Doctor, I'm really strong!

These people are more afraid than aware of their mistakes, which is what infuriates Liu Jiuli the most.

International finance, internal markets, and corporate governance—these are the iron chains that Liu Jiuli has tied to capital. Especially the corporate scale aspect: once a company reaches a certain size, it will be dismantled, and its shares will be forcibly nationalized, ensuring that the government has absolute say in large economic entities.

This approach will certainly lead to bureaucratic drawbacks, but compared to the destruction caused by the rampant spread of capital, these internal conflicts can be completely resolved through oversight. At worst, the Ministry of the Interior and the military can handle it. It's just a matter of another revolution. There are plenty of people in the world who want to be officials. Back in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, becoming an official required becoming a eunuch, and there were still many people eager to do so.

As long as there's the bait of power, there's no need to worry about the fish not taking the bait.

Liu Jiuli certainly doesn't want to go back to the work environment where "maliciously not working overtime" is allowed. Anyone who dares to give him a 19%, 18%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 10% discount on this issue will be beaten into a pulpy fracture.

Leng Li's cold gaze swept across everyone's faces, eliciting only fear, not understanding or apology.

For some reason, Liu Jiuli suddenly felt completely alone in the room, a strange sense of loneliness washing over him, like an old man chasing a train in the sunset.

But after a brief silence, Liu Jiuli's gaze turned cold and resolute.

“I know what you’re thinking. Once you have a little power, you want to exchange it for something that can bring you benefits. You’ve worked so hard for so long, what’s wrong with a little benefit? Besides, it’s only a little bit, it doesn’t matter. This is the unspoken rule, the unspoken rule of power.”

Liu Jiuli stood up and said while pacing, "In the bureaucratic system, power cannot be inherited, unlike the bloodline of the nobility. Since power cannot be inherited, we turn power into economic wealth that can be inherited. I call this process 'rent-seeking'."

"However, you haven't reached that point yet. You're just asking for benefits. After all, the Red Guards are strictly controlled. If you do something wrong, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' bullets don't discriminate."

“I understand, I understand completely. This path is not easy. Even if civil servants are paid high salaries and expected to make connections, when they can reach out and cash in their power, few can resist the temptation.”

"The collective is like a big tree, and corruption is like maggots gnawing on the tree. All the maggots think that their small bite is nothing, that the tree is still so big, so they take a bite from one another, and everyone bites together. In the end, when the tree falls, it crushes everyone, right?"

Liu Jiuli's last words were a roar, sending chills down the spines of everyone present.

This is bad, this is really bad, I feel like something terrible is about to happen!!!

"Cheka!"

As Liu Jiuli roared, the office door was pushed open, and two Ursus men wearing blue peaked caps walked in.

On official business with the Cheka of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the sword of the people.

The Cheka's presence here meant things were definitely not going well. Under immense pressure, someone shouted, "Leader! I request to speak!"

Liu Jiuli glanced at the civil servant, returned to his seat, and nodded, saying, "Go ahead and speak. I'll give you a chance."

"Leader, I think our current economic controls are too strict. We don't need such strict economic controls. Other countries have large companies and enterprises, but there isn't a single similar enterprise on our territory. I don't think we're facing a crisis right now; on the contrary, our economy lacks a crisis. A crisis, though a crisis, is also a danger and an opportunity. We should start with land development to accelerate economic growth..."

Liu Jiuli interrupted him with a smile and said, "We can speculate on land, right? When land prices go up, a lot of money will come back to the organization, and then we can use that money to do more things. As long as it goes on, everyone will recognize the value of land, and everyone will have a bright future."

"By the way, I can also add something to this: we can lend indefinitely, linking loans to land, and then through a company we can package these things into financial products and sell them on the international market at a very high interest rate. Then we can start a game of musical chairs, and as long as income always exceeds expenditure, the economy can keep circulating."

"We can also combine financial companies with banks to offer loans and create a small-loan model. This way, our economy can rise to the sky with one foot on the other, right?"

The civil servant opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, because Liu Jiuli had already said everything he wanted to say, and he might not understand everything Liu Jiuli had said.

Finally, he could only manage to stammer, "Yes, leader, what do you think..."

"Bullshit!" Liu Jiuli completely lost his temper: "You think it's fun, don't you? You think financial games are very interesting, don't you? You make the common people suffer, and then you keep all the money in your own hands. Which side are you, a civil servant, on?!"

"Money without a real economy is just useless waste paper, so hard it's not even good enough to be used as toilet paper! It's worthless except for wasting resources! You think you've found the solution to the economy, right? But when everything collapses, the first people the common people will want to kill are us traitors!"

Liu Jiuli now understood what it meant to learn something good but learn something bad in no time. A bunch of guys who grew up in the ocean of dragon-slaying education hadn't learned anything else, but they had already started growing dragon scales.

