Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 250

The reason why foreign trade accounts for a relatively small proportion of the national economy is that the United States has few overseas colonies and its domestic agriculture is too developed. Apart from sugar and rubber, Americans have almost no demand for foreign goods. Therefore, the United States has always insisted on gold settlement for foreign trade and is unwilling to purchase agricultural products from trading countries.

The US-Europe trade relationship is characterized by a trade deficit because the US needs to import machinery, chemicals, and technology from Europe. This trade deficit is balanced by substantial US agricultural exports and investment from Europe. However, the US enjoys a large trade surplus with other regions. While American countries fill this deficit with sugar, rubber, and coffee, Asian countries almost always have to contribute cash to cover it. This creates an invisible constraint on US products in Asia.

In a sense, Germany's foreign trade predicament is similar to that of the United States. As a late-developing industrial country, Germany's industry has always suffered from a lack of raw materials, markets, and capital because it lacks extensive overseas colonies. At least the United States has abundant natural resources to sustain its domestic economic cycle, but German industry is greatly affected by foreign trade.

After the Franco-Prussian War, Britain began to restrict German capital and instead supported Russian capital, which led to a continuous increase in the conflict between German and British capital. In fact, the conflict between French and German capital was much smaller, because French capital mainly invested in the financial industry, while German capital mainly invested in industry. French capital had been the main investor in German industry before and after the Franco-Prussian War.

British capital was more comprehensive, controlling the international financial industry while attempting to suppress the industrial scale of various countries in order to maintain Britain's global hegemony. However, just as the French could not have foreseen the enormous productivity breakthrough that the steam engine would bring to Britain, thus losing their dream of unifying Europe, the British also did not anticipate that the electric revolution and new steelmaking technologies would enable the late-developing industrial countries to catch up with the British Empire, which had deliberately suppressed the industrial development of its overseas colonies.

Thus, the vast British Empire, which boasts a quarter of the world's population, also fell into the same predicament that the Qing Empire faced during the Opium War. The once glorious empire, which had maintained its imperial glory throughout history, revealed its aging and inadequate strength in the face of the enormous productivity created by the Industrial Revolution.

The Anglo-French Entente and the Anglo-Russian Entente were the last resort for British capital after it lost its ability to suppress challengers through trade and financial means—to destroy Germany's national power by force.

German capital, amidst the international encirclement by British capital, discovered a new trade model: no longer pursuing predatory trade with underdeveloped agricultural countries. These countries simply couldn't absorb the productivity of advanced industrial nations, even populous countries like China and India. The reason British industry lagged behind German industry was that the British sensed the limitations of the Indian market, thus reducing investment in and updates to industrial technology to maintain a trade balance between Britain and the Indian subcontinent.

The reason why developing industrialized countries prefer to invest in new technologies is that their goal is to compete with established capital, so they need lower-cost industrial products. As for the disruptive effect of the huge productivity breakthrough brought about by the investment in such new technologies on the original market, developing industrialized countries do not care, after all, they are not hegemons that need to maintain world order.

The new model of Sino-German trade is actually a replication of the British support for German capital. However, the British capital was not initially intended to expand the sales of British industrial products, but rather to prevent France and Russia from dividing up Central Europe. Therefore, no complementarity was formed between British and German industries.

Under the guidance and control of the Wuhan Workers' Party, Sino-German trade gradually formed a trade model of industrial complementarity between China and Germany. After Japan joined the country, German capital became even more interested in this new form of international trade.

For example, consider the bicycle industry. China's bicycle industry was practically non-existent in 1904, but six years later it had surpassed that of small European countries. However, it was German capital that reaped the greatest profits. German capital took the lion's share through patent fees and loan interest, while the Chinese avoided the problem of scarce cash payments. Bicycles exported to Europe were converted into foreign exchange to pay the profits of German capital, while factory operating expenses were paid in local currency.

This is a typical capitalist mode of production and trade, but it is far more advanced than the feudal era's workshop model. Through this transfer of labor-intensive industries from Germany, the working class in Wuhan is growing at an extraordinary pace.

The impact of modern industrial development on Wuhan was also evident. By 1911, one-third of Wuhan's population owned bicycles, and its population-to-bicycle ratio surpassed that of London and was on par with Paris. The average monthly wage for a worker in Wuhan was 25 silver dollars, while the market price for a bicycle was 45 silver dollars. However, advanced workers could purchase a bicycle for 35 silver dollars with a bicycle voucher, and could pay in six installments.

