Chapter 957: Jiede's Consultants and the Military-Industrial Group

If a sharp dagger, or a loaded pistol, is the greatest confidence in the bottom of an ordinary person's heart, allowing him to have the courage to overturn the table in the face of difficult choices.

Then the army is the greatest confidence of a country's ruler.

An army of 200,000, if it were in normal times, might still need a period of time to gather so many people. Not everyone is willing to join the army.

And the situation now is relatively special. Joining the army means participating in battle, which means there is a possibility of being injured or even dying.

But just like the sentence above, the situation now is special, and the famine is still raging.

Because when the famine just started last year, people dug up potatoes and corn to eat, and the corn and wheat left for seeds were not spared, which led to the fact that spring plowing in many areas has not been completed until now.

Especially in some relatively chaotic places, they directly gave up this year's spring plowing, which also means that four months later, the autumn harvest, most places will fall into a situation of total crop failure.

The famine will continue.

Of course, it's not that there is no good news. The good news is that Diego intends to fight a fierce battle with these anti-government armed forces, which means that at least hundreds of thousands of people will lose their lives in the subsequent war.

Losing this part of the group that has the greatest demand for food, the famine situation will be significantly alleviated.

It is precisely because of the famine that the 200,000 troops recruited by Diego soon recruited all the people.

They were equipped with equipment obtained from the Republic of Jiede, intending to start from the south to the north to clear the forces around the Zhuolan area, and then further expand the "Orthodox Zone."

The area truly controlled by the government is referred to as the Orthodox Zone.

Perhaps influenced by the Federation-controlled zone, Diego intends to give his territory a name as well.

Although his naming ability is not very good, but for the sake of... at least just naming it instead of doing other excessive things, everyone chose to default.

The action of declaring war on the anti-government armed forces was very sufficient. On the balcony of the Presidential Palace, he faced the dense officers and citizens in the square in front of the Presidential Palace and righteously issued the declaration of war.

"... The anti-government armed forces headed by Pedro, Ross, and others are the cause of the country's turmoil and the source of all disasters."

When he said this sentence, he subconsciously glanced at Lanse, who was standing on the edge of the balcony and came to participate in the "War Declaration Ceremony," as well as the Federation Ambassador to Lapa beside him, and other diplomatic personnel.

Everyone knows what he means by this look, because the person who truly created the turmoil is in this city, and is beside him, less than twenty meters away from him.

But it is this distance of twenty meters that makes him, the highest ruler in name of this country, helpless. This has to be said to be a kind of sadness, the sadness of the weak.

He quickly retracted his gaze, because having a large number of troops, his confidence now seems to be much fuller, and he will even use the way of "glancing" at this time to warn Lanse and others.

At the same time, this is actually a warning and a deterrent to those ministers.

"I believe that with the joint efforts of me and all of you, everything will be perfectly solved by us, whether it is the turbulent domestic situation or the famine..."

He began to talk about some of his subsequent political policies, but Lanse and the others were slacking off.

"He has mastered a lot of soldiers recently and has started to become a bit arrogant." The Federation Ambassador to Lapa was somewhat dissatisfied with Diego's look just now.

This kind of look clearly carrying warnings and provocations made him somewhat unhappy, being warned and provoked by a landlord from the countryside.

With the thoughts in his heart, he now hopes that some anti-government armed forces will rush in and then fire a few shots at his head.

Lanse chuckled twice, slightly restrained his chin, turned his head to look elsewhere, and did not let his mouth shape be completely exposed to the eyes of Diego and the people around him.

"You don't have to be so angry. He actually caused himself a big trouble."

This sentence made the eyes of the people around Lanse focus on him. The ambassador asked with some confusion, "What stupid thing did he do again?"

Lanse curled his lips. "He accepted more than ten million in military equipment aid from the Republic of Jiede."

As the highest official sent by the International Economic Cooperation Agency, Albert is somewhat sensitive in terms of economy, market, and capital.

He immediately realized, "You mean, the domestic military-industrial group?"

Lanse nodded slightly. "Gray Industry and McGray Industry are both coming, as well as some other military-industrial enterprises. They will all send commissioners here recently."

Hearing these military-industrial groups and understanding some inside stories, people couldn't help but gasp.

If the Federation is a large enterprise, the federal government and Congress are the chief executive and board of directors of this enterprise, then capitalists, consortia, and financial groups, these people are the shareholders of this company.

Just like an ordinary company, some shareholders hold more shares, and some shareholders hold fewer shares.

As far as the current situation is concerned, people might think that some financial consortia, or consortia that hold a monopolistic position in a certain industry, such as the "Ten Oil Brothers" and the "Three Steel Giants," are the largest shareholders in this country.

But in fact, there is another group of people who are catching up with these old-fashioned major shareholders at a super fast speed, and that is the military-industrial group.

