Shadow Empire

Chapter 1196 Can’t Escape

The Wade family manor was in chaos, with the servants' faces showing obvious panic, making it impossible for anyone to concentrate on their work.

When Governor Wade's brother drove in, he happened to see the butler hanging two servants from a tree in the yard and whipping them, just like they used to whip slaves decades ago. He was whipping the two servants hard, making a loud cracking sound as he lashed the whips.

The two servants were wearing only thin clothes. The moment the whip cracked on their bodies, a bloody welt would appear under their clothes and continue to spread outwards.

Amid their screams, dozens of servants stood behind the butler with expressions of pity. The young maids covered their eyes, trying their best not to look at the horrific scene!

Seeing the convoy arrive, the butler, panting heavily, handed the whip to his son, "Keep whipping them, give them a full twenty lashes!"

His son nodded, took the whip, and got into position. Then, using all his strength, he swung the long leather whip and lashed it hard at one of the men.

Another "crack" rang out, accompanied by the screams of the servant being whipped and his promise, "I'll never do it again!" Everyone couldn't help but look away.

But some people just stared at the two of them menacingly.

As for whether they will be killed?

It's possible, but nobody cares, even though Governor Wade's fate is unknown.

Governor Wade's brother got out of the car, and as he walked towards the estate, he looked at the two people hanging under the tree. "What happened to them?"

As the butler dressed, he said, "We caught them stealing from the manor. According to family rules, they should be given twenty lashes."

Governor Wade's brother nodded noncommittally after hearing this, and then paid no further attention to it.

Large families, especially those with a certain history and tradition, are very disgusted and averse to this kind of thing.

A seemingly insignificant item in a family estate might actually be a highly valuable cultural relic.

If servants have no respect and take these things away at will, it will certainly be a bad thing for a family.

That's how these big families in the Federation are; they like to display their valuable possessions in front of people, letting them see their precious collections to show off their wealth and power!

Therefore, it is especially important to eliminate petty theft!
Moreover, petty theft can be risky. If these servants get used to taking the estate's valuables out to cash and squander them, they might develop some terrible ideas when they can no longer access these things.

For example, kidnapping family members and then extorting a ransom has happened more than once in the Federation, so every large family abhors the theft of their servants!
There was also gambling and such; if anyone did that, they would punish the servants and throw them out.

These two people will most likely be thrown out of here after the whipping is over, and whether they live or die outside is irrelevant to the manor.

The purpose of this was to intimidate others. At the same time, the butler also learned about Governor Wade's current situation. Only by using these ruthless methods could the restless thoughts that had just arisen in some people be suppressed.

The butler followed Governor Wade's brother into the house, asking as they went, "How is the master..."

Governor Wade's brother paused for a moment. "His condition is very bad. He's unconscious, and the doctors say there's a high chance he won't wake up."

He looked at the butler. He hadn't really wanted to talk about this, but the butler had assisted Governor Wade in managing most of the family's businesses. He knew which businesses could be quickly monetized and which might be involved in unresolved problems and therefore couldn't be monetized.

The butler wasn't young either, over fifty years old. He was slightly out of breath after just a few lashes of the whip. He looked at the man in disbelief, made the sign of the cross, and exclaimed, "My God!"

Governor Wade's brother shook his head and continued walking into the room. "This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment assassination; it was a premeditated assassination, and it was aimed at us."

"He's practically dead now, and those people will most likely come after us next. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

The butler quickened his pace, "I'll have someone pack everything right away!"

Governor Wade's brother nodded. "I'll go to the study and see if there's anything I can take."

"Remember, only take high-value items. Forget about things worth tens or hundreds of dollars. Take the most valuable things first!"

He watched the butler jog away from him, while he quickened his pace to Governor Wade's study, where there was a safe containing numerous property deeds, as well as some bearer stocks, bonds, and the like.

These items do not represent the entirety of the Wade family's wealth. Much of their wealth is not concentrated here; what is here primarily belongs to the family and Governor Wade himself.

There are also several bank accounts inside, with a considerable amount of money in the passbooks, at least two or three million, or even more.

As Governor Wade's most trusted brother, he also knew the safe's combination.

Previously, there was only one possibility for him to open this safe: that Governor Wade had authorized him to do so.

