69novels Page 82
Page 82
Finally, Zhao Yan led Yuan Shikai in a fierce battle, killing everyone in sight. Yuan Shikai was in charge of the fighting, while Zhao Yan was in charge of the indiscriminate killing.
Yuan Shikai had worked hard and lost a lot of weight. After the war, he was promoted to major general in the army, but Zhao Yan still didn't think much of his abilities and transferred him from the main division to the armed archaeological team to do dirty work.
Yuan Shikai dared not have any objection to this and obediently became the captain of the archaeological team. As long as he could keep his active major general title, he would be willing to do anything, even lie in the grave himself, let alone dig up graves.
More importantly, if Yuan Shikai did not withdraw from the front lines, his Beiyang generals would never have a chance to rise in the ranks.
The National Defense Army would never allow any Beiyang faction to exist within its ranks. Yuan Shikai had a number of generals under his command, such as Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, and Xu Shuzheng, who were capable, but they were always implicated by Yuan Shikai and could never be promoted.
After Yuan Shikai was transferred from his position as a front-line division commander, their career prospects were opened up. At least they could seek refuge with other bigwigs and no longer have to be tied to Yuan Shikai.
Yuan Shikai himself understood his future. If he did a good job with this dirty work, he could take a sinecure in the Ministry of National Defense and then retire with the rank of lieutenant general.
If Yuan Shikai failed in his task of digging up graves, he would be forced to retire in disgrace at the rank of major general, and the Yuan family would likely have little future prospects.
"What kind of lousy work are those pedantic scholars in the Department of Literature and History doing? It's been over a year and they still haven't opened a single imperial tomb. I thought I could just walk in here!"
Yuan Shikai received the progress report from the national archaeological team and was so angry that his hair almost grew out of his head!
It's pointless to keep cursing those cultural relics experts and historians who are all talk and no action.
The entire report was filled with all sorts of taboos and precautions: this place cannot be damaged, that place cannot be dug, this place must be protected, and that place must be repaired.
The report also specifically used bold font to remind people that destructive excavation is prohibited, otherwise the archaeological team would be criminals against history if the site is damaged!
Yuan Shikai finally understood why Zhao Yan, who had always been relatively tolerant, was so furious this time that he sent all four hundred-plus "masters of Chinese studies" from the Department of Literature and History to teach in Xinjiang, Northwest China.
Zhao Yan was very lenient towards obedient officials and generals. As long as their attitude was good, and they made mistakes or failed to complete tasks due to limited ability, Zhao Yan would at most reprimand them and would not punish them severely.
This time, the old scholars in the Department of Literature and History clearly had an attitude problem. Zhao Yan started out by eliminating mites, and sending the Department of Literature and History to the Eastern Qing Tombs for archaeological work was purely a pretext for digging up graves.
And what happened? You came here saying you wanted to protect it and maintain it. You've completely lost your footing and taken the wrong stance. The higher-ups sent you to dig up the grave, not to repair it!
Yuan Shikai understood the situation very clearly: "Speed up the process, get all the missing members back to their posts as quickly as possible, and notify the engineering corps that all explosives must be prepared within three days."
If that's not enough, we'll use artillery shells and grenades to make up the difference. We'll drill holes in three days; in the first phase, I'll blow open Kang Mazi's tomb!
"And the staff office, all the staff officers, go and contact those antique dealers in Panjiayuan. I'll smash the kiln on the spot and auction it off immediately!"
The main purpose of the armed archaeological teams set up by the higher-ups is to make money. The tombs of the Manchu Qing dynasty have absolutely no cultural or historical value; their only value is financial.
Yuan Shikai already had a complete plan in mind: dig up the grave on the spot and auction it off immediately!
Not only the antique dealers in Panjiayuan and Liulichang in Beijing, but also antique dealers and collectors from all over the country, were invited to come to Beijing to watch the live broadcast of the tomb excavation.
In the world of collecting, what people fear most is not that the items are expensive, but that they are fake. As long as the items are guaranteed to be authentic, they are willing to spend any amount of money. Gold is valued in times of chaos, and antiques are valued in times of prosperity.
The golden age is just around the corner, and the value of antiques is rising, especially imperial tombs. You can dig out the items on the spot, so how could there be any fakes? Moreover, although the Manchus were not very good people, the things buried with them were all royal items, and none of them were cheap.
