Chapter 479: Swain Reorganizes the Workplace
Meanwhile, in Noxus, the Immortal Bastion.
"Teacher Swain." General Lester stopped outside the door and knocked on it for permission.
"You're here, Lester." Swain slowly put down the documents in his hand. The red-eyed crow on his shoulder also turned his head at the first moment and cast a calm look.
Looking at the pair of dark red eyes, Lester swallowed subconsciously.
“Please take a seat.” Swain gestured with a calm look.
"Yes..." General Lester sat down in the chair in front of the desk with some discomfort.
This chair was added after Swain came to power. After all, in the old days when there was still an emperor, no one could sit at Darkwill's desk as an equal.
Such a small change showed equality. But at this moment, sitting face to face with Swain, looking into those deep eyes, Lester felt a little uneasy.
“Are you nervous?” Swain said meaningfully. “You weren’t like this in the past.”
Lester was silent. Indeed, he had never been like this before.
Soldiers don't need to be afraid of their generals, and students don't need to be afraid of their teachers - because they are in the same camp.
But now…
“Lester, you don’t have to be so cautious in front of me.” Swain broke the oppressive silence at the right time: “You have done a good job recently. Noxus can maintain its current stability, and your contribution is indispensable.”
"Thank you for the compliment, teacher." Lester's mood eased a little. He asked, "Teacher Swain, did you call me here this time? Do you have any tasks for me?"
“You could say that.” Swain cast his gaze toward the gigantic sandbox map of the entire Noxus placed in the center of the office.
The Noxian Empire is like a huge ancient program.
Its code is like a mountain of old shit. Everyone can see that there are bugs in it, and everyone knows that bugs are harmful, but the program runs on the basis of bugs.
More and more bugs will make the program die slowly. But if you fix the bugs rashly, it will easily cause the whole program to fall into chaos and crash.
Swain did not dare to hand over his reform plan to the hands of those corrupt and incompetent aristocratic bureaucrats.
Therefore, although he is a believer in the wind of change, his style after taking office is not to carry out major reforms, but to do his utmost to maintain the stability of the empire and prepare for the transition for the full intervention of the Leaders Association in the future.
This sand table shows the results of his hard work over the past year.
The black flags on the sand table represent the local noble rebels.
When Swain first came to power, this map of Noxus was dotted with black flags.
Later, when he joined forces with Darius and began to purge the fanatical war advocates who opposed the Leader, the number of local rebels saw another sharp surge.
But now, after a year of governance, under Swain's thundering methods in the traditional Noxian style, those rebellious nobles who were ignorant of the consequences quickly went to the underworld to meet Mordekaiser.
The situation in the Noxian Empire thus entered a stage of overall peace, which was secretly turbulent but apparently stable.
At this moment, the black flag representing the noble rebels was almost invisible on the sand table.
The voices clamoring for war against the Windbringer were completely suppressed. Towns, counties, noble lords, vassal states, and semi-independent city-states had all been awed by Swain's might and renewed their loyalty to the Immortal Bastion.
"The nobles have been much more obedient recently, haven't they?"
"Yes..." Lester's heart sank. He knew that the teacher would not ask questions without knowing the answer.
He is a general. His job over the past year has mainly been to clear out rebels in various places for Swain.
Now that the rebels have been cleared out and the domestic situation has stabilized, does he, the rebel killer, have to be... laid off?
Lester was in a heavy mood. But he pretended to be calm and continued: "As you said, the wave of noble rebellion has completely subsided in the past few months..."
“More than pacified,” Swain said meaningfully, “Not only have they stopped rebelling recently, but even the voices opposing my appeasement policy and advocating a decisive battle with the Wind Leader have almost completely disappeared.”
"These nobles are a little too honest."
"Perhaps..." Lester answered thoughtfully: "Perhaps the nobles have already recognized the reality?"
"As far as I know, many imperial nobles are now secretly contacting the Zaun Leader, trying to surrender to him and plan a way out for their families. So..."
Could it be that the nobles have been completely disappointed with the appeased Swain, but were unable to rebel and seize power, so they simply lay down and surrendered to the Leader in advance?
“Perhaps in part.” Swain was noncommittal.
He knew the imperial nobles too well, so he would not underestimate their greed and madness, as well as their deep-seated hatred for the wind of change.
