It is said that Beihai Town had no problem borrowing that famous programmatic document from another time and space. The sixty articles in total were already comprehensive, and individual nouns could be slightly modified. Why bother to re-write it? How about making one?
Zhao Xin was keenly aware that there was something wrong here. Although he didn't know what the other party wanted to do, he immediately stuffed two people in. While others were speaking later, Zhou Weiguo did not speak again, but occasionally showed a thoughtful expression, and then started writing on his notepad.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Yu Deli announced that today's meeting was over and would continue at eight thirty tomorrow morning. He also informed of the dinner time and dining location during the meeting. Because it was a closed-door meeting, in order to prevent the contents of the meeting from being leaked, the accommodation and meals of the 29 people were all gathered together. No one was allowed to go out alone unless there were special urgent matters and a note signed by Zhao Xin.
Zhou Weiguo packed up the things on the table and just stepped out of the conference room door. Yu Deli stopped him: "Xiao Zhou, wait a minute."
Yu Deli is already 57 this year, while Zhou Weiguo is just 43, so it is not surprising to call him "Xiao Zhou".
"Lao Yu, is something wrong?"
"Dinner doesn't start until half past six. Let's have a chat first. Well, if you have something to do now, we can chat after dinner."
"Then let's talk first." Zhou Weiguo turned around and returned to his seat. At this time, he, Yu Deli and Liu Zheng were the only three people left in the room.
"As for the Common Programme, I think we can learn from history. What do you think?"
Zhou Weiguo understood that his little idea would be difficult to realize without Yu Deli's support. He hesitated a little and said: "I want to add an explanation about citizens' legal rights and clarify that we must protect personal rights and property rights. With this, not only the political system When legality is guaranteed, the boundaries between the rights and interests of the upper and lower classes can also be clarified. Power cannot be blocked, and only by ensuring the personal ownership of the people can the construction of constitutionalism, the rule of law, and a balanced political system be successfully realized."
Hiss~~! Yu Deli raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "Are you planning to introduce Roman law?"
Zhou Weiguo nodded and said: "Yes. Only by establishing an ownership code that prohibits the seizure of other people's property and establishing public power and a state form with the purpose of fully protecting individual ownership is the foundation of a republic."
Yu Deli didn't expect that Zhou Weiguo was thinking about this. This was a big proposition. He couldn't help but glance at Liu Zheng. Liu Zheng said with a smile: "Old Zhou, can you tell me what you think?"
"Okay." Zhou Weiguo looked up at the clock on the wall. It was early for dinner, so he opened his notepad, turned to a certain page, and assumed the attitude of a teacher in class.
"In China under traditional imperial power, the primary function of cities was to serve as nodes that condensed and transmitted power on the large network of the imperial power system. Under this premise, the ancient urban economy had two most important characteristics. . First of all, the urban economy must be placed under the control of the imperial power, and it must also serve the imperial power as a whole; secondly, the prosperity of the urban economy is based on the centralized control of the entire society by the ruling power and the rapid expansion of power consumption. As a premise.”
"Wait a minute, Lao Zhou, what are you talking about? Why am I getting more and more confused the more I listen."
Yu Deli said dissatisfied: "Xiao Liu, what are you in a hurry for? You have to let others finish what they say. Xiao Zhou, you continue."
"Sorry, Lao Zhou."
Zhou Weiguo glanced at Liu Zheng and saw that the other party apologized. He suppressed his unhappiness and continued: "Once this kind of prosperity based on ruthless plundering of vulnerable groups reaches the limit of society's carrying capacity, the entire social structure will undergo an avalanche. The collapse of the economy will start the next cycle again. Therefore, not only is it impossible for imperial society to lead to the emergence and establishment of modern systems, on the contrary, it is even impossible to maintain the smooth operation of the traditional economy for a long time. Can you two understand what I say? "
"The whole world is not the king's soil, and the shore of the land is not the king's ministers." Yu Deli stood up and walked to the door. He opened the door and sent a pot of boiling water to the guard standing guard in front of him. Then he closed the door and said, "I'm sorry, please continue. "
Zhou Weiguoxin said that I should have left just now and should not have stayed. He sighed secretly and continued: "Beihai Town wants to build a new system and a new society. I think the most important thing is to safeguard the legal rights of the common people. The reason why Europe in the Middle Ages was able to emerge from the darkness was because Roman law established the ability for citizens to own private property. The legal rights and legal system in which property is confirmed and protected. From commoners to nobles, even kings and emperors, they must abide by and guarantee private ownership when they are property owners. Only on this premise can we establish a modern republic Institutions and Economic Systems”
"Stop, stop, stop," Liu Zheng couldn't help but interrupt: "Old Zhou, the transition from imperial society to civil society is an extremely complicated process. As far as I know, the British went through hundreds of years for the Magna Carta. During the repeated game, the French saw back and forth between restoration and revolution. How many people died, Zhao Xin and Deng Fei saw with their own eyes. Even in our era, under the oppression of external forces, reform and revolution, autocracy and constitutional government, have gone through repeated struggles, over and over again. We can’t even talk about the foundation of citizenship, so what kind of legal power can we have?”
