Chapter 50 49. Li Yuanhong honored the rule of law, and Cao Kun bribed the election of the president

After Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin were kicked out of the political center one after another, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu's confidence increased greatly. This old Cao wanted to go to the next level and become a president; while Wu Peifu took over Duan Qirui's "unification by force". "The big banner wants to unify the country and leave a name in history. The two of them can be said to have a tacit understanding and hit it off immediately.However, if Cao Kun wants to climb to the position of president, there are two obstacles. One is that the current president Xu Shichang has not yet stepped down, and the other is the question of what name Cao Kun will come to power after Lao Xu steps down.

At this time, a strange person came up with a strange plan, which was called "legal order and heavy light" in the history of the Republic of China.The strange man's name is Wu Jinglian, and he can't be regarded as an unfamiliar face.Wu Jinglian was born in Juren in the late Qing Dynasty. He was elected as the speaker of the Fengtian Advisory Bureau in the preparation of the constitution. In 1916, when the first Congress was restored, he was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, Li Yuanhong later dissolved the Congress under the coercion of Zhang Xun, and Wu Jinglian also He lost his job.

This time, Wu Jinglian ignored the previous suspicions, because the so-called "respecting the rule of law" was to re-support Li Yuanhong, who was expelled back then, to resume his post and restore the first Congress.Ordinarily, the Congress was disbanded by the then President Li Yuanhong, and Li Yuanhong resigned himself, but politicians can always turn the clouds and rain, and make the dead alive...just add the word "forced" in front, this All the bad people in the world have become good people. Wu Jinglian’s reason was that Li Yuanhong’s departure from the presidency during the extraordinary period of Zhang Xun’s restoration cannot be regarded as resignation automatically, so he should be welcomed back and fill up his term, and then re-elect the presidency after the end of his term (needless to say, The candidate is Mr. Cao), and so should the Congress.According to this statement, the existing Anfu Congress is actually an illegal product manipulated by Duan Qirui. Therefore, the current President Xu Shichang elected by the Anfu Congress has also become a pseudo-president. Because it is illegal, he will step down.

Wu Jinglian's whole set of plans is simple and clear, and also has strong operability, but a good plan needs to find a good customer, and a good middleman is needed in the process.Fortunately, there is no shortage of middlemen.Wu Jinglian used to be the principal of Fengtian Normal School. At that time, Wang Chengbin, the "famous man" under Cao Kun, was both his student and his cousin. After discussing with Wu Jinglian in detail, Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and Wu Jinglian felt that this plan was indeed feasible, so they began to work on two aspects. One was to put pressure on Xu Shichang to step down on his own initiative; At the same time, they sent people to Tianjin to contact Li Yuanhong and arrange for him to come out of the mountain again so as to be a stepping stone for Cao Kun to become president.

Let’s talk about Xu Shichang first.After Wu Jinglian gathered a group of unemployed old congressmen to send a telegram and asked Xu Shichang to step down, under the secret instigation of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, the new recruits Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang were the most active. They first responded to the campaign, and then other direct governors followed suit They all agreed.As a result, the concept of "legal order and light" quickly became popular and became a hot topic in people's streets and alleys. Although Xu Shichang often doesn't come out in the presidential palace, he himself attaches the most importance to news and public opinion.Not long after he became president, he personally invited reporters from major media outlets to hold a reception. He may have initiated the earliest prototype of a government press conference in China.After hearing this new public opinion of "legal order and light", Xu Shichang knew in his heart that Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Pei Gong, and Cao Kun and Wu Peifu seemed to want to drive him out of power.But Lao Xu is also a person who cares about face. You can’t let people come if you want them to come, or leave if you want them to go. Besides, Xu Shichang, the president, is the most normal election. ", wouldn't it be the first to break the law?

