Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 627
"Ahem~~" At 9 o'clock in the morning, Yu Deli coughed twice into the microphone to signal the start of the meeting when he saw that everyone in the conference room was present.Immediately, everyone present turned their attention to Zhao Xin.

"It was my idea to hold this meeting at the beginning. After I talked to Lao Yu, I left because I had something to do. In the past few months, Lao Yu and Lao Chen have been preparing, and the plan was also written by them. Here, I First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks, without the two of you, this meeting could not be held smoothly."

As soon as Zhao Xin's voice fell, the meeting room burst into applause.Everyone here knows that this closed-door meeting today and in the next few days will determine the direction of China in this time and space, the fate of countless people, and their own status in the future.

21 people, 21 thoughts.Perhaps some people, like Zhao Xin, have the same ideas in many aspects, but that is only before seizing the world.As for after the world is over, it's really hard to say.

After the applause fell silent, Zhao Xin picked up the government plan written by Chen Qingsong, and said with a smile: "To be honest, the content of this document drafted by Lao Chen surprised me. According to Lao Chen himself, in order to write For this thing, I was tortured and lost a full five catties of meat."

"Hehe." Everyone present laughed out loud when they heard the words, and Chen Qingsong also stroked his chin in self-deprecating manner, feeling a little sharp.

"Because of the relationship between time and revision, the document was finalized last night, and I only had time to read it quickly. The reason why this meeting cycle is set as one week is to hope that everyone will openly express their views after listening to it. .”

Zhao Xin glanced at everyone present, his tone suddenly became serious, and he continued: "Everyone here has decided to settle down in this time and space, and the political system is closely related to everyone. First of all, I want to make a statement, this No matter what you say or what opinions you have at the meeting, you will not be punished for your words. No matter what system we adopt, it must be based on the current social class situation."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone present nodded their heads.What Zhao Xin said was flawless, so everyone didn't know what his attitude was.

"Next, let me read it to everyone. If you have any comments, we can discuss it after I finish reading it all."

"Article [-], Principles. The purpose of this draft is to determine the political system for a country with a territory of [-] square kilometers. This content is based entirely on the principles of reason and justice to ensure that the people can fully enjoy their rights and the exercise of obligations. Combining the various parts of this draft is used to demonstrate the legitimacy and necessity of the existence of the regime, which is to establish an industrialized and powerful country, and to make the individual will subordinate to the public will and allow the people to exercise sovereignty , to achieve equality and the exercise of natural liberty, which is our first concern."

"Article 20, Form of government. It is true that our goal is to establish a republic without a monarchy. However, in view of the current social class structure and the education of the people, in the next [-] years, we will implement a republic system of false monarchs, The post of emperor will exist as the head of state, without real political power. The supreme power of state governance will be in charge of a committee composed of us and representatives from this time and space.”

When Zhao Xin finished reading this, the complexion of half of the people present changed, and their eyes swept towards the expressionless Chen Qingsong, and then looked at Yu Deli, who also had a calm expression on his face.Everyone thought that these two were bought by Prince Zhao?Don't do a good republic, but actually do a monarchy!

Just relying on Prince Zhao's "supernatural powers", no one can deceive him.I'm afraid this guy wants to hold a sheep's head, but also has to straddle the military and political circles to seize real power. If he wants to do something in the future, who can control him!

But then again, if Zhao Xin wants to do something now, no one else can stop him.Without him, Beihai Town's innate system would have been determined.Among those who attended the dinner for the French a few days ago, some couldn't help but start to wonder whether it was Zhao Xin who was expressing his opinion when Shen Xuan wore the queen's clothes.

".The committee consists of military, civil affairs, and supervision. In principle, no one can serve in more than two departments. If you have relevant opinions, you can submit them to the full committee for discussion."

Well, when they saw this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, saying that Prince Zhao was fine.He will definitely hold the military power, but as for the other one, he doesn't know what it will be.

