Cai Yuanpei was a jinshi in the eighteenth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1892), and served as the editor of the Hanlin Academy, and was a promising young man with a great future in the system. Free eBook download// Later, under the influence of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Wuxu Reform, he turned to the revolution and formed the Liberation Society, becoming the vanguard of the expulsion of the Tartars. In 1905, the League was founded, and the Guangfu Society was incorporated into it, and he served as the head of the Shanghai branch of the League. Whether from his family background or revolutionary experience, Cai Yuanpei can be said to be a well-known figure in the League. In terms of seniority, Cai Yuanpei is definitely qualified to enter the cabinet and serve as the head of a top-ranked ministry.

But there are only a dozen seats in the cabinet, and if you occupy one, there will be one less for others; If you take the front seat, others will have to go to the back. Since Cai Yuanpei must enter the cabinet, everyone naturally hopes that he can row in the back row and give up the vacant seat in front. Moreover, Cai Yuanpei's education in recent years has indeed become famous, and he deserves to be the chief of education. At that moment, everyone praised in unison: "Cousin Zhan is right, the post of the chief of education is none other than Brother Xiaomin!" ”

Cai Yuanpei said: "You have loved, Cai is really ashamed!" Looking at it from the bottom up, the only person who is most suitable to serve as the chief of education in China today is Sun Baixi, Cai Mou, who is not talented, and is willing to take the initiative to ask Ying to help do some work in the Ministry of Education to pick up and fill in the gaps. ”

Only then did everyone remember that there was still a big man in the west who needed to be appeased, and because he served as the minister of education in the two cabinets of Yixuan and Yuan Shikai, and the master and apprentice held the land of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces, he must be indispensable in the newly established central government, and his position should not be too low. No one wants to offend this kind of person who enjoys a big name in the central government and has real interests in the local area: because they often have a very important say in government decision-making, they may not be able to help you get anything done, but they can easily make you unable to do anything. So I lost my voice for a while.

Sun Yat-sen naturally remembered the agreement he had reached with Sun Yuanqi when he sent Feng Freedom, and said with a smile at this time: "Sun Baixi is naturally excellent as the chief of education, but Brother Xiaomin is also expected. Fortunately, Sun Baixi is currently serving as the governor of Sichuan, and he can't get out of his body for a while, so he can hang the title of chief of education and handle local government affairs in Sichuan; Brother Xiao Min served as the deputy minister of education. The central government has full authority to deal with the relevant matters of the Ministry of Education. In this way, you can have the best of both worlds. ”

"The chief is named, and the second chief is real? Brother Yixian's method is good! The crowd sang in unison, and then struck while the iron was hot and asked, "For the rest of the ministries." What is Brother Yixian's opinion? ”

Sun Yat-sen said to him left and right: "What the chief and deputy director of education said just now was just a private suggestion by Sun. Now that the provisional central government of the Republic of China has not yet been established, Sun is just an ordinary citizen, how dare he talk nonsense and privately confer official positions in various ministries? ”

Chen Qimei said: "Mr. Sun has been determined to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty since he was a young man, and he has done several great deeds; After 16 years of hard work overseas, I have experienced hardships. So hard work is high. Being elected president is a matter of course. At present, the selection of the chief and deputy ministers of various ministries is just a precautionary measure, so how can it be said that they are privately granted? ”

Sun Yat-sen shook his head: "If the name is not right, the word will not be good, and if the word is not good, the thing will not be done." Although the Provisional Central Government is a transitional body, as the prototype of the future government, it has a lot to do with and should not be done carelessly. In Sun's humble opinion, the first step in the formation of the provisional central government was to send a telegram to the provinces in the name of the preparatory committee, asking the provinces to send representatives to Shanghai as soon as possible to discuss the matter of organizing the provisional central government. Considering that time is of the essence. Some provinces are so remote that it is difficult to come to them for a while, and the proposal can be discussed as long as representatives from two or more provinces are present. Finally, the results of the discussion can be submitted to all delegates for approval. ”

Yao Tongyu, a representative of the Zhejiang Governor's Office, immediately asked: "Then how will the number of delegates from each province be distributed?" ”

In Western countries where parliamentary elections are conducted, there are many ways to allocate the number of members of parliament, many of which are based on the size of each administrative region or the size of its population. If these two methods are followed, Zhejiang will suffer a lot.

Sun Yat-sen said: "In the 22 provinces and autonomous regions of the country, each provincial governor's office and the advisory bureau each sent a representative to attend the meeting, and each province voted one vote when voting, and more than two-thirds of the representatives attending the meeting voted validly, and two-thirds of the votes of the representatives attending the meeting voted in favor of the bill. ”

"Good!"

"Agreed!"

"Yes!"

Seven or eight out of ten of the people present here are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and although these two provinces are prosperous in terms of humanities and economic development, they are small in area. Naturally, there was a lot of support for the proposal of one vote per province.

Chen Qimei immediately got up and said: "Since everyone agrees with Mr. Sun's proposal, then we will send a telegram to the whole country, and we will hold a joint meeting of representatives of the provincial governors in Shanghai after the 10th to discuss the organizational structure of the provisional central government and the personnel of various ministries. ”

Cai Yuanpei also stood up: "I'll go with you." ”

Just like Cai Yuanpei himself said just now, he rushed to Shanghai for two main things: to welcome Sun Yat-sen back to China and to ask for help for Sun Yuanqi. And now they have seen it. The first thing has been done, and the second thing is said to be the same as not being said. Now that the success of the revolution is in sight, everyone is talking about how to grab land and how to occupy positions, and no one cares about the rise and fall of a school outside Beijing. In that case, what's the point of him staying here?

