1282 The End of an Era
The Privy Council suddenly became deserted. The young earl looked at the sparse nobles with a mocking expression on his face.
"They are not united at all..." He turned to look at Lynch, "I heard that many of them are busy dealing with some things. They are more cowards than we thought!"
"I thought they would hug each other and storm the palace..."
Regardless of whether the nobles admit it or not, without the stopping of the great nobles, no matter what they do, they lack some strength, including fighting against the royal family.
The great nobles rarely end up in trouble. Although they provide a lot of help, there seems to be not much real and practical things.
Seeing that the day when the privileges were abolished was getting closer, the most important thing the nobles did during this period was not to unite and discuss how to forcefully win back the situation, but to deal with the broken things in their hands.
The most distinctive among the privileges of the nobility is the redemption system and the scapegoat system...
The redemption system mostly occurred in the Middle Ages. Nobles were often caught accidentally during wars, but they were not worried at all. Because of the existence of the redemption system, even hostile nobles could not kill those who surrendered.
They had to entertain him with good food and drink until the other person's family sent him the gold coins for redemption, and then sent him back.
After all, only a few nobles died on the battlefield. Some people think that this system caused the bad temper of medieval nobles. They would declare war because of the smallest thing. For them, failure was nothing more than paying a few gold coins.
But they can take a breath, and that's what matters most.
The scapegoat system occurred in the modern period.
When the nobles still owned fiefs, they were the most powerful ones in their territories. They made the laws, so they themselves would not be punished.
But with the development of society and the development of the empire, the privileges of the nobility shrank for the first time, and the nobility also began to abide by the law, but it was the aristocratic code, not the imperial code.
In order to make the nobles hand over those privileges honestly, the royal family at that time added a special privilege to the nobles, which was the scapegoat system.
If they commit a crime, they were originally the makers of the law, but now they become the ones being executed.
Then the nobles have the power to let others be punished on their behalf. Some people think that this is the redemption system in the new era, but in any case, it exists in such a bizarre way.
When the aristocratic court believed that the nobles had violated the aristocratic code and needed to be punished with certain punishments such as flogging and injuries, including beheading, they could have someone serve the sentence for them.
On the contrary, imprisonment, hard labor, and exile cannot be used as scapegoats.
It sounds a bit nonsense, but to put it simply, even a bloody trial result can be used as a scapegoat.
There is no bloodshed but it is a political punishment, and it cannot be used as a scapegoat.
It is precisely because the nobles have these two kinds of summer festival privileges that they have no idea about crime, or they don't care at all whether they have committed a crime.
And what they are doing now is to arrange for people to be scapegoats for their previous criminal behavior as soon as possible before their privileges are abolished...
This is why the little count laughs at them. They always think of themselves first.
Lynch agreed with the little earl's statement, "People are selfish. In special times, people will always do something that is beneficial to themselves first. I have told you about this kind of behavior before..."
For the nobles, no one knows what will happen in the future, but if everything is really over, if they don't deal with the past affairs now, they may be in trouble soon.
Gaevra doesn't have any problems with new laws or old cases.
Lynch paused as he spoke, "I will be returning to the Federation in a few days. You'd better return to Amelia as soon as possible..."
"So urgent?" The little earl was stunned for a moment, a little reluctant.
He always learned a lot when he was with Lynch, which he couldn't learn when Lynch was away.
For example, what Lynch told him about "human selfish behavior", no one else could impart knowledge to him in such a simple and transparent way before.
His title is the highest among his group, and sometimes even if he does something wrong or fails to do it well, others will not tell him anything, let alone tell him what to do.
There was only Lynch, which made the little earl unable to resist, "Why don't you go back with us?"
Lynch shook his head, "No, I have a lot of things to do with the federal government. Maybe you don't know, but my mother was brought to court by the prosecutor..."
The little earl looked shocked. In his eyes, Lynch was simply a god. It was simply unbelievable that his mother would be accused.
Looking at his dumbfounded look, Lynch smiled and waved his hand, "It's all very small things, but I have to go back..."
Knowing that he couldn't stay, the little earl could only sigh, "Well, I hope you can solve these problems smoothly."
"Next...what do you think the situation will be like here?"
Lynch smiled slightly, "Who knows?"
The day passed quickly, and countless people lost sleep that night.
