Shadow Empire

Chapter 647: The Second Punch and Driving the Tiger to Devour the Wolf
The explosion of the substation in the old industrial area was reported in the news of "Golden Harbor Today", and Mayor Williams mentioned it while having dinner in the morning.

and James.

"What do you think he'll do next?" He folded the newspaper and placed it next to him.

James also had a newspaper in his hand, and the father and son each had a separate set of newspapers.

Sometimes they may not have breakfast together. If they only subscribe to one newspaper, who should read it first and who should read it later?
So to avoid trouble from the beginning, everyone had a newspaper, including Arthur, who had one too.

But he never read it. The newspaper looked the same when it was given to him and when the servant took it away.

James shook his head. "I don't know. Lance's methods are always a little unpredictable."

"I thought he was going to use gangster methods to threaten those people and make them compromise or something."

He also put down the newspaper and spoke out his original thoughts while eating breakfast.

"But now it seems that his methods are more clever than the direct danger."

Mayor Williams did not refute this comment, "He has always been the smart one!"

In fact, using gangster tactics will not have a big negative impact on Lance. When a gang leader uses the usual gangster tactics, people will just think "Oh, that's what he should do!"

No one would think it is wrong for a butcher to kill animals with a butcher knife.

But Mayor Williams will receive some negative comments for this.

After all, he is the mayor. Investors and businessmen in the city are facing large-scale threats from gangs. If people don't say anything about Lance, they will think that there is a problem with his ability.

Either he is unable to stop the gangs from running wild, or he is unable to deal with the capitalists. Either view is extremely disadvantageous to him.

He hadn't discussed with Lance what to do beforehand, he just told him not to make it too ugly, and he was even prepared to look bad himself.

But I didn't expect that Lance's first punch was so beautiful that the power went out!

Although his method of causing the power outage may be beyond the scope of the law, there are no other problems.

James knew that his father thought highly of Lance, and even said "It would be great if Arthur was a girl" -

If Arthur was really a girl, he would most likely snatch the son-in-law from Lawrence's family and marry Arthur directly to Lance to achieve a combination of power.

But unfortunately, he had no daughter and could only watch helplessly as the little-known Lawrence family took advantage.

The three old men must be so happy that they can’t stop smiling!

James followed up with a question, "What do you think he will do?"

Mayor Williams shook his head. “No one knows what he’s going to do until he does it!”

“But I’m looking forward to what he does next.”

"let us wait and see."

At the same time, the guy who chose a completely different direction from his good brother was heading to the dock with the goods.

He actually feels a little regretful now. His good friend chose to sign the agreement, received the replacement subsidy, and has already gone to choose a site.

However, he is facing the fact that he may suffer a huge claim. His mind is confused and he seems a little lost about the future.

The bigwigs in the Bay Area are all saying that they must persevere, and as long as they persist, they will surely see victory.

He believed it before because the Bay Area defeated one opponent after another, but this time, his confidence was not as strong as before.

The reason why many people blindly trust the wealthy people in the Bay Area is that they have defeated many opponents before.

Both the federal and state governments are wary of factionalism - if the faction is the state government, that's another matter.

Leaving Likalai State obviously does not fall into that category. According to the order in which the federal states were born, Likalai State is relatively late. It is not a hotbed of stubborn factionalism and cannot breed political forces that can confront the federal government.

In order to break up the control and blockade of Jingang City by the interest groups here, they sent many mayors to try to do something, but they all failed.

The Bay Area’s repeated successes have established an instinctive view in people’s minds, that is, the Bay Area is invincible, so they blindly believe that the Bay Area can still win.

Even if this opponent was once one of them.

But now, things don't seem so good.

The regretful businessman arrived at the dock in his car with several truckloads of goods.

He temporarily rented more than a dozen high-power generators to get the assembly line running, quickly processed the remaining orders of this order, and then sent them to the customs.

The goods are waiting to be exported to the Tanfit continent, and the customers there have been urging us to deliver them, but fortunately, it was finally done today.

All you have to do is send it on board and wait for the other party to settle the payment.

It was originally an easy thing to do. Pull the goods to the dock, do a simple random inspection, then load them into the container, watch them be sent to the freighter, then make a phone call and wait for the money to arrive.

But there seems to be something wrong with today's process.

Normally he doesn't need to go to declare customs in person, his manager will take care of it all. He is sitting in the car thinking about the next orders.

Using diesel generators can indeed drive the assembly line, but the price is also very high.

The small, civilian ones can also generate electricity, but if you want to run an entire factory, not just one, even a hundred units may not be enough.

