Dominate the Country

The establishment of the Advisory Council once touched the hearts of Chen Cong and others. At one point, Chen Cong even wanted to return to politics, but his idea did not even get a response from Chen Ming, and Chen Cong retreated again.

It can be said that many people are optimistic about the future of the Advisory Council.

And now it is only a short term - the expansion of the Advisory Council’s authority is not to be immediate, but to wait until the next term. The term of the Advisory Council is synchronized with the cabinet, so the expansion of the power of the Advisory Council [Zizhengyuan] has attracted more attention.

The interval is a bit too short.

Among those who feel this way is the New Confucian Party.

Well, the current "New Confucianism" is numerous and powerful, and has completely replaced the position of "Old Confucianism" in academic schools. It is spread all over the country and can be called a "party".

This political school is like this. As long as there is no support from the regime, its vitality is far less than that of a pure academic school. And Chinese academics are often involved in politics.

Yue Wenhai was originally enjoying his life in Jinan. After the four great Confucianists in Shandong fell from the altar, they suffered heavy losses. But at least they still had some family assets, especially the Kong family, and the Kong family did not abandon the Meng family, Zeng family, and Yan family for the sake of "reputation". The four holy families were more powerful together. They first relied on the canal to recuperate, and then made a lot of wealth in the real estate industry in Jinan and Tianjin. The four great families established the Zhengru Academy in Shandong to "inherit Chinese ancient culture" and built one library after another in Shandong, especially the large library in Jinan, the city of springs, which stored many copies of ancient books and ancient books that the four great families had privately collected for thousands of years.

Yue Wenhai still had a very literary temperament. He would not leave once he stayed in the city of springs, but now he personally came from the city of springs to Yanjing to find Chen Cong. When talking about the further expansion of the power of the Advisory Council, the opposition in his words was self-evident.

"Your Highness, don't underestimate the public council! I have lived in seclusion for many years and have learned about the politics of Western powers. For example, the government of a powerful country like England is also subject to the control of the parliament. The parliament has also grown from weak to strong, and has developed little by little to the current level. Today's parliament even has the right to elect and impeach the prime minister! The overthrow of the French dynasty was even more due to the convening of the three-level conference.

How can we govern the country with such obscure power and no distinction between high and low?"

Yue Wenhai seemed to be worried that the "development and growth" of the Advisory Council would eventually threaten the authority of the government.

After all, if the power of the Advisory Council is expanded once, it can be expanded a second time. Who dares to say that they can't become China's parliament one day?

Yue Wenhai also knew that Chen Cong's thoughts were different from his own, or that Chen Cong had no thoughts at all. He was just a shadow of the current emperor. When he was in power, he did whatever the emperor wanted him to do. But he didn't believe that Chen Cong was really happy to see China become like England one day.

The political power is all about talking.

However, Chen Cong's reaction was too calm. Because he knew the more important reason why Yue Wenhai strongly opposed it.

Yue Wenhai and he have been friends for decades. When Yue Wenhai opened his mouth, Chen Cong didn't dare to say that he could guess what he was thinking immediately, but he could guess it.

The real reason why Yue Wenhai opposed the further expansion of the power of the Advisory Council was definitely not as fair as he said on the surface.

As for the news from Nanjing that the emperor "tested" the princes to establish a dual monarchy, a parliamentary monarchy, etc., it made a considerable number of Chen clan members in Nanjing panic. Even his two sons wrote to Xiaotangshan one after another, implying that he wanted him to go out and test Chen Ming's mouth. Because it was too scary to compare these two items.

What kind of thing is that "virtual monarch".

In the long run, the monarch is not a monarch, and the ministers are not ministers, and the country is not a country.

Many people in the Chen clan did not understand what Chen Ming was thinking, and they were afraid of this happening. But Chen Ming did not seriously say "virtual monarchy". Such a big thing, the ministers discussed it privately, but few people were qualified to talk about it in front of Chen Ming. Chen Cong was one of the few!

"Your Majesty, the homeland of Britain and France is as big as a province of China, and the land is small, so it can control the local area. But China is thousands of miles away, and the saying "the sky is high and the emperor is far away" has a long history. If the rights and interests of the Advisory Council are expanded, the rise of local forces is inevitable, or there is a danger of separatism." China needs to learn some skills from the West to be strong, and Yue Wenhai does not object. As a former government official, he knows very well how much benefit those machines and business can bring to the government. But as a new Confucian party, no matter how "new Confucian", some ideas and thoughts of Confucian traditions have deeply influenced him.

- It is not for him to oppose the "virtual monarch" wholeheartedly.

Anyone familiar with Chinese culture and history knows that Confucianism not only had a "virtual monarch" in the real sense, but also put forward political ideas.

"The holy emperor sits on the throne and the world is governed", "The emperor and the literati share the world, not the people", these are the "correct principles" that Confucianism highly recognizes.

It has always been the strong point of literati to take advantage of others. If you are soft, they will be hard, and if you retreat, they will advance.

The political officialdom in the middle and late Ming Dynasty is the best interpretation of this scene.

Therefore, some people represented by Yue Wenhai are not opposing the "virtual monarch", but the emperor's determination of the "classification" of the Advisory Council.

Yue Wenhai can "look up" to craftsmen, merchants, soldiers, and peasants, but this does not mean that he can tolerate these "lowly" craftsmen, merchants, and peasants, and truly be on an equal footing with "himself" at some point in the future. He has already faced up to the status of soldiers. Will he have to "face up" to craftsmen, merchants, farmers, and actors in the future?

Of course, as long as there are enough benefits, Yue Wenhai can continue to "face up". But the problem is that he/they did not get enough benefits.

So, don't look at Yue Wenhai's solemn opposition to the expansion of the rights and interests of the Advisory Council. In fact, they are opposing the "classification" regulations of the Advisory Council.

