The last winter of the Qing Dynasty was cold and cold. The city of Beijing at this time www.biquge.info in the cold season of the twilight. After several days of cloudy clouds and a howling north wind, it finally snowed last night. The snow had stopped early in the morning, but the howling north wind still swept the ground with snowflakes.

Outside the door of the residence of Prime Minister Yuan Shikai, several people were cautiously discussing something.

"Lord Yuan has been angry for several days. Do you guys know what's going on? ”

"Yes! I think it's weird, too. ”

"You don't know yet, do you?" This person was well-informed, looked left and right, and saw that no one was passing by, so he whispered again: "It's not because those Kuomintang parties in the south have established a government!" You said that this matter is also evil, Sun Wen, a chaotic party and a wanted criminal by the imperial court, is now the president in a grand manner. ”

"So what kind of official is this president?"

"Who knows. I guess it's about the same as the emperor! It is said that this position was originally said to be reserved for Lord Gongbao, but now it has been sat by Sun Wen, how can the adult not get angry. ”

Hearing this, several people next to him also nodded. It's just that they will forget about this matter later, and the affairs of these big people are not their turn to worry about a few of them.

At this time, in the living room of Yuan's mansion, Yuan Shikai was sitting in the center, and a group of Beiyang generals were still standing around, and the atmosphere was a little dull. Only Duan Qirui didn't know what he was talking about with the people next to him. Seeing Liang Shiyi walking in, Yuan Shikai waved his hand and interrupted Duan Qirui. Compared with the calmness and confidence of the previous days, Yuan Shikai's face at this time was obviously darker.

Liang Shiyi also felt the oppressive atmosphere in the living room, so he walked up to Yuan Shikai and whispered: "Gong Bao, now that the New Year is approaching, all the troops on the front line are in a hurry. People are sleepy, what should we do? ”

Yuan Shikai ignored Liang Shiyi's words, and the evil fire in his heart at this time could not be suppressed. He has already figured out the intentions of the main generals of the Beiyang Army now, and everyone only thinks that he is the head of the Yuan Palace, and they don't care about the survival of the Qing Dynasty at all. In short, no matter whether the republic is a republic or not, the whole army is unanimous and willing to support him Yuan Gongbao.

These days, he has been in Beijing to implement his strategy step by step, while pressing step by step, oppressing the Qing court; On the one hand, contact the south and implement the peace talks. Until Sun Yat-sen's return from overseas, the development of events was carried out according to the wishes of his Yuan someone. didn't expect this Sun Wen to be so influential and so able to toss, and in just a few days, the situation has completely changed.

The Nanjing Provisional Government was established, and the news of Sun Wen's assumption of the post of provisional president reached Beijing. Yuan Shikai immediately felt that he had been tricked, and his face was pale, and then he was furious. The Kuomintang in the south really turned their faces faster than turning over books, and they spoke better than they sang, and while saying that they were willing to support themselves as the president, they couldn't wait to put Sun Wen on the throne. The feeling is that he has been teasing him Yuan someone all the time, and he is playing with him as a monkey!

He was angry in his heart, and he was angry for a few days, but when things developed to this point, he still had to find a way to solve it. Otherwise, he will be in danger of being expelled from the Qing court in front of him.

As a result, the day after the establishment of the provisional government, Yuan Shikai publicly declared that he did not recognize the government. At the same time, he also said that he would never accept the republican system. At the same time, 48 people, including Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, generals of the Beiyang Army, issued a joint telegram, "swearing to support the constitutional monarchy and oppose the republican form of government." A few days later, Yuan Shikai asked Wu Tingfang, the chief representative of the southern peace talks, to go north to the capital and negotiate directly with him, but he did not want to be sternly refused. Instead, he invited himself to go south, how could he possibly agree.

The tough attitude of the south made Yuan Shikai unable to suppress the anger in his heart, and at this time, he heard Liang Shiyi talk about asking for money, and the evil fire that had just been suppressed in his heart couldn't help but jump up again. You must know that at this time, not only the revolutionary party is short of money, but also his own side.

