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If we do not take action, this country will not rise and will continue to be invaded by the great powers!
If we fail, this nation will continue to decline, and our compatriots will remain apathetic!
Gentlemen, are you willing to accept this ending?
The crowd was filled with righteous indignation, and even other Chinese people around them were infected by it. Dozens of people raised their fists and shouted: "No, we don't accept it!"
Zhao Yan's speech unknowingly attracted the attention of the entire bar, and even the foreigners who couldn't understand it raised their glasses and cheered.
Unbeknownst to him, Zhao Yan was pushed onto the stage in the middle of the bar. But as soon as he saw the stage, Zhao Yan became even more excited, and his aura as a self-help lecturer returned.
"Gentlemen, please open your eyes! Stop burying your heads in the sand! The bloody reality is right before your eyes!"
"Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the streets, the frozen dead lie scattered; the people are bleeding, and the motherland is weeping!"
Do you know how much silver it cost for just one pillar when Empress Dowager Cixi built her garden?
Zhao Yan stretched out his palm, his face contorted with rage, and shouted, "Five hundred thousand! A full five hundred thousand taels of silver!"
“Those high and mighty Manchu royalty eat our flesh and drink our blood, while we bow our heads and continue to call them masters. Is this reasonable? Is this what we want?”
"I believe that each and every one of you here was not brought into this world by your parents, who did not intend for you to be slaves, because we are the masters of this country!"
"Our people have lived on this land for five thousand years, a full five thousand years!"
"The Manchus have only been here for a few years, less than three hundred years. Why do they have the right to be our masters and treat us like slaves!"
"The land is cultivated by our sweat and toil, but the fine clothes and delicacies belong to them!"
We built our houses brick by brick, but the palaces and pavilions belong to them!
We created everything, but they reap all the rewards. In the end, we are still lowly servants, while they are high and mighty masters!
I'm angry. I think this is wrong. I want to change it. You all need to change it. This whole country needs to change!
We Han Chinese created the entire 5,000-year-old civilization of China. We should be the masters of this country, and they should be the slaves!
"Princes, generals and prime ministers would rather have the seed!"
Zhao Yan's indignant speech, which incorporated all his life's work, was incredibly moving. The entire bar was infected by his speech, and even the foreigners who could understand Chinese stood up and shouted at the top of their lungs.
Everyone was drawn in by Zhao Yan's voice; their thoughts were no longer their own, their minds filled with the content Zhao Yan had instilled in them.
"We want to be the masters!"
"The country belongs to us!"
"I don't want to be a slave!"
The crowd was shouting, their emotions were boiling, and our protagonist, Zhao Yan, was indeed completely drunk. All sorts of words kept spewing from his mouth, like a demon spewing flames from hell, sweeping over everyone's mind.
In the end, Zhao Yan was completely drunk and passed out. He was carried out of the tavern while incoherent, and what happened next completely deviated from his plan to make a quick buck and leave.
Chapter 3 My Wanqing shouldn't be like this?
"Water! Water!"
The next day, Zhao Yan woke up with intense thirst and a headache. After his hangover, the first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to drink a glass of water.
After gulping down the water in two gulps, Zhao Yan struggled to sit up against the headboard: "Damn it, I drank fake alcohol!"
"Drinking leads to serious mistakes; you must quit drinking!"
Liu Shangsheng, who was standing guard by the bedside, asked, "Brother Zhao, what are you muttering about? Just tell me if you need anything!"
Zhao Yan looked up and saw Liu Shangsheng's round, chubby face. He immediately asked, "What am I doing here?"
Liu Shangsheng explained, "Brother Zhao, you were amazing last night. Your eloquent speech made everyone admire you to the skies, and everyone now recognizes you as their elder brother."
"You talked for almost an hour last night and then fainted. Everyone thinks it was because you were too indignant about your country and its people. You must take good care of yourself!"
"How come you can talk even more nonsense than me?" Zhao Yan thought to himself, then looked around and, finding only Fatty there, asked, "Are you the only one here guarding me?"
