally replied with some dissatisfaction: "Tens of thousands of workers at Krupp are waiting for Mr. Krupp's leadership. For you, this is just a business deal, but for us, Mr. Krupp's problems are a matter of life and death. Are you only concerned with your own business?"

Although Tian Junyi believed that redeeming the Luhan Railway was by no means a simple business deal, he also knew that the Germans did not care about that. He could only change the subject and say, "If it is just a problem, then I have a friend who is an expert at solving problems. If you need, I can ask him for help."

In China, a place where he knew no one, and given the problems Mr. Krupp was burdened with, Artoni Cohen admitted he had no one to consult with. Europeans were even less suited to discuss this matter at this time. He was truly at a loss. Upon hearing Tian Junyi's question, he glanced at the translator beside him and said, "I can speak English. If you can bring someone fluent in English and reliable, then I can talk to you..."

The next day, Tian Junyi brought Yang Quyun over. Artoni Cohen and the two stood in the pavilion in the garden. After obtaining their guarantee of confidentiality, he briefly explained the trouble Krupp had encountered.

On November 16th, Lin Xinyi, as a representative of the senior students, held a welcoming ceremony for the newly enrolled students. Of course, he would not ask the new students whether they looked energetic or not, but simply gave a welcome report and then said: "...You have entered the military academy and will study and live here for several years. During this time, it will be very difficult for you to leave this small island."

Therefore, this is a small society, a melting pot, where you will come into contact with a part of society and be molded into a completely new you. What you become depends on what you think in your heart.

To summarize briefly, the graduates here can be divided into three categories: those who command warships for Japan, those who build the Japanese navy, and those who build Japan for the navy. As a senior student, I sincerely hope that you can become either of the latter two…”

Lin Xinyi's welcoming speech was well received by the new students. However, when he returned to his office, he found that the Naval Seminar had gained control of the student club and now had his own office, and even a telephone, so that Togo or Kawahara could find him directly instead of going through an intermediary.

He had only been sitting down for a few minutes when he received a call from the Marine Corps School. He heard that Deng Yulin wanted to meet with him because he had a telegram to pass on. He could only be thankful that there was no such thing as telephone surveillance at the time, otherwise they would both be doomed.

On November 17th at noon, Lin Xinyi made an excuse to go to the Marine Corps School. Compared to Etajima's strict control over the students at the military academy, the Marine Corps School's rules were much more relaxed. There was a telegraph office nearby, but it could only send messages to China. Deng Yulin's telegram was forwarded from Tokyo, which was much more convenient than before when the Labor Party could only communicate with him by letter, and letters also needed to be relayed through Mu Zi.

Deng Yulin handed a telegram to Lin Xinyi, who was completely baffled by it. He felt it couldn't be explained clearly over the phone and had to ask Lin Xinyi to come in person. However, for Lin Xinyi, the telegram was not difficult to understand. It simply stated that someone had gotten into a scandal and was being relentlessly pursued by the newspapers, so they wanted to deal with the media attacks. What was so difficult about that?

He quickly came up with three suggestions, then handed them to Deng Yulin and asked, "Do you have the money to send telegrams?"

That very evening, Tian Junyi received the telegram and immediately rushed to the German concession. At this time, Krupp was in a state of collapse, and because he was far away in China, he was somewhat delayed in learning about what was happening at home.

In fact, back in October, someone anonymously sent a letter to his wife containing several offensive photos of him. Because he was not in the country, his wife couldn't confront him, but he still sensed the impending storm looming over the Krupp family.

From then on, rumors began to circulate in high society about what he had done in Italy. Although he telegraphed his financial advisor, Hawkes, for advice, Hawkes advised him not to act rashly, but Hawkes also failed to come up with a solution.

Finally, on November 15, the 268th issue of the newspaper "Vancouver" published a long article that officially announced the Krupp scandal and stated that Krupp must abide by Article 175 of the Criminal Code as long as he lives in Germany, calling on the public prosecutor's office to take legal action against Krupp.