At this point, all the civil servants present dared not speak. Liu Jiuli stared at the civil servant who had spoken and asked, "Did you come up with these things yourself, or were you taught them by someone else? Speak!"

Section 187: Tea Tasting

(I'm experiencing writer's block, so I'm taking a break and looking for inspiration, ε=('ο｀))) Sigh)

Thoughts are like martial arts techniques; they can be practiced in the correct way or in reverse.

The civil servant in front of him was clearly not the kind of person with particularly profound thoughts, but he was able to say such things, which represented a completely different set of ideological theories, enough to make Liu Jiuli pay special attention to him.

The civil servant's face was filled with fear. Faced with Liu Jiuli's questions, he immediately confessed, "I learned this elsewhere! I learned it from someone else!"

Liu Jiuli sneered, "Interesting. So there are people who specialize in teaching this?"

Civil servant: "I've attended some offline gatherings, and people at those gatherings were talking about these things! It's not something I came up with myself!"

Liu Jiuli nodded: "Very well, then please explain this matter clearly. Take him to the executive room in Lubyanka!"

A group of people were taken away by the Cheka on official business, crying and wailing. Half an hour later, Liu Jiuli learned the whole story.

As the Future Science City develops, many businessmen who come here to invest have gradually grown their businesses. However, they are very dissatisfied with the Red Guards' strict control over the development scale of individual companies, especially the strict tiered tax rates and capital control. It is outrageous that a group of bosses are on par with a group of highly skilled workers!

Although highly skilled workers under the Red Guards' evaluation standards can earn a lot of money, even more than many leaders (leaders with technical skills naturally earn even more), in their view, why should a bunch of lowly laborers be on par with them? I earn W every day, which is N times more than you guys. Just because of this unfair tax rate, I'm now on the same level as you guys. Is that reasonable? No, it's not!

However, it's clearly not feasible to send them out to fight to the death with other capitalists. Compared to the capitalist iron fist outside that is always ready to fight and wipe out your whole family, the business environment under the Red Guards is obviously more moderate and orderly. Therefore, they hope to convert their economic strength into usable power and thus increase their influence.

When capital develops to a certain level, it will inevitably seek political status. This is the political economy phenomenon that shows the economic base determines the superstructure.

Politics and economics are inseparable. Officials who don't understand economics are fools, and businessmen who don't understand politics are easy targets.

However, within the Red Guards' system, individual businesses clearly do not have the leverage to negotiate with them. Therefore, they decided to unite, find a suitable breakthrough, fight for their own interests, and develop stealthily until their influence could sway government decisions. Then, they would use legislation or policies to further loosen their grip on the government.

Currently, their plans only go this far; reaching the level of Colombia is beyond their current comprehension.

These merchants quickly rallied around a few influential figures in the circle. Since chambers of commerce were subject to administrative control by the Red Guards, they formed a small, private circle they called the "Tea Party." They would discuss matters by saying "let's have tea together," thus creating a de facto business alliance.

This clandestine business alliance is now able to influence the pricing of some small commodities. For example, they previously manipulated the price of cooking oil, but it was just a small test. The price was adjusted back to the original price after only three days. Although the official investigators also made some discoveries, the time was short and there was not much evidence, so it was reported as "abnormal market fluctuations in a short period of time" and the impact was judged to be "negligible".

However, this was a way for the "tea tasting party" to test its internal unity and see if everyone could attack and retreat together. In order not to be targeted by the Red Guards, they carried out such operations very secretly and for a short time. The money they earned was also taxed in accordance with the rules. However, they had carried out similar operations many times, which was enough to prove that their monopoly characteristics were gradually becoming apparent.

However, they haven't found a way to make a move at this stage, and they are also acting very cautiously, which is why the problem hasn't been discovered.

Following a normal development trajectory, such organizations are difficult to detect. With layers of cover and cooperation with other civil servants, they can minimize the risk of things getting out of control. Even those who seek to abuse their power only do minor things and do not cross the line.

Through these repeated trials, they have come to understand what they are capable of and how well they can perform under extreme conditions, much like the trial run of large equipment before its use.

In some grassroots areas, they have begun to bind themselves to the local power system, helping local civil servants to obtain better economic development dividends, build merits, and promote them to higher positions, thus creating representatives of interests at higher levels. In this way, after only a few generations of civil servants, they can build the local area into an ironclad entity.

When a village's water, electricity, gas, food, clothing, housing, and transportation all come from a single company, and everyone in the village is connected to this company, do you think the words of the company's负责人 (responsible person) or the words of the local government officials carry more weight in this village?

The tea party originally thought its development would go smoothly, but unexpectedly encountered Liu Jiuli, a decision-maker with a completely unconventional style, who refused to let go of even the slightest clue.

