My British Empire

Chapter 26 Lively Racecourse

Edward was slowly leading Arthur to the racecourse while thinking about whether to subdue Grenville.

Yes, Edward is going to want to have such a secretary of state, a position equivalent to that of a prime minister.

The English name of the Secretary of State is: Secretaryofstate, also known as the Secretary of State. This position was originally just a personal assistant (secretary) to the king, but during the Tudor dynasty, this position was involved in the implementation of the king's main government affairs, especially directly involved in court politics.

As a result, he became powerful and popular. Before the emergence of the cabinet, the Secretary of State actually performed the functions and powers of the cabinet on behalf of the cabinet, and had the same power as the "Menxia Province" in the Tang Dynasty of China and the "General Administration Department" and "Secretary Supervisor" in the Ming Dynasty. Today, the "cabinet secretary" in the UK who is actually in charge of the affairs of various ministries (called "second minister" in Japan), and the "secretary of state" in the United States are in fact the continuation of the concept of this position.

It was Thomas Cromwell who flourished in this position. This is a politician who reformed with Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty in China in the 16th century. It is no exaggeration to say that he is Shang Yang of England, a figure who forged England's sovereignty. And it has a sad ending like Shang Yang.

Britain in the Middle Ages was strictly a geographical concept, not a country in the modern sense. The external sovereignty of the country was incomplete due to the interference of the Holy See; the internal sovereignty of the country could not operate normally because the feudal aristocrats had independent economic, military and judicial powers; ", the power of the king cannot be exercised in the territory of the nobles, and some border areas and Wales are still independent of state power. There is no strict distinction between state affairs and royal household affairs.

Religious Reformation brought opportunities for the emergence of the British nation-state. Cromwell was acutely aware of this when he came to power in the 1630s. Cromwell relied on the power of the state, relied on the support of the parliament, and used the religious reform as a breakthrough to skillfully integrate the king’s personal motives into the overall interests of the nation-state, promulgated a series of bills, and broke the Pope’s control over the secular state , establishing the external sovereignty of the country. In 1533, under the auspices of Cromwell, Parliament passed the "Appeal Act". The bill clearly declares that "this England is a sovereign state", "the king has supreme power and can judge all actions of all people, including monks and lay people", "the monks and lay people under the king form political Societies, each enjoying judicial administration in the religious and secular spheres, are free from any interference from powers outside the empire."

The announcement of the "Bill of Appeal" not only legally blocked the channel for the Holy See to interfere in British affairs through judicial litigation cases, but also caused a break with Rome in fact, severed the link between Britain and the Holy See, and established the independent sovereignty within its territory.

And Grenville is not only rich in reformist thinking, but also has a bold heart that is not afraid of hardships and dangers.

As soon as he walked near the racecourse, Edward felt a wave of heat lingering in the air, which was particularly refreshing in this cold season in England.

As if smelling something, Arthur became emotional in an instant. He raised his horse's hooves, raised his head, and pulled Edward to run into the racecourse. He didn't care whether Edward's thin body could pass through it.

Then, the knights in the racecourse saw a snow-white colt pulling a short king and running to Grenville.

Edward has been stalking the horse with a bewildered expression on his face, and today he finally realized what it feels like to be slid by a horse. It's so sour, I can't believe it!

When Edward came to his senses, dozens of guards and Grenville all surrounded him, staring at him curiously.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a smooth horse?" Edward said angrily, "What should I do?"

Seeing that Edward was annoyed, everyone walked away wisely. After all, Edward is their employer, so it is not easy to provoke him.

As a guest, Grenville was too embarrassed to laugh at the host, so he continued his way of acting. But before he left, his **** horse grinned at Arthur. It was definitely not Edward's dazzle, but a real smile. Suddenly, Edward felt the rein in his hand increase again.

Edward knew that Arthur was having trouble again, so he slapped the pony's **** hard without hesitation. Now, the depression in Edward's heart finally dissipated a lot.

Regardless of Arthur's teary-eyed expression, Edward led it to watch the knights' competition performance.

Holding Arthur in his hand, he stood leisurely on the periphery, watching Grenville compete with a strong guard!

First, the two of them were put on chain mail by the attendants, and then helped onto the horses by the attendants, and they were adjusted to their respective states.

The strong knight was named Sean, the son of a knight. He was extremely strong, with a height of more than six feet. According to the metric system, it should be 1.9 meters. It's a long white coat.

Chain armor, also known as chain armor, (but there is another saying - please seriously distinguish between chain armor and chain armor. These are two different concepts. - Generally speaking, chain armor is much less dense than chain armor!) It is a kind of armor that appeared in the age of iron and cold weapons, and it is a major innovation since the advent of leather armor.

Use small iron rings to form a long coat with a hood, which is covered outside the close-fitting clothing. All the weight is borne by the shoulders, which can effectively protect sharp weapons such as swords, spears, and spears. The biggest disadvantage is that it is soft, and it is difficult to resist a sharp sword. If it is a heavy weapon such as a meteor hammer or a mace , the chain mail will fail.

Don't look down on chain mail just because it is common. The cost of a full set of chain mail equipment for a knight in the 11th and 12th centuries was equivalent to that of a small farm; and in the serf system in the Middle Ages, armor masters were also upper-class civilians who could sit on an equal footing with priests and were generally respected.

Chain mail is generally a kind of armor made of many iron lock pieces fastened together. It is an upper body armor that can protect the shoulders and arms at the top and protect the knees at the bottom. The size of the iron chain pieces is about the same as that of a coin, and the chain armor that tightly fastens many iron chain pieces together has a strong protection ability against cold weapons.

Although there are holes, it has the effect of "invulnerability to swords and guns, and impenetrability to arrows". In terms of its protective power, in ancient times, it was only inferior to the Burenjia of the Song Dynasty.

Because of its high price and strong defensive power, chain mail has also become an essential equipment for knights, and is very popular among knights in Western Europe. In Western Europe in the Middle Ages, just as China measured national power by chariots in the Spring and Autumn Period, they measured the strength of nobles by the number of knights.

Thanks to Minhang Menghua, nrphf5, Lili 599, Hanbing☆Xiaoyi, I’m kidding, XG Jason, everyone’s support!

(end of this chapter)

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