Let's try this challenge again. From now on, chapters will be released at 12:00 PM. I hope readers won't have to stay up late reading anymore.

In mid-April 1909, the People's Party formally responded to the Qing court's political stance, causing a massive wave on the Chinese political stage. The People's Party's attitude remained a firm demand for the overthrow of the Qing court; this fundamental position was revealed without reservation in their short and powerful announcement.

Those involved in politics would never just look at surface articles. The People's Party's reason for resolutely demanding the overthrow of the Manchu Qing was to firmly support the Reform. In this era, Reform was already a trend, a fashion. Even within the Manchu Qing conservative faction, there was no lack of support for Reform. Various political forces merely had different positionings of their own interests within the Reform, but Reform itself had become an irreversible consensus.

In the eyes of various political factions and small political cliques, since the People's Party clearly indicated its agreement with Reform, then the People's Party had not detached itself from this political trend that was already dominating China. As for the People's Party's advocacy of "overthrowing the Manchu Qing" or the "People's Revolution" shouted earlier, that was simply the People's Party's own "political interest positioning."

When the People's Party's proposition spread throughout the country, in China's political center, Beijing, Yuan Shikai was convening a cabinet meeting. Although he was only the Vice Prime Minister of the Cabinet, no one in the entire cabinet treated Yuan Shikai as a deputy. Even Prime Minister Prince Qing, Yikuang, would not be that foolish. Yikuang was already 71 years old this year; no matter how tough his body was, he couldn't truly preside over government affairs like Yuan Shikai. He would always show up once for every cabinet meeting, but when it came to the discussion of specific affairs, he would quickly hand over the work to Yuan Shikai and go home to rest. This meeting was no exception.

Once Yikuang left, the atmosphere in the cabinet became much more lively. The main content of this discussion was the division issue of the future United Provincial Autonomy. Yuan Shikai was not an overly autocratic person; while he certainly had to have the highest decision-making power, in actual operation, Yuan Shikai still advocated for collective wisdom and efforts.

In the plan Chen Ke gave to Yuan Shikai, United Provincial Autonomy was just a programmatic model. What Chen Ke wanted was the Four-Province Autonomy for the People's Party; for other specific parts, Chen Ke had neither the reason nor the necessity to spend huge mental effort planning for Yuan Shikai. Of course, Yuan Shikai also had no intention of handing this heavy responsibility over to Chen Ke to plan.

The Beiyang Cabinet was not equal to the Beiyang Group. These days, the interior of the Beiyang Group was also discussing this issue with buzzing excitement. In the national layout preliminarily completed by the Beiyang Group before Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing to seize power, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, and the four Northeastern provinces were already indisputably owned by Beiyang. What made Beiyang dissatisfied was that Anhui, whose Governor was originally of the Beiyang lineage, had been seized by the People's Party. Viceroy of Liangjiang Duanfang could originally be considered a Beiyang man, but now Jiangsu was controlled by Zhang Xun and Wang Youhong, who were loyal to Cixi. The Viceroys of Sichuan and Gan-Shaan (Gansu and Shaanxi) were similarly relatively loyal to the Qing court. The Qingliu (Pure Stream) faction had greater influence in the Yun-Gui (Yunnan and Guizhou) generation. Therefore, although the Beiyang Group possessed immense power, there was still a long way to go before completely securing the situation.

Chen Ke's statement being issued at this time appeared particularly important. The program recently proposed by Yuan Shikai contained three key points: "Constitutionalism," "Reform," and "United Provincial Autonomy." This was re-establishing China's system from a political framework; the survival of the Qing court was not considered at all. Once the powerful armed force of the People's Party was incorporated into this framework, the "Beiyang-People's Party Axis" would reach directly from North China to South China. No local political force in China would dare to directly contend with this power. This was also the fundamental reason why Yuan Shikai agreed to the People's Party's territory of four provinces.

"How are the preparations for the 'Outline of the Constitutional Compact'?" Yuan Shikai asked Shen Jiaben, the Minister of Justice.

"Drafting has been completed, and it is currently undergoing final revisions. Everyone can take a look at the draft before this revision." Shen Jiaben distributed a stack of documents to the cabinet members as he spoke.