The development of installment payment models in Wuhan can be attributed to two main factors. First, the Workers' Party's protection of the working class's interests greatly improved workers' status and welfare, making their job stability surpass that of ordinary civil servants. Second, the establishment of a modern financial system enabled Wuhan workers to set up personal accounts in state-owned banks, significantly reducing the technical difficulties and costs associated with small loans and loan repayments.

This personal financial payment model is actually a French invention. German banks actually focus more on the investment and protection of industrial capital, while personal loans and investments are given secondary importance. However, since the establishment of the Napoleonic Code, France has entered an era of prioritizing the protection of personal property. This has made France a usury empire, but it also shows that France has a comprehensive protection of personal property, which makes individual investors dare to invest.

By protecting the rights of the working class, the Wuhan Workers' Party achieved the protection of the personal property of the proletariat, while the establishment of state-owned banks ensured the protection of industrial capital. When these two were combined, a feasible installment payment method was realized.

In Europe and America, the biggest problem with installment payment methods lies in the creditworthiness of banks and individuals. Before a social credit system is fully established, capital accepting installment payments must be prepared for bad debts. However, in Wuhan, the credit of banks and individuals is guaranteed by the state. The reason why China and Russia's reform and opening up had such drastically different results in another time and space is that Russia completely eliminated the Soviet-era state credit system and fully adopted the Western personal credit system, while China retained the state credit system established in the previous thirty years.

Of course, the legacy of the first thirty years cannot last forever. As reforms deepened, the national credit system finally collapsed, which can be seen in the stock market. The state did not want to guarantee capital, but expected capital to guarantee its credit, resulting in the complete collapse of the stock market.

The full implementation of a personal credit system is not fundamentally different from Gorbachev's New Economic Policy. However, the essence of a personal credit system lies in holding individuals legally accountable for their actions, whereas in feudal dynasties it was impossible to hold those in power legally accountable.

Those in power use the state as a shield to evade legal responsibility for abusing their power, while demanding that ordinary people be accountable for their personal actions. As a result, ordinary people disregard personal credit records, while capitalists make a quick profit and flee the dictator's territory, leading to the complete destruction of the socio-economic order. The dictator ultimately maintains his rule by continuously strengthening the machinery of violence. Thus, the people, aside from patriotism and advocating war, completely abandon personal life, because all personal life ceases to exist under the rule of power.

The question Lin Xinyi raised to Lenin was about defining the boundaries of the power and responsibility of the vanguard and the state in order to determine the basic rights of the individual. The essence of this question was how the vanguard and the state established by the proletariat would perish, because the vanguard and the state apparatus were among the obstacles to the realization of communism.

Lin Xinyi couldn't solve this problem; only the revolutionary mentor could. He wouldn't think that being a time traveler would allow him to surpass Lenin, just as a physics PhD who time-traveled and faced Newton wouldn't think he could create a new physics system like Newton. Such a capable person could have established a new era without time travel.

While Wuhan's success was undoubtedly a miracle created by industry and an advanced social system, such miracles are replicable. It wasn't a miracle of the agrarian era, a spectacle created with the resources of a nation, solely for the vanity of emperors and thus unrepeatable. Therefore, while the Taj Mahal is magnificent, it couldn't withstand the rifles and cannons of the East India Company.

Qingdao was a replica of Wuhan by the Labor Party, and Qingdao's urban development had laid a solid foundation for industrial growth. The Qingdao Bicycle Factory was a true assembly line factory, with its automated assembly line achieving the feat of producing one bicycle per minute. This achievement was first accomplished in 1895 by the Columbia Bicycle Company at its factory in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, and was not achieved by Europeans until 1912, but the Qingdao Bicycle Factory accomplished it.

It's not that Europeans are incapable of completing it, but rather that European bicycle companies face a diverse market with varying demands. The different cultural traditions of various European countries and regions mean that the European bicycle market is not uniform. This is also true for the development of the European automobile industry; while French and German car companies are still considering model design, Americans have already begun considering standard car models to facilitate mass production.

The Asian market is closer to the US than to Europe. As a unified East Asian cultural sphere, the lifestyles of East Asian countries are actually quite similar, especially in Japan, China, and North Korea, where the material and spiritual consumption pursuits of the upper classes are almost identical. Therefore, a large-scale industrial production model similar to that of the US is more suitable for East Asia, where the market prefers unified standards and values ​​cost-effectiveness.

Therefore, product design for the German industry in the Chinese market became simpler. After determining the model, the focus shifted to continuous cost reduction to ensure affordability for people in East Asia. The Qingdao bicycle factory, designed by German engineers, operated under this philosophy, drawing heavily on American industrial production models while integrating German technology and standards.

