The corridor is winding, green bamboos are hidden, and the breeze is blowing, and June in the summer resort is a little cooler out of thin air.

There is a large picture of "Smoke and Rain" hanging on the western wall. In front of the desk, Ye Zhaozheng and Li Hongzhang discussed matters.

It has been almost four years since Ye Zhao has been devoted to government affairs, forgetting to eat and sleep, and doing everything in detail. He seems to have lost a lot of weight, but everyone knows that the emperor's heart is Shangyi's death, and he devotes himself to government affairs to dilute the depression in his heart.

Many things happened to the empire and the entire world in the past four years. For example, Li Hongzhang took office as prime minister two years ago, the empire opened the party ban at the beginning of this year, and the death of Napoleon III and Grandpa Sharava. But overall, the whole world is still peaceful under a delicate balance.

The party ban has just been lifted, and various political parties have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Soon the Imperial Parliament will hold its first general election. Li Hongzhang, Du Boqi, Zhang Youcun and even Zhou Jingshan, who was originally a living at home, were invited to build a party.

Among these political parties, the "People's Livelihood Party" composed of Li Hongzhang, Chen Bingying and Zou Kai is the strongest, representing the power of the conservative and democratic faction. The "People's Livelihood" is also taken from the most famous "People's Livelihood and Democracy" in the works of the Great Emperor. It is the royalist party that claims to be the authentic one.

Duboch's "Civil Affairs Association" brings together a large number of scholars, generally believed to be the moderate and most academic party.

The "Loyalty and Righteous National Protection Society" established by Zhang Youcun and some veterans respected imperial power and believed in expansionism.

The "Da Gong Party" established by Zhou Jingshan and Fujian and Guangdong gentry as the main body is the representative of the interests of the conservative group.

In addition, there are many small parties, many of which Ye Zhao has carefully read their party principles.

It also seems a bit absurd. No matter what kind of political party, it is always moving closer to the color of loyalty to the emperor. This is inevitable. In today's parliamentary elections, only by promoting themselves as the party closest to the emperor can we win votes, right?

According to the Imperial Constitution and Royal Ceremony revised at the beginning of this year, the scope of citizens who have obtained voting rights in the empire. Citizens who need to be over 18 and have received total assets of more than 5,000 yuan in primary school and above will automatically obtain voting rights regardless of gender. In fact, in the UK, educated women have just obtained voting rights.

In the revised constitution, it is somewhat similar to the so-called binary constitutional monarchy in later generations. That is, the monarch can directly appoint and remove members of the cabinet. However, the fundamental difference from the binary constitutional monarchy is that the normal way of forming the imperial cabinet is to rely on elections. The imperial emperor appointed the majority leader in parliamentary elections as the Prime Minister of the State Council and organized the cabinet.

In sensitive areas such as the southwest and northwest border areas, special administrative regions shall be directly appointed by the central government, and the chief officials of other provinces shall be gradually elected. At the same time, cities and counties will also achieve parallel administrative management, all under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, which facilitates centralization.

However, now the provincial chiefs are still appointed by the State Council or the Imperial Study Room to avoid sudden party disputes and voter elections causing chaos in the country.

The imperial emperor naturally enjoyed the power to abolish all officials and dissolve the parliament. At the same time, the nominal supreme commander and actual supreme commander of the imperial team are naturally only competent.

In the past four years, Ye Zhao has almost devoted his entire thoughts to the matter of opening up the party ban. Jin Feng's death has a huge blow to Ye Zhao. At the same time, it also made him realize that life is impermanent and many things are delayed again and again, he may not be able to find a suitable opportunity. The political situation is stable and the people are rich. The longer the time, the more people are determined, the more difficult it will be to change. No matter how good the current empire is, if you don't take action fundamentally from the system, the people in the future will eventually fall into darkness.

There were dozens or hundreds of parties who immediately appeared when the ban was lifted. This was expected. Not to mention the preparations for so many years, even when the late Qing Dynasty was preparing to establish a constitution, those parties did not spring up like mushrooms after a rain. Speaking of which, today's parties are always more formal and progressive than those organized during the late Qing Dynasty constitution, but they are only compared with the late Qing Dynasty. These strange parties are afraid that they will turn the election into a farce.

However, we must always take the first step. Ye Zhao feels that the farce of democracy is more worthy of respect than the solemnity of dictatorship.

Now that the election is approaching, Ye Zhao feels that he has finally lifted his burden. In four years, he suddenly feels sleepy for the first time and wants to have a good sleep.

"You are busy lately, so you don't have to come and pay tribute from time to time." Ye Zhao twisted the Buddhist beads with expressionless expression. Nowadays, leaders of all parties are trying their best to get the summoned by the emperor in order to boost the morale of the party and the support of the people.

Li Hongzhang knew very well that the emperor did not want to show any tendency today, and it was not easy to meet him today. After all, he is the prime minister now and has convenient conditions. He just reported on the situation of the French fleet entering the Persian Gulf and negotiating with the Ottoman Empire in Türkiye.

