Chapter 32: Boiling

On the afternoon of September 15, 1914, the ninth year of the empire, the sky over Nanjing was overcast with dark clouds, and the weather seemed to be ominous.

Nanjing, as prime minister of the Chinese Empire, still seems almost always to be both Western and Oriental. In the nine years since the founding of the empire, China has shaken off much of its feudal past and has become one of the most advanced and at the same time Westernized countries in Asia.

In the center of Guangfu Avenue from Xiaguan Wharf through the whole city of Nanjing, there is a red wall hundreds of meters long, where is the imperial palace, and on the right side of the square in front of the palace is a new four-story reinforced concrete building, where is the government affairs and the office of His Majesty. The walls surrounding the palace and the buildings in front of the palace are also a combination of east and west, which to some extent shows that the country is different from the past, and in the past nine years, China has abandoned a lot of old things in favor of a large number of modern Western civilizations.

Along the front of the palace and then go forward a kilometer, is a Western-style imperial parliament building, this building is mainly built with the stone of Jiuhua Mountain, the style of the whole building with a strong baroque style, and the carving in front of the window is Chinese-style, in the past nine years, the Chinese architectural community has been learning Western modern architecture, and at the same time combining Western modern architectural science with traditional Chinese architecture, thus developing modern Chinese-style architecture, although after nine years of development, modern Chinese-style architecture has long been mature, However, Nanjing, the capital of China, especially the old city, most of the buildings in the early days of the empire, especially those government buildings, were mostly Western-style, and the Imperial Congress, which was the first administrative building in Nanjing, was no exception.

At this time, at the foot of the tall and majestic steps of the Imperial Reichstag, armed gendarmes stood with guns, and in the garden square in front of the Imperial Council, hundreds of thousands of people gathered, chanting slogans and roaring one after another, and the policemen who maintained order around them gave applause to the demonstrating citizens.

In the square, hundreds of activists gave speeches, their fiery words stirring everyone around them, and each time, their words were interrupted by fierce applause and applause.

At this time, in the garden square, the branches and flowers swaying in the breeze seemed to be shaking their heads and sighing in frustration. Despite the dark clouds rolling in the sky overhead, the enthusiasm of the citizens in the square was as hot as an erupting volcano, and the same heat was like a volcanic eruption inside the parliament building, which had been separated by armed gendarmes.

In the halls of the House of Commons, the debate between the democratic and constitutional parliamentarians and the royalist parliamentarians has reached a fever pitch for days. Some of them also tried their best to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor, and they spoke eloquently and appeared unusually calm; Others have no regard for their status, and shout hoarsely; Some of them have already lost their patience, throwing away the cigarettes in their mouths, jumping up, and almost pulling their fists at each other.

After the case of collective corruption of the Technology Introduction Committee and the Central Bidding Bureau, the lower house of the Democratic Party immediately demanded that the lower house of the Reich pass several resolutions -- to hold everyone involved in the case accountable, never to estimate the situation, and to investigate to the end.

The next resolution shocked everyone, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Yuan Shikai and the resignation of the Cabinet

As soon as this resolution was introduced, it was immediately attacked by the royalists, who believed that the House of Commons had no power to demand the resignation of the "Majesty-appointed" Cabinet Minister, and a heated debate ensued in the halls of the House of Commons, and the figures of all sides argued and expressed their opinions.

The debate has lasted for three days and two nights, this is the longest protracted war since the establishment of the House of Commons of the Reich, during this period, every member of parliament is hungry to eat and eat casually, sleepy and sleepy, but the fierce debate has never stopped, in the face of this chaos, if the trees know, they will hang their heads and sigh, if the heavens and the earth know, I am afraid that the sun and the moon will be cloudy.

However, even if this long and protracted occupation is draining everyone's energy, those Democratic Party and Constitutionalist lawmakers who represent the "will of the people" know very well that this is the last offensive, and if it succeeds, the entire history of China will be changed. And the majority of the royalists, who have dominated the House of Commons for many years, also know that this time, no matter what, they must stop the attack of the Democratic Party and the Constitutionalists, and they understand that at this time, any concession will only encourage the big Democratic Party and the Constitutionalism to pursue the victory, and they will continue to throw out a series of bills, taking advantage of the now angry public opinion to seize political interests. ,

Now that we've reached the final hurdle, everyone is tired, but everyone is persevering.

