Shadow Empire

Chapter 860 This is the ruler!
The thunderstorm came and went away quickly, in about ten minutes. The water curtain between heaven and earth disappeared, and the whole world seemed to have been thrown into a washing machine by God and cleaned. Everything was so clean.

Looking at the empty naval port with only some tugboats left, the painter's expression became much more serious.

He waited for a while, left home, went to a nearby telephone booth, and dialed a number.

"I want to ask if your art gallery has any free holidays recently. I want to rent it to hold a personal art exhibition." He put a cigarette in his mouth.

He seldom smoked; as an agent, a spy, he avoided anything that could leave a mark on him.

The smell of smoke is one of them.

Of course, he is not a total non-smoker. Sometimes he still smokes, for example, before taking a shower, he would stand on the balcony and smoke a cigarette, waving his hand to greet the girls on the street in the glow of the setting sun. It was so comfortable.

Now he smokes, in the phone booth, because his mission is over and he can be himself.

There is nothing romantic about this kind of work. Although the movies nowadays all tell romantic stories, it is actually not romantic at all.

He lived in anxiety every day. Any disturbance would make him sensitive. He suspected that if nothing happened, he would turn himself into a madman!
Sometimes his paintings would suddenly become very manic, which indicated that there was something clearly wrong with his mental state. He knew that there might be something wrong with his mental state, but he could only persevere.

Fortunately, everything is over at this moment.

The call was not made directly to the Federation, as neither the Federation nor Dantra had the technology to lay an undersea cable across the entire Eastern Ocean.

This call was made to Ander, and the person responsible for contacting him is now with Ander.

He didn't know how the news would eventually get back to the Federation, he only cared about his current situation.

The call was quickly connected. "This is Good Helper City Rat Control Company. If you are suffering from rats, cockroaches, and termites, we are definitely your good helpers!"

"How can I help you?"

The painter wanted to laugh, but he still had to follow the rules, even if this person was the one who contacted him.

As long as he doesn't follow the rules, the other party will not only not record the message, but may also evacuate immediately.

He became a little more serious, "Do you care about wild boars?"

The guy on the other end of the phone didn't speak immediately. After about ten seconds, the person who answered the phone said in an uncertain voice, "Gentlemen, wild boars are not within our scope of work."

"I can add money."

“This has nothing to do with money…”

"all!"

After waiting for a few more seconds, the person who answered the phone still refused to serve him. "If you are sick, you can go to a mental hospital. Are you crazy?"

The painter took a puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled, as if he had exhaled all his depression and unhappiness, "It's this world that's gone crazy!"

The other party hung up the phone directly, and the painter also hung up the phone slowly. He knew that his mission had finally ended at this moment!
After hanging up the phone, the operator of Ander's rat extermination company made another call and conveyed a predetermined message in a code word.

Then another group of people delivered the message to Slad via telegram, and the next day, it appeared on the desk of an official in an office of the Ministry of Defense.

It was still in a secret code format. Apart from the painter and his superior, and the supervisor in charge of the operation, no one else knew what the messages were.

The supervisor took his own code book, compared it with the meaningless content, and finally cracked the core secret message.

A few minutes later, only a very small number of people, including the President, knew the news.

Dantra's naval joint fleet has been fully deployed.

Senator Cleveland was concentrating on the meeting when suddenly his chief of staff pushed the door open, walked briskly but silently to his side, and whispered something in his ear.

Senator Cleveland then nodded slightly and raised his hand.

The person who was reading the materials stopped, and everyone's eyes were focused on him. "I have something to do. You guys continue and come back to tell me the results."

After saying a few words of apology, he stood up and left the office with his chief of staff.

Not long after, he drove to another place, a private manor.

The President is already here. In addition to the President, there is also the Minister of Defense and two generals of the military.

There were also four people from Congress here. When they saw Senator Cleveland, they all took the initiative to greet him. Senator Cleveland apologized and sat on the empty sofa.

"This is the current situation. They have been on the road for a day. According to our prediction, they will arrive at the easternmost part of Yalan in about a week, and appear outside Jingang City in nine days."

"In other words, we still have eight days to press the abort button on this matter!"

It was another senator who spoke; Senator Cleveland and the President did not speak, and neither did anyone else.

There's no need to abort this plan.

The speaker shrugged, "It seems we all chose another path."

The military is not a monolithic entity; it still has factions and gangs.

In the past, the conflict between them might have been about money.

