Beitucheng, outside the ruins of the Yuan capital wall, stands an eight-story octagonal white building.

Originally, Li Ming wanted to build a pentagonal shape, but when the plan was proposed, it was opposed by the Manchu civil and military officials. They all think that the pentagonal type is meaningless, and when the octagonal is built and each has a sword, it is for the sword to point in all directions.

The pentagonal shape is originally a bad taste of Li Ming, since everyone is against it, then forget it, we still have to have this kind of open-mindedness as an emperor. Don't say that the octagonal type is built, even the eighty-sided type is built by you.

Just 12 years ago, the small school field in the east of the city ushered in a real review of the three services. Enraged at the parade, the emperor enclosed the small school yard and built China's first-ever state-level military academy, and then various buildings were erected. It was in this small military academy that could only accommodate about 20,000 people that a strong army was born, and they advanced against the enemy's artillery, and it was also here that the plan for overseas training of the Chinese Navy was decided, and finally Japan hated Tianzhuangtai. It was also here that a plan was drawn up to occupy Tsarist Russia in the north, block Japan in the east, and finally return to the capital to take power. It was also here that the order was issued for the empire to pass through the South Seas and conquer Japan in the east. However, with the expansion of the Imperial Army, the small military academy could no longer meet the needs of the expanding General Staff Headquarters. Therefore, five years ago, the General Staff Headquarters selected a wasteland outside the ruins of Beitucheng and Yuan Dadu to begin designing a new national military command center. When the design plan was approved, the General Staff Headquarters immediately enclosed 80,000 acres of land and began to build a new General Staff Headquarters battalion.

The construction progress is very fast. Only eight months later, after nearly 70,000 workers, including the Construction Corps, were mobilized to start construction, the framework of the eight-story staff headquarters was basically completed. After another four months of completion of the outermost wall and topping out, 70,000 laborers were disbanded. Dividing the rooms, connecting the wiring, and installing the pipes, the general of the staff headquarters and the gendarmes began to build the internal structure brick by brick, and all this was for the sake of secrecy.

After a year of tedious construction, telephone and telegraph lines, lighting facilities, command systems, heating systems, security systems, ...... Everything that could be thought of was thought of. Even when connected to an external power supply system, the General Staff Headquarters still has its own generator set to ensure that it can still work normally in an emergency. After a year of hard work, the new General Staff Headquarters was finally put into use, and the entire General Staff Headquarters was relocated from the military academy. The staff command facilities and systems in military academies are left to the cadets who are studying. However, due to habitual reasons, the staff command system has been completely preserved, so that the staff officers who have passed the military academy examination can quickly adapt to it when they officially enter the work of the staff headquarters.

The fact that the new General Staff Headquarters can be put into use does not mean the end of all construction work. Not only do you need to make temporary changes according to the actual needs, but the interior decoration also needs to be carried out slowly. Finally, four years after the start of construction, the renovated staff headquarters was officially put into use. At this time, the plan to advance northward for nearly ten years was planned, and under the emperor's will, the General Staff Headquarters issued a combat order. Millions of troops crossed the border, and the Chinese army launched a long-planned attack on Russia from south to north and east to west. Troops and truckloads of materials were sent to the front line under the orders of the General Staff Headquarters, and after a year of hard fighting, they finally reaped fruitful fruits. However, even though the war was busy, the renovation of the exterior of the staff headquarters did not stop. Cultivating turf and building Peugeot, a huge stone dragon towers over the square of the staff headquarters. The gaze of the dragon, the sharp teeth and the hideous claws all show the might of the empire.

This is the military command center of the Chinese Empire, from which all military orders such as military deployment, mobilization, and combat are issued. It is here that the country's 1.3 million active troops, 600,000 armed National Guards, 3,400,000 first-class reservists, a total of 3,200,000 troops of vassal states and dominions, and nearly 100,000 overseas spies of all kinds carry out every order issued from here. This is the headquarters of the Chinese Empire. The decoration, which had never stopped for a whole year, finally came to an end at the end of the war in the north, and the newly renovated staff headquarters finally ushered in the victorious soldiers who returned from the front.

Today, the cold wind is still howling outside the staff headquarters, but it cannot stop the fiery mood of the officers and men. Duan Qirui, Liang Huadian, Yuan Shoushan, Nie Shicheng, Liu Shengxiu...... The generals at the front are back, and the staff headquarters at this moment will be star-studded.

"General Huaihua, I will see you today, please come indoors and sit down and drink a cup of tea."

"Where is it, General Xuanwu has worked hard for the country, please ask for it first."

"General Yunlu is late, he should be punished with a drink. Hahaha-"

"Look behind me, there's General Guide—"

"Then punish him with three glasses—"

The general led the army on the expedition by holy order, and the first thing he did when he returned from the battle was not to go to the court to meet the emperor, but to return to the staff headquarters to give orders. At the same time, the military police commander who accompanied him handed over the merit book of the first army to the military department, and the military department would draw up a reward and punishment fold for the generals who returned to hand in the order according to the records in the merit book and submit it to the emperor for approval, after which the generals could be summoned by the emperor. In fact, the process of the generals handing over orders is the process of waiting for rewards and punishments. However, all the armies in this battle are victorious, and the punishment will not be, and the rewards of titles and titles have been promulgated, but the rewards of real money and silver have not heard a little rumor, which makes people worry.

