The Tiaobei Provincial Assembly is located in the downtown area of Wuchang City. This used to be the imperial palace of the banner people; After that, it was taken over by the military zhèngfǔ and changed into a public opinion organ, and later it was rebuilt into a parliamentary house, which basically continued the old appearance of the previous imperial palace at the beginning. After Li Yuanhong became the speaker, he raised funds from various sources to rebuild the exterior wall of the parliament and replace the roof. A magnificent main entrance has been rebuilt, and this public opinion institution has finally been given a new look.

As the speaker, Li Yuanhong usually works in a small office on the west side of the house, although the power in his hands is very limited, but this diligent posture is still very sufficient, every rì go to work on time, get off work on time, and he is also kind to the staff, and he does not speak much when presiding over the meeting, and if he has no affairs, he will always stay in his office.

Now, Li Yuanhong is sitting on a reclining chair by the window in his office, reclining, flipping through a few newspapers in his hand in the sunlight outside the window.

These newspapers are all new rì newspapers in Wuhan, and the front page positions all publish the same news without exception.

As the leader of the newly formed coalition political party "Kuomintang", Tao Chengzhang's assassination is undoubtedly an explosive news, and it is no wonder that all major newspapers have given up the position of the front page headline to this news, and even the assassination of Ito Hirobumi, which was in a uproar a few days ago, has been squeezed into the position of the second page.

After the "Wushen Revolution," the military in various localities vigorously advocated journalism, and various newspapers came out one after another, and the purpose of the investors in running the newspaper was different, and the political pain of the main writers of each newspaper was different, and the news narration methods and tendencies in these newspapers were also different. With regard to the assassination of Tao Chengzhang, the positions of all parties are also very different, with some sympathizers, some cynicists, some self-proclaimed impartiality and objectivity, and some fanning the flames." Recently, the people in the press have been extremely excited, jumping up and down, so lively.

In the midst of this chaos, there are many people who are bold in the main writers of various newspapers, and some of them only hint that the assassination was Tao Chengzhang's rival for the official president, Tse Ge, "and others have already jumped out blatantly and pointed the finger at the military strongman in the north and the Beiyang military and political clique behind him."

This is just a news report of the assassination, and I don't know how excited the press people will be in the future, anyway, in the south, President Yuan Da in the north can't reach him, and there is the southern army zhèngfǔ covering, and the Beiyang clique can't help these press "fighters" to hide in the concession and go to the free air, and even the army can't help them.

What's more, most of the Southern Army zhèngfǔ did not deal with the Beiyang Center, and they wanted to block Yuan Shikai, so naturally they would not abandon their martial arts and plug the way of speech, in fact, even the "Pioneer Rì Newspaper" controlled by the Hubei Army zhèngfǔ also hinted at the political background of Tao Chengzhang's death, although it has not yet been explicitly said that it was an assassin sent by Yuan Shikai and President Yuan, but the meaning of the report could not be clearer, Tao Chengzhang died in the upcoming congressional election and the official presidential election.

In other words, Tao Chengzhang was a martyr of the constitutional cause, at least so the southern revolutionaries thought.

When he saw these reports, Li Yuanhong was very scared for a while, and the reason was very simple, because he almost became another official presidential candidate, and his Republican Progressive Party once held a serious meeting to discuss the election of Leader Le as the party's only candidate to participate in the official presidential race. It's just because of Zhao Bei's "private opinion".

Although Commander-in-Chief Zhao did not explicitly say why he opposed Li Yuanhong's participation in the presidential race, Li Yuanhong was a smart man, and he was not very sure that he would win the formal presidential race, so Suo Xìng got off the donkey and announced that he would not participate in the formal presidential race on the grounds that he "would never dare to confront Tao Huanqing".

Supporting Tao Chengzhang is opposing Yuan Shikai, this truth can be seen by most people, Li Yuanhong originally did not have the courage, but he couldn't help himself, he knew better than anyone else that his Republican Progressive Party was actually a chess piece held by the commander-in-chief, and it was not up to him to decide how to go, but by the commander-in-chief, although nominally he was the leader of the party, and the commander-in-chief was not even a party member.

