Chapter 29 28. Peace talks

After the success of the Wuchang Uprising, the revolutionary army urgently needed a unified provisional central government. On September 19, Li Yuanhong proposed to the independent provinces to send representatives to Wuchang for a meeting.However, it took eight days for this telegram to arrive in Shanghai. On September 21, the governors of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai invited representatives from all provinces to Shanghai for a meeting to discuss the issue of organizing a unified organization. Wu Tingfang and Wen Zongyao were temporary diplomatic representatives of the Revolutionary Army.After Li's telegram arrived in Shanghai, in order to respect Li's opinion, all parties decided to use Wuchang as the seat of the central government, and elected the governor of the Hubei Army to act as the central authority.The provincial representatives in Shanghai held a meeting on the fourth day of October, and decided to send one representative from each province to Wuchang to participate in the joint meeting of provincial representatives, and to keep one representative in Shanghai to serve as liaison.

After the representatives from various provinces arrived in Wuchang, on the tenth day of the first month of October, the Provincial Congress of the Revolutionary Army was held at the Shunchang Foreign Office in the British Concession in Hankou, and Tan Renfeng was publicly elected as the speaker.There was a behind-the-scenes but historic decision at this meeting, which was to pass a resolution on October 10: "Empty the interim presidential seat until Yuan Shikai returns anyway." It turned out that Yuan Shikai sent Zhu Qiyu to Wuchang on the ninth day of October, and Zhu brought a letter written by Wang Zhaoming. This is a letter from Wang Zhaoming to Wuchang's revolutionary comrades. For the interim president.Wang's letter happened to arrive in the middle of the provincial congresses, so everyone focused on this issue.During the discussion, some representatives believed that the Qing government had already existed in name only, and the issue of "peace and war" in the future should not be between the revolutionary army and the Qing court, but between the revolutionary army and Yuan Shikai. A good way is to draw Yuan to the revolutionary camp.Yuan's problem is to give him a big reward. He is already one person under one man and above ten thousand people in the Qing court. Therefore, if you want to pull Yuan against the Qing Dynasty, you can only have a higher position than him in the Qing court. Therefore, if Yuan If they really wish to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish the Republic of China with little effort, the revolutionary army can only seduce and impress Yuan if they enjoy the interim president of the Republic of China.

The collusion between Yuan Shikai and Wang Zhaoming was a major political issue before and after the founding of the Republic of China.Twenty months ago, Wang Shixie was imprisoned for his assassination of the regent, which shocked the people at home and abroad. In the year of 1911, when Yuan revived to form a cabinet, Wang had already been released.After Yuan entered Beijing, he had several conversations with Wang alone, and what the two talked about was unknown to outsiders. However, Wang was one of the important figures of the Tongmenghui, and he had also served in prison. His revolutionary achievements were well known to the world and no one would doubt him. Wang was disloyal to the revolution, so Yuan Wang's reciprocation did not damage Wang's reputation.The climax of the collusion between Yuan and Wang was the fact that Wang Zhaoming and Yuan's eldest son Keding became brothers with different surnames.This was during the North-South peace talks, on the seventh day of October in the Xinhai Year. Yuan met Wang at the Prime Minister's Office at 5:00 p.m. on that day for an hour of secret talks, and at 7:00 p.m.Wang and Keding kowtowed to Yuan Si first, and then they kowtowed to each other. Then Shikai sat facing south, and Wang and Keding stood facing north.Yuan Xuxu said: "The two of you will be brothers with different surnames from now on. Ke Ding is the elder, so you should treat Zhao Ming as your younger brother; Zhao Ming should be treated as your elder brother when you are young. To the flesh and blood." Wang He Keding said in a very sincere and respectful spoken language: "It is like the life of an adult." Then he kowtowed to Yuan Si again, and the scene of "righteousness" ended with Jinlan's etiquette.The father and son were accompanied by Yang Du and others, they had a good time drinking, Wang Xiongyu was drinking, Yuan father and son were not weak, this night was really a mess, and they broke up happily.

