Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Lu Jianling looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Li Jixian said, "The troops in Jiangnan are now completely pinned down. We can't send any more people to Fujian. It's time for our navy to show off. If we take down the Fujian navy, the Fujianese will have to surrender." Once Fujian is taken, to avoid being attacked from the rear, the people of Jiangnan must withdraw their troops.

“We’re out of soldiers too,” Ronan told him explicitly.

“But we still have guns, all the old-fashioned firearms that have been phased out, right? Once we take down Fujian’s naval forces, we’ll arm the poor bastards in Guangxi and let them plunder the Fujian coast,” Li Jixian said. “The key is those maritime merchants who are colluding with Jiangnan.”

“They are superhumans,” Lu Jianling interjected.

The decent superhumans from Guangdong have already gone to the front lines in Hunan.

Musketeers are a strong deterrent to ordinary people and a threat to non-orthodox superhumans, but to higher-ranking superhumans, they are nothing more than chicks. Don't say that superhumans get tired too. If he kills twenty or thirty of them, won't the rest run away? Besides, do maritime merchants not have guards these days?

Li Jixian smiled and said, "Mr. Luo, don't you still have people under you? Besides, there are quite a few clerical staff within the Gongjin Association who should also contribute."

He was thinking of using all available force.

“I’ll give it a try. I guess some people won’t be interested, but others will be very interested,” Ronan said. Many people in the Progressive Association are also maritime merchants, and they have a lot of hatred for Fujianese merchants.

Li Jixian is now focused on winning. "If all else fails, we can leverage Mr. Luo's strengths and call in some foreigners to help us out."

“No need for that. I can’t do anything like colluding with the enemy or betraying my country, haha.” Ronan said in a joking tone, but at the end, he gave Li Jixian a warning look.

"Alright then." Li Jixian said with slight regret. With the foreigner's words, victory was assured, but he didn't expect Ronan to be completely unwilling.

at the same time.

The imperial court completed its appeasement and commitments to Sichuan, and then dispatched troops to Hubei.

Meanwhile, the Northwest Army received the news and launched a fierce offensive on the western front.

The race against time has begun. Will the Northwest Army take Shanxi first, and the Central Plains take Hubei first? Or will Guangdong take Fujian first, or will the Jiangnan region break through Huaibei first?

Chapter 1053 Secretary Luo is the real decision-maker; living room diplomacy won't lead to selling out the country.

In May, the weather in Guangdong gradually gets warmer.

While the race between the major powers of Seris was in full swing, Ronan was in his own backyard.

This mansion is located in Tianhe District of Guangdong, hundreds of years in the future, in another world, a place full of commercial districts.

Because the garden at the top was not yet completed, Ronan received guests in the living room on the second floor.

They were no ordinary guests, but guests from Jiangnan, and acquaintances at that—Liu Chengjie, the uncle of Luo Nan's late good friend Liu Menglong.

He was there as a lobbyist. He went directly to Ronan because everyone in Seris knew that Secretary Ronan was the real leader of the Progressive Association, while Chairman Zhao was just a figurehead.

Of course, there were also official envoys, a team, but they did not go directly to see Chairman Zhao; instead, they went to the Foreign Affairs Office, i.e., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"What are your conditions? Just say it," Ronan said bluntly.

Liu Chengjie didn't mince words, saying, "Both sides should take a step back. We will withdraw our troops from Hunan, and you will cease your operations in Fujian."

Ronan grinned and pushed a cup of tea he had just brewed to Liu Chengjie. “Is this a case of both sides taking a step back? We’ve taken two steps back. The resistance in Hubei has weakened beyond your expectations. You have to withdraw from Hunan, but retreating isn’t that easy. If we rush in and hold you back, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Liu Chengjie calmly picked up his teacup. "Does sticking to us do you any good? No, only bad, and more than one. It will delay your business in Hunan and indirectly give the court an advantage. I admit we are on different paths, but we are united in overthrowing this court. Isn't that right?"

