Chapter 31 Section VIII
When did Yuan Shikai want to be emperor?His old friend Xu Shichang, who was the Secretary of State after the establishment of the Zhengshitang, later said: "The National Congress is dissolved, and Xiang Cheng is free to do it."
In fact, as early as March 1912, before and after Yuan Shikai took over Sun Yat-sen as the interim president, there were rumors that "Yuan Shikai wanted to be emperor".For this reason, Yuan Shikai also sent a telegram to clarify on June 25 of that year.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly, the official election of the President, and the announcement of the new Yuan Ji Republic of China Constitution, Yuan Shikai, who has basically cleared the constraints, is indeed getting bolder and bolder.
It was built at the beginning of the Republic of China.A revolution can wipe out a dynasty, but how easy is it to eradicate the feudal imperial power thought of the Chinese?Although the new Republic of China has proved the progress of the democratic republic with a brand-new atmosphere, there are still not one or two conservatives.
In 1914, Liang Dunyan, then director of communications, said privately: "Democracy means having no master, and republic means discord."
As for the elders of the former Qing Dynasty, they are even more blatant.In the autumn of 1914, Lao Naixuan compiled his works against the republic and supported the imperial system written around the Xinhai period into "Continuing the Reconciliation of the Republic". The court officials "harmonize" and "jointly" help the young emperor to govern the country. Therefore, the republic refers to the monarchy, not the democracy; the republic that is being practiced now is a misunderstanding of the original meaning of the republic.He advocated returning power to the Qing Dynasty and bestowing upon Yuan Shikai a hereditary title.
After these absurd remarks of tampering with the connotation of the republic, denying the Revolution of 1911, and promoting the monarchy were sent to Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai's reaction was: immediately invite him to come to Beijing to participate in politics.
Lao Naixuan's participation in politics was not considered, because the Republic of China has been established for more than three years. In the social development after the baptism of the 1911 Revolution and the fall of the monarchy, the mainstream thinking of the people is the republic after all.As soon as this countercurrent of restoration surged, it was immediately resisted.Yuan Shikai saw that the momentum was not right, so he issued an order strictly prohibiting disorder of the state system.
But at this time, Yuan Shikai's heart to proclaim himself emperor was already itchy.At the Zhengshitang meeting where the restoration trend began to emerge, Yuan Shikai said: "It's not impossible to have a monarch; but if there is really an emperor, you must find someone with the surname Zhu, preferably a descendant of Hongwu. I think Mr. Zhu That's fine."
"Zhu Zongchang" refers to Zhu Qiqian, the director of transportation, who is said to be a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang.What seemed to be a joke was an important signal from Yuan Shikai that he was not against the monarch.
On the big question of whether to be a monarch or a republic, the attitude of the president of the Republic of China, who should have the most clear-cut banner, is so ambiguous.Those who are sensitive understand his thoughts, and those who advocate restoration are greatly encouraged.
In some people's minds, it is not like a country without an emperor, and it is always uncomfortable without someone to kowtow and bow down to.The too long feudal monarchy has created some Chinese people's deep-rooted slavishness, which is also the social and psychological basis for Yuan Shikai's proclaiming himself emperor.
To achieve great things, rely on nothing more than the barrel of a gun and the barrel of a pen. The former provides violence guarantees, and the latter provides public opinion support.Now Yuan Shikai holds the barrel of the gun very tightly, and the barrel of the pen is naturally filled by conservatives and followers of power.
In Yuan Shikai's public opinion campaign for proclaiming himself emperor, the one who danced the most and worked the most was Yang Du, who was known as a man of great talent and a wealth of knowledge.
This Yang Du, who was born in a scholarly family, studied under Wang Kaiyun, a famous Hunanese when he was young.Wang Kaiyun claimed that he had "the study of classics and history", "the study of poetry and prose" and "the study of emperors", and asked him which one he wanted to learn; Yang Du asked what "the study of emperors" was. Since then, I have been obsessed with "the study of emperors".
Yang Dusheng, who thinks he is proficient in the study of emperors, is out of time.It was an era when the emperor was eliminated by history. Although he wrote the investigation report for the five ministers who went to Europe to investigate constitutionalism, and even though he taught constitutional knowledge to the high officials of the court under the recommendation of Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, Xuantong He abdicated, China lost the emperor, and his study of the emperor became the art of slaying dragons; and since the Republic of China, Yang Du also felt frustrated. Where is his share?When the State Council was abolished and the political affairs hall was established, he thought it would be no problem to have a secretary of state, but unexpectedly the secretary of state was Yuan Shikai's old friend Xu Shichang...
Now that Yuan Shikai intends to proclaim himself emperor, Yang Du thinks: The time has finally come for him to show his talents and make great achievements!
He first wrote an article "Theory of Saving the Nation by Constitutional Monarchy". This article said that the quality of the Chinese people was low, not suitable for a democratic republic, but only suitable for a constitutional monarchy. It was condensed into one sentence: only the imperial system can save China.After reading it, Yuan Shikai whetted his appetite, praised him as "true Kuang Dai Yi Cai", and wrote the four characters "Kuang Dai Yi Cai" in handwriting, made a gold plaque and presented it to him.
