Volume 3 Chapter 3 Easy to handle
After nine months of turmoil, with the founding of China and the meeting of Congress, China seemed to have restored its old order and became orderly, but anyone who knows the inside knows that this country is just a manifestation of imperial power, and it is different things in it. Her various actions make people unable to tell whether it is modern or retro, ethical or rebellious, or Eastern or Western.&{}..{}
In response to this, the Beijing-Tianjin Times commented that Greater China is a hodgepodge of imperial power and civil constitutional systems, "It is a Western-style building with a Chinese roof" and is not beautiful and not practical; and the Shuntian Times believes that the government's behavior does not respect the emperor or Confucius is simply a father-in-law and the world will be in chaos; Beijing News believes that this is the best choice under the current situation of China, which not only respects traditions but also preserves democracy, which can be regarded as the best of both worlds; the East Asian Lloyd newspaper did not comment too much on the new government and the new prime minister, but gave the front page to William Leo, with the title being Duke William. Foreign newspapers are like this, and most of the Chinese newspapers in the capital are slandering, and the focus of their page is the failure of the Confucius Church petition. China has since been trapped in a long night, and another newspaper has written some obscure verses, indicating that in the long run, China will not be a country.
Noisy newspapers and bustling news, but even so, Beijing is much deserted compared to before. Without those princes and princes, senior officials and gentry, business in most places is not good. Needless to say, the eight major hutongs, antique shops, restaurants, tobacco shops, teahouses, foreign goods shops, silver shops, money shops, and business have plummeted. Only the clothes shops are crowded with guests. They are so busy that they have no fixed clothes styles in the new dynasty, but from the Prime Minister to the minor official, the style of clothes is back to the former Ming Dynasty, and all of them are Han costumes. The capital is not a trade port or a major trade town. The 600,000 people living here either eat public food or rely on the public to make a living. The remaining ones are also dealing with the public. Since that is the case, they can't wear the jackets of the Qing Dynasty to meet officials, so everyone remade their han shirts.
The Qing Dynasty's collapse caused all luxury industries to close down and bankrupt, and the new government had a capital protection order. That is, the palaces, walls, ancient houses, and archways in the capital. Anyway, the things related to the Ming Dynasty were all said to be cultural relics, and all these cultural relics should be protected routinely, cutting off the idea of the merchants in the city breaking the city and opening the road. There are also rumors that the capital is not allowed to set up factories or mines within a radius of 200 miles, which surprised many people. Compared with the Shanxi industrial base promoted last year, why can't factories be opened near the capital?
Regardless of these contradictory things, the silver dollar unified specification case passed in the next few days, the Mobil Oil Prospecting case, the Shaanxi Oil Mine case, and the rent reduction case that was of great concern, caused a stir. The circulation of several newspapers exceeded 10,000. Both the Prime Minister's Office and the Congress were blocked by many gentry clearings, saying that they wanted to seek justice. The Kuomintang in Congress made a big fuss as soon as they came out of Congress, saying that the Congress was just a puppet of the Revival Society. It could not reflect public opinion at all, and worship foreign countries and robbed people's wealth.
There was a chaos in the whole country. The gentry went to the gate of Daming to petition and complain, but everyone's book was handed over, but there was no reaction in the deep palace. Fortunately, a few days later, the Prime Minister's Office said that it was going to hold a press conference and said that it was to face the front, so it turned everyone's finger at the Prime Minister's Office.
"It turns out that these fires have been released too quickly?" On the morning of the press conference, ministers from several ministries gathered in the Prime Minister's Office. After discussing the matter, Yu Huizu began to feel a little uneasy when he thought about the current public opinion. He knew that Yang Rui's style of dealing with things would never look back once he was determined. Although this is good, he would be too fierce to offend all the gentry.
Yang Rui just closed his eyes when he heard this, and then opened his eyes for a while and said, "Hanzhang, if we don't hurry up and catch up, the gap with other countries will grow bigger and bigger. It is normal to be hated by others. If you want to do things, you will offend others. What's the taboo about this?"
"I support Jingcheng's approach." Tao Chengzhang of the Ministry of Agriculture interjected, "These gentry have such a virtue. Now the rent reduction is just to cut off their flesh. Although they shout, if things are a foregone conclusion, they will be fine. The key is that everyone must do this. If there are exceptions, they will be uneasy."
"Exceptions, what are the exceptions?" Yang Rui smiled, "The members in the association are treated equally. Since members are treated equally, what are the exceptions?"
"The main reason is that I am afraid that there will be some surprises in the church." Tao Chengzhang said. "I am afraid that landlords will join the church. Once they join the church, it will be difficult to reduce rent. Those missionaries are willing to do anything in order to be able to preach."
