Finally, at Wang Shizhen's suggestion, Yuan Keding brought these officials one by one to the Xinhua Palace, placed them under house arrest in the conference room of the State Hall, and provided them with refreshments. Not only that, Yuan Keding also invited these officials one by one.
Among them, his father's former confidants, such as Liang Shiyi and Zhu Qiling, hoped to persuade them not to cause trouble at this time. Liang Shiyi was a bit flanking, saying nothing from beginning to end, and his expression looked very solemn. But Zhu Qiling felt that she had previously
I have presided over the enthronement ceremony. Since I have chosen to oppose the imperial system, I must stick to it, otherwise what will be the point of losing face over and over again?
During this period, Yuan Keding followed Yuan Shikai's previous instructions and sent telegrams one by one to the oldest troops in the Beiyang Army. Tian Wenlie and Chen Guangyuan who were still in Zhili, as well as Zhu Panzao, Tang Tianxi and others from neighboring provinces all responded immediately.
They said they were ready to send troops and vowed to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor. As for others, perhaps due to line delays or other reasons, the reply was not so timely.
In the early morning of January 23, a British specialist consultant doctor presided over the operation and performed emergency treatment on Yuan Shikai's four organ departments respectively. He stayed up until about 8 o'clock in the morning, which was more than an hour longer than the expected operation time.
The operation did not go very smoothly, but it was not too bad. At least it was guaranteed to bring Yuan Shikai back from the brink of death. However, Yuan Shikai was likely to suffer some physical disabilities.
After all, people are getting old, and they have been suffering from diseases for many years. All they can do now is to temporarily save their lives.
Due to excessive physical exertion, Yuan Shikai fell into a coma for two days after the operation. During this period, he briefly woke up but his consciousness was unclear. He could only eat some liquid food to replenish his physical strength.
It wasn't until the morning of the 25th that Yuan Shikai could barely sit up on the bed, but his face was as pale as paper, and he didn't even have the slightest confidence to speak, just like a walking zombie using its instinctive vocal cords to make the most primitive sounds.
Medical Officer Chen and several Western medicine consultants strongly urged Yuan Shikai to rest as much as possible, and also specifically told Yuan Keding not to disturb Yuan Shikai with any major national events recently.
Yuan Keding was naturally extremely anxious. He had not completed the tasks assigned by his father before the operation. What was even more serious was that the current domestic situation was getting worse day by day. It could be said to be increasing exponentially. Kunming, Hong Kong, Changsha, Hankou, Beijing
, Shanghai, these major cities have an unstoppable anti-imperialist wave emerging almost every day. Not only that, every day, officials in the National Political Hall submit their resignations, or declare their opposition to the imperial system, and the number of people is increasing, as if it is the general trend.
For Yuan Keding, he obviously has no way to control the situation at hand. He can only hope that his father can personally take charge of the government as soon as possible, whether it is to abdicate or launch a crackdown, as long as it is an independent decision.
At this time, the doctor asked him not to bother with national affairs, which really drove him crazy. He was not only thinking about his father's health, but also thinking about the current situation in the country. He was in a dilemma and almost reached the point of hysteria.
Fortunately, although Yuan Shikai had just undergone surgery and his physical condition was not optimistic, he was still thinking about something mentally.
In the end, he ignored the persuasion of his close associates and concubines, insisted on setting up a desk and telegraph room in the bedroom where he was recovering, and ordered Xia Shoukang to transfer all the central offices of Xinhua Palace in the past two days. Xia Shoukang also did the same
I was very worried about the emperor's health, but because of the emperor's repeated insistence, I finally had no choice but to stop wasting time and quickly gave the order.
In just one hour, the palace where Yuan Shikai was sleeping has become the seat of the highest power organ of the entire central government. Although the officials who are still present today are eager to regain his majesty and solve the current predicament, there are also practical considerations.
, when arranging the room and office space, the bedrooms were deliberately separated to leave a "pure land".
Wang Shizhen personally came to Yuan Shikai's bed and made a detailed report on the current situation, including the newly added list of resignations from the National Political Hall, the list of people announcing anti-monarchy, and the positions and attitudes summarized by the local governors. Yuan Shikai tried his best to control
Fortunately, I have a baseline for my own emotions before, so it is not too difficult to accept the current changes.
