Local senators are elected by citizens, and the senators elect the Senate President.
Zhou Hexuan is not even qualified to be a member of the parliament, let alone the speaker. Li Hongkun does not have the power to directly appoint him. But the so-called citizen election is a cover. Cao Kun can bribe votes even if he is the president of the Beiyang government. Naturally, the local senators are not here
Next words.
Few ordinary people will participate in elections. Most of the voters are civil servants and intellectuals in society.
By then, even if Li Hongkun makes a few remarks, all civil servants in Chongqing will elect Zhou Hexuan, and he will be elected as a member with an absolute high vote. If he greets the members a few times and does some ideological work, the post of Speaker will naturally come to him.
The reason why Zhou Hexuan agreed wholeheartedly was because the speaker's status was very noble and he didn't have to worry about anything.
It's different when you're an official. It's easy to get a job, but it's very difficult to actually do something. First, you have to get in touch with the upper management; second, you have to make good friends with your colleagues in the department; finally, you have to win over your subordinates - factions, cronies, etc.
Nepotism...the relationship is so complicated that I can't even figure it out, and most of my time is spent on interpersonal communication.
Why did Zhou Hexuan refuse to agree to Chiang Kai-shek's appointment as an official?
Just because the officialdom is so messy, if he joins in stupidly and shirtless, he will be ignored by his subordinates in minutes. If you want to investigate and deal with anyone who is not pleasing to your eyes, hey, maybe you can find the backer behind him, and finally make all kinds of denials to win favors.
In particular, Chiang Kai-shek wanted Zhou Hexuan to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the greatest use of this department in the Republic of China was to take the blame, and Zhou Hexuan would not become a scapegoat again.
Being the president of the local Senate is very comfortable, and there are many things you can do. There are roughly five major powers:
First, the right to vote. To make major local decisions, in principle, they must be voted on by the Senate. Extremely excessive policies will be resisted by members. Don’t think that this is just a decoration. Such incidents often occurred in local governments in the Republic of China.
Although the congressmen do not have any power, the private connections between various industries are enough to make officials drink.
Second, the right to make suggestions. This right is easy to understand, which is to make policy suggestions to local governments.
Third, the right to listen to government policy reports is roughly equivalent to the power of administrative supervision and is generally useless.
Fourth, the right to inquire. Same as above.
Fifth, the right to express opinions freely. If you have a bad temper, you can directly complain to the mayor, or you can write an article and publish it in the newspaper. This is the legitimate right of councillors.
Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but asked: "Mayor Li, I have two questions. First, who is the current Speaker of the Senate? Second, will other members elect me? I am a northerner and came to Chongqing to be the Speaker. I'm afraid
It will be misunderstood by the locals.”
"Mr. Zhou doesn't need to worry about these issues at all," Li Hongkun said with a smile. "The current chairman of the Chongqing Senate is Wang Yunsong. Mr. Wang is old and has long wanted to abdicate. Before coming, I also asked for his opinion.
I strongly agree with Mr. Zhou being the speaker. With Mr. Wang’s support, other members will definitely vote for you, Mr. Zhou, during the election.”
"That's good, so as not to cause unnecessary conflicts." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
These days, people are very attached to the rural party plot. Take for example during the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek personally appointed Kang Xinru as the Speaker of the Chongqing Municipal Senate. Although Kang Xinru was not originally from Sichuan, he was born and raised in Sichuan and had been doing business in Sichuan for many years. He became the Speaker
I am still ostracized by the locals in various ways.
Wang Yunsong, as we mentioned before, was Deng Gong's mentor and had a high prestige in Sichuan and Chongqing. Now that Wang Yunsong has taken the initiative to abdicate, with his support, other congressmen will naturally give him some face.
After settling the matter, Li Hongkun said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, can I ask for political advice now? To be honest, I have been the mayor of Chongqing for more than three months, and I still don't know how to govern the place."
