The officials of the Twilight Kingdom have recently been surprised to find that there is always a strange old man standing by King Todd's side, whether it is a discussion or a report.

He was wearing a simple but close-fitting dress, neat and tidy, and his demeanor and temperament were impressive.

No matter what the occasion, the old man named Emerson did not express an opinion on anything from beginning to end, and never showed any expression of approval or disapproval, but simply stood there observing and listening.

Through many inquiries, people finally learned the identity of this old man - the former Home Secretary of Silver Ring.

However, King Todd bestowed on the old man an unheard of position - Chief Privy Counsellor of the Privy Council.

In the King's vision, the Privy Council, known as the King's advisory body, actually played the role of an executive center.

Under the direct control of the king, the Privy Council made decrees, held the supreme judicial power, and presided over the supreme court. The Chief Privy Council is an assistant to the King's First Seat and acts only according to the King's will.

But what puzzled Todd was that after Emerson was appointed chief privy councillor, he only participated in meetings and activities, but did not take any substantive action.

Todd asked the old man more than once if he had any suggestions for the future direction of the kingdom.

The other party always replied with something like this: "Your Majesty, I am untying the knot in the thread, please wait a little longer."

Fortunately, the wait didn't last long.

On the tenth day of Emerson's inauguration, the old man walked into the king's chamber with a roll of paper.

Watching Emerson lay out blank sheets of paper on the ground, a curious Todd leaned in and looked at them carefully for a while.

On the white paper, the names of countless people are written in dense small characters, and a long paragraph of remarks is marked below the name, and the names of people are connected by horizontal lines, and various relationships are written above the horizontal lines.

Todd read out one of the introductions: "Elijah, a native of the Eastern Holy City, is currently a professor of civil architecture, bridge engineering, and the art of painting at the College of the Twilight. He studied at the Royal Academy of Taylor for seven years, and then left the capital to study......"

Todd looked at Elijah's line diagram again, and there were many familiar names connected to him, Master Terrence, Ulysses, Dion...... And these people were wrapped in a "big circle" called the "Jade Society".

Emerson pointed to the contents of the paper and said to Todd: "As the saying goes, the strongest fortress often collapses from within. As a monarch, the first thing to do is to know your subjects. ”

"As you can see, these are people with positions or powers in the Kingdom of Twilight. Emerson found a cushion, sat cross-legged, and pointed to one of the names on the picture: "They have different experiences, origins, and common alliances in relationships and interests." ”

Emerson lightly clicked a few names with his pen, namely 'Richel', 'Terrence', 'Cumberland', and 'Mary', and said: "In Twilight, in terms of the balance of power and the will of the factions, it is roughly divided into these four factions, and for the sake of simple distinction, I will call them 'Heterogeneous', 'Scholar', 'Military', and 'Old Aristocracy' respectively. ”

"The so-called xenomorphs, as the name suggests, are an alliance of xenomorphs. Due to their long history of oppression and brutality, this faction appears to be unusually united, with the smallest number of people in all of Twilight, but also the highest influence in the kingdom due to the advantage of their abilities. The leader of the faction is Rachel, and for some reason, her attitude towards the Scholars is particularly bad, perhaps because her race has been subjected to human trials and ability cultivation by the Presbyterian Church in the name of academics, which has caused her current disgust. ”

"The Scholar Sect, this may be the fastest-growing force in the Twilight Kingdom. The total number of people who have joined the 'Jade Society', and counting the teachers and students of the Twilight West Academy, is conservatively estimated to be more than a thousand! A thousand scholars! Your Majesty, this is really a rare spectacle, and it is no wonder that more and more people call Twilight West City the 'City of Academics'! The alliance of scholars is relatively loose, and due to differences in disciplines, directions, and theories, dozens of small factions can be subdivided within the faction. The leader of the faction is Terrence, the academic titan of the Royal Academy of Taylor, with students in every country on the continent. Having experienced the tragedy of the church, he was more inclined to fight for the right to academic freedom. ”

"The military faction, the faction leader is Cumberland's loud voice. There are the largest numbers in Twilight City, and as long as it is an army or a guard, they all belong to this faction, and even in a sense, I belong here. Under the leadership of the Cumberland guy, the loyalty of the military faction is unquestionable, but the faction is inevitably interspersed with personnel from other factions. ”

"Finally...... Old aristocratic faction ......"

Emerson pointed her pen at Queen Mary's name, stunned for a moment, and finally whispered, "Mary...... As the former queen of the Silver Ring Kingdom, she is very close to those fleeing nobles in the Silver Ring Kingdom, both in terms of connections and social interactions. But, Your Majesty, you don't have to worry, she doesn't have anything excessive. On the contrary, she also tried to persuade the old aristocracy to invest their property such as gold and silver in the industries of the Twilight City, such as the shopping streets, wool mills, glass factories, ports, etc. The old aristocrats listened to her advice and made a lot of money without exception. I've heard that she's been planning a textile mill recently......"

"The old aristocratic faction is perhaps the least numerous, and they are the most loosely organized, mostly connected by drinking parties, dinners, etc. But they are also the wealthiest of the four factions, and their footprints can be seen in business, trade, transportation, and manufacturing. ”

Todd listened to Emerson's introduction, his mouth opening incredulously.

An old man who had just entered Dusk West City was able to feel the interpersonal network of the entire kingdom clearly in just half a month.

Emerson looked at the king's expression, guessing what the other party was thinking, he didn't take credit or blame: "Most of this information came from Huggins and the security bureau, and at first he refused to tell me, but then I asked Cumberland to help, and I convinced him." ”

Todd nodded, agreeing with the statement.

"After talking about the characters and factions in Twilight, let's talk about the kingdom's form of government. ”

Emerson lay on the ground, drew a large circle with a pencil in the center of the white paper, then several small circles below, and finally countless dots below the small circle, and he put the paper in front of Todd and said, "The picture I am drawing now represents the power structure of most of the countries on the continent. The largest circle represents the king or emperor, the smaller circle represents the nobles who have been granted fiefs, and the smaller dots represent the miners who are attached to the noble family, such as a baron-to-be or knight. ”

Looking at Todd's thoughtful expression, Emerson continued, "Each lord can divide his territory into several pieces and seal them to his subordinates, thus forming a kind of triangular ladder network. But this power structure raises a problem – the king's power is often confined to the royal city, and once out of the capital, although nominally his territory, he has no jurisdiction over it. Whether it was to send troops or levy supplies, he had to negotiate with the fiefdom lords of the vassals, even with low-voiced requests. ”

Therefore, the dream of every king is to collect fiefs and concentrate royal power. And Your Majesty, by canceling the noble fiefs and retaining only the knightly titles, you have completely completed the process of centralization and put an end to the custom of dividing the feuds. In a sense, you've become the first king on the continent to complete the centralization of power!"

Emerson smiled and said, "At first, when I heard that you took the initiative to decentralize, my first reaction was that you were crazy. How many monarchs have dreamed of something, and you actually gave it up after you got it. Of course...... After talking to you, I finally understand your hard work. ”

"So, combined with the factional structure of the Dusk Kingdom that I mentioned earlier, as well as the power situation. I am now thinking about two things: first, how to draw a clear line between royal power and civil power, i.e., which powers can be divided and which must be owned by the king, and second, how these divided powers should be balanced among these four factions by means of office and appointment, so as to speed up the development of the kingdom without being slowed down by factional contradictions. ”