Chapter 56 one man against one country

Although North Korea is calm on the surface, it is actually undercurrents. Japan has not given up its efforts to monopolize North Korea over the years, but due to its insufficient strength, it dare not openly send troops to occupy North Korea, so the only way left is to support puppets. Japan tricked some North Korean rich second-generation officials to form a "gentleman tour group" to visit Japan.In Japan, they saw the brand-new scene after the "Meiji Restoration" in Japan, and they were amazed, but at the same time, they were deeply inferior to the poor, backward and lifeless scene in North Korea.

Of course, the Japanese would not be so kind as to invite these people to travel abroad for free. They did so to make a large "risk investment".After these people returned to China, the Japanese paid money and guns, helped train officers to control the North Korean army, and gradually formed the "Enlightened Party". At the end of 1884, the "Civilization Party" launched a coup d'état with the support of Japan. Overnight, the pro-Japanese faction took power, intending to separate from the Qing Dynasty and stand on its own. Moreover, the attitudes of the envoys stationed in North Korea from Russia, Britain, and the United States were also unfavorable to the Qing Dynasty: they all hoped that North Korea would become independent from the Qing Dynasty, and it would be convenient for them to reap benefits after independence.Therefore, they have publicly stated that they support the coup d'état and support the Korean people's pursuit of freedom and civilization.

In the camp of the Qing army stationed in the court, there was a lot of quarrels because of the coup d'état. Yuan Shikai took the case and told the participants forcefully: Now that the situation has deteriorated to this point, we should decisively send troops to suppress Japan while Japan did not increase its troops in North Korea, or else we will continue to suffer from it! But two people raised objections, one was Wu Zhaoyou and the other was Zhang Guangqian.Their opinions are the same: rashly dispatching troops is easy to fall into the truth, and being misunderstood by the powers is provoking diplomatic disputes. They should first consult Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang before making plans!And there are not enough troops, we only have a thousand people, and the other side also has more than a thousand people.

Yuan Shikai disagreed: How can the distant water quench the near thirst, and wait for the court's opinion, the general trend is over!You don't have to worry about being convicted because of this. When the time comes to blame the leaders, I will bear it all and won't implicate you! Yuan Shikai made such a decision not because he was a fool, but because he was confident enough that he had three good conditions: first, the quality of the army in his hands was high; If you are familiar with him, you can win over him; third, he has a relatively good relationship with North Korean high-level officials.

Yuan Shikai, who unified his internal opinions, led the Qing army and the new North Korean army he had drawn over to launch a fierce attack on the Korean army controlled by the "Kaihua Party" and the hundreds of Japanese devils behind the "Kaihua Party"! Two hours later, Yuan Shikai settled everything. Yuan Shikai won, but the matter is not over yet. Due to Yuan Shikai's decisive military suppression, Japan's venture capital investment in recent years has been in vain. How can the Japanese let Yuan Shikai go. Therefore, the villainous Japanese filed a complaint first, and said to Cixi: Yuan Shikai did not abide by the basic norms of international relations, provoked international disputes, grossly interfered in North Korea's internal affairs, and violated the common wishes of people all over the world, including the Korean people. Strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition.In order not to cause irreparable damage to Sino-Japanese relations, you must compensate for all losses.Also, quickly withdraw Yuan Shikai!

Yuan Shikai, such a small person, took care of things without reporting to the leaders in advance. Of course, the Japanese would be sure of what they said.Many officials in the Qing Dynasty wanted to punish him: this kid caused the Japanese to come to his door and caused a lot of trouble, so he must be removed from his post and investigated, so as to make an example of others! Fortunately, Li Hongzhang wiped his ass and withstood the pressure to keep him. He was only allowed to take sick leave for a period of time before returning to his post. Yuan Shikai's personal problems have been resolved, but the disputes caused by this matter have not yet been resolved.

