Chapter 157 156. Shanghai Peace Conference

On December 29, 7, Zhu Qiqian, Wu Dingchang, Wang Kemin, Shi Yu, Fang Shu, Wang Youling, Liu Enge, Li Guozhen, Jiang Shaojie, Xu Fosu and other ten members of the northern peace negotiation delegation set off from Beijing to the south.Eleven members of the southern peace negotiation delegation, including Tang Shaoyi, Zhang Shizhao, Hu Hanmin, Miao Jiashou, Zeng Yan, Guo Chunsen, Liu Guanglie, Wang Boqun, Peng Yunyi, Rao Mingluan, and Li Shuying, also arrived in Shanghai on January 25, 8. The Shanghai Peace Conference opened on the morning of February 20, 2008. The venue of the old German General Assembly was newly decorated on that day. The general representatives of the North and the South each led their representatives to enter the venue, sitting opposite each other in an orderly and graceful manner.In fact, most of the representatives of the two parties are old acquaintances. Now that they are gathered together, they have different moods.

After the meeting, Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South, gave a speech and said: "The civil war has come to an end today, but the source of the disaster has been eliminated, and external forces can really help it. If the old warriors do not rely on external forces, they will have no money and no weapons to buy. The brothers have long said that they are good. The knot has been extended to this day, causing the people pain, so far. Now the north has awakened, speaks for peace with sincerity, abandons the old and seeks the new, please start now!" Zhu Qiqian, General Representative of the North, also delivered a speech saying:

"Since the founding of the Republic of China, most of the state power has been in the hands of armed factions, so the wars have been chaotic, and there has been no peace. The trend of the times, the trend of the times, will turn wars into treasures, and exchange swords to redeem cattle. All dry feathers and spears should be Treat it as the old bones of the past. From now on, there will be no more wars, peaceful reunification, please see Zhu Si!" After the speeches by the representatives of the North and the South, all the representatives of the two sides stood up and saluted the national flag, and cheered long live the Republic of China and long live the peaceful reunification!Then we had refreshments, exchanged some pleasantries and parted ways.

At the official meeting on the 21st, Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South, first raised the issue of the armistice in Shaanxi. The two sides jointly presumed that Zhang Ruiji, a Shanxi native and former congressman who had lived in Shaanxi for a long time, went to Shaanxi to supervise the armistice.Zhu Qiqian, the General Representative of the North, promised to send a telegram to the Beijing government immediately to achieve a truce in Shaanxi.The representatives of the two parties decided to urge Zhang Ruiji to go to Shaanxi to perform surveillance duties. On the 22nd, Tang Shaoyi raised issues such as stopping the loan for participating in the war, canceling the participating troops, and announcing the secret treaty between China and Japan. Zhu Qiqian also admitted that he sent a telegram to the Beijing government for instructions.Zhu's attitude was quite accommodating, which made the members of the Anfu faction among the northern representatives very dissatisfied. They believed that Zhu's opinions could not represent the whole group. This was the first step of the Anfu faction secretly obstructing the peace negotiation.

At the beginning of the peace conference, the Western diplomatic corps questioned the Beijing government: Why is China still recruiting troops to join the war when the world war has stopped?Is it used for internal warfare? On the 22nd, the Beijing government replied to the diplomatic corps, saying: China has already conducted peace talks, and there will be no more civil wars. Xu Shichang borrowed the pressure from the diplomatic corps and persuaded Duan to transfer the participating troops to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.Duan was noncommittal, because Jin Yunpeng, chief of the army, was also a general of the Duan family, but Xu Shuzheng, another general of Duan's family, objected.Both Jin and Xiao Xu are one of Duan's Four King Kongs, and because they are in the same situation, Xu Shichang recruits Jin to deal with Xu Shuzheng.

