Empire of Shadows

Lance also saw the newspaper reports about the appearance of airplanes on the battlefield. Even though the Federation’s current government could be said to be very... wise and pragmatic, there was still a small group of people within the Federation who felt they weren’t doing a good enough job.

The diversity of federal society was truly a miracle!

To this day, there were still people holding anti-war placards, appearing in groups of three or five on the streets of some important cities. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that some newspapers and magazines had investments from this camp, or even hostile forces, behind them.

The boss paid them, so naturally, they said whatever the boss wanted them to say.

Phrases like ”War is a crime against humanity” and ”Peace should not leave one’s hands covered in blood” frequently appeared in the newspapers.

Previously, these newspapers didn’t have much to report. They couldn’t possibly report on the continuous victories of the federal army they had always opposed, right?

Too much good news coming too quickly would cause some people with weak stances to switch sides, so they didn’t report much on that news, instead reporting on domestic entertainment news.

But this time, these newspapers wrote extensively, as if it were the New Year, using a happy and joyful tone that even Lance could sense, to write this article: ”A Great Failure, Is This the Turning Point of the War?”

Inside, they used word games to make the readers feel that the Federation was not just facing a setback on the battlefield, but was already facing a life-and-death moment, as if, if they didn’t announce a withdrawal of troops right now, the million-plus federal army would die on the Tanfit continent in the next second, dying in a foreign land.

It wildly praised how advanced the Dantra people’s aircraft were, how awesome their tactics were, without mentioning a single word about the heavy blow the Federation was inflicting on them on the front lines.It wasn’t just Rapa that had people with ulterior motives; the Federation had them too.

In fact, if you looked at this matter on a larger scale, how was it not that some ”Minister Rabours,” some ”Ambassador Cassias” within the Federation, their resentment generated by class stratification, had ultimately caused all this?

The Federation always talked about freedom, making people mistakenly believe that the barriers between classes here were not that strong.

There were also all kinds of chicken-soup-for-the-soul books, as if as long as you worked diligently on a construction site, you would one day be able to achieve a great career.

But they never mentioned whether these people who had actually achieved this had any other family background, social connections, or whether they had been appreciated by someone.

They would only write about the ”success” process of these people, for example, entering the stock exchange with a hundred dollars, and by the time they came out, they already had hundreds of thousands.

Repeat this three times, and a super capital magnate appears.

Let alone in a novel, you couldn’t even dream of this, but people just believed it!

The two countries, the Federation and Rapa, seemed completely different, but in some matters, they seemed to be exactly the same.

Lance looked at the other newspapers. The more official media would discuss the impact of this failure, and how to respond to it, with great caution, and also discuss the possibility of developing the Federation’s aviation industry.

As for those whose asses were already crooked, they would just sing praises of doom.

It was as if the Federation’s industrial capabilities, its scientific and technological capabilities, were just fake. These people didn’t even know how to properly slander.

Lance put down the newspaper in his hand and continued to enjoy his breakfast.

The war on the South Continent was crackling and very lively. Rapa’s civil war was also very lively. The Diego government wanted to quickly re-establish a new image for the presidential government, and they were simultaneously opening fronts in multiple directions.

And that advisor of his, Fernandez, had subsequently, in Diego’s name, announced some new rules. For example, Zhuolan was going to implement a curfew policy.

After eight o’clock at night, no one was allowed to appear on the streets, unless they had a government-signed pass or the like.

If not, they would be arrested and interrogated. Even if they had done nothing wrong, just being out at a time when they shouldn’t be, they would be locked up.

From a few months, up to three years.

Originally, they had decided that no one was allowed to go out before six o’clock, but later Lance had protested to them slightly.

Because Lance’s factories basically didn’t get off work until seven o’clock, he couldn’t possibly let so many workers sleep in the factory.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t sleep there, but that it couldn’t be done.

It was like the leftover food of the masters could only be dumped into the trash can, not given to the servants.

You can’t let these people, these servants, these workers, try to get used to this kind of welfare that they shouldn’t have been given.

Over time, they will think that this is what should be given to them. If one day they suddenly lose these benefits, will they harbor resentment?

Originally, I could eat the master’s leftover food every day, and I could find a comfortable place in the factory to sleep. Now, the food is not given, and the factory is not letting us sleep. They will have complaints.

Maybe in normal times they wouldn’t show it, so nakedly telling you ”I’m not happy,” but at a certain critical moment, if someone guides their emotions, it might cause some trouble.

So, by directly not giving them food, not letting them sleep, at most they would just feel that the master was a bit extravagant and wasteful, and unkind, but at least they would not be resentful, hateful.

Under Lance’s efforts, the six o’clock curfew was postponed to eight o’clock. In fact, at eight o’clock, the sky was not yet completely dark.

”The anti-government armed forces around Zhuolan are constantly retreating. They have already given up some of the cities they had occupied.”

Mr. Albert, sitting diagonally opposite Lance, spoke about this matter with some solemnity. It could be seen that he was very concerned about this.

