Mount & Blade: Wind of War - Chapter 591

c578 House of the Lonely Mountain

Due to the requirements of the Emperor of Light, many institutions beyond this era were established in the Principality, such as schools, nursing homes, and parliaments.

The school trains the people in the territory and continuously supplies talents to the military and civil service system. More importantly, it forms a stable social upward channel to give the middle and lower classes hope for promotion.

Although it is a huge expense for nursing homes to raise eligible elderly people, it is of great benefit to establishing household registration, taxation, and maintaining social stability.

Although Rhodes privately feels that the nursing homes of this era look like a deformation of prisons, the fact that this institution can operate stably is already a huge social progress.

The parliament is selected from merchants with outstanding academic performance, military merits, and sufficient tax payments, so that the government and the royal family can clearly listen to the opinions of people from different classes. Although some problems will be presented, it is always better to solve problems than to hide and intensify them.

At this moment, there is a very fierce debate in the parliament, and such a scene will appear every once in a while.

“I still don’t understand why we have to support a huge army and even expand it every year, given the current situation on the continent. This is a huge financial expenditure. Wouldn’t it be better to save this expenditure and do more to improve people’s livelihood?”

The person who is speaking at this moment is a graduate of the senior college with excellent grades. He is in his twenties and is full of energy and speaks eloquently.

At the head of the House of Representatives, the first civil servant Moken, who is already a little old, sits there and listens calmly.

On weekdays, he is busy with affairs, but he comes to the House of Representatives regularly once a month. Although the discussions are sometimes very harsh, Moken is pleased with this change.

As one of the closest ministers to the Emperor, Moken can understand Rhodes’ thinking more. He clearly knows that His Majesty cherishes the preciousness of free thought:

“I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to speak freely with the sword in my hand.”

This is the text engraved in the House of Representatives, which also inspires generations of young talents to contribute their own strength to the development of the country.

“Although the country is strong, it will inevitably perish if it is warlike. Even if the continent is stable, it will be dangerous if it forgets war. This is the holy words of His Majesty. Now that the continent is stable, you dare to relax your military preparations?”

“But Your Majesty is already the strongest man on the continent, we don’t need to…”

“Your Majesty is the strongest man on the continent, and you have earned it through your own continuous progress, hard work, and bravery. If we no longer respect warriors, the martial spirit of the empire will inevitably decline. By then, all of them will be civil servants like you and me. Will it be up to Your Majesty to protect us, or will we protect Your Majesty?”

The student himself has good talents, but in front of Mo Ken, his talents are still not enough, and he can only withdraw in the end. This is the House of Representatives. You can argue, but you can’t be unreasonable.

The next member of parliament who came up was a disabled soldier. He questioned why businessmen should be given the power to become members of parliament.

In the eyes of this soldier, businessmen are greedy and shameless, hoarding goods, and are fat and fat. They have no loyalty to the country and are not worthy of being on par with himself and others.

“The purpose of establishing the parliament is to gather the most talented people in the whole country and society for the use of the country. Money is just a relatively fair ‘unit of measurement’. If you have talent and do it, you are likely to have it. If you don’t have talent and can’t do it, you are likely not to have it. A healthy society should have such a screening effect.”

“The students of the parliament are young people with excellent academic performance. They have passed rigorous examinations. Not all of them, but most of them have good brains. The soldiers of the parliament are warriors with outstanding military exploits. They have passed cruel trials. Not all of them, but most of them are loyal to the country. The merchants who can stand here have the ability to earn more money than others and are willing to pay more taxes to the country. This also reflects their loyalty. Therefore, Mr. Hofger, I hope you can fully respect the people around you, because this is respecting yourself.”

The third member of parliament who came forward was a businessman, but he did not choose to attack the disabled soldier who questioned his status. The businessman named Vikron knew very well that the Bright Empire was established by military merit. These soldiers were the most stable group of people in the parliament. It was impossible for businessmen like him to shake their status.

“I think the country should open up more business rights for silk, ironware, salt and other commodities. Official agencies are bound to have complicated procedures and pass the buck. If we can give the business rights of these businesses to our merchants, I think the country can get more tax revenue and better serve the people. Of course, we dare not expect the business rights of military ironware, we only need the business rights of civilian ironware.” Vickel added at the end.

“Mr. Vickel, merchants themselves do not create wealth, at least most merchants do not have this ability. Buying low and selling high is the usual practice of most merchants. You said that giving these matters to merchants can bring more tax revenue to the country and provide better services to the people. I doubt it, because the amount of money is fixed and merchants do not create money, so where does your so-called extra money come from?”

The debate in the Lonely Mountain House continued. Rhodes and Cress, who had returned from completing a military mission, sat in a secret room nearby to listen and exchange opinions with each other with a smile.

If the rulers were completely detached from the people, it would be inevitable that they would be deceived and fooled by their subordinates.

However, the first generation of rulers often did not have such problems. As a legendary life form in the extraordinary world, Rhodes would still have a long time to directly control the entire country. This was a happy thing for most civilians, after all, it meant great stability for the country.