Chapter 14 Thirteenth, the new cabinet is full of crises, and Tang Shaoyi leaves in anger

On April 1, 1912, Tang Shaoyi's cabinet was established.Just as people in the country were cheering for the peaceful resolution of the war, elated for the victory of the Republic and the unity of the country, the start of the Republic of China was not so smooth from the very beginning. The crisis erupted first in the cabinet.After Tang Shaoyi formed the cabinet, some cabinet members were dissatisfied with the position arrangement, and they offered to resign to Tang Shaoyi one after another.For example, Song Jiaoren, the head of agriculture and forestry, a young man in his early 30s, believes that he has more important things to do at present. This little head of agriculture and forestry cannot satisfy his ambition at all (he wants to form a cabinet by himself!).Therefore, Song Jiaoren asked for resignation again and again, which made Tang Shaoyi very embarrassed.

Chen Qimei, another member of the alliance in the cabinet, thought that the position of Minister of Industry and Commerce given to him was just to divert the tiger away from the mountain, so he did not go to Beijing to take up the post at all, but entrusted Wang Zhengting to go to Beijing as the deputy minister to handle affairs on his behalf.Finance Minister Xiong Xiling was originally a member of the United Party (formerly a constitutionalist in the late Qing Dynasty) between Yuan Shikai's forces and the Southern Revolutionary Party. In view of the extremely difficult financial problems at the time and the complicated factions in the cabinet, he also retreated. Ask Tang Shaoyi to resign again and again.

According to the agreement, the state officials in the south should go to Beijing to take office immediately after forming a cabinet, but in this case, Tang Shaoyi can only stay in Nanjing after announcing the appointment of the cabinet, trying to persuade Song Jiaoren and others, hoping that everyone will put the overall situation first , go north as soon as possible.Seeing that the first cabinet was difficult to deliver, Yuan Shikai was also very anxious. He kept communicating with all parties through telegrams in order to achieve a satisfactory resolution of the situation. The main reason for this situation is the mutual distrust between the North and the South.Because the Southern Revolutionary Party had fought with Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army, and there was a mutiny in Beijing not long ago, the Southern Revolutionary Party was worried about the danger of going north, and advocated sending troops to escort the state servants to the north.This approach is obviously to intensify the conflict between the North and the South in advance.

At this time, Vice President Li Yuanhong, who was in Wuchang, stepped forward. He sent telegrams to Nanjing one after another, advising the state servants to go north as soon as possible.In the telegram, Li Yuanhong persuaded almost with snot and tears: "In the early days of the Republic of China, the foundation of the country was undecided, and the hearts of the people were shaken. Recovering the country is a quick matter, then I, Li Yuanhong, would rather hang my hands and wait for death, and have no complaints! If everyone still thinks highly of me, I would like to ask everyone to resign as agreed. OK! If you go north and cause danger, please kill me Li Yuanhong to thank the world! If you support your own troops and cause disaster, then you should be guilty and thank the world! If you still wait and see within five days, the people will think you He intends to abandon the Republic of China, how can he get it?"

Under the pressure of public opinion, the state servants in Nanjing had no choice but to go to Beijing to take up their posts reluctantly. On April 15, Cai Yuanpei, Song Jiaoren and some senators accompanied Tang Shaoyi to Beijing.Since Jinpu Road was not open to traffic at that time, the group first took a ship from Shanghai to Tianjin, and then transferred from Tianjin to Beijing by train. After the provisional government moved to Beijing, the Provisional Senate in Nanjing also announced its adjournment and moved north accordingly. On April 29, the opening ceremony of the Senate was grandly held in Beijing. Premier Tang Shaoyi, heads of various ministries, and people from all walks of life at home and abroad attended the ceremony. Even President Yuan came to congratulate and delivered a speech in person.However, this was Yuan Shikai's first and only visit to the Senate.To be honest, I am afraid that Yuan Shikai didn't know much about what the parliament does and what kind of power and status it has.Subconsciously, he may still regard the Senate as the Senior Council of the former Qing Dynasty, but only for consultation and assistance.

