Chapter 870: Responsibility and Investigation

Lanse's company building was lucky and didn't receive shelling. It was a misfortune among misfortunes, at least he didn't need to consider finding a place to hold a meeting now.

Sitting at the head of the huge conference table, he looked at the cadres on both sides of the conference table, as well as the rows of captains behind, and said this sentence—

"We can't just be gangsters!"

The Lanse family didn't suffer much loss in this shelling. Twenty or so people died in the shelling, and then it was said that there were thirty or forty people injured, mostly minor injuries, and two seriously injured had no life danger.

Now the entire city was in grief, and the focus of the whole country was concentrated here. This was a very good moment to reflect his "responsibility."

Lanse's gaze stayed on everyone's face, and then shifted to the next person's face.

Most of the people he looked at could meet his gaze, but there were also people who couldn't bear the pressure behind that calm gaze and lowered their heads.

After Lanse's gaze looked around for a week, it took maybe two or three minutes before he continued to speak.

"Gangsters have the benefits of gangsters. We can directly trample on the law without regard for the consequences when necessary."

"But gangsters also have the disadvantages of gangsters. We will be in a naturally weak position on some issues."

"For example, if a case occurs where it is not clear who did it, people will think of us first, not those ordinary people."

"This is a stereotype, very difficult to change, and of course there are some other problems."

What Lanse wanted to say was actually that "gangster politics" would end with the victory of the war. If this war failed, then it didn't matter.

The federal government, currently all ruling classes, would be questioned by the bottom layer, and society would become continuously unstable.

People didn't trust the federal government and the ruling group, thinking that they weren't qualified to rule the people of the Federation, and the bottom layer would have a confrontational emotion with the high level.

So at this time, the value of the existence of gangsters was greater than the value of disappearing. Dealing with those federal citizens who weren't very convenient to manage, directly using administrative means might trigger greater riots, but letting gangsters do the work was much easier.

Just like now, the federal government lacked ruling power over the bottom layer of many places, so the existence of gangsters helped them make up for this part of the gap.

Gangsters also needed stability and order, which formed a natural complement.

But when the war was won, the authority of the federal government and the ruling group would be unprecedentedly improved. People were willing to believe in the federal government and believe that the ruling group could lead them to go further.

Then the existence of gangsters would evolve from "helping social stability" to "destroying social stability" and needed to be swept into the trash heap.

Judging from the current situation, the probability of the Federation winning was still very high, so Lanse had to start working on letting the Lanse family undergo a transformation.

"I need you to do some things for this shelling of Jincheng."

"First!", he pointed a finger at the ceiling, "Send everyone out to provide reinforcements to those places that need rescue, pry open those ruins, and see if there are any people who need rescue inside."

"Be fast, don't do it slowly, that's not as good as not doing it."

"Second!", he stretched out another finger, "We need to establish relief stations in places that were shelled more, distribute food and some medicines, help those who need help. Meiluo, you are responsible for coordinating this."

A large amount of food and medicine definitely wasn't cheap, which required Meiluo, this big steward, to do it.

Meiluo nodded. "I know."

"Third!", he put his hand down at this time. It wasn't that he couldn't hold up three fingers, it was just that this one wasn't like the previous ones, requiring him to increase his tone to attract people's attention.

"I need everyone to dress uniformly, to let everyone see clearly that we are us!"

"If anyone asks who you are, there will definitely be a large number of reporters coming during this period. Remember, don't tell them you are from the Lanse family."

"Tell them you are from the Wanli Group!"

"We are a Jincheng enterprise. Jincheng has suffered heavy damage. As a local enterprise, we should shoulder the social responsibility we need to shoulder, rescue the public, distribute relief food and medicine, help some people solve problems, and also pay attention to public security issues!"

"After such a thing happened, there might be some unstable situations. If found, eliminate them in time."

"That's it, notify them!"

"Allen, Dai Wen, you stay."

Some captains looked at these two with curiosity. They seemed to have realized something, and those who had a good relationship with these two were winking at them and making some gestures.

Allen and Dai Wen also looked very nervous, standing in their positions without daring to breathe.

Lanse smiled and raised his hand to let them sit down. "We have always seen your performance. Now the company needs to expand, and in the future, the places we need to manage will become larger, and the number of employees under our hands will also become more."

"So in the future, more captains will be promoted to cadres one after another. You are just the first batch, congratulations to you."

Both of them had surprised expressions on their faces, hurriedly stood up to express their gratitude to Lanse, and also expressed their loyalty, indicating that they would definitely sell their lives for Lanse and the company!

The biggest difference between cadres and captains is that cadres will receive a share from the family's income and have higher status and greater influence!

