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Chapter 246: Ringing the death knell of the Qing Dynasty

The emperors of various dynasties understood clearly that even without the 1898 Coup, the 1898 Reform would still fail.

After all, Wanqing's various conflicts have become difficult to recover from, and drastic reforms are obviously impossible.

Not to mention Guangxu, who had no real power, even if Cixi, who had monopolized power, wanted to reform, it was impossible to succeed.

After more than two hundred years of development in the Qing Dynasty, the system had already become rigid, and various interest groups were intricately rooted in the land of China.

Anyone who wants to reform will be confronted by these interest groups with the same hatred and enemies, and there is no chance of success at all.

The Reform Movement of 1898 can be said to be the last opportunity for the Qing Dynasty to strengthen itself. Once this opportunity is missed, the death knell of the Qing Dynasty's demise will also sound.

Now that the Reform Movement of 1898 has failed, the rulers of various dynasties can already foresee that the situation of the Qing government will further deteriorate.

If the Qing government failed to become self-reliant through reforms, it would inevitably continue to be exploited by foreign powers.

They knew very well that the two Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War were far from over, and the great powers would inevitably launch another aggressive war to carve up China.

"Feeling that she had a bargaining chip in her hand, Cixi convened a meeting of princes and ministers, at which she announced that Guangxu was weak and sickly, and that he had betrayed his ancestors, the country, and the common people."

The emperor is the symbol of the Qing Dynasty, uniting the hearts of the world.

"In January 1900, Cixi issued an edict to protect the Boxer Rebellion, despite opposition from the outside world."

"Regardless of whether Guangxu participated in the plan to encircle the garden and kill the queen, in Cixi's view, she had raised a white-eyed wolf."

If something goes wrong, taking advantage of the turbulent moment when the Qing Dynasty changes its emperor, a larger-scale people's rebellion may break out across the country.

"Run immediately and tell Cixi that the arrogance of foreigners cannot last forever. We have 200,000 invulnerable Boxers, and we can use them to drive out foreigners and restore the old system."

"With Cixi's tacit approval, the Boxers quickly grew to 200,000 people in the Zhili area."

"When Cixi heard that the Boxers were attacking foreigners, and recalled that Western countries had opposed him in deposing Guangxu, she immediately had the idea of ​​using the Boxers to check and balance the great powers, and the Qing government's attitude towards the Boxers also changed."

"It was decided to appoint the son of Prince Zaiyi of Duan County as the eldest brother of Emperor Chu, and plans to hold Guangxu's abdication ceremony on January 1."

"Prince Zaiyi of Duan County is worried that if Cixi retreats, the cooked duck will fly again."

"But just as the incident was calming down, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in the north."

Even the upper echelons of the imperial court were in turmoil, let alone the common people whose minds had changed.

If the Queen Mother deposed Emperor Guangxu at such a critical moment, it would only cause greater turmoil in the Qing Dynasty.

"Later, Yuxian returned to the court to report on his duties, and told Cixi that justice and support for the Qing Dynasty and the destruction of foreign countries could be used by the court."

"When they learned that Cixi wanted to abolish the throne, not only the local governors of the Qing Dynasty, but also Governor Ronglu of Zhili and Liu Kunyi, the Governor of Liangjiang, wrote letters of opposition."

"I worked hard to raise you, but you colluded with outsiders to kill me?"

"In order to make Cixi make up her mind, Duanjun Wang Zaiyi also colluded with Li Lianying at that time."

Ying Zheng: Have you all reached this point of insanity? You can even believe the nonsense about invulnerability.

"When Yuxian was in power in Shandong, he allowed the Boxers to burn churches and kill foreigners. He was dismissed by the Qing government after continuous protests by Western countries."

"We found some Boxers to perform invulnerability in the palace to make Cixi believe that the Boxers had the strength to fight against foreigners."

As expected, Su Chen's next words confirmed their suspicions.

"But there were also many officials who supported the Boxers at that time, such as Yu Xian, the former governor of Shandong."