Of course, real money must be given on the spot. Three days later, at the court meeting, each of the five generals was rewarded with a set of courtyards in the capital, and the rewards of the other generals were also awarded one by one, and then other rewards were also announced on the spot.

China is a nation that takes food as the sky, and all major events are joyful and sad to eat, so the Shangyuan banquet is even more lively. The Shangyuan Banquet is actually the previous New Year's Dinner, because in ancient China, the first day of the New Year was called the Yuan Day, so the banquet that began from the night before was called the Shangyuan Banquet. This was stipulated by the Ministry of Rites when it reviewed the ancient books to reformulate the Han family ritual system, and even the emperor had to abide by it.

In fact, Li Ming was annoyed by these complicated etiquette, because Li Ming knew very well that with the development of science and technology and the acceleration of information exchange, these complicated things would definitely be abandoned by the times. For this reason, Li Ming and the ministers don't know how many times they quarreled, and Li Ming, as the emperor, couldn't shake the will of these masters. There is no way, although the emperor is the respect of the world, the biggest one is still the etiquette that has been passed down to thousands.

"It has been more than 200 years since the former Ming Dynasty lost the country, and our Han family ritual system was completely destroyed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty's removal of hair and easy to obey. Now that the Western ritual system is spreading everywhere in the land of China, if the imperial court does not forcibly implement the Han rites, I am afraid that in a hundred years, my Han rites will be gone-" Weng Tong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, wept silently, and the prime minister Li Hongzhang and the seven Shangshu seconded the same request. After taking a long deep breath, Li Ming nodded in agreement. Indeed, the crisis a hundred years later is real. However, Li Ming suddenly laughed again, the times are different now, and Li Ming is convinced that this crisis will not appear again. Because China is a society that works from the top to the bottom, as long as everyone from the emperor to the court members unanimously follows the Han etiquette, then the country will quickly return to traditional etiquette. But fortunately, except for official acts such as sacrifices and court meetings, there are no requirements in normal times.

Therefore, the Shangyuan banquet has become one of the most important ways to display traditional etiquette in China, because at the Shangyuan banquet, not only the nobles of the Manchu dynasty, but also the kings of the vassal states and dominions, as well as the envoys of various countries. When Li Ming told the ministers about the difference between cultural and military expansion, the civil servants were enthusiastic about it. The military attachés were indifferent, because they thought that as long as Lao Tzu put the muzzle of the cannon on his head, let alone let them learn Han etiquette, even they had to learn dog etiquette.

Li Ming smiled indifferently at this, because cultural expansion requires military expansion as a premise.

It is precisely for this reason that this is the first Shangyuan banquet after the founding of China, and because this is the first Shangyuan banquet after the great victory of the national dynasty. Therefore, the officials of the three provinces and six ministries have done their best to organize this Shangyuan banquet.

The system of three provinces and six ministries was restored under the persuasion of many officials, but only the name was restored, and the powers and responsibilities were actually changed. The emperor is the supreme leader of the country, and he is in charge of the military establishment of Zhongshu Province, under the jurisdiction of the General Staff Headquarters, the Military Headquarters, and the Military Department, and is in charge of the national military; Shangshu Province has a prime minister under its jurisdiction six ministries -- households, rites, workers, officials, justice, and foreign affairs, which are in charge of the internal and external administration of the whole country. The subordinate province is under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Department, the Imperial Historical Observatory, and the Procuratorate, and the chief official supervises and adjudicates the whole country.

Li Ming really admired these officials, and in order to be able to get together with the old tradition, they were able to pull together, but they still achieved Li Ming's goal of separating powers between military and political affairs.

Today's Shangyuan banquet is full of land and air in Shanghai, and all kinds of ingredients are available. Laughter is inevitable, but different people's laughter has different meanings. Naturally, the Chinese officials laughed heartily, because they came victorious; The kings of the Dominions and vassal states were careful to laugh with each other, for fear that they would anger China by not saying a word here, and finally settle the account on him; The envoys of other countries laughed in a tangled smile, and of course they had to show a joyful atmosphere in such a joyful atmosphere, which was the world's largest territorial power, the second largest maritime power, and the world's most populous country. Every time they think of this, their hearts are cold, and after such a big country has won such a big victory, how should we adjust our China policy in the future?

Twenty years ago, China was at their mercy, and today's China needs them to deal with it carefully. Look at the straight waists of the gendarmes on duty at the door, and see their resolute expressions. If any nation or country wants to truly gain self-confidence, a victory and a great victory are the only necessary and only prerequisites. Now that China has it, they are no longer afraid of foreigners. To go to war with such a country, unless all the forces of Europe and the United States are gathered, this is impossible. For a long time, there was no practical solution, either in these ministers or in their own parliaments.

