History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
In 1901 (Guangxu 27), Li Hongzhang, the governor and minister of Beiyang, spat out blood in a big mouth after returning from the signing of the "Xinugu Treaty", "purple and black, with large pieces", "phlegm cough, no diet", was diagnosed with rupture of gastric blood vessels, and on November 7, Li Hongzhang died of illness in Beijing at the age of 79. The Qing Dynasty issued a gift to Taifu, a first-class marquis of the Jin Dynasty, and Yuwen Zhong, and gave silver 5,000 taels of silver to rule the funeral, and built 10 shrines in his original province and Ligong Province, and the Jingshi Ancestral Hall was regularly sacrificed by local officials. The Qing Dynasty Han official Jing Shi Jian Ancestral Hall was the only one. He was praised by Empress Dowager Cixi as the one who "recreated Xuan Huang".
After Li Hongzhang's death, who is his heir?
Cixi and Guangxu, who were still on their way into exile, immediately announced that "the viceroy and minister of Beiyang was directly subordinate to Yuan Shikai", and the 42-year-old Yuan Shikai became the "leader of the frontier ministers" in the world and obtained one of the most powerful official positions in the Qing Dynasty. The Washington Post on November 9 said Yuan Shikai's succession was "the best option that can be done across China."
Yuan Shikai and Li Hongzhang can be described as a friendship between enmity and resentment.
Yuan Shikai's rise stemmed from the 1884 Jiashen Mutiny in Korea, when the 25-year-old Yuan Shikai, who was decisive in his handling, was appreciated by Li Hongzhang, and was commented by the 61-year-old Li Hongzhang as "bloody loyalty, talented and sensitive, strong and general, and difficult to be alone." Coupled with the fact that Yuan Shikai's father and grandfather were closely related to Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang naturally took great care of him, and thus began to rise to the top.
However, the two had a feud, after the Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang lost power, Yuan Shikai turned to Weng Tonggong and Rong Lu, and the two became increasingly estranged. Li Hongzhang rebuked Yuan Shikai twice, once because Yuan Shikai was a lobbyist for Weng Tonggong but did not succeed, and the other time was that after Li Hongzhang returned from a visit to Europe and the United States, he received local officials in Tianjin. Little children, you know what training is! "I can't get off the stage."
However, the grievances were resentments, but Yuan Shikai and Li Hongzhang both clearly saw the future ownership of the candidates for the directly subordinate governor. Therefore, when Li Hongzhang was ill, Yuan Shikai did not send a telegram of condolences, so as not to make Li Hongzhang feel too much, and Li Hongzhang did not recommend any successors to the imperial court during his illness, so as not to make Yuan Shikai unhappy.
In fact, Yuan Shikai's succession was the only helpless choice of the Qing Empire in times of crisis.
When the southern governors were planning "mutual protection in the southeast," Sheng Xuanhuai, a member of Li Hongzhang's inner circle, called Yuan Shikai: "Hefei (press, that is, Li Hongzhang) is old, spinning dry and turning kun, and pushing the public at home and abroad." Otherwise, Shandong would have been in the hands of others. At the moment before Li Hongzhang swallowed his breath, Sheng Xuanhuai called Yuan Shikai again: "Fu Xiang (Li Hongzhang) could not speak at two o'clock yesterday, his spirit was confused, and his illness was very dangerous. The north gate lock key, micro-public is no one. ”
The Western powers also hoped that Yuan Shikai would take over as governor directly under his command. They need to deal with a pragmatic person, not a fake big empty bureaucrat. On the night of Li Hongzhang's death, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, sent a telegram to the central authorities to report: "Yesterday, German Minister Mu Mo came from Beijing to talk in secret," saying that "Li Xiang was seriously ill" and expressing "may Yuan Fu be directly subordinate." "Since the beginning of this year, the governors and consuls of all countries that I have seen have generally hoped that Yuan Fu will be the minister of Beiyang, and everyone will say that not only Mu alone."
Moreover, under the circumstances at that time, the seat left by Li Hongzhang was comparable to a furnace, full of risks, coveting wealth or lack of talent, and it was impossible to avoid it at this time.