Despite various contradictions and conflicts, under the coordination and cooperation of the North and the South, the initial political structure of the Republic of China was finally set up.By the end of April 1912, only two months after the abdication of the Qing Emperor (only half a year before the Wuchang Uprising), the Republic of China had begun to take shape, and the Senate, the Cabinet, and the President had all been determined (although they all still had "temporary" signs in front of them. two words).This kind of democratic attempt is unique and without precedent in Chinese history, and it was only a short period of two or three months.But the so-called "haste makes waste", although the weather in the first year of the Republic of China seems to be colorful and prosperous, but the various turbulent undercurrents hidden inside should not be underestimated.

The most fundamental issue is also the division of powers between the president and the prime minister in the "Provisional Constitution" mentioned above.According to the provisions of the "Provisional Constitution", orders issued by the interim president must be signed by the prime minister before they can take effect. Beautiful, but in reality it doesn't work.As a country with more than 2,000 years of autocratic tradition, it has suddenly transformed from the original authoritarian system to a brand-new republican and democratic system. The obstacles in it cannot be overcome overnight, or even decades.Liang Qichao once said that even if the Qing emperor abdicated, the most suitable thing for China at that time was still enlightened autocracy. It's bad.

Take the relationship between Yuan Shikai and Tang Shaoyi as an example. Since the 1880s, Tang Shaoyi has been following Yuan Shikai, and his status as a staff member has been maintained for nearly 30 years. Suddenly, one day, Yuan Shikai needed Tang Shaoyi to countersign the order. How could Yuan Shikai accept that Premier Tang's signature could not take effect?Furthermore, with Tang Shaoyi's status and ability, how could he control such a complicated situation without Yuan Shikai's support?If Tang Shaoyi was subordinate to Yuan Shikai, the situation might be better, but the responsible cabinet system stipulated in the "Interim Contract" wants to use the prime minister to restrain the president, especially Yuan Shikai, who is optimistic at home and abroad, is the opinion of scholars and even out of selfishness .In fact, after the Qing emperor abdicated, no one could replace Yuan Shikai. If Yuan Shikai was really stabbed to death that day, the world would be in chaos and the war between warlords would be staged in advance, it should be a foregone conclusion.

It is a pity that although Tang Shaoyi has followed Yuan Shikai for nearly thirty years, he is still a scholar at heart.Before the Qing emperor abdicated, when Tang Shaoyi was ordered to negotiate between the North and the South, he cut off the long braid on the back of his head after boarding the train going south.During the negotiations between the North and the South and the formation of the cabinet in Nanjing, Tang Shaoyi got along very well with the revolutionary parties in the south, which had to arouse Yuan Shikai's suspicion and suspicion. According to Yuan Shikai's original idea, he recommended Tang Shaoyi as the prime minister of the cabinet. At first, he may have hoped that Tang Shaoyi would be his deputy to help handle government affairs. But now that Tang Shaoyi has a close relationship with the Revolutionary Party, it is unavoidable that he would use the forces in the south to confront him. .In fact, although Tang Shaoyi had a close relationship with the Revolutionary Party, he was still a member of the Yuan faction, but because of his responsibility for the cabinet, he often fought with Yuan Shikai for political opinions.But the problem is, Yuan Shikai is a figure of the old school, how can he understand the principle of the president, prime minister, and responsible cabinet to check each other?In his opinion, Tang Shaoyi was really a villain, extremely rude and unbearable.

Even the people in the presidential palace, every time they see Prime Minister Tang come to discuss political affairs, they will privately say indignantly: "Today, Prime Minister Tang is here to bully our president again?" Yuan Shikai, how can his role be changed?After all, reality is reality and cannot be replaced by imagination. Once, Prime Minister Tang had a dispute with President Yuan because of something. Old Yuan became impatient and said angrily: "Shaochuan, I am already old (in fact, Yuan Shikai is one year older than Tang Shaoyi), you come here Is it okay to be the president?" When Prime Minister Tang suddenly heard such a sentence, he was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat on the spot - after all, his staff for many years could not stand up in front of the officials.

