Yuan Shikai's face was expressionless, except that the Japanese had told him that Japan had "always had deep sympathy for him, and that the Imperial Government would never change its course halfway, regardless of the attitude of the British Government, and would always support the constitutional monarchy and assist in its realization." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

But apart from empty promises, there is no real support. On the contrary, under the strong opposition of Britain, the United States, Germany, and other countries, there are very many signs of isolation. Britain has issued a statement saying that it will never "take concerted action" or "use force" with Japan to "support the Qing state in implementing a monarchy."

Subsequently, Japan also reluctantly said that it felt "bored" that it had become "bored" to continue to "obstruct" the situation in China "alone" and had no choice but to stop for the time being and "let the situation develop naturally."

"The Imperial Government has instructed me to make appropriate concessions on the issue of tariffs in order to ensure that the joint venture between Jiangnan Shipyard and Liverpool Shipyard can proceed smoothly." Zhu Erdian smiled bitterly: "If I am preempted by the German Volkeng shipyard again, the anger of the imperial government will make me have to leave China." ”

"The conditions offered by the provisional government are not favorable, the two sides have equal holdings, and the private shares cannot be transferred for ten years, and it may not be easy for your country to control the shipyard." Yuan Shikai said with ulterior motives.

"There are the United States and Germany waiting with great eyesight, and the merchants of the empire can no longer take care of this." Zhu Erdian shook his head and said: "China's abundant and cheap labor, the vast market in the Far East, the open and wise government, and the stable situation in China are enough to attract many investors." ”

"The situation in China that is about to be stabilized, Mr. Zhu Erdian seems to be premature." Yuan Shikai said with some disgust.

Zhu Erdian reached out and took out a piece of information from his pocket, handed it to Yuan Shikai, and said, "This is what I just received, and this news will appear in the newspaper tomorrow at the latest, but." I still hope you get a sneak peek. ”

“…… The Fourth and Fifth Mixed Formation Associations of the Guangdong New Army ended their high-intensity training and pledged to join the Northern Expedition today. Although the training days were short and the pace of the soldiers was not very neat, they were well equipped and their morale was high. The troops, which were mainly composed of Revival members and enthusiastic youths, showed a strong fighting spirit. In addition, as the situation on the southwestern border has stabilized, the Sixth Mixed Association of Guizhou Province and the Seventh Mixed Association of Yunnan Province also have the intention of joining the Northern Expedition......"

Yuan Shikai put down the information lightly and said thoughtfully: "This should be the elite of the Revival Society, but a few mixed forces, can it really make the situation clear?" ”

"Maybe, maybe not." Zhu Erdian replied ambiguously: "The key is where these troops are used. Probably not waiting for reinforcements to arrive at the front. The situation is about to change. You also understand that now that the provisional government is intensively promulgating various policies and laws and using them as bargaining chips, the longer you drag it out, the more unfavorable the situation will be. ”

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly, he didn't know the intention of the Revival Society, which was to force him to abdicate the Qing court. The more you procrastinate, the more you have to pinch your nose to admit something. The more favorable the revival will be after the new government is formed.

Fighting with the revolutionary army, Yuan Shikai was reluctant to give up the big bargaining chip of the Beiyang Army in his hands. I don't want to make a wedding dress for the Qing court.

"They're pushing too hard, why don't they give me more time." Yuan Shikai sighed: "To abdicate the Qing Emperor, this is also my purpose, and I have never stopped working, but is it so easy?" ”

Zhu Erdian smiled helplessly, both for the current situation. It's also to Yuan Shikai. In his opinion, if you want to do it, you have to act vigorously, and Yuan Shikai is really a little procrastinating. While negotiating with the Revolutionary Party, he also said in public, "A certain prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, how can he be in favor of the republic!" He wants to make Yu bully orphans and widows. Scolded by all generations, the rest is not for nothing! ”

The Revival Society used a bomb to kill Pu Wei of the Zongshe Party, and frightened those once impassioned Manchurian relatives and nobles to rush to the Tianjin Concession, and the Zongshe Party was almost disintegrating. Even the Empress Dowager Longyu heard that Pu Wei was killed by the bombing and that the revolutionary party had infiltrated the Beijing division in a big way, and she was so frightened that she couldn't sleep for a few days, so she took the little emperor to hide in the secret passage of the palace at night.

The revolutionary party, or the revival association, or Chen Wenqiang, has fulfilled his promise and helped Yuan Shikai, but he has to be a **** archway, and his procrastination naturally makes the revolutionary party dissatisfied. There is a reason why people are impatient to wait for you.

