Shadow Empire

Chapter 1062 Additional Conditions
In mid-April, a brief coup d'état broke out in Dantra, with a small group attempting to end the brutal political purges and infighting by assassinating the president.

Unfortunately, the gunman's bullet missed by only one centimeter, grazing the president's scalp. The gunman shot the president, leaving him covered in blood, and everyone thought he was done for. But a miracle happened afterward.

The doctor explained that he only had a scalp contusion with a cut, and it was bleeding quite a bit, but it was not fatal.

The president then summoned military leaders, and after two hours of negotiations, arrests of Second Party members soon began throughout Dantra.

The presidential palace stated that these individuals were suspected of assassinating the president and treason.

In an effort to gain the public's trust, the Presidential Office presented a number of pieces of evidence, which were published in various newspapers and other media outlets.

As evidence, both true and false, came in, the domestic political purges gradually reached their peak.

During this period, almost all federal newspapers were reporting on Dantra's situation, and many commentators unanimously believed that the war was coming to an end and the atmosphere throughout the country was beginning to improve.

In the following week, new information continued to emerge. At the urging of President Dantra, a multilateral negotiation on a ceasefire was held in New Gold City, led by the federal government, to discuss the specific details of ending the war.

Many people thought this would be a difficult negotiation, but in reality, most of the things that needed to be discussed had already been discussed. What remained was just going through the motions or resolving some less important side issues.

Lance has been dealing with negotiations between the interim and federal governments in Rapa these past few days. It sounds a bit unbelievable, but the interim government has decided to hire a large number of federal officials to help the Rapa government complete its transition from a "dictatorship" to a "liberal democracy".

In order to work toward this goal and to bring the spring breeze of freedom and democracy to Rapa, the government structure was initially dominated by federal officials.

Although a minority of people believe that this approach carries some unforeseen risks, such as whether federal officials taking control of the Pala government could constitute a de facto takeover and lead to a change in sovereignty over Pala.
These concerns ultimately failed to generate much public discussion. On the one hand, Lapa is just a small country, even though many federal newspapers have reported on the situation of Alan and the countries on that land.

However, nearly half of the federal population still have no recollection of the word "Lapa." They don't know whether "Lapa" is a commodity, a country, a region, a person, or something else entirely.

Naturally, these discussions failed to gain traction within the federal government and thus did not have a greater impact.

However, its impact on the Asian Union was significant.

Lance returned to his villa in New Gold City from Congress, and Ambassador Cassia called, "Lance, some of my friends would like to meet you."

Ambassador Kassia's current position is somewhat awkward; once the bilateral cooperation negotiations are completed, his importance as ambassador will decline sharply.

He might have thought he was only losing a job before, but after living in the federal government for a while, he has become aware of the crisis.

This is not as simple as losing a job; he will lose his substantial income and comfortable living environment, and most importantly—he will lose his current status!
Back in Lapa, he didn't care much about what he did, since 95 percent of the benefits would eventually end up in the hands of the ruling group.

Someone like him, without a prominent surname or belonging to any particular ethnic group, could only be at the bottom of society.

Despite being an official in Lapa, he's only slightly better off than the middle class in Lapa.

But in the federal government, it's different.

The federal government, as a developed capitalist society, has the ability to monetize anything, including status.

His status also brought him the respect he deserved; people respected him because he was a foreign ambassador, and with that respect, he gained privileges.

Once people have lived in such a highly capitalized and market-driven society for a long time and enjoyed the various conveniences it brings, it becomes very difficult for them to leave.

Ambassador Kassia is now feeling anxious about the possibility of losing his job soon.

Unemployment means he can no longer earn enough to support his family, whose children are studying at private schools that have "international" in their names.

The tuition fee each semester is an astonishing figure, and it's not just about having money; you also need status to attend.

Having money alone is not enough to get his child into that school; in addition, their daily living expenses are also a considerable sum.

Every month, he receives bills of around five or six hundred dollars from banks, communities, and various partner businesses. This expense alone makes him feel very uncomfortable and unable to cope.

If he wants to reduce this expense, then his family must move out of their current villa and sell it to buy a regular house.

But his parents, wife, and children have become accustomed to their current life, and he worries that if they were suddenly forced to return to poverty, something might happen to them.

Therefore, for Ambassador Kassia now, his focus is on how to enhance his own value and gain more attention in order to maintain a more stable life.

What should a young woman who sells her body do when she reaches an age where she can no longer sell herself, but still has a need for money?
It's very simple: recruit a few young girls and monetize the customer channels you used to have.

This method of monetization may not last long—the guests may communicate directly with the young, recruited girls, so it's not a sustainable option.

But at least it's an option. Sometimes, having an option, even if it's not the best, but the worst, is already a great stroke of luck.

Cassia's own value was steadily declining, but he realized that there were other ambassadors, those who wanted to align themselves with the Federation, who still needed opportunities and occasions to get to know Lance.

His unique value was fully demonstrated at this moment.

From betraying their own country to introducing others to betray their country, in terms of "selling," they are not necessarily much more noble than prostitutes; in fact, they may be even more despicable!

After hearing the names of two or three ambassadors, Lance asked for the address and then drove to Ambassador Cassia's villa.

