Although both Western medicine and Chinese medicine have repeatedly warned Yuan Shikai that he must stay calm and pay more attention to rest and diet, this more or less indicates the changes in Yuan Shikai's physical condition. Even when he gets up every morning, he already feels that his body is so heavy
It was getting to the point where it was difficult to control. His waistline became thicker and fatter, and his steps became more and more difficult. After walking a few steps faster, his face turned pale and he became short of breath.
After all, he is an older person, and when he looks back, all the charm he had in his prime is long gone.
However, for Yuan Shikai, the whole month of June made him extremely happy. After spending nearly two years in preparation and preparation, his dream of ascending the throne and becoming emperor was about to come true. He knew very well that his health was getting worse.
, and also know very well that it is easy to implement an imperial system, but it is difficult to maintain an imperial system. Unfortunately, what I can do is limited, and the rest can only be left to fate.
In mid-June, Yang Du specially returned to Beijing from the south and had an important meeting with Yuan Shikai at Huairen Hall.
The matters discussed at this meeting were the date for the official start of the imperial system and the detailed arrangements for the next few steps. The preparations for the meeting were all about the imperial system, which seemed psychedelic in Yuan Shikai's eyes.
I started to trust people like Yang Du more and more.
The building of public opinion momentum is almost done today. There are two key steps next. One is to arrange for Westerners to participate in advocating the monarchy, and the other is to package Confucianism into Confucianism and use Confucianism to cast stones before proclaiming the emperor.
Everything was discussed, and by the end of the month, through detailed research and investigation, Kong Lingyi, a scholar in Shandong during the former Qing Dynasty, was invited to preside over the Confucian religious ceremony, and he was publicly honored as Duke Yansheng.
The so-called title of Duke Yansheng is a permanent hereditary feudal title established by Emperor Ping of the Han Dynasty in the early Western Han Dynasty in order to promote Confucianism and praise the descendants of Confucius. However, each dynasty had different sects, so not all monarchs in the period followed this.
Later, in order to shine the lintel of the family, the Kong clan often filled in the title of "Yanshenggong" in the genealogy book when rebuilding the family tree.
Yuan Shikai arranged this step, which seemed to be a trivial matter, but it actually made a major hint to the outside world regarding the imperial system.
This move quickly aroused a small wave of opposition in Beijing, but it was only fleeting and did not even develop into large-scale opposition in other provinces.
By the beginning of July, the Beiyang government's communiqué and major newspapers in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places successively published or reprinted articles by American Goodnow, German Muinder, Japanese Shinbo Yasaburo and others. All of these articles
They all advocate for Yuan Shikai's imperialism from the aspects of "academic", "social" and even "anthropological". At first glance, what they say seems to be very similar, and they use professional terminology and citations.
, it is impossible to tell anything real or false from it.
Previously, senior government officials, headed by Vice President Li Yuanhong, jointly persuaded the president to move forward. This was a precedent in the history of the Eastern and Western countries. There has never been a country where the vice president persuaded the president to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. Therefore, the impact of this incident cannot be overstated.
Yu, especially in newspapers in Western countries. This time, foreigners analyzed China's current problems from an "academic" and "scientific" perspective, adding a bit of a "Western countries" stance to the imperial system. In China,
Naturally, it triggered a series of heated discussions.
The voices of persuading people to advance were increasing day by day. Yuan Keding also spent money to hire a group of so-called northern gentry and celebrity petitioners, and from time to time they would hold high imperial slogans in the capital and hold grand demonstrations and petitions.
Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly clear, Yuan Shikai no longer publicly announced his personal response to the imperial system. Instead, he officially issued a government order at the end of July, deciding to hold a ceremony to commemorate Confucius at the Temple of Heaven in the middle of the next month, and urged Congress to vote to ban Confucianism.
It was set as the state religion. Under the cover of a series of previous large-scale activities, although the people were aware of the different flavors of worshiping Confucius and establishing Confucianism, they did not really pay attention to this matter.
It was because of the news about the sacrifice of Confucius that the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the European Affairs Research Association in Japan realized that Yuan Shikai's restoration actions were becoming more and more rampant and obvious, so they both decided to stop the previous fight. On August 1, they held a ceremony in Yokohama, Japan.
After the meeting, Huang Xing and Sun Yat-sen, who had been at odds for two years, once again shook hands and made peace, and began to discuss cooperation against the imperial system and the revolutionary activities of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government.
Regarding the Chinese Revolutionary Party and the European Affairs Research Association shaking hands and making peace, it is just a very small piece of news, whether in Japan or China. No one thinks that the Revolutionary Party has lost all its armed forces during the "Second Revolution"
What else can people do? Nowadays, the revolutionaries are unable to even raise funds for their activities, let alone fight against the imperial system and Yuan Shikai.
Even after Yuan Shikai in Beijing heard about this incident, he just smiled contemptuously and didn't pay much attention to it.
However, no one could have expected that the renewed cooperation between the European Studies Society and the Chinese Revolutionary Party would eventually lead to an anti-imperialist armed revolutionary movement of unprecedented scale.
In mid-August, Yuan Shikai, wearing Hanfu, led Beiyang bureaucrats and many social sages who were invited to attend the ceremony, gathered at the Temple of Heaven to hold a grand ceremony to worship Confucius. The entire event was organized in a stylish way, with flags and banners everywhere.
All kinds of supplies are made to order from antiques, and all emcees and attendants are dressed in Han Dynasty attire.
It is really difficult for these important officials of the government, who have to endure the scorching sun and midsummer heat while wearing long-sleeved robes. After listening to the long and complicated seven or eight deception speeches, they faced the statue of Saint Kong.
After three bows and nine kowtows, everyone was already covered in sweat, and the inner clothes were already soaked to the point of being soaked.
Especially Yuan Shikai, whose body was extremely fat due to pathological reasons. In addition, he was not tall, so when he knelt down, he was like a ball rolling on the ground. Every time he knelt down, he suffered a huge loss.
After that, he was able to stagger to his feet only with the help of two attendants beside him.
After the sacrifice, all the officials retreated to the nearby Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests to rest. The attendants quickly brought the iced honey water and sour plum soup that had been prepared. All the officials took off their stuffy robes and rushed to swallow the iced drinks to cool down.
.Even Yuan Shikai himself drank three large bowls in succession. After exhaling a long breath, his whole body relaxed.
Not long after, Chen Wenyun, the chief attendant of the sacrificial ceremony, walked through the front hall with somewhat eager steps and came to the wing of the back hall where Yuan Shikai was resting alone. After some briefings, he walked into the wing and lay down respectfully on the vine.
Yuan Shikai, who was taking a nap in his chair with his eyes closed, asked for instructions: "President, the Internal Affairs Department has just received an urgent telegram from Tianjin."
Yuan Shikai was so tired that he could hardly open his eyes, so he asked energetically: "Oh, what kind of emergency call is it?"
Chen Wenyuan did not answer immediately, but first glanced at the attendants who were dressing up around him. However, Yuan Shikai did not open his eyes, so he did not react. In desperation, Chen Wenyuan had no choice but to look at those who were waving fans and serving tea.
The attendant of the water ordered: "You should avoid it first."
The attendants did not dare to neglect, and quickly put down their activities and quickly exited the wing.