Imperial Elite

Chapter 97 What kind of work can Joe do on Emerald Island?
Originally, Joe's first task upon taking office was to severely suppress the arrogance of the officials, both high and low, in the Governor's office, letting them know that times had changed and that the era when the Governor had the final say on Emerald Island had returned.

Given the nature of bureaucratic systems, such a drastic power shift is bound to cause some trouble.

Joe had even prepared to fight the local bureaucratic system with his left hand while suppressing the rebellion of the volunteer army on Emerald Island with his right.

Of course, to avoid this worst-case scenario, Joe Harrison, who went straight to the Governor's Palace after landing on the island, brought a regiment of guards. He wanted to make it clear to the local bureaucrats that he, Joe Harrison, now represented the highest will of London, so they should not make things difficult for him.

Then Joe realized he had overcomplicated things.

A few decades earlier, Joe's behavior would obviously have displeased the bureaucratic system, leading to some reasonable and legal trouble for him.

But it was already 1919, and the Emerald Isle volunteers had begun attacking the police, seizing explosives, and then allowing the Bunitas and their supporters to carry out mass killings.

The local bureaucracy warmly welcomed Joe, a capable and resourceful man, to suppress the rebellion.

Even the chief secretary, whom Joe had initially thought would cause him the most trouble, welcomed Joe's arrival.

The reason why the chief secretary welcomed Joe was very simple. First of all, he was also a newcomer who had only arrived at Emerald Island this year, a few months earlier than Joe, and had just figured out the environment here.

So trying to make things difficult for Qiao by taking advantage of this short time difference is somewhat unnecessary.

Secondly, during his tenure, the volunteers on Emerald Island blew up government buildings, ambushed patrolling police, robbed banks and armories, and killed intelligence agents.

Basically, if Joe hadn't come, he was already prepared to resign.

Now that Old Joe has come to take the blame, the baron, who also once fought on the Somme, naturally welcomes him wholeheartedly.

Joe easily obtained supreme administrative power on Emerald Isle without encountering any trouble. Even the soldiers of the Royal Guard Flint Rifle Regiment, which Joe originally intended to use to intimidate these administrative officials, not only failed to frighten them, but also brought them a great sense of security.

Some government officials even applauded after Joe announced that Emerald Island was now under his control, and then asked him if they could bring their families to the Governor's House for a while, since it was not safe outside.

Of course, the reason why the Chinese People's Volunteer Army was able to cause such a big disturbance on Emerald Island was not only due to their own efforts, but also because they had some advantages in intelligence.

Even though Emerald Isle is right next to the mainland of Bunitania, it is impossible for Bunitania to rule the country without employing local people.

Soon the volunteers on Emerald Island learned that their opponents had changed.

If their previous enemies were merely armed groups of police and militia, the Bunitania have now sent their guards and their most capable generals.

After confirming that the person who came was Joe, even though Joe hadn't done anything yet, the volunteers on Emerald Island felt immense pressure.

After all, if you ask who the most beautiful person in the Old World is, there may be a lot of controversy on this question, but if you ask who the most powerful person in the Old World is, then the answer is definitely yes. As the most dangerous man in the Old World, Old Joe, the number one villain of Britannia, has a decisive reputation in this regard.

Of course, things have progressed to this point, surrender is out of the question, and peace talks are also out of the question. Those who dared to believe in the political credibility of Bonitania are now old enough to build ships from the trees on their graves.

Given Old Joe's outstanding performance in the war, the volunteers on Emerald Island felt that they would definitely lose if they were to fight head-on. Old Joe had fought his way from Gaul all the way to the North Sea, and had never been defeated in a hundred battles. What were they compared to those regular troops?
So they continued with their traditional methods, digging pits, setting traps, and launching surprise attacks to create enough trouble for the Bunitania, forcing them to pay more for their administration than for the gains from the occupation, and ultimately making the Bunitania give up the area on their own.

Of course, given that Old Joe's secretariat and guards had already gained notoriety after being reported by some nosy reporters, the Emerald Island volunteers wondered if they could find a way to have their own people posing as maids to infiltrate the governor's mansion, and whether to use drugs or explosives was up to them.

While the volunteers on Emerald Island prepared to continue their attacks, Joe also met with the heads of the local military and police departments, as well as the head of the intelligence department, at the Governor's House.

