The next day.
The sun rose in the east.
Golden sunlight once again bathed the earth, bringing people light and warmth.
The long chill of the night was dispelled in an instant!
"Chirp, chirp-"
An early bird flapped its wings as it flew through the air, searching for an early worm.
"Vroom-"
Below it was a black sedan that had just entered the presidential compound, its noisy engine breaking the morning stillness.
The car made turn after turn before finally stopping outside the villa in the presidential compound.
A potbellied middle-aged man in a black suit squeezed out of the back seat with difficulty, then hurried into the villa with short, quick steps.
After that, more and more cars drove into the presidential compound.
Under the gazes of the surrounding soldiers, officials with all manner of expressions entered the villa one after another, some excited, some frightened, some flustered...
The autumn sun was warm, without summer's scorching heat. Mingled with the cool autumn breeze, it was wonderfully refreshing.
Sankara, who had worked through the night, stood at the window and savored it for a while before reluctantly turning to look at the restless government officials in the conference hall.
Perhaps because Sankara had a reasonably good reputation, unlike previous military coups, when officials had practically hoisted trains onto their shoulders in their haste to flee overnight, not a single official had left after Sankara seized power in his coup.
In fact, after learning that Sankara was summoning them to a meeting at eight that morning, they had all arrived before seven!
That left Sankara with no choice but to put down his documents before it was even seven thirty and come to the conference hall from the President's Office.
Sankara walked to the head seat but did not sit down. Instead, he braced both hands on the back of the chair and looked over every official present, one by one.
Name: Yalisha Compaoré Nationality: Republic of Burkina Age: 41 Position: Minister of Economy, Finance and Budget Planning Rank: Ministerial Loyalty: 64 ---- Name: Kroll Edward Nationality: Republic of Burkina, Fourth French Republic Age: 52 Position: Minister of International Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation Rank: Ministerial Loyalty: 51 ---- Name: Makru Shengdido Nationality: Republic of Burkina, Fourth French Republic Age: 47 Position: Minister of Agriculture, Animal and Fisheries Resources Rank: Ministerial Loyalty: 42
Half an hour later.
Under the confused, uneasy gazes of all the officials, Sankara finished examining the data panels the system had provided for every official present.
Good thing I was mentally prepared!
Sankara sighed inwardly.
Excluding Sankara himself and the dozen or so soldiers and officers responsible for security, there were thirty-four people in the conference hall.
Of them, only three had loyalty toward Sankara above seventy. Most of the rest fell between fifty and seventy.
Four even had loyalty below fifty!
That meant these four not only lacked even the most basic loyalty toward Sankara, but were already secretly preparing to oppose him.
That was something Sankara could not tolerate!
If your loyalty is still below fifty after this meeting ends, don't blame me for showing no mercy!
Sankara glanced at the four of them again out of the corner of his eye, a trace of killing intent flashing through his gaze.
As for the others... as the ancestors often said, governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. The Republic of Burkina might not be a large country, but I still can't rush things. One step at a time!
The most important thing now is maintaining stability!
Most importantly, Sankara simply could not find suitable replacements for them on such short notice.
The capable were not necessarily loyal, and the loyal were not necessarily capable!
Perhaps some people believed that ability did not matter, that loyalty was what counted.
But!
Put an incompetent person, or even a whole bunch of them, in these key positions simply because they were loyal?
Then let them make a complete mess of the country? That was not Sankara's style, and it ran directly counter to the ideals in his heart!
"Ahem!"
Sankara sat down in his chair, cleared his throat, and said with a smile:
"All right, it's eight now. We can begin the meeting! Don't come so early next time, or I'll have to stand here for another half hour!"
Sankara found an excuse for his earlier behavior while also making a harmless little joke to ease the tense atmosphere in the conference hall.
"Hahaha..."
Sure enough, as soon as Sankara finished speaking, everyone in the conference hall laughed.
The atmosphere in the conference hall, which had seemed on the verge of solidifying, deflated like a balloon in that instant.
"All right, quiet down!"
Sankara continued speaking, and the conference hall, filled with laughter just a second earlier, instantly fell silent.
"Everyone here is intelligent!"
"I don't think I need to say any more about what happened yesterday!"
"As for what you should do from now on, I think you'll understand that better than I do once this meeting is over!"
"All right, let's get down to business!"
"I thought about this all last night, right through sunrise today, and only barely worked it out by the time all of you walked into this conference hall."
"I remember an old saying from that ancient country far to the east: 'A newly appointed official lights three fires.'"
"I suppose I count as a newly appointed official now?"
"So I intend to light three fires of my own!"
"First, my new requirements for you!"
"I don't care what you were like before, and I don't intend to pursue it."
"But! From this moment on, if I catch anyone stealing from the nation like a fat rat to serve their own interests!"
"Then don't say I didn't warn you!"
"That's the first point!"
"Second, I intend to make some reforms and adjustments to government institutions."
"First of all, we will establish the Ministry of National Education and Literacy!"
"If a nation is a tree, then education is its roots. Only with a sufficiently developed root system can that tree possibly grow tall enough to reach into the clouds!"
"Frankly, I find it impossible to believe that our Republic of Burkina has been independent for nearly twenty years and still has no department specifically responsible for national education!"
"It's outrageous!"
"Next, we will establish the Ministry of Industrial Planning and Development!"
"Although ours is an agricultural country, without so much as a trace of industry, only industry can lead our country to prosperity and strength! The things I said in yesterday's speech weren't just empty words. I hope you understand that!"
"Industrial development will be the focus of our work going forward!"
"So establishing a dedicated ministry to oversee industry is absolutely necessary!"
"Finally, we will dissolve the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Security and reorganize it into the National Security Committee..."