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"So, who do you favor?" Carl asked.
“Of course it’s Ronan. He’s at least a bit better than that woman who goes grocery shopping.” Lena’s tone made her seem like a brainless woman, but Karl knew that although his wife was obsessed with technology, she was exceptionally astute when it came to politics.
"Sigh." Karl couldn't help but sigh.
"What are you sighing about? With this time, you should find a job and do something. You're just a useless freeloader sponging off your parents all day," Lena said. "Although you're destined to fail in politics, it's still better than doing nothing."
"You really don't think much of me?" Carl retorted.
“That’s right.” Lena answered quite decisively. “Among the people I know, there are three who are determined to reform. The first is you, my dear husband. You are a true nobleman, so you can’t stand the way those nobles behave, including your father. This is the reason why you want to change this country. In the end, it’s just that a young nobleman thinks I can’t be like them. There is no essential difference between you and those who can inherit a huge fortune but shout that I have to rely on my own efforts.”
"The second is Princess Isabel. She is similar to you in some ways, but compared to you, she has many more ideas and has made some practical attempts. It's just a pity that it only stays at the level of spreading ideas. It's necessary, but not sufficient. She needs material things."
"The third one is Ms. Dinia. She is different from you. She was originally a person with no meaning in life. The Igis Orphanage was a brainwashing center. But she took changing this country as her meaning in life. Unfortunately, she is still confused and it won't work."
Lena gave her comments on Karl, Isabel, and Dinia, the three people who were interested in reform.
"And what about you?" Carl asked.
“I have no interest in getting involved in these things. How can I get anything done if I'm arguing with a bunch of women buying groceries?” After saying that, Lena yawned. “I’m going to sleep.”
“Darling, are we going to meet tonight?” Karl asked meaningfully, raising an eyebrow.
"Can't you go and find a lover like the other nobles? You have to come every day." Lena sighed. "Come on, come on."
Three days later, the Ministry of the Interior was officially established.
However, it was just a signboard.
In the past, new departments were either small departments that gradually grew into larger ones, only lacking a signboard, or they were split off from another large department. They had all the necessary personnel, office space, rules and regulations. But the Ministry of the Interior is different. It is a completely new department, and everything has to start from scratch.
So for now, there's only one sign; everything else needs to be prepared.
Two months have passed in the blink of an eye; it's October, and autumn has arrived.
On this day, Ronan and his group went on a picnic in the countryside.
We had a barbecue this morning, and the messy place has already been cleaned up by Ambrina's servants.
In the afternoon, a group of people sat around a huge picnic blanket, eating snacks, drinking coffee, and chatting, leaving their shoes on the lawn outside.
Ambrina leaned against Ronan's chest, her small, chubby legs, encased in pink and white stockings, stretched out bare. This adorable and sweet pose made one want to pinch her calves.
Dinya wore a pair of slightly thick, opaque gray stockings with a satin sheen. She sat cross-legged, and the gray and white tones on her upper body, combined with the white shirt, created a very cool and aloof style. But the cooler the style, the more it tempted people to approach her.
Agustina leaned against Dinia, wearing cropped boots and trousers with only a small section of black pantyhose showing. Curis added a touch of femininity to her sharp and capable policewoman demeanor.
Elena wore brown stockings that were almost chocolate brown, and her firm, fleshy legs looked like they were coated with a thin layer of silky chocolate, making one want to grab them and taste them. She wore a country-style dress and sat in a very casual manner, with one leg crossed and the other bent at the knee on the picnic blanket.
Alice sat next to Elena, her slender, straight legs and delicate feet encased in flesh-colored stockings. Coupled with her slightly disdainful expression, she exuded the aura of a small-statured but powerful and formidable career woman.
Besides them, there's Isabel, Isabel's sidekick Ashley, and Faith, who Ronan sent to her side.
Isabelle was also wearing flesh-colored stockings, but they were the kind that made her skin look fairer, somewhere between white and flesh-colored stockings. Her sitting posture was completely out of character for her. She sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, like a little woman, as if she were a strong woman who had fallen to her lowest point, waiting for a man to save her. Ronan glanced at her once but didn't dare to look again.
Ashley was also wearing white stockings, but because she was tall and slender, the white stockings on her legs gave off a pure yet seductive vibe.
Faith was wearing flesh-colored stockings, a rather unfashionable yellowish color. This tacky stockings, paired with her conservative nun's habit, actually accentuated her conservative aura to the fullest, making her alluring and tempting to seduce.
Chapter 341 Proposal, suggestion, the decision still rests with Ronan
After a few bites of the cloyingly sweet dessert, Ronan downed a cup of coffee to recover.
Elena ate several cream puffs and was about to grab another when Dinia glared at her. Looking at Ronan, whose eyes were still scanning everyone's legs, she quickly said, "My Lord Marquis, shouldn't we be discussing serious matters?"