But Yuan Shikai also has a hard time, negotiating, naturally have to bargain, each striving for the most favorable conditions, how can it be settled all at once. What's more, he was afraid that the revolutionary party would make a false shot, use the president to tempt him, and finally make him a different person inside and out!

Of course, what Yuan Shikai said is not true, he is indeed doing his work. First, under the threat of the revolutionary army, he continued to raise the price of the Qing court, so that the Qing court appointed Yuan as the prime minister of the cabinet. In addition to Yuan's private party, the cabinet list also included a number of constitutional monarchist figures, and even the leader of the royalist party, Liang Qichao, was also on the list.

In fact, some of the people on the list could not have come to Beijing to take office, and Yuan's real intention was to absorb them as an ornament for the constitutional monarchy and the responsible cabinet, and to use this to erase the old accounts of hostility between him and them, and not to care whether they came to Beijing to take office.

Then, Yuan Shikai wanted to take the military power of the north and Beijing completely into his own hands. He had already obtained full control and dispatch authority from the towns of Beiyang and the Yi Army, Jiang Guiqi and other departments, but there was still a Praetorian Guard in Beijing nominally under the command of the regent Zaifeng, but in fact under the command of Zaifeng's brother and minister of the Military Advisory Office, Zaitao, and he was still a confidant.

Therefore, Yuan suggested to the Qing government that the imperial ministers should go to the south to set an example for all armies. In this way, the timid Zaitao asked to be relieved of his military post, and Yuan immediately recommended his old friend Xu Shichang to succeed him as Minister of the Military Advisory Office, and transferred back Feng Guozhang from Hankou to replace the military commander of the Praetorian Guard.

In Hubei, he sent Duan Qirui to act as the governor of Huguang and preside over the military with full powers. He also organized the guards he brought with him into the Gong Guards, sent Duan Zhigui as the commander of the Gong Guards, and transferred the Praetorian Guards to the outskirts of Beijing.

Now that the Zongshe Party has almost collapsed, it is not difficult for Yuan Shikai to overthrow the Qing court. But he still tried to avoid the infamy of the so-called "living Cao Cao", that is, he wanted to convince the Qing court that he had obtained the world from the hands of the revolutionary party, and he wanted to convince the revolutionary party that his world had come from the hands of the Qing dynasty.

It was necessary to use the revolutionary army to overthrow the Manchu Qing so that he would not be usurped, and in turn to use the Qing Dynasty to bargain with the revolutionary army. So as to grab more benefits. This approach is somewhat like what the Qing Dynasty claimed in the early days of its entry into the customs, saying that the Qing Dynasty's world was obtained from Li Zicheng, not from the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

But the situation is stronger than people, and in the face of rapid changes, Yuan Shikai knows that it is necessary to "quickly and quickly". Because, Yuan knows his own power better than anyone else. He also lacks money to fight!

However, the strength of the revolutionary army is growing day by day, the provisional government is becoming more and more authoritarian, and the international perception and public opinion are becoming more and more tendentious, and he must speed up.

"Old friend, I'm going to Shanghai soon, and I'm going to have a verbal battle with the toughest guy in the Provisional Government." Zhu Erdian said seemingly sincerely: "If you need me to mediate, you still need to take more practical action. ”

"I understand." Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly and said, "Your envoy will hear the good news, and I hope that your country and your envoy will continue to support me." ”

In Zhu Erdian's opinion. Yuan's refusal to sing the play of "forcing the palace", lest he never be able to clear the infamy of "living Cao Cao", is the key to the impasse. Of course, it would be best if we could do martial arts and singing, maintain the shell of feudal morality, and whitewash the situation of "usurpation" as a game of "concession". But the situation forced Yuan Shikai to make a choice.

And Yuan Shikai also thought of a way. But paradoxically, this method also needs Chen Wenqiang's approval. The cooperation of the revolutionaries is required.

On the third day after Zhu Erdian and Yuan Shikai had a secret talk, a good show planned by Yuan Shikai and cooperated by the revolutionaries was staged.

On this day, Yuan Shikai took a carriage from Donghua Gate to the new Yamen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for office. As soon as I walked through the door of the Sanyi Teahouse on T-shaped Street, two bombs were suddenly thrown out of the teahouse, and because Yuan's carriage was moving fast, the bombs did not directly hit the carriage. but wounded several of Yuan's guards.

No one knew that this was a double reed play, and few people knew that Yuan's carriage had been fitted with iron plates last night. This move did not cause harm to Yuan, but instead created another opportunity for him.

