N-A-A Page 249
Page 249
Thus, the original Tokyo-Nagano political faction split in this confrontation between monopoly capital and free capital, and monopoly capital naturally gravitated towards the army, which possessed the tools of violence. In fact, monopoly capital held the same stance towards the army and navy, both hoping to use the military to suppress enemies of capital expansion. However, internal struggles within the navy led to the decline of the naval forces that favored large capital, which made monopoly capital more aligned with the army.
However, when facing Heikichi Ogawa and Yoshimichi Hara, Shin-Yi Hayashi's stance was firm. He argued to them, "There's a Chinese saying: 'If it's going to rain, it's going to rain; if a mother wants to remarry, she wants to remarry.' If these people want to embrace the army, then let them embrace the army. I will not change the Liberal Party's political stance. It would be extremely foolish to abandon the group that truly supports us in order to appease these people."
Of course, such a statement alone could not dispel the hesitation in the hearts of Ogawa Heikichi and Hara Yoshimichi. Hayashi Shin-yi also analyzed for the two of them: "Although these domestic zaibatsu have accumulated some wealth and technology, their monopolistic market operation model can only be maintained in a closed market. To close the market, they have to use violence to expand Japan's territory, which means that the country needs to spend a lot of wealth on the military."
In other words, the people not only had to satisfy the profit needs of monopoly capital, but also had to wage wars for the expansion of monopoly capital. Once the empire’s external expansion stopped, monopoly capital could not maintain its operations, the national finances would go bankrupt, and the empire would collapse.
To pander to monopolistic capital for such paltry gains would be a terrible choice for both us and Japan. We only need to persevere and watch the army's expansionist campaigns fail; this will naturally win us public support. Why should we accept handouts from these monopolistic capitalists?
Heikichi Ogawa and Yoshimichi Hara were eventually persuaded by Shin-Yi Hayashi. It wasn't Hayashi's words that convinced them, but rather Hayashi's actions over the past few years that proved that the establishment of a free market had indeed provided Japan with another way out.
Although Hayashi Shin-yi stated that the army's external military expansion was unsustainable, in the eyes of figures like Ogawa Heikichi and Hara Yoshimichi, the Asian alliance led by Hayashi Shin-yi was nothing less than another form of external expansion. The only difference was that the army's expansion targeted weaker Asian nations, primarily Korea and China, which had not yet been partitioned by the great powers, while Hayashi Shin-yi's expansion aimed at the spheres of influence of the great powers in Asia.
Compared to the continental policy advocated by the army and the maritime policy advocated by the navy, Lin Xinyi's Asian Alliance was actually more operational. At this time, Ogawa and others no longer believed that the Asian Alliance was the navy's proposition, but rather a political concept put forward by Lin Xinyi, because the Asian Alliance was not actually a military strategy, but a political strategy, and naturally had nothing to do with the navy.
The Asian Alliance and the Asian Trade Economy have already yielded results in practice. The soybean industry in Manchuria has been deeply integrated with Japanese capital. The three types of soybeans have greatly promoted the transformation of Japanese agriculture, increased the production of raw silk, enabled exports to Europe and the United States to earn foreign exchange, and improved the country's oil pressing machinery production capacity.
Soybean trade was just the beginning. The steel manufacturing industry had already established a foundation in Chiba Prefecture, driving the production of a range of agricultural machinery. This machinery was not only used in Chiba but also expanded into the Chinese and Indian markets. This is why the Liberal Party's free market ideology gained support from small and medium-sized capital; Japanese industrial products, under free competition, were indeed stronger than those from China and India, provided that the import of European and American industrial products could be restricted. The anti-colonialism of the Asian alliance further satisfied this need.
Of course, although Lin Xinyi has stabilized the Liberal Party and the political circles, he still has no room to intervene in the current domestic political situation in Japan. After all, there are now five leaders, and the political struggle has obviously lost its order. The situation is only barely suppressed by the prestige of a few elders.
So after celebrating the New Year in China, Lin Xinyi took his wife and son to Qingdao, avoiding the chaotic political situation in the country. His low-key behavior also prevented the political struggle from affecting him. The naval high command, however, wanted to use him to influence Emperor Taisho, since Lin Xinyi was the only officer in the navy whom Emperor Taisho remembered who had given him a card game.
However, Hayashi Nobuyoshi refused the request. He believed that transferring back to Japan to serve as a page to the Emperor during the Taisho era would be pointless, because the navy was unlikely to stage a coup. In other words, the navy only needed someone to counterbalance the army's influence around the Emperor. And who was the army's current representative around the Emperor? Katsura Taro. He didn't think he could challenge Katsura Taro within the palace.
Mu Zi was very happy to go to China with Lin Xinyi. She also felt that the situation in China was not as stable as before, so being able to stay in China for a while was naturally a good thing.
