Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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“We know, but if you don’t say it out loud, we’ll pretend we don’t know,” Elena replied. “You’ve worked in the Ministry of Revenue in Seris, so you already know quite a bit. With the help of experienced people, it won’t be a problem at all.”

"Why not hire a local?" Guo Hanlu asked.

“Balance,” Elena replied succinctly.

"I need to ask my father." Guo Hanlu has always been someone who likes to make decisions on her own, but when it comes to important matters, she won't act rashly.

"And that guy surnamed Bai can also come. It would be best if he went to the supervisory department so you can learn more." After saying that, Elena left. She was really busy and had to deal with the farmers' association matters later.

Guo Hanlu stood still, as if afraid they didn't understand this rebel group enough. Mr. Ronan has quite the spirit.

Meanwhile, the others were also busy. Agustina and the three members of the technical team were in charge of production and had already moved into the factory area.

Isabel, Ashley, and Golan were secretly gathering various pieces of evidence. After the war, the committee needed to be reorganized, which involved more than just expansion and job changes; it also required purging a number of people. Committee members who had not demonstrated sufficient patriotism during the war were to be removed.

Even Zhao Yingqi got busy, assisting Alice. They were now in an agency under the committee's military law department, responsible for overseeing the committee's non-committee members.

All I can say is that being Ronan's woman is like being a beast of burden—working like an ox and being ridden like a horse.

The only one who was relatively free was Ambrina. To put it nicely, she was involved in promotional work; to put it bluntly, she was just playing music and dancing.

Ronan and Dinah, needless to say, assisted the young chairman Zhao Jun in using junior comrades to control the committee.

Chapter 946 One Province Wins Over a Nation: The People's Desperate Efforts Remind One of the Fear of Being Dominated by That Man

The war began in May 1612 and lasted for six months. In November, Annam offered a ceasefire.

The war simply could not continue.

Guangxi is a poor place, and in this war, Guangdong almost single-handedly resisted Annam.

This was something Annam had never expected. Guangdong was a province Annam knew quite well. Indeed, its industry and commerce were quite developed, and it exported various goods, including ironware, to Southeast Asian countries year-round. However, Guangdong's population and agriculture were just so-so.

Annam had a population more than twice that of Guangdong, and it was a unified nation encompassing Vietnam, Siam, and Myanmar. It possessed several plains with abundant water resources, resulting in a high agricultural output.

But as the war progressed to this point, even Annam was starting to experience some difficulties, while Guangdong was still holding on.

Guangdong was not only able to supply civilian soldiers to the front lines, but these civilian soldiers were also in high spirits, which was completely incomprehensible.

The reason for the high price is actually quite simple: the status of a farmer's association member or a trade union member can only be inherited by one family member.

Non-farmers' association members can work for the association and have the union help mediate work-related issues, but they do not enjoy the same benefits as association or union members. Farmers' association members receive low-interest loans, education subsidies, and medical subsidies, while union members receive even more benefits.

In a sense, they are already citizens, except that becoming a citizen requires paying a fee.

Some farmers and workers who weren't lucky enough to be born in the right place or seize the right opportunities could only join farmers' associations and labor unions by making a name for themselves on the battlefield. The key was that even getting into the battlefield required connections, since good land and factories were limited. In Luonan, Guangdong, excluding the Pearl River Delta, the areas within the scope of farmers' associations were very limited, so the number of members was also very limited. As for factories, apart from Foshan and the area centered around Guangzhou, there weren't many large factories elsewhere.

The farmers who were conscripted and given a brief training in marching and firing guns were all eager to fight to the death. How could their morale not be high?

What surprised Annam even more was that Guangdong could also replenish its ranks with super soldiers.

Farmers and workers wanted to change their fate, and scholars wanted it even more. Although they had been given talents and were no less capable than those extraordinary individuals in their studies, they quickly became non-orthodox extraordinary individuals as well.

The saying that "superhumans are masters" used to be true, but it's not necessarily true now.

In the past, there were fewer extraordinary individuals, and didn't you see them automatically gaining fame and fortune? Now there are many more extraordinary individuals, but the number of servants is limited, so the number of masters is also limited. Inevitably, some extraordinary individuals won't become masters. Moreover, those who are already masters are willing to spend exorbitant sums to make their descendants extraordinary, further squeezing out their positions.

