Afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea is a form of socializing that has only become popular in Asturias in recent years, and it seems to have originated in Titania, but it was introduced to Asturias when the Saxon crown prince proposed to the former queen Magritte.

At that time, a certain Saxon countess was the deputy of the marriage proposal legation, and she was responsible for raiding into the circle of noblewomen of St. Quentin, understanding the environment, and forming a good reputation for the crown prince in the Asturian backyard (referring to the circle of nobles' ladies), and reducing the Asturian antipathy to the marriage.

Unfortunately, as a result of the coup d'état, all the efforts of this delegation were in vain.

Among the things they left behind, apart from those bribes that could not be made public, what could be clearly praised was the afternoon tea brought and raised by the Saxon countess.

And, slowly, the male aristocracy began to accept this approach, and could discuss some issues informally.

The afternoon tea took place in the garden of the Bourbon family in Saint-Quentin, surrounded by the scent of flowers, elegant tables and chairs with three-tiered tower-style snacks and a set of tea sets, among which teacups, teapots, slag bowls, and trays turned out to be precious bone china.

This kind of porcelain is white, delicate and transparent, and the shape is beautiful and elegant, and it is said that a high-ranking mage inadvertently added animal bone meal when he was studying his own special solvent container.

Since the introduction of the patent law, there has been a lot of cooperation between merchants and magicians, and some shrewd merchants bought the bone china method from the mage, and then applied for a patent himself, and asked the craftsmen to continuously improve the method. However, this bone china is difficult to manufacture. So the finished product is scarce. It's surprisingly expensive.

There aren't many chairs. There are only three of them.

Solomon came alone, but on the Bourbon side, in addition to the Duke himself, there was also his son Klausa.

According to the etiquette of afternoon tea, both sides wore more formal attire, tuxedos and top hats, and after the hats were handed over to the servants of the Bourbons, the two sides were seated.

A female member of the Bourbon family seems to be named Kate. Solomon didn't pay much attention to the name, he blushed slightly and made tea, and divided the snacks for the three of them, and secretly glanced at Solomon several times before he went down.

"Please, Prime Minister. The Duke of Bourbon smiled, "The tea is Assam black tea from Titania, and all of Titania is only available in Duke Alvarez's domain." ”

The tea leaves of Assam Black Tea were originally only available on another continent, but as we all know, Duke Alvarez's family has the blood of the Moon Elves in their veins, and because of the blood of the Moon Elves in his blood, they are all noble among the High Elves. So they are one of the few in the Azure Continent that can continue to interact with the High Elves.

For this reason, this precious black tea is found in the territory of the Duke of Álvarez. And it became the most lucrative commodity in the dukedom, so the Duke of Alvarez was also known as the Duke of Black Tea.

Solomon also had a certain curiosity about the Duke of Black Tea, but he didn't have much chance to deal with the other party, and in this kind of ancient family blood with deep heritage and High Elf blood, he was just an upstart, even if he married the queen of Asturias.

Solomon has an image of the second son of the Duke of Black Tea, who died there in order to steal secrets from the Institute of Magism, and was killed by Grag, a very young, handsome man who was good enough to be an idol singer or actor in the world before Solomon crossed over.

However, the death of the handsome duke's second son was not a sensation, because Titania did not intend to turn against Asturias, so it did not happen to both sides, at least on the surface.

The pastries of afternoon tea, the order of the meal is from strong to light, from salty to sweet, after each piece of pastry, you can stop, and then drink black tea, this is also a good time to talk.

"Lord Solomon. Klausa spoke first, and a hint of unease flashed on his face when he called Solomon, when Solomon entered the magic academy many years ago, Klausa had also tried to suppress him after failure, but sitting together today, each other's identities are no longer the same, and if Krausa does not have the aura of the first heir to the Duke of Bourbon, he is not even qualified to sit opposite.

However, he quickly restrained his feelings, smiled and continued, and quickly entered the topic.

"I've heard from my father about your latest Plane Control Law and Traffic Blueprint, and I wonder if you can abandon this idea and not make it official from the Cabinet for the time being, let alone submit it to the Queen and the entire Parliament. ”

Solomon took a sip of tea, and it was not surprising to the reaction of the Bourbons, who invited him to tea, of course, with other intentions.

He glanced at the Duke and Klausa, "Lord Duke, and the prince, I know that this face control law and the future kingdom traffic concept will cause some damage to the three of you. But the history that preceded it, and the Margarita that had just passed, proved that we must unite in order to defend ourselves against foreign aggression, otherwise even you will not be able to protect your interests, and it is for this reason that the supreme power of the kingdom is now vested in the council. My plan is fair to all, and anyone who discovers a new plane must set the passage in the royal capital, not their own private plane, otherwise it will be considered a danger to the kingdom's security, for reasons you know. ”

"Solomon, we can accept this, but isn't it a little less to have a heterotopic plane that has been fully developed and only enjoy a thirty-year concession?" the Duke of Bourbon began.

