On the day the envoy arrived in Beijing, the five-color national flag was hung all over the city. Colorful archways were erected at major intersections, and the Chinese Gate was opened wide. Special envoys were asked to enter through the middle gate. Zhonghua Gate was the "Great Qing Gate" in the Qing Dynasty. The middle gate was usually closed and only opened when the emperor came in and out. Yuan Shikai "opened the central gate to welcome guests", which can be said to be a very high courtesy to the envoy. At the banquet to welcome the envoy, Yuan Shikai said "sincerely": "As soon as the situation in Beijing stabilizes, I will immediately go south to take office." However, at 6 pm on February 29, a "mutiny" broke out in Beijing. As a result of the mutiny, more than 4,000 merchants and civilians were robbed. The Beijing-Fenghuang Railway Bureau, the Beijing-Hankou Railway Bureau, the Qing Dynasty, the Communications Bank, the Zhili Bank and the Mint were also robbed, resulting in a loss of more than 9 million taels of silver. The envoy's residence was looted, and Cai Yuanpei and others took refuge in the Liuguo Hotel in Dongjiaomin Lane, only to escape with their own lives. In accordance with the Xinchou Treaty, the imperialist countries' ministers in China mobilized troops to enter Beijing to protect the "security" of their embassies. The political situation in Beijing was likely to be plagued by internal and external troubles. Therefore, business people urged Yuan Shikai to "never go south", and the Beiyang generals called the whole country to advocate that "the president should take office in Beijing." Under this circumstance, Nanjing was forced to give in and agreed to Yuan Shikai's inauguration as interim president in Beijing on March 10.
At 8 pm on the 29th, the Third Town of the Beiyang Army launched a mutiny in the name of demanding pay. The rebel forces attacked the residence of the special envoy. Cai Yuanpei and others escaped after proving their identity to be invalid and took refuge in the Liuguo Hotel in Dongjiaomin Lane. Riots also broke out in West City and North City in the second half of the night, with bandits and some patrol officers joining in the robbery. Yuan Shikai's cronies did not stop the mutiny that night, and Lu Jianzhang's Law Enforcement Department did not intervene. Zhao Bingjun, who was in charge of the police, ordered all patrol police in the city to withdraw from their posts that night.
According to the "Xin Chou Treaty", ministers from various countries in China mobilized troops to enter Beijing to protect the safety of the embassy, ??and threatened Yuan Shikai to mobilize more troops to enter Beijing if he did not stabilize the situation as soon as possible. The mutiny also spread to Baoding and Tianjin areas.
According to Tang Shaoyi's recollection, Cai Yuanpei's delegation came to him to discuss with Yuan Shikai when there was no other way. When he arrived at Yuan Shikai's house, Cao Kun, the commander of the Third Town Division of the Beiyang Army, came to report: "Report to the President, according to the President's secret order last night, the mutiny has been completed." Yuan Shikai said: "Nonsense, get out!" Tang Shaoyi! Xu Yongchang, the Minister of Military Order of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, said in his memoirs that "the mutiny in Beijing on the twelfth day of the first lunar month in the Third Town was not initiated by Yuan Shikai. Some people claimed that it was Yuan Shikai who initiated the mutiny." Those who instigated it to protest against the southern representative’s request to move the capital to Nanjing are actually false accusations.”
According to subsequent statistics, the Beijing-Fenghuang Railway Bureau, the Beijing-Hankou Railway Bureau, the Qing Dynasty, the Communications Bank, and the Zhili Bank, as well as the Mint, were robbed. , more than 4,000 businesses and people were robbed.