However, in the era of warlords where "the mightiest is the king", who will tell you what kind of law?Whoever has a hard gun is the law.It's okay if Xu Shichang refuses to take the initiative to step down, others have their own means.First of all, Wu Peifu sent representatives continuously to ask Xu Shichang what he thought of the "legal authority", and then Wang Huaiqing, the commander of the Gyeonggi Garrison, half persuaded and half forced, saying: "President, now the important people in the direct line have reached an agreement, and the matter has come to this point. There's no point in going on, it's better to retire automatically."

Xu Shichang thought for a while, and couldn't help being angry and annoyed, and said: "At the beginning, I didn't want to be the pissed off president, but they encouraged me to come out, but now they force me like this, I'm not reconciled!" Wang Huaiqing sneered: " President, if they don’t talk about friendship with you, you might as well take advantage of it! Otherwise, how can you bear it if they want to use force against you? It’s better to retreat now, which is more dignified.” Seeing that Xu Shichang hadn't made up his mind yet, Wang Huaiqing said: "The President is retiring now. With my current ability, I can still protect your life and family property. If you get stuck in the end, I won't be responsible at that time. "

Hearing this, Xu Shichang couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh...On June 2, 1922, he withdrew.After abdicating, Xu Shichang returned to Tianjin to work as an apartment, and began to live a "reclusive" life of poetry, calligraphy, and painting.His poems are known as "beyond the predecessors", and his calligraphy and paintings are also high-quality goods, but they are not easy to give away, so they are not widely spread. On June 6, 1939, Xu Shichang died of illness in Tianjin at the age of 85, making him the oldest of the Beiyang figures. Xu Shichang was successfully forced to leave, but Li Yuanhong, another protagonist, was delayed.It turned out that after being driven away by Zhang Xun, Li Yuanhong had lived in seclusion in Tianjin for 5 years.During these five years, Li Yuanhong was enthusiastic about his business and made a lot of profits. His daily life consisted of writing and taking walks, lonely and quiet.All of a sudden, the good news of "Legal Legitimacy" fell from the sky, and invitations from all walks of life to invite him to come out of the mountain were also enthusiastic and poured in. People are not grass and trees, and no one can be ruthless. Li Yuanhong seemed calm on the surface, but his heart had already aroused great waves.

Although the hasty resignation back then was like a thing of the past, Li Yuanhong still held a sigh of relief in his heart, and it was inevitable that he would be moved when he had the opportunity to say it this time.But Li Yuanhong also knew in his heart that the important people in his direct line were just asking him to come out for a transition, and they didn't really support him to take the stage.Therefore, Li Yuanhong didn't want to go into this troubled water at first, but said directly to those people: "If you just elect Mr. Cao as the president, it will be over. Why make it so complicated?"

However, since this scene has already started, Li Yuanhong has no choice but to not participate.After Li Yuanhong refused, Cao and Wu strengthened the invitation. They successively sent representatives from all walks of life to Li Mansion to invite them warmly, and the direct military governors also sent telegrams one after another, asking Li Yuanhong to put state affairs first and come forward to save the crisis. The righteous words are strict and the feelings are sincere. Even Li Yuanhong was a little intoxicated after watching it, and his heart couldn't help being moved...Since it is what everyone expects, then I will reluctantly go out for a while!

