This was a very critical year in the subsequent Republican calendar.
This year was the most difficult year. The vanguard army was completely wiped out, the consul was missing for three months, and the entire city-state was in danger. The reconvened city-state conference decided to surrender...
No matter which incident occurs alone, it is an unprecedented and major blow. In this year, the city-state and all its citizens face the most deadly threat.
But no one would have thought that the city-state would usher in rolling thunder in this long night. The latter cut through the night and called for the common conscience, justice, hope and faith of the people. The nameless consul returned.
Including Zabir of Sharon and Zamal Maher, the former is the most prestigious representative among the rural sages, and the latter is known for his superb eloquence that often suffocates his opponents.
Including Kassel, who is currently in a dilemma for the city-state conference.
Cassel got the news while discussing the enemy's movement trajectory in the military camp. Overworked and sleep-deprived in the past three months, he thought he was hallucinating. When he asked the soldier who reported the news twice more, he still instinctively They questioned its authenticity and suspected that it was a clumsy trick launched by the enemy in order to make them underestimate the enemy.
After all, it is hard for anyone to believe that a person who has been missing for more than ninety days will come back.
After the soldier who reported the news swore in the name of the Lord, Cassell was finally dubious. He told the soldiers to bring those who claimed to be consuls to the study room in the castle, and he had to confirm it with his own eyes.
Cassel did not take this matter lightly, but after he had discussed the enemy's movements with his officers, it was already dark, and as soon as he left the camp, he hurried back to the castle on horseback.
In the end, Cassel didn't even take off his cloak. He grabbed the lighting candlestick from the servant and hurriedly walked up three flights of stairs. Finally, when he pushed open the ajar study door, his whole body was shaken.
"Casel," the man smiled at him, "Thank you for giving me time to freshen up."
"Consul... Peasant! It's really you, you're really back!" Cassel almost burst into tears, but he suppressed them in time.
Hearing a distant name, the man looked disappointed.
Cassel stepped forward and hugged the man. Both of them were very emotional. It wasn't until the man patted Cassel's shoulder that the latter let him go.
Soon, the man gathered his thoughts and asked, "I heard that the city-state assembly will be reconvened?"
After Cassell heard this, he had mixed emotions for a while, including guilt for not handling government affairs well, and a hint of sadness.
"Yes, those representatives of rural sages have almost united to force us to have a palace."
"I clearly remember that I temporarily deprived the conference of all its powers at the conference. What happened?" the man asked.
"But you are no longer here." Cassel paused. "They argued that the resolution was invalidated and demanded that the power be restored and the conference reconvened."
"You still need to pass a resolution of surrender?" the man sneered.
"You know, the situation is difficult." Cassel had no intention of defending them, but he had to admit it, "King Andri can always recruit slave soldiers, almost endlessly, like a thick earth wall, thinking that it has been dug out A little bit, which actually doesn’t cause any harm at all.”
"My fault, I destroyed the entire Vanguard Army." The man sighed, "But I tell you, they only need one fatal defeat to collapse in an instant."
Cassell's eyes lit up as he listened.
"Yes, you are back, our Archon, I believe in you unconditionally."
The man sat on the bench and said: "Then let's solve the problem of the city-state assembly first. I remember that you have to give a speech as an opposition."
"You want to attend the speech? No, you must attend." Cassel said.
"Yes, I have to let you go first. I have a little plan."
....................................
The city-state assembly was convened on time three days later.
For those who opposed surrender, the situation was far more difficult than imagined.
The city-state assembly was composed of representatives of rural sages elected from various places. About 40% of the rural sages advocated accepting favorable surrender terms, while only 20% were explicitly opposed to surrender, and the rest were wavering centrists.
The representative who advocates surrender is Zamal Maher, who is famous for his eloquence. In the past few years, Zamal has never lost any debate at conferences. According to people who know him, he is not alive. His great poet father was the one who went to hell, and he was born in this hell.
Before the speech and debate officially began, Zamal discussed with Zabir, the most prestigious among the village sages.
"Zamale, all I need is you to encourage those centrists." Zabir said, "With my authority, no one who advocates peace will fall to the other side."
Yes, in the mouths of the capitulationists, surrender was modified by the phrase "advocating peace."
"I know that as long as the consul doesn't come back, no one can compare to him in terms of prestige. But he won't come back." Zamal said in a relaxed tone.
"Come back?" Zabier sneered, "That consul is already dead."
Soon after, an attendant came over to inform them that it was time to enter.
Zamal and Zabeer smiled at each other.
The Citizens' Assembly was first held in the open-air square of the city-state of Aylan Bien, with simple fences and guards guarding it. All representatives of the village sages sat on wooden benches and formed a circle.
