However, Yuan Shikai was still not at ease. He is actually a person with little credit, so it is not easy to trust others. As people often say, with the heart of a villain, spend the belly of a gentleman.

He telegraphed Tang Shaoyi and asked him to go to Wu Tingfang and ask Wu Tingfang for the truth. If he abdicates the Qing court, how sure is it that he will be the president?

In order to be the president, Yuan Shikai has no regard for face. Some time ago, he also pretended to push the concession, saying that the president should be Huang Xinglai, and now there is a direct showdown.

On 14 January, Tang Shaoyi asked Wu Tingfang privately: Yuan Shikai and the Qing court are discussing abdication, if the abdication is successful, how likely is it that Yuan Shikai, the president, will become the president?

The two are friends and can talk about everything.

Wu Tingfang can't be the master! Just go and ask. Mr. Mountain. Middle. Mr. Shan is being attacked from inside and outside at the moment, and he is at a loss, and this temporary president, who wants nothing, is holding his breath and making a fire.

After listening to Wu Tingfang's question, he found the bottom of the steps, and immediately sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai in his own name:

"If the Qing Emperor abdicates and declares a republic, he will not break his promise for the time being. The text can officially announce the dismissal, and Yuan is the first to be recommended with merit and ability. ”

It's almost like swearing to the sky, what else can Yuan Shikai say?

At this time, one of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang generals called and asked: "The north and the south have talked about it well, why is it fighting again." Some people spread rumors that it was because the south agreed that Dashuai (Yuan Shikai) would be the president, so they sat down for peace talks. The South was established in the government. Fu Sun. Middle. Shan became the president, and the marshal turned his face before the peace talks broke down. We don't believe it, Dashuai, it can't be like this, right? ”

This telegram scared Yuan Shikai. The deal of becoming president by himself is still a secret, and if this is spread out, how can his prestige exist? For the Qing court, it is a famous teacher, the so-called food of the king, listen to the king's orders, raise soldiers for a thousand days, and use soldiers for a while. Fighting for himself as president, how many people in the Beiyang Army are willing to die?

There are people who come to do Yuan Shikai's work, especially the words of Zhang Jian and Wang Jingwei, which made Yuan Shikai no longer indifferent.

Zhang Jian called and said: "The first day is full of retreat, the second day is full of support, and the southeast and southeast directions are all passed." Yesterday by the middle. Shan, Shaochuan (Tang Shaoyi), successively telegraphed, now more than ten hours away from the end of the armistice. South Xun and North Huai, can not get the will, Russia, Mongolia and British Tibet, picture I am the day. Even the public place is also getting more dangerous. After a long time, it is not the same as fairness, and it is incomprehensible. I hope that the public will work hard to determine the overall situation overnight, and have no borders for the people, that is, for the public to be famous and prosperous, and to have infinite benefits. ”

Wang Jingwei asked his brother Yuan Keding to help him do Yuan Shikai's work: "Xiang Cheng looks at the world, and the head of state is a strange person. ”

Immediately afterwards, Tang Shaoyi and Yang Shiqi called Liang Shiyi to tell Yuan Shikai: "The Qing Dynasty will fall, the Republic of China will be successful, and it is better to slander people as Wang Mang and Cao Cao, and Western Washington cannot be dedicated to the United States." Whoever gains and loses should be decided. ”

After receiving these news, Yuan Shikai's heart was still at the bottom, and he sent his cronies out to find out.

Xia Qingyi went to Shanghai to meet Huang Xing, and Zhu Fuhuang telegraphed Sun. Middle. The last attitude of the mountain.

One of his sworn friends said everywhere: "If the south can strictly abide by its promise and elect Yuan as the president of the country, then they should fight each other and reconcile forever, and Yuan will do his best to coerce the Qing emperor to abdicate, vow to abide by the republic, and seek happiness for the Republic of China; However, if the south does not allow the invitation, then they should serve the Yuan family and will never give in. ”

Seeing that Yuan Shikai's determination to abdicate the Qing court had been decided, Huang Xing replied to Xia Qingyi: "As promised." ”

Sun Yat-sen is still the same, as long as the Qing emperor abdicates, he will "immediately resign and be replaced by Yuan Shikai".

After getting the clear statement of these people, Yuan Shikai finally made up his mind, and immediately ordered Yuan Keding and Liang Shiyi: "Call Shaochuan (Tang Shaoyi), Xingcheng (Yang Shiqi) for me, and turn to Zhiyong (Wu Tingfang), it is imperative to do it, and there is no hesitation, but I can't take the lead alone." He has instructed the generals of the Beiyang towns and the envoys stationed abroad, and the officials in Shanghai and Xinjiang, so that the joint title persuades the young emperor to abdicate and let the people with the country, and the overall situation can be determined in one fell swoop. In addition, it is proposed to give preferential treatment to the royal family, and seek the consent of the south. ”

Since then, the issue of the National Assembly in the peace conference has changed to the question of the abdication of the Qing Emperor. As a result, Yuan Shikai focused his main energy on forcing the palace.

