Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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At this time, Louis and Henry, far away in the eastern coastal city of Cadina, also learned of this news.

First, they could not allow such a large tribe to exist. Second, the deceptive ideology of the Lava city-state was even more unacceptable, as their fiefdoms were built on the exploitation of the natives to accumulate wealth.

Finally, and most importantly, this was something Ronan orchestrated, and it was definitely aimed at them.

As expected, the two brothers reached an agreement to launch simultaneous attacks from the north and south to eliminate the city-state.

Although the population of the Lava city-state had exceeded 100,000 by this time, far surpassing the peak of the Twin Bear tribe, its military strength was still far inferior to the forces that the two brothers could muster.

At this moment, Ronan was playing cards with Dinah, Yvette, and Agustina inside the governor's mansion.

"Aren't you worried?" Dinia asked.

“Don’t worry, that old man will show them the way,” Ronan replied.

“But they might still lose,” Yvette said. “After all, it’s not just the two brothers who see their city-state as a thorn in their side; there are also chiefs from other tribes, large and small.”

Ronan remained nonchalant. "So what if we lose? Losing means nothing more than the destruction of this newly established city-state. But the caste system and the Seven Holy Religions of Lava have already spread among the natives. They all know that if this system can be implemented, everyone from slaves to ordinary warriors will benefit, except for the tribal leaders headed by the chief. Under this premise, even if the city-state is destroyed, the five of them can still lead the remaining core members in guerrilla warfare."

“I even think it would be better if they lost, as it would cause more trouble for those two brothers.”

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Old man LaVine gave his advice: defend in the north and attack in the south.

Louis the Younger's fiefdom is in the south, where agriculture is thriving and cotton brings in enormous economic profits. They have plenty of money and grain, so we can't afford to fight a protracted war with him. We must take the initiative and find an opportunity to severely damage his main force. Once his main force is weakened, he will not dare to make any further moves, because Louis also has the Villars to the south.

Henry's fiefdom is in the north, mainly based on animal husbandry, so his economy is worse and his military strength is slightly inferior. However, he has more horses, so we cannot fight him in open battle. Instead, we should adopt a defensive posture. As long as we can hold out, Henry will also have to consider the Weylanders to the north and choose to withdraw his troops.

"Alright, now it's up to you. We have to go." After explaining the general strategy, Raven took his leave.

They were, after all, people who came with Ronan; it was impossible for them to actually command the battle, let alone participate in the fighting directly.

Chapter 250 Defeat, Conversation, Who's in a Hurry?

A month later, Ronan received news of the defeat.

Raven's strategy was correct. Chip's Southern Army successfully dealt a blow to Louis's coalition forces, while O'Brien's Northern Army held its ground.

Unexpectedly, the Twin Bears tribe, which had migrated westward, suddenly returned. The defenses set up by the young man, O, collapsed instantly. Seeing that the capital was about to fall, he had no choice but to lead his troops south to join Chip.

They were chased and killed along the way, and when they finally reunited with Chip, they only had two hundred men left.

Chip's side only had about a thousand men, and he had paid a heavy price for severely damaging Louis's army.

A month ago, the five of them were the leaders of a city-state that commanded 100,000 people. A month later, the Lupu brothers died, and the chubby Hatch also died, leaving only the two of them. Of the original two hundred or so musketeers, only about a hundred remain. The rest are the new and old native soldiers who have followed them in the past few months, as well as more than a hundred Rag slaves who were initially only responsible for logistics.

As dusk fell, the two arrived at an open area.

"What should we do?" O asked Chip.

Chip glanced at O ​​and asked, "You're not thinking of going back to Professor Ronan, are you?"

O fell silent, because Chip had guessed his thoughts perfectly. "Is that not allowed?"

“Go ahead and die if you want to,” Chip said. As if afraid that O wouldn’t understand, he explained again, “Professor Ronan will not admit that he has any connection with us. If we dare to approach the Governor’s Office’s territory, the first person to kill us will not be anyone else, but him.”

