() The next morning, an emergency cabinet meeting was held in the Forbidden City. All 10 cabinet members attended the meeting, except for the Prime Minister and Minister of Transportation Tang Shaoyi, the Chief of Foreign Affairs Lu Zhengxiang, the Chief of the Army Duan Qirui, the Chief of the Navy Liu Guanxiong, and the Chief of Finance.
In addition to Xiong Xiling, Director-General of Agriculture and Forestry Song Jiaoren, Director-General of Education Cai Yuanpei, Director-General of Justice Wang Chonghui, Director-General of Industry and Commerce Chen Qimei, and Director-General of the Interior Zhao Bingjun were also present.
At the meeting, Lu Zhengxiang first briefly introduced the purpose, process and results of this visit to Taiwan. Finally, Liu Fu proposed the cross-strait joint construction of the Shilu Iron Mine on Hainan Island and funding for the Republic of China to build a medium-sized steelmaking plant nearby in Guangdong.
The issue of the factory and the long-term interest-free loan of 20 million silver dollars was raised.
Most of the 10 cabinet members present here have more or less knowledge about Taiwan. However, after hearing what Lu Zhengxiang saw and heard in Taiwan, they were a little confused. They did not expect that in twenty years,
Taiwan is far ahead of Japan, a powerful country in Asia, both economically and militarily, and not only
He surpassed Japan and trampled Japan under his feet, not giving Japan a chance to take revenge. Looking back at itself, in the eyes of the Chinese people, Japan is still a powerful country, so powerful that people dare not touch it.
But before I understood this fact, there were several people in the cabinet who had returned from studying in Japan.
In their eyes, Japan is still so powerful. Who knew that a visit by Lu Zhengxiang would expose Japan's mask? Moreover, Lu Zhengxiang also added one more thing, that is, when he conveyed the Japanese ambassador's proposal to Taiwan for peace talks,
When asked, Taiwan President Liu Fu replied casually
: You can tell Japan’s ambassador that as long as Japan does not take the initiative to surrender, Taiwan and Japan will always be in a state of declared war, and it is not just surrender. What I mean is that there will be no country of Japan in the future, and it will be merged into Taiwan. As for Taiwan.
Are people in their country starving to death? This is their government
Fu things.
After listening to Liu Fu's original words relayed by Lu Zhengxiang, the expressions on the faces of the 10 cabinet members present were different. In the early days of the Republic of China, Japan was of great help to many domestic revolutionaries, but from the perspective of the country's
From another perspective, if one country helps another country's revolution, no matter how beautiful the reasons are, you will understand the meaning.
"Finally, President Liu secretly joked with me that if the Japanese people all starved to death, would the government of the Republic of China consider sending people to the Japanese islands to receive this land? I would give the Japanese islands as a gift.
The government of the Republic of China." Lu Zhengxiang thought of Liu Fu's face at that time and said with both amusement and worry.
"It's ridiculous..." Justice Chief Wang Chonghui said.
"Absurd..." Song Jiaoren, chief of agriculture and forestry, also said.
"Arrogant..." Chen Qimei, Director of Industry and Commerce, followed.
Lu Zhengxiang looked at the people who were talking. All of them had studied and lived in Japan for a long time. After returning to Japan, they also had close contact with Japan. He couldn't help but think of what Liu Fu told him in Taiwan. No matter what happened within the revolutionary party,
Taiwan will ignore the fight, but if that person or party dares to use the power of foreigners to go to China to suppress its compatriots, then I'm sorry, Taiwan will use various means to suppress this party and the foreign forces that support this party.
However, looking at the members of the cabinet, Lu Zhengxiang did not convey Liu Fu's words because he was afraid that some members of the cabinet would become angry and veto the joint development of Hainan Island.
During this meeting of the cabinet, Duan Qirui and Liu Guanxiong, the two generals of the Republic of China, were surprisingly silent. I don't know whether it was because the Hainan Island issue could be resolved peacefully and there was no need for them generals, or because Lu Zhengxiang brought back
The news is so shocking. According to Lu Zhengxiang, the equipment and training of the Taiwan Army are no worse than those of the German Army, and the machine guns and cannons are better than those of the German Army.
