Soon, after announcing the state government of the future empire, the two major parties in the civil service system also began to prepare to participate in the founding election. As for the matter of Wang Guorui's ascension to the throne, it was handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Rites who remained in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They were still very clear about the process, so asking them to do this matter was regarded as waste utilization. The officials of the Ministry of Rites of the Manchu Qing Dynasty also hoped to get this matter done well so that nothing would go wrong. They hoped that they would be able to make a soft landing in the new dynasty and retire safely. They know that it is unlikely that they want to be retained, but at least they must do this well so that they can have a successful soft landing in the future, so as not to affect the future of their descendants.

And soon the DPP and Huafu Party also announced that they would participate in the general election, but in fact, everyone knows that this time, the Huafu Party and the DPP have already started to cooperate internally. This time, even before they publicly announced the general election, they have already started to discuss the first cabinet prime minister. Afterwards they will be swapped. And this is because they have already reached a cooperation, so that they can also carry out further cooperation.

However, this may only be possible within ten years. Once the new generation of officials grows up ten years later, they will definitely start fighting for their own interests, and they will not be as harmonious as they used to be. This is an unsolvable problem. Once split in name, it is actually more difficult to deal with than split in fact. In fact, if there is no split in name, there is still a lot of room for merger. But once they split in name, no matter how good the relationship is in fact, sooner or later they will be led to a split in fact. It just doesn't matter whether it's sooner or later.

But while the two parties are publicly announcing their campaigns, some in the South are staying active.

The original governors of the Manchu Qing in the south had declared their support for Wang Guorui. Even Wang Guorui sent some senior officials to clean up and reorganize those local governors. The local governors like Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong also took the initiative to hand over their powers to let the local officials like Wang Guorui carry out the reorganization. This reorganization is not only the reorganization of the soldiers, but also the reorganization of the government. In principle, those local officials will be temporarily retained until after Wang Guorui ascends the throne. There will be a series of exams. If they are capable and have no bad deeds, not only will they not be dismissed, but they will be reused as flaunts. And those who are not capable, but have no bad deeds or few bad deeds, those who are older can give them a pension. Tell them to **** off. Those middle-aged people can give them a public institution or some idle positions to work for. As for those who are young and have no bad records, they can take the civil service exam again and try to get back on the job.

And those who have relatively serious misdeeds, as long as there is no murder case in their hands, they can also confiscate their property and let them go. But if there is a murder case in hand, then it is time to talk about it. If you confess voluntarily and there are only one or two homicide cases, you can be dealt with lightly. In principle, you should be sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. Even life imprisonment. However, if there are too many murders and the people are very angry, they will be beheaded as a model, so there will be absolutely no sympathy.

And those local governors and others are also preparing to retire here, and those guys are also here to communicate by telegram.

"Father, Zhang Zhidong sent a telegram, hoping that we can all form a party and participate in the election." Li Hongzhang's second son and de facto eldest son Li Jingshu said to Li Hongzhang.

This Li Jingshu is actually Li Hongzhang's real eldest son, and Li Hongzhang's nominal eldest son Li Jingfang is actually his nephew. It's just adopted. After Li Jingfang had his arm chopped off by Wang Guorui a few years ago, he also gradually faded out of the Qing political arena, because in China's long-standing tradition, it is almost impossible to allow a disabled person to serve as an official. even. Li Jingfang is a diplomat, so it is even more impossible for a disabled person to serve as a diplomat, so they will definitely be dealt with coldly.

And beside him is his son Li Jingshu, who has a idle job in Manqing, but is engaged in the cultural and art industry.

"Jingshu my son, do you think we should form this party?" Li Hongzhang asked.

Li Jingshu replied: "Father, my son thought it was better not to set up this party. Because even if we set up this party, according to the current trend, we will not be able to seize the position of prime minister, let alone be in power. Today's Wang Guorui is actually not the same as us. People. If we run for election now, it is nothing but humiliation. And, if we continue to run for office, does this mean that we do not want to surrender, but instead want to continue to seek power? At that time, we may be ruled by the kingdom Let Rui be wiped out!"