When Lin Xinyi returned to Qingdao, news arrived from Europe of a coup d'état in the Ottoman Empire. The formation of the Balkan League the previous year had ultimately triggered a war between the Balkan states and the Ottoman Empire. The purpose of this war was to completely break free from the Ottoman Empire's suzerainty over the Balkans, and it was in effect a declaration of the Russian Empire's resumption of its conquest of the Balkans.
In other words, after its failed expansion in the Far East, the Russian Empire once again turned its attention to the Balkans in search of a passage to the Mediterranean. The Pan-Slavism promoted by Great Russians in the Balkans led to the formation of the Balkan League in the fight against Ottoman rule.
The Ottoman Empire, embroiled in a war with Italy, suffered another defeat on the battlefield. This defeat was no less significant for the Ottoman Empire than the First Sino-Japanese War, since it was not the European powers that defeated the Ottoman Empire, but the small Slavic vassal states that had previously groveled at the feet of the Sultan.
The series of defeats in foreign wars triggered a revolution within the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turks, who seized power after a coup, received German support and launched a counterattack against the Balkan League, but ultimately failed to achieve any significant results. The Turks then began communicating with Britain, negotiating with British support and ultimately retaining Istanbul and the Straits region.
End of this chapter
Chapter 782
Hori Teikichi took the official documents to Hayashi Shin's office, only to find it empty again. He then went to the large office next door and asked Toyota Teijiro inside, "Where is Chief of Staff Hayashi?"
Toyota Teijiro stood up and replied to Hori Teikichi, "The colonel has gone to attend a meeting of the provincial government to discuss the construction of the Qingdao naval base and the coastal highway."
Hori Teikichi frowned upon hearing this and said, "Shouldn't this be General Shibayama's job?"
Toyoda Teijiro replied helplessly, "General Shibayama's subordinates can't communicate with the Chinese. If we send them to communicate with the Chinese and Germans, every meeting turns into an argument. Only the colonel can communicate well with the Chinese and Germans, convey our meaning to them correctly, and get things done smoothly."
Hori Teikichi was speechless upon hearing this answer. Naval officers, including himself, were inept at dealing with outsiders—and by "outsiders," he meant not just foreigners, but people outside the military. This deficiency might be minimized domestically, as the government could handle many issues, but it would be magnified when engaging in international cooperation.
Of course, the Navy could also delegate the negotiation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and only ask for a result, but in this case, the Navy would be subject to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After all, the Joint Fleet does not have the right to act freely. Compared with the domestic situation, every move of the Asian Joint Fleet must be authorized by the Alliance, otherwise it will not be recognized by the Alliance.
Domestically, the Navy would obviously disregard such a ridiculous regulation. Without government authorization, does that mean the Navy's actions abroad are not considered official Japanese actions? The Army caused the Myeongseong incident in Korea, and the government wanted to deny it, but the Army still had to take the blame because they couldn't expel them from Japanese citizenship. However, if the Allied powers could declare the Navy's actions as the sole actions of the Japanese Navy, it would put immense political pressure on the Navy.
The Navy promoted the establishment of the Asian Alliance in order to share the political pressure of naval operations in the Asian region and to legitimize naval operations overseas. If it were to act independently of the alliance, what would be the point of the Navy supporting the alliance? Therefore, the Japanese Navy within the Asian Combined Fleet is actually more disciplined than when it is at home.
However, this makes it quite urgent for the navy to maintain control over the alliance. Although theoretically, the alliance should be represented by representatives of each country's government, since the authorization of the alliance comes from the political declaration of each government, apart from China, Japan and Germany have both supported the alliance with naval leadership, rather than simply acting as governments.
Therefore, once the regional order of the Asian alliance was successfully established, the navy naturally did not want to attribute the credit to the government, nor did it want the government to use alliance resolutions to suppress its actions. Considering this reason, the Japanese navy naturally insisted on communicating with all parties in the alliance directly, rather than through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, within the navy, only Hayashi Nobuyoshi was capable of doing this. Although Admiral Shibayama was highly experienced in his profession, he was rather rigid in his interpersonal skills, which was why he was always suppressed by Minister Yamamoto. He couldn't get the support of the majority of people. Hayashi Nobuyoshi, on the other hand, was already able to unite the various factions in the navy and fight against Minister Yamamoto when he was still a junior officer. The two sides were not on the same level in terms of managing interpersonal relationships.
Previously, when he was in school, Hori Teikichi thought that Hayashi Shin-yi's approach was crooked. After all, the navy is a profession that combines a lot of technology, and if one does not focus on technology but indulges in interpersonal relationships, at best one can only become a provincial or ministerial bureaucrat. However, his life on the ship after graduation made Hori Teikichi realize that there are different kinds of interpersonal relationships. What Hayashi Shin-yi was cultivating could not be called interpersonal relationships, but rather communication relationships between people.
