Chapter 996 8. Submitting a petition to oppose
The world is shocked!
No one would have thought that an abdicated last emperor would cause such a big storm!
The power of the Li and Luo families was so strong that soon a large number of prestigious people in society and those who were dissatisfied with the status quo within the government jointly wrote a letter to the emperor.
Thanks to the development of communication technology, the news quickly spread throughout the world through telegrams and other means.
Not only the new country in the Central Plains, but even those distant countries and regions are paying attention to this matter.
Luoyang City, No. 5 Xinjie, the ministers of various departments have all come to this not-so-conspicuous building, and there is uneasiness in everyone's eyes.
After the Chief Consul arrived, everyone sat down and the atmosphere became somewhat solemn.
"Gentlemen who hold the reins of state,
We are all ordinary citizens of our new country. With our country in mind, we write this letter of request to you great gentlemen.
Several years ago, the republic replaced the monarchy. The world was full of vitality at that time. Wherever the new learning came, the people welcomed it wholeheartedly. Even the emperor, who once seemed supreme, had to abdicate and let others take over. Thinking about it now, that scene is still vivid in my mind!
But why did the situation suddenly change in just a few years?
What a chaos the Central Plains is in today. People can hardly even get enough food. A farmer who works all day cannot sell enough food to feed his family. Is this normal?
I'll see if that's the case.
We have our current position because of the trust of the people. Would it be appropriate if we cannot make people's lives better?
The ancient sages said that the common people are like river water, and the monarch is a boat on the river. What is the difference now?
The people are still water, and we are the ships that rely on water to sail.
When the water is calm, we can move forward smoothly. But when the river is turbulent, is there any possibility for us except to capsize?
There are many local officials who prevent the people from speaking out. We believe this is harmful and detrimental to the new country, so we are here to tell you about it.
They are like the ancient tyrants, blocking the channels of speech and not allowing any voices that are unfavorable to them to be heard. Isn't this the most detrimental to the country?
The people in the Central Plains had a hard time making ends meet. They couldn’t even afford a single pancake. They were deeply bankrupt and had no food to eat.
Now is the time, there will be no chance if you don’t correct it.
Please restore the previous laws, exempt workers from long hours of work, thoroughly investigate the corrupt officials in the government, and punish those who are harmful to the world, so that everyone in the new country can live in happiness and contentment.
…
Let everyone live and work in peace and contentment, and let justice and fairness return to the land of Zhuxia.
May all the people of Xia be safe and sound, and may the light from ancient times shine here again."
A letter that almost made the New Learning Party deny all of their past. It contained detailed correction methods, which simply meant that the New Learning Party should restore most of the laws of the imperial period.
But everyone knows that this is absolutely impossible!
Because doing so would harm the interests of the majority of the upper class. In the past, during the imperial period, they could do so because the royal family could eat slowly and plunder continuously, and sometimes the plundering was not as fast as development.
But it is different now. On the one hand, all the eighteen royal families want to eat it, and on the other hand, they have no legitimate reason to eat it, so they can only scramble to eat it. Whoever is slow may not be able to eat it. Even if they want sustainability, they will give up this idea when they think that others will pick the peaches.
But most people think that they should grab it now first, so they don’t care about the future and just plunder as much as possible now.
At No. 5 Xinjie, everyone kept their eyes on the nose and ears on the heart, and did not speak. Once they opened their mouths, they might be attacked by the group.
The Chief Consul was really angry when he saw this scene. He couldn't help thinking, "If I were the emperor now, I would definitely kill a few people and take the blame."
But it’s not possible. The eighteen families are intertwined and if he acts recklessly, everyone will be in danger. He may have to resign tomorrow.
In the end, he gave up on solving the problem and turned to solving the people who raised the problem, "Let's talk about how to deal with this matter and these people."
As the chief consul, what he meant by these words was to deal with the person who raised the question, and the atmosphere in the room immediately returned to normal.
"First of all, we need to make sure that although we are facing some difficulties now, overall, the problems are still controllable and can be solved, so this is purely alarmist."
This characterization made most people smile, and they all said, "Yeah, it's not that serious. There's no such thing as ordinary people having trouble living. I'm just an ordinary citizen, so why don't I feel like there's anything I can't live with?
This is really alarmist. This kind of behavior should be severely punished to let them know that spreading rumors is not without cost. "
"It was so difficult to establish a country. Our struggle with the imperial system lasted for a long time. No one could see our efforts and blood and sweat. But now that we have achieved some status, they have started to bark. It is really chilling that they are so ungrateful."
"As an official in the government, he disobeyed the arrangements of his superiors and mixed with those unruly people and traitors. Isn't this a rebellion against the Heavenly Gang? Such people should not be used anymore in the future."
"Some idiots were instigated by someone with ulterior motives to do this. They deliberately exaggerated some minor issues to the current level and spread this letter all over the world to embarrass us. This may be their purpose."
"The last emperor of the previous generation was also involved!"
"Chief, I think we absolutely cannot tolerate this kind of thing. We let the Li royal family off at the beginning, but now he has done this. He is trying to win the hearts of the people and restore the Tang Dynasty.
We must not let his conspiracy succeed!"
Everyone was filled with indignation and made sharp criticisms of the letter and the people behind it.
Some words are said on the surface, while some words come from the heart.
Why do we have to say some things? Wouldn't it make everyone lose face if we say them? Although the current situation is somewhat difficult, in the eyes of most people, the distance is not really irreversible.
"It seems that everyone has the same idea. I have an idea. What if we attribute the appearance of this letter to the Li royal family's desire to restore the Tang Dynasty and become the royal family riding on the heads of the people again?"
"Huh?"
Everyone's eyes lit up instantly. They had to admit, this was a good idea.
