Shadow Empire

Why not ask Lance in Chapter 966?

That evening, the federal arms sales representatives met with President Diego, who immediately inquired about the arms sales situation.

These arms sales representatives presented the federal government's new policies, which had not yet been publicly announced, and they seemed quite pleased with themselves.

When President Diego saw the price lists, he stood up abruptly, slammed them onto the coffee table, and pointed at one of the arms sales representatives, saying, "You're out!"

There were more than a dozen representatives from arms sales companies present, but it's impossible for each of them to get a share.

That's how arms sales work; usually one or two companies take the vast majority, then the rest take a few smaller categories, while most others go to other countries to look for opportunities.

Different countries have different policies. In a populous country like Lapa, which is also embroiled in internal strife, the prices of arms sales are outrageous.

For example, in the past, when they bought a 1010 bolt-action rifle from the federal government, it would cost about 170 federal sols.

Now, they need to pay 300 yuan to buy the export version of the 1010 bolt-action rifle, and they can't even bargain.

The price of bullets has also increased significantly. Previously, a bullet cost about two paras, but now it costs five paras, and there's no room for bargaining.

There will only be a slight discount when there are more than 100 million bullets, just a tiny bit, not a single bit more!

When President Diego saw this price list, he was filled with rage!

Although he had never personally done business with these federal military-industrial groups or imported weapons from them before, he still had to inspect the federal military equipment purchased by the Rapa government.

After all, this involves a large amount of cash flow, and he definitely needs to know whether the money has gone to where it should have gone, as he intended.

Or perhaps it was embezzled by these damned little cuties somewhere.

The corruption problem in the government of Rapa is also very serious. After all, even the president and his family are frantically making money. With the top setting an example, middle and lower-level government officials are also frantically making money.

It seems that making money is what government officials are supposed to do; they even dare to meddle with the president's money.

So President Diego knew the prices of previous military equipment, or at least had a vague understanding of them.

Now that he sees the price as outrageous, he thinks the military sales representative is playing a trick on him, and his temper immediately flares up.

The arms sales representative, who was told he was "out of the game" by the man pointing his finger at him, was not angry. He had encountered even more outrageous situations before. Being able to represent the group company abroad for sales meant that his business skills were absolutely up to standard.

He smiled at President Diego and said, “Mr. President, I can assure you that there is absolutely no problem with this form. If you feel that the price is above your budget, then you can look at other places.”

Diego listened to his words, looking at the others with a puzzled expression. Soon he picked up the price list of another military industrial group, looking at the outrageous numbers on it, and something seemed to be churning in his mind.

His blood pressure rose.

Diego has high blood pressure, but he also has high cholesterol and high blood sugar—the "three highs," or possibly even the "four highs" or "five highs."

However, people did not pay much attention to this during this period, and even he himself may not have known that his body was in a very unhealthy state.

He felt unwell, so he tore open his collar. Under the influence of high blood pressure, he felt dizzy and short of breath.

This price list was even more outrageous than the last one. He didn't say anything, just threw it on the coffee table, and then picked up other people's price lists, looking at each one.

With each price he looked at, he grew angrier, because none of the prices on the price list were normal; they were all ridiculously high.

His eyes held a ruler's commanding presence as he stared intently at them. "I need an explanation!"

The sales representative from McGraw-Hill Industries took his price list from the others and placed it back in front of him, saying, "Mr. President, I know you are very dissatisfied with these prices."

"Actually, I myself am very dissatisfied with the prices on this price list, but there's nothing I can do, Mr. President."

"In response to the federal government's call, these firearms were designed and produced at the fastest possible speed."

“These are not standard-specification weapons, which means we cannot use the production lines we are currently using to produce these weapons. We must use new production lines, new designs, and new processes.”

"Everything requires cost, and even more cost!"

"If you have any knowledge of industry, you should understand this."

“Newly developed products are often very expensive. Only after we have sold them for a period of time will our costs decrease and the prices come down.”

"These weapons are indeed a bit pricey, but I guarantee that if you buy more than one million, we can offer you a better deal!"

“For example…” He glanced at the price list in his hand, but his mind was racing, wondering who the hell set such outrageous prices?
"Two hundred and ninety-five yuan a piece, which is five yuan less than three hundred yuan."

“If you can order two million units, then I can make the decision to lower the price to two hundred and ninety dollars.”

"Similarly, if you can order more of these weapons, then we can lower the price appropriately and use the quantity to offset the cost. I hope you understand what I mean."

"If you can buy five million units, you can persuade the company to give you a price of two hundred and fifty yuan per unit."

