Shadow Empire

Chapter 1204 Dealing with him is for your own good.

Christopher's use of the word "Leon" made Leonardo feel somewhat uncomfortable, as Christopher was Christopher's elder and had married Leonardo's granddaughter.

The people of Sumuli are very traditional, and traditional means rigid, conservative, and stubborn. For them, such a confusing term is obviously bad and inappropriate.

Christopher's use of that term was clearly inappropriate, but it also reflects something else: the seriousness of the matter.

If this problem is not addressed, the Bianchi family's largest source of wealth will be cut off, making it difficult for him to maintain his high status and prestige among his old associates.

Money is something you don't necessarily need to survive if you don't have it.

But once you get used to having more money than you can spend, you won't be able to adapt to a life without money.

That's just how Leonardo is. He's used to losing tens of thousands of federal sols without batting an eye, and can even arrogantly say things like "it's just a little money" when others flatter him.

The other three major families and some political figures also sell alcohol to the Federation through his channels. If he loses all of this, he will not only lose the pleasure of endlessly controlling wealth, but his status will also drop significantly.

He turned around, looking at the heavy snow outside the window and feeling the heat generated by the burning of expensive firewood worth several dollars a pound in the room.

Seeing the other gentlemen of similar status around the gambling table, who had stopped playing their games in anticipation of his return, he made his decision at that moment.

"How do you want me to help you?"

When he heard the answer he wanted, Christopher finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was confident that Leonardo would compromise, but he wasn't 100% sure.

Fortunately, Leonardo compromised, for the sake of money, for the sake of those channels, and for the sake of... something he didn't know about.

“I learned about the Lance family when I was in Golden City. The core figure of the family, Lance White, is the core of the entire gang. He is the link between the Lance family and Congress.”

"In other words, once we get rid of him, the connection between the Lance family and the federal ruling class will be severed."

"The resources and wealth they possess will become the reason for their downfall. We don't even need to do anything; those greedy people will tear them apart and devour them."

Leonard understood the implication in his words: "You mean, you want me to send my family's gunmen to kill Lance."

Christopher grunted after two seconds, “This is the simplest, fastest, and most effective method.”

"The gunmen of Sumuli are world-famous."

Leonardo didn't think about it for long. "Someone will contact you in the next few days."

After saying that, he put down the phone and sat back down at the gambling table. "You don't need to wait for us."

A fellow man next to him, who used to be of the same status and position as him, chimed in jokingly, "The game isn't complete without one person, and it won't be long before we have to wait any longer."

"Look, you're back now."

Leonardo felt the truest, kindest, and most beautiful side of these people, and his initially fluctuating emotions gradually calmed down.

For him, Lance White had no direct connection to him, and he didn't know the person.

So sending someone to kill Lance was just a normal little thing, like sending people to kill those little-known but troublesome opponents—just a normal choice.

They reshuffled the cards and began dealing, with Leonardo's attention now focused on the game.

After taking care of some things in New Gold City, Lance returned to Indenau State. He needed to meet with some local partners to discuss the change in profit sharing.

After all, a tenfold reduction in income is indeed difficult for them to accept.

They were used to receiving this astronomical sum of benefits regularly, and now that it's suddenly gone, the sense of loss is enough to make them do something foolish.

Senator Lance Cleveland did not try to persuade him to stay after his departure; clearly, everyone has their own work and things to do.

He has it, Lance has it, and everyone else has it too.

After several days of travel, in mid-February, Lance returned to Indenor State. He had Irwin invite the mayors who had always cooperated with him to gather in Redstone City on his behalf.

Mid-February is a very cold season, with blizzards continuing to fall, and the whole society enters a very slow-paced life due to the winter blizzards.

The heavy snow sealed everything away!
There were still vehicles on the streets of Redstone, but they moved very slowly. Snowplows and icebreakers were constantly moving through the city's roads, but the snow that had just been cleared would soon pile up again and freeze on the ground.

"I've heard it's colder up north than here. I have no idea how people in the north survive the winter!"

The inconvenience of travel means that at least half of the people have never been to other places, let alone left the state where they live.

These conversations came from the mouths of pedestrians on the roadside. Lance threw his cigarette out the window and then rolled up the window again.

Even a brief opening of the window brought in a rush of cold air, making one feel a bit of a tightness in their scalp.

The convoy continued to move forward, with Irwin sitting next to Lance.

"This time I invited more than 20 mayors, as well as some town sheriffs."

The position of sheriff is a complex one, involving both political and legal matters. For areas like towns, sometimes a degree of absolute authority is required.

Lance was somewhat surprised, "So little?"

Of the more than seventy cities in the entire Indenor State, only less than a third came, which was much less than Lance had imagined.

Irwin chuckled and explained, "Some cities have relatively small populations, only seventy or eighty thousand. They're more like towns than cities, but you know, the federal government sometimes..."

“In smaller cities like these, sales are limited, so we don’t directly contact them. Instead, gangs from surrounding cities naturally spread into these cities and sell our alcohol.”

“We have not established partnerships with the mayors of these cities, so we do not need them to be here. If they also benefit from this profit-sharing scheme, they are actually making a profit.”

Lance nodded slightly. "Now I understand a lot more."

The convoy slowly entered the most luxurious hotel in Redstone City. It was already afternoon, and Lance was indeed a bit tired after driving for several days, so he went straight to rest.

