Zhao Dongyun took a deep breath, put down the telegram in his hand, and then looked at the generals present: "Lord Duxian, he's gone!" ”

Although everyone has been mentally prepared for this since yesterday, they couldn't help but be shocked when they really heard the news, and several people felt panicked in their hearts, not to mention them, even Zhao Dongyun himself was a little panicked!

It is not that the Beiyang people of this era are difficult to realize the importance of Yuan Shikai to Beiyang, Yuan Shikai is not only the head of Beiyang, but also the spiritual pillar of Beiyang, if the Beiyang people of this era have any faith, it is definitely not to save the country and save the people, let alone God and Buddha, but to be loyal to Yuan Shikai.

This is not only the case for people in this era, but also for Zhao Dongyun, who has been integrated with Beiyang for many years in this era, of course, his allegiance to Yuan Shikai has nothing to do with 'loyalty' in the traditional sense, but loyalty to Yuan Shikai in this era is also the basis for maintaining and developing his own power.

Now the pillar of Beiyang, Yuan Shikai is dead!

Therefore, it is understandable that the generals in the conference room will have such a big reaction, but they are all high-ranking Beiyang high-level generals, and although their faces have changed drastically, they have not made any excessive moves.

They were still sitting upright, like other soldiers of this era, with their hands on their thighs, their waists straightened, and the expressions on their faces were mostly sad and angry.

That Meng Enyuan was the first to say loudly: "They are so bold, they dare to kill Yuan Gong, this revenge is not avenged, what face does our Beiyang people have in the world!" Immediately, he turned his face to look at Zhao Dongyun: "My lord, enter the customs, let me tens of thousands of Beiyang soldiers avenge Yuan Gong!" ”

Xu Bangjie on the side also spoke: "Since Duxian died in Beijing, then let the magnates in Beijing accompany Duxian to the funeral!" ”

As Zhao Dongyun expected, many people present immediately put the target of their hatred on the Qing court, for a simple reason, because the Qing court was the biggest suspect in the assassination of Yuan Shikai.

Not everyone has traveled through later generations and is familiar with the direction of history, and these contemporary politicians can see the contemporary shape clearly, which can be said to be very rare. Many things were taken for granted by later generations, but in modern times, only those who need great wisdom can see them.

For example, in the Russo-Japanese War, in the eyes of the contemporary Chinese people, the Japanese navy not only sent almost the entire Russian navy warships to the bottom of the sea, but also killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of Russians, proving that the yellow race can defeat the white race in modern warfare.

But many people will know that Japan's capital is heavily indebted and the economy is on the verge of collapse.

There are still too few people who can see the essence of things through the appearance, and the vast majority of people, including the generals in this conference room, almost immediately put the target of suspicion on the Qing court.

Of course, they don't think that it was Cixi, Yixuan, and Tieliang who assassinated Yuan Shikai, they are not stupid to this point, but think that other people in the Manchu aristocracy, just like all political forces, there are also Shaozhuang factions on the side of the Manchu nobles, Zaifeng, Zhi Xun and others are all famous royal Shaozhuang faction, and they have always opposed Yuan Shikai, and almost all the 'Shaozhuang faction' in human history also represent radical, reckless and irresponsible.

The Shaozhuang faction led by Zhao Dongyun of the internal faction of Beiyang had this tendency, and the same was true of the Shaozhuang faction of the Manchu imperial family, not to mention the Shaozhuang faction of the Japanese army.

In this way, it is natural for people to suspect the Manchus.

After Meng Enyuan and Xu Bangjie opened, the others were also excited, shouting to immediately lead the army into the customs, some said that they wanted to clear the monarch's side, some said that they would enter Beijing, welcome Guangxu's pro-government, and establish a constitutional monarchy, and some simply said that they would raise the banner of the republic and support Zhao Dongyun as the president.

Zhao Dongyun didn't care about their words, and there was no exit to block them, at this moment they needed to vent the anger and excitement in their hearts.

