I'm in Terra, governing a weird little country.

This was said perfectly, neither losing face to Ernst nor losing his own position, and even potentially complimenting Ernst and Kjelag's current government team. After all, they are all "excellent in quality, Someone who can take on this great responsibility."

Jeston has indeed improved a lot during this time!

Moreover, the Prime Minister's Guard is in line with Ernst's ideas.

Although Boss Yin's Mountain Snow Ghost has been ruthlessly disbanded by himself, the fact that he had such an armed force in his hands and even attempted a coup still sounded the alarm to Ernst.

Even if Lord Yeragond can guarantee his safety, he still needs his own armed force.

From maintaining social security, to curbing possible backlash during reforms, to maintaining social order, in the future of Kjerag, after productivity further develops and society further opens up, people's thoughts and behaviors are unlikely to be what they are today. Simple.

When the time comes, there will be some things that he cannot let Yeragond do.

Having basically made up his mind, Ernst looked at Jeston, basically ready to admit.

Only one last test remains.

"Well, as usual, Mr. Jeston, I will give you a question. There is no absolute right answer to this question, so I hope you will answer it based on your own thinking, okay?"

"Of course." Jeston cheered up and replied confidently.

He has been waiting for this moment!

Ernst nodded and stated:

"Mr. Jeston, now I assume that your identity is a certain commercial street in Kjerag - Cinderella, don't laugh, you don't care whether it exists or not! - Assume that you are Kjerag... .Forget it, it’s a bit strange, you are the manager of a certain commercial street in Columbia. The situation in this neighborhood is very complicated.”

"It is simply divided into a pyramid shape. The bottom layer is ordinary traders. They run businesses, pay taxes legally, and pay protection fees to gangs. The second layer is local gangs. They charge protection fees from traders, but they also help you maintain your business. The public security of the neighborhood and paying tribute to you; you are at the top. You have absolute force in this commercial street and can suppress vendors or gangs at will. But you have to compete with other commercial streets, otherwise you will be managed next time Those who lost the election lost everything.”

"Now, the story begins."

Ernst paused for a moment, and then continued:

"One day, something happened in the commercial street under your jurisdiction."

"The protagonist of the incident is a store manager in your commercial street. He spent ten yuan on materials to open the store and earned 100 yuan. He paid thirty yuan for rent, water and electricity, twenty yuan for taxes, ten yuan for protection fees, and the rest 40 yuan. He thought that was his hard-earned money."

"But suddenly one day, a strange merchant whom he had never seen before opened a shop next to his. He was relatively upright, or full of a sense of justice. He sold the same thing for 50 yuan, so customers liked him."

"But the shop owner knew very well how his neighbor could not afford to pay water, electricity, taxes and protection fees at this price. He believed that his protection fees could not be paid in vain, so at this time, he contacted the local gang."

"The local gang was about to smash up the store, but before they could do it, the story got through to you."

Ernst stared into Jaston's eyes and asked word by word:

"At this time, if it were you, what would you do?"

Chapter 114 I will encourage him

"What will you do at this time?"

Jeston's brows furrowed tightly.Like last time, Ernst also gave himself a "short answer" question that seemed to be a "multiple choice" question.

As a Columbia Business Street leader, what would I do if this happened in my district?

The first thing Jeston thought of was investigation. He had to find out what was going on in that store!

According to the requirements given by Ernst, after paying the rent, water, electricity and taxes in full, even if the store did not pay protection fees at all, he would never survive.

Because he only sells it for 50 yuan, and the rent, water, electricity and taxes are enough to offset this income. This does not include the cost of his products and there is still [-] yuan.

On these ten dollars, he made a net loss!

No store can bear such a loss - not only is it completely impossible to make a profit, but it will even put money into it.

Businessmen pursue profits, so there must be something wrong with this shop by its nature.

After confirming his action, he said:

"Prime Minister Ernst, I think if I were the manager of this commercial street, I would prioritize investigating the background of this shop and where its owner came from."

Ernst nodded.

Jeston is right. For a superior, even if he has absolute force, rash action is definitely not the best choice. The correct way is to start an investigation immediately.

Ernst was generous and did not care about the "time issue", that is, the investigation took time, and the gang's actions could be carried out at any time, but Jeston did not react and try to stop the gang.

He went on to state:

"So, the result of your investigation is that the owner of this store is indeed an outsider and is suspected of being a spy. What are you going to do next?"

Next?

Jeston was stunned, not understanding what Ernst meant: "Since we already know that he is a spy, then I will directly use force to suppress it and arrest the store manager, right?"

Ernst did not answer immediately, but asked meaningfully: "Are you sure?"

As we all know, the time when people are least confident is when you are asked by the teacher or interviewer "Are you sure?" after you answer an answer that you think is correct.

Jeston was no exception. He was momentarily shaken and immediately changed his answer:

"No, I can just let the local gang handle it. There is no need for me to do this kind of trivial matter myself."

Ernst still kept smiling and asked again: "Are you sure?"

Jeston hesitated for a moment and nodded slowly.

