Sheng Huaixuan got off the sedan in front of the main gate of the Summer Palace and walked slowly in the direction of Wanshou Mountain.
Sheng Huaixuan had been on tenterhooks these past few days. He once wanted to resign and go back to his hometown in the countryside to avoid the limelight. Now that the situation was basically clear, Sheng Huaixuan felt better. He couldn't help but start to think back to the last half of the year in the imperial capital from the Spring Festival of 1899 to the present.
of the ever-changing situation.
More than half a year ago, Ronglu closed down the powerful society and persecuted the reformers everywhere. It seemed that even Westernization officials like Sheng Huaixuan were working together. As a result, Li Hongzhang was demoted to Guangzhou. Here, Li Hongzhang blamed the Qing government for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War.
The conservative faction secretly obstructed him. After all, his Huai Army and Beiyang Fleet fought hard and achieved results, so the failure to win must be the fault of the conservative faction.
Just when the Westernization faction in the central government was thinking of taking temporary refuge with their powerful local colleagues, Di Ji personally went to the capital camp of Shenji Camp, which had turned to Guangxu, to raid Prince Qing's Mansion and kill the eunuch Li Lianying who was discussing matters in the manor at the time.
, imprisoned Yi Kuang, the wind in the capital suddenly turned towards the Reform.
So Sheng Huaixuan stayed and waited to see what would happen. After Li Lianying was beheaded, the rear party shrank for a while, but the imperial party did not have the courage to completely liquidate the rear party. The two sides faced off for three months. Ronglu relied on his own connections in Shanxi, Shaanxi, etc.
The troops mobilized from the ground gradually gathered in the capital, and the Shenji Battalion transferred back from Chahar also arrived in Tongzhou to garrison. The wind direction in the city began to favor the rear party again.
As centrists, these ministers of the old Westernization faction were helplessly blown back and forth by the strong winds of change.
Originally, if the imperialists were more resolute, local ministers like Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi of the old Westernization faction would probably turn to support the reform. Originally, the purpose of the Westernization faction was to save the nation, but the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War showed that reform would not work without reform, so the Westernization movement
The faction itself was divided. Some who still insisted on the old system of their ancestors and could not be changed became rear parties, while more became fence-sitters, especially the local Westernization officials who tried to prevent the new law from being implemented in their own territories.
On the other hand, they stood still and had no intention of giving any support to the rear party.
In this side of time and space, this situation of sitting on the fence and waiting and watching is more obvious, but correspondingly, the power of the imperial party is also stronger. If the imperial party has the courage to use the Shenji Camp to raid the Summer Palace and kill Empress Dowager Cixi and Ronglu, then the wait-and-see party
The Westernizationists will most likely turn to support the imperialists.
Sheng Huaixuan said in his heart that if I were the imperial party, I would take a gamble and put all the Shenji Camp in my hand. Unfortunately, among the people around Guangxu, Kang and Liang did not have such courage. Although Tan Sitong had courage and courage, he was too young to be able to
Decisions that affect the entire imperial party.
Thinking of this, Sheng Huaixuan snorted contemptuously and muttered: "It's hard for a little kid to achieve great things."
At this time, Sheng Huaixuan turned a corner, and the sparkling waves of Kunming Lake came into view.
While admiring the beautiful scenery, he continued to recall his experiences these days.
Just as the rear party was getting ready and the capital began to be devastated, the Shandong revolutionaries revolted. At this time, both the imperial party and the rear party fell into chaos. Especially after the news of the fall of Jinan came, the government and the public were in an uproar. This
At this time, Empress Dowager Cixi did not know whether it was her womanly intuition or her political sense that she had honed in palace battles, but she keenly realized that this time the revolutionary army was different from the past, relying on the new army that Yuan Shikai had just trained.
I'm afraid it won't be eradicated for a while.
Cixi realized that in order to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, she needed the support of the Westernization ministers who were watching - especially those who held real power in the local areas and had soldiers, food and pay.
At this time, turning to support reforms is undoubtedly the best choice.
Yesterday, the Empress Dowager's telegram supporting the reform was sent from the telegraph office in Beijing. The person who handled the telegram was Sheng Huaixuan...
Today, response messages from various places were sent one after another, and the implementation of the new law nationwide was basically a foregone conclusion. At this moment, the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Sheng Huaixuan.
In fact, Sheng Huaixuan had more or less guessed Cixi's intentions. Yuan Shikai had become more powerful in recent years, and he had the intention of replacing Li Hongzhang as the powerful authority in the court. The iron hat kings in the capital had long wanted to find an opportunity to demote him, so they
Yuan Shikai's military training funds will be cut, and the money will be transferred to Ronglu, so that he can recruit new soldiers and train the Wuwei Army. Who knows that Yuan Shikai has received support from the southeastern plutocrat Lin Youde to expand the new army and purchase armaments?
The recruitment of foreign officers was not delayed, which made the iron-hat kings bitterly resentful.
Now, how could they safely hand over the position of Minister of War to Yuan Shikai without any restrictions?
As for the methods of restraint and checks and balances, Li Hongzhang's telegram to Sheng Huaixuan this morning made it clear: draw fire from under the cauldron.
How could Sheng Huaixuan not understand Li Hongzhang's thoughts after so many years in the officialdom? Yuan Shikai's army is now well-equipped because of the financial support of Guangdong Lin Youde. Lin Youde gave Yuan Shikai money back then because Yuan Shikai sent his younger sister Yuan Weiting to Guangzhou. At that time
Lin Youde was weak and unable to compete with Yuan Weiting's Shenji Group, so he spent money to buy Ping An.
Now Lin Youde has strong wings, and behind him are the Americans and the French. Although the British are a little distant, they are also Lin Youde's allies. And Lin Youde is surrounded by the original main force of Guangzhou Shenji Camp, Nie Xueqiu, who is ranked 18th in the country, and Japan
The six high-level goddesses who were in exile now want to marry the top five goddesses in Europe. They are basically not afraid of Yuan Weiting's combat power. In other respects, Lin Ji's elite soldiers are praised even by the British and Germans.
The Guangdong and Guangxi areas have also been completely controlled by Lin Ji. The laws of the Qing Dynasty can only control places thirty miles outside the capital cities of the two provinces. Lin Ji has the final say beyond that. All Lika in Guangdong and Guangxi have been controlled by Lin Ji.
The local tax system is no longer in the hands of the imperial court, but Lin Ji is still paying lip service and pays a considerable amount of tax money to the imperial court every year.
The situation in Fujian is better, and the imperial court can barely control the production and trafficking of sea salt, but given time, it will become like Guangdong and Guangxi sooner or later.
Lin Youde no longer needed to pay Yuan Shikai's money for peace. As long as he cut off Yuan Shikai's salary supply, the court would have a way to check and balance Yuan Shikai.
If Lin Youdela can be included in the future constitutional cabinet, this check and balance will be even more perfect.
Sheng Huaixuan knew Li Hongzhang's thoughts very well, but he was not sure whether Cixi would use this method. Cixi had always been suspicious of Han bureaucrats, and the iron-hatted kings around her desperately did not want the Han bureaucrats to gain power. Maybe she was smart.
How could the dim-witted old Buddha make a bad move?
Thinking like this, before he knew it, Sheng Huaixuan had arrived in front of the main hall of Renshou Hall.
He stopped, straightened his official uniform a little, raised his hand to straighten it, and then walked with head high to the political center of the rear party.