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"Commander-in-chief, we feel embarrassed to hear you say that," Li Yuchang, who was about a quarter of Vézé's father-in-law, said cautiously.
"Minister Li, are you worried that our comrades won't understand, or are you worried that we won't be able to do things firmly?" Vézé's answer was as straightforward as ever.
Such a frank question left Li Yuchang speechless. It was obvious that what Li Yuchang was truly worried about, or rather, what he was unwilling to acknowledge from the depths of his heart, was the rapid establishment of the system in the Viceroy's Office. Faced with the pressure from the British, Vézé put forward the position of "anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism". As the leader of the Revival Society, Vézé's stance was undoubtedly the attitude of the Revival Society. According to the rules, if there is no objection at the first plenary meeting of the Restoration Council, which is to be held soon, anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism will become the program of the Restoration Council.
"Commander in Chief, I'm not afraid of the British devils at all!" Li Yuchang chose a very skillful answer. Li Yuchang's attitude toward opposing the Emperor was very firm. In the face of the British's unreasonableness, even the old and decaying Manchu Qing Army rebelled, not to mention the Restoration Society which was full of confidence in its military power. When it came to anti-imperialism, Li Yuchang was a hawk.
The problem lay in the "anti-feudalism". Vézé not only proposed democratic centralism, but also constantly promoted it. Vézé wanted all his comrades to have a common understanding and unite against the British imperialism. But what Vézé proposed was, "If I ask everyone to obey me and be loyal to me on the basis of my own personal interests. Logically speaking, many people could ask the same question: What did you, Vézé, give us? Why do you want us to die for your ideals? Therefore, our Party's attitude towards the world and our interests must be the same! "
"So you think our prediction is inaccurate?" Vézé asked.
Faced with such a straightforward question, Li Yuchang fell silent. Li Yuchang didn't really care whether his prediction was accurate or not. What he really disagreed with was the democratic system that Vézé was working so hard to promote. The traditional system had already determined the hierarchy of the people. The traditional system clearly supported the existence of privilege, and in the development of thousands of years of civilization, the theory of privilege had been strengthened, using a set of time-tested theories to ensure that privilege was unbreakable. To put it more bluntly, all rulers were good. Even if something went wrong, it was the subordinates' fault.
In Confucius's Spring and Autumn Annals, the key was to "strike fear into the hearts of rebellious officials and traitors." This old man used rumors to force the truth to establish the model of the Confucian School. He forcefully challenged and even subverted the historical records that had thousands of years of history.
Vézé's current actions were undoubtedly subverting the Confucian tradition, a complete reversal of the Confucian school's attitude that it was taboo to be respected. For example, Vézé predicted that a war would break out in nine months' time. While the Restoration Society was in the midst of planning, they also democratically informed the Central Committee about this prediction. Li Yuchang was scared out of his wits. China was a very culturally advanced civilization. In the accumulation of thousands of years of civilization, the Chinese emphasized "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust". And the most fundamental of these was actually the word "trust". No matter what words the literati used to explain the word "trust", the general consensus was actually very consistent: "Life cannot be without results".
Now that Vézé had publicly announced his prediction in the name of the "Central Committee of the Restoration Society", if this prediction didn't come true, then who would bear the responsibility? Naturally, it would be the Central Committee of the Restoration Society. According to the norm of the feudal system that Vézé pointed out, if the prediction wasn't accurate, then Vézé would have to let the Central Committee of the Restoration Society bear the responsibility. As one of the Standing Committee members, Li Yuchang couldn't escape.
Seeing that Li Yuchang didn't say a word, Vézé smiled and said, "It seems that Comrade Li Yuchang doesn't trust me!"
Under normal circumstances, Li Yuchang would naturally say some polite words like "of course I trust the Governor" or "I support the Governor's view". These were all words that could be said at any time. However, Li Yuchang didn't want to treat Vézé with such a perfunctory attitude.
According to tradition, Li Yuchang offered his niece to Vézé and pulled one to two hundred people of Huizhou merchant background to follow Vézé. This was the standard performance of a loyal subject. However, Li Yuchang didn't dare to put himself in the position of a relative of the emperor. Firstly, the Restoration Society didn't care about the background of its comrades. Secondly, there were too many loyal subjects who followed Vézé.
Of course, Li Yuchang didn't dare to use his status as a relative of Vézé to gain special privileges. However, this didn't mean that Li Yuchang was willing to suffer misfortune with Vézé.
