Chapter 626 Nine years of the Holy Dao, the heavens are angry and people are resentful

In the ninth year of the Holy Dao, on the fifth day of the third month, the cold wind from the Wuya Palace made the hearts of the ministers of the political affairs hall feel cold, and the east and west chambers on the left and right sides of the Temple of Heaven were also wrapped in a faint sadness.

In the council hall of the West Courtyard, more than 40 people wrapped their arms in black veils and bowed to the north, and after three bows and nine bows, the general secretary Peng Yide said: "Your Majesty does not occupy the position of the monarch's father, and our people still respect the monarch's father." Your Majesty has lost a child, such as us and other young relatives, today we are in the Western Courtyard, the first thing is to mourn Your Majesty, I hope Your Majesty takes care of the dragon body, and the concubine is safe and sound. ”

The West Court and the East Court now have no court affairs and the court sent by the imperial palace, only the five counselors sent by the political affairs hall, the Privy Council, the general office, the planning department, and the law department, and one central court envoy sent by the Wuya Palace have no voting power, but only prepare the two courts to consult on relevant affairs, and report to their respective departments on the affairs of the court.

Peng Yide's words were said to the political envoy of the atrium, and the other party solemnly returned to worship, saying that he would definitely bring the letter of condolence and his heart to the West Court.

At the beginning of the year, there was a major epidemic in Guangdong, and the Ministry of Medicine and the Ying Ci Yuan and other departments tried their best to treat it, but there were still thousands of people who died of the epidemic, and Wuya Palace was not spared. The two-year-old fourth prince Li Keyun died early, and because he had been crowned a duke, the palace and the political hall have issued newspapers.

The emperor now has four princes, and the royal family uses the "Shangshu-Yaodian" "Keming Junde, to pro-nine clans." The nine tribes are harmonious, and the people are peaceful. The people are clear, and the concord and all the nations "set the genealogy of the generations." Concubine Yan Guifei has the eldest prince Li Kezai, who is six years old, Concubine Zhu Xian has the second prince Li Keming, who is five years old, and Concubine Guan Hui has the third prince Li Kechong, who is four years old.

The four princes, the government and the opposition are mourning, not only admiring the emperor's benevolence and relatives, but also the prince of the country's industrial and commercial upstarts who are eye-catching. After all, behind An Shufei is a giant in the industrial and commercial and foreign affairs circles of a country, Yinghua has been established for more than ten years, and today's prosperity of the country basically benefits from the support of these two sides. Judging from the traditional Chinese thinking, everyone hopes that the established national policy can be continued, and the prince can get as close to industry and commerce and foreign affairs as possible.

The early death of the four princes also aroused the attention of the government and the opposition to the storage position, but at this time forcing the emperor to establish a prince is really unkind, and the emperor has already made an appointment with the government and the opposition, and will make regulations at the right time, so except for some Leng Touqing in the newspapers and the Temple of Heaven calling on the emperor to set up the second prince as the prince, and then being spurned by the people, no one has delved into this topic.

In fact, there is still a sentence hidden in the heart of the court, which no one dares to say, "God is afraid that he is unwilling to tolerate the third four......"

The emperor is the fourth, his real name is also Li Si, and Yongzheng, the chief of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the north, is also the fourth prince, two four in the north and south, and has divided the luck of the world. With these two "fourth children" here, their four sons are all "restrained". The fourth son of Emperor Shengdao died of illness, and Hongshi, the fourth son of Emperor Yongzheng, heard that something had happened and was demoted from the genealogy. 【1】

This kind of statement is not only offensive to the emperor, but also a "superstition" criticized by the country, naturally no one talks about it publicly, but about "God", all kinds of sayings are still widely spread in the government and the opposition, and the most popular one is "God is angry, have we done anything wrong".

It's just that the pandemic is not enough to make people's hearts uneasy, but after February, there was not much rain in Guangdong, Fujian and even Hunan, and March has not eased.

