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Text Chapter 36 The battle for the status of senior officials

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    On the last working day before New Year's Eve, the last plenary meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate before the Spring Festival holiday was also taking place at the Capitol Building in Manchester City.

    In addition to all members of both houses of Congress, President Bao Zitu, top official Lu Mei and Prime Minister Guan Ruzhong were also present.

    Under the chairmanship of Senate President Qi Jianjun, the meeting first approved the list of 1646 Senate general elections, and then announced the election results of the new president.

    Since the country¡¯s internal scandal ten years ago, the election periods for the Senate and House of Representatives have been staggered by two years.  According to the "Election Law", one-third of the senators will be replaced in the new Senate election after the spring of 1646.

    Although the Constitution does not prohibit senators from serving multiple terms in alternate terms, some elderly people who are over 70 years old will officially retire after the end of the current term of senators and bid farewell to politics.

    In fact, it is not just the Senate. In the past ten years, the older generation at the top of Chinese and American countries have faded out one after another, including President Baozi Tu.

    The first president Chen Changyuan has been bedridden for a long time, but he still often teaches at the Capital National University Medical College at the age of 85, and is still working hard to cultivate high-level medical talents.

    The second president, Li Ping, is 76 years old this year and has long retired from politics. In addition to serving as the honorary chairman of several private organizations, she continues to return to the university to engage in mathematics education and no longer shows her face.

    Bao Zitu is 68 years old this year. For a politician, he should still be in the golden period of his political life. However, he announced his retirement before the Spring Festival and gave up his re-election.

    ¡°Compared to other respectable elderly people, Bao Zitu has had a bad reputation among the relatively young people since he entered the Chinese and American political circles.  Therefore, Bao Zitu chose to retire voluntarily this time, and he felt relieved that he had seen through the world.

    After the election of both houses of Congress, the new president will be the former Speaker of the House of Representatives and veteran doctor Zhao Fang.

    ?In a sense, the position of Huamei¡¯s top mascot is still held by conservatives.  Although the gorgeous president has no specific real power, he has the special power to dissolve the House of Representatives jointly with the Senate President and the highest officials.

    Bao Zitu¡¯s speech on resigning and retiring was very short. The congressmen present stood up and applauded, while Zhao Fang, who took over as the new president, took the stage.  Shake hands and hug Bao Zitu, and then officially take office in a ceremony witnessed by the highest official Lu Mei.

    Looking at the colleagues in the conference hall who had gray hair on their temples, Su Zining sighed slightly in his heart.

    ¡­¡­

    "The next topic is the review of the formal proposal for the Appropriation of Military Expenditures in Europe and the second draft of the Provisional War Tax Bill submitted by the Cabinet."

    After the speakers of the two houses of parliament successively issued a speech of thanks to Bao Zitu for leaving office.  The venue returned to solemnity, and Zhou Yi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, began to read out today's official agenda.

    "After two rounds of preliminary review by the House of Representatives, the Cabinet and the National Security Committee have completed all revisions to the "Military Expenditure Appropriations for Europe" and will withdraw a total of 2 million yuan from the "National Special Military Reserve Fund" in the second quarter and the third quarter respectively  The draft of the "Provisional War Tax Bill" will be added to the business tax for enterprises above designated size"

    After some chatting.  The Senate passed the final review of the "Appropriations for European Military Expenditures", which can be regarded as a vote that has long reached a consensus.  However, during the hearing stage of the second round of draft of the "Interim War Tax Bill", many senior members of the Senate frowned.

    According to the current distribution of political power in Huamei, even if there is another election after the Spring Festival, at least half of the Senate will still be old guys belonging to the conservative faction. As long as they control the Senate for one day, some extraordinary bills will not pass even if they pass the House of Representatives.  Blocked in the Senate.

    The House of Representatives completed the first round of hearings on the ¡°Provisional War Tax Bill¡± drafted by the cabinet a few months ago, and proposed revisions.  However, the content of the second round of draft once again shows that many people in the House of Representatives are deliberately lowering the standards or diverting attention on the issue of assuming "national responsibility."

