In the House of Representatives of the City Hall, the members of the council stayed in their offices, using their assistants as the eyes and ears to gather the voices of their colleagues from the aisle corridors, and the North Sea War Bond Act had already formed a strong undercurrent, and the actions of the initiator and first promoter, Congressman Anse Claire, were the most concerned, and his occasional leaks were carefully observed with a magnifying glass.

But the unexpected happened right under everyone's noses, as a newcomer with an unfamiliar face was ordered to visit the veteran Congressman Sparcy Wayne, who had served five consecutive terms, quickly left his office to visit his old friend in person.

Trying to snipe through the bill to hit the newly re-elected congressman Anse Claire, it was soon found that the wind had changed, and the newly appointed members of the House of Representatives who were willing to co-sign it, plus the old people with deep qualifications, would definitely be able to overdo it.

Opponents with different agendas had to come together to try to discuss effective countermeasures, and it had to be said that few people in the House of Representatives, who were quite high in the pyramid of power, were fools, and they decided to use relay debates to prevent the bill from being voted on.

"At least until midnight, it takes a majority to pass a vote in the House of Representatives, and I don't believe those old guys will have enough energy to stay up late and just keep the bill in the debate stage, and we'll win." ”

"Hold on for the time being, Eastwood City hasn't issued new bonds for a long time, and if the bill passes and successfully establishes a sales committee, we can't get involved in the position at all, and all the benefits belong to the old man, which is absolutely not good. ”

"That's right, at least we have to have a place to keep this game going. As far as I can tell, in the war in the North Sea, the Customs Union has always had the upper hand, the loot seized is extremely large, and the denomination of the bonds must be at a premium, almost as hard currency. ”

"If Anse Claire doesn't bow down to us and cede some of his benefits, he will keep his bill in check, and I'd rather get nothing than let this goose that lays golden eggs die. ”

......

The spokesmen of the House of Representatives from different strata of the House of Representatives will always be scattered, and even when it comes to the interests of all, they will give priority to their own share.

The invisible undercurrent is surging, the voices of the people in the corridor are like boiling hot water in a boiler, fulfilling his mission, and Aldrich, who is very self-conscious, stays in Councilor Claire's office, watching the tired and sleepy assistants in the small room, watching his friends ready to go, like a real knight stepping onto the battlefield.

Mr. Speaker and his assistants, who had entered the seats one after another, quickly filled the empty House of Representatives, and when the bell struck the first time at nine o'clock, Mr. Speaker, who appeared on time, was wearing a red robe with a gold ribbon, and although he was not very old, his sideburns had already been dyed with silver frost.

Maybe it was because he didn't sleep well last night, and he couldn't hide his tiredness, and he staggered to his seat.

"Whoa!" all the members stood up and waited respectfully for the Speaker to take their seats, and slammed the hammer on the table to announce the beginning of the House of Representatives' daily day.

Knowing that today's major event was about to be staged, several legislators who were preparing for the relevant bills rushed to the podium in front of the speaker's seat at a rapid pace, and competed with each other to quickly arrange order.

At the same time, Anse Claire hadn't reacted yet, maybe he knew that something like this was happening, and smiled lightly, his expression a little relaxed.

"Goo!", his tense body immediately protested, and then he felt a little hungry in his stomach, so he exchanged glances with Father Stoke behind him, and then asked his secretary Janet to prepare.

Beware of his opponents, he was worried that Congressman Claire would have an off-the-board move, but the countermeasures had been formulated, and he was not afraid that he would turn the tables at all, so he continued to pay attention to his colleagues on the podium without paying attention.

The councillors who had been attacking and blocking their passage from three successive bills had been to raise funds to strengthen the municipal administration of their respective constituencies, and all voted in favor of them in order to prevent some people from turning to the opposing camp in a hurry, except for the old man led by Sparcy Wayne who abstained with a unhappy face.

