"What? Governor Letom rejected our request to visit him? "
As soon as they returned to their residence in the Phoenix Palace, Scholar Dwayne brought another piece of bad news.
"Yes, Lord Viscounts. They responded that Governor Letom is not in good health recently and is unable to meet with guests."
Vera sighed and said, "It seems that the governor of the San Lorenzo family is also biased towards Prince Letom."
Scholar Dwayne shook his head and said, "Not necessarily. Governor Letom is already 108 years old and it is said that he often suffers from health problems. This time, he might not be looking for an excuse to avoid us. "
Colin was speechless when he heard this and asked, "He is already so old. Why is he still not retiring?"
Scholar Dwayne explained helplessly, "The governor's position is for life. As long as Governor Letom is still alive, he will not take the initiative to retire. After all, the members of the Senate are all collateral relatives of the various families. They do not have titles or territories. Once they are stripped of the glory of the Senate, they will immediately become insignificant characters that no one cares about."
"Is there no way to remove a governor?" Colin's eyes flashed as he asked thoughtfully.
Scholar Dwayne seemed to have guessed the real purpose of Colin's question. He shook his head and said, "No. The purpose of the establishment of the Senate was to create a completely independent supervision and balance system outside of the current administrative system of the Empire.
Therefore, in order to ensure that the decisions of the members of the Senate are not influenced by external factors, once a senator is elected, they will serve for life. Unless the governor violates the laws of the Empire, otherwise, even His Majesty the Emperor cannot remove him. "
Colin chuckled. He was a little disdainful of this so-called "independent supervision system".
Nowadays, it was a well-known fact that the Senate accepted bribes. Governor Sebas had just asked him for a sky-high "lobbying fee". It could be seen that the system of the Senate was completely corrupted.
"Is there no way to restrict the senators?"
Scholar Dwayne thought for a moment and said, "There is no way to restrict them. However, there are two main ways to influence the senators.
The first is bribery. This is also the most common way to persuade them. The senators do not have any territories. If they want to live a luxurious life, they will need the support of grey income.
The other way is to inherit the seat of the Patriarch. "
"Succession?" Colin was puzzled. "Don't elders have lifelong tenure? How do I inherit it? "
"The inheritance I'm talking about is different from the inheritance of ordinary titles. The foundation of the inheritance of titles is hereditary. As long as the feudal lord's laws don't change, then the first successor of the feudal lord can naturally inherit everything.
But the elders are different. Because the elders are not hereditary, the descendants of the elders cannot 'naturally' inherit their seat in the Council of Elders. "
Hearing this, Colin understood what Scholar Dwayne meant.
Since it was impossible to inherit it "naturally", it meant that the descendants of the elders could be "artificially" pushed into the Council of Elders.
As for the current members of the Senate, all of them came from the 117 most prestigious families of the Radiance Empire. In order to become a Senate member, one had to first become a candidate recommended by each family. Then, this candidate had to obtain more than half of the votes in the Senate before they could officially enter the Senate.
The second restriction mentioned by Scholar Dwayne was referring to the recommendation qualifications of the Patriarch candidates.
Each family also used this method to ensure that their elders would not betray the family's will.
For example, Sebas. His position as a Senator was lifelong. If he wanted his grandson, Wilbur, to enter the Council of Elders after his death to inherit his position, he had to first get the Duke Of St. Hilde to recommend Wilbur as a candidate for the Patriarch.
In this way, the Duke Of St. Hilde would have the means to restrict Sebas.
However, the problem now was that Vera had not yet inherited the position of the Duke. On the contrary, she still needed the approval of the Council of Elders.
Generally, the inheritance of the nobles of the empire did not need to go through the Council of Elders. They only needed to be conferred the title by the Lord. Only the Dukes of the Four Territories were different.
They guarded the four territories of the empire and were the key forces to resist the foreign races. The selection of the Duke was very important, so there was an additional procedure in the Council of Elders.
However, Sebas' attitude just now had already made Colin realize that this Senator from the House of Saint Hilde did not really want to help Vera become the Dukes Of The North.
However, Colin discovered that he did not have any means to influence the other party, other than paying a huge amount of "lobbying fees".
Was he really going to be ruthlessly ripped off?
No!
If the other party took the money and did not do anything, Colin would not be able to do anything to him. Moreover, the Northern Frontier had just been pacified, and they urgently needed this sum of money to alleviate their predicament. He could not use it to benefit that old man.
How about I kill him?
Colin's heart was ruthless.
However, he immediately hesitated. After all, the Imperial Capital was a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Colin did not want to use such a method.
If he was discovered, then he could only take Vera and go into exile …
How about converting?
