In 1911, a man who could change Chinese history finally stood in the position he had been waiting for:
Sheng Xuanhuai, who advocated radical nationalization, was appointed Minister of Posts and Communications!
Due to financial pressure, as well as the consideration of further attacking political opponents and taking the opportunity to seek comprador self-interest, Sheng Xuanhuai proposed to the regent Zaifeng that the railway commercial business was a waste of time for the country. The top priority was to nationalize the railway, and then the government would come forward to negotiate with the great powers.
Strive for good loan and management conditions, avoid excessive loss of sovereignty, and strive to put the railway into use as soon as possible. This rhetoric is very suitable for Zaifeng's taste: denounce the Han governor and return power to the center dominated by the Manchus and the royal family, and at the same time, "the sooner the better, the better"
To build railways in the province, he immediately gave instructions to "do not act out of ignorance".
On May 9, 1911, the Qing government issued the "Decided Policy on State-Owning Main Railway Railways", announcing that "trunk roads are to be operated by commercial enterprises" and "branch roads are still allowed to be operated by merchants and people according to their capabilities", and the post and telecommunications department and the branch were instructed to formulate detailed rules for nationalization.
.Eleven days later, Sheng Xuanhuai signed a treaty with a group of banks from four countries, stipulating that the Qing government would borrow 10 million pounds at an annual interest rate of 5%, using 5.2 million taels of gold from four provinces as collateral to build the Guangdong-Hankou Railway. It stipulated that "the railway will be completed in 3 years, and the loan will be for 40 years."
Pay off”.
On the surface, the terms of this agreement are relatively generous: after the railway is completed, the management rights will still belong to the Chinese side, the personnel rights will be taken by the Chinese side, and the terms in terms of construction, repayment, etc. also seem reasonable. However, the agreement has many fatal and principled errors.
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First of all, at that time, the rights of way of several railways were still in the hands of merchants, and nationalization had not yet started. The Qing government actually sold things that did not belong to it; secondly, the "State-owned Railways Policy" only talked about principles.
However, he handed over the details of nationalization to Sheng Xuanhuai. Out of political strife and comprador desires, the latter proposed different nationalization plans for the two provinces, Guangdong and Sichuan. Hubei and Hunan suffered little financial losses due to Zhang Zhidong's proper management. Sheng Xuanhuai
It was proposed to use "National Poly Stocks" to replace the par value of the original shares at a ratio of 1:1. However, due to Sichuan's capital losses of 3 million yuan due to the "rubber stock disaster", Sheng Xuanhuai believed that it should not be "a generosity to the country" and decided not to bear the responsibility.
It seems that Sheng Xuanhuai's words are righteous, but in fact there is a lot to say: Shi Dianzhang is an official "airborne" imperial official, and the equity of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway has always been in the hands of the government, but all the losses have been borne by the public; Sheng Xuanhuai pushed for state ownership within half a year of taking office.
and forced the gentry and the people to give up shares at a loss, which was almost "forcible buying and selling", giving people a strong impression that the country was competing for profits with the people, and the managers were pretending to be public servants for personal gain; at this time, the Qing court was the royal family, and the Manchus were young and strong.
When the Han faction gained power and launched a liquidation against the Han governors, Sheng Xuanhuai relied on Zaifeng and openly attacked the success of Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and other Han bureaucrats. He went against the grain of the railway development strategy and gave people a political
Feeling of speculation; in the actual operation, Sheng Xuanhuai engaged in favoritism and malpractice. He listed several hundred miles of Xiangyang Railway as a "branch road" and allowed commercial operation, but listed the adjacent Kuifu Railway as a "trunk road" and nationalized it. It was difficult to convince the public. Not only
In this way, we only talk about "nationalization" but do not talk about whether to continue the "increased land tax" and whether the "increased land tax" already collected will be repaid. This is tantamount to nakedly robbing the interests of the most basic farmers.
Under such circumstances, a road protection movement that could ruin the Manchu Qing Dynasty began!
It was not Sichuan that first launched the road protection movement, but Hunan.
On May 13, road protection posters appeared in the Changsha market, and the next day tens of thousands of people marched and petitioned in Changsha. On the 18th, the first government petition broke out; in Hubei, where the Sichuan-Hankong Line was already under construction, Sheng Xuanhuai ordered a shutdown in order to seize equity.
Businessmen and people in Yichang gathered to protest, and the Qing government mobilized troops to suppress it. The two sides clashed, killing more than 20 people. This was the first bloody incident in the road protection movement.
