Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 663
Zhu Youjian stood up and said, "Okay, then I will issue an edict first, ordering the ceremonial supervisor and the cabinet to jointly prepare for the establishment of the Central Advisory Council, the House of Representatives, the local Advisory Council, and the Council of Representatives. Wen Chu, Minister of the Second Assistant and Organization Department, was responsible for leading the establishment of a reform team, which must be completed before the end of the year."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Wen Chushi stood up and said, "I would like to obey the holy edict."

So, soon, the scholar-in-charge of the Imperial Academy wrote Zhu Youjian's decree, and awarded it to the cabinet's second assistant, Wen Chushi. Wen Chushi immediately followed the decree and ordered the Organization Department to issue a decree to all provinces, prefectures and counties in the world. Call for the immediate establishment of the corresponding consultative and parliamentary bodies by popular elections.

At the same time, the Organization Department sent commissioners to the provinces to supervise the implementation of this decision, and to discuss how to establish elections.

Zhang Huangyan and other conservative senior officials also immediately wrote letters to their protégés and old officials, asking them to follow the requirements of the Organization Department and not to violate them in the slightest.

Radical senior officials such as Wang Jiaqin also wrote letters to their friends in the business and academic circles, saying that this is the result of their efforts. My friends, seize the opportunity, and don't let the local government spoil the taste of the local council.

For a time, there was a lot of discussion in the court, and there were also messengers rushing along the official roads where the court went, as well as on railways and waterways, and newspapers and periodicals were full of reports.

Local repercussions were also huge. Some said it was an unprecedentedly virtuous government, while others said it was an unprecedentedly chaotic government.

Yingtian Governor Bai Yunming also slapped the table after receiving the order from the Organization Department: "It's nonsense! What does the cabinet think? If the people really want the people to take care of local affairs and don't trust us, then we have to be officials. What's the use! Rather than being aggrieved to be the governor, it would be better for me to resign from office and go into business!"

Bai Yunming, governor of Yingtian, was so excited that he ordered someone to serve him with pen and ink on the spot, threatening to write his resignation letter.

The officials under him didn't stop them, and they were all unhappy. After all, they also knew that if this kind of council was established, they would have no chance to exploit merchants casually, and they would also lose many ways to make money.

However, at this moment, his master walked in: "Master, the letter from Mr. Ge has arrived."

"The teacher's letter? Show it to me quickly, I don't believe it, the teacher can really agree to play like this, so it's possible that important ministers like them in the cabinet don't respect carbon and ice!"

The governor of Yingtian, Bai Yunming, opened the letter as he spoke, and saw what was written on it:

"My life has been doing well recently. Although the latest decree from the Organization Department of the imperial court is beneficial to the people and not to the officials, it is really because you guys are making a mess. Your Majesty has a lot of opinions, and there are many officials in the court saying that you are not;

Moreover, the wisdom of the people has been developed, unlike before, now the great Ming will not be defeated by you, and for a long-term plan, we have to set up two parliaments so that the people have the right to make decisions on local affairs, so as to realize the state of public opinion, and you cannot stop it , and are not allowed to resign...

Fortunately, the cabinet still has great power. I should be grateful to Your Majesty for still trusting us. It is also the result of the game between the princes of the court. The cabinet should not lose your wealth and fame. Now that the climate is mild, all the respects will be canceled every year. Although Chang'an residence is not easy , but the cabinet princes have their own ways, so don't worry about it. "

Bai Yunming is not a stupid person, he roughly guessed what happened in the court from the content of the letter, and couldn't help sighing for a moment:
"Now the current situation is really different than before. Forget it, since the teacher and others don't want to respect the year, then the official has nothing to say. Tell the people below that if you want to resign from the office, come to the official now and come to one." This official approves one! When the time comes and the situation is chaotic, we will let the people in the parliament figure out a solution!"

"Brother Mingshen, my brother has been in the cabinet for a long time, and now he has finally done something great for the merchants and people of the world. This is your Majesty's contribution. We should be grateful, but because of the complicated situation in Ming Dynasty and the remnants of Jiaozhi, Siberia, and Jianlu However, the cabinet still has great power, but fortunately the local people can make decisions. Please organize chambers of commerce from all walks of life as soon as you get the letter, and ask the government to act according to the imperial order. Violators can go on strike to fight against it, and you can rest assured that your consent has been approved.”

Yang Mingshen couldn't help but burst into tears after receiving Wang Jiaqin's letter: "Long live my emperor!"

Immediately, Yang Mingshen ordered: "Immediately contact the major newspapers and inform the public of the imperial decree from the Cabinet Organization Department, take my post to meet the presidents of chambers of commerce from all walks of life, and invite them to come to my mansion to discuss matters. People from National Taiwan University exerted pressure and at the same time thought of countermeasures;

Futai will not give in easily. We will first help them determine the procedures for establishing a parliament, and immediately go to the Daming School of Administration to recruit a group of graduates from the Department of Administration. At the same time, we will count in our bank whether there are any people who are willing to be officials and serve the people. people. "

Just as Yingtian is the southern Zhili province, other provinces also responded in the same way, and many officials threatened to resign.

Many wealthy businessmen are actively preparing to negotiate with the government, but due to the suppression and persuasion from above or their own nostalgia for their official positions, not many officials above the county magistrate have resigned.

However, many low-level officials resigned, and a large number of officials who did not have a formal establishment quit.

All of a sudden, the government offices at all levels in the local provinces were much empty.

Governor Bai Yunming of Yingtian began to refuse to meet the leaders of the chambers of commerce from all walks of life, citing illness as the reason that he would not be able to recover from illness, and took advantage of this to approve a large number of officials under his command to resign.

Half a month later, when the commissioner of the Organization Department was coming, he had no choice but to come out to meet Yang Mingshen and others. When Yang Mingshen and other businessmen asked Bai Yunming whether he wanted to resist the imperial edict, Bai Yunming said:

"I have no intention of violating the imperial edict. I have no objection to the establishment of two chambers and the election of members, but now I have only about [-] officials under my command;

Mr. Yang, you should also be aware that the official income of the Ming Dynasty has always been low. Although His Majesty is generous now, and there are many salary increases and even the end of the year, the current officials living a small and peaceful life are still okay;

But officials with no establishment can’t live. The imperial court’s finances are limited, and you are not allowed to increase taxes. The governor can only give them very low salaries and let them rely on gray income to support their families. Now that the two courts are set up, they Naturally, the gray income of the government disappeared, and most of them resigned. As a result, there are only [-] officials in the entire governor's office, and tens of millions of people in the entire Nanzhili. "

The governor of Yingtian Bai Yunming looked at Yang Mingshen after finishing speaking, with a look of complacency in his eyes, and said in his heart:

"Who doesn't know that you Yang Mingshen and other rich businessmen did all these things. You want to control the government because of your relationship with His Majesty. You can control the government. Now the problem is here, let's see how you solve it!"

"I understand Master Futai's difficulties, and I have considered this for Master Futai. I have established an administrative affairs training company, recruited and trained a group of students, all of whom are high-achieving students from Daming School of Administration and Nanjing Political Science School;
Whether it is taxation, government affairs or even public construction, they are very good at it. Your Excellency can say, what kind of treatment are these non-staff officials? "

(End of this chapter)