In the 28th episode of the popular Red Revolution drama "The Age of Awakening" some time ago, such a bridge section appeared. Xu Shichang, then the provisional president of the Republic of China, released the arrested students, and later Xu Shichang actually had to give an explanation to his subordinate Duan Qirui, explaining why he wanted to release the arrested students.
Logically speaking, Xu Shichang is the president, and the release of the imprisoned students is a trivial matter, and there is no need to make a big fuss to discuss and report with Duan Qirui, but why would Xu Shichang do more? As a big president, why would you listen to Duan Qirui?
In the third year of the Republic of China (1914 AD), Yuan Shikai introduced the Law of the Three Covenants of the People. The "Law of the Three Covenants of the People" can be understood as follows: "The power of the president is almost that of an absolute monarch, and the whole country is decided by Yuan Shikai, which can be seen as Yuan Shikai's delusion to restore the monarchy." ”
On the basis of the Law of the Three Covenants of the People, Dr. Sun Yat-sen introduced the Provisional Covenant Law, that is, the system of virtual presidents plus real power cabinets and prime ministers.
The Provisional Covenant Law stipulates that the power of the Republic of China belongs to all the people, and the political system of the separation of powers is established, and a "responsible cabinet" is established in particular. In order to appease Yuan Shikai, Sun Yat-sen ceded the presidency to him and limited Yuan's power, so he set up a separate Provisional Law.
There are three important provisions in the Provisional Covenant Act:
(1) An order issued by the President shall be subject to the consent of the Prime Minister in order to enter into force.
2. The premier can reject the president's request, and Yuan Shikai needs to obey the cabinet and the premier's wishes, and cannot act arbitrarily.
(3) The Prime Minister of the Cabinet shall be elected by the Parliamentary Majority Party. (At that time, the Kuomintang occupied the majority of seats, and Yuan Shikai had a hard time manipulating the selection of the prime minister.)
The significance of the existence of the Provisional Law is to prevent Yuan Shikai from grabbing the fruits of the revolution.
Of course, Yuan Shikai did not agree, so the "Dharma Protection Movement" broke out. (First Song Jiaoren was assassinated, and Yuan Shikai took power back from the cabinet and had more power.) The president can draft a system of officials, declare war diplomatically, and conclude a contract without the consent of Congress. The president can issue an emergency order equivalent to the force of law, the judicial power is enforced by the judges appointed by the president to organize the courts, the legislative yuan belongs to the president, the congress is basically useless, and the grand president is the emperor)
The so-called "Dharma Protection Movement" is protecting the Provisional Covenant Law, not the Civil Three Covenants Law.
At this time, the Anhui warlord Duan Qirui gained a lot of benefits from the "Dharma Protection Movement" and became the main target of Sun Yat-sen and others. In the end, Yuan Shikai was forced to bow his head and distribute power to the prime minister of the Republic of China, and his presidential position was somewhat tasteless.
That is to say, throughout the Republican period, the prime minister was the de facto holder of the highest authority and was able to refute any regulations promulgated by the president. The president only nominally has a higher authority, but in fact belongs to an "empty shelf".
In 1916, after Yuan Shikai's death, Vice President Li Yuanhong became president according to the law. However, Li Yuanhong, like Yuan Shikai, was not willing to be a "puppet president", so Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui broke out into a fierce power struggle (the dispute between the government and the court).
In the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917 AD), Feng Guozhang, who was then the president of the Republic of China, had a second dispute between the government and the court in order to resolve the division between the north and the south and unify China.
On November 22, 1917, Feng Guozhang resigned (Li Yuanhong was ousted) and reinstated on March 22 of the following year. On October 10, 1918, Feng Guozhang's term of office expired.
The "AnFu Clan" elected Xu Shichang as the grand president, and Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang agreed to jointly "go down" (Shimono is not mixed with any congressional decisions, becoming a commoner, and Duan Qirui then reneges on his word).
Duan Qirui transformed himself from the "Dharma Protection Movement" and became a great warlord who supported the restriction of the presidential power, but he also launched a fierce "government dispute" with Li Yuanhong.
According to Duan Qirui's ideas, he first instigated Zhang Xun's restoration and used Zhang Xun's hand to drive away Li Yuanhong. He then descended from the sky as a "righteous person", drove out Zhang Xun and Puyi, supported Feng Guozhang to replace Li Yuanhong as president, and then achieved his ulterior motives step by step.
However, Feng Guozhang was not a good stubble, Duan Qirui ousted Li Yuanhong step by step, and Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang broke out a second "dispute between the government and the court". In the end, Duan Qirui had to elect Xu Shichang, a Beiyang predecessor with no obvious faction, as president.
Otherwise, according to sun Yat-sen's influence at that time, the Kuomintang would have to share a piece of the pie first.
At that time, when Yuan Shikai passed away, the society was in ruins, especially the conflict between the warlords in the north and the south was intensifying, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen originally wanted to continue to use the Provisional Covenant Law.
However, Feng Guozhang, Zhang Zuolin, Duan Qirui and others are ambitious, the social and political system is very unstable, and if it is impossible to unify the balance of forces between the north and the south, then a big war will break out.