"Even the ministers from various countries have sent notes to the Prime Minister's Office, threatening that if Guangxu is deposed, it will have a negative impact on the international community. I hope you can do it yourself."

"Later Gangyi went to Zhuozhou for a walk, and when he came back, he told Cixi that the Boxers' guns were invulnerable, as if they were possessed by gods."

"It is announced that Guangxu is seriously ill and may not live for a few days. The country cannot live without a king for a day. I plan to appoint the son of Duanjun Wang Zaiyi as the emperor."

"In this way, under the influence of people around her, Cixi's little distrust of the Boxers disappeared."

"Ministers from various countries intervened, and Cixi was not happy about it."

Originally, the Qing Dynasty was turbulent, turbulent, and people were panicked. The whole country had different thoughts.

"Seeing the collective opposition of the great powers, Cixi was under great pressure and had to suspend the plan to abolish the establishment."

"Cixi thinks that deposing the emperor is a family matter of the Aisin Gioro family. What does my decision about who should be the emperor have to do with you, a foreigner?"

"Seeing that Cixi wanted to depose Guangxu again, the ministers from various countries immediately opposed it strongly again."

"At the beginning of the rise of the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government's attitude was ambiguous."

"The company's major shareholders are us, the major shareholders. If the company wants to re-elect the chairman, of course it will be decided by our major shareholders at a meeting."

"However, ministers from various countries also have reasons to interfere. They believe that deposing and establishing the emperor is a state matter, how can it be a family matter?"

"After the 1898 Coup, Cixi was heartbroken."

"Furthermore, the Qing Dynasty Company has been selling its interests continuously since Daoguang. By Guangxu, it had nothing to sell."

"You, Cixi, are only a minority shareholder and the apparent leader. You have no right to make decisions without authorization."

"Since you are unfilial, don't blame me for being unkind."

"There were some officials who opposed the Boxer Rebellion, such as Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong. The Boxer Rebellion in Shandong was defeated and disappeared by Yuan Shikai's Right Army of the Armed Guards."

"In September 1898, Cixi became hot-headed, fanned by the die-hard official Gang Yi and others."

Ronglu: The Queen Mother is confused! The Qing Dynasty has reached a critical juncture when the country is destroyed and the family is destroyed. How can the emperor be easily deposed at this juncture?
He sighed helplessly. Those die-hard ministers were ignorant of the truth. How could even the Queen Mother be confused?

He was a little speechless. It didn't matter that the ministers under him were incompetent. As the actual person in power, Cixi could be so ignorant.

He originally thought that Cixi was just a demon queen who brought disaster to the country and the people, but now it seems that she is also so stupid.

Invulnerability sounds ridiculous, let alone invulnerability.

If there really were such people in the world, the Qing government would not have been humiliated by Western powers one after another.

Cixi's plot to use the Boxers to deal with foreigners seemed to him like drinking poison to quench thirst.

Although the Boxers had the slogan of supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying foreign countries, as a peasant uprising, they would definitely not side with the Qing government in the end.

Even if the Boxers were able to deal with the Western powers, they were destined to become a serious and serious problem for the Qing government.

Besides, charlatans like the Boxers are no match for foreigners.

He guessed that Cixi was probably mad, otherwise she would not have lost her mind and could not see the current situation clearly.

"However, Cixi and the die-hards never expected that their self-deception would come true. Many people died and the great powers were angered."

"On April 1900, 4, the British, German and French ministers sent a note to the Qing government."

"We have two months to wipe out the Boxers, otherwise we will send land and sea troops into the Zhili area to suppress them on our behalf."

"In early June, the deadline had expired. Seeing that the Qing government was unable to control the situation, ministers from various countries decided to form an eight-nation coalition and directly send troops to quell the chaos."

"In mid-June, the Dagukou Fort fell."

"Cixi urgently convened an imperial meeting and issued an edict to dissolve the Boxer Rebellion."

"This move shows that Cixi was afraid and relented."

"But the day after the edict was issued, Cixi received false information fabricated by Duanjun Wang Zaiyi."

