Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 532 Constitutional Monarchy
It was another cold winter. On December 12, Guan Xuqing came to the National Assembly Hall on the north side of the cabinet complex in the south of Beijing, and held a constitutional assembly. Officials above the fifth rank in Beijing attended the meeting, and invited some foreign ministers and political leaders. Academic experts attended.

Cabinet Prime Minister Liang Qichao introduced the action model of the future national political system. The country will officially transfer to a new political system no later than 1903. One of the most notable changes is that the emperor will gradually give up the right to appoint and remove personnel. The prime minister of the cabinet is nominated, and the prime minister of the cabinet and the top military officer will be appointed by the emperor himself. Candidates can be nominated by all political parties in the country that are eligible to participate in politics at that time, and elections will be launched to win the support of the whole country. The winner of the vote is elected , obtained the qualifications for the appointment issued by the emperor, and was formally elected as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet after the emperor approved the letter of appointment.The Prime Minister serves a term of five years and can be reappointed for a maximum of one term.

The election method is similar to the American electoral system. Each province obtains a different number of electoral qualifications according to the ranking of population and economic contribution. Zhang, and the remaining forty, distributed according to a certain ratio.

Electors are selected by the provincial consultative bureaus at all levels, from the township level to the county and state capitals, and then up to the provincial level. Consultative bureaus representing the wishes of the people are established layer by layer, and the prime minister is elected in the cabinet. Electors are elected for the same term as the Prime Minister.

The Consultative Council also needs to elect local administrative officials in various places in normal times, but they have no nomination qualifications, and the nomination qualifications are in the hands of the Prime Minister.In order to avoid the disadvantages of too strong local protection and weakening the central government.

The [-] electors who have been in Beijing form the National Assembly. The daily internal affairs and foreign affairs are decided by the Prime Minister and the National Assembly. Foreign wars or affairs in response to wars are handled by the emperor himself, and the Supreme Command issues a declaration of war.

The supreme military power of the empire belongs to the emperor, and the head of the Supreme Command handles daily military deployment tasks and development planning. That is to say, the imperial army must be absolutely loyal to the emperor, but it is under the command of the Supreme Command in peacetime.

From the perspective of power distribution, the cabinet holds administrative power, that is, the power of internal affairs and foreign affairs, while the emperor is in charge of the highest power of appointment and decision-making. From this point of view, Guan Xuqing is still the absolute ruler of the empire.

The Imperial Diet holds the legislative power, and all laws and regulations of the country will be formulated by the cabinet, and will be promulgated throughout the country after being appointed by the emperor, forming a collective of rule-makers.The representative is the Speaker of the National Assembly, who is elected by the National Assembly.Wang Shizhen, the first chairman of the imperial parliament, was appointed by Guan Xuqing as one of the three masters of Beiyang.

Judicial power will be deprived from the current administrative system, and will be controlled by branches of Dali Temple at all levels, with the power to execute laws and exercise judgment. appointment.

Some of the institutional changes involved are: [-]. The regulations of the cabinet remain unchanged, and the practice remains the same.

11. There are [-] ministries of personnel, civil affairs, finance, education, agriculture, industry and commerce, science and technology, and foreign affairs. Each ministry has a minister and two deputy ministers, regardless of Manchu and Han.

[-]. Dali Temple was changed into Dali Yuan, which was in charge of judging; the Zizheng Yuan was added to collect opinions from the crowd, and the Auditing Yuan was added to verify funds, and branches were established in various places.

[-]. Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, and Honglu Temple were merged into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Military Training Office and Taipu Temple were merged into the Ministry of War;

This meeting established a brand-new political system for the empire, and the emperor greatly released the administrative power in his hands.Prior to this, Guan Xuqing instructed the cabinet to conduct repeated research on the new political system. Instead of slowly releasing power to nourish some people's desire for more power, it is better to release power at once and form an irrevocable imperial constitution In order to clearly inform the content of power.Especially after Yuan Shikai's rebellion, Guan Xuqing demanded to speed up the process of implementing the new regime. Central power should be properly distributed downwards, and local power should also be effectively supervised. This is the most direct inspiration from Yuan Shikai's rebellion.

The promulgation of the new regime freed the emperor from the tedious administrative affairs to study the country's general development direction. The new "Constitution of the Chinese Empire" also consolidated the highest status of imperial power from the institutional level.Of course, Guan Xuqing did not directly copy the British constitutional monarchy. He knew very well how important the supremacy of imperial power was to the development of the empire in this ancient country of China. Everyone was still under the control of the emperor. He would never Let the embarrassment of William II repeat itself.

For this reason, the "Imperial Constitutional Outline" wrote: "The imperial emperor ruled the Chinese Empire, and he will be respected forever. The resolutions of the House of Representatives, which have not been approved and promulgated by the imperial edict, cannot be implemented. The power to command the army, navy and air force and to formulate the military system. The king dispatches the entire army and formulates the standing troops, which can be executed with full authority. All military affairs are subject to criticism. The intervention of the court. The right to declare war, negotiate peace, conclude treaties, and send envoys and accept envoys"

The promulgation of the constitutional monarchy did not make many officials feel very surprised or sad. On the contrary, they applauded the wise move of the emperor. Most of this generation of officials have been influenced by Western political culture for more than ten years, plus the vision of the whole country Open up, many people know that such a political system is the historical trend of the future.Otherwise, once the emperor controls the sky, the country will be at a loss.

