Shadow Empire

Chapter 965 You've Come to the Right Person

One month.

Ammunition supplies will run out after a month, and the civil war will have to stop just as it began.

"If the frontline battle plan had been more sophisticated, or if the soldiers had been issued fewer bullets, we could have held out for a longer period of time."

Diego looked at the Minister of Logistics as if he were an idiot, even though he himself wasn't very bright.

"If I give them fewer bullets, can you guarantee that in every battle they'll send the enemy back to God's arms before they run out of the few bullets in their pockets?"

"Can you promise?"

"Fake!"

President Diego uttered a curse word.

Although he's often a jerk, he's actually not bad in this respect; he rarely swears unless his emotions really explode.

The fact that he can swear now only shows that his emotions and temper have indeed reached their limit.

Seeing the president's growing anger, the logistics minister wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

His experience working in government taught him that when President Diego was angry and throwing a tantrum, it was best to go along with him.

If you insist on defying his bad temper, he'll show you why people call him a "great dictator" and a "tyrant"!
Seeing the head of the logistics department lower his head and remain silent, he waved his hand as if shooing away flies, "Now, leave my room!"

After watching the logistics minister leave, Diego immediately called Fernandez. "I just asked our people, and our ammunition reserves are only enough to sustain the current level of war for about a month."

"We ran out of ammunition after a month."

“I just contacted the federal ambassador, and they said that the weapons we are buying now are from ZED, not from them, so they will not be responsible for any after-sales service.”

Fernandez stopped what he was doing, rubbed his temples, and asked, "So what do you mean now?"

A few seconds later, President Diego said in a relatively slow voice, "I would like to buy some bullets from the Czech Republic."

Although it's called a "purchase," the Republic of Germany may actually have to pay for it upfront, as it only promises to use some mineral resources to cover the cost, not other resources.

He won't spend his own money to do anything for the country; that's his private wealth, unrelated to the country, and the country doesn't have much money right now.

For example, this batch of military equipment that armed 200,000 people didn't cost him any money; they signed some licensing agreements.

Diego authorized some businessmen from the Republic of Germany to mine certain mineral resources in Rapa for a certain number of years, a deal that Diego considered profitable.

After all, mineral resources cannot be completely mined out in ten years or so. He essentially obtained these things without paying any actual money, so he made a profit.

But this time, Fernandez did not agree immediately. "I need to discuss it with the Geed side. I need some time."

Diego didn't press him for an immediate answer. "You have enough time to discuss this with your cabinet, including President Chiedd, but I hope you can do it as soon as possible because our response will take time."

After hanging up the phone, Fernandez called the president. He didn't immediately bring up President Diego's desire to import bullets, but instead inquired about the domestic situation following the current federal embargo on standard-specification ammunition.

"very bad."

The president's voice sounded weary. "I've assembled a team of engineers who have been studying this for several days, and the results are disappointing."

"In fact, we can produce semi-automatic production lines to assemble the various parts of a bullet together."

"But the problem is, we can't manufacture bullets, shells, or anything else from scratch."

"This involves the most basic industries, and this is precisely where we are the weakest link."

In fact, in recent years, the industrial development of the Republic of the Czech Republic has also faced the problem of "buying is worse than researching" to a certain extent. For example, almost all of their metallurgical materials are imported from the Federation.

They have their own steel mill, but they don't have many formulas for special metal materials.

Not to mention chemistry, which is also their weak point.

Although their university has scourned the entire Asia-Pacific region for targeted training, it may take another ten or twenty years for these talents to truly come into play.

They can't wait that long, and right now they're helpless when it comes to these problems.

Fernandez was expecting this answer. He was well aware of Geed's current industrial potential and capabilities, and in order to develop the industrial system more quickly, coupled with the Federation's willingness to sell them some things.

Therefore, in the most basic stage, they have always been developing in a "leapfrog" manner, and every day they may have achieved a certain goal in a certain field of industry, giving the whole country a sense of industrial prosperity.

But only those who know the situation very well understand that if the federal government cuts off the supply, many of their factories will have to shut down.

In recent years, the Czech Republic has considered addressing the shortcomings in its basic industries, but this is a huge problem in itself.

The industrial nations of the Federation, Slade, Dantra, and Empire may have taken decades, or even centuries, to develop their basic industries!
The Czech Republic cannot possibly make up for lost time in a few years. Those crucial industrial development details are top secret in any country and cannot be easily revealed.