The precious metals in the tomb were definitely confiscated on site. Of course, if someone is willing to buy them at a premium, they can be sold. The rest of the antiques and cultural relics were also auctioned off.
Given the sheer number of collectors nationwide, digesting the Qing Eastern Tombs is still a manageable task. Even if they don't fetch a high price, as long as they're converted into real money, the central government is happy. Right now, nobody cares about historical and cultural value anymore; the priority is to make money and pay off debts.
Of course, the central government only dared to do this to the Qing Dynasty imperial tombs. Even Zhao Yan didn't dare to openly excavate the tombs of other dynasties, since it would be somewhat unethical to talk about such things.
Chapter 144 Government Strategic Planning 1908-1913
July 17, 1908, inside the Imperial Study in the Forbidden City.
Zhao Yan was looking at a newspaper and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The newspaper was published by a newspaper in Beijing called "Northern Daily". The headline on the front page was about Yuan Shikai's excavation of the Eastern Qing Tombs.
The report was co-authored by several masters of Chinese classical studies, mainly criticizing the government's so-called "armed archaeology" operation as being too unethical. Cao Cao himself conducted his work secretly, while the current republican government is openly and brazenly carrying it out, which is simply outrageous.
Throughout history, no government has ever been so open about doing such dirty work. In previous dynasties, even the massacre of the previous dynasty's royal family had to be done secretly, but Zhao Yan was completely unscrupulous.
It's one thing to drag members of the Qing imperial family to a vegetable market and have them beheaded live, but now they're even engaging in official tomb raiding, digging up graves on the spot and auctioning them off immediately. The burial objects from the imperial tombs are still fresh and smelling of earth when they're put up for auction.
Foreigners flocked to join the fun and bought up a lot of royal items, which made many old scholars in China unable to stand by and watch.
"This Yuan Shikai is not good at doing serious business, but he's full of tricks and schemes when it comes to doing crooked things. He even came up with this kind of method. He's really a genius!"
Zhao Yan threw down the newspaper and continued, "Go tell Yuan Shikai that I don't listen to any immoral or disreputable talk; I just want money! Make him keep up the good work!"
"After the imperial tombs are excavated, there are still the princes' tombs; after the Eastern Qing Tombs are finished, there are still the Western Qing Tombs! After the tombs inside the Great Wall are cleared out, there are still those outside the Great Wall!"
"The domestic ones have been emptied out, but there are still overseas ones!"
"Digging up graves to reduce debt is beneficial to the country and the people, and it must be upheld!"
"The country is in dire straits right now, money is scarce everywhere, and the treasury is burdened with huge debts. The living have to pay their debts, and the dead can't just lie there watching the show, especially the graves of the Qing Dynasty officials—they'll dig up as many as they can!"
"Suffering will kill you, I'll bear the infamy!"
The secretaries of the Presidential Secretariat listened to these words with bitter and resentful expressions. How were they supposed to smooth out and convey such an order?
Can the orders issued by the head of state be filled with words like "digging up graves" and "profiting from the dead"? If they were recorded in the national history, future generations would laugh their heads off.
Zhao Yan was too lazy to care about these things. He only cared about money and nothing else. He didn't care about his reputation a hundred years later. As a materialist, he didn't care much about idealistic posthumous fame.
After dealing with the matter of Yuan Shikai's grave robbing, Zhao Yan had lunch and then flirted with Bai Xia, the woman from the Big Millstone.
In the afternoon, his secretary came to inform him that all the people attending the central office meeting had arrived, and the meeting could begin as soon as Zhao Yan arrived.
Zhao Yan sighed; he knew he had to prepare for another tough battle.
The Central Executive Committee is the highest-level administrative meeting of the republican government. It is not convened lightly, but when it is, it signifies that a major event that will determine the future and destiny of the country will be discussed.
The central office meeting had only been held once before, which was the pre-war meeting before the outbreak of the Far East War, and all the important members of the military and political circles attended the meeting.
This time, the central office meeting is on a larger scale, with all members of the Supreme Council of the Prime Minister's Office in Beijing, all members of the Prime Minister's Office leadership, and all ministerial-level officials from various central departments required to attend.
