Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 108

Empress Dowager Cixi certainly knew that Zhang Zhidong was right, but she understood even better how authority could crumble. The eight regents had once been incredibly powerful, but one wrong step led to their downfall and they never had a chance to recover. Authority cannot be questioned; questioned authority means its demise.

What Wuhan is doing now is questioning the authority of the imperial court in front of the world. If she cannot fight back, then the world will soon think that the imperial court is no longer viable, and those local forces that were originally neutral will soon turn to Wuhan.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi did not immediately respond to Zhang Zhidong's suggestion, but calmly asked him to return first. When Zhang Zhidong left the palace, he shook his head repeatedly. He understood that Cixi still harbored some illusions, but such thoughts would only lead to the Wuhan army entering Beijing, thus causing a mutiny in Beijing.

Judging from his conversation with Qin Lishan, the Wuhan side was actually more interested in a military intervention in Beijing. Even though he reminded the other party that this might be a scheme by Yuan Shikai to use someone else to do his dirty work, after all, no matter how you look at it, Wuhan was at the forefront, but the Beiyang government would benefit the most. No wonder Yuan Shikai would support Wuhan's actions.

However, Qin Lishan, with a clear head, said to him, "For us, both the imperial court and the Beiyang Army are actually adversaries. Being able to make one of them stand aside, allowing us to eliminate one adversary first, and then confront the Beiyang Army one-on-one—this kind of 'using one to kill another' strategy can be used a few more times without harm..."

Qin Lishan's answer made Zhang Zhidong realize that these young people had not received any favors from the Qing Dynasty; they had truly created the current situation through their own efforts, which was completely different from him, Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai, and others. No one would be surprised that the Workers' Party wanted to oppose the Qing Dynasty, because they had never raised the banner of supporting the Qing from the beginning; they had always advocated for reforming the Qing Dynasty.

On the contrary, he and Yuan Shikai had received great favors from the Qing Dynasty. Without the Qing Dynasty, they would not have their current status. Therefore, if they were to rebel against the Qing, the people would think they were ungrateful. This is also why Yuan Shikai was willing to hide behind Wuhan, so that he could avoid being accused of ingratitude.

However, Zhang Zhidong felt that Yuan Shikai was overly shrewd, treating everyone as fools. If word got out that Yuan Shikai, holding the Beiyang Army and sitting idly by while Wuhan pressured the Manchus in Beijing, wouldn't he become a target of public criticism? People would only see him as lacking in responsibility, cunning but lacking in courage. In the future conflict between Wuhan and the Beiyang Army, who would support such an overly shrewd and ruthless warlord?

As soon as Zhang Zhidong left the palace, Feng Guozhang, who was stationed at the Beiyuan military camp outside the city, received a summons from the palace. The summons was somewhat sudden, leaving Feng Guozhang unprepared, even without a door-to-door fee. According to the palace eunuchs, even if the sky of the Qing Dynasty collapsed, a door-to-door fee couldn't be withheld; otherwise, what would they eat?

This time, however, Feng Guozhang received unusual preferential treatment. Guided by a trusted confidant sent by Li Lianying, he arrived at the Qianqing Palace without any hindrance and was not asked for any bribes. Only then did Feng Guozhang vaguely realize that the rules of the eunuchs were not unchangeable, and that they could also have their moments of anger.

Empress Dowager Cixi was indeed in a hurry. Although she had summoned Feng Guozhang in the past, she would only praise him a few times and then move on. She would never talk to him about any political issues, because Feng Guozhang was really not qualified to discuss national affairs with her.

But this meeting was different. Empress Dowager Cixi went straight to the point and asked Feng Guozhang, "The people of Wuhan are arrogant because of their achievements, and now they even dare to speak disrespectfully to the court in the National Assembly. I called you here to ask you, is the Beiyang Army still the court's army? Can it defend the safety of the capital?"

Feng Guozhang, kneeling on the ground, was taken aback by these words, but he quickly recovered and replied to Empress Dowager Cixi: "The Beiyang Army is naturally the army of the imperial court. As long as there is not a single soldier left in the Beiyang Army, we will never allow the Russians to enter Shanhaiguan Pass. Your humble servant is willing to guarantee this with my own head."

Empress Dowager Cixi said coldly, "I am not talking about the Russians. I am asking whether the Beiyang Army is willing to fight to the death if the troops in Wuhan attack."

Feng Guozhang remained silent for a long time, feeling the atmosphere in the room growing increasingly oppressive. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and reply, "I dare not vouch for others, but I am willing to fight to the death for the Empress Dowager."