Lance shook his head. ”The ones they are dealing with now are just some small characters. As for people like Pedro, Ross, they haven’t yet met the government army face to face.”

”You have to know, among these people, it’s not just Pedro, not just Ross. In fact, there are others.”

Mr. Albert’s gaze passed through Lance’s left shoulder and landed on a photo frame on the wall behind him.

Lance was sitting in the very center. Behind him, two rows of twenty-five people were standing together. Some had very serious expressions, while others showed a smile.

Last time he had come here, he had been a little surprised to see this photo. After getting Lance’s permission, he had walked over and had taken a closer look, and then had turned to look at Lance with a very complicated look.

He had seen Pedro in it, had seen Ross. He had actually known before that Lance had held some kind of a seminar, but he had not been very concerned.

Seven days, what could he do?

And it was advertised as a cultural exchange seminar, to talk about the system differences between the Federation and Rapa, to talk about some of the ideological issues between the two countries. This was an academic seminar.

But at this moment, he suddenly realized that this might not have been a proper seminar. It was very improper!

He had seen Pedro in these two rows of people, and also Ross, and those whom he had not noticed until now, and did not know.

Perhaps at some point in the future, their photos would suddenly appear in the newspapers, and would be accompanied by titles like ”warlord.”

So he still expressed his approval for what Lance had just said.

”I know, and I look forward to this day.”

”But, Mr. Lance, Diego has defeated too many small fry. He is now starting to get arrogant, and the most important point, the attitude of the high-level officials within Rapa, has also begun to show some changes.”

”Some people are more actively moving closer to us, but there are also some who are starting to move closer to Diego.” He was talking about the recent wave of enthusiasm for studying and inspecting in the Federation.

These people had taken their families to the Federation to study and inspect. When they had gone, they had gone as a family. When they had come back, it was only themselves.

Everyone knew what they were doing, transferring their families. However, Diego did not pursue the matter of these people’s actions.

On the one hand, he was now in urgent need of a great victory, a victory that would clean up the entire area around Zhuolan, to consolidate his position.

Secondly, he also wanted to see how many people were on his opposite side.

And under this kind of high-pressure situation, some of the centrists who were on the fence had begun to lean towards Diego.

These people were the most unprincipled. Whichever side was strong, they would lean towards that side.

Lance nodded. He pondered for a moment. ”How about this, I’ll make some arrangements.”

”Our President Diego has indeed... forgotten his own ugly state. He is just a fat penguin, not a swan!”

Mr. Albert nodded. ”That would be best.”

As he spoke, Lance did not avoid him, but directly picked up the phone, dialed a number. He listened, and jotted down some information, then hung up and dialed another number.

”The day after tomorrow... the Rapa government army’s supply team stationed on the... city’s side will pass by... in the afternoon, around three o’clock.”

”I’ll give you a suggestion. Don’t kill them all at once. You can control your attack on this supply team, and then let the government army stationed in the city come out to rescue them.”

”On their way to the scene of the incident, you can set up an ambush.”

”You can discuss the specifics with the instructors. I believe they will give you a more detailed answer.”

He then hung up the phone, and then smiled and looked at Mr. Albert. ”Pay attention to the news the day after tomorrow, or the morning after that. There will definitely be something you want to see.”

Mr. Albert nodded. ”I’m looking forward to it.”

Lance took out his cigarette case. Recently, this ivory cigarette case, it was unknown if it was because it had been used for a long time, or if it had not been well-maintained, now there was a small area on it that was slightly yellow.

However, he was not very concerned. He was used to it, and he didn’t really want to change it for the time being.

However, Mr. Albert had noticed this. He did not say it, but just remembered this.

Lance gave him a cigarette, and then crossed his legs and said, ”Have you gotten the information on that Fernandez?”

Mr. Albert’s backing was the federal government. To have him go and investigate was always better than Lance using his own personal connections to investigate this Fernandez. This was originally the federal government’s job, not his.

Mr. Albert nodded. ”This is exactly what I came to talk to you about today.”

He took out a document from his briefcase, placed it on the desk, and pushed it over.

Lance, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, picked up the document and began to read. It said that this guy, Fernandez, and the current Jede president were actually university classmates.

The Jede president had many brothers and sisters. In the Yalan region, capable men would often bear more of the responsibility of procreation.

For example, some countries had directly written polygamy into their laws. It was very common here.

There were also some countries that, although they had not explicitly stated in their laws that polygamy was allowed, if you really married multiple wives, as long as you had the ability, the police, the law, would not find trouble with you.

In this environment, the president was undoubtedly the most capable person.

The previous Jede president was a very capable and charismatic person. Besides his excessive pursuit of sex, he basically had no negative shortcomings.

And to marry many wives was not considered a moral issue in Jede, let alone a crime, so he was a person with no shortcomings.

The current president was just one of his many children. During his time in university, he had not revealed his identity, and had gotten along very well with this Fernandez.

