The corridor is tortuous, covered with green bamboo, and the breeze blows, and the June of the summer resort is a little cooler out of thin air.

There is a large "Smoke and Rain Map" hanging on the west wall, and in front of the bookcase, Ye Zhao is discussing with Li Hongzhang.

It's been almost four years, Ye Zhao has been immersed in government affairs, forgetting to sleep and eating, and everything is very detailed, and people seem to have lost a lot of weight, but everyone knows that the emperor is sad about the death of the concubine, and he is concerned with government affairs to dilute the depression in his heart.

In the past four years, many things have happened in the empire and the whole world, such as Li Hongzhang became prime minister two years ago, such as the opening of the party ban in the empire at the beginning of this year, such as the death of Napoleon III and Grandpa Sava, but on the whole, the whole world is still a kind of peace under a delicate balance.

Soon the first general election of the Imperial Diet will be held, and Li Hongzhang, Du Boqi, Zhang Youcun, and even Zhou Jingshan, who was already at home for a long time, have been invited to come out and prepare for the establishment of the party faction.

Among these political parties, the "Minsheng Party" composed of the troika of Li Hongzhang, Shen Bingying, and Zou Kaizhi is the strongest, representing the conservative Mingzhuo faction, and the "Minsheng" is also taken from the most famous "Minsheng and Mingzhuo" in the emperor's writings, and is a royalist party that also prides itself on being the authentic Minsheng Party.

Duboch's "People's Governing Council" brought together a large group of scholars and was generally considered to be the most moderate and academic party.

The "Loyal and Righteous Patriotic Society" established by Zhang Youcun and some retired military officers respected imperial power and believed in expansionism.

The "Dagong Party" established by Zhou Jingshan and the Fujian and Guangdong gentry as the main body is the representative of the interests of the conservative clique.

In addition, there are many small parties, and there are many of them, but Ye Zhao also carefully read their party platforms one by one.

It's also a bit absurd to say, no matter what kind of political party, they are moving closer to the color of allegiance to the emperor, which is also inevitable, and in today's parliamentary elections, only by promoting themselves as the party's closest to the emperor will win votes, right?

According to the Imperial Constitution and the Royal Decree amended at the beginning of this year, it is stipulated that the scope of citizens who have the right to vote in the empire must be at least 18 years old and have received a total of more than 5,000 yuan in primary school education and education, regardless of gender, will automatically obtain the right to vote.

The revised constitution is somewhat similar to the so-called dual constitutional monarchy in later generations, that is, the monarch can directly appoint and dismiss cabinet members, but the essential difference from the dual constitutional monarchy is that the normal way of forming the imperial cabinet is by election, and the emperor appoints the majority leader in the parliamentary election as the prime minister of the government council to form the cabinet.

In sensitive border areas such as the southwest and northwest, special administrative regions will be set up and officials will be directly appointed by the central government, and the governors of the remaining provinces will be gradually elected through elections, and cities and counties will also be subject to parallel administrative management, all of which will be under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, so as to facilitate the centralization of power.

However, at present, provincial governors are still appointed by the Government Council or the Imperial Secretariat, so as to avoid sudden partisan disputes and voter elections that cause chaos throughout the country.

The emperor naturally also has the power to depose hundreds of officials and dissolve the parliament, and at the same time, the nominal supreme commander and the actual supreme commander of the imperial [***] team are naturally only competent to the emperor.

In the past four years, in addition to foreign affairs, Ye Zhao has almost put his entire mind on the matter of opening up the party ban, the death of Jin Feng, the blow to Ye Zhao is huge, and at the same time, he also realized that life is impermanent, if many things are delayed again and again, it may not be able to really find the right time, the political situation is stable, the people are rich, the longer the time passes, the people are determined, and it is more difficult to change, and no matter how good the current situation of the empire is, if you don't start from the root of the system, the people in the future will eventually fall into darkness.

The parties said that dozens or hundreds of them appeared immediately after the ban was lifted, which is also expected, not to mention that the foreshadowing of so many years is that when the late Qing Dynasty was preparing for the constitution, those parties did not spring up like mushrooms after a rain, speaking of which, today's political parties are always more formal and progressive than those parties organized during the constitution of the late Qing Dynasty, but it is only compared with the late Qing Dynasty, and these strange parties are only afraid that the general election will become a farce.

However, there is always a first step, Ye Zhao feels that the farce of Ming Cook is more worthy of respect than the solemnity of reading talents.

Now that the general election is imminent, Ye Zhao only feels as if he has finally unloaded his burden, and for the first time in four years, he suddenly feels sleepy and wants to sleep well.

"You've been busy lately, so you don't have to come here all the time." Ye Zhao twisted the Buddhist beads, his face expressionless, and now the leaders of all parties have tried their best to get the emperor's summons in order to boost the morale of the party and the support of the people.

