I was a priest in the city-state era

Chapter 494 Citizens' Assembly of the Athenian Empire

It is impossible for the Royal Opera House of Athens to perform opera performances every day.

After all, the residents of Athens, as the audience, also have to work and live normally.

In order to make full use of the Royal Opera House in Athens, Lowy used the Royal Opera House in Athens as the venue for the Citizens' Assembly.

Citizens' Assembly—

In the history of another world, this was the nominal highest authority of the Athens city-state.

In fact, the supreme power of the Athens city-state was held by the king.

Later, after some reforms, the Citizens' Assembly actually became an aristocratic assembly, and the supreme power of the Athens city-state was controlled by the Citizens' Assembly [Aristocratic Assembly].

There were no nobles in Roy's Athenian Empire, and the power of the Citizens' Assembly would certainly not be usurped by the nobles.

The day came for the city of Athens to hold a civic assembly.

Roy once again brought Procne, Philomela, and Nefertiti to the Royal Opera House and went directly to the stage.

In the auditorium of the Royal Opera House sat members of the thousands of civic families of the city of Athens.

Seeing that almost all the people attending the citizen assembly had arrived, Roy stood in the center of the stage and said loudly.

"Dear citizens of Athens! The city of Athens is like the heart of the Athenian Empire. The policies implemented in the city of Athens will be extended to every city and village in the Athenian Empire in the future. Now I want to discuss the future of the Athenian Empire with you, and it is up to me Let me talk about the officials of the Athenian Empire. I encourage all of you to spend a little time learning Chinese characters and arithmetic, and then pass the training and assessment to become officials of the Athenian Empire. Being an official and holding power-this is not the exclusive ability of the nobles. I conquered the nations, and I once saw an eight-year-old child from an aristocratic family serve as an official and hold power in a city. I believe none of you would think that a child from an aristocratic family is born extraordinary and can manage others at the age of eight. In fact, the eight-year-old The aristocratic child who is an official only enjoys the power and treatment of an official in name, and his work is done by the civilians below. As long as you are willing to learn, everyone can have the ability to be an official. If someone advocates that only certain people can excel, To be able to be an officer or a general would mean that he only wanted the nobility or something like that to monopolize power."

After Roy finished speaking, a middle-aged man said.

"Your Majesty the Emperor! You asked us all to study and take the test. Can you guarantee that we can all be officials? If there are not so many positions for us to be officials, then what is the use of the knowledge we have learned?"

"Good question!"

Roy said without hesitation.

"Of course there are not so many positions in the Athens Empire. Let all of you be officials. But everyone has the ability to be an official, so that officials in power will not dare to act recklessly. Because these officials all understand that they have nothing special about them. , The number of people who can replace them is countless. If they can't do a good job, the emperor can let them resign at any time. If the qualifications for being an official are monopolized by a group, this group will be corrupt, arrogant, and authoritarian, and the power will be hereditary - power This is how the hereditary aristocratic class came about. In order to prevent the officials of the Athenian Empire from acting recklessly, you sacrifice yourself, and everyone learns the knowledge of being an official."

After the middle-aged man sat down, an old man with a white beard stood up and said.

"Your Majesty the Great Emperor! I have lived so long and have never seen—never heard of such a wise ruler as you. Under your rule, the people of Athens lived a happy life like never before, We don't have to worry about not having enough to eat, let alone being oppressed by the nobles. But I think we can live a better life. His Majesty the Emperor is rich in the entire Athenian Empire, why should he tax us citizens? Like us Can a fourth-class citizen be exempted from taxes like a free citizen?"

After listening to the old man's words, Roy rolled his eyes and said.

"Old man, I believe that your problem must be the voice of many citizen families-you don't want to pay taxes. But I want to tell you that citizen families must pay taxes, and the Athens Empire will use laws to crack down on tax evasion. What do you think The emperor and the Athenian royal family were rich in the entire Athenian empire, so who do you think pays the salaries of the Athenian soldiers and officials? Where do you think the money for building bridges and roads comes from? Who do you think the security guards who maintain law and order are supporting? Do you think Who pays for universal education?"

After sending out a series of questions, Roy continued.

"Although I will make you pay taxes, your money does not go into the emperor's coffers, but is all used to build the Athenian Empire. If you don't want to pay taxes - yes, I will deprive you of your citizenship and reduce you to freedom Citizens, you are prohibited from enjoying all citizenship treatment and benefits, so you don’t have to pay taxes.”

After Roy finished speaking, Procne said with some dissatisfaction.

"You really don't know what to do. Not only you citizens are paying taxes, but our royal family is also paying taxes. The taxes you pay are not enough to complete the construction of the Athenian Empire. The royal family uses private property to subsidize the Athenian Empire every year. financial."

"Don't think that this is the royal family's Athens Empire. It is only natural that we subsidize the finances of the Athens Empire."

Lowe added.

"The Athenian Empire belongs to each of us, and the emperor and the citizens rule the world together. Since you have enjoyed the treatment and benefits of citizens, you must bear your responsibilities and obligations."

The old man with white beard hurriedly nodded and said.

"His Majesty the Emperor is right, I will never have the stupid idea of ​​tax exemption again."

After the white-bearded old man sat down, a middle-aged woman stood up and said.

"Your Majesty, my son is a soldier of the Athenian Empire. I am proud of my son. But as a mother, I don't want my son to die on the battlefield. I heard that you are either fighting or going to the battlefield Halfway. I would like to ask you not to fight any more, please accept the advice of a mother."

"I reject!"

Roy said without hesitation.

"I have said long ago that I am a person who loves peace and hates war. If possible, I don't want war. I want to be tired of being with beautiful and lovely wives every day. But our thoughts cannot change other people's thoughts , if we don’t conquer the enemies around us, the enemies around us will come to attack us. Only by taking the initiative to eliminate the enemies can we minimize the sacrifice. Don’t think that the enemies around you will not dare to attack us when the Athenian Empire is strong. Athens There are millions of nomads living in the north and west of the empire. These nomadic nomads do not produce enough food to feed themselves. As the population increases, these nomads will definitely attack us. Even if they To be killed while attacking the Athenian Empire could not have been worse for them than starvation."

The middle-aged woman said with a painful face.

"Can't someone as great as you think of a way to make war disappear forever?"

"As long as the Athenian Empire has no borders - we can make war disappear."

Roy said with a smile.

"One day, the westernmost Iberian Peninsula in Eurasia and the easternmost mainland China will become the territory of the Athenian Empire, and then wars will disappear forever."

(End of this chapter)