Chapter 283 As President

Although Zhao Dongyun has not officially held the ceremony of taking office as president, according to the current republican Constitution, since Wang Yingkai resigned as president, Zhao Dongyun, the vice president, has automatically succeeded to the presidency and does not have to hold so-called parliamentary elections according to the Constitution.

After Zhao Dongyun succeeds as president, he will definitely form a new cabinet belonging to the Soviet system, and the cabinet candidates for the chiefs of each department are also easy to handle. It is enough to directly use the original three eastern provinces to inspect the chiefs of the bureaus of the government.

However, this cabinet prime minister is not easy to do. The previous three provincial government councils did not have the position of president, and Zhao Dongyun vertically managed the ministries, but today's cabinet can't do this. Zhao Dongyun can't continue to serve as the prime minister as the president.

At present, there are not many people qualified to be the prime minister of the cabinet in the Soviet civilian system under Zhao Dongyun. Xiling is one, and Zhao E is also one. In addition to these two people, other civil officials are much more junior.

In addition, the candidate for the cabinet prime minister cannot only consider the Soviet system, but also other people in the Beiyang system.

The Soviet system led by Zhao Dongyun is just a branch of Beiyang, and the Beiyang system is actually very large. In addition to the Soviet system led by Zhao Dongyun, the direct line led by Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen and other major warlord factions led by former Wang Yingkai, there are also a large number of neutral civil servants.

Most of these are Yuan Shikai's staff and senior civil servants from northern provinces, such as Zhao Bingjun, Tang Shaoyi, Zhou Xuexi, Lu Weixiang, Lin Zhaonian and other first cabinet members. These are all high-level dignitaries in the Beiyang system and are the target of major warlords.

When Wang Yingkai took office as president, he wanted to win over them. The same Zhao Dongyun is now the president, and he also has to win over them!

The most direct purpose of catching them is not to value their ability, but that these people actually represent the civilian class of the huge Beiyang system.

Although the Beiyang system has major factions, the major factions are mainly divided between major warlords, that is, the division between generals, and most of the civil servants are neutrals except for the direct civil servants under the command of the major warlords.

Based on the huge political influence of these people, Zhao Dongyun must also consider the new cabinet candidates.

After all, Zhao Dongyun did not mean to overthrow the Beiyang system and move into the central government. He just drove Wang Yingkai to power and competed for the position of Beiyang boss. Since he has become a new generation of Beiyang boss, it is natural to accept many civil officials of the Beiyang system.

He can't push these influential people out and let them work for Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen or even the Southern Federation.

And among these people, there are many people who are qualified to be prime ministers and heads of ministries! For example, Tang Shaoyi, who was previously the chief minister of finance of the first cabinet, was also well qualified in Beiyang, much better than Xiong Xiling and Zhao E.

However, Zhao Dongyun considered that the current republican constitution is a responsible cabinet system, that is to say, the president he is, like Wang Yingkai, has only a false reputation, but no real power, and Zhao Dongyun does not like this, and it is inappropriate to change the constitution rashly. The only way is to put the cabinet in itself. It is under complete control.

For this reason, Zhao Dongyun also did not care about the qualifications or ability of Xiong Xiling under his command. He directly raised him to become the new cabinet prime minister, and the candidates of various ministries also appointed Soviet officials as much as possible, and only a small number of them chose other neutral officials.

On July 17, Zhao Dongyun was sworn in as the second president of the Republic of China in Beijing. In addition to many dignitaries from Beiyang, there were also ministers from various countries. The presence of ministers from various countries also recognized the legitimacy of President Zhao Dongyun to some extent.

Since the founding of the Republic of China last year, countries have not officially recognized the Northern Republican Government as the only legitimate government in China, but countries have said that the North-South civil war is China's civil war, and they have recognized the Northern Republican Government as one of China's civil war groups with limited diplomatic ties.

And Zhao Dongyun also knew that before he completely destroyed the Southern Federation, he did not want the great powers to recognize their republican government as the only legitimate government in China. However, now the ministers of various countries attend his swearing-in ceremony, which also represent that they have inherited the legitimacy of Wang Yingkai and regard themselves as the civil war in China. One of them.

