#历史开讲 #
1. Liaison with Qing dynasty magnates
(1) Easing relations with Tieliang
In the 29th year of Guangxu, after the establishment of the Military Training Department, Yuan Shikai, as the directly subordinate governor, concurrently served as the minister of the Training Office, and grasped the real power of the Training Department, and Yuan Shikai's military strength was rapidly expanded.
In the later period of the Military Training Department, Yuan Shikai was jealous and suppressed by the Manchu young nobles headed by Tie Liang, the minister of the Military Training Department, because of the expanding military power, and the contradictions between the two gradually arose. In fact, Tie Liangzhi was promoted to the head of the Xiangchang Office of the Training Department because of Yuan Shikai's guarantee.
Tie Liang was originally a cabinet bachelor and "had nothing to lose", and after Yuan Shikai became the governor directly under him, Tie Liang "had no control in his hands, but he invaded Xiangcheng every day." Xiangcheng was urgently promoted because of the same tune." After Tie Liang became the minister of the military training department, he began to cultivate personal power in the army, appointing military students Liangbi to compete with Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang lineage.
As the regent of the country, Zai Tao first ordered his brother Zai Tao to be in charge of the affairs of the Military Advisory Office, and Zai Tao was dissatisfied with the affairs of the War Department, and there was repeated friction with Tie Liang and the two, and Tie Liang gradually lost favor. On the 7th day of February in the second year of Xuantong, the Qing government appointed "Right Attendant of the War Department Lang Yinchang as Shangshu of the War Department", causing Tieliang to lose his post as Shangshu of the War Department. On August 4 of the same year, Tieliang was released as a general of Jiangning.
Although Tieliang was reactivated by the Qing court, he was transferred from Shuyuan, and the same exclusion experience made him understand Yuan Shikai's situation better, so he took the initiative to write to Yuan Shikai after going south to express his infinite feelings. Because Tie Liang was one of the main figures in the original Yuan Ranking, Yuan Shikai attached great importance to Tie Liang's letter.
(2) Strengthen liaison with Yixi through personal matters
At the end of the first year of Xuantong, when Yuan Shikai's eldest daughter was married, Prince Qing's father and son both gave generous gifts, and when Yixi married his daughter and wife in the third year of Xuantong, he also sent a special letter to inform Yuan. It can be seen from this that the relationship between Yixi and Yuan Shikai has not changed greatly due to Yuan's deposition.
Everyone knows Yixi's love and wealth, so after receiving a letter from Prince Qing, Yuan Shikai not only expressed his "indecent humiliation and pampering and thanks", but also took this opportunity to "show respect" to strengthen the friendship between the two sides.
Two years after the proclamation of reunification, the national revolutions led by the bourgeois revolutionaries rose one after another; The constitutionalists also constantly put pressure on the Qing government in order to quickly achieve their constitutional dreams; The mainland frontier areas were constantly invaded by imperialism, and the Qing government's rule was in turmoil, and the old Cheng faction headed by Yixi hoped for Yuan Shikai's comeback. Therefore, in addition to sending a letter to inform him of the happy event at home, Yixi urged Yuan Shikai to come back for the second time in the letter.
At this time, because he could not know the will of the regent Zaifeng and other Qing nobles, Yuan Shikai still replied with "there is a negative period", but the wording changed significantly when stating the reasons, first, he no longer overemphasized his illness, and the words "mental decline" and "weak morale" were no longer seen in the reply, replaced by "Gu the daily invasion of the disease, and the shame of not reporting it", with the fear that he would not be able to repay Yixi's love as a pretext; The second is to objectively state his own life of raising crops, "Ten acres of barren land, agricultural affairs prosper." Supporting the battle and watching the cultivation, and using capital to wander. Trivial and close to the ear."
2. Liaison with the Beiyang Military Group
In the middle of Yuan Shikai's resignation, he gradually had the idea of making a comeback, and paid more attention to restoring and maintaining contact with Beiyang's confidant generals. However, because he still had some scruples about the Qing nobles, he still adopted a more cautious attitude when contacting the Beiyang military generals, and the correspondence between the two sides was still mainly based on personal communication, and in the exchanges, Yuan Shikai paid great attention to his political reputation and set rules for receiving gifts, so as not to spoil the people.
