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introduction
At the beginning of the last century, it was a time of great change in Chinese society, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty ending thousands of years of imperial autocracy. However, the hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff, and there are always a few people who try in vain to destroy the republic and restore the imperial system, among which the "Zhang Xun Restoration" is the most famous.
Although the "Zhang Xun restoration" incident is not long, it has a lot of influence and destructive power, although it is just a farce, but this is by no means Zhang Xun's whims, behind the whole incident, is the power struggle and interest disputes of all parties.
(Forbidden City)
First, the declaration of war against Germany became divided, and the dispute between the government and the court escalated sharply
In 1912, as the Empress Dowager Yulong was reluctant to put a jade seal on the abdication edict, the Qing Dynasty, which had ruled China for 268 years, withdrew from the stage of history, and China ushered in the era of republicanism.
However, thousands of years of ideological imprisonment made China's republican road difficult, and it didn't take long for Yuan Shikai, a thief of the country, to ascend the throne and become emperor in order to satisfy his own selfish interests, which was also the first restoration farce after the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, many acts of injustice will kill oneself, and Yuan Shikai's perverse actions immediately attracted opposition from all over the country, and immediately ended hastily in the "National Defense Movement" launched by Cai Yi and others.
(Yuan Shikai is called emperor)
After Yuan Shikai's death, the Beiyang family of dragons was leaderless, and the warlords of the direct line, the Anhui line, and the Feng family often fought for their own interests, and the "government and court dispute" that occurred between 1916 and 1917 was one of its representatives. And this dispute was the direct trigger for the "restoration of Zhang Xun".
The so-called "battle between the government and the court" is to put it bluntly a political struggle between the president and the prime minister, the president at that time was Li Yuanhong, this person was not from the Beiyang system, but because he was forcibly promoted as the governor of the central military and government during the Wuchang Uprising, so after the establishment of the Republic of China, he was elected vice president, and after the death of Yuan Shikai, he became the "president" in accordance with the constitution at that time.
At that time, the prime minister of the cabinet was Duan Qirui, the "Prime Minister of the Sixth Ministry", who was an Anhui warlord who held heavy troops but had power but no power, which estranged him from the powerful President Li Yuanhong.
(Li Yuanhong)
During the First World War, China initially adhered to the principle of neutrality. However, there were many laborers in Europe, and many Chinese died under the fire of Germany and other Allied countries, so Duan Qirui advocated severing diplomatic relations with Germany.
Li Yuanhong was unimpressed by this, and after reluctantly agreeing, Germany and the Allies put pressure on China, and Duan Qirui, after receiving the support of the Entente, advocated declaring war on Germany, and organized the Overseers to submit a message to the Congress. But Li Yuanhong never responded to his opposition.
The depressed Duan Qirui chose to leave Beijing and moved into Cao Kun's apartment in Tianjin, but Li Yuanhong took the opportunity to remove Duan Qirui from his posts as prime minister and army chief, and the "dispute between the government and the court" further escalated.
(Duan Qirui)
Second, the sixth prime minister was dismissed, and the handsome Zhang Xun entered Beijing
In Li Yuanhong's "Presidential Decree", in addition to his own signature, there was also the signature of Acting Prime Minister Wu Dinh Phuong, which was obviously a procedural error, and the provincial overseers were in an uproar, and opposition was heard one after another.
The first telegram to oppose was Zhang Xun, who was then the Yangtze River patrol envoy and the overseer of Anhui, "This order was countersigned by Wu Tingfang, which is not in accordance with the law", Zhang Xun was right, and then he strongly invited the overseers of various provinces to Xuzhou, his base camp, to hold a meeting.
Duan Qirui also openly stated that the president has no right to directly appoint and dismiss the prime minister, and Anhui Governor Ni Sichong went so far as to send a telegram to the whole country to declare independence, and what is even more terrifying is that Zhang Zuolin in Fengtian, Chen Shufan in Shaanxi, Yan Xishan in Shanxi, and Cao Kun in Zhili have all followed suit, which Li Yuanhong did not expect.