Chen Ming had already designated the identities of the members when he established the Advisory Council and the Council of State. They are nobles, veterans, farmers, merchants, teachers, doctors, journalists, literati, entertainers, etc., involving many industries in society. But Chen Ming did not stipulate the proportion of personnel.

Now, among the 100 members of the Advisory Council, there must be 30 soldiers, farmers, journalists, etc. There was no such rule before. Now there is.

This makes the New Confucian Party very uncomfortable.

When the Advisory Council and the Consultative Council were first established, some retired officials and Confucian scholars said righteously that they disdained to associate with the lowly. They did not dare to look down on retired soldiers, but they dared to look down on farmers - mud legs, businessmen - money smell, doctors, journalists - scum, and even more so the "entertainment industry" of the past.

But now they can look up to it.

In the past few years since the establishment of the Consultative Council, its influence has been growing, and the power of the emperor will continue to expand. How can they not look down on it?

However, the Consultative Council and the Advisory Council are elected every five years, and the New Confucian Party, which missed the opportunity before, has not been able to take root in them.

Whether it is the New Confucian Party or other political groups and academic schools, they all value the Consultative Council. If the Federation of Industry and Commerce still has a strong smell of money, the Advisory Council is much fresher, and more importantly, it has a much better future. But it is not so easy for them to enter the Advisory Council now. They are facing competition from many people, not just merchants.

The emperor's edict forced the ceiling above their heads to be lowered a lot.

Their own people were just about to grab a large territory in the next local advisory council and the National Council of State Affairs, and the emperor did this, which hurt the New Confucian Party. Their foundation in the Advisory Council has not been firmly established. At this time, the emperor is expanding the power of the Advisory Council and the Council of State Affairs, which is to let more people plunge into this pool of water and let more people's "eyes" see this big piece of fat meat, which is very bad for the New Confucian Party.

Many people in the New Confucian Party are government officials, and there are also many retired officials. These people have a good reputation in the local area. Chen Han has a strict judicial system and clear politics. Officials dare not be corrupt, so naturally their reputation is not bad. The previous Advisory Council had just been established. Some people, regardless of whether it was true or not, missed the opportunity to enter the Advisory Council in order to show their noble pride and arrogance of not associating with XX. Now they want to reorganize their flags and enter the Advisory Council with all their strength. The emperor gave the Advisory Council more power at this time. Isn't this making trouble?

Coincidentally, there were some specious news circulating in Nanjing City. It was not just the New Confucian Party that had an idea to take advantage of the opportunity to show off. The Old Confucian Party and other political factions all chose to oppose this matter. We don't ask the emperor to remember our goodness, but at least we should praise it in front of the people and let the emperor see our loyalty.

——They are all loyal ministers who oppose the restriction of imperial power.

As for why they still participated in the election of the Advisory Council after opposing the expansion of the power of the Advisory Council, it was to better use their power and prevent the emperor's love for the people from being ruined by some bullshit guys.

Chen Cong saw all this very clearly.

He was one of the backers of the New Confucian Party. When he was in power, the Old Confucian Party was the real power. At that time, the New Confucianism was not even a party. So Chen Cong, Shen Guozhen and others were specifically selected by the emperor to support the New Confucianism. Now more than 20 years have passed, and the old Confucianism has long been dying in the continuous blows, but the New Confucianism has rapidly spread in the Chen Han political arena relying on the characteristics of culture.

The withdrawal of a large number of founding fathers from the stage has caused the originally powerful factions to fall apart. The tea has cooled before the people leave, and this has always been the case in the officialdom. The mountaintop that Chen Cong has established is a shining example, but he is still deeply connected with the New Confucianism Party.

Chen Cong has withdrawn from the political arena, but his two sons have received great support from the New Confucianism Party. Of course, Chen Jigong's bigger backer is still the current Emperor Chen. Although Chen Cong himself does not think much of the New Confucianism Party, the relationship between the two cannot be cut off.

Yue Wenhai is a capable person of the New Confucianism Party and is still serving in the Council of State, although he spends more than half a year in Quancheng and is over 70 years old.

Did Yue Wenhai come to the emperor's house to persuade Chen Ming? Or did he just want to use Chen Cong to express his attitude to the emperor indirectly? It must be the latter.

How many times has the current emperor taken back his decision? Everything is set in stone.

Whether the emperor really intends to put a shackle on the imperial power, it is too early to say now. Chen Cong thought that Yue Wenhai and others were not really against putting a shackle on the imperial power. Yue Wenhai and the "scholars" who still have a certain influence in China really opposed that when Chen Ming put a shackle on the imperial power, he did not only give the vacant power to the "scholars", but also gave it to the industry and commerce that have been looked down upon in China's history, as well as the most ignorant farmers, the soldiers who made scholars most vigilant, and the lowest nine classes. This is an impact on the traditional social class and values ​​of Confucianism for thousands of years.

In fact, if this "virtual monarchy and constitutionalism" and the meaning behind it are really realized, it will be very beneficial to the new Confucian party and the old Confucian party. As long as the emperor can abide by the "rules", everyone will play games within the limits of the "rules", and there is no need to worry about the emperor turning the table when he is unhappy. This is a great thing.

However, the "scholars" must pay a price for this and must recognize the rights and interests of "others" represented by industry and commerce.

From now on, as long as this "scholar" has no money, he will be no different from countless peddlers.

"The situation is irreversible, and the prosperity of merchants in the world is inevitable..."

Yue Wenhai's goal was not achieved, but he left with a peaceful face. He wanted to return to Jiangnan as soon as possible, but his own "mission" to Yanjing had been completed.

He didn't need to persuade King Song, he just needed to meet King Song and do what he should do.

Life is like a play, it all depends on acting!