Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 884

Perfect's handwritten letter was sent back to the North by a small high-speed airship and delivered to the cabinet.

This was a direct order from the Imperial Regent, and no one dared to neglect it.

Upon learning the news, Prime Minister Wellington immediately ordered an emergency meeting of all cabinet members and sent a court attendant to present a copy of the letter to Her Majesty the Queen.

The Queen's reply came back quickly: "Lord Perfecto's proposal concerns the future of the empire. The cabinet must review it immediately and fully cooperate."

In the cabinet meeting room, the two sides of the long table were filled with the most powerful ministers of the empire.

The Prime Minister, the Minister of War, the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Industry... as well as the representatives of the Alchemist Association who were attending the meeting, the most powerful people in the entire Victoria Empire gathered together, and everyone's eyes were focused on the letter spread out on the table.

"Three hundred skilled craftsmen, two thousand voluntary immigrants, and a new missionary group..." The finance minister tapped his fingertips heavily on the letter paper, his voice filled with suppressed dissatisfaction: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is not just a matter of 'expenditure' - this is going to empty the empire's reserves for the next three years!
After they are sent to the Old World, the Empire still needs continuous investment to implement the Regent's plan!
Moreover, the transfer of craftsmen and immigrants will directly affect the productivity of the North, not to mention the transportation costs of the floating fleet and the infrastructure investment in the Old World! "

Although Perfectot's request was much smaller than the large-scale war they had previously envisioned, mobilizing so many manpower and transporting them to the Old World would still cost a lot, and it was not an easy task for the Ministry of Finance to come up with the money.

The Minister of Industry immediately retorted: "The Treasury's concerns are understandable, but are you ignoring the potential value of the Old World? Those rebuilt cities, those countries that received the favor of the Empire...

These will become the foundation for the Empire to rule the world! Lord Perfect does not want charity, but a strategic investment!"

"Strategic investment?" The Finance Minister sneered. "Mr. Industry, have you forgotten what the result of the last 'investment' in the Old World was? And now, you plan to let two thousand civilians fill the same hole?"

The Minister of War slammed the table and stood up, the medals on his uniform jingling, "Watch your words! Your Excellency, the Minister of Finance! Lord Perfect has deployed the God-killing Armor and the Steam Knights in the City of Seven Hills!

The missionary group's report clearly shows that the local survivors' hatred for the old gods far outweighs their fear! This is the best time for us to take root!"

The military has always supported Perfectoct, not only because the Brandelis family came from the military and had a strong sense of kinship with them, but also because it was closely related to the interests of the military.

"Hatred?" The Home Minister interrupted faintly, "Hatred cannot stop the minus 40-degree cold! From what I know, the survivors of the City of Seven Hills have degenerated into cave dwellers, and even the basic social structure has collapsed.

If two thousand immigrants were thrown in, I'm afraid that in the first year, 30% of them would be killed by disease and internal strife. Who would bear the pressure of public opinion by then? What would happen to the reputation of Her Majesty the Queen?
And this is just the first batch! God knows how many things and people we have to send to the Old World! With this resource, we might as well rebuild Langton and the Empire!"

The Foreign Minister spoke at this time: "The 'Spark of Civilization' plan mentioned by Lord Perfect actually has a plan in place. Moreover, before the end of the world, the Empire had exchanged technology with many countries in the Old World. Now is the time to provide these countries with timely assistance again."

"But the question is, how can we convince the people to voluntarily go to the Old World?" The Home Secretary seemed a little worried. "It is a ruin destroyed by the doomsday winter, with raging cold winds and evil god believers running rampant... Who would be willing to go to such a place with their family?"

The representative of the Alchemist Association suddenly chuckled and projected a piece of data onto the holographic map in the center of the desktop: "Let me remind you, according to the actual data measured by the energy tower, the temperature in the underground city of the City of Seven Hills has stabilized at 5 degrees Celsius, which is even more livable than some settlements in the north.

As for the social structure... As long as there are enough supplies and military deterrence, the speed at which humans can rebuild order is far beyond your imagination."

The Alchemists' Association was influenced by its former president, Sandrion, and since Perfecto was the most outstanding alchemist of the time, it could basically be regarded as the mouthpiece and base of the imperial regent.

