Chapter 113 1. It was stated in the "Tui Bei Tu" thousands of years ago that Yuan Keding was the emperor

After Wang Kaiyun left Beijing, the activities of the monarchy were carried out day by day.Seeing that a new generation of dynasty is about to be born in China, Liang Shiyi, Zhang Zhenfang and others with huge financial resources are extremely reluctant to let Yang Du, Sun Yujun and other scholars take the first place in supporting the new lord. They throw a lot of gold and silver, Drive ghosts and gods to grind for it.The National Petition Federation has a large organization and a large number of members. It didn't take long for its arrogance to greatly surpass that of the Preparatory Committee.

The six founders of the Chou'an Society, nicknamed the Six Gentlemen by the world, among them, Yan Fu's listing was extremely reluctant.Recently, Liu Shipei had a sudden inspiration in the study of phonology. He spent all his sleep and food in his study, eager to turn his inspiration into results, and tried his best not to touch anything during meetings.Hu Ying, Li Xiehe were more used to bang bang bang bang, impatient to do more trivial things.So, only two gentlemen, Yang Du and Sun Yuyun, were left busy.In order to show that they attached great importance to constitutionalism and to distinguish them from a group of politicians who followed suit, the two of them combined to hang a sign at the gate of the Western-style building on Shifuma Avenue: Constitutional and Political Consultative Conference.The number of large-scale activities in the Preparatory Committee has decreased, and the Petition Federation intends to seduce them, so the members of the Preparatory Committee have changed their doors and become members of the Petition Federation.

Zhu Qiqian, Yuan Naikuan and others in the ceremony preparatory office worked even harder. After sewing a dragon robe with 800,000 yuan, they made a flat sky crown with 500,000 yuan.On the top of the crown, there are hanging brackets all around, a string of pearls hanging from each bracket, and a big pearl on the brim of the crown.Use 120,000 yuan to engrave a jade seal of the new dynasty.The jade seal is four inches square, and engraved on it are the eight characters "birth is a destiny, and history is boundless".Use 600,000 yuan to make five gold seals, and 400,000 yuan to make a carved dragon throne.In addition, there are imperial cases, ancient tripods, ancient furnaces, treasure screens, treasure fans, etc.They claimed that in order to save money, the ceremonial guards and brine books used for ascending to the throne and worshiping heaven were not redone, and they were temporarily borrowed from the former Qing imperial family.In this way, the expenses on the bills they made totaled 20 million yuan.Anyone with a discerning eye knows that at least half of the silver dollars fell into the pockets of the staff in various links.

At the same time as the lively advocacy and the extravagant preparations, a group of important officials in the government of the Republic of China adopted a non-cooperative attitude.Secretary of State Xu Shichang asked to resign on the grounds of illness, but Yuan Shikai refused, so he simply moved out of Zhongnanhai and moved to Butterfly Hutong, claiming that he would not do business while recuperating.Zhao Erxun, curator of Qing History Museum, expressed his dissatisfaction by staying behind closed doors.Minister of Education Tang Hualong, Attorney General Luo Wengan, and Senate Political Council member Xiong Xiling all resigned and left Beijing.Under their leadership, it was common for Beijing officials to resign and ask for leave for a while.The government had to send patrol police to guard the Qianmen station and traffic tunnels, and strictly interrogated officials leaving Beijing.

This tendency of the capital made Yang Du quite uneasy, and what was particularly disturbing was that he had seen in the "Suncheon Times" that the Japanese government and the opposition generally opposed the government's support for China's imperialism.The opposition said that Yuan Shikai did not fully accept the Twenty-One Articles, that he was not a friend of Japan, and that he was always capricious and dishonest. Opinions differ, and Yuan Shikai may not necessarily be an emperor. "Suncheon Times" is a Chinese-language newspaper run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in China. It has a great influence in the press circle. Yuan Shikai attaches great importance to it and reads it every day.

Japan's support is an important reason for Yuan Shikai's self-made imperial system. Will the current opposition from the Japanese government and opposition shake him?If Yuan Shikai himself didn't want to be emperor, wouldn't everything be a waste of time?Yang Du finally couldn't bear his temper, he came to Bingmasi Hutong to discuss with Yuan Keding. "Xizi, don't worry, the old man doesn't know this at all." When Yang Du uttered the article in "Suntian Times", the prince of Taiyuan, who was encouraged by the bright future of the imperial system, smiled and patted Yang Du on the shoulder and said.

