The nationalization of railways at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the subsequent road protection movement are almost identical in performance to today's demolition and anti-demolition:

First, just as not everyone is against demolition, not everyone is against "state-owned railways". No pop-up window update fast //

After the Qing government introduced the policy of state-owned railways, remote provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi expressed their support one after another, and even hoped that the government would announce the state-owned railways in their provinces as soon as possible. Among the gentry in Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, and Guangdong, the opposition to state ownership was stronger. Among the four provinces, Hunan, Hubei, and Guangdong were relatively moderate in their opposition to state-owned affairs, and the Sichuan gentry were the most fiercely opposed.

The reason why there is such a big difference in the attitudes of the provinces is not so much that the degree of patriotism of the provinces is as it is that each province has its own plans for considering its own interests. Remote provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guizhou do not have the strength to build railways, and even if they do, it is difficult to recover their costs in a short time; But railways do drive economic development, so they want the railways to be national-owned, and the state is responsible for the construction and operation of the railways. Hunan, Guangdong, and Shu are densely populated and have flat terrain, so it is easier to build railways and make quick profits.

Second, do you think that those who oppose demolition are doing so for universal values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights? No, the reason for the opposition is just that the price is not negotiated!

In order for the Qing government to realize the nationalization of railways, it had to redeem the shares of the shareholders of the commercial railway companies from the commercial railway companies. To put it very objectively, the price offered by the Qing government is very fair! This is also the reason why other provinces oppose more moderately. But why did the Sichuan gentry oppose it so fiercely? It is the Sichuan people who are more bloody. Or is the government too harsh on Sichuan?

In order to build a railway in the province, the Sichuan Commercial Railway Company raised a total of 14 million taels of shares. About 7 million taels of this can be exchanged for government shares. Needless to say. Half of the other 7 million taels was embezzled by the company's manager, Shi Dianzhang. came to speculate on rubber stocks, and the result was nothing. When the government liquidated its share capital, it certainly did not think that it had to bear any responsibility for the deficit of more than 3 million taels.

These more than 3 million taels of silver are the coffin books of the Sichuan gentry, and it is impossible to watch it go down the drain. But the truth is on the side of the court: this money was misappropriated and lost before, what does it have to do with the court? Sheng Xuanhuai clearly pointed out that the government's money comes from the people of the whole country, and the government has no right to be generous to the people of the whole country. to make up for the speculative losses caused by the Sichuan commercial railway company itself.

Seeing that the imperial court did not admit it, the Sichuan gentry were also furious: since you don't pay more than 3 million taels of silver, don't want to take away the railway right of way! Let's wait until we earn enough money! Now that the imperial court is determined to implement the policy of "state-owned railways", how can it be possible to allow Sichuan to engage in specialization? The Sichuan gentry is also pinching the vein of the imperial court. That's why the price is sky-high. This is where the dispute arises.

Third, in the process of demolition, there were only one or two nail households, and others took the opportunity to coax, in fact, they wanted to fish in troubled waters.

Just like those who can win the bid to build a highway today, they are all people with power, money, and background. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, could it be ordinary people who could raise money to repair the railway? Those gentry in Sichuan who have family backgrounds and status. Seeing that the imperial court is ready to let itself bleed profusely, it is natural that it will not give up. They used their local influence and the tools of public opinion in their hands to "moralize" the railway issue, that is, to purposefully distort the imperial court's policy of "state-owned railways" into "betraying the sovereignty of the national railways." They simply regarded "commercial offices" as "patriotic" and the "state-owned railway faction" that disagreed with them as evil forces that "betrayed the country." Make use of the traditional "dichotomy" moral judgment. Nationalist passions permeated each other, inciting enthusiastic young students and the middle and lower class gentry to rise up in protest.

Hot-blooded young students and lower-middle-class gentry did not understand what things were. It is also impossible to know the specific content of the disagreement,—— of course, this is not their interest, and even if they know the truth, they will think that it is a whitewash of the imperial court. -- Encouraged by high-sounding patriotic slogans such as "oppose the encroachment of foreign capital on China's sovereignty" and "the road survives and survives, the road perishes and perishes", simple and simple people were quickly mobilized and published the "Traitorous Ministry of Posts and Communications!" The traitorous slave is full of Xuanhuai! and a series of crusades.

It is said that at the Sichuan Baolu Movement rally, after Luo Lun, the core figure of the radicals, came to power, he waved to the audience and said: "The Sichuan-Han Railway is over!" Sichuan is also finished, and China is also finished! He cried. The crying lasted for twenty or thirty minutes. Then, Luo Lun smashed his fist on the table and shouted: "We must swear to oppose it!" We must organize a temporary organ to resist in unison, to the end! Merchants strike! Workers on strike! Students go on strike! Peasants resist paying taxes! ”

- Very motivating, very communist, right?

Hunan, Guangdong, Hubei and other provinces naturally rejoiced when they saw that Sichuan people were making trouble: if the trouble was good, the imperial court would increase the weight, and everyone would take advantage of it; It's not good, and the dead friends don't die in the poor. So some people secretly add fuel to the fire, and some people wave their flags and shout openly. Mixed with the selfish calculations of vested interests and the patriotic passion of the people, the pro-road movement quickly resounded all over the country with great momentum under the combined action of various forces. As events unfolded, the Baolu movement naturally incorporated agitatory elements such as economic xenophobia, nationalism, and patriotism. But none of these are the deadliest, the most lethal is that localism joins in.

