Shadow Empire

Chapter 209 Take the initiative
The moment the mayor returned to the hall and opened the door, a smile that looked very sincere appeared on his calm face.

A politician is always able to express and perform himself in the right way at the right time and in the right place.

He held a glass of wine and walked into the crowd. This was a small party and everyone who came here was invited by him.

There were some capitalists from other places who supported him, some local frustrated speculators who could never break through the class system, and all kinds of people.

Some were new friends, joining such a gathering for the first time, but some were old friends.

The mayor came to the center of the crowd and sat on the sofa.

He had sat here before, and no one had sat here since he left. Even though there were no sofas or other places to sit nearby, people still wouldn't come to touch this spot.

Now he sat back down, and the crowd suddenly became quiet, looking at him.

"Eric had a fight with some local young men..." He took a sip from his cup, "and his head was broken..."

Some people exclaimed, and some hurriedly asked if Eric was safe. The mayor just smiled and said he was fine.

"I have been thinking about one question: we have made concessions for six years, but our continued concessions have not brought peace."

“Our investment in Jingang City was terminated, our construction was delayed, and our interests were not realized.”

“Now, even our children are being beaten.”

"This is not a kind city. Its name is 'City of Angels'. Angels do not live here. Demons live here."

“When Mike and his team came over a while ago, we had a chat and we talked about the development of Newport.”

The atmosphere, which had been filled with whispers because Eric was beaten, became quiet again.

The new friends didn’t have a deep understanding of these things, but they still felt the dissatisfaction emanating from those around them.

"The Socialist Party state office is very supportive of us continuing to strengthen our local imprint. The Golden Port Pier has been around for a long time, although it was also built by the Socialists."

"But for the new generation of young people, they don't have such a deep impression!"

"They will feel that King Harbour Wharf has been around since they were born, and they won't trace back to who proposed building the King Harbour Wharf and who saved the city from a group of plantation owners and farmers."

“They take everything for granted and then brush it over when they learn local history.”

"We need a stronger brand so that people of this era still remember what the Socialist Party did here."

“To make people realize that their happy life comes from us.”

"If we get the Nyhavn terminal up and running again, we'll have the support of the state government and the Socialist Party."

This is indeed good news for some people who have invested a lot of money in the New Port Area and the New Bay Area.

This means that their previous investment will be rewarded, which is why they follow the mayor closely - friendship may be part of the reason, but more of it is for profit.

But some people seemed a little worried. "Sidney (the mayor's name), I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm. The locals are still too powerful. It's hard for us to fight our way out of their encirclement."

The person who was speaking was a businessman who participated in the first development of the New Port area. They were "tricked in and killed". After a large amount of money was invested, the locals immediately changed their attitude.

Their huge initial investment cannot be said to have been wasted, but they were far from getting the returns they expected, and they also lost their experience in this.

In fact... they all know very well that the purpose of the locals doing this is not only because they don't want to develop a new port area, but also because they want to swallow up their infrastructure investments.

Once the mayor leaves, they can take over all the infrastructure and investments in the new port area, which will save them a lot of money.

The competition between the two sides now is not fair, and there is no way to find fairness.

The mayor did not deny this, "So I want to introduce a new friend to you!" He glanced at the watch on his wrist. His personal secretary opened the door and left for a while. When he came back, he brought a smiling blond fat man.

Not really fat, but fatter than the average person.

His clothes didn't seem to fit him well because of his obesity, but no one laughed at him because they all knew the danger.

"Dale is our new friend too!"

The mayor took the initiative to stand up and introduce this "familiar stranger" to everyone, and soon everyone began to shake his hand and introduce themselves.

After the round was over, the mayor waved Dale to sit next to him.

"If Dale hadn't joined, I would have let you continue with the status quo. We wouldn't fight or compete with each other. When I was promoted to the state assembly, we would have freed up our hands to deal with these people little by little."

"But with Dale joining us, our cause of 'revenge' will be accelerated unprecedentedly!"

People looked at Dell, some were still confused, but some people's eyes started to become hot!
Not everyone didn't understand what the mayor meant. Of course, in order to make those who didn't understand understand, he didn't mind explaining it in more detail.

"Charlie's old dog's nickname is 'Bay Area Hound.' He's a local dog, and he listens to me when it doesn't involve local interests."

"But when something involves the interests of the locals, he will turn back into that loyal dog, barking at us at the feet of his masters."

"We don't have our own law enforcement force, so we are always in a passive position, just like the general strike that year and what happened afterwards!"

