In Sankara's field of vision.
Name: Mitchell Roberts Nationality: Republic of Burkina Age: 46 Position: Ministry of Agriculture, Director of the Department of Development Planning Rank: Full department-director level Loyalty: 31
That was right. Loyalty-31.
This middle-aged official had stood up to interrupt Ameli and declare his firm support for Sankara.
He looked utterly devoted, as though he were Sankara's most loyal defender, but his actual loyalty to Sankara was not even 40. In fact, it was about to fall below 30.
This was no longer ordinary betrayal. He was an outright rebel who needed to be hanged immediately!
If Sankara remembered correctly.
When this official named Roberts had entered the conference room, his loyalty had still been at a baseline of 59, just about to reach the safety threshold of 60.
But when Sankara said, "Bring all farmland under state ownership, then distribute it to the farmers," his loyalty had begun to plummet!
So the interest group standing behind you is the landlord class?
Sankara silently thought this as he watched Roberts deliver his "impassioned" speech.
"If we don't act immediately, how many more of our people will starve to death? That's why I firmly support the president's idea and believe we must implement it as soon as possible!"
Roberts delivered the final conclusion to his speech.
"You're disregarding our country's actual circumstances. If we implement something so radical right now..."
Ameli tried to object, but Roberts interrupted her again the very next second.
"Are you planning to oppose our president? I now seriously suspect that you, Minister, are actually standing with those utterly evil landlords!"
The moment Roberts opened his mouth, he slapped a damning label on Ameli.
"I'm not..."
Ameli wanted to explain, but her tongue failed her for the moment, and she did not know how to explain herself. She looked at Sankara in alarm, seemingly wanting to say that she was not opposing him. In the end, she could only slump back into her seat, her eyes somewhat vacant.
Clearly, Roberts's accusations had left Ameli struggling to fend them off.
Seeing this, another group of officials immediately stood up to express their support for Roberts.
"Yes, the president cannot possibly be wrong. Every idea the president has is for our country's future."
"I firmly support every decision the president makes!"
"For the future of the Republic of Burkina, I firmly support the president!"
"Only by distributing the land to the farmers immediately can we possibly resolve our country's food crisis!"
"Anyone who doesn't support this is betraying the president!"
Hearing these officials' remarks, another group of officials stood up and retorted:
"I firmly support the president too, but you can't accomplish this through sheer reckless force!"
"If we ignore everything else and crudely distribute all the landlords' land straight to the farmers, it will absolutely cause severe turmoil in our country!"
"I think you're the ones betraying the president, the country, and the people! You're actually opposing the president while waving the banner of supporting him!"
Sankara noticed something very interesting, namely-
The vast majority of the officials who stood up to declare their firm support for him actually had loyalty below 50, while many of those who stood up to object had loyalty above 80.
Is this what they mean by "those who shout their support for you don't necessarily have your best interests at heart, while those who voice their opposition may actually be the ones truly standing with you"?
Sankara thought of this saying.
In every era, who knew how many people, whether possessed of great talent and vision or muddleheaded and incompetent, had actually fallen at the hands of those who seemed to have their best interests at heart?
Without the system, relying only on the memories inherited from the original owner of his body and his mere twenty-odd years of memories from his previous life, Sankara really might not have been able to distinguish which of those people had truly stood with him just now.
"Phew-"
For some reason, Sankara took a deep breath and suddenly felt much lighter all over. Perhaps this was what having a "cheat" felt like?
Sankara had never thought that being a transmigrator made him particularly clever or more capable than everyone else.
Perhaps he had harbored a bit of a savior mentality at first, but by now, that little trace of it had long since vanished.
Sankara had a reasonably good understanding of himself.
Although he was a transmigrator, he was essentially just an ordinary university student in his twenties who had inherited over twenty years of someone else's memories and possessed a little of what people called idealism.
As an online keyboard warrior, he would certainly have been more than qualified.
But personally governing a country-
Without the original owner's memories, the fact that the Republic of Burkina was not a large country, and the system's assistance, he would certainly have struggled to handle the job.
This was also why Sankara worked on government affairs late into the night every day.
Aside from the genuinely heavy daily workload, another, more important reason was that Sankara was actually learning every day how to handle these tasks, so that he could govern this country better and be a better president.
"Enough, all of you, quiet!"
Only after everyone had more or less expressed their thoughts did Sankara interrupt them. Then he smiled and said:
"Actually, I do have some idea of what each of you truly thinks. To those who genuinely have my best interests at heart, I, Sankara, would like to say thank you. Thank you for truly supporting me!"
Hearing Sankara say this, the officials who genuinely had his best interests at heart immediately felt comforted and encouraged.
Meanwhile, the officials harboring various little schemes thought Sankara was still too young, falling so easily into the trap they had set.
Hahaha, this idiot actually thinks I'm supporting him!
I thought you were someone formidable, Sankara, but this is all you've got?
Very good, that's right, we're supporting you. Hahaha-
Only if this country stays in chaos can I reap more benefits!
You think you can distribute our land to the farmers like this? Dream on!
These officials all felt a little more contempt for Sankara.
"However!"
Sankara continued:
"The idea I just mentioned was only my initial idea. Soon after coming up with it, I realized that, although this approach is very good, it might not actually suit our country's current circumstances.
"As Minister Ameli just said, our country is currently at war. If we start moving against the landlords now and confiscate their land, our country will certainly fall into even greater turmoil.
"Moreover, although the landlord class as a whole is rotten and evil, there are still some kind, enlightened landlords among them. We cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach and force them onto the opposing side as well.
"So, my final idea is actually..."