"And most importantly..."
The leader's united front policy has also changed long ago.
At the beginning, the leader was just a fledgling, so naturally he needed to let go of his moral obsession and learn to compromise with reality.
Therefore, even if they are warlord nobles like the Midalda family, as long as they can provide timely assistance to the leader's cause, they can be regarded as the leader's old friends.
There were those who surrendered later, such as General Du Coquet, who surrendered reluctantly after being defeated in the war.
Taking into account the great role he played in the peaceful liberation of the northern coast colony of Shurima, as well as his positive attitude of voluntarily handing over his property and cooperating with the transformation, the Leader was also willing to ensure the safety of his family and let him be an ordinary retired old man in Zaun.
But now, the Wind Leader is almost in control of the entire Runeland, and the struggle is about to achieve a staged victory. At this time, some people think of adding icing on the cake, thinking of becoming the Wind Leader's "old friend", thinking of handing over their property in exchange for peace...
Then it will be too late.
Leaders are not selling indulgences. No one can be freed from sins or cleansed of bloodshed by paying dirty money, and start anew in a new era.
And the noble lords who only approached the leader at this time were mostly not progressive people worthy of reform.
They are not repenting. They are simply afraid of death.
Therefore, the united front policy of the leaders has long been gradually tightened. Even if those reactionary nobles who have committed many evil deeds, are notorious, and have committed extremely serious crimes and surrendered voluntarily, they will never escape trial and liquidation.
in this case……
“Do you think the nobles will just sit there and wait for death?” Swain asked.
"No." Lester shook his head.
"But now they are just sitting there doing nothing. That's unusual, isn't it?"
"Indeed..." Lester also frowned thoughtfully.
A person often goes crazy before he perishes. Moreover, they are now facing the demise of an entire aristocracy.
"What do you need me to do?" Lester asked without hesitation.
"I need you to approach these people and make friends with them." Swain took out a list with the names of several great nobles of the empire.
These old nobles used to be opponents of Swain, but recently they have suddenly become obedient.
"I can try, but..."
Shouldn't this kind of intelligence work be handed over to the war masons? Even if he needed to be a noble to approach the target, there was no need for him, the powerful commander of the Royal Guards, to go into battle personally, right?
That's what Lester was about to say.
"There is one more thing." Swain added casually, "You should focus on this from now on. Let others handle the daily affairs of the Guards."
"There are many young people with progressive ideas and outstanding abilities in the army. As a senior, you have to leave some opportunities for the younger ones."
Lester: “???”
Hearing this, his body trembled slightly.
The list in his hand was clenched into a ball, but he was unaware of it.
Here it comes, this day has finally come.
Over the past year, Swain has been quietly developing leaders in the army, and has promoted these progressive officers who have accepted Janna's ideas one by one to replace those old officers with reactionary ideas to key positions.
After a year, almost all of Swain's original troops were wiped out by him.
Countless former Imperial heroes were eliminated and ruthlessly replaced by the Windward Officers promoted by Swain.
Lester thought that this matter would not fall on him so soon, but unexpectedly, it still came.
Swain didn't have any important mission to give him. His teacher just found a random excuse to help him step down from the power stage "dignifiedly".
"Teacher..." Lester tried to maintain his voice, but it was still trembling: "Please give me another chance."
"I would like to make more contributions to the people of Noxus..."
“That’s enough!” Swain ’s face suddenly turned cold: “Lester, don’t keep saying things you don’t believe in.”
Lester: “…”
He secretly clenched his fists, his eyes filled with resentment.
“Lester.” Swain regained his composure. “You have to know that I’ve given you a chance. What about you?”
"A year has passed. Where is your thread of faith?"
Lester was silent.
Faith, faith, faith! This damn faith! If he doesn’t believe in the leader’s nonsense, he will never be able to be an official!
Why?
"Teacher Swain." Lester could hardly suppress the anger in his heart: "Isn't what I did good enough?"
Swain's face was calm. "Well, you did a great job. In the past, you were my most capable student. Over the past year, you have also made great contributions to the peace and stability of Noxus."
"I also know that you can now recite Janna's thoughts by heart. Your research on Janna's theory is extremely thorough, and your theoretical level is even higher than that of most of the leaders."
"After I revealed my identity as the leader to you, you have been holding yourself to the moral standards of a saint."
