Now that the two sides have reached a tacit agreement on the main issues, things will go quite smoothly.

At this meeting, it was decided that:

(1) Now the two plenipotentiaries of the Conference, trying to explain the suspicions, in order to secure the overall situation, the special provisions are as left.

(2) Convene a national assembly to resolve the issue of the national system, and the majority shall be decided. After the decision, both parties must comply.

(3) Before the National Assembly settles the national system, the Qing ** shall not withdraw the foreign money that has been borrowed, nor shall it borrow new foreign money.

(4) From 8 a.m. the next day, all Qing troops in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and other places shall withdraw from their original places within five days, and only patrol police will be left to defend the localities, and the people's army shall not enter and occupy them, so as to avoid conflict; Within five days, the terms of withdrawal should be negotiated and handled in accordance with the terms and conditions.

In Shandong, Henan, and other places where the people's army had already occupied, the Qing army was not allowed to attack, and the people's army was not allowed to attack other places. As for the measures of the National Assembly, the localities, the dates, etc., and the terms of the withdrawal of the Qing army, they will be resumed tomorrow.

It is worth noting that at this meeting, the two sides also preliminarily discussed five paragraphs each: "On the treatment of the Qing Emperor" and "On the treatment of Manchu and Mongolian people returning to Tibet."

The matter should have been put on the agenda after the republic had been decided, and it seems that, although the form of government was formally to be referendum in the National Assembly, both parties tacitly considered it to be a definite matter and would proceed to discuss the follow-up.

Both sides presumably agreed that the key hurdles had been breached, and they met for several days in the hope that everything would be quickly finalized in one go. Unfortunately, it backfired, and in the following meeting, the two sides had another bull on issues such as the location of the National Assembly and the proportion of provinces to be represented.

Since Yuan Shikai did not want the meeting to be held in Shanghai, Tang Shaoyi proposed that the venue would be in Shanghai, and that all Mongolians and Tibetans opposed it, and that it would be appropriate to be in Beijing.

Wu Tingfang resolutely opposed the holding of a meeting in Beijing, believing that it was absolutely impossible, and that there was no need to discuss it.

Tang Shaoyi then proposed Hankou, Jiaozhou, Weihaiwei, Yantai, and other places, but Wu Tingfang vetoed them on the grounds of inconvenient transportation and remote localities, and still insisted that Shanghai, which had good conditions, such as convenient transportation, easy choice of venues, safe travel, well-informed information from all countries, and easy contact with the delegates with full powers, was the most suitable.

Considering that Yuan Shikai insisted on being unwilling to be in Shanghai, Wu Tingfang proposed another alternative, and Tang Shaoyi did not approve of it.

In view of the KMT's firm opposition to the meeting in Beijing, Tang Shaoyi said: "I expect the vote to be republican, but the form is deaf. Wu Tingfang took the opportunity to say: "Why should there be such a dispute about the family? Today's event is close to success, so it is better to take Shanghai as a convenience. ”

So the two sides turned the issue to the proportion of participating provinces. Under normal circumstances, more than two-thirds of the provinces present at the meeting can hold a meeting. Tang Shaoyi believes that this is a special matter, and it is appropriate to agree to all of them.

Wu Tingfang felt that he could not hold a meeting for the sake of one or two provinces, although as Tang said, a meeting could be held at any time, after all, the meeting period was certain and limited.

Tang Shaoyi still thinks that two-thirds is too little, and it is better to raise the president in a hasty manner. There are also specific questions such as whether Mongolia can be counted as a province.

The meeting finally agreed on four methods for the formation of the National Assembly:

1. The National Assembly shall be composed of representatives from various departments, one for each province, one for Inner and Outer Mongolia, and one for the front and back.

2. Each place shall send three representatives, each of whom shall have one vote, and where there are less than three representatives present at the meeting, they shall still have the right to cast three votes.

3. On the date of the meeting, three-quarters of the representatives from all departments can be present at the meeting.

4. Representatives from Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou shall be convened by Southern Power Generation;

Zhili, Shandong, Henan, the three eastern provinces, Gansu, Xinjiang, by the Qing government. The government power generation convened, and the Republic of China ** telegraphed to the provincial advisory bureau; Inner and outer Mongolia and Tibet are to be convened by the two parties

Next, the delegates from the North and the South discussed almost all matters related to the convening of the National Convention.

Since it was decided at a meeting, there are theoretically two possibilities. That is, one could be a republican system and the other could be a constitutional monarchy.

For Yuan Shikai, it doesn't matter whether the decision is made as a republic or a constitutional monarchy.

The "republican" system was implemented, and he became the president. Implementing a "constitutional monarchy", he also served as the head of his cabinet. reason, and is the cabinet chief of the court has been exhausted in his grasp. Reason. The so-called "drought and flood conservative" is a steady victory.

However, as for the southern civilian military, they may only accept one outcome, that is, a "republican" system.

If the resolution is a "constitutional monarchy", it is very troublesome. Because, as we already know, accepting this condition is almost the personal opinion of Wu Tingfang, the representative of the South.