They use large industrial generators, which are larger, more efficient, and of course more wasteful of diesel.

In addition to the money required for diesel, renting these generators themselves also requires money, and the price is not low.

As for buying it... the price was too high and it was not something he considered.

As he was thinking about electricity and order issues, his manager was jogging towards him from a distance.

Every time he took a breath, a white mist would appear in front of him. It was obvious that his body was heating up and the hot air he exhaled would last for a while before disappearing.

The hapless businessman's attention shifted from the annoying things in his mind to his manager, "What's wrong?"

The manager gasped, swallowed, and took two deep breaths to calm his confused breath. "Customs said our goods cannot be shipped out."

The unfortunate businessman was stunned for a moment, "Why?"

The manager's expression was a little strange. "They said it might be sensitive military supplies, so they won't allow it to leave the customs for the time being."

The unlucky businessman could no longer sit still. He pushed open the car door and walked towards the customs office. Along the way, he asked for some details but did not get any useful clues.

Soon he arrived at the corresponding office with a more ingratiating smile on his face.

The customs officer was alone in the office. He asked the manager to stand outside the door and went into the office himself.

"What's the matter?" The official glanced at him sideways and lowered his head to deal with the documents in his hands.

He said quickly, "I am... the owner of that batch of goods. My manager just said that the customs has determined that those things may be military supplies. I swear to God, they are all civilian goods!"

The official put down the pen in his hand and rubbed his wrist. "It's not up to you or me to decide. It's up to the federal government!"

"Your products may be related to those on the banned list, and I said 'maybe'."

"It may be, it may not be, we need to investigate this clearly."

"If it's not, we'll let it go."

"But if it is, then I'm sorry, you either have to ship it back or we can help you destroy it."

The unfortunate businessman's head was about to smoke. He took out an envelope from his pocket and put it on the table. "So is it, or is it not?"

He had a flattering smile on his face, but behind this flattering smile there seemed to be a hint of dissatisfaction and disgust, disgust for the greed of these people!
He thought the customs were making things difficult for him and were just trying to make some money. This had happened before.

Customs inexplicably asked him to take out all the goods that had been loaded into the container and check them one by one, saying that someone had reported him for smuggling things out of the customs illegally.

Then someone suggested that he give a little, and that was the end of it.

He gave it a little bit because he was afraid of trouble, and it really got better. There was no need for inspection and it was released directly.

He thought it would be the same this time, so he put about a thousand dollars in the envelope when he came.

He thought the official would take the money and call him to leave, but the official just glanced at him contemptuously and said, "You bribe me?"

What this sentence actually means has a lot to do with its context and environment.

Now, it was obviously not a good performance. The unlucky businessman immediately explained, "There are some materials inside..."

The officer shook his head. “Give your money back. I told you, if they don’t violate the rules, we’ll let them go.”

"If they violate the rules, we won't agree to it no matter how much you offer us."

He took back the envelope somewhat unwillingly, and then asked, "So... when can the inspection be completed?"

The official flipped open another document in front of him, flipped through several pages, and then said, "Next week."

The unlucky businessman stared at him with wide eyes as if he hadn't heard what the official had just said. "Sorry, I didn't hear it clearly. You said... this week?"

The official raised the corners of his mouth slightly, "I said next week," he repeated with some teasing in his eyes.

He knew very well that this batch of goods would not last until the next week or else it would be in default. Even if it could last until the next week, he still had a way to drag it out until after the Chinese New Year.

As for customs, they close when they say so.

Isn’t it easy to find a problem?
The boxes are not compliant, the declaration is not qualified, and the materials are not qualified.

You can also say "doubts". Anyway, as long as there are doubts, it will not be allowed to pass and it will have to be investigated and inspected. There are many ways to delay it.

It’s not uncommon for some goods to be held at customs for one or two years. Some goods are held for so long that the owners simply don’t want them anymore!

The unfortunate businessman's eyes widened even more, "I can't wait that long, and the buyer can't wait that long either!"

The official still looked businesslike, "What does this have to do with me?"

He didn't give the businessman a chance to continue the conversation. "Okay, I have to get to work. Go out and close the door."

The businessman wanted to argue something, but after the official said "get out" in a more stern tone, he had to leave the office.

Standing at the office door, facing the manager's expectant gaze, he cursed "Fuck".

"They are making things difficult for us, deliberately not letting our stuff pass through!" He kicked the wall beside the corridor and pinched his waist angrily.