Liu Shangsheng quickly explained, "Brother Zhao, please don't be offended. Everyone else has gone to do other things. They asked me to stay with you. Just tell me what to do."
Hearing that only this simple-minded chubby guy was guarding him, Zhao Yan's mind immediately started working: "Liu Shangsheng, right? I'll call you Little Liu. We're brothers, so I won't stand on ceremony. Do you have any money on you?"
Liu Shangsheng quickly pulled out a few silver dollars and two silver notes: "Brother Zhao, that's all I have. I only have a few hundred taels on me. If you need more, I'll go get it right away."
Zhao Yan quickly took the money: "That's enough, that's enough! Little Liu, I have to go do something important, so it's inconvenient for me to take you with me. I have to leave soon. When the others come back, just tell them I'll come back to find you after I'm done."
Liu Shangsheng immediately imagined: "Brother, you're not going to assassinate someone, are you? That's too dangerous. Take me with you. I'm not afraid to die, none of us are afraid to die. Just like you said, if one of me falls, there are thousands upon thousands more!"
"Did I say that?" Zhao Yan was dumbfounded. Could it be that he drank too much yesterday and said things he shouldn't have said?
Zhao Yan wanted to fool the chubby boy a few more times before quickly running away with the money. He had already remembered that he had said too many things that could get him beheaded in the tavern last night. If he didn't run now, would he just wait to die?
If his words got out, let alone in the concessions, even if he fled abroad, the Qing Dynasty would issue a global manhunt against him.
"Brother, we are back!"
Before Zhao Yan could say anything more, a noisy commotion immediately came from outside the guest room, indicating that there were quite a few people.
Zhao Yan was utterly desperate; he had completely messed up this time!
Soon the other four young men also entered the room, followed by quite a few others. Zhao Yan recognized them all; they were from the tavern the previous night.
Zhao Yan deeply regretted it. How come there isn't a single decent person in the taverns these days? How come they all get on fire as soon as you stir things up, like firewood doused with oil?
The guest room was packed with more than thirty heads, and more than thirty pairs of eyes were staring intently at Zhao Yan lying on the bed, each pair of eyes surging with a flame that could devour everything!
Zhao Yan was completely stunned. He thought, "I was just talking nonsense when I was drunk. Why are you all taking it so seriously?"
What happened to the idea that people in the late Qing Dynasty were all apathetic and indifferent? How come when I randomly walk into a tavern and meet a group of men, they all turn out to be fearless brutes with eyes full of fire?
Zhao Yan has a flawed understanding of this era and this land. Apathy and indifference are outdated; under the current Qing Dynasty, people are already yearning for change.
In Zhao Yan's mind, the Chinese people in the late Qing Dynasty were the kind described by Lu Xun as eating human blood buns, numb and indifferent, and no matter how you incited them, they would remain unmoved.
He believed that the people of the Qing Dynasty would not resist, but this idea was completely wrong.
It's hard to say what the situation was like in the early and mid-Qing period, but the people in the late Qing Dynasty were certainly not numb. Of course, there were plenty of people who profited from the suffering of others, but there were even more who dared to resist.
The late Qing Dynasty was precisely the peak of popular resistance, but it was also the peak of the Qing government's fiscal revenue and national strength. The two canceled each other out and the dynasty was then submerged in history.
In the late Qing Dynasty, from the Opium War until 1905, there were more than 5,000 records of popular uprisings and rebellions recorded in historical books or official records alone!
Note that only those cases that are large in scale and have a significant impact are recorded. As for those cases that are not recorded, there are probably tens of thousands of records that cannot be recorded.
Based on these instances, can you still say that the Chinese people of the late Qing Dynasty dared not resist? During this period, there was also the Taiping Rebellion and the Chinese Civil War, which lasted for thirteen years and killed hundreds of millions of people. Can you say that they lacked the spirit of resistance?
The apathy of the Chinese people these days stems from a lack of national consciousness, effective leadership, and action plans.
