At the hot spring villa in Xiaotangshan, Beijing, Yuan Keding, the eldest son of the Yuan family, is watching a play with Yang Du, Chief of Military Justice Lei Zhenchun and his confidant Zhu Qirui. Recently, Yuan Keding has become obsessed with the Peking Opera "Taiyuan Uprising". This play is about
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Li Shimin, the prince of Taiyuan, urged Li Yuan to rebel against the Sui Dynasty and become the emperor himself.
Xiaotangshan is located in Changping and is named after two hot springs.
This was originally a royal garden of the Aisin Gioro family. Most of the buildings here were burned down by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the Gengzi Year and were gradually abandoned thereafter. After the Republic of China, these increasingly deserted and abandoned royal gardens no longer became unforgettable places, but gradually
Some old people from the former Qing Dynasty and new wealthy people from the Republic of China took up land and built houses here as a place to rest in winter.
Because Yuan Keding had an injury on his leg and the hot springs in Xiaotangshan had healing properties, he spent a lot of money to buy this villa from a former Baylor and built and expanded it.
Yuan Keding returned to China just before the outbreak of the European War.
In 1913, Yuan Keding was riding a horse to catch a train in Zhangde and accidentally fell off the horse. Although his life was safe, his right leg was broken. Due to the limited medical level in the country, after the broken bones were repaired, both legs were broken.
He was unusually tall and limped when he walked, which made the talented Yuan Master a lifelong hatred.
For this reason, Yuan Keding went to Europe for nearly a year to treat his leg injury. Although the leg injury was not cured, it finally opened his eyes. During this time in Europe, Mr. Yuan had little feeling for the advanced scientific and industrial technology.
, instead he became obsessed with studying the monarchy systems of Britain and Germany.
Prince Yuan came to the conclusion that in order to make the country rich and powerful, the Chinese must establish a constitutional monarchy like the British, Germans and Japanese.
Yuan Keding believed this self-deceiving idea to be true.
This is how Yuan Keding returned to China from Europe with an imperial dream.
After Yuan Shikai became the president, people were really confused about how to call Yuan Keding, the "first son of the Republic of China", so some people continued to use the old title and called him prince.
Yuan Keding was a little embarrassed about such a title at first, but over time, he got used to it. In fact, he also knew very well that his "Prince" was actually a largely joking name, and he was not one of them.
What a true prince? If one day his father no longer serves as the president, he will be nothing.
When Yuan Keding returned to China from Europe, he determined to imitate Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty and become a true prince.
He wanted to act like a prince, but Yuan Shikai's group of literati and military men did not buy his advice at all.
One is to kowtow to Xu Shichang.
Xu Shichang was Yuan Shikai's favorite brother. With Yuan Shikai's support, he rose through the ranks in the official circles of the late Qing Dynasty and became prosperous. He was first the governor of the three eastern provinces, then the minister of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, and finally the associate minister of the cabinet, with the second-highest status.
Prince Yu Qing. After the Republic of China, Xu Shichang hid in Qingdao and vowed not to eat the salary of the Republic of China and to be a legacy of the Qing Dynasty.
After quelling the Kuomintang rebellion, Yuan Shikai subsequently dissolved the cabinet and established the Zhengshitang. He also invited this man to come out and become the first Secretary of State of the Zhengshitang.
Yuan Keding went to Xinhua Palace to pay his respects to Yuan Shikai, and happened to catch up with the old Yuan She's family to invite Xu Shichang to have a drink with him.
Yuan Shikai was very excited after finally asking Xu Shichang to come out of the army again, so he ordered Yuan Keding to kowtow to Xu Shichang to say hello. During the Qing Dynasty, every new year and festival, Yuan Keding would go to the Xu Mansion to kowtow to Old Xu. This was already a habit of kowtowing.
, now that Mr. Yuan’s status is different, he is somewhat reluctant.
Xu Shichang sat on the chair, showing no sign of humility.
"Kowtow to your uncle, don't you hear me?" Yuan Shikai was a little unhappy when he saw that Yuan Keding only bowed to Xu Shichang.
Yuan Keding had been afraid of his father since he was a child, so he had to kneel on the ground again and respectfully kowtowed to Xu Shichang three times.
