Chapter 15 14. Lu Zhengxiang's formation of the cabinet was difficult, and Yuan Shikai made multiple mediations

When Yuan Shikai heard that Tang Shaoyi had resigned, he was about to send someone to persuade him to stay, when Tang Shaoyi's resignation had already been sent from the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau.Tang said in the telegram that he "occasionally felt the wind and cold, which affected his old illness, so he went to Tianjin for medical treatment. Please open the vacancy immediately and invite another candidate."Seeing that the first cabinet was about to collapse, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but send Liang Shiyi, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, to Tianjin to persuade him to see if things turned around.When Liang Shiyi arrived in Tianjin, seeing that Tang Shaoyi had made up his mind to go, he had to go back dispirited.

Tang Shaoyi's departure without saying goodbye seems to be caused by an accident (that is, the countersignature of Wang Zhixiang's appointment letter), but in fact it implies the fundamental problem of the conflict between the construction of the power system and the actual situation, and this is largely due to Caused by unrealistic provisions in the Provisional Contract.From the perspective of abiding by the law and the "Interim Contract Law", Tang Shaoyi's resignation is a commendable thing, because he saved the dignity of the law with his own personal sacrifice, and would not make the responsible cabinet system fall into Yuan Shikai's despotic power. Down.But from the actual situation, all Tang Shaoyi could do at that time was to resign. As a staff member who had followed Yuan Shikai for many years, his strength was really unable to compete with Yuan Shikai.

From the perspective of utilitarianism, Tang Shaoyi's resignation is obviously out of date, because the establishment of the Republic of China needs the overall stability most, and the only person with appeal at that time was the great president Yuan Shikai. It was unexpected and unpopular for the cabinet to end up in this farce. Because of this, Tang Shaoyi's resignation aroused strong dissatisfaction among Republicans and Gael Party members in the Senate. They published articles scolding Tang Shaoyi for "absenting duty without authorization and absconding", and claimed that "members of the alliance should no longer be prime ministers of the cabinet".In the face of the attacks from the Republican Party and the United Party, the Tongmenghui defended and counterattacked Tang Shaoyi. They believed that Tang Shaoyi was completely forced to retreat in this incident, and that someone else should really be held accountable.

Tang Shaoyi had gone, and the prime minister could not hang on for a long time. Yuan Shikai had no choice but to approve Tang Shaoyi's resignation on June 27, and then nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs Lu Zhengxiang as the candidate for prime minister.At the beginning, Yuan Shikai didn't want Lu Zhengxiang to take over as prime minister, but chose someone else.When Yuan Shikai was the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, there were two people who helped him a lot in government affairs. One was Tang Shaoyi and the other was Xu Shichang.Now that the "left arm" has fallen out, Yuan Shikai wanted to nominate Xu Shichang to take over the post of prime minister.

It is a pity that Xu Shichang still had feelings for the Qing Dynasty at that time. He would rather hide in a foreign concession as an apartment than to go out of the mountains; and people from the Tongmenghui believed that Xu Shichang was an old Qing bureaucrat who knew nothing about republican democracy. He was fierce and firmly opposed to the nomination of Xu Shichang as Prime Minister. Under such circumstances, Yuan Shikai nominated Lu Zhengxiang to the provisional senate on June 29th for the post of prime minister.Lu Zhengxiang is a native of Shanghai. He studied at the Shanghai Cantonese Dialect Institute (equivalent to the current School of Foreign Languages) in his early years, and later entered the Jingshi Tongwen Institute to study, and he is proficient in multiple languages.Lu Zhengxiang has been a minister abroad for many years, enjoys a high reputation in the diplomatic circle, and has a deep understanding of foreign affairs, and he also married a Belgian wife (the daughter of a certain general).More importantly, Lu Zhengxiang is a detached faction. He does not belong to any political party, so he is easily accepted by all parties.In the vote of the day, the Provisional Senate passed the proposal of Lu Zhengxiang as Prime Minister with a high vote of 74 votes and 10 votes against.

