Former Qing Dynasty ministers, founders of the Xinhai Revolution, restorers of the Republic of China... Yuan Shikai's life spanned the three dimensions of feudal empire, republic, and feudal empire, and there was also widespread controversy about his own merits and faults.
This character created by the times has been obsessed with power all his life, but he also died of power.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > from overthrowing the monarchy to restoring it</h1>
In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, the Development of the Xinhai Revolution was in full swing, and Yuan Shikai also ushered in a turning point in his life.
The Qing Dynasty originally planned to mobilize the Beiyang Army controlled by Yuan Shikai to oppose the revolutionary party, but the Beiyang Army was loyal and loyal, and the Qing Dynasty could not directly mobilize it.
Since then, Yuan Shikai has fully taken over the power of the Beiyang Army and the imperial court.
The revolutionaries valued Yuan Shikai's prestige in the army and actively contacted him.
The revolutionaries promised that if Yuan Shikai helped them overthrow Qing rule, they would elect him provisional president of the Republic of China.
In the end, Yuan Shikai reached a unanimous agreement with the revolutionaries.
With the help of Yuan Shikai, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was completely overthrown.
In 1912, Yuan Shikai was sworn in as provisional president of the Republic of China in Beijing.
However, the interim president is not the ultimate destination of Yuan Shikai, he needs to remove the temporary and become the official "big president".
On October 6, 1913, the presidential contest of the Republic officially began.
Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives sat down one after another and began to vote for the president.
After two rounds of voting, neither Yuan Shikai nor Li Yuanhong reached the legal number of votes.
Yuan Shikai did not spare and asked the people to continue the election.
At this time, the people in the House of Representatives realized that if Yuan Shikai was not elected president this time, the election would not end.
Under pressure, during the third vote, the parliamentarians had to vote for Yuan Shikai.
Exactly 14 hours later, Yuan Shikai was elected president of the Republic of China as he wished.
Yuan Shikai's road to restoration has also officially begun...
In 1915, after several years of preparation, Yuan Shikai believed that the time was ripe for the restoration of the imperial system.
In December, Yuan Shikai officially announced the restoration of the Chinese monarchy and the establishment of the Chinese Empire.
This time, Yuan Shikai and the feudal dynasty were opposed by the people of the whole country.
Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, and others rose up one after another to launch campaigns against Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system.
Duan Qirui was very dissatisfied, and even called Yuan Shikai directly: "Restore the National Assembly and abdicate yourself."
On December 25, Cai Yi and others declared an uprising in Yunnan against Yuan Shikai.
The whole country immediately responded, and the provinces declared independence.
The defending the country and the law protection movement broke out one after another, and for a while, Yuan Shikai had already rebelled and left.
In March 1916, Yuan Shikai was forced to resign in the face of a crowd of curses and abolish the imperial system.
On June 6, Yuan Shikai became ill and eventually died at the age of 57.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > to enjoy the mourning</h1>
Despite the continuous scolding before his death, Yuan Shikai still has a very high status after his death.
After discussion, the Beiyang government unanimously decided to arrange Yuan Shikai's funeral with the "special funeral case" in the State Funeral Law.
At that time, the Beiyang government was in short financial condition, but it did not hesitate to spend a lot of money on Yuan Shikai's funeral.
The Beiyang government invested 500,000 yuan as Yuan Shikai's funeral expenses, and at the same time gave Yuan Shikai's family 1 million yuan free of charge.
Before the official burial, Yuan Shikai's coffin needs to hover for 21 days.
Duan Qirui and other highly respected people in the government needed to take turns to guard Yuan Shikai's soul, which showed the high status of Yuan Shikai.
The Beiyang government considered yuan shikai dead, and when the whole country mourned for him, it issued an order: "The flag is lowered at half-mast throughout the country to mourn, and entertainment activities are suspended for one day, schools are suspended for one day, and civil and military officials stop banquets for twenty-seven days." ”
Yuan Shikai's coffin, built by the Beiyang government from expensive somber wood.
When he came out of the funeral, an honor guard and a band accompanied him next to his coffin.
The highest etiquette for the transport of coffins is adopted: "sixty-four large bars".
The hood of Yuan Shikai's coffin is based on yellow cloud satin and is embroidered with a delicate multicolored dragon pattern.
The government specially set up a spiritual bed for the coffin, and in front of the spiritual bed was the remains of Yuan Shikai.
In order to restore Yuan Shikai's previously decent life to the greatest extent, all the objects used after his burial were enlarged according to the real utensils.
Cars, drivers... From a distance, it really looked like a real person driving a car.
Despite his death, Yuan Shikai still did not give up his "dream" of becoming emperor.
When the procession delivered Yuan Shikai's funeral, the people walking in front of them held up the flag in their hands, and the pattern embroidered on it was the "dragon" of the Ninth Five-Year Supreme.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the controversy over the grave</h1>
Yuan Shikai's tomb covers an area of more than 140 acres, and its location is also very exquisite.
Yuan Shikai was born in Henan Province, and for many years, there has been a local legend: Huanshang Village, Anyang City, Henan Province, is a famous feng shui treasure land.
Such legends are not empty, but have been historically proven.
Yi Yin was killed, and Yu Huanshang village Taoguang was raised for three years, and eventually became the right hand of the Shang King.
Yuan Shikai's ancestor Yuan Shao also rose from here.