At this time, Xu Shichang had proposed a set of disarmament plan, why the disarmament?Because there are 1.38 million troops in the country, military expenditures account for four-fifths of the country's fiscal revenue. This kind of burden is a life-threatening crisis for any government.Therefore, Xu's plan is that after the realization of peace, the unified China will borrow money from the international bank group to reduce its troops to 500,000 people.After the completion of the disarmament, the separation of the army and the people will be further implemented, and soldiers will not be allowed to concurrently serve as governors.The plan would not only reduce military spending, but also be sufficient to weaken the power of local warlords and strengthen the control of the central government.

After all, Xu Shuzheng was resourceful and resourceful. Aiming at Xu Shichang's plan, he suggested to Duan that "preserve the troops participating in the war to supervise the disarmament".In this way, the South's request to cancel the participating troops can be rejected, and the blame of the diplomatic corps can be avoided.Duan and Xiao Xu used this reason to refuse to hand over the participating troops.In fact, this is simply arrogance and deception, but this is the only excuse. The representative from the south asked to stop borrowing money to continue participating in the war, but Duan of course refused to agree, and Xu Shichang was powerless to object.Therefore, the Beijing government rejected the South's request on the grounds of financial difficulties and lack of military funds.

The realization of the Shanghai Peace Conference has a lot to do with the promotion of Li Chun, the governor of Jiangsu.When the general representative of the North went to Shanghai, he first visited Li Chun in Nanjing, but he fell and injured his back when seeing off the guests, and it took ten days for him to recover.Li Chun worked for peace, which lasted more than a year. He was scolded and suffered enough, and when the peace talks were about to start, he would have to suffer terribly. As for whether there has been a truce in Shaanxi?Since the representatives from the South had no direct contact with the Yasukuni Army in Shaanxi, the news between the Yasukuni Army in Shaanxi and the representatives from the South could only be sent by express mail. The report Tang Shaoyi received from the Yasukuni Army in late February was mailed in early January.According to these reports, the Jinju Division of the Northern Army captured Baoji from Feng County and continued to attack Fengxiang; Attack Weinan.This proves that although Xu Shichang had ordered a truce, Chen Shufan's troops obeyed and violated it.Duan Qirui continued to dispatch troops through the Shenlu Office.

On February 25, because the war in Shaanxi had not stopped, Tang Shaoyi posed a severe question to the northern delegation, demanding that Chen Shufan, the Shaanxi warlord who opposed the armistice agreement and destroyed the peace, be replaced. On the 26th, Tang Shaoyi received another report from the Yasukuni Army in mid-January that the Yasukuni Army had retreated from Qianxian County, Yumen, Meixian County, and Fufeng under the strong offensive of the Northern Army.At the same time, the Northern Army also attacked Fengxiang, Qishan, Pucheng and Fuping.The southern delegation was greatly shocked, and announced that the north would not fulfill its promise of an armistice. From the 26th, formal meetings would be suspended and talks would be held instead.At the same time, I solemnly declare to the north that no other cases will be discussed until the Beijing government replaces Chen Shufan.

At this time, the Hunan Rehabilitation Association also sent representatives Wen Luming and Fu Chungen to Shanghai to petition the peace conference, demanding that the notorious Hunan governor Zhang Jingyao, who had murdered and set fires, be quickly replaced.They sobbed in front of representatives from the North and the South about the atrocities committed by Zhang Jingyao's Seventh Division in Hunan. The representatives, both North and South, were moved.So the representatives of Hunan nationality belonging to the south angrily proposed to replace Zhang Jingyao. During the peace talks, the Beijing government was issuing "56 million yuan of short-term government bonds for the eighth year of the Republic of China". Southern representatives suspected that the Beijing government was using the peace talks as a tactic to defer troops and continue to use troops to raise war funds, so they strongly opposed it.

