Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 399 Monarchy
There are five concubines in the harem, five children, three sons and two daughters.

The choice of the crown prince is mainly between the eldest prince and the second prince.
The second prince is the queen's legitimate son and has a natural advantage in the patriarchal tradition. Although the eldest prince is not a legitimate son, he is the eldest son. In addition, Zhang Zhenxun, the concubine's family, once gave Li Mingyuan a huge amount of money in the name of dowry. Therefore, when the queen's family is far away in Songkhla in Southeast Asia and has limited influence on the local government, some officials still tend to make the eldest prince the crown prince.

The dispute over the throne involves the transfer of power in the country. If one is not careful, it may lead to national turmoil. Therefore, although Li Mingyuan did not plan to establish an heir too early, in order to reassure people, he still promised the queen:

"There is a distinction between direct descendants and an order of seniority. Before the New Year, I will formally announce to all citizens that Jing Liang is the first in line to the throne, and Jing An is the second in line."

"Your Majesty is in the prime of his life, and Jing Liang and Jing An are still young. Your Majesty does not need to arrange the order of succession too early."

Although Li Mingyuan did not explicitly grant the title of crown prince, placing the second prince as the first in line of succession was not much different from the crown prince.

When Queen Wu Lingxuan heard this, she was both delighted and surprised.

"The opinions of the ministers outside are not entirely without reason. Establishing the succession order as soon as possible can appease the people at home and benefit both the country and the people. I have already made a decision on this matter. Queen, just accept it without any worries."

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

"Jingliang and Jingan are both my children. Although there are differences in the order of succession to the throne, in my heart, they are the same children.
Queen, you are the head of the harem. You must treat the two children equally in the future. You cannot lower the standards of discipline just because Jing'an was born to the imperial concubine."

"I will follow your majesty's instructions."

"Okay, it's the end of the year and there are many matters that have accumulated in the court. I won't stay in the back garden for long. Next time I have time, I will come to accompany you and the two children."

"Court affairs are of primary importance. Your Majesty, please focus on the affairs of the court first. Xin'er has been playing in the back garden for quite some time and is a little tired. I am planning to take her back."

"Please take good care of Xin'er. I'm leaving now."

Li Mingyuan gave some instructions and then left the back garden accompanied by the imperial guards.

"Your Majesty, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs has recommended to the court two imperial examination officials who gave up their official positions and fled to their homeland. Here are the current affairs strategies they wrote. Please review them, Your Majesty."

Sitting in a hall in the Daming Palace, the guards handed over two unopened envelopes.

"Tang Jingsong is a decisive and steady person. The candidate he nominated should have some real talent and knowledge."

Li Mingyuan pondered to himself, then opened the two bulging envelopes and read them carefully.

"Qiu Fengjia is a top-notch choice in both talent and ability, but he tends to be conservative.

He Ziyuan, although young, has his own views on the political landscape. "

After watching the two men's strategy of testing the waters, Li Mingyuan roughly evaluated their abilities and personalities. "Send someone to inform Deputy Minister Tang that the two people he recommended have good talents and personalities, and are very much in line with my wishes. There are many things to do at the end of the year, so there is no need for the palace assessment.
Half a month later, the court will hold its annual grand meeting to decide on issues such as the preparation for constitutionalism, the appointment and promotion of officials in various departments of the court, etc. Let the two of them temporarily attend the meeting as new officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so as to deepen their understanding of the operation of various departments of the central government. "

"As you command, Your Majesty."...

The guard received the order and turned away, leaving Li Mingyuan alone in the empty room.

Twenty-one years have passed in the blink of an eye. During these twenty-one years, countries around the world have undergone more drastic changes than in the past hundreds of years. The development of the Second Industrial Revolution has entered its peak period. Emerging industries represented by electricity, chemicals, and internal combustion engines have rapidly exerted their magical power in all aspects of society. However, the steam engines and textile machines that supported the entire First Industrial Revolution are showing signs of gradually withdrawing from the stage of history.

The drastic industrial transformation led to the reform of the political system. Germany, Tsarist Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Japan and other countries successively reformed their government administrative agencies and implemented the constitutional monarchy system. Among the later countries, although Japan carried out political system reform the latest, it also established a nominal constitutional monarchy system in 1881. On the other side of the ocean in South America, although the country's industrial development was in full swing, the pace of political system reform was slower. All national affairs were decided by Li Mingyuan and other ministers, and the constitutional monarchy system was slow to be established.

At the end of the 19th century, the implementation of a constitutional monarchy was an inevitable trend. Although limited by the overall quality of the nation, even after the implementation of the constitutional monarchy, Li Mingyuan still had absolute control over the decision-making of the court's political affairs. However, it was also necessary to adapt to the development of current affairs, plan constitutional preparations in advance, accumulate experience and create conditions for formal constitutionalism.

1889年至1894年间进行筹备立宪准备工作，1894年至1900年试行立宪，1900年以后正式立宪。

Based on the actual situation in various aspects of the local situation, Li Mingyuan preliminarily drew up a timetable for implementing constitutional system reform.

The five branches of government are the military, the cabinet, the judiciary, the Legislative Yuan, and the House of Representatives.

The emperor is the supreme head of the army and the country, and has the power to mobilize and command the army and appoint the prime minister.

The House of Representatives is composed of representatives from each state.

The selection criteria are based on comprehensive factors such as different states and regions, different occupations, different property incomes, and the number of different groups.

The House of Representatives is responsible for submitting constitutional bills.
Then it will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review. After the Legislative Yuan approves it, it will be submitted to the Judicial Yuan for execution.

After being appointed by the emperor, the chief minister of the cabinet has the right to nominate cabinet members and ministers of various departments. After the chief minister of the cabinet submits the candidates for ministers of various departments, they are first reviewed by the House of Representatives. After the House of Representatives reviews them, they are finally submitted to the emperor for decision. If the emperor himself agrees, the cabinet is declared established. Otherwise, if the emperor disagrees, the chief minister of the cabinet can only replace the candidates for ministers until all parties are satisfied.

The new constitutional system borrowed some contents from the Second German Empire. For example, the emperor still held state power, and the cabinet, judiciary and other institutions were supervised and restrained by other institutions. On the other hand, deeply influenced by the two thousand years of centralized tradition, the power controlled by the emperor of the Han Dynasty was much greater than that of the German emperor.

There are no states or free gangs within the borders of the South American Han Kingdom, so when the emperor exercises his power, he does not have to worry about opposition from local forces.

Li Mingyuan possesses unique powers in terms of foreign wars and troop mobilizations.

In a nutshell, the implementation of a constitutional monarchy may impose certain power restrictions on the future emperor of the Han Dynasty, but for Li Mingyuan, the impact is extremely small.

(End of this chapter)