Volume 9: Home Chapter 293: Defense Expenditure of the Kingdom of Fire
"...The Kingdom of Fire?"
"If you don't like it, you can also call it the Fire Country."
Facing the gathered Fire Tribe, no, Fire City's various clan leaders, Xiao Yun calmly explained: "Our total population is only over 50,000, so even if we have a mighty and domineering name for our country, it will not be accepted by the outside world. The Dark Elves and Snow Elves belong to the same city-state as us, and no one calls the Dark Elves' underground city with that particularly long prefix, so it is just called an underground city. Only the Snow Elves have an Elf King, so their city-state can have the official name of 'Ice and Snow King City'."
"No, no, I don't think it's offensive." The Grassroots Chief waved his hands, looking excited, "So, the outside world recognizes us as an independent country? They don't regard us as Far Eastern orcs anymore?"
At the back of the conference room, Ted Zhongzhang, who was attending the meeting as a high-ranking member of the Tiger Clan, felt very complicated after hearing what the grassroots leader said...
Xiao Yun laughed: "Yes, it is in the interests of the vast majority of us for our grassland tribe to be independent. Even if we cry and shout to return to the Far East, others will not agree!"
"Great!" The managers of all tribes cheered loudly, especially the managers of the gray dwarves, goblins, centaurs, and snakes. They were so excited that they hugged the people around them...
If the Fire Tribe, no, the Fire City falls into the hands of the Beast King, the Snow Wolf Tribe and the Cat Tribe will have a hard time but at least they can still be considered as part of the "Far East Orcs" on the surface. They will definitely be classified as second-class residents, and if things go wrong they may fall directly from the clouds and become slaves... They have become accustomed to the life of equality and freedom and they dare not imagine such a situation at all!
The whole place was boiling with excitement, and Ted Zhongzhang couldn't help but reveal a somewhat complicated and relaxed smile. The tiger tribe, who had suffered a great loss from the Beast King, was even more unwilling to have anything to do with the Far East. Although the tiger tribe was in an awkward position now, at least they could get something for their labor and improve the lives of their tribe members through their own labor, which was enough for Ted Zhongzhang.
Xiao Yun smiled and let everyone have enough fun. When it was almost over, he raised his hand and said, "Okay, calm down, no matter how happy you are, you still have to live your life. There are still many important things that need everyone's participation."
Next, Xiao Yun discussed with the senior leaders and managers of various ethnic groups the meaning of the national flag, national ruling system, and ruling philosophy of the "Kingdom of Flame", a city-state in the southern grassland.
The national flag is very simple. In this world, only a few large countries with a population of over 50 million, such as the Far East Orc Empire, the Dwarf Kingdom and the Human Kingdom, are qualified to use rectangular flags. Countries that have not reached this level can only use triangular flags. The Country of Flame, named after flame, directly uses a triangular flag with a red background. The flag has a circle of small stars on it, representing that the Country of Flame has no main ethnic group, but is a united city-state composed of multiple ethnic groups where all races are equal.
The ruling system, governing philosophy, and bureaucratic system can be directly transformed from the existing management system and broken down into smaller parts...
The basic law of the city-state was transformed from the public security regulations compiled in the early years by drawing on the experience of the public security laws of the human kingdom. Chief A Li, who served as both the Discipline Inspection Group and the Production Promotion Association, directly served as the first Chief Justice...
The Ministry of Finance was renamed the Finance Department, and the chief financial steward Xuehua served as the first Minister of Finance.
The work conference was renamed the representative conference. The head and deputy head of each department directly served as the department's representative, and some seats were reserved for worker representatives. All public and private enterprises with more than 500 employees could jointly elect worker representatives to participate in the formal representative conference held every six months. (Worker representatives did not participate in the regular representative conferences, so as to avoid too many people and too many opinions, which would make it difficult to implement practical matters.)
A Labor Department will be established, with a grassroots clan leader as its director. The department will be responsible for mediating labor disputes between workers and public and private enterprises, supervising whether the workers' welfare in each enterprise is in place and whether the workers' rights are protected, and arranging and organizing on-the-job training for workers in various industries.