Just as Li Yuanhong was happily packing his luggage and preparing to return to Beijing, a telegram that drifted over to him poured cold water on him.The telegram was sent by Lu Yongxiang, the governor of Zhejiang Province in Anhui Province. He reminded Li Yuanhong, saying that your presidential term has already expired after the legal succession of Vice President Feng Guozhang.You clearly know that this is a direct trap but you insist on jumping into it. This is "unbenevolent in defending the country, unwise in self-defense", well, stop dreaming, and go to sleep. After Li Yuanhong was poured like this, he became a little sober.Later, he dismissed the idea of ​​leaving the mountain and issued a telegram, claiming that he resigned to take the blame and had no intention of reinstating the president, so it is better to hire someone else.However, as mentioned above, the stage owner has already written the script, selected the actors, and made all the preparations. When the gong hits, how can the protagonist not be on stage?No, I have to continue to persuade, otherwise the plot will not develop, and the previous investment will be in vain? Ever since, a new round of support movement has begun.The first is to electrify and build momentum, led by Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, and various military and political officials such as Xiao Yaonan, Tian Zhongyu, Qi Xieyuan, Wang Huaiqing, Xu Shiying, Liu Chengen and others called Li Yuanhong to invite him warmly; then representatives of Cao and Wu came to persuade him personally In the end, dozens of former members of Congress, led by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Wu Jinglian and the former Speaker of the Senate Wang Jiaxiang, went to Li Yuanhong's house to make a fuss, and the State Council also sent representatives to lobby. In the midst of the siege, Li Yuanhong discussed with his staff: If you don't go, you will miss a good opportunity, and I'm afraid there will be no good fruit in the future; but if you go, you can't be manipulated by them casually, you have to talk about conditions! On June 6, Li Yuanhong published "Yu Dian" (the telegrams in the period of the Republic of China used rhyme instead of the date, such as "Yu Dian" on the 6th, and Wang Jingwei's later "Yan Dian" corresponds to the 29th). A thousand words were written by Rao Hanxiang, Li Yuanhong's long-time aide.Rao is known as "literary courage", and he can write good parallel essays. This time, the telegram really showed his talents. It was an excellent article. After the telegram was sent out, Luoyang was expensive and caused a sensation. In the telegram, Li Yuanhong profoundly exposed and criticized the five evil policies of the warlord period: 1.Warlord rule, no one without soldiers, no soldiers without bandits; 2.Governors of various provinces, support soldiers as heroes, and search for people's wealth; 3.Warriors fight for hegemony, fighting for years, and the soldiers are in trouble; 4.5. The warlord takes power arbitrarily, destroys the rule of the people, and abuses authority; 5.The power of warriors interferes in politics, and political tides continue to emerge.Therefore, Li Yuanhong proposed that it is okay to go out of the mountains by himself, but the governors of the provinces should immediately remove their military power and return the government to the country, otherwise he will never be this inexplicable president... If you want me to "respect the rule of law", I will want you to "abolish the governor" Disarmament", so even. It's a pity that the article is a good article, and the idea is also a good idea, but how can a literati's pen be better than a warrior's gun? If you want these warlords to automatically remove their military power, wouldn't it be like seeking skin from a tiger? It's too unrealistic! Sure enough, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu became extremely angry after receiving the "Yudian". Cao Kun said: "Ask him to be a ready-made president, but he even put forward conditions to others! We praised him to come to power, but he asked us to step down It's really a dog biting Lu Dongbin, who doesn't know a good heart, how unreasonable it is, how unreasonable it is!" Although Wu Peifu was also very angry, he advised Cao Kun to be patient for a while, and let Li Yuanhong be perfunctory.Therefore, at the suggestion of Cao and Wu, Feng Yuxiang first sent a telegram to express his support. Shaanxi Governor Liu Zhenhua, Hubei Governor Xiao Yaonan, Jiangsu Governor Qi Xieyuan and others also hypocritically echoed, expressing their willingness to obey orders. At this time, Li Yuanhong made an inch of progress. He sent representatives to Cao Kun and Wu Peifu to ask for practical guarantees, and asked to wait until all the military governors received telegram support before resuming the presidency.Cao Kun's subordinates were so angry