Twenty, Guangfu Hui

  Cai Yuanpei and others had just organized the Guangfu Society, whose members included Shanghai assassination team members and Zhejiang's Tao Chengzhang, Gong Baoqian and others. Unexpectedly, in less than two days, nearly half of its members were arrested and taken to the police station.

  The Kuomintang was founded with ill omens from the very beginning.

  In Shanghai, the revolutionary party Cai Yuanpei. Yang Duosheng, Cai E, Lin Changmin and others managed to rescue him by establishing a relationship with the organization, but what made Lin angry was that two preparatory military officers, Jiang Chengyue and Tao Deyao, who were about to be sent to Japan for military training, were also caught by the police.

  Because Wan Fu-hua insisted that the assassination was his own doing, while others denied any involvement, the concession authorities first released those unrelated to the case, including Kuo Jen-chang, Huang Hsing, Liu Chi-yun, Chen Tien-hua and Chang Chi, and it is laughable that the guarantor for Huang Hsing's release was Shanghai Daotai Yüan Shu-hsun.

  Huang Xing was wanted for inciting the Hunan uprising and had a price on his head after being betrayed.

  But he fabricated an identity called Li Guizhi, who was a follower of Jiangxi Xunfangying's leader, Guo Renzhang.

  Kuo Jen-chang and Huang Hsing had both been in Japan with the Anti-Russian Volunteer Corps, and after returning to China, thanks to his family connections, he became the commander of the Jiangxi Patrol Brigade. On the day that the assassination squad got into trouble, he happened to be in Shanghai on business, and went to Yuqingli to visit his old friend Yang Du-sheng. The police at the station didn't care whether or not he was a Qing military officer, and took him in along with everyone else.

  Guo had no choice but to admit he was out of luck.

  The most dangerous person among those arrested is Huang Xing. If he is identified, it's likely that he will be executed immediately if handed over to the Qing government.

  At the trial, Guo Renzhong volunteered and said this man is my follower.

  Yang Dusheng went to find Shouzhou Magistrate Long Cang, his fellow townsman from Hunan. However, this Qing dynasty magistrate sympathized with the revolutionary party and found Yuan Shuxun to vouch for Guo Rencai. Yuan Shuxun didn't think much of it and just notified the concession authorities.

  How can an officer of our great Qing be a revolutionary?

  With the guarantee of Governor Yuan, the concession authorities quickly released the men. Huang Xing followed behind Guo Rencai and walked out of the police station without incident.

  The rest of the captured members of Guangfu Hui were released one after another.

  Wan Fu-hua was sentenced to ten years in prison, while Chou Lai-su, who was implicated, was given a year and a half for "disturbing the peace" because a pistol was found on him when he was arrested.

  Lin Xiu held a copy of the Guangfu Hui's membership list in his hand, scolding Jiang Chengyue and Tao Deyao who had just been released. The Chinese detectives in the concession area were mostly bribed by Lin Xiu. When they saw that these two men claimed to be from the Dongjun Water Regiment, they feared that this matter might have something to do with Lin Xiu, so they hid the Guangfu Hui's membership list and then handed it over to Lin Xiu.

  Jiang Chengyue and Tao Deyao had their qualifications to study in Japan revoked. Lin Xuan was afraid that these two reckless people would cause more trouble after arriving in Japan under the instigation of the Revolutionary Party. In fact, they were very innocent. The two were sent by Teacher Wang to find Yang Duosheng to retrieve a document. Yang Duosheng discovered the legendary "alchemy" from a Japanese-published book on swindling. The comrades of the Revolutionary Party, who were deeply troubled by funding issues, were greatly inspired. Teacher Wang asked them to bring back the book and prepare to conduct experiments according to its methods.

  Wang Laoshi is Wang Xiaoxu, a returned overseas student majoring in Electrophysics, now a physics teacher at the Merchant Marine School, who was also instigated by Cai Yuanpei to join the Assassination Team and the Guangfu Society.

  Lin Xiao felt it was necessary to have a good talk with Cai Yuanpei, the teachers and students of Aiguo Xueshe were all elites of this era, if they were all incited to carry out assassinations, it would be a bit too wasteful.

  Cai Yuanpei and Yu Ziyi arrived at the Hudong Shipyard as scheduled, while the Zhang brothers, who had just come out of the police station, also followed with a stiff upper lip, fearing that Lin Rong, this "dog official", would be unfavorable to Mr. Cai.

  Inside the three-story Baroque-style office building of Hudong Shipyard, looking out the window, more than half of the shipyard can be seen. To the south are the machine factory and the forging factory, connected by two light railways to a row of docks in the north. Further north is the four dry docks connected to Hudong Shipyard. The cruiser Hainan is being repaired in No. 2 dock, while several Russian warships are being disarmed at No. 4 dock and the shipyard wharf.

  Not far away, on the surface of the Huangpu River, three Japanese warships were monitoring the disarmament of the Russian fleet. Lin Xiang let a few people go to the window and use the 8x telescope placed there to carefully observe the situation of the Japanese ships, especially the one close to Pudong.

  "Did you see that ship?" Lin Chuo asked.

  Cai Yuanpei and Yu Ziyi were unclear, but the Zhang brothers were studying military affairs and quickly recognized the old ironclad ship. "That's the Beiyang Navy's Dingyuan!" Zhang Taoyan said with a resentful face.

  Lin Cuo nodded, "After the Japanese captured the Zhenyuan ship in Weihai, they didn't even bother to change the nameplate. This proud ship of the Beiyang Navy now hangs the Japanese naval flag on the Huangpu River, flaunting its power. Isn't this a blatant humiliation of our nation?! Look south, that large dock belongs to the Japanese Mail Steamship Company. Next to it is the former Huasheng textile factory owned by Sheng Xuanhuai, which has been acquired by the Japanese. Business is booming, and although the importation of Japanese silk and cloth to China has decreased due to the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese silk factories in Shanghai are still making a fortune from Chinese money. What do you gentlemen think about this scene?"