Since the Republican Progressive Party was not merged into the Kuomintang, its support for Tao Chengzhang represented the support of people outside the party, which was particularly eye-catching, and for this reason, Song Jiaoren, the No. 2 figure in the Kuomintang, even sent a telegram in his personal name thanking Li Yuanhong for his support, and once again invited Li Yuanhong to lead his Republican Progressive Party to join this coalition party and jointly launch an attack on the congressional election.

But Li Yuanhong politely declined the invitation. Because he is very satisfied with this current position. The so-called "rather be the head of the chicken than the queen of the cow" joined the coalition party, and his party leader could not be done, although the Republican Progressive Party is not a big party, but it also claims to have tens of thousands of members. After the outbreak of the rebellion war, it began to expand its influence to Hunan and Guizhou provinces, and even Tang Hualong, the governor of Hunan, became a member of the Republican Progressive Party, and also held the position of "party affairs officer".

Li Yuanhong can now be described as "responding to all calls", how can he go to the coalition party to listen to the command of others again?

Now Li Yuanhong is even more glad that he has "far-sightedness", Tao Chengzhang's assassination, no matter which force is behind the scenes, shows that the coalition party has become a thorn in the side of some people, and it may be shot to death at any time.

"Tao Huanqing died, who can be the successor party leader?"

Li Yuanhong put down the newspaper and closed his eyes. He pressed his temple with his hand.

The report in the newspaper is very detailed, Li Yuanhong naturally knows about Tao Chengzhang's political will, and Zhao Bei, Song Jiaoren, Huang Xing, Zhang Taiyan, Zhang Xiao and others are listed as candidates for the leadership of the United Party, and this news is really popular

Zhao Bei's consistent stance of opposing the participation of military personnel in political party activities is clear to Li Yuanhong.

In fact, Zhao Bei called Li Yuanhong last night to discuss Tao Chengzhang's assassination. However, he did not tell him about his election as the successor of the party leader, and Li Yuanhong only knew about it after reading the newspaper, so he did not know Zhao Bei's position.

Just as Li Yuanhong was wandering, there was a knock on the office door, and a moment later, a secretary pushed open the door, looked at Li Yuanhong, who had sat up straight, and said, "Speaker, Secretary Wang and Secretary Lu of the Republican Progressive Party ask to see you." ”

"Oh? Invite them to come in and talk. ”

Li Yuanhong got up from the recliner, picked up the newspapers, walked to the desk, and put the newspapers on the table.

"Song Qing, have you read the newspaper today?"

The figure at the door flashed, Wang Zhanyuan and Lu Yongxiang had already walked into the office, and as soon as they entered the door, Wang Zhanyuan shouted at the top of his voice.

At present, Wang Zhanyuan and Lu Yongxiang are both "party affairs officers" of the Republican Progressive Party, and there are five party affairs officers in the party, except for Wang and Lu. Tang Hualong and Li Yuanhong are also party affairs officers, and the identity of another party affairs officer is more special, Zhang Jiyang, secretary general of the Republican Military Political Propaganda Commission, he was originally a member of the Liberation Party, and after the establishment of the Republican Progressive Party, he obtained Zhao Bei's consent to join the Republican Progressive Party, and later simply quit the Liberation Association and became a party affairs officer of the Republican Progressive Party.

The five party affairs officers jointly decided on major party affairs and originally elected Li Yuanhong to run for president. It is decided by the meeting of party officers.

Li Yuanhong turned around, raised his finger and pointed to the newspapers on the table, and said, "Why don't you read it." I read each one several times carefully, Tao Huanqing was assassinated, and the assassin did not catch it. I'm afraid that this case will become an unsolved case, and then there will be another fight in the Congress. ”

Instructed the secretary to serve tea, Li Yuanhong sat down behind the desk, and invited Wang and Lu to sit down on the couch opposite. Ask the two of them what they mean.

