"At that time, people said that Duan Gongqin said, and now some people say that I am pro-American, but in fact, although there is a difference between my pro-America and Duan's father-in-law, there is no significant difference." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "I think Duan Gong can understand what I mean." ”

"If you can say that, I'm relieved." Duan Qirui raised his glass again, Yang Shuoming and Xu Shuzheng glanced at each other, and also raised their glasses.

"Cheers to you for digesting this catastrophe this time!" Duan Qirui looked at Yang Shuoming and said loudly. Xu Shuzheng saw that Yang Shuoming listened to Duan Qirui's meaningful words, and just smiled.

The three of them drank a full glass again, and when they looked at each other, they all felt that their hearts were open.

"The 'five-year plan' you made has now been three years old, and it can be said that it has achieved remarkable results, even if there is no trouble in bringing in American capital, it is worth it." Duan Qirui said, "The same borrowing money, but doing very different things, you can build the foundation of our Chinese industry in just a few years, this is where I am inferior to you." ”

Listening to Duan Qirui's praise, Yang Shuoming just smiled slightly, "When it comes to industrial development, it is nothing more than technology, equipment, and talents. He looked at Duan Xu and the others and said, "Coupled with a peaceful internal and external development environment, as long as there are more than ten years, there will be great success." ”

In 1921, China finally ended all wars at home and abroad. By 1922, after the all-out development during World War I, industrial and agricultural output had reached its highest level since the late Qing Dynasty. In 1923, China began to implement the first five

Annual plan. After the end of World War I, when the economic difficulties caused by the war swept through Western countries, China was in a new early stage of domestic economic construction. The economic difficulties of the West have become a good opportunity for China's rise as a great power.

In 1923, China signed technical assistance agreements with Western countries for more than 60 projects, involving metallurgy, industrial machinery, metal processing, fuel power, petrochemical industry, transportation, agricultural machinery, agricultural irrigation engineering, automobiles, ships, and aircraft manufacturing. The number of technical assistance projects accepted by China increased to 126, with a total value of 87 million silver dollars. A large number of modern backbone enterprises established during the First World War, especially in new industrial sectors such as steel, machinery, fuel power, chemicals, automobiles, tractors, aircraft, shipbuilding, etc., were established using the most advanced equipment and technology of the West, and even with the direct help of foreign experts. According to some U.S. observers, "About two-thirds of large companies in China are built with U.S. help or technical assistance...... The rest, too, were mostly established with technical assistance from Germany, Britain, France, Italy and other countries. ”

Secondly, China began to import machines in large quantities. During this period, China became the largest buyer of machines on the world market. In 1923, 50 percent of the machinery and equipment exported by the United States was sold to China. From 1920 to 1924, 40% of Britain's total machine exports were also sold to China, and 20% of the world's total machine exports were also sold to China, and in 1922, the import of machinery and equipment accounted for 35%, and in 1924 it was as high as 52%. From 1920 to 1923, China imported machinery and equipment totaling 1.3 billion silver dollars.

In addition to the introduction of a large number of technologies and machinery and equipment, China also attaches great importance to "intellectual imports". In the midst of the economic difficulties in Western countries, there have been a large number of unemployed technicians, many of whom have been recruited to work in China. In 1923, there were 1,652 foreign experts and 14,963 technicians working in China, an increase of more than four times and more than 20 times respectively over 1917. At the same time, China has also sent personnel to study abroad through channels such as the "Technical Assistance Agreement". From 1920 to 1923, China's National Economic Development Commission alone sent more than 4,000 managers, engineers and technicians to study abroad.

Since economic construction requires a large amount of capital, attracting foreign loans is also one of the main tasks of China's political axe. Before the First World War, none of the Western powers was willing to lend to China, and even the loans came with harsh conditions. But after the end of the First World War, a large amount of excess capital appeared in the West in the post-war economic difficulties, which put China in a fairly advantageous position in the international financial market. From 1920 to 1923, China received loans from private banks in more than a dozen countries, including the United States, Britain, Italy, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and France, and by the end of 1923, China's loans totaled $1.4 billion.

In international economic relations, in order to obtain a good environment for development, China's political axe has put forward the proposal of "win-win cooperation". In June 1922, at the League of Nations Economic Discussion Conference held in London, China put forward a plan for developing foreign trade and strengthening international economic cooperation, suggesting that Western countries provide long-term loans to China to ensure China's normal exports, and that China was ready to provide orders with a total value of about $1 billion to foreign countries in the short term, and possibly purchase $100 million in non-ferrous metals, $200 million in ferrous metals, and about $100 million in textiles, leather raw materials, and rubber in the near future. About $400 million in equipment and $50 million in consumer goods. These proposals are not only conducive to China's economic development and the improvement of the living standards of the people at home, but also conducive to alleviating the economic difficulties of Western countries, and have also demonstrated the image of a responsible major country in the international arena. It has been well received by the participating countries.

The reason why China has been able to achieve such remarkable achievements in such a short period of time is not unrelated to Yang Shuoming, the "dark bat" who has traveled to this era.

