Shadow Empire

Chapter 712 Committee

The next morning, Lance arrived at the agreed location, at another estate not too far from Senator Cleveland's estate.

The wealthy and upper-class people in the Federation are all keen on buying manors.

Owning one's own manor has become a symbol of identity and status. Lance is also considering whether to go all the way and buy a new manor in Xinjin City.

The owner of this manor is not a politician, but a broker.

The profession of broker is very special in the entire Golden State. Don't underestimate these people who seem to be able to sell their souls to the devil for money.

Many brokers are former high-ranking federal officials themselves. For example, some senators and presidents are unwilling to be lonely after retirement, so they will set up an "office" and use their connections to continue to be active in politics.

The influence and ability of these senior brokers are amazing, especially the top brokers, who should not be underestimated.

The owner of this manor is one of them, a former senator who is in his seventies, of medium height and looks very strong.

His head is silver-white without a single stray hair, and it even glows in the sun!
His face was rosy and he looked very healthy. No matter who the guests were or what their identities were, he would greet them warmly.

Including Lance.

"You are Lance, Lance White!" The old man grabbed Lance's hand and patted the back of his hand with a smile.

His voice was loud and full of energy, and there was some surprise in his tone. "In fact, I thought at first that this was another trick by a colleague, or even an old guy!"

"I didn't expect that, Mr. Lance, you shocked me. Are you really only twenty-three years old?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to check your personal information. I was just too curious."

"This is the first time I'm curious about such an outstanding young man!"

The continuous flattery brought a smile to Lance's face. You can't just say "no" to someone who has such status and position and keeps praising you.

"You are very kind, Mr. Rao."

The old man shook his head. “You may think I am saying something to praise you, but actually I am just speaking my mind.”

He tilted his head slightly and moved closer to Lance, "I can get a cut of the money from this too!"

"Very little, but mine!"

He gave Lance an affirmative look. After all, it was not an easy task to convince the Prohibition Committee to slap itself in the face.

There are two key points in Lance's plan. One is that the military agrees to accept such an operation, and the other is that the Prohibition Committee will not have too strong a reaction.

After all, it was they who said that brewing and selling alcohol was not allowed, and now they are going back on their word. For politicians at the senator's level, the potential impact is still huge.

People will feel that they are not firm in their stance, or that they are not very good, which will affect their future development.

Mr. Rao managed to get two executive members of the Prohibition Committee, and in return he got the promise of three senators and an annual dividend of 0.03%.

About two hundred thousand or so.

A not-so-large dividend and the favors of three senators are how the broker makes a living.

The favors of these three senators could each be sold for millions or even tens of millions in the next "sale"!
They always try to maximize their profits in every transaction and eventually become "shadow politicians" who influence Congress and the entire political arena.

Looking at the convoy approaching slowly in the distance and slowing down, Mr. Rao shook Lance's hand again and said, "We'll talk later. I have to continue to greet our guests!"

Under the guidance of the staff, Lance entered a small auditorium they had prepared.

Lance's arrival attracted everyone's attention because he was too young.

There is only one "participant" this young, and that is Lance.

"Mr. White?"

A middle-aged man who looked to be around 47 or 48 years old who was not far from him took the initiative to greet him. Lance nodded and walked over and stretched out his hand. "Lance White, who are you?"

"Joseph, Joseph Goldberg."

"Mr. Gobber!"

"You are so polite. Call me Joseph. It makes me feel younger too!"

A somewhat amusing man, Lance nodded slightly, "Joseph."

Lance doesn't need to show much "respect" to these capitalists. Capital is the most terrifying force in the Federation. It can melt anything and everything in this country!
No matter what it is, steel, morality, or politics, it will decay under the erosion of money.

But the power of capital is not as strong as people imagine. Especially for those who possess wealth, they are always just "human beings" and not gods, which makes them destined to be weak.

This is a very strange circle.

The gangs have a high deterrent effect on the capitalists, and the capitalists can protect themselves by corrupting the politicians, while the politicians are constantly wavering.

They formed a special closed loop!

He was pleased by Lance's address to him, "You know what?"

"This discussion has not been an easy one. Someone has just expressed ill will toward you," he said, looking at a middle-aged man with golden brown hair in the distance.

Lance followed his gaze and frowned, "I don't know this guy. Are you sure he's upset with me?"

"He is the president of Gold Label Wines..."

Lan understood immediately.

His Golden Lion wine imitates the appearance of Gold Label wine to a certain extent, and this imitation is of great help to the sales of new products.

Just like Lei Bi, you can easily buy the wrong one if you are not careful. But if those who bought it by mistake find it is okay after tasting it, no worse than the real thing but cheaper, they will become new users of Lei Bi.

Previously, Gold Label Wines proposed to find the manufacturer of Golden Lion Whisky and sue them into bankruptcy.

I didn't expect to run into him here.

Some of the wine that Lance transported to the front line has been returned. Not much, but enough for everyone to get some samples.

Most wine merchants focus on its packaging, its taste, its alcohol content and the like, but Gold Label Wines focuses on the lion head on the bottle, which is the same as the Golden Lion whiskey label.

Lance smiled and nodded, "Thank you for your reminder, it helped me a lot!"

Mr. Joseph smiled and said, "It's okay. I'm glad I can help you." "Actually... we can unite."

Lance didn't object and continued to nod, "You're right. I'll support you."