Ronan also took a sip of tea. "Mr. Liu is right. How about we compromise? You withdraw, we won't interfere, but you shouldn't get involved in the Fujian matter either."

“Fujian is extremely important to us,” Liu Chengjie said.

If Fujian falls into the hands of the Gongjinhui, then the Gongjinhui could even threaten the rear area of ​​Jiangnan by both land and sea.

Ronan put down his teacup. "Let me correct you on one point. Fujian is a very important place to you, but the people of Fujian are not."

Liu Chengjie, holding his teacup, squinted. "So, Mr. Luo, what you mean is?"

Ronan began, “We will still only occupy western Fujian and a few ports in southern Fujian, and we will not destroy the military forces in Fujian. However, those maritime merchants who previously organized resistance will be confiscated and their families exterminated on charges of treason and aiding and abetting internal strife.”

"Treason, aiding and abetting internal strife?" Liu Chengjie was completely dumbfounded.

"Mr. Liu, don't you know that we in Guangdong are still loyal subjects of the imperial court? We're not like you, who have established your own emperor. By the way, our Chairman Zhao holds a legitimate position in the imperial court: Defense Commissioner of the Zhennan Military Command, with the title of Minister of War and the title of Prince of Dingnan," Luo Nan said. In fact, Zhao Jun used more than just these three titles as Chairman Zhao, but he didn't have time to list all the dishes, so he only mentioned these three main ones.

Liu Chengjie was shocked again, "The Zhennan Military Headquarters is gone."

"The organization is gone, but the staffing is still there. Salaries have been suspended, but that's all," Ronan said.

Like many others, Liu Chengjie thought to himself that Ronan was born into the wrong family; it was a real shame he wasn't a treacherous minister in Seris.

"On what grounds do you convict them of treason?" Liu Chengjie asked.

“We captured prisoners during our war with Annam. Although we released them, they left behind numerous testimonies. We can produce one at any time to prove that someone colluded with foreign enemies and plotted treason,” Ronan said.

Liu Chengjie thought to himself, "It's probably not something they took; they're just writing it down on the spot. What's the situation with the charge of aiding and abetting internal strife?"

"We're not rebels. We're fighting bandits across borders, and they not only refuse to cooperate but also obstruct us. That's aiding and abetting internal strife," Ronan said seriously. His shamelessness made Liu Chengjie admire him even more.

"It seems that's all we can do." Liu Chengjie sighed, appearing reluctant, but inwardly he was delighted, because he had prepared to bleed before coming, but he hadn't expected that Jiangnan wouldn't require him to give anything.

Ronan just smiled. At this time, he couldn't draw blood from Jiangnan, otherwise he would be giving the imperial court a free ride.

The Gongjin Society is still too weak; Jiangnan and the imperial court need to continue their mutual attrition.

After Liu Chengjie left, envoys from the imperial court and people from the Northwest arrived one after another.

The imperial court's intention was simple: to make Guangdong and Jiangnan fight to the death. The court's bargaining chips were a bunch of illusory honorary titles, real positions offered to members of the Gongjin Society, and promises of tax reductions.

What use are the titles and official positions of the imperial court? Do you still think this is like when the Gongjin Society first opened?

Taxes? Laughable. In Guangdong, taxes can be as much as you want. Does the imperial court need to interfere?

However, considering the face of the imperial court, Luo Nan still made a condition: if the imperial court removed as many official hats as possible from Hunan, preferably from several high-ranking officials in the provincial government, and even those at the next level, then the Gongjin Society would agree to attack Jiangxi at that time.

The imperial court naturally refused, and then skipped the topic of war, instead demanding the purchase of improved seeds, especially corn and wheat.

With the weather turning cold, the biggest problem for the imperial court was the food supply.

Ronan doesn't want money, he only wants coal and iron; Guangdong has plenty of money.

The lobbyist had no choice but to report it.

The people from the Northwest didn't come as lobbyists; they came to make a deal with Ronan. They wanted the technology that could directly transform people who believed in primitive religions into superhumans.