Shandong province alone has a population of 3000 million, which is half the population of Germany. Based on a ratio of 150 bicycles per thousand people, Shandong would need 450 million bicycles. However, the Qingdao bicycle factory can only produce 50 bicycles per year, so it would take at least nine years to meet the needs of the Shandong market.

Why is 150 bicycles needed per thousand people? Because, according to research by the Wuhan Labor Committee, this ratio meets the minimum needs of urban and rural production and life during industrialization. Without this ratio of bicycles, communication between urban and rural areas cannot meet the needs of industrialization.

By the same token, when China fully promotes industrialization, China will need at least 5 million bicycles a year. However, even with the production capacity of bicycles in Qingdao, China's bicycle production will be less than 2 million, resulting in a shortage of nearly 60%. This creates a new market worth 250 million yuan a year for German capital.

This is just the bicycle industry. If we add the personal consumer goods needed by ordinary German households, then an industrializing China offers German capital a market with virtually no upper limit. And if we add Japan, the size of this Eastern market becomes even larger.

Therefore, as the situation in Europe became increasingly severe, German capital investment in the Far East accelerated. In order to avoid the disruption of Sino-German trade caused by the European war, German capital had even begun to secretly transfer some high-tech factories to Qingdao and Chiba as a precautionary measure.

Thus, during Lin Xinyi's stay in Qingdao, he witnessed the rapid pace of urban change that would later become a part of modern times. When the Germans returned Qingdao to China, electricity was only available in the city's core streets; the city's outskirts were still without power. However, by October 1913, the entire city of Qingdao had electricity, and the electrification began to spread to the rural areas on the outskirts.

In February 1914, a radio tower was erected on Taiping Mountain in Qingdao, marking the establishment of Qingdao Radio Station and the beginning of the history of wireless broadcasting in Shandong Province. This was three years later than Wuhan Radio Station and two years later than Tokyo Radio Station, but Qingdao Radio Station's technology was the most advanced, as it was an experimental product of the German company Siemens.

Since 1880, when the Russian U. Okhorovich successfully developed a broadcasting device that used wires to transmit musical programs from theaters, and in 1893, more than 700 telephone lines were connected in Budapest, Hungary, to broadcast news regularly, forming a formal wired broadcasting system, Europe made little progress in broadcasting. This was because the propertied class disdained listening to opera on the radio, while the proletariat could not afford such consumption.

After the establishment of the Wuhan regime, in order to better promote its political ideology and the decrees of the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee, it cooperated with Siemens on broadcasting technology at the suggestion of Lin Xinyi, and established a special propaganda department before the broadcasting system matured, thus making organizational preparations for the large-scale application of broadcasting technology after its breakthrough.

Radio Tokyo was an example of what the Japanese did after witnessing the success in Wuhan. After all, in an emperor-based country, propaganda carries immense political significance. European countries, on the other hand, lagged behind in this regard. The widespread availability of compulsory education in industrialized European nations led them to place greater emphasis on traditional media tools like newspapers.

One advantage of wireless radio over wired radio was its lower cost. A crystal radio was much cheaper than the listening equipment required for wired broadcasting, and its ability to be used outdoors was particularly appealing to the working class. The development of radio was driving the development of the communications industry in China and Japan, while the explosive growth of the communications industry in the United States was still nearly ten years away.

End of this chapter

Chapter 785

Looking at the cherry blossom grove around her, Mu Zi couldn't help but exclaim, "This place really looks like Ueno Park!"

Lin Hsin-yi held a blade of grass and teased his son as he crawled on the blanket, saying, "I think the scenery here is better than in Ueno. You can't see such a beautiful sea in Ueno."

Mu Zi turned to look at the bay below the mountain and nodded in agreement, saying, "The sea here is much more beautiful than Tokyo Bay; it's as green as a jewel. No wonder the Chinese renamed this place Taiping Mountain after they took Qingdao back. It would be wonderful if peace could last forever."

Lin Xinyi also thought Mu Zi was right. For Qingdao, peacetime is the most suitable place to live. The Germans' investment in Qingdao was not like the British plunderer's mentality. Don't be fooled by how well the earliest port cities that Britain established in India are now developed. In fact, those port cities started as fortresses and warehouses.

If it weren't for the conquest of India and its wealth, the British would never have undertaken any urban development. Before the Indian Rebellion, the British primarily built military fortresses in India, much like the pillboxes used by the Japanese during their invasion of China. After the rebellion, the British government reclaimed administrative control of India from the East India Company, which led to plans for managing India.

When the Germans occupied Qingdao, their main goal was to establish a naval base in the East. Although they coveted China's wealth, the Germans knew their naval strength was weak. Therefore, they did not intend to follow the pirate route of the East India Company. Instead, they adopted a colonial model similar to that of France in North Africa, treating Qingdao as their homeland.

