The First Constitutional Protection Movement
On July 1917, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Guangzhou from Shanghai, and telegramed the original members of parliament in Peking to come to Guangzhou and re-established a new government. The Naval Minister Cheng Biguang conducted nine ships to support Sun Yat-sen and arrived Guangzhou on July 22.
On August 25, around 100 original members of parliament convened a conference in Guangzhou and passed the resolution on establishing a military government in Guangzhou to protect the Provisional Constitution. The military government consisted of a generalissimo and three field marshals to exercise the administrative rights of the Republic of China.
On September 1, 91 members in the Guangzhou parliament voted, and 84 of them voted Sun Yat-sen as the generalissimo. Then they selected the leaders of the National Protection War Tang Jiyao of the Yunnan clique and Lu Rongting of the Old Guangxi clique as marshals, Wu Tingfang as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tang Shaoyi as the Minister of Finance (abstained), Cheng Biguang as the Naval Minister, and Hu Hanmin as the Minister of Communications. Sun Yat-sen inaugurated on September 10, and appointed Li Liejun as the Chief of Staff, Li Fulin as the Commander of the Guards, Xu Chongzhi as staff officer and Chen Jiongming as the Commander of the First Army.
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