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Chapter 6 Yuan Shikai¡¯s Thoughts (Part 1)

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    Zhang Hanqing¡¯s words were reported to Yuan Shikai¡¯s desk at the Presidential Palace in Beijing soon after.  It's not that his words are so touching, but that they coincide with President Yuan's thoughts - in this turbulent era, there are not many generals and frontier officials like Zhang Zuolin who can educate their sons to be so "loyal and loyal"  See you.

    "Keding, what do you think?" he asked his eldest son who was at his side.

    "Father, this Zhang Xueliang is very insightful despite his young age! The best way to solve the current political situation in China is to concentrate the people's hearts and military power to turn China into a constitutional monarchy. Even a 16-year-old baby can see the truth.  I think my father has already made up his mind? When my son was in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II said to me: 'The democratic republic that China is currently pursuing is not suitable for China's national conditions. If China wants to develop, it must learn from Germany.  , No country can develop without an imperial system.' He asked me to tell my father that if China wants to restore its imperial system, Germany will do its best to help. I must have read the Kaiser's letter carefully, right?"

    The speaker was Yuan Keding, the eldest son of President Yuan Da.

    If there is no one around Yuan Shikai who is most enthusiastic about advocating imperialism, it is him.  Because of a foot disease, he went to Germany for medical treatment and was warmly received by Germany.  During his stay in Germany, Yuan Keding was amazed by Germany's achievements, and he was convinced of the efficacy of the German imperial system.  In 1914, the 36-year-old Mr. Yuan's foot injury was not cured in Germany, but he returned to China with a dream of becoming an emperor.  As a result, Yuan Keding had a "German whirlwind" at home. He ordered a set of majestic German prince general school uniforms for himself and his brothers, implicitly calling himself the "prince".

    But where can a prince come from without an emperor?  As the eldest son who has always followed Yuan Shikai, Yuan Keding knew his father's thoughts clearly: he wanted to be a bitch but also wanted to build a memorial arch, he was ambitious but worried about gains and losses.  He didn't understand that the world was already in his hands, so what did his father have to fear?

    When talking about the history of the Republic of China, one cannot fail to mention Yuan Shikai, who is being worshiped by all parties at this time.  It was he who single-handedly created the Beiyang faction, relied on his strength to force the Qing emperor to abdicate, established the Republic of China, and used his alliance to squeeze out Sun Yat-sen in exchange for the post of president.

    On the second anniversary of the Revolution of 1911, 53-year-old Yuan Shikai officially took office as the first president of the Republic of China, reaching the pinnacle of power and career in his life.  Then, in order to avoid being controlled by others, he used a trick to make his soldiers mutiny, in order to threaten and achieve the purpose of refusing to go south to Nanjing to take up his post.  His goal, which anyone with a discerning eye could see through, was actually achieved very easily.

    Because of this, he saw through the harsh nature of the Kuomintang.  Although he admired the West, he looked down upon those revolutionaries wearing suits.  He had a mocking attitude toward the Kuomintang.  After giving in and observing for more than a year, he thought he had understood the details of these revolutionaries: they were impetuous and childish, eager for success, and had no other skills except rhetoric and "making trouble"; they had copied them from the West  That approach simply won¡¯t work in Chinese society.  In China, things must be done the Chinese way.

    At this time, he had every reason to be complacent.  The country needs basic administrative unity, which is the consensus of all parties except the Kuomintang at that time.  It is worth mentioning that although Cai E later became known as an "anti-Yuan", he was Yuan's collaborator during the second revolution.  The unified thinking formed by China's thousand-year feudal society has its own necessity and soil for its existence.

    His idea is to first restore strong control of administrative power in China, and then rely on strong administrative power to open up people's wisdom from top to bottom and "step by step" and implement constitutional government step by step.  Everything must be under control, in a plan, and planned as a whole. "Weigh the priorities and make an overall plan. If it is difficult to do something suddenly, it is more important to proceed step by step and not to plan."  Only in this way can there be no trouble and only then can we become prosperous and strong in stability.

    This politician who was born in Henan Province, which has the deepest history in China, is confident that he understands the mysteries of Chinese politics better than anyone else.  People's first impression of him is that he is capable, and the second is that he is sophisticated.  With these two items, Yuan Shikai was extremely skilled at winning over and manipulating people.  In Chinese society, such people are destined to have a bright future, and Yuan Shikai is also extremely confident in his social experience.  In his view, the army and money are indestructible in China.

    ??And facts have proven this time and again.

    The situation in the second year of the Republic of China seemed to be very unfavorable to him.  The Kuomintang led by Song Jiaoren won a resounding victory in the congressional election and was about to push Yuan into a corner. However, Yuan did not waste energy on the campaign. He was busy borrowing money from foreign countries.  He borrowed a loan for the aftermath at any cost, and with the money as a backing, he murdered Song Jiaoren, and then the well-paid Beiyang Army easily suppressed the "Second Revolution."  Then, at a cost of 10,000 yuan each, most of the Kuomintang members announced their resignation from the Kuomintang.?

    His Chinese experience is invincible. The foreign ideas of Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren and others who used elections to gain power are vulnerable to Yuan Shikai's Chinese methods.  Soon, he fought his way out of the siege of provincial autonomy, parliament and conventions, and took real power.

    Liang Qichao used his usual sharp pen to describe the political atmosphere under Yuan Shikai's rule: "Yuan himself didn't know what made humans different from beasts. He thought that all human beings trembled when they saw a white blade, worshiped when they saw gold, and I held them in arms.  With these two things appearing in the world, what can you ask for but not get? In the past four years, there has been no so-called politics in the Beijing government. Only the ghosts of these two things are hovering and burning in people's hearts."

