In the 9th year of the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, it was almost December, and it was already cold and windy in the north. A long line of Western-style four-wheeled carriages leads one after another to the doorway of Guangning Gate in Guò, Beijing. In a carriage with ordinary decoration in the middle, two red-robed and black-robed Ming ministers were talking.

"Xueqin, see no, the old man is out of Beijing with his front foot, and the emperor is out with his back foot."

The person who spoke was Zuo Zongtang, who was sent by Emperor Zhu to Shanxi for disaster relief, and at present, the railway between Beijing and Beijing has not yet been opened, so he took the waterway to Tianjin, then took the train to Beijing, and then changed to a horse-drawn carriage to Shanxi.

"Is the emperor's card the election of members of the Public Bureau? Isn't this public bureau always in the control of businessmen, and it's not the same whether to choose or not? ”

The reply was Peng Yulin, who was going to Irkutsk in Siberia, which is now Beihai City. He has already obtained the position of general manager of the East Siberian Company, which sounds like the head of a commercial organization, but in fact he is the governor of East Siberia, a high-ranking official who combines military, political and business power, and the previous holder of this position was Liu Peng, who used to be the right minister.

Zuo Zongtang shook his head and said: "Choosing and not choosing must be different, otherwise why would the emperor bother to do this?" ”

"Students can't see any difference, since ancient times, the road to officialdom, one is military merit, the second is the imperial examination, and the third is donation...... When have there been elections? ”

Peng Yulin disagreed, he was an all-rounder in civil and military affairs, a rising star of the Xianghu faction, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was Zuo Zongtang's successor. How can you look down on the copper-smelling businessmen in the council? In his view, these elected legislators, like the donation classes in the past, are not from the right path after all.

"You can't say that." Zuo Zongtang shook his head, "Xueqin." You have been nesting in the Northeast and in the army all these years. It's a frog at the bottom of the well. I don't know how powerful the parliaments of Western countries are, and some of them can even decide on the appointment and dismissal of the head and assistant of a country. I don't have to worry about being ousted from the parliament, but Xueqin, you have to be careful if you want to be the first assistant in the future. ”

After listening to Zuo Zongtang's words, Peng Yulin smiled, "Xiangye, you are really joking, if the council can appoint and remove the first assistant, where will the king be?" I'm sure I won't do that. ”

Zuo Zongtang shook his head. Yun said lightly: "One or two hundred years earlier, the kings and nobles of England and France probably thought so, right?" Do you think they are all high-minded and willing to share the power in their hands with others? When these people ran the parliament and drafted the constitution, they also thought that they could hold power forever.

Xueqin, now the emperor is a fan of the authorities, and few ministers can see the general trend clearly, but the old man thinks that he already knows the politics of the next few decades or even hundreds of years. In fact, there was no essential difference between the parliaments of our Ming Dynasty and the parliaments of European countries at the beginning. It's all for the sake of restraint and taxation...... In Europe, perhaps the aristocracy used parliament to restrain the king. But in my Ming Dynasty, it was the king who wanted to use the parliament to restrain the gentry. The essence is the same, that is, the monarch and the minister cannot be of the same heart, and they must find ways to restrain each other, so that the authority continues to move down step by step!

What are the consequences...... Now you look at England and France, how many privileges do their nobility have? How much power does their king have? Even if the emperor said that the bourgeoisie may not be able to firmly control the power of a country now. The Chartist movement in England in Europe has been in turmoil for more than ten years, that is, the small people want to fight for the right to vote, and they want to participate in politics like the aristocracy and capitalists. And the small people of France simply used riots to win the right to vote, and their emperor Napoleon III relied on the support of the small people to become a vote. As for the United States, it is simply a kingless and fatherless! This head is not easy to open! ”

Speaking of this, Zuo Zongtang sighed, no longer speaking, now the Ming Dynasty is still an empire with supremacy of monarchy after all, how can these topics be a little disrespectful, Zuo Zongtang will say to Peng Yulin, naturally he will regard him as the future leader of the Xianghu party.

After a period of silence, Peng Yulin shook his head: "The emperor is also confused for a while, and he will know that the scholar is the ...... in the future" Speaking of this, he shook his head again and stopped talking.

Scholars obviously can't share the world, otherwise it's still the Great Song Dynasty!

Zuo Zongtang also shook his head, there was nothing to say, and the two people in the car sighed softly in unison.

In a mansion somewhere in the outer city of Nanjing, the bright glass windows have been filled with water vapor due to the fire in the house, and the situation in the room is blurred, only two men can be vaguely seen sitting opposite each other.

"I didn't expect that the Ming Empire had also come to this point...... Friedrich, should I congratulate you? This should be the result of your intentional guidance, right? ”

In the room, a slightly balding foreigner put down the "Ta Kung Pao" in his hand and said.

"This is the inevitability of history! If a country like China opens its eyes to the world, it will surely become a decisive power, but looking at the old world and the new world, which country has no parliament, no constitution, and no elections? Aren't even Russia and Turkey on this path? ”

The other took a sip of coffee and said lightly. This person was Zhu Jishi's mentor and friend Engels, and the person who spoke to him was Robert Engels, the head of the Royal Education Group. Irving.

"Russia and Turkey...... Their pace is much slower than that of the Ming Empire, and the Turks have been reforming for hundreds of years, and now they have not even formulated a constitution, let alone compulsory education. Russia's reform to abolish serfdom is now also full of resistance, and as for the political reform, it may not be launched within 10 years. ”

Engels laughed, "Turkey and Russia don't have a Napoleon!" Top-down reform often requires strong leaders. The Sultan of Turkey was not such a figure at all, but Alexander II of Russia had some courage to make Russia a real first-class power if he could reign for 20 years. When the time comes, there will really be a ...... Oh, in the words of the Chinese, it is a dragon and a tiger! ”

"Who will win?" Robert. Owen asked lightly.

"The people! I think the final victor will be the people! Engels put down his coffee cup and said with a stern expression, "Our ideal society may become a reality after a long war!" ”

"Our ideal society?" Robert. Owen looked at Engels for a while, shook his head, and showed a hint of helplessness in his eyes, "No, it's your ideal society." I don't have such an ideal anymore...... Because in these days in China, I have seen the rapid rise and progress of an empire under the rule of a cold-blooded and cruel king...... Just like the British Empire today! That hypocritical country, which claims to be merciful, turns out to exile every civilian who steals a few loaves of bread because of hunger to Australia! It claims to be fraternity, but millions of civilians have no place to stand, forced to crowd in stinking slums!

And the Chinese emperor ...... He had spent too long in England and had learned the hypocrisy and insidiousness of Great Britain, and was using both to propel his empire to rise step by step, and what was even more ironic was undoubtedly progressive! Parliament, the constitution, a unified Greater East Asian market, forcing citizens to open up barren land, and compulsory education that requires people to pay for it themselves! There is also a constitution that upholds the imperial power! And the parliamentary elections, which are not fair at all! ”

Engels laughed when he heard this, shrugged his shoulders and said: "Dear Robert, I think we should recognize the fact that the era we live in now is full of dirty, coppery and bloody, and this is our time, and it is also the reason why we want to change it!" But we should also admit that the present times are much better and much better than in the past! Although it is the wicked people who promote social progress...... But it is better for ordinary people to get land in a barren and distant place than to starve to death in a barren hometown, it is better to have a constitution than no constitution, it is better to have an unfair election than no election, and it is better to have compulsory education that requires the people to pay some money than no compulsory education, right? By the time they knew they were the masters of the country, the Chinese emperor would have to make more concessions to his people - especially since some of them still had guns! (To be continued......)