As a highly collaborative and technologically advanced branch of the military, the organization and coordination of interpersonal relationships are indeed crucial for the navy. For example, the Bali incident was something they could never have orchestrated, yet it greatly accelerated the development of the Asian Alliance. Before the Bali incident, the outside world generally viewed the Asian Alliance as a facade for a trilateral alliance between Japan, China, and Germany. However, after this incident, various Asian nations began to recognize the principle of national autonomy advocated by the Alliance.
What was initially seen as a game for the three nations to amuse themselves was now truly regarded as a new order in Asia. The navy also used this opportunity to break through the sphere of influence established by European countries such as Britain and France for Japan, thereby gaining a certain voice in Southeast Asian affairs.
As the deputy chief of staff of the Joint Fleet's Joint Staff, Hayashi Shin-yi spent most of his time communicating with the Chinese and Germans. However, Hori Teikichi also felt that the Joint Fleet was gradually dissolving the independence of each party in the process of communication and beginning to become more organized.
Previously, the Germans looked down on Asians, believing that the Combined Fleet should naturally obey their commands. The Germans' confidence stemmed from the German Navy's vast wealth; after selling the facilities in Qingdao, the German Navy did not repatriate the money but instead invested it in Shandong and Pacific islands.
The alliance's expenses were split 40% between Germany, 30% between Japan and China, and 10% between the other countries. However, it was fortunate that half of the other countries' 10% contributions actually materialized, as only three countries truly had the financial resources. Germany, as the largest contributor, naturally felt it should have the most say, and in terms of naval organization, Germany was clearly more advanced.
However, the German Navy's political acumen was not much stronger than that of the Japanese Navy. Ultimately, Hayashi Shinichi, in conjunction with the German government and capital, suppressed the German Navy's attempt to provoke war in the Far East. As a result, the Chinese sided with the Japanese Navy, since China's participation in the Asian Alliance was aimed at protecting the freedom of navigation for Chinese merchant ships, not at participating in the confrontation between Britain, France, and Germany.
Hori Teikichi could only put down the official documents, give a few instructions to Toyota Teijiro, and leave. He knew that he could not replicate Lin Xinyi's path. He could only do his job well. As for how Lin Xinyi would use the Asian Alliance organization, that was not something he could advise.
Lin Xinyi, whom Hori Teikichi was talking about, was currently sitting in the Shandong Provincial Government compound at the eastern end of Yishui Road, having a meeting with Shandong Provincial Government officials. Yishui Road was formerly Dili Street; after Qingdao was taken back, all the German street names in Qingdao were changed to Chinese names.
The western end of this street is the former Governor's Mansion, located directly south of Hulubu, facing the main shipping lanes leading into and out of Jiaozhou Bay, so the scenery is quite beautiful. As one of the earliest streets to undergo urban development, its public facilities are also quite modern, almost indistinguishable from Berlin's city streets. Therefore, after the Shandong Provincial Government decided to move to Qingdao, it purchased a villa owned by a German businessman to serve as its government compound.
Before 1910, the government system in Shandong Province remained largely unchanged from the Qing Dynasty, except that the titles of county magistrate, prefect, and governor were replaced by county head, mayor, and military governor. After 1910, the ideals of democracy and republicanism began to spread to the common people, and the official system of the Qing Dynasty became unsustainable. This was mainly because the abolition of the imperial examination system left the old official system without new blood. Although the Beiyang clique absorbed overseas students as a reserve force for officials, this absorption was not widespread. In fact, the Beiyang clique had reverted to a recommendation-based system for talent appointment, which led to the emergence of numerous small groups that privatized power.
According to some northern gentry, Beiyang officials were not as honest and upright as those of the late Qing Dynasty. After all, the late Qing Dynasty was a unified empire, while Beiyang officials were practically local emperors, and even Yuan Shikai's orders were not necessarily effective. This was because these Beiyang local officials relied on personal connections to maintain local order, and they naturally favored their relatives over the law. There was no unified legal system; only power mattered.
Yuan Shikai was also helpless against these local officials. Without them, he could not control the localities, and these areas might even turn red. Although the people were quite resentful, as long as the situation remained stable, Yuan Shikai could only turn a blind eye. As a result, the personal dependence among the Beiyang clique members became increasingly serious, even eroding the unity of interests of the Beiyang clique as a political force.
Therefore, starting in 1910, the northern countryside, which had initially opposed these new ideas of republicanism and democracy, gradually accepted them. This was because the northern people urgently needed to establish a new social order to cleanse the corrupt and chaotic society of the time. The advocacy of a separation of military and civilian administration became the most popular political demand in the north.
Although Wuhan proposed the separation of military and civilian administration when the country was founded, other forces did not agree. They continued to integrate military and political power in their own territories. After all, after the end of the Qing Dynasty, those who could control a region were all military groups. Officials who controlled the local area by relying solely on political influence were quickly driven out by the army or joined forces with the local army.
For example, Yuan Shikai once appointed a civil official as the military governor of Shandong, but in reality, the military and political power in Shandong was in the hands of Jin Yunpeng, the commander of the Fifth Division of the Beiyang Army. Jin Yunpeng was an old subordinate of Duan Qirui, and even the military governor of Shandong appointed by Yuan Shikai could not command him.
