On a cold night, the north wind was cold, and the cold weather drove people from the streets and alleys back home early.

Located in front of the yard of Qingyuan Mansion by the river, several small cars came one after another, including carriages and sedans. Several guests hurried out from their respective vehicles and walked straight into the yard without saying a word. Perhaps no one in Nanjing City knew that Qingyuan Mansion was a different business that Xiong Xiling bought after heading north. After all, the Nanjing government was not well known to everyone, all kinds of politicians were not familiar with.

Xiong Xiling personally came to the living room to welcome the guests one by one. The people who visited tonight were all acquaintances, some of whom were formerly governed by the Progressive Party, Wen Zongyao, Tang Shaoyi, and Lin Changmin were among them; the other was the central officials of the local political parties in Yunnan and Guizhou, including Ren Zongyuan, the cousin of Guizhou Governor Ren Kecheng, Liu Zhen'an, who was then the General Office of the Ministry of National Defense, etc. There were more than ten people in total, which looked quite lively.

However, Liang Qichao, a good relationship with Xiong Xiling, and Zhang Jian, the former ruling veteran, were not invited.

Everyone arrived first and then, and everyone sat in the living room first and drank half a cup of hot tea to drive away the cold. After the staff arrived, Xiong Xiling asked everyone to sit in the conference hall of the counter building of the Neiye.

Xiong Xiling briefly said a few opening remarks, then solemnly got to the point and said: "I'm here today. Everyone should know Xiong's intention. You are loyal defenders of democratic politics in the Congress and always abide by political rules on weekdays. However, the cabinet meeting a few days ago and the Congress meeting a few days ago have allowed us to see some traces of unconstitutional and democratic politics principles. This is the reason why we gather here today."

Everyone present sighed and discussed each other a few words, with different expressions of attitudes. Some were angry, some sighed, some were indifferent, and some were meditating.

"When I was in Wuzhou, we have been calling for democratic politics. But, what do you think of our wishes to this day have really come true? It is true that the Nanjing Central Government is a coalition government that is jointly governed by ***, but are we democratic parties who really hold the real power of the country? Wu Zhizheng set up the General Office of the Consuls outside the cabinet, and assigned the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Information to the General Office of the Consuls. What kind of political system is this? It is neither the cabinet system nor the presidential system. This is completely Wu Zhenzhi's personal desire to decentralize power." Xiong Xiling said in a stressful tone.

"However, I heard that the government system formulated in Wuzhou was the presidential system. Now it seems that there is nothing wrong with this. The cabinet only exercises government functions, and the Grand Consul is the person who manages the cabinet. The theory is reasonable." Lin Changmin couldn't help but say something. He was not dissatisfied with the current administrative system, so he wanted to say this fair word.

"Since the beginning, Wu Zhen's faction has advocated the presidential system. In order to win over us democratic parties, he appointed the Prime Minister of the Cabinet with a unique intention. Our Progressive Party and other small parties have always adhered to the cabinet system in the true sense. Only by jointly holding the right to speak can democracy be truly realized. Those present also insisted on such opinions at the beginning. I believe everyone should understand my feelings." Xiong Xiling said solemnly.

"There is indeed room for discussion on the issue of political system. After all, the period of government administration is an extraordinary stage. Now that the country is unified and the civil war has ceased, the people of the coalition government are intent. After the general election of the parliament, we will discuss the issue of political system in depth during the formal political consultation meeting. However, there are too many concerns about the Sino-Japanese conflict and Wu's performance in the previous few days. I think this is what Minister Xiong is trying to call us today." Ren Zongyuan helped Xiong Xiling to get the topic back on track.

Although Xiong Xiling was unhappy with Ren Zongyuan's words, he had to admit that Ren Zongyuan made a point. From the Wuzhou government to the establishment of the Nanjing Central Government, he has been committed to the efforts of the civilized faction to take power, and did everything possible to prevent the situation of a military man from becoming a country again. However, after observations during this period, Wu Shaoting was obviously conspiring to become independent, under the guise of coalition government and democratic politics, in fact, centralized power in Wu Shaoting's personal hands, which is a naked dictatorial tendency.

He could not tolerate the resurgence of military intervention in politics. It is already a problem for a future president to be a military leader. If the Qingdao War is launched this time, Wu Shaoting will use this to strengthen the military power rule, but I am afraid that China's democracy will fall into dire straits again.

After taking a deep breath, he said proudly: "All the masters understand people. Now they are already the Republic of China. Naturally, democracy must be put first. If the situation is still a dictatorial situation in the end, not only will the country not be able to progress and develop, but the international community will also ridicule the depression of our Chinese political circles."

At this time, Tang Shaoyi sighed deeply and said worriedly: "It is undeniable that some of Wu Zhizheng's practices are indeed very unruly. During diplomacy, the Grand Consul has the right to inquire, but if everything is done by the General Office of the Grand Consul, and after doing it, I will explain it without saying a word, what should we do in our cabinet departments?"

