The Spring Festival of 1876 came very early, February 9th was the Lantern Festival. Korean students studying at the Wuhan Railway Institute took advantage of the last day of school holidays to take the train to Nanjing to watch the Lantern Festival.
This group of Korean students ranged from teenagers to forties. They were all from the upper class or upper class of Korea. They all thought that Korea needed to imitate China to carry out a social revolution. A small number of people hoped to carry out a complete social revolution like Japan. The train from Wuhan to Nanjing took more than ten hours to reach the destination. These people also discussed the future direction of Korea on the train.
"Since the change of the Chongzhen era to the Min dynasty era, Korea hasn't changed much. At least we have to build the railway. "The young Kim Yujun talked about what he was most concerned about. As a vassal state, there were many rules that vassal states should abide by. Although Korea was forced to become a vassal state to Manchu Qing, it had always used the Chongzhen era. It wasn't until Korea officially became a vassal state to the Min dynasty that they changed their era name.
Another young student, Yu Yunzhong, also agreed with this view. "Trains and ships must be built. Isn't that why we came here to study? It's just that I think we need to study China's farming techniques. There are Siamese students in the Railway Institute. They said that they earn a lot of money by selling rice to China every year. "
After the Korean students came to China, their horizons were really broadened. Not to mention the railway, ships, and telegraph offices, the vast land, the endless wilderness, and the "unparalleled farming techniques" all shocked and awed these students. In their view, everything in China was worth learning from Korea.
Of course, there were also some contents that made these Korean students feel afraid. Kim Yunzhi was the oldest among the students. He was already 41 years old. He sighed. "It's just that the country is too harsh on the gentry. This policy of state-owned land … Sigh … "
The landlords of Korea were powerful, especially in the southern plains of Korea. They controlled the ruling power at the grassroots level and greatly influenced the politics of Korea. In China, the Restoration Party used extremely tough methods to wipe out this power. It was hard for the Korean students to imagine that such a huge country didn't have any landlords.
"But I'm afraid that the reason why China could achieve what it has today is because we got rid of the landlords and gentry, right?" The young Jin Yujun said hesitantly. The upper echelons of Korea also knew a lot about China. Before the Min dynasty was established, Manchu Qing was beaten by Europe. After the establishment of the Min dynasty, China quickly beat up Europe. Even if they didn't know about it before, they had seen a lot of propaganda after coming to China. The Manchu Qing's humiliating humiliation of the country was mentioned many times. Since China was able to become as strong as it was now, the Chinese system must have played a role as a stabilizing force.
But when it came to the political system, it was difficult for the Koreans to continue the discussion. If they wanted to be as powerful as China, they would have to carry out a bloody revolution within Korea. Thinking of this, these students who came from the nobility couldn't continue. What China did was China's business. If they did the same in Korea, it would be digging up their foundation.
After a moment of silence, the older Jin Yunzhi said, "I think we should learn China's technology first. Once the railway is opened and the telegraph is added, Korea can be said to be civilized."
This was supported by the students. When the Korean army was defeated by the Xiang Army, Korea still felt that the Chinese army was strong enough. But when the Xiang Army faced the Chinese army, it was like a three-year-old facing an adult. They were easily wiped out. At least for now, it seemed that what Korea wanted to learn was not the system of China, but the technology of China. What's more, discussing the system of China was a real torture for the dignitaries.
While they were talking, several foreigners with high noses and deep eyes walked through the carriage. The European appearance of this group of people attracted the attention of the Asian passengers. Almost everyone was looking at these foreign devils. But no one greeted them. This group of foreign devils was the representative of the International Workers' Union. They came from major European industrial countries. After the economic crisis in 1973, China's social system attracted the attention of Europe for a period of time. The people needed to pay more attention to their own lives. Once the storm passed, it would be over. The attention of the European upper class and intellectual circles continued. The European industrial countries hoped to obtain China's unlimited investment without causing economic crisis. The International Workers' Union was very interested in China's system. Although the Constitution of the United States claimed that the United States of America was established based on the happiness of Americans (men), this was just a statement. And China's Constitution was the first law based on a clear understanding of class, which completely attracted the approval of European socialists.
Korea had no money, so they could only sit on hard seats. The internationally recognized union also didn't have much money, but the income of the major European industrial countries was no less than that of China. They could book an entire sleeper carriage. Of course, the carriages of this era were also relatively short. A sleeper carriage could only hold 30 people.
"There really aren't any aristocrats in China. I think this is more thorough than the French Revolution. In addition, China did what they said. As long as foreigners abide by China's laws and don't spy on China's secrets, they can travel freely in China. "The British representative, Stuart, expressed his opinion.
The group of Europeans agreed with this observation. China's trains only had three types: hard seats, hard sleepers, and soft sleepers. This was based on the time of purchase to determine who could sit in the different carriages. The soft sleepers were more expensive. The soft sleepers were dressed slightly better. The hard sleepers and hard sleepers, judging from their clothing, were all ordinary workers.
