Yang Du's words can be said to be targeted, although on the surface he was asking the opinions of the four of them, but in fact, he asked the intentions of several forces behind them:

Pu Dianjun and Luo Lun served as the chairman and vice chairman of the Sichuan Consultative Bureau, which naturally represented the Sichuan gentry. Not long ago, Pu Dianjun also established the "Sichuan Baolu Comrades Association" on the basis of the Advisory Bureau and the Sichuan-Han Railway Company, with himself as the chairman and Luo Lun as the vice president. From this, you can see the color of the two;

Yin Changheng served as the general office of the Sichuan Army Primary School and was the leading figure in the new army. In addition, he also hung out the incense hall signboard of "Dahan Gong" and proclaimed himself the helmsman of Dahan Gong. He once visited the Gongkou Wharf in various streets in Chengdu, and all the Gongkou Wharf "hung red wine for him". In other words, he is still the scoop in the robe;

Zhang Peijue is nominally the superintendent of Chongqing Fu Middle School, but in fact he is also the core of the Chongqing branch of the League, representing the voice of the revolutionary party in Sichuan.

If Sun Yuanqi had not been born, these four people would have been the figures of the year in the modern history of Bashu:

From November 27 to December 8, 1911, Pu Dianjun served as the governor of the "Han Sichuan Military Government";

Yin Changheng succeeded him as governor after December 8, 1911. In March 1912, the military governments of Chengdu and Chongqing merged to form the Sichuan Governor's Office, and he continued to serve as the governor;

After the success of the Chongqing Uprising on November 22, 1911, Zhang Peijue was elected as the governor of the Shu Military Government of Chongqing. After the merger of the two military governments of Chengdu and Chongqing, he was reappointed as the deputy governor of the Sichuan Military Government;

As for Luo Lun, he first served as the director of the Fufu Bureau in the Pu Dianjun government, and after Yin Changheng came to power, he served as the deputy governor and director of the security bureau of the Sichuan Military Government. The military governments of Chengdu and Chongqing were merged, and his official position was that of president of the Military Senate.

In other words, these people are all governors and vice governors of Sichuan Province!

Pu Dianjun said politely: "I am really ashamed to ask for advice. As for how to govern, only the governor will cut it, and his subordinates will not dare to overstep his authority! It's just that Pu Mouxi is the chairman of the Sichuan Consultative Bureau, and some foolish people want to sacrifice Qin in front, so please choose it. ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Speaker Pu, please speak!" ”

Pu Dianjun said: "The establishment of advisory bureaus in various provinces is one of the major measures taken by the Qing court to prepare for the constitution. In July of the 34th year of Guangxu, the "Statutes of the Provincial Consultative Bureaus" and the "Regulations for the Election of Members of the Consultative Bureaus" were promulgated, restricting all provinces to establish advisory bureaus within one year. Due to Emperor Dezongjing and Empress Dowager Xiaoqin successively Bintian, our Sichuan Consultative Bureau was only established on October 14 of the first year of Xuantong. Since its establishment, colleagues in the bureau have pointed out that Chen Tong Province is good for diseases. Planning for local law and order can be described as conscientious. Especially after the Qing court implemented the state-owned policy of trunk roads in an attempt to sell the right of way, the provincial advisory bureau rose up to fight and became the forerunner of the national revolution, which eventually led to the collapse of the Qing court and the recovery of the Han family.

"Now that the fall of the Qing court is imminent, the preparation for the constitution will also become a thing of the past. It would be a bit of a misrepresentation if the Consultative Bureau retained its previous name. Pu heard that after the success of the revolution, the country would adopt a republican form of government, and Mr. Sun Yat-sen had mentioned the name of "parliament" in the "Declaration on the Establishment of the League", so he did not think about it, and wanted to ask the governor to allow the consultative bureau to be renamed the parliament, so that his subordinates could be justified, and then do their best for the fathers and elders in Shuzhong. ”

Yang Du sneered: "Speaker Pu, I'm afraid you have ill intentions, right?" The "Statutes of the Provincial Consultative Bureaus" promulgated by the Qing court clearly stipulated that the Consultative Bureaus were the places where the provinces adopted public opinion. Other words. The establishment of the Consultative Council is only a public opinion body that provides government-related opinions to the provincial governments, and the opinions of the Consultative Council can be applied by the governors and prefectures, and it is not necessary to follow the decisions of the Consultative Council.

And in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutional Library. The Governor shall use 'Notes' for the official documents of the Consultative Bureau, and the Governor shall use 'Note' for the Governors and Governors, and conversely, the Consultative Council shall use 'Submission' for all the Governors and Governors. It can be seen that the Advisory Council is only an advisory body and does not have much real power. And what about the parliament?

"It is well known that in the West, parliaments have the supreme power not only to enact, amend and repeal laws in accordance with legal procedures, but also to supervise government revenues and expenditures by deliberating on fiscal bills. It is even possible to use impeachment, questioning, and votes of no confidence to supervise the various official activities of government organs. In other words, if the Consultative Bureau were to be converted into a council, you would be able to legitimately veto the orders, budgets, and appointments and dismissals issued by my family. With such a high stake, Speaker Pu actually put forward in a few fluttering words, what kind of intentions are there? ”

Seeing that Yang Du had exposed his intentions, Pu Dianjun was suddenly a little speechless.