Yuan Shikai didn't care what the current central government officials meant. He asked Wang Shizhen about the situation of several Central Army division commanders who he had previously ordered to stabilize the situation. Wang Shizhen originally wanted to hide something, but considering that continuing to hide it now would only make things worse.
Things were even worse, so I added it truthfully.
Except for several division commanders in Gyeonggi Province who responded promptly and expressed their stance persistently, people like Chen Changtai, Zhang Huaizhi, and Chen Guangyuan either responded very late, had very vague attitudes, or claimed to be ill and requested to leave their jobs temporarily.
After listening to Wang Shizhen's introduction, Yuan Shikai's body trembled slightly and his face became increasingly pale.
Wang Shizhen was so frightened when she saw this that she quickly turned around and asked for a medical officer.
"Guanru, come here."
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, you should stop working hard. The surgery has just happened, and Medical Officer Chen and the consultant doctors have repeatedly told me to take good care of myself. How can I still work on state affairs at this time?" Wang Shizhen said sadly.
"Now that things have happened, what is the use of my remaining life? It is just to fight for our Beiyang one more time." Yuan Shikai said in an extremely weak voice.
"Well, now that we've reached this point, what else can I say? Your Majesty, after all, you and I are old, and we can't keep up with the ideas of those below. Alas." Wang Shizhen didn't know how to persuade her.
I could only sigh hesitantly.
"Yes, we are all old. But we must also let the younger generation know that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse." Yuan Shikai struggled out of his weakness with a sharp expression, and tried his best to make his words sound sonorous and powerful.
"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, our chances of winning are not good at all. However, if Your Majesty can persuade Zhiquan and Huafu to come forward, maybe the whole thing will turn around. After all, most of the Anhui clique is because of Your Majesty.
He was dissatisfied when he forced Zhiquan to resign, so he joined forces with Cao Kun. These people can actually be won over. As for Hua Fu, although he has always been unfavorable about the monarchy, he accepted the canonization by His Majesty, which shows that he still cherishes his old feelings.
"If he comes forward, the direct line will be able to have a sense of proportion." After hesitating for a while, Wang Shizhen made a serious suggestion.
Yuan Shikai fell into a lengthy silence, with very complicated emotions on his face.
In fact, even if Wang Shizhen hadn't mentioned this matter, Yuan Shikai himself had been thinking about the importance of Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui to the overall situation of Beiyang many times in the past few days. Today, he also thinks about Duan Qi.
Rui and Feng Guozhang admired their principledness. Although major changes occurred in Hubei and Cao Kun became the anti-imperialist leader within Beiyang, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang did not stand up to dissuade them. But in all opposition to the imperial system
Among the forces, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang were not present, which showed that these two people had no intention of betraying him from the beginning to the end.
This is a kind of relief, but also a kind of helplessness.
Today, the forces that oppose the imperial system in Beiyang are really powerful in the army. Most of the officers in these armies are students or subordinates of Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang.
At this time, he really hoped that his two old subordinates could stand up and support him, so that he would not be left alone. But when he was proud of himself, he did some things too badly. Especially,
In terms of attitude towards Duan Qirui, in all likelihood, it completely destroyed Duan Qirui's confidence.
"I never thought about this problem, it's just... alas..." Thinking of his regrets, Yuan Shikai felt bad in his heart again, and the lower part of his body gradually began to hurt. However, in order not to worry the people around him, he did not
Show your discomfort.
"Your Majesty is still worried that Zhiquan and Huafu are still brooding about what happened before, right?" Wang Shizhen asked knowingly.
Yuan Shikai let out a long sigh and had no intention of answering for a moment.
After a pause, Wang Shizhen said solemnly: "Things have reached this point. Your Majesty is willing to risk his life for Beiyang, so why can't you put down your face and talk nicely to Zhiquan? Hua Fu said
What to say? As long as there is something to say, is there any conflict that cannot be resolved based on the friendship between Zhiquan and Huafu and His Majesty?"
Yuan Shikai had to admit that Wang Shizhen hit the nail on the head with what he said. He nodded slowly and sighed: "Guan Ru, I am really relieved that you can still stand by me until today. You said
That's right, since I can even risk my life, why should I care about those facial problems?"
Wang Shizhen then said: "Then, please do it as soon as possible, Your Majesty."