Chapter 377 Yuan Shikai’s preparation

Five days before June 7, the fourth year of the Republic of China, the Capital Police Department issued a new order. Starting from dawn, every house on both sides of Chang'an Avenue will fly the national flag.//www.//Every house along the street is no longer allowed to fly.

Relatives and friends are allowed to stay overnight, and each household must have a cross-link cutter; vendors at Zhengyangmen and overpasses will be driven away.

The reason is very simple. The new Prime Minister will go to the National Assembly to be sworn in in 5 days!

For China, this is a big event, almost as big as the change of dynasty in 1912.

The Republic of China is approaching its fourth birthday, and Yuan Shikai's comeback is also approaching its fourth anniversary. When the curses he received for "revising the constitution" and "dictating dictatorship" gradually became far away from his ears, when he

He breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to review the past four years calmly. He couldn't care less about the internal and external difficulties and wars. Now, it seemed that he had become gentle, and it was time to review.

There were enough things going on, and when the internal and external difficulties were first solved, Li Zicheng - thinking of him, Yuan Shikai's eyes showed no trace of distracting thoughts again. Thinking of the concessions he had made, he couldn't help but shake his head.

.

On some issues, Li Zicheng made concessions far beyond his imagination. On the issue of the Army and Navy, Li Zicheng did not make any attempts. On the issue of sending troops, he also provided support and even agreed to dispatch all the Jiangsu Army.

It was his generosity that forced Yuan Shikai to make concessions on the Ministry of Justice. In other words, Yuan Shikai made this concession willingly.

But when the whole person calmed down completely, Yuan Shikai found that he still felt a little uneasy in his heart. This uneasiness was precisely because of Li Zicheng's calmness. His calmness may make people sigh, but it can't help but make people suspicious.

Is there any conspiracy hidden behind that?

What could be the conspiracy?

In Jurentang, sitting opposite Yuan Shikai was his eldest son Yuan Keding. Both father and son were silent. In contrast, Yuan Shikai's brows were furrowed even more tightly.

After the State Council Organization Ordinance, people in the country were full of joy for a while. People from all walks of life continued to publish articles in newspapers, saying they were happy to see the "coalition government" established and Li Zicheng taking charge of the country.

"The human heart, the human heart!"

Thinking about people's expectations for Li Zicheng, Yuan Shikai suddenly felt that he was too lonely. He thought of Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen, and the civil servants and generals he had promoted since his childhood training, and finally he thought of Li Zi

Sincerity.

"I can't help myself. No one can help me relieve my worries."

Considering the selfishness of those people, only Wang Shizhen among those people was considered reliable, but what use could he be? The generals he promoted all had the idea of ​​retaining private soldiers. This is not surprising.

He, Yuan Shikai, became today's president by training the Beiyang Army into private soldiers.

Who knows that other people do not have such thoughts? It is precisely because of this worry that he agrees to send troops. He wants to "take back" military power through sending troops to Europe through unified central supply. And if he wants to achieve this goal, he must

With the support of Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng is now China's "biggest warlord".

But Li Zicheng... was too deep-minded, to the point where outsiders could not touch him. He seemed to be very simple, very impartial and selfless, but Yuan Shikai knew that if he, Li Zicheng, was really so impartial and selfless, only

I'm afraid that he won't be able to achieve the success he has today. If he can hide his performance from himself, then this person...

Thinking of Li Zicheng's nominal "sworn brother", Yuan Shikai's mind reappeared in his mind. Yuan Keding came, and the two of them were very different. But no matter what, he was still his son.

So he sent someone to call his son in front of him. Because he had no strategy yet, he called his son. When his son came, Yuan Shikai, who originally wanted to explain to his son, suddenly became silent.

Yuan Keding and his father had different moods. He was worried about his father telling him that he wanted to be on good terms with Li Zicheng. In his opinion, Li Zicheng was simply a mastermind who wanted to seize power.

That kind of person naturally has to be honest. As for his father's suggestion that he should befriend him so that he could relax his vigilance and use it for his own purposes, he not only didn't take it seriously but thought about it instead.

"Reverse it, be angry. A few crows are noisy on the branches, but they can't affect the flourishing branches of the towering trees!"

Yuan Keding thinks far and has a broad mind.

