In his first week as governor of Lorraine, Weiss was busy. At the end of the week, after the end of the day, the staff dispersed one after another, and he sat alone in the seat where Brinders had sit, still feeling so unreal. In addition to the knowledge of this profession, I also read a lot of military books and those popular networks, there is an impressive genre called "farming flow", some are ancient farming, some are farming in the Tang and Song dynasties, and there are farming in the industrial era - nothing more than a big metallurgy, steel, and munitions manufacturing, resting on themselves, the big truth is actually about the same, but the so-called road to simplicity, It refers to directionality, and it still takes a lot of operability to really implement it. In the case of the steel industry, steel production was already saturated in the Ulster Free Federation, and even during the most difficult times of the war, steel did not become a factor that constrained the Federation, so it would be unwise to focus on steel. In the past two years, the team of Ulster University of Technology has been hired to explore and explore, and many unconventional minerals with commercial mining value have been discovered, such as bauxite, Xingyuan stone, and the recently excavated oil mine, that is, oil shale ore. These are the basic elements of the industrial age.

Previously, from the perspective of the Lorraine Industrialists Alliance, in addition to mining minerals, the effective way to enhance the value is to do a good job in the midstream and downstream industries, iron ore is worthless to sell in a truckload, and the value of iron ingots and iron blocks is sold again, and the value of steel ingots and iron blocks can be doubled to be sold out, and the value of the whole machine lathe will be greater. From the point of view of the federal state of Lorraine, the mining, smelting and casting of ore is an inevitable link in the industrial chain, regardless of its economic value, it can solve a considerable number of industrial jobs, and the export should be a diversified composite type, both the output of steel ingots and iron casting machines.

The continuation of the iron and steel industry is based on the fact that Lorraine has several of the largest iron mines and coal mines in the Federation, but if you really want to get rid of the hat of backward and poor areas in the Federation with very developed industrial strength as a whole, you must find a new path, and this path is consistent with the strategy of the Industrialists Alliance, that is, to seize the trend of technological change in this era, focusing on the development of new metal materials - aluminum and aluminum alloy once they reach a larger scale, form a complete industry, and have strong competitiveness to the outside world. Even a Lorraine can be more competitive than an industrial oligarchy like the Star Group, after all, they can form an advantage in resources, technology, and scale.

In addition, in the production of agricultural and forestry machinery, agricultural tractors, forestry tractors, agricultural aircraft, and various agricultural and forestry equipment, which are in the initial exploration stage, are still not valued in most places of the federation. If we can seize the opportunity of the times, just these two large industrial clusters can support the new leader of Lorraine's economic development.

After a brief dinner, Weiss was alone in the office looking through the materials that had been turned over during the day, worrying that he had missed something, and then took out the various legal documents handed over by Blinds and flipped through them one by one. At the normal speed of manual reading, just looking at these things, you can't get down in a few weeks. As I was looking at this, there was a knock on the door.

Who will come at this time?

Is it Professor Xiao Yang? Is it Blinds? Is it an old comrade-in-arms? Or someone else?

All kinds of possibilities flashed through his mind, and he got up to open the door, only to see Brooks standing outside the door with a smiling expression.

"Could it be that my job is not very competent, and you are here to supervise?" When Weiss saw Brooks, he was surprised and quipped as usual.

The first inspector of the Federal Ministry of Safety and Security said to him: "As an old friend, come to meet the new governor of Lorraine, and don't even give him a chance to drink a cup of hot tea?" ”

What else can Weiss say? Invite him in and bring him tea and water personally. The uncle leaned comfortably on the sofa and looked around: "There is no change here at all." ”

"It's good here." Weiss said, "The table is big enough, the sofa is soft enough, and there are enough cabinets to add or replace any furniture for the time being, but it feels like a very suitable owner has been mixed in." Not long ago, I was concentrating on our new materials and equipment, learning to fly airplanes, and that kind of life was actually more suitable for me. Sitting here, there is a feeling of letting the scholar go to the battlefield with a gun. ”

