Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 133

After a period of random thoughts, Ronan fell asleep.

Ronan woke up, but Ambrina was still asleep. Carefully not to wake her, Ronan got out of bed to wash up.

After washing up, Ambrina woke up and had breakfast with Ronan.

The meat dish is a chicken roll, not a dough wrap with chicken filling. Instead, it's boneless chicken thigh meat, wrapped with filling, tied with garlic sprouts, dipped in batter, fried, and finally drizzled with sauce. This is Ambrina's favorite fried food.

The main dish is a soft, creamy croissant, a standard French breakfast.

There was also a bowl of minced beef congee, thick white congee topped with minced beef and sprinkled with pickled radish pieces. This was Ronan's personal favorite.

"By the way, Anli, I have a task for you. Several state-owned factories are going to be sold to individuals. As my secretary, you will announce this on my behalf and then talk to those who are interested. Don't worry, it's just initial contact. In the end, Dinia and I will lead the public bidding process."

Ronan said that selling the factory would definitely be done through open bidding, but the task of communicating with businessmen could be left to Ambrina.

But ventilation isn't that simple; it's another exercise in itself.

“No problem.” Ambrina happily accepted. Although she didn’t like these things deep down, she had decided to become a good queen, so naturally she had to hone her abilities.

“You could talk to Alice about it; she should be able to give you some advice,” Ronan added. Actually, it would be better to talk to Elena, but Ambrina and Elena are rather distant.

Chapter 301 A Deformed Group, Appreciators, and the Art of Dissemination

A small airship is flying at high speed in the sky above the sea.

This airship is magic itself, not something created by a magician using magic.

Inside the airship, a man who looked to be in his thirties looked at the white-haired old man beside him and said, "I never expected that you would leave Iceland and take the initiative to participate in this negotiation."

"I'm not interested in your business dealings. I'm just using his connections to hitch a ride and meet the number one female magician on the continent," the old man replied, glancing at the person sleeping next to him with an eye mask on.

Go see that person? Alger, a man who looked to be in his thirties, was now even more puzzled.

The old man before me is one of the strongest mages of our time, the strongest elemental mage without exception. He is Victor Church, born into the nobility of Weyland. After becoming the rightful ruler at the age of twenty, he left Weyland to travel around. In his middle age, he returned to Weyland to marry and have children. Sixty years ago, he joined forces with another group of lords to restart the constitutional cabinet, which had been abolished, and changed the entire Weyland.

He is known as the "Elemental Lord".

Thirty years ago, he reached the pinnacle, and in the same year, his only son committed suicide. Victor left Wieland and took a group of magicians to Iceland.

Those who didn't know him might have thought he was ruling over territory, but those who did were still surprised by the actions of this most powerful magician.

He was actually using magic to change the environment of Iceland, while the magicians gathered around him were tinkering with all sorts of strange things.

"Why do you want to see her?" Alger asked.

Victor, as if he were elegantly enjoying afternoon tea, calmly uttered a sentence: "The current state of the magician community is far too distorted."

“Deformed?” Alger asked, puzzled.

"Don't you think that the vast majority of mages are killing machines? The low-level ones are assassins, and the high-level ones are leaders of violent groups. That's what mages are like."

"Some upright magicians' magic is not very lethal, but it can bring positive effects to society. However, they still try their best to convert their abilities into combat power."

"Isn't this a deformity?"

Victor countered with a question.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," Alger said helplessly, because he knew that the so-called "certain magicians" he was referring to were Victor's only son, who longed to be as powerful as his father but couldn't, and ultimately chose to commit suicide in his depression.

But as he said, there's nothing you can do about it.

Although Alger had never heard of that saying, as a magician, he knew the principle that "stockpiling grain instead of guns makes your house a granary, while stockpiling guns instead of grain makes everywhere a granary."

Two thousand years ago, magic was born. More than fifteen hundred years ago, a magician reached the seventh rank for the first time. Three hundred years ago, magic began to flourish.

Over the past two thousand years, it is not uncommon for magicians to use magic to make many groundbreaking creations, some of which have brought enormous economic value and others that have influenced the entire society. However, the former were mostly robbed of their achievements by stronger magicians, while the latter were mostly attacked by other magicians.

It's terrifying and frustrating; the most fundamental logic in this world is violence.

Magicians are the most violent group of people.

Victor was able to use magic in Iceland to do whatever he wanted without any interference, firstly because he was far from the center, and secondly because no one could defeat him.

Victor spoke slowly, “Magicians should be advanced, but they do the most barbaric things in the world. If some technologies were to develop further, especially firearms, perhaps many magicians would jump out and cause destruction. Magicians used to be almost all feudal nobles, people who held power, and most magicians today can still earn a decent living.”

“If it drops any further, they won’t be able to accept it.”

