Chapter 119 gravedigger Zaifeng

In the nearly seventeen years from Sun Yat-sen's founding of the "Xingzhonghui" to the end of the Huanghuagang Uprising, although the revolutionary party set fires everywhere and sacrificed countless lives, it took a lot of effort, but it did not hurt the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. But what the revolutionary party never expected was that the dream that tens of thousands of revolutionary brothers and sisters had fought bravely for more than ten years had not been realized, and the regent Comrade Zaifeng realized it after two years of messing around with his own efforts. In order to consolidate the rule of the Qing Empire, Zaifeng really did his best.As soon as he took power, he launched a national brand project "to grasp with both hands, and to be tough with both hands."

The first hand is to seize military power. Back then, after the "Gengzi Incident", Zaifeng wandered around Germany as the "special envoy of apology" handpicked by Cixi. He didn't learn anything else, but he recognized what the Germans said to him: a child of the royal family To go to military school, the royal family must grasp the barrel of a gun.Yes, in order to consolidate the foundation, the gun must be in the hands of the royal family, especially not allowed to be taken by the Han people. Therefore, after Zaifeng returned to China, he tricked the old lady Cixi into building an army noble school.Just by looking at the word "nobles", one can know that the recruiting targets are the "rich N generation" and "official N generation" who came from relatives and noble families.

At that time, Zai Feng and his sixth younger brother Zai Xun and seventh younger brother Zai Tao took the lead in enrolling.Zaifeng thought very well, we should all learn our skills hard and join the army after graduation to control the military power for the royal family.But he didn't understand that these clan dandies were hopeless. Look at the behavior of these old men at school: they hold imported cigarettes, order the teachers to be slaves, come to class whenever they want, and "carry up cages, fight birds and crickets" when they don't want to go to class, and even perform Beijing opera in class when they are happy. Just treat class as a party.

This was before Zaifeng became the regent. Let's see how he struggled after he actually started to be the regent. At the end of 1908, Zaifeng established the "Imperial Guard Army", the purpose of which was naturally to protect the chair under the emperor's son's buttocks.Zai Feng asked his seventh brother Zai Tao to be the head of the Imperial Guard Army, and Liang Bi, who had the most anti-Han mentality, to be the commander of the First Association of the Imperial Guard Army. In the spring of 1909, Zaifeng reorganized the navy.The Ministry of the Navy was established, which merged the Beiyang Navy and the Nanyang Navy, and established two major fleets, the cruiser and the Yangtze River.The Minister of the Navy (Navy Commander) is Zai Xun, Zai Feng's sixth younger brother.For the reorganization of the navy, Sa Zhenbing, a naval officer who was willing to be an old scalper and was exhausted to death, stood aside.

In July 1909, Zaifeng announced that the 4-year-old Puyi was the Grand Marshal of the Navy and Army, and the regent would execute it on his behalf. After accomplishing these three major events, Zaifeng's self-confidence surged.Next, under the suggestion of his good buddy Liangbi, he established a new military organization "Military Advisory Office" - the highest military commanding body for the combat command of the land and sea armies of the Qing Empire, which is equivalent to the General Assembly of the People's Liberation Army. staff.Zaifeng once again put the burden of the supreme officer on the shoulders of his seventh younger brother Zaitao.

The sixth younger brother Zaixun is the Minister of the Navy, the seventh younger brother Zai Tao is in command of the Imperial Guard and the Military Advisory Office, and Zaifeng himself is the Grand Marshal of the Navy and Army. supreme leadership.A new Guinness World Record was born in the Qing Empire: the average age of the commander of the navy and army is the youngest in the world military history. However, the key to mastering the army is not to change a few leaders, but to master the middle and lower ranks. In this regard, Zaifeng had to learn a lot from Comrade Yuan Shikai. In five of the six Beiyang towns, the upper, middle and lower rank officers were almost all Yuan Shikai's people.If you Zaifeng replace the Beiyang Army's several towns, you won't let Yuan Shikai's people go out of their way.If Yuan Shikai can come back in the future, the army will still listen to him.

Zaifeng's series of nepotism actions chilled the hearts of the military.The imperial court's control over the army has declined instead of rising, and the busyness is wasted. The second hand is to seize power. Since the Empress Dowager Cixi promulgated the "Imperial Constitution Outline", led by Comrade Zhang Jian, the constitutionalists have launched various preparatory constitutional activities. Some impatient comrades have even prepared the consultation bureau (provincial assembly) We are ready to meet the new situation of "rejuvenating the country through adversity, making the country rich and the people strong, and eradicating foreign humiliation".

The gentry were so active, but Zaifeng's attitude was much colder. Everything went according to the rhythm planned by the old lady, which could only be slow rather than fast. This can be anxious to the constitutionalists.The constitutionalists originally planned to help the Qing government instead of rebelling. They wanted to push the government away and pushed the government to the road of constitutionalism as soon as possible.How to push it? Petition, petition in Beijing.The content of the petition is still what Yuan Shikai mentioned before he was retired that year: quickly open the National Assembly and immediately organize a responsible cabinet.

Comrade Zhang Jian, the leader of the constitutionalists, set an example and went to and from Beijing three times at the age of nearly sixty. Encouraged by his appearance, the people of the whole country became enthusiastic about constitutionalism. Millions of gentry, students, governors from all over the country, and ordinary people from all walks of life signed their signatures, marched and demonstrated, stabbed their fingers and cut their legs and wrote blood letters, and petitioned. Threats, the scene is very violent, and its degree of violence can be compared with that of the future "May 4th Movement".

Under tremendous pressure, Zaifeng was forced to make concessions. In September 1910, the Zizhengyuan was established and promised to hold a parliament in two years. In May 1911, the long-awaited responsibility cabinet was released. However, the personnel arrangement is very unsatisfactory.There are thirteen positions in the cabinet, and the Han people only have four.Not to mention the imbalance in the proportion of Manchus and Hans, among the nine Manchus there are seven royal families (another five people). Isn’t this the royal family cabinet? ! Look at the UK, the royal family does not serve as cabinet members!However, the Qing court still regarded state power as the private property of each family. Not only did they not trust the Han people, they did not even trust the unrelated Manchus, but only trusted a small group of clan relatives!

The issue of ethnicity and lineage in the cabinet immediately disappointed the hopeful constitutionalists and local governors, and made them feel cold from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet.They originally wanted to share more power from the Manchus, but they didn't expect that those who wanted to share were not given, and some of them would be taken away from them.Immediately, I hated the Aixinjueluo Dynasty so much that the roots of my teeth itch. I couldn't listen to the propaganda full of revolutionaries, but suddenly I listened to it. It's really not my race. The Zaifeng government's perverse actions finally pushed the constitutionalists to the side of the revolutionary party.Although the constitutionalists did not advocate a revolution that had to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, they did not object to organizations such as the Tongmenghui doing so.Therefore, where there is a revolution, the constitutionalists will actively participate. At the turn of spring and summer in 1911, Zaifeng finally did a reliable thing - dug a big grave for the Qing Empire.Now all we have to do is wait for the man who kicks the fallen Qing Empire into the grave.