At 10 a.m. on April 16, the first plenary session of the First National Assembly was held in the renovated Huairen Hall. The meeting was chaired by Hong Yuecheng, director of the Propaganda Bureau of the Central Military Commission, and each member of the council was seated in his designated seat, and a paper bag with the name of the councillor was already on the table, containing the agenda of the meeting and drafts of some important issues.

Hong Yuecheng, who presided over the meeting, said to all the congressmen: "Ladies and gentlemen, in accordance with the strategy formulated by the Central Military Commission, and through the election organized by the major military regions, except for Mongolia and Tibet, a total of 124 congressmen have been elected across the country, and the actual number of participants is 122, and two have taken leave due to illness. After examination by the Qualifications Review Group of the Propaganda Bureau of the Military Commission, all the qualifications of the deputies nominated by the provinces are valid. Through our analysis, we believe that the 124 elected deputies are broadly representative, including representatives of the armed forces who fought bloody battles for the establishment of the Republic, local personalities who have made great contributions to supporting the front line, and social elites who are concerned about the future and destiny of the country. You are the elite of the republic, the pillars of the country. More than 100 parliamentarians representing different strata and different political views gathered together to discuss and decide on state affairs, which is a great initiative in our country with a 3,000-year-old feudal history! The birth of the National Assembly will completely put an end to the decadent and declining feudal system and open up a new path for our great Chinese nation to build and govern the country democratically.

On behalf of the elected Legislators, I would like to express my heartfelt respect to Mr. Long Him. Gentlemen, you must know that Mr. Long single-handedly created the powerful armed force of the Mengshan Army, led the Mengshan Army to overthrow the imperial system in one fell swoop, and was the real founder of New China. Many people in the country were speculating that a dragon court would be established, not long ago. Talk about the imperial system has not subsided. However, Mr. Long used his actions to show the whole country and even the world that he would not be an emperor and would not build a new feudal dynasty! He even referred a series of important issues such as the state system and the form of government to the Congress, that is, our members here. What kind of bosom is this? What a visionary? Now I would like to mention yì, let us all stand and express our highest respect to Mr. Long Qian, the founder of the Republic, with warm applause! ”

All the legislators, including Leung Kai-chiu, stood up and applauded warmly. The applause was warm and sincere.

"According to the registration situation, except for two parliamentarians from Henan and Jiangsu, who took leave due to illness. The fact that all the other members of the National Assembly gathered in Beijing within the specified time after a long journey shows their attitude towards the successful opening of the first National Assembly and their determination to fulfill their sacred mission. on this. On behalf of the Military Commission, I would like to express my great respect and gratitude to all the parliamentarians and gentlemen. I believe. With the concerted efforts of all of you, the first National Assembly will certainly be able to successfully fulfill its mission and create a new history of democracy in our country! Now I declare the first Congress of the Republic officially opened! ”

The lawmakers again stood and applauded.

The meeting continued to be chaired by Hong Yuecheng. "Ladies and gentlemen. In accordance with what was determined by the Military Commission. The first National Assembly has four missions, the first of course, is to determine the form of government, the name of the country, the capital, the national flag, the national anthem, and other important matters; the second is to elect a head of state and entrust him with the formation of a central government; the third is to discuss the improvement of the parliamentary system; The fourth was to discuss the first draft constitution of the country. These four tasks are daunting and great. The organs of the Central Military Commission, which are tasked with preparing for the founding of the country, have already done some work. Some drafts have been formed, some of which have already been distributed to everyone, and others, such as the draft constitution, have not yet been sent. I would like to state that all the information is a draft and is a proposal. The final draft is subject to the vote of the members of the Parliament. There are a few things to be decided on at this morning's meeting, the first of which is the issue of the agenda of the current Congress, which is in the bag of information before you, and I invite you to consider and express your views. The second is the sub-groups, which will be divided into eight groups and designated convenors in order to facilitate the discussion of issues among the councillors. The list of groups and the places to discuss are also in the packet, so please familiarize yourself with the members of the same group. In addition to the convening of plenary meetings, the discussions will be conducted in clusters. The Publicity Bureau will be equipped with a recorder to sort out your speeches, and after your confirmation, you will sort out the briefing notes of the meeting and distribute them to each group for everyone to understand the overall situation of the meeting. The third is the method of voting, which is a very important issue. The opinion of the Propaganda Bureau is that the principle of minority obeying the majority shall be adopted in all matters determined by the National Assembly, and that the votes of each member shall be equal, and when more than half of the votes are approved, it shall be considered a tongguò. This brings us to the method of voting, and we have proposed two methods, the first is to vote by show of hands, and the second is to vote by secret ballot. Different voting methods are adopted on different matters to ensure that the Legislators exercise their sacred powers. We now turn to the first item of today's meeting, which is the agenda of the meeting. I invite you to take 10 minutes to consider. ”

