Lester decided not to appeal on behalf of Onasan, but Lu Ming had no time to pay attention to it. He flew back to Donghai in a hurry the day after the trial of the case.
Because of the thunderclaps in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River, Chen Jingyuan, the former commander of the provincial border defense division in Zhenjiang Province, the southernmost of the five provinces, launched a military coup, shot and killed the governor, and announced himself as the chairman of Zhenjiang Province.
Zhenjiang Province borders the northernmost states of the Eastern Economic Union, Eden and New Ji Province.
Zhenjiang Province is out of control, and a large number of refugees have poured into Eton State and Xingji Province, many of whom have taken the opportunity to commit crimes.
Not to mention that Chen Jingyuan shot the governor, the bloody military coup will inevitably establish a bloody regime, which has posed a security threat to the northern members of the Eastern Economic Union.
Moreover, from the perspective of imperial law, Chen Jingyuan has obviously violated many national security laws. The Eastern Alliance is an alliance established on the basis of maintaining imperial laws.
The Eastern Alliance Secretariat held urgent consultations.
It was also announced that an interim summit of the alliance would be held the next day to discuss the situation in Zhenjiang Province and then issue a formal statement.
Zhenjiang Province is also a very familiar place for Lu Ming.
It was Lu Ming’s first time to take a private plane, and the airport he landed at was the airport in Zhenjiang Province.
At that time, Zhenjiang had the only airport in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River.
Moreover, Lu Ming was a nominal student of Zhenjiang Normal School. Unfortunately, he never went there a second time. Moreover, because his oracle teacher passed away, he completely lost contact with the school.
Because Zhenjiang Province is adjacent to the developed eastern regions, its economy is the best among the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.
After the civil strife in the imperial capital, the former governor fled and the provincial governor temporarily took on the role of a high-ranking official, but he was unexpectedly killed by the coup soldiers.
Speaking of which, the Sanheli Airport in the provincial capital of Zhenjiang, which was originally owned by the governor, was bought by Lu Ming. It was also the first private airport owned by Lu Ming outside the East China Sea.
Today, the airport seems to have been confiscated by Chen Jingyuan.
…
In the conference room on the 93rd floor of Huaxia Building, a closed-door meeting of nine alliance leaders is underway.
It was a secret meeting where everyone spoke freely and there was no recorder.
Grand Duke Charles IX of East Sea was ill and was represented by the Crown Princess Christine.
Of course, in this kind of meeting, like Charles IX, Christine also sat in a higher position, but she was more like a clay and wooden god and would not participate in the specific discussions.
From time to time, Lu Ming secretly glanced at Christine who was sitting high in the clouds. At this moment, she was like a queen in a gorgeous dress. In addition, the dazzling crown inlaid with countless gems on her tall golden bun, which represented the Duke's authority, made her even more majestic and inviolable.
Did he really hold her hand? And kiss her lips
My memories seem a little vague, like a dream.
Christine seemed to glare at him suddenly.
Lu Ming was startled and quickly turned his eyes away, not daring to peek again.
In fact, the other eight companies had apparently already held secret consultations yesterday.
The Montenegrin Special Region is clearly still an outsider in the eyes of the eight "founding members" of the alliance.
Of course, there are leaders who have a close relationship with Lu Ming, but that is a private relationship. In terms of overall will, there will still be differences between the founding countries and the members who join later in a newly established alliance.
Lu Ming came back from work yesterday and was also busy until late at night. He also talked to Christine on the phone.
At today's meeting, Li Yuande, a senior official from Xinji Province, first proposed sending troops to quell the rebellion.
Most of the alliance leaders agreed.
After further discussion, an atmosphere gradually formed to encourage Montenegro to send troops, and everyone agreed with this.
The members of the Eastern Alliance are all economically developed regions that despise armaments. Originally in the East China Sea, there are no more than a thousand professional soldiers, and they are mainly militias like the National Guard.
