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Page 35
April 8, 1906, outside Beijing.
As Zhao Yan rode his horse, he gazed at Beijing, which was so close at hand. Looking at the magnificent and prosperous ancient capital that had been the subject of many literati and scholars, he felt calm and peaceful.
However, everyone around him was extremely excited, for this was the central hub of the nation, the core of the nation.
"We need to plant more trees in the north! This vast land, at a time when everything is bursting with vitality, is devoid of any greenery. It's truly a real eyesore!"
Having grown accustomed to the lush green hills and clear waters of the south, Zhao Yan was extremely dissatisfied with the barren landscape of Beijing.
Those around almost threw out their backs when they heard this. Is this the time to complain about the lack of greenery?
Zhao Yan spurred his horse and shouted, "Let's go, into the city!"
The main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army had already entered the city, and the nine gates of the capital opened almost without any resistance; there was no point in resisting.
The Qing court's prestige had long been eroded by repeated defeats and humiliations. This was not the first time Beijing had been captured, and this time the invaders were not foreigners. Why bother struggling in vain?
Even ordinary people from the surrounding areas of Beijing carried ladders over to help. Last time, when the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Beijing, many people helped out and gained a lot of benefits. This time, they wanted to do the same.
But the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Eight-Nation Alliance were different. Their first task after entering the city was to maintain order and prohibit any acts of burning, killing, and looting, except for the official purge.
Zhao Yan rode into the city, followed by a large group of generals and guards. The large group of people surrounded Zhao Yan like stars around the moon as they entered the city through Yongding Gate.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
As soon as Zhao Yan and his entourage entered the city, the densely packed people on both sides of the streets immediately knelt down to welcome him, shouting "Long live the Emperor!" The people of the capital already regarded Zhao Yan, who had entered the capital, as the emperor.
Zhao Yan, who was riding his horse, reined in his horse and stopped. He frowned and looked sharply at the people. After a deep sigh, he continued on his way.
Without exchanging a word, Zhao Yan led a large number of troops and high-ranking officers of the Northern Expeditionary Army directly to the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City.
All the officials and dignitaries in the capital were now kneeling in front of the Meridian Gate, shirtless and carrying bundles of thorns on their backs, while the Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers around them stared at them menacingly with their guns fully armed.
Upon seeing Zhao Yan arrive, these people immediately lowered their heads deeply, not daring to look up at him.
Zhao Yan rode past on horseback, looking down from above, not even bothering to glance at him, and simply walked past.
Other local officials who can stabilize the area and do some practical work still have value in united front work, but these guys who hold high the Qing court in the imperial court are simply worthless and belong to the group that must be eliminated.
For three hundred years, the only ruthless person who has ever ridden a horse all the way from Yongding Gate through Meridian Gate, entered the palace city without dismounting, and rode straight towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony is Zhao Yan!
After passing through the last gate, Zhao Yan led everyone to the vast square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Everyone was awestruck. The wide and boundless square was paved with bricks and stones, a heavy and ancient gray color.
At the other end of the square stands the Hall of Supreme Harmony, symbolizing the core of imperial power. This spacious yet towering scene represents the boundless and supreme imperial power.
"By imperial decree of the Empress Dowager, Zhao Yan, a revolutionary general, is to be summoned to the palace!"
A sharp cry of announcement echoed across the square as Li Lianying, the eunuch standing before the main hall, uttered the final, poignant pronouncement of the Qing Dynasty.
Wang Chongshan laughed and said, "The Empress Dowager is quite shrewd; she's still summoning us at a time like this?"
Zhao Hao drew his gun: "Führer, charge in!"
Zhao Yan smiled confidently: "The entire palace is under the control of the Northern Expeditionary Army. What are the unarmed old woman and the emperor afraid of? Come on, let's listen to the imperial edict and see the legendary Empress Dowager and the emperor!"
Zhao Yan rode his horse all the way to the steps in front of the palace, then dismounted. He pointed to the dragon-patterned stone slab in the center of the steps and asked, "Is this the path that only the emperor could walk on in the past?"
