Seeing Yixun's posture low, Yi Zhishu didn't have much humility and walked straight into the courtyard first, and sat down in the house, he didn't knock on the side but asked directly: "The sixth master came to Shanghai in Weifu, but there is something important?" ”

Yi Xun is quite familiar with Yi Zhi's conversation style, and said with a smile when he heard the words: "For more than a year, Yuanqi newspapers have been tracking and reporting on the American Civil War. ”

What is the purpose of this guy's microservice coming to Shanghai? Yi Zhishu secretly pondered in his heart, but he didn't answer and asked, "What does the sixth master think?" ”

The civil war in the United States involved a wide range of people, and it was already attracting the attention of the world, coupled with Yuan Qi's uninterrupted continuous reports, the Qing Dynasty and the opposition were extremely concerned about this war, and Yi Xun, who was interested in promoting the constitution of the hypocritical monarchy, was even more concerned.

In my humble opinion, I am afraid that it will not be possible to end it in a short time, and the war will last for at least two or three years, or at most four or five years ......, and if it provokes the intervention of European countries, the situation may be even more complicated. ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, "It is indeed difficult to end in a short period of time, and it is very likely that it will continue for two or three years." ”

"The United States is known as the cotton kingdom, is the world's largest cotton producer, Europe imports cotton from the United States, this civil war, led to a significant reduction in cotton production, seriously affected the textile industry in European countries."

Yi Xun said softly along with these words: "The textile industry is the pillar industry of England, and there are as many as one million textile workers alone, and there is a shortage of cotton, and the whole country is panicking, and British businessmen are all over the world to buy cotton ........ ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Yi Zhicontent, and there was a hint of pleading in his tone, "The northern provinces are rich in cotton, and the scale of cotton cultivation has been expanding in recent years, can Yuan Qi subcontract the cotton from the north to the imperial court ......." ”

Is the co-author seeing that Yuanqi is making money and wants to get a piece of the pie? Yi Zhishu couldn't help but smile and said: "Even if it is a large concession to cotton farmers, there are still four or five times the benefits of transshipment to Europe, how much silver is this year?" Transferred to the imperial court, how do I explain to the shareholders of Yuanqi? ”

"The court can pay three times the price." Yixun hurriedly said that he did not want to make money, but wanted to use the cotton trade to close relations with Britain and France.

With Yuanqi's continuous delivery of cotton to Europe, Britain and France and other countries have realized that the scale of cotton planting in the Qing Dynasty has exceeded their imagination, through the ambassador to China to the Qing Imperial Court, it is only then that in recent years, under the vigorous promotion and support of Yuanqi, the cotton planting of the Qing Dynasty has formed a scale, and the northern provinces and Huguang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang and other provinces have vigorously promoted and popularized cotton planting, and the annual output of cotton is estimated to have reached 2 million bales.

Upon learning of this information, Britain and France were overjoyed, and they contacted the imperial court, hoping to join hands with the imperial court to cooperate in the cotton business.

European countries have suffered a lot in the bulk trade of tea and raw silk over the years, and after the opening of Tianjin, they wanted to break this pattern - directly cooperate with the Qing court and break the monopoly of Yuanqi.

However, the main production areas of tea and raw silk are basically in the southeast, even the Qing court has no choice, but Shaanxi, Gansu and the northern provinces are rich in cotton, so European merchants and ambassadors from various countries have lobbied the Qing court, hoping to fight for control of cotton in the north.

Yi Xun naturally understands that it is not easy to snatch food from Yuan Qi's mouth, and this time he came to report the attitude of giving it a try, he does not expect the imperial court to make money from it, but he wants to increase the status of the imperial court in the eyes of European countries.

As soon as he heard Yixun say that the price of transferring northern cotton was tripled, Yi Zhishu roughly guessed the other party's thoughts, and groaned slightly, before he said: "Don't say three times the price, even if the price is five times, Yuan Qi will not transfer it." ”

"Why is that?" Yixun looked puzzled, he believed that the other party would not be angry with the court.

"Does anyone in the imperial court know about the international market of cotton? Know when to expand and when to shrink? Will the imperial court be accountable to cotton farmers? Yi Zhizhi asked a rhetorical question.