The federal government did not intend to do this; it was simply something that happened unintentionally, by both the government and capitalists.

They sell production lines, but not the plans and formulas for producing raw materials, thus enabling them to continuously sell materials to the Republic of Germany at high prices.

The Republic of Germany has also achieved "self-sufficiency" in a certain field.

Now, they need to pay the price for their leapfrog development.

"So what do you plan to do?" Fernandez asked. "Change into new clothes?"

The president gets a headache just talking about it, and you can hear the sound of a hand slapping against skin coming through the receiver; he's most likely slapping his own forehead.

"This is something I don't know what to do either; we've produced about two million weapons."

"To be honest, I don't know how to face them."

Using weapons designed and produced in-house is part of Geed's development plan, and this practice can greatly enhance soldiers' sense of honor.

After all, as the strongest nation in the Asia-Pacific region, they still use weapons imported from the Federation, which does not really have much to do with being a "strong nation".

But if they are using weapons designed and produced by the Republic of Germany itself, then the soldiers will have a very special feeling!
They will feel proud and honored by the weapons in their hands!
Now they need to pay the price for this glory.

Two million weapons, all semi-automatic rifles, which cost about 230 federal sols to produce.

This price is actually much higher than that of the Federal Reserve.

Previously, when the federal government was selling standard-specification weapons to foreign countries, the cost of a rifle was about 150 dollars. They are now paying 50% to 60% more.

But it is something we produced ourselves; it is an honor, an achievement.

The expenditure of hundreds of millions of federal Sols has now become waste, and neither the Republic of Geed nor its industry can afford it.

In addition to the various resources invested in the research, in order to produce "the first domestically made semi-automatic rifle", two million rifles were produced.

The Republic of Germany has invested approximately 500 million federal soles in this project!

Now that the 500 million is useless, who can afford to lose it?

The people will definitely cause trouble if they find out!
Fernandez could sense the pain his classmate, friend, and president was in at that moment. "We can buy some bullets from other countries, even at a premium."

"We'll stockpile enough ammunition now, and then we'll consider whether to replace our equipment."

"Furthermore, I believe that the Empire, or other countries, are willing to sell us ammunition. We can buy more at once as a war reserve."

"This is not just a problem for us alone, it's a problem for the entire Asian Union. They also have a large number of weapons from the Federation, and they also need ammunition."

“We can resell the ammunition that we have stored for a period of time to them. This way, we can solve the ammunition problem without paying them and even make a profit.”

After listening to the child, the president thought about it seriously for a while. "That's a good idea. I'll call a cabinet meeting to discuss it. It's a pity you're not here."

“Otherwise, I will send you to the Empire or other countries to discuss this.” Fernandez was indeed highly regarded by the president, and the plan he proposed was indeed feasible.

Although Fernandez didn't explain it in much detail, the president understood his friend's line of thinking.

He provided a broad framework, into which the president could fill in whatever he wanted.

After exchanging some more information, the two hung up the phone. He then called Diego and told him that the Czech Republic was also helpless at this point.

Their ammunition reserves were also insufficient, and President Chidnichestral had asked him to inquire with Diego whether some of Rapa's ammunition could be sold to Chidnichestral.

This made Diego so angry that he slammed down the phone.

He sat there for a while, but finally couldn't resist making a call to the federal ambassador, "How much are your new weapons?"

He didn't care what others thought of this civil war, but he couldn't afford to lose.

If he loses, he will lose everything—not just his power as president, but also his life and the future of his entire family.

The Lavila family will become the first ruling family in Lapa to be wiped out in the civil war. Whether for themselves, for the family, or for something else, the government forces have a reason not to lose.

He would pay anything for this, including bowing down to the Federals.

When Diego inquired about the military equipment, the federal ambassador told him to call Lance directly.

The federal arms sales representatives are all with Lance, and Lance has their contact information.

When the phone rang, Lance was chatting with the sales representatives.

The recent news about the arms embargo in China hasn't caused much of a stir. For ordinary people, it's just about not selling useful weapons to foreigners; they don't really care about it, since it has no direct connection to them.

In their eyes, large caliber is correct and just, so they don't think the federal government is doing anything wrong.

Some media outlets even praised the federal government for taking a firm step forward in protecting the interests of the people.

"I am Lance..."

Lance handed his wine glass to the person next to him, then looked at the people still laughing and talking in the hall not far away, and turned to look out the window.

