Chapter 9 8. When Sun Yat-sen returned from overseas, Premier Yuan’s ingenious plan forced the palace

Sun Yat-sen, formerly known as Sun Wen, was born in November 1866 (Tongzhi period), from Xiangshan County, Guangdong. In 1879, at the age of 13, Sun Yat-sen left his hometown to join his elder brother Sun Mei in Honolulu. From then on, he entered a local church school, studied English, learned from the West, and received Western education.Later, Sun Yat-sen entered the Hong Kong College of Western Medicine to study medicine. After graduation, he opened a pharmacy and worked as a doctor in Macau and Guangzhou, but the time was not too long. Before the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Sun Yat-sen went north to submit a letter to Li Hongzhang, but it was extremely disappointing that the letter was thrown into the sea like a mud cow, and there was no follow-up.Disappointed, Sun Yat-sen returned to Honolulu in the autumn of that year, and in November of that year he founded the revolutionary group Xingzhonghui.Xingzhonghui was not the first revolutionary group in the history of the late Qing Dynasty. Before that, Yang Quyun in Hong Kong established an organization called Furen Society, whose purpose was almost exactly the same as Xingzhonghui, such as "overthrowing the Qing court and establishing United States" and so on. In January 1895, after returning to Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen was introduced by a friend, and the Xingzhong Association and the Furen Institute were merged into one organization, and the name was still called Xingzhonghui.

On October 26, 1895, under the organization of Yang Quyun, Sun Yat-sen and others, the Xingzhong Society was preparing to launch an uprising in Guangzhou. Unfortunately, due to leaked information, the uprising was aborted before it was launched. In 1905, the China Tongmenghui was established in Japan, and Sun Yat-sen's sixteen-character program of "expelling the Tartars and restoring China; establishing the Republic of China and equalizing land rights" became the purpose of the revolution.In the later publication of "Min Bao", Sun Yat-sen summarized the sixteen-character program as "nationalism, civil rights, and people's livelihood", which was later known as the "three principles of the people".From then on, the China Tongmenghui, as a national revolutionary group, began to become the leading center of the revolution in the late Qing Dynasty.

Although the Tongmenghui was established, the eight consecutive uprisings launched by Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others in the southwestern region all failed, which led to a change of mind within the revolutionary party and a very depressed revolutionary atmosphere.Under such circumstances, Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others were still not discouraged, and decided to launch a new uprising in Guangzhou. Still ended in failure. At the time of the Wuchang Uprising, Sun Yat-sen was still in the United States.It was not until the third day after the uprising that Sun Yat-sen saw the news in the newspaper by chance, so he decided to go to various countries to lobby first, in order to win support for the revolution from various countries and raise a huge sum of money to return home.It is a pity that the governments of various countries are snobbish. They took a neutral attitude towards the Wuchang Uprising and did not have confidence in the Revolutionary Party. As a result, Sun Yat-sen went around without any substantial results, and finally returned home on December 21.

The return of Sun Yat-sen successfully solved the problem of selecting the leader of the revolutionary camp, because at this time only Sun Yat-sen had the qualifications and prestige to be the interim president.Under the attention of all the people, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Shanghai on December 25. Just as he held up his top hat and greeted the welcoming crowd frequently, an unknown reporter rushed forward and immediately asked: "Mr. Sun, what did you bring this time?" How much did you get back?" Sun Yat-sen was taken aback, and said, "I don't even have a penny, but the only thing I bring back is the revolutionary spirit!"

On the morning of January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-sen, who was elected as the interim president, arrived at Shanghai Railway Station surrounded by members of the alliance and people from all walks of life in Shanghai. The group then boarded a special train to Nanjing; at 5 pm, the presidential train arrived at Nanjing. At Xiaguan Station, after the revolutionary army fired a 21-gun salute, Sun Yat-sen boarded a colorful silk float, and under the escort of cavalry along the way, a group of people went to the temporary presidential palace to attend the inauguration ceremony. Due to the rapid development of the situation, everything in the revolutionary cause was simplified, and the temporary presidential palace was directly located in the original Liangjiang Governor's Palace.At 10 o'clock that night, people from all walks of life gathered in the interim presidential palace, and the inauguration ceremony began with a burst of majestic military music.First, the interim speaker of the independent provincial representatives announced the election results; then, the elected interim president Sun Yat-sen took the oath of office as follows: "To overthrow the Manchurian autocratic government, to consolidate the Republic of China, and to seek the happiness of the people's livelihood. Follow it, be loyal to the country, and serve the people. When the autocratic government falls, there will be no chaos in the country, and the Republic of China will stand out in the world and be recognized by all nations. At that time, Wen should be relieved of the post of interim president. I swear this to the people. New Year's Day of the first year of the Republic of China." After the oath was taken, the ceremony ended with the cheers of "Long Live the Republic of China", and the whole process was brief and solemn.