that they kept yelling to kick Li Yuanhong away. Wu Peifu suppressed his anger and said to Li Yuanhong's trusted representative Jin Yongyan: "If Huangpi wants to put on airs again, I can't do anything. After you return to Tianjin, Ask him to say something sweet!" After discussing with his staff, Li Yuanhong felt that the steps were almost set up, and he might not be able to get off the stage if he continued, so he might as well take advantage of the situation and return to the presidency.To be honest, the so-called "abolishing the governor and disarming the army" is just a good thing to say, but if it is really done, those warlords will really obey the central government? On June 11, 1920, Li Yuanhong boarded the train back to Beijing, accompanied by Wang Jiaxiang, Wu Jinglian, the two speakers of the former National Assembly, and Zhou Ziqi, a representative of the State Council.After five years away from the political arena, Li Yuanhong returned this time, and the scenery is really different.As soon as I arrived at Beijing Railway Station, the representatives who came to greet me outside were already crowded with people, and colorful flags were fluttering on the streets. Compared with what happened when I left Beijing in a hurry, it was a heaven and an underground. That afternoon, Li Yuanhong held a reinstatement ceremony at the presidential palace... My old Li is back! However, Li Yuanhong's excitement did not last for a few days.After resuming the presidency, the first thing Li Yuanhong has to do is to form a cabinet.The selection of the prime minister of the cabinet in the Republic of China has always been a difficult problem. Due to various contradictions and conflicts, in the short 16 years from 1912 to 1927, the prime ministers of the cabinet of the Beijing government changed like a revolving lantern, and a total of 27 official prime ministers were produced, not including The number is almost equal to the number of acting and acting prime ministers as official prime ministers, excluding the three years when Yuan Shikai changed the presidential system and proclaimed himself emperor. In other words, during the Beiyang period, the cabinet prime ministers had to overthrow the cabinet almost every six months. Except for Jin Yunpeng who served as prime minister for two years and Duan Qirui who served for nearly a year, the terms of other prime ministers were several months or even one month. None.With such a frequent cabinet overturn rate, even the French-style democracy, which is the most criticized and favorite cabinet overthrow, is hard to come by. What is the reason for this, or is China's political soil simply unacceptable to Western-style democratic republics? I am afraid it is not what the Revolutionary Party said, "As long as you are a Chinese citizen, you must be qualified as a citizen of the Republic"; Revolution makes it clear; the old customs are all there, that is to say, use revolution to get rid of them"... Revolution is not a panacea. If you build a so-called democratic republic building on the original basis without research and demonstration, you will be surprised if it does not fail. Even if the revolutionaries like to build a democratic republic, it must be based on an in-depth understanding and research of the specific national conditions. Without investigation and research, and without enlightenment and popularization of the people, they just copy Western imports and mess around. It is a blessing not to perish the country and species.China's problems can only be solved based on China's historical traditions and specific national conditions. Blindly believing in the Western system is probably falling into the trap of the West and walking into another dead end.Trying to use the Western system to surpass the West is a naive idea. How can a wise person know it? Although Wu Peifu claims that forming a cabinet is the prerogative of the president and he will never interfere, Li Yuanhong is essentially a powerless president, and he really has the final say.For example, the first prime minister Li Yuanhong sought was Yan Huiqing, but Yan Huiqing's cabinet was incomplete from the beginning of its formation. In less than two months, Yan Huiqing resigned due to financial crisis.Later, Li Yuanhong nominated Tang Shaoyi to be the prime minister, but Wu Peifu quickly forgot his promise of "non-interference". The same is true on the issue of "abolishing supervisors and disarming troops". On the surface, all the supervisors supported President Li's proposition, but in real practice they were "crooked monks chanting scriptures... doing something different."Li Yuanhong ordered the dismissal of the post of warlord, and those warlords became governors or sent puppets to be governors. Isn't it the world of the toubob?In feudal dynasties, local governors were still afraid of the central government and the censors. Now in