Shadow Empire

Chapter 632: It’s all business [666+2]
Emperor, the title of the supreme ruler in feudal times, is now used to describe a gang leader. Even for Lance, it is difficult to tell in a short period of time whether this is a mockery from Admiral Miles or a sincere evaluation.

Lance smiled almost instinctively, "Thank you for the compliment, General."

Whether he is a major general or a general, he is a general, so there is no problem in calling him that.

Admiral Miles seemed to be still waiting for his answer. Before he came here, someone greeted him.

While stationed in this city, you can contact Lance if you have any problems outside the barracks.

Lance can help him solve all the problems here, whether they are from the grassroots, the city hall, or even the state government.

At first, Admiral Miles thought Lance was a broker who had connections to Congress. Such people were uncommon and could be found in every region.

They may come from political families or be front-stage figures of certain politicians. They know senators and representatives in Congress and use this as an opportunity to get involved in more political events.

With powerful connections, they can become more active in the local area and there are no taboos.

It can help him communicate with governments at all levels and various departments and solve many problems without the two parties meeting each other.

Miles doesn't like dealing with brokers because all they care about is profit. This doesn't mean that Admiral Miles is a pure person who doesn't care about profit.

But compared to those who blatantly play politics and interests, he is a little purer - he only likes power.

But when he really investigated Lance, he found that it was not the case.

The easiest way to get to know someone is to talk to him.

He looked at Lance, who was not stage frightened. "I don't know where you heard about me, but maybe someone introduced me to you or recommended me to you."

"To be more modest, I have a certain reputation in Jingang City. People are willing to sit down and listen to me, and then consider my suggestions."

"If you weren't so modest..." Lance sat back and placed his hands naturally on the armrests on both sides of the sofa, "...I think your evaluation is very accurate."

Admiral Miles was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, "This is not 'immodest', this is 'exaggeration'!"

Lance shook his head, "I don't think so."

"The word emperor means 'supreme ruler'. If we set a scope for it, this city, Jingang City."

"Without considering external forces, such as Mr. President and Mr. Senators, I control every corner of this city."

“You used the word ‘emperor’ to describe me in this city, and I don’t think it’s exaggerated and unreasonable.”

Admiral Miles looked at Lance. There was no trace of guilt or uneasiness on Lance's face. He was calm, composed, and composed, as if he was stating a fact.

Admiral Miles nodded noncommittally, "Since you are very capable, and Bruni said you are an interesting person, then there are some things I plan to let you do."

Lance nodded slightly. "It's within my ability. The only thing I can do is to make sure nothing goes wrong."

Admiral Miles then made some requests, "Since they all recommended you, I am willing to give it a try, give you a chance, and also give myself and my soldiers a chance."

He then mentioned a few things that Lance needed to do or coordinate.

The first is the issue of the army’s daily material consumption, including eating, drinking, defecating and urinating.

This part has always been raised by the army itself, such as food, which can only be purchased locally, unlike other things that can be transported from other places.

With the current transportation capacity, it is basically useless to transport goods from other places.

The army’s food is related to the morale of the soldiers. There is definitely a difference in morale between an army that eats garbage all day and an army with very good food.

In addition to this problem, there is another more difficult problem. So many young and strong men always need to relieve their loneliness.

This matter is different from other things. It is not easy to announce it to the public, and it cannot even be brought to the table for discussion, but it must be done.

The military camp is full of young and strong guys. The daily high-intensity training will make their sexual desire strong. If we don’t find some solutions for them, they may get into trouble in the end.

In the past few years, the military still retained internal reception departments, but with the progress of society these departments were disbanded.

But this does not mean that physiological problems have disappeared with the progress of civilization. Not only have they not disappeared, but they have become even more intense.

Alcoholism, being drafted, and fighting are the characteristics of the federal army. If these characteristics are not there, then this army is definitely not a pure-blooded federal army.

The public is less aware of this simply because the federal government is helping to cover up the scandal and prevent it from spreading.

The federal government also has a tradition in this regard, but the federal government knows better how to fool the people. They spend a lot of money every year on propaganda mouthpieces, making up lies and constantly spreading them, making people think that lies are the truth.

The most famous lie is that many federal media claim that the land under their feet was bought from the indigenous people with money.

