West

Coincidentally, at the same time Colm and his group intended to cross Flatiron Lake to reach Mexico, Governor Dutch Van der Linde was also pursuing his own plan.

Saint Denis.

After nearly a month, all ten warships purchased by the Saint Denis Government from the Britain military had arrived at the Saint Denis port.

Compared to the various oil tankers nearby, the warships were much smaller, as they required a certain degree of maneuverability and did not need to carry cargo.

However, they were still much larger than ordinary fishing boats; at the very least, a standard warship had a crew of one hundred and seventy people.

Do not think that such a large number of personnel on a warship is too many; in reality, it is not at all.

In an era when the United States could only field twenty thousand troops, the great powers of Europe were already fighting with millions of soldiers, and France had maintained a standing army of one million for many years.

Britain was a world-class power; as a great power, everything it built now had to be massive!

It was just like during the Soviet era: if you built a supersonic fighter, then I had to build a bigger, heavier one that flew faster than yours!

With only fourteen years left until World War I, although there was no significant activity at the current stage, the subtle frictions and tensions between them had already begun to spread implicitly.

The same applied to these warships; Britain had to have large numbers of them to showcase its national strength!

Therefore, these ten warships could carry one thousand seven hundred gunmen, providing escort for Mr. Van der Linde's arms business!

The port of Saint Denis was bustling with people, and it was noticeably noisier than usual.

A long line of carriages, stretching from the Saint Denis port all the way to the outskirts of Saint Denis, drove one after another to the port, unloading their goods onto the oil tankers docked there.

For combat warships, oil tankers were, of course, more convenient for loading cargo.

This seemingly endless line of vehicles belonged entirely to Mr. Van der Linde's supply convoy, containing Marko semi-automatic rifles (eight-round Castrated version), Maxim guns, artillery, 'VDL' apparel, bullets, explosives, as well as various products from Valentine, Saint Denis, and even Rhodes. These goods would be transported by oil tankers to Mexico and then forcibly sold to Mexican warlords, gangs, syndicate members, evil forces, and even the common people.

Mr. Van der Linde had already planned it out: warlords would pay with resources; gangs would pay with pounds or dollars; and syndicate members and the poor would pay with themselves—the good ones would be brought back to serve as the foundation for urban development, while the utterly corrupt would be brought back and thrown into the mines.

Mr. Van der Linde decided to undertake a deep, large-scale, precise, and people-oriented grand development in Mexico, ensuring that the people, land, and resources of Mexico were fully utilized.

As for Tanks, they were not for sale at the moment; only two would be loaded onto oil tankers to serve as vanguard security for the pacification of Mexico. Once lethal aircraft were developed, and he, Dutch Van der Linde, possessed his own Tank fleet, then Tanks would be sold, ensuring Mr. Dutch Van der Linde's ample sense of security.

It was still the same old saying: Mr. Van der Linde suffered from an insufficient firepower phobia!

Saint Denis was bustling, and the population density had noticeably increased significantly compared to a month ago.

The various policies of New Hanover and Lemoyne, though simple to state, were truly complex to explain in their practical implications.

Just considering Mr. Van der Linde's food subsidy policy, before this policy was introduced, if the residents of Saint Denis had to pay twenty cents for a loaf of black bread, then after its implementation, they only needed two cents. Of course, the prices were not exactly like that, but the difference was similar.

In American capitalist society, these capitalists would do anything for money: inflate prices, hoard wealth, and even pour milk into the river rather than lower prices or give it to the poor. Otherwise, there would not have been Little Mustache's five hundred thousand mark black bread.

Mr. Van der Linde's mandatory controls made New Hanover and Lemoyne the best places for the poor to live, so refugees and illegal immigrants would not leave, and there was a continuous influx of new people seeking refuge, leading to rapid population growth.

However, this type of growth was unhealthy; when Dutch could not provide black bread next time, his model could easily shatter at a touch.

Therefore, he could only take two paths now: first, increase internal production and expand the internal bread base to meet internal demand.

Second, expand externally! Absorb external resources through forceful means, making them part of his own base.

Clearly, if he did not control it further, he was very likely to embark on the true 'West Sea' path.