After Duan Qirui submitted his resignation, he stayed in the capital for a period of time. Although he insisted on opposing the imperial system and had a tense relationship with Yuan Shikai, if it was just because of these things that he would never let himself go.
Leaving the political arena is obviously making a fuss out of a molehill and goes against personal political aspirations.
He knew very well that Yuan Shikai's suspicion of him was only temporary. When the monarchy really got into trouble, the person Yuan Shikai could really trust was himself. He, the Leopard of the North, knew the situation within the Beiyang Group very well.
Any revelation does not mean that you know everything. You can clearly see which people below have evil intentions in their hearts and who are ready to act.
It's just that because he was still in the center and his headstrong character believed that he was fully capable of controlling the situation, he remained silent from beginning to end.
In fact, there is one reason for this. Due to Duan Qirui's prestige and face, whether it is some warlords of the Zhili clique or some tribes of the Anhui clique, even if they are dissatisfied with Yuan Shikai, they will swallow it first. Feng Guozhang
After moving south to Jiangsu, the central government gradually became dominated by the Anhui clique due to Duan Qirui's single-handed control, but this also happened to prevent the direct-Anhui struggle from getting worse and worse, making Beiyang more cohesive.
But now that Feng Guozhang is not in Beijing and Duan Qirui has been forced to resign, the originally relatively stable situation has naturally gradually developed cracks.[
Duan Qirui is not an emotional person. He never thought of using his resignation to teach Yuan Shikai a lesson. Infighting in Beiyang will only make the entire Beiyang Group weaker, which is exactly what he least wants to see.
.
Therefore, during his stay in the capital, he hoped that Yuan Shikai would be aware of the situation as soon as possible and make repentance in time.
It's a pity that time passes day by day, and Central Park becomes more and more lively day by day. Even the name of the Chinese Empire and the reign of Hong Xian are typed out openly. Not to mention Yuan Shikai has any intention of repenting, even if he sends someone to see him
Seeing that Duan Qirui was relieved.
This made Duan Qirui very disappointed, and at the same time he was worried about the increasingly obvious cracks within Beiyang. But what can he do now? As long as Yuan Shikai has no intention of repenting, even if he puts down his face and asks Yuan Shikai to let him
Reinstatement is ultimately still impossible to change the current situation.
In late October, he finally reluctantly set a date to leave Beijing and decided to leave for Tianjin on the 28th. As for whether to return to Guji, he would wait until he arrived in Tianjin to make another decision.
On the 28th, Duan Qirui hired a carriage to load his luggage, and, accompanied by several servants and guards, set off for Majiapu Station. However, as soon as he arrived at Majiapu Station, he found that the streets outside the station had already been filled with people.
There were many vehicles waiting, and a group of armed guards lined the road outside. As soon as they saw Duan Qirui's carriage, someone immediately came forward to greet him.
After listening to the attendant's report, Duan Qirui opened the curtain of the carriage and took a look outside, with a slightly confused look on his face.
The reason why he refused guests behind closed doors before was that he did not want his disciples and subordinates to come to persuade him to stay, and he did not want his disciples and subordinates to take this opportunity to complain in front of him and denounce Yuan Shikai's various dissatisfactions. Even if he decided to leave today,
He also gave some special instructions to keep his itinerary confidential.
Just as I was guessing who was waiting here, a respectful voice came from outside the car: "Xiong Bingqi has been waiting for Mr. Zhiquan for a long time. Please forgive me. Without the permission of Mr. Zhiquan, I changed the place where Mr. Zhiquan is going."
For trains in Tianjin, extra floats have been specially arranged. I hope Haihan will make mistakes."
As soon as he heard Xiong Bingqi's name, Duan Qirui's face immediately turned gloomy. He opened the door and walked out of the carriage with the help of two attendants. He saw a horseman standing directly in front of the carriage, a man on horseback.
He was about thirty years old, with short eyebrows and phoenix eyes. He was Xiong Bingqi. When Xiong Bingqi saw Duan Qirui get off the horse, he hurriedly got off the horse and bowed to salute Duan Qirui.
