Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 447

But it feels so good, so refreshing.

Guo Hanlu took the initiative without restraint. Her legs, half clean and half dirty, clamped around Ronan. She pressed her whole body against Ronan, her hands gripping his shoulder blades like sharp claws. She twisted her waist and thrust her hips forward, again and again, wanting to be penetrated deeper.

Soon, the constant collisions between their lower bodies caused vaginal fluids to splatter everywhere.

Gradually, Guo Hanlu's moans grew louder, and her movements became increasingly lewd. Holding Ronan's hands, she leaned back, head tilted back, legs spread wide, enduring Ronan's relentless thrusts. Her toes, stained with dirty, sand-covered stockings, were spread wide, mirroring her unfolding lust.

Chapter 1038 Even a petty person can be of great use; the tricks of officialdom; being questioned is a matter of power.

Qiongzhou, Qiongzhou Prefecture.

In the Kingdom of David, the vast island of Hainan is not a province, but a prefecture under the jurisdiction of Guangdong. It's just that this prefecture is a bit larger and usually has a higher degree of independence.

The prefect and Ronan had corresponded before and knew that Ronan had come, but he did not host a banquet for Ronan. It was not that he was disrespectful, but that Qiongzhou was not officially "insurgent" and was still under the control of the imperial court. However, in reality, it was no different from a rebellion.

After changing into their new clothes, Ronan and Guo Hanlu casually picked a few coconuts, bought a chicken, some seasonings, a black earthenware pot, and some rice, and made a coconut chicken dish. They also cooked some rice, and that was their dinner.

After dinner, the two of them took a walk on the beach in wooden clogs.

Ronan brought up work again, saying, "The secretariat will be hiring more people later."

The Secretariat has been renamed the Secretariat, but ridiculously, there is only one secretary, Ronan, and the rest are still secretaries, so most people still call it the Secretariat.

"Add more?" Guo Hanlu asked, puzzled.

The secretariat already has dozens of secretaries, why add more people? Are they just here to serve tea and water?

"We plan to recruit the children of those who previously rebelled within Guangdong," Ronan continued.

Guo Hanlu stopped in shock and stared blankly at Ronan.

She really couldn't understand what kind of operation this was. Not only did they not punish the victims, but they also gave preferential treatment to the rebels? Although she knew very well that those people did not really want to rebel, but just wanted to create their own united front value and try to get into the core of the Gongjin Society.

To everyone's surprise, Ronan wiped them out with lightning speed. Although he didn't completely exterminate the clan, he confiscated their property. Part of the assets were given to the people in the military headquarters, while the rest were auctioned off and ended up in the hands of some members of the Progressive Association.

The Xingyingfu (military headquarters) thus became a new faction.

Since they were the murderers and had taken away the businesses that some people had already taken for granted, they were unable to join forces with the local Guangdong faction.

"Why?" Guo Hanlu asked.

Ronan took Guo Hanlu's hand and led her forward, "Because these rootless duckweeds will surround our Chairman Zhao and fight with the others in the Secretariat."

The original secretaries of the secretariat were composed of a complex group, roughly divided into three factions: the Foshan faction, the committee members' faction, and the Luonan faction.

The Foshan faction consisted of young people who had worked with Luo Nan in Foshan before. Like the official officials of the Foshan Coastal Defense Subprefecture, although they worked in Foshan, almost none of them were local Foshan residents; they were all from other prefectures and counties in Guangdong.

It's easy to say that the committee members are from different factions. They say they are a faction, but it's hard to say for sure because before the committee was expanded, there were already several small cliques within it.

The Ronan faction refers to a few people who have been with Ronan for a long time, including the newly joined Guo Hanlu and Yan Guangzong.

"Is it a good thing to start fighting?" Guo Hanlu asked, puzzled.

Ronan smiled slightly, "It's not good, but it's necessary. First, we need to find something for our Chairman Zhao to do, so that he won't be so eager to show his presence like he was at the previous meeting."

"Secondly, these people will help prevent some truly capable and ambitious individuals from getting close to our Chairman Zhao."

"It doesn't matter what they were like before, they can only be villains now anyway."

"Toilet paper can be useful, let alone treacherous officials."

Guo Hanlu understood Ronan's scheme, but still had doubts, "Aren't you worried that they'll make a mess of the secretariat, or take the opportunity to expand their power?"

“No one can replace me in the secretariat, not because they respect or approve of me, but because if I were to change positions, everyone would feel uneasy,” Ronan said with a confident smile. “I’m bringing this up because there are quite a few young girls among these rebels. They won’t be hostile to you; on the contrary, they’ll be close to you. You don’t have to get too close to them, but don’t make things too awkward. After all, one of them might just become Chairman Zhao’s woman.”

Although Zhao Junyong wasn't exactly averse to women in the past, he wasn't particularly interested in them either, because he was single-mindedly focused on becoming an extraordinary being.

After becoming a superhuman, he continued to pursue power without restraint.

But things are different now; he has free time.

