Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Chapter 113 Letter, Reply, I dare not speak recklessly

One minute it's about a certain river, the next it's about how delicious the food is in a certain place, then it's about how beautiful a certain flower is, and so on.

There was also the story of her finding two little birds by the roadside, which alone took up hundreds of words.

How did she find the bird by the roadside on a rainy day? How did she feed it? How ugly it was at first, but then it grew feathers and became so cute after a few days?

After reading this long passage, Ronan could only conclude that Ambrina was, after all, still a naive girl.

Although she had made up her mind to fulfill the responsibility that came with her birth and to sit on the throne, she did her best to learn and think about how to become a good king.

But deep down, she still loves flowers and birds, and she loves good food. What she really wants is a quiet and peaceful rural life.

Then, after she returned to the capital, Ambrina mentioned her father, saying that his health seemed to have improved a lot.

She then brought up the matter of Merad's disappearance.

Her mother and father had a rather heated argument over this matter, something she had never witnessed before.

Then, Ambrina told Ronan that her father had told her that Merard used to help her uncle with his business, and that her uncle was the mastermind behind the "cold cake incident."

After recounting this matter, at the end of the letter, Ambrina expressed her hope that Ronan would reply to her as soon as possible, and that she would give the letter to Madame Antari once it was written.

"This is troublesome. Now it's really stuck, and I can't shake it off."

Ronan looked anxious.

But he dared not not reply to the letter.

Although this princess is a good-tempered person, after spending some time with her, Ronan knew very well that she was quite stubborn. If he didn't reply to her letter, the princess might dare to leave the capital and come here to find him and ask him why he hadn't replied.

That would really mean being obliterated by the mage squad.

Besides being new, there was also a small, relatively flat gift box, which is why the envelope appeared quite thick.

Upon opening the gift box, you'll find a very exquisite pen—a fountain pen with a gold nib and an inscription in cursive script: "May our friendship last forever."

Ronan's hands were trembling when he picked up the pen.

Below the pen, there is a pansy-patterned bookmark.

Pansies come in three colors: purple, yellow, and red, each representing a different meaning: deep thought, joy, and longing.

Quite coincidentally, this corresponds to the three sections of the letter: it begins with some deep thoughts from Ambrina, followed by the things that made her happy along the way, and finally, she subtly expresses her longing.

"My God, how am I supposed to reply?"

Ronan pinched the bridge of his nose, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

In all his decades of life, he had never experienced such a feeling of being at a loss.

Based on the principle that a short pain is worse than a long one, Ronan rested for a while and then began writing a letter.

The letter naturally begins with some greetings.

Then he told Ambrina that if she had any questions in the future, she could write to him and he would answer them if he knew the answer, and he would do his best to give her some answers if he didn't know the answer.

After finishing this section, Ronan started padding the writing.

After all, Her Highness wrote a letter with thousands of words in it, so he couldn't possibly reply with a letter that was only a few hundred words long, could he?

Anyway, he just rambled on about his recent experiences, and then talked about how he had finally gotten the hang of shoemaking. Then he started writing about food, saying how good their local specialty, garlic sausage, was. He lamented that Ambrina had left at the wrong time; if she had stayed another month or two, she would have had the chance to taste it.

Finally, Ronan reminisced about the brief time he spent with her, subtly hinting that he also missed her as a friend.

"Writing a simple letter is harder than writing a report."

After finishing writing, Ronan couldn't help but complain.

Throughout the entire text, he made no mention of the series of changes that occurred in the newly merged city of Xinhai, nor did he express any curiosity about the king and queen.

Although he has been drawn into the battle for the throne and become an insignificant pawn, he is in a situation where he may not benefit from the outcome, but he will definitely suffer if the battle fails.

But Ronan still dared not make a sound.

Because the situation was too complicated, he knew too little and couldn't understand what was going on at all.

The reason the situation is so complicated is because of His Majesty the current king.

He was not born a crown prince; in his youth, he was a carefree and unrestrained third prince, detached from the core of power and without a political faction.

At the beginning of his reign, he was humiliated by a series of wars. If Dinia hadn't led the mage corps to a reckless victory, the kingdom would have had to cede territory and pay reparations. Although they won, they didn't gain any benefits and instead caused financial problems.

