Shadow Empire

Chapter 867 Politicians, Gangsters, and People
The professor had heard from people who had been to the battlefield that when shells flew overhead, they could hear a whistle-like sound.

Some scientists say that this is because the shells tear the air quickly during flight, causing air vibrations and emitting a sharp whistling sound.

In the past, professors and many other people had no intuitive concept of these things, and they had never actually been to the battlefield, so it was difficult to verify whether this statement was true or false.

But at this moment, they believed that this must be true!

This is the tourist pier. Almost everyone who comes to Jingang City or needs to leave from Jingang City by boat stops here.

He saw a group of people running towards this side in the distance. There might be fifty or sixty people, or maybe seventy or eighty people, anyway, a large group of people.

Some of them were carrying suitcases, some didn't even want suitcases, and some were running hard with their families.

But the next second, a shell fell among them. In that instant, a cool breeze with a fishy and sweet smell blew in their faces, and some red spots appeared on their faces, and those people had all fallen down.

The professor felt like peeing, "Hurry, hurry into the room!" He pointed to the coffee shop next door and pushed the students to go in.

The shrieking sound came to my ears again, and this time it seemed to be closer!
He didn't dare to look back. He only heard a loud bang and a huge force pushed him hard on the body. As the professor fell to one side, he saw a palm-sized piece of debris shot through the waist and abdomen of a student.

The edge of this palm-sized fragment was extremely irregular, and it was impossible for it to be regular. It directly cut off a large amount of flesh and blood from the student's waist and abdomen.

The student took a few steps and then fell to the ground. He looked at the professor in disbelief, then looked at the internal organs flowing out. He couldn't believe that his wonderful life had just begun, but it ended here!
But war is just like that, there are not so many reasons, only sadness and pain!
The other students rushed into the house screaming, while the female student squatted on the spot with her head in her hands, screaming.

The professor's head was a little furious. He stood up again and said, "Hurry up to the house, quickly!"

He kicked the female student hard, pulled her arm, pushed her, and shoved her inside.

But in the next second, the shrill screaming sound in my ears rang again, this time, clearer than the previous one.

He stood at the door of the building, about seven or eight steps away from the gate. He turned his head and looked up at the sky. He saw a small black dot "falling" straight towards him!
"Fuck you, son of a bitch..."

As a university professor, at this moment, he couldn't help but curse in his heart.

The next second, an explosion sounded, and the flying shrapnel tore into pieces several curious people who were trying to observe what was happening outside through the windows.

Looking at their heads exposed outside the window, half of them were chopped off. The whole cafe was filled with screams and the smell of urine!
Several students were crawling on the floor in the cafe, looking at the outside world in a daze, because the professor was gone, completely gone.

Perhaps the last thing he left in this world was a pair of glasses not far from them, the professor's glasses.

Until this moment, the students' minds were still echoing with the professor's last words to them -

The probability of bombarding Jingang is less than five percent!
Is this the so-called five percent?

A car on the roadside was hit directly by a shell and exploded. The entire car instantly turned into the scythe of the god of death, reaping the people on both sides of the street.

Some fragments were directly embedded in the wall. There was no living thing within 20 to 30 meters of the car.

Such scenes happened everywhere in the city, although they did not explicitly express their intention to attack civilians in retaliation for the federal bombardment of their port and the killing of their civilians.

But it looks like that's what they're doing at the moment.

The constant bombardment of the city made it impossible to tell where was safe and where was not.

The city is crying and the people are wailing!
A gentleman dressed very modestly and elegantly walked quickly towards a room deep in the corridor.

He seemed to be walking very fast, but he was not running. He just kept walking forward quickly.

The only sound in the quiet corridor was the click of his heels.

Without iron soles, poor people needed to embed iron soles in the soles of their shoes to protect their heels and other parts that are prone to wear.

But for rich people, if the shoes are broken, just change them.

They would not put iron shoes on the soles of their shoes, as that would make a jingling sound when they walked, which was not polite at all and seemed uncultured.

After a dozen seconds, or maybe even longer, he reached the end of the corridor and pushed open the door of the room.

Inside the door is a small lounge-like area with many sofas and chairs arranged around a core.

There were a dozen gentlemen here, some sitting and some standing, and it was obvious that they were chatting before the door opened.

Some people's hands stopped in mid-air, some were holding wine glasses, they seemed to have been paused the moment the door opened, and then everyone was looking at the person who walked in from outside the door.

Mr. Cleveland, who had been chatting with them, also shut up.

The man who came in from outside lowered his head slightly and said, "Golden Port was bombarded."

