The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 246 The Bait is Sweet

Teng Yuzhao believed that what Zhang Zhidong wanted to oppose by signing the "Southeast Mutual Protection" Agreement was mainly to oppose Cixi's decision to declare war on the foreign powers at the same time.

Zhang Zhidong, who had a relatively good understanding of the world situation, should have seen clearly that this was a situation that was bound to lead to his death, so he insisted on opposing it and even stayed out of it at the risk of falling out with Cixi.

And now, with the sudden emergence of Teng Yuzhao and the Vanguard Army, it is not impossible that the attitudes of Zhang Zhidong, who is quite arrogant, and even Li Hongzhang would loosen a little.

Although Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and others would not withdraw from the "Southeast Mutual Protection" agreement, it would be enough to secretly open a convenient door for him.

If this is really the case, the war will not spread to other provinces in the country, and will be limited to Zhili and Shanxi provinces within the Great Wall, and at most will affect Henan. The vanguard army can get the explicit or implicit support of Hu Guang and even more provinces, which will give him more confidence to resist the coalition forces.

Especially since Huguang is located inland, and although Hankou also has concessions, it is far away from the coastline after all. If the Allied Forces kill all the way along the Yangtze River, it would probably be a complete invasion of China, and the price to pay would definitely not be too small. Such a price is not something that any powerful country can afford at that time.

The most crucial thing is that European powers cannot send too many troops to China.

Even if they disregarded their respective countries' interests in Europe, China's huge size was beyond their current national strength to handle.

As for the Japanese devils at that time, they did not have such strength.

The Japanese devils were like vicious dogs, constantly tearing off a piece of bloody flesh from the bodies of the Qing Dynasty to fatten themselves. They would only make their next move after accumulating some strength. It would be completely wishful thinking for them to swallow up the whole of China in one bite, given their current capabilities.

Asking Zhou Fu to write a letter to Zhang Zhidong was only Teng Yuzhao's first move. Teng Yuzhao also had a second move.

Teng Yuzhao's second move was not just a test. This time he threw out a delicious bait.

Teng Yuzhao told Master Qian that in his estimation, the arrogant Zhang Zhidong not only had the small piece of land in Huguang belonging to him, but he was also paying attention to the whole world.

Therefore, Teng Yuzhao judged that after Zhang Zhidong saw the article "The Rise of Great Powers" published in the Ta Kung Pao, he would soon take the initiative to send someone to contact Master Qian, and it was even entirely possible that he would go to the newspaper office in person.

Zhang Zhidong would at least ask Master Qian what his relationship with Teng Yuzao was?
How did Mr. Qian, who runs a newspaper, get this manuscript?
Also, is this Teng Yuzao the Teng Yuzao of Beiyang?
Naturally, Mr. Qian would not admit the true relationship between him and Teng Yuzhao. He only said that he had dealt with Teng Yuzhao when he was in Yu Lu's shogunate. After Teng Yuzhao learned that Mr. Qian was coming to Hankou to publish a newspaper, he gave the manuscript to him and asked him to publish it on his behalf.

Then, Master Qian could look at the situation and find an opportunity to reveal to Zhang Zhidong that Teng Yuzhao had a large number of captured Allied rifles and was eager to sell them at a low price of 20 taels of silver per second-hand rifle with 200 rounds of ammunition, and wanted to find a buyer.

Since 1889, when Zhang Zhidong was transferred to the post of Governor-General of Huguang, he began to actively implement the Hubei Westernization Movement, which focused on training troops, promoting education, and establishing factories, among which "training troops was the top priority."

Four years ago, Zhang Zhidong used the 500 men from the former Jiangnan Guard Front Battalion who had been trained in the Nanjing Self-Strengthening Army as the base, divided them into two battalions, front and back, with Zhang Biao and Yue Siyi as the commanders of the two battalions, and the German Behrensdorff as the chief instructor. He adopted the German military system and recruited brave men to form the Hubei Guard, which was later the Hubei New Army.

Last year, Zhang Zhidong even selected 20 people to go to Japan to study military affairs.

The Hubei New Army was considered to be one of the two most elite new armies in the country, along with the Beiyang New Army. Even after the joint drills of the Northern and Southern New Armies, foreigners praised the Beiyang New Army for its courage and the Hubei New Army for its knowledge.

Right now, the Hubei New Army is in a period of intense training and is extremely short of weapons. Teng Yuzhao believes that Zhang Zhidong will probably buy these cheap second-hand guns for various reasons, or even because he has seen through his tricks.