On the 28th, the Beijing government submitted four documents to the Shanghai Peace Conference. These documents were all due to the southern representative’s request for the abolition of the Sino-Japanese military agreement, so Beijing provided this information to the peace conference for reference and review. The four documents are: (1) The documents of the military agreement between China and Japan. (2) The Sino-Japanese Army Joint Defense Agreement. (3) The Sino-Japanese Naval Joint Defense Agreement. (4) A supplementary document explaining the end date of the European War. This document was signed by Chief of Staff Xu Shuzheng of the Participation Division and Japanese representative Tohiko Oto.According to this document, the military agreement between China and Japan will not be terminated until China and Japan ratify the peace treaty with Germany. Duan and Xiaoxu wanted to use the delay of the end date of the war to reject the South's proposal to abolish the Sino-Japanese agreement.The Japanese are of course willing to continue the Sino-Japanese military agreement in order to achieve the purpose of encroaching on China's interests. On February 28, Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South, had a showdown with the North at the peace talks meeting. He raised three questions: (1) Why did the Shaanxi War not only not stop, but the Northern Army also aggressively attacked the Yasukuni Army? (2) Why did the participating troops not cancel, but greatly expand? (3) There is still an annex to the Sino-Japanese military agreement. The Beijing government not only has no intention of abolishing this agreement, but actually extended the validity period of this agreement? Tang Shaoyi told the northern representatives very seriously that the northern representatives should answer these three questions within 48 hours without delay.On the same day, representatives of the South sent an abridgement to the diplomatic corps. On March 2, the northern delegation could not reply to the southern delegation because Beijing did not reply to the call, so they had to submit their general resignation to the Beijing government. Therefore, the Shanghai Peace Conference was officially suspended. The Shanghai Peace Conference lasted 11 days from February 20 to March 2, of which the official meeting was only held for five days. The issues discussed by the two sides can be described as no progress. The representatives from the South telegraphed the whole country after the suspension of the meeting, saying: "The truce in Shaanxi and the cessation of recruitment of participating troops prove that the Beijing government is talking about making peace and at the same time leading the war. No luck." He also said: "The Beijing government is issuing 56 million eight-year public bonds to borrow from the bank. 20 million will be used as military expenditures for the provinces, and 10 million will go to the participating troops. This case has not been passed by the Congress and cannot admit." The Beijing government received a telegram of the resignation of the general representative from the North, and responded with a telegram to comfort him. On March 3, Xu Shichang re-ordered the ceasefire in Shaanxi: "Shaanxi has been battered for many years, and the sight is full of devastation. I am deeply saddened by the words of the people. It is urgent to promote peace and plan for an early settlement. The State Council has previously ordered a truce in accordance with the agreement. Zhang Ruiji has been dispatched to monitor the area. All tasks are to be implemented and completed on a timely basis. All the generals should agree with each other and strictly abide by the management. If the implementation is not effective, the responsibility lies, and the responsibility cannot be abdicated. This order." Chen Shufan did not obey the order, and Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South, got a letter written by Yu Youren saying: "Chen Shufan secretly sent a telegram from the Shenlu Office, urging the attack. Therefore, Beijing transported military equipment from Shanxi, either from the Shenlu Office or from the Hanyang Arsenal, and there was an endless stream." The whole country is very concerned about the suspension of the peace conference. There are many voices to rescue the peace conference. Some groups propose to send representatives to supervise the peace conference. However, both the North and the South accused each other of being responsible for the suspension of the peace conference.The South accused the North of having no sincerity for peace, while the North accused the South of having ulterior motives, and cited the fact that the Confederate generals Lin Baoyi, Xiong Kewu, and Yu Youren were respectively appointed as governors of Fujian, Sichuan, and Shaanxi provinces before the peace conference was held as evidence that the South had no intention of seeking peace.In the telegram, Qian Nengxun accused the southern representatives of not treating their own government with ultimatum to the enemy, and said that the war in