Chapter 198 Parliament
This also explains why respect for private property is the cornerstone of Western political civilization.
Because the property itself is uncertain, if the people above can use violent and illegal means to exploit the property of the lower class wealthy businessmen at will, there is no need for such a parliament to exist.
Of course, one thing must be understood.
Protecting private property does not mean stopping exploitation. But the level of violent exploitation is too low and the efficiency is too low. Financial policy agreed through parliament is more likely to get people to hand over their money than finding ways to use violence.
Emperor Wanli is actually a negative example. The mining tax that caused commotion in the world did not actually generate much money. On the contrary, many Western countries used developed financial tools to generate a lot of money to support the war.
Zhu Xiongying said: "What power?"
He Xi said: "First, the right to know about policies. Many major policies must be circulated through the parliament before they are issued. Second, the power of financial review. From now on, the finances of the imperial court and the palace will be separated, and the parliament will have the power to review the imperial finance. Chapter Third, the right of habeas corpus. Without the approval of the Parliament or His Majesty, local members cannot be arrested. Fourth, the power of impeachment of officials. If members find that there are problems with certain officials, they can impeach them. Individual impeachment or joint impeachment must be accepted by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Give an explanation in parliament.”
These three powers were the simplest concessions He Xi could think of.
It’s okay to know the policy, but it’s not enough to not know it. Come to think of it, these congressmen are the wealthiest people. Even if you don’t tell them, don’t they know it?
What a joke.
It should be noted that the members proposed by He Xi are not elected, but who are powerful, rich, own factories, have many employees below, or have enough influence in a certain industry. Only then could he be a member of parliament.
Rather than the other way around.
In other words, if the court wants to do something in a certain industry, and there is one person who has a decisive position in this industry, and if the industry is large enough, then this person is qualified to be elected as a member of the parliament.
The power of financial review is actually because He Xi wants to make money from these people.
National debt, or public debt, can be viewed as a business, but of course it is not a simple business. But no matter what, creditors must know that the court does not want to default on their debts. Therefore, finances must be made public.
Of course, even if He Xi wanted to default on his debt, they couldn't stop him. But the appearance still needs to be done.
Not to mention, He Xi also thinks that financial disclosure is better.
After all, there are many moths that the court cannot discover by itself. It is also possible to ask members of parliament to supervise.
The right of habeas corpus and the right of impeachment are actually to improve the political status of capitalists, and there is no way to do this. In many places these days, legitimate businessmen are never treated legally.
In many industries, it is impossible to work without some background. From this point of view, many bureaucrats are more hateful existences than capitalists.
After all, capitalists do anything for money, regardless of law and morality. But if there is no money, they will not do unnecessary things.
However, for the persecution of many people by many bureaucrats and local power figures, it is difficult to say that they are simply declaring independence, declaring their own authority, and declaring that they are the king's law in a certain area for the sake of profit.
Only by improving the political status of these businessmen can we better develop advanced productive forces. The industrial capitalists now represent advanced productive forces.
Zhu Xiongying said: "Then how do you choose these congressmen?"
He Xi said: "Of course it is His Majesty who appointed it. However, Your Majesty should also exercise discretion."
Zhu Xiongying nodded, he understood that the parliament was to win over people who had huge influence outside the court. In other words, people who can disrupt court affairs in a certain niche. Not an ordinary person.
Although Zhu Xiongying has the right to select the parliament, he cannot mess around.
Zhu Xiongying said: "I remember that the UK has an upper and lower parliament? Do I think we should follow the example of the UK? We should also establish an upper parliament, that is, nobles at all levels, as well as senior ministers who have retired from their positions, can
If you want to join the upper council, these people will be in the lower council. What does uncle think? "
Zhu Xiongying's idea is very simple, just to find a way to preserve his power.
Parliament now has very little power. But Zhu Xiongying can foresee that the power of this authority will become greater and greater.
Now it is the power of fiscal review and the power of impeachment. Will there be legislative power in the future?
Zhu Xiongying decided to leave enough foreshadowing in the parliament from the beginning. The upper and lower parliaments were what Zhu Xiongying followed. The nobles will definitely stand with the emperor in the future. Letting nobles sit in parliament must speak for the emperor. After bureaucrats at all levels retire, they will naturally not collude with these businessmen. The upper and lower restraints will give Zhu Xiongying more room to control them. More importantly, perhaps in the future, court bureaucrats and opposition capitalists will become two forces that check and balance each other.
And Parliament is their battlefield.
As the emperor, Zhu Xiongying can just make more decisions.
He Xi naturally understood Zhu Xiongying's thoughts, but he had no objection.
The reason is simple. Today's capitalists are still very weak, and they have not even thought of resisting the imperial court. If He Xi hadn't done it for this excessive military expenditure, there would have been no need to build this parliament or anything else.
It's not like He Xi can't make enough money even without a consultative body like parliament.
But the problem is that the impact is so bad that it even puts Beijing's economic growth into recession.
Parliament is the least bad option.
It is essentially a negotiation and showdown.
There is as much power as there is strength.
This will not change. If you don't have the strength to occupy power out of thin air, you will still spit it out in the future. Moreover, He Xi understands that the bigger the company is, the more money it will make, and the bigger the company is, the greater its strength and influence will be.
At that time, the proportion of capital power in the parliament will naturally increase, so there is no need to think of a solution.
More importantly, He Xi is actually very confused.
He Xi never thinks that capital is a good thing, but you must respect objective laws when doing things. If you don't respect objective laws, you will fall into trouble. The Liaodong case is the best warning to He Xi.
It is already very difficult for He Xi to push Ming Dynasty to capitalism. It is simply impossible to leapfrog capitalism and reach socialism all at once. It would be strange for such a large-scale leap forward not to cause problems.
And He Xi himself doesn't have a good impression of capital itself, so he just goes along with the flow. In order to strive for more benefits for them, let's forget it.
Even He Xi himself was confused.
In the dead of night, He Xi asked himself, is what he wants to work hard for really what he has always wanted? Capitalism has been dripping with blood from every pore since its birth. The large-scale industrial production model itself is anti-human.
Although it is said that most people will be freed from the unpredictable life and death of agricultural production and become workers. It's a good thing for them. After all, if we look at statistics, people living in ancient times encountered at least two major disasters in their lives, the kind of disasters that killed many, many people.
After all, in ancient times, there was a small disaster every three years and a major disaster every ten years. So much so that the average life span of a person is over thirty years old.
Even during the Hongwu period, the so-called peaceful life of the people only meant that taxes were lighter, their families had more savings, and they could survive natural disasters. This does not mean that there were no natural disasters.
Although industrial production is painful, at least it does not encounter an economic crisis. Basically, it is selling labor force, and it is possible to have enough to eat.
As for the others, I don't know.
For ordinary people, it may be a great benefit. Even in the future, many people will rush to go to the factory, but in He Xi's view, it's just a matter of fifty steps and a hundred steps.
It's just that this is all He Xi can do with all his strength. He even hesitated to launch a war on such a large scale for this purpose. Only then can the entire new system be established.
As for more, He Xi even wants to do it. But I also knew I couldn’t do it.
Half a step ahead is a genius, one step ahead is a madman.
as an individual
You can do it at any cost, but as a politician, He Xi must do it step by step.
He Xi secretly thought: "Is the climax of reform about to pass?"
Where will he go?