"This time Feng Jishan's incident also shows that there are many people in China who still want to be warlords." Xu Shuzheng said, "Domestic economic development is one thing, and the corresponding institutional reform must be strengthened." ”

"yes." Duan Qirui looked at Yang Shuoming, then at Xu Shuzheng, and said, "You Yang Hanzhi is talented and thoughtful, but sometimes your heart is too soft, if Xiang Yu is a woman's benevolence; You Xu Youzheng are talented and intelligent, but you are too arrogant, bold and daring, and you have too many enemies, if you two can complement each other, it would be good. ”

"What the teacher said is extremely true, the students should be corrected in the future after this bloody lesson." Xu Shuzheng glanced at Yang Shuoming, and said to Duan Qirui.

"I've been in the wild for many years, and I can't help you with any major national affairs." Duan Qirui sighed, but his words were full of gratifying expectations, "I hope that the two of you will work together to make our China really rich and strong!" ”

Listening to Duan Qirui's words, Yang Shuoming and Xu Shuzheng looked at each other and smiled.

"Of course, I won't attend this parade meeting." Yang Shuoming said, "Cai Songpo is there, and you have to rely on Brother Zheng to help." ”

"Don't worry." Xu Shuzheng nodded confidently, "This time, the 'glass of wine releases the military power' will be wrapped around me." ”

Listening to Xu Shuzheng's words, Duan Qirui felt that his arrogant mistake seemed to be committed again, and couldn't help glaring at him, Xu Shuzheng immediately understood the old master's gaze, and couldn't help but smile.

"Actually, if you, Yang Hanzhi, attend the tour envoy meeting this time, they won't have any objections." Xu Shuzheng said to Yang Shuoming, "As soon as you, the 'God of Martial Wealth' arrives, none of them will have to sell your face." ”

"I don't want to save face right now." Yang Shuoming smiled and said, "I want to set the rules down and let everyone act according to the system." Because face will be lost one day, once the system is settled, it is not easy to change. ”

"Not really." Duan Qirui listened to Yang Shuoming's words, shook his head, and said, "I remind you, Hanzhi, don't be too superstitious about the power of this Mingzhu representative system. ”

"Why did the teacher say that?" Xu Shuzheng understood what Duan Qirui wanted to say to Yang Shuoming, but he still deliberately asked.

"I cleaned up the mess of his imperial government after Yuan Xiangcheng back then, rebuilt the republic, and chose to return to the Ming Cook republican system instead of being the emperor, does Hanzhi know why?" Duan Qirui asked.

"Please make it clear." Yang Shuoming said.

"I was a kind of repair of what Yuan Xiangcheng did in the previous stage, although I Duan Qirui was a martial artist, but the superstition of the Western representative system at that time was the same as your Yang Hanzhi, and I also fantasized that through the serious operation of this system, I could achieve results and change the face of China."

"But, to my surprise, when I really started to do it, I found that things had completely changed. It stands to reason that many of the problems could have been resolved through Congress. However, at that time, the National Assembly did not have this kind of institutional consciousness, and the parliamentarians who had just come out of the imperial structure were only regarded as officials as representatives of the people's will. At that time, it was not only the warriors who held real power who did not understand what their duties were under the representative system, but also the representatives of the people. Everyone is interested in power disputes, but they are not in the mood for system building. ”

After saying this, Duan Qirui glanced at Xu Shuzheng meaningfully.

"Yes! At that time, the political situation in China was so strange that I found that whenever I was willing to abide by the rules of the representative system, there were many obstacles and nothing could be done, but when I played with power and indulged the military to interfere in politics, it was much smoother. Xu Shuzheng remembered the "Anfu Congress" that he had single-handedly raised, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"I understand what Duan Gonghe and Zheng meant, at that time, on the one hand, it was the legitimate power of the representative system, and on the other hand, it was a martial arts group with real power, and there were two layers of skin. There are two layers of skin, both of which have real meaning. Representative system is supported by institutional superstitions derived from the successful experience of the West, and behind this superstition is the rampant evolutionary thinking, which has been the dominant ideology in China since the late Qing Dynasty. However, it is the warlords who really control the situation, and only they have the strength to manipulate the political situation. Although the ideology of evolution is powerful, it is still metaphysical, and the real instrumental value at the level is still our traditional Chinese conspiracy power. Yang Shuoming nodded and said, "This is what Duan Gong wants to tell me." ”

"Since I left the wilderness, I have devoted myself to the study of the political history of various countries, and I have often read Hu Shizhi's writings, which has benefited me a lot." Duan Qirui said, "Hu Shizhi said that the political history of various countries is divided into two stages, the first is the founding of the country, and the second step is to use the country to seek happiness. We have not yet done a good job in the first step, and we cannot talk about the second step, and the so-called 'social revolution' in China is a big obstacle to the founding of the country. Our problem now is the question of whether the state exists or not, not the question of that kind of country. ”

"The situation in China is exactly what it was before England had Tudor[***], France without Bourbon[***], and Russia without Romanovs[***]. Although we have passed thousands of years, unfortunately our [***] monarchs, because of the special circumstances, have not fulfilled their historical duty. ”

