Chapter 41 40. Duan Qirui became prime minister for three years, and Xu Shichang became president

Among the Beiyang troops who went south to attack Hunan, most of them were troops from the north. They expeditioned to Hunan from thousands of miles away. This is a rare and new thing.Therefore, most of the officers feel high spirited and full of energy, wanting to make meritorious deeds and come out on top in this war. On February 26, 1918, at Cao Kun's order, Wu Peifu led the Beiyang Third Division into two groups and went straight to Yueyang.The predecessor of the third division was originally the third of the six Beiyang towns trained by Yuan Shikai. When it became an army in 1906, Duan Qirui was the first commander. After Duan Qirui was transferred to the fourth town, Duan Zhigui took over for another year. Since 1908, Cao Kun has acted as the commander, and has always been a powerful force in the Beiyang Army.

After the Revolution of 1911, the third town of Beiyang was changed to the third division of the army. The division commander was still Cao Kun, and Wu Peifu was promoted to the commander of the artillery regiment, and then to the commander of the sixth brigade.After Cao Kun became the governor of Zhili, he asked Wu Peifu to act as the commander of the third division.Although Wu Peifu was born as a scholar, he trained well. When the former Beiyang veteran army was getting tired, the Beiyang Third Division was full of vitality under his training. This expedition really achieved a lot. On the second day after launching the offensive, the Beiyang Army broke through the Hunan Army's first line of defense and began to implement pincer tactics, intending to cut off the Hunan Army's retreat route.Under the persecution of the Beiyang Army, the Hunan Army hastily abandoned the strategically important Yanglousi and withdrew to Yueyang.After Wu Peifu occupied the Yanglou Division, he ordered a general attack on Yueyang on the morning of March 16.Although the strength of the Southern Army at that time was greater than that of the Northern Army, they abandoned the city and fled south on the 17th without resistance due to successive defeats and internal disunity.

While Wu Peifu led his army to attack Yueyang, Zhang Jingyao also led his seventh division to launch a fierce attack on Pingjiang.Pingjiang is an important barrier to the east of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Although the Hunan Army resisted tenaciously here, due to the strength of the Beiyang Army, Pingjiang fell on March 22. After Yueyang and Pingjiang were successively captured by the Beiyang Army, Tan Haoming, the head coach of the Hunan-Hubei-Guizhou Allied Army of the Southern Army who was in Changsha, was helpless.On the day Yueyang fell, Tan Shuai still pretended to be calm, and he issued a notice to calm the people: "Small setbacks in Yueyang are a common occurrence in the military. This commander is sitting in Changsha and has his own ideas." But just a week later, this so-called "own idea" Tan Shuai took his Guangxi army away from Changsha, and before leaving, he did not forget to loot the city.

On March 26, Wu Peifu occupied Changsha without firing a single shot, and went south to Xiangtan to continue the pursuit.Subsequently, Zhang Jingyao led the seventh division into Changsha, and was appointed as the governor and governor of Hunan the next day. In the case of frequent news of good news ahead, the main fighters of the Anhui faction were extremely excited. They then sent a telegram asking Duan Qirui to re-elect as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet in order to better complete the "unification by force."This time, Duan Qirui received unprecedented support. Not only Cao Kun, Zhang Huaizhi and others led the electrification, but even the three governors of the Yangtze River were also listed after electrification.Seeing the general trend, Feng Guozhang had no choice but to ask Duan Qirui to come out of the mountain three times and re-form the cabinet.

Feng Guozhang once again made concessions to Duan Qirui. In addition to the victory in the battle ahead and the joint support of Duan by the governors of various provinces, another important reason was Xu Shuzheng's introduction of Fengjun into the customs.After Duan Qirui stepped down, Xu Shuzheng moved around, trying to get the old Duan out of the mountain again. This time he put his chips on Fengjun Zhang Zuolin. After some plotting, Zhang Zuolin suddenly sent two mixed brigades to enter the pass in the name of "going south to join the war". One brigade was stationed in Luanzhou, and the other was in Qinhuangdao.What is Feng Jun's intention for this move?It turned out that Xu Shuzheng had learned in advance that a batch of ordnance secretly purchased by Japan when Duan Qirui was prime minister was about to arrive in Qinhuangdao. Ray's comeback support.

