Chapter 37 National Policy - 'Taxing the Citizen Class'
The positioning at six o'clock ended without incident. The chosen ones participating in the Festival of the Chosen Ones had several rounds of confrontations on the first night, and then fell into silence, as if they were waiting for new opportunities.
Griffith returned to Sonia's residence to prepare for today's meeting. Fiona and Lana also came to 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.
The same is true for Fiona. She even wears an exquisite cavalry breastplate to match her skirt, and the arcs on her chest and waist are quite pleasing to the eye.
"The royal family will attend today's meeting," Lana 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 people usually do not come to meetings. However, today's meeting is different from usual. In the small town of Bremi, luxuriously decorated cars drove
Gathering 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 vehicles, 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 can 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 a certain person," the officer in charge had obviously explained to different people many times, saying as if he was endorsing, "There are too many people attending the meeting today and there are not enough seats in the venue."
Griffith entered the venue and found that the place 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's position is the bitter-faced Senate Speaker Aimee. He seems to want to do the job at hand. Behind him is the king's throne. The aged King Aurelius looks at the statue.
The child looked at the congressmen with such loving kindness.
In the entire conference hall, the elders sat on the left half and the wizards sat on the right. Their faces were full of disgust and displeasure, and they kept their distance from the representatives of business, industry and citizens 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 governance 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 is still very high. Finance
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 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 figure is..."
"Shut up. (You have no right to speak.)" A series of scoldings drowned out the gentleman's speech.
"Quiet, quiet," Sir Mas de Aimé, Speaker of the Senate Council, banged the hammer in his hand, "Order! Let the quaestor finish."
The supported financier continued his speech. According to his report, more than twenty standing legions needed to be updated with equipment, maturing bonds needed to be spent, and the huge expenditure for the Verona garrison needed to be implemented. It had been planned long ago.
There is still a large amount of war bonuses that should be paid to generals, extraordinary men, officers and soldiers in previous wars and events.
After the elders spoke, an elected representative of the citizenry cautiously came to the rostrum.
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. As a citizen of Bijerland, there is nothing more glorious and proud of anything in the world."
After the citizen representative finished his compliments, he paused briefly:
"However, there are too many wars. There is no end to the levies. The properties 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 it is used to fight those
We have no complaints about the savage orcs and monsters.
"However, the expenses are like running water and there is no end. Fifteen years ago, we fully supported the Ordur-Antalya defense line to protect civilization and freedom from being violated. Ten years ago, we recaptured Kony
Ya, there is no citizen in the other 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 an orc's axe. It's so pitiful that we haven't complained for 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 don't even dare to say Odessa
what happened.
"Today, the kingdom needs more of our loyalty and money bags. 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 does 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 and declared that they would 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 Aime struck hard with his hammer, and then shouted order to drown out the ominous words.
According to the agenda, this special meeting needs to pass new tax proposals and increase taxes on industry, commerce and trade. The meeting made no progress until noon. Griffith was drowsy, and the elders, wizards and citizen representatives also brought ten
Debate with two passions.
"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 it be agreed by more than half?"
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. The supporters are twice as many as the opponents, and the human and financial resources are twice as much. 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. In a successful meeting, each faction accurately assesses its own strength, which 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 their respective
For the decision-making power, 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 many manpower and materials were received from the new provinces in the east and south, the kingdom's finances did not strengthen. Trade was unprecedentedly prosperous, taxation was low, and the treasury input did not increase much.
There is a subtle but unignorable sign——
Nobles who receive military merit are generally rewarded with annuities by the state, and no land is granted. The tradition of "virtual titles" has been carried out for hundreds of years. The new nobles who receive cash can enjoy a comfortable life in the capital of the world without having to
The trouble of running the territory is not so much the nobles but decent mercenaries with titles; the kingdom does not have to worry about the nobles' territories and private soldiers forming independent small kingdoms.
However, the reward Griffith received in the war with the orcs was the territory of the Ravenel family. Following the Odessa incident, he received more land. When the kingdom gave him the reward, it did not even mention it.
Instead of receiving annuity, hard currency, equipment and other rewards, they directly threw large tracts of land to him like a hot potato.
This incident just made him feel strange at first. However, after seeing the scene in front of him, Griffith already understood clearly - the kingdom's finances were extremely tight, and they no longer took into account the independence of the military nobles, and even transferred some of their power to
Things like this that shake the foundation of the country among the citizens have reached an imminent juncture.
Crises are coming one after another, and the kingdom is out of money, so why don't we just rush to throw someone into the furnace to keep warm? Can this kind of thing be discussed by the parliamentarians in a debate?
Roland knew it, the mysterious painter knew it. Even Count Larmore 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.