Krupp nearly fainted upon hearing the news. He had to seek government assistance in trying to recall issue 268 of the Kadima newspaper. However, due to delays in receiving the news in China, he did not formally request Berlin to file a lawsuit against Kadima for defamation and to request the government's assistance in recalling issue 268 until the evening of November 17.

Just as he was about to head to the German consulate to send a telegram, Tian Junyi stopped him at the door. Franz Krupp said to Tian Junyi with a blank expression, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't spare the energy to deal with Chinese affairs for the time being. I will contact you again after I have taken care of my personal matters."

Tian Jun looked at him calmly and said, "Mr. Krupp, I'm here to solve your problem. I hope you can give me three minutes."

Krupp glanced at his private secretary in surprise. Mr. Cohen had no choice but to lower his head. He looked at the gaslight outside the door and finally sighed, saying, "I can only listen to you say a few words here. I have no interest in hearing any nonsense right now."

Tian Junyi then said, “This is a war of public opinion. The outcome of the war depends on the judgment of the people, not on whether your enemy can speak out. Therefore, you are better off not using your power to silence the other side. If the people see this as fact, then you will lose the war.”

Krupp looked at Tian Junyi in surprise, subconsciously clutching the draft telegram he was about to send in his pocket. After a moment of silence, he asked, "But they have already declared war on me in the newspapers. If I don't fight back, wouldn't that be the same as admitting it?"

Tian Junyi looked at him and said, "You can also fight back in the newspaper. For example, you can declare in the newspaper that after you return to China next month, you will file a lawsuit against the people who slandered you and explain to the public."

Krupp looked at him angrily and said, "What's the difference between this and accusing them now? It's just letting them spread rumors for another month."

Tian Junyi shook his head and said, "No, you won't return to China next month. Instead, you'll issue another statement saying that something has delayed you, so you'll have to return the month after next. In this delaying tactic, the public will quickly lose patience, thus causing the other side to lose public attention."

Then you can have French and Russian newspapers fabricate some scandals about you, making the public doubt the veracity of the news. Next, prove one or two scandals false, and then the public will believe that all the scandals about you are false. Then find the next big news story to divert their attention, and the matter will be over.

Krupp took his hand out of his pocket, straightened his back, and said to Tian Junyi, "Perhaps we can go to the room and sit down to talk slowly."

Krupp and Tian Junyi talked for nearly three hours. In fact, only the first hour was effective. The last two hours were just Krupp's repeated questioning and Tian Junyi's constant reassurance.

At the end of the conversation, Krupp suddenly asked him, "What should we do if the other side has photographs?"

Tian Junyi stared at Krupp in astonishment, and after a long while, he said, "I can ask again for you."

Krupp thought for a moment and asked, "Or I could invite him here to meet me, no, I could go and visit him directly."

Tian Junyi could only look at him and say evasively, "He is currently abroad, and I can only contact him by telegram. I'm afraid it's not appropriate for you to visit him."

Krupp could only say regretfully, "Then please find out for me as soon as possible. I need this advice before sending a telegram to Berlin."

Tian Junyi received a reply on the afternoon of the 18th. This time, Lin Xinyi did not go to the Marine Corps School again, but only said one sentence in the telegram. Tian Junyi then directly relayed this sentence to Krupp, "You can invest some funds in photo processing and research the technology of composite photos."

Krupp's anxiety subsided considerably, but he then anxiously asked Tian Junyi, "The Italian government has some testimonies and witnesses, as well as an expulsion order against me. How should this problem be resolved?"

This time, Tian Junyi was able to answer. He looked at Krupp and said, "Aren't Italy and Germany allies? When French and Russian newspapers are attacking you, the Italian government should know how to support its allies. I think this is where you can exercise your authority..."

Chapter 123 Chaotic Situation

After the signing of the Boxer Protocol, the two empresses returned to Beijing, but the Qing court's prestige had greatly diminished. On her way back to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi lingered in Kaifeng, fearing that foreign governments would demand she relinquish power and allow Emperor Guangxu to rule in his own right.

