svetikya Page 116
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Chapter 410 New Policies III
Tian Junyi's promise to An Jung-geun was not just empty words. In August 1906, the Wuhan Military Academy was reorganized into the Red Army Military and Political University and the Red Army Naval Academy, further standardizing the education of military and political cadres.
The Wuhan Military Academy was originally the Hubei Military Academy, established by Zhang Zhidong in 1895. This academy educated approximately 200 military officers. In 1902, the Military Academy and the Defense Battalion Officers' Academy were merged and renamed the Higher Military Academy, enrolling 160 students annually. By 1905, when it was renamed the Wuhan Military Academy, it had enrolled fewer than 500 students.
The Wuhan Military Academy had two enrollment periods, spring and autumn. The first class enrolled 560 students, and the fourth class, which took place this June, had as many as 3500 students. It can be said that the number of students graduating from the first two classes has more than doubled the number of officers trained in previous years. As for the number of students in the third and fourth classes, it was a number that the Qing Dynasty officials could hardly imagine.
Of course, the primary purpose of the Army Officer School was previously to address the shortage of junior officers. In Germany, the officer-to-soldier ratio was 1:30, but in the Qing Dynasty's New Army, it was around 1:100 to 150, with many officers being simply filled through the ranks. For the ever-expanding Red Army, at least 5000 junior officers were needed, and the graduates of the first four classes combined could roughly meet that requirement.
Therefore, the requirements for the standardization of military command and political work increased. Simply put, when the shortage of cadres was not significant, the requirements for the quality of cadres were raised. The Red Army Military and Political University was reorganized precisely because of this requirement. The Military Commission hoped that the university could cultivate mid- to high-level command personnel, rather than just training some junior officers.
Compared to the goals of the Wuhan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee, North Korea at present does not even have a school to train grassroots military personnel, so Ahn Jung-geun was naturally overjoyed to receive this promise.
While in India, Lin Feng also placed great emphasis on the training and education of cadres. It could be said that a large part of his work this year has been devoted to education. An Jung-geun certainly understood the importance of cultivating cadres for the national independence movement. To paraphrase a saying he heard from Lin Feng, "With the direction determined, the quantity and quality of cadres determine everything."
An Jung-geun happily bid farewell to Tian Junyi and left. However, for Tian Junyi, the Northern War was not the main issue in his work. His current focus was on disaster relief and construction, and secondly on ensuring the logistical supply of the army.
As Ahn Jung-geun led his team onto the train from Daejimen Railway Station to Beijing, Tian Junyi was signing a loan contract worth 1.5 million marks for tung oil and tungsten sand with Dr. Paul Rohrbach, the German consul in Hankou.
Standing beside the consul, Krupp smiled as he watched the signing of the agreement. This loan contract had secured Berlin's support at his insistence. Since the advent of alloy steel, German research on alloy steel had reached a bottleneck, not because Germany lacked the technical expertise, but because it lacked sources of non-ferrous metals.
In fact, by 1903, the Germans had already realized that the properties of nickel steel had been almost fully explored. To obtain steel with superior performance, they needed to experiment with more non-ferrous metals. Among them, tungsten steel had a prominent military application. However, 90% of the world's tungsten production was in the United States, and Germany lacked the motivation to research tungsten steel. If the value of tungsten were discovered, the Americans would certainly raise the price of tungsten and might even impose quotas on German sales.
In theory, both Germany and the United States were suppressed by Britain, but neither country had the courage to break the British global system. Therefore, they viewed each other as rivals. The United States resented Germany's view of South America as its future market, while Germany feared that the vast industrial base supported by America's abundant resources would create low-price competition for German manufacturing.
Although Germans often complain that American goods are cheap and inferior, and what they despise most is that Americans often counterfeit German brands, they are also well aware that the British viewed German goods in the same way 30 years ago. Therefore, given time, American technology will gradually catch up, and America's abundant resources will allow American goods to outperform German goods in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Therefore, in industrial manufacturing, the German industry is most wary of the Americans, and they naturally do not want an important industrial raw material to be controlled by their competitor.
During a large-scale survey of the resources of central China in 1902, a large reserve of tungsten ore was discovered in the mountainous area of southern Jiangxi. What shocked the Germans was that the tungsten ore was directly exposed on the ground and was of very high purity, which meant that this was an extremely rich tungsten mining area.
