October 24, 1912. Beijing was already under martial law in broad daylight.

Shops and homes were bolted shut. The only people on the streets were patrolling Beiyang soldiers, police officers standing guard, and abandoned corpses. Aside from them, foreign soldiers on horseback trotted back and forth. Occasionally, foreign reporters could be seen taking photos along the road. The city was as desolate as a dead market. It was hard to imagine that this was Beijing, the capital of the Republic of China, which had been bustling with prosperity not long ago.

The closer one got to the Legation Quarter, the more foreign soldiers there were. Most were cavalry, patrolling the streets on tall horses, their visual presence particularly intimidating. The embassies of various nations were heavily guarded, with live ammunition loaded in the rifles of the soldiers strictly defending the gates. Inside, ministers were directing counselors to gather intelligence, sending telegrams to report to their home countries, or discussing countermeasures with core members.

The British Minister was perhaps the most anxious of all the foreign ministers in China. As the global hegemon and the leader of the current world order—at least nominally—Britain could not consider issues simply.

The Minister and the First Secretary sat in a small conference room. The topic of their discussion was not Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government close at hand, but the People's Party local government thousands of miles away, and a war tens of thousands of miles away.

On October 9, 1912, the "Balkan League," consisting of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro, declared war on the Ottoman Empire with the support of Tsarist Russia after their demand for autonomy in Macedonia and Thrace was rejected. After fierce fighting, Serbian and Montenegrin forces occupied Macedonia and the Adriatic coast; Bulgarian forces controlled the area west of Istanbul; Greek forces occupied the Aegean islands; and the Ottoman army retreated to Edirne, Ioannina, and Scutari.

The Balkans were known as the powder keg of Europe. This region involved too many conflicting interests among the European powers. In the current situation where contradictions between the powers were constantly intensifying, they were barely maintaining basic autonomy and had not yet openly come to blows. The "3B Railway" plan proposed by the Germans—the Berlin-Istanbul-Baghdad railway—was a point of contention. Although the British felt this railway undermined geopolitics, under the insistence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Britain had to hold its nose and accept it by 1912, allowing Germany to begin construction.

If the British built dreadnoughts, the Germans followed suit. Against the backdrop of the naval arms race, at least until a winner emerged, Britain actually wanted to maintain the current peace. In this regard, Germany, as the challenger, also needed temporary peace. The British Minister to China and the First Secretary didn't need to discuss these basic political facts too much. The situation they faced was that to cope with Germany's challenge, Britain had to stabilize the situation in various regions first so that they wouldn't be thrown into disarray by emergencies during wartime. The Beiyang government had undoubtedly caused the hard-won stability in the Far East to become turbulent again.

"I saw Yuan Shikai today. He appeared very confident," the British Minister said. He only wanted to say this much. In fact, if explained in diplomatic language, this could be the Minister's description of Yuan Shikai, or his negation of him. Because Yuan Shikai merely "appeared" confident.

The British Minister didn't want to waste words. Yuan Shikai was more than just confident; he had emphasized the strength of Beiyang with a boastful attitude, claiming that the mutinous soldiers were just a small group and that it was a trivial matter not worth mentioning. However, the intelligence obtained by the British side was quite different. The mutiny was by no means limited to Beijing alone.

On October 19, a mutiny occurred at Dongyue Temple outside Chaoyang Gate. The soldiers first looted fruit stands and food shops outside the gate, then joined up with mutinous soldiers inside Chaoyang Gate to loot separately. Gold and silver shops, jewelry stores, restaurants, and foreign goods shops were all ransacked. They also set fire to Dong'an Market, Dongsi Pailou, and other places, with the chaos lasting for three days.

At 4:00 PM on October 20, Yuan Shikai convened a meeting of senior military and political leaders in Beijing at the Yingbin Hall. It was decided to take immediate action to stop the spread of the chaos. In addition to issuing back pay owed to the troops who had not mutinied according to regulations, orders were given to the Yi Army to arrest any soldiers attempting further disorder. After receiving the order, Jiang Guiti, commander of the Yi Army, personally led his guards out to suppress the riots, executing on the spot any mutinous soldiers found looting indiscriminately.

