The League had been formally established in Japan, and the Manchu court was still in ignorance. Japan defeated Russia, and the imperial court did not study the real reasons for this, let alone care about the resulting changes in the situation within the world realm. The war outside the Kansai only gave the advocates of constitutionalism an additional justification.

The upper echelons of the Qing court did not know what constitutionalism was. In fact, there are very few people in the country who know what constitutionalism is.

Constitutionalism is a democratic politics with the Constitution at its core. Characteristics of constitutionalism "The spirit of the constitution, the requirements of the constitutional system and constitutional norms are universally realized in the political, economic, and cultural life of society." The Constitution is "the supreme mechanism for regulating the interrelationship between state powers, and between state powers and citizen powers." ”

These words are written by professionals, and they are a bit awkward to read. To describe the constitution in layman's terms, it is the fundamental law of the state, and no person, any organization, or any action, whether political or economic, state organ or individual citizen, can violate the law. Therefore, the constitution is also called the parent law.

Under the constitutional system, the concept of the constitution is widely popularized, and unconstitutional acts are effectively stopped.

The emergence of constitutionalism is the result of the progress of human civilization. Mankind's demand for democratic politics is an inevitable product of the modernization of civilization. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the development of the commodity economy, the capitalist mode of production within the boundaries of the world was gradually established, and the nascent bourgeoisie inevitably demanded to take back power from the feudal emperors. A constitutional system that embodies the political demands of the bourgeoisie must have four basic connotations: first, it must protect citizens' basic political rights such as speech, publication, assembly, and association; Second, political rights are effectively constrained by the Constitution; Third, the government exercises effective control over the state on the basis of legitimacy; Fourth, the government has the ability to accommodate and communicate public opinion.

It must be emphasized that the powers of the government are conferred by the Constitution. Subject to constitutional constraints. No public power may infringe upon the basic rights granted to citizens by the Constitution, and it is obligatory to ensure the realization of citizens' basic rights.

To define whether a country is a constitutional form of government, three indicators cannot be ignored: first, whether the rights of citizens are fundamentally guaranteed; second, whether the government is effectively constrained by the Constitution; The third is whether the model of the political system is clear.

From the perspective of the model of constitutional state in the world, it can be roughly divided into three types, namely, the Japanese and German-style constitutional systems; The British-style constitutional system of agreement and the American-style constitutional system of the people. The reason for the emergence of different political systems is closely related to the different traditional cultures of different countries, because the political model is actually a redistribution of political resources, which often forms a competition between the old and the new political forces. Under normal circumstances, countries with strong traditional political power adopt the King James constitutional model, and countries with weak traditional power adopt the people-made constitutional model. In between. The old and new forces can achieve a balance of the agreement mode.

Regardless of the model, the underlying principle is the same, and that is the "consent principle". That is, all the actions of the government and the formulation of laws and policies must follow democratic procedures. It must be the consent of the citizen to take effect. The principle of consent is the sacred bottom line of the Constitution.

From the point of view of the origin and development of the constitutional system in the world of the world. China does not possess any of the factors that produce a constitutional system.

Modern China is an economy based on self-sufficiency. The absolute authority and absolute power of the emperor since Qin Shi Huang has been unquestionable for 2,000 years. The will of the emperor is the law. It's the same as the Constitution. State power was in the hands of the emperor alone, and officials were appointed by him and accountable to him alone. This authoritarian system denies and denies the people from participating in politics.

When it comes to political change, in modern times, the Wuxu Reform Law was the first attempt, but unfortunately it failed. Of course, based on the analysis of the situation at that time, the result could only be a failure. After Xin Chou, the Qing court was forced to implement a new policy under internal and external troubles, and the reform measures involved almost every field of society, but this kind of policy change was not enough to change a new political form, and the autocratic nature of the state would not change in any way while the imperial power was still in place.

As Zhang Zhidong, Zhou Fu, Cen Chunxuan and other important Xinjiang ministers entered the constitutional camp, Cixi, who weighed the pros and cons, made a choice between waiting for the revolution to break out and the constitution. She knew very well that the constitution was to divide a little power from her, but the revolution was to take her life. Cixi had no choice. But she still remembered Long Qian's secret fold against the constitution, and felt that the wind knew the grass, and the bandang knew Chengchen, and the young military general who had saved herself and was reused by herself was still intimate with her. Therefore, for Tie Liang and Liang Bi, who had returned from studying in Japan, and a group of Manchu upstarts attacked Long Qian's suggestion to seize his military power and transfer him to Beijing to be free, Cixi did not send it.

At the end of August of that year, Yuan Shikai, whose political stance had shifted to the constitutional camp, asked the imperial court to send pro-noble ministers to overseas to inspect the constitution. This idea was quickly adopted by Cixi, and the edict ordered five ministers, Zaize Ze, the prince of Zhenguo, Duanfang, the governor of Hunan, Dai Hongci, the head of the household department, Shaoying, the right of the Ministry of Commerce, and Xu Shichang, the head of the military department, to investigate the East and the West. On September 24, the five ministers set off, but shortly after boarding the train at Qianmen Railway Station, they encountered a bomb set by the Assassins, Shao Ying and Xu Shichang were injured, the Assassins were blown to pieces, and the corpses were placed in front of the Qianmen Railway Station for identification. It was not until later that the name and deeds of the Assassin became apparent, and his name was Wu Yue, a revolutionary party that advocated the use of assassination to change the dynasty.

