Chapter 20 19. Post-dated check for constitutional constitution

In order to cope with the trend of perfunctory change, the Qing court agreed to a constitutional monarchy, and first sent five ministers abroad to investigate and collect information.The five ministers went abroad for inspection in two ways: one was Zai Ze, Li Shengduo, and Shang Qiheng went to Japan, Britain, France, Belgium and other countries for inspection; the other was Dai Hongci and Duan Fang went to the United States, Germany, Italy, Austria and other countries for inspection .Unfortunately, these ministers do not understand international knowledge, nor do they understand the constitutions of various countries. Therefore, Xiong Xiling, a counselor in Jiangsu who went abroad with the five ministers, came up with an idea.His clever plan is: we are in a hurry to go to foreign countries, come and go in a hurry, it is not easy to collect information from various countries, and at the same time, the national conditions of various countries are not the same as ours. He wrote out the entire outline, and we used it as a blueprint when we returned to China, polished and sorted it out, and then made a presentation.Xiong's opinion was immediately adopted by the five ministers, so Xiong recommended Yang Du, and the five ministers also agreed, so he sent Xiongxian to Tokyo and asked Yang to be responsible for writing constitutional articles.Among the Chinese who were qualified to write constitutional articles at that time, the first was Liang Qichao, but Liang was a famous reformer; the second was Yang Du, and it was appropriate for Xiong to recommend Yang Du.

Xiong Xiling was also an important figure in the Beiyang era. He was born in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, and his style name was Bingsan. Strict control."But Zhu Qiyi, the magistrate of Changde, thought that Xiong was a talent, so he not only betrothed his younger sister Zhu Qihui to Xiong, but also hired him as a gymnastics teacher in the West Road Normal School.Zhao Erxun, governor of Hunan, also appreciated him very much, and invited him to recover his fame by "making great contributions to his studies", so the Qing court appointed him as an alternate Taoist priest in Jiangsu.When the five ministers went abroad to inspect constitutionalism, he accompanied him in the name of counselor.

Xiong once made a joke in Paris, France. It turned out that their inspection team lived in a big hotel. One day Xiong returned to the hotel from a foreign country and hurried back to his bedroom. He opened the door and saw a naked naked woman sleeping in the room. Blonde.Xiong thought it was a dream, rubbed his eyes, and after a closer look, it was indeed an angel, which made him lose his mind for a while.He imagined the western civilization, the beautiful woman actually offered her naked body, while the beautiful woman on the bed was still sleeping in Haitangchun, he approached the bed lightly, touched the beautiful woman's body with his hand, trying to wake her up, and carefully He said in a low voice: "Ma'am, this is the room of the lower official. Why did you come in? It would be inconvenient if outsiders see you." There was also a Chinese with braided hair, who was also taken aback. While pulling a blanket to cover his naked body, he shouted, telling him to get out.At this time, Xiong still politely explained that this was his room, but the two could not understand each other. The girl called out, and all the passengers in the building came to look at it. And grinned a few words in foreign language to the girl card, and everyone burst into laughter.Bear is still baffled.While complaining to him, Liang explained: "You went to the wrong floor. In this kind of big hotel, the rooms on every floor are the same, and the furnishings in each room are also the same. Today's joke is too big. It turned out that Xiong lived on the sixth floor, but he ran to the fifth floor and entered the same room.

Yang Du was born in Xiangtan, Hunan, and his name was Xizi. He had an uncle Yang Ruisheng who served as the general of Chaoyang.Yang Du once took the preliminary examination of the special economic department in leap May of the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901).This time it was Guangxu's imperial examination in the Palace of Preservation. Liang Shiyi (from Sanshui, Guangdong) won the first-class first-class examination, and Yang Du won the first-class second-class examination.After the announcement of the list, Cixi wanted to inquire about the origin of the champion as usual. Qu Hongji (a native of Shanhua, Hunan), then Minister of Military Aircraft, was a fool. Kang Zuyi (Kang Youwei's original name) has the same last word in his name, and the head of the beam is the tail of Kang, so he must not be a kind person." Cixi is most jealous of the reformers, and after hearing it, they can't distinguish right from wrong, so they canceled the test results , Also replaced the marking minister.As a result, Yang Du fled to Japan for exile, and Fan Yuanlian (from Xiangyin, Hunan) was promoted as the chairman and vice president of the Tokyo International Student Association, and secretly wooed Zhang Zhidong.Since Yang was interested in political activities and had some money, his residence in Iida Town became the "Students Studying in Japan Club" and the "Hunan Guild Hall".Those who had the closest relationship with him at that time were Huang Yuwu (Huang Xing's original name), Chen Tianhua, Song Jiaoren, Liu Kuiyi and Yang Dusheng.Later, the bomb that Wu Yue plotted to assassinate the five ministers was hand-made by Yang Dusheng.As far as the Chinese people living in Japan were concerned, Yang's intelligence and reputation were very high, so Mr. Sun Yat-sen wanted to draw Yang to participate in the revolution. He once visited Yang Yu with Cheng Jiatong, but Yang believed that the revolution was too destructive and advocated a constitutional monarchy.The discussion was not congenial, but Yang Du introduced Huang Xing to Mr. Sun Yat-sen at this time. Who would have thought that the combination of Sun and Huang, the two revolutionary leaders, would be introduced by Hong Xian advocate Yang Du!

After the five ministers traveled around the country to inspect the constitutional government, they submitted the inspection report written by Liang Qichao and Yang Du to the Qing government.In July of the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the Qing court convened an imperial meeting, agreed to this report, and issued an imperial edict to prepare for a constitution.As far as Cixi is concerned, she would rather die than see the word constitutionalism, so she only reluctantly agreed to "preparation for constitutionalism". In the 33rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1907), the Qing court changed the Political Inspection Office to the Constitutional Review Office, and the five ministers recommended Yang Du as "a talent worthy of great use", so the Qing court sent Yang Du to be promoted to the Constitutional Editing Office.In August of the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), the Qing government announced that the preparatory constitutional period would be nine years based on the outline of the constitution compiled by the Constitutional Administration.

