Chapter 303: Yuan Shikai's Plan

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During the period when Zhang Wei accompanied Xiao Yu'er and the prince, Yuan Shikai's connection with the empire has not been broken. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Yuan Shikai, the word Weiting, the number Rong'an, a native of Xiangcheng, a famous politician and military strategist in modern Chinese history, and the founder of the Beiyang New Army.

Due to the influence of the Xia Empire and the fact that Yuan Shikai's army was stronger than in history, besides, Yuan Shikai had always been loyal to the Qing Dynasty, and although he was impeached many times, the Qing Dynasty court had always been kind to him.

Yuan Shikai not only had to regularly report on major events in the Qing Dynasty and exchange views with each other, but also communicated in detail with the Xia Empire on the details of the preparations for the uprising.

Yuan Shikai, as an important minister of the Chinese nationality of the Great Qing Dynasty, held the most powerful military force of the Great Qing Dynasty in his hands, and his personal reputation was second only to Zhang Zhidong among the Chinese; Its successor, Beiyang, was the most powerful military, political, and economic bloc of the Great Qing State.

Now the entire provinces of Northern Xinjiang, Zhili, Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi are under the control of the Beiyang New Army.

Seven of the eight towns of the Beiyang New Army are absolutely under the command of Yuan Shikai, the 12 towns in northern Xinjiang and the 10 mixed associations in the Peninsula Special Zone also belong to the army that Yuan Shikai can command, and the new new army in Guangdong Province also belongs to Yuan Shikai's control.

With strong military and economic strength, coupled with the support of the Xia Empire, Yuan Shikai was full of confidence in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and seizing power in the whole country.

Although all provinces in the country also train the new army, they cannot compete with the Beiyang new army in terms of quantity, weaponry, training level, and combat effectiveness.

In the second half of 1908, Yuan Shikai had to meet the Empress Dowager many times, and also felt that she would not exist for a long time, in addition to admiring the accurate judgment of the Xia Empire, he stepped up contact and communication with the Xia Empire, and after secret negotiations, expanded the loan amount, and stockpiled weapons and ammunition in advance.

Yuan Shikai confirmed and communicated with the Xia Empire in advance on many issues such as military, political, economic, educational, personnel appointments, etc., he knew that if there was no support from the Xia Empire, he would not be able to go this far, if the Xia Empire did not support him, then someone would replace his position at any time, at least the 12 towns in Northern Xinjiang and the 10 mixed associations on the peninsula were not completely under their control, and the 8 towns of the Beiyang New Army were only under their indirect control, and it was very easy for the Xia Empire to change the candidates.

First of all, it was established that the national system was a constitutional monarchy, and the name of the country was the Chinese Empire, which was very in line with the voice of the people of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and the Xia Empire was a constitutional monarchy.

Implement a plan for separating the military from the government.

In military convenience, Yuan Shikai's plan was to follow the example of the Xia Empire and establish a general staff, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor and consisted of the War Department and the Navy Department; The War Department and the Navy Department are responsible for troop training, daily management, operational command, and officer evaluation, while the General Staff Department is responsible for troop deployment, officer promotion, logistics, equipment, officer training, and soldier recruitment. Yuan Shikai's plan was for Wang Shizhen to be the chief of the general staff, Feng Guozhang to be the minister of the army, and Sa Zhenbing to be the minister of the navy; The frontier general and the frontier administrator were merged into the frontier governor, and Duan Qirui was the first frontier governor; The Xia Empire had no objection to this, and completely agreed with Yuan Shikai's opinion, but only reminded Yuan Shikai that the governor of the frontier would not be able to lose his tail, and finally there would be a situation of warlord secession.

Yuan Shikai's reply was that the powers of the frontier governors would be restricted, and the personnel and financial powers would be transferred to the central government.

