Chapter 812: The Daily Routine of the Alliance's Foreign Affairs Department

Chapter 812: Daily Affairs of the Alliance's Foreign Affairs Department

The next morning.

The Alliance Building was as bustling as ever.

Especially in the office area of the Foreign Affairs Department.

Ever since the Conclave opened the electronic currency settlement channel for member states, new faces showed up every day to "report," asking if their own settlements could also be connected to this system.

After all, most currencies issued by survivor settlements on the wasteland had no real circulation value.

Take the Red-Blue Notes of the Red River Alliance, for example.

Being able to exchange their money for silver coins, Cr, or Dinars—even the Golden Lion Coins or Golden Camels of the Sunset Province, or the Xilan Coins of the Brahmin Province—would be excellent.

Economic cooperation wasn't the Foreign Affairs Department's job, but establishing diplomatic relations was, after all, a prerequisite for cooperation.

If in the past the Alliance had to search the wasteland for other settlements and actively promote itself to the outside world, then with the Heaven's War coming to an end, this situation had completely reversed—now it was the settlements of the wasteland taking the initiative to seek out the Alliance in the Valley Province.

In a sense, Chu Guang was indeed fulfilling his original promise—Dawn City was becoming another form of the Ideal City.

Though the former's facilities were far less luxurious than the latter's, even survivors who hadn't settled in this city, or had never even been here, could benefit from its prosperity.

And this trait was something even the Ideal City lacked.

As usual, Alliance Foreign Minister Cheng Yan arrived at his office right on time for work and casually tossed the intelligence report sent by the Praetorian Guard into a drawer.

As expected, this material would come in handy soon.

And just as he predicted, no sooner had he sat down at his desk—barely warming the chair—than hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, and then the footsteps burst through the door.

Along with them came a gruff voice—

"Minister Cheng, I want to know what the hell is going on with your trains!"

The visitor was none other than the Legion's ambassador to the Alliance, Commander Bennott. Behind him trailed Cheng Yan's secretary, clearly having been barged past.

His angry face was marked with dark circles under the eyes—he obviously hadn't slept well the night before. But perhaps afraid of missing his target, he still chose to disturb Cheng Yan at his own starting hour.

Cheng Yan wasn't surprised by Bennott's arrival at all; in fact, if the man hadn't come, he'd have wondered what trick the Vlandians were up to.

First, he gave his secretary a look that said, "Go attend to other matters," then leaned back in his chair.

Calmly eyeing the furious big-nosed man, he crossed his fingers over his knee and spoke in a genial tone.

"Dear Commander Bennott, what on earth has happened to get you so worked up?"

Seeing that the man was still playing dumb, Bennott narrowed his eyes and stared intently at this seemingly unconcerned figure.

"I've received word that last night you reloaded the military supplies originally destined for delivery to our personnel in Bister Town back onto the trains."

"I've heard about that," Cheng Yan said, putting on a concerned expression and nodding. "I hear our trains have been repaired again."

"Repaired? Is the problem whether they're repaired or not?" Bennott was practically pointing a finger at him, fuming. "Don't tell me all your drivers got drunk on the same day! Why are all your trains heading in the opposite direction?"

With that, he slammed his hands on the desk and said, word by word,

"Aren't you the ones who preach contracts the most? This isn't what was agreed upon in the contract. You'd better give me an explanation!"

"An explanation, huh..."

Cheng Yan chuckled softly, casually pulled open his desk drawer, took out a file folder, and tossed it onto the desk.

"Then, Commander Bennott, please explain to me first what these things are all about."

The moment he saw the file folder, Bennott's heart sank—he knew trouble was coming.

It was exactly what he feared!

Though he already guessed what was inside, to appear ignorant, he forced himself to stay calm, picked up the folder, and opened it.

Inside were photos taken by drones, along with a thumb-sized hard drive.

Watching Bennott's brow twitch wildly, Cheng Yan's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile. He gently placed a holographic pen imported from the Ideal City on the table.

