Empire of Shadows

… … I will keep an eye on these matters. I only know Brigadier General Bruni on the Defense Department side. Can he handle the people in the Defense Department?

General Miles shook his head, "He's just a errand boy. This matter requires several lieutenant generals in charge of this area to nod in agreement."

Brigadier General Bruni is actually not that bad. After all, he's a brigadier general, which is already considered the top of the pyramid in the military establishment.

But in General Miles' eyes, he is indeed just an errand boy, and in some respects, not even as powerful or high in status as a colonel with real power in the army.

The value of civilian generals is only to prevent conflicts arising from "civilian control of the military" when managing the army.

In different periods, countries, and establishments, problems have occurred because politicians managed the military. Therefore, in the Federation, they let soldiers manage soldiers.

Giving politicians in the Department of Defense the rank of general seems redundant, but it is particularly effective for middle and lower-level soldiers.

Even if they are dissatisfied that many of those civilian generals have never been on the battlefield, they still treat them as "one of their own."

So Brigadier General Bruni is just a middle-level politician without real power, and it's not surprising that General Miles looks down on him.

He knew that Lance didn't know any lieutenant generals in the Department of Defense, and then said, "I might have to go to Gold State after the New Year. You can come with me."

"I'll introduce you to these people then."

Lance nodded, "That's the best way. We can sit down and talk. Money is endless. An honest conversation can prevent us from having unpleasantness over these small amounts of money!"

General Miles also agreed.

If someone told him that tens of millions a year was small money, he would scoff and think the other party was talking nonsense, but if that person was Lance, he would believe that what the other party said was true.

Lance had already mentioned the two-hundred-million-dollar liquor market in Goldport City every year, even if the profit was only 25%, that was still fifty million in profit!

However, he also reminded, "I can't do anything about the Congress side."

"General, you don't have to worry about this. I know some people in Congress."

General Miles glanced at Lance meaningfully. He had now raised his level of importance to Lance by more than one level.

Able to make money, willing to give money, and now he is starting to build his own relationship network in both the military and political fields. In the future, he may be another shadow family with far-reaching influence on the Federation!

This is not General Miles overpraising him, but he really felt it from the bottom of his heart.

His nephew is in his twenties and has only become a major under his care, but look at what Lance is doing in his twenties?

Trying to corrupt him, corrupt senior generals in the Department of Defense, and already corrupting some senators in Congress. If he doesn't fall midway, he will definitely become a big shot in the future!

"You're always so polite. I told you, call me by my name!"

Last time, General Miles reminded Lance not to be so distant and to call him by his name directly.

But that time, he was being fake sincere and genuinely polite. He was just not that familiar with the forced social niceties.

But this time, he was being sincere.

Lance could also feel it, so this time, he did not continue to maintain that polite but distant state.

They had already discussed bribes of tens of millions. If they were still distant, then one of them definitely had a problem.

After Lance and General Miles finished discussing business, they talked about what happened in the afternoon.

"Do you know what happened outside?" Lance asked.

General Miles didn't hide anything, "I know. They said the police killed a lot of refugees. I remember they were your people."

Lance nodded, "Some minor problems that can be solved quickly, but nothing can be guaranteed 100%."

"If something happens that is beyond our capabilities…"

General Miles immediately continued, "Give me a call, you have my number."

Compared to thirty million a year, being scolded by people from the Department of Defense is nothing.

For senior generals like General Miles, as long as it's not treason, there's basically nothing he can't do.

Let alone letting soldiers go out to maintain order in the city, even if they really killed some people, it was because they attacked the army first.

This is actually another important reason why Lance came here. If they really can't beat the Bay Area in this internal struggle in Goldport City, then there must be a definitive voice.

Everything must serve the war, and everything must give way to the war. This is the biggest trend at the moment.

Under this trend, both the Bay Area and the state government will be crushed.

But this can only be used as a backup plan and cannot be used directly. A dagger is always most threatening when it is held in the hand, just like the most unsettling thing about a bullet is not the moment it is fired from the muzzle, but the moment it is in the chamber.

As for him taking action himself, he wouldn't consider it unless absolutely necessary. The social level is different now than it was a few years ago.

After briefly talking about going to Gold State after the New Year, Lance took the initiative to get up and say goodbye. It was already past nine o'clock, and General Miles needed to rest.

