Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 78

He was too biased in his personnel appointments, consistently using former subordinates or sycophants who fawned over him, which led to this defeat. If he had given others a chance, or allocated more resources to the Eastern Defense District, even with Lieutenant Colonel Mellis's defeat, we could have advanced from Bhutan to Kalimpong…”

Lord Kitchener was incredulous when he read the lieutenant colonel's remarks in the Politico. He simply couldn't believe that an office officer who had never experienced a real war dared to spout such nonsense. He angrily turned to Colonel Douglas Haig beside him and said, "This is just a boastful London playboy. What does he know about war? All he knows is polishing his boots and seducing those whores and naive girls at balls..."

Colonel Haig was equally indignant at Lieutenant Colonel Charles Townsend's unfounded accusations, since he was the one who orchestrated the entire attack plan. In terms of background, he and Lord Kitchener were not the so-called blue-blooded nobles, and naturally, they were incompatible with aristocratic scions like Lieutenant Colonel Charles Townsend.

But given the current situation, Colonel Haig could only advise Lord Kitchener: "Although Lieutenant Colonel Townsend is an arrogant scoundrel, the fact that the Politico published his remarks clearly indicates that someone is pulling strings behind the scenes. I think someone is dissatisfied with the military reforms you, Commander-in-Chief, have pushed forward, and that's why they deliberately published Lieutenant Colonel Townsend's nonsense. If we continue to argue with Lieutenant Colonel Townsend, then someone will soon bring up the real reason for Lieutenant Colonel Mellis's failure."

Lord Kitchener, feeling utterly exhausted, slumped down and said, "Why can't these men focus their energy on the battlefield instead of constantly figuring out how to hold their colleagues back?"

While Sri Aurobindo Gosho was packing his luggage in his room, he suddenly heard his younger brother calling his name outside. He went to the balcony and saw his brother waving a newspaper at him, with several young men beside him also clasping their hands in greeting. He replied and went downstairs.

The Goss family was a prominent family in Calcutta. Although they did not build a house in the White Area, they did build an English-style garden house in the wealthy area in the north of the city. Three red three-story buildings surrounded the fountain in the front yard, which looked quite grand. Aurobindo lived in the east building. The first floor was the living room, the second floor was the rooms of his brothers, and the third floor was his and his wife's bedroom and study.

Aurobindo's brother is a member of the Samiti organization, which, while ostensibly recruiting young people for fitness, is actually a radical nationalist group. Aurobindo contributed significantly to its founding and thus enjoys the trust of the group's youth.

He had just come downstairs to greet the guests when his brother, Baran Goss, shoved a newspaper into his hand and said, “Look at this. The British have compromised with the Chinese.”

Aurobindo flipped through the newspaper reports: Liberal MPs in London believed that Britain's young men should be brought back first, and that it was time to end this pointless war. Officials from the British Indian government indicated that a temporary ceasefire might be implemented for a month to exchange prisoners with the Chinese, before deciding how to resolve the issues between the two sides.

Balan Goss, who was standing to the side, was still excitedly saying, "The British have compromised. This shows that the British are not incapable of compromise. As long as they can feel pain, they will still bow their heads."

Jadin Banerjee, standing nearby, agreed, saying, "Yes, we should also possess a real military force. If the British cannot grant freedom to the Indian people, then we should use force to win it over. Our Chinese brothers have already shown us the way..."

Unlike the excitement of the young people, Aurobindo remained calm. After reading the report, he said, "I don't think the Chinese should be too happy. The British have only agreed to a temporary ceasefire. They will definitely take advantage of the ceasefire to mobilize their forces and then launch another attack after the ceasefire ends. Isn't that what the British have done in the past? So many Indian princes' resistances have ultimately failed because of this. The British can fail countless times, but we will lose everything if we lose just once."

Upon hearing this, the young men slowly lost their smiles and began to worry about the Chinese. Satyendra Tagore couldn't help but break the silence and asked, "Shouldn't we go to Siliguri ourselves? Perhaps we can make contact with the Chinese and warn them to be careful of the British tricks."

After thinking for a moment, Aurobindo said, "I'm afraid it won't work for you to go, because there's no excuse. I'll go instead. I'm planning to start a newspaper, and I can go to Siliguri as a reporter to conduct interviews..."