The situation today is that in each member region, the militia has been transformed into a standing army, and there are not many troops that can be maintained.
Moreover, economically developed regions naturally fear and avoid war, especially those outside the region. If they want to send troops to fight others, even if the leaders agree, the parliament may not pass it. Even if it does, it may take several months of arguing, and then the opportunity will be lost.
But fortunately, there is still the dictatorship of the Montenegro Special Administrative Region. Isn’t this the time when it can be used to its greatest extent
Lu Ming didn't say much and listened to the direction of the discussion of the other eight families, which gradually turned into Black Mountain sending troops alone to quell the rebellion.
"General Lu, what do you think?" East China Sea's chief municipal councilor and Prime Minister Shatton Nicolason looked at Lu Ming with a smile.
Lu Ming frowned and thought, and everyone looked at him.
"How do we solve the military expenditure problem?" Lu Ming sighed. "As you know, Montenegro is very poor, and its fiscal revenue is scarce. The deficit is already quite large."
"That's easy!" Nicolason laughed happily.
Governor Michaelson of Eaton State sighed and said, "In fact, it is obvious that the Empire is going to enter a period of chaos. We all understand this. Therefore, the Alliance will still rely on the Black Mountain Army in many places in the future. I think that, not to mention the military expenses for suppressing the rebellion this time, our Alliance should have a special military expenditure every year to pay Black Mountain. After all, what's the use of more money? Is human life important?"
The main production and R&D base of Sanmai Aviation Company is located in Eton State.
This proposal was apparently not discussed among the leaders of the eight alliance members last night.
The atmosphere in the meeting hall suddenly became tense, and some of the alliance leaders showed displeasure on their faces.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "That's fine. We in the Black Mountain Army are just thugs, and we are also the bodyguards of your wealthy neighbors. It's only right that we give you some reward money. Thank you for the reward!" As he spoke, he clasped his fists.
On the podium, Christine had a look of helplessness on her face, thinking that this guy was starting to mess around again.
"General Lu, how can you say that?!" Nicolason laughed, "Members of our alliance are united in purpose and status, but we all have our own strengths and division of labor."
The other leaders also echoed.
"As Governor Michaelson said, we can all discuss it, but it is definitely not what you meant, General Lu, because helping Montenegro develop its economy is also the obligation of every member of our alliance!"
Nicolason's words caused another echo.
After hearing what Lu Ming said, apparently no one objected to the annual payment of military expenses, and they quickly appeased the members who felt that their status was unequal.
Of course, the specific amount to be paid will be discussed later, it is just symbolic.
Some of the members' leaders lowered their heads in thought.
Lu Ming added: "In fact, military expenditures and the like are minor issues. The bigger issue is, for example, if we successfully quell the rebellion, how are we going to deal with the mess in Zhenjiang Province?"
"Help them establish a democratically elected government!" Newton Governor Lyon said without hesitation.
The other leaders echoed.
Lu Ming was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay."
After discussing for a while, Lu Ming stood up and said, "Military expenditures and the like are minor issues. We can send representatives to discuss them slowly, and the secretariat will also need to review them. But speed is of the essence. I'm going back to Montenegro now. If I'm late, the people of Zhenjiang will suffer more, and there may be more deaths. From the perspective of the people, war is very cruel." As he spoke, he sighed softly.
All the leaders were stunned. They thought the discussion would take a few days and the leaders would mainly discuss their intentions.
Then, issues such as the amount of special military expenditures will need to be discussed in detail by representatives of all parties.
After all the bargaining, it would be good if we could reach a conclusion in ten days or half a month.
Montenegro will send troops to quell the rebellion only after everything is settled.
But I didn't expect that General Lu, in the words of the Zhongzhou people, is a bachelor, who does things first and gets paid later
Some leaders feel guilty and think that they are being too petty, so they just give symbolic annual funding.