After the inauguration ceremony, Zhao Dongyun formed the second cabinet dominated by the Soviet Union!

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet is Xiling, and this person has also worked hard. From the establishment of the Huludao Industrial Zone to serving as the general office of the financial and political bureau, especially when he was in charge of the financial and political affairs, he supported the expansion of the Feng army in the midst of all difficulties. Otherwise, the financial resources of the three eastern provinces could not be expanded to the current scale of the Feng army.

In addition to the cabinet prime minister, Zhao Dongyun also set up a special post of deputy prime minister and invited Tang Shaoyi to become deputy prime minister.

Among the ministries of the cabinet, the most important is the Ministry of Finance, and the chief minister of the Ministry of Finance is Zhou Xuexi, the god of wealth of the Beiyang system, and Zhou Ziqi, the former mayor of Yingkou City, was transferred to the deputy minister of finance.

is followed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, with Zhao E as the general director and Zhu Qiling as the deputy director.

The general director of the Ministry of Transportation is Shi Zhaoji, the deputy director of the Ministry of Transportation of the first cabinet, and the deputy director is Chen Shaochang, the former General Office of the Transportation Bureau of the Three Eastern Provinces.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is Lu Weixiang, the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To be honest, in contemporary China, you really can't find a second qualified head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs except him. The deputy director is Song Xiaoli of the former Foreign Affairs Department of the Eastern Three Provinces.

The general director of the Ministry of Education is Xu Hongbao and the deputy minister is Xie Yanchang.

The general director of the Ministry of Justice is Lin Shaonian, an old man in the officialdom.

The director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is Chen Zhenxian, the former general office of the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau of the three eastern provinces.

The chief of the navy is still Liu Guanxiong, the chief of the navy in the first cabinet.

As for the Ministry of War, this department was a false institution in the first cabinet and did not have real power. In order to ease the relationship between Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen and others, Zhao Dongyun still nominated these two people as the commander-general and deputy chief of the Army Department respectively.

Although he changed the patrol department to the police department and appointed Wang Zhixin as the chief.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was newly established, appointing Zhu Jiabao as the chief and Zhao Bingjun as the deputy minister.

The above is the list of the chiefs of the departments of the second cabinet, and you will find that many of them are still old Beiyang civil servants of neutral factions, that is, Tang Shaoyi, Zhou Xuexi and others, but there are also more people from the Soviet faction, and most of them are in important positions, such as Premier Xiong Xiling, Industry and Commerce. Zhao E, Wang Zhixin of the Ministry of Police, Xu Hongbao of the Ministry of Education, Chen Zhenxian of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and Zhu Jiabao of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

rudely say that except for Soviet-born officials who occupy the big wall of the second cabinet, the only weighted position of the old Beiyang faction is Zhou Xuexi of the Ministry of Finance.

Using Zhou Xuexi as the Minister of Finance also has Zhao Dongyun's own considerations. First of all, Zhou Xuexi is really good at playing with the economy. In Yuan Shikai's era, he was the money bag of Beiyang. In Wang Yingkai's era, he was still the money bag of Beiyang, and Zhao Dongyun became the president. There is no reason why he has to use his own. The so-called cronies are not.

Moreover, the personal relationship between Zhou Xuexi and Zhao Dongyun has always been not shallow, and the political influence of Zhou Xuexi and his son is relatively large, so he continues to use Zhou Xuexi.

After the reorganization of the second cabinet, Zhao Dongyun reorganized the original army headquarters of the Eastern Three Provinces into the command of the Republic of China, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the president and commanded the domestic navy and navy, which was once again completely overshadowed the army and the navy in the cabinet.

And Zhao Dongyun is also shameless. He is also the 'Marshal of the Republic of China' as the president. His intention to completely control the military power is basically well known to passers-by.

But how does Zhao Dongyun play in Beijing? Others really care about him. Why? Because no one among the Beiyang generals has yet announced the legitimacy of Zhao Dongyun's successor as president, Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen have previously issued a telegram not to recognize Zhao Dongyun.