Once Aurobindo made up his mind, he quickly booked two first-class tickets because Jadin wanted to go with him. Jadin insisted that Aurobindo couldn't handle everything alone and needed at least one helper. The others didn't react as quickly as Jadin and could only watch helplessly as he gained Aurobindo's approval.

There isn't actually a direct train from Kolkata to Siliguri. Aurobindo and Jadin take the train around 3 or 4 pm, board at Siarda station, and then wait at the Ganges ferry crossing for a large steam ferry, which usually takes all night. They then transfer at Saratan station on the north bank to reach Siliguri.

Dinner on the ferry was excellent, with a menu featuring both European and local dishes. One dish, made with herring known locally as "cloud shad," was particularly popular. However, Aurobindo and Jadin paid little attention to the food; they were preoccupied with whether their journey to Darjeeling would be successful and whether the Chinese would welcome them.

Aurobindo hadn't felt this anxious in a long time. When they arrived in Siliguri, they realized they were a bit too early, as the road to Sukna was not yet open to journalists. At that time, only the military and representatives of the Tea Association were authorized to travel to Sukna, but Aurobindo used his connections and quickly blended into the Tea Association's delegation to reach Sukna.

Chapter 272 Shannan Economy

When Aurobindo and Jadin arrived in Sukna, they discovered that there were neither Chinese nor Indian troops there; the latter had retreated to the area south of Sukna. The village only contained some negotiators from both sides and representatives of the tea plantation owners waiting to go up the mountain. There was also a group of construction workers expanding the Sukna station and building a new market warehouse.

Looking at the bustling construction scene before them, the two men wondered if they had come to the wrong place. This was completely different from the front line they had imagined. However, they still managed to get a chance to go up the mountain. The tea plantation owners believed that the price of tea depended on its quality. In the past, they had controlled the tea-making process themselves, and the tea workers had never had independent control. Therefore, they requested that people be sent to their respective tea plantations to control the tea-making process and assess the yield and quality of this year's new tea.

Ultimately, the Chinese agreed to the tea plantation owners' demands, but stipulated that each tea plantation could only send personnel up the mountain. Those responsible for negotiating tea prices and providing supplies to the mountain could only remain in Sukna. Not all tea plantation owners had the courage to send people up the mountain, so Aurobindo and Jadin quickly secured a spot for a particular tea plantation.

Train service from Sukna to Darjeeling has resumed, with Bangladesh Railways providing four daily services: one passenger train and three freight trains. At this time, the goods transported down from the mountains are not only tea, but also various mountain products and goods from Tibet. This is why Sukna is expanding its warehouses and markets. Meanwhile, the Indian Tea Association and some military officers have become entrepot traders, bringing in large quantities of daily necessities to sell to the Chinese-owned Shannan Trading Company, and then taking away various mountain products from the company.

Aurobindo noticed that some of the goods were actually military supplies, as they were handed over to the Shannan Company without even being repackaged. After observing the market, he assessed the situation and found that the daily transaction volume exceeded 10 rupees. Since both sides were wholesalers, the transaction amounts were very large. If this level of trading continued during the one-month ceasefire, the total transaction volume for that month would be an astonishing figure of 300-500 million rupees.

When Aurobindo calculated the figure, he was taken aback. He then understood why the army had so readily ceded Sukna and proactively expanded the market and station there. If selling Indian goods yielded a profit of about 3%, then transporting these mountain products or Tibetan goods to Calcutta would bring at least three times that profit—nearly ten million rupees. No wonder the Indian Tea Association and the officers were so eager to uphold the ceasefire agreement.

After boarding the train, Aurobindo couldn't help but say to Jadin, "I can understand why the British here support a ceasefire, but did those Chinese come here just to do business with the British? Wasn't it because they didn't want British merchants to enter Tibet that they clashed with the British?"

After seeing the bustling trade market in Sukna, Jadin was quite disappointed. Although he knew that Aurobindo wasn't actually asking him a question, but rather expressing a doubt, he couldn't help but chime in, "Yes, there's no atmosphere of resistance against the British down the mountain. Are the Chinese really planning to make peace with the British?"