Only after receiving confirmation from Beijing that foreign governments would no longer interfere in Emperor Guangxu's assumption of power and instead demanded her return to the capital to stabilize the situation in the north, did Empress Dowager Cixi resume her journey. This 93-day return trip cost over 1300 million taels of silver, with 180 million taels spent during her stay in Kaifeng alone, thus once again provoking ridicule and indignation from insightful individuals in the south.

In an effort to win back popular support, Empress Dowager Cixi did not reject the new policies promoted by Ronglu, who was in charge of the central government, and the governors-general of the southeast after returning to Beijing. Although she herself approved of these new policies, Cixi did not genuinely want to promote them, as can be seen from her order to send supervisors to Japan to strictly monitor the students studying there.

At the request of Empress Dowager Cixi, the Chinese ambassador to Japan strictly controlled the students studying in Japan, refused to vouch for some self-funded students, and even called Japanese police to enter the embassy to arrest students who came to protest. This was a political incident that clearly disregarded the foreign affairs rights of Chinese diplomatic missions.

After the national humiliation of the Boxer Rebellion, this incident greatly stirred up the nerves of Chinese students in Japan. Some of the arrested students chose to commit suicide by jumping into the water, and all the Chinese students in Japan jointly wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accusing Minister Cai Jun of disgracing the nation, but there was no response. The Qing government's silence caused progressive students to further lean towards the revolutionaries, and also greatly increased the power of the Labor Party and the Revive China Society.

However, Empress Dowager Cixi and Ronglu showed no intention of backing down with the progressive students; in fact, they were furious at the students' lack of consideration for the bigger picture. But they had more pressing matters at hand, so they temporarily set aside the issue of the students in Japan.

For Empress Dowager Cixi and Ronglu, the two most important matters at the moment were, firstly, the successive deaths of Li Hongzhang and Liu Kunyi, which led to a subtle shift in the power dynamics within the country. The Qingliu faction, represented by Zhang Zhidong, suddenly came to the fore, and this faction explicitly supported Emperor Guangxu's assumption of personal rule.

To prevent Zhang Zhidong from petitioning the court about this matter, Ronglu had no choice but to support Yuan Shikai's change from acting Governor-General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang to a substantive appointment, thus taking over Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. Prior to this, in order to suppress the Huai Army, Ronglu not only drove Li Hongzhang out of Beijing but also reorganized the Huai Army into the Wuwei Army system, attempting to transform this Han Chinese military force into a Manchu-controlled force.

However, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, Yuan Shikai led his core Huai Army members and the governors-general of the southeast to mutually protect each other, coldly watching as the loyal Wuwei Army was besieged and annihilated by the Alliance, leaving only a group of remnants. By this time, apart from Yuan Shikai, no force in the north could suppress the governors-general of the southeast. Therefore, after Li Hongzhang's death, Ronglu could only appoint Yuan Shikai as acting Governor-General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, because Yuan Shikai also opposed Emperor Guangxu's personal rule.

Liu Kunyi's death further exacerbated the crisis within the Qing court, as Zhang Zhidong was likely to merge with the Hunan clique and thus truly become the spokesperson for the governors-general and governors of the southeast. Therefore, at this time, Beijing's policy was to try to meet Zhang Zhidong's demands for new policies, but to guard against Zhang Zhidong completely merging with the Qingliu faction and requesting the court to allow Emperor Guangxu to assume personal rule.

However, Zhang Zhidong was clearly also worried about a complete break with Beijing and never crossed that line. Zhang Zhidong thought he was considering the overall situation, but in reality, he was losing his appeal to the governors-general of the southeast because he dared not break with the court. So why should people follow him to oppose the court? The Hunan clique generals, who had originally been observing the situation and were reluctant to go to Nanjing to take over as governors-general of Liangjiang, also began to stir.

Zhang Zhidong's proposal to the court to redeem the Luhan Railway naturally received the court's approval. Ronglu felt that it would be good for Zhang Zhidong to have some trouble with the Russians, as this would distract him. On the other hand, Ronglu, who was in charge of the central government, was also finding it difficult to withstand the pressure from the Russians. In the past, Ronglu still had some ambition because he still had the Wuwei Army under his command.