With such abundant tungsten deposits, Krupp finally focused its efforts on the development of tungsten steel. In late 1905, Krupp made a breakthrough in its research on tungsten steel. When steel containing one percent tungsten was used to manufacture machine gun barrels, the service life of the machine guns increased by 2.5 times. These tungsten steel barrels performed excellently in the Sino-Russian War, greatly reducing the frequency of barrel replacements.
However, for Krupp, tungsten steel, as a high-speed steel and gun steel for making cannons, had even more outstanding performance. The cutting speed of tungsten steel is hundreds of times that of carbon steel, and heavy artillery made of tungsten steel perfectly met the needs of the army. Not only Krupp, but the German industry also needed to control China's tungsten mines, which led to this 10-year loan agreement for tung oil and tungsten ore.
After taking note of Krupp's report, the German military believed that if all the artillery in the army could be replaced with cannons made of alloy steel within 3 to 5 years, then German artillery would have an absolute advantage in the war.
For Wuhan, the most important value of this contract lies not in the tungsten steel manufacturing technology provided by the Germans, but in the fact that Germany will at least not become Wuhan's enemy for the next ten years. This is extremely important for Wuhan. As long as Germany does not stand against Wuhan, it means that there is an unstable factor in Europe, and the European powers will not be able to concentrate their forces to invade China, giving China time to develop. He believes that time is now on China's side.
After the contract was signed, Krupp congratulated Tian Junyi, saying, "The friendship between Germany and China will be further deepened by this contract, and I believe both sides will benefit from it. However, does your country really intend to switch all future ship power to internal combustion engines? I still think that the technology of internal combustion engines is not mature enough. In fact, our country is more outstanding in the manufacturing technology of steam engines."
Tian Junyi understood Krupp's hesitation, after all, the next cooperative project between the two parties was to acquire the Qingdao Shipyard from the German government, with the goal of making the Qingdao Shipyard the shipbuilding center of the Far East. So he smiled and said, "Yes, China is a country with relatively rich coal mines. Although its reserves are not as abundant as Germany's, they are still the largest in East Asia. Developing steam engines on this basis is naturally a more prudent approach."
However, given the current shipping landscape in East Asia, the competition is too fierce, and developing steam-powered ships will not allow us to stand out. Japan and Britain's shipping scale in East Asia has even squeezed other countries out of this market, and it is difficult for us to compete with them by following behind.
On the contrary, the level of internal combustion engines powered by petroleum is relatively low in various countries. This means that there is a lot of room for improvement in internal combustion engine technology. If we can take the lead, we can actually get a higher return.
Compared to other countries, our country has little experience in steam engines and shipping fleets, so there's not much of a burden for us right now. Rather than being squeezed out by others, it's better to forge a new path. If oil-powered ships succeed, it will mean we've already surpassed the top two merchant fleets in East Asia. What we need to strive for is the future, not the present.
Krupp remained silent for a long time. He had to admit that the other party's view was correct. The reason why German industry resisted the internal combustion engine was that they had invested too much in the technological research of steam engines. Moreover, Germany was a country rich in coal resources but lacking in oil. Therefore, it was difficult for German industry to make up its mind to shift the energy industry to the oil industry.
Currently, only the United States is actively developing its oil industry, because the United States itself is a country floating on oil. Of course, Europe is not unaware of the potential of oil energy. The fact that Britain and France are desperately seizing oil-producing areas outside the United States is a good example, while Germany can only watch helplessly as Britain, France, the United States and Russia control the world's major oil-producing areas.
In contrast, the Chinese were quite courageous. Despite also being a country lacking oil, the Chinese were willing to invest heavily in the oil industry. Krupp did not oppose the Chinese adventurous spirit; in fact, they were exploring new paths for them. The Chinese's failures or successes would become valuable lessons for Germany.
He finally made up his mind and said to Tian Junyi, "Qingdao Shipyard can indeed take a different path. The competition among the shipyards in Shanghai is too fierce now, but their competition is limited to steam-powered ships. Even if we join in, there won't be much benefit. There are almost no ships in East Asia that can be manufactured with internal combustion engines... Berlin has basically approved our proposal. I think good news will come soon."
Tian Junyi nodded slightly to him and said, "We look forward to cooperating with Krupp again. However, Mr. Krupp, are you really not planning to get involved in the automotive industry?"
Krupp hesitated for a while before saying, "Krupp's operations in the Far East have become too large, and some industries should be allowed to be shared with others. However, does the automobile industry really need to be on such a large scale? I think automobiles cannot be transported by rail; they can only operate in places where railways are not suitable or within cities."
