"What? The Regent of Lytom rejected our request for a visit?"
As soon as he returned to the residence of the Phoenix Palace, Bachelor Dawn brought another piece of bad news.
"Yes, Lord Viscount, the response said that the Laytom Consul has been in poor health recently and cannot meet foreigners."
Vera sighed and said: "It seems that the consul of the San Lorenzo family is also biased towards Prince Lexi."
Bachelor Dawn shook his head and said, "Not necessarily. This Laytom consul is already 108 years old. It is said that he often suffers from physical problems. This time, he may not be looking for an excuse to prevaricate us."
Ke Lin was speechless for a while, and asked: "You are so old, don't you want to retire?"
Bachelor Dawn explained helplessly: "The consul is a lifelong officer. As long as Lytom is alive, he will not take the initiative to retire. After all, the members of the Senate are collateral branches of various families and have no titles and territories. Once they strip off the aura of the Senate, they will immediately become a small role that no one cares about."
"Is there no way to dismiss a consul?" Colin asked thoughtfully, his eyes flickering.
Bachelor Dawn seemed to have guessed the real purpose of Colin's question, shook his head and said, "No. The purpose of setting up the Senate was to create a completely independent system of supervision and checks and balances in addition to the existing administrative system of the empire.
Therefore, in order to ensure that the decisions of the members of the Senate will not be affected by external factors, once a senator is elected, he will serve for life. Unless the consul violates the laws of the empire, even His Majesty the Emperor cannot remove him. "
Ke Lin chuckled, disdainful of this so-called "independent supervision system".
It is a well-known fact that the senate takes bribes today, and he himself was asked for sky-high "lobbying funds" by the Sebas consul. It can be seen that the senate system has been completely corrupted.
"Is there no way to restrain the elders?"
Bachelor Dawn thought for a while and said, "In terms of restrictive means, there really aren't any. However, there are two main ways to exert influence on the elders.
The first is bribery. This is also the most commonly used lobbying method. The elders have no territory. If they want to live a luxurious life, they must need the support of gray income.
Another way is to inherit the seat of the elders. "
"Inheritance?" Ke Lin wondered, "Isn't the elder tenure for life? How to inherit?"
"The inheritance I'm talking about is different from the inheritance of ordinary titles. The basis of title inheritance is the hereditary system. As long as the rules of lordship remain unchanged, the first heir of the lord will naturally be able to inherit everything from him.
But the senators are different. Since the senators are not hereditary, the descendants of the senators cannot 'naturally' inherit their seats in the Senate. "
Hearing this, Colin already understood what Maester Dawn meant.
The so-called inability to inherit "naturally" means that the descendants of the elders can be "artificially" pushed into the Senate.
The current members of the Senate are all from the 117 most prestigious lord families in the Glorious Empire. If you want to become a senior, you must first become a senior candidate recommended by each family, and then this candidate needs to get half of the Senate. Only with the above consent votes can you officially enter the Senate.
The second means of restriction mentioned by Bachelor Dawn refers to the recommendation qualifications of this veteran candidate.
Each family also uses this method to ensure that their elders will not deviate from the family's will.
For example, Sebastian, his consul position is lifelong. If he wants his grandson Weber to enter the Senate to inherit his position after his death, he must first ask the Duke of St. Hilde to recommend Weber as a candidate for the Senate .
In this way, the Duke of St. Hilde also has the means to restrain Sebastian.
But the problem now is that Vera has not yet inherited the title of duke. On the contrary, she still needs the approval of the Senate.
Inheritance of the title of ordinary imperial nobles does not need to go through the Senate, it only needs to be canonized by the lord, only the Duke of the Four Realms is different.
They are guarding the four corners of the empire and are the key force against foreigners. The selection of dukes is very important, so there is an additional procedure of the Senate.
But Sebastian's attitude just now made Colin realize that this consul who was born in the St. Hilde family didn't really want to help Wei Wei become the Duke of the North.
But Ke Lin found that he had no means of influencing the other party, except for paying a huge amount of "lobbying funds".
Is it really going to be slaughtered severely
no!
In case the other party takes the money and does not do anything, Ke Lin really has nothing to do with him. Moreover, now that the northern border has just been pacified, this sum of money is urgently needed to alleviate the predicament, and it cannot be used to take advantage of that old guy.
Or, kill
Colin felt ruthless.
But then he hesitated again. After all, it was a place like the imperial capital, where dragons and tigers were hidden, and Ke Lin didn't want to use such shameless methods unless it was absolutely necessary.