Ronan withdrew his gaze, which had been trying to probe the color of the grey stockings beneath Dinia's long skirt. "Let's get down to business. Our Prime Minister's offensive is ready, like a cannon fully loaded, ready to fire at any moment. The Ministry of the Interior has also been preparing for many days, and it should begin its establishment soon. We need to find a way to give our Prime Minister a surprise. Of course, we can't target him personally; doing so would turn into a bloodbath."
"Start with Finance Minister Bruno?" Ambriina asked.
She wasn't very familiar with this minister before. She had met him at two previous royal meetings, but she only thought of him as the prime minister's lackey. However, after receiving several confidential letters from him recently, she gained a more accurate understanding of him.
An old bureaucrat, a fence-sitter.
Such people are easy to take advantage of.
“That’s not wise, Your Highness.” Isabel’s tone was polite, even addressing Ambrina as Your Highness, but her words were anything but. “I don’t believe the Prime Minister doesn’t know what kind of person he is. He might be waiting for us to dig out this time bomb. Besides, this kind of scoundrel who accepts bribes, condones manipulation of tax amounts and quotas, and creates pretexts to increase the benefits of civil servants and embezzle from them, should have been beheaded long ago. No, beheading would be too lenient; he should be cut in half.”
Isabel hated these kinds of people; it was these scoundrels who had ruined the country like this.
“If you ask me, we should focus on that mole the Prime Minister planted on our side, that man named Cheney,” Isabel said, offering her suggestion. “We don’t need to get rid of him directly. Let him investigate the Treasury Department, and I’ll go with him. He’s part of the tax system; if he’s serious, he can easily uncover problems and remove a bunch of people from their posts. That way, he won’t be considered part of the Prime Minister’s faction. If he doesn’t investigate seriously, then I’ll have a reason to sideline him and render this mole useless to the Prime Minister.”
“Well said.” Ashley clapped her hands and cheered, her expression and movements deliberately exaggerated, as if she were a silly maid.
"The intention is too obvious," Alice said casually. No one knew whether she meant that Isabel's intention in making this move was too obvious, or that Isabel's intention was too obvious.
Isabelle immediately retorted, "You've been an inspector for five years, so you're very experienced, but I've also been a princess for nineteen years, so I'm very experienced too." Isabelle's words weren't about her experience, but rather a subtle hint to the others about Alice's ambition to seize power.
Elena, standing to the side, was completely in a state of detached observation. She saw another layer: the former princess was deliberately being so sharp. She had already provoked her before, and this time she was going head-to-head with Alice, clearly showing that she didn't want to get along with the people around Ronan. It seemed that she understood that if she didn't get along with the people around Ronan, she would be safe. If she did get along with the people around Ronan, Ambrina probably wouldn't tolerate her.
Ashley kept eating in silence, offering no support.
Faith, on the other hand, was just watching the show. She was merely someone Ronan had temporarily lent to Isabel. Given her unknown origins and foreign background, it was impossible for her to become an official in the Ministry of the Interior in the future, so she couldn't possibly speak up for Isabel.
At this moment, Dinia came out and broke the discordant atmosphere, "Ronan, what are your thoughts?"
"I think neither approaching the Treasury directly nor targeting Mr. Cheney, who will soon be my colleague, is a good idea. Of course, I'm not saying that Anri or Miss Isa's methods are bad, but this is a battle against the Prime Minister. To put it bluntly, while His Majesty is worse than most in domestic affairs, foreign policy, military, and economics, he is very skilled in political struggles. I admit I am not as good as him, but he still failed to take down the Prime Minister, this 'traitor'."
Ronan said this.
For the king, the current prime minister Alexander was someone he had specifically nominated and who had helped him in his ascension to the throne. However, after taking the throne, Alexander did not obey him as king. What else could this be but treason?
"We want to show the bigwigs in the central government how our Ministry of the Interior works. I said from the beginning that we're going to give them a surprise, to use the same tricks they've used before. Is that what you call a surprise?"
"Master, what exactly is this surprise?" Elena stepped in to play the straight man.
“Let’s pick the easiest one to jump on first,” Ronan replied.
"Territory Management Department?" Isabel and Ambrina asked in unison.
“That’s right,” Ronan replied affirmatively. “Does he have the strength to fight us? I’m going to dismantle this department. The method is simple: those local personnel scattered across various regions who are not doing their jobs but have good relations with the nobles will be transferred to the postal system, while those who are capable but have poor relations with the nobles will be transferred to the security bureau.”
The Territory Management Department is responsible for handling noble issues, and naturally, it has a large number of personnel scattered around the various fiefdoms.
Those in this department who are willing to work will inevitably offend the local nobles, while those who do not work will at least have a good relationship with the local nobles.
