Chapter 107 106. Interaction between Duan Ge and Japan

When the Beiyang soldiers were planning to unite and survive, the president and prime minister in Beijing were arguing very fiercely between the Congress, which of course gave the provincial warlords an excuse.On December 27, the fifth year of the Republic of China, the military and civilian chiefs of 22 provinces and three special administrative regions, headed by Feng Guozhang, sent a long telegram of "sincere advice" to the president, prime minister, and Congress.Power cloud: "This time the state system is re-established, and the world hopes to govern more clearly. I think that the head of state has respected himself, and the general will win the people. The reopening of the parliament will surely establish the state and succeed in the day. It has been half a year since the matter is still unreasonable and the struggle is very beneficial. Recently, rumors have been floating around, especially not all day long. Guozhang guarded the land and waited for crimes, worried and at a loss, discussed back and forth, and issued dangerous words. Fortunately, I watched it... (The following is to persuade Li) My President Qian Deren The wind is admired by both Chinese and foreign countries.... However, the effect is not obvious, and the benefits have not yet arrived. Although there is a sense of virtue, there is no salvation. The reason is because of the lack of government affairs; the lack of government affairs is due to the lack of trust. If there are rumors and gossips between the government and the court, I hope that my president and my prime minister will immediately repudiate them.... Don't be suspicious of the virtuous, and don't be suspicious of the evil. Then my president can blame the prime minister for actual results, and the prime minister is irresponsible. If you have the capacity to be self-absorbed, you must be sincere when you see it. If you have the name of being responsible, you must seek the truth.... (The following exhortation paragraph) My Prime Minister is upright and serious. Speaking of change, Guozhang and others have repeatedly sent letters and telegrams, and tried their best to support them. On the one hand, they are worried about the lack of successors, benefiting life, and falling into anarchy; ......At present, those who are urgently waiting for facilities, such as military affairs, finance, and diplomacy, have all made plans in advance and implemented them sequentially....It is almost like the Bank of China cashing in, but it is really rash and rushing for success, which leads to poverty....The cabinet members must have consistency The proposition should be taken from the prime minister, and should not be in charge of a department, or accommodated to the cabinet members. If cabinet members have difficulties, they may wish to explain, public right and wrong, they should be presided over, which is more important, especially weight and balance. … (The following advises Congress) At the beginning of the restoration of the two houses, it was originally a temporary expedient measure. Unexpectedly, since the meeting of the Congress, there has been a lot of competition, which is better than before. There is no achievement at all, and there is no hope of progress. Judiciary, administrative interference, and reconsideration cases are voted without the quorum, and the hearts of the people's faith are completely lost....Gai must stand on the ground of law-abiding, and then can legislate. If this is not changed, the more The law infringes rights, and the country is in peril. People who steal and fear the world can't bear it, and they must not be forgiven again..."

This telegram was sent by Liang Qichao, the head of the research department at the time, in order to maintain the Duan cabinet and urged Feng Guozhang to unite with other provinces.This telegram was the sharpest rebuke to Congress and had an impact on the prestige of the President.Since then, the warlords in the north have issued telegrams supporting the cabinet and insulting Congress in their own names.This made Zhang Xun, who proclaimed himself the leader of the provincial warlords in Xuzhou, very unhappy, because he thought he should be the one who spoke on behalf of the provincial warlords.Therefore, he also united with some warlords and sent a telegram requesting the Beijing government to remove the three chiefs of the Kuomintang (Chen Jintao, Chief of Finance, Zhang Yaozeng, Chief of Justice, and Gu Zhongxiu, Chief of Agriculture and Commerce).

In Beijing, the dispute between Lebanon and Duan continued to expand. I have described many incidents of feud between the government and the deterioration of Lebanon and Duan, but those were all internal affairs. Now the diplomatic aspect has been added, which is an issue with Japan. In October 5, the Okuma cabinet of Japan collapsed, and the successor prime minister was Terauchi, who sang the Japanese "branch" goodwill. Japanese Foreign Minister Goto invited Chinese Minister Zhang Zongxiang to have a secret talk, hoping that China would send a goodwill envoy to Japan to discuss the resolution of outstanding cases between China and Japan. negotiations, and Japan is willing to borrow money to support the Chinese government.Japan hopes that the Chinese government will first send Cao Rulin, who is pro-Japanese, as a secret envoy to Japan to negotiate all the conditions, and then send a senior official who is not very pro-Japanese, such as Xu Shichang, to sign this agreement as an official envoy. agreement.Zhang Zongxiang told Cao Rulin the news. Cao should have been included in the list of culprits of the imperial system, but he was able to get away with it because of the protection of the Japanese minister.He got Zhang Zongxiang's secret information, and he made a statement to Duan. He proposed that "to fight against the inside" must first "settle the outside world", and to use foreign aid to unify this divided China; the so-called foreign aid is to obtain political loans and arms supplies from foreign countries. If these two items are met, domestic opposition forces can be suppressed.Cao also deduced that the reason for Yuan Shikai's diplomatic failure was that he adopted the wrong policy of uniting the United Kingdom, the United States, and Israel to control Japan.Japan is close, Britain and the United States are far away, and distant water cannot save the nearby fire. Britain and the United States are busy with the European war and cannot spare their strength to come to the East.China’s borrowing from the United States, or getting closer to the United Kingdom and the United States, will first be strongly opposed by the Japanese government, and Western countries will sacrifice China at critical junctures in order to curry favor with Japan. Able to adopt a foreign policy of "close friends and good neighbors".Duan Zheng suffers from the instability of his own regime. He is already at the end of his finances, and he faces many setbacks in foreign borrowing. He can't control the South, or even the Beiyang faction militarily. In addition, the president and the Congress are in trouble with him everywhere.So when he heard Cao's words, he was naturally bewildered.

