With Wang Shizhen and Cao Kun going out, the efficiency of the Beiyang departments is obviously several times faster than before. By the beginning of May, there was no formed Beiyang army around the capital. The 47 th Mixed Brigade, which was stationed outside the mouth, was the first batch of units equipped with tanks, and it achieved brilliant results after being put into actual combat, which was originally the highlight of the Shandong exercise. However, because of the heavy responsibility of Gongwei Gyeonggi, it was delayed until this time before going south.

The 3rd Division of the Central Army, which had been supplemented and repaired, quickly moved north under the leadership of the acting division commander Chen Xiao, taking over the defensive gap left by the departure of the army. Jingshi University, which had been tense for two or three months, immediately announced the lifting of martial law and the restoration of normal teaching order.

Although the exercises were in full swing in the border areas of Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, and Anhui, and the sound of gunfire attracted the attention of people at home and abroad, the situation in North China had become calmer day by day, and Sun Yuanqi no longer had any reason to stay in Taiyuan. Under the persuasion of Yang Du, Yang Yongtai and others, he had to take the opportunity to return to the capital and perform his duties as prime minister.

Hearing that Sun Yuanqi was coming back, the officials of all sizes in the capital were agitated, no matter whether they were worried or happy in their hearts, but no one could ignore the impact of this incident. Therefore, on the day Sun Yuanqi returned to Beijing, everyone came to the airport to wait for the driver, including Li Yuanhong, the interim vice president who was the temporary acting president.

In fact, Li Yuanhong is also full of helplessness, it stands to reason that he is the president (although he is acting, he is still temporary), and he is half a level higher than the prime minister, so there is no need to greet him in person. And there is no friendship between him and Sun Yuanqi, some are just a history of blood and tears that have been bullied and insulted, such as being seized half of Hubei for no reason, being inexplicably brought to Beijing, and being imprisoned in Yingtai for a year or two in a daze, and there is no need to take the initiative to support Sun Yuanqi's stinky feet.

But the result? He came early!

There is no way, the changes in the past few years have completely frightened Li Yuanhong: whether it is the Qing Emperor who has been blessed by the country for 300 years, or Sun Wen, who stirred up half of the country with just a clever tongue, or Yuan Xiangcheng, who has been known as the dragon among men for 20 years, or himself, the sad vice president and governor of Hubei, they were all defeated one by one in the hands of this young teacher and became a stepping stone for him to climb up.

Is he virtuous and blessed all over the world, or is he elegant on the outside and ruthless on the inside? Li Yuanhong, who had already tasted the power, didn't dare to think nonsense. When I was in my prime. is still being played by Sun Yuanqi in the palm of his hand, not to mention that now the tiger is falling in Pingyang, there is no land, no guns, no people? If you dare to mess around with the wind and rain, it will be no more difficult for Sun Yuanqi to kill himself than it is to kill a bed bug!

Is there a more tragic president in the world today than himself? Li Yuanhong couldn't help but lament in his heart, but on the surface, he still chatted with the officials, ministers, and counselors around him with a smile, and looked up at the southern sky from time to time.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning, Sun Yuanqi's special plane slowly landed at the airport on the outskirts of Beijing under the escort of two military planes. As soon as the plane came to a stop. Li Yuanhong took all kinds of people to greet him. After two or three hours of bumps and cold, Sun Yuanqi was still full of energy, and when he saw Li Yuanhong appear in the crowd of greetings, he hurriedly walked a few steps: "I am tired of the president and you personally greeting him, Sun is really ashamed!" ”

Li Yuanhong smiled: "What did Premier Baixi say? Recently, there has been no one in charge of the country, and officials of all sizes in Beijing are panicking. When I heard that Prime Minister Baixi had returned to Beijing today, everyone cheered! If it weren't for the fact that Taiyuan is thousands of miles away from the capital, we would have planned to meet it all the way, how far is it from the city to the airport? ”