The nobility still wielded considerable influence in the local areas, and the stability and consolidation of the postal system depended on them. The idea of discarding them after they had served their purpose was a matter for the future.
Moreover, the position of Postmaster General was already reserved for a high-ranking nobleman, so those who did nothing in the Territory Administration Department were well-suited to transfer to the postal system. They wouldn't object either, because the postal system offered far better benefits and power than the Territory Administration Department.
As for those who are not well paid but are willing to work, Ronan's security detail is of course very welcoming.
Ronan's move can be described as killing two birds with one stone: on the one hand, it emptied the Territory Department of personnel, and on the other hand, it replenished the Ministry of the Interior's manpower.
Isabel moved forward a step. "I have two questions. First, what right does the Territory Department have to release people? Second, how do we distinguish who is doing the work and who isn't?"
“The nobles want to take advantage of my ‘land-for-shares’ deal. They’d love for the Territory Department to collapse. If the Territory Department doesn’t agree, then let these nobles cause trouble.”
"As for how to distinguish them, we certainly can't get the list from the Territory Department. We can just have the nobles report it to us. Do you think the local nobles don't know who is targeting them and who is slacking off in their localities? They can send away those who are targeting them and keep the slackers behind."
Ronan answered Isabel's two questions.
“Ronan, how do you think the Prime Minister will respond?” Dinia asked.
“I don’t know,” Ronan replied. “It doesn’t matter if he derails my operation. Anyway, all I’m doing is moving the arena to the Ministry of the Interior so it becomes our home turf. If we achieve our other objectives, great; if not, so be it.”
Chapter 342 Bridge, Chess: You Play Small Cards, I Play Big Cards
Dinner was prepared by a chef team hired from a not-so-high-end restaurant, located in Golden Eagle Manor.
After dinner, Ronan and his party stayed at the royal estate.
Elena, Alice, Ashley, and Faith were playing cards on one side. It was a poker game that Faith had brought from Wieland. Ronan had also played it on the way back home by ship. It was a very old and primitive bridge game, where two people teamed up and the score was simply based on the number of tricks played. The rules were not as complicated or competitive as the bridge game that Ronan was familiar with.
Elena and Alice are on one team, and Ashley and Faith are on the other.
Both sides were on friendly terms, with each point worth one and a half silver cents.
"You two are taking this too seriously. Give a poor man like me a way to survive." Ashley pleaded. She really wanted to win some money. Her "master," Isabel, had been stripped of her princess status and her family's property had been confiscated. Now she was completely penniless.
She ended up not even having money to buy new stockings.
Faith's rank was undoubtedly the highest, but Elena and Alice were slightly stronger overall. Neither of them spoke because they had tried their best but hadn't won by much in terms of total score. Ashley, the maid who seemed even more unreliable than Elena, was by no means weak in this kind of intellectual game, so much so that the two of them had no room to speak.
“Oh, I can lend you some. Ronan pays me a pretty high commission,” Faith said.
Alice slammed the cards down, took a sip of water, unaware of this, and asked, "Aren't you a nun?"
"Being a nun is my part-time job; my main occupation is being unemployed," Faith said with a straight face, spouting nonsense. That's just how she is; apart from her clothes and appearance, she doesn't resemble a nun at all.
Elena suddenly blurted out, "Then can I work part-time as a nun?"
Alice covered her face. This blond barbarian was acting crazy again.
However, Elena wasn't acting crazy; her path to advancement was blocked. Oath Magic is usually the least likely to cause blockages because a vow would appear in your mind at the appointed time, and you could simply find a place, recite it sincerely, and that would be it. But Elena's vow was completely blurry, making it impossible for her to recite it.
The Church is the most adept at resolving all sorts of difficult problems with the Oath of Heaven magic, but Elena, a heretic, didn't want to seek help from the Church of the Seven Saints, so she thought of Faith, a heretic within the Church of the Seven Saints.
“Oh, we can have a good chat sometime,” Faith said with a smile, winking at Elena.
the other side.
Ambrina and Isabel were playing chess there, and the chessboard, pieces, and rules were essentially no different from the chess Ronan was familiar with.
The two sisters were locked in a fierce battle. Ambrina had played the game many times on the ship, but her thinking and calculation abilities were lacking, and her skill level was just so-so. Isabel hadn't played these games much before, but in terms of talent, she was better than Ambrina, which led to the close match.
At a crucial moment in the game, Isabel suddenly gripped a chess piece and said, "I'm telling you, don't you care about your husband at all?"
Ambrina stroked her chin, wondering what Isabel's next move would be, and replied, "Whether I care or not, what's it to you? You weren't the type to resort to such pointless tricks before."
“I’m a pathetic loser now, what can I do besides use some tricks?” Isabel asked with a smile, then placed her chess piece.
"Heh." Ambrina snorted coldly.
