Empire of Shadows

Ross looked up at Pedro, whose face was pale as he stood up, somewhat confused. ”What... what’s wrong?”

After all, he was only a worker with not much education. Although he had achieved considerable success now, he wasn’t clear what President Diego’s words in the broadcast meant.

Pedro must know, which was why he had such an expression. He immediately pressed, ”What do these words mean?”

Pedro couldn’t hear what he was saying, nor could he hear the rest of President Diego’s speech. In his world, the entire world was ”buzzing.”

He slowly sat back down, gripped his water cup, raised it, but didn’t drink, just held it.

After a while, he seemed to recover from that abnormal state. He turned to look at Ross. ”This is a... very bad decision.”

”It means that the entire Rapa will be completely fragmented. Anyone, as long as they occupy a piece of land, can legally exercise autonomy.”

”Including us. We can now legally govern the territory we control, and control the people who live here.”

”We can establish laws, formulate policies, set taxes, and everything!”

Ross still didn’t quite understand. ”Isn’t this good?””We have gone from being called anti-government armed forces in their mouths, to now being the local legal rulers. This should be a good thing.”

Pedro shook his head. ”Diego will continue to fight us. Even if he is unwilling, or we are unwilling, the federal people, the federal government, will make us continue to fight.”

”This decision is truly beneficial to the ruling class. The areas they control will exercise autonomy with them as the leaders. To put it more plainly, Rapa has, at this moment, split apart!”

His tone was very serious, which immediately made people feel the gravity of the situation. ”Many of those ministers have defected to the federal people, and the autonomous regions they control are almost equivalent to the autonomous regions controlled by the federal people.”

”You can imagine, if now the actual controllers of most areas of Rapa are federal people...”

He trailed off, for many reasons. But meeting Ross’s gaze, he knew that the most important thing now was unity, not anything else.

”You should know some of the situation in the New Federation Center.”

Ross nodded. ”Yes, I know. I’ve heard about it.”

”The people nearby all hope to become residents of the New Federation Center. They are all applying for identity cards.”

The life in this concession area of the New Federation Center was very stable and prosperous, with no famine and almost no unemployment. After all, there was a job for every person. First, you had to have a job, and only then could you get an identity card.

The entire concession area was an environment completely different from the Rapa of this moment.

If the Rapa outside was a hell that was heading towards destruction and subversion, then the New Federation Center concession was the ideal dreamland for the people of Rapa.

It was just that now it was very difficult to become a resident of the concession. First, you needed to have a job, and also to pass their scrutiny.

Ross had heard about this.

Pedro continued, ”What if many areas of Rapa, the rich areas, have more of this concession-style New Federation Center appear?”

Ross’s expression finally changed. It became more serious, and it was also filled with a hint of murderous intent. ”How is this possible?”

He almost cried out.

In his eyes, the New Federation Concession was an exception, a precedent that was very difficult to replicate. And the ”Zhuolan Treaty” was also regarded by them as a treaty of treason.

No matter how good the New Federation Center was in the eyes of the ordinary people, in the eyes of them, the leaders of the uprising who had consciously taken on the burden of ”revitalizing and liberating Rapa,” it represented humiliation.

It was highly unlikely that they would allow more concessions to appear. And Diego hadn’t said anything about this. Why...”

Pedro took out a cigarette he had rolled himself. Rapa was not short of tobacco leaves. At least in this aspect, they were not short of supplies.

”You think it’s impossible, but those ministers will actively cooperate.”

”At that time, the entire Rapa will be full of this kind of environment. Do you still feel relaxed now?”

Ross had fallen into a very special situation. His eyes were unfocused as he looked ahead. He couldn’t see the focal point, nor did he know what he was looking at, or what he was seeing.

”When that time comes, the war and conflict will no longer be between us and the Diego government, but between us and the federal government!”

Hearing this, Ross generally understood. His expression also became a little panicked. ”Then what do we do now?”

Pedro lowered his head and glanced at the cup in his hand, then raised it and took a sip of water. ”Besiege Zhuolan as soon as possible, capture Diego, and then completely deny Diego’s decision.”

”Besides this, we must also unite with more of the rebel armies, to make them understand the seriousness and necessity of this matter.”

Pedro’s expression was exceptionally resolute. ”Rapa has reached a critical moment of life and death!”

...

President Diego sat in his office and read the manuscript in his hand. He could already imagine the frenzy of this country at this time.

The frenzy of the people, the frenzy of the ruling group, and the frenzy of the anti-government armed forces.

Just as his eyes were unfocused, and his gaze was without a focal point, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. The voice of Lance came from inside.

”A very good speech. You are a remarkable president. At least when you should have done something, you chose to take responsibility, instead of evading it.”

”The people of Rapa will remember you. At least at this moment, they will remember you, because your decision has brought the fragrance of freedom to Rapa and its people!”

”The weapons and banknotes have already been unloaded from the ship. You can arrange for people to receive these things.”

He didn’t quite understand Lance’s words, but when he heard that the weapons and banknotes had already been unloaded from the ship, he seemed to have finally come back to his senses. His empty eyes also had a trace of spirit.

He had not yet lost. He still had so much money and so many weapons. He could arm more people.

As long as he could defeat those anti-government armed forces, perhaps he still had a glimmer of a chance to propose a trade-off to the Federation.

He wanted to live, even if he lived in humiliation!

Thinking of this, his eyes suddenly became sharp. He took the officers and immediately left the office. The large amount of supplies would allow him to assemble more troops to fight against the step-by-step pressure of those anti-government armed forces.

That same noon, the Diego government once again announced a nationwide conscription to the entire society.

As long as you joined the government army, you would immediately receive a reward of ten dollars, and a monthly salary of six Federal Sols.