This war has actually only broken out for two years now, but these two years have already allowed the domestic military-industrial enterprises to begin to develop wildly.

Not to mention the shipbuilding industry group that has already obtained military purchases of more than one billion in an era when the per capita wage is only forty or fifty dollars, just the major military-industrial groups that manufacture army weapons and equipment have also obtained massive orders.

Previously, the Federation conducted a statistic that the annual consumption of a federal soldier from beginning to end is about more than four hundred dollars.

If participating in battle and the battle is relatively fierce and the intensity is high, then this sum of money will continue to expand.

Just the equipment costs used on individual soldiers, the annual cost is about two billion federal sols. Of course, the specific scale and accuracy of this figure remain to be discussed, but there will not be too much difference.

With so much money, how many terrifying interest groups and industrial groups can be spawned?

Just like this time, the front line just said that the semi-automatic rifle is not easy to use, and Gray Industry began to iterate and manufacture quickly and began to change to fully automatic rifles.

Similarly, McGray Industry, which is also a major producer of firearms—their names are slightly different, but they do belong to two groups.

McGray Industry also began to iterate wildly and promote more projects to join military purchases.

In the words of some institutions, in more than two years, the federal government has already spent about six billion in funds for various military purchases. The influence and destructive power generated by this money in the Federation are amazing!

And the military industry itself is a group that can come into contact with the top dignitaries of the Federation. Although they still have fierce competition internally, they are also forming barriers.

These capital groups that people usually don't notice are expanding wildly out of control and have become a super monster in places people can't see!

They came to Lapa, obviously fancying the market here.

With war and disputes, there will definitely be procurement of military equipment. It is conceivable that the addition of these people will inevitably make the situation in Lapa even more chaotic.

But this is also the result Lanse and the others want.

If this country is not chaotic, how can the salvation of the Federation be reflected?

How can the Federation be like a beam of light, shining into the hearts of the Lapa people who are in hell?

Their eyes looking at Diego again already carried some pity. Undoubtedly, the government army will soon face well-equipped anti-government armed forces, and perhaps they have also received military training.

In order to make their weapons sell well, they will definitely send some officers to train these anti-government armed forces, allowing them to fight more persistently with the government army and fight on a larger scale.

In the roar of Diego's satisfaction with the future and desire for power, he waved his fist and shouted the slogan "Long live Lapa." The entire square in front of the Presidential Palace was filled with mountain-shaking shouts.

Diego narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the shouts of those people. He waved his arm with satisfaction and left the balcony.

Others also left one after another.

Next, there is another... social activity.

Lanse and the others were all invited to attend, and they also felt more or less that Diego might want to say something.

This social event is more like a cold meal party, or a cocktail party, right in the Presidential Palace.

Diego opened some of the wine he collected. Lanse and the others stood in the corner and watched. After Diego introduced his wines and invited everyone to taste them simply, he changed the subject and started today's main topic.

"I happen to have a friend beside me who knows a lot about wine." He turned to look at a person beside him wearing a white dress.

That guy nodded slightly and raised his glass to salute everyone.

"Fernandez is my good friend, an old friend. You might not know him very well, but it doesn't matter."

"Because everyone will get along often later."

"He will be invited to become the chief advisor to the Presidential Office..."

Lanse looked at Fernandez, who was greeting everyone, and nudged the Federation Ambassador with his elbow. "Do you know him?"

The Federation Ambassador is definitely more familiar with the high-level officials of Lapa than Lanse. Lanse still can't recognize who is who among their ministers.

But the Federation Ambassador shook his head. "I haven't seen him, and I haven't heard of such a person."

His face was also full of confusion. The high-level officials of the Lapa government are actually very simple. Adding the Lavila family, there are five clans, as well as some people who have extended out.

He really hadn't heard of this person.

Fortunately, they didn't need to ask themselves. Someone took the initiative to ask, a minister.

Now the high-level officials of Lapa are also clearly divided into three factions. One part is on Diego's side. These people saw that Diego easily gathered so much military power, and there was support from the Republic of Jiede behind him, so they continued to maintain an attitude of keeping up with him.

One part of the people can't see the future direction now. Sometimes Diego's side is strong, sometimes the Federation's side is strong, but this is not the Federation's home territory after all, and they can't be sure whether the Federation can definitely go to the end, so they uphold an attitude of not offending anyone and remain neutral.

There is another part of the people, for example, Minister Labul of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who has already received instructions from Senator Cleveland of the Federation, and he belongs to the typical surrender faction.

Saying this might not sound very good, so let's change the name to "active progressive thinkers."

After all, everyone is a human being.

The number of these people is not large at present and remains to be developed.

The person who asked Diego this question was a government official of the fence-sitting faction.

After Diego and that guy looked at each other, Diego said, "Fernandez comes from the Republic of Jiede and once served as a professor at Jiede University."