The House of Representatives, where smart people are everywhere, seemed to foresee that the calm before the storm was the best time, and immediately rummaged through the garbage heap pressed against the paper basket at the bottom of the table to find the draft bills that were not in good shape, and scrambled for the sequence of the podium, preparing to take advantage of the troubled waters of the wrestling between the two sides to put the bills that could not be passed to a vote as quickly as possible.

This ignorant and reckless move angered the old man who had held the House seat for many years, and repeatedly voted against the sniping, and they led the rhythm, and immediately slapped back the adventurous who did not know whether to live or die.

Sparcy Wayne looked up and locked his gaze on Anse Claire, who had just swallowed the last bite of bread, and the self-conscious councillor immediately got up.

The feeling of being stared at by dozens of pairs of eyes all the time made his steps turn heavy, and when Congressman Claire came to the podium, the people in front of him were vetoed one by one whatever bills were proposed.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, like a taut bowstring, and everyone smelled the smell of battle, and many of them were not psychologically good, and they couldn't help but clench their fists, and their palms were faintly oozing with sweat.

Leaving Anse Claire's office and coming to the House of Representatives, Aldrich Triss came to his friend's seat as an assistant, and Stoke nodded cautiously in friendliness, while his secretary Janet was very curious that the Docklands tycoon would dare to make a public appearance in the House of Representatives.

The podium quickly shrank, and when Congressman Ansai Claire stood on the stage, facing the emotional gaze of his colleagues in the three-tiered ring seats, he couldn't help but feel numb and hot, like a warrior who had stepped onto the Colosseum.

He coughed, put the thick stack of manuscripts in his handbag on the stage, turned to the half-asleep Speaker, bowed slightly, and then placed his hands on the edges of the corners on both sides, and although he was in the lowest position in the House of Representatives, his whole body was like an eagle soaring in the sky staring at his prey.

"Honorable Mr. Speaker, members of the House of Representatives, and citizens from all walks of life, I, Anse Claire, in my duty to serve all citizens in my loyalty to Lord Eastwood, submit to the House of Representatives a bill for the issuance of bonds. ”

"In the vast northern seas, the navy of the great Western and Turkish Customs Union is fighting a fierce war with the descendants of pirates who once plundered the northern countries, and the alliance forces have temporarily gained a certain advantage in the war situation, but the opponent is the profound North Sea overlord, they have countless primeval forests, and the number of reservists is endless, and they can hold on to the war, and the superiority of our navy will be exhausted little by little in the fierce war that lasts for months, years, or even more than ten years. The Confederate forces need more ships, more soldiers, and better weapons, all of which require a huge amount of financial support, so I submitted a bill to Eastwood City, the leader of the Customs Union, on behalf of parliamentarians of all classes, to issue war bonds, hoping to help the soldiers on the front line to win the war as soon as possible. ”

At last, the House of Representatives was silent, watching this war without gunpowder with wide eyes, waiting for the opponent to send himself to the door and distribute the draft document to every member of the House of Representatives.

There is no lack of malice to examine the terms word by word with a magnifying glass, after all, it is only the first draft, and no matter how painstakingly Claire's team has worked hard to draft, there is still a lot worth revising.

The motion entered the formal debate stage, and Anse Claire left the podium and returned to his place. Not surprisingly, the tide of opponents waiting for their opportunity rushed to the podium, almost causing chaos.

When the congressman took his seat, Aldrich Tris, who had been in the corner, quietly came to his side, and even brought a high-backed chair, while Stoke leaned shamefully against the corner, seeing that the scene had confirmed something, and the senior political aide from the upper class of the political seniority was picked on.

Several rounds of unnourished slogans attacked the long-held anger of venting, and then it was the turn of the intellectuals to pick the bones in the egg, revealing the sinister intentions of Anse Claire word for word on the terms of the draft war bond.

The supporters behind Councillor Clare yawned impatiently, and Sparcy Wayne and the others fully understood what they were trying to do, and turned to study the folding of sleeves, or wiped their glasses with a cotton towel to pass the time.