“This…” Ao could hardly believe it. Ronan had been so good to them, never discriminated against them, taught them so many things, and even cooked for them himself. In the beginning, he had also provided them with money and support. How could he kill them?

"Still don't understand?" Chip laughed. "We are just pawns he uses to deal with those two counts, but he can't openly oppose them, so he won't admit to having anything to do with us. If we go looking for him, we'll be doomed."

At this point, Ao didn't want to believe it, but he had no choice but to believe it, and could only let out a long sigh.

“There’s nothing to worry about, I knew it from the beginning,” Chip said.

"Heh." Ao scoffed. "If you knew from the beginning, would you still have agreed?"

Chip just smiled and countered, "Why not? If I don't agree, am I supposed to continue being a slave? And you, didn't you also refuse to be some master's manor steward?"

"It's too late to say anything now," Ao sighed again.

“It’s not too late, we haven’t lost yet,” Chip said.

O was somewhat annoyed. "We only have this many people left. Every bullet we fire is one less bullet we have. What's worse, we don't even have much food left."

“If we don’t have it, we’ll just rob it,” Chip said. “Do you remember the story that Professor Ronan told us about that happened in the country of Seris, thousands of miles away? Sometimes being outnumbered isn’t a disadvantage, especially in this vast land where tribes are scattered. If we have a thousand people, and the enemy comes in small numbers, they’re no match for us. If they come in large numbers, we can just run away.”

At this point, Chip felt a chill run down his spine; he felt that Ronan had long anticipated that things would turn out this way.

"But what if the people on the outskirts of the tribes see us and report it?" Ao asked again. The premise of being able to escape is that no one can know our whereabouts.

"Don't forget, our reputation for killing only chiefs and their lackeys has spread over the past few months. Our proposed caste system and the localized Seven Saints Church have also spread. As long as we don't plunder indiscriminately, the lower-class commoners and slaves living on the outskirts of the tribes won't easily report us, because they secretly hope that we will win."

Chip said.

"Great!" Ao shouted, instantly perking up; that was just the contradictory nature of his personality.

On the one hand, his tall and powerful stature and outstanding abilities made him inherently arrogant, and arrogant people never easily admit defeat. On the other hand, from childhood, he was taught by his father to be respectful, gentle, and to look for his own mistakes, which fostered a habit of sighing and thinking about how to back down when faced with setbacks.

"Next, you will lead us south to turn Count Louis's rich territory into a pot of corn porridge."

Chip said.

He actually looked down on O, feeling that he would be better off as the leader, because O was incredibly arrogant when he won and only dejected when he lost. However, the core of this team were the natives of this land, while he was disliked even by the slaves of the Laghmen, who thought he was too cold-blooded and didn't treat people like human beings at all.

"Fuck Louis!" O roared. He had been fleeing in a sorry state for the past few days, his legs were almost worn raw, and he had been holding back a lot of anger. Now he let it all out.

"Damn it!" Chip exclaimed, feigning excitement.

As dusk fell, two boys clasped their fists together.

At the same time, Ronan and Dinah were sitting at a table with the brothers Henry and Louis, waiting for the appetizers to be served. This was the usual meal, thirteen dishes, which lasted from dusk until it was completely dark.

"Have you heard about the recent incident where a group of natives incited other natives to rebel?" Louis suddenly asked.

“Of course I’ve heard. If you ask me, those bastards deserve to die,” Ronan replied. “It’s just that I don’t know which scumbag father and mother gave birth to them, otherwise I would have killed their whole family myself.”

“Ha, if you ask me, the one who taught them behind the scenes deserves to die,” Henry said. “By the way, I heard you’ve been teaching five native boys recently, Mr. Ronan. How are they doing?”

Ronan waved his hand. "Hey, what can natives learn? They're as stupid as pigs. Those five young men who started the rebellion are much better, don't you think?"