The eunuchs serving on both sides knelt on the ground, not daring to speak, and kept kowtowing. Zhao Yan, who was in charge of the Northern Expeditionary Army, had a much stronger aura than Emperor Guangxu.
The only person the eunuchs recognized in the group was Yuan Shikai, the once powerful Beiyang Minister and Commander of the Six Divisions, who now couldn't even get a center position and could only follow at the back of the group as Zhao Yan's underling.
"Come on, everyone, let's all take a walk and soak up some of the dragon's energy!"
After Zhao Yan finished speaking, he stepped onto the dragon-shaped rock beneath his feet and began to walk upwards. When he turned around, he saw that no one behind him dared to take a step.
What a joke! Who knows if you, Zhao Yan, are testing us? This is the emperor's exclusive passage. It's fine if you go through it, but why are you making us go through it? Who knows if we'll be killed tomorrow because we went in with our left foot first?
"What are you all standing there for? Huh!"
"Not just you, but all the guards, get out of here! That's an order!"
"Furthermore, pass on my order: from now on, not only our revolutionary army, but also ordinary people—any Chinese person—can take this path!"
Facing the crowd, Zhao Yan said in an extremely stern tone, "This world, this land, has never belonged to any one person. The world belongs to all people, and the land belongs to everyone!"
"They're just a few dragons carved in stone. We're all descendants of the dragon, everyone has a share, so why can't we leave? Ah!"
After Zhao Yan became serious, everyone carefully stepped onto the Panlong Stone Slab and followed his steps. As they walked, they realized that there was nothing different about it; it was just a road!
Yuan Shikai was deeply moved. He had endured decades of trials and tribulations to rise from a lowly soldier to the Forbidden City, but even so, no matter how hard he tried, he could never walk this path again in his lifetime.
Today, however, he could follow behind Zhao Yan and turn the impossible into possible. At this moment, he suddenly understood why Zhao Yan had shattered the darkness like a shooting star in such a short time: because he could bring dawn to everyone.
Before this, Yuan Shikai couldn't understand how Zhao Yan had risen from obscurity to power in less than a year. Compared to him, Yuan Shikai felt he had wasted his life.
Yuan Shikai couldn't understand why this was the case, but today, he was completely convinced. Just this one magnanimity alone was something that others couldn't match even if they lived ten lifetimes.
Faced with the temptation of the throne, Zhao Yan was no different from usual. The various mysterious symbols and rituals that these people regarded were nothing but utterly worthless tricks in Zhao Yan's eyes.
This may be the difference between Zhao Yan and others, and also the difference between revolution and rebellion. Zhao Yan always seems to be able to see through the complex appearances and get straight to the core essence.
To others, all sorts of fancy rules and prohibitions seem very powerful and that they must abide by them, but to Zhao Yan, they are all nonsense!
As the group arrived at the front of the hall, the gates of the Hall of Supreme Harmony were wide open. Through the doorway, they could see the black floor tiles inside, which exuded a cool breeze and constantly reflected light. Several towering golden nanmu pillars supported the entire hall.
At the very center, extending to the very end, steps rise one after another, and at the very top lies the supreme position, for which countless heroes and great men throughout history have bowed down.
They entered the court without bowing, without mentioning their names, and with swords and shoes in the hall. The group walked in so openly, and there was not a trace of awe or intimidation on their faces. Instead, they were all arrogant and ambitious.
As a familiar face here, this was the first time Yuan Shikai had entered the palace so calmly and unhurriedly. It felt amazing, like the pinnacle of his life!
On the dragon throne, Emperor Guangxu sat there with a bewildered expression, while Empress Dowager Cixi lay on the imperial carriage beside him with her eyes closed.
Zhao Yan's gaze was extremely aggressive as he looked unabashedly at the Empress Dowager and the Emperor on the high throne, and said, "Aren't you going to come down? Are you waiting for me to make a move?"
Behind them, a group of heavily armed soldiers glared at them angrily, and with a whoosh, bullets were loaded.