After Yuan Shikai learned that Sun Yat-sen had become the interim president of the Republic of China, he turned his nose in anger on the spot. It is tolerable to kill Sun Yat-sen and completely disrupt his plan, what is unbearable? If the tiger doesn't show its power, you still think that I, Lao Yuan, are a sick cat.Afterwards, Yuan Shikai angrily removed Tang Shaoyi, the peace representative from the north, and declared that all the agreements reached in the previous negotiations were invalid, and he must be personally responsible for the subsequent negotiations.Not only that, Yuan Shikai also publicly stated that "the monarchy system must never be changed", "the only thing to do is to maintain the monarchy to the end, and I don't know anything else", etc., as a counterattack against the Nanjing Revolutionaries.

In order to create some pressure on the revolutionary party in the south, Yuan Shikai instigated his confidant generals Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and more than 40 generals of the Beiyang Army to issue a telegram in favor of a constitutional monarchy on the second day of Sun Yat-sen's inauguration. People's opinions adopt a republican form of government, and the Beiyang Army is bound to resist desperately. Yuan Shikai can be described as old and cunning!He not only used this telegram to intimidate the Revolutionary Party, but also took this telegram to show his loyalty to the Queen Mother Longyu, and took the opportunity to cheat the Queen Mother out of 3 million taels of internal money, killing two birds with one stone, which is really superior.

In fact, Yuan Shikai did not have the money to fight.On the surface, he threatened to fight with the Southern Revolutionary Party, but secretly, the North-South negotiations were still going on.After all, the Revolutionary Party was a little young and had no political experience. They quickly compromised under Yuan Shikai's threat of using force, saying that "as long as Yuan Shikai supports the republic, Yuan Shikai must be the president of the Republic of China." After hearing that the Southern Revolutionary Party wanted to exchange the presidency for his suggestion of supporting the republic, Yuan Shikai pretended to be furious: "How can a certain minister, the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, support the republic! If you want Yu to bully orphans and widows and be reviled by all ages, Yu Don't do it!"

However, Yuan Shikai did not want to completely block the negotiation path. He then sent a telegram to question Wu Tingfang, the representative of the Southern Conference: "What is the purpose of electing the president? If the Congress decides to implement a constitutional monarchy, will the government and the president be abolished?" After receiving repeated assurances from the Southern Revolutionary Party that he would be elected as the interim president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai then threw out an olive branch, hypocritically stating that "in the future, the people will gradually become more educated and understand the true meaning of republic, and then gradually change to a republican form of government."However, Yuan Shikai also made a request, that is, the revolutionary party must promise to give preferential treatment to the Qing Dynasty after the abdication of the Qing emperor, and he did not want to make things too extreme.

