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Chapter 124: The Regent of the Qing Dynasty (I)

Baimi Xiejie is located next to Shichahai, and the mansion of the prince of the current dynasty is located in Baimi Xiejie. The front door of Zhang's mansion is close to the street, the back is next to Shichahai, the mansion is lined up with three buildings, there is a garden on the east side, rockery, pavilion, pool and so on are readily available, there is quite a garden victory, and there is also a two-storey viewing building in the garden, you can see the beautiful scenery of Shichahai and the market of Di'anmen.

Although Zhang Zhidong can almost be said to be idle at home now, and he has only received an idle position as a crown prince, this does not mean that his power has declined. In the current Manchu court, he is still the most powerful person, if Zaifeng did not have his secret help a few years ago, he would definitely not be able to suppress Yuan Shikai's power in the court, and he would definitely not be able to let Yuan Shikai obediently go fishing in Zhangde. However, since the settlement of Yuan Shikai, who they regarded as a scourge of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Zaifeng and Zhang Zhidong had a great dispute over personnel appointments and political affairs, especially in the appointment of officers of the Beiyang Army, and Zhang Zhidong and Zaifeng had even greater differences.

Zhang Zhidong believed that we should take advantage of Yuan Shikai's resignation to win over the generals of the Beiyang New Army as much as possible, and even if they could not win over, they should be replaced immediately, reorganize the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level, and empty the rights of high-level generals such as Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui, and finally completely nationalize the Beiyang New Army. However, Zaifeng felt that this matter could be delayed, and in his opinion, the most important thing was to improve relations with foreign countries, as long as he got the support of foreigners, he would be able to sit firmly in the position of regent.

Therefore, Zaifeng rejected Zhang Zhidong's excerpt on the grounds that it was not appropriate to adjust the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level and lead to confusion in the army. However, in order to appease Zhang Zhidong's resentment, he replaced a small number of high-ranking officers of the Beiyang Army with the Eight Banners General, but at the same time, Feng Guozhang was also transferred back to Beijing, while Duan Qirui was transferred to the south to suppress the revolutionary party. Seeing Zhang Zhidong's heartache, he cursed Zaifeng at home for being a fool and missed the opportunity to incorporate the Beiyang Army in vain.

After that, the contradiction between Zaifeng and Zhang Zhidong became even more superficial, and he ignored Zhang Zhidong's opposition and reused Xu Shichang and Feng Guozhang and other people from the Beiyang faction, causing Zhang Zhidong to fall ill in anger. If it weren't for Zhang Zhidong, who was still concerned about the safety of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and didn't want to let others benefit because of civil strife, otherwise how could Zaifeng's forces in the DPRK be so lightly dismissed.

Since Zhang Zhidong ignored the government, his mansion has never been open to visitors, all the protégés and former officials who visited have eaten closed, and the people in Baimi Xiejie seem to be accustomed to the tranquility of Zhang's mansion. However, on this day, Zhang's family actually went out to sweep the streets to welcome customers, attracting people from the neighborhood to gather to see who could make Zhang Zhidong so cautious with such a big shelf.

The garden around Zhang's Mansion has long been emptied, and many Ouchi masters sent from the Imperial City look at the surroundings vigilantly, guarding the garden like an iron bucket, and even Zhang's family members can't enter it at will. At this time, a 16-person apricot yellow sedan chair came from the street, although there was no gong to open the way, but there was a team of 36 people's honor guard in front of the way, and the people in the sedan chair at the door of Zhang's mansion did not get off the sedan chair, and the extremely arrogant ones were carried directly from the vermilion gate of Zhang's mansion, and everyone couldn't help but be stunned.

At this time, a person who may have just come from other places asked curiously: "Who is this? Such a big shelf seems to be deliberately cutting the face of the old man." ”

A literati who lived nearby next to him squinted at this person and sneered: "Now who else in the entire city of Beijing is so arrogant except for that regent! He must have come to ask Boss Zhang for the sake of the past two days, but he couldn't pull this face, so he would carry the sedan chair in like this." ”

As the literati said, Zaifeng is indeed here to ask for advice as he said, and it is true that he can't pull his face to get off the sedan chair outside, after all, the contradiction between him and Zhang Zhidong is known all over the city, and getting off the sedan chair at the door is tantamount to showing weakness, as the person with the highest power in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, at least nominally the most powerful person, this bit of face is still needed.

After entering Zhang's mansion, Zaifeng got off the sedan chair, and the people from Zhang's mansion stepped forward to salute. However, Zaifeng was the only one in the crowd who saw Zhang Zhidong now, and his face couldn't help but be gloomy. At this time, Zhang Zhidong's son stepped forward and explained: "Lord Qiyu, my father is waiting for you in the small building in the garden on the east side, and let Weichen show you the way." ”

As he spoke, he led the way in front and led Zaifeng with an unhappy face towards the garden, and after arriving at the garden building, he opened the door and let Zaifeng enter alone, and then stopped the entourage behind, took the door shut, and guarded the door without being disturbed.

After Zaifeng entered the small building, he looked around, the furnishings in the building were very simple, some mahogany tables and chairs plus a few bonsai, and a few pairs of Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy and paintings were hung on the wall, which was elegant and simple.

"Has the prince Chitose arrived?" Zhang Zhidong's old voice suddenly came from upstairs, saying: "The old and sick body is in the body, and I can't come out to greet him, and I hope that the prince will forgive his sins." Please come up from the stairs next to the room by yourself. ”

Hearing Zhang Zhidong's disdainful tone, Zaifeng's face became a little gloomy, and he was secretly angry in his heart, if he hadn't reached the point where he was helpless now, he wouldn't have suffered this anger anyway. This morning, the morning newspaper of the Beijing Division suddenly reported that the Beiyang Army intended to rebel, and the most hateful thing was the vague editorial under the newspaper, which vaguely said that the rebellion was deliberately designed by him, and wanted to swallow the Beiyang New Army.

Since this newspaper was run by a foreigner, and because he did not name it, he had no excuse to close it down like other newspapers, and he could only let this newspaper that was unfavorable to him continue to disperse. Although most of the things said in it are true, and some of them are planned by him, but he pointed the finger at himself in this way, and this responsibility cannot be borne by him in any case.

Although he had summoned the people of the Beiyang faction in time to appease them, before he came out of the palace, he received the resignations of nearly 40 people from the Beiyang faction, including Feng Guozhang. In addition, he also received a foreign telegram from a secret agent, saying that after reading the report, Duan Qirui, Cao Kun and other leading generals of the Beiyang Army in various towns used this to encourage the officers and soldiers of the middle and lower levels to disobey the control of the upper Eight Banner Generals, so that the entire Beiyang Army used the pressure of public opinion to attack him, making Yuan Shikai's call for returning to power louder and louder. If this matter cannot be handled well, it is conceivable what will become of the Manchus in the end.