    With the unfolding of overseas strategic layout, China and the United States will face multiple foreign military operations in the next few years, thus ushering in the highest peak of war expenses.  Even if the cabinet made advance financial preparations a few years ago and allocates a certain amount of funds from fiscal revenue to the country's special military reserve account every year to prevent there being no money available, the total accumulated so far is only 4 million.  Get ahead.

    This time, half of the "Military Expenditure Appropriation for Europe" will be withdrawn at once, and the remainder will definitely not be enough for future estimated expenditures.

    In order to continue to replenish the national special military reserve account, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Defense jointly applied for a three-year "Interim War Taxation Bill" and hoped to issue additional national debt.  to protect corresponding expenditures.

    According to the original intention of the cabinet, this temporary warThe tax competition will only target large and extra-large enterprises with a registered capital of more than 200,000 yuan, and a temporary special war tax of 3% will be added to the original business tax.

    But the initial version was obviously interfered with or criticized by the House of Representatives, because this temporary war tax bill obviously continued to extract oil from certain large monopolies.

    ?According to the definition of Huamei¡¯s relevant corporate laws.  The five classification standards for the scale of extra-large, large, medium, small and micro enterprises are respectively: registered capital reaches 1 million yuan, 200,000 yuan, 50,000 yuan, 10,000 yuan, and less than 10,000 yuan.

    The initial intention of Guan Ruzhong¡¯s cabinet obviously did not intend for this temporary war tax to cover too wide a scope.

    After nearly two months of back-and-forth debate, Guan Ruzhong finally had to compromise again. The threshold for collecting the temporary war tax was changed to small enterprises with a registered capital of more than 10,000 yuan, but the tax rate was reduced to 2%.

    On the surface, the tax rate has been reduced, but the actual coverage has been expanded countless times, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises have been included.  On the surface, it promotes a spirit that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country."  However, it has shifted a lot of the social tax burden that should have been borne by the monopolies.

    This is probably the biggest tragedy of the conservative Prime Minister Guan Ruzhong's administration: Although the cabinet has taken back many executive decision-making powers from Congress since ten years ago, the current cabinet is almost unable to use its strength on certain legislative issues.  of the House of Representatives.

    ¡°As long as key interests are involved, whether they are liberals, progressives or centrists, their positions are surprisingly consistent.  Twenty-five years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the inherent evil nature of monopoly capitalism can be said to be vividly demonstrated in the current Huamei House of Representatives.

    "It is necessary to impose a temporary war tax, but the current plan has huge problems. It is recommended that the House of Representatives and the Cabinet renegotiate. Now that small and medium-sized enterprises are still affected by the shrinking export trade environment, we must respond to this temporary tax increase bill.  careful."

    Seeing that many people present were silent, they exchanged silent glances with Zhou Yi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.  Qi Jianjun immediately sentenced this typical selfish plan to death.

    Regardless of whether this attitude is the unanimous opinion of all senators, Qi Jianjun's domineering attitude still made all the congressmen choose to remain silent, but the expressions on their faces were very exciting.

    ¡­¡­

    "The last topic is about feedback on the "Opinions on Handling the Issue of Senior Officials and Analysis Report on the Situation in the Far East" jointly submitted by Jin Xiaohan, head of the Cabinet, the National Security Council, and the Department of Far Eastern Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

    "Originally, due to Zheng Zhilong's disruption last year, our initial military action plan in the Far East was disrupted, but just half a month ago, the senior officials staged a military coup! After Yan Sihai's death, the idea of ??supporting Yan Sihai's second son to ascend to power was widely  There is still a huge market for Yuandao, but fortunately Yan Sicheng did not get into trouble during this turmoil. Otherwise, the problem would have become bigger."

    "Although the coup was suppressed by the Asia Fleet and the Far East Regional Command, the political turmoil within the leadership has once again exposed that the National Security Council is always too subjective and too optimistic in the planning and execution of the Far East strategy.  Without taking into account more subtle influencing factors and the feudal political and cultural atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty!"

