There was no courtesy, that is, there was no tall and dazzling colorful shed to greet Jang Zhidong, there was no military band playing a majestic welcome song, and there was no ruling government and the heads of various ministries waiting at the station in the early morning, plus the members of the advisory office and people from all walks of life, such as business, academia, newspapers, and foreign guests.

There will not be a single serious guard with guns and salutes, and there will be no crowds on the road, or any empty alleys, this long-standing revolutionary leader, the second time he came to Nanjing, the same as the first, did not cause any sensation at all, and as last time, only a car with a ruling axe went to the Xiaguan dock to pick him up, and that's it.

In fact, Sun Yat-sen did not feel any discomfort with such an ordinary reception, and even in his opinion, there was no need for a high-standard reception. As last time, this time Sun Yat-sen and his entourage were still housed in the Xingguo Hotel in Nanjing, and it was not until late evening that the ruling axe sent an official and driver to invite him to the banquet.

When Sun Yat-sen was about to arrive, unlike last time, Chen Moran personally went to the gate of the ruling axe to greet him in person, which was the second meeting between Chen Moran and Sun Yat-sen. The two have not seen each other since Sun Yat-sen's last trip to Nanjing, and even the newspapers have speculated about the relationship between the two.

The handshake between the two was quite warm, at least on the surface. At the dinner, Chen Moran unexpectedly held the lamp for Sun Yat-sen, which can be described as courteous. In his speech, he said in a very sincere tone.

"Outsiders have said that the ruling axe and the Xingzhong Society can be old enemies, and there may be some differences of opinion between us, but one thing is in common, to build a country where people are human beings and not slaves!" In his speech, Chen Moran held a wine glass in his hand, his expression was extremely serious, and the attack on Sun Yat-sen's nationality was indeed his own instruction, and the mutual attacks between politicians did not prevent Chen Moran from making the last line of efforts at this time.

"As for the differences, I think we can seek common ground while reserving differences! I have been looking forward to my husband for a long time, and I am very pleased to invite him to Ningbo again this time, and he is willing to come. Now the situation is turbulent, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Yunnan and Guizhou have not yet recovered, the border police of Tibetan Province have been coming, and Russia is fighting in our country in the northeast. ”

This compliment was really unexpected by Sun Yat-sen, but Chen Moran continued.

"Mr. Sun, who has traveled overseas for more than ten years, came to Yanjing to discuss with me about the country's major plans, and various political opinions have begun to take shape, which will greatly contribute to China's future. The last time Mr. Sun came to Beijing, he had an extremely sincere conversation with me, which shows that the previous rumors were all misunderstandings. The consolidation of national power is thus most welcome. ”

Chen Moran's humility and sycophants are quite in place, Sun Yat-sen naturally has nothing to say, the two talked happily during the banquet, and after the banquet, the two went to Chen Moran's study to continue to discuss, this time under Chen Moran's deliberate sincerity, it really moved Sun Yat-sen, who was in the predicament of nationality.

To a certain extent, he has always believed in the policy of carrots and sticks, first suppressing and then fighting, and then praising the two after they are effective, and defending everyone's psychology from the beginning, Sun Yat-sen is, and Yuan Shikai is the same.

After chatting for a while in the study, Chen Moran asked Sun Yat-sen while chatting and laughing.

"You just said that it was a cover to write to Li Hongzhang that year, but in fact, there is another purpose. What is the purpose? ”

"The purpose is big."

Sun Yat-sen picked up the tea bowl and said with a smile.

"That year, my fellow villager and my friend Lu Haodong first drafted a book on Li Hongzhang in Hong Kong, and then wrote a letter to his cousin Sheng Xuanhuai through Sheng Zhouhuai, a fellow local friend in Haiphong, Macau, and then Sheng Xuanhuai wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang to ask for an interview on our behalf. Lu Haodong and I are both leaving Guangdong for the first time, and we want to get a glimpse of the reality of the Qing court on the way north. We entered Hunan from Guangdong, went to Wuchang via Hunan, and then went down to Shanghai by ship, and then took a sea ship from Shanghai to Tianjin. When I discussed with Lu Haodong, we both agreed that Li Hongzhang was different from ordinary mediocre bureaucrats. He has the ability and brains, and we moved him with the righteousness of the nation and persuaded him to rise up and overthrow the Manchus and restore the Han world. He has prestige and an army, and as long as he promises, things will definitely succeed. ”

"Did you tell him?"

