The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 392: The Qing Dynasty's constitutional monarchy, it's right to kneel down and discuss politics! (Please subscribe, please vote)

"Constitutional monarch? What does constitutional monarch mean?"

When Prince Gong heard the new term "Westernization", he immediately became interested and asked about Li Hongzhang with a smile.

"To answer your question, constitutional monarchy is the abbreviation of constitutional monarchy," Li Hongzhang explained with a smile, "This is a political system that the foreigners can use to deal with it. The specific method is that nobles, gentry, and businessmen from all over the country nominate some political officials, and then go to the court to discuss state affairs with the monarch and ministers. In a nutshell, the so-called constitutional monarchy is to share the world with the literati!"

"How can this be done?"

When Prince Gong's confidant Wenxiang heard this, his expression changed before the prince could say anything: "How can the government of the Qing Dynasty be allowed to be discussed by the gentry and merchants below? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"Master Wen, you may not know this," Feng Guifen, who went north with Li Hongzhang, explained hastily, "something happened to the Taiping Rebellion a month or two ago.
"Hmph, what a fool's dream!" Prince Gong said with disdain.

"Your Highness, this is not just a pipe dream," Li Hongzhang shook his head, "someone has already responded!"

"Who dares?" Wen Xiang shouted.

Feng Guifen said: "People from all walks of life in Shanghai have responded and organized a petition group to petition the Governor's Office, requesting Shanghai to change its flag and send people to Tianjing to attend the National People's Congress!"

"What?" Prince Gong was shocked. "Did Luo Xueyan send troops to suppress it?"

Li Hongzhang sighed: "What's the point of suppressing them? Luo has already decided to side with the pseudo Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and follow the will of the people to send people to attend the National People's Congress!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Prince Gong shook his head repeatedly. "Luo Xueyan just spent over a million taels to buy official positions for himself and his subordinates. The emperor has already issued an edict to appoint him as the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. He wants to give up his bright future and become a Taiping? Is he crazy?"

Wen Xiang also shook his head and said, "That's right. He even paid the deposit and spent a lot of money on arranging things. Now he doesn't want it?"

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Wen, you two don't know how powerful this is. Lord Luo's ancestors dealt with Lan Fang before, so they know how powerful it is.

Prince Gong still didn't understand, and glared at them, "What Chinese? They are all from the Qing Dynasty!"

Li Hongzhang shook his head: "They are Chinese people, barbarians' Chinese people!"

"What?" Wen Xiang's face suddenly changed. "Shao Quan, what did you say?"

Prince Gong didn't understand what was going on for a moment and turned to look at Wenxiang.

Wen Xiang's face turned pale as he said, "Your Highness, if I'm guessing correctly, the Chinese people should be the officers and soldiers of the pseudo Taiping Army plus the big workers, big farmers, and big merchants who pay taxes and grain to the pseudo Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

Li Hongzhang added: "It seems that there are still some gentry who have turned against us! All together, there are at least several million people, maybe even more than ten million!
How much power would it take for these millions of people to regard the country of the long hair as their own? After the Great Revolution, France in the West was like a man who had taken ammunition. It fought against the surrounding powers for more than ten years. In the end, it took the combined efforts of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria to suppress the French. "

Wenxiang turned to Prince Gong and said, "Your Majesty, these Chinese people are a bit like the Eight Bannermen when the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass!"

"No way?" Prince Gong asked, "Can they be skilled in archery and horse riding?"

Wen Xiang shook his head: "Now we don't need to use bows and horses, we just need to be able to shoot with a foreign rifle. They have many people, and we have few bannermen. If we shoot with a foreign rifle, we will be at a disadvantage!"

Prince Gong finally realized that the problem was a bit serious, but he still refused to admit defeat: "Don't we still have a lot of trained soldiers?"

Li Hongzhang said in a tone as if mourning for someone: "Isn't Luo Xueyan's Nanyang New Army the leader of all the training troops? The Nanyang training troops can all be Chinese citizens, and the other training troops."

"This..." Prince Gong's face became even darker.

Rather than getting beaten later, it is better to join as a citizen early.