A state-owned bank will be established, with Dahe as the president (she will not be allowed to work in the pension department of the Ministry of Welfare), which will be directly supervised by the Finance Department and the Legal Department, absorb private wealth, provide state loans to private enterprises or individuals, and provide some details on savings and loans...
An Agriculture Bureau was added, with Lan Guo serving as the director, to coordinate the planning of production and planting in farms of all ethnic groups, the allocation of high-quality seeds, pesticides and fertilizers, and the unified repurchase of agricultural products.
An Industrial Department was added, with Hongye serving as the director, responsible for supervising the production progress of all factories, machinery upgrades in industrial-related departments at all levels, and other matters.
A Livestock Husbandry Bureau was added, and the eldest brother of the Golden Cat brothers was appointed as the director, who was responsible for supervising the production and sales of livestock units such as cattle pens, sheep farms, pig farms, and rabbit farms.
A Transportation Department was created, with the Centaur Cel as its director, responsible for all transportation-related matters.
An Engineering Department was added, with A Yue as its director.
A military department was added, and its director was Yu, who was promoted to the first grand marshal of the Fire Country... although this marshal only commanded 3,500 soldiers (including the cat magic regiment and the snake scout regiment), ahem.
A new secretariat was set up, and the director was Xiao Yun himself, and the scope of authority was similar to that of a coordinating department that handled both military affairs, politics and people's livelihood...
After subdividing the responsibilities and powers to ensure that this pocket-sized city-state of Yan State was "small but complete", Xiao Yun brought everyone together to formulate the appointment system for all positions:
Including the Fire Clan leader, the first King of the Kingdom of Flame, all bureaucratic positions are subject to a term system, with a five-year term and no more than three consecutive terms. That is, from the king to the mayor of the Hilly New District and the director of the Animal Husbandry Department, all high-level bureaucrats cannot hold a single position for more than fifteen years. (Promotions and lateral transfers are not included)
Management positions in corporate departments are not subject to this restriction. In other words, the elder brother of the Golden Cat brothers can only serve as the director of the Animal Husbandry Department for a maximum of fifteen years, but the position of pig farm owner can be held until he no longer wants to raise pigs and voluntarily applies for resignation...
At the same time, a re-employment system for those who leave their posts is established. For example, if Lang Guo has been the supervisor of a sugar beet planting base for fifteen years and he retires, if the successor supervisor believes that Lang Guo's experience is very valuable and he should continue to make contributions, he can hire him back as his deputy - provided that Lang Guo does not receive more important tasks.
After everyone voted to approve the term system, Hongye secretly clenched her fists... Fifteen years! In fifteen years at most, she can pursue her dream of becoming a warrior!
After finalizing the term system for bureaucrats, the next thing to do is naturally to develop a training system for successors. Although the Kingdom of Fire is now full of talented people and there are people who can take up the responsibilities of so many newly added departments, a group that does not focus on the training of successors is doomed to have no future!
"We have achieved the goal of letting the warriors train (half) full-time. Next, we can try to challenge some of the cubs to study (fully) full-time." Xiao Yun smiled, "Twenty percent of the tribal reserve fund, no, the national reserve fund, will be invested in cub education and public schools will be established. All cubs under the age of 20 and over the age of eight from all ethnic groups will be arranged to study in a unified manner, with centralized accommodation, and food, lodging and tuition fees reimbursed. Scholarships will also be set up. Those who excel in their studies will receive scholarships based on their academic performance. After completing the five-year study, those with particularly good academic performance and the willingness to continue their studies will be arranged to continue their studies. Those with average academic performance will be assigned jobs after graduation..."
With Huoyan City's current economic foundation, Xiao Yun now has the confidence to allow some of the cubs to take time off to study!
"Of course - we all know that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and not everyone is gifted in learning. So although our public school has no threshold for admission, there is a threshold for further study." Xiao Yun changed the subject and said seriously, "There are two major exams every year in the middle of the year and at the end of the year. Only those who pass can be promoted to the next grade and continue to enjoy public education. If you fail the major exam and still cannot pass the supplementary exam, then you can only end your studies early and return to work. This is to prevent people who are not good at learning from wasting public teaching resources. Please understand."