As the train carrying two doubtful Indian youths headed toward Darjeeling, Lin Xinyi was holding a meeting at the Darjeeling and Shannan Military and Political Committee, where he was also discussing what to do during the one-month ceasefire.

"...Tibet has a population of over 1 million, Bhutan about 300,000, Upper Sikkim about 50,000, Lower Sikkim about 100,000, and the Kingdom of Nepal has a population of 3-4 million. The annual trade volume between Tibet and Shannan with India was about 5 million rupees, while that between Nepal and India was around 10 million rupees."

By mentioning these figures, I want to tell you all that this is the level of activity in international trade in this region. While we must oppose British imperialism, we cannot eliminate this international trade. Why? Because these 15 million rupees represent the needs of 5 million people in this region. Can we eliminate human needs?

Faced with Lin Hsin-yi's rhetorical question, the committee members fell into deep thought. Lin Hsin-yi then answered his own question, saying, "Of course not. If we did that, we would be standing on the opposite side of the people."

While exploitation evokes resentment among the people, meeting basic living needs is a fundamental human right. We must first guarantee the people's basic needs before leading them to fight against exploiters, rather than forcing them to fight when they cannot survive; otherwise, the people will quickly give up the struggle.

The committee members nodded slightly in agreement with Lin Xinyi's statement, but some asked with concern, "What if the British take this opportunity to send people up the mountain to gather intelligence or bribe the masses? Moreover, with such a large volume of trade, perhaps some people will grow weary of war and think that maintaining peace with the British is better..."

Lin Xinyi nodded and said, "I agree with that view. If the British don't take this opportunity to send some spies to gather intelligence on us, or if they don't bribe a few wavering masses, then they are not imperialists."

Therefore, we need to establish grassroots governments so that the masses know who owns the government. As part of the ruling class, the masses will spontaneously help us distinguish who has been bought off by the British. Imperialism can buy off a few wavering elements, but it cannot buy off the entire working class.

Imperialism might argue that such nationwide surveillance constitutes totalitarian rule, but I would argue that true failure occurs when the ruling class fails to even proactively protect its own interests. Didn't imperialists establish secret police precisely to monitor the masses? It's just that exploiters can never truly monitor the entire population, which is why they proclaim themselves a free society.

It's not that they're unwilling to do it, but rather that they lack the capacity. As for a socialist country, mutual supervision among the people isn't surveillance; it's vigilance, a conscious awareness of being masters of their own destiny. If you don't consider this country your own, but rather a country belonging to the masters, would you still defend it without expecting anything in return?

Therefore, the key to preventing espionage lies in establishing a political power, enhancing the people's sense of ownership, and ensuring that the people are the masters of their own destiny. But how to establish a political power? Armed struggle alone is insufficient; the key lies in guiding the people's production and rationally distributing social wealth.

Our current trade with the British and Indian governments cannot be considered long-term trade; rather, it is a temporary and unsecured market trade. However, through the Shannan Trading Company, we can concentrate resources to reduce transaction costs and lower the prices of imported goods through large-scale transactions with India, thereby obtaining more supplies to meet the needs of our people.

In the past, many people in Shannan and Tibet could not afford modern consumer goods, nor could they sell their produce because transportation costs were too high. They couldn't possibly travel for days to the market to trade for a few furs, so they could only wait for peddlers to come and buy their goods, and engage in barter.

Therefore, the direct means of contact between the Shannan Military and Political Committee and the people of Shannan was actually through commerce. We did not have enough manpower to be assigned to various mountain villages to spread our revolutionary ideas and guide the masses on how to work and carry out the revolution. However, a large commercial organization that could connect Shannan with India and Tibet could gradually link the people of various places with the Shannan Military and Political Committee and bring them into a unified market.

Once this unified market is established, we can use it to organize the production of the masses and meet their needs, and to carry out cultural education to change customs and habits, thereby raising the class consciousness of the masses. Only when we bring the 50 people of Shannan region together will we have an unbreakable base area…”

This meeting further strengthened Lin Xinyi's leadership over the Shannan Military and Political Committee, because the other committee members found that they couldn't understand the economic and political measures proposed by Lin Xinyi at all. They were either biased towards the military or very good at personnel struggles, but all they knew about was collecting taxes when it came to the economy.