It was not that no one went up to debate, and a few new legislators who were willing to co-sign were waiting in the queue of podiums for a chance to speak, but unfortunately their voices were booed by the opposition legislators every time, and because the voices were so noisy, they woke up the drowsy speaker and had to beat the hammer to reprimand them.

"When will this farce end?" Aldrich's words immediately caught the attention of his congressman's friend, who looked sideways at Terris, the big man in the docks, and smiled helplessly.

"It's not a big deal, it's a sure fact that we have more than half of the votes, and these clowns are playing tricks that can't be played on the stage. ”

Aldrich shook his head slightly: "Things are not as simple as you think, it is estimated that you need to exchange interests to get their consent, otherwise your proposal will be deadlocked in the debate and truncated." ”

This sentence immediately reminded Anse Claire, who had a good mind and a good memory, immediately remembered the unbearable misdeeds of the House of Representatives, but his opponents acted in accordance with the rules, and he was helpless, so the combative members of the House soon fell into a state of decadence.

"I really want to get rid of all these eyesores, vote to pass the War Bond Act as quickly as possible, and let the civilians of Eastwood City share in the big dividends. ”

Anse Claire, who said these cruel words, had a worried and righteous sense of justice on his worried face, which made Aldrich stunned and at the same time, not only felt indescribable powerlessness for the cheekiness and ruthlessness of this congressman's friend.

"Claire, my friend, the House of Representatives, who are not in private, please be careful of your words and actions. According to what you have just said, even if you occupy the hilltop of the hill of righteousness and justice, you must not threaten the lives of your colleagues who are in the moral depression. ”

Aldrich Triss was touched by the words of his friend who was a member of parliament, and some memories of his past life were quickly revived.

"We are not an imperial state in the hands of slave lords, and although our adversaries have maliciously prevented the exercise of good government in their own self-interest, this system fully guarantees the right of every member of parliament who represents the class behind him to express his opinion. Rather than destroying our opponents in a physically destructive way, we should consider treating these voices with tolerance and including them as much as possible within the established system. Isn't it the duty of the House of Representatives to eliminate disputes over ideas and reach the greatest possible consensus from the run-in?"

Anse Claire stared at Aldrich Triss as if he had seen the dead, the ruthless man who spoke all the way in the docks, as if for the first time he had seen him for what he really was.

The bill for the issuance of war bonds dragged on from morning to noon, as most had expected, and the parliamentarians in Anse Claire's camp were enraged and rushed to line up for the podium, extending the raging flames of war into the evening.

Mr. Speaker still had dinner on his agenda in the evening, and he did not want to drag it out until midnight, and he hurriedly drew the curtain on this farce with the hammer of the meeting, and left his place with his hands staggered behind his back, undiminished.

"It's okay, the sun will rise as usual tomorrow!" Aldrich encouraged his tired parliamentarian friends, "Actually, the opponents who came to the stage to debate also gave a lot of good opinions, anyway, it is the first draft, we will continue to revise it, and then see how they accuse?"

"Hmm!" Anse Claire nodded slightly, the vote was sniped by the opponent as he expected, he was not as sad as the face that was trapped by annoyance on the surface, and he naturally smiled at the assist sent by Tris.

"Tris, my friend, the war bond bill didn't pass, and it is estimated that many people will have trouble sleeping tonight, and in Eastwood City at night, many supporters behind the councillors are in action, what about you?"

"Go back to sleep, and wait for your good news, the bill will be voted on, and I'm still confident about that. ”

The two reached over their shoulders, high-fived them in the air, nodded in tacit understanding, and then waved goodbye, watching the dock boss leave, until his back disappeared into the street, and Anse Claire withdrew his gaze.

The second draft had already been handed over to Father Stoke and his aides, and the obstruction of the House of Representatives was only an inconspicuous stumbling block on the way forward, and the Senate in front of him was really difficult, and he had to speed up his actions, and for this he had to rely on the help of the leader who had pointed him to the path of politics, so the re-elected congressman looked at the secretary with tender eyes, and looked at the girl uncomfortable.

"Janet, please help me make an appointment with Baron Federi of the Senate!"