“Yes, they are quite formidable,” Louis replied. “It’s just a pity that the Twin Bears returned after I offered them a few favors and crushed those bastards in one fell swoop. I imagine the self-proclaimed smart man behind those five little bastards must be stomping his feet in anger right now.”

Ronan laughed, "Absolutely. If he doesn't stomp his feet in anger, I'll chop them off."

Dinner began in such a friendly atmosphere and ended a few hours later with everyone enjoying themselves.

After leaving the restaurant, Henry and Louis did not go directly back to their respective residences in their carriages, but instead took a walk together.

"This guy actually took away the families of those little bastards." Louis was so angry he wanted to kill someone. His losses were much greater than his brother Henry's. Many of his men had died, and he had spent money to hire the Twin Bears.

"It's a pity my men didn't find the bodies of those people, otherwise we would have sent a few heads to those two scoundrels as a gift today," Henry said. After the Twin Bears tribe launched their attack, his men directly breached the newly built city-state and massacred everyone, but they did not find the bodies of the culprits.

Speaking of this, Louis got even angrier. "Brother, is this your problem? Your problem is that you let the bandit leader escape, and now they're in my territory."

Henry knew what his brother meant. "I have no money. At most, I'll send cavalry to your territory to help with the siege."

Louis gritted his teeth and reluctantly agreed, "Fine."

Chapter 251 The Next Step, This Embrace, That Dream

Meanwhile, on the way back to their lodgings, Dinia asked Ronan, "What's your next step?"

“Wait, wait until their remnants wreak havoc on Louis’s territory, then we’ll enter his lands under the pretext of helping to quell the rebellion,” Ronan replied.

"The next step?" Dinia asked again.

She didn't ask Ronan why he was so confident that the remnants of his thousand-strong army could disrupt Louis's territory, because she trusted Ronan's confidence.

“Next, we’ll take this opportunity to investigate his taxes,” Ronan replied. After going through all this trouble, it was all just to investigate his taxes.

Louis was a lord, but overseas lords also had to pay taxes.

If the mainland doesn't exploit its colonies, why spend manpower and resources to establish them? Not only do they take from them, they take from them very heavily.

In Ronan's original timeline, didn't the United States also seek independence because of the excessive exploitation by the British? After all, why did I come all the way to the New World just to beg for food on my knees? Not only do I have to beg, but I also have to be mindful of the local population's attitude. So, I had to add this and that.

Louis was 100% guilty of tax evasion and avoidance. Ronan had no right to prosecute him, but he could use this as a pretext to send him back to his country.

There's no way he'd agree to go back to the country. If he doesn't rebel, Ronan will accuse him of rebellion and then kill him.

Does it matter whether you want to rebel or not? What matters is that you have a reason to rebel. Ronan did so much to create that reason.

With Louis dead, Henry now had a reason to rebel.

Next, we'll talk about Henry rebelling and then killing him.

Ronan's approach has always been this simple and straightforward.

The highest level of political struggle is to simplify things to the level of a village ruffian fighting, saying you deserve a beating, and then the iron fist of feudalism is slapped directly in your face.

If Ronan, a dignified royal consort, doesn't kill people with the iron fist of feudalism, does he even deserve to be called a feudal reactionary?

"Are you planning to take action directly?"

"Dinia asked."

Having known Ronan for so long, she already knew what he was up to when he mentioned investigating taxes.

“Yes, but not in my personal capacity. Before that, I—no, we’re going to establish a new department in the Governor’s Palace,” Ronan said. Directness was never his style; his style was to plan every move with an eye on the future situation.

"A new department?" Dinia thought Ronan was up to something again.

“The Ministry of the Interior,” Ronan replied, and further explained, “The Ministry of the Interior has three main powers. First, it coordinates the relationship between the central government and local authorities. In the context of the colonies, this means the relationship between the Governor’s Office and the various indigenous tribes within its jurisdiction. Second, it oversees security issues, including not only the safety of the lives and property of the people and officials, but also the safety of production, trade, communication, and transportation. Third, it supervises, reviews, and evaluates officials to ensure their reliability.”

