Shadow Empire

Chapter 713 Parting on bad terms
"I disagree!"

The guy with golden brown hair sitting opposite Lance directly objected and looked at Lance with an unfriendly look.

The emergence of Golden Lion Wine is actually plundering the market of Gold Label Wine. They have almost identical bottles, and although there are differences, the wine labels are almost the same at first glance.

Although Golden Lion Wine has only spread in Likalai State and surrounding areas and occupied the market, it is difficult for Golden Label Wine to counterattack in the market occupied by Golden Lion Wine.

Because the channels were completely controlled by Lans, it was impossible for them to reopen the channels and deliver their wine to the sales terminals.

At least not until Prohibition ended.

There was no way they could resell Gold Label to the market Lance embraced, and he was sure Lance would report them if they did.

But on the other hand, he couldn't report Lance because he also had to sell the wines to the general market.

If he reported Lance, would Lance report him too?

In short, this is a very bad situation. Lance's claim that Jingang City's annual wine and beverage market is worth 200 million is equivalent to cutting their flesh!
The pain was so severe that he couldn't sleep!
Now Lance still wants to be the rotating chairman of the industry committee?
He sneered and asked me if I had asked him.
In short, he didn't agree no matter what.

Mr. Joseph was like a dog raised by Lance at this moment. He jumped out and bit Lance before he could react. "Mr. Lance is the initiator and promoter of the plan. He is of great help to our return to the market."

"Although Mr. Lance is young, I have talked with him and I am impressed by his wise conversation and words. Do you understand what I mean?"

"You can't just look at him as a young man, he has a great mind and he will help us develop more smoothly!"

"No matter what you decide, I firmly support Mr. Lance as the first rotating chairman."

Someone next to him immediately said, "I also support Mr. Lance to be the rotating chairman."

There were four or five people supporting Lance, plus Lance himself, and it seemed that he had nearly half of the supporters.

How could the guys at Gold Label Wines allow such a thing to happen? Although no one knows exactly what this industry committee is going to do or what it will do, it is definitely a committee that will have a huge impact on the future of the wine industry.

Even though the chairmanship is rotated and it seems that everyone has a chance, in fact, not everyone here has the opportunity to sit in that position.

If Lance sits on it first, the chances of him sitting on it later will be smaller.

Similarly, if he sits on it first, it will be more difficult for Lance to "usurp the throne".

This is something that cannot be compromised!
Lance lit a cigarette. "You only said you were against it, but you didn't say why. I don't know what I should call you?"

"Richard."

Someone said something.

"Mr. Richard, you are very hostile to me."

Everyone in the room looked at the two of them as if they were watching a show. Mr. Richard glanced at him and said, "You stole our market with despicable means, and you still expect me to support you with a smile?"

Someone expressed doubts. Not everyone's wine was sold to Likalai Province. After all, it was a little far from the wineries in the north.

In the past, when the profits from alcohol were not so outrageous, the shipping costs were enough to prevent them from competing with local alcohol in the South, so they were not aware of these things.

But some people knew that after they gave a brief explanation, there were some subtle changes in the way these people looked at Lance and Richard.

On the one hand, they were amazed at how brave Lance was. Even though the Prohibition had already been issued, he was still frantically brewing alcohol and selling it to the market. Was he really not afraid of death?
On the other hand, they didn't expect that the main market of Gold Label Wine had been hollowed out by Lans.

The main market for Gold Label Liquor is in the south, and at least one-third of their market share has been taken away by Lens. The key is the one-third with the strongest consumption capacity, so there must be irreconcilable contradictions between the two sides.

After hearing this, people began to look forward to their subsequent performance, as such a good show can't be seen at any time.

Mr. Rao actually didn’t quite understand what exactly happened. Now, after listening to those people’s “popularization”, he realized that there were indeed difficult-to-resolve conflicts between the two sides.

He frowned slightly.

Behind Lance is the small group of Senator Cleveland, who were already on the rise and now have huge wealth in their hands.

Wealth is a resource. For these top politicians, with the blessing of power, money has become a panacea that can solve all problems.

There has been some talk in Congress that this small group of people, including Senator Cleveland, might consider pushing for the next presidential election.

After all, they are not short of money now, and spending tens of millions to try to push a president into office will be of great benefit to them.

No matter whether the president cooperates with the senators or the senators cooperate with the president, the person who holds the initiative will always gain more benefits and supreme power!
From Mr. Rao's perspective, he hopes that Lance can actually win the election as the rotating chairman of the committee, so that he can gain some favor with Senator Cleveland.

He glanced at Mr. Richard with a hint of disgust in his eyes.

The emotions of the old federal men are so direct. If you do something that is not good for me, I will hate you.

Lance completely denied Richard's accusation, "When my wine appeared on the market, the market was completely blank."

"Have you engraved your name on the liquor sales channels in Jingang City?"

"Why, you don't even sell it yourself, so you won't allow others to sell it?"

"If I were you I wouldn't say that, you'd just make people think you're childish and ridiculous."

"You are not a child anymore, and nothing belongs to you. You can fight for what you have lost instead of crying for your mother!"

Mr. Richard's face started to turn red after hearing all this criticism. He had never been treated so harshly in his life.

Whether when he was a child, or when he grew up, during his teenage years, or even older until now, even if someone was unfriendly to him, he would not be so direct.

"Your wine bottles and labels are imitating our products. You are opening up the market by counterfeiting our products!"

Facing Mr. Richard who was already talking without thinking, Lance knocked on the table with his hand, "Go and sue me, the city court, the circuit court, the federal supreme court, go and sue me."