Although the Shannan Military and Political Committee received supplies left by the British in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, these supplies were sufficient to support an army, but clearly insufficient to meet the needs of the people of Shannan and Tibet. Therefore, after its establishment, the Shannan Military and Political Committee could only control a few towns and the Lower Sikkim region.

Lower Sikkim, with a population of nearly 10, is an agricultural region dominated by tea plantations and rice paddies in the valleys. The extensive tea plantations established by the British resulted in the indentured laborers becoming the most class-conscious proletarians. The rice paddies in the valleys were mostly controlled by landowners. Although the British did not expropriate the local landowners' fields, the heavy taxes levied and the Anglo-ization of the landowners led these landowners to intensify their exploitation of their tenants. As a result, the tenant farmers of Lower Sikkim quickly became as impoverished as those on the Indian plains.

In addition, the British also relocated a large number of Nepalese from Nepal, using them not only as indentured laborers in tea plantations but also to develop the valley paddy fields and build roads and irrigation facilities in Lower Sikkim. From a certain perspective, the British combined American farm production with the Eastern landowning system, maximizing the production of goods while maintaining social stability.

Under this perfect system, tenant farmers truly had nothing—this is not an adjective but the literal meaning. Apart from a thatched hut and tattered clothes, their homes were empty. All agricultural surplus was divided up by the landlords and the British; their own food rations were insufficient to feed their families, forcing them to rely on wild vegetables for sustenance.

Therefore, the Shannan Military and Political Committee received the most enthusiastic support in the British-occupied Lower Sikkim region. The British attack on Darjeeling was precisely in this region that the British hated the most. However, although the Shannan Military and Political Committee achieved victory over the British, it faced difficulties in maintaining the livelihood of the people in Lower Sikkim, as nearly one-third of the population relied on the tea plantation economy for their livelihood.

But now, Lin Xinyi cleverly got the British to solve this problem for the Shannan Military and Political Committee, and through trade, he increased the committee's material reserves, allowing the people of Shannan to benefit as well. At this point, who would question Lin Xinyi's proposals?

Chapter 273 On Liberty

Although Lin Xinyi knew that as long as they continued to exist in Shannan, Indian revolutionary comrades and nationalists would eventually come knocking on their door, he was still surprised that someone had come so early. In his astonishment, he had two Indians who claimed to have come from India to seek independence come to his reception room.

Although the security personnel had inquired about their backgrounds before the meeting, the Shannan Military and Political Committee had no intelligence organization down in the mountains, so they couldn't verify the two men's true identities. Therefore, Lin Xinyi didn't take the meeting too seriously, treating it merely as a tentative contact.

However, after meeting these two young Indian intellectuals, Lin Xinyi felt that they were unlikely to be British spies, because they showed too little interest in the Shannan Military and Political Committee and too much interest in how to incite an armed struggle in Bengal. Even if the British were to send spies, they wouldn't send two young men so enthusiastic about armed conflict.

After thinking for a while, Lin Xinyi said to Aurobindo and Jadin, "I think we can put aside the question of how to wage armed struggle for now. Why don't we talk about what the Indian people really want?"

To be honest, when Jadin saw that Lin Hsin-yi, whom the British newspapers called "Champawatt," was so young, he thought that the other party was not much older than himself, and he was stunned for a while.

Champawatt was a notorious man-eating tiger in southern Nepal. It is said that it ate nearly 200 people between 1900 and 1903. The King of Nepal ordered its extermination, but it escaped to the Champawatt region in India. From then on, the tiger became even more unrestrained, even entering villages during the day to prey on villagers. As a result, Indian newspapers called it "the man-eating beast of Champawatt".

The Battle of Tindalia resulted in the loss of nearly 200 men in the pure British infantry, the worst defeat the British had suffered in India since 1857. Although the Tibetan Expeditionary Force also lost a large number of soldiers, the British in India had not seen such losses. However, the large number of British soldiers' corpses and wounded appearing on the Indian plains made them truly feel the brutality of war. As a result, Lin Feng, who commanded the battle, earned the nickname "the cannibal of Champawatt".