"Sure enough, one day I came to Zhongnanhai and had a falling out with my father. At worst, I started killing people and using knives. I don't believe how much trouble you can make when all your soldiers have gone to Europe."

Recently, while Yuan Shikai and Li Zicheng were discussing the organization of the State Council and the distribution of power, Yuan Keding was focusing on gaining military power for his father, hoping to create a Yuan family's imperial army and protect the Yuan family's empire.

Yuan Keding is ambitious. In fact, he has become even more ambitious since he learned about the presidential election law that was revised at the suggestion of his father. The law stipulates that the new president must be elected from the three candidates proposed by the original president.

The election among people. His father is the president. One day, his father can no longer do it. He still has the right to nominate. Not to mention three, even one, it has to be Yuan Keding. So he named himself the "Crown Prince"

Think of yourself.

"Help me conquer the world today, and tomorrow it will be mine!"

He deeply understood Lao Tzu's good intentions. As for the so-called "Prime Minister is the first heir to the President", in Yuan Keding's view, it was just his father's method to confuse the world. Emperors in history have used this method many times.

.

When the father and son were sitting across from each other, Yuan Keding understood everything from his father's low mood and spoke first without waiting for his father to ask questions:

"Uncle, you don't have to worry about the current matter. I think if one thing is solved, everything will be settled."

Looking at his son, Yuan Shikai, who originally wanted to teach his son some ways of dealing with people, forgot his original intention for a while. But now, his son seemed to know, and raised it first, but was vague. He glared at his son

,ask:

"What kind of thing is resolved and everything is settled?"

"As the old saying goes, strengthen the weak branches and seize the army."

Yuan Shikai turned his back and said nothing. He knew that when his son came back from Germany in his early years, Kaiser Wilhelm II repeated what he had said to the regent of the Qing Dynasty to Yuan Keding, hoping that the Yuan family and his son would also arrest him.

An army that can influence China's destiny, which is equivalent to a "tree trunk". In that way, there will be no fear of those scattered armies causing trouble. Yuan Keding made two specific suggestions to his father. One is to welcome Wang Shizhen to Beijing and represent Duan.

To preside over the military, one is to set up the Generalissimo's Office of the Army and Navy in the Presidential Palace, which is the highest military institution in the country and is controlled by the President. Although Yuan Shikai accepted it, he could not make up his mind to seize Duan Qirui's military power, but he did not

It wasn't that he couldn't make up his mind, but that Duan Qirui was hesitant because he had so many talents all over the world. This hesitation was not enough, and Duan Qirui took charge of the First Army.

For Yuan Shikai, who is seeking stability, there is only one way to deal with these military commanders, and that is to send their troops to Europe. Now that Li Zicheng has agreed, Duan Qirui is the only one left. As long as he continues

Once he relents, within two years, the military power will be restored to the central government, and it will be in the hands of Yuan Shikai.

But Yuan Keding didn't know what his father was thinking. Seeing that his father had been practicing with the new army for more than half a year, but there was no movement, he thought that his father's sense of "strengthening" was not firm, so he repeated the old talk.

Yuan Shikai was silent for a long time and said:

"Isn't it being implemented step by step? How can such a big thing be accomplished overnight?"

Yes, Yuan Shikai has been making articles on military issues in the past few years, and the articles are not small: he first agreed to establish an army and navy command office in the presidential palace, and asked his son to go to Zhengding to drag Laila and invite Wang Tuzhen to the two.

Returning to Beijing, he was awarded the rank of Army General and assigned to run the command office. Army Chief Duan Qirui, Navy Chief Liu Guanxiong, and Chief of Staff Li Yuanhong were also clerks. Soon, he ordered that all provincial governors be changed to generals to weaken local military power.

However, not only did Wang Shizhen lack the boldness to run the army and could not afford Yuan's heavy trust, but Duan Qirui also gradually showed his hand. Because the "Jiao'ao Incident" set off a wave of anti-Japanese anger across the country, Duan Qirui took the opportunity to use national defense as a

The First Army was formed, and after the Battle of Lanshan, the First Army became the strongest army of the Central Army. As for the newly formed Army due to the dissent shown by those generals in the incident, the troops that had never seen blood were fighting

But they have seen bloody troops. This is the most untrue question in the minds of Yuan and his son today.