Shaanxi had ceased, and the southern representatives should not listen to You Ren's one-sided words. On March 12, Zhang Ruiji, Shaanxi Armistice Supervision Commissioner, set off from Beijing for Xi'an. On the 14th, the Beijing government and the Japanese government simultaneously announced the full text of the Sino-Japanese military agreement.The Beijing government believes that these two key issues have been addressed.It is hoped that representatives from the South will resume the peace conference.However, on the 14th, the representative of the South issued a second declaration, arguing that the war in Shaanxi had not stopped, that the loans to participate in the war were still being withdrawn, that the troops participating in the war were still rapidly expanding, and that the time limit for the military agreement between China and Japan had been extended. Will reopen out of the question. During the Shanghai Peace Conference, the foreign ministers in China paid close attention and maintained prudent care.When the peace meeting was interrupted, Western countries were extremely dissatisfied. On March 4, Zhu Erdian, the British Minister to China, went to the government office to pay a visit to Xu Shichang, advising the resumption of peace talks. Xu replied sincerely to Zhu Erdian: "We are old friends for 20 years, and we are both over 60 years old. I believe that I have the deepest desire for peace.” On the 5th, the French Minister to China, Bopu, visited Xu Shi and expressed two wishes. He hoped that first, the Chinese government would not hinder the overall situation because of local problems in Shaanxi. Second, he hoped that China’s domestic peace and world peace Simultaneously.It is especially hoped that it can be realized before the signing of the European peace treaty. Western diplomacy originally planned to unite with the five countries to make a second strong persuasion, but Japanese Minister Kohata refused to participate on the pretext that he had not received an order from his own government.Therefore, on March 6, U.S. Minister to China Reinsch, British Minister to China Jurdin, French Minister to China Papo, and Italian Minister to China Hua Lei jointly went to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet with Chen Lu, the acting undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and appealed to the West. All countries are eager for peace in China, and advise the Chinese government to resume the Shanghai Peace Conference as soon as possible, not to ask for loans to participate in the war, and not to send the participating troops into the civil war.At the same time, they protested against the Beijing government that the balance of the salt tax should not be used to mortgage the eight-year public debt. At this time, Duan Qirui's internal and external environment was very unfavorable. He once asked Xu to resign to supervise the war, but Xu did not dare to agree rashly. On March 6, Wu Peifu, a key figure in the current situation, called Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South. He pointed out that the breakdown of the peace conference was due to the interference of a certain faction (referring to the Anfu faction). Donghai (Xu Shichang) was trapped and his prestige was not good. Take the peacekeeping bureau. Li Chun, the governor of Jiangsu, formulated five specific measures and hoped that all parties would implement them immediately so that the peace talks could be resumed as soon as possible. Based on this, he sent a telegram across the country on February 6. The telegram said: "Urgent. The State Council in Beijing, ministries and institutes, presidents of the Guangzhou military government, Cao Jinglue envoy of Baoding, patrol envoys of various provinces, military governors, governors, capital commanders, envoys of the army, commanders of the navy and army, and representatives of Nanjing Zhu Zong and representatives. , Mr. Zhu Gong, General Representative and Representative of Shanghai Tang, Mr. Tan Zuan of Yongzhou, and General Wu of Hengzhou all learned: In recent months, the atmosphere of peace has spread all over the country. Due to the settlement of the aftermath, there have been grand meetings. Fang agrees, and the general representatives of both sides are sent to Ninghu successively. However, the central government issued an order to cease fighting and strike troops, and the Guangdong military government also issued an order to cease fighting and strike troops. There are still entanglements. After several rounds of negotiations, a simple and simple method was decided: (1) Shaanxi, Fujian, and western Hubei should all strictly enforce a truce. (2) The troops aiding Fujian and Shaanxi should stop advancing and take on the task of suppressing bandits in the rear. There will be no reinforcements thereafter. (3) The generals of Fujian, Hubei, and southern Shaanxi will directly agree on the measures for the armistice area, and each will submit a report after signing. Go to the monitoring area. (5) Designate the area, each responsible for suppressing bandits and