Chapter 1302: Continuously Deteriorating

The weapons and ammunition that Lans provided to the First Mobile Unit were not free; they had to pay for them, but the money was at cost price.

As an "intermediary," Lans neither made money from them nor lost money by giving them the goods.

For armed groups like the First Mobile Unit in backward small countries, even if they had money and were willing to spend it, it was actually difficult to buy advanced standard weapons—this is a channel problem.

For the Federation's military-industrial conglomerates, their massive scale looks down on retail business, and selling in large quantities to such civilian private armed groups also presents some problems.

For example, the most likely thing to trigger is "moral hazard."

Morality in the Federation has a very peculiar positioning: every Federation citizen pursues moral perfection in others, whether individuals, companies, or even the Federation government.

Even if they privately do things a hundred times worse than having no morality, on the surface they maintain their high moral standards.

Even in judicial matters, morality serves as an important standard for judgment and sentencing.

There was once a priest murder case; the jury believed the priest was a person of high morality with good social relations, so the court gave him the lightest possible outcome.

If the murder case had not been firmly established, perhaps the judge would have released the priest immediately in court.

Of course, there are also similar counterexamples: because the defendant in the dock lacked morality, the court and even society believed they had to give this person a heavy lesson to make him realize his mistake, resulting in a sentence far higher than the actual term.

Such things happen often; even those who appear glamorous in high society are not as people imagine, but at least they pretend to be.

If the military-industrial conglomerates sold these arms directly to private armed groups in other countries, it would cause negative moral impact—at least that is the case.

The company's stock price would plummet, and people would develop a sense of insecurity—

Today they could sell weapons to private armed groups in other countries; tomorrow they could sell them to Federation gangs to harm Federation citizens; the day after tomorrow they could sell them to Federation enemies to kill Federation soldiers!

So even if these people had money, they actually could not buy these things—no channel existed, and large corporations also found it difficult to truly trade with them.

If many procedures were required, such as first shipping the weapons to another country, then going through several transfers before finally delivering them to these people, plus their profit,

by the time these weapons reached the hands of these private armed groups, the price would be unaffordable for them.

This is a problem that cannot be balanced—unless someone at the Federation government level steps in to mediate, such as the Social Party, or such as Lans.

The military-industrial conglomerates do not care whether these weapons were sold to Lapa or to Luli; at least when facing media and public questioning, they have something to show and can prove their innocence.

As for how these weapons ultimately entered the Luli armed organization's hands, that has nothing to do with them.

This is also another trait of Federation citizens: they actually believe those gentlemen's explanations!

This entire plan at least requires preparation of tens of millions of funds, or even more; the Social Party gave Lans a portion of the budget, but it is far from enough to cover all expenses.

Mainly because it is unsafe.

They simply cannot list this item in this year's budget expenditures as funding for supporting the Luli civilian armed First Mobile Unit, to create unrest and force the Liberty Party to lose initiative, for this expense—

They cannot write it like that.

So part of the cost is covered by the Social Party, and part is covered by them themselves.

Javier had people re-nail the opened weapon crates, and then his side also sent a transport team, nearly identical in appearance, except these pack horses carried not weapon crates but individual old-looking burlap sacks.

Some of the burlap sacks still bore obvious bloodstains, indicating that the First Mobile Unit people, to obtain them, had some unpleasantness with their previous owners or with those trying to take them away.

The cavalry captain and another old man walked up to these goods and began inspecting; when they opened the first sack, sunlight streamed into the sack's opening, and at that moment, some colorful light reflected onto both of their faces.

They took out some gemstones and held them in their hands; the old man put on a portable magnifying glass and began examining these gemstones in the sunlight.

He inspected quickly, sampling part of each sack, then rapidly giving his psychological valuation.

There were several sacks of gemstones here; these gemstones were in their natural state, they looked beautiful, but turning them into money still required many procedures, and the final selling company needed to retain profit margin, so the current price of these gemstones is not high.

The old man gave a very fair price, and Javier's side also indicated acceptance.

Then came box after box of gold, some of the gold surfaces still bearing bloodstains.

Like other countries in Luli, Luli has abundant mineral resources: gemstone mines, silver mines, gold mines—they have them all.

The First Mobile Unit's income mainly comes from three parts.

First, output from private mines; they have their own mineral resources, and they also loot gold from other mines.

Of course, other organizations and mines sometimes loot them too; in this place, obtaining gold is not just mining, but also shooting.