the period of warlords, even the central government dared to despise it. They really can do whatever they want, and they can do whatever they want. What a happy age! In order to implement the policy of "abolishing governors and disarming troops", Li Yuanhong had the courage to attack Wu Peifu first.After Yan Huiqing's cabinet was established, Wu Peifu was appointed as the chief of the army. He wanted to cancel his deputy patrol envoy to Zhilu and Yu'e, but Wu Peifu held the military power, so how could he be easily fooled...he didn't take office at all. During Li Yuanhong's presidency, the first prime minister was Yan Huiqing, who resigned in less than two months; the second prime minister was Tang Shaoyi, who never took office; the third prime minister was Wang Chonghui, but Wang Chonghui resigned soon.After the collapse of Wang Chonghui's cabinet, Li Yuanhong asked Wang Daxie and Zhang Shaozeng to be prime ministers, but Cao Kun and Wu Peifu felt that Li Yuanhong had been president for a long time, so no one could do anything as prime minister. "Lei" political tide and was devastated. According to the "inverted Li faction", the time for Li Yuanhong to be re-elected as president should be 160 days from Hong Xian's reform of the Yuan Dynasty to the end of Yuan Shikai's defeat. Now that Li Yuanhong has exceeded 300 days, he should have voluntarily abdicated a long time ago, and the State Council will take over the power of the presidency. , and then organize the election of a new president.The MPs who supported Li Yuanhong proposed a more bizarre statement: Li Yuanhong's term of office should start from May 1914, when Yuan Shikai changed the cabinet to the government affairs hall, plus one year and two months when Feng Guozhang was illegally acting as an agent. , Li Yuanhong should continue to do it in 1925. Cao Kun and Wu Peifu were very angry at the statement of the "Bao Li faction", and they immediately encouraged Zhang Shaozeng's cabinet members to resign.When Li Yuanhong refused to submit, the warriors simply abandoned literature and went to military affairs, and sent Feng Yuxiang, the army inspector, Wang Huaiqing, the commander of the Beijing-Tianjin Garrison, Nie Xianfan, the commander of the infantry, and Xue Zhiyan, the chief of the police, led more than 300 officers to the presidential palace to ask for help. Afterwards, a group of citizens went on strike in front of the Presidential Palace to make trouble, and then the police in Beijing went on strike and went to the Presidential Palace to petition, with the purpose of getting Li Yuanhong to step down immediately and voluntarily. Li Yuanhong was mentally prepared for these people's nonsense. He said to the staff around him: "In the sixth year of the Republic of China (that is, 1917), I was coerced by the Warlords and Zhang Xun, and I illegally dissolved the Congress, which caused a catastrophe. , I have never had a chance to make up for it. Since I came here according to the law, I should leave according to the law. I can’t be confused again. My term of office should be decided by Congress. If Congress thinks that my term of office has expired, I will not be in love for a day. But , if someone wants to use force to force me to resign, then I will maintain discipline and laws for the country, and must not repeat the same mistakes and harm the people." Li Yuanhong's integrity is certainly admirable, but the means of people like Cao and Wu are endless.First, the chief of the cabinet resigned, then the Beijing-Tianjin garrison commander, the infantry commander, and the police chief all resigned one after another.Then, the water, electricity and telephone of the Presidential Palace were also cut off. Li Yuanhong could no longer gain a foothold in Beijing, but he did not want to surrender to the Zhili, but decided to leave Beijing and go to Tianjin. On June 13, 1923, Li Yuanhong quietly left Beijing by train. Compared with the grand occasion of entering Beijing a year ago, it was another world.From entering Beijing last year to leaving Beijing this time, exactly one year and two days. After forcing Li Yuanhong away, Wang Huaiqing and others who had resigned were immediately reinstated, the police officers who were on strike were immediately put on duty, and the citizens' group disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.When these people happily came to the presidential palace to receive it, they found that the president's seal was missing, so they immediately called Zhili Governor Wang Chengbin and asked him to detain Li Yuanhong's special car in Tianjin and ask for the seal. Interestingly, Li Yuanhong had long expected that these people would use this trick. Before he left Beijing, he gave the five main seals to Mrs. Ru, Li Benwei, and Li Benwei had already hid in the French Hospital in Dongjiaomin Lane.Therefore, when Wang Chengbin and Tianjin Police