On February 23, after the ordnance had arrived, Fengjun's Zhang Jinghui, Yang Yuting and other troops loaded the train with ammunition. The people who came to receive the ammunition were unawares, turned the locomotive upside down, and then drove out of the pass in a hurry.Seeing that the arms train was suddenly heading in the opposite direction, the reception officer was fooled repeatedly, but it was too late.Zhang Zuolin later expanded his team aggressively, and this batch of ordnance helped a lot. Duan Qirui didn't agree with Xu Shuzheng's little trick, but the raw rice had already been cooked, so he could only reprimand Xiao Xu in private.But for President Feng Guozhang, it would be too hurtful for Xiao Xu to do so.Originally, this batch of ordnance was purchased in the name of the Beijing government and distributed to the participating troops, but it was cut off by Xiao Xu, and in the end it was only cheaper for Zhang Zuolin (although he later distributed some to the friendly army, the big head was still given army took over).More importantly, the Feng army entered the customs and caused a situation of approaching Beijing. This not only damaged the prestige of President Feng and Premier Wang, but also directly threatened their personal safety.

After this happened, Wang Shizhen quickly asked for leave and hid in Tianjin. At this time, the main combat faction of the Anhui faction was clamoring to let Duan Qirui go out of the mountain. What else could Feng Guozhang do?You can only obey these people completely! On March 29, Wang Shizhen's cabinet collapsed, and Duan Qirui was appointed prime minister. This was his third term as prime minister after June 1916 and July 1917.On the same day, Duan Qirui announced the list of cabinet members as follows: Minister of Foreign Affairs Lu Zhengxiang, Minister of Internal Affairs Qian Nengxun, Chief of the Army Duan Zhigui, Chief of the Navy Liu Guanxiong, Chief of Education Fu Zengxiang, Chief of Justice Zhu Shen, Chief of Agriculture and Commerce Tian Wenlie, and Chief of Transportation Cao Rulin (who is also the finance minister) overall length).

After the third cabinet formation, Duan Qirui, who won the victory in the "war of peace", was even more confident. He was determined to strike while the iron was hot, and fully implemented his "unification by force" policy to pacify the Southwest in one fell swoop and establish a unified state for the Republic of China. Extraordinary work.At this time, the Beiyang soldiers on the front line also cooperated very well. After a little repair in Changsha, they continued to advance southward in three routes: the first route attacked Hengshan and Hengyang; the second route attacked Xiangxiang and Baoqing; the third route attacked Liling and You County.

In order to boost the morale of the Beiyang Army, Duan Qirui went south to supervise the battle in less than a month after taking office. On April 20, Duan Qirui and his party arrived at Hankou, where the front headquarters is located, and then held a military meeting. The participants included Cao Kun and Zhang Huaizhi, the two commanders-in-chief of the front line, Wang Zhanyuan, the governor of Hubei, Zhang Jingyao, the governor of Hunan, and Zhao Ti, the governor of Henan. , and other six provinces such as Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Fengtian also sent representatives to participate.

At the meeting, Duan Qirui particularly emphasized the unity of the Beiyang soldiers, and very generously canceled all the previous punishments of Chen Guangyuan, Wang Ruxian, Fan Guozhang and others, in order to encourage everyone to work together to complete the great cause of unification by force.When the meeting was about to end, good news came from the front. The Beiyang Army captured Hengyang on the 24th and was advancing into central Hunan. On the evening of April 25th, Duan Qirui and his party took the "Chucai" ship to Jiujiang and Nanjing with great interest. However, due to the strong wind on the river at that time and the high speed of the ship, the result was that the "Chucai" ship was out of touch with the upstream ship. The China Merchants passenger ship "Jiangkuan" collided. The "Jiangkuan" was sunk on the spot and caused hundreds of casualties, and the "Chucai" ship was also damaged. Duan Qirui's adopted son and trusted secretary Luo Fengge was here. The unfortunate death in the accident made Lao Duan feel very sad.

