The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

Grace appeared at the general meeting as "Miss Grace", not "Caroline's widow".

The reason for the meeting was that the king had declared his marriage to Grace invalid before his execution, and the bishop who had witnessed their marriage did not actually have such qualifications.

It was far-fetched, of course, but the former queen became the most popular "Goddess of Democracy" and the meeting was so embarrassed that they could only do their best to keep Grace from the decapitated king.

This meeting was very different from the imperial meeting that Grace was familiar with.

The venue was very large, with as many as 700 people in attendance. Except for "ladies" like Grace who came to observe, all participants had the same right to speak.

This makes it very noisy, the theater style structure amplifies the sound and people have a hard time hearing what others are saying, so they have to speak for themselves.Grace also found that they easily quarreled.

Sitting in the gallery, Grace saw many familiar faces: some he had seen at the King's Supper, when they were not titled enough to be around the King; some were from his podium in Crown Square I have seen Konstantinos among them; there are a few who surprised him, and they are old faces he used to see in the imperial meeting.Grace couldn't say whether the reunion at this time was a good thing or a bad thing, but he did lament the ability or good luck of these people. After all, most of the ministers who had a relationship with the king had fled or been beheaded.

He also found Mr. Odor and Father Bernal among the dense crowd of human faces.The latter does not seem to be of low status, and the seat is very forward.He frequently looked at Grace outside the arena, as if he had something important to tell him.

Grace listened for half an hour and identified the factions of the 700 people.

Sitting on the right half is the radical faction headed by Konstantinos, with a number of about 150; the "constitutional faction" headed by the Earl of Arundel who is in fierce conflict with them sits on the left side, with a number of about [-]. Radicals quite.

It amused Grace that Constitutionalists were once also called "Radicals."But now they were attacked by Konstantinus as "too moderate" because they had advocated taking away only the king's privileges, not his life.

Those sitting in the middle are the so-called "centrists".This faction has the largest number, 300 people, and Grace will have to count on them if she is to rescue Allen.But the positions of the centrists always fluctuate with the issues, so Grace ultimately has to choose between the radicals and the constitutionalists and ensure that they win.

Grace sat for another hour, and the chaotic meeting finally had a central issue: whether to go to war with Britain.

Now it was Konstantinos' turn to speak.Grace felt his prestige for the first time, and when he stood up, the conference hall quickly fell silent.

Konstantinos represented the Radicals, who believed that Britain had come to be an enemy and that there should be no illusions about alliances with them.His speech was a speech, passionate, but just a repetition of what Grace had said yesterday in better terms.

Grace saw that many centrists were persuaded by him.

But the constitutionalist view is more convincing.Their arguments centered on finances: the navy was more expensive than the army, and national finances no longer allowed the war to expand.

Grace realized that he had been far away from the political center for too long, and he didn't know that the meeting had auctioned off the property of the church and the exiled nobles.The new government also issued referral coupons to the people. With the people's trust and enthusiasm for the National Assembly, a large amount of funds was raised in just a few months.

But now that there is no more land available for auction, and the value of the paper certificates is depreciating, people have begun to worry and doubt.And those problems in the past: food shortages, rising prices, less wages for workers... None of these problems have been solved, and they have even been made worse by the war.

The economy is an area that radicals don't know much about, and this time it looks like the constitutionalists are going to win.

Konstantinos discussed with his companions for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and looked in Grace's direction: "Miss Grace is familiar with financial issues, let's listen to her opinion."

The constitutionalists believed that they were naturally close to the former queen, so they did not object.So Grace, who was sitting in the public gallery, made an exception and got the right to speak.

This is not the first time Grace has spoken to so many people.This time he seemed much calmer, and his speech was short and insightful: "Let's imagine the cost of an alliance with the United Kingdom. This country has always valued commodity exports. If we want to please it, we have to withdraw the national industrial protection policies that have been implemented. In the past Our merchants and manufacturers, who have profited by this policy for a year, will not agree to allow cheap English manufactures to come in unhindered again."

The businessmen and factory owners he mentioned were the biggest supporters of the constitutionalists, and now the constitutionalists were also shaken.

Until the adjournment of the meeting, there was no discussion on the progress of the vote on this issue, but the radicals accused the constitutionalists of being pro-British on the basis of Grace's speech.At this point, the constitutionalists are hard to argue because of some of the political activities of the Earl of Arundel.

After the meeting ended, Grace waited for Father Banal for a while.But the priest seemed to have changed his mind again, thinking that this was not a good time to speak, he looked at Grace twice before speaking, and walked out of the venue.

Soon someone else came to talk to Grace, it was his old friend from the imperial meeting, Sir Laval.Jazz, who had been recommended by William for his mastery of the Napoleonic Code, now belongs to the constitutional school.

Grace believed that Sir Laval must be responsible for the new constitution, and he said mercilessly: "This constitution is not up to standard for you."

Sir Laval looked ashamed and said only that time was limited.He then asked Grace why she befriended the Radicals, saying they were butchers who encouraged people to commit crimes.He also had some complaints about Grace's support for expanding the war.

Grace was surprised by his frankness and imprudence at the same time. After thinking for a while, she said, "I don't know which is more urgent, the civil war or the foreign war, and I don't know whether the people should surrender and be slaves to the monarchs of other countries, or they should fight to the end... Frankly speaking, I'm also confused now, so I just don't think about it. I don't belong to any faction. I just keep my eyes on the target in front of me."

"The immediate goal? Do you want to regain the former glory? Then you can only rely on the constitutionalists."

Grace looked around from the corner of her eye and found that many people were listening to them, and Konstantinos was also walking towards them.

There was only one sentence left, and Grace speeded up her speech: "I still remember the scene where you compiled the constitution with Brigadier General Ston... You must know the kindness that Brigadier General Ston has shown me, and everything he left in this world is precious Let me care."

Konstantinos has come up.He was very satisfied with Grace's speech in the conference room, and even smiled at him: "Miss Grace, I will send you back home."

He took Grace to the outside of the venue. Grace looked back at Sir Laval and saw him standing there with some doubts.He hoped Sir Laval would be quick enough to catch what he had just said.

The author says:

The translation of Grace's words is: He doesn't care about the fate of the country anymore, and he doesn't belong to any faction.He will help anyone who can save Allen (everything Commodore Ston has left in the world).