Tian Junyi smiled slightly and said, "Someone told me that cars can't replace railways, but the flexibility of cars is unmatched by railways. For a country like ours with such a complex geographical environment, cars will inevitably be in high demand..."
Chapter 411 New Policies IV
At 61, Zhang Renjun is still in good health. When his fourth son, Zhang Yunkai, tried to help him out, he easily shook him off, saying with dissatisfaction, "I don't have any old illnesses, why do I need help?"
Zhang Yunkai could only follow his father out of the backyard. Soon he saw a group of people waiting in the front yard to see them off. Being able to leave Shanxi, this place of trouble, was something he couldn't have asked for, but for some people in Shanxi, it felt like the sky was falling.
Qu Benqiao, Liu Dujing, Qiao Diansen, Jia Jianying, and other representatives of Shanxi merchants and gentry came today not only to see Zhang Renjun off, but also to find out from this high-ranking official in the capital whether there was any hope left for the Qing Dynasty.
Faced with these inquiries, Zhang Renjun could only reply, "The most important thing in life is to uphold one's principles. What does the future of the Qing Dynasty have to do with our principles? Does the decline of the Qing Dynasty mean you're all planning to switch sides? I only have one thing to say to you: After the clouds disperse, the moon will shine brightly..."
Standing behind his father, Zhang Yunkai immediately curled his lip, feeling that his father's words were as good as saying nothing at all. How could they possibly maintain the status quo? The once high and mighty Empress Dowager was now a lonely old woman under house arrest in the palace; powerful eunuchs like Li Lianying and Cui Yugui could be beheaded at will; the "Qingji Company," which was known for its meticulousness and bustling atmosphere, collapsed just as easily; and even the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, Sheng Yun, who held military power, was dismissed without a second thought.
You may wish to wait for the clouds to part, but you can't stop others from settling scores with you. These Shanxi gentry had previously been outwardly polite to his father, after all, they were major creditors of the imperial court, and the Empress Dowager relied entirely on them for supplies when she passed through Shanxi. It could be said that they were not actually afraid of the Shanxi governor, because they could convey their voices to the Empress Dowager.
However, everything went into chaos after the Russians went to war with China. Although these gentry supported the imperial court, they did not support the court fighting the Russians, because once the war started, the trade routes on the steppes would be cut off, which was a matter of everyone's livelihood.
However, what was even more terrifying than the war was the downfall of the Empress Dowager, which was a double whammy for the gentry of Shanxi. When his father was the governor, he could at least help them share some of the pressure from Beijing. Now that Beijing had transferred his father away and put Xu Xilin in charge of Shanxi, it was even more frightening.
Speaking of Xu Xilin, he was from a prominent family, yet this son of an official ended up associating with a group of rebels. It is said that his father was so angry that he publicly announced in the newspaper that he was severing his father-son relationship with him. Of course, in Zhang Yunkai's view, this was just a way for the Xu family to protect themselves. If it were during the Hundred Days' Reform, the Xu family would not have been able to so easily distance themselves from the situation.
Even among the rebels in Wuhan, Xu Xilin was quite hated because he showed no mercy to the gentry in Hubei and Henan, refusing to spare them even when they pleaded for leniency. This year, during the southern floods, he personally ordered the execution of many unscrupulous merchants and landlords in Hunan and Anhui who were hoarding goods, sparking considerable controversy in the regions, which led to his transfer to Shanxi.
When Xu Xilin arrived in Shanxi, he visited his father, Zhang Yunkai, who accompanied him. When he first saw him, he could hardly believe that the person who had caused so much controversy was actually a weak scholar. At this moment, he understood why the people of Hunan called Zeng Guofan "Zeng the Head-Shaver." If this weak scholar got ruthless, he would be much more vicious than those pure warriors.
After talking with Xu Xilin, he didn't think the man was that bad. Even his father said, "He's a talented person, but his personality is a bit extreme."
His father felt that Xu Xilin's extreme view was that the other party believed that disaster relief should not involve wealthy households giving up small sums of money to fool ordinary people, but rather that the ownership of the land should be reconfirmed and redistributed.
However, my father would never agree to such a thing. Although he also believed that if we wanted peace in the world, it would be enough to let the farmers have their own land, he would just give up on this idea. It would be like making enemies of all the landlords in the world. Not to mention others, we couldn't even get past our own family. How could we give away our own land?