"That is for the future development of the plane, for the plane that has now been successfully developed, it is still according to the agreement between the kingdom and you at that time, but the sovereignty belongs to the kingdom. "I hope that you and the other two dukes will support this bill and support me in completing the transportation blueprint." I have made up my mind that I am going to propose to the Queen that I will add the post of Minister of Transport to the Cabinet in the coming years, and then I will consider resigning as Prime Minister and becoming Minister of Commerce and Transport, and I hope that I will be able to choose from among the three of you to coordinate the important tasks of the Cabinet, the Parliament, and the Royal Family. ”

The Duke of Bourbon and Kraussa couldn't help but be stunned, they didn't expect Solomon to be so determined to promote the plane control law and the traffic blueprint, and they did not hesitate to give up the position of prime minister.

The Duke of Bourbon only felt that his breathing was much heavier. If Solomon is really willing to push the bill and the transportation blueprint. Ran to be the Minister of Transport. Giving up the position of prime minister, the three dukes are of course the most qualified to succeed them, among which the Duke of Medici has already been the first one, and the most promising candidates may be among the Duke of Bourbon and the Duke of Byron.

"Of course, I and the Bourbon family are willing to serve the Kingdom and the Queen, and we will fully support your bills and blueprints, Prime Minister. ”

Krausa couldn't help frowning slightly, coughed lightly, and hurriedly said: "But there is still a difficulty, and that is the Ligurian plane. Do you remember this plane? This plane has 20% of the benefits that our family gave you. ”

Solomon was slightly stunned, thinking about the information about this plane in his mind, he remembered that on the eve of the coup d'état, the three dukes finally couldn't bear the perversion of Margaret and the madness of the church, so they took the initiative to come to him to cooperate, at that time, in order to move himself, the Duke of Bourbon was willing to give 20% of the income of this plane to Solomon.

However, Solomon didn't pay much attention to it, and only briefly understood the situation of this plane, knowing that it was a plane that was already worthy of silver evaluation.

Knowing this, Solomon knew that the Duke of Bourbon's words could only be regarded as empty promises.

Because of the so-called twenty percent interest. It is only a twenty percent gain from the Bourbons' trade with this plane, and it is not possible to trade with Black Rock as a whole like Solomon's monopoly. Or use more high-pressure means to oppress the benefits obtained by the Fadell plane.

It is impossible for the Bourbons to conquer a silver-level plane, on the contrary, this empty check can even be called a trap, because as long as Solomon accepts this gift, it will be easier for the Bourbons to keep their interests in this plane after the coup, because Solomon also has a twenty percent advantage.

"Is there anything wrong with this plane?" Solomon asked.

"Because when we come into contact with this plane, out of caution, we are slow to explore. Krausa said cautiously.

"Well, Krausa, in front of the Prime Minister, let's confess, it's foolish to think of deception or verbal quibbles at this time. The Duke of Bourbon said.

Then Solomon finally understood what was going on, after the Ligurian plane was first discovered, at that time the forces of the three dukes were still in the period of uniting to confront the royal family, when the Bourbons discovered this plane, they did not plan to register with the kingdom and the royal family, but only planned to conquer it by their own force and report to the kingdom after becoming their own territory.

However, Edward took the opportunity to fight against foreign enemies to take back the military power of the kingdom's regular army, and the three dukes only controlled the private army, and their private army was trapped in Farusion, and later participated in the coup d'état.

The Bourbons had no flaws to open up Liguria, and they were unable to open up, because they later found out that the plane was worthy of the evaluation of the silver level, and it was a little stronger than Farusion.

Although the dukes were quite wolf in Farushion mainly because of Titania, even if Liguria wants to gain a foothold, I am afraid that it will require the three dukes in its heyday to work together, and it will be more difficult to conquer this plane.

Therefore, this plane did not receive any promises and agreements before, so this plane did not belong to the traditional territory of the Bourbons, and they could not come up with any agreement that the kingdom would allow them to enjoy concessions, and it became a "black land".

If the parliament passes the guò plane control law, then this heteroplane, the Bourbons, is operating without a license, and there is no reason for them to continue to monopolize the trade in this plane, and they should hand it over.

This logic will certainly be supported by many people, including the other two dukes.

That's why the Duke of Bourbon and Klausa invited Solomon to come, and at first they wanted to ask Solomon to give it up, but they actually wanted to ask Solomon if he could help solve this problem, or delay the implementation of the plane control law, or directly grant the Ligurian concession in the control law and attribute it to the Bourbons.

"This is unlikely, Lord Duke, do you think the others will agree? ”

Solomon was angry at the greed of the Duke of Bourbon's father and son, who were now unable to conquer that plane, but they were not willing to give it up, and even only wanted to monopolize it, so they hoped that Solomon would not implement or delay the implementation of the plane control law.

"I can't postpone the submission of the Plane Control Law indefinitely, at most I will give you another month in the name of still needing to improve, either you turn this plane into a territory, or at least you have to have the same obvious control as the Fadell plane, then you can get the franchise. ”

Duke Bourbon and Kraussa couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other, conquering a silver-level plane in a month was completely impossible.

The latter is not possible for the Bourbons today, and there is no hope until it is handed over to the kingdom. (To be continued......)