Chapter 883: Public Opinion, Lawsuits, Expectations, and the Second Sincerity

The reporter from the *Post* wrote a total of three drafts. Driven by various motivations, he exerted 120% of his ability.

Among the three drafts, one was relatively radical; he mentioned the issues of "whether organizers need to bear responsibility" and "the statute of limitations for responsibility."

If organizers also need to bear responsibility, then shouldn't those previously injured protesters get compensation?

It cannot be that because the law that murder is illegal was only established today, the person who killed yesterday is innocent.

The whole article emphasized that the Labor Alliance was a cold-blooded political organization, and all their slogans, including the "Working Class Unity" that resonated in people's hearts, were nothing more than their political means.

Their core purpose was to make the working class their tools, not brothers.

The second draft was written very conservatively, interpreting the case from the perspective of current laws. He also consulted a lawyer, and the lawyer stated that there was currently no legal basis to support that organizers should bear primary responsibility.

Moreover, this conflict was not some kind of accident, such as a natural disaster; it was a purposeful attack. The organizers shouldn't bear too much responsibility, but they might need to bear a little.

And the third draft was relatively stable, neither sharp nor conservative. He thought the third draft was very likely to be applied.

But what he didn't expect was that the *Federal Post*, which had always maintained a neutral stance, this time adopted his more radical draft.

This also made him realize that there was a big hand, a bigger hand than he had imagined, that had been pushing this matter to develop rapidly behind the scenes.

The next day's *Federal Post* published this article, and just as they had imagined, the entire Federation was in an uproar!

Immediately following, there was the question of whether the Labor Alliance, as the organizer, had an obligation to bear responsibility for the safety of the protesters they organized.

There were many people discussing it in society. If it were normal times, discussion would just be discussion.

But this time it was different. The large report plus photos, and that photo of Oge lying on the ground with his eyeballs about to pop out, made the grassroots people of the entire Federation like water about to boil, about to boil over!

It is said that in just one day, people who had previously supported the Labor Alliance strikes and protests and were injured or disabled in the conflicts appeared everywhere.

Among these people, some were real and some were fake; some people just wanted to take advantage.

The Federation also had these people, and there were quite a few of them, not at all like what people understood when they were abroad—that every Federation person was kind, polite, good, and friendly.

"Now people are making trouble everywhere, and we are very passive."

In the conference room of the Labor Alliance headquarters, the president, who rarely appeared, was there. The newspaper was placed right by his hand.

The people around the conference table didn't speak, maintaining silence. They didn't know what to say, and they didn't dare to speak randomly.

In fact, the president himself didn't expect that just a simple matter in his view would turn out like this.

Walter had a great responsibility!

It was just that Walter was still being detained. He looked at another rotating vice president. "Do you have any ideas?"

Another rotating vice president shook his head. "I am still shocked, and I think this matter is not easy for us to handle."

"It is difficult for us to screen who among these people was injured or disabled because of our affairs. If we can't select these people, there will definitely be people who will continue to make trouble."

"You must know how annoying those mud-legged people are."

The president's expression didn't change. "So?"

"What is your idea?"

The rotating vice president's gaze fell on the newspaper, on the photos of the injured people who stood up angrily, and then he covered it with one hand. "Find a way to suppress public opinion."

The president thought for a while and then shook his head. "If Walter had realized the seriousness of the problem at the beginning, the situation wouldn't have developed to what it is now."

"At that time, the matter hadn't fermented, public opinion hadn't been hyped up, and there were ways to handle everything."

"Now that the heat of this problem is so high, if we don't give money and don't properly handle these problems, will it affect our Worker's Party founding problem later?"

"But at the same time, I also have some worries, because we are not necessarily facing workers who were truly injured because of us."

"If every disabled person, every injured person, says they were disabled or injured for us, how much money can we use on them?"

"We can't leave it alone, but we can't meet all their conditions either. We need to discuss a result."

He raised his wrist and looked. "There are ten hours left before today's work ends. Before a result is discussed, everyone will stay here for the time being. I will have someone send food and water over."

Several executive officials looked at each other, all showing helpless expressions.

Undoubtedly, this was definitely not an easy thing to handle.

If there were ten thousand injured or disabled people, and each person asked for three hundred in compensation—let's not say more—compensating according to half the amount of the current mainstream accidental work injury insurance, isn't that excessive?

That's three million.

But what if there were more than ten thousand people?

What if the compensation they claimed wasn't just three hundred dollars?

This might mean an expenditure of several million or ten million!

So it wasn't without reason that they disagreed with bearing responsibility from the beginning.

It was just that, coincidentally, the development of this matter exceeded everyone's expectations, including themselves and the masters in Congress.