The modern social education screening mechanism on Earth screens out students whose parents are incompetent or who do not have the economic support (insufficient family class), rather than allocating educational resources entirely based on personal talent (talent plus hard work).
Even in the new China where the central government is clear-headed and has invested heavily in promoting universal and equitable education, it is inevitable that students will have talents that cannot be fully utilized due to family conditions or their parents' IQ... For example, they are not supported to enter higher education institutions because they are girls (some families do have unequal investment in the education of sons and daughters), or parents are stupid enough not to let their children enter formal educational institutions, but instead send them to fake fraudulent institutions to study "Chinese studies", wasting the best learning period.
Huoyan City has such a small population, and there are at most a few thousand school-age cubs. Xiao Yun certainly cannot let these students be screened out by external factors, so he might as well be direct and generous and capture all of them and teach them together!
No talent should be wasted!
With the population base of grassland tribes, the option of environmental screening must be a gray option, and only the system can shape people! This is true for agricultural practitioners, industrial workers, and students!
The willful and arrogant adult cats were forced to learn to work, so how could a bunch of little brats like Xiao Yun make them turn the tables? No way!
Even though Xiao Yun said that those who failed the exam and couldn't go on to higher education would be sent back, he had already thought of hundreds of strategies to promote learning in his mind...
The managers of various tribes present (including General Ted of the Tiger Tribe) were all, to some extent, “study masters” in adult cram schools. They were deeply aware of the benefits of learning and nodded in agreement, deciding the future fate of the youngsters of various tribes without further ado…
Xiao Yun smiled and confirmed everyone's opinion. After the meeting, he sent a letter to the minotaurs, inviting them to send over the head of their school-age calves. The saintly thinking of adult bull heads could no longer be changed, but the next generation could be helped. After all, the two families were the closest neighbors, and there would always be a time when they would be of use... ahem!
After finishing the work of maintaining neighborhood relations, Xiao Yun continued to write letters to his disciples...mainly to Isaac and Laura.
Because Saint Bridge was still leading the five southern nations in a stalemate war of attrition with the Federation, Carlisle did not have enough manpower and financial resources to invest in public education. However, after just a few years of running "adult cram schools", Carlisle also benefited greatly. As long as it was not compared with Fire City, Carlisle dared to say that the team he had assembled was the most executive team.
Since senior brother Carlisle performed so well, Xiao Yun naturally had to whip the third disciple Laura and the fourth disciple Isaac... Needless to say, Isaac was gradually entering the vision of Kroening's upper echelons. Laura, who had an earldom, should learn from her senior brother!
If his two disciples could also win the title of "Human Sage" and be qualified to attend the Frank Feast, then he, as a teacher, would not be without a say...
After finishing all the things that could be discussed openly, the next day, Xiao Yun summoned all the members of Yan Country who were involved in the "secret front" to discuss in secret things that could not be discussed openly... ahem.
"Don't we need to wait for the response from the snow elves?" Primo, the top spy chief, asked without any reservation.
"No need." Xiao Yun said calmly, "We do ours, and they do theirs. We are taking the low-level route, and they are taking the high-level route. It doesn't affect either side. If they are willing to share 'resources' with us, it won't be too late for us to deal with them."
"The Elf King is capable of instigating the high-ranking members of the Bear Clan to rebel against the Beast King, so he may not necessarily look down on your petty fighting." Balk crossed his arms, looking very arrogant.
Xiao Yun turned to look at him and pointed in the direction of the door.
"Well, that's just what I said." Balke turned his face away and refused to move. Even if he had nothing to do in here, he would stay and make his presence felt!
Rosemary looked at Sean and Hodgson on the left, and then looked at Adam (Arman's disciple), Chief Ali, Yu and Snowflake on the right, and was confused: "Why did you call me here?"
"Adam has been active in the dungeon for two years and has discovered several mineral veins on our grassland. You should pack up and go to the dungeon with Adam, join the adventurer team, and travel to the locations of those mineral veins. After the spring plowing is over, you can join the engineering team and lead a group of people to occupy the mining sites on the ground and mine together with the new hilly area." Xiao Yun said.
