Then let them offer their loyalty!

Page 609

Because only by adhering to procedural justice can we prevent favoritism, corruption, and even "rule of man over rule of law" to the greatest extent possible.

Hearing his words, Tang Wanfeng was taken aback. The topic of Wang Guochuan had already deviated from the event itself, gradually escalating into a question of the political system.

So after a slight hesitation, he said, "The core purpose of the procedure is actually to ensure that the outcome of the matter meets the requirements of justice."

"To rigidly adhere to the dogma of procedural justice while ignoring its impact on the outcome of events is to put the cart before the horse."

"Like Pang Haichen's case. No one tipped him off or helped him. He was just one step away from escaping to the disaster zone."

"If the information had been leaked beforehand, he would most likely have run away even faster."

At this point, Tang Wanfeng's expression also became serious. "Therefore, absolute procedural justice is impossible to achieve."

"The way this incident was handled was the result of discussions between the Speaker and me."

“At the summit, the speaker has 2 votes and I have 1.5 votes. Even if all five of us vote, our combined votes are already more than half, so it can be considered that we have gone through the proper procedures.”

Upon hearing Tang Wanfeng's words, Wang Guochuan remained silent. Lei Laosan, the leader of the "Local Armed Alliance," opened his mouth, as if to add a few more words.

But at this moment, Rao Shou, who had been sitting there calmly, finally spoke.

He said in a deep voice, "Alright. There's plenty of time to discuss the system and philosophy later."

"Let's get down to business first."

Rao Shouping usually appears as a kind and harmless immortal. But when he gets serious, he can be extremely frightening.

Therefore, the deputy speakers quickly returned to the main topic.

Lei Laosan said bluntly, "Now that Pang Haichen is dead, we can't bring him back to life."

"Whether this is true or false, it has to be true."

"So... let's purge the 'academics'."

"By the way..." Lei Laosan paused for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "I think we could try to keep Qiu Tu in check?"

"If he continues to develop like this, it feels like no one can stop him anymore."

Upon hearing Lei Laosan's words, Wang Guochuan, who had previously mentored Qiu Tu, shook his head slightly and said, "We can no longer control him now."

"His current strength has reached the peak of the fifth rank, standing at the pinnacle of the entire Northwest region."

"And behind him is Zhao Ji, that sixth-tier great evil god."

"Suppress him? How?"

"Aren't you worried that he might kill you from a thousand miles away?"

If other people heard this topic, they would probably shrink back.

But those who can become leaders are all outstanding figures and powerful figures of their time.

Before Hu Jie could even speak after hearing Wang Guochuan's words, Lei Laosan slammed his fist on the table in anger, his eyes widening, "He wouldn't dare!"

"Does he really think that just because he's at the peak of the fifth rank, he can do whatever he wants?"

"He can kill all tens of millions of us by himself?"

"Even if he could really kill them all, what would be the point of him being all alone?"

"They've got their eye on the land of our 8th Shelter?"

"This is completely unreasonable."

"And do they really think our nuclear weapons are just for show?"

Upon hearing Lei Laosan's words, all the leaders present fell silent.

Lei Laosan's words, though crude, are not without reason.

Qiu Tu has indeed become far too assertive in the past two years. Despite not meeting the required qualifications or age, he has been climbing the ranks. Moreover, his behavior has become increasingly domineering.

Now, with the killing of Pang Haichen, it's inevitable that several leaders will be displeased.

Moreover, just as Lei Laosan said.

No matter how strong Qiu Tu is, he can kill everyone. But if he wants to rule the four states or the 8th Sanctuary, he must follow the rules.

If one does not follow the rules, one will not win the hearts of the people, and one's rule will be nothing but a castle in the air.

This is the same as an evil god.

Some powerful evil gods do have ways to slaughter humans. But firstly, it brings no benefit, and secondly, slaughtering makes it even harder to gain popular support and maintain rule.