Zhou Weiguo was a little angry now. This was the second time Liu Zheng interrupted him. He immediately retorted: "I don't agree with what you said. Isn't Beihai Town going through the same fight to conquer the world? As Lao Yu said, we only have 29 people, only 278 after a full fight. A virtual monarchy and a republic, what is that but a constitutional government? Besides, once the troops go south, they will conquer the world very quickly, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is not an opponent at all. By then, the specific implementation of the law will be the entire Beihai town Even the public security police are not enough. We must also use bureaucrats who grew up under the feudal system. Who can guarantee that they will not abuse our name when enforcing the law and using their power?"
"Well"
Liu Zheng admitted that what the other party said made sense, and it was really a problem. If the people's personal and property rights are not protected, it will be impossible to prevent the abuse of power. He has seen too many such things in the island country over the years, and the people have no ability to resist the wanton oppression of those subordinate officials.
However, at this moment, Yu Deli's pupils shrank imperceptibly. He keenly captured a word from Zhou Weiguo's words, and then pretended to be casual and said in a calm tone: "Xiao Zhou, did you just say constitutional government?"
Before coming to Beihai Town, Zhou Weiguo was just a Chinese teacher who was interested in Western political theory, and would sometimes make comments online. He personally strongly agrees with the theory of "constructing society based on civil rights and contractual relationships". In his mind, the "thousand-year legal empire" like ancient Rome is the most important to imitate and practice; and only if it is based on the ethical foundation of civil rights Only a country that is above will not fall into the vicious circle of "a cycle of chaos and chaos."
He was already depressed because of Zhao Xin's intervention in Yu and Liu, but Liu Zheng always interrupted him, so he explained without thinking: "Yes! In the system of constitutional law, citizens The rights to property, life and freedom are the cornerstone of public rights. With a constitutional system, people's rights can be guaranteed, and it is the prerequisite for everyone to develop their moral potential. Doesn't Confucianism always talk about benevolence, justice and morality in governing the world?
I believe that clarifying "private law" and "public law" is the most important content in our next constitutional process. If we want to abolish personal dependence, we must free ourselves from personal rights and property rights. This is the primary condition for us to build a modern social and economic system. "
Yu Deli understood everything now, and thought to himself that no wonder he jumped out and proposed some program. It turned out to be this plan.
You must know that the word "constitutionalism" has two meanings. The first meaning is to guide the political system through the constitution in a general sense, while the second meaning specifically refers to a certain political system, such as the separation of powers.
In fact, this is indeed Zhou Weiguo's conspiracy. He hoped to establish his position in the future political system by drafting the programmatic document for the founding of Beihai Town and adding the theories he agreed with. As long as the concept of citizenship spreads throughout the world, he will be supported by countless people and become a legislator who can check and balance the emperor's power.
"Xiao Zhou, are you finished?"
"That's all for now, I haven't thought about anything else yet."
Yu Deli nodded, raised his hand to stop Liu Zheng who was about to speak, paused and said: "Kennedy has a saying, don't ask what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for the country. Western People say that freedom is the basis of all other rights. Whether it is the individual rights standard represented by Locke or the overall rights standard represented by Rousseau, they are all talking about rights. Whether it is the American Declaration of Independence or the French The Declaration of Human Rights talks about rights right from the beginning, just like what you said, life, property, and freedom. Do you have any objection to me saying that?"
Zhou Weiguo was a little unsure of Yu Deli's thoughts, but he still nodded in approval and said, "No. You can do it, Lao Yu. You know a lot."
Liu Zheng also admired Deli in his heart. He said to himself that this quiet and silent person in Beihai Town had been engaged in political education for so many years. It was hard to imagine that he was actually a mathematics teacher before.