In short, the king doesn't have enough confidants or enough prestige. Otherwise, if he spent some prestige points and gathered more popular representatives, who would not support his favorite Ambrina's succession?

As a result, they have now split into three factions. The first faction is the Royalist Party, which undoubtedly has the greatest power, but its internal composition is too complicated, with all sorts of people, and it is generally conservative.

A princess like Ambrina, who could be bullied even by her servants, was the ideal candidate for king in the eyes of these people.

Secondly, there was the Princess Party, which supported Princess Isabelle's ascension to the throne. It mainly consisted of young officials who were enthusiastic about new ideas and young officers who advocated war, making it a stronghold of radicals.

The group of radicals surrounded Isabelle mainly because the second princess was also a radical person.

Finally, there's the Queen's faction, which supports the third princess and is superficially centered around the queen's three brothers, but in reality, it's a group of capitalists.

The queen and her three brothers were nobles with titles but no real power; they loved to flaunt their status as nobles, and it was perfectly normal for capitalists to gather around them.

Ultimately, the personality problems of Ambrina and Isabelle were mostly caused by their mother.

Ronan guessed that the situation was more serious than he suspected.

Ambrina didn't have any special talents. She was also chubby as a child and was sent to a church school. She couldn't endure hardship, but she also never lived a luxurious life. The nuns at the church school took good care of her, so she was very innocent.

Isabelle is different. She was beautiful and talented from a young age, but her life was not good at all because she had a princess mother who liked to show off and would hold some kind of event every now and then. But before her father came to power, who gave his family money?

She usually had to stay at home and eat simple food. She didn't have many nice clothes. At only four years old, her mother repeatedly told her not to eat the delicacies that her family had spent money to prepare at banquets. Instead, her mother dragged her there like a contestant, and she had to smile and show off in front of the hypocritical faces of the nobles who praised her.

They never imagined that a four-year-old child would harbor murderous intent towards them at that time.

Only the third child was better off, because she was born a princess and grew up like a real princess.

Chapter 114 Collective Farms, Useless Three-Pronged Approach, Outcasts

The next morning, Ronan handed the letter to Mrs. Antari at work, and when he arrived at the secretariat, he called Yvette over and handed her a document.

Yvette knew what it was after just a quick glance.

Although she was nominally Ronan's subordinate and worked under him most of the time, she was actually still Dinia's person. Therefore, she was aware of some of the things that Ronan and Dinia discussed and planned together. In addition, Ronan never hid anything from her, so naturally, she understood her task at a glance.

"Prepare well, there's a meeting tomorrow."

Ronan only said one sentence.

"Understood," Yvette replied, and then walked away.

Ronan nodded in satisfaction as he watched Yvette's departing figure.

There are two things I'm satisfied with.

Firstly, as an informant authorized by Dinia and tacitly allowed by Ronan, she has never deliberately monitored Ronan's actions during this period, except for occasionally asking a few more questions. It must be said that she has grown a lot since they first met and has begun to have a sense of propriety.

Secondly, she is actually quite useful. As a woman in her twenties, her ability to get things done is much better than some old slackers.

The next day, there was another meeting.

The meeting had a very simple theme: to arrest several landlords suspected of various crimes, including tax evasion, bribery, and murder. The list had already been drawn up.

The officials, both high and low, had just gone through that ordeal, so naturally they had no objections. Besides, the landlords on the list were not related to them; they were not relatives or friends, nor had they given them any favors.

Wait, there's not a single person connected to them?

Instantly, a few people sensed something was wrong. Soon, others noticed that someone's eyes were strange and also realized something was amiss. After exchanging glances, everyone understood the problem.

In their area, landowners either directly contact their relatives and friends who are officials, or they have vested interests with them.

There are no landowners without connections in the city hall; if they do exist, they will immediately cease to exist.

But are there any people on this list closely related to them?

The reason is simple: officials closely associated with them have already gone to jail, and some have even committed suicide by jumping into the sea.

Everything became clear; the previous turmoil was merely a prelude. The mayor's true aim was to arrest these landowners and seize their land.

What can we do with this land? Divide it among the self-sufficient farmers?