At that time, the Southern People's Army did not have a unified organization, but only a loose union, and in fact, the provinces went their own way.

can have a certain appeal, it is Huang Xing.

On the eve of the peace talks on 29 July, Tang Shaoyi paid a special visit to Huang Xing and put forward his idea of using the National Assembly to referendum on the state system of government to solicit Huang Xing's opinions.

However, when the matter was mentioned during the meeting, it was not explained how Huang Xing reacted.

According to a telegram sent by the Japanese Minister to China on 30 December, Ijiin, to Foreign Minister Uchida, and a secret telegram from Tang Shaoyi on 29 December, he said: "I met with Huang Xing yesterday and had a brief conversation to explore his intentions.

"The revolutionary party is resolutely republican, and there seems to be no room for compromise. Although the meeting was a personal conversation, if the two sides openly insisted on their respective views at the formal meeting, the negotiations would have broken down. In addition, the foreign policy of the consuls of various countries seems to have changed, and they may not still support the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. I hope to plan a plan as soon as possible and call to let me know. ”

It can be seen that Huang Xing did not agree with Tang Shaoyi's suggestion, at least not explicitly stated his position on it.

Another important figure is Li Yuanhong.

And Li Yuanhong knows that he will not give an inch in the "republican" aspect.

From the point of view of the group, the Southern People's Army was at least divided into the Hubei group and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang group, and Wu Tingfang did not obtain the consent of either of the two groups.

And he dared to make a bold slap because he decided that the decision of the National Assembly could only be republican.

The provinces sent representatives, and the 22 provinces and autonomous regions, with the south accounting for 14, were absolutely superior. And there is reason to believe that the North is not monolithic, and that the representatives of the North may not be able to approve of a "constitutional monarchy."

Both Wu Tingfang and Tang Shaoyi think that the opening of the National Convention is a pure formality, a formality, and a step down for Yuan Shikai.

Not afraid of 10,000, just in case, what if the meeting decided not to be "republican"?

Wu Tingfang may not have no plan, and the most convenient way is to say that he has exceeded the authority of the deputy and resigned from the post of deputy, and of course the things he signed will not be counted.

The result can only be a north-south negotiation and miscarriage. Whether it's to fight or talk, then we'll see.

Soon, among Wu Tingfang and Tang Shaoyi, one of them is really going to resign, but it is not Wu Tingfang.

Yuan Shikai did not raise any objections to the resolutions made at the two important meetings of the North-South Joint Talks, and they were all implemented.

For example, there is an article that records the retreat of Duan Qirui's department:

At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, Duan Qirui sent a formal note to the consuls of various countries stationed in Hankou, announcing that he would retreat 100 li from the current defense zone to show the sincerity of the Beiyang Army in the talks and peace. When withdrawing the troops, the army was neat and orderly, and all the retreating teams were assembled in the field where they were located, and each brigade was divided into several platoons, forming a vertical formation, and lying on the ground.

"The first row started, the second row stood up and turned forward, the third row packed up the guns, and the last row lay on the ground, covering with live guns, and retreated one by one. Thousands of Chinese and foreign people watched the spectators, all of whom were applauded. ”

The rest of the garrison also retreated a hundred miles one after another as agreed.

Yuan Shikai has ideas about the majority of the provinces participating in the conference, but he is concerned about the future election of the president. This discussion of the national system, as mentioned earlier, does not matter to Yuan Shikai, the result. Perhaps he prefers the "republic", at least without the pair of orphans and widows behind him.

On 31 July, at another meeting of the peace talks, the two sides still held their own views on the venue of the meeting. Wu Tingfang proposed that the meeting be held in Shanghai on January 8 of the following year, and Tang Shaoyi held the meeting in Beijing according to Yuan Shikai's suggestion.

In the case of a stalemate between the two sides, Tang Shaoyi may have considered that on such an important issue as agreeing to convene a national convention to decide on the national system, the south has made concessions, and his own side should also take a higher posture. Perhaps in his opinion, it was not very important where the meeting was held, so he made a concession and agreed to hold the meeting in Shanghai.

When he telegraphed the news to Yuan Shikai, he didn't expect that the situation would change abruptly, and Yuan Shikai would become a completely different person.

He strongly condemned Tang Shaoyi for acting beyond his authority and forcing Tang Shaoyi to resign as a deputy, and even annulled all the agreements signed by Tang Shaoyi as plenipotentiary during the talks.

Is a meeting place worth it? Can it be re-examined if there is an objection, and is it worth such a desperate effort?

After all the hard work and hard work, the results of the negotiation and peace that were hard to obtain do not exist.

Tang Shaoyi was confused by Yuan Shikai.

Wu Tingfang was even more angry and trembling, what is the matter with Yuan Shikai? Is there still a little credit? Is there any spectrum of being a man?

He immediately sent a note to the consuls of various countries in Shanghai about Yuan Shikai's capriciousness and reversal in order to gain sympathy and support.

However, Tang Shaoyi and Wu Tingfang soon knew, why was Yuan Shikai like this? Because, something happened that neither of them expected.

What's going on? Another heavyweight has appeared, that is, the medium. Mr. Mountain.