This "Outline of the Constitutional Compact" was less a blueprint for a final constitution and more a declaration completely stripping the Manchu Qing imperial family of all power in a legal sense.

"The imperial lineage of the Great Qing Empire shall remain unchanged for ten thousand generations. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable. The power of the Emperor is limited to what is prescribed by the Constitution. The order of succession of the Emperor is prescribed by the Constitution." The first four articles were just plagiarism of the codes of constitutional monarchies; the cabinet members just glanced at them and didn't look further.

Other articles concerned the scope of power for the Parliament and the Cabinet. The cabinet members didn't look much at those either; their gazes swept one by one over the content related to the imperial family.

Article 5: The Constitution shall be drafted and resolved by the Senate (Zizhengyuan) and promulgated by the Emperor.

Article 8: The Prime Minister shall be publicly elected by the Parliament (Assembly) and appointed by the Emperor; other Ministers of State shall be recommended by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Emperor. Members of the Imperial Clan may not serve as Prime Minister, other Ministers of State, or administrative chiefs of various provinces.

Article 10: The Army and Navy shall be directly commanded by the Emperor, but when used domestically, they shall be subject to special conditions resolved by the Parliament (Assembly); otherwise, they may not be deployed.

Article 15: The formulation and increase or decrease of Imperial Household expenses shall be resolved by the Parliament (Assembly).

Article 16: Imperial ceremonies must not conflict with the Constitution.

Article 18: Matters resolved by the Parliament (Assembly) shall be promulgated by the Emperor.

These articles seemed to be confirming the Emperor's status as the representative of China, but in reality, they ruthlessly made imperial power nothing more than a facade. Especially Article 8, which completely established the power of the Cabinet Prime Minister and deprived the Imperial Clan of all power by legal means. After reading these, almost all cabinet members breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think there is no need to modify anything further, just promulgate it directly." Yang Du was young after all and couldn't hold back his temper. He spoke hurriedly.

As a newcomer to the Beiyang Group, Yang Du's attitude annoyed quite a few people. But Yang Du was personally promoted by Yuan Shikai, and his attitude couldn't be said to be wrong. The cabinet members just remained coldly silent, refusing to echo Yang Du's personal statement.

After a long silence, Wang Shizhen suddenly asked, "Lord Yuan, if all provinces agree to this 'Outline of the Constitutional Compact,' but the People's Party insists on the abdication of the Imperial Family, what should be done?"

As soon as these words came out, it immediately triggered nervousness in everyone. Chen Ke's recent statement was merely implicitly expressing support for Yuan Shikai's direction of Reform, but Chen Ke would absolutely not express recognition of the Qing court. If all provinces agreed to the plan of United Provincial Autonomy and Constitutional Monarchy, and the Qing court still nominally existed, the People's Party would absolutely not let the matter rest.

This question was indeed a very thorny one; all cabinet members looked at Yuan Shikai. Beiyang had reached an agreement with the People's Party, and they didn't care about the Qing Emperor abdicating. But other Viceroys and Governors might not be so easy to talk to.

Yuan Shikai was silent for a while, then said slowly, "Constitutional Reform is the foundation of the country; on this foundation, everyone can talk. Although Chen Ke is a bit stubborn, he is still a child. The ages of the Viceroys and Governors of the world are not young anymore; I feel there is no need for elders to lower themselves to the level of young children."

This seemingly soft speech made quite a few cabinet members unable to hold back their laughter. What was meant by "don't lower themselves to the level"? Yuan Shikai was plainly saying that Chen Ke would absolutely not be polite in the slightest to those die-hards. Those with sharp minds were already considering which province would be unlucky. And those who knew more inside information had already guessed who was going to be unlucky. The four provinces of territory claimed by the People's Party back then—although Hubei was not yet completely occupied, after the People's Party sent troops out of Jiangsu, they at least already had the territory of three provinces. The remaining one was Jiangxi. Jiangxi Governor Wu Xun was a die-hard royalist. When Yuan Shikai seized power in Beijing, most provincial Viceroys and Governors supported Yuan Shikai. Only a few Viceroys and Governors hadn't said a word more than a month after the seizure of power ended. Wu Xun was one of them. Yuan Shikai's calculation to kill with a borrowed knife was shrewd indeed.

