The six o'clock positioning ended without incident. The chosen ones who participated in the Festival of the Chosen Ones had several rounds of confrontation on the first night, and then fell into silence, as if they were waiting for and arranging new opportunities.
Griffith returned to Sonia's residence to prepare for today's meeting. Fiona and Lana also join them.
"Good morning, Fiona, Lana." Sonia greeted her friends briskly. Anna had just put on her special light armor melted with mithril, and then put on her coat.
So does Fiona. She even used an exquisite cavalry breastplate to match her skirt. The curves on her chest and waist were quite pleasing to the eye.
"Good morning, everyone, what's going on?" Griffith asked.
"The royal family will attend today's meeting." Rana shook his shoulders, and the heavy sword clanked with him. "The two counts and countess will not attend, and we have prepared a voting plan."
…
The Winter Meeting will vote on the budget and national policies for 1445, which is a very important agenda.
The Senate and the Arcane Council usually hold separate meetings. Factory owners and wealthy businessmen from other provinces, who are not even extraordinary, usually do not come to meetings. However, today's meeting was different from usual. In the small town of Bremi, luxuriously decorated cars gathered like a tide.
Representatives of the burgher class also followed the example of nobles and wizards and hung the squire's family crest on their cars, indicating that their ancestors had enjoyed the honor of presiding over the country, lest future generations forget it.
The parliament temporarily requisitioned a palace and transformed it into a venue that could accommodate hundreds of people.
When they arrived at the venue, both Griffith and Rana were told that they had no seats today and had to make do in the aisle.
“We are not targeting anyone,” the officer in charge had obviously explained to different people many times, as if he was endorsing, “There were too many people attending the meeting today, and there were not enough seats in the venue.”
Griffith entered the venue and found that it was indeed full of people. Many consultants and secretaries could only squeeze into the aisles on both sides with meeting materials and notebooks.
The chairman was occupied by the bitter-faced Speaker of the Senate, Lord Aimé, who seemed to have no desire to do the job at hand. Behind him is the king's throne. The old King Aurelius looks at the councilors as lovingly as he looks at a child.
In the entire conference hall, the elders sat on the left half and the wizards sat on the right half. Their faces were full of disgust and displeasure, and they kept their distance from the business and citizen representatives from other provinces who were sitting in the center of the hall.
According to Beyeland's tradition, the citizens do not have the right to vote. Only the Senate, composed of nobles with a long history and outstanding statements, can decide national policies, and the learned wizard class shares part of the governing power.
A senator was speaking on the stage, describing a terrible situation in very polite terms:
“As wise elders know, the military expenditures of the Autumn Campaign and Verona have overwhelmed the treasury, and although we have issued new national debt and special war bonds, the pressure to repay the bond maturities of the past few years remains high. The fiscal pressure remains high. The opinion of the Ministry is that without active tax reform, all the distinguished elders, scholars and gentlemen who have taken the trouble to attend the meeting, we will face financial risks in 1445..."
"The so-called risks are national debt defaults and total financial bankruptcy!" A gentleman present interrupted the speech loudly, "In the past five years, the endless war in the East has drained us like a newlywed wife. The financial master who is exhausted mentally and physically, the debt scale is expanding every year, and the current number is..."
"Shut up. (You have no right to speak.)" A series of scoldings drowned out the gentleman's speech.
"Quiet, quiet," Lord Mas de Aimé, the president of the Senate, banged the hammer in his hand, "order! Let the quaestor finish."
The supported quaestor continued his speech. According to his report, more than twenty standing legions need to be updated with equipment, money has to be spent on maturing bonds, and the huge expenditure of the Verona garrison needs to be implemented. It has been planned long ago. In previous wars and events, generals and extraordinary people should be given. Large sums of war bonuses remained unpaid to soldiers, officers and soldiers.
After the elders spoke, an elected citizen representative cautiously came to the podium.
It was probably his first time facing the Senate and wizards who ruled the world, and he seemed a little restrained.
"We understand the difficulties of the kingdom. His Majesty Aurelius and the wise Senate have provided us with shelter over the past few decades. Every month, new conquered territories at the end of the world whose names I have never heard of bring me and My friends rejoice. There is no greater honor and pride in being a citizen of Bijland."
After the citizen representative finished his compliments, he paused briefly:
"However, there are too many wars. There is no end to the levy. The industries we bought and the workshops we invested in have not yet earned a penny, so we have to squeeze out the principal to support the country. It is said that this is used to fight those We have no complaints about the savage orcs and monsters.
