Forge a path to success.

Chapter 355 Plan B
"To be precise, a promotion in official rank can also lead to a leap in quality. For example, Captain Banningtik already had the ability to become a 6, and he could naturally be promoted after taking office as captain. Parriman was not originally a promoter, but he held a high position in the city-state. Therefore, the thorns bestowed upon him the 'rank' of quality 6 during his term of office, ensuring that he was qualified to serve as a symbol of power in the city-state system."

Vilbert looked at someone: "This system has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that, with a sufficient talent pool, the city-state can quickly generate points through political means. The disadvantage is that if the upward mobility is blocked, even those with existing talent will not be able to advance further."

Trek stared silently at the water screen, now devoid of any image, completely oblivious to the murmurs around him. Lico couldn't take it anymore and slapped him, finally bringing him back to his senses.

“Ah… that’s true for the official Ascendants. Lone wolves who break away from the system don’t have this problem. They enjoy the conveniences the system provides, but they also have to accept the corresponding limitations.” He chuckled. “To put it bluntly, the fact that Jing Sha currently only has one official Rank 6 member, Banningtik, is also a result of internal factional struggles. Parriman’s power is too great, and if another high-ranking official from the Divine Guard is appointed, it’s highly likely that one of his confidants will be appointed. This would result in a staunchly independent captain… so it’s better to have Banningtik from the Judicial Department as the captain and rely on him to maintain the balance of power.”

Vilbert continued, "The cost of this move is that the highest official position in the Judiciary, the 'Chief Justice,' is currently held by a purely civilian official without the rank granted by the Divine Tree. This is because Banningtik holds both the identity of the Divine Guard and the Judiciary, and the system does not allow the Judiciary to become too powerful."

Ji Huaisu said indignantly, "How could such an absurd thing happen—to weaken the overall strength in order to maintain internal balance!"

"This is already the safest option right now. If a bill faction leader really comes along, we're already discussing how to forcefully kill Point 6," Vande said dryly. "So this is the state of things, right? Unless our people can turn things around and elect a high-ranking official within the next thirty days, we won't have anyone at the highest levels?"

"The Divine Tree is still on our side!" Lico said.

“The Thorn Tree is barely able to save itself; who knows what it will become in a few days?” Van der retorted. “Don’t forget the face on the back of its head!”

An indescribable sense of despondency spread. Everyone present possessed the courage to fight the enemy to the death, yet this time the "enemy" was an intangible system. The facts were clear: Parriman had spent 20 years creating this complex situation, which could not be easily shaken by force alone. Even if they were to recklessly kill Parriman, how could the established laws be altered?
Gulibo listened for a long time but still didn't understand, and only asked blankly, "Pariman has a lot of votes, can we go and campaign for him too?"

Van der retorted, "It's not that simple! By now, the votes have long since—"

“Absolutely,” Vilbert said. “Next, we’ll try to win votes.”

Everyone stared at her blankly. Wilbert found a copy of the Constitution of Thorns on the first-floor bookshelf and turned to the last page.

"The Thorn Robe Constitution contains a clause proposed by the Thorn Robe Divine Tree itself. This clause has remained unchanged through hundreds of revisions over thousands of years, always situated at the very end of the constitution, like an unchanging bottom line. The wording of the clause is rather complex, but its core idea is as follows:"

To ensure that the democratic political system does not make grave errors that violate justice, morality, and love due to collective misjudgment, if a large number of citizens of the city initiate petitions, the Divine Tree of the Forest may initiate a second review of implemented policies affecting citizens' livelihoods, hold revotes on passed governing bills, and re-examine the judgments of major cases and the above-mentioned cases. Other popular political decisions that have a significant impact on the city-state may be handled in accordance with this provision.

It took everyone a few seconds to process the information, and then Lico was the first to jump up: "So, is there still a chance for us to vote again? As long as we collect enough petitions!!"

“But this law has never been enforced!” said the editor of Poison Otter. “Law school interpretations all suggest that it was established as a symbolic law to represent the status of the sacred tree, because its enforcement conditions are too stringent!”

"The 'large number of citizens in thorns' mentioned in this article is determined by a combination of the current total number of citizens with voting rights and the results of the democratic vote..." Trek calculated, "This number is different in normal times and in wartime emergencies; the latter requires nearly twice the number of the former. Let's assume normal times; overturning implemented policies and adjudicating major cases would require approximately 2000 million votes... and the number of votes needed for a bill to pass is calculated by subtracting the difference in votes between the two sides from the number of citizens who did not vote, and that is..."

Hill pushed a whiteboard over, and Wilbert took out a pen to check the calculations on the spot, writing a long line of numbers below the whiteboard.

“Approximately 47 million votes,” Wilbert said. “If we can secure the signatures of 47 million citizens, the Sacred Tree can hold a re-election on the Independence Act.”

Chu Hengkong clapped his hands and laughed, "That was your original plan, wasn't it?"

Wilbert did not deny: "It is pointless to directly confront Parriman's bill on his home turf, because Parriman will inevitably use all his means before the vote, and his momentum is difficult to resist. His reliance is the accumulated problems of the city-state over thousands of years. Before the vote is announced, the public cannot understand how important their choice is, and no matter who stands up to appeal, their voice will seem pale."