At this time, Chen Qingsong was actually observing the reactions of everyone present. To be honest, he really suffered mentally for three months in order to write this article.In order to find a reasonable explanation for the monarchy, what is it to lose five catties, he confused himself
It is said that Yu Deli made a special trip to Fuldan City after finishing the seaside conversation with Zhao Xin, and talked with Chen Qingsong for two nights.As for the political system, the person in Beihai Town who has the most say is Fatty Chen, who has experience in the system.In the end, the two agreed that Chen Qingsong would draft the draft regime, and Yu Deli would be responsible for checking and filling in the vacancies.

Just like Zhao Xin’s troubles, when Chen Qingsong first drafted the plan, he first chose the direction of the republic; however, when he adopted the concept of Western political philosophy to think about the political system, a basic problem that cannot be bypassed lay in the In front of it is "political legitimacy"—that is, how to make the formulated political system win the trust of the people.

Why do some people have the right to rule while others can only be the ruled?What is the raison d'être of a particular political model?
From ancient times to the present, from east to west, although most political societies are based on irrationality and violence, the rulers of all dynasties have to make arguments for the legitimacy of their rule.The persuasion of the governed to the argument of the legitimacy of the rule is the prerequisite for the long-term stability of the political society, especially in the classical society.

The principle of republic is "the world is for the public", which means that all citizens have the right to participate in state affairs.Of course, the scholar-official class likes this set the most, because it means that "orthodoxy" has returned to their arms, and even "zhitong" can get a share.The prime minister system and the cabinet system, the era of the landlord class denouncing Fang Qiu has come again.

However, for the general public who just got rid of the rule of the Qing Dynasty and don't even know a big word, if you tell him that the sky has changed and you can express your opinions on the imperial system, he will definitely think that you are spreading hysteria.If you have that spare time, you might as well clear up two acres of land so that the family will have enough to eat and the children will have books to read, in order to get rid of the importance of fate.

Daiqing in the eighteenth century was an agrarian society with 90% farmers.In such a social reality, talking about the republic with the common people is purely playing the piano against the cow.To put it bluntly, even though Beihai Town currently has more than 100 million people under its rule, when it comes to the foundation of a republican system, it is estimated that there is not even half of it.

Therefore, if the common people in the world want to accept the republic, they have to carry out reforms through campaigns, reforming scholars, reforming stereotypes and bad habits, women's liberation and so on.The problem is that these 21 people are determined to stay in this time and space. The land reform has not yet started. If the others follow along, it will easily cause political turmoil. At that time, everyone can only pack up and flee.

Some people will say, Beihai Town has big fists, so why not think about it?If the people's wisdom is not developed, it is enough to popularize education.The problem is that it will take a while.The basic education in Beihai Town is of course doing well, especially in Beihai, where the literacy rate is as high as 97%.But compared with the more than 3 million ordinary people in the whole belt, it is not even a hair, not to mention that there are 1000 million scholars in the south who are familiar with the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.

Rousseau once said that even though Zhao Xin didn't like this person very much, he admitted that what he said made sense.

"Even the strongest will never be strong enough to be master forever unless he transforms force into right and obedience into duty.  … Force is a physical force, and I see no effect of force that can produce What morality."

Know that submitting to a regime's rule is very different from acknowledging that regime's right to rule.Submission produced by violence will not allow the ruled to have political obligations recognized from the bottom of their hearts. Once the basis of violence that is maintained is weakened, someone will naturally rise up and overthrow it.Material or emotional motives may arise from custom, fear, and the emotions of punishment, but human psychological conditions are often variable and cannot form a reliable basis for domination.

"Mencius" said that a hegemony who pretends to be benevolent with strength will surely lead to a great country, and a king who acts benevolently with virtue will not wait for greatness.Tang is seventy miles away, and King Wen is hundreds of miles away.Those who subdue others with strength are not subdued from the heart, and those who subdue others with virtue without strength, are submissive with sincerity in the heart, just like the seventy sons subdued Confucius.The poem says: "From west to east, from south to north, there is no disobedience." This is what it means.

