Toby Salaman sat upright on a large sofa with a backrest, holding a pen between two fingers of his right hand and turning it unconsciously.
Jon Stuart rushed back to the Holy City from the dusty province of Hinault and reported to Salaman, the chairman of the Freedom Committee, as soon as possible.
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Salaman's coldness surprised Stuart. "Sean Connery claims to support the revolution, but he is an aristocrat himself, and his privileges come from this inequality.
Feudal monarchy. He, a warlord, dares to threaten me. This is simply a provocation and blackmail against the Freedom Committee."
Salaman automatically ignored the complaints and personal prejudices of the illegitimate son of a nobleman in front of him - a certain nobleman gave him life, but did not let him enjoy the rights and treatment he should have. Sean did not have aristocratic blood, but he became a nobleman legitimately
.
Anthony Fuchs also participated in the meeting. As the second-in-command of the committee, his status is second only to Salaman. Fuchs smiled and said:
"Haha, Jon, don't get excited. Sean Connery's meaning is already clear. At least he will not openly oppose us, which is enough. He actually leaves us room to operate. For example, we can
He unilaterally said in the newspaper that Earl Connery supported the revolution. He is a smart man, and if there is any trouble, he can just say that this is our slander and rumor."
"I think this earl is also very clear. Now we both need each other. We need him to remain neutral and we need him to stop the attack of the Belis people. And he also needs us to recognize his power and status in the army, and
To supply necessary supplies, since he bravely led his troops to the front, he will have to bear the consequences of the front collapsing again. From the point of view of opposing foreign troops' invasion of our country, our interests are the same," Salamandao said.
.
"To this end, we can spare no effort to write in newspapers to praise his outstanding performance in the war against foreign aggression. Not only should we formally appoint him as the commander of the Western Front in the name of a member of the European Freedom Committee, will he accept it?
It doesn't matter, but we need to make clear to the people our solemn stance on opposing aggression.
We can even give him a title for free, um..." Fuchs thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it Tiger of Europa. In short, we need to stir up a public opinion, not only to let the people realize that the Freedom Council resolutely opposes foreign invasion, but also to
Let the public think that all the troops on the Western Front are on our side."
"Anthony, I completely agree with your proposition." Salaman said, "At the same time, vigorously promoting the count's personal achievements will arouse the enthusiasm of the general public. The people need this kind of happy news to divert their attention. Although bread and work
It is also very important. This enthusiasm, in turn, will also restrain the count and his army on the battlefield, and the Belis will consume this potentially unstable force for us, killing them all in one fell swoop."
"Among the ten legions in the north, five are on our side and three remain neutral. Only the remaining two legions are against us, but these two legions are still under the command of the crown prince and are under the command of the Assyrian legion.
We are fighting hard in the rear, and we are isolated and helpless. They cannot affect us through the Assyrians."
Jon Stuart's eyes moved back and forth between the two leaders.
He suddenly understood why the two people in front of him could become leaders. There were no absolute enemies, only absolute interests. Politics was full of calculations.
However, these two seemingly harmonious leaders showed disharmony in the internal meeting an hour later.
This revolution broke out extremely suddenly. Although some people had foreseen that it would break out, when it actually broke out, everyone was shocked.
However, this revolution was limited to the Holy City and the capital. It destroyed the top-level rule of an empire, but had little impact on the local area. At most, it only affected the political power of several neighboring provinces.
The Tulip Party members were not content with gaining control of the Holy City. When they occupied the highest political position, they had the entire Europe in mind.
But they have different opinions on how to rule or govern this country.
Salaman was once a reformist and believed that the emperor must be respected as the eternal ruler of the country, and top-down power reforms should be carried out on the premise of recognizing the emperor's right to rule.
When he discovered to his horror that to realize his ideas, he had to systematically overthrow all existing systems and laws, his philosophy changed.
This change was evident when the emperor and his minions roundly arrested liberals after the last meeting of dignitaries. Top-down reforms were nothing but his fantasy.
Now that the emperor has become a prisoner, he has become a leader. Regardless of whether the country will be good or bad in the future, it is the responsibility of him and his party members. No one has any reason to shift the responsibility to the emperor.
Therefore, what is before him is how to govern this country. At the same time, this issue also involves practical considerations on how to make various places recognize the new regime of the Holy City.
However, Salaman and Fuchs had a heated public debate on this issue.
