Constitutional Monarchy

The two sides erupted into a heated argument, with the aristocratic students joining in, mocking the commoner students for being "sour grapes," saying things like, "You don't want fairness, you want personal gain," and "You're just jealous of your own privileges, so you can't stand seeing others have them."

The second prince turned his gaze to Wei Tianyang, who was standing at the door, his eyes filled with a hint of mockery, as if to say, "See? These are the subordinates you've won over."

Unfortunately, Wei Tianyang did not show the anger or frustration he expected. Instead, he smiled indifferently, as if he had anticipated all of this.

Taking advantage of the noisy crowd's inattention to their surroundings, Murong Qing approached Si Ming and asked, "What exactly are you doing? Now you're not only embroiled in the partisan struggle in France, but you're even involved in the struggle for the throne. Even if you want to deny it, it's useless. They will definitely see you as one of the Third Prince's men. Have you ignored Uncle Yan's warnings?"

Even if she was completely clueless before and hadn't even guessed Wei Tianyang's identity, after hearing everyone's discussions and watching such a wonderful show, Murong Qing, with her wisdom, could easily see the situation before her.

However, Si Ming gave an irrelevant answer, "I've made up my mind."

What kind of determination?

"I will be in charge of the wisdom aspect of this trial."

Chapter 485 Constitutional Monarchy

After the second prince appeared, the debate could not continue. The two princes were already at odds and had each won over the noble and commoner factions respectively. If this sensitive topic were to continue, no one could predict what would happen, and no one dared to bear the consequences.

The current political situation in France is a power struggle between two princes. According to the Legalist School "Son of Heaven's Laws," the eldest son should inherit the throne, regardless of his abilities or whether he is mediocre or virtuous.

From the perspective of the continuation of the legal system, this provision is the most prudent. After all, France has an extremely complete system, which can ensure the orderly development of the country even if the emperor does not attend court for three to five years. Therefore, it doesn't matter if the emperor is incompetent, as stability takes precedence over everything.

However, the eldest prince was a fool.

Although it wouldn't affect France affairs even if the emperor were an idiot, it would still be incredibly shameful to say it out loud. The France common people couldn't accept it, and neither could the France nobility. This was no longer a matter of one family or clan; it concerned the face of the nation.

After the eldest prince's right of succession was stripped, the second prince should have succeeded him according to the rules. However, there are also differences in the degree of authority between the rules. While the rule that the eldest son of the legitimate wife should inherit the throne must be followed, the rule of succession by age is debatable. Thus, the third prince had an opportunity.

As for why it was only a contest between two sons, and not more, it's because France only had three princes, though there were nine princesses. Unfortunately, the "Son of Heaven's Laws" stipulated that women had no right to inherit the throne; otherwise, there might have been even more competitors— Confucian School could produce a Wu Zetian, but Legalist School could not.

The second prince courted noble forces, while the third prince courted commoner forces. The former were of higher quality, while the latter were more numerous. Of course, these were not absolute; some commoners sided with the second prince, while others were nobles who sided with the third prince. What determined their stance was interests, not status.

After the debate ended hastily, Wei Tianyang invited Si Ming and Murong Qing to a teahouse under his name, Yipin Teahouse. Upon entering the innermost room, he bowed apologetically and said, "I am deeply sorry for concealing my identity from you two. My real name is Han Hao, and I am the third son of the current Dharma Emperor."

Murong Qing frowned and said, "You have more to apologize for than just concealing your identity. You also schemed against us, deliberately inviting us to the debate and luring the Second Prince to witness it, making him mistakenly believe that we had been won over by you, thus forcing us to stand on your side. This kind of scheming and plotting is not the demeanor of a prince."

Han Hao looked slightly surprised, gave a wry smile, and looked at Si Ming, "I thought that your agreement to the appointment after seeing through my identity was a sign of consent. Have I misunderstood?"

Si Ming smiled and said, "There's no misunderstanding. However, just as you and your brother have different ideas, we also have internal disagreements."

Murong Qing glared at him, but didn't say anything more. Although she had a lot of opinions, as his nominal girlfriend, she had an obligation to save face for him in front of others after he spoke. This was a concept she had formed since childhood under the tutelage of her great Confucian father. She was progressive in some ways, but traditional in others.

Han Hao suddenly realized, and said to Murong Qing with a face full of apology, "I did not expect this, and I would like to express my sincerest apologies to Ms. Murong. I hope you can forgive me."

The "lady" he referred to was not the modern colloquial term for lady, but rather "li'er lady" from the Book of Songs, meaning "a woman with the conduct of a scholar," a metaphor for a woman with the conduct and talent of a scholar, that is, a respectful title for a knowledgeable and cultured woman.

Murong Qing, "Now that things have come to this, apologies are no longer important. Let's talk about the facts. Aren't you two birds of a feather?"

Si Ming smiled and said to Han Hao, "I have two questions. First, why did you come to us instead of directly seeking our master?"

Since the other party set a trap to mislead the Second Prince, they must have already found out the identities of the two of them. Si Ming couldn't possibly have been unaware of this.

Han Hao was first puzzled, then suddenly realized, and finally exclaimed, "As expected of the Su State, it truly has a multitude of powerful figures."

