Face Slapping the General

The vigorous parliamentary elections turned out to be just a drama in the end.

The parliament exists in name only, and the legislative power is still firmly in the hands of the old forces.

During this period, Wu Qiao began to read books on the Republic.

他有一些疑惑，总忍不住会想，几百年前在经济技术方面都要更佔优势的帝国，为何会被赶上，逐渐落后对手？

The empire is rich in resources, which should not be the case.

Some people told him it was because the emperor was incompetent.

可是，难道共和国的元首就个个都是旷世奇才幺？共和国上一位元首不是就经常被嘲笑？那个家伙有着无数犯蠢的事例在外面流传。虽然如此，共和国也没因为他就陷入到困境当中，似乎依然还像从前那样自然运转。国家还是在一个框架中前行，元首聪明还是愚蠢能影响的事是有限的。

The empire seems to depend entirely on the emperor.Perhaps a capable emperor would make things more efficient, but the state is always in extreme danger of spinning out of control.

But now, it is the autumn of the empire's survival, and there is a danger of destruction at any time.

The current emperor is afraid of losing the battle and taking the name of the king of subjugation, and he has become more and more disregarding his people in order to win this battle.

况且，即使是有明君，利益的获得者依然是那些传统贵族，因为好的东西总是有一些限度的，能不分当然就不分，帝国百姓全都没法从中得到什幺。

"..." Unknowingly, those things that didn't matter in the past gradually made him unable to let go.

Since the beginning, he has been in the army, and all he heard was to be loyal to the emperor, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Now, he was a little envious of the people in the Republic, at least, those people could more or less speak out, but he could only hope desperately that the emperor could turn the situation around. He was full of enthusiasm, but he was powerless.

"Tan Yan..." Wu Qiao asked Tan Yan, "Do you want a republic system?"

"Ok?"

"For example," Wu Qiao said seriously, "at home, rather than listening to me, do you want to express your opinion?"

"You want me to tell the truth?"

"Of course, it's just the two of us chatting casually. I will definitely not tell others."

"Okay." Tan Yan replied, "If you're outside, I think; if you're at home, it's fine."

“……啊？”后面那句什幺意思？

谈衍又说︰“反正你想怎样，我都会让你满足的。”

“喂……”明明是个严肃话题，怎幺拐到那里去了？

“我总觉得，”吴桥又说，“一个时代要结束了。”其实真的很怪，就在几年之前，帝国人还觉得生活得挺不错，可是自露出败象的那天开始，帝国人仿佛大梦初醒一般，每个人都睁大了惊恐的眼楮。帝国的帝制维持了那幺久，帝国人民就像一台常年被搁置的庞大机器，内部早已锈迹斑斑，只有连续不断的沉重敲击才能使其恢复往日的运作。

"..."

"Where are we soldiers going?"

"..."

In fact, even if you don't ask him, you know that the torrent of history cannot be changed by them. They are just a leaf in the torrent, floating and sinking together.

It's just, it's ironic to say that, looking back at later generations, history always chooses its development direction early on, but it never patiently waits for the gradual evolution, but always uses extremely bloody methods. achieve its purpose.

It's really hard to change something like this.

……

——After the parliamentary election, many merchants are expecting the nobles to fulfill their promises.

Ironically, however, the benefits of those promises only lasted a mere few months.

很快，旧财政年结束，统计的结果是——这一年的政府收入只佔了政府支出的百分之十。

The emperor was furious, and immediately dismissed the Minister of Finance and ordered the new Minister of Finance to take office immediately.

In order to raise military expenditures, the new chancellor of the exchequer has gone to great lengths.

Soon, the empire introduced a series of policies.

First of all, taxation is raised, and at the same time, some seemingly unreasonable taxes that are difficult to collect are given to local forces, and they are required to hand over 80.00% of the tax revenue to the central government.Most of these local forces are local nobles, relying on their local power to forcibly collect taxes.

Second, declare the government bankrupt and stop all interest payments on the national debt.This news was like a hornet's nest. All of a sudden, the bond holders were afraid that they would lose all their principal, and they went to the bank to cash it out. The trading system was instantly paralyzed, and even a long queue was formed outside the bank.Banks are overwhelmed and are draining cash at a rapid rate, demanding that the government pay the national debt immediately.The government only said that there was no money, and finally "conceded" and proposed "only two-thirds of the face value of the coupons in total", "cancellation of interest", "extending the payment time limit to three years", etc. The bank had no choice but to Yes, the two parties signed the contract, and the bankers gnashed their teeth and swore to the sky that they would never buy any bonds issued by the government again.

However, what is very tragic is that after only a few months, the Republic moved very close to the capital star, and the government even began to consider moving the capital.In order to defend the capital, the government issued bonds again.The reaction of the financial and business circles at this time is touching. Many businessmen and bankers who sneered and said they would never be deceived before bought bonds again. They are not stupid. On the contrary, they know that this is likely to be another They lost all their money, but they still poured their money to support the army. They are undoubtedly true patriots.After the issuance of national debt this time, the military expenditure was supplemented, and Tan Yan temporarily forced the opponent's army to retreat at a great price.

The third is to set up fees under various names, for example, to force merchant ships to accept escorts on the grounds of protecting merchant ships during times of war, and to levy escort fees on them.

