I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 571: The King and the People Rule the World Together
In addition to discussing how to borrow 1 billion taels of silver, the second important point in Hao Ren's policy paper is how to use the 1 billion taels of silver and in what name.

The silver was borrowed from the people of Daxia, so it certainly couldn't be fully managed by a 'private' company like the Railway Chamber of Commerce. It just so happened that the Queen wanted to split up the Railway Chamber of Commerce, but Hao Ren went against it and did not split it up, but added to it.

In the first stage, the Railway Chamber of Commerce issued an additional 40 million taels of silver worth of stocks. These additional stocks were fully purchased by the Daxia Central Bank, which was equivalent to the Daxia Central Bank holding half of the shares of the Railway Chamber of Commerce. The profits were turned over to the national treasury every year. At the same time, the Daxia Central Bank's purchase plan was to issue another 40 million taels of special bonds to the bond market, thereby ensuring that at least half of the Railway Chamber of Commerce's income belonged to the state, and the remaining half belonged to the bureaucrats, nobles, and some of the people who participated in the shares.

In the second stage, the Railway Department was established as a national department to supervise the operation of the Railway Chamber of Commerce and prevent corruption and abuse of power. The manager of the Railway Chamber of Commerce was also the right director of the Railway Department, and a vice minister of the Ministry of Industry was also the left director.

In the third stage, the county government that wanted to build a railway would set up a local railway bureau. In accordance with the management regulations of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, the local county government would send a director and the Railway Chamber of Commerce would send a deputy director as technical guidance.

Overall, the reform proposed by the Railway Chamber of Commerce this time did not mean no concessions. Instead, it made a huge "concession". However, this concession was not to divide the inherent interests of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, but to expand the property and jurisdiction of the Railway Chamber of Commerce again like blowing up a balloon, and to allocate the aspects that the Zhou Party could not manage to the court and local areas.

This can be said to be the court's successful acquisition of the management rights of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, or it can be said that the Zhou Party successfully transferred the management rights from the central government to the local governments through the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

After reading the policy paper, the ministers did not speak out against it immediately, but pondered over it.

They had to admit that this seemed to be a good solution.

Since the emperor and Zhou Tieyi are now evenly matched, and both need Daxia to be prosperous to ensure their own holy ways, the key point is not fighting, but continuing to make Daxia strong. In this process of expansion, power struggles can occur, but they must be conducted in a compliant and legal manner.

At the same time, the plan proposed by Zhou Tieyi did not only consider the interests of himself and the emperor. With the additional issuance of stocks, the local railway bureau had a huge room for maneuver for the other schools of thought present.

This is also the reason why the Emperor of Daxia did not get angry after reading it, or even interrupt Dong Xingshu and let Xue Minghao read it out.

The Queen Mother and the Emperor have been husband and wife for so many years, and she knows that the Emperor has actually been convinced at this time. There is no problem with the general framework, but the Emperor cannot allow all the variables to be controlled by Zhou Tieyi.

So she opened her mouth and drew a conclusion, "How come the Railway Department has left and right directors, but no distinction between the chief and deputy? This is inappropriate."

Although according to the court's convention, the left is the most respected, but the chief and deputy are obviously more clear-cut than the left and right. Even in the nine ministries, there is a Shangshu first, and then there are the left and right vice-ministers under the Shangshu.

Zhou Tieyi refused to give in on this matter. "The establishment of the new Railway Department and the expansion of the Railway Chamber of Commerce borrowed 1 billion taels of silver from the people of Daxia. The manager of the Railway Chamber of Commerce is not only an official of the court, but also an action person elected by the people. Being the right-hand man is already a light position, how can he be the deputy? This is the court and the people governing the world together, which is what the saints of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism said. The Queen's words are not competing with the people for profit. Of course, if the Queen is willing to guarantee the 1 billion taels, it is not impossible to discuss it."

The Queen's eyes were slightly cold. She was keenly aware that Zhou Tieyi was not only competing for the position of director or deputy director of the Railway Bureau, but also for the legal principle that power comes from the people or from above!

If we agree with this statement today, then even if power does not come from the people, it does not come from above either.

At least it’s co-governance!
When Zhou Tieyi put forward this point of view, Dong Xingshu opened his mouth to speak, but stopped repeatedly.

He knew that Zhou Tieyi was distorting Confucian ideas.

In fact, the "co-governance" of Confucianism up to now is mostly co-governance by the monarch and his subjects, or the monarch and his subjects working together.

The people are indeed the core of Confucianism, but many times, Confucianism does not believe that all people have the right to participate in politics. Therefore, Confucianism agrees with the Legalist school of dividing the people into four classes: scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. Among them, the lowest class of merchants and artisans are the people, but most of the time they do not have the right to participate in politics.