First, let's talk about national consciousness. Needless to say, the Manchu Qing dynasty ruled China for over two hundred years, and all the emperors throughout the reign did one thing: suppress the national consciousness of the Han people, especially through literary inquisitions!
Then, the Han people's resistance also lacked an effective program and action leadership. The most promising one was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. They had a program of "sharing land, food, clothing, and money, ensuring that there is no unfairness and that no one is hungry or cold" and a program document called "Land System of the Heavenly Kingdom".
We won't discuss whether these are good or bad, but at least we have a framework and a guiding ideology. Even if it's bad, it's better than nothing. If we don't have it, then we're just bandits.
The problem was that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's leadership ultimately misused this system, to the point that they completely lost their guiding principles and direction, leaving them with no choice but to wait for their demise.
Moreover, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom combined Chinese and Western elements, believed in God, and Hong Xiuquan even became the elder brother of Jesus, which further aroused the hostility of traditional Chinese Confucian forces.
You could say that if you had just shown Hong Xiuquan a copy of Mao Zedong's Selected Works back then, he could have taken Beijing in ten years.
The program is like the ancient "purging the emperor's corrupt advisors" or "entering the capital to serve the emperor"—it gives you a legitimate reason for your actions. It may seem unimportant, but it is actually more important than anything else!
It's true that the Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty were apathetic, but they weren't incapable of distinguishing right from wrong. If you went up in front of others and immediately declared a revolution without explaining anything, and then started a rebellion, who wouldn't be apathetic? At least explain things clearly!
Last night, Zhao Yan made it clear why everyone was living such a miserable life and why the country was so weak. It was all because of the Manchu Qing dynasty. The Manchu Qing dynasty robbed everyone of their silver, food, and women. They didn't give away what they had more than they could eat or use, but instead gave it to foreigners.
So everyone should take action and take back everything they own. This simple and straightforward program immediately dispelled the numbness in everyone. It was made clear, so why wouldn't they follow you? Or would they continue to be slaves?
Many people didn't even know they were slaves. After Zhao Yan said that, they realized that all Han people in the world were slaves of the Manchus. This was outrageous!
Last night at the event, Zhao Yan was unaware that he had conducted a Q&A session. People below asked him all sorts of questions, such as why they were always bullied, always poor, and always unable to become officials. Zhao Yan gave accurate answers to all of them, blaming everything on the corrupt and incompetent Qing government.
With such a mix of grand pronouncements, practical solutions, and passionately inspiring speeches, who the hell wouldn't be confused? Who could sit still after listening to such a presentation?
Sure enough, early this morning, all the listeners from last night came over, all eager to follow Zhao Yan to realize the wonderful world he described in his speech.
"Big brother, get up quickly, let's do something big together!"
"Yes, brother, time waits for no one. You once said that the people are bleeding and the motherland is weeping!"
"Yes, Mr. Zhao, your idea is brilliant! We are all enslaved people!"
Something strange seemed to have infiltrated, but Zhao Yan didn't have time to investigate. He sat up, looked around at everyone, and angrily said, "Do you expect me to lie in bed and make you dream? Get out first, and let me take a bath and change before we talk!"
At all times, as a professional speaker, Zhao Yan's principle is that image must come first. Without a serious and formal image, nothing can be accomplished.
Zhao Yan's motto is: Even if my hands and feet are broken, my collar and cuffs will still be straight!
Chapter 4 Party Secrets
After washing up and tidying himself up, Zhao Yan put on a sharp suit and new leather shoes, wiped the watch on his wrist, and only after feeling that he looked presentable did he open the door and go out.
He arrived at an empty room on the second floor of the inn, where everyone was already waiting for him.
As Zhao Yan entered the room, he was followed by two small, skinny guys, Zhang Xinghua and Liu Shangsheng, who couldn't run away at all.
As he walked and sat down, Zhao Yan pondered his chance to escape. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he said, "This isn't the place to talk. The inn is too crowded and noisy. Let's find a quieter place."
Fat Liu Shangsheng patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, brother, this is my family's property. I've already given the manager and all the servants a holiday. You said that important matters must be kept secret!"