Even this kind of thing could make people sigh, there was no other way. In Europe, the train was divided into three classes. The upper class did not entertain the lower class. It had nothing to do with money or not. After the French Revolution, Europe once again fell into the hands of the aristocrats. Of course, these people didn't know the "history". Not to mention the Soviet Union, the people from the lower class became the leaders of the country. That was the era of the mustache. It had been 140 years since the French Revolution. In 1875, the only people from the lower class in Europe who could really mix into the upper class were probably the German army and British engineers. After the adoption of the General Staff Headquarters system, Germany at least had a military school for the common people. It also had a General Staff Headquarters selection system that mainly tested the ability of the people. The common people fought for the military and finally became the upper class. Or they had outstanding scientific research and were recognized by the scientific community in Britain, which had the highest level of industrialization, and were finally honored by the Queen.
China's Min dynasty didn't have this problem. Whether or not they could achieve results, that was the problem of the individual. But everyone's identity, status, and education were the same.
"Comrade Emperor Vézé! I really want to go back to the Republic and write a letter to all the members of parliament to let them see this glorious title. If the monarchy can be called sacred, this is the only possibility! "The French representative, Joseph, said excitedly. The French Third Republic was still struggling between monarchy and republic. A considerable number of members of parliament were still hesitant. The Workers' Union of course couldn't support the monarchy.
"Comrade Emperor Vézé, what does this have to do with the monarchy? This is at most a lifetime consul of the Roman Republic. It doesn't make any difference if the title of emperor is changed to president, prime minister, or anything else. Power is not hereditary, but earned by ability. It won't be hereditary. This is no longer the monarchy. " The German representative, Hohenheim, had a deep understanding of the monarchy. He couldn't help but refute his comrades' statement.
Speaking of this topic, the British representative, Stuart, said with a bitter smile, "Recently, Britain is preparing to completely establish a civil service system. There is a lot of opposition in China, saying that this civil service system is a complete copy of China's civil service system. This civil service system will destroy the long-standing aristocratic tradition of the British Empire. All power will eventually fall into the hands of the children of workers and farmers who only know how to study and take exams in order to climb up. The universal education of the government will eventually destroy the government. "
"Haha!" The representatives of the Workers' Union couldn't help but laugh. Destroy the government? If the aristocratic government was destroyed, it could only be a boost to society. If they could really rely on China's system to completely destroy the society built by the collusion of monarchs, aristocrats, and capitalists in Europe, the International Workers' Union would certainly not refuse.
Just as the representatives of the Workers' United Nations were visiting China to see how the republic in the coat of an imperial system operated and developed. The ambassador of the British Empire in China also took advantage of the pagan festival of the Lantern Festival to pay a visit to the emperor of China, Vézé.
Whether or not the war would continue after the armistice, diplomatic activities would always continue. France and the Netherlands had restored normal diplomatic relations with China, and the Netherlands had also signed a peace agreement with China. The pressure of the whole of Europe against China had fallen on the British.
For the Chinese Min dynasty, foreign invasions only happened from 1840 to 1856. For Wei Ze, the invasion of foreign enemies was the Korean War that lasted from 1840 to 1951. After the end of the war, China finally got rid of the possibility of foreign invasions. Even so, for more than half a century, China still had to face the threat from the sea. Now, this nightmare was finally over. Now if the enemy wanted to threaten the core area of China, they would first have to cross a long journey and break through many external island chains. At this time, the population of the United States was only 230,000. Even if there were a large number of immigrants, there were less than 300 million. Among them, the number of government troops was less than 10 million. In terms of population and military strength, the United States was not as strong as Japan. Naturally, there was no need to worry about the hegemony between the United States and China.
The only problem was that the British were the only ones. During the negotiation with the British ambassador, Vézé said bluntly, "We are willing to respect Britain's territory and colonies, and have no intention of annexing India."
Except for Myanmar, Vézé did not want to make a move on the British colonies in the short term. Because he had deeply experienced the pain of having a gun pointed at China's waist, Vézé knew very well that it was much better to hold the British colonies hostage than to directly seize them.
Besides, Vézé felt that there was nothing he could do about Third Brother's caste system. When Third Brother burned widows according to the custom, the British authorities told the Indian locals that the custom of the British was that whoever burned widows, they would hang the widow-burner on the gallows. So Third Brother continued to burn widows according to the custom, and the British continued to hang the widow-burner according to the custom. The custom of burning widows disappeared in India at an extremely fast speed.
Vézé felt that he really could not reach the level of the British, and the hard work of managing India should be left to the British.
But the British ambassador did not believe it at all. A few years ago, the representative of China said with a sincere face that he would respect the Dutch East Indies. Now the Dutch East Indies had become five provinces of China. In addition to New Zealand and Australia, China had seized other large islands around them. These islands used to be the barrier between China and New Zealand and Australia. Now China and these two British colonies were separated by only a river.
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