Master Yuan, start!

Li Hongzhang was in a bad mood on the ship, so no one wanted to offend him.

Originally, Li Hongzhang was in a good mood.

At Huang Xing's suggestion, he took the initiative to send a telegram to the whole country, demanding that the republican government in Beijing establish a parliament and select talented people.

This immediately won the favor of some people. The people who were unaware of the inner workings of the upper class believed that Li Hongzhang was truly working for the country and the people and wanted to establish a republican system.

As a result, Yuan Shikai's original method of dividing the country into eight military regions to restrict Li Hongzhang was suddenly overshadowed by Li Hongzhang's proposal to convene a parliament.

Li Hongzhang used soft tactics to counter hard tactics, putting Yuan Shikai in an awkward position.

If he wanted to advance, he would have to convene the National Congress as he wished and abandon the 20 elite troops of the National Revolutionary Army.

If he retreated, it would mean that he would go back on his word and betray the promise he made to the thousands of people in front of Zhengyang Gate in the capital that day.

Li Hongzhang believed that Yuan Shikai, a man who valued his reputation, would not resort to force.

Otherwise, when they launched an uprising from Korea and entered the capital, they could have established their own regime instead of letting Guangxu continue to be emperor.

The so-called gathering of the North and the South in Wuchang to discuss national affairs was a complete cover.

Li Hongzhang didn't think Yuan Shikai would agree.

He believed that as long as Yuan Shikai refused, he could criticize him in public opinion, arouse the dissatisfaction of the people, and then he would have room to maneuver.

Didn’t the once arrogant General Zeng Qinghong step down in disgrace because he provoked public resentment?

But what Li Hongzhang did not expect was that Yuan Shikai actually agreed readily without putting forward any conditions.

Just as the southern newspapers were praising Li Hongzhang's devotion to the country and praising his merits, news came out that Yuan Shikai was sailing south to Wuchang, which once again stole the limelight from Li Hongzhang.

Since Yuan Shikai went south, Li Hongzhang had to respond.

The people's hearts have been aroused, so we must fight to the end.

"If Yuan Xiangcheng dares to go south, then I will not be a pushover, so I will go north!"

But what Li Hongzhang did not expect was that Yuan Shikai was also not at peace on the way south.

He first announced in Linqing, Shandong, that he would build a railway along the Grand Canal to accommodate millions of canal workers.

After arriving in Xuzhou, he solved a murder case that had lasted for more than 20 years, which won praise from the people of both Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.

I heard that some people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang compared this case of the miner taking revenge for his father with Wu Zixu's revenge for his father.

No matter what, it is only natural for a gentleman to take revenge.

In those days, Wu Zixu's entire family, including his father and brothers, were killed by King Ping of Chu. They fled to the State of Wu and eventually attacked the capital of Chu under the pretext of King Wu's power. They dug up King Ping's tomb and whipped the corpse to avenge their father and brothers.

In order to avenge his father's blood, miner Zhang Shi endured 20 years outside the Great Wall. With the help of the Republican government, he returned to his hometown and avenged his father's murder.

Miner Zhang Shi is not a murderer, but the reincarnation of Wu Zixu!

Ridiculous, ridiculous! How can a mere miner be compared with Wu Zixu, the prime minister of the State of Wu?

But the majority of the people were ignorant. As Yuan Shikai traveled south, newspapers in Jiangning and Shanghai reported on his deeds, making them widely known.

Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, looked at his own side and couldn't help but sigh.

Everyone just focused on getting on with their work and had no idea what creating momentum was.

Originally, Li Hongzhang's plan was to pay homage to Zeng Guofan's tomb and then travel north to Wuchang by water across Dongting Lake.

The reason for specially venerating Zeng Guofan was because Li Hongzhang intended to expand the influence of the Huai faction.

After the collapse of the Hunan clique entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River, some Hunan troops chose to follow the arrested Liu Kunyi and stay in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, but some Hunan troops chose to return to their hometown in Hunan after being scattered around.

The strength of the Xiang faction in Hunan Province was also reduced, and the army was divided into two factions.

One group felt that Marshal Zeng was gone, Marshal Zeng Jiu was gone, and now Marshal Liu was also defeated. The Hunan Army had fought for 30 years but ultimately failed to achieve hegemony. It would be better for them to let go of the idea and just live an honest life.

The other faction believes that Liu Kunyi has betrayed the trust of General Zeng Jiu and destroyed the Hunan Army that General Zeng built 30 years ago. Now that the army is still in Yuan Shikai's hands, it is clear that he is abandoning the Hunan faction.

Therefore, although Yuan Shikai defeated the Hunan Army and the National Revolutionary Army penetrated deep into northern Jiangxi, they had not yet set foot in Hunan.

Because after the collapsed Hunan Army returned to Hunan, it merged with the original Hunan patrol army to form a local armed force of about 1 people.

At that time, Yuan Shikai focused on Russia.

In Jiangxi, they had to face both the unfriendly remnants of the Hunan Army in eastern Hunan and the covetous Lingnan Huai Army in southern Jiangxi. After taking Nanchang Prefecture, they stopped their advance.

So this time Li Hongzhang set out from Guangzhou, traveled north to Wuchang by land, and after arriving in Changsha, he paid homage to Zeng Guofan with the ceremony of a disciple.

Its purpose is nothing more than to win people's hearts.

Since the "merger of Guangdong and Huaihe Rivers", Li Hongzhang has increasingly valued students from these new-style schools in Guangzhou.