President Diego looked at him, his emotions having calmed down somewhat; perhaps physical discomfort prevented him from continuing to be angry with these people.

He rubbed his forehead. "Five million?"

"Wang Defa?"

"Do you... know exactly how many troops I have under my command right now?"

Two hundred thousand people!

"Two hundred thousand, an army of two hundred thousand, and you want me to buy five million weapons?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't that he found the whole thing funny; he was just so angry that he laughed.

"I don't need that many weapons."

The McGregor Industries arms sales representative could only regretfully put the price list back into his briefcase. He looked into the president's eyes, making no attempt to avoid the president's somewhat frightening gaze.

“If you can’t buy that many weapons, and can only order 200,000, I can only make the decision to give you a discount of one dollar per weapon.”

Diego's laughter grew louder. "One dollar?"

McGregor's representative nodded earnestly and said, "Yes, one dollar."

"Mr. President, don't think that one dollar is a small price. Think about it: two hundred thousand weapons, each one cheaper than the last, that's a saving of two hundred thousand dollars."

"To be honest, I may never earn 200,000 in my lifetime, but now I can make the decision to waive that 200,000 for you. This is the limit of what I can do."

It sounds like there's nothing wrong with it, but a closer look reveals that it's actually quite ironic.

Diego looked at the others. "You did the same thing?"

The other representatives all nodded in agreement. There are strict regulations for weapons sold to the Asian Union region, although large financial groups in the Federation may not really take the federal government's orders seriously.

Every year, capital tramples on federal laws and regulations; there's nothing they wouldn't dare to do if there's enough profit to be made.

However, they are still hesitant to act recklessly when it comes to arms sales to Asian allies.

It's not that these weapons manufacturers love their country so much or are willing to follow any arrangements of the federal government; it's simply that their biggest customer right now is the federal government's arms sales.

The government sells arms to the government in the billions of dollars every year, and the scale continues to expand.

If they lose these arms sales because they violated federal government regulations, the people who made those decisions will most likely disappear one day.

The company's shareholders killed them because they caused the company to lose a lot of profits!
So, three hundred yuan is three hundred yuan, not a penny less, unless they buy enough.

The federal government also agreed that buying more would lower prices.

If Diego buys enough weapons, he can tie up a large portion of the Rapa government's funds, drying up the government's coffers, which will greatly help a series of subsequent plans. Diego sat there, his chest heaving. He looked at these people, then casually picked up a few price lists and glanced at them.

The more he looked, the more he felt that these people were mocking him, giving him a price they knew he couldn't accept, and then watching him get angry, but he had no way to do anything about it.

He looked around and picked, and finally, with his eyes closed, he chose the sales representative from Gray Industries.

It wasn't that Gray Industries' prices were lower than others, but rather that he was more familiar with Gray Industries. The Gray 1010 bolt-action rifle had always been the main equipment of the Rapa government forces.

The weapons imported from the Republic of Germany this time are mainly standard federal weapons, including a large number of Gray 1010 bolt-action rifles.

This is a common practice in sales. Considering the soldiers' usage habits, when purchasing weapons, the best choice is often the one that the soldiers are most familiar with, rather than one that they are unfamiliar with.

Other arms sales representatives weren't too disappointed either; they continued to recommend other weapons, such as sniper rifles, grenades, and explosives.

But right now, Diego mainly wants to talk about rifles and ammunition.

The other sales representatives then got up to leave, as they would continue to visit the Rapa government, where they had all seen a large scale and market.

Moreover, they will not only negotiate with the Rapa government, but also with the anti-government armed groups.

The two sat there, and the room was quiet for a while. Diego took some special medicine from the Federation, and his headache improved considerably.

He paused for a moment, realizing he was becoming increasingly reliant on the Federation's special medicine, even though its price was starting to rise.

For no apparent reason, he suddenly wondered if the federal government would also add these special drugs to the list of prohibited exports.

Perhaps he should have someone bring back more special medicines from the Federation first, so that he won't be left without them if the Federation suddenly bans exports.

After letting his thoughts wander for a while, he looked at the sales representative in front of him and said, “I need at least 250,000 rifles and ammunition. This is a long-term business.”

“We will be using your company’s products from now until the end of the Civil War, and even for a long time to come, so I hope you can give us a more suitable price.”

The sales representative shook his head. "I can't make a promise right now, but I can guarantee that the price will definitely go down as you buy more and more."

Diego didn't get the result he wanted, but he wasn't particularly disappointed. When he tried to bargain, he was already prepared to be rejected.

The sales representative took out a pen and notebook he carried with him and began to calculate the price of this arms sale.