Among the newly hired secretaries, those young girls were originally from wealthy families and were even superhumans. Now they have suddenly fallen from grace, and they have the opportunity to spend time with Chairman Zhao, the number one figure in the Gongjin Association. Need I say more about what will happen?

Guo Hanlu nodded, then deliberately asked, "Aren't you worried about young men getting close to me?"

"Whatever," Ronan said in a nonchalant tone.

"You're really making me furious!" Guo Hanlu stomped her foot in anger. "I've already decided on you, and this is the kind of attitude you give me."

“This is my way of showing trust,” Ronan said.

Guo Hanlu angrily shook off Luo Nan's hand, but immediately grabbed it again, saying, "Don't even think about making me leave. I'm sticking to you."

“Alright, there’s something else I need to tell you,” Ronan said.

Guo Hanlu fell silent immediately; she had begun to get used to Ronan discussing business during his private time.

"The Association is expanding as a whole. Currently, we have only established the ministers. There are still a lot of positions available. The secretariat's responsibility going forward is to review the submitted personnel information. You guys will be very busy from now on."

"Time is limited, be prepared to work overtime continuously."

Guo Hanlu frowned. "Don't the ministers just send their trusted subordinates and people they've already connected with directly? What's the point of reviewing them? They're just going to be the ones doing it anyway."

“Have you ever been an official or not?” Ronan sighed. “First, the necessary procedures must be followed. Our control over these procedures is the foundation for establishing a portion of personnel power.”

"Secondly, they won't do it so simply and crudely. They will definitely have multiple candidates and deliberately leave some questions to induce you to ask for their opinions."

"For example, if you were me now, and I saw several ministerial personnel recommendations, but I had no idea what kind of people these people were, shouldn't I ask the minister who he would like to work with and who he prefers to have in a subordinate position to assist him in his work?"

"It seems so," Guo Hanlu replied.

“You, my foot! If you go like that, the initiative in personnel matters will fall back into his hands. As the central authority, you need to fully consider his opinions, but only consider them, understand?” Ronan couldn’t help but curse, then said, “You need to try to figure out his intentions from the documents he submits. If you’re not sure, send them back. Keep bothering him a few times until he comes to ask for your opinion. At the same time, conduct some investigations, public investigations, and use this opportunity to establish investigative authority. This is another way of seizing power without even realizing it, understand?”

Guo Hanlu fell silent. Although she didn't grasp the meaning immediately, she understood a great deal.

Ronan's expression softened, and he patted Guo Hanlu on the shoulder, "You still have a lot to learn. This is a chance for you to practice."

"Me?" Guo Hanlu wasn't that confident.

"Don't worry about it, I'll clean up your messes," Ronan reassured him.

Guo Hanlu looked helpless. "Couldn't you have used the word 'safety net'?"

"I'm a rough man."

Chapter 1039 National Law and Family Law, Prostitute's Arch, Let's Wait and See (Don't Say That)

Personnel work in each department and the drafting of the new law are being carried out simultaneously.

Personnel work is proceeding smoothly, but the drafting of the new law has encountered great difficulties.

To be precise, even the draft outline was unacceptable.

The root cause lies in the conflict of ideas, not in specific laws and regulations.

Simply put, Ronan only wanted the national law, while they wanted both national law and "family law" to run in parallel.

This is not a helpless compromise with the power of clans.

In this extraordinary world, even a mortal's own son might become a slave to an extraordinary father's adopted son. The so-called clan is nothing more than a family business established by an individual extraordinary person, which is not actually a family business at all.

That's why Lu Ming was known for confiscating property, and that's why Luo Nan was able to eliminate rebels in other prefectures and counties of Guangdong so easily.

This dual-track system is not a reflection of the rulers taking so-called ethical principles and moral integrity seriously.

On the contrary, they do not want the people to be pure, gentlemen, or virtuous women; instead, they want everyone to be able to break the law in name at any time.

This law is "family law," or a kind of "morality."

Only when they treat the people as cattle or horses, yet who are actually human beings, and who are prone to breaking the law, can they "not go against their conscience" to reward or punish these cattle or horses, thereby achieving their goal of controlling and taming them.

Do these rulers have a conscience? Of course not, but they need to. With this facade of "conscience," they won't be seen as rulers who rely on violence. Incidentally, they can also have their cake and eat it too.

For this reason, they hoped that "national law" and "family law" would coexist, and that certain seemingly good principles would serve as the bond between the two.

Ronan's new law, on the contrary, aims to relax the pressure on the lower classes while increasing enforcement against the upper classes.

This naturally drew unanimous opposition.

Ronan invited Xu Tianci out, and it was just the two of them.

"A good society should encourage the strong, but also protect the weak." That was the first thing Ronan said upon meeting.

Xu Tianci looked surprised. "Brother Luo, why are you spouting such empty words? This isn't like you."

He really wanted to laugh, because Ronan seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick, but he didn't laugh, because far too many times when he and even they thought Ronan was going to get the short end of the stick, they were the ones who ended up getting the short end of the stick.

If I laugh now, but then the situation reverses later, wouldn't I look like a clown?

Ronan chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Actually, I'm a passionate young man with ideals. Do you believe me?"