And the Southern Provisional Government. On the other side of the house, maybe it's because he knows that his time is short. Let's stop fighting, do more practical things for the country and the people, and continue to issue decisions on reform and restructuring. On the one hand, he used a rare state apparatus to publicize his own ideas, and on the other hand, he also wanted to pass legislation to restrain Yuan Shikai in the future.

Provisional Politics of the South. These reform measures of the government are of far-reaching historical significance.

(1) The establishment of the Yuan Dynasty and the change of calendar.

There has been a change of dynasty, which is the proper meaning of the question.

(2) Cut braids within a time limit. The "braided hair system" was an important symbol of the reactionary rule of the Qing Dynasty. After the first uprising in Xinhai, the masses in various places automatically got up to cut their braids. On the day Sun Yat-sen was elected provisional president (December 29, 1911), citizens from all walks of life in Nanjing cut off their braided hair to celebrate. After the establishment of the provisional **, Sun Yat-sen, in a telegram to various localities, demanded that "all orders be cut off within 20 days on the day they arrive", indicating his resolute attitude on this issue.

Since then, there have been braids in the region sooner or later, and there are even a few diehards who insist on keeping braids, but the trend of braids is unstoppable.

(3) Discourage foot binding. On March 11, Sun Yat-sen ordered the Ministry of the Interior to advise all provinces to prohibit foot binding, which said: "If the husband wants to be strong in the country, he must first seek the development of the people's physical strength; As for the matter of foot binding, mutilating the limbs, blocking the blood and veins, although the harm is inflicted on one person, the disease is carried out on the children and grandchildren, and the physiology proves it, how can it be falsely accused? Because of the binding of feet, the movements are exhausted, the deep residence is simple, the education is not shi, the world is not asked, how can you make a living independently and serve the world together? The above two are particularly big, and if he is harmful, it is even more difficult to count. Those with lofty ideals have tasted the establishment of the Tianzu Association, and those who have opened it have been lifted, and those who are stubborn are still clinging to prejudices.

"When the old is eliminated and the new is introduced, it is especially advisable to get rid of such evil customs first, so as to cultivate the foundation of the country. For this reason, the ministry was ordered to move quickly through all provinces and persuade them to prohibit them as a whole, and those who violated the prohibition for any reason were to be punished by their families. ”

According to Sun Decree, the Ministry of the Interior has put forward the following requirements in the document of the provinces: "Those who have been entangled must be released, and those who have not been entangled are not allowed to be entangled again. ”

Foot binding was recorded in ancient Chinese literature, but at that time it only existed among individual "dancers". Since the five generations of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the main order of the palace people to bind their feet with silk, dancing lotus, by everyone is effective. Since the Song Dynasty, with the strengthening of the restraints of Gangchang Rites, foot binding has become a common rule that women should observe.

"Therefore, letting go has become one of the important symbols of women's liberation from feudal shackles." Prior to this, although there were a few people with lofty ideals who advocated Tianzu, and the reformers had also set up anti-foot binding associations in many places, it was unprecedented in history to ban foot binding on a large scale from top to bottom. From the above-mentioned decrees and measures, the Democratic-Republican faction is very resolute on this issue.

(4) Prohibition of torture.

Torture is a kind of feudal and barbaric practice, Sun Yat-sen said in the prohibition of torture: "This president advocates humanity, pays attention to the people's livelihood, and runs through national disasters. He demanded that "no torture shall be allowed in any case, regardless of the administrative and judicial offices, and that the prison should not give due weight to confessions, depending on the substantiation of the evidence, and order the burning of the instruments of illegal torture in the past."

He then pointed out in the decree prohibiting corporal punishment: "It is the light nature of the proclamation, the swiftness of the execution, the transgression of the law, the unauthorized use of power, and the indiscriminate punishment of the cane, which leads to many prisoners who are in vain." The corporal punishment system was abandoned by all countries, ridiculed at home and abroad, and at the end of the former Qing Dynasty, although it was a ban, the supervision was ineffective and ineffective. I heard that the Shanghai Nanshi Municipal Court tried the case, and it still used precepts and punished women. With the earliest opening in Shanghai, the Quartet watched and listened to the place, and the officials of other provinces still followed the old habits, and the officials of other provinces did not take advantage of the early formation of the Republic of China, and the laws and regulations were not in place, and they reverted to the old state. ”

He reiterated: "Regardless of the judicial and administrative offices, the use of canes and flail and other illegal torture instruments is no longer allowed in the trial and adjudication of civil and criminal cases; Those who are guilty of being flogged shall be fined and detained. ”