Twenty-five rifles, plus a large quantity of ammunition, was definitely a huge order, although Diego did not indicate that he would necessarily purchase them from Gray Industries.

After a simple calculation, the sales representative showed Diego the calculated price: over 80 million.

Diego glanced at it and said, "I don't have that much money right now."

"You can see from the economic situation in Lapa that since the second half of last year, Lapa's agricultural output has been almost non-existent."

"Mineral resources have also been severely impacted by the internal strife, with many mines almost completely shut down. Furthermore, anti-government armed forces have cut off transportation, making it difficult to transport resources even if they are still in production."

"It's difficult for us to come up with so much money at once to pay for this military equipment purchase, but we can consider alternative payment methods."

Lance had already spoken to the sales representatives before they arrived, so they knew how to handle the situation.

The sales representative didn't insist on money; he nodded, looking at the product with a listening expression. "It depends on what it is. As long as it's valuable, I believe the company won't mind."

Diego's face didn't show much expression. In his mind, he took stock of the resources in the territories of the ruling groups that weren't allied with him, and then said, "I can give you the mining rights to two silver mines and one gold mine."

“These mines have large reserves and haven’t been in operation for long. You can get at least…” He calculated carefully, “about two to three million in profit a year.”

This is already a very sincere offer. He made a similar offer to the German government, only in exchange for copper mines and some other resources that can be used in industry.

With a profit of two to three million a year, the cost of this military purchase can be recouped in just thirty years.

Some people may think this takes a long time, but it's not.

If the military-industrial group doesn't want to mine the gold itself, it can assess the gold mine and hand it over directly to the bank, taking away its military sales proceeds.

Then the bank takes over the mining and profits from it until the value mined matches the bank's expected return—principal and interest combined.

Moreover, the increase in gold and silver mines can make banks more stable and stronger in resisting risks.

In fact, these high-quality resources are acceptable to capital groups, but this time is an exception.

He thought the sales representative would agree immediately, after all, it was a gold and silver mine, but to his surprise, the sales representative shook his head directly, "Sorry, we don't have any long-term mining plans."

"If you can give us refined silver ingots or gold bricks, we can accept those."

Diego stared at him wide-eyed as if he hadn't heard him at all. "I can give you mining rights to gold and silver mines. You can mine as much as you want."

"Isn't refining it into silver and gold bricks just something you do conveniently?"

The sales representative shook his head again, "These mineral resources are not located within the federal territory, and we don't know much about the situation here."

"We just want to sell the weapons we have and then take the money from those weapons and ammunition."

"So... I'm sorry, Mr. President, if this is all you can offer, then we're afraid we can't do business together."

Seeing that the other party seemed genuinely unconcerned about these mineral resources, rather than trying to take advantage of the situation to demand more, President Diego was at a loss for what to do.

The sales representative said softly, "Mr. President, if these mineral resources you mentioned are indeed worth that much money..."

“You could sell it to someone who is interested in it and then use the money to pay for military purchases.”

Diego's eyes darted around at those words. He knew he could do that, of course, but the two silver mines and one gold mine he was talking about were not under his control.

In other words, he is using other people's resources to purchase these military equipment, which is difficult to achieve at least for now.

This was also one of his little schemes; he intended to use this method to bind the federal military-industrial complex to himself.

If he can win the civil war, then he will be able to fulfill his promise.

If he loses the war, then I don't care who he is!

This would incentivize the military-industrial complex to help him win the civil war.

With the help of the federal forces, he still held great hope of winning the war.

Even if they don't help, they'll find a way to stop Lance and his group from going too far, since it involves more than 80 million in funds.

But now, this plan seems to be unworkable.

This was probably the most difficult time of Diego's life. He shook his head, unable to think of anyone who could help him with this.

Because he needs the money now, it means he also has to hand over the ownership of the mineral resources to someone else right now.

If others can't get these resources, they definitely won't give money. Not only will they not be able to provide him with any help, but they will also help him create an enemy who can readily produce more than 80 million federal sols!
He was a little unsure of what to do.

Although he has tens of millions of dollars in cash in his bank and a lot of valuable artworks in his vault, he can still scrape together this much money on his own.

But as a ruler, he did not intend to use his own money to do this.

That money, those artworks, everything—it's the Lavila family's last resort; it can't be touched.

Seeing that the president seemed to be lost in thought, the sales representative whispered, "If you don't have a suitable candidate, then I might be able to give you some suggestions."

Diego looked at him and said softly, "I've heard that Mr. Lance White and his Imperial Chamber of Commerce are very wealthy and willing to invest locally. Perhaps he would support your plan?"

(End of this chapter)