Chapter 29: Turmoil (Part 1)

  Hearing Longyu call out his name, Zhang Zhidong slightly startled, collected his thoughts and knelt down to make a report.

  "I believe that although Yuan Shikai is a Han minister, his loyalty to the imperial court is beyond doubt. If the court were to dismiss him at this time, I fear that people throughout the empire would not be convinced and that the divisions between Manchu and Han would deepen, leading to further alienation between ruler and ruled and making it impossible for the government to recover. The emperor has just ascended to the throne at a young age, and there is much uncertainty about the future of the country. If the court were to lightly resort to killing or dismissing officials, I fear that no one would be willing to serve the imperial court again. These words are my sincere opinion; I am not speaking on behalf of Yuan Shikai but rather for the sake of the imperial court and the state."

  Zhang Zhidong repeatedly nodded his head, and in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a chill. At this time, what these young and powerful nobles were thinking about was still dismissing Han officials. If the words spoken in the Nurturing Heart Palace reached Yuan Shikai's ears, I'm afraid that even if he had no intention of rebelling, he would never again work for the imperial court.

  In fact, before the meeting, Zhang Zhidong had already visited Prince Regent Zaifeng and repeatedly analyzed the disadvantages of killing Yuan Shikai. Otherwise, Zaifeng would not have been so cautious at this time. In reality, according to the prince regent's intentions, it would be best to kill Yuan Shikai, lest his power become too great to control.

  Military power should still be grasped in the hands of the banner people, this is a goal that the imperial court has been striving for all along, although now it is getting farther and farther away from that goal, but the nobles of the banner people are still working tirelessly.

  Looking back on the scene when he entered Beijing last year, Zhang Zhidong felt more and more that this was a conspiracy. Perhaps from then on, the Manchu nobles had already begun to plot to eliminate the Han minister's power. This may have been personally planned by Empress Dowager Cixi. Summoning Zhang Zhidong to Beijing can be said to be "killing two birds with one stone". On the one hand, it can make him leave his long-operated Huguang territory far away, so as not to grow too powerful. On the other hand, it can utilize his prestige and experience to assist the "New Deal", win people's hearts, especially to appease those constitutionalists.

  Since the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the call for a "constitutional government" has been growing louder among the people. In the eyes of the gentry, Japan's successive victories over China and Russia were due to its constitutional monarchy. Therefore, in order for the Qing dynasty not to perish, it had no choice but to adopt a constitutional government. As a result, they repeatedly petitioned the Qing court to establish a constitutional monarchy, set up a parliament, promulgate laws, and emulate Japan's Meiji Restoration. After the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight-Nation Alliance stripped the Qing court bare, leaving it weak and vulnerable in front of the world. It was clear that if the dynasty did not reform, it would be doomed to extinction. These two factors prompted the Qing court to begin implementing its "New Policies", including establishing schools, promoting industry, reorganizing household registration, and issuing door plaques... a flurry of measures that gave people a fresh and new feeling.

  But what's the so-called "new deal" that these Manchu nobles have come up with? Zhang Zhidong had already seen through it, the new deal is fake, and the seizure of power is real. Especially after Cixi's death, these Manchu nobles were even more frantic in their pursuit of power, like the King of Qing and Na Tong, who were still relatively calm, but young and ambitious nobles like Xiao Gongwang were unscrupulously grabbing power everywhere, using the banner of "new deal" to pursue their own private interests. Their tricks may have fooled the people, fooled the constitutionalists, but they couldn't fool Yuan Shikai, nor could they fool Zhang Zhidong.

  In the eyes of Xiao Gong Wang and his men, the ones blocking their way were not only Han ministers, but also the old and feeble King Qing's faction. However, for now, they considered Han ministers as their arch-enemy, so they temporarily put aside their internal strife to first get rid of Han ministers.

  Open your eyes and take a look, the situation of "Han officials governing half of the country" that started in the Tongzhi period has completely changed. In recent years, many newly appointed high-ranking officials in the imperial court are from the Eight Banners, and Han officials have found it difficult to maintain the power they had gained through their efforts to suppress the Nian Rebellion. It's not just others who feel this way, even Zhang Zhidong himself is unhappy about it. What's laughable is that at a time when people's hearts are scattered and troublemakers are causing chaos everywhere, these Banner nobles are still indulging in their fantasy of "giving to foreign countries but not to domestic slaves", isolating themselves from the rest.

  The hardest thing to gather in the world is people's hearts. Once people's hearts are scattered, no matter how noble or wealthy you are, you will have no power to bring them back.

  This world still needs Han officials to govern it properly; bannermen are not up to the task!

  "What Zhang Zhidong said is a bit too arrogant. Yuan Shikai is not the image of a loyal minister, everyone knows that during the Boxer Rebellion, the imperial court repeatedly ordered him to enter Beijing to defend the capital, but he kept pushing and shoving, until the foreign troops were about to reach the city, then he pretended to be concerned and sent someone to say that the situation in Shandong was not stable and he couldn't enter the capital. How can such a person be considered a 'loyal minister'? If it weren't for someone speaking up for him back then, his official hat would have been taken away during the 1898 reforms."