Looking at his thoughtful father, Yuan Keding said:

"My uncle's attitude of seeking stability is certainly good. However, until today, there has been no change in the army, and the situation is so bad, what should we do?'

Yuan Shikai sighed and said with some disappointment:

"I don't know that the old people in the small station are increasingly selfish, and most of them are depressed. Feng Huafu doesn't get up until 12 o'clock every day. Duan Zhiquan always doesn't ask about the ministry. He knows what the Beiyang faction is like? In the morning, Xi

The emperor asked me to transfer Cai Songpo to my side. I transferred him to Beijing and made him a clerk in the command office, but..."

Yuan Keding understood that his father wanted to use Cai E, but he felt that Cai E was not one of his own and could not trust him. Cai E had been in Beijing for several years, but he had no real power.

-Yuan Keding knows his father as well as his father knows him. He knows that he always dreams about power, especially military power. In his dreams, he is afraid of losing power, especially afraid of losing military power, and even more afraid of someone else taking over military power.

During the transition from the interim president to the official president, Yuan Shikai followed the example of the Qing Dynasty in establishing the Imperial Guard and established a model regiment headed by himself. On the one hand, this regiment used second- and third-rate figures from the Beiyang faction to preside over the work, and on the other hand, it selected

The middle and lower-level officers who were most loyal to him became soldiers, and they gradually expanded from this regiment to establish a Yuan family army that surpassed the Beiyang faction, so as to achieve the expected effect of strengthening the Yuan family's centralization of power.

The real role of the Model Regiment came during the "Jiao'ao Incident". At that time, the provincial generals were unwilling to support Jiangsu due to selfish motives. Yuan Shikai saw the faces of these people clearly. Despite his disappointment, he was able to be cruel.

, used the US loan to control the Huaihe River to train a "new army", but his new army was called the "Border Defense Army" to show that it intended to "strengthen the border defense."

When the Border Guard Army was established, it was expanded based on the Model Regiment. It can be said that the current Border Guard Army is Yuan Shikai's "Yuan Forest Army". Its officers and soldiers have better knowledge, training, discipline and even height, physical appearance, and weapons.

Most of the equipment is of the latest type. The border defense army has grown from two divisions at the beginning to four divisions now with 100,000 people. It can be said that it is Yuan Shikai's biggest support now.

"We still need to run the model group well."

With the successful experience of the border guards, Yuan Keding was confident when he spoke:

"Uncle, didn't you say that you want to expand the border defense force? We need to expand the army as soon as possible."

Yuan Shikai nodded, and when his father nodded, Yuan Keding added.

"The top priority now is to organize the second phase of the model regiment, and it will be larger than the first phase of the model regiment. There is currently a shortfall of nearly 1,000 officers in the border defense force. We have to wait for the second phase to be completed to make up for it, and we also need training.

With more officers, like this, the border defense army can form at least four more divisions. If we continue to do this one phase at a time, within three years, at least 600,000 border defense troops can be trained!"

Listening to what Yuan Keding said, Yuan Shikai sighed secretly in his heart. His son always thought of everything too simply. If everything was as simple as he said, it would be easy to handle. This

How do we train troops? We rely on money. If we don’t have money, how can we train troops? How much does it cost to train 600,000 new troops?

Although he was slightly dissatisfied, Yuan Shikai didn't say anything. As long as his son understood what was most important, in China, no matter what he did, he couldn't do without a gun. He was as naive as Song Jiaoren and as thoughtful as Li Zhiyuan.

If you don't see this clearly, maybe Li Zhiyuan sees it clearly, but he still has to hand over military power in the end.

"Second Officer Model Corps!"

In the guest house, he looked at Xiao Xiao, who had come to the capital with him. He was the "attendant" recommended to him by Han Wu. If nothing else happened, he would be the "chief of the internal affairs forces" when the time was right.

, it can be said that he will be the foundation for him to gain a foothold in the central government in the future. Handing him the secret document he just obtained, Li Zicheng added.

"Our president is going to establish the second batch of officer model corps again!"

In fact, in the past few years, especially after the "Rebellion of the Republic of China", Yuan Shikai's method of weakening local warlords was to use various excuses to invite local warlords to Beijing, establish a general's office, and support them with high-ranking officials and generous salaries to avoid future troubles.
To be continued...