The next morning around 9 a.m., Lance met with his partners in a conference room on the third floor of the hotel.

Perhaps these mayors and sheriffs had heard something about it, and before Lance arrived, they had some heated discussions about how to deal with the losses they were about to suffer and how to put up a small resistance.

The moment Lance entered the room, everyone stopped talking. Whether they liked it or not, everyone stood up and focused their attention on Lance.

Lance smiled and raised his hand in a gesture of invitation for them to sit down. “We can sit and talk. This isn’t a government meeting, just a meeting, a consultation, a casual chat.” Some mayors who knew him went over to greet him, but most people just stood by and watched.

The brief greetings lasted for about ten minutes before he finally sat down at his seat and asked everyone else to sit down as well.

The scene was quiet, and all the mayors of all shapes and sizes were focused on Lance, who was also looking at them.

"Judging from the expensive suits you are wearing, and the brand-new, expensive watches on the wrists of some gentlemen, I can tell that you are living a good life now, and I am very pleased."

The room was very quiet. They neither laughed nor responded in any other way. Before they came, they already knew some things, the general outline of what had happened.

It's not a good thing. They were discussing this before Lance came in. Who can stand such a huge reduction in revenue?

Their silence and lack of response to Lance's words at this moment was precisely the best statement they could make.

Lance simply smiled at their reactions and didn't take them to heart.

"However, gentlemen, every policy has its golden age and its decline, and may even be modified or abolished."

"This is true of all federal government legal proposals, not to mention some of the problems we face."

"Recently, many of my long-term partners have been asking me why they don't enjoy the benefits here."

“I told them that because of the special circumstances here, the huge competition we face, and the support of our allies who have chosen to support us despite the pressure from the governors, we must give them enough in return.”

“In fact, we have been doing this for the past two years.”

"Just recently, Governor Wade collapsed due to an accident and was unable to get up again."

"The long confrontation is over, everything is back on track, and some 'wartime rules' will be discontinued and replaced with everyday rules."

"For example..."

He drawled, pointing a finger directly at the ceiling, "Our profit-sharing ratio with everyone will also need to be adjusted."

At this point, one of the mayors couldn't help but speak up and ask, "I can understand your thoughts, Mr. White, but please forgive me for being a bit blunt."

"Isn't it... a bit excessive to reduce it from fifty percent to less than five percent?"

Lance looked at the short, chubby guy who wasn't very tall, had fair skin, and asked, "What do you mean by 'excessive'?"

"Does it mean that because we smuggle and sell contraband, and the money we earn through crime is less than what you get, so it's excessive?"

This statement left the short, stout mayor speechless, since, as Lance had said, the money was proceeds of crime.

If he admits it, then it's like punching himself in the foot.

But while he was told not to say anything, he also felt a little compelled to say something.

At this moment, another mayor noticed his predicament and took the initiative to speak, drawing people's attention to himself: "Mr. White, we supported you during your most difficult time."

"Now that you've reaped the rewards of victory, are you going to abandon our friendship?"

Lance looked at him too, "Abandoned?"

"No, I don't see this as abandonment. On the contrary, I think it's an evolution that strengthens our friendship and relationship!"

"Any friendship built on an unreasonable foundation will eventually collapse because of that unreasonable relationship."

"Everyone!" he said, placing his hands on the table on either side of him and leaning slightly forward.

This small gesture caused some mayors to instinctively lean back and tilt their heads slightly back, as if something was putting pressure on them, and they adopted a defensive posture of avoidance.

"We manufacture, we transport, we sell, we bear the risks, we handle the Contraband Investigation Bureau, and we fight those disobedient gangs."

"Now, we'll share half of the money we've earned with you."

Do you think...this is reasonable?

A somber atmosphere quickly spread with each "we" from Lance, plunging everyone into silence.

Obviously, this is not reasonable, or rather, it is extremely unreasonable.

They merely supported Lance's bootlegging in their city, but didn't actually offer any real help, even though it might seem like they didn't get the police to investigate Lance's bootlegging business.

Even if they didn't give the order, the police wouldn't investigate, much less dare to investigate, so they didn't actually contribute anything to Lance's profits.

Perhaps in the past, they withstood pressure from Governor Wade and stood firmly on Lance's side.

But now, they no longer have that much value, so they naturally don't match the returns.

No one spoke. A person who can become mayor may not necessarily be smart, but he certainly won't be too stupid.

Their silence was the best endorsement of Lance's views at that moment.

Lance alone dominated the entire room. His sharp gaze made it difficult for anyone to meet his eyes, and they would all look away and look elsewhere when their eyes met.

“So!” Lance released his hands and sat back, which eased the tense and serious atmosphere in the room considerably. “Re-adjusting the distribution of profits is the best way to help us maintain a stable friendship.”

"Of course, I know some of you have already gotten used to your current life."

"Big houses, luxury cars, gold watches, so I'm offering you another opportunity to maintain your current affluent lifestyle."

"That is, to become my partner, a business partner, and a liquor distributor."

"My wine will no longer go directly into the city; instead, you will be responsible for its sale. I won't care how much money you make."

Whether I make five yuan, fifty yuan, or five hundred yuan per bottle, it's none of my business.

"You can think about it!"

(End of this chapter)