Shadow Empire

Chapter 475: Just Four Million

It is reasonable and expected that there is no big shot behind the vice president.

In fact, many companies do not have the support of any bigwigs, but they can still get some political help, which is mainly due to the fact that the federal government has a complete "power rent-seeking industry chain."

When a politician reaches the upper echelons of federal politics, they wield enormous power.

They have power, and some people need power, so the demand side and the supply side emerge.

We all know that as long as there are people who supply goods and people who demand goods, spontaneous markets and transactions will follow.

But selling the commodity of power is not that simple. There are many people who will never be able to touch power in their entire lives but are eyeing the power in the hands of these people because they always believe that this power comes from them!
This is actually very funny, but that’s how politicians explain it and how they say it, so people really believe it.

The people of the Federation believe that the power of federal politicians comes from the people and is granted by the people, but they never think about why the power they have granted would slap themselves in the face.

They don't consider these things because they live in an illusion maintained by multiple parties in the power market.

On the surface, power is pure and simple, but beneath the surface, power, brokers, capital, and every link in the transfer of interests make it a very simple thing to turn power into wealth, or vice versa.

As long as you have money or power and have a need, there will be a broker to help you solve your problem.

The Liji Group spends tens of millions of public relations fees on this every year. At the same time, they actually have several senators supporting them behind the scenes. Otherwise, how could they continue to lead the entire industry after being dismembered by the Anti-Monopoly Law?
But these have nothing to do with the vice president. He doesn't know any big shots, and he has no direct relationship with these brokers. He is just a higher-level worker, nothing more.

Lance thought for a while and said, "I have some friends in Golden State..." The vice president nodded. It was normal for a person to have friends in Golden State!

He also has many friends in Jinzhou and acquaintances in Jingang City, so he didn't pay too much attention to the context and meaning of this sentence and just treated it as an ordinary remark.

"I talked to my friend about our problems and our possible solutions, but my friend gave me a new plan."

The vice president took a big sip of coffee and realized that here came the meat of the matter. “Yes?”

"They are very interested in suppressing the stock price of Liji Group, and at the same time hope to obtain a portion of the company's shares and gain more benefits from it!"

The vice president's eyes gradually widened, just like those of patients with hyperthyroidism, his eyeballs were about to bulge out!

"I don't know...are you sure you didn't say it wrong?"

"It's not that I doubt you and your friends can do this, but this is the Golden State, Mr. Lance."

"This is not a small place like Jingang City. Sometimes when we do anything, we can't just consider what we want to do or what we are doing. We have to consider many other things."

He kept shaking his head, and it seemed that he was not very supportive of Lance's proposal. "This plan will put us all in a passive position. And please forgive me for being blunt. If the company is hit hard, I will also be implicated."

His meaning was obvious, he didn't want to be implicated in such things, he wanted to gain more rights and benefits, not a big trouble.

Lance said a name, "Berman, do you know him?"

The vice president's expression changed slightly. To Lance, Berman might just be a name, but to him, the name Berman represented more than just a name, but also some capitalists behind him.

Berman is an agent who is pushed to the front. Capitalists like to do this so that if someone is unlucky because of their business one day, it will definitely not be them who are unlucky.

But most of the time these characters can live well as long as there are no problems with the capital forces behind them.

This was also one of the reasons why the Liji Group was dismembered. Some people saw the huge profits of the channels and wanted to get a share of them.

"I didn't know you had such a big shot as a friend." The vice president's expression became much more serious. Now that the Bailide Group is involved, it means that this matter may not be so simple and pure.

Lance took out a pack of cigarettes, gave one to the other man, and lit one for himself. "In addition to Berman, some other people have proposed a new plan."

"You can become the company's CEO and own more of the company's stock, but you have to cooperate with us, snipe the company's stock, and then help us get some of the stock."

"If you can do this, you will be one of the most powerful people in the Liji Group!"

The vice president fell into deep thought. He thought about many things, including the first time he was dismembered and harvested, and this time.

Lance didn't rush him, but just smoked quietly, waiting for him to make the final decision.

About two minutes later, when Lance put out the cigarette in the ashtray and took a sip of coffee, a layer of sweat was already covering the vice president's forehead.

But he had thought it through almost clearly.

"If I say no, nothing will change, right?"

Lance nodded, "How can I explain this?"

"It's like... a truck full of goods is coming towards you and you can't hide because you can't avoid it."

"You can struggle, you can do anything to save yourself, but you don't stand a chance."