Li Hongzhang knew very well that the current emperor did not want to show any inclination, and it was not easy to meet him today, after all, he was now the prime minister, and he had just reported on the entry of the French fleet into the Persian Gulf and negotiating with the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Iran is now the western frontier of imperial power projection, and the contest with Britain and France lasted for several years, but it came to an end with the opening of the Bukhara-Tehran railway a year earlier. Coupled with its long-term operations in Basra on the Persian Gulf, the empire's influence gradually spread to the holy city of Baghdad and the southern part of the Ottoman Empire.

In the past few years, although Russia has hated China, the irreconcilable contradictions between Russia and the Turkish Ottomans have been intensifying, because of Russia's role in containing the Eastern Empire, in the conflict between Russia and Turkey, the original Turkish allies Britain and France have gradually taken a neutral position, and Russia does not dare to challenge the giant towering in the East for the time being, and seeking benefits from the Transcaucasia and Eastern Europe has become the main theme of its foreign policy.

Coupled with the intervention of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and other countries, the Turkish Ottoman Empire is now stormy and crumbling.

The East-West trade route, because of the extension of the new Silk Road railway line, has gradually emerged a new pattern, many Oriental merchants transported goods from the Central Plains to Tehran by rail, and then sold by land from Tehran to the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and then entered Europe through the Turkish Ottomans, but it is not much slower than the sea route, but the checkpoints along the way are very taxy, and some roads are not very safe, and the proportion of sea trade still accounts for the vast majority of the share.

In India, the British plan to train Indian mercenaries has been slow to progress for a variety of reasons, and the British Parliament has been controversial about it, with many lawmakers arguing that the move has no objection to the heavy burden it places on taxpayers. Second, after the Chinese clarified the foreign policy line, they showed moderation on international affairs outside the southeast, that is, in Tehran, China did not show aggressiveness, acquiescing to the existence of British and French forces in Iran, and repeatedly clearly declaring respect for the special interests of the British in India and the South Seas, and the intensive visits and propaganda of the Chinese mission to Europe also made many Europeans wary of the Eastern Empire. In addition, in the midst of difficult political reforms in China, the threat has been greatly reduced, and some of the stalwarts of the British Conservative Party have changed their attitude towards China. Third, the growing national consciousness of the Indians also made the British political axe lose interest in training the new Indian army, which had a huge number of armed forces.

Overall, the world is now reshuffling its cards in a delicate balance, and the Chinese's constitutional monarchy and parliamentary elections have attracted almost the world's attention, while some European politicians gloat hope that this vast empire will become chaotic, collapse and even die in partisan strife.

After Li Hongzhang left, Ye Zhao glanced at the floor clock, and then turned on the radio on the table, of course, perhaps it is more appropriate to describe it as a radio receiver.

Because of technical reasons, the Beijing Radio Broadcasting Company did not really begin to broadcast to the whole city until the beginning of this year, and the early appearance of the radio station was naturally indispensable to Ye Zhao's credit, the vacuum diode was invented in the development of the telephone, and the birth of the transistor and the electron tube was also indispensable to Ye Zhao to give inspiration to the outstanding scientists of the empire.

However, the cost of the tube is expensive, and the middle class can not afford the radio receiver, and the entire capital has only sold more than 100 radio stations, and the Beijing Wireless Broadcasting Company is losing money almost every time, but the company that belongs to the royal family is operating at a loss, and if there is no Ye Zhao, it is because of commercial reasons, and the radio station broadcast will not appear.

A sad and sad song fluttered on the radio, and Ye Zhao suddenly felt a tightness in his heart, as if he had been pricked by a needle, and it hurt badly.

It's been four years, and Jin Feng's voice and smile when he was dying are still in front of him, which makes Ye Zhao's heart tense for a while.

Jin Feng said that she has no regrets in this life, and she will be by the emperor's side in the next life.

This was Jin Feng's last sentence, the smiling eyes were so clear and tender like water, Ye Zhao's heart ached violently again.

The music stopped suddenly, and the matchmaker walked in without knowing when she gently turned off the radio.

Looking at the Buddha beads that Ye Zhao was holding tightly and the sweat on his face, the matchmaker didn't speak, just walked over and gently wiped Ye Zhao's forehead and cheeks with a handkerchief.

Ye Zhao slowly leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

"You should go out for a walk, go for a walk in the field, now you have an eyebrow for what you are busy with, okay?" The matchmaker asked him softly.

In the past four years, Ye Zhao has almost lived an ascetic life, dealing with government affairs, researching pros and cons, and only matchmakers and Rong'er are by his side.

"Besides, you haven't seen you in a long time, have you? Did you know that Hanahime got sick? You have to cherish the people in front of you, don't wait for ......" The matchmaker paused abruptly when she said this, gently held Ye Zhao's hand, stared at Ye Zhao, and said: "You are distressed, Jin Feng knows it, and he will definitely blame us......"

Ye Zhao patted the matchmaker's hand and didn't speak.

The matchmaker said softly: "You just go out and relax, I will help you supervise the country, and I will definitely report to you if there is any trouble." ”

In the matchmaker's soft voice, Ye Zhao's angina gradually calmed down, he shook his head, and picked up the recital on the table again.

(To be continued)