“But after the vote results are announced, public attitudes will change.” Vande followed her train of thought. “Citizens who initially supported the vote due to momentary emotions will start to reconsider, the mainstream public will change their minds due to the influence of their own interests, and there are also a huge number of people who did not participate in the vote, who are the most likely to be won over.”

"The independent faction—what to do?" Manager Carp discovered a new problem, "They always have more power! What if they still dominate after the re-entry..."

Ji Huaisu said irritably, "If the city-state still insists on its own way by then, it means that Jing Sha deserves to be doomed!"

“It will never come to that,” Trek said. “The public may be misled, but they will never lose their conscience. If we can provide timely guidance, we will surely get back on the right track.”

His expression was unusually solemn: "Miss Vilbert, since you have a plan in mind, why not tell me about it? I believe everyone here will give their full support!" Vilbert nodded, flipped the whiteboard over, and marked three areas: enemy, neutral, and friendly.

“We analyze the situation from both internal and external perspectives. The core contradiction within Jingsa lies in whether or not to achieve independence. Those who support independence are our enemies, while those who uphold the alliance are our friends.”

Chu Hengkong found a pencil and quickly sketched Parriman's image, pinning it to the top of the enemy's territory. Below it, Wilbert circled the number 1: "Parriman and the First Order nobles who support him are the core force of the Independence Party. This portion of the votes involves their core interests and cannot be won over; therefore, they do not require much attention."

Below that, Wilbert wrote 4: "The Fourth Line of Harvest Fields is Parriman's main voting bloc, with the majority of its citizens supporting the bill. However, due to its large population, a significant portion of its citizens who are apolitical did not participate in the vote. This group of citizens is the main force we need to win over. What is the attitude of the Fourth Line captain?"

“Parriman is a staunch supporter,” Trek said. “But this is a political stance, not a moral one; she still fights for the thorns.”

“We can try to recruit the captain of the fourth team,” Wilbert confirmed. “Then there’s the neutral zone. Currently, the second order Ironthorn Crown and the first order Justice system led by Banningtik belong to the neutral zone.”

She wrote a 2 in the neutral zone and another circled 1. Ji Huaisu asked, "I understand Banningtik, but what about the second vein sequence? I remember it was a military camp, right?"

“The soldiers wounded in the war and the soldiers loyal to the cause are constantly arguing. There have been several armed conflicts in the Second Pulse this year, all of which have been suppressed by the Second Captain,” Trek said. “Let’s consider the Second Captain as a neutral party. He can only remain silent due to his duties, but he has considerable influence among the civilians. If we can get him to take a clear stand on one side, then the number of votes in the military will increase significantly.”

Vilbert highlighted point 2: "The second lineage represents the Thorn Army's military force, a force we must win over. As for the third and fifth linesages, they are the most steadfast opponents of the bill, and our attitude is to win over as much power as possible while preserving our base."

"Those people at the amusement park are actually against the bill?" Gulibo asked, puzzled.

“Businessmen are the best at weighing the pros and cons. The Fifth Lineage’s main revenue depends on tourism, and the independence of the Thorn Robe is a disaster for them,” Wilbert concluded. “In the next 15 days, we need to win over the Fourth Captain and gain the support of the Second Team. This is the first part of the plan.”

“Scrambling forty-seven million votes from two separate sequences—the first part already sounds challenging enough,” Van Der said. “I can’t even imagine how insane the second part will be.”

"After initiating a revote on the bill, we move on to the second part of the plan." Vilbert marked a large X on Parriman's portrait. "Assassinate Parriman, crush his power, and use the wartime provisions to elect a new speaker to eliminate any future threats."

The giant seal held up a sign and groaned: "You proposed assassinating the Speaker in front of so many citizens in thorns..."

"Great idea!" Lico exclaimed excitedly.

Captain Ji's thinking was more advanced: "Can we go straight to the second phase?"

“No, because of the Royal Power,” Chu Hengkong said. “Even if we successfully kill Parriman, the Royal Power will pretend to be Parriman and stage a ‘resurrection’ drama. This drama will actually make him a saint, and then no one will be on our side. So we must wait until the bill is re-voted and at least we have collected 47 million votes to have the initiative before we can take action against Parriman.”

Why would the royal family get involved in this mess?

“Because Parriman was a man who employed the monarchy,” Wilbert said. “To be more precise, they were all people who wanted to see the thorns stand alone, and they would cooperate closely to achieve their own goals.”

Trek didn't react much: "I won't mention the evidence, after all, anyone with eyes can see what the Jinghua Festival's attack was intended to do. I only have one question: why would those assassins go to such lengths to help Parriman? What benefits could a figurehead like Parriman possibly offer them?"

“This question needs to be answered from two perspectives,” Vilbert said. “For all assassins below the royal authority, this is just a routine Blood Oath mission. The royal authority has absolute command over the Blood Oath, and they cannot defy the will of the royal authority.”

Trek pressed further: "And what about the monarchy itself?"

Vilbert didn't answer, but instead looked at Chu Hengkong. Chu Hengkong understood what she meant; she could deduce Wang Quan's strategies and abilities, but she didn't truly understand Wang Quan's character. Regarding deeper motivations, in the realm of thought, only he was qualified to provide an answer.

For a long time, the Dark Kingdom had been his best friend.

(End of this chapter)