The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Local senators are elected by citizens, and the senators elect the Senate President.

Zhou Hexuan is not even qualified to be a member, let alone the speaker, and Li Hongkun does not have the power to appoint him directly. But the so-called citizens' election is just a cover. Even if Cao Kun is the president of the Beiyang government, he can bribe the vote, and the local council is naturally not a problem.

Few ordinary people will participate in the election. Most of the voters are civil servants and intellectuals in society.

When the time comes, Li Hongkun casually explains that all civil servants in Chongqing will choose Zhou Hexuan, and he will be elected as a member of the parliament with an absolute high vote. After saying hello to the MPs a few more times and doing some ideological work, the position of Speaker will be within reach.

The reason why Zhou Hexuan agreed wholeheartedly was because the speaker's status was very noble and he didn't have to worry about anything.

It's different when you're an official. It's easy to get a job, but it's very difficult to actually do something. First of all, you have to open up relationships with upper-level people; secondly, you have to make good friends with department colleagues; finally, you have to win over subordinates - factions, cronies, nepotism... relationships are so complicated that you can't even sort them out, and most of your time is spent on interpersonal communication. superior.

Why did Zhou Hexuan refuse to agree to Chiang Kai-shek's appointment as an official?

Just because the officialdom is so chaotic, if he joins in stupidly and shirtless, his subordinates will oust him in minutes. If you want to investigate and deal with someone who is not pleasing to your eyes, hey, maybe you will find the backer behind him, and in the end, you will make all kinds of denials and favors.

In particular, Chiang Kai-shek wanted Zhou Hexuan to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the greatest use of this department in the Republic of China was to take the blame, and Zhou Hexuan would not become a scapegoat for the second time.

Being the president of the local Senate is very comfortable, and there are many things you can do. It has about five major powers:

First, the right to decide. Major decisions must be made at the local level, and in principle, they must be voted on by the Senate. Extremely excessive policies will be boycotted by members. Don't think that this is just a decoration. Such incidents often occurred in local governments in the Republic of China. Although the legislators did not have any power, the private connections between various industries were enough to make officials drink.

Second, the right to make suggestions. This power is easy to understand: it is to make policy recommendations to local governments.

Third, the right to listen to government policy reports. It is roughly equivalent to the power of administrative supervision and is generally useless.

Fourth, the right to inquire. Same as above.

Fifth, the right to express opinions freely. If you have a bad temper, you can directly complain to the mayor, or you can write an article in a newspaper and criticize them. This is the legitimate right of councillors.

Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but asked: "Mayor Li, I have two questions. First, who is the current Speaker of the Senate? Second, will other members elect me? I am a northerner who went to Chongqing to be the Speaker. I'm afraid It will be misunderstood by the locals.”

"Mr. Zhou doesn't have to worry about these issues at all," Li Hongkun said with a smile. "The current chairman of the Chongqing Senate is Wang Yunsong. Mr. Wang is old and has long wanted to abdicate. Before coming, I also asked for his opinion. I strongly agree with Mr. Zhou being the speaker. With Mr. Wang’s support, other members will definitely vote for you, Mr. Zhou, during the election.”

"That's good, so as not to cause unnecessary conflicts." Zhou Hexuan nodded.

These days, people are very attached to the rural party. For example, during the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek personally appointed Kang Xinru as the chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Senate. Although Kang Xinru is not originally from Sichuan, he was born and raised in Sichuan and has been doing business in Sichuan for many years. As speaker, he is still ostracized by the locals.

As we mentioned before, Wang Yunsong, Deng Gong’s mentor, has a very high prestige in Sichuan and Chongqing. Now that Wang Yunsong has taken the initiative to abdicate, with his support, other congressmen will naturally have to give him some face.

After settling the matter, Li Hongkun said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, can I ask for political advice now? To be honest, I have been the mayor of Chongqing for more than three months, and I still don't know how to govern the place."

