This prince, it doesn't matter if you don't do it!

Chapter 827 Volume National Referendum!

The 14th year of Zhenguan, Zhongyuan Festival, Chang'an.

Changming Restaurant was really crowded with customers and every seat was occupied.

Ever since Chang Ming Daily began to shine, the business of Chang Ming Restaurant has been getting better day by day.

Especially on Mondays and Fridays, you have to make a reservation one day in advance, otherwise there will be no tables available.

The reason for this is that the Da Ming Daily published by Chang Ming Restaurant has always been the earliest.

As soon as the restaurant opens, as soon as you sit down, a waiter will bring you a newspaper.

Reading the newspaper while waiting for the food to be served has become a common sight at Changming Restaurant.

Of course, if you don’t reserve a table, Chang Ming Commercial House will also sell it later.

It's only about an hour late, but for some people, this hour is very important.

On this day, Changming Restaurant was also packed with people.

The place was full within fifteen minutes of opening.

At this moment, many people were reading a newspaper with great interest.

These days, books are extremely scarce, and having a newspaper that is updated almost in real time is a rare temptation for many readers.

"Ah, it's not easy for the Ming Dynasty to develop to where it is today. Look what's said here. In order to fight for a chance for the Ming Dynasty, the second son Fang was slashed by His Highness. Fortunately, the slash was on the buttocks. If it was on the face, his face would have been disfigured..." Someone sighed while looking at the newspaper.

"What's that?" The people at the next table shook their heads and said, "Look at what's being said here. Your Highness was besieged by Lou Ning and that Dayan Mangjiebo in Sun Moon Mountain. Sun Moon Mountain was almost lost, and even Your Highness Changle went to build the city wall.

How old was His Highness Changle at that time? "

Human empathy is not complicated anywhere.

This has nothing to do with the identity of the prince, princess or young master. What really matters is actually just two words: Han!
In other words, one of our own.

For this purpose, Ming Dynasty newspapers never deliberately emphasized their identities.

“It’s really not easy for Your Highness. When you went to the Red Water Source, you were only in your teens, right?

He single-handedly expanded the territory for the Han Dynasty.

God knows what I have suffered over the years."

In the restaurant, people were talking about it.

It would be strange if people didn't discuss some of the contents in the newspaper after reading it.

After all, this is the most suitable way to open a newspaper.

The reason why the newspaper was first distributed in Changming Restaurant was for this purpose.

As today's edition of the Ming Daily began to spread, people on the streets began to talk about it.

It can’t be said to be a discussion, it’s more of empathy.

After all, the story of Li Chengqian's rise to wealth is a true story of blood and tears.

This alone has won the sympathy of countless people.

Who hasn’t been young?

Who hasn’t been young?

In fact, everyone understands the helplessness and frustration in that situation, but as Li Chengqian has walked step by step to where he is today, they also have a sense of honor.

This is the most magical and powerful thing about newspapers.

In order to spread the newspaper more widely, there are even narrators who specifically interpret the newspaper.

This is for ordinary people.

No matter what, educated people are a minority after all, and the majority of people are illiterate.

If they want to get the information in the newspaper, they must have storytellers to help them solve their puzzles.

All of this was naturally arranged by Li Qinjian.

He was counting on the newspaper to help him make money, so naturally he was extra attentive.

……

And in the mansion of Prince Hejian.

When Li Xiaogong saw today's newspaper, he was completely stunned.

It's not that he thought there was any false content in the newspaper. After all, he had been to Sun Moon Mountain in person. As far as he was concerned, he even felt that the content in the newspaper was not specific enough.

But he had never seen anyone dare to publicly expose the embarrassing past of the superior.

For example, Li Chengqian was forced by Lou Ning, and Li Chengqian was chased like a stray dog ​​by Murong Shun at the source of Chishui.

He had never seen anything like this before.

After all, the glorious image of those in power has always been what they have been trying to maintain.

Today, this glorious image was torn apart by Daming himself, and he really found it a little unbelievable.

Especially when we see that Li Chengqian let Fang Yiai impersonate Zhang Sun Chong in order to restrain Lou Ning, this is a self-torture trick. It cannot be said to be shameful, but it is indeed not glorious.