In the eyes of white Europeans and Americans, China is an ancient country with a long history, and most of the images of ordinary white people on China are still stuck in: China is a mysterious and ancient country. In addition to the one-sided understanding of China, what is more important is the gap in the way of thinking.

In the eyes of the Europeans, if their country had won such a huge victory in the war against Russia against China, it would have to extort war reparations from Russia. Then engage in intensive diplomacy and take advantage of the opportunity to demand greater rights from the world in order to obtain the greatest benefits. You can want as much as you want, even if it's to death.

In fact, not only did China surprise the Europeans enough by not demanding war reparations from Russia, but it also withdrew as many troops as possible from its new borders, and did not demand more rights internationally. What makes Europeans even more puzzling is that China actually began to disarm immediately after the end of the war. This does not fit the way Europeans behave, are the Chinese stupid?

It is impossible to be stupid, because after the big victory, China needs to digest the fruits of this victory in order to lay a solid foundation for greater victories in the future. In fact, China could not move, in addition to the shortage of materials, the treasury funds are also drying up.

"Abolish the active army, reduce unnecessary military operations, implement the elite of officers, and normalize the reserves, so that in wartime we can organize a combat-ready army more quickly, and at the same time save military expenditures." At the same time, we will increase investment in water conservancy, transportation, telecommunications, and education, and speed up the large-scale construction of national infrastructure. In order to make up for the lack of funds, the domestic market should be opened to a limited extent to attract international capital. Lower tax standards to increase the speed of capital circulation. Delegate power to the provincial capital, allow the provincial capital to carry out planning in the province that suits the situation of the provincial government, and if the planning is reasonable, the imperial court will first allocate funds for the construction of the ......"

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year in 1906, the first court meeting of the imperial court of the new year. Yan Fu, who was appointed by the emperor, announced the work plan of the imperial court for the next five years at the court meeting on the day he officially assumed the post of prime minister. And everything that is done is to increase tax revenues in order to fill the treasury.

Yan Fu had a deeper understanding of the function and role of taxation, and at the meeting, he stressed that paying taxes is the duty of citizens, and at the same time, the government should also use it for the people after collecting taxes. He said: "Those who pay taxes and tribute are also the public offices of the people, and those who take from the people return to the people." On the question of who should be taxed, Yan Fu put forward the principle of "giving more than enough". pointed out that "the responsibility of the state is entrusted to the people, and there must be a way." In the country, there are few rich people and many people who have the ability to eat, and they must be one year old, and there is more than enough to provide for the animals, and then there is to respond to the national tax. At the same time, he stressed that it is absolutely not possible to use "the wealth of the people", "the wealth of the people", and "the funds for supporting the sick and the elderly" as the objects of taxation. Yan Fu proposed to reorganize the tax system of the national dynasty, he advocated that the taxation should be light and important, and that "the tax should be given no thickness but appropriateness", and believed that the responsibility of the ruler was to "open up a source of profit for his people, and make it better to pay more", that is, to encourage the people to develop and improve their ability to pay taxes. Large-scale construction inevitably requires the participation of a large number of manpower, and the people can improve their lives by exchanging more labor for more remuneration. On the one hand, schools around the country are opened to allow auditing, so that those who work harder can get more income from regular people.

This is the first time that China has fully opened up its national market, allowing international capital to enter China's major industries such as minerals, transportation, and communications. The restriction that domestic production of materials for domestic infrastructure construction must be lifted is lifted, and direct procurement of rails, steel plates, cement and other materials from the international community is allowed. Streamlining the approval structure, further lowering the tax rate, encouraging investment, and providing tax exemptions and even subsidies for factories and enterprises investing in the mainland and poor areas......

After the meeting, the news came out and the world boiled. The market of hundreds of millions of people has finally completely opened up its long-closed market, and the world's capital predators have flocked into China like they smell blood. So much so that before the 15th Lantern Festival was over, the inns in the entire capital were already full of all kinds of merchants. domestic, foreign, and representatives of officials from provincial governments......

A large number of illiterate ordinary Chinese people did not know how much benefit such a policy would bring them, and their most direct feeling was that the imperial court had once again lowered the agricultural tax to thirty taxes in order to celebrate the victory. Such low taxes have finally freed the peasants, who have borne the main taxes of the state for thousands of years, from the burden of heavy taxes. They know that if they can bend down and grow food, they will no longer have to worry about not having enough to eat. The family has surplus food, and finally the surplus people began to wonder if they could do something to make themselves happy after they were full.

At a time when the world's capital predators are pouring into China, the United States, the richest country in the world and the country with the most serious overproduction, should be conducting intensive diplomatic public relations with China, hoping to exchange loans or greater preferential policies for American capital to enter China in large quantities, so as to stimulate the United States' increasingly withering market and make it prosperous again. However, the United States has no interest in China's favorable policies at the moment, and they have set their sights on the Caribbean. There, the U.S. fleet had intercepted the Chinese patrol fleet trying to force its way into Cuba, and the two fleets had been facing each other for a whole week. (To be continued.) )