Chapter 21 20. Li Yuanhong entered the urn, and Yingtai placed the vice president

Speaking of the proposal to dissolve the Congress, it came from Li Yuanhong, Vice President and governor of Hubei. Some people will find it strange, isn't this Li Yuanhong a hero of the revolution? In fact, it is not surprising, because although Vice President Li is a founding father of the Republic of China, he is not a revolutionary leader. He was originally the leader of the 21st Mixed Combination Association of the Army, and he was considered the second military leader in Hubei at that time.He was a well-off official and had no intention of rebelling at all, but was forced by the situation at the time, and was forced out of the bed by the revolutionary soldiers to become the leader.At the very beginning, Li Yuanhong refused to submit to the revolution. Didn't the famous phrase "Don't harm me" come from him?

If the rebellion fails and the court pursues it, Li Yuanhong can only be regarded as coercion according to the circumstances of the crime. Li Yuanhong received traditional education, and he was an old-school military officer who valued loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Not only did he kill revolutionary soldiers before the Wuchang Uprising, but after he became the governor of Hubei, he was also full of vigilance and hostility towards those who were born in the uprising.In his eyes, these people are all ruthless gangsters no matter what, so we must guard against them.For example, the three military leaders (Sun Wu, Zhang Zhenwu, and Jiang Yiwu) who were known as the "Three Wu" in Hubei at that time, two of them died indirectly at the hands of Li Yuanhong.

The death of Zhang Zhenwu has been described in detail in the previous article, but what about the death of Jiang Yiwu?It turned out that after the peace talks between the North and the South, Jiang Yiwu served as the Deputy Minister of Military Affairs in Hubei, but he was forced to resign because of the riots of the "Heroes Association", and he was once depressed politically.After Song Jiaoren was assassinated, Jiang Yiwu returned to Hunan to take part in the "Second Revolution", and once pulled up a team to garrison Yueyang.But the revolutionaries quickly failed in the "Battle of Ganning". Yuan Shikai wanted to arrest the revolutionaries everywhere, and Jiang Yiwu had to escape.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yiwu did not go to Japan to seek refuge like Huang Xing and others, but traveled south to Guangxi, where he was caught by the local patrol battalion and later escorted to Guilin for trial.After Li Yuanhong learned that Jiang Yiwu had been arrested, he immediately called Yuan Shikai, requesting that the "rebellious party" be killed quickly, so Yuan Shikai ordered Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangxi, to shoot Jiang Yiwu on the spot.Pitiful for this revolutionary leader, he ended up leaving his body in a foreign land. It is not without reason that Li Yuanhong hated these first revolutionary parties.Before the Wuchang Uprising, Li Yuanhong executed revolutionary soldiers because he wanted to maintain order, but after the uprising, it was more of a struggle for power and personal grievances.Although Li Yuanhong came to power by relying on the Wuchang Uprising, it is well known that he was forced to participate in the revolution by revolutionary soldiers. Therefore, the leaders of the revolutionary party, such as Zhang Zhenwu, Jiang Yiwu and others, could not help but feel contempt for the Hubei governor who was forced out. When the North and South armies were at war, this emotion was even more easily manifested.

Li Yuanhong has been in the officialdom for many years. He has an instinctive resistance to those who started from rebellion, and those leaders of the revolutionary party who think they have merit are also dissatisfied with Li Yuanhong, who is in a high position, and they have constant conflicts with each other.After the contradiction between the two sides was exposed, Li Yuanhong adopted the strategy of seeking refuge with Yuan Shikai in order to obtain the support of Beiyang forces.Due to Hubei's special status in the Revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai also hated those revolutionary parties, so he hit it off with Li Yuanhong, and the killing of Zhang Zhenwu is a clear proof of the cooperation between the two parties.

In fact, those radical revolutionaries in Hubei did not stop fighting after the Revolution of 1911. They tried to regain power from Li Yuanhong, but their several riots against the Hubei authorities failed. In the end, instead of driving Li Yuanhong out of power, Li Yuanhong severely suppressed them in the name of maintaining law and order. Many revolutionaries of the Revolutionary Party were shot dead without trial.After the failure of the "improvement group", Li Yuanhong carried out a severe purge of the revolutionary party in Hubei. At that time, many people were killed and arrested.Under Li Yuanhong's power, Hubei revolutionaries left Wuhan one after another, and went to Shanghai and other places to continue to expose Li Yuanhong's crimes of suppressing revolutionaries.