The gentry and merchants surrounding my father today are the very group that resolutely opposes the land survey and redistribution. If Xu Xilin hadn't had the support of the army in Wuhan, and if the army in Wuhan hadn't defeated the Russians, Xu Xilin probably wouldn't have been able to live so freely in Shanxi.
The reason these people surrounded my father was not because he represented the imperial court, but because he had a past relationship with Yuan Shikai and they hoped to gain the protection of the Beiyang government. However, they clearly did not understand their father. Although he was on good terms with Governor-General Yuan, he did not approve of Yuan's opportunistic behavior. These people were wasting their time here.
Since the two sides disagreed, they couldn't have a proper conversation, and the farewell ended abruptly. As Zhang Renjun stepped out the door, he was taken aback, because waiting outside wasn't a large vehicle, but a four-wheeled car.
Zhang Yunkai immediately whispered in his father's ear, "I know you don't want to have so many people coming and going in the local area, so I asked someone to borrow a car. That way we can get to Yangquan tonight and arrive in the capital tomorrow. We can have our luggage sent to the capital slowly."
Zhang Renjun didn't say anything, just nodded slightly and got into the car. Zhang Yunkai turned around, bowed to the people who had come to see him off as a farewell, and then got into the car as well. Soon the car started, turned right onto Nanmen Street, and quickly disappeared from sight.
The people standing at the entrance of the governor's office fell silent for a moment, but no one left. Everyone's eyes were drawn to Qu Benqiao, a prominent Shanxi merchant. He looked in the direction the car had gone and sighed, saying, "It seems we can't count on the imperial court. We still have to deal with the people of Hubei. Everyone should prepare themselves."
Qu Benqiao didn't say what kind of preparations to make, but everyone's faces darkened. However, no one was foolish enough to try to reason with the people from Hubei. In the past few months, anyone in the Datong area who tried to reason with the people from Hubei had been labeled a traitor.
Although Shanxi merchants claimed to respect their neighbors and value integrity, such words were merely a facade. A glance at the grand mansions they built revealed that they were practically local tyrants. After amassing their wealth, Shanxi merchants would purchase vast tracts of land in their villages, then drive out those who disagreed with them, thus creating tenant villages that were subservient to them.
These tenant villages not only provided food and guards for the compound, but also supplied labor to these Shanxi merchants in their homes and businesses. Don't think that working for these Shanxi merchants was an easy job. Just look at the contracts they signed with their employees. They rarely had a few days off throughout the year and could only go home when they were in their fifties or sixties. Many of them ended up growing old alone because they stayed on the grasslands for the business year-round, and had no time or money to get married. It was almost impossible for them to acquire shares in the business.
Therefore, when people from Hubei entered Shanxi and launched the land revolution, the tenant farmers and their laborers were less willing to stand with their employers through thick and thin. In a year of disaster like this, how many people would be willing to let their families starve to death just to earn a reward of loyalty from their master?
Even the mining protection movement launched by Shanxi merchants failed to gain much support from the people of Shanxi. As one question raised by a person from Hubei was, "It is certainly a good thing to take back the mining rights from the British, but who will own these mining rights after they are taken back? If they belong to the landlords, then what can the people of Shanxi do to support us?"
We demand that all mining rights and land in Shanxi belong to the people of Shanxi, not to a minority—this minority refers not only to the British, but also to the imperial court and the Shanxi landlord class. Everyone is fighting tooth and nail, only to have the benefits go to a small group—isn't that utterly ridiculous?
The skepticism of Hubei people towards the Shanxi landlords' movement to protect the mines aroused suspicion among the Shanxi people towards these landlords. Although Shanxi appears geographically isolated, as a trade route to the grasslands, its social atmosphere is much better than that of Henan. At least in Shanxi's cities, there are still quite a few enlightened intellectuals, while there are far fewer in Henan.
Although the people of Hubei were outsiders, they not only drove away the Russians who invaded the Yanbei region, but also did their best to alleviate the drought in the Yanbei region. They also led the people of Shanxi to build water conservancy projects and redeem the right to the Zhengtai Road. Their image was much better than that of the imperial court, so naturally the people of Shanxi listened to what they said.
It can be said that although the Hubei people have been in Shanxi for less than a year, the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committees they formed have already taken root in the Yanbei region. The reason why the Shanxi gentry can now compete with the Hubei people is mainly because Shanxi merchants still control the most fertile basin area in southern Shanxi. The Shanxi merchants have been operating there diligently, and with the obstruction of the Shanxi governor, the policies implemented by the Hubei people in Yanbei, Yangquan and other places have not yet been able to penetrate the area south of Taiyuan.
