Chapter 18 17. During the tenure of Beiyang Minister

The business of Beiyang ministers involves many foreign affairs, so the Qing court always chooses ministers who are familiar with foreign affairs to take up this position, especially after the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded and occupied Zhili, there are naturally many inseparable relationships with foreigners in the Zhili Governor-General . The governor's yamen of Zhili was located in Tianjin, but Tianjin was already under the occupation of the Eight-Power Allied Forces. After the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty", when the foreign soldiers were returned to Tianjin, they sent a note to the Qing government and put forward a condition that Chinese troops were not allowed to be stationed within 20 miles around Tianjin.This is really an extremely unreasonable condition. It is really unreasonable to imagine that the majestic Beiyang minister and the governor of Zhili have no military protection at the location of his yamen.Yuan Shikai's handling of this issue fully demonstrated his wisdom.He dispatched 3,000 elite troops from the troops under his jurisdiction and organized them as the "Northern Section of Patrol Battalion". Gu, Tanggu, Shanhaiguan, Qinhuangdao, Beitang and other places.These patrolmen, who have undergone strict army training, are disciplined and energetic.This measure has achieved extremely successful results in ensuring local security.Then, in order to strengthen the patrol work, 50 cavalry patrols and 100 fire patrols were recruited, and they were carefully trained and managed.At the same time, there are three small steamboats for patrolling rivers and seas.A patrol school was also created, and foreign teachers were hired as lecturers so that police officers could have specialized education.The official police in the Qing Dynasty began when Yuan Shikai was the governor of Zhili.

When the Eight-Power Allied Forces occupied Tianjin, they jointly formed the Dutong Yamen to manage Tianjin's administrative and civil litigation. After the Allied Forces retreated, the foreign police remained in Tianjin as the symbolic strength of the Dutong Yamen.After Yuan Shikai took office, he immediately took back the power of Tianjin, and sent Tang Shaoyi to sign a contract with the members of the eight countries.On July 12, the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Tianjin was officially taken over, and the Dutong Yamen was removed, and the foreign police naturally withdrew.At that time, the railways inside and outside the customs were under the management of Britain and Russia. Yuan went to Shanhaiguan on the sixth day of August to inspect and accept the railways outside the customs with the Russian admiral, including: the line from Shanhaiguan to Yingkou has been completed for more than 700 miles, and the line from Goubangzi to Xinmintun has not yet been completed. More than 200 miles, including all plant equipment along the railway line.On August 26, the British envoy went to Tianjin and, together with the British admiral, handed over 823 miles of Guannei Railway, including all factory buildings and equipment.

There is also the Kaiping coal mine problem.It turned out that when the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing, Zhang Yizuo, the supervisor of the Kaiping Coal Mine, raised foreign shares and changed it to Sino-Foreign Contract Company. The pools and rivers are handed over to the successor to guard forever.This is simply a sell-off, not to mention that the Qing court didn’t know, probably Zhang Yi himself didn’t know very well, until one day Yang Shanqing, a member of the Kaiping Coal Mine Bureau, raised the "national flag" in the bureau, and the British declared that this was British land and could not be hoisted. The Yellow Dragon Banner, and there are various certificates for Zhang Yi to sell it off.Yuan Nai asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing (after the abolishment of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Office to be changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to inform the British Minister that Zhang Yi's private contract to sell the mines would not be recognized by the government.At the same time, an order was requested to punish Zhang Yi and order the coal mine to be withdrawn within a certain period of time.

When foreign soldiers occupied Tianjin, the Belgians got permission from the Qing government to set up a tram and light company in Tianjin.During Yuan's tenure as the direct governor, Biren opened the operation according to the signed treaty. Yuan refused, thinking that the previous clauses lost too much power and had to be revised. After several negotiations between the Belgian embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, they were unable to do so because of Yuan's insistence on the position. Get results.In the end, a new contract was drawn up, with a limit of 50 years. Every year, the profits would be paid to the magistrate first, and 35% would be given to the shareholders. If the private land was used, the rent would be paid by the company. After the 50-year period expires, all tracks, houses, timber, foundations, machinery and vehicles, and various industries will be owned by the Zhili Governor's Yamen. When they are returned, they must be completely repaired and must not be damaged. Expenses for the construction of the Tianjin Yuhe Railway and the installation of machines for draining Haoshui.

