In the early morning of June 6, 1916, Yuan Keding woke up from his dream, saw the gray sky, and remembered his father Yuan Shikai, who was surrounded by medical supplies in the next room.
However, perhaps this was a hint from the heavens, and he heard the coughing sound and the subsequent rescue sound from next door, and the day was completely awakened. Yuan Shikai died at 10 a.m.
Above Baitang, his eyes fell on his father's posthumous photo, and his heart was full of sadness. At this moment, Yuan Keding's mind repeatedly echoed his father's deathbed advice, telling him to build a good relationship with the three of them, because these three might rule China in the future.
However, Yuan Keding was skeptical about this prophecy, could these three really become the rulers of China as his father had predicted? At the critical moment of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Li Yuanhong, who was following the ship unit to snipe the enemy in Dalian Bay, sensed the attack of the enemy ship in front and immediately notified the ship's personnel to prepare for battle.
However, his order went unanswered for a long time. Suddenly, he felt a violent burning sensation behind him, and when he looked back, he found that the ship was **.
It turned out that the captain Wu Jingrong was full of fear and confusion in the face of the powerful offensive of the Japanese ship "Speed Wave". He was afraid that if he surrendered without a fight, he would be tortured by the enemy or held accountable.
In desperation, he decided to take extreme measures to burn his ship to create the illusion of battle, and then fled in the ship's spare boat. However, in the face of the growing fire wave, Li Yuanhong had no time to blame the fugitive general, so he could only jump into the sea, hoping to find a glimmer of life in the danger.
The sea was deep and boundless, and he felt his life pass as soon as he entered the water, but at this time his home was under attack by the enemy, and he could not give up easily. His love for his country gave him an unprecedented desire to survive, and after several days of drifting at sea, he finally landed on a vast sea.
Li Yuanhong, born in poverty, graduated from Tianjin Beiyang Naval Academy with excellent grades. But he couldn't compete with the children of the Eight Banners because of his poverty, so he could only be a small navy.
But after World War I, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, discovered his talent and diligence and recommended him to the Qing Dynasty to serve as the chief instructor of the Nanjing Fort. Li Yuanhong was appreciated by the governor and was greatly appreciated in the high hall of the Son of Heaven.
However, his achievements also made him an object of envy for others. But he didn't care, devoted himself to the construction of the army, and was determined to train a strong and brave general belonging to the Qing army.
Li Yuanhong went deep into Japan to inspect the military system, absorb the essence, carry out innovative reforms, and conduct multi-arm training for soldiers. In order to provide better conditions for dealing with the war, he opened a hospital and a logistics processing plant near the army, which was immediately highly praised by the Qing Dynasty and widely promoted throughout the country.
His military prowess was formidable, but he was also a man of talent, who never sought personal gain when training recruits, nor did he suppress poor students. He treated everyone equally, only looking at personal ability and not origin, therefore, the soldiers admired him very much.
Li Yuanhong was always loyal to the Qing Dynasty, despite the rise of revolutionary forces in various places in the late Qing Dynasty, and even many revolutionaries appeared within the Qing Dynasty. However, he firmly believed that the Qing ** could still be saved, and he was both loyal and sensible, and did not take drastic actions against the revolutionaries in the army, but patiently persuaded them to return to the "right path".
When Qing ** insisted on going his own way and continued to suppress the revolutionaries, he gradually realized that the revolution was the pressure of society and the self-help of the people. Therefore, he resolutely took over the important task and became the governor of the Hubei Army after the Wuchang Uprising, and expressed his determination to the revolution by cutting his hair.
People who used to be full of admiration for Li Yuanhong, after witnessing his choice, left the abyss of the Qing Dynasty and joined the ranks of the revolution, which contributed to the birth of China.
Li Yuanhong then took up the important position of deputy **. However, since he was appointed as the governor of the Hubei Army, Li Yuanhong has been deeply remembered by Yuan Shikai, although Yuan Shikai is also a hero who overthrew the Qing Dynasty.
However, he forced Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and ascended the throne himself, which shows that the real purpose of his participation in the revolution was to make the world surnamed Yuan.
Therefore, after Yuan Shikai came to power, although he seemed to attach great importance to Li Yuanhong on the surface, he was deeply frightened by Li Yuanhong's outstanding military skills and strong leadership and organizational skills displayed during the Xinhai Revolution, as well as the support of the people.
He was afraid that he would become the second "Sun Yat-sen", so during Yuan Shikai's tenure as **, he actually implemented semi-monitoring management of Li Yuanhong.
On the road of life, life and death are often unpredictable. In 1916, he was about to leave this world, and although he was concerned about Li Hongyuan replacing him, he understood that with his strength and extensive connections, such a situation might not be avoidable.
So, he instructed Yuan Keding to maintain a good relationship with Li Hongyuan and avoid enmity. In the process, the cunning fox Li Yuanhong showed his talent and won Yuan Shikai's appreciation.
The Sino-Japanese War in 1894 not only promoted the fate of Li Yuanhong, but also allowed Xu Shichang to show his talents, becoming Yuan Shikai's last words before his death, and entered the list of ** people of the year.
Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai are close friends, although their relationship is not antagonistic. Xu Shichang was born in 1855 and has always been committed to the pursuit of a life path of "learning and excelling".
However, due to his poor family, the books at that time were extremely precious, and he was not able to pass the examination until he was 26 years old. However, fate did not abandon him, and finally at the age of 27, he met Yuan Shikai, and with his sponsorship, he participated in the scientific examination again and successfully passed the examination.
