Early the next morning.
The Alliance building was as bustling as ever, especially in the offices of the Foreign Affairs Department.
Ever since the Mutual Aid Community opened up the electronic currency settlement channel for its member states, unfamiliar faces had been arriving every day to "report in," inquiring whether their settlements could also be connected to the system.
After all, the currencies issued by most survivor settlements across the wasteland had virtually no actual circulation value—such as the red-blue notes issued by the Red River Alliance.
If they could exchange their local money for silver coins, Cr, or dinars—or even Sunset Province's gold lion coins and gold camel coins, or Bolo Province's Xilan coins—it would be a massive boon.
Although economic cooperation was not technically the responsibility of the Foreign Affairs Department, establishing formal diplomatic relations was the prerequisite for any cooperation.
If the Alliance had once needed to scour the wasteland for other settlements and actively promote itself to the outside world, then with the conclusion of the War in Heaven, the situation had completely reversed. Now, it was the wasteland settlements actively traveling to River Valley Province to seek out the Alliance.
In a sense, Chu Guang was indeed fulfilling the promise he had made back then: Dawn City was becoming an Ideal City in another form.
Although the former's amenities were far less luxurious than the latter's, survivors who did not settle here—and even people who had never set foot in the city—could still benefit from its prosperity.
That was a quality not even Ideal City possessed.
As usual, Alliance Foreign Minister Cheng Yan arrived at his office right on time for work, casually tossing the intelligence sent over by the Guards Corps into a drawer.
Barring any surprises, this dossier would soon come in handy.
And just as he anticipated, not long after he sat down behind his desk—before his seat had even warmed—heavy footsteps thudded down the hallway outside, and a moment later barged straight through the door.
Bursting in along with the footsteps was a gruff, booming voice:
"Minister Cheng, I want to know what on earth is going on with your trains!"
The visitor was none other than Senior Centurion Bannote, the Legion's ambassador to the Alliance. Tailing right behind him was Cheng Yan's secretary; clearly, the man had forced his way in.
Dark circles hung beneath the ambassador's furious eyes, making it obvious he had not slept well last night. Yet perhaps worried he might miss him, he had still chosen to arrive the exact moment Cheng Yan started work.
Not the least bit surprised by Bannote's arrival, Cheng Yan felt that had the man not shown up, he would instead be wondering what tricks these Wilante were pulling now.
Cheng Yan first gave his secretary a look that said, "Go attend to other matters," and then leaned back in his chair.
Studying the fuming, big-nosed man at his leisure, he interlaced his fingers over his knees and spoke amiably.
"My dear Senior Centurion Bannote, whatever happened to get you so worked up?"
Seeing him playing dumb, Bannote narrowed his eyes into slits, glaring fiercely at the nonchalant man across from him.
"I received word that last night, you reloaded the military supplies scheduled for delivery to our personnel at Bister Town back onto the trains."
"I've heard about that," Cheng Yan said with a nod of practiced concern. "I hear our trains are repaired and running again."
"Repaired? Is whether they're repaired or not the issue here?!" Bannote was practically pointing a finger in his face, fuming with righteous indignation. "Don't tell me your conductors all got plastered on the exact same day! Why are all your trains heading in the opposite direction?!"
With that, he planted both palms flat on the desk, biting out each word:
"Aren't you people always preaching about contracts? This is not what we agreed upon in the contract. You'd better give me an explanation!"
"An explanation, is it..."
Cheng Yan chuckled softly, casually slid open his desk drawer, pulled out a document folder, and tossed it onto the desk.
"Then perhaps Senior Centurion Bannote would explain to me first what all this is about."
The moment he saw the folder, Bannote's heart sank, realizing instantly that disaster had struck.
Whatever he feared most was sure to happen!
Though he had already guessed what was inside, Bannote forced an air of composure to make it look as though he knew nothing, picking up the folder and opening it.
Inside were aerial reconnaissance photos taken by drones, alongside a thumb-sized drive.
Watching Bannote's brow twitch violently, an imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of Cheng Yan's mouth. He gently set a holographic computer pen imported from Ideal City onto the desk.
"The drive contains audio recordings and footage detailing how arms originating from the Weifu Wasteland were shipped all the way to Bolo Province. You're welcome to take it back and study it at your leisure—I have plenty of copies anyway. Or, I have the playback equipment right here, and I can play it for you on the spot."