These words did not appease Empress Dowager Cixi. She said angrily, "The court has spent so much money on the Beiyang Army. Are you the only one willing to fight to the death for the court? Are you trying to fool me?"

Feng Guozhang thought for a moment and then replied, "I arrived the night before last. Yesterday, I inspected the various units of the First Division in Beiyuan and found that nearly a third of them had asked for leave to go home. It's not that I'm trying to fool the Empress Dowager, but I really don't know how many people are still willing to fight in Wuhan. I dare not deceive the Empress Dowager, so I can only tell the truth."

Empress Dowager Cixi understood the unspoken meaning in Feng Guozhang's words: if even the Manchu bannermen were unwilling to defend the Manchu empire, how could one expect the Beiyang Army to fight to the death? Faced with Feng Guozhang's honest words, Cixi was finally speechless. This was the will of Heaven, beyond human control.

If the Beiyang Army generals were willing to stand on the side of the imperial court, Empress Dowager Cixi would at least have one trump card to continue fighting against Wuhan. She was betting that Wuhan could not clash with the Beiyang Army at this time, otherwise not only would the Qing Dynasty perish, but the country would also be doomed.

But now that the Beiyang Army was no longer willing to align itself with the Qing Dynasty, what was the point of her wanting the heads of Feng Guozhang and his men? The lesson of the Boxer Rebellion was enough; she didn't want to repeat such a foolish mistake. Empress Dowager Cixi understood Feng Guozhang; after all, he had taught Manchu princes and nobles, and although he was a member of the Beiyang Army, he maintained good relations with the Manchus.

From a certain perspective, Feng Guozhang represented a group of neutral generals in the Beiyang Army who were close to the Manchus. Although they could not be compared with the Manchu generals who obeyed the court, they represented the largest group in the Beiyang Army. If they had sided with the court, Yuan Shikai would have lost more than half of his control over the Beiyang Army.

However, Feng Guozhang's answer made Cixi feel a great risk: the neutral faction within the Beiyang Army had lost hope in the court. While some individuals might still be willing to obey orders, most had other ideas. This meant that Cixi's attempt to forcibly take control of the Beiyang Army to counter the Wuhan army was no longer possible; doing so would only lead to the Beiyang Army joining the Wuhan conspiracy.

Realizing that the court lacked the strength to even fight back, Cixi's tone quickly changed. She first praised Feng Guozhang's achievements in teaching and military administration, and then said to him lightly, "After you go to the Beiyuan Army, you should reorganize it as you see fit. Those who should be dismissed should be dismissed and sent home; those who should be beheaded should be beheaded... If anyone is dissatisfied, let them come and talk to me."

Feng Guozhang thanked Empress Dowager Cixi for her grace, but before leaving, he carefully reminded her, "Too many officers and soldiers of the First Division have returned home to recuperate due to illness. Even if these people are dismissed, the First Division will not be able to change its appearance in a short time. I think the First Division will not be able to participate in any battles in the near future."

Empress Dowager Cixi could only acknowledge that she understood. Feng Guozhang's words further demonstrated the Manchus' incompetence in battle, which meant that the court needed to make formal concessions to the National Assembly.

Chapter 382 Japanese Diplomacy

On July 4, 1906, more than half a month after the Japanese attack on Port Arthur, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, a Panamanian businessman named Manuel Amador led a so-called uprising force of dozens of railway workers and firefighters in Panama City and declared an uprising.

To outsiders, the uprising seemed more like a farce, as the local garrison didn't fire at the insurgents at all. Although they did fire, their guns were pointed skyward. Did the garrison support Panama's independence? Obviously not, because these garrison soldiers didn't join the uprising; instead, they took $50 from Manuel Amador and laid down their weapons.

This was a money-driven uprising supported by the French and Americans. Philippe Bono Varira, the representative of the French company that owned the Panama Canal construction rights, and William Cromwell, an American lawyer, provided Manuel Amador with substantial support, enabling the businessman to bribe the commander of the Panama City garrison and the governor of Panama State, and to be arrested voluntarily on the day of the uprising.

So Manuel Amador's independence speech went like this: "Yesterday, we were slaves of Colombia; today, we are free. President Theodore Roosevelt has fulfilled his promise. Long live the Republic of Panama! Long live President Roosevelt!"

Three days later, U.S. troops landed in Panama, preventing the Colombian army from advancing. This naturally aroused great indignation from the Colombian government, which demanded that the U.S. withdraw its troops. However, the U.S. government refused. The U.S. government not only immediately recognized Panama's independence, but also immediately began negotiations with the new Panamanian government regarding the construction of the canal.