Ronan, of course, refused.

However, the other party said that if Ronan didn't give it to them, they would buy it from Suleiman.

Back then, Falek left the technology, which was still in its initial stage, with Suleiman. The difference between the initial version and the current version is that it cannot be implemented on a large scale, the efficiency is very low, and the stability is only slightly lower. Simply put, it can only be done slowly, one step at a time, and there is no guarantee that it will succeed.

The Northwest Legion meant that if Ronan didn't give it to them, they would betray the country and collude with the enemy.

Ronan, of course, wouldn't agree. Whether you sell or not is none of my business.

Do you really think Ronan is a Seris Patriot?

However, this incident made Ronan realize a problem: the internal strife in Seris had already attracted the attention of the western countries, who would try to steer the civil war toward a result that would be favorable to them. The favorable result, of course, would be for Seris to remain in chaos and in a state of fragmentation for a long time.

Ronan arrived at the landscaping construction site of the third tier, "Anli."

"What?" Ambrina asked.

“We might have to go back to France,” Ronan said, then explained the reason to Ambrina.

“Isn’t it good that Seris remains fragmented?” Ambrina retorted.

Ronan had no feelings for Seris in this world. "That's not the issue. The main problem is that we can't do it. Dominance in Southeast Asia is too important for Guangdong. If we do it, we're selling ourselves out and trying to divide up the actual benefits. But if they do it, they're selling out others, and all they have to do is talk."

Ambrina understood now. "But what bargaining chips do we have to negotiate with our son?"

“Of course it’s Falek’s technology. Don’t forget there’s a caste-based indigenous comprador state in the New World,” Ronan said. With this technology, his son could gather a group of superhumans and form a heretical royal guard.

Chapter 1054 The Same Trick Again, Hunan Is Alright, Heretic Royal Guard

On the Hunan battlefield, reinforcements from Jiangnan began to withdraw in batches in an orderly manner.

Although a secret agreement had been reached between Jiangnan and Guangdong, trust was impossible to establish.

"It seems the people from Jiangnan are quite capable," Li Jixian muttered to himself as he looked at the battle report.

The fact that the general was able to organize the retreat so well, without leaving any obvious loopholes for a surprise attack or pursuit, shows that he has excellent military skills. He may not be as good as the famous generals of the time, but he is still above average.

Most generals in this world are bad at retreating.

Although the people from Jiangnan withdrew, the Hunanese had to move their battle lines northward in large numbers. However, Guangdong still did not have any advantage in terms of manpower. The Hunanese were fighting on their homeland and defending their homeland. The number of people they could conscript and mobilize was incomparable to that of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

However, most of their soldiers were relatively weak in combat and poorly equipped.

Therefore, Li Jixian resorted to the same old trick.

He divided his able-bodied troops into groups of three thousand, and sent them to plunder people from the surrounding villages.

When he first arrived in Hunan, he didn't dare to do that. The reason was simple: he wasn't familiar with the terrain of Hunan at that time. Of course, there were maps, but they weren't that detailed.

Of course, more importantly, once the group of new recruits and inexperienced junior officers are no longer part of the main force and lose the command of mid-level generals, they will turn into a bunch of armed pigs.

Even if a pig has a gun, it's still a pig.

It's different now.

Having been through the baptism of war, they became familiar with each other, established basic trust, and developed some degree of organization.

The Gongjinhui's army of several thousand men was going to arrest people, so Hunan had to mobilize tens of thousands of men.

After all, the three thousand men that Li Jixian arranged for a battalion did not all rush into the village at once. Instead, about a thousand men were responsible for capturing people, while the remaining two thousand men were divided into one thousand to guard the rear and one thousand to find a place to ambush. If the enemy army came in large numbers, they would abandon the mission and run away. If the enemy only had a few more people than them, they would simply wipe them out.

The people of Hunan had only two options to stop the actions of the Gongjinhui army: one was to concentrate their forces to attack the Gongjinhui's base camp in the highlands of southern Hunan, and the other was to send troops to "capture" the 3,000-strong Gongjinhui brigade.