Listening to this series of rhetorical questions, Yi Xun couldn't help but show a wry smile, not to mention the imperial court, even the entire Qing Dynasty, or even the whole world, no one has this ability, except for the one in front of him, who can start laying out cotton as early as a few years ago, this vision is unmatched.

He wouldn't think that Yi Zhicontent was just a blind cat touching a dead mouse and happened to bump into it, he was sure that Yi Zhifen had definitely expected the outbreak of the American Civil War for a long time, and expected that the war would cause a significant reduction in cotton production, so Yuan Qi would spare no effort to promote and popularize cotton planting on a large scale.

Seeing him with a wry smile on his face, Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Cotton will not always remain at a high level, and once the price falls, it will inevitably be like an avalanche, and it may even not be able to sell!" The popularization of cotton planting was promoted by Yuanqi, and Yuanqi could not care about the life or death of cotton farmers after making money. ”

After hesitating, Yi Xun said: "If Brother Guocheng can inform in advance, the imperial court can also persuade cotton farmers to change their ........" ”

"It's easy to say." Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "The rise and fall of cotton prices is often related to the trade of hundreds of millions of taels of silver, how can you easily leak the news." ”

Hearing him say this, Yi Xun knew that this was impossible, sighed lightly, and he turned his head around, "It has been a year since the new monarch ascended the throne, when does Brother Guocheng think it is the opportunity to implement the hypocrisy of the monarchy?" ”

Yi Zhizhi glanced at him, and slowly lit a cigarette, which may be the purpose of the other party's micro-service to come to Shanghai to see him, and the cotton is just incidental, and the hypocrisy is constitutional, this matter was called when Xianfeng died, and the micro-service came to Shanghai after a year.

It seems that the other party is very urgent to implement the hypocrisy constitution, because he himself is dissatisfied with the current power? Or is it for the sake of the Qing Dynasty? The other party, as the current emperor's uncle, is the head of the eight ministers who care for life, and the deep trust of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the power of the world, it seems that it should be for the sake of the Qing Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji.

After a slight hesitation, he spoke: "Whether it is a hypocritical constitution or a republican constitution, it is an extremely cautious matter, the sixth master should know that England and the United States have gone through ten years before and after the constitution, how long has the Qing Dynasty been preparing for the constitution?" ”

"As early as when the first emperor allowed the reform of the law and the implementation of the new policy, I was already preparing for the constitution of the hypocrite." Yi Xun said slowly: "I hired some staff to compile a constitutional ....... on the basis of referring to the constitutional systems of England and the United States, combined with the laws of the Qing Dynasty. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi couldn't help but chuckle and said: "It's really a coincidence, I also organized a large number of people to compile the Qing Constitution, but the progress is quite slow, since the sixth master has also compiled one, you might as well let them learn from it." ”

Yi Zhishu is also working on the codification of the constitution? Yixun's heart sank, Yuan Qi still wanted to replace the Qing Dynasty after all! Otherwise, how could we organize people to compile the constitution by hand? He immediately said quietly: "This is very good, I will immediately invite them to Shanghai, and the two groups of people will discuss together, so as to learn from each other's strengths and make up for their weaknesses." ”

"That's what I mean." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "Constitutionalism began in the West, with a strong Western cultural background and tradition, with distinctive Western characteristics and national spirit, our East has a long civilization, with a profound cultural and historical tradition that is even deep in the bone marrow.

There is no best system in the world, only the most suitable, the formulation of the constitution, these factors must be taken into account, but also in line with our current national conditions of the Qing Dynasty, to be honest, this constitution is not easy to formulate, although I do not lack of scholars who understand the West and are good at Western constitutionalism, but there is a lack of famous Confucianism and masters who are good at Qing Dynasty laws and regulations, if they can be combined into one, they will inevitably be able to compile a constitution that has both oriental characteristics and conforms to the current national conditions. ”

There is no best, only the most suitable, this word makes Yixin have a refreshing feeling, thinking about it is indeed not unreasonable, he couldn't help but smile, "The orange was born in Huainan and is called the orange, and the orange is planted in Huaibei." ”

"Yes, that's right." Yi Zhizhi said: "There are indeed a lot of good things in the West, but we can't just copy them rigidly, especially the system, we must properly improve it to adapt to and conform to our actual situation." ”

After a little silence, Yi Xun asked tentatively: "Brother Guocheng doesn't seem to be in a hurry to implement the constitution?" ”

"There's really no hurry." Yi Zhizhi said: "Constitution-making is not a trivial matter, it is far from enough to have a good "Constitution", there must also be a constitutional foundation, to implement the hypocrisy of the monarchy, there must be a certain legal, political, ideological, economic, social foundation, and so on, otherwise, it is a castle in the air."