Due to too many conflicts with Tang Shaoyi, Yuan Shikai simply put aside the prime minister and directly directed Zhao Bingjun, Duan Qirui and others.With Yuan Shikai's support, Zhao, Duan and others, who had always obeyed Yuan Shikai's words, did not pay much attention to the new official Tang Shaoyi.In the end, people like Zhao Bingjun didn't even attend the state affairs meeting.In this way, how can Tang Shaoyi, the prime minister, go on? For example, when it comes to the arrangement of personnel in various ministries of the cabinet, Tang Shaoyi advocated that both the north and the south should be considered, but Yuan Shikai directly ordered the ministries to still follow the previous appointments and only make minor adjustments.In the Ministry of Army, Chief Duan Qirui first recommended his confidant Xu Shuzheng as the deputy chief. However, due to the dissatisfaction of the southern revolutionaries, Tang Shaoyi changed Jiang Zuobin, the former deputy chief of the Army Department of the Nanjing Provisional Government, as the new deputy chief of the army. Several directors and department members came to Beijing together, but before Jiang Zuobin came to Beijing, Duan Qirui had already arranged five directors, so that the people brought by Jiang Zuobin had no seats to accommodate, which caused a big disturbance In the end, Tang Shaoyi had no choice but to settle the matter by increasing the position of director. As for the staffing arrangements of other ministries, the situation is roughly the same.The cabinet at that time was obviously divided into two factions. Yuan Shikai's forces were fighting openly and secretly with the Southern Revolutionary Party. Tang Shaoyi was originally a member of Yuan's faction, but his position was close to the Southern Revolutionary Party. He was caught in the middle and could not reconcile the differences between the two parties The contradiction is really miserable.In his own words, "My cabinet is a backpack cabinet. If you serve as prime minister for one more day, you will be guilty for one more day!" The personnel arrangement was still a small matter. At that time, what troubled the new cabinet most was the financial problem.There is an old Chinese saying, "A penny can't beat a hero." Without money, no matter how beautiful the blueprint is, if you talk about it, even if it breaks your throat, it's useless, and you can't do anything in the end. . Make bricks without straw.As the new prime minister, Tang Shaoyi also encountered the problem of lack of money, and his most important task at the time was to make money.Some people may ask, how can a dignified Republic of China have no money?Isn't it absurd! But the reality is cruel. The situation at that time was that there was no money... If he had money, how could Yuan Shikai let it go and the Revolutionary Party would compromise?You must know that the Chinese people, who have been influenced by autocratic ideas for thousands of years, have always liked to go to extremes in power struggles. 1. The happy result of realizing the republic is really rare in Chinese history. The financial embarrassment will not be improved by the establishment of the Republic of China. On the contrary, due to the change of dynasties, most of the taxes that should have been paid have not been collected normally; Take the initiative to send it to the central government!Therefore, both the Nanjing Provisional Government and Tang Shaoyi's Beijing cabinet were actually poor and poor, and they only hated themselves for not being able to produce money. At that time, there was another emergency solution, which was to borrow money from foreign adults.Then someone will ask, why do Western adults show kindness and lend money to China?The reason is very simple. Think about it, the western powers have practiced capitalism for hundreds of years and have accumulated rich wealth. The nature of capital is to seek profit. China had nearly 50 million people at that time. How big a market should it be?Even if you make one or two taels of silver from each Chinese person, there will be a profit of 500 million, which is simply an incredible figure.Furthermore, if you get a Chinese government project, such as building a railway or borrowing money directly, the profits will be very considerable. However, there is a problem here, that is, if China remains in chaos, foreign capital will not be able to make money.Therefore, they need someone to come out to stabilize the situation... People have searched for him thousands of times, and it is obvious that this person is Yuan Shikai. As a result, when Yuan Shikai became the interim president of the Republic of China, the Westerners formed a group of banks from four countries (that is, HSBC in the UK, CA-CIB in France, Deutsche Bank in Germany, and Citibank in the United States). They took the initiative to come to the