Department Director Yang Yide led the guards to stop Li Yuanhong at Yangcun Station, they did not find the president's seal. At first, Wang Chengbin asked in a serious manner: "Is the President's trip to Beijing this time a business or a private matter?" Li Yuanhong replied: "I can't perform my duties in Beijing, so I have to move to Tianjin to work." Wang Chengbin then asked: "Since I have been working in Tianjin, where is the seal of the president?" Li Yuanhong said angrily: "Who are you? How dare you ask the president for his seal?" Wang Chengbin sneered and said: "I advise the President to hand over the seal letter, so as not to hurt the peace." Li Yuanhong got up and scolded: "I won't pay, what can you do to me?" Wang Chengbin snorted, pouting at Yang Yide, Yang Yide waved knowingly, and then rushed into dozens of Qiuba masters, each holding a short gun, and stood around arrogantly and arrogantly, Li Yuanhong and his followers were suddenly shocked, thinking that These people are going to get rough. Seeing that Li Yuanhong hadn't handed over the seal, Wang Chengbin stepped forward and asked, "The president should hurry up and hand over the seal, I don't have time to talk to you!" Li Yuanhong's entourage saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly said: "Governor Wang, don't get angry, It’s printed in the presidential palace, but I never brought it with me.” Wang Chengbin sternly said, “Beijing has already called, and the presidential palace only has ten irrelevant seals. Where are the other five?” Seeing that Li Yuanhong remained silent, Wang Chengbin ordered people to remove the engine of the locomotive, and dispatched another battalion of troops to surround the locomotive, neither entering nor exiting, until Li Yuanhong handed over his seal. After a stalemate for more than an hour, Li Yuanhong realized that if he didn't hand in the seals, he would never leave here, so he had to write a note and send it to Mrs. Ru Li Benwei, asking her to hand over the five seals.Wang Chengbin said: "Wouldn't it be troublesome to go back and forth, let's ask the President to make a phone call himself!" In desperation, Li Yuanhong could only go to the telephone room of the station under the supervision of Wang Chengbin and others to call Mrs. Ru and ask her to hand over the seal to the Senate President Wang Jiaxiang.Just handing in the seal was not enough. Under the instruction of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, Wang Chengbin drew up another telegram for Li Yuanhong to sign, which roughly meant "announcement of voluntary resignation, and the State Council will take over the powers of the president".After this back and forth, Li Yuanhong finally returned to his private residence in Tianjin after two o'clock in the morning. Later, when Cao Kun was in full swing to bribe elections, Li Yuanhong wanted to fight one last time.At that time, Zhang Zuolin, Duan Qirui, Lu Yongxiang, and Sun Yat-sen called on anti-straight members to go south to Shanghai to hold a special congress in order to undermine Cao Kun's election bribery.At that time, Lu Yongxiang also sent a telegram inviting Li Yuanhong to Shanghai to reorganize the government. But after Li Yuanhong arrived in Shanghai, he found that although the "Anti-straight Alliance" welcomed his arrival, no one wanted him to form a government. Even the telegram from Lu Yongxiang was originally fabricated by Anfu politicians.It was only then that Li Yuanhong realized that he had fallen into another trap this time. These people were just using his fame to boost their momentum. After Cao Kun successfully bribed the election, Li Yuanhong completely gave up on the reinstatement of the president. He then left Shanghai in the name of "recovering illness" and traveled east to Japan.Half a year later, Li Yuanhong returned to his apartment in Tianjin, and never got involved in politics again. From the First Revolution of 1911 to the lonely Tianjin, Li Yuanhong finally completed his political journey of more than ten years. He also witnessed the ups and downs of the political arena in the early years of the Republic of China.Li Weng was here, gossip about the early Republic of China, on June 3, 1928, Li Yuanhong died of illness in his apartment in Tianjin at the age of 65.On the day of the opening ceremony, Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong's deadly rival, also went to express his condolences in person, "after three bows to the portrait, he retreated, seemingly with infinite emotion". After talking about Li Yuanhong, let's talk about Cao Kun.Cao Kun, known as Cao Sanye, was born in Tianjin, Zhili Province. He was born in a relatively poor family. There were five brothers in his family, the eldest Cao Zhen, the second was a daughter, the third Cao Kun, the fourth Cao Rui, the fifth Cao Bin, and the eldest After the sixth Cao Kai and Cao Kun made