With such a relationship with Vézé that no one else could compare to, Li Yuchang naturally had a close relationship with Vézé. Therefore, Li Yuchang was rather disappointed with Vézé's "democratic" approach. He believed that Vézé didn't display the imposing manner and rallying power that a "founding emperor" should have. "The emperor doesn't die in secret, and the subjects don't die in secret." Vézé's method of taking responsibility was equivalent to gambling his entire family's fortune. Even the people who followed Vézé were gambled.
In order to practice democratic centralism, Vézé implemented a policy of transparency within the party. This included the work that everyone within the system was responsible for and the responsibilities that they had to bear. From the top to the bottom of the Restoration Society, everyone had to be clear about their rights, obligations, and responsibilities. When the Restoration Society reached an agreement on the definition of these rights, it needed to amend the original constitution in accordance with democratic principles. In theory, if there were people with ulterior motives and the war hadn't broken out, they could request to "adjust" the personnel of the upper echelons and reasonably overthrow Vézé's position.
In Li Yuchang's view, a person who openly allowed his position to be challenged and openly admitted that his position could be overthrown was not a qualified monarch.
Vézé didn't expect Li Yuchang's attitude. At this time, he was focused on the overall strategy. Therefore, Vézé calmly said: "How did the Manchu Qing lose the Great Smoky War in 1840? Because the British seized the Manchu Qing's lifeline. After blocking the water transportation, the Manchu Qing's finances suffered a heavy blow, so they had no choice but to yield to the British. Now that we are in Guangdong, the British can use more direct methods to attack us, such as blocking the coast and attacking our ships. At this stage, we have no way to compete with the British at sea. Therefore, the only thing we can do is to temporarily give up the battle at sea and compete with the British inland. "
"Then what do you plan to do?" Since Li Yuchang didn't dare to directly refute Vézé's democratic attitude, he could only try to prove that this system didn't work from another angle.
"If the Restoration Society belongs to me, Vézé alone, if this Guangdong belongs to me, Vézé alone, in the face of such a difficult situation, compared to the hundreds of thousands of taels of profits from the Great Smoky War, what can I, Vézé, do? If that's the case, as long as I, Vézé, as long as I, Vézé, destroy the anti-smoking policy. Then the British can immediately withdraw from the siege of Guangdong. Everyone should do business, and the money that should be earned will not be lost. "The content of Vézé's explanation was very cruel, but his attitude was extremely rational.
Li Yuchang was speechless after hearing this. The truth was sometimes so simple, but the truth was so simple that it was incomparably cruel, so cruel that people didn't have the courage to face it.
Vézé didn't turn his head away from the truth, so his attitude was particularly firm. "If we can't represent the interests of the people in Guangdong, if we don't represent the interests of the whole of China, the anti-smoking policy will not succeed. If I can't reach an agreement with the comrades of the Restoration Society on these issues of principle, we won't be able to persevere in the face of strong military pressure. I believe that if we don't treat what we do for the people as our own, then the people have no reason to support us. There are only backward leaders, not backward people. So we can't expect the people to kneel in front of us and beg us to do these things. We have to sit down first, and then work hard to get the people's approval! "
Although Li Yuchang had his own ideas, it was obvious that the other members of the Standing Committee had different ideas. Bi Qingshan, whose actual position was equivalent to that of the governor of Guangdong, said with an impatient attitude, "Commander in Chief, you don't want us to continue the propaganda, do you? We really don't have that many people here! Besides, we just attacked the tyrants in Guangdong, and the people are at most watching because they are afraid. We may not be able to convince the people! "
Vézé sneered, "Of course the people of Guangdong are afraid of us, but in the current situation, we have to mobilize the people. We have to let the people poisoned by the tobacco know that the future war is not a conflict between us and the British, but the British will continue to sell tobacco to Guangdong, and continue to poison the people of Guangdong to make money. We are fighting with them in order to protect the people of Guangdong. If we can't let the people of Guangdong know the real reason for the future war, if we can't let them know that we have the same interests as the people of Guangdong, how can the people of Guangdong support us? "
Of course, it was easy to say that they would listen, but it was very difficult to put it into practice. Bi Qingshan asked in surprise, "Commander in Chief, will it work? Will the people believe us if we say this? "
"If we don't say anything, the people will not believe us! Of course, winning the people's trust is not something that can be done in a day or two. But if we don't do anything, we won't be able to do it even in ten or twenty years. Before winning the people's trust, we have to win the trust of our comrades first. Regardless of whether this prediction is correct or not, we have to do it first! Right now, I want everyone to continue with this. Whoever has nothing to do with it can step aside! There will definitely be people who are willing to do it! "Vézé said very frankly.
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