In the constant negotiations, the two sides finally reached a consensus.The time was ripe, Yuan Shikai began his plan to force the palace. On January 16, Yuan Shikai entered the palace with Prince Qing Yikuang (who had already paid a lot of money to beat the side drum). He knelt on the ground and wept bitterly to report to the Queen Mother Longyu, "The navy is all rebellious, and the natural danger is gone. Only the Beiyang The six towns have been unable to defend Beijing and Tianjin; people's hearts are scattered, like rivers and rivers." At the same time, they talked to the Empress Dowager Longyu about the benefits of "changing the national system, implementing a republic, and exchanging preferential conditions", which made the Empress Dowager Longyu cry. Fall more than.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Yuan, who kept saying that he would live up to orphans and widows, now seems to have a different face today? The Empress Dowager Longyu is a woman, she lives deep in the inner palace, how could she know that Premier Yuan has already taken the reassurance that "the president of the Republic of China must be him" at this moment!Yuan Shikai saw that the Empress Dowager Longyu hadn't understood what he meant, so he threatened again: "If you don't agree to the conditions of the Revolutionary Party, it may be like the French Revolution, and the royal family will not even see their descendants!" Under Yuan Shikai's constant coaxing and threats and Yikuang's false persuasion, the Empress Dowager Longyu could only sob and say in the end: "Our mother and son's life is in your hands, and you must handle it well. The royal family is safe, our mother and child are safe, and now I don't care about my ancestors!" The situation was so miserable that Yuan Shikai had no choice but to accompany Empress Dowager Longyu to wipe away a few sad tears before slowly withdrawing. When Yuan Shikai left the palace, it was already noon, and the streets were crowded with people, and it was still as lively as usual. How did the common people know that the dynasty was about to change!However, Yuan Shikai is still in a good mood at the moment, after all, he has already said the hardest thing to say, and the development of the situation seems to be the same as his imagination. Just as Yuan Shikai breathed a long sigh of satisfaction, suddenly a dark object was thrown from the teahouse opposite, and it was too late to speak, and there was only a "boom", thick smoke billowed around, and sparks splashed everywhere. , the captain of the guard escorting the carriage and another guard flew to the west on the spot.Fortunately, the bomb was still half a meter away from Yuan Shikai's car. Although the flames licked his hair, there was no serious injury on his body. Although the assassinated Yuan Shikai was horrified, he was still calm. He immediately ordered the guards to catch the bandits.Those guards didn't dare to be negligent when they got the order, they rushed to the teahouse one by one like wolves and tigers, and caught the three assailants on the spot.After interrogation, it was found that these three people belonged to the Zhili Revolutionary Party, and they said that they wanted to make a homemade bomb to kill Premier Yuan and avenge the Revolutionary Party. It turned out that the "Luanzhou Mutiny" had occurred before Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing to take up the post of prime minister, and Wu Luzhen, the sixth town, was the most serious trouble.Wu Luzhen was originally a revolutionary party who studied military affairs in Japan in the early years. In the Year of Gengzi, she secretly supported Tang Caichang's self-reliant army in Hubei. After Tang Caichang was defeated and killed, Wu Luzhen sneaked back to Japan to study.Because he and Liangbi, the commander of the Imperial Guard, were alumni who studied in Japan, they later obtained the post of commander of the sixth town.Of course, this happened after Yuan Shikai retired from Zhangde. For such characters, Yuan Shikai certainly did not dare to take it lightly.Luanzhou is too close to Beijing, and these revolutionary parties are too impulsive, otherwise they will ruin their own affairs.Furthermore, if the revolutionary party strikes first and breaks through Beijing and kills the Qing emperor, then I'm afraid it won't be able to clean up the situation itself.This matter is no small matter, must guard against! A few days after the mutiny, when Wu Luzhen was at the train station in Shijiazhuang, a soldier suddenly saluted him. Seeing that the epaulettes belonged to his subordinates, Wu Luzhen didn't doubt it at first, but responded as usual.Unexpectedly, the man suddenly pulled out a dagger from his boot and stabbed at him suddenly.Wu Luzhen was about to pull out his pistol, when more than a dozen soldiers shot at him. Although Wu Luzhen was brave, the bullets were merciless after all. After hearing a few "plop, plop", Wu Luzhen and his entourage were killed, even their heads were killed. was cut off. As for the revolutionary parties involved in the Luanzhou Uprising, after Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing, he immediately dispatched Cao Kun, commander of the third town of the Beiyang Army, and Wang Huaiqing, commander of Tongyong Township, to lead some tiger-wolf divisions, and within two days they were crushed. The leaders Wang Jinming, Shi Congyun and several other revolutionary parties were killed one after another.Just the day before Yuan Shikai was bombed, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Party in Tongzhou was completely surrounded by the Beiyang Army. Seven revolutionaries including Wang Zhizeng, who were preparing to launch an uprising, were brutally executed.The Revolutionary Party had no foundation in the north and had no communication with the south, so it was quickly wiped out by the Beiyang Army. After the defeat, the Northern Revolutionary Party felt angry and determined to organize an assassination group to remove Yuan Shikai, a heinous obstacle to the republic, and avenge the victims.In their view, Yuan Shikai was insidious and cunning, and his words were broken. If they want to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, they must first get rid of Yuan Shikai.On the day when Yuan Shikai entered the palace to perform his duties, more than a dozen revolutionary party soldiers divided into three groups and set up an ambush on the only way Yuan Shikai must pass to enter the palace, preparing to stab him to death. After Yuan Shikai came out of the palace, he passed the first two ambushes safely under the guard of the guards. When he arrived at the Sanyi Teahouse, the three revolutionaries who were ambushing upstairs saw that Yuan Shikai had arrived downstairs, so they sent out the ambush they had prepared. The bomb was dropped on the roof of the carriage.It's a pity that the bullet point was still a little distance away from the target carriage. As a result, Premier Yuan was safe and sound, but killed two horses, as well as the unlucky Yuan Shikai's captain Yuan Jinbiao and another guard. Yuan Shikai missed the assassination this time. Although he was frightened a bit, it actually helped him a lot.Because at that time, all the relatives and nobles in the Manchu Dynasty knew that Yuan Shikai was secretly cooperating with the Revolutionary Party, and the Revolutionary Party also publicly declared that it would elect Yuan Shikai as the President. He was also a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, not the traitor who betrayed his master and begged for glory in the legend.Moreover, the assassination of Yuan Shikai also shows that what he said to Queen Mother Longyu before that the revolutionary party had infiltrated the capital in large numbers was not groundless. It is said that in the few days after Yuan Shikai was assassinated, the Empress Dowager Longyu took Emperor Xuantong to hide in the secret passage under the palace every day, for fear that the Revolutionary Party would also come to them.In this turmoil, the countdown to the demise of the Qing Dynasty began.