Of all the staff stationed in Brittany on Emerald Isle, these two were the most welcoming to Joe's arrival.

"Tell me, what's the situation now?"

In the small reception room of the governor's mansion, after pouring black tea for the two men, Joe asked them a question.

"The situation is terrible..."

The head of the military and police department picked up his teacup and began to speak.

“The police are constantly being attacked. If we send out too few patrols, they attack the patrols. If we send out too many patrols, they attack the police station. We have lost a lot of good young men. They also give us false information, ambush our people who are going to check, or attack the police station after people have left. We don’t have a good way to deal with this.”

After the military and police officials finished speaking, Joe turned his attention to the head of the intelligence agency.

After sensing Joe's gaze, the head of the intelligence agency also sighed.

“We’re trying to recruit spies locally, you know. Our professional agents are from Bonitania, which is too conspicuous here, so we need to recruit some locals to work for us. But the recruitment is not going well. Even if we do recruit spies, they are discovered after one or two operations and then executed by these guys.”

Joe nodded at the situation, saying it was quite normal; London wouldn't have called him back if things hadn't been so bad.

“I know all of that. I read the report before I came. What I want to know is that you must have captured some of the volunteers from Emerald Island. I want to know what these people do for a living besides causing sabotage, where they live, and what the pillar industry of that place is?”

"This..."

Upon hearing that Joe wanted to know this, the heads of the military, police, and intelligence departments exchanged glances before the head of the intelligence department spoke.

"This problem is not complicated. The economy of Emerald Isle is almost entirely based on agriculture, and the vast majority of agricultural products here are sold to the main island of Bonitania. As for the captured members of the Emerald Isle Republican Army... they are farmers and laborers in the countryside, some veterans, some teachers and students, and union members. They are basically from the lower class."

"So, Emerald Island's economy is entirely dependent on local purchases from them?"

The head of the intelligence department nodded.

"Yes, to put it bluntly, the entire Emerald Island is basically a local farmland. There is no industry here, and the vast majority of people rely on agriculture and related industries for a living. The few factories can only produce some simple products. These factories are mostly concentrated in the north, while the south is mainly agricultural, which is also the area with the most serious rebellious sentiment."

After saying that, the head of the intelligence department added, "Of course, it's not entirely reliant on agriculture. There are also some mineral resources here, but they don't account for a particularly large proportion."

Having heard this, Joe already had some ideas in mind, so he asked the crucial question.

"Since Emerald Island is primarily agricultural, who owns all this land?"

The question of who owns the land on Emerald Isle is not very complicated. Since Buntania began to gradually encroach on Emerald Isle hundreds of years ago, the vast majority of the land on Emerald Isle belongs to Buntanian farmers.

These large landowners were naturally the most steadfast supporters of Bunitania's rule on the Emerald Isle.

Of course, while this large landowner model produced a lot of produce, it often caused a lot of problems because the large landowners only pursued profits. After a disease caused a great famine, Bonitania did carry out land reform, with the government funding the purchase of land from the large landowners and transferring it to the farmers so that they could become self-sufficient farmers.

This method had some effect, but not much. Although these self-sufficient farmers, after being allocated land, no longer wanted to drive out the Bunitanias as fiercely as the Irish volunteers, they also felt that autonomy was actually quite good, otherwise their land would be taken away by those big landowners sooner or later.

The majority of the volunteers on Emerald Island came from the southern civilians who did not own their own land. They were the group most eager to drive out of Buntania, even at the risk of being killed.

Joe felt like he had seen this situation somewhere before.

Although the root cause of the problem is now known, Qiao Yi doesn't have a particularly good way to solve it.

Because Joe discovers that the root cause hidden beneath the nationalist wave of independence on Emerald Isle is actually a land dispute between the Emerald Isle natives and the Bunitania plantation owners.

Throughout history, the struggle for land has always been the most brutal and bloody. It is truly a blessing that Bonitania has been able to sustain its unsustainable exploitation of Emerald Isle until today.

After seeing off the two officials, Joe went alone to the map room of the governor's mansion and began to mutter and grumble as he tried to come up with a solution.

First of all, suppression is definitely necessary. Without a strong crackdown, these people will never return to the negotiating table. However, while suppressing them, we must also find ways to make concessions to the locals.

Just as those who already own land might not particularly want independence and instead start supporting autonomy.

