What Long Qian said to Cai Yuanpei that the Propaganda Bureau was chaotic is indeed a fact.

The mission of the Propaganda Bureau is to form a parliament and determine the political structure of the country. As the chief and deputy director of the Propaganda Bureau, Hong Yuecheng and Soong Jiaoren had disputes over the composition and operation of the National Assembly, and even more so on the determination of the form of government, which could not be unified. In addition, according to Long Qian's idea, there are also huge differences in the way and the number of members of the National Assembly recommended by the major military regions according to the given quota. Maybe it's Hong Yuecheng's lack of prestige, or maybe it's Song Jiaoren's stubbornness, anyway, the Propaganda Bureau is the most chaotic bureau among the five bureaus of the Military Commission. It is far worse than the political affairs bureau, which was also filled by representatives of the original hostile forces (Yuan Shikai chose to refuse to leave Shanduan Qirui very wisely, and temporarily served as the deputy director of the political affairs bureau, but never insisted on any opinions different from Fang Shengyuan).

There is no controversy about choosing the republic, and Long Qian will be the first president of the republic. The controversy over the form of government arises over the choice of a cabinet or a presidential system. However, Song Jiaoren's study of several forms of republican government is more profound than Hong Yuecheng's, and it is difficult for Hong Yuecheng to refute himself, the deputy imposed by Long Qian, which makes the two very unhappy.

Let's start with the structure of the regime. Both of them realized that this was an extremely serious issue, because Long Qian made it clear that after the structure of the regime was determined, it would be determined in the form of a constitution that no light change would be allowed. The difference in the structure of political power will inevitably affect the fate of the republic.

Hong Yuecheng advocates a presidential system. He designed a structure of government in which Congress "elects" the president, who forms a cabinet and who determines the heads of government departments. The president is both the head of state. He is also the supreme head of government. Moreover, the president is not accountable to Congress, and Congress has no power to overthrow the cabinet, and the only restraint on the president can only be impeachment – and that must be if the president has a conclusive violation of the constitution or a serious violation of the law.

Of course, Hong Yuecheng's plan for China will not be a false shelf. The legislative power is clearly in the Congress, and the government led by the president must be administered within the framework of the law and must not violate any law.

Soong advocated the implementation of a responsible cabinet system, that is, the Congress "elected" the president, and the president was naturally the head of state and the supreme commander of the armed forces, but the core of the political power was the prime minister, the president nominated the prime minister, the majority leader of the National Assembly, and approved by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister stepped forward to form a cabinet. Exercising executive power and being accountable to the National Assembly.

The power of the president is much smaller, but in the framework of the regime designed by Soong, the president has the power to dissolve the parliament and hold a new general election – the government of the prime minister must be held accountable when the country is in a critical situation. Moreover, the Prime Minister's Office must approve its decisions – the Constitution can be used to specify the matters that require the President's seal.

In a sense, the framework designed by Hung Yuecheng was tailor-made for Long Qian. Song Jiaoren thinks that there are defects. To put it bluntly, it is easy to form a situation in which the presidential palace is dominant. According to Hong's design. Congress simply has no power to restrain the president. After the debate, Song Jiaoren simply pointed at Hong Yuecheng - the founding leader is naturally eloquent, can you guarantee that he will be as wise as the founding leader in the future? Mr. Long abolished the feudal republic and established the republic. If we want to open up a broad road for our China to jump out of the cycle of chaos, the stability of the country lies in the stability of the regime, and the stability of the regime lies in mutual restraint, and the cabinet system seems to weaken the power of the president, but the president will stay out of ordinary chores, and the government's mistakes will not endanger the prestige of the president. After a hundred years of the president, he will be recorded in history as a generation of great men who created history, so how did my plan become a deprivation of the president's power? Aren't you living up to Mr. Long's good intentions by catering to the military like this?

Song Jiaoren's plan has the element of "virtual monarch reality". The plan does have the president's intention not to take responsibility for the government's mistakes.

His accusation that Hong Yuecheng pandered to the military was not groundless, because the Propaganda Bureau's discussion of the proposed form of government received great attention from the military.

It was impossible for the military generals to ignore the formation of the supreme authority, and they expressed their opinions to the Propaganda Bureau in different ways, telegrams, letters, or couriers. All major military regions have messengers to and from their garrisons and Beijing, and they have good reasons for at least the military regions to shoulder the mission of "recommending" legislators, and it is normal for them to come to the Propaganda Bureau to "report" on their work. And the Propaganda Bureau really needs to grasp the progress of this work in various military regions, and at a time when the communication problem is quite backward (except for Long Qian, no one thinks it is backward), who will refuse face-to-face communication? Song Jiaoren attended talks with military representatives every time, and the commanders were not allowed to enter Beijing without orders, and all the officers who came were chiefs of staff, deputy chiefs of staff, or other officers who were highly trusted.

They expressed an almost unanimous opinion: the military would not allow for a decentralization of power, and the military wanted to centralize not only military power, but also power.