In terms of politics, Yuan Shikai meant to appoint Xu Shichang as the premier of the Government Council, Xia Empire believed that although he had made outstanding achievements in the frontier administrative affairs, he was still very lacking in terms of political experience, Zhang Wei and Zheng Daoyou's opinion was that Xu Shichang could be appointed as the premier of the Government Council, but Song Jiaoren should be appointed as the vice premier of the Government Council; Yuan Shikai felt that Song Jiaoren was a member of the Xia Empire, which was not at ease with himself, and he could only accept this compromise in the face of power.

In terms of candidates for other ministers, Cao Rulin was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liang Shiyi was appointed Minister of Civil Affairs, Zhou Xuexi was appointed Minister of Finance, etc., and Xia Empire only recommended Cai Yuanpei as Minister of Education, and there was not much controversy between the two sides.

In addition, the Xia Empire suggested that after overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and seizing national power, it was necessary to gradually establish a supreme court and parliament on a par with the General Staff and the Government Council.

Yuan Shikai promised to set up courts, audit offices, customs offices and other institutions with full reference to the model of the Xia Empire, and asked the Xia Empire to support all government talents, and assist in the establishment of various universities to train relevant professionals.

At the same time, the candidates for governors of various provinces were communicated, and Xia Empire took the opportunity to recommend several vice governors in the Southern Xinjiang Special Region and the Northern Special Region to Yuan Shikai.

Since September, the Xia Empire's Northern Theater has frequently dispatched troops, and the Queen Mother and the Emperor have become increasingly weak and terminally ill, Yuan Shikai felt that the opportunity was coming, so he took the initiative to strengthen communication with the Xia Empire.

Now Du Shihui, the governor of the Peninsula Special Administrative Region, is Yuan Shikai's son-in-law, and they have been married in June, which gives him a reassurance, but he can seek help from his son-in-law for small things, and he still has to communicate with the General Staff of the Xia Empire for big things.

And Xiao Xuguang, the governor of the Northern Theater Command, also married a princess of the Great Qing Kingdom as a flat wife in August, which made the court and members of the royal family feel that they have a protective umbrella.

Yuan Shikai's arrangement for the uprising troops was to station the three towns of the Beiyang New Army in Beijing, Tianjin, and Zhili, and eliminate the Qing soldiers of the Green Battalion in Beijing and the New Army of the First Town of Beiyang under the full control of the Qing government; The other four towns were stationed in Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan, and one town was sent to occupy Shaanxi; The battle north of the Yangtze River was personally commanded by Wang Shizhen.

4 towns were transferred from the border general to strengthen the command of Wang Shizhen, who was responsible for stabilizing the north and stabilizing the Beijing division.

Five towns were transferred from the frontier generals under the command of Feng Guozhang to attack south along the Yangtze River, threatening Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei respectively.

The 10 mixed associations trained in the special zone of the peninsula, assisted by the Xia Empire, were transported in advance to Taiwan Province and Hainan Province of the Xia Empire in the name of military exercises, and then under the command of Wang Yingkai, the deputy general of the frontier, launched attacks from the coastal provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, and seized local power in the provinces south of the Yangtze River.

Duan Qirui left 4 towns, and with the assistance of the Xia Empire, he continued to garrison the frontier to prevent the Russian Empire from taking advantage of the opportunity.

The General Staff of the Xia Empire was quite satisfied with the military arrangements in Yuan Shikai's uprising plan, first stabilizing the area north of the Yangtze River, then threatening the south from the north bank of the Yangtze River, and attacking Anhui and Wuhan, and then launching a powerful offensive from the coastal areas, attacking from both sides, and the southern provinces were under strong military pressure, and there was no possibility that they could not be occupied, so Zhang Wei and Lu Weimin approved Yuan Shikai's military plan; At the end of October, the General Staff Headquarters ordered the Northern Theater Command to transport 10 mixed associations trained in the peninsula SAR to Hainan Province and Taiwan Province respectively in the name of the exercise, and to arrange three mixed associations in Hainan Province and seven mixed associations in Taiwan Province.

Now everything is ready, just wait for the death of the empress dowager and emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and then Yuan Shikai will rise up, overthrow the Qing court, seize the national power, and establish the rule of the Chinese. (To be continued.) )