Chapter 975: Huddling Together Means Dying More and Faster

In a room that didn't look luxurious at all, and even a bit dilapidated, Pedro suddenly stood up.

"Ross is here."

He said this and took the initiative to walk to the door. At this moment, the room door opened, and Ross walked in from the outside with a big laugh, "What do you call this thing you're doing?"

He was wearing a military uniform. From his body, one could no longer find the traces of the worker before. It could even be said that he was a soldier, and no one would associate him with a worker.

He first hugged Pedro, and then others. After separating, he put his arm around Pedro's hand and said, "Class reunion, is that what it's called?"

Pedro nodded, "Saying it that way is not a problem at all!" He pulled Ross into the room and let him sit down, and others also sat around this table one after another.

Ross's gaze stayed on the participants around the table one by one, and finally, his gaze fell on Pedro beside him. He had already looked at everyone here.

"Only fifteen, where are the other nine?"

Their batch, also the only batch of students, had twenty-four people, coming from all over Lapa, but in this room, there were only fifteen people, meaning there were nine people not here.

Pedro revealed some regretful expressions on his face, "A few have already returned to God's embrace, and two people don't intend to get involved."

Not everyone wants to dance on this stage. There are also people willing to be unknown.

Ambition sounds very nice, but to realize it, the price that needs to be paid might be extremely heavy.

Not everyone has such courage and determination. People who can dance on the stage of the era are ultimately a very small minority, and most people are mediocre for a lifetime.

Ross sighed when hearing this, "The government army has been fighting very fiercely during this period, even we have to retreat for a distance to avoid fighting them too early."

Under Fernandez's presiding, under the command of those Jiede officers, the government army's offensive during this period was very fierce.

It can be said that they were suppressing these insurgents—this is their own way of saying it. Of course, the Lapa regime is still relatively stable, so in the international community, they are anti-government militants.

Quite a few insurgents were eliminated in this military action that was like a tsunami, among them were their contemporary "classmates."

Everyone's emotions were slightly low. The smiles and voices of those people in the past seemed to linger not far away, and they could still clearly remember these.

Remember them having intense discussions in Lansi's "classroom," the collision of thoughts...

But now, these people have become a symbol, a past tense.

Perhaps this is also their destination.

Perhaps.

After a brief silence, Pedro exhaled, and everyone's attention was attracted to him, including Ross.

Among these fifteen anti-government armed leaders, only Pedro and Ross's forces are currently the largest, and their strength is also the strongest.

Pedro was the earliest to stand up against the government, and the aid he obtained from Lansi would also be more than others.

At the same time, they had already fought the government army once and achieved good results.

This made Pedro like a flag, a lighthouse, becoming a target that guided people's direction forward.

Some people's ambition is not to be President. They might just want to be a general, or be a... official or something, so they won't pull up their own team to resist the Lapa official government. They will join Pedro's team.

Ross is the person who followed closely, so he also developed very well, and he has a considerable number of workers under his hands.

In Lapa, workers are not the lowest class, but belong to the near-middle class. He himself is also a worker. After these workers unite, they are stronger than Pedro's team, which has everything, in terms of combat effectiveness and execution.

This also made some people intend to invest in them.

Some privileged classes in the country, and even the ruling class, also started to arrange for people to contact them.

It is not only the Federal people who support them, so their development is like a snowball, getting faster and bigger!

However, even so, when facing the fully armed government army with professional officers, Ross or Pedro would choose to take the initiative to retreat. Now is not the time to fight them head-on.

Pedro nodded and agreed with Ross's point of view, "Their offensive is very strong now. There is a momentum in their bodies, supporting them to fight us fearlessly."

"But I believe this momentum cannot be maintained like this forever. People are not machines; they will always get tired."

People around also nodded one after another, agreeing with Pedro's view.

Ross looked at him and asked, "So?"

"Gathering us together this time, it wouldn't really be just to let us old classmates have a gathering?"

He said this while laughing, just as if he really thought so.

Pedro felt some emotion. Ross's change might be the biggest among the members who participated in the seminar.

Before, he actually didn't have such "maturity" as now, political maturity. Before, he was just a worker, but now, he is obviously more like a politician!

He pressed these thoughts and ideas in his heart, smiled and said, "I gathered everyone together, besides indeed wanting to chat about everyone's recent developments, I also have some other ideas."

