Britain is extremely powerful and the hegemon of the world, so their officialdom is not corrupt, so they are not corrupt and corrupt? Didn't the big landowners and merchant class in Britain have strong rights?

How could the two Opium Wars have broken out without the two Opium Wars?

Members of the upper and lower houses of the British Parliament, each of them represents the magic of money behind them.

For Chinese, when a country reaches the peak of its own power, it is often the so-called prosperous era. Officials of that period were usually honest and capable, and their politics were clear.

Because in the imagination of the Chinese, they cannot imagine that the officials are corrupt and sell their official positions on the one hand, and on the other hand, the national strength of the country is increasing day by day, and the national situation is thriving!

But facts have proved that this is what the British did. Their internal affairs are corrupt, and officials and businessmen are no longer colluding, but have become a unified whole. But they seized the juncture of history, the industrial age spawned by the steam engine, combined with the huge colonies of the British, so that Britain stood proudly at the top of the world.

And what about the United States? Don't look at the weak status of others in the world, and they don't have the corresponding strength in the East, they are like a little brother who follows behind Britain, France, Germany and Russia. But people are diligently cultivating their internal strength. The gross national product of the United States is growing rapidly, and the next 20 years will actually be the 20 years in which the British Empire will lose its world hegemony. The United States and Germany are catching up with Britain and France, two old powers, in industry.

And political corruption, like the flu, is a chronic disease in American life.

In October 1781, the United States won the Revolutionary War and established its own democratically elected government. After the end of the autocratic British colonial rule and the initial establishment of the democratic political system. Political corruption in the United States has gradually decreased.

Because at that time, the founding fathers of the United States, Washington, Jefferson, and other presidents, their own moral qualities were relatively high. At the same time, the scale of the government is relatively small, and the government work is relatively small. Therefore, the Cheng dù of corruption is also relatively low. But after the war of 1812, corruption in the United States began to surface, and there was a series of incidents of embezzlement of federal funds. Since then, as the process of developing the western region has accelerated, some members of Congress and developers have colluded to speculate on land on a large scale, and at the same time use government contracts to carry out dirty transactions and wantonly embezzle federal subsidies. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in the 1860s, federal military spending increased dramatically. Brokers and arms dealers, in collusion with corrupt officials, plundered hundreds of millions of dollars of national wealth. After the end of the Civil War, the U.S. economy entered a period of rapid development, and the level of corruption continued to increase.

"The period of President Grant's reign from 1869 to 1877 was a period of high corruption in American history." He Tianjue said this unabashedly when facing the important ministers within Great Qin. He also specifically cited two major scandals in the United States during this period, namely the credit company scandal and the whiskey gang incident.

When the Union Pacific Railroad was built to expand westward, the federal government authorized the Union Pacific Railroad. The government has allocated 20 million acres of state-owned land for the planned railway and projects along the line, with loans ranging from $16,000 to $48,000 per mile of the line, depending on the difficulty of construction. The total amount is more than $60 million. This is a huge investment in infrastructure projects, equivalent to 40 million taels of silver. Some entrepreneurs and government officials involved in the project were so greedy that they started the idea of swallowing federal grants.

They calculated that once the railway was completed and put into operation. Due to the desert and mountainous location along the route, operating costs would be high, plus many of the original Indian territories would pass through. The potential harassment and destruction of the railroad by innocently losing their homes will further increase costs. In short, it is good that this company does not lose money for a period of time in the future. The likelihood of profitability is extremely slim.

Since Union Pacific Railroad itself will not be able to make money in the future, some of the company's executives came up with a crooked idea: start another company. Tongguòup contracted the construction of the railway and the supply of raw materials, in which the cost was falsely reported, and the money was made first, and then it was said that after the railway was completed, it would not matter whether the flood was monstrous or not!

Massachusetts Congressman Ames, who pushed for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, Durant, UP's vice president, and Bushnell and Arejhan, the company's executives, plus their accomplices, bought a government-backed company that was authorized by the Pennsylvania government in 1859 to engage in lending and contracting, which was moribund. After Durant and Ames and others took over, they renamed it the "American Chattel Credit Company" and turned it into the exclusive contractor for the construction of the Pacific Railroad.

