Chapter 563 Parliament
A good night's sleep.
The next morning, Sophia got up to see the children. Peter entered the House of Commons, and the Augustus Palace built before became the residence of the upper and lower houses. In recent years, the number of senators in the empire has increased, with more than 300 members in the House of Commons and 125 members in the House of Lords.
"Your Majesty is here!" The order officer shouted loudly, and the originally noisy meeting place suddenly began to quiet down.
Four fully armed palace guards holding shields and spears entered the meeting place in neat steps and stood on both sides in front of the leather chairs. Then Peter, wearing a purple robe, a golden crown, holding a scepter and a golden apple, entered the meeting place and sat down.
All the members stood up at this moment to show respect. This was not spontaneous, but a bill passed by the Senate, which stipulated that whenever the emperor attended a meeting, this etiquette must be followed. Any member who did not stand up or salute would be expelled from the meeting place.
Peter sat steadily on the leather chair. Since there were two steps under the seat, his height was basically flush with the back seats of the venue. At this moment, Peter put his hands on the armrests of the chair, leaned against the back of the chair in a more comfortable posture, and then said to the speaker: "Let's start."
This joint meeting mainly discussed proposals from various places. The first one was from Tuscany.
As the border of the Roman Empire and an important economic center of the Apennines, Tuscany has prospered again due to its geographical location, and the local people have gradually submitted to the empire. However, there are still some people who secretly make trouble and undermine the empire's rule in the local area, so it is hoped that the imperial government will increase the severity of these people.
This is naturally no problem, and it was passed unanimously. Then the local parliamentarians reported their local conditions to the emperor. Some places need to defend against foreign enemies, some places need more funding, and some parts are praising the emperor.
"You are all the pillars of the empire. Everything you do is for the empire. I hope you can keep up the good work."
The emperor is here to listen to the petitions and proposals of local parliamentarians. Is he really going to give the parliament power? It's impossible.
The parliamentarians are just an intermediary for the emperor to understand the situation in various places. Even if they submit a bill, it must be reviewed and approved by the Senate. However, in order to appease local emotions, as long as it is not too excessive, it will generally be passed.
The parliamentarians also understand their role, so they did not fight for more power. However, the factional struggle is very fierce. The blue and green factions have won over other factions to attack each other. Because there are no friends in the business world, after several years of development, the two factions have begun to divide into various factions.
The blue faction is divided into four factions according to the local area: the Greek faction, the Black Sea faction, the Levant and the Apennines. Because of the different places, their main pursuits are also different. Since the Mediterranean trade is the most profitable, everyone wants to monopolize it, so the competition is fierce. The parliamentarians who are responsible for the transportation trade between the East and Rome and support the colonies did not participate in the struggle of the blue faction.
As for the Green Party, there are more differences. Originally, the members of the Wallachia and Moldovan factions dominated. But now, the Anatolian and Ruthenian factions have come from behind and competed for leadership with their own advantages. But because Wallachia is the birthplace of the Bartland Dynasty, its leading position will not be easily shaken.
Although it is very intense internally, it is actually just as intense externally. No matter how much internal fighting there is, it is an internal matter, and the quarrel with each other externally is because they have a common goal. Now both maritime trade and land expansion are going on, which have brought them great benefits, and of course the investment is quite large.
It takes a long process to invest in land development. This is not only farming, but also mining and building houses. Land is needed. And this is a fixed asset, which cannot be run away. Those who have some money in their hands will buy assets for themselves, or form an expedition team with others to settle in the border or colony.
In order to make the government policy tend to themselves, the two factions will also use their own connections to persuade the Senate or influence the royal family. Every tea party held by the queen is more or less involved in this.
The most important thing is the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons. This position is responsible for the daily work of the House of Commons, and the personnel are elected by the members. Members can propose multiple candidates. If a candidate can get more than half of the votes, he will directly become the Speaker. If not, the first two with more votes will enter the final vote, and the one with more votes will win.
The current Speaker belongs to the Blue Party, and the deputy is the Green Party. The Speaker's term of office is five years, and the Green Party is bound to win next year's election.
"I said, do you want to go to Andalusia to have a look?" A member of parliament asked his colleague next to him.
"Why go there, is this place no longer suitable for you?"
"What? Isn't your majesty going to let Prince Theodore take over Andalusia when he comes of age? The prince must have his own government. If he can be active in the local area, he may be able to get in."
This is not a fantasy. Peter asked Theodore to go to Iberia to make him familiar with the local situation and try to find people who can assist him in the future. Some nobles have already begun to enter the local area and try to attract the attention of the prince.
"Okay, I'll go check it out some other day."
"Quiet, quiet!!!"
The speaker ordered the members to keep quiet, Peter left his seat, and everyone stood up again to see His Majesty off.
As the door slowly closed, the members started a new quarrel. After all, quarreling is their daily routine.
"Your Majesty, there are 53 things you need to deal with today. The most urgent ones are Yemen, Ruthenia, Dalmatia and Palestine. There is also a meeting on national financial reform, a meeting on the European situation, and..."
Peter is so busy every day because he is also for this empire, but he refuses to be busy like Chongzhen, which will only drag down the country. Therefore, he tries to think of every policy, and then promote it nationwide after discussion and pilot. For rebellion, he will strike hard and check the original policies for loopholes.
"In this case, let's go to the Senate to see what the result was last time."
The Senate is not far from the venue, and the participants will go ahead and wait for the emperor to arrive. They also need to find the information of the meeting so that the emperor can enter the meeting as soon as he arrives.
Listerlin and Baptiste became the protagonists of this financial meeting. They have prepared everything and are waiting for His Majesty the Emperor to come.