Shadow Empire

Chapter 683 I want to establish three views for these young people
In the warm room, Lance and Mayor Williams sat on the sofa, and Arthur stood in front of them with his head lowered.

Everyone had a lot of things to do these two days, and after they were done, Mayor Williams invited Lance to his home for dinner, a standard family dinner.

Patricia went to accompany Emily. Emily was already pregnant. Patricia attached great importance to this child, who she was not sure whether it was a brother or a sister.

She had never been separated from her parents for such a long time. Now that she was married to Lance, she had been living with him. Although she lived a happy life, she also had some ideas of her own.

She always felt a little regretful that she couldn't be with her parents.

So she was very happy and loved that this little guy came out and could accompany his parents instead of her.

She didn't have the thought at all that "a little thing is coming to share my property", and she didn't care much about the property.

William and his wife were not wealthy, but they had ensured that Patricia had a well-fed and well-clothed life since she was a child, so she was not so eager for money and did not have such a clear understanding of it.

Emily had some physiological reactions during pregnancy, and Patricia, who was very worried about her, took the initiative to take care of her, so Lance came alone to the family dinner in the evening.

Before dinner started, Arthur expressed his sincere gratitude to Lance!

After all, it was Lance's men who rescued him.

"I accept your thanks, but I would also like to remind you that with the things that have happened between your father and me and the changes in our status, it's best for you not to run around at this stage."

"Otherwise, something like what just happened could happen again."

"We were lucky this time. The people from the Holy Bell Party were not familiar with this place and overestimated themselves. That's why we were able to bring you back."

"But next time, Arthur, I can't guarantee that I can find you and bring you back alive!"

Mayor Williams glared at him, which made Arthur feel a deep fear.

It wasn't that he was afraid of being kidnapped or killed, but after he was rescued, Mayor Williams beat him severely with a belt.

He had never been beaten so hard since he was a child!

After being beaten with a belt, he became obedient. He felt like he was going to be beaten to death, which made him even more afraid of Mayor Williams.

"I understand, Mr. Lance.", he said dejectedly.

Lance smiled, not caring whether he realized the problem or not. Anyway, as he said, if he continued to run around, the next time they met might be at Arthur's funeral.

Mayor Williams impatiently told him to get out, and then talked to Lance about some things Lance didn't know.

"The speaker of the state assembly called me this morning..."

As he started talking about business, Lance also became serious.

The federal state legislature is also divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives. There is actually not much difference between their responsibilities and those of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress, except that one manages the entire country and the other only manages one place.

But in terms of power confrontation, Congress is able to confront the president in most of the time.

There has been no shortage of presidents in federal history who have lost power due to impeachment.

However, within a state, the state legislature has no way to confront the governor because the governor can directly and precisely control the selection of state legislature members.

He can not allow any of those who are unfavorable to him to appear in the state legislature, but the president cannot prevent people he dislikes from appearing in Congress.

Therefore, the speaker of the state assembly is ranked slightly lower in the state's political ranking, unlike the speaker and speaker of Congress.

But whether he is at the front or the back, the Speaker of the House is a big shot to Mayor Williams, and he cannot refuse.

"The Speaker of the House of Representatives wishes me to go to Maintenon before January 5th."

He leaned back and said, "They said they wanted to reconcile some conflicts between us and the Bay Area. This should be the pressure from the senator."

Lance nodded, "Very likely, but the problem is that they intend to continue to escalate the situation on the 1st."

Mayor Williams was not surprised. Someone had to die. No one could mediate. Someone had to die.

He (Mayor Williams) paused for a moment, "What are your plans?"

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"If you don't have enough manpower, I can transfer some people over here."

He conveyed a message to Lance in a very subtle way, that if Lance didn't intend to do anything, then they would take action.

The Williams family was not completely powerless to resist. Lance talked about this matter with the three old men when he returned to the farm for the holidays. As the oldest group of large farmers in Likalai State, they knew the Williams family very well.

After all, they were competitors in the past. It was not until the deep-water port of Jingang City was developed that the Williams family gradually withdrew from the agricultural and animal husbandry industries and began to expand their presence in the city.

But before that, they were rivals.

No one will turn a blind eye to his opponent. If you don't want to become a rotting corpse in the sewer, it is necessary to know your opponent well enough.

The Williams family once owned perhaps tens of thousands of slaves. Of course, this was something they publicized themselves. When slavery existed, this kind of publicity was also a symbol of strength.