If he is discovered, he can only take Vera into exile...
Or, transform
But Ke Lin also felt that it would be very risky to transform into a blood descendant.
Because the bloodborn has self-awareness, Colin never tried to transform the enemy into a bloodborn.
The current three blood descendants—Knight of Shire, Queen Aisha, and Knight of Valla, Colin is kind to them all.
Shire was reborn with a broken limb, Aisha was resurrected from the dead and took revenge. As for Valla, she felt guilty towards Colin, and was given a second life by Colin after atonement with death.
In short, even if these three people were not blood descendants, they would not betray Colin.
Transforming into blood descendants only strengthened this attachment and made Colin trust them more.
But with Sebastian's words, Colin didn't dare to transform the opponent into a bloodborn.
Although he could indeed suppress the bloodlines so that the bloodlines could not resist him, this kind of control was limited to the body and could not control the spirit.
What if Sebastian pretended to give in to Colin on the surface, turned around and sold Colin.
Of course, if transformed into a blood slave without self-awareness, there would be no worries of betrayal.
But in this case, it is easy to see the flaws.
After all, the blood slave has no self-awareness, and only knows to obey orders, unless Colin separates his consciousness to control, but this kind of control is very rigid, and it is okay to fool around in a hurry, and it will inevitably show his feet after a long time.
Could it be that there is really nothing to do with this Sebastian...
After thinking for a long time, Ke Lin suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, "Actually, we don't need to win over the Consul Sebas."
"What do you mean?" Vera looked puzzled.
"The consul only has one vote. Whether we agree with it or not has little effect, as long as we can win the approval votes of the other 20 or so northern elders!"
Bachelor Dawn's eyes lit up: "You mean, the Sebastian Consul?"
Colin smiled and nodded: "That's right! Although Vera is not yet the Duke of the North, the current North is under our control. As long as we put pressure on the major families in the North, then we can pass these The patriarch of the family affects the elders of each family!
In this way, Sebastian would be insignificant. "
Bachelor Dawn nodded again and again: "This is indeed a good idea, but I am worried that it may be too late in time."
But Colin immediately ordered swiftly and resolutely: "It doesn't matter, we don't know when Prince Leahy and the others are going to send the proposal of declaring war to the Senate, but it is impossible to just sit there and wait for death.
Vera, you immediately write to Cold Winter City, asking Marquis Garcia to summon the northern lords and put pressure on them! "
"Okay!" Vera responded immediately, turned around and went to find a pen and paper.
Colin said to Bachelor Dawn: "Okay, let's just count the 20-odd votes from the northern border. Next, we need to persuade the elders of the first border to ensure that Prince Leahy's proposal for a declaration of war will not be absolutely won." majority vote."
Bachelor Dawn pondered for a moment, and suggested: "Master Viscount, I think the greatest confidence lies with the San Lorenzo family. Since the Lytome Consul does not want to see us, then we can try another person."
"who?"
"His Royal Highness."
"Queen?" Colin hesitated. He was no less wary of the glamorous queen than Sebastian. If possible, he didn't want to ask her. "The queen may not be able to influence the San Lorenzo family." Elder."
Bachelor Dawn shook his head and explained: "Master Viscount, I hope you can meet His Majesty the Emperor through the Queen. He is the key person who can really influence the attitude of the elders of the San Lorenzo family."
"But... isn't the emperor sick?" Vera interrupted after hearing the words.
Bachelor Dwayne curled his lips and said, "It's probably just pretending to be sick, just avoiding Prince Lexie, and at the same time, I don't want the proposal of declaring war to pass the imperial meeting."
Ke Lin also nodded and said: "That's right. Moreover, the emperor is actually the one who is most anxious about this matter. If the proposal to declare war is passed by the Senate with a large number of votes, it will definitely be a fatal blow to his prestige.
It can even be said that from now on, Prince Lehi and the Senate can directly evacuate him. "
"Yes." Bachelor Dawn said, "Also, Emperor Reinhardt holds the right to recommend candidates for the elders of the San Lorenzo family, and he can influence the attitude of the Lytome consuls more than we can."
Just when Colin was determined to meet the Queen Midera again, an attendant knocked on the door and delivered an invitation letter to Colin.
Colin opened it with some doubts: "Crit Saint Grian?"
Hearing the name, Maester Dawn's eyes lit up, and he said, "This is the consul of the St. Gerian family, the lord of the Western Territory, in the Senate!"
Colin immediately smiled and said:
"The lord consul invited us to a banquet!"
(end of this chapter)