"No need."
The photographs alone were enough to establish a complete chain of evidence; playing the contents of the drive would merely be inviting further humiliation.
With all pretenses shattered, Bannote dropped the act entirely, scowling as he tossed the document folder back onto the desk before Cheng Yan.
To be honest, Cheng Yan somewhat admired the man.
Even after being confronted with undeniable proof of his underhanded tricks, the unyielding expression on Bannote's face had not wavered in the slightest.
At least when it came to shameless brazenness, if the Wilante called themselves second, no one would dare claim first.
"...Those are our weapons! Where we choose to ship them is our business! It's not your place to dictate that to us!"
Having anticipated he would take that line, Cheng Yan spread his hands and mimicked his tone:
"Well, the railways are ours, and where we choose to run our trains is our business. Why come complaining to me?"
"You!"
Bannote's eyes bulged and his fists clenched tightly, but in the end he did not slam them onto the desk, forcibly swallowing his rage.
The munitions stockpiled on the Weifu Wasteland amounted to an astronomical figure; even relying on the Alliance's logistics lines, shipping them had already taken nearly half a year.
If he had to find a way to move them on his own, it would be practically impossible! Otherwise, there would have been no need for them to borrow the Alliance's railways in the first place!
As for leaving them stockpiled on the Weifu Wasteland indefinitely, that was out of the question as well. Leaving aside maintenance issues, renting warehouses alone would cost a fortune.
On top of that, if the weapons couldn't be evacuated, those ten ten-thousand-man units wouldn't be able to return home either, making their upkeep another hefty ongoing expense.
Although the Legion had garrison requirements in Haiya Province, stationing a single ten-thousand-man unit was plenty; there was no need whatsoever to keep so many men stationed there.
Most critically, this equipment was not the junk belonging to the civil official faction, but the assets of the Eastern Legion!
The Eastern Legion had not provided this equipment to them for free. Rather, they expected them to arm the Empire and apply pressure to the Alliance, forcing concessions on matters such as the division of spoils, or at least securing the technology related to Gestalt lifeforms held by the Church of the Torch.
Yet now, they had only moved a sixth of it before the Alliance caught on, leaving the remaining five-sixths impounded inside Alliance territory.
The operation had been thoroughly botched!
At the thought of this, a bead of cold sweat broke out across Bannote's forehead. After hesitating a moment, he finally lowered his head.
"...Mr. Cheng, what we did was indeed improper. I assure you it will not happen again."
"It is not a question of propriety; you have breached our agreement," Cheng Yan said, fixing his gaze on Bannote, his tone grave. "If memory serves, our contract explicitly stated that these weapons were to be transported to the territory of the Eastern Legion, and that our responsibility was the transit from Jinchuan Province to western Sunset Province."
"Yes..."
"Yet now, these munitions never crossed the Great Desert. Instead, they took a turn east of the desert and headed straight south."
Watching Bannote's stiff expression, Cheng Yan continued with a faint smile, "If your understanding of honoring an agreement means we must abide by the contract to the letter while you are free to renege on black-and-white terms whenever you please, then I can only express my regret."
"Wait... I know what we did was somewhat inappropriate, but I still hope we can resolve this matter. You wouldn't want to see so many munitions and troops stranded within Alliance territory, would you?" As he spoke, Bannote's voice took on an unconscious edge of threat.
He did indeed have the leverage to make threats.
After all, that was an army of over a hundred thousand men, supplied with triple their standard ammunition allotment. Anywhere on the wasteland, that was enough to form a terrifying force.
Yet upon hearing those words, Cheng Yan merely narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't mean anything by it. I'm just concerned an accident might happen."
Watching Cheng Yan's narrowed eyes, Bannote pressed on unabashedly:
"The Eastern Legion isn't as easy to talk to as we are, after all. You've impounded so many of their weapons, and so many of their soldiers are stranded on the front lines. Do you really think they will take this lying down?"
Cheng Yan raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Oh? And what if they don't?"
"What if they don't?" Bannote let out a scoffing laugh, looking at him. "How can you ask such a foolish question? What do you think—"
"I think if you haven't suffered enough hardship, you are welcome to try us again," Cheng Yan said, rising from behind his desk. Looking the man dead in the eyes, he continued in a frigid tone, "I'd love to see if these hundred-odd thousand men can overturn the heavens on our turf, or what else they think they can manage."
