"So we can't do any more business expansion during this time?and we will have to be judged by all the inhabitants of Garlanor when they are done with the electorate!?" all the anger and unhappiness of the children of the abyss were piled up on their faces. No matter who it is, if the business is in the stage of breakthrough development, and suddenly hears that the relevant departments are going to forcibly stop it, it is always difficult to have a good mood. Especially when the consequences he's about to face are likely to be more than just a stop.

"I'm sorry, Andrey. The Great Druid's apologies and frustration were equally palpable, "We didn't expect the survivors of the war to unite to take such extreme measures. ”

"Why do I always feel like the same thing has happened once?" Andre grumbled helplessly, "You know that our most important second expansion plan is in the final stages of finalization, right? Not only is it unenforceable, but even the deployment that Gru and I have already completed is about to be overturned. Don't you think that the Watchman's test of me and my citizens is a pointless act at all now!?"

Naturally, Yudeon understood that the Children of the Abyss were referring to the limited support of the Wardens in exchange for the assessment of the two goblins. But it turns out that even the reputable watcher has no control over everything in this forest.

"I'm sorry, but our elven kingdom is a democratic kingdom. The queen and the parliament can only control the affairs of the forest if they do not go against the will of the people. But I don't think those are meaningless, more than half of the leaders of the Watchmen have expressed reservations about you, and the remaining ones have even decided to fully support you. It's just that in the face of the referendum, which is already in the initiation stage, they have nothing to do. ”

"But that group of old stubborns who don't eat oil and salt can't fully represent the public opinion of the entire forest, is that right?"

"Yes, but they are contacting all the people who participated in that war to complain to the entire Garanord about the crimes committed by the demons back then. Their words are easily accepted by people, and I don't think we have any way to influence the outcome of the matter. The populace can't see the vitality you and your reforms have injected into the forest, but the hatred of centuries ago has long been ingrained in the hearts of the elves. ”

"I'm not here to hear your sentence on me in advance. Andre said with some disapproval, "Of course, I don't mean to blame you and His Highness Luo Shan, even if you have helped all our friends and have no choice, we can't choose to give up because we can't find a way to deal with it for the time being." There's always room for struggle, right?"

"I'm afraid it's going to be difficult, Your Highness. Even if you get Parliament and the Queen to agree that all the inhabitants of Andhrari should participate in this referendum, it will hardly really affect the outcome of the matter. Garanor is the capital of the kingdom with more than 200,000 inhabitants, and Andhrari's voice is too weak in front of the entire Garanord. You can't get those who are wavering to make a decision in favor of you, especially since this vote is against what is happening within Garlanord. Those protesters would not have agreed to Andrari's participation in the referendum, and once the vote was officially put on the agenda, the Speaker and the Queen could only vote as an ordinary elf......"

"You've already mentioned the crux of the matter, Yudeen!" The Son of the Abyss, who had found his way, regained his expression of wisdom, "The game is nothing more than a simple rule based on the number of votes to decide the winner!? ”

"But they have an absolute advantage before this vote has even begun, Andre, do you really think you can control the minds of all the elves?" Yudeon greatly appreciated the spirit of the children of the abyss, but he felt that the opponent that the leader of Andrarui was facing this time was too powerful, and perhaps he should avoid the edge of the abyss lord as he did at that time.

"First of all, we need to understand the specific rules of each game, and then we can figure out the possibility of turning defeat into victory. Andrei felt that he had no reason to be afraid of some conservative diehards who did not know what "public opinion" and "momentum" were, as long as he found a suitable entry point, he felt that he was fully capable of washing away the three views of those guys and then rebuilding them from the ruins!

Democracy in the absolute sense requires great technology and resources to support it, and these conditions cannot be fully reproduced in a city even in another world known to the children of the abyss. Even a powerful tool as convenient and fast as the Internet can't really eliminate all kinds of special means in the real sense, and even more so the elves who live in the Whispering Forest can't do this.

At least Andrarui wouldn't have anyone who wanted to try any illusory democracy, and in the eyes of those pragmatic demons, the wise Highness Andrei, with the help of your lords, would be enough to solve any problems that had or had not yet occurred. It is the wise leaders who decide the direction, and they only need to faithfully complete the leader's arrangement.

The most common method used in the Elven Kingdom is for the Senate Chief, elected by the people, and Her Majesty, who represents the will of the Goddess, to oversee important issues that affect the entire kingdom. This seemingly tricky approach actually has many advantages that cannot be compared with democracy for all.

In the first place, a thirty-six-member parliament is bound to be much more efficient in discussing and deciding issues than in a chaotic and ineffective spectacle of 10,000 people. As André knows, the higher the level of democracy, the greater the need for huge resources to support it. If you don't even have an effective means of checking the ballot, how much point will there be left in voting?

Secondly, the elders who are members of the council are undoubtedly much more profound in wisdom and experience than most elves. This will make them look at problems more comprehensively and accurately than ordinary people, especially in places where knowledge has not yet spread on a large scale, and ignorant people are often more easily misled by false information and rhetoric, far less correct than the decisions made by a small group of elites.

The only flaw in this system is that a child of the abyss knows that all civilized societies will have a problem - whether these elected elders will faithfully carry out their duties and deal with every problem they encounter on behalf of the interests of all elven people.

In this regard, the social form of the elves is undoubtedly very good. In the kingdom, the most important criterion for judging each person is moral quality, an ideology that has remained unchanged in the Whispering Forest for thousands of years. In an environment where every elf is proud of this, there is no doubt that a person with a moral flaw will have little chance of being elected to the council. Although it is almost impossible and impossible is actually two different concepts.

