On June 6, 1916, Yuan Shikai ordered the dream of the emperor to be broken, leaving a mess, and the various factions were leaderless, but they were eyeing the throne of the president. The priority at this time is to elect someone who can serve the people to succeed him as president.
Yuan Shikai's funeral
Who knew that Yuan Shikai had already made preparations, and before he died, he wrote the list of heirs on the "Jiahe Jinjian" and hid it in the "Golden Stone Room". After Jin Kui opened it, the list of three people was written in turn: "Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, and Duan Qirui". Around this list, there was a heated discussion between the Beiyang warlords in the north and the revolutionaries in the south, but neither of them could convince anyone. In the end, they invited Xu Shichang, who was respected and one of Yuan Shikai's designated presidential candidates, to make a decision.
Xu Shichang mused for a moment to express his thoughts, according to Article 29 of the Provisional Covenant Law, "When the President of the Great President resigns from office for any reason or cannot see things, the Vice President shall act on his behalf." That is to say, according to the regulations, the successor to the president should be Vice President Li Yuanhong.
Provisional Covenant Law
So, what does Duan Qirui, another candidate designated by Yuan Shikai, think? Facing the throne of the Great President, it must be false to say "don't want". However, when he heard Xu Shichang nominate Li Yuanhong, he was silent for a quarter of an hour and finally chose to support the proposal. This quarter of an hour may be the longest quarter of an hour in Duan Qirui's life.
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui is known as the "Tiger of the Beiyang". Whether it is on seniority, strength, or force, Duan Qirui believes that he is definitely the best candidate to become a great president. So why would he give this opportunity to the pinnacle of power to someone else?
Li Yuanhong
On June 6, 1916, Yuan Shikai fell ill and died, at this time, the southern navy stationed in Shanghai was planning independence and joining the defending army, which put great pressure on the Beiyang warlord Duan Qirui. For Li Yuanhong, since the success of the Wuchang Uprising and his appointment as the governor of Hubei, he has a deep relationship with the revolutionaries. Therefore, he had the political support of Sun Yat-sen and others. At the cusp of this storm, the political chips behind him are much richer than those of Duan Qirui.
Xu Shichang
Xu Shichang precisely considered that at this time, a person who could reconcile the contradictions between the North and the South was needed to serve as the president of the great president in order to ease the situation. After Yuan Shikai's death, only Li Yuanhong, as an intermediary between the northern and southern forces, was the most suitable, and Duan Qirui's final compromise was also based on this consideration.
On the afternoon of June 6, 1916, Duan Qirui sent a telegram to the whole country in the name of the State Council: "President Yuan Da died of uremia at 10:40 a.m. this morning. He also decreed in Article 29 of the Law that the Vice President would act as the vice president of the Republic of China. The State Council of the Republic of China, June 6, 2004. ”
That night, Li Yuanhong's compatriot Jiang Zuobin, then deputy army chief, called and said, "The situation outside is very bad. Li Yuanhong finally couldn't hold his breath, and he hurriedly sent Zhang Guogan to Duan Qirui's mansion to inquire about the situation, and asked him to send a message on his behalf: "Please tell Zhiquan (Duan Qirui) that I don't want to be president." ”
Zhang Guogan
Zhang Guogan, who went to Duan Qirui to inquire about the situation, saw that Duan Qirui's office was still brightly lit in the middle of the night, and a large number of soldiers were standing noisily inside. They surrounded Duan Qirui and expressed their resolute opposition to people outside the Beiyang department coming to be the president. Either Xu Shichang or Duan Qirui could not let Li Yuanhong come to power.
In the crowd, Duan Qirui caught a glimpse of Zhang Guogan and left the crowd to take him to a small room. Duan Qirui, who had a straight face, naturally knew Zhang Guogan's intentions, so he said to him: "My surname Duan said that I wanted to be surnamed Li, and my words will never change." No matter what is a big thing, my surname Duan's efforts to bear it have nothing to do with the surname Li! After that, without saying more, Duan Qirui hurried back to the crowded office.
Finally, at the insistence of Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong took office at the mansion on June 7. On June 13, the "Declaration" published an article praising Duan Qirui and saying: "Today, public telegrams from all walks of life are saying that the president has not been completely free, not only suspecting that the imperial system is still in the political situation, but also some people, the attitude of the suspicious paragraph is not very clear, or it is said that it is used by others, I mean that Duan Yu has opposed the imperial system and retreated, and it does not matter whether it is unclear to support the president's attitude first." ”
Li Yuanhong was known for his generosity, and Duan Qirui played an opposition when Yuan Shikai was proclaimed emperor, which also left some good impressions on the world. However, the pair of favored political partners staged the most famous power struggle between the first and second in modern Chinese history, the "battle between the government and the court". How exactly did the two of them fight? Please pay attention to the headline number of "Hubei Satellite TV Big Reveal", and continue to decrypt it for you tomorrow!