"Now it's the difference between getting cut into pieces and being crushed to pieces, or getting on the bus before it runs you over."

“This isn’t really such a complicated multiple-choice question, is it?”

It was just a simple description, but it made the vice president feel as if he was there.

He knew what Lance meant. The "big killer" in Lance's hand now was the issue of liquidated damages.

If they paid the penalty before this, although they would suffer some losses, it would definitely be within an acceptable range.

But the board of directors was unwilling to pay the four million yuan penalty and tried to use other methods to solve the problem, causing the situation to get out of control!

The Bailide Group has begun to intervene. As one of the executioners who dismembered the Liji Group, have the people behind it also joined in?
Although their direct attack on Liji Group caused heavy damage to the Liji Group, it is still the strongest in the industry!
This is the situation that the executioners dislike the most. They used the Anti-Monopoly Law to maximize their profits, but now the biggest profits are not in their hands.

This time, will they be involved as well?
If these people are also involved, then this "battle" will not be so easy to fight.

If the Liji Group can be dismembered once, it can be dismembered a second time, and a third time. They will not stop until the day when they lie on the corpse of the Liji Group to fill their stomachs, burp, and can no longer hold in.

With the combination of commercial tactics and the use of some power, the Liji Group will definitely fall flat on its face again this time. The only reason is that they are unwilling to pay the ridiculous 4 million penalty!
Thinking of this, the vice president suddenly couldn't help laughing and couldn't stop laughing!
They have actually been very careful over the years.

They never confront the capital forces that have the ability to compete with them, and they are always on guard against them.

After Parkway Bank obtained Lans's debt claim, they simply sent a letter and Liji Group transferred the money.

Because they know that they are not suitable to arm wrestle with people of the same level.

But they have a different attitude when dealing with farmers and low-level businessmen who are unable to compete with them.

The contract can be torn up at will, and the debt can be defaulted at will, without caring about their demands at all.

This is the case with Lance. Regardless of whether this is contract fraud or not, at least for now they should fulfill the contract, including the previous time, but they refused and got into trouble.

No one could have imagined that a gangster from Jingang City could pry open a listed company. Perhaps he was just a knife in the hands of those behind-the-scenes characters standing in the shadows.

But this knife is very sharp and deadly to the Liji Group!
This is just like in the past when commoners wanted to challenge nobles, they first had to defeat the guardian knights around the nobles, and then they would be qualified to fight with their bare hands against the nobles holding swords.

Unless they are absolute idiots, it is impossible for a noble to lose such a game, and the Liji Group also thinks so.

But unexpectedly, they made a mistake.

The vice president had already made up his mind, "What should we do?" He used the word "we", which shows that his position has changed.

"Collect information on the president and the chairman of the board, as well as their die-hard followers."

"Liji Group should have a mandatory share redemption agreement, right?"

The vice president nodded in shock. He wanted to hide the disbelief in his eyes, but the news was too shocking and he couldn't hide it at all!
He suddenly realized that he might be involved in a bigger incident, and the cause of all this made him still want to -

Just four million!
The more times like this happened, the more ridiculous he found it. Perhaps those who made the decision, including himself, had never thought about it.

An inconspicuous pebble on the ground will not only cause them to fall, but also cause them to break their heads and bleed, or even be unable to get up from the fall!
“Yes, we have take-back clauses, and there are some tough conditions to activate them.”

"Like?" Lance motioned for him to say it.

"For example, if the stock holder suddenly loses his/her capacity to bear responsibility due to some accident, and according to federal law, the heirs of these stocks are unwilling to inherit, or are underage, or are also incapable of bearing responsibility."

"Then the board of directors has the right to buy back these shares internally at market price after the resolution."

Basically all large capital groups have similar repurchase clauses. Capitalists have been fighting each other for hundreds of years, and they know best how to defeat their peers!

Dramas like "a rival company acquired a large number of shares and kicked me out of the company" have been played out countless times. Capitalists have also been studying how to prevent the outflow of shares, and the repurchase clause is the simplest and most effective means.

Even some capitalist families do this, where each member has the right to family shares and dividends, but they can only marry within the family.

This is also a very interesting means for the top aristocratic forces in the federation to continuously consolidate their rule.

They only accept marriages within the family. Things like uncles marrying nieces and cousins ​​marrying aunts are common. This is why there are always a few idiots and mentally retarded people in large families.

They are all descendants of close relatives.

Some of them stipulate that marriages can only be carried out with certain families to avoid the trouble caused by inbreeding, but in general, the federal people do not particularly care about inbreeding.