There is an open space in the circle, and a three-meter-high white stone platform stands on it. That is where the speakers stand. They must convince enough representatives as much as possible with their eloquence to ensure that the resolution can be passed or rejected.
According to the order of drawing lots beforehand, Cassel, the representative of the opposition, went to the stage to give a speech first, and then went to Zamal.
Due to the advantage of being a latecomer, in order to ensure fairness, the former is eligible to request another round of speeches as a speech.
This is established by the new law.
Under the gazes of the village sages, Cassell walked straight onto the white stone platform.
His speech lasted for three quarters of an hour, mainly emphasizing that the city-state would not accept the demand for surrender, and at the same time explaining the situation at hand.
The tone of Cassell's speech was extremely pleading, but the content was boring and lacked appeal, which led to bursts of boos driven by Chabier's deliberate actions.
Finally, Cassell declared that the convening of this city-state assembly was actually not in compliance with the law.
The speech ended, and he left the stage amidst slightly sparse applause. His back looked particularly lonely from a distance.
"He made a mistake," Zamal said to Zabeer.
Chabier nodded and said with satisfaction: "I'm waiting for you to bring me good news."
Then, Zamal stood up and left the bench, walking quickly to the white stone platform.
Looking around at all the representatives present, Zamal took a deep breath as usual.
He was confident that, against the backdrop of Cassel's failure, he would complete an eloquent speech that would go down in history.
"All sage representatives, our deputy commander said," Zamal paused rhythmically, "our city-state assembly is illegal."
When the village sages present heard this, they all felt guilty.
However, at this juncture, Zamal suddenly announced with a familiarity: "I have to tell you, he is wrong. This represents the will of all citizens! Our laws are passed by all citizens, which means that all citizens The will of the people is the real law!”
Cassel clenched his fists in the audience, and Zamal was obviously sophistry, misinterpreting his own meaning, and secretly changing his own concepts.
"Don't be afraid, Cassel, let him argue." The disguised man whispered to Cassel.
Cassell nodded and relaxed his fists.
On the white stone platform, Zamal continued his speech,
"Some people slander us that we are surrendering and compromising. Regarding this kind of remarks, I can tell you clearly, all representatives of the rural sages, we only have the latter, and we are by no means surrendering!"
"Why compromise? I have to tell you, 'compromise' is never a bad word, it is a neutral word. Each of us always compromises from time to time. To all the representatives of the township sages, you have not done anything in your respective villages. Have you ever resolved any dispute?"
“I have to tell you, this war is just a national dispute, although it is huge in scale, it is just a dispute.
Is choosing to reconcile in a dispute a kind of surrender? No, no, that is a kind of wisdom, a kind of wisdom passed down by the blood of Shanbu people. "
Having said this, Zamal saw that many of the original centrists had moved expressions, and nodded slightly with satisfaction.
At the same time, he also saw the representatives of the opposition's rural sages staring at him with cannibalistic eyes, as if they were filled with hatred.
But this is completely acceptable. What Zamal has to do is win the support of the centrists.
"I believe you also heard what Deputy Commander Cassel said. We have experienced a major failure and we are in a difficult situation now. Those who feel guilty about compromise, I know you are too kind. I have to say, We did not take the initiative to compromise, we compromised for the sake of peace, and the situation forced us to compromise.
Think about it, citizens and representatives of the rural sages, our vanguard legion has been destroyed, and there are only three legions in the entire city-state. We know the shadow of failure better than anyone else!
Do those who advocate continuing war and continuing disputes ignore the entire city-state?
We are doing our best to fight for peace! "
When these words came to light, Zabir on the bench took the lead in applauding, and then the "peace advocates" nearby him also gave warm applause. Inspired by these people, applause rang out from the centrists.
After the applause subsided, Zamal was particularly satisfied and continued his speech.
"Peace is good for us! First of all, everyone present can be made a noble. Our bloodline will be glorious from now on! Secondly, the city-state can still maintain its autonomy, and the city-state assembly can also be held as usual. Just these two things, I It can be said that we have no reason not to accept compromise. And the price we have to pay is just to reduce one legion."
As he spoke, Zamal made a "trivial" gesture.
"One more thing, don't forget, we have never declared war with the king. Yes, this is the main reason why I said this is just a dispute. We have not declared a war against the king, and the king has not declared war against us. War letter."
Zamal was right, Ailan must have never declared war between the city-state and the king.
The enemy forces in the royal capital did not declare war. For King Andri, why did he go out of his way to declare war to suppress the rebellion? If so, doesn't it mean that Aylan will be completely independent from the city-state?
Then Zamal realized that the speech time was coming to an end and tried his best to make a beautiful ending.
"All representatives of the township sages, let us no longer bleed or sacrifice for disputes. We have only one request: peace, peace, peace forever!"
