The new government has been formed, the various cabinet departments have been formed, the government agencies have begun to formally exercise their functions, and the new government has taken a multi-pronged approach in the political, military, and diplomatic fields.

In terms of politics, the new government has sent officials to various provinces to supervise the reform of local government institutions, and in accordance with the requirements of the central authorities, it has abolished and established some new institutions, such as eliminating some unnecessary departments and officials who eat idle meals, and building some necessary government agencies, such as the establishment of new industrial and commercial institutions, taxation, customs, courts, police stations, and so on, so as to lay down the original relevant organs in the government and prevent the duplication of functions.

The new Government has also stipulated that the chief administrative officers in all localities will no longer have the work and responsibility to solve and adjudicate cases, that the local police will be solely responsible for maintaining public order and cracking criminal cases, that the courts will be responsible for adjudicating cases, and that the work of various functional departments of the government will be supervised by the local supervision bureaus.

Since it is now a period of military administration, the principal officials of the local governments are still appointed by the above, and the principal officials of some key departments are also appointed by the chief officials appointed by the above, and the Advisory Bureau can only elect some less important deputies.

At the same time, the new government ordered that the right to collect fiscal and tax revenues in various localities be transferred to the central government, and the taxation bureaus established in various localities undertook this function; in order to maintain the authority of the central government, the fiscal and taxation collected by various localities was first uniformly handed over to the central finance, and then a part of the central finance was allocated to the local finance for local government financial expenditures. After two years, the local fiscal revenue will be directly retained in the local area, and it is not necessary to hand over all the revenue to the central government in advance.

The new government stipulates that a series of harsh taxes such as poll tax and city gate tax will be abolished. The composition of fiscal revenue in the budget is mainly composed of two parts. The first is the sharing of revenue between the central and local governments, and the second is the fixed income of the local government. The fiscal revenue shared between the central government and the local government is divided into agricultural tax, value-added tax, income tax, resource tax, and stamp duty on securities transactions. In terms of the distribution quota, the central government will enjoy 75 percent of the agricultural tax and value-added tax, 60 percent of the income tax, 100 percent of the resource tax, and 95 percent of the stamp duty on securities, and the rest will go to the local government. The local fixed fiscal revenue includes business tax, urban construction tax, deed tax, real estate tax, vehicle and vessel use tax, stamp duty, cultivated land occupation tax, tobacco tax, land value-added tax, urban land use tax, etc.

In order to carry out the decree of the new government thoroughly. The central authorities have also dispatched investigation teams to various localities to investigate the abolition and establishment of administrative organs in various localities on the one hand. On the other hand, we will investigate the abolition of exorbitant taxes and the implementation of new tax policies. The central government has resolutely cracked down on those who do not implement the central administrative orders or deliberately delay them, especially after the new government has issued the administrative orders, and various localities are still secretly collecting all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. Once discovered, local officials will be held administratively and criminally responsible, and will be sentenced to prison or handed over to a court for trial and shot.

In terms of foreign affairs, the new government has established diplomatic relations with Germany, the United States, and other neighboring countries, and has sent diplomatic envoys to each other.

On December 25, in accordance with Xiao Zhenlei's instructions, the diplomatic department of the new government sent a note to the legations of the great powers in China, which stipulated the regulations. Within three months, the new Government will forcibly repossess the land on which the legations are located in countries that have not yet established diplomatic relations with the new Government. Diplomatic personnel from various countries will be repatriated, and when diplomatic relations are established between the two sides, diplomatic personnel will be sent to each other to lease land to build embassies.

The new government's move is too ruthless, forcing countries to establish diplomatic relations with the new government, and if diplomatic relations are established, it will actually be tantamount to recognizing the international legitimacy of the new government. In Xiao Zhenlei's words, the new government is the government of the people of the whole country. It is a legitimate government that has been recognized by the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country, and it does not matter whether it is recognized by foreign countries or not. As long as the whole country recognizes it, it is legitimate. If the Great Powers did not recognize the new government, the new government would also not recognize the unequal treaties signed between the Qing court and the Great Powers.

In response to the note sent by the new government, the envoys of the great powers in China were so angry that they wanted to use the question of the legitimacy of the new government when it was just established, and wanted to use this to coerce the new government to agree to some terms, but they did not expect that the new government did not play its cards according to common sense at all, and in particular, Kuminschi, the Russian minister to China, was ready to use this as a threat to coerce the new government to recognize the autonomy of Outer Mongolia.

