Chapter 732, Populists and Elites

Haimenguan tavern "Grone's Beard" is a high-end tavern jointly run by humans and dwarves, in which dwarves occupy 51% of the shares, humans occupy 46%, and the remaining 3% are controlled by elves. The elves will patronize the shop, but at least the elves won't be turned away because they don't have a stake.

The dwarves at Haimenguan are already the most accepting of elves among all the dwarves in the old world, but even so, the relationship between the two parties is still very cold.

And Ryan and others were welcomed after entering the tavern. As soon as the three Holy Grail Knights entered the tavern, the headed dwarf bartender put three glasses of vodka on the table: "Welcome, Knight King and two Holy Grail Knights, this It is for you. Your brilliant achievements will be remembered by all the dwarves. For at least ten years, we don’t have to worry about the harassment of green skins from the bad land. It’s cold, drink a glass of Kislev vodka to keep you warm body."

"Thank you." Ryan thanked politely in dwarf language. Out of some considerations, 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 of Haimenguan, such as barbecue and stuffing Cakes, skewers and seafood, as well as black tea imported from Aurora.

The three of them discussed the news about how to attack the Arsenal Fortress in January. According to the news that the black-hearted Lepp sent a large number of scouts to investigate, there are about 6,000 to 10,000 green skins in the Arsenal Castle. The name of the green-skinned warlord is Git - Sour Stomach, is a goblin shaman who is good at field combat and is very cunning.

The terrain of the Arsenal Fort is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is located in the middle of the corridor within two hills. If you want to attack, you must attack along the hills. For the knight army, it is very difficult to attack this kind of fortress.

But Ryan also has an advantage, that is, Bellegar's super siege ability. The dwarf king has formulated a detailed siege policy based on the terrain of the Arsenal Fortress. What Ryan and others have to do is to implement it.

After chatting for a while, a few Zhentan people came in outside. The leader was wearing a ruby ​​crown, double-eyed feathers, and a nine-python five-claw python robe. The clothes were embroidered with golden pheasants, and a long string of court beads almost hung down to his stomach. , wearing a pair of Ruyi cloud-patterned yellow court boots and an emerald jade belt around his waist, he walked into the bar with the few Cathayans whom Ryan had seen 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, they sat down to eat. Among them, the Zhendan man named Hong Fuchu obviously noticed Ryan. Dan shook his head proudly, expressing that he didn't need it.

Then several people chanted "Tianzun Wuliangshoufu" together.

"It's really rare. There are actually Cathay people here." Karard was obviously curious about this new thing: "I remember that the only Cathay embassy in Tyrell in the Old World was the last time the Cathay delegation arrived in the Old World. It happened seven hundred years ago."

"The Cathayans occasionally come to trade in the Old World.

As the eldest son of Boderick, Duke of Boldrow, Fedmond obviously needs to know more about outsiders: "We occasionally trade silk, gold, tea, porcelain vases and some magic crafts with the Cathayans, but There was little contact between the two sides. "

"That's right. Thousands of years ago, the Cathay missions arrived in Arabia and traded with the Nikohara dynasties at that time, and even brought the secret of firearms with them." Ryan nodded: "As for the last contact between the two sides 700 years ago, the Cathay Mission arrived in Tyrell and established an embassy in Tyrell. At that time, Cathay was ruled by the Wu Dynasty, but the Wu Dynasty almost never sent missions to the Old World. , On the contrary, they are more and more closed and reduce the frequency of trade. It is said that the Wu Dynasty has changed many Dragon Emperors, and the throne was once stolen by a monkey emperor named Monkey King. The later Dragon Emperor spent It took a lot of effort to regain the throne, and Dragon Emperor is just a title, every emperor in Cathay is called Dragon Emperor, if the ruler changes family, it means that the Cathay Empire has changed dynasty."

"That's right, I heard that in the Cathay Empire, there is an old fable that princes and generals are better than each other. They don't seem to have the concept of nobles and commoners." Fedmond nodded. He picked up his mug and drank it full. Take a bite: "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."

"It's the same as Tyrell, populist." Ryan held a mug in his hand and said casually: "This is the case with populist politics, but we in Britannia are elite politics."

"Popular, elite? My king, I don't quite understand, what's the difference?" Callard and Ryan have been in contact for a long time, and he really feels that the new King of Knights is an infinite treasure trove, and he seems to have inexhaustible resources. Knowledge and unfathomable wisdom.

"Elite politics is very simple. As the name suggests, the elites rule the entire country and make decisions on all governance policies of the entire country." Ryan nodded, pointing at himself, then at Karard and Fedmond: "Obviously , we are all elites, because we are all knight nobles, and at the same time Holy Grail knights, the Holy Grail knights and knight nobles headed by us dominate the knight kingdom, is there any problem with this?"

Callard and Fedmond nodded at the same time.

