1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 5

Everyone present was taken aback. After so many years in the underworld, this was the first time they had been publicly called a coward, a weakling who only knew how to hide in a rat hole and count his money. Who could tolerate this?

But all that talk was just empty words; no one dared to step forward and lay a hand on Zhao Yan, or even get close.

A few people tried to leave quietly, but were firmly stopped by the thugs that Yu Jingqian had arranged to guard the door.

Yu Jingqian never expected that the thugs he had arranged would not be targeting Zhao Yan, but instead would arrest his own people first.

Zhao Yan walked slowly towards the stage, went up directly, politely asked the female performer to leave, and stood in the center of the stage himself.

The stage had now been transformed into a lecture platform, with Zhao Yan standing in the center, his gaze arrogantly sweeping over everyone.

"Excuse my bluntness, but I'm not targeting any one person; I'm saying that everyone here is a coward!"

"What did I see? What did I hear?"

"I saw people running away, people trembling! But I didn't see anyone stand up, let alone stand up straight!"

"I heard you complaining and explaining, but I didn't hear your rebuttals, let alone your shouts!"

"Is this what you consider heroic spirit, this is what you understand as heroism? I only see a bunch of cowards crowding around, explaining to each other why they are cowardly, finding countless reasons in their hearts to continue to retreat."

You all hope that others will stand up and take the lead, hoping that others will resist and argue, while you quietly retreat.

"Now, at this moment, in this place, on this platform, I have stepped forward, and I have spoken!"

Zhao Yan waved his fist, his forehead covered in sweat, his hair sticking to his temples: "I want to hear your shouts, to see you stand up!"

"Because I am very aware of your long-standing suffering, and I fully understand your needs!"

Zhao Yan pointed at the chubby old man Liu Yongfu, who was startled and immediately stood up, pointing to himself: "Me?"

Zhao Yan nodded: "Yes, it's you! Your name is Liu Yongfu, a salt merchant from Yangzhou, extremely wealthy, living a life of luxury and comfort, right?"

Liu Yongfu nodded blankly.

Zhao Yan continued, "But I saw your anxiety, your helplessness, and even more so, your despair at being unable to resist the looting!"

"Your wealth is inevitably the result of the accumulation of one generation after another. Your ancestors, including you and your son, have devoted countless efforts and even their lives to it."

No one is born a millionaire, and no family is born with immense wealth. It is all the result of gradual accumulation, countless years of hard work, and the contributions of countless ancestors that have built this vast fortune.

Am I right? Tell me, now!

Liu Yongfu finally shouted out loud: "Yes, it took seven generations of hard work for my Liu family to build up our family business today. You're right!"

Everyone present, every business, every single one of them, has accumulated their wealth over generations to reach their current status, with some even starting their accumulation as early as the Kangxi era.

These days, there are no trends or overnight riches; each generation can only do what its own generation can do.

Standing on the stage, Zhao Yan continued, "But have you ever felt safe? Have you ever had confidence in your family business and wealth?"

"Excuse my bluntness, but every one of you here is just a lamb to the slaughter. There will always be a butcher's knife ready to fall at any moment!"

"It's possible that it's just a tax collection for official attire, making you pay an extra 10% or 20%!"

Everyone present shrank back.

"It's possible that it's just a donation, and the government is asking you to donate money to the Empress Dowager to build a garden!"

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines again.

"It's also possible that it's just an ordinary southern tour by the emperor, where he'll build a few temporary palaces!"

Some of them jumped to their feet, their faces flushed.

"Perhaps it was a war, or perhaps it was finding a few old books in the house with writings that even the wind couldn't read."

"Then, everything you have, all the wealth accumulated by your generations, and even the lives of your entire family, will become nothing more than a few numbers, a few names, and a few strokes of red ink on the documents of those officials!"

Yu Jingqian stood there, his legs trembling, but he still stubbornly said, "This is sophistry and fabrication!"

Zhao Yan wasn't afraid of your rebuttal, he was afraid of you remaining silent: "Okay, then, has everyone read Dream of the Red Chamber? Do you remember Cao Xueqin?"

Everyone present changed their expressions drastically. Yu Jingqian's face turned ashen, and he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a single word.

"Who was Cao Xueqin? He was a member of a prominent merchant family during the Kangxi era! The Cao family represented the pinnacle of what merchants could achieve from the entire Qing Dynasty to the present day!"

But what can you do about it?!

Zhao Yan's hysterical shout left everyone present speechless, and they all fell into deep thought, their anger and distrust vanishing.