But if someone in the family wants to break away from these rules, they are unwilling to marry their relatives or have their own lover.

So the way they want to gain freedom is to give up their shares, give up their dividend rights, and prevent their shares from flowing out and being obtained by their enemies.

They will also change from being members of a large family to being ordinary people, relatively speaking.

The same is true for shareholders of large companies. If the shares of large companies can be bought and sold freely, then the capitalists will not be able to protect their companies from being taken away.

So a buyback clause must exist.

After the vice president said this, he actually already knew what Lance and the others were going to do, and his palms were sweaty at this moment.

Because if he had made the wrong choice just now, he might have an accident soon.

Lance looked at him. "You can talk to your president or chairman of the board about this, but no one can stop it from happening or change anything."

"When the bullet is already loaded and you only need to pull the trigger to fire, the best thing to do is not to block the muzzle with your flesh and blood."

"This is my advice to you, Vice President... No, maybe you will become the chairman of the board in the future."

"Then this is my advice to you, the future chairman of the board, to see the big picture clearly!"

Lance's words left him with no other way to respond except to remain silent.

It took him several minutes to accept this fact, and a very strange emotion began to grow in his heart again!

He actually stood on Lance's side and thought he did a good job. At the same time, he hated the president, the chairman of the board, and other directors who firmly refused to pay the penalty and refused to perform according to the signed contract.

For the sake of more than two million in profits that they didn't even get, they not only had to lose four million, but also their own lives!
"I know what to do, Mr. Lance. If someone does something wrong, they have to pay for their mistakes. This is what they deserve!"

Lance pointed at him with a smile, "Smart!"

"I need detailed information about those who did wrong so that we can solve this case as soon as possible."

"I also plan to spend the New Year in Jingang."

The vice president took out a handkerchief and sighed, "I will investigate it in the next two days."

In the evening, Lance brought the vice president to meet Mr. Berman. The vice president and Mr. Berman were old acquaintances. The two sides had been competing in this field for many years, and overall, Bailidi had always been at a disadvantage.

When he met Mr. Berman in the past, in those formal social occasions, he always had a kind of arrogant modesty, which was difficult to describe, but he could find the feeling.

It's that kind of "You know I look down on you, but I will still respect you" attitude, the eyes, the disdain, all that.

But this time, the positions of both parties were reversed.

"I thought we were going to meet at the conference in the spring!" Mr. Berman laughed and stretched out his hand as he walked towards the vice president.

The conference he mentioned is a large-scale meeting on the entire agricultural industry held by the Federal Agriculture Committee before spring planting. At that time, representatives from large farms on the federal list, deep and shallow processing of agricultural products, transportation, and channels will all attend the meeting.

It is used to discuss the direction of agricultural development in the new year, coordinate resources, etc., which is very important.

Every year the vice president attends with the president, but it looks like they will be changing people tomorrow.

The vice president was a little embarrassed. "It's an honor to see you again before the New Year, Mr. Berman."

Berman watched as Lance patted the vice president's hand, "He is a very capable man, I have always admired him!"

As he spoke, his gaze shifted from Lance's face to the vice president's face, "Will you cooperate more when we work together in the future?"

"sure……"

Since Lance was able to bring the vice president here, it meant that the vice president would also be deeply involved. After the three of them sat down, they began to discuss some subsequent operations, listening to Mr. Berman speaking in a nonchalant tone about plans that made the vice president tremble with fear.

At this moment, he became more and more convinced that his choice was correct!

Instead of letting the company sink into decline, it is better to find a way to lead the company to glory again!

Yes, even if the company encounters a major disaster and falls from the altar, they are at least still one of the three giants in the agricultural channel!

The three discussed for more than an hour and finally reached a rough decision. The vice president also vaguely realized that he had the support of several senators, and he became more humble.

Even towards Lance, that humble attitude came from the bottom of his heart, not just a pretense.

He was a little confused about Lance. Although Jingang City was developing rapidly, he didn't understand how this 21-year-old young man had established connections with Congress.

So fucking amazing!
Over the next two days, the vice president stated in the board meeting that he had used some connections to get in touch with the Supreme Court, which was willing to hear the case.

People in the company had no doubts about the vice president. After all, he was second only to a few people in the company. Who could doubt that he would stab them?

The legal department quickly began contacting the Court of Appeal to transfer the case to the Federal Supreme Court. Originally, they planned to do it quietly.

But no one knows who leaked the news, and the media suddenly began to pay attention to this case...

(End of this chapter)