Yang Du was in high spirits, took the initiative to recruit a group of celebrities, and set up a security meeting in Beijing Consort Street.In name, the Preparatory Anhui is an academic institution that "studies whether a monarchy or a republic is more suitable for China", but in fact it is an action group preparing for Yuan Shikai to proclaim himself emperor.A group of like-minded people and those who showed affection to Yuan Shikai and acted like a good boy joined in immediately.
The establishment of the Preparatory Committee sounded the opening gongs and drums for Yuan Shikai's restoration.
The restorationists started to act, which immediately aroused people's vigilance, and Chiu'an would go against the grain and be attacked by public opinion.In a gathering in Zhongshan Park, Hu Ying, one of the "Six Gentlemen" of the Chou'an Association, said with a bitter face: "Some people say we are lackeys." Yang Duhao enlightened him dryly: "You can't care what others say when you do great things. , I am afraid that people will say that it is 'Xiangyuan'!"
In order to restore the imperial system, besides Yang Du, a domestic talent, there were two foreign talents who carried the sedan chair: Yuan Shikai's constitutional adviser, American Goodnow and Japanese He Changxiong.
These two foreign children are naturally very despised, but this Goodnow is no ordinary person, he is the "father of administration" in the United States and the president of Hopkins University!He published the article "On the Republic and the Monarch", arguing that the Chinese people's level of knowledge is too low to study politics, and they are only suitable for the monarchy.He Changxiong was a close confidant of Japanese Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu. He originally came from a country with a constitutional monarchy. In particular, he secretly played the idea of Japan supporting Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor and Yuan Shikai repaying Japan with benefits, and he was also happy to advocate the monarchy for Yuan Shikai.
China and foreign countries echoed, local and foreign countries agreed, and the "voice" for the restoration of the monarchy rose.
After all, the Preparatory Committee and the like are only limited private forces, and in terms of actual promotion, Yuan Shikai's officials are inconvenient to publicly support it. It is not the Beiyang generals who make the overall arrangements for Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor, but his eldest son Yuan Keding.
Yuan Keding was born to Yu Shi, Yuan Shikai's first wife.Yu Shi, who was born in the countryside of Henan Province, is a typical old-fashioned woman who is "not on the stage". She usually doesn't know how to dress up. Once, during a foreign affairs event, a foreign minister reached out to shake her hand. She blushed with embarrassment. He shrank his hands behind his back awkwardly, embarrassing the envoy.
Yuan Keding didn't inherit his mother's restraint and timidity; he inherited his father's ambition.Yuan Keding, who studied in Germany and is proficient in German and English, has not been influenced by modern Western thought, but he is crazy about his father becoming the emperor and he will be the prince and he will inherit the throne in the future.From wooing forces, organizing activities, to instigating Yuan Shikai in every possible way, he was the most fanatical person in the entire process of restoring the imperial system.
A countercurrent of restoration surged across the land of the Republic of China where countless martyrs shed blood to overthrow the imperial system.
Only ten days after the establishment of the Chouan Association, it organized "provincial petition groups" with amazing efficiency. They recruited those who supported the imperial system and the Yuan family from all provinces, and petitioned the Senate; all petitions were written by the Chouan Association, "strongly demanded" Yuan Shikai ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
At that time, the transportation department headed by Liang Shiyi, an important political force, relied on administrative resources and took more action. The people they organized were called the "National Petition Federation", which included people from all walks of life such as veterans of the former Qing Dynasty, military officials, and traffickers. .
Seeing that it was lagging behind, the Chou Anhui organized a "beggar petition group" and a "prostitute petition group" ingeniously!Waving banners and yelling, these people rushed to kneel outside the Xinhua Gate and handed in petitions, imploring Yuan Shikai to be considerate of public opinion and ascend the throne as soon as possible.Some people who saw it said: "Fuck, it's not enough for Yuan Shikai to rape public opinion, he also raped prostitutes."
In the "petition" and "persuasion" activities, because of the negative attitude of several Beiyang generals towards Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor, Yuan Shikai's former pawns, the Beiyang Army, acted a little slower, but once they acted, they acted more vigorously. In late August 1915, the military circles in Beijing held a general-school federation to launch a "petition"; in September, Duan Zhigui joined forces with the generals, capital commanders, and military envoys of the 19 provinces to "beg" Yuan Shikai to assume his position as soon as possible; all the generals expressed their views, Claiming that whoever dares to "go against the will of the people" opposes the restoration of the monarchy, they "swear to be the king's pioneers and get rid of this public enemy!"
In the eyes of the aloof Yuan Shikai, the waves of persuasion campaigns are really the heart of the world, and it is impossible to become an emperor.
There are spontaneous elements in this countercurrent, some of which are sluts who feel uncomfortable without the emperor kneeling down, and some of them are speculators who hope to work hard now and gain some benefits when Yuan Shikai becomes emperor in the future.In addition to the spontaneous elements, there are some people whom Yuan Shikai secretly intimidated and wooed under the appearance of humility; in the coercion and wooing, his dirty methods were fully displayed again.