Second, smuggling—some contraband trade, ghost-face mushrooms, maple kite grass; these items have low local prices but can fetch high prices in the Federation.

They also purchase some special-effect medicines from the Federation and sell them locally, such as painkillers, which are hailed as "elixirs from the Federation."

Even the black gangs and private armed groups in Luli understand how to use the painkillers and special-effect painkillers produced by Federation pharmaceutical companies better than the Federation companies themselves.

They made considerable money by exploiting people's severe dependence on these painkillers, but only "considerable," not "much," because the local population is still predominantly poor.

Lastly, exporting prostitutes and population to the Federation to gain wealth.

Almost all their cash is basically deposited into Federation accounts; the Federation still supports anonymous accounts, which is a good place for leaders of all nations and criminal organizations to store cash.

Safe, reliable, and no need to worry about being discovered—even if it's their family or trusted persons, they can easily store and dispose of it.

For these people, cash is forever the most important, so in this transaction they used gemstones and gold as hard currency—not because they are inadequate, but because in circulation they are clearly inferior to the current Federation Sol.

After a while, the old man finished inspecting this portion; their valuation was slightly higher than the price of this batch of military supplies sent over, which was also what both sides had previously agreed upon.

When Lans provided them with the first batch of weapons, they not only had to pay for this batch of weapons and the ammunition they would receive next, but also had to pay for the next batch of equipment.

"Looks fine." Harvier stood before the other commanders; this was the first time he had contacted Lans, so he now mainly handles communication with these people.

The cavalry captain nodded, had his subordinates load these items onto their cavalry, then walked to Harvier's side and shook his hand: "As we agreed earlier, then in five days I will transport the second batch of goods here."

Harvier's face was all smiles; he shook hands with the cavalry captain and shook vigorously twice: "Of course, I will always be here waiting for you."

He said, turned around, took a small bag from his subordinate's hand, palm-sized, looking somewhat more upscale.

He handed the small bag to the cavalry captain: "This is my personal gift to you; I hope you like it."

The cavalry captain did not refuse; he opened the bag and glanced inside—a gemstone that looked somewhat higher in specification.

For gemstones, the larger the size, the price may increase by multiples.

He put the small bag into his pocket: "I really like it." Then he paused for a moment: "So I look forward to hearing your sounds."

Harvier nodded firmly: "We will let Mr. White see our performance!"

Soon the two groups parted; Harvier took a deep breath, his face still bearing considerable smiles, turned and left with the other commanders together.

The traded weapons were only part of their transaction; there were also many non-material exchanges, which they also needed to complete.

After returning to the nearest city, Amado had been waiting for them; upon seeing them return, he couldn't help but ask, "Did it go smoothly?"

Ever since he rarely appeared in public in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief, he hadn't acted this "proactive" much.

But this trade was important; he had no choice but to act a bit more urgent.

Javier nodded and recounted the transaction process; afterward, Amado also went to inspect those weapons.

"Divide the goods among yourselves; the ammunition arrives tomorrow. We need to let our Federal friends see our strength."

A smile on Amado's face — currying favor with the Federal people might make him look like he'd lost some of his previous persona, but all of this was for a better life and for staying alive.

These past few days, the turmoil in Luli had not stopped because Little Porter was deported back to his country; on the contrary, there was a feeling of growing ever more frenzied!

Luli's internal contradictions and pressures had already reached a critical point on their own; because the Federal people's arrival caused a large number of native capitalists who had completed primitive accumulation to go bankrupt, they were filled with enormous resentment toward the Federal people.

The situation here now is somewhat more severe than it was in Lapa back then.

At that time, most of Lapa's assets were in the hands of the state, in the hands of these actual rulers under President Diego.

The Federal people's appearance did indeed bring destruction to their local industry and capital, but what was destroyed belonged to these power-holders; only a small number of nascent bourgeois assets suffered impact.

So while people's hatred of the Federal people existed, it was maintained at a relatively low level.

But Luli is different; those impacted were basically ordinary primary bourgeoisie, the scope of impact wider, the affected population greater, so the conflict now is even more intense.

The whole country seems to have fallen into a state of anarchy; burning shops everywhere, some Federal buildings also destroyed, forcing some Federal people who came to Luli to strike gold to temporarily leave or hide.

And those who gained wealth through killing and plunder in this turmoil would not stop because of it, nor could they stop.

In a mine outside the capital, a group of Federal people had gathered at this moment.

