The Republic is so violent

Chapter 187 The Great Crash (2)
People can't fathom Xu Shichang's mind, but in fact there is nothing to fathom.Xu Shichang was Yuan Shikai's best friend in his youth, and he was originally super smooth, so he would never do anything wrong.But this kind of action requires a super thick skin, which Xu Shichang does not lack.

The saddest person on the list is Zhao Erxun, who is also one of the Four Friends of Songshan. This person is the younger brother of Zhao Erfeng in Sichuan who was beheaded by the revolutionary party. He is the curator of the Qing History Museum. Rehabilitate my brother.As we know, people at that time could not evaluate Zhao Erfeng according to the standard of human nature, which means that Zhao Erxun's work must be in vain.

Seeing Yuan Shikai enthroned, Zhao Erxun lay on the ground and cried loudly.No one cared about his brother's business, and Yuan Shikai became Emperor Hongxian. What do you call this worldly way?
Speaking of Yuan Shikai's proclaiming himself emperor, it was really a deal that lost the sky.Yuan Shikai himself lost his life and fame, and the whole of China fell into war, and everyone paid a heavy price for it.Against the background of all people losing money, there are still people who go against the trend of history and don't lose money, just making money.

The only person who made money was Zhang Zuolin.

06 The only winner Zhang Zuolin
During the monarchy movement, only Zhang Zuolin made a fortune. He earned the entire Northeast and became the famous King of the Northeast.

But to be fair, the reason why Zhang Zuolin made money was because of the business opportunities brought to him by the Japanese and the opportunities brought by "Article 21".

As early as when the Okuma Cabinet of Japan proposed the "21 Articles", Yuan Shikai discussed with others: All other regions and rights proposed by the Japanese will not be accepted, except for the Northeast.

Why is Northeast China an exception?

Because the Japanese are stationing troops in the Northeast, and the Japanese believe that the Northeast was obtained by the Japanese who repelled the Russians with their lives and blood.If you don't admit this at the negotiating table, it means declaring war on Japan.It is extremely irrational for you, an agricultural country, to dare to provoke industrialized Japan.

But the land issue cannot be compromised, and it is impossible to admit defeat in front of the Japanese.So Yuan Shikai's method is to recognize the reality in form. After all, the Japanese have already stationed troops in the northeast, and you don't have the strength to drive him away.Now that you Japanese have come, I can't stop you, but I can formulate Chinese laws, cultivate Chinese local heroes, and check and balance your Japanese power.

To cultivate local heroes in Northeast China, Zhang Zuolin was unanimously elected.

So Zhang Zuolin was called to Beijing, and Yuan Shikai gave him face-to-face instructions in Zhongnanhai.According to Zeng Yijin's memory, Yuan Shikai mainly told Zhang Zuolin three points:

1. The Japanese demanded to purchase and rent land in the Northeast. We can agree to these in the secret agreement. If we do not agree to this, it will be an immediate war between China and Japan.But yes, yes, you have to pass a law after you go back. Anyone who dares to sell an inch of land to the Japanese, or rent a house to the Japanese, will be punished as a traitor. I will let the Japanese take advantage of every inch of land. Can't take it either.

2. The Japanese proposed to live together with the Chinese, and we agreed to this.But if you are in the Northeast, you must cultivate a patriotic anti-Japanese sentiment, so that once the Japanese leave their dependent territories, they will encounter danger and make it difficult for them to move forward in the Northeast.

3. The Japanese asked us to hire Japanese as consultants, so we hired them, gave them a few small money, and never allowed them to participate in anything. It would be best to leave them idle.

At this time, Zhang Zuolin was only the commander of the No. 27 Division, and had never seen the world at all. When Yuan Shikai was speaking, his eyes were fixed on a strange thing he had never seen before.It was a gold watch with a string of beads around the edge, and on the back was a delicate enamelled figure.

Yuan Shikai didn't know what Zhang Zuolin was thinking, so he immediately laughed, picked up the gold watch, and threw it to Zhang Zuolin: Take it if you like, remember, guard every inch of the Northeast, and never let the Japanese take advantage of it .

Since then, Zhang Zuolin has won the full support of Beijing, and his influence has swelled up.Thanks to the graphic report, when Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Zuolin swore his allegiance:
There are strange things outside the customs, but I, Zhang Zuolin, are the only ones asking.Zuolin is in charge of the pass, and if there is any opposition in the pass, Zuolin is willing to lead his headquarters to quell the civil strife.

After expressing his position, Zhang Zuolin felt that he was not very strong. I am afraid that the generals of the provinces all said this kind of talk, right?Can you come to a brainstorming session, use your brains, brainstorm, and come up with some ideas?

So I called Zhang Jinghui: Ah Hui, the president is going to be the emperor, and Lao Yuan treats us well. Do you have any good ideas that can make our performance better than others?

Yes, yes, yes, Zhang Jinghui said, if you ask other people about this matter, there is really no way, if you ask me, you are right.I have a brother named Liu who bought a piece of jade a few days ago. Guess how big this piece of jade is?Bigger than a palm?Bigger than a head?Haven’t seen the world, have you? This piece of jade is bigger than a house. It weighs four tons. It’s all green Xiuyan jade, and the quality is super good.

Zhang Zuolin was stunned: Four tons of jade...is this still called jade?It's just a fucking big rock, what can we do with this jade?

Zhang Jinghui said: There are so many things that can be done, haven’t you heard that the dragon chair Yuan Shikai used to enthroned was made of silk and satin wrapped with grass mats because he couldn’t find the materials. Listen, the dragon made of straw mats Chair, can this sit on people?

