Chapter 527 Tripartite Confrontation
After listening to Jonathan’s words, Andy fell silent. The Eight Kings of War, with Hades as the leader, wanted to support Jonathan and create a new order.
Meanwhile, Yaleview had always been the symbol of authority within Chanaea since it was the ancient capital. No matter who held the authorities within Chanaea, they had to obtain Yaleview first.
This time, Jonathan ordered them to pull out all their informants in Yaleview, which also meant that he gave up on the plans they had for Yaleview.
Although this decision could stabilize the current state of affairs in Chanaea, implementing Jonathan’s order would instantly change everything in the country.
Within Chanaea, three separate forces were restraining and keeping each other in check—respectable families, the Office of Government Affairs, and Asura’s Office.
Among them, respectable families had a long-standing history and exceeded materialistic restraints. They did not have a fixed order and base and functioned as a huge and complex union formed through mutual benefits.
After so much time had passed, these respectable families had a new tacit understanding. They controlled the regime and did not intervene in the ruling process.
Placed at the top of the social class in the country, they controlled many aspects of Chanaea. This included the monopoly of base industries that involved clothing, food, and shelter, which were essentials for people.
For these people, respectable families were invisible vampires who constantly took from the commoners using reason and law.
End of the day, these respectable families were just very good business people. For many years, these respectable families monopolized many industries in society.
Since the industrial revolution a hundred years ago, no new respected family was allowed to join this circle. Although there was competition among respectable families, these rivalries were kept at a reasonable level.
They were big shots that loomed over society, yet they still had to rely on the public to survive. Ironically, they were the top predators and arrogant, but they somehow wanted society to develop peacefully for a long time.
Meanwhile, excluding the huge and complex benefit-based union formed by respectable families, the other two forces were Asura’s Office and the Office of Government Affairs.
Office of Government Affairs was Chanaea’s image and reputation, in charge of announcing all internal and external matters.
Although the Office of Government Affairs had many members of respectable families, and they were loyal to those families, the Office of Government Affairs remained orthodox and an independent entity due to its unique status.
Furthermore, the Office of Government Affairs gained more authority after Joshua began governing Chanaea in recent years.
It was also the reason why Asura’s Office spent more than two years investing a great deal and planting spies in Yaleview.
In the past, the Office of Government Affairs was controlled by respectable families, and government officials became those families’ tools to manage Chanaea.
However, Joshua popped out of nowhere and began changing the Office of Government Affairs’ objectives. He wasn’t even afraid of the members of respectable families. Someone like that was not a simpleton.
What worried Asura’s Office’s Eight Kings of War was Wilbur’s six-hundred-thousand-men army in Yaleview.
Even the commander-in-chief from the Office of Government Affairs, who first suggested forming the Yaleview Army, could not have expected this. The army conscription had rickrolled a whopping six hundred thousand men.
At present, Wilbur’s troops and equipment were all lacking in comparison to the million soldiers under Asura’s Office.
However, Jonathan also said that everything had changed the moment Wilbur blocked and ordered the shot at Jonathan at Yaleview’s border.
A deterrence through military prowess was like a nuclear bomb that would destroy everything.
If one party had ten thousand bombs, and the other only had a hundred bombs, the difference of ninety-nine thousand nine hundred bombs was still useless because the results were the same—both sides still had to suffer.
The decision to call back these spies seemed as if Jonathan was compromising to avoid confrontation with Yaleview.
However, the truth was this was only the beginning of the opposition.
In the past, Asura’s Office had to be wary of Yaleview’s image despite its strength. Even if they obeyed military orders but did not obey the summons, they were one level lower than Yaleview’s Office of Government Affairs’ status on the surface.
However, these two were no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship from then on.
While looking at Jonathan, Andy understood that it would be war the next time they returned to Yaleview after leaving now.
Jonathan’s retreat was to suppress the current conflict temporarily. However, this matter was like a spring. The harder the compression force, the stronger it would rebound.
War would arrive soon.
“Mr. Goldstein, we have some superficial informants in Yaleview other than the spies we planted. How should we deal with them?” Andy asked slowly after taking in a deep breath.
“Superficial informants? What exactly did Hades arrange in Yaleview?” Jonathan frowned and looked at Andy.
Andy recollected his memories and answered, “Mr. Goldstein, Yaleview is the Office of Government Affairs’ territory and is protected by Yaleview Army. Two years ago, when Asura’s Office was established, Hades was responsible for constructing the Intelligence Bureau. The first thing he did was to send a large number of people to Yaleview.
They were divided into two groups. There were spies tasked with collecting key information, assassinations, and such, and superficial informants who collected low-grade information. Although superficial informants were required to hide their identities, too, the information protection level of their identities was only grade B. In other words, they are baits.”
When Jonathan heard the word “baits,” his expression turned solemn.
It was simple. These people simply existed as a smokescreen to cover for the spies so the latter could work better.
The personnel protection level was divided into five grades, S, A, B, C, and D.
Personnel in grade B was required to hide their identities but did not have a deep understanding of their organization. They also did not have direct contact with the organization.
This kind of personnel could be easily found out if the opposition party put all its effort into the investigation.
“How many baits like this were sent out? How many were sacrificed?” Jonathan asked in a low voice.
Andy answered, “There was a total of thirty thousand people. The mortality accumulated to roughly four thousand five hundred. Mr. Goldstein, we could only adopt this method two years ago since Asura’s Office was newly established, and we had no foundation in Yaleview—”
“You don’t have to explain. I understand.” Jonathan opened his mouth and interrupted Andy. “Pass along the order. Handle these superficial informants as if they had been exposed. Everyone has to report to Yalegard Legion. You’ll be in charge of taking them in.”
“Huh? I have to take in all twenty thousand people?” Once Andy heard Jonathan’s orders, he was slightly dazed.
“Not for you. Register them in the records and then divide them into eight groups for the Eight Kings of War to lead into your respective territories.” Jonathan sighed. “Send those who were willing to continue serving to the firefighting department. For those who want to retire, pay them two times the decommission pay.”
Andy seemed to have understood something from Jonathan’s words and had a sad look in his eyes. “Mr. Goldstein, they’re carefully selected people.”
Jonathan flashed a smile at Andy. “I don’t doubt their excellence and loyalty, but these twenty thousand people had lived in Yaleview for two years. There must be some who had been bribed over. They were people who dedicated their lives to us, so I don’t want to investigate them in detail. The best choice is to give them a relatively peaceful life.”