"You blocked the "Suntian Times" and prevented it from entering Zhongnanhai?" Yang Du knew that Yuan Shikai never went out, so as long as the newspaper did not enter the presidential palace, he would have no way of knowing. "That's okay! He doesn't have to read the newspapers run by the Chinese, and sometimes he says that the people who run the newspapers are looking for trouble. But he must read this Japanese newspaper every day, and he attaches great importance to the articles in the newspaper. "Yuan Keding said while bringing Yang Du a cup of coffee.

"Since the president watches it every day, how could he not know?" Yang Du was quite puzzled. "Think about it, why is this?" Mr. Yuan crossed his legs, and an indescribable smile appeared on his face.A few days ago, he privately used 20,000 silver dollars to cast a jade seal engraved with the words "Emperor Grand Prince". The material was jade-green and smooth Hetian jade, which was three inches square.Not only did he not tell Lao Tzu about this matter, he even hid it from Yang Du, Liang Shiyi and others, and Yuan Naikuan arranged it for him.There is a reason why Yuan Keding did not publicize this matter.

Boss Meng of the Ruifuxiang Silk Shop, who made princely clothes for the prince of the Yuan family, designed several different styles.There are sixteen sets of prince's clothes in each style, whether it is Yuan Keding, the eldest son, or Yuan Keyou, the youngest son who is less than two years old, there is only a difference in size, not in pattern.Yuan Keding felt uncomfortable after seeing it, and thought to himself that he was the prince of course, how could the prince's clothes be the same as those of other princes?He couldn't make it clear, so he sent these styles to his father for review, and pointed out that there should be differences in the same style.Yuan Shikai agreed with his son's opinion. He personally defined a style, and pointed out that the patterns on the chests of the eldest son, second son, and fifth son were in the shape of wheat ears, which was different from the peony-shaped patterns on the chests of the other thirteen sets.

After seeing his father's instruction, Yuan Keding felt cold for a long time.Undoubtedly, in his father's mind, there were three candidates for the crown prince. Since his father often said that he was a disabled person with incomplete six roots, Yuan Keding guessed that the future heir to the throne would probably be one of his second brother Kewen and fifth brother Kequan. .Thinking of this, Yuan Keding felt hatred towards these two younger brothers: the country that he worked so hard to achieve finally fell into the hands of others who didn't do anything, can he swallow it? Yuan Keding knew that since ancient times there have been many such foolish fathers and emperors, isn't Li Yuan one of them?If you want to learn from Mr. Taiyuan, you must learn to the end!So Yuan Keding engraved this jade seal privately to express his determination to win, and to show his cards to Kewen and Kequan at the right time: If you are sensible, get out of the way; if you are not sensible, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji are role models!

