Since the East China *** sent personnel to Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces to rescue disasters, various propaganda machines have been used to vigorously promote disaster relief. On the one hand, it highlights the image of benevolent politics and loving the people in East China; on the other hand, it also focuses on belittlement of the Qing court.

The major newspapers opened by East China also responded, opening columns in newspapers, publishing special issues, and reporting extensively and in detail about the situation in the disaster area, as well as the progress of East China's disaster relief work. The newspapers in Shanghai responded the most enthusiastically because the disaster itself has great news value, and there is also an exciting drama about East China's great efforts to tear the Qing court.

Although Shanghai is now the largest territory in East China, it is still the most economically developed and most modernized region in China, and it is also the largest external port. Although after losing Shanghai, Britain, France and other countries deliberately strengthened the port role of Guangzhou and transferred the import and export channels of some commodities from Shanghai to Guangzhou, Shanghai also has the advantages of Haihe and Hebei shipping. It is also a central region in the north and south of China, with a wide range of radiation. Moreover, the Guangdong region did not form a group advantage at this time. Therefore, Guangzhou's geographical and economic advantages are far from comparable to Shanghai.

Moreover, after the occupation of Shanghai by the East China **, on the one hand, it inherited the advantages of efficient and modern foreign municipal management; on the other hand, it fully dispatched the Chinese people's production enthusiasm and widely developed foreign trade, not only completely filled the gaps in withdrawals from Britain, France and other countries, but also further expanded, because the East China ** itself had a huge import and export volume, so Shanghai's economy and industry had further developed.

Although East China has clearly announced the political program to overthrow the Qing court, its economic ties with the coastal areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have not weakened, and it has been further strengthened. On the one hand, East China itself has huge procurements for the coastal areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. On the other hand, after East China controls Shanghai Customs, it also has certain protection measures for exported Chinese goods, and has some restrictions on imported goods to protect national capital. Merchants in the coastal areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have benefited from it, and merchants have benefited from it, and the governors and governors of various provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are naturally all in equal interest.

At the same time, East China now occupied Henan Province, and almost cut off the north-south transportation of the Qing court. Although East China has not stopped the Qing court from personnel exchanges, the information transmission between the north-south of the Qing court has been greatly reduced. It is mainly through telegram communication, without direct supervision by the imperial court. The governors and Taotai and other officials of the provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River naturally turn a blind eye to the economic exchanges between merchants and Shanghai, which is even a great convenience. After all, no one can't get over money.

Of course, making money is secondary. Guan Jian is a member of the governor and Taoist et al. All the masters of the governor and Taoist et al. can be seen clearly. It is a foregone conclusion that East China ** will replace the Qing court. It only depends on when East China ** will take action. These governor and Taoist et al. have no idea of ​​loyalty to the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, maintaining a certain connection with the East China ** through merchants is also a way out for themselves. This time, East China ** has entered Jiangsu and Anhui's disaster relief was so smooth that there were basically no obstacles. This is one of the reasons.

Another consequence of this is that the newspapers issued in Shanghai can radiate to provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, because both the governors and other officials and businessmen need to understand the policy direction of East China through newspapers.

Shanghai was originally the most developed region in China's media industry. There were as many as hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and they were protected by the concessions and had no scruples when speaking. However, among them, they were mixed with good and bad, and the overall circulation was not high. Some newspapers only had a few hundred copies of the distribution, which was maintained entirely by the operators' own pockets. After the East China ** occupied Shanghai, it rectified the media industry, formulated the [Press and Publication Regulations], and closed a large number of unqualified ones.

The newspapers and magazines have also opened several local newspapers and magazines in Shanghai. In addition, some veterans have also participated in the business of running newspapers and magazines. Now there are 43 newspapers and magazines in Shanghai, including 32 newspapers and 11 magazines, while 12 foreign newspapers and 3 magazines; 20 Chinese newspapers and 8 magazines. At the same time, professional magazines have also appeared. For example, there is a magazine that specializes in introducing weapons and is mainly military.

Although there are fewer newspapers and magazines, the quality has improved, and there is less competition. At the same time, the market has expanded. In addition, the new concepts brought by the East China **, such as advertising, so the income of newspapers and magazines has also increased significantly, showing a prosperous scene.

After these disaster relief reports were issued along the coastal areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, they naturally caused great responses. Under the intentional guidance of the East China **, they were also full of praise for the East China **. Although there were a small number of voices of opposition, slander, and accusations, they were soon drowned out by the praise. Of course, this is also very normal. After all, the East China ** disaster relief operations have occupied a moral high point, and the Qing court basically did nothing in this natural disaster, which is also an invisible assistance to the East China **.