The Foreign Minister took the opportunity to intervene: "What's more important is the political benefits! The French government-in-exile just contacted us through secret channels this morning, willing to use the meteorite alloy smelting technology of 'White Pearl Harbor' in exchange for immigration quotas. If we miss this opportunity——"

"——Meteorite alloy?!" The Minister of the Navy spoke for the first time, his eyes gleaming with brilliance: "Are you sure it is the kind of alloy that can be used to forge God-killing weapons?"

"That's true." The Foreign Minister smiled. "So this is not a question of expenditure at all, but a question of priority. Do we want to survive by guarding the granary of the North, or do we seize the opportunity to restart human civilization and let the Empire truly rule the world?"

There was a brief silence in the conference room.

"This is indeed... very attractive." The Chancellor's expression finally changed, and he nodded slowly: "But we need to ensure that the supply of materials can keep up."

"The floating city module has already been put in place, and the missionaries have also established a preliminary base there." The Minister of the Interior took a look at the report in his hand and said, "As long as the first batch of immigrants take root smoothly, subsequent progress will be much easier."
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After several hours of intense discussion, the cabinet finally reached a consensus: to fully support Perfecto's plan and immediately mobilize resources to implement it.

The Ministry of the Interior notified the Northern Lord's Mansion that it would post notices in various towns in the North to publicize the favorable conditions for voluntary immigrants. At the same time, the Alchemist Association and the Ministry of Industry would jointly screen technical talents to ensure that the craftsmen sent out would be capable of rebuilding the old world.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance also began to count the inventory in major warehouses in the North, giving priority to delivering construction tools, alchemical materials, medical supplies and cold-resistant crop seeds to the Old World.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also not idle. They selected capable diplomats to form a mixed delegation, carrying the gospel of the New God and imperial technology, to go to friendly countries that still existed in the Old World to provide them with assistance.

After the meeting, the cabinet will put the resolution into writing and present it to the Queen.

The Queen wrote: "Approved. Also, in my name, send a message to Lord Perfect - the Empire will be her strongest backing. May the light of the new god illuminate the cold winter of the old world as soon as possible."

The messenger boarded the airship again, carrying the cabinet's resolution and the Queen's personal letter, and flew through the biting cold wind towards Perfecto in the desert.

The political situation in the North was once again stirred up by Perfecto's plan and the cabinet's decision.

Inside the Parliament building, the three major parties engaged in a heated debate over the "Spark of Civilization" plan.

The so-called three major parties were reorganized on the basis of the original political factions of the National Assembly. One of the parties is the Workers' Party, which was reorganized from the original Workers' Federation. It is currently in the limelight because of Kallian's achievements as deputy prime minister during the last cabinet term.

By the way, the Northern Faction has now also been reorganized and a new party has been established, the Democratic and Liberal Party, abbreviated as the Democratic Liberal Party.

The conservatives and royalists united to form a party called the Conservative Party to compete with these two parties.

The three parties each hold a certain number of seats in the National Assembly, but overall the Democratic Liberal Party still holds the majority of seats, accounting for about 40% of the total seats, thanks to the achievements made during the prime minister's first term. The Conservative Party is slightly weaker, with only about 30% of the seats.

Although the Workers' Party performed well in the last term and expanded its influence, it is still in a weak position and only controls about 20% of the seats in the National Assembly.

The remaining 10% or so of seats are held by non-partisan candidates who remain neutral.

Under such a political landscape, the Workers' Party naturally seeks more political niches and tries to expand its influence while getting rid of the influence of the Democratic Liberal Party. Karen's independent candidacy has become inevitable.

But they themselves knew that even though they had mobilized enough workers to vote, it would be difficult for them to push Karen to the position of prime minister as they only controlled 20% of the seats in parliament.

Therefore, in this election, Kallian and the Workers' Party are more interested in accumulating enough experience and expanding their influence so that they can be elected in the next election.

After all, Prime Minister Wellington was re-elected, so he could only serve one more term and could not run for the next one.

Since Prime Minister Wellington is not running for election, there is a very high possibility that Karen will be elected.

