Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1381 Perhaps it's time to find a way to make contact (5k)

On one hand, there's life; on the other, there's money and life. Given the social atmosphere of the Kingdom of Laos, there's no other answer to this choice.

However, the administrative staff did not want to completely give up the idea of ​​persuading the president, not because he was kind, but because achieving this would be politically beneficial to them.

A good advisor is one who doesn't aspire to be a leader's advisor. Working alongside a leader is a crucial opportunity for him to accumulate political capital and build connections.

"Commander, if we must resolve the issue of the Western Mountain Kingdom, why not adopt some more direct methods? Why get bogged down in the quagmire of direct combat with the Western Mountain Kingdom?"

Since the previous leader decided to fully intervene in the war, the kingdom, this giant, has been sinking deeper and deeper into this quagmire, with no hope of escaping it.

"Do you have any good ideas?" The commander didn't want to appear too dismissive of his close staff, so he asked seriously. These people, who had worked their way up in the staff positions for many years, had their own unique and effective methods of doing things.

The administrative staff pushed up his glasses: "Easterners! We all know that although the Easterners have strictly limited the depth and scope of their actions in Xishan Kingdom, the reason why the people of Xishan Kingdom have resisted so fiercely and for so long, and even achieved some results in some areas, is inseparable from the support of the Easterners behind them."

The commander and his military advisor exchanged a glance, unable to suppress the shock in their eyes. Then they turned to look at the man in front of them with the eyes of someone looking at a terminally ill person.

"Are you out of your mind or am I deaf? You actually want to go and confront that big guy head-on?" The military advisor spoke far more bluntly than the commander himself. And a very ruthless big guy, he added in his mind, and that was the most important part.

Money is certainly worth making, but not at the cost of one's life. He believed that if they were to fight the Easterners on land bordering their own, coupled with the watchful eyes of the Kingdom of Luo, their kingdom would be in serious trouble, if not destroyed.

After all, they managed to grow themselves into a nation with nothing back then, so it's hard to imagine what they can achieve now that they've made such great progress.

At least for now, the North Bay has become a no-go zone for Kingdom Aircraft, and it's a no-go zone that the opponent has created using their technological advantage.

The kingdom's leader put it more tactfully: "You should know that if we have the ability to do this, then we will first consider erasing the 17th parallel north."

That line is invisible and intangible, but it is more effective than hard steel bars and cement.

The meaning of "command" is very clear: if we can't even break through that line, we shouldn't think too much about it.

Hearing their words, the administrative staff member shrugged helplessly, "You're not stupid, and neither am I."

"You two have misunderstood. I don't want to start a direct war with the Easterners. After all, they only provided economic and equipment support to the Western Mountain Kingdom, and it has already given us a lot of trouble..." At this point, he couldn't help but make a veiled sarcasm in his words.

The other two blushed slightly, especially the one in charge of military affairs. He hadn't participated in the war against Xishan Kingdom, but as a member of the kingdom's army, he couldn't escape responsibility. While he admired individual heroism, he still possessed a basic sense of collective honor.

The administrative staff continued, "Therefore, directly fighting the Easterners is completely out of the question. My idea is whether we can turn the Easterners into our friends, or at least, not our enemies."

He glanced at the other two and reminded them, "Don't forget, John and Lance are actually engaged in trade with the Easterners, both openly and covertly, and the range of goods and services is vast. They can even get things from the Easterners that we don't have and make money off us! For example, miniaturized computers."

With very few exceptions, the computers we have circulating abroad, while not necessarily faster than those of the Kingdom, far surpass them in size, weight, energy consumption, and reliability. This has led a group of people in the Kingdom to be very determined to utilize and widely promote our computers.

What supports their behavior is the convenience of the Loong operating system, the power of the C language, and the ease and practicality of databases, etc.

The direct consequence of their actions was that the money was taken by others! Compared to the Easterners who made money by relying on technological advantages, the people behind the administrative staff actually hated Huaqun and Lanxi the most. The second and third bosses joined forces to take advantage of the enemy's technological advantages to make money off the boss. This kind of thing would be considered outrageous in any police and gangster movie in Zhudao City.

Since we're all making money, why shouldn't we be allowed to make it?
This is what he and the people behind him find most unbearable; this situation has been going on for a long time but has never been resolved.

The affairs of the kingdom are nothing new. Behind the military staff stands a military-industrial complex, while on the administrative staff stand another group of people, a group that uses gold as ammunition to plunder other countries.

If the hatred and opposition towards Easterners stemming from "open-minded thinking" is resolute and consistent, leaving them with nowhere to attack, then this "open-minded thinking" incident has given them hope for a change in the situation.

