The ambitious Yuan Shikai read the following oath in a thick Henan accent:

"The construction of the Republic of China has begun, and everything needs to be governed. Shikai is deeply willing to do his best to carry forward the spirit of the republic, cleanse the imperfections of autocracy, abide by the Constitution, and gradually reach the country in a safe and strong domain according to the wishes of the people, and the five great nations of Zen will achieve happiness and happiness together. Van Zi volunteers, and the rate is not exceeded. Egypt convened the National Assembly, elected the first president, and Shikai was dismissed immediately. I would like to bundle sincerely and advise my compatriots. ”

After Yuan Shikai became the provisional president, he began to organize the government. Prefecture. At the suggestion of Yuan Shikai and passed by the Senate, Tang Shaoyi was elected as the . Pavilion. Total. Reason.

Tang Shaoyi followed Yuan Shikai when he was stationed in North Korea and won Yuan Shikai's trust. When he was a representative of the North-South peace talks, he had extensive contacts with key figures in the South and was able to be accepted by all sides. He stayed abroad, was avant-garde in thought, and sincerely advocated republicanism. In order to win the trust of the revolutionaries in the south, Tang Shaoyi joined the League.

In the organization of the government. When he was in the house, Yuan Shikai called Sun. Middle. Mountain: "At the beginning of construction, Yucai was in decline for a short time, and it was difficult to take on this important task because of the collective wisdom and efforts. Nanjing Zheng. Prefecture. There are many recruits, there are many good materials, and they are known for a while, and they will be retained, and they will be helped, please save them. ”

Nanjing Provisional Government. The government is about to complete its mission, and it must be that people are panicked and the road ahead is boundless. Yuan Shikai's telegram, on the one hand, has the effect of calming people's hearts, and on the other hand, it also shows Yuan Shikai's thirst for talent.

Of course, it is another thing to say or do it, and when it comes time to employ people.

For example, the Southern Revolutionary Party strongly advocated that Huang Xing should be the candidate for army chief in the cabinet. In Yuan Shikai's heart, revolutionaries are not their own people after all, or even outsiders, how can such an important position be given to the revolutionary party? Yuan Shikai must use his own people and insist that Duan Qirui take this position.

For this position alone, the two sides argued for more than 10 days. It was not until the end of the month that Tang Shaoyi's cabinet was introduced.

On 29 March, Tang Shaoyi was attending a meeting of the Senate in Nanjing, and when he appeared on the podium, he was accompanied by Sun Yat-sen, the interim president who had not yet been dismissed.

Mr. Tang. The clerk began to report the list of cabinet members.

Everyone present knew the extent of the difficult birth of this list: first, Yuan Shikai and Tang Shaoyi repeatedly negotiated in Beijing before submitting it to the Nanjing Provisional Government. Prefecture. And the Provisional Regime. The government also made a big deal about the list, whether it was 12 or 10 departments, the battle between the army chief and the navy chief, all of which were in the newspapers to open up electric warfare, which made people almost have a big deal with the first government of the Republic of China. The house was born in despair.

This list was obtained in advance by all the media:

Lu Zhengxiang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Bingjun, Minister of Internal Affairs, Duan Qirui, Chief of the Army, Liu Guanxiong, Chief of the Navy, Wang Chonghui, Chief of Justice, Cai Yuanpei, Chief of Education, Xiong Xiling, Chief of Finance, Song Jiaoren, Chief of Agriculture and Forestry, Chen Qimei, Chief of Industry and Commerce, and Liang Ruhao, Chief of Communications. Everyone could see that this was the result of a compromise, with the North and the South splitting the personnel evenly.

Premier Tang introduced the reasons for the appointment of each cabinet member, which is of course the official version. When Liang Ruhao, the chief of communications, was spoken, the buzz of the entire venue became louder, and Tang Shaoyi had to raise his voice: "At present, China's transportation is the first priority in the railway, and the construction of China's railways is related to many foreign debts. Liang Jun used to run the Shanhaiguan Railway in the Qing Dynasty, and also served as the customs pass, both of which were familiar with it, and they were enough to do it. ”

After Tang Shaoyi retired, someone stood up directly and spoke: "To vote, the state affairs must hold a committee of the whole house and discuss it in detail, and cannot vote directly. ”

Immediately, another fat man stood up, it was Gu Zhongxiu, the representative of Zhili, who only listened to his words: "Open a committee of the whole court, it should be forbidden to observe!" Even the president, the prime minister, the ministers, and the deputy ministers should step down! ”

The words of Gu Zhongxiu, the representative of Zhili, caused an uproar. The Provisional Statute does not provide for a similar situation, and no one knows what to do.

It was suggested that the whole House Committee could be reconvened until the evening. Gu Zhongxiu again, shouting loudly: "It's already past six o'clock!" The matter is urgent, how long will it be delayed? We should have a meeting right away! Total. General Manager. If you have any comments, please express them as soon as possible, if not, please withdraw from the table, and wait for us to agree. Sort it back ......."

He glanced at Sun Yat-sen beside Tang Shaoyi, "As for the president and the administrators, there is no need to attend again!" ”

There was no objection. So in a noisy, total. Command. Total. The executive officer withdraws from the meeting, and the observer withdraws. Journalists are duty-bound and cannot leave, and they do not have access to the lounge, so they can only stand guard at the door of the Senate.

The internal discussion of the pope election lasted for more than an hour.

Finally, someone came out and announced: "The meeting continues, please enter!" ”

Everyone returned to their original positions and looked at the seats, Tang Shaoyi was back, and Sun Yat-sen didn't leave. He was also anxiously waiting for the results. It seems that no one can control the situation in the Senate, which gives those present a special sense of excitement.