Emperor Guangxu abruptly stood up from his dragon throne, pointed at Zhao Yan and a group of Northern Expeditionary Army generals, and angrily rebuked them: "Traitors and rebels, you have defied your superiors! You all deserve to die!"
Enraged, Emperor Guangxu grabbed the abdication edict he had prepared and angrily threw it at Zhao Yan.
But the emperor didn't seem to have much strength; even from such close range, he couldn't throw it, and in the end, the imperial edict fell limply to Zhao Yan's feet.
Zhao Yan glanced down at it, then looked up and shouted his famous line: "Emperor Guangxu, are you planning a rebellion?"
The young emperor was completely dumbfounded. In his thirty-four years of life, this was the first time he had ever heard anyone accuse him of plotting a rebellion.
Emperor Guangxu, enraged, laughed: "I am the Son of Heaven, why would I need to rebel? You are the rebels!"
Zhao Yan said, "I! I! I! What a load of rubbish!"
"I don't recognize you. Even if you're the emperor, or even the Heavenly King himself, I'll still kill you!"
"On behalf of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China and in the name of the Head of State, I hereby declare your throne invalid!"
Emperor Guangxu angrily declared, "I want it!"
Zhao Yan interrupted him directly: "If you still struggle after you've gone astray, you'll be charged with treason and rebellion. I'll use the laws of the Qing Dynasty to deal with you and exterminate your entire family!"
The young and impetuous Emperor Guangxu uttered words that terrified the entire imperial family: "So what if you exterminate my entire clan? I am the Son of Heaven, I am the Emperor of the Great Qing!"
"Alright, I'll grant your wish!" Zhao Yan waved his hand dismissively: "Execute ten clans of Aisin Gioro Zaitian!"
At a single command, the eager and impetuous Zhao Hao immediately took action. He rushed forward and, in front of everyone, pulled Emperor Guangxu off the dragon throne. Then, he delivered three swift punches to the emperor, knocking out his teeth.
The guards immediately stepped forward and dragged Emperor Guangxu away like a dead dog. It wasn't until they moved on to Empress Dowager Cixi that everyone realized how cunning the old woman was. She had taken drugs before coming here, and no one knew if it was arsenic or something else. Yet, she passed away peacefully.
This infuriated everyone. Zhao Yan stamped his foot and ordered that Cixi's corpse be dragged out and paraded around the city in an oxcart for three days before being thrown into a mass grave.
Chapter 64 Liquidation of the Entire City
The princes and nobles in the capital were all waiting for good news from the Forbidden City. Many people were speculating whether Zhao Yan would bestow the title of Duke of Anle or Prince of Shunyi upon Emperor Guangxu after his ascension to the throne.
Before the Northern Expeditionary Army entered the city, the imperial family had already forced Emperor Guangxu to write an abdication edict. Only after Zhao Yan entered the palace and staged a three-pronged appeal and refusal, could the abdication be completed.
Everyone thought that even if Zhao Yan was just trying to save face, he would at least try to appease the former dynasty's old guard. They figured they could talk about the issues of interest.
But what they received was not good news, but a devastating blow: Emperor Guangxu attempted to assassinate the head of state, Zhao Yan, in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and was immediately convicted of treason.
Zhao Yan proposed the execution of nine generations of a family, which displeased Emperor Guangxu, who demanded the execution of ten generations. Zhao Yan generously granted the emperor's request.
The entire process followed the Qing Dynasty law, using it to judge the Qing emperor and the Manchu imperial family. There was no need for the name of a purge; it was simply a matter of applying the Qing Dynasty law!
The Northern Expeditionary Army found the Qing Dynasty law quite useful. Since the new government hadn't yet promulgated any laws, they decided to use this one first. The laws promulgated by the republican government certainly wouldn't include barbaric punishments like exterminating nine generations of a family, slow slicing, being skinned alive, or being exiled to the army, but the Qing Dynasty law could!
The first group of people in the capital to be punished by the iron fist of the revolution were members of the Manchu imperial family. After the revolutionary army obtained the imperial genealogy from the Imperial Clan Court, they could simply follow the clues to their destination.