  Prince Su Xin looked at Zhang Zhidong with a glance and shook his head. During the 1898 reforms, Yuan Shikai betrayed the reformers by revealing their plans to the imperial court. Later, when the imperial court investigated, an official impeached him for being two-faced, but Ronglu, a powerful minister of Empress Dowager Cixi, spoke up and said "Yuan Shikai was my undercover agent", so Yuan Shikai escaped unscathed. Whether or not Yuan Shikai was really Ronglu's undercover agent is unknown, but from then on, his rise to power was meteoric, a fact that is well-known. The struggles behind this are probably only known by those who were involved."

  "What does the Empress Dowager mean?" asked the Empress Dowager Longyu.

  "Wait and see!" said Shan Qi, raising his hand to draw a circle in front of his face. "If Yuan Shikai is clever, after receiving the telegram, he will voluntarily submit a memorial to apologize, and when the time comes, the imperial court will comfort him with kind words, but not move him, give him a task, and keep him confined in the capital, not allowing him to go anywhere, his Beiyang Army will also be tightly controlled by someone, as long as Yuan Shikai is in the hands of the imperial court, I'm sure the Beiyang Army won't dare to make any rash moves."

  "This is a wise and mature discussion on state affairs, I, a humble servant, concur." Zai Yong said with his head knocked against the ground.

  "I also agree," said Zhang Zhidong.

  "Give a job to Yuan Shikai?" Yu Wei was quite dissatisfied. "Not killing him is already the imperial court's leniency, and you still want to give him a job? If you give him a job, shouldn't Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and Feng Guozhang also be given some jobs? Even the rebel army in Jiujiang says they are talented people, whether or not they are talented I don't know, but they were all promoted by Yuan Shikai himself."

  "Yes, what errand can be given to Yuan Shikai? Or else, have him supervise the construction of the mausoleum?" asked Longyu.

  "I think that since the Minister of War is vacant, why not let Yuan Shikai take over as Minister of War and leave the position of Military Governor for him. Of course, this is not a real vacancy, the army still needs to be supervised by someone appointed by the court, just let Yuan Shikai take the name of Minister of War to calm down the Beiyang New Army from top to bottom, so that they can serve the court at ease. As for Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and Feng Guozhang, although they were promoted by Yuan Shikai, now they are all high-ranking officials with fat salaries, fine clothes and food, it's unlikely they would dare to push Yuan Shikai as their leader."

  "This proposal is excellent, I agree with it. Moreover, the vacancy of the Governor-General of Liangjiang should be filled as soon as possible. Yuan Shikai has now dedicated himself to the court, and Liangjiang has always been a major financial hub in the southeast, so it cannot be left without someone in charge. Furthermore, military operations require silver, but the national treasury is currently empty, and local taxes and levies are not being collected quickly enough. The court still needs to borrow from foreigners to meet military expenses, and borrowing requires collateral. There are not many things that the court can use as collateral, and for now, only salt tax and railway concessions are acceptable to foreigners. Although these two things are like hot potatoes, the court cannot afford to be too particular at this time."

  "This is an expedient measure for the time being, I reluctantly agree."

  "As you all agree, then..." Empress Dowager Longyu was about to make a decision, but just then an eunuch outside shouted: "Grand Secretary, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Railway Bureau Yuan Shikai presents his card, wishing Your Majesty good health!"

  "Yuan Shikai? He... what is he doing here? No one summoned him." Longyu's expression changed.

  After returning, Yuan Shikai took off his official uniform, wore a simple linen robe, had his hands tied behind his back, and knelt in front of the palace gate, wailing loudly. The slave next to him advised a few words, but Yuan Shikai was crying uncontrollably, saying that he had failed to live up to the sacred grace, failed to repay the nurturing of the previous emperor, and failed to live up to the ancestors of the Qing dynasty. He said that although he had great power in his hands, he also had many grievances, and for the sake of new policies, he had offended too many people. Originally, he wanted to wash his hands of it, but thinking of the imperial court's kindness, he couldn't help but continue...

  That eunuch stood outside the palace and chattered for half a day. The little Gong Wang in the Yangxin Hall couldn't help but scold: "Xiao De Zhang! You dog slave. The Empress Dowager asked you what Yuan Shikai came to do, not how much silver he gave you to speak well of him! If you chatter for another half sentence, do you think the ancestral family law is a decoration?"

  "Boom!"

  The eunuch outside the palace knelt down and knocked his head on the ground several times before speaking: "Yuan Shikai has come to apologize, he said that before leaving, he had left a letter of farewell, if Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager want him dead, he will not have any complaints, only hoping that the court will consider his many years of loyalty to the court, give him a whole body, do not destroy the incense of the Yuan family, so as not to let no one visit his tomb in the future. What he said was mournful and sad, those who heard it shed tears.