In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), Yuan's old friend Zhang Jian, the number one scholar in Nantong who had been his teacher, wrote a letter to Yuan, asking Yuan to promote the "constitution" of the Qing court.This letter is full of more than a thousand words, and the letter says: "Your Majesty is now in charge of the world's heavy soldiers and shoulders the world's heavy responsibilities. It is appropriate to have a friendship with the country. Gu also knows that the country is in danger. It is not comparable to what Husband Jiawu or Gengzi got. It is useless to rectify the details of the regime change, and it is not as good as this. Before the overall situation of Japan and Russia is determined, there is no way to seek a regime change and save the fire. The victory or defeat of Japan and Russia is also the victory or defeat of constitutional autocracy. Who is a completely autocratic country? Is it a good thing that an autocracy made a constitution in public? Japan’s Ito Itagaki and others jointly created the constitution, which is a great achievement of honoring the Lord and protecting the people. , even if you go down and ask yourself your ambition, you will definitely not be under everyone else." Yunyun.With a thousand words, Yuan admired him very much.

At this time, the ruling and opposition parties were clamoring for constitutionalism. In addition, as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan, a small country with a constitutional monarchy, defeated the imperial Russia, which was known as a powerful country and an absolute monarchy.As a last resort, the Qing government set up a "Political Investigation Center". At the same time, it accepted Yuan's suggestion to send relatives and nobles to study politics abroad, and sent five ministers: Zai Ze, Dai Hongci, Xu Shichang, Duan Fang, and Shaoying to study constitutionalism abroad. Perfunctory, in order to delay time.On August 26th in the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), five ministers set off from Beijing to go abroad. When they arrived at the station outside Qianmen, they were thrown a bomb by an assassin lurking at the station, wounding Zaize and Shaoying.So the trip abroad was postponed, and it took place again in September. Shang Qiheng, the governor of Shandong, and Li Shengduo, the governor of Shuntian Fu, replaced Xu Shichang and Shaoying.Shaoying was injured and unable to make the trip, and Xu Shichang was appointed to a new position.This new post was created after the assassination of the five ministers to meet the requirements of the situation. It was also suggested by Yuan Shikai: to set up a patrol department to coordinate national security work and concentrate power.The head of this new yamen was also recommended by Yuan Shikai, Xu Shichang was the Minister of the Patrol Department, and Zhao Bingjun was the Minister of the Patrol Department.The assassin who murdered the five ministers was Wu Yue from Tongcheng, and he was a student of Baoding Higher School.His bomb helped Yuan Shikai another big favor, that is, he took this opportunity to seize the police power of the Qing Dynasty.

On September 17th in the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Empress Dowager Cixi granted Yuan a 40-day funeral leave, allowing him to return home to bury his biological mother, Mrs. Liu.These are extremely honorable in the Qing Dynasty.On September 25th, Yuan Sui handed over the governor to the care of Wu Chongtao, the feudal official, and returned to Xiangcheng, Henan Province on October 8th.This return trip can be regarded as a "returning home". The governor of Henan traveled a long way to welcome him, and local officials greeted him all over the city. The scene was very glorious.Yuan returned home with his wife Yu, five concubines and their children, and the funeral was held grandly.The villagers all said that Mrs. Yuan's mother, Mrs. Liu, was blessed, and they waited until her son became an extremely powerful minister before being buried.

Yuan only stayed in his hometown for 14 days. Before returning to Tianjin, he traveled southeast from Xinyang to Hankou.On October 23, together with Duan Fang, governor of Huguang, visited the ironworks and arsenal.Then he took a steamer to Jiujiang and transferred to Jiangning, where he met Liu Kunyi, Governor of Liangjiang.Then went to Shanghai to visit Lu Haihuan and Sheng Xuanhuai.On November 3, he returned to the north on the Haiqi Ferry, arrived in Qinhuangdao two days later, and returned to his post in Tianjin. China's first military band was established by Yuan Shikai during his tenure as Minister of Beiyang, and it was officially used in March of the 29th year of Guangxu (1903) when Cixi and Guangxu Xingxingbao.It turns out that although China is a country of rites and music, the use of military music was different in different dynasties; Tang Taizong attached great importance to it, but gradually ignored it after the Song Dynasty.Yuan Shikai was deeply impressed by the solemn military music of the West, so he formed a military band, and all the instruments were completely Western.This time the two palaces were fortunate enough to travel to Baoding, and the military band greeted them at the station. After Cixi and Guangxu got off the train, Yuan Shikai led all the officials to kneel down to greet them. march".Because there was no national anthem in the Qing Dynasty at that time, let alone other tunes to welcome the emperor's grand ceremony, the military band could only play a few national anthems from all over the world. Fortunately, everyone didn't know what it was, let alone what tune it should play at that time.Cixi and Guangxu had never seen this kind of thing before, so they were very interested. She walked lightly to the front of the military band, looked at these instruments carefully, and inquired about the names of these instruments in a very excited tone. Drums and the like.Yuan Shikai explained to the Queen Mother one by one that his foreign stuff really bluffed the Queen Mother.

