Darkstone Code-Chapter 728 - 0726 James Lynch Bond
"I’ll have a glass too..."
Mr. Truman "ordered" another glass and walked with Lynch into his office. Currently, the Department of State hasn’t been fully established; it will only function completely after the President wins the election.
There are many unwritten rules within the Federation Government. The reason the President is currently the President is not because of his election victory, but because he assumed the position as Vice President following the previous President’s departure.
Hence, the current President does not possess the authority to change the current structural landscape of the Federation Government institutions.
This doesn’t imply that he is a fake President; it’s merely a rule, an unwritten rule.
The current leaders at the upper echelons of the Federation Government are all remnants from the previous President’s election victory. These individuals or the forces behind them placed significant bets during the previous President’s election campaign, and with the previous President’s victory, the power they now wield is what they deserve.
Simply put, these political opportunists are enjoying the dividends of their opportunistic success. No one can easily interrupt their enjoyment of these dividends before the end of the dividend period.
Otherwise, it would mean challenging this set of rules.
Today, the Progressive Party may win the election; in the future, the Conservative Party could also win. To avoid unnecessary conflicts, everyone adheres to this rule: do not easily take away someone else’s cheese.
Even though the previous President has stepped down, he managed to protect his cheese—his son is currently a star diplomat within the Federation.
If nothing unexpected happens, he could likely climb to a relatively important position in the next four to eight years, then wait for a meteoric rise.
This is also why the President conceived the idea of the Department of State gradually replacing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and why this plan could pass Congress.
It’s important to note that the previous President’s son is also in this field, which means he will also benefit from the rise of the Department of State.
With the former President and some support from within the Conservative Party, perhaps in eight years, he could climb to the position of Deputy Minister, and in sixteen or even twenty-four years progress to seek the presidency!
Politics is dirty, as it’s not a clean place; behind every inconspicuous change lies a transfer and compromise of numerous interests.
Yet, it is also clean, as it can help many achieve their dreams and bathe everything in light.
The somewhat cramped office doesn’t reflect the grandeur of a future power center, but Mr. Truman doesn’t mind. He casually pulled two chairs and sat with Lynch away from the window.
The President’s Mansion has been fitted with a central temperature control system, making the room cooler than outside, allowing officials to work here formally and decently attired.
Mr. Truman took out some documents from a drawer and handed them to Lynch, "Don’t ask me, just finish reading it first."
Lynch was a bit puzzled but followed his suggestion and started reading.
This was an introduction to the new equipment parameters of the Army and Navy. The Navy’s equipment introduction was comparatively less, mainly focusing on the Army’s new equipment, some of which had not been reported in the news.
Lynch read carefully, memorized some crucial data and descriptions, and then placed the documents on the table, "You want me to leak this information."
Mr. Truman was somewhat surprised but did not deny it, "Regarding the matter you mentioned to me, after discussing with the President, presenting you with a medal just for inventing some military equipment doesn’t seem justified."
He moved to sit on the chair beside Lynch, offering him a cigarette. After lighting the cigarettes together, Truman, while flicking the match in his hand, said, "If we give you a medal, we’d have to hand out dozens or hundreds more every year."
"You need to earn some more merit."
"You can’t intervene in domestic policy formulation."
"And you have no opportunity to intervene in military matters, especially now with no wars, you have no chance to earn merit."
"It’s the same in all aspects. Even if you perform outstandingly, the public might think you’re still lacking a bit, so I’ve come up with an idea."
He abruptly stopped as there was a knock at the door. After responding, Catherine came in with a tray.
After each exchanging a thank you, they watched Catherine leave. Mr. Truman looked down, blew on the coffee, and took a sip, "Do you recall during the joint military exercise when the Gafura submarines exceeded our expected speed?"
Lynch nodded; it was a memorable event. Many said the Federation lost to Gafura in the least likely area, severely impacting domestic morale.
Sheep Ship Company’s stock plummeted dramatically that day. If they hadn’t quickly released the parameters for the second-generation submarines and if the Ministry of Defense hadn’t allocated additional research funding, Sheep Ship’s shareholders and investors would have suffered.
This event is difficult to forget.
"Several of our security agencies, including the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Strategic Command, sat together to study this matter. We concluded that one of our previous inadvertent plans played a crucial role."