The military is several times larger. In this way, the Taiwan Army is like a beggar when compared with the Taiwan Navy. After Lu Zhengxiang visited the tens of thousands of large warships being built in the Taiwan Naval Shipyard and boarded the 10,000-ton heavy cruiser built by Taiwan itself,
After that, Lu Zhengxiang completely gave up the idea of retaking Hainan Island by force, and during the cabinet meeting, he focused on putting Taiwan's military strength on the table.
After three consecutive days of cabinet meetings, the issue of Hainan Island was finally resolved. Among the 10 people in the cabinet, 6 expressed support for this cooperation and 3 expressed opposition. The Chief of Finance, Xiong Xiling, said as usual,
Abstain.
After approval by the cabinet, the secret agreement will be presented to Yuan Shikai for final approval and stamped with the official seal of the president. Although the cabinet only partially passed it after three days of internal struggle, when the agreement reached President Yuan's desk, he only needed
After three hours of sitting, the conclusion was sealed. Now Yuan Shikai is not only responsible for the tens of thousands of Beiyang troops under his command, but also for the people of the whole country.
, the money in this hand is spent like running water, relying only on the taxes of the 6 or 7 provinces he controls, which is far from meeting the requirements of all parties, and this cooperative factory building, mining, and loan agreement, no matter where it comes from,
On the one hand, this is all a good thing. Yuan Shikai hopes that the more such agreements, the better. If he can stamp more than a dozen such agreements a day, then Yuan Yuan will wake up happy when he sleeps.
After approval by the cabinet and the president, in accordance with the provisions of this agreement, Taiwan
Then, both parties will send personnel to carry out exploration, planning, and construction on Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula. After all the equipment of the steelmaking plant is in place and the construction of the mine is completed, the remaining 10 million yuan of loan will be
also
This will be paid in full. In addition, with the arrival of the first batch of loans, there are also weapons and equipment for two full divisions. These weapons and equipment will be transported directly to Tianjin Port by Taiwan cargo ships and received by the Beiyang Army. As for the distribution of these weapons to
Who, that is Duan Qirui’s business.
However, at this time, the issue of Hainan Island had not been satisfactorily resolved, because there was still Liu Yongdian, the governor of Beiyang, on the island. However, the cabinet of the Republic of China and Yuan Shikai were very generous. For the sake of Taiwan's weapons and silver coins, Liu Yongdian was officially appointed as the governor of Beiyang.
The army temporarily appoints the commander of the ninth brigade, and his jurisdiction is
Hainan Island. As for Taiwan's 1st Mountain Division on the island, most of them withdrew, leaving only 2 battalions, responsible for continuing to train the temporary ninth brigade, but nominally the two destroyers and the
The 10 torpedo boats will also be stationed in Haikou Port, nominally commanded by Army brigade commander Liu Yongdian.
The problem on Hainan Island has been solved for the time being, and Liu Fu feels a lot more relaxed here. He doesn't have to worry about any armed conflicts there all day long. Although he is not completely relieved, it is almost enough to leave a fleet on Hainan Island.
Liu Fu was just relaxed and relaxed, but something went wrong here in the Republic of China. At the end of June, Tang Shaoyi resigned from the post of Prime Minister due to conflicts with Yuan Shikai over personnel appointments. Then, within a few days, Song Jiaoren, Cai Yuanpei,
Wang Chonghui and Chen Qimei also resigned collectively, and Tang Shaoyi's cabinet was effectively dissolved.
Without the Prime Minister, Yuan Shikai nominated Lu Zhengxiang, an independent person, as the new Prime Minister of the Cabinet. So Lu Zhengxiang took office in July. However, he, an independent person, was in a more difficult situation. At the first Senate meeting, he added
All six cabinet members were rejected. In the end, there was nothing left to do. Yuan Shikai sent
The military elite entered the Senate to support Lu Zhengxiang, and they barely passed the 5 quotas, namely, the Chief of Finance Zhou Xuexi, the Chief of Justice Xu Shiying, the Chief of Education Fan Yuanlian, the Chief of Agriculture and Forestry Chen Zhenxian, the Chief of Transportation Zhu Qiling, the Chief of Industry and Commerce Liu Kuiyi, and the remaining diplomacy,
The chiefs of the interior, army, and navy remained unchanged.
After barely forming the cabinet, Lu Zhengxiang was impeached by the Senate one after another before he could secure his position as prime minister. By the third time, Lu Zhengxiang himself felt that it was boring, so he resigned as prime minister and went home to recuperate.
The post was replaced by Zhao Bingjun, the former Chief of Internal Affairs.
