Under the cliff with the sword in the stone, Xia Ya didn't know when he appeared there.
He silently raised his head and looked at the hilt of the sword that was mostly submerged in the cliff. He raised his hand, and a burst of energy flew out from the sword in the stone, forming a ball of light in Xia Ya's hand.
That was the power of destiny Chara poured into it when she was casting the Sword in the Stone, but at this moment, the Sword of the King's Choice has completed its mission.
Char did not set any rules such as the knight's code when he made this sword, so even if Arthur violated the knight's code, it would not break.
But apparently, the power of fate also affected Arthur.
He closed his palms, and the power of fate disappeared from his hands.
At the same time, a voice came from behind him.
"I knew you'd be here."
Charia was not surprised. He turned back and looked at Arthur standing behind him.
Standing next to him was a man in military uniform with short red hair. He was a head taller than Arthur, about 1.8 meters tall, very burly, with two obvious nasolabial folds on both sides of his nose, but overall very handsome.
It is Arthur's confidant, the red wolf Wolf.
He was looking at himself curiously.
Xia Ya smiled, looked at the sword and joked.
"It took me more than a week to make this sword, and you just threw it away so casually?"
Hearing this, Wolfe's pupils shrank slightly, and he looked at the back of the mysterious man in front of him with slight surprise.
He suspected that he had heard wrongly.
But then, Arthur's next words negated his suspicion.
"I also guessed that this sword has something to do with you."
Arthur stood beside Char and looked at the sword.
"After all, this sword is so similar to the sword you use, even the style has not changed much.
A generally practical long sword would not have so many flashy gems and gold. "
The corner of Xia Ya's mouth raised an imperceptible arc.
"You are indeed different from the past. You have learned to be sarcastic."
Arthur shrugged, "Those officials in the imperial capital, if you talk to them nicely, they won't listen to you."
Char turned to look at Arthur, "Would you like to have afternoon tea with me?"
Arthur raised his eyebrows and said, "Of course, I happen to have some time now."
"It may take some time." Xia Ya said.
Arthur frowned slightly. He thought for a moment, then turned to Wolfe and said, "Go back and tell the others that I will handle some private matters."
"My emperor." Wolfe came back to his senses and hesitated to speak.
"Don't worry, I won't be in danger." Arthur said.
Wolfe raised his head and looked at Char.
"You can call me Merlin." Xia smiled.
Merlin
Wolfe frowned, as if he had indeed heard this name somewhere.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind.
The memory of this name also flashed through his mind.
His pupils shrank slightly and he raised his head sharply.
But Char and Arthur had already disappeared.
The two of them turned into two black shadows and flew towards the distance.
They returned to Sky Island and came to the balcony outside the principal where Char and Alicia had sunbathed together.
The hot tea on the table is steaming, and it looks like it was brewed not long ago.
Arthur gradually came back to his senses. He looked around slightly absentmindedly, at the sea of clouds reflecting the sun in the distance and the magnificent castle.
They are now on an island floating in the sky.
Arthur can't describe his feelings now, but Chinese students from the 21st century will obviously feel the same way.
After all, everyone will encounter this kind of thing a few times after graduating from school.
"Have you moved to another place?" Arthur said.
"No." Xia Ya sat on the armchair and poured a cup of tea for herself and Arthur, "This is another place, the place we live in has not changed.
This is a school, a school that specializes in teaching magic.
Alicia also works as a teacher at this school.
It's called Hogwarts. "
Arthur looked around and asked, "Did this school exist a long time ago?"
"If you are talking about the school called Hogwarts, then it did exist very early. If you are talking about this school, then it was established not long ago."
Arthur nodded thoughtfully, "I understand."
He picked up the tea cup on the side and took a sip. During this period, he had been leading troops to fight. Because of assassinations from time to time, he had never sat down and relaxed like this before.
"Are you really planning not to use that sword anymore?" Xia Ya asked.
Arthur's eyes darkened.
“You were there when I took my oath.
Now, an innocent mother died at my hands.
I can no longer hold that sword. "
Xia Ya leaned lazily on the armchair and whispered, "Life is short, and everyone can choose how to live, whether it is self-interest or dedication, and everyone can get self-satisfaction from it.
But in this world, when you gain something, you will also lose something.
You abide by the spirit of chivalry and want to be a noble person, and you have a high bottom line in your heart.
I can understand the self-satisfaction you get from this.
But this can also become your weakness.
Your enemy will not be a noble person. "
"I will not change my beliefs because of others." Arthur looked at the white clouds in the distance and said, "Even without that sword, I can still defeat my enemies."
Xia Ya curled her lips, picked up the tea cup on one side and took a sip without saying anything else.
If the king follows the will of others, then the king will not be a king.
"I experimented with my idea in West France." Arthur said slowly, "I changed this country into a republic, but the effect seems to be unsatisfactory."
He looked at Char, "I let the people choose their own rulers. This sounds really good, but in practice there are many problems.
People's education level is not high, and most people don't understand politics. They know very little about the people they can choose from, and most of them can only vote randomly.
In order to let the people know themselves as quickly as possible and get more votes, the candidates have tried every means to increase their momentum, package themselves, and make various promises to the people, some of which are even completely illusory.
But many people believe it to be true.