Bannote glared at Cheng Yan in fury. Though on the verge of erupting, he ultimately refrained from burning bridges entirely.
Cooperating with the Alliance on issues relating to the Mutual Aid Community was a policy set down by the Marshal. Although Bannote had a certain degree of decision-making authority as ambassador to the Alliance, the grand strategic direction was not something a mere Senior Centurion like him could alter.
What was more, he was a Senior Centurion of the civil official faction.
The Eastern Expansionists were virtually wiped out, and within the Eastern Legion itself, almost no high-ranking officers supported expanding east of the Great Desert. No one was going to indulge his madness.
"We'll see about that."
With all his fury boiling down to a single parting shot, Bannote merely shot Cheng Yan a venomous glare before turning on his heel and storming out of the room.
"We'll see indeed."
Listening to the heavy slam of the door, Cheng Yan smiled faintly. He picked up the folder from the desk, tossed it back into the drawer, and placed a call to Chu Guang far away in the Southern Sea.
Once the line connected, he reported immediately:
"Mr. Administrator, the Legion's envoy was just here."
Chu Guang asked at once, "What did they say?"
Cheng Yan continued, "Bannote voiced his displeasure with our side, though he didn't take any substantive action. After all, they breached the agreement first, so our cancellation of the transport contract is entirely reasonable."
Pausing, Cheng Yan adopted a more serious tone:
"That being said, knowing the Legion's nature, I don't believe they will take this lying down... I still advise against pushing them too hard."
Though he had projected a tough stance when dealing with Bannote earlier, that was merely a diplomatic posture.
The Legion was notorious for bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Show even the slightest hint of timidity, and they would walk all over you like fools—just as they had with the Empire.
In fact, just like Bannote, deep down he didn't favor pushing things to extremes either.
After all, just as Senior Centurion Bannote had said, given the Eastern Legion's own transport capacity, it was plain as day that moving all those arms back on their own was impossible.
That was enough equipment to arm thirty divisions.
If they were truly pushed to desperation and sold off everything at bargain-basement prices to the marauders of the eastern provinces, it might trigger another Bone Chewer Turmoil.
Given the Legion's nature, they were certainly capable of doing such a thing.
Picking up on Cheng Yan's unspoken concern, Chu Guang did not take it to heart, offering only a faint smile.
"I have no intention of pushing them to the brink, but they must pay the price for their actions. As for what you're worried about... rest assured, I have it all in hand."
This entire affair had been clear from the start: the Eastern Legion wanted Triumph City's civil official faction to leverage their influence in Bolo Province to pressure the Alliance, while the civil official faction wanted to use the Eastern Legion's munitions to advance their own agenda.
There was nothing fundamentally wrong with that coordination, but they had only themselves to blame for being too impatient.
The moment the Mammoth State authorities saw tanks rolling up to the front line, they immediately realized something was amiss and ran to the Alliance to lodge a complaint.
Now that the civil official faction had botched the operation, the Alliance had terminated the transport agreement strictly in accordance with contractual terms, dragging down the arms the Eastern Legion had originally planned to send back home as well.
Right now, Bannote was undoubtedly nursing a headache over how to explain the situation to the Eastern Legion.
Chu Guang was also quite curious to see how the Legion's factions would handle this internally. According to the intelligence provided by brother Pangolin, the four great legions were far more dominant than Triumph City's civil official faction, and the Eastern Legion was unlikely to swallow this bitter pill quietly.
Even though Chu Guang said not to worry, hearing his casual, unhurried tone left Cheng Yan still somewhat anxious, concerned that the administrator might not grasp the gravity of the situation. He couldn't help asking:
"What if they sell the weapons locally?"
Chu Guang answered succinctly, "No need for 'what if'—they've already been doing it."
Cheng Yan froze for a moment. "Al... already doing it?"
"That's right. Probably started around last week. And the intermediary handling it happens to be our man."
Hearing the astonished voice on the other end, Chu Guang chuckled softly and continued in a gentle tone:
"That's why I told you not to worry. Aside from pulling that petty trick to deceive us once, they have been under our noses the entire time."
"They just don't know it yet."
Chapter 811