Chapter 22: Jiang Fangzhen's assassination

Beijing, Zhongnanhai, the scene of the cabinet meeting.

"Since the end of the European war, there will be a relatively long period of peace. As far as Asia is concerned, the stability of Sino-Japanese relations ensures that the country has a stable external environment in the future. Over the next five years of his term, economic development became the overwhelming centerpiece. "The speaker is the premier of the cabinet, Tang Hualong, who did a good job in the last term, and this term is even more ambitious, striving to raise the national economy to a higher level and strive for the position of the next president.

In today's domestic political situation, it is difficult to change the situation in which the Republican Party is the dominant party in a short period of time. Drawbacks are inevitable for a long period of time, but as far as the current situation is concerned, the Republican Party's long-term rule guarantees the long-term validity of the policy. According to the 14-year-old revised Constitution, it was established that in 1933 the president would be elected by universal suffrage, rather than the current election, and that the political parties would compete for seats in parliaments at all levels to determine the power to govern.

The meeting was of great significance, as ministers from various cabinet departments attended the meeting, including President Sun Baoqi and Chairman of the Military Commission Fang Jianxiong. Of course, at this meeting, Fang Jianxiong will not speak, but Sun Baoqi can stand in the position of president and guide the country. The core idea of this meeting is to strive to stabilize the environment externally and develop the economy, education, science and technology internally. Without a stable internal and external environment, how can we talk about development? In view of this, Wang Zhengting and Jiang Fangzhen's visit to Japan was born.

After Tang Hualong spoke, Sun Baoqi took over the right to speak and said: "Colleagues, first of all, I want to tell you a good news, Foreign Minister Wang Rutang telegraphed that the implementation of the visit to Japan has gained a lot. The Japanese government has agreed to completely evacuate Lushun by the end of the year at the latest, and China and Japan will jointly maintain peace in the Far East and jointly develop Sakhalin oil. This afternoon, Foreign Minister Wang Rutang will sign a memorandum of understanding on friendship and cooperation between China and Japan at Japanese Foreign Minister Uchida. …………。 ”

Fang Jianxiong, who had not spoken all this time, couldn't help frowning slightly when he heard this. After the formation of the new cabinet, there were some voices within the Republican Party, mainly aimed at Fang Jianxiong. Wang Zhengting was one of the voices that spoke, meaning that whenever there is a major state matter, the president and the prime minister must first ask the chairman of the NPC National Committee, and once this move becomes a common practice, I am afraid that it will not be the luck of the Republic of China. It means that Fang Dashuai has interfered in politics, and it is not good for the country for a long time.

This sound. Initially, it was issued by the opposition parties, and slowly spread to the Republican Party. There is no doubt that this is a very targeted plan. The aim was to weaken Fang's influence on the country. First seize the power of his cadres, and Xu Tu's military power. It's such a rhythm anyway, and it's not bad. The Zhi Gong Dang, which was pulled up by Cen Chunxuan and Chen Jiongming, even proposed that the Republic of China should engage in a federal system, that is, the autonomy of all provinces.

After Congress considered the new press bill. There has been a lot of noise, mainly an attack on the press bill, which it deprives the people of their freedom of speech. The general meaning is that some people say whatever they want, and you can't care about them yet.

In the past, officials could hear about things, whether they were right or not. Anyway, there will be no punishment for saying it casually. In the era of feudal centralization, this system was favorable to the emperor. When you get to the Republic of China, it's okay to talk nonsense again. That's what the press bill is all about. Some people have become accustomed to talking casually, and they are suddenly not allowed to say it, so they naturally want to jump their feet.

The press bill is arguably the most controversial bill since the Republican Party took office.

With Fang Jianxiong present, the meeting was not alarmed. All topics are in order, including the increase in the number of government-sent students from 3,000 to 5,000 each year. are also all shun lì tong guò. You know, that's a huge amount of money to spend on education. In recent years, there have been more and more international students going abroad, and there are three main ways, one is the official derivation, the other is the private education fund, and the other is the international students selected by the provinces themselves, and the last one is relatively small.

"Since the Republican Party came to power, the number of overseas students has accumulated to more than 30,000 in the past five years, and many of the early dispatched students have returned to China to serve...... Cai Yuanpei is proud, as the Minister of Education, he has had the best life in the past few years, with the greatest state support, more funds in his hands, and a hard waist.

After Cai Yuanpei finished speaking, Finance Minister Xiong Xiling suddenly raised his hand to ask to speak, and after getting the consent of Sun Baoqi, the host of the meeting, Xiong Xiling coughed and said in an aggravated tone: "The results of the national fiscal revenue statistics in the first half of the year have come out, and the total is 258 million yuan, which is equivalent to 1 billion taels of silver in the early years. The country's financial situation is generally good, but there are also many problems. Since the power to issue currency is not in the hands of the Ministry of Finance, it is difficult for the cabinet to promote economic development through the issuance of additional monetary policy. I think that we should pay enough attention to this matter, otherwise the Ministry of Finance will not be able to afford the sin of economic sluggishness in the future. ”

When Xiong Xiling was talking energetically, he suddenly heard a bang, and the dignified finance minister's speech was interrupted, everyone followed the sound, and Fang Dashuai took the case and angrily reprimanded: "If you can't take responsibility, you can resign to the cabinet!" ”

After this move, the house was silent! After a while, Cai Yuanpei stood up and said: "Help the country, be cautious!" The country's great plan! ”

Fang Jianxiong sneered and glanced at Cai Yuanpei, and said lightly: "Xiong Bingsan is not good at the way of economy, I don't think he is suitable to stay in the position of Minister of Finance, it is better to resign on his own initiative." "Fang Dashuai's attitude is so tough, it really shocks a room of people. For a long time, Fang Jianxiong never expressed his opinion when attending cabinet meetings, but just quietly observed. Today's move, no one expected, is really a bit of a silent place to listen to thunder.