"Like Henry VII who unified England and began the so-called Tudor dynasty for a hundred years. Within 100 years, the British had become a nation-state. Henry IV of the Bourbon dynasty of France cleaned up the situation and built the foundation of the two-hundred-year-old Bourbon [***]. After the light of Louis XIV [***], France also became a nation-state. The same is true in Russia. After three hundred years of the Romanov dynasty, Lenin and Trotsky were able to accomplish their great deeds. The world only knows that Lenin overthrew the Romanov dynasty, but it ignores that this dynasty left a very valuable industry to the revolutionaries, that is, Russia grew from an imperial state to a nation-state in these three hundred years, so the Russian Revolution did not have the disadvantages of secession. ”

"[***] I'm afraid it's not a necessary stage of nation-building, is it?" Yang Shuoming thought for a while and said, "To say that [***] is a necessary stage for the establishment of a nation-state, why hasn't our China achieved the historical mission of founding the country and created a nation-state after thousands of years?" Since China's old-style [***] has not fulfilled its responsibility to build the country, will we have to go through a new style of [***] in the future? ”

"Yes, Hu Shizhi's opinion is that [***] is not a necessary stage for building a nation-state. Citing Britain as an example, he said, 'The British nation-state is not entirely due to the power of the monarch.' The emergence and spread of the English Chinese, the popularity of English translations of the Bible and prayer books, the influence of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the emergence of London as the political, economic and cultural center of Britain, the rapid development of the textile industry, and the rise of the middle class were all important factors in the creation of the British nation-state. Not all of these factors that shaped the nation-state took shape during the Tudor dynasty. Duan Qirui said, "At present, many people still believe that China is not a nation-state, but Hu Shizhi believes that China has long been a nation-state in a broad sense. The reason for this is that we are still Han Chinese, and this is the result of the national consciousness created by the Han Dynasty for 400 years. The second is the 300 years of unification of the Tang Dynasty, so that those emerging southern ethnic groups still claim to be Tang people, and with the long-term unification of the Han and Tang dynasties, we have developed the concept of a whole Chinese nation. When we read the literature of the remnants of the Song and Ming dynasties, although they do not seem to be loyal to the view of one dynasty, in fact, the dynasty and the monarch are just a concrete symbol of the nation-state. Otherwise, why did no one compile the records of the Yuan relics after the Mongols lost their country? Why did a group of old people after the Manchu Qing Dynasty lose the country and only became a laughing stock in society? Therefore, we are particularly sympathetic to the remnants of the Song and Ming dynasties, which can show that China has long been a nation-state; This kind of sympathy for the past did not arise in the era of the rise of new national thought, and its seeds were planted in the prosperous Han and Tang dynasties, and it was already very tragic in the period when Mongolia and Manchuria became the ruler of China. ”

"To the end." Yang Shuoming nodded approvingly.

He also wrote: "The average person only knows that being a citizen of the Republic requires a high level of knowledge, but does not know that [***] requires a particularly high level of genius and knowledge. [***] is something that requires more technical content than free boiling; In fact, the success of the Russian Cloth Party was not an overnight accident, but was the result of the education and training of the entire European civilization over the past hundred years. In a country like China, which has '40,000,000 Adou', no matter how wise 'Zhuge Liang' is, he can't do his [***]. ”

"Besides, what kind of magical problem can China say today that can appeal to the emotions and reason of the whole country, so that the whole country can stand under the leadership of a certain leader or a certain party or a certain class, and create a new [***] situation?" Xu Shuzheng remembered Feng Jishan's telegram and said, "Our China, after all, is not Russia. ”

"Yes." Yang Shuoming said, "The [***] of Soviet Russia is, first, the leader's reading talent, second, the dictatorship of one party, and third, the dictatorship of one class. If you want to engage in [***], in addition to having high-level [***] talents, there must also be a passionate question rich in anesthesia, which can incite the hearts of the people of the whole country and capture the enthusiasm and loyalty of the young people of the whole country, so that a [***] regime can appear. In reality, there is no such enthusiastic problem with narcotic surnames, let alone slogans that can incite the hearts of the whole country, so China cannot make a Soviet-Russian style [***]. ”

"What the teacher means is that we in China have to take a 'mean' route between Ming Cook and [***]?" Xu Shuzheng finally understood what Duan Qirui meant by quoting scriptures and classics.

"Boiled politics is the politics of common sense, while enlightened [***] is the politics of special heroism. Heroic skills are not guaranteed, and common sense is easier to train. In a country like ours, which lacks talent, the best political training is a kind of open-boiled constitutionalism that can gradually spread the political power. China's Adou should be trained, and China's Zhuge Liang should also be trained a little more. And if we look at the political system of the world, only Mingzhuo constitutionalism is the most naïve political school, and it is the most suitable to accommodate naïve Adou like us. After thirty or fifty years of training in open-minded constitutionalism, we may have the opportunity to practice an enlightened [***] kind of enlightenment in the future. Duan Qirui looked at Yang Shuoming and said.

(To be continued)