Luo Lun, who was sitting next to Pu Dianjun, said at this time: "What can Speaker Pu have? Even if there is a heart. It is also a heart of public loyalty to the country! After the success of the republican revolution, it was the general trend for governments at all levels to implement a parliamentary system. We in Sichuan took the lead in changing the Consultative Bureau into a parliament, so why not? Don't shave off the Manchu braids on your head, you still have the Manchu ** in your head, and never forget to govern Bashu with one person and serve one person with Bashu! ”

Yang Du also sneered at each other: "Whether we are ** or not, we will know in the future." It's just that the fact that some people have seized power in the name of the republic is now revealed! ”

Sun Yuan saw that the scene was a little white-hot, and hurriedly said with a thin mud: "The matter of changing the Consultative Bureau to the Council is a big matter, and it will be difficult to reach a conclusion for a while, so you might as well put it on hold for a while and discuss it later." ”

Zhang Shizhao also pulled the side shelf: "Now that the country has not yet been established and the political system has not yet been determined, what is the point of us talking here about fighting for cooking like a goose has not been obtained?" Moreover, there is a clear precept in ancient times: 'The world is not chaotic and Shu is in chaos first, and the world has been governed and Shu is not governed.' Therefore, it is better to be silent than to govern Sichuan. The matter of the change of the Consultative Bureau to the Parliament, it is better to wait for the implementation of other provinces, and then we will wait for the opportunity to move before it is too late! ”

Pu Dianjun's proposal to change the Consultative Bureau into a council is nothing more than a surefire gamble, and if it succeeds, it will naturally pay off handsomely; If he fails, he doesn't lose much to himself. Seeing that the trick was discovered, Pu Dianjun knew that there was no hope of success, so he hurriedly changed the topic and said: "Pu Mou and Vice Speaker Luo came together this time, and there is another important matter, which is to discuss with the Governor to deal with the follow-up matters of the Sichuan-Han Railway. ”

The Sichuan-Han Railway was the fuse of the road protection movement. Regarding the Sichuan-Han Railway, I need to explain the background.

There is the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the south, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west, the Qinling Mountains in the north, and the Daba Mountain in the east. As half of Sichuan, Li Bai was deeply touched by this, so he wrote the poem "Shu Dao Difficult". Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province has been the political, cultural and commercial center of China, so there is the famous Golden Bull Road between Sichuan and Shaanxi.

With the change of the times, the Shaanxi and Henan regions gradually declined, the political center moved to the distant land of Youyan, and the economic center shifted to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Sichuan is becoming more and more closely connected with Hubei, Jiangsu and other places, and the reef-covered Three Gorges waterway and rugged mountain paths are gradually unable to meet the actual demand, which makes it urgent to build a more convenient eastward road. At the beginning of the 20th century, when trains and railways were popular, some people began to put forward the idea of the "Sichuan-Han Railway".

As the name suggests, the Sichuan-Hankou Railway is from Chengdu, Sichuan to Hankou, Hubei. However, at the time of construction, it was divided into two sections: the Sichuan section from Chengdu to Yichang, and the Hubei section from Yichang to Hankou. In January 1904, the Governor of Sichuan, Xiliang Zhuo, approved the establishment of the "Government-run Sichuan-Han Railway Company" and began to plan the construction of the Sichuan section of the Sichuan-Han Railway. In July 1905, the company was jointly established by officials and gentry. In March 1907, it was changed to a commercial office, and the official name was "Commercial Sichuan Province Chuanhan Railway Co., Ltd." On December 10, 1909, the Sichuan section of the Sichuan-Han Railway officially started construction in Yichang Province.

The right of way, which is the Sichuan section of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway, which is contested by the road protection movement, has just started construction, and the opening to traffic is still far away. The Sichuan-Han Railway was more like a "concept stock" at this time.

Sun Yuanqi heard Pu Dianjun mention the issue of the Sichuan-Han Railway, and waved his hand generously: "Since the Sichuan-Han Railway has been changed to be run by business, then from now on, the government will no longer interfere, and there will be no mention of 'trunk road state-owned', you just have to repair it!" If it is repaired, you will have full authority to operate, and the government will never interfere more! ”

It's not that Sun Yuanqi doesn't understand the truth of "if you want to get rich, build roads first", but seriously suspect that the Sichuan gentry with big eyelids and small bellies have no ability to gnaw on this Sichuan-Han Railway!

Long before entering Sichuan, Sun Yuanqi compared the direction of the Sichuan-Han Railway on the map, and was secretly surprised: this is basically equal to the sum of the three lines of the later Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, Chongqing-Wanzhou Intercity Railway, and Yiwan Railway! The Sichuan section of the Sichuan-Hanzhou Railway is the first two sections, but the middle school history textbook clearly states that the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was completed and opened to traffic in 1952. For this reason, the grandfather also wrote an inscription: "Celebrate the opening of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway and continue to work hard to build Tiancheng Road." "Could it be that the Sichuan gentry can still defy the sky?

Yang Du added: "Speaker Pu has just said that the fall of the Qing court is imminent, and the republican government is just around the corner. In the past, the construction of the Sichuan-Han Railway was raised through the method of 'adding land to acres', but now that it is run by business and the tax is cleared up, then the company is invited to solve the problem of share capital by itself, and it is no longer allowed to forcibly apportioned in the name of the government, and the violators will be severely punished! ”

The Sichuan section of the Sichuan-Hanzhou Railway is nearly 1,000 kilometers long, and the construction requires a lot of money. Previously, the 70 million people in Sichuan, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, were the "original shareholders" of the Sichuan-Han Railway. Yang Du's move to "clean up the tax" is tantamount to a salary draw from the bottom of the kettle for the Sichuan-Han Railway Company, which has a deficit of 3 million taels of silver.