Using time as a guiding thread, this book traces the life journey of Duan Qirui. From attending old-style private schools, his upbringing in a military camp, walking alone the one-thousand li journey at age 15 to join the army, attending Tianjin Military Academy, studying abroad in Germany, taking part in establishing the New Army at Xiaozhan, serving as the "artillery commander", assuming the position of the principal of the Baoding Military Academy and eventually becoming the important leader of the Beiyang Army and the head of the Republic of China government (ROC).
The book enumerates the contributions made by Duan Qirui to China's progress, including the initiation of China's military modernization, the insistence on the transformation of China's political system through "three creations of the Republic", and the promotion of China's entry into the Allied Powers to take part in the war against Germany, among others. At the same time, he not only opposed the monarchy dictatorship but also keenly recognized and opposed the "Knock down the Confucius' shop (打倒孔家店)" campaign promoted by the Chinese agents of the Soviet Union's Third Communist International. After became Zhizheng (执政the Chief Executive of the Republic of China, or the head of the state), he collaborated with Sun Yat-sen in seeking to convene a constitutional conference and persistently attempted to pursue the path of constitutional democracy to unify China.
Throughout the writing, the author emphasizes the importance of Confucianism's influence on the moral character of the Chinese people. In the early 20th century, Duan Qirui, who initially served as a Qing military general and later became a high-ranking official in the Republic of China, was able to abandon the traditional "King's-State (家天下)" approach and resist the wave of Soviet-style communism. Instead, he chose the path of republicanism and constitutional democracy. This can be traced back to the influence of Confucianism, which he received from a young age. Just as Christianity influenced the founding fathers of the United States, Confucianism deeply ingrained itself in Duan Qirui's bloodline, shaping his political aspirations and life path. The book's exposition is based on this context: without moral cultivation, an individual cannot go far on the right path; however, even with morally upright individuals, a society without check-and-balance of power, may succumb to the temptations of power, wealth, sex and fame, leading them astray. American founding father John Adams once emphasized, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." This book tirelessly and extensively argues that in building a civilized society, (1) the importance of cultivating moral qualities in individuals from a young age should be recognized, and (2) the Acton's axiom, "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely", which is an objective law that is not subject to people's will, should be recognized. Therefore, the concept of "King's-State" inevitably leads to corruption as power corrupts, resulting in being strong at first and then falling apart and eventually being replaced. On the other hand, the "Party-State (党天下)" system, self-proclaimed to be superior to the decayed old world, experiences absolute corruption with absolute power and fails to catch up with the prosperity and renewal of the private capitalist market economy under constitutional democratic rule even after seventy years. Ultimately, it can only lead to the depletion of public trust and self-collapse.
