Chapter 55 Tang Shaoyi

Don't think about victory, think about defeat first.Before the end of the Sino-French war, Cixi was ready for the contingency. She wanted to capture the army capable of fighting and the veterans who could lead the troops.As a result, Wu Changqing, the commander-in-chief stationed in North Korea, was recalled to the country and entrusted with another important task.Before resigning, Wu Changqing made a specific assignment of his duties. The first item was military affairs. He handed over the army to three people—Yuan Shikai, his old subordinates Wu Zhaoyou and Zhang Guangqian.Of course, Wu Changqing couldn't go back alone. He took away nearly half of the soldiers and horses, as well as Zhang Jian, the very useful secretary general.

The second item is taxation, which is temporarily handed over to Yuan Shikai for management. The third item is foreign affairs, which is also in charge of Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai came out on top in terms of military power, taxation, and diplomacy, so he naturally had the strongest say in North Korean affairs. Although Wu Changqing's departure was a good training opportunity for Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Shikai was unavoidably apprehensive when he first assumed such a heavy responsibility.At this time, Li Hongzhang, the Beiyang minister in charge of North Korean affairs, sent him an assistant, who became the famous Tang Shaoyi later.

Tang Shaoyi, courtesy name Shaochuan, was born in Guangdong. He was one of Yung Wing’s selections for studying in the United States. He stayed in the United States for seven years and returned to China at the age of 19. He was a dropout student at Columbia University (due to the obstruction and sabotage of diehards, most of the students studying in the United States were forcibly recalled to China before graduation) . After Tang Shaoyi returned to China, she was first sent by Li Hongzhang to the Westernization School in Tianjin for refurbishment, and then entered the Tianjin tax office to work and became familiar with the business.Later, Tang Shaoyi, who was good at English and knew taxation, was sent by Li Hongzhang to North Korea to assist in taxation.

Tang Shaoyi was indeed an ideal assistant, with strong ability, high education and professional ethics. Yuan Shikai admired him very much.It was during working together in North Korea that Yuan Shikai and Tang Shaoyi established a profound friendship. Through the association with Tang Shaoyi, Yuan Shikai also learned a lot of knowledge.For example, Tang Shaoyi’s field experience in the United States, and some political and economic readings recommended by Tang Shaoyi to him-"Montesquieu's Fayi", "European New Deal History", "Comparison of National Power of Nations", etc.

It was from here that Yuan Shikai opened a window of his own, a window to broaden his horizons.Through this window, he saw the charm of Western democratic constitutionalism and was deeply impressed by it.Yuan Shikai vowed silently in his heart: One day, I will definitely realize a democratic and constitutional government in China!That day is not too far away!