"But the expenses are like running water. Fifteen years ago, we supported the Ordur-Antalya defense line with all our strength to protect civilization and freedom from being violated. Ten years ago, we recaptured Kony Ya, there is no citizen in the provinces who is not happy!
"We emptied our pockets and sent our sons and daughters to fight. The kingdom conquered Karaman and the southern provinces and advanced to Mersin.
"Fellow senators and wizards, we really can't hold on any longer. Our tenant farmers and hired workers eat black bread that's harder than sawdust, and our son died under the ax of an orc. It's so pitiful that we haven't complained in these decades.
"Finally, Atana is victorious. We thought we could take a breather. Who would have thought that Verona rebelled, living corpses appeared in Raven, Odessa, the seven gods bless me, I dare not say Odessa what happened.
"Today, the kingdom needs more of our loyalty and purses. This is our obligation and honor. However, when the Senate and the Arcane Council were leading this great country, we were not present. Who knows, this tragic fate When will the day end?"
"Dong dong dong dong!" A dense crowd of citizen representatives knocked on the table and applauded the representative who had just spoken.
Then, several elders and wizards were ready to speak. They brought the details of the proposal, claiming to establish a unified and efficient taxation system.
These motions were interrupted after a few words, and a large group of people flooded the entire conference hall with sad and anxious discussions. Some people even vaguely shouted the words "no taxation without representation" and "civil war".
"Silence!" Lord Mas de Aimé struck hard with his hammer, and then shouted order to drown out the ominous words.
According to the agenda, this special session needs to pass new tax proposals to increase taxes on industry, commerce, and trade. The meeting went until noon with no progress. Griffith was already drowsy, while the senators, wizards and citizen representatives were still debating with great enthusiasm.
"Can they really come up with a result from the discussion?" Kurala whispered, "I have been standing all morning, just watching these people arguing. Two-thirds of the votes are too many, can't more than half agree?"
Everyone stood in the corridor all morning. The venue was noisy and noisy, which was really exhausting.
"Major resolutions must be passed by a two-thirds majority," Ophelia said. "A two-thirds majority passes the motion. There are twice as many supporters as opponents, and twice as many human and financial resources. Even if there is a war, It is also a crushing victory. Unless a minority sends a military genius, but even if the probability of a genius appears, the supporters have twice the advantage of the opponents. A successful meeting, in which each faction accurately assesses their own strength, may not necessarily They will choose to fight each other."
"The problem now is that, let alone the two-thirds majority rule, even the method of distributing votes has not been agreed upon," Rana commented. "This is just a temporary meeting. The Senate and the Arcane Council require that they retain their respective The decision-making power is that the citizen representatives from each region count as one, and the final vote does not depend on the number of representatives here, but is voted on by three meetings separately, with each meeting having one vote to finally decide on the tax increase proposal."
Griffith made no sound.
This scene was clearly the same as what he had experienced last night.
Although much manpower and material was received from the new provinces in the east and south, the kingdom's finances were not strengthened. Trade was unprecedentedly prosperous, but taxes were very low, and treasury inputs did not increase much.
There is a subtle but unignorable sign——
Nobles who achieved military merit were generally rewarded with annuities by the state and were not granted land. The tradition of "virtual titles" has been carried out for hundreds of years. The new nobles who have received cash can enjoy a comfortable life in the capital of the world without the hassle of running a territory. They are not so much nobles as decent mercenaries with titles. ; The kingdom does not have to worry about the nobles' territories and private soldiers forming independent small kingdoms.
However, Griffith's reward in the war with the orcs was the territory of the Ravenel family, and more land was obtained following the Odessa incident. When the kingdom gave him rewards, it didn't even mention annuities, hard currency, equipment and other rewards, but directly threw large tracts of land to him like a hot potato.
This thing originally just made him feel strange. However, seeing the scene in front of him, Griffith already understood clearly - the kingdom's finances were extremely tight, and the independence of the military nobles was no longer taken into consideration, and it was not even possible to transfer part of the power to the citizenry, which would shake the country's foundation. At the critical juncture.
Crisis comes one after another, and the kingdom is out of money, so why don't we rush to throw someone into the furnace to keep warm? Is it possible that members of parliament can come up with an explanation for this kind of thing in a debate?
Roland knew it, and the mysterious painter knew it. Even Count Larmour and Count Chalon knew it and sent their precious daughters as agents. But where would they be?
Most likely in the legionary camp garrisoned in Verona.
