Jagged Warlord

As a young and well-organized political party, the National Party needs an opportunity to make a name for itself on a national scale.Soon, this opportunity was presented to the National Party, and that was the Laoxikai incident.

The cause of the matter can be traced back to 1861, when the Tianjin French Concession was established in 1861. The initial scope included 439 mu of land on the west bank of the Haihe River and near Zizhulin Village, and the southwest was bounded by Hai Avenue.During the Gengzi Incident in 1900, France joined the Eight-Power Allied Forces and occupied Tianjin. On November 11, the French Consul General in Tianjin, Du Shilan, announced that the French Concession in Tianjin was extended to the southwest to Qiangzihe (now Nanjing Road), which expanded the area of ​​the concession. 20 times, reaching 4 mu.More than a year later, in 2360, France tried to expand the Tianjin French Concession again. The French Consul in Tianjin, Luo Tuge, sent a note to Tianjin Customs Road Tang Shaoyi, requesting that the old Xikai area with an area of ​​1902 mu in the southwest of Qiangzi River be included in the French Concession. Tang Shaoyi Disregarded, no reply.

Not long after, on January 1903, 1, the British Concession in Tianjin successfully crossed the Qiangzi River and expanded to the southwest until Haiguangsi Avenue, obtaining an extension area of ​​14 mu, bringing the total area of ​​the British Concession in Tianjin to 3928 mu.Therefore, motivated by this, the Tianjin French Concession is still waiting for the opportunity to continue to expand to the southwest.

In 1912, the Holy See of the Vatican issued an edict announcing that the Zhili Seaside Vicariate would be established from the Zhili Northern Vicariate, and that the bishop's office would be located at the Wanghailou Church at the mouth of the Sancha River in Tianjin.The first bishop Du Baolu (a member of the French Mission) believed that Wanghailou Church was located in the old urban area of ​​Tianjin, which was not convenient for future expansion, so he bought a marsh depression in the old Xikai area, which is close to the southwest of the French Concession in Tianjin, and built a new one. The cathedral - Xikai Church, and Xikai Primary School, Joseph Primary School, Shenggong Primary School, Josephist Sisters' Fahan School (now 21 Middle School) and Catholic Hospital (now Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital) were successively opened near the church. ), forming a large church complex.The church itself is located in Huajie, and the gate is facing General Foch Road (Binjiang Road) in the Tianjin French Concession.On the side of the church is the Fahan School (now Tianjin No.20 No. [-] Middle School), which was built at the same time, and behind it is the Church Hospital (now Tianjin Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital).

In August 1913, the construction of the Xikai Church broke ground. The Tianjin French Concession Ministry of Industry claimed to protect the church and sent patrols to the area.The Tianjin Police Department dispatched 8 policemen to guard the Zhangzhuang Bridge (wooden bridge) that must pass from the French Concession to Old Xikai on the Qiangzi River at the border between China and France.In this way, a confrontation between Chinese and French police was formed in the Laoxikai area.

After the confrontation lasted for one year, in July 1914, the French Consul in Tianjin, Paul Ruhua, wrote to the Zhili Negotiation Office, arguing that because the Chinese side did not reply to the French Consul’s note, the French Concession sent patrols in Laoxikai and built Lu Lu did not raise any objections, which meant that the Chinese side had acquiesced that the Laoxikai area was the French concession, and therefore asked the Chinese side to withdraw the police.The Zhili Interpretation Office refuted this.

In September 1915, the Industrial Bureau of the Tianjin French Concession distributed leaflets in the old Xikai area, requiring local residents to pay taxes to the concession authorities.

In June 1916, the Old Xikai Cathedral and its ancillary buildings were all completed, and the church institutions officially moved in.The Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the French Concession planted the French flag in the nearly 6-acre triangle area between Dushan Road, Yingkou Road and Xining Road in front of the church, and set up a boundary sign to indicate that this place has been included in the French Concession, and Annan (Vietnamese) soldiers were sent to guard it.Chinese officials have not made a clear statement. On October 50, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in the French Concession issued an ultimatum to Zhili Province, requiring China to cede Lao Xikai within 10 hours.

On the evening of October 10, the French Consul in Tianjin led patrols in the French Concession and Annan soldiers, disarmed and detained the Chinese police stationed at the Zhangzhuang Bridge.

Members of the National Party immediately seized this opportunity and mobilized the citizens of Tianjin to stage large-scale protests. On October 10, the National Power and Territory Association mobilized thousands of people to hold demonstrations and went to the Zhili Provincial Office, the Negotiation Office and the Provincial Council to petition.The flag of the National Party and the five-color national flag of China are flying in the streets and alleys of Tianjin.

On October 10, the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce decided to boycott banknotes issued by French banks and French goods, and asked the government to call the French government to request the replacement of the French ambassador to China. On October 23, more than 10 people from all walks of life held a public meeting, and decided to electrify the whole country to cut off trade with France, and not to sell Chinese goods to France.

The Chinese government was initially prepared to compromise with France, ready to accept the reality that France occupied the Old West.However, as the anti-French movement in Tianjin became increasingly fierce, Foreign Minister Chen ** offered to resign. On October 10, Xia Yiting, acting vice-minister of foreign affairs, met with representatives of demonstrators at the Zhili Negotiation Office. He was besieged for expressing critical opinions and was soon dismissed.