"It is said that foreign ministers issued a note demanding that Cixi immediately return power to Guangxu, depose the eldest brother, and allow foreign soldiers to enter Beijing."

"When Cixi heard this, she asked me to give up my rights to Guangxu. Don't the foreigners know that I have conflicts with Guangxu?"

"If power is handed over, will I still have a way to survive?"

"I have served these foreign devils for forty years, and now they want to help that traitor to seize my power."

"What is unbearable is unbearable. In anger, Cixi lost her mind."

"On June 6, Cixi issued two edicts in the name of Guangxu."

"One is for the die-hards. Cixi asked them to prepare for war."

"The other was sent to the local governor. Cixi asked them to send troops to Beijing to help the king to help the court expel the foreign soldiers."

Li Hongzhang: The Queen Mother is usually very smart, so why is she so confused at such a critical moment?

When he received the declaration of war from the Queen Mother, he was completely confused and wondered whether the Queen Mother was old and confused.

The strength gap between the two sides is so huge that the imperial court cannot be an opponent of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

With the strength of the Qing Dynasty, not to mention the Eight-Nation Alliance, even any Western powers were no match for others.

If the Qing Dynasty was really so stubborn, it would not be in such a state today.

When the Queen Mother issued an edict to protect the Boxers, he was opposed to it, thinking it was too nonsense.

Invulnerable to bullets and bullets, he knew it was fake as soon as he heard it.

He was a bit suspicious that the Queen Mother was so sick that she sought medical treatment, and yet she could actually believe these charlatans.

Using these 200,000 Boxers to deal with the foreign guns and artillery of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, he can only say that he is hitting an egg with a stone, without any hope of victory.

"It should be noted that there are three points in Cixi's edict issued to local governors that are often misunderstood today."

"First, Cixi only said at that time that she would fight the invaders who bullied my country, occupied my land, and extorted my property."

"But she didn't say who she wanted to fight, and she didn't specify who she wanted to fight with."

"Some TV dramas now depict Cixi declaring war on the eleven countries by name. This is actually a fictional plot."

"Second, the so-called declaration of war is not an official document."

"The Qing Dynasty's official declaration of war must have words similar to the declaration of war. For example, the edict of war issued by Guangxu in the year of Jiawu was included, but there was no relevant content in the edict of war issued by Cixi in the year of Gengzi."

"Combined with the fact that Cixi did not specifically name the target of the declaration of war, it is not difficult to find that Gengzi's decree to declare war was actually just an internal notice."

"Cixi informed the local governor that the foreign devils are attacking at the door of the house. The court is determined to fight. You all come to help."

"Since it was only an internal notification, Cixi did not submit the declaration of war to the ministers of various countries at that time."

"In other words, the Qing government never officially declared war on any country from beginning to end."

"None of the countries declared war on the Qing government. The two sides were in a state of undeclared war."

"Third, due to the chaos in the postal and telecommunications system, the local governor received inconsistent edicts at the time."

“During the peak period of the Boxer Rebellion, railways were demolished and telegraph poles were pulled out, including all the telegraph poles for Beijing’s external communications.”

"This resulted in the imperial edict being unable to be issued through the Telegraph Office in Beijing. It had to be expedited for six hundred miles to Baoding, Hebei, and then forwarded to various places via the Baoding Telegraph Office."

"The delay on the road coupled with the inefficiency of the work meant that it was already a few days later when the edict was sent to the local governor."

"What made the governors very speechless was that at the same time as they received the declaration of war, they received another telegram with completely opposite meaning."

"After the hot-headed energy passed, Cixi calmed down again."

"After all, she can't vent her anger for personal gain like Prince Duan Jun Zaiyi, nor can she be as fanatical and reckless as the Boxers."

"So Cixi gave additional instructions to the governors, asking them to protect the embassy, ​​wait for opportunities, and protect the territory."

Li Shimin: Changing orders from morning to night is a taboo for military strategists. As the ruler of Wanqing, he is really stupid.