Concentrated in whose hands, this is self-evident. Of course, because the commanders of the major military regions have very different personalities, there are great differences in the way they express their opinions and the words they use, but the meaning is basically the same.

Song Jiaoren did not think that this was the instruction of the person who lived in Haiyan Hall to spit and hold his hair (Song Jiaoren did not think that he needed to use a detour to gain power, it was just a matter of his words). But because of this, Song Jiaoren felt worried. If it weren't for responsibility, if it wasn't for seeing the changes that were taking place in the country that made Song Jiaoren feel excited, if it wasn't for him to see the tangible hope for the country's rejuvenation, why would he sit in this chair and thus endure the ridicule and even abuse of his former colleagues? What he has never understood is that there are many comrades-in-arms from the same camp in the past who have changed their courts, why are they just not forgiven? Could it be that there have always been differences of opinion with the former leaders?

Song Jiaoren entered Beijing with Tan Renfeng, Sun Wu and others, and was idle for a period of time. Song Jiaoren could see that Sun Wu was very happy. Yes, in the case that the Republic of China has become a wave in the long river of history, as a soldier, it is always a joy to be able to get the opportunity to serve the country. Then Long Qian personally talked to himself and asked him to become the deputy director of the Propaganda Bureau of the newly established Military Commission to assist Hong Yuecheng in his work. Before he agreed, Tan Renfeng had already received Long Qian's appointment and happily returned to Hunan to be the chief of civil affairs. I don't know why I have to go around in such a big circle. If you want to use Tan Shiping to govern Hunan, why do you want to go around Beijing? Why don't you be as straightforward as Tang Hualong? Tan Renfeng said to himself that Long Qian talked to him twice, and also had lunch together, explaining the key points of governing Hunan. What excited Tan Renfeng was that Long Qian spoke highly of Hunan, saying, "If China is ancient Greece, Hunan must be Sparta, if China is Germany, Hunan will be Prussia." This evaluation is too high, no wonder Tan Shiping is excited.

Of course, Song Jiaoren also accepted Long Qian's banquet, but it was actually just a light meal. However, the atmosphere at the dinner table is always much more harmonious. Song Jiaoren, who lived in Xianliang Temple, heard such a rumor. said that Long Qian would invite the "general" to dinner, but for the descendants of the Mengshan army, not everyone has this treatment. Many chiefs of staff of military regions have been summoned to Beijing, and at most they have only met once.

Song Jiaoren didn't care much about these false courtesies. Since he stayed in Wuchang, he did not leave. It's that I'm already disappointed with the Kuomintang. It is an irreversible fact that the Mengshan Army will unify China. Keen on politics and only in his thirties, he naturally didn't want to stop there. That's why he followed Long Qian into Beijing. Long Qian has fully explained his strategy for the founding of the country, and Song Jiaoren is already clear about the mission undertaken by the Propaganda Bureau of the Military Commission. This is an extremely important Provisional Institution. Before the formation of the National Assembly and the government, the Military Commission was the supreme authority of the state. The appointment of him as deputy director of the Propaganda Bureau cannot be said to mean that he is not taken seriously. Laying the foundation of a true republic was the ideal he had always pursued, and he admitted that Long Qian had a deeper understanding of the republican system than Sun Wen, and that Long Qian's steps towards the establishment of the country were more prudent, and that he would rather use a provisional body to form a central government in a hurry, at least to show that he attached great importance to the National Assembly. After thinking about it, Song Jiaoren accepted Long Qian's appointment after Tan Renfeng left Beijing, and took up his post in the Propaganda Bureau, so he naturally moved from the high-end post house in Xianliang Temple to the power center of Xiyuan.

The task of the Propaganda Bureau is indeed very heavy, and in a sense, it is exploring and determining the future political pattern of this country that has just abolished the feudal monarchy -- the formulation of the constitution, the formation of the National Assembly, the management system of the political party, and the design of the political system are all in the hands of this temporary body with only a few dozen members.

But he had a huge disagreement with Hong Yuecheng on the design of the political system. It's hard to say which is better, the presidential system or the cabinet system, the United States is the presidential system, and it doesn't even have the post of prime minister. In Song Jiaoren's view, Britain, Japan, Germany and other countries under the constitutional monarchy are actually cabinet systems. The monarch is the president, and the prime minister is the prime minister. In Song Jiaoren's view, the presidential system advocated by Hong Yuecheng was inevitably suspected of currying favor with Long Qian, but Long Qian had clearly expressed his determination to decentralize power and restrain him, and this was what really moved Song Jiaoren. Isn't it good that the president, as the head of state, holds the country's foreign and military powers, and is detached from the outside world and entrusts the prime minister with government affairs? If the cabinet is not functioning effectively, the president can dissolve the cabinet through Congress, so how can the power of the president be weakened? Is it true that the power of the president is respected by placing all government affairs under the president, who is the head of state? It doesn't make sense. What's more, Long Qian clearly wants to introduce a modern political party participation and election system in China, doesn't this prove the superiority of the cabinet system?