Having so many slaves meant that they needed the same number of "cowboys". These cowboys were not the cowboys that people today think represent Western romanticism, but real musketeers and family guards.

They would ride horses around the farm, moving in groups with two or three shotguns, urging the slaves to work and suppressing slave uprisings when necessary.

In other words, these cowboys are private armed forces.

After the Williams family changed the track, it seemed that they had no connection with the big farmers, plantations and so on, but that was not entirely true.

There are still people in their family who run the farm, and the small farmers who once depended on them are still there.

There are at least hundreds of lawless cowboys active on the Lawrence family's farm - they obey not federal laws but the orders of the Lawrence family.

The Williams family, and the small farmers who had previously depended on them, still had some cowboys.

If the Williams family declined, these people might not take them seriously. After all, glory is only temporary, and benefits are permanent.

But as the Williams family becomes stronger and stronger, those small farmers will continue to show their loyalty.

They could recruit some cowboys from these small farmers who were tougher in some ways than the average gang member.

They carried guns from morning till night, and would often kill to drive away wolves or predators.

If Lance had no plans to deal with Hope, Mayor Williams planned to mobilize his own forces.

In fact, it can be seen from this point that he was really forced into a corner this time and was planning to use some not-so-decent methods himself to solve the problem.

At the same time, this is another hidden hint and statement from Mayor Williams to Lance, that they are not completely without any armed resistance capability.

As the Lance family continued to grow, even though their relationship was as friendly as people saw, Mayor Williams still felt a little pressure.

There cannot be too big a gap between friends. Once the gap is too big, it will be difficult to become friends.

Lance also heard it, and he explained with a smile, "I have arranged it."

"I have trained a young man in the New Port area named Carl. He is very smart and ambitious."

"He was also the one who told me that Hope was preparing for Assembly No. 1."

"I asked him to find a way to deal with Hope before the 1st. That way, even if there is trouble in the Bay Area, it will only be a conflict among the refugees."

Mayor Williams listened and nodded continuously. He glanced at James and saw that James had begun to frown and think, and a look of relief appeared on his face.

This time, things happened very suddenly. There were a lot of bad news, but there was also a good news, that is, James had grown a lot compared to before. He suddenly thought of the former mayor and his secretary. He heard a gossip that Sidney (former mayor) used the last bit of favor and political assets to give his secretary a better starting opportunity.

Some people say that his secretary is actually his son, but others say that he is just the successor he chose.

Cultivating a qualified successor is the most urgent thought for these people besides gaining their own power.

Only a qualified heir can lead the family to continue to grow healthily.

"You want to divide the refugee group." Mayor Williams continued to teach James. The confusion on James' face was suddenly filled with a hint of joy of understanding. He looked at Mayor Williams in surprise, and the latter pretended not to see his gaze.

Lance doesn't mind being responsible for a part of their teaching. He doesn't have this burden now, but maybe he will have it in the future.

He nodded, looking relaxed. "This is a relatively effective approach. We can't always emphasize opposing issues. Congress won't allow us to do that."

"When Tom and I spoke on the phone, he mentioned these things, and I could sense that the senator and even this Congress wanted us to take into account the diplomatic demands."

"We had to find a way to get ourselves off the stage, so I came up with this."

Mayor Williams also had a smile on his face, "It's pretty much what I thought."

Those phone calls encouraging him to deport the refugees certainly did not mean good for him, but on the other hand, they could also be a force in his hands.

If Congress had not intervened, he really intended to continue along this path, but now that Congress has intervened, he has to change things a little.

"There are some very active 'civilian politicians' in the New Port area..." He couldn't help laughing when he said this term. As a real politician, he found this term very funny.

"I think some of their views can be used and I plan to 'negotiate' with them."

Lance raised his eyebrows after hearing this. This was a very mature choice.

He couldn't change his position all at once, but he couldn't keep charging forward either. He needed a step, but this step was not easy to find.

Mayor Williams's idea is essentially the same as Lance's, except that Lance's methods are more direct, while his methods are softer.

It is hard to tell who is good or bad in this kind of situation. As long as it is useful, it is good.

Both of them have their own ideas, but the core is the same. It is not surprising that Mayor Williams has such ideas. How many years has he been immersed in politics?
But Mayor Williams was shocked by Lance's decision.

