Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 442

Lu Jianling's troops have frequently conducted cross-border law enforcement operations, cracking down on smugglers on the Yunnan border.

Her reason for doing this was simple: a significant portion of the Guangxi Army Corps' military expenditure came from profits obtained through smuggling salt.

Yes, strictly speaking, she was also a corrupt and lawless person, and the business she was involved in was particularly large, with the amount of smuggled salt entering the country reaching the level of millions of kilograms.

Did the imperial court not know? Of course they did, but in the past, the Guangxi army was reliable, while the chieftains on the Yunnan border were not.

A small portion of the money Luo Gang amassed went into his own pocket, while the rest was used to bribe his superiors and subordinates.

Most of it changed hands several times before being used to develop local agriculture.

He's extremely shameless; he could say we're from the same clan when he first met Ronan. But he's also a capable person; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to associate with Lu Jianling.

"I object."

"I object too."

The committee members were naturally opposed. How could they allow someone from the Guangxi clique to sit in this position? They would even allow a foreigner to sit in this position, but not someone from the Guangxi clique.

This is perfectly normal.

Chapter 1028: Throwing a brick to get jade, killing two birds with one stone; I don't like it, but I can accept it.

The fact that Governor Luo Gang was strongly opposed was entirely within Luo Nan's expectations.

Because Lu Jianling's recommendation of this person was at Luo Nan's behest.

This is, in another sense, a way of "throwing out a brick to attract jade" (a Chinese idiom meaning to offer a

Since you're all against it, we have to nominate someone, right?

However, no one came forward to recommend Wang Pingzhen, Lu Ming, and Chen Guangyao, three people who truly had achievements and were qualified for the position.

The reasons are still the same.

Ultimately, it's because of the previous internal purge that everyone wanted to avoid being suspected of forming cliques while the storm hadn't completely died down. This sentiment was shared by everyone on the committee, regardless of whether they were young or old, officials or businessmen, politicians or military personnel, or from local or out-of-town factions.

I'm afraid that if I say something wrong, people will take the opportunity to label me.

So what can we do? We can only recommend someone else.

Then, unsurprisingly, all of these nominees were rejected.

Without political achievements and sufficient qualifications, it is impossible to win the hearts of the people.

The situation reached a stalemate at this point.

At this moment, Ambrina, who had almost never spoken and even ate snacks during the meeting and was always considered a filler, suddenly spoke up, "Why hasn't anyone recommended Governor Guo? I think he's very good."

Ambrina's words silenced everyone.

In fact, Guo Mingli had no political achievements or qualifications, because since he came to Guangdong, he has been almost invisible. Apart from going to the yamen to check his official documents before the Lunar New Year to officially take office, he has not been to the government for more than half a year. Let alone doing anything for Guangdong, he has not even inquired about what was happening in Guangdong.

However, Guo Mingli remained the actual Governor of Guangdong.

Guangdong actually rebelled, but not in name only.

Guangdong acknowledges all appointments and removals made by the imperial court, but in practice, it does not accept them.

This is different from Jiangnan, where officials who were unwilling to submit were politely sent out of the country at the beginning of the uprising, and then a new government was formed by their own people.

Then another question arises: Is Governor Guo Mingli qualified to be the chairman of this development committee?

He has it, he must have it.

If he didn't, it would raise another question: Lu Delin, Wang Sizheng, Xu Tianci, and even Pei Jinghai and their ilk were all originally officials of the imperial court, and they still are. What gives them the right to be high-ranking members of the committee? And why should some lower-ranking officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants be subordinate to them?

The most typical example is Lü Delin. He does nothing, comes from a prominent family in Jiangnan, and still holds this position. The only reason he is still there is that he was the former Guangdong Provincial Governor.

If Guo Mingli is not qualified, then he is not qualified either. If Lü Delin is not qualified, then how is the hierarchy of this committee determined?

Without a doubt, political power would grow out of the barrel of a gun. If that happens, then Lu Jianling and Pei Jinghai would be in power, which is unacceptable.

"I think it's okay."

"agree."

"feasible."

For a moment, a crowd echoed, but they all managed to squeeze out these words with difficulty.

Deep down, they didn't want Guo Mingli to be in this position, but it was still more acceptable for Guo Mingli to be in this position than for someone from the Guangxi clique or a foreigner to be in this position.

After a voting process, Guo Mingli became the chairman of the Development Committee.

The next step is to determine the various subordinate departments.