But when such a thing appeared openly in the Daming Daily, Li Xiaogong really couldn't understand it.

"Ah, the way the Ming Dynasty does things really cannot be judged by common sense..." After sighing, Li Xiaogong asked, "What is the situation outside now? How do the people react?"

Upon hearing this, the steward of the palace immediately sent someone to inquire about it. After a long time, the steward, who had received the news, said, "Now the outside world is very supportive of Your Highness, and even many students in the Imperial Academy are not worthy of Your Highness."

"Is it for His Highness or for the Ming Dynasty?" Li Xiaogong couldn't help but sigh when he heard this.

He knew very well that His Highness and the Ming Dynasty could be separated, but not cut off. With a long sigh, Li Xiaogong said, "Let our people stop what they are doing for the time being and see what Liang Jianfang will do first."

He didn't want to offend anyone. From his point of view, as long as he could maintain the current situation, no matter who ruled the Tang Dynasty in the future, he, Li Xiaogong, would be able to stay out of trouble.

He had not paid too much attention to Li Er's previous decree. After all, he was acting on orders. Even if Li Chengqian ascended the throne in the future, he would not do anything to him.

Being loyal to the emperor is a must-have skill in this era.

In the words of later generations, sincerity is the ultimate weapon to leave a lasting mark.

But now that the Ming Dynasty has exposed its own weaknesses, it has put him in a passive position.

At this time, if he took action against the Ming Dynasty, let alone verbal criticism, the spit alone would be enough to drown him.

"I'll arrange it right away." The manager said immediately upon hearing this.

After he left, Li Xiaogong sighed again.

He suddenly realized that Changming Daily was not just a newspaper, but also the key to public opinion controlled by the propaganda department. Thinking of this, he felt a little depressed. Why couldn't the Tang Dynasty do this?

Things that seem simple were handled very well by the Ming Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty always realized it late.

What he didn't know was that Fang Xuanling was actually also preparing for the Tang Daily at this time.

However, Fang Xuanling wanted perfection and was extremely strict with the manuscripts. To this day, the first edition of the Tang Daily has not been finalized.

In addition, with the obstruction of Zhangsun Wuji, it is hard to say when the Tang Daily will be put on the agenda.

This also indirectly illustrates the importance of a voice.

At this time, Fang Xuanling was busy with the affairs of the Tang Daily and the management of people's livelihood. It can be said that Fang Xuanling was extremely busy.

At this moment, Fang Xuanling hadn't even received any news from the Daming Daily...

"Did the village elders whom I asked them to recommend before have any opinion?" Fang Xuanling asked, looking at a thick stack of documents.

Upon hearing this, the assistant officer at the side immediately said, "My lord, the village elders did recommend quite a few people, but as far as I know, these so-called village elders were all recommended by some wealthy families in this prefecture. It seems that they had discussed it in advance, and A, B, C, and D recommended each other. On the contrary, there are very few real ordinary people."

"This won't work." Upon hearing this, Fang Xuanling immediately frowned.

If he just asked them to recommend themselves, would Fang Xuanling still need them?
The most important thing is that this kind of recommendation method is almost only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. There is nothing much to say.

"But if we ask ordinary people to recommend, firstly, they don't have much say, secondly, it's too time-consuming, and most importantly, they also listen to the big families."

The lieutenant officer was also quite helpless. It was not like they had not thought of this method before, but as he had mentioned, the difficulties were so real. How could it be so simple?
More importantly, those people are controlled by the big players. If they go against the opinions of those big players, they are also worried that they will have a hard time in the future.

"No." Fang Xuanling shook his head firmly and said, "If that's the case, then the name of Duke of E would be too unfair. Besides, what we need is the people's support. Our interests in Siam are not that important.

As long as Siam can maintain its current grain production of 80%, the significance of Siam to our Tang Dynasty will be completely different.

In this case, you can send someone to try again. It’s not that the village elders cannot be reused, but if they are all village elders, who knows what they will do in the future?”