The content of this meeting was quite simple: it concerned the specific deployment and plans for the next five years, which would affect the development of the country's core sectors such as industry, economy, finance, people's livelihood, education, and national defense over the next five years.
Zhao Yan couldn't possibly make these important decisions behind closed doors by himself. After all, Zhao Yan wasn't an omniscient and omnipotent god, and there were still many things he couldn't understand.
Zhao Yan had previously devised a five-year plan in Wuhan, and after arriving in Beijing, he developed plans for three major industrial zones in Central China, East China, and South China.
However, these plans ultimately faced immense resistance and could not be implemented due to various reasons such as war, finance, and local issues.
The only achievement is the Central China Industrial Zone in Hubei, which has barely managed to develop thanks to Hubei's self-sufficiency in fiscal revenue over the past two years.
The reason is that the central government lacks funds, and the local governments feel resentful. Due to the war, the central government has never been able to provide enough funds to support the implementation of the plan, and the local governments have not been very sincere.
After all, everyone pays taxes together. When receiving money, the central government treats everyone equally and doesn't let anyone go unpunished. So why does the central government start to favor one person over another when it comes to spending money?
Zhao Yan made this decision on his own without consulting anyone else. Who can accept that?
Therefore, Zhao Yan specially invited all the senior personnel and representatives of various factions to this central office meeting to discuss what to do together.
Having attended a series of meetings on fiscal reform, the central leadership has adapted to the new republican politics, and no one opposes the long-awaited five-year plan.
Zhao Yan's power as a leader is to decide the general direction of the country, but they can also participate in it and decide how that direction should be taken.
To put it simply, Zhao Yan can decide which direction to go, but the committee members, ministers, and the premier can discuss whether to go by boat or on foot.
Members of the central ministries had received the news and briefings many days earlier, and everyone was aware of the specific discussion content of this central office meeting.
Many days in advance, these ministry members communicated with the interest groups they represented and the local governments to clarify what they needed. The rest was up to them to fight for their needs at the conference.
Inside the main hall of the presidential palace, also known as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties used to hold morning court sessions, a large crowd of about a hundred people were now gathered.
All of these people are officials of the fourth rank or above in the central government. Those who can sit here are at least at the level of department head. In addition to General Wang Chongshan, the National Defense Commissioner, the military also has seven newly promoted lieutenant generals from the army and three generals from the navy attending the meeting.
Inside the hall, all the ministers and generals had their own seats, divided into two square formations with the dragon platform where the dragon throne was placed as the central axis. In front of each attendee was a table with only one water cup on it, which was tied with a rope to prevent anyone from throwing things at each other in a fit of anger during the meeting.
When Zhao Yan arrived at the venue, everyone was already there, and a path had been cleared in the middle, leading directly to the dragon throne at the very top center of the steps.
Zhao Yan stepped into the main hall, his feet landing on the cold gold brick floor. He frowned as he saw his nameplate placed by the secretary near the dragon throne. "Sitting so high up, so far away, how can we hold a meeting like this? We can't even hear each other. Take it down, I'll sit on the steps!"
If it were a ceremony or simply a display of power, Zhao Yan wouldn't mind sitting on the dragon throne, since no one else would dare to sit in that position.
But today's meeting is all about practical matters, and every single thing is purely about interests. If he sits so high up, then his position as head of state becomes just a symbolic decoration. He can't exactly be shouting into a megaphone, can he?
The staff quickly moved Zhao Yan to the steps, closer to the others, as instructed.
This made the committee members sitting at the front and Zhang Mingqi from the Prime Minister's Office feel a little uncomfortable. They had originally thought that it would be fine for the head of state to remain aloof, and that they could discuss the specific "minor matters" themselves. However, Zhao Yan saw through their intentions at a glance and stood so close, clearly intending to interfere.
Zhao Yan also scanned the entire room with his gaze, his meaning clear: a bunch of little brats! They think they can put me on a pedestal like a paper doll?
Without further ado, once everyone had arrived, Zhao Yan announced the start of the meeting. The first item on the agenda was to clarify the systems, regulations, and charters of the government, military, laws, and so on.
