Empire of Shadows

Under the constantly flashing magnesium lights, Diego firmly held Lance’s hand. ”History will remember this moment!”

Lance shook the hand he was holding. ”Yes, history will remember this moment. Rapa has ushered in a brand new future!”

Following that was a grand banquet, attended by over a hundred people. Mountains of food were continuously brought to mouths, or dumped into trash cans.

For the people who could attend this level of banquet, what delicious food had they not eaten?

They might only touch a dish twice, but it would soon be replaced by a new one.

The replaced dishes, apart from the waiters possibly sneaking a bite, would all end up in the trash can.

There were reporters hiding in the back kitchen, clearly documenting all of this.

This was all arranged by Lance. These reports, and those photos, would provide a ”direction forward” for people at a critical moment.

The next day, the Rapa government announced to the public that, in view of the influx of foreign capital and the increase in people’s income, in order to provide a better investment environment for investors, the Rapa government would levy taxes on Rapa citizens with an annual income exceeding 12,000 Paras.

The tax rate was tentatively set at 12%, and for every 200 paras exceeded, it would increase by 1%, up to a maximum of 50%.This news actually did not cause too much dissatisfaction among the people. After all, compared to Rapa’s population of 12 million, Lance’s factory employees only numbered seven or eight thousand.

Although these seven or eight thousand people were also very dissatisfied, they still had jobs, and their incomes were relatively high. A tax of over ten percent was still affordable for them.

Of course, they weren’t necessarily very happy in their hearts either. After all, a portion of their hard-earned money had to be given to others.

The Rapa government did not mention anything about providing food to various places, which also caused the food crisis in the surrounding areas and farther regions to become even more severe.

Lance’s people had completely withdrawn to Zhuolan, and Lance had bought a piece of land on the outskirts of Zhuolan and had begun to build his ”castle.”

In the morning, he met with a very special team from his home country. The main members of this team came from different departments and organizations.

For example, the team leader was from the Federal Agency for International Economic Cooperation, a newly established department, proposed by Lance, perfected by Senator Cleveland, and finally submitted to Congress for rapid approval.

The work of this department was to promote a series of collaborations in economy, culture, and politics between the Federation and foreign regions by establishing bilateral economic, trade, and financial relations.

In foreign affairs, it had a great deal of independence, was directly subordinate to Congress, and was responsible to Congress.

In the past two years, the positive feedback brought about by interfering in international affairs, including international wars, was very obvious.

Originally, the Federation’s economy was in a rapid recession. Some experts claimed that the Federation would enter a Great Depression that would last for at least ten years.

They even used the economic recessions experienced in the past as proof, and claimed that this Great Depression was unprecedented!

Of course, the social reaction at that time was indeed like that. Wages had not increased for several years, people’s spending power had weakened, and real estate development had slowed down or even regressed. Everything indicated that a terrible economic environment was coming.

But just by interfering in an international war, the Federation’s economy had unexpectedly begun to turn for the better. The economy seemed to have found a new point of exertion, and had quickly begun to heat up and continue to move forward.

Under the continuous economic stimulus brought by the war, the Federation’s experts had unanimously agreed that the Federation had already walked out of the economic recession ahead of schedule, and that this time the economic continuous growth would last until ten or even twenty years after the war.

The Presidential Palace and Congress, as well as more politicians, had realized that it wasn’t just capitalists who could profit from war; the federal government could too. So they had begun to interfere in foreign affairs more actively.

This time, in dealing with the Yalan League issue, it was a ”drill.”

The team leader was named Albert Smith, a typical old federal, whose ancestors were first-generation federal immigrants, and it was said he had a bit of a political background.

He had a slicked-back hairstyle, looked very energetic, and his bluish chin gave people a very strange feeling.

”Mr. White!” When they met, he took the initiative and strode up to Lance, grasping Lance’s hand tightly, behaving very humbly. ”It’s a great pleasure to meet you.”

”I am Albert Smith from the Agency for International Economic Cooperation. You can just call me Albert!”

Lance also responded with a smile, ”No problem, Albert. You can also call me Lance.”

”We should be comrades-in-arms now. If there are any problems, we must communicate in a timely manner!”

Albert immediately nodded and said, ”You are absolutely right. We are comrades-in-arms on the same front, the closest comrades-in-arms.”