door, saying that they could lend a huge amount of money (the interest is of course not a small number), but they asked for priority.Yuan Shikai was worried that he had no money to handle affairs, so there was no reason to refuse this offer, so he readily agreed and asked the Four Kingdoms Bank Group to pay 400,000 pounds in advance.The four-nation bank group has a lot of money, and the 400,000 pounds is of course not a problem, and it will be delivered the next day. Later, Yuan Shikai instructed Tang Shaoyi to continue to discuss with the group of banks of the four countries about the aftermath of the large loan.During the negotiations with the four-nation banking group, Prime Minister Tang was in a very unhappy mood, because the foreign people not only had harsh conditions, but also had to put in people for financial supervision and required mortgage guarantees at every turn. The old leader Li Hongzhang used the tactic of "using the barbarians to control the barbarians", and secretly borrowed a one million pound advance from a Belgian bank. With this loan, Tang Shaoyi went to Nanjing to form a cabinet full of confidence, and returned to Beijing after spending millions of taels of silver in Wuchang, Nanjing and Shanghai.But before he reported his contribution to President Yuan, the envoys of the four countries sent a note protesting that Prime Minister Tang ignored the priority of the group of banks of the four countries and borrowed huge sums of money from his family without authorization. When Yuan Shikai saw this note, he also knew that he had made a mistake first, so he had no choice but to say that he didn't know about it, and shifted the responsibility to Prime Minister Tang.Prime Minister Tang was about to defend himself, but President Yuan taught him a way to ask the American minister to mediate, and then refund the loan from the Belgian bank and only borrow from the group of banks from the four countries.The group of the Bank of the Four Kingdoms were originally businessmen who were ungrateful for profit. Seeing that Tang Shaoyi promised to refund the loan, they did not pursue the matter any longer, and the two sides continued to negotiate a large loan for the aftermath.The Belgian banker spoke lightly, but he couldn't handle the four-nation banking group, so he had to swallow his anger and claim back the principal and interest. In the ensuing negotiations with the four-nation banking consortium, Tang Shaoyi asked President Yuan to borrow a huge sum of 75 million taels, which was several times more than the amount proposed before.The foreign masters of the four-nation bank group were also very surprised, and asked Premier Tang what the loan would be used for. Premier Tang replied casually without thinking: "It is nothing more than the use of disbanding the army." The foreign master asked: "Disbandment How much does the army want?" Prime Minister Tang did not make any specific calculations for a while, but only said that it would cost at least 30 million taels.After hearing this, Mr. Yang showed a very distrustful look, saying that it is okay to borrow money, but he must send someone to supervise the purpose of the loan, otherwise he would not lend it out.After hearing this, Tang Shaoyi knew that the situation was serious... Wasn't the road protection movement in Sichuan caused by a large loan? When the loan negotiations were in trouble, Xiong Xiling, the chief financial officer of the cabinet, happened to come to Beijing to take office, and Tang Shaoyi took advantage of the situation to push the burden of borrowing to Minister Xiong.Xiong Xiling is a native of Fenghuangting (now Fenghuang County), Hunan. He is known as "Xiong Fenghuang". He was talented and intelligent since he was a child. , participated in the Hunan New Deal, and later accompanied the five ministers to go abroad to investigate the constitutional government, and from then on, he rose to the top. In 1909, Xiong Xiling was ordered to go to Fengtian Province (now Liaoning) to sort out local finance and taxation. She stood out for a while and was hailed as a master of financial management in the court. After the Revolution of 1911, Xiong Xiling resigned from office and returned to Shanghai because he was in favor of the republic, and joined the United Party organized by Zhang Taiyan (later merged into the Republican Party).After being nominated by Prime Minister Tang as the chief financial officer of the cabinet, Xiong Xiling began to thank him, but later the kindness was hard to turn down, so he had to agree to take up the post.However, he did not go to Beijing immediately, but first helped Huang Xing solve the military payment problem of the civilian army in Nanjing, and then went to Beijing. When he left Nanjing, Xiong Xiling was also very aware of the lack of military pay for the civilian troops in Nanjing and the potential danger of