Yes, Madam Prime Minister

As for the personnel for each department, Ronan had already made his decision.

Of course, this still has to be decided by Dinia, since their subordinates are responsible for democracy, while Dinia, as the leader, is responsible for centralization.

Each department provided three candidates: one who was obviously unreliable and most likely disobedient; one who was neither capable nor of good character and would probably be disliked by Dinia at first glance; and finally, the last one was the candidate chosen by Ronan and the others.

Because his morning exercise had taken up some time, Ronan ate two sandwiches with bacon and eggs and headed straight for the Wright City Hall.

Upon arriving at Dinia's office, before Ronan could even speak, Dinia launched into a tirade, "What's going on at Wright Manor?"

Ronan immediately understood what was going on and said, "That place is a symbol of the incorruptibility of the special municipal officials."

Dinia stared wide-eyed at Ronan, almost doubting whether she had heard him correctly. "Say that again?"

“Madam, I said that place is a symbol of the integrity of the seven special municipal officials,” Ronan repeated without changing his expression.

"Well done, really well done! Taking bribes and still daring to call yourself incorruptible." Dinia's fists were clenched. "Did you think you could take bribes at will just because you exploited legal loopholes?"

“Madam, please calm down,” Ronan said. “In the past, officials, businessmen, churches, and landowners in the special city colluded in the most unsavory way possible; that’s what bribery was all about. But my predecessor, Mayor Winston, and I set an example by keeping everything within the legal framework.”

"Before, you could just grab ten or eight yuan at will, but now it's safe to grab one or two yuan."

"Most people are still willing to take a safe one or two dollars. After all, this special city lacks upward mobility, and there is serious involution. There are quite a few people who like to report their colleagues, and the higher-ups are happy to punish us who are like 'prison guards'."

"Furthermore, many young officials in the special city come from decent but not particularly good backgrounds. After all, those who are best at taking exams are neither the poor nor the rich, but the children from these middle-class families."

“Many young people want to do good for the citizens, but civil servants are not lords and their positions cannot be inherited. In particular, the channels for advancement in the city are almost entirely outward and upward. If they cannot get promoted, who would be willing to be an honest official? They are easily corrupted because they are afraid of falling into a lower social class. To ensure their integrity, we can only try to improve their quality of life and their children's education.”

"Therefore, Wright Estate is a symbol of integrity."

After Ronan finished speaking, he bowed deeply.

“There’s always some twisted logic to come up with,” Dinia said. “So, what brings you here so early in the morning?”

Ronan handed over the documents and said, "Regarding the selection of heads of various departments in the new city hall, some colleagues and I have offered some suggestions, and we hope you can take a look."

Dinia took the document, glanced at it, and slammed it face down on the table.

"Don't think I don't know your tricks." Dinia crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "A choice of three, huh?"

"Give me a new list as I requested. I won't pursue things like the Wright Manor."

Chapter Ninety requires a feigned attack; winning hearts and minds is paramount.

Ronan now understood everything. This was a trap that had been waiting for him to fall into, with the aim of seizing power from him.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this strategy is specific to Ivy, just like when Dinia first arrived and immediately brought up the issue of Blackfish Harbor.

But the part about choosing one of the three options is definitely a betrayal by that old dog Bal.

“Of course, that’s no problem at all, ma’am. I am your loyal assistant,” Ronan replied.

Ronan absolutely could not back down on personnel decisions.

He has lost control of the finances.

The Kingdom's central cabinet approved the merger of seven special cities into a single normal city, not to resolve any historical issues, but because they promised to contribute more tax revenue and transfer financial control.

If Ronan loses his personnel authority, he will truly become a secretary, rather than a genuine chief of staff.

"I don't have any special requirements. They can't be too young, too old, or lack political experience in the relevant field. They can't have a bad record. Also, to ensure fairness and avoid accusations of nepotism, it's best if your subordinates make up a small percentage of your staff."

Dinia said.

"Yes, ma'am."

Ronan agreed.

Do you want me to have fewer subordinates? Isn't that just an attempt to reduce my influence?

After leaving the city hall, Ronan strolled around the city hall for a while, then pretended to go to the canteen for breakfast, instructing the canteen waiter to pass on a message to a few of his close associates, asking them to come over for a meeting that evening.

That evening, the heads of several departments in Wright City gathered together.

Ronan directly stated Dinia's opinion on the candidates for the heads of the new city's municipal government.

Instantly, everyone's expression changed. They had been eagerly anticipating Ronan's appointment so they could secure good seats in the new city hall, but this was the unexpected turn of events.