There were two attempts at the Wuchang peace talks, both of which Yuan sent Cai Tinggan (Yaotang) and Liu Chengen (Haochun) to Wuchang to approach Li, but both times they failed to get the point.It was only after Yuan became the Prime Minister of the Cabinet that he formally took over the peace negotiations. The British Minister Zhu Erdian in Beijing sent a telegram to the British Consul Ge Fu in Hankou to come to Wuchang on the tenth day of October to mediate peace and negotiate a truce between the two sides.At that time, the Qing army in Hankou was still under the command of Feng Guozhang. The short-term truce conditions he set were to call the revolutionary party a "bandit party", and some "bandit party" had to withdraw from Wuchang City for fifteen miles, and the gun bolts of the "bandit party" warships had to be removed. I handed over to the introducer Ying Consul the storage and other words, so the revolutionary army also responded: "The Manchu army must retreat fifteen miles away from Hankou, and all the arms of the Manchu army should be sealed by the introducer Ying Consul".

The conditions for a partial formal truce proposed by the British Consul Graves are: 1. Scope: The land occupied by the two armies of Wuchang (Revolutionary Army) and Hankou (Qing Army) cannot be changed; 2. Date: from 8:00 am on October 12 to 8:00 am on the 15th, a three-day truce; 3. The Revolutionary Army shall abide by the clauses: A. The Revolutionary Army shall stand still within the scope of the armistice; B. The warships of the Revolutionary Army shall not sail within the scope of the armistice, and the machines shall be unloaded and handed over to the navy officers stationed in Britain for storage, but they must be kept within the scope of the armistice. At 6 am on the 15th, it was handed over to the ship for recovery.

4. The terms that the Qing army should abide by: A. The Qing army must stand still within the date of the armistice; B. The trains of the Qing army must not come and go for military operations during the date of the armistice. monitor. During the three-day truce, Consul Ge Fu negotiated peace with the provincial congresses meeting in the British Concession in Hankou. There were two peace plans: one was nationwide, with Yuan Shikai’s cabinet representing the provinces and regions under the Qing government’s rule, I hope to have peace talks with someone who can represent the entire revolutionary province; the other is a partial truce, which will be carried out by Feng Guozhang, the supreme commander of the Beiyang Army in Wuhan (Feng has not yet left Hankou at this time) and "Li Junmen" in Hubei. limited truce negotiations.

The truce expired on October 15, and the two sides agreed to continue the truce until 6:00 pm on November 12.During the armistice period, on October 18, Yuan Shikai sent Tang Shaoyi as the plenipotentiary representative of the prime minister and cabinet ministers to Wuhan to discuss the overall situation with "Li Junmen" or its representatives, and the revolutionary army also sent Wu Tingfang as the plenipotentiary representative. When Yuan appointed Tang as the plenipotentiary representative, Yang Shiqi said to Yuan: "Shaochuan (Tang's name) is from Cantonese, and Cantonese are the most concerned about fellowship. Revolutionary leader Sun Wen is also from Cantonese, and Wu Tingfang is also from Cantonese, Cantonese and Cantonese When we meet, you have to be careful when you say a few words in Cantonese!" Yuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, Xingcheng (Yang's name), I will invite you and your family Xizi (Yang Du) to accompany Shaochuannan Let’s go. Xizi is from Hunan, and there are many Hunanese in the revolutionary army. Let the Hunanese meet with Hunanese and speak a few words of Hunan dialect.” Yang Du knew Mr. Sun Yat-sen very well when he was in Tokyo, and he also knew Huang Xing, Song The teaching and benevolence are very close, and Sun Huang's understanding is still introduced by Yang, so Yang has influence on the peace talks.At that time, there was a theory that said: the revolutionary cause is not easy to succeed without Yuan, and Yuan is not Zeng Guofan or Hu Linyi, and the revolutionaries should not force him to follow the path of Zeng and Hu.Today's general situation is not a problem between the revolutionary party and the Qing court, but a problem between the revolutionary party and Yuan. Once Yuan's problem is solved, the revolution will succeed, and Yuan's problem is only a matter of conditions, not a matter of principle.

