The Sun King's Evidence

Haimenguan Tavern "Gronny's Beard" is a high-end tavern jointly run by humans and dwarves. Dwarves occupy 51% of the shares, humans occupy 46%, and the remaining 3% is controlled by elves, although there are very few Elves will patronize the store, but at least the elves won't be turned away because they don't have a stake.

The dwarves of Haimen Pass are already the most accepting of elves among all the dwarves in the entire old world, but even so, the relationship between the two sides is still very cold.

Ryan and others received a welcome after entering the tavern. As soon as the three Holy Grail Knights entered the tavern, the leading dwarf bartender placed three glasses of vodka on the table: "Welcome, Your Excellency, the King of Knights and the two Holy Grail Knights. It’s for you. Your glorious achievements will be remembered by all dwarves. At least for more than ten years, we won’t have to worry about the harassment of greenskins from the Badlands. It’s getting cold. Let’s drink a glass of Kislev Vodka to keep warm. body."

"Thank you." Ryan politely expressed his thanks in dwarf language. For some reason, Ryan and others did not choose to sit in the private room on the second floor, but in the lobby on the first floor. The three of them ordered some local specialties in Haimenguan, such as barbecue and stuffing. Cakes, skewers and seafood, as well as black tea imported from Sinian.

The three people discussed how to attack Junku Castle in January. From the news that Black Heart Lepp sent a large number of scouts to investigate, it can be seen that Junku Castle is home to about 6,000 to 10,000 greenskins. The name of the greenskin warlord is Git-Sourweed is a goblin shaman who is good at field combat and very cunning.

The terrain of Junku Castle is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is located in the middle of a corridor between two hills. If you want to attack, you must attack along the hills. It is very difficult for the knight army to attack this kind of fortress.

But Lane also has an advantage, and that is Belegar's super siege ability. The dwarf king has formulated a detailed siege strategy based on the terrain of Junku Castle. All Lane and others have to do is implement it.

After chatting for a while, a few Cathayans came in. The leader was wearing a ruby ​​top, a pair of flower feathers with two eyes, a nine-python and five-clawed python robe, embroidered with a golden pheasant pattern on the clothes, and a long string of beads hanging almost to his belly. , wearing a pair of Ruyi moiré yellow boots and an emerald jade belt around his waist. He walked into the bar with the Cathayans whom Ryan had met before, and tried to communicate with the dwarf bartender in a very rough Common Language. They ordered After a few glasses of wine and some dishes, we sat down to eat. Among them, the Sinian named Hong Fuchu obviously noticed Ryan. He and the leading Sinian pointed at Ryan and said a few words, but the Sinian wearing court uniform obviously noticed Ryan. Danren shook his head proudly, indicating that he didn't need it.

Then several people shouted "Heavenly Lord has infinite longevity and blessings" together.

"It's so rare that there are Cathayans here." Kalad was obviously curious about this new thing: "I remember that the only Cathay embassy in the old world was in Tilea. The last time a Cathay envoy arrived in the old world was That happened seven hundred years ago.”

"The Cathayans occasionally come to the Old World to trade." As the eldest son of Duke Bordero, Bodrick, Fedmund obviously needs to know more about outsiders: "We occasionally trade silk with the Cathayans. Gold, tea, porcelain vases and some magical artifacts, but little contact outside of trade."

"Yes, thousands of years ago, the Cathay envoys arrived in Arabi, and their trade with the Nicohara dynasties at that time brought the secrets of firearms." Ryan nodded: "As for the last contact between the two parties Seven hundred years ago, the Cathay envoys arrived in Tilea and established an embassy in Tilea. At that time, the Wu Dynasty ruled Cathay, but the Wu Dynasty almost never sent envoys to the old world anymore. , On the contrary, they became more and more insular and reduced the frequency of trade. It is said that the Wu Dynasty had changed many Dragon Emperors, and the throne was once stolen by a monkey emperor named the Monkey King. The later Dragon Emperor spent It took a lot of energy to regain the throne, but Dragon Emperor is just a title. Every emperor in Cathay is called Dragon Emperor. If the ruler changes his family, it means that the Empire of Cathay has changed its dynasty."

"Yes, I heard that in the Cathay Empire, there is an ancient fable, saying that princes and generals have their own kind. They seem to have no concept of nobles and commoners." Fedmund nodded, he picked up the mug and drank a full drink One mouthful: "This is different from the old world. The common people seem to like to overthrow the existing Dragon Emperor and elect a new Dragon Emperor."

"Like Tyrell, they are populist." Ryan held the mug in his hand and said casually: "populist politics is like this, but our Britannia is elitist politics."

"Folks, elites? My king, I don't quite understand. What's the difference?" Kalad has been in contact with Ryan for a long time. He really feels that the new Knight King is an infinite treasure house, and he seems to have inexhaustible resources. Knowledge and unfathomable wisdom.

"Elite politics is very simple. As the name suggests, the elite rules the entire country and makes decisions on all policies of the entire country." Ryan nodded, pointing to himself, then to Callard and Fedmund: "Obviously , we are all elites, because we are all knight nobles, and we are also Holy Grail Knights. The Holy Grail Knights and knight nobles headed by us dominate the knight kingdom, is there no problem with this?"

Callard and Fedmund nodded at the same time.