Zhang Renjun's transfer meant that Shanxi merchants had lost most of their political standing against Hubei people, which naturally caused great concern. On the other hand, Zhang Renjun, who was leaving by car, was initially not interested in talking, but after arriving in Yuci before noon, he finally became a little more cheerful.
He said to his son Yunkai, "This car is indeed a good thing. If we were to take a horse-drawn carriage, it would be bumpy and would probably take a whole day to get to Yuci. These people from Hubei are very capable. If they serve the country well, there is hope for this country."
Upon hearing his father's words, Zhang Yunkai immediately smiled and said, "Father, I don't agree with that. This car is good, but if the roads weren't built, it wouldn't be able to drive so smoothly."
Road construction inevitably involves land acquisition. Building railways is relatively straightforward, as a railway line doesn't take up much space. However, building highways is a different story. Ideally, highways should extend to the countryside, facilitating travel between the county seat and the villages. But would the landlords agree to this? If these highways pass through their land, they would be happy to seize them, since having well-built roads would make it easier for villagers to file complaints with the county government.
In my opinion, the people of Hubei were right to deal with these landlords. As long as these landlords are still around, there's no hope of any development. Between the state and the landlords, probably only one can survive…”
Chapter 412 New Policy Five
The road from Taiyuan to Yuci was fairly smooth, but the road from Yuci to Yangquan was quite bumpy because it was still under construction. Zhang Renjun had to get off to catch his breath, but even so, the journey was much faster than before.
On the way, Zhang Renjun also noticed the Zhengtai Road, which was under construction in sections, not far from the highway. Although the French had taken over the Zhengtai Road project, they were only responsible for the section that crossed the Taihang Mountains, which was also the most technically challenging section. The relatively flat section from Xiapanshi in Yangquan to Taiyuan was subcontracted to the Chinese for construction.
While this segmented construction method greatly saved the French money, it delayed the completion of the railway. However, it also gave the Chinese experience in building railways independently. When Wuhan forced the French to relinquish the right-of-way for the Zhengtai Railway, it didn't actually affect the railway's construction. On the contrary, Wuhan prioritized building a highway parallel to the railway from Yangquan to Taiyuan, which in retrospect accelerated the railway's progress.
With the highway completed, the construction of this railway can be divided into shorter sections. Previously, railway construction would at most start from both ends, but now, people and materials are transported to the middle via the highway, allowing for the establishment of multiple work sites. If it weren't for the need to convert it to a standard gauge railway, this railway would have been operational by the end of this year, given that the railway from Shijiazhuang to Yangquan has already been completed.
Although Zhang Renjun was loyal to the Qing Dynasty, he held an enlightened attitude towards the Self-Strengthening Movement. Therefore, he did inspect construction sites during his tenure, but this was the first time he had witnessed such a vast stretch of construction, hundreds of miles long, with workers busily engaged in their tasks. On previous construction sites, he had only seen silent laborers, whose work chants were filled with melancholy. But on this road, the workers even had the energy to sing.
Although Zhang Renjun couldn't understand what these people were singing, he could hear the joy in their voices. He could also understand why they were so happy, because he couldn't see any foremen or soldiers supervising them on this road. It was unimaginable that such a large project could be carried out without foremen and soldiers supervising the laborers. What if these laborers started to cause trouble?
Since the Manchus entered the Central Plains, the most taboo thing was gatherings of Han Chinese. In the early Qing Dynasty, they forcibly shut down the coal mines in the Western Hills. It wasn't until the mid-Qing Dynasty, when Beijing was severely lacking in fuel, that coal mining in the Western Hills was allowed to resume. Therefore, there was a significant gap in industry and commerce from the late Ming Dynasty to the mid-Qing Dynasty. During this period, apart from farming, the number of people engaged in industry and commerce was strictly limited.
After the mid-period, due to the population growth, the imperial court had to gradually loosen its control over industry and commerce. However, for large-scale industrial and mining enterprises and construction projects, the imperial court would send troops to control them. This control usually involved beatings and various forms of corporal punishment, and even beheading.
Under such high-pressure control, the laborers naturally felt no joy, since even asking for normal treatment could result in a beating. But here, these laborers could no longer be called laborers. In Wuhan, they were called workers, and just by looking at these people working conscientiously without supervision, Zhang Renjun had to admit that they were indeed not laborers but workers.
