Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 242

The police in the capital chose to turn a blind eye, several newspapers remained silent, relevant officials covered it up, and the Ministry of the Interior's security bureau did not take any action. Isabel told Ronan about it directly.

Why didn't Isabel deal with it directly, instead of talking to Ronan first? Well, that's a long story.

This health product is called Compassionate Wine, produced by a company in the eastern part of the kingdom. The word "compassionate" clearly indicates that it has some connection with the church.

This brings us to the issue of Protestantism. The Old Church had a clear hierarchy and a tightly organized structure, but Protestantism is not like that.

The local Protestant denominations are not subordinate to each other, nor are they directly subordinate to the headquarters. The Kingdom's Protestantism, which is neither new nor old, is slightly better than Protestantism in other countries, with a more formal organizational structure, but only slightly.

The organizational structure of Protestantism resulted in various misdeeds by local churches, leading to the emergence of numerous small sects or heresies.

The original timeline of the Ugly Kingdom was a prime example of this, with its local churches and various sects being incredibly diverse, some practically indistinguishable from cults. Since the churches were like this, why couldn't I touch what the monks touched? As a result, the Ugly Kingdom was teeming with cults, numbering in the tens of thousands.

To get back to reality, in short, it was against this backdrop that a former clergyman in the East, who had returned to secular life, claimed to have accidentally obtained a secret recipe from a small, extinct sect. He combined this recipe with a mysterious remedy from the East and a local herb to create a medicinal wine.

This guy is a marketing genius; in just a few years, his medicinal wine became a hit.

After Ronan discovered it, he conducted some tests. It wasn't entirely without benefits; it did contain some tonics and herbs, which had some effect and no major harm, at most some adverse reactions. So he gave it a green light and allowed it to enter the market.

Why do this?

The answer is poverty alleviation. The eastern region is poor, and some mountainous areas raise sheep, but there are even poorer areas, such as places that don't even have sheep.

This medicinal wine was produced in such an extremely poor place.

Ronan is unlikely to implement any transfer payments. Even if he were to transfer funds, it would be to areas with real potential, as the country is currently short of funds.

Since a miracle drug has been developed, let it be. Let it make you some money and boost local development. Consider it a form of poverty alleviation. Once you're out of poverty, just live your own lives and don't cause trouble. The country will pretend that this place doesn't exist and that you poor bastards don't exist. We don't need your efforts or manpower.

So why is Ronan targeting this Compassionate Medicinal Wine again this time?

Because it grew big and made money, instead of thinking about researching something truly reliable or recruiting more impoverished households into the factory, it used the money to buy properties and houses in the capital.

I was counting on you to be a tool for poverty alleviation, to stabilize the local area, and even to develop it into a legitimate business. But instead, you came to the capital to buy a house and want to transform into a real estate developer.

Simply looking for death!

Ronan then told Dinya about it, and Dinya was naturally furious.

"Tell me, what should we do?" Dinia questioned Ronan.

"What else can we do? Shut down the company, confiscate its property, and exterminate the entire family," Ronan said.

Dinia disagreed. She took two steps, sat down in a chair, and sighed deeply. "Destroying this disgusting place and confiscating its property is easy, but what about the town and the surrounding villages? Will we send them back to poverty?"

Ronan poured himself a cup of tea. "There are always things in this world that only God the Father can solve."

Dinia frowned. "Speak like a human."

"Okay, speak plainly. In plain terms, while they still have some savings, give them a ship ticket to the colony."

Ronan said.

In recent years, industry and agriculture have been booming, the economy has developed rapidly, urbanization has been rapid, and the population has been growing year by year. However, whether in cities or in rural areas, the number of people living in poverty has been increasing. The various problems brought about by these poor people are simply too much to handle, or the cost of handling them is too high, so we can only resort to colonies when all else fails.

There is no poverty that colonies cannot solve; if there is, then expand the colonies further.

Dinia didn't speak, but just twirled a pen in one hand and tapped the table with the other, continuing like this for a long time. "Even if we win in the future, there won't be fewer poor people, will there?"

