After listening to Wang Zhenyu's plan, Chen Hongji and others looked at each other in dismay, exchanging glances with each other.

  Chen Hongji's voice trembled slightly with excitement as he asked: "General Wang, is this idea of yours true?"

  Wang Zhenyu looked at Song Haomin beside him and burst out laughing: "It's really true that having no hair on one's upper lip means being unreliable, look, even Chairman Chen doesn't believe me, it seems General Wang will have to start growing a beard tomorrow."

  Wang Zhenyu used a joke to ease Chen Hongji's embarrassment, and Chen Hongji was very grateful and smiled. Then he turned his mind back to what Wang Zhenyu had said earlier: "Civil affairs are handed over to local governments, and the local zhèngfǔ is appointed by the local council. The town-level civil affairs are all handed over to the Chamber of Commerce for management, and the local government and council have the power to guide and supervise. Government officials can consider following the example of England and America, dividing into two categories: one is a civil servant, and the other is an administrative official. The former is contracted, and the latter is elected by the council. This includes the county magistrate, and the bureau chiefs are appointed by the county magistrate. The civil servants are contracted for five years, and are directly managed by the council's civil affairs committee. As for the council, it is composed of the Chamber of Commerce, local celebrities, village heads, and clan leaders. Neither the provincial capital nor the town guard will interfere."

  Chen Hongji is also a veteran of the south and north, and after hearing this, he immediately understood the core meaning of the words. General Wang wants to throw zhèngfǔ to the local community. Among these local communities, the business community has the most money, so it naturally has the most say. Merchants can actually point fingers at local government affairs? This is a rare event in a thousand years! Such fat meat is going to be given up, General Wang won't be deceiving himself, will he? Thinking of this, Chen Hongji hesitated again.

  Wang Zhenyu seemed to see through Chen Hongji's little thoughts. He smiled and stood up, then stretched out his hand and gently grasped Chen Hongji's hand, saying: "My Chairman Chen, the business we are going to do now is something our predecessors have never done before, but there is no problem of crossing the river by feeling for stones, because Western foreigners are already doing it."

  Chen Hongji still looked at Wang Zhenyu with excitement, for the first time feeling a sense of respect for the young general, previously his feelings towards Wang Zhenyu were only awe.

  Wang Zhenyu also gained a sense of pride in the midst of the surprise of the three or four big bosses of the Jingzhou Chamber of Commerce, and his initial goal was simply to hope that through this reform, he could gain a broader basis for governance. After all, the threshold for doing business is much lower than taking the civil service exam, and it is also more realistic in terms of testing personal abilities.

  So as long as we control it well and limit the power of these merchants to the council and government affairs, the benefits of this reform will far outweigh the drawbacks.

  Of course, the truth is still to be verified by practice.

  In order to ensure the success of this political reform, and ultimately change the traditional centralized system, eliminate the bureaucratic malfeasance that has plagued China for thousands of years, as well as social problems such as people's hearts being scattered, we must still gather our thoughts, make meticulous plans.

  Chen Hongji is also a very down-to-earth person, and his performance in the matter of armed unification of commercial associations can fully illustrate this point. Therefore, Wang Zhenyu now hopes that the president of the Chamber of Commerce will take the lead in promoting political reform.

  After all, this is not a small matter. On the surface, it seems to be giving power to the merchants, doing a good deed. But what if the merchants don't believe in it? What if they are afraid and unwilling to participate? Then one will have to face alone the desperate counterattack of the vested interests of the current system in Jingzhou Prefecture, because one has touched their cheese.

  Although the risk is visible, it will not shake Wang Zhenyu's determination.

  Chen Hongji was also a very down-to-earth person, which can be seen from the fact that Wang Zhenyu ordered the disarmament of merchants as soon as he arrived in Jingzhou. Therefore, after taking over the task of reforming the government, Chen Hongji made an effort to restrain his inner excitement and actively contacted the leaders of the eight major merchant groups in Jingzhou, gathering them at Wang Zhenyu's military headquarters to begin intense planning and discussion. Wang Zhenyu was very satisfied with this, and whenever he had time, he would participate in it himself, while also specially instructing Ma Xicheng to arrange for food and lodging.

  These businessmen were also very moved by Wang Zhenyu's politeness, and they too became more proactive in the discussion.

  It's really impossible not to mention that the wisdom of the masses is truly boundless. As long as you've set a general direction for yourself, businesspeople's imagination in terms of details is truly astonishing.

  For example, in terms of parliament, merchants proposed a two-chamber representative system, specifically electing members by region and industry.

  As for the source of the members, the first is to establish administrative villages, which are directly under the county level. The village head (elected by local people and serving a three-year term) or the head of a large local family takes turns serving as a member (usually one person, due to national conditions). Each county has 100 administrative villages, and no more than that. The specific setup is implemented by the county government, which means there are 100 resident representatives.

  The second is that each county sets up ten business towns along the commercial road with a uniform interval, mainly used to provide commercial goods transactions and maintenance of normal operation of the commercial road for nearby rural residents. These business towns do not establish councils, but directly set up business town management committees, composed of the person in charge of the operating households and livelihood units (such as hospitals, schools) in the town. One chairman and one mayor are elected, who automatically become county council members. The mayor is mainly responsible for various affairs of the business town, including collecting operating taxes. The use of operating taxes is divided into three parts: one part is used to pay for the expenses of the town government, one part is used to support the construction of basic infrastructure in the administrative villages within the radiation range of the town (each town radiates ten administrative villages), and the remaining part is used for the construction of the town itself. Here, the business towns occupy twenty seats.