Ten minutes later, the meeting unanimously voted by a show of hands to approve the agenda set by the meeting.

Next, Hong Yuecheng announced the grouping, which was basically divided according to the region and the number of legislators, and determined the convener of the group discussion.

It is worth mentioning that among the conveners of the eight groups divided, the Mengshan military system accounted for exactly half. Hong Yuecheng once again stressed that the convener of the group only plays an organizational role in the discussion, not the leader of the group, and that the rights of the members of the National Assembly are completely equal.

After the list of subgroups and the address of the discussion were determined, the meeting moved to the first agenda item. That is, to discuss and determine the form of government, the capital, the name of the country, the national anthem, the national flag, and other important matters. On the one hand, they were constrained by reality and lacked talents with in-depth research on the national system and political system in China, and on the other hand, the people involved in the discussion were extremely dissatisfied with the description of the national system drafted by the drafting group headed by Yang Du, and even Long Qian, who reviewed the draft. In the end, Long Qian decided not to discuss the state system, but only to determine the political system. Within the Political Affairs Bureau and the Propaganda Bureau, after studying the difference between the presidential system and the cabinet system, except for a very small number of people such as Song Jiaoren, the vast majority of them support the presidential system. Putting aside the factors of Long Qian, the reality is that the conditions for the implementation of a responsible cabinet are not yet in place. It is estimated that parliamentarians are more concerned with the establishment of government institutions than with the debate over the form of government. However, several of the things on the first agenda item were major and needed to be fully discussed. So. Hong Yuecheng announced that the discussion group will be held for two days, and in the evening of the same day, each group will sort out the discussion records and compile a briefing note and distribute it to each group for reference, so as to facilitate full communication between the groups and reduce the difficulty of centralized voting.

Sure enough, when it comes to the form of government, the vast majority of MPs are not clear about what it means. After being explained by the "experts" of the Propaganda Bureau, the vast majority of parliamentarians supported the presidential system. The deputies did not have much objection to the Propaganda Bureau's suggestion that the Republic of China was the name of the new country. China is widely recognized. The republic indicates the nature of the state. Very apt. But on matters such as the capital, the national anthem, and the national flag, the debate is fierce.

The first is the issue of the capital, which is more hotly debated.

A significant proportion of parliamentarians in the southern provinces advocated having the capital in Nanjing. There are four reasons, one of which is to indicate a complete break with the Manchu regime. To avoid the misunderstanding that the government of the Republic inherited the Manchu regime. The second is national defense and security. Nanjing is located in the hinterland. It is safer than Beijing, which is close to the border (Haijiang). The third is that the economy is developed, at least there is no food problem. Since the beginning of the next season in Beijing, the transportation of grain from the south to the north has been a huge problem. Because the surplus grain in the north is not enough to meet the huge consumption of the capital. Fourth, it is an indisputable fact that the cultural literacy of the people is higher in the south than in the north. In terms of the imperial examination, if the selection is fair, the jinshi in the north will be a very pitiful number.

The northern legislators were more inclined to build the capital of Beijing, but the reasons they put forward were not as strong as the four points summarized by the southern legislators. There are three reasons that are more tenable, one is that the Qing Dynasty is in Beijing, the discussion of restoration is still unending, and the capital of Beijing can be quiet; The second is diplomatic issues, with embassies in Beijing; The third is that Beijing has a large number of royal palaces that can be used.