(Zhang Xun)
In a hurry, Li Yuanhong thought of Zhang Xun, who was the first to be electrified. So he hurriedly sent a telegram to Zhang Xun, saying that "he is highly meritorious, sincere and patriotic, and hopes to come to Beijing as soon as possible to discuss the country's affairs." He wanted to ask Zhang Xun to enter Beijing to mediate this "dispute between the government and the court", but he didn't want to lure the wolf into the house.
Zhang Xun served as the governor of Jiangnan in the last years of the Qing Dynasty and ran Xuzhou for many years, and he had a strong idea of loyalty to the monarch. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Xun did not forget that the old master always refused to cut off his braids, and his troops all kept braids, commonly known as the "Braided Army", and Zhang Xun himself was also called "Braided Shuai".
(Braided Army)
Zhang Xun, who had the support of the Japanese behind him, was always thinking about the restoration, and when he received Li Yuanhong's telegram, he was overjoyed, and he knew that this was a golden opportunity.
On June 7, 1917, Zhang Xun led 5,000 "pigtail troops" to Tianjin overnight by train, and then he first sent troops to the city of Beijing, but he himself issued mediation conditions to Li Yuanhong in Tianjin.
The first is to ask Li Yuanhong to dissolve the National Assembly, and the second is to abolish the Beijing-Tianjin garrison, if he does not promise to pat his ass and leave, of course, the 5,000 pigtailed soldiers will stay in Beijing, and Li Yuanhong only then knows that Zhang Xun is not just here to mediate.
(Braided soldiers come to the city)
In desperation, Li Yuanhong had to order Zhang Xun's two conditions to be met, and on June 14, Zhang Xun also took a train along the Beijing-Tianjin railway line to swagger into Beijing, and "Zhang Xun's restoration" officially kicked off.
3. Seeing the emperor with a flower feather, Zhang Xun was restored to reality
After Zhang Xun entered Beijing, he was busy pasting notices everywhere, and what he remembered most was the restoration. This was already revealed when the Governor Corps went to Xuzhou for a meeting, and at the meeting, except for Feng Guozhang, who talked about him left and right, the rest of the generals said that they were "pigtailed and handsome".
(Fung Kwok Cheung)
As soon as he arrived in Beijing, Zhang Xun immediately went to find a person, that is, the former head of the Ministry of Industry, Kang Youwei, the vanguard of the royalist faction, the two had a common appeal, and the words were even more speculative.
In the early morning of July 1, Zhang Xun ordered to open the gate of Beijing with the help of wine, and 5,000 "pigtail troops" rushed in to take over the defense of the capital, while Zhang Xun took Kang Youwei, Wang Shizhen, Jiang Chaozong and others to the Forbidden City in a hurry.
It is difficult for Zhang Xun to bring 10 sets of Qing Dynasty official uniforms from Xuzhou, and several people put on the top of the flower feather, which really stunned the palace maids and eunuchs in the Qing Palace. Zhang Xun didn't care, and strode forward and shouted: "Zhang Xun, the governor of Jiangnan in the Great Qing Kingdom, has come to meet him." ”
(Kang Youwei)
After knowing Zhang Xun's intention, the two concubines Jin and Yu were a little at a loss, and even said: "Things need to be cautious, think twice", but Zhang Xun smiled disapprovingly and said: "It's up to my old Zhang to call the shots, what are you afraid of, I will restore it today, and ask the young master to go to the palace immediately." ”
Not long after, the 13-year-old Xuantong Emperor Puyi came out, and after ascending the throne, Zhang Xun bowed his head and shouted "Long live, long live, long live", and the others also knelt down in a large area.
Immediately afterwards, Kang Youwei submitted a draft edict, Feng Li Yuanhong was a first-class duke, Zhang Xun and others were cabinet ministers, Kang Youwei was the vice president of the Bide Academy, and Zhang Xun also served as the governor of Zhili Beiyang minister, and the Qing Dynasty was really restored.
