Shadow Empire

Chapter 1189: Push Wave
"How many days are you staying here this time?" Erwin placed the ashtray in front of Lance and took out a lighter to light the cigarette in Lance's mouth.

Erwin knew why Lance had come here, but he didn't know the details or how long Lance would stay.

Lance lit his cigarette by his lighter and patted Erwin's hand. "I'll leave after I've resolved this issue in a week or two."

"We should try to resolve this within the maximum timeframe allowed by the state legislature, otherwise there will be more trouble later."

If the Socialist Party loses its veto power in the Senate, a complete defeat in the Senate will also lead to a complete defeat in the House of Representatives.

Once Senator Cleveland loses power, Lance's good days will soon be over.

Politics is never moderate because the world's resources are limited. In the past, they could have refrained from doing anything to Lance because Senator Cleveland held power.

If Senator Cleveland loses power and he himself is not strong enough, then trouble will follow.

This is also why Lance wanted to solve the problem at its root from the very beginning—Governor Wade was undermining the foundation of his rapid growth, and once this opportunity was missed, it would be difficult to find another one like it in the future.

This list has not yet been officially released to the public, and it has not yet been approved by the state legislature. It is currently in a stage of review but may not be approved.

If the federal Congress can't hide information like a sieve, then the state-level legislatures are even less likely to be able to keep secrets.

The list was leaked on the first day, and unlike in the past, this time the candidates nominated for governor include several well-known figures from the Liberal Party.

In the past, state governments would nominate Liberal Party members, but they were usually those who were not well-known, or they simply did not nominate Liberal Party candidates at all. This was to ensure that the Socialist Party's parliamentary candidates were firmly under their control.

The inclusion of several well-known Liberal Party MP candidates this time surprised local voters who follow politics.

There is now some discussion in society that suggests Governor Wade may have switched sides and is planning to move from the Socialist Party to the Liberal Party.

Although no further news has been released yet, it's clear that people have started to pay attention to this matter, even Erwin, who has no connection to the local elections.

Even Irwin, under Lance's influence, was paying attention to the list and some changes within the state legislature.

Erwin put away his lighter and asked tentatively, "The person we sent to deliver the money didn't actually do it. He was very cautious, and I think it will be difficult to fabricate any evidence."

After the men who delivered the money returned, he called Lance, but unfortunately Lance didn't answer the phone; he had already boarded the train by then.

Lance was not surprised by the result. "These things have just happened, and there's this obviously problematic behavior of someone giving money. If he had even a little bit of normal political sensitivity, he would know what he can and cannot do."

"Furthermore, I never considered that simply finding a few people and sending him some money would be enough to gather evidence to bring him down. If that were really possible, he wouldn't be in that position now."

Lance did not deny it. "He owes us, and this is just the right opportunity."

"How do you plan to deal with him?" Erwin asked.

“He seems very cautious now. I have people watching him. He hardly goes anywhere outside his office and doesn’t meet with people who want to visit him.”

"Moreover, many local businesses have now been acquired by him and his people, and they control a large number of jobs. Locals and a large number of voters are very likely to side with them."

"Moreover, an interest group centered around the Wade family and several large capital groups is expanding, and it will not be an easy task to pull him down from that position."

Lance took a drag of his cigarette. "I've considered it too. After all, he's the governor. Without some solid evidence to pinpoint his guilt, we can't do anything to him, and time is running out."

"So my idea is that since we can't change the current situation, and we can't find problems in him, we can't bring him down."

"Then we should find a way to replace him with someone else."

After listening, Erwin thought for a while and shook his head. "I don't quite understand."

Lance looked at him with a smile, "According to the federal constitution and laws, if the president has an accident, the vice president will become the new president immediately."

“The governor also has this option. Local law in Indenau state stipulates that if the governor is unable to continue working due to an accident, the lieutenant governor will be the first in line to succeed him as the governor of the state.”

Hearing Lance say this, Erwin understood what he was going to do, which made Erwin a little worried. "If the death of a governor gets involved with us, won't it cause some problems?"

"After all, he's a governor!"

A governor is like a mini-king; the death of a governor is a major event for the federal government, no less significant than the death of a president!

Irwin was still somewhat worried that doing so might provoke unanimous opposition from the entire federal society.

Since its establishment, the Lance family has become more than just a gang; it has also affected the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people.

If given the choice to avoid trouble, Erwin felt it was best to choose the latter.

After all, the person we're dealing with is a governor, not a city councilor or a mayor, but a governor!
Lance flicked his cigarette ash into the ashtray. "I was still thinking about how to do it discreetly, but on the way here I saw those workers causing trouble, so I found a good solution."

"Tell me everything that happened here again. It would be best to arrange for some people to gather this information; perhaps some of it will be useful to us!"

More than an hour later, Irwin had left to do what Lance had asked him to do, while Lance himself made a phone call to Senator Cleveland. “I sent someone with absolute reliability to test him out. He’s very conservative now, basically doing nothing and not meeting with anyone else.”

“It would be difficult to trap him in a media storm before the list is released.”