However, his views are an absolute minority in the Propaganda Bureau, including Rong Hong, who was invited by Long Qian to serve as an adviser to the Propaganda Bureau, and Rong Hong, who is considered his elder in terms of seniority, also advocates the implementation of the presidential system, and advocates the concentration of power in the president, and the president directly forms a cabinet.

Who is Yung Hong? With Rong Hong's insight, doesn't he really understand that his own ideas are the real political framework for establishing long-term peace and stability for the country? Once the political framework is constructed, it cannot be changed lightly, and it must be written into the constitution. Isn't everyone worried that the president's power is too great and leads to dictatorship? Song Jiaoren felt very confused.

He once had a heart-to-heart talk with Mr. Yung Hong, but Rong Hong did not explain the reason for his advocacy of the presidential system, but only said that he was too naïve and completely ignored the current situation in China.

Is it true that China's current situation cannot implement a true separation of powers? Song Jiaoren didn't believe it. Yes, the cultural level of the people is extremely low, and there is no precedent in history for all reasons, but the road is walked by people? How do you know if you can't do it without trying? If you don't give power to the people, the people will never regard themselves as the masters of the country, and if you don't establish a democratic government, more talented people will not emerge.

He doesn't think he has a strong desire for power. At the beginning, he followed Sun Wen to oppose the Qing Dynasty, not to be an official, but to overthrow the imperial system and establish a republic. Because he firmly believes that the imperial system can only sink China forever. The root cause of the series of contradictions that he and Sun Wen later had was also because Sun Wen was called a republic, but he was actually a dictatorship, and he always wanted to say a word and always wanted to build the Kuomintang into a Sun family party that was absolutely loyal to the leader. How can this work? He compared Sun Wen and Long Qian, and believed that Long Qian understood the meaning of democracy better than Sun Wen, and at least Sun Wen would not use his former rivals as much as Long Qian did—if Sun had Long Qian's current strength.

Naturally, Song Jiaoren would communicate with Long Qian, and he would go to Haiyan Hall to see Long Qian without any resistance, even if Long Qian was talking with various princes, his secretary would lead him into Haiyan Hall. Long Qian didn't make a clear statement about the design of the polity, and admitted that he didn't understand, so he invited you and Mr. Rong to come. However, you should pay attention to the fact that the conditions for forming a political party to run for public election are not yet in place, and without a relatively perfect constitution and without several years of hard work, the political party and government will be a farce. There are quite a few political parties now, do royalists count? It is said that there is also a Zongshe Party aimed at restoring the Manchu Qing Dynasty, is it appropriate to run for election? Will the Kuomintang recognize the republic? If there is no legal constraint and no multi-faceted restraint based on the national interest, how can we engage in political and political affairs?

So what to do? Song Jiaoren admits that what Long Qian said is the truth, but what should he do?

It takes time! Long Qian told him that it is necessary to popularize education, especially the education of the country and the nation, to unite the people with patriotism, and to have a universal reverence for the law. Rome was not built in a day, and democracy in a country with no democratic foundation was established overnight. Of course, we should not think that the Legislative Congress is fooling people by enacting political party regulations, this is also necessary. To move towards a true republic, something must be grasped now. I have always believed that in terms of taking the law, it is in the middle. In order to do a thing well, the first thing to do is to go in the right direction, and the reality is that even if the direction is correct, the implementation must be out of shape, which weakens the superiority of the plan. Since everyone thinks that a republic is necessary, then we want a true republic and not a false one. It doesn't matter if there is controversy, talk slowly, slowly unify thinking, as long as everyone holds the common ideal of a prosperous and strong motherland, we can seek common ground while reserving differences. But there is one thing you must pay attention to, the establishment of a republican system must consider our reality, just like everyone's physique is different, you can't use the same sports standards, I can climb with bare hands, if you are asked to do it, even if you are given a rope, you can't go up, eighty percent will fall to death.

This is Long Qian's answer. There are a lot of verbose words, and the implication is that he is in favor of Hong Yuecheng's presidential system. This did make Song Jiaoren deeply disappointed.

If he knew that Hong Yuecheng was under pressure, he wouldn't think so, Hong Yuecheng is also a member of Long Qian's core team, and the military generals distinguish between the two directors of the Propaganda Bureau, and Song Jiaoren is the big boss who took out the decorations to decorate the façade, but Hong is different. Because of this, the military generals unceremoniously pointed out to Hong Yuecheng that the commander led us to fight down the country, and of course it was the commander who sat in the world! Don't think about making those so-called flowery ways to restrict the power of the commander, who is qualified to restrain the commander? Joke! In addition, in terms of the grasp of the general trend of the world, who is stronger than the commander? Oh, if you go to a foreign country, you can understand the system of a foreign country? ! Let's not forget that the commander lived abroad for twenty years! Mr. Hong, you are a person who is a commander and a member of the Mengshan Army, and you are different from those Manchu remnants and Kuomintang elements, you must understand what to do, and don't listen to their nonsense.

Of course, the way of expressing opinions varies according to their respective personalities, some warn directly, some tactfully point out, and some remind kindly, but the core meaning is the same, the major policy must come from the president! Otherwise the army will not agree. (To be continued......)