Shadow Empire - Chapter 950 Federal Control Area

"Lance's people...are working all over the streets, and I don't know what to say about this."

The mayor of Zhuolan appeared in the presidential office. His expression looked a little strange, because what happened today made him, who had been the mayor for more than 20 years, feel incredible!

Because those federal people were not destroying, looting, or doing anything else, they were actually maintaining order on the interface.

President Diego was standing by the window, also observing the city, and his position allowed him to see the houses of Lance Manor in the distance.

He had his back to the mayor and was a little distracted. It took him a while to come back to his senses. "If you don't know, then tell me in the language you can explain."

The mayor quickly began to explain, and as President Diego listened more and more, he became a little confused.

The federals did so much just to help them maintain order?There are only more than 3,000 police officers in the entire Zhuolan. Apart from those who are on daily rotation and have recently been used to maintain law and order near the Presidential Palace, there are probably only a few hundred police officers who can be on duty.

After all, the ruling class also needs the police to protect their property safety.

Then there is no doubt that this industry must be owned by the masters.A considerable part of the business in the city center is owned by the masters, so the police have no way of managing it.

The city is also in a state of laissez-faire. The police are only responsible for the security of the busy streets in the city center. As for the slums outside these areas, they don't even go there.

But now, Lance’s people are actually maintaining law and order in these places on their own initiative. What exactly are they trying to do?Diego, looking down at the city, tried to think for a long time with his not-so-good brain, but couldn't come up with any answer. Finally, he could only give up thinking about this problem temporarily.

He then asked some questions about the defense of the Zhuolan area, and the mayor answered them one by one.

As for Lance... judging from what they are doing now, as long as they don't do anything reckless, just let them be!The silence of the Presidential Palace, the silence of the City Hall, and the silence of the police station seemed to have made people within the territory designated by Lans begin to accept this matter.

Anyone who dares to commit a crime or do something illegal must be prepared to be caught and punished by the Lance family!In the Federation, the methods that Lance used to deal with gang members were not entirely suitable here. After all, some of them might not be gang members, and their mistakes were not so unforgivable.

For example, theft, or robbery that does not result in serious consequences.

After these criminals who did not commit serious crimes were caught, they certainly could not be shot with a volley of bullets directly. This would make it inconvenient for Lance to manage and control these people in his territory. Therefore, here, there is a new method of punishment.

These methods are very effective and are obviously gentler than killing them directly, and more easily accepted by the locals.

In just two days, people went from being afraid of the Lance family members, to being curious about them, to having common sense contact with them, and then to beginning to accept them. It was so fast.

Lance was moving slowly on the street in his car, and now some people realized that great changes were taking place in the whole of Lapa.

They may not have felt the great changes outside the city and the great changes in the anti-government armed forces, but they have already felt the great changes within the city, such as the "red armbands" of Mr. Lance White who have begun to appear in large numbers on the streets.

They made some tools for execution overnight. In this regard, the members of the Lance family were quite talented.

They used some discarded door panels and some wood and quickly made a torture device.

The prisoner needs to lie down facing the door, and then they will use belts to tie his hands and feet, take off his clothes and pants, and start whipping him.

The whips are made of rattan, which is very soft. When dipped in salt water, they are very powerful and very painful!

After a few whips, people began to applaud and smile on their faces in a way that they might not even be aware of.

A guy who could barely stand up was taken down from the torture device. He was supported by his family. His back and buttocks were covered with cracked skin and blood was flowing.

It looks very serious, but in fact... these injuries only look scary, and it plays a good role in curbing crime.

Lance observed for a while before the convoy continued to move forward.

This is like an alternative public trial, which makes people feel more involved and is also a better warning to them!From the slums to the city center, it was almost the same everywhere. After touring these places, Lance went to his factory again.

The factory did not stop production and is still maintaining production.

Large quantities of wine were piled up, and all of it would eventually be loaded onto ships and sent to the Federation.

Of course, it was in the name of military supplies. After all, Lance was also a national defense provider.

Everything is so magical. This is reality. Sometimes the more unreasonable something is, the more likely it is to be true.

At the end of April, the federal army in Sege City was completely driven out by Pedro's men. Not only did they suffer heavy casualties, but more importantly, they lost several field artillery pieces.

The commander blamed the Federals for the loss of the battle.

There is a very interesting phenomenon in Lapa now. Whenever something goes wrong, as long as it is blamed on the federal people, the people above will not say anything.

Because the Federals came here with those cheap imported goods, making it difficult for the imported goods stores to sell, it was the Federals' fault.

For example, the federals already have some privileges by default in Lapa, which is the result of the federal government’s excessive toughness and use of force to intimidate others. This is the federals’ fault!

It is understandable that the Lapa government forces could not defeat Pedro's anti-government armed forces. They believed that there were federal soldiers helping Pedro and his gang.

Help them to establish and expand their advantage in the street fighting in the city, and eventually drive them all out of the city and lose their field artillery.

The commander reported his evasion of responsibility, and as he had expected, no one, including President Diego, blamed him. Instead, they asked him to return to Zhuolan with the remaining field artillery and troops as soon as possible because the trouble was even bigger.

So far, nineteen anti-government armed forces have emerged in Lapa. They have received a large amount of military supplies support from the federal people and began to expand their influence, occupy territory, and grab resources.