    Speaking of which, Qi Jianjun also specifically looked at the faces of several members of the National Security Committee, including Su Zining.

    Seeing Qi Jianjun's scolding glance, Su Zining could only groan inwardly.

    "We all know that with each passing day, matters in the Ming Dynasty will reach the final stage of processing. As far as the content of this report is concerned, except that the Japanese issue is relatively clear, there is no essential difference from previous years, so  We must come up with a Far East policy that can clearly guide the next ten years."

    Qi Jianjun raised a pile of documents in his hand, his expression becoming more solemn.

    ¡°Both Di Zugong and I have visited the Far East before and did some research. We also have some differences in our views on the entire Far East affairs.¡±

    An Shaoqing stood up and glanced at Di Zugong, who was not far away: "My personal opinion is that the root cause of this coup is that we care too much about and interfere with some local interests in the Far East without considering the mainland of the Ming Dynasty.  Stability is the foundation for comprehensive stability in the Far East."

    "So, the real core of the Far East issue still lies in the Ming Dynasty mainland. We must use a complete military victory to establish the fundamental situation of the Far East. This is related to our future commercial and diplomatic exchanges with the Ming Dynasty. The National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are in  At this point, there is still no clear directional guiding ideology, and it is always trying to draw some seemingly superior pie and play the political separation game in the Far East."

    "Fan Li's Far East plan is feasible. So I don't agree with Lao An." Di Zugong stood up immediately and shook his head, "The Ming Dynasty willOur contempt, or hostility, has not improved significantly. What is a 'complete military victory'?  Can it be understood as sending troops to the Ming Dynasty to directly eliminate the Manchu Qing Dynasty?  That means we will bear an unprecedented burden and may not ultimately receive the benefits we expect.  "

    "We can't even relieve ourselves of the burden of being a senior official. We are still worrying about it every three days, so why are we talking about returning to the mainland? Without the stable cooperation of the Yan family, a senior official, how can we complete the campaign against the Manchu Qing Dynasty?  Military operations? Waiting to make Lu Song and Lan Fang secretly doubt our capabilities? "

    "In other words, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties are the biggest enemies of the Ming Dynasty. Are we the best friends of the Ming Dynasty? In terms of geographical relations, the initiative in this relationship is not in our hands. Unless there is a 'complete military victory' itself  This also includes the Ming Dynasty. Do you think you have the courage to do certain things?"

    The moment Di Zugong finished speaking, the faces of several pro-oriental people, including An Shaoqing, suddenly changed.

    "Okay, stop glaring at me, Lao An, Lao Yang. I'm just telling the truth. What is the purpose of our deployment in the Far East for so many years? From the original intention, we don't hope that the rise of our country can match this  The world's largest country has created a new historical connection. What this connection means may be different for everyone. However, I want to emphasize that it must be under our control for the next hundred years.  , becoming a support point that can leverage the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty at any time!"

    Since the day he traveled across time, Di Zugong has been famous for his daring speech. This speech immediately triggered a lot of whispers.

    The so-called "century-old official" model.  This is exactly the trick that Di Zugong figured out after his trip to the Far East last year. The central idea is to maintain the current political separatist status of Dazhong unchanged for a hundred years, and it has been trumpeted in Congress.

    "Your idea is more radical than Fan Li's 'break and then build'. Are you planning to turn Taiyuan Island into the future Taiwan!? Blockade the East Asian continent. Are you going to turn the Ming Dynasty into an economic colony? How can you be worthy of our blood?  !?"

    An Shaoqing was furious. Even at his age, his youthful temperament was still explosive.

    Seeing that the remarks tended to touch on sensitive topics, House Speaker Zhou Yi stood up decisively and interrupted An Shaoqing's speech, causing all staff in the hall to exit the venue.

    "Haha. I never said that, but now I really don't see what ability the Ming Dynasty has to stop being an economic colony. Who has the ability to be its shield? And we are not simply exploiting and plundering. Who can deny Hainan now?  The progress of the island and Taiyuan Island and the improvement of the lives of the local people?"

