Chapter 8 7. Yuan Shikai pulled down the tree calmly, while the regent retired in a panic

After the Wuchang Uprising, the military government of Hubei sent telegrams to other independent provinces to prepare for the establishment of a national interim government as the "first uprising". The governors of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang also put forward similar proposals two days later, and invited representatives of all provinces to come to Shanghai for discussions. .Due to the sudden appearance of two voices in the revolutionary camp, the Shanghai side agreed to the power-on at the Wuchang meeting in order to respect Wuchang's first contribution. Unexpectedly, after the representatives of various provinces arrived in Wuchang one after another, the Beiyang Army commanded by Yuan Shikai had already overwhelmed the border. On October 27, after the Qing court recalled Yin Chang, the Army Minister who had failed to supervise the division, Yuan Shikai was appointed as the imperial envoy to supervise the suppression of the Hubei Province, and granted the unified command of the front-line land and water armies.

Although the military power was in hand, Yuan Shikai still did not comment and refused to leave the mountain immediately.Two days later, an uprising broke out in Shanxi and declared independence. Zhang Shaozeng, commander of the 20th Township of the New Army stationed in Luanzhou, and Lan Tianwei, commander of the Second Mixed Association, joined forces to play the Qing court, and proposed "quickly open a parliament, revise the constitution, and organize a responsible cabinet." 12 requirements, such as the Prime Minister, Minister of State and Minister of State, and Party members who are criminals of state affairs, shall be pardoned and promoted", and openly called the Revolutionary Party in the South, expressing that he would never supervise his troops to go south to fight the Revolutionary Army.

It turned out that the Qing government originally planned to hold autumn parade in the north, but some new army generals such as Wu Luzhen, the commander of the sixth town, Zhang Shaozeng, the commander of the 20th town, and Lan Tianwei, the commander of the second mixed association, secretly decided to hold the autumn parade at the time of autumn parade. Shooting with live ammunition first defeated the imperial guards loyal to the Qing court, and then took advantage of the situation to attack Beijing.After the Qing court heard the news, it hurriedly canceled the autumn exercise plan.After the Wuchang Uprising, Zhang Shao, the commander of the 20th town stationed in Luanzhou, detained a large number of arms shipped to the front line, and joined forces with Lu Yongxiang, the commander of the third town, Lan Tianwei, the commander of the second mixed association, and Wu Luzhen, the commander of the 39th association, to send telegrams to The Qing government put forward 12 demands.

The "Luanzhou military remonstrance" was undoubtedly a fire in the backyard, which made the Qing court terrified, because Luanzhou and Beijing were close at hand, and once they defected, the consequences would be disastrous.Under the pressure from all sides, the Qing court issued four decrees at a very fast speed on October 30: one is the decree of guilt, the emperor admitted that he was "incompetent in employing people and governing with few skills", and vowed to implement constitutional government; The second is to quickly draft the constitution; the third is to abolish the royal cabinet, and relatives and dignitaries are not allowed to serve as ministers of state; the fourth is to pardon all political prisoners since the Reform Movement of 1898.The Senior Advisory Council did not dare to be negligent. They formulated the nineteen articles of the constitutional creed within four days, and the Qing court promulgated them on the same day, and announced that they would take an oath at the Taimiao at an optional date to abide by it.

Seeing that the heat had come, Yuan Shikai stopped putting on airs. He set off from Zhangde to the south on the 30th, arrived in Xinyang and Yinchang on the 31st to complete the handover, and stationed in Xiaogan on November 1st, officially taking over the military power.After handing over to Yuan Shikai, Yin Chang was relieved, and then ran back to Beijing happily. Yuan Shikai's old department heard that Yuan Shikai had left the mountain, and in order to welcome the arrival of the old chief, he launched a fierce attack on Hankou, forcing the revolutionary army to withdraw from the periphery of Hankou.In the next few days, Feng Guozhang, the former commander-in-chief of the Beiyang Army, even ordered to set fire to assist, burning the originally prosperous Hankou into scorched earth.Amidst the sound of rumbling guns and the continuous fire overnight, the common people fled in embarrassment with their families and their families, and the situation was extremely miserable.

On November 1, the Beiyang Army captured Hankou and was ready to attack Hanyang.On this day, the Qing court approved the resignation of Prime Minister Yikuang, Associate Ministers Na Tong, Xu Shichang, and State Ministers Zaize, Zaixun, Pu Lun, etc., and awarded Yuan Shikai as Prime Minister of the Cabinet, allowing him to come to Beijing immediately , organize the complete cabinet. It is said that Yuan Shikai laughed loudly after receiving the imperial edict. Over the past three years, he finally let out the bad breath in his heart.However, Yuan Shikai did not want to accept the appointment of the Qing court. Instead, he waited until November 8, when the Advisory Council formally elected him as the prime minister in accordance with the "Constitutional Creed", and then he took a large number of guards to Beijing to take office the next day.

