Chapter 914: Changes in the Situation

For several days, more than a week, every day there would be new "anti-government rioters" sent to the execution rack.

The central square of Zhuolan exuded a thick bloody smell. Even if the cleaners cleaned it morning and evening, it was difficult to dispel these fishy and smelly smells.

Even using disinfectant wouldn't work, because the blood had long penetrated into the brick seams and into the soil.

In a short period of time, there was no way to remove this smell.

Diego was really angered. Those heads that were cut off were even covered with cloth bags and picked up with poles, placed on both sides of the road entering the city.

The entire Zhuolan, and even the entire Lapa, had calmed down somewhat in this execution that could be called a massacre.

Federal reporters also went to see it. On both sides of the road were high wooden poles, maybe four or five meters high or a little higher.

They were wrapped in a piece of sackcloth. The bottom of the sackcloth was black and transparent with a hint of bright red. On the sackcloth, some birds would stay.

They didn't care about the occasion or the crowds on the road, constantly pecking and eating.

This terrifying scene caused many reporters to have strong physiological discomfort, among whom there were even some reporters who had been to the front line of the battlefield.

They didn't have this kind of discomfort on the battlefield full of corpses and corpse fragments, but here, they felt uncomfortable.

Death is the main theme of the battlefield. No matter how the soldiers died, that is a kind of "respect" for them by war.

Although they were divided into many pieces, here a piece and there a piece, it only made people feel the tragedy of war.

But here, it gave people a disgusting feeling.

Power overrides people's basic rights!

Lans held the latest "International Observer" in his hand. The front-page headline used "Whose Hell" to describe the tragedy happening in Zhuolan at this time.

Reporters used large-format photos to give readers a feeling of being on the scene. Some readers, after reading this issue of "International Observer," called the reporters and editors to scold them, saying they "made me feel sick and want to vomit."

They felt that these pictures shouldn't appear in the newspaper. The impact they brought made the Federals shudder, and at the same time produced a stronger sense of happiness!

Being born in the Federation is really the luckiest thing in this life as a human being, none of them!

Mainstream media also reprinted these articles, and those reporters also brought a lot of private goods in the reports.

If they said this was just a barbaric and backward part of the Xiang Yalan area, the entire Xiang Yalan area was such a country.

Power is hereditary, and the ruling class arbitrarily deprives people of their lives and uses this as a means of rule.

This made many people have no good impression of the ruling class of Xiang Yalan.

The Federal government let people see the things they wanted to export, and also gained people's recognition, which made this annexation change from "shameless invasion" to "redemption of human rights."

The Congress was very satisfied with the entire plan, so even core political newspapers like the "Federal Post" reprinted these news and pictures, and also specifically engaged two free-lance reviews.

Lans flipped through the newspaper in his hand. These newspapers were actually from yesterday.

"Some institutions conducted public opinion polls yesterday. Thirty-one percent of people think the Federal government should intervene or speak out for the people of Lapa."

Albert sat beside Lans, stirring the top-quality coffee in his cup, chatting about some situations in the country.

Diego had been instructing the military to arrest those rioters for these days. As for whether what they caught were really people who participated in the riots, no one could say clearly.

The military might also have their own ideas. It is said that quite a few local residents of Zhuolan were also caught and locked up by them.

Of course, their assets naturally became the object of looting by the military.

However, who can say clearly about this kind of thing? Perhaps... this is just a rumor, I believe the Diego government will soon stand up to clarify.

Lans tasted the delicious breakfast. Today's breakfast was a food with local style and flavor.

They put beef cubes that were less than one centimeter thick, eight parts fat and two parts lean, on a barbecue rack without open fire and roasted them until cooked.

This way the grease would drip down, but it wouldn't cause a "frying" effect. After processing these beef cubes, it had shrunk to become a bit larger than soybeans, very crispy small beef cubes.

When put in the mouth and chewed, there would be the fragrance of rich beef grease, but it wouldn't appear very greasy because the grease was no longer in the meat.

At the same time, it also had the flavor of barbecue, and the lean meat part of the beef wouldn't be too dry, even if eaten directly, it was very delicious.

They would mix these things with some onions, some apple granules, and some local fruit granules and a little vegetables.

Mix it with a sauce with a sweet and sour taste, and then clamp it into a fried small wheat semi-circular noodle shell that looks like a bowl.

Sprinkle some spices again, each one is only a bit larger than a ping-pong ball, and you can eat one in one bite.

Very delicious!

The change of taste is very unique and many, the taste, all aspects, are top-notch, almost finding any shortcomings.

Although Lapa is very poor and backward, they, those privileged classes, ruling groups, are not backward compared to the old men of the Federation in terms of enjoyment.

Not to mention in the middle of winter, there is fresh iced fruit juice squeezed out with ice cubes. It is said that this is the same style as Diego, and the strong sweet and sour taste makes people have a great appetite.