The part below the cadre level cannot get a share, they all take dead wages, and then add some various subsidies.

And cadres are safer most of the time. As long as they don't like Hiram, who likes to rush to the front line by himself, most cadres don't need to lead the charge.

Lanse raised his hand again to let them sit down, and other cadres also began to congratulate them.

When their communication was almost over, Lanse turned to look at Meiluo and asked, "How many people do we have now?"

Meiluo pursed his lips. "Last time you asked us to continue recruiting people, now there are about thirteen hundred people."

"Too few.", Lanse shook his head and said very decisively, "These people are too few. Continue to recruit people, recruit from the Imperial District, recruit from our own people."

He said, turning to look at Ma Duoer, "Have they received military training?"

The Imperial soldiers brought by Ma Duoer had been doing military training for the members of the Lanse family. It was too wasteful to let these professional soldiers be gangsters, go to fire fights, or transport smuggled wine!

So they were only responsible for training work, and responsible for Lanse's safety. Ma Duoer was basically protecting Lanse closely, and also responsible for military training.

The families of these people were all picked up to the Federation, so Lanse trusted them very much.

Unless they intended to give up their high-paying jobs, be chased all the time, and have their whole family die, no one would have a bad brain to betray Lanse.

"We have completed two rounds of training."

Each round of training was one month, and then rest for a period of time, half a month to two months.

Because Lanse's time was tighter this time, they only rested for two weeks, meaning they all had two months of military training.

Lanse nodded slightly. "Our goal is two thousand people, preferably three thousand people, because soon we will have a big task!"

He considered it for a while, and then decided to tell these people the bottom line. The plan had already started. Even if he didn't say it now, they would soon know.

Instead of knowing what they were going to do the moment they got on the boat, it was better to say it clearly now, so that they could have a psychological preparation.

"This time the Dantela people attacked Jincheng, making the federal government very furious. In order to avoid similar things from happening, the federal government intends to station troops in multiple areas of Xiang Yalan."

"In addition, Jincheng was destroyed, and the ocean transportation in the northern hemisphere will have big problems. If the same thing happens again, the status of Jincheng and the Federation's northern hemisphere transportation hub will be challenged and threatened."

"Always being attacked, shelled, people will only transfer the focus of transportation to other places."

"So strengthening the Federation's overall defense on the East Ocean has become the most important thing."

The Empire also had two large ports, but the Empire had always had some situations and policies in the country, making them and the world seem to have a layer of film.

But now this layer of film was fading. They might have the idea of competing for this hub.

The situation in the Empire was not the same as in the Federation. In the Federation, you need to consider the thoughts of the public to do things, and you also need to pass the Presidential Palace and Congress.

In the Empire, the Emperor slapped the armrest, and the whole country started to execute. Just in terms of execution, the whole world might not be able to catch up.

"This time the federal government stations troops in Xiang Yalan, it will definitely cause protests and even confrontation from the local ruling group and some non-governmental organizations."

"This is like a group of people suddenly coming to our home, telling us that they need to have a room that belongs entirely to them here, and we have to listen to them."

"We will definitely resist, we will struggle, no one will be willing to watch the invaders become the new master of this home."

"Their resistance will make the annexation work very slow. After all, our masters still want face, they are not very embarrassed to say that this is just an invasion, so they need some people to do things for them that they are not convenient to do."

"The helpers who can help them solve these problems are us!"

"If the federal government is light, we are the shadow!"

"Things they can't do, we can do."

The expressions of the cadres became serious. Although they didn't understand very well, they didn't understand completely, but they could understand a part.

Lanse paused, he lit a cigarette. "I plan to send five hundred subordinates to Xiang Yalan initially. As long as our task doesn't go wrong this time, we will usher in a qualitative leap!"

What does the federal government want?

They want no resistance, they want stability, they want to be able to annex the entire Xiang Yalan area and master all the resources and population of this area.

As long as Lanse doesn't touch their core interests, the two sides will always maintain a highly close cooperative relationship.

As for whether they will throw Lanse away directly after using him?

Lanse didn't worry about this point, because he knew one thing very clearly: even if there is a blood relationship, as long as there is no value, it will be thrown away.

If you don't want to be thrown away, just keep creating value.

History is always written by the victors, just like the past events that happened in the federal mainland. In the history books of the Federation about the Federation, it is mentioned that the natives took the initiative to donate a large amount of land to the federal government in exchange for the federal people providing them with a stable life.

Everyone knows this is not true, but who the fuck cares?

After a hundred years, two hundred years, or even three or five hundred years, the natives are all dead, or completely integrated into federal society, becoming the privileged class of the Federation. Who cares whether this piece of land was obtained through slaughter, or they bought it, or the natives took the initiative to give it to them?

