Chapter 4 3. When the new official takes office, there are three fires, Zaifeng wants to kill Yuan Shikai

Time is like running water, and the days always pass by unconsciously, and it is 1908 in a blink of an eye.In November of this year, Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi passed away one after another, less than a day apart. After the death of the two palaces, Guangxu's younger brother Zaifeng was promoted to the position of regent.Zaifeng was born in 1883. He inherited the title of Prince Chun after the death of the old Prince Chun. He was only 9 years old at the time.After falling out with Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Cixi began to train Zaifeng intentionally: in 1900, Zaifeng was appointed as a court walker, and later sent to Germany to represent the Qing court to apologize; in 1901, he was appointed Minister of Military Parade; He went to the Military Aircraft Department to learn to walk; in 1908, Zaifeng became Minister of Military Aircraft, when he was only 26 years old.After Guangxu Long Yuguang passed away, the Empress Dowager Cixi arranged for Zaifeng's son Puyi to succeed him, with the reign title Xuantong, and Zaifeng supervised the country as the regent.

Someone once said that before Guangxu died, Zaifeng went to see him for the last time.During this meeting, Guangxu asked his younger brother to kill Yuan Shikai and avenge himself.Some people say that during his imprisonment, Guangxu drew various ghost shapes with big heads and long bodies on paper every day, wrote the three characters "Yuan Shikai", and then tore them into pieces; he often drew a turtle with the three characters "Yuan Shikai" written on the back. Then paste it on the wall and shoot it with a small bamboo bow. After the shot is broken, you still don’t feel relieved, so you have to take it down and cut it into pieces, "making the pieces fly like butterflies."What's even more mysterious is that some people said that Guangxu didn't say a word before he died, but wrote the word "Zhan Yuan" in the air with his hands.

These rumors have been widely circulated, and they sound quite similar.After all, Yuan Shikai betrayed his friends in order to protect himself during the 1898 coup, and Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai for this reason. "Ten years of humiliation were all caused by Yuan Shikai."After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, even Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the "rebellious party", wrote to Zaifeng, saying that Yuan Shikai was the chief culprit of Guangxu's entrapment, and asked Zaifeng to "kill the thief".It seems that after the death of the umbrella Empress Dowager Cixi, Yuan Shikai's life is not easy.

Whether or not there was such a fabled "killing Yuan" fraternity, there was a reason for it, and there is no real evidence, but the first person Zaifeng had to deal with after he came to power was indeed Yuan Shikai.After the Year of Gengzi, Yuan Shikai had a great reputation under the protection of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and he did a lot of big and practical things. He must actively participate in everything to prepare for the constitution.Not only did Yuan Shikai have people in the court, but his disciples were all over the world, especially those generals in the Beiyang New Army. Which one was not Yuan Shikai's hard-core confidant and only followed him?

The concern of the royal family and nobles is not unreasonable. The Qing Dynasty was about to conquer the world, but what I didn't expect was that after more than two hundred years of pampering and pampering, the Eight Banners, which was once the pride of the Manchus, turned out to be It is no longer possible to fight, and the green battalion supported by a lot of money will collapse in the event of a battle, which is useless.After the Taiping Army and the Nian Army were suppressed, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other Han forces sprang up. The governors of various provinces were mostly Han people, and the local power was too large.Especially in the year of Gengzi, the Han governors in the south refused to implement the imperial court's order, and even announced "mutual protection in the southeast". In this vague way, the Qing court has actually lost half of the country.

The more you lose, the more you want to get it back.From the reform of the official system to the preparation of the constitution, the royal family and nobles have watched the power of the Han people continue to grow, especially the rising political star Yuan Shikai in the past few years. He is young and powerful and has many party members. sleep soundly. Sure enough, as soon as Zaifeng came to power, Prince Su Shanqi and Duke Zaize informed Zaifeng, "The internal and external military affairs of the imperial court are all Yuan Shikai's henchmen. In the past, what he feared was the Empress Dowager Cixi. There is no one in Yuan's mind who can restrain him." Shanqi and others suggested that the current strategy must be to make a decisive decision to cut through the mess quickly and deal with Yuan Shikai quickly; Misfortune is imminent.