It happened so coincidentally that Duan Qirui and others took the "Chutai" ship to continue their journey.Lao Duan never imagined that his trip to the south would lead to such a tragedy. He was so happy that he suddenly became heavy. Perhaps by coincidence, the Beiyang Second Route Army on the front line was also defeated the next day, and was almost defeated by the Southern Army.The thing is that the Second Route Army led by Zhang Huaizhi was originally a mixture of many motley troops, so the march was slow, but after seeing Wu Peifu, Zhang Jingyao and others winning consecutive battles, they couldn't help becoming anxious, for fear that they would If they went late, there would be no fighting, so after mid-April, they changed to a rapid march, which was like a race against the First Route Army. The Second Route Army entered the eastern part of Hunan from Jiangxi. In the process of advancing southward, due to its rapid advance, it cut off the retreat of Liu Jianfan's Hunan army.The so-called "don't chase after the mourning soldiers", the impetuous actions of the Beiyang Second Route Army have aroused the fighting spirit of the Hunan Army to fight to the death. Fight a counterattack. On April 26, a fierce battle broke out between the North and South armies in Xinshi, Hunan. However, the strange thing is that the superior Beiyang army was not as brave as the legend said. The division commander Shi Congbin almost drowned, while other troops, such as Zhang Zongchang's Jiangsu Sixth Mixed Brigade and the Anwu Army, were almost defeated when they saw the situation was not good, and they withdrew from Liling and Youxian to Changsha.Zhang Huaizhi, the commander-in-chief of the Second Route Army, saw that his troops were beaten to pieces, so he hurried back from Changsha to Hankou. The reasons for the failure of the Northern Army were, first, that they were too aggressive and eager to get credit; second, that the Northern Army was not familiar with the local geographical situation, eating habits, etc. when they first arrived in the South, and they couldn't get used to it for a while.For example, You County is a typical hilly area, full of ditches, ponds, trails, and many hills and hills, dense pine forests, bamboo clusters, and the Beiyang Army usually trains and exercises on the broad and flat northern land. After arriving in the smoky south with intricate terrain, it is unavoidable to be dizzy and difficult to distinguish the direction.In addition, it was the rainy season at that time, the weather was sultry, and the roads were muddy. These factors were greatly unfavorable to the Beiyang Army. After the Liu Jianfan Department of the Hunan Army chased after Zhuzhou, they still went deep alone and continued to advance to Changsha.Since the Seventh Division of Zhang Jingyao, the new governor of Hunan, did not go south after occupying Changsha, it happened to intercept the Hunan Army at this time, and the two sides faced off for several days.In order to relieve his pressure, Zhang Jingyao asked Zhang Zongchang to collect his old troops and rearm them, so as to counterattack the Hunan Army. After the big defeat, Zhang Zongchang was worried that his army's designation would be cancelled, so this time he decided to risk his life to attack in order to atone for his crime.Later, Zhang Zongchang personally led a death squad of 1,200 people, directly into the central position of the Hunan Army, and attacked from all sides. The Hunan Army was caught off guard for a while, and the whole line was chaotic. was stabbed to death by his subordinates). After the counterattack in eastern Hunan ended, the situation in the north and south stabilized initially.Just as Duan Qirui was eagerly looking forward to the further southward movement of the Beiyang Army, Cao Kun, the former commander-in-chief, suddenly returned to Tianjin with his headquarters on May 29.It turned out that Cao Kun was very dissatisfied after learning that Xu Shuzheng had led the Feng army into the customs. He believed that he was fighting for the Beiyang faction in the front, while some people stabbed him in the back and invaded his "sphere of influence". It was intolerable to him. On June 9, Zhang Huaizhi, the general of the defeated army and the commander-in-chief of the Second Route Army, also returned to his hometown of Jinan in despair, no longer embarrassed to mention the matter of the Southern Expedition.As a result, Duan Qirui's "unification by force" policy died again. On June 11, Cao Kun held a meeting in Tianjin to discuss the issue of fighting in the South.Xu Shuzheng rushed to Tianjin as Duan Qirui's representative, trying to reverse the policy that was unfavorable to Duan Qirui.During the meeting, a shocking thing happened, which was the murder of former Shaanxi governor Lu Jianzhang. Like Duan Qirui and others, Lu Jianzhang is also a veteran of Xiaozhan, and has always been Yuan Shikai's confidant.After the fall of the Qing court, Lu Jianzhang served as the commander of the right-wing reserve army (later changed to the guard army) and the director of the Beijing Military and Political Law Enforcement Department. He was nicknamed "The Butcher Lu" because he killed people like hemp.During the White Wolf Rebellion in the early years of the Republic of China, Lu Jianzhang was appointed as the commander of the Seventh Division of the Army. After leading his troops into Shaanxi to