At that time, Teng Yuzhao would half sell and half give away the Japanese golden hook rifles and bullets, which he despised and had no use for, to Zhang Zhidong to arm his new army, so that he would at least secretly establish some kind of connection with Zhang Zhidong.

In this way, even if he did not get Zhang Zhidong's explicit and strong support, Zhang Zhidong would not embarrass him, and he might even give him a surprise at some point.
The eastern sky had gradually turned gray, and dawn was approaching. The vanguard army had already passed the most dangerous journey. The troops had just passed Fengtai and would soon reach the capital.

Until then, Teng Yuzao finally let go of his worries. He got off the horse and jumped onto a passing cart carrying beans. He rested his head on the sack, closed his eyes and dozed off.

Although Teng Yuzhao wanted to rest for a while, as soon as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but recall the scene at the dinner table in the afternoon.

Although Zhou Xuexi only had time to read the first chapter of the castrated version of "The Rise of Great Powers" written by Teng Yuzhao, namely "The Age of the Ocean and Portugal and Spain", he was deeply shocked by the content of the book and reluctantly returned the manuscript to Master Qian.

He also repeatedly asked Teng Yuzhao to print and distribute the book as soon as possible, or he could pay for its printing so that he could bring a copy back to his father Zhou Fu as soon as possible.

Zhou Xuexi strongly believes that this book, The Rise of Great Powers, is the most thorough book he has ever seen on the analysis and explanation of the rise of the world's major powers. After publication, it will surely have a great impact on the Chinese people and even on the world.

Zhou Xuexi also suggested that the book, The Rise of Great Powers, should be published in full in the inaugural issue of the Ta Kung Pao. This should allow the Chinese people, especially the high officials in the court and the governors, to fully appreciate and ponder it. They should no longer deceive themselves by claiming that China is a country of etiquette and etiquette, and they should no longer be so arrogant and complacent as to think that they do not understand the world.

Zhou Xuexi also said that in his opinion, Teng Yuzao is the first person in China to truly open his eyes to the world.

In short, Zhou Xuexi's admiration for Teng Yuzao has reached an unprecedented level.

After reading two chapters of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Master Qian praised Teng Yuzhao highly and strongly requested Teng Yuzhao to agree to print and sell The Legend of the Condor Heroes as soon as possible.

Teng Yuzao accepted the praise from the two with a little humility. After all, the purpose of writing the book "The Rise of Great Powers" was not only to make the Chinese people clearly understand the process of the rise of great powers and the general laws of the rise of great powers, so as to generate strong reflection on how China, a great power, can rise.

Teng Yuzao also wanted to use this book to create a strong Teng storm in China, and he wanted to use this book to gain his own lofty political reputation.

However, Teng Yuzhao firmly rejected the two's request to publish the two manuscripts as soon as possible.

Teng Yuzhao told Master Qian that both "The Rise of Great Powers" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" should be published in the newspaper in serial form by chapters to increase the circulation of the newspaper.

Moreover, the book "The Rise of Great Powers" cannot be serialized with one chapter per day, but one chapter per week.

The new-style martial arts novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" can be serialized with one chapter every day. He will also take the time to write some more manuscripts and give them to Master Qian to serialize in "Ta Kung Pao" so as to promote the rapid growth of the circulation of "Ta Kung Pao" as soon as possible.

As for the reason for not publishing, Teng Yuzao also explained it very clearly.

Teng Yuzhao told the two that what he meant by not publishing the manuscript was not that he would not publish it, but that he would not pay for the printing himself.

Teng Yuzao also gave an explanation to the two people's doubts.

After these two books are published in newspapers, there will surely be a large number of booksellers rushing to ask to purchase the copyrights. This is also a form of hunger sales. At that time, the bookseller who offers the highest price and prints books of good quality will be given the responsibility to print and distribute the books. Naturally, there is no need to spend money on printing and distribution by oneself.

Teng Yuzao also suggested to Mr. Qian that it would be better to hand over his books to the Commercial Press, which was established in Shanghai three years ago, and let them publish the domestic version, but they would not sell the copyright and would only adopt a profit-sharing model based on the printing profits.

If a foreign publisher requests to publish in their country, the same approach should be adopted, that is, the copyright should not be sold.

Amid the rumbling of carts and the neighing of horses, a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats approached from afar, startling Teng Yuzao, who was dozing on a cart carrying horse feed that was under the close protection of the special guard squadron.
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(End of this chapter)