Under normal circumstances, farmers had no right to participate in politics. The only ones who had the right to participate in politics were the "scholars", who were the people who had read Confucianism and agreed with Confucian ideas.

It can even be said that this theory of co-governance is "the monarch and Confucianists governing the world together."

The point Zhou Tieyi is now putting forward is to re-examine "co-governance".

The monarch and the people govern the world together. In fact, Confucianism has no right to refute this point. If it does, it would be like Confucianism standing on the other side of the people and refusing to acknowledge that Confucianism originated from the people.

But if they agree, Confucianism will lose many natural "privileges", such as the privilege of speaking on behalf of the people. The most direct one is that Hao Ren, the "businessman", can also speak on behalf of the people in this matter.

That's why Dong Xingshu was repeatedly troubled.

Just when Dong Xingshu and the Queen Mother were having trouble finding a rebuttal due to their status, the Seventh Prince Li Hao stepped forward, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, I have a plan."

Everyone's eyes were focused on the seventh prince Li Hao. They were not surprised that Li Hao stood up. They were just curious about what countermeasures Li Hao would come up with.

The Great Xia Emperor smiled for the first time and said, "Tell me."

Li Hao looked at Hao Ren. "What Manager Hao Ren just said was all about our Daxia Railway. But the changes in the world today are not about the railway. On the contrary, whether it is the steam airship company established by Mohist and Gongshujia, or the steamship company run by Fourth Brother and King Ning, they are all like railways, benefiting the country and the people, and streamlining the world's transportation."

"Since the essence of the matter is the same, it is obviously not enough for us to just deal with the Railway Chamber of Commerce today. Why not set up two other departments to be in charge of air and water transportation respectively, and let the three departments jointly manage Daxia transportation, and then transfer the Tianxia Highway managed by the Ministry of Industry into it. In this way, all power will be unified into a new department, the Ministry of Transportation of the court, and it will also have a minister and a vice minister to manage it."

If Zhou Tieyi's proposal was to manage downwards, then Li Hao's proposal was to manage upwards. The authority of the department would be further expanded to the level of nine ministries. Then, the positions of Shangshu and Shilang would be established and there would be no problem in unifying the management under the central government.

Li Hao proposed this method, which made the ministers nod slightly. This method was not difficult, but to be able to think of it so quickly, he must have done his homework in advance. This homework was not about how to come up with this method, but how to convince Zhou Dang to agree to this method.

The Great Xia Emperor looked at his ministers and asked, "What do you think of this policy?"

The fourth prince Li Jing stood up and said, "I think your plan is a good one. In this prosperous era, the world is connected to the four seas and the heavens. The people of the world are all looking forward to Yujing. Their sincere hearts are not only grateful, but also helpful. If the people of the world can travel back and forth between Yujing and the local areas in one day, then the world can be governed."

Li Jing pointed out one of the most important functions of the Ministry of Transport. If ordinary people in the world can easily travel back and forth between Yujing Mountain and local areas in one day, then the imperial power can truly go to the countryside. This was the main weakness of the imperial power in the past, which could only co-govern with local clans.

Everyone knew who was standing behind Li Jing, but when they heard Li Jing's words about strengthening the imperial power, they couldn't help but look at Zhou Tieyi. Even the Great Xia Emperor looked at Zhou Tieyi, "What do you think, Mr. Zhou?"

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, are you testing me? If the people of the world admire the imperial power, it actually does not conflict with the prosperous world I want. Before discussing the last step, repairing the road first is the most important thing for me and the people of the world. Anything else is just empty talk."

Zhou Tieyi spoke very straightforwardly, and the meanings he conveyed were extremely rich, but all were aboveboard.

Dong Xingshu sighed softly, then cupped his hands and said, "I also think the Seventh Prince's plan is a good one."

The ministers looked at Dong Xingshu with slightly surprised eyes, because if they looked at it purely from the perspective of Confucianism, it would be right for Dong Xingshu to fan the flames, disrupt, or at least delay the situation, because Confucianism was the party that benefited the least in this plan, and Dong Xingshu could completely use fanning the flames to gain benefits for Confucianism.

But when the ministers thought about it this way, they understood why Dong Xingshu sighed before speaking and the purpose of what he said to Zhou Tieyi.

Since Zhou Tieyi is innocent, then those who want to compete with Zhou Tieyi for the right to speak on the Holy Way and fan the flames with such petty tricks may win a small profit but lose the moral integrity. Therefore, Dong Xingshu did not choose to oppose, but instead urged the Emperor of Daxia to agree at this time.

Ministry of Transport.

The Great Xia Emperor's eyes were solemn, and he kept calculating the pros and cons in his mind. This was actually the second step Zhou Tieyi had taken. Originally, at this point, he could even end it with a 'victory'.

