Years of the Republic of China 1913

Fang Zida slowly cut the cigar and lit it. On the one hand, when he returned to China, he wanted to see the Republic of China in this era, and on the other hand, he also wanted to use his identity as a Chinese to return to China to find some business opportunities.You must know that Europe is not peaceful now, and the smell of war has become stronger and stronger. China, which is far away from Europe, is a place that Fang Zida cannot ignore. However, he did not expect that history would be inexplicably changed just after returning. Fang Zida soon had I had other ideas, so when I was in Shanghai, I sent a telegram to Marcos, who was on business in Japan, asking him to come to Beijing to meet me directly as soon as possible.

"I need your help, Marcos."

Marcos, who had been prepared for a long time, nodded with a smile, waiting for Fang Zida to continue talking.

"How much do you know about the Beijing government's loan from the Bank Group?" Fang Zida asked.

"You mean the six countries, oh, no! Now is the loan from the five-nation bank consortium?" Marcos thought about it carefully, nodded and said: "I heard about this in Europe, and it is said that the loan amount this time is very huge , What? Are you planning to intervene? Fang! As a friend, I would like to advise you that our economic strength is far inferior to any bank, let alone such a huge and crazy amount of funds... "

"Hehe." Fang Zida waved his hand with a smile, and interrupted Marcos: "Dear Marcos, my friend! I'm not so crazy yet, and I still have this self-knowledge. It is said that the total amount of the loan will be two Five million pounds is huge, no matter how rich we are, it is impossible to spend so much money, even if it is 500%, I am afraid it will not work."

"What do you mean?" Max asked suspiciously.

Fang Zida smiled, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice to tell Marcos his plan. Following Fang Zida's explanation, Marcos was first puzzled, then shocked, and then ecstatic and hesitant.

"Crazy, you are crazy! Fang! Are you sure you really want to do this?" Marcos asked in surprise, his eyes widened.

Fang Zida didn't answer, but just looked at him with a smile. After a long time, Marcos calmed down, touched his heart and said, "Okay, you really scared me, it's such a crazy plan, my heart hurts." It's about to jump out of my chest! I'm old, let me play with you for the last time, you know, you saved my life, I can't refuse your request!"

"Then you are not afraid of failure?"

"Do people who have died once still fear failure?" Marcos laughed.

As Fang Zida expected, when he learned that Song Jiaoren was visiting the Presidential Palace, Yuan Shikai, who was dealing with official business, came out after a little hesitation. Seeing Song Jiaoren, Yuan Shikai was still very affectionate, holding hands and holding hands with Song Jiaoren. He invited him into the house.

Following Song Jiaoren into the presidential palace, Fang Zida raised his eyes and saw several people coming out with Yuan Shikai, including Duan Qirui, Chief of the Army, Feng Guozhang, Governor of Zhili and Director of Civil Affairs, Lu Zhengxiang, Chief of Foreign Affairs, Zhou Xuexi, Chief of Finance, and others.

"Dunchu, are you still used to living in Beijing?" Yuan Shikai asked with a pleasant expression as everyone sat down one by one, with a concerned expression.

"Thank you for the concern of the President. Jiaoren's entry into Beijing is mainly for the constitutional government. As for the personal enjoyment of Jiaoren, he doesn't care. Jiaoren knows that the President is busy with government affairs, so he shouldn't interrupt recklessly, but for the future of the country and the destiny of the nation. , time waits for no one, the constitutional government cannot be achieved, and Jiaoren is not at ease! So I came to visit today, on the one hand, I want to thank the President for his care, and on the other hand, I want to ask you about the specific arrangements for the constitutional government. " Song Jiaoren was not polite, and directly stated his intentions.

As soon as Song Jiaoren's words came out, Fang Zida, who was sitting at the bottom, saw Duan Qirui and the others showing displeasure. As for Yuan Shikai, he was still smiling and amiable, and his amiable expression was still as usual.