“You can believe it, I even have a very positive view of the new law. It’s not that I really think it’s good, but I think it’s an inevitable trend that will come sooner or later. So, how about giving everyone some time?” Xu Tianci said, emphasizing only the last sentence: give everyone some time.

Ronan poured two cups of tea. "I can wait, but this country can't."

Xu Tianci took a sip of tea and sighed, "Throughout the millennia, systems, laws, and even morality have changed countless times. It's like a ship sailing on an endless sea, constantly replacing its hull planks. Today, the ship is completely different from the original one. But, Brother Luo, do you know when these hull planks will be replaced?"

"Leaking?" Ronan asked, like a straight man in a comedy duo.

“Of course not,” Xu Tianci waved his hand in denial. “The ship is too big. Some parts leak, some don’t. It’s even possible that the lord, sitting in a good seat, sees people bailing water out of the leak and asks, ‘What are you doing?’ The people reply, ‘We’re desperately bailing water because the ship is sinking.’ Then the lord says, ‘Don’t be so gloomy, be more proactive. Why isn’t water coming in around me? Are you being so proactive because you’ve been paid to smear me?’”

As he spoke, Xu Tianci laughed at himself, partly out of genuine amusement and partly out of a sense of melancholy, because he himself was one of those foolish old men.

"There are only two possibilities for replacing the ship's planks."

"First, someone couldn't take it anymore and caused a bloody incident. Even though he was suppressed and punished, in order to prevent this from happening again, the ship planks were replaced."

"Second, the master thinks that replacing a piece of the ship's plank would be more comfortable. Even if replacing it doesn't stop the losses, it's not a good thing. We still have to replace it."

Xu Tianci explained the reasoning.

Ronan took a sip of tea. "So, you want to force me to cause a large-scale bloodshed? Ha, that's exactly what you want."

Xu Tianci raised the corners of his mouth but did not respond.

What forged Ronan's undefeated record? It wasn't his extraordinary physical strength or his exceptional economic capabilities, but rather his ability to skillfully employ political means and maintain perfect discretion.

If you can't outmaneuver Ronan in the real game of political maneuvering, what can you do?

The only thing we can do is try to make him lose his sense of propriety.

Ronan finished the rest of his tea in one gulp. "If that's the case, then I'll assume you're serious."

"We'll see," Xu Tianci replied with only four words.

What other methods could Ronan use besides coercive measures mixed with violence to introduce and implement a new law? Incite infighting among them? Unfortunately, on this matter, the largest faction within the Progressive Party is currently united, and the tactic of dividing one faction and attacking another is no longer effective.

A few days later, everyone realized once again that Ronan was consistently unfunny when it came to making people laugh.

Luo Nan brought some people from the imperial court to Guangdong.

Most of these people were officials, but there were others, from Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Before the Great Sacrifice to Heaven incident, although they were not doing very well because of the strong support behind them, they were not bad either. Having lived in the capital for many years, they were very familiar with the de-clan-based system in the North. But now, the court is completely dominated by Northerners. The Jiangnan faction in the court originally had to go to the West with Lao Zhang to keep an eye on the Northwest, and they have become marginalized.

With the imperial court facing financial difficulties, they couldn't even pay their salaries on time.

What? They're not with Jiangnan? Damn it, everyone south of the Yellow River is from the south, don't you understand?

After Ronan made a brief communication with the imperial court, the court transferred and promoted all of them. They then immediately came to Guangdong with Ronan. The court knew that this was mostly due to internal strife in Guangdong, so of course they had to give them strong support.

Now the court has connections, right?

Chairman Zhao was also pleased to see this. In any case, the more factions there were, and the weaker each faction was, the more likely he, as a puppet, would have to shed his puppet status.

"Brother Luo, it's not very fair of you to call in outsiders when brothers are fighting." Xu Tianci questioned him as soon as they met for the second time.

Ronan laughed. “Outsiders? They have people from Guangdong and Guangxi, genuine locals, and those from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan are also our allies. But Old Xu, in terms of background, you're a northerner.”

"Aren't you?" Xu Tianci retorted.

Ronan poured tea. "I'm sorry, I became a Guangdong citizen three years ago. I am a Cantonese."

Xu Tianci held his teacup. "That's enough. I admit defeat, but the content of the law and its scope of application must be discussed carefully."

“You wouldn’t have needed to do this if you had said so earlier, but since they’re already here, I can’t just send them back,” Ronan said with a smile.

"Ha, it's obvious you wanted to bring these people in from the beginning." Xu Tianci felt helpless. Once again, Ronan had won.

Chapter 1040 Lifting the Roof and Opening the Window, Less Iron Fist Blown, the Mystery of the Root Cause

The drafting of the new law may take three to five years to be fully completed, while its implementation may take ten years.

However, this does not mean that a new law will be finalized in three to five years, and then decades will be spent promoting and improving it.

Instead, they first set some goals, then introduced some policies, and finally implemented some of them.

It mainly starts with tax law and commercial law.

It's not a one-step solution; we need to approach it by specific areas.