Although Jin Yunpeng was from Shandong, he showed no regard for fellow townsmen when he was plundering land. Moreover, he was stubborn and conservative, still attached to the Qing Dynasty, and always opposed the revolution. Even after the Qing emperor abdicated, he did his best to suppress revolutionary propaganda in Shandong and advocated Confucianism and the traditional moral order.
His control of the government in Shandong caused great suffering to the people of Shandong, who felt that it was not as good as the Qing Dynasty. After all, during the Qing Dynasty, there was a court that could keep the army in check, but now the Beiyang Army was acting without any scruples in Shandong. They had no fear of anyone except foreigners, and the persecution of progressive intellectuals had become even more severe.
When Zhou Ziqi served as the governor of Shandong, he wanted to promote modern education and industrial development, but under the constraints of Jin Yunpeng, there was almost no progress. As a result, progressive intellectuals in Shandong began to favor a second revolution. They believed that the abdication of the Qing emperor was a revolution, but this revolution did not correct the problems of the Manchu rule, so a second revolution was needed to truly change the face of society.
The Germans returned Jiaozhou Bay and the Jiaoji Railway, and the Beiyang and Wuhan governments fiercely contested the Shandong region. Progressive intellectuals in Shandong almost entirely sided with Wuhan, putting the Beiyang government in an awkward position. Yuan Shikai, who advocated that Shandong belonged to the Beiyang government, eventually discovered that public opinion in Shandong was almost entirely against the Beiyang government taking over the civil administration, believing that Beiyang officials were too corrupt and Beiyang soldiers too arrogant.
Faced with the demands of Shandong gentry and commoners for either self-governance or for Wuhan to take control, Yuan Shikai had no choice but to back down. He accepted Shandong's civil autonomy, changed the Shandong governorship to the Shandong military governorship, and the Beiyang government only managed military affairs in Shandong. Meanwhile, Wuhan, with the help of the navy, controlled the Qingdao area and established the Shandong Bureau of the Workers' Party to lead political work in Shandong.
Although the Shandong Provincial Assembly remained in Jinan, the Shandong Provincial Government moved to Qingdao after its establishment. This was because the provincial government officials were almost all revolutionaries who favored republicanism and had a natural distrust of the Beiyang Army, so they moved to Qingdao, which they considered safer.
Although Lin Xinyi represented the Joint Fleet in discussions with the Shandong Provincial Government regarding issues such as naval bases, his main focus was actually on promoting the Shandong Bureau's land reform plan for Shandong.
The reason why the Jiaozhou area was able to be accepted by Wuhan was that during the German occupation, the land rights in this area had been confirmed and most of them had been purchased by the Germans. After accepting Jiaozhou, Wuhan immediately promoted land reform, which further dismantled the landlord land ownership system in Jiaozhou and took control of the rural management of Jiaozhou.
The army in Wuhan had already implemented a compulsory military service system, while other forces in the country could only rely on a volunteer military service system. The difference between the two sides was that Wuhan could directly manage the countryside, while other forces needed to rely on landlords to manage the countryside. Therefore, Wuhan could require the countryside to implement compulsory military service, but other forces could not.
In this era, the Conscription Law did not mean that soldiers were necessarily willing to enlist. In reality, rural soldiers who truly supported the Labor Party's enlistment accounted for only 11 or 12 percent of the total number of enlisted soldiers. More than 10 percent enlisted to protect land reform, and about 20 percent wanted to enlist to improve their lives. At least 40 percent had to accept conscription orders because they were obeying national laws.
This demonstrates that the implementation of the conscription law relies on strict control over the grassroots level. Without this, the conscription system cannot be effectively implemented, as uncontrolled grassroots units will evade conscription orders. The fact that the Beiyang government could not implement conscription within its own territory shows that the Beiyang clique was not actually a modern regime, but rather a backward feudal military organization.
Lin Xinyi guided the Shandong Bureau's work on land reform based on this point. He emphasized to the Shandong Bureau members Lin Gui, Fang Changlin, and Wang Xi: "Developing Shandong's industry and infrastructure is to strengthen the Party's political foundation. The Party's political foundation has always been the working class. Without the working class, it is impossible to lead the worker-peasant alliance. The peasants' small-scale production consciousness cannot lead the revolution. They will only turn the fruits of the revolution into their personal property."
We only need to look at the generals of the Beiyang Army to understand this. Most of these Beiyang generals came from middle and poor peasant backgrounds, but after they gained power, instead of trying to liberate the peasants, they turned to the embrace of the landlord class and became large landowners themselves.
Therefore, without a strong working class as the core leadership force of the worker-peasant alliance, even if we defeat the Beiyang and Shandong landlord classes, the fruits of the revolution will not fall into the hands of the proletariat.