For example, the transportation department mentioned above was originally watching from the sidelines. Yuan Shikai was determined to let this force bow before his own monarchy. The "five-way participation in the case" was launched for the fraudulent activities for personal gain, and the momentum was fierce for a while, and the transportation department was about to be taken over by a pot.
When the people in the transportation department were in panic all day long, Yuan Shikai said kindly to their leader Liang Shiyi: I didn't know you were also involved in this case, and I will think about it later.Then, Yuan Keding approached Liang Shiyi and asked nakedly, "Will you help me change the imperial system?"
Liang Shiyi hurriedly called a meeting of members of the Department of Communications to report the situation. Finally, he said that the current situation is that for Yuan Shikai's desire to become emperor, "if you agree, you are shameless, if you don't agree, you don't want your head." They immediately agreed: take the head!
Now that he was shameless, he simply hugged Yuan Shikai's thighs tighter, so as not to lose his face and get benefits.Therefore, the Communication Department was very active in Yuan Shikai's proclaiming himself emperor.
Facing the trend of "persuading people to advance", Yuan Shikai was full of honey, but made every possible gesture of embarrassment and even blatant anger: Do you want to restore the emperor?Can't make it!Want me to be emperor?No no no no no!
At this time, Yuan Shikai had entered a state of split personality: being an emperor was his dream, and he obviously wished to ascend to the throne one day earlier, and he was actively and secretly manipulating it, but he said to himself that the Republic of China has been going on for several years, how could he be an emperor? , I never want to be an emperor!That is to say, he knew that what he wanted to do was a big bad thing, but he tried his best to convince himself that this was the wish of the people of the whole country!The most ideal state is: I am the emperor because of public opinion!
Therefore, every voice supporting the monarchy was magnified in his heart like Huang Zhong Dalu; every voice of opposition was weakened and ignored in his heart.
After all, he was guilty of being a thief, and Yuan Shikai sometimes looked forward and backward and had many worries; but his son Yuan Keding was impatient, and seeing Lao Tzu swaying, he was more anxious than anything else.While jumping up and down, encouraging people from all walks of life to try their best to "persuade them to come in", he came up with a dirty trick to strengthen Yuan Shikai's confidence: he privately printed the Japanese newspaper "Suncheon Times", which was only for his father to read. Fake newspapers published a large number of articles that the people desperately hoped that Yuan Shikai would ascend the throne as soon as possible.This move is exactly the same as when his father forced the Qing Emperor to abdicate back then to deceive the Queen Mother Longyu by falsifying newspapers!
On October 8, 1915, Yuan Shikai promulgated the "Organization Law of the National Congress", announcing that the National Congress would be convened, and whether it was a republic or an imperial system would be "decided" by the congress.
An action to go back to the feudal society is carried out in such a "democratic" way. What Yuan Shikai wants is that I, the emperor, be supported by the people of the whole country sincerely, vigorously, and I can't help myself!
China is about to have an "elected" emperor!
The restoration of the imperial system has entered the most critical stage. The representative of the "National Congress" is the most reliable person designated by Yuan Shikai.In this list of representatives, the vast majority are military and political officials who work in Beijing and are originally from the province.They returned to the province to act as representatives, and Yuan Shikai alone gave five hundred oceans of travel expenses; after returning to the province, the local hospitality, eating, drinking, whoring, gambling and playing games were all reimbursed.
The "resolution" procedure is that the representatives of each province fill in the votes in each province, and then gather them in Beijing for counting.On the day of the vote, a writing brush, an ink cartridge, and a plate of snacks were placed on each representative’s table in each provincial assembly hall. The four words “Approve the Imperial System” were printed on the penholder, ink cartridge, and snacks, and the “invigilator” officials pointed at the four words, They kept saying: "Write, write!" The person who filled out the votes hesitated for a moment, and the officials next to him immediately urged: "Write, write!" There were also soldiers outside the field to cooperate, and the bolts of the guns rattled.
The result of the resolution is: 1,993 people who filled in the votes, 1,993 people agreed, and the restoration of the monarchy was approved by a 100% ratio!
This is a shameful page in Chinese history. More than three years after the establishment of the republic, the restoration of the feudal monarchy was unanimously approved.
The success is imminent, and Yuan Shikai, who is also a whore and builds a memorial arch, will perform another play: on the afternoon of December 11, he issued a telegram, saying: "If you suddenly rise to a high position, you will have no fear. You have no self-discipline in faith, morality, and respect for the people." The general representative of the congress will wait for deliberation and deliberation, and will recommend it separately."
Still the same sentence, what Yuan Shikai wants is: I don't want to be the emperor, but you must want me to be the emperor!
On December 12, Yuan Shikai "resignedly" issued a decree accepting him as the emperor of the "Empire of China".
On December 13, he was worshiped by civil and military officials in Jurentang.After nearly four years of disappearance, the emperor, monarchs and ministers, as well as the "gifts" who bowed three times and bowed nine times, returned to life as zombies.