Chapter 56: Election Storm (I)

  In early September, a "Petition of Jiangsu People" was suddenly published in Shun Pao, asking Jiang Zemin to participate in the presidential election, with many signatures from gentry and scholars attached.

  As soon as this petition was published in the newspaper, it immediately triggered a fierce debate.

  There are supporters and there are also opponents.

  The people of Jiangsu want to report and petition because after Jiang Ziya took control of Jiangsu, he made outstanding achievements in administration.

  Especially in the relatively impoverished northern Jiangsu region, the people of northern Jiangsu have gradually begun to achieve a warm and full life, their days are much better, the government's oppression and restraint on the people have been greatly reduced, and significant achievements have been made in relief, medical care, education, water conservancy, road construction, and agricultural development.

  Although the Sunan region is one of the wealthiest regions in China, Jiang Yu's contribution to Sunan is also significant. After Sun Dapao's temporary government had finished wreaking havoc on Sunan, the people of Sunan genuinely admired the Two Huai Administrative Bureau.

  But Jiang Yu offended the landlord forces because of the forced confiscation of land, so when this petition came out, the big landlords in various provinces were shocked and immediately jumped out to oppose.

  However, afterwards, the people of Anhui, Shandong and Zhejiang provinces all reported to newspapers and published petitions, while the people in the northwest were even more eager because Jiang Jieshi could fight against Russia and protect the safety of the northwest. The Han people in Inner Mongolia also had a strong desire for Jiang Jieshi to become the president.

  These people hope that Jiang Yu will become the president because they are afraid that after the formal establishment of the Republic, the current system in East China will be changed, and the good times now will come to an end.

  In addition, Jiang Yu's reputation even surpassed that of Yuan Shikai due to his leadership in the victory over Russia in Outer Mongolia, which led many young people to support him as the first President of the Republic of China.

  On this day, Zhao Haizhou brought a stack of newspapers to see Jiang Yu and said: "General, these are today's newspapers. The voices calling for your candidacy are getting stronger and stronger, and the opposing opinions have been suppressed and cannot be raised again. The people of various provinces in East China also petitioned at the county government gate, now is the time for you to come out and make a statement. I think this is a good opportunity to continue maintaining regional autonomy in East China."

  "What did you say?" Jiang Yu looked puzzled and asked.

  Zhao Haizhou said with confidence: "At present, Yuan Shikai is obviously afraid of the Grand Marshal's candidacy, while the people in East China all hope that the Grand Marshal will run for president. The businessmen of the East China Chamber of Commerce are even more eager for you to become the president, which would bring more benefits to the chamber. Yuan Shikai must be very worried, and at this time if we propose autonomy for local governments in East China and Northwest China, I believe Yuan Shikai will not refuse."

  Jiang Yu nodded thoughtfully and said, "Yes! It seems that this time is indeed a good opportunity to thoroughly confirm the autonomous situation of our place and appoint our own officials."

  At this time, Yuan Shikai was indeed worried. Faced with the surging public opinion calling for Jiang Yiwu to come and run for president, Yuan Shikai felt that his chances of winning were very low.

  At this time, Yuan Shikai suddenly realized that perhaps behind the seemingly impulsive and unwise behavior in Jiangsu was a truly wise and clever face.

  The recent war against Russia, although Chiang Kai-shek spent a lot of money, also gained extremely high prestige.

  Once Jiang Yu becomes the president, wouldn't that mean the cooked duck has flown away? Moreover, his political life would also come to an end. Yuan Shikai's feeling is the same as Sun Dapao's when facing Song Jiaoren's strong rise, both are extremely depressed.

  However, Yuan Shikai did not solve this problem by assassination, but instead sought a breakthrough in the division of political interests, which coincided with Jiang's true intentions.

  After consultations, Yuan Shikai obtained Jiang's promise not to participate in the presidential election and was overjoyed. He readily agreed to allow the local governments in East China to maintain their current systems while also allowing Jiang to appoint officials in East China and Northwest China.

  This is already the power that Jiang Yu has grasped. Moreover, with Jiang Yu's current strength, he is fully qualified to sit on an equal footing with Yuan Shikai.

  Through this communication, Yuan Shikai found that Jiang You was still a good collaborator. During this period, the Japanese government had secretly contacted Yuan Shikai and expressed its intention to support Yuan Shikai in eliminating Jiang You, the head of the Huadong warlord, on condition that Yuan Shikai would cooperate with the Japanese government, but was rejected by Yuan Shikai in a relatively tactful manner.

  Yuan Shikai did not want to fall out with the Japanese, because at that time China could not afford to go to war with Japan, and perhaps the only force that could resist Japan was the national defense army established by Jiangsu.

  But unlike Japan and Russia, the Japanese army is even stronger than Russia's, it remains to be seen who will win.

  But cooperating with Japan to deal with Jiangsu and Hubei was something that Yuan Shikai could not do, as it went against his bottom line. Looking at the history of the Republic of China, most of the Beiyang warlords refused to cooperate with Japan after Japan launched a war of aggression against China, whether it was Cao Kun or Wu Peifu, or even Sun Chuanfang, the southeastern warlord who had a particularly bad reputation, all refused to cooperate with Japan.

  The Beiyang warlords fought each other, but due to the influence of Confucianism, they generally had sufficient political bottom line and national dignity.