Brooks laughed, "That's your fate!" Everyone has their own fate, some things are not chosen, history has put you here, history has given you responsibility, don't worry too much, do it well! ”

"To be a conservative governor, you can do things seriously, and many people can do such a role, but it is not easy to do the same thing as Chief Blinds, to take care of all affairs properly, and even to make up for all the homework that has been missed over the years. My life credo is to either you don't do it, or you have to do it well...... During the war, I did what I did for you to understand, and I was defeated and defeated again and again until victory. ”

"Yes, how many people in this world know you better than I do?" Brooks said meaningfully, and then patted his thigh: "By the way, I am here today because you have officially been appointed as the chief executive of Lorraine, and I am appointed by the Federal Ministry of Security and Inspectorate to be stationed here, and I need your support, and I should also inform you of some information, cooperate with each other, and work together to do a good job in the security of Lorraine." ”

After saying that, Brooks took out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it and handed it to Weiss, and said, "You can remember the name on this paper after you read it, I can't leave it to you." These people were closely related to the Normans during the war, not that they necessarily committed traitorous acts, but we do not have enough evidence to clarify them, and of course, there is no way to correct them. ”

There were about seventy or eighty names on the paper, and Weiss looked down one by one, scanned them, and found that he had dealt with more than half of them, but most of them would only intersect after the war, including many members of the Lorraine Industrialists Alliance, and even one of them was a commissioner. As Brooks said, these people just can't get away with suspicion, and they may not really have committed treason. For example, Lawrence, who was Weiss's partner, was the first industrialist in Lorraine to devote himself to automobile manufacturing, and with Weiss's understanding of him, he stayed in Lorraine during the war and did not accept any position appointed by the Normans, nor did he help the Normans do things, and even helped the resistance through his influence. What is wrong with such a person?

After Wei Sizi carefully read the list, Brooks took back the paper, but instead of stuffing it back into his pocket, he took out his lighter and lit the paper, then threw it into the spittoon, watched it burn to ashes, and poured water from his own cup into it, and washed the burned paper away, even if someone fished it out later, it was difficult to make out the handwriting.

This kind of delicate approach made Weiss can't help but feel admiration.

"Remember, it's best to be careful when dealing with these people. Also, I personally don't recommend that you pull them into the state government staff, after all, some things are good and bad can be bad. ”

Weiss nodded, "Thank you for the reminder, my friend." ”

"Hopefully I'll not be in Lorraine for too long." "The Department of Safety Inspectorate sent me here because something not so good was going on here, and the negative effects of the war were far from gone," Brooks said. When Lorraine really returns to normal order, when will I leave and do something that I want to do and really should. ”

Brooks's words sounded zen-like, and Weiss didn't dwell on them. In his or not there, the post-war order in the country is gradually restored, but the country's security situation has not completely improved with the end of the war.

Thinking of this, Weiss looked at Brooks, probably because it would be off-duty time, and the two did not have the cramped and serious way of talking about business, he asked: "Since you are here, I have a few questions, and I hope you will give me advice." ”

Brooks picked up his teacup and accepted with silence.

"First, I personally hope that Lorraine can make great progress, but Lorraine's fundamentals are really bleak, and many aspects are very backward, so if you want to develop rapidly, you must have financial support, so I consider making an industrial support fund with financial institutions and consortia in the name of the state government. Since the government has stepped in, it has also involved the credibility and risk of the government. Are there clear internal boundaries within the Safety Inspectorate in this regard? ”

Brooks thought for a moment and replied, "As far as I know, this is an administrative matter, and as long as it does not threaten national or local security, the Department of Safety and Inspection will not interfere." If you are not at ease, I can ask someone to check the terms and give you an accurate answer when the time comes. ”