In the course of the contract, the company invoiced Pacific Railroad for expenses that significantly exceeded the actual cost, and Pacific Railroad reimbursed the federal government with only a small amount of reasonable overhead and profits. These seemingly legitimate financial operations are often the work of the same person. The federal government significantly exceeded its budget for the project, spending $94.65 million in two years, of which more than $50 million went into the proceeds of the chattel credit company, which reported far less than the actual gains, with more than $23 million flowing into the group's wallets. The manager of the company set up a so-called credit company and then offered this company a construction contract that could make a lot of money. The actual cost of building the railroad was $44 million, while the credit company charged more than $94 million. Congressman Amis was the main leader of the new "railroad" company, and in order to prevent the government from investigating the two linked companies, he distributed shares of the company everywhere, including among key figures such as the then speaker and vice president of the House of Representatives and later President Garfield. After the incident, only Mills was condemned.

The Whiskey Gang is a multimillion-dollar case in which tax officials, distillers and vendors collude to evade millions of dollars, involving key officials from the Treasury Department and Grant's private secretary.

And corruption is prevalent not only in the U.S. federal government, but also in state and local governments. Since the middle of the 19th century, political parties, especially local leaders, have manipulated city and even state governments, not according to normal legal procedures, but through behind-the-scenes dealings between financiers and interest groups. Because of the ability to equalize profits, this kind of bribery-type corruption is rampant in the United States. They accuse the government, use government contracts to receive kickbacks, use government positions to pay party henchmen, and the government becomes a tool for the inner core group to pursue personal gains. Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, and many other cities have been manipulated by party leaders.

For example, huge fiscal expenditures are transferred to private companies in the form of government procurement contracts for construction projects; Many cities' financial funds are deposited in commercial banks with ties to their interest groups; The right to supply medicines to urban hospitals and relief supplies to poor residents is monopolized by specific enterprises; Municipal services such as street sweeping, garbage collection, etc., are outsourced to designated contractors......

Unlike the United Kingdom, where there is still a certain aristocracy as the basis of government, the United States is more naked and naked, the rights of merchants are more important, and the collusion between officials and businessmen, or officials become tools in the hands of businessmen, is also more obvious.

He Tianjue and Wei Tuoma walked around Nanjing and Guangzhou, and stunned countless ministers of the new dynasty.

It is really magical that such a court can last for a hundred years, and it can still make the country continue to grow and develop!

After the two of them walked around like this, the opposition within Great Qin immediately lowered. The spearhead of the courtiers was no longer aimed at whether or not to give some rights to the gentry and merchants, but how to prevent the emergence of similar phenomena in the country. Moreover, the discussion is no longer limited to the court, but has spread to the entire government and the opposition.

Wang Qing got Liu Xian's signal, and when Wei Tuma and He Tianjue passed through Shanghai, he took the initiative to contact and successfully interviewed the two, obtained a lot of first-hand information, and then a special issue broke out.

At this time, most of China was in a sensation. Liu Xian established the Consultative Bureau, which was obviously to give the local gentry and merchants rights. What is a little tax payment, for the gentry and merchants, especially the latter, the hat of the member of the Advisory Council is equivalent to the donation official in the former Qing Dynasty, but the status and power are greater and higher than the donation official. No rich family will lose a seat because of those taxes!

Liu Xian did this for a certain amount of time, and he could also ensure the income of the place. Daqin implements a tax-sharing system, national tax and local tax, how to distinguish and divide, of course, according to the 'ready-made regulations' of our Great Heavenly Empire. It is still quite recognized and welcomed by local officials.

At this time, some people cited the "Ta Kung Pao" as an example to prove the many rules of the second civil service reform in Britain in 1870, and believed that it was necessary to properly refer to the reform of the British to carry out the planning of the dynasty, so as to prevent problems before they occur.

During this period, it was also mentioned that in the second reform of the civil service in Britain in 1870, the examination system of open competition was clearly established, and this procedure was based on the imperial examination system in China. It is also said that the civil service system now implemented in Daqin can also see some traces of the provisions of the second civil service reform in Britain in 1870. Of course, they would never dare to say that Liu Xian was referring to the rules of the British, but would only say that 'the heroes see the same thing', which is the same!

In fact, the civil service system implemented by Daqin now is more that Liu Xian copied and integrated the official system of China in later generations, and he has heard of the civil service system in Britain, but the conscience of heaven and earth has really not seen it.

Moreover, China's own bureaucratic system has been developed for more than 2,000 years, and the selection of officials is not only based on the results of written examinations, but also on the appearance and temperament of the people, and the ability to express themselves in language, calligraphy, writing, and logical judgment. Liu Xian was very interested in the Tang Dynasty's 'body, speech, and writing', and eliminated the requirements for appearance, but inherited all the others. Although the 'words' are reduced to clear tongues, and the 'book' is reduced to clear handwriting and smooth grammar, the difficulty of electing officials in the Tang Dynasty has been greatly reduced. But relatively speaking, the British only pick a written test, but it is too advanced and practical. (To be continued......)