However, we must also correctly understand the objective environment. In Shandong, a region with almost no modern industry, the agricultural population accounted for more than 80%. This means that if the peasants sided with the counter-revolutionaries, the revolution would fail; conversely, if the peasants supported the revolution, it would inevitably succeed. The only factor determining the peasants' stance was land ownership; whoever could give them land would gain their support…”
Unlike some members of the Shandong Bureau, Lin Xinyi believed that the use of force to eliminate counter-revolutionary forces was inevitable. Therefore, the purpose of land reform was to strengthen the revolutionary forces, rather than to attempt to reconcile with the landlord class.
This viewpoint differed greatly from that of progressive intellectuals in Shandong. Peng Zhanyuan, the Shandong Provincial Chairman; Ding Weifen, the President of the Higher Court; Xu Jingxin, the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly; and Song Shaotang, the Director of the Education Department, all advocated a moderate land reform approach. They held high hopes for education and industry, believing that improving education and strengthening industry would resolve the conflict between peasants and landlords.
The Shandong Bureau of the Labor Party and the Shandong Provincial Government held several discussions on land reform policies. Lin Xinyi, as the representative of the Joint Fleet, also participated in several related meetings, since the expansion of the naval base involved the issue of land requisition.
This debate was gradually gaining favor with the Shandong Bureau of the Workers' Party, as these progressive intellectuals in Shandong discovered that, apart from the Jiaozhou Bay area and its surroundings controlled by Wuhan, land reform in other places had made little progress, to the point that even the peasants were no longer willing to believe them.
After all, the landowning class would never hand over their land without the threat of force, and what business could be better than collecting rent that guarantees a steady income regardless of drought or flood? Realizing that reasoning wouldn't change the countryside, these people began to lean towards the Labor Party's coercive proposals.
End of this chapter
Chapter 783
As the Labor Party expanded its influence in Shandong from Qingdao, the Beiyang clique's power in Shandong also faced a great challenge. Military Governor Zhou Ziqi came from an official family and had deep connections in the upper echelons of the Beiyang clique, but now it was the Republic of China, and only those with guns had the final say.
In the eyes of the Beiyang warlords, Wuhan's rise was not based on benevolence, morality, or revolutionary spirit, but on the real prestige earned through cannons and bayonets. Whether it was the supporters of the Qing Dynasty, landlords and gentry, or the Allied powers and Russian invaders, Wuhan used force to safeguard its power.
Therefore, the Beiyang generals supported Yuan Shikai's alliance with Wuhan to force the Qing Dynasty to abdicate. It was not that these Beiyang generals lacked the will to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but that they knew they could not defeat the revolutionary forces led by Wuhan. If the Qing Dynasty continued to stand on the throne, they might be buried by the revolutionary army along with the Qing Dynasty.
After Emperor Guangxu abdicated, the Beiyang elites always treated him with great courtesy. Except for Yuan Shikai, who knew he would not be welcomed by Guangxu and dared not pay him a visit, other important Beiyang officials would send gifts and greetings to Guangxu during festivals to show that although they were officials of the Republic of China, they had not forgotten the grace of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, these Beiyang generals were merely putting on an act to demonstrate their loyalty and righteousness to their subordinates and the common people, thus showing their fundamental difference from the rebels in the south. Why did they need loyalty and righteousness? Because, apart from the moral standards of the old era, these Beiyang generals simply lacked any compelling political ideology.
Even Yuan Shikai could only shout slogans about defending the country, but during the Boxer Rebellion, he had already abandoned the spirit that had guided the Beiyang Army since its founding, leaving only the Huai Army tradition of fighting for pay. Thus, after the Boxer Rebellion, the Beiyang Army completely lost its vitality and became stagnant. Yuan Shikai's boastful claim during his military training at Xiaozhan that it was for future revenge against the First Sino-Japanese War was also exposed by his neutral stance during the Boxer Rebellion.
When Yuan Shikai and Wuhan joined forces to force the Qing emperor to abdicate, the Beiyang Army could no longer be relied upon even on the principle of fighting for their pay. This was because the Beiyang Army, which had received pay from the Qing Dynasty, had betrayed the Qing court. By extension, was it still necessary for soldiers who received pay from Yuan Shikai to fight for him? The internal consensus of the Beiyang Army had been completely split. Everyone knew that their loyalty to Yuan Shikai was only for money and power, and everything else was nonsense.
However, the more this was the case, the more these Beiyang generals worried that their subordinates viewed them in the same way. Therefore, they had to draw a line with Yuan Shikai on a moral level and place their spiritual loyalty on the abdicated Guangxu Emperor. Although they had never contributed anything to Guangxu Emperor's freedom in the past, it did not prevent them from showing their respect and love for Guangxu Emperor now.
Yuan Shikai tacitly accepted this situation. He was not worried at all that the people around Emperor Guangxu would incite his subordinates to attempt a restoration. With Wuhan, the biggest enemy, watching over them, no one in the Beiyang Army would dare to court death. The reason Wuhan was not launching a Northern Expedition was not because it lacked strength, but because it had no reason to send troops. If the Qing Dynasty were to be restored, then Wuhan would have no scruples.
