Before 29 December, the "North-South Peace Talks" held several more talks. In addition to the progress made in discussing specific measures for an armistice armistice, the views of the two sides have been deadlocked on the most important issue, whether to implement a constitutional monarchy or a democratic republic.

On the same day (December 20) as Tang Shaoyi and Wu Tingfang's second negotiation, another negotiation with the support of Duan Qirui's military generals took place secretly in Shanghai. Huang Xing in the south was represented by Gu Zhongchen, and Duan Qirui in the north was represented by Liao Yuchun, Jin Yunpeng and Xia Qingyi.

Duan Qirui and his deputies believe that the strength of the north and the south is now equal. In the long run, this will either lead to a split between the north and the south, or peace will never end. In the long run, it is the common people who will suffer, and it will be the people of the whole country. Now the purpose of the Southern Revolutionary Army is to achieve a republic, and the Beiyang Army does not object to this.

The Beiyang Army fought against the revolutionary army only if it was loyal to Yuan Shikai, so if the south could elect Yuan Shikai as the president, the republic could be expected and peace could be expected.

Duan Qirui's ideas were actually the thoughts of Huang Xing and other southern revolutionaries, Huang Xing had discussed the possibility of promoting Yuan Shikai as early as when he was cooperating with Li Yuanhong in Wuchang, so when he learned the news through Gu Zhongchen, he naturally had no reason to oppose it.

Huang Xing said that the reason why he was unwilling to accept the support of many people in the south and became the interim president in the past few days was actually to wait for Yuan Shikai in a vacant position.

So Gu Zhongchen was authorized to negotiate with Liao Yuchun and others.

The two sides hit it off, and the talks went very smoothly, and on December 20, five secret agreements were reached:

1. Determine the republican form of government;

2. Preferential treatment of the royal family;

3. The first person to be the president of the Qing Dynasty;

Fourth, the soldiers of the Manchu and Han armies in the north and south enjoy the preferential treatment they deserve, and do not bear the responsibility of harming the enemy in wartime;

5. At the same time, an interim parliament will be organized to restore order in various localities.

Liao Yuchun and Gu Zhongchen's plan was agreed by Duan Qirui, but to what extent this plan represents Yuan Shikai's meaning has always been a matter of opinion.

Many people think that this plan is what Yuan Shikai thinks in his heart, and even many people think that Duan Qirui is just a superficial disguise, and the mastermind behind it is Yuan Shikai.

In fact, whether from the logic or the actual situation, this possibility should be zero.

Since Duan Qirui accepted the front-line command from Feng Guozhang, it can be said that he has implemented Yuan Shikai's strategic intentions 100%. To achieve this, in addition to Yuan Shikai's face-to-face teaching and his ability to understand, the most important thing is that his thoughts at this stage are completely in tune with Yuan Shikai. After all, everyone is an independent person, and everyone also has their own inner world.

At this time, no one knew Yuan Shikai better than Duan Qirui. Therefore, this should be Duan Qirui's self-realization, which is carried out on behalf of him, which is of course also a speculation.

Perhaps, Duan Qirui's role in the realization of the republic has been underestimated to a large extent by later generations.

It is worth noting that when Jin Yunpeng was ordered by Duan Qirui to carry this plan, he went to Beijing to report to Yuan Shikai. Not only did he not receive recognition and praise, but he encountered Yuan Shikai's temper.

"I, Yuan Shikai, am the prime minister of the Great Qing Dynasty, how can I support the republic and bear the burden?"

Yuan Shikai's eyes were on fire, and he couldn't see the slightest artificiality.

Liao Yuchun: The word is less traveling. Born in 1870, he was born in Lou County, Songjiang Prefecture, Shanghai. In his early years, he studied in Japan and served as a Qing politician. Attaché of the Legation in Japan. After returning to China, he assisted Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui in running the Beiyang Army School for nearly ten years, and once served as the superintendent of the Baoding Yaocun Army Primary School, and accompanied Yuan Shikai to train troops at the Tianjin Station.

During the Xinhai Revolution, he traveled north and south with Xia Qingyi, Jin Yunpeng and others, and liaised to negotiate peace. It has made outstanding contributions to the peace between the north and the south, and has been reused for this reason. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

In June of this year, he published the book "New China's Armed Settlement of Peace", describing his participation in the North-South peace talks. The discourse involved the inside story of Yuan Shikai when he negotiated peace, which was hated by Yuan Shikai and was marginalized.

Gu Zhongchen (1880-1945), a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu, graduated from the Anhui Wubei Academy in his early years and was an early member of the League. During the North-South peace talks, Huang Xing, a representative of the revolutionary, had a secret talk with Duan Qirui's personal representative in Shanghai.

In 1911, he went to Jiangsu from Wuxi to instigate the Jiangsu uprising, and successively served as the military and political governor of Jiangsu. Director of the General Staff Department, Chief of Staff of the Jiangsu Revolutionary Army, Commander of the 16th Division of the Jiangsu Army, and Assistant Commander of the Anhui New Army.

In 1923, he served as a member of the Central Military Commission of the Kuomintang headquarters, and served as the commander of the Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition during the Northern Expedition.

In 1944, he served as the president of the National Supervision Yuan.

That's for later.

Yuan Shikai's anger should be reasonable, but his later changes should also be real.

