In March, the breeze is slightly cold, the sun is shining, the spring buds are budding, and the earth is gradually recovering its vitality.

Jingshi, Xiyuan, is crowded with people.

Short cotton jackets, canvas overalls, coarse cloth gowns, satin waistcoats, and tweed suits are clustered on one side of a pine-made balustrade, and at their center is an elaborate ceremonial platform with a golden dragon throne and a green cloth curtain behind it. The twenty-four-year-old Guangxu Emperor wore a canonical rhubarb dragon robe and sat on the throne, surrounded by high-ranking officials and important ministers, three hundred eunuchs and attendants were prepared to rely on, and five hundred Janissaries stood solemnly with guns.

"Liu Aiqing, is everything complete?" The emperor asked General Liu Yun, the chief of the general staff of the three armies and the Duke of Wuwei, beside him. In the past four years, Liu Yun has always been his most trusted person, because Liu Yun has brought him a steady stream of honors, and the freedom that the Empress Dowager Cixi has never had when she was in power, and more importantly, since he came into contact with Liu Yun and Wen Yi and his party, he rarely interacts with those pedantic and stubborn civil officials and Confucian scholars, and no longer looks at those excerpts full of ancient precepts and holy words. The inquisitive emperor first lost his mind and then gradually lost his position and power, though he himself did not know the connection between the two.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready, you can start." Liu Yun, who was wearing a European-style boat-shaped top hat with feathers, carrying the rank of three-star general with ribbon and scattered gold on his shoulders, and wearing a navy blue military uniform with gold dragon pattern, nodded to the emperor.

"The parade begins." The emperor solemnly announced, and the eunuchs below passed down one by one, and the long "start" sound poured down like flowing water to the parade troops on the other side of the railing.

The military flag of the golden dragon fluttered in the red ground, and in the dense drum beat, along with the loud slogans of the officers, the Praetorian Guards in black uniforms, the Wehrmacht in yellow uniforms, and the Marine Corps phalanx in white uniforms all moved neatly. The officers led the way in front of the formations with their military and troop flags in hand, and the soldiers with their bayonets and Mauser rifles on their shoulders were in high spirits, and as they passed the throne, they all turned their heads to the emperor and shouted: "Hail the emperor, long live the empire!" ”

The emperor looked relieved, and asked left and right what the phalanx in front of the throne was, who led it, and what its exploits were.

"Your Majesty, the first regiment of the Praetorian Guards is coming over now, and the regimental flag is the green dragon driving the clouds. Originally led by Lieutenant Colonel Lei Yuming, Akashikawa was martyred in the First Battle, and later changed to be led by Lieutenant Colonel Liang Kaiyuan, and martyred in the Battle of Sekigahara Tianmanfeng, the current regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Zhao Minhe, was originally the commander of the first battalion of the regiment, and later transferred to the liaison officer of Ding Jieyun Headquarters, and temporarily acted as the head of the first regiment in Sekigahara during the war, and took up the post after the war. The regiment was the first to break through the enemy's lines during the Second Neutralization Campaign; In the battle of Suichuan-Pingkang, he defended the front line of Pingkang, resisted the repeated attacks of the enemy's two wings, and insisted on not taking a step back for six days; After landing in Japan, the regiment first participated in the attack of the Kyushu East Route Army, often as the pioneer, and supported the marines in the Battle of Akaishigawa, conquered the city of Akaishikawa, and finally participated in the decisive battle of Sekigahara, held the northern peak of Mt. Tenman, did not retreat all day, and killed and wounded no less than 6,000 ......enemy troops in front of the battle."

"Decree to award the title of 'Cloud Dragon' to the First Regiment of the Praetorian Guard, and allow embroidery on the military flag to remember the merits of the war and encourage the soldiers who come after."

"Obey ......"

Two hours later, almost all the regiments that passed in front of the throne were given the title of "Golden Lion", the 15th Regiment of the Praetorian Guard was awarded the title of "Fire Phoenix", the Cavalry Regiment of the 2nd Guard Division was awarded the title of "Qilin", and the 2nd Marine Regiment was awarded the title of "Sea Shark".

