Jagged Warlord

Because Duan Qirui has these ideas, he doesn't take Li Yuanhong seriously at all, while Li Yuanhong sees Duan Qirui as a thorn in his back.Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui couldn't get along because of this.

After Li Yuanhong took over as president, he asked various questions instead of not asking them, and asked more questions instead of asking them. He thought that small things could be ignored, but important ones must be asked. This was intolerable to Duan Qirui.Duan Qirui was already troubled by the Congress, which made him unable to act arbitrarily. In addition, Li Yuanhong always restrained him when he was in trouble, which made him feel very unbearable.He sometimes complained to his cronies: "I want him to sign and seal, not to ask him to press on my head!"

Duan Qirui's support for Li Yuanhong as president was just to ask him to stamp his seal. This can be confirmed from a sentence of Duan Qirui's Secretary-General Xu Shuzheng.One day Xu Shuzheng took three personnel orders and went to the Presidential Palace to ask Li to stamp his seal. When Li accidentally asked about the background and history of these three people, Xu Shuzheng said impatiently: "The president doesn't need to ask more questions. The prime minister has already studied it clearly. Hurry up and seal it, I'm still very busy."

Hearing this, Li Yuanhong was so angry that his head burst into flames. He said to his subordinates with a blue face: "I didn't want to be such a president, but they openly ignore the president!"

After Li Yuanhong became president, he transferred Zhang Guogan as the secretary-general of the presidential palace, with Lin Changmin, Jia Shoukun, Lei Yuzhao, Ouyang Baozhen, Liu Yuanju, Zhang Zechuan, Qu Ying, and Shi Taiqi as secretaries.Military staff include Ha Hanzhang, Jin Yongduo, Jiang Zuobin and so on.

Military aides often suggest that Li must have military power. Their reason is: "A responsible cabinet system refers to politics. In terms of military affairs, since the president is the generalissimo of the country's army and navy, he cannot ignore the military. The generalissimo has no military power. What can the president do?" the value of?"

Li Yuanhong listened to these words very well. He compared his presidential status with that of Yuan Shikai when he was president, and felt how majestic Yuan Shikai was then, and how pitiful he is today.Although I don't want to monopolize the power, but if I want to stop the military's domineering and arbitrary, I should hold the military power in my own hands.

Li Yuanhong's intention is completely opposite to Duan Qirui's and cannot be reconciled.Duan Qirui believed that Yuan Shikai's biggest mistake was to set up the "National Army Command Office" to centralize military power. Duan Qirui's explanation was that he controlled the national power as the prime minister of the cabinet and the whole country as the chief of the army. .Duan Qirui's status today is based on the military dictatorship. The reason why he can control the Beiyang faction is because he has military power. If the president is allowed to control the military power, wouldn't he be unarmed, and the president can replace him with a single order?So he is determined to fight to the death on this point.

Although Li Yuanhong was a soldier, he didn't have any military personnel under him. He thought about it and counted all the local factions in the country. Only Zhang Zuolin and Li Mohan seemed to be his foreign aid.Because they are neither the Beiyang lineage, nor the Southern Revolutionary Party lineage, nor the southwest power faction.

Li Yuanhong believed that Zhang Zuolin was born in a beard and could be cited as foreign aid, but not enough to work together.And Li Mohan has received a new type of education, both cultural and political literacy is very high, and he has a good relationship with Americans, so he should be a good choice.As long as the two work together, it should be very promising to build the country well.However, Li Yuanhong also read Li Mohan's "My View on Nationalism" and felt that he had great ambitions. Once he recruited Li Mohan, would he not even be able to be the president in name only?

In the end, Li Yuanhong made up his mind that he would pull Duan Qirui off even if he was willing to cut himself to pieces.Li Yuanhong decided not to compromise anymore. He called Duan Qirui, criticized the list of cabinet members he reported one by one, and then said unceremoniously: "Now the Congress has no trust in you, and the Legion of Governors is blatantly interfering in constitution-making. , It’s really inappropriate. As the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, you have an inescapable responsibility.”

Duan Qirui frowned and said, "If the president speaks like this, I will not be able to maintain order in Beijing."

Li Yuanhong snorted heavily: "I want to exercise power for the country!"

Duan Qirui was taken aback for a moment, and then he snorted coldly, ignoring Li Yuanhong's salute, and stormed out of the presidential palace.When Duan Qirui returned to the State Council, he was so angry that he swept his hands on the desk, and the pens, ink, papers and inkstones on the table flew to the ground: "Okay, I want to drive me away, I want to cut my power. Damn, let's see how arrogant they can be!" What time!" After saying that, he angrily called the driver, and drove back to the private house in Fuxue Hutong.

Duan Qirui's secretary-general, Zhang Guogan, saw Duan Qirui leave, and stayed there for a while before thinking that he should tidy up the place, so he started silently.Just after tidying up, he was about to turn around and leave, but saw Wu Tingfang stepping in surrounded by guards.Wu Tingfang greeted Zhang Guogan, sat behind the table, took a pen and signed the three presidential orders, and asked Zhang Guogan to pass them on to the Bureau of Printing and Casting for publication.

Zhang Guogan took a look and saw that these three orders were: ([-]) remove Duan Qirui, Premier of the State Council, and specially appoint Wu Tingfang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to act as Premier; ([-]) assign Zhang Shiyu, Deputy Minister of the Army, to act as Chief of the Army; [-]) Appoint Wang Shizhen as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Tianjin garrison, and appoint Jiang Chaozong and Chen Guangyuan as the deputy commanders.