General Miles called his nephew back and asked him to see Lance off, specifically instructing him to send him to the gate of the military base.

The reason was that the patrols were stricter at night and they didn't know Lance, so they would avoid trouble.

In fact, there was no need to consider this situation. He had a pass on his car, and with just a phone call, the patrol team would not provoke this trouble coming from the headquarters.

He was actually showing his goodwill.

Although General Miles' nephew didn't know what they had talked about, he knew very well that there were not many people who could be sent to the gate of the base by him.

Either those people were senior generals of the Department of Defense, not errand-running "small characters" like Bruni, or they were politicians of the senator level of the Department of Defense.

Lance was neither a senior general of the Department of Defense nor a senator of Congress, nor had he heard of him being anyone's front man. At this moment, he was full of curiosity about Lance.

If he said that his uncle was only doing this for tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands a year, he would be the first to not believe it.

Where was the problem?

He was full of doubts, but he smiled and agreed, and then very enthusiastically led Lance to the parking lot, and really planned to send him out.

Lance was polite to him and asked him to go back first, but he didn't agree, so he wasn't so polite.

There was some distance from here to the gate of the military base, so he sat in Lance's car.

"Mr. Lance, it's a bit presumptuous to say, but I haven't introduced myself yet."

"Adrian, Adrian Miles, Navy Major."

He held out his hand, and Lance shook his hand and introduced himself with a smile, "Lance White, nice to meet you, Major Adrian."

Adrian waved his hand, "Just call me by my name. You're not in the military, we don't need to use military ranks between us."

He used a small trick to avoid some social calling issues, quickly drawing the relationship between the two sides closer without seeming abrupt.

Adrian was a good socializer. He chose a topic that didn't take too long to get through the topic from the parking lot to the gate of the naval base—tourism.

And he mentioned that he had a vacation in a while and hoped that Lance could find a guide to take him around the real Goldport City.

He didn't ask Lance to accompany him, which was obviously unrealistic and too "arrogant", so his request was simple and unpretentious, and wouldn't make people feel uncomfortable at all.

After the two exchanged contact information, the car was almost at the gate of the naval base, and Adrian took the initiative to get out of the car.

The soldier on duty saw that it was Adrian and immediately let people pass.

"Then… Mr. Lance, see you later!" He bent over and looked at Lance in the back seat through the car window, showing that he didn't look like a "second-generation military man" at all.

Lance also reached out and grabbed his hat and raised it slightly, "See you later!"

Adrian's hand patted the roof of the car, the driver slowly stepped on the accelerator, and the convoy quickly drove away from the naval base.

He stood in the light at the door until he couldn't see Lance's convoy, then he straightened his clothes and turned to walk towards the command post.

At this time, General Miles had not rested yet. There was a place to rest in the command post. His family was still in other places and had not followed him, and he did not let his family come over, because it was too dangerous.

Everyone doesn't think that the Dentra Military Alliance has the ability to directly attack the Federation's mainland, but what if?

As the first line of the southern advance, the most important military port, the probability of it being attacked is much greater than that of Gold State!

Once an attack occurs, it will definitely be terrible, so he directly let his family stay in Gold State.

Without family, he was too lazy to spend the night in the villa at night, and staying in the rest room of the command post was more in line with his wishes and safer.

Adrian came back from the outside and closed the door.

"Sent away?" Although it was a rhetorical question, General Miles still confirmed.

"Sent away!" Adrian walked closer to him, "Do you value him highly?"

General Miles nodded. "He can bring more power to the family. Anyone who can do this is qualified to be our friend."

"The federal government's aversion to factionalism and its determination to destroy these factions are growing stronger. Isn't this war an opportunity?"

"Sometimes, we need to consider more things, consider the fallback options."

It's not just local governments that have factionalism and regionalism; the military also has this situation.

These things have also been passed down.

Those gentlemen in the oil paintings probably didn't expect that the power in their hands would become a kind of "family inheritance," passed down to future generations.

They also wouldn't have imagined that their descendants would have some internal struggles because of the power inherited by the other party.

Hearing General Miles's words, Adrian vaguely realized that Lance was very important.

Even more important than his own nephew, His Excellency the General!

The next day, all kinds of newspapers were completely sold out, and some weekly magazines also printed relevant news. Although it was a very peaceful city, it was filled with the smell of gunpowder that everyone could smell!