The largest group is Pedro's group. According to the commander who escaped, Pedro and his group have at least 10,000 anti-government militants.

Of course, in reality there can’t be so many of them. If you add up all the residents in Sage City and their families, maybe that’s the number.

The smallest group has several hundred people. All these people add up to about 100,000 people, of course this number is exaggerated.

However, Diego and his people believed that even if there was some water in this figure, it would not be particularly high. There were still 70,000 to 80,000 anti-government militants.

This forced them to face a problem they did not want to face, that is, the Lapa government army only had 50,000 troops, and excluding the defeated group of troops directly under Diego, he could now control less than 30,000 troops.

On one side are anti-government armed forces whose number of troops is twice or even three times that of his, and on the other side are federal people who continuously support them with various supplies. The situation has actually changed dramatically now.

Even the mayors of some cities took the initiative to call the federal ambassador and ask if they could get some assistance from the federal government if they stood up to clearly resist the Lapa government?Events were moving faster than Lance and Congress had imagined, yet everything seemed so reasonable.

This made Lapa and his ruling group feel deeply uneasy!On the first weekend of May, the temperature in Lapa had risen to 27 or 28 degrees. The members of the Lance family patrolling the streets were wearing uniform short-sleeved shirts, with the sleeve on the left arm turned red, which looked more natural.

People have become accustomed to these people appearing on the streets and stopping crimes anytime and anywhere.

Within the area controlled by the Lance family, public security has been greatly improved, and Lance's factories also mainly recruit workers from areas under his control.

In fact, whether it is the Federation or Lapa, the essence of society is the same.

The lower-class working people need to realize the "human value" by selling their labor, and then use the money to support themselves or for consumption.

As long as there are stable job opportunities and environment that allow people to have some consumption ability while supporting themselves, society will tend to be stable.

This area, now known as the "federal controlled area", has begun to attract people to come here on their own initiative.

A convoy consisting of three luxury cars and some motorcycles was moving slowly in the federally controlled area. Lapa's Minister of Foreign Affairs was sitting in the car observing everything.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing at a torture device lying diagonally at the intersection.

His secretary, who was sitting in the passenger seat, took the initiative to introduce, "This is the whipping platform. Lance and his team have set the rules here. If someone commits a crime, as long as it's not a serious case like murder, they will be whipped."

"Usually, it starts with two lashes, and women start with one lash, but so far I haven't heard of any women being whipped, it's basically just men."

The secretary nodded, "They got a lot of goods, some of which they shipped from the Federation, and some of which they produced locally."

The Foreign Minister's expression turned serious. "They have already started production locally?"

The secretary nodded again. "They have built a lot of factories. Some products or parts with simple processes are produced locally. Only more complex industrial products, or those that we don't have the production capacity for here, are produced in the Federation and transported here for assembly."

The Foreign Minister's expression kept changing, switching between seriousness, heaviness, and some indescribable relief and greed.

The reason is actually very simple. Instead of developing and producing it yourself, it is better to buy a batch from the federal government. Not only is it cheaper, it is also more beautiful and durable.

The idea of ​​“it’s better to buy than to make” has been deeply ingrained in this generation of rulers. As for the independent research and development that the previous ruling group wanted, there is no market for it anymore.

Some of them were even very sure that it was impossible for industry to emerge on the land of Zialapa. It seemed that with such a judgment, the interruption of Lapa's industrial development had nothing to do with them.

But at this moment, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs heard that they had achieved self-production of some industrial goods, he felt an indescribable emotion churning in him.

The secretary shook her head. "The price is very cheap, even cheaper than imported ones."

This statement made the Foreign Minister silent. If the products can be cheaper than imported ones, it means that they have the possibility of fully localized production.

He is well aware of the profits of these things and the value behind them.

The reason why Lapa has always been poor is that it has always been a semi-agricultural society, where human resources cannot function at all and cannot generate more wealth.

They used the money they earned to distribute to the workers, and used the remaining profits to continue developing industrialization. With continuous iterations, the Czech Republic had become the most powerful country in Asia, bar none.

Is this an opportunity to overtake others?

He thinks that if fully localized production can be achieved, it means the maturity of the technology.

They never got the assembly lines and the equipment to produce them; the Federals never sold them.

Before he knew it, he arrived at Lance's manor.

As the ambassador of Lapa to the Federation, Cassia was able to go to the Federation with the personal approval of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He has a good relationship with Cassia. After all, he has to have a few capable people under him. They can't all be useless.

Cassia contacted him and talked to him about some things that touched him and gave him some ideas, and he felt it was time to talk to Lance.

Diego was throwing things in his presidential palace every day, even though the Lapa government had decided to expand the army to 200,000 people as soon as possible and had also negotiated a batch of military aid with the Czech Republic.

But the Foreign Minister believes this could be a turning point where the situation is heading for the worse.

What we should seek now is a peaceful solution to the problem rather than continuing to escalate the conflict through war or other means.

It would be fine if they could solve it, but the problem is that they definitely can't solve it.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not think that with their current backward society and technology, they were no match for the Federation. As a non-top ruler, he had another option -

Join if you can't.

This time, he came just to test whether he had a chance to become the next federalist.

(End of this chapter)