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Chapter 896: Chapter 781: The Cunning Sparrow is in Action (Please Subscribe!)
March 11.
Congo Gold.
Eastern Province.
Provincial Capital.
Nevite City.
This is the largest province of Congo Gold and also the most unstable. While the capital of Congo Gold is located on the southwestern border, this area is in the far northeast, which, so to say, is beyond the reach of the emperor’s power and hence, the situation here is the most complex.
All sorts of people are active here, speculators, warlords, miners, and hired companies; all can be seen here with frequent activities, beyond anyone’s control. It’s a continuous headache for Congo Gold, just like its neighbor Bei Ji Province, both notorious for being disobedient children.
Although it’s a bit chaotic.
It’s also a province rich to the point of overflowing.
A large area.
Signifies abundant resources.
Abundant resources.
Signify wealth.
With wealth comes people, guns, territories, bargaining chips, confidence, and eventually, once the power one holds becomes strong enough, the ambition for greater authority awaits.
In the city.
Within a luxurious palace.
Although basically inhabited by Africans.
Their love for the color white is no less intense, especially for Bo Man, the highest administrative official of the Eastern Province, who has a particular fondness for white, to the extent of emulating the White House in the United States, creating a purely white, oversized palace.
Only the color is the same, though.
The style bears strong local cultural characteristics. As the region’s nominal top official, Bo Man had been in power for nearly twenty years, establishing an unshakable status during that time.
At this moment.
In the basement of Bo Man’s official residence.
A group of people are quietly listening to a report from Bo Man’s secretary, among them is Sadoke, present in the room. The basement isn’t lacking in lights, yet it’s deliberately kept dim, supposedly to create ’an atmosphere.’
This way.
It almost resulted in an ’invisibility effect.’
"Gentlemen, after several months of competition, the distribution of interests before the regime change is nearing its end. All parties have maneuvered their interests, finally arriving at the current proportion. The incumbent government is ready to sell off minerals valued at 14 billion dollars at a base price.
After the general elections in July, Moi will resign.
All the presidential candidates are making their final efforts, canvassing votes everywhere and turning a blind eye to this matter; among the participating parties are companies from thirteen countries.
They are from the United States, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi, Huaxia... these are all private mining or energy companies, with no state-controlled companies involved.
In three days, the ’Democratic Republic of the Congo Civil Resources Exploitation Plan’ packaged by the Congo Gold government will be officially signed, and representatives from all sides will be present. That will be the best time for us to make our move."
The secretary finished speaking.
And returned to his seat.
Those present were all aware.
"Gentlemen, after such a long time of preparation, it’s finally our turn to take the stage. Once I accomplish this great feat, after winning the general election in four months, you will all be the heroes, and the agreed interests will be fulfilled," Bo Man promised again.
The people below were very interested.
Because the terms that Bo Man promised were too tempting; many could transform overnight into high-ranking officials of the Congo Gold government, wielding power, or become regional governors of the province. In other words, this was a full-fledged coup d’état meeting.
And the future interests had already been allocated.
"Haha, then thank you, Mr. Bo Man. My side will certainly provide full support."
"Yes, I have my people well arranged on this side, there will absolutely be no problems,"
"You can also rest assured about the media aspect."
"..."
Below, they voiced their support for Bo Man’s decision one after another, and Bo Man was sending glances of gratitude; he knew that achieving his goal was not merely a matter of engaging in some conspiracy, as a usurper has to consider too many aspects.
Neither overt nor covert maneuvers could be neglected.
It was a major undertaking.
He was nearing fifty, and if he did not figure something out this time, he would never be able to rise in his lifetime. After the new President took office in July, given the youth of the man, it was very likely he would hold the position for consecutive terms.
With that being the case,
he would be stuck at his current position for the rest of his life, something he was unwilling to accept. Therefore, in this election, he positioned himself as a candidate, albeit a discreet one.
Because he knew that under normal circumstances, it would be absolutely impossible for him to rise, he might at most serve as a foil, so in the early stages, he played it cool, rarely making public appearances, but was secretly planning to sabotage the other candidates.
For this matter,
he had wooed people from all levels across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and only a small portion came here, because many had special identities and it was inconvenient for them to show up in person. With money paving the way, all went smoothly.
Of course, his moves had also caught the attention of some, but what of it? Under normal circumstances, Bo Man had no chance of rising to the top, and the others were not pushovers either; they all had cards in their hands.
Strictly speaking, it was actually similar to Lang Cai’s side.
Each was laying out their own chessboard, confident of victory.
Down below,
Sadoke sat in silence.
Without speaking.
Because he did not participate in the specifics, his presence was simply to show where he stood, to go with the flow during the critical moment of voting. To put it bluntly, he was a mere hand-raiser, a cautious one at that.
After all, he was not the one becoming the President.
He wasn’t interested in that. His only interest was to manage his patch of land well and live the life of a local kingpin. As for the upper echelons of power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he simply did not care.
The man had people, money, guns, and land.
Why bother dealing with the nation’s endless problems every day? Sadoke was very clear about the chaotic situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With its wealth of resources, it was under the scrutiny of many countries.
Accomplishing real work was extremely difficult.
Otherwise, Moi would not have only served one term.
The reason was that nothing substantial had been accomplished during his term, the pockets of the influential had not grown fatter, and the lives of the people had not improved. Transportation, public security, education, medical services, and financial conditions remained poor.
The promises made initially had evaporated like water. Moi’s own experience proved that in this country, government decrees could not reach far beyond Kinshasa; the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were just going through the motions, and funding was always skimmed off the top.
Such conditions could not be changed in the short term.
It really wasn’t interesting at all.
This was Sadoke’s assessment of the upper echelons of this country.
It was all so infuriating to watch.
Better to focus on developing one’s own territory peacefully.
Seeing that Sadoke remained silent, Bo Man didn’t mind; what he needed was a stance, not the soldiers that Sadoke commanded. This operation was not about going to war, and if it were, he would not have much chance of winning.
What he needed to be was more civilized.
Three years ago,
the various factions within the Democratic Republic of the Congo had formed a transitional government under the mediation of the United Nations.
Therefore, the public and all parties held strong sentiments against war, and Bo Man certainly did not want to become the target of public rage. If the United Nations intervened again, things would spiral completely out of control, something he did not wish to see.