Hearing him say this, Chen Moran admired his courage very much. This move of his, he will never be able to do it, after all, the rebellion is to kill the head, this head Chen Moran wants to carry it steadily, that kind of really heroic bookish atmosphere is definitely not what Chen Moran yearns for! But it did not prevent Chen Moran from admiring his courage.

"Well, don't mention it."

Sun Yat-sen put down the tea bowl and said with a sigh.

"The prime minister, Hou Ye, has a very big shelf, and he didn't take me as a young man in his eyes at all, and refused to meet me, but just asked his subordinates to tell me that the passport for going abroad to inspect Nongsang has been completed, so let's go abroad quickly. Lu Haodong and I were greatly disappointed, even Li Hongzhang's attitude was like this, and there was no one to trust in the Manchurian court. Finally, when I arrived in Yanjing, I saw the darkness of the capital's politics [***], and I was even more convinced that Manchurian's popularity was exhausted, and as long as there was another Hong Xiuquan, it would definitely be overthrown. ”

Chen Moran just shook his head, Li Hongzhang had his own concerns, and Zeng Guofan also had his concerns back then.

“…… After my release, I wrote a booklet in English entitled "London Lost in Memory" and published it, which was soon translated into Chinese. Now many Chinese know that there is a man named Sun Wen. The Qing court wanted to kill me first, but unexpectedly made me famous. ”

Speaking of this, Sun Yat-sen laughed heartily. Chen Moran felt a grand spirit from this laughter. It is precisely because of this courage that the revolutionaries in front of them are not discouraged, discouraged, or indomitable, and are full of confidence in their own cause, although they have experienced repeated defeats and setbacks. Chen Moran knew that Sun Yat-sen's courage was something he didn't have, he was an idealist, but what he considered was reality.

"This is exactly what the ancients said, you will want to harm them, but help them."

From the meeting to the present, Sun Yat-sen said a lot, Chen Moran said little, he listened attentively, observed this person intently, he was different from other people in the Xingzhong Society, he did not have the shadow of a speculator, some were just sincere.

“…… I never felt disappointed, even when I was imprisoned by the Qing Legation in England and had no contact with the outside world, I decided to find an opportunity to commit suicide by jumping into the sea on the way home. Even at that time, I was not disappointed in the future of the revolution. I often think that the great cause of opposing the Manchurian and Han Dynasty is like building a big house. It needs money, it takes work, it takes time, but it can always be built, and there is no reason why we should be disappointed in the process of building it. ”

Sun Yat-sen's firm voice was unusually loud in the silent night. Chen Moran felt that this last sentence was like a wooden stick hitting a bell, although the impact stopped, the sound always hovered in his ears.

"Now everything is not going well, it has ended, the country has been recovered, the 27th and 28th divisions have entered Sichuan, the 11th division and the 13th division have entered Shaanxi and Gansu, and by the end of the year at the latest, this land of China can be recovered, and the country will enter a period of comprehensive construction from next year, our history owes too much, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not developed for decades, and industry and education are all his urgent needs!"

Sun Yat-sen praised the same thing, and then stared at Chen Moran and said.

"The public is taking over the world's heavy troops, shouldering the world's heavy responsibilities, and it is advisable to have a life-and-death friendship with the country. The invariant form of government is ...... useless to remedy the minority"

Chen Moran interrupted Sun Yat-sen's words with a smile.

"Sir, seek common ground while reserving differences! We have differences in understanding in some aspects, but we might as well put aside our differences and discuss state affairs! ”

After the words were interrupted, Sun Yat-sen smiled a little awkwardly, and immediately decided not to talk about the distinction between political systems.