The farm and the industrial area were occupied by Elena and Agustina respectively, and it wouldn't work if others didn't take them; otherwise, the farm wouldn't be able to operate smoothly.

It's true that many people are wavering in their stance and have thoughts of jumping ship, but if Guangdong shows signs of defeat, they can only barely preserve some of their capital and reduce losses if they turn to other forces; they will never gain any benefit whatsoever.

Because they are from Guangdong.

The allure of gaining merit through service to the emperor is undoubtedly far greater than the former, so they generally hope that Guangdong can be better now.

The salt was handed over to Cui Heyou, who was originally in charge of salt transportation. He was a very distant relative of Cui Shikang, and they had no prior contact.

None of this was unexpected; what was surprising was that Guo Mingli nominated Lu Mingen to be the head of the Ministry of Commerce.

Who is Lu Ming'en?

Many people present didn't immediately recognize who it was, but gradually, some of them did.

Lu Ming'en was also a member of the Zhennan Military Headquarters. He was a general who had made great military achievements in the previous war against Annam. He was the second most important person in the military headquarters who remained in Guangdong, second only to Cui Shikang.

Why is he the Minister of Commerce?

While others hadn't yet seen through it, Choi Se-kang, who had already become the military chairman, had already seen through it all. He wouldn't allow a single unit that he could profoundly influence.

Lu Ming'en is a general and also a businessman. When he goes to the Ministry of Commerce, he will definitely take a group of people with him, who will naturally be military officers.

With the officers gone, aren't the soldiers just scattered at will?

The key point is that Lu Ming'en himself is definitely willing to do this, and even if he is not, the officers below him are forcing him to do so.

Since Lu Ming'en became a "minister," wouldn't his subordinates smoothly become "department heads"? If they didn't leave and stayed in the army, these officers would only be company commanders, and as non-direct subordinates, they might be ordered to take on tough tasks to prove their loyalty. Who would want that? After fighting the Annamite army for months in the military headquarters, would they just want to fight again in a different place?

They've had enough of the fighting. They've lost all their properties in the military headquarters and only brought back some loose change. Would they be a fool not to take the opportunity to become an official now?

Soon, the others also understood.

It became clear that this not only completely weakened Cui Shikang, forcing him to be a purely military chairman, but also completely excluded local Cantonese forces from the departments in charge of the economy.

This is yet another move that kills two birds with one stone.

They had no choice but to accept it, since it was actually an acceptable outcome. Although the military headquarters and the government were not on the same page, they were still Cantonese people.

At this moment, Ronan smiled easily, everything was under his control.

His actions were not due to any deep-seated hatred towards the people of Guangdong, nor was it because he trusted others excessively.

The main reason was that he wanted to prevent this rebellious ship from being hijacked by the people of Guangdong.

Therefore, while the entire Gongjin Association is not entirely composed of people from other places, it is difficult to find many Cantonese people who are deeply rooted in the local area.

The secondary reason, of course, is to avoid the Guangdong people forming a xenophobic group and creating resistance when accommodating people from other places.

Subsequently, some positions in departments under the Development Committee were reassigned to former Guangxi officials.

Luo Gang, the governor of Guangxi, did not get the position. He did not take the position because the diplomatic chief position that was originally intended for Guo Mingli was to be given to him, so that he would be responsible for pacifying the three southwestern provinces and prevent them from stabbing him in the back when the military operation was launched later.

Thus, the Guangxi faction officially joined the Gongjinhui.

In a few days, some of them will become informal members, while Lu Jianling, the leader of the Guangxi faction, will automatically become an official member when she becomes the vice chairman of the Military Commission.

Many people are not satisfied with this situation, but if it weren't this situation, then some people would be very satisfied while others would be extremely dissatisfied.

Chapter 1029 Cruel Officials, Military Affairs, Handing Over Talent and Technology?

The day's meeting ended, and the top leaders of the Military Committee and the Development Committee finalized the decisions; progress was faster than expected.

Ronan had not anticipated that the victory in the war, the economic development, and the recent crackdown on counter-revolutionaries would have such a significant effect, making a group of people so rational that not a single person jumped out to deliberately argue or oppose them from beginning to end.

If someone insists on contradicting us, we'll fall into a tug-of-war again.

Furthermore, Ronan didn't actually have any immediate effective methods to deal with these contrarian and troublesome people.

To reiterate, if someone within the system uses methods within the system to confront you, and you still don't want to compromise, then you can only find another way, start a new project, and put the person you want to deal with into this new project.

Otherwise, even the emperor would have a headache.