Once the People's Party captured Jiangxi, it would be equivalent to their military front directly reaching Liangguang (Guangdong and Guangxi). In order to avoid suffering attacks from the People's Party, the Viceroys and Governors of other provinces would definitely seek help from the Beiyang Central Government. At that time, as long as Yuan Shikai could rein in Chen Ke, other political forces would no longer dare to disobey Beiyang's command and could only choose to bow the knee to Yuan Shikai. Therefore, the People's Party's attacks on the surrounding areas seemed to be weakening the prestige of the Beiyang Government, but in reality, they were all serving Yuan Shikai in disguise.

Everyone was a smart person, so naturally, they wouldn't brag about their own "cleverness" on such a small matter. Saying too much wouldn't gain everyone's approval; on the contrary, it would only prove that one's own depth was too shallow.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his judgment, Yuan Shikai said, "I don't think this 'Outline of the Constitutional Compact' needs to be modified either. It's an outline anyway; if the situation changes later, it will be in time to modify it then."

Hearing Yuan Shikai say this, Minister of Justice Shen Jiaben nodded in agreement.

Yuan Shikai continued, "Since it is United Provincial Autonomy, there must be an arrangement for the various provinces now. We can't control how the provinces run themselves, but the Cabinet cannot remain silent on who runs the provinces. let's circle the candidates first."

This was the main event. The current personnel arrangement for United Provincial Autonomy determined the highest power holders in the provinces for the next few years. Even within the Beiyang Group and the provinces controlled by the Beiyang Group, Yuan Shikai still had the final say. But the advantage of getting in first absolutely could not be underestimated. Immediately, people began to recommend those they were familiar with. The interior of Beiyang was not a monolith either; although all interests were temporarily united under Yuan Shikai's banner, when it came to specific interests, everyone refused to yield.

Yuan Shikai listened silently, watching the scramble for interests before him, and couldn't help but think of Chen Ke, far away in Anhui. He wondered if the inside of Chen Ke's People's Party was like the current situation in Beiyang. Because Yuan Shikai had grasped the grand strategy extremely appropriately recently, Beiyang had gained unprecedented benefits in one fell swoop. Correspondingly, no one in the Beiyang Group dared to oppose Yuan Shikai anymore. And Chen Ke had always been the pillar of the People's Party, so presumably, it was the same there.

But the situation Chen Ke faced was like the situation Yuan Shikai faced now. Yuan Shikai already held the direct power of appointment and removal for officials in nine provinces, plus Inner and Outer Mongolia, totaling eleven provinces of territory. Beiyang had already begun to fight for these eleven provinces of territory. The People's Party now had three provinces and would have four provinces of territory in the future. With the large number of troops in the People's Party, they would likely fall even deeper into the situation of "many wolves and little meat." The struggle within them would probably be even more fierce. Thinking of this, Yuan Shikai sincerely hoped that the People's Party would fall into a fierce struggle for interests. The People's Party was already very powerful; there was no need for it to become any stronger. Let the various high officials within the People's Party fight endlessly for interests! Yuan Shikai prayed silently in his heart.

Once the "Outline of the Constitutional Compact" was released, it was natural for the whole country to be shaken. Local governments that originally had many doubts about the Yuan Shikai Cabinet had obtained an accurate answer. Not to mention that the local governments controlled by the Beiyang clique immediately wired their support, the imperial clansmen in the capital all exploded.

Ever since Zaifeng's last gamble, forcibly issuing an edict ordering Yuan Shikai to "retire and return home," the princes and nobles in Beijing immediately suffered a "siege by the masses." During this siege, which lasted for a full twenty days, no one could enter or leave the various princely mansions. Water sources were okay to say; many princely mansions had their own wells. Even if they didn't, they could endure thirst. But no one emptied the manure for the princely mansions; the cesspits and chamber pots in all the mansions were full. Fortunately, it was winter, and the stench was still bearable. If it were summer, the princely mansions would probably be uninhabitable.