But he always felt that he had 'lost'. It was because every step was within Zhou Tieyi's expectations, without exception.

On the contrary, there seems to be no better way than to break all these interest relationships and set a new framework that can promote the development of Daxia’s people’s livelihood and transportation and compromise the interests of all parties.

Just like what Zhou Tieyi said just now, the battle for the holy path lies in the last step. As for before that, both he and Zhou Tieyi must repair the road first, otherwise they will not even be qualified to walk on it.

When His Majesty the Great Xia was silent, Li Hao seized the opportunity again and took out a policy paper from his sleeve, "Father, I have another plan."

"Hand it up."

Xue Minghao hurried down the stairs, took the policy paper from Li Hao and presented it to the emperor. On the throne, the Emperor of Great Xia also finished reading the entire policy paper in just a dozen breaths.

The policy paper is very simple, it is a simplified version of the "Policy for the Integration of Officials and Civil Servants" proposed by Zhou Tieyi earlier, the "Policy for Admission to the Entry-level Examination".

The Great Xia Emperor nodded slightly and commented for the first time after reading it, "Good policy."

The good thing about this policy paper is not its content but its timing.

He smiled and said to Xue Minghao, "Read."

Xue Minghao also had a happy look on his face, and he took the policy paper and started reading it.

After listening to a quarter of the speech, the ministers realized that this was an attempt to take advantage of Zhou Tieyi, but they had to admit that Li Hao or the advisers behind Li Hao were very capable, as they were able to choose this time to come up with this policy paper.

Since the transportation has made it possible for people to travel from Yujing Mountain to local areas in just one day, since a new Ministry of Transportation and a central bank have been established, and countless official positions have been added from the central to local levels, and since Zhou Tieyi wants to compete with the Li family for the hearts of the people, then the Li family will use the simplest method.

Who in the world doesn’t want to be an official?

After Xue Minghao finished reading, the Great Xia Emperor asked Zhou Tieyi with a smile, "Who in this world doesn't want to be an official? Who doesn't want to realize their ambitions? If you don't want to be an official, there are many people who want to be one. Zhou Qing, don't you agree?"

This was what Zhou Tieyi used to challenge the Confucians that day, and today the Emperor of Daxia asked Zhou Tieyi the same question in return.

The temptation of being an official.

Zhou Tieyi did not look down on Li Hao for "plagiarizing" his policy paper. The same policy paper would naturally have different effects at different times. Why did the Emperor of Great Xia not want to use the "Official and Civil Service Integration Policy" before? Wasn't it because he was worried that the so-called Zhou Party of the central court would dominate after fighting against Confucianism?

Now that Zhou Dang wants to penetrate into the local areas through the Ministry of Communications, the imperial court can also use the "Enlightenment Policy" to send outstanding local talents to the imperial court.

However, Zhou Tieyi certainly couldn't enjoy this 'shared blessing' situation alone. He looked at the minister Dong Xingshu next to him and said, "This is a good policy paper. What do you think, Mr. Dong?"

Dong Xingshu, who had just finished admiring Zhou Tieyi's uprightness, almost couldn't catch his breath. He already had an injury on his body, and after being provoked by Zhou Tieyi, he started coughing violently.

When the ministers saw this scene, they sighed silently, it is true that it is difficult to change one's nature even though one can change the country. Even if this kid from the Zhou family becomes a saint, he is still a bastard!

Zhang Shizhong, the chief priest of the Imperial Academy, was a Confucian and a close comrade of Dong Xingshu. Seeing this, he hurried forward, took out a precious purple Qi Qi Qi Lian Nuan jade, and placed it on Dong Xingshu's chest to relieve Dong Xingshu's symptoms. At the same time, he glared at Zhou Tieyi and said, "A gentleman is upright, then he is smart and wise. If he is not upright, he is smart but treacherous!"

Zhou Tieyi chuckled and said, "Why? Zhang Jijiu thinks this is not a good strategy and wants to argue with the Seventh Prince? I would like to listen attentively."

Zhang Shizhong clenched his fists tightly, wishing he could punch Zhou Tieyi twice right now, but now was not the time to act on impulse. Zhou Tieyi's use of his opponent's force made him lose his composure.

If they don't debate, then the Confucians will indeed suffer a loss in this policy essay and become the only loser in today's court. But if they really debate with Li Hao, wouldn't they fall into Zhou Tieyi's trap, causing new conflicts between the Confucians and the Great Xia Emperor and making the Zhou party invisible? This will only lead to greater losses!
Having to choose between a small loss and a big loss, and before he could think of a way to win, he had to be angered and used as a shield by Zhou Tieyi. No wonder even Dong Xingshu had to cough suddenly.

(End of this chapter)