"Still too little.", Lans swallowed the delicious food in his mouth. He rarely had any strong desire for food.

However, this local food is indeed delicious, mainly because it is not greasy at all, and some sour fruits inside very well relieved the possible greasiness.

He picked up another one and put it in his mouth, "Only twenty or thirty percent of people support us doing something. It seems like a lot, but in fact, seventy percent of people don't support us doing so."

"This needs to continue to expand the influence, and at the same time, let people realize the benefits that can be brought here."

"To the government, and to those ordinary people."

He swallowed the food in his mouth again and picked up the coffee and took a sip, "Lapa is very suitable for planting coffee beans, but they haven't utilized it."

"There are also rich mineral resources here, which can meet the production needs of the country, and also need workers."

Lapa's labor cost is very low, lower than the refugee workers in the Federation, which can increase the wages of Federal employees by exploiting the labor of local workers.

For some workers who are willing to work abroad, they are the actual beneficiaries, and Lans intends to let this part of the workers be mainly Federal local workers, not immigrant descendants, or refugee workers.

After several rounds of bill reform, the Federal government, while giving immigrant descendants and dark-skinned people the right to vote, also deprived them of their right to vote through a series of other bills.

For example, the most typical "Hernandez Act," which stipulates that naturalized populations (immigrants) and dark-skinned people must pay a fixed fee every year from the date of naturalization and the time of obtaining Federal citizenship to obtain the right to vote.

This money is not much, not little, ten-odd dollars a year.

But for poor families, especially those imperial immigrants in the Empire District, they might only save twenty or thirty dollars a year.

At this time, taking out half of the savings to voluntarily pay a tax that can not be paid, just to be able to legally check a name on the ballot, is clearly not cost-effective.

So many immigrants and dark-skinned people don't possess any right to vote.

Including Federal locals, if they don't have their own house, don't have a stable job, they don't have the right to vote—

Capitalists use the slogan "If you love this country, you should participate in political activities" to promote the benefits of buying a house, and link buying a house with patriotism, and it seems to make some sense.

Indeed, quite a few people took out loans to buy houses in order to obtain the right to vote that actually had no use, and in the end, they found that they were just one in several million.

Their votes couldn't affect the final result, and sometimes if the result didn't satisfy the old men, they would even artificially modify the result.

However, from the overall perspective, this is a win-win-win for all three parties.

Capitalists sold those properties that couldn't be sold, the public had strong patriotic willingness and qualifications, politicians gained more voter support, and won very thoroughly.

The old men need these voters, and Lans also needs these voters. Temporarily not discussing the way they obtained the right to vote is... the kind of stabbing themselves (loans), at least they obtained the right to vote, they are voters in the true sense!

These people possess political rights. For people who are useless, it is indeed useless.

But for those who can preside over justice for themselves, such as Senator Cleveland and his small group, then voters are very useful.

Getting these voters with voting rights to Lapa, to Xiang Yalan, giving them high welfare and high income, they will rely more on the invasion of Xiang Yalan.

When the public with voting rights is "locked" on this land, only a public vote is needed, and the Federal government and Congress can obtain the "authorization of the people" to carry out some operations on the Xiang Yalan area.

He had already talked about these with Senator Cleveland, and the latter also supported his plan very much.

However, he didn't tell Albert in detail, although his name was the same as one of Patricia's three grandfathers.

Sometimes Lans was also not used to the fact that the names of Federals, and people all over the world, were always repeated.

He glanced at Albert, "After the New Year, you can try to contact those people."

Two "tra

After the New Year, the current high-intensity alert should be relaxed.

Albert nodded, "I understand."

After sending Albert away, Lanse also returned to the study; he supported his chin with one hand on the armrest of the chair, thinking about a letter sent over along with today's newspaper.

The letter was written by Senator Cleveland, and the content was to tell him that the Republic of Jiede had decided to support Rapa with a batch of grain.

According to their understanding, the first batch was about 4,000 tons.

This batch of grain was already enough to solve some of the problems Rapa was currently encountering.

They were not sure what the transaction content behind this aid was; on one hand, Congress wanted to know what conditions Rapa had promised Jiede, which needed to be figured out.

On the other hand, because they were using rail land transport, even if the Federation wanted to intervene and do something, it would be very difficult.

Among the "non-governmental organizations" currently operating in Xiang Yalan, only Lanse was in Rapa and had the strength to sabotage this transaction.

Senator Cleveland's meaning was to make their transaction fail as much as possible.

Honestly, it was a bit difficult for people.

Lanse had already burned the letter; he didn't even dare to talk about these contents with the country over the phone now, and he didn't know if Rapa would wiretap his phone.

This gave him a slight headache, because some information could not be obtained in a timely manner, which might lead to delays in handling.