Of course, Western governors naturally don't understand the Central Plains world. People in the Central Plains world will do things first and get paid later. They are all tough guys who you can't afford to offend. It's because they know that they can't get enough money that they will do things for you first.
When Lu Ming left, he even drew applause.
Lu Ming walked past the platform and caught a glimpse of Christine glaring at him. Naturally, he felt that he was a mess and had fooled people again.
I really want to wave to her and say, "Let's go!"
But in the end he didn't dare, and he stood like a pine tree in a military posture and strode out of the meeting room.
…
In the evening, Lu Ming arrived in Montenegro.
Nowadays, it is still very dangerous for airplanes to fly in bad weather or at night, but the routes from the East China Sea to Heishan and Longgang are very familiar to Lu Ming's personal pilots, and they are extremely familiar with every tree and blade of grass.
In addition, the weather was very good, so Lu Ming hurriedly took off from Donghai in the evening and arrived in Longgang at around ten o'clock in the evening.
Then, Lu Ming convened a high-level meeting of the headquarters in the General’s White Building Conference Room.
Those attending the meeting were the highest-level military and political leaders of the Montenegrin Headquarters.
The military includes Zhao Jingxun, director of the headquarters office and director of the corps political training department, Lu Xiangqian, chief of the general staff and director of the training department, Cheng Wei, first deputy chief of the general staff, Liu Jingzong, chief of the equipment department, Li Tieheng, chief of the logistics department, as well as Lu Gaoyi, chief of the military intelligence department, and Yu Luan, director of the Homeland Security Committee (General Bureau of Confidentiality).
There are three politicians, Wei Baoyi, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Montenegro Headquarters, Gu Hansheng, Director General of the Headquarters Police Department, and Pamela, Chairman of the Headquarters Mining Committee and Mayor of Montenegro.
In order to maintain confidentiality, only these three people outside the military participated in the meeting.
The main reason is that the special appropriation requires Wei Baoyi to advance the payment.
In addition, with such a large-scale military operation, public security in various parts of the Special Administrative Region must be strengthened.
And from any perspective, the Commissioner General of Police should also participate in this meeting.
As for Pamela, it was mainly because of her identity as the mayor of Montenegro.
Montenegro City is the purse of the entire Special Administrative Region. Currently, the fiscal revenue of Montenegro City is less than half of the fiscal revenue of the rest of the Special Administrative Region combined.
Therefore, Montenegro has been established as a special city.
The mayor of this city, whether it is Pamela or not, will inevitably be one of the most core members of the power structure of the Black Mountain Headquarters.
Lu Ming briefly reported on the situation of the alliance's temporary summit meeting, and said that he agreed to send troops, but everyone spoke freely about the specific plans. First, Chief Lu Gaoyi talked about the current situation in Zhenjiang Province.
Thick materials about Zhenjiang Province were distributed to everyone, and Lu Gaoyi started to talk based on the materials.
Looking at the materials collected by the Military Intelligence Department, everyone was a little surprised. It was obvious that the Military Intelligence Department had been active in Zhenjiang Province for a long time and had infiltrated every aspect of the province.
Lu Ming also flipped through the pages slowly, although he had seen most of them before.
In fact, it was not just Zhenjiang Province. The Military Intelligence Department's infiltration into the five provinces of Jiangnan lasted for several years.
The Military Intelligence Department had already noticed that a military coup was about to break out in Zhenjiang Province.
It's even hard to say whether he fanned the flames or not. Since Lu Gaoyi didn't report it, he turned a blind eye.
According to intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department, those who followed Chen Jingyuan in launching the military coup were mainly his direct border defense divisions. In addition, two security brigades also participated, with a total strength of about 15,000 people. Currently, military martial law is imposed in the provincial capital of Zhenjiang, and all buildings including newspaper offices, television and communications buildings are under Chen Jingyuan's military control.
