Empire of Shadows

As an admiral, even though Admiral Miles was under investigation, he did not need to live in a prison or a detention cell.

He was still living in his detached villa in the military district.

Yes, in the military district, there were detached houses and villas specially provided for military officers. Admiral Miles’s villa was in the innermost part, and it was also the largest and most luxurious.

He sat on the sofa, his face calm and composed. One could not see any of the frustration or decadence of being under investigation.

On the other side of the sofa, there were also three naval generals.

”The news I got from old Wood is that among the several charges they currently have, the one that can have the greatest impact on you is probably dereliction of duty.”

”They said you did not, in accordance with wartime regulations, disperse the patrol ships to the surrounding sea area, and had failed to provide a timely warning.”

”This charge can be big or small. We will continue to put in more effort, to strive to keep you from being too affected!”

Admiral Miles closed his eyes slightly. ”I hear they actually knew long ago that the Dantra people were coming to attack Golden Port City.”

When he had said this sentence, the other three naval generals in the room were all stunned for a moment, and then these people frowned. ”You can’t just say things like that.””If others find out and latch onto it, your trouble will be even greater than now!”

What the speaker meant was, if there was no evidence, then there was no need to say it.

And this kind of taboo intelligence, it was best to pretend not to know even if you did. Once someone knew that you knew, they would be curious as to how you knew.

Why are you prying into state secrets? What is your purpose?

Maybe now it was just a dereliction of duty, but when he told others that he knew some of the things behind this matter, it would not just be a dereliction of duty, but possibly also the crime of stealing state secret intelligence. This crime was even more serious, and it was possible that he would be sent directly to the electric chair.

So if he could not say it, it was best not to reveal any information about the intelligence he knew to the outside. Once someone grabbed onto this weakness, the trouble would be big.

Of course, besides these, Admiral Miles was willing to believe that all of this might not really be an act, but was real!

After Golden Port City was attacked, the Federation had quickly set up this joint investigation team, which had made Admiral Miles feel that he was being targeted.

Because this matter had not fallen on others, so others might appear to be relatively indifferent, but he had no way to appear indifferent.

He had used a lot of personal connections and relationships, and had gotten a not-so-certain piece of news, which was that the federal government might have known long ago that the Dantra’s allied fleet might have a combat mission in the East Ocean, but the Department of Defense’s side had not had any news.

But as for any actual evidence, the person who had passed this news to him could not possibly provide him with any evidence.

For this type of top-secret intelligence, every link in the handling process was recorded and could be traced. Once the intelligence was leaked, the intelligence department would check layer by layer.

Today you can leak the intelligence to the people of the Federation, but tomorrow, can you leak the intelligence to the people of other countries?

So the insider had given him an ambiguous answer. As for evidence, he shouldn’t even think about it. This was already the limit!

And it was precisely because he knew that it was meaningless, and that even if he really had evidence, it would be of no use. At this time, Admiral Miles had let out a sigh and had shaken his head, not continuing to say anything.

”I won’t tell others.”

Another naval general also did not want to delve into this topic. They just wanted to get more dominance in the war, not... to become an enemy of Congress, so they also did not want to talk more about this kind of taboo topic.

”Let’s talk about this later. The most crucial thing now is how to protect you.”

Admiral Miles pursed his lips. ”I will arrange for a few officers of sufficient weight on my side, to have them sacrifice themselves a little.”

The ”sufficient weight” he was talking about referred to the members of the families in his army. If the federal government wanted to knock down this military faction of Admiral Miles, the simplest way was two.

Either to move Admiral Miles from this position, no matter who was brought in to replace him, it would be impossible to let these important positions be firmly controlled by Admiral Miles’s people.

A superior in the army has absolute rule over his subordinates. The new commander-in-chief would definitely, in a very short period of time, replace all the people in the key positions. This way, the conflict would become a conflict between the new commander and Admiral Miles, and at the same time, it would also solve the problem of Admiral Miles firmly holding on to the power of this naval fleet.

But doing so also had a disadvantage, which was that the new commander-in-chief, in a short time, would be able to establish a faction that belonged to the new commander.

This was a little out of line with the federal government’s thinking. They didn’t want to have just dealt with an Admiral Miles, and then another admiral or something would appear, so this was not a smart choice.

Another method was relatively simple, which was what Admiral Miles was considering. He would clear out some of the important positions in the army, and let the people from the federal government and the Department of Defense be inserted. This way, the ultimate goal of mixing sand into the entire naval fleet would be achieved.

Every move of the army would be seen by these military officers, and then would be reported to the congressional side.

There would be many people around him who would be monitoring him at all times, who would find all kinds of ways to make him make a mistake, a big mistake, and then to ”execute” him.

This was already the biggest concession he could make, which also made his face look very ugly. If the army could not form a unified ideology, soon there would be some new factions internally, to compete with him.

