Chapter 18 Yuan Shikai and the Beijing Mutiny: Playing a Manipulative Manipulation that Went Away

1912 was the first year of the Republic of China.In February of this year, the Qing emperor abdicated, and the Republic of China officially came to an end.Yuan Shikai became "China's No. 1 Washington, and the world's No. 2 Washington" in the minds of some Chinese people, and he readily took over the interim presidential position vacated by Sun Yat-sen.However, if he wants to finally take office, there is still a small threshold to cross, which is to go south to Nanjing to become the president.In fact, before setting this threshold, Sun Yat-sen quietly made another stumbling block—instigating the provisional Senate to change the American presidential system when he was in office into a semi-presidential system, the so-called French system.Between the president and the cabinet, a prime minister is added.Goodnow, the American consultant invited by the Republic of China, shouted nonsense, not understanding why China wanted to learn from the terrible France.

Yuan Shikai saw all this. Although he might not understand the American system and the French system, his staff who had stayed abroad would tell him what was going on.After many years of ups and downs in the officialdom, he knew that these so-called thresholds were nothing more than Sun Yat-sen wanted to pull out his tiger's teeth and put him in a cage designed by the revolutionary party.However, Yuan Shikai didn't care about these things. For him, as long as he became president, everything would be easy to handle.In his thinking framework, the president is just like the emperor. As long as he sits in this position, the power is ours. A little trick will not affect the overall situation at all.Therefore, Yuan Shikai agreed to Sun Yat-sen's two little tricks.The promise was so happy that Sun Yat-sen was a little worried, and hastily sent a high-standard welcome mission led by the former Hanlin Cai Yuanpei to go north to meet Yuan Shikai who went south to take office.

On February 27, Cai Yuanpei, Song Jiaoren and Wang Jingwei welcomed Special Envoy Yuan to Beijing.Immediately received warmly by Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai ordered to open the Zhengyang Gate, allowing envoys to enter the inner city through the gate of the former emperor, and enjoy unlimited honor.Not only did he agree to go south to take office, but he also had a special banquet, and the atmosphere was extremely friendly and warm.However, just as the special envoy was drowsy with fine wine and the promised rice soup, intoxicated by the dream of fulfilling his mission, on the night of the 29th, a sudden mutiny broke out in Beijing. They were forced to flee to the Liuguo Hotel owned by foreigners, and some people said that they didn’t even have time to wear their shoes.It was later found out that the mutiny's army was the third division of Cao Kun's direct descendant of Beiyang.

According to Qi Rushan who was present that day, the rebellious soldiers were not likely to be mobs who wanted to make trouble. They went to the streets to rob, covered their heads, and shrank. They didn't know what to rob, and they didn't mean to hurt others.Qi Rushan also acted as a "robbery consultant" for the rebels on the street, telling them what was worth.According to a staff officer of the Third Division at that time, before the mutiny, Yuan Keding, Yuan Shikai’s eldest son, had twice asked Beiyang veteran generals to whisper about Yuan Shikai’s going south to take office, thinking that this would be bad for Yuan Shikai and even more bad for the Beiyang Army. , Maybe the Beiyang Army will become a child without a mother.For the last time, I went directly to Cao Kun of the 3rd Division and some officers, and made it clear to find some people. They surrounded the envoy's residence, fired a few shots, and shouted a few times, "Gong Bao (Yuan Shikai) is gone, we are left alone. !” Scared these people away.Although there is no circumstantial evidence for this statement, Yuan Keding has done this kind of fraud before.At a time when Yuan Shikai had reached an agreement with the south, but Qing Shi was hesitant to abdicate, he actually cooperated with the northern revolutionaries, bought many rickshaw pullers, and shot and dropped bombs at Dong'anmen to scare the little emperor.At the same time, he secretly asked the police not to intervene.This kind of trick is similar to this mutiny.Therefore, it is very possible for Yuan Keding to do such a thing.It is very likely that Cao Kun, a fool like Cao Kun, messed things up every day.Originally, a small number of people came out to scare people, but the whole division was mobilized. The incident became a big mess, and too many places were burned and looted, which hurt Yuan Shikai's face.So, after the incident, Cao Kun was severely scolded, so scared that he almost peed his pants.Of course, this kind of thing is really difficult to grasp. Those who were soldiers in that era would not be unhappy if they had the opportunity to rob.Therefore, once the incident broke out, it would get worse and worse, and the car could not be stopped.Not only was there a mutiny in Beijing, but Tianjin and Baoding followed suit as if they were booing.The story Yuan Keding made up in order to drive away the special envoy really scared some Beiyang soldiers in the end.Regarding the mutiny, there is another theory. Feng Yuxiang, who was a Beiyang soldier at the time, believed that the discipline of Cao Kun's soldiers was not good, and the mutiny was not Yuan Shikai's conspiracy.Chen Wenyun, who was the brigade commander of the third division at the time, believed that the reason for the mutiny was the forced cutting of braids and the suspension of entitlements and rice stickers (wartime subsidies).However, it is said that it was precisely because Chen Wenyun was a foreign student that Yuan Keding did not dare to tell him when he arranged the arrangement, for fear that he would be determined and refused to do it.Obviously, if the mutiny was due to bad discipline or unsatisfied economic requirements, and there was absolutely no reason to return to the camp, they would know that mutiny is a crime of beheading in any era.Therefore, the possibility of increasing the number of soldiers is still a well-designed conspiracy.

Of course, having said that, as a northerner, Yuan Shikai really didn't like Nanjing.Moreover, in Chinese history, the political geography has always been that the north is stronger than the south, and those who set up their capitals in the south are mostly in a situation of partial security.Therefore, although the so-called strategy of bringing Yuan Shikai to the south, where the revolutionary forces are relatively strong, and diverting the tiger away from the mountain, is just wishful thinking of Sun Yat-sen, because from today's perspective, the south may not have a strong revolutionary atmosphere, and there are also revolutionary parties in the north.As long as Yuan Shikai becomes president, the Beiyang army can be transferred to defend itself, and it will not worry about being unable to control the southeast half.However, if he could not leave, Yuan Shikai still did not want to leave.Therefore, although Mr. Yuan and Cao Kun got into trouble, they gave up the idea of ​​welcoming Special Envoy Yuan after all. It was their own family who made a mistake with good intentions, and this mistake was more or less in line with their own wishes.So, after scolding, it's over.Cao Kun was still his teacher, and it was impossible for those who participated in the mutiny to be held accountable, while Mr. Yuan was still playing his tricks.With such a result, people can't tell whether these tricks were Mr. Yuan's own idea, or whether they were approved by his father?

Only in this way, the rebellious soldiers were appeased, but the scourge of military meddling in politics began. The East is also the Eastern Sword, and the West is also the Eastern Sword. Following this road, the Republic of China stepped onto the track of the military country step by step.So that when future generations think of the Republic of China, they will think of warlords.