"In power, China is based on agriculture, and if we cannot seek a thorough solution from the peasants themselves, it will not be easy to innovate. If we want to solve the problems of the peasants themselves, we must have the land of the cultivators. ”

Seeing that Sun Yat-sen had returned to the topic, Chen Moran replied.

"The gentleman traveled around the world, witnessed the exploitation of the big landlords, grew up in the south, and saw the suffering of the tenants, so he advocated that the cultivators should have their land. The footprints have not crossed the south of the river, and the north is mostly self-cultivated farmers, and there are very few tenant farmers, so the ruling government thinks that it is a matter of course that the cultivators have their own fields, as for the land where the tenant fields are insufficient, he said that after the recovery, he can confiscate the land of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and sell it, and it can also be redeemed from the landlord by the political axe, and the landlord can sell the land to obtain funds, and it can be used to invest in industry, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. In the land of political axe redemption, the people can repay it in the form of low-interest or even interest-free loans for ten or even twenty years! In this way, the burden of the political axe is not increased, and the cultivator can have his land! ”

Sun Yat-sen suddenly realized after hearing this, so he laughed out loud and praised the "high view of governance".

Sun Yat-sen, who had a deep conversation with Chen Moran in the future, began to recall in his mind the many dignitaries announced by the ruling axe recently, and then asked.

"I thought that coins and banknotes were price symbols, so why not? It seems that it is not difficult to promote it with political force. And the monarch must first win the trust of the people, how to do it? May I hear the teachings! ”

These remarks made by Chen Moran a few days ago when he was talking with representatives of the Consultative Office and the business circles on reforming the national economy left a very good impression on Sun Yat-sen after reading the report in the newspaper.

In the past, he worked in a political axe investment company for several years, although he did nothing in the end, and even narrowly escaped prison, but finance has always been the thing that Chen Moran has been in contact with the most in those years.

"The currency system is a representative of prices, and it is well known that hunger is not eaten. China's currency system for thousands of years from heavy and light, from thick and fine, but are based on silver and copper coins, if all replaced by paper money, the people are worried about nothing more than paper money credit, whether it can be relied on, so there must be a way to win the trust of the people, in the final analysis, paper money is the credit standard. ”

Saying that, Chen Moran's face showed some smugness.

"With the size of China, the people of the people, the issuance of 10 billion yuan banknotes does not seem to be much, now the ruling axe, for the political axe to organize a sound central bank, the implementation of a unified currency policy, such as the issuance of 50 million banknotes, then the cash 15 million silver dollars melted down, made into silver ingots, placed in the central bank's underground vault, the world can visit the underground vault, publicly tell the people that this is the country's reserve vault. The more banknotes issued, the larger the mountain of silver that will be minted. When credit is established, habits become natural, and when the time comes, it becomes popular all over the country with a piece of paper, what is the difficulty? The key is to win the trust of the people first, as long as the paper money establishes credit, it is naturally feasible to replace silver with paper! ”

In Shanghai, he had seen the banknote reserve of the Industrial Bank in the Industrial Bank, and the gold and silver mountains were credit.

After taking two sips of tea, Chen Moran continued.

"Mr. Zhongshan, last night when you said that when you were studying in Europe, you realized that the only way to save China is to save China. As for the five-power constitution, can you tell me more about it. ”

Seeing that Chen Moran was willing to listen to the Five-Power Constitution, Sun Yat-sen straightened his upper body, and looked at Chen Moran with bright eyes, in his opinion, yes.

"Okay."

At this time, Sun Yat-sen was naturally very willing to publicize his grand idea of nation-building, especially to the ruling party.

