Free The Eternal Empire by Geoff Fabron

universal schooling for all children. All Church schools will
be incorporated and a land tax will be imposed to pay for it."
    That will annoy the Senatorials,
thought Marcus. Free education for all had been an objective of the Modernists
for some time and had been opposed by the reactionaries as an unnecessary
expense.
    Phocas continued to read. "A
Pension Law will ensure that all citizens of the Empire will be provided for
when they are too old to work. This will be financed by a tax on luxury goods
and on all salaries including those of the church, government and
military."
    Magnus leaned over to Marcus and
whispered in his ear, "That's one for the radicals. The reactionaries will
be frothing at the mouth when they hear about that."
    "The legal system will be
reformed." Phocas raised his voice slightly to allow himself to be heard
above the noise in the room. "There will be a central legal system for
all. Church and military personnel will no longer be outside the jurisdiction
of the civil courts."
    There was some scattered applause at
that. Phocas waited for it to die down before continuing.
    "An Air Transport Law will allow
private companies to own and operate aircraft for commercial purposes subject
to military approval." The applause from the floor began again.
    "So that's why the Equestrians
bought into this alliance," said Magnus. Marcus nodded in agreement. Air
transport was regarded as the next boom industry and the reluctance to relax
the states monopoly had been deeply resented by industrialists.
    "A law will be passed," said
Phocas, "to allow each province to engage in any kind of economic activity
that it wishes. Bureaucrats in the capital will no longer dictate where
factories will be built or what they can produce, which ports may build ships
and what crops each farmer may grow."
    By now everyone in the room was on
their feet applauding, Marcus had to shout to Magnus to make himself heard.
"That'll please the Federalists, regardless of faction."
    John Phocas signalled for everybody to
sit down, he had more. He waited until he had complete silence.
    "As you will realise, these laws
will bring about many of the changes which the Modernist party have been
advocating for years. However, to get the Emperor to accept them and to approve
their adoption it will be necessary to pass an austerity law to raise
additional taxes."
    There were unhappy mutterings at his.
John Phocas ignored them and carried on.
    "The Austerity Law will allow for
an increase in basic taxation by 5%, import duties by 15%, and rail transport
charges by 10%. The price of controlled foods will go up by between 5% and 15%,
and the guaranteed price paid by the state for all minerals will be reduced by
5%."
    A number of members were on their feet
before Phocas had finished. They were all shouting at once and declaiming the
proposed austerity law as being too severe and would make the recession worse.
However, Marcus noticed that the majority of those present were still seated
and deep in thought. If the financial situation really was that bad, the
Emperor would be hard pressed to reject these new laws. Besides, getting four
of the seven parties in the assembly to support this package of laws was
unprecedented, and everyone present had quickly done the voting arithmetic. The
Modernist, Radicals, Federalists and Equestrians controlled 264 seats in a 400
seat assembly.
     
    15th
January 1920
    Minden,
Saxony
    Cornelius decided to wear his second
best toga (he only had two). The wine stain caused by Fulvia's poke in his ribs
at the party for Titus had not come out completely and the ambassador had
emphasised the importance of making a good impression at the reception tonight.
    Taronites and a score of other high
ranking officials from the Embassy had been invited to the country residence of
Count Maleric, who was heading the Saxon delegation to the trade negotiations.
Cornelius had been included in the invitation and since he was Taronites
principle trade