In easy-to-understand terms, it doesn't mean that Beihai Town's weapons are powerful. It can prove the legitimacy of Beihai Town's rule because In Chinese culture, this is not valued at all.Otherwise, whether it was the Mongol Yuan or the Manchu Qing, when they went south to fight the unification war, they would not have encountered so much resistance.

Then the question before Chen Qingsong was, what kind of regime was legitimate in ancient China?The answer is obvious.

In traditional Chinese political theory, whether it is an emperor or a minister, it is only an official position in politics, and everyone only recognizes their duties and responsibilities in the official position.If the Son of Heaven is incompetent and incompetent, ministers can change his position, and even the people of the whole country can punish him.If you don't understand this point, you won't understand the truth of traditional Chinese politics.

Taking the Han, Tang and Song dynasties as an example, the Han Dynasty had a prime minister system, while the Tang and Song dynasties had a prime minister committee system. The highest deliberative body was called the Zhengshitang, which was later renamed Zhongshumenxia.All government decrees that must be promulgated in the name of the emperor's edict must be decided in advance by the Zhengshitang in a meeting. Without the seal of the Zhengshitang, they are not considered edicts and have no legal status in law.

In traditional Chinese politics other than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the emperor could not be autocratic, nor could the prime minister be autocratic. However, countless people in later generations insisted that traditional Chinese politics was autocratic.

In fact, looking at Eastern and Western politics, it is very difficult to draw a precise line between a republic and a monarchy, and it is impossible to say that the former is more democratic than the latter, because as long as the monarch’s power is limited to ritual, the difference between the two is actually not the same. not big.Don’t you see that in another time and space history, so many countries in Latin America that practiced military dictatorships all said that they were democratic republics.

Then came the third question, how can the virtual monarchy that Beihai Town wants to establish can win the support of the majority of people?

To be honest, Fatty Chen is not good at political philosophy issues. After all, his job in the system was a deputy, which was pragmatic rather than pragmatic.The more he thought about it, the more complicated it became, and in the end he got himself involved and got tangled up in the legitimacy of the monarchy.So he couldn't help but went to Wang Zhong and asked him about the legitimacy of the rule.

As Gu Yanwu's descendant, Wang Zhong, who has a deep research on pre-Qin laws and regulations, did not directly answer Chen Qingsong's question, but told him two allusions.

It is said that there are no more than two ways of dynastic replacement in Chinese history. One is that the people of the country use conspiracy and violence to change the dynasty, and the other is that foreigners invade and establish political power.However, when the rulers of these two regimes face the problem of legitimacy, they will fall into a dilemma, that is, on the one hand, their own rule does not have formal legitimacy, but they must establish and even maintain formal legitimacy.

What caused this dilemma was a dialogue in the period of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, which was later written by Sima Qian in "Historical Records".This is what Wang Zhong said in the first paragraph.

At that time, Yuan Gusheng, who represented Confucianism, and Huang Sheng, who represented Taoism, discussed in front of Emperor Han Jing what "the righteousness of the monarch and ministers" is.As a result, since then, the issue of political legitimacy has become a forbidden area for the feudal rulers of all dynasties, and scholars after the Han Dynasty dare not touch it again.The only thing everyone dares to complain about is that the three generations of ancient times are so good, so good, and the previous dynasty replaced by us is really scum!
The essence of their debate is the conflict between "form" and "purpose" in political legitimacy.Yuan Gusheng demonstrated the legitimacy of Tang Wu's order from the purpose, Huang Sheng demonstrated the illegality of Tang Wu's regicide from the form, and Han Jingdi, who was the referee, was in a situation where "a concubine could not do it".

The political legitimacy of the early pre-Qin philosophers adopted the method of "mandate of heaven", that is, they deified their ancestors, and as descendants of gods, they naturally had the power to rule. The emphasis was on formal legitimacy.However, with the emergence of the two famous tyrants, Jie and Zhou, the purpose replaced the form, and the two concepts of "Heaven" and "Tao" in Huang Laozhi's theory occupied the central position in the discussion of political legitimacy.

