Summer nights are heavy.

It's late at night, though. Most of the residents of Qingdao have fallen asleep, but as the head of state, Zhao Bei has not yet gone to bed.

Since the president's return from the Governor's Palace, the office on the second floor of the baroque villa has been lit up, and Zhao Bei is still on business here.

The dinner tonight in the Jiaozhou Governor's Palace was very grand, and the informal talks between the Chinese and German political leaders held after the dinner also further narrowed the distance between the politicians of the two countries.

Considering the current world situation and the complicated relations between China and Germany and Britain, Zhao Bei must be cautious about the olive branch thrown by the German government to China, and not only can not agree to conclude a military alliance treaty with Germany, but at the same time must continue to maintain good relations between China and Germany, so that the Germans can continue to fully support China's industrialization.

The power of one person is limited, both strategically and tactically, and in order to manage relations between China and Germany, Zhao Bei is now having long talks with several cabinet members in this office in the villa.

The cabinet members are Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Tingfang and Minister of Industry and Commerce Liu Kuiyi. Xiong Chengji, vice minister of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, Xiong Xiling, chief finance officer, and Cai Yuanpei, director of education, are all political leaders who have followed the president to inspect Qingdao; when the president was observing the joint military confrontation exercise between the Chinese and German armies this morning, they held a discussion with German business people in Qingdao City, so they are quite clear about the interests of the Germans, especially the industrial and commercial groups, and now the president is listening to their suggestions, and it is precisely for the purpose of preparing for tomorrow's formal talks, and using economic interests as a means of negotiation. German businessmen are also economic animals, and they have a strong influence on German politics, using the power of German business to remind German politics that the most important interests between the two countries at the moment are not political, but economic.

In addition to these cabinet members, Huang Xing, a senior adviser to the National Assembly, also attended this small meeting, but due to his poor health, he had to leave the meeting early in the middle of the meeting and go back to rest, and now Huang Xing's place is Li Xiehe, who is now not only a senior senator of the National Assembly, but also the director of the 'chamberlain' just appointed by Zhao Bei, and is a political star who is exuding dazzling light.

By now, the meeting had basically come to an end, and the details of the formal talks with the German delegation had been largely resolved. The tactics were also determined, and the remaining question was how Congress would cooperate with the performance of the government.

The central government is the decision-making organ, and the National Assembly is the supervisory body, which is stipulated in the Constitution, although at present, the central government is too strong, and the National Assembly can only bow down to orders, but after all, the rules of the game have not been changed, and this face must still be done sufficiently, and now the German side is anxious to urge the Chinese central government to conclude a military alliance treaty with Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary as soon as possible, and the central government does not directly say "no", and the word "no" is best said by the Congress, which involves a problem of cooperation. If it is not arranged in advance, if there is a mistake at that time, it will be small to be criticized by the people, and if it affects the 'diplomatic relations' between China and Germany, it will be a major strategic failure, so now Li Xiehe and Huang Xing have only one task, that is, to assist Li Yuanhong and Tang Hualong in arranging the performance in the Congress, and the Congress will come forward to create public opinion. Cooperate with the decision-making of the center.

Although judging from the current situation, the main backers of the National League are Britain and France, and there is no 'friendship' with Germany, but there is never a permanent friend or enemy in the political interest struggle, as long as the National League has not been completely tamed, then this variable must be taken into account.

After exchanging views with the crowd on this issue, Li Xiehe accepted the president's suggestion, immediately got up and said goodbye, and prepared to leave for Beijing overnight to prepare for the "public opinion" of the Congress; in consideration of the convenience of the "communication," the president directly sent a telephone call to Qingdao Port, informing them to prepare a "communication" boat for Li Xiehe, and to send him aboard the "Feihong" light cruiser of the Chinese Navy, and to go directly to Tianjin by sea; now, in order to show the sincerity of the German side in forming an alliance, the Germans have agreed that the Chinese naval fleet will anchor in the port of Qingdao. Moreover, since the "Feihong" will not be tasked with tomorrow's joint naval exercise, this light cruiser can completely act as a transport ship; in addition to carrying Li Xiehe, there will also be a shipload full of German munitions, all of which are Krupp field guns and shells, which were transported from Germany by the German visiting fleet, and this batch of munitions was completely donated by the German side to the Chinese side. I didn't ask for a 'dime' money, this is also the 'fan' soup that the German emperor poured into the Chinese president, but it's a pity that the Chinese president didn't 'get confused', but he did drink this soup, and the arms sent by the unjust head should not be in vain.

After all, the old man is getting older, and he can't compare with the young man, and it will be almost one o'clock in the morning, and he will attend the Sino-German foreign 'diplomacy' talks tomorrow, and if he yawns for days at that time, this can affect China's national image.

As a result, there are four heavyweight political figures left in the office, Liu Kuiyi, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Xiong Chengji, Vice Minister of Heavy Industry, and Cai Yuanpei, Minister of Education. and Zhao Bei, President of the Republic of China, coincidentally, they are all from the ** party.

Zhao Bei is the "** pioneer", there is no doubt about it, Xiong Chengji is the key figure in the "Wushen**" Anqing Shouyi, and is also the ** pioneer, as for Liu Yuyi, he is the backbone of the League, one of the initiators of the Gongjin Association, and the father of the **, not to mention Mr. Cai Yuanpei. Don't look at his current literary quality, he is completely the appearance of an associate university professor, but I think back then, he was also one of the founders of the Restoration Society, although he later joined the Alliance, but this ** enthusiasm is the same, it is said that Wu Yue assassinated the Qing court when he went abroad to inspect the five constitutional ministers at the Daqian 'Gate' railway station, and the bomb used was sent by Chief Cai.