The people of Huanshang Village are also the "holy places" in Yuan Shikai's mind.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai began to make preparations for his own future events.
He spent a lot of money to buy 200 acres of land in Anyang City, and planned to build a tomb in Anyang City in a hundred years.
Yuan Shikai has always attached great importance to the matter of life and death, and in order to be brilliant after death, he has devoted great energy to the construction of the tomb.
Yuan Shikai specially hired a famous German engineer, and because of this, the construction of the tomb has both Eastern and Western characteristics.
Among them, the tomb of the Western Fusion Has also been imitated by later generations, creating a precedent for modern tomb design.
The word extravagance is enough to summarize Yuan Shikai's grave.
The tombs run in a north-south direction, and the buildings are built on the central axis of the entire garden tomb according to the principle of symmetry.
When determining the name of Yuan Shikai's tomb, the crowd also caused great controversy.
Funeral events were highly valued during the feudal dynasty, and funerals also had strict rules.
The tombs of people of different identities have different names, of which only the tomb of the emperor can be called "mausoleum", such as the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin.
Yuan Shikai, who was almost obsessed with becoming emperor, naturally could not let go of this good opportunity.
Yuan Shikai's son, Yuan Keding, has been an ambitious figure since childhood.
When Yuan Shikai first expressed his desire to become emperor in front of everyone, the other children hesitated, and only Yuan Keding fully supported him.
Although Yuan Shikai had many sons, the eldest son of Yuan Keding was the only one.
If Yuan Shikai is called emperor, Yuan Keding is a well-deserved "prince" and a future emperor.
In order to realize his desire to ascend the throne, Yuan Keding created many conspiracies.
Yuan Shikai's feudal superstition psychology was very serious, and Yuan Keding took this as an opportunity to artificially create incidents and lure Yuan Shikai to claim the title of emperor.
Yuan Keding once hinted that Yuan Shikai, the men of the Yuan family have always had a short life, and only by ascending the throne with the help of the emperor's qi can it be possible to prolong their life.
In his later years, Yuan Shikai was plagued by illness, and he was even more convinced of Yuan Keding's assertions, and a seed was planted in his heart.
Soon after, Yuan Shikai ordered people to arrange a wisteria tree that resembled a divine dragon and place it around the tomb of yuan jiazu.
Yuan Shikai, who did not know the reason for this, mistakenly thought that this was the guidance of heaven, which strengthened his confidence in being emperor.
If changing his life against the sky and creating Xiangrui is only a hint of Yuan Keding, then forging newspapers has become a clear indication of Yuan Keding's ambitions.
Yuan Keding invested a lot of money to print the popular newspaper of the Republic of China, "Shuntian Times".
What was published in the newspapers was even more false news that Japan and other Western countries supported Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne.
Yuan Shikai, who learned of this news, was full of confidence, and with the "support" of many powerful countries, his plan to become emperor could also be smoothly implemented.
The time and place are favorable, and Yuan Shikai seems to have met all the conditions for ascending the throne.
With the efforts of Yuan Keding and others, Yuan Shikai finally restored the imperial system.
However, Yuan Shikai and Yuan Keding underestimated the people's sense of rebellion against the feudal dynasty, and also overestimated the "degree of concern" of the Western powers for themselves.
When Yuan Shikai was attacked by everyone, the Western countries that had made promises of assistance did not intervene for their own interests.
The domestic struggle is fierce, no one in the international community has reached out to help, and Yuan Shikai's downfall has become inevitable.
The mighty empire that had been thinking about day and night had vanished after a few months, and Yuan Shikai himself had died soon after, and all of this may have been the price of perverse actions.
After Yuan Shikai was buried, Yuan Keding once again showed his ambition.
He always stressed that although the empire created by Yuan Shikai has disappeared, no one can deny the fact that Yuan Shikai was once emperor.
Yuan Keding wanted to name his father's tomb "Yuan Ling" as a way to show his lofty status.
As soon as Yuan Keding's request was published, it immediately caused a wave of opposition throughout the country.
During the Republic of China period, de-feudalization was emphasized, and now the reappearance of "Yuan Ling" is actually another kind of historical regression.
There were many insulters among the masses, but Yuan Keding insisted on going his own way, insisting on calling Yuan Shikai's grave "Yuan Ling".
The Beiyang government was very helpless and could only find the official Xu Shichang to help.
Yuan Shikai's grave, not only can not appear the word "ling", but also need to show his noble identity, Xu Shichang thought deeply and had a brilliant idea.
It was once said in the Shuowen Jiezi that "Lin" and "Ling" could be replaced by each other.
"Lin", on the other hand, does not have the meaning of the tomb of a feudal emperor.
Xu Shichang told Yuan Keding the story of "Lin" and "Ling", and Yuan Keding pondered for a moment and was very satisfied.
In his view, although "mausoleum" has the meaning of imperial tomb, it is inevitably falling into the cliché.
Replacing "mausoleum" with "forest" can not only preserve the original supreme meaning, but also use quite novel words that make people shine.
More importantly, the word "ling" no longer appears in Yuan Shikai's grave, which solves the problem of "feudal remnants".
"Yuan Lin" turned out to be a great joy for everyone by effectively resolving the contradiction between Yuan Keding and the people and the Beiyang government.
Xu Shichang's change of word was perfectly solved, avoiding a greater struggle, and for the Beiyang government, it was even more unattainable.