After paying his respects, Peng Yide glanced at the forty or so members of the Western Courtyard, and said in a heavy tone: "Next, we have to review the spring seedling subsidy case proposed by the Political Affairs Hall, as well as the bounty order for the steam engine to reduce smoke and reduce the sound. ”

As soon as he talked about the steam engine, the surging voices outside broke into the door, "The magic machine hurts the sky!" Heaven is angry, people are resentful! ”

In addition to the people of Beitang in Foshan, who were actually harmed by the smoke and noise of steam engines, there were also farmers from Dongguan, Fogang, Huizhou, and even Chaozhou, Gaozhou, and other places, whose rice, sugarcane, mulberry trees, and even fish ponds were all affected by the spring drought, and there was no hope for this year's harvest.

In the Anglo-Chinese country, although Mengxue has basically accepted all school-age children, but the people's "superstition" has not been completely dissolved, take the previous epidemic and the current spring drought as an example, everyone believes that natural disasters are caused by man-made disasters, so what are man-made disasters?

Watching the steam engine rumble and spew black smoke into the sky, the scene has not been seen for thousands of years, and the answer to the case could not be simpler, it must be a steam engine, so this steam engine has become a "magic machine" .........,

Half a month ago, a group of students of the "Heavenly People's Society" led thousands of people to call in the political hall, and now, this movement has become a response of 10,000 people, and the object is the east and west courts.

The people also know that many major matters in the Anglo-Chinese country are decided by the East and West Houses. In addition to the earliest financial management, during these four years, the emperor and the court also gradually handed over the right to review the taxes of industry and commerce and land to the Eastern and Western courts. The change and increase of the industrial and commercial tax rules must obtain the consent of two-thirds of the members of the Western Court and half of the members of the East Court, and the consent of two-thirds of the members of the East Court and half of the members of the West Court of the local taxes such as land and deed tax delegated to the provincial treasury must be obtained, otherwise the government hall cannot be taxed according to the new case.

The government department expected what impact these two disasters would have on the new industrial and commercial tide in the country, and how big the steam engine would have to carry, so it submitted a spring seedling subsidy bill and a steam engine smoke reduction and elimination bounty order to the two courts. The core of the two bills is that the industry and commerce that use steam engines as their business will provide subsidies to the victims, and at the same time, they will also provide rewards for the research and development of harm reduction technologies for steam engines.

The East Court considers itself a representative of the local people, and most of them can pass it, while the West Court is mainly for industry and commerce, and their first reaction is to veto the case, and they will oppose it as long as it is a tax increase anyway. If you don't do enough work, the government affairs hall wants to open a new tax and increase the tax rate, but there is no way.

Listening to this surging cry now, many members of the court who were ready to vote against it hesitated.

Seeing this movement, the envoy and the other five counselors of the Central Court hurriedly struck while the iron was hot and continued to persuade them, and their task was to push the Eastern Court to pass the bill. In their view, the industry and commerce in the country have gained hòu profits because of the steam engine, and letting some small profits come out to appease the victimized people will not only help the harmony of a country, but also help the government to protect the industry and commerce, and people should not be too greedy.

The court officials from Dongguan were the most uncontrollable, and these two bills had the greatest impact on Dongguan: "According to the bill of the political hall, not only the industry and commerce that use the steam engine will have to pay the most, but we will also pay the most money to build the steam engine!" In order to make the steam engine widely spread all over the world, almost half of our workshops in Dongguan are making steam engines, and each family has invested a large amount of money in the factory and lathe, and has also suppressed the price of the machine, in order to profit from the quantity. Now we have to pay for each of the silver, the loss is not enough, but the profit is a lot less, how can we make up for the silver that was invested before? How do you feed the craftsmen who are invited by the big price code? ”

He said in an accentuated tone: "What is the call sign of 10,000 people outside?" When this bill is passed, millions of people in Dongguan are afraid that they will flock to the Temple of Heaven! ”

