Insufficient balance

  The news that the Qing court had accepted peace talks sent shockwaves throughout the country. This news was even more sensational than the initial Wuchang uprising or the fall of Wuchang city. The previous uprisings in Wuchang and the capture of Nanjing could, at most, be said to have brought a republican trend to the southern provinces of China, but as long as northern China remained under the control of the Qing court, there was no way for China to become a republic.

  However, the Qing court has now accepted the proposal from the south and is preparing to negotiate, which can only mean that the Chinese Republic is unstoppable.

  When Yuan Shikai received the imperial edict from the palace for the first time, he did not show any surprise or other obvious delight, but instead revealed a hint of sorrow.

  Looking at Yuan Shikai's first half of life, he is almost the same as Li Hongzhang. Otherwise, Li Hongzhang would not have chosen him to be the successor of the Beiyang system. He was loyal to the imperial court and more concerned about the future of Beiyang. At the same time, he also had international strategic vision like Li Hongzhang, which is extremely lacking in modern Chinese people. In those years, Li Hongzhang established the Beiyang Navy, creating the history of China's navy, while Yuan Shikai's small station training army created the history of China's modern land army more than a decade ago. The two are almost identical. Although they both had limitations and shortcomings of their time, it is impossible to deny their achievements and vision.

  Like Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai's attitude towards the Qing court was also extremely contradictory. On the one hand, he had a Confucian loyalist mentality, but on the other hand, he saw that the world was changing and understood that the current system was far behind the times. The product of this contradictory mindset was the Westernization Movement, which attempted to use Western technology to make up for the shortcomings of the system. However, it is no longer possible to solve the problem with just one technological revolution.

  Between loyalty to the emperor and Northern Ocean interests, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang chose the imperial court back then, while Yuan Shikai chose Northern Ocean.

  Everyone has ambition, the difference is that some people can control their ambition and bury it deep in their hearts, while others cannot control it and expose it when the opportunity arises.

  Yuan Shikai's later life was just a manifestation of his ambition, like Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong.

  In front of Xu Shichang and many Beiyang generals, Yuan Shikai did not hide his sympathy for the Qing court, but this expression lasted only half a minute before disappearing.

  "Yang Zhe is now in Shanghai, send him a telegram to formally contact the South!" Yuan Shikai knew that there was another Southern Military Government Representative Conference on the Shanghai side, and he also knew that this conference truly represented the thoughts of the real masters of the South. As for Nanjing, it could only be considered as a superficial political show, and after private negotiations were concluded, they would take it to Nanjing to discuss.

  Xu Shichang said: "I heard that Sun Wen has arrived in Japan and will return home soon. Will his return have any impact on the situation?"

  Yuan Shikai nodded: "There will definitely be an impact, but it won't actually change anything!"

  As a super warlord who holds the largest military power in China, Yuan Shikai understands that some people's words can be listened to, some must be taken seriously, and some can only be laughed at. Sun Wen, in Yuan Shikai's view, is a signboard, a signboard held high by the Southern Party, but whether the signboard is held high or not depends on the person who holds it up. Therefore, Yuan Shikai's focus remains on the governors of various provinces in the South who have actual troops, such as Zhu Rui of Zhejiang, Lei Yunhong of Wuchang, Xu Shaozhen of Nanjing, Cheng Dequan of Jiangsu, and Chen Jingyun of Fujian. As long as these people are settled, Sun Wen and others on the surface will be like water without a source.

  However, let Zhi Quan pay more attention to the situation in Hubei and Nanjing! Duan Qirui is now in the south, serving as the commander-in-chief of the First Army, while also holding the nominal position of commander-in-chief of the Second Army. He is currently the most powerful figure in the Beiyang military system in the south, even more so than Feng Guozhang was previously.

  Some time ago, Duan Qirui had secretly contacted the south according to Yuan Shikai's secret order, and could be regarded as Yuan Shikai's plenipotentiary.

  "Zhi Quan's abilities are well-known to everyone, with him in the south, I'm sure Nanjing will not be able to turn the tide! Although Feng Guozhang still had some sourness in his heart, now that the north-south peace talks concern the entire Beiyang, he also cannot stand aside. So these days, facing Yuan Shikai's inquiries, he has been doing his best."

  However, I think it's still necessary to deepen connections with several governors in the south. If negotiations fail, we'll at least have a way out. Feng Guozhang has arrived and is already thinking of a retreat before the negotiations have even officially begun.

  But when these words reached Yuan Shikai's ears, and he thought back to the time when Feng Guozhang had not listened to his hints and insisted on taking down Hanyang, Yuan Shikai began to suspect that Feng was still thinking of helping the imperial court and wanted to disrupt the peace talks.

  The development of the North-South talks has reached a point today where it can no longer be summarized with simple phrases like "Chinese reunification". It encompasses various interests of multiple forces, and it's not an exaggeration to say that it is a compromise among all parties involved.

  As for the southern provinces, what the peace talks represent is not to be said for now. However, for the Beiyang government and Yuan Shikai, the peace talks represent that the Beiyang government as a whole will replace the imperial court, and Yuan Shikai himself will become China's highest leader. Therefore, this peace talk is something that Yuan Shikai must protect at all costs.