Senator Cleveland also saw the newspaper. After reading it, he smiled and threw the newspaper aside.

Today was not a Congressional day, and there were no major or minor meetings or hearings. He and his friends were sitting in the garden of his manor, getting close to nature while chatting.

To make this place look more stylish, Senator Cleveland also raised some deer and small animals in the garden of the manor.

They were like elves in the manor, giving people who came here for the first time a dreamlike feeling.

Although for the Senator himself, he was already accustomed to it.

Those deer were not afraid of people, but they also maintained the most basic vigilance. They wandered around, occasionally turning their heads to stare at the people laughing loudly here.

"This guy Lans...", the Senator smiled and pondered for a while, finding a suitable wording, "... is really a likable guy!"

"He can always find that crack in the egg that we can't see, and then chisel through it fiercely!"

"This time, the Labor Alliance will have trouble!"

Others expressed agreement. They had long been very unhappy with the Labor Alliance, which threatened them with nationwide general strikes at every turn.

Originally, Congress's idea was to let them form a Worker's Party. Political parties and the Labor Alliance were two different organizations.

They wanted the Worker's Party to also gain people's support, but relying solely on those poor people wouldn't work.

They had to obtain funding from capitalists to go further on the road of politics.

Congress's idea was to numb them first, let them find ways to cut themselves off from the working class, and then deal them a heavy blow, crush them, and then tie a collar on the union and the working class to completely control them.

It was just unexpected that Lans had caught them off guard so quickly.

Once they couldn't solve this problem well, their influence in the working class would drop in a straight line.

At the very least, when they demanded a general strike again, the workers would have to consider whether they should do so.

Lost their jobs, beaten to disability, and didn't get any compensation. In the end, what was it for?

Just to contribute to someone else's greatness?

This angle was very novel, and the key was that it was something happening right now. People would focus more on things that were happening.

The Speaker of the House sat on a rattan chair with his legs crossed. Honestly, he felt this rattan chair was very uncomfortable; it was woven from rattan.

It is said that it was made by using rattan that was still growing, shaping it, and then promoting its growth, until it finally grew into the shape of a chair.

After it was harvested and dried, it was coated with tung oil and varnish, and it became what it was now.

By the way, the most critical point was that this was produced by the indigenous people.

Each strange-shaped rattan chair sold for over twenty dollars, and there were more than a dozen such chairs placed here and there.

His center of gravity tilted because he wanted to speak, and he immediately felt a wave of soreness. He had to change his posture. "What do you think they will do?"

"Now they are placed on a fire, and there is no chance to get away."

Everyone chatted casually about how they could survive this crisis, and as they chatted, they talked about Lans.

"This young man is very interesting. Some of his methods make me feel amazed. Have you considered pulling him in?"

Senator Cleveland nodded, then shook his head. "He can't get in. Regardless of his background or his personal resume, it's very difficult to get to this step."

The Speaker of the House raised his eyebrows and nodded. "That's a pity."

"But it's fine if he's useful."

"I heard you plan to send him to Lapa?"

"You have a lot of confidence in him?"

The "Xiang Yalan Strategy" was one of the focuses for the next period. When Lans revealed "what benefits it could bring if the Federation could eat up the Xiang Yalan region" last year, Congress had already started to study it.

They sent quite a few people to Xiang Yalan to conduct on-site investigation work. Of course, there were many reasons and excuses—business investigation, scientific investigation, investment. In short, there were always ways to go over and obtain some important geographical conditions.

Xiang Yalan indeed had rich mineral resources and oil, plus the climate was good, and the population was not small. This was a "battery" that could provide help for the Federation to become great.

Now there was already a battery, although it wasn't very easy to use, but there was one.

So how to "conquer" Xiang Yalan, everyone had their own views.

Some people felt... just treat the Xiang Yalan people like their ancestors treated the Federation indigenous people.

Those who were obedient could obtain the grace of working for Federation people for generations.

And those who were disobedient, well, there were so many tropical rainforests, there was always a place of rest that belonged to them.

Others believed that such a method was too rough and that they should use relatively gentle means to completely integrate Xiang Yalan into the Federation.

Congress wasn't just one interest group; there were many interest groups here. They wanted to obtain more benefits from Xiang Yalan, more benefits than other interest groups, so they had to show their strength and ability.

Whoever could solve this big problem for them faster, then that interest group could obtain more benefits.

Senator Cleveland chose Lans and his own big staffer. He would send two people, but on the surface, there was only Lans.

This matter was not easy. Even Senator Cleveland himself didn't dare to say he was sure he could overturn a country's regime and then make the people of that country feel good about the Federation.

