...
When Lu Feng heard the news from the Xuanfeng Alliance, his brow furrowed.
The Xuanfeng Alliance had indeed annexed Cambodia.
But the special method they had used couldn’t completely stabilize Cambodia in one fell swoop. Instead, it brought many destabilizing factors to the Xuanfeng Alliance.
It was just like back home, when the military first entered Sea City. Speculators had taken advantage of the situation, waging economic warfare and causing severe inflation.
It got to the point where a person’s entire month’s salary couldn’t even buy a single bowl of noodles.
This situation had led to intense turmoil.
If it weren’t for the skilled economic experts from the higher-ups and the seizure of enough gold to act as a backstop, a massive upheaval would have been inevitable.
Now, the Xuanfeng Alliance was facing just such a problem.
Someone was pulling strings from the shadows, raking in profits. The entire Xuanfeng Alliance was now suffering from severe inflation. Integrating Cambodia into the Xuanfeng Alliance was always going to be a process.
The people and officials in Cambodia’s various provinces all needed to be placated.
With this new development, unrest could break out at any moment. The newly merged nations could fracture once more, or the economy could collapse, the system could break down, and the entire Xuanfeng Alliance could descend into a state of chaos.
This was clearly a major disaster.
Lu Feng understood the gravity of the situation. He immediately spoke into his phone, "Hadona, have you found out who’s behind this?"
Hadona replied instantly, "His Excellency the Governor, Red Lizard and Bulin are already leading the investigation. We haven’t found any solid leads yet, but we’ve caught a few pawns. We got a little information suggesting it’s some Westerners, possibly some kind of predatory financial capitalists!"
Hearing this, Lu Feng’s frown deepened.
He knew what Hadona meant by "predatory financial capitalists."
There was a certain group of people on the international stage who instigated economic activities around the world, causing financial turmoil so they could reap the benefits.
These people were generally known as corporate raiders.
The inflation, economic collapses, and subsequent wars in many places were all connected to them.
Lu Feng understood. The Xuanfeng Alliance had been too high-profile before. It was likely those corporate raiders were planning a major financial play, and the Xuanfeng Alliance had caught their attention.
Of course, this was just his speculation, but it was highly probable.
But that was the worst-case scenario.
Even after annexing Cambodia, the Xuanfeng Alliance was still a very small nation. If these corporate raiders turned it into their economic battlefield, its economy would likely collapse, and the nation would fall apart.
Once inflation reached an extreme, the people wouldn’t care about anything else. They would definitely protest, definitely rebel. No amount of words or promises of benefits would work.
He couldn’t just put electronic shackles on everyone, could he? Besides, he didn’t even have that many to begin with.
"I’ll head to the Xuanfeng Alliance as soon as possible. Do your best to stabilize the situation there," Lu Feng said before hanging up.
Faced with this kind of situation, he, who was once just a powerless nobody, had no idea how to solve it.
However, he had his own talent reserves.
Finding a room and locking the door, Lu Feng entered the game with a single thought and summoned Lin Jiao.
"Boss!" Lin Jiao arrived, her attitude respectful.
Lu Feng immediately gave his orders, "Help me find some economic experts among the survivors, especially ones who can deal with inflation. I want people with real skills. If anyone tries to bluff their way through, deal with them directly."
"Yes, Boss!" Lin Jiao nodded and immediately went to handle it.
Before long, she returned with several people. "Boss, they were all economic experts before the apocalypse. I’ve checked their backgrounds; they’re the real deal."
The economic experts looked at Lu Feng with a degree of trepidation.
They knew, of course, that this man was the true master of this place.
Lu Feng nodded and asked them, "I’m currently in a wager with someone over an economic problem. They’ve posed a scenario: a country has just annexed another, and the merged nation is now highly unstable."
"Furthermore, someone is trying to instigate predatory financial activities, causing hyperinflation in this new nation. It’s a complete mess. How should it be handled?"
Hearing Lu Feng’s words, the economic experts exchanged glances and immediately began to explain.
Regardless of his motives for asking, there was no harm in solving the problem for him.
...
「Xuanfeng Alliance.」
Feisen, Red Lizard, Fire Silica, Bulin, Baguda, Dali, Hadona, and other key officials from the former Cambodia were all gathered in a conference room.
On a screen in the conference room, a video played, showing crowds of people holding banners in protest.
"Oppose Integration with the Xuanfeng Alliance!"
"The Xuanfeng Alliance Is Unworthy to Lead Us! Restore the Old Economy!"
"We Don’t Want to Join an Xuanfeng Alliance with an Economy Like This!"
And the location of these protests was right outside their President’s Mansion.
They blamed the Xuanfeng Alliance for the current economic problems.
Feisen and Fire Silica both frowned slightly at the scene.
The two of them were now quite invested in the affairs of the Xuanfeng Alliance.
Initially, they had been rather displeased when their factions were absorbed by him.
But after Dalat Town was unified and the Xuanfeng Alliance was established, they were allowed to keep their positions, which gave them a small sense of belonging.
After all, since things were already like this, it was better to make the best of it within this new power structure.
It wasn’t until the Xuanfeng Alliance defeated and annexed Cambodia in such a manner that they were thoroughly convinced.
Their current positions in the Xuanfeng Alliance were, at the very least, better than being simple arms dealers.
