Chapter 328 Ballots and Conditions

"Shopkeeper, everything is here. Check it out to see if there is any damage."

"No, no need. Oh, here's the deposit. I'll give it back to you. Well, how are you? Do you feel okay?"

"Not bad, a group of guests have arrived."

"That's good, that's good, haha..."

At noon, the fat shopkeeper took possession of his tavern again. After chatting for a while, he respectfully sent the two people in front of him out the door.

The noble's thoughts are really unpredictable... Watching the two disappear at the corner of the street, the fat shop owner sighed, with a hint of envy in his words.

In fact, he came back once in the middle of the trip. He didn't get close, but looked at it from a distance. He saw a dozen luxury carriages parked in front of his humble tavern, guarded by many knights in bright armor. In this way, the status of these two people was naturally classified by him as a noble.

…

On the street, Tang En and Joshua walked side by side among the passing crowds.

"Huh..." He breathed a long sigh of relief, raised his hands in the air, made a gesture of letting go of the pressure, and pursed his lips, "Really, after arguing all morning, we didn't reach a single condition."

"One thing that can determine success or failure is kidnapping and extortion." Tang En spread his hands indifferently, "At least you made that annoying old man embarrassed, didn't you?"

Hearing this, Josiah narrowed his eyes and smiled and said: "Haha... If you put it that way, I have gained something. Well, my heart suddenly feels more balanced. Ha!"

What they were talking about was what happened after the negotiations ended in the morning. When Simpson left, he bumped his foot on the doorstep and rolled over in embarrassment. At such an age, sitting for such a long time will inevitably lead to poor blood flow. Of course, Josiah's contribution cannot be underestimated. It was precisely because of her heart-wrenching remarks that Simpson's mood was ups and downs, he was furious, and his old face was always in a state of congestion. The combination of the two eventually led to this "tragedy".

It is conceivable that such embarrassing things will inevitably spread within the aristocratic circle. The statement at that time is likely to become that Simpson was speechless, lost his mind, and finally missed the mark after being refuted during the negotiation... Perhaps it was precisely because he thought of this situation that Simpson rolled his eyes after falling and said directly After fainting, it caused chaos again, almost causing both sides to take action.

"By the way, Simpson won't just die like that, right?" After gloating over his misfortune, Josiah turned around and asked.

"A little sympathy?"

"He is an old man after all...well, and if he really dies because of this, I'm afraid our negotiations won't be able to proceed."

"Ha, as expected, women have the most poisonous hearts... Don't worry, you probably won't die."

"Huh? How do you know?"

Shrugging, Tang En said: "I was in the back at that time. There was someone... Well, that Alex was beside me. I heard him mutter something and pretended to be fainted again. Look, experienced people , it won’t die so easily.”

"That's it..." he waved his fist, "Well, I'll continue to work hard next time and try to make him faint again."

Expressionless, "Come on, come on..."

…

…

Afternoon, Shanxi City Center High-end Hotel.

This is where the noble negotiation team lives in Shanxi City. The reason why they do not live in Dongcheng District, where the nobles warmly invite them, is of course for the convenience and confidentiality of negotiations. But even so, given their status, the entire hotel was booked and surrounded by guards.

At this time, in front of the hotel, a middle-aged nobleman was sending a white-bearded doctor out. Then he smiled and shook his head, and walked back to the empty tavern hall. As if he remembered something, he paused in his steps, turned to the counter and said, "Make a bowl of nourishing soup and send it to room one."

"yes!"

Without stopping, walk through the elegantly decorated courtyard and enter the attic. Then he walked directly past Room 1, stopped in front of Room 9 at the end of the corridor, looked around, and pushed the door open.

"Sir Simpson is fine, haha, I'm beginning to believe what Alex said now... This old moron isn't just pretending, is he?"

"Old moth" is a contemptuous term used by the new aristocrats for the traditional aristocrats. On the contrary, in the mouth of traditional aristocrats, new aristocrats are nouveau riche. (mentioned earlier)

"Although I prefer him to be bedridden, but...it doesn't have much to do with us, does it?"

The speaker is Ronald, and this is his room. But now there are a lot of people gathered here. Except for Philip, basically all the new noble members in the negotiating team are here.

Ronald looked around and said, "Okay, while those people are visiting Simpson, let's discuss what to do?"

After a moment of silence, the middle-aged noble from before spoke: "In the past few days, I asked people to get some news from the Northern Arms Department. The strength of the Gray Army is already quite high, and what is even more terrifying is the speed at which it is expanding. I think they It has fully met the conditions of a new noble ally."

This is almost nonsense, but in meetings, you always need to use some nonsense to lead to the next topic.

Sure enough, a younger noble stood up and said: "But the key is how can we reach a cooperation agreement with the Gray Army? You have all heard the conditions proposed by the other party today. Although the old morons have been refuting, we... ...Well, I can never agree to it.”