So this was just a try. Anyway, the benefits were certain; at most, it was just a little more or a little less.

Senator Cleveland smiled and shook his head. "Who knows?"

"Maybe he will give me a huge surprise!"

There should be a surprise, right?

The Senator tilted his head slightly, squinting his eyes, facing the sun. There should be!

Lans didn't know that the Senator had such high hopes for him, but even if he knew, he wouldn't feel surprised. This was the kind of image he wanted to create.

He, omnipotent.

In the next few days, the Labor Alliance issued several announcements in a row.

They announced to the outside world everything about how they handled the Jincheng strike, including that they provided legal aid to the victims and provided them with necessary help of various kinds, it was just that the effect wasn't good; it wasn't that they didn't do it.

Now, under the leadership of Ms. Debbie, these victims in Jincheng gathered together to sue the Labor Alliance, which pushed this matter to the crest of public opinion.

The Labor Alliance stated that they were willing to bear all the consequences that the law made them bear, and would not appeal.

Whatever the court judged them to bear, they would bear. This statement also made a part of public opinion that was unfavorable to them less, and even some reversals appeared.

"Obey the ruling of the law" was the result they discussed for two days. In this way, they didn't offend anyone and could also reflect their awe of the law.

At the same time, it increased the cost for those who wanted to touch porcelain with them.

Want to ask the Labor Alliance for this part of compensation?

You can, go to the local area to sue the Labor Alliance.

Bring your lawyer and evidence to prove that your injury was caused by participating in protest activities during the strike.

As long as the evidence is sufficient, whatever the court judges, they will give.

It was precisely such a seemingly very fair decision that made many people give up the idea of asking for medical expenses.

Some people might have only had a few dozen dollars in medical expenses at the time, but suing the Labor Alliance, the litigation costs might be one or two hundred.

Except for those who were seriously injured and disabled, most other people would very likely not sue the Labor Alliance.

They only said they would obey the ruling, but they didn't say they wouldn't hire lawyers for defense.

Except for those who were indeed seriously injured and had no money to live, most people with minor injuries chose to give up the idea of asking for medical expenses.

Although the Labor Alliance did successfully stop them, it also caused their status in the hearts of the working class to decline.

The Labor Alliance's legal team didn't request to go to other courts for trial. After all, the matter happened in Jincheng, so naturally, it was tried in Jincheng.

There was a more controversial point in this case. Because the attacker had already served his sentence, there was a primary responsible party, so the Labor Alliance's lawyers believed that although they had to pay, they could lower the proportion of payment.

If it could be lowered to below 50%, even if someone still wanted to pursue their responsibility in this regard later, the cost of pursuit would increase while the benefits would decrease, which would more effectively curb those old accounts.

The day of the trial was very much watched. Many media outlets came to the scene, including big newspapers like the *Federal Daily* and the *Federal Post*. Some people had gradually realized that the result of this trial might become the standard for promoting new legislation!

This would become an important "historical moment"!

This was not something that could be ended in one trial, but from the beginning, the smell of gunpowder between the two sides was very strong, and sparks were directly hit.

The Labor Alliance's legal team was always defending themselves as "no responsibility," although they knew the final result would definitely be unfavorable to them.

This was Jincheng. From the mouse in the corner of the courtroom to the judge sitting high on the court, they were all Lans's people.

The Labor Alliance couldn't win here, couldn't win in Liclai State, and couldn't win in the Supreme Court.

But they would still try their best!

The heat of these news once suppressed people's attention to the war.

The war was too far away from ordinary people, especially those who lived in the coastal areas. Their understanding of war in their lifetime might all come from newspapers.

So compared to cases that were closer to their lives, the attention to the war naturally decreased a lot.

Just like this, watching the time go to the middle and late July, at the end of the month, it was time to divide the money again.

Lans made a phone call to General Diaz, saying he wanted to visit. In the first contact after more than half a month, General Diaz didn't refuse.

He invited Lans to meet him in his office, not in his villa. Although they were friends, their relationship wasn't that close.

Lans chose to see Diaz at five o'clock in the afternoon. Diaz also knew what Lans meant. He found that Lans was actually very aggressive in some aspects.

Visiting at this time meant that Lans was sure that General Diaz would keep Lans for dinner.

This also made General Diaz very curious. What was he sure of that he would definitely keep him?

With such doubts, he waited until 4:55. Soon his adjutant knocked on the door and told him that Lans had arrived.

"Is he alone?"

"No, he also brought two people, and they are both carrying a large box in their hands."

General Diaz frowned, but soon relaxed. He didn't believe Lans would hurt him.

He knew that these ambitious and capable people were actually more willing to follow the rules than the bastards in many cases.

"Let him in."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 884 =====