I will be crowned king

Completely eclipse the royal family and let the most intelligent, noble and patriotic group in the entire kingdom - of course, the members of the Privy Council - take charge of the country. This is the truest thought of everyone in the Iris Restaurant at this time.

In fact, with a mutiny and the violent death of Carlos II, the reformists and conservatives in the past could no longer be used to distinguish the Privy Council at this time. In other words, the two factions each gave birth to more powerful factions due to the drastic changes in the situation. radical group.

Of course, in their eyes they should be called “the truly sober group.”

Although the two traditional groups are opposed to each other, the general idea is actually very unified, that is, with the king as the core, the various forces divide their own spheres of influence and do not interfere with each other. If they can cooperate, they will cooperate. If there is an opportunity to seize territory, then fight for it. , but we still need to be harmonious on the surface to avoid radical groups such as the old War Department or the former Guards taking advantage of the situation and engaging in uncivilized behavior such as overturning the table.

The sober group of people believe that the king died violently, community self-governing groups rose up, and the rapidly expanding military government—that is, the new Ministry of War—had already mediated the king in the past, and the basis for the internal fighting between the two factions was completely destroyed. The Privy Council If the wealthy families and upstarts represented, or to put it more bluntly, the big landowners and big industrialists do not seize the opportunity to seize power, it is very likely that a small number of extremely ancient wealthy families will take advantage of the lower class groups.

This is no longer a prophecy, but a situation that I am showing is happening: if Ludwig hadn't been bribed by his quick eyes and quick hands, the sole heir of the Franz family would definitely do this, and he was almost successful.

However, the Queen Mother Anne did not intend to sit still and try to divide the Franz family's camp, so that the Privy Council got an excellent spokesperson to fight against the rapidly rising "junta".

"Railway, ore, food... Now the three most powerful committees in Clovis are willing to support you. With their support, you will own two-thirds of Clovis' wealth."

After the reception, Viscount Bogner, who stayed behind, made his words clear to Ludwig directly: "Everyone's idea is very simple, that is, we must ensure our interests, and at the same time, we can no longer live under the pressure of the royal family like in the past... Of course we I also hope to have a wise enough king, but there is no way to guarantee this, let alone what consequences will occur if the royal power is controlled by an outsider like Anne Herred."

"In order to maintain the stability and peace of the Kingdom of Clovis, the king must exist." Ludwig added: "Just to avoid the emergence of uncertain factors, it is best not to let His Majesty directly intervene in politics."

"Sharing His Majesty's worries and serving the Kingdom are exactly what we people should do."

Viscount Bogner nodded happily and changed the subject: "But Lieutenant General Anson Bach... he may not think so. Based on your information network, it should be easy to know that the establishment of the Free Confederation has nothing to do with Lieutenant General Anson Bach." , there are even rumors that the so-called "Declaration of Resistance" was his own handwriting!"

"Of course I will not believe this ridiculous slander... But even so, there is no guarantee that he has not been poisoned by the so-called 'freedom', 'equality' and other heretical doctrines in the New World; especially the Universalist Church there. It is very powerful, and it is very likely that it will cause some bad changes in the Lieutenant General’s beliefs.”

Ludwig frowned slightly. Viscount Bogner's words were quite polite, but almost every sentence was consistent with the title "Lieutenant General". It was obvious that he was deliberately irritating himself and feeling disgusted with Anson from the bottom of his heart.

And he succeeded.

"I don't want to be unfounded, but with so many practical problems before us, it is difficult to say that Lieutenant General Anson Bach can still have some respect for the royal power after personally creating a new country without a king - you also heard that he That declaration, every word of it is about the kingdom, but there is no mention of being loyal to the king himself."

Viscount Bogner said worriedly: "Is it possible that in the future that Lieutenant General Anson Bach is looking forward to, there will be no kings and nobles, or..."

"...All men are equal and only he is crowned king?"

