Empire of Shadows

At the moment when Mr. Cerre, with a face as dark as iron, and his family left Jinzhou, the Speaker of the House glanced at the materials in his hand and slowly stood up under the limited light of the flashbulbs.

“The voting results, excluding one abstention and two dissenting votes, are all in favor. The 'Federal International Security Act' has passed with an absolute majority.”

This news spread to the entire Federation with extreme speed, like a massive earthquake. Half an hour later, at the Congressional press conference,

the majority leader and the Speaker of the House appeared at the press conference simultaneously. This situation is actually rare, because they both represent the highest level of power in the parliament.

Many times, the appearance of just one of them is enough to handle various situations, but today, they appeared together.

Although people already knew that something was not quite right, they still felt incredible when they saw the two of them appear at the same time.

Everyone knew that this would be a very special press conference concerning the future destiny of the Federation.

The scene was very quiet, and the reporters were very disciplined, not because they didn't want to be, but because they didn't dare not to be.

If they were resented by these two big figures, they would likely be blacklisted by the entire industry, and might even end up so miserable that they couldn't find a job to support themselves, and could only go to the countryside to farm.

In public propaganda, people always say that if necessary, the president can also be required to stand in the dock.

But in reality, if this is not a political show, then it is the result of a political struggle.

As for whether it is possible that the president is really just simply required to stand in the dock?

Please, as someone who can sign presidential orders to change the selection of Supreme Court justices, someone who can pardon himself at any time, no one can force him to do so when he doesn't want to stand in that position.

The president can ignore the law and refuse to appear in the dock, let alone the Speaker of the House or the majority leader.

All those who can judge them are their subordinates, so how can they be judged?

After the two sat down, the reporters began to raise their hands in an orderly manner.

The Speaker of the House casually pointed to a reporter from the 'Federal Daily'. The reporter first thanked the two gentlemen, and then asked his question, "Why did the Federal Congress pass such a sensitive proposal at this time?"

“We know that the war on the Tanfitte Grand Highway is still escalating. I noticed that there are many clauses in the 'International Security Act' that allow war measures to be taken before Congress passes them.”

“Will this become the fuse for the Federation to join the battlefield?”

Here, we have to mention the Federation's war issue. The President can only launch military actions, and the time cannot exceed three months.

At the same time, he cannot launch large-scale military actions, and the scale is limited to a certain range.

This leads to the fact that if a military conflict really breaks out, whether to fight back still needs to be voted on and passed by Congress, and then authorized to the President and the military.

Only then do they have the qualifications and power to start a war. Otherwise, after the other party ceases fire, they must also cease fire immediately and let Congress vote to decide what to do next.

Now, the 'International Security Act' grants the President the qualification to directly launch a war in a state of military friction.

This means that war can break out anytime and anywhere because of a mutual shooting between two soldiers!

From an objective and rational point of view, the 'International Security Act' is obviously an irrational bill. It will allow some military actions that may have originally been just deterrents to directly evolve into a war.

For example, the common practice of firing shells into the other party's waters. These shells are not intended to hit anything, but are just to deter the other party, to tell them not to get close, or not to have any bad ideas.

But now, as long as the President believes that they are attacking, he can order the entire navy to attack!

The reporter's question left countless pairs of eyes staring at the two gentlemen on the stage, as well as the constantly flashing lights.

The Speaker of the House shook his head, "This is a good question, but we cannot take this issue too lightly."

“The Prime Minister of the Dantela Republic has issued a statement to us, demanding that we immediately cease all trade activities with the Tanfitte continent, otherwise they will regard us as war opponents.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Federation's economy is already in serious decline due to some reasons.”

“If we lose those orders and customers from the Tanfitte continent, this will be a heavy blow to domestic factory owners who are struggling to operate.”

“According to our statistics last year, nearly 70% of the Federation's exported goods ultimately go to countries and regions on the Tanfitte continent.”

“We have already lost some orders. If we lose all of them, I cannot imagine how bad the domestic economy will become.”

“The Dantela Republic may therefore attack our merchant ships, or even attack our ports and warehouses.”

“In order to deal with the crazy Dantela people, it is very necessary to ensure immediate military response. Once they launch a war against us without declaring war, at least we will not delay valuable time because we need to go through procedures, causing more losses to the people.”