People's attention was focused on him again, and some even urged him to say it quickly.

Pedro didn't continue to grind, directly saying the purpose of gathering them together, "We should unite."

"If you have noticed some other insurgents in Lapa now, you will find that we are not the only ones."

"I haven't even heard of some insurgent leaders in some places, and some insurgent forces with relatively large strength are themselves people of the ruling class. They are just roles pushed to the front."

"Now the situation in Lapa hasn't shrunk the scale of the uprising because the government army's huge offensive has achieved certain results."

"On the contrary, almost most areas I know have some insurgents, and they are attacking cities and occupying places."

"We are not all!"

An "classmate" couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this a good thing?"

"This at least proves that our choice is correct, because the Lavila family and this ruling group have indeed made everyone unable to live."

"But if people can still live, who would be willing to throw themselves into this cause that even we are not sure can go to the end?"

This is a view clearly carrying some pessimism. Pedro didn't refute him, just nodded while saying, "You said it very correctly."

"It is not that we want to resist the rule of the Lavila family, but that he forces us to have to resist."

"My meaning is, among so many insurgents now, we are no longer the most powerful, and some people's strength is still very weak."

"You should have all heard that the Federal government is exporting standard-specification ammunition to Lapa."

"This means that the weapons in the hands of the government army will soon become misfires. I have a bold guess."

"In the next stage, war, fighting, will mainly happen between us insurgents."

People's eyes have been locked on him. He didn't panic and lit a cigarette he rolled himself.

"So we should unite!"

"Unity" is indeed a slogan with power, and they practiced the truth that Lansi once told them through their own actions—unity is strength!

When Pedro also shouted this "unity," some people were immediately moved.

They indeed felt some pressure, not from the government army, but from other insurgents around them.

Like the eastern region far from Zhuolan, the fragmentation there is more exaggerated than here. Almost most cities are occupied by insurgents.

They have already started to have friction between them. Now it might not be obvious. Perhaps it won't take long before the fighting between insurgents will break out.

Pedro proposed this idea at this time, and immediately got their support.

More and more people supported Pedro's idea. When alone, people are creatures with brains.

But when there are many people, people's brains will disappear, replaced by a kind of group consciousness.

However, no matter how many people agreed, supported, or opposed, Pedro's attention was always on Ross beside him.

After a while, others gradually all agreed, leaving only Ross. Ross looked at Pedro with a smile that wasn't a smile, and asked, "This is indeed a good suggestion, but I also have a question." Pedro nodded, "Please say it, let's discuss it."

Ross asked very straightforwardly, "If we overthrow the rule of the Lavila family, and also handle all other insurgents, we win the final victory."

"Who will this fruit of victory fall into?"

Originally, the atmosphere in the room was considered relatively hot. With the appearance of this question, the atmosphere cooled down visibly to the naked eye.

People looked at each other, and no one spoke anymore.

This is indeed a problem.

If they fought and paid numerous prices, in the end, when it came to picking the fruit of victory, this fruit didn't have their share. Are they willing?

People's minds are very subtle things. It might be just because of one sentence that their thoughts undergo completely different changes.

Those who just supported Pedro very much, at this time, looked at Pedro with something in their eyes that made people unable to see clearly.

Although it couldn't be seen clearly, it definitely wasn't anything good.

Pedro seemed to have expected this point, and his expression didn't change much, still maintaining a smile.

"Actually, even if you didn't say it, I intended to say this matter actively in the end."

"You all know that I admire the Federal social system very much."

"Congress, Presidential Office, local government, I am not saying how perfect this system is, it is just indeed much better than ours."

"No matter who wins in the end, no matter who can eat this fruit, I don't hope this becomes the beginning of a new disaster!"

"I suggest that we also learn from the Federal society, completely divide power, and adopt a voting election system, as much as possible to ensure that power will not become corrupt because it is absolute!"

Others listened, and some seemed to think this idea was not bad.

When Lansi gave them "lessons," he also talked about the Federal system. He talked about some problems existing in the Federal society when talking about the Federal system.

But these problems, in the eyes of these people, instead don't count as problems.

A barbarian who hasn't even worn clothes, now giving him a set of work clothes, he feels already very satisfied, at least like an ordinary person.