Camille coughed. "I'm going out to get a glass of water." Then she left.

Ronan took a sip of tea and started chatting idly.

"Law is the minimum of morality, while the economy is immoral. As rulers, we must maintain the law and develop the economy. In other words, we are doing immoral things from the very beginning. Obviously, the accumulation of immoral behavior cannot lead to a moral outcome."

"Regardless of ideology or system, urbanization means the concentration of means of production and productive forces. This inevitably leads to the result that a minority of interest groups will seize the interests of the majority, while the majority will bear the risks of prosperity."

"Of course, you might bring up the issue of redistribution by the rulers, not to mention that the rulers themselves are members of a small interest group, and the largest one at that."

Even if it isn't, the so-called fairer distribution actually violates the principle of 'capital concentration'.

"Moreover, the cost of fairness itself must be paid by those who desire fairness."

"Here's a paradox: those who need to be saved must first be able to pay the price of being saved before they can truly be saved; otherwise, it's just a 'liability.' Whether the creditor is a capitalist, a state, a reformer with ulterior motives, or someone who doesn't intend to reform, it doesn't change the fact that they are a 'liability.' But if they can afford to pay the price, are they the ones who need to be saved?"

"A person can simply do good deeds and not worry about the future."

"A ruler can only try to choose the less bad option from the bad and the worse, after all, any large organization is heading toward decay and decay."

Dinia stood up. "The same old fallacies, but unfortunately, I can't refute them."

Chapter 549 Real Opposition, Twenty Years of Skill, Something Big Has Happened

Dinia wasn't truly unable to refute Ronan's fallacies; refuting someone verbally is not difficult.

However, it's not so easy to refute someone based on reality. In reality, every matter must be considered in terms of cost and benefit.

If you believe your idea is correct and want it to be effectively implemented, you must defeat your opponents on the issue of costs and benefits.

Of course, one can use force to implement one's own ideas.

But this will inevitably provoke a counterattack.

The young Dinia once believed that this counterattack was a counterattack by the bureaucratic group and interest groups, and that all she lacked was the political skills to deal with these people.

Now, she only feels that she was too young and naive back then, using force to implement ideas that were not cost-effective in terms of benefits and costs. The real force that would retaliate would be society and the country.

She lacked not only political skills, but more importantly, the ability to ignite the nation's momentum.

Having worked with Ronan for twenty years, she considered herself to have mastered some political maneuvering, but she had never been able to grasp the latter, and perhaps she never would.

She aspires to be a politician, but her talent is at best enough for her to become one.

This is her biggest feeling after nearly twenty years in politics.

“We are one, why are you refuting me?” Ronan laughed. “Speaking of which, this time we seized this Compassionate Wine, which is very satisfying and also allows us to collect some money for military expenses. Thinking about it, it’s not a bad thing.”

These health products that fabricate stories and exaggerate their effects primarily target the middle class in the capital, who are also the main source of tax revenue. This action is equivalent to imposing an additional tax without damaging the government's credibility.

Dinia put down her teacup. "Choose a few more nobles to copy."

"My personal advice is that you should reconsider. The nobles all support the war. After all, they have no land left and their income comes from shares in state-owned enterprises. Once the war starts, their income will skyrocket. If you take over one or two of them, it may be interpreted as a signal that you do not want to get involved in the war."

Ronan did not support Dinia's decision.

Nowadays, the nobles in the Kingdom of Phos are not feudal nobles, but state-owned enterprise nobles. Feudal nobles have to invest in wars themselves, and if things don't go well, they will lose money. But state-owned enterprise nobles don't need to. Regardless of the outcome of the war, their enterprises will definitely operate at full capacity before the war, and these nobles will also make a profit in advance.

It can be predicted that after this battle, if victorious, state-owned enterprises and the military will begin to gravitate towards the military-industrial complex, forcing the country to move towards becoming a hegemonic power.

"That's settled then, no more copying."

Dinia said.