Because no matter what level of development a country undertakes, it ultimately relies on the administrative system for implementation. Political stability is the most fundamental basis for all development. If political issues are not resolved, everything else must be put aside for the time being.
The supporting systems and mechanisms of the Republican government were gradually developed over the past two years after it entered Beijing. Although they have taken shape, there are still some minor flaws. Furthermore, the supporting systems and mechanisms are still largely based on custom and have not yet been formalized into legally binding regulations.
The first thing to be discussed was the system of the Supreme Governing Council of the Head of State. Everyone agreed on this system and institution. It is the highest decision-making body of the entire Republic, and even the Prime Minister's Office has to be ranked below it, because the Prime Minister's Office is only the body that implements the decisions and is merely the head of administration.
Previously, the Supreme Ruling Council had ten members. Apart from the National Defense Committee and the Political Affairs Committee, which were appointed, the other eight members were elected.
Now, after the meeting, everyone's demand has been to expand the size of the Supreme Governing Council. Ten people are too few, and two of them are occupied by the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. Of the remaining eight, one is Wu Zifu.
Everyone was unhappy, so Zhao Yan had to compromise. Zhao Yan's solution was simple: add 29 local committees. Currently, the Republic has 29 provincial-level administrative units (including North Korea, Outer Mongolia, and Taiwan), and one committee member would be appointed for each of them.
Wu Zifu's original Southern Committee member status was revoked, and the Central Committee was reorganized into a nine-member team: one from the military and one from the government, one from each of the four major social classes (scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants). The remaining three Central Committee members were to be rotated flexibly, depending on which class (scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants) was more effective.
The central committee members are elected by citizens of all levels of the republic, similar to representatives of the National People's Congress, but there are not as many of them, and they are not voting machines, but real bigwigs who participate in decision-making.
The 29 local committee members were all nominated by their respective provincial-level administrative units. As long as you can represent local interests and stand out from the crowd, you are qualified to sit in a seat on the highest ruling committee.
Zhao Yan is implementing a scaled-down version of the "People's Congress" system. What he wants to hear are the real voices and demands from all levels of society and local areas, not just to keep you on your payroll and have you raise your hand.
This isn't the information age, and Zhao Yan doesn't have the energy or time to do any nonsensical undercover investigations. His main source of information is the people around him, so he doesn't dare to fully trust information from officials alone. He also needs local representatives and representatives from all walks of life to stay by his side and provide feedback.
As for whether the elected people are capable enough or whether they will tell the truth, that depends on the performance of the voters behind them. Anyway, you have been given a channel to voice your opinions. If you don't take it seriously and mess things up, there's nothing Zhao Yan can do!
All Zhao Yan could do was ensure that the committee members were indeed of that class. For example, the agricultural committee members had to be farmers who cultivated the land, the commercial committee members had to be businessmen who engaged in business, and the industrial committee members had to be workers who did the work!
The purpose of bringing these people into the central government is not to expect them to have any political wisdom or come up with any ingenious schemes, but to hear them speak the truth.
The weakness that rulers fear most is not stupidity, nor is it dictatorial cruelty, but rather being fooled. The most typical example is Emperor Hui of Jin's question, "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"
Even in later generations, in the information age, those high and mighty people still frequently spout out "Why don't they eat meat porridge?" remarks, such as "everyone should have 500,000 yuan in savings," "mandatory social security but not mandatory weekends off," and "rent out vacant houses," and so on.
Zhao Yan didn't expect these grassroots committee members to perform any extraordinary feats. He only hoped that at crucial moments these committee members could say something like, "Our farmers are starving," "Our workers are working overtime non-stop and can't take it anymore," or "Our businessmen are facing massive bankruptcies."
If you give Zhao Yan a little more guidance, he will know which level is problematic and what things should no longer be done, otherwise, big trouble will ensue.
This wasn't a decision Zhao Yan made on a whim; it was based on lessons learned. When Zhao Yan returned to Beijing after his expedition to Irkutsk and fell seriously ill, he saw countless civilians who had braved the freezing winter to support the front lines, their bodies lying dead along the way.
Thousands upon thousands of laborers in the rear were dying of exhaustion and cold every day, but Zhao Yan was completely unaware of it. He even thought the situation was alright and that the war could continue.