However, it is worth mentioning that not all southern legislators advocate the establishment of Jiangning as the capital. Among them, the famous Zhang Binglin advocated the establishment of the capital in Beijing.

Zhang Shi, who attended the meeting as a member of the Zhejiang parliament, said in the panel discussion: China has a vast territory, and although Yanjing is located in the north, in terms of the whole state, Yanjing is suitable for the middle point, controlling Liao and Shen in the east, and Mongolia and Hui in the north. If you are in Jinling, the power will not be beyond the Great Wall. This is also a harm. The culture of the north has declined, but fortunately there is the capital, which is full of clothes, which is enough to make the steaming and changing. If you are in Jinling, you will be in the burning land, the bitter cold land, there will be no sound of the southern soil, and the national defense army expedition to Outer Mongolia, the logistics support is still difficult, it will be difficult to last, if the withdrawal of the army returns, it is to turn the northern people into Mongolia, and the second harm is also. The Qing Emperor was still in Beijing, and those who were unscrupulous and thought of supporting the old monarch to advocate chaos were not only a socialist party. If the government is in the south, it is a tiger in a no-man's land, and the Mongol kings, or the yin embrace, are to separate the north and the south, and the three evils are also divided. The embassies of Dongjiaomin Lane, material resources are intensively researched, and the cost is huge, if you are forced to relocate, you will be compensated with heavy money, and when the people are exhausted, and the huge money is restored, and its four harms are also__

Zhang Binglin's speech was more forceful. He was thinking about it on a much larger scale.

Long Qian happened to participate in the discussion of the fourth group (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian) as a non-voting representative, and was invited by the convener Zhang Jian to share his personal views on the issue of building the capital

"What Mr. Taiyan said is all good, and I fully agree with it. Ji Zhilao asked me to talk about my opinion, and I will talk about it. First of all, the establishment of the capital of Beijing would not be considered a continuation of the Manchu regime. Whether or not to inherit the mantle of the Manchus depends on what our new regime does rather than where it builds its capital. I don't think anyone would say that we are the successor of the Manchus, except that he has ulterior motives or is a fool. As far as defense is concerned, Nanking is not much safer than Beijing, and gentlemen, the Yangtze River is not as dangerous as the Bohai Bay until there is a strong navy. With regard to culture and food, it should indeed be taken into account. After the new government is formed, the first task is to improve people's livelihood, and the minimum goal of improving people's livelihood is to keep the people fed. It is not that the north is unable to achieve food self-sufficiency, for example, the three eastern provinces, which have vast land and fertile rare earth land, I think there is great potential for developing agriculture. If we build the three eastern provinces into big granaries, Beijing will never have to worry about food shortages. As you already know, the Heilongjiang Agricultural Reclamation Corps has been formally established, and this army composed of retired officers and soldiers and farmers in the customs will build a big granary for the country! The Northeast has a relatively advanced railway network, and the transportation cost will not be higher than that of waterways. As for cultural literacy, before an exhaustive survey of the numbers, the parliamentarians in the South also spoke by feeling. Even if it's true, it doesn't have to be changed. You know, in earlier times, the North was more prosperous than the South! So this article is not a reason. There are three reasons why I value Beijing, one of which is that the cost of building the capital is low, which can reduce the people's resources. Second, because of the country's center of gravity, placing the capital in Beijing is more conducive to national defense and security. The third is the traffic problem, which is more favorable to Beijing than Jiangning. Therefore, I built yì to set up the capital in Beijing. ”

In fact, the legislators also know that Long Qian's opinion is the final opinion, and even if they vote, there will be no unexpected results. However, Long Qian's proposal to change Jiangning to Nanjing can be regarded as meeting a certain expectation of the southern parliamentarians, which contains the flavor of accompanying the capital. For such a large country, it is also necessary to build a preparatory capital, so the members of the fourth group expressed their appreciation for Long Qian's renaming of Jiangning with applause.