From an institutional perspective, these people are skirting the line, not crossing the line. But in Liu Jiuli's view, skirting the line is a disguised crossing of the line, a test of the ruling party's bottom line.

We must never let capital know the government's bottom line; even if it only gets close, we must slap it back.

After a moment of contemplation, Liu Jiuli made a phone call.

Meanwhile, Amiya, who had just finished dealing with her official duties, received a call from Liu Jiuli.

"PhD."

Little Donkey was surprised to receive Liu Jiuli's call at this time, but she was still very happy. After all, she hadn't contacted the Doctor for a long time. To her, Kal'tsit and the Doctor were the closest people in her life.

"Amiya, how have you been lately?"

"Everything is fine, how about the Doctor?"

"It's alright, but there's something I need you to do here, Future Science City, the sooner the better."

"Yes, Doctor, I'll be right there."

"Be careful on the road, safety first."

"Okay, Doctor, see you in a bit."

"See you in a bit, we're going out for hot pot tonight."

"it is good!"

Of course, Amiya wasn't brought here to be exploited as a child laborer... Wait, it's already 1100 years now, Amiya is an adult, so it doesn't count as exploitation.

Bah, bah, bah! What exploitation? We're letting the little donkey come and learn something.

As far as Liu Jiuli knows, Amiya and Talulah are both qualified successors, so Liu Jiuli hopes to focus on cultivating the two of them. However, Talulah also has Black Serpent to provide guidance. That old schemer learns very quickly after being exposed to new knowledge, and with his long-term life experience, it is no problem for him to teach Talulah at any time.

As for Amiya, Kal'tsit definitely couldn't make her a qualified proletarian heir, so if conditions allowed, Liu Jiuli would naturally have to personally guide her.

This is a good learning opportunity. I hope those reckless guys will let me work on it for a little longer.

Section 188: November 11, 1099 Terra

(Summoning comments (～￣▽￣)～)

Letania, a Roman successor state with many towers.

That's right! He is the rightful heir to the Holy Roman Empire, the Venetian Doge whom every Paradox Interactive player ecstatically admires, and the greatness of Istanbul will be witnessed by the Eastern Roman Empire! (Stirring up trouble)

Ahem, back to the main topic, this country does indeed have a great many tall towers.

Back in the day, Letania was engulfed in war, and a new Witch King emerged. After killing countless fools, he established a centralized Letania where "I am the state," and the Witch King's tower became a symbol of that era.

Later, although the Witch King was exiled and the locals were terrified of his power, even the nobles cursed him, the end of fear was envy and greed. Everyone hated the Witch King, and everyone wished they could become the Witch King themselves.

Thus, the Mage Tower became a symbol of the nobility of Letania, and after the death of the Witch King, the country developed a very strong academic atmosphere. In this country, nobility was not only a symbol of bloodline, but also of power. It was not acceptable for a dozen or so nobles skilled in Originium Arts to be considered uncultured and looked down upon. This spirit of contempt among feudal lords actually promoted the development of local technology.

This also made Letania a renowned magical nation. The towers of those nobles were not only symbols of authority, but also enhanced their Originium Arts, making them authorities empowered by power.

However, some problems have recently occurred in Letania's border region.

Actually, this problem existed before, but it wasn't as serious as it is now; that problem was the refugee problem.

Simply put, these are ordinary people who flee from one country to another; they are refugees. The reasons for fleeing generally include, but are not limited to: excessively high taxes, poor land quality, corrupt nobles, or a miserable life.

Translated: I can't survive here, I'm going somewhere else.

Every year, there are hundreds or even thousands of such refugees. In addition, the countries of Terra do not have strict borders, so this dynamic population movement is normal. The higher-ups don't care if a few less sheep are taken from the lower classes; it's just a drop in the ocean.

But the problem now is that it's the cattle that are running.

What happened?

As you can see from the map, Letania borders the Ursus Empire, and Steelgrain is less than 100 kilometers away from Letania's nearest border city.

Did you instantly understand what had happened?

For the Red Guards, who were in a state of rapid development and severely short of population, the surrounding people were highly sought after. They didn't care where you came from, as long as you obeyed the law after arriving here, everyone was a comrade.

In addition, the lower classes of Terra had little sense of national identity (they were starving to death, so where would they get any sense of identity?), and felt no pressure to flee to other countries. So, after discovering that there were many refugee settlements along the border between Syracuse and Letania, the Red Guards began to work on these people.

"Fellow villager, our Red Guards are recruiting workers. If you're worried about our services, we can settle accounts daily."

"We're hiring! The Red Guards military factory is hiring. Food and lodging provided. Interested parties please come quickly."

"Would your brother lie to you? I'm working for the Red Guards right now, the food and lodging are great, come with me!"

At first, it was just basic propaganda, but after discovering that food could attract a large number of people, the Red Guards started to lose their morals.