Empire of Shadows

Admiral Diaz watched as Lance and the two men carrying briefcases behind him walked in. He didn’t know it, but his expression at this moment was the same as Admiral Miles’s when he first saw Lance.

He didn’t even stand up, just sat in his chair.

However, he didn’t appear that arrogant. He wasn’t leaning back excessively, crossing his legs, or looking at Lance with arrogant and dismissive eyes. Instead, he sat up straight with a smile.

His hands were on the desk in front of him. From his face, his expression, his eyes, not much arrogance could be seen.

But in his bones, he was still somewhat arrogant.

Lance had his men place the things next to the chair opposite Admiral Diaz, and then had the two leave.

He walked over and shook the Admiral’s hand, then sat down opposite him.

”I hope you were satisfied with the small gift last time.”

Lance’s opening was very direct. Admiral Diaz maintained his smile. ”It was acceptable.”

After he said ”acceptable,” he made no further comment. Lance wasn’t angry either. It’s not that you have to think everyone who gives you benefits is a good person and greet them with a smile.In fact, from Admiral Diaz’s perspective, he had already behaved very well. At least he was willing to pretend, to act like he was an amiable person, and not like his predecessor, who didn’t even bother to act from the start.

Lance made a gesture, intending to bring the two briefcases up. Admiral Diaz nodded.

Soon, the briefcases were lifted and placed on the desk. Lance then opened the latches around the bottom of the cases, as if they were placed upside down on the desk.

The latches on both cases were opened, and then he lifted the cases by their handles.

The cases, having lost their bottom support, naturally revealed their contents. Even though Admiral Diaz was worldly-wise, he still took a deep breath when he saw the neatly stacked piles of cash.

Two piles of banknotes, a foot wide, over a foot long, and more than half a foot high. Two piles!

These two piles of ”things,” which probably cost only a few hundred dollars to make, firmly captured Admiral Diaz’s gaze. It took him a long while to move his eyes away from the cash.

He looked at Lance with a puzzled expression, as if to say, ”What is the meaning of this?”

Lance placed the two empty cases on the floor by his feet. He sat back down and took out a cigarette. ”Do you mind?”

The initiative, in that casual moment, had shifted.

In fact, Lance was not afraid of Admiral Diaz, because behind him was Congress, was the Department of Defense. At most, Admiral Diaz could give him some embarrassment, make him unhappy, but couldn’t really do anything to him.

No matter which world, which cultural background, a ”military man’s” provocation of a ”civilian man” would be seen by the ”civilian man” as the beginning of a war!

Here, it was no exception.

The gentlemen of Congress had always believed that soldiers should be loyal to Congress, loyal to the country. They didn’t need to have their own thoughts or anything else. They just needed to obey.

Just not obeying was already a crime, let alone trying to provoke Congress.

No one who had done so had ever had a good end!

Lance was not a member of Congress, so he was relatively weak compared to Admiral Diaz, but he was not without any backing. As long as he had the opportunity, he could still turn the passive situation around.

He glanced at the desk lighter on the table. It was a cannon ship. He didn’t need to personally test it to know that by just pressing one of the switches, the muzzle of the cannon ship would spit out a spark, and then the wick inside would be lit.

Desk lighters could always be inventive. Of course, some were specially customized.

Lance did not use this desk lighter, but took out his matches. He held the cigarette in his mouth, crossed his legs, tilted his head slightly, letting the corner of his mouth with the dangling cigarette be on top.

Sss-la—the match was struck, and a puff of gunpowder-scented smoke rose into the air.

But the smoke did not go far before it was burned clean by the flame.

He shook his hand, extinguished the match, and put it in the ashtray.

He took a deep drag and exhaled a large amount of smoke.

”This month’s dividend,” Lance pressed his cigarette-holding hand on one of the piles of cash. ”Physical therapy.”

Admiral Diaz’s gaze fell on the money again. He stared at the money for a good seven or eight seconds before retracting his gaze. ”I remember this money should have already gone into Miles’s pocket.”

Because this money went through the military expenditure, and the budget for military expenditure was made a year in advance. Once it was done, the funds would be directly allocated.

Except for special projects, like building warships.

Building warships was funded in stages, or for large-scale construction projects.

Others, like these that provided free physical therapy, were all one-time appropriations.

Its cost itself was not high, and the congressional side would not be stingy about being generous on a small amount.

So the entire year’s physical therapy fee was allocated directly.

After Lance got the money, he would give Admiral Miles his share directly. After all, everyone knew this money was in Lance’s hands.

If he held onto it and didn’t give it, or gave it in monthly installments, it would give people the feeling that he was trying to use this money to control Admiral Miles.

This money, compared to others, was not a big project at all, so Lance had directly allocated the money, and had never waited or given it in installments.

This had also resulted in Admiral Miles having only worked for half a year, but he had already received the money for the second half of the year.