their fortunes, the fourth brother Cao Rui became the governor of Zhili, and the sixth brother Cao Kai also became the guardian of Tianjin. Cao Kun had read a little in his early years, but he didn't want to do farm work when he grew up, so he went to Baoding to sell cloth.Cao Kun has a straightforward personality. When he was young, he was fond of drinking and drinking. When he was drunk, he would lie down on the floor. When urchins on the street took the opportunity to steal his money, he didn't take it seriously, just laughed it off.When others told him who took your money, he didn’t bother to ask him. When others asked him why, he said, “I drink for one lole; others take my money for one lole. Pursue it?" From this, Cao Kun was nicknamed "Cao San Idiot" at that time... Picture one Leer! In 1882, 21-year-old Cao Kun was drafted into the army, and was later selected to study at Tianjin Military Academy, which changed his fate.After Yuan Shikai trained at the small station, Cao Kun went to defect and became the leader of the first battalion of the right-wing infantry.Because of Cao Kun's generous personality, his emotions and anger are invisible, and he never competes with others for power and profit, he was not particularly famous when he was in Xiaozhan.It was not until those comrades who trained with him that they basically had the command of the township that Cao Kun joined the third township in 1908. Fortunately, Cao Kun has always done things calmly and steadily, unlike some people who are impulsive and aggressive (such as Duan Qirui), but gradually became a climate.To be honest, Cao Kun's ability to train soldiers and fight wars is really lackluster, but he also has a specialty, that is, he is good at discovering and recruiting talents, so his disciples are full of talents, and Wu Peifu is a typical example.In fact, at least half of Cao Kun's achievements come from Wu Peifu, and Wu Peifu is loyal to Cao Kun, never minded, and truly achieved the point of "you are me, and I am you". After driving away Duan Qirui in the Zhiwan War and Zhang Zuolin in the Zhifeng War, the direct forces of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu have become the only military and political group that controls the Beijing government. position, but a taste of what it's like to be president. After Li Yuanhong was forced to leave, Cao Kun began intensive election work.Of course, the specific work does not require Cao Kun to come forward, mainly Wu Jinglian and other subsidy protection politicians are moving around.The characteristic of this presidential election is that the election bribery is almost open, the price is clearly marked, and no one is cheating. If a member votes for Cao Kun, he can get a check of 5,000 yuan, which will be cashed after the election is successful. Under the lure of money, even some anti-straight MPs who went south returned to Beijing one after another, preparing to receive the 5,000 yuan to vote for Cao Kun.At the primary election meeting on September 10, more than 500 members attended.However, according to the provisions of the Provisional Constitution, the presidential election requires three-quarters of the members to vote. At that time, more than 570 checks had been sent out, but the quorum of attendance was still not reached. In order to be able to hold the presidential inauguration ceremony on National Day on October 10, Cao Kun then stepped up his efforts to bribe votes.In order to gather the required number of lawmakers to attend the general election on October 5, Cao Kun also sent people to set up a "secret investigation office" to prevent lawmakers from leaving Beijing without authorization.The forces opposing Cao Kun’s election bribery also set up a shop in the Liuguo Hotel, and bought the members who did not vote at a price of 8,000 yuan per person. However, due to limited financial resources, only 40 members were bought, and some of them were taken by both sides. money's. On October 5th, the presidential election was officially held, but Wu Jinglian walked into the venue and saw that the number of sign-ins was far from the quorum, so he announced that the number of sign-ins was enough before the election, but waited until noon, and there were only 400 sign-in members people.Wu Jinglian was in a hurry. With Cao Kun's consent, he made an impromptu decision to issue a check for 5,000 yuan as long as the councilors attended the meeting, even if they did not vote for Cao Kun.Afterwards, Wu Jinglian dispatched 180 cars and dispatched reliable congressmen to persuade or pull fellow congressmen from the same country and the same party, and stipulated that each person must bring at least one back. Ever since, the councilors split up, and the horns of cars outside the venue were beeping, creating a very lively scene.Since Cao Kun could not be elected, the check could not be cashed, so those