This scene, however, did not allow Zhang Renjun to see the future of the Qing Dynasty; instead, it weighed heavily on his heart. After arriving in Yangquan, Zhang Yunkai returned after arranging dinner and said to him, "Xu Bosun seems to be here too. Should I go and say hello to him?"
Looking at the bright lights in the room, Zhang Renjun said with a somewhat forlorn expression, "No need. We're not on the same wavelength, no need to say hello. I'm tired after a long day of travel. I'll have dinner and get some rest. What time is my train tomorrow…?"
The next day, Xu Xilin came to inquire about Zhang Renjun, only to find that he had already left early on the morning bus. Xu Xilin didn't think much of it and arranged for a car to go to Taiyuan. After taking over the governor's office in Taiyuan, Xu Xilin didn't stay there for more than a few days. Instead, he took a car to Datong again, bringing Zhan Tianyou, who was surveying the terrain, with him on the way.
He had his reasons for bringing Zhan Tianyou along; the two were immediately invited to the headquarters stationed in Datong upon their arrival. Cai E, who was deep in thought before a large map, welcomed them warmly and said, "I invited you here mainly to ask you a few questions. First, when will the railway from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan be operational?"
After thinking for a moment, Xu Xilin said, "The biggest problem with Zhengtai Road now is to replace the six wooden bridges between Shijiazhuang and Yangquan with steel bridges. Otherwise, the transportation capacity will be limited. According to our estimates, it will not be open to traffic until at least July or August next year."
Cai E immediately shook his head and said, "That won't do. At least until May next year, I need to stockpile 30,000 tons of supplies in Datong, otherwise we can't plan the battle. Can we continue to expand the scale of the current combined rail and road transport?"
After doing some calculations, Xu Xilin said, "Yes, we can upgrade the highways first and set up a gas station every 30 kilometers. We've already tested it in Wuhan; highways in better condition are not only more suitable for heavy trucks but also more fuel-efficient. However, this will require more vehicles. It takes at least 40-50 hours, or two days, to drive from Yangquan to Taiyuan."
Assuming a truck has a 2.5-ton load capacity, it can transport approximately 20 tons of goods to Taiyuan per month. 100 trucks would transport 2000 tons. From now until May, there are six months, which is 12,000 tons. We need at least 300 trucks to complete this task, but currently we only have 79, no, 78 trucks at most. 22 trucks need to be sent back to Wuhan for repairs.
After thinking for a while, Cai E nodded and said, "This is indeed a problem. I think we not only need more cars, but we should also establish a car repair shop in Taiyuan to ensure that cars can be repaired promptly after they break down. I will raise this issue directly with the Military Commission. Now, the second matter..."
Cai E turned to Zhan Tianyou and said, "Director Zhan, I hope your railway bureau can temporarily put aside the surveying of the Tongpu Railway and help us complete the highway construction from Taiyuan to Erenhot first..."
As Cai E spoke, he turned his gaze to the map and pointed at it. Zhan Tianyou quickly looked at the location of Erlian on the map. In 1899, the imperial court built a wired telegraph line along the Zhangku Road, and the Yilin Post Station along the way was renamed Erlian Telegraph Office. This place was also the boundary between Inner and Outer Mongolia.
He instinctively glanced at Kuren on the map and blurted out, "Are they going to retake Kuren? But..."
Zhan Tianyou quickly fell silent. He felt that 3 tons of supplies were too much for the recapture of Kulun, and it was clear that Cai E's target was not just Kulun, or even the Trans-Siberian Railway further north. His sensitivity as a railway engineer immediately silenced him. Perhaps most soldiers of that era still focused on the battles between people, but for a railway engineer, cutting off transportation lines was the first priority. After all, modern warfare couldn't be won with just a horse, a bow and arrow, and a saber.
Cai E noticed Zhan Tianyou's expression and smiled slightly before saying, "This is a military secret. Director Zhan only needs to know that we need this highway now. Actually, we don't lack manpower, but we lack technical personnel, so we need the railway bureau to provide us with support."
Zhan Tianyou nodded and replied, "Okay, a batch of students graduated from the railway surveying school this year. I can arrange 50 people for you, and also send 10 engineers and technicians to serve as technical advisors..."
Cai E and the two men talked for over an hour before letting them leave. Although it wasn't a formal meeting, all three parties quickly obtained the support they wanted. Zhan Tianyou received the military's support for the Northwest Railway construction project, while Xu Xilin received the military's support for reforming the politics of Shanxi and Chahar.