If those volunteer soldiers had laid down their guns and picked up plows, going from barefoot to wearing shoes, their protests wouldn't have turned into such fierce confrontations.

We need to use a carrot-and-stick approach to solve this problem.

However, the first step of this idea encountered a small problem: if the root of the conflict was a land issue, how could he get the Bunitania landowners to agree to give up their land without affecting their support for him?
Thinking about this problem, Joe slumped into his chair and stared at the ceiling. "Difficult... really difficult... Compared to this, fighting a war is much simpler."

Fighting was indeed much easier for Joe. Although he already had an idea in mind, the first step to putting it into practice was naturally to weaken the volunteer forces on Emerald Island.

So, at Joe's behest, the five divisions he brought first entered the major cities of Emerald Island and began inspecting all personnel and vehicles entering and leaving the city.

Meanwhile, outposts and patrols were established in the city for zoned control. In addition to daily foot patrols, there were also assault teams in off-road vehicles and armored vehicles, which could respond at any time.

In order to stabilize the city's security, Joe even deployed tanks.

With such strong patrols and blockades, the Jade Island Volunteer Army faced significantly increased difficulties in its operations within the city. In just two weeks, the army thwarted several attacks and arrested many members of the Jade Island Volunteer Army.

Although some veteran soldiers with good marksmanship participated in the volunteer army on Emerald Island, all they could do in the face of tanks and armored vehicles was to escape through alleyways.

As for the captured volunteers from Emerald Island, Joe originally intended to exile them all.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, Joe decided to lock all these guys up first, not for any other reason than to see if the Emerald Island volunteers would try to rescue their members.

If they go, Joe will be able to arrest another batch.

Of course, considering that these people are quite mobile, locking them up would only make them think about escaping.

So Joe didn't put these guys in jail, but instead found a boat and locked them all up on it.

The ship docked at the port regularly every day to receive supplies, and at the same time allowed prisoners to go ashore for fresh air.

Besides a bit of humanitarianism, the main reason for doing this was to let the volunteers on Emerald Island see that their captured members were all here, and to see if any of them would act rashly and send people over to do something.

Sending troops into the city and increasing security patrols naturally aroused dissatisfaction among many people. After all, the possibility of checking identification on the street at any time and the occasional surprise inspection of residences by soldiers made many people feel that Joe's behavior was a bit excessive.

But Joe paid no attention to the protests, because while strengthening security patrols in the city, he also began to gradually withdraw the police and bureaucrats that had been scattered in the countryside from those towns that were considered dangerous, and to strengthen the security of those relatively safe towns.

At first, the volunteers on Emerald Island thought Joe's actions were a good thing.

Because as soon as the military, police and government departments withdrew, they immediately moved into those villages and towns, which meant that Joe was handing over these places to them.

However, they soon discovered a small problem: along with the Bunitas military, police, and government departments, not only were Bunitas withdrawn, but also all business activities related to Bunitas.

All goods were prohibited from being sold to the towns and villages vacated by the Bunitans.

In addition to military weapons, Joe began to experiment with economic weapons for the first time.

Of course, Joe was also very clear that where there is demand, there will be a market. So while using economic blockade, Joe had the intelligence department start organizing the smuggling of necessities to these towns.

This approach satisfied their needs while allowing intelligence agents to infiltrate their ranks. Furthermore, this subtle tactic created discord among those who supported independence on Emerald Island, and unlike previous methods of directly sending troops to the countryside, it was less likely to provoke strong resistance.

After all, the core of nationalism is how to distinguish between us and them. So, in such a tense moment, whatever Joe does will reinforce their feeling that the Bunitans are bullying us again, thereby strengthening their cohesion.

When Joe arrived at Emerald Island with great fanfare, he did not launch a large-scale attack. Instead, he strengthened the area's defenses. With the external pressure decreasing, no one knew whether any problems would arise among these nationalists.

After all, even the five fingers on a hand are of different lengths. It would be impossible for an organization like this, hastily assembled with only one core mission: to drive out the Bunitania, to be completely free of internal turmoil.

Since Emerald Isle's economy is highly dependent on Buntania, problems are bound to arise within their borders as the blockade continues.

Although the land can grow food, it cannot grow other industrial products. After controlling the smuggling channels, Joe can not only drain the funds of those areas, but also decide which industrial products can flow into those areas.