Of course, the Dongguan court affairs have to scream, he represents the interests of Dongguan industry and commerce, if he does not oppose this bill, his position in the court affairs will not be able to be kept. The representative of Guangzhou County also spoke, "The Xiguan Weaving Workshop has used dozens of steam engines, and the surrounding people rely on the large looms driven by the steam engines to live, and the loading and unloading industry of the wharf, without steam engines, they have to recruit stevedores, and the loading and unloading speed of the wharf will return to the berth to load and unload two ships a day." Although they also eat black smoke, they are steamed, and the machine is profitable, should they also be subsidized? It's not fair to give them subsidies, and the government can't agree to this bill. ”

Another representative said dissatisfiedly: "Last year, the industrial and commercial tax was already 40 million taels, and with the colonial concession tax and customs revenue, the national revenue was 60 million taels. ”

The matter involved the Accounting Division, and the Counselor of the Accounting Division had to reply, and he listed the budget for the ninth year of the Holy Word, emphasizing an important task. According to the emperor's instructions, this year's peace treaty has reached the stage where it may break down, so this year's budget has been frozen in special support for a possible war in the north. This special expenditure looted all the mobile budgets in the hands of the Planning Division, and it was no longer possible to pay for the two bills.

Another representative said worriedly: "If the East Courtyard passes, and we don't pass it, I'm afraid that the country will make waves again, and if the disasters continue today, I'm afraid that the pressure will be on our West Courtyard at that time, and this matter can be regarded as spending money to eliminate the disaster." ”

Many of the hesitant institutes have nodded one after another, but it has also caused other courtyards to be more dissatisfied, all of them are not just as simple as spending money to eliminate disasters, you spend money, it is equivalent to admitting that the responsibility is on yourself, and in the future, all new things hurt the people, all have to be carried on your own back. But the new thing not only gives business benefits, but also gives people benefits, why can other people who profit be able to stand alone? This is not a reasonable account. …,

A sentence from the court is very powerful: "Our West Courtyard is not only for industry and commerce, everyone here is no longer the owner of industry and commerce, but is elected by all the people who benefit from industry and commerce." We are asking for the people's lives, speaking for other people who are victims of industry and commerce, but it is not our duty, we must keep in mind the foundation of our Western Courtyard! ”

The West Courtyard of the ninth year of the Holy Way has changed much from the West Courtyard of the fifth year of the Holy Dao. The core one is that the court is not an industrial and commercial owner, as well as a wealthy gentry who hold public shares. The members of the Western Court of the fifth year of the Holy Dao were accused by the Eastern Court of "self-interest in finance, but they ruled on financial matters, which is unreasonable and must be avoided", and all of them were retired, and the Western Court also carried out a major reorganization. And this reason was originally the rhetoric of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to force the emperor out of the stock market.

From the sixth year of the Holy Dao, the new academicians of the Western Academy were elected by the Federation of Industry and Commerce of a province as a unit. Each province has five court members, and the provinces that have not won all of them, such as Sichuan and Jiangxi, have only three members, and Jiangnan has a major relationship and is set up according to the province. plus one each from Funan, Luzon, and Boni, as well as one general secretary, a total of 45 people.

In order to elect its own representatives, the new Federation of Industry and Commerce wiped out all the registered large and small companies, which seemed to have an unprecedented increase in power, but because of the distribution of regions and industries, it was no longer as cohesive as the previous Chamber of Commerce and Industry. However, because there is the West Courtyard on the table to carry their interests to express, this change is very welcome by the business community.