"Mayor Li is trying to test me, right?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"Haha, I don't take the exam as an exam, I just ask the wise in politics." Li Hongkun said with a smile.

Zhou Hexuan said: "What did your staff say?"

Li Hongkun shook his head: "Let me, Xiao Gui, follow Cao Cao and follow Pan Wenhua's example. My idea is to come up with some new ideas."

Pan Wenhua, the first mayor of Chongqing, can be said to have achieved outstanding political achievements. In a few years, he doubled the area of ​​Chongqing's urban area, built and expanded several docks, and built three main lines in the urban area. Although this person was born in the military, he was an infrastructure maniac. He would lead the army to build roads if they disagreed. Now he was transferred to Chengdu as an army commander. He had nothing to do and led the army to build roads in Chengdu. Anyway, wherever he goes, he leads the army to build roads.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "If Mayor Li can obey Cao Cao and conscientiously implement Mayor Pan's policy line, it will be a blessing to the people of Chongqing."

Li Hongkun was obviously a little disappointed with this answer. Any official who wanted something in his heart would not want to bear the "good name" of Xiao Gui and Cao Sui. When political achievements are made, it belongs to the predecessor, but when things get messed up, you have to take the blame yourself. Which official is willing to do Lei Feng's job?

Li Hongkun couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Zhou, can you help me analyze how Chongqing should develop?"

Zhou Hexuan asked: "What are Chongqing's advantages? What are its disadvantages?"

Li Hongkun said: "Chongqing is the throat out of Sichuan, with convenient water transportation and developed shipping, which is an advantage. Chongqing has many mountains and little land, inconvenient transportation, and poor agriculture, which is a disadvantage."

"That's enough, let's build roads and docks!" Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

Li Hongkun said depressedly: "Isn't it the same as Pan Wenhua?"

Zhou Hexuan came up with an idea and said: "Mayor Pan has laid the foundation. Not only has he built many roads and docks, but he has also clarified the numerous excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Chongqing. If you want to develop further, you can continue to reduce business taxes and attract more people." Many businessmen come to Chongqing to set up factories and do business. Well, this is called attracting investment. A piece of land is set aside as an industrial zone. Anyone who sets up a factory there can enjoy tax exemptions or tax reductions for the first two or three years, which will surely attract many foreign capitalists."

"Is this okay?" Li Hongkun's eyes lit up.

"Of course," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "You can advertise in the "Declaration" and say that you want to build an industrial Chongqing and welcome friends from all over the world to set up factories here. In the first year, more than 50% of the tax will be directly refunded, and in the second year, the tax will be refunded 30%, and all kinds of administrative care are also provided. There must be many capitalists willing to come. In just a few years, there will be more factories, more government tax revenue, more employment opportunities for the people, and everyone’s pockets will be bulging. "

Li Hongkun pondered: "It seems to make sense."

Zhou Hexuan added: "The prerequisite is to improve transportation, build more roads, and build more docks. The roads in Chongqing are too difficult."

Li Hongkun slapped his thigh fiercely and said: "I will have the road repaired later. At least the road from Lianglu intersection to Liziba will be repaired, so that Mr. Zhou will not need to take a boat to go to the city!"

Li Hongkun is a very enterprising person and has a general sense of patriotism, otherwise Zhou Hexuan would not have to say these words.

Li Gengu, the Chongqing garrison commander who was sitting next to him, suddenly slapped his chest and said: "Mayor Li wants to build roads, why should I be counted as one? I will immediately mobilize 20,000 troops to work as road builders!"

Yes, it's easier to do now.

Maybe it’s because the roads in Sichuan have been too difficult to walk since ancient times. Sichuan people are very active in building roads, and the blood of infrastructure enthusiasts flows in their bodies.

The success of the Revolution of 1911 was due to the Sichuan "Road Protection Movement" attracting firepower and diverting all the attention of the Qing government to Sichuan.