Chapter 887 Constitutional Monarchy

"How long do you think this empire can last? It doesn't hurt to say so."

"Well..." Queen Elizabeth thought seriously for a while and stretched out five fingers. "How about it?"

"Five hundred years?" Yannick reached out and pressed down her thumb and little finger. After thinking for a moment, he pressed down her ring finger as well, leaving only her index and middle fingers, forming a V sign. "That's pretty much it."

"2000?! Is this too exaggerated? It's not even 2000 yet in the Christian calendar?"

2000? Yannick almost laughed out loud. Even if he expanded, he couldn't expect the empire to last for 2000 years. "You said an extra zero. It's not 2000, it's 200 years."

"Huh? 200 years?!" Queen Elizabeth said in shock. "Are you too pessimistic?"

Yannick shook his head, this was not pessimism. Take the history of China as an example. Unified dynasties usually come to an end after more than 200 years. (Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted for 790 years, it was not a centralized dynasty. Its setting of enfeoffing various countries was, in a strict sense, one and another. A completely independent small country, it cannot be called a unified dynasty. According to academic conclusions, the later Qin Dynasty was the first truly unified and centralized dynasty), such as the Tang Dynasty in 289 and the Ming Dynasty. In 276 and 268 in the Qing Dynasty, none of the unified dynasties passed the 300-year mark. As for the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, the Han Dynasty was 405 years old and the Song Dynasty was 319 years old. It seemed that they had passed the 300-year mark. However, these two dynasties, the Han Dynasty was divided into the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there was a new dynasty in the middle that Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty. There was a real break of 15 years; the Song Dynasty was divided into the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. Strictly speaking, it did not pass the 300-year mark (the prerequisite for unification).

The Spanish Empire, the world's first empire on which the sun never set, only lasted 300 years. In modern times, starting with the opening of new sea routes, the Spanish Empire became the most powerful country in the world. At that time, Spain had an invincible armada that spanned the world, making even the major European countries terrified. Colonies were established extensively around the world, accounting for almost the entire America, and a huge territory of 30 million square kilometers was established, becoming the first empire. The entire period of dominance did not last more than 300 years.

After that, the British Empire rose rapidly, first defeating the Spanish Armada, then going through the Industrial Revolution, and then successively defeated other powers, becoming the most powerful country in the world. The British Empire at that time established vast colonies around the world. Most of the entire North America, South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East became colonies of the British Empire. The total area of ​​all places is 35.5 million square kilometers. The British Empire also did not rule for more than 300 years. By 1945, that is, after World War II, it basically declined completely, leaving only the legacy of the old empire.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but sigh. "And I doubt whether it can last 200 years if the monarchy is maintained."

Is the imperial system good?

This question seems redundant, and many people will answer without thinking: No. What's wrong with that? To use the most popular saying in later generations, it cannot represent the interests of the vast majority of the people.

The reason why the imperial system has been eliminated in the long course of history is that it cannot find a reasonable excuse to represent the interests of the broad masses of the people. The interests of all the people depended on the emperor alone. The emperor himself was under great pressure and felt very weak in his heart. Therefore, the level of constantly creating various doctrines to prove one's own legitimacy, even referring to God, is a bit low. When society continues to progress, people's lives continue to become richer, their thoughts continue to be enlightened, and their knowledge continues to enrich, in a word, the production relationship is no longer suitable for the development of productive forces, and those nonsense about the divine right of kings, the indispensability of heaven, the three cardinal principles and the five constant principles, etc., will gradually no longer be able to deceive the masses. . Those who know how to keep pace with the times have created a constitutional monarchy and saved their jobs and dignity; those who don't know can only wait for the new organizational changes to speak for the interests of the people. Not to mention their jobs, sometimes even their lives are at stake.

Of course, the imperial system is not without its advantages. As long as the ruler is talented and strategic (such as the Qin Emperor and Han Wu-style figures), the social efficiency will be higher than other systems or even the Panzi system. This is why a great dictator can use it in a short period of time. The country is strong. For great leaders, poverty is a shackles, and many good policies are often delayed in implementation.

However, Yannick cannot guarantee that his descendants will work hard and innovate; perhaps his son will do well under his education in the future, but who can guarantee that his son's son and grandson's grandson will also do well? He didn't want the country he had worked so hard to build to fall apart one day in the future because of the stupidity of his descendants, and he would be so angry that he would jump out of the coffin. Therefore, he felt that the safest way was to decentralize power. The emperor of the imperial system was represented by one person, and the two houses of capitalism were represented. With more people, it was relatively fair.

Queen Elizabeth looked shocked. "You mean... to abandon the imperial system!" He is about to achieve something that no emperor in history has ever achieved, and yet he wants to voluntarily give up his rights? !"Then what are you doing all this for?!"

Yannick shrugged and said relaxedly. "As I told you before, this war is not launched for revenge, expansion, or conquest. I want to integrate as many resources as possible and use these resources to open the door for humans to explore the universe." Now the third One step has been successfully taken, and the next step is to march towards the moon.

Queen Elizabeth chuckled. "You and His Royal Highness Oscar are indeed father and son. You two are exactly the same in some ways. You are both so adventurous and do things differently from ordinary people." After sighing for a while, she asked again. "What kind of political system do you want to change to?"

Today's political systems are roughly divided into three types: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, and democratic republic; Yannick wants to abandon absolute monarchy, which only leaves constitutional monarchy and democratic republic as options; maybe he can create a new political system, but there is no guarantee of the effect, and he is too lazy to think about it, and continues to use his borrowing theory. "It seems that I can only learn from you British and choose constitutional monarchy." Maybe the constitutional monarchy also has this or that disadvantage, but at least before he traveled through time, the British constitutional monarchy had lasted for more than 330 years and had not collapsed.

It has to be said that the person who can come up with the idea of ​​constitutional monarchy is definitely a genius. This way of using money to buy the kingship, while all factions have to support the king's position on the surface, and everyone has to compromise and restrain each other to prevent one party from becoming too powerful. The king can check and balance the House of Commons through laws and the House of Lords. This kind of mutual restraint and shared benefits is really smooth.

"When will it be replaced?"

Yannick thought for a while and held up two fingers. "Twenty years later. By then, it should take ten years to complete the transition of the political system, and I can retire."