This was Lance's first time visiting his villa. He knew before that Ambassador Cassia had sold the villa and that he had paid for it, but he didn't care much about that.

The money he spent has returned to him tenfold or even a hundredfold through other means.

After the car came to a complete stop, he got out. Ambassador Cassia and his entourage were already waiting for him at the door. When they reached Lance, he shook hands with them, and then Ambassador Cassia began to introduce them, "This is the ambassador of Makan, this is…"

All three ambassadors wore ingratiating smiles, and Lance noticed that they were dressed very simply.

In the Federation, in New Gold City, a master dressed simply can only mean one thing: that they, and the country behind them, are poor.

After all, a country's ambassador is a reflection of its image. Even if they have to sell their possessions, these countries will try to make sure that the ambassador doesn't appear destitute or poor, unless they really can't afford a few decent outfits.

After the group entered the room, Ambassador Cassia brought out wine glasses and asked, "If you don't have anything planned for tonight, would you like to stay for dinner?"

Lance glanced at the three ambassadors around him, looked at the smiles on their faces, thought for a moment, and nodded. "No problem."

Ambassador Kassia breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll make the arrangements in a bit."

After Ambassador Cassia returned, the group sat down, and he began by inquiring about the progress of the negotiations.

"How did today's negotiations go?"

"I heard that the federal government is already selecting candidates for overseas assignments?"

Lance took a sip of his wine. "The deal is basically done. Now there are just a few formalities left to go through."

He glanced at Ambassador Kassia, then at the other three ambassadors, and lowered his voice slightly, as if he were talking about gossip, "There are still a few things to discuss, and we are currently discussing tax issues."

"The federal government's demand is that the federal government formulate the tax collection plan, including how to use these taxes, which is decided by us."

"Later there are issues such as rebuilding the legal system, which are crucial to the specific operation of a regime, so it may take some time."

The diplomatic ambassadors of the Republic of Ardra wore complex expressions; they wanted to align themselves with the federation, yet also desired a degree of autonomy.

This is a classic case of wanting one thing and wanting another. Taxation is not a very important power for these countries because most countries in the Asia-Pacific region have difficulty collecting taxes.

There are too many poor people. You can't expect these people who are so poor they can't even afford to eat to pay taxes to the government.

But this does not mean that tax rights are unimportant; in fact, during their time living in the federal government, they have come to realize the importance and power of taxation.

Once the power to tax is handed over to federalists, there is a high probability that they will turn that power into a knife, hanging over everyone's head, including their own.

After all, for these poor countries, the only people who can afford to pay taxes and meet the tax standards are the privileged class, capitalists, and the ruling class.

Lance revealing this information at this time is essentially telling them that this is one of the core conditions for aligning with the Federation.

Only after relinquishing financial control can they truly become one of our own, preventing some from using federal assistance to revitalize their economies while simultaneously abandoning the federal government afterward, leaving the federal investment in vain.

The logic is sound, and everyone understands it, but it's just a little harder to accept emotionally.

Two of the three men smiled somewhat awkwardly and reluctantly, while the Makan ambassador nodded nonchalantly, "I don't think there's any problem. We can't collect taxes ourselves anyway, so if we hand them over to you, we'll be able to collect them. It's actually a good thing."

Makan has a population of just over two million, less than that of New Gold City, so their ambassador is not concerned about who should be transferred the tax authority.

Even if their president and other ruling and privileged classes are very wealthy domestically, they are considered middle-to-upper class in the federal context.

Given their unfavorable geographical environment, poverty, and lack of particularly valuable resources and minerals, finding a wealthy patron to rely on is probably something the entire nation desires.

The ambassadors of the other two countries exchanged glances. Originally, they, or rather the ruling groups behind them, intended to align themselves with the Federation, using the Federation's advanced industrial level to elevate their lagging level, becoming little vampires, sucking the blood of the Federation to grow stronger.

They can then ask the federal government for subsidies, technology, and anything else; ultimately, the profits will still go to them.

The technology and subsidies they acquire will undoubtedly end up in the hands of their ruling group.

But now they realize that the federal government is not so easy to fool, and this matter may not be resolved in the short term. They need to go back and discuss with their domestic ruling group whether it is necessary to continue.

The silence of the two men, in stark contrast to Ambassador Makan's nonchalant expression and his remarks, and Lance did not urge them to make a decision today.

He chuckled and said, "It's no use talking to me about this. You'll have to talk to the Secretary of State, but he probably won't have time right now."

"If you read the newspapers, you should be able to see that the most important thing right now is to negotiate a ceasefire."

When the topic of ceasefire negotiations came up, Ambassador Cassia asked with some curiosity, "Will there really be a ceasefire?"

Lance nodded. "I believe the foundation for a ceasefire has been laid, so there's a high probability that the war will end before summer arrives."

"After the war ends, the Federation will be on a fast track in all aspects: industrial development, economic development, and scientific progress."

"The Federation will leave the whole world far behind!"

Hearing these words, everyone had different expressions on their faces. The reason they were here now, chatting with Lance about the Federation and Alan, all stemmed from this war.

If it weren't for this sudden war, Asia would still be Asia, and the Federation would have continued to decline due to economic recession to the point of being powerless to cope with the changes in the world.

This damned war directly changed the world!
It also created a new monster!

(End of this chapter)