Among them, Huang Xing, a student from Hunan, was specifically appointed by Li Hongzhang as a councilor of the Governor's Office to serve in his presence.

Li Hongzhang wanted to use him as an example, so he spent a fortune to buy horse bones, gradually gathered the Hunan people, and took control of Hunan step by step.

However, in the face of Yuan Shikai's behavior of stirring up public opinion all the way south, Li Hongzhang had to stop the ship on Dongting Lake and carefully discuss countermeasures.

How should we deal with it?

Li Hongzhang could not help but smile bitterly and said: "Keqiang Huang Xingzi, if it is really as you said, Yuan Shikai will not be able to go south smoothly.

The construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Railway not only won the hearts and minds of millions of canal workers, but also the people in Jiangbei and even the people in Jiangnan areas such as Jiangning and Zhenjiang were eagerly looking forward to it.

What should we do next?"

"General Quan, this matter is nothing to be afraid of." Huang Xing raised his head and looked at Li Hongzhang confidently and said: "He, Yuan Shikai, wants to build the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway to win the hearts of the people.

Then we can also build the Yue-Han Railway and keep Hunan in our hands."

When Li Hongzhang heard Li Jingfang’s proposal to build the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, he couldn’t help but think about it.

"Building a railway is one solution, but the terrain between Hunan and Lingnan is far less flat than the land near Xuzhou. It's difficult to see results in a short period of time!"

Li Hongzhang knew that he could not waste time, as he was nearly 30 years older than Yuan Shikai.

Unless Yuan Xiangcheng died suddenly of illness, he would never outlive him.

After I die, who in the entire Huai faction can take up the banner?

The eldest son, Li Jingfang, had no military experience and found it difficult to win the support of the people; Ding Ruchang had been in charge of the navy for many years and could only be a local general.

Are we going to hand over the Huai faction to Liu Bingzhang in Sichuan?

Li Hongzhang was reluctant from the bottom of his heart.

Could it be that we have to cooperate with the French to fight against Yuan Shikai?

Thinking of the fact that the French secret envoy went to the Guangzhou Governor's Office and discussed with him all night before leaving, Li Hongzhang fell into deep thought again.

ci micro Maoti married group, 96670.2?

Ten years ago, he sent troops to fight a fierce battle with France at Zhennan Pass, but ten years later, he was forced to join forces.

Li Hongzhang thought to himself, this diplomacy is really not something that ordinary people can do.

Chapter 367 Wuchang Guillotine

Early in the morning, outside Wuchang City, in an open space by the Yangtze River.

A temporary wooden platform was built on the open space.

On the platform, there is a rectangular vertical wooden frame about four or five meters high.

At the top of the frame is a metal faucet, and behind the faucet is a sliding blade that emits a captivating cold light under the morning sun.

guillotine!

This device, which terrifies all royal nobles in Europe, is now available in China for the first time.

When it was first launched, it was equipped with a "dragon head" with Chinese characteristics.

It can be said that this new guillotine combines the essence of China's dragon-headed guillotine and the European guillotine into one.

The river water was lapping against the shore. The people inside and outside Wuchang supported each other and gathered on the city wall, braving the howling cold wind from the river.

Hundreds of ships, large and small, were docked on the south bank of the Yangtze River near the edge of Wuchang.

The people of Hankou and Hanyang stood on the boat, craning their necks to look at the temporary platform outside the city of Wuchang.

On the open space by the river, there were even more people who came from afar. They all had white cloths on their arms and stared at the guillotine in front of them.

Next to the guillotine, an old woman with a wooden expression and disheveled hair was kneeling on the ground with her hands in shackles and her feet chained.

Next to the old woman was a young bannerman with a braid.

The young bannerman's legs were trembling, and yellow liquid was already flowing freely from his body.

The ones who were about to be publicly tried and executed were Cixi and the young Emperor Baoqing.

When Yuan Shikai launched the anti-Manchu revolution, Li Yuanhong and Zhang Biao, the generals of the left and right wings of the Hubei New Army, also followed the orders of Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang.

They broke into the Snake Mountain Palace Complex where the temporary imperial palace was located, hacked to death a number of Manchu princes and nobles, and then arrested Cixi and the young Emperor Baoqing, saying that they would hold a public trial in front of the world the next day.

At that time, almost everyone thought that Zhang Zhidong was just making an excuse.

After Cixi and the young emperor were imprisoned, there was a high probability that they would "suddenly fall ill and die suddenly"

After all, the best way to treat the previous king is to let him die of illness.

But what was unexpected was that when the President of the Republic Yuan Shikai and the Governor-General of Lingnan Li Hongzhang arrived, Zhang Zhidong suddenly dragged out the two "fake emperors and fake empresses" and wanted to execute them in public.

Moreover, the execution method was not the traditional beheading by the executioner, but was learned from the way the French Republican government treated their king.

Use the guillotine!

In every way, this was a very high-standard execution.

The torture instrument was a guillotine inlaid with a dragon head.

The person being punished was once the ruler of a country.

As for the people who participated in the execution, they were all famous figures.

There is the President of the Republic, the Grand Commander-in-Chief of Lingnan, and the Governor-General of Huguang.

In addition, there are thousands of people who come from afar.

Yuan Shikai sat on a chair beside the platform, looked at Li Hongzhang who was not far to his right, and then looked at Zhang Zhidong who was reading out the crimes of the Qing Dynasty in front of him, feeling somewhat confused.

"What's going on here?"

He had just arrived in Wuchang yesterday, and Li Hongzhang arrived almost on the same day.