The Survival Wisdom of the Beiyang Era (317): Stealing chickens does not become erosion rice.
In the cold spring of beiyang for six years, Li Yuanhong felt more and more that his position as president of Beiyang was like a needle felt, after all, Duan Qirui, as the head of the cabinet, was too strong, and the opportunity to declare war on Germany in World War I at this time seemed to give him hope of counterattack. Although Duan Qirui passed the case of renouncing diplomatic relations with Germany, reclaimed the German concessions in Tianjin and Hankou, and disarmed the German troops in the territory, when the German minister Xin Ci lowered the flag and returned to China, Li Yuanhong came forward to give many gifts, and when he took the road to Shanghai, the local people in Songhu also sent people to the station to greet each other, and the Beiyang army escorting along the way raised their guns to show respect. At this time, Duan Qirui was still preparing for the next declaration of war against Germany, and did not pay attention to Li Yuanhong's various counterattacks at all.
However, although Liang Qichao actively spoke out for Duan Qirui, there were too many voices of opposition, including local powerful factions such as Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun. This is naturally related to Li Yuanhong's counterattack against Duan Qirui, and Ha Hanzhang took advantage of his relationship with Feng Guozhang in the military advisory office in the late Qing Dynasty to strongly support Li Yuanhong's strategy of joining forces with Feng Qirui. After Feng Guozhang returned to Nanjing, he immediately sent a telegram opposing Duan Qirui's declaration of war on Germany. Kang Youwei also came to join in the fun, asserting: "Please hang me at the gate of the country, so that you can see the entry of the German ship." Another strategist of Li Yuanhong, Jiang Zuobin, also had secret telegrams with Zhang Zuolin, and was committed to wooing Zhang Zuolin to support Li Zuolin. These are only the means of counterattack behind the scenes, and Li Yuanhong's real counterattack is to remove Chen Jintao, a cabinet member, from his post and investigate, and to move out Li Hongzhang's nephew Li Jingxi.
In fact, the former held an important position as finance minister in Duan Qirui's cabinet, and because of the unclear bribery case involved, he was directly criticized by Li Yuanhong for "dismissal from the court and handed over to the court" in his own handwriting, which does have the meaning of being quick and heavy, and the reason is self-evident, that is, killing chickens and making monkeys. As for Li Hongzhang's nephew Li Jingxi, as the elder of the Huai Army, the Beiyang Army and the Huai Army have deep ties, such as Jiang Guiti and Zhang Xun, all of whom were from the Huai Army, and would naturally sell Li Jingxi's face, asking him to take over the post of Finance Minister first, paving the way for the next cabinet to replace Duan Qirui as the head of the cabinet. Once this counterattack was carried out, Duan Qirui would inevitably have to roll up and leave, but Li Yuanhong forgot the most basic rule of The Eunuch Sea's move, that is, strength is the most effective guarantee, and at that time, it can be simply said that there are soldiers who are the king of grass heads.
In the end, it can be glimpsed from the performance of Lu Rongting, a southwestern warlord who went to Beijing after Feng Guozhang left Beijing. Lu Rongting was the first southwestern warlord to personally go to Beijing after the Battle of Ganning, and it seemed that he had fallen to the Beiyang warlords, but although Zhang Xun, who opposed the declaration of war, moved out of the friendship between the two who had served under su Yuanchun, the viceroy of Guangxi in the late Qing Dynasty, Lu Rongting still played the round court with "obedience as a natural duty, and should not be questioned and opinioned". Therefore, the attitude of the warlords in the provinces was not consistent between the two in Liduan, and it was more about judging the situation. Lu Rongting's preference for Duan Qirui is more because of Duan Zhilao's prestige and the strength of the Anhui warlords, as for Li Yuanhong's inverted layout, it also has the meaning of wishful thinking, after all, the Beiyang warlords and the southwest warlords choose to take sides, valuing the weight of the chips. During Lu Rongting's time in Beijing, Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui were both courteous, and they both saw lu Rongting's nameless name, interests, and territory thoroughly, which was a euphemism for Lu Rongting to covet the parade to make him a position, and the struggle between the two of them would also be a chicken feather.