defending the people, and not invading each other, otherwise, all the people of the country will abandon it. The above five items are all approved by the Central Committee and approved by the Guangzhou Military Government. According to the implementation. All the problems of Shaanxi and Fujian will be resolved within a few days, and the meeting can be held. I know the dust and thoughts, and I hereby spread the news!" Zhu Qiqian, the general representative of the North, also sent private letters to Chen Shufan and Yu Youren in Shaanxi and Fujian, urging the two sides to cease fighting so as to facilitate the resumption of peace talks. The Beijing government could neither fight nor make peace. On March 30, it issued an order to persuade the peace conference to reopen. Although the wording was extremely cautious, the representatives of the South were outraged: "How can peace be negotiated with orders?" Of course, it cannot become a fact that Lu Rongting and Tang Jiyao of the powerful faction negotiated peace alone.The diplomatic corps frequently urged Xu to resume the peace meeting, and Xu said bitterly: "I want to make peace alone, can it be made?" From March 25th, Zhang Ruiji, who was sent by the Shanghai Peace Conference to Xi'an to supervise the truce, called from Xi'an to report that the truce and boundary demarcation in Shaanxi had been achieved.Zhang Ruiji is from Shanxi, has lived in Shaanxi for a long time, and is an old member of the National Assembly.The appointment of the Shaanxi armistice supervision commissioner this time was suggested by the southern representative. He set off from Shanghai on March 12 and arrived in Xi'an on March 22.After arriving in Xi'an, he was bought by Chen Shufan and tried his best to defend Chen, saying that Chen had not attacked the Yasukuni Army in Shaanxi, which caused serious dissatisfaction among the southern representatives. Due to Li Chun's urging to resume the peace talks, Zhang Ruiji's telegram that the war in Shaanxi had ceased reached Shanghai on April 1, and the peace talks resumed on April 7. It has been 37 days since the suspension to the resumption. Formal meetings resume on April 9. After the formal resumption of the peace talks, the representatives of both the North and the South agreed to an opinion. In order to avoid interference from people's organizations in various provinces, the representatives of the North and the South made an agreement not to announce the content of the meeting.So the Shanghai peace talks turned into a "close door meeting". At the same time, the representatives of the North and the South decided to raise all the issues that the two sides wanted to raise and seek solutions one by one. The conditions for the south are: the cancellation of the Sino-Japanese military agreement, the abolition of participating organizations and their subordinate troops, the cessation of continued use of loans for participating in the war, the free exercise of powers by the National Assembly, the division of loans between the north and the south, and the decrees issued by the military government should be considered valid. Hunan, Shaanxi The aftermath of the two provinces. The conditions in the north are: the national disarmament plan "the number of troops in the country is set at 50 divisions", the division of military and civilian governance, local autonomy, the development of the national economy, and borrowing for aftermath. The issue of the Congress is the focus of debate between the two sides. The South advertises its protection of the law, and the Guangzhou Military Government’s political affairs meeting determined the highest principle of "upholding the rule of law." Let me explain, so the dissolution of the Anfu Congress is an issue that must be contested legally.However, the Anfu Congress is no longer a tool of Duan Qirui's family. It is also the legal basis for Xu Shichang to obtain the presidency. If the Anfu Congress is cancelled, Xu Shichang's presidential status will also be cancelled. On the issue of maintaining the Anfu Congress, the attitudes are the same.When Zhu Qiqian, the general representative of the north, set off to go south, he asked Xu what conditions could be accepted and made concessions.Xu replied: "Except for the issue of the Congress, all issues can be compromised." So on the surface, the issue of the rule of law and the rule of law is the focus of the peace talks. However, neither the North nor the South paid much attention to "law" at that time, and what the soldiers of the North and the South were really fighting for were power, territory, and wealth.So the congressional issue is not really the fatal focus of the peace talks.Therefore, Li Chun proposed a solution to restore the constitutional conference before the National Congress was dissolved in the sixth year of the Republic of China. Members of the old congress held the third reading meeting of the constitutional conference in Nanjing to complete the constitution-making process. Xu Shichang was ratified as president and then announced. According to the Constitution, the