The manager followed him and said after hesitating for a while, "Could it be related to the fact that we didn't sign the replacement agreement?"

It was the only thing he could think of.

Yesterday's power outage and today's prohibition on leaving the country are clearly telling people that they have offended others, caused trouble, and now retribution has come.

The businessman turned around and looked at his manager with a hurt and fierce look in his eyes.

He actually knew that what the manager said was right, or at least it was most likely right, but at this point it was difficult for him to turn around.

Now the replacement subsidy policy has been abolished. If he wants to move to a new industrial zone, he has to apply for land himself and pay a large amount of land use fees and factory construction costs.

The relocation of the factory here also requires money, and the city hall previously supported the relocation.

Not only did you not gain a penny, but you also lost a lot of money and time!

The manager felt a little uncomfortable with his gaze, so he slowly looked away and lowered his head.

The businessman then walked forward again, "Go to the Bay Area, find Mr. Charles, find those big shots, and ask them for help!"

This is the only solution he thinks will work now.

Coincidentally, at this time, Mr. Charles and some other core members of the Bay Area were also discussing some possible situations that might arise next.

"I asked someone to check the equipment, and they were destroyed by explosives at close range."

"That guy Williams couldn't have done that, so it must have been Lance who did it."

When they heard the name Lance, some people became noticeably silent, but some were not so afraid.

For example, Mr. Hof.

As a regional opinion leader, Mr. Hof is still influential in Likalai state politics and he is an obvious politician.

Politicians are protected by rules, and until someone breaks the rules, it is unlikely that anything will happen to them.

And even if the resistance here fails, he can still live somewhere else.

Valley City has been developing well recently, and you can go and live in Valley City.

Or he could go directly to Maintenon, where he had many friends, and Lance didn't have much influence there.

"Is there any way to get rid of Lance?" Mr. Hof directly expressed his thoughts.

"Lance is tied to Williams. Now that Williams controls the city and Lance controls the police force, we don't have any chips to fight back."

At this point, someone couldn't help but curse, "Damn Charlie, this guy just threw away our most important weapon like a piece of trash!"

If Charlie hadn't lost the police team, they wouldn't be in such a passive position now.

There is actually no good way to deal with a gang leader like Lance who is obviously full of problems!
Others also cursed Charlie, and some cursed Hunter. Anyway, in their eyes, the two were trash and caused them to lose the initiative.

Mr. Charles frowned, "It's hard to find gunmen in Jingang City to do this. They don't have the courage to go against Lance."

He was looking at Mr. Hof when he spoke. Since the other party raised this possibility, it meant that Mr. Hof might have a solution.

Regional opinion leaders represent a group of socially active people with a certain reputation in a region. In other words, they represent the upper-middle class in a region.

In the Federation, what class can be called the upper-middle class?

Workers on the docks?

Workers in a factory?

A fisherman who makes a living by fishing at the seaside?
The policemen in the city police department?
No, most of these people are worthless in the eyes of politicians because many of them may not even have votes.

According to the federal amendment, one must have a decent job and own a house in order to have a vote.

Those who truly meet this standard are the large landlord class and the urban middle class; they are the backbone of the force.

Mr. Hof has more contact with farmers. If he wants to gain more influence and have his own value in politics, he must do better.

He has also come into contact with ultra-conservative activist farmers in western Likale state, including recently.

So he knew that Lance was not without enemies.

Not only does he have an enemy, but this enemy is also "coming in with great force"!
Seeing that everyone else's eyes were focused on him, Mr. Hof smiled a little, "Do you know the Holy Bell Party?"

This name is indeed notorious. They have done a lot of bad things, and their nature is very bad.

However, for these gentlemen who dress in formal attire like gentlemen, their bad reputation is not that scary.

Mr. Charles nodded, "I know them. What's the name of their leader?"

He thought for a moment, "Joshua?"

Mr. Hof was a little surprised, "I didn't expect you knew him!"

"Yes, that's him."

"They have something in mind for Lance."

"It's a good idea to let them deal with Lance. We should not touch the profit transfer from the casino and let it remain as it is. We can even use this pipeline to have more connections with the higher-ups."

"They only want the liquor market in Jingang City."

Mr. Charles began to think, and so did the others.

Soon someone nodded, "I think so."

"The Holy Bell Party is very famous. Since they are not afraid of Lance, let them give it a try."

"It was a success, which is a great thing for us."

"If it fails, it will just be a fight between two gangs."

More and more people supported it, and finally Mr. Charles nodded, "It's worth a try..."

(End of this chapter)