Since East China sent personnel to Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces for disaster relief, it has opened up all kinds of propaganda machines to vigorously publicize the disaster relief, on the one hand, highlighting the image of East China's benevolent government and loving the people, and on the other hand, it has also focused on degrading the Qing court.

The major newspapers in East China have also responded one after another, opening special columns in the newspapers and issuing special issues to report extensively and in detail on the situation in the disaster area and the progress of the disaster relief work in East China. The newspapers in Shanghai reacted most enthusiastically, because the disaster itself was extremely newsworthy, and there was also a brilliant drama in East China that tore apart the Qing court.

Although Shanghai is now the best territory in East China, it is still the most economically developed and modern region in China, and it is also the largest foreign port, although after the loss of Shanghai, Britain and France and other countries deliberately strengthened the port role of Guangzhou, and transferred some of the import and export channels of commodities from Shanghai to Guangzhou, but Shanghai has the advantages of both sea and river shipping, and it is also the central region of China's north and south, with a wide radiation, and at this time the Guangdong region did not form a group advantage, so Guangzhou's geography, The economic advantages are far from being comparable to those of Shanghai.

Moreover, after East China occupied Shanghai, on the one hand, it inherited the advantages of efficient and modern municipal management of foreign countries; on the other hand, it fully dispatched the production enthusiasm of the Chinese and extensively developed foreign trade, which not only completely filled the vacancy vacated by Britain and France, but also further expanded, because East China itself has a huge import and export volume, so Shanghai's economy and industry have further developed.

Although East China has clearly announced the political program of overthrowing the Qing court, the economic ties with the coastal areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have not weakened, and there are further strengthening, on the one hand, East China itself has a huge purchase of the coastal areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and on the other hand, East China** After the control of the Shanghai Customs, there were also certain protective measures for the export of Chinese goods, and there were also some restrictions on the import of goods, so as to protect the national capital, and the merchants in the coastal areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River benefited from it, and the merchants benefited from it, and the governors and Taotais of the provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River naturally had equal interests.

At the same time, now East China has occupied Henan Province, almost has cut off the north-south traffic of the Qing court, although East China has not stopped the Qing court's personnel exchanges, but the Qing court's north-south information transmission has been greatly reduced, mainly by telegraph communication, and there is no direct supervision of the imperial court, the provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Governor Fu Daotai and other officials naturally turn a blind eye to the economic exchanges between merchants and Shanghai, and even the door of great convenience, after all, no one and money can not get by.

Of course, making money is secondary, Guan Jian is supervising the Daotai and other officials are all understanding people, and everyone can see the current general trend clearly, East China ** to take the Qing court and replace himself is a sure thing, just look at when East China ** starts, these governors and Daotai and other officials do not have the idea of being loyal to the Qing Dynasty, so through businessmen and East China ** to maintain a certain contact, but also to leave a way back for themselves. This time, East China's first entry into Jiangsu and Anhui disaster relief was so smooth, and there was basically no obstacle, which is also one of the reasons.

Another consequence of this is that the newspapers issued in Shanghai can be radiated to the provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, because whether it is the governors and other officials of the Daotai, or businessmen, they need to understand the policy trend of East China through the newspaper.

Shanghai was originally the most developed area in China's media industry, with as many as 100 newspapers and magazines of all kinds, and with the blessing of the concessions, there were not many scruples about speaking, but among them, there were mixed good and bad, and the overall circulation was not high, and some newspapers only had a few hundred copies, which were completely maintained by the operators out of their own pockets. After the occupation of Shanghai by East China, the media circles were rectified, the [Press and Publication Regulations] were formulated, a large number of unqualified newspapers and magazines were closed, and at the same time several local newspapers and magazines in Shanghai were opened, and some veterans saw that it was profitable to run newspapers and magazines, and they also participated, and now there are a total of 43 newspapers and magazines in Shanghai, including 32 newspapers and 11 magazines, while 12 foreign-funded newspapers and 3 magazines, and 20 Chinese-funded newspapers and 8 magazines. At the same time, professional magazines have also appeared, for example, there is a magazine that specializes in weapons and military affairs.

Although there are fewer newspapers and magazines, the quality has gone up, and the competition is less, and the market has also expanded, coupled with the new ideas brought by East China, such as advertising, so the income of various newspapers and magazines has also increased significantly, showing a prosperous scene.

After these disaster relief reports were published in the coastal areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, they naturally caused great repercussions, and under the intentional guidance of East China, there was also a voice of praise for East China, although there were also a small number of voices of opposition, slander, and accusation, but they were soon drowned out by praise. Of course, this is also very normal, after all, the disaster relief operation in East China has occupied a high point morally, and the Qing court basically did nothing in this natural disaster, which is also an assistance to East China.