On November 13, Yuan Shikai arrived in Beijing.Three days later, the new cabinet formed by Yuan Shikai was announced. Among them, Minister of Civil Affairs Zhao Bingjun, Minister of War Wang Shizhen and other confidantes were impressively on the list.Just when the Qing government was looking forward to Yuan Shikai's ability to wipe out the revolutionary army in Wuhan as soon as possible, Yuan Shikai suddenly stopped fighting. In Yuan Shikai's view, the situation at that time was not only a problem in Wuhan, but a general trend of the provinces falling apart; even if the revolutionary army in Wuhan could be wiped out, how would the revolutionary parties in other provinces deal with it?What's more, Yuan Shikai also knew in his heart that the Qing court did not trust him. Once the difficulties were overcome, what would be his fate?Now that God has given him a good opportunity, he has to make plans for himself.At this time, Yuan Shikai had already been tempered into steel, and he was sensitive and experienced. He would never easily obey the orders of the Qing court, nor would he follow the wishes of the Revolutionary Party at will.What he has to do is to rely on the Beiyang army in his hand to control it. On the one hand, he uses the revolutionary army to blackmail the Qing court, and on the other hand, he uses the power of the Qing court to threaten the revolutionary army. The revolutionary army and the Qing court are playing with each other.

It is said that Yuan Shikai once told such a story to his staff at that time. He said: "Everyone, do you know how to pull up a tree? You can't pull out the root of the tree if you pull it out with strong force; if you twist it too much, the tree will grow." The roots will definitely break. There is only one way to loosen the soil from the roots by shaking them from side to side, and you can pull them up without using much force. It was a big tree in the Qing Dynasty, and it was more than two hundred years old. If you want to Pulling up this big and old tree is not an easy task. The revolutionaries are all young people who have strength but don’t know how to pull up trees. Those who fight for constitutional monarchy know how to pull up trees but have no strength. To retreat suddenly is to shake the big tree, and when the soil is loosened, the big tree will be pulled out soon.”

In fact, long before Yuan Shikai came back, he had contact with the revolutionary army. At that time, both Li Yuanhong and Huang Xing wrote to Yuan Shikai, advising him to support the republic. They couldn't agree on the issue, so they had to give up in the end.After returning to Beijing, Yuan Shikai took a unique approach. He met Wang Jingwei, an important member of the Tongmenghui who had just been released (who had attempted to assassinate the regent), for three consecutive nights, in order to indirectly open the channel for contact with the Tongmenghui. After Hankou was captured, Yuan Shikai sent his confidant Cai Tinggan to Wuchang to test with the revolutionaries.The reason why Yuan Shikai sent Cai Tinggan to negotiate was mainly because Cai Tinggan used to be the torpedo boat management belt of the Beiyang Fleet, and he had a friendship with Li Yuanhong, the governor of Wuchang Shouyi. There was no agreement.

Since the negotiation failed for a long time, Yuan Shikai decided to take military action to defeat the morale of the revolutionary army. On November 21, the Beiyang Army launched a fierce attack on Hanyang. Although the revolutionary army was led by Huang Xing and others to resist, due to the disparity in strength, Hanyang announced on the 26th that it changed hands. After capturing Hanyang, Feng Guozhang, the former commander of the army, was awarded the second-class baron by the Qing court.After Feng Guozhang received the decree, tears filled his eyes with excitement. He said loudly to the staff around him: "I can't believe that I am a poor boy, and now I am a knight! This is really a kindness, I must contribute to the court. !" Feng Guozhang planned to take advantage of the victory to win Wuchang in one fell swoop, and then he would also be able to win promotions, titles, marquises and prime ministers in the future, wouldn't it be wonderful?Therefore, Feng Guozhang sent heavy troops to occupy Guishan, and set up cannons to bombard him for three days and three nights. Just as he was about to send troops across the river, Yuan Shikai sent a telegram ordering a temporary truce, which immediately poured cold water on Feng Guozhang.What he couldn't understand was why he couldn't completely take down the revolutionary party's territory and make meritorious deeds when the morale was boosted?So Feng Guozhang sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai, saying that now "the opportunity is not lost" and "Wuchang is at your fingertips", and at the same time ordered to continue shelling Wuchang, without giving up the attack.Yuan Shikai was furious when he learned about it, and then sent seven telegrams in a row, strictly ordering Feng Guozhang to stop the attack immediately, and then transferred him back to Beijing, appointing another confidant, Duan Qirui, to command the former enemy.