At this meeting, under the emperor's proposal, the proposal to try to elect Liang Qichao as the elector of Beijing, that is, a member of Congress, was unanimously passed.Liang Qichao also became the first member of the National Assembly of the Chinese Empire, and became a lifetime member of the National Assembly after Guan Xuqing's second trial proposal was passed.

Taking advantage of this enthusiasm, Guan Xuqing also tried to formally appoint Liang Qichao as the prime minister of the cabinet in the new regime according to the established appointment ceremony.

The next day, Liang Qichao went to the palace for an audience, took full power to deal with the country's military and political affairs, and was authorized to complete the formation of the cabinet within seven days. He had already submitted the preliminary list of cabinet formation to the emperor Yulan, the prime minister and the deputy ministers of the cabinet. Yudi Zaifeng and Xiong Xiling are in charge.

The nomination shows Liang Qichao's politically smooth side.Zaifeng is the emperor's younger brother. Of course, such a royal nobleman was placed in the new cabinet to reassure the emperor. On the other hand, after years of experience in the officialdom, Zaifeng has indeed grown into a political talent who can stand on his own. Of course, it is very suitable for him to be the deputy minister.

Besides, Xiong Xiling, who was born intelligent, was hailed as a "Hunan child prodigy" when he was a teenager.Together with Tan Siping, he founded the Current Affairs School in Changsha, participated in the founding of the South Society, and founded the "Xiang Bao". He was the backbone of the reform movement and made great contributions to the implementation of the Imperial New Deal.It is well-deserved to let him be the deputy minister.

Although there were some changes in the nominations of the ministers, they were all arranged very well.

Foreign Minister Wu Tingfang and Vice Minister Gu Weijun.

Minister of Agriculture Yang Shenxiu.

Minister of Science and Technology Kang Guangren.

Minister of Development and Planning Yang Shiqi (former Minister Yung Wing retired due to illness)
Minister of Finance Tang Shaoyi (former Minister Li Zhen resigned due to age and health reasons)

Minister of Industry Yang Rui.

Minister of Commerce Sheng Xuanhuai (President of Imperial Investment Bank and Imperial Savings Bank)

Minister of Culture Lin Xu.

Minister of Health Sun Wen.

Minister of Education Kang Youwei.

Personnel Minister Yang Du.

Looking at the list of nominations, Guan Xuqing nodded in satisfaction. It seems that Liang Qichao has spent a lot of painstaking efforts. He must consider the emperor's thoughts, but also must consider the political forces of various factions in the court. More importantly, the development of the empire need.

"My Majesty, at present, the floods in various places have been cured, and the dam has been reinforced. However, the weather is getting colder, and it is inconvenient to continue dredging the river. We have to wait until tomorrow when the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming. All provinces are raising their own funds." The funds, together with the disaster relief money and donations allocated by the imperial court, re-allocated the land, built houses for the people, and provided farming tools for the people. Production in various places has resumed, and schools in the disaster-stricken areas have also started classes. The minister has detailed The situation has been proposed to the cabinet." At the imperial meeting, Wu Tongju, director of the Water Conservancy Department, briefly reported the disaster situation to the emperor.

"Yes." Guan Xuqing nodded, and said, "The dredging of the river cannot be relaxed. We must continue to do it in the spring of the coming year. In the past, there were frequent floods in the past dynasties. It is because when the floods came, they stepped up to deal with them. Once the floods passed, no one paid attention to them. Harnessing the river is a century-old project and must not be ignored."

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"In order to properly settle the life of the victims, I have decided to exempt the tax in the disaster area for the next three years, so that the people can recuperate. The Ministry of Agriculture will send a report to the various places, so there is no need to draw up an order."

"Cha." Minister of Agriculture Yang Shenxiu responded.

Guan Xuqing suddenly thought of something, and said to Wu Tongju: "I still remember when you said that you planned to build a dam in the Three Gorges of the Yellow River, right?"

"Yes, I had this intention at the beginning, but now it seems that this matter is too unrealistic. The disaster has just passed, and all parties need money. To build such a dam must be built with the power of the whole country. Therefore, the minister I just gave up on that idea for now.”

Guan Xuqing waved his hand: "It was unrealistic at the beginning, and it may not be feasible now. This is a major event for the benefit of future generations, and it is also a long-term development plan for the empire. It must be done, and it must be done well. I support this matter, and the people of the empire will also supported."

"Emperor Shengming."

Guan Xuqing paused for a moment and then said: "However, in the next two years, the Water Resources Department will cooperate with various regions to investigate the terrain and water quality of the Yellow River in detail. The dam can be built, but there must be a sufficient research and demonstration in advance. In the future, the Water Resources Department will come up with After the plan, submit it to the cabinet for review and revision, remember, building a dam is not a child's play, it must be safe, I don't want the empire's money to be washed away by the flood."

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(End of this chapter)