Although Xu Xilin had only been in Shanxi for a short time, he quickly took over Wang Chuzhen's investigation report in Yanbei and Chahar. Although Wang Chuzhen's main task as the army's political commissar was to oversee the army's political and logistical work and to undertake local administrative management and disaster relief tasks, he still devoted a lot of energy to conducting a relatively detailed investigation into the situation in Shanxi and Chahar.
According to Wang Chuzhen's investigation report, the Shanxi issue and the Chahar issue are actually closely related. The connection between the two lies in the Shanxi merchants and the "Going West" movement that arose during the Tongzhi period. Going West was not simply about going to the grasslands for trade activities, but also included the land reclamation and wasteland opening movement of landless poor people from Shanxi outside the border.
The most significant achievement in land reclamation outside the Great Wall was the canal construction in the Hetao Plain. The Yellow River flows into the Hetao Plain, its surface widening to over three kilometers and its current very slow. By digging canals here and diverting Yellow River water for irrigation, fertile land was created. Therefore, following years of natural disasters in northern China at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and after the Qing government relaxed restrictions on Han Chinese from the interior leaving the Great Wall, many northern farmers came to the Hetao Plain to dig canals and reclaim wasteland.
By the 30th year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, the Houtao region had developed into a large-scale irrigated agricultural area with eight main canals, which made the Qing government covet it. Therefore, after issuing the new policies for the return of the Qing government, the Qing government sent Yi Gu to supervise the reclamation of the Mongolian banners. Reclaiming the wasteland of Inner Mongolia was not a bad thing, and Yi Gu was not an incompetent person, but his style of doing things still offended both the Mongolians and the Han Chinese.
He valued government-run land reclamation and therefore advocated establishing a Land Reclamation Bureau to unify the management of land reclamation in Inner Mongolia. In other words, all the profits from reclaiming wasteland would be taken back by the imperial court. This naturally offended the princes and nobles of the various Mongol banners. The land designated for reclamation by the Land Reclamation Bureau was not wasteland but land that the Mongols considered fertile and rich in water and grass. Large Han Chinese landowners colluded with the Land Reclamation Bureau to seize these good lands, which naturally aroused dissatisfaction among the lower-class Mongols.
Secondly, he wanted to investigate the old reclamation sites and advocated that the cultivated land that had already been reclaimed should also be included in the reclamation bureau. In this way, the contracts signed between the Han and the Mongol would be invalid, the Han would lose the cultivated land they had reclaimed, and this cultivated land would be sold cheaply to Han landlords by the reclamation bureau, and the Mongol would also lose the agreed rent.
Simply put, what Yigu did was to give all the grain to the imperial court, resulting in the Mongols losing their land and the Han Chinese losing the fruits of their labor. The real beneficiaries were the imperial court and the landowners who acquired large amounts of good land from the reclamation bureau. If Yigu had possessed the power of white Americans, this would have been a westward expansion. It can only be said that he was born in the wrong era; the imperial court at that time could not support his assertive style.
Xu Xilin studied this intelligence for a long time and concluded that developing Inner Mongolia could not be considered a mistake, especially given the harsh natural environment of the Yanbei region. Without afforestation and reforestation, it would soon become a barren wasteland, unfit for human habitation. Developing Inner Mongolia was inevitable to relocate the surplus population from Shanxi. However, this development should not solely benefit the landlords. Therefore, to address these issues, the policies issued by Yigu needed to be corrected, not completely abolished. The first priority was to crack down on the Mongol princes and the Shanxi merchants who were aggressively seizing land during the reclamation efforts. Thus, he focused his attention on trade outside the borders and Mongol debt.
Chapter 413 New Policy Six
When Lan Tianwei, who had rushed back to Datong from Fengzhen Hall, met Cai E, his first words were, "Isn't launching an attack on the Trans-Siberian Railway too risky? Starting from Datong, it's nearly 1500 kilometers away from our target. The Russians abandoned their plan to advance south from Kulun because of logistical support issues."
Cai E, who was sitting at his desk processing official documents, replied without looking up: "You're right. The Russians did indeed abandon their plan to advance south from Kulun due to logistical problems. But precisely because of this, the Russians believe that as long as they hold Kulun, they can guarantee the safety of the Transbaikal Railway. Therefore, as long as we are present in the Transbaikal region, we have already won half the battle."