Zhang Zuolin was overjoyed: Great. Let's use this piece of jade to make a dragon bed. The emperor lay on it with his concubine in his arms.

Zhang Jinghui: By the way, do you want to say hello to Governor Duan Zhigui first?

Duan Zhigui?Zhang Zuolin blinked his eyes, and asked Zhang Jinghui to come closer: Ah Hui, have you noticed that this Duan Zhigui seems a little careless...

Zhang Jinghui: It's bad, you're bad, Duan Zhigui isn't short-sighted, he's just short-sighted.

07 Teacher Duan didn't understand
It is said that Yuan Shikai increased his investment in Zhang Zuolin and spared no expense in cultivating Zhang Zuolin in order to fight against the Japanese, but in the end he made Fengtian General Duan Zhigui miserable.

Speaking of Duan Zhigui, he really has no relationship with the Northeast. As early as the late Qing Dynasty, he was thinking about being the Fengtian Warlord, but the results were always unsatisfactory.After all, he is not incompetent, but what suits him best is to teach military tactics in the classroom. No one can beat him in the lectures, but he always leaves the classroom and goes to the society. The society is full of people. Fine, how can he understand it as a teacher?

Speaking of going to battle, although Duan Zhigui was a hero, his ranking was a bit too low when there were so many heroes at that time.There is such a thing, Duan Zhigui once went to war, and before leaving, he asked an aide to draw up a manifesto, but the aide drew up two, handed it to Duan Zhigui, and said: "You read the first one now, and you will find someone to write the second one." The manifesto was read by no one.Although Duan Zhigui was surprised, he didn't think much about it, so he picked up the second declaration.When I went to the battlefield and was defeated, I was in a hurry to find someone to draft an armistice statement, but I couldn't find it. I took out the second article prepared by the staff and opened it. Hey, it was a statement in case of failure. It fit his situation well.

Even the staff who wrote the manuscript understood better than Duan Zhigui, so we can see how hard Duan Zhigui was at that time.

He also knew that his ability was not enough, so he tried his best to find sideways, actively persuaded Yuan Shikai to become emperor, and this trick saved worry and effort, and made a lot of money.This trick really worked, Duan Zhigui was named a first-class prince, and Zhang Zuolin also took a ride in the imperial system and was named a second-class viscount.If Yuan Shikai hadn't intended to cultivate him, no matter how hard Zhang Zuolin worked, he would be nothing more than a light-hearted captain at best.

But Zhang Zuolin believed that the reason why Duan Zhigui was awarded the first-class title was because Zhang Zuolin performed well. Only such a result.

So Zhang Zuolin led the crowd to congratulate Duan Zhigui, and mocked Duan Zhigui face to face: Emperor Hong Xian is about to ascend the throne, and the commander-in-chief is the founding father of the country, why don't you go to Beijing to attend the enthronement ceremony?

Duan Zhigui replied with a smile: Not busy, not busy, I really want to go, but the work here cannot be separated from me.

Zhang Zuolin was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he came out and said to people: Look at this short paragraph, sooner or later he will be stupid to death.Could it be that he couldn't understand?What I meant by that was to tell him to get out of here early.

But Duan Zhigui really didn't understand, what can you do?
After returning, Zhang Zuolin became more and more angry, so he sent someone to tell Duan Zhigui: Commander, have you heard?Some people in the Northeast are arguing for independence, Mr. Zhang asked you to quickly think of a way.

Fight for independence?Duan Zhigui was taken aback, who is this, let Mr. Zhang check it out, and report it to me quickly.

The visitor said: Master Zhang said that he is afraid that he does not have the ability to protect your safety, Commander. You should make up your own mind, Commander.

What do I think?What do you want?Duan Zhigui was really stupid, he couldn't figure out what was going on, so he ordered someone to go to Zhang Zuolin, and promised to get Zhang Zuolin the governor of Suiyuan.Zhang Zuolin pretended not to hear, and just sent his men to yell and harass Duan Zhigui outside the door, shouting to beat and kill.It was only at this point that Duan Zhigui came to his senses. Zhang Zuolin had already been fattened up. He was powerful enough to drive him away so that he could dominate the Northeast.

Duan Zhigui was forced to flee Shenyang.Before he left, there were hundreds of thousands of cash surplus in the accounts of the capital office, which was left over from Zhao Erxun's early days when he governed the Northeast.Later, Beiyang Zhang Xiluan governed the Northeast, and Beiyang transferred the money to Zhang Xiluan's account, but Zhang Xiluan refused.After that, the money was left here, and in the end, Duan Zhigui was accused of stealing the money.

Duan Zhigui was driven away, and Zhang Zuolin rushed to make the dragon bed day and night. The main part of this bed is a complete piece of green Xiuyan jade, and it is carved from more than [-] pieces of large pieces of jade and hundreds of pieces of small pieces of jade, with a total of four pieces of jade. More than tons.You can think of it with your toes. Such a big thing cannot be completed within three to five days.This image project is actually just another delaying strategy by Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Zuolin won a good post from Fengtian Governor and Governor, and the dragon bed is still in the rush period.In the end, I didn't hear that the dragon bed was handed over, and the imperial era was over.

There are different teachings: the emperor called him not to go to bed, and pointed to the white jade bed in the East China Sea with a smile.The imperial system is short-lived like a dream, and the only profit is Lao Zhang.In this short imperial era, Zhang Zuolin made as much money as he could, and became the only person in the world who took advantage of it.

08 Beiyang Great Crash

Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, Zhang Zuolin made a lot of money, but the one who lost the most should be Feng Guozhang in Nanjing.

(End of this chapter)