After Lu Zhengxiang was appointed as the prime minister of the cabinet, the Tongmenghui Headquarters meeting, in view of the lessons learned from Tang Shaoyi's mixed cabinet, decided to let the state servants of the Tongmeng membership in the cabinet resign collectively, so as to avoid political party disputes from hindering future governance.This move of the League will, on the one hand, allow Lu Zhengxiang to form a detached cabinet, and on the other hand, it also shows that the members of the League are willing to sacrifice and will never be greedy for power and position.But when Cai Yuanpei, Song Jiaoren, Wang Zhengting and others sent representatives to ask Yuan Shikai to resign, President Yuan pretended to stay to show his tolerance.It turned out that Yuan Shikai didn't know much about political party cabinets or detached cabinets, but he hoped to recruit the best talents from all over the world for my use. If everyone resigned, it would demolish his walls and make him appear to have no prestige.Therefore, Yuan Shikai's attitude of persuading him to stay was very sincere, and he didn't want to break with the Tongmenghui so soon.

But the Tongmenghui disagrees with this. They think Lu Zhengxiang’s cabinet is also a transitional cabinet, because after a period of time, the Senate needs to be re-elected (from the temporary Senate to the official Congress), and the winning party will form a cabinet at that time, and the cabinet will be full of one party. , wouldn't it be more convenient?At that time, there were quite a few people who held this idea in the Tongmenghui, and Song Jiaoren was the most resolute among them. In order to express their determination to resign, Cai Yuanpei and others wrote to the new cabinet premier, Lu Zhengxiang, saying that after July 14, the state servants of the Tongmenghui would no longer work in the Ministry, and the members of the Tongmenghui would no longer participate in the new cabinet.With the members of the alliance determined to leave, Yuan Shikai signed an order on July 14 approving the resignation of Cai Yuanpei and others. On the same day, Shi Zhaoji, the chief of communications (the chief of communications was originally concurrently held by Tang Shaoyi, was later replaced by Tang Shaoyi's relatives) Shi Zhaoji was appointed, and this time he was naturally in the same position as Tang Shaoyi) and the Chief Financial Officer Xiong Xiling, while the Chief of Industry and Commerce Chen Qimei has not been in office, so he was naturally dismissed.Of course, Zhao Bingjun, Chief of the Interior, Duan Qirui, Chief of the Army, and Liu Guanxiong, Chief of the Navy, remained steadfast.

As for the new Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang, he was not Yuan Shikai's best candidate at first, but because Xu Shichang refused to leave the mountain and could not pass, Yuan Shikai pushed him to the foreground.Lu Zhengxiang has been doing diplomacy abroad all year round. He is good at diplomacy, but he knows nothing about internal affairs, so he lacks confidence in forming a cabinet. Fortunately, President Yuan promised to help him find a new cabinet chief, and Lu Zhengxiang agreed to take the post of prime minister. Although the Tongmenghui stated that it would no longer join the new cabinet, Yuan Shikai did not know whether he really loved talents or deliberately provoked the relationship within the Tongmenghui.Sun Yuyun, Hu Ying, and Shen Bingkun are all members of the old alliance. Sun Yuyun served as the governor of Anhui, Hu Ying served as the governor of Yantai, and Shen Bingkun served as the governor of Guangxi.However, after they became senators in Beijing, their political performance was stable and they got along well with Yuan Shikai, so they were nominated.

The Tongmenghui was very angry about this, and Song Jiaoren accused Yuan Shikai of "forcing rape" and asked Yuan Shikai to respect the resolutions of other parties.Yuan Shikai naturally didn't know what other parties were or were not, and he only cared about his talent cabinet.Later, because the Republican Party had objections to Hu Ying, Yuan Shikai replaced Hu Ying with Wang Renwen, and finally proposed the list of new cabinet members as follows: Zhou Ziqi, Minister of Finance, Hu Weide, Minister of Communications, Zhang Zongxiang, Minister of Justice, Wang Renwen, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Shen Bingkun, Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Sun Yuyun, Minister of Education.