Lin Changmin pondered for a while and said slowly: "The key is the issue of power distribution. I heard that *** politics also has struggles between the civilian and military factions. Once the military power expands, it will be a political disaster with endless disasters. *** can develop stably because the civilian and military factions can check and balance each other. But what about us now? Basically, the great power is in the hands of the great consul. Not only that, the great consul is not satisfied with the functions of the ministry and the cabinet. This is a one-sided situation."

Xiong Xiling said seriously: "It is not difficult to imagine that Wu Zhizheng still needs to maintain the sign of democratic politics now, so he can get along with us. But who can guarantee that he can be kind to us from beginning to end? If Wu Zhizheng did not talk to the Germans about returning sovereignty in this Qingdao incident, how should we deal with this matter? Or, will Wu Zhizheng let Congress deal with it? If he tear his face away, who knows what this young man will do?"

When everyone heard this, they all agreed to different degrees. After all, Wu Shaoting had always lacked reputation in dealing with problems before, and often used the army to deal with conflicts, which made people panic and peaceful.

Wen Zongyao said heavily: "Military power will sooner or later become more and more uncontrollable. If the Qingdao War really starts, our already fragile parliamentary checks and balances will be less and less powerful. How to go in the future is afraid that Wu Zhizheng can only say it alone."

Xiong Xiling nodded profoundly and stressed: "For democratic politics, we must not sit idly by. The general election of the Congress has not yet been settled, and the presidential election is not regular. The national legislative proposals and political forms are still to be discussed. Although these things may not be enough in front of Wu's rule, they are the only means of checks and balances for us. We must create as much momentum and public opinion pressure as possible, and even if possible, we must propose another powerful list of candidates for the president and use our abilities to safeguard democratic authenticity."

Lin Changmin said in contemplation: "Using the checks and balances between the Congress and the presidential elections may not be effective, let alone other presidential candidates. Now Wu Zhizheng is well-known in China. Although he is young, he has experienced less experiences than us. If Wu Zhizheng had not raised his arms and shouted in the south, there would not be the Nanjing government today. He would have been the candidate for the president."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Persistence means that things are done by man. If no one stands up to check and balance the power of the future president and limits the expansion of military power through legal means, the prospects of our Republic of China will be unclear."

Xiong Xiling nodded and said, "Brother Shaochuan is really a hit. The formal establishment of the Congress and the presidential election are the first steps we have to strive for now. If we can't continue this step, what else can we take next? No matter what Wu Zhenzhi thinks, we either force him to submit or force him to appear. The former will naturally be happy, and we can only fight to the death for the latter, hoping that the democratic patriots across the country can unite and the most cruel struggle."

"I see……"

"What Binggong said is that someone must do things, and we should take the lead."

"We must curb military power and establish the foundation of democratic politics."

For a moment, everyone responded, each of them was passionate. However, among them, no one could guess each other's thoughts, and even their own thoughts might not be sincere. To put it nicely, to defend the power of Congress and the cabinet, but to put it more directly, to put it more directly, to put it here and wait for people who want to consolidate their power and even expand their power.

Since then, Xiong Xiling would hold a gathering at the Qingyuan Mansion every once in a while to discuss and consolidate the countermeasures and decisions of the civilized party. The "Qingyuan Conference" has gradually become a factional organization within the Nanjing Central Government. Although the participants come from different parties and political groups, they have common political demands and targeted objects. On the contrary, it is precisely because of the utmost nature of the Qingyuan Conference that the influence of this factional organization has expanded rapidly.

Not only did they strive to create power for checks and balances in the central government, but they also put forward the development concept of "local government influence effect", trying to cultivate forces in various provinces and local governments first, firmly grasp the power of local governments, so as to respond to the call of central officials and jointly resist military power.

Directly across from a street from Qingyuan Mansion, under a three-story arcade, a young man in a black coat took his last puff of cigarette, then threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped slowly. He spit out the cigarette rings long, tidied up the collar of his coat, turned around and opened a crowded staircase door behind him, and quickly walked to the second floor.

A gust of wind blew, and the cigarette butt that the young man stepped on had been blown away on the side. Through the dim gas lamps of the arcade, you can see that there are two words at the root of the cigarette butt: Military offering.

The young man knocked on the door on the second floor regularly. After a while, the door opened. There was a middle-aged man wearing a cotton gown. He walked in sideways. The whole room was crowded, filled with many books and debris, but a telescope was set up near the window to see the movements of Qingyuan Mansion.

"How is it, I've written it down?" asked the middle-aged man.

"Well, there are thirteen people in total, of which eight of them I know, and the other five should also be from the government."

"Write the name first, and I'll report to the bureau."
Chapter completed!