If it is legal for Tang Wu to punish Jie and Zhou, although Han can prove the legitimacy of replacing Qin, others can also demonstrate the legitimacy of replacing Han. If it is illegal, where should Liu Bang be placed?He is the pavilion chief of the Qin Dynasty, a proper traitor and traitor.

After Chen Qingsong listened thoughtfully, Wang Zhong then told the second allusion, which was the "Zeng Jing Tou Shu Case" that happened in the seventh year of Yongzheng.Many Chinese people in later generations have heard of this, and Chen Qingsong also knows that Yongzheng wrote the "Dayijue Milu" and published it all over the world in order to prove the legitimacy of the Manchu Qing regime.When he inspected Heilongjiang City the year before last, he even met the descendants of the Lu family.

However, to his surprise, Wang Zhong did not talk about the literary inquisition and the distinction between Hua and Yi, but centered around "skopos" and "form".

Wang Zhong's evaluation is that Zeng Jing is neither stupid nor stupid.He is said to be stupid because he is pedantic and old-fashioned, and he thinks that he can impress Yue Zhongqi with the "distinction between Hua and Yi"; he is not stupid because some of his ideas in "Zhi Xin Lu" are correct.His point of view is essentially the same as Yuan Gusheng's theory, and they both discuss the issue of ruling legitimacy from the "formal theory".

In other words, from the perspective of Confucian "orthodoxy", the scholar class has always considered itself to be the representative of Chengxu orthodoxy; the so-called morality and righteousness, the people's hearts will surely follow, and if the people's hearts are directed, the destiny will return.From this logic, all the emperors in the past dynasties did not have political legitimacy, and only "scholars" who upheld the orthodoxy were ordered by heaven.

Wang Zhong told Chen Qingsong that when Yongzheng refuted the righteousness of the monarch and ministers, he would be tantamount to affirming Huang Sheng's "theory of teleology" and had to face Yuan Gusheng's "theory of form".That is to say, he fell into the dilemma of Emperor Han Jing at the beginning, and it was wrong no matter what.

At this point, Chen Qingsong suddenly realized that from the beginning to the end of this matter, the "discrimination between Hua and Yi" that has caused countless posterity to argue is not the point at all, but the legitimacy of the political system based on "teleology" and "formality".Qianlong may have seen the crux of the problem before he succeeded to the throne, so he immediately took back and destroyed "Dayijue Milu" when he came to power, and killed Zeng Jing and Zhang Xi to make the world shut up.

In other words, as long as Beihai Town is a monarchy, no one in the world will mention the legitimacy of the political system.

The reason why ancient scholars always talk about the three ancient generations is because there is no dispute in the form and purpose of the succession of the throne of Yao, Shun and Yu, and no one can fault it for the emperor to follow the example of the three of them.Do you dare to talk nonsense with someone else?Arguing falsely and arguing, acting out of the way but firmly, every minute will be beaten into chaos and thieves.

Of course, Wang Zhong took the opportunity to sell a lot of Gu Yanwu's "government by crowd" idea to Chen Qingsong.Chen Qingsong really doesn't know much about this aspect. Hearing it broadly, it is good to expand the selection of intellectuals, allow the people to discuss the gains and losses of national politics, and combine customs and laws to correct people's hearts.

But when he talked about this with Zhao Xin last night, the other party smiled and shook his head.

"Old Chen, you haven't read Gu Yanwu's book, have you?"

"no, what happened?"

"His 'government by the masses' does not mean that the common people can be the masters of the country, but that the literati have the final say. Think about it, the power to read and write is ultimately in the hands of these people, and the poor who are busy with their livelihoods are excluded. These people What people want is to limit the power of the monarch, adjust the excessively unequal relationship between the monarch and the people and the relationship between the government and the people, strive for more political interests for the landlord class, and provide them with institutional protection.”

(End of this chapter)