When Yan Fu mentioned Yuan Shikai's invitation to Chen Ke, far away in Beijing, Yuan Shikai neither sneezed due to telepathy nor felt a sudden chill. On the contrary, looking at Chen Ke's name written on the paper, Yuan Shikai only felt a burning sensation brought by anger rising from his heart.

In 1906, to avoid various political attacks against himself, Yuan Shikai voluntarily handed over military power, letting the Ministry of the Army directly govern the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th Divisions of the Beiyang Army. This move was considered an attitude of showing loyalty. So for the military operation to suppress Pang Zi's "rebellion" not long ago, he only sent the Dezhou Cavalry Battalion. And this military operation was far less smooth than imagined. Pang Zi's troops actually possessed heavy weapons including machine guns; the Dezhou Cavalry Battalion suffered more than forty casualties in this battle. Not only that, although Pang Zi's troops were defeated, Pang Zi himself fled without a trace, and fled from the battlefield at that. The "remnants of Jing Tingbin" were actually not completely exterminated.

What was worse was that in this New Army unit, two officers, including the deputy leader, were actually assassinated after the battle. It was said that the one who assassinated them was a local old man who served tea and water. All these things made Yuan Shikai very unhappy. Moreover, this also gave Yuan Shikai's political enemies an excellent excuse. At that time, someone questioned Yuan Shikai for lax military discipline, saying the New Army was vulnerable. What was worse was that Xingtai was not far from Beijing; someone instigated the investigating censors below to vigorously impeach the New Army in the name of "killing good people to claim credit."

The evidence in this was really not fabricated. In order to avenge their assassinated commanders, the New Army arrested and killed several remaining "villagers" of Gaojia Village. And these "villagers" were actually local landlords who didn't leave because they couldn't let go of their family property. They also had some government background; once this complaint came up, it made Yuan Shikai very passive.

Yuan Shikai originally felt this bandit suppression operation was terrible. He was proficient in military affairs; looking at the submitted report, he knew they encountered very unusual bandits. Pang Zi was indeed a typical case of officials forcing people to rebel. So the combat effectiveness of Pang Zi's subordinates was actually not bad. On one hand was dissatisfaction with the New Army, and on the other hand was disgust for political enemies. Combined with the two emotions, plus Wang Shizhen going to Xingtai personally for investigation, after the investigation report was submitted, Yuan Shikai was finally a bit angry.

"That Chen Wenqing actually has connections with Pang Zi?" Yuan Shikai asked.

"Yes. I confiscated some letters in Pang Zi's house. Not only Pang Zi, but Jing Tingbin's remnants like Wu Xingchen and Chai Qingguo all have connections with Chen Ke. I specially took the portraits from back then and let the people in the countryside identify them. Those country people recognized these few people. They and Chen Ke all stayed at Pang Zi's house the year before last. Not only that, there is another person, Chen Tianhua of the Huaxinghui. Not only did he stay with Chen Ke in the capital for a few months, but he also stayed at Pang Zi's place until he fled just before the New Army went to exterminate Pang Zi." Few outsiders went to the countryside; farm families remembered these outsiders very clearly. Piece by piece, Wang Shizhen investigated quite clearly.

"Yan Jidao actually recommended a rebel party member to us? No wonder that Chen Ke refused to come to my door to beg for an official position." Yuan Shikai was already quite annoyed speaking of this.

regarding this evaluation, Wang Shizhen did not interrupt either. He felt Chen Ke was very wrong from the beginning; others seeing Yuan Shikai all sharpened their heads to seek a job. And Yuan Shikai also took good care of these "juniors"; as long as they were obedient and willing to endure hardship, these jobs were never lacking. But Chen Ke didn't have a bit of this attitude. Not only that, although Chen Ke strictly observed the etiquette of a junior, he had a kind of character in his subconsciousness to stand up to Yuan Shikai as an equal. Originally Wang Shizhen thought Chen Ke was just of a youthful disposition, not knowing the height of the sky and the depth of the earth. Now it seemed that Chen Ke didn't treat Yuan Shikai as one of his own from the beginning.

"Since the honeycomb briquette factory run by Chen Ke was brought down by Shanqi, the people inside actually all went to Shanghai. I have already sent a letter to Shanghai, and the letter returned from Shanghai is also very impressive. The riot at the Mixed Court in Shanghai a year ago cannot be separated from a non-governmental organization called Huangpu Study Society. This Huangpu Study Society was founded by Chen Ke."

Hearing this, Yuan Shikai simply pushed away the report in front of him and couldn't help laughing out loud. "To make Pinqing pay such attention, it seems Chen Ke is definitely a rebel party member. Where is he now?"

"His whereabouts are unknown now. News from Shanghai says it is very likely that Chen Ke hijacked the people arrested in the Mixed Court case, and then these people all ran away without a trace. Some say he went to Guangdong, some say he went to Japan, and some say he went to Anhui. But the statements are not credible."

"Isn't there a disaster in Anhui? If Chen Ke is really that formidable, presumably there should be news these days." Yuan Shikai said with a smile.

"Yes. If Chen Ke is really rebelling, there should be news by now. Since no news came from Anhui, he shouldn't have gone to Anhui." Wang Shizhen agreed very much with Yuan Shikai's judgment. "However, this person's book has been very popular recently; there are large numbers of reprints in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. If Lord Yuan meets this person in the future, you must guard against him."