The federal government only spends so much on its military each year. When there is no war and no possibility of war breaking out, the military expenditure is just that little.

If the army gets more, the navy can only get less.

But whether it is the army or the navy, their equipment is a big spender.

For example, those warships, large-tonnage warships, the price of one can make the army's lungs explode.

This is not the first or second time that the two sides have argued or even fought over the issue of military spending at congressional hearings.

A soldier!
When they get angry, they start hitting each other with belts.

After the outbreak of the war on the Tanfit continent, the relationship between the two sides improved for a while, but only for a period of time. As the army continues to make meritorious contributions, the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of National Defense and even the Congress all intend to let the army lead the war and give them more command power.

Let the navy cooperate with the army in combat, and the initiative is entirely in the hands of the army.

From the perspective of the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Defense, and Congress, the war on the continent of Tanfit is still primarily a ground war, centered around the historical and racial issues left over between Slade and Dantra.

There are rivers there, but battleships certainly cannot enter, and even larger ships cannot enter, so the navy can only play a role in coastal areas, and the war still has to be dominated by the army.

But the Navy disagrees. They say that we are all equal federal soldiers, so why should the Navy obey the Army's command?
And how are war merits calculated?

In fact, everyone knows that the Army will definitely get the most merits, and the Navy can only get an assist at best.

If they are unlucky, they might not even get any assists, because they really don't provide any significant or direct help to the war.

However, the Navy was always trying to create an advantage for itself. Just one year after the Federation entered the war, the contradictions between the Army and the Navy began to emerge. The two admirals who came to this meeting were both Army admirals. They also knew the news, but they did not tell the Navy.

For them, only when the navy suffers a huge loss of face can they realize how stupid their idea of ​​dominating the war is!
So they don't mind giving them a push on this matter.

Seeing that no one agreed or opposed and everyone acquiesced in silence, the President shook the glass in his hand and took a sip.

These are the best wines, coming from private wine cellars. Commercial wines from outside cannot enter this estate at all.

"Then what are we doing here?" He looked at the people in Congress, "I might as well go to the lawn and play a few rounds instead of this time!"

He was talking about playing golf. He likes playing golf and there is an indoor golf course in his office. Although it is not long, it allows him to enjoy himself in his spare time at work.

The Senate President shook his head and said, "We still need to talk about some follow-up situations. According to our previous plan, we can use this as an excuse to increase our investment in the war and take over Xingdao and Yalan."

Everyone nodded.

Although the Federation has been promoting internally that they have been victorious in every battle on the battlefield, as if they have never lost a battle, and the people of the Federation are also very enthusiastic about the war, this does not mean that the people will support them in continuing to invest in the war.

This is actually a very fucked up question.

If the battlefield is lost, the people will be afraid to continue to fight, which will not only lead to the loss of wealth, but also the loss of a large number of young men. Federal families cannot bear this.

But if the war keeps showing good results and keeps winning, the federals will also be unwilling to continue to increase their investment in the war, because what they pay now is enough to deal with the war, so why should they increase their investment in the war?
Federalists may not be able to do addition and subtraction within 20, but they are very sensitive to the issue of whether the government is engaged in conspiracy.

This resulted in the federal government continuing to increase its investment in the war without any reason or support from the people.

But now that the war situation is so good, the federal government is trying to gain more say within the Slade Military Alliance.

Once the war is led by the federation, the federal government will then consider gaining more benefits from the war!
They can demand that the people of Dantra compensate them with more resources, more technology, more population, and possibly station troops in Dantra, thereby establishing a springboard to directly threaten the situation in the entire Tanfit continent!
To put it another way, and not be so ambitious, if they can dominate the war, then after the war, they will not only be able to obtain reconstruction orders from many countries on the Tanfit Continent, but also be able to dump the Federation's industrial products to these countries.

Because of the emergence of such a market that has not yet been fully developed, the economic problems in the Federation have been immediately alleviated.

Those economists believed that the Great Depression would last for ten to twenty years, but they began to leave before the federal government had a chance to experience its severity!

This is not because the president’s policies are good, nor because the governors or local leaders are capable, it’s simply because they happened to be in a good time!
Even if it is a pig, if we put it in the position of a ruler, as long as it does not interfere with the free market, the economy will definitely improve!
If you want to keep all this going, you must gain the dominant position, more say, and the power to make new rules!
So how can we get the people to agree to continue to increase investment in the war?
It's simple, make them feel the pain!