Not long after these terrible days ended, the imperial clansmen still had some memory at least, and they had been quiet for a while. But after they saw the "Outline of the Constitutional Compact," that little bit of memory was thrown into the nine heavens.

And the change in the situation was completely beyond the imagination of the imperial clan. As soon as Yuan Shikai's statement of Beiyang United Provincial Autonomy came out, not only Beiyang but the Viceroys and Governors of various provinces immediately expressed their approval. What exceeded everyone's expectations was that the first to wire the whole country expressing support was not a Beiyang-controlled area, but Jiangsu. Jiangsu Governor Wang Youhong not only expressed support for United Provincial Autonomy but also suggested immediately establishing assemblies in various provinces to prepare for the provisional parliament.

The imperial clansmen cursed Zhejiang Governor Wang Youhong (Note: Text says Zhejiang here, but context suggests Jiangsu Governor Wang Youhong, likely a typo in source or reference to his origin/other title, but Wang Youhong is Jiangsu Governor in previous context. Sticking to Jiangsu Governor as per context.) for not repaying the Emperor's grace. But curses were just curses; they had no effect on reality. Moreover, even if Governor Wang Youhong knew that the imperial clan hated him to the bone, he would not change in the slightest.

After the negotiation with Chen Ke, Wang Youhong understood that it was precisely because the People's Party had no intention of having a showdown with Beiyang in the near future that Chen Ke so firmly supported United Provincial Autonomy. After United Provincial Autonomy, neither the Central Government nor other provinces could interfere in the internal affairs of the People's Party. Wang Youhong didn't care at all what exactly Chen Ke wanted to do; as long as the People's Party didn't come to hit Jiangsu, Wang Youhong wouldn't seek unhappiness by accusing the People's Party. As for Northern Jiangsu, if it was lost, it was lost; as long as Southern Jiangsu could be kept, under the pressure of the People's Party, Wang Youhong's position might be even more stable.

The Manchu Qing had established a total of twenty-three provinces, plus Inner and Outer Mongolia, counting as twenty-five provinces. However, Taiwan Province had been seized by Japan. Only twenty-four remained.

The four Northeastern provinces, Zhili, Fengtian, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Zhejiang, and Inner and Outer Mongolia. These eleven provinces had already fallen into Yuan Shikai's hands.

The People's Party controlled Anhui, Hubei, and the Northern Jiangsu part of Jiangsu.

The two sides together had thirteen and a half provinces, more than half. Moreover, these thirteen provinces had large populations, relatively developed economies, and a considerable amount of industrial construction. As for the armies the two sides could deploy for operations in other provinces, they far exceeded the sum of other forces. Nanjing, Jiangsu, where Wang Youhong was located, claimed to have fifty thousand troops. These troops were okay for guarding Nanjing, but pulling them out for battle would just be delivering meat to others.

Outside of Beiyang and the People's Party, the other areas—Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian, Xinjiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou—totaled eleven provinces, many of which were poor and destitute lands. Even in these areas, Beiyang's influence had not failed to penetrate.

With such a disparity in power, it was obvious which side Wang Youhong would choose. Even if the imperial clan hated Wang Youhong to the bone, Wang Youhong could only look out for himself first.

Wang Youhong considered for himself, and the imperial clan considered for themselves even more. In the increasingly narrow mental horizons of these people, everyone was a traitor; what was wrong with obediently serving the Emperor and the Imperial Family? These imperial clansmen completely could not understand why they had been abandoned by the whole country.

Former Prince Regent Zaifeng stayed behind closed doors. Without Zaifeng taking the lead, the imperial clansmen had to act on their own. Liangbi, Yulang, Puwei, Zaitao, Zaize, and Tieliang—members of the imperial clan considered to be the capable generals of the Manchu Qing—held a secret meeting of the aristocratic core. The meeting tried hard to sort out the development of the situation, from the rise of the People's Party to Yuan Shikai's seizure of power. Strangely, the imperial clan did not hate the People's Party; all their hatred was concentrated on Yuan Shikai. The imperial clansmen unanimously believed that as long as they could get rid of Yuan Shikai, all problems could be solved. The imperial clan would regain power.