This money had been taken by him. Lance couldn’t possibly call him now and ask him to spit out half of the money.

So, he took out another sum of money to give to Diaz.

Of course, he would make this matter very clear.

”Admiral Miles is Admiral Miles. When he was working here, he also took good care of our business, so every year when the budget comes down, this money is directly transferred to him.”

”We all didn’t know that things would develop to this point. This money can be regarded as a souvenir for him leaving Golden Port City.”

”As for you, Admiral Diaz, here, as long as it’s what you deserve, you won’t be missing a single cent, even if I have to pay you out of my own pocket.”

”These are the rules!”

Admiral Diaz raised his hand and rubbed his forehead. ”Rules,” he repeated the word Lance had emphasized.

To be honest, the golden warship from before, and the two piles of money on this table, looked to be about three or four hundred thousand.

He had heard, heard from people, that Lance was very popular in Congress. Now he knew.

Anyone who could do this, no matter where they were, would be very popular.

”Every month.”

Lance added another sentence. This sentence made Admiral Diaz’s heart pound.

This was much more profitable than faking exercises to get ammunition subsidies.

It was also more profitable than secretly selling declared-scrapped standard weapons.

He took a deep breath. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had to. This Lance White really had something.

However, he was still holding on. He wanted to see where Lance’s ”limit” was.

It wasn’t that he was making things difficult for Lance, but that he and Lance didn’t know each other. They had just met. To rashly accept such a large bribe, he would feel a little uneasy.

It wasn’t that his greed was uneasy, but that he felt Lance might have some other ideas.

You know, the ”final blow” that had brought down Admiral Miles and had made him compromise with Congress and plead guilty was ”corruption”!

”I don’t know, I just feel that I shouldn’t take this money,” Admiral Diaz showed a regretful expression. He had said words against his heart with great effort.

All military generals had roughly the same problem.

If they wanted to get money, they could only get it from the military budget.

And this method of getting money may not necessarily get much money. For example, the military equipment part, it wasn’t that the money was given to the military and let the military buy it themselves.

Congress has a military committee. The military committee will decide which company’s what product to buy for this year’s military purchase, and how much.

Then they would directly connect with these military-industrial enterprises.

The role that the military could play in this was to recommend—”The soldiers all say that the equipment of XXX military-industrial enterprise is very good to use!”

But sometimes the military committee would not listen to them. They would find a random reason to brush it off, and then order another company’s product.

They had the ability to get money, from the military budget, but they couldn’t get a particularly large amount, and the speed of getting money was relatively slow.

In fact, there is a very direct piece of evidence for this. In the Federation, people can see many generals who are not rich. They might have worked in the army for a lifetime, and by the time they are old, they are actually just at an upper-middle-class level.

This also includes some military officers.

But there is no senator who is poor.

When they stepped down from their positions as senators, not to say that everyone was on par with a big capitalist, at least they had a net worth of several million or tens of millions, and this was still the kind that was doing the worst!

So to refuse so much money given by Lance was indeed very difficult.

Just like Admiral Miles. He was very arrogant, and he looked down on people from a ”mud-legged” background like Lance, but what Lance had given was too much, so much that he had to take the initiative to welcome Lance.

It wasn’t that he really felt that Lance was his bosom friend, but that Lance had given too much, and he had no way not to change his attitude.

The power of money is the same as the value it represents. The larger the value, the greater the power of the money!

Lance shook his head. ”Admiral Diaz, I respect every soldier.”

”Especially now, in wartime.”

He took a puff of his cigarette, his body exceptionally relaxed, relaxed from the inside out.

As long as a person can maintain a relaxed state, the confidence on his body will become more obvious.

”Because soldiers use their lives to defend the interests of the Federation and the people!”

Hearing this, even if Admiral Diaz was not very willing to agree with Lance, he couldn’t help but nod. It was so well said.

”But this, what does it have to do with whether I take this money or not?” he asked.

Lance smiled and spread his hands. ”It has a lot to do with it.”

”Admiral Diaz, the soldiers are still very young. They have their own greedy things. No one wants to be a rookie until they die.”

”This project can let them relax very well, let them be more focused on military training, and help them to have more opportunities to survive in the war.”

”We have also done a survey. Since the building in the back appeared, the number of fights and brawls in the barracks has decreased. People have a place to vent their energy, and they have become easier to manage.”

”This project was jointly promoted by Admiral Miles and me. Now Admiral Miles has temporarily left here, and his military officer confidants have also left.”

”People will feel a little... worried about the things left over from Admiral Miles’s time, worried if there will be any changes.”

Lance leaned forward and tapped his cigarette ash. He continued, ”Actually, what you are receiving is not money, but a continuation of a rule.”

”If people see that you have taken the money, they will realize that some of the projects, some of the rules that had appeared during Admiral Miles’s time, will not change.”