    So even after Song Jiaoren was assassinated and Sun Yat-sen launched the "second revolution", the country's major political forces still supported him and still pinned their hopes on this strongman to lead China out of the throes of revolution and toward independence and prosperity.  Perhaps a political figure should not be evaluated entirely based on his means.  In any case, China achieved basic administrative unification for the first time after the Revolution of 1911.

    In 1913, China had expectations for Yuan's iron fist.  And Yuan Shikai is also confident that he can live up to such expectations.  The person who rules China must understand China, and he thinks he has a better idea about how China can change.

    In order to restore the power of the country, he began to centralize power.  This was familiar to him.  He manipulated, coerced and induced, and replaced all provinces with people who listened to him.  He took back the power to appoint officials in the provinces and took local control firmly into his own hands.  In order to renew the bureaucracy, he organized civil service examinations in 1914 and 1915 to select civilian officials at the county magistrate level.  He established a special court to try officials (Pingzhengyuan) to severely punish corruption.  He hopes to restore discipline and strength to the bureaucracy through measures such as these.

    After gaining solid power, he attacked parliament, the Constitution and local self-government organizations.  He abolished the Covenant, dissolved parliament, and abolished the self-governing institutions he had advocated since the late Qing Dynasty.  In order to suppress dissatisfied voices in society, he strengthened the censorship of newspapers and periodicals.  Post offices sent mail to police stations for surveillance, thousands of plainclothes officers and intelligence agents searched for dissidents, railway passengers were questioned on suspicion of treason, and their luggage was scrutinized.  It seems that he is completely betraying the Revolution of 1911 and even his own political ideals, and the evidence is conclusive that he is moving towards "reaction" step by step.

    His original intention is of course not to turn China into a police state. He wants constitutional procedures, legal procedures, civil rights, and a representative parliament.  The problem is that he believes that the current parliament, laws, and self-government methods are wrong.  They come from evil sources, go crazy, are taken advantage of by bad people, and are completely out of shape.  Therefore, he wants to abolish them all and then rebuild them according to his own model.

    Yuan Shikai deeply believed in his unique analysis of Chinese society.  He believes that in China, where people's wisdom is still undeveloped, ordering and commanding are the most useful methods.  When the quality of the people does not reach a certain level, elections cannot achieve their own purpose and will only be used by people with ulterior motives.

    So in January 1914, he dissolved Congress, tore up the "convention", and wiped away all traces of dishonest politics.  However, all these reactionary actions that stifled the vitality of the nation were accomplished under the cover of the beautiful slogans of "unifying the country," "saving the country and the people," and "defending the republic."  Afterwards, Yuan believed that "the people abused their freedom to cook and the people's political understanding was still in their infancy", he abolished the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, launched a new "Constitution of the Republic of China" in May, and changed the cabinet system to a presidential system.  Although various centralization measures are manifestations of dictatorship, they have also won the reputation of "Washington, the first in the Republic of China".  Later, the presidential election law was revised so that the president could be re-elected indefinitely, and the new president would be appointed by the sitting president.

    Around 1915, Yuan Shikai¡¯s centralization of power reached its peak.  He had unlimited power equivalent to that of an emperor. He reorganized the bureaucratic order and restored the central finance.  However, contrary to his assumption, China has not become more powerful, but has become weaker.  Society has calmed down, but it has become lifeless.  The dignity of the government and the alienation of the government from ordinary citizens have reappeared.  Opportunities for ordinary citizens to participate in politics have all disappeared, and the property-owning class has become dangerously silent under high political pressure.  China looks more like a piece of loose sand than before.

    What makes Yuan Shikai even more embarrassed is that all diplomatic crises since 1913 have ended with China's retreat.  He was forced to recognize the autonomy of Tibet and Inner Mongolia, making foreign independence a reality.  The "Twenty-One Measures" of 1915 finally proved to the whole country that his centralization of power did not gain defense power against the great powers.  On the contrary, in order to centralize power, he had to sacrifice the national interest.

    Yuan Shikai became angry from shame.  Why did the unified country not have the cohesion he expected?  He made a unique diagnosis. The cause was the people's unfamiliarity and disapproval of the Republic of China.  Since everyone does not recognize the Republic of China, the only other option is to restore the monarchy except for the Panzi state.  Also, look at Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, aren¡¯t they all doing very well, and they are still one of the few big and powerful countries in the world?

    The fatigue of the state machinery caused by high-pressure rule, the fear of national dissatisfaction, and the humiliation of diplomatic failure made Yuan Shikai regard the imperial system as a life-saving straw.  The train of totalitarianism finally entered the abyss of imperialism.  His series of mistakes since 1913 have now received an indefensible summary mark.

    Over the years, few people have been willing to provide the necessary explanation for Yuan Shikai's imperial system: the name "Hongxian" means "promoting constitutional government"!  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)Aren¡¯t the UK and the UK living very well, and are they still one of the few great and powerful countries in the world?

    The fatigue of the state machinery caused by high-pressure rule, the fear of national dissatisfaction, and the humiliation of diplomatic failure made Yuan Shikai regard the imperial system as a life-saving straw.  The train of totalitarianism finally entered the abyss of imperialism.  His series of mistakes since 1913 have now received an indefensible summary mark.

    Over the years, few people have been willing to provide the necessary explanation for Yuan Shikai's imperial system: the name "Hongxian" means "promoting constitutional government"!  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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