In the conscription propaganda, they promoted that the reason Rapa had become what it was today was entirely caused by those anti-government armed forces.

If they had not stood up at the worst possible time and had formed an armed opposition, then there would have been no turmoil, no civil war, and the problem of the famine would have been completely solved this year.

But it was precisely because they had triggered the civil war that not only had the famine problem not been completely solved, but a civil war had also occurred, and more people had died!

In the propaganda, the Rapa government called on more Rapa youth to join the government army, and to liberate the entire Rapa together.

The direction of the propaganda was different in different occupied areas.

In the areas outside the Zhuolan region, people felt that the Diego government was an incompetent, treasonous government.

But in Zhuolan and the surrounding areas, people still felt that Diego was striving to maintain social stability. At least the situation here was much better than the situation outside.

They had heard that many people outside had starved to death, and that many more had died in the civil war, but because of Diego’s efforts, these had not affected the local area.

With a large amount of propaganda and conscription orders issued, the number of people in the government army was also continuously increasing.

Perhaps sensing that this was not going to be an easy battle, the anti-government armed forces had also accelerated their recruitment of new soldiers. Both sides seemed to be preparing for a ”decisive battle” that might occur in the near future.

Diego did not want to die, and the rebel armies did not want the fruit that belonged to them to eventually fall into the hands of the federal people.

Early in the morning, Lance’s convoy had appeared on the roads of the New Federation Center. These newly repaired roads were wide and tidy. There were also some Rapa middle-aged and elderly people, holding cleaning tools, wandering on the roads.

Lance did not like the mess and dirtiness of the Rapa homeland. The people here did not seem to have the concept of ”clean and tidy.” They would always discard their garbage everywhere, and even urinate and defecate anywhere.

The slums of Zhuolan were said to provide a place for people to live, but in fact, it was more like a super large garbage dump. Everyone lived on this garbage dump.

Lance did not like the environment here, and even more so, the stench it emitted in the summer. To renovate the streets was also a kind of propaganda.

Now, looking at the tidy street, his mood also became good.

When the convoy passed, the pedestrians on the side of the road, and those sanitation workers, would all stop their work and bow to Lance.

Everyone knew that without Lance, there would be no New Federation Center, and no beautiful life they had now.

No matter if they had questioned it at the beginning or not, after living here for a few months, they had nothing but endless gratitude for this place, and for Lance.

”This morning, two factories have been completed and have started production. These are some of the materials.”

Lance took it and casually glanced at it. They were all projects invested in by the Empire Chamber of Commerce members.

The current Empire Chamber of Commerce could be considered a ”chamber of commerce” in the true sense. The members of the chamber of commerce were investing heavily here, building new factories, and continuing to exploit the already outrageously cheap Rapa labor force to produce high-profit commodities.

To transport the raw materials from Golden Port City here for production, and then to transport them back, as long as the quantity transported at one time was large enough, the cost would be even cheaper than producing it in the federal homeland!

United Steel and Center Line Steel Group had also begun to invest in and build metallurgical plants locally.

Rapa has relatively rich mineral resources. After making them into metal ingots using cheap local costs, they could be transported back to the country and sold directly.

And a part could also be sold locally. The development of the New Federation Center could only be said to be getting faster and faster. More and more people were talking to Lance about cooperation.

”I don’t know why, but more and more people are investing here recently,” Roger put away the documents that Lance had handed him again.

In the first half of the year, only the people of the Empire Chamber of Commerce had been operating here, and also some scattered private investors. No large enterprises had come here.

But now, United Steel and Center Line Steel had both settled here, and also some large group companies had begun to contact him, which had made him feel a very strange feeling.

Roger was very dedicated to his work, and Lance could see that he was very loyal to him, to the Lance Family.

After all, his happiness and the happiness of his whole family were firmly tied to Lance. So he didn’t mind revealing a little bit of news.

”The New Federation Center concession is a lease agreement that I personally signed with the Rapa government. In other words, the main body is not the federal government.”

”After Rapa is annexed by the federal government, this place will become a very special independent administrative region.”

”You can understand it as the return for everything I have done today. I will decide some of the policy standards in this area.”

When he had heard these words, Roger’s brain had begun to smoke. He had not even quite understood it!

He still wanted to ask something, but Lance just shook his head, and did not answer. ”Don’t disclose this matter. At least not now.”

Senator Cleveland would personally handle this matter, because Lance had promised that there would also be sufficient benefits left for him here.

As for what this place would eventually turn into, Lance himself also didn’t know. Because this was the Federation, a place full of ”miracles.” This would depend on how long Senator Cleveland could persist in Congress.

The longer he persisted, the better this place would become.

But even if he couldn’t persist for long, if the federal government wanted to take back the privileged region here, they would still have to pay Lance the necessary price.

The convoy had soon arrived outside a factory. After Lance’s men had cleared the area, Lance had gotten out of the car.

There were too many people who wanted to kill Lance now. He had to be careful.

He was even wearing a bulletproof vest, but you couldn’t tell from the outside.

A large number of uniformed workers were standing outside the factory. After half a month of training, they were already competent in their jobs. Everyone looked at Lance with anticipation.

After Lance’s brief speech today, they would enter the factory, which they had longed for, and would start the new life that others envied and were jealous of.

Even on the outer walls of some of the factories, slogans like ”Work is glorious labor” were written, further deepening this atmosphere of the glory of labor—

If labor is truly glorious, why don’t the gentlemen labor? Why don’t the capitalists labor?

Don’t they want glory?

Or is it that this matter is actually not as glorious as people imagine?

Under the gaze of the multitude, Lance walked onto the temporarily erected high platform...