The Colombian government attempted to seek assistance from the Japanese government, which had ensured peace in Panama for the past three years. However, the Japanese government could only express regret, as the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War made it impossible for Japan to continue its dispute with the United States over the Panama Canal.

Similarly, while the Americans seized the opportunity presented by the Russo-Japanese War to launch the Panamanian independence movement, they had no intention of provoking the Japanese too much, especially since they had already provoked the Japanese once on the issue of the Hawaiian Islands.

Before the Panama Canal was completed, the United States' power in the Pacific region was too weak to counter Japan's power in the Pacific. Coupled with the issue of Japanese immigrants in California and the San Francisco earthquake in April of this year, even though the Russo-Japanese War had broken out, the Americans did not dare to take it lightly, fearing that if the Japanese really went crazy, they really did not have a good way to deal with the conflict with Japan.

The actions of the Americans have put considerable pressure on the Japanese government. In the past, while the Japanese government might have been dissatisfied with the actions, it wouldn't have clearly understood the US strategy in the Pacific. However, the current government, led by the Navy, has begun to understand the true nature of the US Pacific strategy through research reports from naval symposiums. It naturally knows that the completion of the Panama Canal marks the beginning of the US Navy's expansion in the Pacific.

In other words, the Americans relinquished their claim to the Atlantic with Britain but instead set their sights on Japan's power in the Pacific, escalating tensions between the US and Japan. Following the San Francisco earthquake, the Americans, citing insufficient school resources, placed Japanese students in schools previously run by Chinese and Koreans. This angered Japanese immigrants, who felt they should have equal status with white people, not stand alongside discriminated-against Asians.

It is precisely because the war is still ongoing and the Japanese people are focused on the war against Russia that this issue has not been elevated to a diplomatic issue between Japan and the United States. However, in the view of Prime Minister Ito and others, the United States has undoubtedly begun to target Japanese immigrants on the West Coast, intending to squeeze out Japanese immigrants there so that more white people can migrate to the region after the canal is opened.

However, for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan-US relations are not yet the center of Japanese diplomacy. At present, the most important diplomatic focus for Japan is Japan-China relations, and even Japan-UK relations have had to be temporarily relegated to second place. Why have Japan-China relations suddenly become so important? Because China, as a nation of yellow race, defeated two white nations, Britain and Russia.

If the conflict between China and Britain cannot be described as a war between yellow races and white races, since Indians are also yellow races and Britain mainly used Indians rather than native British in India, then the defeat of British India was not shocking enough to the white world. However, the Chinese besieging and forcing an entire Russian army to surrender was a true defeat for the white people.

Colonel Yokokawa Shosan, the Japanese military attaché in Beijing, observed the movement of Russian prisoners of war through the city. "...Chinese civilians, who had always been indifferent to the country, suddenly cheered at this moment."

The Chinese have a long-standing tradition of observing executions, particularly those at the execution grounds of Caishikou. However, this observation was merely an interest and did not reflect genuine concern for the prisoners. Their focus was on the various emotions displayed by the prisoners before their execution and the executioner's skill. This was also related to the Qing government's strict control over speech; ordinary people were unwilling to concern themselves with the crimes committed to avoid getting themselves into trouble.

However, the rise of Wuhan disrupted the stagnant situation in the Qing Dynasty. Now, in the streets and alleys of Beijing, people are increasingly fond of discussing national affairs, and the Qing government is powerless to do anything about it because their dominance has been broken by Wuhan. Chinese people like to leave themselves a way out, and even the upper echelons of Manchuria would not choose to be buried with this once-great empire...

Freedom of speech led to the advancement of civil rights, and this great victory in Wuhan further stimulated the national consciousness of the people... When rows of Russian prisoners walked past these Chinese people with their heads down, it stimulated the Chinese people's nerves more than shouting a thousand slogans to overthrow the Manchus and revive the Han...

Modern China is like Japan during the bloodless surrender of Edo period. The powerful shogunate was overthrown, and the Japanese people, oppressed by the shogunate, suddenly realized their power was enough to change the world, thus Meiji Japan was born. Now, a new China is being born before our eyes.

Japanese diplomats were the first to feel the birth of this new China. Minister to China, Uchida Yasuya, was a talent from the Imperial University appreciated by Mutsu Munemitsu. He came to China in 1896 to engage in diplomatic work, served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for a period of time, and returned to China in 1901 to serve as Minister to China. He was always the leader in diplomacy with China.