What can we do then? We can only try to make a contribution.

What is the purpose of studying? In the past, it was to become the master's advisor. Now, it's to become the master himself. Why not work hard for that?

These two groups of people, along with a group of "natives" who could originally be considered slaves, continued to join the battlefield, which completely broke Annam, forcing the front lines to retreat to Hanoi for defense.

This couldn't go on any longer, so they had no choice but to "surrender".

At this moment, at the port, a tripartite meeting was held.

One side represents Seris, led by Lu Jianling and Pei Jinghai; the other side represents Annam, led by the current Prime Minister of Annam, the leader of the Han Army's Hengzi Banner, and a candidate for the throne, Li Deyu; and the last side consists of representatives from four Western countries, including governors, directors, agents, and all sorts of other fancy figures—the Kingdom of Fas, the Kingdom of Weland, the Kingdom of Villa, and the Republic of the Netherlands.

"Our demands are very simple: Weiguo should abolish the Zhennan Military Command," Li Deyu said. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was a representative of the victorious nation, but those in the know understood that he was just making a grand entrance and asking for an exorbitant price.

“Okay,” Lu Jianling replied.

Huh? Li Deyu wondered if there was something wrong with his ears. Not only him, but the negotiating representatives of the four Western countries were also dumbfounded.

“But there are conditions,” Lu Jianling added.

She readily agreed, at Ronan's behest; the concession was a prelude to making exorbitant demands later. The deeper reason, however, was that the military headquarters could no longer sustain itself. The ordinary people in the Zhennan Military Headquarters were mainly fishermen from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, while many of the core superhumans were from Jiangnan or even the North. With the current domestic turmoil, these superhumans were eager to return home and had no desire to remain overseas.

"What are the conditions?" Li Deyu asked.

Lu Jianling spoke again, “First, the areas under the jurisdiction of the Zhennan Military Command will be established as independent kingdoms by the locals, and the Champa Kingdom will be rebuilt. Second, Annam will pay 100 million taels of silver and 300,000 tons of grain as compensation. Third, the two sides will exchange prisoners, but your king must step down.”

Li Deyu laughed in anger. Letting the people of the southern plains establish an independent country? That's a fertile plain with nearly a million people. If that's the case, does it make any difference whether the military headquarters is closed or not? Also, 100 million taels of silver? Even if you sold Annam in its entirety, you wouldn't get that much money. 300,000 tons of grain? That's impossible too. Giving that much grain would cause a famine in the country.

As for the third point, that's acceptable, since the war situation is what it is, and the king was going to step down anyway.

"So what if you become an independent nation? Without our support, you can slowly erode our territory. In any case, we won't be able to attend to you for quite some time," Lu Jianling said. "This is a competition. If you complete your integration before our country is stabilized, then there's nothing we can do. Doesn't that make sense?"

Li Deyu thought it made a lot of sense. This General Lu was truly an honest and good person who could actually consider things from the other person's perspective.

However, the representatives from the four Western countries, especially France, did not look too pleased, because this "honest" speaking style was too much like that man.

That man always does the same thing, always saying things like, "I only won a little, you won big, we both win, let's win together."

“We really can’t give you 100 million taels,” Li Deyu said.

"A discount, ninety million?" Lu Jianling asked.

Li Deyu's already dark face turned even darker. Do you even know how much 90 million is?

"A maximum of twenty million," Li Deyu stated, his bottom line being thirty million, no more than that. Annam was actually quite wealthy; they produced spices, had plantations cultivating various imported Western crops, and possessed mines. Furthermore, they had a number of excellent ports, which could generate a considerable income.

But what do you mean by one hundred million taels? That's terrifying.

Is there any country in the world that can come up with 100 million taels of silver?

"Eighty million, to be paid in installments over five years." Lu Jianling proposed another new plan.

“Impossible.” Li Deyu firmly refused.

“If we can’t reach an agreement, then let’s not talk about this for now.” Pei Jinghai, who hadn’t spoken before, said, “Let’s talk about the Strait of Thailand.”

The long, narrow island between Thailand and Malaysia in this world does not exist, leaving a strait that has replaced the Strait of Malacca as the most important node for trade between East and West.

“Okay, but let’s stop the fighting first,” Li Deyu said.

Representatives from the four Western countries nodded in support.

