Empire of Shadows

A big business involving tens of millions. It was impossible for the Great President of the Jede Republic to just believe whatever these two federal people said. He definitely had to have people figure out whether these two were extorting him.

And whether they were necessary.

The Jede Republic has an embassy in the Federation. Not only an embassy, but also some organizations hidden among the general public.

Ever since they had discovered that the Federation had begun to have the idea of annexing the Yalan region, the Great President had begun to arrange for some people to lurk in the Federation, and to help them find everything that could be used.

Whether it was people, or matters, as long as it was helpful to them, they were willing to try.

The case of these two guys who had gotten into trouble and had almost been imprisoned was one where their intelligence department had proactively discovered and operated to get them out.

Besides themselves, they had also bought off some federal people. After all, in the Federation, a place that was full of interests and desires, and also had serious discrimination against some specific groups, a federal local was much less likely to attract attention than a person from Jede.

They had bought off many such federal people. Some federal people didn’t even know that they had been bought off—

Some of Jede’s intelligence personnel had established some small service companies in the Federation. These service companies did not have any actual businesses. Their main business was to provide some convenient services to some clients.

As for whether these clients were really clients, or fake ones, or if they were playing the roles themselves, it didn’t matter.They would hire federal employees, and then assign them work tasks. At this time, these federal salespersons, in order to get this order and commission, would be very proactive in their work.

They are originally federal people, so the federal people would not be too wary of them when they were talking about work.

Today, such a service company had received instructions from the Jede Republic. Soon, the company’s boss had dispatched two salespersons, respectively, to different arms industry enterprises to inquire about the assembly line.

The salespersons did not think that this matter was problematic. In their eyes, this matter was very reasonable and normal, because this was the Federation.

In the Federation, anything can be a commodity.

A commodity in the true sense, a person, a matter, anything!

Then an assembly line is naturally a kind of commodity.

The salespersons soon arrived at the arms industry enterprise and negotiated with them about whether they could purchase the assembly line that Engineer Smith had specified, but the company immediately rejected his purchase request.

”I’m sorry, this is not for sale. Unless you can obtain a purchase permit from the Ministry of Defense, or a document signed by the President, allowing you to purchase it.”

”Otherwise, I have no way to sell these things to you. The federal law prohibits us from selling this equipment to individuals or unregistered enterprises,” the person receiving him was very cautious, and the explanation was also very detailed.

This had made the salesperson a little surprised, but the company’s boss had given him some flexible bottom line.

In the office, he had looked back at the closed door, and then had lowered his voice a little. ”Listen, my client is a very rich person. He has no concept of money at all. After all, it’s just a string of numbers.”

”Six million for one set.”

He had quoted a price that was nearly double. Under normal circumstances, the seller at this time would be very reserved, and would, with a somewhat difficult look, agree. After all, the profit was almost doubled!

But this time, the person he was facing had just shaken his head expressionlessly. ”I’m sorry, I can’t sell it to you. This is not a money issue.”

The salesperson was slightly surprised, but he didn’t think he would lose. ”Eight million!”

”I have already told you that it is impossible for us to...”

”Ten million!”

”I’m sorry...”

”I’ll reiterate. This is not a money issue...”

The salesperson had even proactively offered to give the other party a kickback, but he was still refused by the person receiving him.

However, the person receiving him did not use any harsh words. After all, the other party wanted to buy his company’s product, and was also willing to pay a high fee.

If the company hadn’t explicitly said that the sale of these things was not allowed, he might have been tempted to sell it.

...

The situation that the other salesperson had encountered was similar. In order to get more accurate and real news, he had not gone to the arms industry enterprise where Engineer Smith had worked before to ask about the bullet assembly line.

He had gone to another arms industry enterprise that also produced bullets, and had asked whether they could purchase a bullet production assembly line.

The other party’s answer was very simple—no!

However, they could provide the service of selling finished bullets.

Besides these two salespersons, the Great President’s secretary did not hire anyone else to continue inquiring about the news.

In case this matter, which did not look very conspicuous, was discovered by some people, they might discover their plan and ruin it.

The two salespersons had compiled the news they had inquired about in the office, and then the staff in the office had, through other means, sent this intelligence back to the Jede Republic’s Presidential Secretary.

He looked at the process and results of the two sides’ actions in his hand, and frowned slightly.

One of the salespersons had even offered a price of 13 million, which was more than three times the profit, but it still hadn’t moved the other party.

From this intelligence, it seemed that if they wanted to get these two ammunition production assembly lines from the Federation and use them, they had to accept Engineer Smith’s extortion.

The secretary did not dare to delay. He took this document and quickly went to the Presidential Office. While handing over the document, he also stated his opinion and conclusion.

”From the news that our people who are lurking in the Federation have sent back, we used federal people to negotiate the business, and were willing to give several times the profit, but they still refused to sell the assembly line.”

”One of the arms industry enterprise staff who received our salesperson had found out that the federal government has prohibited the free trade of these things.”

”If we want to purchase it legally, we must get a written approval from the Ministry of Defense which allowing us to purchase it. Only then can we pay for it.”

”Otherwise, we have no hope.”

The Great President nodded. ”I’ll consider it.” After he had finished speaking, he did not continue to talk. This was a signal for the secretary to leave first.

After the secretary had left, he dialed the number of an expert in mechanics from Jede University.