China's territory is so vast that whenever the central control power declines, it will become a hotbed for careerists to occupy land for the king and call the lonely and widowed, the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, the Warring States Seven Heroes, the Three Kingdoms, the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the Eighteen Roads of the Late Sui Dynasty, the Late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms...... Abound. The end of the Qing Dynasty was no exception.

Cixi and Guangxu fled to Xi'an during the Gengzi State Change, and Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and others made a "southeast mutual insurance". As the Qing court prepared for the constitution, the southern provinces eagerly set up advisory bureaus to prepare for local autonomy. Any centralization of power by the Qing government was met with fierce criticism and resistance from local advisory bureaus and newspapers, including the current policy of state-owned railways and the Qing court's long-standing centralization of power.

Prior to this, the gentry who advocated autonomy did not dare to slander the central government, and that was simply self-defeating. However, after the nationalization of the railways began, they found that the control of the imperial court was really declining, and the tolerance was really becoming stronger, so they began to become unscrupulous, just like the public knowledge today. The first point of their attack was the newly formed "Imperial Cabinet".

From the second year of Xuantong (1910), the provincial constitutionalists initiated and organized three huge petition campaigns in succession, demanding that the Qing court shorten the preparatory period, convene a congress in the third year of Xuantong, and immediately set up a responsible cabinet. The Qing court finally could not resist the pressure, and on May 8, 1911, the day before the implementation of the policy of nationalizing the railways, the Qing court announced the abolition of the Military Aircraft Department and the establishment of the first responsible cabinet. The Cabinet consists of 13 Ministers of State:

Prime Minister Yik (Imperial Family)

Associate Minister Na Tong (Man)

Associate Minister Xu Shichang (Han)

Minister of Foreign Affairs Liang Dunyan (Han)

Minister of Home Affairs Pu Ying (Imperial Family)

Minister of the Doji Prefecture (Imperial Family)

Minister of Education Sun Yuanqi (Han)

Minister of War Yin Chang (Man)

Minister of the Navy Jae-hoon (Imperial Family)

Minister of Justice Shao Cheong (Clan)

Minister of Agriculture and Industry Pu Lun (Imperial Family)

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Sheng Xuanhuai (Han)

Minister of the Imperial Domain, Shou Qi (clan)

Among the 13 people who represented the peak of state power, 9 were Manchurian nobles and only 4 were Han bureaucrats. Among the Manchurian aristocracy, the imperial family accounted for 5 people, and there were 2 people in the clan. Obviously, this is a cabinet centered on the imperial family, which is historically known as the "Imperial Cabinet" or "Pro-Noble Cabinet".

The Manchu government came up with this "imperial cabinet" and was a natural bastard, and it was completely a way to die. But if you really think that it is the "Imperial Cabinet" that has provoked local forces, you are very wrong.

Although Sect Master Ma is very unpopular now, he has a sentence that is shining golden and awesome: "The economic foundation determines the superstructure." ”

Before the Qing government launched the responsible cabinet, among the five ministers of the Military Aircraft Department, the imperial family accounted for three, and the Han people were only Xu Shichang, why didn't they make trouble? Among the fifteen ministers of the 12 ministries of the first court (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has three ministers, the prime minister, the minister of the conference office, and the minister of the conference office and the secretary of Shangshu), the royal family accounts for five, the grandmaster accounts for two, and the Han nationality only has Zou Jialai, Li Dianlin, Tang Jingchong, Sheng Xuanhuai, and Zhang Yinglin.

When the list of cabinet members was announced, it did not "expose the deception of the preparation of the constitution," as written in the history books, but immediately "aroused widespread discontent among local warlords, officials, and constitutionalists." The real history is that the local backlash against cabinet composition did not appear until more than a month later, when the pro-road movement began to take off. The localist constitutionalists immediately jumped out and asked the Inspectorate to act on their behalf in the name of the Consultative Bureau Federation, arguing that "it is not in accordance with the public practice of a constitutional monarchy to form a cabinet with the imperial family, so please reduce the number of members and organize the cabinet."

The regent Zaifeng finally cleaned up the Han bureaucrats at the top of the court, how could he have lost his achievements because of a few words from the constitutionalists? Therefore, the Qing court categorically rejected the demands of the local constitutionalists.

Forty days after the announcement of the list of the Imperial Cabinet, the Federation of Provincial Consultative Bureaus issued a "National Proclamation", saying that "the hope of our people is beyond the hope of the new cabinet." At this moment, the members of the Advisory Council and the local gentry communicated with each other and came to a common conclusion:

Look, everything is the fault of the system!

From then on, the gentry in Jiangnan officially went to the opposite side of the imperial court, openly or implicitly supported the Baolu movement, and maintained a lenient attitude towards the revolutionary party. Their aim is to disgrace the central government in Beijing.

Then, their dream came true. (To be continued.) )