Beijing seemed to have stopped the mutiny, but it subsequently spread from Beijing to Tianjin, Baoding, and Fengtai. The looting in Tianjin was even more severe than in Beijing. On the morning of October 21, the guard of the Viceroy of Zhili in Tianjin, the northern section police, and the patrol battalion led by Zhang Huaizhi were brewing a mutiny. At 8:00 PM, a train from Beijing arrived. Forty or fifty mutinous soldiers jumped off the train and immediately fired a volley of shots. The new train station caught fire, followed by fires at Dahutong, the Old Silver Dollar Factory, and the Mint. Gunshots rang out everywhere. Prosperous market streets, wealthy merchants, and both new and old foreign firms were burned and looted. First it was soldiers, then bandits, mixed with a few police officers, looting from door to door. Mutinous soldiers from Beijing continued to arrive in Tianjin, totaling over two thousand. The looting was quite organized. On the evening of October 22, they hijacked a train and headed for the Three Eastern Provinces. At midnight on the 22nd, police maintaining order captured over four hundred mutinous soldiers and bandits. They were executed at the East Road on the morning of the 23rd. Another twelve looters were executed at the North Gate on the afternoon of the 23rd, and only then did Tianjin stabilize.

When Yuan Shikai established the police system in Tianjin years ago, he was praised by various countries, who believed he was a talent capable of governing China. That was why the powers did not suppress him during his seizure of power later on. Now, Tianjin, the place where Yuan Shikai made his fortune, was also affected by the mutiny. Moreover, this mutiny was not caused by external forces; it was entirely the result of Yuan Shikai's inability to restrain his own subordinates. This couldn't help but greatly disappoint the British Minister, who had once strongly supported Yuan Shikai.

The First Secretary did not go see Yuan Shikai with the Minister; he went to see Tang Shaoyi, the Foreign Minister of the Beiyang government. Tang Shaoyi had returned from Germany. Although he spoke in official jargon to the British envoy, as a fellow diplomat, he very subtly indicated, "The Beiyang government has the ability to handle domestic issues, but if the British government could provide some economic support, the Beiyang government could solve the problems even better."

Exchanging intelligence, combined with what the British had gathered themselves, both the Minister and the Secretary believed that the Beiyang government was fundamentally incapable of solving the current problems. This mutiny was not an end, but a beginning. Holding the power of China's customs, the British were probably clearer about Beiyang's financial situation than Beiyang itself. The current situation could be summed up in one sentence: The Beiyang government had no money.

The Secretary said with a tinge of regret, "Looking at it now, our judgment of the People's Party was incorrect. If only we had forced Yuan Shikai to form a coalition government back then."

European and American countries had always believed that Beiyang and the People's Party were two factions of the same political force. Given the origins of these two forces and the relationship between them, this view was not unreasonable. When Yuan Shikai appointed Yan Fu as the Premier of the Beiyang Cabinet, the powers even thought that Beiyang and the People's Party were about to adopt a cooperative stance on the issue of a coalition government.

The British Minister did not answer immediately. He picked up his teacup and took a sip of black tea before asking, "Is it possible for the People's Party to support Beiyang financially?" The People's Party was the initiator of the Fixed Trade Agreement, and the British knew very well that with the People's Party's current financial resources, supporting the Beiyang government would not be a strain.

The Secretary smiled bitterly. "I discussed this with Tang Shaoyi, and he appeared very surprised. In my view, the Beiyang government clearly regards the People's Party as its greatest enemy. The People's Party has never asked to join the Beiyang government; theoretically, they are still rebels. If they were to ask to join, they would certainly demand real power within the government. Given the balance of power, the People's Party could even secure the vast majority of ministerial positions. The Beiyang government would never agree to that."

The British Minister completely agreed with the Secretary, so he remained silent. After a long while, he said, "If Yuan Shikai still cannot resolve the financial problem, the best method is to issue a loan to him. Do you think the People's Party would agree?"

Whether Britain providing a loan to Yuan Shikai and whether the People's Party would agree seemed like completely unrelated issues, but the Secretary understood perfectly. What China could mortgage now was customs duties and salt taxes. The People's Party had only a short coastline, and the location was not suitable for drying salt. The British originally thought the People's Party would be constrained by salt producing regions regarding table salt. However, the People's Party developed salt mines in Dingyuan County, producing refined salt. The quality was so high that even the chefs in the foreign legations in Beijing chose to use it. Not only did the salt producing regions fail to strangle the People's Party, but the People's Party also dumped salt at low prices in surrounding areas, even counter-attacking the salt producing regions. The Beiyang government's salt tax took an unprecedented hit, and its value as collateral was greatly reduced.

