Chapter 41 Section five

President Li Yuanhong, who watched Zhang Xun's restoration, no longer had any worries at this time. At the end of the matter, he finally showed his backbone and courage. Li Yuanhong's presidential palace still raised the five-color flag; Li Yuanhong sternly scolded those who came to persuade him to abdicate and accept the canonization of the restoration court. On July 1st, Li Yuanhong issued three telegrams in succession. The first was to demand that all localities immediately crusade against the national traitors; the second was to announce the appointment of Duan Qirui as the Prime Minister of the State;After completing these arrangements, Li Yuanhong took refuge in the Japanese Legation on July 2.

After Zhang Xun's restoration began, Duan Qirui immediately received Li Yuanhong's order to resume his post as prime minister and ask him to raise troops to fight against rebellion.Duan Qirui hated Li Yuanhong's struggle for power, despised him for being incompetent, and was unwilling to obey Li Yuanhong's orders, but after being persuaded, he immediately put the overall situation first, and came to the horse factory near Tianjin under the name of accepting the order of President Li Yuanhong , with Li Changtai of the 8th Division and Feng Yuxiang of the 16th Mixed Brigade stationed in Langfang as the strength, began to fight against rebellion.

The celebrity who worked closely with Zhang Xun for the restoration was Kang Youwei, and it was Liang Qichao who worked side by side with Duan Qirui to wipe out the restoration. Liang Qichao was a student of Kang Youwei. At that time, the positions of the teacher and the student were very different. On July 2, Liang Qichao rushed to the horse farm. Duan Qirui greeted him personally, shook his hand and said: "Mr. Ren took office, and the military power will be greatly improved." With Duan Qirui as the commander-in-chief, Liang Qichao, Tang Hualong, and Li Changtai as the The counselor's anti-rebel army was formed. On July 3, swear to ask for rebellion.

On July 4, Duan Qirui sent a telegram to attack Zhang Xun in the name of the commander-in-chief of the rebel army. This telegram was written by Liang Qichao: "Heavenly misfortune to China, chaos and chaos, Zhang Xun embraced ambition, under the pretense of mediating the current situation, blocked troops from Jingguo, until July 1st, there was a strange change to overthrow the country's system. Those who steal the country's system, the reason why the country is established is also , It is very easy to make a decision. After the decision is made, the plan is changed again, and the harm to the country is unspeakable. In today's world where people's wisdom is developing and civil rights are prospering, it is especially important to tame billions of trillions with the majesty of one surname. Everything can't be done..."

Under the offensive of Duan Qirui's rebellious army, the braided army was vulnerable.The two sides exchanged fire on July 7, and the fighting ended on July 12.The entire battle lasted for six days, of which there were no confrontations for four days, actually only two days.Zhang Xun's six thousand braided army of ten battalions was instigated to rebel six battalions at the beginning of the battle, and only four battalions were left struggling to resist, and they were soon defeated. During this battle, an event with military history occurred: Qin Guoyong, the principal of Beijing Nanyuan Aviation School, flew a plane and dropped bombs on the Forbidden City.Qin Guoyong dropped a total of three bombs on the Forbidden City, all of which were small bombs a foot long. Puyi, the concubine and the "ministers" in the palace were scared out of their wits and jumped under the bed one after another.One of the three bombs fell outside the Longzong Gate, injuring a bearer; one fell on the side of the pool in the Imperial Garden, damaging a corner of the pool; There was no explosion, which scared the few eunuchs who gathered there to gamble half to death.

Zhang Xun's troops were defeated and panicked. He immediately sent a telegram to the governors of the provinces, asking them to fulfill their promises at the Xuzhou meeting and send troops for reinforcements as soon as possible.But, where would anyone care about him? On the 10th, Zhang Xun sent another telegram, scolding the participants of the Xuzhou meeting for treachery and betraying friends. Seeing that he was besieged on all sides, Zhang Xun thought that he still had a "magic weapon", that is, the piece of yellow silk that everyone signed in favor of the restoration after the Xuzhou meeting.Zhang Xun delivered a speech to foreign reporters on the 11th, threatening to make the list public.Unexpectedly, when it was time to find Huang Lingzi, he found out that it had been bought from his chief of staff by Beiyang people for 200,000 yuan!

The elders were helpless and asked Zhang Xun what to do now.Zhang Xun said: "You are all smart, but I am a fool. The restoration was successful, and everyone was promoted to a noble. If it failed, I suffered alone. Well, there is no need for you to worry. This matter has nothing to do with the Qing court. I, Zhang Shaoxuan, did it alone." Yes. It succeeded, the emperor sat in the Dragon Court, but now it fails, and I am in charge alone. I can kill or chop it up, so what are you afraid of!" From July 1st to 12th, in twelve days, this absurd restoration farce came to an end. The reason for the rapid defeat was, of course, that the restoration was out of step with the times, and Zhang Xun's simple mind in actual implementation was also a major reason.According to Kang Youwei's plan, it might not be so incoherent and absurd.Kang Youwei's opinion is: In terms of political system, "restoration should be carried out as a republic with a virtual monarch, and the power should belong to the cabinet", "it is even more inappropriate to restore the name of the Qing Dynasty"; in terms of military operations, Kang Youwei suggested that "the arrangement should be strict, and Xuzhou currently has 30,000 troops. It is advisable to transfer 10,000 soldiers to Beijing, and the rest to control the Jinpu Railway, and then transfer Feng Linge's first division to the customs to control the Beijing-Feng Railway." This suggestion is much better than Zhang Xun's proposal to bring only 6,000 soldiers and restore the feudal monarchy in an all-round way.