"To win my favor?" Palatina laughed angrily, "Thank you for your flattery, it's a great honor!" It's a pity that I still have a little bit of self-knowledge, unlike that stupid bazeel, who can't see that you don't have the kind of feelings for me that make him jealous, and you beat him up for nothing, and use him as a stepping stone to make a name for himself in the social circles of the Holy City! ”

Roland sighed in disappointment, looking at Palatina's sad and indignant face, a faint melancholy in his eyes.

"I really envy Bazel, I knew that the defeated side would get your sympathy, I shouldn't have won in the first place."

Palatina did not expect such an attitude, opened her mouth, not knowing how to continue, and the displeasure in her eyes was quickly replaced by emotion.

"It's good to be young...... Sigmund patted Roland on the shoulder and smiled as he left the table, "You guys talk slowly, I'll go to work in the study."

After her father left, Palatine became more ladylike and asked Roland what he had planned for today.

"I'm going to attend a seminar tomorrow, I've got to prepare for my speech today, and if you're not busy, take me to the biggest library in the Holy City, which may have the materials I need." Roland replied.

"Just going to the library to look things up?" Palatina became alarmed, "I'm guessing you're more interested in the classified archives in the basement of the Imperial Library. ”

"If you don't say it, I don't even know that the classified files are stored in the basement." Roland smiled slightly, "In order to avoid leaking secrets, you have to stare at me inseparably." ”

"I always feel like you've been calculated, cunning fellow!"

Palatina complained, in fact, she was happy to accompany Roland to soak in the library all day, and she was very considerate to help him transcribe and sort out the materials, the content was mostly excerpted from the "Imperial Statistical Yearbook", and the published statistics such as population, land, finance, and taxation were not confidential, and it had nothing to do with Roland to take a look.

Roland and Palatine worked in the library until late in the evening, and after dinner, they worked together to compile a compendium and worked until late at night.

The next day, February 7, Roland got up early in the morning, had breakfast in the company of the prince's family, and then drove to the Imperial Central University's branch of politics and economics, where the conference was held.

As a special guest, Roland was warmly received by Prince Frank, the initiator of the meeting, and also introduced to him many senior cabinet officials who attended the meeting, among which Roland left the deepest impression on the current Prime Minister Count Muller.

The handsome and personable Prime Minister has not had a good time lately, and the War in the New World has not added much glory to the Assanian Empire, but has left a bad debt that has made the already financial situation even worse.

As Prime Minister and First Chancellor of the Exchequer, Count Muller's most important job is to ensure that government spending is made as punctual and full as possible, and without sufficient funding as a driving force and lubricant, the huge machinery of government will become rusty and sluggish and inoperable. However, even this basic duty overwhelmed him, not to mention the two mountains of "military appropriation" and "national debt maturity" were roaring and smashing over. If he could not secure these two approaching mountains, Count Müller had no doubt that he would be smashed to the ground and his political life would be over.

Because of the above predicament, Count Muller was actually very impatient to attend some bullshit "reform seminar". This conference, like countless similar meetings that have been held, is destined to become a gladiatorial arena for "reformers" and "conservatives" to attack and abuse each other.

In Count Müller's view, the "reformers" are a group of hairy boys who can only talk on paper, and the "conservatives" are old antiques who cling to vested interests and do not let go.

But Count Muller had to come again, otherwise it would be tantamount to not giving face to the crown prince. In order to keep the current cabinet from falling, he needs Frank's support now more than ever.

After the pleasantries, the guests were seated, and Frank arranged for Roland and Muller to sit on his left and right.

The participants could be roughly divided into three camps and sat around a large round table. The "reformers" were led by Prince Frank, and their camp brought together enlightened aristocrats, young clergy, scholars, and elites of the emerging industrial and commercial capital groups; The "conservatives" were led by Patriarch Gregory, and their camp included old-school aristocrats, large landowners, large estate owners, and high clergy who believed in traditional ideas. The few special guests led by Roland belong to the "free faction" and have no direct interest relationship with either side.

This kind of "round table", which has become popular in recent years, helps to bridge the status of the participants, and everyone seems to be equal, and everyone can speak freely. However, as Chancellor Müller had predicted, the democratic meeting slipped into the abyss of partisanship and criticism from the outset, with both "reformers" and "conservatives" blaming each other for the Empire's financial woes, and a series of heated quarrels erupted in the hall.

The first to blow the horn of the attack was the "conservative" general, Cardinal Claude of the Holy City District.

Bishop Claude is the executive director of the "Perot Foundation", the most powerful assistant to Patriarch Gregory, a rare financial expert among conservatives in the Holy See, and an eloquent master who is adept at using data to prove his arguments.

Roland, who had heard of Mrs. Alyona's sharp teeth at the Weinstein house, now knew that Bishop Claude was more eloquent than his wife, and made an impassioned speech on the spot:

"Honorable gentlemen and ladies, first of all, I would like to tell you the bad news, the survey data shows that the gap between the rich and the poor in our country is widening rapidly, and it has reached a very dangerous juncture! It is well known that our country is the largest exporter of grain to Vares, but did you know that every spring when the countryside is not covered with thousands of poor people starve to death, and the homeless have to beg for a living, and the corpses lying on the roadside are not in sight! I can't bear to recount the shocking horrors, but one question has to be asked: what is it that has caused these tragedies to make the rich richer and the poor poorer in this country? ”

Claude scanned the reformers across the street with a provocative gaze, lashing out at his enemies with merciless rhetoric.

In fact, the answer to this question is very simple, just look at who has the most bulging money bag here! That's right, it was the rich and unkind businessmen who brought disaster to our country! When you made your fortune on interest, did you ever wonder how those poor people who were in debt were going to live? ”

"Money has replaced the holy emblem as the object of your worship, advocating extravagance and waste, despising good deeds and accumulating virtues, enjoying the benefits of wealth but not wanting to look at the poor who stretch out their hands to beg, you vampires who lack faith and morality, are the root of all evil in contemporary society!"