They had roughly the same ideals, and were both very capable, and had become very good friends.

Sometimes the president would take the problems he didn’t know how to solve to ask Fernandez. The latter would also give him some of his own opinions. The two had learned from each other in this kind of discussion, and had both regarded each other as their bosom friend.

Before graduation, the president had asked Fernandez what he wanted to do in the future.

Fernandez had said that he wanted to be a person who could help Jede to become a world power.

At that time, the previous president was still in power, so after Fernandez had graduated, he had not entered a government department to work, but had gone to work in a foreigner’s company.

The society and market of the Jede Republic had gradually opened up, which had attracted many investors. That was the time when foreign capital was in a big burst.

He had, in the company invested in by the foreigners, had gained a lot of knowledge and experience, and had also been to more than one country. These had all become his accumulated experience for assisting the president in the future.

After the previous president had died of illness—of course, some also said it was a sudden death—the current president had, in an unexpected, but also reasonable way, inherited the position of president, and had also appointed Fernandez, who had become his important aide.

From the intelligence that Mr. Albert had brought, it could be seen that the current Jod... [typo, should be Jede] Republic had its current development momentum, and in it, there was indeed a part of Fernandez’s credit.

The president attached great importance to him, so he had sent him here to assist Diego in stabilizing the domestic situation in Rapa.

Once the domestic situation in Rapa was completely turbulent and had broken away from the Yalan League, it would set a bad precedent!

In the negotiations between the federal government and the Yalan League, they had privately contacted many of the small countries of Yalan. Who knew what they had promised to the leaders of these small countries.

Now some of them, for example, the leader of Makan, were thinking of defecting to the Federation.

But because Makan’s territory was not large, and its population was not large, and it was also next to Jede, they had not dared to act rashly for a while.

But if Rapa, because of the civil war, had announced its withdrawal from the Yalan League, it would be tantamount to giving these small countries, which were eager to break away from the Yalan League and to throw themselves into the arms of the Federation, some opportunities.

This was something that the Jede president absolutely would not allow, so he had had Fernandez come here, to stabilize the situation here.

Not to say that he had to let Diego achieve a complete unification, but at least not to let it continue to deteriorate.

Lance pursed his lips. He was, with his hand, holding his cigarette and looking at this document for a while. Then his fingers had tapped on the document. ”We have to find a way to get rid of this person.”

”I don’t know how much of the content on this intelligence is true. Let’s just assume it’s true for now.”

”Then such an outstanding and formidable character, it is very likely that he will change some of our subsequent arrangements.”

”See if there is any way to get rid of him. It says here that he has a family, his wife, his children. See if we can kidnap them.”

”As long as we can lure him out of the Presidential Palace, there will be a way to kill him.”

It wasn’t that Lance didn’t dare to kill people in the Presidential Palace, but just that this person, Diego, his brain was sometimes not so good. If he was over-stimulated, he would become crazy, and then, regardless of the consequences, he would do some things that people couldn’t understand.

Now was not a good time for him to go crazy. The anti-government armed forces needed a target, a dictatorial, terrifying ruler.

Only in this way, could their current actions be, to a certain extent, be called a ”just act.”

If Diego had left this game too early, then between these anti-government armed forces, and between the other rulers, they would have entered a chaotic and disorderly destruction, which was also not what Lance wanted.

When people are chaotic to a certain extent, they actually don’t care if you are a foreigner.

A limited chaos. In the midst of chaos, people still abide by certain rules, systems. This is a good chaos.

Mr. Albert nodded. ”I’ll have someone go and try.”

The conversation between the two had also ended here. After they had exchanged their opinions and matters, they had separated.

Two days later, in the afternoon, the supply troops, which should have been unknown to anyone, were on their way to the ”front line.” They were driving old trucks, and the back of the trucks were full of all kinds of supplies.

These supplies were all aided from the Jede Republic. The outside world was not clear what Diego had used to exchange for these. In fact, it was not very complicated.

The mining rights of a gold mine, and also the absorption of outstanding talents, and also that Rapa and Jede would mutually exempt all import and export taxes.

Diego was a little pained by the first two conditions, but he had still agreed. On the contrary, on the aspect of the import and export tax exemption, which the Jede’s side had thought would be very difficult to negotiate, he had agreed very quickly.

This had also made the Jede president, including Fernandez, to raise their level of importance for Diego by another notch.

It wasn’t that he was so smart, but that this person was stupid enough.

As the leaders of different countries, they certainly hoped that this populous country would have a stupid enough leader, not a smart one.

Then to let this fool rule for a longer period of time would be of the greatest benefit to them!

The convoy was moving quickly on the road. When they had reached a distance of about twenty kilometers from the front line, there were several fallen trees on the road, blocking their way.

Although the convoy had stopped, not a single person had gotten out of the car, and the soldiers had all, nervously, raised their weapons.

On a perfectly good road, there is an obstacle that is blocking people’s way. There must be someone around here!