Faced with the fierce offensive of public opinion from all sides, led by the "Daily Express", the "Empire News" and "Oriental Times", which had kept a low profile in the early debates, also began to join in. The public opinion position has always been controlled by the middle and upper classes, which are mainly merchants and workshop owners in the imperial capital. Its main shareholder Gao Lishu has long been on the same front with Xijiang. The main reason why he did not exert force in the early stage is that Xijiang hopes that some neutral media will take the lead, but the "Oriental Times" is a new newspaper. They were funded by some of the people who moved west to the imperial capital when the East China Sea and Jiangnan industrial and commercial forces were experiencing war between the two places. However, in In just a few months, it has developed into the third largest newspaper in the imperial capital after "Daily Express" and "Empire News". It is quite popular among the middle and lower class people, and they have long been under the influence of Liao Qichang. Next, they were on the line with Xijiang, but now they needed to go into battle naked.
"Oriental Times" was the first to fire the counterattack. An article titled "Celebrate the Father's Death, but the Disaster Is Not Over" listed a member of the royal family who held a high and powerful position, but flattered and made peace with others, lost power, humiliated the country, and lost land. Internally, he intimidates and deceives, plunders people's wealth, and even provokes civil war and fights. He is a typical expert in civil war and an outsider in foreign war. If such people are allowed to have greater power, the empire will only sink further and there will be no turning back. the road. This report not only caused great repercussions in the imperial capital, but also triggered a wave of protests in the southeast region, especially among the industrial and commercial classes in the areas controlled by Situ Tai.
That sentence about plundering people's wealth is even more popular in the Southeast. The "Ocean Business Daily" under the control of Situ Yuan in Quanzhou published a series of articles titled "The Sinking of the Southeast" that echoed each other. The two contrasted the prosperity of the East China Sea and Jiangnan five years ago and the current depression. , with extremely delicate writing and practical and reliable data, objectively analyzes everything from finance and taxation to the current situation of various industries, from people's income to social security conditions, with particular emphasis on the industrial and commercial industries in the East China Sea and Jiangnan that became the empire's tax centers. From shipbuilding, tea making, salt making, wine making, oil extraction, wood deep processing, cotton spinning, silk, ceramics, handicrafts, luxury goods, paper making and other manufacturing industries to various circulation commerce and financial industries, the data is listed line by line. Comparing the situation five years ago to the current decline, the shrinkage ranges from 60% to 20%. The entire industrial and commercial industry has declined across the board and has declined to 70% of what it was less than five years ago. Such a huge decline The magnitude is unprecedented in the history of the entire Southeast. There is only one reason for the serious decline of industry and commerce in the Southeast, and that is the change in the regional real power controllers. The rulers only know how to seize, but do not know how to provide a good development environment for the development of industry and commerce. Killing the goose to get the eggs, and fishing from the marsh. If this situation continues, Southeast's bankruptcy is a certainty.
The article "The Fall of the Southeast" was co-authored by Wen Zhengming, a famous talent in Quanzhou, and Zhu Zhishan, a famous investigative reporter from the "Ocean Business News". Zhu Zhishan was mainly responsible for investigating, verifying and analyzing data, while Wen Zhengming was mainly responsible for investigating the reasons for the prosperity and decline of Southeast industry and commerce. The elaboration focuses on the in-depth discussion of the reasons for the decline of Southeast industry and commerce, especially the psychological jealousy and political discrimination of the rulers facing such a prosperous place as Southeast. It can be said that the needle hits the mark and penetrates the wood three points. Although it was not named, even a fool would know that this was an offensive article against Situ Tai. The article concluded by stating that if such rulers were allowed to be in power, the empire and the Tanghe nation would only become a state and become a second-class nation. The tragic situation of the nation.
As soon as this article was published, it immediately aroused the resonance of the entire empire's industrial and commercial circles. Even though the industrial and commercial classes in Yanyun County, Situ Tai's hometown, did not dare to openly express their support, the atmosphere of discussing this article in the Yanyun Chamber of Commerce and its affiliated chambers of commerce was But it became more and more intense day by day, and even many media outlets in Milan Mahad, Andako, and the Nanyang Alliance countries reprinted this realistic serialized article. With this article, Wen Zhengming and Zhu Zhishan established their pride in the imperial press, and it also served as a starting point for them to later occupy a place in the journalistic circles of the glorious empire.
Following the "Oriental Times" in launching a counterattack were the two media outlets, "Empire News" and "Business Weekly".