suppress bandits, he served as a military governor and helped Yuan Shikai stabilize Shaanxi's territory. After Yuan Shikai failed to proclaim himself emperor, Lu Jianzhang was squeezed out by Chen Shufan, the former governor of southern Shaanxi, and kicked out of Shaanxi territory.After losing power, Lu Jianzhang later took refuge in Feng Guozhang, and secretly served Feng, traveling around Jiangxi and Hubei to contribute to the peace talks.This time he came to Tianjin just to make peace.Xu Shuzheng had known about Lu Jianzhang's behind-the-scenes actions for a long time, and hated him so much that he invited him to the Fengjun headquarters on June 14 (Xiao Xu was having a hot fight with Zhang Zuolin at this time, and was appointed as the deputy commander of the Fengjun in the pass ) talk.Lu Jianzhang also knew that Xiao Xu had bad intentions, but he thought that he was also Duan Qirui's peer, so it wouldn't matter if he went. After entering the camp, Xu Shuzheng began to greet him kindly, and everyone talked and laughed as before.When the banquet was halfway through, Xu Shuzheng suddenly said to Lu Jianzhang: "There is a garden at the back, and the scenery inside is very good. I would like to invite you to go in for a walk and talk about some private matters."Unexpectedly, after the two entered, Xu Shuzheng immediately turned his face and shouted sharply: "Do you know the crime?" Lu Jianzhang was shocked and said, "What is my crime?" Xu Shuzheng scolded: "You are a lackey for the south, running around all day long Going west, talking about peace talks, and undermining Premier Duan's unified policy, how dare you say that you are innocent?" Lu Jianzhang sneered and said, "I'm not the only one who is in charge of harmony. Could it be that I'm all to be blamed?" Lu Jianzhang was tied up. Seeing that the situation was not good, Lu Jianzhang hurriedly changed his intention to work for Premier Duan, but Xiao Xu completely ignored him, took out his pistol and shot the former majestic General Lu himself. Xiao Xu presumptuously played tricks and murdered Lu Jianzhang. This move is really shocking and bold.When the news came out, the whole country was shocked. Even Duan Qirui was so shocked that he didn't speak for a long time when he heard the news, and then he asked people to send five thousand oceans to Lu Jianzhang's family as a token of condolence.Feng Guozhang only found out about this when he received the order to remove Lu Jianzhang's medal, but everyone is dead, so why do you need the medal?It's just that Xu Shuzheng insisted on charging Lu Jianzhang with the crime of "inciting" to show that he was justified. It is said that Feng Guozhang refused to seal this order at first, and angrily said to his subordinates: "Look, how absurd this is! Doesn't Zhiquan care about Xu Shuzheng's nonsense?" Finally, Feng Guozhang gave birth again. I was sulking for a while, but it was the case, so I had to push the seal and end this public case. Although Lu Jianzhang was killed, the funeral is not over yet.When Lu Jianzhang was in charge of the right-wing backup army, Feng Yuxiang, the former battalion officer of the 20th Town, was deported to his hometown because of "suspected revolution". He continued to serve as the battalion management leader in the left-side reserve army, and this was how the 16th Mixed Brigade came into being. In February 1918, when Feng Yuxiang, who was ordered to conquer the southern army, arrived at Wuxue at the junction of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi, he suddenly announced the main peace, which was Lu Jianzhang's idea.After Lu Jianzhang was killed, Feng Yuxiang was so angry that he couldn't calm down. From then on, he disobeyed Duan Pai and no longer obeyed him.As for Xiao Xu, in the end, he was repaid with grievances. This is a later story, so let's put it aside. In order to save people's hearts, Duan Qirui appointed Cao Kun as the economic envoy of Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces, Zhang Huaizhi as the commander-in-chief of aiding Guangdong (at that time, the Longjiguang Department in Guangdong was besieged by the Guangdong Army and the Guangxi Army), and Wu Peifu as the deputy. Commander, try to get them to go south again and continue fighting against the south.However, most of the front-line troops were directly related, and Xu Shuzheng's murder of Lu Jianzhang had a bad influence. Most of these people were unwilling to work for Duan Qirui anymore. On June 15, the north and the south on the Hunan front reached an armistice agreement, but the chief general Wu Peifu kept sending armistice talks and telegrams, and refused to continue fighting on the pretext of lack of pay.Although Duan Qirui is indomitable, he is "more than capable but not strong enough" for these direct troops, so he can only do things in a hurry... Without his own direct troops, things are difficult to handle! After the "unification by force" came to an end for a while, another thorny matter came, that is, Feng Guozhang was the acting president at that time, and the acting period was one year. Legislatively, re-elections are held to determine a new president. As mentioned earlier, Duan Qirui refused to restore the Congress, but set up a temporary Senate to replace it. There are two reasons: First, the first Congress was dissolved by the then President Li Yuanhong before the restoration of Zhang Xun, and