"Ronan, this isn't what we agreed on. If I can't get up there, none of us will have a good time either."

"Ronan, you should talk to the mayor again. How can you deny someone's talent just because of their background? That's unreasonable."

"Exactly! Whoever said Ronan was nepotistic, I'd shoot them with my musket."

"Ronan, did you offend the mayor? Why don't you back down?"

"Shut up, how can you back down in something like this? Damn it, this woman is too arrogant."

A group of bureaucrats, who are usually respectable gentlemen who seem to care about nothing and are dedicated to serving the citizens, immediately become no different from street thugs when it comes to issues involving their official positions. Some act like scoundrels, some become cowards, and some start swearing.

"Enough." Ronan said in a low voice to stop the noise. "I called you here to tell you to behave yourselves for the next few days, pretend you know nothing, and leave everything to me."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Ronan calmly replied, "It's simple. She didn't have any specific requirements, but she wants a low percentage of our people. So I'll give her a choice of one out of ten, and let's see how she chooses."

"Wouldn't this be going too far?"

"Are you in charge or am I in charge?" Ronan retorted, without any politeness. "Anyone who doesn't want to stand with me can leave now."

Instantly, there were no more dissenting voices.

Overnight, everyone worked together to produce a new list of candidates according to Ronan's instructions. All those who had been excluded were added, with at least ten candidates for each position.

Moreover, each person's evaluation report was their own original submission, not Ronan's previous document which included an objective evaluation.

The original evaluation reports submitted by these officials were, of course, all processed. They were incredibly polished, consisting mostly of superficially rational and objective evaluations, along with some seemingly subjective criticisms.

Judging from this alone, it's impossible to distinguish between good and bad.

In addition, Ronan left one loophole: he eliminated all the female candidates.

The next day, Ronan returned to Dinia's office, where a thick stack of documents lay on her desk.

"Madam, this is the list compiled according to your request. Please take a look."

Ronan said respectfully.

Dinia didn't look at it immediately, but waited until Ronan left before calling Yvette over.

The two of them looked through it together, and they got numb as soon as they started.

There were too many people, and I didn't know most of them. Plus, all the resumes looked the same, and I could hardly tell who was who.

Those who knew Ronan a little better were his subordinates and the department heads in Wright City.

“He did this on purpose,” Yvette said before she had even finished reading. “He’s expressing his dissatisfaction.”

"Tell me your solutions." Dinya knew Ronan was trying to teach her a lesson.

Yvette fell into deep thought.

She originally planned to use Wright Manor as a starting point, but she didn't expect Ronan to be so proud of it, which made her first step less smooth. Although the second step was still launched, Ronan immediately made a strong response.

“However, he doesn’t really want to go against you, Didi,” Yvette said. “He deliberately left a topic unresolved.”

"What topic?" Dinia asked.

“There isn’t a single woman on the list of candidates,” Yvette replied.

In this world, although we haven't entered the industrial age and women have almost no say in the economy, the existence of female magicians means that women also wield some power, so naturally some women have become officials.

After all, violence is far more effective than economics.

"Will it work?" Dinia asked. She had known Ronan for several months and was well aware of his ability to distort right and wrong. She didn't think the lack of female candidates was a problem.

“It’s no use,” Yvette replied. “But it’s a starting point. Since he’s throwing a bunch of documents at us that we can’t keep up with, we’ll keep finding reasons to get him to revise them.”

As soon as Yvette finished speaking, Ronan went to the door and knocked. After receiving permission, Ronan came in.

“Madam, I would like to invite you to my home for dinner, and we can also discuss some personal matters,” Ronan said, the implication being that he was only inviting Dinia.

“Okay,” Dinia agreed.

At work, Ronan is a subordinate who is both easy and troublesome, but in private, the two can be considered friends. After all, they have been through life-and-death battles together and have secrets that only the two of them know.

After extending the invitation, Ronan left without saying another word.

Making Dinia feel a little uncomfortable on the candidate documents was just a small trick; Ronan never intended to use such methods to prevent Dinia from taking over his personnel authority.

This approach won't work. If a political officer is determined to target his subordinate administrative officer, the administrative officer's overt or covert resistance is a low-level and useless tactic. The right way is to find a way to guide the officer to change his mindset.

Ronan has always been a man who walks the straight path.

That evening, Dinia went to Ronan's house alone.

She didn't change her clothes; she was still dressed in her work attire: a modified version of a cavalry officer's uniform underneath a trench coat, tight-fitting dark brown bootcut trousers, and mid-calf black calfskin boots.

