The hopeless meeting lasted from early morning to noon. In the end, the representatives of the three meetings left unhappy and did not eat lunch. When leaving the venue, the disappointed citizen representatives shouted in the direction of the throne:
"Reorganize the parliament!"
"Build the broadest possible National Assembly!"
Speaker Mas de Aimé asked the citizen representatives to leave. His Majesty Aurelius watched everyone with a gentle smile without making any statement. The unwilling citizen representatives jumped at the exit of the palace and shouted:
“We will be back!”
…
The all-important winter meeting seemed to fizzle out as soon as it opened on the morning of the first day. The Senate and the Arcane Council do not want to continue talking to the mortals of industry and commerce, and the next meeting will organize their own motions.
"The merchants will not give up," Lana took Fiona's hand and led her down the long steps of the palace, "but the army is in the hands of the king and the Senate, and what will happen next is nothing more than the first day of this year. A repeat of what happened in the month.”
"It's better to be careful," Griffiths, who has been receiving hints and hints these days, hurriedly reminded everyone, "Your Majesty has not expressed his position yet. He is the Commander-in-Chief, who controls the government, and can pass it even without the support of the Senate. Administrative measures support industrial and commercial owners. The royal meeting held in the afternoon may let us know the attitude of the royal family."
"Your Majesty is almost asleep!" Fiona stood on Lana's side and said something disrespectful, "Even the king has no choice. Going against the senators will cause a civil war. Only madmen do this. Well, at least not this king.”
…
His Majesty Aurelius seemed to have other matters to deal with, and the prince held the royal meeting in the afternoon. Before Griffith and Sonia reached the door of the conference hall, they heard a familiar voice from a distance.
"If you can stop bickering and constraining each other, and stop bickering and fighting each other for personal gain, even for just a week, our career will have a completely different look.
"The legions and Extraordinaries on the frontline are troubled by manpower shortages and insufficient supplies every day, but the navy has always occupied hundreds of thousands of people. In 1427, this force only had 30,000 people. By 1441, it expanded to 150,000, but The number of battleships has only doubled. Such a huge manpower redundancy is either tied up in the port or on an incomprehensible number of transport ships. The Navy even has the spare capacity to form four Marine Corps regiments to participate in ground battles , you must know that the field corps and garrison corps on the front line are not fully staffed most of the time, and the defense line is riddled with holes. Why are there so many rich manpower not replenished to the front line?
"The vast majority of Beyonders are under the jurisdiction of the Arcane Council and the military, and tens of thousands of extraordinary potions are traded and circulated every year. Even if we exclude the elderly, children, and women who are not suitable for combat, we still have at least a few There are tens of thousands of Beyonders. But why are the Beyonder teams in various regions still overwhelmed?"
Many cabinet officials, nobles, generals, and senators gathered around, listening to the prince's words in silence.
Prince Commodus said as he patted the table with his quill:
"When I was on the front line, not a day went by without troops applying for armor and artillery. The army in Atana's general attack was even equipped with bronze armor that had long since been eliminated. Warehouses everywhere were emptied, and they could not meet the needs of the Eastern Army. The situation of insufficient equipment never seems to get better. You see, the military production capacity in the summer and autumn this year has continued to decrease, while civilian investment has increased. Holy light, September and October are the critical stages of the Odessa battle. We Our legions can’t even get new artillery!”
"Your Highness, we are working hard to improve these problems," an official said. "In the past three years alone, the Senate's investment in weapons procurement has quadrupled. Despite facing huge financial pressure, we still... "
"Wait a minute!" The prince interrupted the official who spoke, "Since the investment has quadrupled. The money has been spent, but where are the weapons? It stands to reason that the Beyelan army should be able to assemble several times more troops than three years ago. right!"
The prince's voice became louder and louder, showing no mercy to the dignitaries attending the meeting.
Griffith could only wait with Sonia on the sofa far away and wait for the argument to end. The countess listened for a while, pulled her knight's arm, and whispered in his ear: "I understand that the expansion of investment in a short period of time will cause a shortage of materials. It takes a long time for orders and materials to enter production."
Griffith thought for a moment: "Sonia, do you know about the Equinox on the Broken Sea?"
"That magical clipper ship?" The countess nodded repeatedly, "I have seen it before, and I am planning to take her to the south for vacation. She is many times larger than other sea ships, and it is much faster. The new metal pipes and components promoted by Count Roland Make the cabin more tidy and comfortable, no less than that of the Flying Leaf.”
"It's true, I rode the Equinox last time I went to Niopolis, and it was impressive," Griffith said. "Of course, the most amazing thing was the pipes, the water pipes, the sewage pipes and the heating pipes. Separate from each other, they extend from the bottom of the ship to the accommodation.”
"Hmm~" Sonia's blue eyes sparkled, "Let's go to the south! We will be at sea for a week and will pass by those beautiful islands. I want to go!"
"The fish there are all preserved in ice, transported from the southern peaks, and stored in cellars." Griffith naturally skipped the travel plan, "Sonia, look, it's so rich. With the metal production capacity and transportation capacity, it stands to reason that there should be no shortage of equipment on the front line."
"You are talking about this~" The countess thought for a moment, her eyes became serious, "You mean that the funds and materials were not fully invested in the war, but were dispersed to other areas."
Griffith nodded slightly and put forward his own idea: "The investment in military industry is a large amount of money. Such a huge investment in orders is definitely not something that the original suppliers and production system can handle. They need to subcontract two or three times to combine different The products and links are handed over to others. The expansion of investment scale leads to a huge loss of funds in the production process. Of course, everyone also makes money.
"If there is no prosperous private market and no profits, how can businessmen who invest in the south need comfortable ships, and they can eat fish without ice when they eat raw fish.
"As long as there is money, even if the front line lacks equipment, there will still be countless people using steel and transportation capacity to meet the needs of the rear."
The two chatted quietly. On the other side of the conference room, Prince Commodus' tone became more severe:
"This morning you asked for taxes, for a tax on seaborne trade, for a new Corn Bill, for trade protection. My father looked at you and his heart broke. What a great Beyeland has become today, I It's heartbreaking.
"I can't share my father's worries. I feel ashamed of the Seven Gods and guilty of all the people. I wish I could depose myself!
"And you, each with a 'Mein Fuhrer' in your mouth, standing on the dry shore with a high-sounding appearance, are you so clean? I know that after leaving this conference room, some of you will run to eat away at the pillars of the kingdom!
"I advise you to take out your heart, lungs, and intestines, wash them, dry them, and tidy them up! It is becoming clearer to me now that Beyelan's troubles are not outside, but in the Sansouci Palace! Among all your lords.
"Didn't the Admiralty's report say that I didn't know that you were using navy men and ships for smuggling? The Senate has approved the tariff and corn bills, so your lords can't find a way to send your cargo to the end of the world? ?
“Which of you senators, counts, scholars, and generals in Bijelland doesn’t want to earn your last centime?
"If we are rotten, Beyeland will be rotten! If you are all rotten, the whole world will rise up and let us die without a place to die! Think about it, you are going to force those gentry and factory owners from other provinces to rebel Well, it was only more than ten years ago that the late King Hadrian died in battle on the steps of the throne. Forgot!
"Byelan's illness cannot be solved by taxing anyone today or robbing a few rich men tomorrow. As future kings, I ask you to think about the future of this great kingdom.
"This is the historical responsibility that I and you all have to shoulder."