Such a group of high-ranking political officials from the ** party are sitting together, if there is no 'yin' scheme, it is really unreasonable.

Indeed, the reason why Zhao Bei deliberately took Xiong Xiling away was precisely to facilitate talking to Comrade **, and some ** things that were inconvenient for "outsiders" to hear.

This is not that the president suddenly had a whim to "continue to **", these people present, in addition to the background of the ** party, also have one thing in common, they are now all high-level figures of the "United Front", either the party leader of the United Front, or the party affairs committee members and general affairs members of the United Front, all of whom play a pivotal role in the United Front.

"Aine, last time you mentioned to me that the president is also the leader of the majority faction in Congress, which seems a bit inappropriate. Although I partially agreed with you at the time, I did not decide to immediately resign as Chairman of the General Affairs Committee of the United Front in consideration of political stability and the unity of the Presidential Office and the National Assembly. However, now that the old turmoil has subsided and the Diet has basically returned to calm, I have decided to formally resign from the post of chairman of the United Front Committee in consideration of the long-term interests of the country and the long-term interests of the United Front. ”

Zhao Bei instructed the captain of the guard, Qin Sihu, to close the 'door' of the room, and then solemnly told Xiong Chengji and the others his plan.

"What? The chairman of the committee is going to resign? ”

As soon as he heard that Zhao Bei was going to resign from the post of chairman of the committee, Liu Kuiyi stood up and first expressed his opposition.

"I'm against it! Now the country is gradually moving towards strength, this time. In our view, this is a high-spirited and bright festival, but in the eyes of others, this is not necessarily the case; if there is a small rumor that the chairman of the committee is resigning because of the lack of unity within the united front, it is inevitable that public opinion will be suspicious and suspicious, and this may affect the country's industrialization construction. ”

Speaking of this, Liu Kuo glanced at Xiong Chengji and asked, "Weigen, when did you say those words to the chairman?" We don't know. ”

Zhao Bei waved his hand, motioned for Liu Kui to sit back, and then also glanced at Xiong Chengji, and said: "It was a 'private' conversation, that is also what Weigen himself meant, although it is abrupt, but it also makes some sense, the National League attacks the United Front, one of these weapons is' The president is also the leader of the United Front', and now we have taken the initiative to take a step back, which is also to let the people understand that our United Front is a fair and upright political group, and we respect the Constitution, although the Constitution does not stipulate that the majority leaders of the National Assembly are not allowed to hold the power of the presidential palace, but since we are 'groping' for the republican system, then we can naturally make bold institutional attempts, and this kind of system will not work, so we will change the system, and I think that back then, the French Republic was also 'groping' in this way.

On the other hand, as the majority of the parliament, and as the ruling bloc in the actual sense, the contradictions within the united front are becoming more and more prominent, and as president, I have too many official affairs to deal with, and I really can't take care of party affairs. It may not be one of my intentions to bring you together. ”

Zhao Bei's last few words were a bit vulgar, but they made a few people here feel very useful, "carry you", this sentence is more straightforward, that is, "let you rise step by step", politicians, how many don't want to climb up? Although the United Front is only a political bloc, not an officialdom, it is also a shortcut to officialdom after all, and the position of "Chairman of the General Affairs Committee" of the United Front is indeed worth eyeing, but I don't know who will sit in this position?

"Now that the chairman has made up his mind, I wonder who he thinks is appropriate to take over the post of party leader?"

Seeing that Zhao Bei seemed to have made up his mind, it didn't look like he was acting, so Cai Yuanpei asked.

Zhao Bei said: "According to the organizational program of the United Front, if the chairman of the committee resigns, he can recommend a successor, and as long as he passes a vote of confidence in the general affairs committee, he can be elected as the new chairman. Originally, I was going to recommend Huang Keqiang to take over, but now that he is in poor health, the doctor told him to rest more, so I can't make up my mind now, but apart from Huang Keqiang, who else in the General Affairs Committee can have enough appeal? Without appeal, the vote of confidence may not be passed, and then a short-term 'chaos' of the soul may be inevitable, and if it is not said well, the united front may be split or even disintegrated because of this. Do you have any good suggestions for this? ”

Originally, Cai Yuanpei also planned to recommend Huang Xing to take over the post of chairman of the committee, but since Zhao Bei mentioned Huang Xing's health situation, he also hesitated, Huang Xing is liver disease, and he is most afraid of fatigue and drinking.

"How is Li Songqing?" Liu reminded that since the president has made a gesture, it is naturally difficult for him to continue to oppose it.

Seeing Liu Kuai's nomination of Li Yuanhong, Zhao Bei smiled faintly, Cai Yuanpei also smiled faintly, and even Xiong Chengji, who had a straight face, couldn't help but pout the corners of his mouth. Although Li Yuanhong wears the hat of "** father" and "general of the uprising", his background is clear to the ** party members, Li Yuanhong is not like Huang Xing, Li Yuanhong is a monk halfway, if he announces his candidacy for the post of chairman of the United Front, those party members who are from the ** party will definitely not buy his account.

If you want to be "promoted" by others, you can't do it without a little bit of your own ability, and in this regard, Li Yuanhong is a little worse.