Si Ming was a bit confused and was about to ask when the other party explained, "There are twenty-one Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivators in this country. Of them, only one is completely obedient to the royal family's orders, five have deep friendships and are willing to stand together, twelve are obedient to orders but not to summons, and the remaining three are hostile. Although the law stipulates that Spirit Transformation cultivators are equivalent to earls, even dukes have to give way to three Nascent Spirit Transformation. For example, your master, the Great Hero Startling Rainbow Beyond the Heavens Yan, a Nascent Spirit Transformation Grandmaster whose name is known throughout the world, my father treated him with respect because of his status. If it were me, a prince who is not the crown prince, I'm afraid I wouldn't even be able to get an audience even if I sent a formal invitation."

This meeting has a different meaning from the meeting where Cuan Er was the host.

Si Ming then realized he had made a huge blunder. He had brought over his impressions of the emperors of the Celestial Empire on Earth. In feudal society, the emperor's power was extremely high. Even those puppets who were merely figureheads could easily kill an ordinary person. If they had a legitimate reason, it would not be difficult to exterminate nine generations of their family.

However, in the Sea Continent, if Spirit Transformation expert were to risk his life, even with the emperor's heavy protection, he could still kill him on the dragon throne. Under such circumstances, the emperor would have no choice but to respect the Spirit Transformation expert, and the Spirit Transformation expert would not need to consider the other party's feelings.

When you have the ability to threaten someone's life, their background, status, and power no longer pose a threat to you.

Si Ming had realized this when he faced the Second Prince, but when he turned around, he fell back into his habitual thinking. Fortunately, Han Hao found a reasonable explanation, so it didn't embarrass him too much.

"My second question is, as a member of the royal family and a beneficiary of noble privileges, why are you siding with the common people and advocating for the abolition of noble privileges? Are you simply using them and planning to discard them after they've served their purpose?"

Han Hao stirred the milk tea in front of him with a spoon—he was drinking milk tea, not traditional tea—and said, "I studied in Su State, where I learned about Su State history, came into contact with Mohist School thought, and gained a deeper understanding of the significance of the martial arts revolution initiated by the Grandmaster. The discussions on communist ideology that arose a couple of years ago also gave me a lot of inspiration. Then I discovered something: the abolition of imperial power is an inevitable trend, something that no one can stop. Whoever dares to stand in front of the wheels of history will be crushed."

As productivity increases and people become more informed, they will pursue more and more fairness. As a result, imperial power and aristocratic privileges, which are symbols of unfairness, will become obstacles to the people's progress. There are two possible outcomes if the people forcibly suppress them: one is that the people will overthrow them and completely eliminate the existence of the royal family and aristocracy; the other is that the people will be kept ignorant and their opinions will be suppressed, leading to the decline of national power and eventual annexation by other countries.

Regardless of the type, the royal family will disappear, while the nobility may be able to change their appearance and continue to exist. The Han Clan is not the only royal family of the Legalist School. Before them, there were the Merchant School and the Li Clan. When dynasties changed, their fates were very tragic. With such a precedent, I do not believe that the Han Clan can last for thousands of generations. As a member of the royal family, I certainly do not want to see this situation, so I can only take the initiative to give up power.

In the past, the emperor was the symbol of the country and possessed supreme ruling power. Therefore, when problems arose in the country, the emperor was inevitably held responsible. As a result, rebel armies would raise the slogan of "eliminating the tyrannical emperor." Conversely, if the emperor's power was weakened and the country was handed over to others to manage, then when problems arose in the country, he would not be held responsible and could even stand on the side of the opposition to condemn the incompetence of the administrator.

My wisdom is limited, and this is the only method I can come up with for now to ensure the continuation of the Han Clan. Some people call my second brother's faction the royalists and my faction the reformists, but in reality, I am the true royalist. My second brother and his group are at most conservatives. Their actions are tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, pushing the royal family and nobility into the abyss.

After saying this, he downed his milk tea in one gulp and said heartily, "These are just my humble opinions; I welcome your corrections."

Si Ming was shocked. This guy really knew how to handle things! Was he trying to establish a constitutional monarchy?

Legalist School and constitutional monarchy are actually quite a good match.

Murong Qing was also quite shocked. It took her a while to calm herself down before she said, "What a remarkable idea! Regardless of whether your vision can be realized, just the fact that you could even think of these things is astonishing. I'm sorry, I can't give you any advice. Rather, I've benefited greatly from your words, and I should be thanking you."

Han Hao said, "I'm ashamed to say that this great theory wasn't my idea. It was a new way of thinking that emerged from the historical deductions of scholars from Su State who were discussing communism. When I was studying in Su State, I often subscribed to philosophy magazines, and I was inspired by a paper in one of them, which gave rise to this idea."

Suddenly, he remembered something and smiled, "By the way, I'd like to recommend a book to you both. It's called 'Ghosts and Gods Metropolis,' written by an author from your country. Although on the surface it's an absurd fantasy novel, its background setting always subtly touches on some extremely profound and thought-provoking ideas. This author, Sima Kongming, must be a great thinker and philosopher, hiding profound truths in simple stories, waiting for others to discover them. It's a pity he rarely appears in public; he's only held one book signing, and that was after I left Su State. I've never met him, which is one of the greatest regrets of my life."

How did it all end up back with me?

Si Ming felt the Anomalies gaze that Murong Qing was casting from the side, and could only respond with an expression that said, "I am innocent."

I wrote this novel casually to make a living, and its sales were mediocre. How come everyone seems to have been inspired by it, as if they've gained a new understanding of the world? Could this book have had a greater impact than I have personally?

Please don't tell me that the Remote Heaven Society members also got the idea to cause trouble after reading my book?