Yuan Shikai was not in a hurry for the war in Wuhan. What he had to do at that time was to expel those relatives of the royal family, such as Zai Tao and Yu Lang, from institutions such as the Military Advisory Office under the pretext that "the relatives and nobles should not pre-government"; not only that , Even the regent Zaifeng handed over the seal on December 6 under Yuan Shikai's pressure and returned it to the mansion.With Zaifeng's ability and character, he might as well go home and hold the child at ease. After gaining an overwhelming advantage, Yuan Shikai offered an olive branch to the revolutionary army again.This time, Yuan Shikai invited his good friend, British Minister Zhu Erdian to mediate, so the two warring parties ceased fighting and negotiated peace again.After Zaifeng resigned as the regent of the country, Yuan Shikai took control of the military and political power of the Qing court, and then he sent the peace representative Tang Shaoyi to lead the representatives of various provinces to the south for negotiations. Tang Shaoyi was originally a young boy selected to study in the United States. After the Qing court interrupted his study abroad, he returned to China and was later sent to North Korea. After that, he worked under Yuan Shikai and won Yuan Shikai's trust.The independent provinces in the south elected Wu Tingfang as the peace representative. Wu Tingfang studied in the UK in his early years and was the first doctor of law in Chinese history to study abroad. On December 12, Tang Shaoyi and others arrived in Wuchang for negotiations.When meeting with Li Yuanhong, Tang Shaoyi revealed that Yuan Shikai also intended to support the republic, but the Qing government could only step down after a resolution of the National Assembly.After Li Yuanhong learned about it, he informed the representatives of various provinces who were gathering in Nanjing.After obtaining an understanding with Li Yuanhong, Tang Shaoyi and his party, accompanied by revolutionaries Wang Zhengting, Tan Renfeng and others, went down the river on the "Dongting" ship to Shanghai for negotiations. On December 18, representatives from the North and the South began formal negotiations in the Shanghai International Settlement Chamber. Consuls from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, and Japan in Shanghai also attended the meeting as witnesses.After the negotiations began, the two sides first had a heated debate on the issue of a comprehensive armistice, and finally reached an agreement. Regarding the political system, Wu Tingfang first pointed out that people all over the country yearn for a republic, so agreeing to a republic is the prerequisite for negotiations; while Tang Shaoyi said that Yuan Shikai is not opposed to a republic, but must convene a national assembly (although the words are reasonable, but it is difficult to operate), the political system It should depend on public opinion.Both sides held their own words and refused to make concessions. In fact, Yuan Shikai originally hoped to keep the Qing Dynasty. He believed that the constitutional monarchy under the virtual monarchy was more suitable for China's national conditions (like Britain). This is the result of the negotiation he most hopes to reach.However, the southern representatives firmly opposed to keeping the Qing Dynasty. They claimed that if the monarchy could be abolished, the revolutionary army could elect Yuan Shikai as the president, but the premise was that he must support the republic and abandon the idea of ​​a constitutional monarchy.In a word, the Qing emperor must abdicate.But having said that, what the revolutionaries don’t understand is that abolishing the emperor does not mean abolishing autocracy, and not abolishing the emperor does not mean retaining autocracy. For example, in Western European countries such as the United Kingdom, they retain the emperor, but the constitutional monarchy they practice is also a democratic country; on the contrary However, concentrating the spearhead and firepower on the little emperor in the court will instead mislead the place where the real change should be made. Yuan Shikai was also very embarrassed by the southern representative's request for the Qing emperor to step down publicly.From his psychological point of view, although he personally hopes to become the president of the Republic of China, he does not want to be accused of bullying orphans and widows. It would be much easier to use the public will as a stepping stone...but this is not easy to handle. During the negotiation process, Nanjing was captured by the Jiangsu-Zhejiang coalition forces. The representatives of the independent provinces who had gathered in Wuchang moved to Nanjing and began to prepare for a provisional revolutionary government. Due to disputes, the Provisional Revolutionary Government was unable to come out.Just as Yuan Shikai was still strategizing and struggling with the issue of the political system, while the revolutionary army camp was worrying about the selection of leaders, at this time one person returned from overseas, and it happened to solve the problem. This person is Sun Yat-sen.