Chapter 69 Yuan Shikai goes out of the mountain

Just when the Hubei Revolutionary Army and the Beiyang New Army were repeatedly tug-of-war at Liujiamiao in Hankou, another bombshell dealt a heavy blow to the rule of the Qing court. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoOn October 24, the Jiujiang New Army in Jiangxi Province launched an uprising, established a military government, and elected Ma Yubao as the governor, thus opening the prelude to Jiangxi's recovery. The next day, the Guangzhou general Fengshan was blown up and killed by the revolutionaries. The dominoes of the revolution began the process of collapse.

When these news reached Beijing, it could really be said that it was even worse for the Qing rulers who were in the midst of a lot of noise at this time. Things have developed to this point, there is no other way, the Qing court can only use Yuan Shikai. Seeing that the situation in China was gradually chaotic, the foreign powers that were afraid of affecting their respective interests in China also came out to speak out at this time, asking the Qing court to invite Yuan Shikai to take charge. It can be seen that the neutrality in the mouths of the great powers is not absolute, and they do not mind taking action when their own interests are involved.

The U.S. and French representatives of the British, French, American, and German banking groups, as well as the U.S. Minister to China Jia Leheng, the British Minister to China, Zhu Erdian, and the diplomatic missions of various countries in Beijing have been asking Yuan Shikai to leave the mountain. Within the Qing court, Prince Qing Yixuan, Na Tong, Xu Shichang and others, who had already figured it out with Yuan Shikai, were even more confident at this time, and despite Zaifeng's opposition, they repeatedly played the Empress Dowager Longyu and put pressure on the regent Zaifeng to use Yuan Shikai.

"Are you really going to bring him back?" Zaifeng looked at the cabinet ministers, and the sadness in his words made people feel how difficult it was for him to say this. You must know how hard it took him to get rid of Yuan Shikai back then.

"Regent, the situation in the southern provinces has been completely corrupted at the moment, and if this continues, I am afraid that all the southern provinces will be lost!" Cabinet Associate Minister Na Tong said with a sigh.

"The Hubei front line is deadlocked, repeatedly seesawing, following Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Shaanxi, Jiangxi and Guangdong have also come to the news of the chaos of the party. If this continues, there will really be little left of the eighteen provinces in the Great Qing Dynasty. Xu Shichang, who is also an associate minister of the cabinet, followed Na Tong's words, and in doing so, he put more pressure on Zaifeng to clear the way for Yuan Shikai to go out of the mountain.

The meaning of Xu Shichang's words was already very clear, and all the cabinet ministers were silent.

"Songsheng, what do foreigners say?" Prince Qing Yixuan set his eyes on Liang Dunyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Liang Dunyan didn't rush to answer, and pondered for a moment before saying: "The foreign legation has sent people to convey a clear message, they are very worried about the situation in the Qing Dynasty, and they unanimously hope that a strong figure can stand up to end the current turmoil!" ”

The meaning of the foreign legations could be guessed by everyone present, and the powerful person in their mouths was none other than Yuan Shikai. Then everyone discussed a few more words, and the topic of this meeting has been focused on Yuan Shikai, and of course there are those who support and those who oppose it.

Yixuan looked at the cabinet ministers, sighed and said, "Regent, you still have to make up your mind about this matter." ”

Under the pressure of internal and external pressure, Zaifeng, who was in a hurry at this time, was no longer in a rut. I could only hold back my tears and say: "If you advocate like this, you will do what you want, and if something happens in the future, please don't shirk your responsibility!" ”

"Without Yuan Shikai, he will die soon; If Yuan is used, Shang Xi will be destroyed a little later, or he may not die. Na Tong replied.

Zaifeng gritted his teeth and looked at the crowd, he saw all the discussion just now, although he was angry, he also knew that this was the best way at the moment. I had to send Xu Shichang, a subordinate of Yuan Shikai during the training period of the small station and the assistant minister of the cabinet at the time, to Huanshang in person and invite Yuan out of the mountain. Zaifeng's side is willing, but Yuan Shikai's side is not so easy. When it's time to pinch it, be sure to pinch it enough.

Previously, when the Wuchang Uprising had just broken out, the Qing court appointed Yuan Shikai as the governor of Huguang, and he excused himself on the grounds that "he was suffering from an old foot disease and has not yet recovered". Didn't you drive me back to my hometown with a "foot disease" in the past, and today, I Yuan Shikai have more problems.

Of course, when Yuan Shikai was depressed in his chest, he also left Zaifeng with a regression - as long as the illness is cured, I will definitely go out of the mountain. This is the first step in bargaining, Governor Huguang, the official is too small, I won't do it.

