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% are controlled by elves, although there are very few
Elves will patronize this store, but at least they won't be turned away because they don't have a stake.
The dwarves of Haimenguan 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 is given to you. Your glorious achievements will be remembered by all dwarves. At least for more than ten years, we will not have to worry about the harassment of greenskins from the Badlands. The weather is getting cold. 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 Haimenguan local specialties, 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 Leip 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 is 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, several Cathayans came in. The leader of the group was wearing a ruby crown, flower feathers for both eyes, a nine-python and five-clawed python robe, embroidered golden pheasant patterns 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 in with the few Cathayans whom Ryan had seen before.
At the bar, they tried to communicate with the dwarf bartender using a very rough common language. They ordered a few glasses of wine and some dishes, and sat down to eat. Among them, the Cathay man named Hong Fuchu clearly noticed Ryan. He and the Cathay leader
The man pointed at Ryan and said a few words, but the Cathay man in court uniform shook his head arrogantly, 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 Bodrick, Duke of Bordeaux, Fedmund obviously needs to know more about outsiders: "We occasionally trade silk with the Cathayans.
Gold, tea, porcelain vases and some magical crafts, but there is little contact between the two parties."
"Yes, thousands of years ago, the Cathay envoys arrived in Arabi, and they traded with the Nicohara dynasties at that time, and even brought the secrets of firearms." Ryan nodded: "As for the last contact between the two parties,
, Seven hundred years ago, Cathay’s mission arrived in Tilea and established an embassy in Tilea. At that time, Cathay was ruled by the Wu Dynasty, but later the Wu Dynasty almost never sent missions 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 of Cathay is called Dragon Emperor. If the ruler changes his family, it means that the Empire of Cathay has changed its dynasty."
"That's right, I heard that in the Cathay Empire, there is an ancient fable, saying that princes and generals have their own kind. They don't seem to have the 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."
"Popular, elite? My king, I don't quite understand, what's the difference?" Kalad has been in contact with Ryan for a long time, and 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 Kingdom of Knights, is there no problem with this?"
Callard and Fedmund nodded simultaneously.
"Like us, whether it's 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 ask them to vote on how to fight the war, then we will all be destroyed long ago. We need to find professionals to fight the war, and the serfs get out of here."
Callard and Fedmund both laughed when they heard 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 elite's recognition issue, and second, the elite's self-enrichment issue."
"As for the most authoritative 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,
The queen of every knight family
As long as a descendant reaches adulthood and obtains spurs from other knight nobles, he will automatically obtain knight status, which is the so-called low-level recognition. In this case, some people will become knights without the strength and moral character to be a knight at all.
, 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 in the decision-making level, the knight nobles have to take over the management of the territory.
Many nobles manage their responsibilities in a mess."
Speaking of this, 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, so they
Children are destined to occupy more social resources and interests and make decisions that are beneficial to themselves. This is unavoidable and a problem that cannot be completely solved. Parents are always more inclined to allocate interests to their children. Generals will always
The best resources are allocated to one's own direct army, and for one's own court, the nobles' courts are always nepotistic."
After Ryan said this, he paused for a moment. He recalled many things in his previous life, including "loyalty, filial piety, trustworthiness, etiquette, justice, integrity," "gentleness, courtesy, thrift," "chivalry," and the so-called "noble spirit," which are actually 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 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 in 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 nobles of the entire country?" Ryan nodded with a smile: "Just from the kingdom's
From a perspective, the minority should not be allowed to determine the majority
People's destiny, and populism is like this. For example, Tyrell, Prince Miragliano will always be elected by citizens' votes, and this process is completely legal, because everyone is equal, and approval by the majority means fairness and respect.
, the prince elected in this way 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
I 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 allow everyone to
But the serfs would not understand. What they saw was that the canal would destroy their farmland and leave them with no land to plant. The food coming from far away would make it difficult for them to sell food and make money. Therefore, if the serfs were allowed to make decisions,
This canal will never be dug, and once someone promises a little benefit, the serfs will definitely vote with their feet without even thinking about it."
"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 there are so many problems with populism, 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 and the new empire re-established
Reforming the electorate system still cannot solve this problem. This is the superiority of our Britannia system. In short, both populism and elites have their unavoidable drawbacks and fatal flaws, but under the current environment, there is no way to solve this problem.
There is no doubt that Brittania will continue to be elite in the future."
"So how do we try to avoid our problems?" Callard asked seriously.
"This question lies in whether the promotion channels are open and fair enough, and whether aristocratic bureaucratic reforms have been carried out."