Everyone started to empathize with Zhao Yan. Yes, so what? He's done business all the way up to the emperor's level, reaching the very heavens!

But in the end, it was still completely taken advantage of, like a used chamber pot, and stuffed into the trash heap under the bed.

Zhao Yan clenched his fists and pressed them hard against his chest, spitting as he spoke: "Do you know why? Because you have always been slaves, always lackeys!"

In the eyes of the master, everything a servant has belongs to him; no matter how much money a servant earns, it all belongs to the master.

If they need it, a simple document can take away thousands of taels of silver and thousands of bushels of grain from you!

And yet you must kneel down and thank them for their mercy, because at least they haven't taken your lives, is that right?

"Did your wealth fall from the sky? Did your fortune appear out of thin air, or were you picked up effortlessly from the ground?"

Someone raised their fist and shouted, "No, our family fortune and our money were all earned through hard work, one penny at a time!"

"Yes, our wealth is the result of decades of painstaking effort and dedication!"

“Making money is too tiring! My father was only thirty-five years old back then, and he practically knelt to death at the entrance of the prefectural government office just to negotiate with the yamen to make up for some of the deficit!”

"They are utterly inhuman, more cunning and heartless than us!"

More and more people began to empathize with Zhao Yan, and the entire teahouse began to buzz with excitement.

Chapter 9 Revolution, Capitalists!

In any era, and in any organized act of violence, the first priority is to identify a target. Only with a target can you incite others to act with you.

Zhao Yan was now slowly revealing his true intentions. In this day and age, what better target to set up than the corrupt and incompetent Qing Dynasty?

The reason why Sun Yat-sen's path to unifying China was fraught with difficulties throughout history is that his revolution was incomplete. He only half-heartedly fought against the Qing Dynasty, allowing them to escape unscathed and even attempt a restoration.

The opposition to imperialism was just lip service; it was never put into practice.

The alliance with Russia and the Communist Party was abandoned halfway through; in short, nothing they did was thorough.

If the revolution is not thorough, it is tantamount to not having a revolution at all!

Therefore, Zhao Yan is now exceptionally resolute, leaving himself no way out. Only by putting himself in a life-or-death situation can he survive. This applies to revolution as well as to public speaking!

"Gentlemen, you are finally awakening, you finally understand who your enemy is!"

"That's the Manchu Qing Dynasty! Those high-ranking officials and nobles! Those Manchu nobles who treat us Han people as slaves and the country as their private property!"

"Throughout history, those high-ranking nobles have always said that merchants do not produce anything, only know how to resell, never create value, but constantly extract wealth. Therefore, they have always believed that merchants are cunning and ruthless, and called you merchants 'no merchant is without guile'!"

"But is this fair? Is this reasonable?"

Why don't those high-ranking officials and nobles think about what they have produced or created?

"All they know is to exploit you and kill you. Is this the world you want, the life you envision?"

His words first stirred up nationalism, then class antagonism, directly negating the Qing regime from both national and class perspectives, and further provoking the merchants' hostility towards the Qing regime.

As expected, the audience immediately became excited.

Liu Yongfu raised his fist and shouted, "Mr. Zhao is absolutely right. Those Manchus have always said that we merchants are all cunning, but at least we spend money to do business."

But they're unwilling to spend any money; they resort to trickery and extortion for everything they want!

Others chimed in, "Yes, that's exactly right. After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the national treasury was depleted. Which Manchu was willing to generously contribute to the country?"

"Ceding territory and paying reparations, in the end everything falls on the shoulders of us Han people. Every penny is plundered from the people. When a popular uprising is imminent, they plunder from the merchants!"

Seeing that he had completely stirred up the atmosphere, Zhao Yan pressed his advantage!

"Gentlemen, this is why I have stepped forward to form a political party and revolution!"

"Political parties are not traitors, but the ruling force. Our goal is to eliminate the Manchus, restore China, expel the foreign powers, and achieve national independence!"

"Revolution is not a rebellion, but a shattering of the old world and the creation of a new one!"

"Why should we be accused of rebellion just because we want fairness and resist injustice? This world belongs to us, and we created everything. Who are we rebelling against?"

"We've endured for over two hundred years, are we going to keep enduring this? I know you've been waiting for an opportunity. You don't want to prove how great you are, you just want to prove yourselves, to prove that you will get back what you've lost!"

"And I am giving you this opportunity, and that is revolution!"

Zhao Yan looked sincerely at all the listeners, his tone becoming increasingly impassioned.

“I know that people don’t understand what revolution is. They simply think that this is rebellion, and that it’s just another crazy person who wants to be emperor, but that’s wrong.”