The youth of Lin Xinyi diminished Jadin's sense of awe and emboldened him to express his own views in front of Lin Xinyi. Therefore, when asked a question by Lin Xinyi, he blurted out, "What the Indian people want is freedom."

After thinking for a while, Aurobindo, facing Lin Xinyi's gaze, nodded and said, "I agree. The Indian people cannot gain freedom without independence from British rule."

We have pleaded with the British for freedom, but have received no response. Therefore, we believe we should abandon our pleas and take up arms to fight, just like you, until the British recognize the freedom of the Indian people.”

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi asked the two men, "Do you want to hear my supportive opinions, or my true views?"

Aurobindo looked at Lin Xinyi strangely and said, "Of course we hope to hear your true opinion, after all, you have achieved many victories in armed struggle. We came here with the intention of learning from you, because we cannot defeat the British on our own."

Seeing this, Lin Xinyi said, "If you want to hear my true opinion, then I think we can postpone the conversation until tomorrow. Tomorrow I will invite you to a formal discussion, and then you will understand what my answer is..."

After leaving Lin Xinyi's small building and returning to the Wendamei Hotel where the two were staying, Jadin couldn't help but ask Aurobindo curiously, "What kind of answer would it take us until tomorrow to understand?"

As Aurobindo walked along the trail, he took in the scenery of Darjeeling. It was his first time in Darjeeling. Although Darjeeling had become a famous resort area in India in the 1980s and 90s, and it was more convenient to travel here than to Shimla after the railway was completed, he went to work in Baroda (Gujarat) after returning to India. Therefore, his most frequent resort destination was Shimla.

Darjeeling was planned as a town for 10,000 people. After decades of development, especially the 25-26 years of construction following the opening of the railway, the town is now nearly 90% complete. While the architecture isn't as grand as Shimla, which was built by the British as the summer capital of British India, Darjeeling's streets have a more lived-in feel, reflecting its popularity as a holiday destination for ordinary British people.

Although the Chinese occupied the area, they did not cause any damage to the city. Although they allocated some houses to the locals, the locals cherished their assigned rooms. Furthermore, the Chinese continued the public sanitation system left by the British and extended it to the shantytowns on the city's outskirts, in order to make the entire city cleaner and tidier.

Aurobindo shook his head and replied, "I don't know what answer I'll hear tomorrow. But after seeing Darjeeling, I think the British are wrong about at least one thing they've said about Orientals."

Jadin then looked up and asked, "What judgment is wrong?"

Aurobindo stopped and took a deep breath, then said with rapt attention, "The British say that Easterners are not good at managing cities, and only Western civilization can manage a city well. But isn't this place thriving under the management of the Chinese?"

Upon hearing this, Jadin looked up and around. He saw several workers planting flowers along the street. Although the cobblestones on the street were a bit wet, there was no litter. Some women in the houses along the street were hanging clothes to dry, while others were pruning the branches in front of their houses. The residents here did not seem to be worried about the war and seemed much happier than the residents of Siliguri.

The next morning, the two were awakened by a knock on the door. Aurobindo pulled back the curtains and looked outside, but it was still pitch black. He didn't know what was going on, but he still asked Jadin to open the door. A soldier stood at the door and said to them, "Commissioner Lin is waiting for you to have breakfast in the restaurant downstairs. He asks you to change into some loose clothes and boots suitable for climbing."

Despite their confusion, the two followed the soldier's instructions to wash up and get dressed before going downstairs. In the restaurant, they soon saw Lin Xinyi, dressed in civilian clothes, sitting at a square table by the window, drinking tea.

When the two men approached him, Lin Xinyi invited them to sit down and said, "Sit down and have some breakfast, then we'll hurry off so we can make it to the tea plantation for harvesting."

After the train resumed operation, the food supply at the Wundami Hotel was restored, so the breakfast was quite plentiful. With a sunny-side-up egg with runny yolk, a cucumber sandwich with the crusts removed, and a glass of milk, Aurobindo felt that he was eating as well as at home.

After enjoying a hearty breakfast, the two followed Lin Xinyi toward the tea plantations in the valley. The town of Darjeeling was actually built within the tea plantations; one only needed to leave the city slightly to enter the tea gardens. However, the two still didn't understand the significance of Lin Xinyi bringing them to the tea plantations to observe tea picking.