    Di Zugong is still smiling.

    "Old Di, your position is based on the assumption that the Ming Dynasty is indeed a helpless adou, and based on the nihilistic threat theory of the Ming Dynasty. These assumptions are false propositions. At least Yan Xiaosong's 'equal equality' strategy can be consistent with  Our strategic interests are worthy of our past. The Ming Dynasty was already wary of us, and we openly and intensively interfered in the affairs of high officials, and even openly controlled the political separatist status of high officials. This was tantamount to ruining our relationship with the Ming Dynasty!  Lao Di, please don¡¯t get too involved in the drama."

    A pro-Eastern congressman is helping An Shaoqing.

    "Be equal to each other? Live up to the past? Then can we live up to the future? Come on, who lied to whom? From ancient Greece to the 21st century, the world has not yet escaped from the 'Thucydides Trap', and we can see it away in an instant  Already?"

    "We can't say that this theory is absolutely correct, nor can we say how much effort was needed to pull the Ming Dynasty out of the old order, but can we really accept the existence of a competitor with a population that is a hundred times ours? Until the 19th century  , it is a country that can live freely without any external factors. It doesn¡¯t care about its self-esteem and isolation, but it is afraid that the goodwill exported in Yan Xiaosong¡¯s equal footing strategy will make the future of this empire worse than that of Europe.  Much scarier!¡±

    Di Zugong sat down.  It seemed that he was too lazy to continue arguing with An Shaoqing and others about this topic that had been dragging on for many years.

    "Su Zining, regarding the Far East strategy, the original concept was proposed by you and Yan Xiaosong. What do you think of the senior officials' issues?"

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.  Zhou Yi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, called out Su Zining's name by name, and the eyes at the scene gathered again.

    It is a blessing, not a curse, but a curse that cannot be avoided.  With this strange thought in mind, Su Zining could only stand up slowly.

    "There is no right or wrong, everyone has a position. We have never truly belonged to this world, and as our lives return to a false state of fulfillment. The ambition to organize the family, the country, and even the world is also increasing day by day.  "

    "Some people are obsessed with the complex of history, and some people are always obsessed with it.Everyone wants to create a new world all the time, while some people hope that others will think more carefully about themselves.  But when it comes to dealing with the East, any sense of superiority or historical mission cannot cover up the worry in our hearts that has lasted for more than 20 years.  "

    "The current situation of the Ming Dynasty or the big officials may not be what we really want to see in our hearts. I don't know in ten years, but at least within ten years, the status quo it maintains is what we need. There is no one led by us.  Senior officer, our future coastal operations in East Asia will have to retreat at least a thousand nautical miles. I have finished my words."

    After saying a few words, Su Zining sat down again.

    It seems reasonable and leaves enough room for maneuver. As always, he does not offend both sides. This is Su Zining's habit as he gets older.

    This topic has actually come up so many times in the past twenty years or so that no matter who you are, it¡¯s almost numb.  So once the core issue is involved, it is an endless delay after the noise.

    It may not be done right within a hundred years, but it certainly won¡¯t be done wrong within a ten-year scale.

    It can be said that under the influence of Su Zining's "crooked theories", Yan Xiaosong was able to use his own will to forcefully promote a Far East strategy for more than 20 years. This was the helpless result of worrying about gains and losses and watching as he went.

    This vague stance on historical issues combined with the vigorous development of Far East commercial trade year after year has become the guiding ideology of the Far East strategy that has been compromised today: prevention and penetration combined, support and suppression in parallel.

    Not surprisingly, a report on the Far East caused by the internal turmoil among the officials once again triggered heated discussions among everyone in the House of Representatives and the Senate. As usual, this discussion was forcibly stopped by the speakers of both houses without any results.

    As the Congressional session draws to a close and everyone goes back to their homes, most people¡¯s minds begin to rush towards the New Year holiday (To be continued.)
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