The Imperial Clan Court was essentially the household registration office for the Manchu imperial family. The Imperial Register was their household registration book. Once opened, if anyone's name was on it, there was no need for trial; they could simply be arrested throughout the city and the country based on the list.
The jade register even thoughtfully included the target's birth date, physical characteristics, official position, address, and social relationships, making it incredibly convenient to use.
On the second day after the Northern Expeditionary Army entered the city, Empress Dowager Cixi's body was dragged around the city by an oxcart. The entire city's population watched along the way, and many people even cried their hearts out. Some old scholars even angrily denounced the revolutionary army for its moral decay and tyranny, but no one cared about any of that.
Emperor Guangxu was thrown into a death row cell, and in the process, all sorts of high-ranking officials and nobles were arrested and brought in, including princes and nobles, and those with three-eyed peacock feathers and yellow jackets. They were all dragged into the cells like dead dogs. Emperor Guangxu, the deposed emperor, couldn't even get a single room and had to live in a large communal room.
In early April, the 4 Northern Expeditionary troops who entered the city were so busy that they didn't have time to rest. They conducted a city-wide search, first arresting the ten clans of Emperor Guangxu, then the Manchu imperial family, and finally high-ranking officials and nobles.
Just like Li Zicheng extorted money from the army back then, the Northern Expeditionary Army is doing it even better now. They're not just going to seize fixed assets and floating wealth, but they're even going to investigate the money you have in your foreign bank accounts!
In just seven days, the Northern Expeditionary Army extracted more than 4,600 houses from Beijing. Note that these were houses, not buildings!
The total amount of silver was 120 million taels, gold was 3.4 million taels, cultural artifacts and treasures numbered 10.44 million pieces, and land amounted to 7.8 million hectares (not mu, but hectares)!
Prince Zhuang alone occupied more than 500,000 mu of cultivated land in Hebei, Shandong and Shanxi!
All of its land is spread across the country, and its total area even exceeds one-tenth of the country's arable land!
In addition, there were various foreign currencies such as US dollars, British pounds, and French francs, all in the millions, which was equivalent to at least 20 million taels of silver.
The Northern Expeditionary Army generals, including Zhao Yan, were all dumbfounded! The wealth of this group was terrifying beyond measure. If they used all this money to deal with their revolutionary army, they wouldn't need the aid of the foreign powers. They could just throw money at them and crush the revolutionary army.
If this money were used to strengthen the military and the country, not only would the Eight-Nation Alliance have been defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, but even hiring mercenaries would have been enough to make the British Empire cry for its mother.
The provisional government's northern expedition, which lasted three or four months, only cost a total of over seven million taels of silver in military expenses. In contrast, the Manchu nobles had enough money and land to launch twenty or thirty northern expeditions.
But even after they were arrested, they were unwilling to give a single tael of silver to the front line, and they continued to embezzle the military funds that were rightfully theirs. When Yuan Shikai learned of these figures, he was cursing furiously, thinking, "If they had so much money, why didn't they give it to the front line earlier? Otherwise, how could the Northern Expeditionary Army have shown its might?"
Zhao Yan was astonished. He had united the forces of the southern provinces and desperately borrowed money from Jianghuai merchants at exorbitant interest rates, barely managing to sustain the army's northern expedition and industrial development. He never expected that his opponent would be so incredibly wealthy.
With such a large fortune, Zhao Yan didn't have the courage to divide the spoils. He directly ordered the gold, silver, and foreign exchange to be deposited into the national treasury, the remaining floating assets to be sold off, and the houses and other fixed assets to be handed over to the Provisional Government's Enemy Property Disposal Department for safekeeping and arrangement.
Every soldier in the Northern Expeditionary Army was granted 20 mu of land, and those who died in battle were granted 30 mu of land as a reward. This was much more satisfying to the soldiers than simply giving them money.