To be honest, Yuan Shikai also felt wronged. Wuhan, like Beiyang, had risen to power by relying on the Qing government's new army. However, everyone said that Yuan Shikai was a traitor, but they expressed understanding for Wuhan's actions in forcing the Qing emperor to abdicate. Even the gentry and landlords who suffered losses in the land reform cursed Wuhan by saying that peasants were not respectable to be in power. No one attacked the Wuhan Workers' Party for being a traitor.
These two different treatments resulted in vastly different levels of resistance to the two governments' actions. In Wuhan, the government suppressed local gentry and landlords for land reform policies, forcing them to flee. In contrast, when the Beiyang government attempted to implement some reforms, members of the Beiyang group began to sympathize with the local gentry and landlords, ultimately leading to the abandonment of these land reform policies.
Yuan Shikai had initially believed that after the Qing emperor's abdication, various factions within the country would vie for power, with the Beiyang clique being one of the stronger forces. However, he now realized that no one considered him qualified to contend for that power; instead, they saw him as a transitional figure maintaining the status quo while awaiting the emergence of a true emperor. If a true emperor did not emerge, then even Wuhan would be more qualified than him to control the country, because Wuhan could at least preserve the nation.
Therefore, although Yuan Shikai served as the head of state for five years, he found that the only place he could control was Beijing. Outside of Beijing, no one listened to him. His power was not much greater than that of Emperor Guangxu before the Hundred Days' Reform. Everywhere there were invisible ropes holding him back, and he could only accomplish one or two minor things despite his great efforts.
If Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang government, found things difficult, Zhou Ziqi, the military governor of Shandong, was also nearing the end of his term. After the Opium War, Yantai in Shandong was among the first ports to be developed, so the introduction of modern industry to Shandong was not late. However, the Europeans mainly set up agricultural processing plants in Yantai, so they made almost no contribution to improving Shandong's industrial level.
With the commencement of the Self-Strengthening Movement, Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen petitioned for approval to establish a medium-sized military industrial park—the Shandong Machinery Bureau—in the provincial capital. Following this, [further details are needed].
The establishment of the Shandong Zhongxing Mining Bureau in Yixian County and the development of lead and coal mines in Zichuan marked the true beginning of Shandong's industrial development. However, before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, Shandong had only about 5,000 industrial workers, and they were all operating at a loss due to poor management.
The Germans forcibly leased Jiaozhou Bay and established the Fangzi Coal Mine in Weixian County, employing 3,000 Chinese laborers at once. Following this, they built the Hongshan Coal Mine near Zhangdian Station, employing 3,500 Chinese laborers. Large-scale railway locomotive factories were established in Sifang, Qingdao, and Dahuaishu, Jinan, each employing over 1,000 workers. The subsequent establishment of a series of electric lighting and modern enterprises finally laid the basic framework for an industrial system in Shandong, adding more than 12,000 industrial workers to the province in less than ten years.
Under the Beiyang government, Shandong was the most suitable place to establish an industrial base similar to Wuhan, because it was rich in resources, had a large population, and already possessed a certain industrial foundation. Therefore, Zhou Ziqi, a former Qing dynasty official who had returned from studying abroad, initially hoped to emulate the United States and establish the Beiyang industrial system in Shandong.
What he didn't expect was that the obstacles to his development of industry in Shandong were not the Germans and the Wuhan Workers' Party, but rather the local gentry and comprador merchants. The local gentry supported the Beiyang government in the hope of using its power to prevent the Germans from entering their territory. German industry did bring many conveniences to the people of Shandong, but the German colonial system not only oppressed ordinary people but also infringed on the rights of the landlords.
Faced with the possibility of losing control of their land, the Shandong gentry naturally opposed all modern industrial construction. Railways, telegraph lines, and factories all undermined the sole authority of the gentry and landlords in the countryside, and were seen as corrupting influences by Western witchcraft. The Boxer Rebellion actually originated in Shandong, but it was only after Yuan Shikai's army drove them to Hebei that the massive Boxer Rebellion movement in North China was ignited.
However, Yuan Shikai opposed the Boxers not because he knew they were ignorant, but because he believed that the Boxers should not be used to provoke the foreign powers. After all, the country was no match for the top powers, let alone regard all the powers as enemies.
Driven by this utilitarianism, when Yuan Shikai needed the support of Shandong's gentry and landlords, he naturally opposed German industrial construction in Shandong from the perspective of protecting the local gentry. The construction of the Jiaoji Railway alone resulted in several rounds of conflict between the two sides.
However, while Yuan Shikai himself could repeatedly shift his stance on industrialization and anti-industrialization, his less capable generals lacked this ability. These generals, having acquired vast amounts of land in their hometowns, already shared similar interests with the local gentry. In order to gain the gentry's support, they actively opposed any new ideas or things, essentially mimicking the initial stages of Yuan Shikai's rise to power.