Tang Shaoyi, Yuan Shikai's confidant and Qing court's special envoy for peace talks, arrived in Hankou on October 21, 1911, and got off at Dazhimen Railway Station.At this time, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army was still Feng Guozhang. Although Feng was ordered to return to the north, Duan Qirui, who replaced him, had not yet arrived.Tang Shaoyi and Yang Shiqi took the British militia in the British Concession as their dormitory, and they came with Tang, dozens of entourage, and Morrison, the special correspondent of the London Times in Beijing. After Tang Shaoyi arrived in Hankou, he originally hoped to meet with Li Yuanhong in the British Concession, but the revolutionary army did not agree, so according to the Chinese custom, tourists visited guests, and at noon on the 22nd, Tang Shaoyi was accompanied by the acting British consul general and the British captain. Jiang went to Wuchang to arrange a meeting with Li.The two sides talked for about half an hour.Since Wu Tingfang, the representative of the peace talks on the part of the Revolutionary Army, was still in Shanghai, the two sides agreed to change the venue of the peace talks to Shanghai.

At 10 a.m. on the 23rd, Tang Shaoyi and his party took the steamer Dongting from Hankou to Shanghai. Hu Ying and Wang Zhengting, representatives of the Wuchang Revolutionary Army, also boarded the Dongting. On the 24th, Duan Qirui, the acting governor of Huguang and the president of the First Army of the Qing court, led the resigned chief envoy Lian Jia and the procuratorate envoy Zhu Shuyuan to Hankou.The next day, Feng Guozhang took over the command of the First Army. At 2:00 p.m. on October 27, representatives from the South (Revolutionary Army) and the North (Qing Court) held their first meeting at the city hall on Nanjing Road in Shanghai.The chief representative of the south is Wu Tingfang, and the counselors are Wen Zongyao, Wang Chonghui, Wang Zhaoming, and Niu Yongjian; the chief representative of the north is Tang Shaoyi, and the counselors are Ou Gengxiang, Xu Dinglin, Zhao Chunnian, and Feng Yitong.The conference table was a long table. Wu and Tang were seated side by side, and the counselors of the two sides lined up on the left and right. Wang Zhengting, director of foreign affairs of the Wuchang military government, also sat opposite Wu and Tang, but neither had the right to speak.After the two sides sat down, they checked each other's documents and announced the meeting at the same time. First, Wu Tingfang proposed to cease fighting from the 29th. Agreement, and then the peace talks can be officially carried out; during the peace talks, if any troops are mobilized without authorization, both sides should be severely punished.Wu added to this proposal, thinking that peace talks should be conducted peacefully, not fighting and talking, but talking while fighting, because this is not a real peace talk.Tang Shaoyi followed Wu Qi to speak. He said that he would immediately telegraph Wu's suggestion to Yuan's cabinet.At the same time, I talked about a story, that is, when Wang Zhaoming was in Beijing, he telegraphed Huang Xing about urging Yuan to participate in the revolution. Huang Fu and Wang telegraphed that if Yuan Guo could participate in the revolution, he could elect Yuan as the first president of the Republic of China.Huang sent this reply to Wang Zeng to Yang Du, who forwarded it to Chen Yuan.Yuan said: "I can't be the commander-in-chief, Huang Xing should do it." Therefore, it can be proved that Yuan's heart is inclined to republic, but as a Qing minister, he can't say it out loud.So Tang concluded that what the current peace conference is discussing is not to oppose the purpose of the republic, but to seek first how to achieve peace.This first meeting is over.

After the peace talks started, the southern representative (revolutionary army side) raised a prerequisite for the peace talks, that is, the northern representative (the Qing government side) must first recognize the issue of the state system of a democratic republic. This is the purpose of the revolution. If it is not on this basis, there will be no The need for peace talks.Tang Shaoyi telegraphed the "preconditions for peace talks" in the south to Beijing, asked Yuan's cabinet for instructions, and put forward Tang's own views.Tang’s view is that the revolutionary army has no room for bargaining on this precondition, so if they refuse, the talks cannot continue. It is better to go around in circles, that is, to hand over the issue of the “national system” to a “temporary parliament” for a vote. We can go on talking.After Yuan Shikai received Tang's telegram, he asked Empress Dowager Longyu for instructions, and Longyu convened an imperial meeting to discuss it, and finally accepted Tang's opinion.Some people say that Tang's opinion was Yuan's instruction at all, because Yuan's method was to use the revolutionary army to end the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and at the same time leave room for himself to "replace it".