In the dead silence, Bogner looked meaningfully at the young figure in front of him, the only heir of Luther Franz.

After a moment of silence, the frosty-faced Ludwig slowly raised his gaze: "I don't want to hear this kind of groundless accusation from you again."

"Anson Bach is my former subordinate and my friend. His loyalty to the kingdom is unquestionable - if it weren't for this, he wouldn't even have had to come back and hand over the Free Confederation to an imperial man!"

"If there is anyone who can withstand the temptation of becoming a king and still maintain his sanity, it is him. Even I... can't guarantee that he will not be blinded by greed in that situation." Ludwig said He said word by word: "If we don't even have this basic trust and don't even respect the most basic facts, what's the difference between us and the exterminated Bayonet Club?"

"I'm sorry, I made a mistake."

Viscount Bognar apologized very decisively, without any sloppiness: "Anson's loyalty to Clovis is unquestionable, I should not have such doubts; Major General Ludwig... can you still maintain your integrity in such a tense situation? It’s objective and really admirable.”

"It's just that... I hope that this objectivity will not affect your future actions; nor will your sword become dull because of emotions."

"This boring method of provoking generals should be left to those brainless fools." Ludwig's face turned even more ugly: "To solve the new War Department and control the royal family, I can do these. The problem is How many MPs can you win over to support me?”

"Two out of three."

Viscount Bogner understood the situation and did not dare to hide it: "Of course, this number will definitely fluctuate."

"Not enough!" Ludwig said coldly: "At least four-fifths, preferably nine-tenths - one-third... If these people know what we are doing, they will definitely go to Anson. Bach, coupled with the support of the Queen Mother, we will be passive by then!"

"This... this is something that can't be helped." Viscount Bogner smiled bitterly: "The Osteria royal family has lasted for hundreds of years, and its influence is deeply rooted. Two-thirds is almost the limit."

"Is it?"

Ludwig's face suddenly became a little colder again, and his indifferent tone made Bogner shiver, and he was so trembling that he didn't dare to raise his head.

"There are 500 members in the Privy Council. It is indeed not easy to win 300 people, but..." His Excellency paused deliberately: "It's just that... 300 people can be three-fifths of the Privy Council. But it can also be nine out of ten.”

"Nine out of ten?!"

Bognar, who had been chatting and laughing just now, suddenly became frightened and his eyes almost jumped out of his head: "What on earth are you talking about?!"

"You know what I'm talking about." Ludwig didn't even bother to look at him anymore: "Stop pretending that everything can be solved by exchanging benefits. We have to admit that sometimes the more people, the better."

"Don't worry, you don't need to do it yourself. I will solve this math problem myself, but I need your help, so..."

"... Once you think about it clearly, just come to me directly."

After speaking, Ludwig lightly patted the other party's shoulder and left the restaurant alone.

Only the bewildered Viscount Bognar was left, staring alone at the messy party scene after the excitement.

…………………………

The people on Frederick Street have begun planning to usurp power, and the Shotgun Club, which is more than half of the inner city away, is no different. They are also discussing the "future of the kingdom", "the well-being of the people", and "the future of the army" with great fanfare. Content that sounds very down-to-earth.

Because most of the community militia commanders in Clovis City were involved with the Shotgun Club, Anson summoned all the leaders of almost all community autonomous groups in the name of the club to discuss consensus.

Anson considers himself a very realistic person, so he is also very willing to help others recognize the reality. The most realistic thing now is that these community autonomous groups cannot disappear in a short time, nor can they annex each other. way to reduce the number; in this case, everyone should recognize each other's existence, and based on this mutual recognition, see if we can do something that is beneficial to everyone.

So what is something that is beneficial to everyone?

Quite simply, the citizens' assembly.

Since the governance model of Clovis City is no longer what it used to be, it is natural to innovate and form a citizen assembly of Clovis City, allowing each community to send its own representatives to participate.