Alger sensed something unusual. "You don't mean to leave your inheritance to that woman, do you? She's French."

Victor did not answer.

But not answering is also a form of answer.

"Can't you choose a successor within the country?" Alger asked in a low voice.

Victor still did not answer.

Those who are young enough are not strong enough, and those who are strong enough are not young enough. Those in their fifties and sixties have long been accustomed to enjoying everything because of their status as high-level mages.

In fact, Dinya could have enjoyed it all, but she didn't, at least not yet. She became a national hero at the age of eighteen, and more than ten years later, she still retains her sharp edge. This is what Victor values ​​about her.

Victor felt that Dinia's ideals were too small, merely changing the situation of one country. She didn't understand that only by changing the entire landscape of the magician world could the world truly enter a new era.

Thinking of this, Victor couldn't help but sigh.

At this moment, a man who looked exactly like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy lifted his eye mask, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and said, "Teacher, you've been talking about this woman for years. If I didn't know you well enough, I would almost suspect that you, this old tree, are about to come back to life."

Alger's heart skipped a beat. The only person who would dare to speak to this old man like that was Isaiah, who looked like a young man but was actually nearly eighty years old.

In this business negotiation, Alger was responsible for being friendly, while Isaiah was responsible for threatening.

On the other side, the French colonies.

After discussing it with Alice, Ambrina spread some rumors through civil servants in the governor's office, in the form of casual conversation, that several newly established but promising state-owned factories were going to be sold to private individuals.

The civil servants spread the word through the wives, and soon, all the influential merchants in the colony knew about it.

Everyone was itching to know, but no one dared to take any action, or even to inquire directly.

Ronan's Ministry of the Interior was simply too ruthless; they would arrest people at the slightest provocation, and every time they did, a few of them would not come out alive.

But for businessmen, there's always a way to overcome difficulties. They spread the news directly to the workers. Many of the workers in the state-owned factories were lower-class white immigrants. The natives didn't dare to cause trouble, but the businessmen were far more daring.

After all, state-owned factories offer very good benefits; if they were to become private, things would be very different.

Seeing that everything was going according to plan, Alice and Ambrina summoned the chairpersons of the various unions. They first offered some reassurance, and then regretfully stated that the state-owned factory was indeed to be sold to the workers. However, the governor cared about the workers, so he decided that anyone or any consortium that wanted to buy the state-owned factory would have to obtain the unions' approval.

The union leaders were immediately satisfied and promised to go back and persuade the workers to stop causing trouble.

A week later, Ambriel announced that she would publicly solicit bids for the sale of the state-owned factory.

After announcing the news, Ambrina breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that everything would be fine once she followed the procedures step by step. But the next day, she felt terrible.

Merchants from all walks of life sought her out, each employing their own unique methods and talents.

If it were a matter of shady dealings or bribery, that wouldn't be a problem, but the problem is that these businessmen are all extremely upright.

Chapter 302 Perseverance, Stance, and Unexpected Visitor

These businessmen, either individually or in groups, would discuss with her what development plans they would implement if they took over, what they could achieve, and what disastrous consequences would result if someone else took over.

In his words, he was always thinking about the future of the colony.

Ambrina was completely confused. Everyone seemed to have a point, but the problem was that their points contradicted each other. It couldn't be that they were all right, could it?

That evening, Ambrina found Ronan, who was writing a manuscript.

“If you really find it difficult, you can stop here,” Ronan said.

Ambrina said almost without hesitation, "I want to continue."

In fact, she could have withdrawn from the meeting, because Ronan's task for her was simply to communicate with the businessmen, and she had already accomplished that task well. She could leave the rest to her.

But having already completed the preliminary work, Ambrina still wanted to continue, because she wanted to hone her skills and prove herself.

The next day at noon, Ambrina went to see Alice, hoping she could give her some more advice.

Meanwhile, Alice was having lunch with Elena. This was certainly not because the two were on good terms, but because the sale of the factory involved the union, which had always been handled by Elena's security department. Elena was very familiar with the union; she was the one who spearheaded its organization back in New Sea City, even though she had turned it into something resembling a gang.

Alice's oversight bureau targets officials, and the sale of the state-owned factory itself had nothing to do with her.

But Elena will definitely be involved.

“Your Highness, it is difficult for me to offer an opinion on this matter,” Alice said in response to Ambrina’s inquiry.

Making plans is something she excels at, but choosing a reliable person from a large pool of people is not her forte.

“It’s simple,” Elena suddenly said. “Regardless of whether you think what those unscrupulous merchants are saying makes sense or not, just treat it as nonsense and ask them to do things your way. Then see how they react. Put the arrogant ones and the honest ones on your blacklist. The former don’t even pretend, and the latter like to pretend too much.”

