Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Of course, we can't rely on you, you scheming foreign devil. That's what Zhao Jun thought, but what he said was, "No, Mr. Luo is a great sage of our time. If I succeed, you will be my right-hand man."

Chapter 883 The cadre pool: chaos makes things easier; the unexpected arrival of General Lu.

After his meeting with Zhao Junyong, the King of the South Sea, Ronan arrived at Hongyi Study.

This place is large, but not exquisite. It is a library that Ambrina built at a cost of 50,000 taels. The construction work only cost a few thousand taels, and the other 40,000 taels were used to buy books. Many of them are classics that are widely printed on the market, such as the classics, histories, philosophical works, and collections of literature. There are also many articles and works left by the top superhumans of Seris in their youth over the past few hundred years since the "Golden Age".

Hongyi Study is not open to the public; it is the main base for the Gongjin Reading Club, established by Ambrina.

Of course, Ambrina herself wasn't really interested in this book club; she just helped Ronan set it up as a side project.

The entire Gongjin Reading Club had over a hundred members, mostly from Guangdong province. More than ninety of them came from well-off families, while the other twenty or so came from less privileged backgrounds, including tenant farmers, laborers, fishermen, peddlers, and servants.

More than ninety people from decent backgrounds, like Liu Chongyu in the past, came from wealthy families but lacked talent.

But they weren't as lucky as Liu Chongyu, they didn't have a mother like Lu Jianling, and they didn't have brothers like Liu Chongjin and Liu Chongsi.

They are unloved by their fathers and mothers, which is the common situation for the untalented children of wealthy families.

Her status was inferior to that of her father's talented cousins ​​who were adopted from the clan, inferior to that of her father's adopted sons from the farmers, inferior to that of her brother-in-law who had decent cultivation, and inferior to that of her sister-in-law who, despite not being particularly skilled in cultivation, was still a superhuman. She was only slightly higher in status than the servants in the household.

But in reality, it's hard to say whether they are superior to servants. After all, the master still relies on his servants to do things, and the servants can also gain some benefits by doing things.

The "abandoned sons of wealthy families" not only harbor deep resentment, but they also clearly understand that so-called extraordinary individuals are nothing more than that. There is no difference in ability between them and ordinary people, except that they have the talent to cultivate.

Therefore, for those born into privilege but lacking talent, even a small spark is enough to attract them like moths to a flame.

Many ordinary people have little contact with extraordinary individuals and lack real experience. They often think that extraordinary individuals are amazing, while they, as ordinary people, are inferior, not only in terms of background and luck, but also in terms of ability.

It's as if those who have reached high positions with decent cultivation levels must be capable, implying that their cultivation talents are inferior to those of their counterparts.

"That's utter bullshit."

Ronan scoffed at such remarks.

This kind of nonsense isn't something a specific person directly tells ordinary people; rather, it's a viewpoint that society subtly and continuously instills in them after they realize they are ordinary.

However, some people from poor backgrounds who had never seen extraordinary individuals realized that this was utter nonsense after studying and learning.

The twenty or so people in the book club who come from humble backgrounds are like that.

Most scholars from humble backgrounds, having only been studying for a few days, set their sights on becoming high-ranking servants as their life goal, taking pride in it and labeling those who didn't think that way as naive or unambitious.

“There’s still a long way to go.”

Ronan lamented that if it weren't for this "social consensus," there would definitely be more people from lower social backgrounds in the reading group at this time.

In short, the group of over 100 but less than 120 young people in the reading club are the planned pool of cadres.

For the officers, Ronan wanted the children; they had a need to secure opportunities for the next generation. Therefore, even if they received the talent Ronan bestowed upon them, they wouldn't easily change their stance. Of course, among the honest men now, there would certainly be those who would abandon their wives and children and betray their cause in the future.

As for the cadres, Ronan wanted young people who hated reality and already had a sufficient level of education, like the people in the current book club.

Let alone revolution, even a regular rebellion to change dynasties absolutely cannot succeed without a civil service team. If there were twenty years to take it slowly, then they could cultivate them, but now, Ronan doesn't have twenty years.

Of course, among those in the reading club who gained talent, there were bound to be traitors who "woke up" and then "turned against" others.

To put it bluntly, there are some people in this Progressive Society who Ronan can tell at a glance that they will become traitors in the future.

Some of them were simply spies.