On November 11, the workers, slaves, rickshaw workers, maids, and employees of the French Concession Company and other factories in the French Concession went on strike. The total number of strikers reached 12. The strike lasted for 1400 months and paralyzed the French Concession. , The light factory was cut off, and the roads and garbage were left unattended.At the same time, Chinese residents and businessmen living in the French Concession also set off a movement to move to the Chinese territory.

Due to the heavy losses of French businessmen in China, and France was fully committed to the First World War, it was unable to intervene in Eastern affairs.At that time, the main battlefield of the European battlefield returned to the Western Front. The Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme almost assembled all the forces of Britain, France and Germany.The battles of Verdun and the Somme, with their infernal fires, bloodied both sides. British and French losses on the Western Front in 1916 amounted to 120 million (combined losses of all types).Germany lost 80 people.From the point of view of the Allies, blood was not shed entirely in vain.

Ludendorff later wrote, partly with self-exculpation, that 1916 had "utterly exhausted" the German army on the Western Front.Falkenhain, an advocate of the war of attrition, became a victim of his own strategy. He was dismissed as chief of staff in late August, and Hindenburg and Ludendorff, newly victorious on the Eastern Front, took command.

In view of the huge losses in these two battles, and the fact that the French government realized that it could not get more from the Chinese by scaring it, its attitude softened.

The French government ordered the minister in China to end the Laoxikai incident as soon as possible.So the French minister asked the Chinese government to temporarily maintain the status quo, and asked the British minister to China Sir Zhu Erdian to mediate.The Chinese government did not formally accept it, and the two sides did not reach any agreement. The Laoxikai issue continued to be an unsolved issue between China and France. In fact, the Laoxikai area still maintained a Sino-French co-management situation for a long time.

Although the Laoxikai incident has not really been completely resolved, the National Party has really made a splash.Next, Li Mohan yelled loudly for the National Party on the incident of Britain and France recruiting Chinese laborers in China.

In the military history of the First World War, it was called the first war with modern significance. In this war, aircraft, tanks, submarines, mines, gas bombs, etc. began to appear on the battlefield on a large scale for the first time. Their powerful lethality In the first two years of the war, the Anglo-French allied forces, who thought they were powerful, felt the shortage of troops and labor. They began to recruit a large number of foreign soldiers from their colonies, and China, which was rich in labor, was targeted early. up.

At the end of 1915, a Frenchman who claimed to be coming to China for agricultural development came to Beijing. He used an agricultural technician to cover up his real identity as Lieutenant Colonel of the French Ministry of War, named Truptil.The real purpose of his trip was to start secret negotiations with the Beiyang government in an attempt to recruit laborers from China to the European battlefield.Because China still claimed to be a neutral country at that time, the Beiyang government was unwilling to offend Germany, Austria and other countries, so the negotiations could only be conducted in secret.With the ambition to participate in international affairs, the Beiyang government reached an agreement with France. Huimin Company, which specializes in recruitment matters, was established in Beijing in May 1916. It set up offices in Tianjin, Pukou, Qingdao and Hong Kong to recruit and transport Chinese workers. .

The initial goal of the French side was to recruit 20 Chinese workers, but because Tianjin Huimin Company deducted the expenses of Chinese workers and France tried to seize Tianjin Laoxikai by force, which aroused public grievances, it only recruited 3.8 people in the end.Relying on their leased land in Weihaiwei, Shandong, and using the church network, the cunning and cunning British quietly launched recruitment work in Shandong, Hebei and other places, and finally recruited a total of 9.8 people.In addition, Russia also recruited laborers from Northeast China, Shandong and other places to go to the European Eastern Front.

As a time traveler, Li Mohan knew how difficult the actual living conditions of these Chinese laborers who went to the European battlefield were.Since 1916, when the first batch of 2500 Chinese laborers from Shandong boarded a ship from Qingdao to Europe, nearly 20 laborers from Shandong, Zhili, Henan and other provinces went to Europe one after another. There were more than 2000 World War I laborers near Weixian County alone, and among them died 500 people are missing.

However, in the latter part of the First World War, a large number of French men died on the battlefield, resulting in a large shortage of French labor.The crane drivers in almost all the material distribution sites such as ports and railway stations in France are Chinese laborers. In addition to undertaking the "coolie" work of building roads and building fortifications to bury corpses, Chinese laborers are also distributed in large numbers in large and small factories. Ammunition factories, machinery factories, automobile and locomotive factories, and even tank factories all have Chinese laborers. Some of them have mastered skilled skills in French factories and become technicians one by one, or because they participated in the construction of fortifications and road repairs. Build bridges and become an expert in engineering and construction.This is another huge treasure for China, which is extremely short of technical talents.

On the one hand, Li Mohan ordered Duan Qingxi and Wang Shihua to negotiate with the British and the French as commissioners to get better treatment for the Chinese workers, at least in terms of the contract.At the same time, Li Mohan also secretly sent agents from the Military Intelligence Department and dispatched national party and political workers to organize all the Chinese workers from Shandong and form a Chinese labor union.If conditions permit, a branch of the National Party will also be established among the Chinese workers.In the end, Li Mohan simply stated that as long as they are Chinese laborers who have joined the Nationalist Party, their family members will be taken care of by the National Party organization, and all the expenses will be borne by the Governor's Office.

As soon as this policy came out, not only the Chinese workers in Shandong were tempted, but even the Chinese workers in other provinces expressed their desire to join the National Party, although these low-educated workers couldn’t tell the difference between joining the National Party and joining a Jianghu gang. the difference.