"I can't think of it." Yang Du shook his head after thinking for a while.Having been with this Mr. Yuan for several years, Yang Du knows that this person has a lot of tricks, and besides, he has a large group of brains around him to help him out. of Lao Tzu. "Look at this!" Yuan Keding proudly took out a few newspapers from the drawer and handed them to Yang Du. "Isn't this the "Suncheon Times"?" Yang Du saw the headline at a glance. "Look carefully, how is it different from the "Suncheon Times" you usually read." There are different?Yang Dushen was surprised, they were all "Suncheon Times", could there be any difference?He looked carefully.Looking at the masthead first, I didn't find the slightest difference.Looking at the layout style and font, it is the same as the "Suncheon Times" that I read on weekdays.He remembered that there was a big article on the first page yesterday, written by a senior officer in the Ministry of War named Goro Murayama.The article used fierce words to criticize Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma's covert support for China's restoration of the imperial system.It was precisely because of reading this article that I was eager to talk to Yuan Keding about the "Shuntian Times".Yang Du found yesterday's newspaper and read it two or three times, but he couldn't see this article. Instead, he saw the remarks of the Ministry of War in support of the prime minister's decision.Yang Du became very puzzled: "What's going on, are there two copies of "Suncheon Times"?" "You're right, there are two copies." Yuan Keding said to Yang Du with a smile, "The old man is looking at this one, he can't see the one in Beijing at all." "How did this newspaper come about?" "Let me tell you, it's just that you must keep a secret for me, and you can't reveal a little bit in front of anyone." Yuan Keding told Yang Du the secret. One day half a month ago, Guo Yuan, a native of Shaoxing who was deeply trusted by Yuan Keding, came to Yuan Keding happily.As soon as he entered Yuan Keding's room, he immediately closed the doors and windows tightly, and whispered mysteriously: "My lord, you will definitely become the emperor. This was decided more than a thousand years ago!" "How do you say that?" Yuan Keding was confused for a moment. "It's already written in "Tui Bei Tu"!" Guo Yuan took out a thin, yellowed book from his pocket, flipping through it while talking. "It's clearly stated in Forty-Three Elephants." "Tui Bei Tu" is a book that has been circulated among the Chinese people for a long time. According to legend, it was co-edited by Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng in the Tang Dynasty.Write paragraph by paragraph, each paragraph with a hexagram name, an image, and a few words.Because there is an image, a section is also called an image.When the compilation reached the 60th image, Li Chunfeng pushed Yuan Tiangang's back and said, "Forget it, don't make up any more." .It is said that the words in "Tui Bei Tu" have been fulfilled one by one in future generations, so this book is very mysterious among the people. "How do you write Forty-Three Elephants?" Yuan Keding looked at Guo Yuan with great interest as he flipped through the pages. Finally turned to forty-three elephants.I saw two people painted on it, one big and one small, who seemed to be on their way, but also seemed to be fleeing.There are a few words under the image: the king is not the king, the minister is not the minister, the beginning is difficult and dangerous, and the end is calm. "Keding!" Yuan Keding saw his name appearing on the book at a glance, he was surprised and delighted. Guo Yuan said solemnly: "The scene predicted by Yuan and Li thousands of years ago is happening today. The king is not the king, which means that the president is clearly the king, but he is not called the emperor. This is the king and the king. The same Yes, all the officials are no longer ministers. The restoration of the monarchy will encounter some difficulties at the beginning, but in the end the entire country will belong to the eldest son Keding you!" Yuan Keding's heart was pounding after hearing this: It seems that this is God's will!He hugged Guo Yuan's shoulders tightly, and said excitedly: "Mr. Guo, I will definitely reward you heavily after you are done!" Guo Yuan said: "If the eldest son wants me to do something, I will go through fire or water." In the past few days, "Shuntian Times" has published several articles in Japan against the Chinese imperial system. Yuan Keding is worried about this matter. He fears that his father's confidence in the imperial system will be shaken.So Guo Yuan was asked to help out with ideas on how to eliminate the possible influence of the "Shuntian Times" on Yuan Shikai.When he learned that Yuan Shikai made up his mind to read this newspaper every day, Guo Yuan came up with an idea: make another copy of "Suntian Times", everything is the same as the real one, and all the articles in the newspaper that day will be copied Articles that are beneficial to the imperial system are deleted, and the vacant parts are filled with content written by myself in favor of the imperial system. Although Yuan Keding felt that this move was quite risky, and that once he found out, he would be guilty of deceiving his father and king, but inspired by "Final Keding", he was determined to take the risk.If you don't tell lies, how can you accomplish great things! From the