But Ronan will not clean up the mess for now. On the one hand, no one else has made any mistakes yet, and on the other hand, without traitors, how can he "rectify" the situation in the future?

Although Ronan's revolution wasn't the kind of revolution he wanted to carry out, increasing productivity and building a system that better matched productivity were just "dumplings"; promoting talent and theoretically giving most people a chance was the real "vinegar."

The biggest contradiction in this extraordinary world is the inequality between the few extraordinary people and the vast majority of ordinary people at the level of life.

All other conflicts lie beneath this.

On his first visit to Hongyi Study, Ronan did not give a speech. He simply took a stroll around and chatted with a few people for a while. The students did not show any excessive excitement and just chatted with Ronan.

Ronan held a very high place in their hearts, and there was no doubt that they were quite excited to see him.

Firstly, Ronan's actions manipulated the entire Guangdong officialdom, which shocked many people. Secondly, Ronan played a crucial role in dealing with the rebel leader, and they knew that Ronan was a highly skilled superhuman.

But right now, these young people, like the workers who are undergoing military training, have no idea that some of them will be gifted.

These young students currently believe that Ronan intends to select some of them to work. For those from good backgrounds, being able to work is attractive, at least better than being a despised parasite at home. But it's not that great either; becoming a clerk or the manager of a business is just so-so.

It was more attractive to people from lower social classes, but not to the point of fanaticism. After all, they were scholars who had risen from among many poor families and were not without opportunities.

Therefore, it's not time to show the excitement in my heart.

Ronan's follow-up plan is this: the people in the reading group will learn and be assessed at the same time, and then a small number of them will be selected to intern in government offices, just like a small number of the trained workers will be selected to pursue further studies.

Once the new emperor ascends the throne, Ronan will assign them talents.

The fact that this group of people were assigned talents could not be kept secret, and naturally it attracted attention from many parties.

At this point, Ronan's attitude towards both those who oppose him and those who want to join is somewhat ambiguous. Once a fool steps forward to "purge the court of corrupt officials," and the entire nation of Seris descends into chaos, that will be the time for Ronan to officially establish his school, attracting outstanding mortals from all over Seris to become extraordinary individuals.

In a place where exceptional mortals can be endowed with talent, there is no doubt that even if everything falls into chaos, there will be some who will fiercely resist and try to stop it, while others will support it.

That will be the time for the real struggle.

Just as Ronan was leaving the study and preparing to go back, someone asked, "Uh, General Lu, what brings you here?"

Chapter 884 Questions and Answers: On Collective Agriculture, General Lu's Personal View

Lu Jianling's hair and makeup were changed back to the usual style: her hair was tied up with a hair crown, a headband was tied around her forehead, and two strands of hair fell naturally on both sides.

He has a high crown, excellent proportions in the three facial sections, and his facial features are, needless to say, extremely beautiful.

She was wearing makeup, light makeup, with a light application of powder, her eyebrows were slightly trimmed and painted, her eyeliner was quite noticeable, and then she wore a dusty rose lip color that suited the light makeup style.

Her dress also featured her usual red and black color scheme.

She has a perfect nine-head-tall figure and super long legs, it's just a pity we can't see if she's wearing stockings or not.

"I've come to report on the training," Lu Jianling explained his purpose.

Actually, if she wanted to report it, she could have waited for Ronan to return at his house; there was no need for her to come here specifically to find him.

However, Ronan didn't care about such things. "Let's talk as we walk."

"Okay." Lu Jianling replied and followed Ronan.

Ronan asked, "What went wrong?"

"No, your requests have been basically all arranged. Not to mention the military training, the academic rewards for excellence and the punishments for the worst performers are all progressing smoothly," Lu Jianling replied.

The so-called reward was actually a week of better daily treatment for the corresponding study group, as well as some rice, flour, and oil. The so-called punishment was a week of reduced daily treatment and a deduction of some salary.

These rewards and punishments are enough to motivate the workers to study hard.

Of course, the so-called learning was very basic, including some commonly used characters and simple arithmetic, which Lu Jianling had already mastered when he was six or seven years old.

"Are there any promising talents?" Ronan asked again.

"No," Lu Jianling answered bluntly. "There are probably one or two people who, after some training, might be able to become garrison commanders."

The garrison commander was a subordinate of the subordinate of the general.

“That’s pretty good,” Ronan said.