Now Fengjun is still fighting with several companies in the south of Beiyang. Naturally, don't expect Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen to send congratulatory telegrams or something.

Although Wang Yingkai fell and stepped down, the anti-Zhao alliance still exists. Duan Qirui and Zhang Huaizhi's troops have gone north to Shandong, and Wang Shizhen has once again transferred troops from Hubei to Shijiazhuang north. It doesn't seem that the war is over.

But one of these people is caught in the middle, that is, Wang Zhanyuan!

After Wang Zhanyuan broke out of Bazhou, he began to return to Shandong in the south, but before he could walk dozens of kilometers, there was news that Wang Yingkai was electrocuted, and then the 11th Division, the 12th Division, and even Lu Yongxiang's first division also defected to Zhao Dongyun one after another. Wang Zhanyuan did not know where to go for a while. From where!

Award Zhao Dongyun? To be honest, he doesn't want to!

Although he and Zhao Dongyun and other Feng army generals can't talk about deep hatred, their relationship is not good enough. Now he still remembers the days when he was under house arrest by Zhao Dongyun in Jinzhou last year.

As for joining Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen and others to continue to fight with Zhao Dongyun, he is also unwilling!

Why, because he is different from Duan Qirui, Wang Zhanyuan is not a local warlord. He does not control a provincial territory. Even when he was stationed in Shandong before, he could not intervene in Shandong. Strictly speaking, Shandong is still Zhang Huaizhi's territory. Shandong's taxes in the first half of the year were Zhang Huaizhi took it away.

If he defected to Duan Qirui, he who had no territory in his hand may become weaker and weaker. After the seventh division is finished, it is estimated that he will become a bald commander.

Wang Zhanyuan, who was sandwiched in the middle, was cruel and didn't care about the overall situation of the republic. He led the army all the way south. As for whether to go to Shandong or Nanzhili or Henan in the future, let's see the future situation. In short, he doesn't care about the war situation in Zhili.

Wang Zhanyuan patted his buttocks and left, and the last obstacle that prevented the Feng army from completely controlling Zhili disappeared. Therefore, Zhao Dongyun was sworn in as president, that is, appointing Xu Bangjie as the commander of the Second Army, and the third and tenth divisions went south to Cangzhou and Dezhou to Shandong. .

On the other side, he ordered Meng Enyuan's first army to continue to go south, reinforce the Shijiazhuang line, and go south along the Beijing-Han Railway. At present, the first army going south is under the jurisdiction of 8,000 remnants of the 1st Division, the 9th Division, the 4th Mixed Brigade and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade that has arrived in Shijiazhuang, as well as an independent heavy artillery battalion and a single Stand up a mortar battalion.

After the two armies went south, the Feng army was not idle, but continued to mobilize troops!

The 1st Division of the Army of the three eastern provinces was changed to the 13th Division of the Central Army, and the 1st Mixed Brigade and the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Army of the Eastern Provinces was changed to the 9th Mixed Brigade of the Central Army and the 10th Mixed Brigade of the Central Army, completing the transformation of the provincial army to the Central Army.

The remnants of the 11th Division and 12th Division of Tocheng are combined and integrated into the 11th Division, while the number of the 12th Division is temporarily left blank.

The above-mentioned reorganization scale is very large. The 13th Division, the 9th Mixed Brigade and the 10th Mixed Brigade are all seriously missing troops. Although the reorganized 11th Division has 6,000 to 7,000 people, it is also very difficult to reach full personnel.

However, once the above plans are completed, the Feng army will be able to usher in a new peak of military expansion, which will increase the number of two divisions and two brigades, at least more than 50,000.

In addition to the consolidation and expansion of regular troops, Zhao Dongyun also integrated the provincial army, patrol battalions and other troops in Zhili Province, and then reorganized them into several patrol regiments. These patrol police regiments will be stationed in various places to suppress localities, suppress bandits and other tasks.

Almost in late July, the Feng army survived in this large-scale atmosphere of southward and expansion, and with the passage of time, Duan Qirui and Zhang Huaizhi's troops finally contacted the Second Army of the Feng Army in Shandong and launched a battle against Shandong!