The construction of railways was originally benevolent, but like the various reforms in the late Qing Dynasty, it became a fierce and harsh government after the operation of the bureaucratic machine.

Very simply, the Qing court, which wanted to rise up, was embarrassed to suffer a fatal "kidney deficit" - no financial money. As a result, mobilizing the forces of the people to fight a "people's war" for railway construction has become almost the only option. But everything became plausible in the late Qing Dynasty and deviated from normal norms.

For example, the railway business office, but the company's main management personnel are still appointed by the superiors, not by the shareholders' meeting. As a result of this nature, the so-called railway company, which has a government background, can use public power to levy a variety of apportionments to the common people, such as rental shares, shop rental shares, and low-cost salary shares, turning the common people into "shareholders" but "shareholders" who have been exploited.

In his report to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Du Deyu, the head of the Sichuan branch, lamented the harm of renting shares. According to the regulations, if the peasants' income is insufficient and they can only pay grain but are unable to buy shares, they cannot forcibly levy rented shares. However, according to actual investigations, when the state and county bureaucrats collect grain, they often collect the leased shares in the name of "railway donations" first, and then collect the regular grain (agricultural tax), so that the poor peasants are always accused of resisting grain, "whipped and imprisoned," and "there are not many people who sell their wives and children and go bankrupt in this way." Therefore, the peasants "regarded the railways not as a business for their own benefit, but as a harsh government that harmed others."

In China's political tradition, official power is generally only at the county level, below the county level, and it is the gentry power and the local powerful faction that really have the final say. On the one hand, these gentry acted as state brokers, assisting the government in maintaining law and order, collecting grain and money, etc.; On the other hand, as a representative of public opinion, in order to protect and promote local interests, he engages in public relations and games with the government and its officials.

However, with the new policies and reforms of the Qing Dynasty, the traditional rural society faced drastic changes, the authority of the government was increasingly weakened, and the local gentry increasingly evolved from assistants to rivals of the government. The public power in the countryside was replaced by the "profit-making brokers" known as the local tyrants and inferior gentry, who broke away from the moral constraints imposed on the traditional gentry class, and unscrupulously turned the public power in their hands into a tool for rent-seeking and profit-seeking, subjectively for themselves. Objectively for the government, pulling the banner of the New Deal reform, wantonly seeking personal gains, filling private pockets.

According to the account of a student who returned to Sichuan for funeral. Because the government entrusted the task of collecting rental shares to the "ruffians and capable people" in the countryside, that is, the local tyrants and inferior gentry. Since the expropriation of rent shares is calculated according to the land, it is precisely a means to accept bribes and repay revenge. The powerful and unsupervised public power provides a huge space for rent-seeking for the ruffians in the countryside.

Thereupon. In the vigorous construction of private railways in the late Qing Dynasty, "locusts" swarmed, with the largest number in Hunan and Sichuan. The gentry who wielded real power and store much of what they had from the peasants were stolen by them, and the government was notorious for extortion, but the public finances were not improved.

It is said that the rights of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, which Zhang Zhidong redeemed from the Americans at twice the price, were neither returned to the government nor to the people, but were intercepted by the "patriots" halfway. The "patriots" divided the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway Company into three companies: Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei according to the provincial borders. In order to meet the desire of the three provinces to "rather be the head of the chicken". The three companies "disagreed with the gentlemen and businessmen, and the general office failed to reconcile, resulting in repeated trends and conflicts from time to time." In the end, there is the scandal of auditing, the noise of meetings, all kinds of disturbances, and the delay of road workers", "the directors have formed a party and embezzled and abused, which has long been accused by the shareholders. Deeply consider all audits, and the shareholders' capital will eventually be lost".

Never before had the merchants and gentry been like the railway bosses of the late Qing Dynasty who had always put on their lips the patriotic slogan of rejecting foreign investment, nor had there ever been such a brazen "patriot" who regarded the railway company as a tool for making a fortune and did not think about national construction. nor sympathetic to the poverty of the people.

Chen Wenqiang did not realize the difficulty of building the Guangdong-Hankou Railway at first, to be precise, he underestimated and underestimated it. But fortunately, he has a cautious character, and underestimating and despising it is not a complete ignorance, so he walks steadily. Didn't make a rash mistake.

With the continuous transmission of information from all sides, some Xingyitang found out through Jianghu Road, some members of the Revival Association from Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei at the request of the headquarters, some Zhang Zhidong provided it from the government, and some through the leaders of the constitutionalist faction in the three provinces to do the work, and the shareholders of the railway company secretly broke the news. The more it was summarized, the more it made Chen Wenqiang feel tricky, and the more he was cautious.