In addition, in order to implement the constitution, there must also be a strong class that supports the constitution, and it is necessary to win the support of as many classes as possible, the gentry class will not become the main force to promote the constitution, and it is the emerging bourgeoisie that urgently needs the constitution, that is, the merchants! ”

Hearing him say this, Yixun's face couldn't help but be a little ugly, to meet these conditions, it is impossible to do it in ten or eight years, and even ten or eight years may not be able to be satisfied, he said a little unwillingly: "We are implementing the constitution from the top down..... It doesn't seem necessary to be so cautious, right? ”

"Yes, the top-down implementation of the constitution will be much smoother, but some foundations are essential, otherwise, the constitution will be in vain." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "For example, the ideological foundation, the social foundation is indispensable, and the ideas of democracy, freedom, human rights, etc., must be deeply rooted in the hearts ........of the people. ”

"Since the constitution is being implemented from the top down, it is entirely possible to establish the constitution first, and then propagate and popularize these ideas." "In this way, the effect will be better." ”

Yi Zhisuff didn't answer his words, looked at him and muttered for a while, before he said in a deep voice: "There is one more important issue, the national issue, although the imperial court has abolished the Eight Banners system, but in the two hundred years since the founding of the country, the first to worship Manchuria, this is an indisputable fact, if you want to establish a constitution, you must effectively alleviate the national problem." ”

After a little silence, Yi Xun said: "Brother Guocheng also said that in the two hundred years since the founding of this dynasty, the orthodoxy of the Qing Dynasty has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. ”

"Yes, I have said that, and I have said it on many occasions." Yi Zhi said with a full jaw: "This is not a statement against his will, but a fact, two hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the orthodoxy of the regime is an indisputable fact, and no one can erase this, it is indeed deeply rooted in the hearts of the people."

However, has the sixth master thought about it, once the ideas of democracy and freedom are popularized, will the Han people, who occupy the absolute majority of the population, turn over the old accounts? Will other ethnic groups such as Tibetan, Hui, Uyghur, and Miao turn over old accounts? ”

Hearing this, Yixun was speechless, the Qing Dynasty ruled China for 200 years, and it has always been the first to worship Manchuria, win over and use Mongolia, and suppress other ethnic groups.

Seeing that he was silent, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "In my opinion, the imperial court should not be in a hurry to establish a constitution, it should first lay a good foundation for constitutionalization, promote the idea of democracy and freedom, popularize and promote the legal system, improve the status of businessmen, etc., the focus is to ease ethnic relations, promote the concept of the Chinese nation, promote ethnic equality, and reasonably arrange important ministers of the imperial court." ”

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, "Since the sixth master is sincere in promoting the constitution of the hypocritical monarch, he can't sell dog meat on the head of a sheep, and come up with a royal cabinet or a Manchu cabinet.

Why did Yuan Qi continue to follow and report on the American Civil War? It is to let the whole court and the opposition see how many casualties will be caused by the outbreak of a large-scale civil war and how much disaster and loss it will bring to the country and the nation in this era of hot weapons.

From a personal point of view, I don't want a large-scale civil war to break out in the Qing Dynasty, because the scale of our civil war is far from being comparable to the scale of the American civil war.

Of course, if the imperial court cannot smoothly implement the constitution and realize the real constitution, even if it is unbearable, Yuan Qi will raise troops to fight, in today's world, the constitutional republic is an unstoppable trend, and the absolute monarchy must be overthrown. ”

Listening to this, Yi Xun was not surprised, Yi Zhi's words undoubtedly showed his attitude, Yuan Qi did not have to rebel, what he needed was a real constitution, and he said this with the American Civil War as a reference, which can be seen from sincerity.

After secretly breathing a sigh of relief in his heart, he spoke: "Brother Guocheng, rest assured, the imperial court will not implement the constitutional rules, otherwise it will inevitably achieve a real constitution, emphasizing the constitution over the monarch, taking the people as the foundation, and the constitution as the key link." ”