Of course, the Germans' purpose in building Qingdao was to cultivate a group of pro-German intellectuals in Shandong. Therefore, the curriculum of the schools that Germany opened in Shandong was no different from that of schools in Germany in China. As a result, even the higher education institutions in Qingdao added military training programs, thus introducing the military-civilian education concept promoted by the Germans in their home country to Chinese students.

However, the general secondary education promoted by Germany in Qingdao did not cultivate many pro-German individuals, but rather produced a considerable number of secondary school students with strong anti-imperialist and anti-feudal sentiments. The Workers' Party established a youth league in Qingdao through these students and united with the Qingdao working class, thus smoothly seizing full power in the city.

Because Germany had no problems with Qingdao's urban planning, most of the urban planning was retained after China regained control of Qingdao. For example, Taiping Mountain was built as a city park by the Germans, and China retained this after taking it back. Furthermore, the southern slope of Taiping Mountain was planned as a botanical garden. After all, the Germans transplanted many plants from all over the world to this place, and wanted to find several plants suitable for Qingdao's climate to green the city. This idea was recognized by Lin Xinyi and the Workers' Party.

For people in the agricultural era, urban greening was a luxurious waste, but for a political party leading industrialization, the lives of the proletariat also needed to be protected. Clearing out trees on mountains to create terraced fields for a few more crops reflected the simple belief of farmers who sacrificed their livelihoods for survival; after all, in the agricultural era, solving the problem of food and clothing was paramount.

However, urban residents in the industrial age also need rest outside of work. A good living environment can at least make them feel that their work has value, rather than seeing it as a form of slavery. Most farmers don't care about their livelihood because they not only endure exploitation and oppression, but they also take the opportunity to exploit and oppress others, even their own families, when given the chance.

Despite Confucianism's promotion of morality for thousands of years, cannibalism was commonplace in feudal society. So-called filial piety was simply unconditionally supporting elders and superiors, not unlike India's caste system. Indians enjoy burning widows alive, and Chinese clans enjoy devouring those without a head of household; essentially, they are the same thing—dividing the property of families without a patriarch.

Under such so-called morality and etiquette, what kind of life is there to speak of? It's nothing more than eating others or being eaten. That's why cannibals especially like to praise Confucius, because Confucius can make the cannibals willingly be eaten, avoiding the danger of the cannibals being injured by resistance.

Lin Xinyi has always believed that there were only two true humanists in modern Chinese history. One was Lu Xun, who exposed the cannibalistic nature of traditional Chinese feudal morality; the other was the teacher, who once broke this cannibalistic custom. Those who preyed on these two individuals hated them to the core, even going so far as to pit them against each other, saying that if Lu Xun had lived until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he would have been overthrown during the Cultural Revolution, attempting to make the Chinese people forget these two figures and continue to be devoured.

When these cannibals assert their right to eat people, they invariably declare two points: veneration of Confucius and the fact that their ancestors were founding heroes, thus justifying their cannibalism. Therefore, anything these cannibals attempt to preserve will not allow ordinary people to experience life, such as ancient city walls.

Frankly, Nazi concentration camps are also historical sites. Why didn't they allow Jews to continue living there? The people destroyed ancient city walls representing imperial power and temples representing divine authority in order to liberate themselves. In the eyes of cannibals, this was seen as the act of thugs, while the cannibals' thousands-year history of cannibalism was seen as aristocratic spirit. Such a distorted view of right and wrong coming from the vanguard of the proletariat is the greatest irony of the proletarian revolution.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty left Qingdao with nothing to reminisce about, but the German colonists left Qingdao with a modern urban planning concept, which is the best proof that capitalism is more advanced than feudal dynasties.

As Lin Xinyi leisurely rested under the cherry blossom tree, many families were gathering in this city park. Most of these families were ordinary working-class families, which shows that Qingdao under the leadership of the Workers' Party was much more progressive than the German colonists. At least the scenery of Taiping Mountain was no longer exclusively enjoyed by the Germans.

Mu Zi also really likes life in Qingdao. Although life here is very different from Tokyo, and her old circle of friends has been completely cut off by the distance, Mu Zi still likes life in Qingdao. Although she has familiar friends in Tokyo, the social hierarchy in Tokyo is too strict, which makes her feel a little suffocated.

For her, and indeed for all Japanese women, their social circles before and after marriage are different. Before marriage, she had her own life, but after marriage, she needed to fully integrate into her husband's family's social interactions.

