Shadow Empire

Chapter 903 Team
Under the flashing spotlights, Diego held Lance's hand tightly and said, "History will remember this moment!"

Lance shook his hand vigorously, "Yes, history will remember this moment. Lapa has ushered in a brand new future!"

What followed was a grand dinner with hundreds of people attending. Mountains of food were constantly being eaten or dumped into the trash.

For those who are able to attend a party of this level, what delicious food have they not eaten?

A dish may only be touched twice, but will soon be replaced by a new one.

Except for the waiters who might secretly eat some of the replaced dishes, the rest will eventually be thrown into the trash.

There were reporters hiding in the kitchen, and they recorded all of this clearly.

This is what Lance ordered people to do. These reports and photos will provide people with a "direction forward" at a critical moment.

The next day, the Lapa government announced that in view of the influx of foreign capital and the increase in people's income, it would provide investors with a better investment environment.

Therefore, the Lapa government will impose taxes on Lapa citizens whose annual income exceeds twelve thousand paras.

The tax rate is tentatively set at 12 percent, and will increase by 1 percent for every amount over 200 yuan, to a maximum of 50 percent.

This news did not actually cause much dissatisfaction among people. After all, compared with Lapa with a population of 12 million, the factory employees in Lens were only seven or eight thousand.

Although these seven or eight thousand people are also very dissatisfied, they have jobs after all, and their incomes are relatively high. They can still afford a tax of more than ten percent.

Of course, you may not be very happy in your heart, after all, you have to give part of the money you earn with hard work to others in the end.

The government in Lapa has not talked about providing food everywhere, which has made the food crisis even worse in surrounding areas and further afield.

Lance's people have completely retreated to Zhuolan, and Lance bought a piece of land in the suburbs of Zhuolan and began to build his own "castle".

In the morning, he met with a very special team from China, whose main members came from different departments and organizations.

For example, the team was led by the Federal International Economic Cooperation Agency, a newly established department that was proposed by Lance, improved by Senator Cleveland, and finally reported to Congress for approval and quick passage.

The work of this department is to promote a series of cooperation between the Federation and overseas regions, including economic, cultural, and political cooperation, by establishing bilateral economic, trade, and financial relations.

It has a great degree of independence in handling overseas affairs and is directly under and accountable to Congress.

In the past two years, the positive feedback brought about by intervening in international affairs, including international wars, has been very obvious.

The federal economy was in rapid decline, and some experts said the federation would enter a period of depression that would last at least ten years.

They also use past recessions as proof and say this Great Depression is unprecedented!

Of course, that was indeed the reaction of society at the time. Labor prices had not increased for several years, people's spending power had deteriorated, and real estate development had slowed down or even regressed. Everything indicated that a bad economic environment was about to come.

But just by intervening in an international war, the federation's economy unexpectedly began to improve. The economy seemed to have found a new point of strength, quickly began to heat up and continued to move forward.

With the continued economic stimulus brought by the war, federal experts have unanimously agreed that the federation has emerged from the economic recession ahead of schedule, and this time the economy will continue to grow until ten or even twenty years after the end of the war.

The presidential office, Congress, and more politicians realized that it was not only capitalists who could make money from war, but the federal government could as well, so they began to interfere more proactively in foreign affairs.

This time, it is just a "drill" in dealing with the Asian Union issue.

The guy leading the team was called Albert Smith, a typical old Confederate. His ancestors were first-generation Confederate immigrants, and he was said to have some political background.

He has a slicked-back hair and looks very energetic, but his blue chin gives people a very strange feeling.

"Mr. White." When they met, he took the initiative and walked to Lance with big strides, shook Lance's hand tightly, and acted very modestly, "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Albert Smith from the International Economic Cooperation Agency. You can just call me Albert!"

Lance smiled and responded, "No problem, Albert, you can call me Lance too."

"We should be considered comrades now. If there are any problems, we should communicate in time!"

Albert nodded immediately and said, "You are absolutely right. We are comrades on the same front, the closest comrades."