  "Traitor! Anyone can kill him!" Zhang Tao Yan clenched his fists in anger.

  "Are you able to kill over 20,000 compradors and merchants in Shanghai who operate Japanese goods?" Lin Chong laughed and said. Zhang Shizhao fell into deep thought. In the past two months at the police station, he had been subjected to severe criticism, his thinking had undergone great changes, and he had also thought a lot. Looking back on past events, he felt that due to his own immaturity, he had implicated his colleagues, and he was filled with remorse. He also felt that his personal abilities were limited. He changed from an extreme stance to seeking knowledge to save the country, and he made up his mind to study hard from now on.

  "This is a nation that has already lost itself, Mr. advocating for ideological freedom among classmates and awakening national awareness is not wrong, but carrying out assassinations..." Lin Xiao shook his head and continued: "Bloodshed and violence will cause great harm to society, and our nation is actually very fragile and cannot withstand too many setbacks."

  "For over 250 years, are we still going to let the Manchu rulers ride roughshod over us? This country will only continue to fall behind." said Cai Yuanpei.

  "Not allowed? Alright, even if the Manchu people fall now, who will take charge of this country?" Lin Xue asked.

  "We have a parliament, just like in the West!" said Yu Ziyi, who had thought about these things before.

  "Alright, what if someone doesn't listen to this council?"

  "We still have the Revolutionary Army!" Zhang Tao Yan said.

  "Alright, you're a warlord, I'm also a warlord! Everyone is a warlord, why should I listen to you? Why don't you listen to my orders? You have an army, I can also form one. Why should I obey you? Have you thought about the consequences? Everyone thinks they are right, so everyone expands their armies, and it ends up with you fighting me, me fighting him... In the end, this country will be fragmented into four or five pieces, with big warlords and small warlords emerging everywhere, just like the regional commanders of the Tang Dynasty. Each one will carve out their own territory.

  Lin Zong said sternly, "In order to secure their power and territory, everyone is frantically expanding their armies. Even provinces that can't afford a single battalion now have three or five battalions. What happens when there's no money? The only option is to extort from the people. As a result, we've overthrown the Manchu rule, but ended up making the people miserable, and commerce and industry are withering away... it's not even as good as the current feudal dynasty!"

  Lin Xiang appears to be very excited, but in fact he is recounting a painful history that has already occurred.

  Everyone present fell into contemplation, these things had never been considered before.

  "Xing Yan, you studied at the Jiangnan Military Academy, do you know how much silver is needed to recruit a new soldier in Beiyang now?" Lin Chong felt that the atmosphere was a bit heavy and wanted to change to a slightly lighter topic.

  "It's like one million six hundred thousand taels." Zhang Shiyao said.

  "For example, I'm the army from Jiangsu and you're from Zhejiang. We both want to fight for this piece of land in Shanghai. Shanghai is rich, with annual taxes that can support two town armies. I have 30,000 men under my command, while you only have 20,000, but you still don't want to give up this fat meat of Shanghai, what should we do?"

  Everyone was silent, and the situation was clear.

  "So, the revolution is not as simple as everyone thinks. It's not just a matter of overthrowing a dynasty and that's it. A new country needs to be established. The current situation in China is even more treacherous than during the late Ming dynasty. During the Ming dynasty, there was only one Jianzhou in the north, and if it weren't for internal strife caused by people like Li Zicheng, the country would not have fallen. But now, England, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia are all waiting in the wings, and as soon as China is thrown into chaos, they will pounce. A fragmented China is what they most desire to see. China is too large for anyone to swallow whole, and even if someone wanted to, they probably wouldn't have the appetite for it. The reason why China was not carved up by foreign powers during the Boxer Rebellion was because of the mutual restraint among them. If China were divided into five or six pieces, with each power taking a piece, that would probably be their most desired outcome."

  "Mr. Cai, you want to run a school, enlighten the people and carry out propaganda, I fully support it. But if you're going to engage in assassination, I'm afraid I won't be able to help, and there's even a possibility that I'll have to arrest all of you on orders. It's also not in my own interest or plan. That's all I have to say, please take care!"

  A group of people silently left the Hudong Shipyard and walked for a while before Zhang Tao turned back.

  "Where are you going?" Zhang Shiyao blocked his way.

  "I'll go to his side and see what he's going to do. If he dares to be a traitor, I'll be the first one to get rid of him!" Tao Yan struggled free from his restraints and sprinted forward quickly.

  Zhang Shizhao wanted to chase after him again, but Cai Yuanpei stopped him: "Let him go, Lin Anhua won't do anything to him. I know this person very well."

  It rained heavily, Zhang Tao Yan stood in the rain for three whole hours, Lin Xiu finally agreed to take him in and even kept him by his side, not daring to let him out because this kid was too good at causing trouble.

  Zou Rong, whose prison term was about to expire, fell ill due to long-term malnutrition and depression, and was further tormented by the prison guards for refusing to surrender. He died in prison with great resentment, at just twenty years old. His fellow prisoner Zhang Taiyan rushed to his side upon hearing the news, weeping bitterly over his body and grieving deeply.

  Liu Jiping, a good friend who rushed back from Japan, risked danger to bury Zou Rong's body in his hometown of Shanghai at the side of Huangyelu. Cai Yuanpei led more than 30 members of the Guangfu Society to pay their respects at Huangyelu and vowed to overthrow the Qing dynasty's rule at Zou Rong's grave. In the midst of strong winds and heavy rain, the Guangfu Party began its arduous anti-Qing journey.

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