Empire Conquest
Chapter 297 - 293: The Aging Handsome Man

Chapter 297: Chapter 293: The Aging Handsome Man

Newland Federation, Maryland, nicknamed "Shangri-La," Katoctin Manor.

Although night had fallen and gusts of mountain wind blew from time to time, the heat of the day had not yet dissipated, and the air was still extremely dry and hot.

Just standing outside the Damen for half an hour, Hale was already drenched in sweat.

Fortunately, most of the guests had arrived.

After greeting the last distinguished visitor and sending them to the meeting room, Hale finally went to the study in the back garden.

Rofuss had changed into a slightly more formal suit, while his personal secretary Missy was combing his hair and they were whispering and laughing softly together.

The intimacy of their behavior resembled that of a husband and wife more.

Hale felt a bit awkward, but he knocked harder on the door twice, drawing Rofuss and Missy’s attention.

About twenty years ago, when Rofuss was serving as the governor of Newke State, Missy became his personal secretary. In the nearly two decades since then, though the personnel around Rofuss had changed over and over, Missy remained his personal secretary, thus becoming the woman who, apart from the First Lady, had followed Rofuss the longest and was closest to him. Their true relationship was hardly a secret; Hale had known about it for a long time.

After Missy left, Hale approached.

Despite now being a "Half-man," Rofuss had been a famously handsome man within the Huacheng political circles before contracting poliomyelitis. His meticulously chiseled face and tall, broad physique had made him the prince charming of countless young women.

Even after being paralyzed, Rofuss still remained extremely popular among female voters.

It was fair to say that even many men liked him.

"Have all arrived?"

"They’re all here."

Rofuss nodded, picked up the pipe that was on his desk, showing no intention of getting up.

Hale didn’t urge him. To organize this significantly important meeting, Rofuss had practically worried himself sick over the past six months, stopping just short of working himself to death.

Now, letting Rofuss take a breather and making those high and mighty individuals, who scarcely regarded even the president, wait a bit longer was no issue.

Moreover, with the location being so remote, cut off from villages before it and shops behind, they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to.

"Do you think we really need to take this step?"

"Given our current circumstances, do we have any other choice?" Hale had anticipated Rofuss would ask this, so he replied without much thought.

Rofuss let out a heavy sigh.

Hale knew that Rofuss wasn’t regretting; he was worried because once this step was taken, upon entering the conference room, there would be no turning back.

But what use was worry?

At this time last year, realizing that war was unavoidable, Rofuss had told Hale that the hope of defeating the Liangxia Empire was extremely slim.

After their defeat in the last great war, the Liangxia Empire had begun preparing for revenge.

And they had never wavered for twenty years!

But what about the Newland Federation?

Even starting from when Rofuss took office and implemented new policies, it had been less than eight years.

During that time, they had repeatedly fumbled, wasting enormous resources, and even more precious time!

If one considered the disparity in scale between the two sides, hope was even more tenuous.

Although the Newland Federation was the only industrial nation with a population over a hundred million, aside from the Liangxia Empire, and it had a similar amount of developable land and resources as well as excellent geographical advantages, the critical factor of population was less than half that of the Liangxia Empire.

Minutes later, after Rofuss had finished a bowl of tobacco, his mood had significantly calmed.

This time, Hale didn’t bother Missy and sent Rofuss to the conference room instead.

Among those coming for the meeting were three ministers who had come with Hale, including the Army Minister Stinson and the Minister of the Navy Rox representing the military, as well as the Speaker of the House Bankhead and the acting Senate President Pettman from Congress, along with a few staff members from the Grey Palace.

Besides them, there were a dozen or so "civilians."

They were the spokespersons for the large consortia, which constituted Rofuss’s support and financial backers.

Eight years prior, with the support of these consortia, the then somewhat inexperienced Rofuss had emerged victorious, not only winning the primary election within the Democracy Party but also defeating the incumbent president from the Republican Party in the subsequent general election. The so-called New Deal and the many reform bills that were introduced afterward all received support from these consortia. Even this year, Rofuss’s third nomination by the Democracy Party was still the doing of the consortia.

How powerful were these consortia?

The smooth implementation of the New Deal was hugely related to these consortia because the federal government’s deficit funding for infrastructure development was in the form of loans provided by the consortia. If the consortia were unwilling to lend money to the federal government, the New Deal would inevitably run out of funds.

Even Rofuss had to bow to the consortia!

The consortia controlled not just the banks of the Newland Federation but also directly or indirectly controlled the federation’s major corporations.

The lifeline of the entire nation was in the hands of these consortia.

The national mouthpieces, including newspapers, radio, and other media outlets, as well as freelance journalists, were also controlled by the consortia.

The so-called "isolationism" was nothing more than an attempt to avoid becoming entangled in war too early, so as to avoid suffering heavy losses in the initial stages. By entering the war at the appropriate time, just as in the last great war when all parties were already scarred and battered, they could achieve the greatest benefits at the smallest cost.

When it came down to it, the consortia were concerned only with profits.

As long as there was a profit to be made, why not send troops directly into battle?

Of course, the concept of profit itself is relative.

If participating in the war wasn’t very advantageous for the Newland Federation at the beginning of the year, by now, continuing to stay outside the battlefield had become even more disadvantageous.

Delay a few more months, and all the Great Powers except the Newland Federation might face defeat.

After the other Great Powers had been defeated, the Newland Federation would have to face the Liangxia Empire in the East Ocean, and also confront challenges from the Tiaoman Empire in the Sunset Ocean.

Did they stand a chance?

Clearly, they did not!

Forget the fact that the Newland Federation only had a population slightly over two hundred million, not even half of the Liangxia Empire’s; even with four hundred million people, they were no match for two strong empires.

At that time, the Newland Federation’s only choice would be to recognize the Liangxia Empire’s dominance as a global hegemon.

The best outcome would be to merely survive in a corner of the world.

In reality, even that was almost impossible.

Even if the Liangxia and Tiaoman Empires would not target the Newland Federation directly in this war, lacking a casus belli, they would still strangle the Newland Federation through economic and trade measures, forcing it to resort to war as a means to break the deadlock ten or twenty years later.

By then, the chances of victory for the Newland Federation would be even slimmer.

Strategically, there were no better options.

Now was the time to rise and fight, to unite with all potential allies. Even if they couldn’t defeat the Liangxia Empire, there was still a chance to force it to accept a ceasefire.

Of course, before doing that, it wasn’t about uniting allies but consolidating internal support.

Even with the consortia’s backing, partisan tensions still existed. Despite the Democracy Party’s dominance, without the support and collaboration of the Republican Party, Rofuss might not be able to smoothly lead the Newland Federation into the battlefield; worse, he could even be defeated at the end of the year in the general election.

Uniting and consolidating with the Republican Party required compromises and concessions.

The key was to have those all-powerful consortia unconditionally support the wartime government led by Rofuss and submit to the command of the federal authorities during the war.

That was what Hale admired most about Rofuss.