It wasn't the pain of not being able to fight back, but the pain of being ambushed by this despicable villain.

This is an outrage!
And if they are angered, the bad-tempered old federals will support their government and teach Dantra, the disobedient little guy, a lesson!
What the Senate President said was what they had discussed before, so naturally no one would have any other ideas. This is in the interests of everyone here.

Many people at the bottom of society always think that the ruling class is evil and bad.

In fact, judging from who wants the country to become stronger, there is no doubt that the ruling class wants the country to be better and stronger more than the lower classes.

Because this means they can control more resources, more wealth and power!

"The north has not been very honest recently. According to the intelligence we obtained from the back, they may have contacted the Dantra people in private."

The Secretary of Defense sent them some intelligence documents, and Senator Cleveland also got a copy.

He took out his reading glasses from his jacket pocket. He had been attending meetings and reading documents recently, and now he felt that his eyesight had deteriorated slightly.

The doctor said it was just a sign of fatigue and his condition would improve as long as he stopped overusing his eyes and staring at the words in dim light for a while.

But the problem is, this is exactly what he can't do.

Whether in the office or at home, he needs to deal with a lot of documents or browse some materials. He can't let himself completely relax "for a while" unless he is no longer a senator.

He frowned as he looked at the materials in his hand, which were the military deployments of the three northern countries in recent times.

They began to recruit soldiers, and the border line, which was almost a decoration, now has some troops stationed there.

Judging from the information obtained by intelligence personnel, the main task of the three northern countries is still to "prevent invasion" rather than to go to war with the Federation.

But for the gentlemen here, it is just a defensive posture, which also means that they are no longer safe.

Some people hold a knife in their hands in order to avoid being hurt, but in the end it becomes a weapon for them to hurt others!
If you have a weapon in your hand, you will naturally have the desire to kill. This statement is not a joke.

Whether it is a person or a country, as long as the weapons in his hands can make him feel safe, he will soon develop a desire for aggression.

"This matter does need to be taken seriously. Maybe we can talk to them."

"Diplomacy, then deterrence," Senator Cleveland expressed his opinion, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

The Speaker of the House gave the same view, “We need to do some PR on these matters whether the Dantela people lobby them or not.”

At the same time, he mentioned, "If you have the same opinion, it would be best if we could arrange this as soon as possible."

"I'm worried that once we send troops to the Yalan area, these Yankees will refuse to negotiate with us."

Others also thought of the reason why he said that. After all, invaders are more frightening.

At this time, the President talked about Yalan's problem again, "If we just send troops to occupy their territory, wouldn't that be too...direct?"

"After all, these lands will eventually become the territories of the Federation, and the people living there will become citizens of the Federation. If we are too arrogant and unreasonable, it will have a great impact on our subsequent rule."

“It is also possible that it will have some impact on the north.”

The Senate Majority Leader, who is also a Socialist, responded to this question, "But it is difficult for us to use more gentle means to deal with those people in Yalan. If we don't clean up the local indigenous regime, they will become a problem!"

They have already regarded the Yalan region as part of the federation, and they will wave the flag of "freedom" to help the Yalan people achieve freedom and liberation!
Let them hold a referendum then and let the people make their voices heard!
Of course, this referendum does not mean that they will abolish the existing ruling system, but whether they are willing to join the warm big family of the federation.

I guess they are very happy about it!
So this requires clearing out the current group of rulers, and it is best to use a less radical and less formal method.

Senator Cleveland took out a cigarette. They talked about this issue last time. The original rulers must not be kept.

However, some of the problems caused by the massacre of federal indigenous peoples have not been resolved yet. Even if they tamper with history, it will not work because there are still some people alive.

As long as these people live, the personal museums they founded will continue to tell people how the federals treated the indigenous people of this land.

For example, making them into wallets, leather boots, leather jackets and so on.

So this time they don't want to carry out a large-scale massacre against the local government in Yalan, which would make them less just.

Senator Cleveland already had an idea in his mind, "We can get someone else to do it instead of doing it ourselves, and the effect will be the same, that's enough."

The others looked at him, and the President swung his crossed legs on his toes and said, "Tell me what you think."

Senator Cleveland quickly gathered his thoughts and said, "We can use some unofficial forces..."

The shock brought by the Lance family's unified dress code emerged in his mind. He felt that perhaps Lance could give him a surprise in this matter!
(End of this chapter)