"A secret service agency?" Dinia asked.

“You may think that way, Your Excellency,” Ronan replied, “but I will not admit it.”

That's right, he wanted to create an agency called the Ministry of the Interior, but in reality, it was a secret service. The Governor's Office was corrupt and had long been emptied of its coffers. Ronan couldn't fight them with legal and political means within the framework of the government, as he did when he was an official in the mainland. He had to start from scratch.

Ronan continued, "Of course, let's not rush to deal with these parasites. Let's deal with the Louis and Henry brothers first."

"Where will the staff for the new department come from?" Dinia asked.

"An exam," Ronan replied.

Dinia's eyes revealed a hint of doubt. "In this place, the truly cultured people are either already officials or have businesses waiting to be inherited. As for the rest, let's not talk about them."

Having been here for half a year, Dinia has some understanding of the colony. The quality of the people here is extremely polarized. Some are not bad, while others are terrible. This is not surprising, after all, the upper class of the colony originally came from local officials, nobles without inheritance rights, or merchants who came across the ocean to make a living. The other part is the lower class who could not survive in the homeland, many of whom are exiled criminals. How can you expect these people and their descendants to be cultured and have good manners?

Do not make jokes.

Ronan shook his index finger. "This new department doesn't need anyone with ability or experience for now, but rather someone with enough drive, and someone who isn't completely illiterate. Besides, I don't want any young people who are connected to officials, plantation owners, or factory owners."

“Yes, that’s true,” Dinia replied.

Before they knew it, the two had arrived at the door of Dinia's room. Dinia opened the door, then suddenly stopped and looked at Ronan. "You should go."

Ronan's face looked like that of a child who hadn't received a gift. "So heartless? I thought you'd invite me in for a drink."

Dinia was exasperated. "One second we were talking about serious business, and the next second you're like this. Are you sick?"

Ronan smiled. "After all these years, don't you know whether I'm sick or not? Just tell me, will you buy me a drink or not?"

"No, thank you." Dinia refused quite decisively.

"Then I'll compromise, let me hug you," Ronan said.

Dinia stared, wondering if she had misheard.

“Silence is an admission,” Ronan said. He had been in Cardina City for the past two months, partly to plan things and prepare for what was to come, and partly to wait for Dinia to make a move. But Dinia hadn’t made any move at all, as if the last scene in the dream world had never happened.

If he doesn't do something soon, this piece of iron, which is still not easy to heat up, will cool down completely.

After a moment of silence, Dinia spoke up, "That's not good, Ronan."

Ronan didn't speak, he just looked at her.

Dinia turned her face away, lowered her hands, and said nothing more.

Seeing her like this, Ronan immediately went up, hugged Dinia, moved forward a few steps, and then kicked the door shut.

Ronan hugged Dinia from the front, holding her tightly. His strong chest pressed against Dinia's breasts, feeling her large, soft, and firm breasts, while his erect penis pressed against her lower abdomen.

Dinya was prepared to stop Ronan's next move at any time. She always felt that everything was too sudden. However, she did not expect that after a while, Ronan would let go and would not take any further action.

Ronan stepped back, opened the door, and said goodbye, "See you tomorrow."

Bang! The door slammed shut, and Ronan disappeared from her sight. She could only hear his footsteps fading into the distance down the corridor.

At that moment, Dinia felt as if everything around her had disappeared, leaving her all alone in an empty space—a feeling she had never experienced in her thirty years of life.

It took Dinia a long time to come to her senses and realize that she had been sitting on the edge of the bed for a long time.

On the other side, Ronan's heart was still pounding. Looking back, he realized he had been too impulsive and reckless. How could he treat a woman like that? He should at least say something first.

Ronan sighed, "I guess I just can't get into that kind of thing. Forget it, some of the things I say just feel awkward."