This article is an intensive reading of Chinese history serial 328, "Qing Dynasty History" serial 35, welcome to watch.
In December of the 26th year of Guangxu (January 1901), Cixi, who had fled to Xi'an, telegraphed Li Hongzhang, Yi Xi, and Rong Lu to step up their traitorous pursuit of peace, and on the other hand announced a "change of law" to cover people's eyes and ears. She asked all officials to "know what they know and express their own opinions" on the aspects of the imperial constitution, state affairs, official governance, people's livelihood, schools, imperial examinations, military system, finance, and so on, and to "play the rules and hear the music" within two months. Since then, Cixi, an old stubborn, has begun to implement a series of so-called "new policies."
01, Cixi New Deal, Yuan Shikai sat on the throne
These deceptive "New Deals" can be summed up in three aspects:
The first is the prohibition and abolition: in the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), it was announced that from next year onwards, the Eight Shares and Wuju Examinations would be abolished, and the township examinations would only examine the theory of policy, and an economic special section would be established; in the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), the prohibition of Manchu and Han marriages would be abolished; and women would be forbidden to "put their feet" and forbid women to wrap their feet. Thirty-two years (1906), the prohibition of smoking (opium smoke)...
Cixi abolished the Eight Shares and the Edict of Wisdom, which conformed to the trend of historical development and was still of some progressive significance. As for the ban on smoking, it is limited to ten years, and at the same time it is declared that those who cannot be abstained from it will be forgiven as long as they state the reasons for it, just like the sick over the age of fifty or sixty. It was also agreed with the British that from the thirty-third year of Guangxu (1907), the British would only reduce their shipments of opium by 10% per year, and would stop importing opium into China after ten years. Therefore, the ban on smoking is still useless.
The second is the economic and cultural aspects: in the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), the Faculty was established (the Guozijian was also incorporated into the Ministry) to supervise the major schools. Another task of the Faculty is to send a large number of international students. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), the number of students studying in Japan increased to more than 8,000, but the study period was no more than three years at most, generally three or six months, and many were two and a half years. Such a short period of time is actually nothing more than gilding.
Even Yang Shu, the then minister in Japan, had to admit with great emotion: "In the past two and a half years, I have only learned the Japanese language, and I am worried about the lack of concern, and other disciplines are often in name only." ”
In terms of economy, in the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the Ministry of Commerce was changed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce (the former Ministry of Industry and Commerce was merged), and a "Charter for Rewarding Industry and Commerce" was established, stipulating that those who ran industries of more than 10 million yuan should be rewarded with barons, and those who ran industries of more than 20 million yuan should be rewarded with viscounts, and those who profited were of course bureaucratic compradors with huge funds. But even bureaucratic compradors cannot do what they want, because imperialism has already seized China's industrial and commercial power. Cixi's "New Deal" was nothing more than picking up a little residue under imperialist aggression!
The third is the political aspect: at the beginning of the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), Cixi set up a supervision and administrative office in Xi'an, announcing reforms in the legal, military, and official systems. In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Cixi Zhao sent Shen Jiaben and Wu Tingfang as ministers of law revision.
Shen had been an envoy and was familiar with the old law; Wu had studied in England, worked as a lawyer, and was familiar with the Western law. However, they led a group of people and horses for three years, and only proposed the abolition of the three kinds of torture of Ling Chi, the head of the owl, and the killing of corpses, and still regarded beheading as capital punishment! Later civil and criminal procedure laws were compiled by Japanese people as advisers; the establishment of courtrooms in the three eastern provinces, directly subordinate to Jiangsu, was after the thirty-third year of Guangxu (1907).
In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu (1903), Cixi issued an edict to establish a military training office, and appointed Yi Li as the minister of management to train new soldiers throughout the country. According to the regulations, the whole country is divided into 36 towns, and the town has two infantry regiments (later changed brigades), one horse artillery team each (later reorganized regiments), one battalion each of the engineering heavy teams, one military band, two infantry standards, three battalions, four battalions, three platoons, three sheds, fourteen people per shed, and a total of more than 10,000 people in one town.
It is also stipulated that after the new recruits are trained, the old battalions will be changed to police and patrols (the generals under their command are still called admirals).