Fortunately, on the way back to Beijing, Zhao Yan saw many things that were not reported in official documents, otherwise he would have taken another gamble!
Now Zhao Yan has learned his lesson. He keeps several representatives around him, listens to them from time to time, and rotates them every five years to ensure he is not fooled.
Of course, in addition to reporting information, these committee members can also participate in decision-making. They certainly wouldn't dare to go against Zhao Yan's will, but they can still offer their opinions.
Now that he has joined the local committee, representatives from all walks of life are mixed with local representatives. Everyone represents the interests of a group of people. With mutual supervision and even struggle, as long as they are not allowed to form a unified voice, Zhao Yan can obtain the most authentic information about the country through this committee.
Putting aside everything else, Zhao Yan is always the first to know when there is a famine or natural disaster in the country.
Don't doubt it. These days, even if there's a major earthquake or famine in a local area, the leader probably won't know until the following year. Don't doubt the bureaucratic system's ability to report good news and not bad.
Chapter 145 Political System, Judiciary, and Political Parties
After the meeting concluded its discussion of matters concerning the Supreme Governing Council, it was time for dinner, but no one was in the mood to eat. With so many high-ranking officials gathered together, they couldn't afford to waste too much time.
So we decided to have dinner right there in the main hall. We only had fifteen minutes to eat, and then we quickly continued the meeting because there was so much to discuss.
The food in the Forbidden City improved considerably after the war, changing from boiled cabbage and winter melon soup to three vegetarian dishes and two meat dishes.
The chefs in the imperial kitchen were quite skilled; they could make extraordinary flavors from ordinary ingredients, improving quality through culinary expertise without increasing costs.
Zhao Yan was very tight on the allocation of funds to the central government's Forbidden City. Today was just a big meeting, so he added an extra meat dish, fried tofu.
After the meal, everyone continued the meeting. The head of state's office was discussed at the meeting, and the prime minister's office naturally couldn't escape it either. The prime minister's office had nineteen departments, and Zhao Yan took the lead in making a prank, cutting down the disgusting department of literature and history.
The Literature and History Department was renamed the Culture Department and reorganized. Zhao Yan strongly demanded that all those old scholars who only collected salaries and did nothing but curse be sent to teach in the border regions! All members of the new Culture Department had to take turns teaching in the border regions and pass the test before they could continue to work.
The name of the Department of Literature and History was wrong from the beginning. Most of the officials in the Department of Literature and History were old scholars and pedantic Confucianists. They all focused on history and forgot about literature. Half of them thought they were censors and the other half thought they were historians. They spent their days either making baseless accusations or recording scandals everywhere in their little notebooks.
They have completely forgotten the primary duty of the Literature and History Department to defend Chinese culture and educate people from all walks of life, which is truly annoying.
In addition to the reorganization of the Ministry of Culture and History, there was also a reform of the Prime Minister's Office. The new Prime Minister's Office added a few positions and relinquished two or three departments, increasing the number of ministerial-level units in the Prime Minister's Office to twenty-one.
In addition, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Inspection, and other departments have been separated, and the Prime Minister's Office will no longer have direct jurisdiction over these departments.
The splitting up of the Ministry of National Defense was expected. The Minister of National Defense is now a member of the central committee, so how could he continue to remain subordinate to the Prime Minister's Office?
The Ministry of National Defense, which was separated from the Ministry of National Defense, is directly under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the Head of State and only obeys the orders of the Supreme Council.
After the Ministry of Justice was separated, it was directly under the jurisdiction of the head of state, as was the Ministry of Supervision. Zhao Yan could not tolerate the Prime Minister's Office having the power to control the country's laws and the nationwide supervision and anti-corruption efforts, so it was better to separate them into independent entities.
The newly established Department of Justice had barely been created, and before any official documents were even issued, a whole host of tasks were immediately dumped on its head.
The Ministry of Justice needs to develop a constitutional system that conforms to the national conditions of the Republic, as well as supporting criminal and civil laws. Zhao Yan personally instructed that the core element should be to meet the needs of the Chinese people. Western legal systems can be learned from and adopted, but the core must be based on the genes of Eastern law.
Western laws are merely toys for the powerful and wealthy; their core purpose is to protect the interests of the upper class.