Compared to others, Mu Zi felt lucky because Lin Xinyi came from the countryside of Nagano, so she didn't have to deal with too many social interactions with her husband's relatives. Although Lin Xinyi was a mid-level officer in the navy, his core position in the navy meant that she didn't have to accommodate the wives of other naval officers too much.

Even so, Mu Zi felt how materialistic the social interactions of the so-called upper class were, even more exhausting than entertaining those powerful figures in the ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant). Although life in Qingdao was relatively peaceful, she didn't have to deal with those haughty ladies and young women, which made Mu Zi much more comfortable. After all, not many wives of Japanese naval officers came to Qingdao, so she wasn't limited to the Japanese circle. Instead, she had many interactions with Germans and Chinese, and dealing with these people gave her the pleasure of equal interaction.

However, Mu Zi's beautiful wish ultimately came to nothing; the tranquility of Qingdao did not mean the world was tranquil. While she was enjoying the happiness of her family gathering, a naval officer appeared in her field of vision, and she knew that this family gathering was over.

After Toyoda Teijiro found Lin Xinyi, Lin Xinyi had no choice but to apologize and say goodbye to Mu Zi, promising to have his driver pick her up later. Lin Xinyi had to leave because large-scale protests against the French colonialists had broken out in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and he needed to return to the Joint Fleet's staff to discuss the situation in French Indochina.

With the mediation of the Workers' Party and the Asian Alliance, anti-colonialists from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia finally united and decided to fight against the French colonialists to reclaim the rights lost by their countries and nations.

Although the national independence movements of the three countries had all launched armed resistance against the French in the past, they were all suppressed by the French and local landlords each time due to a lack of unity. Like the Germans, the French lacked naval superiority, resulting in a weak presence in the Far East. However, the French had more colonial experience than the Germans, and thus quickly established the Tokyo Rifle Regiment, led by French officers and non-commissioned officers, in Vietnam as an auxiliary force for the French army in Annam.

Although the French considered these indigenous troops unreliable and therefore never exceeded five regiments, these indigenous troops became the main force in suppressing local peasant uprisings. Because they were familiar with the local geography and people, they were able to easily distinguish the rioters from ordinary people, thus suppressing the peasant uprisings in the early stages of the rebellion.

The divide-and-rule colonial strategy employed by the French in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia made it easy for these indigenous armies to suppress outsiders without any psychological barriers. This is also why Lao and Cambodian nationalists are so wary of the Vietnamese, as almost all nationalist movements in both countries were suppressed by Vietnamese troops.

At the alliance's request, nationalists from the three countries united and began revolutionary propaganda and education campaigns among their own ethnic soldiers in the French army, thereby undermining the French indoctrination efforts against these soldiers. The French indoctrination of these indigenous soldiers relied on monetary inducements and the creation of ethnic discrimination; however, the unity of the three nationalists effectively dismantled the discriminatory practices between their respective ethnic groups.

In response to the French concept of loyalty and rewards, progressive intellectuals in the three countries also advocated land reform, proposing that land be distributed to everyone after national independence. This attracted the support of a group of soldiers from impoverished peasant backgrounds. Although this distanced some sons of landowning families from the revolution, the lower and middle classes of the three countries began to accept the ideas of revolution and independence.

Because the French lacked sufficient power in the Far East, they established the Indochinese Federal Parliament to provide local influential figures with a channel for political participation. However, in reality, the Indochinese Federal Parliament had no power to restrain the governor-general; rather, it was a place where the governor-general issued orders to local powerful families. Furthermore, the French established five regions within the Indochinese Federal Parliament: Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia, and Laos. This effectively divided Vietnam into three parts, further weakening the Vietnamese resistance.

The French's tight control over the Indochina Federation also stemmed from its biased policies toward foreign trade. French tariffs on Indochina were reduced to 2.5%, while tariffs on goods from other countries were doubled. This disrupted the traditional trade patterns among the three countries, and French capital continued to deepen its control over them.

Under the comprehensive military, political, and economic oppression of France, sporadic spontaneous resistance from the three countries was naturally unlikely to break the French colonial alliance. For example, the An The peasant uprising against the French lasted from 1887 to 1909, but was ultimately suppressed by the combined forces of the French and the Vietnamese landowning class.

Although the remaining peasant army continued to fight under Huang Huatan's leadership, they were no longer able to threaten French rule. The reason for the failure of the uprising was that the landowning class regarded private land ownership as the foundation of their survival. Whether it was the French or the peasant army, if anyone threatened their land ownership, they would resort to armed resistance.

Because of private land ownership, as long as the French did not infringe upon their rights, the landowners would support French rule, allowing the French to win over some landowners and suppress others. This enabled the colonialists to succeed in their divide-and-rule strategy.