Speaker Lin Sen announced the opening of the secret ballot, and the 39 members present passed by 20 votes. The results of the vote count came out: the other candidates for the chief executive all received more than half of the votes, and only Liang Ruhao won 17 votes, and a few did not pass.

Liang Ruhao (1863-1941), male, formerly known as Zhaotao, the word Ruhao, Mengting (Mengting), a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong,

In the twelfth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1873), he went to study in the United States with the third batch of young children such as Tang Shaoyi and Zhou Changling, and successively studied at Hartford Middle School and Stephen Institute of Technology.

In May of the seventh year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1881), he returned to China and served as a draftsman in the arsenal of Tianjin West Bureau. In the ninth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1883), he served as an attaché to Mu Linde, a German adviser in China, and went to Korea to prepare for the establishment of customs.

In the 11th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1885), Yuan Shikai was appointed Minister of Trade in Korea, and Liang Ruhao was appointed as a staff member. In the twentieth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1894), Yuan Feng was recalled to Beijing, and Liang Ruhao subsequently returned to China, appointed as the director of the Guannai Railway Transportation Department, and later promoted to the general office of the Bac Ninh Railway. In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1902), he was appointed by the Qing court to take over the Guanwai Railway from the hands of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

From May of the 28th year of Guangxu (1902) to July of the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), he served as the governor (i.e., president) of Tangshan Road Mining School (later Tangshan Railway College, now Southwest Jiaotong University). In the thirty-first year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1905), he was stationed in the Netherlands, and later donated money to be promoted to the alternate road. In the 32nd year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1906), Liang Ruhao was responsible for the construction of the Jinghan Railway branch line (from Gaobeidian to Lianggezhuang). In the following year, he successively served as the General Office of Fengjinshan Customs Road and the General Office of the Railway inside and outside the Guan, the supervision of Tianjin Customs, Niuzhuang Customs Road, Tianjin Customs Road, and Shanghai Customs Road. In the 34th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1908), he was appointed as the right counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was reinstated and promoted to the right counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the left counselor of Fengtian.

After the Xinhai Revolution in the third year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1911), he served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Posts and Communications in the cabinet of Yuan Shikai. After the Wuchang Uprising, Guangdong became independent, and the military and government of Guangdong. Hu Hanmin, the governor of the prefecture, once appointed Liang Ruhao as the military and political officer. Minister of Transport.

In 1912, the Republic of China was established and the first General of State Affairs. Li Tang Shaoyi had nominated Leung Ru-ho as the Chief Transport Officer, but the Senate did not approve it. Later, he served as the chief of foreign affairs of the cabinet of Lu Zhengxiang and Zhao Bingjun, and joined the Kuomintang. Due to factional disputes and troublesome things (Russia instigated foreign affairs), he resigned and fled to Tianjin. In the tenth year of the Republic of China (1921), Liang Ruhao served as a senior adviser to the Chinese delegation at the Washington Conference. In the following year, he was appointed by Beijing as the chairman of the "Weihaiwei Committee", and after several negotiations, he initialed the "Sino-British Weihaiwei Treaty" with Britain in the 12th year of the Republic of China (1923). In the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925), he joined the "Rotary Club".

After retirement, he lived in Tianjin. In his later years, he served as the president of the "Huayang Charity Relief Association". He died in Tianjin in October of the 30th year of the Republic of China (1941).

At the beginning, when Tang Shaoyi read out the list of cabinet personnel and read Liang Ruhao, there was a buzz in the venue, and there was already an omen. To be fair, whether it is character, intelligence, ability and qualifications, Liang Ruhao is a very good candidate. But unfortunately his reputation is not good, the reason may be that he carried the black pot for the Qing court in the construction of railways and fundraising, and he has always been identified as the hardcore of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang system, probably to prevent Yuan Shikai from forming a gang. It's not personal, but there's no way around it.

The lights in the house were bright, and people could see beads of sweat shining on Tang Shaoyi's head. He hurriedly took the stage and said to the parliamentarians: The post of chief of communications, apart from Liang Ruhao, it is difficult to win people. However, he still tried to propose a candidate: Tang Shouqian, the former governor of Zhejiang.

"Against!" Before the Speaker could put it to a vote, there was already a wooded arm underneath.

The next day, the newspaper recorded that it was "unanimously opposed".

Tang Shaoyi talked for a long time, in vain. In the end, he announced a difficult decision: the chief of transportation, for the time being, Shao Yi himself will take over, and then look for talents.

This is an outcome acceptable to the Senate. So the Speaker announced that the meeting was adjourned.

Thus was the first cabinet born,...... The chief of traffic was later served by Shi Zhaoji.

Because Tang Shaoyi has joined the League, ten chiefs, and the League will occupy four seats, so it is called the League Cabinet by some people. This is not the case. This is because the important departments of foreign affairs, internal affairs, army, navy, and finance are not in the hands of the revolutionary party.

Education, justice, agriculture and forestry, and industry and commerce, which were headed by members of the League, were regarded as cold benches at that time.

This is Yuan Shikai's cleverness and scheming, which makes the revolutionaries dissatisfied, but they can't say it.

In order to appease the revolutionaries in the south, Yuan Shikai appointed Huang Xing as chief of staff on the 30th. Yuan Shikai also appointed Huang Xing to stay in Nanjing, responsible for maintaining the southern region and reorganizing the armies of the southern provinces.

Who would have thought that the first cabinet of the Republic of China, which was produced with great effort, would be so short-lived.