Chapter 79 The daring Sheng Xuanhuai

Just when the chaos was about to break out, one person saved the fate of the Qing Dynasty, or prolonged the Qing Dynasty's national fortune for ten years. He was Sheng Xuanhuai who was the head (supervisor) of the Qing Dynasty Telegraph Bureau at that time. The time is the end of June 1900.In midsummer, the weather was a little hot, and Cixi was a little confused.The news that the great powers were going to send troops gave Cixi a bad feeling, and she was a little scared. After thinking and thinking, Cixi drew up a telegram, intending to send telegrams to all provinces, so that the governors of the provinces could raise funds and dispatch troops, and summon the "righteous people" to fight against the enemy and tide over the difficulties together.

The word electrification appears frequently in this book, so I would like to take this opportunity to explain that it does not mean connecting an electric current, but sending a telegram to the relevant person. However, there is a special situation called electrifying the whole country. It does not mean sending the telegram to every household, but at the same time as sending the telegram to the relevant people, it also publishes it in newspapers and other media to indirectly tell the people of our country. What do you want to do. Since it is a telegram, it has to be sent out through the telegraph office.Sheng Xuanhuai, the top leader of the Telegraph Bureau, was the first to see this instruction from Cixi due to his position.

The calm-headed Sheng Xuanhuai did something that could lose his head. He suppressed the telegram and reported the content of the telegram to his teacher Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang has not played for a long time. Yes, after the Sino-Japanese War was defeated and he was resigned, Li Hongzhang lived in Xianliang Temple in Beijing. Although Cixi or Guangxu occasionally arranged a small project for him to do, they were all temporary workers, and the rest lasted for five years. Just in January of this year, Cixi assigned him a big project. It turned out that Cixi not only put Guangxu under house arrest, but also planned to abolish him and establish a new emperor.But because China under the Qing Dynasty was a semi-colonial, she had to respect the attitude of the foreign devils on this matter.

Who is going to ask about this kind of thing?Obviously, this person had to have a close relationship with foreigners before he could speak.After much deliberation, the only thing Cixi could think of was Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang hardly had any psychological preparations for the news, but he knew that trouble was coming: it was easy to lose his head by getting involved in dethroning the emperor. Now Li Hongzhang decided to stay away from the muddy waters of the capital, what kind of reason could he find? Li Hongzhang was a smart man, and it took only a few seconds for him to come up with an idea. He replied to Cixi and said: Abolishing the emperor is an internal matter. If you rush to ask foreigners about their attitude, it would be shameless and lose the country's dignity.But if you, Queen Mother, send me to be the governor of other places, foreign envoys will come to congratulate me, and I can take the opportunity to inquire at that time without losing face.

Cixi saw through Li Hongzhang's little tricks at a glance. When it came to playing tricks, Cixi thought she was second, and no one in the Qing court could be number one.But she unexpectedly agreed to Li Hongzhang, because she planned to send Li Hongzhang to Guangdong along the way. At this time, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao gained widespread support from overseas Chinese and Chinese businessmen by virtue of their fabricated counterfeit versions of the "Commitment to the Bus" and the "1898 Coup". Most of the overseas Chinese and businessmen were Cantonese. In doing so, we can use Li Hongzhang's capital to suppress this situation.

As a result, Li Hongzhang was promoted to governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and foreign envoys came to congratulate him.However, in the conversation, they all expressed their disapproval of Cixi's abolition of Guangxu revealed by Li Hongzhang "unintentionally". In their hearts, Guangxu was an enlightened emperor with progressive ideas. Cixi's plan failed. In late January 1900, Li Hongzhang, the newly appointed Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, arrived in Guangzhou with Empress Dowager Cixi's highest order to "strictly arrest Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao".

However, instead of arresting Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, Governor Li immediately sent his greetings to the two in exile in Japan: a personal letter. In the letter, Li Hongzhang encouraged Kang and Liang not to be discouraged by the current situation, but to work hard and wait for the future to serve the motherland (study Western learning, experience talents, and serve the country in the future, and don’t lose heart because of the current situation——Liang Qichao "The Anthology of Drinking Ice Room on the Cantonese Governor Li Fu Xiangshu"). The reason why Li Hongzhang did this was because he was well aware of the difficulties in handling affairs in the Qing Dynasty and was very considerate of the situation of Kang and Liang; the second was because he was also a reformer who supported the reform.Li Hongzhang said before the "Reform of 1898": Now that all countries are changing and prospering, only the Chinese do not think about making progress, and would rather perish because of not changing the law than regretting it.This is weird?Or weirdo?

It was naturally touching that a prominent high-ranking official expressed his condolences to the wanted criminals in exile. Kang and Liang naturally wrote back in a hurry to express their gratitude. From then on, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao organized a royalist faction with them as the core in Japan, and started a down-to-earth cause to oppose Cixi, which gave Guangxu who had lost his freedom and power a little touch and hope.