second day onwards, all the "Suntian Times" in Zhongnanhai were issued by the printing factory controlled by Yuan Keding, and none of the real "Suntian Times" could enter.Fooled by a series of false advocacy texts, Yuan Shikai feels very good about the imperial system. "It's really you!" Yang Du admired and praised, but he couldn't help thinking in his heart: Can the Chinese Empire really be established by deception? "Xizi, good time for you to come, there is something I need you to do." "What's the matter?" Yang Du put down the fake "Suntian Times" in his hand, and stared at the young master of Taiyuan who was no less courageous than Li Shimin back then. "The national congresses of all provinces and regions in the country have voted on the national system, and all 1,993 votes voted for the monarchy. In a few days, the Senate will be entrusted by the national congresses of each province to send a letter to the president. The draft of the promotional book has been drawn up, you should take a look at it first." Yuan Keding tidied up the "Suntian Times" scattered on the coffee table, put them back in the drawer, and took out the draft of the book. After Yang Du took it, he quickly browsed it: "Which talented person wrote this? It's well written. I think it can be used, and there is no need to make any changes." "This was written by Yang Shiqi." Yuan Keding said flatly, "It's good, but it's rather empty. It didn't write about the president's great achievements. This is the second thing. The most important thing is that he didn't explain clearly the president's attitude towards the change of the state system. Then In his inaugural oath in 2011, he said that he would defend the republic to the death and never allow the monarchy to be restored, so why he accepts the enthronement as emperor now, this process is not clearly stated.” Yang Du thought, this is indeed a big event. The words in the oath announced to the whole country and the whole world were less than four years ago.How should this be explained to the world? "Yang Shiqi couldn't write about this process well, because he didn't have this personal experience, but you can write about it, because you also actively advocated the republic at the beginning, and now you actively advocate the monarchy. How did you change yourself? Clean it up and write it out. That's enough. What do you say?" Yuan Keding stared at Yang Du.This glance made Yang Du's heart jump.He seemed to feel that Yuan Keding was interrogating him, and the subtext of the interrogation was: How did you go back and forth and change your mind?A sense of shame slowly rose in his heart. How did you change yourself?Half of it is out of responsibility to the country and the people, and the other half is to gain the capital of the new prime minister.This kind of thinking can no longer be confessed. As for Yuan Shikai, he has only one thought, that is, to establish his personal supreme authority of life and death, and to establish the Yuan Dynasty of the eternal family.And can this be made public? Yang Du felt rather embarrassed and said: "Xingcheng also spent a lot of effort in writing this recommendation letter, not to mention that he is in Zuo Cheng and loves face. If he is not used, he will be unhappy." "Yeah, he must use this recommendation letter." Yuan Keding said resolutely: "You have read history, Xizi, you should know that since ancient times, emperors have been pushed three times and yielded three times. How can a president only have one push when he ascends the throne? Yang Shiqi's This is considered as a push, and the president will make a concession. This second push is up to you to write, the president will make another two concessions, then three and three concessions, and finally the president will sacrifice to the heavens. This is magnificent , fair and aboveboard. Xizi, no one else can surpass your article, so just write it and finish it within three days. In addition to clearly describing the transformation process, you must also explain the achievements of President Chen." Articles are not easy to write, but if you want to be the prime minister of the new dynasty, no matter how difficult it is to write an article, you must also make it a beautiful cluster, otherwise how will you be able to convince the public in the future? After returning to the mansion on Shifuma Avenue, Yang Du closed the door to conceive this second recommendation book.He wants to use all the fuss he has cultivated in the past few decades to do a good job in this majestic essay for the new dynasty Moji. He envisioned the article to be divided into two parts.The first half sings carols for Yuan Shikai, and the second half defends Yuan Shikai.The first half of the hymn is divided into two parts, namely merit and virtue. Yuan's achievements are outstanding, and this part is easy to write.He quickly wrote the six major achievements of Jingwu, Kuangguo, Kaihua, Jingnan, calming chaos, and making neighbors.As for virtue, it was difficult for him to write.The world said that Yuan Shikai used the Revolutionary Party to suppress the orphans and widows, and also used the Revolutionary Party to claim credit for the traitors of the Revolutionary Party.Yang Du knew very well in his heart that Yuan Shikai was exactly such a person.Calling him a traitor is well-deserved, but showing his virtue is pure deception.To deceive the world is to deceive the world, this is the only way to go. After Yang