From then on, the Empress Dowager Longyu not only did not suspect that Yuan was a "spy of the revolutionary army", but also believed that he was the "minister of the Qing government". On the same day, a special envoy was sent to express condolences and was awarded the title of first-class marquis to show excellence. It was precisely because of this move that Yuan had previously fabricated a rumor that "revolutionaries were all over the city of Beijing" that had been fabricated to intimidate the Qing government, which caused great panic within the Qing government, and forced them to choose between preserving the throne and preserving their lives.

From this day on, Yuan said that he was ill and did not enter the court, and sent his henchman Zhao Bingjun, Minister of Civil Affairs, as his agent. Subsequently, Zhao adopted a showdown method when attending the imperial council, raising the issue of the simultaneous abolition of the northern and southern governments, the organization of a provisional government in Tianjin, and the preferential treatment of the Qing imperial family. The old princes present were silent, and the young nobles were resolutely opposed, so that the Empress Dowager Longyu could not make a final decision.

Zhao Bingjun got up and left angrily, and Hu Weide, the acting minister of foreign affairs, and Liang Shiyi, the acting minister of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, also walked out, which frightened the Empress Dowager Longyu's face to change color.

Two days later, Duan Qirui, a general of the Beiyang Army, and dozens of others jointly sent a telegram, calling on the Qing Emperor to abdicate on the same day, determine the republican form of government, and determine the overall situation with the imperial family.

On the same day, Liangbi, a young Zhuang faction among the Qing nobles who returned to Beijing to recuperate, was assassinated at the door of his home.

As the only courageous military talent among the Qing nobles, Liangbi always believed that Yuan was a poisonous arrow inserted in the heart of the Qing government. When Yuan's cabinet used resignation to blackmail the Qing government into accepting the terms of abdication, he advocated approving the resignation of the cabinet and forming another wartime cabinet of the imperial family.

As soon as Liangbi died, ordinary princes and ministers were frightened, and they left Beijing one after another and fled to Tianjin, Dalian, and Qingdao. The Manchu dignitaries in Beijing asked Yuan to send troops to protect him, so that Yuan used the name of protection to control a large number of political prisoners in his hands.

Since then, there have been even fewer princes and ministers attending the Imperial Council, and the few participants have looked at each other, and no one dares to speak out against the abdication.

……………

There is an old Chinese saying: it is better to be famous than to meet.

The British Minister to China, Zhu Erdian, and Chen Wenqiang, the diplomatic plenipotentiary of the Provisional Government, finally held talks in Shanghai. On the one hand, the major powers with the greatest influence in China, and on the other hand, on behalf of the new government that will soon take over the Chinese regime, the content and results of the talks will inevitably attract the attention of all sides.

Examination, both people are looking at each other, the atmosphere is very solemn, after the usual cold and polite after meeting, the meeting fell silent, no one preemptively spoke, but both of them caught a different feeling from each other's expressions and eyes.

Zhu Erdian was a little helpless, but there was still some inherent arrogance, but he subconsciously stroked his fingers, indicating that he was somewhat nervous.

Chen Wenqiang's eyes were very flexible, indicating that there were many thoughts turning in his heart, but the faint firmness made Zhu Erdian feel a little pressure.

Coughing lightly, Zhu Erdian took the lead in speaking: "I believe that the provisional government may have some misunderstanding about me, and I need to reiterate that the customs revenue has been used to offset foreign debts, and the tax belongs to foreign bondholders according to the law. I therefore think it would be preferable for the time being to place the tax revenues in the custody of the General Department of Taxation or the Consular Corps, as in no way is intended to seize the control of customs duties and to discriminate against and restrain the Provisional Government, as reported in the outside media. ”

"Your explanation is not convincing." Chen Wenqiang frowned and said: "The provisional government has solemnly stated that it will do its best to protect the interests of foreign bondholders. Moreover, the Provisional Government's legitimate request to appoint commissioners to supervise customs revenues and to deposit them with the Bank of China was also rudely rejected. In addition, it is also said that the British consuls in various places have helped the local customs authorities to resist the Provisional Government's act of separating the postal service from the customs and transferring it to the jurisdiction of the government. In this regard, the speculation of the outside media and the dissatisfaction of the Provisional Government with Your Excellency do not seem to be excessive. ”

Zhu Erdian was annoyed by Chen Wenqiang's unceremonious scarring, but replied quietly: "The provisional government has not yet been recognized by the foreign powers, and mutual distrust is understandable. ”

"Since there is still mistrust, it will require efforts on both sides to overcome it, and the interim government has made a friendly gesture, which has also been recognized and reacted by many countries. The United States, Germany, and Austria-Hungary all expressed respect for the Provisional Government's legitimate demand to withdraw tariff autonomy and said that bilateral tariff negotiations would be opened in due course. I don't know how Your Excellency will react on behalf of the British Empire, but we are really looking forward to it! (To be continued.) )