Therefore, in an agricultural country, it is impossible to win any victory against colonialism and imperialism without first overthrowing the landlord class, because the landlord class will naturally stand on the side of colonialism and imperialism, as long as they can join them.

The failure of the three countries in resisting French aggression was due to the fact that the leaders of the uprisings against the French army were all landlords. Apart from a few who actually became national revolutionaries, most of the landlords only opposed the French people's attempt to seize their land, rather than truly liberating the entire nation.

Therefore, when the French colonists were willing to recognize the landowners' autonomy, most of the leaders of these uprisings would accept it. Huang Huatan also negotiated with the French for this reason. By the time Huang Huatan realized that he had been deceived, the surrounding farmers no longer believed that he would continue to fight against the French.

Now, the three national independence organizations under the guidance of the alliance put forward a land revolution and gained the support of the peasants. With the mediation of the alliance, the independence activists of the three countries reached a cooperation agreement. As a result, in 1913, the number of supporters of national independence in the three countries rose rapidly.

In 1911, Albert Salo became Governor-General of French Indochina. Although the French called him an enlightened Governor-General of the East, Albert Salo actually adopted a more assimilation policy in French Indochina. For example, he strengthened French language education, abolished Chinese characters, strengthened the spread of Catholicism, and began to crack down on the Chinese who controlled the rice trade in Vietnam.

Albert Saroo's enlightened policy had one core: to crack down on the Chinese economy, which dominated the Indochinese economy. After suppressing the Chinese economy, the positions vacated by the Chinese could be used not only to give to French capital but also to buy off some locals.

Albert Salo's political skills were still adept; during his reign, the status of Chinese in Indochina was continuously weakened, and they were viewed with hostility by some local merchants and landowners. However, his enlightened rule also further strengthened the forces of the progressives, these young people who had received French educations developing a dislike for their homeland's landowning class.

In January 1914, Albert Saraud stepped down and Jost van Frenhofen served as acting governor. However, he lacked Saraud's political acumen and was dismissive of Saraud's methods of winning over the colonial elites. He believed that the local natives were weak and incompetent and did not deserve much preferential treatment. Therefore, he began to favor the expansion of French capital in Vietnam.

When Albert Saroul came to power, he realized that the French capital’s plunder of Vietnamese land was the root cause of the continuous uprisings of Vietnamese peasants. Therefore, after taking office, he restricted the French capital’s encroachment on Vietnamese land, and instead cracked down on the Chinese economy, enticing Vietnamese landlords to plant cash crops such as rubber, thereby establishing ties with the French economy.

Jost van Vrenhoven's relaxation of restrictions on French capital, while benefiting the French, also exacerbated tensions between the French and the Vietnamese upper class. Previously, France had deposed Emperor Thanh Thai, who had attempted to rebel, and installed his son, Emperor Duy Tan, in his place. Now, with the conflict intensifying, anti-French sentiment among the Vietnamese upper class surged again.

In April 1914, Vietnamese nationalists demanded an increase in the proportion of local members of parliament in the Indochina Federation and that Vietnam, like the French National Assembly, have the power to review the budget. This demand was supported by Lao and Cambodian nationalists but was rejected by Jost van Vrenhoven. Nationalists from the three countries then demanded limitations on the governor-general's power and began taking to the streets in protest.

End of this chapter

Chapter 786

The biggest difference between Jost van der Renhofen and Albert Saraud is that the former was merely a colonial officer, while the latter was a French politician. Therefore, when Albert Saraud formulated his policies for governing Indochina, he considered the changing situation in Europe. Much of his enlightenment was based on the premise that if France could not support Indochina, then the Indochina government would need to rely on local indigenous forces to maintain its rule.

Jost van Vrenhofen, however, was superstitious about the great power of French civilization and believed that the natives of Indochina were incapable of challenging France's dignity. He also needed to cultivate good relations with French capital in order to secure a better settlement upon his return to France. Colonial experience was of little use in mainland France and was even looked down upon by local officials. Only local politicians like Albert Salo could regard serving as Governor-General of Indochina as a valuable political experience.

Because of their different positions, Jost van der Rohe's views on Indochina and the Indochinese people were naturally quite different. Compared to Albert Salo, Jost van der Rohe valued the land and wealth of Indochina more, believing that he could only become a French hero by helping France acquire more of this land and wealth.