"Yes, this old man knows." Yuan Shikai nodded again and again: "I have negotiated with my younger brother Dunchu on the matter of constitutional government at the beginning, and this is also the reason why Dunchu went north this time. In my heart. Originally, the old man wanted to wait for you to rest for a few days before discussing the law of constitutional government, but I didn't expect Dunchu to be so impatient, hehe."

"That's right, Brother Dunchu." Duan Qirui interjected, "The matter of constitutionalism is important, not only the president, but we all understand it. It's just that the president is so busy with state affairs these days that he has no time to spare. And Brother Dunchu has just arrived in the capital, and I wanted to wait for you to rest for a few days before discussing this matter in detail, but I didn't expect Brother Dunchu to rush over here because of this, you are really blaming the President..."

"Yeah, yeah..." The people around nodded repeatedly, and I helped each other amicably.

With a faint smile, Song Jiaoren had anticipated this situation before coming, and when everyone's voices slowed down, he continued to look at Yuan Shikai: "The President is busy with state affairs, and Jiaoren is touched. Please don't blame the President for being reckless today. After a pause, he continued: "But the matter of constitutional government is also a national matter, and it is a major national event. The Congress is imminent. Jiaoren also asked the President to discuss a charter. Be a little bit worried."

"Well..." Yuan Shikai pondered deeply, nodded and said: "That's fine, then I'll trouble Dunchu, the old man at Zhi'an will be here tomorrow, Dunchu and Zhi'an are old friends, the government affairs In addition, as the interim speaker, you will start the relocation of the Senate and House of Representatives to Beijing and prepare for the first official congress of the Republic of China, elect the speaker and deputy speaker, and officially take over the post of prime minister after the election of the congress, you What do you think?"

Yuan Shikai was so forthright, and Song Jiaoren was overjoyed. He first convened a congress to determine the speaker and deputy speaker, and then formally elected the president and prime minister to form a cabinet and complete the first step of constitutionalism. This was Song Jiaoren's lifelong ideal. Today, Yuan Shikai First of all, these things are much more convenient to do.

"Could it be that Yuan Shikai really agrees with constitutionalism?" Seeing Song Jiaoren thanking Yuan Shikai happily, Fang Zida couldn't help but feel puzzled when he saw that the two sides were in harmony.Although Song Jiaoren’s move to the north was due to the great victory of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and as the leader of the largest party, he should preside over the formal convening and election of the National Congress. On the other hand, it was also because Yuan Shikai agreed to his constitutional proposal to change the presidential system to a parliamentary system, that is, Commonly known as the cabinet system.This concession enabled all progressives to see the hope of real democracy, and it was the motivation for Song Jiaoren to go northward with all his heart.

Based on Fang Zida's understanding of Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai has always been a hero in his mind, just like Cao Cao in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.But such a person would be so open-minded today, and Fang Zida couldn't understand his attitude, including the expressions and reactions of the Beiyang people sitting there. Everything seemed to be taken for granted.

"That's the deal!" Smiling, he waved his hand to Song Jiaoren, telling him not to be so polite, and then said: "It's good that you are here today, the old man has something to discuss with you, this matter is very important , and please Dunchu help me to give some suggestions to the old man's staff?"

"I don't dare to suggest, and the staff has no problem." Seeing so many people in the presidential palace today, there must be some important matter to be discussed. Since Yuan Shikai took the initiative to let him participate, Song Jiaoren immediately raised his spirits.

"Okay!" Yuan Shikai nodded, and turned his attention to Zhou Xuexi, the chief financial officer present here: "I want you to talk about it."

Zhou Xuexi immediately started talking, and Fang Zida knew what it was after listening to a few words. What Zhou Xuexi was talking about was the big loan he had been paying attention to all the time. He listened attentively, and secretly corresponded to the information he had collected. .

"...The five-nation bank consortium has agreed on Clause 21 of the loan contract and Attachment No. 500. With my tariff and salt tax as collateral, including the previous five advance payments, the total loan amount is 47 million pounds, with an annual interest of 780% According to 590% actual payment, it will be paid off in [-] years, and the total principal and interest will be [-] pounds..."