There was no war, no massacre, and everyone completed the deal with a smile. Many people still believe this until now, and will even argue with those who talk about massacre to defend their views!

They also believe that establishing protected areas for indigenous peoples and allowing them to live only through hunting is to ensure the inheritance of culture. Next, there will be about 100,000 or more naval soldiers stationed here who need to vent their energy. If no one does a good job of coordination, there will definitely be problems.

This kind of thing cannot be done by unreliable people, so someone who knows some inside information recommended Lance to Miles.

"He can solve all your problems!"

These are the exact words of those people.

The two had a preliminary discussion on these issues, and Lance said they were all small things, so Miles decided to see what he could accomplish first.

After the few people separated, Bruni and Lance got together.

"You may need to make appropriate concessions on the issue of military procurement." He was afraid that Lance would not understand, so he walked closer and lowered his voice, "Lower the price, but the quality cannot be too bad."

"The same is true for women. There are some things that Miles is not comfortable saying, so I have to say them."

Bruni's expression was not very good. After all, the things he was about to say made him look not a glorious person. Of course, there was nothing about him that could be called glorious.

Lance looked at him, a little surprised, "It sounds like he's short of money."

Bruni is a civilian major general. His job is to sit in the office of the Department of Defense and deal with coordination and cooperation issues between Congress and the military. When necessary, he takes documents and orders from the Department of Defense to various military bases and asks them to do this or that.

People in the military don't like the politicians in uniform in the Ministry of Defense, but they can't leave them either.

For example, now.

"It's not as easy for them to make money as those politicians, but they have many places to spend money, so this matter..." He coughed twice, feeling a little embarrassed.

Lance's focused gaze made him feel a little ashamed, just a little.

But even just a little bit can bring about some changes in his mood.

"In short, we'll go high on the budget, but you can't really follow the budget, like when you build a base, you know what I mean."

“It’s just that last time there were many people sharing the money, but this time, you only have to share it with Miles.”

Lance nodded. The issue of kickbacks existed among the privileged and ruling classes in any world and any civilization.

Not to mention a highly commercialized and capitalized society like the Federation, where power has become a toy for capitalists and capitalized politicians to manipulate in pursuit of profit, this phenomenon will be even more obvious.

But Lance was also somewhat curious, "Won't the military-industrial complex give him some benefits?"

Bruni nodded. "Yes, the PR fee is not small, but the bulk of it is not here."

"You know, this thing called the Procurement Act means the military doesn't have much power here."

"Their (military industry group) main direction is the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of National Defense Logistics, and the troops can only provide feedback and suggestions on the use of products."

"The specific use and replacement of weapons has little to do with them."

"Then there's the budget committee, and ultimately only if they agree with the procurement plan will the funds be allocated. If they don't agree, then no funds will be allocated."

“From Miles’ side, there’s not that much he can put in his pocket.”

To ensure the rationality of procurement, the federal government has introduced approximately twenty procurement-related bills over the past hundred years.

Not only the military's equipment procurement, but also the government's procurement is subject to layer-by-layer supervision.

Military generals have no way to directly decide what to purchase and how much to purchase. They can only tell the specific working group in the Ministry of Defense responsible for procurement which weapons the soldiers think are useful and which weapons are not useful.

Generals also have their own ways to make money, but these methods are much slower and less numerous than those of politicians.

For example, a live-fire training plan was reported to the Ministry of National Defense, but in fact not that much live ammunition was used, but it was reported that so much was used.

The difference is the projects that can be operated, but currently the federal bullets are too damn cheap, and the artillery shells are not too expensive either.

The current price of a bullet is five cents. Even if 100 million bullets are fired, it will only be five million. But the question is, what kind of live-fire training can fire away 100 million bullets?

Even if each person fired 200 bullets, it would take 500 million fucking people to fire 100 million bullets.

The Department of Defense and Congress both have review agencies. It would be unacceptable not to fire a single bullet. If one third of the bullets were fired, there would be a difference of 60 million bullets, but in the end it was only a difference of three million.

But in reality, it is difficult to approve a live-fire military exercise involving 500,000 people, as it is likely to affect social stability.

On the contrary, it is not as good as kickbacks and the like, which come faster, better and safer!

(End of this chapter)