Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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The only thing to do is to send orders to the front lines to inflict heavy losses on the Kingdom of Fas, and then sit down to negotiate.

“They can’t win,” Delos said.

“But they’ll fight tooth and nail to get back,” Valyrian said. “So, don’t rush into a fight. Let’s stall for time, continue our retreat while outflanking them, and prepare to cut off their supply lines. In a few days, send someone to talk to them and make them think that we don’t want to fight anymore, how about that?” As he spoke, Valyrian looked at Ronan.

This is a feigned ceasefire.

Delos vaguely sensed Valyrian's thoughts, but remained silent.

Why feign a ceasefire? Of course, it's to leave these 150,000 people behind.

“Alright, I’ll go back to the capital,” Ronan replied.

Valyrian breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Chapter 555 If it can't be guaranteed, there's still a second stage; being a leader is tough.

If the Valyrians retreat further, the war will spread to the core areas, affecting the interests of the bigwigs.

In fact, over the past few months, Valyrian's command has aroused widespread anger. His repeated retreats have caused significant losses to the local interests of many nobles in the capital, greatly increased the financial pressure on the central government, made officials wish they could kill him ten times over, and even the church has suffered heavy losses, a sharp decline in prestige, and a lot of money.

If Ronan hadn't been holding the line, he wouldn't have been able to fight and retreat from the very beginning, but instead would have been forced to defend the south to the death.

Before leaving, Ronan found Valerian and said, "You are a politically astute general. You should have known from the beginning that even if we won a great victory and severely damaged the army of Villa, your fate would still be to be dismissed or even go to jail. After all, you have offended far too many people, and I cannot protect you."

"You, Marquis, can't you? Nor can His Majesty? I am His Majesty's loyal dog," Valyrian retorted, his tone tinged with mockery.

“Lieutenant General, if I may be so bold, her understanding of you is probably limited to knowing your name,” Ronan said with a smile. Ambrosio only knew the people in the Military Staff and was quite familiar with a few generals. Her understanding of other people in the military system was probably not as good as that of Isabel, who had long since severed ties with the military.

“It’s alright, you just need to know. You and His Majesty are family, after all,” Valyrian said, his face still showing no worry, and he was even smiling.

"So, you mean I want to protect you?" Ronan asked with a smile.

“You still can’t bear to part with me,” Valyrian said with a hint of flattery. “After all, this is only the first phase.”

"Oh?" Ronan asked with an exaggerated expression of doubt.

"With a population of over 20 million, the military force deployed so far is only 200,000. Have we mobilized them? No, that's one point. Secondly, letting them fight their way through was your intention. Otherwise, you would have rejected the plan when I proposed it. Otherwise, His Majesty wouldn't have stayed in the north without making a move."

"Taking these two points into account, you intend to completely ignite the anger of the people, and even anger the nobles, bureaucrats, and the church. After all, our country's economy has been developing rapidly for the past ten years, and ordinary people have been living too comfortably. There are simply too many people who do not want war. Only by getting angry can we carry out an unprecedented mobilization, five hundred thousand, or perhaps more."

"I think you are destined for great things."

"By then, I should have no problem becoming a commander on the southern front."

Valyrian revealed all his guesses.

Ronan paused for a moment, then said, "Even so, you'll still be in big trouble after this is over."

Does having outstanding military achievements guarantee you won't be punished later? Don't get your hopes up. The greater your military achievements, the more severe the repercussions will be.

“I’m sixty-six. Although as a mage I can still live a healthy life for quite some time, I have to make room for the younger generation, right? Becoming a marshal and then going to jail isn’t so bad.” Valyrian said with a relaxed expression.

"Is that all?" Ronan asked.

Valyrian took a deep breath, his expression suddenly becoming serious. "I was originally from Villaria. I offended a priest, and my parents, brothers, and lover were all tortured to death by the church. I fled to Phos alone, joined the army, and more than twenty years ago, I made some contributions during the suppression of a rebellion. The late king thought highly of me and promoted me."

"Now that my grandson is all grown up and I'm doing quite well in this country, I just want to fulfill some of the dreams I had when I was young."

“I want to go back to my hometown, to that church, and burn that priest on a cross, even if he is now just a skeleton in a coffin.”

When he said this, there was no hatred or anger in Valyrian's eyes. On the contrary, he was indifferent. Fifty years had worn away too much. He had even forgotten the face of his enemy. If it weren't for this war, he wouldn't have even had such thoughts.

But this war broke out.

"May God bless you so that your wish may come true," Ronan said.

“Hahaha,” Valerian laughed. “If the Father deems me guilty, why am I not dead? If I am innocent, why are my father, mother, brothers, and lovers dead? Marquis, do you believe in the Father?”

Ronan looked at Valerian. "If someone asked me, I would definitely answer 'yes'."