The expressions on the faces of the gentlemen in the room changed slightly, not for the worse, but in a subtle way.

After the person who brought the message left, the door was closed again, and the gentlemen inside finally showed a reserved smile on their faces!
Although they guessed it would be in the next few days, they would remain worried as long as there was no firing.

It's like waiting, waiting for the moment when the other party will take action, and then defending smoothly, but always over-defending!
If the Dantra people don't take action, there will be no way for the Federation to go all out. Fortunately, they did not disappoint the expectations of the gentlemen in this room and completed an important attack plan!

The Senate President lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and his body, which was leaning on the sofa, was completely relaxed by the action of smoking.

After he exhaled the smoke, he couldn't help laughing twice, "Where were we discussing just now?"

Senator Cleveland replied, "About raising interest rates."

The Senate President nodded, "Yes, I remember, raising the interest rate."

"We have already talked to the bank and the interest rate will be further increased. We can do it anytime and anywhere, but there will be some problems."

The Senate President glanced down at the ashtray on the coffee table and flicked the ash from his cigarette. "We can indeed attract international wealth and capital, but it may also reduce the circulation rate of currency in the domestic market."

He looked up at the others and said, "The interest rate on bank deposits is too high. It will definitely make people more willing to keep their money in the bank instead of taking it out to use."

"This has a counterproductive effect on the domestic market economy."

“We need something that will stimulate consumption.”

Another senator said, “You can issue vouchers.”

Everyone else's eyes were focused on him. "No matter how much the voucher is, you can only resist one-third of it."

"That is, if we give them a thirty-yuan voucher and they want to use it all, they have to buy something worth a hundred yuan."

"As for the generation of consumption vouchers, part of it comes from capital subsidies. On the other hand, we can continue to increase the basic tax rate, take out a part of it, and then distribute it to the people in the form of tax rebates."

With an income of $600 per year, according to the current federal government's progressive tax rate, the average person would need to pay about $200 in taxes. But if they buy government bonds, their tax rate will be adjusted to a certain extent based on the amount they buy, and they will probably only be charged about $170 or $180.

"Once we attract more funds and wealth from the international community, we won't need to rely on ordinary people to finance the war, and we can stabilize domestic inflation."

"There is a lot of money in the world that has nowhere to go right now. Choosing us is one of the few and most reliable options for them."

"We can set double standards for the inflow of international funds. Their funds can flow in, but they must purchase government bonds in proportion."

"We can adjust the interest rate in this regard..."

Since they have already decided to go big, they will naturally consider things more comprehensively.

Once the international community finds that depositing money in federal banks is not only safe but also earns more interest, capital will soon flow in.

The large influx of capital will also produce a series of social changes. These wealthy people may consume here, they will buy real estate, buy goods, and they may also open factories and establish companies.

This means they need to hire more employees, which in turn creates a large number of job opportunities for society and provides great help in stabilizing society.

They were discussing these matters with full concentration, as if they really cared about the interests of the people, but it didn't seem quite true.

If they really cared about the people, they could have prevented all the tragedies from happening, but not only did they not stop them, they allowed everything to happen.

For them, Jingang City, the people of Jingang City who were bombarded, and the citizens who died in the bombardment, their deaths were meaningful and not in vain. This is the honor of ordinary people!
Because the federal government will use their deaths to promote the arrival of a great era, their deaths are worthy!

Although no one would ask the bodies caught in the shelling whether they thought so, and they were unable to express their own opinions.

The bombardment did not last too long. The entire battle lasted only fifty-five minutes. At around two o'clock in the afternoon, the entire Dantra Navy withdrew from the federal waters and disappeared.

When the gunfire stopped, the shivering people hiding in the city gradually came out of their houses, looking around in confusion.

It seemed as if this was still the neighborhood they were familiar with, but also a little less familiar.

Occasionally there are collapsed houses, neighbors lying in the rubble on the roadside struggling for help, and children standing on the roadside with blood all over their bodies, at a loss as to what to do.

The whole city seemed to be plunged into sorrow!
The president immediately announced to the world that the federal government would mobilize again and escalate the war!
The President called it an "inhumane" attack. Dantra's fleet focused its main efforts on attacking and damaging civilian residential areas, causing the collapse of a large number of houses and the deaths of civilians.

The actions of the Dantra Republic have successfully angered the peace-loving federal government and the people of the federation. The president announced that from this moment on, the federation has entered a red war state and will declare a full-scale war on Dantra!

At the same time, Defense Department officials pointed out that the Alan region may have played an ignominious role in the attack. They did not report the whereabouts of the Dantra fleet to the federal government truthfully, which led to the tragedy.