Some were the mine's own investors, and some were Federal people who had gathered from the surroundings to take refuge.

The mine had now completely ceased operations; because of the protection of the mine guard squad and Federal troops, it was temporarily quite safe here.

Threatened Federal people from the surrounding areas were all gathering here; this was also the Porter government's solution to their current predicament.

Protect their own safety first, then go solve other problems.

To prevent the mine from being sabotaged from within, the miners were temporarily dismissed; the entire mine now had only Federal people, their mine guard squad, and a portion of soldiers.

"Who knows when they'll be able to solve this current problem!"

Every day, these people would gather in the mess hall to chat idly, killing the boredom — not that they didn't want to do something, but there was nothing they could do.

Having these Federal people dig the mine was basically impossible; there were no other entertainment facilities here, and they had no mood for entertainment either; the only thing they could do each day was sit together and keep an eye on Luli's current situation, to reduce anxiety.

The speaker was a Federal person who looked like part of the elite class; he was a trading company manager, also affected by this turmoil.

At the turmoil's start, he had followed the Federal government's advice and come here.

Thinking that the warehouses in the city were certainly done for, he felt restless and uneasy; he didn't know how headquarters would treat him.

It had taken him several years to climb to this position; if he lost his job because of this turmoil, not only would several years be wasted, he might also lose a great deal because of it.

After all, the middle class is the most fragile group in the Federation; as long as they have no income for three months, they will fall into a desperate situation.

Another Federal person in a similar situation couldn't help but complain, "Our government has always been a step behind in solving these problems; this is nothing like when the Social Party was in power — they might have had many problems, corruption, or other issues."

"But at least their speed in resolving these matters was satisfactory!"

These two people's round of complaints was like lighting a powder keg; soon people began shifting their target from this turmoil to the Porter government, and President Porter.

"If Little Porter hadn't killed that person here, things wouldn't have escalated to this state so quickly!"

"We should file a claim against the Pol government, make them compensate us for our losses!"

"Right, once I'm back in the Federation, I'll have my lawyer sue the Porter government ————"

People complained loudly, venting the anxiety in their hearts; it seemed doing this could make them feel a bit more comfortable.

The people at the mine weren't that uneasy; they didn't have too great a loss — the ore lies buried underground, no one can take it away.

And those excavated stones still need refining to become metal ingots; even if the miners took some when they left, they couldn't take much.

One person could carry at most twenty or thirty pounds of ore, and that ore might not even be worth a cent.

However, they weren't entirely without loss; the biggest loss now is the shutdown — every day stopped is a day's income lost, which the capital groups investing behind the scenes are also unwilling to see.

Everyone was venting emotions when suddenly the mine's loudspeakers blared an alarm, then someone spoke over the broadcast at a very fast pace: "Everyone return to your rooms immediately, lock your doors; someone is approaching."

"Repeating: everyone return to your rooms and lock your doors; do not leave your rooms under any circumstances without notification ————"

Those who had just been discussing how to make President Porter back down, after a brief shock, scattered in a hubbub; every face wore an incredulous terror!

At the mine entrance, the mine guard squad and a company dispatched by the military had already prepared to repel the enemy; a minor leader of the mine guard squad watched the continuous stream of vehicles driving in, his scalp tingling slightly.

There was no communication between the two sides; when the first gunshot rang out through the valley, intense firefight began.

The First Detachment's firepower was more ferocious than imagined; the company commander on the military side also wore a look of shock.

He could even tell from those people's gunfire that they were using the standard automatic rifles used by the Allied Forces (Slade Allied Forces)!

These are Federal-produced weapons; now they're actually being used by these people against Federal people?

Even worse, they actually have grenades and mortars; this doesn't look like equipment a group of criminals primarily engaged in crime should have — they're more like an armed force.

Less than half an hour into the firefight, the company commander realized they couldn't hold this mine; after negotiations failed, he actively withdrew from here.

The people at the mine were forced to assemble and withdraw together with the military and the mine guard squad.

About fifty minutes after the firefight began, the First Detachment's people directly occupied the mine; they burned, blasted, and demolished large amounts of equipment, and collapsed the mine shafts, even planting the First Detachment's flag atop the mine's tallest building!

They arranged the corpses of the Federal people killed in the firefight together, and even took photographs.

In the photos, these people wearing hoods, dressed in First Detachment attire, or bearing identifying marks, appear in the frame in an oppressive manner; behind them burns the mine with blazing fire, further setting off the flag fluttering in the air ————