The Chinese consul, Qiao Zhongdeng, nodded, stood up from the comfortable table, and brought a glass of Fenjiu specially prepared for him.

He began to talk as he gathered his thoughts.

"China, it should be said that it is more complicated than Europe. Of course, China also has citizens, and there are a lot of them. We counted the data every 10 years, and the Great Zhou 10 years, that is, just once last year. I think you will be surprised by the number of citizens we have, but the number of people living in large cities such as county towns and prefectures is 50 million. ”

This figure is really scary because it has more population than all the countries in Europe.

Qiao Zhongdeng continued: "If you count the people who live in small towns and are not directly engaged in agriculture, it is a little more than 100 million people. So that's quite a huge number! ”

A Western consul was puzzled: "How do you prevent such a Chinese citizen population from revolutionizing?" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng shook his head and smiled: "There is no special prevention, why do they want to revolt?" (Revolution is a Japanese translation of a loanword, translated as uprising in the Chinese Chinese context of this era.) ）

The Western consul said: "Fight for power, fight for freedom!" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng shook his head: "No one cares about this, if it were me, I wouldn't really care about this issue." ”

Bismarck gradually walked up to the Chinese consul and touched his glass.

"Then your free class," he asked, "I mean those who are not controlled by the aristocracy, who live in the cities, and who can choose their own occupations, you know what I mean." Well, how do you express your claim to power to these people? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng asked: "I don't quite understand why people have to express their certain demands to whom?" ”

Bismarck wondered: "If you don't express your interests to the elite, how can your interests be protected?" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng nodded: "I understand what you mean." You mean, because the burghers of Europe, feeling their interests, are not protected. Therefore, they have to express their power claims to the monarch or government who holds power. ”

Bismarck said: "Yes, this is the meaning of revolution." They demanded a constitution and representatives to be elected to parliament to protect their interests! ”

Qiao Zhongdeng said: "There should be no need for this in China. Isn't the government just to protect the interests of people, not only citizens, but also farmers. ”

Bismarck said: "That's what I said. But the government can never protect the interests of the people, and the people simply don't trust the government, so they need an agency to oversee the government for them to protect their power. So they demanded the right to vote, they demanded that representatives who could elect representatives to represent their interests enter parliament to oversee the government. And it is necessary to establish a constitution and ensure the power of the parliament. By the way, what about your parliament, I don't think I've heard of a parliament in China? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng nodded and said, "Yes, we have never set up such a body as a parliament. However, I still think that the government is the institution that protects the people, and the parliament is completely redundant. ”

Bismarck said, "Who will supervise the government?" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng thought for a while: "It should be the emperor!" ”

Bismarck frowned and said, "Doesn't the emperor stand with the government, the government is responsible to the emperor, and the parliament is responsible to the people?" And who will supervise the emperor? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng shook his head: "A qualified emperor should care about the people's suffering. The emperor will at least be afraid of the uprising of the common people, in fact, the government is also afraid. It's not a matter of fear, officials and emperors should care about the people. Be the master of the people! ”

Qiao Zhongden did not know how to explain Chinese political thought to Europeans, as if he could never understand the meaning of parliament.

Bismarck said: "What if the emperor is incompetent and the government does not act?" ”

Qiao Zhongden said: "Then an uprising will break out!" ”

Bismarck nodded: "That is, you will also break out into revolution, but I have rarely heard of it." But according to you, it's the same thing, and your people will be revolutionary when the monarch and the government can't guarantee the interests of the people. But you have maintained stability for a long time, and neither the French Revolution nor this revolution has been affected. How did your monarch and government keep the interests of the people in line with each other for so long? Who will ensure this mechanism, or who will supervise it? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng thought for a moment and said, "This seems to me to be a very strange question, you seem to have put the emperor and the government on the opposite side of the people from the beginning. If our monarch persecuts the people, it is called unreasonable. In ancient times, this kind of unreasonableness, even if the people did not revolt, there would be a crusade against the princes. But later, if the king has no way, he will often lose the country. It is true that there are faint kings, but if the king is unconscious, the courtiers should advise. If a courtier commits adultery, the king will punish him. ”

Bismarck nodded: "You mean that the Chinese monarch and courtiers are supervising each other?" ”

Qiao Zhongden said: "The courtiers have no right to supervise the king, only to advise. ”

"What if the monarch doesn't accept it?"

"Death!"