  Otherwise, all the efforts made by Yuan Shikai before would be in vain.

  On December 8th, Yuan Shikai appointed Tang Shaoyi, the Minister of Posts and Communications, as his plenipotentiary representative to preside over the negotiations.

  At the same time, Nanjing was still in chaos as usual. Since the Southern Allied Army captured Nanjing, it had never been calm. Especially with Huang Xing and other revolutionary party members of the Southern Allied Army governors having contradictions with each other, and also with Li Yuanhong's side in Wuchang, these contradictions were intensifying day by day. On the surface, it seemed that all parties in the south were united against the Beiyang government to overthrow the Qing dynasty, but in reality, they were just a loose sand. The negotiations had not even officially started yet, and Li Yuanhong was already extremely dissatisfied with being called Vice Commander-in-Chief, and subsequently launched a request from various representatives to re-elect the Commander-in-Chief and Vice Commander-in-Chief.

  At this time, Huang Xing didn't have the energy to quarrel with Li Yuanhong. He was one of the most pragmatic people in the high-level leadership of the Tongmenghui. As soon as he entered Nanjing, he declared that he would prepare for the Northern Expedition and formed the Northern Expeditionary Army under the name of the Grand Marshal.

  Just two days later, Xu Shaozhen was persuaded to join the Northern Expeditionary Army. Xu Shaozhen, the commander of the Southern Allied Army, took his troops and ran away, and the Southern Allied Army, which had existed for only a month, announced its dissolution. Chen Qimei was originally a revolutionary party member and Sun Yat-sen's most loyal supporter, so he promptly led his troops to join the Northern Expeditionary Army. The remaining leaders of the troops sent by Cheng Dequan, Zhu Rui, and Chen Shuzhi were left in a state of confusion for a while.

  However, before they could react, Huang Xing took over their troops one by one in the name of the Generalissimo. When Cheng Dequan and Zhu Rui came to their senses, they were even more regretful and cursed in their hearts.

  When it comes to playing politics, these governors are far inferior to Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren. The Tongmenghui has been developing day by day until now, almost overthrowing the Qing dynasty. Now, taking advantage of the revolutionary cause and with the title of Grand Marshal, they seized military power with ease.

  In just a few days, the Southern Allied Army troops gathered in Nanjing became the Northern Expeditionary Army. When Chen Jingyun, who was far away in Fuzhou, learned of this news, he too felt a lingering fear in his heart.

  Huang Xing is not good at fighting, but seizing military power is quick and neat. If Chen Jingyun had sent the First Division to Nanjing earlier, it would have been impossible to keep it.

  After Huang Xing initially integrated the Northern Expedition Army in Nanjing, he hastily recruited new soldiers. During this period, many so-called revolutionary troops came to join him. In just a few days, more than 100,000 troops gathered around Nanjing, with a momentum comparable to that of the Guangzhou people's army.

  And this momentum also made outsiders feel that Huang Xing's Northern Expedition had a great deal of feasibility.

  However, from the military movements of the Beiyang government, it can be seen that the Beiyang government is not moving at all. Zhang Xun's Jiangsu Army is still garrisoned in Nanjing, and Zhang Xun has not swallowed the effort to be driven out of Nanjing, even sending a small number of troops to launch a surprise attack, with considerable results. The 5th Division of Shandong also began to hand over the defense of Shandong to the 3rd Division according to plan, and started to move its defenses to Xuzhou.

  At the same time, in order to talk about the overall situation, Yuan Shikai specially sent the news of the surging Southern Army to the palace and the Manchu nobles. When Longyu heard that tens of thousands of revolutionary troops had gathered in Nanjing and might launch a northern expedition at any time, she was frightened out of her wits. Even Zaifeng and others were also scared by Yuan Shikai, and their words of obstruction to the peace talks stopped for a moment.

  "Nowadays, negotiations are like a big show, Nanjing and Yuan Shikai are performing for the Qing court to see!" In the Governor's Mansion in Fuzhou, Chen Jingyun rarely had time to accompany Luo Cui together during the day.

  These past few days, the North-South talks have been all the rage, and even Luo Lao in his secluded mansion has heard something about it.

  But Luo Li was a girl after all, and she didn't like talking about these things. Although she wanted to pretend to be interested, her acting skills were not good enough, and Chen Jingyun saw through her in no time.

  Chen Jingyun stretched out his hand and pinched hers: "Alas, I forgot that you don't like to hear this!"

  Luoluo shook his head: "No! I'm listening very seriously!"

  "Heh heh! Yeah, I knew you were listening!" Chen Jingyun didn't argue with her either, and changed the subject: "When you returned to the manor this afternoon, was there anything going on at home?"

  Luó Liú shook his head: "Nothing's wrong, everything at home is fine, it's much more lively than before, I heard them say that every day many people go to see the old lady and the steward!"

  She paused for a moment and then said: "Also, the old lady misses you and wants you to go back and visit her when you have time!"

  Chen Jingyun nodded after listening: "It's been a few days since I went back, tomorrow I'll take some time to go back and you can come with me!"