"Like us, whether it is the empire, the dwarves, or the elves, they actually practice elite politics." Ryan leaned on his chair and pointed at the dishes on the table: "The national policy of the entire kingdom or the leadership , are actually controlled by the knights and nobles, and a small number of us control the fate of the majority. This is called meritocracy."

"Haven't we always been like this?" Kalad thought carefully and tried to ask: "Can we still let those serfs who are responsible for farming make decisions on national and military affairs?"

"Yes, this is the superiority of elite politics." Ryan agreed, and he said slowly: "Obviously, when marching and fighting, we must choose an outstanding knight who is skilled in battle formations to direct the war, rather than Go find ten serfs and let them vote to decide how to fight, then we will all be destroyed long ago. We need professionals to fight the war, serfs, get out of here."

Callard and Fedmund both laughed at this, indeed.

"But elite politics also has its shortcomings." Ryan did not laugh. On the contrary, the King of Knights had a very serious expression: "Those are the following two points. First, the issue of elite recognition, and second, the issue of elite self-enrichment."

"Regarding the issue of the highest authority of elite recognition, that is, the recognition of the Holy Grail Knights, since there are ladies to check it, we don't have to worry about this and have solved half of the problem. But for ordinary knights and nobles, this problem has been around for a long time. First of all, As long as every descendant of a knight family reaches adulthood and obtains spurs from other knight nobles, he will automatically obtain knight status, which is to obtain the so-called low-level recognition. In this case, some people will not have the strength and ability to be a knight at all. Virtue has also become a knight, and moral corruption is a disaster.”

"Second, the knight nobles are not the authority in all fields. Most of the knight nobles are actually only good at war and military affairs, but not good at internal affairs. However, because they are at the decision-making level, the knight nobles have to take over the management of the territory. Many nobles manage their responsibilities in a mess."

At this point, Kalad smiled bitterly and nodded repeatedly. Isn't this about him?

"Third, the knights and nobles do not always consider the interests of the kingdom and the interests of the people in many decisions. They often only consider their own interests and deliberately make wrong decisions." Ryan picked up the wine glass again: "This It is the problem of elite self-enrichment. This is the most fatal flaw of elite politics. Because they occupy the decision-making level, they are destined to occupy more social resources and interests and make decisions that are beneficial to themselves. This is inevitable and impossible. To solve the problem thoroughly, parents are always more inclined to allocate benefits to their children, generals always allocate the best resources to their direct armies, and for their own courts, the courts of nobles are always nepotistic.”

Ryan paused for a moment after saying this. He recalled many things in his previous life, including "loyalty, filial piety, trustworthiness, etiquette, justice, integrity," "gentleness, courtesy, thrift," "chivalry," and the so-called "aristocratic spirit." In fact, they were all elites. Although the self-improvement after discovering the problem of self-obesity has certain effects, it cannot cure the problem of self-obesity among elites. People deeply hate this phenomenon, but they also very much hope that they will be the one to enjoy the benefits.

Now it was Callard's and Fedmund's turn to frown.

Ryan is right. From this point of view alone, elitism has the most fatal flaw. Even the Holy Grail system of the Fairy of the Lake can only solve part of it, but relying solely on the supervision and restrictions of the Holy Grail system, Breed Tania has stood for thousands of years.

"...So populism means voting?" Callard thought for a moment and asked: "So we should let go of the decision-making level and let the serfs participate in decision-making?"

"Haha, the relationship between knights and war horses is like the relationship between nobles and serfs. Without war horses, how can we call ourselves knights? Without serfs, how can we support the nobility of the entire country?" Ryan nodded with a smile: "Just from the kingdom's From a perspective, the minority should not be allowed to decide the fate of the majority, and populism is like this. For example, Prince Miragliano of Tyrell is always elected by citizens' votes, and this process is completely legal, because everyone All are equal, and approval by the majority means fairness and respect. In this way, the elected prince will not be overthrown, but will only be assassinated."

"But the problem with populism is what I said before. If everything in marching, fighting, and governing the kingdom depends on the serfs voting together, it means that the country is not far from being destroyed. There will always be a minority of people who understand military and political affairs. The serfs Only know how to look at the immediate benefits. For example, I dug the canal to make the kingdom's trade routes smooth and to benefit everyone. But the serfs will not understand. What they see is that the canal will destroy their farmland and make them homeless. The land can be planted, but the food coming from far away will make it difficult for them to sell the food and make money. Therefore, if the serfs are allowed to make the decision, the canal will never be dug, and once someone promises a little benefit, the serfs will definitely use it directly without even thinking about it. Feet vote.”

"Similarly, the fatal weakness of populism is that after serfs obtain decision-making power, it is easy to form mob politics. Serfs will have the view that I am justice and I am the master, and they will use their decision-making power at will and even use violence. This is No more words."

"However, even though populism has so many problems, it is almost the only effective way to restrict the self-enrichment of the elite." Ryan continued: "Compared to our Britannia, due to the supervision of the lady and the encouragement of the Holy Grail system, the empire has No, the old empire collapsed as a result, and the new empire reformed the electorate system and still could not solve this problem. This is the superiority of our Britannia system. In short, both populism and elites have their inevitable disadvantages and fatalities. Flaws, but in the current circumstances there is no doubt that Brittany will continue to be elite in the future."

"So how do we try to avoid our problems?" Kalad asked seriously.

"This question lies in whether the promotion channels are open and fair enough, and whether aristocratic bureaucratic reforms are carried out."

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