An emperor, the title of the supreme ruler in the feudal period, was now being used on a gang leader. Even for Lance, it was difficult to judge in a short period of time whether this was Admiral Miles’s mockery or his sincere evaluation.
Lance almost instinctively smiled slightly. “Thank you for your praise, Your Excellency General.”
Whether it was a major general or an admiral, they were both generals. There was no problem in addressing him this way.
Admiral Miles seemed to be still waiting for his answer. Before he came here, someone had already given him a heads-up.
During his stationing in this city, if there were any problems outside the military camp, he could find Lance.
Lance could help him solve all the problems here, whether they were civilian, from City Hall, or even from the state government.
At first, Admiral Miles had regarded Lance as the kind of broker whose connections could reach Congress. This kind of person was not rare, but very common, and existed in every region.
They might come from political families, or be the front figures of certain politicians. They knew senators and congressmen in Congress, and used this as an opportunity to intervene in more political events.
With connections that reached the heavens, they were more active in the local area, and had fewer taboos.
They could help him communicate with governments and various departments at all levels, and solve many problems without the two sides having to meet.
Miles didn’t much like dealing with brokers, because these people’s eyes were full of interests. This was not to say that Admiral Miles was a pure person, a person without interests in his eyes.
It was just that compared to those who nakedly played with politics and interests, he was a little purer—he only liked power.
But when he really went to investigate this person, Lance, he found that it was not the case.
The easiest way to understand a person is to talk to him.
He looked at Lance, and Lance was not stage-frightened either. “I don’t know where you’ve heard about me, or maybe it was someone’s introduction, recommendation.”
“To put it modestly, I have some reputation in Golden Port City. People are willing to sit down and listen to me, and then consider my suggestions.”
“If not so modestly…” Lance sat back a little, his hands resting naturally on the armrests on both sides of the sofa, “…I think your evaluation is very accurate.”
Admiral Miles was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed. “This is not ‘immodest,’ this is ‘exaggerated’!”
Lance shook his head. “I don’t see it that way.”
“The word ’emperor’ refers to the ‘supreme ruler.’ If we set a range for it, this city, Golden Port City.”
“Without considering external forces, for example, Mr. President, the gentlemen senators, I control every corner of this city.”
“For you to use the word ’emperor’ to describe me in this city, I don’t think that is exaggerated or unreasonable.”
Admiral Miles sized up Lance. There was not the slightest bit of guilt or unease on Lance’s face. He was very calm, very composed, very calm, as if he were just stating a fact.
Admiral Miles nodded noncommittally. “Since you are so capable, and Bruney says you are an interesting person, then there are some things I plan to leave to you.”
Lance nodded slightly. “Within my ability, the only thing I can do is to ensure that there will be no problems.”
Admiral Miles then made some requests. “Since they all recommend you, then I am willing to try once, to give you a chance, and also to give myself and my soldiers a chance.”
He then mentioned a few things that he needed Lance to do, or to coordinate.
First was the problem of the army’s daily consumption of materials, such as eating, drinking, and defecating.
This part has always been self-provided by the army. For example, food. This thing can only be purchased locally. Unlike other things, it cannot be transported from other places.
With the current transportation capacity, things transported from other places are basically unusable.
The army’s food is related to the morale of the soldiers. An army that eats garbage all day and an army with very good food are definitely different in terms of morale.
Besides this problem, there was another more tricky problem. So many young and strong young men always needed to relieve their loneliness.
This matter was different from other matters. It was not easy to make it public, and it couldn’t even be put on the table to be discussed, but it had to exist.
The military camp was full of young, strapping lads. The daily high-intensity training would make their sexual desires strong. If they were not given some channels to solve it, it might eventually cause trouble.
In the past few years, the army had still retained an internal reception department, but with the progress of society, these departments had been disbanded.
But this did not mean that the physiological problem had also disappeared with the progress of civilization. Not only had it not disappeared, but it had become even stronger.
Alcoholism, prostitution, brawling, and fighting were the characteristics of the federal army. If there were no these characteristics, then this army was definitely not a pure-blooded federal army.
The public didn’t know much about these things, purely because the federal government helped them cover it up and not let the scandal spread.
The people of the Federation also have a tradition in this aspect, but the federal government is more knowledgeable about how to fool the public. They spend a large amount of funds on propaganda mouthpieces every year, weaving some lies and constantly publicizing them, making people think that the lies are the truth.