Xu Shichang was appointed governor of the three eastern provinces in 1903. Immediately after the Russo-Japanese War, the immature political reform of the three eastern provinces was forced to stop, and Yuan Shikai was excluded and suspicious by Tie Liang and others, and urgently needed the help of his old friends, so he moved him back to the center and served as a squire in the military department to fight against Tie Liang and others. Unexpectedly, he encountered an assassination in Jingshi.

What the court didn't know was that the huge wave of assassinations had just begun.

In desperation, the imperial court reassigned Bai Ruiting, the political envoy of Shandong, and Li Shengduo, the Cheng of Fengtianfu, to replace Xu Shichang and Shaoying, and continued to complete the mission of the investigation.

The reason why Bai Ruiting was chosen was because of the good new policy in Shandong. And Li Shengduo is the "mayor of the capital", and if he really wants to make a constitution in the future, the Beijing division will definitely move first.

Bai Ruiting visited Long Qian before leaving for Beijing. Since his daughter married Wang Mingyuan, the number one general under Long Qian, Lord Bai officially joined Long Qian's camp. But he only knew that Long Qian had trained his troops well. Engaging in industry is even more intelligent. But I didn't know that what the admiral who said he would call the empress dowager had been doing was accumulating strength, choosing the opportunity to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Compared with the revolutionary party, which is more empty slogans, Long Qian's threat is the greatest.

It's ridiculous that even Yang Shixiang on Yuan Shikai's boat didn't realize that the biggest "anti-thief" was around.

There are only a handful of people who know Long Qian's ambitions.

Bai Ruiting came to Long Qian's office to ask questions about the examination of constitutionalism. He believes that Long Qian grew up in the United States, and is naturally much better at constitutionalism than him, a person who has never gone abroad.

"Lord Bai, I have always been opposed to constitutionalism. Because constitutionalism is not for our country. Long Qian got straight to the point, "Since the imperial court wants you to go abroad for an investigation, let's go." Let's take a look at what is going on in the East and the West. Bai Gongquan should travel at public expense, and I don't want you to take the lead anyway. However, if Bai Gong is careful. Let's take a look at their businesses. "Bai Ruiting is quite enthusiastic about Shandong industry. Long Qian felt that this old bureaucrat was quite pragmatic.

In fact, Bai also felt that constitutionalism was a little unreliable. What is the royal family? What is the Queen Mother? Instead of engaging in these vain things, it is better to set up a few factories. ”

"It's okay to make a small fuss, but if the industry grows bigger, it will naturally encounter institutional obstacles." Long Qian knew that Bai Ruiting and Yang Shixiang were not right. He is the "remnant" of Weng Tongyi's faction. It's a miracle that I've survived until now. I am not afraid of him saying nonsense, "To really engage in large-scale industry, we must play a game of chess in the whole country." It can't be done by relying on private capital alone. If you go out to see it, you will know that Shandong's industry has actually reached a bottleneck, and in the future, it is difficult to make rapid progress as in the past few years. ”

"How so?" Bai Ruiting didn't believe it, "I'm afraid it will take more than half a year for me to leave." When I come back, Shandong will definitely have a new atmosphere. ”

"Then let's borrow the auspicious words of Lord Bai." Long Qian set up a banquet for Bai Ruiting to practice, and presented a lot of Cheng Yi.

This year, there is not much to worry about in Shandong. Except for the slow progress of the rural autonomy work led by Chen Chao and encountered considerable resistance, everything else went smoothly. Long Qian's energy shifted from the political aspect back to the military aspect.

In the first half of the year, the Fifth Town changed its guard in the name of training, and the troops of the Tenth Association and the Ninth Association were reversed. The headquarters of the Ninth Association is stationed in Yizhou, and its 17th standard is stationed in Yanzhou, and the 18th standard is stationed in Dongchang. The 10th Coordination Headquarters is stationed in Qingzhou, its 19th standard is stationed in Laizhou, and the 20th standard is stationed in Weifang. The cavalry directly under the standard was transferred to Wuding and was transferred to the north gate of Shandong.

Not only that, Long Qian also made adjustments to the main generals, among which Feng Lun, the deputy co-commander of the 10th Association and the 19th standard commander, was replaced to the 20th standard, and Long Qian's brother-in-law Ye Yanbing was transferred to the 19th standard to serve as the standard commander. Hu Zongyu, chief of staff of the Ninth Association, and Lan Xinzhi, chief of staff of the Tenth Association, also made a switch.

In June, Long Qian made adjustments to the patrol battalion in the organization, and with the establishment of the retirement system of the fifth town troops, a large number of veterans retired from active service after 3~4 years of service. The vast majority of them entered the patrol battalion, increasing the strength of the patrol battalion.