However, he could only rely on Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. But he knew very well what kind of person Yuan Shikai was; if he couldn't be loyal to Emperor Guangxu, then he was even less likely to be loyal to him. Therefore, if the Russians really wanted to invade China, he couldn't expect Yuan Shikai to come out and serve the country loyally.

At this point, Ronglu could probably understand Li Hongzhang's feelings. He seemed to hold immense power, but the Qing Dynasty was riddled with problems: external threats from foreign powers and internal factions with their own agendas. The Qing Dynasty couldn't afford to just live one day at a time; why harbor any thoughts of Manchu rule?

However, Empress Dowager Cixi clearly did not think that way. After being driven out of Beijing by foreigners once, the Empress Dowager was even more unwilling to relinquish her power, fearing that if she did, she would be held accountable for her past crimes. Therefore, Cixi hinted to Ronglu that she should agree to the Russians' demands if possible, as long as the Russians guaranteed not to violate the imperial tombs outside the Great Wall.

Ronglu was not Li Hongzhang. He understood one thing very well: Li Hongzhang's treason was backed by the Huai clique, while Ronglu would only become a scapegoat. If the whole country wanted him dead, would Empress Dowager Cixi really risk her life for power?

Moreover, in dealing with the unreasonable demands of the Russians, he also had to face pressure from Britain, the United States, and Japan. Diplomats from these three countries all told him that Russia could not occupy Manchuria, and that if the Qing government accepted, they would also demand most-favored-nation status and obtain the same treatment.

Therefore, Ronglu, who was slightly more enlightened than Empress Dowager Cixi, immediately realized that the Russian occupation of Manchuria was not the end, but the beginning of a series of troubles. If the Qing Dynasty could not stop the Russian army, how could it possibly stop the armies of other foreign powers?

Within the Qing Dynasty, opinions were divided regarding Japan's offer of an alliance against Russia, given Russia's aggressive stance. Yuan Shikai believed the Japanese were extremely ambitious and that cooperating with them would bring no benefit, ultimately leading to a situation similar to the conflict between Russia and Japan—trying to reject a wolf but ending up letting a tiger into the house.

Yuan Shikai's advice to Ronglu was to observe Japan and Russia's struggle for Manchuria with a cold eye, while he himself guarded the borders, trained his troops to strengthen himself, and waited until both sides were exhausted before he could take back Manchuria.

Ronglu dismissed Yuan Shikai's argument, saying, "If you don't dare to compete now, what will you do when the competition is over and morale is high? You'll only be adding more benefits to the victor."

Acting Governor-General of Sichuan, Cen Chunxuan, believed that an alliance with Japan should be formed to resist Russia. Zhang Zhidong thought that foreigners could not be trusted, but he could not come up with a solution. For Ronglu, this was truly a difficult winter. However, with Japan's increasingly harsh attitude, in order to prevent Japan from turning to Russia to partition China, Ronglu had no choice but to sign an agreement with the Japanese to jointly build a naval port on Hainan Island.

In this agreement, Ronglu was vague about the Sino-Japanese alliance, only stating that both sides should jointly respect the right of freedom of navigation on the high seas and combat illegal acts that endanger this right. Ronglu assumed the Japanese were referring to pirates in the South China Sea, and indeed, there are some pirates in the South China Sea who endanger merchant ships.

After signing the agreement, the Japanese finally quieted down for a few days. However, negotiations between the Belgians and the Hubei and Hunan provinces quickly took a turn for the worse, drawing national attention. This was because the Russians forcefully intervened, refusing to allow Hubei and Hunan to reclaim the rights to build the Luhan Railway.

At this time, Russia had a large number of troops stationed in Manchuria, and therefore did not want to relinquish any of its interests in China. The French also echoed the Russians, while the Belgians, who should have been the main actors, became mere spectators. However, the Germans soon joined in, initially as technical experts. They pointed out the shoddy workmanship of the Belgian company in the construction of the railway and demanded that the Belgian company rectify the issues at its own expense.