Xu Minchang was overjoyed. He held his hands up and said with a smile: "Yuntai, you are an adult now. My uncle won't give you a new year's deposit. Get up quickly!"
Yuan Keding was very depressed after he left home. He had always looked down on Xu Shichang, thinking that he only relied on his father's support to achieve great success in the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty. Now he is still sitting there with his knees on the ground and kowtowing. Thinking about it, he makes
Popularity is boring.
The most intolerable person is Duan Qirui.
Yuan Shikai was very diligent and would personally review official documents every day and then summon his subordinates to the Presidential Palace for a meeting.
In fact, it's nothing important, just routine business.
As time went by, Duan Qirui couldn't bear it at first.
Lao Duan likes to play mahjong at night, often until midnight.
But the next day I had to go to the Presidential Palace for a regular meeting. Naturally, I was sleep deprived and felt dizzy.
Therefore, as the Army Chief, Duan Qirui found no excuses and sent Army Under-Secretary Xu Shuzheng to the Presidential Palace to "take over" every time.
Xiao Xu was a very talented person, but his eyes were higher than his head, and he never spoke falsely to others. During meetings, he would mostly say nothing and sit straight in his seat with a straight face.
As time went by, Yuan Shikai would sometimes mutter at home, "What's going on with Zhiquan recently? Does he have any objections to me? Why don't you always see him come to meetings?"
So Yuan Keding ran to ask Xu Shuzheng. Unexpectedly, Xiao Xu rolled his eyes and said expressionlessly: "What's the matter with Mr. Duan? He won't report it to me. You'd better ask him."
Yuan Keding was frustrated and had no choice but to find an excuse to go to Duan's house in Xila Hutong and ask Duan Qirui face to face what was going on. Unexpectedly, Duan Qirui's face changed, and he tilted his nose and said coldly: "Yun
Taiwan, you have no control over this matter. If you want to ask, the president can only ask me, and it’s not your turn!”
Yuan Keding really wanted to jump up and scold Duan Qirui, but he didn't have the courage.
What Duan Qirui said makes sense. He is the chief of the army, and only the president can control it. Who are you?
Yuan Keding left the Duan family in despair. After thinking about it, these people looked down on him because he had no soldiers in his hands.
In order to become a powerful real prince, Yuan Keding went everywhere to win over his own people.
It was during this period that Yang Du was recruited by Yuan Keding.
Yang Du was a man who attached great importance to fame, and thought he had the talent of a prime minister. At the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution, he worked hard for Lao Yuan An, thinking that his hard work would give him a chance to worship the prime minister, but Lao Yuan did not like him.
In his eyes, he thought it was flashy and could not be used in a big way. Now the Republic of China cabinet has changed four prime ministers, but Yang Du doesn't even have a chief minister, and he feels very disappointed.
Now Mr. Yuan is using fame and fortune to lure him to his liking. Several people are discussing how to restore the monarchy. Yang Du wants to be Fang Xuanling next to Mr. Yuan.
Prince Yuan was eager to restore the monarchy, and naturally he could not hide it from the Japanese. The Japanese Minister in Japan, Hiki Masashi, made a special report to the cabinet on the intelligence collected. Japanese Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu believed that this was an opportunity to cause civil strife in China, and immediately gave instructions.
The Japanese government fully supported Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system.
After the outbreak of the European War, Japan took advantage of the fact that the Western powers had no time to look eastward and began to expand its sphere of influence in China.
At the end of August, Japan declared war on Germany under the pretext of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.
Later, more than 20,000 troops were dispatched, together with a small number of British troops, to launch an attack on the German concession in Qingdao. Two months later, the Japanese army captured Qingdao and stationed troops on the Jiaozhou Peninsula, taking this area as their own.
Lin Shuo was busy organizing government affairs in the southeast at this time. He asked Tang Shaoyi, who lived in Shanghai, to come out and take charge of the government affairs in the southeast. After Yuan Shikai dissolved Congress, many members of Congress went south to Shanghai, and Lin Shuo recruited these people to work for him.
There are unique rules for handling administrative affairs, and Lin Shuo also needs these former Qing bureaucrats with many years of political experience. In this regard, these people are much better than young people.