However, freezing three feet does not happen in a day. How can Yuan Shikai's power be easily shaken in just one or two years?What's more, military aircraft is very important in the court. To deal with an important military minister like Yuan Shikai, you must get the consent of other military ministers. It is not easy for Manchu relatives to kill Yuan Shikai. Because of this, Zaifeng didn't dare to act rashly.After much deliberation, Zaifeng and the Empress Dowager Longyu invited the Chief Minister of Military Aircraft, Prince Qing Yikuang, to discuss how to deal with it.Unexpectedly, after Lao Qing heard this, he immediately fell on the ground without saying a word, acting like he was panicking.Under the stern questioning of Empress Dowager Longyu, Yikuan murmured that this matter was of great importance and he had to discuss it with Zhang Zhidong.Zaifeng had no choice but to summon Zhang Zhidong again.Zhang Zhidong was a minister of the Han Dynasty, and he was already in his twilight years. After hearing this, he couldn't help sighing, and felt sad when the rabbit died.After pondering for a while, Zhang Zhidong said: "The country has just suffered a great funeral, and the Lord is still young. At present, the most important thing is to stabilize the overall situation. At this time, if a precedent is set for killing ministers, I am afraid there will be endless troubles." He saw Zaifeng Still hesitating, he said again: "The king's way is frank and the king's way is flat. I hope the regent will think about it carefully, and he can return to his hometown if he is vacant."

It should be said that the relationship between Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai was not good, but what he said this time was indeed the words of a benevolent and kind elder.Regardless of whether Zhang Zhidong was thinking about the overall situation or something else, his statement inadvertently protected Yuan Shikai. In fact, apart from Yikuang and Zhang Zhidong who opposed the execution of Yuan Shikai, several other military ministers also expressed their opposition, such as Natong and Shixu, both of whom were private parties of Yuan Shikai, and Shixu also secretly reported to Yuan Shikai.Among the local governors, Duan Fang, governor of Liangjiang, was Yuan Shikai's relative by marriage, and Xu Shichang, governor of the three eastern provinces, was Yuan Shikai's brother for many years.In addition, Zhu Erdian, the British Minister to China, also interceded for Yuan Shikai. These people constituted an important force to prevent Yuan from being killed.

However, having said that, Yuan Shikai is not easy to deal with, but under the imperial power system, why didn't Yuan Shikai panic?When he heard the news that "it will be unfavorable to Yuan" from Prince Qing's Mansion, he was also panicked like a bereaved dog, unable to do anything. On January 2, 1909, amidst the rumors that Yuan Shikai would be severely punished, Yuan Shikai faced the icy cold wind and went to the inner court as usual (after Zaifeng came to power, he had to convene military ministers to discuss government affairs every day).When he walked to the palace, he was stopped by the eunuch on duty who had been bribed a long time ago, and said secretly: "The regent is very angry today, so Yuan Dajun doesn't need to enter. I heard that the order of severe punishment will be issued soon. It is unfavorable, and it is better to prepare for self-sufficiency early. How severe the decree is, it is beyond my generation's ability to know."

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai felt as if he had been beaten with a sap. With his mind blank, he walked back to his home in a daze.When he was a little awake, Yuan Shikai hurriedly summoned his aides and cronies to discuss countermeasures.His subordinate Zhang Huaizhi said that since the situation is critical, it is better to go to the train station and take a third-class train to Tianjin immediately. After all, the governor of Zhili, Yang Shixiang, is one of his own.After Yuan Shikai heard this, he immediately got up and packed his bags, and went to Tianjin under the protection of Zhang Huaizhi and others.In order to prevent accidents, Yuan Shikai did not dare to get off at Tianjin Station, but asked Zhang Huaizhi to call Yang Shixiang one stop in advance and asked him to send someone to pick him up.

