Jagged Warlord

After the meeting, Liang Qichao asked Li Mohan, "Are you asking too much for National Party members?"

Li Mohan replied: "I didn't ask our National Party members to be moral saints who forget their personal interests. I just want them to put public affairs before private interests, and don't compromise public interests. Is this a high requirement?"

Liang Qichao said: "However, the current practice of the National Party is a model that requires party members to unconditionally attach to the political party. How is this different from the Qinghong Gang?"

"Of course there are differences. Our National Party is a political party with political ideals, and our party members will sacrifice to realize this ideal." Li Mohan said: "On the other hand, your party is now divided into a constitutional research association headed by Tang Hualong. Mr. Liang, the Comrades for Constitutional Studies headed by you, and the Taoyuan Department headed by Sun Hongyi, who leans towards the Kuomintang. How can it be possible to separate and combine? The nationalism advocated by your Progressive Party is the nationalism advocated by our National Party A variant of it, Mr. Liang, you should be able to understand our political views."

Liang Qichao frowned, as if he understood, but he didn't seem to understand.

Soon, two news came from Beijing, one was disarmament, and the other was the reopening of Congress.

On the issue of disarmament, as early as Yuan Shikai's time, he had instructed Li Yuanhong to issue a telegram advocating the separation of the army and the people of the provinces, and the abolition of the governor's disarmament. Yuan hoped to use this to test whether it would work in the provinces. First separate the two positions of governor and chief of civil affairs, and then proceed with the reduction of troops. The governors of all provinces will be abolished, and the troops of all provinces will be directly under the central government.Of course, this plan does not have the support of the warlords of the provinces, but this is a positive trend, and wise people all over the country support the plan to abolish the governor and cut the army.Although this plan was not conceived, Li gained a false name because of it.

During the period of protecting the country and overthrowing Yuan, due to the war, both the North and the South expanded their troops as much as possible. No one can count the number of the National Army at that time, because if the number of investigations is to achieve the purpose of expansion, it is natural to exaggerate as much as possible .However, after Yuan's death, the whole country returned to peace, and the most urgent task was demobilization. Reducing the number of troops was the first step in demobilization, but this was an extremely difficult problem.

Duan drew up a set of disarmament plans, which stipulated that the national army should be divided into 40 divisions, each with 1 people, and another 20 independent brigades, each with 5000 people, totaling 50 people.In addition, the provinces can retain some irregular garrison teams, but the national garrison force shall not exceed 200 battalions, with 500 soldiers in each battalion, totaling 10 people.In this plan, the difference between the army and the garrison is that the army has a certain designation but no fixed defense area, which can be transferred around.The police force is responsible for maintaining local law and order, and its scope of mobilization does not go beyond the provincial border.This is no different from Yuan Zaishi's plan. Yuan divided the whole ** army into the central army and the local army, and stipulated that the central army is a regular army. The central army not only exceeds the local army in quantity, but also surpasses the local army in quality military.At this time, most of the Beiyang Army had official designations, while the troops of the southwestern provinces were temporarily organized, and their designation was the xx Division of the Temporary Army of xx Province.Temporary reorganization means waiting for reorganization. After reorganization, it can be reorganized into the central army or local army.Since the Beiyang Army is a formal central army, it can naturally be transferred to the provinces to garrison at any time, but the local army cannot move freely.

As for the reopening of the Congress, it was when Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, and the Congress in Beijing was devastated. Members of Congress went south one after another, and no less than 200 people gathered in Shanghai.After Yuan's death, Li succeeded President Li, the "Convention Law" was restored, and the National Assembly was reconvened, and the congressmen who had gone south returned to Beijing one after another.

In 1916, the Congress held the opening ceremony of its second regular session in Beijing, with 138 members of the Senate and 318 members of the House of Representatives.The Senate is still chaired by Wang Jiaxiang and Wang Zhengting, and the House of Representatives is still chaired by Tang Hualong and Chen Guoxiang. Wang Jiaxiang is temporarily elected as the chairman.President Li Yuanhong, Prime Minister and Chief of the Army Duan Qirui, Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen **, Minister of Communications and Minister of the Interior Xu Shiying, Chief of Education Fan Yuanlian, Chief of Agriculture and Commerce Zhang Guogan, and Chief of the Navy Cheng Biguang also attended the meeting. Article 2 of the "Great Presidential Election Law" promulgated in [-], solemnly swears.oath:

Yu Yi sincerely abides by the Constitution and performs the duties of the President.

Li Yuanhong hosted a tea party at the Beijing Guest House to entertain all members of the Congress. Li was humble and sincere, and asked the members to work together and support each other. His speech briefly went as follows:

"Organizing the cabinet has been repeatedly appointed in the past two months. Even if the organization is not perfect, it is not without special difficulties. The reconstruction of the republic is composed of various forces, so the organization of the government cannot be limited to one aspect of talent. The period of use When it is appropriate, there is no way to get it. After the turmoil, it is necessary to put peace of mind and the overall situation first. It is not appropriate to have partial opinions on one person or one thing. I hope that all the kings will share the difficulties. When seeking consent in the future, do not be strict, so that you can accept it. The effect of mutual aid, mutual support, and the formation of a country ruled by law. To the people's livelihood and the country's economy, the latitude and longitude are endless, and there is time to discuss matters. I hope to contact them frequently to facilitate circulation and avoid estrangement. Yuan Hong is not sensitive. , and work together to reshape the overall situation."