On June 16, the Speaker of the Advisory Council Pu Dianjun and the Vice Speaker Luo Lun convened an extraordinary meeting of Sichuan-Hankou shareholders in Chengdu, proposing "civilized road protection" and gathering 2,400 shareholders. The next day, students and citizens from all walks of life came after hearing the news.
The number of attendees reached more than 4,000. In order to strengthen their momentum, Pu Dianjun, Luo Lun and other shareholders formed the "Sichuan Baolu Comrades Association". In less than 10 days, the membership of the Baolu Comrades Association expanded from the initial 2,400 to 100,000 people all over the country.
In all 142 prefectures and counties in Sichuan, the slogan "Breaking Treaties to Protect Roads" spread throughout the country.
At this time, Sichuan Nursing Governor Wang Renwen called Sheng Xuanhuai and Duanfang on June 13 and proposed a plan: After investigation, the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company has raised a total of more than 10 million taels of funds, excluding the Yiwan section and the Yiwan section that have already started construction
In addition to the external receivables caused by "debits", there was also a balance of more than 7 million taels of silver.
He suggested that the money that had been spent be converted into state stocks, and the remaining cash of more than 7 million taels be transferred to Sichuan Province, or returned to shareholders, or transferred to other industries, and the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company would be responsible for it.
decision. This suggestion is only his personal opinion and has not been discussed with the shareholders of Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company. It is not yet known whether it can obtain the consent of Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company. But Wang Renwen believes that if he does this, at least he will be able to convince Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company.
The possibility of Han Railway Company.
After Sheng Xuanhuai received the telegram, he ignored Wang Renwen's suggestion.
After being repeatedly warned, Wang Renwen discovered that the regent Zaifeng only trusted Sheng Xuanhuai and could no longer listen to the words of a local official like him who was far away. In this struggle with Sheng Xuanhuai, it was impossible for him to get the support of the regent.
In desperation, he could only appeal to public opinion and fight against Sheng Xuanhuai in the name of the people of Sichuan.
Therefore, he revealed the contents of Sheng Xuanhuai's telegram on June 1 to the head of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company and Pu Dianjun, the chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Advisory Bureau. People were immediately angered by this unreasonable plan.
On June 17, 1911, some representatives of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company and representatives of the Sichuan Provincial Consultative Bureau met and decided to establish the Sichuan Road Baolu Comrades Association, with Pu Dianjun, the chairman of the consultative bureau, as the president, and the deputy chairman Luo Lun as the vice president.
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The establishment of the Sichuan Road Protection Comrades Association meant that the dispute over central and local power that should have been limited to the Governor of Sichuan and the Minister of Posts and Communications became a dispute between the interests of the Qing government and the people of Sichuan. This change in nature had serious consequences.
This was something neither Wang Renwen nor Sheng Xuanhuai expected.
After its establishment, the Comrade Baolu Association developed rapidly. In less than 20 days after its establishment, there were more than 200,000 registered members spread across Sichuan. It also developed branches in various industries, such as the Academic Comrade Association for Comrade Baolu and the Grocery Association.
The Comrades Association for Helping Road Guards, the Comrades Association for Helping Gancai Road Guards, the Comrades Association for Musical Instrument Stores Helping Road Guards, the Comrades Association for Women Guarding Roads, and even the Comrades Association for Beggars Guarding Roads, the Comrades Association for Deaf Road Guards, etc. Social mobilization has been extremely extensive and in-depth.
Many of those involved in the road protection movement did not know what the Sichuan-Hankou Railway was about. It was just because under the authoritarian political system at that time, an opportunity suddenly appeared that was secretly supported and instigated by the local government to criticize the imperial court.
Those people from all walks of life who had been suppressed for a long time suddenly entered a kind of liberating excitement. Almost every road-protecting speech had exciting scenes of tears. Some people kept writing blood letters and even cut off their fingers with a knife.
The emotions of the movement are getting more and more exciting, and the situation is developing out of control.
Sheng Xuanhuai, who was far away in Beijing, was not aware of this at all. He thought that the telegrams Wang Renwen kept sending were just deliberately exaggerated and sensational words. He not only ignored them, but also continued to follow his original way of thinking.
In early August 1911, under the repeated urging of Sheng Xuanhuai and Duan Fang, acting Sichuan Governor Zhao Erfeng, who was supervising border affairs at the front, returned to Chengdu. Wang Renwen was dismissed from his post. Sheng Xuanhuai thought that he could achieve his goal.
However, the moment that changes China's historical destiny is finally coming!