Du bit off a few pen holders, he finally wrote the second half.He praised Yuan Shikai for his utmost benevolence and righteousness towards the Qing court, but in the end he could not preserve it. It was a series of relocations, not a matter of personnel. A sage king who is more noble than Shang Tang and Zhou Wen. The most difficult thing to write is the defense.He thought hard, and he had no other better excuse, so he could only start from the perspective of following public opinion.After getting together, he also wrote a paragraph: At that time, it was public opinion to adopt a republic as the state system, and it is also public opinion to change the state system to a monarchy and constitution now.The article was tactful, but Yang Du knew in his heart that it was hard to say how many percent of the people the so-called public opinion represented. Finally finished writing this second push, Yang Du breathed a long sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.He felt that this was the most difficult article in his life!If you have to write the book yourself after recommending it for the third time, it will be difficult to deal with it even if you rack your brains and search your brains.Fortunately, Yuan Shikai was very satisfied after reading this recommendation letter. He had no intention of imitating ancient rituals, and he agreed to accept public opinion without a third recommendation. Yang Du was very excited when he found out, and he hurriedly told Sun Yuyun.Sun Yuyun was also very excited, so he proposed that the two of them, in the name of the chairman and vice chairman of the Constitutional and Political Consultative Conference, work together to promote Yuan Shikai's success. Naturally, this excerpt was also written by Yang Du.This kind of text is easy to write, no specific content is required, just pick some nice words and arrange them, and Yang Du can do it with a little thought.A few sentences in it, such as "Henko was at the time when the military uniforms were unloaded, and the Ming ancestor ascended to the pole on the day when the military affairs were not peaceful. When he was congratulated at the court, he opened the picture of the king's meeting; the name was fixed and the name was corrected, and the spring of the heart of heaven was seen. The neat couplets such as Gai Yuzhao's rule of hanging clothes in the south, and the ritual of Beichen's residence at once, made the former revolutionary heroes admire. Yang Duxing was still unfinished, thinking that although Master Xiangqi had left Beijing, he still had the name of the curator of national history, so there should be a letter of persuasion.Although the old gentleman does not approve of Yuan Shikai being emperor, the general situation has now been established, and he will not scold others after he knows that he will make a deal in his name. If the new emperor grants him the title of Marquis in the future, maybe he will still be greatly relieved The feeling of life! Since Yuan Keding believes in "Tui Bei Tu", his Lao Tzu must also believe in prophecy.Yang Du rummaged through the suitcases and found a copy of "Ming Prophecy" that he bought at the Tianqiao book stall 20 years ago. Xiangcheng is the old town of Chu, and it should be in the public." Yuan Shikai was really happy after seeing this persuasion package. On December 12th in the fourth year of the Republic of China, after two pushes and two concessions, Yuan Shikai, the president of the Republic of China, finally accepted the push of the Senate.In just a few days, he promulgated a series of major decisions: the name of the country was changed to the Chinese Empire, the next year was changed to the first year of Hongxian, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was renamed the Hall of Chengyun, the Hall of Central Harmony was renamed the Hall of Tiyuan, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony was renamed To build the pole hall. He also ordered thirteen former couples Li Yuanhong, Yikuang, Zaifeng, Shixu, Natong, Xiliang, Zhou Fu, old friends Xu Shichang, Zhao Erxun, Li Jingxi, Zhang Jian, Qishuo Wang Kaiyun, and Ma Xiangbo not to be ministers.Among them, the four old friends of Xu, Zhao, Li, and Zhang also specially awarded a photo of Songshan Mountain, called the Four Friends of Songshan Mountain.In addition to not proclaiming ministers, these four friends also enjoy preferential gifts such as Chengyu, Jianyu, a short table near the court, an annual fee of 20,000 yuan per person, and special court clothes. Li Yuanhong was also granted the title of Prince of Wuyi, Feng Guozhang, Duan Zhigui, Zhang Xun, etc. were named first-class princes, Tang Xiangming, Yan Xishan, Tang Jiyao, etc. were named first-class princes, Cao Kun, Jin Yunpeng, etc. were named first-class uncles, and Zhu Qinglan, etc. were named first-class sons , Feng Xu Shiying and others are first-class men. Although Yang Du did not get the fifth-class title, he was not disappointed.He knew that his great seal was when the crown prince ascended the throne, not at this moment. At this moment, he wanted to benefit those old men and soldiers and ruffians in exchange for their support for the empire. His days of ruling the world will be long in the future! Just as Yuan's father and son and Yang Du were immersed in the joy of the success of the imperial system, a power supply in the southwestern border sounded the death knell of the short-lived Hongxian Empire!