Bismarck was silent for a moment: "I can understand that if a monarch violates or harms the interests of the people, the government officials can only correct their position by passive persuasion and, if necessary, by threatening the king with suicide?" ”

Qiao Zhongden said: "It's almost like this, but it's extremely rare. It is rare that a faint king is so stupid that he does not listen to advice, resulting in the courtiers still not listening to advice. If there is such a faint monarch, it is often the time to change the dynasty. ”

Bismarck said, "Then how long will your change of dynasty be?" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng said: "Time is not necessarily. The long dynasty lasted for two or three hundred years, and three or four hundred years came to an end. Short-lived decades, or even shorter. However, since the Song and Ming dynasties, most of them have lasted for two hundred years. ”

Bismarck couldn't help but shake his head: "A revolution every two hundred years!" ”

Qiao Zhongdeng was a little proud.

Bismarck became more and more interested: "Then your burghers, they cannot express their demands through the parliament. So how does your government do it when it comes to collecting taxes? How do you determine the legitimacy of a new tax and make it acceptable to the population? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng said: "It is a matter of course for ordinary people to pay taxes. ”

Bismarck said: "Yes, it is an obligation. But how do you get them to agree to the levy and make sure that the tax hike does not cause discontent and riots? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng said: "The tax increase was drafted by the household department and agreed by the emperor. By the way, I understand what you mean, our emperor is an example of all peoples, equivalent to the representative of all. As for saying that taxes are unbearable for the common people, this is still the behavior of tyrants, and Ming Jun always likes to pay lightly, that is, to reduce the tax rate. Collect fewer taxes. ”

Bismarck said: "That is, the nature of the emperor in China is to represent everyone, he can represent the entire parliament. And then the emperor always liked to lower taxes. What if a war breaks out, or if the emperor is keen on spending and keeps raising taxes? ”

Qiao Zhongden said: "That is also the behavior of the faint king, if you want to lose the country, the courtiers must advise." Mingjun will listen, but Dull will not listen. In particular, taxes are levied for pleasure, and even if there is a small tax, Wenchen must collectively oppose it. It is very dangerous for kings to indulge in pleasure. ”

Bismarck frowned: "Don't your kings like music?" Cocktail party? Don't like majestic palaces? ”

Qiao Zhongden said: "The situation you said is also true. But it's all the behavior of the faint king. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty only had one palace, and I don't think that one palace would consume people's power. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty did spend a lot of money, especially the Ming Dynasty in our country. So the Ming Dynasty died in the uprising of the people. The Qing Dynasty, although they ruled by foreign races, their emperors were mostly incorruptible. Only one Qianlong is more flamboyant. By the way, you should know that the Qing Dynasty is now in Persia, and the current emperor is still wearing patched clothes! ”

Bismarck smiled bitterly: "You control the finances by demanding that the emperor maintain the morality of the Puritan life. At the same time, you are strong enough to support the monarch's need to build a huge palace, and the monarch can only have one palace. The monarch is bound by the officials, who in turn supervise the officials. Politics has nothing to do with ordinary people, right? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng also smiled bitterly: "How can it not matter?" The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband! Of course, politics has something to do with the common people, except for the emperor, aren't the officials from the common people? ”

Bismarck asked: "Election officials?" No, I remember, your officials are all selected by exams. This is a very remarkable system, officials are not appointed by the emperor, everyone can take the examination to get official positions, and the political leaders of the civil society who have political aspirations can go to the government to select officials to gain power, provided that they are good enough! By the way, what is this called, that's right, it's the imperial examination! ”

Someone next to him reminded.

Bismarck seems to have grasped the essence of the balance in Chinese society, and he thought of the leading figures among the revolutionaries, but he did not think that those who could make qualified officials, who lacked the necessary experience and training, and whose moral level was not even recognized by an aristocrat like Bismarck.

Suddenly Bismarck had another question, what if there were ambitious civil society leaders, who could not pass the exam to gain power?

"By the way, are there any political groups among your citizens? Groups like the Jatiya Party, which demands national independence, or the Liberal Party, which demands suffrage? ”

Qiao Zhongdeng thought for a while: "Merchants have chambers of commerce, craftsmen have guilds, and workers, there are gangs." ”

Bismarck frowned: "It's a political group. Organizations that pursue political goals will put pressure on the government to organize organizations such as parades and work. ”

Qiao Zhongdeng thought for a while: "It's really not." We don't have a parliament, so we don't have a British partisanship. A gentleman is not a party, which means that a person with high morals should not form a gang and play with intrigues and tricks for his own selfish interests. If an official forms a party for personal gain, it is a taboo. ”

Bismarck wondered: "Chinese morality does not support parties with different interests and ideas. I can't understand why a person should not stand under the same banner with like-minded people because of a common ideal, and unite as a group in order to defend their ideals. ”