The Russians exercised some restraint regarding the German involvement and did not raise the issue of terminating the redemption negotiations. However, they rejected all of the German proposals for improvements, arguing that each country had its own construction standards and that they did not need to accept the German standards.

Things have developed to this point, which is not unusual. In China, which of the great powers hasn't argued with each other over the right to build railways? Everyone wants to assert their sphere of influence, and they'll bring up anything even remotely related.

However, at the end of December, Franz Krupp suddenly published a statement in major Chinese newspapers, saying that he did not expect the French to be so despicable. In order to prevent Krupp from participating in China's railway construction, they actually fabricated scandals about him in domestic tabloids, trying to make him leave China and return to Europe to defend himself. However, Krupp would not yield.

At the end of his statement, Franz Krupp declared: "Alsace and Lorraine belong to Germany, not only today, but until the end of the world. For Germany will never yield to the land of liars."

When the French diplomats in China saw the news, they were completely bewildered. Although they supported Russia, they had not done anything inappropriate during the negotiations, and the Franz Krupp scandal had nothing to do with the French; it was the Italians who exposed it.

However, after Krupp's statement reached Europe, French Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé was successfully enraged by his last sentence. He did not care about Krupp's sexual orientation. In his view, the German Emperor was surrounded by a bunch of scoundrels, which was why the Germans needed Article 175 of the Penal Code to prohibit homosexuality.

However, Krupp's statements regarding Alsace and Lorraine were something he couldn't ignore; otherwise, the French government would face a crisis of confidence, as the French people were determined to reclaim these two territories. As a foreign minister who presented himself as a nationalist, Théophile Delcassé certainly couldn't remain indifferent to Krupp's words.

Théophile Delcasser issued a statement to French newspapers, deeming Krupp's statement utter nonsense, completely unbelievable, and nothing more than the ravings of a scoundrel. Delcasser's remarks successfully attracted the attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who telegraphed the French government questioning which part of Krupp's statement the French perceived as ravings and whether the French government intended to deny German sovereignty over Alsace and Lorraine.

Relations between Germany and France suddenly became tense. The German public was no longer concerned about the Krupp scandal; what they needed to focus on now was whether war would break out between Germany and France.

Chapter 124 Countermeasures of Various European Countries

French Prime Minister Émile Combou, though a nationalist, is a moderate who believes that internal reconciliation and reform in France are more important than fighting a war with Germany, and that France might not even win.

The internal divisions in France at this time were far more severe than the struggle between the Social Democratic Labour Party and the capitalists in Germany. The Social Democratic Labour Party had merely exposed the scandals of big capitalists like Krupp in the newspaper "Vorwärts," but at least they still supported the Emperor and admitted to being patriots.

However, in France, the Dreyfus Affair of 1894 split society into two camps: the Dreyfus faction and the anti-Dreyfus faction. Nationalist right-wing elements viewed the left as traitors, and even after the left presented conclusive evidence proving the case was a false accusation, they attempted to oppose the reversal of the verdict and even considered a coup to overthrow the republican government.

Former Prime Minister Waldeck-Rousseau angered right-wing nationalists by supporting a retrial of Dreyfus's case, ultimately forcing him to resign. While President Émile François Loubey compromised with the military by pardoning Dreyfus, thus ending the long-standing unresolved issue, he did not change the military's mind.

Foreign Minister Théophile del Cassel's statement was endorsed by the military, but this endorsement could not alter the balance of power between France and Germany. With Russia deeply entangled in its eastward expansion, France was simply incapable of confronting Germany alone. Furthermore, the German military, more than their emperor, favored waging war to completely thwart France's ambitions in Alsace and Lorraine.

At this point, the military's attitude became rather ambiguous. On the one hand, the military firmly opposed the government's clarification of the Foreign Minister's statement on Krupp, believing that this would allow Germany to fully obtain the legal basis for Alsace-Lorraine. On the other hand, the military also opposed going to war with Germany.

Although the Dreyfus case was resolved with a presidential pardon, the divisions in French society did not heal. The left still demanded legal justice for Dreyfus, and the case had escalated into a political event. The left attempted to use it to eliminate anti-republican forces in the military and government, while the right could only resolutely oppose it, even if it was a miscarriage of justice.