If they don't want to confiscate, then they don't have to. It's not a big deal. In feudal times, the profits from confiscating property were very high because the king didn't collect much tax. Most of the country's wealth was hidden in the homes of powerful and wealthy people who didn't pay taxes. But in this era, you don't earn much from confiscating property.

“Let’s add a tax on this harmful stuff called tobacco,” Dinia said. “A small tax on tobacco would bring in far more money than confiscating property.”

“That’s not easy,” Ronan said.

"Hmph." Dinia snorted coldly. "The first step is to say that smoking is harmful to health and propose to ban smoking. I can predict that many people will come and tell me that smokers are the country's great benefactors and that smoking should never be banned."

"Of course we can't ban smoking, because a portion of civil servants' benefits come from it."

"The second step was that I came to my senses and compromised by proposing to increase taxes on tobacco control. It is foreseeable that some people will say that this will affect the income of tobacco monopoly stores in some places, and these stores are the source of wealth for small families that train magicians. If this is affected, it will affect the country."

"These lazy and greedy parasites will procrastinate on anything that is laborious but not beneficial. If they can't procrastinate, they will double the effort and make a huge mess of things."

"The third step was that I understood the good intentions of civil servants in serving the country and the people. I asked our honest and upright civil servants if there were any tax reduction or exemption policies for specific groups of people. To obtain such tax reduction or exemption policies, one must meet certain conditions and then apply."

"Civil servants are now motivated because they can make a good profit through their power of review and approval, while local tobacco monopolies that were taken over by former military aristocrats can naturally obtain tax reduction qualifications through money and connections."

"The fourth and final step was to smoothly implement the tobacco tax increase when everyone could benefit."

"Well, Secretary, what do you think of my proposal for Prime Minister? Can you approve it?"

Finally, Dinia made a sarcastic remark about Ronan.

Ronan smiled awkwardly, and had to admit that after twenty years in politics, Dinia had a clear understanding of the civil servant group and knew how to motivate this group of high-ranking officials.

Just as Ronan was about to take his leave to attend to matters in the secretariat, Camille walked in.

Camille's first words were, "Something terrible has happened." He then placed a report in front of Dinia.

Something truly terrible has happened. The Northern Alliance has broken down, and Sweden has intervened in the civil war of the Will Empire, siding with the Protestant princes and repelling the Emperor's army.

Logically speaking, Sweden's army should not have been very strong in combat.

Because the decisive units in modern warfare are mages and musketeers, an army composed of ordinary people can only play a supporting role and is absolutely unable to complete the task of making a decisive move on the battlefield. Under normal circumstances, the more people a country has, the more mages it will have.

Sweden has a small population.

So how did it win? The answer is the berserker.

The Berserker is a creation of Ronan, who combined the totem enhancements of the Southern Continent, the witchcraft of the New World natives, and the innate technology of talent, and further improved it by Caterpillar, the "Norse goddess".

Simply put, as long as you have some talent, you can become someone who is slightly stronger than a novice mage, but slightly weaker than a first-tier mage.

However, there are two side effects. First, the upper limit is locked; one can only reach the first tier at most in this lifetime. Second, one loses the aging-slowing ability granted by the identity of a mage, and will begin to decline like an ordinary person after the age of thirty.

Through Elena's relatives, Ronan sent the technology to Swedon and also had Kate Pierre Kait serve as an advisor there.

Musketeer mages are usually made up of novice mages, while berserkers are stronger than novice mages.

Sweden unleashed a force of more and stronger mages and musketeers than the Emperor's army. Coupled with the fact that the young king possessed the tactical acumen of another timeline, "Ancient II," he naturally won.

“The trouble is that Sweden has also publicly extended an invitation to us,” Camille reported.

Upon hearing this, Dinia looked at Ronan.

“Of course we should respond, but now is not the time for us to send troops,” Ronan said. “However, we must explain this to our own people.”

Dinia smiled. "So, the old routine, in the first phase we'll declare that things aren't serious."

"In the second phase, we declared that things were a bit serious, but we shouldn't rush into sending troops." Ronan continued the conversation.