"Mayor Li is trying to test me, right?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
"Haha, I don't want to take the exam as a teacher, I just ask the wise people in politics." Li Hongkun said with a smile.
Zhou Hexuan said: "What did your staff say?"
Li Hongkun shook his head: "Let me, Xiao Gui, follow Cao Cao and follow Pan Wenhua's example. My idea is to put some thought into it."
Pan Wenhua, the first mayor of Chongqing, can be said to have achieved outstanding political achievements. In a few years, he doubled the area of Chongqing's urban area, built and expanded several docks, and built three main lines in the urban area. This person
Although he was born in the military, he was an infrastructure maniac. He led the army to build roads whenever he disagreed. Now he was transferred to Chengdu as the army commander. With nothing to do, he led the army to build roads in Chengdu. Anyway, wherever he goes,
Just lead the army to build roads wherever they go.
Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "If Mayor Li can obey Cao Cao and conscientiously implement Mayor Pan's policy line, it will be a blessing to the people of Chongqing."
Li Hongkun is obviously a little disappointed with this answer. Any official who has some pursuits in his heart is unwilling to bear the "good name" of Xiao Gui and Cao Sui. The political achievements were made by his predecessor, and if things are messed up, he can only bear them by himself. Who is an official?
Are you willing to be a living Lei Feng?
Li Hongkun couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Zhou, can you help me analyze how Chongqing should develop?"
Zhou Hexuan asked: "What are Chongqing's advantages? What are its disadvantages?"
Li Hongkun said: "Chongqing is the throat out of Sichuan, with convenient water transportation and developed shipping, which is an advantage. Chongqing has many mountains and little land, inconvenient transportation, and poor agriculture, which is a disadvantage."
"That's enough, just build roads and docks!" Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
Li Hongkun said depressedly: "Isn't it still Pan Wenhua's way?"
Zhou Hexuan came up with an idea: "Mayor Pan has laid the foundation. He has not only built many roads and docks, but also clarified Chongqing's numerous excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes. If you want to develop further, you can continue to reduce business taxes and attract more people."
Many businessmen come to Chongqing to set up factories and do business. Well, this is called attracting investment. A piece of land is set aside as an industrial zone. Anyone who sets up a factory there can enjoy tax exemptions or tax reductions for the first two or three years, which will surely attract many foreign capitalists."
"Is this okay?" Li Hongkun's eyes lit up.
"Of course," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "You can advertise in the "Declaration" and say that you want to build an industrial Chongqing and welcome friends from all over the world to set up factories here. In the first year, more than 50% of the tax will be directly refunded, and in the second year, the tax will be refunded
30%, and all kinds of administrative care are also provided. There will definitely be many capitalists willing to come. In just a few years, there will be more factories, more government tax revenue, more employment opportunities for the people, and everyone's pockets will be bulging.
"
Li Hongkun pondered: "It seems to make some sense."
Zhou Hexuan added: "The prerequisite is to improve transportation, build more roads, and build more docks. The roads in Chongqing are too difficult."
Li Hongkun slapped his thigh fiercely and said: "I will have the road repaired later. At least the road from Lianglu intersection to Liziba will be repaired, so that Mr. Zhou will not need to take a boat to go to the city!"
Li Hongkun is a very enterprising person and has a general sense of patriotism, otherwise Zhou Hexuan would not have to say these words.
Li Gengu, the Chongqing garrison commander who was sitting next to him, suddenly slapped his chest and said: "Mayor Li wants to build roads, why should I be counted as one? I will immediately mobilize 20,000 troops to work as road builders!"
Yes, it's easier to do now.
Maybe it’s because the Sichuan Road has been too difficult to walk since ancient times. Sichuan people are very active in building roads, and the blood of infrastructure enthusiasts flows in their bodies.
The success of the Revolution of 1911 was due to the Sichuan "Road Protection Movement" attracting firepower and diverting all the attention of the Qing government to Sichuan.