The most famous lie is that many media in the Federation claim that the land under their feet was bought from the natives with money.
There was no war, no massacre. Everyone completed the transaction with a smile. Until now, many people still think so, and will even argue with those who talk about the massacre to defend their point of view!
They also believed that establishing a reservation for the indigenous people and only allowing them to live by hunting was to ensure the inheritance of their culture.
Next, there will be about a hundred thousand or even more naval soldiers stationed here who need to vent their energy. If no one does a good job of coordination, there will definitely be problems.
This kind of thing can’t be done by unreliable people, so those who knew some inside information recommended Lance to Miles.
“He can solve all your troubles!”
That’s what those people said.
The two had a preliminary discussion on these issues. Lance said they were all minor matters. Miles decided to first see what he could do.
After the few of them separated, Bruney and Lance walked together.
“You may need to make appropriate concessions on the issue of military procurement,” he said, afraid that Lance would not understand, and walked a little closer and lowered his voice. “The price should be pressed down, but the quality cannot become too bad.”
“In addition, the same goes for the issue of women. There are some things that Miles is not convenient to say, so I can only say them.”
Bruney’s expression was not very good. After all, the things he was about to say made him not look like a glorious person. Of course, he himself was not someone who could be called glorious.
Lance looked at him, a little surprised. “It sounds like he’s very short of money.”
Bruney was a civilian major general. His job was to sit in the office of the Department of Defense and handle the coordination and cooperation between Congress and the army. When necessary, he would take documents and orders from the Department of Defense to various military bases and ask them to do this or that.
The people in the military did not like these politicians in military uniform from the Department of Defense, but they could not be without them.
Just like now.
“They don’t make money as easily as those politicians, but they have a lot of places to spend money, so this matter…” he coughed twice, feeling a little embarrassed.
Lance’s focused gaze made him feel a little bit of shame, just a little.
But even if it was just a little, it could still make his emotions change a little.
“In short, we will make the budget high, but you can’t really follow the budget, just like when building the base. you understand what I mean.”
“It’s just that last time there were many people who shared the money, but this time, you only need to share with Miles.”
Lance nodded. The matter of taking kickbacks, in any world, any civilization, exists among the privileged class and the ruling class.
Not to mention a highly commercialized and capitalized society like the Federation, where power has become a toy in the hands of capitalists and capitalized politicians to seek interests. This phenomenon will be even more obvious.
However, Lance also had some curious places. “Doesn’t the military-industrial complex give him some benefits?”
Bruney nodded. “They do. The public relations fees are not small, but the big money is not here.”
“You know, the ‘Procurement Act’ makes the military’s power here not very great.”
“Their (the military-industrial complex’s) main direction is the Department of Defense and the Department of Defense Logistics. The troops can only provide feedback and suggestions on the use of products.”
“The specific use and replacement of military equipment has little to do with them.”
“Then there’s the budget committee. In the end, only when they agree to the procurement plan will the funds be allocated. If they don’t agree, then no funds will be allocated.”
“From Miles’s perspective, he can’t put much in his own pocket.”
In order to ensure the rationality of procurement, the federal government had issued about twenty bills related to procurement in the past hundred years.
Not only the procurement of military equipment, but also government procurement, were all subject to layers of supervision.
Military generals could not directly decide what to procure and how much. They could only tell the specific working group in charge of procurement in the Department of Defense what weapons the soldiers thought were easy to use and what were not.
The generals also had their own ways to make money, but these methods were much slower and much less than those of politicians.
For example, applying to the Department of Defense for a live-fire training plan, but in fact not using that much live ammunition, but reporting that that much was used.
The difference in this part is a project that can be operated, but the current bullets in the Federation are too fucking cheap, and the shells are not too expensive.
The current price of a bullet is five cents. Even if a hundred million are fired, it’s only five million. But the problem is, what live-fire training can fire a hundred million bullets?
Even if each person fires two hundred bullets, this would still require five hundred thousand people to fire a hundred million bullets.
Both the Department of Defense and Congress have review agencies. It’s hard to justify not firing a single bullet. If a third of them are fired, there’s a difference of sixty million bullets, and in the end, it’s only a difference of three million.
But in fact, it’s very difficult to approve a live-fire military exercise of a scale of 500,000. This is very likely to affect social stability.
On the contrary, it’s not as good as kickbacks, which come quickly and are also very safe!
(End of a Chapter)