He was also the organizer of the intelligence network targeting China. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan's intelligence gathering on China had essentially come to a standstill. Because the Japanese leadership believed that the war against China was over, there was no need to consolidate intelligence on China anymore. As a result, intelligence on China was scattered among various organizations, making the collection of intelligence on China fragmented.

After Uchida Yasuya took office as the Minister to China, because he was a diplomat who supported war against Russia, he believed that the intelligence gathering work on China and Russia had to be integrated, otherwise it would be impossible to understand the relationship between China and Russia. So he began to take the initiative to integrate the intelligence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military, forming a more efficient intelligence network.

To be fair, Uchida Yasuya's intelligence network was remarkably effective in infiltrating the Beiyang clique, Beijing, and the Beijing court. Aoki Nobuzumi's infiltration of Yuan Shikai and Shimakawa Takezaburo's infiltration of the court both achieved considerable success. However, the rise of Wuhan shattered the intelligence network Uchida Yasuya had built, causing him and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lose their accurate judgment of the Chinese political situation.

For example, before Japan joined the war, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Uchida believed that it was feasible to force Yuan Shikai and the Qing government to seek help from Japan, because the Qing government and the Beiyang government needed Japan's support to fight against internal and external enemies, not only the Russians, but also Wuhan.

However, neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor Uchida anticipated that Wuhan's strength had exceeded their expectations, while the Manchu forces were so weak. This meant that their envisioned scenario of the Qing government and the Beiyang Army confronting Wuhan did not materialize. Wuhan's overwhelming strength and devastating encirclement and annihilation of the Russian Western Route Army forced the Beiyang Army to seek compromises domestically. The Qing government's incompetence also alienated the Beiyang Army from the Qing government.

Thus, Wuhan began manipulating the National Assembly to challenge the imperial court. Frankly, the Japanese didn't have a high opinion of the Chinese National Assembly because the Qing government excluded too many political forces and included so-called gentry within it. In the Japanese view, this so-called Chinese National Assembly couldn't represent the various forces in China, nor the people; it was merely a group of yes-men who blindly obeyed the imperial court.

However, the so-called gentry were there because they yielded to the authority of the imperial court, not because they were particularly loyal to the Manchus. When Wuhan demonstrated its strength and the Beiyang government began to distance itself from the imperial court, these gentry immediately sided with Wuhan. Thus, the National Assembly, which the Qing government had established despite the condemnation of enlightened gentry and revolutionaries across the country, had now become a place where Wuhan was opposed to the imperial court, which was indeed quite ironic.

However, the Japanese soon found themselves unable to remain passive observers, as the National Assembly quickly became a major headache for them. First, Yuan Shikai submitted a proposal to the National Assembly to invite Japan to participate in the war, but the Assembly dragged its feet until Japan launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur, at which point it hastily passed a declaration of Japan's entry into the war.

"...Manchuria, the Kwantung Leased Territory, and the coast east of the Ussuri River are all Chinese territories as defined by the Treaty of Nerchinsk. Our country has a responsibility to protect the civilians residing in these territories...Our country understands the hostility of the Russian Empire towards the Japanese Empire, and also understands the reasons for the Japanese Empire's war against the Russian Empire. However, our country hopes that the Japanese Empire will not harm our people when it declares war on the Russian Empire..."

This statement put the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an extremely awkward position, because they could not refute the Chinese claim and deny that these areas were Chinese territory, which would make Japan appear as another robber in the eyes of the Chinese. For Japan, which had not yet achieved victory in the war against Russia, this would be an irrational response. However, they could not agree with the Chinese statement either, as this would mean that Japan would not be able to obtain Russian rights in these areas after the war.

Minister Uchida Yasuya had to report to Foreign Minister Komura of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the current difficulties in diplomacy with China. "In the past, the Qing Empire was at least a unified empire. Although the governors and viceroys in various regions had great influence on the politics of the empire, they ultimately reached a consensus within the Qing government. The diplomacy between the great powers and the Qing Empire could be implemented by the court down to the governors and viceroys in various regions. No governor or viceroy had the power to oppose the will of the Qing government and the great powers."

However, Wuhan has now disrupted the operating mechanism of the Qing Empire. They have demonstrated their ability to veto the will of the foreign powers and the court. Without their permission, diplomatic agreements reached between the court and the foreign powers cannot be implemented within their controlled territories. Thus, the unified Qing Empire has fragmented, the Qing government has lost its authority, and the court's power is rapidly shifting to the National Assembly, which represents the arena for the power struggle between the Wuhan and Beiyang factions…

Chapter 383 London's Changing Stance Towards China

The British were also caught off guard by the changes in China's political situation. Although the actions in Wuhan made them realize that the local government would eventually become the new master of the country, they did not expect it to happen so quickly.