"The Five-Power Constitution was formulated on the basis of drawing on the successful experience of European and American countries and the effective system that has been practiced for a long time in China's history. The European and American countries have generally adopted the method of separating the executive, legislative, and judicial powers in handling state affairs, so that there is a mechanism for restraining power and preventing the phenomenon of [***] centralization. In China, for a long time, there have been supervisory bodies called the Imperial Historical Observatory or the Imperial Procuratorate, as well as a disciplined imperial examination system, which have played an important role in national politics. Therefore, in the future, we should adopt a system of separation of powers among the executive, legislative, judicial, supervising, and examination to ensure the health and clarity of the country's politics, which is called the five-power constitution. ”

Those around Chen Moran have always admired the political system of separation of powers in Europe and the United States, but no one thought of using China's strengths to make up for the shortcomings of the West. Sun Yat-sen's addition of two powers, supervision and examination, is a continuation for China and a creation for the West.

Chen Moran, who wanted to restore the national tradition in his heart, naturally did not object, but just nodded, "However, the implementation of the five-power constitution will go through a process. ”

Chen Moran's approval made Sun Yat-sen suddenly become a little excited, so he added an explanation of his founding strategy.

"I thought that the process of China's construction should be divided into three phases. One is the military and political period. During this period, all systems were subordinate to the military and political axes, which used military force to remove obstacles in the country and propagandism on the other hand, so as to promote the unity of the country by enlightening the hearts of the people of the whole country. The second is the period of discipline and government. Where a province is completely determined, it is said that when the training and administration begin, and the military and political affairs cease. During the period of political training, the political axe sent people who had passed the examination to the provinces to assist the people in preparing for self-government. The census is clear, the land surveys are complete, the guards are in order, the roads are built, the revolutionaries are elected as county officials, and the constitution of the county is drawn up by the elected councillors, and the county becomes fully self-governing. The third is the constitutional period. Where all the counties of a province are fully self-governing, the province may be subject to a constitutional period. At the beginning of the constitutional period, the central government should complete the establishment of five courts to try out the rule of the five constitutions, namely the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Supervisory Yuan, and the Examination Yuan. ”

This is a complete blueprint for the founding of the country, it has been carefully designed after many years of careful consideration, but when Sun Yat-sen said this, Chen Moran smiled in his heart, in fact, what he wanted to talk about today is this third phase, maybe he is not familiar with the five-power constitution, but he has a certain understanding of this military government, training government, and constitutional government.

"Mr. Nakayama, I believe that the ultimate goal of all political parties and all political axes is to seek welfare for the people and make their lives happy. No matter whether the people choose the imperial system or the republic in the future, once the regime is stabilized, they must go all out to fight for the clothing, food, housing and transportation of the Chinese people. The political axe should work together with the people to seek the development of agriculture to satisfy the people's food, the development of textiles to enrich the people's clothing, the construction of all kinds of houses to enjoy the people's houses, and the construction of roads and canals to facilitate the people's travel. ”

"Well, the ruling is very good!"

Hearing Chen Moran say what he was thinking, Sun Yat-sen unconsciously tapped the table with his hand and exclaimed.

"However, if you take Mr. three periods of military, training, and constitutionalism,"

Picking up the teacup, Chen Moran took two sips before continuing.

"I don't know Mr. Zhongshan, can you remember the disaster of the late Tang Dynasty?"

Chen Moran's rhetorical question only surprised Sun Yat-sen, and he looked at the ruling power in front of him in surprise.

"The disaster of the feudal towns at the end of the Tang Dynasty, in the final analysis, was the army's interference in local government affairs, the army's control of the power of local rich people, the formation of local warlords, resulting in warlord melee, the situation of misery, in a silent view, everything is desirable, but the army must not be involved in political affairs, soldiers are involved in politics, there is only one result, warlords melee, life and soul are ruined!"

"......"

"No one has anything, China has no time to pay tuition fees to pay for the test, the Han is a great nation, almost the entire East Asian civilization, are created and invented by our nation, our nation before the Ming Dynasty, all ahead of the world. Two hundred and sixty years ago, the Manchus took advantage of the civil strife at the end of the Ming Dynasty to forcibly enter the customs and take away the Han people. The Manchus were nomadic people, with extremely low culture, and did not have the conditions to rule the world at all. Although the nation has recovered, if it wants to stand again among the great nations of the world, it is necessary to fundamentally change the entire social and cultural structure, a enslaved society and a enslaved cultural structure. The enslavement of the alien race has led us down the wrong path, and now we must return to the right path and rediscover our place among civilized nations! ”

As he spoke, Chen Moran's brows tightened.

