In Yuan Shikai's life, the one he relied on most was Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui was originally only a teacher in the Weihai Defense Army, and only rose all the way after meeting Yuan Shikai. And Duan Qirui also had a favor and would repay the favor, doing his best to train and lead troops for Yuan Shikai. During the Xinhai Revolution, Duan Qirui took the lead in forcing the Qing Dynasty to abdicate, making great contributions to Yuan Shikai's ascension to the presidential throne.
And Yuan Shikai also co-opted Duan Qirui in many ways, especially after Duan Qirui's wife Wu Shi died of illness, Yuan Shikai personally acted as a matchmaker, marrying zhang Peiyu, the daughter of his eldest wife, to him, and the two families became relatives and the relationship became more intimate.
However, Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui are both people who attach great importance to power and are conceited, so over time, contradictions will inevitably arise between the two.
For example, when Yuan Shikai established the Army Model Regiment, he originally intended to make his son Yuan Keding the commander of the regiment, trying to train him as a successor. However, Duan Qirui was very disgusted with Yuan Keding, believing that he had no talent and no morality, so he vigorously opposed it, and in the end, only Yuan Shikai himself proposed to concurrently serve as the head of the regiment, and the matter came to an end.
Later, Yuan Shikai planned to claim the title of emperor, and Duan Qirui, who had always regarded himself as Yuan Shikai's successor, was greatly dissatisfied with this and openly opposed it, and the relationship between the two became more and more tense, Duan Qirui was once forced to sue for illness, and Yuan Shikai was allowed to take two months off to let him rest at home.
During Duan Qirui's illness, because his relationship with Yuan Shikai deteriorated, there were rumors that Yuan Shikai had sent someone to assassinate Duan Qirui.
For example, some people rumored that because Duan Qirui had been openly opposed to Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne, Yuan Shikai was angry and sent someone to send a bowl of chicken soup over, nominally to comfort duan Qirui who was sick, but in fact he was poisoned and wanted to poison him. I didn't want this bowl of chicken soup to be drunk by one of Duan Qirui's aunts, and later poisoned to death, which frightened Duan Qirui not lightly.
However, this statement is not accurate, because among Duan Qirui's wives and concubines, only the original Wu and the eldest aunt died in front of Yuan Shikai. When Wu Shi died, Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui were the best time for their relationship, otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to be matchmakers. And the eldest aunt died in 1914, at this time Yuan Shikai had not yet engaged in the imperial system, and Duan Qirui did not fall out, and it was obviously impossible to poison him.
Of course, this matter is not completely empty. During Duan Qirui's illness, Yuan Shikai kept sending people to send chicken soup, ginseng soup and other things to show his condolences. However, Duan Qirui knew that Yuan Shikai was a fierce person, and Zhao Bingjun, who had served Yuan Shikai for many years, suddenly died violently, and it was rumored that he was Yuan Shikai's black hand.
Therefore, those supplements sent by Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui did not dare to touch at all, his family naturally did not have anyone to try, and finally they were secretly dumped, as to whether it was really poisonous, no one knew in the end.
Duan Qirui was so careful, it was not simply a matter of being alarmist. According to the recollection of Cao Shutong, who was then the battalion commander of the War Department Guard and served as a guard in Duan Province during Duan Qirui's illness, Duan Qirui's wife Zhang Peiqian told him to guard the door, but he did not expect to be a thief.
There was a doctor named Luo Langzhai in Duan Qirui's mansion, who was highly skilled in medicine and was very trusted by Duan Qirui. Luo Fengge, the son of Luo Langzhai, grew up with his father in the Duan Mansion and was clever and clever. Duan Qirui liked it, so he recognized him as his son and sent him to study at the Wubei Academy.
After Luo Fengge grew up, Duan Qirui left him by his side as a lieutenant colonel's aide-de-camp. At that time, Duan Qirui had a total of four lieutenants around him, of which Luo Fengge was the most trusted one, plus everyone in Duan Mansion knew him, so he could enter and leave the inner mansion at will, and no one ever asked.
However, no one expected that something had happened to Luo Fengge. During Duan Qirui's illness, once when he was reading a book alone in the study, Luo Fengge suddenly walked in. Duan Qirui saw that he looked flustered, knew that there was something wrong, just asked what was the matter, did not want Luo Fengge but directly knelt down, and also pulled out a pistol, saying that someone let him assassinate Duan Qirui.
Duan Qirui knew that this matter was not trivial, so he was not allowed to continue to say who directed him, and also instructed Luo Fengge to immediately pretend to be ill and not to come to Duan Mansion again in the future. Luo Fengge immediately did as he was told, and it was not until after Yuan Shikai's death that he returned to Duan Qirui to continue his post.
Unfortunately, a few years later, when Luo Fengge went to Wuhan on a business trip, he encountered wind and waves on the boat and accidentally fell into the water and was killed. In the end, who instructed him to assassinate Duan Qirui, and in the end, Luo Fengge never said it. However, some people speculate that only Yuan Shikai has the courage to kill Duan Qirui, and only Yuan Shikai can make Duan Qirui so scrupulous that he does not dare to investigate this matter at all. Some people think that Yuan Keding and Duan Qirui have a bad relationship, so they did it in secret from Yuan Shikai. Unfortunately, once Luo Fengge died, these speculations could not be verified.
But in any case, Duan Qirui has been cautious during his "illness", which is also a reason.