Russia's declaration of war against China seemed to act as a catalyst, instantly propelling Wuhan from a local power onto the national stage. Even though the troops dispatched by Wuhan had previously thwarted British Indian forces in Tibet and India on several occasions, for Chinese people who rarely even visited their own county towns, the events in Tibet and India were too distant. Even though the army's victory over the British did not feel real to them, it was difficult for them to grasp the significance of these victories, even though such news did boost some Chinese national pride.

However, the war against the Russians was different. This was a war taking place on home soil. The Russians were no longer provoking the Chinese on their doorstep. If we add the history of the invasion by the Eight-Nation Alliance, most Chinese people were enraged by the Russians' invading behavior. Their first reaction was that the Russians wanted another Boxer Protocol.

After the Southeast Mutual Guarantee scam, the Chinese people generally lost faith in the credit of the foreign powers. They believed that the foreign powers were a group of unruly robbers whose target was never the Qing government itself, but rather to try to make them hand over more wealth and seize Chinese territory. How was this any different from the behavior of robbers?

Now that the Chinese had realized this, they naturally had no interest in the so-called neutrality of the great powers or the claim that Russia intended to punish Beijing. Therefore, negotiations between Britain and the Qing government regarding the Tibetan border issue were consistently unsuccessful. After the decisive victory of the Russian Western Route Army in Wuhan, the Qing Empire's Ministry of Foreign Affairs simply handed over the negotiation matters to Parliament, effectively placing Wuhan directly in charge of the negotiations with Britain.

So, after going through a long and circuitous route, the British negotiations once again turned to representatives of the Wuhan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee. Previously, British diplomats in China had avoided dealing with the Wuhan local government, as this would elevate Wuhan's political status within China, disrupting the political balance Britain was trying to maintain within the country, and Wuhan was far more difficult to deal with than Beijing.

However, thanks to the victory in the war against Russia, Wuhan still disrupted the power order within China and was brought back to the British. This time, even the British could no longer refuse to negotiate with Wuhan, because Britain was now facing a very serious domestic and international situation.

Internally, the Indian War not only severely undermined the British Empire's rule over the Indian subcontinent, but also created a sense of uncertainty in the British colonies overseas. If the British Empire lost India, could it still exist? And if the British Empire ceased to exist, could these overseas colonies maintain their white supremacist political status?

This war also exacerbated the ideological divisions within the British Empire. Beginning with the defeat in the First Afghan War, some British intellectuals began to question whether colonialism had reached its end. The Indian Revolt further fueled this pessimism, leading them to believe that British colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent was inevitable.

This idea is not only prevalent among Fabians; even the most hardline British imperialists had to admit that British colonial rule in India was bound to end sooner or later, because British rule in India was neither benevolent nor civilized. Expelling Indians from the white areas inhabited by the British was clearly not a way to bring civilization to India.

However, British imperialists claimed that this day was far from coming, because Britain remained powerful and capable of maintaining its rule over India; George Curzon was one of them.

However, this Indian War shattered the dreams of these British imperialists. Although the war did not cause the British Empire the same heavy losses as the Boer War, India was, after all, the richest colony of the British Empire, and they did not need to transport large amounts of supplies from overseas.

However, the British Empire encountered a more formidable opponent than the Afghans and the Boers. While the former two demonstrated remarkable military prowess, they were insignificant in other respects. Thus, although the British Empire suffered heavy losses, the Afghans and the Boers also lost their future, as their elite populations were lost in the war and they could not recover as quickly as the British Empire.

These Chinese were not only militarily capable; they also demonstrated formidable abilities in politics, diplomacy, and economics. At the beginning of this year, while the British Indian government abandoned its plan to resolve the Chinese issue militarily, it employed a blockade tactic. This tactic is a specialty of the British: by cutting off the external supply of goods to a region, it stifles the region's economic activity and discourages the local population from supporting anti-British forces.

This tactic had repeatedly succeeded during the East India Company's conquest of the Indian subcontinent. By bribing surrounding princely states, anti-British forces were isolated, and then the British army could concentrate its forces for a decisive blow, causing the anti-British forces to collapse immediately. The blockade tactic, which had never failed the British before, failed to work against these Chinese.