"Did I say that?" Zhao Yan stroked his chin and asked helplessly, "Alright, since you've asked so sincerely, we'll mercifully tell you: In order to prevent the world from being destroyed, in order to protect the peace of the world, to uphold love and true evil... Why does that sound so familiar?"
"The first thing we need to do is establish a political party organization and confirm its platform and objectives!"
"As the saying goes, a cause must have a just cause. What we are going to do next is revolution. Revolution is not a dinner party, but something that will involve bloodshed and sacrifice!"
Therefore, we need a political party to lead our revolution, and we need a program and principles to guide our revolution!
We need to know why we're doing this, what will happen, and what the consequences will be.
"In short, revolution is not rebellion, but rather smashing an old world and creating a new one!"
"Clap clap clap!" Everyone present began to applaud enthusiastically. Everyone was listening with rapt attention, and those who could write had already picked up their pens and notebooks to take notes.
Zhao Yan felt a chill run down his spine: "Stop it, everyone! What are you clapping for? I've already said that revolution is about bloodshed and sacrifice, not a dinner party. It must be done in secrecy beforehand. Are you clapping because you think you're not dying fast enough, or is your neck itching for a couple of cuts?"
Everyone stopped applauding, and Wu Zifu said excitedly, "We're just really excited, after all, it's the first time for everyone. But this is such a great thing, we can hardly believe that we can change this country."
Zhao Yan interrupted the other person: "Wrong, it's not about changing, it's about completely overthrowing and reshaping! Everyone must be confident, you must believe in yourselves, because this is the general trend of history. Even if we all die, there will be successors!"
After a shot of adrenaline, everyone was once again pumped up, their faces flushed, their eyes blazing with fury, and their teeth practically grinding to powder.
"Why not just start an uprising? All this political party platform stuff is no substitute for establishing a monarchy!"
"Shut up, listen to what your brother has to say!"
Zhao Yan covered his forehead. In these days, no one in China had ever started a revolution, so everything had to be learned from scratch. There was nothing Zhao Yan could do but patiently teach.
"First, a political party should be established. A political party is the organization that leads the revolution now and will rule the country in the future. It is not an individual or a title, but a real group of people who form an organization with common political goals and political propositions."
Furthermore, names cannot be chosen randomly or established arbitrarily; establishment must be purposeful, and names must be chosen with a specific target audience.
It was that same reckless man who wanted to declare himself king and start a rebellion who stepped forward and said, "Brother, it's too complicated. You can just make the decision yourself!"
Zhao Yan said helplessly, "Alright, our primary goal is to overthrow the Manchu Qing dynasty and achieve Han Chinese rule, right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement; no one objected to this point.
Zhao Yan continued, "So I'm the party that aims to achieve national independence, right?"
Everyone nodded.
Zhao Yan: "Next, we still need to achieve national prosperity, expel the foreign powers, and restore China's independence, right?"
Everyone nodded.
Zhao Yan stroked his chin and said, "We need to achieve both national independence and state independence. Capitalism isn't quite right, so how about socialism? Let's just call it the Socialist Workers' Party! We'll steadfastly follow the socialist path!"
Everyone was silent.
Zhao Yan also realized: "Doing it this way will easily attract the attention of the censors. Let's play it safe and call it the Revival Party, which means reviving the nation and the country."
"Then, we need to discuss and decide on a few principles for the party, and these must be written into the party constitution. We can't be careless about them!"
Wu Zifu said directly, "Big brother, you decide. We'll all listen to you!"
"You guys think I'm the idea genius? Fine, I'll do it." Zhao Yan stroked his chin and said, "First, eliminate the Tartars and restore China!"
"Second condition: Expel the foreign powers and achieve national independence!"
"What do you think?"
Zhao Yan's two principles are very rigorous: eliminate the Manchus and restore China. Revolution is essentially a class war, and it must be completely eliminated, otherwise you can only wait for them to make a comeback. Internal class interests are unsolvable. Only by completely eliminating one side can the revolution achieve the effect of reshaping the country.