The city of Beijing changed overnight, and when they woke up, they were surprised to find a large number of policemen on the road, and they went door-to-door to notify the hanging of the dragon flag of the Great Qing Dynasty, and people knew that the emperor had returned.
(The streets of Beijing are full of dragon flags)
Li Yuanhong, who was sitting in the presidential palace, naturally would not hang out the dragon flag, and had to resign while sighing that he was cocooned and self-restraint, and he first entrusted the post of president to Feng Guozhang, and then telegraphed Duan Qirui to resume the post of premier. This is equivalent to admitting that he was completely defeated in this "battle between the government and the court", and finally hid in the Japanese legation in disgrace.
Fourth, the perverse behavior provoked public anger, and a farce finally ended
But at this time, Duan Qirui was in Tianjin, and Feng Guozhang was far away in Nanjing, although he won the "battle between the government and the court", but the current situation was not what Duan Qirui wanted. Duan Qirui knew that the imperial system was completely out of date, anti-Qing and anti-Yuan, he had already resolutely stood on the side of the pro-republic twice, and this time he must not be in the same league with Zhang Xun.
Duan Qirui, through his appeal in the Beiyang system, quickly organized the "rebel army" and appointed himself as the commander-in-chief of the "rebel army", the headquarters was located in the Tianjin Mint, Feng Guozhang and Liang Qichao also issued a rebellion article, and Zhang Xun became the target of public criticism for a while.
(Tianjin Mint Site)
At this time, Zhang Xun, in addition to the city of Beijing, was full of rebels against the restoration, outside the city there was Duan Zhigui in the east, Cao Kun in the west, the two armies had captured Huangcun and Lugou Bridge respectively, Zhang Xun only had 5,000 guns in his hand at this time, and it was difficult to resist at all.
The 40 battalions of troops that were originally left in the base camp in Xuzhou also defected at the critical moment, and the Japanese who supported them at the beginning saw that the signs were wrong, and they also switched to support Duan Qirui. The restored small court in Zhang Xun's hands has become a hot potato.
Zhang Xun thought that the provincial overseers at the Xuzhou Conference supported him, but in fact, everyone had their own ghosts. For such a major event as the restoration, none of these battle-hardened old fritters dared to end early, they were all waiting and watching, and when they saw that it really caused public anger, who would be willing to stand up for Zhang Xun?
On July 12, the "rebel army" led by Feng Yuxiang, Wu Peifu, and Zhang Jixiang attacked Zhang Xun, who had retreated to the Temple of Heaven, in three ways.
(Feng Yuxiang)
Zhang Xun, who was at the end of his rope, felt bad to himself, so he left his troops and fled single-handedly, and the remaining "pigtail army" saw that the commander could not be found, so they raised the white flag and surrendered.
Zhang Xun, who had nowhere to go, had to flee back to his home along the Nanhe River in embarrassment, where there was also Zhang Xun's wife, and more than 500 guards.
Wang Chengbin didn't say a word, set up the cannon and opened fire, and Zhang Xun's mansion instantly turned into a sea of fire. Zhang Xun, who had gone to the sky, sighed, took his family out of the door, and hid in the Dutch Legation in Dongjiaomin Lane in a smoke, and this farce of restoration ended hastily.
(Warlord Scuffle)
epilogue
The "Restoration of Zhang Xun" only existed for 12 days, and Emperor Puyi once again announced his abdication, although it seems that Zhang Xun and his pigtail army were the leading party in the whole affair. However, the cause was the "dispute between the government and the court", the wrestling between the warlords during the Beiyang period, and the competition between the great powers for interests in China.
Zhang Xun, as an inconspicuous warlord at that time, had the support of the Japanese behind him, and the seemingly strong help of all kinds of heroes, but he had no choice but to "the world trend is mighty, those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die", Zhang Xun's restoration is equivalent to turning back the wheel of history, and it will fail after all.
(Zhang Xun)
Resources:
Cai Dongfan,Xu Xuan's father.Republic of China Romance (I,II)[M].Huaxia Publishing House,2004.