However, the corruption of the Qing Dynasty was already obvious, and he never found an opportunity to display his talents in the officialdom. After a long and bitter wait, in 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out.
In the face of the arrogant invasion of the Japanese army, the Qing finally realized that his former status as "the first country" was gone, and even the little Japanese robbers dared to provoke themselves. Therefore, the Qing ** complied with the call of the government and the opposition, and decided to reform the old military and establish a new military, with Yuan Shikai as the general leader.
After Yuan Shikai received the task, he immediately set about cultivating his cronies and invited those talented friends to join his staff, including Xu Shichang, who was serving in the Hanlin Academy at that time.
However, the imperial court at that time emphasized literature over military force, and Xu Shichang's decision was undoubtedly an act of self-surrender.
However, he is a visionary, and he understands that in the current situation of the Qing Dynasty, the improvement of military strength is the top priority in the future. After coming to the barracks, he actively introduced advanced military training methods and naval tactics from the West, which laid a solid foundation for the rise of the Beiyang New Army and the Weizhen side.
At the same time, in his military practice, he found that the backwardness of the Qing Dynasty in the world was not only manifested in military hard power, but also in the auxiliary of economic soft power for governance.
If economic development cannot be improved, no matter how much policy resources are invested in the future battle, it may be limited by talents, money, materials and other aspects.
Therefore, during his tenure as governor of the three eastern provinces, he vigorously promoted the work of industry, education, banking, law, and infrastructure construction, and comprehensively promoted the economic development of the three eastern provinces.
Eventually, in the ruins of the Russo-Japanese War, he succeeded in promoting the rapid rise of the three eastern provinces.
Xu Shichang is not only a civil minister, but in fact he is both civil and military, and unlike Li Yuanhong's loyalty, he is a self-centered person, and all his decisions are planned around his personal future.
In 1898, during the reform period, he was aware of Guangxu's unreliability and tried his best to persuade Yuan Shikai to turn his back on Guangxu and move closer to the Empress Dowager Cixi, which enabled Yuan Shikai to be promoted.
After this incident, Yuan Shikai's trust in him doubled, and he regarded him as a close confidant.
In 1915, Yuan Shikai became the supreme leader of the country, but there were many internal contradictions. On the surface, everyone respects Yuan Shikai and calls him "big **", but in fact, many people desire to replace him in their hearts.
During this period, Xu Shichang served as the secretary of state, committed to reforming and formulating the system, and stabilized the situation. However, by the end of the year, Yuan Shikai began to try to restore the imperial system.
You must know that not long has passed since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and Yuan Shikai's decision immediately caused an uproar. Xu Shichang had foreseen this, and in order to avoid getting involved in chaos, he chose to take sick leave and resign.
Sure enough, Yuan Shikai's throne ended after only 83 days. However, before he could regain his strength, he was lying in bed for a long time because of uremia.
When his life was dying, although Yuan Shikai was still obsessed with the throne, he was more concerned about the safety of his family. So he specially invited Xu Shichang and asked him to take care of the Yuan family as a friend.
When Yuan Shikai, the lion of the grassland, asked Yuan Keding to establish a relationship with Li Yuanhong and Xu Shichang, he didn't just look at their ability to unify the country. More importantly, he understands the personalities of these two: an old friend who is loyal to him, and an old friend who was once his opponent, but has no intention of controlling the world, otherwise he would not have been oppressed by himself for so long.
Therefore, he is also betting that if these two people control the world, Yuan Keding may be able to sit in that position just like he forced Sun Yat-sen to go into the wilderness.
Although they can't sit in that position, with the personalities of the two, the Yuan family can still get the status of a confidant, and there is no harm. However, when he warned Yuan Keding and the last of the three, Duan Qirui, to establish a good relationship with them, his heart was more worried, he was afraid that the Yuan family would be completely destroyed because of Duan Qirui.
Duan Qirui was not a self-made man like Li and Xu, he grew up under the influence of a military family since he was a child, and with his lofty position and authority in the army, he became a real power holder.
At the age of 20, he was admitted to the Tianjin Military Academy founded by Li Hongzhang, and went to Germany to study.
During his time as an official, Duan Qirui focused on army construction, training the new army, and hosting military academies, which made most of the students or old friends in the Beiyang military circle at that time become his protégés, accumulating a large number of network resources for him.
This makes it possible for him to gain a firm foothold in ** and the army directly with these resources when others are thinking about expanding their power all night long. At the same time, he also gathered a large number of civil ministers and military generals to form an Anhui warlord dominated by his own cronies.
This made him become the governor of Huguang during the Xinhai Revolution by virtue of his previous accumulation of officials, and then served as the chief of the army and the prime minister of the cabinet many times in Beiyang**, and his strength increased dramatically.
Duan Qirui's strength increased, so that Yuan Shikai, who wanted to dominate the world, had to guard against him. Therefore, in 1915, when Duan Qirui resigned against Yuan Shikai's claim to be emperor, he took advantage of the situation to put Duan Qirui under house arrest in Xishan, Beijing.
Yuan Shikai tried to eliminate Duan Qirui's strength, but was forced to ** after the outbreak of the Protectorate War. Although Duan Qirui is ambitious, he is not as honest as Yuan Shikai. He also understands that going head-to-head will only be detrimental to himself, so he chooses to wait for the opportunity in secret.
When Yuan Shikai bowed to him soon after becoming emperor, promising to reuse him as secretary of state, Duan Qirui seized the opportunity.