He paused, turned around and introduced the person behind him to Lance, "This is Andy."

The guy standing behind him had golden brown hair and looked a bit old, probably around thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old.

The smile on his face was not as sincere as Albert's, although Albert's smile was also fake, but it was fake and sincere.

Andy's wasn't that sincere, and his acting wasn't that good.

"Mr. White!" He shook hands with Lance and introduced himself. Andy came from a non-federal official organization, a non-governmental organization - the Federal International Human Rights Investigation.

He is a senior member of this organization, and his main job is to help governments in some backward regions and provide advice on the development of democracy and human rights.

Judging from the work content they have announced to the public, this organization is more like an advisory body that provides various democratic and human rights solutions to the government.

But in fact they are an intelligence agency with an official background, and its main agents are from the federal government and federal intelligence agencies.

They are said to be observing local human rights issues, but in fact they are responsible for intelligence gathering and may provide financial, technical, material and even armed assistance to local civil human rights organizations.

To put it bluntly, it is a friendly organization that helps anti-government forces develop.

Because the federal government has promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, they cannot do these things openly, which is inconsistent with their external propaganda.

So this is an unofficial organization, and the spontaneous actions of the public have nothing to do with the federal government.

As everyone knows, the Federation is a highly liberal country.

Some people like people, some like horses, and some like sheep. That is their freedom.

Just like some people have nothing to do after eating and want to contribute to the development of international human rights, that is their own behavior and has nothing to do with the federal government.

Andy has the typical arrogance of a government employee. Compared to Albert, he is actually more like an official. Lance doesn't care about his seemingly slightly indifferent attitude.

There are many people in this world, and it is impossible to make everyone smile at you. There will always be some people with a stern face.

Then there were representatives from several federal charities. Lapa is a poor and backward place, but it has a really great environment for charity.

As for whether they were really here to do charity or to launder money, Lance didn't really care. They were allies after all.

After getting to know a few people, everyone sat down.

"I heard that there has been a commotion in some places farther away."

Albert is the leader of the team. He is a federal government employee and has a political background, so Andy has no dissatisfaction with this leader.

Lance did not deny it. He sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, looking very relaxed. "We bought a lot of their food. Now a food run has begun. The flow of food will soon come to a complete halt."

"The situation is only going to get worse and soon they will be in full-blown conflict with the ruling clique in Lapa."

These new team members all nodded, but there was no serious expression on their faces, they all had relaxed smiles.

No matter how big the problem is here, the dead are foreigners who have nothing to do with them, so they don't have any psychological burden.

Albert put one hand on the armrest of the sofa and leaned forward slightly. “Who do you think will win this time, the Lapa government or these people who are making trouble?”

Lance said without hesitation, "Of course it's the Lapa government."

"They control the most resources in this society and hold the military as their trump card."

"The people of Lapa are very poor. It's not like the Federation, where people can buy weapons and ammunition in grocery stores."

"They don't have the ability to fight the government with arms."

These words won some recognition. Albert then asked, "If this is the case, doesn't it mean that grassroots movements can never pose a threat to the ruling group?"

Lance's gaze lingered on Albert and Andy for a moment, "That's exactly why you're here."

Albert obviously knew more inside information. If it weren't for Lance, there would be no department he works in now, and there would be no special trip.

Before coming, his boss told him that his job here was mainly to follow Lance's arrangements.

Lance was the mastermind behind the whole plan, not him, Andy, or anyone in Congress.

These arrangements surprised Albert a little. As far as he knew, Lance was just a gang leader with certain abilities. He did not think that such a person had the ability to subvert a country.

But the people behind him were worthy of him and simply said what they could say, and Albert no longer had any other ideas.

At this time, he was very humble. "Mr. Lance, we already had a work plan before we came here. If there is anything you need us to adjust or cooperate with, please let me know."

As he spoke, he handed over a document. Andy looked at him, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He wanted to reach out his hand, but didn't do it.

Lance took the document and glanced at it briefly before nodding and agreeing with a smile, "I will."

(End of this chapter)