"Why does this have to happen to me?!" Rosemary was shocked.
"Because you are good at lying, right, Primo?" Xiao Yun said with a smile.
"That's right. Rosemary never made a single mistake during our time in the Far East. She is absolutely perfect for this job," Primo praised.
Rosemary wanted to argue, but Xiao Yun stopped her with one sentence: "Either go to the underground city with Adam to carry out a completely safe prospecting mission, or continue to travel to the Far East with Primo. The latter is much more dangerous than the former. You make your choice."
"Dahe has gone to work in the bank, so you have to work harder too, Rosemary." Chief Ali said lightly.
"What does it have to do with me if Dahe starts working hard!" Rosemary shouted.
Chief Ali said calmly, "There is funding for the underground city activities. All reasonable expenses within 100 gold coins can be reimbursed by Snowflake."
Rosemary didn't object at the time... and immediately sat down next to Adam smartly.
Adam: “…” In terms of reality, cats and humans are really similar.
After finishing this matter, Xiao Yun said to Grand Marshal Yu and Finance Minister Xuehua in a serious tone: "There is a 99% chance that the Beast King will use force to snatch their lost soldiers. On the one hand, we must make long-term preparations for war, and on the other hand, we cannot let the Beast King send troops too easily. Chief A Li and I have an idea that we should prepare at least 50,000 gold coins for activities and launch a 'peace movement' in the Far East. Xuehua, we need your support in this regard."
"Fifty thousand!" Xuehua gasped.
"Although this amount of money is high, it is nothing compared to the production losses caused by the long-term war preparations." Chief Ali's eyes gleamed. "We don't have the troops to send to the Far East to consume them. The best way is of course to mobilize their own people to fight against each other. I think this expenditure is very reasonable and cost-effective."
"But...how can we report the expenditure of this money at the work meeting or the representative meeting?" Xuehua asked in embarrassment.
"Of course it's military spending~" Xiao Yun looked at Yu with a smile, "Maomao, this is something you have to endorse."
feather:"……"
"I don't understand these things, and I don't want to understand them. You can arrange it." Yu's face was full of rejection.
Seeing that she couldn't count on Yu, Xuehua had to say, "Then you should at least let me know how the money will be spent and what the meaning is of it, otherwise I won't be able to explain to others."
Xiao Yun chuckled and immediately took out a thick plan book...
The "peace movement" launched in the Far East draws on the "peaceful evolution and color revolution" that the United States is particularly good at, and its program is "a regime change movement in other countries that is carried out in a peaceful and non-violent manner."
Whether it is movement, evolution or revolution, it all requires suitable soil, and the Far East definitely has such conditions:
One is authoritarian politics, that is, high-pressure rule.
In this world, talking about democracy and freedom is crazy, and it will definitely not be accepted... But if you make a fuss about the high-pressure authoritarian rule of the Beast King, there will be no problem at all. With a little propaganda war, a lot of Far Eastern orcs will definitely respond.
Second, economic development is slow, and it is hard to see any hope of improving people's living conditions.
This is not entirely the fault of the Beast King. The natural environment in the Far East is indeed much better than that in the Western Continent and the Northern Continent. But productivity is there after all. Without productivity, the most indispensable foundation, you would be crazy to expect the economy to develop by leaps and bounds... Besides, the Beast King has tried to make efforts in this regard. He also sent spies to Kronin to develop the technology of building ships. (Before the Western Renaissance, the productivity of the feudal dynasty in China was higher than that of the West, and a lot of silver and gold flowed to the East through maritime trade. After the Renaissance, the productivity of the West was higher than that of the East, so silver and gold flowed to the West instead. If productivity cannot be improved, no matter how good an economist is, it will be useless.)
But what does it matter? Blaming the plight of the various tribes in the Far East on the Beast King and claiming that it was all his fault for being too cruel and inhumane is definitely more popular than talking about the impact of productivity development on production relations and the relationship between economy and people's livelihood...
