Empire of Shadows

The room was very quiet. Every gentleman was thinking about the future direction and trend of the country, and even the world.

War, or peace?

In fact, this question was not complicated, and it had its own answer: what could peace and war respectively bring to the Federation, and to them?

Benefits, or disadvantages.

The Speaker of the House shifted in his seat. He turned to Senator Cleveland. ”Jeffrey, which direction do you think we should be heading?”

”War, or peace?”

Senator Cleveland pursed his lips. ”War or peace actually makes no big difference to us. The key lies in our value and status in this negotiation.”

”Both Slad and Dantra have a large number of cities destroyed. Their industries, and all aspects, have suffered heavy losses.”

”Especially Dantra. We can completely use our privilege as the victorious nation to dismember their industry, to reduce their production capacity, and to turn them into a dumping ground for federal goods in the next five to ten years.”

The other gentlemen all nodded. If they could sign an unequal peace treaty with the Dantra people, for example, the Dantra Republic would abolish tariffs and import/export restrictions on the Federation.Then a large number of cheap industrial goods produced by the Federation would firmly occupy the entire Dantra Republic market while their industry was heavily damaged.

The profit that could be gained from occupying this market was very high. They didn’t even need to calculate it clearly to know the huge benefits contained within.

”In addition, we can also demand to station troops in the Dantra Republic, or... do some other things, just like Lance is doing in Rapa.”

”And it’s not just Rapa. His all kinds of bizarre methods have given me a lot of thought. We can also station troops in Slad, on the pretext of continuing to protect them from armed attacks by the Dantra people.”

”We can also station troops in more countries, and demand that the local government pay for our army’s military expenses.”

”This way, we can also save a sum of military expenses.”

”So, just as I said, I don’t really care whether this war will lead to peace, or continue to be fought. All I care about is the Federation’s interests.”

”The country’s interests!”

He paused. ”The people of Dantra’s second-largest party approached me some time ago...” He took out a cigarette and lit it for himself. ”They wanted to use the condition of impeaching the president and signing a joint statement with us to end this war. I refused.”

”This does not conform to our interests. We have been fighting for more than two years, and have invested so much manpower and material resources, and possibly millions of casualties on that land.”

”They only want to hand over a president to end all this. This is something I will not allow, and do not want to see. So I refused.”

After that time, they had not contacted him again. ”Perhaps they felt that my appetite was a bit big, so I want to ask, have they contacted any of you?”

The gentlemen in the room looked at each other, and in the end, they all shook their heads, saying that no one had contacted them.

Senator Cleveland fell into deep thought. After about seven or eight seconds, while flicking the cigarette ash, he said, ”It is very likely that after they did not get the result they wanted from me, they turned around and contacted the Slad people. After all, in terms of the ceasefire and the development after the ceasefire, they are the ones who are in it together, and we are their enemy.”

Enemy, friend, ally. The change in these relationships is fast and complex. One minute they might be allies, but the next minute, they become two sides with conflicting interests.

Another senator said, ”I agree with Jeffrey’s view. The most important thing now is not whether the future is war or peace, but to first prevent Slad and Dantra from reaching an agreement.”

The Slad people have long been very dissatisfied with the Federation gaining the initiative in the alliance. If they didn’t need to rely on the federal people to fight the Dantra people, they would have probably already dumped the federal people.

Now that they have such an opportunity, which not only satisfies the Slad people’s demands for the division of interests after the war, but also allows the Dantra people to avoid being fiercely bitten by the Federation, they might have already begun to consider how to announce the final result of the end of this war to the outside world!

Senator Cleveland nodded slightly. ”In fact, the Dantra president is unwilling to have a ceasefire, because once there is a ceasefire, he will become a criminal and will be sent to the judgment seat.”

”Whether it is Slad or Dantra, when this matter is pushed to its final result, someone must stand up to bear all the consequences, and then quickly shut up.”

”Perhaps we can start from here, to disrupt their peace talks.”

”If the struggle between the second-largest party, which is now advocating for negotiations with the Slad people, and the president becomes white-hot, the president could use his own privilege...”

”Perhaps things will change.”

”A president who has lost everything and can only move forward, and a warrior who has defeated the devil. All of this can put a perfect end to this war.”

Senator Cleveland spoke very confidently. ”I will arrange this matter...”

...

In the evening, the President of the Dantra Republic received a letter. On it were the words ”To the President, personally.”

The envelope had no sender, and no recipient address. According to the guard, he had turned his head for a moment and it had been placed on the desk at the guard post. He didn’t know who had put it there, and no one had seen anyone deliver it.

It said that the president had to open it personally, so he didn’t dare to delay and had it sent in.

”Has it been checked?” The president had been looking this fatigued all this time, with a sense of listlessness.

His chief aide nodded and handed the envelope over. ”It has been checked. There is no powder, and no toxins have been detected. There is only one letter inside.”

”But rest assured, I can ensure that, besides the person who wrote the letter, no one else has read it so far.”

The president nodded, and took out the letter, which had already been unsealed. Of course, for safety, he was still wearing gloves.

This letter did not have much content, only a few short sentences.

”Dear Mr. President:”

”The people of the second-largest party have already contacted the Federation and the Slad people. They plan to use you as a bargaining chip to end this war.”

”Please make preparations as soon as possible, to avoid rumors of suicide.”

”A common person who is concerned about your health!”

The president’s face became even worse after reading it. Under the pressure of the domestic financial groups and political families, he had no choice but to temporarily agree to a ceasefire.

