An hour later, a total of 41 councilors from the Ba Te City-State gathered in the square in front of the stone fortress of the city lord's residence.
Four white flag councillors, thirteen yellow flag councillors, and twenty-four blue flag councillors.
The city lord, the powerful Luo, and the monsoon councillor, Lu Ming, sat behind a stone table next to the fountain, while the three-flag councillors sat on dozens of densely packed stone piers in the square.
To be honest, the real decision-makers in the Bat City-State are the city lord and the four white flag families.
The power of the thirteen Yellow Flag councilors has completely declined compared to that of the White Flag families. The Yellow Flag councilor with the largest family has only a few thousand acres of land and three or four hundred serfs. Some of the Blue Flag councilors are even in name only, with the title passed down from their ancestors. There are two Blue Flag councilors whose land and serfs were sold out by their previous generation, and now they can only enter the Council Square relying on the influence of their ancestors.
The powerful Luo granted Lu Ming the title of Ji Feng councillor, which was of the same status as the city lord, and no one raised any objections, and everyone accepted it calmly.
Moreover, most of them were excited. After all, judging from the trial of the case the day before yesterday, this Mayor Lu must have a very powerful background even in the Eastern world.
If such a person becomes one of the decision-makers in this city-state, it will naturally be of great benefit to this city-state. Maybe I and others will also benefit from it.
Zhongquan Luo also praised Lu Ming highly.
Next, he sighed and talked about the message his uncle had sent from Nicolo City, that the Alliance Parliament might very likely expel his city-state from its seat. He also talked about the public opinion in the imperial capital, which was currently criticizing his city-state.
The three-flag councillors were all dumbfounded when they heard this, and sighs were heard from time to time. Some blue-flag councillors were already wondering whether they should abandon their homes and careers and flee to other places before the border was blocked
Dajun Luo's cold voice suddenly sounded: "Then fight, gather all the men in the country, even if we die, whoever wants to eat our flesh will have their teeth broken!"
No one responded to his words and the situation became a bit awkward.
Lu Ming was also slightly stunned. This old man was over sixty years old. Although he had a strong physique and a loud voice, he was still like a young man, with a simple mind and strong limbs. No wonder even the family's military equipment had been left behind by Hawkeye Luo over the years.
Economic Luo looked at Lu Ming and sighed: "Mr. Ji Feng, what should we do?"
He also had a worried look on his face. He had lost the lawsuit and was in a difficult position. After all, Liu Laocai was detained by the Dongcheng Guard Station.
Luo Yi was translating for Lu Ming, but for the sake of harmony today, she was wearing traditional gauze.
Popolo and Hawkeye Luo sat together, like close allies, and looked at Lu Ming at this time. They were not too panicked. At worst, they could just run away with Mayor Lu and their family. Who knows, if they went to the east, the family might have a new situation.
The other MPs, hearing the question from Economic Luo, also looked towards the “one and only monsoon MP” who was freshly minted in the state.
Under the gaze of dozens of eyes, Lu Ming sighed deeply, "For now, we have no choice but to seek innovation and change. Although the bad habits that the outside world considers are said by sages, the world is different now. The sage Bobit once predicted that the world will change in a thousand years. The east wind will blow west. We should be patient and change, and wait for my messenger to spread the gospel again."
All the chieftains nodded, although some were confused, asking, "Why have I never heard of this hadith?"
But this Monsoon MP seemed to be extremely familiar with Hadith, having seen it in court.
I really don't have the confidence to argue with him. If he finds out the source of the Hadith, I will be committing a serious sin.
Several other chieftains followed suit, but their minds were clear as day.
It seems that Jingji Luo is one of them. The old man blinked his eyes and had a faint bitter smile on his face.
Lu Ming took out a thick stack of documents and handed them to the powerful Luo first, "Lord City Lord, this is the strategy for change I came up with, please take a look first."
Narrated by Lu Ming, written by Luo Yi and Luo Er in the local dialect.
Chongquan Luo picked it up and flipped through it, and was shocked. When he finished reading it, he was filled with fear.
He thought about it and asked someone to pass the letter on.
Lu Ming had already stood up. "I caught a cold last night and have a headache. I'm going to go back and rest first."
I didn't want to listen to their quarreling. I knew that as soon as I left, they would start quarreling again.
As expected, before people left the city lord's residence, the square was already in chaos and noise.
The so-called strategy for change is for Bat City to abandon the supreme status of the Betbit Code and amend the Betbit Code into a written law suitable for modern society.
I made some general changes myself. In fact, I was busy for several nights. From the moment I decided on the strategy of using the custom of forced marriage to exonerate Liu Laocai, I knew this day would come.
The public opinion offensive launched by Richard's Law Firm and Fila Petroleum in the imperial capital is actually doing themselves a favor and becoming their own weapon to force changes here.
However, he did not expect that this time the city-state alliance would react so quickly, and instead of trying to smooth things over, they would use the big stick of expelling Bat City from the alliance. There must be some changes that he was not aware of, but no matter what, this made it possible for him to force Bat City to change the status quo. Otherwise, he would have to go through countless rounds of twists and turns.