"Understood," Valyrian said, those who understand, understand.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave now. I’ll have someone build a better prison,” Ronan said.

After the war, Valerian will not only be held responsible for his passive resistance that caused the country heavy losses, but also for the atrocities he may commit in Villa in the future. His best outcome will be to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Ronan is gone; he must go back and suppress the calls for an immediate change of command and a full-scale attack to repel Villa.

Being a leader is difficult; being a leader who has to take the blame for his subordinates is even more difficult.

Ronan arrived quickly. Although he couldn't fly at supersonic speeds without Dinia's help, the capital wasn't that far away, and he arrived in about half a day.

Ronan's first instinct was, of course, to see Dinia.

Dinia's white hair was starting to bristle. "You have it easy out there, but those people are driving me crazy."

Nobles, bureaucrats, and the church surrounded her every day, urging her to find a way to immediately drive back the Belials at the front.

In the Kingdom of Fas, the military and government are separate entities. The king is the sole and supreme military commander, while the prime minister has no authority to command the army. However, not having the authority to command the army does not mean that the army cannot be coerced, especially while Ambrina is still eating fried chicken in the north.

"Two weeks, just two more weeks, then a full-scale counterattack," Ronan said.

Dinia sneered, "Two weeks? They can't even hold out for two days. Public opinion in the capital is out of control. If things don't go their way, they'll take action on their own."

“Then you should resign in accordance with ‘public opinion’ and see who among them wants to become prime minister. Let them take the position,” Ronan said.

Dinia's eyes lit up, and after a moment's thought, she said, "You're the one with the most clever ideas."

She resigned. Is there anyone willing to take her place?

To put it bluntly, the increasingly loud calls for her to step down are a tactic to force her to resign. If she were truly willing to step down, no one would dare to step in and take the blame.

The next day, Dinia resigned, shocking the central leadership.

The high-ranking officials in the central government tried to persuade her to stay, but Dinia ignored them and left the prime minister's office, saying that she would wait for the king's approval and that she would no longer be prime minister until the king's approval was granted.

The central government can recommend someone to temporarily take over her duties.

This won't do. Everyone knows the king won't approve Dinia's resignation. Whoever takes over temporarily will be sent to the colony after this is over.

Unable to keep biting Dinia, the group had no choice but to go find Ronan, who had just returned.

Ronan's reply was to wait another two weeks.

The group looked grim; if they waited another two weeks, they would suffer heavy losses.

“It is the nation that has suffered heavy losses, not you.” Ronan drew his longsword and pointed it at the group.

The usually amiable Ronan suddenly drew his sword, which startled the group of officials, who hurriedly tried to calm him down.

"If the Marquis of Rhine says two weeks, then two weeks it is."

"Yes."

"If anyone causes trouble again, I'll kill him."

Chapter 556 Counterattack: Even if there are no typical examples, create them; even if there aren't, kill them; losing all reason.

Two weeks later, in May 1602, the attack by the Kingdom of Fas began, which was written as “counterattack” but read as “encirclement and annihilation”.

Ronan, finally relieved, was on his way north.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty Queen Ambrina was conducting a purge and public trial within the "Duchy of the Rhine," which was in the process of being established but had not yet been formally established.

The purge targeted the "bandits" and "corrupt officials" of the Kingdom of Fas.

The public trial was conducted by the "gentlemen" of the Rhine region.

A few months ago, the Rhine region was conquered. It's impossible that the Phasian army wouldn't have engaged in looting and arson upon their invasion, but Ambrina had initially instructed them to exercise restraint, so there weren't too many atrocities. Following this, a new nation was established. Although they promised to relinquish power to the original three lords, could Phasian possibly refrain from sending people to assist in governance? And wouldn't those sent harm the local population? It was impossible to imagine, but they were still quite prudent. After all, they were newcomers, not yet familiar with the system, so how could they be greedy? Besides, under the watchful eyes of the King, the Oversight Bureau, and the Security Bureau, they couldn't embezzle much.

Unfortunately, there are no typical examples, and even if you create one, you still have to kill it.

Not only should they be killed, but their crimes should be made public, and they should be executed with cruel punishments to appease public anger.

We must let the people here know that His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Fas is a good man. Even if there are a small number of corrupt people among the Fas, everyone must believe that His Majesty the King will uphold justice for them.

Besides, isn't Ambrina also "German"?

On the other hand, there was a public trial.

All those who had been entrenched in the Rhine region and committed crimes were to be dragged out, identified one by one by the public, paraded through the streets with placards hanging on their heads, and then shot.

In fact, many "gentlemen" were not so evil. Unlike officials who did not stay long, they had been here for generations. The farmers and serfs on the manor were just their tools, so there was no need for them to be so ruthless in their exploitation and persecution.