He was talking about the major strike that took place five years ago, shortly after the construction of the New Port Terminal officially began. Because a worker was "accidentally" injured, they demanded at least 20,000 yuan in compensation from the investors.

To appease the workers' emotions at work, they paid the money, and then a second injured worker appeared, and a third, and more.

This was clearly extortion, and the foreign merchants who had invested in the New Port Wharf refused to pay the money, and then a general strike began, limited to the New Port Wharf.

The mayor realized this at the time, but he believed everything was still under control. He asked Chief Charlie to investigate the injured workers to see if they were really injured or whether there was any fraud or something like that.

But Chief Charlie told him perfunctorily that these people concluded that there was nothing wrong with them without any investigation.

He knew that this was a conspiracy.

But the decisive force is not on his side, and it is impossible for him to investigate these issues personally. He is only the mayor, not the police chief.

Even though he knew what was happening, he ultimately had to accept the workers' unreasonable demands because the construction period was important.

But even if he accepted it, the workers' work schedules kept getting postponed, and they kept demanding wage increases, more benefits, and shorter working hours.

If they are not satisfied, they will go on strike immediately.

But to satisfy them, they will only work four or five hours a day, and most of the time they do not work.

Later, the mayor and investors mobilized a group of workers from other places to continue the construction. After about four months, just when they thought there was no problem this time, a new round of attacks began.

Gang members kept looking for trouble and creating conflicts and confrontations. Although Chief Charlie arrested many gang members, he also arrested many workers.

His reason was that the two parties might have fought each other, rather than a one-sided beating, so they both needed to be taken back for questioning.

The workers were sent to a holding cell filled with gang members and were soon covered in bruises.

At the same time, the workers on the dock construction site continued to fall down due to poisoning.

Although not many people died, this series of actions eventually succeeded in persuading the workers to withdraw.

They come here just to make some money, not to leave their lives here.

Faced with obvious favoritism by law enforcement agencies, the mayor and his supporters lost miserably.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on Chief Charlie. To him, although the mayor is a big shot, he will eventually leave the city.

Only local political forces with deep roots like Councilman Wade and Councilman Williams, and the five big families, will continue to exist. If he doesn't want to wake up one day and find his whole family in oil drums ready to be dumped into Angel Lake, then he'd better figure out why he's called the "Bay Area Hound" instead of the "Justice Hound" or the "Mayor's Hound" or something like that.

At a time when the FBI's core business is still "Who the hell is talking bad about the president behind his back?" and local law enforcement officers led by Director Charlie are on the side of the locals, having Dell holding this "outsider law enforcement officer" is equivalent to filling the most important gap in their fight with the locals!
In political struggles, law enforcement power is the most direct and deadly weapon. The more law enforcement power one has, the closer one is to victory.

Therefore, the mayor has never started a direct war. He has no weapons in his hands. How can he go to war with these people who are holding guns and pushing cannons?
But now he not only has powerful weapons, but they are also stronger and more useful than those of his opponent, so he is qualified to start a war.

These words finally made some people understand why the mayor suddenly became motivated, and one of them asked, "So where do we start?"

The mayor picked up his glass and took a big sip. "Since Eric was beaten..."

In the Xingguang District Police Station, the station chief is standing in front of his desk. Why isn't he sitting?

Because his "director's throne" was occupied by a middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man was Fleming's uncle. He looked to be around 45 or 46 years old. He was dressed very elegantly and wore a bow tie. He must have attended some event in the evening and hurried back before the event was over.

He pressed his hands on the table, pushing up his brow bones and covering most of his face.

He rubbed his brow bone vigorously to get some relaxation that he didn't even know existed.

The slight smell of alcohol emanating from his body made it clear that he must have drunk a lot of wine that night.

The Kodak family has a lot of social engagements because not only locals gamble in the casino, but also outsiders, state governments, and those big guys come to their casino to gamble.

As long as you warmly welcome any one of them, you must warmly welcome the others.

Similarly, once you have received guests once, you must receive them every time in the future. It is a matter of face.

All distinguished guests do not want to be ignored or left out, so the Kodak family has a lot of reception tasks.

This was clearly the branch director's office, but at this moment it felt like his own office.

He was sitting and the branch chief was standing.

"So…I can't take Fleming back?"

"Did you see his nose bleeding?" The middle-aged man put down his hands. He had a handsome face.

It is often difficult for rich people to be ugly, as their wealth and status give them more opportunities to improve their genes than ordinary people.