However, Colin felt that converting into a blood descendant would be very risky.
Because blood descendants had self-awareness, Colin had never tried to convert his enemies into blood descendants.
Currently, the three blood descendants — Knight Charles, Queen Aisha, and Knight Valla — were all indebted to Colin.
Charles was reborn from a broken limb, Aisha came back from the dead and took revenge, and as for Valla, she felt guilty towards Colin. After atoning for her sins with her death, she was given a second life by Colin.
In short, even if the three of them were not blood descendants, they would not betray Colin.
Converting them into blood descendants would only strengthen their attachment and make Colin trust them more.
However, if it was Sebas, Colin did not dare to convert him into a blood descendant.
Although he could indeed use bloodline suppression to make a blood descendant unable to resist him, this kind of control was limited to the physical body, and he could not control the mind.
What if Sebas pretended to submit to Colin, but turned around and sold Colin out?
Of course, if he converted into a blood slave without self-awareness, there would be no need to worry about betrayal.
However, if he did that, it would be easy for him to be seen through.
After all, blood slaves did not have self-awareness and only knew how to listen to orders, unless Colin split his consciousness to control them. However, this kind of control was very stiff, and it was possible to fool them in a hurry, but after a long time, they would definitely be exposed.
Was there really no way to deal with Sebas …
Colin thought for a long time, and suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and said, "Actually, we don't have to fight for Senator Sebas."
"What do you mean?" Vera had a puzzled expression on her face.
"Senator Sebas only has one vote, and whether he agrees or not doesn't matter much. As long as we can get the other twenty or so elders of the Northern Frontier to vote for us, it will be fine!"
Scholar Dwayne's eyes lit up, "You mean to say that we can make Senator Sebas a mere figurehead?"
Colin smiled and nodded, "That's right! Although Vera is not the Dukes Of The North yet, the Northern Frontier is now under our control. As long as we put pressure on the major families of the Northern Frontier, then we can influence the elders of these families through the patriarchs of these families!
In this way, Sebas will be insignificant. "
Scholar Dwayne nodded repeatedly, "This is indeed a good idea, but I am worried that there might not be enough time."
Colin immediately ordered, "Forget it. We don't know when Prince Rhy and the others are going to send the proposal to the Senate, but we can't just sit here and wait for death.
Vera, immediately write a letter to Winter City and ask Marquis García to gather the lords of the Northern Frontier and put pressure on them! "
"Okay!" Vera immediately responded and turned around to look for a pen and paper.
Colin said to Scholar Dwayne, "Well, let's just say that we have already gotten the twenty or so votes from the Northern Frontier. Next, we still need to persuade the elders of the Northern Frontier to ensure that Prince Lacy's proposal does not get an absolute majority of votes. "
Scholar Dwayne pondered for a moment and suggested, "Lord Viscounts, I think that the San Lorenzo family is the best choice. Since Governor Letom does not want to see us, then we can try someone else."
"Who?"
"Her Royal Highness."
"Her Royal Highness?" Colin hesitated. His vigilance towards the beautiful Royal Highness was no less than that of Sebas. If possible, he did not want to ask her for help. "I am afraid that the Royal Highness will not be able to influence the elders of the San Lorenzo family."
Scholar Dwayne shook his head and explained, "Lord Viscounts, I hope that you can meet His Majesty through the Royal Highness. He is the key person who can really influence the elders of the San Lorenzo family. "
"But … isn't the emperor sick?" Vera interrupted when she heard Scholar Dwayne's words.
Scholar Dwayne curled his lips and said, "I am 80% sure that he is pretending to be sick so that he can avoid Prince Lacy. At the same time, he does not want the proposal to go through the Imperial Council."
Colin also nodded and said, "That's right. Moreover, the emperor is the one who is the most anxious about this matter. If the proposal to declare war is passed by a large number of votes in the Senate, then it will definitely be a fatal blow to his prestige.
It can even be said that from then on, Prince Lacy and the Senate will be able to directly control him. "
"Yes." Scholar Dwayne continued, "Moreover, Emperor Reinhardt has the right to recommend candidates for the elders of the San Lorenzo family. He can influence Governor Letom's attitude more than we can."
Just as Colin was determined to meet Empress Mistella again, a servant knocked on the door and entered. He then handed an invitation letter to Colin.
Colin opened the letter with a slightly puzzled expression. "Crete Sangerian?"
Scholar Dwayne's eyes lit up when he heard this name. He said, "This is the governor of the Sangerian family in the Senate!"
Colin immediately revealed a smile and said, "That's right.
"This governor has invited us to a banquet!"
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