He paused for a moment, and turned to introduce the people behind him to Lance, ”This is Andy.”

The guy standing behind him had golden-brown hair, looked a bit old-fashioned, and should be around thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

His smile was not as sincere as Albert’s. Although Albert’s smile was also fake, it was fake sincerity.

But Andy’s was not so sincere. His acting skills were not very good.

”Mr. White!” He shook hands with Lance and introduced himself.

Andy was from a non-federal official organization, a non-governmental organization—Federal International Human Rights Investigation.

He was a senior operative of this organization. His main job was to help the governments of some backward regions and to provide advice on the development of democracy and human rights.

From the work content they had announced to the public, this organization was more like a consulting agency. They provided various solutions for democracy and human rights to the government.

But in fact, they were an intelligence agency with an official background. The main operatives inside were all from the federal government and the federal intelligence departments.

It was said that they were observing local human rights issues, but in fact, they were responsible for intelligence collection, and possibly for providing financial, technical, material, and even armed assistance to local non-governmental human rights organizations.

To put it bluntly, it was a friendly organization that helped the development of anti-government forces.

Because the federal government had promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, it was impossible for them to do these things openly. This was not in line with their external propaganda.

So this was a non-official organization. The spontaneous behavior of the private sector had nothing to do with the federal government.

Everyone knew that the Federation was a highly free country.

Some people like people, some like horses, some like sheep. That’s their freedom.

Just as some people, having eaten their fill and having nothing to do, want to contribute to the construction of international human rights, that is also their own behavior, and has nothing to do with the federal government.

Andy had the kind of arrogance typical of a government employee. Compared to Albert, he was actually more like an official. Lance didn’t care about his slightly cold attitude.

There are many people in this world. You can’t make everyone smile at you. There will always be some who will keep a straight face.

Then there were also the representatives of several federal charitable organizations. Rapa was a poor and backward place. This place was so fucking suitable for doing charity.

As for whether they were really here to do charity, or to launder money, Lance was actually not too concerned. Anyway, they were all allies.

After they had gotten to know each other, everyone sat down separately.

”I hear that the places further away have already started to make trouble.”

Albert was the leader of this team, and he himself was an employee of the federal government, and also had a political background, so Andy had no dissatisfaction with this team leader.

Lance did not deny it. He sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, looking very relaxed. ”We have bought a large amount of their grain. Now a grain run has also begun to occur. The circulation of grain will soon come to a complete stop.”

”The situation will only get worse. Soon they will have a full-scale conflict with the ruling group of Rapa.”

These new team members all nodded one after another, but there was no grave expression on their faces, all of them had a relaxed smile.

No matter how big the problem was here, the ones who died were all foreigners who had nothing to do with them. They had no psychological burden.

Albert’s one hand was on the armrest of the sofa, his body leaning forward slightly. ”Who do you think will win this time, the Rapa government or the people who are making trouble?”

Lance said without hesitation, ”Of course it’s the Rapa government.”

”They control the most resources in this society, and they also have the trump card of the army in their hands.”

”The Rapa public is very poor. This place is not like the Federation, where people can buy weapons and ammunition in a grocery store.”

”They do not have the ability to armedly confront the government.”

These words had again won some approval. Albert then asked, ”If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean that the civil movement can never pose a threat to the ruling group?”

Lance’s gaze lingered on Albert and Andy for a moment. ”That’s exactly why you are here.”

Albert clearly knew more of the inside story. If it weren’t for Lance, there wouldn’t be his current department, nor would there be this special trip.

Before he had come, his superior had told him that his job here was mainly to listen to Lance’s arrangements.

Lance was the leader of the entire plan, not him, not Andy, or someone in Congress.

These arrangements had made Albert feel a little surprised. As far as he knew, Lance was just a gangster boss with a certain ability. He certainly didn’t think that such a person had the ability to subvert a country.

However, the person behind him had also been good to him. He had briefly said what he could, and Albert had no other thoughts.

At this time, he behaved very humbly. ”Mr. Lance, we already had a work plan before we came. If there is any place where you need us to adjust or cooperate, please tell me.”

As he spoke, he handed over a document. Andy glanced at him, wanted to say something, and was about to reach out, but in the end, he did not.

Lance took the document and glanced at it briefly, and agreed with a smile and a nod. ”I will.”