In order to prevent such a small probability from happening, there is a last resort in the Elven tradition - the so-called "referendum".

It exists to prevent mistakes and corruption at the entire decision-making level, and in the case of this campaign against Andrari, only one in ten of the Garanord people disagree with the council's inaction towards the invasion of demonic cultural ideas. They could overturn the parliament's decision and vote again on the very existence of the "Emerald Scales" restaurant and the "From the Abyss" grocery store in Garranord. The candidates for the referendum will be chosen by one or more representatives of the many families of Garlanord, such as the families of Helen and Edward, their parents and all surviving siblings of their parents, as well as their siblings.

Since the elves are united and friendly, it is not difficult for them to decide how many people to choose from their family. The only thing that is not perfect is that some thriving families can pull out hundreds of people in a row, while others have only a few people. Of course, the elves have their own supplements to this situation, and for every hundred or more members of the family, they can elect one more representative, but the total number cannot exceed three.

Such a system weakens the voice of the extended family to a certain extent, and at the same time ensures that those small families with withered people can make their voices heard. Of course, the most important thing is that this selection method fundamentally solves the problem that there are too many voters to make effective statistics. And the family unit will undoubtedly allow the elves who are friendly with their relatives to unify their differences internally.

In fact, none of the above means much to most people, because there have only been two such large-scale referendums in the history of the Elven Kingdom. The first time was to decide who would be the leader of the army in a time of crisis hundreds of years ago, whether it was to be ordered to reject the demon army outside the forest, or to go on an expedition to the limestone mountain to completely drive the demons out of the rich land of Garlandia.

The second is the act of impeachment that His Excellency the Speaker saw as a farce of protests.

According to the ancient law, the decision of the majority of the referendum proposal will be resolutely enforced. At the same time, the winner of the referendum has the right to take back the rights of the senators who made the decision against it from the people. In other words, if the final decision is made that Andrarui is not allowed to engage in any form of business under Garanord, at least half of the current members of the council may be removed from their positions as members of the kingdom.

That's why the elderly speaker of the House of Representatives turned around and walked away in disbelief when he heard the protesters' representatives call for a referendum. If the referendum overturns the decision of the parliament, he will undoubtedly be the one who "deserves" to be removed from his post. And for so many years of dedication to the kingdom was finally overthrown for such an inexplicable reason, for the council member Daron Hill Dawn, it is tantamount to the greatest irony of his long life!

What's more, the old speaker doesn't feel that he has done anything wrong, and even if the protesters are getting closer and closer to their goal of launching a referendum, he can only lament that the power of hatred is enough to blind the eyes of most people and make people no longer have pure hearts.

......

Walking out of the reception room, Andre looked at the crowd that was attracted by the hobbit chef and the goblins in front of the store, and stopped to watch, as if a string hidden in his heart was suddenly plucked by someone. He walked quickly to the busy Hawkins, took the "microphone" made of resonant singing amber from the hand of the halfling who was still in a state of astonishment, and made his first public statement to the residents of Garlanord under the curious gaze of everyone.

"Hello everyone, I'm sorry to disturb everyone's Yaxing. I'm Hawkins' cousin......" In everyone's stunned eyes, the son of the abyss put away his expression, he had achieved his goal. The height difference has successfully aroused the curiosity of the audience.

"I'm sorry, it's just a joke. Actually, I am the lord of Andrari, a town in the valley west of the forest, and a son of the abyss from the Demon Realm, Arthur Digrell Gosareth. This is the second time Andrei has said his real name in front of people, if it weren't for the meaning of the name itself being too rebellious, maybe he himself would have begun to forget what the "real name" given by the abyss was.

"As you may not know, we in Andrarui have come to Garlandia with kindness, and with the help of friends of all ethnic groups, we have finally been given the opportunity to stop in Garanord. I know that many people have deep prejudices against me and my people, but it is precisely in order to erase the shadow left in the hearts of people by the war hundreds of years ago that I will leave my followers and choose to show you the humanity and customs of our new demon race of Andrarui. The most intuitive presentation of the food and drink enjoyment like art to everyone!"

The crowd whispered incessantly. If it weren't for Andre reporting to his family, they would have thought that this young man would be a half-elf with a special bloodline, and with the general impression of the elves of the demons, no one would have thought that this young man with black hair and black eyes who looked very handsome was actually the legendary prince of the demon world who "did all kinds of evil".

"But some of them have been blinded by hatred, and in order to prevent us from 'corrupting' the friends of Garlandia, they have even resorted to the supreme power given to them by their ancestors, a referendum, in order to drive the friendly aliens out of this ancient city. Although I know that the position I represent makes me almost impossible to win in this referendum, it is not for nothing that the great will of the Abyss has given me the name of 'The End of Despair'! No matter how unfair the verdict they may try to hold hostage the will of the people against us, as the leader trusted by all the citizens of Andrarui, I will lead them to fight to the end by non-violent means!!"

"As long as you always believe that anything is possible, the spark of hope will never be extinguished!" said the Children of the Abyss, turning to the staff of cowards, hobbits, goblins, naga, and elves behind him, his eyes sparkling with fighting spirit.

What could be more interesting than in the capital of the elven kingdom, in the most sacred public vote, in front of all the elves, to overturn the idle and bored people who would have no brains to black Andrari and oppose themselves!?

Andrei has already decided, this time he must make those stubborn old guys lose face no matter what!