The Breeze of Dusk with the Scent of Musk

Chapter 2: The Government

Emperor Wei Jian is considered the supreme leader and the highest authority of the Chinese Empire. The Chinese Empire in the reign of Emperor Wei Jian consisted of five kingdoms: the Crown Kingdom, the Pearl Kingdom, the Ruby Kingdom, the Star Kingdom and the Cloud Kingdom. These five kingdoms lie in the east, west, north, south and center of China, not respectively. Each of the kingdoms consists of multiple provinces and each of the provinces consists of numerous cities. Emperor Wei Jian lives in the Crown Kingdom in the Peace Province in the Jasmine City which is the capital of the Chinese Empire.

The capital of the Crown Kingdom is also the Jasmine City in the Peace Province; the capital of the Pearl Kingdom is the Jade City in the Rain Province; the capital of the Ruby Kingdom is the Lightning City in the Breeze Province; the capital of the Star Kingdom is the Flower City in the Mountain Province; the capital of the Cloud Kingdom is the Twilight City in the Sword Province.

The Crown Kingdom is ruled by King Lei Keung who is married to Queen Shui Lim; the Pearl Kingdom is ruled by King Qiang Sheng who is married to Queen Ya Peng; the Ruby Kingdom is ruled by King Tai Wang who is married to Queen Shuang Yan; the Star Kingdom is ruled by King Bai Chin who is married to Queen Mu Jie; the Cloud Kingdom is ruled by King Dong Hai who is married to Queen Lan He.

The Chinese government consists of the Imperial Government which is the central government of China along with five monarchical governments, one for each kingdom. The Imperial Government maintains the Imperial Constitution and sets the rules, the regulations and the policies for the entire Chinese nation. Each of the five kingdoms has its own monarchical government that is independent from other kingdoms. A monarchical government must abide by the Imperial Constitution, the rules, the regulations and the policies of the Imperial Government. In addition, a monarchical government can set its own customized rules, regulations and policies that fit its vision, interests and priorities. At all events, a monarchical government can never legislate things that conflict with or contradict things legislated by the Imperial Government. In a nutshell, the Imperial Government is the glue that unifies and hold the five kingdoms together.

To better understand how a monarchical government operates in relationship with the Imperial Government, let us consider these two examples. One article of the Imperial Constitution is that the golden tael is the official currency of the Chinese Empire. No monarchical government can legislate to use another currency in its kingdom. All the five kingdoms must only use the golden tael as their sole currency. The Chinese currency is unified across all the five kingdoms in the Chinese Empire. Another article of the Imperial Constitution is that imported goods are subject to tariffs. The Imperial Constitution does not state how much a tariff is so each kingdom must charge a tariff on imported goods. However, each kingdom is free to specify the tariff as a percentage of the value of imported goods. To illustrate, the Crown Kingdom charges 5% tariffs on imported goods, the Pearl Kingdom charges 4% tariffs, the Ruby Kingdom charges 3% tariffs, the Star Kingdom charges 3% tariffs while the Cloud Kingdom charges 2% tariffs.

Under each monarchical government, there are a number of ministries such as the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Intelligence. the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry, etc. Each monarchical ministry obeys and follows a central imperial ministry. The imperial ministry is the master of monarchical ministries and ensures the coordination between, unification and harmony of the monarchical ministries. For example, the Imperial Ministry of Intelligence is the central ministry of intelligence across the Chinese Empire and it controls, leads and coordinates the responsibilities and tasks of intelligence across the five monarchical ministries of intelligence (the Ministry of Intelligence in the Crown Kingdom, the Pearl Kingdom, the Ruby Kingdom, the Star Kingdom and the Cloud Kingdom).