Font
Large
Medium
Small
Night
Prev Index    Favorite Next

Volume Two Chapter 315: Change of Term

January 6, 1919, Xiaohan.

It happened to be Monday. At the morning, a shocking news came from the Prime Minister's Office, the Presidential Office, and the Congress respectively. At 9 o'clock in the morning, former KMT Chairman Song Jiao-ren, Prime Minister Song Jiao-ren, formally submitted resignation reports to President Li Yuan-hong and the two houses of Congress. That is to say, from today, Song Jiao-ren will no longer serve as Prime Minister. According to the constitution, the new KMT Chairman Fang Zida will be the only candidate for the Prime Minister of the largest party in the parliament to initiate the Prime Minister's election process in the parliament. The Congress will authorize President Li Yuan-hong to appoint and use the new Prime Minister to replace Song Jiao-ren in 10 days.

During the transition period, the position of Prime Minister was temporarily replaced by Liao Zhongkai, and the members of the cabinet, whether to continue to remain or re-organize the cabinet after the new prime minister took office, will be decided after the new prime minister was appointed. For a time, the factions were shocked by the news. The competition for the party leader between Fang Zida and Song Jiaoren was one after another. In the end, Song Jiaoren lost Jingzhou and lost the throne of the party leader. According to everyone's opinion, Song Jiaoren would never give up. After the battle for the party leader of the kmt, there would be a battle with Fang Zida for the Prime Minister. After all, in terms of Song Jiaoren's term of office, he still had half a year. If Song Jiaoren insisted on resigning, Fang Zida had no choice but to do anything to him. Moreover, judging from Fang Zida's actions after taking office as chairman, he seemed not to want to force Song Jiaoren too much.

Therefore, all parties were secretly laughing, intending to see this good show. But no one expected that after just over a dozen days, Song Jiaoren resigned without warning, which made everyone's glasses shatter.

Thinking back to the time when KMT was established, Sun Yat-sen was not afraid of such prestige, and was full of fighting spirit. He fought against Sun Yat-sen to throw off his armor and seize the position of chairman. Sun Yat-sen, who lost the election, was angry and immediately withdrew from KMT and left Japan. It is still vivid in his mind now. Now, where is that Song Jiao-ren? Is this still Song Jiao-ren who never loses? If Song Jiao-ren had not been interviewed by reporters after resigning and the public said that the resignation was entirely due to his voluntary voluntary, everyone would have doubted whether Fang Zida was secretly coerced.

January 21, 1919, Great Cold.

On this day, the parliament elected Fang Zida as Prime Minister through procedures. On the afternoon of the same day, Fang Zida went to the Presidential Palace, took over the appointment from President Li Yuanhong, and officially took office as Prime Minister.

On January 22, the new cabinet meeting was held, and Fang Zida presided over the meeting for the first time as Prime Minister of State. At the meeting, he did not make drastic announcements to reorganize the cabinet. Except for electing Tang Shaoyi to replace the Chief Finance Minister and Yang Du to take over the Central Bank, the rest of the cabinet personnel remain unchanged for the time being. Fang Zida's decision at the meeting gave everyone a reassurance, and each of them promised to do their best to do their work in various departments. He will continue to support Fang Zida as always.

After arranging the recent state work, Fang Zida announced the end of the meeting. After all, it will be the Spring Festival in 1919 in a few days. Although Fang Zida, who just took office as Prime Minister, was determined to burn three fires, he did not want to ruin everyone's enthusiasm at this time. Moreover, compared with Song Jiaoren, Fang Zida's foundation in the cabinet is not stable, so it is better to proceed slowly in some things.

February 1st, Spring Festival.

Another year is coming. Fang Zida's official residence is like ordinary families, showing a strong festive atmosphere. Although Fang Zida should have lived in the Prime Minister's Office as usual, Fang Zida often returns to his official residence. As for the Prime Minister's Office, it is just an office place.

Fang Yingtang is already five years old. Such a child can run and walk long ago, and it is also the most naughty time. Last night, there was heavy snow in the capital. There was a thick layer of snow in the yard, and two maids were taking Fang Yingtang to pile up snowmen. The little guy was having fun shouting and yelling, and from time to time he grabbed the snow and giggled and wiped the snowman into the outline.

"Be careful, don't fall!"

"I know, mom!"

Yuan Sizhen stood in the corridor and looked at Fang Yingtang with a smile and played. He gently touched his slightly bulging belly with one hand. Since giving birth to Fang Yingtang, he has not been pregnant for some reason. It was not until a few months ago that he felt a little uncomfortable and asked the doctor to see him. He learned that he was finally pregnant.

This will be her and Fang Zida's second child. Over the years, Yuan Sizhen always felt a little sorry for Fang Zida because of this. Only with more children can you be blessed! In this era, no family has a lot of descendants. As Fang Zida's wife, it is natural to add a child to the Fang family to import. For this, she even advised Fang Zida to take a few concubines, but Fang Zida smiled and refused.

Although Yuan Sizhen complained about Fang Zida, Fang Zida's actions made her feel sweet. She grew up in a big family like the Yuan family, and she had seen men with wives and concubines since she was a child, but this was the first time she heard about a husband like Fang Zida.

Seeing Fang Yingtang playing, Yuan Sizhen stood for a while and asked a maid to remind him and turned around and left the yard. Soon, she came to Fang Zida's study and asked the servants guarding outside. Then she went to the kitchen to cook a bowl of lotus seed soup and took it to her.

