Darkstone Code

Chapter 1351: Chapter 1350: We Never Do That!

As time went by, more and more military officers gathered in the Ministry of Defense’s conference room, and when the clock pointed to ten forty-five, the President also appeared in the room.

The President’s aide stated at the very moment the door opened that the President still had to meet a certain country’s ambassador at noon, so regardless of whether this meeting could be completed or not, the President could only stay for one hour.

Time was very tight.

When the President came in, his usual signature smile was gone from his face. When he saw Lynch, he gave a slight nod as a greeting, then sat down in his seat.

"Gentlemen, time is limited, let’s skip the pleasantries and begin..."

The official chairing the meeting for the Ministry of Defense then stood up.

"The Grand President of the Mariluo Central Government has recently been busy integrating the warlords across the country. Our strategic research analysts believe there is a high probability that Mariluo will achieve a temporary unification before the outbreak of war."

The man presiding over the meeting was the highest-ranking officer in the Strategic Research Office, with the rank of Major General.

Everyone attending this meeting today was at least a Major; the rest were almost all Colonels, Major Generals, and even Lieutenant Generals.

The President nodded once. "What do you mean?"

"Mr. President, it means that Mariluo will end its chaotic situation and become our biggest threat!"

"Due to Mr. Lynch’s Darkstone Security Company’s interference in the situation inside Mariluo, and the impact of extreme cold weather in winter on Mariluo, the internal attrition between warlords within Mariluo has now completely stopped."

"In the past few years, they had been constantly resolving smaller warlords through mutual attrition, while the larger warlords could also grow and accumulate strength."

"But we now have clear information and evidence that since last spring, the confrontational pattern between the warlords has disappeared."

"The President of the Mariluo Central Government began privately contacting various warlords, trying to persuade them to put aside their prejudices and cooperate again."

"At first we thought this might just be a joke..."

The Major General curled his lip. "We all know the hatred between warlords is very hard to resolve peacefully. They all have relatives or friends who died under each other’s guns, and the Central Government is nothing but a puppet with no power or strength whatsoever."

"But what we didn’t expect was that their Central Government actually succeeded."

"They have already persuaded almost all the major warlords to abandon internal confrontation and actively pursue something further—to realize unification in the true sense."

The President now understood; he frowned. "What caused this?"

The Major General let out a sigh of relief. If the President still didn’t get it, it would be even more troublesome to explain.

Fortunately, the President got it.

He hurried to continue, "Two things. First, because of our intervention, they believe we are the force that truly threatens them."

"Second, war is about to break out. Once war breaks out, there is a high probability we will be drawn into it. If our main forces head to other theaters of war, then at that moment it would be the perfect window to invade the Federation!"

"Mariluo is the only country that borders us on land, and Mariluo possesses considerable numbers of ground forces with formidable combat capability. As long as they’re given weapons, they can at any time raise an army of several million to march south."

"The harsh environment in the North, coupled with the opportunities brought by war, will prompt them to try putting the solution to all their problems into breaking through to the south."

"Our analysts believe that in the war there is a high probability we will face an invasion from Mariluo, which is why we have today’s meeting."

The President’s expression grew even more grave. "This is indeed a big problem, but you also can’t be certain that they will definitely invade us, can you?"

The Major General nodded. "No, we can’t."

The President asked again, "Then what is your solution?"

The Major General glanced at several Lieutenant Generals sitting in the core positions, then cast a quick look at Lynch. That made Lynch realize what their "solution" was.

"Our idea is..." The Major General raised his brows slightly. "Before they invade us, we try to first dismantle their alliance, or else—"

He didn’t go on. In fact, what he was about to say was clear to everyone.

Before someone hits me, I Can hit them first!

The President understood this implication as well, but to rashly invade someone else’s territory and attack an independent regime on the grounds that "they might attack us in a few years"—such a ridiculous justification, no one would buy it.

The Federation currently has a fairly positive influence on the international stage. The World Development Committee is actively promoting trade complementarities among member states within this group.

To enable each country to optimize its pattern and content of international trade.

So everyone still places a great deal of trust in, and reliance on, the Federation Government.

The Federation Government also does not want to destroy the image it has left in the eyes of the world.

The President shook his head. "People are willing to follow us not because we are invaders. If we arbitrarily invade other countries’ territory, people will have many more doubts about us."

