Volume Four Chapter Eleven Why?
Chapter 11 of Part 4 Why?
In Shanghai, there are not many snow days. However, this year's winter is a bit strange. Before the nine-year journey, a three-foot-thick snow fell. This unexpected climate is a very deadly thing for Shanghai. The beggars who beg for food on the streets froze hundreds to death after heavy snow.
Since ancient times, when the Chinese people respected God’s anger and heresy, it means that there was a problem with the people in the dynasty and God was going to punish him. Thinking of the fact that the Yellow River was cut off in summer, and combined with the continuous defeat of the Beiyang soldiers on the Sino-Japanese War, some random speculation language among the people gradually increased, and rumors gradually spread.
In the minds of many Chinese, Shanghai is undoubtedly a place where aliens gather. The rent of foreigners, the warships of foreigners on the docks, and the foreigners rampant on the streets all show that the strangeness of this city is inseparable from the foreigners.
Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, many scholars from the two rivers, three provinces, Huguang, Fujian and Zhejiang have gathered in Shanghai for no reason. The reason is that only the newspapers run by foreigners in Shanghai dare to publish news about the Sino-Japanese War of 1895.
Among these newspapers, the most active one is the newspaper "Xin Kuaishou", a US man named Stephen. I don't know where the news came from. Every week, a special topic of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 is about introducing the process of the war.
Almost all Chinese scholars have the idea of taking the world as their responsibility, but there are very few who can maintain the feelings they were young after entering the career of officialdom, and soon everyone was assimilated.
There were continuous bad news in the newspapers, one after another, North Korea was lost, the Japanese crossed the Yalu River, Liaodong was lost, and the Beiyang fleet, which was experiencing an astonishing Beiyang fleet also lost. According to the algorithm of the foreigners in the newspaper, the war started in August until the end of the year, and no good news came. The only good news was that Ye Zhichao severely damaged the Japanese army in Yashan, which once made the scholars happy, was later proved to be fake. The real news was that Ye Zhichao ran 800 miles and escaped from Pyongyang. It was said that he had investigated and dealt with the court, and the specific disposal had not yet been completed.
The continuous bad news has made the Chinese people very frustrated. Many scholars have been discussing privately. What's wrong with the world today? Isn't the court already doing the Western Affairs Office, learning from the West, and imitating foreigners to establish a new army? Why can't even win a small country in Japan? Japan, it used to be a Japanese slave, and a country that wanted to submit to the Qing Dynasty. Why did the world lose everyone?
As the war continued to deteriorate, an author named Nanshan Xianren appeared in the newspaper, constantly writing some comments and using some sharp words to mock and mock the Western Affairs headed by Li Hongzhang of Beiyang. At the same time, the article also combined the reality of the West to analyze and point out that China's Western Affairs is actually a deformed and unhealthy change. Nanshan Xianren said that it has the greatest impact on scholars, "Any good foreign things come to China, there is nothing that goes wrong."
After the news of Liaodong being defeated and the Japanese army landing in Shandong came out, some scholars were completely touched. They were in groups of three or five, discussing state affairs and criticizing current affairs all day long. Some people even learned from the idle people in the South Mountains and secretly submitted articles to foreign newspapers, and they could even publish them. As a result, the idle people in the East China Sea and Yugong in the North China gradually increased in the newspapers. It seemed that everyone forgot that a real man should not change his name, sit down and his surname, put on his vests one by one, and wrote some words to vent his dissatisfaction.
Regarding these phenomena in newspapers, local government officials of the Qing Dynasty protested to consulates in various countries many times, but they ignored them, saying that this was freedom of the press and that the consulates could not interfere.
Just as scholars across the country fell into a manic panic, a name that once excited people but later gradually forgotten appeared in the newspaper. As soon as this name appeared, it immediately made people feel like they were born.
This name is - Chen Congyun.
The first to send the news from Chen Congyun was this new Kuaibao. The title of the news was "A victory in the Northeast, the imperial envoy trained troops to train Chen Congyun to lead his troops to annihilate more than 10,000 Japanese troops in Haicheng!" On the day the news came out, the sales of "Xin Kuaibao" increased by more than ten times. The printing factory kept working overnight and printed 30,000 newspapers, which was considered to meet the requirements on the market.
The sudden appearance of Chen Congyun made people feel as if they saw a trace of light in the dark, and it was like a dying mouse catching a life-saving straw. This was the last fig leaf of the Heavenly Kingdom. Many people remembered the young man who defeated the French army 7 years ago during the Sino-French War. After 7 years of silence, this young man seemed to be no longer young, but he was still as good at fighting as before.