there is absolutely no reason to restore it. , and the new congress could not be formed in a hurry; second, there were problems with the organizational charter of the first congress, which needed to be re-studied and revised. With the help of the research department headed by Liang Qichao, the provincial governors (except the southwestern provinces) sent senators to Beijing at the end of October 1917. On November 10, the provisional Senate opened in Beijing. Former Yuan Shikai's secretary and Anhui politician Wang Yitang (namely Wang Geng) was elected as the speaker, and Na Yantu, a former high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty, was elected as the deputy speaker. The first task received by the Provisional Senate was to amend the original Congress Organization Law and the election law of the two chambers. , lest people talk too much, every time a matter is discussed but not decided, it is decided but not discussed, which is a waste of taxpayers' money.After the revision, the number of members of the original Senate was reduced from 274 to 168, and that of the House of Representatives was reduced from 596 to 408, equivalent to one representative for every million citizens.In addition, the senators are no longer elected by the provincial councils, but are elected by local elections to avoid interference and fraud by the provincial governors.As a historical reaction (non-political "reaction"), this revision raised the qualifications of voters and candidates in terms of property, education, etc., so as to prevent the revolutionary party with a very low background from making trouble. China's national conditions, but after all, it is against the trend of the times. From late February to mid-June 1918, all provinces except the southwestern provinces began to organize the second parliamentary elections.This kind of national election, if the election of the former Qing Zizhengyuan is also included, in the ten years from 1909 to 1918, it was actually held three times (the middle one was the first congressional election), this time it is reasonable It should be a bit of experience, but later facts proved that although the qualifications of voters and candidates have been improved to a certain extent, the quality of this election is still very poor and there is not much progress. To put it bluntly, whether it is the Senate or the first Congress, the so-called "senators" are mostly appointed or coordinated. There are very few real elections, and voters who really respect the votes and know the importance of the votes are even more so. is rare.Therefore, it is obviously an unrealistic luxury to expect significant progress and improvement in this congressional election. However, in this election campaign, an informal organization that looks like a political party but not like a political party was born, turned upside down, and almost completely dominated the entire election process. This is the so-called "Anfu Club". Anfu Club, named after its location in Anfu Hutong, Xidan, was originally a mansion rented by Anhui politicians such as Wang Yitang and Zeng Yujun to entertain senators from all over the country. It was originally named Liang Shitang House.At the beginning, these political people just came here at night to chat with each other, occasionally exchanged political views, and debated a few words. At that time, there was no special person to convene or host.But after a long time, the reputation here began to grow, and more and more people came here. Therefore, in addition to the usual gatherings, some entertainment equipment such as chess and cards were set up. This has the taste of a club. . After the promulgation of the new Congress Organization Law and the law on the election of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the place became lively immediately. Those politicians and bureaucrats who were pro-Anhui or tried to join the Anhui faction ran here one by one like crucian carp crossing the river. Inquire about news and seek development.During these days, Liang Shitang's house was full of guests day and night, and Anfu Hutong was also full of traffic, almost overcrowded. On the evening of March 7, 1918, Wang Yitang, Zeng Yujun and others held a meeting in the Liang Shitang residence, intending to form a group to facilitate activities in the subsequent election preparations.Since it is an organization, it must have a good name. Everyone talked about it and proposed many nice names, but in the end it was difficult to agree with each other, and no one could get the approval of all. At the end of the discussion, everyone was exhausted. At this time, someone had an idea and said, "Isn't the place where we have a meeting called Anfu Hutong? Well, let's just call it 'Anfu Club'. The name is auspicious, and it sounds nice." Everyone gathered I thought, this name is good, An Fu An Fu, An Fu An Fu, An Guo Fu Min, isn't this the consistent purpose of this group?OK, that's it! After the name was determined, the Anfu Club was formally established the next day...on March 8th. After the establishment of the Anfu Club, it set up structures such as the secretary department, the appraisal department, and the government affairs research meeting.Some people may wonder, if you want to engage in politics, of course you need to be good at "communication", but why is "accounting" also a core business? This question is a good