Silently, the nobles present all nodded silently.

The butt determines the brain, this is a truth that is popular everywhere.

The new aristocracy is also an aristocrat and a person with vested interests. To put it bluntly, they just want to grab more rights and a greater say from the traditional aristocrats. But some of the conditions proposed by Josiah today have fundamentally affected the lifeblood of the aristocracy. As for what Josiah said is also beneficial to the empire, etc., they don't know this, but the position they are in has determined that they must not do this. If you do, then what Simpson said today is really not a threat: "...If you dare to agree to this condition, I guarantee that you will die in an ugly way!"

After a long silence, Ronald finally spoke: "It's impossible that they don't know this... It should be just a negotiation strategy. The land cannot be moved, but it is still possible to allow common people to enter the academy and other conditions."

"Well, I think so too."

"That's right! But it's also very difficult. Take the matter of common people entering the academy... Well, let me put it bluntly. We and common people are on two different levels. If we let Our descendants are mixed with common people. When they grow up, will they no longer respect or fear us?"

What the noble said is indeed straightforward, but the truth is this. In addition to creating beauty, distance can also create a mysterious sense of prestige! Normally, nobles are high up and out of reach of civilians, so they will naturally make guesses, and unknown things are always scary. But if they live together, these common people will find that the nobles are just like us, almost the same as us, and even in some fields, they are not as good as us, etc. In this way, the mystery will naturally disappear.

"This is a problem, but it can be solved!" Ronald seemed to have considered it a lot during the negotiation and said directly, "We can build another academy specifically for civilian children. In this way, this problem will not exist. "

"Good idea, I agree!"

"I also agree...Sir Ronald is worthy of being the pillar of my new nobility!"

"That's right, that's exactly what it is..."

…

Waving his hand, Ronald seemed very calm, but it felt good to be praised. He raised the corners of his mouth and continued: "We can do the same for other insensitive conditions. We can always think of ways to deal with it. Now The key is……"

He paused for a moment, as if he was organizing his words, and then said, "Don't forget, His Highness is still waiting for news from us. We must now let the other party accept the three votes of parliamentary resolution... I don't think the other party will refuse this. , because they also have conditions for civilians to participate in political power. But how to make the other party accept the conditions that come with it...disband the army?"

Three votes of parliamentary decision-making power, this is what the new nobles want to get. If there is a dispute over any matter in the empire, it will need to be voted on by the Parliament. However, the traditional aristocrats have a natural advantage. They account for the vast majority of the seats in the parliament. The result of the vote will naturally not be beneficial to the new aristocratic group. After these years of hard work, the new nobles have made little progress. Now that they see the power of the gray army and this great opportunity, they will naturally not let it go.

Once the two parties can successfully cooperate, the votes of the Gray Army will naturally be equivalent to those of the new nobles, which will undoubtedly increase their right to speak. Of course, these good prospects have a prerequisite, that is, the Gray Army agrees to disband the army.

"That's their foundation. It's too difficult... I can't think of a way."

"Yes, and to put it bluntly, they may not completely believe us...they simply don't dare to disband the army."

"Did His Highness say that this idea can be compromised?"

"It's difficult. This is the bargaining chip for His Highness to use the three votes of parliamentary decision-making power. If there is a compromise, it will be difficult for His Highness to handle it."

"Everyone!" Looking at the nobles who kept shaking their heads, Ronald pinched the bridge of his nose, "No matter what, we always have to test them first. At least we have to know where their bottom line is?"

"That's true." The middle-aged noble from before nodded, "It's impossible to get the other party to agree just once. At least we have to come up with some results to report to His Highness, and let the people over there discuss it again. Countermeasures.”

"Well, that's it...but these old worms are watching too closely. How should we communicate with each other?"

"There will always be a way. They won't stay together."

"It's really hard to say..."

This is indeed a problem. It is naturally impossible for the traditional nobles to allow the new nobles to achieve such cooperation with the Gray Army, so they will definitely take strict precautions next.

After discussing for a while, the younger nobleman's eyes suddenly lit up, he raised his head and said: "I have an idea, well, how about letting Philip come forward? He moves freely and does not attract attention, and he seems to have some relationship with the Gray Army. .”

"Uh...yes! How can you say that Philip is also one of ours..."

"It's a good idea. But, then again, is he reliable?"

"Well...well, that's a problem."

"well……"

Everyone was confused, and letting Philip convey it was undoubtedly the best way. But to be honest, they really can't trust Philip...

In the end, Ronald stood up and decided: "No matter, let's give it a try! Let him convey some news first, and if it works, we will pin our hopes on him."

"That's all it can do..."

"Bless the God of Light..."

…………(To be continued.)