Shadow Empire

Chapter 465 Cooperation and Attack

"I heard there was a car accident in the city?"

The mayor sat at his desk and looked at the documents in his hands as before. The dominance of the city returned from the mayor's office to the "master of the city".

A lost battle, but he was once only a millimeter away from victory!
He actually accepted this failure more easily than people thought.

He almost succeeded in fighting against the interest groups of a city on his own. Even if he failed in the end, the losses suffered by the owners of this city would actually be much greater than his!
Those favors, those behind-the-scenes compromises and deals, these are all huge losses!
If you want to win a war, you must invest more than your opponent!
After the failure of the game, everything returned to the way it was before. Apart from the fact that his future political career was almost ruined, there was actually not much that was too unacceptable.

He also had a "decent" result, which was the most decent one possible.

The secretary nodded and said, "Yes, the legal specialist of Liji Group and their team were hit, and only two survived."

The mayor put down his pen and took off his glasses. He couldn't help laughing, "Who did it this time?"

He knows too damn well how filthy this city is!
They had used this trick against the investors he invited before, scaring those investors into leaving Jingang City overnight!

The secretary picked up the coffee pot and walked over to pour some for him. "It looks like it was made by Lance's people."

"He wants to extort four million yuan in liquidated damages from the Liji Group."

The mayor showed a surprised expression, "Is it him?"

"When I first met this guy, I knew he would be a big problem for us, and it turned out to be true."

"But like I told you, he will not only be a problem for us, but for others as well!"

He was also a little surprised when he said this, "He has quite a big appetite."

The secretary smiled and nodded, "There is actually another thing going on here. He did a business with the Liji Group before. When the Prohibition was just beginning, he bought millions of grapes at a very low price."

"By the time the grapes were due for delivery, the price had increased several times, and the Liji Group directly tore up the trade contract they had signed with him."

"Then he transferred the debt to the bank through the method of debt transfer."

"Although he did receive a sum of money, it was more than one million less than what he could actually get."

The mayor sighed after hearing this, "How greedy!"

"In fact, this is already profitable for the Liji Group, but they are still not satisfied and want to make more, but this time they chose the wrong person!"

The mayor climbed up from the bottom. He spent half his life making the gorgeous transformation from a grassroots politician with no foundation to the mayor. Therefore, he knows more about this than those who are born into a prominent background.

When the Liji Group signed the contract with the farmers, it was signed at a time when there was no price increase. In other words, they could make money no matter what.

But it is precisely because they are not satisfied with earning less that a series of situations are triggered.

He took a sip of his coffee. "They'll knock down the steel this time."

It’s a pity that he can’t participate in such an interesting thing.

While the two were enjoying themselves, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

He looked at the ringing phone and thought for a while before picking it up. "This is the mayor's office."

"Mr. Mayor, Mr. Lance is outside. He said he wants to talk to you."

“But he didn’t have an appointment…”

"Let him in." The mayor looked a little strange. After he hung up the phone, he looked at his secretary. "Lance is here."

"Lance?"

There was a dazed look in the secretary's eyes, and he began to clear the coffee and pastries on the table.

No matter what he comes here to do, there is no problem in keeping the office clean.

A few minutes later, the office door was pushed open by the secretary on duty. Lance said "thank you" and walked in from outside.

"Sorry, my injury hasn't healed yet, so..." The mayor sat there motionless, with a blanket covering his legs.

Gunshot wounds are not easy to heal, and they penetrated his body.

This shot cannot be said to be worthless, because it almost brought him victory.

But now looking at it from the perspective of a loser, it does seem a little... not worth it.

Lance immediately showed his understanding, "Of course, you don't have to stand up."

He took the initiative to walk to the table, shook hands briefly with the mayor, and then sat down opposite the mayor's desk.

"So...what did you want to talk to me about this time?"

The mayor smiled and glanced at the secretary, "I was just talking to him about you."

Lance smiled and said, "I hope it's something good, not something bad."

The mayor laughed. “We were talking about the car accident.”

Lance was not surprised at all, and said without hesitation, "I am teaching them a truth. This is Jingang City, the Jingang City of the Jingang people!"

The mayor's smile faded a lot, he hated this sentence!

This sentence made his wound hurt again, and he said sarcastically, "If I'm not mistaken, you are not a local."

Lance didn't deny it either, "But no one can say I'm not a local!"

"I have a birth card and identity card from Golden Harbor City, and I will marry a girl from the Lawrence family. You know, they still have a very high status in the minds of some people, although there haven't been any outstanding representatives in recent years."

