Guangdong is located in the southern coastal region of China. This is the earliest area of China's modern port, even in the era of the most severe maritime ban in the Qing Dynasty, the overseas trade in Guangdong is still carried out intermittently, Guangzhou's "Thirteen Lines" is the rise of the privileged merchant group in that era, but with the opening of the country's "door" "hole", Guangzhou's "Thirteen Lines" eventually disappeared in the great 'tide' of Sino-foreign trade, and more and more businessmen devoted themselves to this commercial ' Chao', while broadening the horizons of the Chinese people, will also make Guangdong more prosperous, among the various provinces in China, Guangdong's economic status is very important.

It is precisely for this reason that during the turbulent period of "Wushen**", both external and internal forces hoped to avoid directly involving Guangdong in this ** "chaos" situation, which was manifested in politics, that is, the "outside neutrality" position taken by Guangdong during the ** period, and the reason why Zhang Renjun, the former governor of Manchu and Guangzhou, was able to serve as the military and political governor of Guangdong, was also for the same reason, the gentry and merchants of Guangdong would rather let a disguised constitutional monarchist take power than give power. Give it to the ** party people who shout and shout and kill.

To the satisfaction of the gentry and merchants, since the governor of Zhang Du took office. Although bandits are rampant and there are more excesses and miscellaneous taxes, there is no need to worry about the lives of the people, as long as Zhang Dudu is on any day, then the gentry and merchants in Guangdong will be able to continue to maintain their high-ranking lives, and they will not have to learn any "new culture" like the gentry and merchants in Hubei, Sichuan and other provinces, and they will not have to worry about being suppressed by the military and government as "inferior gentry" because of colluding with tax collectors to steal land endowments.

This day is still the heaven of the gentry, the earth is still the land of the gentry, this military and political fǔ is the military and political fǔ of the gentry, no matter what, the fruit of this ** cannot fall into the mouths of others!

Therefore, when the "Petition Group for the Abolition of the Provincial Governors and the Realization of the Separation of Military and Civilian Rule" organized by Wang Zhanyuan and Yan Xishan sent a telegram to the central center to abolish the governors of the provinces and replace them with the superintendent army to lead the army, so as to realize the division of the military and the people, among the many provinces, the attitude of Guangdong Province was the most wandering.

On the one hand, the gentry in Guangdong are eager to realize the separation of military and civilian rule as soon as possible, so that the provincial parliament controlled by the gentry can abolish excesses and miscellaneous taxes in an open and honest manner, so as to ensure the greatest interests of the gentry and control the financial power of Guangdong, but on the other hand, the gentry in Guangdong have also heard of the "Four Haves Doctrine" of President Zhao Da today, in which the proposition of "the cultivator has his land" makes the gentry very worried, and in their opinion, this proposition seems to be no different from the "equal land rights" of the League in those years. Although after the establishment of the United Front, I have not heard much of the proposition that "the cultivator has his land", but as long as Zhao Bei is still the president of the Republic of China, then the gentry will not let go of their hanging hearts.

What's more, I heard that President Zhao Da also set up "hoe societies" all over the countryside, and this group does not seem to be very friendly to the gentry, which makes people have to worry about what 'radical' measures the central government will take on the land issue in the future.

Therefore, the gentry and businessmen in Guangdong did not want Zhang Renjun to be dismissed from his post as governor immediately, and they wanted to wait and see what other provinces would do on the issue of "separation of military and civilian rule".

It is precisely for this reason that today in the Guangdong Governor's Mansion, Guangdong Governor Zhang Renjun presided over a banquet to entertain several distinguished guests, who came from Anhui, Jiangsu, Yunnan, and Guangxi. They were all liaison officers sent by the provincial governors and the parliament, and the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss this matter of "division of the military and the people."

The main difference lies in the fact that after the division of the military and the people, the financial power of the provinces should be in whose hands, and now the center is ambiguous on this matter, and if the center does not give a clear word, everyone is also worried in their hearts, and they are unwilling to give the 'fat' and 'meat' in their mouths to others.

Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, it has been a sure fact that the local powerful faction will not be able to fall, and the fundamental reason for this situation of local power is because the local government has mastered the financial power, and this trend actually began during the Taiping War. In exchange, the Qing court also acquiesced in allowing the local government to share the profits from the tax revenues, and then in every internal and external war, the proportion of the local profits became larger and larger.

In 1900, after the "Gengziquan 'chaos'", the conscience of the local governor was eaten by foreigners, and the Qing court was forced to take a large amount of foreign debt, which barely maintained the operation of the center of the court. The reason why the Qing court wanted to hold the New Deal was to open up revenue and reduce expenditure, and one of the most important measures of the New Deal was to take back the financial power from the hands of local governors, and the concept of national tax and local tax also appeared in this eastern country.

But before the Manchu Dynasty completed this feat of financial reform, this creaking dilapidated house collapsed with a bang, and in the subsequent ** 'chaos' situation, the local power further developed and expanded, and there was a tendency to develop to the feudal town, if it was not well controlled, it would be another "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms", and this was the situation that the central government tried to avoid.

As a locality, of course, it wants its burden to be as small as possible, and the so-called "small country and widow" is the ideal state, and when the ideals of such a place conflict with the ideals of the center, a new political struggle begins.

The reason why Zhang Renjun hosted a banquet for the representatives of the provincial parliaments at the Governor's Mansion was to unite everyone, bargain with the center, and strive to leave some more interests for the localities. The main disagreement is which taxes fall under the category of national taxes and which taxes fall under the category of local taxes.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were many harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, especially after the rise of the "New Deal", all kinds of taxes were more like a fierce tiger, and the people's fat and ointment were swept away, and officials of all sizes were also earned. was intercepted by the powerful factions in the provinces, and he never paid a single 'Mao' to the center.