Sun Yuanqi knew that Li Yuanhong was bright in his heart, and he also said with a smile: "The president's words are wrong!" There are you and officials big and small in Beijing, how can you say that there is no one in charge of the country? ”

Duan Qirui, the army chief who came to greet him on the side, joked: "We people are just from above, and we don't have the backbone of Premier Baixi." It is like the sky has no sun, the car has no wheels, and the ship has no rudder, how can you not be panicked? These days, I look south every day, and I almost become the king on the Huabiao at the gate of the Forbidden City! ”

Sun Yuanqi shook his head again and again and said, "Chief Zhiquan's metaphor is a bit indecent! Now it is a democratic republic, the Congress is the master, the people are the day, the cabinet is like a wheel, the president is like a rudder, and Sun is at most a spoke on a wheel. If President Li Da leaves Beijing and does not return for a long time. We look forward to it as if we want the king to return, but Sun doesn't deserve such a false praise! ”

Li Yuanhong responded: "Premier Baixi should not be too modest, Li is just a temporary agent, once the National Assembly elects the official president, he will return to his hometown in Hubei for the rest of his life." By the way, Baixi, the situation in the country has become more and more stable, and there is no one in the way of the government and the opposition. When do you plan to convene a congress, formulate a constitution, and elect a president? ”

Frankly speaking, Li Yuanhong is also vacillating in his heart about whether to hold a presidential election immediately, just like the attitude of a senior high school student towards the college entrance examination, with some longing and some fear. He has secretly counted in his heart countless times the powerful candidate for the presidency: Yuan Xiangcheng has gone west. Thank God for removing the biggest rival in life for himself; Sun Baixi is now under forty years old, and his age does not meet the rigid requirements of a big presidential candidate, and he is grateful to God for helping him get rid of a strong opponent again; Sun Yat-sen and Huang Keqiang are now in exile overseas, and it is not yet possible to return to China, let alone participate in the competition, and thank Sun Baixi for getting rid of two opponents for him; As for Duan Zhiquan, Cai Songpo, Sun Hui'an, Tan Guan'an and others, they are either too junior or in a corner, and they don't pose much of a threat to themselves. He is one of the few vice presidents who can compete with Yuan Xiangcheng and Sun Yat-sen in the Congress! Counting them, it seems that he, the only remaining revolutionary father, has the most hope.

However, whenever Li Yuanhong was about to have a snot bubble, a voice would remind him in the dark corner of his heart: Hey, Li Fatty, stop daydreaming! Electing a president is not based on seniority alone, but ultimately depends on the results of the votes of members of Congress. Now its own Republican Party has long been in decline, and the smash hit Kuomintang and Civic Party have also become a thing of the past, and only the New China Party has been prosperous for a long time and dominates the Senate and the House of Representatives. Sun Baixi doesn't have a good impression of himself, why should he put himself on the presidential throne?

If the election is held now, there may still be a lot of power, if Sun Baixi is eligible to run for election in two or three years, it is estimated that he will not even have the capital to spar! But after thinking about it again, if it drags on until two or three years later, at least I can be the interim president for a few years; If the election is unfavorable now, it is estimated that I will have to go home to spend my old age in peace!

These days, Li Yuanhong has been thinking about this problem over and over again in his head, weighing the pros and cons back and forth, and he can't sleep at night. I had to relieve my troubles by overeating. As a result, although Li Yuanhong looked sad, he weighed several pounds heavier than before!

Yang Yongtai, secretary general of the New China Party, who followed Sun Yuan and got up, laughed when he heard this: "Convening a congress? After the recent siege of the Capitol, the members of parliament died and fled, and the rest were like frightened birds, unable to hide. At present, we can't even get together more than half of the members of both houses, how can we convene a congression? How to draw up a constitution to elect the president? ”

Li Yuanhong replied as a matter of course: "Then let's first fill the vacant legislators!" ”

Although Li Yuanhong knew the words of the by-election legislators. The New China Party's dominant position in Congress will be more pronounced, but it will not be without his benefits, at least the Republican Party, under the patronage of his interim vice president acting president, will be able to regain some of the void left by the collapse of the Kuomintang and Civic Party. Optimistically, it should not be a big problem for the Republican Party to occupy 20% of the seats in Congress and become the second largest party in Congress.

