Beiyang reactionaries

Many people, especially some university professors and some well-known media people, have begun to worry about one thing.That is the existence of the Supreme Committee, giving Duan Xun too much power.After the establishment of the Supreme Council, Duan Xun's power has directly risen to a higher level than when he was the Prime Minister of the cabinet before.

you could put it that way.

Since the outbreak of the Opium War, Duan Xun has become the most powerful person in Chinese politics.Even the emperors in the late Qing Dynasty were inferior to Duan Xun in terms of control over the government and localities.Because Duan Xun entered Beijing with guns, and used parties like the People's Party to control the political arena, Duan Xun's control over the government, localities, and military is unprecedentedly strong.

Duan Xun's situation now makes people think of Yuan Shikai who died amidst the scolding.Only 30 years have passed since the War to Protect the Country, and people in their 60s and [-]s are very familiar with the situation at that time.Yuan Shikai's second revolution won a complete victory, the forces of the Beiyang Army extended into the southern provinces, and the Beiyang Army truly became the ruler of China.And Yuan Shikai was lost in the rapidly expanding power after the second revolution, and finally went to the throne, which resulted in the war to protect the country.Yuan Shikai himself was ruined and his family was betrayed.

Now Duan Xun's power is stronger than Yuan Shikai's.

And Duan Xun not only has great power, but more importantly, his prestige is ridiculously high.The rise of Duan Xun is a legend.From leaving the military academy, he became a substantial leader in China in just seven years.After entering Beijing, he became a legend among legends.When Duan Xun came to Beijing, China was still a semi-colonial country where warlords were everywhere in the country and looked at the faces of the big powers to the outside world.However, Duan Xun has led such a China that has been humiliated since the Opium War to its current position.The territory that was once lost was recovered, and the territory was expanded to ensure the stable development of China's economy and be able to feed a population of 10 billion.In recent years, it has directly participated in the formulation of the world order, and has been on an equal footing with such great powers as Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union.All these give Duan Xun an unparalleled support rate in China.

Within the government, among the army, and among the common people, Duan Xun has an amazing appeal.

This is something Yuan Shikai never dreamed of back then.

But the greater Duan Xun's power and prestige, the more fearful and worried many people are.I am worried that Duan Xun will retrace the path that Yuan Shikai walked back then.Now that the war in the Far East is over, these people immediately began to write letters to Duan Xun through various channels to give advice to Duan Xun.Some national think tanks, including the Supreme Council, also put forward suggestions in this regard.Of course, they would not tell Duan Xun directly, we are worried that you will become the emperor, so we quickly abolished the Supreme Council and gave up so much power in our hands.Instead, he told Duan Xun tactfully that the Far East War was over, should China end the wartime mechanism and return to normal conditions.

Not only Duan Xun received such a letter, but other leaders of the Supreme Committee also received such suggestions.Even many retired government leaders have received their advice.

The network of these people is amazing.Even those literati who are not valued by the government, many of them come from big families, so they have many connections.There are various channels to contact high-level government officials and express their ideas.

But basically everyone was suppressed.

Those who play politics are always smarter than those who talk about it, and they always have more thoughts and thoughts than them.In the current situation, it is best for Duan Xun to let go of his power. Who else dares to tell Duan Xun directly to let Duan Xun give up his power.

The only ones who dared to speak directly to Duan Xun were Yang Wei, vice chairman of the Supreme Council, Liao Zhongkai, a member of the Supreme Council and director of the Supervisory Committee, and You Min, the deputy prime minister of the cabinet.They all directly asked Duan Xun what he wanted to do.

Duan Xun does not want to play cloudy political games with others.

In the clouds and fog, it may give people a mysterious feeling.But for someone with absolute power like Duan Xun, this is not necessary.This will confuse the people below.

Therefore, at the meeting of the Supreme Council, this topic was directly raised, and several people were allowed to discuss this topic freely.Liao Zhongkai, a member of the Supreme Council and the director of the Supervisory Committee, was the first to speak: "The Supreme Council is a product of the wartime mechanism and was established to deal with World War II. Now the cabinet is cleaning up those temporary institutions established during the war. The purpose is to restore our country’s politics from wartime to normal. In this case, I think that with the end of the war, the wartime mechanism should also end, and the Supreme Council has also completed its mission, and it’s time to end it.”