His slightly curly brown hair makes him look aristocratic, and it is hard to imagine that he comes from a gang.

"Mr. Gowrie, the mayor said that Mr. Fleming cannot leave..."

The middle-aged man whom he called "Mr. Gao Li" leaned back in his chair and said, "I won't make it difficult for you. I will take him to treat his injuries. When the doctor says his condition is stable, I will send him back. How about that?"

The branch chief wanted to say something, but Gao Li slowly stood up and looked at him directly.

Finally, the sub-bureau chief nodded, "I think it's okay, Mr. Gowrie."

Mr. Gao Li smiled. He walked out of the office and went to the branch director to help him straighten his slightly uneven collar. "Think about where every penny of your salary comes from. I don't want to hear any rejection next time!"

He patted the branch chief's cheek again and walked out.

There is a common knowledge in Jingang City that only locals know, that is, the salaries of local civil servants come from the taxes paid by the Kodak family.

This is not a joke or a fabrication, it is the truth.

Maybe it's a little exaggerated, but definitely not that much.

The casino’s taxes are very high, and Jingang City has far more civil servants than other places. The huge civil service system cannot be supported simply by relying on the taxes paid by the rich.

So the Kodak family filled the funding gap in this area. It is said that someone has calculated that about 40% of municipal expenditures, including civil servants' salaries, are paid with this money.

The Kodak family supports most of the civil servants in Jingang City, and this is no joke!

The branch chief had an ugly expression on his face, but thinking that the other party was a core member of the Kodak family, he finally took a deep breath, comforted himself by saying, "There's no need for me to be angry with a bastard," and then followed him out in a few steps.

He came to the hall with Mr. Gowrie like a follower. Fleming sat there holding his nose, and several police officers were taking care of him.

He stood up after seeing Gao Li, "Uncle."

Gao Li nodded slightly. "It's okay. Go to the hospital to check your nose. Fleming, I can't believe you were beaten by an outsider!"

Fleming had a look of confusion on his face. "He attacked by surprise..."

"Okay, I don't want to hear your excuses." Mr. Gowrie raised his hand to stop him. "You have to redeem yourself for the shame you have caused."

After he finished speaking, he shook his head and walked out. He still had a lot of work to do.

Fleming looked displeased. He glanced at the branch chief, then packed up his things and left.

When the others saw him leave, they also stood up one after another. Soon all the young masters who had been captured had left.

But some of them also left some lackeys to convict, such as Arthur.

He left behind a lackey and said that he did not do it himself, it was the lackey who did it.

Although the chief of police was the first to see Arthur jumping up and punching a guy when he arrived at the scene, he ultimately accepted Arthur's self-evidence.

He didn't want to be called by Congressman Williams to check on him at this time. He still wanted to live a few more years.

Looking at the noisy hall, the branch chief sighed heavily. What the hell was going on?

Just when the branch chief thought that today's "bad luck" was over, the mayor's secretary suddenly came over in person, bringing some people with him.

He had just secretly drunk a little wine in the office to relax his nerves. In just a short while, he was already nervous because of these young masters with scary backgrounds. He felt like he was almost suffocating!
Only a drink can make him feel a little relaxed.

But just as he was intoxicated by the effects of alcohol, his heart almost stopped beating when the mayor's secretary pushed the door open!
"Where's Fleming?"

The mayor's secretary asked with a serious face, "I didn't see him in the detention room."

The branch chief didn’t know what to say or how to explain. He looked at the other person with a dull gaze, his mouth half open, unable to utter anything for a long time!
The mayor's secretary walked up to him and sniffed, "You've been drinking."

The branch director nodded slightly, but the mayor's secretary sneered, "Congress and the presidential palace have been talking about prohibition, and you, as one of the law enforcers in Jingang City, are drinking while working."

"I am very disappointed with the police system in Jingang City. Let Charlie come over here. I'll wait for him here!"

It was clear that the branch chief knew he was caught up in a high-level struggle.

But at this time he had no choice but to obey.

He called Chief Charlie and explained the situation. Chief Charlie cursed him as a piece of trash in his heart and then hung up the phone.

He was thinking about countermeasures. He knew what happened at night, so he hid immediately.

I thought the matter was resolved, but I didn't expect the mayor to suddenly act contrary to the tacit agreement.

Now he needs to make a choice.

It is a difficult question whether the mayor's stick will eventually fall on the branch chief or on himself!

(End of this chapter)