"If a landlord joins the sect, you will also need to reduce the rent," Yang Rui said to him, and then looked at Wu Xifen, who was in the national taxation department, and Zhang Chengyue of the Ministry of Civil Affairs: "The situation below is really lawless as long as you join the sect?"
He asked this, and Wu Xifen said, "Prime Minister, as long as it is related to foreigners, it will be difficult to deal with. Even if people are arrested, the missionaries will stop them, or those people simply hide in the church, which will cause considerable trouble to the tax-resistance system below."
Zhang Chengyue also said: "It's okay in other places. Zhili and Shandong have the most religious people. As long as the criminals are enrolled in the church, there will be a guarantee." After he said that, he looked at Yang Rui and stared at him, and hurriedly said: "Now the Ministry of Civil Affairs is improving personnel, and all violators are arrested, regardless of whether they are religious people or whether the missionaries are protesting."
"Church schools, the school department has turned it into an alternative. In the national recruitment, students in church schools must take the exam, so they must first take the same academic qualification exam. If they don't take it, they are not qualified to register." Cai Yuanpei also intervened. He was very annoyed by the church schools that were not subject to discipline. This is simply an alternative in the education industry.
A few words from a few people, the topic was about to be distracted from afar. Yu Huizu hurriedly said, "The church affairs are not a big deal for the time being, but they have been accomplished. Now several things in the government are advancing, which has aroused a lot of public opinion. If this continues, there will be chaos again."
The church affairs are indeed very annoying. The Boxer Incident was caused by these missionaries going to the countryside to preach and then stir up trouble. These foreigners built churches when they wanted to build churches. Why did they have to push down the Jade Emperor Temple and then build churches? Is it really inexplicable to believe in God than to believe in the Heavenly Emperor? This is simply a manifestation of white people being superior to others and being arrogant. But when they think of the cross, Yang Rui felt relieved. This mission has always been closely related to guns and cannons. If China had not been deeply rooted in the hearts of people for thousands of years, it would have been a place of Christ.
"The church's affairs should be put aside first." Yang Rui set his tone and said, "Let's do it carefully in ten years. I don't care about the school department, but the Ministry of Personnel must be careful. Don't put those believers in the religion and become officials, and don't let them know that they can't become officials because of their religion. Anyway, there is no such person in the government."
Yang Rui issued a restrictive order to the believers, and Chen Guangshou quickly said yes, and the scientific examination was about to be conducted. The first batch of officials would come out in two months, and he was busy with this matter.
After Yang Rui explained Chen Guangshou, he looked at Yu Huizu again, "Hanzhang, don't worry. The people are looking forward to reducing rent and interest rates. The Farmers Association has been deeply involved in every county in the past six months. If our policies are implemented, they will never lead to civil unrest, at most they will only have gentry changes. If there is no Farmers Association, then these gentry might still cause some trouble like the Sichuan Railway Company. But now we have Farmers Association, what else can they do? If they want to make trouble, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will deal with it."
Yang Rui's answer was not as expected by Yu Huizu. He hoped that everyone would value peace and not cause any trouble, but now Yang Rui is in the hands of the peasant association army and is simply bullying the weak, so he had to be speechless.
Yang Rui replied that Yu Huizu still had some sympathy, but at the afternoon press conference, his words were extremely sharp. When the reporter asked whether the rent reduction bill would rob the rich and help the poor, Yang Rui said seriously: "The IRS is an institution that robs the rich and helps the poor. An important function of the government's work is to rob the rich and help the poor. As for robbing the people's wealth, the government did not robbing anyone's wealth, the government was only responsible for collecting taxes. As for the rent reduction, it was just an intervention in the transaction between landlords and tenants from the perspective of the government, and reduced the land rent to a reasonable level.
Here I want to say that some people are used to being masters, and once their interests are damaged, they will yell. In fact, according to my original intention, the whole country should be completely nationalized. What is nationalization? It means that all arable land is prohibited from being sold. All arable land is nationalized for free, and then the land is divided again according to population. No matter whether you were a refugee or a large landlord, anyway, there are a few people in your family, so that there will be no so many protests and dissatisfaction. The landlords are too busy with farm work in the land, and they run around for three meals a day every day. How can they come to the government to complain if they have time?"
Yang Rui spoke with disdain. As soon as he said that the land was free of charge, the reporters and gentry below exclaimed. As soon as he finished speaking, the reporters of the Ta Kung Pao stood up and said, "Sir, the land in the country is confiscated, where is the axiom?"
"Where is the axiom?" Yang Rui asked back, "I'm afraid this axiom is just a talisman for the gentry? The government only has the law and only recognizes the parliament's proposal. If everyone is dissatisfied, then you can appeal to Dali Temple and determine the rent reduction as unconstitutional, or persuade members of Congress to cancel the rent reduction case. As for the confiscation of land across the country, if the rent reduction is not smooth, it is best to nationalize the national arable land in this way, so there will be no so many disputes. At that time, all the land deeds are abolished, and the arable land belongs to everyone, and it's all equally."