But fortunately, this matter would only be carried out after the New Year.

Senator Cleveland also told Lanse in the letter that during this period, Congress and the Federal government would focus on the war and would not be able to take care of his side for the time being.

So he mainly had to rely on himself—mainly in terms of manpower.

If he needed some materials, such as weapons, grain, or something else, these could be given to him in full.

But if he wanted some government personnel to provide help, it was estimated that they wouldn't be able to exert any effort, including launching covert military operations in the Xiang Yalan area.

Because in the past few months, in order to ensure that the Dantela Navy would not attack the Federation's important ports and coastal cities again, the Federal Navy had deployed its main naval forces to the Federation's mainland.

Only a small number of warships escorted merchant ships traveling between the two continents, which led to the interruption of material transport from time to time.

Of course, this was the Federal government's external statement; in fact, sometimes they just sent empty freighters and then claimed that the freighters were sunk during transport.

The threat to the shipping lanes and the increased risk would inevitably increase the cost of transport.

People who risked huge risks to transport back and forth were definitely not doing charity work, so it was normal to ask for a little more.

Now, except for the Federal Army's material ships being escorted by the Navy, civilian free trade was basically ignored.

This led to some problems in the material supply for Slader and his allies.

In fact, they also knew that this was the despicable means of the Federal people; the Federal government was seeking to obtain more initiative and power, using these dirty ways to pinch their necks.

They wanted to become the force leading the war within the military alliance, and even the power to lead the entire military alliance and the future of these countries.

And their reasons were also very sufficient; in the words of Congress, it was that they should obtain the "respect" equal to their strength.

The Slader people were beaten until they could only constantly retreat and defend; it was the Federal people who invested a large number of troops to push the front line back to the vicinity of the border between the two countries and paid a heavy price.

In the specific data not disclosed to the Federal people, the number of soldiers killed on the front line had exceeded 300,000.

With so many people dead and so much wealth invested, it seemed that it was also appropriate for the Federal government to want to obtain the initiative of the war.

It was they who kept the war from continuing to worsen and had a good performance.

However, the Slader government didn't think so; if the Federal people were allowed to lead this war, they would lose all their current status.

And they were also not sure whether the greedy appetite of the Federal people could be filled; if it couldn't be filled, it would also be a big trouble for them.

The Slader country hoped to obtain a large amount of war dividends from Dantela through the victory of this war.

On one hand, it was used to solve the escalating class contradictions in their country; in fact, they were the same as the Federation or other countries that actively participated in the war, and they all needed to export trouble.

On the other hand, they also hoped to determine their status on the Tanfite continent through this war, while restricting the development of the Dantela Republic.

If the initiative was handed over to the Federation, would they reduce the benefits they obtained?

Was there still a chance for their strategic plan to be realized?

Also, in the military alliance and the international camp that might be formed in the future, was it also necessary for the Federal people to hold the dominant position?

Combining many factors, the two sides had been "negotiating" around this issue, and the negotiations had always been very unsmooth; no one wanted to give up their benefits, nor did they want to let the other side obtain benefits.

The tug-of-war negotiations finally consumed the patience of the Federal government; in October, the Federal military stopped completely and stayed in place, which made Dantela breathe a sigh of relief, and the pressure was greatly reduced.

They also seemed to realize this; there might have been a problem between the Federation and Slader, so they suddenly began to strengthen their offensive, and the front line was pushed back into Slader territory.

Beaten until they were covered in bumps by the Federal people with money and fearlessness of sacrifice, they couldn't beat them, but couldn't they beat the Slader people?

And more small units began to infiltrate the rear for destruction; they blew up many bridges, roads, railways, factories, etc., causing part of the industry to be almost in a state of paralysis.

If it were normal times, paralysis would be paralysis, but now it was wartime; even if the factory producing screws was paralyzed, it wouldn't work, which meant that the ordnance was damaged and could not be repaired.

They were now very, very passive!

Sometimes the Slader people doubted whether they could find the destination so accurately because the Federal people revealed some intelligence to the Dantela people; otherwise, how could they blow it up accurately every time.

Under these circumstances, Slader's industrial production and transport capacity dropped another level; what made them feel even more uneasy was that it was said that the Dantela people sent a new delegation to visit the Federation to restart negotiations on the war issue.

So, the problem that had been deadlocked for more than half a year finally ushered in dawn and a turning point; the Slader people also began to continue consultations with the Federation around the question of "who is the father," and it was very likely that they would make concessions.

Congress's focus was all placed here, and it couldn't take care of Lanse's side for the time being.

Of course, not being able to take care of it also had the benefits of not being able to take care of it; at least Lanse had no time to care about what he did, and wouldn't stop him.

So some of his plans could become a bit bolder!

In the evening, Erwin made a phone call.