Furthermore, strictly speaking, our starting point is not in Datong, but in Wuhan. The vast majority of our supplies are coming from Wuhan and Henan, with only a small amount from Shanxi. Therefore, the key is the connection between the battlefield and Wuhan. From the previous battle at Zhangjiakou, we can draw a basic conclusion: relying on camel caravans or large convoys to transport supplies cannot sustain a front-line army's long-term operations; times have changed.
For a modern army, the supply of ammunition and combat materials is more important than individual bravery and the army's combat capability, because a rifle without bullets is just a stick for burning. Therefore, no matter how many troops Russia transported to Manchuria, if it lost the Trans-Siberian Railway connecting it to Europe, that army would inevitably perish; it's a simple mathematical problem.
Therefore, our primary objective in winning this war at minimal cost is to cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway, not to eliminate as many Russians as possible on the battlefield. Although our population is three times that of Russia, the forces that both sides can mobilize are more than three times greater for Russia…”
After tidying up the signed documents and setting them aside, Cai E looked up at Lan Tianwei and said, "Furthermore, some people have warned us that defeating Russia does not mean we have won this war. We should be wary of Japan's movements. Therefore, we cannot exhaust all our strength in this war and must save our strength for the next one."
“Japan… Japan?” Lan Tianwei looked at Cai E in surprise, and after a long while, he said, “But isn’t Japan our ally now? Aren’t we undermining the friendly and trusting relationship between China and Japan by doing this? Who exactly said that?”
Cai E looked at him before saying, "It was Comrade Lin Feng's warning. Well, you are now also a member of the Military Commission, so you should know about this. In his letter, Comrade Lin Feng said that the war Russia has provoked in the Far East has infringed on the interests of almost everyone, so Russia's defeat in the Far East is only a matter of time. For us, we should consider how to achieve this victory at the lowest possible cost."
Russia's failure lay not only in infringing upon the interests of everyone, but also in the social contradictions that existed within Russia itself. The economic crisis that erupted in 1900 has not completely disappeared from Europe to this day, and from Britain to Russia, almost all major European powers have fallen into a period of intensified social contradictions.
Therefore, the Liberal Party came to power in the UK, the Left League came to power in France, and even Germany experienced a parliamentary crisis this year. Although the left-wing parties in Germany did not win, the social contradictions within Germany did not disappear. Russia, due to its autocratic monarchy, cannot alleviate social contradictions through parliamentary struggle, thus its internal contradictions have become even more intense.
The Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg last January, and the constitutional movement launched by Russian intellectuals at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, all demonstrate the further intensification of internal contradictions in Russia. For the first time, Russian newspapers published openly attacking bureaucratic politics, something unimaginable in the past.
The monarchical autocracy of Russia and the Qing Dynasty actually share a common core: a powerful military force maintains the monarch's complete rule over the country. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, this powerful military force in my country no longer exists, while Russia's autocratic system still relies on the past prestige of the Russian army to maintain its existence.
Therefore, every Russian defeat in the Far East fueled discontent among the Russian people towards the Tsarist autocracy. Consequently, China's opponent in this war was not Russia, but the autocratic Tsarist government; the decisive battleground was not in the Far East, but in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
If we can prove the weakness and incompetence of the Tsarist autocracy, then all levels of Russian society will voluntarily abandon this weak and incompetent autocracy, thus triggering a bourgeois revolution. This is the political basis for our victory in this war at a relatively low cost.
Because of the intensification of social contradictions within European countries, and after Russia's defeat in the Far East, European countries will temporarily focus their attention on domestic and European affairs. In the short term, no European power will provoke a war with an uncertain outcome in the Far East. This is a rare period of leniency for economic development and national self-liberation movements in Asia.
However, there was one exception among the major powers: Japan. With the European powers focused on Europe, Japan was no longer constrained, and China had to shoulder the responsibility of curbing Japan's imperialist ambitions. Otherwise, this period of relative ease in Asia would vanish.
We want to be friendly with the Japanese people, not with Japanese imperialists. Therefore, our wariness of Japanese imperialists will not damage the mutual trust between the Chinese and Japanese people; on the contrary, it will further strengthen it.
Lan Tianwei's confusion was quickly resolved by these words. Attacking the Trans-Siberian Railway was indeed a very difficult operational plan, but if the plan was to end the war against Russia, then it didn't seem so difficult. Lan Tianwei didn't believe that cutting off the Trans-Siberian Railway would force hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in the Far East to lay down their arms, but he found Lin Feng's assessment of Russia's internal contradictions very tempting. If this situation truly occurred, then the Russians would indeed have no choice but to abandon the war.