Southern representative Wu Tingfang was dissatisfied with Tang's answer. Tang repeatedly explained: "This is just a matter of form and procedure. This approach is a transformation, and it does not conflict with the achievement of the revolutionary goal." Therefore, it is necessary to further discuss with the northern representatives how to convene a "National Assembly" to solve the "national system problem".The two sides agreed that the fourteen provinces occupied by the revolutionary army and the eight provinces ruled by the Qing government should send three representatives from each province to participate in the National Assembly.The southern representative proposed Shanghai as the location of the National Assembly, while the northern representative said that he must consult Premier Yuan for instructions before deciding. At 6 p.m. on November 12, Qirui formally sent a note to the consuls of various countries stationed in Hankou, announcing the withdrawal of 100 miles from the current defense zone to express the sincerity of the Beiyang Army's dialogue and peace.When the troops were withdrawing, the army was neat and orderly. All the retreating teams were fully equipped and gathered in the field where they were.The first row started, the second row stood up and turned forward, the third row packed up the bullets, and the last row fell to the ground, holding live ammunition for cover, and retreated one by one.There were thousands of Chinese and foreign people onlookers, and they all praised it. On November 13th in the third year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1912), which was New Year's Day in the first year of the Republic of China, Mr. Sun Yat-sen took office as the interim president in Nanjing.On this day, representatives of peace talks between the North and the South were in Shanghai to discuss the organization of the National Assembly.There are two points to be discussed on this topic: one is the selection of representatives to attend, the fourteen provinces occupied by the revolutionary army and the eight provinces ruled by the Qing government will be organized by three representatives from each faction, this issue has been accepted by Tang Shaoyi, the representative of the North; It was a question of the venue of the meeting, and Wu Tingfang, a representative from the South, proposed to hold it in Shanghai.Tang Shaoyi, the representative of the North, said that he could only reply after consulting the Yuan Cabinet for instructions.Tang's telegram for instructions and President Sun's inauguration reached Yuan at the same time.When Yuan heard that the provisional government had been established, he said angrily: "Since the president has been elected, what seat should I sit in? Forget it! There is no need to negotiate peace." In an unhappy mood, he gave Tang Shaoyi A directive that the Don's assent to the distribution of representation in the National Assembly without his permission shall be deemed void.At the same time, with this method, the south would occupy 14 provinces and the eight provinces in the north. Before a meeting, the north would already be at an absolute disadvantage. Therefore, he sent a telegram to Shanghai to declare his disapproval, and at the same time condemned Tang for his ultra vires.Under such circumstances, Tang Shaoyi had no choice but to take the blame and resign.Yuan accepted Tang's resignation and at the same time called Wu Tingfang to go north to negotiate directly.Wu Tingfang invited Yuan Nan to go down, and the peace talks between the two sides turned into a telegram exchange, which was futile. Yuan Shikai resorted to several methods at this time. He not only threatened the revolutionary army, but also threatened the Qing government. His methods were as follows: (1) The Beiyang Army issued a telegram jointly signed by Jiang Guiti and Feng Guozhang: "Support the constitutional monarchy and oppose the republican regime." This is to deal with the revolutionary army; (2) The envoys of the Qing government stationed abroad, led by Lu Zhengxiang, the Minister of Mission to Russia, sent a telegram asking the Qing emperor to abdicate.This is against the Qing court; (3) Order Zhang Xun's braided army to counterattack Nanjing to test the strength of the revolution.But the braided army was too useless, first defeated by the Jiangsu-Zhejiang coalition army and the Guangdong army in Guzhen, and then by the Guangdong army and the Huai army in Nansuzhou. In the end, Zhang Zhuai couldn't even defend Xuzhou, so he fled to Shandong; (4) Try to obtain a guarantee from the revolutionary army that if the Qing emperor abdicates, he will push Yuan to succeed him as president.In fact, this tacit agreement has already been formed, but Yuan still doesn't quite believe it.As far as the revolutionary army is concerned, there are too many compromising elements. Everyone believes that based on the concept of nationalism, as long as the house is cleared and the country is cleared, the goal of the revolution has been accomplished. Yuan has the Beiyang Army in his hands, so he should not be forced to follow the path of Zeng Guofan. For the revolution, Yuan may as well be elected president. The North-South peace talks went behind the scenes, and Yang Du and Wang Zhaoming