Yuan Shikai had already restrained his smile and said seriously: "Pinqing is about to go to assume the post of Commander-in-Chief of Jiangbei; after you take office, investigate this person well. I wrote a letter to Yan Jidao a few days ago, asking him to bring Chen Ke to Beijing. Presumably, Yan Jidao dare not come to see me. When Pinqing passes through Shanghai, you might as well go see him and hear what explanation Yan Jidao has for this matter."

Wang Shizhen nodded in agreement, but these were all matters for the future. He was more concerned about the current matter. "Lord Yuan, this bandit suppression was ordered by you personally. That's why those censors are making such an issue of this matter so vigorously. I think we might as well hand this matter over to the Ministry of the Army to handle. You should not intervene in this matter anymore. Otherwise, if you deal with it heavily, the Dezhou New Army will feel wronged; if you deal with it lightly, the censors will absolutely not let it go."

Yuan Shikai was originally unwilling to let go of this matter easily, but what Wang Shizhen said made a lot of sense. Since this matter had caused a stir, and it was clear that someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes, no matter how Yuan Shikai handled it, there would be no good result. Moreover, if Yuan Shikai fought blindly, it would appear that he was unwilling to let go of military power. The Beiyang New Army had long been considered Yuan Shikai's private army, and even Cixi already had a faint dissatisfaction. Retreating temporarily on this matter was also a clever move for self-preservation.

"We will do as Pinqing says." Yuan Shikai finally expressed agreement.

The Manchu Qing court in 1906 could also be said to have constant big moves. Since the Hundred Days' Reform, Cixi killed the Six Gentlemen and imprisoned Guangxu. But she did not relax at all regarding the New Policies. This old woman knew well that she had made a big mistake and knew that as soon as she let go of power, she would die immediately. In order to stabilize the court situation, she actually tried to manage the country with her own insight. regarding the New Policies, Cixi felt they absolutely could not stop. This was not only because it was said that the New Policies could enrich the country and strengthen the army, but also because those princes and ministers in the court who were still considered vigorous all supported the New Policies very much. Even if only for this point, Cixi could not give up the New Policies.

When Yuan Shikai was discussing how to wrap up the bandit suppression case, Prince Su, Shanqi, was paying a visit to Cixi. Shanqi was a very hearty person, with a long face and a mustache, looking very majestic. Cixi didn't like Prince Su Shanqi very much. This stemmed from one incident. The Superintendent of Chongwenmen Gate could not only accept bribes but also sit and collect part of the tax money. In a year, the Superintendent could get tens of thousands of taels of silver; it had always been a recognized lucrative post. During the Gengzi Incident, Prince Su's Mansion located in Dongjiaomin Lane was destroyed by war. The Qing court ordered Shanqi to serve as the Superintendent of Chongwenmen, containing the intention of letting him get some income from the tax "commission" to build another prince's mansion. But Shanqi didn't accept this favor after taking office and turned over all the tax money. regarding this, Empress Dowager Cixi not only did not praise him, but instead said: "If everyone does like Prince Su, who will be willing to be the Superintendent of Chongwenmen in the future!"

Cixi's gender was female, and psychologically she also had that kind of roundness peculiar to women. She knew to strike when she should strike; this was just an instinct that must be mastered in the palace. But a statesman needs that kind of magnificence and magnanimity, that kind of spirit capable of incorporating things; Cixi did not have it. She could endure, but could not accept. For Cixi, using various relationships was what she was good at. As for creating a certain political situation and cultivating and developing it wholeheartedly, this was not what Cixi was good at. This old lady in the deep palace did not have this ability. Prince Su Shanqi's seemingly incorruptible style would give later people an excuse to start disputes. Just as Cixi said, "If everyone does like Prince Su, who will be willing to be the Superintendent of Chongwenmen in the future!" If the people behind continued to grab for themselves, their political enemies would definitely use Shanqi's practice as an example to impeach the successors. That would only trigger various disputes. But the Superintendent of Chongwenmen Gate had to grab what should be grabbed. Rather than this—neither being able to continue the incorruptible model nor letting people use the excuse of incorruptibility to trigger incidents—Cixi did not think this was the correct way.

So Cixi did not like that kind of radical political concept. Radical things easily lose control. Back then she once let Guangxu hold power and even tolerated Guangxu's various radical measures. The result was actually that Guangxu prepared to send troops into Beijing to kill Cixi and the Empress's Party. The impact of this incident on Cixi was very profound.

"Empress Dowager, Constitutionalism is now like an arrow on the bowstring that has to be fired. Many people in the court think Constitutionalism should be delayed, which is a big mistake. Whenever doing big things, one must go forward indomitably. In this way, even if there are disputes, the arguments are all about whether these things are done well or badly, but will not change the direction of the big thing. If delayed, the result will be that all kinds of trivial matters will be brought up. This big thing won't be able to be done instead." Shanqi tried hard to persuade Cixi.

Cixi listened quietly, but couldn't help thinking in her heart: Hasn't Shanqi thought of the lesson of his serving as the Superintendent of Chongwenmen?