At the beginning of the lantern, Duan Fang came to the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce accompanied by the entourage, Qiao Yu, Bai Kuan, Wang Dongcheng, Wang Gui, Xue Shan, Zhang Fuxiang, Xu Hua and other businessmen all arrived, and welcomed Duan Fang into the main hall, everyone sat down, fragrant tea was served, Duan Fang took a sip, and said with a smile at everyone: "After the official arrived in Yucheng, he found that the industry and commerce were prosperous, there were more than a dozen factories, and a large factory area, it was really amazing, and the Qing Dynasty is now afraid that only Wuhan has a factory area of this scale!" All of you are leaders of Yucheng industry and commerce, and you can achieve such great results, which is also everyone's hard work, and I would like to thank you in advance! ”

As he spoke, Duan Fang got up and saluted everyone, "This is my duty!" "Bai Guangtou returned the salute to Duan Fang, after all, he is still the governor of Sichuan, but since everyone has been separated from the Qing court, seeing Duan Fang so polite at this time, I feel that he is very likely to have other plans, let's listen carefully to what he says first!

Duan Fang saw that the people present did not seem to be as grateful as they imagined, and they were disappointed, and after getting up, he continued: "Now there is a little problem in the imperial court, because of the right of way problem, many people in Sichuan are involved in it, in fact, this is a misunderstanding of the imperial court, the Sichuan-Han Railway Company has been established for several years, not an inch of the railway has been built, but it has fallen into a huge deficit, the imperial court is nationalized in order to repair this railway, since the ancient Shu road is difficult, with the Sichuan-Han railway, Sichuan can be more closely connected with the outside world, It is a great good thing for the industry and commerce of Sichuan, and I hope that all the virtuous people here can support the imperial court, and do not collude with the chaotic party and live up to the hopes of the imperial court! ”

"The lesson of the Governor is that we all know the difficulties of the imperial court, but the freezing three feet is not a cold, now Sichuan is boiling like soup, and please ask the imperial court to take care of the interests of the people of Sichuan and restore order in Sichuan as soon as possible, Sichuan chaos is a day when everyone present will endure a day of trouble, and please ask the Governor to come up with the charter as soon as possible!" Bai Kuan returned Duanfang's words without being humble or arrogant, you let us support the court, we let you take care of the people, there was a hint of opposition in it, Duanfang could naturally hear it, but no one could find fault with Bai Kuan's words, Qiao Yu secretly applauded in his heart, it seems that his uncle is not simple.

"What President Bai said is very reasonable, the imperial court will not ignore the common people, and in addition, I have heard some people criticize the Yucheng Chamber of Commerce in the past few days, saying that some people are wanton and domineering, and they do not take the imperial court seriously!"

"Your Excellency Governor, since you have always talked about this matter, then I, Lao Wang, should also say a few words!" Wang Dongcheng took the conversation, looked around at the people present, and said slowly: "My lord, you praise our achievements in industry and commerce in Yucheng, but you don't know how much effort has been paid in this, from scratch, starting from a textile factory, to being able to produce flour, clothing, ash, fire, soap and other daily necessities, which are full of the hard work of the business community in Yucheng, among which the greatest credit is Qiao Yuqiao Xietong, who said that we are domineering, everyone knows in their hearts, It's just some red-eyed businessmen, and a group of incompetent officials, these officials sue us, but I want to sue them for incompetence and dereliction of duty, the industry and commerce of various countries are inseparable from the support of the imperial court in the early stage of development, so what are our officials doing? There are many harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and taxes are all over the world.

The goods of foreigners have been shipped to China by sea, and how much freight does it cost, but in this way, their goods are still cheaper than ours, why? Isn't the problem a centigold? Foreigners have privileges, we don't, layers of checkpoints down, the cost suddenly doubled several times, shouldn't the court be responsible for these? If we don't take some action, there will be no immediate results at all, as for those businessmen accusing us, it is nothing more than envy and jealousy, how many people are not willing to run an industry, but want to get some agency rights from foreigners, rely on this to make a fortune, to put it bluntly, it is to work for foreigners to earn our money, this kind of people are not worth mentioning, this is a little foolish opinion in the next, please also know the adult! ”

Wang Dongcheng's words were impassioned, and there was no lack of irony, but Duan Fang actually listened to it, he was a rare reformist among the Manchu officials, and he was very clear about the backwardness of the Qing Dynasty, so when he heard Wang Dongcheng say this, he felt like a confidant, but his identity was really not good to express his position casually.

just nodded and said: "What Mr. Wang said is indeed the truth, this official supervises Sichuan this time, first, to quell the rebellion, and secondly, to rectify the gold and escort the development of the industry, everyone can rest assured!" ”

Duan Fang said this, everyone's mood was a little smoother, but he said again: "This official marched into Xichuan this time, Yucheng is a key logistics supply place, and the grain, grass and ordnance are also requested to cooperate with and support as much as possible, and this governor will definitely play the imperial court and reward everyone when he arrives!" ”

After Duan Fang finished speaking, he got up and left, and the faces of the people in the Chamber of Commerce here suddenly changed, Wang Gui had the most short temper, and he spat in the direction of Duan Fang's walking, and said viciously: "Do you see it, the court is treating us as money bags again, he wants to use our money to fight the people of Sichuan, if we give money, the people of Sichuan are not allowed to refer to our backbone, how can there be a face to see people!" ”

Originally, the Qing court had formed a tradition of blackmailing rich businessmen, starting from that Kangxi, to the old lady Cixi, it was better to say that it was a donation, on the surface the businessmen were willing to donate, but in fact it was forcibly apportioned, relying on this method of encroaching on rich businessmen, so that the Manchu nobles could enjoy a luxurious life, and now Duanfang sacrificed this magic weapon, which immediately aroused public anger, everyone thought that Duanfang looked kind and angry, and was more open-minded, who knew that this was no different from other officials, His promises suddenly lost any appeal.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, Duanfang will let us donate, but it still depends on us whether to donate or not, we might as well send Duanfang into Xichuan, the land of right and wrong, and then cut off the back road, so that he can't advance or retreat, just wait to die in the land of Sichuan!"

Qiao Yu also spoke, and suddenly everyone present suddenly realized, knowing Qiao Yu's plan, they applauded, Qiao Yu said again: "Everyone must have seen Duan Fang only bring one association of people into Sichuan today, it seems that there are a lot, but there are hundreds of thousands of people in various places, even if Duan Fang and Zhao Erfeng try their best, there is absolutely no hope of suppressing the people's army, and now Wuhan is empty, Hubei is not as good as Sichuan, the land of the nine provinces, a little movement, the world will be in chaos, we must also act." , I suggest that after you send the end side away, immediately set up an autonomous committee, form a local political axe, first control the counties of Dongchuan in hand, as soon as the time comes, we will announce the reading power, and then march into Chengdu, Sichuan firmly in our own hands! ”

Qiao Yu took this opportunity to say that he was going to set up an autonomous committee, everyone was not stupid, looking at the current situation, what Qiao Yu wanted to do, the Qing court had absolutely no ability to stop it, and everyone was completely disappointed in this court, and became the autonomous committee to be right, and everyone also found that this was an opportunity to divide the fruits of victory, this is to set up a new political axe, if you can get a good position, then it is also a revolutionary father! There are so many benefits that it's extra positive.

Duan Fang stayed in Yucheng for three days, then continued to march westward, wanting to capture the important town of Zizhou, and just after he left Yucheng, the Sichuan Autonomous Committee was quietly established in Yucheng, and Qiao Yu naturally became the chairman, and easily took the power of civil affairs, public security, taxation, commerce and so on into his own hands.