Chapter 135: Chapter 127: Ideals and Unforgiveness
Gu Hang’s speech ended amid the thunderous roar of “Long live the Governor.”
His last few words could be taken as pie in the sky, yet spoken at this moment, they were a clear and explicit political promise that genuinely instilled hope for the future in the listeners.
The residents of the outer city were anticipating that the Governor would fulfill all the promises he had made for the future. Considering the activities of the officials obedient to Miss Osenia and the propaganda of those wearing red hats, they started to believe that none of this was too far off.
The flame of hope was burning brightly on this land for the first time.
Even the residents of the inner city couldn’t help but be moved.
Not to mention, at least in this speech, the Governor seemed to indicate one thing: he was not the type to extort and plunder like the previous generation of governors. They apparently didn’t have to worry about toiling endlessly in factories just to pay taxes or how many people would be sent as tax contributions to the imperial transport ships, heading off to unknown parts of the starry sky, never to return, without any news.
If that were the case, it seemed that supporting this new Governor might not be a bad idea.
Hmm… human’s baseline for tolerance is breached step by step like this.
A harsh slap, followed by a bit of sweetness, and it seemed the situation wasn’t completely unacceptable.
…
Was this public trial, execution, military parade, and medal ceremony merely a performance?
Of course, it was.
But who can deny the importance of propaganda in politics?
The inner city residents, having received the slap of watching their old acquaintances being publicly executed, were then fed some dates. The atmosphere of terror fostered by Lambert after many days of turmoil should, after this event, ease a little.
For the residents of the outer city, they simply received a sweet date.
There was no need for a slap; they had already suffered too many over the years.
The morale of the people, now bolstered, began to truly look forward to the prospects declared by the Governor, to a future with a better life; even their daily work was done with more vigor.
However, propaganda is just that, propaganda. These things needed to be implemented, and it wasn’t as simple as announcing them over loudspeakers.
Things needed to be done one by one.
How to build schools? Where would the teachers come from? How to allocate resources? Hospitals were in the same boat.
The so-called welfare policies were tied to the forty-five ranks Gu Hang had previously envisioned, but what exactly were the benefits for each rank? What was the allocation of materials? How long could Revival City’s current resources last? Where would the shortfall come from? How to ensure continued production could keep up?
Not to mention, the output mustn’t all be consumed. The imperial tax was a matter for two years later, but preparations had to start now.
These detailed matters didn’t need to be broadcast widely, and many of the methods involved couldn’t be discussed openly.
After the medal ceremony, Gu Hang convened an internal meeting.
This meeting was where the real substance and key issues were.
The meeting lasted a full two days.
…
When Lambert stepped out of the meeting room, it was already the morning of the third day.
The morning sun wasn’t too harsh, yet it still made Lambert’s eyes uncomfortable.
For the past two days, he had been in literal darkness.
Eating and sleeping all took place in the meeting room, with an all-night session held just yesterday.
The Governor, on the other hand, always managed to appear lively and spirited, but Lambert was only human and couldn’t handle such strain.
At the moment, he was truly exhausted.
Yet he couldn’t suppress his excitement.
In the two-day meeting, a significant portion was devoted to personnel appointments. Now, he was the head of the Supreme Legal Committee, the highest judge of the Alliance. His important task going forward was to draft laws in accordance with the spirit conveyed by the Governor during the meeting.
For this, he needed to establish the Legislative Council for legislative work, the Executive Council for judicial work, and additionally, the Disciplinary Council to oversee and audit government officials and factory managers.
Right from the start of the New Alliance Government’s establishment, there was an awareness of the risks of corruption and systemic ossification. He needed to tackle these issues aggressively.
This indeed matched the work he had been doing in the previous period.
Legislation, judiciary, oversight, auditing… With many powers vested in him, he, as the Alliance’s highest judge, was in a position of authority that, in a sense, was on par with the government head—the Alliance Premier. And currently, the Alliance Premier was none other than Gu Hang himself.
This almost meant that he had become the highest-ranking official in the New Alliance.
The Hodgson Family’s early investment in the Governor was now paying off.
However, the concentration of such considerable power in one individual was inherently unsustainable, merely a temporary measure due to the lack of qualified personnel. After all, positions had been left vacant, presumably to be filled in the future.
But what of it?
If Lambert was in charge, wouldn’t those who took over in the future essentially be his former subordinates? Even if he were to move on from this work area, he would have left a significant legacy of influence behind.