As the former big landlords, big slave owners, big farmers, big plantation owners...

The Lawrence Farm, which has a series of titles, is on par with the Wade family and the Williams family in the eyes of the old people of Jingang.

But they don't have any particularly representative figures in politics, that's all.

But in agriculture, in terms of influence, they perform very well!
Farmers around Lawrence Farm would give their crops to the Lawrence family to sell on their behalf, which would allow them to make more money than if they handed their crops over to distributors.

So what Lance said really hit the nail on the head. With the double "affirmation", he is now a thorough Jingang person!
No matter who it is, no one can change this perception!

As for whether he is an imperial citizen or not, does it matter?

The mayor was somewhat emotional because Lance was as “sharp” as ever.

"So what are you, a Jingang native, doing looking for me, a failed outsider?" He signaled his secretary to prepare a cup of coffee for Lance.

When the coffee was served to him, Lance said, "Let's talk about cooperation." He took a sip of the coffee and said, "It tastes good."

The mayor was stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted. He looked at Lance and had his own thoughts in mind.

"Looks like you're in trouble.", he said.

Lance put down his coffee and shook his head. "It's not a problem. It's just that I just don't like some people."

The mayor also smiled more, "I don't like these people either. We can agree on this!"

He motioned for his secretary to open the cigarette box, then made an inviting gesture, "Would you like one?"

Lance took one and lit it. The mayor asked, "What do you want?"

He glanced at the azure blue sky outside the window and said, "The position of police chief."

The mayor frowned slightly, "Is there a conflict between you and Hunter?"

Lance didn't answer directly, "I guess so."

The relationship between them was not particularly good in the first place, and now Hunter provided convenience for others to set him up. No matter what his relationship with these people was or why he did this, it could not change the fact that he did it.

Since someone in such an important position as the police chief cannot even maintain the most basic "neutrality" and not only must stand on my side, then let's change him!

The city police chief has an administrative job, and the position is indeed important to some extent.

At the same time, it has always been controlled by Charlie. Both he and Hunter are of the same lineage.

The mayor showed some interest, and his smile became even warmer. "It's not easy to get this position, Lance." "I'm not underestimating your ability. I have underestimated you before, and I paid the price for it."

"Behind Hunter and Charlie, the entire Bay Area is supporting them."

"It's difficult to arrange your people to this position."

"And you see, I'm a loser now. It's hard for me to help you with this matter, such as helping you get rid of Hunter."

"That depends on your own ability."

"But if you can get Hunter removed, I can help you appoint a new police chief."

The mayor has lost most of his power, and although he is still the mayor, if he wants to remove Hunter, someone will soon come to trouble him.

But he didn't want to cause any more trouble, so Lance had to do it himself.

There is no doubt that this will put Lans directly into confrontation with the Bay Area.

This is also what the mayor wants to see. He just wants to see such a situation. Only in this way can he vent his anger!

He lost, so what?
Everybody, don't be too fucking comfortable!

Lance nodded, "If you can agree to this, then I will find a way to get Hunter down."

"Finally, I also have a question, what do I need to pay?"

The mayor thought about it for a while, and his expression became somewhat strange, as if he was reminiscing, or feeling melancholy and regretful, and finally it turned into relief.

“Many people who support me have placed heavy bets in the New Port area. If possible, I hope you can take care of them a little.”

Lance's gaze shifted to the mayor's face. The mayor looked at him calmly, without any hiding or flickering expression. After the two looked at each other for a moment, Lance nodded slightly and stood up.

"Okay, then it's settled. I have something else to do, so I won't stay any longer."

He picked up the coffee and drank it in one gulp. Without shaking hands with the mayor, he left.

"See Mr. Lance off."

The mayor gave an order, and the secretary trotted out two steps to open the door for Lance and followed him out of the office.

The two of them didn't speak all the way until they were about to leave the City Hall building, when the secretary asked, "What are you going to do?"

Lance didn't answer him, just shook his head and left in the car.

After sending Lance away, the secretary returned to the office. He was a little curious, "Why did you say that?"

The mayor looked out the window at the cloudless sky, as blue as a flawless sapphire. "Because of Williams."

"You know, when Williams stands with them, they are one."

"But Williams has already decided to run for mayor, and there is a high probability that he will win and become the new ruler of this city."

“Tell me, at that point in time, did the city listen to Williams or did it listen to the Bay Area?”

This is a question. The secretary thought for a while and then said, "Of course, listen to...Williams."