"So, it was Cao Zhongshan who asked you to come?" Duan Qirui said in a bad tone.
Nowadays, Xiong Bingqi is just Cao Kun's adjutant. Not to mention that Xiong Bingqi is just a junior in front of Duan Qirui. Even Cao Kun, who is three years older than Duan Qirui, has to call Duan Qirui his brother when they meet.
With Duan Qirui's character, he doesn't like others messing around with things he has already decided. Xiong Bingqi changed his itinerary without permission, and came to visit him when he least wanted to see guests. How could he be in a good mood!
"To be honest, Mr. Cao is waiting for Mr. Zhiquan at the station." Xiong Bingqi said respectfully.
"Humph, isn't he in Hubei? Why is he back in the capital now? It's just that you are a junior and don't know my temper. Doesn't he, a senior officer, know that I don't like to be disturbed by others?" Duan Qirui
He said coldly.
"Of course Mr. Cao understands this matter and is very sorry. However, if it were not for something important, Mr. Cao would definitely not dare to make such a mistake. I would also like to ask Mr. Zhiquan not to take it to heart." Xiong Bingqi said quickly.
.
"What's important? The most important thing right now isn't that the president wants to be the emperor?" Duan Qirui said with no concealment of teasing.
"Please also ask Mr. Zhiquan to move to the station, and wait until Mr. Zhiquan meets my master, and you will know the difference." After Xiong Bingqi said these words, he bowed and stepped aside slightly, making a "please" gesture.
Duan Qirui had already arrived here, and had to wait for the carriage to go south again. He could not withdraw due to the obstruction of Cao Kun and Xiong Bingqi. He did not say anything more to Xiong Bingqi, but turned back to signal the attendants to drive the carriage forward.
Then he walked towards the train station building under the leadership of Xiong Bingqi.
With Cao Kun's identity and power, he would not greet Duan Qirui in the waiting room. Xiong Bingqi led Duan Qirui directly into the stationmaster's office. The four security guards at the door had good seats, but the stationmaster of the train station had long disappeared.
At this time, I am afraid that I am far from qualified to participate in such a meeting between two big figures.[
When Cao Kun saw Xiong Bingqi coming with Duan Qirui, he hurriedly came out to greet him. After seeing Duan Qirui, he politely said some words of flattery and comfort, and showed a sincere expression of helplessness.
Duan Qirui, on the other hand, had an indifferent attitude. In the past, his political views were not in harmony with Cao Kun's. Moreover, one was from the Anhui clique and the other was from the Zhili clique, so there was more or less a barrier between them. In addition,
At this moment, he was full of dissatisfaction, so of course he was not in the mood to be polite to Cao Kun.
The two of them walked into the stationmaster's office one after another. Cao Kun asked Duan Qirui to take a seat and sent someone to bring Duan Qirui's favorite osmanthus tea that had been prepared.
"It turned out that Cao was indeed in Hubei, but during this period, the Preparatory Office for the Enthronement repeatedly sent messages urging invitations to go north to attend the ceremony. Even the president himself wrote a letter. He was so frightened that he had no choice but to refuse."
"If you just want to talk about this matter, I think we can't even talk about it." Duan Qirui took a sip of osmanthus tea and said bluntly.
"Haha, of course I'm not bothering you because of this matter. Speaking of which, there must be some misunderstanding between my brother and the president. As long as the matter is made clear, that's all. Why bother, brother? Are you in a hurry to leave Beijing?" Cao Kun has worked with Duan Qirui for so many years and naturally understands Duan Qirui's temper, so he doesn't care about Duan Qirui's attitude.
"Cao Lao San, if you want to ask me for something, just say it directly. Why bother talking about this? Cao Lao San can find out that I am riding here today, how can you not know that there is a reason between me and Xiang Cheng?" What's the reason for this conflict? You and I are old acquaintances, so there's no need to make excuses." Duan Qirui was a little impatient and said to Cao Kun without hiding his emotions.