Seeing that Admiral Miles’s mood was very bad, the other naval generals also did not speak.

It was not until a while later that one of them said, ”After this period of public opinion is over, then we can find a way to send them to the front lines. The battle on the front lines is so fierce. If there is an accident or something, it can also be accepted by the people.”

Admiral Miles nodded in response. ”That’s the only way.”

He sighed. ”It was me who dragged you down in this matter. If it weren’t for me...”

The oldest of the three generals laughed heartily. ”Miles, don’t think too much. Even if you hadn’t had an accident, they would have found other ways to find trouble with us.”

”This time they won, but the next time, it may not be them!”

”Besides, it’s not a new idea for the federal government to want a cleaner army. Even if there was no you today, could you have avoided tomorrow, and the day after?”

”Pull yourself together. The upcoming war still needs you!”

In a time of crisis, these words are the most useful. They can re-inspire people’s fighting spirit. Their chat content soon shifted to the war itself.

”The Department of Defense has approved another batch of extra military expenditure for the army, and this time the number of army soldiers will once again have a huge increase. They are planning to fight their way to Dantra!”

”Some soldiers have already been shouting that they want to plant the flag of the Federation on their tallest roof. The strength of the army is still constantly getting stronger, but we have been spinning in place.”

Admiral Miles, in turn, comforted this naval general. ”When the new warships are launched, the navy will usher in an unprecedentedly huge expansion!”

Another naval admiral shook his head. ”Just this is not enough.”

”If we can’t shift the main battlefield from the land to the sea, we will never be a match for the army.”

”Do you know the Wallace brothers?” he suddenly mentioned a name that Admiral Miles was not very clear about. The others were also not very clear, and they all shook their heads.

This naval admiral continued, ”The Wallace brothers were the first to propose the idea of using airplanes in war. The Department of Defense’s side plans to give it a try.”

Speaking of this airplane, in fact, it was not a new thing. It was just that it was limited by the technological development of the era, and the carrying capacity of an airplane was very limited.

It couldn’t have too much of a carrying capacity. Counting the pilot, the engine, and the fuel, there was not much space and weight left for it.

All along, people had wanted to apply it to the field of war. So far, it had only been used for land reconnaissance.

On the main ground battlefield, you could occasionally see its figure. It would fly a circle in the sky above the battlefield, and then go back.

A short range, and no carrying capacity, had limited it from becoming a weapon of war.

”The Wallace brothers have recently introduced a new engine. They can let the pilot on the plane carry an extra seventy to eighty pounds of weight.”

”And then they made a slide rail, and hung a mortar shell on it...”

Before he could finish, the person next to him asked back, ”Then why don’t I just use a mortar?”

”That would be a little more convenient. At least we don’t need to build a runway for an airplane, nor do we need extra supplies.”

Admiral Miles also nodded in agreement. He also believed that this airplane did not seem to have much of a good use for the war.

Whether it was a close-range strike or a long-range strike, there were cannons that could do the job.

Perhaps it could provide some value in a precision strike, but a precision strike would often make an airplane a one-time-use item.

As long as it came down, a rifle bullet might be able to hit it, and an autocannon bullet would definitely be able to hit it, which had made the airplane very awkward all along.

Seeing that they were all so dismissive, the naval admiral who had first brought up this matter could only shrug and spread his hands. ”Alright, this matter still needs to be studied again.”

While these few people were chatting with great vigor, a captain quickly walked over. ”Admiral Miles, Your Excellencies Generals, something has happened. Some of the soldiers and officers have been taken away by the people from the investigation team.”

The person who was speaking had an anxious look on his face, which also made Admiral Miles vaguely feel that something was wrong. He quickly asked, ”Why would the federal government arrest them?”

The captain who was speaking had a somewhat grim expression. ”They said these people were involved in corruption.”

When they heard this news, the faces of the generals in the room finally changed.

Dereliction of duty, for a superior, was just as Admiral Miles had said just now. He could find a few key roles to take the blame for him.

Didn’t the federal government say that the patrol ships that should have been patrolling the sea area had not been sent out?

He could completely push this matter to the military officer who was in charge of it, saying that he had already instructed, but the officer had been negligent. It was the officer who had not done it, not him.

This way, Admiral Miles would bear a much lighter crime than dereliction of duty, negligence.

Just negligence. An apology, and then to deal with this matter, and it would be over.

But corruption is different. Whether it is an official’s corruption, or a military officer’s corruption, in the Federation, it is a major case, a serious crime. And to have embezzled a dollar and to have embezzled a million, in fact, there is no difference.

Hearing this, they all knew that this time Congress was completely planning to kick him down. Admiral Miles’s face also became particularly ugly.

He had the captain leave, and then he closed his eyes and sat on the sofa for a long while, and then he suddenly stood up. ”I’m going to make a call, gentlemen. You continue to chat.”

If before he could still sit still, then now, he could not.