The main camp was difficult to attack because Li Jixian had not deployed all his troops; his main force still numbered around 30,000.

If the siege fails to break through, those who have been dispersed may abandon their mission of capturing people and instead head north to cause destruction in the core areas of Hunan.

But arresting people is also difficult.

They only had less than 100,000 troops in total, most of whom were new recruits. Hunan is such a large province, it would be too difficult to accurately capture the enemy.

"Come on, let's see which one you choose." Li Jixian waited for their decision.

Several days later, Li Jixian laughed when he saw the intelligence.

The other party didn't choose either of them.

"As expected of my hometown, there are still talented people here," Li Jixian said with a smile. He is also from Hunan.

In Hunan, the soldiers were dispersed and then reassembled, with the reassembly point located on the route that the Gongjinhui's arrest team would inevitably take.

The Communist Youth League's arrest team, after making arrests, would eventually head south back to their headquarters to hand over the arrested individuals to others for transport back to Guangdong.

Raiding the headquarters is too risky, and capturing people is difficult, so we'll block your way back.

Tens of thousands of your people are stuck in Hunan province, can you remain indifferent?

Your only solution is to disperse my men blocking the road at headquarters, creating an opportunity for the arrest team to return.

"Unfortunately, you underestimated our reconnaissance capabilities," Li Jixian said with a smile, "and overestimated your execution capabilities."

The Hunanese's battle plan was essentially to disperse and march rapidly to block the Guangdong army's southward return route. Their regular troops would arrive first, while others would arrive later, perhaps several hours or even a day later.

In any case, it's impossible for them to arrive at a place where they can block the road at the same time.

“A few hours will be enough,” Li Jixian continued to mutter to himself.

He intends to use these few hours, with the existing forces at headquarters, to crush Hunan's elite forces.

If the elite forces from Hunan who arrived first can't gain a foothold, will the others dare to come up? It would be brave enough if they didn't run away.

It doesn't matter if they don't run away. As long as they can't stand firmly, the arrest teams that were originally meant to block the road will instead put psychological pressure on them.

At this moment, Lu Jianling walked in. "How is the situation?"

"Hunan should have been captured," Li Jixian said. "Of course, the cleanup will take much longer than the actual fighting. Our forces are still too small to truly wipe them out."

At the same time, Ronan and Ambrina were in the French capital, thousands of miles away, along with Guo Shiliu, who insisted on traveling with Ambrina.

Guo Hanlu's daughter is not close to her biological mother at all now. Instead, she likes Ambrina, a big doll who likes to play with her. That's right, in the eyes of a six-year-old girl, Ambrina is a cute big doll.

Ambrina took Guo Shiliu to play with her grandson and granddaughter. She jokingly told Guo Shiliu that the baby lying in the cradle and the one-and-a-half-year-old child were her younger brother and sister. Guo Shiliu firmly denied it, because she believed that Ambrina was an older sister, and her grandson was also her grandson.

Hello, grandson.

Good heavens, the generations are all messed up.

On the other side, Ronan was discussing serious matters with his son and daughter-in-law: selecting natives of the New World, then using Falek's technology to transform them into alternative First Order members, and subsequently forming them into the Royal Guard. After they retired, they would be sent back to the New World to serve as officials.

Little Lu Xi'an looked helpless. "Father, the students from the New World are all brown-skinned but white-hearted. They are even more devout to God than I am. They simply cannot carry that kind of totem-based magical loading technology."

“I didn’t ask you to choose from international students. Have the indigenous kingdoms send some of their lower-caste people over. These people are naturally at odds with the comprador forces of the indigenous kingdoms. They are helpless and have enough loyalty while they are here. If they go back one day, they will definitely become the opposition. Of course, to prevent them from becoming too powerful, bring over more second-generation comprador forces. If they don’t have talent, give them a talent.”

“In a stable and large enough country, compradors are insignificant. Chaos is necessary to keep them in high positions.”