On July 18, Lu Zhengxiang went to the Provisional Senate to deliver a policy speech, and at the same time submitted to the Senate for approval of new cabinet candidates.Since Lu Zhengxiang has been handling foreign affairs in foreign countries all the year round, and was passed by a high number of votes before, many senators are eager to see his demeanor, so they are extremely looking forward to his speech. After Lu Zhengxiang entered the Senate gracefully, all the senators clapped their hands to express their welcome, and the atmosphere in the venue was very warm.It is a pity that Prime Minister Lu is good at foreign languages ​​but not good at Mandarin (probably due to work), and he is also a Shanghai native who speaks Wu Nong's soft language, and his voice is too soft for many congressmen to hear clearly.When everyone pricked up their ears to listen to the long-awaited grand speech, Premier Lu talked about trivial matters, which really echoed the old adage that "a great reputation is hard to live up to", which disappointed the members of the House of Representatives.

Guess what Prime Minister Lu said?What he was talking about was not any major national policy, nor was it an exciting plan or strategy. Instead, he said some words, as light as plain water: "Brother, it is my first time to come to your courtyard. It is a great honor. My twenties I have been in a foreign country for the past 20 years. In the past 20 years, I only returned to China for the first time for three months. The second time I returned to China was the year before last, and I stayed there for eleven months. After I came back, I had little contact with the outside world, and I don’t want to eat flowers and wine. , I don’t want to compliment the officialdom, and my relatives also complain that I don’t want to quote others or borrow money, so I’m rather indifferent in the social arena. People who are unwilling to borrow money to start a big business, I am really sincere and sincere. Now that there is a prime minister, there must be no state servants. If the state servants are not talented, it is absolutely impossible to rely on a prime minister alone. For birthdays, you must first make a menu and choose delicious vegetables, let alone important state servants." The content of Lu Zhengxiang's speech was far beyond the expectations of the congressmen. They thought that the new prime minister would have some high-level speeches to help the new government overcome the current crisis, but unexpectedly it was an extremely trivial speech.Hearing this, the members of the House of Representatives looked at each other in blank dismay, and instead of applauding, they began to discuss privately off the stage, which made Premier Lu on the stage extremely embarrassed, and he had no intention of continuing his speech, so he had to hand over the list of newly nominated state councilors to the speaker, and But he resigned early - and no one saw him off. After Lu Zhengxiang left, members of the House of Representatives could not help complaining, saying: "In the early days of the Republic of China, I hoped that a talented prime minister would be able to prosper and eliminate disadvantages. If this one came to be the prime minister, I am afraid there is nothing to hope for." Under the circumstances, when the speaker announced the list of candidates for the new cabinet, all the members voted against it, and none of the six candidates passed. After hearing that all the new candidates were rejected, Lu Zhengxiang simply hid in the hospital and pretended to be sick, and resigned with "the ability to organize a cabinet", and even resigned from the concurrent post of foreign minister also deserves respect).Yuan Shikai was quite surprised when he learned about it: These congressmen had approved Lu Zhengxiang's nomination for Prime Minister with a high vote a few days ago, but today they rejected all the new cabinet members nominated. This change is too fast! To put it bluntly, the Chinese are used to living a peaceful life, and suddenly they started democracy. It is understandable that they are inexperienced, and it is normal to mess around.Let’s just talk about those young and energetic senators. Most of these people are in their 30s and 40s. It has no legislative power. As a newly born republic, in the absence of traditional imperial power, the unknown legislative power led to the dystocia of the new cabinet, which made the situation at that time even more confusing and unstable.Therefore, when the news came out that the provisional Senate rejected the new cabinet candidates, some party groups and public opinion expressed their opinions one after another, criticizing the provisional Senate for being too impulsive and disregarding the facts, which led to this political crisis. But having said that, the senators