Liao Zhongkai and Wang Jingwei were the two people who reached the highest positions after the Kuomintang merged into the People's Party.Another person, Hu Hanmin, was kicked out of the leadership position long ago.Both of them are now members of the People's Party Standing Committee, Wang Jingwei is the vice chairman of the Supreme Committee, and Liao Zhongkai is a member of the Supreme Committee, responsible for the heavyweight department of the Supervisory Committee.

However, the two have completely different styles of doing things.

Since Wang Jingwei was not from the People's Party, he has been keeping a low profile since he became a senior member of the People's Party.The important matters almost follow Duan Xun step by step, and rarely have any rebuttals to Duan Xun's decision-making, and he seldom decides on some important matters alone.Of course, Wang Jingwei's ability is still good, and the things that need him to deal with can also be handled very well.

But Liao Zhongkai is different.

Damn it.

He previously served as the director of the Party Disciplinary Inspection Committee of the People's Party, and later served as the director of the Supervisory Committee. He is not afraid of offending anyone.Liao Zhongkai was also the first to fire a cannon when dealing with the matter of the Supreme Committee.The meaning is very clear, the Supreme Council is a temporary organization established for the war, and it should be terminated when the war is over.

Hearing Liao Zhongkai's words, Duan Xun did not express any opinion as before.Instead, wait for others to continue to comment.

Again.

As a leader, you must not express your ideas easily.Otherwise, it would be difficult for the people below to speak freely.So let everyone speak freely and choose an optimal solution from among them, which is what leaders have to do.

But everyone is not Liao Zhongkai, and will not express their opinions easily.After Liao Zhongkai spoke, the atmosphere of the whole venue suddenly became cold.About a minute later, Yang Wei broke the silence and said: "Since the war is over, the Supreme Council should be terminated. But when should the Supreme Council be terminated. After the Supreme Council is terminated, what should I do next? Chairman Duan replied Go to the cabinet to serve as the prime minister, or switch to a presidential system? If it is converted to a presidential system, should the members of Congress be re-elected first? Or who will announce the termination of the Supreme Council? There is no perfect plan, but I think it is impossible to just terminate the Supreme Council Take it."

"I agree with Vice Chairman Yang (Yang Wei) on this point."

Wang Jingwei immediately agreed.

Wang Jingwei looked at Duan Xun's face and said: "The wartime mechanism should be terminated, and the Supreme Council should also be terminated. But it can't be done at this stage. Although the war is over now, there are still a lot of problems to be dealt with after the war. We still have Millions of troops are stationed abroad, and we have to complete the new order in Asia, including the upcoming establishment of the United Nations, and some other world institutions. This is the process of re-establishing a new world order. This process and the war Time is no different. The government needs a unified voice to participate in the formulation of world order. Until these problems are resolved, I think it is better to retain the Supreme Council. Wait until we solve these problems and stabilize the situation in Asia, and then slowly It is not too late to terminate the Supreme Council."

"But is there a time limit for this?"

Liao Zhongkai is not a "troll", nor is it a scholar who teaches, who immediately criticizes anything that is not pleasing to the eye.Those are some literati who have not dealt with actual work.

On the contrary, Liao Zhongkai's ability is very good, and as a high-level government, he has dealt with many specific matters and faced many complicated situations.Therefore, we will not criticize blindly, or make opinions blindly.Although Liao Zhongkai knew that Wang Jingwei's words were suspected of flattery, but what he said made sense.

Not to mention anything else, it is not easy to deal with the millions of troops stationed abroad.Whether they will continue to be stationed in other countries in the future or withdraw to the country is a matter that needs to be carefully discussed.There are a lot of other things to deal with. The period after the war is the busiest time. It is indeed not suitable to end the Supreme Council now.

But Liao Zhongkai's meaning is very simple.

Absolutely can not use this or that excuse to delay time.This is the case in many cases. Once everyone is familiar with this situation, the Supreme Council is likely to become a permanent institution in the future.Liao Zhongkai absolutely opposed this.

Even if Duan Xun does not want to become emperor, a permanent institution like the Supreme Council is itself undermining political normalization.With such a centralized organization, if it is not abolished, what will happen to people who are greedy for power in the future?