question, and let the author explain it slowly.What is the so-called "Anfu Club"?Is it a political party?no.It has neither a party program nor a charter, nor a unified belief system. It is just a collection of pro-Anhui politicians, and its members are unstable. Most of them are speculative. If you go, it is actually a group of mobs driven by core Anhui politicians such as Wang Yitang.Since it is a mob, what brings them together?Tai Shigong said in "Historical Records: Biography of Huozhi", "When the world is prosperous, it is all for profit; when the world is crowded, it is all for profit." To put it bluntly, it is a word for "profit".The real bosses behind the Anfu club are not Wang Yitang and Zeng Yujun, but Xu Shuzheng. Wang and Zeng are just pony boys at the front desk. So what ability does Xu Shuzheng have to let these pretentious "politicians" run up and down for the interests of the Anhui Clan?In this regard, Xu Shuzheng once made it clear: "I use money to let them do things, and I don't worry that they will not serve me. What these people want is nothing more than fame and wealth. I will try my best to satisfy their desires, and I am afraid that they will not follow me. ?” Fame and wealth are what I want. Humans have desires, and desires are easily controlled by others. How many politicians in this world can achieve the point of "one can be strong without desires"?Those people who go up and down in the officialdom and run around are nothing more than fame and wealth, money women, if the desire is gone, what kind of politics are they doing?Therefore, people who burrow into Anfu Hutong are like flies, which cannot be driven away by nature. Then someone wants to ask, where did Xu Shuzheng get his money from?According to statistics, there are mainly a few large sums of money. One is that Xu Shuzheng misappropriated 400,000 yuan in military pay for election operations when he was the deputy commander of the Fengjun in Guannei (it was later found out by Zhang Zuolin and he became paralyzed); the other was Liang Shiyi, the God of Wealth, donated two million yuan... But why did Liang Shiyi subsidize so much money? It turned out that Liang Shiyi was originally the leader of the transportation department, and he could be regarded as the number one financial expert in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. He was a fat man, but unfortunately he was wanted by the government of the Republic of China because he was too blatant in the Hongxian monarchy. At this time, he just jumped out to donate money, trying to turn salty fish over. In addition, the local warlords of the Anhui faction also provided subsidies for the activities of the Anfu faction during the election period. For example, Fengtian governor Zhang Zuolin, Anhui governor Ni Sichong, and Heilongjiang governor Bao Guiqing each gave hundreds of thousands of yuan.In addition, some people say that the source of income of the Anfu Department may also come from Nishihara loans in Japan. This money was originally used for the war against Germany and was also used as election expenses; moreover, it means that the salt tax was embezzled.All in all, with all this money, elections are easy to run. Under Xu Shuzheng's behind-the-scenes command, Wang Yitang, Zeng Yujun and others commanded the Anfu Club's Anfu party members, who shared huge sums of money and traveled to various provinces in an attempt to win elections in various places.Under the secret manipulation of these people, all kinds of election scandals will inevitably appear in a normal way, such as buying tickets at a high price, military and police intervention, and changing votes, and so on, the list goes on and on. For example, taking Shaanxi as an example, there are 19 members of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the province, Xu Shuzheng nominated 12 people, and left 7 for Governor Chen Shufan to control.During the election process, Chen Shufan took Zhang Zuolin as an example, not only designated candidates but also sent military police to supervise on the spot. Three people who did not vote according to the designated list were found out by Chen Shufan and arrested, and they were almost killed. Election bribery is also a major feature.It is said that the plan of the Anfu Department in each province is 100,000 yuan. When it is implemented, each vote in the primary election will be 1 to 2 cents. It is very impressive.Now that the votes have been bought, it is unscrupulous to vote. For example, there are self-reported voters, and there are repeated voters. In the vote in Chahar Duolun, the supervisor actually cast more than 2,000 votes himself. Election bribery is fine, and there is sometimes violence in the electoral process.For example, in Jiangning, Jiangsu Province, during the voting process, there was a violent grabbing of votes; a similar incident also occurred in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. , destroyed artifacts, and disturbed order”; on the polling day in Anqing, Anhui, “five or six hundred people flocked in, snatched ballot papers and autograph books, and fought each other with fists and feet. At that time, there was a lot of people's voices, and the more people gathered, the more people gathered, it was really difficult to resolve." In the end, "all the deacons saw that the situation was not good, and ran away with their heads in their hands." Such lively scenes are