After a long time, Zhao Dongyun stretched out his hand to suppress: "Be quiet!" ”

So, the noisy conference room in front of him was considered to be calm, Zhao Dongyun looked around before continuing to speak: "Before Yuan Gong went to Beijing, he asked me and a few others to discuss in Shanhaiguan, although I didn't expect this to happen today, but there was also a precautionary plan, although I don't know what the rest of the family thinks, but we must firmly fulfill the last order of Lord Governor!" ”

Zhao Dongyun didn't let his generals wait too long, but quickly said the next sentence: "I order, from now on, we will enter a state of combat readiness!" ”

Zhao Dongyun has never hesitated too much in such a major matter, even if he didn't prepare for this in advance, he still quickly made arrangements: "The third town ordered to go down and prepare to start!" ”

"The first and second towns of Fengtian have all been transferred back to Jinzhou to strengthen the fortifications of Jinzhou, and in addition, two cavalry battalions will be transferred from each of the existing three towns to form the Fengtian Cavalry Association with six battalions of cavalry!"

After Zhao Dongyun finished speaking, he looked at Meng Enyuan: "Old Meng, you still have to be the commander of this cavalry association, I don't worry about others!" ”

When Meng Enyuan heard the three words of the cavalry association, he knew that this position must be his own, so he said expressionlessly: "The department is everything!" ”

Then, he looked at Lin Yongquan again: "Yongquan, you take charge of the first town of Fengtian first!" ”

Lin Yongquan's cultivation has increased a lot over the years, but he couldn't help but be excited when he heard this: "Yongquan definitely lives up to the trust of adults!" ”

Lin Yongquan has followed Zhao Dongyun for so many years, and his qualifications are sufficient, but he doesn't have much experience in leading a large corps to fight, but at this critical moment, ability is no longer important, the important thing is that Zhao Dongyun can trust him, anyway, Zhao Dongyun still has a lot of staff officers from the professional class at hand, and when the time comes, arrange a few more for Lin Yongquan's side, and don't seek to be very good in the battle, as long as you come step by step, then it is enough.

At this time, Zhao Dongyun has not yet said the word 'enter the customs', but this series of orders is already very obvious, whether it is to prepare the third town to open or to transfer the cavalry of each town to form a cavalry association, this is all in preparation for entering the customs!

At the same time that Zhao Dongyun was holding an emergency military meeting in Jinzhou to make relevant arrangements, several other Beiyang bigwigs also got the news that Yuan Shikai was dead, and Wang Yingkai in Baoding announced that Baoding had entered a state of emergency almost immediately, and then directly dismissed a few Manchurian officers in the first town under him, and at the same time sent a secret telegram to Zhang Huaizhi in Shandong, asking him to gather in the fifth town and prepare to go north at any time.

And in Shanhaiguan, Duan Qirui and Wu Fengling also had an urgent secret discussion!

Li Yuanhong, who was in the eighth town of Hubei in Henan, received an urgent order from Zhang Zhidong to prepare for war and wait and see the situation.

However, these were all external reactions, and there was an astonishing silence in the Jingshi, which was really at the heart of the storm!

On October 7th, the day after Yuan Shikai was assassinated, in the Yiluan Hall of Xiyuan, Cixi did not have her usual careless appearance, but stood with the support of the eunuchs, and in front of her were kneeling and waiting for a few young royal families: "Say, did you do it?" ”

Zhi Xun and others would say that they did it, so naturally they quickly denied it: "No! ”

Cixi glanced at these people many times, and then snorted: "Go out!" ”

After this young generation of royal family went out in a panic, several Manchu ministers such as Tie Liang, Duan Fang, and Yi Liang all came in!

Cixi didn't talk nonsense with them, and said: "Now that this incident has happened, what do you say to do!" ”

Immediately, the foreman said: "The most important thing now is to stabilize the Beiyang generals first, no matter how the situation changes and how to deal with it, but Beiyang must not be chaotic, once it is chaotic, the consequences are unimaginable!" ”

However, Tie Liang spoke: "It is almost impossible to stabilize them now, the minions have been reported, Jinzhou, Shanhaiguan and Baoding have all moved, they are already preparing to send troops, we must be ready to suppress the rebellion!" ”

Yixuan snorted coldly: "Suppression? Did you suppress it? Not to mention the others, it's the first town under your hands, can you control it? ”

Tie Liang was not to be outdone: "Since yesterday, Cao Kun, the leader of the 13th Association, and He Zonglian, the leader of the 14th Association, have been secretly monitored by me, and they can't afford to turn the storm!" ”

"And what about the sixth town, once they are in chaos on the side, what do you want the emperor and Lafayette to do?"