  The third is the county seat, where the Chamber of Commerce has nine fixed seats, one for the president and eight for each of the eight major business associations.

  Fourth, social celebrities, due to the county council term of three years, according to this principle, each session will be appointed by the county government, ten social celebrities with no public office, no bad reputation, and no criminal record as members.

  A total of 139 members, then divided into seven small groups according to their industry background, region and personal wishes: finance, justice, transportation, culture and education, health, industry and commerce, agriculture and forestry. Each group consists of seventeen members, who have the functions of supervising, auditing and deciding on the government.

  The county magistrate is elected by the members of the county council, and the directors of each department under the county government are appointed by the county magistrate, with a term of four years.

  Here, apart from 29 seats, businessmen seem to have little weight in terms of power.

  Don't worry, there's still a trump card here. This group of people has also established a system of standing committee members. The plenary meeting of the council is held once every half year, and the agenda lasts for three days. As for the regular monthly meetings of the council, it is not necessary to convene all members, but only need to ensure that 29 business representatives, 10 social celebrities, as well as the five largest administrative villages and the five most populous administrative villages (non-repetitive) within the county's jurisdiction automatically serve as standing committee members. In other words, big or small matters are basically decided by these standing committee members.

  The county's finances were entirely in the hands of the council; no one could spend a single penny without the council's consent or an order from the prefecture.

  Just the idea of such a parliamentary system made Wang Zhenyu gasp in amazement. Who says that the Chinese people of this era are not enlightened? When it comes to designing power structures, the hidden wisdom of these businessmen who usually nod and bow to everyone bursts out, and indeed, as soon as the dagger is placed on one's back, the waist can stiffen up.

  If this system is promoted nationwide, no one will think of being a warlord or a one-party rule, because the money and personnel rights are all in the hands of the parliament.

  Here is the translation:

  "Right, regarding personnel matters, I don't know which of these nine people has studied Western political science. They actually proposed a concept from Western political science - the Civil Service Affairs Committee. Roughly speaking, it divides government officials into two categories: one type is contract-based civil servants, similar to the old clerks; the other type is county-level directors and deputy directors who are appointed by the county magistrate, and these people belong to administrative officials. The civil service system adopts the British model, with five-year contracts that are renewed upon expiration based on performance evaluations. Civil servants receive annual salary increases and promotions based on their performance. However, this has nothing to do with administrative officials, who only have recommendation and evaluation powers; personnel appointments and salary adjustments are all handled by the Civil Service Affairs Committee. Wang Zhenyu immediately understood that this is equivalent to transferring the organizational department to the National People's Congress. Without personnel power and financial power, directors can only assign tasks and cannot unite themselves with their subordinates through interests. At the same time, these civil servants have five-year terms, and after serving for 15 years, they are automatically renewed for another 10 years; administrative officials serve four-year terms, and unless there are extraordinary circumstances, anyone who serves as a county magistrate or director will not affect the normal functioning of the county government. Because these civil servants are only responsible to the legislature, their superiors only have planning, organizational, and scheduling powers."

  This span is even greater than Wang Zhenyu himself imagined, so great that the parliament cannot be under heaven.

  However, it cannot be detrimental to the enthusiasm of the parliament. Wang Zhenyu revised a few clauses and left the rest unchanged:

  Firstly, the county magistrate is elected by all residents of the county through voting. Those who participate in the election for county magistrate must form an election team, and the candidates for deputy magistrates can only be selected from the election team after being elected.

  Secondly, judicial organs at the county level, such as procuratorates and courts, have their leaders appointed by higher authorities (referring to the prefectural government) and implement vertical leadership.

  Thirdly, members of the Legislative Council did not want to have immunity from prosecution and judicial immunity. Those involved in illegal activities would be investigated by the Control Yuan and handed over to the court for trial.

  Fourthly, at and above the county level are provincial assemblies; prefectural-level entities have a garrison commander or an agency dispatched by the province, and do not need to establish an assembly.

  Fifthly, the various counties' taxes must be allocated for garrison expenses and must be levied according to the prescribed tax rates.

  Sixth, deputies must take on corresponding social responsibilities, and the specific scope can be chosen by themselves, without mandatory arrangement.

  Seventh, the Speaker is elected once a year. The most important power of the Speaker is to decide on the convening and agenda of the meeting.

  The businessmen looked at the several clauses added by Wang Zhenyu, although the intention to restrict the power of the parliament was obvious, but being able to do this had already far exceeded their own imagination, so they also expressed their satisfaction and approval.

  Next is a very practical question, there is no free lunch in the world. Our General Wang Zhenyu can hand over the power of county governance to local self-management, which must be done with a return.

  After repeated consultations, Chen Hongji and others put forward their own conditions for exchange: "General Wang is indeed a magnanimous person, who is really dedicated to the people. Although we are of humble origin, we do not want to fall behind others. General Wang treats the people of my prefecture and four counties so generously, we naturally also want to repay him in some way."

  Next is the specific condition:

  Firstly, a one-time donation of 1 million yuan was made to support the military expenses of the Brave Tiger Troops, as a reward for their hardworking soldiers.

  Secondly, the four counties bear the daily military expenses of the garrison troops stationed there, which are regular troops with limited quotas, specifically no more than 3,000 men and horses per county.

  Thirdly, the construction costs of the parliament, judicial organs, public schools and hospitals are all solved by the Chamber of Commerce in installments.