Members of the Congress are very satisfied with Li's attitude, and believe that Yuan Shikai used diplomatic means to deal with Congress in the past, and treated members with bandits and thieves, which led to extremely bad relations between the presidential palace and Congress. Of course, repay it with sincerity.

After the resumption of the Congress, the activities of the political parties became hand-to-hand combat. The Progressive Party advocated "non-partyism" after Yuan's death, so there was only one Fan Yuanlian in the cabinet.

As for the Kuomintang, the leftist Chinese Revolutionary Party was originally a secret revolutionary group that advocated drastic revolutionary measures, so it did not recruit members in the Congress.As for the European Affairs Research Association, it also slowly disappeared. It was Zhang Ji who used the name "Zhang Yu" to secretly entangle comrades, and later put up a sign called "Constitution Discussion Association".Soon the Constitution Discussion Committee was divided into three factions.

[-]. The Kelu family is dominated by Zhang Ji, Wang Zhengting, Wu Jinglian, Gu Zhongxiu, Zhang Yaozeng, etc.

[-]. The Taoyuan Department is dominated by Sun Hongyi and Ding Shiyi, who were members of the old Progressive Party and newly attached to the Kuomintang.

[-]. The Bingchen Club can be regarded as the incarnation of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, with Lin Sen, Ju Zheng, and Tian Tong as the main members.

Not long after, Gu Zhongxiu and Zhang Yao from the Kelu clan left the Kelu to form the Political Science Society, the Bingchen Club and the Taoyuan faction merged into the Minyou Society, the Discussion Society was changed to the Yiyou Society, and the Yiyou Society was changed to the Zhengyu Club , with Wang Zhengting and Chu Fu as the masters.

In short, reopening the Congress does not mean much to Li Mohan, because Li Mohan knows that this Congress will be dissolved by Li Yuanhong next year.However, as the governor of Shandong, he had to participate, so the members of the Senate from Shandong who attended were: Jie Rixun, Yin Hongqing, Wang Fengzhu, Liu Xingnan, Xiao Chengbi, Ding Shiyi, An Pengdong, Ma Yinrong, Zhang Luquan, and Chen Dejun.

Members of the House of Representatives present were: Zhou Qingen, Liu Zhaoyi, Sheng Jiguang, Wei Danshu, Zhou Tingbi, Yu Enbo, Jin Chengxin, Du Kaizhi, Yu Hongqi, Peng Zhanyuan, Ding Weifen, Liu Guansan, Shi Zexian, Dong Yumei, Ai Qingyong, Wang Xiejia, Zhang Yugeng , Yan Yuke, Cao Ying, Zhou Zulan, Guo Guangen, Wang Zhilu, Wang Guanghan, Yuan Jingxi, Yu Yuanfang, Guan Xiangyi, Zhang Ruixuan, Li Yuanliang, Yu Junsheng, Zhou Jiatan, Deng Tianyi, Zhao Zhengyin, Wang Zhixun.

I don’t know if he realized it after listening to Li Mohan’s words. Liang Qichao, the leader of the Progressive Party who usually uses the pen as a weapon, also wants to establish a private military force in the southwest region. This ambition can be seen from Liang Qichao’s letter to his followers: “We Those who claim to be the moderate school have no basis for size, but Zhang Kongquan is used to shout for others, so they will never go without being hijacked by others, and they will always be used by others."

The Progressive Party did not actually have any organization, but it gained some strength in Sichuan and Guizhou through the relationship between Liang Qichao and Cai E, and later in Guangdong and Guangxi because of the relationship between Cen Chunxuan and Lu Rongting.Liang Qichao really wanted to turn Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan into the bases of the Progressive Party, establish a military base, and turn the Progressive Party into a party with strength and bases in order to strive for greater power in the central government.

Before Yuan's death, Liang Qichao wanted to consolidate the progressive party's power in the south, and he also wanted to use Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou as the basis for his activities.In his telegram to Cai E on May 5, he said: "The result of this battle, at least, must also create a balance of power between the north and the south, otherwise there will be no way to fight the dead."

In the fifth book to Cai E, he said: "At this time, you are in the subjugation of Qin Dynasty. Although it is hard and exhausting, there is a common heart, and you can still try to control it. After the traitor is killed, people's desires are rampant,...over In the past, when we played the Water Curtain Cave and the Evil Tiger Village, there was absolutely no place for my generation to step in. We can only share the hardships with my brother in the mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan, hoping to dignify this land and find a legacy for the people of the country. Ear..." means to use Cai's power to occupy Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou as small territories for political reform.

But when Yuan Shikai died, his idea of ​​"creating a balance of power between the north and the south" was eliminated immediately, but he tried his best to contact Duan Qirui and advocated the withdrawal of the Military Affairs Council.And after Cai E went to the United States for treatment due to illness, his thought of "majestic and dignified" also disappeared.However, he still wants to support Dai Kan to enter Sichuan to succeed Cai E.

In short, the situation of warlords and separatist regimes gradually formed out of these problems. The so-called freezing three feet did not happen overnight!

Li Mohan is probably the one who has the clearest understanding of this form, so while he is funding those members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to go north to participate in Congress, he is working hard to gain a foothold in Shandong.While making economic and military preparations, Li Mohan also began to actively expand the political influence of the National Party.He said to a group of political workers who are about to be dispatched to Shandong to establish party branches across the country: "Although our army cannot leave Shandong for the time being, our thoughts and spirits can. Because thoughts and spirits cannot be imprisoned."