(1) Close liaison with Beiyang confidant generals
According to the "Complete Works of Yuan Shikai", in the middle of Yuan Shikai's resignation, the Beiyang military generals who sent more than two letters to him included Duan Qirui, Lei Zhenchun, Zhang Xun, Cao Kun, Tian Wenlie, and Zhang Shiyu, and the other five of the six were members of the cadre team during the training period of Yuan Shikai's small station, who had worked with Yuan Shikai for more than ten years and were Yuan Shikai's hardcore subordinates, and the relationship between the two sides could be described as the deepest and deepest.
In addition, the 13th Army Association led by Duan Qirui, the 13th Army Town under the command of Cao Kun, and the 3rd Town of the Army under the command of Cao Kun among the five people, are also armed forces that can be directly influenced by the Beiyang clique. A careful study of these correspondence shows that the words and affairs of the two sides are still mainly based on personal communication, for example, on Yuan Shikai's birthday in the second year of Xuantong, Tian Wenlie, Zhang Shiyu, Lei Zhenchun and other old ministries either sent envoys to give gifts, or personally went to Huanshang to celebrate his birthday.
As a master of cultivating personal connections, Yuan Shikai's subtle gratitude and warm care can just bring the emotional relationship between Beiyang military generals and Yuan Shikai closer, and maintain the attitude of Beiyang military generals towards Yuan Shikai.
(2) Establish rules for receiving gifts and safeguard political reputation
When there are red and white happy events in the families of relatives, friends, superiors and elders, taking the opportunity to send congratulatory gifts or mourning, it has always been a means used by officials to connect with feelings. During Yuan Shikai's period of refuge and recuperation, he first built a villa, and then his eldest daughter was married, his third son married a wife, the funeral of his second and third brothers, birthday celebrations and other matters, and the old department of Beiyang Group and colleagues in the officialdom all gave gifts.
At the beginning of the strike, Yuan Shikai did not have a clear standard for receiving gifts and property gifts from all parties. For example, for the "eight things of food" presented by Zhang Xun, all of them were accepted; As for the "eight things of food" given by Yan Dunyuan, "I received two kinds of pomegranates and apples, and Yu Zhen still handed them over." ”
In the middle of the strike, Yuan Shikai changed his attitude and took a more tolerant and open attitude towards gifts and the friendship behind them, but in order to maintain a good political reputation and avoid giving people authority, Yuan Shikai set rules for accepting gifts, and refused to accept valuable gifts such as gold and silver, regardless of the position or amount of the giver; Those who can be courteous such as food, flowers and plants will accept it according to the order.
For example, at the end of November of the second year of Xuantong, after the death of Yuan Shikai's third brother Yuan Shilian, Jiang Guiwei, the governor directly under him, gave many gifts, and Yuan Shikai only accepted one pair of "banner shafts", and as for the "five hundred silver coupons", he "did not dare to receive them." These condolences and gifts are an emotional investment in the eyes of the giver, and in Yuan Shikai, they are "innocent and self-targeted", as Yuan Shikai said in his reply to Lei Zhenchun's letter:
"Brothers and officials in China and abroad, for more than 20 years, should be recognized by friends. After returning to the field, there were few brothers left, and occasionally gifts, all of which were returned, and they were not received at all. Thinking to myself in the early night, almost deserved. After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, the regent also praised Yuan Shikai as "good reputation".
In addition, there is another incident that shows that Yuan Shikai attached great importance to political reputation during this period. On March 24 of the second year of Xuantong, the Shiwen Newspaper Office in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin printed a biography of a character called "Yuan Shikai", written by Japanese journalist Tetsujiro Sato.
In this biography of Yuan Shikai, Sato Tetsujiro not only gave objective affirmation to Yuan Shikai's achievements in supervising the training of the new army, holding a modern military school, and establishing a patrol police, but also compared Yuan Shikai with the ancient Cao Cao and Liu Yu; Compared with Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, he thought that Yuan Shikai was not like Cao Cao and Liu Yu to seize power and disorderly discipline; His thinking, courage, and meritorious deeds are beyond the reach of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang.
However, by the time the book was written, Yuan Shikai had already returned home from office. Regarding Yuan Shikai's resignation, Sato Tetsujiro said that although Zaifeng's move was "lenient and graceful", it was inevitable that he would "go to office without guilt", deeply regretted Yuan Shikai's removal, and expressed his hope for his comeback.
However, it was such a work that "praised" Yuan Shikai's achievements in the new policy, and just before it was finished printing and bound into a volume, it was bought out and destroyed by Yuan Keding, the eldest son of Yuan Shikai, and others on the grounds that the publication of the book would affect "relations between the Qing and Japan", and the Japanese consul general in Tianjin at that time, Kohata Youyoshi, believed that this statement was not valid. Therefore, if you want to explore the true purpose of the Yuan family's book burning, you must find the answer from the book "Yuan Shikai".