"General, defeating Chen Jingyuan will definitely not be a problem for our Black Mountain Army. I think, should we slow down the fight? Advance step by step? The longer the time is, the more sufficient the military funds will be from the alliance?" The first person to speak was Wei Baoyi, Chairman of the Finance Committee, who was calculating the economic accounts.
Lu Ming waved his hand, "If we fight, we must do it with all our might. In addition, cleaning up the mess, suppressing the rebellion, and helping and maintaining the democratic elections are all projects that take time. We must be prepared to station troops in Zhenjiang for a long time."
Wei Baoyi nodded: "Yes, that's good." As long as the troops are stationed there, the alliance will naturally have to pay the relevant expenses.
Lu Ming pondered and said, "However, although it is said to be thunderous, we don't need real thunder."
The so-called "Thunder" is the code name for bombers and fighter jets in confidential documents. The actual participants were all the core figures of the Black Mountain Group and the top military leaders. They naturally knew the existence of this new air force of the corps.
Pamela is Lu Ming's bedmate.
But Finance Committee chief Wei Baoyi and Police Chief Gu Hansheng certainly did not know the military's top secrets.
Wei Baoyi knew that the military had a thunder plan, and that special military funds would be allocated directly from the Montenegro City Finance Department, but he was not sure what it was specifically.
Lu Xiangqian, also known as Datou, formerly known as Zeng Dashou, currently the Chief of the General Staff and Director of the Training Department, lit a cigarette and said, "If the Intelligence Department cooperates properly, we can use paratroopers to capture the Sanheli Airport in Zhenjiang Provincial Capital. Looking at the map, the airport is very close to Chen Jingyuan's official residence. We can directly attack and decapitate him. It will be no problem to end the war within a few days."
The beheading he mentioned naturally does not necessarily mean directly killing Chen Jingyuan. Capturing Chen Jingyuan and paralyzing the rebel’s top command is also a form of beheading.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "The Air Service Regiment and the paratroopers should cooperate and attack together!" No one here knows the situation of Sanheli Airport better than himself. The former governor of Zhenjiang built this airport as his private airport, next to the governor's mansion. Today, the governor's mansion has become the official residence of Chen Jingyuan.
Over there, Big Head smiled and said, "That's certainly better."
Although the Air Service Regiment is nominally under the military, in reality only General Lu can mobilize it. Therefore, even if the Big Boss has an idea, he will not suggest an action plan for the Air Service Regiment.
Wei Baoyi coughed over there, "Paratrooper, what is that?"
Lu Ming smiled. Wei Baoyi came from Donghai. He had active ideas and was not very respectful of the power hierarchy. These were his strengths, but he seemed not cautious enough.
For example, when talking about military operations, he was the first to speak.
Of course, the paratroopers would not be a secret, especially after the raid on the provincial capital of Zhenjiang.
"Old Wei, your military knowledge is full of blind spots. When you attend this kind of meeting involving military operations, just use your ears!" Zhao Jingxun kindly reminded.
Wei Baoyi smiled awkwardly: "That's right!"
"The large-scale long-range paratrooper raid only happened once, right?" Lu Ming asked.
After the Montenegro-East China Sea-Antigua route was opened, Datou organized long-distance transportation and paratrooper assaults.
Datou pondered and said, "Zhenjiang Province is very close to Heishan, and the terrain there is fine. In addition, we have conducted many airborne training at the city airport. As long as our military intelligence department does not make any mistakes and we have the air service regiment as a double insurance, the decapitation operation will not be a big problem." He paused, "Of course, it would be better if our infantry regiment entered Zhenjiang to attract its main force to leave the provincial capital."
Lu Ming nodded, "Sanheli Airport is not very big, our large transport aircraft is not suitable for docking, the runway is not long enough, otherwise we can directly transport infantry there. At present, there is basically no air defense force at the airport. Well, the helicopter formation of the Air Service Regiment will control Sanheli Airport as soon as possible, and then send in paratroopers. If there are casualties, it is because we are not well trained or have bad luck!"