are actually not wrong. Most of them are not out of selfishness, but hope to form a qualified, sound and powerful government cabinet. How can the government account for all the people when the country is ruined and the country is lost?Of course, there were also many people who believed that in the chaotic situation at that time, having a government was better than having no government, and the provisional Senate should be fully responsible for the disturbance of forming a cabinet this time. If it were in a Western country, a political crisis such as a difficult cabinet birth would not be considered a major event, but China was at the beginning of democracy and a newly established republic, so the crisis seemed extremely sensitive and urgent.As the president, Yuan Shikai was naturally responsible for this incident, and the provisional Senate, under pressure from public opinion, also took the initiative to send representatives to the presidential palace to negotiate a solution with Yuan Shikai.This is a good sign. Although those senators are very young, they are sincere and sincerely want to build the country well. Yuan Shikai has been in the officialdom for more than 30 years, and he has perfected his power skills for many years. On the one hand, he wants to maintain the prestige of the president, and on the other hand, he wants to make the provisional Senate submit. This has to use a combination of soft and hard methods. On July 21, Yuan Shikai hosted a banquet for all senators at the presidential palace to strengthen communication between the two sides.Although it was pouring rain that day, more than 60 senators attended the banquet (nearly two-thirds of the provisional Senate), and Yuan Shikai was also very humble. He went to each lounge early in the morning to shake hands with the senators. Chatting with each other, the image is extremely friendly. At 6:30 in the evening, after the senators came to the banquet hall, Yuan Shikai first delivered a speech, which was nothing more than the current domestic affairs, diplomacy, finance and finance, but it was more reasonable and eloquent than what Lu Zhengxiang said (why not let Yuan Shikai also serve as the cabinet? Forget it with the prime minister), the members of the House of Representatives also nodded frequently. After Yuan Shikai's speech, Tang Hualong, vice-president of the Senate, spoke on behalf of all the senators, expressing that the Senate is willing to help the President to stabilize the situation and build the country sincerely.Yuan Shikai then bowed to the members of the House of Representatives to express his gratitude, and hoped that everyone would not forget what he said today.Members of the House of Representatives also collectively bowed in return, and the atmosphere at the scene was extremely harmonious. In stark contrast to the harmonious atmosphere inside the arena, senior officers from the military and police circles in Beijing held a meeting outside the arena. All the attendees were filled with righteous indignation, and justly reprimanded the senators for having no sense of political responsibility and putting the country in a state of anarchy , and claimed that if this "anarchy" continues, they will be "forced" to maintain the situation.After the meeting, the military and police representatives concocted another telegram attacking the Provisional Senate and distributed it to Vice President Li Yuanhong, governors-general of all provinces, armies, parties and organizations, and their newspapers. Obstructing the establishment of a new government has made it impossible to negotiate foreign loans; if the military pay is not paid, the army will mutiny at that time, don't blame us for being rude!" Since the last mutiny in Beijing, it was the second time that the military interfered in politics, and later it became the norm and became a chronic disease that was difficult to cure in the Republic of China (who opened the Pandora's box? Was it Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang generals, or the new uprising army?).Under the instigation of these soldiers, the provincial governors, parliaments and newspapers also criticized the provisional Senate one after another, and the telegrams of condemnation came like snowflakes, piled up more than a foot high. Under the scolding of public opinion, the temporary senators turned into rats crossing the street, and fell to the point where everyone shouted and beat them.The most exaggerated thing is that an anonymous leaflet even appeared in Beijing, offering a reward of 100,000 oceans for the lives of Speaker Wu Jinglian and others; there was even a group signed by "Jiangong Ten Group" sent 103 letters to the Provisional Senate (senator Everyone has a share), and warned the senators that if they messed up again, they would give everyone