…
When he returned to Wolongbao, Lu Ming smiled and went upstairs to see the reporter from the economic and trade delegation interviewing Hasang.
This interview is about a Tu ethnic woman who was treated as a slave and suffered domestic violence every day. A rich man from the east fell in love with her simplicity and had a secret crush on her, but this angered the slave owner, so the rich man from the east was falsely accused of rape, but he fought the lawsuit himself.
Hasan's photo will also appear in the newspaper.
Under the influence of public opinion in the so-called civilized world, outsiders must have imagined stories of raping beautiful Tu ethnic girls, or even pomelo girls, and forcing them to marry, so they were so indignant.
We have to rely on newspapers rooted in the East China Sea to give them the truth.
The newspaper industry in Donghai and the newspaper industry in the imperial capital have always been at odds.
After going upstairs, Lu Ming had several long phone calls with people outside.
By the evening, the powerful Luo and the four white flag councillors arrived at Wolongbao.
"Are you done arguing?" Seeing the five of them in the reception room, Lu Ming smiled slightly.
Zhong Quan Luo's face turned pale. "My uncle called again. Tomorrow they will vote on the proposal to expel the seats of the Eight Special City-States."
Economic Luo and Army Luo both looked worried.
Hawkeye Luo and Popolo also sighed. Although they felt that Mayor Lu would not ignore them, if they really left their homes and careers, they would still be confused about the future.
Lu Ming nodded, "There are only six of us..." He paused here. Luo Yi was there, but he just treated him as a background. "And I am the affairs officer. I trust you completely. So, let's speak from the bottom of our hearts."
"In fact, the five of you can decide all the affairs of the Bat City-State, including abolishing the Bebit Code and implementing the new code. Those who are dissatisfied with this can leave. You only see the damage that the new code will cause to you. In fact, the new code will inevitably attract a large number of serfs from other city-states to flee here. In addition, the development of this area and the construction of infrastructure brought about by the exploitation of the Tianhai Oilfield, what is the petty profit in front of you worth?"
In the new code, Lu Ming only eliminated many bad habits, but other changes were not major. After all, if the steps were too big, not to mention the nobles, even the serfs here would not be able to accept it. Many affairs required consistent changes.
If there is a direct leap forward in development, violent conflict will inevitably break out, usually in the form of a revolution.
However, despite this, there was one clause in the new code that stated that people were born free, which gave all serfs the status of free farmers.
In a marriage relationship, a man and a woman are united to form a family, not to register any property. However, polygamy is still considered legal.
Lu Ming looked at the few people and said, "Free farmers will still have to work on your land, just like before. Moreover, this new law will attract a lot of laborers. Think about it carefully, isn't this the truth?"
Zhong Quan Luo smiled bitterly: "Mayor Lu, we can accept the new code, but if the new law is implemented, will the alliance not expel us from our seats? I heard from my uncle that it seems that the alliance parliament is serious this time."
Lu Ming said: "Take your time, there is no rush. In this way, you can apply to the alliance for an inspection team to let them evaluate whether our new laws and new city-state system can remain in the alliance. Our new code is close to the legal level of the so-called civilized world in the East, which is beyond two-thirds of the city-states!"
After thinking for a while, Lu Ming said, "Also, if Bailu City provokes me during this period, that would be great. I just want to talk to them about it. What does it mean to say that my oil fields belong to them and to contact Fila Petroleum?"
Chongquan Luo's eyes lit up and he nodded silently.
A few people chatted until late at night, and then Zhongquan Luo and his friends left.
…
Lu Ming felt that he had just laid down to sleep for a while when there was a hurried knock on the door.
Lu Ming sat up. Luo Yi had already opened the door and ran in with the phone in hand. "Master, it's a military matter. I, I..."
Lu Ming nodded and took the microphone from Luo Yi.
It was the old catfish's voice, "My lord, there is movement in Bailu City, and they are going door to door to recruit young men."
Lu Ming nodded. Bailu City was the largest city-state in the region. After coming here, the intelligence team of the United Matrix also selected a target and bribed a small vendor in the city to serve as a spy.
It seems that after the news that the Alliance Parliament was going to expel the Bat City-State reached Bailu City, the Lord of Bailu City, after some consideration, has made up his mind that as long as the Alliance Parliament's proposal is passed tomorrow, he will declare war on the Bat City-State, or fight without declaring war.
Thinking about it, Lu Ming said into the microphone: "Get ready."
Although the Bailu city-state has a population of only a few hundred thousand, if it really mobilizes all its people and launches an all-out attack on Bat City, it will have no problem mobilizing more than 10,000 serfs to join the war. After all, it is still the conscription method of a slave society.
However, considering the current military technology in the East, they are just a motley crowd, most of whom are equipped with cold weapons. If you include those equipped with earthen guns and the like, it would be considered good if there are over a thousand musketeers.