After some bargaining, Guan Zi was almost sold, and began to call the cabinet: give money and guns, and arrange people according to my wishes.

As a result, Wang Shizhen, Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui, Duan Zhigui and other Beiyang descendants who had spent three years sorting out by Zaifeng were in place for a while.

The Qing court has agreed to so many conditions, at this time, it should be out of the mountain, right? No, he still "groaned with his knees folded."

Seeing Xu Shichang who rushed all the way from Beijing, Yuan Shikai knew that the opportunity he was waiting for had finally come. In this way, Yuan Shikai put forward six major conditions: 1. The National Assembly will be convened immediately next year; 2. A responsible cabinet will be organized; 3. Tolerance will be allowed to all those involved in this incident; 4. The ban on the party must be lifted; 5. Yuan Shikai must be entrusted with the command of all the armies on land and water and with full authority over the establishment of the army; 6. Yuan Shikai must be given very sufficient military funds. These six are indispensable, otherwise they will never go out of the mountain.

These six conditions are not insignificant, not only making Yuan Shikai a good person before and after, and the enemy and our side being good people, but also completely emptying the royal family. The six conditions, such as six steel knives, made the regent Zaifeng feel cold, but he had no choice, seeing that all provinces in the country were independent one after another, and the fire was getting stronger and stronger, Zaifeng could only break his arm to survive and give in to Yuan Shikai.

On October 27, 1911, the Qing court sent a telegram to recall Yinchang, conferred Yuan Shikai as the minister of the Qincha, and gave him full command of the army to supervise the suppression of Hubei.

After Yuan Shikai received the holy decree, he immediately sent a telegram to Feng Guozhang, who rushed to the front line in Hubei.

"Since the imperial court uses me, I, Yuan, will naturally not just occupy a position and not do things! Tell Hua Fu to fight hard, show it to the imperial court, and also show it to the Kuomintang, so that they can know how powerful our Beiyang New Army is. Yuan Shikai said to Xu Shichang beside him with a smile.

After Feng Guozhang received Yuan Shikai's telegram, he immediately ordered an attack. The Beiyang Army attacked in three directions, and it didn't take much effort to capture Liujiamiao. And began to attack the people's army in the city of Hanyang. Feng Guozhang's march was a great gift for Yuan Shikai's departure from the mountain, and at the same time, Zaifeng, who had been worried in Beijing, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Ironically, on the same day that the Nationalist Army retreated to Hanyang by the fierce offensive of the Beiyang New Army under the command of Feng Guozhang, Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren and others of the League also arrived in Wuchang by steamer, and Huang Xing immediately went to Hankou to inspect the position.

Compared with the chaos in Beijing and Hubei, where every move has attracted the attention of the world, the entire southwest is much calmer.

At this moment, the southwest seems to be very calm, the fighting has long ended, and the cities have returned to normal. Although you can see the soldiers of the revolutionary army standing in twos and threes on the streets from time to time, they have finally returned to their former quietness, and all walks of life have already begun to open.

When Hubei and Beijing were turbulent, Xiao Mubai was not idle, on the one hand, he was dealing with civil affairs, and on the other hand, he had to deal with military affairs.

Since Cai Ye took up the post of commander of the Southwest Military Region, he soon began to perform his duties. After consulting a large number of materials on the strength of the revolutionary army, in view of the covetousness of British and French imperialism in the southwest region and the dangerous border form, he personally served as the editor-in-chief, and led a group of subordinate staff officers to fight for several days and nights in a row, and drew up the "Frontier Defense Plan of the Five Provinces" of tens of thousands of words, that is, the Coordinated Operation Plan for the Southwest Frontier.

The plan pointed out that for a long time, the British invaders had continuously intervened in Tibet by force from India, and the French had also increased their troops in Vietnam in an attempt to invade Yunnan and Guizhou. Under these circumstances, Cai Yi planned to combine the forces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Gui, and Xikang, the provinces that the Communist Party planned to establish, a total of five provinces, so as to resist the military aggression of the British and French powers at any time. The draft plan is divided into three parts and 10 chapters, which respectively expound in detail and make specific stipulations on such major issues as the organization of troops, operational areas, and coordination methods in the border areas of the southwestern provinces, the concentration, deployment, and operation of the armed forces, as well as pre-war preparations and battlefield construction.

Looking at the plan in his hand that was released a year earlier than in parallel time and space, Xiao Mubai was deeply impressed by Cai Yi's military talent, but he did not make a decision blindly. Although Cai Gong is indeed a rare person in China in this era, after all, he has the unique vision limitations of the Chinese in this era. As a traverser, Xiao Mubai could not be unaware of this.