just like people who wrote poems at that time to satirize: "The polling place is a fighting place, and the citizens are dignified; capable of literary and martial arts, slandering outstanding people, and their surnames are also taught for thousands of years!" In any case, the election was held after all.In areas controlled by the Anhui faction, such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Rehe, Heilongjiang, etc., the Anfu faction really won a big victory, and its parliamentary seats were almost empty.As for areas controlled by the direct line, such as Jiangsu, Hubei, Jiangxi, etc., although Anfu faction members are not so rampant, the "silver bullet tactics" are still very powerful, and the results are also impressive, which is impressive. On June 29, Xu Shuzheng called the governors of the provinces regarding the election results: "The elections of all the provinces and districts have been announced. The results of Feng, Anhui, Hei, Shanxi, Re, Cha, the central ministries, and Mongolia and Tibet are all victories. Nine out of ten in Henan, four out of five in Beijing and Sui, three out of four in Lu and Su, two out of three in Zhi, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. The winners of the above-mentioned candidates are celebrated for the country, and my brother should be happy to hear about it. The provinces that have postponed it will wait for the continuation of the report, and then I will make a report." His complacent attitude is beyond words. The so-called "selection wins people" means that all the selected people are from the Anhui Clan. At the end of July, all the results of the election were announced. A total of 147 senators and 325 members of the House of Representatives were elected, with a total of 472 members from the two chambers (the original number should be 576, but the southwestern provinces did not participate, so the number of 100 members was subtracted).Among these councilors, the Anfu department has more than 330 members, while the research department supported by the direct line only won more than 20 seats, which can be described as a disastrous failure. Some people may wonder, isn’t Liang Qichao’s research department working hard to reopen the Anhui Department’s parliament? How did it come to this result?In fact, this is not complicated, because the research department itself also has political ambitions (they still know a little about parliamentary politics), and the reopening of the parliament will have their own ambitions mixed in, but how could the Anfu department not know?Therefore, after the election began, the research department was regarded as the number one enemy of the Anfu department, and became the key prevention target, and the people in the research department were not as rich and powerful as the Anfu department. Although they joined the direct department in time, they were unable to recover , suffered a fiasco. After the election is over, it is time to convene the Congress, and the highlight after the convening of the Congress is the election of the president... This is a big event that attracts everyone's attention, and there is no room for negligence.At that time, the most qualified to compete for this position were of course Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui.Feng Guozhang is the acting president, and it is justifiable to take advantage of the trend to become a regular, and the old Duan is ambitiously implementing his "unification by force" strategy, and he must be the president; besides, the Anfu Department is running around so hard, so many The money was spent rushing out, could it be to carry the sedan chair for Feng Guozhang? But just because the two sides compete so fiercely, this position has become tasteless... It's tasteless to eat, and it's a pity to discard it... If I can't take it, you can't take it either.Feng Guozhang was also very enthusiastic in the early days of the Congressional election. He was such a stingy person, and he actually gave 400,000 (or 600,000) out of his private pocket to his party members to run around. The department was obviously at a disadvantage, and President Feng began to feel disheartened. After entering 1918, Feng Guozhang and the Anhui faction also competed several times, but whether it was the "war of peace" or the congressional elections, it all ended in Feng Guozhang's defeat.For such an empty-headed president, Feng Guozhang once said to others: "When the president is seated, some people don't want me to live for a long time, and I really don't want to do it anymore. I just hope that someone will take over, so I can leave as soon as possible. I am ready for the outside world. In a private house, the successor can come and live in the mansion at any time. Now I have nothing to do, but I am just a person who guards the seal." After the Anfu faction dominated the parliamentary elections, Feng Guozhang knew that he had no hope of becoming a regular, and he made many speeches, Said that he did not want to continue to serve as the president, and would rather choose to return to his hometown in Hejian to "farm and live on his own" and quit politics. On August 12, the second Congress officially opened in Beijing, because this Congress was mainly controlled by Anfu politicians, and it was also called the "Anfu Congress" in history.On the opening day of the National Congress, the original provisional Senate