On the contrary, after much deliberation and repeated discussions with the staff of the Shanghai headquarters of the Renaissance Society, he finally decided to rise to the challenge and build roads and plant the power of the Renaissance Society in the heart of China, the Two Lakes.

You must know that in the end, revolution must rely on violence, on arming, and on the barrel of a gun. It is very likely that the railway patrol police, which have been established openly and honestly, will become a reliable revolutionary armed force through the operation of Chen Wenqiang and the infiltration of the Fuxing Society. And the more difficult it is to build a road, the more logical it is to strive for a larger number of railway patrol officers.

The composition of the high-level of the Renaissance Association also decided to expand the revolutionary base in the Lianghu area, and even set off a revolution**, which would not meet with great resistance, and Song Fuhua (Song Jiaoren) had always advocated the revolution in the Lianghu area, but Chen Wenqiang had always refused to fully support it.

Although the edict "expressed deep joy" at the deputies' patriotic fervor and promised that "the constitution must be established, the parliament must be opened, and those who are prudent should be prepared in order of priority and urgency," they still rejected the deputies' petition on the pretext that "the country is vast and the people are not of the same informity, and the opening of the parliament will cause disturbance and unrest."

In Shanghai, the wave of arrival in Britain caused by the "trial case" was intensifying, and the Chinese in the concession of all classes declared an indefinite general strike. Like the French Concession a few years ago, the Public Concession is several times larger than the French Concession, but the non-violent non-cooperation movement is also broader and more powerful. From the shops to the servants, coachmen, and hawkers, with the financial subsidies of the Ningbo merchant group headed by Yu Qiaqing, and with the full support of Xingyitang, the public concession is falling into chaos, with no one sweeping garbage, no one emptying toilets, no one pulling rental cars, and nowhere to buy fruits and vegetables......

Just ten days before the Lunar New Year, Chen Wenqiang came to Wuchang again, met with Zhang Zhidong, reported his work achievements in the past two months, and submitted the information and intelligence collected from various channels.

Obviously, Chen Wenqiang's capital operation is impeccable. The support of the Sino-overseas Joint Venture Bank and the German debt will undoubtedly become a milestone event in the history of the introduction of foreign capital by the Qing Dynasty, because it is a negotiation of basic equality in economic contracts.

Zhang Zhidong appreciated it very much. Frequent compliments, until I began to read the information documents, my face turned from sunny to cloudy, and became more and more heavy. Although he has already felt the great harm of commercial and private enterprises to railway construction, such a shocking situation. But not all he could know.

Chen Wenqiang waited quietly, and in the face of Gu Hongming's inquiring gaze, he only smiled bitterly and shook his head.

snapped, and after a long time, Zhang Zhidong took the case and reprimanded angrily: "It is such a stubborn and shameless villain who holds the right of way, forms a party and entrenches it, bullies and impropriates it, and if he does not rebuke it for a day, the road administration will not be sorted out for a day." It's a sad thing......"

Chen Wenqiang looked at Zhang Zhidong and didn't react, just waited, waiting for Zhang Zhidong to express more powerful support and give him more favorable conditions.

Zhang Zhidong, who had vented his mouth, saw Chen Wenqiang's appearance, and he also understood in his heart, knowing that Chen Wenqiang either had a fear of difficulties, or was looking to see how determined and courageous he could show. involved many officials and gentry, whether to be ruthless or accommodating and appeased. Whether Chen Wenqiang can finally take over the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway obviously depends on this.

"Wen Qiang, if it's up to you to build the road, where should you start. What should be done? Zhang Zhidong spoke with assumptions in his words, although he wanted to support Chen Wenqiang, but to what extent, he still wanted to get a definite answer.

"First difficult and then easy, start with Hunan. Because Hunan gentry has the heaviest power, the management of the railway company is the most chaotic. The collection of rental shares is related to tens of millions of people. If we do not calm down with the momentum of thunder, and wait for the evil officials and inferior gentry to incite the foolish people, I am afraid that the masses will be surging and the people will be in turmoil. Chen Wenqiang paused, squinted his eyes, and said coldly: "Like such shameless and greedy people, I think that we can't be accommodating and appeased, kill those who should be killed, arrest those who should be arrested, and copy those who should be copied. ”

"It's okay to make an example of you, but you have to be justified, otherwise—" Zhang Zhidong groaned, doubtful, and refused to express his position lightly.