You say the poverty is because the Bunitarians took the land, so now give the land back to them, and cut off the supply of almost all other necessities, and let them see what they can do.

After playing the cards of strengthening military defenses and partially imposing economic blockades, Joe was preparing for a major political offensive.

Theoretically speaking, Joe could not deprive the large landowners of their land, since it was their private property. Even if Joe could claim that distributing the land to the common people was to stabilize the local situation, he could not just do so.

But if Joe seizes land today to appease the local opposition, what could he possibly do tomorrow? London wouldn't even dare to imagine.

At the same time, even if we take a step back and assume that Joe himself is a small landowner and capitalist, isn't he afraid that if he takes away other people's land today, others will take away his land tomorrow?

However, the land cannot remain undivided, because generally speaking, there are only two ways to resolve this conflict between people and land: either divide the land so that people have land to cultivate and can make a living from the soil, or kill the people and there will be no problem if no one is there.

But we are already in the 20th century, and directly eliminating people is too bloody. Besides, people are a valuable resource.

Therefore, Joe's choice was to first convene a meeting with the largest landowners on Emerald Isle. If he could persuade these landowners, he could then persuade the remaining landowners to agree to his plan.

Joe's plan was very simple: to take land from these landowners, but not to take it all away.

The Emerald Isle Governor's Office took away the land use rights from these landowners, but allowed them to retain ownership. These landowners contributed their land as shares in the United Agricultural Company that Joe was about to establish. The landowners received dividends from the United Agricultural Company every year based on their ownership, and they were able to exercise supervisory power within the company.

Then, the agricultural company further divides these lands into several plots and distributes them to farmers for cultivation through employment or contracting.

So who will manage this agricultural consortium?

Naturally, the positions are elected by the residents of Emerald Island, from the managers of each plot to the general manager of the United Agricultural Corporation.

It seems that Joe has created another electoral system outside of the Emerald Isle Council.

That is indeed the case.

Joe did this for a simple reason: two electoral systems would maximize the drain on the political power on Emerald Island, keeping them busy with elections and leaving them with no energy to do anything else.

Moreover, they selected all the people, so even if any problems arise, it's because the people they selected are bastards, and it has nothing to do with London or the Governor's House.

Upon assuming office, the governor would automatically become the chairman of the company.

However, although the chairman cannot directly manage United Agriculture Company, he retains an important right: the right to veto United Agriculture Company's budget and profit distribution.

Having this power is like having the United Agriculture Corporation by the throat; not only will people listen to what you say, but they'll even be afraid to curse you.

Although Joe thought the plan was good, the big landowners didn't think so.

Because of Joe's structure, although it seems to allow landowners to retain their land and farmers to have land to cultivate, a look at the flow of money in this system reveals the truth.

Although it seems that the landlords no longer have to manage the land and have a much easier time, a lot of money that should have gone into their pockets ends up in the pockets of the farmers under this system.

In reality, Joe was the one who beat up these wealthy landowners.

The landlords were naturally prepared for Joe's invitation to meet with them.

Given the current state of Emerald Island, Joe's willingness to take on this mess must have been for some ulterior motive. So when Joe met with them, these landowners not only prepared gifts and checks, but some even brought their daughters.

Upon seeing Joe in military uniform at the Governor's residence, these landowners, while presenting gifts and introducing their daughters, also began to fawn over Joe as if they had met His Majesty George in person.

They were saying things like "the greatest warrior of Bonitania," "the god of war," and "the greatest military strategist after the Great Emperor"—all unworthy compliments.

Joe accepted all the kind words and gifts from these landlords, except for his daughter, which made the landlords feel that their land and wealth were now secure.

After all, there are rules in Britannia: if you accept something, you have to do it for them; those who take things for free will only be despised.

But after the joyful time ended, Joe explained his plan, hoping that these large landowners would set an example and join the United Agricultural Corporation. The expressions of these large landowners immediately froze.

Giving away hard-earned silver to the poor is a sin!

So these big landowners laughed it off, saying, "General Qiao, please don't joke. If we do this, what difference will there be between us and those who have lost their land? We are people who only know how to make a living from the soil. If we lose our land, we will lose everything. We hope General Qiao will have mercy on us."

Joe responded decisively to the landlords' opposition.

While having his troops set up a blockade to keep the volunteer army on Emerald Island out of the city, Governor Joe also reviewed Emerald Island's economic situation over the years.