mutiny, so the first thing he did after taking office was to raise a loan to give to Huang Xing to abolish the troops.The newly-appointed Chief Financial Officer does have some skills. He is not only good at financial management, but also very eloquent (this is better than Prime Minister Tang). The method and so on are clear and logical, and the foreign adults are also convinced by it. Even if they agree to advance three million taels, they will discuss the specific matters of the aftermath of the large loan. When Xiong Xiling was eager to tell Huang Xing the good news, the Nanjing side sent a telegram saying: "The advance payment regulations not only supervise China's finances, but also our army. Is it tolerable or unbearable? The army is the national defense. How can we allow foreigners to interfere to such an extent? Has Mr. Xiong forgotten how the road protection movement happened? Don’t you know the lesson of Egypt’s subjugation by borrowing money? In the past 20 years, countless Chinese people have gone through fire and water and died. In exchange for today’s Republic of China, is it necessary to bury the Republic of China for a mere three million advances? As long as we are alive, we will never admit the loan conditions of the subjugation of the country. Please, Minister Xiong, must ban the loan.” Yun Yun. Xiong Xiling was frightened by such an awe-inspiring telegram, and hurried to see who signed it, but saw "Huang Xing" and the names of many civilian army generals in Nanjing clearly written in the lower corner of the telegram.Xiong Xiling was so angry that her spine was almost on fire... I worked so hard to deal with foreigners, and finally borrowed three million silver, what was the plan?Isn't it just to relieve your urgent needs for Huang Xing?This is good, you bite Lu Dongbin like a dog, you don't know a good heart, have you forgotten how you rushed to urge money in the telegram back then? In a fit of anger, Xiong Xiling released Huang Xing's telegram to urge the money to the public, and described the danger that the Nanjing People's Army might mutiny due to lack of pay and his own resignation.Not only that, Xiong Xiling also satirized Huang Xing's lack of political experience and ignorance of economics in the telegram, saying that if Huang Xing was in power, the Republic of China would have to be ruined. The telegram battle between the revolutionary hero Huang Xing and the new finance minister Xiong Xiling immediately caused an uproar.Governors, parliamentarians, newspapers, etc. from all over the country expressed their opinions one after another. Some accused Xiong Xiling of being weak in diplomacy, some scolded the finance minister for betraying the country, and some criticized Huang Xing for disregarding the overall situation, and so on. Amid the clamor of public opinion, the provisional Senate also intervened. Some members asked Tang Shaoyi and his cabinet members to go to the Senate to explain the situation.At the meeting, the young and energetic MPs questioned Tang Shaoyi. They not only questioned the purpose of the Belgian bank loan, but also accused Premier Tang of breaking the trust of the people and being suspicious of neighboring countries. Some even called Tang Shaoyi a "destroyed prime minister". Tang Shaoyi had never seen such a posture before (you know how powerful democracy is now), but she was so tired of coping at the venue that she simply lost her response and stood there dumbfounded, without saying a word.However, after Xiong Xiling learned that the advance payment had come to nothing, she simply refused to go to work in the ministry in a fit of anger, and government affairs came to a standstill. After being persecuted by the Senate for no reason, Tang Shaoyi was so angry that she had nowhere to vent her anger, so she asked President Yuan to resign that night.Although Yuan Shikai was dissatisfied with Tang Shaoyi, he didn't want the first cabinet to collapse so quickly, so he had to persuade Tang Shaoyi to stay calm and be patient for a while. One wave is not flat, and another wave rises again.The issue of the loan was put aside for the time being, and the issue of the candidate for the governor of Zhili caused another disturbance.It turned out that after the Revolution of 1911, it was popular in all provinces to have their own governors, such as Li Yuanhong in charge of Hubei and Li Liejun in charge of Jiangxi. Wang Zhixiang, a native of Tongxian County, Zhili Province, was originally Guangxi's political envoy and commander of the patrol battalion. He participated in the revolution anyway during the Revolution of 1911. Later, because Lu Rongting became the governor of Guangxi, Wang Zhixiang could not gain a foothold in Guangxi, so he led his troops to Nanjing to prepare for the Northern Expedition. .It is a pity that the Northern Expedition failed, and the Southern