Of course, even if corruption was a serious crime in the Federation, this charge could not bring down a high-ranking government official or a high-ranking military general.

At their level, for example, Admiral Miles, for example, Senator Cleveland, the ordinary laws, and even the constitution, no longer had any binding force on them.

In fact, let alone them, a few years ago, the rich in the Bay Area were already out of the control of the law, and were acting wantonly.

Even if they killed someone every day, it was not a crime. In the eyes of people of the same level, that might just be their not-so-friendly bad taste.

The only thing that can truly bring them down is a political purge, is a failure in a political struggle!

They have lost in a struggle, so a small charge that may be inconspicuous in the eyes of many can make them submit to the law, for example, a false accusation and an unzipped fly.

It’s not that they have really made a mistake, or that a crime has been punished by the law, but that they have failed in a political struggle.

Just like those criminals who are facing an executioner, they are crying and repenting for the crimes they have committed, begging for people’s forgiveness.

It’s not that they have really realized that they were wrong, but that they are just afraid of death.

A corruption case also cannot judge Admiral Miles, but for this corruption case to be exposed, it actually represents an attitude of Congress. They just want to press Admiral Miles down.

Dereliction of duty can’t do you?

Alright, we’ll arrange a corruption.

Corruption can’t get you?

No problem, we can arrange another charge. It’s impossible for him to guard against all of them.

As long as there is one mistake, what he will face is the abyss, is hell!

He now needed to talk to others.

The soundproofing of this villa could not be said to be particularly good. For example, the gap between the door and the floor, some sound could still get out.

The few generals by the side of the sofa all heard the angry roar of Admiral Miles from the study. The mood of the few of them also became a little dejected.

They also felt dissatisfied with these actions of the federal government, and were also very dissatisfied with the army.

Everyone was just fighting for the control of the war. They actually had to carry out such a retaliation?

This had made the naval generals more or less also have a little extra thought—this matter is not over!

At the same time, in Indeno State, after half a year of offense and defense, the Lance Family had already completely gained a firm foothold in the eastern region of Indeno State. They began to supply goods to further places.

This would inevitably affect the local leading enterprise, Gold Label Distillery.

Gold Label Distillery was also providing liquor to the gangs, in order to get a more considerable and astonishing return. Their scale was also expanding, and under Mr. Richard’s operation, there were several gangs that were completely obedient to Gold Label Distillery and were doing things for them.

The friction between the Lance Family and these gangs, and also the Gold Label Distillery, had also begun to occur frequently. And Gold Label Distillery had also soon introduced a model of capital competition, to fight a price war.

”...From February to now, the price of their low-end whiskey has been reduced by a total of eleven dollars, and I hear that they are going to reduce it by another dollar starting next month.”

Elvin was reporting to Lance about some of the situations that had occurred in Indeno State during this period. Lance was listening very seriously.

”Our goods are transported from Likalai State. The cost itself is a little higher than theirs.”

”And because we still have to share the account with those politicians, it is very difficult for our cost to be lowered now.”

”Now they have seized on this point and have lowered the price to a very low level. If we continue to fight a price war with them, for every bottle of wine we sell, we will lose one or two dollars.”

”In the cities under our control, there are also some gangs who are getting their goods from them. It is very difficult for us to restrain this behavior.”

A gang is an organization driven by the most primitive desires. Their purpose is actually exactly the same as that of the capitalists, which is a huge profit.

It’s just that a capitalist will use a better disguised method, while a gang’s methods are generally a little more crude.

After listening, Lance asked, ”What about the Prohibition Bureau?”

”They may have also found a key person. Now the Prohibition Bureau’s side either catches all of them or none of them. We don’t have any advantage.”

The State Prohibition Committee itself was not a state-managed department. This was a department that was directly and vertically managed by Congress. They were directly responsible to the Federal Prohibition Committee.

It wasn’t just Lance who could find connections. Gold Label Distillery had been in business for so many years, and they could also find connections.

Originally, the Prohibition Bureau’s side would check the wine of Gold Label Distillery, but now, with their non-interference, the Prohibition Bureau also did not check. Or if they had checked Lance’s wine, they would definitely go and check a batch of Gold Label Distillery’s wine, to be fair and just.

An external, high-cost enterprise, in a fair and just environment, how could it possibly compete with a local, low-cost enterprise?

Elvin could not handle this matter, and he could only ask Lance for help.

Lance considered for not much time. ”Light their factory up. This way we don’t have to worry about them continuing to lower the price.”

After listening, Elvin couldn’t help but ask with a laugh, ”Is this appropriate?”

”I heard you say at a family meeting that we are not just a gang!”

Elvin and some others couldn’t come back, but what Lance had said at the meeting, they also all knew, which was why there was such a phone call.

Lance also replied with a laugh, ”That’s right, we can’t just be a gang, but we’ve never said that we are not a gang!”