In Beijing, Yuan Shikai made friends with powerful people and quickly won the favor of bureaucrats. They thought Yuan was a rare "minister who knew the soldiers", so they asked the emperor to promote him. At the same time, Yuan also tried to flatter Rong Lu, the confidant of Empress Dowager Cixi, who held the relieving power. He submitted the translated art books to Rong Lu for comments, and expressed admiration from all sides. As a result, Yuan Shikai soon got a place in Rong's mind. Rong called him a "special talent" and should give him strong support. Since then, Yuan Shikai has opened the road to the highest ruling class.
Kang Youwei's Writing on the Bus triggered an earthquake in the ruling and opposition parties. Yuan Shikai felt that Kang Youwei's political reform proposal was likely to meet Guangxu's wishes, and the future was limitless. Therefore, Yuan Shikai intends to approach Kang Youwei. During the drinking discussion, he talked about training and political reform, and called Kang Youwei "big brother", which was very kind. He also often boasted to Kang Youwei about his "heroic feats" such as how he fought against the Japanese and advocated being tough on Japan when he was in Korea, which produced the effect that "everyone loves to hear his remarks and is a hero in the world" for a time. Yuan Shikai quickly gained the trust of Kang Youwei. At the end of August, Kang and his student Liang Qichao launched a "strong society", and Yuan generously donated 520 taels of silver; Since then, Kang Youwei and other reformists have regarded Yuan as a "comrade" and placed infinite hopes on him.
At that time, the court was divided into two factions: the reformists were mainly Guangxu, and the conservatives were mainly Empress Dowager Cixi, who held real power. Emperor Guangxu advocated political reform but suffered from powerlessness. On the contrary, Empress Dowager Cixi has been in power for more than 30 years, with many confidants and deep roots, which is hard to shake. Having said that, Guangxu, after all, is the emperor and occupies a favorable position in jurisprudence. Yuan Shikai couldn't make up his mind which faction would win, so he took the strategy of courting both sides and watched the situation change. When Guangxu summoned Yuan Shikai, in order to win Guangxu's favor, Yuan Shikai made an impassioned remark that "political affairs are corrupt, and only political reform can turn things around ..." Guangxu also felt that "political reform" had "powerful help", so he promoted Yuan Shikai as an alternate assistant minister and continued to specialize. Yuan repeatedly kowtowed and thanked Emperor Guangxu. However, Yuan Shikai had just finished his performance when he suddenly changed his tune. Then he visited almost all the veteran ministers and declared to the die-hards that he opposed the "political reform".
When Tan Sitong brought a secret imperial edict to talk about the king and kill Rong Lu to get rid of the old party, Yuan repeatedly declared that "the sky is too high for me to live up to my grace", "the Lord is our master" and "I will live and die with the monarch". When Tan saw this scene, he told the whole story of "killing the old party" and "killing Rong Lu".
After Tan Sitong left, Yuan Shikai realized Guangxu's intention to give himself a promotion. At this time, he weighed the strength of the two factions and really made a difficult decision. It is said that when he got home, his old mother asked him, "Son, what's bothering you?" Yuan Shikai said: "Mom, there seems to be such a thing: there is a servant who serves a large family, and the mother and son in that family are not harmonious." Who do you think this servant should listen to? " Mother said, "of course, I have to listen to my mother." My mother is experienced and can manage. " Yuan Shikai suddenly realized that he immediately made a decision and took the train to Rong Lu, Tianjin, completely betraying the reformists. At the same time, it is proposed that "Wei Ci is sacred to break the treacherous plot." With the arrival of Tan Sitong and other "six gentlemen", Yuan Shikai also made great achievements. Won a silver prize of 4200 yuan and was promoted to left assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry.
Yuan Shikai made great contributions to Cixi at the critical moment and won the appreciation of Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu agreed that Yuan Shikai was familiar with Westernization, won the trust of foreigners, had extraordinary courage and was particularly loyal to Empress Dowager Cixi. So versatile, scheming and extremely cunning Yuan Shikai was promoted again. After Li Hongzhang's death, he was appointed Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang.
Since ancient times, double-dealing as a derogatory term has been deeply despised by gentlemen. In fact, when the situation is unclear and the forces of all parties are inextricably linked, you might as well learn to be a two-faced or even multifaceted person, so that you can protect yourself and achieve unexpected success. This is how Yuan Shikai cheated Guangxu.