However, Li Hongzhang immediately said: "I don't think so, I think it is a good thing to form a party to run for election!"

"Father, aren't you afraid that Wang Guorui will kill the game immediately?" Li Jingshu asked.

Li Hongzhang shook his head and said, "Do you think Wang Guorui and we are the same way?"

"No, people in our mainland are mainly landlords in their words. Well, the word landlord was given by them. And those of us have always used landlords to obtain fame, and then obtained other people's land to rely on , Then expand the power, and then form a clan. The land is our core, if we lose the land, it will fall apart. And the people in Taiwan are doing business, they advocate liberating a large number of people from the land, Then go to industry and commerce after training."

"Then tell me, once Wang Guorui carries out reforms across the country, will those landlords accept their fate? Will they resist?" Li Hongzhang asked.

"Of course, even if Wang Guorui wins the world, they will not be reconciled. If Wang Guorui wants to seize their land, of course they will resist." Li Jingshu said.

"That's right. Since they are all able to resist, why can't we guide them here? The so-called blocking is worse than sparse, since they will resist, then we might as well guide them here. First of all, I have seen that sooner or later we landlords will It’s just a matter of whether it’s too late or not to die.” Li Hongzhang said.

"Then father, why..." Li Jingshu wanted to ask.

"However, we must also reduce our losses! Although we are bound to perish, we must also buy time for our transformation. For example, we sell the land, and then fight for time for transformation, and then Let us adapt gently, instead of suddenly losing the land, let us completely disintegrate and lose control. Since they are all about to perish, it is better to change the method of boiling frogs in warm water instead of directly watering them with boiling water. We will definitely be very dangerous, and if we are not careful, we will lose our wealth!" Li Hongzhang said.

Li Jingshu immediately asked: "Then forming a party, isn't that fighting for power with Wang Guorui? Isn't that trying to be an enemy of them?"

"Hmph, if during Wang Guorui's reform, he secretly resisted, and then secretly used all kinds of conspiracies to bring down the stage, wouldn't that be an enemy? Even, in order to protect his rights and interests, those landlords would then use servants or some militia groups to conspire to rebel. What will happen then? If we use the militia groups to plot rebellion at that time, we will not be able to fight them again and again, and in the end, we will only bleed for no reason, and we will not be able to protect our own interests. However, we have several major advantages in forming a party."

"One, that is to be able to express loyalty to Wang Guorui!" Li Hongzhang said.

"Father, why do you say that? How could it be possible to express loyalty by running for office?" Li Jingshu felt incredible.

Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "You said, have the monarchs and ministers really been so harmonious since ancient times?"

"How is this possible? There must be conflicts between the monarch and his ministers! The ministers also have their own interests, and they will not absolutely obey the king." Li Jingshu immediately shook his head and said.

Li Hongzhang immediately nodded and said, "That's right~ lightnovelpub.net~ In the final analysis, we are not the same as Wang Guorui, and sooner or later we will have many open and secret fights. Since there are open and secret fights, it is definitely impossible to be absolutely loyal to Wang Guorui. And We want to protect our interests, so how do we protect them? Do we fight openly and secretly with Wang Guorui step by step at the local level to tear each other down? Or use the militia in our hands to rebel? Let’s not talk about whether this will succeed, just say that Doing that is definitely using illegal means to fight.”

"Then why don't we set up a party, and set up a party to run for office? It's one thing to be able to win the election, but we must express our existence. And we use this model of election, that is, to express to Wang Guorui Although we have conflicts with him, we have no intention of rebelling through violent means. We hope to fight for interests by following the rules of the game established by Wang Guorui, rather than through violent means. We take the initiative to place ourselves in In the rules of the game he set up, doesn’t that mean that we are loyal to him? If there is another set of rules on the outside, then there is no loyalty. Wang Guorui knows very well that everyone has His own ideas and interests, if he does not see this, he will not be able to get to where he is today. So we fight for interests according to the rules of the game he set up, instead of using violence, it shows loyalty and is willing to pass Must follow the rules to fight.” (To be continued.)