And every time he opened it, he would hurriedly finish what he needed to do, and then close the safe door, never daring to rummage through it.

After all, everyone knows that Governor Wade is the real ruler here, not him.

This time, he was able to take a good look at what was inside.

He took two empty suitcases from a cabinet in the study. Sometimes they needed these suitcases to carry things, such as important documents, money, or other things that they didn't want others to see.

So the room was equipped with more than just two suitcases, there were many more.

He opened the safe and inspected its contents, picking up the two-foot-thick stack of bearer bonds and placing them into his briefcase.

A few bonds fell off during the transport. He glanced at them, initially not wanting to bother with them, but he still squatted down, tidied them up, and put them back into his suitcase.

These bonds are long-term, effective government bonds with a face value of one thousand dollars, issued by the federal government, and can be redeemed at all banks.

There were bonds worth at least three million here, and the thought made his breathing become heavier.

Although he didn't know how things would develop, he was very clear about one thing: whether he wanted to avenge his brother or hide his identity and live a wealthy life, money was the most important thing.

Then there are the bearer stocks.

Early federal stocks were also physical assets, similar to currency, and had face value.

The stocks that can be kept in Governor Wade's safe are definitely not the junk stocks; they are basically worth thirty or fifty yuan per share. But here, each stock has a face value of "one hundred shares," which means each stock may represent several thousand yuan.

This was another large sum of money, and he put the stocks into his briefcase, along with some property documents and bank account details.

This was the first time he had observed everything inside the safe so closely, and it was also the first time he had truly realized that Governor Wade actually controlled such a large sum of money.

He didn't think much of it, just a little surprised.

This amount of money is an astronomical figure for ordinary people. Whether it's those bearer bonds or those stocks, just a few of them can amount to an ordinary person's entire lifetime.

However, for the Wade family, which was trying to establish a firm foothold in Indenau and develop into the state's leading political family, this amount of money was not actually that much.

Its ability to withstand risks is almost zero. In some major issues that require financial public relations, millions or tens of millions are really nothing special.

Moreover, once this money is used, they will have no ability to withstand risks. From his surprise just now, he now realizes that this seemingly large amount of wealth is actually not much and has not taken up much time.

At first, he would check what was useful and what wasn't, but later he started stuffing everything into his suitcase.

Unfortunately, there were still quite a few gold bars in the safe, and these things were too heavy for him to take with him. Many people in the family knew that Governor Wade's brother had returned to the family to pack his things and prepare for his escape, and some, following his example, returned to their own villas or residences to begin preparing for their own departure.

However, there are some people who do not quite agree with what Governor Wade's brother is doing at this moment.

They didn't believe that anyone would immediately take action against them after Governor Wade's assassination. Some were even thinking about whether they could use this opportunity to get more members of their families into the federal government system.

For example... use the political influence of this incident to implicate several mayors and replace them with family members or something.

Everyone has different thoughts when faced with an emergency. Some people think it is a huge crisis, while others think it is an opportunity for them to gain more benefits!
Those who had been keeping an eye on the Wade family quickly reported to Lance that some of them were planning to flee.

Lance was talking to Irwin about how, after Governor Wade's downfall, their liquor quickly spread throughout Indenor and the rules of the game were rewritten.

Previously, they had been splitting the visible profits 50/50 with the local mayor, which made a number of mayors very support Lance's business of selling alcohol in their cities.

After all, they get a share of the profits from every bottle of smuggled liquor. Lance said it was half, but they didn't know for sure, nor did they care. As long as it was a sum they couldn't refuse every month, that was enough for them.

Now that the state is about to stabilize, this rule is clearly no longer applicable.

"After things settle down in the next few days, let's gather these old friends and some new friends together and sit down for a chat."

"How much do you think we should give them?" Lance asked Erwin. As Erwin was currently capable of standing on his own, Lance was very willing to inspire his thinking.

Erwin thought about it seriously for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Ten percent..."

He had originally intended to say 15 percent, but seeing no change in Lance's expression, he immediately changed his mind, reducing 15 percent to 10 percent.

Lance looked at him with a half-smile. This wasn't a simple reading of "ten" and "fifteen." The two words were pronounced and spelled differently, so he knew immediately that Erwin had changed the answer.

"It's still too high," he said, giving the number a very accurate assessment.