Although the affairs of the West Courtyard are no longer industrial and commercial owners, and even most of them are scholars, they are inextricably linked with the industrial and commercial circles. For example, Peng Yide, the current general secretary of the court, is Peng Xianzhong's father, the representative of the Yingde giant Jia Peng's family, he handed over all the industrial and commercial shares, and coordinated the Western House as a people

As soon as he talked about the essence of the West Courtyard, the shouts outside became mixed, and someone was vaguely heard shouting: "Banning the steam engine is a disaster for the country and the people!" Whoever dares to speak out is a national thief! ”

The corners of the other yard officer's mouth curled, and he said proudly: "That's our shipyard workers in Hong Kong County, who rely on steam engines to cook wood and get timber to cope with the current shipbuilding tide." Hong Kong shipyards are studying the installation of steam engines on ships, which can move without sails, and whoever wants to attack the steam engine will be their enemy of life and death. ”

After a while, the weaving workers from Xiguan also came, the iron workers from Foshan also came, and even a group of sugar workers from Shunde came, making a noise of no less than tens of thousands of people, and the movements of the original group of people were suddenly suppressed.

Vaguely hearing the shouts of the conflict between the two sides, followed by the whistle of ** and the guards, Peng Yide sighed: "The natural disaster is just around the corner, although it is not reasonable, but this country is in chaos, and in terms of circumstances, industry and commerce must also be responsible, and our Western Court must also be responsible." Your Majesty has lost a child, and we are afraid that we will not have the intention to mediate, so we have to think of a way. ”

There was silence in the council hall for a while, indeed, although they only spoke for the Chinese people who benefited from industry and commerce, but they just pushed back like this, confusing the hearts of the people of a country, and it was not good for industry and commerce.

A person hurriedly entered and said loudly: "The Eastern Court has vetoed two bills!" They also believe that the two cases are not good for one country, and they want the government hall to reconsider the details of the two cases! ”

After staying for a while, Peng Yide said with great emotion: "When will the East Courtyard also stand with us?" ”

The reason is also very simple, after all, the opponents who have raised their voices are not enough to represent a national people. Although most of the officials in the Eastern Courtyard came from the squires and scholars, they all saw the benefits of the steam engine to the livelihood of the people, and they could not simply disagree with the industry and commerce, and not consider the interests of the people who elected them.

The more direct reason is that people who used to be sunk in the fields have left the countryside to become workers in the cities because of the boom of the steam engine. Many of the members of the East Courtyard were elected by the West Houses organized by the workers. The steam engine fused the east and west, the east and west courtyards, and it is no wonder that the two courtyards had a tacit understanding for the first time.

"This bill does need to be overhauled, for example, not just by the use of steam engines and the money of the business that buys and sells steam engines, but also by the smoke related to coal. In addition, compared with the smoke damage of the steam engine, the coke plant of Foshan coking and the iron plant of iron smelting are ten times more harmful than the steam engine. ”

"Study how to reduce tobacco and eliminate harm, this money must come out, poisonous smoke is a big thing, it is not clear whether it hurts the sky or not, but it can hurt people and crops, and even the poison is discharged into the rivers, and the water is obviously damaged."

"The subsidy can't be mentioned, which people to subsidize and how much to subsidize, it's too difficult to weigh. Someone who has been killed before? So what's the solution? The South Seas are not covered, so you can go to sea. ”

The members of the West Court were discussing it in a mixed manner, and the bill of the government hall was also vetoed by the West Court. As for the victims, since not many people are willing to speak for them, everyone doesn't care much about it.

The steam engine roared, history was crushed, the victims were unavoidable, even Li Xian, he didn't want to spend too much effort for these people, and he paid too much attention to environmental protection issues at this time, it was really too painful.

As far as Li Xi himself is concerned, on the one hand, he is indeed depressed by the loss of his son, on the other hand, the industrial society has begun to take shape, and the power of workers, factory owners, and industrial capital, even if it is a new life, has also shown a strong force to lead the society, and more and more responsibilities are no longer borne by Li Shi, and these problems should be borne by the society itself that is moving towards the industrial age...... ）

This hand-hit update is provided by "Set Sail Li Ping I Am".