"You want to negotiate peace, but the South won't buy it. But if you hurt the revolutionary party, won't those bannermen be even more unwilling to abdicate? Between the north and the south, I have walked the tightrope for so many days, but I don't want the south to not appreciate it, and now Sun Wen is the president of the Republic of China. The revolutionaries have sat in this position, so where do they put us in Beiyang? Yuan Shikai sighed.

Seeing that Yuan Shikai finally spoke, everyone in Beiyang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"There was also a good side to things, and the formation of a provisional government in Nanking was in fact doomed to the success of the North-South Peace Conference. And now, the fate of the Qing Emperor is in our hands, and it is impossible for the Kuomintang in the south to get rid of us and do it alone. In terms of political strength, although a provisional government was established in the south, the revolutionaries in the provinces were still divided and went their own way. From a financial point of view, they also have no internal storage, no external support, and no one to give them loans. From the point of view of military strength, the provisional government will be able to control tens of thousands of people around Nanjing, and as for the combat effectiveness, needless to say, it cannot be compared with our Beiyang at all. Therefore, a group of people like them can't accomplish anything. No one has no money, and the great powers don't support it, and in the end, Miyato-sama will definitely have to clean up the situation. It was Yang Du who replied, arrogant of talent, often boasting of clarifying the world, and was a well-known representative of the constitutionalist faction at that time. In his early years, he took Xiucai, participated in the bus book, and later studied in Japan, and after returning to China, he joined Yuan Shikai's account.

Hearing Yang Du's words, Yuan Shikai nodded slightly, a little relieved. But he pondered for a while, but still said: "Having said that, it's not enough to just lose a smile, we still have to show off the knife." ”

"At present, most of the north is still the world of our Beiyang, not to mention that we are still attacking and recovering Hubei, Shanxi and other places, and we can still control half of the country. Keep fighting, give them some color, let them know the consequences of stealing the presidency. As soon as Yuan Shikai's words came out, Duan Qirui interjected. Although he also knew that it was unlikely that a fight would start, how could he give up at such a moment of loyalty!

Duan Qirui's voice fell, and everyone looked at Yuan Shikai and didn't speak. Duan Qirui's face was expressionless, and then said: "No matter what, these days, we are still too weak and do not hold the changes in the situation in our own hands. Now it is just time to put some pressure on them, and they jointly sent a telegram, declaring that they would vow to fight to the end with the Southern People's Army. Since peace talks can't solve the problem, let's meet each other in arms! ”

Yang Du glanced at Duan Qirui and said: "Actually, now that the People's Army has recovered more than ten provinces, and there is no unified command organ, it is not impossible to establish a provisional government and elect a provisional president before the National Assembly makes a decision.

Listening to the words of a few people, Yuan Shikai was silent. Although he has a heavy army, he does not want to fight the Southern Kuomintang in real terms. Because as soon as the war started, it was protracted, and it was both troublesome and troublesome. Since we can't fight, we can only negotiate peace, and sometimes what we can't get on the battlefield can often be obtained at the negotiating table.

After a while, Yuan Shikai seemed to suddenly remember something, and said to Yang Du: "Huizi, what is your intention of that old friend Huang Xing now?" ”

He said that if Yuan Gong could support the democratic republic, the country would be spared a protracted civil war, and the president of the republic would be none other than Yuan Gong. If Yuan Gong insisted on going his own way and swore to protect the Qing Dynasty, then he could only be his enemy, so he had to fight to the death on the battlefield to see who would kill the deer. Yang Du replied.

Yuan Shikai pondered for a while and said, "What does he say counts? ”

"Huang Xing has been an old friend of mine for many years, and he has always been true to his words." Yang Du nodded affirmatively.

After receiving Yang Du's affirmative reply, Yuan Shikai finally had an idea in his heart. Just after this meeting of the Beiyang generals, Yuan Shikai began to mobilize troops on the one hand to accelerate the attack on Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui and other provinces where the revolutionary party had declared independence, and on the other hand, he sent envoys to continue contact with Wu Tingfang, the general representative of the Nanjing Provisional Government, to negotiate peace. It can be said that it is a policy of one hand with a radish and a big stick with the other, and the policy of the radish stick does not worry about the south.

Yuan Shikai has never been afraid of complex and changeable environments, and he is also accustomed to retreating in complex situations. Needless to say, his strategy is also recognized by the world as a clever and spicy.