The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 627: Don’t Want to Be Emperor

Watching several people sit down again, Teng Yuzhao pondered for a moment and then continued.

"Please don't misunderstand me. When I said that I would take a further step after winning the position of the first Prime Minister, I didn't mean that I wanted to be the emperor."

Teng Yuzao's words immediately surprised everyone present, and then they were confused, not knowing what Teng Yuzao meant.

If one wants to go one step further from the position of the first prime minister, theoretically only the emperor can do so.

Therefore, Teng Yuzao's words "take another step forward" made everyone excited!
But Teng Yuzao then made it clear that he did not want to be the emperor. How could this not make these people feel puzzled and confused? They all looked at Teng Yuzao blankly with puzzled faces.

The impatient Liu Nineteen was the first to be impatient and asked, "Marshal, why do I feel confused when I hear your words? Is there anyone higher than the Prime Minister besides the Emperor? Or do you want to be an emperor without real power?"

Liu Nineteen's words made everyone laugh. Teng Yuzao hadn't married yet, and it was even more impossible for him to have a son. How could there be a so-called "emperor emeritus"? He wouldn't recognize an emperor as his son, would he?

Seeing that Yang Shixiang was about to speak in confusion, Teng Yuzhao hurriedly spoke with a smile.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. I will never be an emperor. Among the great powers in the world today, France and the United States no longer have monarchs. Even if other countries have monarchs, they all practice constitutional government. It's just that the powers of the monarchs of different countries are different."

"From this we can see that the presidential system and the cabinet system are the great trends of the world. The general trend of the world is unstoppable. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish. We cannot go against the trend, but must follow the trend. There must never be another emperor on Chinese soil."

Yang Shixiang nodded in agreement and said, "The Marshal is very far-sighted. In fact, Juren and I have discussed this matter privately, and I have been thinking about it in my heart, but I haven't had the time to mention it to the Marshal yet."

Teng Yuzao understood Yang Shixiang's words very well. Xu Shichang and he did not wholeheartedly agree with constitutional monarchy, and of course they did not agree with Teng Yuzao being the emperor. On the contrary, they all agreed with the presidential system. The only difference was that Yang Shixiang more firmly supported him in his anti-Qing struggle and ascending to the throne. As for the name, it was not important to Yang Shixiang.

But Xu Shichang is different. I'm afraid he will adopt an uncooperative attitude just like in history.

As for why Yang Shixiang had not had time to mention it, Teng Yuzao could understand it very well. This was because Yang Shixiang was unsure of his intention and he was not sure whether Teng Yuzao wanted to be the emperor, so he did not say anything.

In Teng Yuzhao's opinion, if he decided to seize the throne, Yang Shixiang would definitely agree.

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "In my opinion, the presidential system is better. It is much stronger than the cabinet system, and it is incomparable to any constitutional system."

Wu Peifu was a little disappointed that his great benefactor and teacher did not want to be an emperor, and he said unwillingly, "Mr. Teacher."

Ever since Teng Yuzao ordered Wu Peifu to lead Li Jinyu's Eighth Regiment and Su Xilin's Cavalry Regiment to garrison outside the Great Wall, Wu Peifu's way of addressing Teng Yuzao has changed. He has begun to call him mentor instead of his former teacher.

Wu Peifu held on to a glimmer of hope and advised, "Whether it is the Prime Minister or the President, elections are required, and people may be replaced if things go wrong. In my opinion, the only person in the world who can be qualified for the position of President is my teacher. But if someone else is replaced, I am worried that my teacher's hard work will go to waste."

Everyone understood Wu Peifu's words. Except for Li Yulin, who was still surprised that Teng Yuzao refused to be the emperor, which was far beyond his expectation of Teng Yuzao, Li Xianze, Wei Jinghai, Liu Changfa, Liu Bingyi and other generals all spoke up to dissuade him. Even Yang Shiqi spoke up to persuade him. Only Yang Shixiang smiled and said nothing. Liu Shijiu stiffened his neck and said, "That won't work. No one else can be the president except the Marshal. This election cannot be held. Let me say that the Marshal should be the emperor!"

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and waved his hand to stop everyone, saying, "You all think it's simple. If you want to achieve the democratic election of the prime minister, president, or even elected members of parliament like the European and American powers, it's not that simple. It requires many conditions."

"For example, whether there is war in the country, whether the people have reached a certain level of education, whether the people can receive enough information, whether the election supervision process can be ensured, whether the selection statistics can be truly fair, and many other conditions."

"Also, this time Cixi wants to implement constitutional government."

Now, since it has been made clear for the first time that he wants to seize power, there is no need for Teng Yuzhao to avoid using the title of Cixi any more.

Teng Yuzao continued, "I predict that if the court is asked to give up power, they will not give it up easily, let alone peacefully. The Qing court will never abdicate and hand over power happily. There is no doubt about this."

"Even the governors of various provinces are likely to make a last-ditch effort, and may even try to take advantage of the situation to fish in troubled waters, or want to divide the territory and establish themselves as kings, and start to use force to oppose us. We can call these people warlords."

"Some major powers will also take the opportunity to intervene and support them in order to gain more benefits."

Teng Yuzao glanced at Li Yulin and said, "Although we don't want this to happen, we can't just sit there and wait for it to happen, or turn a blind eye and allow this chaos to continue."

"We must not be lenient with those ignorant and stubborn elements who resist with force, or those who want to split, and we must suppress their rebellion with strong force."

Teng Yuzao took a deep breath and continued, "Right now our country is still far from meeting the conditions for holding elections. We still have a long way to go to achieve what I just said."

Although these people understood what Teng Yuzao said, it seemed that Teng Yuzao's words hinted that there would not be universal suffrage in the short term, and he seemed to really want to be the president. Everyone pricked up their ears and waited for Teng Yuzao's next words.

Teng Yuzao has never agreed with the unlimited electoral system like that in Europe and the United States, where even an actor who has never been in politics can become the top leader of a country as long as he has good eloquence and can attract enough support. This country must never go down that path.

Of course, these are things for the future and he doesn’t need to consider them for the time being, nor does he need to explain them in too much detail.

Teng Yuzao continued, "It will take a long time to prepare for universal suffrage."

"First, we must quell the domestic war, second, we must vigorously develop national education and vigorously publicize our governing philosophy to enlighten the people; third, we must vigorously expand the means of information dissemination."

"In addition, we need to vigorously develop transportation and train talents for state governance. All of these will take time to achieve."

(End of this chapter)