ten bombs to enjoy. Regarding the bad behavior of the Beijing military and police, the main generals of the Nanjing Civil Army, under the leadership of the First Army Commander Bai Wenwei, lodged a strong protest to Yuan Shikai and demanded that all sectors of society, especially the soldiers, respect the country's legislature.Bai Wenwei and others pointed out that once the army constitutes a precedent for oppressing the parliament, the future politics of the Republic of China will inevitably suffer endless troubles (this is a wise statement). After Yuan Shikai received this protest telegram, he accepted it as soon as it was good, and then he telegraphed military officers at all levels, prohibiting them from sending out such boring leaflets, and ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of War to investigate the matter (the result was of course a verbal warning, let it go).With favorable public opinion, Yuan Shikai quickly put forward a new list of candidates for the second cabinet, as follows: Chief Financial Officer Zhou Xuexi, Chief Justice Xu Shiying, Chief Education Minister Fan Yuanlian, Chief Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Chen Zhenxian, Chief Minister of Transportation Zhu Qiqian, and Chief Minister of Industry and Commerce Jiang Zuobin. In the list proposed by Yuan Shikai this time, except for Jiang Zuobin who is a member of the alliance, the others are all in Yuan Shikai's pocket.Since the Tongmenghui had already decided not to join the new cabinet, Jiang Zuobin later stated that he could not take up the post and asked to select talents.In fact, it was not that Yuan Shikai was ignorant of the Tongmenghui's resolution, but he still insisted on nominating Jiang Zuobin as the candidate for the head of industry and commerce, as if he wanted to attack the Tongmenghui's party and cabinet policies and enhance his prestige. On July 25, the provisional Senate met again to discuss the new cabinet candidates. Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang did not attend the meeting on this day, but appointed Army Chief Duan Qirui to explain the reasons for the nomination.Duan Qirui didn't talk nonsense, but he walked into the venue with arrogance and arrogance in military uniform, which made the senators feel very uncomfortable.After Duan Qirui finished speaking and left, the senators also fell into conflict: if they were forced to succumb to the pressure of the military, police and public opinion, the parliament would lose its existence value; continue to be threatened.Senators are really torn between reality and ideals. After deliberation, the provisional Senate decided to postpone the vote on the grounds that new candidates needed to be “qualified” and hoped that Yuan Shikai would issue a notice prohibiting military intervention in politics to show that the Senate was not under pressure to discuss state affairs.Yuan Shikai was well aware of the thoughts of the senators. That night, he arranged a tea party for the military and police circles and senators from various parties, so that all parties could communicate and communicate with each other, so as to facilitate tomorrow's vote.Not only that, but on the morning of the voting day, Yuan Shikai publicly issued a telegram prohibiting military intervention in politics, which was regarded as saving face for the senators. The ensuing voting process was naturally uneventful. Except for the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Jiang Zuobin, who failed to pass due to insufficient votes, the other five chief ministers passed the test smoothly.Jiang Zuobin's veto was due to the fact that the senators of the Tongmenghui acted in accordance with the resolutions of their political parties, and secondly, it was an act of saving face by the provisional Senate—after all, they did not completely succumb to the pressure of Yuan Shikai and the outside world. After Jiang Zuobin was rejected, Yuan Shikai subsequently nominated Liu Kuiyi, a member of the League, as the candidate for the head of industry and commerce.In the end, Yuan Shikai's efforts were rewarded. Liu Kuiyi decided to accept the position and declared his withdrawal from the League. Yuan Shikai finally had the last laugh this time. So far, the crisis of forming a cabinet was resolved under Yuan Shikai's operation and the compromise of all parties, and Lu Zhengxiang's cabinet was established in name.The reason for saying "nominally established" is because Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang considered that he was no longer trusted by the Senate, so he simply said that he would not be sick and would not go to the Ministry to handle government affairs.Under such circumstances, Yuan Shikai had no choice but to let Zhao Bingjun, chief of internal affairs, act as prime minister temporarily.