Including the emperor, the prime minister, the great nobles and...the fleet captain on the front line.
After dawn tomorrow, the fate of the Gefra Empire will go in a direction that no one knows...
At seven o'clock in the morning, when it was just a little light, the major got up and started working.
There were many police officers in the square outside the palace today. When he approached, two police officers came over and searched him.
There was no doubt that he had nothing illegal on him. He only had a dozen dollars and two badly worn keys.
But even so, the police still did not let the major in. Instead, they called the person in charge of the square outside the palace and confirmed that the major had been working here for a period of time before allowing the major to enter.
"Why are there so many people today?" he asked in a low voice, as if he didn't want to speak loudly because of the cold.
What the fuck kind of logic is this?
But the supervisor didn't seem to care. His answer was in a sense a kind of confession and a kind of complaint.
"Who knows, do you know what time I got up today?"
"What time is it?"
"Five o'clock!", the supervisor shouted loudly. Today's weather looks pretty good. It snowed again yesterday afternoon and lasted until midnight. It should be a sunny day today.
His words naturally spread far and wide, and some policemen looked at him and looked away.
"Five o'clock...", the supervisor sighed, "This is the earliest time I've ever woken up in my life."
"Listen, I'm in a bad mood right now. You go to your place and clean up the new snow, and then go do whatever you like. Just don't cause me any trouble. Do you understand?"
The major nodded, and under the watch of his supervisor, he went to the utility room to get the snow plowing tools and began to clear the snow.
After more than an hour, the square was thoroughly cleaned, and cleaners like him could take a break.
Since Gafra is a rights-based country, the exploitation and oppression of capitalists are not serious here, so when a cleaner wants to take a rest, he can just go and take a rest.
The major chose a cafe next to the Palace Square to rest. On such a cold morning, a cup of hot coffee and a cheese-filled burrito would be the perfect breakfast.
In addition to great coffee and delicious burritos, this place also has a rooftop.
It is said to be the roof, but in fact it can be said to be the second floor. You can go up from the toilet vent. Above is a triangular spire structure with a window facing the square.
Usually many cleaners will rest here, so if there is one more person or one less person, no one will find any problems.
And everyone is dressed the same, which provides great concealment.
The major was not worried about his assassination or leaving. The only thing he was worried about was whether the submarine would appear.
But, regardless of whether it will happen or not, what should be done must still be done.
As usual, he talked nonsense with people, pretending to blend in with the crowd, then enjoyed coffee and burritos, made an appointment with several colleagues to go fishing on the weekend, and then entered the coffee shop.
He came to one of the toilet stalls and easily entered the second floor stall through the exhaust window.
The weapon was placed in a jar in the corner. No one had been here for a long time. There was no change in the dust on the ground near the door, and there were no footprints.
He took out the waterproof tarpaulin wrapper from the can, checked the gun to make sure there was nothing wrong, and then began to make final preparations for shooting.
At ten o'clock in the morning, a large number of nobles had gathered in the square outside the palace. They kept shouting something into the palace.
At this time, the crowd was quiet for a moment, and the emperor appeared.
What surprised the major was that there were not so many palace guards around the emperor today, leaving him some space.
The emperor said something on the wall to the people below, the people kept cheering, and the nobles began to get excited.
Some nobles began to rush towards the palace while pushing and shoving. The emperor stood on the wall and did not move, just looking at the nobles indifferently.
Yes, he would indeed be the last emperor of the Gevra monarchy, but he would also be the first emperor of the new one.
Although he lost part of his power, when the privileges of the nobility were almost completely abolished, the royal family became the biggest beneficiary.
Because of the royal family, they also have privileges!
Maybe he, and the emperors who will come after him, cannot personally control the power of this empire, but they can influence this country in other ways!
It even affects the prime minister and ministers, as well as the cabinet.
"We are all cannon fodder of the times, but I, the cannon fodder, am obviously different from you!"
His Majesty the Emperor looked at the group of nobles attacking the palace and whispered to himself.
He could see that the nobles who were the first to attack the palace had quietly retreated to the middle and rear of the noble group. On the contrary, the nobles who had not made any move at the beginning, driven by their emotions, had already rushed to the front line.
"We are all victims of our times!"
He sighed softly, and suddenly a gunshot sounded in his ears. Time inside and outside the palace seemed to have stopped at this moment!