He couldn't help but shake his head slightly, as if he had seen the end of the Qing Dynasty.

It can be seen that the reason why the situation in the Qing Dynasty deteriorated step by step to the point of no return was all caused by Cixi, the demon queen.

If Cixi had not brought disaster to the country and its people, perhaps the Qing Dynasty would not have fallen into such a predicament, and the people would not have suffered humiliation.

But then again, he seemed to have seen the Qing Dynasty dying at the hands of Cixi.

The Qing Dynasty was originally weak and far from a match for the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Now when the two sides are at war, they change their orders day by day and issue completely different edicts, which can only make the Qing Dynasty lose faster.

He didn't know why, but he had a vague feeling in his heart that the Qing Dynasty would probably die in this war.

After all, if they were to deal with the Boxers, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces would not be dispatched together.

Based on his understanding of the greedy nature of the Western powers, the war launched by the Eight-Power Allied Forces was probably not just to eliminate the Boxers, but the main purpose was probably to carve up the Qing Dynasty.

"The governors were thrown into confusion upon seeing two very different telegrams."

"One moment he said he wanted to fight, the next he said he wanted to protect himself, the next he said he wanted to destroy the foreigners, and the next he said he wanted to protect the embassy."

"In this case, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Xu Yingkui, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, Liu Shutang, the governor of Zhejiang, Wang Zhichun, the governor of Anhui, and Deshou, the governor of Guangdong, all made the same decision. choose."

"Since the imperial court asked us to protect the embassy, ​​wait for opportunities, and protect the territory, then we will follow this imperial edict."

"As for the edict to declare war, it is a random edict."

"As the saying goes, all the decrees of the imperial court are correct. If the decrees of the imperial court are inconsistent, the one that is beneficial to us shall prevail."

"We did not deny the imperial edict, we just implemented the imperial edict." "On June 6, with the help of Sheng Xuanhuai, Shanghai Daotai invited the consuls of various countries in Shanghai to hold a meeting and agreed on the nine articles of the "Southeast Protection Agreement" and Ten Articles of the "Charter for the Protection of Shanghai's Urban and Rural Areas Internally and Externally"."

"According to the agreement, the governors of the nine southeastern provinces expressed their neutral attitude to the foreign powers and would not participate in the war. This incident was called Southeast Mutual Protection."

"When the South started to engage in mutual protection between the Southeast and the South, Cixi didn't pay much attention to it."

"Because she was also confused at this time. She couldn't make up her mind whether to fight or make peace."

"In order to appease the provincial governors, Cixi quickly issued an internal notice explaining the origin of the declaration of war to the local governors."

"The meaning is obvious. The declaration of war was written for the Chinese people themselves. It is intended to calm the emotions of the Chinese people, including the Boxers. You must understand the difficulties of the court."

Liu Che: The signing of the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement has shown that the Qing government cannot control the place.

At this time, the control of the Qing government was greatly reduced, and local areas were no longer under the control of the Qing government.

Although Cixi issued two edicts with completely opposite meanings, the local governors chose the one that was beneficial to themselves rather than the one that was beneficial to the Qing government. It can already be seen that the local governments did not listen to the orders of the central court.

Moreover, the governors of the nine southeastern provinces also bypassed Cixi and signed non-aggression treaties with Western powers alone. This is enough to show that the Qing government is no longer able to control the local areas.

The nine southeastern provinces were engaged in mutual protection, which was why Cixi didn't care.

It wasn't that Cixi couldn't decide whether to make peace, but that Cixi didn't dare to hold on.

After all, facing the threat of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, if Cixi dared to punish the governors of the nine southeastern provinces, she would only fall into a greater crisis.

Even if Cixi wanted to take action to solve the nine southeastern provinces that openly challenged the Qing government, she would at least have to survive the crisis of the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of China.

However, in his opinion, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces came with bad intentions, and Cixi would probably not be able to escape this crisis.

"But in July, with the death of Nie Shicheng, the commander-in-chief of Zhili, Tianjin fell."