Therefore, such an organization must end in the hands of Duan Xun.

"I propose to hold parliamentary elections first."

778

"I think there should be a congressional election first."

For Liao Zhongkai's continuous inquiries, Yang Wei continued to express his thoughts.

Dao: "Before the abolition of the Supreme Council, I think the first step should be to conduct parliamentary elections under a stable political situation. Of course, parliamentary elections should not be held now. First, the establishment of the post-war order must be completed, and so on." After the situation in Asia has been stabilized and the current urgent matters have been dealt with, congressional elections will be held. Use two years to complete the parliamentary elections from the local to the central government, and restore the congressional responsibilities that were canceled during the war.”

"Parliamentary elections first?"

"Yes."

Yang Wei nodded and said: "Parliament elections should be held first, and the highest legislative body, the Congress, must first be allowed to function normally and exercise its powers normally. The establishment of the Supreme Council was a wartime legal institution authorized by Congress. Therefore, the Supreme Council must be terminated. , only the Congress has the power. It is the normal procedure for the Congress to resume its normal functions and for the Congress to vote to terminate the Supreme Council. And Congress should not blindly terminate the Supreme Council. Before terminating the Supreme Council, the Congress must first discuss and approve the termination of the Supreme Council. After the Supreme Council, what kind of political system should our country implement? How to smoothly transition from wartime to normal, and from the Supreme Council to a new political system. In the absence of consensus in this regard, the Supreme Council hastily terminated, only There will be political chaos."

"Vice Chairman Yang, what kind of political system do you think our country should adopt after the termination of the Supreme Council?"

Duan Xun interrupted suddenly.

Regarding the topic of China's political system, Duan Xun and Yang Wei discussed the most.As early as during the War to Protect the Nation, Duan Xun and Yang Wei began to discuss China's political model and what kind of path China should take in the future.At the beginning, Yang Wei was a well-known figure in the Revolutionary Party, and Duan Xun was a general of the Beiyang Army.

Yang Wei, a revolutionary party who is not afraid of death, decided to follow Duan Xun and helped Duan Xun establish the People's Party.It is because Yang Wei agrees with Duan Xun's political ideas, and is also very supportive of the regime in Duan Xun's conception.The two had no personal relationship in the early years, but they were able to cooperate closely because of their true like-mindedness.

When the Supreme Committee was to be established, Duan Xun was the first to receive support from Yang Wei.

This is still the case.

Among all the people, the one who understands Duan Xun's thinking best is Yang Wei.There are some things that Duan Xun can't say directly, so he expresses his thoughts through Yang Wei.Hearing Duan Xun's interjection, Yang Wei said: "Politics needs to be stable, especially in the current situation. It needs to be stable when transitioning from a wartime mechanism to a normal mechanism. According to the current situation, returning to the original cabinet system requires changes. It is not one or two. Therefore, I propose that when the Supreme Council is terminated, our political system should be transformed into a presidential system. In this way, the power of the Supreme Council, in addition to the diversion of power due to the centralized power of the wartime mechanism, can be naturally transferred to the The presidential palace. In this way, there will not be too many fluctuations in the transition, but a very stable transfer of power."

It is Yang Wei's attitude that the presidential system replaces the cabinet system.

This is a direct change of regime.

After the outbreak of the Revolution of [-], the Beiyang Army negotiated with the Southern Revolutionary Party, and the final result was the cabinet system.Although there were some fluctuations in the middle, even some powerful presidents, such as Yuan Shikai, did not take the cabinet premiers seriously.For dissatisfied cabinet prime ministers, they can be replaced at will, and they do not abide by the cabinet system at all.

But even so, the cabinet system has always been the political system of the Republic of China.

Now it is going to be changed to a presidential system, and the changes are not insignificant.But none of these people here objected, because since the establishment of the Supreme Council, the cabinet system has existed in name only.Especially in China now, there are many units parallel to the cabinet.

For example, the Military Commission, the Supervisory Commission, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Procuratorate are all units parallel to the cabinet.In the case where the Supreme Council leads everything, the Supreme Council leads all units including the Cabinet.But once the cabinet system is implemented, then in what name the cabinet prime minister will lead these units is a big problem.

So the transition to a presidential system is a feasible way.