Genius remembers in a second [Aishang Novel Network biquge.info] to provide you with wonderful novels to read.

Chapter 227: Interfering in the Final Decision (I)

With the fall of Jiangnan and the uprisings of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, the Qing court felt an unprecedented panic, and there was a feeling that the sky was falling. They don't know why the originally stable country has become like this overnight, but now that things have unfolded, they naturally need to find someone to be responsible, so Sheng Xuanhuai, who was framed by the Beiyang faction, became a scapegoat, not only removed from his official position, but also placed under house arrest in Shandong. This qiē was all expected by Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai in advance, otherwise they would not have temporarily transferred the Beiyang Army back to Tianjin, deliberately creating the illusion of emptiness of the Jiangnan army, because in their opinion, the only person in the current Qing court who can support the overall situation except Yuan Shikai is Sheng Xuanhuai. With Sheng Xuanhuai's ability and prestige, he can completely stabilize the Qing court's position, and if Sheng Xuanhuai is not removed, it will be difficult for Yuan Shikai to go out of the mountain, and even if he goes out of the mountain, he will not be able to grasp all the real power of the Qing court.

Although the Qing court sent a new army stationed in Beijing to Jiangnan, it was still completely unable to curb the momentum of the revolutionary army, so the Qing court set its sights on the elite Beiyang Army. At this time, Xu Shichang went to the fold and asked for Yuan Shikai to be reinstated, and Zaifeng and Yikuang were not fools, so they were naturally unwilling to let a powerful figure like Yuan Shikai come back, so they rejected Xu Shichang's excerpt without hesitation.

Therefore, Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and other generals of the Beiyang Army immediately refused to go south to quell the rebellion on the grounds that the Qing court did not pay them. This excuse of the Beiyang Army is very subtle, if the Qing court has money in the treasury, why should it implement the policy of state-owned railways, but in order to block the excuse of the Beiyang Army, Zaifeng and Longyu simply melted down the gold and silver utensils in the palace and turned them into gold and silver ingots as military salaries. Although they had money, the real purpose of the Beiyang faction was not achieved, so they simply claimed that the military salary was insufficient and they were still unwilling to send troops.

The Qing court was forced to have no choice but to obey the will of the Beiyang faction and asked Yuan Shikai to go out of the mountain, so that he could be reinstated as an official and continue to serve as a cabinet minister and minister of the Qin Mission. However, Yuan Shikai knew very well that this was a false position, which was far from the position he wanted in his heart, so he continued to refuse to go out of the mountain on the grounds of recuperation. Seeing that the revolutionary army was getting stronger and stronger, and the Qing Dynasty was about to fall, Zaifeng and Yikuang finally reluctantly agreed to Yuan Shikai's request to serve as the prime minister of the cabinet and control the 6 navy.

After Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing, the first thing he did was not to send troops south, but to protect the Qing court as an excuse, to drive Zaifeng, who had long been tired of officialdom, from the throne of the regent, and then put Yi Kuang under house arrest in the prince's palace, and made a big change of blood for officials at all levels of the court. It wasn't until he felt that the capital had stabilized that Duan Qirui was immediately transferred from the post of governor of Jiangbei, led the First Beiyang Army to the south, and attacked the Southern Revolutionary Army together with Feng Guozhang, who had been waiting in the south. The Third Town of Beiyang led by Cao Kun and the two troops of the First Town of Beiyang, which had been mastered by Long Jinbao, were sent to Shaanxi and Shanxi respectively to suppress the revolutionary army.

Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang are worthy of being famous generals in the world, Cao Kun and Long Jinbao are also worthy of the name of fierce generals, and the Beiyang Army is worthy of being the first army in China. However, in more than ten days, the revolutionary armies in Shanxi and Shaanxi were completely suppressed, while most of Anhui, Jiangsu and other places were recaptured. The revolutionary army can be said to be defeated and retreated, and even Wuhan, which had the strongest military strength in the entire revolutionary army and was invited by Huang Xing to sit in the town, was quickly captured after the arrival of the Beiyang Army.

However, just when everyone thought that Yuan Shikai would wave his troops across the river and subdue the entire territory of Jiangnan, a telegram fell into the hands of the commanders of various armies, with only eight words on it: "Stop the attack and stand by in place." This move of the Beiyang Army not only surprised the Qing court, but even the revolutionary army was at a loss, but the excuse given by Yuan Shikai was that the revolutionary army was too strong, the Beiyang Army suffered heavy losses, and the imperial court needed to increase military spending.

Everyone knew that this was just an excuse, but the Qing court had to take it seriously and immediately issue patriotic public debts, in order to get all the money that Yuan Shikai needed. On the other hand, the revolutionary army also felt that this was a negotiation signal from Yuan Shikai to them, and in view of the strength of the Beiyang Army, the alliance also said that it should negotiate with Yuan Shikai. It's just that the revolutionary army has never intersected with Yuan Shikai and doesn't know how to start. There is no way to deal with the Dao Alliance, although the Outer Dao Alliance has also tried to show disciples in the Beiyang Army, but with little success. In addition to Yuan Shikai's strict grasp of the Beiyang Army, Xu Shichang, a person who is well versed in the methods of the Lower Ninth Rate, is assisted by him, so that all the people of the Outer Dao Alliance in the Beiyang Army are minions, and they cannot get in touch with the high-level generals at all. When the forces of the north and the south were looking for a suitable negotiation intermediary, their eyes were all focused on the Chen family in Shanghai.

Since the separation of the two families, the influence of the Chen family on the Chinese political and business circles has been weakening day by day. But the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and even now that they have lost their ancestral property in the south, the Chen family is still the most powerful businessman in China. The relationship between the Chen family and foreigners from various countries is enough to affect the entire political situation in China, and it is precisely because of the relationship between the Chen family that the consuls of various countries will acquiesce to the revolutionary army uprising and the establishment of a military government. At this moment, the North and the South want to negotiate, and the Chen family, who has high-level contacts with both sides, naturally became the middleman chosen by both sides.

Yuan Shikai also attaches great importance to the attitude of the Chen family, regardless of the financial resources and prestige of the Chen family, the relationship between the Chen family and foreigners alone is enough to move Yuan Shikai, not to mention that there is a Xu Changqing behind the Chen family who makes him scruple about three points. The fact that Long Jinbao is Xu Changqing's registered disciple is not a secret at the top of the Beiyang Army, he can become a prince of the party that controls the situation in a short period of time, and he can also annex the first town of Beiyang, which is enough to make Yuan Shikai moved. Moreover, Jiang Sanbao, another named disciple of Xu Changqing, also served under Wang Shizhen, and was trained by Wang Shizhen as a successor, and in just a few months, he had mastered the 20,000 Beiyang 6th Army under Wang Shizhen. There are such two people in the Beiyang Army, even if Yuan Shikai knows that cultivators can't interfere too much in secular affairs, he has to pay special attention to them, I don't know whether it is intentional or unintentional, he finally chose the secret location of the negotiation in Chen Jiachong.

Regarding Yuan Shikai's decision to set the negotiation venue at Chen Jiachong, Xu Changqing knew about it before the two sides contacted the Chen family.