Deng Ming's return to Xuzhou was just in time for Liu Jinge, the prefect of Chengdu, to send people to Xuzhou to negotiate the interception of prisoners. Before the unpleasantness occurred in Chengdu and Xuzhou, Deng Ming stood up and said that the distribution of prisoners was his decision, and the envoys of Chengdu had no choice but to obey.

For Deng Ming, the dispute between Chengdu Mansion and Xuzhou Mansion is a trivial matter, as long as he is in western Sichuan, he can control the situation. On this issue, Xiong Lan and Qin Xiucai are both allies of Yuan Xiang, and if Xuzhou is a subordinate of Chengdu Prefecture, Liu Jinge's power is above the tax bureau and the central bank. Even if Xuzhou can't compete with Chengdu for the time being, as long as the two families don't breathe out of one nostril, then Xiong Lan and Qin Xiucai will have more room to bargain with the yamen of the two prefectures.

For Deng Ming, what is more important is that the parliament of Xuzhou was convened in Deng Ming's absence. The proprietors of the commercial banks used chicken feathers as arrows to formulate some provisions to suppress agriculture and support industry and commerce, and this attempt was immediately stopped by Deng Ming -- in Deng Ming's view, there is nothing more in need of support than agriculture, and now the bosses of the commercial banks want to destroy agricultural production for their own interests, and they absolutely cannot compromise.

However, Deng Ming was also reluctant to take back his original promise, and he told these quasi-legislators who wanted to participate in the distribution of spoils, just like the protection money he promised at the beginning, that the principle of "no tax without representation" would be one of the basic principles of western Sichuan during the period when the Ming Law was invalid. Since Deng Ming agreed that the tax-paying firms would participate in the distribution of the spoils, the peasants who paid the protection fee also had this right. At the Xuzhou Conference, Deng Ming officially announced that the protection fee would be renamed as an agricultural tax, and the right of representation would be determined according to the distribution of the taxed population, not according to the amount of tax paid.

"Before we can determine the laws of the Empire, we must first get the constitution of the Empire out." Faced with the bosses of the commercial houses who were full of enthusiasm to participate in the distribution of spoils, Deng Ming told them that everything had a priority: "I simply thought of a few rules, and if the rules set by the parliament in the future are not in accordance with the constitution, they cannot be passed; As for whether it is constitutional, it is left to the judge of the criminal judge. ”

There is no objection to this statement, they have been popularized by Deng Ming, and the constitution is a convention before the robbers divide the spoils. The so-called no rules are not a circle, if there is no convention, then the distribution of spoils will still evolve into whoever has the biggest fist is justified, and the biggest fist is obviously the two prefects who hang "heads-up" on their lips all day long.

"Article 1 of the Imperial Constitution: No tax without representation." Deng Ming reiterated the principle that the dividends of the war must be shared by all the talents of the western Sichuan. On the other hand, if anyone tries to be exempt from taxes, he loses the right to participate in the division of war dividends, and those who evade taxes and evade taxes are "national thieves", because this person steals the profits belonging to all the fellow Xiucai: "If there are 10,000 people in Xuzhou who pay taxes and have 20 seats in the council, then each councillor must obtain the support of 500 taxpayers and fellow Xiucai." If there is a dispute, it is that the twenty people with the largest number of supporters have the right to enter the venue. We don't need to rush to decide how much is appropriate, anyway, it can't be the salt maker or the ship seller. ”

"Article 2 of the Imperial Constitution: The sanctity of private property." As soon as Deng Ming's words came out, Yuan Xiang and the others were very puzzled, even the bosses who had been out of the auxiliary for a few years did not know what they meant.

Deng Ming remembers that in the political class he studied, this article seemed to be one of the symbols of capitalist legal power, and its legal status in the imperial state was very high, and it could almost be regarded as the cornerstone. Therefore, when Deng Ming conceived the constitution, he wrote this article almost without thinking. But Deng Ming tried his best to explain for a long time, Yuan Xiang and the quasi-parliamentarians in Xuzhou still couldn't understand it, and some of the previous life terms introduced by Deng Ming, such as "human rights" and "legal rights", were even more confusing, and the people of the Ming Dynasty had never been exposed to these concepts, and there was nothing similar in their dictionaries.

"It's just not allowed to eat black!" Deng Ming couldn't help but shout.

"Oh!" Everyone suddenly realized and smiled knowingly. That's right, it's not allowed to arbitrarily deprive and rob other people's property, isn't it that you can't eat black in a gang of robbers.

"As soon as the Admiral said this, I understood, and there was no objection." Ye Tianming, Lu Huan and other salt merchants took the lead in agreeing, and other bosses also followed the salt merchant group to agree. With this in mind, they don't have to worry about officers and soldiers suddenly coming to their homes to confiscate the family property they have worked so hard to gather.

The second article of the Imperial Constitution was also understood and supported, and soon the third article was asked.

"Nope." Deng Ming spread his hands, he didn't think of any particularly important and unquestionable rules for the time being, after all, he didn't study law.

"Didn't the Admiral just say how many there are?" Yuan Xiang was surprised that Deng Ming's rules were so few.