International issues require both strength and attitude.But at this time, the Qing Empire had not yet resolved the Sino-French dispute, and it did not intend to renew entanglements with Japan, so as to avoid war on multiple fronts.Although Japan has been deliberating about North Korea for a long time, and hundreds of Japanese soldiers died in this incident, they actually don’t want to fight. After all, they are concentrating all their energy and resources on reform and opening up at this time—especially political The reform (described in detail later) is not ready for a full-scale war. Therefore, the two parties who did not want to fight decided to use negotiations to solve the problem. They talked and talked, and finally signed a treaty that was a bit of a failure for the Qing Dynasty.

The weakness of the imperial court could not conceal Yuan Shikai's wisdom at all. Yuan Shikai is not only good at training soldiers and fighting, but also has a way of diplomacy. In order to strengthen his control over North Korea, Yuan Shikai signed a series of unequal treaties with North Korea, gained consular jurisdiction and customs supervision, and built many concessions to protect the interests of Chinese businessmen in North Korea. In addition to controlling North Korea and dealing with Japan, Yuan Shikai also had to beware of Russia, the United States, and Britain.Russia, in particular, keeps urging North Korea to borrow money from them to build mines and build roads.What does that mean?They are short of money to spend.If North Korea wants to borrow money, it needs collateral. What does North Korea use as collateral?Only tariffs, and at this time North Korea’s tariffs were managed by the Qing Dynasty, in fact, the big powers wanted to divide the money from the Qing Dynasty.

Yuan Shikai's attitude was very tough.To deal with hooligans, we must use the methods of hooligans.First of all, he used the legal reason that "North Korea has no autonomy in diplomacy" to arrest all officials in North Korea who supported the loan and sent them to Chinese prisons for custody.Then, in accordance with diplomatic practice, a note was sent to the embassies of the great powers, declaring that the Qing Empire is the suzerain of North Korea, and you must not interfere. Yuan Shikai's performance is tough and chic! Of course, Comrade Yuan Shikai didn't just know how to be reckless, he also knew that attacking the city is the bottom line and attacking the heart is the top priority, and he understood the importance of doing a good job in propaganda work.Yuan Shikai turned on the lamp to fight at night, looked up information everywhere, and chewed on words. After several nights of hard work, the famous work "On the General Situation of Korea" was born.In this article, he explained in detail the six advantages of North Korea's "depending on China" and the four disadvantages of "backing China" to all important people in the Korean royal palace.

Regardless of the effect of this article, when the national power of the Qing Dynasty was declining, Yuan Shikai relied on his strength and diplomatic skills to try his best to maintain the status of the Qing Dynasty as the "superior country" in North Korea. Li Hongzhang saw all this in his eyes, so every time the big powers reported Yuan Shikai to the Qing government, Li Hongzhang stood up to protect Yuan Shikai.Moreover, when assessing the cadres under his subordinates, Li Hongzhang gave Yuan Shikai an excellent grade almost every time, and also wrote a sixteen-character assessment comment on "bloody loyalty, talent to know the wise, strong grasp of the overall situation, and the difficulty alone".

With such excellent work performance, it is impossible not to be promoted! In 1885, the imperial court formally appointed Yuan Shikai as the plenipotentiary representative of the "Prime Minister stationed in North Korea to negotiate and trade matters", probably a real top leader in military, political and economic affairs. In just four years, Yuan Shikai jumped from a small sesame official to a 26-year-old third-rank official and a senior official at the deputy ministerial level. In terms of promotion speed, it is equivalent to riding a rocket.At this time, his future opponent Kang Youwei was still struggling to get the qualifications to be an official. But behind the supreme glory is the figure of Yuan Shikai who tried his best and exhausted his brains to deal with the great powers.However, it was precisely because of this experience in North Korea that Yuan Shikai mastered two powerful weapons: the esoteric tactics of the East and the advanced ideas of democracy and constitutionalism in the West.As a result, Yuan Shikai gained valuable growth and became a Yuan Shikai who combined Chinese and Western styles.This is unfortunate news for his opponent.