After the revolutionaries were driven away, Li Yuanhong's rule in Hubei was relatively stable, but Yuan Shikai was also eyeing him at this time.Although Li Yuanhong tried his best to be consistent with Yuan Shikai after the revolution, and followed closely in various policies. For example, Li Yuanhong once helped Yuan Shikai a lot on the issue of establishing the capital in Beijing.In the assassination case of Song Jiaoren, Li Yuanhong also issued a telegram, proposing that the law should be resolved and the overall situation should be the most important thing, and that there must be no conflict of will.After the evidence of the "Song case" was released, Li Yuanhong accused the investigation of the truth for "shaking people's hearts and making rumors come up." overall situation."

On the issue of "big borrowing for aftermath", Li Yuanhong was also on the standpoint of supporting Yuan Shikai.He not only supported Yuan Shikai's borrowing, but also fabricated a passage "Six Dangers of Not Borrowing Foreign Debts" to prove the rationality of borrowing. After the "Second Revolution" broke out, the Beiyang Army used Hubei as the frontier to attack Jiangxi, and Li Yuanhong also gave strong support.When electing the official president, Li Yuanhong even personally called the Senate and the Republican headquarters to recommend Yuan Shikai as the official presidential candidate.

But it is a pity that Li Yuanhong's apparently friendly actions still failed to win Yuan Shikai's full trust.In Yuan Shikai's eyes, although Li Yuanhong is not considered a revolutionary party, he is not a member of the Beiyang military and political clique after all. He developed his own power, for example, he held four divisions in Hubei at that time, and was successively promoted as the chairman of the Republican Party and the Progressive Party. His political influence cannot be underestimated. After the "Second Revolution", Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces were replaced by people from the Beiyang faction. Since Yuan Shikai wanted to control the southern provinces strategically, Hubei was of course no exception.What's more, Wuhan is the thoroughfare of nine provinces and has a very important strategic location. If Li Yuanhong is not transferred out of Hubei and the military power is lifted, it will be a hidden danger after all.Therefore, after Li Yuanhong was elected as the official vice president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai invited Li Yuanhong to Beijing four times. On the surface, he asked to perform the duties of vice president, but in fact he wanted to put Li Yuanhong under his own control.

The so-called "power comes only when there are soldiers, and power comes only when there is land." After Li Yuanhong became the governor of Hubei, he knew the importance of controlling the local area for personal power, so he was also well aware of Yuan Shikai's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.Regarding the matter of going north, Li Yuanhong tried every means, procrastinated and refused to leave Hubei for half a step. He had to serve as the governor of Hubei in the name of the vice president of the Republic of China. The vice president can not be the governor of Hubei. Li Yuanhong is also a smart man .