Sun Yuanqi groaned: "By-election members? Well, let's do it according to the existing law! ”

Under the existing law? There are two ways to resolve this under existing law. One is that according to the Provisional Statute, the President ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly and the re-election of its members; The other is the Organic Law of the National Assembly, which replaces one third of the deputies every two years, and the vacancies that arise can be filled at this time. It's just that the election of members of parliament was just completed at the beginning of last year, and if this law is followed, won't it be necessary to wait another year?

Li Yuanhong was a little unsure of Sun Baixi's intentions, and was about to ask. I saw that the British Minister Zhu Erdian had already stepped forward and said in a reserved and solemn manner in a standard London accent: "Welcome Your Excellency the Prime Minister back to Beijing, and hope that Your Excellency can attach importance to and cherish the current friendship between Britain and China, and take positive and effective measures to continue to promote the healthy and orderly development of British-Chinese relations!" "He is polite on the outside, but arrogant on the inside, just like the British Empire, which is now burning oil on the outside, but is gradually unable to do so.

Sun Yuanqi immediately responded in standard Beijing official dialect: "The government of the Republic of China has always attached importance to diplomatic relations with your country, and on the premise of not harming the interests of both sides, I am also willing to actively consult with your country on issues such as safeguarding territorial integrity, normal commercial and trade exchanges, and inviolability of sovereignty, so as to further promote the healthy development of Sino-British relations!" ”

Just as Zhu Erdian was sure that Sun Yuanqi could understand his own English. Sun Yuanqi was also sure that Zhu Erdian could hear his own Mandarin and the meaning contained in it!

Zhu Erdian said with a cold face: "Since Your Excellency mentioned that it will not harm the interests of both sides, I would like to ask Your Excellency a question, it is said that your country has recently mobilized more than 100,000 troops from six provinces to conduct a large-scale exercise near Shandong, and the imaginary enemy of the exercise is directly aimed at Japan. Do you have any comment on this? ”

Sun Yuanqi shook his index finger lightly: "First of all, the military exercise is an internal affair of the country, and the location is located in China, and no country has the right to interfere. There is no reason to make irresponsible comments either. Second, the exercise is not aimed at any country, and even if it is, shouldn't this kind of question be raised by the Japanese minister? As British Minister to China. What does this have to do with you! Is your British Minister to China or the Minister of Japan to China? ”

Zhu Erdian had never suffered such humiliation, and his face suddenly turned the color of pig liver, and then he said angrily: "I am naturally the British minister!" It is only because the Japanese minister, Mr. Yamasha, died of illness earlier today, and because Britain and Japan are allies, that this question is asked. Why not? ”

Lu Zhengxiang, the foreign minister who had been accompanying the ministers of various countries, whispered to Sun Yuanqi at this time: "Prime Minister Baixi, Mr. Enjiro Yamaza, the Japanese Minister to China, was forced to commit suicide by poisoning himself in the embassy in the early hours of this morning!" ”

Sun Yuanqi had no good impression of Enjiro Yamaza, who led the signing of the "Three Treaties of the People's Republic of China", and was only slightly stunned when he heard this: "Yamaza is dead? That's not good news. There is no sadness in the words, there is no sadness, as if the neighbor's kitten and puppy died in their own home, and the life and death of the cat and dog are not taken to heart, but the first thing that comes to mind is the trouble of explanation, and whether it will be an excuse for conflicts between the two families in the future.

PS: Take the train home and then break off. I was bored on the train, and I actually coded 3,000 words with my mobile phone!