Even if they were to divide the land, it would be pointless. The operating costs of self-cultivating farmers are much higher than those of large landowners, and their ability to withstand risks is also weaker. Other landowners don't need to use any illegal means to defeat them and then legally obtain their land.

If it's not land distribution, then is it being given to them as a benefit?

It's impossible; sharing benefits is simply not in this mayor's style.

What exactly is that?

Soon, Ronan's most trusted secretary, "Blind" Seth, distributed the documents to them, and they immediately understood what was going on.

The document proposes a plan to redistribute the ownership of these vacant, unclaimed lands, with half going to the Xinhai City Hall and the other half distributed equally among the corresponding farmers.

Then, a collective farm was established.

They didn't quite understand the details that followed, nor did they intend to.

All they need to understand is the word "collective".

If they were simply civil servants, they would naturally accept this plan readily, as it would undoubtedly increase fiscal revenue and further increase the number of civil servants.

But they are not just civil servants; more than half of them own a considerable amount of land.

Although they didn't get their land this time, what if there's a next time?

Opposition is necessary, but at this point, no one dares to directly oppose Dinia.

Then agree for now, and start dragging it out. Every possible problem will be studied and studied again. In any case, we will not take action until we have made dozens of contingency plans.

Every procedure is carried out with rigor; the longest required is three days, and it is absolutely not allowed to be completed in two and a half days.

If things really can't be delayed any longer, they might "do a good deed that turns out badly." After all, they'll still have to decide how the land is allocated. They can easily use some tricks during the process, like forcibly assigning quotas to lower levels, which will easily incite public anger. Once public anger rises, how can things proceed smoothly?

If this tactic doesn't work, then we'll have to resort to the ultimate solution: create some big events in other areas to force the mayor to shift his focus.

They're all seasoned veterans at messing things up by following the mayor's instructions.

What they didn't know was that Ronan, the mole, had already betrayed them. He had already told Dinia about these three tricks, and told her not to worry at all.

"The matter of the collective farm will be handled by Adrian."

Dinia said.

Upon hearing this, everyone chuckled inwardly. This agricultural official wasn't one of their people, but the people under the Agricultural Bureau certainly were.

"Further investigation is needed regarding these illegal farmers, especially whether they have any collusion with people in the agricultural sector. This matter will be handled by the prosecutors and the police station under the court."

Ah, this...

Everyone's hearts sank. The so-called further investigation was complete nonsense. It meant that whoever didn't do their job properly would be implicated by the arrested landlord.

This is why Ronan told Dinya not to worry.

There is no such thing as a prosecutor's office in the kingdom. The prosecutor's office is subordinate to the court, and the chief of the court is old Alves, who has defected. The security bureau is under the control of Agustina, a confidante of Dinia.

With the public security, procuratorate, and judiciary all in Dinia's hands, is it possible that these people still want to remotely control the agricultural bureau, sideline Adrian, and then use a three-pronged approach?

As for Adrian himself, this somewhat radical former young military officer was certainly willing to implement reform measures.

At this moment, everyone turned their attention to Ronan, their eyes filled with anticipation, but that anticipation quickly vanished.

Because after careful reflection, they realized that Ronan, that bastard, was an anomaly; he had no land.

He has been working at the Wright City Hall since he was seventeen, and has never bought any land. Moreover, he has no relatives or friends who are landowners. All his living relatives have gone abroad, and as for friends, he has no friends at all.

Is Ronan even human?

Sure enough, Ronan, this young man in his twenties, sat there dozing off like a seasoned veteran nearing retirement, without saying a word.

"The task of coordinating collaboration among various departments is now entrusted to you, Ronan."

Dinia said.

In a flash, Ronan revived. "Yes, Madam Mayor."

The meeting ended soon after.

The officials could only console themselves with the words that they had not suffered any losses and could even make a small profit, that once the parliament was established, the members would never allow the expansion of the collective farm, and that Dinia would leave in a few years.

Looking at these gentlemen who could only console themselves, Ronan could only say that they didn't understand what it meant to be someone who had transcended vulgar tastes.

Chapter 115 Recruiting Maids: Written Test and Interview

With the collective farm plan finalized, Ronan had nothing else to worry about for the time being.