This is also where feudalism falls short of capitalism; in terms of exploitation and persecution, capitalism is far superior.

But they still had to die.

Because Fass wanted to show the local people that he was not there to oppress them, but to liberate them and build a prosperous community, those who had oppressed them would now all die.

When these people die, they are given land, and not only land, but schools and factories are built for them.

The primary purpose of this was to bind the people of the Rhine region to the war effort.

More importantly, we must cut off the entrenched "tentacles" of the three vassal lords. How can we control this place if we don't overthrow all the local tyrants and evil gentry who are closely connected with these three vassal lords?

Without those who controlled the local areas, the three vassal lords lost their grassroots rule and were no longer such a great threat.

In the afternoon, inside a baron's manor villa, which was simply decorated but spacious.

After a five-minute embrace and a wet kiss, Ambrina and Ronan finally parted ways.

The two had not actually met for over a year. During that time, they had only met briefly a dozen or so times in the "restaurant" through Ambrina's magic. That was barely enough time to handle official business, let alone personal matters.

Ambrina gasped for breath and collapsed into a chair like a puddle of liquid. "These days have really worn me out..." she began to complain.

During the war, she didn't suffer at all, since she didn't care about anything.

When the new country was established, she didn't experience much hardship because there were officials in charge.

What's been tough for her lately is dealing with a group of people who have surrendered.

Because opinions were very divided between these two groups of people, and neither dared to make decisions on their own, it was up to her, the king, to make the decisions.

To give an example, after the Goose City Revolution, the biggest beneficiaries were the "Third Brothers," followed by the "Wu Zhichongs."

There is no third son here, because the Kingdom of Fas is not here for a revolution, so there's no need to say more.

The reason why Wu Zhichong and his ilk are so easy to understand is that they were originally the treacherous servants of "Master Huang," but they betrayed him. Compared to the commoners who liked to wait and see, they were the ones who came later but arrived first, raising the "banner of righteousness" and charging forward, and then they got a larger share.

Ambrina wasn't stupid; she knew what kind of people these were. But precisely because she wasn't stupid, she understood that she couldn't get rid of them. Wu Zhichong was a "positive example" who had turned things around.

But such people will definitely have a negative impact in the future.

“It’s not that serious, Anri. We’re here to make life better for ordinary people in the Rhine region than before, but not too much. The people of Phos won’t allow the people of a conquered land to live too well.”

"Moreover, if there are no bad people on this land, how can we have the nerve to get involved? Ideally, we could come every ten or eight years to purge the bad people from among their own ranks."

"It is also our duty to uphold sustainability and serve the people."

Ronan explained.

Often, whether something is a bad thing or not depends on whether you know how to use it and whether you can operate it.

Ambrina nodded, paused for a moment, and said, "We can do that, but there's no need to do it on purpose. Don't rush to deal with them. After all, they're still good role models for now. Let them die as bad role models when they can no longer be good role models."

"In this process, we should still support some good people who oppose us to come up and show our vision."

It must be admitted that, as a monarch, Ambrina's ability to employ people is quite sophisticated.

"Your Majesty is wise," Ronan quickly flattered.

"Phew, we've finally finished getting down to business." Ambrina sighed and looked at Ronan.

Ronan understood, stepped forward, picked up Ambrina, and carried her to the bed.

Ambrina lay down, pulled down Ronan's pants, and saw that thing was already hard and sticking up, almost touching his lower abdomen. She squeezed it and found it as hard as iron.

"Have you not been with them these past few days?" Ambrina asked.

Ronan stayed in the capital for two weeks.

"There are many troublesome matters in the capital. After finishing up there, I rested for a night, had breakfast this morning, rested for a while, took a shower, and flew over immediately," Ronan said.

Ambrina pressed her lips against it, licked it twice, and then eagerly swallowed it, sucking on it with relish.

It's been a year. She hasn't done it for a year. She misses Ronan so much, and she misses Ronan's thing too.

Ronan lifted Ambrina's skirt, revealing her slightly off-white, flesh-colored pantyhose. Her crotch and thighs were completely soaked, the stockings turning a transparent light brown. Her pinkish-purple panties underneath were also soaked through, turning a deep purple.

She intended to use her hand first, but with just a light touch, Ambrina couldn't take it anymore. She immediately spat out Ronan's thing, raised her head, panting, and looked at Ronan. She was clearly losing her mind. She tore open her stockings, pulled down her panties, grabbed his thing, and couldn't wait to stuff it inside her.

With a soft "plop," more water seeped out, followed by a long, satisfied moan.

In the blink of an eye, Ronan also lost his senses. He hadn't done it for a year, and his lust was rising. He just wanted to vent, so he just kept thrusting into her hard.

Chapter 557 Too much savings, even a pair of stockings are vulgar things.