"Cixi, who couldn't bear the humiliation caused by the defeat, changed her attitude again and began to kill the bureaucrats of the Lord Peace Party."

"At the same time, Cixi also began to ask the southern governor to quickly send troops to serve the king, with a very harsh tone and words."

"Among the nine provinces participating in the Southeast Mutual Insurance, Shandong is the closest to the capital, so Yuan Shikai received the most telegrams."

"From the bottom of my heart, Yuan Shikai doesn't want to go, because his strength is about the same as Nie Shicheng."

"Since the former Wuwei army cannot defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, his right army of Wuwei will definitely not be able to defeat it either. If they go there, they will just die."

"So Yuan Shikai gave various reasons not to leave. One moment he said that he was not ready and could not go, the next moment he said that the Boxers were in rebellion and he really could not spare the troops to support him."

"Later, Yuan Shikai couldn't get over it anymore, so he sent four thousand green battalions to die."

"But these cannon fodders were lucky. The war ended halfway and they escaped."

"While Cixi urged Yuan Shikai to send troops, she also sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, asking Li Hongzhang to come to Beijing quickly and be responsible for peace talks with ministers from various countries."

"At this time, Cixi knew very well that this battle could not be won, and the foreigners only wanted Li Hongzhang's face. If he wanted to calm down the incident, Li Hongzhang had to take action."

"But after receiving the telegram, Li Hongzhang said that the state affairs were undecided and he was determined not to go."

"Li Hongzhang believes that since peace talks are to be held, Gang Yi, Duanjun Wang Zaiyi and others must first be dismissed from their posts."

"If not, he will be negotiating with the foreigners at the front while the die-hards are causing trouble in the rear, and his efforts will be in vain."

"Cixi really wanted Li Hongzhang to come, but she didn't want to get rid of Gangyi's bunch of sycophants. The time would be wasted if they came and went."

"On August 8, more than 13 coalition forces entered the city of Beijing and attacked Dongbianmen, Chaoyangmen, and Dongzhimen."

"The next day, Beijing fell, and Cixi took Guangxu hostage and fled to Shanxi in a hurry."

The common people in the late Qing Dynasty were numb to the imperial court's defeat and had long been used to it.

Since the First Opium War, the Qing government has been losing battles and has never won a war against foreign powers.

Therefore, when the Qing government was about to go to war with the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the people unanimously believed that the Qing government would be defeated.

The final result was indeed not beyond their expectations, and the defeat was even faster than they imagined.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the capital city was still the capital, and the Qing government sent heavy troops to guard it.

Facing the 10,000 foreign troops, even if the Qing government could not hold it, it would have to resist it for at least a month or two!

But who would have thought that the 10,000 coalition troops arrived in Beijing on the first day, only to break through it the next day? This speed was beyond their imagination.

Now the common people feel more and more that the fall of the Qing government is imminent.

"While in exile, Cixi's reputation fell to the bottom, and she no longer expected the Boxers to resist foreign enemies, so she issued an order to completely suppress the Boxers."

"And sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, appointing Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary representative for negotiating peace with the great powers."

"Li Hongzhang saw the telegram and knew that things were serious."

"Immediately left Guangzhou and embarked on the difficult road of negotiations."

"On October 1900, 10, Li Hongzhang arrived in Beijing, and then he used his identity as a scapegoat to reach an agreement with the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the Treaty of Xinchou."

"If the traitorous treaty Li Hongzhang signed before has more or less something to do with him, then the signing of the "Xinchou Treaty" has nothing to do with him."

"And it was precisely because of Li Hongzhang's argument that Cixi escaped the accountability of the great powers."

"At that time, ministers from various countries requested the Qing government to execute 12 people including Duanjun Wang Zaiyi and Gangyi, and demanded severe punishment of 142 officials. These officials were die-hards who had supported the Boxer Rebellion."

"No matter how you look at it, Cixi is the number one person responsible. At the very least, she must hand over her power and take a back seat."

"But at Li Hongzhang's insistence, Cixi did not have to bear any responsibility."