Mr. Joseph also smiled and said, "I will support you too!"

In fact, this person is not as good as imagined. Lance has seen through it all. As soon as he arrived, someone found his "opponent" for him, creating a sense of opposition and tension in order to take advantage of him.

He realized it, so it was not a question of who was using whom. Maybe it was Lance who was using him.

After parting with the "warm-hearted" Mr. Joseph, Lance got to know two wine merchants who took the initiative to make friends with him, and then sat down at the seat with his own name tag.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Mr. Rao came in from outside and took the main seat. The wine merchants also returned to their seats.

Mr. Rao sat in his seat with a smile on his face, but only a very few people knew that he was not an easy person to talk to.

During his reign, he pushed for the passage of some relatively strict laws and treated slaves very badly - he came to power during the post-slave emancipation movement, and his undisguised disgust for the slave group earned him a lot of unfriendly social evaluations.

Everyone is like this, with different "sides". He doesn't look like one of those executioners who specializes in dealing with slaves, but when he raises his weapon, the slaves only regret that they have fewer legs.

Some people say that the dark-skinned people of the Federation run fast because those who run slowly have no future.

"Gentlemen, I believe you know what the purpose of coming here is." He looked around and saw that everyone kept their mouths shut, either because they didn't want to talk or out of respect for Mr. Rao.

"What we need is a qualified commodity, not some inferior product to cope with the situation. Soldiers on the front line need good wine or even a wine bottle, not just a coping mechanism."

"I hope that the samples you provide are of the same quality as the products you will eventually supply to the soldiers on the front lines."

"Some people are not comfortable saying these words, so they entrust me to say them."

"If anyone makes things look bad for everyone, you should understand the consequences!"

He paused, "Currently, the wines that are being sent to the front lines, that is, the samples of wine that you have received, are all provided by Mr. Lance White. The Ministry of Defense has a new requirement, which is to increase the capacity, so that each bottle can hold at least three ounces of wine."

"And they wanted these wine bottles to have two sides, one of which was mirrored, facing inwards, to reflect light."

"The other side is facing outward and does not reflect light."

"besides……"

He raised many issues encountered by frontline soldiers during use, which were all requirements for improvement by the Ministry of Defense.

Lance was also writing and drawing with a pen to record these things.

When he had almost finished speaking, he added, "The prohibition on alcohol will not be lifted in the short term and will continue to be maintained."

"I believe some of you should have heard some news!" He paused, his eyes lingering on the faces of these people one by one, inferring the strength of those behind them from their subtle changes in expressions.

After his eyes moved around, he said, "Congress will issue you a franchise."

Some gentlemen who were not in the know straightened their backs immediately. Although they had guesses in this regard, they were still very surprised when it was confirmed!

Anything related to "franchise" means huge profits!

For example, Lance holds the casino operating license. In the entire Jingang City and even Likalai State, only his casino is legally operated.

This means huge profits. If you want to play cards in a big casino, you can only go there.

And now, these franchises represent that they can legally brew wine!
Do they care about who they can sell to and who they can’t?

If they cared about this, they would have changed careers long ago!

What they really care about is being able to brew wine on a large scale and industrially!

These days in the Federation, as long as you have wine, you can sell it and you don’t have to worry about sales.

Seeing the harmonious and excited expressions, Mr. Rao smiled and continued, "But we all know one thing, even if you get the franchise, you will still be regulated on this issue."

"The Prohibition Committee will set up a special management committee to monitor whether your alcohol has entered the market."

“At the same time!”, Mr. Rao emphasized, “…the Executive Committee asked us to form an industry committee for the Congress.”

"In addition to telling you about some basic specifications and requirements of these wines, another thing I asked you to do today is to set up this committee."

"Commissioned by Congress, I will be the honorary chairman of the committee. You need to elect a rotating committee chairman and four executive members. Do you understand what I mean?"

Lance glanced at Mr. Joseph, and Mr. Joseph seemed to feel that Lance was looking at him. He turned to look at Lance and nodded with a smile.

It seems that Mr. Joseph is not that simple. Lance is not sure whether he knew something in advance or wanted to unite himself right away for other reasons.

Lance also nodded in response.

There are a total of seventeen wine merchants here. In addition to the rotating committee chairman and executive members, there are twelve ordinary members.

At this point, no one wants to be just an ordinary committee member. People prefer to become executive members or even committee chairmen.

After Mr. Rao finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room became visibly serious and tense, although they were not sure what power the rotating chairman and executive committee member had.

But something is better than nothing.

Someone asked, "Mr. Rao, how do we choose this candidate?"

People's attention was focused on Mr. Rao again. Mr. Rao smiled and replied, "Everyone can nominate themselves or others. The nominated people can get votes. The person with the highest number of votes will become the rotating chairman and executive member."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Joseph suddenly said, "I recommend Mr. Lance to be the first rotating chairman of the committee. After all, the entire plan was proposed and promoted by Mr. Lance."

"It is all thanks to Mr. Lance that we are able to sit here and discuss this today."

"I think Mr. Lance should be the first rotating chairman!"

Lance narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Mr. Joseph, who gave him a "no need to thank me" expression.

This bastard is definitely not a good person!
But since this bastard had started to move faster, Lance had no intention of backing down.

He looked at Mr. Rao, who nodded slightly, "Of course no problem!"

(End of this chapter)