The parliamentary day on the 30th was uneventful. No proposal to repeal the "Law on Temporary Freeze of Ordinary Residential Housing Rental Prices" was put forward by the legislators. Therefore, the full-day meeting turned into a friendly consultation meeting, where some hot issues were discussed and some legislators gave passionate speeches.
There was nothing to do at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the Speaker adjourned the meeting.
Lu Ming left quickly because an unexpected person came to see him.
…
Guanhexuan of Wolong Restaurant is a teahouse that looks like a pleasure boat on the riverside. At this moment, in a room on the second floor, looking out from the red window sill, there is already a bit of green in the clear river water, as the little lotus leaves are just beginning to show their pointed tips.
Opposite Lu Ming sat a thin old man. When he heard Lu Ming's praise of "young lotus just showing its tip", he was slightly startled, then smiled and said: "I didn't expect that our Qianxing committee member is a great lawyer and a great talent. He is really a talent of our party!"
This thin old man, Fang Shouwang, is the whip of the Grand Ecumenical Party, the whip of the entire Grand Ecumenical Party in the empire.
At the same time, he is also the leader of the Grand Public Party's Tokai branch.
The Donghae Party Committee is a party branch that includes the Donghae Region, a total of one region, six states, and one province, all under the leadership of the Donghae Party Committee.
In terms of the entire empire, the Grand Ducal Party is the third largest party in the opposition coalition.
Among all the political parties in the empire, it ranks fifth in the number of seats in the Federal Imperial Parliament and the House of Commons of the Kingdom of Greifanni.
There was also a glorious period when it formed an alliance with other parties to govern jointly.
Even though it is in the opposition now, it is still a force that no super party dares to underestimate.
Mr. Fang Shouwang ranks third in the party’s sequence.
He is also one of the five members of the East Sea Municipal Council and the Minister of Energy of the Shadow Cabinet of the House of Commons of the Kingdom of Greifani.
From any perspective, Mr. Fang can be considered an imperial-level politician. He has already touched the threshold of the top circle of bigwigs in the imperial political arena, but there is still a thin layer of window paper missing.
After all, he had never actually entered the kingdom's cabinet and become a cabinet minister.
The so-called shadow cabinet is a reserve cabinet team set up by the opposition coalition in preparation for coming to power, and is usually used to sing against the real cabinet.
Lu Ming also didn't know why he would ask to meet him, and came to Wolong Restaurant in person.
At this time, a line of poetry that was casually translated into the Central Plains language using a more appropriate context was heard by Mr. Fang, who was amazed.
But Mr. Fang pointed at the silver ribbon-like Crouching Dragon River and said with a smile: "Qianxing, the river scenery is very beautiful. How about we each write a poem? I want a poem with ancient rhyme."
Lu Ming spread his hands and said, "Mr. Fang, I really don't know how to do this. What I just said was made by a good friend of mine."
Mr. Fang obviously didn't expect Lu Ming to answer like this. He smiled slightly and said, "You don't want to deal with an old man like me, right?"
In fact, Lu Ming was too lazy to waste time. Otherwise, how difficult would it be to slightly transform those famous works from his previous life
"Well, young people nowadays want to be efficient in everything they do. We old guys are just sitting there doing nothing and are outdated. We can't keep up with the times. My grandson asked me if I knew what science fiction was and what aliens might look like. He said it was a movie called Lost in Space, which was very inspiring."
Mr. Fang sighed and said, "Now, it is really an era of information explosion!"
Looking at Lu Ming, "So, a young man like you has appeared in our party. I am really happy from the bottom of my heart. I have been waiting for the leader of your branch to be confirmed. Once it is you, I will meet you. Who knows, your branch, Zhao Qing will not be able to step down, right? He should live out his old age in peace. You should let him worry less."
Now that Qing Lao has retired, he should also resign as party leader.
But unexpectedly, only two people from our party, Lu Ming and Dong Wenquan, were elected to the current Municipal Committee.
The party leader should be a municipal council member of the party. Historically, the Grand Kung Fu Party's Beiguan branch has never had two municipal council members.
This has led to different opinions within the party. Although the voices supporting Lu Ming as party leader are louder, there are also voices supporting Dong Wenquan, who believe that a 19-year-old party leader is too frivolous.
In this way, in order to avoid a split within the party, Qing Lao had no choice but to continue to be at the helm and wait for the right opportunity to determine his successor.