If the army were to suffer another defeat at this juncture, the Republicans could potentially wipe out the conservatives from the French political scene. Given the military's attitude, Émile Compoux began to believe that the French army truly needed reform. In February 1903, Maurice Bertolt succeeded Louis André, the representative of the military's conservative faction, as Minister of War. However, Bertolt's rise to power also signified that the French government was prepared to make certain concessions to Germany, as military reform would take time.

In March, French Foreign Minister Théophile del Cassel announced his resignation, and Kombu appointed the moderate French Finance Minister Maurice Rouvier as Foreign Minister, beginning the effort to repair relations with Berlin.

At this time, Germany was also debating whether or not to take the opportunity to launch a Franco-German war. The Krupp incident was a completely unexpected event, and Germany did not expect that such a pretext for war would appear in 1902-1903.

German Chief of the General Staff Schlieffen saw this as a golden opportunity, a chance for Germany to wage war against France and thus resolve the Alsace-Lorraine problem once and for all. However, he also admitted to the Emperor that the German arms replacement and officer training programs he spearheaded were only in their infancy and had not yet been fully implemented.

However, Schlieffen still believed that now was the best time to launch the future war he advocated for Germany. Even when Moltke the Elder was still alive, Germany had the idea of ​​using force to counter the Franco-Russian alliance, and Schlieffen refined it. And now, with Russia embroiled in Far Eastern expansion, it presented an opportune moment to wage war against France alone.

At this crucial juncture, Wilhelm II hesitated between his plans for a military conquest of France and the subsequent rebuilding of the German-Russian alliance. As Russia turned its attention to the Far East, the likelihood of conflict between Germany and Russia steadily diminished. Wilhelm II never abandoned the idea of ​​a continental alliance, as he consistently believed that Britain would not stand idly by while Germany conquered France.

His telegram to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia confirmed that the Franco-Russian alliance remained valid, meaning Germany could not wage war against France alone. Britain also paid close attention to the escalating tensions between France and Germany, urging Germany not to go to war with France over such a trivial matter.

Britain did not remain aloof because it did not want to see Germany running rampant in Europe. The British saw things more clearly than the Germans: Nicholas II was merely putting on an act; the Finance Minister Witte, who advocated maintaining friendly relations with China in the Far East to jointly oppose Japan, had lost power, and Tsarist confidant Bezobrazov, who advocated establishing a Yellow Russia in the Far East, had begun to dominate Russian politics.

Therefore, at this time, the Russians, aside from verbally supporting France, had no real intention of sending troops. Doing so would have created a situation where Germany, Austria-Hungary, Japan, and China confronted the Franco-Russian alliance, and Russia would not only lose Manchuria but also its territory east of Lake Baikal. Perhaps the Chinese would hesitate, but the Japanese would certainly seize this opportunity.

For Britain, such a war was beyond its control, because Britain could neither side with Germany to completely defeat France and Russia, nor side with France and Russia to expand the scale of the war. Britain had not yet recovered from the effects of the Boer War, and if it joined a continental war at this time, the British themselves would not know what the post-war world would be like.

What troubled the British most was that the Chinese, who should have been irreconcilable enemies of the Germans, were suddenly becoming closer to them. Strictly speaking, Anglo-German cooperation was the norm in China; before 1900, Britain recognized Germany's sphere of influence in Shandong, and Germany recognized Britain's sphere of influence in the Yangtze River basin.

However, after the Boxer Rebellion, Germany began to deny this claim, maintaining that it still held exclusive rights in Shandong but opposed Britain's exclusive rights in the Yangtze River basin. If this was merely a unilateral German statement, then Britain could naturally engage in a war of words with the Germans, since it would be another one or two decades before Germany could establish a foothold in the Yangtze River basin.

However, the growing rapprochement between Hubei and Hunan and Germany provided Germany with an opportunity for rapid development in the Wuhan area of ​​the middle Yangtze River. Within a year, the number of German expatriates in Hankou increased from 200 to 2000, and most of them were engineers and businessmen, not missionaries.

