The Sea Gate Tavern, "Granny's Beard", was a high-class tavern run by both humans and dwarves. The dwarves held 51% of the shares, the humans 46%, and the remaining 3% was controlled by the elves. Although very few elves would patronize the tavern, at least the elves would not be rejected because they did not have shares.
The dwarves of Sea Gate Pass were the most accepting of the elves out of all the dwarves in the old world. Even so, the relationship between the two parties was still very cold.
Laing and the others were welcomed as soon as they entered the tavern. As soon as the three Holy Grail Knights entered the tavern, the dwarf bartender placed three glasses of vodka on the table. "Welcome, Knight King and two Holy Grail Knights. This is for you. Your glorious achievements will be remembered by all the dwarves. At least for the next ten years, we won't have to worry about harassment from the Evil Lands. It's getting cold. Have a glass of Kislöw vodka to warm yourself up."
"Thank you." Laing politely thanked the bartender in dwarven language. Out of consideration, Laing and the others did not choose to sit in the private room on the second floor. Instead, they sat in the lobby on the first floor. The three of them ordered some local specialties of Sea Gate Pass, barbecued meat, pies, skewers, seafood, and black tea imported from Aurora.
The three of them discussed how to attack the Armory Castle in January. From the information that Repp sent out, they knew that the Armory Castle was occupied by about six to ten thousand Green Dwarves. The Green Dwarf Warlord was called Jitte Sourbelly. He was a very cunning Goblin Shaman who was good at fighting in the wild.
The Armory Castle's terrain was easy to defend and hard to attack. It was located in the middle of two hills. If they wanted to attack, they would have to attack along the hills. For a knight army, it was very difficult to attack this kind of castle.
However, Laing's side also had an advantage, and that was Belegar's super strong siege ability. The dwarf king had already formulated a detailed siege strategy based on the terrain of the armory, and Laing and the others just had to execute it.
After chatting for a while, a few Aurora people came in from outside. The leader was wearing a ruby crown, two flower plume, nine pythons and five claws embroidered with a golden pheasant pattern, a long string of beads that almost reached his stomach, a pair of yellow boots with cloud patterns, and a jade belt around his waist. He brought the few Aurora people that Laing saw before into the bar and tried to communicate with the dwarf bartender in a very rough common language. They ordered a few glasses of wine and some dishes and sat down to eat. Among them, the Aurora person called Hong Fuchu obviously noticed Laing. He pointed at Laing and said a few words to the leader of Aurora, but the leader of Aurora arrogantly shook his head, indicating that there was no need.
Then the few of them shouted, "May the Lord live forever!"
"It's rare to see Aurora people here." Kalad was obviously curious about this new thing. "I remember that the old world only has an Aurora embassy in Tyrell. The last time Aurora's diplomatic group arrived in the old world was 700 years ago."
"Aurora people occasionally come to the old world to trade," Fedmund said. As the eldest son of Bodrick, Duke of Bordero, Fedmund obviously knew more about outsiders. "We occasionally trade silk, gold, tea, porcelain vases, and some magic crafts with Aurora people, but the two sides rarely have contact outside of trade."
"That's right. Thousands of years ago, Aurora's diplomatic group arrived in Araby and traded with the Nikohara Dynasty at that time. They even brought the secret of firearms." Laing nodded. "As for the last contact between the two sides, it was 700 years ago when Aurora's diplomatic group arrived in Tyrell and built an embassy in Tyrell. At that time, the Wu Dynasty ruled Aurora, but later on, the Wu Dynasty almost never sent diplomatic groups to the old world anymore. On the contrary, they became more and more isolated and reduced the frequency of trade. It is said that the Wu Dynasty has changed many Dragon Emperors, and midway, a monkey emperor named the Monkey King stole the throne. Later on, the Dragon Emperor spent a lot of effort to regain the throne, and the Dragon Emperor is just a title. Every emperor of Aurora is called the Dragon Emperor. If the ruler changes family, it means that the Aurora Empire has changed dynasties."
"That's right. I heard that in the Aurora Empire, there's an old fable that goes like this. They don't seem to have the concept of nobles and commoners." Fedmund nodded. He picked up the mug and took a sip. "This is different from the old world. The commoners seem to like to overthrow the current Dragon Emperor and elect a new one."
"Like Tyrell, populism." Laing held the mug in his hand and said casually, "Populism is like this, but we Brittany are like this."
"Populism, elite? My king, I don't quite understand. What's the difference? " Kalad had been in contact with Laing for a long time. He really felt that the new Knight King was an endless treasure trove. He seemed to have endless knowledge and unfathomable wisdom.
"Elite politics is very simple. As the name suggests, the elites rule the whole country and make decisions on all the policies of the whole country." Laing nodded. He pointed at himself, Kalad, and Fedmund. "Obviously, we're all elites because we're all knights and nobles. At the same time, we're also Knights of the Holy Grail. With us as the leaders, the Knights of the Holy Grail and the knights and nobles rule the Knight King's Kingdom. Is there a problem with that?"