At least they no longer had to worry about being taken out in the future and coming to a miserable end.
There was no doubt about it; that was the typical fate for people in their line of work. The leader of Dalat Town had changed hands countless times.
Hadn’t Feilin of the Kudar Clan been killed by his own younger brother, Feisen?
Baguda, Dali, and the other former Cambodian officials, however, looked grim.
Putting aside the right or wrong of their attack on the Xuanfeng Alliance, they had genuinely acted for the good of the Cambodian people, which was why they had sought development in the first place.
So now that they were being targeted by financial predators, they were truly helpless. The situation outside was dire.
"Still no leads from the investigation?" Baguda asked with a frown.
He didn’t mind his demotion from president to vice president; right now, he just wanted to resolve the current crisis.
Red Lizard frowned. "We’ve arrested another batch. One of them was a foreigner, and we managed to torture some information out of him. It seems the ones targeting us might be Osborne’s financial group. They appear to be stirring up a new economic crisis, but I don’t know why they’re targeting the Xuanfeng Alliance. A small nation like ours should be nothing more than small fry to them, right?"
"Osborne’s financial group?" Hadona’s expression changed. "That man is an out-and-out villain."
Osborne was a man who only cared about profit.
He didn’t have a merciful bone in his body. The economic turmoil he caused in numerous places had led to countless deaths.
The guy even studied under the infamous Soros.
Back then, Soros had even dared to take on that great Eastern Country, going head-to-head with a superpower. The very thought was terrifying.
Osborne didn’t have that kind of power, but the Xuanfeng Alliance was currently impoverished and completely lacked the strength to face such an economic crisis.
This news naturally made everyone’s expressions turn even uglier.
Feisen, however, frowned and asked, "What about insiders? Haven’t you found any?"
He refused to believe that there weren’t people from within the Xuanfeng Alliance or the former Cambodia involved in this.
It couldn’t be anyone in this conference room, of course.
Baguda and his men were all wearing electronic shackles.
But while Cambodia wasn’t large, it was still divided into 12 provinces. It was possible the head of one of those provinces had started to get some ideas.
Hearing this, Dali immediately said, "My men in the military have already uncovered some leads. We’ll know who it is soon. This time, it’s possible people from more than three provinces are involved. They might be trying to declare independence."
With that said, he asked, "And what about the new president? Where is he now?"
The "new president" was, of course, Lu Feng. He just hadn’t been formally inaugurated because he wasn’t even here.
But Lu Feng’s continued absence had clearly made General Dali somewhat dissatisfied.
He was a very straightforward general.
Hadona quickly explained, "His Excellency the Governor will be back soon. I’m sure he’ll have a solution."
Dali snorted. "He’d better."
「Meanwhile.」
In a villa in Pado Province, Xuanfeng Alliance (formerly Cambodia), a middle-aged man was meeting with a Westerner. He was also in a video conference with a heavily bearded old man on the other end.
Anyone in the know would have recognized the man on the screen as the infamous corporate raider, Osborne.
And the middle-aged man in the villa was none other than the highest-ranking official of Pado Province, Linda.
"Mr. Osborne, I was wondering when we might see some results from this?" Linda asked the image of Osborne on the screen.
"Linda, don’t be in such a hurry. Inflation is only at five times the normal rate. It’s still early days," Osborne said nonchalantly.
’A financial maneuver like this can’t be wrapped up so quickly.’
’Even if I wanted to end it, the other people in my fund wouldn’t agree.’
’It needs to reach at least twenty times the normal rate.’
Linda said urgently, "Osborne, the populace is on the verge of rioting! If this continues, it will become a huge problem."
"Isn’t that even better? When that happens, you can make your move. Won’t it be easier to take over the whole country?" Osborne said dismissively. "Besides, we will invest in the Xuanfeng Alliance afterward. With our reputation, we can pull the country’s economy back from the brink. Won’t that be a perfect way to boost your prestige?"
Hearing this, Linda’s expression softened, though he still wore a frown.
’As long as I can take over the Xuanfeng Alliance and change its name back to Cambodia, it will all be worth it.’
He truly looked down on people like Baguda and Dali.
’If they had managed to annex the Xuanfeng Alliance, that would have been one thing.’
’But the key is, they were the ones who ended up getting annexed by the Xuanfeng Alliance! Did they even bother to ask for our opinion?’
That was why three provinces were supporting him this time.
That was enough. The other provinces might not participate, but they would remain neutral.
An almost imperceptible smile touched the corner of Osborne’s mouth. ’These people are just pawns.’
’In the world of finance, everything comes down to profit. Who cares if these people live or die?’
’When the time comes, I’ll just make a token investment to placate them. They’ll have no idea how much money we’ve actually made.’
’The final mess won’t be our problem.’
In truth, the Xuanfeng Alliance wasn’t their real target. Their sights were set on a major power.
But who asked the Xuanfeng Alliance to suddenly pop up and become so famous right after its merger? They just happened to see it, so, too bad for them. They would use the Xuanfeng Alliance as a warm-up.
Why did the great Soros himself target smaller countries first before delivering the thunderous blow to a major nation?
Besides forming alliances, it was also about accumulating capital and building momentum.
Moreover, this operation was going surprisingly smoothly. It would allow them to make a tidy little profit.
The Xuanfeng Alliance was just unlucky. It had been chosen as the first whetstone.