He was angry because, first of all, it involved a person's morality and credit, and it was the most taboo thing for a person who talked about benevolence and morality all day long. Besides, the general of the Beiyang Army went behind his back to do such a thing, so is it strange that he is not angry?

Jin Yunpeng gave a detailed explanation of this, pointing out that this is proceeding from the interests of the state and the nation, and is where the great festival and righteousness lie. He particularly emphasized that this plan had already been approved by Duan Qirui and some military generals, saying that he had also acted according to the instructions of Duan Qirui and other generals when he came to report this time.

Of course, Jin Yunpeng's statement is well-founded and factual. Duan Qirui and other generals on the Wuchang front line are indeed the force that Yuan Shikai relies on the most, and it can even be said to be Yuan's life and foundation. So, these senior generals all think so, and if they do this, can Yuan Shikai continue to stick to his previous position? This is a problem that Yuan Shikai cannot but consider.

Yuan Shikai was still very puzzled, it was not unusual for the southern revolutionaries to have such a suggestion, and it seemed impossible for the northern soldiers to have such an idea. Everyone is working for the imperial court, how can they have such an idea? What did Duan Qirui think?

Regarding Yuan Shikai's doubts, Jin Yunpeng was mentally prepared, and he had already unified his caliber with Duan Qirui and others.

Jin Yunpeng replied unequivocally: The First Army under the command of Duan Qirui is unanimous, advocates a republic, and intends to elect Gong Bao as the provisional president.

Yuan Shikai still didn't dare to believe too much about this, why did Junxin suddenly become like this?

He asked Jin Yunpeng: "Have you thought about the consequences of this, what kind of situation will this put me Yuan Shikai in, isn't this clearly trying to make me Yuan Shikai disloyal and unjust, isn't it just to make me bear the charge of bullying other people's orphans and widows?" ”

Yuan Shikai's confession, based on his later experience of imperial self-determination, always thought that it was a kind of hypocrisy and a manifestation of his political dishonesty. even said that Yuan Shikai was really a treacherous and slippery, and he was unwilling to tell the truth and show his true feelings to the Beiyang lineage.

In fact, this statement is still worth exploring. At that time, it was still the imperial era, and traditional politicians like Yuan Shikai had to pay attention to maintaining their political credibility and political image. The matter has been troubled to this extent, and it is reasonable to believe that Yuan Shikai is unhappy.

The attitude of the military could not but put pressure on Yuan Shikai

The development of the political situation since then has really been carried out along the five principles of Duan Qirui and Huang Xing's norms.

However, it also sows the seeds of a bad political ecology in the country. It is the military who interferes in politics, and the gun has the final say.

There is an old Chinese saying that reason goes all over the world, but this is not possible under an authoritarian system. Because, under the autocratic system, it is the officials who crush people to death, and whoever has the most power has the final say.

Military interference in politics has created another kind of autocracy, and whoever has the strength has the final say. This is certainly the opposite of a democratic republic.

Seeing that the peace between the north and the south was at an impasse, the great powers stood up one after another to support Yuan Shikai.

British Foreign Secretary Grey declared: "We have great respect for Yuan Shikai and have extremely friendly feelings. We would like to see a very strong ** ,...... in China Such a ** will receive from us all the diplomatic support we can. ”

The French envoys echoed with the British, propagandizing everywhere, hoping that Yuan Shikai would become the "Allah" of China, and that Yang Yang "Yuan Shikai has the power to unify the overall situation", "can maintain his good feelings in the royal family and the people, or will he gradually transcend these two and be the Allah of China in the future?" This is the great fortune of my outsiders"!

Why did the great powers spare no effort to support Yuan Shikai? Some studies have shown that it has a lot to do with Morrisson, a reporter for The Times in London, England.

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 showed the world the unprecedented changes in China for thousands of years:

Completely different from previous peasant uprisings, it was not a change of dynasty. The rebels not only wanted to overthrow the Qing dynasty established by the Manchu rulers, but also demanded that the emperor abdicate, establish a republican form of government, and complete the political transformation of the social system.

The great change shocked the world, and reporters from various newspapers in Europe and the United States devoted themselves to reporting on this change, showing their understanding and description of the Xinhai Revolution from different angles and positions.

Morrisson, a reporter for the London newspaper "The Times" in Beijing, is one of the more prominent ones. As a journalist, he not only reported on China's revolution in real time, but also became an important figure during the Xinhai Revolution as a witness and participant,—— one of the foreigners on whom Yuan Shikai depended.

Morrison argued that the Xinhai Revolution was not an xenophobic campaign against foreigners, and opposed reports of the bloody scenes of the Chinese Civil War.

Some believe that Morrison was a major supporter of the Qing emperor's abdication, and may have been a mastermind.

On November 16, 1911, Cai Tinggan revealed to Morrison that the contents of the negotiations he and Liu Chengen had with Liu Chengen in the south and Yuan Shikai's movements, so that Britain could grasp the inside story. Cai Tinggan also said that Morrison arranged Tang Shaoyi's residence when he went to Shanghai for negotiations.

It is an indisputable fact that Morrison supported Yuan Shikai in the North-South peace talks, and he is an inescapable figure when it comes to Yuan Shikai's relations with the foreign powers and foreigners in China during the Xinhai Revolution.

Because he is a foreigner, in the eyes of the great powers, his voice can be objective and fair, and he is more trustworthy. Although his role in the period of peace between the north and the south, and the extent of his support for Yuan Shikai, it is worth discussing.