Damn

July 25, 1901.

The Van der Linde Government expanded outwards for the first time after recapturing Florida.

If the United States New Eastern Government was in a state of constant, overwhelming victory, then the Van der Linde Government was truly deranged.

Mr. Dutch Van der Linde issued the highest directive: whether it was the Western states that had pledged allegiance or uninhabited states like New Austin, all were to undergo the most stringent wealth collection.

All large factories, large enterprises, and even public-related industries such as power stations or train stations were unconditionally nationalized and became the property of the Van der Linde Government.

Of course, these capitalists would receive certain compensation, and if their review was satisfactory, their owner's position might even be retained, though they would transform from true owners to employees.

Although their income would increase with the company's good performance, ultimately, they were no longer the true, 100% controlling old bosses.

From the perspective of capital, this practice was truly insane, but in reality, it was no different from wealth redistribution. It was also a necessary measure to address wealth consolidation.

Perhaps these factories, after being nationalized by the Van der Linde Government, would gradually become bloated, complex, or prone to corruption over time, but this approach would undoubtedly prolong the good lives of the populace.

A large tree will inevitably have Woodworms, because this is human nature. Driven by human nature, no system can be called perfect. Therefore, Mr. Van der Linde only wants to plant this tree sturdily and thickly, so that even if it is full of Woodworms, it can still stand tall, allowing the people of America to enjoy a longer period of happiness!

This was the salvation Mr. Van der Linde brought to the West!

However, Mr. Van der Linde's actions would undoubtedly make these powerful capitalists even more furious.

In fact, not only big capitalists were furious, but even the middle class, farmers, and even office workers in the Eastern cities had come to view Mr. Dutch Van der Linde as a thorn in their side.

Although Mr. Van der Linde only confiscated large capital and large factories to achieve the goal of wealth redistribution, the propaganda war in the East was indeed a great victory.

Under their propaganda, Mr. Dutch Van der Linde had become a paranoid individual with a mental illness, frantically seizing all wealth and turning all citizens into beggars—this was his public image in the East.

Although everyone knew that the Eastern Government's propaganda must contain falsehoods, and the reputation of Dutch Van Der Linde, the Great Western King of America, was clearly much better than what the newspapers reported, no one dared to gamble!

Especially those with some family wealth, few were willing to use their assets as chips to bet that Mr. Dutch Van der Linde would not confiscate their wealth.

Or rather, under the existing American system, their lives were already comfortable enough, and they completely did not want any completely unfamiliar changes or constraints.

Therefore, the Eastern populace's resistance was unexpectedly high.

But intertwined with the resistance, there was another viewpoint.

At this time, within the United States New Government in the East.

Mr. President Theodore Roosevelt was currently seated at the head of the conference table, holding a decisive meeting regarding the subjugation of the West.

A year ago, after Dutch Van der Linde rounded up the United States Federal Government, taking all the senators in the Capitol and United States Government officials back to the West for re-education through labor, the United States New Government had no choice but to re-elect and appoint officials and senators at all levels from various states.

This was why the United States New Government had been inactive at the time; there was simply no one to handle affairs, and elections also required a certain amount of time.

These figures, elected in a short period, could be said to have been hastily put in place, which led to a major problem.

That is, most of these people were representatives of capital from various states; the number of pure politicians and patriots was much smaller compared to the previous United States Government.

Capital ultimately has its limits. Even in super-capitalist empires like America and the United Kingdom, their initial builders and power centers still exhibited political, rather than capitalist, characteristics.

Looking at the initial rulers of the United States Federal Government, or European rulers like the United Kingdom's Emperor, their original intention was still to consider the nation's welfare, and their highest interest was still their own country.

But now, the hastily organized officials of this United States New Government were different.

Most of them were spokespersons for capital, taking advantage of the political faction being completely wiped out to thoroughly occupy Congress and the pinnacle of power.

So now, their personal interests were higher than American interests.

Therefore, Mr. President Theodore found this supreme discussion meeting to be extremely painful.

"Why can't there be one country, two systems? Why can't the East and West be separated? Like Austria-Hungary, the Van der Linde Government rules the West, and the Federal Government rules the East. Wouldn't that resolve the conflict?"

"Exactly, if he wants to confiscate assets on his land, let him. It doesn't concern us much anyway. With their level of development, let alone strict control, we wouldn't even care if he didn't control it!"

"Hmph, it's bad enough that he confiscates assets, but he even wants to regulate finance! This is simply heinous! If he controls finance, then what's left for our Wall Street to do?"

"Your Wall Street has nothing to do with the West anyway. Will people from the West come to your Wall Street to buy stocks?"

"But don't you have to buy resources from the West?"

"That makes it even simpler. Let Dutch Van der Linde govern himself now. What ability does he have to forcefully drive the development of the West? Won't he still have to extract and sell resources? At that point, we won't need to bother; the resources will sell themselves to us. And due to geographical factors, we can significantly squeeze his resource prices, dragging him down until he collapses on his own. Isn't this a better method than going to war?"

This statement had some merit. The American West bordered the American East to the east and American-controlled Mexico to the west. If it wanted to sell resources, it could only do so through American control. Whether sold to the East or Mexico, it would ultimately fall into the hands of the East. As for selling outwards through sea transport? That was even more impossible; your resource transportation would undoubtedly increase your selling costs. Whether transported to Europe or Asia, no country would be willing to choose the cost difference it brought. Moreover, the East could completely prevent such a possibility with a naval blockade.

So, if what this congressman said was true, the ultimate fate of the West would be to continuously lower resource prices under the East's sanctions, drastically increasing workers' hours and reducing wages to cut costs, eventually collapsing on its own.

After all, Mr. Dutch Van der Linde rose to power through benevolence; if he himself no longer showed benevolence, who would care about him?

Of course, this was their perfect idea. But would Mr. Dutch Van der Linde agree to a divided co-governance?

Congressmen at all levels debated heatedly.

They were basically spokespersons pushed forward by capital from various states, so their remarks not only showed no concern for America's territorial integrity and future development but instead wanted to completely split America over this incident.

In fact, they originally had some opinions about the West.

In recent years, the American East had developed more and more rapidly, creating a huge economic disparity with the West. Before, they could still use the West's resources to contribute to the East or, rather, America.

But now there were external colonies, and the overall economy no longer relied on the real economy for support; the financial industry had risen. So, the West gradually lost its resource advantages and instead gradually became a burden on America.

Every year, the United States Government had to spend a certain amount of money in the West to help it develop, and even then, it was like throwing good money after bad.

What was there to want from such a place?

sh*t!, might as well just give it to Dutch Van der Linde.

By the time they finished building it, perhaps it would be time for it to collapse from within. Then, they could instigate further, use funds to destroy its economy, and painlessly reclaim a fully developed Western region.

This was simply a huge profit, a massive win!

Mr. Theodore listened to their stateless and disloyal remarks, fuming with anger.

"sh*t! Damn it, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? If we really do as you say, then America will be utterly beyond redemption!"