Xu Shichang is an old fox, of course he would not be fooled, so he refused to be the special envoy to Japan. On November 26, 5, according to Cao's opinion, Duan ordered Zhang Zongxiang to contact the Japanese government first in the name of the State Council, and sent Cao Rulin as a goodwill envoy.This important appointment was not approved by the State Council, and Duan also kept the President in the dark. It was not until November 30 that Japan agreed that Duan proposed the State Council. The incident was said to be a diplomatic ceremony, because the Japanese cabinet was reorganized and sent a tribute, the cabinet members were really deceived, and on December 1, Duan issued the prepared order: "Send Cao Rulin as a special envoy to present the Japanese with a great honor. "Emperor" sent to the Presidential Palace to seal, and ordered Cao to go to Yeli to explain everything in person.When Cao saw Li, he also spoke official words. Unexpectedly, before Cao's words were finished, Li Yuanhong, a good man, suddenly stood up and scolded loudly: "Okay, you want to betray the country, but I, Li Yuanhong, will not let you betray the country." Cao Rulin touched a The big nail retreated dejectedly.

After Cao Rulin was kicked out by Li Yuanhong, Zhang Guogan, the new secretary-general of the State Council, also came to pay a visit to Li. On the one hand, it wasn't until Li Qiping told Zhang what had happened, that Zhang knew what was going on, and suggested to Li that the issue should be submitted to the Congress for resolution.At this time, after Sun Hongyi, the former Minister of the Interior, stepped down, the members of the Taoyuan faction in the Congress proposed the impeachment case against Duan to further overthrow the cabinet, and the members of the Duan faction also proposed to report that Sun Hongyi had embezzled public funds during his tenure as the Minister of the Interior. Suspected, in order to boycott.Although members of the research department belonging to the faction of Liang Qichao and Tang Hualong tried their best to maintain the Duan cabinet, it was of no avail. The Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously raised a questioning case about sending Cao Rulin as a special envoy to Japan without the prior consent of the Congress.

On December 5, Duan personally went to the Senate to explain: "Cao Rulin is currently a senator. Since he is one of the representatives of the people, he cannot accuse the government of improperly employing people. Cao Rulin is proficient in Japanese and familiar with diplomatic etiquette. The Japanese government has already expressed his welcome. Send others to go.” On the same day, Duan sent Wu Chaoshu, Counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the House of Representatives to explain on his behalf: “On November 18, the government received a report from Zhang Zongxiang, the Minister in Japan. It is inconvenient to change this issue.” Both the Senate and the House of Representatives were unsatisfied with Duan’s answer, and the House of Representatives immediately made a decision: Regarding the dispatch of special envoys, Congress should seek approval in advance, otherwise it cannot be recognized.

Li Yuanhong and the Congress only opposed Cao's visit to Japan on the basis of legal procedures, but they did not know that Cao's visit to Japan was for secret diplomacy, so they did not object to sending a special envoy to Japan, but only opposed Cao as a special envoy. For this reason, Duan Nai changed his approach and made it a diplomatic protocol to send a special envoy to Japan to present the honor. On December 13, the Beijing government issued an order: "Send Xiong Xiling to Japan to present the honor." Xiong used the name of special envoy to avoid having to ask for the approval of Congress again.However, after this order was issued, it aroused Japan's opposition. Before the issuance of the order to send bears, Japan had already obtained the meaning of "no objection to bears". Unexpectedly, after the order was issued, Japanese Foreign Minister Motono suddenly told Zhang Zongxiang: "Your government intends to appoint Cao Rulin. We have announced the emperor, and our country's public opinion also welcomes it. Now that Xiong Xiling has been reassigned, it shows that your government is inconsistent internally. The candidate may change at any time in the future, and it is also inconsistent with our country's public opinion. Please Mr. Xiong is coming to Japan." This is Japan's refusal to receive a Chinese envoy after rejecting Zhou Ziqi.The Japanese side unofficially revealed their reason for opposing Xiong, saying that Xiong had electrified to expose Japan's plot to divide China in July 2001, so it was not appropriate to serve as this envoy.

This matter was delayed until February 27, 6th year of the Republic of China, when the Japanese government agreed to China's reassignment of Wang Daxie to Japan to present an honor, and then it came to an end.