How to get rid of Yuan Shikai became the focus of the discussion. Some in the imperial clan proposed assassination, not just assassinating Yuan Shikai, but conducting a comprehensive assassination of the Beiyang Cabinet, and then establishing a new cabinet with the imperial clan as the core.

This plan was correct in theory, but the biggest problem in practice lay in "how to gather enough military force to assassinate so many cabinet ministers and vice-ministers." The armed forces of the Manchus were now non-existent. Asking these princes to do it themselves? They were unwilling to sacrifice their lives for the Great Qing. The princes' bodies of a thousand gold were for holding power, for ruling the world. How could they sacrifice themselves in vain in an assassination?

The princes believed they should rely on the Bannermen of Beijing City. Among so many Bannermen, how could there be no men willing to serve the court? Some princes and nobles put this idea into practice.

Yuan Shikai's intelligence system soon received comprehensive reports and exposures from Manchu princes and nobles down to ordinary Bannermen. Yuan Big Head was very composed; he waited until the Manchu princes' efforts to seize power reached their peak. "In other words, the money was spent, the people were found, and verbal agreements were reached. But the Bannermen who got the money had no one who was truly willing to sell their lives. Seeing that this armed action was about to end without a result."

The police immediately carried out a major arrest of these people based on the information they had mastered. Liangbi, Yulang, Puwei, Zaitao, Zaize, and Tieliang were "invited" to the police headquarters. The factual evidence was laid out in front of them. Liangbi and Tieliang could still be considered tough bones; they sneered and said nothing more. The other princes were interrogated separately; they were just casually tied up, hung up, and slapped a few times. Chili water, tiger bench, branding iron, finger presses—these methods hadn't even been used yet, and the princes confessed everything like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.

Thick stacks of confessions were taken by Yuan Shikai to Empress Dowager Longyu. Yuan Shikai and the others, with snot and tears, asked the Empress Dowager to make the decision. Empress Dowager Longyu, a young wife, didn't know what to do. After listening to Yuan Shikai's tearful complaint, the Empress Dowager was also scared to tears. Princes rebelling and failing was originally a capital crime. The Empress Dowager naturally refused to let this bunch of princes be beheaded. The problem was, if this bunch of people weren't beheaded, Yuan Shikai would probably behead Empress Dowager Longyu and the Little Emperor Xuantong in the Forbidden City.

Weeping and wailing, Empress Dowager Longyu didn't know how to solve the problem before her. Finally, it was Yuan Shikai who suggested, "The princes are purely making trouble because they have too much money. Why not establish a Royal Bank in the name of the Empress Dowager and deposit the princes' money into the bank? The accounts will be kept by the Empress Dowager, and the princes' families will be supplied with monthly money based on headcount. This money can also earn interest when lent out."

Empress Dowager Longyu simply didn't understand what kind of disposal this was, but under the coercion of Yuan Shikai and others, she was forced to agree.

Once the Empress Dowager's edict was issued, the Beiyang Army and police, who had long been carefully selected, rushed into the various princely mansions holding the edict and carried out major house raids on the major princely mansions. The commander-in-chief behind the house raiding action was Yang Du. This new capable general of Beiyang used all kinds of methods. The princes' family members were taken away separately, and the servants under them were severely tortured. The torture this time was not so polite. These carefully selected house raiding teams held the tenet of "only results, regardless of cost." From the accountants to the page boys, everyone was given twenty strokes of the killing stick first, and then the interrogation began on where the money was hidden. Yang Du received guidance from "certain channels"; the Beiyang Army had field telephones, and the hand-cranked generators quickly came in handy. The electric shock effect was quite good; many people confessed.

For those tough bones who refused to yield under electric shock, Yang Du had to use the traditional chili water, tiger bench, branding iron, and finger presses to serve them. If there were still those who were overly loyal, bamboo spikes were driven into fingers, or their family members were cruelly tortured in front of these loyal slaves.

Even so, the accountant in Prince Gong's mansion was truly a tough bone, refusing to reveal the property no matter what. As a last resort, Yang Du had to order people to let this accountant witness a scene: all the men of Prince Gong's family were stripped naked and put through various water tortures. In the pain and despair of suffocation, Prince Gong cursed the accountant, demanding he quickly hand over all accounts. The accountant, already flesh and blood flying and vaguely indistinguishable, completely despaired of such a master and bit his tongue to commit suicide.