Iran is now the western frontier projected by the imperial power. The battle with Britain and France lasted for several years. However, with the completion of the railway from the Bukhara Khanate to Tehran a year ago, this competition came to an end. In addition to its long-term operation in the Persian Gulf Basra area, the influence of the empire gradually reached the holy city of Baghdad and the southern part of the Ottoman Empire.

In recent years, although Russia has hated China, the irreconcilable contradictions with the Turkish Ottoman have been intensifying. Because Russia's involvement in the Eastern Empire, Britain and France, the original Turkey's ally, gradually took a neutral position in the conflict between Russia and Turkey. Russia did not dare to challenge the giants standing in the East for the time being, and seeking interests from the Caucasus and Eastern Europe has become the main theme of its foreign policy.

With the intervention of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Belgium and other countries, the Turkish Ottoman Empire is now in turmoil and shaky.

The East-West trade routes, due to the extension of the New Silk Road railway line, a new pattern has gradually emerged. Many Eastern merchants transported goods from the Central Plains to Tehran through railways, and then sold them from Tehran to the Turkish Ottoman Empire by land, and then entered Europe via the Turkish Ottoman Ottoman, but it was not much slower than the sea route. However, the tax revenue along the way was very heavy, and some roads were not very safe, so the proportion of sea trade still accounted for the vast majority of the share.

In India, the British plan to train Indian mercenaries is progressing slowly for various reasons. First, the British Parliament has made great controversy. Many MPs believe that this move has not only put a heavy burden on taxpayers. Second, after the Chinese clerks made it mild to international affairs outside the southeast, even in Tehran, China did not show any aggressiveness, accusing the existence of British and French forces in Iran, and at the same time, it repeatedly stated that they respect the special interests of the British in India and South China Sea. The intensive visits and propaganda of the Chinese missions to Europe have also caused many Europeans to eliminate their vigilance against the Eastern Empire. Moreover, China is carrying out difficult political reforms, and under this circumstance, the threat has been greatly reduced, and some of the backbone forces within the British Conservative Party have also changed their attitude towards China. Third, the Indian national consciousness has gradually risen, which has also caused the British government to lose interest in the training of the new Indian army with a huge number of armed forces.

Overall, countries around the world are reshuffled in a delicate balance, while the Chinese are conducting constitutional monarchy and changes in parliamentary elections have attracted the attention of the whole world. Some European politicians gloat in hope that this huge empire will become chaotic, collapse and even die in partisan disputes.

After Li Hongzhang left, Ye Zhao looked at the floor bell, then turned on the radio on the table. Of course, it might be more appropriate to use a radio receiver to describe it.

Due to technical reasons, Beijing Wireless Broadcasting Corporation did not really start broadcasting to the whole city until the beginning of this year. The emergence of radio stations is naturally indispensable for Ye Zhao's contribution. The invention of vacuum diodes was invented when developing telephones, and the birth of transistors and electronic tubes was also indispensable for Ye Zhao to inspire outstanding scientists in the empire.

However, electronic tubes are expensive nowadays, so even the middle class cannot afford it. In the whole city, only more than a hundred radio stations have been sold. Beijing Wireless Broadcasting Corporation loses money almost every day, but the company affiliated with royal assets is operating at a loss. I think without Ye Zhao, radio broadcasting would not have happened even for commercial reasons.

A sad song floated on the radio, and Ye Zhao suddenly felt a tightness in his heart, as if he had been stabbed by a needle, and it hurts so much.

Four years have passed, and the voice, appearance and smile are still in front of you when the golden phoenix is ​​gone, making Ye Zhao's heart tighten.

Jinfeng said that she will never regret it in this life and will be with the emperor in the next life.

This is Jin Feng's last sentence. His smiling eyes were so clear and tender, and Ye Zhao's heart was painful again.

The music suddenly stopped, and the matchmaker walked in at some point and gently turned off the radio.

Looking at Ye Zhao's tightly holding Buddhist beads and the sweat on his face, the matchmaker didn't say anything, but just walked over and gently wiped Ye Zhao's forehead and cheeks with a handkerchief.

Ye Zhao slowly leaned on the seat and closed his eyes.

"You should go out for a relaxing time and go out for a walk. Now you have some things to be busy with. Is it good to go for a relaxing time?" The matchmaker asked him softly.

In the past four years, Ye Zhao almost lived a life as an ascetic, dealing with government affairs and investigating pros and cons. Only matchmakers and Rong'er were with him.

"Besides, you haven't seen each other for a long time, right? Do you know that Hua Ji has been sick? You have to cherish the person in front of you, don't wait..." The matchmaker suddenly stopped and gently held Ye Zhao's hand, stared at Ye Zhao, and said, "Your heartache, Jin Feng knows, and you will definitely blame us..."

Ye Zhao patted the matchmaker's hand and said nothing.

The matchmaker said softly again: "You go out and relax. I will help you supervise the country. If there is any movement, I will report it to you."
Chapter completed!