Yang Shixiang was still calm. After receiving the call, he told Yuan Shikai not to come to the supervisory office, nor let anyone see his whereabouts.Just as Yuan Shikai was annoyed, Yang Shixiang's cronies quickly boarded the train.He brought the latest news from Beijing, saying that Yuan Shikai's "crime is only to open a vacancy, and there is no danger of life." Cause more trouble and turmoil. At this time, the Yuan Mansion was already in a panic. The news of Yuan Shikai's disappearance spread like wildfire in Beijing. For a while, rumors abounded. It must be restless.It wasn't until later that Zhang Zhidong, who was in charge of the military affairs and responsible for finding Yuan Shikai, heard the definite news that Lao Yuan had returned, that a stone in his heart fell to the ground.Afterwards, Lao Zhang couldn't help but joked to the left and right: "People say that I am 'learned but incompetent', and Yuan Shikai is 'incapable of learning and inexperienced'. I see, he is not only skilled, but also versatile. You see He ran away in a hurry this time, I searched all the places I could find, who knows where he is hiding? I now know what 'shu' is." The next day, Yuan Shikai finally saw the edict: "Yuan Shikai, Minister of Military Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Cabinet, has been promoted and employed repeatedly in the previous dynasty, and I will reward him with great rewards. Suffering from foot disease, it is difficult to walk, and it is difficult to be competent for the job. Yuan Shikai immediately opened the vacancy and returned to his hometown to recuperate, as a show of compassion." Three days later, Yuan Shikai left Beijing with his concubine and cronies with great grievance and resentment.Who said that Yuan Shikai was powerful and mighty?The Empress Dowager Cixi transferred him from the Beiyang Minister to the military plane before her death, so couldn't he just hand over the military power obediently?Now that the regent Zaifeng ordered him to "return to his hometown to recuperate his illness", he could only kowtow to thank him, stumble, and run away with his head in his arms. How could he dare to say "no"?Under the autocratic system of imperial power, it is a blessing to save one's life, which shows that the poison of autocracy is self-evident. After Yuan Shikai was expelled from Beijing, his private parties were eliminated one by one, and the political arena in the late Qing Dynasty also experienced major or minor earthquakes: Yang Shixiang died that year, and Duan Fang took over as Governor of Zhili; Zhang Zhidong passed away; He was dismissed; Xu Shichang was transferred to the minister of the postal department, and the governor of the three eastern provinces was replaced by Xi Liang; the governor of Heilongjiang, Ni Sichong, was investigated; Zhao Bingjun, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was reprimanded, and Zaifeng took over the police administration; .Later, Zai Feng sent his younger brother Zai Xun to be the Minister of the Navy, and another younger brother Zai Tao to be the Minister of the Military Advisory Office in charge of the army.Zaifeng's measures were actually taught by the German emperor during that visit, that is: military power must be in the hands of the royal family! Brothers fighting tigers, father and son soldiers in battle, the three Zaifeng brothers seem to have mastered the military and political power, but Yuan Shikai's power is actually far from being eradicated.In fact, Zaifeng was not a suitable candidate to be in power. Under his rule, the prestige vacuum caused by the death of the Empress Dowager Cixi further intensified, and the trend of the Qing court becoming a soft regime became more severe. Zaifeng's character is naturally weak, and his eloquence is not good. He doesn't talk much in public, and he doesn't have much enthusiasm.He has no interest in politics since he was a child. It is said that there is a couplet hanging in his room: "There are books, great wealth, and nothing to do with little gods." Send this body in the middle. Follow the rich and the poor and rejoice, and you are an idiot if you don’t smile.” The most terrible thing is that Zaifeng was only twenty-six years old at the time. He was too young and lacked political experience.If he wanted to fight Yuan Shikai, he might be too young.