"From that day on, you never took a penny and never abused your power. You would warmly greet the most inconspicuous homeless person on the roadside, and generously spend money to support those slum orphans you didn't even know..."
"I think even a true leader would n't perform as well as you do."
"Then..." Lester asked through gritted teeth: "Why can't you tolerate me?"
Swain didn't answer, just looked at him coldly.
He stared at her until his heart tightened. After calming down, Swain said, "Because you scare me."
Lester: “?”
“Yes, you frightened me,” Swain said. “You made me realize clearly that a person could disguise himself so much like a leader.”
"You acted so well. If I only looked at your appearance, even I wouldn't be able to tell your true identity."
Lester: “…”
"If we didn't have the Goddess Janna and the Thread of Faith, and we allowed a pretender like you to sneak into the team, the consequences would be disastrous."
"The Lord's will will surely come true. But how much more difficulty and obstacles will a false leader like you add to the road to victory?"
Swain sighed sadly. He seemed to be thinking about the past. The struggles and betrayals he and Darkwill had experienced.
He had already compromised with reality and only wanted to be the leader of a new empire who made limited reforms.
But: "Fortunately, God let me meet a leader."
Swain stretched out his hand and displayed the shining thread of faith, admiring the brilliance of faith with his deep eyes.
The light was so blinding to Lester.
"Teacher!" Now that he had said that, he stopped acting.
"A gentleman is judged by deeds, not by heart!" Lester used an Ionian "old saying" invented by Levi. He said unwillingly: "I did better than the leader, and acted more like the leader, so why can't I keep the position I earned back from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and can't I continue to act?"
“Can you act this role forever?” Swain asked.
"I..." Lester was about to say yes.
Swain added: "Don't you feel pain after acting for a lifetime?"
Lester was speechless.
It was uncomfortable, of course it was uncomfortable. Every time he pretended to greet those incompetent poor people, he wanted to vomit.
"Leaders have no special privileges. If you continue to act like this, you will only suffer more in the future."
"Of course, I won't give you this opportunity either." Swain's tone turned cold: "You may be my student, but you are definitely not my comrade."
"If we relax the restrictions and allow you to flood into the organization, it will only bring disaster to the leader's career."
As long as there is a choice, we will never retain old bureaucrats or old intellectuals.
Even if the old bureaucrats and intellectuals are retained temporarily due to lack of manpower, they must be gradually replaced from their posts by cadres who truly have faith.
Without faith, the greater the power, the more dangerous it is.
Therefore, no matter how capable or meritorious a person is, without faith, he cannot become a leading official.
This is the principle of the Leaders Association and it is absolutely not negotiable.
Lester was still unwilling to give in, but Swain's iron-hard eyes made him unable to argue anymore.
"Let's go," Swain said. "Lester, don't forget what you did in the past. Now that you can keep your property and become a retired rich man, it is the best result I have fought for you in view of your contributions."
"If you can't make progress, just accept it calmly."
"I..." Lester clenched his fingers almost white.
What has he done?
He massacred cities, destroyed countries, burned, killed and looted, and sent slaves and orphans to the battlefield to use them as cannon fodder.
If judged by the leader's values, he deserves death.
But in the past empire, this is what a Noxian general should do. The massacre of the city and the destruction of the country were all orders from the emperor, and Lester did not think he had done anything wrong.
He devoted all his efforts to the expansion of Noxus, and shed his own and his colleagues' blood to finally rise step by step from a humble slum boy to where he is today.
He should have been a hero of the empire. But now, he has become a sinner in the eyes of the leader.
He struggled all his life, but in the end he ended up being equal to the slum boy.
Damn it! What was he fighting for?
Lester was really unwilling.
“I know it’s hard for you to accept all this, Lestat.” Swain sighed softly, a hint of understanding showing on his stern face.
" but--"
"I believe you are not stupid."
Lester: “…”
"When do you plan to officially remove me from my position?"
“No hurry.” Swain said frankly: “Before the arrival of the Wind Leader, you will still be a general of the Empire and the commander of the Guards.”
"I just need you to give up some of your power and train those progressive officers."
"I understand." Lester was silent for a long time, finally slowly picked up the list that Swain handed him, stood up and left calmly: " I will put down the work at hand first and complete the task you assigned to me... Mr. Swain."