In view of Yang Shixiang's fierce opposition, Long Qian, after weighing the pros and cons, began to dismantle and merge some battalions of the patrol battalion that were not up to standard in the spring of 1905. Most of the retrenched personnel were still counted as reservists and received a monthly allowance of two silver dollars, and most of them were recommended for entry into the expanding Huayuan and Zhongxing industries, especially the iron and steel enterprises in Yizhou and the coal mines in Yanzhou. The reorganized patrol force consisted of 16 battalions with a total strength of 9,600 men, which was halved from the original number.

This move was appreciated by Yang Shixiang, who always believed that the bandits in Shandong had been quelled, and it was too much money to raise 20,000 patrol battalions.

In view of the fact that the battalion-based patrol force could not meet the needs of a larger scale of mobilization and use, Long Qian ordered the establishment of three patrol regiments, of which the first regiment headquarters was stationed in Tai'an, the second regiment headquarters was stationed in Pingdu, and the third regiment headquarters was stationed in Caozhou, each with four patrol battalions. Responsible for local security and banditry and other affairs. All three regiment commanders were selected from the fifth town to serve as the best battalion commanders.

The headquarters of the Shandong Patrol Army in Jinan has four battalions under its direct jurisdiction, including an artillery battalion and an engineer battalion. Its command structure has also been strengthened, and in addition to the staff training organs, logistics and military law supervision organs have also been established, basically referring to the organizational setup of the Fifth Town. In fact, the patrol army led by Ning Shijun was the reserve division of the fifth town.

Yang Shixiang knew that Long Qian had turned the patrol battalion into a "shadow" town of his fifth town, but he was helpless. Because of the favor of Cixi on the issue of constitutionalism again, the old woman could not listen to anything unfavorable to Long Qian.

In July, before the Russo-Japanese War came to fruition, guns and artillery rumbled on the border of Shandong, and two exercises were held in the east and west. To the west, the main force of the Fifth Town and the reorganized patrol battalion held a regimental confrontation exercise with a small number of artillery units. As expected, the 18th Patrol Regiment of the Fifth Town, which participated in the exercise, completely defeated the 3rd Patrol Regiment, indicating that there is still a considerable gap between the patrol battalion and the main force in terms of training. To the east, at the invitation of the German side, the 19th Bid held a confrontation exercise with the German troops stationed in Qingdao in Laizhou, with the participation of two battalions of the artillery standard. The German army participated in the exercise with about 3,000 troops and 18 cannons. Compared with the previous battalion-level exercise, the troops, firepower, and confrontation intensity of this exercise have been greatly strengthened. However, the result was a draw again, Feng Lun's troops pinned down the main force of the German army with one unit, and took a detour by night with a reinforced battalion, destroying the rear base of the German army and cutting off the rear supply line of the German army. However, the powerful German attack also broke through Feng Lun's defensive position, forcing the 19th Standard to retreat. The joint referee team stopped the exercise in a timely manner, ruled that the two sides were tied, and the exercise ended hastily. For this reason, Feng Lun was very unconvinced, and clashed with the German commander Lieutenant Colonel Glener at the exercise seminar proposed by Long Qian, and was imprisoned by Long Qian for three days.

In addition, Long Qian secretly sent two groups of people to Guanwai, totaling 190 people. The fifth batch of men and horses was sent in the first half of the year, led by Zheng Shuangqing, chief of staff of the 19th standard. In September, Long Qian once again sent a "cadre group" led by Shi Dashou, the 18th standard, to enrich the strength of the Lushan Institute. The Lushan Division is already the size of a division, and there is a great demand for officers.

Shi Dashou's original position was taken over by his deputy Han Ziying. Han Ziying was a member of the official army in the Battle of King Qin, and his appointment caused a lot of repercussions in the army. As for Shi Dashou, Long Qian's reason was that he was dismissed because he was incompetent, and only a few people knew that he had gone to Guanwai.

In September, David was again sent back to his homeland by Long Qian. David, who is the vice president of Huayuan, has been acting as the liaison between Shandong Industrial and the United States. The main task of sending David back to the United States this time was to seek further cooperation with Ford Motor Company, and Long Qian hoped that Ford would be able to establish an automobile factory in Shandong in addition to ordering 100 cars (mainly trucks) from Ford. Although Shandong's strength in steelmaking, rolling and machinery manufacturing is still weak, it finally has a certain foundation, and if it can establish an assembly plant in the form of a joint venture, Ford may consider it. The biggest problem is that the domestic car market simply does not exist, the road situation does not allow it, and it is limited by gasoline (which is completely dependent on imports). The Americans can sell their own cars, but they will not build factories in Shandong. Therefore, there is no rush to receive this task, just a trial.

As for oil, it remains to wait. Now is not the time to unravel the mystery.

"Now it's just a matter of waiting," Long Qian said to Chen Chao at home, "I guess next year will be a turning point, so let's wait for the turn of history." (To be continued......)