Shadow Empire

Chapter 1187 Be careful
Life has many crossroads. As long as you don't linger at the crossroads and keep moving forward, no matter which path you choose, you will eventually have to bear the consequences of your choices.

Good, or bad.

Governor Wade sat in his car, watching the pedestrians on one side of the road, his mind wandering through a variety of thoughts.

He thought of the years he spent in Golden Harbor City, and how the Wade family, because of his choice, had rapidly grown from a small local family into a "governor's family," and that they might have the opportunity to maintain long-term control of power here.

From the moment he was born, every choice he made has been on the right track, and he believes this time will be no different, and will continue to be the right one.

As for the rest... let the wind carry them away!
When Governor Wade's motorcade returned to the estate, several unfamiliar cars were already parked there.

Governor Wade glanced at the car a few more times, stood by it for a while, and then returned to the manor building.

The butler quickly came out to greet them. "Master, we have a guest."

"Who?" he asked, handing his coat to the maid beside him while taking off his hat and standing there looking at the butler.

“Some…businessmen, they say they want to meet you.”

Governor Wade curled his lip. "They could have come much earlier, before this got out of hand."

"We can come later, after all the flying dust has slowly settled."

"But it's interesting that they chose to come at this time!"

The butler straightened his slightly disheveled collar, saying as he did so, "Should I have them thrown out?"

Governor Wade glanced at himself in the dressing room mirror, grabbed his shirt sleeve, and tugged at it. "Get rid of him?"

"Why drive them away? I'll go see them and see what they want to do."

The butler stood calmly beside him, following closely as they walked into the reception room.

The moment they approached the reception room, the other servants in the manor immediately pushed open the door, and the three people sitting inside immediately stood up.

"Your Excellency the Governor," they addressed Governor Wade.

Governor Wade raised his hand in a gesture of respect, smiled and nodded—this was just basic courtesy. His gaze swept over the three young men, confirming that he didn't recognize them, before he walked to his assigned sofa and sat down.

"Sit down and talk. The fact that you were able to find your way here shows that you have some ability. I have a lot of things to do lately, so let's cut to the chase and tell you why you're here."

The three young men looked at each other, and one of them, who seemed to be the oldest, said, "Governor, I heard that supplying goods to Indenor State requires your approval first."

“We are legitimate business people, so we came here to pay you a visit and, by the way… to express our sincerity.”

As he spoke, he pushed out two large suitcases from the side of the sofa. They looked about the same size as ordinary suitcases, but ordinary suitcases are only ten or twelve centimeters high and thick.

However, the two suitcases they brought were at least 15 centimeters high and probably 17 or 18 centimeters thick.

It may look like it's only slightly thicker, but it can hold a lot more.

"What's inside?" Governor Wade asked.

The young man leading the group didn't reach for the suitcase; he knew the procedure for meeting Governor Wade here. He glanced at the butler, who went over, lifted the suitcase with some effort, placed it on a small cart nearby, and then opened it.

The butler's eyes glazed over briefly when the briefcase was opened, before he turned and pushed the trolley over, which was full of money.

Twenty-dollar bills filled every corner of the suitcase. Governor Wade casually picked up a stack of one hundred brand-new twenty-dollar bills, which amounted to two thousand dollars.

There are at least... he glanced at them roughly, fifty stacks, or more. If we take fifty stacks, that's one hundred thousand dollars.

Two suitcases, two hundred thousand yuan in cash, brand new twenty-yuan bills still smelling of ink.

Although he had seen a lot of money, he was still somewhat... tempted when two boxes of banknotes appeared in front of him in this way.

His gaze fell on the three young men. "I don't quite understand what you mean by this."

The young man leading the group smiled, his face full of ingratiating smiles. "This is just a small gift, Your Excellency Governor."

“We can ship about five million worth of goods here every month, and our profit is two to three million. We can give you half of that.”

“I’ve heard that’s the rule here.”

Governor Wade lit a cigarette and looked at the man with amusement. "You know your place..." he stroked his chin. "But unfortunately, I can't accept your offer. Leave here with your money before I call the police."

After he finished speaking, he shook his head and stood up. "I don't know where you heard those rumors from. I can only tell you that I have never accepted bribes. I haven't before, I don't now, and I will never accept them in the future."