In the distance, on the stage, Ronan was drinking with Dinia and Agustina.
“I always felt that the Prime Minister’s actions were a bit strange,” Dinia said. “If he wanted to deal with us, his offensive was too weak, but if he wanted to protect himself, he shouldn’t have stood against us time and time again.”
"The commander is absolutely right. If the Prime Minister really wanted to force us to compromise, he shouldn't have done it this way. For example, with the previous wedding, he strongly supported it and even made the wedding more extravagant, while secretly publicizing how luxurious the wedding was. He could even have used some underhanded tactics to stir up public sentiment and put Ronan and Princess in an awkward situation."
"The Ministry of the Interior doesn't need to target us at all. As long as it makes a big fuss, there will be plenty of opponents charging ahead, especially those in low positions who are eager to show off. If the Ministry of the Interior is established amidst this wave of opposition, any mistakes that happen later can easily be magnified and become a pretext for attack. With these factors, it will be hard for us not to compromise."
Agustina was also concerned about this issue. At first, she thought that the wedding incident was just the Prime Minister not wanting to provoke Ambrina, and that the Ministry of the Interior's matter was just a prelude. But she didn't expect that two months had passed and the Prime Minister would just do this.
"To be honest, I don't understand what the Prime Minister is thinking either, but after this operation against the Territory Department, we should be able to get a glimpse of it."
Ronan still can't figure out the Prime Minister's style. He's neither fighting nor retreating, which doesn't seem like the behavior of a competent politician.
The problem is that in his power struggle with his father-in-law Lucien, the prime minister has never lost, which is something an incompetent politician cannot do.
Three days later, the Ministry of the Interior opened.
Unexpectedly, yet logically, of the five bureaus under the Ministry of the Interior, only one was opened: the General Post and Transport Bureau. It was somewhat surprising that this department was the first to open, but upon closer inspection, it made quite sense. The postal system had been established a year ago, and although it was still somewhat understaffed overall, it was the least understaffed of all the other departments, and at least it could fill all the positions in the department.
The postmaster was Baron Prospelle of Durand. Just when everyone thought this fellow would accomplish nothing, he proposed something: to transfer personnel from the local units of the Territory Administration Department into the postal system. In an instant, the baron became a laughing stock.
Just like that saying, do you think anyone will pay attention to you?
Indeed, the Territory Management Department completely ignored the postmaster's words and suggestions.
But a few days later, something happened that was both funny and unfunny: nobles from various regions submitted petitions at almost the same time to report the personnel in charge of the local territorial administration departments. They named these personnel, saying that their work attitude was extremely negative and that they did not deal with the nobles at all, and suggested that they be dismissed from the civil service.
One of the central officials immediately doubted that he had seen it wrong. If you local nobles want to report someone, you should report those who always cause trouble and punish you severely. Why did you report the people who slack off and do nothing?
The central government initially intended to handle the matter quietly, but the local nobles escalated the situation, flocking from their territories to the capital. Their stance was that if the Territory Management Department didn't take some concrete action, they would block the doors of various central government departments every day, ensuring that no one would have an easy time.
When the common people riot, a quick shot with muskets is all it takes to clear it up. But when nobles riot, it's a real problem, because they're all relatives.
Just then, the Baron stepped forward and made a proposal that left everyone unsure whether to agree to it.
Chapter 343 It's all a setup, they're all relatives, what does it have to do with me now?
Baron Durand, the current postmaster, Prospelle's proposal was simple: transfer those reported by the nobles to the postal service. After all, the postal services scattered throughout the country were short-staffed, and the local post offices were located around the noble territories. For these people, it would just be a change of workplace.
Indeed, this was the case. Apart from a few large nobles who owned vast territories and had enough land to do business in bulk commodities, most local nobles owned only a small amount of land and had little capital. So they would set up small workshops to process agricultural products on the edge of their territories near roads. These nobles themselves, as well as migrant workers from other places who were willing to work in these workshops for low wages, were the main customers of the postal service. It was only natural that the postal service would be located in these places.
At this point, even a fool could tell that these two things are the same thing.
The postmaster made the proposal, and the nobles immediately started causing trouble. It was clear that they had conspired together to hollow out the territory's governance department.
But this matter cannot be brought up openly, and even if it were, it wouldn't make a difference.
Nobody will admit it.
“These people who were reported are lazy and incompetent in the complex work of the post office,” said Gary, the head of the Territory Management Department.
“Then you should come to the post office even more, so as not to waste taxpayers’ money,” Postmaster General Prospekt replied.
In truth, everyone knows that the reason some members of the Territory Management Department don't work properly is simply because they're afraid of retaliation from the local nobles. Besides, the Territory Management Department's salary is so low that if they don't collude with the local nobles to do dirty things, they're already doing their duty to God and the country.