The third is political corruption and social class division.
The Beast King must take the blame for this. The three major bear tribes monopolize the gold mining rights on Snake Island, and the three major bear tribes have a unique low tax rate policy. If you pick any one of them, the Beast King will be blamed for it.
Through three years of investigation, we have confirmed that there is such a mature soil for the "peace movement" in the Far East. It would be impossible not to play tricks in this regard...
Of course, a mature "peaceful movement" cannot just find faults without providing solutions. If it does that, even if it incites the anger of the lower classes, it will not be able to convince the upper classes for support. A revolutionary movement that only relies on the lower classes is unreliable and unscientific, has no follow-up power, has no sustainability, and does not meet the conditions for regime change!
By the same token, we can see the difference between peasant uprisings in the feudal eras of the East and the West on Earth - peasant uprisings in the West were always unable to make much waves due to reasons such as the lack of language unification and insufficient intellectual content of the participants; while peasant uprisings in the East, regardless of whether they were successful or not , the landlord class who benefited from them would definitely make a profit... that is, a certain degree of regime change could always be achieved.
We can't copy the American way of doing things in this area. After democracy, there is absolutely no market for forcing everyone to become middle class. You can't even fool children.
At this critical point, Xiao Yun came up with a clever idea - to encourage the Far East orcs to emulate the multi-country coexistence model of the human kingdoms in the southern continent, to establish their own country according to race, and to be responsible for their own financial profits and losses!
To the lower classes, we promote the benefits of getting rid of the high-pressure rule of the Beast King, and how everyone is equal and how hopeful life is among the grassland tribes who have established their own country.
To the ruling class elites, just tell them directly that the 30% tax paid to the Beast King will be used to build their own race’s territory and bring long-term benefits, and that’s it!
Why should the funds that could be used to improve the livelihood of their own race, build agricultural machinery and open up farmland be handed over to the Beast King, who would use it to raise troops and develop, and then in turn oppressively rule them? !
Any clear-minded elder of the race would not be able to fail to figure out this account!
If only the leaders of one or two races have disloyal ideas, they probably won't dare to challenge the authority of the Beast King. But what if the leaders of all races have similar ideas everywhere?
When everyone wants to rebel against the Beast King, why don't we rebel?
"——The funds we invested are for this purpose!" Xiao Yun said confidently, "Let the various races see the benefits and hope of independence, help the races that want to be independent to form alliances, increase the number of people with ideas, and reduce the number of people who swear allegiance to the Beast King. The revolution will surely succeed! Well, it doesn't matter if it fails. For us, as long as the Far East is in chaos, it will be fine."
Xue Hua's facial features distorted as she heard this: "..."
After hearing it again, Chief Ali still felt that this routine was really amazing. He stroked his chin and nodded continuously: "Yes, as long as half, no, 30% of the orcs stand up against the rule of the Beast King, the Far East will definitely be in chaos."
"This way, our crisis will be resolved automatically," Primo praised. "We don't have to fight the enemy to the death."
Mr. Sean coughed lightly. He was still relatively shameless. Although he thought that this was a great way to deal with the Beast King, he certainly would not praise it out loud.
Hodgson with a blank expression: "..."
Yu, Rosemary, and Adam, whose facial features were also distorted: "..."
Adam looked at Xiao Yun with sweat on his face. Fortunately, I am not a grassland person. In a few years, I will be able to stay away from this scary guy!
Rosemary looked at Yu with a pained look in her eyes and muttered in a low voice: "Da He even boasted that he would compete for the next king of Fire City. I think it's a no-go."
Yu nodded silently.
"Xuehua, what do you think?" Xiao Yun asked the Minister of Finance for his opinion with a smile.
Xuehua swallowed her saliva and turned to look at Yu: "Then Maomao, will this expenditure be counted as part of your military budget?"
Yu numbly said: "Whatever you say, I have no objection."
"How about this, it's not good to mix up the funds for overseas activities with military expenditures, so change the expenditure name and register it as 'national defense expenditures'." Xiao Yun smiled, "Military expenditures to keep the enemy out of the country, this name is very reasonable~"