"Previously, we had inadvertently leaked the Federation’s submarine performance parameters..." Lynch vaguely recalled such a matter, and indeed, he had even participated in this plan. Mr. Truman put down his coffee cup and continued, "The performance parameters we leaked back then coincidentally matched the current performance parameters of the Gafura submarines."
"To put it more simply, we believe that they accepted our previous claims about performance parameters, taking our fictitious figures as real ones, and invested a significant amount of funds pursuing these actually false parameters."
"In this way, the performance of the Gafura people in the joint military exercise also makes sense; they must have paid a huge price for it."
"We discussed and came to a very interesting conclusion. Since they believe the parameters we provided, why don’t we continue to ’reveal’ some parameters to them?"
Mr. Truman had a faint, barely noticeable smile on his face, "You surely understand what I’m trying to say!"
Lynch nodded again, "Create fear!" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Mr. Truman was momentarily bewildered, but then he got a slight tingle on his scalp, and he pointed at Lynch, "You’ve got it exactly right, even more accurately than I imagined, fear, that’s a very apt word..."
Yes, create fear. If all the Federation’s equipment performance parameters exceed those of the Gafura people, what kind of situation would it create?
Fear!
The Gafura people would feel fear, from the Emperor of the Empire down to a vagrant, they would all fear, because the military force they have relied on for survival is comprehensively lagging behind the Federation, a Federation that has already punched them and left them unable to stand firm, they would be scared.
Some people, even if they hold terrifying weapons, do not inspire fear, because they do not dare to easily start a war, or even dare to wave the weapons in their hands.
The stronger they seem, in reality, the weaker they are.
But there are some who dare to wield weapons, dare to start wars, and if these people hold advanced weapons in their hands, it would absolutely be a nightmare.
The Federation people are such people, they dare to do it.
So, to reduce fear and gain more security, the best way is to strengthen themselves and surpass the Federation in all weapon performance.
"As for why you’re being shown so much Army equipment..."
The two exchanged a glance and chuckled quietly.
"I’ve heard a saying, smart people have dirty minds." Lynch crossed his legs and flicked the ash from his cigarette.
Mr. Truman didn’t feel offended; instead, he said, "I think you’re talking about yourself. You’re one of the few smartest people I’ve ever met!"
The two laughed again.
Why not Navy equipment, but Army equipment? This reason is actually quite simple; the Gafura people have already exposed the fact that without reform, their Army will completely fall apart during the joint military exercise.
The Gafura Navy’s current problems aren’t significant; the deterrent effect of their submarines has brought their fleet back into operation. The only downside is now in the Army.
The Minister of the Army and the Minister of Defense have both stated publicly that there needs to be a targeted strengthening of the Army, at least bringing the Army to a world second-class level.
There are many ways for a country’s Army to quickly improve. Besides constant intensive training and participating in real wars, there is also a relatively simple and effective way, and that is to replace Army equipment.
The Gafura artillery train exposed their considerations in this regard, but before anyone could follow suit, its design flaws were exposed.
Without rails, it’s as useless as scrap.
But this also precisely shows that Gafura has always been researching Army equipment and will also increase investment in Army equipment research and development. If at this time Lynch "inadvertently" leaks some somewhat ambiguous erroneous data, what would happen?
Several departments, after discussion and research, believe that there is a very high likelihood that they will follow the previous practice of believing the Federation’s parameters, then investing money into a bottomless pit based on those false parameters.
This will make the already not affluent domestic economic situation of Gafura even more severe, and their troubles will grow!
As for whether they actually come up with any results based on these parameters?
In fact, it holds little value; Army equipment is not simply a matter of bigger numbers being better.
In some cases, such as in a defensive stance during wartime, these "big data" values are highly valuable, as large-caliber coastal guns can deter many warships from easily venturing forth.
But if on the offensive, the larger the attribute data of various equipment, the heavier the logistical burden, and it means a more challenging quick advance, merely wasting opportunities.
Add to this the Gafura’s useless soldiers, who can’t form any effective combat power at all—if through training and war a country’s Army could become powerful, with the Gafura’s extensive war experience, their Army would have long been invincible.
But the truth is, they are truly useless.
"This is your task, find a way to leak this information during this event, and when you come back, if we have results with the aircraft, we can award you a medal!"