"If you can win the lawsuit, I will compensate you for whatever amount you deserve."

"You can still compete with me. If you lower the price of alcohol, I don't believe those drunkards will choose more expensive products instead of cheaper ones!"

After all, the price of Gold Label is relatively high. It's not that they can't lower it, but the board of directors and shareholders may not agree. Mr. Rao saw that the two had stopped arguing, so he interrupted and said, "You are not asked to choose the rotating chairman of the selection committee now. You still have a few days."

"So you can think about it first, and you can also canvass for votes. We are democratic and free. You have a week."

"So does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?"

People started discussing enthusiastically again, except for Lance and Mr. Richard who remained silent.

During this time, Mr. Joseph met Lance's gaze many times and smiled kindly, looking like he was really doing this for Lance's good.

Mr. Rao originally meant for everyone to have lunch together at noon and then take a photo as a souvenir. Maybe one day he would use this photo on his back.

Because Mr. Richard refused to appear in the same frame with Lance, the plan was eventually cancelled. Richard and several wine merchants on his side left in a hurry after the meeting.

This made Mr. Rao a little embarrassed and a little irritated.

It seems that he is not giving face to Lance, but in fact he is not giving face to Rao. If Mr. Richard falls into his hands, he will definitely squeeze the bastard to make him piss!

The lunch was still held, but there were not so many people. Mr. Rao was not in the mood to say much and just said a few words during lunch.

Everyone seemed to notice that he was not in a very good mood and did not take the initiative to join in the lively conversation.

After dinner, everyone said goodbye.

Lance happened to be with Joseph when he left, or perhaps Joseph was deliberately waiting for Lance to leave. He also deliberately asked the driver to park the car on the side of the road and let Lance go first.

Looking at the smiling face behind the car window, Lance smiled just as happily.

This piece of shit.

He had some guesses as to why Mr. Joseph set a trap for him as soon as they met.

He was sure that Mr. Joseph and Mr. Richard had some conflicts, and he did not want Richard to become the rotating chairman, as that would make his own life difficult.

However, he might not be willing to take such a big risk if he were to go head to head with a wine merchant like Gold Label that has a certain status in the federation.

From a certain perspective, they are actually on the same level. Because of Prohibition, they have not sold alcohol to the public until now, and their market share has dried up.

It would be bad for both companies if they started a bidding war, so Mr. Joseph found a rival for Gold Label.

As for whether Lance would notice this and whether he would feel disgusted with him, he actually didn't care much.

Anyway, there are not many opportunities to meet, and even if Lance wants to cause trouble for him, he has to deal with Mr. Richard and the Gold Label Wines behind him first.

In fact, he didn't think from the bottom of his heart that they could "kill" each other, and it was very likely that neither of them would become the rotating chairman. As long as this was achieved, he would be satisfied!

But he overlooked one thing, or perhaps Lance's performance was too good, making people subconsciously forget that Lance White was not just a pure businessman, he was also the leader of a gang!

Politicians and capitalists will often present facts and reason with you, but gangsters don’t need that!
When we returned to the hotel in the afternoon, Tom had been waiting for a while.

"I thought you'd be back by lunch," Tom shrugged, "so my bill is on yours."

Lance walked up to him with a smile. Now they were friends, but there was no formal social etiquette like shaking hands between friends.

"These are all small matters. Mr. Rao is very enthusiastic. He has already asked. We can't refuse his invitation, right?"

"Besides, this is the first time we've met. It's not nice to reject someone the first time."

Some people pay attention to this and attach great importance to the first time. If he is rejected the first time, he may feel that Lance has a problem with him.

As they walked, Tom handed over the sealed document bag in his briefcase. "Don't open it until you hand it over to the Ministry of Defense."

Lance glanced at the document in his hand. It was sealed tightly. Tom thought he could read his confusion. "Because of the problem of the Procurement Law, this bidding is actually open to some companies in the industry."

"Of course you don't have to worry about them affecting the final result, because the result has already been decided."

"It's just to ... you know, we make laws and we abide by them."

He forced himself to explain it, even though there was really nothing wrong with the word order and the content he expressed.

Lance nodded and said, "I understand. It's fair, just and open."

Tom paused for a moment, then took a quick step to catch up with Lance, "You summed it up very well. You always give me some surprises, Lance!"

To be fair, just and open, placing them alone does not give people any surprise, just like those...sexy clothes.

It may be placed in a display window all your life and you won't realize how attractive it is until it is worn by someone!

These words are very short and powerful, very suitable for use in some speeches. He will remember them and use them in his own manuscript one day.

When they came to the elevator, Tom stopped there and said, "I won't go up with you. Don't forget to go to the Ministry of Defense at three o'clock this afternoon!"

Lance nodded, but didn't force Tom to sit up. There was no need for that.

He went back to his room to rest for a while, and Tom called him at 2:20.

Forty minutes was enough to get from his hotel to the Ministry of Defense.

At 2:45, Lance's car was released after inspection and allowed to enter the Ministry of Defense parking lot.

At 2:50, he appeared in the lobby on the first floor of the Ministry of National Defense and, led by the staff, walked towards the multi-functional conference room on the same floor.

Many military personnel on the road showed curiosity about Lance. Twenty-three years old is still a very young age, plus he is handsome, some people even thought he was a star who came to participate in the conscription that the Ministry of Defense is continuously promoting.

Some people suggested that they should pay celebrities to advertise for them and take posters to attract more young people to join the army, and this plan was adopted.

(End of this chapter)