Chapter 71 Only one hundred and three days of the "Hundred Movement Reform"

The footsteps of time finally came to 1898. On June 9, Guangxu took the opportunity of going to the Summer Palace to "greeting" to Cixi, and formally proposed his reform plan to Cixi, and Cixi agreed.In Cixi's view, such a reform and reform is one of the few opportunities for the Qing Empire. It is better to change it than to sit here and wait for death. After being beaten so many times, Cixi finally became more sober. One day later, Guangxu ordered Weng Tonghe to draft the "Ming Dingguo Shizhao" and sent it to Cixi for review, and Cixi approved it. Two days later, Guangxu announced the start of political reform.

Six days later, two important personnel changes took place-Weng Tonghe was laid off, and Rong Lu was promoted to Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang. Coincidentally, the "Stubborn Brother" was resolutely promoted to Minister of Defense (Shangshu of the Ministry of War) a few days ago.In other words, Ronglu and Gangyi control almost all the key military departments around Beijing.If you think that these two people are the best friends of the Empress Dowager Cixi, then it is easy to understand this personnel change. Cixi agrees to the reform, but she can't trust the reformers. She wants to control the overall pace of the reform in case of accidents.That being the case, it is naturally a very good way to promote cronies to control key departments and kick out the radical reformist banner Weng Tonghe.But for Guangxu, Weng Tonghe's exit is undoubtedly an unfortunate thing.

The reason why Cixi dismissed Mr. Weng Tonghe, the emperor of the two dynasties, was that he "formed a party for private affairs" and "used power to harm the country". Of course, Weng Tonghe's butt is indeed not clean.At that time, there was a popular saying in official circles, "The prime minister is thin in Hefei, and the world is barren in Changshu, which is a farmer." It means that Li Hongzhang from Hefei and Weng Tonghe from Changshu are really too rich.Although this remark is a bit exaggerated, it also reflects that these two have a great ability to engage in gray income.

Seven days later, Emperor Guangxu summoned Kang Youwei. This was the first and last time Kang Youwei saw the emperor. Guangxu met with Kang Youwei for two hours. In addition to showing that the monarch and his ministers talked about a lot of topics, there was another important reason that Guangxu could not understand Kang Youwei's Cantonese accent. It was difficult for the two to communicate, so a lot of money wasted. time. The result of the exchange between the two is: Guangxu transferred Kang Youwei from the position of an ordinary cadre of the Central Ministry of Construction (the head of the Ministry of Industry) to Zhang Jingshang, the prime minister's office, that is, as a temporary secretary in the prime minister's office. A sixth-rank official is roughly equivalent to a department-level cadre.

This disappointed Kang Youwei. After all, he was already the head of the Ministry of Industry and a sixth-rank official three years ago.But this is not the most disappointing thing. The right to "specialize in memorial affairs" that he expected most (Kang Youwei had no right to submit a memorial because he was too young) was not given by the emperor. In the future, he will have to rely on qualified friends like Yang Shenxiu to hand over the memorial. . However, the emperor's summoning still gave Kang Youwei great encouragement, and the thin scholar became a strong man with endless energy.He wrote notes frantically.

According to statistics, the memorials submitted by Kang Youwei to Guangxu in various names and channels are as tall as one person.It's a pity that there were too many aggressive strategies and too hasty, which pushed the young and inexperienced Guangxu into deep water. ... On September 21, the reform came to an abrupt end. This is one hundred and three days shrouded in mist. During these 103 days, Guangxu, the legal person representative of the Daqing Group Corporation, issued more than 240 supreme directives, covering all aspects of economy, culture, and military affairs. The determination and scale of the reform shocked the entire society. world.

However, one hundred and three days later, the reforms came to an abrupt end. Emperor Guangxu was placed under house arrest for life. The "Six Gentlemen of the 1898 Reform Movement" were bloodied in the market. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fled overseas. Except for the retention of the Imperial University Hall (now Peking University), all other New Deals were abolished.