Age is a hard injury. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The average age of the first batch of children is twelve years old, and now two years have passed, and the average age is about fourteen years old.

In order to make himself look more mature in the past two years, Li Mu has been shaving, although there is no fluff on his face.

After so many years, it has still achieved some results, at least the beard on Li Mu's face now has a bit of scale, and it is still the kind of beard that can be very well managed, which makes Li Mu look a lot more mature.

It's a pity that even if all the conditions are added up, Li Mu doesn't look like he is twenty years old, so standing in a group of old men, Li Mu is indeed too young.

Kalakaua still didn't know how much weight the "Horse Group" had, so Kalakaua I naturally ignored Li Mu, but had a good conversation with Benjamin next to Li Mu.

When Kalakaua was gone, Benjamin snickered.

"Funny?" Li Mu was dissatisfied.

It's really a little embarrassing.,Being ignored by people gorgeously again.,There must be a mistake in the character design.。

"No, I'm just looking forward to the look on our King when he actually gets to know you." Benjamin is quite honest.

"Don't worry, there is no bloody plot of pretending to slap your face." Li Mu was disdainful.

Pretend!

Hehe, although I like to hear it, but if I am not careful, I will overdo it, and then it will live up to its name.

On the way back to the beach camp, Benjamin and Li Mu talked about Kalakaua I again.

"Speaking of which, our majesty the king is also very hard, he is the cousin of the previous king, first watched his nephew become the king, and then lost the competition with outsiders, and finally became the king by winning a woman, so don't mind, he doesn't know people, otherwise he wouldn't have mixed up until now." Benjamin had little affection for Kalakaua I.

"Anyway, that's the king—" Li Mu did not underestimate Kalakaua I, and being able to become a king fully shows that Kalakaua I had this ability.

"What do you want to do next?" Benjamin was curious, and supervising Li Mu to complete the task was also part of Benjamin's job.

"Next is the stage for merchants, and in a country where kings can only be elected to office, is there any difference between an empire and a republic?" Li Mu was speechless, everyone who was the emperor was a harem of three thousand, and there were countless dragon sons and grandchildren, and the kings of the Hawaii Kingdom not only had no children, but also had no marriage, which was really too hard.

"It doesn't sound like a difference, but it always offends someone's interests." Benjamin knows that the human heart is unpredictable.

"Hehe, there is nothing that does not offend, the republic system is compared to the imperial system, which is equivalent to expanding the degree of participation in the game, and will provide more people with the opportunity to become rulers, do you say that the chiefs of those parliaments will agree or disagree-" Li Mu saw it more thoroughly, during this period of time, Chen Guofang and their joint vertical and horizontal also proved that the republic is the so-called of public expectations, so no matter how many children Kalakaua I had, his children probably have no chance of succeeding to the throne.

What followed was indeed the merchant arena, when Kalakaua I's first cabinet meeting on the throne proposed a constitutional amendment to the Constitution by Commerce Minister Stanley Dewey.

Before coming to power, Kalakaua I promised to amend the constitution to limit the power in the hands of the king and give more power to the people, while strengthening the position of the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court, and gradually taking back the jurisdiction of the rifle corps from the Americans.

Not surprisingly, Kalakaua I did promise to gradually reclaim the jurisdiction of the rifles, but even so, Benjamin supported Kalakaua I's candidacy for kingship.

Promises, especially those of politicians, are in a sense not even a piece of fart, and the agreements reached between countries in black and white are still in danger of being torn up, and the promises made during the election are not guaranteed.

Seriously, you'll lose.

Kalakaua I was not prepared to amend the constitution now, which was strictly a matter for the Legislative Assembly and had little to do with Kalakaua I himself.

The request made by Kalakaua I was to build a new palace, just opposite the "Aleiolenihil".

It costs money to build a palace, and the Hawaiian kingdom doesn't even collect commercial taxes, so the Hawaiian kingdom has no money, so the first thing Kalakaua I did after he ascended the throne was not to amend the constitution, but to raise taxes.

That's right, it's a tax increase, it's hard to move an inch without money, let alone build a new palace, you can't even pay the salaries of the ministers, and there's no way to take back the jurisdiction of the rifle team or something.

"Tax increase - Your Majesty think twice, this will be opposed by all the merchants of the kingdom." Stanley Dewey suggests.