Seeing that Li Yuanhong refused to give in easily, Yuan Shikai hesitated a little.At this time, Yuan Shikai's subordinates scolded Li Yuanhong for being ignorant of flattery, and they all offered advice and suggestions, asking the overlord to fight hard, transfer Li Yuanhong out of Hubei, and let Beiyang people be the governor of Hubei.In the end, it is said that the "Prince" Yuan Keding came up with a clever plan and finally forced Li Yuanhong to submit obediently. Speaking of this Yuan Keding, he was originally the son of Yuan Shikai's wife Yu, and was the eldest son of the family. This man has been very alert since he was a child, with a vision of ambition, and he is not inferior to his father.After Yuan Shikai became the president of the Republic of China, Yuan Keding's ambitions swelled, thinking all day about letting his father become emperor, so that he could pass on the Yuan family to him and live the emperor's addiction. Yuan Keding was a smart man. After observing the government, he found that apart from Yuan Shikai, the most prominent figure in the Republic of China was Duan Qirui, chief of the army.Therefore, Yuan Keding repeatedly sent people to test Duan Qirui's tone to see if he supported Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor.I have been here many times, and I was a little more explicit, which finally angered the old Duan, and Yuan Keding's confidants were also scolded by him: "President Yuan has repeatedly declared that he will not be the emperor, and Keding will be the eldest son. Don't you know that?" The reason? How blindly wishful thinking, wanting to be the emperor, isn't it ridiculous?" Yuan Keding became angry after being touched by his nose, so he made a plan to transfer Duan Qirui from Beijing, let him leave Yuan Shikai's side, slowly desolate him, and cut off his military power. It doesn't matter if Rui doesn't give in.Furthermore, Yuan Shikai was worrying about being unable to mobilize Li Yuanhong at that time. If Duan Qirui was allowed to handle this matter and the old Duan was appointed as the governor of Hubei, wouldn't it be a good plan to kill two birds with one stone? Yuan Keding's cleverness impressed Yuan Shikai and prompted him to send Duan Qirui to Hubei to handle the errand.Yuan Shikai also considered another point at that time, that is, how to deal with the Hubei army after Li Yuanhong was transferred to Beijing.After thinking about it, he felt that Yuan Keding was right and Duan Qirui had to do something about it. On December 8, 1913, the Wuchang Parade Racecourse was full of gongs and drums, military music, and bursts of salutes were fired from time to time.On this day, the great man Duan Qirui came to Wuchang, and Li Yuanhong gave the same courtesy as he had welcomed Sun Yat-sen last year.But think about it, when Li Yuanhong was in command, Duan Qirui was already in command, and his military rank was much higher than that of Li Yuanhong.During the confrontation between the Southern Army and the Northern Army, Duan Qirui was already the governor of Huguang and the commander of the first army, and now he is the chief of the army. Although Li Yuanhong is the vice president, he also knows that the vice president is just a vain job, how can he be compared with the old Duan . Regarding Li Yuanhong's humility, Duan Qirui was not polite. Whether it was in the military parade or the banquet, the old Duan put on the appearance of a superior leader, and did not take Vice President Li seriously.The next day, when he was full of wine and food, Duan Qirui called Li Yuanhong over and said, "I came to Hubei this time for two main things. First, I came to discuss with the vice president the issue of the reorganization of the Hubei army; Secondly, the President sent me here to invite you to Beijing to discuss something important." Li Yuanhong was taken aback when he heard this, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.He knew that he might not be able to escape this time, but he pretended to be calm on the surface, saying: "The President has invited me to Beijing many times. It is really hard to refuse the kindness, but the Hubei Revolutionary Party is very rampant, and I will leave soon." No. Since Chief Duan is talking about rectifying the army, why don’t you go to Beijing after I stay in Wuchang to help finish it?” Duan Qirui waved his hand and said: "Vice President Li, don't worry, I, Duan, have been in the military for more than ten years, and I dare not say anything else, but I am afraid that such a small matter as rectifying the army will not trouble me. Why, is it true that Vice President Li The president still doesn't trust my abilities?" After hearing this, Li Yuanhong hurriedly said, "How dare you! How dare you!" Duan Qirui said: "Since this is the case, there is no need for Vice President Li to delay. I will handle the matter properly. The President is in a hurry, why don't you make the trip tonight? The special car has been prepared for you." Poor Li Yuanhong hadn't had time to say goodbye to his family, so Duan Qirui half-pushed him onto the train (this was also Duan Qirui's special train going south), and immediately left for Beijing.Before Li Yuanhong left, he fantasized that he could come back to be the governor of Hubei, so he temporarily entrusted the affairs of the governor's mansion of Hubei to Chief of Staff Jin Yongyan. But Li Yuanhong never expected that as soon as he got into the car, Yuan Shikai's telegram arrived: Duan Qirui, the chief of the army, acted as the governor of Hubei.Two months later, when Duan Qirui had almost cut down the army in Hubei, Duan Zhigui and Wang Zhanyuan, the generals of the Beiyang Army, successively served as the governors of Hubei, and Li Yuanhong had nothing to do here. What's ridiculous is that when Duan Qirui went south to Wuchang, Li Yuanhong was still thinking about how to treat