According to a secret report by the British Indian government, after blockading the Chinese-occupied northern Ganges region for more than half a year, most of the military and police personnel in the surrounding area became part of smuggling rings. Tea, jute, and various raw materials from the Chinese-controlled areas were smuggled to India and abroad through these rings, in exchange for tools, ammunition, and weapons.

Ironically, the British Indian government was very strict about smuggling weapons and ammunition into the Indian subcontinent, making it extremely difficult for Indian nationalists to acquire weapons; they could buy a pistol in London much easier than in India. However, this seemingly robust British Indian military and police system proved utterly ineffective against the Chinese, like a fishing net with only one mesh, completely unable to control the influx of weapons and ammunition.

This secret report even subtly mentioned that it wasn't just Indian soldiers involved in the smuggling; some British soldiers were also involved. A pound of tea cost about 6 to 8 pence in India, while the cheapest pound of tea in Britain cost at least 18 pence. In other words, it was a risk-free and highly profitable business for British soldiers to exchange their ammunition for tea and smuggle it back home. Ammunition is a consumable, and no general would care how the bullets were fired.

After the secret report was submitted, it was locked away in a safe by Governor Minto and Commander Kitchener, who dared not investigate the smuggling cases. Investigating these cases would only further damage the prestige of the British Indian government and would not boost the morale of the British army. The British policeman who submitted the secret report was also quickly sent to New Zealand.

Militarily, they could not eliminate the Chinese; politically, they could not isolate the Chinese; and economically, they could not blockade the Chinese. Even Sir Kitchener, who insisted on military encirclement and suppression, began to lose interest in training a new army.

According to some British officers who were close to Sir Kitchener, the Sir complained privately, "This place is a melting pot. Don't expect to train a truly law-abiding elite force from Indians. They are always obsequious in front of you, but turn around and act like their subordinates' masters."

This is a strange complaint, because the British have always acted as masters to the Indians, and the Indian officers are naturally treated as lords by the locals. The British have never complained about this before, because even in the pure British army, there is an insurmountable class line between officers and soldiers.

However, the Chinese shattered this clear-cut distinction because they promoted the principle of unity between officers and soldiers, which they applied to prisoners of war. This made it difficult for British soldiers released by the Chinese to tolerate the class oppression within the British army upon their return. Not only did large numbers of Indian soldiers readily surrender to the Chinese army on the battlefield, but even some British soldiers refused to return, remaining with the Chinese to take on educational and propaganda work.

Sir Kitchener thus realized that if he didn't expel the Indian soldiers who had been captured by the Chinese, the egalitarian ideas they brought back would poison the new recruits. But if he did expel the veterans, not only would it greatly reduce the army's combat effectiveness, but some veterans would also simply defect to the Chinese. So it was a vicious cycle; simply expanding the army was meaningless because it couldn't guarantee the army's reliability.

While the British Indian government had given up hope of resolving the Chinese issue by force, new changes were taking place in London. Edward VII fell seriously ill, and the Prince of Wales, upon returning home, assumed even greater royal responsibilities. The prolonged unresolved Indian question was damaging the prestige of the British Empire, finally reminding the Prince of Wales of the advice he had received during his visit to India.

Therefore, the Crown Prince expressed this view to those around him: "The key to solving the Indian problem is not how many troops to send to India, but to giving India a proper place within the British Empire. We cannot regard India as the most dazzling jewel in the crown of the British Empire while denying Indians the respect they deserve within the British Empire."

Although the Prince of Wales made these remarks privately, they quickly spread throughout London's social circles. It was clear to everyone that the Prince was expressing his views on national policy. Had it not been for this particular time, London politicians would not have heeded the Prince's comments; even if he were to become King, he would not be expected to express independent opinions on politics.

However, during this period, London politicians could no longer ignore the Prince of Wales's views, as the Indian question was increasingly fueling the already discontented British proletariat with capitalism.

As one worker said at a Labour Party rally, “I work myself to the bone for a week and only earn 30 pence, while the price of a pound of tea has risen from 18 pence to 21 pence… At this rate, I can’t even support myself, so why should I care about the war that’s happening in India thousands of miles away? End this damned war and use the tax money to help the poor. The wealth there doesn’t belong to us, so why should we have to protect the riches of the masters?”

First Sea Lord Fisher also advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Indian issue as soon as possible. With Japan's surprise attack on Port Arthur, Fisher was determined to recall the five old star-class battleships stationed in the Far East to the mainland. Together with the four battleships recalled from the Mediterranean, the Channel Fleet had 17 battleships, thus forming an overwhelming advantage in the North Sea.