Zhang Guogan looked at it, smiled wryly, and had no choice but to forward the order to the Printing and Casting Bureau for publication.

At the same time, Li Yuanhong telegraphed the provinces in the name of the president to report the process of handling the cabinet issue.The telegram said: Since Prime Minister Duan took office, he has worked hard and made great achievements, and he has relied heavily on his resources.In the past, due to difficulties in handling affairs, I asked to resign repeatedly.In the past few days, the cabinet members have retired one after another, and politics cannot be carried out. The prime minister supports him independently, which is worthy of consideration.When the country is in danger, it is not easy to make it difficult for him to hold office for a long time. The President of our country specially removed the Prime Minister according to Article 34 of the "Contract Law".On the one hand, he urged the East China Sea to come out of the mountain and sent them back together.The post of chief of the army is planned to be succeeded by Wang Pinqing.The deacons and others are loyal to the country, and when they are great, they still hope that the inside and outside are of one mind, and they will work together for the country. This President has high hopes.

Seeing that Duan Qirui was furious when he was on the phone, his confidant Jin Yunpeng comforted him: "The Prime Minister should relax and don't bother with it."

Fu Liangzuo jumped up and shouted: "Prime Minister, please give me an order. Our Beiyang Army is not living for free. Why not fight them boldly!"

As soon as he heard about the mobilization of troops, Zhang Guogan said repeatedly: "No! No! I suggest that the Prime Minister leave Beijing and readjust the deployment. You must know that under the current situation, nothing is easy to do under their noses."

Duan Qirui said: "The secretary-general is right. I will go to Tianjin today and talk about it when I get there." Then he said to Zhang Guogan: "You immediately prepare a telegram for me and send it, saying, 'Check out the republic and the cabinet system of all countries, not the economy. The incumbent prime minister's countersignature cannot be effective as an order. Without Qirui's countersignature, Qirui will not be responsible for any impact on the local and national areas in the future.'One thing in particular should not be missed, the signature must be'State Affairs Prime Minister Duan Qirui's seven words!"

"Yes!" Zhang Guogan promised, and immediately drafted the telegram with a pen. Duan Qirui expressed satisfaction after reading it, and asked Zhang Guogan to arrange to send it out.After Duan Qirui arranged everything, he called Du Battalion Commander Du of the Guard Battalion and told him, "Go to Qianmen Station and prepare a special car for me. I'm going to Tianjin tonight."

Duan Qirui has a guard battalion, including 4 companies of infantry, [-] companies of machine guns, [-] company of cavalry, and [-] company of plainclothes reconnaissance.Du Battalion Commander Duan Qirui was loyal to Duan Qirui. Hearing the order, he led two platoons of people to the station.Unexpectedly, the station master said to Commander Du: "Brother just received a telephone order from the Presidential Palace, saying that no one is allowed to pass through the special car without the President's permission. I'm really sorry."

Battalion Commander Du didn't recognize this, pushed the station master aside, ordered his subordinates to force the station staff to prepare the special car, and then came back to report to Duan Qirui.Duan Qirui was afraid that the night would be full of dreams, so he immediately took a few entourages, and under the protection of 20 guards, they drove straight to Qianmen Railway Station in two cars.

Just as Duan Qirui got into the special car, Wu Guangxin, the commander-in-chief of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, came to accompany him to Tianjin. The two exchanged greetings in the car. After 10 minutes, they did not see the car.Wu Guangxin hurriedly asked, "Why don't you drive?"

Immediately someone said: "Captain Du went to the station master."

Wu Guangxin feared that things might change, so he said angrily: "It's this time, why are you still hesitating, go and call the station master." The subordinates did not dare to make mistakes, and immediately responded.

After a while, Commander Du, the station master and several station staff came trotting over.Wu Guangxin asked the station master: "Why don't you drive quickly? Can you take responsibility for the accident? Ah!"

"This, this..." The station master murmured, "Just now the Presidential Palace called and ordered, saying that no one is allowed to drive a special car without the President's order."

Wu Guangxin said: "They are talking nonsense, please drive quickly!"

Commander Du immediately took out his pistol, pressed it against the station master's chest, and said sharply, "Are you driving or not?"

Seeing this, the station master turned pale with fright, his legs trembled involuntarily, and hurriedly shouted: "Drive! Drive!" After that, he ordered the staff around him: "Go and report to the Presidential Palace. I can’t do without the special car. The Prime Minister is angry here, and he will shoot me if I don’t drive. Tell them the special car has already opened!”

The special car was ordered to start and slowly drove out of the train station.Duan Qirui looked at the Beijing city that was gradually going away, and muttered to himself: "Beijing, I will definitely come back!"

While driving Duan Qirui away, Li Yuanhong immediately secretly sent a telegram to Li Mohan asking him to come to Beijing.

In Jinan, Li Mohan was surprised and excited when he received the telegram. He never thought that Li Yuanhong would treat him as a life-saving straw, nor did he think that history would give him such an opportunity so soon.

Li Mohan immediately summoned his subordinates for a meeting overnight, and he passed the telegram to his subordinates for circulation, and all the generals were very excited.

Liu Musheng said: "Master, this is a god-sent opportunity."

Li Mohan smiled and said: "Fortunately, misfortune lies in misfortune. Once I go to the capital, I will definitely become the target of public criticism. Shandong, Henan East and Huaibei are the places and foundations of our fortune. I decided to leave the main force of the SS. Garrison, I will only take the newly formed ten garrison battalions to Beijing."