Iron Dynasty

The bedroom is wrapped in the sweet smell of roasted sweet potatoes.

Xiao Ming and Fei Yue'er took one and ate it deliciously. Of course, he didn't forget Concubine Zhen. He had already sent some roasted sweet potatoes to Concubine Zhen just now.

His Royal Highness, these sweet potatoes are so delicious and high-yielding, this is really a blessing for the Great Yu Kingdom. Fei Yue'er chewed slowly, and the smile in his eyes grew stronger.

Xiao Ming nodded: Now that there are potatoes and sweet potatoes, the agricultural king of the country can feel at ease.

For him, he mainly introduced these two high-yield crops. As for other economic crops, he was not in a hurry. After all, the people of Dayu now only pursue food and clothing, rather than extravagant nutritional matching like modern people.

Fei Yue nodded, and then she said, Not only does Your Highness not need to worry about agriculture now, but now His Highness the textile industry does not have to worry about it. After the steam engine entered the textile workshop, the production of cloth in the textile workshop has greatly increased, and now it is sent from Chu. There's not enough cotton.

While speaking, Fei Yue'er brought a piece of blue cloth from the table to Xiao Ming.

This is the cloth spun by the textile mill? Xiao Ming spread the cloth on his hand and stroked it. Although the cloth was dyed, the surface of the cloth was very smooth, and the cotton threads were very close together.

Holding the cloth, he pulled hard again, which showed that the cloth was very strong. Overall, this was the most delicate cloth Xiao Ming had ever seen in the Great Yu Kingdom.

This is still fake, and only the textile machine of the textile mill and the steam engine can produce such fabrics. Now the concubine is preparing to use these fabrics to produce military uniforms for the army, but now the steam engine has greatly increased the output of the textile mill, and this cotton is It's not enough, and the price of cotton in Chudi is also more expensive because of this.

Speaking of this, Fei Yue'er was a little unhappy, probably blaming the cotton merchants in Chu for taking the opportunity to raise prices.

Xiao Ming didn't care about this, he said; Actually, it's very simple, the price of cotton has risen, and the price of this cloth has become more expensive. When the time comes, let our merchants sell to Chu land at a high price, and this profit will also be made. came back.

When Fei Yue heard this, she immediately laughed, and she said, Your Highness said yes, the concubine will ask Luluo to raise the price of the fabrics sold to merchants in Chu.

During this period of time, Xiao Ming and Fei Yue'er spent a short time together because of the war in Wei land. Now that he is free, Fei Yue'er seems to have endless things to say.

After talking about the sweet potato and the cloth, Fei Yue'er suddenly asked with great interest: Your Highness, when the concubine gave a lecture to the Women's College yesterday, a female student said something about the feudal system and the constitutional monarchy.

Who said that! Hearing this, Xiao Ming's brows furrowed.

Seeing Xiao Ming's serious expression, Fei Yue'er did not dare to hide it, and said, This female student is none other than Yang Shiman, the daughter of Dengzhou Prefect Yang Chengye. The concubine also asked her, but she said she was a Dutch businessman. Tell her a dual constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

Dutch businessman. Xiao Ming nodded, It's not surprising that Yang Chengye has dealt with the Dutch a lot, and it is inevitable that he will learn some Western things from the Dutch population.

Fei Yue'er was his bedside, and Xiao Ming usually taught her a lot of knowledge that Da Yu didn't have, but he didn't tell Fei Yue'er about these countries' political systems.

Now Fei Yue'er asked, he explained: The feudal system in the Dutch population refers to the current state system of the Great Yu Kingdom. This system is based on the division of the aristocratic ruling class and the possession of land and peasants and other wealth. As for the constitutional monarchy, it is the government system of many countries in the West. Generally speaking, the constitutional monarchy is divided into dual constitutional monarchy and parliamentary constitutional monarchy.”

Fei Yue'er showed interest. After reading the books of Bowen Institute, she gradually became interested in other parts of the world.

After taking a sip of tea, he continued: The essence of the monarchy is to establish a parliament to limit the rights of the monarch, but the difference is that the power of the emperor in the dual constitutional monarchy is higher than that of the parliament, and the emperor in the constitutional monarchy of the parliamentary system may lose some of his rights, or even become for decoration.

What is this council? Fei Yue asked.

Simply put, it is the highest authority representing the interests of businessmen. This institution has all the rights of the emperor. Xiao Ming explained.

Fei Yue'er frowned, and she said, This Western country is really strange, why an organization representing the interests of businessmen can rule a country. If so, isn't this country a tool for businessmen to make money?

Xiao Ming was a little surprised. He looked at Fei Yue'er and asked, Do you think this kind of state system is not good?

Not good. Fei Yue'er answered decisively, Businessmen seek profit, and they can do anything for the sake of profit.

Xiao Ming said with a smile: It's just that feudal autocracy has its own drawbacks. It's just that people who accumulate wealth have changed from businessmen to powerful people. There is no difference in essence.

Fei Yue'er said: His Royal Highness is right, so a generation of bright monarchs can prosper the country, and a generation of faint monarchs can destroy the country, but the emperor's life is given by heaven, so why should His Highness be interfered by Western countries.

Xiao Ming sighed. For him, the real crisis was far from the civil strife in the Great Yu Kingdom, nor was it the covetous powers. The biggest crisis actually came from within the Great Yu Kingdom.

Now, in order to improve the level of civilization, he has popularized education in the feudal country, and the result of this is to open up the wisdom of the people. Once the wisdom of the people is opened, the common people and businessmen will actively participate in state affairs.

It is unknown whether the British Glorious Revolution or the French Revolution will take place in the Great Yu Congress.

Because of this, the incident that Fei Yueer mentioned caused a haze in his heart, because maybe one day his enemy was the people who once supported him.

Because he would not allow events like the Glorious Revolution in Britain and the French Revolution to take place in Da Yu, nor would he allow capital to control the country.

In his view, the system is not the determinant of the rise and fall of a country, because no matter what system is implemented by people, the ultimate problem lies in the hands of the people who implement it. Because of this, what contemporary China has admired since ancient times is the virtuous. Govern the country.

However, it is not suitable to maintain the feudal autocracy that is bestowed by the emperor, so he will follow the pace of the times to make some changes in the political system of the Great Yu Kingdom, but he will not follow the example of the West. The way of the golden mean is to use the elders of the two families to govern the country.

However, it is too early to talk about the reform of the political system before the Great Yu Kingdom is stable. He now needs a stable environment to concentrate power to end the current scuffle between the vassal kings.