A garrison commander was roughly equivalent to the highest military officer in a county, holding the rank of sixth grade or fifth grade, and commanding three to five hundred men, making him a fairly high-ranking officer.

Lu Jianling was very serious. "I only said it was possible, and that I could only command pikemen, not musketeers, and even less so artillerymen."

Musketeers are not simple to be soldiers. There are rules to their positioning. They don't just stand still and fire. Musketeers also need to move. When to move, at what rhythm, when to stop, and when to fire are all important.

Moreover, when it comes to leading troops, the most important thing is to "lead" rather than to command. These are hundreds of people, not hundreds of obedient puppets.

Artillery is even more difficult; anyone who hasn't completed a full course cannot reach a qualified level.

Ronan smiled and said, "General Lu, where do you think you stand among the generals of various regions in Seris?"

The topic suddenly changed, and Lu Jianling paused for a moment before speaking, "I should be a little ahead of you, right? Theoretically speaking, I've been to Annam and dealt with you foreigners, so I have some experience."

She said that theory aside, what she really meant was that many of Seris's senior generals were not very good at theory. She said that she had been to Annam and had fought seriously against the Annamese trained by the Bilians, while many of Seris's senior generals had not been on the battlefield much in recent years and had little experience.

"So, actually it's pretty good. I think some other local officers in Seris should, well..." Ronan stopped there.

To put it bluntly, over the past few decades, it was actually the Southern Army of Seres that fought the toughest battles. Their army penetrated deep into Annam, and the Annamese were no pushovers; the actual ruling group in Annam was the loser from Seres' previous chaotic power struggle. Their navy had even fought against the fleet of the strongest navy in the world, the Viriah. On the other hand, Seres' Northern Army had basically been either crushing weaker opponents or nurturing bandits.

"Probably," Lu Jianling sighed.

It must be admitted that the current Seris is no match for the top-tier foreigners in terms of conventional navy and army. Only by temporarily employing some superhumans can the tide of war be turned. However, superhumans are powerful and wealthy, and hiring them is not something that can be done by simply offering money.

The war was won, but the imperial court was losing money.

Otherwise, why did we need to negotiate more than two years ago? Wouldn't it have been better to just drive all the foreigners out of the South China Sea?

"Are you alright? If you are, I'll be going now," Ronan said.

"No..." Lu Jianling was about to say something, but then changed her mind as if possessed, "No, something's wrong. I have a question for you."

Ronan gestured, "Go ahead and speak."

"I have a general understanding of the reforms you're planning, but I still have a question. After the economy changes and talent is promoted, what will happen to the farmers?" Lu Jianling raised the question, and also shared her own views. "In my opinion, if your system is put into practice, it will just mean that the powerful and wealthy suppress merchants, merchants oppress workers, and the workers then bleed the farmers dry. Compared to before, there will just be an extra group of workers. I'm not saying you're wrong, it's just, um..."

It must be said that Lu Jianling's view is largely correct.

Developing industry requires capital accumulation, and capital accumulation requires plunder. For Seris, even if he can plunder outwards, he won't stop plundering inwards. Capitalism only robs outsiders? That's wishful thinking.

“This is indeed a problem,” Ronan nodded in response.

Seeing Ronan's admission, Lu Jianling was very happy. "Right? And don't underestimate the farmers. Your current talent-granting technology will eventually be copied by someone, or even innovated. If the oppression is too great, someone will eventually use this to lead them in rebellion."

“That’s exactly what I’d like to see,” Ronan said. “Well, let’s not get into that now, it’s a bit far off. Let’s get back to the countryside. We need to build schools in the countryside to give farmers a way to move up in society. More importantly, we need to promote village communities with a collective agricultural character. Of course, there will be some changes. The agricultural products produced by collective agriculture will also be commercialized. At the same time, we’re forming large companies to use capital to fight against capital.”

Lu Jianling couldn't understand the concept of capital versus capital, but as a former member of a village commune, she understood the village commune best.

“It cannot be promoted. The village community is a product of circumstance. If it were placed elsewhere in the country, it would be terrible.” Lu Jianling said in a very serious tone.

Ronan hadn't expected Lu Jianling to have such insight, and feigned a desire to learn, asking, "Just how bad was it? And why did it happen like that?"