"Li Hongzhang took the blame for Cixi's wrong decisions and helped her avoid accountability."

"So Cixi was very grateful to Li Hongzhang afterwards and did not pursue his resistance to the imperial decree during the war."

"As for the other governors, Cixi did not hold them accountable."

Liang Qichao: This old thief is also nosy. Such a good opportunity to get rid of Cixi was messed up by the old thief.

While he hated Li Hongzhang, he also felt sorry for Cixi's escape from the sanctions of the great powers.

When the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Cixi, he was still complacent, thinking that Guangxu would be in power soon, and then the opportunity would come for their reform faction.

Because he knew very well that Cixi could not be an opponent of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and defeat was inevitable.

The Eight-Power Allied Forces have always supported Guangxu's rise to power. They can take advantage of Cixi's defeat to completely oust Cixi and allow Guangxu to return to power.

Once Guangxu comes to power and their reformists come back to power, the Chinese nation will have a chance to rise again.

But now everything is in vain, Li Hongzhang, a traitor, saved the old witch Cixi.

This also means that the reformists will never be able to come forward again, and the entire Chinese nation has completely cut off the opportunity to finally reform and strengthen itself.

"The reason why Cixi did not hold several local governors accountable is very simple."

"On the one hand, mutual protection between the southeast and the southeast has protected the nine southern provinces from being affected by the war."

"The first important thing Cixi faced after the war was to collect money to pay compensation. The South preserved its vitality. In Cixi's view, the governors made a great contribution."

"On the other hand, Cixi is just a mere commander at this time. Even if she wanted to hold him accountable, she would not be able to hold him accountable."

"Around 1899, the Qing government's armed forces in the north were roughly divided into two parts."

"First, there were more than 100,000 Eight Banners stationed outside the Pass in the Northeast. These were wiped out by the Tsarist Russian invading army."

"The second is the Wuwei Army formed by Cixi and Ronglu, which is divided into five divisions."

"Among them, the Wuwei Central Army, the Wuwei Front Army, and the Wuwei Rear Army were all severely damaged by the Eight-Power Allied Forces."

"Yuan Shikai was a participant in the Southeast Mutual Protection, and the relationship between the Wuwei Left Army commanded by Song Qing and the Wuwei Right Army was very good. Many officers secretly regarded themselves as brothers."

"As a result, if Cixi still wants to maintain her rule, she will have to rely on local governors."

“In addition, the relationship between governors and governors involved in Southeast Mutual Insurance is also intricate.”

"Li Hongzhang is the leader of the Hunan Army, Liu Kunyi is the boss of the Hunan Army, and Zhang Zhidong has a very good relationship with the Hunan-Huaihe faction."

"Yuan Shikai is a disciple of Li Hongzhang. The uncle of Xu Yingkui, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, once suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with the Hunan Army, and also maintained good relations with the Hunan and Huaihe factions."

"These southeastern governors wear a pair of trousers in private. If Cixi dares to touch one of them, it will inevitably affect the whole body, leading to uncontrollable consequences."

"For example, rebellion. In fact, someone did propose rebellion at that time, and this person was Zhang Zhidong."

"In late June 1900, that is, after receiving the declaration of war, Zhang Zhidong immediately planned to elect Li Hongzhang as president."

"That is, once Beijing is not protected and Cixi dies, he will elect Li Hongzhang to be the president of China and preside over the overall situation in the southeast."

"So after the Gengzi national crisis, Cixi's attitude towards the nine southeastern provinces was in one word, stable."

"Stabilize the situation first. It is unrealistic and unnecessary to hold people accountable."

The common people in the late Qing Dynasty felt sorry that Li Hongzhang failed to rebel and become president, and they could not help but secretly curse Li Hongzhang for being too cowardly.

The common people hated the Qing government and the Empress Dowager Cixi deeply, and wished that someone could overthrow the Qing government as soon as possible.

Since the First Opium War, the lives of their people have become increasingly poor, and they are almost unable to survive.