"Ceasefire? That's impossible." Lu Jianling and Pei Jinghai said in unison.

Chapter 947 A Set of Territorial Cessions and Indemnities, Let's Win Together, About the Trivial Matter of Death

After more than a month of negotiations, a new agreement has been reached.

Annam will pay a total of 40 million taels of silver in war reparations, to be paid in installments over five years. Of this, 10 million taels will be set aside as a study fund for Annam students sent abroad, which will be available for five years. If there is any surplus after five years, it will not be returned to Annam.

There are also 400,000 tons of grain, to be paid for over two years.

The above is about war reparations.

In addition, there was a trade agreement that required Annam to purchase a specified amount of tea and tobacco from Yunnan.

Annam itself cannot consume so much tea, but that's alright, they can sell it to foreigners.

As for tobacco, with so many people in Annam, even if all the tobacco from Yunnan were given to them, it wouldn't be enough.

At the same time, timber and rice will be sold to Guangdong at more favorable prices.

Of course, Annam itself also benefited, as Ronan would pass on rubber planting techniques to them; however, most of the rubber would have to be sold cheaply to Guangdong.

The above is the trade agreement, which is valid for ten years.

Ten years is a satisfactory time for everyone, because in ten years, Annan will have enough time to make a comeback, and Seris will have been relatively stable by then, and a war will be inevitable.

Once war breaks out, who cares about any agreement?

Another point is to redefine the maritime boundaries, and Annam ceded northern Vietnamese ports to Guangdong and established concessions there.

Within the concession, the Seres certainly enjoyed extraterritorial rights.

It can be said that with this series of actions, Annan had gathered all the standard features of a defeated nation: ceding territory, paying reparations, and signing unequal treaties.

As for Guangdong, all they had to do was overstep their bounds and withdraw from the Zhennan Military Camp.

As I said before, if we don't withdraw, the people in the military headquarters will also want to leave. Guangdong is developing rapidly, and Guangxi is also doing quite well. The people in Guangdong and Guangxi in the military headquarters naturally want to go back. As for those extraordinary people from Jiangnan and the North, they want to leave even more. If they don't go back, it will be like being away from home for three years, until their child is a month old.

On the other side were the treaties between Guangdong and the four Western countries.

The four Western nations completely withdrew west of the Strait of Taima, while Seris retained the Zhenhai Military Camp.

The personnel composition of Zhenhai Military Camp is different. Zhenhai Military Camp is almost entirely composed of convicts, including those extraordinary individuals among them. They cannot go back, nor do they want to go back. They sit at the strait mouth and collect money, living a carefree life.

Of course, the four Western countries also benefited. With the mediation of Guangdong, the Eastern India Military Headquarters accepted the entry of the four Western countries' forces.

The people of the Eastern India Military Command were even less willing to leave. Apart from the officials, most of them found it difficult to go home and had already settled down in Bangladesh, between India and Myanmar.

Given the current state of the imperial court, they can no longer prevent foreign influence from entering the country.

For Western powers, extending their influence into Bengal would bring them closer to the core of India, allowing them to truly control the country and take a bite out of its rich territory. It's important to understand that in the past, the power of the four Western powers was mainly concentrated in western India, while the truly wealthy core region was in the northeast – a large, coveted prize that the four Western powers had long desired.

With the conclusion of negotiations, the war also came to a complete end.

Liu Chongsi and his group, who were trapped in southern Vietnam, were finally rescued. From being hunted down and losing members at the beginning, to later joining the military government and locals to resist the Annamite invasion, they now have less than 200 people left. When they came out, there were a little over 300 people, and now nearly half of them have died in a foreign land.

"How are you feeling?" Lu Jianling's first words to her son were not to express concern, but to ask him how he felt.

Liu Chongsi couldn't come up with an accurate description: "When I open my eyes, my head is buzzing; when I close my eyes, I'm dead."

He once thought he was a very shrewd person, and he was indeed quite capable, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to gather a group of people among the younger generation of the Imperial Guards in the capital. But in real war, the deaths of a few of my men and a few of yours are not like theoretical discussions or training exercises where you don't feel anything. These are living, breathing people dying.

“You and your men have made great contributions. Those who survive will receive generous rewards,” Lu Jianling said calmly. It took her twenty years to rise from a junior officer to a general, and she experienced four wars against Annam. Although three of them were not large-scale, and only one was slightly larger, it was still not as big as this one. She had lost count of how many people had died around her, and she had long since become numb.