This expert had been sent to the Federation to learn the most advanced knowledge of industry in the Jede government’s previous ”Industrial Revitalization Plan.”

After returning, he had joined Jede University and had become a professor of mechanics, helping the Jede Republic to figure out a way to achieve comprehensive industrial development.

Up to now, there had been no successful cases for large projects, but there had been many successful small cases, for example, the modification of some old machinery.

In the words of this professor, a large project requires the overall industrial capability of the country, not the understanding of advanced industrial technology by a single person, nor is it something that one or two people can solve.

He was dedicated to developing the basic industry, but this was in sharp contrast to some of the more radical scholars and experts in the country.

These scholars and experts had been developing ”international procurement” business. Although they were also scholars and experts in industry, they rarely talked about the Jede Republic’s industrial development achievements.

They put more of their energy and attention on ”how to purchase the things they want from the international community.”

They advocated for quickly obtaining finished industrial machinery through purchasing, and putting it into production.

This way, they could save a lot of R&D expenses, and at the fastest and best speed, they had achieved a part of their industrialization.

As for whether this practice is a good one, the public opinion in the Jede Republic had been arguing for a period of time.

After all, the cost of R&D for industrial technology is too high!

It is possible that the results you have spent a lot of money to research are not only a little behind, but may be far behind.

Others have already started producing the fifth or sixth generation of products, and the things you have developed are still only the first generation.

In the era of rapidly developing science and technology, the generation gap in products is not like in many years later, when the technology development slows down and the generation gap may only be two or three percent.

The generation gap in this period is very huge.

To spend a large amount of funds, manpower, and material resources to develop a product that is destined to be meaningless and obsolete, it is better to just buy it from the Federation.

The Great President was actually not a staunch ”R&D faction” or ”purchase faction.” As long as it was beneficial to him, and to the country, he would definitely support it.

This was how he had established a connection with this professor.

”Your Excellency President?”

”It’s me!” The Great President took a deep breath. ”I have some questions I want to ask you.”

The professor, after hearing this question, first thought for a while, and then said, ”Your Excellency President, you know me. I almost never proactively let others obtain what they want through purchasing.”

”But this time, my advice to you is, if we can buy it, we had better just buy it.”

”This is a very complex, comprehensive research that involves many fields.”

”Our research on the shell casings, warheads, primers, and gunpowder is almost zero!”

”We need the metallurgical formula for the shell casings and warheads, or a large number of mature alternative solutions or substitutes.”

”This thing, the primer, as long as we spend some money, there is still a way to get it.”

”But gunpowder, this involves research in the chemical aspect, and also some other aspects that are high-precision, but we may not have even noticed.”

”This is not something that can be solved by pushing the development of one or two projects. It involves multiple fields. We currently do not have the ability to do the research.”

”Even if we have to start this project now, if we want to see results, it will have to be in two or three years.”

The Great President, hearing this, already knew what decision to make. He thanked the other party for honestly telling him these things, and then hung up the phone.

Fifty million is not a small sum. Even though this place is the most developed country in the Yalan region, bar none.

But for him to take out 50 million Federal Sols at once, whether it was the foreign exchange market, or the stability of the entire Jede Republic, it would, more or less, be affected.

But it was also not okay not to buy it.

He sat there for a while, and then he found his secretary.

”The price of 50 million, I agree.”

...

Engineer Smith was holding a beautiful girl and was in the middle of the most primitive movement. He was forty-four this year, a stage where a man’s energy and physical strength are at their peak, and so is his demand.

For him, the Jede Republic was also a kind of a paradise.

The girls here were very enthusiastic, and did not have any meaningless things like a sense of shame. So for those who liked to have a romantic adventure, this place was paradise.

Engineer Smith had flirted with this woman on the street. An adult woman in her twenties. In their conversation, he had learned that this female friend had a boyfriend, and was about to get married soon.

He had even seen her engagement ring on her hand.

But even such a lady had not made Engineer Smith spend much effort. She had, with all her clothes off, lain on the bed.

He had just told her ”I am a federal person, and I’m not familiar with this place. Can you help me?” The lady had immediately come over, until three hours after their first meeting, they had appeared here.

Just as he was about to charge towards the truth, a sudden knock on the door had made him have to prematurely end this journey of knowledge exploration.

He also didn’t care about the lady on the bed. He picked up a bath towel and wrapped it around his waist. Then he walked to the door. ”It’s my friend. He’s also a federal person.”

The lady on the bed, who had originally sat up and was preparing to find some clothes or sheets to cover herself, had, after hearing that the visitor was also a federal person, merely found some things to cover her lower body. As for her upper body?

It was still exposed.

Come on, that’s a federal person!

His colleague, who was outside the door, looked at him with an incredibly pleasant surprise. ”They agreed to our quote!”

As he spoke, he noticed the lady on the bed behind Engineer Smith, who was almost naked from the waist up. The lady had also noticed him, and had even proactively greeted him.

Engineer Smith’s colleague had also replied to the other party. Then he had retracted his gaze. ”You really have a lot of energy. You change a different one every day. Aren’t you afraid of getting sick?”

Engineer Smith had laughed twice. ”Before that, I’ll have myself checked first.”

He paused for a moment. ”I’m going to take a shower. Wait for me for a moment. I’ll be right out.”

Looking at the closed door, his colleague could only shrug helplessly. After all, this operation was centered around Engineer Smith.

I hope he doesn’t miss the time!