Cixi also ordered the establishment of a local supervision office. Her purpose was to collect the military power of the provinces and consolidate the finances of the provinces, but she did not expect that the training of troops in the whole country had little effect, but Yuan Shikai took the opportunity to train the soldiers of the six towns, and the strength increased by nearly ten times, after Li Hongzhang's death, Yuan also participated in the administrative affairs office, and after Rong Lu's death, Yuan was promoted to the position of governor directly under the governor and the minister of commerce, becoming the largest faction of strength, and even Yi Xi had to obey his mercy.
Political reforms, mainly the reform of the so-called official system. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the Government Affairs Office to organize the "Outline of constitutional enactment", set up a "Political Pavilion for Inspection" to whitewash and observe, and sent five ministers to investigate abroad.
In August of the 32nd year (1906), it was announced that it was ready to establish a constitution, but it was emphasized that "at present, the regulations are not prepared, the people's wisdom is not open, if they are engaged in it, they will be empty", so it was only decided to reform the official system first.
Therefore, under the joint concoction of The Duke of Zhenguo and Prince Yili of Qing, a set of "official systems" was promulgated in October: the Cabinet, the Military Aircraft Department, the Officials' Department, and the Academy Department remained unchanged; the Patrol Police Department was changed to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Household Department was changed to the Degree Branch (finance department and taxation department were merged), the Punishment Department was changed to the Law Department, the military department was changed to the War Department (the Training Department and the Taibu Temple were merged), the Clan Yuan was changed to the Li Fan Department, the Commerce Department was changed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, another Ministry of Posts and Communications was set up, and the Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, and Hongxu Temple were also merged into the Ceremonial Department. In addition to the Ministry of External Affairs, each ministry has one Shangshu and two Waiters, and Shangshu is still the majority of people. The following year, General Shengjing was renamed the governor of the three eastern provinces, and each of the three provinces set up an inspector to replace the original general.
The name of the yamen has been changed a little, and the old "order" is still "revered". After Cixi announced the "change of law," the governor of Sichuan, Kui Jun, said that the "New Deal" was nothing more than "stubborn as before, arrogant as ever, greedy as ever, deregulation as ever, hoodwinking as ever, officials as before, soldiers as before, Xiucai as always, and scriveners as before."
Kui Jun was still a bit knowledgeable, knowing that this "new deal" would not touch the fundamental interests of the entire ruling class headed by Cixi. In fact, the entire bureaucratic system after the "change of law" has not made any progress at all.
Li Hongzhang, Rong Lu, and Liu Kunyi died, and Zai Yi, Zai Xun, Zhao Shuqiao, Yu Xian, and crown prince Pu Yan were dismissed or abolished, imprisoned, or charged by the orders of the coalition forces, Xu Tong and others were forced to commit suicide, and Gang Yi was also frightened to vomit blood and die because the coalition forces demanded justice.
However, Cixi's subordinates also controlled the real power by Yi Xi, Yuan Shikai, Duan Fang, and others. Yi Xi was concurrently appointed military minister by the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his daughter was waiting for Cixi in the palace, and his son Zai Zhen was in an important position. They maintained power for Cixi, and Cixi also cleared them of one opposition after another.
When Cixi escaped, Cen Chunxuan, who was led by the army, was quite favored by Cixi, and was promoted from a political envoy to the post of governor and minister of posts and communications, but because he disobeyed Yi Li, he was squeezed out of the imperial court by Yi Li and Yuan Shikai and went to Guangdong to become the governor, Cen relied on Cixi's favor and did not go to Guangdong, but in Shanghai to "recuperate", Yi Li's nemesis, the governor of Liangjiang, made it convenient for him to forge a photo of Cen and Liang Qichao, and Cixi was furious at first sight and also drove him away!
In Cixi's view, no matter who it is, as long as it violates her interests, it must be removed from her post and dismissed, but the New Deal is nothing more than that!
In September of the Thirty-fourth Year of Guangxu (1908), Cixi and his gang promulgated the "Outline of the Constitution". This outline also stipulates that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty ruled China, "one lineage of all generations, forever honored and worn"; the emperor of the Qing Dynasty always had the supreme privilege of the supreme privilege ( otherwise it could not be seen in practice ), the establishment of an official system and the dethronement of the Hundred Divisions, the command of the army, the comprehensive management of diplomacy, the declaration of martial law, the control of finances, knighthood and amnesty, the convening of opening and closing and the suspension of the exhibition and the dissolution of the Parliament.
