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When it comes to diplomats, it gives the impression of not being personable, at least it is like a river of mouth, otherwise what do you want to use? However, after such a famous diplomat became prime minister, his eloquence was inferior to that of a military grandfather, and he was bombarded in his speech in the Senate. This diplomat, named Lu Zhengxiang, if your impression of him is only to sign the "Twenty-one Articles", it is far from enough.
As a well-known diplomat, he lost his eloquence to the military master, and he could not say anything.
Lu Zhengxiang's foreign wife
Some people say that diplomats lack calcium, but Lu Zhengxiang was not lacking at all when he was young. He graduated from professional foreign language schools such as Shanghai Cantonese Dialect Museum and Beijing Tongwenguan, and is mainly proficient in Russian. In 1904-1905, when the Russo-Japanese War was fought in northeast China, Lu Zhengxiang, who was working as an interpreter at the embassy in Russia, felt so humiliated that he simply cut off his braids. By the way, 28-year-old Lu Zhengxiang also married a young lady (Belgian woman) – in the face of strong opposition from the embassy and his family, this person is stubborn.
Lu Zhengxiang's Chinese is not very good, which may be related to the long-term study of Russian and later staying in Russia for too long. From the age of 13, he began to learn Russian, and at the age of 21 he went to Russia for 14 years. Therefore, his mind is more about Russia than China, more about Russian than Chinese, and whether it is thinking, writing, speaking, or doing things, he has been branded with Russia.
When he succeeded Tang Shaoyi as the second prime minister to deliver a policy speech in the Senate, due to his unfamiliarity with domestic political conditions, the content of the speech did not meet the tastes of the parliamentarians (it should have been domestic and foreign affairs, but he said a lot of family trivia); the polite habit of diplomats who had been cultivated for a long time, and his voice was not loud enough when speaking, which was considered to lack self-confidence; coupled with the fact that the language thinking and speaking style were Russian and did not please the audience, the effect of the speech was too unsuccessful. Before this, he had a great reputation, and everyone's expectations were very high, but unexpectedly a speech was messed up, and everyone's impression of him jumped off the building, and then all the ministers he nominated were rejected, making the new prime minister unable to form a cabinet, which was extremely embarrassing.
Signed photo of Lu Zhengxiang
The rescuer of Lu Zhengxiang was several soldiers, one of whom was named Lu Jianzhang. In order to reconcile Lu Zhengxiang's relationship with the Senate (who was hospitalized in shame), four military leaders came forward to entertain Senate members, politicians and journalists. In addition to Jiang Guiti, the president of the Yi Army (who dared to urinate in front of Yuan Shikai), Ma Jinxu, the governor directly under him, and Duan Zhigui, the commander of the Gongwei Army (Yuan Shikaigan's son), these four military masters were Lu Jianzhang, the director of the law enforcement department, who was later killed by Xu Shuzheng.
At the grand banquet, Lu Jianzhang gave a speech that was extremely contagious and convincing, and after listening to it, many people present privately exchanged their ears: If the premier of the state (obviously Lu Zhengxiang) had the eloquence of this surname Lu, the Senate would not have such a bad impression of Premier Lu and would have caused the government to fail in forming a cabinet.
How bad is Lu Zhengxiang's speech? As I said in the previous article, I also quoted some of the original texts of his speeches. Here is an excerpt from the original text of Lu Jianzhang's speech, "Director Lu" is not better than "Premier Lu", let's be the referee:
Lu Jianzhang
"There is also a journalist here today, and we know that the journalists who have done the most great work in overthrowing the Manchu Qing and establishing a republic this time, because the daily reports in the newspapers say how strong, how fierce, how numerous, and how profligate the Confederate Army is, all for the purpose of advocating a republic, which cannot be regarded as a rumor. Now that the Republic of China is completed, all the journalists and gentlemen have used this brilliant pen to advocate for the Republic of China, such as: Although the finances are very difficult today, why don't you say in the newspapers that you can still support and cope with them; although there are similarities and differences in the current party views, why don't you emphasize in the newspapers that there is no party view; although the domestic situation is not very unified, why don't you say that it has been unified? Journalists are the leaders of the times, and if you say it's ahead, people will tell you. ”
There are not many opportunities for military personnel to deal with the outside world, especially journalists, which is common for diplomats, but the performance of "Lu Director" is superior, far above that of "Premier Lu". The most fundamental reason is actually not that Lu Zhengxiang has poor eloquence, but that he has too little understanding of the love and social situation of domestic political lovers and is too angry. Such a person's appointment as Prime Minister is only a temporary and expedient transition.