Within that year, Hubei's development, especially that of Wuhan, was quite remarkable. According to investigations by the British Consulate in Hankou and the Hankou Customs, Wuhan's total import and export volume last year exceeded 1.3 million taels, a full 3000 million taels more than in previous years. Moreover, the types of imported goods also underwent significant changes, with machinery ranking second, almost on par with the import volume of cotton cloth and cotton yarn.

Among the countries importing goods, Germany and the UK saw their share increase, Japan's remained almost flat, while the US saw a 25% decrease. This change left the British with mixed feelings; they had indeed dealt a blow to their biggest rival, American manufacturing, but it had allowed the Germans to reap a significant advantage.

The new policies promoted by Huguang (Hubei and Hunan provinces) did not only focus on political and military reforms, nor even solely on commercial development. This time, the Chinese seemed to have learned their lesson, investing heavily in infrastructure, namely transportation, water conservancy, farmland improvement, port construction, and urban development.

Over the past year, Hubei Province invested a staggering 4161 million taels in infrastructure, far exceeding the estimated 200 million taels in previous years. Half of this investment went to Wuhan, Daye, Pingxiang, and Zhuzhou. This massive investment in infrastructure is rapidly elevating Wuhan's status as a commercial and logistics hub in central China. The construction of a single new wharf alone reduced Hanyeping Company's freight costs by nearly a quarter.

Last year, Hubei also saw the establishment of more than 30 modern industrial enterprises, with the majority of them involved in urban construction. These included cement plants, brick and tile factories, power plants, waterworks, tram companies, and electrical companies, most of which were industries that Chinese people were venturing into for the first time. Behind these industrial enterprises stood the figures of the German industrial and financial sectors.

Although Hubei and Shandong are both Chinese, they give off drastically different impressions. The people of Shandong are fiercely fighting with the Germans for their local rights and interests, while those in Hubei are desperately trying to integrate themselves into a German overseas industrial base.

Faced with a China whose ideology was completely diametrically opposed, the British were also somewhat troubled. Although the British pursued a China with a weak central government and strong local powers, thus opening a window for foreign powers to enter China, Britain did not support local Chinese powers becoming true vassals of any particular power, thereby creating a springboard for that power to invade China.

According to British consulate officials in China and British customs officials, Chinese labor is much cheaper than that in Europe and America. However, China's labor force cannot be utilized because its infrastructure is too poor. The final cost of investing in factories in China is still higher than the cost of manufacturing in Europe and America and then shipping to China. This can be seen from the persistently high cost of pig iron at the Hanyang Ironworks.

However, Hubei is now investing heavily in infrastructure and education. Last year, Hubei's investment in modern education reached 1000 million taels of silver, five times higher than the investment in the Hubei New Army. These British people in China have therefore concluded that within three years, Wuhan will surpass Shanghai to become China's leading industrial city. This is because Shanghai lacks the organized capacity to absorb resources from surrounding areas; Shanghai's development depends entirely on the self-reform and spontaneous economic integration of the surrounding Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

After discussions, the British government concluded that what Britain needed at the moment was not to stop Germany's expansion of influence in China, but to prevent China from aligning itself with Germany, especially the one-sided alignment of the Viceroy's Office of Huguang with Germany.

British Foreign Office officials believe that fostering an alliance between China and Japan against Russia is the best way to disrupt Sino-German rapprochement, because the Shandong region, occupied by Germany, is precisely one of the spheres of influence Japan seeks to gain in China. Once the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas fall under Japanese control, Japan will immediately become the controller of the East Asian mainland, which aligns with Japan's maritime power control philosophy as an island nation.

Therefore, when the Franco-German war crisis broke out, Britain began to promote a Sino-Japanese alliance to resolve the problems that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance could not solve. The British also realized that the reason why the Japanese were unwilling to form an Anglo-Japanese Alliance was that they were not confident in confronting Russia alone. A Sino-Japanese alliance could eliminate Japan's worries about its rear, thus clearing away the obstacles to an Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Chapter 125 Moving forward

For most people in China, the tense, pre-war atmosphere in Europe might not have been felt, and some might not even know what was happening there. But for members of the Labor Party like Tian Junyi, Mr. Krupp was their best source of information, and as someone directly involved, Krupp was naturally quite concerned about European affairs.