As for customs duties, the Yuan Shikai government, which accounted for less than twenty percent of the import-export volume under the Fixed Trade Agreement, would surely want to use the entire customs revenue as collateral. The People's Party, which accounted for over sixty percent of the volume, would absolutely not agree. Unless the British government provided a loan to Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government independently. But given the current economic level of Yuan Shikai's government, under normal lending contracts, they wouldn't even have the ability to repay.

"Can't we persuade Yuan Shikai to form a coalition government?" the Secretary asked. "Even if the People's Party holds part of the central power, Yuan Shikai would still be the President. It seems to me that the People's Party has never had any intention of overthrowing Yuan Shikai personally."

The British Minister laughed. "It seems Orientals all like absolute monarchy. Having only an empty title without corresponding power would be considered an insult by them. The higher the status, the greater the insult. Yuan Shikai must be like this, and I'm afraid the People's Party's reluctance to seek positions in the central government is also due to this consideration."

"What a strange way of thinking," the Secretary said resentfully. It wasn't that he couldn't understand this mindset, but facing such a dangerous situation, Yuan Shikai still held onto power and refused to let go, which caused great damage to British interests.

The British Minister spoke slowly, "Yuan Shikai's government won't last much longer. If things develop according to the current situation, the disparity in power between the Beiyang government and the People's Party government will become increasingly wide. The balance established in the Far East with such difficulty will eventually be broken. If war breaks out, we might lose control over the Far East situation."

The Secretary didn't answer immediately. He looked at the medal on the Minister's chest. It was a recently awarded medal; as a reward for signing the Fixed Trade Agreement with China, the Minister was now a Sir, officially entering the ranks of nobility. The Secretary himself also had such a medal on his chest. As contributors to the agreement, three people in the British Legation had received medals.

So the Secretary knew better than anyone what was on the Minister's mind. The development of Yuan Shikai's regime wasn't actually the most important thing; the British Empire's interests in China were the sole core. Currently, it wasn't just the Yuan Shikai regime that maintained this core; the People's Party, this local regime, played an even bigger role. But the People's Party's performance so far proved that they would absolutely not actively defect to Britain. If the People's Party were willing to do so, the British would have long since supported them to become the rulers of China.

"If it doesn't work out, let me go to Wuhan," the Secretary finally voiced his thought. According to British intelligence, Chen Ke, the Chairman of the People's Party, had left Xuzhou for Wuhan in July 1912. The People's Party Central Committee, which was always on the move, had subsequently relocated to Wuhan.

The British Minister thought for a moment and shook his head slightly. "There's no need to rush for now. We might as well negotiate with Yuan Shikai first and see what solution he is prepared to offer for the current situation. If he really can't solve it, it won't be too late for you to go to Wuhan. Between Yuan Shikai and Chen Ke, I still advocate maintaining a balance."

Playing the balance of power on the continent was Britain's most adept trick. If there was a situation more dangerous than the collapse of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government and great damage to British interests in China, it would be this massive country falling into the hands of a powerful force. Facing the European continent for hundreds of years, what British politicians feared most was a unified Europe. A unified, powerful European continental nation was absolutely Britain's mortal enemy. This had nothing to do with personal likes or dislikes; it was an inevitable fact.

So Britain fought the Holy Roman Empire, fought Napoleon, and fought Tsarist Russia. Any country with the potential to become a regional hegemon was Britain's enemy. Even if that force was Britain's ally not long ago, Britain would not hesitate to strike against this emerging power. For example, the current Germany and the United States. For such countries, the only question was whether Britain had the ability to fight them, not whether Britain should fight them.

Facing the current Far East, Britain's attitude was the same. It formed a military alliance with Japan to limit Russia's expansion in China. While suppressing Russia in the Far East, Britain tried to rope Russia in to suppress Germany in Europe. Facing the two most powerful political and military forces in China today, the British also held this attitude, trying their best to maintain a balance between them.