In Anson's view, this has at least two advantages: On the one hand, it can immediately reduce the pressure on city management in the kingdom. After all, it is better to face two to three hundred citizen representatives than to face one hundred thousand people with guns, anytime, anywhere. The militias prepared to defend their own interests must be strong.

By the way, this can greatly alleviate the conflicts between public security and various communities, or it can be said to concentrate all the conflicts in the parliament; it is better to let the representatives engage in verbal quarrels, or at the very least grab tables and chairs to fight, than the militia. Groups merge.

As for those militia groups, they can also complete the transformation. They will not be forced to disband and cause various incidents due to the gradual improvement of public security. They can also go one step further and truly get some tangible benefits from the kingdom's politics. Everyone is happy.

It is precisely because of the realization of how much benefit one can get if this matter is really successful that nearly three hundred community representatives can gather together, sit down and down under the same roof with the enemies who may have been angry, and seriously Listen as Anson shares his plan.

In the crowded tavern hall, Anson did not exaggerate the emotions as before, but directly presented the conditions prepared in advance: the Citizens' Assembly will be directly recognized by the royal family. The Citizens' Assembly does not need to accept the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. It is directly under the royal family. The Citizens' Assembly can Participate in the formulation of various bills on urban security, transportation, tax showdowns, and environmental sanitation and review of project budgets.

The vast majority of representatives are not politicians, so the Parliament does not have the power to enact bills - and the Privy Council is certainly 100% impossible to delegate power - but anything that involves the city of Clovis must first be reviewed by the Citizens' Assembly , it can be approved with at least 50% approval.

Of course, since it is a bill involving the city, those who will benefit must also be harmed: how to ensure the interests of both, that is the main content of the citizens' assembly - it can also be a merger - whether to unite or to Differentiation, whether to win over or isolate, depends on everyone's individual skills.

This result is also recognized by the vast majority of community representatives. It turns out that no one likes war, especially after personal experience; since the problem can be solved with words, it is better than using guns to reason.

There are also voices of opposition, and there are quite a lot of them, and most of them are representatives from the inner city. This is actually what Anson expected; after all, the outer city is much larger than the inner city, and the number of natural communities is also overwhelming, resulting in inner city. Even if they are in a group in the city, they cannot compare to each other.

If everyone is just a representative, then no matter whether the community is poor or rich, the population is large or small, everyone has one vote and is completely equal. This result will obviously be difficult for some communities to accept.

So before the party was over, the tavern hall, which had been harmonious just a second ago, suddenly erupted into countless quarrels, making the ceiling fly off.

However, Anson was very satisfied with the result: these people only quarreled and left without turning around, which shows that they are actually quite satisfied with the existence of the Citizens' Assembly, but there are contradictions in the specific details; their willingness to quarrel itself shows that they are interested in the existence of the Citizens' Assembly. Recognition of this system - one's own purpose has actually been achieved.

"But I still have some questions..."

Looking at the red-faced scene in front of him, with saliva and sweat splashing everywhere, Carl Bain, who was forced to follow him, came closer and said: "Even if you can convince them, Major General Ludwig is already in charge of the Privy Council. He is Can you still accept this result now?"

"Accept, how is that possible?" Anson almost laughed out loud: "The purpose of the existence of the Citizens' Council is to weaken his governing authority and prevent his family from becoming the dominant one. If I were him, I would be eager to see this thing immediately. disappear!"

"ah?"

Karl was immediately dumbfounded: "Then...how are you going to ensure that this citizens' assembly can pass? If this fails, they will tear us alive?!"

"That's right, so we must not stop here - the first principle of making trouble is not to be afraid of making it bigger. The bigger the trouble, the higher the chance of success!" Anson's proud smile gradually became rampant:

"Since there can be a citizens' assembly in Clovis City, then why can't there be one for the entire Kingdom of Clovis..."

“…National Assembly?”