There were more and more good news in the newspapers, and none of these good news was related to Shen Congyuntuo. The great victory in Haicheng was to build a street, recover Huayuankou, recover Jinzhou, recover Lushun, recover Phoenix City, and recover Jiuliancheng. Even on the battlefield in Shandong, a new army suddenly emerged. When the Japanese army was about to conquer Weihai, they miraculously reversed the situation and fought against the Japanese nuzhong and fled back to Korea.
When the newspaper said that Shen Congyun had already accumulated heavy troops in Jiuliancheng and was about to swing his sword to the south and attack Huanglong. The enthusiasm of scholars was ignited, and the newspaper began to cheer for Shen Congyun's victory and for the victory of the Heavenly Dynasty.
Just as people were excited to talk about the continuous victory of Liaodong, it was like a scoop of cold water pouring down in the past three hundred days, and the court wanted to negotiate peace with Japan!
"Why?" The front page of "Xin Kuaibao" published a news story in the thickest font. The content was that when Chen Congyun was about to swing his sword to move south, striving to retake the Korean Peninsula before the arrival of North Korea's severe cold, the court issued an order to let Chen Congyun stop moving forward.
It is very terrible for scholars to think about the same reason. When scholars all over the world are thinking about the same problem, it is even more terrible. The popular vest of "Xin Kuaibao" jumped out again. An article "Where is the way to enrich the country and strengthen the army?" seemed to have made Chinese scholars understand a truth overnight. The idle person in Nanshan asked: "We won the Sino-French battle, lost Vietnam, and opened the southwest. In the Sino-Japanese War, we lost the war and then won, but we once again had to cease the war and negotiate peace. This time, can North Korea keep it? Why? Every time we win, we have to take the initiative to negotiate peace?" In fact, we are much behind the West. Being behind means being beaten. In the past, Westerners bullied us, but now even the Japanese Japanese dare to be arrogant. It is because we are behind!
When the world was in a raging situation, Qingliu, both conservative and radical, jumped out one after another and began to sing the words and slander Fangqiu. Impeachment! Impeachment! Impeachment again! This is the only weapon in Qingliu's hands.
Anyone who participated in the Sino-Japanese War was spared, even Chen Congyun was impeached. Because Chen Congyun ordered not to be kept, this was contrary to the international public law of foreigners, and it was a decent thing for the Celestial Empire. Fortunately, the "Long Live the Tiger Master" shouted by Chen Congyun did not seem to have any intention of spreading it, otherwise Chen Congyun would have another crime and planned to rebel.
Peacekeeping was a matter of the Zongli Yamen’s suggestion to the emperor and the Empress Dowager nodded. The reason was that the ministers of Britain, the United States and Russia joined forces to the Zongli Yamen to say that they were all peaceful countries and Japan was also a peaceful country. The three countries all hoped that China and Japan would get along well, so the three countries had to mediate.
Let’s mediate. Why is the British Far East Fleet trying to assemble in Shanghai? Why is the Russian army starting to assemble in the Northeast? Even the American ambassadors were worried that an unstable China would be a serious threat to the interests of Western powers. The United States will never sit idly by. If the Qing Dynasty did not accept mediation, the three countries would join forces to impose sanctions.
The incident of the Three Kingdoms Dukes' visit to the Zongli Yamen was exposed to the newspaper the next day. An idle man in Nanshan jumped out again, and said in a very sarcastic language: "When the Japanese Navy attacked the Chinese Navy, why didn't the Three Kingdoms Dukes come out to mediate? Why didn't the Japanese Navy sanction Japan? Didn't the Japanese Navy sink British merchant ships? When the Japanese Army occupied Pyongyang, where were the Three Kingdoms Dukes? When the Japanese army occupied Liaodong, where were the Three Kingdoms Dukes? When the Japanese army landed in Shandong, where were the Three Kingdoms Dukes? When the Japanese army killed 20,000 compatriots in Lushun and raped my women, where were the Three Kingdoms Dukes? Now when our army is on the Sino-Korean border, the Three Kingdoms Dukes jumped out to mediate and punish sanctions. Why is this?"
Why? The question is good, many things are not worthy of being spoken by outsiders. The Japanese Consul in Tianjin visited Yili Mansion at night and sent 100,000 taels of silver notes. Who knows? The British minister made an appointment with Li Hongzhang overnight. What did he talk about? Who knows? Li Lianying received 100,000 taels of silver from the Japanese?
"Why?" Chen Congyun threw the telegram away and almost roared at his subordinates with a cold face: "Foreigners do not want to see a powerful China, it is that simple. The Qing government did not want to be enterprising, but wanted to maintain its corrupt rule, it is that simple."
Chen Congyun's words struck everyone's heart like thunder, thousands of trees were born, aftershocks, Zhao Xinglong, Li Yaozu, and Keze. The people Chen Congyun trusted the most were silent one by one.
"Military throne, aftershocks are hopeless for military throne!"
"I do, too!"
"I do, too!"
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Chapter completed!