The first day of the meeting went smoothly, the name of the country was determined, and the capital was determined. Tomorrow's agenda is to discuss the national anthem, the national flag and the national emblem.

After dinner, the Propaganda Bureau arranged an entertainment activity - watching Peking Opera. invited Beijing Peking Opera master Tan Xinpei to appear, the name of the play is "Empty City Strategy", and he performed in Xiyuan. There is no shortage of lovers of Peking Opera among the parliamentarians, especially the representatives of Zhili, who are very happy, and praise the Propaganda Bureau for doing a good job.

Long Qian didn't go to the play, he asked Ouyang, who was still busy, had the preparations for tomorrow been done? Deng Qinghua on the side replied that it had been done. The marching band has been stationed in Xiyuan, and it is foolproof. I can guarantee that even if you don't guide, everyone will approve of this song.

"I'm not going to boot anymore. Otherwise, the old gentlemen would have said that I am a dictator. Ha ha. After speaking, he said to Ouyang Zhong, "Go and see if the briefing is out, if it comes out, send it to me immediately." The Foreign Affairs Bureau should pay special attention to foreign reports. In addition, I asked if the General Staff Lushan had arrived in Kulun. ”

Long Qian paid attention to the war in Outer Mongolia that the Northern Military Region was responsible for. Kulun had already been conquered by the Southern Route Army of Fan Deping and Chi Chunxian, and Lu Shan was on his way to Kulen, and a telegram came the day before yesterday to confirm that Russia had no intention of military intervention, and that Jianyi had taken back Tangnu Wulianghai in one fell swoop according to the predetermined plan. This move was exactly what Long Qian wanted, and he didn't want to leave regrets about the well-planned military operation.

At the beginning, when the General Staff Headquarters and the Northern Military Region drew up their operational plans, they divided them into two cases, A and B. Case A is in the absence of foreign interference, the first step is to recover Kulen and exterminate the rebel forces, and the second step is to send out the army to Tangnu Ulianghai. Case B is to put out the Outer Mongolian rebellion first in the case of external interference, and not to recover the Tangnu Ulianghai area, which has in fact been occupied by the Russians, for the time being, and wait until the time is ripe.

The opinion of the General Participation in the Northern Military Region is unanimous, that the armed intervention of the Russians will not be in the Outer Mongolia Plateau, but must be in the Jilin region of Heilongjiang. Therefore, the intelligence agencies kept an eye on the garrison in Vladivostok, and two of the four divisions of the Northern Military District (9th and 12th) were deployed at key points in Jilin and Heilongjiang. Now it seems that the hypothetical strict situation of the second case has not appeared, so he then rushed to Lushanjian, who was exercising the function of pacification in Kulun, and took the opportunity to march into Tangnu Wulianghai.

"Yes!" Ouyang Zhongli replied.

"Dashuai, let's take it easy. Boss Tan's play is a must. Although Hong Yuecheng is a southerner, he is very fascinated by Peking Opera.

"Forget it, I'm not good at opera. You can go if you want, Mr. Dull Chu went to the theater? ”

"I don't know. I didn't see him after the dinner. ”

"Didn't the councillors have an opinion on the meal?" Long Qian asked Ouyang Zhong.

"Haven't heard it yet." Ouyang Zhong is in charge of food, housing and transportation, and feels that the food is a little simple, no wine, and has a new name, named buffet, this is Long Qian's invention, for Zhang Jian and other rich people, it is too simple.

"When the meeting is over, you can have a big banquet to celebrate. But that's it during the meeting. Special attention should be paid to the diet of religious and Hui parliamentarians, and not to go wrong. ”

"Yes. Rest assured, Commander. Hong Yuecheng replied, "Their meals are all delivered from the designated restaurant, and they are very satisfied." ”

"The resolution of the meeting should be telegraphed to Huang Yuan in time." Long Qian remembered one more thing.

"I understand, please rest assured." This time it was Hong Yuecheng who answered. (To be continued......)