The Xiang Yalan problem is the same. As long as the Xiang Yalan people think that the change in federal rule makes them live better than before, then the Lanse family, the Wanli Group, is the angel of heaven that brings light, the angel that concluded friendship!

As for some destruction produced in this process, who the fuck cares about this?

As long as the fruit is big enough, fat and juicy enough, who cares how it was cultivated?

Even if it is irrigated with blood, people will applaud and say it is planted really well!

With Lanse's order, you can see people from the Lanse family in uniform working everywhere. The public security in the city did have some problems, but fortunately, it was handled quickly.

A large number of federal reporters came to Jincheng. In fact, for outsiders who were not shelled, they might not feel particularly sad, of course, there was anger.

And some, just curiosity.

They wanted to know what happened here and the living conditions of people after the shelling. Through newspapers, in those photos, they could often see a flash of bright red color.

The two names "Wanli Group" and "Lanse Family" also began to spread in a wider range—

Although Lanse let them call themselves Wanli Group employees, ordinary people in Jincheng would say "that's the Lanse family's people." Of course, it didn't matter. Even if Lanse was completely washed white, the history of being a gangster wouldn't change.

However, this also made federal people discover a gangster completely different from their cognition, who only knew how to plunder, blackmail, and obtain wealth through criminal acts like injury. Some people also thought that the Lanse family was not a gangster.

They have legal businesses in the future, they... in some issues, their means are similar to gangsters, but this can't be said that they are gangsters, right!

Just like gangsters will use weapons to hurt others, ordinary people will use weapons to hurt others to protect their own safety. They both used weapons to hurt others, can it be said that ordinary people are also gangsters or gangster members?

If the reputation of the Lanse family is changing in a direction that makes people unimaginable, then Admiral Myers is now truly in trouble.

The army side has protested to the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Defense, thinking that Jincheng was attacked, a large number of warships were destroyed, the naval base was destroyed, and a large number of soldiers were killed and injured, all of which were Admiral Myers' problems.

He didn't consider at all that it was wartime now, anything could happen, not to mention that a movie "Sneak Attack on Jincheng" was released last year, expounding the possibility of the Dantela people sneaking an attack on Jincheng.

In such a situation that was almost an open-book exam, Admiral Myers still got a zero. This is not just his ability problem, this is a crime!

And more importantly, because of Admiral Myers' criminal behavior, the route from the Federation to Slader was threatened, which might affect the federal army that was fighting.

This is the biggest murder of two million brave federal soldiers!

At present, the war on the Tanfeit Continent is mainly led by the army. The federal government will definitely attach importance to their accusation and immediately arranged an investigation team to go to Jincheng to investigate to see if there is really any problem of dereliction of duty.

The specification of this investigation team is very high. Besides personnel from both houses of Congress, there is also a civilian general from the Ministry of Defense, two lieutenant generals participating, cabinet members of the cabinet, and military investigation members. It can be said to be "gathering of stars."

The higher the specification of this investigation team, the greater the Federation's determination to bring down Admiral Myers, otherwise they would just send a few people to deal with it.

Now arranging such a huge team is just to find some problems even if there are none.

Subsequently, the navy also filed an appeal. Naval generals thought that this kind of long-distance raid itself was full of accidents, and Admiral Myers didn't have much dereliction of duty. Even if it were someone else, I'm afraid it would be difficult to do better than Admiral Myers.

However, people with discerning eyes could see that after this attack, the navy, at least in a short time, would be difficult to compete with the army.

Time soon reached mid-to-late June. Congress passed the "East Ocean Security Defense Act" in a very short time. The core of this act is to ensure the safety of the Federation. The Federation will arrange some defensive measures on the East Ocean to avoid similar tragedies from happening again.

Naturally, it also formally proposed the idea of stationing troops in Xiang Yalan for the first time.

This immediately triggered strong dissatisfaction from multiple countries in the Xiang Yalan area. They called the Federation's behavior naked aggression. They solemnly protested and refused the federal army to enter the Xiang Yalan area, let alone establish a military base in the Xiang Yalan area.

In some areas of Xiang Yalan, there were also a large number of parades and demonstrations. For a time, the discussion about whether the Federation would invade the Xiang Yalan area was hotter than the war that was breaking out!

These countries had diplomatic teams in the Federation, and were also urgently contacting the federal Secretary of State and the Presidential Palace, hoping to dispel the Federation's idea.

It's just that they didn't know very well that as various resource reports in the Xiang Yalan area were investigated more clearly, Congress's annexation of Xiang Yalan was already a nail on the board.

Xiang Yalan has mineral resources, oil, can produce rubber, and a large amount of cheap population resources. How could they give up?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 871 =====