him graciously, but he didn't expect that he would be "treated by the overlord" by Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui.After all, Vice President Li's rank is not as good as that of President Yuan Da. On the morning of the 11th, when Li Yuanhong arrived in Beijing, Yuan Shikai was very generous and sent the chief of the military department of the Presidential Palace, the military attache, Chengxuan officer, all state servants, and representatives of various ministries to the station. Yuan Keding also went to greet him as Yuan Shikai's representative.There are military police standing guard within 200 steps around the station, and idlers are not allowed to enter; in addition, a battalion of guards was sent to line up to greet them, saluting with guns, as a sign of grandeur.The most bizarre thing is that Yuan Shikai sent to meet Sun Yat-sen in the golden lacquered carriage with red wheels, which also made Li Yuanhong feel like the head of state. When Li Yuanhong went to see Yuan Shikai, he was ten times more humble than meeting Duan Qirui.According to the descriptions of people at the time, when Li Zhi met Yuan, it was simply "a very respectable young man meeting a very dignified elder".Despite Yuan Shikai's hospitality, he still inadvertently showed the pride of inviting you into the urn, while Li Yuanhong was sincere and fearful in front of the old Yuan, holding 120% caution and prudence. Now, Vice President Li has finally tasted the taste of "accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger". The most interesting thing is the residence Yuan Shikai arranged for Li Yuanhong: Yingtai in the South China Sea.Yingtai is located in the northeast of the Xinhuamen Presidential Palace, surrounded by water, although the scenery is very beautiful, but after all, it is the place where Empress Dowager Cixi imprisoned Emperor Guangxu, which is a bit unlucky.Yuan Shikai didn't know about this allusion.In order to avoid suspicion, he had already ordered someone to clean up the place, and changed a plaque called "Little Penglai" - it seems that Yuan Shikai wanted Li Yuanhong to be a happy fairy here. Immortals, don't they just ignore ordinary things and eat and wait for death (Li Yuanhong can't become an immortal after all). As for the few entourage that Li Yuanhong brought from Hubei, they were not eligible to live in "Little Penglai". Most of them were placed in the general school club in Dongchang Hutong.As a result, Li Yuanhong also lost his eyes and ears, and he was really almost the same as Emperor Guangxu back then. Of course, Yuan Shikai still talked about human feelings.A few days after Li Yuanhong arrived in Beijing, his family also came to Beijing under the arrangement of Yuan Shikai, and lived together in Yingtai, Nanhai.In terms of living treatment, Yuan Shikai also gave Li Yuanhong very generous treatment, with a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan (second only to Yuan Shikai), and office expenses of 20,000 yuan.For these two items alone, Li Yuanhong can get 30,000 yuan a month, because he really has no business to do, and he just takes a walk, reads a book, reads a newspaper, and writes every day. Apartment. It is not entirely correct to say that Yuan Shikai put Li Yuanhong under house arrest.In order to show his goodwill to Li Yuanhong and create a harmonious atmosphere between the president and the vice president, Yuan Shikai often invited Li Yuanhong for a walk and chat after dinner, and also asked his children to visit Li Yuanhong's house frequently, resulting in a close relationship between the president and the vice president. illusion. In order to better control Li Yuanhong, Yuan Shikai also proposed that the two families exchange relatives, that is, Li Yuanhong's eldest son married Yuan Shikai's daughter, and Yuan Shikai's son married Li Yuanhong's daughter.The first part of this plan failed due to the strong opposition of Li Yuanhong's wife, but the latter plan was implemented smoothly, which is a tragedy.Li Yuanhong's youngest daughter, Li Shaofang, who was only eight years old at the time, got engaged to Yuan Shikai's ninth son, Yuan Kejiu, and finally became depressed because of the unhappiness of this political marriage, and eventually developed into a mental illness and died in a mental hospital. Despite the superficially high respect and courtesy, Yuan Shikai was still worried about Li Yuanhong, because with Li Yuanhong's status and reputation, after all, he still had considerable influence, and there were many people who wanted to take advantage of this at the time.In order to monitor Li Yuanhong's every move, every word and deed, Yuan Shikai deliberately sent Tang Zaili, the director of the General Affairs Department, to take strict precautions against Yingtai. At that time, the presidential palace was already heavily guarded, and not many people could enter or leave, not to mention that Yingtai received special "preferential treatment".In this regard, Li Yuanhong dared to be angry and dare not speak out. Even when his friends from Hubei came to visit, someone would monitor and report to Yuan Shikai.Later, Li Yuanhong got used to this kind of life, so he simply lived in seclusion, took money when he had money, didn't care about politics, and did what Yuan Shikai liked. During the days in Yingtai, Vice President Li did not become a god, but a Bodhisattva... People call him "Li Bodhisattva". From the time he moved in in December 1912 to the time he moved out of Yingtai, South China Sea in October 1915, Li Yuanhong stayed in this place of house arrest for nearly three years.As Li Yuanhong said in the telegram "To the Fathers and Elders of Central Hubei", "Looking at the Han River in the distance, I can't help crying." Although this puppet vice president is keeping a low profile, he is still a bit sad and uncomfortable after all.