They also understood that the leaders of the able-bodied men were constrained in their governance abilities and unable to fully utilize their talents that year.

But now that the conscripts have been officially employed, they're not going to be so polite.

"We lack the conditions and environment to reconcile with the other side. I think I understand this better than you do." Peace? That's impossible. How can you profit from war if there's peace?

Even simply reducing the scale of the war, or even maintaining the status quo, is more painful for the military-industrial complex than losing a loved one, as long as there is no growth.

“Yes, your extensive experience in this area comes from a failed war. You lost the war against the Easterners, and therefore harbor long-standing hostility towards them, which I understand. But that was more than ten years ago, and we cannot forget one thing—ten years is enough time for a lot to happen. S2 has only been going on for six years.” At this point, the narrative of S2 is still mainly from the perspective of the Southern Federation, who believe that S2 began with the Lu Guo Lao blitzkrieg.

At this point, since the interests of the two sides were completely opposite, the administrative staff no longer maintained their composure and directly exposed the other side's true colors.

"Is that so? Can't you find a way to make money off your own people? Why do you have to go through Easterners?" Come on, let's hurt each other, who's afraid of who.

The kingdom's leader was somewhat troubled by the dispute between the two, but fortunately, he had now been officially appointed.

"Enough! I don't care what your thoughts are, I hope you two can be as objective as possible. You need to understand that an assistant who is not objective is incompetent."

If you're not competent, then replace you. If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of people who can.

The leader's reprimand had an effect, and the two stopped their fierce verbal sparring.

“You, you tell me, why do you think now is an opportunity to improve relations with the East?” He pointed to the administrative staff.

Logically speaking, the desire to trade with the East has always existed, but why is he now so solemnly proposing to make peace with the East, even at the cost of turning against his colleagues to insist on it? It must be because they have discovered something.

The administrative staff member adjusted his glasses: "The reason is simple and direct. Everything else can be disregarded for now, but there is one thing that is the most realistic and important..."

The remaining two stared intently at him, wanting to know what was so important.

"The relationship between the Easterners and the Kingdom of Luo has deteriorated further recently."

"What?" The other two, including the kingdom's leader, were shocked. Although the relationship between their two countries was just as delicate as that between the kingdom and Lanxi, even the Kingdom of Flower Skirts, which was like a father and son, could be outwardly united but inwardly estranged from the kingdom.

But they never expected things to 'deteriorate' further.

The reason is simple: although economic and some technological exchanges between the two countries are very active, and have even increased significantly, the fact that there is "cold politics but hot economics" between them is hard to change.

In Wang Guolao's view, the conflict between the two was no longer about the crown prince; they were vying for the position of the crown prince's father. Of course, Wang Guolao's view was quite vulgar. But regardless, in Wang Guolao's opinion, the relationship between Luo Kingdom and the Easterners had no room for further deterioration.

Now that the executive staff says the relationship has "further" deteriorated, things get interesting.

"How did you know? Or rather, how did you all know? Is it reliable?" The kingdom's leader's expression was not good.

Logically, such information should have originated from the Langley Center first, and the Langley Center should have informed him first before it came from others.

This is a matter of attitude!

The administrative staff knew exactly what he was thinking, but simply smiled and said, "This is a high-ranking official from Luo Kingdom. He shares a great-grandfather with some people here."

His meaning was very direct: this matter has nothing to do with the Langley Center, so you shouldn't worry about their attitude. Besides, if the Langley Center really had a bad attitude towards you, then you might have more to worry about than just the lack of timely intelligence.

According to regulations, the Langley Center cannot interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom without the endorsement and accompaniment of other law enforcement agencies. In other words, it is a completely external intelligence agency. However, everyone knows that regulations are rigid, but people are flexible. If people are not flexible, then they can be ineffective.

However, it must be said that the Kingdom, a former dynasty with very few native inhabitants, does have this advantage: it can always find people from all the major countries in the world. With their help, many things become much more natural.

"Alright, let's be clearer." The Kingdom's leader was fully aware of the situation, so he decided to focus on the bigger picture. As for whether the Langley Center had any attitude problems, that was unimportant.

He needs to know more details.

"Simply put, during the inauguration ceremony of the new leader of the Republic of Romania, some people in Romania touched on something they shouldn't have, which angered the people of the East..."

Interestingly, the two key figures in the Cigar Country Missile Crisis both suffered major setbacks within a year of each other: one died physically, and the other lost his career—their fates were remarkably similar.

However, he wasn't entirely clear on the specifics. You see, the person who leaked the information also had their reservations and didn't dare to be too explicit. They gave vague hints, but those vague hints were enough for the person who heard them to draw their own conclusions.