However, they soon realized their mistake. Lin Xinyi had clearly not brought them to watch tea picking. He gave each of them a basket and then said, "Tea leaves must be picked after the morning dew has evaporated, right now. The bamboo sticks I've given you are for measuring the height of the tea bushes. You can only pick leaves that are above this height, two leaves and one bud, not a handful, and you can't pick three or four leaves..."

Jadin, carrying a basket and a bamboo stick, was about to ask why, but then he saw Lin Xinyi already carrying the basket and walking into the tea garden. Aurobindo stopped him, saying, "Let's just follow along. He'll tell us why sooner or later..."

Jadin wanted to say something, but seeing that Aurobindo had already picked up his basket without any hesitation, seemingly having forgotten that he was a Brahmin, he thought for a while and finally silently picked up his basket and walked into the tea bushes.

Although Jadin exercises regularly—Samiti's original intention was simply to improve his fitness—even someone as strong as him became exhausted from the repetitive tea-picking movements. Especially after sunrise, the sunlight not only drenched him in sweat but also made him feel dizzy. He quickly grew weary, but fortunately, the work was finished before noon.

Lin Xinyi walked over to them and said, "Darjeeling tea is positioned as a high-end product, so it is not harvested after noon. Now we can deliver the tea to the tea plantation manager."

Standing before the scales in front of the tea garden manager, Jadin suddenly realized that the tea-picking women weighed at least 15 or 16 kilograms, while the largest weighed over 23 kilograms. However, among the three of them, the one who picked the most was Aurobindo, who weighed over 9 kilograms, followed by Lin Xinyi, who weighed over 7 kilograms, while he only weighed a little over 6 kilograms.

This discovery left him somewhat dejected on the way back. For the first time, he realized he wasn't as capable as he seemed, especially since Aurobindo, like him, was also doing this kind of work for the first time. However, his attention was quickly drawn back to Lin Xinyi's words. On the way, Lin Xinyi answered the question they had raised the day before, "While working in the tea garden today, did you still think about the issue of freedom?"

Aurobindo seemed to understand the purpose of the invitation to work in the tea plantation today, but he still asked with some confusion, "Are you trying to tell us that the lower classes have no time to think about freedom?"

After a few seconds of silence, Lin Xinyi replied, "To be more precise, I think discussing freedom is a luxury. Before solving the problem of basic needs, people can't even consider it. But I believe the goal of freedom is higher than simply having enough to eat. However, we must address the material conditions that allow people to discuss freedom before we can confirm that this freedom is the freedom they truly need..."

Chapter 274 Declaration of War

Without experiencing today's labor, Aurobindo and Jadin might not agree with Lin Xinyi's words, because they had never worried about food and clothing. What they felt most deeply was the oppression of Indians by the British. They sincerely believed that the peasants could not survive not because the landlords took too much, but because the British taxes were too heavy.

Before the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885, in order to secure more jobs for Indians from the British, these Indian elites finally stopped studying religious doctrines and instead focused their energy on the management of the nation. Their concern for the lives of peasants was the impetus for the formation of the Congress Party. Although their main goal was to gain the support of tax farmers and perpetual tenants, they also had to seek British sympathy by describing the miserable lives of Indian peasants.

After the Congress Party was established, it transformed this kind of personal research into a rally appeal. The annual report of the Congress Party was essentially a report on the current state of Indian society. Although the Congress Party only studied social problems and did not propose solutions, or rather, their solution was to hope that the British would give more government positions to Indians, because Indians understood their country's situation better.

When describing the poverty of Indian peasants, the Congress Party often used the lowest-ranking tenant farmers as representatives. One of the most frequently cited instances after 1900 was the claim that three major famines in India during the last 25 years of the 19th century starved 1500 million peasants, a consequence of excessive British exploitation. However, their request to the British was not for land redistribution, but rather for a reduction in land taxes levied on landowners. After all, during the Mughal era, landowners only paid 5-20% of their land tax.

However, under British rule, land tax once reached 80-90% of land rent, which was the reason why Indian landowners constantly rebelled against the East India Company before 1860. After the Indian Revolt, the East India Company handed over the power to rule India to the state, and London began to implement modernization reforms in India, increasing grain production, reducing transportation costs, and adopting a fixed land tax system with a 30-year term, which finally restored landowners' investment in land improvement.

