Outside the Provisional Government, people were discussing the announcement, while in a conference room inside the Provisional Government building, a group of people were sitting together and having a very heated discussion.
The meeting was chaired by the current chairman of the interim government, Wang Jiyuan, commander of the Guard Army. According to the policy formulated by the committee, after the attack on the next city, there will be a six-month military control. During the military control period, the top leader of the city is the chief of the army, and administrative officials assist the military chief in government affairs. Once the basic situation in the city and surrounding towns is mastered and the main military threats in the surrounding areas are resolved, the city will be handed over to administrative officials.
Other attendees included Zhao Zhixing, the military and political commissar, Qin Mu, the acting mayor assigned to Suero, Xiao Chen, the magic consultant and representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the heads of the agriculture, industry, education, commerce, human resources, intelligence and other departments of Suero City. Most of these people had more than a year of government experience in Hewan New City and were then transferred here.
It has been a while since everyone got up early in the morning to hold a meeting, but no one has reached a consensus on the terms to be discussed with the nobles and merchants tomorrow. The focus of the debate is how to deal with and reform these nobles and merchants.
Wang Jiyuan opened the meeting with the following words: "After a meeting at midnight yesterday, everyone should have thought carefully about the three questions I raised. Who should be eliminated? Who should be punished? Who should be reformed? Now is the time for discussion. Don't worry, and speak freely. Our time is limited. Although the committee has given us a general direction to carry out public ownership reform in Suero, we still need to adapt the approach to local conditions. Everyone knows that there is always a knife on our heads in this world, and we must choose the most efficient way to liberate Suero's productivity."
Wu Jianshi, who is in charge of intelligence work in this area, is a young man in his mid-twenties with a neatly shaved head and bright eyes. However, he sounds a bit ferocious when he speaks: "Chairman Wang, I think the simplest and most effective way is just one word: 'kill'. It's not that I am irresponsible or like to use rough methods. It's just that our time is too tight. How long did it take for socialist transformation in our country's history? It was not until the 1960s that it was completely completed. If we do the same, by the time the transformation is completed, the God of Nature will have awakened long ago."
"So how do you want to kill him?" asked Zheng Rui, the director of the Municipal Commerce Bureau, who was sitting opposite him. He was about the same age as Wu Jianshi, and was also a young cadre.
"These people are either corrupt nobles or cunning profiteers. If we investigate them briefly, how many of them would not have any evidence?" Wu Jianshi tapped a folder beside him. "Our intelligence department has not stopped collecting evidence in the past year. We have both witnesses and physical evidence, and the chain of evidence is complete. As long as the committee needs it, I can arrest 90% of the well-known people in Suero City and kill half of them.
Those people are really unscrupulous, doing all kinds of bad things without caring about leaving any evidence. If you want to investigate someone in depth, just give me a week and I can find out everything about him."
Zheng Rui said, "You captured 90% and killed half. What will become of our reputation after you did this? Will others still do business with us? If we attack any more cities, will those nobles and merchants not fight to the death? Will there still be such a large number of surrenders like today?"
Cheng Sulian, who is in her forties and used to be an associate professor from the Education Bureau, also said, "If the solution is so simple and crude, we don't need to hold this meeting. When we think about problems, we can't just start from our own department, but we still have to consider the whole situation. We want to eliminate the aristocracy, not physically, but from the perspective of attributes, and turn them into different, useful people. We should punish past mistakes to prevent future ones and cure the disease to save people. The key to how we treat them is to see what their attitude is and whether they are sincere in joining us."
"Are they going to let go of what they did in the past?" Wu Jianshi asked back.
Qin Mu said: "In a feudal society, directly copying our existing laws to deal with previous problems will definitely lead to bad things. I think we can kill a few types of people, those who are extremely angry with the people, those who kill innocent people indiscriminately, those who provide assistance to our enemies and cause huge losses, and those who refuse to cooperate and resist our rule. These people will naturally have all their property confiscated. Apart from these serious cases, other people who have committed various minor crimes should be punished according to their crimes. Just like what Chen Hansheng did in Alano Town."
Wu Jianshi said, "But Mayor Qin, Chen Hansheng is from a small town. With the same standards, he might be the most sinful person there, but here he might not even meet the typical standards you set."
Qin Mu said: "This is what I mean by adapting measures to local conditions."
“That’s a bit unfair.”
Qin Mu said: "The fairness of any policy and law has its limits, and they are also tools we use to rule this place. Don't put the cart before the horse."
Wu Jianshi frowned and said nothing, not knowing whether he had figured it out or not.
"What about those who actively join us?" Cheng Sulian asked.
Zheng Rui said: "We will definitely not recognize the title of nobility, and their territory will also be nationalized. However, it is something passed down from their ancestors after all. The solution I think is to buy it out with money. Although it is a bit of a forced sale, they will not have too many complaints if they are paid enough. The same is true for some key workshops and trading companies. I think it is worth spending this price to convert the economic attributes here. We can merge those small factories and trading companies together, engage in industrialized production, and create economies of scale."
"Let's not talk about the subsequent plan for now. But is it really feasible to redeem it with money? The surrounding land is very large. What price do you want to use to redeem it?" Xiao Chen asked.
"How about 80% of the market price?" Zheng Rui asked.
Wu Jianshi laughed: "Old Zheng, your plan is even less reliable than mine. Have you calculated how much it will cost?"
"Of course we've calculated it. We're going to do installment payments. We won't give the money out all at once. This time we'll pay a down payment as a deposit. It's still affordable." Zheng Rui said.
Xiao Chen shook his head and said, "It seems that Director Zheng has been a businessman for too long. The installment payment is still our own money at the beginning. You know, we are the ones holding the cannons and have just won a victory. If you do the ransom like you do, it will be too unfair to our military budget.
In my opinion, redemption is necessary, but payment must be made upon delivery!"