Fourth, clean up "flawed" enterprises.For "problematic" enterprises, forcibly take over the enterprises or auction the shares.In this storm, many private companies were nationalized or changed ownership overnight.Many businessmen dare not expand their enterprises, for fear that such behavior will plant the seeds of nightmares.This approach did not work as expected, because after a while entrepreneurs lost trust in the government.In public auctions one after another, no one is willing to buy the enterprises put up for auction by the government at a high price—who can guarantee that if it is auctioned today, it will not be taken away for a second public auction tomorrow?In this era, who can guarantee that the operation of the enterprise is error-free?

第五，取消赌禁，允许全国各地开设赌场，并向赌场征收高额运营费用。与此同时，在暗地里放开毒禁。政府隐于幕后，将“合作者”推到台前，不过“合作者”实在不聪明，仗着有政府的“许可”，贩毒越来越肆无忌惮，多次被人抓到明显线索，政府不敢坐视不理更不敢让百姓察觉到这种骯髒的合作，忍痛将其处死，暗中放开毒禁这个做法正式宣告夭折。

The good thing is that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer did not use the almost blackmail situation to force donations like his predecessor.

Through these practices, the new chancellor raised a lot of money in a short period of time.

However, the tyranny is fiercer than a tiger, and the business community feels that it has been cornered. "Military expenditure" is like a beast that can never be fed enough. No matter how much flesh and blood is cut off, it cannot satisfy one ten thousandth of it.

"We have no way to retreat, and one more step back will be an abyss." In this situation, the president of the General Chamber of Commerce called on the merchants to strike and fight.

The General Chamber of Commerce is a non-governmental organization. The purpose of its establishment at the beginning was to facilitate the communication of the business community. It never thought that one day it would take up the banner of fighting the government when the business world was in turmoil.

The president of the General Chamber of Commerce looks very hateful, but in reality he is responsible.

他四肢修长，走路缓慢，有很严重的驼背，大半个头都在肩膀以下，从他身后看去，甚至会觉得此人根本就没有头。他的眼楮大如铜铃，嘴却异常突出，两颊瘦削，曾经有人说他像只爬行动物，又像只鸟类动物，更像爬行动物和鸟类动物结合的产物，单单不像个人。

Before this strike, many businessmen hated him because of his appearance, but this strike showed his determination to protect the business world.

Under his advocacy, small-scale strikes continued.

In September, after gaining valuable experience, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the first nationwide strike.

Markets stopped trading, factories stopped production, and businesses stopped operating. They used violence to protest various exorbitant taxes imposed by the government.

All of a sudden, many industries across the empire were paralyzed.

Difficult negotiations have been held between the government and the business community.

Negotiations went on for a full 21 days.

Uncharacteristically, the business community has a firm attitude and is determined not to make too many concessions.

Catering to officials seems to have been engraved in the genes of businessmen.Businessmen are afraid of things and put their interests first. They always rely on power and maintain the existing system. They never have the courage to stand on the opposite side at the risk of having nothing. The revolutionaries in history and those who ushered in a new era have never been businessmen.But this time, as they were cornered, there was unprecedented bravery in their blood.

In the end, judging from the results, the business community has won the expected victory.The government granted eleven of the fifteen demands made by the business community, and partially granted the remaining four.

Unexpectedly, the government's move was only a delaying measure.

Three months passed in a flash, and the government failed to implement any of the fifteen items.

Then, at the end of December, merchants began a second, larger-scale strike.This time, they have the support of many other organizations.

They naively thought that the government was afraid of their actions.They believe that the government has no choice but to compromise in order to open the market.

"This time we decided to strike until the government does something, and we won't be cheated anymore." Everyone was excited for the inevitable victory. The fourth time, the fifth time... let them never dare to act recklessly in the face of no one!"

This time, the emperor who was on the opposite side realized that this group of businessmen was very tricky, far from being as easy to deal with as it was during the parliamentary elections, and it didn't happen this time that they could be disintegrated and turned into a mess as long as they were given some benefits.

但是，抗议者说什幺，他就照做什幺，是根本没可能的事。

In that case, where is the majesty of the government?Where is the majesty of the emperor?

In the sixth week of the strike, the president of the General Chamber of Commerce was invited by friends to have dinner at the largest hotel in the empire.

There, he unexpectedly met the Chancellor himself.

财政大臣亲自为他斟满了酒并给他指明了两条路︰立刻停止罢市恢复运营，否决，就会被灌下毒酒毙命于此。

The president of the General Chamber of Commerce laughed without hesitation for a moment, picked up the wine glass and drank it down in one gulp.

It is said that his laughter can be heard even outside the room door.

While the chairman was killed in the hotel, the emperor formally decided to suppress it violently.

The heads of shops and enterprises involved in the strike were forcibly taken away by the police. Immediately, the prison was filled with entrepreneurs who were envied by others who were still dressed in neat suits a few years ago.

There are also military police who suddenly broke into the protest site and used force to disperse the protesting crowd.

Although the Empire tried to cover up the truth, the fact that there were casualties at each location was well known to many.

At the beginning, the merchants also decided to fight to the end and never give up halfway.

But their losses are getting bigger and bigger.

In March, the weather in Capital Star is getting warmer, and flowers are gradually blooming.

The head of the military and police responsible for the violent suppression found and executed the new chairman who had taken over the position of the chairman for only one month. His head was hanging outside the gate of the palace. Hopeless, the market was forced to open one after another.

At this point, the imperial military business was officially split.