This led to a division between the Westernization faction of bureaucrats and the conservative military leaders within the Beiyang clique. The former advocated for Chinese learning as the foundation and Western learning for practical application, while the latter advocated for the supremacy of morality, preferring that the people cultivate the land with slash-and-burn agriculture rather than allow them to be corrupted by Western ideas.
The conflict between Zhou Ziqi and Jin Yunpeng lay in the fact that Zhou Ziqi advocated cooperating with the Workers' Party to promote the development of Shandong's industry, and even compromise on the issue of land reform. Jin Yunpeng firmly opposed this, believing that the Wuhan Workers' Party was the enemy of Beiyang, and how could they cooperate with the enemy of Beiyang? Furthermore, land reform would offend the local gentry and cause Beiyang to lose the support of the Shandong local government.
The Beiyang government's influence in Shandong was mainly concentrated in Jinan and Qingzhou, the northern part of the Shandong Peninsula, while the Workers' Party took over the former German sphere of influence in Shandong, as well as the southern part of the Shandong Peninsula. However, unlike the Germans, the Workers' Party's construction of the Longhai Railway enabled the Qingdao area to receive support from inland Henan. The Xuzhou-Yixian-Rizhao-Qingdao line was opened up by the Workers' Party, and the Beiyang government's connection with the southeastern region was already quite weak, relying only on the newly built Tianjin-Pukou Railway for maintenance.
This situation arose from the devastating floods in Anhui in 1910. The Beiyang government was unable to provide aid to the people in the lower reaches of the Huai River, and as a result, Wuhan, under the guise of disaster relief, seized control of both banks of the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River, and conveniently brought Xuzhou under its control as well. When the Germans returned the Jiaozhou Bay leased territory, Wuhan further penetrated southwestern Shandong, eventually connecting with the Jiaozhou Bay area and the lower reaches of the Huai River.
Wuhan's expansion was so rapid, yet the Beiyang Army was helpless to stop it. This was because Wuhan's expansion was driven by economic development, followed by social security improvements, and then control of local administration, ultimately forcing the Beiyang Army to become isolated in the area.
The struggle between the Beiyang Army and Wuhan stemmed from their failures in local economic development and social order, which led to the loss of local administrative, judicial, and financial power. Although the Beiyang Army still possessed strength, it was no longer able to suppress local forces because the Beiyang Army had no excuse to use force. If a civil war were to break out, the Beiyang Army would inevitably fail.
This is also why Yuan Shikai actively sought loans from the four-nation banking consortium. Even if the money couldn't be used to expand the army, it could at least slow down Wuhan's encroachment on the local areas. Of course, the Beiyang government wasn't short of money for construction; it's just that the money ended up in the hands of officials at various levels. Before joining the Beiyang government, Jin Yunpeng was just a penniless cloth dyer, but after becoming the commander of the Fifth Division, he became a large landowner in his hometown, with personal assets exceeding one million silver dollars.
Jin Yunpeng was not alone among the many Beiyang generals who came from impoverished backgrounds. Even Duan Qirui, the most incorruptible general in the Beiyang Army, was known for not accumulating wealth, yet he still possessed assets worth over 100,000 silver dollars. His "not accumulating wealth" referred to his refusal to purchase land in local areas. Meanwhile, the monthly salary of a Beijing policeman was only eight yuan, meaning that most of the Beiyang government's revenue was used to support these high-ranking officials.
The reason why Zhou Ziqi and Jin Yunpeng clashed was because the latter's main investment focus was on land, while the former had shifted from land investment to modern enterprises. Therefore, Zhou Ziqi felt that he could cooperate with the Labor Party. After all, under the strong leadership of the Labor Party, continuing to be a landlord was obviously not a promising future, so it was better to transform into modern industry as soon as possible.
However, Jin Yunpeng, who had no experience studying abroad, was not good at modern industry. He only knew that investing in land was a sure-fire way to make money, so he naturally refused to cooperate with the Labor Party and insisted on continuing to fight against it.
The confrontation between Zhou Ziqi and Jin Yunpeng was not an isolated case. In fact, after the four-nation banking consortium secured the loan, the civil officials and military leaders within the Beiyang government had already begun to break off relations.
Civil officials attempted to invest the money in construction to establish a basic industrial system to counter Wuhan's industrial expansion and, incidentally, coordinate with the industrial systems of the great powers, further integrating the Chinese economy into their systems and thus securing their protection. Military leaders, on the other hand, intended to use the money for military expansion, essentially to control how the funds were managed. Although military leaders like Duan and Feng declared they would fight Wuhan to the death after the expansion, most of the officers below them did not share this sentiment, believing they were outmatched.