The Major General offered a brief explanation. "We can manufacture some pretexts..."

"Talk about the other options first." The President cut him off, ending the prospect of a large-scale ’self‑defensive counterattack.’

Yes, one of the Ministry of Defense’s plans fell under the category of a self-defensive counterattack. They initially intended to use two warlord organizations within Mariluo that were under Federation management to launch an invasion against the Federation.

Then the Federation would counterattack and push all the way to Mariluo’s capital, helping the people of Mariluo end the military government’s high-pressure rule and giving them freedom and openness.

But once the President said, "Talk about the other options first," that basically meant this plan would not be used.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Defense did not have only one scheme to deal with these issues; otherwise that would be truly embarrassing.

"Our second plan is that we have heard someone will assassinate the Grand President of the Mariluo Central Government, as well as some warlord leaders, right when they hold their first secret talks."

"Once the Mariluo Grand President and some major warlords are assassinated, the situation will quickly spin out of control."

After hearing this, the President nodded once. "Is he irreplaceable?"

By "he," he meant the Grand President of the Mariluo Central Government.

The Major General nodded repeatedly. "Yes, Mr. President."

"The Grand President of the Mariluo Central Government, Beigaao, is someone no one can replace. He has been in office for as long as twenty years..."

"Hold on." The President interrupted the Major General again. "You’re saying a president has ruled for twenty years?"

"Then what difference is there between this president and, say, an Emperor?"

The Major General then briefed the President on the situation in Mariluo. Since the Imperial Family was overthrown, they had indeed held a few elections for Grand President.

But as the warlord governments rose, the status of the Central Government grew ever more awkward, and finally the warlords simply cast the Central Government aside and did their own thing.

At that point nobody wanted to be President anymore, for a very simple reason: it was too damn dangerous.

First, the President didn’t have any real power. Second, if any warlord wanted to further expand his influence or seek some sort of political legitimacy, he would inevitably have to take the President, this key figure, for himself.

In other words, the President could become an important prop in a warlord’s hand at any moment, the kind that is discarded as soon as it’s used up!

Moreover, anyone with even a bit of capability went off to form his own armed group. In the end, when the election came, no one even ran!

The Grand President’s term could only be postponed again and again, all the way to the present.

But precisely because he kept deferring his term to the present day, he has a very special status within Mariluo. People always feel a certain nostalgia for things from the past when they are in a bind.

Just as they are attempting now, it would be much harder to have someone else contact these warlords; they wouldn’t trust those people.

But the Grand President, they still trust. After all, it’s been over twenty years—everyone knows what kind of person he is, and they can talk with him relatively rationally.

He poses no harm to the warlords, and trust is the most important foundation for communication!

Once the Grand President is assassinated, and the warlord leaders are assassinated, that one bridge that can link different warlords together will be completely destroyed.

No one can replace the Grand President. There will be no more communication between warlords in Mariluo—at least not in the short term.

Then the Federation’s objective will have been achieved.

After listening, the President nodded once. "Go on."

"We will keep Mariluo in a long-term state of chaos. Whoever tries to mediate, we will remove him..."

The President nodded. "This idea of yours is good. It’s just their internal turmoil; we don’t need to invade. At least on the moral level we don’t have to bear those accusations."

"So when will this plan be carried out, and how?"

The Major General looked at Lynch. "We plan to conduct it in two parallel parts, one by the Ministry of the Army, and one by Darkstone Security."

At this point Lynch raised his hand and stood up. "Sorry, let me cut in as well. We can accept military outsourcing, but assassinating the leader of another country is not within our scope of business."

This was a very sensitive matter and could very likely be exposed in the future.

Given how deeply the Federation Government and the Military are infiltrated by capital, when Lynch’s enemies need ammunition to attack him, they will use anything that can damage him.

Rely on the Ministry of Defense and the Military to keep these things secret?

It was better to refuse outright.

The Major General looked at Lynch, somewhat speechless. He glanced at Mr. Truman; everyone knew Mr. Truman had a good relationship with Lynch, and Mr. Truman, in turn, represented the Military.

Mr. Truman tossed the pen in his hand aside and gestured in Lynch’s direction, pressing his palm down in the air. "Sit down first. We are not going to assassinate any leaders..."