Weiss nodded: "Second, whether it is the Lorraine Industrial Alliance, or my current consideration, is to focus on the development of advanced manufacturing with technological content in Lorraine, maybe in three or five years, we will have the ability to mass-produce aircraft, vehicles and automated weapons, will the Ministry of Safety and Supervision worry that Lorraine is close to the border, and there will be great hidden dangers in putting advanced manufacturing here, so as to interfere with our investment?" If this is a possibility, and it is significant, then we have to think about it in the initial design phase, because it is a big investment. ”

This time Brooks thought about it longer than the first question, and finally said, "I remember the last time we met you, some Lorraine, with the support of the Normans, tried to make Lorraine independent during the war, and in the war, Lorraine was the most likely region of the federal states to gain independence. Although the majority of Lorraine people do not support this, it undoubtedly leaves a bad impression on the top, so I personally have reservations about the development of high-end manufacturing in Lorraine. However, from the perspective of pure economic development, the development of high-end manufacturing is beneficial to the development of Lorraine's society, and it is not harmful to the Federation, and I think this matter should be viewed objectively and comprehensively. ”

Despite Brooks' ambiguity, Weiss grasped the key message, and the question coincided with his speculation. So, he asked a third question: "After the previous war, we found that the Normans knew a lot about us, while we knew very little about the Norman Empire, which led to a lot of asymmetry on the battlefield, making us very passive in battle." Nowadays, do the Normans still have a lot of intelligence agents lurking in our area? Shouldn't we also make arrangements to understand the movements of the Normans? ”

This question does not seem to be necessarily related to the position of the governor, Brooks looked at Weiss with some confusion: "You have considered this, the top management has already considered it, I think we should have a layout in the Norman Empire, but these things are not accessible to us at this level." As for your concern, the Normans may have intelligence agents lurking in our area, which is the focus of my work for some time to come. ”

"There should be no more than hostile relations between countries, and normal foreign trade and export transactions are a virtuous way to boost the economy. One question I've been thinking about lately is...... Why is it that only the federal foreign trade department can arrange trade affairs, and the local government is forbidden to trade freely in a safe and secure manner? From the point of view of promoting exports and developing the economy, it would be beneficial to allow some form of free trade, and I wonder if such proposals had been submitted by the Länder before, or could we have made such proposals in due course? ”

As soon as Weiss finished speaking, Brooks waved his hand again and again: "Forget it, this matter is really an obstruction that can't be bypassed over the years." Let's put it this way! The top brass is not really reassured by our spirit of freedom and independence, after all, there has been peace for too long, and many people, especially young people, will find our order boring and boring. Once they come into contact with the social form of chivalry with a romantic tinge, it is easy to develop incorrect tendencies. Therefore, foreign trade is firmly in the hands of the foreign trade department of the federal government, in order to reduce our ties with the Kingdom of Wessex, the Norman Empire, and other monarchies. I don't mean anything about you, but consider the experience of your brother, who preferred to give up a good life to the Norman Empire, starting as a small soldier, and who achieved enviable success in the Norman Empire in just ten years. This kind of thing is unlikely to happen in the Federation, right? This is personal heroism with a dreamy overtone! This is contrary to the spirit of liberal democracy that we advocate, but it has a fatal appeal to young people who are uneasy about the world. At least for the foreseeable future, we will not let go of this ban lightly. Of course, as long as Lorraine's exports are competitive, I believe that the foreign trade department will still make reasonable arrangements. ”

In the end, he said that he didn't say anything, and Brooks finished drinking the cup of tea and signaled that Weiss didn't need to add more, and he was going to leave. Before leaving, the first-level inspector said meaningfully: "In our youth, it is easy for us to see ourselves as the savior of this world, and feel that we can become the master of this world, but in fact, each of us is just an ordinary person, it is enough to do our best, and it is best not to do things that are beyond our ability to control, especially when you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders, you need to grasp your role well." ”