"yes, aren't there two?"

"It's not a few." Yuan Xiang muttered in a low voice.

"That's two, I said, what are you doing so much?" Deng Ming waved his hand: "You guys talk about it first and see if there's anything to add." If it's really good, and the prefecture doesn't have any opinions, it can be added to the constitution in the future. ”

Deng Ming felt that the constitution should be determined by a more authoritative body, rather than a casual remark by him and a few bosses in Syria. But now Deng Ming has no better way, now he himself is the most authoritative "institution" in western Sichuan, and the only people who are willing to discuss constitutional issues with him are these guys who have just made great efforts before the war and want to divide up the benefits after the war.

The day after the establishment of the Xuzhou Parliament, several business owners came to report to Deng Ming, and they passed a bill to increase a special tax on the profits of each business house to buy the women of good families in Huguang, and then hand it over to the business owners according to the amount of the tax paid, and give them to the good workers as a reward.

"It's human trafficking, isn't it?" Deng Ming felt that this seemed to be a blatant trafficking in women.

"No, we will hire and write marriage letters, and after arriving in Xuzhou, we will recognize Yuan Zhifu as a godfather, and worship in the hall to get married." Thinking that Deng Ming misunderstood that they wanted to abduct and sell women, the lawmakers explained that they must not want unknown women and would never cooperate with traffickers.

"That's good, that's good." Deng Ming immediately realized that he was influenced by the ethics of his previous life, and it was normal to buy and sell women in this era. Not to mention women, even auxiliaries can be bought and sold. It is said that Deng Ming has adapted to the marriage values of this era, but occasionally he will be careless, and the concept of his previous life will come up again.

But Deng Ming immediately realized that the bill was clearly made by the bosses in order to retain the workers. Even if there are not enough girls who buy them back, as long as the workers have a thought, they will naturally not leave the trading house to reclaim wasteland. The bosses also intended to establish a rule in the Imperial Diet that workers who accepted such rewards were required to sign a contract guaranteeing a certain number of years in the trading house.

"Once the capitalists have seized state power, they can't wait to turn their will into the laws of the empire." Deng Ming had such a thought in his mind. But it's the same for everyone, as far as Deng Ming knows, all people will do this after they have taken power, and it's not just the bosses in front of them who have such an instinctive reaction.

"It's still not right." Deng Mingxuan pondered for a moment, and suddenly found another doubt, how did this kind of provision that was obviously unilaterally beneficial to industry get through? What about the peasant representatives? Wouldn't it be objectionable: "Didn't we say it yesterday?" If you pay taxes, you have the right to be represented, and you are supported by your fellow farmers in the field? ”

"Got it, we've all got the handprints." The parliamentarians replied confidently, and enthusiastically told Deng Ming in detail about the process.

It turned out that Yuan Xiang posted a list yesterday, asking the fellow talents in Xuzhou to support the representatives' mention, and these representatives were of course the bosses of the commercial houses standing in front of Deng Ming. They contributed the most to the mobilization of the war a few days ago, so Yuan Xiang naturally wanted to repay the favor. After seeing the list text, although they didn't know what the parliament was, out of trust in the prefect of Xuzhou, they obeyed the order to support the deputies listed on it, and the prefect Yuan also ordered the pavilion scholars to go out to help the deputies collect finger prints.

Deng Ming was speechless when he heard this, it seems that this is a thorough administrative appointment: the internal deputies, and then the government comes forward to collect votes, which can be said to be even lower than the level of bribery. However, several councillors in front of them all showed a natural expression, not only did they not think that this was inappropriate in the slightest, but also told Deng Ming the details without any scruples.

Do you want to start over? Deng Ming flashed such a thought, but immediately denied his own idea. Yesterday, in order to let these people understand why private property is sacrosanct, Deng Ming had to use "black eats black" to explain, it is estimated that no matter how many times the deputies are re-elected, it will still be like this, and Deng Ming will not bring any change except to find guilt for himself.

"Okay." Deng Ming nodded and began to express his position: "The Imperial Constitution is above me, I am only the governor of the Yangtze River, as long as it is a law passed by the parliament, I will also obey it." ”

In Deng Ming's view, the bill proposed by the bosses is also useful, if you rely on tax collection to go to Huguang to say goodbye to the bachelors, not only is it easy to complain, but also there are complicated distribution problems, and you must guard against the officials who handle it from profiting from it. Now this group of bosses are willing to pay out of their own pockets to share the worries of the country, although it damages the authority of the officials, but it is good for the people of western Sichuan and helpful for victory, so why should Deng Ming get along with it.

"Wait a minute," before everyone dispersed, Deng Ming suddenly found a strange place: "Why did the girl who bought it come back worship Yuan Zhifu as a godfather?" Yuan Zhifu is only in his early twenties, is he willing to adopt so many righteous daughters? ”

"Governor Yuan agreed!" The bosses once again relieved their doubts for Deng Ming, and shouted one after another: "Governor Yuan said that if you borrow his name, you will have to hand over one-tenth of the girl's tax, which will be presided over by him, and assigned to the pavilion and the hard-working servants as wives, which is called the tax of the special tax." ”