If the regime in the Alan region had discovered the Dantra fleet early and passed the news back, such a tragedy would not have happened.

The Ministry of National Defense and the military have decided that in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again, they will station troops in the Alan region as the first line of defense against the invasion of the Dantra fleet!
As for whether the people of Yalan agree or not?

Do they dare to disagree?
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Congress released news that after urgent consultations, the federal benchmark interest rate would be increased by 2.5 percentage points, and the deposit interest rates of major banks would be increased to 6.3% to 7.8%.

All banks will also open international account registration, account opening and all cash transactions.

Of course, there are many details involved, which will not be reported in the news for the time being. Only those who are willing to send their funds to the federal government for savings will know about them.

For example, if they want to save a large amount, they must buy government bonds, and some even need to invest in the federal government before they are eligible to buy.

The highest annual interest rate of 7.8% is already an astonishing return in this turbulent war era!

Even if they need to buy federal treasury bonds, even if the interest rate on the bonds is not very high, this is definitely a place where they can safely spend the winter!
As soon as the news was released, the world's financial circle was shaken, and soon a large amount of funds began to flow into the Federation.

At the same time, the federal government's recovering market is also stimulating these investors. Perhaps their money will not only be able to safely survive the winter in the federal government, but may also see sustained and strong growth.

Later, news came that the combined fleet of the Republic of Dentra began to approach the main transport routes currently used by the Federation and Slade.

The situation of the Slade Military Alliance is very tense right now. Once the air routes are threatened, the supplies from the Federation may not be delivered on time and the prices will also increase.

Ambassador Slad to the Federation immediately requested a meeting with the Secretary of State to discuss the opening of new waterways and the joint protection of the waterways.

We don’t know yet how the talks are going and what the outcome will be.

However, there are rumors that the Secretary of State stated in the first meeting that the federal government is currently powerless to ensure the safety of the waterway.

The Second Fleet needs to guard the Federation's waters on the Eastern Ocean and ensure the safety of New Jin City, Jin State, and the entire coast. They have no more troops for support.

In fact, there is something behind this. The federal government is trying to gain more initiative and a higher position in the Slade Military Alliance, and the negotiations are not going smoothly.

These countries do not want the Federation to dictate to them, even though the Federation now plays a key role on the battlefield. They just think that they should be equal to the Federation, rather than subordinate to it, which makes some plans of the federal government fail.

Therefore, this "attack" also indirectly made these people understand that they need the federation more than the federation needs them!
Half a year is a deadline given by the Secretary of State. They need to take care of the waterway themselves for half a year. After half a year, the two mixed fleets will be able to be launched. Only then will they consider supporting the waterway issue.

However, these things are too far away from ordinary people. They can only focus on what is happening around them now, not the future.

Lance returned to Jingang City with his men on the second day after the bombardment.

Jingang Wharf and Xingang Wharf basically stopped working, but the damage was not too serious.

The buildings under the water at both docks are in good condition. We just need to make sure there are no internal structural problems. Then, we can rebuild the above-water part and clean up the sunken ships, and we will be able to operate again soon.

The naval base suffered severe bombardment, and most of the shells were fired into the naval base.

After returning to Jingang City, Lance immediately began to organize members of the Lance family to carry out disaster relief. The Lance family also suffered some losses. There were about twenty unlucky people whose hiding houses were directly hit by artillery shells.

The house collapsed, killing many people.

Under a bombardment of this scale, we have truly achieved the state that people have always talked about, wanted to do, but have not been able to achieve - everyone is equal!
The once prosperous city was also covered with a layer of "dust" after the bombardment.

The scenery was all in ruins. Fortunately, their bombardment only lasted for more than 40 minutes, otherwise it would be hard to say whether Jingang City would be completely destroyed.

The various neon lights that used to flash over the city were now replaced by flashing police lights, fire lights, and ambulance lights.

As members of the Lance family began to clear the streets, some lucky wounded were rescued, but some people remained in the ruins forever.

The falling heavy objects turned them into rag bags, as if they had no bones and their whole bodies were limp.

Even people who often see dead people will feel some psychological discomfort when seeing the appearance of these people.

Corpses were piled haphazardly on the roadside, and the federal people finally felt the pain brought by the war.

And... hatred!
On-site news photos of the bombardment of Jingang City were immediately spread to all parts of the Federation. The people of the Federation, who witnessed such a tragic scene for the first time, became more angry than ever!

Holding high banners that read "Blood for blood," they began to march and demonstrate. They demanded that the federal government increase its investment in the war and that the people of Dantra pay the price for what they had done!
(End of this chapter)