Chapter 66 The taste of being grilled by the stove

At the end of the meeting that day, Zhang Xun hosted a banquet in honor of the Governor Army, but because he still had no idea whether the Governor Army would accept his restoration proposition, he still did not attend the banquet in person, and his adopted son, Dingwujun (because Zhang Xun was once named by Yuan Shikai) Zhang Wensheng, the commander-in-chief of his "braided army" (also known as Dingwu Army) presided over it on his behalf. Zhang Wensheng drank a little too much because of persuasion and drinking, and fell asleep on a sofa in the corner of the large living room.After a while, he sobered up, and only heard someone talking in a low voice. When he opened his eyes, it turned out that Xu Shuzheng was discussing something with Ni Sichong and others.Fearing that the other party would find out, Zhang Wensheng quickly closed his eyes again, pretending to be drunk.

At this time, the conversation was coming to an end, and someone (Xu Shuzheng) said: "He is the brain of the restoration, and he can't hear anything else. Let's support his restoration, and we will think of other ways when he is restored." Xu Shuzheng's words were echoed immediately: "Let's go! Let's talk to him face to face." Listening further down, I couldn't hear clearly, and a group of people walked out of the hall while whispering. Zhang Wensheng couldn't hold back his anger, and wished he could tell Zhang Xun everything he had overheard.But when he ran to Zhang Xun's room, he found that Xu Shuzheng and others had already held a meeting around Zhang Xun, and everyone was talking enthusiastically, and he couldn't intervene at all, let alone inform the story.

When meeting Zhang Xun, the first sentence Xu Shuzheng used to impress him was: "Old Zhi (Duan Qirui) only wants to achieve the goal of driving Li Yuanhong away, and all means are not considered." Zhang Xun knew that Xu Shuzheng was the number one celebrity in Duan Qirui's scenes, and when Xu Shuzheng said that, he thought that Duan Qirui would not oppose the restoration. Ni Sichong and others listened to Xu Shuzheng's plan, and also echoed, saying that they were in favor of restoration. Zhang Xun was overjoyed: "Since everyone has no objection, it would be great." Fearing that everyone would regret it, he quickly suggested: "But this matter is not just talk, if you agree, you must do it to the end, and you must be firm .”

There is no basis for verbal statements, but evidence is evidence.Zhang Xun immediately asked the adjutant to go to the back house to find a piece of yellow satin to sign.The adjutant couldn't find it, but it happened that Zhang Xun's second wife had a piece of yellow satin, which was intended to be stamped with a big seal for the young master to suppress evil spirits, so she temporarily took it to the front. The people present signed the yellow satin one by one, and Wan Shengshi also wrote a predestined relationship on it.After signing, Zhang Xun handed over the yellow satin to Wan Shengshi for safekeeping, and then discussed with everyone the strategy of implementing the restoration.

After the Xuzhou Conference, Ni Sichong took the lead in sending out a telegram in Bengbu, declaring independence, and the draft of the telegram was written by Xu Shuzheng.Then the governors of other provinces also responded to Ni Sichong's telegram and declared the independence of the province. The main goal of the independent provinces was to target the National Assembly. On the one hand, they sent representatives to Tianjin to set up provincial military general staff offices, and on the other hand, they detained trains along the Tianjin-Puzhou Railway to transport troops to Tianjin, hoping to create a tense situation for an imminent armed coup.

Before Li Yuanhong dismissed Duan Qirui, Duan Qirui was in a difficult situation. He was in an active and advantageous position, but after Duan was dismissed, he tasted the taste of being roasted by the stove. In addition to external pressure from the Warlords, Beijing's political arena is also in chaos.Not only is the government almost unresponsible, but even the National Assembly is in a state of incompleteness due to the exodus of a number of members of the research department. In order to stabilize the political situation and win over the army of the Beiyang faction, Li Yuanhong planned to appoint Xu Shichang or Wang Shizhen as prime minister, but neither Xu nor Wang could resign.As a last resort, he had to settle for the next best thing and appoint Li Jingxi as Prime Minister and Chief Financial Officer.

Li Jingxi is an old man from the former Qing Dynasty. His prestige and ability are not commensurate with the position of prime minister. The outside world thinks that his position is a big upset.The reason why Li Yuanhong and his staff respected him was because Li Jingxi was Li Hongzhang's nephew, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, and was more or less a Beiyang bureaucrat. way to stabilize the political situation. But seeing the political turmoil, Li Jingxi did not dare to come to Beijing to take office.Li Yuanhong was in a state of desperation and was forced to send a "sorrow telegram" to the independent provinces, stating that he was "temporarily dismissed from office for Duan Qirui's sake", and there are precedents for the countersignature of Duan Qirui's decree. It is illegal to refer to it.

The attitude of the Warlords to the "sorrow telegram" is to dismiss and sneer.When Ni Sichong met with Duan Qirui in Tianjin, he said: "Li Songqing (Li Yuanhong) once told me that it is illegal to declare war on Germany without the approval of the Congress. What a fucking law! The Prime Minister is the leader of the responsible cabinet. What the Prime Minister said It is the law. Is it legal for him to remove the prime minister without the countersignature of the cabinet?" Speaking of his pride, Ni Sichong dug up Li Yuanhong's old background again: "In the revolution of Wuchang in 1911, Li Songqing was so frightened that he got under the bed when he heard the gunshots. Later, it was just a chance meeting, and things were done according to people, but he was in a high position. If he is indecisive, he is so self-important and considers himself the founding father of the country, who else will support him?"

Today's Governor Ni has long since entered Beijing from a motley military leader who didn't know who to rely on, to a die-hard fan who firmly supports Duan Qirui.Duan Qirui was of course very happy about this, and when it came to his evaluation of Li Yuanhong, he said in one sentence: "The country's affairs are difficult, and mediocrity is enough to harm the country." When Li Yuanhong didn't know what to do, Li Jingxi, who was afraid to take office in Tianjin, offered him a plan.