The envoys of various countries in China reported the situation to China and waited for news from their homes, and the great powers were now holding each other back, and they did not have the extra energy and strength to manage the affairs of the Far East, and it was not worth fighting for such a trivial matter, so within a few days, the countries recognized the new government as the legitimate government of China, except for Tsarist Russia.

During the Xinhai Revolution, in order to extend its influence in the Far East to the south, Russia instigated the Jebtsundamba clique to declare the "independence" of Outer Mongolia.

In September 1912, Tsarist Russia sent former minister to China, Langso, to Kulen to force the Kulen authorities to directly sign the Russian-Mongolian Entente, which stipulated a political treaty guaranteeing Mongolian autonomy and a special article stipulating the power of the Russians in Khalkha, prohibiting Chinese soldiers from entering Mongolia and Chinese transplanting Mongolia. The Mongols, for their part, also undertook not to conclude agreements contrary to the powers conferred on the Russians by the Russian-Chinese treaty, and not to give foreigners more power in Mongolia than the Russians enjoyed in Peter.

At that time, Liu Jingren, the minister of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government in Russia, immediately protested against Russia's interference in China's internal affairs, and the Beiyang government also sent a note to the Tsarist authorities at that time, saying: "Mongolia is Chinese territory, and although the place is not at peace, it is absolutely not qualified to conclude treaties with foreign countries.

In order to make the Beiyang government recognized by the international community, Yuan Shikai had to send a delegation to negotiate with the Tsarist delegation in the capital, and the negotiations have been going on for half a year.

No, not long after the establishment of the new government, the Russian minister to China, Kuminschi, came to the door again, asked to restart the negotiations, and sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the new government to restart the negotiations, after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the note, the official document was quickly submitted to the cabinet premier Song Shijie, because the new government had just been established at this time, the country has not been completely pacified, so it is not appropriate to anger the foreign powers diplomatically, for the grasp of this scale, even as the cabinet premier Song Shijie is not easy to grasp.

That night, Song Shijie had to bring the official diplomatic note sent by Kuminschi to Xiao Zhenlei and ask for instructions.

Xiao Zhenlei smoked a cigarette, took the official document handed over by Song Shijie, read it carefully, glanced at Song Shijie with his eyes, and said: "For this kind of unreasonable demand, the diplomatic department should immediately say that it will not continue to negotiate on this matter, Mongolia has been the territory of China since ancient times, whether Mongolia is autonomous or not, it is the Chinese government's own business, what does it matter to Tsarist Russia?" Tsarist Russia's purpose was clear, that is, to prepare for the annexation of Mongolia. You see, judging from the intention reached between Lu Zhengxiang, the representative of Yuan Shikai at that time, and the Russians, the purpose of the Tsarist authorities has been clearly revealed, and I believe that if this agreement had been successfully signed at that time, the Tsarist authorities would have overturned it again and demanded renegotiation, because there was a provision on Mongolia as China's inalienable territory, which hindered Tsarist Russia's intention to annex Mongolia! ”

Song Shijie nodded and said: "Then tomorrow I will instruct the diplomatic department to reply directly to Kuminsiqi, no more negotiations on the Mongolian issue, Tsarist Russia's previous behavior in Mongolia is interference in China's internal affairs, sending troops into Mongolia without authorization to expel our country's office officials in Mongolia, and disarming our troops in Mongolia is a strict invasion, what measures should China take?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and said, "Reserve the right to pursue further!" ”

Although Tsarist Russia did not have many troops deployed in the Far East at this time, and most of the troops were contained on the Western Front, Tsarist Russia was an ally of Britain and France, and these three countries had signed a strategic alliance agreement several years ago. Judging from the current situation, Xiao Zhenlei can only say that he reserves the right to pursue further investigations, neither weakly retreating, nor provoking Tsarist Russia, avoiding war, in fact, Tsarist Russia will not and does not dare to start a war in the Far East, after all, most of its forces are contained on the Western Front, by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

After Song Shijie left, Xiao Zhenlei pondered for a long time in the study, thinking about how to solve the pressure of external factors and free up his hands to solve domestic problems first. The biggest foreign enemy of the new government is not Britain and France, but Japan and Russia, which is caused by geopolitical relations, although Britain and France are strong, but after all, there is no border with China, and Britain and France and other countries are contained by the Central Powers headed by Germany, and have no time to separate, but Tsarist Russia and Japan are different, these two countries directly border China. (To be continued) R466