"Okay, then let's talk about the Chinese people's view of rights. Well, that may not be accurate. In our Chinese culture, whether it is Huang Lao or Confucius and Mencius, they all talk about responsibility. Taoism talks about being humble and being gentle. Confucianism talks about etiquette and the rectification of names. Confucius said that 'lords, ministers, fathers and sons', everyone must bear their own responsibilities, and only then can names be rectified. Mencius said that 'the inner sage and the outer king' are responsibilities, Wang They often say that self-cultivation, family management, country governance, and world peace are also responsibilities. Even the emperor must implement benevolent government in order to be responsible to heaven."
"I am ashamed to say that I was not familiar with traditional culture before. Although I have read so many ancient documents, if it were not for my frequent discussions with Wang Zhong and others over the years, I would not understand many things. Alas, in our time, traditional culture was fragmented. so amazing."
"The Book of Ministers says that the eight tones overcome harmony, and there is no phase to compete with others. God and man make harmony. Harmony is the highest pursuit of our national culture. When pursuing pursuit, we must talk about responsibility. Therefore, when we talk about 'benevolence', in order to achieve the goal of benevolence, At the same time, Confucianism also talks about etiquette. In my opinion, etiquette is a list of responsibilities, which turns disorder into order. If you can always maintain etiquette, you are probably not far from benevolence."
"But the problem is that being polite is not enough. You must also have sincerity from the heart. I think Mencius said it most clearly. He said, 'Sincerity is the way of heaven; sincerity is the way of man. Supreme sincerity If you are not moving, you are not there; if you are not sincere, you are not moving.'"
"Our culture has too high requirements for personal quality and self-cultivation, and it is difficult for most people to achieve it. Therefore, those predecessors always lamented that the world is declining and people's hearts are not."
The more Zhou Weiguo listened, the more confused he became. He couldn't help but said: "Old Yu, what exactly do you want to say? I really have no interest in Confucius and Mencius."
"Yeah." Yu Deli nodded slightly, raised his eyes and stared into Zhou Weiguo's eyes and said: "Xiao Zhou, is our culture really bad? You would rather use Roman law and other Westerners' ready-made things than use traditional culture Are you looking for answers?"
Zhou Weiguo asked, can he still talk properly? They went through a long round of detours just to ask me this? He said angrily: "Where are you looking for rotten dross? If there was an answer, we would have found it long ago in our history! In Chinese tradition, there has never been personal responsibility in the strict sense, only slave obedience to obligations. , irresponsible abuse of rights!”
"It's not that we don't talk about rights in our culture, but we have to talk about responsibilities first. That's because without responsibilities, there is no way to talk about rights. This is fundamentally different from Western culture."
Seeing that the other party was still unwilling to give up, Yu Deli said categorically: "Chinese culture is a system of responsibility ethics and has never been a system of contractual rights. Chen Qingsong has struggled with the legality of the political system for a long time. I would say that he is just worried. As long as we Once we have fulfilled our responsibilities, the people will definitely give us the corresponding rights, and legitimacy will naturally be there. As for the issues you mentioned, of course, we will have our own constitution and we will definitely govern in accordance with the constitution, but this will never It means that we have to implement a constitutional government with separation of powers! Even the goal of land reform has not been completed yet. Who are you going to tell this empty talk about property rights?!"
"Lao Yu, don't misunderstand me."
Seeing Zhou Weiguo's sudden confusion, Liu Zheng on the side secretly gave a thumbs up. This old man is very capable, and he talks one step after another. In fact, if he hadn't always remembered to follow the "organization" before, he would have almost been thrown into trouble by Zhou Weiguo's theory.
A drop of cold sweat broke out from Zhou Weiguo's forehead, and he realized that Yu Deli had already seen through his thoughts. Oops, after planning for a long time, why did you forget about land reform? Be steady, be sure to be steady! It won't work this time. There will be opportunities in the future, so don't rush.
Thinking of this, his expression softened, and he put on a smile and said: "Oh, Lao Yu, I was confused! Don't worry, I don't have any other meaning."
Zhou Weiguo turned to look at Liu Zheng, and saw that the other party was looking at him coldly, so he said: "In this case, let's slightly change the sixty articles without adding any content. After dinner, I How about I change it when I get back and show it to you two?"
A smile appeared on Liu Zheng's lips, and he said: "Lao Zhou, don't get me wrong. If we have problems, we should sit down and discuss them. This matter is just unclear."
"Yep!"
Yu Deli suddenly smiled relaxedly, stood up, patted Zhou Weiguo's shoulder and said, "Then it's settled. Let's go have a meal together and have a couple of drinks."