Chapter Ninety-One: Inviting Guests, Heart-to-Heart Talks, and Gift Giving

Elena was the only person in Ronan's small restaurant.

Elena looked at Dinia. Although she had seen her many times, she had to admit that every time she saw her, she couldn't help but feel a sense of amazement and wonder if the world had made a mistake in giving birth to such a woman.

Her hair was as white as snow mixed with sunlight; her eyes were as red as rubies; her face was like a goddess statue; her breasts were large and firm enough to make her military uniform look full and bulging; her waist was so slender that it would drive most women crazy with envy; her buttocks were so perky that most people could not achieve even with hard training; and her legs were fleshy in the thighs and well-proportioned in the calves, the kind of legs that men would want to be crushed by.

Despite his alluring physique, he possesses a striking and aloof demeanor, along with a strange and endearing charm that makes him impossible to dislike.

"Where are the Ronans?" Dinia asked Elena.

Elena snapped out of her daze. "Young Master is personally preparing dinner in the kitchen."

After a while.

The dishes were served one after another, not many, and not particularly elaborate. There was a red wine braised beef, a typical dish of southern French country cuisine; a local specialty, cheese shrimp balls; a steamed clam with wine; a stir-fried green pepper and eggplant dish with Chinese cooking techniques; and finally, chicken soup.

A standard four dishes and one soup.

Ronan's family rarely invites people to eat at home, nor do they hold any parties or events there, so their usual dining table is small, with the two of them sitting opposite each other, almost face to face.

Halfway through dinner, Ronan took the initiative to start a conversation, "Madam, is it alright to call you by your first name in private?"

“It would be better this way,” Dinia said.

“Okay, Dinia, you should have noticed that there are no women among the candidates, right?” Ronan asked.

“Indeed,” Dinia replied.

“It is actually very difficult for female officials to be accepted,” Ronan said. “It can be said that there is a consensus in the current civil service system that women are not suitable for official positions.”

Dinia didn't speak, but her eyes said it all: If women can't be officials, then how did I get the position?

Ronan seemed to see right through Dinia, saying, "Because Dinia, you are first and foremost a magician, and only secondly a woman. It is only natural for a magician to become an official or a member of parliament."

“I don’t agree with that,” Dinia said. “On the contrary, I think many magicians are unsuitable for public office, including myself.”

“But you did it, and you did it seriously,” Ronan said.

“Because I want to change some things,” Dinia said.

"Yvette's advice to you was probably to boost your political achievements, get promoted, and then rely on His Majesty the King's patronage to get you into the central government, right?" Ronan asked.

In truth, the king didn't have much time left. Of course, only Dinya himself knew this; Yvette and Ronan were unaware of it.

“That’s about right,” Dinya replied, though she didn’t really agree with it.

“That’s wrong,” Ronan said.

Dinia was puzzled, but then her eyes lit up, and she stared intently at Ronan as she asked, "Why?"

"You've also read that book, 'Musketeers, Mages, and Civil Servants.' His Majesty Oran and His Majesty Lawrence brought about two revolutionary upheavals, but after their deaths—no, while they were still alive—the backlash began. Nevertheless, they still brought progress to this country and indeed to the entire continent."

"You know what? These advancements were actually things they did on their way to the pinnacle of power."

"Whether it was His Majesty Orans's magic academy, his crackdown on the church and the nobility's civil service system, or His Majesty Lawrence's equal distribution of land and dismantling of the manor economy, these were all basically accomplished when they were still dragon slayers."

"Once the dragon-slaying heroes have completed their task, they are no longer a group of heroes, but a group of evil dragons. This is not due to their personal moral character, but rather their position has changed."

"The so-called progress of history is to move forward madly during the process of change, and then turn back after the change is completed. It's two steps forward and one step back. The step forward is completed when one has not yet fully grasped power, because at that time the brave need partners and the support of the villagers."

"If you inflate your achievements and then try to implement reforms after you've been promoted, can you really make changes? You can't. Anyone who thinks about getting promoted first and then seeking change has absolutely no chance of success, but they can certainly reverse the course of things."

"The process is about pursuing justice and fairness. Even if you eventually become a revisionist or even degenerate into a demon, you still bring justice and fairness. The process itself is demonic. Even if you still want to implement fairness and justice in the end, you cannot bring any fairness or justice."

Ronan made a long speech that leaned to the left.

"So, Dinia, you need to start making changes now, starting with this new city. You need me."

All that has been said is for this very reason.