Through these comparisons, Indian elites concluded that the poverty of Indian farmers stemmed from excessive land taxes levied by the British on landowners, with too little of the tax revenue collected from India being used for Indian purposes, thus discouraging landowners from investing in Indian agriculture. They argued that if Britain were willing to reduce land taxes and use the revenue collected from India for the benefit of Indians, India would prosper, and the large-scale starvation of farmers would be prevented.

These Indian elites are mostly well-educated; some were sent to study in Britain from a young age, attending the best boarding schools in London and eventually studying law at the best universities in Britain. It could be said that their education was even better than that of the British bourgeoisie. The ideas they put forward are naturally quite logical: as long as laborers don't think and thinkers don't work, they will believe this is the path to self-salvation for the Indian nation.

However, on how to achieve Indian national freedom, the moderates of the Congress Party believed that they should pray to the British, while the extremists believed that struggle was necessary, even to the point of armed conflict. Aurobindo and Jadin, well-educated extremists, argued with the moderates about how to achieve Indian national freedom, rather than whether achieving Indian national freedom was the key to solving India's current problems.

However, after working with Lin Xinyi for a morning, the two of them realized at the same time that it was obviously not appropriate for the people at the bottom of society to discuss freedom while doing heavy physical labor. Because with the amount of labor these people were doing, they would not think about freedom at all. They would only think about two things: rest and eating.

Therefore, they had to agree with Lin Xinyi's view that if they wanted the lower classes to think about the value of freedom, they should at least ensure that the people had enough to eat and wear and could receive the necessary education. This was obviously not something that the British could solve by reducing land taxes or leaving tax money in India to build water conservancy and road infrastructure. The beneficiaries of these policies were actually tax farmers and perpetual tenants, because only they had land and surplus agricultural products that needed to be transported out.

After working in the fields all morning, the two men also came to accept Lin Xinyi's viewpoint: it was clearly wrong for landlords or capitalists to plunder most of the fruits of labor; this was the real reason why laborers couldn't support themselves. With this shared understanding, they were able to accept Lin Xinyi's series of ideas for protecting the interests of laborers.

After reaching a consensus on the direction of the revolution, Lin Xinyi then discussed the issue of armed struggle with the two men. He frankly told them, "The British Indian government is an organization, so if you want to overthrow this organization, what you need is not armed struggle, but to establish an organization that represents the Indian people and compete with the British Indian government for the power to govern the Indian people. The purpose of armed struggle is not to eliminate or drive out the British, but to defend the Indian people's right to self-governance."

Upon hearing Lin Xinyi mention this topic, Jadin's spirits visibly lifted. The topic they had been discussing was actually quite painful for him, because Lin Xinyi was negating his past values. If he hadn't been a staunch revolutionary, he probably would have backed down, because Lin Xinyi pointed out that the target of the Indian people's struggle was clearly not the British, but the landlord class that oppressed them the most.

Although Jadin and Aurobindo's fathers had left the countryside to become elites in urban professions such as merchants, doctors, and lawyers, their family remained part of the Indian landowning class. Like the Chinese, Indians believed that buying land was the best way to preserve wealth. Therefore, their family remained rooted in the countryside, precisely the target of the Indian people's struggle, as Lin Xinyi pointed out.

On the contrary, Aurobindo was quite interested in Lin Xinyi's revolutionary ideas and felt that there was still more to learn. However, he managed to control his thirst for knowledge and instead listened attentively to the explanation of armed struggle. Although Lin Xinyi claimed to be discussing armed struggle with the two of them, he did most of the talking, while the two of them listened attentively and asked questions.

After listening, Aurobindo and Jadin realized that their previous ideas about armed struggle against the British were indeed superficial. They only thought about fighting the British with real weapons and had not thought about how to defeat them. Lin Xinyi's proposed armed struggle, on the other hand, was all about how to defeat the British.

"...In fact, I believe that the Shivaji Movement promoted by Bar Gangdar Tilak was the prototype of an organization. It had an ideology that attracted the masses, leaders, organizers, and propagandists; what it lacked was a system capable of sustaining long-term operation..."