"People have always loved conspiracy theories. This kind of speech will definitely gain a lot of supporters. We can directly deconstruct their legitimacy and even bite back. We can even put Li Jiye on trial for splitting the country and attempting to subvert the rule of the people. Since he doesn't want face, we don't need to give it to him anymore!"
The second prime minister had been holding a grudge since he left Luo Mansion. As a result, his revenge caused an economic crisis in Central China and even the world, making the rule of the New Learning Party look shaky.
He received a lot of criticism for this matter, which means that the power behind him is indeed powerful, so he can still sit firmly in the number two position.
Now that he had encountered this incident, he had been thinking about how to resolve the current situation, and it took him a long time to think of this loophole.
He is the second-in-command of the New Learning Party, so he is quite capable.
Everyone was amazed at the idea proposed by the Second Prime Minister. "Just do it. The Second Prime Minister is worthy of being from the Party Propaganda Department. He really has the essence of propaganda!"
The essence of so-called propaganda is that instead of working hard to improve yourself and correct your mistakes, you will not discredit your opponent, but drag your opponent down to the same garbage level, and then defeat it with your rich experience.
After all, the New Learning Party government is the only legitimate government in the Central Plains today. Once its power is mobilized, it can be said to be overwhelming.
However, public opinion did not completely reverse.
When the New Learning Party was in full swing in the early days, Li Jiye was not panicked at all. He even smiled and analyzed with his allies who wrote the petition together: "I guessed that they would use this method to discredit this petition by discrediting me.
This method may be very effective, but it has certain prerequisites. First, my reputation and that of the Tang Dynasty must be bad. Second, the current government must have good credibility. These two points are not met at all.
The Tang Dynasty was indeed corrupt and was eventually abandoned by the people, but everything is comparable. Although the Tang Dynasty was poor, it was better than the new country established by the New Learning Party.
Thanks to the New Learning Party, there are even many people who miss the Tang Dynasty. In this case, using "I want to restore the Tang Dynasty" to cover up my incompetence will naturally have a greatly reduced effect. "
These words make people laugh. Yes, no one knows what the Tang Dynasty will be like after its restoration, but your New School Party’s government is rotten to the core, even worse than the Tang Dynasty that was overthrown. At that time, there was all kinds of internal corruption, but at least people could still have food to eat. Now, not only do they have to face the various corrupt systems of the past, they can’t even have food to eat.
If this is the new country, then let the empire come back. The people need an emperor who can uphold justice!
"But eventually many people will be deceived, and we cannot expect everyone to distinguish right from wrong."
Li Jiye remained calm, "What I just said are just minor flaws. After all, although my Tang Dynasty is a little stronger than the New School Party, it is not much stronger.
Not to mention ordinary people, even among those present here, I am afraid that there are not many who really want to restore the Tang Dynasty.
After all, at that time, you will all call me Your Majesty again."
hehe.
In response to Li Jiye's joke, everyone present looked at each other with fake smiles on their faces, but they secretly agreed in their hearts that they certainly did not want the Tang Dynasty to be restored.
"Of course the Tang Dynasty cannot be restored, but judging from the situation in recent years, the world still needs an emperor.
The officials of this world are like demons, and the emperor is the king of prison. After the emperor is gone, look at what has become of the officials of this world. If it were still an empire now, they would have been confiscated long ago. "
What Li Jiye said made Lu Chang and Lu Qing nod their heads continuously. The world needed an emperor, but there could only be one candidate for the emperor.
When Li Jiye said this, not only Lu Chang and Lu Qing understood it, but everyone else also understood it.
Now they all knew what the big flaw Li Jiye was talking about.
What if it wasn’t the Tang Dynasty that wanted to be restored, but the Luo family that wanted to ascend the throne?
Now, what the New School Party said would immediately turn into a sharp blade to assassinate him. After all, the reputation and prestige of the Luo family were far beyond the reach of the New School Party officials.
There is a world of difference!
The only question is, is Luo willing to ascend the throne?
This doubt lingered in everyone's mind. Luo had not been an emperor for two thousand years, no matter what the situation was. Would he agree now?
Thinking of this, they couldn't help but cast their eyes on Li Jiye. How can you be sure that Luo will agree?
The answer to this question has surpassed other questions and has become the question they want to know most now.
Lu Chang and Lu Qing became even more alert.
If there is a family in this world whose relationship with the Luo family can be compared with that of the Lu family, it is the Li family.
If Li Jiye knew what these people were thinking, he would just smile and say, "This is a feeling. It's like the general trend is like this. In the current situation, Zhuxia only has this one way left. So this way is the right one."
Li Jiye didn't know what they were thinking, so he said gently: "Since the New School Party has already taken action, we can't just sit back and watch them use these tricks. We should publish all those dirty deeds in the newspapers.
Let them tremble in endless fear and let the people thoroughly recognize the true face of the New Scholars.
This will be the final blow we give them. When the last bit of credibility is destroyed, and the current economic crisis makes it impossible for them to hold everything together, then everything will be over."
Withered yellow leaves fell outside the bay window.
————
If I were to make the most fair assessment of the new country established by the New Learning Party, it would be this:
This is a regime without any ideals or beliefs, no strategy for governing the country, and no sense of benevolence or righteousness.
Its rulers established a clan society through marriage, controlled the upward mobility, and brutally exploited the people. The political civilization of the Xia Dynasty regressed directly to the Southern and Northern Dynasties period of more than 500 years.
This is not a regime that should appear in the 22nd century, but rather the most backward and reactionary regime that would shock even slave owners.
The author can say responsibly that the constitutional period after the Tang Dynasty was an era with nothing worth praising and no reference value.
Its only value is to prove that the imperial system is not necessarily backward. Its contribution in death is ten thousand times greater than its contribution in life! - "Free Government in the Constitutional Era after the Tang Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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