Now that Cixi has lost another war, she needs to pay huge compensation to the eight powers. This is to push their people to death.

So they hope someone can put an end to all this so that their people's lives can be easier.

The most promising person to overthrow the Qing government was Li Hongzhang, but Li Hongzhang did not have the courage to rebel.

After Cixi's defeat, Cixi's prestige fell to the bottom, and Cixi had no soldiers to spare.

At this critical moment, if Li Hongzhang united with the governors of the southeast, he could easily overthrow Cixi.

"However, Cixi did not immediately pursue the responsibility, which does not mean that she does not want to pursue it."

"After all, the Southeast Mutual Protection was the first time since the San Francisco Rebellion that ministers publicly united against the imperial court."

"If there are no checks and balances, and local governments remain semi-independent for a long time, the Qing Dynasty will be over sooner or later."

"So in January 1902, after Cixi returned to Beijing, she began to dismantle the Southeast Mutual Protection."

"At that time, Li Hongzhang and Liu Kunyi died of illness one after another, and Ronglu, who had always supported the Westernization movement, also died of illness."

"As the big bosses passed away one after another, Cixi immediately promoted a group of young Eight Banners nobles to support these people on the political stage and fill the vacancies."

"The best among them is Tieliang, who was born in Manchuria with a white flag."

"In 1903, Xu Yingkui and Deshou died of illness, and Wang Zhichun was transferred to Guangxi as governor."

"Seeing that most of the governors in the south changed hands, Cixi felt that the time was ripe."

"So Cixi sent Tie Liang south twice, in the name of checking the finances of various provinces and reorganizing arsenals."

"While disbanding or integrating the local armed forces in the south, we also conducted a large-scale raid on the small treasury of the Hunan-Huaihe system."

"For example, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, which is the Huai Army's small treasury, was searched by Tie Liang and found 800,000 taels of silver."

"After taking care of the southern military leaders, Tie Liang was used as a pawn by Cixi and secretly competed with Yuan Shikai, the representative of the northern military leaders."

"In 1906, the third, fifth, and sixth towns of Beiyang trained by Yuan Shikai were acquired by Tie Liang, and only the command rights of the second and fourth towns were retained."

"Tie Liang would come out to sing the opposite tune from time to time, which made Yuan Shikai very angry."

"So he joined forces with Prince Qing to participate in the Tie Liang Book, saying that if Tie Liang was not eliminated, the New Deal would be obstructed."

"However, Tie Liang was originally a pawn arranged by Cixi. How could Cixi cut off her own arm?"

"As a result, Yuan Shikai was self-defeating. He was promoted openly and secretly by Cixi. He was appointed Minister of Military Aircraft and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and lost his military power."

"In 1907, Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong were transferred to the Military Aircraft Department together."

"The mutual protection situation between the Southeast and the Southeast seven years ago disappeared under the collapse of Cixi."

Zhu Di: The great situation of mutual protection between the Southeast and the Southeast was easily shattered by Cixi.

Under the shadow of defeat, Cixi was able to stand up again and dismantle the threat of mutual protection in the southeast.

He could only lament that Cixi's prestige was so great that the ministers below did not dare to have dissent.

When Cixi was defeated, if any Han minister had some backbone, he could have ousted Cixi from power.

After all, at that time, Cixi needed prestige but not prestige, and military strength but not military strength. It would not be too easy to launch a coup to get rid of Cixi.

But unfortunately, those Han officials had been tamed by the Qing Dynasty's rule and did not dare to have any thoughts of rebellion.

However, even if the best opportunity to overthrow the Qing government is missed, if this continues, the Qing government's demise is a foregone conclusion.

Originally, the Qing government had already sunk, and now coupled with the impact of the huge indemnities caused by the Eight-Nation Allied Forces' war of aggression against China, the Qing government could no longer sustain it for much longer.

The moment the Qing government was defeated in the Eight-Power Allied Forces' war of aggression against China, the death knell of the Qing Dynasty's demise had sounded.

(End of this chapter)