The Empire Times rectified Li Wufeng's name with an article called "The Glory of the Empire". The article narrates how Li Wufeng turned the tide and defeated the Luobei invaders in Qingyang. It uses gorgeous words and sensational writing style to describe how Li Wufeng defeated the largest empire in the northwest of the empire in Western Xinjiang. How did the nomadic tribes invaded by foreign forces recover Yinchuan and the Western Regions, which had always been outside the empire's territory, so that the empire's northwest frontier troubles could finally be eliminated? How did they work hard to quell the empire's largest internal trouble, the Taiping Rebellion Party, and finally bring the corrupt situation in the hinterland of the Central Plains under control. At the same time, he also spoke highly of Li Wufeng, who during his tenure as the Protector of Western Xinjiang, in order to stabilize the price of food in the Imperial Capital, he even transported the reserved grain from Western Xinjiang into the Imperial Capital, which greatly alleviated the food crisis in the Imperial Capital and allowed ordinary people to finally tide over this crisis. One difficulty. Finally, in the face of the invasion of the empire's biggest enemies, the Liberians, they fought hard and fought hard, and finally defeated the Liberians, which greatly boosted the ambition of the Tanghe nation and forced the Kaman people to quit, known as the best in the world. The imperial fortress of Jiayuguan Pass, these great achievements are unprecedented since the founding of the empire.
This article, which was obviously meant to praise Li Wufeng, won praise from the middle and lower classes of the imperial capital, especially among the younger generation. Li Wufeng's entrepreneurial history has become an insurmountable legendary myth, and along with it, Li Wufeng's The portraits and dressing styles were also introduced to the imperial capital along with some people with ulterior motives in Western Xinjiang, attracting countless young people to imitate them crazily and becoming a star-chasing craze. Due to its gorgeous writing style, this article became a model article used by later court literati to praise someone.
Unlike the "Empire Times" which targets the middle and lower class people, "Business Weekly" is the preferred reading book with a certain professional taste among the imperial capital and even the middle and upper class elites of the empire. Its target audience is not just the industrial and commercial class of the imperial capital, but has already Penetrating into the gentry and aristocracy of the imperial capital, "Business Weekly" published a series of special reports titled "XXX Economic Development Trend Series in Western Xinjiang". From the economic development status of various economic regions with different characteristics and different industries in Western Xinjiang, many It elaborates on the development process of Xijiang's economy from poverty to prosperity, and focuses on the huge changes that Xijiang's economic development has brought to the lives of the people in Xijiang. Of course, as a commercial publication, "Business Weekly" inevitably focuses on economic content. It mainly introduces the advantageous economy of the ten county-level regions currently controlled by Xijiang and the current measures adopted by Xijiang to encourage development. Various industrial and commercial policies.
This series of articles not only explains the reasons for Western Xinjiang's current economic achievements based on the policies and measures currently adopted by the middle and upper classes of the empire, but also provides insights for the business class, especially the business class, who are struggling because the economy in the interior of the empire is in a period of sharp decline. It provides an excellent financing and investment place for small and medium-sized industrial and commercial enterprises. This series of articles not only won Xijiang a lot of points among the business class in the imperial capital, but also achieved a good response in the financial industry of the imperial capital, which has always been within Situ Tai's sphere of influence. Especially the article "The Economic Development Trend of Xijiang" "Finance Chapter of the Series" not only introduces in detail the birth of Northwest Bank, the predecessor of Xijiang Bank, but also introduces the operations of private financial institutions such as Datong Bank, Wanfeng Bank, Jinling Bank and Jiangnan Bank in various parts of Xijiang. It also introduces the development of financial institutions such as the Southern First Industrial and Commercial Bank, Kansai Commercial Bank, Peninsula Industrial and Commercial Bank and other financial institutions that have been relocated from other places and built by local industrial and commercial forces. At the end of the article, the article also puts forward constructive suggestions to encourage the imperial capital to have a complete The financial system and financial institutions with rich experience in the industry have entered Western Xinjiang for development, and listed the blind spot areas of financial institutions such as Zhongnan County, East Tengger County and Xiyu County as the best time to enter development.
Unlike the "Empire News", "Oriental Times" and "Business Weekly" which take on the frontal task of blocking, a large number of various non-mainstream media that have a large market among the people at the bottom of the imperial capital take on the task of comprehensive counterattack. They attack from all angles. , various aspects launched attacks on the mainstream figures of the Situ family, with Situ Tai and Situ Yushuang bearing the brunt.
Needless to say, Situ Tai naturally needs to say that betraying his country and seeking glory has become his first crime. Not to mention losing the treasure island, Kamchatka Island, and Ryukyu Islands, he also flirted with the Japanese invaders and looked like a servile man. This is betraying the sovereignty of the country. Some newspapers and periodicals directly denounced his behavior as a traitor to the Tang Dynasty, and he should be deprived of his qualifications as a member of the Tang clan.
Neglecting national interests for the sake of his own interests became Situ Tai's second crime. When faced with the pressure of the Liberian troops, instead of finding ways to resist foreign aggression, he worked hard to fight a civil war, provoking a civil war in the East China Sea and a civil war in Jiangnan, directly This resulted in widespread destruction of the northern territory, and the people in the Yunzhong region became the worst victims. The autonomous government formed by the local gentry has clearly refused to accept the rule of any member of the Situ family. They believe that hundreds of thousands of people in Yunzhong were first abandoned by Situ Tai and then by the central government of the empire. When hundreds of thousands of people faced hunger and During the dual threat of the plague, only Xijiang extended a helping hand. The local gentry and people made it clear that in addition to accepting the rule of Xijiang, they refused to be governed by anyone, and formed a local self-defense army, ready to defend their right to autonomy. .