During the 1898 coup, Yuan Shikai forged a deep blood feud with the constitutional monarchists, and his later status can also be said to have been exchanged for the blood of the 1898 six gentlemen.Now constitutionalization has become the trend, and even Cixi, who is extremely hostile to the New Deal, cannot directly oppose it. Yuan is the most adaptable person, and he has to change course when the general trend follows. He also showed enthusiasm for promoting constitutionalism, and he had a long letter from Zhang Jian in his hand, urging him to advocate constitutionalism, so he seemed to be a leader in promoting constitutionalism.

At this time, the Manchu relatives were extremely opposed to the implementation of the constitution, so Yuan Shikai asked Yikuang, the Prince of Qing, to make a suggestion to Cixi: the implementation of the constitution is a reliable guarantee for the Qing Dynasty's eternal lineage, and at the same time it can ease the revolutionary crisis and divert the attention of the whole country. Fortunately, the Qing court recruited a few experts who were proficient in the constitution to give lectures on the topic of the constitution can save the country to the Manchu family and nobles in the Summer Palace, so that they would not oppose the constitution.Cixi accepted this proposal, and Yuan Nai recommended Yang Du as a lecturer, and gave lectures in the Summer Palace that constitutionalism can save the country.It is said that when discussing the principles of constitutionalism and saving the country in the Summer Palace, Zheng Xiaoxu, a talented scholar from Fujian, made an astonishing comment. He said: "I think saving the country by constitution is not as effective as saving the country by borrowing." Someone asked him, "What is the principle of saving the country by borrowing?" He said: "It's not easy. We borrow from foreign countries. They are poor and we are rich. Isn't this saving the country?"

The Manchu aristocrats always believed that the implementation of constitutionalism would weaken the privileges of the monarch and at the same time give the Han a chance to seize power, so they stubbornly opposed it.Although Yang Du mustered up his eloquence, he couldn't talk to them. Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, the two military ministers of the Han nationality, also had different views on constitutionalism.Zhang Zhidong is a textual researcher. He wants a constitutional government outline that can conform to the Chinese dynasties and has historical basis; Yuan advocates a constitutional government outline that can enrich the country and strengthen the military, and absorb the advantages of all countries in the east and west.As a result, the Manchu and Han ministers could no longer coordinate, and the two Han ministers also had different opinions. Therefore, although there were loud voices for constitutional legislation, no feasible way could be found.

In the first year of Xuantong (1909), the most difficult thing to deal with after Zaifeng came to power was the nationwide demand for "constitution".This kind of request is no longer as perfunctory and evasive as it was in the Cixi era. The date for the implementation of constitutional government must be determined first. Constitutional activities can start locally, and then a constitution can be created within nine years.The provincial council bureaus are a bit like the provincial councils today, but members are not elected. Whether they are councilors or speakers, they are all local celebrities and gentlemen. For example, the chairman of the Jiangsu council bureau is the famous Nantong The number one scholar is Zhang Jian, the speaker of Hubei is Tang Hualong, the speaker of Hunan is Tan Yankai, the speaker of Shandong is Ding Shiduo, and the speaker of Sichuan is Pu Dianjun.

The emergence of the Advisory Council gave general constitutional monarchists or more progressive intellectuals an encouragement, thinking that it was not necessary to use drastic revolutionary means to save China's perilous fate, but to force the Qing court to seriously implement the virtual monarchy and real constitution, and hand over power to the With a responsible cabinet, China will be saved, and Japan is an obvious example.Therefore, they united with the provincial advisory bureaus to form a "Comrade Petition Comrade Association", demanding that the Qing government convene the Congress in the capital as soon as possible.

In the second year of Xuantong (1910), the Qing government reluctantly accepted the request of the whole country to convene a congress, and established a central advisory body, the Zizhengyuan.Some members of the Zizhengyuan were appointed by the emperor, and some were elected by the provincial councils.The councilors elected by the provinces later formed a "Xianyouhui" in Beijing, and at the same time set up "Xianyouhui branches" in the provincial advisory bureaus. Since then, the constitutional monarchy has its own active groups, from the central government to the The place can become a series by itself.Since the constitutional monarchy movement became a fierce trend at that time, everyone felt that the only way to save the country was to implement the constitution as soon as possible. Therefore, in the winter of the second year of Xuantong (1910), the Central Government Council and the provincial governors also urged the Qing court to convene a parliament as soon as possible to promulgate the constitution. , organize the responsible cabinet. Therefore, the Qing court announced to shorten the constitutional preparation period to five years, starting from the first year of Xuantong (1909) and formally convening the National Congress in the fifth year of Xuantong (1913).Such concessions still could not ease the growing demand for constitutional implementation. Therefore, in March of the third year of Xuantong (1911), it was announced that a cabinet would be established first, and Prince Qing Yikuang would be appointed as the prime minister of the cabinet, and Na Tong and Xu Shichang would be assistant ministers of the cabinet. It is a constitutional form.There are 13 cabinet members in the cabinet, nine of them are Manchus, who are in charge of military affairs, civil affairs, and financial affairs; while the Han nationality is only four, and they are in charge of some irrelevant ministries.Although Yikuang has a high status among the Manchu and Han ministers, he is a well-known "corrupt official". He has the name of "Qingji Company", and he is not ashamed to openly accept bribes. Changing the soup but not the medicine, the Qing court just wanted to use fake "constitutional" to perfunctory the vast demands for change.