However, Bi Jing of the Qing court is a hundred-legged insect, dead but not stiff, and there is still a group of die-hard fans, although the number is not much. Of course, the die-hard officials of the Qing court thought that the entry of East China ** into Anhui and Jiangsu for disaster relief was unfavorable to the Qing court, so some people wrote to the Qing court to explain the matter and asked the Qing court to issue an edict to refuse the disaster relief in East China, and some simple-minded officials wrote to the Qing court, suggesting that the Qing court and East China ** abandon political differences and work together to relieve the disaster.

It was only at this time that the Qing court knew that East China had entered Anhui and Jiangsu for disaster relief, which naturally caused the Qing court to be shocked.

After the Far East War, East China officially announced its break with the Qing court, and put forward the political goal of overthrowing the Qing court and establishing New China, which also made the Qing court panic, after all, everyone knows that the Qing court is not the opponent of East China at all, not to mention that now East China has just won the victory in the Far East War, and its prestige is in full swing.

Of course, Cixi and Guangxu couldn't sit still, and immediately summoned ministers to discuss countermeasures, and all the ministers spoke one after another to offer their suggestions, some of them asked the Qing court to organize an army again, train and prepare for war, and prepare for a decisive battle with East China**; some people suggested that the Qing court should form an alliance with Britain, France, the United States, and Germany and other powerful countries to fight against East China**; others believed that the Qing court should hold peace talks with East China**, even if it was to divide the world equally in the end, it could be regarded as being able to keep half of the country and survive for a long time; and even some people's propositions were even more extreme, believing that the Qing court should be with East China** Merge and let the person in charge of East China enter the military aircraft department. In short, there are many opinions, and there are all kinds of things to say.

However, in the eyes of Cixi and Guangxu, these suggestions are not reliable, and they will fight to the death with East China? Can the Qing court defeat East China? The Qing court has trained a new army for several years, but in the battle against Henan last year, it was defeated by an army that was still a volunteer army at that time, and the result was a complete confusion, and how strong can the army be there if it is reorganized? Will the Qing court form an alliance with Britain, France, the United States, and Germany, first of all, will the Britain, France, the United States, and Germany form an alliance with the Qing court? And after forming an alliance, what price will the Qing court pay? And even if it is an alliance, what can it be, in the first war in the Far East, East China defeated Britain, France, Japan, and Russia with one own strength, can the alliance protect the Qing court? As for peace talks and merger with East China, it is even more unreliable, Cixi and Guangxu both understand that it is easy for East China to defeat the Qing court, so why are they willing to negotiate peace and merge with the Qing court?

Before the Qing court could discuss a good solution, the Yangtze River valley was flooded again, but at this time, the Qing court was in the mood to go to disaster relief? And even if it wanted to provide disaster relief, it had no money, so the Qing court could only issue a few symbolic edicts, ordering the governors of the provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to try to rescue the disaster, and then there was no other disaster relief move.

But the Qing court did not expect that East China did not launch an attack on the Qing court, but went to Jiangsu and Anhui for disaster relief, of course, the Qing court agreed that the disaster relief operation in East China was not good-hearted, this was under the guise of disaster relief, in fact, it wanted to occupy Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, which was the use of encroachment, and gradually encroached on the land of the Qing court, which was what East China ** did in Henan.

However, although East China has announced that it will overthrow the Qing court and rebuild China, the contact between the two sides has not been broken, the Qing court built Tianjin New City in the northwest of Tianjin, and set up the Yamen of the Governor of Zhili here, Yuan Shikai in a month, at least 10 days here to govern the public, and in these 10 days, at least 8 days are to communicate and negotiate with Tianjin City, East China. At the same time, the office of East China ** in Beijing has not been cancelled, although some officials in the Qing court have played to the Qing court, suggesting that the Qing court copy the Beijing office of East China ** and arrest people.

But Zhang Zhidong resolutely opposes this, the reason is that the office of East China ** in Beijing can not run, and it can be done at any time, and now there is one more channel of communication with East China**, after all, East China ** has not yet launched an attack on the Qing court, and there is still room for redemption, and it is still useful to have one more channel of communication with East China**.

And Zhang Zhidong's remarks also moved Cixi and Guangxu, because after the failure of the battle to attack Henan, Yuan Shikai basically monopolized the contact between the Qing court and East China, and it was also quite a bit of self-respect.

So the Qing court bypassed Yuan Shikai and assigned Zhang Zhidong and Zaifeng to use the Beijing office of East China ** as a channel to communicate with East China**. Because during the Gengzi National Revolution, Zhang Zhidong and East China ** had some contact and cooperation, and the overall relationship was okay, now it is still necessary to use Zhang Zhidong to sell the old face, and at the same time bring Zaifeng out, and let Zaifeng be responsible for this channel of contact with East China ** in the future, so that at least before the war between the two sides, the Qing court will not have to rely on Yuan Shikai.