Soon, two telegrams from Chen Qimei and Cai Yuanpei were sent to Sun Yuanqi's desk in Chengdu, Sichuan. -- Chen Qimei's telegram was naturally a nationwide telegram about the convening of a joint meeting of representatives of the provincial governors' offices, and Cai Yuanpei's telegram gave him a detailed account of the negotiations with Sun Yat-sen.

Because of the Praetorian Guard's siege of Jingshi University, Sun Yuanqi has been unable to sleep and eat these days, and every day he is in the governor's palace to discuss with Yang Du, Yang Yongtai, Shen Xiangyun and other staff members how to solve the crisis. When I heard that there was a call from Shanghai, I was in high spirits and hurriedly took it over and read it.

The unkempt Sun Yuanqi read the two telegrams at a glance and ten lines, and couldn't help but sigh and threw the telegrams on the table: "This group of revolutionaries can really share weal and woe, but not peace!" Before the success of the revolution had been written, they were ready to open the government and increase the number of officials and knights, and they did not know the priorities at all. No wonder they can't play Yuan Shikai! ”

Yang Du picked up the telegram from the table and handed it to Yang Yongtai beside him. The two of them watched it with relish, as if they wanted to dig out the most secret and true thoughts in the heart of the electrician from between the lines.

What Yang Du was holding in his hand happened to be Cai Yuanpei's call, and he could see that he was snorting, and commented while watching: "Sun Cannon is really good!" Don't look at him for raising troops to rebel, he really has a hand in playing with power! Look, people don't live a stable life in Hong Kong, nor do they train the army in Guangzhou, but they run to Shanghai with their bare hands. There must be something greasy! Sure enough, when he arrived in Shanghai, he neither organized the Northern Expedition nor negotiated peace with Yuan Shikai, but first prepared for the establishment of a provisional central government. What do you want to do? Don't you just want to eat a soup on the founding of the country!

"Invite the provinces to send representatives to Shanghai within 10 days to discuss the formation of a provisional central government? Hehe, the conspiracy is so obvious! Within 10 days, the representatives of the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and along the Yangtze River rushed to Shanghai, and it was almost impossible for them to fly to Shanghai even if they put on their wings! However, along the coast of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the Yangtze River, these places are the territory of the Sun Cannon Alliance. Is this a coincidence?

"Considering that some provinces are very remote and difficult to come for a while, as long as the representatives of more than two provinces are present at the meeting, they can start discussing the proposal, and finally the results of the discussion will be passed by all the delegates. Gee! Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai are close at hand, are the representatives of these two provinces now beginning to discuss the presidential candidate of the provisional central government of the Republic of China?

"Each provincial governor and the council shall be represented at the meeting, and each province shall vote one vote at the time of voting. If more than two-thirds of the delegates attend the meeting, the vote is valid, and if two-thirds of the delegates vote in favor, the bill is passed? According to this calculation, as long as 15 of the 22 provinces and autonomous regions in the country send people to attend the meeting, the meeting will be considered legal; As long as the representatives of the 10 provinces agree, the result of the vote is valid. That's not even half of it! ”

Sun Yuanqi frowned and said, "The matter of preparing for the formation of the provisional central government is causing trouble to them, and we will not get involved." The most important thing for us now is how to lift the Qing court's siege on Jingshi University! Qiu Zhai, how is the 46th Mixed Association now? ”

Shen Xiangyun straightened up and reported clearly: "Returning to the Taiwan Lord, the 46th Mixed Association has been reorganized, and Jiang Zhiqing, the commander of the association, has the 91st and 92nd infantry standards, as well as the horse battalion and artillery battalion, etc., the 91st standard Xue Yangyue, and the 92nd standard Liu Mingzhao, a total of 5,500 people in the whole association, have been on standby on the front line of Meizhou and Jiading Mansion. At present, the lowly government is collecting ships so that they can go down the river as soon as possible. ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Then as many ships as there are first, how many people will be sent first!" Anyway, the Three Gorges is turbulent and the reefs are dense, so it is impossible to take a big boat. When the troops arrive in Yichang, Hubei, it is not too late to slowly advance the whole army as a whole! ”

Shen Xiangyun was about to leave, but Yang Du and Yang Yongtai stretched out their hands to stop him at the same time: "Qiu Zhai is not in a hurry to leave, I'm afraid our plan needs to be improved!" ”

Sun Yuan raised his eyebrows and tuddled together: "Didn't you say it before?" Jiang Zhiqing's 46th mixed formation went east out of Sichuan, and went north from Hankou along the Luhan line, forcing the Beiyang Army to move south; Zhao Jingxing's 44th mixed association went out of Tongguan and watched Henan; Cheng Ziyin's 45th Mixed Association returned to Shanxi, went out of the Pingxing Pass to force the Beijing Division, and advanced in three ways to relieve the siege of the Jingshi University. Why is there a repetition again? Now that Jingshi University has been overwhelmed, it is in danger, and it is urgent! ”

Yang Yongtai replied: "This three-way plan is a desperate fight without a way, and in fact, many dangers are not fully considered. For example, it is winter, the Yangtze River is in a dry period, and it is still unknown how many troops can be transported in the short term; At this time, the north of Hankou was still controlled by the Beiyang Army, and whether the Luhan line could be used was still between the two sides; Shaanxi is still facing the attack of the Gan army on two fronts, and I am afraid that it will not be able to draw many troops; Cheng Ziyin's department has been traveling long distances for the past two months, and it is difficult to say how much combat power it has...... Crucially, it's an all-or-nothing move. Once it fails, not only will it be difficult to protect the university, but even Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces will be in danger! (To be continued.) )