Chapter 470: The Declining Empire

After one meal after another with laughter and scolding, Harry celebrated his 17th birthday at the Weasleys'. Because the age of adulthood in the Wizarding World is 17, and in the Muggle World it is 18, he specifically celebrated his birthday at The Burrow, which was meaningfully different. Mr. and Mrs. Wei Wei Silai sent him a large gold watch as a gift according to the wizard tradition. He expressed his gratitude while carefully putting the gold watch in his box. Harry didn't plan to wear it, because the gold watch would make him unconsciously think of the most embarrassing battle of Ohma Zi-O.

The rest were teapots, books, razors, sweaters, chocolates, prank things, etc. He spent some time organizing these things, then sat upright in the living room with Luo En, waiting for the Prime Minister's visit.

At two minutes past one, Hake and Jin Wei Silai Apparated to the door of The Burrow. Although Hake himself was a wizard, Jin Wei Silai still faithfully performed the task of protecting the Prime Minister, which was his job and honor. Hake chose him instead of Johnny English as the Prime Minister's bodyguard, which proved who was the true ace of the Auror Office.

Hake's face had a trace of worry. He walked into the living room in a hurry, then sighed and said: "Two, you really don't know what kind of mess the Conservatives left us!"

Harry and Luo En didn't expect him to use this as an opening, and were stunned for a while.

Taking advantage of the moment they looked at each other, Hake talked endlessly: "Not to mention the appalling unemployment rate and economic recession, nor the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, just talk about the urgent matter—Scotland and Wales are both going to rebel, and he is still collecting money and having extramarital affairs there. I spent a whole year wiping his ass!"

"What treaty?" Harry didn't understand the abbreviation.

"Maastricht Treaty, also known as the Treaty on European Union, directly sold our judicial sovereignty clean, and diplomatic, border, and currency sovereignty were also sold at least half. It's really too shameful."

Regarding this point, Harry held an objective attitude. "Our relationship with Europe is still quite subtle, Prime Minister. I still suggest you consider it from multiple aspects."

"Well, these can be discussed later. My main purpose this time is to invite you two to intern at Whitehall. Let's chat casually next, and I'll think about what positions you are suitable for." Hake said seriously. "We all know that the seventh grade of Hogwarts is for students to intern and find jobs, but I guess you will likely go to the Ministry of Magic to intern. But to be honest, Harry, I think it's better to go straight to the point."

"When I first entered Downing Street from the Ministry of Magic, I went through a very difficult time. There were many things I had never thought of and understood before, and I had to learn from scratch. So, if we want to take more wizards as Prime Minister to take care of the situation in both worlds in the future, the best way is to choose Muggle-born wizards—of course, wizards will definitely have opinions on this, so what I hope is that pure-blood or half-blood wizards come to the Muggle World to familiarize and adapt in advance."

Luo En's attitude toward the Muggle World was a fear born of the unknown. He didn't even think about it and retorted: "Why us? Why go to the Muggle World?"

"Sigh, I knew it." Hake sighed. "Most wizards reject this point, always feeling that as long as they follow the Statute of Secrecy, they can live high and worry-free in the Wizarding World. But I didn't understand until I became Prime Minister that the Wizarding World is actually much more fragile than we imagined, and the Statute of Secrecy is even more of a mere formality. In a sense, it is only a Statute of Secrecy for the bottom layer, and more like a peace agreement for the top layer."

Harry vaguely had this feeling, because Sir Crawley was barely half a Muggle high-level official, and he obviously knew about the existence of wizards and the Wizarding World.

"Mr. Wei Wei Silai, have you never thought about where the various things you eat, wear, and use every day come from?" Hake asked this, both as if asking Luo En and as if asking Arthur.

"Bought from Diagon Alley, or grown by myself." Luo En answered naturally.

"Yeah, but where do the things in Diagon Alley come from? Look at this sofa you are sitting on. It is composed of a wooden frame, springs, cotton padding, and fabric. Have you thought about who is responsible for maintaining the forest farm, logging, making the frame, and who digs out ore, smelts it into metal, and shapes it into springs, and who takes care of the cotton field, picks cotton, and processes them into padding, who is responsible for weaving, dyeing, and embroidering the cloth?"

Luo En had the answer in his heart. He knew Hake wanted to say that Muggles did all this, but he said disapprovingly: "Oh, it doesn't matter, wizards can also do these."

"Yes, wizards can also do it. The upstream and downstream of a sofa's production chain need nearly 700 people. Even if you can use magic to assist, you need at least four hundred people. Hogwarts' graduates for a whole year are not enough to make a sofa. Think about other types of products."