Thus, within two months of Albert Saraud's departure, policies favorable to the Indochinese elite were abolished. Jost van Frenhofen, wielding the governor-general's unlimited power, attempted to pocket every bit of Indochina's benefit. This behavior by the acting governor-general naturally provoked the Vietnamese elite, who were closest to the French, and they consequently loosened their suppression of national independence movements, sparking popular demonstrations advocating for the expansion of parliamentary power.

Although public demonstrations were prohibited by colonial law, they did not constitute grounds for armed suppression. After demonstrations in India and China turned into large-scale armed resistance after being violently suppressed, the colonial powers in the East softened their stance and were no longer as aggressive as in the last century.

The Dutch attempted to continue using force to suppress indigenous resistance in the East Indies, but ended up in a direct confrontation with Japan. The Dutch dominance in the East Indies shrank significantly, and they could only maintain their rule in Java and Sumatra. Meanwhile, resistance movements were increasing in these two key locations. This effectively signaled that the military colonial order that was prevalent before the 19th century was nearing bankruptcy. Small countries like the Netherlands simply could not afford the costs of such military colonization.

Britain was repeatedly defeated by the people's army of the three northeastern states during the Indian independence movement and had to recognize the autonomous status of the three northeastern states. This shows that even the world's leading superpower, the British Empire, could not accept the endless consumption of manpower and resources in suppressing rebellions in its global colonies.

This is one of the reasons why the French adopted an assimilation policy towards their overseas colonies. The French knew that their overseas power was not as strong as that of the British. After all, the British, with their control over global sea power, could easily concentrate their forces in one region, while the French could not do that. Their overseas colonies could hardly move their armed forces freely and could only adopt the principle of focused management.

Although Jost van Vrenhofen believed that the French military force was beyond the resistance of the Indochinese natives, he also knew that the demonstrations by the people needed to be treated with caution. After all, he had been to Guangzhou Bay and knew the consequences of the French army shooting at peacefully resisting farmers. Therefore, he initially exercised restraint and only used gendarmes and police to disperse the demonstrators.

However, unorganized demonstrations and organized demonstrations are two different things. After the Indochinese government dispersed the demonstrations in the streets of Tokyo, it sparked anti-French demonstrations throughout Vietnam. At this point, the military police and regular police were no longer sufficient, and in Tokyo, some military police finally couldn't help but open fire.

As a result, protests against the French spread from Vietnam to Laos and Cambodia, forming an anti-colonial movement throughout French Indochina. This was also the first time that the three national independence movements were united, and French rule in Indochina began to fall into crisis.

The emergency meeting that Lin Xinyi attended was actually about how to intervene in the events in French Indochina. For the Asian Combined Fleet Staff, the Japanese staff officers were actually providing considerable operational guidance to the anti-French national movement in French Indochina. Their goal was to squeeze the French out of Southeast Asia, thereby further expanding the Allied power.

More than a year after the alliance was established, the Japanese staff officers who joined the alliance had shifted from a Japan-centric perspective to an alliance-centric perspective. After all, in their view, the interests of the alliance and Japan were highly aligned, and through the alliance they could gain more power, so there was no need to maintain a Japan-centric perspective.

For example, regarding the issue of French Indochina, from Japan's perspective, a direct confrontation with France would be unwise, as it would provoke resentment from other powers. However, from the perspective of the alliance, confronting the French would mean that even if the powers wanted to target Japan, they would have to consider the consequences of opposing the entire alliance.

While the core of the Asian Union is Japan and China, Germany, behind the Pacific Federation, and the ambiguous status of the Republic of Chita (Stolypin), have consistently sought a peaceful resolution to the Chita issue, thus tacitly acknowledging the validity of foreign agreements signed by the Chita Republic. This means that criticizing the Union's actions would inevitably lead to confrontation with Japan and China, while Germany and Russia have both used the pretext of siding with the Union.

Even Britain, in the Bali incident, adopted a policy of appeasement and compromise, fearing that the Far East would completely align with Germany and change Russia's stance. Stolypin's Eastern policy was to avoid hostility towards China, instead courting Japan to counter China, thereby seeking an opportunity to return to the Far East.

Therefore, Russia remained neutral in the Bali incident, but privately indicated that it would not confront the alliance over it. This was actually Stolypin's warning to Britain and France that if war broke out in the East, Russia would not join in.

Stolypin's decision received considerable support from the Russian high command. The biggest lesson the Far East war taught the Russians was that the East had a more obvious advantage in manpower than Russia, while Russia's industrial strength was not much greater than that of China and Japan. A war of attrition would only cause Russia to lose control of the European part of the country.