He also knew that some people were working hard for a complete end to the war, but he hadn’t expected that these people had already contacted the Slad people and the federal people.

Whether they would sell out their own interests, and to what extent, he did not know. It was not written in the letter, but he, as a country’s president, a leader, a ruler, was actually very clear about this.

If they didn’t go all the way, they would certainly not do it.

Thinking of this, a look of hatred appeared on his face. Then he handed this letter to his chief aide. The latter quickly read it and then his expression became unusually solemn.

”I knew they had contacted the Slad people, but I didn’t expect them to also contact the federal people.”

The president bit his fingernails. ”They don’t plan to let me live. If my death will help their peace talks.”

The chief aide also felt a burst of despair. Now, many financial groups and political families were not standing on their side. They had already lost a considerable number of supporters.

If the people of the second-largest party really stood up at this time and clearly opposed him, and even wanted to try him, or send him to Slad and the Federation for trial, it was highly likely that he would not be able to return alive.

He knew very well the character of the people behind him. They would not allow a family that might one day harm them to continue to exist.

Mr. President’s family might be completely uprooted.

”We can’t wait like this. We must take the initiative.”

He couldn’t sit still. He stood up and paced back and forth. He was still a little hesitant.

As president, the Dantra Constitution and laws also granted him immense power. The financial groups and political families no longer supported him, but he could still control a considerable portion of the army.

To put it bluntly, if he were to go all out, he would still be the man at the pinnacle of power in this country, bar none.

But there was a prerequisite: that he could go all out, and act regardless of the consequences.

If he worried about his family, his lineage, the consequences, he would be restrained by these things. This was perhaps why those people so openly contacted the Slad people and the federal people.

They weren’t afraid of the president acting recklessly.

Of course, they were completely right. The president did not dare to act recklessly, at least not yet.

People are just like this. When they are not forced into a desperate situation, they will always think that they still have a chance to turn things around, thereby slowly slipping into the abyss.

He was still hesitant at this time.

He continued to work and deal with these matters until very late. It wasn’t until past ten in the evening that he finally ended his work for the day.

Normally, he would sleep in the Presidential Palace. He didn’t like the atmosphere here. It made him feel lonely. Since the war defeat, no one had dared to disturb him at night.

This also meant that besides the people on patrol and himself, no one else could get close to him during the night.

The Presidential Palace was very large. A large house tends to feel empty, and an empty and dark space can always breed a genuine fear in people’s hearts.

He didn’t like it here. He wanted to go home.

And this place was not that safe either. Those patrolling bodyguards, those security personnel—who knew if they were backed by the people who were planning to trade him as a bargaining chip?

If they were, it meant he was living under the surveillance and control of others. He was the president. He didn’t like this feeling, so he wanted to go back.

To rest in his own manor. The people there were his own, arranged by his family. They were absolutely reliable. He didn’t have to worry about them doing anything detrimental to him while he was asleep.

He could sleep well in his manor, have a good rest. What he needed now was rest and calm thinking.

Soon, he came outside the Presidential Palace and got into his car.

The president’s convoy had a total of three cars, front and back. He sat in the middle one. The three cars drove out of the Presidential Palace and headed towards the suburbs.

The entire journey was very quiet. Dantra’s capital was originally very lively, but it had become quieter and quieter in the past two years. After six or seven in the evening, there were almost no more people on the streets.

Only in places like nightclubs, strip clubs, or bars could you still see many people gathered.

But in other places, basically no one was wandering around.

A large number of soldiers, young men, had been sent to the front line and had died there. Every country was bearing immense grief and pressure.

These things wouldn’t show when the war was going well, just like the Federation now. The federal people were all immersed in the joy of economic takeoff and increased income.

Only for those who had lost in the war, after the frenzy had faded, would the soul-piercing pain arrive.

The darkness outside the window shielded the desolation on the road. This was perhaps one of the reasons why the president had deliberately chosen to leave the Presidential Palace at night. He didn’t want to see this, and he didn’t want to see the churning emotions, which he couldn’t describe, in the eyes of the people on the roadside who were watching his convoy.

Just as the convoy was about to enter the suburbs, several cars suddenly rushed out from the surroundings and attacked the car the president was in.

Gunshots instantly tore through the stillness of the night. The president was stunned for about half a second, then his bodyguard in the passenger seat ordered him to duck down.

The car was bulletproof, but the bodyguard was still worried that they might have a way to harm the president inside.

At this moment, the president’s heart began to race uncontrollably, and the slight dizziness caused by the racing heart made his entire being feel somewhat muddled.

In the end, fear made him sober up. At this moment, he seemed to become incredibly calm, rational, and clear-headed.

He lay low, feeling the impact of the car being hit and bumped.

He felt the subtle vibrations as the bullets hit the car door and shattered the car window glass.

The shootout didn’t last long, perhaps only three or four minutes. The gunmen and assassins immediately retreated after seeing that they couldn’t effectively kill the president.

The three cars, swaying and crooked, advanced towards the manor. The manor, having heard the gunshots, also sent people out to meet them.

It was almost twenty minutes later when the Police Chief finally appeared in front of the president. His face was covered in sweat.

The president sat there, looking at him, not saying a word. The oppressive atmosphere was about to make him faint.

After a long while, he finally said, ”Until now, after I was attacked, twenty-seven minutes passed before you and your men found your way here.”

”I’m very curious, what were you doing in those twenty minutes before that?”