  The Beiyang warlords, on the one hand, were influenced by the new culture and attached importance to democracy and freedom. They had never controlled public opinion and gave enough tolerance to students' radical patriotism. On the other hand, they were also influenced by the bureaucratic style of the old era. Yuan Shikai still maintained his previous set, holding a butcher knife in one hand and silver in the other.

  Now his knife can't be used on Jiang Yu, so it's better to use silver to solve everything. Yuan Shikai is most willing to spend money on silver.

  Jiang showed insufficient political ambition and was able to provide generous financial support to Yuan Shikai, and the cooperation between Yuan and Jiang entered a closer phase.

  Yuan Shikai gave a green light to the East China Trade Association in business, and the East China Trade Association also supported Yuan Shikai's position in politics.

  Of course, Yuan Shikai did not think about borrowing from the Bank of China at this time, and what to do if these debts cannot be repaid in the future?

  This is easy to handle, let's make some sacrifices!

  If there is still not enough money, some government-controlled assets can be used for repayment, and the right to mint coins can also be used for repayment.

  It was for this purpose that the Huadong Group readily provided political and military loans to Yuan Shikai. And Yuan Shikai did not mind seeking some privileges for the Huadong Group in business, as this could form a good circular relationship.

  Jiang Yu did not take military precautions against Yuan Shikai, but instead sold advanced equipment to the Beiyang Army and provided sufficient military guidance.

  Yuan Shikai still did not know that the equipment being sold to them, although still advanced in the world, had gradually fallen behind in the national defense army.

  In terms of infantry equipment, Jiang Yu began planning to equip the infantry with M1 Garand rifles and grenade launchers, both of which are still usable.

  The M1 Garand is indeed useful, but other countries may not adopt it. Because semi-automatic rifles are well-known to be useful, and this era has already seen the emergence of fully automatic rifles, although they are not yet mature, no country has adopted them.

  Because semi-automatic rifles seemed too wasteful of ammunition to them, there was no need for a changeover, which is a matter of military concept.

  Chiang Kai-shek is now playing with M1 Garand, and he's not afraid of Japan following suit, because little Japan can't afford it, they don't have such powerful industrial manufacturing capabilities.

  The MP3008 submachine gun and MG3 general-purpose machine gun were secret weapons, to be issued in large quantities to troops when a full-scale war broke out.

  The troops continued to use the MP18 submachine gun, of course this Jiang Yu copied submachine gun is no longer called MP18, but MP09, because it was designed and manufactured in 1909. At the same time, the machine gun was also used with the Maxim heavy machine gun, but it was replaced with a Chinese version instead of a German version.

  The barrel sleeve of the Chinese version of the Maxim heavy machine gun is made of brass, which is a historically Chinese-made Maxim heavy machine gun that does not lose to various versions of the Maxim heavy machine gun in terms of performance, and even has better places. As soon as this Maxim heavy machine gun was launched, it was affectionately called "Old Yellow Cow" by soldiers of the National Defense Army.

  Yuan Shikai and Jiang Yiwu were basically in competition with each other, but both sides also had a common goal, to make a big show, and turn China into a world power.

  Moreover, both sides also have sufficient complementarity and can respect each other's existing interests to a certain extent.

  After an agreement was reached between the two parties, Jiang Yu immediately published a notice in the newspaper.

  "It is said in the announcement: "I am not talented, I am just a Chinese soldier. Although I have made some achievements in military affairs, my talent is not enough to delve into politics. If I were to engage in politics, military affairs would be neglected, and one day there may be no strength to fight again. This, I dare not forget the expectations of 40 million compatriots for external military affairs. After careful consideration, I also feel that it is difficult to engage in politics. I hope you will understand, elders. However, the worries of the people of East China are already known to me. The President has promised to preserve the current administrative system in East China and grant a certain degree of autonomy. I hope the people of East China will be at ease..."

  After this announcement was published, major newspapers once again lavishly praised Jiang Yu's profound righteousness.

  The Shun Pao comments: General Ting's talent lies in military affairs, and when facing foreign invasion, he dares to fight and is able to fight. If he were to engage in politics, he would inevitably neglect important military matters. Today, the general has made a huge personal sacrifice for the sake of the nation by giving up the presidency which was within his grasp.

  The Ta Kung Pao of the North also commented that General Ting was a model for the nation.

  The people of various provinces in East China also stopped calling for Jiangsu and Zhejiang to elect the first president of the Republic of China after seeing this announcement, and the storm subsided.

  However, just as this turmoil had subsided, another violent incident occurred during the election process, triggering a new wave of unrest.

  The source of the turmoil comes from the congressional primary election. The location of the congressional primary election is in rural areas, generally divided into 5-8 electoral districts per province, with each district including several counties. In the primary election, those who win more than a certain number of votes (usually over a hundred) gather in the central county or city within the electoral district to participate in the runoff election, where members of Congress and provincial councilors are elected. Provincial councilors generally number over a hundred per province, and winning ten or so votes can lead to election.

  At the time of the primary election, Sun's KMT suddenly found itself at a disadvantage in East China. Some radical KMT members began to gather people to violently storm polling stations, attempting to invalidate the votes and triggering suppression by local armed police...

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  2nd update! Calling for votes support!