National Assembly of the North and the South will be dissolved, and elections will be held in accordance with the National Assembly Organization Act and the National Assembly Election Act stipulated in the Constitution, and a new National Assembly will be convened.Li Chun's plan was agreed by Xu Shichang.This plan can take into account both reason and law. It not only meets the requirement of "maintaining the rule of law" in the south, but also preserves Xu Shichang's presidential status. Li Chun's plan was unacceptable to the Anfu faction. In the northern delegation, some members of the Anfu faction participated, and they telegraphed Li Chun's plan to the Anfu Congress in Beijing.When Duan and Anfu were informed of this plan, they were shocked. On April 12, the headquarters of the Beijing Anfu Department convened an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures based on a secret report sent by Fang Shu, the representative of the North.So some of the participants advocated the replacement of Zhu Qiqian, the general representative of the North.Some people advocate overthrowing the Qian cabinet first.Zeng Yujun, Duan Qirui's important strategist, scolded Xu Shichang for being ungrateful and advocated the impeachment of the president.In the end, someone suggested that the ceremony be followed by the soldiers, and that the Senate Speaker Li Shengduo (at this time Liang Shiyi had resigned as the Senate Speaker, and Li Shengduo would succeed him) to meet Xu and question why Xu agreed to the plan of betraying the North.At the same time, both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Anfu Congress invited all state officials to attend and answer questions.On the other hand, Duan Jihua summoned Zhang Zuolin, Ni Sichong and others to hold another military governor's meeting in Tianjin, intending to officially open fire on Xu, but Cao Kun objected. Cao Kun made an excuse that the meeting in Tianjin would cause the diplomatic corps to intervene, so that the meeting was impregnated. belly. Xu Shichang and Qian Nengxun were angrily attacked by the Anfu Department, and vehemently denied that they had any intention of canceling the Anfu Congress. The turmoil in Beijing made the northern representatives at a loss in Shanghai, because they didn't know where to start, and they couldn't get a reply when they asked Beijing for instructions. From April 29th, all northern representatives had to complain of illness and did not attend the meeting. As a result, the Shanghai Peace Conference entered into a pause period again. On April 9, all the Southwest generals led by Lin Baoyi and Mo Rongxin once sent a joint telegram stating that the soldiers should not interfere in politics.Zhang Huaizhi, chief of the Beijing staff, and Jin Yunpeng, chief of the army, first telegraphed their approval, and then Cao Kun, Zhang Zuolin, Ni Sichong, Wang Zhanyuan, Zhang Jingyao, and Tian Zhongyu all responded unanimously.Zhang Zuolin said in the telegram that he had read this good news, and he couldn't help but be overwhelmed.This is a chorus that the soldiers of the North and South have never had since the Civil War.They used to be "electric warfare", but now they are "electric harmony".The soldiers who caused the chaos in the Republic of China were meddling in politics, and now they have sworn that they will not interfere in politics.This is because the Beiyang warlords wanted to abandon the open peace talks after the stalemate in the Shanghai Peace Conference, and wanted to secretly negotiate a peace or partial peace with the Southwest warlords. The failure of the Paris peace conference on the Shandong issue on May 6 and the May 4th storm made the representatives of the north and the south have the need to unify the outside world, so the formal meeting was resumed, but the meeting still made no progress. On May 13, Tang Shaoyi, the general representative of the South, put forward eight conditions: (1) Absolutely not to recognize the resolution of the Paris Peace Conference to deal with the Shandong issue; (4) Removing and replacing the notorious overseer; (5) The peace conference declared invalid the order of the Beijing government to dissolve the National Congress in the 6th year of the Republic of China; The day when the National Assembly fully exercises its powers; (7) The unresolved and unresolved cases of the peace conference shall be sorted out and decided separately. (8) If the above seven items are agreed by the north, the peace conference will recognize Xu Shichang as the interim president, and perform the duties of the president until the day when the official president is elected by the Congress.Northern representative Zhu Qiqian asked the southern representative to withdraw the fifth article first, and the rest should be discussed in the long run, but the southern representative believed that there was no room for bargaining.Therefore, the peace conference broke down again, and the representatives from the North and the South announced their general resignation, so the Shanghai peace conference came to an end.