Revolutionary Party wanted him to be the governor of Zhili in order to expand the power of the Revolutionary Party. Everyone thinks, Zhili is the confidant of the Beiyang Army, how can you allow others to snore and sleep on the side of the couch?Therefore, Yuan Shikai ignored the proposal of the Southern Revolutionary Party, but appointed his confidant Zhang Xiluan as the governor of Zhili.During Tang Shaoyi's cabinet formation in Nanjing, he tried to reconcile the conflict between the North and the South. At that time, he also echoed the request of the Southern Revolutionary Party, and proposed to Yuan Shikai that Wang Zhixiang be the governor of Zhili.Although Yuan Shikai was unhappy, he did not object verbally, and only said that Wang Zhixiang should come to Beijing first.Tang Shaoyi thought that Yuan Shikai had agreed to appoint Wang Zhixiang as the governor of Zhili, so excitedly sent Wang Zhixiang a telegram asking him to come to Beijing. When Wang Zhixiang arrived in Beijing, when Tang Shaoyi asked Yuan Shikai to issue a letter of appointment, Yuan Shikai produced several telegrams, but it was the telegrams from the Zhili Fifth Route Army who opposed Wang Zhixiang's appointment as the governor.Tang Shaoyi was very angry after seeing it, and said: "The president has already promised, how can he break his promise? What's more, military interference in politics is probably not a blessing for the Republic of China." Yuan Shikai snorted and said, "You agreed before, why did I agree? Wang Zhixiang is a member of the revolutionary party. If he came to be the governor of Zhili, wouldn't he be leading the wolf into the house?" Tang Shaoyi said angrily: "Appointment or not appointment is the cabinet's decision." How can the powers of the cabinet be changed at will because of military interference? Besides, Wang Zhixiang has already arrived in Beijing, how can I, the prime minister, explain it?” Yuan Shikai smiled and said, “It’s not difficult, this old man has his own way.” In a democratic society, the military should remain neutral and should not interfere in domestic politics, but it is easy to say, but extremely difficult to do in practice.During the period of the Republic of China, it was almost common for soldiers to intervene in politics. The previous mutiny in Beijing and the electrification of the Fifth Route Army this time were nothing compared to the pinnacle of warlord politics and were not worth mentioning.Tang Shaoyi personally experienced the democratic politics of the United States when he was young, and he also realized the seriousness of the problem of military interference in politics, but he didn't have a gun at hand, so what could he do?If he has a gun, isn't he also a soldier intervening in politics?This seems to be a peculiar paradox, and China has been unable to escape from this vicious circle in the last century. Just when Tang Shaoyi was made very passive and did not know how to explain to Wang Zhixiang, Yuan Shikai summoned Wang Zhixiang alone and promised to give him a generous sum of money to serve as a consolation envoy of the Southern Army and return to Nanjing to assist Jiangsu Governor Cheng Dequan in dismissing army.After all, Prime Minister Tang’s face was not as high as that of President Yuan, and Wang Zhixiang was originally a bureaucrat who followed suit. After receiving Yuan Shikai’s guarantee, he ignored the support of his friends and agreed to Yuan Shikai’s new appointment. When Wang Zhixiang took the letter of appointment to Tang Shaoyi and asked him to countersign it, Prime Minister Tang was completely kept in the dark and didn't know anything about it.When Tang Shaoyi came back to his senses, he realized that he was betrayed by his boss, President Yuan, and his friend Wang Zhixiang!Angry, Tang Shaoyi categorically rejected the request for a counter-signature, but Wang Zhixiang was a person who cared about official positions, and he went straight to Nanjing to take office with a letter of appointment without a counter-signature from the prime minister! That night, Tang Shaoyi stayed up all night and wandered all night.At this time, he thought of all the humiliation and criticism he had suffered since he took office as Prime Minister for more than a month, and he seemed to have overturned a bottle of flavor in his heart. Sadness, resentment, loneliness, and helplessness were really mixed feelings, all of which came at once.Sitting alone by the cold window facing the lonely moon, Tang Shaoyi couldn't help but say to herself: "A democratic republic is determined by the "Interim Constitution". Since the order of the president does not need to be countersigned by the cabinet, why should I, the prime minister, do it?" After speaking, Tang Shaoyi made up his mind, and when the sky was getting brighter, he packed his bags and headed to the train station for Tianjin with his family.