While praising Yuan Shikai's career, the biography also exposed the corrupt and lawless behaviors of Li Lianying and Empress Dowager Cixi, and criticized the ugly behavior of some high-ranking officials of the Tianjin government. In addition, the book's discussion of Yuan Shikai's relationship with Empress Dowager Cixi and the regent Zaifeng will also arouse suspicion from all parties. It can be seen from this that Yuan Shikai attaches great importance to safeguarding his political reputation and avoiding leaving an excuse for suppression and suspicion for Quan Chen.
3. Liaison with the Beiyang Political Group
The initial trepidation of the official strike has passed, the atmosphere at this time has been slightly relaxed, and Yuan Shikai's interaction with the Beiyang political group is not as shunned as many in the early days, but takes a more open attitude, not only inviting friends and staff to visit the garden to enjoy the flowers, drink and give poetry, and express his feelings in his heart when the spring blossoms are in bloom; He also sent henchmen to secretly investigate the movements of the Qing court.
(1) Meeting members in literature and poetry
After living in seclusion in Zhangde for a year, Yuan Shikai successively invited Ling Fupeng, the former directly subordinate political envoy Wang Lian, the Changlu Yanyun envoy Zhang Zhenfang, the industrial representative Wang Xitong, the curtain friend Shen Zuxian, and others to visit the garden in Zhangdehuan Village to enjoy the scenery and give poems and singing peace.
During his stay in school, Yuan Shikai composed a total of 18 poems and 21 poems. Although the specific time of composition of these poems cannot be determined, according to the Bayu of the "Guitang Singing and Poems" attached to Yuan Kewen's "Huanshang Private Ride", the writing time can basically be concluded to be the second year of Xuantong.
(2) Appoint henchmen to investigate the intentions of the Qing court
On May 28 of the second year of reunification, Japan and Russia signed a second secret treaty, which stipulated that the status quo in Manchuria should be maintained, and that the two countries must assist each other to promote their interests in Manchuria, in fact, to resist the infiltration of the United States. In this regard, the Qing government intended to launch the second Sino-American-German three-country alliance, so the issue of the use of Yuan Shikai, who advocated close ties between China and the United States, once again attracted people's attention.
On July 13 of that year, there was a "university scholar who continued to leave the Minister of Military Aircraft to specialize in cabinet affairs." Wu Yusheng, a cabinet bachelor, wrote that he was an alternate waiter, and there was no need to learn to walk on the military aircraft minister", replaced by Yu Lang and Xu Shichang, and later appointed Tang Shaoyi as the secretary of the Ministry of Posts and Communications.
Therefore, at the time of the change of military aircraft, another military aircraft minister, Lu Chuanlin, was already seriously ill, and Xu Shichang and Tang Shaoyi were the core figures of the Beiyang Group, so for a while, domestic and foreign newspapers spread the news that Yuan Shikai was about to be used by the Qing court, such as rumors that Zaitao "Zeng Shang was ordered by the Privy House to send his son Yuan Counselor (Yuan Keding) to telegraph Naiweng (Yuan Shikai) to urge him to leave the mountain".
The British minister also believed that if Tang Shaoyi decided to take up this post, it would "pave the way" for Yuan Shikai's return to the political arena, and speculated that the Qing government was negotiating with Yuan Shikai and "prepared to summon him (Yuan Shikai) back to the military aircraft to take over the position left by Lu Chuanlin."
When Yuan Shikai learned that the Cardinal Government intended to use anger, he imagined that even if Zaifeng really had the intention of using it, he still had to "play the will", which was not only cumbersome in the procedures, but also "especially unpredictable in terms of kindness", and finally decided to recommend Tang Shaoyi first and observe the situation in Beijing before making a decision. Before Tang Shaoyi went to Beijing to take up his post, he specially met with Yuan Shikai through Zhangde, perhaps based on this consideration.
Facts proved that Zai Tao's suggestion to use Yuan Shikai was fiercely opposed by Zaize the Duke of Zhenguo as a powerful minister, and Tang Shaoyi was almost isolated in Beijing, and within half a year, he resigned due to illness. According to this, the Qing government still had a group of heavy ministers headed by Zaize against Yuan, and the time was not ripe for Yuan Shikai's comeback.