Salaman is also an idealist. Although he pursues freedom and equality, he recognizes the political reality. In the local area, the nobles still have strong power, and many civilians only recognize their former lords.
Therefore, Salaman believes that a national three-level conference should be convened according to the model of the three-level conference, implement free elections, and select a delegation to hold a representative parliament for six weeks in the holy city every year.
This parliament only talks about administration, but guarantees not to interfere with administration. Simply put, it has the right to discuss laws but not the right to make laws.
Such a parliament can satisfy the desire for power of all classes and the demands of public opinion, and embodies freedom and equality, because the representatives have the right to discuss anything, making them appear to be freely sharing power on behalf of all the people.
Fox dismissed Salaman's political vision as deceitful, delusional and naive, ironically criticizing:
“I completely agree with Chairman Salaman’s judgment. To satisfy the people, we only need to summon some people from all over the country who have no reputation and no independence, pay them salaries, and let them pretend to hold a political assembly in front of the people.
However, what is the difference between this and the past aristocratic parliament? How did that group of aristocratic gentlemen who went to the Holy City to retire have ever put forward a constructive suggestion for the country? Have they ever blocked every decree of the emperor and the cabinet that harmed the people?
?”
"This is different from the past. Representatives are elected, not nominated by the emperor." Salaman retorted, "Why should we be afraid of the people? This is the right of the people."
"No, I am not afraid of the people, but I am worried that the people are often blindly obedient and ignorant. Most of them are illiterate, have limited knowledge, and have not even been to places fifty kilometers away from their own villages. The local nobles and rich people
, are the ones they fear, obey and rely on, even their parents. Once the so-called election occurs, I can imagine who will be elected? If these people don't want to pretend to hold a meeting, but want to really get something
Power, what will we do?”
Fox's words were recognized by many committee members.
In fact, his words also alerted the committee members that the revolution would first hit the interests of the nobility, and the nobility was the natural primary enemy of the Tulip Party.
"If they try to challenge our governing philosophy, then put them in jail." Salaman was forced to express his position.
"Can I see this as a stopgap measure?" Fox asked.
"You can see it this way, what we need is stability and the provinces to move closer to the Holy City. When we control local power, all the old systems will be eliminated," Salaman said.
Salaman is tall and strong, with a beard, and he always waves his right arm unconsciously when he speaks.
He is a born speaker. Although he achieved his goal in today's meeting, he was obviously at a disadvantage.
Most of the committee members did not agree with his ideas. However, as a habit of worshiping and following him in the past, the committee members still reluctantly agreed.
In the evening, Salaman returned to his mansion exhausted.
This is his old residence. The house is not big. It is an independent small villa with a garden and walls. It was inherited from his businessman father.
Since becoming the first member of the ruling committee, Salaman still lives here, living a relatively simple life compared to other upstarts.
His live-in lover Juliette Bron personally took the briefcase from his hand and arranged for a servant to prepare some midnight snacks for him.
This beautiful widow has always been a star in the upper class society of the Holy City. She has many suitors, including Salaman's business partner Fuchs. Obviously, in terms of personal love, Salaman is also firmly in love.
Overwhelm Fuchs.
"My dear, look at your brow, it's almost twisted into a rope." Mrs. Bron asked with concern, "Why, you encountered something difficult to solve on official business?"
"In public affairs, there is always one problem after another. This is one of the characteristics of politics." Salaman said.
"I heard that you had a big quarrel with Anthony this afternoon." Mrs. Brown suddenly said, "Are you worried about this?"
"It's not that exaggerated. Controversies are inevitable. I just feel that some changes have occurred within the committee in just a few days. Yes, the emperor has been imprisoned, and the feudal monarchy has been overthrown by us, but our revolution has not yet
Really successful, but many people have lost it
"Direction." Salaman said worriedly, "Some people also told me that the internal police has been too aggressive in cracking down on squatters and unscrupulous businessmen. Some people even accused some of our committee members of taking the opportunity to embezzle private property. They are the same as what we loudly criticized in the past.
What’s the difference between those people?”
"My dear, as you just said, one of the characteristics of politics is that one problem follows another." Mrs. Bron sat on Salaman's lap. "You are back home. What you need is to relax. My responsibility is
Let you be full of energy tomorrow morning."
"What about?"
Salaman's heart moved and he immediately put aside those troublesome things.