In this way, Cixi hung up the sheep's head of the bourgeoisie such as the separation of powers to sell its absolutely dictatorial dog meat. The politics of the Qing Dynasty has embarked on an irreparable road!
02. Cixi died, and the regent Zaifeng took power
On November 15, 1908, the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor died at the Hanyuan Hall in Yingtai.
Two days before Guangxu's death, Cixi summoned Yi Li, Zai Feng, Yuan Shikai, and Zhang Zhidong to elect an heir. Yi Li and Yuan Shikai please Li Pulun or Yi? Pu wei,the grandson of Cixi, said Puyi, the son of Li Zaifeng. Yuan Shikai said that Pulun was older and standing, and after Cixi angrily rebuked him, he immediately ordered Puyi to enter the palace.
Puyi was three years old at the time, and naturally Cixi was convenient for issuing Yi's will, but unexpectedly, the day after Guangxu's death, that is, on the 16th, this "Lafayette" also died in heaven. Therefore, Zaifeng was commanded by the regent and took next year as the first year of "declaring reunification."
Zaifeng was the younger brother of the Guangxu Emperor, who was 27 years old at the time, and at the age of fifteen or sixteen, he only served as a court guard, and grew up in an aristocratic environment, and he did not have any talent or experience to talk about, but when he was 20 years old (1901), when he was a special envoy to Germany to "apologize" (because the German minister was killed), the German Emperor Wilhelm Wilhelm Henry once told him that the reason why the German imperial power was consolidated was because the emperor first had military power.
Zaifeng was also Ronglu's son-in-law, so he understood the importance of military power. Therefore, first of all, he wanted to put Yuan Shikai, who was in charge of military power, to correct the law, but Zhang Zhidong had no choice but to ask Yuan Shikai to "open a vacancy and return home" to recuperate from illness on the tenth day of the first month of December in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (January 2, 1909).
Subsequently, the Janissaries were personally commanded and acted as grand marshals of the national army and navy. He also made one younger brother (Zaixun) the Minister of the Admiralty, and the other brother (Zaitao) the Minister of Military Consultancy (Chief of the General Staff). The rest of the imperial power also fell completely into the hands of the imperial relatives.
Zaifeng's actions also caused strong dissatisfaction within the imperial court. In the first year of Xuanun (1909), 16 provinces of Suzhou, Zhejiang, Anhui, Gan, Xiang, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, Gui, Yu, Lu, Zhi, Jin, Feng, Gu, and Hei, three representatives of each province, set up a "Congress petition comrades' association" in Shanghai, three petitions, the imperial court reluctantly established the provincial consultative bureaus and the Beijing Senior Political Yuan, but in april of the third year of Xuanun (1911), among the cabinets promulgated by Zaifeng, there were only four Han ministers, and the imperial ministers competed for six members, which was called "the cabinet of nobility" by officials.
In order to whitewash the New Deal, Zaifeng and his gang demanded money everywhere, and everyone took it as a matter of accumulating private wealth, borrowing foreign debt and selling sovereignty. In the spring and summer of the third year of reunification (1911), the foreign debt suddenly increased to 20,000 yuan, and taxes and donations came out one after another, trapping the people of the whole country in the depths of the waters and heat, and causing great dissatisfaction among the people of the whole country. As a result, the anti-Qing struggle of the revolutionaries headed by Sun Yat-sen became even more turbulent.
The content of this article is compiled from the "History of the Qing Dynasty" of the Chinese reading book "Classic Chinese General History" jointly created by China International Broadcasting Publishing House and "Reading History".
There are 16 books in the complete set of "Classic Chinese General History", namely: "Xia Shang History", "Western Zhou History", "Spring and Autumn History", "Warring States History", "Qin and Han History (Part I)", "Qin and Han History (Part 2)", "Three Kingdoms History", "Two Jin And Northern And Southern Dynasties History", "Sui and Tang History (Part 1)", "Sui and Tang History (Part 2)", "Five Dynasties History", "Song Dynasty History", "Yuan Dynasty History", "Ming Dynasty History", "Early Qing Dynasty History", "Late Qing History".
This set of books was carefully compiled by more than a dozen older historians born in the first half of the last century and took several years to compile. From the historical migration of xia and shang to the late Qing dynasty, the panoramic depiction of 5,000 years of Chinese history is professional and authoritative, and it is easy to understand, suitable for all ages, passing down classics, and it is worth learning and cherishing.