"Lance, this is Diego. I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Do you have time now?"

Diego's voice was very gentle, making it hard to associate the voice with its owner.

Lance hummed in agreement. "Do we need to meet and talk?"

"It might take a while before we can meet. I have some friends from the Federation here."

“If we can talk over the phone, then I’ll go to the study.”

Diego caught a detail in his words: "Friends from the Federation?"

"Are they sales consultants from those military industrial groups?"

Lance nodded in agreement, which inevitably made Diego wonder if Lance had also played a dishonorable role in this matter.

The Federation prohibits the sale of standard-specification weapons and ammunition to foreign countries, yet a Federation military sales consultant is at Lance's estate. President Diego would never believe that they have no connection whatsoever.

But there's no point in saying all this now. Lance is backed by the federal government, and even if he knew, there's nothing he could do about it.

"I heard that the federal government recently implemented a new policy that you will no longer sell standard-specification weapons and ammunition to foreign countries?"

After hearing this, Lance replied, "I just heard about it. This is really bad news."

President Diego gave a forced, insincere hum, "Yes, it's terrible!"

“I just wanted to talk to these military sales consultants about the situation regarding the re-equipping of the Lapa soldiers. Do you think we could sit down and discuss it?”

Lance didn't refuse. "Tonight then."

We're both free tonight!

"Then tonight."

After agreeing on the time and place, Lance hung up the phone. He then returned to the living room and noticed that the gentlemen there hadn't sat down but were standing in the places where he had been sitting.

This caused the military sales consultants to stop talking and focus their attention on him.

Lance picked up another glass of wine and raised it slightly. "Diego, that is, Lapa, called me earlier to say he wants to talk to you about sales."

All the representatives stood up with joy on their faces, raised their glasses, and expressed their gratitude to Lance.

They knew very well that if they wanted to do business in Lapa, Lance and his forces were an unavoidable link.

Now that the civil war has broken out in Rapa, both the government forces and the anti-government armed forces need a lot of military supplies, which is also a big business opportunity for the military industry group!

To show their sincerity, each of them had actually contacted Lance privately, offering to give him a portion of their commission as a form of cooperation.

After all, only Lance can determine how long this civil war will last and how intense it will be.

After clinking glasses with everyone, Lance took the lead in sitting down. He held his wine glass in his hand and kept rotating it, a small gesture that helped him think and organize his thoughts.

"Diego is a very stingy man. Although he is the president of a country, he has absolutely no magnanimity as the president of this country!"

"So there's a high probability he won't pay you in cash; he'll find some other way to pay you."

"For example, mineral resources, which is what Lapa can currently offer the most."

The other delegates nodded in agreement; they had encountered similar situations before, especially when selling weapons to poor and underdeveloped areas.

Some small countries have currencies that are not recognized internationally, so these military-industrial complexes will not accept their currencies. The only way is to "barter".

Minerals, gems, precious metals, or other valuable items—anything that is widely recognized internationally—are all acceptable; they have a lot of experience in this area.

Lance continued, "Now, the mines within Lapa are basically all under my control."

Seeing the astonished expressions on the representatives' faces, Lance revealed a reserved yet pretentious smile. "Let me clarify first, all of these have property transfer contracts."

"I own these mineral resources in a legitimate and reasonable manner."

"So if Diego offers to exchange mineral resources for the weapons you have, don't agree. I don't want any awkwardness or conflict between us, so I'm making this clear first."

"Perhaps he can offer very good terms, such as promising to directly subcontract a gold mine to you."

"But I need to remind you, no matter how good the things he promises you are, without my approval, I guarantee you won't be able to take a single penny out of here!"

The atmosphere gradually became a bit serious. He smiled more as he spoke, "I'm just reminding you not to be so nervous."

“You can tell him that you only accept cash, precious metals, gems or works of art, or you can have him pay for it.”

"Diego had about fifty or sixty million in cash savings in the Federal Bank, enough to support this civil war."

"But there's a very high chance he won't pay that money himself, so as long as you stick to your guns and refuse to accept mineral resources, you're definitely going to fail to reach an agreement on this contract!"

At this point, a military sales consultant couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Lance, I don't quite understand."

"We want to close this deal with him, but he's unwilling to put up the money. How can we close this deal?"

Lance smiled. "Tell him to come find me."

(End of this chapter)