The emperor also asked Liu Yun with great interest about the performance and actual combat effect of the 305-mm heavy siege gun, and then turned to the Minister of the Navy Zhang Zhidong to inquire about the maintenance of the navy, and decided to review the navy in early April and participate in the keel laying ceremony of the domestically produced ironclad battleship. Liu Yun said in his heart: "That's it, focus on the techniques and ceremonies, and be a formal Ming Monarch Holy Lord, although I know very well how many catties and taels you have." ”

The parade ended with 21 75-mm salutes fired in a row, and before the evening celebration feast began, there was still some time for Liu Yun to get rid of the entanglement of some boring people, find Wen Yi, and the two of them rode in a carriage to the east of the city.

"Do you want to tell me about the emperor?" Wen Yi rarely needs an opening sentence to speak.

"He's grown up." Liu Yun said, lighting an ordinary paper cigarette.

"People grow up, and the emperor is also a human being." Wen Yi inadvertently came up with a nonsense.

Liu Yun spat out a puff of pale smoke and pointed his finger on his thigh: "How long can we control him?" ”

"It's not that we want to control him, but that the system we want to create will bind him, and if he is not satisfied with such restraints and tries to resist, that will be the day when he will withdraw from the stage of history."

"How's the constitutional issue going?"

"We are consulting with other parties to prepare for the establishment of a constitutional drafting committee, and each party will elect members according to the proportion of seats in the Senior Council, Sun Wen's Liberal Party has expressed its willingness to cooperate with us, and the royalist party has not yet replied, but it doesn't matter anymore, we can pass the constitution drafting committee organization bill even if we only rely on the strength of our own party, not to mention that we still have the support of the emperor."

Liu Yun glanced at the ready* outside the car window, turned back to the car and said, "Is it really necessary to build?" I mean about capitalist representative democracy. ”

Wen Yi sneered: "There are three ways to rule the masses, one is to motivate spiritually and morally, and preside over with religious doctrines or party righteousness; the second is to use power to force submission, backed by violent organs; Third, in the legal system, we should follow the concept of each person's selfish interests, so that the public and private interests can be integrated, and when each person strives for his own fame and fortune, he has invisibly strengthened the organizational and economic strength of the state and society. The implementation of the first way is nothing more than the integration of church and state, or **; The second way is military dictatorship and the reign of terror. The implementation of the third way can only be carried out in an all-round way with the full development of capitalism in order to give full play to the highest and most effective play. Of course, these three are not isolated, and any form of government hopes to mix and use the strengths of the three, but what can give the people the greatest degree of economic, political, and ideological freedom must be the most powerful in the latter way. Capitalist representative democracy is both the inevitable result of the development of the capitalist economy and the catalyst for its progress. ”

"Capitalism seems to be the root of all evil, at least we are educated as such."

In fact, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that capitalism was regarded as the opposite of socialism in the debate of political forums, and in 1902, the German scholar Sonbart introduced it into the academic world with the book "Modern Capitalism", after which, the name that Marx never used, but was naturally included in his norms, since then, slave society, feudal society and capitalist society have been regarded as the three-stage evolution of the author of "Capital". In fact, in the academic circles of our time, scholars without ideological background generally agree that capitalism is a function of a purely economic system, and that it allows capital to circulate widely – so that surplus capital can be exchanged with each other through private loans; Only the number of managers is applicable – so the expansion of the enterprise may exceed the owner's ability to directly monitor it; Technical support factors can be integrated and common, such as transportation and telecommunications, lawyers, insurance, etc., so that the scope of each company's activities is beyond its own capabilities. In order to bring a country with an old system into a capitalist system, theoretically speaking, three procedures are required: first, the reorganization of the high-level institutions, the removal of the divine authority of the monarchy and the ideological autocracy, the implementation of the separation of church and state, the separation of ideology and law, and the financial replacement of the monarch's personal responsibility for finances by the issuance of public bonds monitored by the elected authorities. Second, it is necessary to rectify the low-level institutions, first rationalize land ownership, so that there are common standards for ownership, tenant relations, and land rent income, and then earnestly protect private property and encourage free competition; The third is to re-establish the link between the upper and lower levels, to publish a list of rights and obligations in a constitutional manner, to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, to accept modern commercial principles in law, and to develop transportation and telecommunications undertakings such as national postal services, railways and telegraphs, paid roads, etc.......

"You can write a book." Liu Yun said with a smile.