“I will not allow you to do illegal business in Indenor just because you are willing to give me money.”

“If your business is legal, I welcome you to do business here, which can help create some jobs.”

"But if you're going to do illegal business, I'll call the police and have you arrested as soon as I find out, understand?"

He paused for a moment after speaking, his gaze lingering on the faces of the three young men for a moment, then pointed to the two suitcases with the finger holding the cigarette, "Take your things and leave here before I change my mind!"

The three young people seemed very embarrassed. They quickly packed up their suitcases and left with the help of the servants.

“Send some men to keep an eye on them and see who they are,” Governor Wade said, then loosened his tie and walked into a room further inside.

He had a feeling that these three people might have been sent by Lance or the Socialists.

The simplest way to make him back down is to impeach him.

Impeaching him requires reasonable and legitimate grounds. You can't just remove him because the chairman of the Socialist Party committee thinks his presence will affect the Socialist Party's power struggle in Parliament.

Such a reason is untenable, and even if it were shamelessly proposed, neither house would pass it.

The person who made the proposal may be shameless, but the state legislature has a sense of shame. They need to "survive" here for a long time, and they would never do such a thing.

Therefore, a plausible reason that everyone could accept, a suitable excuse, became the key to impeaching him.

Accepting bribes and using one's official power for money-for-power transactions is one of the most unacceptable crimes to the simple voters of the federal government.

The politicians they elected are giving them diarrhea and they can't stand it.

Governor Wade knew very well that he couldn't afford to make mistakes, especially at such a critical time.

Once the situation stabilizes and he can play both sides, he'll dare to accept money from anyone, no matter who gives it to him.

Because at that point, even if the Socialist Party hated him intensely, they still had to maintain basic decorum and ensure that they wouldn't lose their last Senate seat.

He went to the back of the manor, where the Wade family members were gathered, as he had informed them in advance.

Whether it's his children, his siblings, or their children, everyone in the Wade family is here.

They watched as Governor Wade walked in and sat down at the head of the table, all eyes fixed on him.

Because of Governor Wade's decision, the Wade family has grown extremely powerful. Relying on the power wielded by Governor Wade, they have begun to build an Indenau State interest group centered around the Wade family. It can also be described as a strong local conglomerate.

Using policies and various means, they cunningly seize the industries and shares of selected capitalists.

For a governor, as long as he can control the situation, is ruthless, and is willing to make some sacrifices for the growth of his family, then the Wade family can definitely handle everything here!
For example, they recently acquired a large factory in Indenau, which was achieved by leveraging the power of the state government.

They first investigated the factory and discovered numerous violations of state laws, such as sewage disposal issues, job placement problems, and so on…

They identified more than a dozen problems, some of which were ambiguous, meaning that saying yes or no might not be possible, but saying no or no might not be possible either.

In the past, these issues could have been resolved with simple public relations, but once the Wade family set their sights on the factory, these problems became major issues.

The state government held several hearings on the matter, and after intervention from various sectors of society, the state government ultimately imposed an extremely high fine on the company, amounting to a staggering 50 million!

Despite the company's repeated appeals, it was to no avail; Governor Wade resolved everything.

Ultimately, they had to sell their factory, worth tens of millions, to the Wade family for less than three million.

After they took over, they made up some excuse and said that the rectification had been completed. Then, a special working group from the state government came to inspect and confirmed that the rectification had been completed, and production was immediately resumed.

In reality, they did nothing. The places that were supposed to be discharging sewage were still discharging sewage, and the jobs that were supposed to be gone were still gone. Everything was the same as before, except that the ownership of the shares had changed.

Such practices are not uncommon in Indenau, but Governor Wade was well aware that those who hoard wealth may not have a good end, so he also gathered a group of people around him.

Just like what is happening in Licale, a silent massacre is unfolding.

However, Lance and his group still had some dignity to maintain, so they weren't that nervous. Lance already controlled almost everything in Licarle State, and as long as he didn't give his approval, those businesses would have a hard time surviving.

This is quite different from the Wade family. After all, they are outsiders, and the resistance here is very strong. If they do not use political power to forcibly intervene, they may not be able to achieve their desired goals.

They fought bloodshed here to firmly control everything and ensure that the Wade family wouldn't be a "mere shooting star" but could stand on this land for a long time.