The kingdom's leader roughly understood the reason for the situation: "In other words, it's difficult for things to improve between them in the short term unless one side backs down?"

"That's roughly the situation," the administrative staff member said with a smile.

"Great! Excellent!" The kingdom's leader clapped and laughed.

From fifteen years ago until any previous ruler of the kingdom, everyone knew how much pressure there was when facing two giants united.

In terms of population, area, potential, and military strength, the other side's 1+1 is stronger than the other side's 1+2. If we had to say, the other side is better in terms of economy and technology, which brings the two sides to a basic balance.

However, in recent years, as Easterners have gradually gained strength in some important technologies, this balance has begun to show signs of being broken, and has formed a deadlock for the kingdom.

And now, it seems that this deadlock is gradually starting to untangle.

As the ruler of the kingdom, he still possessed some integrity and aspirations; perhaps not ideals, but at least ideas. Seeing the path ahead of his nation beginning to broaden, at this moment, he cast aside all notions of military-industrial complexes, commercial conglomerates, and economic interests.

Once we've achieved a resounding victory, do we really need such a small amount of economic benefit?
It must be admitted that his vision is much longer-term than that of some groups that only consider economic interests.

"Can't either the Easterners or the Kingdom of Luo be the first to back down?" the military advisor asked, puzzled.

"Impossible. Since the beginning of the past fifteen years, when have the Easterners ever bowed their heads, especially when their true bottom line has been crossed? For example, the situation in the East, where we control the entire region, is a true bottom line for the Easterners. They may be flexible in dealing with some unimportant or temporarily unimportant issues, but on bottom line issues, they are never flexible; there is only one way."

"Can you fucking stop bringing that up?" The military staff member nearly cursed out loud.

"On the other hand, the Russian Empire is even less likely to bow down. First, their new leader needs to establish his own political image and cannot voluntarily submit. Second, no matter who their leader is, in their eyes, the other countries in their camp are all their sons, so they can never truly accept a 'brother'." This is commonly known as a "father complex," and the new leader's father complex is even greater.

This advisor is a professional in analyzing this issue, a fact that even military advisors have to acknowledge.

Actually, there's something they don't know right now, and they would feel more at ease if they did.

—The reason why Luo Guo did something wrong was not actually his own attitude, but the decision of the Supreme Council.

This brings us to another coincidence involving the two main characters in the Cigar Nation missile crisis.

After that person had a wild idea, the successor, Zhuang Ding, made a formal campaign promise to continue the work of his predecessor.

After the other official stepped down, his successor followed the same policies, at least regarding policies towards the Southern comrades, without any changes.

I can end your life, but I will continue what you did. That's the interesting thing about the world.

Although those present were unaware of this event, they knew one thing: an opportunity to change the course of the world may have quietly emerged.

"Perhaps your idea is correct, or at least worth a try. We don't necessarily have to bring the Easterners into our camp, but at least we should completely separate them from the Kingdom of Luo!" the commander said to his administrative staff. He didn't say half of what he meant: no one in the kingdom wanted to completely bring the Easterners into their camp. If that happened, the same struggle between the Crown Prince's father and his son would happen on their side.

That country in the East is very large, and in their hearts they have the determination to change everything and pursue everything, and they are also putting it into action.

Therefore, all we need to do is find a way to gradually distance ourselves from the other party and Luo Guo. Among all the methods, appropriately getting closer to the other party is one of the best, as it brings both economic and political benefits.

However, another matter troubled the kingdom's leader: "How can we contact the Easterners? There isn't even any theoretical channel of communication between the two sides."

The reason is simple: any official channel is currently controlled by that province, while there is no informal channel, or rather, there isn't one that is neither too high nor too low, just right, and not too sensitive.

Since things have come to this point, the military staff can't pretend to be deaf and dumb. The commander just said that we must be objective, we must be objective!
He waved his hand: "We do have some ideas. During S2, whether it was bombing the capital of Beihai or the subsequent air battles, many of our young men were rescued by the other side. Some of these rescues came from the government, and some came from civilians. Perhaps it's time to let these mature young men go find their saviors."

His words brought a smile to the faces of the other two. This was indeed a good idea. Because of the Kingdom, the Luo Kingdom, and the Easterners' status as the victors of S2, this approach naturally placed them on the moral high ground. Even if one side didn't support it, they couldn't at least oppose it. Moreover, their identities were quite subtle, with both sides having military backgrounds, yet this approach itself carried a positive connotation, subtly expressing their stance while remaining acceptable to all parties.

The administrative staff member nodded, but at the same time felt that something was missing. Feeling uncomfortable, he shared his other opinions with the other two: "Hmm, it's good, but it feels like something is missing."

(End of this chapter)