Wen Yi shook his head: "People have already written it, I just borrowed it for use, if I can create such a theory myself, I should be able to make a name for myself in the Academy of Social Sciences, how good it is to have a head and a face." ”

Liu Yun smiled and extinguished the remaining half of the cigarette butts in the ceramic ashtray: "The purge of the upper-level institutions is almost over, and the next priority is the rectification of the low-level institutions. ”

"Then crush them with your army."

"My army?" Liu Yun's expression became gloomy.

Wen Yi looked at his face: "I want to say that the enemy is inside." ”

Liu Yun closed his eyes: "I don't know what to do." ”

"Excessive suspicion is the fertilizer that breeds betrayal."

"So I want to leave them a way out, and at the right time, let most of them quit the military, and not bother in politics, and live the life of gentlemen or hermits, who have been with me for so long, and I will not treat them badly."

"The little stake in the land company does not satisfy the demands of the power-hungry."

"It's good that you understand."

Wen Yi took out a piece of paper from the briefcase he was carrying, took out the pen in the inner bag, wrote two words, and sent it to Liu Yun.

Liu Yun nodded.

Wen Yi tore the paper in half, crumpled half of it, and sent the other half to Liu Yun's eyes.

"For what?" Liu Yun asked.

"Because even if he had a heart, he would not be powerless."

Wen Yi said coldly, and on the unfolded piece of paper in his hand, there was a block word "Zhong".

The celebration dinner was held in the main hall of Zhongnanhai Courtyard, and when Liu Yun and Wen Yi arrived, they had already changed their clothes, Liu Yun hung a medal on top of his tweed military uniform, and Wen Yi was wearing a tuxedo suit. The so-called annex is a group of European-style buildings built in the eighteenth year of Guangxu, three chandeliers given by the Kaiser are hung in the main hall, with electric lighting, and dozens of glass palace lamps are placed on the wall, the inside is as bright as day, and the decoration is all imitated in the style of the banquet hall of the Palace of Versailles in France, which is planned by a French engineer as a whole, and is often accused by the die-hard aristocracy.

On this day, Emperor Guangxu wore a special Western-style dress: the neckline and sleeves were inlaid with gold dragon patterns, a red ribbon was draped obliquely over the jacket, several decorative medals of different sizes were hung on the chest, and black trousers with black leather boots were ordered in Germany and shipped from the ship. Three years ago, the emperor's bold move to cut off his braids in public had caused countless old ministers to almost spurt blood, and time has passed, and the emperor's short hair is no longer weird, but some of the princes and ministers who insist on keeping braids are incompatible with this situation. Queen Zhenrong - the daughter of the former right attendant of the household, that is, the original Concubine Zhen - wore a white Western dress, white gold earrings with an Indian pearl necklace, and held a silk folding fan, looking solemn and virtuous, pure as water. Three years ago, the emperor abolished the Empress Dowager Cixi's internal queen Yehenala clan, and when Concubine Rong was the new queen, he was also admonished by the old ministers, but the emperor ignored it at all, firstly, because he had the support of the cabinet and the military, and secondly, it was also crucial, he had long been dissatisfied with that Yehenara, who was originally the second brother of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Guixiang, and his appearance and posture were very unbearable (there are photos to prove it!). Out of dissatisfaction with the Empress Dowager Cixi's creation of such a painful marriage, the emperor did not intend to consider the feelings of the Yehenara clan, so he directly abolished her title as queen, demoted her to Concubine Fei, and banished the cold palace.

Present at the dinner included princes and princes of various counties, ministers and vice-ministers of the cabinet, chief and deputy commanders of various headquarters, officers at and above the head of the General Staff Department, commanders of divisions and divisions, and some officers at and above the regimental level who have made great contributions, as well as their wives and adult children.

These upper-class people, if they were men, generally wore suits and new military uniforms, and women generally wore long dresses, and even the elegant people who usually shouted that it was better to wear Western clothes than to wear leaves did not dare to openly oppose the emperor on such occasions. The wind of Westernization is unfolding at the top, and although the wave of criticism is still surging and there are many reasonable words in it, the situation is not something that a few empty literati can stop.

The snow-white round tables were still covered with Chinese dishes and drinks, because even Wen Yi could not agree with the overall Westernization of food, and the concept of "Western food is basically garbage" was recognized by most of the upper class, and the emperor even had a stomach strain because of trying bread and butter, so there was no Western food at any official banquet.