Every family member has their own business, something they couldn't do before, but thanks to Governor Wade, the family is growing at an astonishing pace.

Everyone has their own career, and everyone benefits from the growth of the family, which gives them a stronger sense of cohesion.

They knew who had brought about the tremendous changes in the family, and they also knew that the family's development, at least in the short term, was inseparable from Governor Wade's support. They respected and admired Governor Wade from the bottom of their hearts.

The moment he entered, everyone stood up to show their respect for him until he sat down again.

"I've called you all here today, and some of you probably already know why. We've had some disagreements within the Socialist Party, and now we're somewhat divided."

His voice echoed throughout the huge restaurant, with everyone else staring at him.

“Our foundation here is too weak. If we didn’t have so many conflicts with Lance, we could still rely on the Socialist Party.”

"They will provide us with the time, the strength, everything we need for development."

“But we have some problems with Lance that are difficult to resolve, and Lance has more connections within the Socialist Party than we do, so it is difficult for us to continue to rely on the Socialist Party.”

“I know some of you think what I’m doing is wrong, and that the Socialist Party is still reliable, but I don’t think so.”

"The Wade family is a great family, and we should not rely on external forces to stand on this land."

“External forces belong to others, and we can use their power if the owner of that power wants to help us.”

"But once he decides not to help us, we will lose our power!"

"We should rely on the strength in our own hands. Only when we have our own power can others not control our destiny."

"The Socialist Party and the Liberal Party, they can have whatever they want, as long as they pay the price."

"If they want me to do things without contributing anything, just like before, and I have to do them, and do them well to satisfy them, those days are over!"

"This period, especially recently, until February or March, is a very important period for us. It represents the process of Indenau breaking away from Socialist control and certainly not becoming a plaything for the Liberals."

"It will become the foundation we hold in our hands, the basis for the Wade family's growth and expansion, so I hope that during this time you will not wander around here or cause trouble."

"Even if some people provoke you, you must hide your heads like turtles and wait until this period is over before we take our revenge!"

"Stop all businesses that may be involved in illegal or criminal activities. Also, try to calm down the people who are causing trouble, even if it's just temporarily."

"I don't want anything to happen during this time that would make things difficult for me, if anyone doesn't do their job well..."

His gaze was like a knife, lingering on everyone's face. "Then I promise, if you make me very unhappy, I'll make you suffer!"

Indenau State is not a peaceful and prosperous place either; it also has many problems.

It's not just here; even in Jinzhou, many people have problems.

The problems of workers, the problems of residents, the problems of employment, the problems of income, the problems of the social environment...

Almost everyone has problems, but some people can silently endure them while others need to vent. These people will appear on the streets holding up placards or even engage in some extreme behaviors.

Such an incident wouldn't normally be a problem, but if it erupts at this stage, when the Socialist Party is causing him trouble, it could very well become a tool for the Socialist Party to attack him.

He needed to remind them that he knew some of the Wade family members, especially some of the younger ones, were getting a bit arrogant.

They felt their family was powerful enough to act recklessly, and he had to warn them to get their feet back on the ground.

Everyone realized he wasn't joking, and people immediately nodded in agreement with his request.

"Alright, after saying so much, you're probably hungry. Let's eat!"

As he spoke, he picked up the silver knife and fork placed in front of him, cut a piece of steak for himself, and put it in his mouth to chew before the others began to use their knives and forks. The entire restaurant was filled with the sound of cutlery clattering together.

While eating, Governor Wade's cousin, sitting next to him, asked, "How are they dealing with you?"

Governor Wade shook his head. "The only way to cause trouble for me is this, so don't do anything reckless lately. It's best not to do anything after you've resolved this problem."

"I heard there's a strike going on where you are?"

His cousin nodded. He ran a factory, which they had seized through trickery and coercion, so naturally there were some historical issues involved.

These historical issues have not been resolved, and now a group of retired and semi-retired workers are causing trouble. It is said that they are planning a strike to fight for their rights.

Governor Wade's cousins ​​planned to use the mob to suppress these unruly old men, but now it seems that such a brutal approach is not an option.

"If the money to solve the problem isn't much... then give it to them."

His cousin took a deep breath and nodded. "I know what to do."

(End of this chapter)