"Sir." The assistant officer hesitated for a moment and said, "I do have a plan, but I don't know if you can do it..."

The assistant officer thought for a long time and finally spoke.

Ok?
Fang Xuanling asked: "What method?"

In fact, he was not very confident, after all, he himself did not have a better solution.

The officer thought for a while before saying, "Hold a referendum and let all the people participate. Let them name the most suitable person in their hearts and give them all the right to choose.

This way, no matter who is elected in the future, they will have no excuse to blame the Tang Dynasty."

"Referendum?" Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment before saying, "If this is the case, the villagers will certainly bear a grudge against them, and they will inevitably make things difficult for them in the future. This may not be a good thing for the future development of Siam."

"What if it is an anonymous system?" the assistant officer continued, "Everyone's votes are cast anonymously, and they can vote individually. Then the village elders can hold a grudge if they want, and they won't know who deposed them.

Moreover, in this way, the people will have a greater sense of participation, and our future operations, or control over Siam, will be more secure. If any accidents really happen, we can control it at any time.

As for those village elders, if they can’t even win the love of their own people, to be honest, it wouldn’t be wronged if they died.”

"Anonymous system?" Fang Xuanling's eyes suddenly lit up.

It turns out that this method is quite good. Let them select the officials they think can govern them well, and then have the officials from the Tang Dynasty to supervise them in the later stage. This is indeed a good idea.

After thinking for a long time, Fang Xuanling gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's use the anonymous system!"

He hadn't thought about it before, not because he lacked political awareness, but because he was too confused.

In the current situation, he has already passed the basics of sweeping everything with force.

With the example of the Ming Dynasty, anything the Tang Dynasty did could not compare to the simplicity and brutality of the Ming Dynasty.

Even at this moment, everyone knew that Li Chengqian was trying to win people's hearts, but no one dared to speak about it.

The battle for the crown prince is so terrifying. If one is not sure enough, who would be willing to take part in it personally?

After a long silence, Fang Xuanling said, "Give it a try first. If it works, we'll use it as our policy. But if we run into irreversible obstacles, we'll stop immediately."

He didn't want to say whether it was fair or not.

Isn't that what human beings are like?

From the moment you are born, it is destined that there will be no fairness.

If we really want to be fair, why was Li Chengqian born the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty? Most people are just the most ordinary and common people.

On that day, the news that the Tang Dynasty was going to hold a referendum spread, and with Fang Xuanling adding fuel to the flames, these were actually trivial matters.

And with Fang Xuanling's order, the whole of Siam went crazy.

This is especially true for ordinary people.

They have never taken control of their own lives, nor have they had the opportunity to decide who will govern them in the future.

This is both unfamiliar and highly anticipated for them.

Two days later, when the news spread throughout the state, almost all the people received it.

As for those who didn’t receive it, haha, they are either refugees or deserters, so there is no need to worry.

July 20th, the 14th year of Zhenguan.

This day is definitely a landmark event.

If Li Chengqian knew what Fang Xuanling was doing, he would probably stand up.

There was no other reason. On this day, all the common people in a province of Siam were electing their favorite officials.

Anonymous voting is indeed unprecedented in this era.

Of course, the village elders also wanted to sabotage, but their strength seemed particularly clumsy in the face of the Tang Dynasty's iron cavalry...

Moreover, for this so-called national referendum, Fang Xuanling even mobilized more than 10,000 troops to escort the referendum.

It was also on this day that the first prefect elected by the common people in history officially took office.

What Li Chengqian didn't expect was

The first person nominated was exactly one of the many village elders.

Seeing this result again, Fang Xuanling frowned and asked the assistant officer beside him: "Are you sure this person can handle this important task?"

"It's hard to say, but I have more subordinates who can report it." The assistant officer was actually stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect this result.

However, the assistant officer still said, "But I can guarantee that every ballot is real and valid. In the beginning, I even sent people to follow these ballots. It is impossible to fake this."

He not only sent people to follow, but he himself believed what he said. At the beginning, he was waiting with his dusty sword in his hand.

If someone really dares to do something with this, haha, don't blame his knife for being too sharp...