"The hard drive contains recordings and footage of how the munitions from the Guard's Wasteland were transported to the Brahmin Province. You can take it back and study it at your leisure—I have plenty more copies... Or, I have playback equipment here; I can play it for you on the spot."

"No need."

Those photos alone formed a complete chain of evidence; playing the hard drive's contents would only be asking for humiliation.

Since the mask was already torn off, Bennott no longer bothered to conceal his feelings. His face dark, he tossed the file folder back onto the desk in front of Cheng Yan.

To be honest, Cheng Yan rather admired the man.

Even though his behind-the-scenes tricks had been exposed to his face, his stubborn expression didn't change at all.

At least when it came to being shameless, the Vlandians could claim second place, and no one would dare claim first.

"...These are our munitions. Where we ship them is our business! It's not for you to meddle in!"

Guessing he'd say that, Cheng Yan spread his hands and mimicked his tone.

"And the railway is ours. Where we run it is our business too. So why are you here complaining to me?"

"You—!"

Bennott's eyes bulged, his fists clenched, but in the end, he didn't slam them on the desk. He forced down the rage in his heart.

The munitions stockpiled in the Guard's Wasteland were astronomical in number; even using the Alliance's supply lines, it had taken nearly half a year to transport them.

If he had to find a way to move them himself, it would be nearly impossible! Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to borrow the Alliance's railway in the first place!

And leaving them stockpiled in the Guard's Wasteland indefinitely wasn't an option—not to mention the issue of weapon maintenance, just renting warehouses would cost a fortune.

What's more, if the weapons couldn't be moved out, the ten thousand-man legions couldn't go home either, and the logistics would be another huge expense.

Though the Legion had a need to station troops in the Sea Coast Province, a single legion was enough—there was no need for so many.

And most crucially, these equipment weren't the junk of the civil faction—they were assets of the Eastern Legion!

The Eastern Legion hadn't provided them for free; they hoped to use the armed Empire to pressure the Alliance, forcing concessions on issues like "war booty division," and at least obtain the "Complete Life Form" technology held by the Torch Church.

Now, they had only transported one-sixth before the Alliance caught them, leaving the remaining five-sixths of the munitions stuck inside Alliance territory.

This matter had clearly been botched!

Thinking of this, a bead of sweat formed on Bennott's forehead. After hesitating for a moment, he finally lowered his head.

"...Mr. Cheng, this matter was indeed improper on our part. I assure you it won't happen again."

"It's not a question of propriety—you've violated the contract between us," Cheng Yan said, staring intently at Bennott, his tone turning serious. "If I remember correctly, the contract states that these weapons are to be transported to the territory of the Eastern Legion, and we are responsible for the segment from Jinchuan Province to the western part of Sunset Province."

"Yes..."

"But now, these munitions didn't cross the Great Wasteland. Instead, they took a turn east of the Great Wasteland and went straight south."

Looking at Bennott's stiff face, Cheng Yan continued with a faint, mocking smile, "If your understanding of honoring a contract is that we must fully comply, while you can arbitrarily renege on what's written in black and white, then I can only express my regret."

"Wait... I know this was somewhat improper on our part, but I still hope we can resolve this issue. You don't want to see so many munitions and troops stranded on Alliance territory, do you?" As he said this, Bennott's tone unconsciously carried a hint of threat.

And he did have grounds for such a threat.

After all, it was an army of over a hundred thousand, with three times the standard ammunition load—a terrifying force no matter where it was placed on the wasteland.

But upon hearing this, Cheng Yan narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't mean anything by it, I'm just worried about an accident."

Cheng Yan narrowed his eyes as Benoît continued speaking impassively.

"After all, the Eastern Legion isn't as easy to deal with as we are. You've seized so much of their weaponry and left so many of their soldiers stranded at the front—do you think they'll just let it go?"

Cheng Yan raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Oh? And what if they don't let it go?"

"What if they don't?" Benoît let out a bitter laugh as he looked at him. "How can you ask such a stupid question? What do you think will happen—"

"I think if you haven't had enough trouble, you're welcome to try again," Cheng Yan said, rising from his desk and meeting his gaze directly, his tone cold as he continued. "I'd like to see if those hundred thousand men can turn the world upside down on our turf or what."