The Secretary naturally supported this line of thinking, but he frowned slightly. "Sir Minister, I've always had a very bad feeling. Could the People's Party have already taken our thoughts into account in their foreign policy?"

"Hmm? Why?" The Minister was somewhat stunned.

The Secretary organized his thoughts and spoke slowly, "Looking at it now, the People's Party has made huge adjustments to the current balanced situation. If the current events with Yuan Shikai hadn't happened, we would certainly be satisfied with the current structure of China. The People's Party could continue to avoid conflict with our British Empire. If they were to conflict with us, the People's Party is destined not to win. If the People's Party had such preparations in their diplomacy from the very beginning..."

The Minister wasn't without such thoughts, but he had only thought about it occasionally. Chen Ke was said to have studied in Europe and America, and facts proved that he was indeed quite an outstanding scientist. That a scientist possessed political and military organizational skills was already very surprising. If such a person also possessed a profound understanding of international political relations, it could only be described as terrifying. Only crown princes of various countries would receive such strict training from childhood. And no crown prince had been able to demonstrate ability like Chen Ke's.

Leaving aside whether such a terrifying figure could appear, even if one did, it was impossible for the upper echelons of Europe and America to have no impression of him. However, investigations by intelligence agencies of various countries, including Britain, showed that among students from China and even Asia, there was absolutely no such person as Chen Ke. It was only when the Secretary raised this point so clearly that the British Minister had to face this possibility.

After a while, the Minister replied, "We don't have time to make such assumptions now. Regardless of whether Chen Ke thinks this way, it is necessary for us to try to maintain the Yuan Shikai regime. For the current stage, let's use providing a loan to Yuan Shikai as the main method."

While the British Minister analyzed the situation in China, Yuan Shikai was also discussing current countermeasures with Xu Shichang, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and others. This Beiyang mutiny really made Yuan Shikai furious. Behind the anger was deep panic. The Beiyang Army was the only force Yuan Shikai could rely on; he never imagined that the Beiyang Army would be the first to rebel.

"Pinqing, have all those mutinous soldiers been caught?" Yuan Shikai asked Wang Shizhen viciously. Due to his anger, Yuan Shikai's oily, fat face was flushed red.

War Minister Wang Shizhen's expression was full of fatigue; he hadn't rested properly for days. On one hand, Wang Shizhen was responsible for keeping all Beiyang units in their barracks to prevent the unrest from spreading. On the other hand, he had to mobilize reliable troops in Beiyang's hands, as well as reliable troops in the areas where mutinies occurred, to suppress the mutinies and search for the mutinous soldiers fleeing in the local areas. A myriad of tasks weighed on Wang Shizhen's shoulders. Even with Duan Qirui's help, it didn't make things much easier for him. Because the reason for this mutiny was simple: The Beiyang Army's pay couldn't be issued.

Since its establishment, especially during the late Qing era, the Beiyang Army had never had any problems with pay. Yuan Shikai himself had said, "My way of managing the army is: money in one hand, knife in the other." This was indeed the truth.

But facing the pressure from the People's Party, Yuan Shikai first encountered the problem of insufficient troop numbers. The People's Party had 400,000 troops in 1911, and by 1912, they had a full 600,000 troops. The traditional six divisions of Beiyang were unable to contend with them. As a last resort, Yuan Shikai was forced to pick up the military plan set during the late Qing dynasty, aiming to establish 36 divisions with a total strength of 600,000 Beiyang troops. So far, only 18 divisions had been built, and the 12 newly built divisions were all new troops.

The Beiyang finances originally had huge problems. The 12 new divisions required massive investment, so they could only temporarily "lower" the treatment of the original Beiyang Army. It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality. How could the old Beiyang Army, long accustomed to being fed with high salaries, accept such treatment? Morale wavered greatly. There were even rumors that the Beiyang Army was going to disarm significantly and that many units would be cut. Lowering the pay had already given these Beiyang soldiers a huge stimulus. Starting from May 1912, the Beiyang Army replaced part of the original silver dollars used for pay with "banknotes." These banknotes could not circulate outside and could only be used in shops related to the military. This made the soldiers even more suspicious. By August 1912, the Beiyang Army actually broke precedent and began to owe pay. This thoroughly ignited the soldiers' unease.