However, the Qing court was a centipede, and it was not dead. There were still a group of loyal fans, although the number was not large. The loyal officials of the Qing court certainly believed that the East China *** entering Anhui and Jiangsu disaster relief was not good for the Qing court, so someone wrote to the Qing court to explain the matter and asked the Qing court to issue an order to refuse the East China *** disaster relief. Some simple-minded officials wrote to the Qing court, suggesting that the Qing court and the East China ** give up political divisions and work together to rescue the disaster.

It was only then that the Qing court realized that East China had entered Anhui and Jiangsu to rescue disasters, which naturally caused the Qing court to shock.

After the Far East War, East China officially announced its breakup with the Qing court and proposed that the political goal of overthrowing the Qing court and establishing a new China were greatly panicked. After all, everyone knew that the Qing court was no match for East China at all, not to mention that East China has just won the Far East War, and its prestige is at its peak. I am afraid that by time, the banner of East China will be the problem of how many days the Qing Dynasty can hold on.

Of course, Cixi and Guangxu could not sit still, so they immediately recruited ministers to negotiate countermeasures for several days. The ministers came to speak out and offered suggestions. Some people asked the Qing court to form another army, train and prepare for war, and prepare to fight to the death with the East China **; some people suggested that the Qing court form an alliance with powerful countries such as Britain, France, America and Germany to fight against the East China **; some people believed that the Qing court should hold peace talks with the East China **, even if the world was evenly divided, it could be considered as saving half of the country and persevering. Some even had the extreme opinions, believing that the Qing court should merge with the East China **, so that the person in charge of the East China ** was in charge of the Military Affairs Office. In short, there were many people saying everything.

However, in the eyes of Cixi and Guangxu, these suggestions were not reliable. They fought to the death with East China. Can the Qing court beat East China? The Qing court had trained a new army for several years, but in the battle against the army that was still the volunteers at that time, they were defeated in a mess. Where can they be strong if they formed an alliance? To form an alliance with powerful countries such as Britain, France, America and Germany, first of all, will the strong countries such as Britain, France, America and Germany form an alliance with the Qing court? What price will the Qing court pay after the alliance? And what can it do if it is an alliance? In the Far East, East China defeated Britain, France, Japan and Russia with one force. Can the alliance protect the Qing court? As for peace talks with East China, mergers are even more unreliable. Cixi and Guangxu both understood that it was easy for East China to defeat the Qing court. Why would it be willing to negotiate with the Qing court and merge?

Before the Qing court could come up with a good idea, the Yangtze River Basin was flooded again, but at this time the Qing court was in the mood to rescue the disaster? And even if they wanted to rescue the disaster, they had no money. Therefore, the Qing court could only issue a few edicts symbolically, ordering the governors and governors of provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to try to rescue the disaster, and then there was no other disaster relief action.

But the Qing court did not expect that the East China ** did not launch an attack on the Qing court, but went to Jiangsu and Anhui to rescue disasters. Of course, the Qing court unanimously agreed that the East China **'s disaster relief operations were not peaceful. This was under the guise of disaster relief, but in fact it wanted to occupy Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. This was the method of erosion and gradually occupied the land of the Qing court. This was the case in Henan.

However, although East China has announced that it would overthrow the Qing court and rebuild China, the ties between the two sides have not been broken. The Qing court built a Tianjin New City in northwest of Tianjin and set up the Zhili Governor's Office here. Yuan Shikai governed the public for at least 10 days in one month, and during these 10 days, at least 8 days were communicating and discussing with the Tianjin City of East China. At the same time, the office of East China in Beijing was not cancelled. Although some officials in the Qing court had submitted memorials to the Qing court, suggesting that the Qing court copy the Beijing office of East China and arrest personnel.

But Zhang Zhidong firmly opposed this, because the office in Beijing of East China cannot escape, and he can do it at any time if he wants to catch it. Now he can keep one more channel to communicate with East China. After all, East China has not launched an attack on the Qing court, so there is still room for recovery. This channel to communicate with East China is still useful.

Zhang Zhidong's remarks also moved Cixi and Guangxu. After the failure of the battle to attack Henan, Yuan Shikai basically monopolized the contact between the Qing court and the East China **, and it also had the intention of tying the enemy to respect the enemy. Now the Qing court urgently needed to establish another channel for contact with the East China ***, so the Qing court also suppressed the memorial of the Beijing Office of the East China **.
Chapter completed!