"Mr. Qing has an old brother who came to me and said that you are too young." Mr. Fang said this intentionally or unintentionally, looking out the window, as if attracted by the beautiful scenery.
Lu Ming smiled, knowing that he thought he was young and didn't understand why the voices within the party supporting Dong Wenquan suddenly became louder.
However, I also understand aging. For those who are gradually aging and have high power, everything else is fine and they may be open-minded, but giving up power? This should be the most difficult hurdle.
The emergence of two municipal committee members within the party suddenly made Qing Lao realize that he could take advantage of this and continue to stay in the position of party leader.
He had already been unpopular before the election, which may have made him extremely unbalanced and made him even more attached to the power in his hands.
And now, taking advantage of the dispute over the succession to the party leader, both his own faction and Dong Wenquan's faction will strive for his support, which will allow him to continue to enjoy the glory of the past when he was the only one who could command the support of the people.
How could I not know this? Even Sister-in-law Jiu mentioned it to me in a subtle way.
Looking at Elder Fang, Lu Ming smiled and said, "I am indeed too young. I think we still need Elder Qing for the time being. I feel confident that Elder Qing will be at the helm."
Fang Shouwang took a deep look at Lu Ming and nodded: "It seems that you are very open-minded. Good! Talent, a talent!"
The tone of this compliment is completely different from the previous polite remarks.
He smiled again and said, "If we talk about the youngest mayor, it's not you. A dozen years ago, there was a 17-year-old mayor, right?"
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Yes." However, it was just a small town of a few thousand people. But from the administrative division, it was a town directly under the state, at the same level as Beiguan, and that kid was voted out after serving one term.
This world is different from my own country in my previous life. It is more like the West of the same period. A city like Beiguan with hundreds of thousands of people is a big city in any state.
Mr. Fang nodded: "So, what's the problem with age? Don't blame my grandson for saying that we are all old antiques. I think there are many such old antiques in the party."
Lu Ming was not in a position to respond, so he picked up the teacup and sipped the tea.
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore! I'm here to see you. I need your help with something, Qianxing." Old Fang smiled. "Old Wang, who recommended you to Mantangmei, was once a good friend of mine. We haven't seen each other for more than 30 years. He suddenly called me yesterday and asked me for help to be his lobbyist. Haha! This guy has always looked down on us who are involved in politics and often curses us, saying that politicians are not human beings. But now, he comes to me for a favor. Haha, haha!" He laughed happily twice. Obviously, he felt very comfortable that this old friend bowed to him.
Lu Ming was stunned. Mantangmei was Li Yumei's stage name.
"Of course, look at the situation. Anton is not a good place. It's better not to go there if you can." As he said that, Mr. Fang shook his head.
Several provinces such as Anton are directly governed by the kingdom, and the governor-general, commonly known as senior officials, is directly appointed by the cabinet.
Senior officials not only directly appoint administrative officials from the three bureaus and eight departments, but also directly appoint members of the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan.
Similar to the Governor of Hong Kong in his previous life before the return.
Although the terms of office of these senior officials are very short, with the longest not exceeding ten years, they are real local emperors during their tenure.
As an isolation zone and buffer zone that once served as a defense against the four provinces in the northern region, the top officials of the empire at that time may have believed that only the mobilization power of dictatorship could fight dictatorship.
Therefore, this strange system of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River was formed.
Basically, the five provinces of Jiangnan should be the areas that the empire once truly regarded as colonies. They have never become a duke's fiefdom, let alone a grand duchy.
The investment in education over the past few hundred years and so on are very different from those in the empire's "homeland".
The five provinces south of the Yangtze River are also the poorest areas in the Kingdom of Griffinni except for a few areas in the west.
However, compared with the four provinces in the northern region, the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River are much more comfortable and the people's income is slightly higher.
After all, there were constant wars in the four provinces of the Northern Territory, flags were flying on the city walls, and warlords of all sizes were everywhere.
But for the people of Donghai, the five provinces south of the Yangtze River are a daunting place, a place of poverty and ignorance.
So although Mr. Fang mentioned his old friend's request, it was obviously not empty talk when he asked Lu Ming to consider it. After all, although Lu Ming is young, he is also one of the emerging prominent figures in the East China Sea. He has a lot of things to deal with. It would be cautious to go to that remote place to file a lawsuit for something he didn't know.
Lu Ming pondered for a moment and said, "Well, I'll think about it, but it will take a few days at least. Tomorrow, there will be a military court and I'll be the judge."
Mr. Fang smiled and said nothing.