The accountant's choice was very smart. Beiyang would not leak this kind of torture. Whether they confessed or not, the stewards among the princes' servants were all executed on the charge of "stealing from the master and colluding with bandits during the rampage of horse bandits."

This was the stratagem Chen Ke gave to Yuan Shikai. Beiyang needed money, a large amount of money. In Beijing, this bunch of princes had money; the Anglo-French Allied Forces and the Eight-Nation Alliance had robbed them twice but hadn't stripped this group of princes clean. The confessions of the princely mansions were certainly one of the channels for intelligence acquisition.

Yuan Shikai contacted the Shanxi banks. On the condition that the Beiyang Government guaranteed the rights and interests of the Shanxi banks in various places, plus the confessions of the princely mansions, he basically sorted out the assets of the princes in the banks and controlled them in his own hands.

In addition to these two paths, Chen Ke also provided metal detectors. The technological content of this thing was very limited; it was just the induction of electromagnetic coils to metal. The key was that this theoretical concept had not yet been proposed in 1909. Yuan Shikai was originally half-believing and half-doubting about this thing, until the prototype provided by Chen Ke showed considerable effectiveness, then he exchanged a large batch of telegraph wires with Chen Ke for a large batch of metal detectors. The Beiyang Army, holding long-pole detectors, conducted a thorough inspection of the princely mansions and the acquired treasury intelligence, successively discovering quite a few hiding places for gold and silver.

After this battle, the property of the princely mansions was stripped clean. Yuan Shikai used Beiyang's Bank of Communications as a background to open a "Royal Bank Account." Sixty percent of the confiscated property went into the bank, and forty percent fell into Yuan Shikai's own account. And the account books of the various princely mansions were respectfully handed over to Empress Dowager Longyu for safekeeping.

In this process, Yuan Shikai fulfilled his promise to Chen Ke. The large batches of books and documents from the princely mansions that were in excess were placed in a special warehouse, sealed, and strictly guarded. To serve as important materials for the future National Grand Library and National Archives.

A fallen phoenix is less than a chicken. First, they lost their power and position, and then they lost their wealth. And under Yuan Shikai's hoodwinking, Empress Dowager Longyu issued another edict: "Bannermen may seek their own livelihood." At the same time, the "Iron Crops" of the Eight Banners were abolished.

The Eight Banners system had long existed in name only; the only thing maintaining it was the "grain, rice, silver, and money" supply for the banner troops. Once this "Iron Crop" was abolished, the Bannerman system no longer had the foundation to continue. The Bannermen in Beijing fled in panic one after another, either running to Tianjin or running outside the pass (to Manchuria). Beijing, which used to be the base camp of the Bannermen, had few Bannermen left except for the princes imprisoned in the empty princely mansions.

After experiencing this blow, the Manchu Qing no longer had any possibility of turning over. Provincial Viceroys and Governors began to announce support for "Constitutionalism, Reform, and United Provincial Autonomy" in June 1909.

On July 1, 1909, the People's Party marched into Jiangxi on the grounds that Jiangxi Governor Wu Xun "is a royalist and a die-hard running dog of the Manchu Qing."

Also in July 1909, floods broke out in Hubei again. This time, the People's Party government led the masses to go all out for disaster relief.

By mid-August, the People's Party had conquered the entire territory of Jiangxi and Hubei, and the disaster situation in Hubei had also ended.

On September 1, 1909, Yuan Shikai announced the "Maintenance List" for various provinces. The original provincial Viceroys and Governors became "Transitional Leaders of Various Provinces with a three-year term." And various provinces sent representatives to Beijing to convene the "Constitutional Conference" according to the ratio of one representative per one hundred thousand people based on the population estimated by the Manchu Qing.

Yuan Shikai invited the four provinces controlled by the People's Party to also send representatives to attend the conference. The People's Party stated, "We will absolutely not attend any formal meeting of the Manchu Qing as formal representatives. But the People's Party will send observers to participate in this Constitutional Conference."

On October 5, 1909, the First National Constitutional Conference officially convened in Beijing.