In the halls of the House of Commons, there are probably only a handful of people who really ask for the lives of the people and worry about the country. One of the most worrisome is Cheng Shuhuai, who has other smaller parties and independent MPs, although the Royalists hold 25 seats in the lower house, the Democrats have 25 seats, and the Constitutionals have 18.5 seats.

In previous debates, he had been arguing with reason, trying to persuade others to oppose the proposal for a "general resignation of the cabinet". At this time, a person stood up in the other party's seat.

"You know, Congressman Zheng Shuhuai, no matter what aspect it is, the cabinet must be responsible for the corruption of the departments under the cabinet, otherwise, how can we explain to the citizens of the empire?"

Speaking was a lawyer-turned-legislator Liao Pei-chung, who was eloquent and eloquent, and although he was a royalist, he was one of the supporters of the Democratic Party's bill, and the shocking corruption case split the royalist party, causing some people within the royalist party to support the resolution.

"As for this special period, what is it? China declared war on Germany? Whether China is actually involved in the war now is still a question. ……”

"No, you're wrong. You should know that the crisis in the world is becoming more and more serious, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey have formed allies and the Entente powers of Britain, France and Russia are attacking each other, and our country has declared war on Germany and is already one of the participating countries.

"To hell with your nerdy theory, what citizens need is truth, what they need is justice, if there is no justice left, then what kind of interests can we guarantee"

Many people clamored. The executive chairman knocked on the table for a long time before the venue gradually fell silent. This concludes the debate, and the first round of voting will take place in two hours.

According to the provisions of the Imperial Constitution, important bills were voted on in two rounds. If there is a majority of votes in both rounds, the proposal passes, otherwise the proposal is withdrawn.

Worrying things happened, and in the first round of voting in two hours, the pro-voters won 301-295. Although the House of Commons resolution does not force the cabinet to resign, anyone with a little political vision knows that for the Democratic Party and the Constitutionalists, this resolution is exactly what they need, and a non-binding resolution may not be noticed in normal times, but at this special time, once it is combined with the angry public opinion, what kind of role will it play.

After the end of the first round of voting, Zheng Shuhuai, who was worried about this matter, entered the office of the vice president of the House of Lords, Niu Yongjian. He knew that the consequences of the passage of the bill would affect China's political situation, and although he had always been very resistant to the House of Lords as a commoner independent legislator, at this time, he knew that the only one who could save everything was Newonjian.

"Your Excellency, the passage of the proposal must be prevented"

As soon as he entered Newonkey's office, Zheng Shuhuai didn't greet him, and expressed his intention directly, only then did he see that in Newonkey's office, he was not the only one, but also the first chairman of the Imperial Technology Introduction Committee, Duke Shi Si, seeing Shi Si, Zheng Shuhuai was really stunned, at this time, what happened to him?

"Hon Cheng"

Shi Si, who got up from the sofa chair, nodded slightly to Zheng Shuhuai, in the past few days, Shi Si can be said to be famous in China, and even some newspapers believe that he is the source of corruption, for the experience of these founding ministers, almost everyone knows their experience, Shi Si almost did not become a beggar from the dragon, but last year, with 35 million yuan in assets, he became the richest man in the House of Nobles.

It is precisely because of this that he has become the spearhead of public opinion, shouldn't he go to the Investigation Bureau to be investigated? Why are you here again?

"Your Excellency the Duke"

Although Zheng Shuhuai, as a commoner, had refused the knighthood granted by His Majesty, he still strictly adhered to the etiquette when saluting Shi Si, after all, China is a country of etiquette, and no matter how the etiquette cannot be abolished, but his expression was extremely cold.

Feeling Zheng Shuhuai's coldness, Shi Si sighed helplessly, now the whole of China thinks that he is the "first greedy of the empire", and they don't even ask where their money comes from, they only know...... However, he can understand Zheng Shuhuai's coldness, he is a commoner council, and he has never had a good impression of nobles.

"Your Excellency, if you can't stop the proposal from passing, I'm afraid there will be a big mess"

When he cast his gaze to the Newyong key again, Zheng Shuhuai said again.

"Yes, we have to get one more person to vote against, and as long as there is one more person, the proposal will not pass."

Newon said unhurriedly.

"But, I think, I'm afraid it's going to be a little difficult."

"Yes, now the people's will is like this, and there is almost no possibility to prevent the passage, so Zheng came to Lord New, hoping to ......"

Zheng Shuhuai hurriedly said, and then glanced at Shi Si again.

"Zheng hopes that he can invite the lord to visit His Majesty in the other garden, and then ......."

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