Zhang Shao once complained to his superior, Cao Kun, "Chief of Staff Duan said he wanted to train troops to fight a decisive battle against the Wuhan army, but he always said that our Beiyang Army was far behind the Japanese army, and that if we could reach half the combat strength of the Japanese army, we would be considered a superior force. However, the Japanese advisors believed that the Wuhan army and the Japanese army were roughly evenly matched, with the Japanese army having the advantage in Manchuria, while the Wuhan army had the advantage in the Central Plains. Chief of Staff Duan dared not underestimate the Japanese, yet he thought that the Beiyang Army could defeat the Wuhan army. Wasn't this just deceiving himself?"
Zhang Shaozeng's views represented the stance of a large number of core Beiyang military officers. They did not advocate a decisive battle with Wuhan, but rather the maintenance of the republican system, with the future of China to be decided by the National Assembly. Those who attempted a decisive battle with Wuhan were mostly upper-class Beiyang officials, who owned vast tracts of land and were therefore unwilling to concede defeat to Wuhan.
These representatives of the interests of the large landowners within the Beiyang clique naturally provoked resentment from the civil officials who represented the interests of industrialists and merchants. Their purpose in negotiating such a large loan with the consortium of four banks was to strengthen the power of the civil government, and this power was reflected in the control of the loan. Now that the military leaders wanted to take away the control of the loan, they were naturally unwilling.
After the Labor Party and the Shandong Provincial Government jointly proposed measures for the construction of Shandong's power grid and highway network, as well as land reform in Shandong, Zhou Ziqi finally confronted Jin Yunpeng. Inside the Governor's Mansion, Zhou Ziqi frankly told Jin Yunpeng, "Judging from the reactions of various sectors in Shandong to the national economic construction plan announced by the Shandong Provincial Government, our lack of support for Shandong's land reform and economic development strategy will clearly lose us the support of the people of Shandong..."
However, Jin Yunpeng stubbornly insisted, "Southerners are all heartless beasts. If we back down, they will only take two steps forward. Shandong is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius. How can our elders follow these southerners in their nonsense? What land reform? Isn't it just robbery? The property of kind gentry is hard-earned. They can't just take it away with a single word."
I don't believe the nonsense about distributing land to the poor. In Hubei and Henan, the land that was distributed was eventually taken back by the communes. Even the Kuomintang in the south said that the land reform in Wuhan turned the people into slaves of the state and then turned the state into the private property of the Workers' Party, and there was no democracy to speak of at all.
I will never compromise with these beasts, and the people of Shandong will not shamelessly side with these southerners. Setting up factories is not impossible, but it cannot be done in partnership with southerners, and we certainly cannot support any chaotic land reform policies; otherwise, Shandong will truly descend into turmoil. We must now strictly guard against the Labor Party overstepping its bounds and demand that the provincial government move back to Jinan…”
Zhou Ziqi could not persuade Jin Yunpeng, and without the support of the Beiyang Army, the local gentry would not pay him any attention as the military governor. He voluntarily submitted his resignation to Beijing, stating that he was not capable enough to serve as the military governor of Shandong.
Although Yuan Shikai knew this was not Zhou Ziqi's fault, he had no choice but to transfer Zhou Ziqi to Beijing under pressure from the army, and appointed Jin Yunpeng as the military governor of Shandong.
Jin Yunpeng's appointment as Military Governor of Shandong signified the decline of the peace faction within the Beiyang government, while the military faction gradually gained leadership of the Beiyang clique. Yuan Shikai was also losing some control over the Beiyang fleet. Meanwhile, the Workers' Party, under Lin Xinyi's leadership, shifted from peaceful competition to a policy of defending land reform by force.
End of this chapter
Chapter 784
The development of urban construction inevitably brings about the need for changes in transportation methods, and the greatest invention of short-distance transportation in the 19th century was undoubtedly the bicycle. Since the bicycle was truly put into practical use and industrialized manufacturing in 1890, it has transformed from a toy of the upper class into a means of transportation for the working class.
In 1904, an ordinary bicycle in Britain cost £4.5, but when exported to Shanghai, it sold for 150 silver dollars, roughly equivalent to £15, or a profit margin of 300%. The Hankou Bicycle Factory was established in 1904 using technology imported from Germany. Although most of the parts were initially imported from Germany, and Hankou was merely an assembly plant, the availability of cheap labor and the invention of the assembly line enabled the Germans to begin selling complete bicycles produced in Hankou to the rest of Asia, and even shipping them back to Europe.
By 1911, the Hankou Bicycle Factory had reached an annual production capacity of 100 million bicycles. All parts were domestically produced, with only some steel imported. The cost of the complete bicycle was reduced to 25 silver dollars. In the European market, the price of Chinese bicycles did not exceed 70 marks, while the general price of European bicycles was 80-90 marks.
The success of bicycles is a prime example of German capital's optimism about Sino-German trade. In the past, Europeans regarded Eastern countries as sources of raw materials and markets for sales, and the main purpose of trade was to obtain precious metals. This was most evident in the foreign trade of countries such as Britain, France, and the United States.