Erwin scratched his head. "Then...five percent?"

Lance didn't press him further, saying, "Three percent is enough."

On one hand, it's a nominal 50/50 split, and on the other hand, it's three percent. Erwin looked at Lance with some concern, "If they knew it was reduced by so little, wouldn't they have some objections?"

Lance took out a cigarette, and Erwin moved over and took out a pack of matches to light Lance's cigarette.

Lance squinted and took a sip. "Less?"

"No, not a bit less!"

“We can make at least ten dollars in profit per bottle, and as we take control of the entire state’s liquor market and form a monopoly, our profits from liquor will become even higher.”

"What is our monthly profit now?"

"I'm talking about actual profits, not the ones we tell outsiders."

This number is not unfamiliar to Irwin: "It's about seventy or eighty million."

Lance nodded and said, "This is still before we have completely taken over the market. If we had completely controlled the local market, people's incomes would have increased significantly."

“Under these circumstances, we can still give two or three million a month to those people to share. If we control the entire state, the monthly profit will exceed 150 or 160 million or even more.”

"They'll be able to take millions in profit from us every month, which adds up to tens of millions a year. What more could they want?"

Irwin shook his head. "We're giving them too much right now. I'm worried... they'll feel resentful."

This is also a fact. When someone is used to receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in dividends from smuggling every month, and suddenly it's only tens of thousands, they definitely can't accept it.

Lance didn't take Erwin's concerns to heart. He raised his hand and pressed on Erwin's shoulder, saying, "If anyone is not satisfied with this income, then change the mayor of the area."

"Our competition with the Wade family in the local are over. The era of high returns from taking sides is over. They will understand us."

"If you don't understand, you're going to cause trouble for us..."

Lance smiled, revealing his white teeth, but it looked somewhat eerie.

If someone doesn't understand and keeps causing trouble, then we can only replace them. If they don't cooperate, then we can only ask them to go to jail.

Many years ago, when Lance was just an ordinary young man, he often thought that those who were corrupt were really stupid.

If you do something illegal or unethical, you should keep a separate ledger to record when, where, and how much money you received from whom, or for what reason you helped someone with what.

At the time, he didn't understand why these people were so stupid as to create something that could put them to death.

But then he suddenly understood.

You have someone's weakness... it's like you've got their Achilles' heel, a little hook, and they'll feel very insecure.

Cooperation without a sense of security is not cooperation. In the end, the person will either take advantage of your letting go and run away, or they will find a way to ruthlessly betray you, making it impossible for you to recover for the rest of your life.

Only when you let him grasp your weaknesses can both of you feel safe. Only when both of you are equally corrupt can you implicate each other.

This is why people with high moral character don't go very far in officialdom. Everyone else is equally corrupt, and you are the only one who is pure and flawless. Not to mention that this makes others feel inferior.

Everyone has a fatal weakness, and when you don't, their lack of security will make them reject you.

So during Lance's collaboration with these people, he also kept a ledger. Every month, he kept a detailed record of how every penny was delivered to these people, the check number or transfer account number, and how they received the money.

If these people want to turn against him, he doesn't even need to take the initiative to deal with them. He just needs to send the relevant evidence to the state prosecutor's office, and these mayors will be severely punished even if they don't die. So Lance is not afraid of them rebelling at all.

As they continued to delve deeper into the matter, someone reported that the Wade family was planning to flee.

Lance also stopped talking to Erwin, flicked his cigarette ash, and said, "I was planning to deal with these people a little later, but it seems they can't wait any longer."

"Since these fish can't wait any longer, let's haul in the nets ahead of time."

Soon the lieutenant governor received a call from Lance, and he then instructed the newly appointed state police chief to immediately mobilize officers to bring the Wade family under control as much as possible.

This relates to the issue of "legitimacy".

If Governor Wade or the Wade family is not suspected of a crime, then the assassination attempt could be exploited by the Liberal Party to create a political infighting campaign that undermines the Socialist Party's local authority and reputation.

However, if Governor Wade or the Wade family is suspected of committing a crime, and the assassination of Governor Wade is directly or indirectly related to his or the Wade family's crimes, then people will not notice the actual significance of a governor being brain dead after being assassinated.

All they'll think is, "He deserves it!"

(End of this chapter)