Seeing that Yang Rui always carried the Congress out of his voice, a reporter immediately asked, "Prime Minister, there are all illiterate farmers in the Congress. What is the use of such a Congress besides blind voting? Isn't it their wish to reduce rent now?"
"Ninety-nine percent of the country's illiterate people. What's so strange about the illiterate members in the parliament? Are they not a great Chinese citizen? And those who are illiterate have paid taxes across the country? In the report given to me by the IRS, before the inheritance tax, personal income tax, and land value-added tax, these literate gentry didn't pay much taxes." Yang Rui looked at the reporters and gentry in the venue and said boringly. He recited the tax name here, and the gentry only felt something was wrong.
"To be honest, this Congress is the Congress of the Farmers, and this cabinet is also the Farmers' Cabinet. Therefore, the government's policies will completely turn to the Farmers without unconstitutionality. As for the two million gentry nationwide, they have two choices. One is to devote themselves to the industry and commerce industry, and the government supports it; the other is to keep it the same and continue dreaming, what dreams are there? The dream of the imperial power and the gentry jointly governing the world. I would like to advise you to wake up. From the beginning of the revolution, the dream of the imperial power and the gentry jointly governing the world should wake up."
At the afternoon press conference, Yang Rui's words pierced the eardrums of the gentry and men. He seemed to be speaking another language that was incompatible with the world, which only made these people sweat coldly and could not do so by themselves. The representatives who were sitting there completely believed that the kind of gentry ruled the world in the past was gone forever.
The rent reduction was just one of the focus of the press conference, and the other focus was the Shaanxi oil mine. On the same day that the Congress passed the Shaanxi oil mine case, Wu Yangzeng and Zhang Hongzhao's case happened to be sentenced to three years in prison because they were unaware of it, while the latter sentenced to twenty years in prison according to the Confidentiality Law because they were informed and deliberately made it. The verdict was synchronized with the parliamentary case passed by the Shaanxi oil mine case. Fortunately, this was a trial in the capital. If it was replaced in Huzhou, Dali Temple would have been demolished.
When the reporter asked about this, Yang Rui just thought that the punishment was too light, especially the one who did it intentionally, it was a blessing not to shoot it. He solemnly said that the government would ask Dali Temple to re-examine the case. He must not tolerate the traitors, and the government will not be satisfied if the matter is not shot. As soon as he said this, the Zhang Hongzhao tribe who came to the capital from Huzhou stood up and cursed, but it was a Huzhou dialect, and everyone present did not understand what they were saying, and then the cursed people were invited out.
After this incident, Yang Rui's power was completely well known to reporters from major newspapers. In the subsequent questions, they became even more excited. They accused the government of approving Mobil's company to host the Shaanxi oil mines as a traitor. Yang Rui was just disdainful of this and warned them that it was approved by Mobil to host the Congress, and accusing Congress of traitoring the country was nonsense.
The two-hour press conference ended completely in a noisy way. The gentry who had opinions on the rent reduction case and the gentry who had opinions on disrespecting Confucius had already despaired about solving their own problems. Yang Rui had no idea what morality was and what axioms were. He had two weapons, one was the puppet-like congress, and the other was hundreds of thousands of troops and tens of millions of peasant association members across the country. With these two, everyone could not shake them at all. Even if someone used the Constitution to restrict him, he would completely push this and not treat it as a dish. Such a person was simply invulnerable to swords and guns.
The gentry were desperate, but the reporters were very happy. There were so many things in the press conference that they had to write when they went back. The newspapers would definitely sell well once they were released. Axioms and unjust, and it would be better to sell hundreds of newspapers more. Of course, some newspapers do not pay attention to economic benefits, such as the Beijing Talk Daily. There are also Da Gongshu supported by the French, with a big family and a big business, and no matter how much sales are.
A few days later, Qingdao.
Looking at the new headlines of Ta Kung Pao, Chen Qimei just sighed: "It seems that it has hurt the actor group."
The acting group is Zhang Hongzhao. Chen Qimei asked someone to ask for help as a fellow villager. Zhang Hongzhao happened to hear about the Shaanxi oil mine at that time, so he got the news out. He thought that the provisional government could be collapsed through public opinion. Unexpectedly, Yang Rui was extremely shameless and didn't take this trick at all. Not only did he lose his post, but he also locked up people in.
"English, what should I do?" Zhu Zhixin asked. "Although the Yanqun is not a comrade, he was also imprisoned for the revolution. Can't the students and those scholars who went abroad start petitioning again?"