“Many farmers may be like slaves,” Lu Jianling replied. “As for why, the core of farming lies in soil, fertilizer, water, and seeds. Soil refers to land reclamation, soil improvement, and maintaining soil fertility, but in some areas with poor conditions, this simply won’t work. Water refers to irrigation. The places where villages and communities still exist today have been cultivated for thousands of years, but in some places, drought resistance and flood control are simply impossible. As for fertilizer, I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard that you Westerners have developed very good fertilizers, but as you can imagine, many areas here cannot import them. As for seeds, it’s the same principle as fertilizer.”

“Village communes are centralized, and individuals are not allowed to operate freely and flexibly. The collective pays a fixed amount of grain, and the managers of the village communes also pay a considerable amount of money. If village communes are implemented in a one-size-fits-all manner, poor areas will only resemble them in form but not in essence, and they simply cannot survive. In some places that were originally quite good, the farmers simply become unwilling to work hard.”

"The villages and communities are not wrong. The problem lies in the fact that our country is too big and there are too many places with poor conditions. The fact that officials do not care about the people's plight is not the root cause."

In the end, Lu Jianling couldn't help but sigh.

Chapter 885 I've calculated it all, let's go to Mongolia, I'll take you flying across the north and south.

Ronan leaned against the tree. "You're right. However, even if village communities aren't suitable for every place, we shouldn't limit ourselves to plains that have been developed and managed for hundreds or thousands of years. There are many other places where we can do it, but it requires the power of capital, the power of the state, and the power of superhumans to develop them."

Heavy industry doesn't exist in this era, but some powerful superhumans, if they really want to, can do many things that only large machines can do.

“Difficult,” Lu Jianling said.

If a piece of land can be passed down from generation to generation, then it's good to develop it.

The problem is that it's not possible.

Even in the West, where feudalism has lasted for a long time, it seems that there are many long-established noble families. However, in reality, many of these people have only a title left. Even if a few decent people reappear in the family, it is difficult to regain what they have lost.

Just like the old nobles surrounding Ambrina's mother in the Kingdom of Phos back then. They had lost power for many years, but after years of silence, a few extraordinary individuals with some strength reappeared, so they had ideas. And what was the result? They were completely wiped out.

Many more families have long been lost to history.

For Seris, a nation that began implementing the imperial examination system and establishing a civil service system centuries ago, the reshuffling was even faster. Liu Menglong's family, claiming to be a prominent family in Jiangnan, hadn't truly achieved anything significant in centuries. After their decline, they were merely local bullies in a small village. Their resurgence this time was during the current dynasty, and Liu Menglong was only the fourth generation. Yet, even Liu Menglong's genetic abilities were already showing signs of decline.

The reshuffling happened too fast, and many people didn't even qualify to be reshuffled because they couldn't produce offspring with extraordinary powers.

Given this premise, for extraordinary individuals, engaging in construction cannot improve their cultivation level or gain power and status. However, as long as their cultivation level increases or they are promoted, they will naturally gain more privileges and wealth. Conversely, if they spend time and effort building something, it will mostly end up belonging to others. So why bother with all that effort?

In the extraordinary world, Western feudal nobles "stockpile guns but not grain, and granaries are everywhere." Even if their magic is not very suitable for combat, they still have to desperately move towards combat. On the other hand, the civil service examination officials believe that "there are golden houses in books." They study and cultivate, and cultivation is everything.

"It's not difficult. In France, after the magic pistol and armor appeared, the gap in combat power between novice mages and low-ranking orthodox mages narrowed. Many low-ranking mages began to transform and devote themselves to various research projects instead of racking their brains to take the violent route."

"Imagine if there are a large number of superhumans in the future, then the competition will be even more intense. Many superhumans will inevitably consider transforming themselves and investing in construction. Moreover, after the start of industry, the returns from construction are incomparable to those of the agricultural era."

Ronan said.

To put it bluntly, there are two main problems right now: first, there aren't enough superhumans to go around, as there aren't many, and the output of ordinary people is enough for them to share; second, the profits aren't big enough, and the return on investment isn't high.

"More importantly, many extraordinary individuals are able to have offspring with extraordinary powers."

Ronan pointed out the real key.

Unable to have decent offspring, many people in the superhuman group naturally adopt the attitude of "I don't care what happens after I die."

"I didn't expect you to have foreseen all of this."

It was only then that Lu Jianling realized that Ronan either had countermeasures for what she was worried about, or that she didn't need to worry about it at all.