The key to reducing military power in the Far East is to first ensure peace in India. As long as the Indian issue remains unresolved, the navy will not only be unable to recall its star-rated battleships, but will also have to continue allocating resources to the army, which clearly contradicts the Royal Navy's strategic objectives. Therefore, Fisher actively advocated for the recall of Kitchener from India, appointing a true pacifist as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

As news of the Chinese encirclement and annihilation of the Russian Western Route Army reached London, ending the Indian War as soon as possible had become a consensus among London's upper echelons.

Chapter 384 Changes in India

For Indians, opposing the partition plan of Bengal was no longer their ultimate goal. Although the Indian nationalist movement was sparked by opposition to the partition plan, by 1906 the Indian people had begun to shift their goals to a higher level: to abolish the discriminatory laws enacted by the British, to defend the dignity and basic human rights of the Indian people, and to pave the way for Indian independence.

This new goal represents both the future of India desired by Indian nationalists and a new consensus formed across various social strata in India under the impetus of the People's Council of India. Because the Labour Party has grown so rapidly, and the Congress Party has been inactive for 20 years, many young Indian intellectuals have essentially lost faith in the Congress Party. This is also why radical factions within the Congress Party have emerged, as they have gained the support of young Indian intellectuals.

However, compared to the Labour Party's comprehensive political program and tight organization, the Congress Party's radicals were as naive as a group of student clubs in a school. They clamored to drive out the British, but dared not break with the landowning class. As soon as the peasant movement shifted from the British to the local landowning class, the radicals immediately cowered, which caused the peasants to lose faith in the radicals.

In a region where agriculture made up 80-90% of the population, no revolution could proceed without the support of the peasants. The landowning class, of course, was unlikely to support the peasants' unity under the banner of nationalism. While supporting the moderates within the Congress Party in suppressing the radicals, they also firmly maintained their ties with the British, attempting to politically and militarily dampen the peasants' enthusiasm for political participation.

In Punjab, the landowning class, in alliance with the British, suppressed the peasants' anti-tax movement; in Maratha, the landowning class pressured the radical leader Tilak to defend Hindu interests, suppress Muslim peasant resistance, and avoid the issue of the land system.

It can be said that the power wielded by the Indian landowning class in rural areas forced the radical wing of the Indian National Congress to abandon or moderate their work with farmers. Their reason for doing so was to prevent the countryside from descending into chaos. In the eyes of the Indian landowning class, the British only truly controlled the cities, so opposition to British colonial rule could be carried out only in the cities. Since there were no British in the villages, the radical wing shouldn't come to the villages to incite revolution or reform; this would disrupt the peace of the countryside.

Faced with the combined strangulation of the British, the moderates within the party, and the landowning class, the radicals of the Congress Party could only rely on peasants and workers. However, they lacked the courage to completely break with the old social traditions. After all, most of these radicals came from middle- and upper-class families, and their main demand was to obtain equal rights with the British, rather than to dedicate themselves to the interests of workers and peasants.

Perhaps some radicals, after embracing nationalism, discovered that true national independence could not be achieved without awakening the peasantry, but most people still cannot see this, or pretend not to see it.

The emergence of the Labour Party broke the predicament faced by Indian nationalists. This Labourism, which went even further than nationalism, not only spared them the reality of breaking with the old social traditions, but also dealt a heavy blow to the power of the British and the landowning class.

Now, Indian nationalists could use the Labour Party's propositions to force the British and the landowning class to accept their more moderate views, thus enabling what they perceived as orderly change. Therefore, while the radicals did not agree with the Labour Party's fundamental principles, they did support this current objective.

The British Indian government also noticed the new developments in the Indian situation. According to a deputy royal counselor who spoke to Earl Minto, "Our current suppression of the Indian nationalist movement in various places is strengthening the power of the Indian People's Committee. Those Indian nationalists we have cracked down on are now joining the Indian People's Committee."

I think this behavior is foolish. Compared to these Indian nationalists who only engage in verbal protests and street farces, the Chinese-led People's Committee of India is our most dangerous enemy.

The situation in Bihar and East Bengal was spiraling out of control. The People's Committee of India was constantly establishing its own grassroots organizations in the villages of these areas, or rather, restoring the traditional village self-governing unit, the Panchayat, and abolishing the landlords' power over the village community—judicial and taxation powers.

If we let this situation go unchecked, then soon rural India will no longer be under the rule of the British Empire…

The British concerns were justified. The Panchayat that the Indian People's Committee is now restoring is completely different from the traditional Panchayat. The traditional Panchayat was actually an elders' council where the heads of various castes gathered together to uphold the caste system and the interests of the landowners, and had nothing to do with the peasants at the bottom.