Russia certainly wanted revenge for the war in the Far East, but it certainly didn't want to go back to the Far East and fight China and Japan again. The Russian plan was to first undermine the Sino-Japanese alliance, and then take advantage of the situation to return to the Far East. Therefore, the Bali incident triggered a confrontation between the Allied Powers and the Asian alliance, and Russia found itself caught in the middle between Germany and China and Japan. Russia was certainly not willing to be the one to suffer the consequences.

Through the Bali incident, Japanese naval staff realized the benefits of Asian alliances. Japan's strength was amplified through these alliances, making it a powerful deterrent. When other powers considered confronting Japan, they had to take the strength of their alliances into account. While China's military strength was not intimidating, its war potential could be unleashed through Japan, which was something to be wary of.

Hori Teikichi was the first to realize this. As the chief of the 32nd class, Hori Teikichi's vision was actually above average. Hayashi Nobuyoshi believed that he was more suitable to lead the navy than Takano Isoroku. Although Takano Isoroku had military talent, he lacked firm conviction. Most naval officers had this flaw: they knew that the decisions made by their superiors were wrong, but they still tried to avoid the failure caused by wrong decisions in their plans by arguing that obeying military orders was a soldier's duty.

The difference between Hori Teikichi and Takano Isoroku lies in the fact that the former would persist in his correct views even after a decision had been made, while the latter's resistance disappeared after the decision was made. Hori Teikichi believed, even in school, that the United States was Japan's next adversary, a judgment based on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. He consistently opposed Hayashi Nobuyoshi's assertion that Britain was Japan's primary adversary.

During his school years, the Japanese Navy generally focused its attention on Russia, Germany, and France. While wary of the Americans, they couldn't definitively conclude that the next adversary would be the United States. Therefore, few in the school agreed with Hori Teikichi's views. As for Hayashi Shinji's assertion that Britain was Japan's primary adversary, no one agreed with him at all, because the two countries were too far apart in strength. It's laughable to hear an ant claim an elephant is its true adversary.

Following the Russo-Japanese War and the emergence of a confrontational situation in Europe, the Japanese Navy began to truly recognize the United States Navy as its next adversary, while others began to see the British Navy as the future adversary. The Japanese Navy, which only viewed the United States Navy as an adversary, only had military plans to deal with it. However, these plans were based on the current strength of the US Navy and failed to consider its future capabilities, especially considering that the US Navy was backed by a powerful industrial nation.

Under the guidance of Hayashi Shin-yi, Hori Teikichi acknowledged the connection between industrial strength and naval strength, and thus concluded that any military plan targeting the current strength of the US Navy was unfeasible. This was because while the Japanese Navy was expanding, the US Navy would also expand to match the size of the Japanese Navy, and Japan's national strength was simply no match for the United States.

Some advocated maintaining the Anglo-Japanese Alliance to counter the US Navy, but this was quickly refuted by the Anglo-American arbitration agreement. The signing of this agreement meant that the chances of conflict between the UK and the US were greatly reduced, and the subsequent revision of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance proved this point, with the UK no longer undertaking alliance obligations in disputes between the US and Japan.

With this change in international relations, the pro-British faction within the navy also began to change its stance. Hori Teikichi then realized that the biggest beneficiary of the establishment of the Asian Alliance was actually Japan. Although the Asian Alliance seemed to have given China time for peaceful development, it allowed Japan to get out of its strategic predicament and have a solid foothold.

As long as the Sino-Japanese alliance remains unchanged, the Japanese Navy will not need to worry about its rear and can continuously obtain Chinese resources and manpower through the alliance, thus forming the material basis for confronting the United States. From this perspective, Lin Xinyi's view that the army is the navy's number one enemy is indeed entirely correct.

If Japan adheres to the continental policy upheld by the army, it will not only be unable to guarantee the security of its rear, but will also have to devote most of its resources to suppressing hostile forces on the mainland while confronting the West, and will be unable to establish a regional order centered on Japan. The confrontations on the Korean Peninsula have already proven that military conquest cannot establish any order, only hatred.

Their planning for the national independence movement in French Indochina was actually inspired by the anti-Japanese movement of the Korean people. This proved to be an effective form of colonial resistance. The French, like the army, were now in a dilemma: violent suppression would trigger a larger-scale armed resistance, while appeasement would mean giving up a large number of colonial privileges, thus provoking dissatisfaction among French capital.

Besides his confidence in further promoting the independence movement in French Indochina, Hori Teikichi was increasingly disillusioned with the Army's continental policy. He believed that if the Army did not abandon its ambition to annex Korea soon, it would only plunge Japan into a political dilemma in Asia. Simply put, the Navy needed the banner of the alliance, while the Army was undermining the foundation of the alliance. If the Army persisted in its continental policy, the alliance would likely fall into Chinese control.