"I want to rest and recharge. I'll leave the rest and recuperation to them," Liu Chongsi said.

He was in a bad mood, but everyone else under him was in a good mood. Perhaps he was like the noblewoman in the story who died and wailed loudly. The noblewoman couldn't understand why the peasant woman didn't cry when her daughter died and could continue drinking soup, just because there was salt in the soup.

In reality, what those who survive will receive is far more valuable than "salt"—it represents a leap in social class.

"Don't expect me to cover for you. In the army, deserting your post will make you a prime example of someone whose merits and demerits cancel each other out," Lu Jianling said.

"It doesn't matter, whatever." Liu Chongsi lowered his head and asked again, "What about those who die?"

“What do we do with the dead? When we recruited them, we specifically looked for bachelors from the local tribes. The locals live in groups, so the compensation goes to the chieftain. As for the injured, we naturally give them a large sum of money and help them find a job,” Lu Jianling answered truthfully.

Liu Chongsi looked up and sighed, "So, when a person dies, they really lose everything." Before leading the team, he was so full of vigor, but now, even though he had won, he was like a defeated rooster, unable to lift his head.

"Then go and rest. If you can't figure it out, don't come back again. You'll only be a burden to yourself and others," Lu Jianling said earnestly to her son before leaving.

She was very busy, taking stock of the situation in the army, arranging for her return to rest and recuperation, and contacting people in Yunnan.

After finishing all that, she still had to go to Guangdong. With the victory in this war, the committee needed to be reorganized and expanded, and she couldn't afford not to participate.

On the other side, Pei Jinghai was also directing the navy, partly to return and partly to facilitate the evacuation of the military headquarters personnel.

However, Pei Jinghai was thinking about the committee at this moment. The committee was going to be reorganized and expanded, which was no secret, because it was something that was bound to happen. They were not trying to establish a separatist regime, but to rebel, and they would have to fight next.

In this reorganization, Pei Jinghai did not seek promotion, but only to eliminate dissidents within the navy. This was not an difficult task. After half a year of fighting, some had made merits and some had made mistakes. Those who were on his side would be rewarded more, and those who were not on his side would be punished more. It was that simple.

In Guangdong, those in power are very nervous. For them, the victory was a month ago, and the euphoria of victory has long since worn off. Once Lu Jianling and Pei Jinghai arrive, the curtain will rise again for a new round of struggle.

Throughout history, as rebel groups expanded, there were always newcomers who surpassed them, and those who came first who fell behind.

The upcoming New Year is a great year for the lower classes, but not for them.

Chapter 948 Envy from a Married Woman: Conflict Leads to Cooperation, Why Not Directly Establish Worker-Peasant Forces?

As the New Year approaches with its looming storm, Ronan is quite relaxed; he even has the leisure to cook for others.

The guests were Guo Mingli, the newly appointed governor of Guangdong, who had been delaying his official appointment, along with his daughter and granddaughter.

Elena and her daughter Astrid were also present.

Guo Mingli's family had eaten Jianghuai merchant cuisine and Northern official cuisine. After living in Guangdong for half a year, they had tried almost all Cantonese cuisine, so Luo Nan arranged for them to have French food.

Of course, it's not authentic, much less high-end.

The first appetizer was a broth jelly topped with fish floss, which melted in your mouth with its savory and refreshing flavor.

The second dish was soup, a very common home-style soup, clam soup, which was very refreshing.

The third course was pan-fried foie gras, served with a seafood sauce. The flavor was quite rich, and it even felt a little greasy after eating it.

The fourth course, the main dish, is roast chicken. It's made with a fat capon, which is a bit old, so it was marinated overnight in brine with various spices. This ensures that the whole chicken is well-seasoned and juicy after roasting. After marinating, the surface moisture is removed, then a crispy skin glaze is applied, and it's air-dried slightly before roasting. The result is a roast chicken with a golden-brown, crispy skin and juicy, flavorful meat.

Finally, as is French tradition, for dessert, Ronan couldn't bear to let them eat anything too sweet and greasy, so he served them a sweet soup, lotus seed and white fungus soup.

Staple foods are also available, such as toasted bread slices, and alcohol, such as Fujian-style green and red wine.