However, Empress Dowager Cixi was accompanied by Princess De Ling who had traveled to various countries in Europe and America. Of course, she had seen military bands and knew that it would be ridiculous to play Marseillaise to welcome Empress Dowager Cixi, but she did not dare to dismantle this diorama.At the same time, she felt that Yuan Shikai's establishment of a military band was always something that catered to the times, and the Qing Dynasty had no official music, so when she had the opportunity to talk about military music with Cixi afterwards, she made a suggestion: "Lafayette, all countries in the world have national anthems. , Our Qing Dynasty should also have a national anthem. When Lafayette goes on tour or has a national ceremony, the military band plays the national anthem of the Qing Dynasty, which is called solemnity!" Cixi was very interested when she heard it, and said bluntly: "Well, come tomorrow Ask someone to sing a song!" Even though I said that, I forgot to mention it.Therefore, although Yuan Shikai formed a military band in the Qing Dynasty, he never had a national anthem.

The 10th day of October in the 30th year of Guangxu (1904) was the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, which was celebrated enthusiastically throughout the country, and the Beijing Imperial Palace was even more joyful. The most interesting thing was to appreciate the gifts presented to the Empress Dowager by the ministers.These gifts are all rare and rare toys at home and abroad, and there are everything you expect.No one thought of what the gift presented by Yuan Shikai, governor of Zhili?Because every time Zhang Zhidong presents Cixi's birthday, it is always a priceless emerald.It is said that Zhang Zhidong is the expert who knows "jade" best, and Cixi is also the most pleased with his gifts.But this year Yuan Shikai made a big splash. His gift was a parrot with a red beak and colorful wings.Everyone in the palace was very strange. Since Yuan Gongbao was so favored by Cixi and the chief governor, why was the birthday gift so meager?When the parrot was put in a cage and presented to the queen mother, a miracle happened. The parrot said to the queen mother in a pure Beijing accent: "Greetings to Lafayette, long live Lafayette, long live, long live!" The old queen mother was very happy. .In this year's birthday ceremony, Yuan Shikai's parrot stole the limelight.

Yuan Shikai in the era of the Beiyang minister seemed to be a famous minister of the time. During this period, he concentrated his wisdom and scheming on cultivating his own strength. He trained new troops, opened military schools, and strengthened his own cadres.In addition to using money to buy cadres, they also use a set of domination techniques from the old society to make these cadres recognize him as a foster father or teacher. Or worship brothers to strengthen ties; for students who graduated from the Armed Forces Academy, they were accepted as adopted sons or disciples; Dissemination: "Yuan Gongbao is the bread and butter of the Beiyang Army. With Yuan Gongbao, you are not afraid that you will not have the opportunity to get promoted and make a fortune." He understood the success factors of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. Due to the different times, he did not have the opportunity to rely on wars to build military force, but he got the opportunity to build a new army because of the bullying of the big powers, so he can still be comparable to Zeng and Li.He and Zeng and Li both encountered the same problem, that is, no matter how much Han people did for the Qing court, they would not gain the trust of the Qing court in the end. This was the reason why Zeng Guofan was uneasy.Therefore, he was not self-sufficient during the smooth sailing of his career. On the contrary, he often maintained a high degree of vigilance, pulling out the nobles of the Qing court as much as possible as a cover, so as to reduce the suspicion of the nobles of the Qing Dynasty towards him.Therefore, during his tenure as the governor of Shandong Province, he played the military affairs of Yinchang Zuozan, a Taoist member from the banner. When he was the acting governor of Zhili, he selected 3,000 children from the Eight Banners to participate in the training of the new army. The training wing commander participated in the training of the newly-built army; after being awarded the governorship of Zhili, he suggested the establishment of the Gyeonggi Supervision and Training New Army Office, and elected Yikuang as the Minister of Supervision and Training, and himself as his deputy.All this shows that when Yuan strengthened his strength, he spent great efforts to dispel the suspicion of the Manchus.