“How could they possibly do things my way? I’m just a secretary,” Ambrina said with some difficulty. Her current role was merely that of a secretary and an organizer of this resale event; she had no decision-making power whatsoever.

Elena spoke rudely in front of Ambrina, chewing her steak as she spoke, "Don't you agree with the young master's theory of 'using a musket to take down a knight'? Your idea is the workers' idea, and at this moment, these merchants must act according to the workers' ideas."

"When you are alone, even if you are a king, your voice cannot be loud and you can only listen to others. But when you represent a group of people, even if you are just a farmer, your voice can be loud and some people have to consider your thoughts."

Ambrina pondered these words carefully, then said somewhat awkwardly, "But I don't have any thoughts on it."

"What conditions do you think should be promised when buying a state-owned factory? Just make something up. If you can't come up with anything, make it up."

Elena said.

She learned a lot from Ronan about how to seize power, but ultimately she was an ignorant person and really didn't know what to do after seizing power.

It could be said that Elena mainly learned how Ronan sat securely in his chair, but her skills were lacking and she acted too roughly. Alice, on the other hand, learned how to speak after sitting in her chair, but she was far less flexible than Ronan.

"Hmm." Ambrina gave a soft "hmm" and left.

After Ambrina left, Alice looked at Elena with displeasure, "How could you talk to her like that?"

Elena scoffed, "I'm just stating my position. You're a member of the Princess Party, I'm not."

Ronan, Dinia, and Ambrina are in a love triangle, not just a simple love triangle, but a love triangle of wits, force, and power. Elena herself and the others are all outside this triangle; they must stand on a straight line between two points to be secure.

Elena chose the Ronan and Dinah route.

Soon after, Ambrina returned to her office and began to think about what to do next.

Just then, a man suddenly came in and reported to her that two Weylanders had arrived.

Ambrina was very surprised, but she had no choice but to let them in.

Upon entering, the two exchanged greetings and introduced themselves. One was named Alger and the other Isaiah. After their introductions, they got straight to the point: "Miss Secretary, we very much hope to cooperate with the bone china factory."

The two had arrived in Cardina, where the governor’s mansion was located, two days ago, and soon heard the news that several state-owned factories would be sold.

“You’re too late. The bone china factory is going to be sold, and it will no longer produce bone china; it will mainly produce pottery,” Ambrina said.

The coarsely glazed pottery was still valuable to the merchants of the colony, but the Weylanders certainly wouldn't have considered it.

Alger wasn't surprised at all by Ambrina's words. Such a good factory was going to be sold, which meant Ronan and Dinia were leaving. Since they were leaving, they would definitely take the core components with them.

Alger bowed respectfully and asked, "Then, could you please introduce me to Mr. Ronan?"

After thinking for a moment, Ambrina did not refuse, "This, tomorrow then."

“Thank you very much.” Alger expressed his gratitude, and then left with Isaiah.

After the two left, Ambrina fell into thought again.

With her head down and fingers piercing her hair, she thought for a long time, but she could only find one entry point: the businessman who bought the factory had to pay extra money to build a school specifically for the children of the workers, and promised to give the workers a discount on tuition fees. At the same time, a hospital would also be built.

As for maintaining the workers' original treatment, Ambrina hadn't considered it. She knew very well that the state-owned factory originally had good treatment because it was upstream in the industrial chain and made huge profits by exploiting downstream workers. The governor's office wasn't solely focused on making money, which was why it offered such good treatment. But after the businessman bought it, he integrated the upstream and downstream. Would he exploit himself? Besides, all the businessman was thinking about was making money.

Therefore, a decrease in compensation is inevitable.

We can only try to make up for it elsewhere.

That's all Ambrina could think of.

Just as Ambrina was having her initial idea, an uninvited guest arrived at Ronan's room.

An elderly man, wearing round-framed glasses with thin silver chains attached to the temples and hanging around his neck, had an old face but a straight posture and a spirited demeanor. His simple clothes could not conceal his elegant and gentlemanly air.

However, what Ronan was concerned about was not the old man's demeanor, but rather how this gentleman had managed to appear before him without him noticing.

“Hello, Mr. Ronan,” the old man said. “You can just call me Victor.”

"Mr. Victor, may I ask what brings you here?" Ronan asked politely.

"Meet the two most promising young people I know."

Chapter 303 Impatience, Doubt, and the Old Parable

A seaside villa in the East Port District of Cardina City, a property that Ronan bought in the name of the Ministry of the Interior. Of course, just like a luxury carriage in the New Sea City Hall, this thing bought in the name of the government is for his personal use only.

However, Ronan only visited once or twice, because this was a place he used to entertain guests, and very few people in the colonies could become his guests.

At this very moment, Ronan, Dinia, and the legendary seventh-tier elemental mage Victor were sitting on either side of a tea table on a balcony where they could see the sea with just a turn of their heads.