And the most important thing is that those who can create the greatest momentum become the best candidates, and only those who control newspapers, can guide the direction of public opinion, and have funds can support such momentum.
In the end it became a meritocracy.
In this way, mass politics is always limited to a narrow scope, and voters can only vote among a limited number of people.
But no one knows the true abilities of these people, it all depends on luck.
I'm lucky enough to be able to choose someone with real abilities.
If you are unlucky, you will have to endure an incompetent ruler for several years.
For ordinary voters, they come and go immediately after the election. Most people are just "extras" in this electoral game.
"Government by the people" is difficult to reflect in political practice. "
Xia Ya smiled and said, "What did you do in the end?"
"The candidates are actually all West French people who followed us in the revolution. They have been screened by us. They are all capable, knowledgeable and ambitious people," Arthur said.
“But whether their next generation will be as capable as them is unknown.
I even suspect that in the future, this system will send a comedian to the position of president.
Teacher, tell me, is the republic really suitable for this era? "
"You've got into a corner." Xia Ya said with a smile.
“You care too much about “government by the people” but ignore reality.
I can tell you responsibly that meritocracy will actually last for a long time.
Until human education is popularized, until the vast majority of people become "elites".
The so-called elites are the best people among human beings.
You cannot deny that only those who have more knowledge and a broader vision can lead human civilization forward.
Therefore, what you should care about is whether these elites can truly take into account the interests of the people and whether they can truly do practical things for the people.
The foundation of government by the people lies in whether the people can obtain the benefits they deserve.
At the same time, you also need to understand something.
All systems in this world are not advanced or not, only whether they are suitable or not. "
“Like republics, they actually existed in ancient Greece, but were no longer suitable because of the expansion of Rome.
The means of communication and transportation at that time were limited, and it might take several months or even half a year to send news from the north to the south in such a huge country.
If democracy were exercised in that era, just collecting votes would take several years or even more than ten years, and the efficiency of executing decrees would be extremely low.
In ancient times, where a natural disaster could cause a famine due to productivity, this inefficiency was almost fatal.
Therefore, only an efficient government system such as centralized power was most suitable for that era. "
"I know this. It is also productivity that determines production relations, and the economic base determines the superstructure." Arthur said.
Xia Ya smiled and nodded.
"But this era is different. The technology of steam warships that your navy is building can be applied to civilian ships.
The time it takes for people to travel from one end of the sea to the other is shortened and transportation becomes cheaper.
After the steamship came out, the steam train was bound to follow.
Exchanges between various regions and countries will become closer.
People's quality has improved as a whole, and people will no longer allow such an absolute presence above their heads.
And this is the time for the republic to revive again. "
Arthur nodded.
"Every country has different national conditions. A person with real political wisdom will choose to design a suitable political system for his country according to local conditions."
"It's not that simple." Arthur smiled bitterly.
Xia Ya smiled and said, "If you have no direction, you can learn from the parliamentary system."
"Parliamentary system? The kind of ancient Greece?"
"No, there is still a difference. Ancient Greece was a direct democracy, and Britannia had too many people, which was impractical.
As for this parliamentary system, I prefer to call it a representative system. "
“It may not be practical to directly allow the people to elect the top leader.
However, if the country is divided into different constituencies.
Let people in the constituency elect "representatives" who can represent their will.
These "representatives" form the parliament, which enjoys the power of legislation, organization and supervision, as well as the power to select the top leader or the corresponding leadership team.
Compared with the former, making the circle smaller can, to a certain extent, prevent voters from choosing among people they have never met or understood.
With a certain probability, truly capable people will be selected.
Of course, there may be some people among these congressmen who are just as powerful as they appear, but as long as these people are not allowed to occupy the majority, the country will be able to run well. "
Arthur fell into thinking. The more he thought, the brighter his eyes became.
"Of course, this is just a template." Xia Ya emphasized, "You cannot plagiarize directly.
On this basis, you can design this system in more detail, for example, to ensure that the top leader can safeguard the interests of the people.
We can legislate that the top leader must have political experience, must have experience at the grassroots level, and must be promoted step by step from the bottom up based on his or her political performance.
In this case, before he became the supreme ruler of a country with tens or even hundreds of millions of people, he had first governed an area with millions of people and achieved results.
Or, the performance of democratic rule does not necessarily have to focus on voting.
It can also give people the right to "participate in politics." "
"Participate in politics?" Arthur raised his head and looked at Char.
"It's not "governing", but "participating in politics."" Xia Ya emphasized.
“The difference between the latter and the former is that it can avoid the emergence of mass politics.
It is still a modified version of the parliamentary system, but the difference is that in addition to the selected "elites".
It is also composed of “representatives” who can represent the interests of various classes and industries.
These people vote and exercise the power to legislate, organize, supervise and select top leaders.
However, this set is not suitable for Britannia.
You also need to consider the interests of the nobility, perhaps establishing two houses, such as the House of Lords to represent the interests of the nobility, and the House of Commons to represent the interests of the common people.
You could start by giving the House of Lords greater powers to negate any issue passed by the House of Commons.
In this way, the nobles will not prevent the existence of the House of Commons and allow the people to fight for their own interests to a certain extent under the power of the nobles.
Eventually, the House of Commons became larger than the House of Lords.
And as long as the seeds can be planted, they will eventually blossom and bear fruit.”
(End of chapter)