"Like us, whether it is the empire, the dwarves, or the elves, they are actually practicing elite politics." Ryan leaned back on the chair, and he pointed to the dishes on the entire table: "The national policy of the entire kingdom is also the leadership of the army. , are actually controlled by knights and nobles, and the few of us control the fate of the majority, which is called elite politics.”

"Haven't we always been like this?" Callard thought about it carefully, and he tried to ask: "Can we still let those serfs who specialize in farming decide the state and military affairs?"

"Yes, this is the superiority of elite politics." Ryan agreed with this, and he said slowly: "Obviously, when marching and fighting, we must choose an excellent knight who is proficient in battle to command the war, not Find ten serfs and let them vote to decide how to fight the war, then we will all perish long ago, and we must find professional ones to fight the war, and the serfs will go away."

Callard and Fedmond both laughed when they heard this, indeed.

"But elite politics also has its shortcomings." Ryan did not laugh. On the contrary, the Knight King's expression was very serious: "That is the following two points, first, the issue of elite recognition, and second, the issue of elite self-enrichment."

"With regard to the elite recognition of the highest authority, that is, the recognition of the Holy Grail Knights, we don't have to worry about this because there are women who check it, and we have solved this problem in half. But for ordinary knights and nobles, this problem has been around for a long time. First of all, As long as the descendants of every knight family become adults and obtain spurs from other knight nobles, they will automatically obtain knight status, which is the so-called low-level recognition. In this case, some people will not have the strength and ability to be knights Virtue has also become a knight, morality is corrupt, and it is a disaster."

"Secondly, 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. Responsibilities, many nobles are in a mess."

Speaking of which, Callard nodded with a wry smile. Isn't that what he was talking about?

"Thirdly, many decisions of knights and nobles are not always considered in the interests of the kingdom and the interests of the whole people. They often only consider their own interests and make wrong decisions on purpose." Ryan raised his 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 layer, they are destined to occupy more social resources and interests and make decisions that benefit themselves. This is unavoidable and impossible. To solve the problem thoroughly, parents are always more inclined to distribute benefits to their children, generals always distribute the best resources to their own direct troops, and for their own courts, nobles' courts are always nepotism."

Ryan paused a little after he finished speaking. He recalled many things in his previous life, including "loyalty, filial piety, trustworthiness, righteousness and shame", "gentleness, respectfulness and thrift", including "chivalry spirit" and the so-called "noble spirit". In fact, they are all elites. Self-improvement after discovering the problem of self-enrichment, although it has certain effects, cannot cure the problem of elite self-enrichment. People hate this phenomenon, but they really hope that they are the ones who enjoy the benefits.

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

Ryan is right. From this point 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 on the supervision and restrictions of the holy grail system alone, Brew Tania has stood for millennia.

"...Then populism is voting?" Callard thought for a while, and then asked: "So we should let go of the decision-making layer and let the serfs participate in the decision-making?"

"Hehe, the relationship between knights and war horses is like the relationship between nobles and serfs. Without war horses, how can you be called a knight? Without serfs, how can you support the nobles of the entire country?" Ryan nodded with a smile: "From the kingdom alone From a point of view, the minority shouldn’t be allowed to decide the fate of the majority, and populism is like this. For example, Tyrell and Prince Miragliano are always elected by citizens’ votes, and this process is completely legal, because everyone They are all equal, and the approval of most people means justice and respect, so that the elected prince will not be overthrown, but will only be assassinated."

"But the problem with populism is what I said before. Marching and fighting, and governing the kingdom, if serfs vote together to make decisions, it means that the country is not far from being destroyed. People who understand military and political affairs will always be a minority. Serfs I only know how to look at the immediate interests. For example, I dug the canal to make the kingdom’s commercial roads smooth and to benefit everyone, but the serfs would not understand. What they saw was that the canal would destroy their farmland and make them useless. The land can be planted, and the grain from far away will make it difficult for them to sell grain and make money. Therefore, if the serfs are allowed to make decisions, the canal will never be dug, and once someone promises a little profit, the serfs will definitely not even think about using it directly. Vote with your feet."

"Similarly, the Achilles heel of populism is that after serfs gain 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 use their decision-making power at will or even use violence. Say no more."

"However, even though populism has so many problems, it is almost the only effective way to restrict the self-enrichment of elites." Ryan continued: "Compared to our Britannia, which is supervised by women and motivated by the Holy Grail system, the empire has No, the old empire collapsed because of this, and the new empire has reformed the electoral system and still cannot solve this problem. This is the superiority of our Britannian system. All in all, both populism and elites have their inevitable disadvantages and fatalities Flaws, but in the current environment, there is no doubt that Britannia will continue to be elite in the future."

"So how do we try to avoid our problems?" Callard asked earnestly.

"The problem lies in whether the promotion channel is open enough and fair enough, and whether the aristocratic bureaucratic reform has been carried out."