When Wen Yi and Liu Yun entered the hall, the dinner had not yet officially begun, Liu Yun was holding the hand of his wife Chun'er, and Wen Yi was holding a staff of civilization, and the appearance of the three made the venue squirm for a while, and before some people rushed forward to greet them, the servants wearing Western-style knee-length double-breasted silver uniforms and white leggings had already led the three to the emperor's throne.

"Liu Aiqing, Mrs. Liu, please take a seat in front of the palace." The Emperor gestured to the round table in front of him.

"Thank you, Emperor Longen." Liu Yun and his wife bowed their hands and thanked him.

Emperor Guangxu looked at Wen Yi, who was still stubbornly clinging to celibacy: "Wen Aiqing, why don't you see a lady by your side so far." ”

Wen Yi made a helpless statement: "The minister is busy with official business all day long, and he has no time to take care of the affairs of men and women......"

Guangxu interrupted him and said: "Marriage is the foundation of human ethics, if Aiqing does not dislike it, I am willing to be a matchmaker......

When Wen Yi heard this, he hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Don't bother the emperor, the minister has his own opinions." ”

Guangxu nodded: "Even so, I don't force it, but at today's dinner, the princes and ministers have all brought their children here, if Aiqing sees something interesting from it, it will be okay to say to me bluntly, I should try my best to match." ”

"Thank you for your care, and the minister is grateful."

"Take a seat in front of the Imperial Palace."

"Yes."

As soon as Wen Yi sat down beside Liu Yun, Liu Yun grabbed his hand and asked, "If you have a grid for you, do you want it?" ”

Wen Yi glanced at him: "I don't have this life, besides, Gege or something, if it is the Yehenara clan and the like, won't my life be over?" ”

"Doesn't it give you the opportunity to choose freely?"

"I don't want to spoil fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls."

"What do you say?" Liu Yun glared at him, turned his head and asked Chun'er: "Madam, you say, have I spoiled you?" ”

Chun'er replied abruptly: "In front of the emperor, adults should pay attention." ”

Wen Yi smiled: "Is this kind of question meaningful?" My Lord Duke. ”

Liu Yun suddenly pointed to the gate and said, "See?" It's Russellan. ”

"Russoland, where?"

"The one in the pale red dress."

"What, she's wearing women's clothes!" Wen Yi almost screamed, so he took a closer look, and sure enough, it was the Minister of Culture and Education in the cabinet.

"Premier Weng won't vomit blood." Liu Yun said worriedly.

"Look at it, it will be more interesting if the emperor finds out." Wen Yidao waved his hand to Luo Sulan.

"Anyway, sooner or later, it will be completely public, so it's better to take this opportunity to let everyone understand that Xiao Luo still has a plan."

Luo Sulan walked over and spread her hands: "How is it, it's still appropriate." ”

Luo Sulan, who lightly applied rouge vermilion powder, wore a jade pendant in her ears, a silver ring and pearl necklace around her neck, and her original ear-length short hair was barely pulled into a bun at the back of her head, which was elegant and bright.

"Not bad." Wen Yi said.

"It's fine." Liu Yun said.

"This is ......," the Emperor asked.

Luo Sulan gently bent her knees and nodded: "Luo Sulan, Deputy Minister of Culture and Education of the Cabinet, see the emperor, the emperor is blessed." ”

"Russolan? I see, Vice Minister Wen has already mentioned to me that Aiqing is really the flower Mulan of the world, I have never seen you wear women's clothes, and I almost forgot about it. ”

Emperor Guangxu turned back to Empress Zhenrong and said, "Does the queen know who this woman is?" She is one of the Vice-Ministers of the Cabinet and the Minister of the Second Rank. ”

The queen smiled: "If there is such a thing, you can call her over, and the concubine will talk to her." ”

As soon as Luo Sulan was called to the front by the queen, Zhang Zhigao, deputy minister of foreign affairs of the cabinet, hurriedly walked into the main hall, and immediately came over when he saw Wen Yi.

Wen Yi teased him impatiently: "What? Xiao Luo finally put on women's clothes, and the big day should be confirmed. ”

Zhang Zhigao glanced at Luo Sulan, who was talking to the queen: "What's the matter, what is the queen looking for her?" ”

"It's nothing, the queen is just interested in a young woman who can be a minister of the second grade, don't divert the topic, when will we drink the wedding wine."

Zhang Zhigao shrugged: "Don't ask me, ask her, she wants me to wait." ”

"Xiao Zhang, didn't I say you, man, you have to go all out, a protracted battle will only hurt both sides." Liu Yun reminded from a military point of view.