He smiled again: "Everyone, if you have any other ideas, please share them."
In the conference room, the atmosphere gradually became heated.
This kind of multi-level war was the first time for the generals in the conference room to be involved in it, and they could not hide their excitement.
My admiration for General Lu is beyond words. General Lu's understanding of war is simply not something that people of this era can look at. We can only say that he is a natural military strategist. He has opened a window for everyone to get in touch with a brand new world.
The sky outside gradually turned pale.
Even Lu Ming lit a cigarette to refresh himself.
"That's basically it. Our strategy is to attack the enemy's heart and minds. We'll attack from all sides. The infantry corps will attack in a sheep-like manner. Once the decapitation operation is successful and the enemy's morale is demoralized, the infantry corps will launch an all-out attack. As for the specific combat plan, you should discuss it with the General Staff and relevant departments and hand it over to me before tonight." Lu Ming put out his cigarette.
"Yes!" Big Head stood up and stood at attention.
Lu Ming looked at Pamela again and said with a smile, "What you said just now is very good. You are indeed a leader in the business world and have a long-term vision. Others have not thought about the issue of the democratic election in Zhenjiang Province, but you have!"
Pamela was wearing a light blue suit, which was extremely bright and gorgeous, but her sexy long golden hair had been cut short a long time ago, becoming extremely delicate and layered short hair. She was less coquettish and more serious and capable, which was more in line with her current status and added a bit of unique charm to her.
Hearing Lu Ming praising her, she smiled slightly but didn't say anything.
In fact, everyone present already knows that Mayor Pan is General Lu's lover, but she is indeed very capable. Under her rule, Heishan City has made great progress. If there is such nepotism, it would be better if there were more of it.
Lu Ming added, "However, you said that we should choose the right person to support. I think I should just prepare to run for the chairman of Zhenjiang Province!" He paused, "From a legal point of view, this is not a problem. I am still a student at Zhenjiang Normal University, so I am also a member of Zhenjiang. Sanheli Airport is also my private property."
"Our propaganda department should pay attention to promoting my relationship with Zhenjiang. Of course, we still need to suppress the rebellion decisively and quickly, not disturb the people, and enforce strict military discipline. We should restore the normal life of the people of Zhenjiang as soon as possible, and we will naturally be loved."
Lu Ming looked at Pamela and said, "Let's create a position for me, a publicity specialist. You will take on the role. Your main task is to report and publicize my candidacy for the chairmanship of Zhenjiang Province."
Montenegro does not have a news censorship agency. Even though he is living in troubled times today, Lu Ming hates this thing.
Those who spread false news, harm the interests of others, or make shocking and inappropriate remarks will naturally be sued and severely punished.
As for the foreign forces with ulterior motives causing trouble, that is the job of the Bureau of Secrets. Otherwise, what are these secret police doing here? Are they here to punish their own people
Appointing Pamela as the propaganda commissioner is to prevent the position from expanding its power and censoring the media.
Pamela's words also reminded me that it would be good if I could use this opportunity to take control of Zhenjiang Province.
Although Zhenjiang Province is similar to other provinces, with a population of over 10 million, it is the most economically developed among the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.
If we form a union with the Montenegro Special Administrative Region, our economic strength may not be weaker than any of the four provinces in the Northern Region.
Although the four provinces in the northern region have a large population and a vast territory, their economic development is seriously lagging behind.
For example, Anshan Province, which has the largest population and the largest territory, is said to have a population of 60 to 70 million, but if a census is really conducted, I am afraid the population may be as high as 80 to 90 million. After all, most rural areas are extremely poor. If Zhenjiang Province plus the Heishan Special Administrative Region were added, their economic strength would not be weaker than that of Anshan Province.
While thinking about random things, Lu Ming announced the adjournment of the meeting. Everyone stood up immediately. The generals saluted. Wei Baoyi, Pamela and others saluted and watched General Lu leave the venue.