Another World: Naval Storm

It was also on this day that the Xunyang government held its last court meeting, but this time the ministers no longer worshipped the emperor and the empress dowager as respectfully as before, but only symbolically bowed to Empress Dowager Zhuang Yi and Chongman.

"The 200-year-old kingdom of Xunyang was destroyed in my hands!" Queen Mother Chongman also stepped out from behind the curtain. Looking at the ministers who were disloyal in front of her, she knew that the rule of the Langya tribe was completely over.

Queen Dowager Chongman arrived very late that day. She was struggling internally and was still thinking about whether to abdicate at the last moment. However, she was unable to control the situation. Yuan Duren's Beiyang Army generals had already sent a telegram to Xunyang to announce the decision to support the republic. The Beiyang Army was the most powerful army of the Xunyang court at that time. Without the support of the army, Queen Dowager Chongman had no choice but to abdicate.

After Liang Bi was assassinated, the so-called royal relatives were all frightened. Although Zhuang Wei and others were still clamoring to live and die with Xunyang, it was actually just clamoring. They had no power to fight against Yuan Du's people.

February 2 was just the deadline Yuan Duren set for Empress Dowager Chongman and the Xunyang court. Yuan Duren had clearly told Empress Dowager Chongman that if Zhuang Yi abdicated before that day, he would guarantee that the Xunyang royal family would be treated well, otherwise he would hand the Xunyang royal family over to the Southern Revolutionary Party. Under Yuan Duren's coercion, Empress Dowager Chongman had no choice but to agree to announce Zhuang Yi's abdication on that day and support the republic.

On this day, the most active members of the cabinet formed by Yuan Duren, including Gu Yongde, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Zhao Bingjun, the Minister of Civil Affairs, were all Yuan Duren's confidants, so they were eagerly looking forward to Zhuang Yi's abdication. The division of the fruits was about to begin. Of course, Yuan Duren did not want to show up and personally force Zhuang Yi to abdicate, so on this day he chose to pretend to be sick and avoid it, but he still sent his confidants Gu Yongde and Zhao Bingjun to supervise Zhuang Yi's abdication.

According to the records of Xunyang historians, before the court meeting announcing the abdication, Empress Dowager Chongman once again convened a meeting of the royal relatives and finally asked for their opinions on whether to abdicate. At that time, Liang Bi was assassinated, and diehard members of the Zongshe Party such as Zhuang Wei were hiding outside, so they did not participate. In addition, except for a few people such as Yikuang and Zhuang Lun who supported abdication, other princes and nobles remained silent, especially Yu Lang, who had previously written a plan for constitutional monarchy. Empress Dowager Chongman asked him for his opinion three times in a row, but he did not say a word and chose to remain silent.

At this time, Empress Dowager Chongman knew that the situation was hopeless. Later, even the eunuchs around Empress Dowager Chongman took money from Yuan Duren to speak in her favor. The young eunuch also threatened Empress Dowager Chongman, saying that it would be better to actively accept the "Xunyang Royal Family Preferential Treatment Conditions" that have been formulated. Otherwise, if the revolutionary army entered Yanjing, they would probably not be able to negotiate with others even if they wanted to.

Under the threat of losing her life and going begging, Empress Dowager Chongman, who had no strong opinions, could only decide to announce the abdication of Zhuang Yi, the last emperor of Xunyang. After deciding to abdicate, she summoned Yi Kuang and Yuan Duren, and told Yuan Duren that she had decided to announce the abdication of Zhuang Yi and let Yuan Duren handle all matters related to the abdication.

"Yuan Qing, I leave this matter to you. I hope you can handle it decently for my mother and me. The court has been very kind to you in the past!" Empress Dowager Chongman sighed.

"I will definitely live up to the trust of the Queen Mother and Your Majesty!" You all decided to abdicate, so you must be prepared to put on a show. Yuan Duren pretended to cry with the Queen Mother Chongman.

When Empress Dowager Chongman arrived late with the young Emperor Xunyang, Zhuangyi, Gu Yongde and Zhao Bingjun immediately presented the prepared "Abdication Decree of Emperor Xunyang" and asked Empress Dowager Chongman to sign it on behalf of Zhuangyi and stamp it with the imperial seal.

Empress Dowager Chongman burst into tears when she saw the edict. She became more and more angry and just cried, but she was reluctant to sign the abdication edict. As Empress Dowager Chongman cried, many princes and ministers in the court also cried. Many people had their hearts set on Xunyang, but unfortunately, the situation was so bad that it was impossible to save Xunyang. Seeing this, Gu Yongde and Zhao Bingjun were anxious, but they couldn't urge Empress Dowager Chongman.

There were cries everywhere in the hall. Some of the royal family members got excited and shouted that the signature should not be signed and that a meeting should be held to discuss the matter. Zhao Bingjun could no longer bear it and came out to scold these people who were watching the fun and making trouble: "There are meetings every day. There have been meetings before. What were you doing before? Is it still useful to oppose it now?"

Zhao Bingjun then threatened: "If you can take the initiative to abdicate now, I will guarantee to treat the royal family well. Otherwise, once the revolutionaries arrive, the death warrant will be issued, and unpredictable things will happen."

After being threatened by Zhao Bingjun, Empress Dowager Chongman came to her senses immediately. She quickly signed the abdication edict and angrily rebuked these royal relatives: "You insects, you can't serve the country and the people, and now you want to kill me and my son!"

Empress Dowager Chongman then handed the signed abdication edict to the Grand Councilor Changduan and the Military Advisor Yu Jirong to have them stamped with the imperial seal. After Yu Jirong stamped the imperial seal on the edict, Empress Dowager Chongman continued to cry. The young Emperor Xunyang, Zhuang Yi, did not know why she was crying, but when he saw her crying, he started crying too. So the mother and son hugged each other and cried bitterly in the Qianqing Palace.

All the civil and military officials in the court symbolically cried with Empress Dowager Chongman and Zhuang Yi, and then dispersed. After all, Xunyang had been destroyed, and finding a new master and avoiding liquidation were the most important things. It can be said that there seemed to be no other emotions except sadness on the last day of the Xunyang Dynasty. Of course, only those who were tied to the chariot of Xunyang's interests had such emotions. The Southern Revolutionary Party and Yuan Du's people were very happy.

All countries closely monitored the situation in Xunyang to prevent the change of political system in Xunyang from causing damage to their interests.

The Japanese government discussed with Taren whether to intervene and made the Japanese position clear to Taren. They could not accept the empty talk of those who wanted to re-establish a republic in Xunyang, and they expected Xunyang to establish a national system in which the Xunyang court was nominally ruled by the Langya tribe, but the actual affairs could be handed over to the Yan tribe to manage.

However, the Talen government stated that it did not want to participate in supporting the establishment of a republic in Xunyang. As long as their interests in Xunyang were not lost, they did not want to invest their forces in the Far East. They wanted to concentrate their forces on dealing with the Drak people.

The Japanese believed that constitutional monarchy was the most suitable political system for Xunyang, but now they could not change the facts with their own strength. Privately, the Japanese also approached the Southern Revolutionary Party and Yuan Duren, persuading them to let Zhuang Yi be a puppet and jointly govern the country, but unfortunately neither the Revolutionary Party nor Yuan Duren agreed. Even though the Japanese had provided a lot of help to the Southern Revolutionary Party, the Revolutionary Party did not compromise on the issue of Zhuang Yi's abdication.