"Why are you out of the house in such a cold day?" Fang Zida looked up and saw that it was Yuan Sizhen who stood up quickly.

"It's so uncomfortable to be bored in the house. Ying'er just happened to go to the yard to play and then went out for a walk. Come on, this is the freshly cooked lotus seed soup, so drink it." Yuan Sizhen said with a smile on the bowl on the pit table.

"Just let the servants do these things. You have a body, so you should pay attention to them on weekdays."

"It's okay, it's only three months, it's still early. Didn't the doctor say that it's good to walk around more."

"Thanks a lot……."

Looking at his wife's smiling face, Fang Zida nodded, picked up the lotus seed soup and drank it. He raised his eyebrows and praised: "It's delicious! What you made with your own hands is delicious!"

"Old husband and wife, are you still so proud? Are you shy?" Yuan Sizhen covered her mouth and smiled. Although this lotus seed soup is no different from what a chef usually makes, Fang Zida said so to her very happy.

"Of course, it's delicious, especially the lotus seed soup made by the wife himself. This is not even enough for the imperial chef who made food for Lord Lafayette in the palace."

Fang Zida deliberately made a few funny words, and finished drinking it in a few sips. He put down the bowl and wiped his mouth. When he was about to touch the cigarette, his hand paused slightly and then shrank back.

Yuan Sizhen did not notice Fang Zida's small move and helped to clean up the bowl of soup. At this time, she saw a paper and pen on the table, with words densely filled with words, and many other places were plastered. However, Yuan Sizhen did not look closely. She never asked Fang Zida's official duties at home, unless Fang Zida asked her, she would not speak first.

But today, Fang Zida happened to see Yuan Sizhen's eyes sweeping over what he wrote, picked it up and asked, "By the way, I have written some things these days. How about you help me see?"

“What is it about?”

“Reorganize the cabinet.”

"Reorganize the cabinet? Zida, didn't you say..." Yuan Sizhen's failure to take the initiative to inquire about political affairs does not mean that she does not understand the political situation, and she was stunned.

"Haha, once the emperor is always the minister, not moving is just a temporary measure. If the new cabinet continues for a long time, I, the Prime Minister, will not be able to set up the decoration?" Fang Zida smiled and handed the paper to Yuan Sizhen.

I took the thing and saw it. It was written with the division and names of the cabinet departments. Some people are current members of the cabinet, some are not, and some seem to be adjusting between the departments. Looking carefully, Yuan Sizhen frowned slightly and said with concern: "Zida, is this a little too big?"

"These are initial thoughts, but they have not yet been finalized. I thought about it. In addition to the three departments of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which were originally in hand, the Ministry of Internal Affairs must be taken, and the Ministry of State and the General Staff must also take one of them. As for the remaining departments, there can be no major moves for the time being, and only make a slight adjustment to avoid excessive opposition."

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff are three powerful departments of the cabinet, especially the first two are among the top three of the chiefs. The General Staff, which was established after the Republic of China, is on par with the Ministry of National Defense. After years of construction of the National Defense Forces, it has vaguely ranked second only to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is Liao Zhongkai, the Ministry of National Defense is Duan Zhigui, and the General Staff is Wang Shizhen. Among these three people, Liao Zhongkai is easy. After Song Jiaoren left office, Liao Zhongkai continued to serve as the Chief of Internal Affairs as the vice chairman of kmt. Moreover, Liao Zhongkai is more upright and serious in his work. Although he is not a real member of the Fang system, it is not harmful to him to be the Chief of Internal Affairs of Fang Zida. Instead, it will cause some trouble if he touches Liao Zhongkai. However, although Liao Zhongkai cannot move, it is still possible for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to arrange a position of deputy chief of his own sect, which is equivalent to taking the Ministry of Internal Affairs into his hands.

The trouble is the Ministry of National Defense and General Staff. The two bigwigs are both Beiyang faction, and Duan Zhigui is Duan Qirui and Anhui faction. Although Duan Qirui has already resigned, he still has a great influence in politics. Even if Fang Zida wants to capture the Ministry of National Defense, he must sell Duan Qirui's face to slow down. As for Wang Shizhen, let alone Wang Shizhen, he is the boss of the three heroes of Beiyang. In terms of seniority, Fang Zida has to call him Uncle Shi. If Wang Shizhen is touched, he may attack him.

Yuan Sizhen is a smart man. After thinking a little, he understood Fang Zida's true intention. He couldn't help but ask: "Do you want to talk to Mr. Pin?"

Fang Zida nodded: "That's true, it is impossible to take the initiative to replace the employer, and it is impossible to cause trouble. However, according to the employer's personality, if you understand the reason and move him with emotion, you will have eight out of ten chances. I am not convenient for you to come forward in this matter. In the past few days, you can find an opportunity to use the reason for New Year's greetings to talk indirectly."

"Is this suitable?" Yuan Sizhen didn't expect Fang Zida to let her be a lobbyist, and she felt a little unhappy. In her opinion, Wang Shizhen has not been sorry for Fang Zida over the years, so why should she take this step?

Fang Zida knew that she had misunderstood when she saw Yuan Sizhen's expression. She smiled and said, "I insist that you ask the old man to leave the job immediately, but I just want to appoint a deputy chief to assist the old man in charge of daily work. This will not change when the old man is the chief of staff. Unless the old man doesn't want to do it, I will not take the initiative to let him go. But you also know that the old man is old after all, and the General Staff Department has a lot of official duties. With his energy, he is too busy with work, and multiple people can help."

************************************************
Chapter completed!
Prev Index    Favorite Next