However, the Panchayat, which has now been restored by the People's Council of India, is a democratic self-governing unit within the village that is linked to the redistribution of village land, and the Labour Party provides the legal basis for this self-governing power.

In the Bengal region, the permanent tenant farmers, or Chotdar, are the de facto rulers of the countryside. Some of them are urban merchants who purchased land in the countryside and became landlords. Some even hold important positions in the state government. They own 90% of the rural land, control commerce and finance between urban and rural areas, and control at least one-tenth of the state's commodity grain.

The greatest power of these Chowddar was the management of all the land in the village. Although the law stipulated that sharecroppers had permanent, inheritable rights to cultivate the land and 75% of the harvest (50% if the landowner provided seeds or similar items), in reality, since most contracts were verbal, the Bagadar could not get much legal help from the landowners when faced with eviction and exploitation; and their share of the harvest rarely exceeded half, sometimes only reaching a quarter.

Therefore, the greatest desire of the sharecroppers was to register their identities so that landlords could not arbitrarily expel them from the village. The Indian People's Committee seized upon this, combining village land management rights with the Panchayat system, which effectively eliminated the power of landlords who were not in the village and guaranteed the interests of the sharecroppers. The periodic allocation system of village land further gave hope to the lower-class farmers.

When this movement was promoted in the areas under the actual control of the Indian People's Committee, the masses immediately became the staunchest supporters of the Labour Party, and the power of the landowning class in the region suffered a heavy blow. The surrounding villages also actively responded to the political propositions of the Indian People's Committee, spontaneously organizing themselves to fight against the landowners.

This meant that the Indian People's Committee didn't need to actively expand its sphere of influence; the surrounding farmers were already prepared for its arrival. To borrow a vivid analogy from a certain landowner, "It's like a plague; it seeps into everything, and there's nothing you can do but flee."

This is also the conclusion of the British Indian government that the blockade policy has failed. You can block the import and export of materials through the military and police, but you cannot block the export of ideas. The Labour Party's ideology is spreading outside the controlled areas, and more and more farmers are supporting the People's Committee of India. The guerrilla areas are getting bigger and bigger, and they want to blockade more and more places.

If this situation continues, they will not be isolating Indians, but isolating themselves. Compared to the Labour Party, Indian nationalists have become rather endearing, because the latter, aside from providing them with some news material, pose little threat to British rule in India.

This led Count Minto to consider whether it was time to restart negotiations with the Indian People's Committee. In contrast to the increasingly somber atmosphere in Calcutta, the city of Burnia, the seat of the Indian People's Committee assembly, was thriving. Although the July weather was hot, the streets began to fill with pedestrians after midday and afternoon.

Previously, the British believed that Indians were incapable of managing a city, that they would only turn it into a filthy garbage dump. However, after the liberation of Burya, the city not only did not become a garbage dump, but actually became cleaner and more pleasant. In the past, the British always occupied the best locations in the city and turned their residences into garden-like estates. They strictly prohibited Indians from approaching their residences and provided very little public service to the areas inhabited by Indians, so naturally, the areas inhabited by Indians were not clean.

Under the leadership of the Labour Party, basic public infrastructure began to be built in urban areas inhabited by Indians. Furthermore, the transformation of rural areas significantly reduced the number of farmers fleeing the countryside, naturally reducing the number of homeless people in the city's suburbs. The Labour Party's efforts to increase employment rates enabled farmers to survive in rural areas and provided jobs for the urban poor, thus revitalizing both the cities and villages in the region.

As Ahn Jung-geun stepped off the train and looked at the city of Burnia before him, he suddenly felt a surge of pride. Although this was not North Korea, when he saw the smiling Indians in the city, he felt that his work was indeed meaningful; at least he had indeed brought freedom to some people.

Led by a staff member waiting at the station, Ahn Jung-geun walked towards Lim Shin-yi's new office, which wasn't far from the station, only about a 10-minute walk away. It was a two-story red brick building nestled in the woods. Although the afternoon heat hadn't completely dissipated, he immediately felt cooler upon entering the woods, and the occasional breeze made him feel even more refreshed.

There were many people waiting to be received by Lin Xinyi, but Ahn Jung-geun was given priority and led into Lin Xinyi's office half an hour later. After entering, he first reported to Lin Xinyi on his work, mainly how he established the Panchayat system in District 11, what problems he discovered, and how he dealt with them.