Therefore, they use methods such as cultivating "anti-government armed forces" and "extremist religions" to carry out soft infiltration.

At this moment, after listening to Lei Laosan's words, Tang Wanfeng slowly said, "Qiu Tu's actions this time did indeed demonstrate his strength."

"But... let's look at it from a different angle."

“Pang Haichen has already fled to the disaster zone and is moving rapidly.”

"He doesn't take action himself, he just arranges for people to make the arrest. How long will that take?"

"Moreover... his method of determining Pang Haichen's address was most likely very secretive. Once it was leaked, it would be as if someone had found his weakness."

"Therefore, the combination of subjective and objective perspectives led him to kill Pang Haichen."

Hearing Tang Wanfeng's words, Lei Laosan gave Tang Wanfeng a deep look and then said, "Stop talking about that and vote."

At this point, he said, "Raise your hand if you agree to temporarily suppress Qiu Tu and let him gain some experience through the Pang Haichen incident."

After he finished speaking, he was the first to raise his hand.

As he raised his hand, Hu Jie, the head of the "Freedom and Democracy Faction" next to him, also slowly raised his hand.

Tang Wanfeng glanced at Wang Guochuan.

The old man, who had once mentored and later helped Qiu Tu, sat there with his eyes closed, saying nothing. He clearly didn't want to get involved in the matter.

Tang Wanfeng himself certainly won't vote. So there are only two votes.

Thinking this, Tang Wanfeng couldn't help but smile.

Although he also felt that Qiu Tu had gone a bit too far.

However... perhaps out of affection for Qiu Tu, Tang Wanfeng would always find some excuses for him.

This, in turn, makes him seem closer to the truth when facing recent events.

This also led to him breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that there were only two votes present.

As a result, at that moment, Rao Shou also slowly raised his hand.

Upon seeing this, Tang Wanfeng's pupils contracted slightly and his brows furrowed slightly.

It's clear that they don't quite understand why Rao Shou would suddenly change his mind.

However, Rao Shou only wore that refined mask, looking more like a romantic scholar than the lord of the sanctuary.

Seeing that he had received more than half the votes, he smiled and said, "It seems everyone wants to put Qiu Tu down, so let's put him down first."

"Anyway, he has only just been promoted to the position of garrison commander of two prefectures. He will need to wait a few more days before he can be promoted again."

"Then there's no rush."

Seeing this, Tang Wanfeng's gaze flickered slightly, but he said nothing...

After raising their hands to pass a resolution to temporarily suppress Qiu Tu's position as the garrison commander of the four prefectures, the group began to discuss how to deal with the "academic faction."

This time, Qiu Tu might not be there; everyone was in complete agreement.

If we're going to clean it, we should do it thoroughly.

The "Officer Academy" was directly taken back to the sanctuary, and a group of elites from each of the five factions went there to teach.

All of Pang Haichen's students or his close associates from the "academic faction" were dismissed from their posts and relocated to other places.

The army, controlled by the "academics," saw all mid- to high-ranking officers dismissed, and ordinary soldiers scattered and mixed into the ranks of neighboring states.

Hwang Sang-chung, as the new head of the "academic faction," inherited its political legacy, consolidated its power, and stabilized the situation. However, he did not grant him the position of Vice Speaker of the Supreme Council.

In other words, he cannot succeed Pang Haichen as the head of the shelter... he can only be the leader of a small faction.

After finalizing the plan for handling the matter, everyone began to perform their respective duties to minimize the impact of the incident.

Soon, batches of mid- to high-ranking "academic" officials were dismissed and punished. Military officers were transferred, and soldiers were scattered. They could no longer form a cohesive force.

During this time, Qiu Tu was not idle either.

Having already received promises from Rao Shou and Tang Wanfeng, they knew they were about to be promoted to the position of Garrison Commander of the Four Prefectures.

In addition, during this period, two garrison commanders were appointed in four states, leaving only Qiu Tu as the speaker of the council. Power in the four states had fallen into other hands.