But now, having lost the election, she has resigned from all her government positions and is only the leader of the Workers' Party.

Members of the three major parties have different views on the resolutions reached by the cabinet, and are also fighting for the interests of their respective parties.

The Democratic Party member stood on the podium, his silver-gray temples glowing coldly under the lights: "Everyone! This is a strategic layout to continue the glory of the empire! The seeds of revival are buried in the ruins of the old world!"

His voice echoed under the dome of the parliament hall, drawing thunderous applause from his own party members.

The Conservative Party representative immediately stood up and retorted, slamming the ivory cane in his hand on the ground: "Investing precious resources in that cursed land? This is simply gambling with the future of the North!"

More than 30 Conservative MPs behind him echoed in unison, forming a massive wave of opposition.

The representatives of the Workers' Party seized the opportunity and directed the topic to "protection of the rights and interests of the working class in the new colonies", which won the strong support of a large number of MPs from the Workers' Party, and even some non-party MPs expressed support.

The three parties discussed and argued endlessly, with each party taking turns to speak. The noisy noise even reached the Parliament Square outside, attracting a large amount of public attention.

Karen stood at the office window on the top floor of the Workers' Party headquarters, overlooking the people gathered in Parliament Square.

Now Karen is no longer the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet. In the second general election for prime minister held a year ago, she participated in the election as an independent candidate and no longer maintained cooperation with Prime Minister Wellington.

This is mainly due to the political needs of the Workers' Union, which has now been reorganized into the Workers' Party. They need a clearer political stance than before.

Although they also knew that continuing to cooperate with Prime Minister Wellington and continuing to run jointly in elections would benefit both parties, the Workers' Party still felt that they should represent their own class interests and positions more clearly and should win the general election as a pure working class rather than relying on the Northern faction represented by Prime Minister Wellington.

As the leader of the Workers' Party, she was keenly aware that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - not only to gain more voice in Parliament, but also to plan for the general election five years later.

"Leader, the latest poll shows that 67% of workers support participating in the reconstruction of the old world." The secretary handed over a document, "but they are more concerned about the wages and security of immigrants."

Karen took the document and smiled knowingly. This was the breakthrough she was waiting for. As she turned and walked towards her desk, her high heels made crisp sounds on the marble floor. "Notify the propaganda department to hold a tour of speeches in worker communities across the country starting tomorrow. The theme is 'New World, New Opportunities.'"

After arranging the tasks, she left the Workers' Party headquarters and drove to the Northern Lord's Mansion.

When Karen arrived at the Lord's Mansion, the winter sun gilded the ancient stone walls. The old butler Foster was as respectful and polite as usual, but there was a hint of doubt in his cloudy eyes - the former Deputy Prime Minister had visited too frequently recently.

"I'm sorry, Miss, there has been no personal correspondence recently." Foster's answer was exactly the same as last week.

"Then I have a letter to send to the Regent!" Karen nodded gracefully and took out a thick letter from her arms.

When Karen handed over the envelope, her fingertips trembled almost imperceptibly.

In addition to the routine greetings, the envelope also contained a draft of the "Colonial Labor Protection Ordinance" newly drafted by the Workers' Party.

This was a political bargaining chip she carefully designed - if Perfection adopted these terms, the Workers' Party would be able to legitimately intervene in the implementation of the plan.

Of course, if Perfect read the draft in a special way, he would be able to decipher another private letter she wrote to Perfect.

When leaving the lord's mansion, Kallen's carriage passed by the finance minister's car.

Through the car window, she saw the other party anxiously flipping through a stack of documents, probably worrying about budget allocation.

This discovery made her lean back in her velvet chair with joy - the cabinet's predicament was the Workers' Party's opportunity.

At the party meeting that night, Karen stood in front of a huge map of the old world and tapped the location of the City of Seven Hills with her baton: "We must strive for labor representative seats in at least three colonies." Her voice was particularly clear in the candlelight.

Outside the window, the first snow in the north quietly fell. On the political blueprint carefully drawn by Kallen, the flag of the Workers' Party was planted in the frozen land waiting to be cultivated. The position of Prime Minister in five years may depend on the seeds sown in the Old World today.

(End of this chapter)