Kalad and Fedmund nodded at the same time.
"Just like us, whether it's the Empire, the dwarves, or the elves, they all practice elite politics." Leon leaned back in his chair and pointed at the dishes on the table. "The national policy of the entire kingdom, or the military, is actually controlled by the knights and nobles. We, the few of us, control the fate of the many. This is called elite politics."
"Haven't we always been like this?" Kalad thought carefully and tried to ask, "Can we still let the serfs who are responsible for farming decide the national and military affairs?"
"Yes, this is the advantage of elite politics." Laing agreed. He said slowly, "Obviously, when marching to war, we'll definitely choose an excellent knight who's good at war to command the war, not find ten serfs and let them vote to decide how to fight the war. If that's the case, we'll have already perished. Serfs, get out of the way."
Kalad and Fedmund both laughed. That was indeed the case.
"But elite politics also has its shortcomings." Laing did not laugh. On the contrary, the Knight King's expression was very serious. "Then there are the following two points. First, the problem of elite recognition. Second, the problem of elite self-enrichment."
"As for the recognition of the highest elite, that is, the recognition of the Holy Grail Knight, because the lady is in charge, we don't have to worry about this problem. However, for ordinary knights and nobles, this problem has been long-standing. First, every descendant of a knight's family will automatically become a knight as long as they come of age and obtain spurs from other knights and nobles. That's the so-called low-level recognition. In this case, some people who don't have the strength and morals to be a knight will become a knight. Their morals are corrupted and they cause trouble."
"Second, knights and nobles are not authoritative in all fields. Most of them are actually only good at war and military affairs. They are not good at internal affairs. However, because they are in the decision-making level, they have to take over the responsibility of managing the territory. Many nobles are in a mess."
At this point, Kalad smiled bitterly and nodded. Wasn't this talking about him?
"Third, knights and nobles do not always consider the interests of the kingdom and the people in their decisions. Most of the time, they only consider their own interests and deliberately make wrong decisions." Laing picked up his glass again. "This 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. They also make decisions that are beneficial to themselves. This is unavoidable and impossible to completely solve. Parents are always more inclined to distribute the benefits to their children. Generals always give the best resources to their own troops. As for their own palace, the nobles' palace is always nepotism."
Laing paused for a moment. He recalled many things in his previous life, including "loyalty, filial piety, etiquette, justice, integrity, and shame", "kindness, respect, and frugality", "chivalry", and the so-called "aristocratic spirit". In fact, these were all self-improvement after the elites discovered the problem of self-enrichment. Although there was a certain effect, they could not cure the problem of elite self-enrichment. People hated this phenomenon, but they also hoped that they were the ones who enjoyed the benefits.
This time, it was Kalad and Fedmond's turn to frown.
Laing was right. This point alone was the most fatal flaw of elitism. Even the Holy Grail system of the Nymphs of the Lake only solved part of it. But with the supervision and restrictions of the Holy Grail system alone, Brittany had stood strong for thousands of years.
"… So populism is voting?" Kalad thought for a moment and asked, "So we should open up the decision-making level and let the serfs participate in the decision-making?"
"The relationship between a knight and his horse is like the relationship between a noble and a serf. Without a horse, how can you be a knight? Without serfs, how can you support the nobles of the kingdom? " Laing nodded with a smile. "From the perspective of the kingdom, the fate of the majority should not be decided by the minority. This is the case with populism. Take Tyrell for example. Prince Milagliano is always elected by the people, and this process is completely legal because everyone is equal. The majority's approval means justice and respect. This way, the elected prince will not be overthrown, but assassinated."
"But the problem with populism is that, as I said before, if the serfs vote together to govern the kingdom, it means that the kingdom is not far from being destroyed. Those who understand military and political affairs will always be the minority. The serfs only know how to see the benefits in front of them. For example, if I dig the canal to make the kingdom's trade route open, the serfs will not understand. What they see is that the canal will destroy their farmland and make it difficult for them to sell the food from afar. Therefore, if the serfs are allowed to make the decision, the canal will never be built. Once someone promises them some benefits, the serfs will vote with their feet without thinking."
"Similarly, the fatal weakness of populism is that once the serfs get the decision-making power, it will easily lead to mob politics. The serfs will have the view that they are the masters and will use their decision-making power and even violence at will. I don't need to say more about this."
"However, despite all the problems of populism, it is almost the only effective way to restrain the self-enrichment of the elites." Laing continued, "Compared to the Brittany, we have the supervision of the Lady of the Empire and the incentive of the Holy Grail System. The old Empire collapsed because of this, and the new Empire reformed the Kurfürst system but still could not solve this problem. This is the advantage of the Brittany system. In short, populism and elites both have their inevitable drawbacks and fatal flaws. But in the current environment, there is no doubt that Brittany will continue to be an elite in the future."
"Then, how can we avoid our problems?" Kalad asked seriously.
"The problem lies in whether the promotion channel is open enough and fair enough, and whether the reform of the aristocracy should be carried out."
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