52 THE GOVERNOR THE GOVERNOR 53 the Manchu interest in igoo;other viceroys and governors did mand of the remnants of Jung-lu's Central Division and sum- less.Chang Chih-tung and Liu K'un-i,for example,declined moned Hu Yu-fen to Peking to gather together what was left of Yuan's suggestion that troops be sent to Chihli and Shansi to mop Nieh Shih-ch'eng's and Sung Ch'ing's troops.At the same time, up the Boxers after the fall of Peking.Li Hung-chang flatly re. he had to negotiate for the evacuation of Russian troops from fused to lend any support to the Boxers or the government,re- Manchuria,for the tsar had taken advantage of the chaos in China maining utterly passive throughout the whole episode until he was to occupy the whole imperial domain.These heavy duties broke= recalled to sue for peace.At the end of 1899,when both the Boxer Li's feeble health.On November 7,1901,he dictated a valedictory Movement and a plot to dethrone the emperor were gaining force, memorial to the empress from his deathbed:"I have looked for the empress had sent Jung-lu to see Li,who was living in semi- men of ability all over the nation.I can find no one better than retirement in the capital and was anxious to leave.Jung-lu's mis- Yuan."16 He recommended Yuan as his successor. sion was to ask Li to find out whether foreign diplomats would Thus ended Yuan's incumbency in Shantung.He had improved favor the accession of Ta-o-ko (P'u-chiin).Li replied,"If Her Ma- the methods of tax collection during these two years,resulting in jesty would appoint me to a viceroyalty somewhere,the ministers a surplus of more than a million taels in 1901.This enabled him will come to congratulate mie.I shall then find out what you want to expand his army and to provide for the dowager empress,in to know."15 A few days later,Li's appointment to the viceroyalty exile first at Taiyuan and then in Sian.Yuan spent more than of Kwangtung and Kwangsi was announced.The more the situa- goo,o00 taels on military development,and when he took over the tion in the north deteriorated,the more his services would be viceroyalty of Chihli,his army was 20,o0o strong.In July 1g01,he needed,for he was the only elder statesman who could command was ordered to assume command of a large section of Chang Chih- respect abroad in the aftermath of the Boxer War. tung's Self-Strengthening Army,stationed in Kiangsu.Chang at In June,the empress ordered Li to come to Peking,but he re- once telegraphed Viceroy Liu K'un-i for an explanation.In re. fused.At the beginning of July,he was again urged to come;this sponse,Liu sent a memorial to the throne advising against the time he took a boat and went as far as Shanghai,where he reported change;so did Yuan.Neither protest was heeded.Thus Yuan he had fallen ill and needed further time for medical treatment. He became well again after the fall of Peking and arrived at Tien- gained a regiment and an enemy. Shortly before Yuan left Shantung,he put the finishing touches tsin in September,under Russian escort,as China's plenipotentiary to the peace negotiations.Prince Ch'ing was his colleague.On on his plan to establish a provincial college in Tsinan for children September7,1901,after lengthy discussions,the belligerents signed from seven to fourteen years of age.The college was to be divided into three levels:a preparatory section,involving eight years.of a peace protocol,under which several princes,presidents of boards, lessons in the classics,history,astronomy,geography,and mathe- and governors were punished as war criminals.Tung Fu-hsiang, matics;a secondary section,involving four years of advanced les- the commander of the Kansu Army,was cashiered(he died in dis- sons in the same subjects;and a third section,involving four years grace in 1908).A prince and a vice-president were sent to Germany of specialized study in such 'subjects as languages,commerce,and and Japan,respectively,to offer the government's apology for the murders of von Ketteler and the Japanese chancellor.In addition, engineering.An American missionary was appointed the chief in- structor.The college,financed by provincial estate taxes,was even- China agreed to stop purchasing weapons and ammunition from tually completed,though by that time Yuan had left Tsinan.17 abroad for two years and to pay an indemnity of 450 million taels Yuan was well prepared for the post in Chihli.In his day,success (67-5 million pounds)over o years,with revenues from the cus- in Chinese politics depended more on personal contacts and the toms and the salt gabelle as security. Li Hung-chang was also appointed viceroy of Chihli,and as right connections than on principles.A high official had to know, and be known by,other dignitaries and had to have a sizable secre- viceroy his most pressing task was to restore order.He took com- tariat(mu-fu)of trusted lieutenants.1 By 1901,Yuan had impor-