Zhang Zhigao's face turned to the side: "Zhilu Dao, we will solve it-look, what are Ding Jieyun and Zhong Xiahuo doing at the gate?" ”

Liu Yun and Wen Yi immediately looked in the direction of the gate reflexively, only to see two figures, one tall and one short, blocking the gate, as if they were doing a confrontation.

The person concerned did not notice the gaze of the chief of the general staff and the vice minister of the cabinet, at this time, Ding Jieyun was full of spirit, looking like the arrogance of a successful person, while Zhong Xiahuo, who was a head taller than him, was full of depression, with injustice and jealousy in his eyes.

The meeting between these two people can only be explained by chance, if arrangements can be made, Liu Yun never intends to let these two people have a chance to meet, and now that this is the case, all the talk will become rubbish.

"That's good, Commander Ding, with such a good complexion, are there many beauties in Japan?" Zhong Xiahuo took his wife's hand and smiled at Ding Jieyun.

Ding Jieyun raised his chin and smiled: "I can still see it, in the few months that I have been in Beijing, has Commander Zhong been bored?" ”

"It's so boring, but I can't help it, who told me that I don't know the general situation, I just give people trouble."

"There is a future, since Commander Zhong has realized this, he will definitely have an unlimited future in the future."

"I can't compare to Commander Ding no matter how promising I am, I heard that the General Staff has already designated Commander Ding as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, congratulations."

"Thank you, I invite you to drink two glasses after taking office, I don't know if Lu Dao is willing to appreciate his face."

"Commander Ding's face is so big, how dare I not go."

"Commander Zhong, don't be too polite, we are also colleagues."

"Where, where I am qualified to be on an equal footing with you, at most it would be nice to shine your shoes."

At the moment of talking so much nonsense, Liu Yun had already walked to the two of them: "Since you are here, don't block the road here, come and sit." ”

The two looked at each other in completely different moods, and each turned his head to walk towards the general's seat, and of course, they sat at two tables far apart.

"That's a lot of questions." Wen Yi nagged in Liu Yun's ear.

"There are very few left." Liu Yun said, back to his seat.

At this time, Niu Jin, Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Han Lang, Minister of Finance, also entered the scene, and after meeting the emperor, they also took a seat in front of the emperor, and sat down with Liu Yun and others.

Niu Jin's external characteristics can be summed up by the word "round", and the slightly bloated body is equipped with a head that is almost round from any direction, plus a pair of round glasses that are not thin, which looks thick and stable. Although Han Lang is as tall as a hemp pole, he has a face as resolute as iron, and his meticulousness and patience are enough to nip many problems in the bud.

Wen Yi said first: "It's hard for the two of you to come out to relax, why don't you bring your wife?" ”

Niu Jin took off his glasses and rubbed his eyelids: "The one in my house, I can't see the big scene, I don't want to come." ”

Han Lang yawned: "My wife is afraid of the cold and doesn't dare to go out." ”

"It's not very convincing," Mr. Liu said.

Wen Yi immediately showed the cruelty of the slave owner: "Since you are here, let's report the progress of the work, has the specific plan for the implementation of the new monetary system been decided?" ”

Niu Jin put on his glasses: "The options have been reduced to two, further research is being done, and the formal plan should be submitted to the cabinet the day after tomorrow"

Han Lang poured half a cup of tea: "The general direction can be determined, divided into two stages, the first stage is to abolish the two yuan and change the yuan, the Imperial Bank will mint and issue the Chinese dollar silver coin, and the limited time will be collected and exchanged for all the private silver taels except the Chinese dollar silver coin, and then all payments and all transactions will be changed to the Chinese dollar silver coin, and the silver standard system will be established." In the second stage, the Imperial Bank issued Chinese dollar banknotes, and then completely exchanged Chinese dollar silver coins, and then abolished the silver standard system, and all public and private funds were paid with Chinese dollar banknotes, and the implementation of silver state-owned as a reserve for Chinese dollar banknotes. The difference between the options is mainly the specific timing of the implementation of each step, and there is no difference in the underlying approach......"

"The Sino-Japanese War Celebration Banquet begins now, please proclaim the decree of the Holy ......Lord," the voice of the master of ceremonies interrupted the conversation between the slave owners and slaves. The feast of the empire has just begun.