Having anticipated this, Joe pulled out the economic report and threw it at the landowners, saying, "Emerald Island's annual agricultural output is only this much, not enough for me to extend this level of military suppression and blockade to the entire island. So now you only have two choices: join the United Agricultural Company, where you can retain some economic benefits while I use this money to protect your lives; or don't join the United Agricultural Company, in which case I will withdraw my troops. The choice is yours."

"You can't do this!"

Joe's statement caused these large landowners to gasp in surprise.

"Of course I can do that!"

Amid the exclamations of the landowners, Qiao slammed his hand on the table in front of him.

"For the sake of Bonitania, everyone has to make some sacrifices, more or less. You don't want to lose the profits from the land, fine!"

Joe then pulled out another budget and threw it in front of these big landowners. It was a report with countless zeros, a budget that would make anyone dizzy just by looking at it, detailing the expenses required to completely suppress Emerald Island using military means.

"Pay this money, and I'll go deal with those separatists!"

Looking at the string of zeros on the report, these large landowners broke out in a sweat.

"But...but the Empire should protect our rights..."

Joe rolled his eyes at them. "Am I protecting you right now? Or should the Empire spend such a large sum of money for your pitiful annual income?"

At this point, Joe took a step toward the landlords, which startled them so much that they all took a step back.

"The current situation won't last long, and I don't have much time to waste here. You all have..."

Qiao raised his wrist to check the time.

"You have an hour to decide whether to retain the guaranteed annual income that can be passed on to your descendants, or to reject the plan and try to protect your land. My personal advice is to choose the former, because if you choose the latter, you'd better start preparing your army now."

After he finished speaking, Joe led Catherine and Elena out of the conference room.

Although Joe's near-acceptance or destruction stance made Catherine feel that Joe's behavior was simply tyrannical, Elena's gaze towards Joe was softened by his actions.

As soon as they stepped out of the conference room, he eagerly pulled Joe into the small office next door.

Catherine expressed strong disapproval of Elena's practice of working another job during regular working hours.

However, Catherine is not the kind of person who would watch others work while she herself works as a doorman.

So when Joe returned to the conference room an hour later, he was alone.

When Joe pushed open the door and walked into the conference room, the landowners were startled.

Before Joe could even speak, several landowners indicated their willingness to join the United Agriculture Corporation.

Seeing that someone was willing to join, Joe immediately called out to the outside of the meeting room, and then asked the guard to call his secretary to bring the contract over.

Joe also stated that time was of the essence, and if needed, they could call their lawyer to review the contract.

Some people are willing to join, while others are not, even as some people are already in the hallway calling their lawyers.

Others stated that they would not join the United Agricultural Corporation, that they would protect their own land, and that they would take Joe's arbitrary actions and deprivation of the property of the imperial nobles to court.

Joe shrugged, indicating that he was too busy to talk about this nonsense and that if they wanted to sue him, he should have the London court issue him a summons.

As some of these large landowners signed agreements on the spot and others left in anger, Joe discovered that the lands of those who left were mostly located in the north, in places that were traditionally considered relatively safe.

Most of the land owned by those who signed agreements on the spot was in the south, and some of it was even in areas that Joe had already given up.

Clearly, none of the large landowners who owned so much land were fools.

However, since someone was willing to die, Joe was naturally willing to bury them as well.

After completing the first batch of signings in two days, Joe did not hesitate to announce the news about the United Agriculture Corporation in the newspaper, while also announcing that due to certain "technical reasons," the army would be withdrawn from some areas in the north, while troops would be redeployed to some areas in the south.

Joe's move came as a complete surprise to everyone following the situation on Emerald Island.

When Joe arrived at Emerald Island, everyone thought that once he arrived, there would be thunderous cannon fire and a massacre.

Joe's easy to talk to? Those rebels, just you wait! Joe's tanks are going to send you flying!
However, instead of ordering a full-scale crackdown, Joe started an agricultural company.

This left everyone confused about what Joe was trying to do.

The volunteers on Emerald Island, in particular, felt that there must be a conspiracy involved. In the past, when they approached those northern regions, they would see large numbers of military and police forces, equipped as if they were about to attack the Somme.

Why are they retreating from this place without firing a single shot?
Would the Bunitans be so kind as to give them land for free?
(End of this chapter)