Since the coup, it has been several years. Before Beijing fell in July of the Gengzi year, China's failures were due to Gangyi; after Beijing fell in July of the Gengzi year, Lu Chuanlin was to blame for the failures. Thus, Lu Chuanlin can be seen as a living embodiment of Gangyi. At the time of the Boxer Rebellion, Lu Chuanlin served as the Governor of Jiangsu. The southeastern provinces signed mutual protection agreements to which Lu Chuanlin was strongly opposed. He quickly led several battalions northward, intending to join Gangyi to attack the foreign powers together with the Boxers. If successful, they would manage the Yangtze River region. However, as soon as he reached the outskirts, he witnessed the crushing defeat of Li Bingheng and saw that the capital was about to fall. Most of his troops had scattered, forcing him to retreat with only a few hundred men to Dingxing, Lu Chuanlin's hometown. Upon hearing that the capital had fallen and that Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu had fled west, he hurried to greet them and paid his respects along the way. The Governor of Hunan, Xi Liang, also arrived. The Empress Dowager was very pleased to see him and appointed him as the Governor of Shanxi when they reached Taiyuan. At this time, Gangyi had died, and the court appointed Lu Chuanlin to the Grand Council to replace him. Since the Allied Forces had breached the capital and executed the main culprits, nearly a year passed, and the national situation underwent tremendous changes. Lu Chuanlin was the only one able to join the new government due to his previous position. After Lu Chuanlin entered the government, he first proposed the strategy of retreating west to Shaanxi. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu were stationed in Taiyuan. Upon hearing that the plenipotentiary minister Li Hongzhang had arrived in Beijing and that all nations had agreed to negotiate peace and cease hostilities, hoping to stabilize the situation quickly and return to Beijing, they tended to wait until the peace agreement was reached before returning nearby. However, Lu Chuanlin cautioned the Empress Dowager that Beijing was extremely dangerous and that Xi'an was far from the coast, making it unlikely that foreign troops could reach it. In Xi'an, defending and retreating would be very convenient.
The Empress Dowager originally wanted to head west, but because a few high-ranking ministers in the court and several officials in the border areas strongly urged her not to, all saying "temporarily stay in Shanxi and wait for peace talks, without pushing further inland," and used the opinions of the ministers to pressure her, she did not make a decision for a while. After receiving Lu Chuanlin's report, the Empress Dowager was very happy and issued a decree the same day, deciding to flee to Shaanxi. So when Lu Chuanlin entered the military office, he was able to stir up the hardliners with his cunning schemes and disrupt the peace talks, which was part of his plan to "flee to Shaanxi." However, he gained the trust of Empress Dowager Cixi, which deepened from that time on.
After arriving in Shaanxi, he tried to win over the hardliners, restore the old policies, and provoke war. Because Wang Zhongtang (referring to Minister Wang) did not listen to him, many things were not accomplished, so he did everything he could to bring Wang Zhongtang down, and let Xia Zhenwu and Hong Jia, these two guys, push for Wang Zhongtang's impeachment for relying on foreign powers, and requested the court to punish him severely. As a result, an imperial edict was issued, Xia Zhenwu and Hong Jia were both reprimanded, but the edict included phrases like "still harboring loyalty" and "the views of scholars." Wang Zhongtang merely pretended to comply and became even more low-key and accommodating. Therefore, from that year on, Lu (referring to Lu someone) grew increasingly unscrupulous in wielding his power, often claiming to be a loyal and upright minister devoted to the nation, pushed into his current position by foreign powers, and once he gained power, he would definitely reinstate and vindicate himself. It is said that when people discussed reform, he went to great lengths to block it, even Ronglu found it difficult to deal with him, and others dared not speak up. Recently, he promoted Hong Jia to a military official and was closely associated with a certain local high-ranking military officer, secretly plotting to prevent the Emperor from reclaiming power.
I believe that this time, foreign powers want to hold the mastermind accountable, which is their top priority, simply to get to the root of the issue. Individuals like Ying and Zhao may currently be siding with the bandits, but this is merely a temporary nuisance. They can still be held accountable later as a deterrent. However, when it comes to someone like Lu, regarding the extent of harm caused, the destruction he has inflicted is substantial; in terms of duration, his impact will be felt for a long time. If he is not removed, any hope for stability in China and peace in the world is simply unrealistic! There are many hardliners in China, but at this moment, he is the most dangerous, and the evidence of his actions is irrefutable. Therefore, I am unafraid of being labeled as making unfounded accusations; I am merely documenting these circumstances.