Zhu Zhixin was not very familiar with the situation. Cheng Jiazhen next to him said: "The person surnamed Yang would rather not have a mining department than beg for those people. He said that he set rules in advance. If the rules were not set, the matter would be done in vain. He also said that it would be fine if the mining department was built in ten years. Anyway, the mine was buried underground and would not run away. Moreover, the school department could completely cancel the mining major. As long as you study abroad, you would no longer be sent. He would simply cut off the vitality of the mining industry.
Zhixin, Yang Jingcheng is a madman, with no benevolence, righteousness and morality in his mind. Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues. He now has soldiers and people, and he does whatever he wants. He is even more dictatorial than the emperor. If such a person wants to fight him, it is useless to deal with the Qing Dynasty. He has been in the position of Prime Minister for a long time, and his foundation will be deeper. Alas..."
Speaking of this, Cheng Jiaxiao was just shook his head. If he hadn't had the Three Principles of the People in his heart, he would have withdrawn from the Tongmenghui and be a teacher honestly. The Revival Society and the Qing Dynasty were completely different from the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was completely floating on top and relying on the Han gentry to help him govern the world. Once the power was not good at handling it, it would easily collapse; and the Revival Society was not at all. He actually grew from the ground. Looking back at the debate between the Tongmenghui and the Revival Society, Cheng Jiaxiao felt very inspired. The power of the Revival Society is among the people. If you want to overthrow the Revival Society government, you must eliminate his influence among the people. This is simple, but it is impossible to do it, especially now that Revival will reduce rent and donate, which makes the lower-level people trust him very much.
"Yingshi, hey..." Cheng Jiazhen said: "We should still think of revolutionary strategies again. Just relying on the old methods in the past, it would be impossible to succeed in revolution. Besides, this revival association itself is a revolutionary party, and now it is sitting in the world. They don't need to think about what we want to do. Isn't that the navy is like this? It took money and people, but what's the result? The Dongchang is well aware of what we do. They have tricked us into being like monkeys.
The same is true for Yuan Shikai. It was originally foolproof, but the woman was questioned for three days and three nights without being tried. She told the matter out of attention. Now not only will the revival hate us, but the people in Beiyang also hate us. We also removed Yuan Shikai's biggest obstacle for Yang Jingcheng..."
The Cheng family muttered and only said the people in the house very upset. If it weren't for the fact that he had been in the Qingdao situation this time, Chen Qimei and others wanted to drive him out. After waiting for him to talk for a while, Zhu Zhixin couldn't help but say: "Yunsun, you will die if you say less? Everyone is also trying to deal with the Revival Society. Who can guarantee that what they do will be foolproof? You should tell us about the situation of those people, what are their plans, how much power, and how much money do they have?"
"Yes, Yunsun, Yang Jingcheng is still selling the government. Now he sells so many oil mines to the United States. Maybe he will sell several railways in a while. Now the most important thing for us is to raise enough silver and find an opportunity to initiate a righteous act. Since those mankind are also thinking about restoration, although the goals are different, the path is always the same." Wang Zhaoming also spoke next to him.
This time, everyone came to Qingdao to contact the people who wanted to restore the sect and socialist party in Manchu. The Cheng family was most familiar with the capital, so he took the lead in this matter. The reason why they went to Qingdao was to keep it confidential. The Germans in Qingdao were in the territory of the Germans. After all, the Germans had a good relationship with the Qing princes. Although the dynasty was changed, the favors of the past were still there.
"Don't count too much. These Manchus are just crazy about restoration, but they don't have much stuff in their hands. The family wealth is basically confiscated by the Revival Association. In the end, they paid five years of salary, but that is life-saving money. Not to mention the revolution, even if they live a life, they are not enough. Now there are only a few Manchus who have not confiscated all of them. These things are worth some money, so they want to make a fuss with this." Cheng Jiaxiao said.
"Is it King Su Shanqi?" Chen Qimei glanced at him and asked indifferently.
"It's not Shanqi." Cheng Jiaxia shook his head, "It's Prince Gong Puwei. He wants to be an emperor and thinks crazy. As long as we promise to recommend him to be an emperor, then things will be done."
"Pu Wei alone? There should be others. Is Liangbi?" Chen Qimei said.
"There are other people, but Liang Bi is not." Cheng Jiaxiao said: "Among the Manchu people, there is also the former governor of Shaanxi and Gansu Sheng Yun. He was arrested at the Revival Society in Xi'an last year and was acquitted for several months. As soon as he got home, he ran to the capital. There was nothing left. When Fu Wei instigated, the new and old hatreds were decided to rebel. In addition to the two of them, Zhirui and the Manchu people were also watching. As long as they were together, these people would come in. This time they took the initiative to contact us because we killed Yuan Shikai, and they thought about spending money to let us kill Yang Jingcheng too."
Chapter completed!