Luo Xueyan's Nanyang Army took the lead, so would Zuo Zongtang's Nanyang Army, Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army, Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu Army and other trained armies also participate?
Even if you work hard for the Qing Dynasty, you cannot just raise the flag and eat the crops!
"Your Highness," Li Hongzhang said solemnly when he saw that the situation was almost tense, "For now, the only way for our Qing dynasty to counter this is to win over the gentry with the monarchy. Otherwise, if there is one Luo Xueyan, there will be a second and third Luo Xueyan!

If Your Majesty is worried that the emperor's power will be lost if the monarchy and the literati share the country, then there is no need to worry."

Prince Gong glanced at Li Hongzhang, as if waiting for his next words.

Li Hongzhang picked up the teacup, sipped the tea, moistened his throat, and then continued: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to divide up the land. This is the thing that scholars and officials hate the most, nothing else."

He cupped his fists and bowed to the sky: "As long as the emperor is willing to show an attitude of sharing the world with the literati, give the literati of each province the right to discuss politics, and let the gentry from all over the country elect officials to discuss politics and come to Beijing to participate in the meeting of the kings, ministers and gentry, the gentry of the world will be loyal to the emperor and the Qing Dynasty.

If the gentry are loyal, the leaders of the local military training forces will naturally be loyal as well!"

"You mean to reopen the Council of Princes and Ministers?" Prince Gong was a little tempted, "That's worth considering."

"Your Majesty is wise," Feng Guifen smiled, stroking his beard, "If I remember correctly, this Council of Ministers was originally the ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty. It was established during the Chongde period and was not abolished until the 57th year of Qianlong.

In the more than 200 years of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Council of Princes and Ministers for 155 years, and there was only more than 60 years without this meeting. Now that the country is in a turbulent time, the emperor should restore the Council of Princes and Ministers and ask all regions to recommend gentry to participate in the meeting in Beijing to show that he is open to public opinion and shares the world with the literati. This will surely win the hearts of the people. "

Li Hongzhang kept aiming at Prince Gong's dark face, watching the changes in his expression, and reminded him at the right time: "Prince, that's just a gesture. If you still don't feel comfortable fooling people, you can let those gentry who discuss politics kneel in front of the emperor and discuss politics on the first and fifteenth day of every month during the morning court."

Prince Gong nodded slightly, thinking: "This Council of Ministers was not just a formality back then, but a real and powerful one! The key is who is the Council of Ministers who leads everyone in the discussion?"

Wenxiang was also staring at Prince Gong. When he saw him nodding, he understood what he meant, so he said, "Your Highness, I also think what Lord Li and Lord Feng said is right. If we want to unite the people in the Qing Dynasty, this is the only way.

In addition, our Eight Banners can also elect ministers to discuss politics! The emperor can appoint the Prince of Political Affairs, the Eight Banners can nominate ministers to discuss politics, and the local Han officials and gentry can nominate gentry to discuss politics. The three levels of upper, middle and lower can work together to discuss how to protect the Qing Dynasty."

"it is good!"

Li Hongzhang raised his thumb and said "OK".

Three levels: upper, middle and lower. Isn’t this a three-level meeting?
“It’s really good!”

Prince Gong still didn't understand Westernization, but he thought it was good. He must be the only one who can be the Prince Regent. Maybe he can even become the leader of the Prince Regent, Ministers and Gentry Conference.
Shanghai, Yu Garden, Dianchun Hall.

"Marshal Xue, this is the petition signed by people from all walks of life in Shanghai. Please take a look."

At this time, Cheng Fupei, the chairman of the Shanghai Consultative Council, brought a large stack of petitions and a group of Shanghai consultants to Dianchun Hall, and took the lead in persuading Luo Xueyan to become the leader!

After he placed a pile of petitions on the table in front of Luo Xueyan, the Shanghai councilors who came with him bowed to Luo Xueyan and said in unison: "On behalf of all the councilors of the Shanghai Council, we respectfully request Marshal Xue to lead the Shanghai government, the Nanyang New Army, and the Nanyang Navy to respond to the peace call, and send representatives of the people to Tianjing to discuss national affairs with the people of the world.

Luo Xueyan waited for them to finish speaking before nodding slowly and sighing, "Well, since the public opinion is like this, I will follow suit..."

(End of this chapter)