Just as Senator Cleveland frowned, considering how they would respond if Lance couldn't handle Governor Wade, he heard Lance say—

"My idea is that since he is already on guard and wary, instead of constantly trying and provoking him and making him wary of us in the limited and precious time, we should do what I think is better and shut him up completely."

“After I arrived here, I noticed some changes. The Wade family is expanding aggressively, and in the process, many local workers are causing trouble. If we can unite them, they will be a very powerful force.”

Senator Cleveland chimed in, “If it weren’t for the statewide strike, it wouldn’t have affected him at all.” Lance corrected him slightly, “I’m not saying we should use the strike to bring him down, but rather to find a suitable protagonist for our script, an unemployed worker trapped in a difficult situation who will represent others, including justice, to bring Wade to justice.”

"So, I want to ask, is the lieutenant governor one of our people, the kind of person we can rely on?"

As the second-highest-ranking official in the Indenau state government and also the president of the state Senate, the lieutenant governor could turn things around if he were one of their own.

If it weren't one of their own, Lance would probably have to do more work, and that would leave traces.

Senator Cleveland did not answer immediately, but waited seven or eight seconds. “He’s one of us, you can trust him completely.”

"Should I contact him?"

This time, Lance quickly gave him a negative answer, "No, there's no need. Contacting him now would only bring some surprises. He would wonder what caused all of this to happen. It would be better to visit him after everything is over and he becomes governor."

Senator Cleveland thought for a moment and agreed with Lance's point. "It was my oversight. I'll contact him again after things are resolved. You can go directly to him then."

"Try to do this as discreetly as possible. If the traces are too obvious, the Liberal Party will definitely seize on it and not let it go. You understand what I mean!"

If any clues are found, given that the president has now been sworn in and his control over the federation has greatly increased, they are very likely to continue to put pressure on Lance through legitimate means.

Investigating him openly and honestly, inviting him back for coffee whenever possible, might not directly harm Lance and the Lance family, but it would definitely affect their status and authority.

Lance didn't tell Senator Cleveland exactly what he was going to do, and Senator Cleveland didn't ask either; it's better not to know than to know in these matters.

That evening, George returned home with a bruised and swollen face, and his wife immediately greeted him with concern.

George and his wife had no children, and it was unclear whether he or his wife was unable to conceive. They had known each other for a long time before getting married, making them one of the few first loves that blossomed into marriage.

Although they don't have children, they haven't looked down on each other and have lived together to this day, still loving each other.

George's wife was heartbroken to see the wounds and bruises on her husband's face.

She wanted to check the bruises and wounds, but was afraid of hurting her husband, so she could only anxiously reach out and pull her hands back, but could do nothing.

“I went to look for you around noon, but I couldn’t find you.”

George sat down on the broken sofa in the living room, touching the wound on his face. "I was taken to the police station. They detained me for a day and just released me."

As his wife went to the restaurant to prepare the food again, she asked, "What right do they have to do this?"

Why?
George's face showed a hint of helplessness, of course, because these people were backed by the governor, the Wade family, and big capital.

He was just an ordinary worker whose rights had been violated.

He was somewhat emotional. After being taken to the police station, a police officer came to talk to him, basically advising him to think about other options.

Going back to work in the factory was out of the question. The officer who tried to do his job put it more bluntly: they were dealing with the Wade family, who had the governor of the state backing them.

As an ordinary worker, going up against the most powerful person in the state, given such a huge disparity in power, the outcome is usually not very good.

Just like the police officer said, no matter how strong his arms were, they were no match for someone else's thick thighs.

This time they were just arrested and given a warning, but what about next time?
What will be the result?
What about next time?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to know.

However, he needs money now and also needs to continue paying into the social security fund.

This isn't just about food; his wife also needs medical care. If he loses his job now, it will be very difficult for him to continue contributing to the social security fund.

This means that he will have difficulty receiving his full pension after reaching retirement age. Originally, this pension was barely enough to keep him and his wife from starving, but now he is short a portion, making his future days very difficult.

He could even imagine that once their savings ran out, the whole family would fall into an abyss of despair!

What to do in the end?
He had already thought of some people he had overheard chatting about when he was working, who had lost everything—their houses, their cars, everything—and ended up on the streets, eventually dying quietly one night.

And what about his wife's chronic illnesses?
Once you run out of money, things will only get worse, and eventually you'll die in agony!
He sat there, his eyes somewhat vacant, mechanically chewing the food in his mouth, as if he were chewing on sealed wax.

After a while, he finished eating and went straight back to his room, where he lay down on the bed.

He needs to think, to think about the present, the future, everything.

The next morning, he went to a place about 20 or 30 meters away from the factory gate. The people gathered there all had marks on their faces or bodies from being beaten.

To his surprise, a young man he didn't recognize also came today, and everyone was gathered around this young man.

He hadn't gotten very close when he heard the young man's voice—

"...The problem did not lie with the two factory owners, but with the governor."

“If it weren’t for his actions and attitude, none of this would have happened. Our protests against these factories would have been pointless, and no one would have cared about our voices.”

"We need to march and protest in front of the state government building before anyone will actually come to our aid. We even need to talk to the governor directly!"

(End of this chapter)