Luo En didn't say anything at all now.

"The fact is that the vast majority of shops in Diagon Alley are extremely dependent on importing goods and raw materials from the Muggle World, and more than 80% of the food and spices in the Wizarding World are purchased from the Muggle World. Once completely separated from the Muggle World, the living standards of wizards will return to the Middle Ages or even earlier, which is something everyone cannot accept." Hake summarized. "Our connection with the Muggle World is far closer than you imagine."

"And, the two worlds are prosperous together and damaged together. Once a change occurs in the Muggle World, not to mention the terrible nuclear winter, just talk about economic downturn and the decline of light industry, the cost of Diagon Alley buying things from the Muggle World will be greater, and the prices in the Wizarding World will also rise. I know your family is relatively tight. Have you thought about whether the Conservatives need to bear the main responsibility for this?"

Luo En pondered seriously. He began to empathize.

"But the problem now is that Yanayev has fully mobilized the power of the Wizarding World. We either sit and watch him constantly gain advantages, and finally lose this Cold War together with our stupid allies, or we mobilize all our power to resist him in both the Muggle World and the Wizarding World, and even defeat him, surpass him, and reproduce the true glory of the British Empire." Hake said sonorously.

Harry smiled awkwardly. "Well, before this, Dumbledore and Snape have indeed been doing this, and we have defended him very well in the Wizarding World."

"But we are almost retreating steadily in the Muggle World." Hake persuaded. "I believe you have the ability and experience to replicate your success in the Wizarding World."

"How is it retreating steadily?" Harry frowned. "We are a bit depressed at home, but we haven't lost anything internationally, right?"

"We have almost completely lost control of Europe, and even been controlled by Europe in turn." Hake explained patiently. "Yanayev initially just wanted to use more foreign trade to fill the domestic light industry market, but this unexpectedly improved his relationship with European countries, and he even further opened the market economy to Eastern European satellite countries, not only revitalizing his own livelihood problems but also starting to exert more influence on Europe. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't be so angry about the EU. But regardless of whether they admit it or not, the fact is that nearly half of the EU has fallen into Yanayev's secret control."

"The trend in the future may be that the US and the Soviet Union are preparing to divide the world. Where should Britain go in such a future? Harry, I must regretfully tell you that if it weren't for your transcendent status in the global Wizarding World, we would have almost fallen into a US military missile base."

Speaking of this, the Prime Minister enthusiastically grabbed Harry's hand. "Mr. Potter, don't you want to try to explore the third way in the Cold War pattern by relying on the weight of the Wizarding World, completely break away from the NATO framework, possess inviolable deterrence by your own strength, become a de facto privileged neutral country, and play an unprecedented super-large offshore balance in the US, the Soviet Union, and even the whole world?"

Harry felt a bit uncomfortable being handled by him like this. This sounded as if he could cover up other disadvantages in military aspects by relying on the cutting-edge power of the Wizarding World, which was somewhat wishful thinking.

"You see, we already possess autonomous strategic deterrence, and with the super-wizard power of the two, we completely don't need to spend nearly 300 million pounds every year to maintain that nuclear weapon that is never used. This money can be used in more meaningful places to strengthen our conventional weapons, strengthen the combat effectiveness of soldiers, and carry out a real national defense reform!"

"And Trident has begun to age. Buying new ones will cost 4 billion, and it's paid to the Americans!" Hake spread his hands exaggeratedly. "Do you want me to help you convert it into Galleons?"

"Can we really..." Luo En started calculating since he said 300 million. "Help the country save so much money?"

"No," Harry poured cold water on him. "Prime Minister, you are taking it for granted. Super-wizard power cannot completely replace nuclear deterrence. Yanayev can easily find multiple angles to try to crack super-wizard power. Whether we can resist it—this is uncertain. Conversely, Trident has been verified as a system that Yanayev cannot crack. It is a very unwise thing for you to be in such a hurry to cancel Trident now."

"Very good, Harry. I heard your deep concern and full thinking about the future of this country from your words. I have already thought about your internship positions." Hake said seriously. "In view of your significance in the Muggle World as a new type of asymmetric strategic deterrent power, I decided to invite you to intern at the Ministry of Defense. Harry Potter as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense, Luo En Wei Wei Silai as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, how about it?"

"You call this an internship position?" Harry felt that all this was too magical. "And I haven't made up my mind yet."

"It doesn't matter. You can also go to school to hang out first, or go to the Ministry of Magic to take a look." Hake handed out a business card. "When you make a decision, please call this number at any time." ===== CHAPTER 471 =====