He was at once given fervent support. A mass
meeting of the military was followed by the whole body of
commissioned men volunteering to hold themselves personally
responsible for the maintenance of peace and order in the capital.
The dreadful disorders which had ushered in the Yuan Shih-kai
regime were thus made impossible; and almost at once men went
about their business as usual.
The financial wreckage left by the mad monarchy adventure was,
however, appalling. Not only was there no money in the capital but
hardly any food as well; for since the suspension of specie
payments country supplies had ceased entering the city as farmers
refused to accept inconvertible paper in payment for their
produce. It became necessary for the government to sell at a
nominal price the enormous quantities of grain which had been
accumulated for the army and the punitive expedition against the
South; and for many days a familiar sight was the endless blue-
coated queues waiting patiently to receive as in war-time their
stipulated pittance.
Meanwhile, although the troops remained loyal to the new regime,
not so the monarchist politicians. Seeing that their hour of
obliteration had come, they spared no effort to sow secret
dissensions and prevent the provinces from uniting again with
Peking. It would be wearisome to give in full detail the
innumerable schemes which were now hourly formulated, to secure
that the control of the country should not be exercised in a
lawful way.
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