My British Empire

  Chapter 343 The Political Situation in England

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  Following the ancient tradition of England, local gentlemen hold official positions and serve the king obligatoryly.

   Moreover, in the local counties, the county council only has the power of supervision, and the number of members is determined by the central government. In this way, the local county council can be controlled to the greatest extent.

  At present, the power of the local government is a bit too large, or it is much greater than before. In this way, county officials cannot control their own desires, and even unite with local families to conspire.

  And if a county council is established, those nobles and gentlemen who originally disdain to be officials will be artificially opposed to those officials.

  One supervision, one administration, in this way, the local area will not be a pool of stagnant water, which is conducive to the control of the central government.

   Moreover, in order to centralize power, the Privy Council also issued a decree requiring all officials to serve no more than four years. After four years, the central government will decide on the appointment.

  Four years, the first year is for adaptation and understanding, the second and third years are for local officials to govern, and the fourth year is the end.

  In this era of short life expectancy, this is almost one-tenth of the life of ordinary people.

  The head of the Hundred-Household District is appointed by the county, and then submitted to the central government's files. The head of the Thousand-Household District and the ministers of the county follow the example of the central government. They are drafted by the Privy Council, and they can take office after the king approves.

  The candidates for the sheriffs of England's thirty-nine counties are selected by the Privy Council from among the many district chiefs. There are three people in each county, and then they can be appointed by the king's approval.

  After that, the local county chief can be promoted to the central government, and then he can become the deputy director of each department of the Privy Council, and then promoted to the director, deputy minister, minister, minister of the Privy Council, vice president of the Privy Council, and speaker of the Privy Council.

  As mentioned above, the central government is dominated by the Privy Council, which is divided into nine departments under its jurisdiction, foreign affairs, finance, agriculture and commerce, engineering construction, religion, supervision, social security, education, and the organization department that manages the promotion of officials.

  According to the ancient tradition of England, England is divided into eight parts: Northeast England, Northwest England, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Central England, East Central England, East England, Southwest England, and Southeast England.

  Each department has a minister and two deputy ministers, and there are eight departments under it, and each department corresponds to each section above it, that is to say, each department is responsible for a set of things in those counties.

  Each department has a director and two deputy directors, as well as several personnel.

  If you have taken the England Official Admissions Examination, your promotion route is as follows:

  Hundred district chiefs—district chiefs—county ministers—deputy directors—directors—deputy ministers—ministers—Minister of the Privy Council—deputy president or speaker.

   If you stay in each position for four years, congratulations, after thirty-two years, you may become the top official of the Privy Council—the Speaker of the Privy Council.

  Of course, this is just a smooth sailing situation. Some accidents and ups and downs are inevitable in this world. This is the norm in officialdom.

  However, if there is such a person, after such a lot of experience, then he must be an elite among the elite, with extremely high EQ and IQ, and it must be easy to manage the whole of Britain.

  For this era, although the king is still the main factor that determines whether a country is strong or not, it is important to have a group of ministers with outstanding abilities and broad knowledge, which is an important support for a country's strength.

  We know that in this era, nobles are the elites of society and important helpers in governing the country.

  But the aristocracy, the hereditary system, is extremely easy to corrupt this class, and the chance of an elite being born is too small.

  For example, in France later, in the 18th century, why did the Bourbon Dynasty fall? Among them, the nobles as the ruling class were corrupt and greedy and stingy. They contributed to the end of the Bourbon Dynasty.

  In England, in addition to counties, there are also a large number of municipalities.

  Of course, the existence of municipalities is the result of the Magna Carta. Article 13 of the Magna Carta stipulates that all free cities in London should enjoy the right to freedom, and the king must not interfere or occupy them.

  And, importantly, Free City can elect members of the House of Commons.

  In order to further disperse the power of the House of Commons and strengthen the royal power, Henry VIII and later Elizabeth I granted some emerging cities as free cities.

   As a result, the House of Commons slowly expanded, and the royal power's control over the parliament was greatly enhanced.

   It was the turn of the Stuart dynasty to enjoy the consequences, and the House of Commons began to challenge the kingship.

  After seeing the three barons, Edward was relieved after the scene.

  At present, the English nobility is still somewhat weak. Unlike Henry VII and Henry VIII, the power of the nobility seems too weak.

  When a large number of civilians enter the government, they will inevitably seize a lot of rights. At this time, the existence of the nobles will form a balance with the power of the civilians.

  The king is between the two powers, both ways.

  In the later Glorious Revolution, the aristocrats advocated keeping the royal family, while the bourgeoisie wanted a republic, so there was a bill of rights and the royal family survived.

  Actually, even before World War I, the British royal family still had a lot of power, unlike the stamping in the 21st century.

   During the First World War, a large number of noble children joined the army, but the huge casualties caused many nobles to become extinct. For the royal family, this was no less than the War of the Roses in the fifteenth century.

   But at this time, the attitude of the royal family is completely different.

   Excessive consumption of noble power means that civilian power officially dominates British power, and the royal family has truly become a rubber stamp.

  In general, until now, the power of the nobles needs to increase to become a booster for the royal family to rule the country.

  At the local level, the county government and the county council check and balance each other, and at the central level, the nobles and civilian officials check and balance each other. Balance is Edward's pursuit.

   On the whole, capitalists have begun to rise, and bureaucrats are an important force to contain capitalism.

   Or it can be said that capitalism in England developed under the watchful eye and control of the bureaucracy.

  The carriage of England can only continue to develop under the leadership of His Majesty the King.

  For Edward, if Britain becomes the world hegemony, but he is not the leader, then everything will be meaningless.

  On the contrary, Edward would rather make Britain a European power, under Spain and France, and let Britain be under the rule of the royal family.

  It can be said that in most cases, the interests of England and the interests of the Tudor royal family are consistent.

   But, sometimes, Edward would rather sacrifice the interests of England and preserve the interests of the Tudor royal family.

  The best example of this kind of conflict and contradiction is the Soviet period.

  Officials wantonly sold national interests. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, they became oligarchs one by one, and never took the situation in the Soviet Union to heart.

  (end of this chapter)