It’s not that he was shocked, as he had been shocked many times, but he was definitely shaken.

He no longer has any doubts about how far Lance can go. As long as he doesn't die in an accident, there will definitely be a place for him in the future of this country, and his name will be left behind.

All kinds of complicated thoughts flashed through his mind. It seemed like there were a lot of things in it, but in terms of time, it was just a moment.

He immediately focused on this matter, "Can those people you supported do it?"

It's not that he doubted Lance, but he was a little suspicious of the refugees. At the same time, this matter was indeed quite important. Lance nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if they can't do it. I have arranged people."

"In fact, we just need to let people know that this is the result of their internal division and fighting. As for whether the bullet was fired from their gun, isn't it up to us to decide?"

Mayor Williams smiled even more. He said with some emotion, "You are the most amazing young man of your age that I have ever seen, no doubt about it!"

At this time, the butler came in from outside, "Master, Mr. Lance, Master James, dinner is ready."

Mayor Williams stood up and said, "Let's go. I'm hungry too."

Dinner was still a very sumptuous dinner with fine wine.

The extravagant life, the music playing on the gramophone and the bright lights formed a sharp contrast with the people shivering and huddled in the corner in the cold winter outside.

A pair of eyes stare at the enviable, jealous and helpless life behind those windows. This is the Federation.

One night, several young people almost froze to death on the roadside. If they hadn't huddled together to keep each other warm, they might have frozen to death before they died.

If Lance knew about their plan, he would only say that it was an idea, but obviously there was no in-depth plan, and they didn't even consider these issues first.

But we can't blame them entirely, after all, they have never done this before.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, the sky was completely bright and the snow had stopped.

Today is December 29th, and there are only two days left until January 1st.

Throughout yesterday, news began to spread that Mr. Hope intended to protest to City Hall on behalf of the refugee group. At the same time, some people jumped out and said that Mr. Hope's actions would not only not help resolve the current conflict between refugees and federal residents, but would likely continue to intensify the conflict!
The people, especially those at the bottom of society, are often ignorant and have no firm stance or ability to think for themselves.

When they heard that Mr. Hope was doing good for them, they enthusiastically supported Mr. Hope.

But now a group of people have stood up and said, and there are obviously more people than Hope's side, saying that doing so is not actually good for them.

Some people can still hold on for a while, but some people change their position directly.

Some of the resistance that arose in the process of pushing this matter forward soon gathered here at Hope. Number One's action was very important and was related to whether he could realize his dream, so he would not allow any accidents to occur in this action.

But now resistance is indeed building up outside. If he stays here and doesn't go anywhere, no matter how harshly he curses, it will be meaningless to the whole thing.

So he plans to go out and face the people and his "opponents" directly, and through a debate, get the people to support him again!
He is a social activist who has a very accurate grasp of the psychology of ordinary people at the bottom of society, and he must step forward.

He started to prepare after finishing his breakfast in the morning. He heard that several young "juniors" were calling on people to put aside their opposing positions, so he prepared to rush over.

He wanted to defeat these people in front of them and let them know that he was the real savior!
"Is it dangerous?" his assistant couldn't help but ask.

It is not a good idea to appear in public at this time.

Hope shook his head, "I trust you to protect me, and what is risk-free?"

“If we want to achieve the greatest success, we must take huge risks.”

“Lying in bed and not going anywhere is the lowest risk, but what do you gain by doing that?”

“You get nothing!”

He looked at the others, "Remember what I told you?"

"We came to the Federation not just to survive here, we also want to survive better than anyone else. We want to become the best!"

He clenched his fists, "No one can stop us, not even the danger!"

Under his instigation, no one else had any objections. After all, what they were doing was very dangerous.

There are Slad people all around us now, so we shouldn't encounter any danger, right?

That’s what they thought.

The group had a simple breakfast and prepared to leave. His bodyguard was the first to leave the house to prepare the vehicle.

After waiting for a while, Hope came out of the room, wearing a hat and scarf, and took a deep breath.

The moment the cool air was inhaled into the lungs, the whole person became somewhat energetic.

He strode to the sidewalk and saw his bodyguard yelling at some beggars to leave.

Those beggars looked very young. Looking at these young faces, Hope suddenly had some ideas in his mind.

He raised his hand to stop the bodyguards, walked towards these young people, and came in front of them in their incredulous eyes, "Young gentlemen..."

(End of this chapter)