The front-page headline of "Today's Goldport" was an empty grocery store, with a pool of blood on the ground. The glass display case had been smashed, and the goods inside were looted.

Next to this photo was a middle-aged and elderly man sitting in front of the camera wearing only a pair of shorts.

His hair had been shaved off, and the nurse's skills could only be described as average, with uneven patches like a dog had gnawed on it.

But you could clearly see some obviously cleaner areas and those still swollen and red wounds, as well as the thread that was tightened and looked a little uncomfortable.

His face, chin, shoulders, arms, forearms, waist, abdomen, and the outside of his thighs all had wounds and traces of sutures.

The first half of this report was an interview with the store owner. The reporter used very straightforward language that everyone could understand, but also had a bit of depth, to let people know what happened.

"Those people rushed into my store. They seemed a little flustered. I asked them if they needed help, but one of them took out a steel pipe and hit me on the head."

"The others started robbing my store. I shouted for help, but it was met with more brutal treatment. I thought I was going to die there!"

"It wasn't until I woke up that they told me the police saved me."

"I only learned after I woke up that those people were refugees from the Newport area. Some people said they shouldn't be stopped."

"But if you don't stop them, do you just let them continue their atrocities?"

"I don't think it was wrong for the police to shoot decisively. I want to thank them for their decisiveness. Maybe I would have died if it had been any later."

"On the contrary, those who think the police did wrong, I deeply suspect their position!"

When people turned to the second page, there were more photos, photos of the demolition site in the old industrial area. Those corpses lying in blood, no longer human-like, were accompanied by their real situations below.

"Behind every dead person is a complete family. They were once happy, or they were working hard on the road to happiness, relying on their own efforts to move forward."

"But everything stopped on a certain day in December 1023. Under the instigation and planning of some people, they became victims of capitalist gangs seeking more benefits."

"Behind every dead person is the breakdown of a family. I dare not interview their families. I dare not face those painful and desperate eyes."

"Because I am afraid they will ask me, why do people condemn the innocent them and protect those thugs?"

"This is not what justice looks like, not what fairness looks like."

"We sympathize with the refugees and are willing to accept them living in our city, but it does not mean that refugees are superior to us."

"If it is because they are refugees, foreigners, that we have to take care of their emotions, even if they hurt us, we cannot stop them."

"Then I am undoubtedly disappointed in this society and the federal government!"

"Fortunately, we have a qualified mayor and a capable police chief. They solved the thugs and rescued the innocent people. They should not be condemned."

"Those who should be condemned are those who created these things..."

The report directly pointed the finger at the Bay Area's interest groups. Of course, the term "capitalist gang" also began to become popular.

It is defined as "interest groups that exploit, plunder, and create terror through capital." This term will soon become a "hot word" and become popular nationwide and even worldwide.

Along with these things, it will also become the background of this word and become popular.

People will be interested in the environment it creates, and some people are destined to be nailed to the pillar of shame!

Early in the morning, many nosy citizens united and appeared on the outskirts of the Newport area, holding up signs such as "Get out of our homes," "You are not welcome here," and "Go back to hell," protesting against the refugees.

Many people came, at least a thousand, and it looked like more and more were coming.

This is one of Mayor Williams's counterattacks. Every politician is striving for "public opinion." When it is not enough and not united, it is just a fart.

But when it begins to unite into an undeniable force, every politician must face it squarely.

There were also many police officers maintaining order at the scene, but compared to the "calm" of the police in the past, this time the police were carrying submachine guns or rifles and looked very vigilant towards the refugee groups.

More media came to Goldport City overnight. They were eager to obtain first-hand information here, and many reporters were taking pictures on the scene.

Also early in the morning, Lance was awakened by the ringing of the phone. He had dealt with some work matters after returning last night and went to bed relatively late.

He squinted his eyes and glanced at the not-so-bright sky outside the window, frowned and sat up, and came to the study.

The call was from Tom.

"What exactly happened over there?" he asked.

Lance briefly explained the matter. After Tom heard it, he frowned, "What do you plan to do about this?"

Lance did not answer him immediately, but asked, "Is it you who cares about this matter, or the senator who cares about this matter?"

"Of course, it's the senator. Some reports say Williams is going to expel the refugees?"

"Many cities now have refugees, and they don't get along so well with the locals. If Williams does this, it may trigger a chain reaction and cause us some trouble in international affairs!"