"If you are willing to pull back from the precipice, I don't mind letting them go." Chen Wenqiang smiled faintly: "Do you think that adults will kill indiscriminately?" But if you are stubborn, fierce and treacherous, and you still have to be gentle, then please forgive me for the difficulty of taking over the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway. ”

"Foreign debts have been borrowed, money has been loaned, how can Wen Qiang easily stop?" Gu Hongming turned around and said: "The weight of the Hunan gentry power starts from the Hunan army, and it has military merits to protect it, and it is intertwined, so it must be handled carelessly. ”

"Foreign debts and loans have to be invested in the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, and if they engage in other industries, I am afraid that they will achieve faster results and more profits." Chen Wenqiang was not ready to back down, and his tone was still very tough, "If adults have concerns, I can't take the responsibility alone, and I can't extricate myself from this deep water." Besides, I already have a preliminary plan, and as long as the adults are willing to support it, maybe it won't be too much trouble. The adults are sitting in Huguang, one is the court, the other is the people, get rid of some gentry and bad prisoners, and use iron-fisted methods, what's the matter? ”

"Bring your plan." Zhang Zhidong stretched out his hand to Chen Wenqiang with an unkind face.

"Please read it, sir." Chen Wenqiang smiled instead, reached out and took out a few pieces of paper, handed them to Zhang Zhidong with both hands, and teased: "In this Huguang, the governor is the emperor of the soil, what is the matter?" ”

"Nonsense." Zhang Zhidong rolled his eyes, took the paper, read it carefully, frowned and thought hard after reading it, and only after a long time did he raise his eyebrows and gently pat the table, "That's it, Bento in the main hall is a butcher, you let it go, I want to see, who can turn the sky over in this Huguang?" ”

"Master Xie." Chen Wenqiang stood up and bowed, and said sincerely: "The lower officials will definitely be cautious in doing things, and will not cause too much trouble to the adults." Please rest assured, Wen Qiang has always been clean in his hands and feet, and he is rarely caught. ”

"Clean hands and feet?" Zhang Zhidong rolled his eyes again, shook his head with a wry smile, "Is it a thief?" As an official, you should be careful when you speak. ”

Chen Wenqiang smiled disappreciatively and said, "The lower official still has a request, I hope the lord can send Mr. Gu to help the lower official." ”

Zhang Zhidong was stunned for a moment, and then understood that this was deliberately done by Chen Wenqiang, and there was a person he trusted to praise him, which also reassured him.

"Mr. Gu is skilled in foreign affairs, and he can show his strengths this time." Zhang Zhidong nodded in agreement, and asked again: "When are you going to take over, after the New Year, it will take some time to prepare according to your plan." ”

"On the second day of the first month, the dragon raised its head." Chen Wenqiang straightened his waist and said confidently: "A little greedy villain, watch the lower officials sweep them away." ”

………………

No one is better at using public opinion and propaganda than Chen Wenqiang. The matter of taking over the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway has not yet been made public, and the newspapers and media have begun to build momentum for it, pointing the spearhead directly at the private railway companies, denouncing their various phenomena, exploiting and oppressing the common people, and exposing them to the public.

"It is difficult to raise funds in the provinces, and those who cannot start the work will be paid by the general assistant below. When fundraising changes, the competition is fierce, especially the expense. So for seven or eight years, 120 million was raised, and only 1,200 miles were completed; Raising millions, only tens of miles away; The redundancy of employment and the erosion of procurement are particularly shocking. ”

"Seeking truth is a big deal, it is important to win the position of a prime minister and an assistant minister, to obtain a salary of hundreds of gold per month, and to regard the road bureau as a clump and take it away by justice. The state wants to get out of the scope of administrative officials, so it will pretend to be a business office; In the society, if they want to break away from the supervision of the members of the property corporation, they must borrow the name of the governor, or although they do not pretend to be the governor, but in fact rely on the administrative officials to conspire for their own convenience, which is no different from the official governor? All kinds of strange phenomena are seen and wronged, and there are enough people who are shocked and mourned, and they don't know what to do. It is not said that the good name of our country's scholars borrowed the right to take back, and the vulgarity of the broom criticized by the broom, as for this extreme. ”

"Using official authority to restrain shareholders? A little debate, sabotage the big issue of commercial office, counter-devouring and coercing, fierce and sinister, everything. Inventory control? Shareholders checked the accounts and used words and votes to try to resist. ”

"The railway has not printed stocks so far, and there is no interest discount, the Chamber of Commerce has collected more than 2 million shares, and only gives receipts, so those who are willing to buy shares everywhere are waiting and seeing."

Just after Chen Wenqiang used the power of public opinion at his disposal to criticize the commercial railway company and prepare for taking over. A letter came unexpectedly, which made him think for a long time, and he boarded the ship again.

…………… (To be continued.) )