Wang Zhanyuan said: "We are here to discuss party affairs with Song Qing. ”

Li Yuanhong frowned and looked at the two. In fact, when he pulled the two of them to form the Recommendation and Progressive Party, it was just to strengthen the momentum, after all, the two of them were also regarded as the "heroes of the revolution" anyway. "Whether it's true or not, anyway, the two of them are also the people of the times, and they are from Beiyang generals, relying on these signboards, they can pull more people into the gang, as for the position of party affairs officer. Just to entrap the two, Li Yuanhong didn't plan to really let them sit on an equal footing with him.

Wang Zhanyuan pointed to the newspapers on the table. said: "Now that Tao Huanqing has been assassinated, and no one from the United Political Party has presided over it, they are anxious to elect Zhao Zhenhua to succeed him as the leader of the party, but Zhao Zhenhua can't make up his mind and can't give an answer to the other party for a long time." In fact, in my opinion, this is a good opportunity for our Republican Progressive Party to expand its influence, and in my opinion, we should jointly write a letter asking Zhao Zhenhua to come out of the mountain and lead the Republican Progressive Party to merge into the coalition party. First, it can strengthen the momentum, and secondly, it can be regarded as Zhao Zhenhua's contribution to the united political party, which convinces the party and further consolidates the position of the party leader. ”

"Join a coalition party?"

Li Yuanhong's heart sank, and he instinctively felt that this matter was not simple, Wang Zhanyuan and Lu Yongxiang were both martial artists, where would they think of this? And since the two joined the Republican Progressive Party, they have never been very active in party affairs, but now they are visiting such a high-profile situation. It's impossible to have no one behind your back to guide you.

Thinking of the words he had talked with the commander-in-chief on the phone last night, Li Yuanhong suppressed the unhappiness in his heart and asked, "Is this the idea of the two of you?" ”

"It's not a secret, Hunan Governor Tang Jiwu also means this.

This is the telegram he just photographed, and I would like to ask Speaker Li to take a look at it. ”

Lu Yongxiang stood up, walked to the desk, and placed a transcript of a telegram in front of Li Yuanhong.

Li Yuanhong glanced at the telegram, his face was a little sad, and now even Tang Hualong advocated merging with the United Party, and three of the five party affairs officers had become "traitors" to the party. "It's out of his control.

If this matter really goes out of the Commander-in-Chief's plan, then Li Yuanhong's own opposition is useless, and now the remaining two party affairs officers have not yet expressed their position, Li Yuanhong will not say anything, that Zhang Jiyang himself is a high-ranking general of the Republican Army and a confidant of the commander-in-chief, how can he disobey the commander-in-chief's orders?

So, this bipartisan merger. Li Yuanhong either agreed, or rolled up and got out. The "Speaker Lai" shouted by Lu Yongxiang just now is very revealing.

"Since Tang Jiwu also means this, then it is inconvenient for me to object. However, the stakes are very high, and a few of us cannot make up our minds for the commander-in-chief, but we still need to seek the commander-in-chief's opinion, if he is not willing to take up the post of party leader. Aren't we shaved and hot? ”

Li Yuanhong wisely changed his position. In fact, if the two parties can really merge, and Zhao Bei also successfully becomes the leader of the coalition party, his Li family can only benefit from it, and he may not be able to make a difference in the coalition party in the future, and once the party wins the parliamentary election, the position of speaker of the National Assembly and the chief of various ministries may not be without his share, after all, he Li Huanglu can also be regarded as the right and left hand of the commander-in-chief, the "revolutionary father"!

For Li Yuanhong's acquaintance, Wang Zhanyuan and Lu Yongxiang were very satisfied, the two looked at each other and smiled, in fact, they didn't want to be a deputy technician in the military academy for a long time, and now relying on this merit, the commander-in-chief can at least give them a brigade commander to do, even if they can't lead troops, they may not be able to engage in politics, now the commander-in-chief's power is like rì Zhongtian, it's always right to follow the commander-in-chief, anyway, Beiyang doesn't want to see these two rebel generals, and in the future, they will follow the commander-in-chief to the dark.

Is it a good man who knows the times?

Wang Zhanyuan and Lu Yongxiang understand this truth, and Li Yuanhong also understands it.