In fact, there are some identities he didn't say, for example, Fernandez was once an aide to the President of the Republic of Jiede.

This identity is slightly sensitive, not as easy to be accepted as the identity of a university professor, and has no aggressiveness.

Although others felt a bit abnormal, they didn't take this matter particularly seriously.

They felt that it might be that Diego realized his brain was not enough, so he found an aide.

Some people also felt that this might be part of the deal between Diego and the Republic of Jiede.

Soon this social activity ended. Diego mainly let people know that there was such a person as Fernandez, and what he was doing now.

Lanse and the others left soon after this social event ended. What they didn't notice was that in the Presidential Office upstairs, Diego was chatting with Fernandez.

"Who is that young man?"

"I don't seem to have heard you mention it before, and there is no such person in the materials you gave us."

At the social event just now, he seemed to be dealing with people, but in fact, his attention was entirely focused on the small Federation group.

He discovered a very interesting phenomenon. Whether it was the chief Albert of the International Economic Cooperation Agency or the Federation Ambassador to Lapa, they seemed to be faintly centered on that young man.

This is the point that makes him most curious. Of course, he knows what kind of ability people who can hold these two positions need, so what about this young man?

What kind of ability does he have?

Or is it that he has some special identity?

In the early intelligence they obtained from Lapa, they didn't find this character.

Diego's gaze also stayed on the cars that kept moving away. "Lanse, Lanse White, a gang leader in the Federation, at least that's what I heard."

"He has ways in Jincheng, and knows some big figures in Congress. Some people say he is a character pushed to the front by some interest groups."

Fernandez frowned. "There is no information about this character in the materials you gave. We cannot simply judge whether he is an important figure."

Diego pursed his lips. "Just a mouthpiece."

The reason for making this judgment, which might be a bit willful, is the matter of Lanse scolding him.

He doesn't think a gang leader has the courage to face-to-face threaten him, a president of a country. The only thing that gives him the courage to do so might be that someone behind him instructed him to do so, for example, those people in Congress.

And more importantly, he doesn't want to publicize the matter of himself as a president of a country being scared to retreat by a gang leader. This is not a glorious thing.

Everyone will be disappointed in him, including himself.

Lanse now is like a "taboo" for Diego. Mentioning this person will make him angry involuntarily, or even lose his temper.

Fernandez looked at Diego twice with some confusion. He felt that Diego's emotional fluctuations on this character were a bit large, a bit outrageous.

A small character, how could he make Diego show obvious impatience and annoyance?

However, he didn't continue to ask further now. He has some understanding and research on Diego and knows that this person has a terrible temper. If he has to be stubborn, he might not be able to control himself.

So he plans to collect the intelligence on Lanse himself.

Compared to Lanse, Diego cares more about how to regain those out-of-control areas as soon as possible.

When the two "big figures" discussed Lanse slightly, Lanse was also talking about this Fernandez. "Such a character appeared beside Diego, indicating that the Republic of Jiede is trying to help Lapa fight against us in some other ways."

"Now it is not entirely a problem between us and the Lapa government, and these ruling groups, but also a problem between us and the Republic of Jiede."

"I will report this matter to Congress separately. In addition, you see if you can collect some information about this person. We need to understand it in more detail."

The Federation Ambassador nodded. "I also have friends I know in Jiede. I will entrust them to inquire."

As the first head of the Ya Alliance, the federal government must have also deployed embassies and some diplomatic intelligence collection personnel in the Republic of Jiede. There is a relationship of mutual communication between these people.

"As soon as possible."

During this period of time, there have actually been quite a few military officers from the Republic of Jiede who have come to Lapa. The Federation also knows about this, and Lanse also knows about this, but there is no way to refuse, and it cannot be refused.

If these officers don't put on military uniforms, who knows if they are soldiers?

Now the Federation can only control the Republic of Jiede and other regions from not transporting a large number of military soldiers to Lapa.

Even weapon transportation is difficult to solve because these things are indeed relatively hidden.

Packed in moisture-proof weapon equipment boxes, you can tell at a glance that they are weapons.

But what if they are packed in boxes of other things?

Or simply mixed with grain, who can discover it?

With these military equipment and officers, no wonder he wants to fight a fierce battle with the anti-government armed forces.

On the third day after Diego announced that he would declare war on the anti-government armed forces, Lanse came to the pier to welcome several important guys from the Federation.

They represent the interests of different military-industrial groups in the Federation. Coming here to promote weapons this time is allowed by Congress. Of course, this also has to do with them madly transporting benefits to Congress.

Lanse's business of several hundred million a year can make Congress open a green light for him. Now the military-industrial group holds business of several billion a year, and Congress is easier to be persuaded.

However, Congress also has a requirement, that is, not to destroy the plan to disintegrate the Ya Alliance.

This is the bottom line! ===== CHAPTER 958 =====