“If they do not try to interfere in the Federation's internal affairs by force, then the 'International Security Act' will not be activated.”

“We are not enthusiastic about war, but we must also have the courage to punch at war!”

Everyone nodded, and besides the sound of the magnesium lights bursting, there was only the rustling sound of noses recording on notebooks.

A very good answer. The reporter from the 'Federal Daily' sat back, and then the reporter from the 'Federal Post' was also called upon to stand up.

These traditional heavyweight newspapers and magazines all have a good reputation here. In addition, with their political stances and the censorship system with political stances, no matter what material they interview, what is ultimately presented to the audience is what the political world allows them to present.

The Post reporter was slightly older and looked like he was doing serious news, "Speaker, … Mr. (Majority Leader), good afternoon."

“If the Dantela Republic rashly launches a war against us first, will we intervene in the main frontal battlefield, or will we only deal with them in the East Ocean?”

“What role will we play in the overall war, and what benefits do we expect to gain from the war?”

A very naked question, and it also represents the "correct answer", which is also a kind of process.

This time, the majority leader answered, "I will answer this question."

“Actually, we have been considering these issues since the end of last year.”

“At that time, the Dantela Republic seized the wealth of Federal merchants, and killed, injured, and expelled them, and also plundered some of our free trade freighters, causing huge economic losses to our citizens.”

“We have been worried about the escalation of friction, and have been actively communicating diplomatically, but the effect has not been good.”

“So you should also see that we have plans to station troops in King's Landing City in order to protect our legitimate interests internationally.”

“Just considering international friendship, we have not implemented it.”

“But with the Dantela Republic's pressing, we have to respond.”

“If we join the war, we will take on the role we need to play in this war.”

“We are not spoilers, nor are we speculators. We are righteous partners. All our purposes and actions are to protect the property safety and personal safety of our citizens overseas.”

“The Federal Government is a responsible government. With the emergence of great internationalism and the thickening of the atmosphere, we will be more active in the international community and become the focus of people's attention in the future.”

“If this war really breaks out, we will definitely delve into the main frontal battlefield, assist other allied forces, and jointly crush the crazy ideas of the Prime Minister of the Dantela Republic on the battlefield.”

“After the war is over, we will demand that the President and the ruling party of the Dantela Republic apologize for the war crimes they committed, apologize to those Federal citizens who have been harmed by their greed and crazy desires, and recover all the losses suffered by citizens in the Dantela Republic…”

The entire press conference lasted for more than two hours, including many details after the war "just in case" broke out.

These contents were published in detail, and Lance received the supplement of the 'Federal Daily' in the evening.

The entire supplement was full of content about this news, and at the same time, he noticed a very interesting thing.

In the recently passed proposals, the reform plan of the tax law was mentioned. Originally, according to the regulations of the Federal Government, Federal citizens with an income of less than one hundred yuan a month could be exempt from taxation.

But now it has changed.

After the tax law is revised, anyone with income must pay taxes.

It's just that their tax amount will not be particularly high. The overall calculation method is step-by-step, and the highest tax rate is 45%.

In addition, some special circumstances are also introduced, such as during the war, the country needs a lot of funds for investment in the war.

In order to obtain this part of the funds, the country will implement a "wartime unified tax rate", that is, regardless of whether a citizen's income is one yuan or one million, they all enjoy the same tax rate.

This tax rate starts at a minimum of 55% and a maximum of 100%, which is decided by Congress through discussion and approval.

At the same time, in order to guarantee the interests of citizens, the Federal Government will issue war bonds at the beginning of the war.

Purchasing war bonds can offset taxes, but cannot offset the entire tax amount…

In short, this is a set of laws that looks a bit headache-inducing. Its core is only one point—

Once a war breaks out, not only will there be taxes, but also mandatory bond allocations.

That evening, the Republic of Dantella learned of the Federation's decision. However, they no longer clamored for war as they had before, demanding that the Federation garrison troops immediately.

Instead, they acted as if they were unaware.

They now needed to think, respond, and consider whether they could manage if a war really broke out.

In such a suddenly calmed period, even more refugees began to pour into the Federation…