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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Grand Secretaries that she might be able to hear both sides of
all important questions.
One of these conservatives was Jung Lu, the father-in-law of the
present Regent. When she placed Yuan Shih-kai in charge of the
army of north China, she also appointed Jung Lu as
Governor-General of the metropolitan province of Chihli. One was
a progressive, the other a conservative. Neither could make any
important move without the knowledge and consent of the other.
Whether the Empress Dowager foresaw the danger that was likely to
arise, we do not know, but she provided against it. We refer to
the occasion when in 1898 the Emperor ordered Yuan Shih-kai to
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