"I have said that revolution is not rebellion, much less helping one person become emperor!"

"Revolution is about everyone working together to eliminate all injustice and to reclaim everything that rightfully belongs to us!"

"Do you all know what businessmen are called abroad? They are called capitalists! They possess countless riches and also have the right to participate in politics. They can vote to elect the head of state, just like I vote to elect the emperor."

They could also offer their opinions, urging the government to amend the laws, make taxes fairer, and eliminate unreasonable donations! Merchants could even become governors or Grand Councilors!

Officials, on the other hand, are completely unable to exploit businessmen; in fact, they often have to serve them. This is the true meaning of government's existence, because businessmen are also part of the people, and the government's duty is to serve the people!

Zhao Yan finally unleashed his trump card. As a professional fraudster, knowing how to say the right thing to the right person is a basic skill for him.

With young, inexperienced kids, you can talk about ideals and passion; the more passionate and enthusiastic you are, the more they'll fall for it.

However, with these businessmen, you can't rely solely on empty talk and passionate rhetoric. You have to offer tangible benefits, show them the future, and clearly explain what you're doing and what benefits it will bring them. Only then will it work.

The audience was immediately blown away when they heard from Zhao Yan that his foreign counterparts were so impressive.

"How could that be? How could merchants from the great powers sit on the heads of officials and defecate?"

"How could they possibly depose and install emperors? That's something only powerful ministers can do!"

"Can a merchant become a governor and even join the cabinet?"

Zhao Yan nodded emphatically: "Yes, everything I said is true!"

The ultimate art of fraud is to use the truth to deceive. Every word you say is true, except for the final goal you want to achieve, which is false!

"Gentlemen, prominent businessmen abroad are called capitalists. They can turn wealth into power and money into influence!"

"Our revolution is to help you reclaim these rights that you rightfully deserve, and the Revival Party is a political party dedicated to serving every person!"

"The Revival Party has never believed that businessmen are treacherous, that doing business is wrong, or that talking about profits is shameful. The Revival Party believes that these are all reasonable and necessary for the development of the country and society."

Our Revival Party believes that businessmen are crucial to the development of the country. You are the movers of wealth, and you can create countless taxes and jobs for the country.

Think about it, how many people have a job that allows them to make a living because of you? Think about it, how many industries have prospered because of you?

You are constantly contributing to this country, yet you are slandered by those Qing Dynasty officials as parasites who do no work. Is this reasonable? Is this fair?

First, I set up a target to arouse hatred, then I show my stance to win you over. The higher the hatred level on the other side, the higher the empathy value on my side. Finally, I propose a solution. How can you refuse?

"Mr. Zhao, what do you suggest? We all support you! Revolution is good! We want to be revolutionaries!"

A single sentence was earth-shattering. The person who said it was Yu Jingqian. Everyone thought he was the least likely person to support Zhao Yan, but at this moment he became the first to express his revolutionary stance.

Zhao Yan was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the boldest and most decisive one in the end would be Yu Jingqian!

Only those who know the inside story understand why Yu Jingqian is like this. When Yu Jingqian was young, he passed the imperial examination at the county level, but he was rejected because of his family's merchant background.

His mother was even violated by a Manchu general in Hangzhou and eventually hanged herself. His father didn't dare to utter a word and had to give the Manchu general tens of thousands of taels of silver to keep the family business going.

For a long time, Yu Jingqian had suppressed this hatred in his heart. As he grew up, he came to believe that this was the way of navigating the complexities of human relationships and the survival strategy among officials and businessmen. He also learned to understand his extremely cowardly father.

Until today, Zhao Yan's appearance shattered his original values. Zhao Yan told him that things shouldn't be like this, and everything should be fair.

So this is what foreign businessmen are like! And I'm so pathetic! So this is what revolution is like!

As soon as Yu Jingqian spoke, everyone else chimed in with their opinions.

"Mr. Zhao, let's start a revolution!"

"Yes, let's join the revolution! We can't take another day of this wretched life, it's too humiliating!"

"We also want fairness, and we businessmen want to stand up!"

Businessmen, who have large businesses and considerable social resources, are like those who wear shoes; generally speaking, they are the least willing to take risks and the most difficult to incite.

Because businessmen are naturally profit-driven, and revolution is something they despise the most.

But there was nothing they could do; the Qing Dynasty had gone too far. Now, all levels of Chinese society, including merchants, were forced into a corner with nowhere to retreat.

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, Cixi built gardens; after the war, it paid silver indemnities; then came the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China, followed by the Russo-Japanese War, one after another.