He couldn't think of anything wrong with this approach.The gang had originally planned to take action, and it had nothing to do with him. Even if other commercial street managers behind the spy store manager wanted to pursue him, the worst he could do was ask the gang to hand over a small leader to take the blame.The managers of other commercial streets have done shameful things to begin with, and they certainly would not want to make this matter a big deal. How can they still lose anything?

But Ernst’s next words shattered his illusion of perfection.

He said slowly:

"Well, because the gang took action, smashed up the store and beat up the store manager, the store closed down a few days later."

"However, the news that gang members in a commercial street in Colombia wantonly smashed up stores also hit the headlines within a few days. Because safety cannot be guaranteed, fewer and fewer tourists come to your commercial street for shopping and tourism. Your performance is too poor. If you fail to compete in the next commercial street manager election, your identity as a commercial street manager will be taken away by someone else, and you will have nothing from now on."

"Game over. Mr. Jeston."

Ernst said the ending calmly.Jeston's face was filled with disbelief.

His lips trembled, but he couldn't speak.

Because this ending is very reasonable. Letting the gangs take action can indeed achieve the purpose of expelling the spies who disrupt the market, but the problem of public security disorder will also be exposed.There are so many commercial streets in Colombia and the competition is so fierce. No customer with money in his pocket would be willing to go shopping in a commercial street with chaotic law and order.

In the long run, the decline of the commercial street will become inevitable, and his resignation will be logical.

But what else can be done?Did he do it himself?

Perhaps seeing Jeston's thoughts, Ernst immediately added: "You can know for sure that he is an outsider, but he is only suspected of being a spy, and there is no conclusive evidence. If you suppress it directly, there will be no Doubts, expelling foreign investors, and xenophobia in the commercial street market are also very bad incidents."

Jeston was completely dumbfounded.

It's not possible to leave it to the gangs, and it's not possible to do it yourself.Should we just leave this spy alone?Just watch him disrupt the market order?Seeing him forcing the surrounding merchants to be unable to do business?

Jeston couldn't understand. It was just a merchant. How could it cause so much trouble to deal with it?

But while he was puzzled, he suddenly realized that since his answer did not satisfy Ernst, wouldn't his job be...

"Mr. Jeston, you are admitted."

Ernst stood up with a smile, and stretched out his hand to Jeston under his astonished gaze.

"But I'm not..." Jeston was still a little confused.

But Ernst shook his head: "No, I am satisfied that you can give this answer."

It is already good to know that you should investigate first, think twice before acting, and realize that when doing such bad things, it is best not to implicate yourself in order to avoid leaving clues.

The way to be an official is to be prepared for danger, change, and retreat. Jeston can realize two of these. At least for the position of the Prime Minister's Guard, he is already qualified.

Jeston stood up excitedly and held Ernst's hand.

He really wanted this job and was extremely grateful for Ernst's appreciation.

But despite his excitement, the question still lingered in his mind.

Before exiting the office, he took a deep look at Ernst, his eyes full of admiration.

He knew that Ernst must have an answer. Although, as he said, the answer may not be the only one, he must have a more complete answer than his own.

"This is the difference between me and Prime Minister Ernst."

"In the future in Kjerag, there are still things I need to learn!"

Jeston left the office, and only Hinterlea and Ernst were left in the room.

During the interview, Xintrea did not speak, but she also witnessed the entire interview process and was also thinking about the question raised by Ernst.

Frankly speaking, she thinks very superficially, even more superficially than Jeston.

After hearing the question, her first reaction was - isn't that shop owner destroying the market?

Just like the knight competition, originally, the knight competition held by the Commerce Federation was for those retired fighting knights who were living in embarrassment.The main theme is also a fist-to-body fight, and in the past, the martial arts of fighting knights could only be seen on the battlefield.The selling point is blood and violence, with a touch of blood.

To put it bluntly, it is the same as the Roman Colosseum in the history of the earth.

But later on, I don’t know which genius suddenly invented the “spectational knight competition”.

That is to abandon those bloody competitions that may make people feel physically uncomfortable and are not suitable for children and women, and let a group of handsome men and beautiful women come on stage, wear armor whose beauty is greater than its defensive effect, and hold swords and guns whose beauty is greater than their piercing ability. Halberd, using martial arts that are more showy than practical, combined with Originium skills that have more special effects than attack power, put on a live show on the stage.

Such "competition" simply insults the sanctity of the word "competition."

But it happened that it really became popular. Not only was it loved by the wider public, it even became popular abroad.And eventually gradually replaced the original form of knightly competition.

The final result is that the retired knights are unemployed again, and the knight competition has evolved into what it is today. The majority of the knight competition is for viewing, and the knight competition that competes for strength has also become a "harder performance". There are endless competitions.

Competitions like this in the past can only be seen in a small number of infected arenas or underground black competitions.

Wait...what's wrong?

Xintrea seemed to realize something and looked at Ernst.

Ernst did not have the ability to read minds and had no idea what Xintrea was thinking just now, but when Xintrea looked at him with surprise and confusion, he more or less guessed the question that Xintrea wanted to ask.

"You want to know what I would do?"

Ernst said:

"I'll encourage him."

Chapter 115 People-oriented

"I'll encourage him."