Benoît stared at Cheng Yan with a face full of irritation, looking as if he was about to explode, but in the end, he didn't lose his temper.

Cooperating with the Alliance on matters related to the Conclave was the Marshal's strategy. As the Alliance's ambassador, though he had a certain degree of decision-making power, the overall direction of policy was not something a mere chiliarch could change.

Besides, he was a chiliarch of the civilian faction.

The eastward expansionists were all dead. Few high-ranking officials within the Eastern Legion supported expanding beyond the Great Wasteland. No one would join him in his madness.

"We'll see about that."

All his fury condensed into a single harsh remark. Benoît shot Cheng Yan one last glare before turning and walking out the door.

"Then we'll see."

Listening to the heavy slam of the door, Cheng Yan smiled faintly, picked up the file folder from the desk, tossed it back into the drawer, and then dialed Chu Guang, who was far away in the southern sea.

When the call connected, he immediately reported.

"Manager, the Legion's envoy just came by."

Chu Guang asked at once.

"What did they say?"

Cheng Yan continued.

"Benoît expressed his dissatisfaction with us, but nothing substantial came of it. After all, they were the ones who breached the contract first. It's only reasonable that we canceled the transport agreement."

He paused, his tone turning serious as he went on.

"That said, knowing the Legion's nature, I don't think they'll just let this slide... I still suggest you don't push them too hard."

Though he had shown a tough stance when speaking with Benoît earlier, that was merely a diplomatic posture.

The Legion's reputation for bullying the weak was well known. If you showed even a hint of weakness, they'd treat you like a fool—just like the Empire.

In truth, like Benoît, he didn't think it wise to go too far.

After all, as Chiliarch Benoît had said, given the Eastern Legion's own transport capacity, it was clearly impossible for them to haul all that weaponry back.

That was enough equipment to arm thirty divisions.

If they were pushed too hard, they might just sell it off at a discount to the raiders in the eastern provinces, and then there'd be another "Bone-Crushing Rebellion" on their hands.

Given the Legion's nature, they'd absolutely do something like that.

Sensing the unspoken concern in Cheng Yan's words, Chu Guang didn't take it too seriously. He just smiled faintly.

"I never intended to push them. But they have to pay for their actions. As for what you're worried about... don't worry, I have it under control."

From the very beginning, this matter had been clear. The Eastern Legion wanted the civilian faction of Triumph City to use their influence in the Brahmin Province to pressure the Alliance, while the civilian faction wanted to use the Eastern Legion's weaponry to further their own agenda.

There was nothing wrong with that coordination, except they were too impatient.

As soon as the authorities in Mammoth Prefecture saw tanks appearing at the front, they realized something was wrong and came to the Alliance to complain.

Now the civilian faction had messed things up. The Alliance had terminated the transport agreement according to the contract terms, and even the weaponry the Eastern Legion had planned to ship back home was affected.

Benoît must be racking his brains right now trying to explain the situation to the Eastern Legion.

Chu Guang was also curious about how the Legion would handle this internally. Based on the intelligence provided by Brother Pangolin, the Four Legions were far more powerful than the civilian faction in Triumph City. The Eastern Legion was unlikely to swallow this insult.

Though Chu Guang said not to worry, hearing his calm tone, Cheng Yan couldn't help but feel anxious, afraid he didn't grasp the severity of the issue. He couldn't help but ask.

"What if they sell the weapons locally?"

Chu Guang replied succinctly.

"No need for 'if.' They've already been doing that."

Cheng Yan was taken aback.

"Already... already doing it?"

"That's right. Started about a week ago, I think. And the middleman handling it is one of our people."

Hearing the surprise in his voice, Chu Guang smiled faintly, his tone gentle as he continued.

"So I told you not to worry. Apart from that one time they tricked us with a petty scheme, they've never been out of our sight."

"They just don't know it yet."