also came to an end because it had fulfilled its historical mission. On the day of the opening, Feng Guozhang issued a telegram, once again revealing his determination to resign: "It has been more than a year since the day of inauguration as an agent, but seeking the so-called unification and peace is like a dream without confidence. One person, the dead body is to blame... I hope that the members of the Congress, each with a conscience, and a public opinion with both morality and hope, are enough to restore unity and create peace. If they conform to the spirit of the "Convention Law", the country will be solid. Hidden dangers are eliminated..." In Feng Guozhang's resignation telegram, the words "those who are enough to restore unification and make peace" actually put Duan Qirui in the army. Duan Qirui was also in a dilemma at the time. The party members of the Anhui faction insisted on pushing him to the position of president, otherwise wouldn't they be busy in vain?Besides, those Anfu councilors get subsidies, 300 oceans per month, and electing Duan Qirui as president, isn't it just a matter of one word?However, the southwestern provinces firmly opposed Duan Qirui as president. They even opposed the Anfu Congress, denouncing it as an "illegal congress"; Feng Guozhang's statement also greatly affected the local Zhili warlords. They teamed up to oppose Duan Qirui's election as president, and Wu Peifu, a general on the front line, repeatedly sent telegrams, declaring support for peace, obviously to put pressure on Duan Qirui. Under such circumstances, if Duan Qirui were to forcibly assume the presidency, it would not only worsen the situation between the North and the South, but would also inevitably lead to an open break between the Central and Anhui factions of the Beiyang faction.In this regard, Duan Qirui is still a decent politician. After careful consideration, he decided to retire with Feng Guozhang and withdraw from the competition for the presidency together. With both Feng and Duan retiring, who will succeed the presidency?The eyes of both sides turned to another big boss at the same time, that is Xu Shichang, Xu Ge old man.Xu Shichang, as a Beiyang veteran, should be superior to Feng and Duan in terms of qualifications, and his power tactics are even more unmatched by warriors like Feng and Duan.After receiving the olive branch thrown by Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang wanted to greet him but refused, playing the trick of playing hard to get. In fact, after the founding of the Republic of China, Xu Shichang was behind many major events. As for the position of president, Xu Shichang felt that he was the only one. "Big", in this era of warriors in power, if one accidentally becomes a puppet president, his fame for a lifetime will be wiped out. Thinking of this, Xu Shichang reacted coldly to Feng and Duan's willingness to let Xian, he pushed back and forth, but refused to give a happy word.At this time, it was Duan Qirui who was in a hurry. Seeing that the president had a difficult delivery and the overall situation was uncertain, he could only condescend and finally found out Xu Shichang's conditions for leaving the mountain: "Feng Duan stepped down at the same time, and the two factions of Feng Duan also resigned at the same time." Under Feng Guozhang's coercion and Xu Shichang's coercion, Duan Qirui had no choice but to issue a telegram, announcing his willingness to resign as prime minister: "...It is a pity that Qirui's support was ineffective, and he failed to relieve the national crisis early. He owes the president a wise man...the head of state At the time of re-employment, that is, the meeting of the political situation, Qi Rui should retire in time, so I first accepted it." With Duan Qirui's public guarantee and the unified coordination of all parties, Xu Shichang was relieved to come out boldly. On September 4, the second Congress held a presidential election meeting. Xu Shichang was elected as the second and fourth president of the Republic of China with an absolute majority of 425 votes (the first three were Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong and Feng Guozhang).What's interesting is that when the vice president was elected the next day, the members of the Anfu department were absent collectively. As a result, only 88 people attended the meeting. Xu Shichang's appointment as president was the product of a multi-party compromise. First, the southwestern provinces could acquiesce to this civilian president; Members of the research department and transportation department in the National Assembly also supported Xu Shichang as president.As for Duan Qirui, the most powerful figure at the time, he once again retreated to advance, staying behind the scenes and continuing to control the political situation in Beijing. On October 10, which is the seventh National Day of the Republic of China, Xu Shichang officially took office as the President of the Republic of China in Beijing, and Xu Shichang's first order after taking office was to remove Duan Qirui from the position of prime minister. Qian Nengxun, the Chief of Internal Affairs, was appointed as the interim acting agent.由此，历时一年有余的“冯段体制”宣告结束。 在总统府举行完新旧总统交接仪式后，新任总统徐世昌吩咐用总统专用的小汽车将冯国璋送回他的私宅帽儿胡同。当这场“揖让一堂”的喜剧演出结束后，冯国璋回到家的第一句话便是：“这一回，咱们是栽给芝泉了！歇两天，将来再看咱们的！” 这倒有可能是一句真心话。 是啊，实权派人物段祺瑞太强势、太咄咄逼人了。他与黎元洪合不来，和老兄弟冯国璋也合不来，那这位八面玲珑的徐阁老，又能做得长久吗？