financially obsessed congressmen tried their best to drag people, and several sick congressmen were also dragged by them.It was not until 1:20 in the afternoon that 590 congressmen signed in, and then the bell was rung to start voting.After the votes were counted at 4 pm, Cao Kun was elected as the sixth president of the Republic of China with 480 votes. Cao Kun spent a lot of money in bribing the president this time. In addition to 5,000 oceans per vote, he also needed to pay those politicians who went up and down. In addition, there were hospitality fees and secret fees, which added up to tens of millions.There is no definite conclusion on who paid the money, but it is undoubtedly that Cao Kun paid part of it himself, and the rest may be public funds, such as public bonds and loans issued by the direct provinces. The most ironic thing is that Cao Kun's election bribery was completely legal and open in terms of procedure, and he did not resort to any violence. Even if someone took money and refused to vote, he never took retaliation. It is the attitude of "one is willing to buy, one is willing to sell".As one of Cao Kun's subordinates said: "Purchasing the president with money is much better than someone holding a gun and ordering elections!" As for those congressmen who voted with money, they were called "piggy congressmen". The first congress of the Republic of China naturally degenerated into "pigboy congress".In the early years of the Republic of China, citizens were full of illusions and endless hopes for "parliamentary politics". Who would have expected that this group of people would become what they are today? The first Congress was commonly known as the "Eight Hundred Arhats", but to be honest, none of the Arhats here were elected by the people themselves.These people were originally the revolutionary parties and constitutionalists in the provinces, or the leaders of some associations, or candidates appointed by some dignitaries. To put it bluntly, these people were not elected by the voters, so they did not need representatives. Who. Of course, there is no shortage of talented people among these people, but the political environment in the early years of the Republic of China was a political sauce that rotted over time. Many revolutionary parties, constitutionalists, and community leaders abandoned their ideals and became There are many people who help politicians and are willing to be piggy councilors for 5,000 oceans.If Mr. Song Jiaoren knew about it, how would he feel when he saw these people?Those who think that Song Jiaoren can lead China to the road of constitutionalism without death are ridiculous in the face of cruel reality.The political arena of the Republic of China is just a super invincible big sauce tank. The most hateful thing is that these councilors receive huge annual salaries, and they can also receive high attendance fee subsidies for each meeting, but what do they do?During the meeting, the parties fight against differences and make endless noises. Most of the things are met but not discussed, and discussed but not resolved.The most ridiculous thing is that in the months after the restoration of Congress in 1916, nothing was agreed except the salary of members.Meetings where MPs are supposed to attend are often aborted because of insufficient quorum. In the "Provisional Constitution", who will supervise the provisions of the members? Many congressmen at that time had extremely corrupt personal lives, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, smoking opium, and drinking flower wine. The "Eight Great Alleys" in Beijing were the favorite places for congressmen to patronize back then.How can such a member of parliament become an example for the people, and how can he benefit the country and the people? Tang Degang, a historian in the United States, said that the parliamentary system in advanced democratic countries is the result of hundreds of years of continuous practice and slowly developed step by step. Is it that easy?This is not party politics but gang politics, the so-called "clique system". After Cao Kun was elected president, the only thing worthy of praise was the promulgation of the first formal constitution in Chinese history.It is a pity that although this constitution has been sharpened for ten years, under the notoriety of election bribery, how many people know about it, and what effect it has played, these are unpredictable unknowns... In the age when guns have the final say , Constitution doesn't even hit a ball. It is Cao Kun who has become famous in history because of this. He spent a lot of money to become the bribed president.Twelve years ago, Yuan Kewen once advised his father, Yuan Shikai, "Don't go to the top of Qionglou", but for Cao Kun, the President of the Republic of China was his top floor, and he was lucky enough to visit here in this life. What can I say?