This was just the surface problem; Wang Shizhen saw more deep-seated issues. He had always opposed Yuan Shikai's "usurpation." Wang Shizhen always believed that if they really couldn't beat Chen Ke, they might as well die fighting for the Qing dynasty. Even if they were temporarily branded as running dogs of the previous dynasty by Chen Ke, Wang Shizhen always believed that any dynasty would recognize "loyalty." After he and Yuan Shikai died for the Qing, they would eventually still be called "loyal ministers of the former Qing" in history books. Just this one point would have been enough.

But Yuan Shikai believed he faced an unprecedented opportunity and, under Chen Ke's instigation, carried out the "usurpation." Now the evil consequences of this "usurpation" were finally beginning to show. Although the Manchu government had been overthrown and the gold signboard of the Republic of China had been hung up, the substance of the entire society and the political institutions had not changed much. In the minds of the common people, the idol of an emperor remained firmly intact. Especially in the army, the political education soldiers usually received was loyalty to the royal family and regarding revolution as rebellion. Yuan Shikai and his entourage had been educating soldiers like this not long ago, and were suppressing the revolution and killing revolutionaries everywhere. Suddenly, one day, he shook himself and changed, becoming the Great President and the leader of the revolutionary country. How could Yuan Shikai maintain the morale of the army by doing this?

After Yuan Shikai became the Great President, Wang Shizhen's eyes and ears in the army often reported that they personally saw and heard many officers and soldiers gritting their teeth and cursing Yuan Shikai behind his back, calling him a usurping traitor, their indignation reaching an extreme. The mutinous troops of the Eighth Division were adapted from local troops originally in Changchun. They had come to Beijing to undergo military training and be issued weapons. The discipline of this unit was already quite corrupt in ordinary times. After arriving in Beijing, their depravity worsened. Officers and soldiers gambled openly, drank excessively, and whored wildly, doing whatever they pleased. Training and education were completely neglected. If the Eighth Division was like this, the garrisons in the rest of the capital region were all like this. With the leaders being absurd, the soldiers followed suit, and the commanders let it go without questioning. It was as if they thought that since the Emperor had fallen and the world had changed, everything could be done recklessly without restraint.

As the Minister of the Army, Wang Shizhen knew a lot about such news, but he was also powerless. Out of gratitude for Yuan Shikai's recognition and patronage, Wang Shizhen had to come out and serve as this Minister of the Army. Watching the current situation deteriorate continuously, Wang Shizhen was burning with anxiety.

Facing Yuan Shikai's almost teeth-gnashing inquiry about the rebel army, Wang Shizhen answered slowly, "Except for a few who fled to the Northeast on foot, the others have all been caught and executed."

Hearing this answer, Yuan Shikai's oily, fat face finally showed a trace of relief. He replied, "Very good. Order the cavalry units to search along the roads leading out of the pass. Anyone found wearing a military uniform is to be arrested immediately without asking for the reason. Those who resist arrest are to be executed on the spot."

Wang Shizhen was very familiar with this kind of order. When they were slaughtering the Boxers in Shandong, the Beiyang Army had this style. Not to mention actual Boxers, as long as someone was considered a Boxer suspect, the Beiyang Army would strike first. Perhaps it was precisely such strong measures that incited more resistance in Hebei and Shandong. Zhao Sanduo in Shandong raised fifty or sixty thousand men under the slogan "Aid the Qing and Exterminate the Foreigners." They attacked churches many times and immediately engaged in fierce battles with Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. Not long after, Jing Tingbin in Hebei rebelled in the name of "Resisting Foreign Tax," raising over a hundred thousand men. The two forces immediately combined, putting forth the slogan "Sweep Away the Qing and Exterminate the Foreigners," and fought hundreds of battles, large and small, with the Beiyang Army. It wasn't until the Beiyang Army killed the uprising armies until corpses littered the fields, Zhao Sanduo committed suicide by fasting after being captured, and Jing Tingbin was executed by lingchi (death by a thousand cuts) after being captured, that the Boxers were finally extinguished.

Even then, Yuan Shikai's face had not shown such a hateful expression. Facing the rebels of Beiyang, Yuan Shikai had a strong impulse to execute them personally. Wang Shizhen suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.