If that set of things from the Federation is moved over, perhaps it can change Lapa's future.

Ross didn't speak, which meant he didn't agree with this idea, and not everyone supported this idea.

Pedro sighed lightly, which meant he would definitely become an opponent with Ross in the end.

"There is another plan."

"After we solve all other competitors and overthrow the Lapa government, then we will decide who to listen to through internal competition ourselves."

As soon as this sentence came out, Ross immediately nodded and agreed.

He laughed and said, "This is good. No matter who it is, whatever thoughts they have, they can have their own claims."

Others also nodded one after another, expressing agreement.

After all, the victory obtained by risking everything, why share it with others?

And why can't even hereditary succession be done?

And let others choose?

Then what counts as their payment?

Those deaths, those sacrifices, what do they count as?

Count as a joke?

It is not that everyone will support this ruling system of the Federation. Compared to the obviously more advanced social system of the Federation, they prefer this hereditary power inheritance.

Everything they do now, isn't it for themselves, for their children, for their descendants?

Let their descendants also compete fairly with those who haven't paid anything?

Stop joking!

People are like this.

When they don't have it themselves, they are absolutely advocates of fairness.

But when they really have it, they will become selfish guardians of interests.

Although Ross's decision made Pedro slightly disappointed, the main purpose was achieved: they would cooperate.

"Since everyone has no opinion, then I will continue."

"Recently, that Fernandez returned to Jiede for some reason. Now no one is presiding over the war, and some officers also left with him. This is an opportunity for us."

"We can launch some counterattacks during their current stagnant state, which can boost morale."

"It also counts as letting them realize that we are not soft persimmons!"

"We need to establish our authority, we need to have our 'brand,' only in this way can we attract more talents to join us, and can we make ourselves stronger!"

He used the "brand" that Lansi said here, which was not abrupt at all. He might be the anti-government armed force leader with the most ideas among this group of people.

Others, in the absence of core conflicts, also recognized Pedro very much. After all, he is a high school teacher.

In the eyes of these people, a high school teacher represents a cultural person, a representative of thought and ability!

Ross also had no opinion, "What should we do now?"

Pedro leaned forward, "My idea is like this..."

In fact, they all know what happened in the Lapa government. The Federal people are telling them what happened in the Lapa government through various ways.

In this way, they know everything about the government and the government army's actions.

This is also a way to balance the two forces.

If they weren't told any intelligence at all, then Diego's government army would be too strong, which would destroy the balance of this game.

What Lansi and the Federal government need is to let them consume each other.

Pick out those thorns, those who still harbor dreams in their hearts and are willing to work hard to realize their dreams, pick out those unstable factors, and let them be consumed by their own people on the battlefield of civil war.

When this batch of people is almost consumed, the Federation will enter the game.

This is a game destined to fail. Except for the Federation outside the gambling table, there will be no winners.

But they who have already joined the game don't know this point, or they might have some feelings, but at this moment, besides moving forward, they have no other way.

After this gathering, soon these anti-government armed forces started to gather. In the second week of August, they launched an attack on a river city with important strategic significance that had been recaptured by the government army.

This time they gathered more than forty thousand people to participate in this battle. The battle was very fierce from the beginning, and both sides constantly exchanged bullets and lives.

Every minute, every second, people were constantly dying.

Human life had become the least valuable thing at this time, and no one cared.

The battle lasted for about five days. In the end, the government army was forced to withdraw from the city and started to retreat to the rear.

This victory shocked the whole of Lapa. Whether it was Diego or other insurgents, they were all shocked by the result of this battle!

This might be the first victory of the anti-government armed forces after Diego "got serious." It has very important significance!

Some other anti-government armed forces also seemed to start considering counterattacking the Lapa government, and there was a small rumor circulating among the people—

The ammunition reserves in the hands of the Lapa government army were not much, and the weapons in their hands would soon be worse than a knife!

This news also promoted a craze for battle.

By the end of August, they were almost all fighting.

In some places, the government army won, but in some places, the anti-government armed forces won.

At the same time, they also discovered that the firepower of the government army suddenly misfired a bit, unlike at the beginning, when they were crazily pouring ammunition.

This further confirmed that rumor—the ammunition supply of the government army couldn't keep up!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 976 =====