"You don't have to consider my feelings!" the mayor said, then nodded, but after a while he began to shake his head, "Yes, but not entirely."

"When they are together, they are friends, but when they are apart, they are enemies. No one is willing to give up the power in their hands, so there will be competition and struggle between them."

"Lance is obviously on Williams' side, so they will face off sooner or later."

"Let those people in the Bay Area who are used to treating power as their personal property and put it in their pockets hand over their scepters of power. They will not agree!"

"Helping Lance would be equivalent to accelerating the friction and struggle between them."

"I'm already like this anyway, what else is there to worry about?"

He also hummed a few lines of the song, for some inexplicable reason, as if he was in a very good mood at the moment.

"Williams is a smart man. Once he had conflicts with the people in the Bay Area, he realized that the best way to get rid of the Bay Area's control over his power was not to rely entirely on the Golden Harbor Terminal."

"Besides Jingang Wharf, is there any other wharf in this city that he can quickly take over and use to compete with Jingang Wharf?"

This was the standard answer, and the secretary also gave the answer the mayor wanted, "New Port Pier."

The mayor smiled and nodded, very satisfied with the answer. "Yes, Newport Pier, we all knew that someone would activate it, but we didn't expect it to be restarted in this way!"

Restart with the Jingang interest groups splitting up and starting to confront each other!

Lance is now on Williams' side, so naturally, the New Port District will also be Lance's territory in the future!

Isn't it the most normal thing to let him take care of the investors in the New Port District?
With this "deal", even though the mayor has failed, he can still maintain some political resources and capital resources!
After hearing this, the secretary admired the mayor even more. Even though he lost, he was really only one millimeter away from victory!
Lance, who came out of the city hall, was still recalling the conversation with the mayor. In fact, the process was not long and the content was not much, but the information revealed was very rich.

This was a good way to solve the troubles caused by Charlie and Hunter, but before that, there needed to be a way to remove Hunter from the position of director.

The reason for driving Hunter out of office instead of getting rid of him is to prevent the conflict between Congressman Williams and those people in the Bay Area from being fully intensified before he wins the election.

Although it would be a little unpleasant to do so, it certainly wouldn't be too bad.

Kicking the master's dog and killing the master's dog are two completely different things!
One is that you don’t respect the master, and the other is that you despise the master, there is a huge difference between them!

Although the mayor lost, he is still a wise man!

Lance asked the driver to drive directly to Williams Manor. He wanted to talk to Williams and ask him to replace the police chief.

The vehicle turned directly from the city center and headed towards another district.

William, who had just come out of the office, looked at the back of the convoy in the distance and frowned slightly, "It seems to be Lance's convoy."

He said to his assistant, "What can he do downtown?"

As he said this, he shook his head and got into the car. He didn't expect Lance to go to the mayor. Perhaps no one except Lance himself could have thought of this.

You know, they were "mortal enemies" before. The mayor found two groups of people to deal with Lance. If Lance was not so strong, he might have been defeated.

William ignored these messy thoughts and went to discuss the purchase with several selected landowners in the Empire District.

He was going to buy a piece of land to build a high school, which was his promise, and he definitely needed to do that first.

It is actually very easy to become a politician that people trust, as long as you keep your word.

But this is also the most difficult because most politicians cannot deliver on their promises, especially those promised to their base voters.

He didn't want to be a "lying politician", and he was still thinking about what Lance had told him before, that he might become "Mayor William" in the future.

And Emily was pregnant, so if it was a boy, he would have to keep working towards that goal.

Not long after the car came out, the driver vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

"Mr. William, someone is following us."

William subconsciously turned his head to look behind him, and the driver didn't even have time to remind him.

The car behind suddenly started to accelerate!
They noticed William looking back and realized that they had been discovered!
This made William unable to help but feel a little horrified and angry, "What the hell do these people want to do?"

But the driver didn't know, so he could only tell him to "sit tight" and then start controlling the car.

Fortunately, he was not alone. In addition to his assistant, there was also a bodyguard in the car.

The bodyguard simply drew his weapon and shot at the car that was about to ram him. For a moment, there was a loud bang and the whole street was filled with screaming people.

The cars on the road also stopped by the roadside on their own initiative!

The federals understand this too well. No one will watch a gunfight because every year the newspapers report that someone was accidentally injured by stray bullets while watching gang fights.

Some people were even shot after being mistakenly identified, so when the gunshots were heard, the whole street was filled with people looking for cover!

(End of this chapter)