At this juncture Yuan Shih K'ai reached the parting of the ways, and showed to the world that even a great-minded and strong, purposeful Chinese statesman, with an intense desire for Reform in the country, is a Chinese still. Yuan had aided and abetted the young Emperor in his pursuit of Reform, but the time came when the military reformer had to choose whom he would serve--the Reform party and the Emperor Kwang-Hsu or the Conservative party and their leader the Empress-Dowager. To carry out the Reform purpose it was necessary that the Emperor should have control of the new Northern Army, then under the command of Jung Lu, Governor-General of Chihli, and in order to obtain this control Jung Lu had to be put out of the way. At a secret interview with the Emperor on the 5th of the 8th moon, 1898, Yuan, after hearing all details of the Emperor's plan, which included the beheading of Jung Lu and the capture of the Empress-Dowager by means of the army, promised implicit obedience. (He had already assured the Emperor of his loyalty if placed {225} in command of the troops. "Your servant," he said, "will endeavour to recompense the Imperial favour even though his merit be as a drop of water in the ocean or a grain of sand in the desert; he will faithfully perform the service of a dog or a horse while there remains breath in his body.")[1] And with his vows hot upon his lips--went straight away and betrayed his sovereign. He was a Chinese, and seemed to choose the side that would best serve his own ends. The result is a matter of history. But it must ever be remembered that Yuan Shih K'ai struck the fatal blow which paralysed the Reform movement and prepared for the great humiliation of China in 1900.