"Some people have told me that this is the right path and nothing else unless it is Westernized and modernized!"

Chen Moran shook his head as he spoke.

"Modernization is inevitable, it is inevitable to catch up with other countries to achieve national prosperity and strength, but what about Westernization...... In my opinion, total Westernization is actually a denial of our civilization, and our civilization has only taken a crooked path under the enslavement of foreign races, so we should not abandon our own civilization while going back to the right path, while absorbing Western civilization, this is what we should do. And in this process, it can't be easy to take any crooked paths! ”

Chen Moran stared at Sun Yat-sen, and then said in an unusually affirmative voice.

"Military politics is a crooked path, and it can ensure that the military governor of a province does not have the heart of a warlord, but can it ensure that all military governors are like this? Once a soldier gains the right to be a provincial figure, let alone go back to the world, the country will become rich and strong! I'm afraid that when the warlords are chaotic, the common people won't even be able to be a stable slave of a different race, if that day really happens, Mr. Zhongshan, who is the sinner of China? ”

A rhetorical question made Sun Yat-sen laugh.

"The ruling party misunderstands what I mean, and the military government I mean is by no means that the military is in charge of local government affairs, but after the central government axe recovers a province by force, that is, the province enters the stage of political training, in which the political axe sends personnel to train and assist the people in establishing an autonomous county, and directly elects county-level officials; When all the counties of a province are fully autonomous, i.e., the province enters the constitutional stage and can elect a governor; When half of the provinces in the country enter the constitutional stage, that is, the whole country enters the constitutional stage, the constitution is promulgated, and the people elect a new central political axe, and the central political axe has completed its mission! ”

After hearing him say this, Chen Moran did not show joy on his face, but put on a trace of doubt.

"Oh? Why is that? ”

"In the era of ruling China, when there was no discipline in government, the majority of the people had been in bondage for a long time, and although they were suddenly liberated, they did not know the way of their activities at first...... Counter-revolution without knowing it. ”

When Sun Yat-sen hesitated to say the last few words, Chen Moran smiled.

"I can understand the discipline that Mr. Nakayama advocates, well! Perhaps, this may be the only way for China. ”

While Chen Moran nodded in agreement, he did not want to say that he clearly knew and knew the fundamental reason for political training, and the fundamental reason was that he did not believe in the ability of Chinese to participate in politics.

"But then again, whoever learns to swim has to go into the water first, and whoever learns to play the piano has to play the piano first. Constitutionalism is the best training in constitutionalism. If the common people have even elected the emperor and the president, do they not know the way of their activities? The common people have rods and scales in their hearts, and they can't be fooled! Training for politics? The right of a small number of people to hold politics will never give the people the training of modern politics. The most effective political training is to gradually liberalize political power so that the people can get a little political training in their own participation in politics. ”

Before Sun Yat-sen could open his mouth to refute, Chen Moran continued.

"Seek common ground while reserving differences! Let's make a gentleman's covenant today, if it is said that the people decide to rule out the imperial system, and you join the Advisory Bureau to supervise the new regime, it is [***], it is constitutional, and it will be clear in 20 years! If the time comes, and the people decide the emperor, they can also use voting to knock the emperor down! At that time, it will be a republic, an empire, and then it will be decided by the people! You ...... with me"

Saying that, Chen Moran pointed at Sun Yat-sen and pointed at himself.

"We don't have the right to make decisions for the people, and the biggest thing in the open boil is that the people are in charge! You see how! Today, we let the people decide the future, and the same future is left to them to choose! ”

Staring at Sun Yat-sen, Chen Moran said his plan, this gentleman's covenant is his last attempt, if it fails......

(To be continued)