"Fang Fuguo, I am the Minister of Finance of the Cabinet, is it appropriate for me to resign based on your words?" Xiong Xiling's beard shook wildly, and he endured his love without scolding.

Fang Jianxiong sneered and looked around, forcing everyone to dare not look at each other before he said: "May I ask Minister Xiong Bingsan, is the currency issuance power not in the hands of the Ministry of Finance, does it really have so much to do with the country's economic development?" The United States is the world's largest economic power, may I ask the third minister, is the Federal Reserve under the jurisdiction of the United States? Furthermore, you can see that the lack of money affects the development of the economy, but you can't see why there is a shortage of money. The rat is short-sighted, and dares to talk about the relationship between money and the economy. There is someone here, who dares to claim to know more about the economy than Fang? ”

There is no doubt that Xiong Xiling touched Fang Jianxiong's bottom line. This kind of thing happened, and the reason was naturally that Fang Jianxiong had been extremely low-key in government affairs over the years, and some people thought that they could challenge and test Fang's bottom line. Unexpectedly, Xiong Xiling, who was the first to jump out, was counterattacked by Fang Jianxiong so sharply.

Xiong Xiling stood in place, he wanted to refute Fang Jianxiong, but soon found that he didn't know how to refute. When Fang Jianxiong was still in Wuhu, he had already done a good job, and then the four provinces were united and autonomous, and the economy along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was even ahead of the country, even surpassing the traditional big households such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

Seeing that the scene was getting stiffer and stiffer, Sun Baoqi hurriedly coughed and said, "Fuguo, this matter can be discussed again." Sun Baoqi came out and made a mud, and Fang Jianxiong unexpectedly didn't give face: "President, people will propose to the Congress to impeach Xiong Bingsan for incompetence." ”

There was no room for turning things around this time, and when Sun Baoqi was dumbfounded, there was a bang, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and Chen Guofu rushed in and said loudly: "Fu Shuai, something happened, Chief of General Staff Jiang was assassinated in Japan." ”

The scene was chaotic, and Jiang Fangzhen was assassinated during his visit to Japan, and the news was too shocking. Fang Jianxiong didn't care about continuing to fight Xiong Xiling, so he rushed up and grabbed the telegram to read it carefully, but saw Dianyun: At sixteen o'clock, Baili was assassinated at the press conference.

Gu Weijun, who was about to succeed Wang Zhengting as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, also rushed in from outside at this time, holding a telegram in his hand and whispering: "At 4 o'clock this afternoon, Foreign Minister Wang and Foreign Minister Uchida jointly held a press conference. ”

Fang Jianxiong subconsciously looked at his watch, and the time was already half past four, indicating that the news came in time.

The assassination of Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting and Chief of General Staff Jiang Fangzhen during their visit to Japan shocked the world. At 6 p.m. on the same day, the Civil Council issued a Level 3 Combat Readiness Order. Units in the northeast and the Far East should be well prepared for battle. The Northeast Military Region issued an order that all units visiting their relatives must immediately leave for their units.

At 10 p.m. on 30 September, the 18th Infantry Division of the National Defense Force of the Northeast Military Region marched south and arrived in Gaizhou in the early morning of the next day to threaten Lushun. The fourth, fifth, and sixth infantry divisions, which were being reorganized, arrived on the banks of the Yalu River. The main force of the Far Eastern Military District stationed in Chita urgently transferred an infantry division eastward to the Shuangchengzi fortress.

Seeing that peace in Asia was coming, the atmosphere suddenly became tense because of a sudden assassination.

In the Marshal's Mansion, the atmosphere in Fang Jianxiong's office was not as strict as it looked from the outside, President Sun Baoqi, Premier Tang Hualong, and Acting Foreign Minister Gu Weijun were all there.

"This incident is supposed to have been done by Japanese radicals and was intended to provoke a dispute between China and Japan. After the Hara cabinet came to power, it focused on reducing the number of intervening troops in the Far East and improving relations with China. This move undoubtedly irritated the Japanese radicals. Gu Weijun talked eloquently, looking quite atmospheric. After the former Wang Zhengting's visit to Japan, he will step down and be reappointed as the ambassador of the Republic of China to the United States.

Chen Guofu, who was in a hurry, came in and said with a telegram in his hand: "Fu Shuai, the president, the prime minister, the call is coming every day, the operation is going smoothly, and it is not out of the danger period yet." The good news is that the bullet did not penetrate the heart, and it was not fatal with a single hit. ”

Fang Jianxiong's eyes were gloomy and said: "Hurry up and communicate with the Japanese side, Shaochuan will work hard." On the sù day, report every two hours, and ask Zhao Yu to come over and see me. ”