became the main characters.Wang had been bought by Yuan, and he had organized the "National Freemasonry" with Yang Du in Beijing, and the southern compromisers were in the majority. Therefore, President Sun Da was urged to give way to Yuan, and Yuan was responsible for the exchange terms for overthrowing the Qing government. It became more mature. It's not that Mr. Sun Yat-sen is ignorant of Yuan's treachery, but he is a "democracy fanatic" politician who always respects the opinions of the majority and is open-minded.At that time, there was a popular opinion in the revolutionary camp: "Using Yuan can get twice the result with half the effort", so Mr. Sun Yat-sen telegraphed and announced: "If Yuan expresses his support for the republic, he should give it to the president, but he must go south to take office." Mr. Sun Yat-sen saw in Shanghai that ordinary revolutionary comrades only pay attention to electing the president, forming a cabinet, and restricting the law, which is completely contrary to the revolutionary strategy he stipulated: "three years of military law rule, six years of contract law rule, and then enter the constitutional rule".Coupled with the fact that the independent provinces are independent, scattered and unorganized, the revolutionary army is not strong enough, and the financial situation is even more uncertain. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to form a powerful revolutionary force for the Northern Expedition and destroy Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. It was possible, so he also turned to the next best thing, which was to "use Yuan to pay for the liquidation" and temporarily bring the revolution to an end.After he saw that he was elected as the interim president, Yuan was restless and forced Tang Shaoyi to resign as a peace representative. Therefore, in order to urge Yuan Neng to firmly join the revolutionary camp, he took the initiative to urge Yuan Neng to join the revolutionary camp on the second day after he was elected as the interim president. Send a telegram to Yuan Shikai, and the telegram says: "Premier Yuan from Beijing learned: Arriving in Shanghai the day before yesterday, all comrades were responsible for organizing a provisional government. When asked why, it was said that the southeastern provinces owed a unified agency, and it was very difficult to act, so they organized it. The provisional government is a necessary condition for survival. Since the review of the paper is difficult, it is obligatory, so it has to be temporarily in charge. The public party takes the responsibility of rotating the dry and turning the Kun, and knows that the billions of trillions belong to the hope, and the current position cannot be avoided. Therefore, Although the text is temporarily lacking, the heart to wait for the vacant position will finally come to light in the future. I hope that a big plan can be made early to comfort the aspirations of 400 million people." At this time, Yuan was still skeptical of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's sincerity, so on the day after Mr. Sun Yat-sen's inauguration, Yuan (January 2nd) The reply telegram was very official, and the telegram said: "Sun Yixian's lesson: I have learned from the steam telegram. The question of the monarchy and the republic, what is the decision of the national referendum? It is impossible to predict. The provisional government did not dare to compete with it. Smell. I am too ashamed to be tempted by false accusations and rewards, but I hope to learn from you.” Mr. Sun Yat-sen was worried that Yuan was still vacillating, so he sent another telegram to explain the misunderstanding. Wen can't bear the civil war between the South and the Civil War, so he doesn't object to the peace talks. Although the democratic monarch doesn't need to worry about it, the painstaking efforts of the monarch will be forgiven by others. If the monarch's strength can achieve the will of the people without fighting, To protect the harmony of the nation, the Qing Dynasty can also be at ease, do good deeds, push the merits and give up the ability, and have its own public opinion. The text is recommended by the provinces, and the oath is in place. The heart of the district, the day and the day, if the text is used as an inducement, You have misunderstood me." The sincerity of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's telegram was like an oath to Yuan that as long as Yuan could overthrow the Qing Dynasty, he would give up the position of president.Yuan Shikai believed that the most important point had been achieved, so what remained was how to deal with the Qing imperial family. Originally, as early as when the representatives of the independent provinces came to Hankou for a meeting, they had already decided on four items of the peace plan: (1) abolishing the Qing government; (2) establishing a republic; (3) giving annual allowances to the Qing emperor; Be full.Therefore, the preferential treatment for the Qing royal family is not a problem.When Yuan had secured his status, he sought an agreement on the preferential treatment terms between the Qing emperor and the royal family. With this preferential treatment clause, he could coerce the Qing family to abdicate.