”They don’t need to consider whether they can adapt to the new environment. They just need to be as they were before.”

”Train, eat, rest, release pressure, and listen to the commander!”

”I can guarantee that as long as I leave your office empty-handed, the soldiers in this base will love you even more.”

”You are not taking illicit money, black money. You are appeasing their emotions, giving the soldiers some welfare, and ensuring that before they face the war, before they walk into the cannon fire, they at least have no regrets.”

Listening to Lance’s words, Admiral Diaz began to fall into a deep thought. He held his hands together and pressed them to his chin, frowning as he looked at the money.

According to Lance’s statement, it seemed that if he didn’t take this money, it would really be a problem?!

He himself was actually not repulsed by this idea, but... he just didn’t like the current passivity.

But what Lance had said was also very reasonable. For a moment, he himself was a little undecided.

At the same time, he thought of another problem. Lance had put the military officers, the soldiers, in his words. What was he trying to express?

Did he want to say that his infiltration of the base was very strong?

Or did he want to say something else?

In fact, being a general is not so easy. If a general cannot take into account the interests of his subordinates, these officers, these soldiers, will not necessarily really support him.

After hesitating again and again, he finally agreed.

”You are a very interesting person, Lance.”

When he had said this sentence, Lance knew that he had taken the money.

He was never afraid of greedy people. He was only afraid that people were not greedy enough.

The progression of the relationship between the two sides had a better foundation. Admiral Diaz had seen Lance to the door, and then had returned to his desk.

He picked up the two empty briefcases from the floor, and then covered the money, and then he fastened all the latches, and then he placed the briefcases in a corner.

He had his adjutant come in, and had him pay attention to some of the changes in the barracks.

Lance had come with things, and had left empty-handed. This had indeed attracted the attention of some people. Soon some of the soldiers had, with a smile, entered the building in the back.

When this news was reported back, Admiral Diaz frowned.

His adjutant asked, ”Should we have the military police get them all out?”

Admiral Diaz raised his hand. ”No, no need. I just feel that Lance’s erosion of this military camp is much deeper than I thought.”

Regarding this problem, the adjutant was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, ”This is Golden Port City, General.”

Admiral Diaz’s gaze fell on him. The adjutant further said, ”This is the base camp of Lance and the Lance Family. As long as the soldiers can go to the city, what they see, what they hear, what they come into contact with, it’s hard not to be related to Lance, and the Lance Family.”

”I’ve heard a rumor.”

”The soldiers, as long as they have their dog tags, in the establishments opened by the Lance Family, including the casinos, will all have some preferential treatment.”

The soldiers were allowed to leave the barracks during their holidays. They could go to the city to play.

People are actually the most indecisive creatures. This can be seen from the fact that humans can be easily persuaded.

If they had their own opinions, they would not be so easily persuaded.

So when these soldiers lived in an environment where everyone was praising Lance and the Lance Family, and had deified him in some aspects, they would also imperceptibly change some of their ideas.

This included those therapists. When they were helping the soldiers to relax, some soldiers would also ask these relatively hard-to-say questions.

But none of them would hate Lance. On the contrary, they all expressed a respectful attitude towards Lance.

It was Lance who had given them the job opportunities that other women dreamed of: a stable job, not being bullied, and a stable income, and also regular free physical examinations.

The soldiers, having been in contact with this environment more and more, would also feel that Lance was a good person, and that they should respect him, not despise him, and confront him.

Although they would not, because of Lance’s sake, stand on the opposite side of Admiral Diaz, they would, because of the conflict between Lance and Admiral Diaz, have a worse impression of Admiral Diaz.

Lance had given them free sex, free wine, respect, and discounts.

If you can’t get along with such a good person, then it can only be said that Admiral Diaz is very difficult to get along with.

If this happened in a non-war period, he wouldn’t care. In a dictatorial place like the army, he was not afraid of the low-level soldiers messing around.

But now it was wartime. The one who was really going to the front line was not him, this general, but this soldier under him.

At this moment, he finally understood what Lance meant by the ”rules.”

That was an invisible wall, a palace, but also a cage.

If people don’t want to be beaten black and blue, the best way is to abide by the rules.

The news had spread very quickly in the barracks. By the evening, the building in the back of the barracks had become lively again. The soldiers, after their dinner, would have an hour of free time.

Many of them had chosen to go to the building to have some fun, to release some, even if it was only for a few minutes, a dozen or so.

But the agitation in their bodies would, because of these few minutes, a dozen or so, disappear!

A soldier walking out of the room, adjusting his clothes as he walked, had a satisfied smile on his face. ”Thank you, Mr. Lance!”

The girl in the room had placed a card in a safe place. This card could be exchanged for money.

She, while cleaning herself, also said with a sigh, ”I really have to thank Mr. Lance...”