Stanley Dewey was an American, and coincidentally, Stanley Dewey was also a member of the Episcopal Church in the United States, so Stanley Dewey was able to serve as the Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

"But what if you don't raise taxes? If the kingdom's coffers are clean, there is not a penny on the account, and if taxes are not raised, not only will the salaries of the ministers and gentlemen not be paid, but the rifle corps will not be able to sustain itself, and the construction of the city will not be able to talk about it, and we will not be able to continue to be so embarrassed. "Kalakaua I, who had just ascended the throne, was still a little ambitious and unwilling to be pinned down by the Americans.

Regarding the taxes of the Hawaiian Kingdom, this is definitely a big hole dug by the Americans for the Hawaiian Kingdom government.

The Kingdom of Hawaii was established with the support of American missionaries and merchants, speaking of which, it must be admitted that the Chinese did not have ambitions, you must know that the Chinese came to Hawaii earlier than the white Westerners, but the Chinese never supported the Hawaiians to establish their own kingdom, the Chinese were just for business, and had no other intentions.

The Americans are different, with the support of the Americans, Hawaii established a kingdom, but at the same time, the Americans also dug a big hole for the Hawaiian government, that is, Hawaii's tax exemption policy.

Merchants who did business in Hawaii did not need to pay taxes to the Hawaiian government, and in order to ensure that the government could function, the Americans contracted the port expansion project in Honolulu, helped the Hawaiian government set up a musket team, and those merchants even helped the Hawaiian kingdom pay government employees.

Everything seemed to be in harmony, but when the King of Hawaii wanted to do something, the King was saddened to find that he could do nothing without the help of the Americans.

"Your Majesty, you still have to be cautious about collecting taxes, you have just ascended the throne, even if you want to do something, then it is best to wait for a while before starting to lay out, it is not good for your rule to be so radical now." The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Bishop Fern Jerome, who is also an Anglican bishop, also advised Kalakaua I not to be too radical.

"Oh, be cautious - will things get better after a while, ladies and gentlemen? In fact, we all know the answer, the answer is no, and it may get worse. "Kalakaua I was helpless.

The kings of the kingdom are not stupid, at least since Kamihameha II, the kings of all generations want to raise taxes, but they have never been able to pass, and even in the time of Kamihameha V, the Chinese merchants who originally had to pay taxes no longer paid taxes because of Chen Guofang's efforts, and the Kingdom of Hawaii completely lost all its income and could only live by selling land.

But the land of the Kingdom of Hawaii is like this, and it is full of volcanoes, and in the era when tourism has not yet developed, it is really impossible to buy any price, so the kings of the Kingdom of Hawaii are really hard, and the treasury of the kingdom is clean enough to starve rats to death.

After listening to Kalakaua I's words, Stanley Dewey and Fern Jerome fell silent at the same time, and both Dewey and Jerome agreed with Kalakaua I's words, and the situation really couldn't get better, only worse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we all know a fact, if we want to ensure the stability of the country and the rights in your hands, we need a strong central government, so as to better protect your interests, so what are you hesitating about, taxation will indeed have a certain impact on the country, but the benefits are more, at least in this way we can do something, so as not to be constrained everywhere." Kalakaua I was sincere in his words, and sincerely hoped that the members of the cabinet would support his decision.

The cabinet ministers who attended the meeting did not take any chances, they did not even want to make contact with Kalakauu's eyes, they did not exchange words and discussions, they all looked down and thought about their own thoughts.

"In that case, let's go to the vote." Justice Robin Chapman, who presided over the meeting, made the decision.

This vote was not a show of hands, but a secret ballot.

Kalakaua I filled his ballot early, and then began to look for supporters with a hopeful eye.

Everyone filled in quickly, with Robin Chapman recording the tickets and Fern Jerome recording them.

"Against!"

"Against!!"

"Against—"

A series of objections were read, and Kalakaua I's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Surely black, except for one vote of Kalakaua I, everyone filled in the negative vote, and no one agreed with the opinion of Kalakaua I, the king, not even which tribal chiefs of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

"I'm sorry Your Majesty, this proposal did not pass, and we will now move on to the second item-" Robin Chapman did not delay in throwing all the ballots aside after the singing, as if he were throwing garbage out of his hands.

This is really embarrassing, more than 10,000 times more embarrassing than Li Mu suffered at the coronation ceremony, but Kalakaua I is also the king who was voted for, and there is no one to support him in the cabinet, which is really unthinkable.

There is nothing unexpected, it is not expected, the cabinet ministers here will not be able to support their families if they only rely on the dead salary given by the king, so the cabinet ministers also have businesses, strictly speaking, they are also businessmen.

Kalakaua I wanted to raise taxes for everyone, and cabinet ministers also had to pay taxes, so it was strange that some people supported Kalakaua I.