Chapter 588

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The bedchamber was filled with the sweet scent of roasted sweet potatoes.

Xiao Ming and Fei Yuer each held one, eating with relish. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten Imperial Concubine Zhen; he had already sent some roasted sweet potatoes to her earlier.

“Your Highness, these sweet potatoes are so delicious and high-yielding. This is truly a blessing for the Great Yu Empire,” Fei Yuer chewed slowly, the smile in her eyes growing deeper.

Xiao Ming nodded, “Now with potatoes and sweet potatoes, I am at ease concerning the state’s agriculture.”

For him, the main things he introduced were these two high-yield crops. As for other cash crops, he wasn’t in a hurry. After all, the common people of the Great Yu Empire were currently only seeking basic sustenance, not craving nutritional balance like modern people.

Fei Yuer nodded, then she said, “Now, Your Highness not only doesn’t need to worry about agriculture, but you also don’t need to worry about the textile industry. After the steam engine entered the textile workshop, the output of cloth increased greatly. Now, the cotton sent from Chu is not enough.”

As she spoke, Fei Yuer took a roll of blue cloth from the table and brought it to Xiao Ming.

“This is the cloth woven by the textile workshop?” Xiao Ming spread the cloth in his hand and stroked it. Although this cloth was dyed, its surface was very smooth, and each cotton thread was very tightly woven.

Holding the cloth, he pulled hard on it, which showed that the cloth was very strong. Overall, this was the most exquisite cloth Xiao Ming had seen in the Great Yu Empire.

“This is certainly real. Only the looms in the textile workshop combined with the steam engine can produce such cloth. Now, I am 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 workshop, so the cotton is not enough, and the price of cotton from Chu has also risen because of this.”

At this, Fei Yuer seemed displeased, probably blaming the cotton merchants from Chu for raising prices opportunistically.

Xiao Ming, however, was unconcerned. He said, “Actually, it’s very simple. When the price of cotton rises, the price of cloth also becomes expensive. At that time, we will let our merchants sell it at a high price to Chu, and the profit will be earned back.”

Fei Yuer immediately smiled upon hearing this. She said, “Your Highness is right. I will instruct Lu Luo tomorrow to raise the price of cloth sold to Chu merchants.”

During this period, Xiao Ming had spent less time with Fei Yuer due to the war in Wei. Now that he had some free time, Fei Yuer seemed to have endless things to say.

After talking about sweet potatoes and cloth, Fei Yuer suddenly asked with interest, “Your Highness, yesterday when I was lecturing at the women’s academy, one of the female students mentioned something about feudalism and constitutional monarchy.”

“Who said that?” Hearing this, Xiao Ming frowned.

Fei Yuer saw Xiao Ming’s serious expression and dared not conceal anything, saying, “This female student is none other than Yang Shiman, the daughter of Yang Chengye, the prefect of Dengzhou. I also asked her, but she said that a Dutch merchant told her about dual monarchy and parliamentary monarchy.”

“Dutch merchants,” Xiao Ming nodded. “That’s not surprising. Yang Chengye interacts a lot with the Dutch, so it’s inevitable that he would learn some Western things from them.”

Fei Yuer was his confidante, and Xiao Ming usually taught her a lot of knowledge not present in the Great Yu Empire. However, he had never discussed these national political systems with Fei Yuer.

Now that Fei Yuer asked, he explained, “What the Dutch refer to as feudalism is the current political system of the Great Yu Empire. This system is based on a hierarchical enfeoffment by the noble ruling class, occupying land and peasants as wealth. As for constitutional monarchy, it is the political system of many Western countries now. Generally speaking, constitutional monarchy is divided into dual constitutional monarchy and parliamentary constitutional monarchy.”

Fei Yuer showed an interested expression. After reading the books from Bowen Academy, she gradually became interested in other parts of the world.

Taking a sip of tea, he continued, “The essence of constitutional monarchy is to establish a parliament to limit the monarch’s power. However, the difference is that in a dual constitutional monarchy, the emperor’s power is higher than that of the parliament, while in a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the emperor may lose some power, or even become a mere figurehead.”

“What is this parliament?” Fei Yuer asked.

“Simply put, it is the supreme power institution that represents the interests of merchants. This institution possesses all the powers of the emperor,” Xiao Ming explained.

Fei Yuer frowned tightly. She said, “These Western countries are really strange. Why can an institution representing the interests of merchants rule a country? If so, wouldn’t this country become a tool for merchants to accumulate wealth?”

Xiao Ming was somewhat surprised. He looked at Fei Yuer and asked, “Do you think this kind of national system is not good?”

“Not good,” Fei Yuer answered decisively. “Merchants pursue profit. They can do anything for profit.”

Xiao Ming smiled, “However, feudal autocracy also has its drawbacks; it’s just that the accumulators of wealth change from merchants to powerful families. In essence, there’s no difference.”

Fei Yuer said, “Your Highness is right. Therefore, a wise monarch can prosper a nation, and a foolish monarch can ruin a nation. But the mandate of heaven is bestowed upon the monarch, so why should Your Highness be interfered with by Western countries?”

Xiao Ming sighed. For him, the real crisis was far from the internal strife of the Great Yu Empire, nor the covetous powerful nations. The biggest crisis actually came from within the Great Yu Empire.

Now, to improve the level of civilization, he was popularizing education in the state, and the result of this was the enlightenment of the people. Once the people’s minds were opened, the common people and merchants would actively participate in state affairs.

At that time, it was unknown whether the Great Yu Empire would experience a Glorious Revolution like England’s or a French Revolution.

Precisely because of this, the matter brought up by Fei Yuer suddenly cast a shadow over his heart, because perhaps one day, his enemies would be the very people who once supported him.

Because he would not allow events similar to England’s Glorious Revolution or the French Revolution to happen in the Great Yu Empire, nor would he allow capital to control the country.

In his opinion, the system is not the decisive factor in a country’s rise or fall, because any system is implemented by people, and the ultimate problem lies in the hands of the implementers. Because of this, since ancient times, contemporary China has advocated governance by the virtuous.

However, maintaining a feudal autocracy with the mandate of heaven is also inappropriate. Therefore, he will follow the pace of the times and make some changes to the Great Yu Empire’s political system, but he will not strictly imitate the West. For him, a combination of Chinese and Western approaches is more appealing, adopting a middle ground and drawing on the strengths of both to govern the country.

However, discussing political reform before the Great Yu Empire is stable is still too early. He now needs a stable environment to centralize power to end the current warlord chaos. Otherwise, once internal strife arises, it would be equivalent to cutting off his own arms.