Everyone thought about it, since Feng Guozhang stepped down, the presidency must be replaced by a person with a reputation, so Xu Shichang was pushed to the presidency.
Xu Shichang and Yuan Shikai had a lot of friendship, and they were both elders in the Beiyang government. Moreover, Xu Shichang was born as a scholar and entered the military field as a literati, and he was equivalent to Yuan Shikai's chief of staff and military division. There has been no military power in his hands, nor his own military strength, which cannot affect the National Assembly, let alone determine the fate of other warlords, so everyone is very supportive of Xu Shichang becoming the president of the Republic of China.
The reason why Xu Shichang became the president of the Republic of China is mainly because of the impetus behind Duan Qirui. The previous article briefly mentioned Duan Qirui and his "Anfu system".
The "Anfu clan" essentially refers to Duan Qirui and the Anhui warlord forces behind him. Before the Zhiwan War, the "Anfu Clan" had always been the most powerful private group within the Republic of China.
Until the 1920 Zhi-Anhui War, the Anhui clan was defeated, the direct lineage came to power, and Cao Kun began to enter the capital to show off its might. Of course, this is all an afterthought, and I will not say it here.
In general, the only presidents who really had military power, influence and fighting power in their hands during the Republic of China period were Feng Guozhang, Cao Kun, and later Zhang Zuolin, the Grand Marshal of the Navy and Army. Most of the remaining presidents, including the acting president and the acting prime minister, are "scapegoats" that have been put forward by all parties who have compromised and have no choice but to choose.
People such as Li Yuanhong and Xu Shichang do not want to be the president at all, but because they are at the center of political power, they will be shot by others.
The reason for this is that in the early years of the Republic of China, warlords in various places rose up together, and only when they had guns and people in their hands could they have the right to speak. Xu Shichang was not directly in charge of the army and had no military strength.
Duan Qirui was the leader of the entire Anhui warlords, and could directly manipulate the Parliament and confront Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The private armed forces were strong, and they always wanted to succeed Yuan Shikai and re-establish the monarchy.
Therefore, Xu Shichang can indeed be regarded as a puppet president, and he himself was elected by the "Anfu Department" Congress. Even though Xu Shichang had a wealth of political experience, after coming to power, he first pulled Cao Rulin into the cabinet, and then received the cooperation and support of Liang Qichao, Liang Shiyi and others.
However, in the Beiyang government, there is still a basic principle of "the weak eating the strong". Controlling the National Assembly and using the congressional elections was an important step for Duan Qirui to realize his ambitions, and it was also a means to gain legitimacy for the regime.
At that time, it was already a naked "warrior interfering in politics", and Xu Shichang was helpless, but he still had to obey Duan Qirui's words.
The bridge section of episode 28 of "The Age of Awakening" is completely in line with the historical truth, but there may be some discrepancies in time. In 1920, the warlords of their immediate lineage manipulated the National Assembly and continued to make Xu Shichang president. Later, the direct leader Cao Kun replaced Xu Shichang as president, which stabilized the entire social situation.
After saying this, I believe that everyone should be clear about why Xu Shichang, the president of the Republic of China, has to obey Duan Qirui's words.
Although Xu Shichang's seniority was higher than Duan Qirui's, he intersected with Yuan Shikai, the boss of Beiyang. However, Duan Qirui had soldiers in his hands, which was equivalent to grasping real power. Xu Shichang, like Li Yuanhong, has prestige but no military power.
In such a chaotic situation, there is no real power, and no matter what position, it can only be regarded as a "puppet". The relationship between Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui is complicated, although there is no contradiction in private, but in the face of power, the two also have disputes and struggles.
Even if Xu Shichang becomes a "puppet president" and Duan Qirui controls the National Assembly for a long time, these two people may not be able to talk about winning.
Duan Qirui's ambitions were not small, and he manipulated and created a "Peaceful Congress" by himself, and by virtue of various improper means, he instigated a group of people who obeyed his orders to enter the National Assembly. Then he manipulated the national assembly to elect Xu Shichang as president and made himself the prime minister. However, due to the Provisional Law, the actual power of the Prime Minister is higher than that of the President.
There was also a joke at the time. On December 28, 1919, feng Guozhang, the former acting president of the Republic of China, died of illness, and the newspaper simply published the news. Neither Xu Shichang nor Duan Qirui, the premier of the State Council, came to the funeral because they were deeply prejudiced against Feng Guozhang.
According to legend, Yuan Shikai had the "Three Masters of Beiyang", who were "Dragon Tiger Dogs". "Dragon" is Wang Shizhen, "Tiger" is Duan Qirui, and "Dog" is Feng Guozhang.
The use of "dog" as a metaphor for Feng Guozhang is obviously with a special pejorative meaning. However, Feng Guozhang proposed the so-called "peaceful reunification", but Duan Qirui's "reunification by force" prevailed. Subsequently, Feng Guozhang was completely ousted by the "Anfu Club" and nested in his life.
On the contrary, Xu Shichang, who knew how to judge the hour and size up the situation, did not easily express his opinions, studied from The Han Xuan Emperor Liu Qing, and everything was based on the opinions of the great general Huo Guang, which could protect himself. After all, the situation is stronger than people, and Xu Shichang also had to bow his head.