Camille understood, "The third stage..."

Chapter 550 Plans can't keep up with changes; 5,000 against 15,000, the advantage is mine.

Next, the Kingdom of Fas will provide Swedon with all the support except for its own.

After that, it's just a matter of waiting for a good opportunity to enter the market.

Ideally, the southern kingdom of Villa would enter the fray, and then, seeing the growing power of the Old Church, Willand would become restless and come to call upon the Kingdom of Fas to support the Protestant princes. In the end, the kingdom would enter the fray in a position where it had no choice but to participate in the war.

However, there are always things in this world that people can't foresee.

In May, Villa copied Ronan's tactic of raiding the Rhineland years ago. First, under the pretense of guarding against Suleiman, he gathered troops in the Mediterranean. Then, he attacked first and then declared war. After the fighting was already underway, the declaration of war finally arrived, and he brazenly invaded the southern part of the kingdom.

And they captured two bastions at a much faster pace than before.

The reason for declaring war was simple: the Kingdom of Fas supported Protestantism and persecuted Catholic believers.

Bilia's decision to attack the Kingdom of Phos instead of supporting the Emperor, whether a sudden lapse of judgment by a mentally unstable individual or a stroke of genius from a strategist, has undeniably put the Kingdom of Phos on the defensive.

The Kingdom of Phos was forced to intervene at an unfavorable time—or rather, to be drawn into this war.

After a three-day military conference, the king finally made a decision.

King Ambrina personally led the expedition northwards, adopting a strategic defensive posture to guard against the Rhine princes who might launch an attack from the south at any time.

The army marched south to support the Southern Legion and fight against the invaders from Villa. Ronan, the Marquis of Rhine, accompanied the King-appointed commander-in-chief of the Southern Front and served as the logistics commander.

Central government affairs have been temporarily handed over to Prime Minister Diniya.

A temporary camp on the way south.

Valerian, who looked to be in his early thirties but was actually sixty-six, was the lieutenant general, the commander-in-chief of the southern front, a third-tier mage, and nicknamed "Swiftness." He asked Ronan, "What are the thoughts of the Marquis of Rhine on this matter?"

He spoke casually, but that was normal. To put it simply, in the past fifty years, the kingdoms of Villa and Fass have fought more than fifty battles, large and small, which means more than once a year on average.

Throughout the countries of the Western Continent, it's common to be suppressing domestic riots one minute and fighting with foreign powers the next. Let alone a year, they feel restless if they don't fight for a few months.

“I’m a complete novice, I don’t have any ideas,” Ronan replied.

"Does Lord Rhein think we should fight slowly or quickly?" Valerian asked again. Although Ronan had already made it clear that he would not interfere with command, he still pressed for an answer. As expected of a man who had climbed up from the lowest commoner rank, he was steady and methodical.

He already had a plan in mind, but he wouldn't directly say what he wanted to do, nor would he present a plan and then preach to Ronan how good it was.

His method was to let Ronan make the choice.

"What's the difference between slow and fast?" Ronan asked.

While stirring his coffee, Valerian explained, "Villa's crop harvest is poor this year, and May is the wheat harvest season, while we have a bumper harvest here. The so-called slowness is that we spread out some of our people, take advantage of our home field and our country's unique agricultural associations, and wage guerrilla warfare against them in the south, preventing them from sustaining their war through war, and also raiding their supply lines. They are already short of supplies, and once mages start fighting, one person's food consumption can be equivalent to that of ten ordinary people. If we keep at it, Willand should realize that an opportunity has come."

"If we're talking about speed, then we won't play with those pigs from the Villa. Let the navy wear them down to prevent them from landing from all sides. We'll storm into Vena, with our forces aimed straight at the old church's stronghold. The Papacy is full of powerful figures, but can't we just run away? We'll burn, kill, and plunder on Vena's territory. If the Villa come to our rescue, we'll fight them on Vena's territory. Anyway, the damage won't be ours. If they don't come to our rescue, then Suleiman's chance will come."

He explained the difference between "slow" and "fast" to Ronan.