Therefore, Qiu Tu certainly wouldn't let this opportunity pass, and began rapidly annexing four states, expanding his strength and influence...

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Two chapters, 10,000 words each, please vote with monthly tickets.

Chapter 554 Slapping the Shelter in the Face! (10,000 words, please vote!)

The method for acquisition is also quite simple.

Needless to say, Tianzhou and Dizhou are also under his jurisdiction. Qiu Tu was originally the garrison commander of both prefectures, holding the moral high ground and able to make personnel arrangements and adjustments at will.

Apart from positions above the speaker level, which, legally speaking, he cannot make decisions on his own.

Others, including high-ranking officials in various cities, members of the state legislature, and the deputy speaker, can almost all be decided by his word.

However, he did not have such great legal power in East Asia and New South Wales.

However, the eight deputy speakers of New South Wales and East India Company are: Tang Feifei, Yu Die, Liu Xiongyuan, Dai Yukang, Yan Chen, Guo Huai, Ye Mingfeng and Li Tingdong.

Of the eight people, Qiu Tu's staunch supporters received four votes. Yan Chen and Guo Huai are now leaning towards Qiu Tu.

Therefore, out of the eight people, Qiu Tu received six votes.

With the speakership vacant, Qiu Tu effectively controlled the Speakers' Council, the highest authority. This allowed him to begin making arrangements through his trusted confidants.

Moreover, compared to his initial "following the old rules" when he first took office as the Speaker of the Dongye State Assembly, Qiu Tu's prestige in the four states has now reached its peak after accumulating prestige and achieving formidable political and military exploits.

Coupled with Pang Haichen's bizarre death and the muscle display he showed off, he began to act even more domineeringly.

With the trusted confidants he has cultivated and selected over the past few months through a "loyalty" game, he still has a considerable talent pool.

Therefore, apart from a group of neutral (loyalty level 30-40) but capable middle and senior managers, all other middle and senior managers with loyalty levels below 30 or insufficient ability were replaced by his own people.

While this is worthwhile from the perspective of the four states' long-term development, it has indeed had a short-term impact on the development of two states. Therefore, there are some complaints both within the states and at the shelters...

......

The 8th shelter. The home of Hu Jie, the head of the "Liberal Democracy Faction".

Lei Laosan, the leader of the "Local Armed Alliance," sat there with an air of authority, his knuckles tapping the table.

With a gloomy expression, he said to Hu Jie, "This is simply too much!"

"Qiu Tu is treating all four prefectures like his own home! He's not even bothering to pretend anymore!"

"Without any reason, he made such a large-scale personnel reshuffle without even reporting it to the authorities. Does he really care about the shelter?"

Lei Laosan was a typical soldier and thug. He was dark-skinned and burly. Even though he held a high position and wielded great power, he did not change his nature and still looked like a bandit.

Compared to him, Hu Jie was noticeably more refined. His cheeks were thin, somewhat like a goat's, and his eyes gleamed with a shrewdness that suggested he was quite intelligent.

Hearing Lei Laosan's words, Hu Jie's eyes flickered slightly, and then he said, "Lao Lei, don't you feel that something is a little strange about this?"

Lei Laosan stared wide-eyed at Hu Jie, then asked, "What's strange about that?"

Upon hearing his words, Hu Jie, the head of the "Liberal Democracy Faction," stroked his chin, pondered quietly for a moment, and then said carefully, "I can't quite put my finger on it either."

"I just feel that Rao Shou and Tang Wanfeng were too calm in this matter."

He looked at Lei Laosan and said, "Don't forget, Qiu Tu was helped up by the two of them."

"If we say we'll put some pressure on Qiu Tu, will they actually do it?"

"Isn't this a little too easy?"

Upon hearing Hu Jie's words, Lei Laosan touched his bald head and pondered carefully.

Although he was a rough man, there was some brains among the rough men.

To be honest... Rao Shouneng's agreement was indeed beyond his expectations.