As for leaders, taking a hard line openly is the worst approach, and it will undoubtedly breed a group of cruel officials. Cruel officials are not knives that can be used and discarded at will. Cruel officials are not fools either. For the sake of their own political lives, they are a group of people who will create "counter-revolutionaries" even if there are none. Their subjective initiative is ridiculously high.

Reject the cruel officials, then put the brakes on?

What a joke! Things have blown up. To deny the cruel officials is to deny oneself. The cruel officials will do everything possible to turn the "anti-revolutionary purge" into a politically correct practice and normalize it.

In fact, during his decades-long rule of France, Ronan never used cruel officials; he merely employed people who resembled cruel officials to achieve similar goals.

Although they talk about arresting those who are not patriotic, even some of the intellectuals who are arrested are not accused of things like opposing the king, as was the case in the past. Even if they are framed, they are given a crime that complies with current laws.

Instead of creating things like political prisoners.

Before leaving France, Ronan abolished the "secret service" altogether, fearing that his newly enthroned son might not be able to handle the situation properly and allow agencies like the security bureau and oversight bureau to grow too large, become corrupt, and eventually become "correct."

Going back to reality.

Before this meeting, Ronan had prepared that it would take three to five days to sort out the personnel matters at the top of the Military Commission and the Development Commission.

After all, you can't just use force; you need to lay the groundwork, and laying the groundwork takes time.

It's a pleasant surprise that it was completed in one day.

After the meeting, Lu Jianling found Luo Nan.

"What is it?" Ronan asked with slight curiosity, thinking that Lu Jianling shouldn't be dissatisfied with the result.

Lu Jianling sighed softly, "If you do it this way, there will be too many factions within the army, which is not good."

“There are many factions, but there won’t be a situation of multiple leaders, and that’s enough,” Ronan replied.

“You really are a novice in this regard,” Lu Jianling said, shaking his head. “You don’t understand. Soldiers will do anything to fight for credit. The consequence of having too many factions is that they will do anything to get decisions that are favorable to their side. If that doesn’t work, then the best thing to do is to let friendly forces die.”

"Don't assume that whatever the commander says goes. The lower-ranking officers are all superhumans. Do you really think they're that obedient?"

Ronan nodded. "That makes sense. So what do you think we should do?"

"Unified training," Lu Jianling replied.

"Be a little more specific," Ronan gestured for Lu Jianling to provide some details.

"Junior officers and ordinary soldiers trained together to instill the authority of military law in their hearts. They were taught to fear the law more than people. Simply put, any violation of the rules would be punished until the soldiers submitted, until the enemy's bullets and artillery were no match for the military law." Lu Jianling recounted, undoubtedly a qualified general of the "era of queuing for execution."

"Is that all?" Ronan asked calmly.

"Of course, it's not just that. Ordinary people who perform exceptionally well will be promoted. In the past, this was obviously difficult, since it was impossible to make them superhumans. But now it's different," Lu Jianling added. She knew very well that it wouldn't work without tangible benefits.

"Hmm, is there anything else?" Ronan asked again.

"Another is a common goal. Only a common goal can make them regard others as comrades-in-arms. Ideally, this goal should include something beyond the material level."

Lu Jianling said.

Early humans were brought together by abstract concepts; to unite people, such a concept is needed.

"How much money and how much time will it take?" Ronan asked his last question.

The difference between a mature and an immature leader lies here: when considering a plan, the first thing to consider is not whether it is good or not, but its cost.

"I don't know exactly how much it will cost, but it may take two years."

Lu Jianling said.

Upon hearing that it would take two years, Ronan frowned. "Alright, I'll try my best to give you two years."

"What do you mean?" Lu Jianling keenly sensed that something was wrong.

Ronan smiled. "I have to leave for a few days to attend a meeting, which is very important, even more important than the expanded meeting that is not yet finished."

“Then…” A look of worry appeared on Lu Jianling’s face.

“Don’t worry, Anri and the others can handle things. Don’t underestimate her. She’s been a queen in a country that’s constantly reforming for decades,” Ronan said. “In terms of political maneuvering alone, Anri is no less capable than me.”

Lu Jianling breathed a sigh of relief. "What exactly is going on?"

"You don't think that our ability to bestow talents upon ordinary people on a large scale hasn't been exposed yet, do you? I've contacted some of the top superhumans and asked them to invite high-ranking officials from all sides so we can discuss this matter properly."

"If we don't discuss this matter properly, we could become public enemies at any time."