As a result, Tian Junyi also obtained some information that had not been published in the newspapers, such as the disagreement between the German military and the Emperor regarding whether to launch a war. Realizing that the issue of redeeming the Luhan Railway was no longer a matter between China and Russia, but rather between Germany and France, Tian Junyi began to calm down and tried to lower the Belgians' demands as much as possible in the negotiations.

As the Belgians, pushed to the forefront by Russia and France, they naturally did not want to be drawn into the Franco-German conflict. Having consistently tried to maintain neutrality between their two neighbors, the Belgians now felt they were in serious trouble. In fact, after the French Foreign Minister responded to Krupp's statement, French diplomats in China were prepared to make concessions on the Luhan Railway issue and the construction of a naval port on Hainan Island.

The Russians, faced with this shift in the situation, were initially somewhat bewildered. Although the Bezoblazov group had defeated the moderate Witt group and gained control over Far Eastern policy, their plan was to establish a logging company on the Yalu River, leveraging the authorization they had previously obtained from Korea.

According to this agreement, Russia could establish a defensive line along the Yalu River, separating Korea and Manchuria, thereby creating a "Yellow Russia." The Bezobrazov group believed that Japan could not challenge Russia without a war in Europe.

According to the majority of the Russian upper class, "The solution to the fate of Manchuria depends on victory on the European battlefield. We are prepared for the worst-case scenario—Japan declaring war on us when a large-scale war breaks out in Europe."

Under the circumstances at the time, the main battlefield was the area between the Dvina and Dnieper rivers to the west, and any attempt to weaken our forces in the decisive locations in order to gain an advantage in the second front was a mistake.

Victories in Asia cannot compensate for defeats in Europe; on the contrary, the treaties we signed in Berlin and Vienna after our European victories marked the beginning of the complete eradication of Japan's achievements in Manchuria.

However, the situation has now changed. France and Germany are about to go to war, which means that the situation that the Russians feared most has suddenly occurred. At this time, it is obviously not appropriate to continue to take a hard line against China and Japan.

The Russians were thus caught in a dilemma: whether to concede to Japan or to China to reduce the risk of war in the Far East. Ultimately, the Bezobrazov group chose to concede to China, believing that China had no power to prevent them from backing out. They reasoned that once the turmoil of the war in Europe subsided, they could continue with the Yellow Russia plan.

Nicholas II agreed to Bezobrazov's suggestion and decided to make concessions on the redemption of the Luhan Railway, thereby further consolidating Russia's rule in Manchuria.

Tian Junyi did not pay too much attention to these diplomatic developments. Instead, he further integrated the progressive forces in the Huguang region. In 1902, the Huguang Governor-General's Office invested heavily in infrastructure construction, further strengthening the close ties between the Economic Reform and Urban Development Committee and the Southeast Protection Conference. At Tian Junyi's suggestion, local water conservancy and road construction were transferred to the local branches of the Southeast Protection Conference.

In other words, through this allocation of resources, the Southeast Protection Conference became a local autonomous organization, rather than a political club that merely shouted slogans. For flood-prone areas like Hubei, the construction of water conservancy projects was inherently the responsibility of the government and local gentry, because without their leadership, the people alone could not build dikes to defend against floods.

However, as central government spending increased, local government investment in water conservancy decreased, leading to the rise of local gentry power. The Hubei gentry who joined the Southeast Protection Conference were almost all leaders in local water conservancy projects. This resulted in their growing power in the region.

Tian Junyi advocated the following at a party meeting: "Whether it is construction or revolution, we need an organization. If the meetings of government offices and local gentry constitute the organization by which the Qing government ruled China, then our revolutionary goal is to overthrow the Qing government's local organizations and then establish a Workers' Party organization to govern the local areas."