The Sixth Town is not an army stationed outside, but an army stationed in Xiyuan, responsible for guarding the Imperial City, but now the attitude of the Sixth Town is very ambiguous, Wang Shizhen has not seen any outsiders since Yuan Shikai's assassination yesterday, and has been staying in the hospital where Yuan Shikai is treated.

Even Duan Fang went to ask for a meeting in person, but he was closed!

At the moment, these people were arguing one by one, and Yiliang, who advocated using the Huai Rou policy to appease the Beiyang general, even almost fought with Tie Liang, who advocated strong suppression, and finally Cixi drove them all out.

On the afternoon of the 7th, Cixi once again issued a series of personnel appointments and policies with a strong political hand, and the public was to announce the preparation of the constitution, promising to formally establish the constitution within three years.

This is mainly to appease the ordinary constitutionalists, and the real focus is on how to deal with the Beiyang generals, and there are so many appointments in this regard that they are almost dazzling to outsiders.

The first is to add the title of Prince Feng Guozhang, Minister of the Ministry of War.

The second is the official establishment of a province in the Northeast, with Zhao Dongyun as the governor of the three eastern provinces and the title of secretary of the Ministry of War.

The third item is to transfer Wang Shizhen to act as the Governor of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang.

The fourth item is to transfer Wu Fengling to the Rehe Metropolitan and add the rank of squire of the War Department.

The fifth item is to transfer Zhang Huaizhi to the acting governor of Shandong, and add the rank of squire to the Ministry of War.

The above four appointments can be said to have broken the balance between the bigwigs in Beiyang at once, and then Cixi's methods are not over.

Later, the War Department re-ordered the seventh town of the army to be under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, the second town went to Rehe with Wu Fengling, the third town was transferred to the jurisdiction of Fengtian, the fifth town was transferred to the jurisdiction of Shandong, and the remaining first, fourth, and sixth towns were still under the jurisdiction of Zhili!

This series of appointments and deployments can be said to have affected the development of the situation in the future, because from this personnel arrangement and deployment, it can be found that Cixi's purpose is very obvious, that is, to win over Feng Guozhang and Wang Shizhen, and at the same time give Zhao Dongyun, Wu Fengling, and Zhang Huaizhi the space to go further and break away from the Beiyang self-proclaimed system. While wooing them, he did not forget to suppress them, and the targets of the suppression were undoubtedly Wang Yingkai and Duan Qirui.

As the so-called pulling the weak and fighting the strong, Wang Yingkai and Duan Qirui have the greatest prestige in the Beiyang faction, but after Cixi came to such a hand, can they still subdue other Beiyang warriors and inherit the Beiyang unification?

Impossible!

The internal factions in Beiyang were originally fighting very fiercely, and now that Yuan Shikai is dead, whether it is Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui or Zhao Dongyun, it is actually impossible to inherit Yuan Shikai's position.

For example, Wang Shizhen, who was pushed by Cixi to ascend to the position of governor of Zhili, if he could command Zhao Dongyun, Cixi would dare to cut off his head and give it to the eunuch to use as a urinal.

But if Cixi gave the position of the governor of Zhili to Wang Yingkai, then the situation would be very different, if Wang Yingkai was strong enough, once he ascended to the position of governor of Zhili, several other people would compromise in a short time even if they were not convinced, so that Beiyang could avoid splitting, and this kind of thing was unacceptable to Cixi.

Since Yuan Shikai is dead, there is no need for Beiyang to continue to exist!

For Cixi, a divided Beiyang is a good Beiyang!

I have to say that although everyone can see that Cixi's trick is obviously evil, this trick is a yang scheme, and since it has been made, I am not afraid that you will find out.

When Zhao Dongyun received the telegram from the imperial court, he also fell into deep thought, was it by avenging Yuan Shikai, and then ran to Beijing to overthrow the Qing Dynasty? Or do you want to get the governors of the three eastern provinces first, and then slowly plot to enter the customs later?

Not only him, but Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen and Zhang Huaizhi, who were tempted, all hesitated!