At present, the central government plans to "divide the military and the people," and the most important content of this is to sort out the local finances and redivide the tax items, and the local gentry in Guangdong and other provinces are taking this opportunity to expand the types of local tax items, so that they can justifiably obtain a greater share of the profits from tax revenues in the future.

However, relying on the weak strength of Guangdong Province alone, it is necessary to win over as many provinces as possible to join this offensive and defensive alliance, force the center to retreat in the face of difficulties, and realize the grand goal of "local autonomy."

On the other hand, the military and political governors of the provinces were very resistant to this "separation of the military and the people", and they were eager to see the failure of the center's attempt to regain financial power, so they also supported the gentry and merchants to 'force' the center to retreat on the issue of tax items, although the two sides had different starting points, but the current actions were the same, and it was precisely for this reason that Jiang Guidi, the governor of Anhui, Xu Baoshan, the governor of Jiangsu, Sun Wu, the governor of Yunnan, and Wang Zhixiang, the acting governor of Guangxi, sent liaison officers to discuss with Zhang Renjun, the governor of Guangdong, to deal with the "division of the military and the people" Call for the approach.

However, because the "separation of military and civilian rule" shouted the popular opinion of the majority of the people, these governors could not directly oppose the "separation of military and civilian rule", and they could only rely on the power of the local gentry in the hope that they could also create their "public opinion".

As the convener of the "public opinion", Zhang Renjun, the governor of Guangdong, has always emphasized the "public opinion" of Guangdong at the banquet, and has also been approved by the liaison officers sent by the governors of various provinces.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the republic has been established, the constitution has been established, the country today is no longer the country of one person and one race, and the government of the present country is no longer the government of one person and one race, and all the citizens of our republic have the power to determine the future of the country, and also have the power to decide on the change of government. At present, the Governor of Shandong and the Governor of Yan are organizing a petition group to abolish the governors of all provinces and realize the division of the military and the people'. ”

Zhang Renjun talked eloquently at the top, and everyone below also made a look of deafness, as for what they were thinking in their hearts, only they understood.

As one of Zhang Renjun's staff. Wang Xuan also sat at the bottom, but he was not like others, he did not make a deaf appearance, Zhang Renjun is now reciting this passage was originally the draft drafted by Wang Xuan, and he really couldn't arouse interest in listening, at this moment, Wang Xuan was sipping wine while looking around.

At this time, a staff officer of the Guangdong army walked to the 'door' of the banquet hall and looked in, only Wang Xuan noticed this staff officer, and saw that the other party raised a copy of a telegram in his hand, Wang Xuan hurriedly got up and walked out of the banquet hall.

"What?" Wang Xuan asked the staff officer.

"Call from the Presidential Palace." The staff officer's expression was a little strange.

Wang Xuan took the telegram, only to find that the telegram was not translated, and he didn't know what he was talking about, and then looked at the password number, it turned out to be a special password, and the code book was kept by Zhang Renjun's personal Ma Ben, and the telegram officer really couldn't translate it.

Since it was a secret telegram taken from the presidential palace, Wang Xuan naturally did not dare to delay, hurriedly walked back to Zhang Renjun with the telegram, muttered a few words in a low voice, Zhang Renjun nodded, called Ma Ben, asked him to take the code book, and followed Wang Xuan to the telegraph room.

Wang Xuan took Ma Ben to the telegraph office of the Governor's Palace, and 'handed over' the codebook to a telegraph officer, ordering him to translate it.

After a short time, the secret telegram was translated, but the content was shocking and inexplicable:

"According to reliable information, a large number of armed elements have secretly infiltrated Guangdong Province, waiting for an opportunity to cause 'chaos'. The details will be given to the central authorities when they find out the details of the actions of the rebels. ”

With the translated telegram, Wang Xuan rushed back to the banquet hall and presented the telegram to Zhang Renjun.

Zhang Renjun was suspicious, pulled Wang Xuan aside, and asked in a low voice, "What does the center mean?" Looking at this tone, it is inevitable that there are some alarmist remarks: Guangdong Province has recently stepped up its efforts to investigate the 'disorderly' party and bandits, and what rebel 'disorder' elements dare to make 'chaos' at this time? ”

Wang Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "Zhao Zhenhua has always done things in a measured manner, and he will not scare the governor for no reason. According to the opinion of the following, the governor still immediately ordered the whole city to be under martial law, no matter what, the provincial walls must not be 'chaotic', otherwise, the situation in northern Guangdong and eastern Guizhou will be out of control. ”

"Junben, you're too worried." Zhang Renjun shook his head.

Wang Xuan sighed: "What I'm worried about is not the people of the alliance in northern Guangdong and eastern Guidong, but that Long Jiguang. Although this person took the initiative to reconcile with the governor a few days ago, I always felt that there was something strange in it, the dragon Gui army was close to the elbow, and the 'elite' elite also had thousands of men and horses, so it was necessary to guard against it, and the governor should also be cautious about the reminder of the center. ”

"Oh? Are you worried that Long Jiguang will be bad for Pontus? ”

Only then did Zhang Renjun think of the commander Long who "aided the Guangdong Gui Army", the Gui Army was stationed on the outskirts of Guangzhou, and it was indeed close at hand, and Wang Xuan's reminder was still very timely.

"Someone! Go to the herald ......"

Zhang Renjun called a horse ben and was about to issue an order to impose martial law in the whole city, but before he could finish speaking, he heard two "booms" and the sound of cannons came from outside the city.

The information from all parties was quickly gathered to the Governor's Mansion, and yes, Long Jiguang reversed.