A mature organization must represent the fundamental interests of a certain stratum or class to gain their heartfelt support. In addition, it needs a brain to lead the organization forward and achieve its phased goals…

Lin Xinyi advocated that organizations leading armed struggle must decentralize their functions to various departments in order to achieve professionalization and specialization, and establish strict organizational discipline, strictly prohibiting private communication between departments. "...If this is not done, then the British only need to find a traitor in the organization, and the entire organization will be destroyed. Strict separation measures not only prevent the organization from being destroyed, but also allow it to be quickly rebuilt even if it is destroyed. More importantly, it allows a portion of the people to work for the organization legally."

We advocate that the struggle against colonizers can be carried out by any means, including legal means, or rather, we should make the most of legal means to openly fight against colonizers. This legal struggle involves not only propaganda, but also providing logistical support for the organization and cultivating reserve talent…”

For the next week, Aurobindo and Jadin consulted with Lin Xinyi almost every day, usually going to his office in the afternoon for discussions that lasted until afternoon tea. In the mornings, they would visit various departments of the Military and Political Committee, and in the evenings, they would summarize the day's activities.

Jadin said to Aurobindo, “This is probably the closest I’ve ever come to the truth in my life. I’m worried about one thing now: whether I can convey these truths to my other revolutionary comrades.”

Aurobindo also agreed with Jadin's view that compared to the revolutionary path of the Shannan Military and Political Committee, the Indian National Congress was like a political club, while Samiti was just playing house. He sincerely said: "In the past, we talked too much about resisting the British, but thought too little about how to resist the British. This is the biggest problem for us Indians."

I think we should honestly learn from the Chinese and thoroughly reform Samiti, making it a true political organization rather than a youth club. We need to involve everyone in the work of Indian independence and assign them appropriate tasks, instead of letting a few fight while others just stand by and shout slogans…”

While a temporary peace was achieved in India, war was gradually breaking out in northern China. On March 1, 1905, St. Petersburg formally submitted a declaration of war to Beijing. St. Petersburg argued that the confiscation of Russian government and merchant property and the declaration of war by the Hubei-Hunan local government constituted an act of war. Since Beijing could not stop the illegal actions of the Hubei-Hunan local government and refused to sign a border demarcation agreement with Russia, Russia had no choice but to respond to China's act of war.

The Russians then dispatched cavalry to march on Uliastai and Kobdo, and expelled Chinese officials from Manchuria. This action greatly shocked Beijing and completely disrupted the order in East Asia.

The Japanese perspective was that war had finally broken out, and the entire nation had entered a state of war preparedness. France and Germany expressed regret over Russia's actions but claimed to understand them. However, both countries unanimously declared a neutral stance on a Sino-Russian war. France announced an arms embargo against China, while Germany stated that it would not announce an arms embargo until further action was taken by China and Russia.

President Roosevelt told his Secretary of State, "The war has finally broken out. We must get Japan involved in this war, get those bankers to support the Japanese and Chinese, and make sure they fight the Russians hard. Then we must teach those sons of bitches Colombians a lesson, let them know what happens when they break commercial contracts..."

Chapter 275 A Chaotic Yet Upward February

In February 1905, the Wuhan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee was most concerned not with restoring production and maintaining market prices, nor with negotiating with foreign powers and the imperial court, but with suppressing the rebellion of landlord armed forces in Nanyang and Xiangyang.

Before the Luhan Railway was built, Henan was a rather closed inland province. However, because Nanyang was a transportation hub leading to the Han River, the Nanyang area was more open and wealthier than other parts of Henan.

However, this also resulted in an exceptionally heavy indemnity being levied on Nanyang Prefecture after the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, amounting to over 15 taels annually, roughly half of Nanyang Prefecture's total land tax revenue. Furthermore, in order to implement new policies and establish a new army, Henan province further exploited the local population, leading to widespread discontent among the gentry and merchants of the region.

When the Wuhan Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee raised the banner of restoring order and defeated the southward-bound Yi Army, the gentry and merchants of Nanyang quickly sided with the committee, blocking the retreat of the Henan army attacking Xiangyang. At this time, the relationship between the Nanyang gentry and merchants and the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee was relatively friendly.