The provisional government's financial system, which was originally stretched to its limit, was transformed into a landlord by this windfall. Zhang Mingqi, who was far away in Changsha, received the news and, without even packing his things, took the train north with government officials. Where there is money, there is the central government; without money, who cares about you!
Having tasted success, Zhao Yan continued to issue orders: not only should we fight tigers, but we should also swat flies. The goal of eliminating the Manchu Qing Dynasty must remain unchanged. After the big tigers are dealt with, the remaining small flies should not be let go.
In addition to Beijing, other places should also simultaneously begin a thorough cleanup and investigation into the crimes of the Manchus who illegally seized Han people's property and land.
At the same time, the Republic of China removed its temporary sign, and Zhao Yan announced in the Forbidden City in Beijing that the government of the Republic of China had formally taken over all power from the Qing court and had taken actual control of the legitimate regime in China.
Zhao Yan issued a telegram to all provinces and regions, and also dispatched teams of central inspection groups to supervise the administration of the provinces. Anyone who dared to refuse was a remnant of the Qing Dynasty and an enemy of the new government.
Previously, Zhao Yan was hesitant and worried, but now he is full of ambition and high spirits!
This trip to the Forbidden City was worthwhile. Overthrowing the Qing Dynasty was secondary; the most important thing was making so much money. A man with money is a hero, a man without money is nothing.
Zhao Yan was well aware that this kind of windfall was a one-time thing, and there was no way to expect it to come every year. After all, the Qing Dynasty only had so much wealth, and once it was all gone, it would be gone.
Future income will still have to rely on normal national fiscal revenue; don't expect a second wave.
Unexpected wealth may not bring riches, but it can be used in emergencies. Zhao Yan was originally worried that with so many casualties in the Northern Expedition, the pensions would not be paid out. Now, thanks to the exclusive sponsorship from the Qing Dynasty, such a good person is truly hard to resist.
Therefore, Zhao Yan decided to send them off in style. Originally, the plan was to execute them by slow slicing, but considering their strong support for the revolutionary cause, Zhao Yan ordered them to be executed by firing squad and sent to meet Nurhaci.
By the way, Nurhaci was also among those whose entire clan was exterminated. The tombs of all the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were also included in the purge. Although grave robbing is immoral, it depends on the person.
If you send the revolutionary army to raid the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing, Zhao Yan wouldn't dare touch Zhu De's grave even if he had ten times the courage. But if you were to raid the graves of Kangxi, the Qing emperor, or Ye Zhupi, Zhao Yan would absolutely not hesitate.
Zhao Yan established a national archaeological team and decided to conduct "protective" excavations of the Manchu imperial tombs, bringing back to light the wealth that originally belonged to the people and lay buried underground.
With this title attached, Zhao Yan felt much better about his conscience. Master Zhao was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see the corpses of the Manchu emperors corroded by precious metals, so he helped them clean their graves. This could be considered tomb sweeping. Yes, this is tomb sweeping!
After Zhao Yan took control of the capital, his rampant money-making activities baffled outsiders. Everyone wondered why Zhao Yan hadn't ascended the throne yet, and why he was so focused on making money.
This is putting the cart before the horse! When a good person enters the capital, the first thing he does is to don the imperial robe. How come it's Zhao Yan who's already pocketing the gold and silver?
Only Zhao Yan himself knew that there were countless places where he would need to spend money. The current reserves in the national treasury were not even enough to fill a gap in the teeth, which would be an exaggeration, but at most it was just a tiny fraction.
Previously, one only needed to focus on the Northern Expedition and fighting wars, but from now on, the whole country will be a unified whole. National defense education, industrial infrastructure, science and technology finance, people's livelihood and medical care, etc. will all need to be managed. If you don't have money in your pocket, just being an emperor is useless.
Chapter 65 I've never seen anyone so stingy.
December 20, 1906, inside the Forbidden City.
"Your Majesty, shouldn't we at least have some kind of ceremony? We should at least have a sacrificial ceremony to the heavens, shouldn't we?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, doing nothing is against etiquette. If others find out, they'll think our new government is just a makeshift operation!"