Shadow Empire

Chapter 732: The Middleman [666+7]
There are brokers in politics who will solve your problems for you as long as you are willing to pay a price, money, commitment, sex, or what others need.

From the unresolved conflicts between factory pollution and nearby residents to the presidential candidates wanting to use unconventional tactics.

As long as the price you pay is high enough, you will definitely get the desired result.

Broker is a profession that will always exist. This directly solves the pain points of all the characters who are making the leap to the greatest extent possible.

Having unequal resources but not exchanging them, so strictly speaking, a broker is a resource exchanger.

There are brokers in politics, in the entertainment industry, in the capital circle, and in the underworld.

These brokers are active in the underground world of the Federation. They are like greedy hyenas, locking onto every injured prey with eyes full of lust.

They don't personally participate in the hunt, they just nibble on some oil after the hunt is over.

The person Joshua was going to call was a gangster broker, a very resourceful man.

Once his men fail to take care of Lance's men and Lance is ready for revenge, he will need to consider a retreat.

Since Lance was able to mobilize the Hazardous Materials Administration, the State Police, and even the State Attorney to fight him, it was not difficult for him to imagine that when Lance really arrived here, he would definitely not be just a gangster with weapons.

There are also police, law enforcement officers, and even... the military.

He needs to buy himself an insurance policy before all this happens.

The call was quickly connected, and Joshua could even hear the noise and laughter coming from the receiver, which sounded like the excitement of a party.

"This is Adams, who are you looking for?"

Joshua got a headache when he heard the name, "I'm Joshua."

"Joshua?" Mr. Adams' tone rose slightly, "I thought you had found someone else!"

He laughed as he spoke, because he knew very well that the worse Joshua's condition was, the more flesh he could dig out of Joshua!

"Wait for me a moment, it's too noisy here, I'm going to the study, don't hang up."

After about three or four minutes, another voice came from the receiver, "There's a queue going on at home, a spring break queue, it was a bit noisy, but now it's fine, it's quiet."

"So…Joshua, what do you want me to do for you?"

Joshua's expression was not good, but there was nothing he could do. "You should know what happened recently."

Adams is still very powerful in the southern region of the Federation. He has friendships with many gang leaders, but he has not yet established a relationship with Lance. The main reason is that Lance has not encountered any troubles that he cannot solve.

In this situation, even if Adams was very capable and well connected, he had no way of successfully hooking up with Lance.

Only when Lance is in trouble can he appear in front of Lance as a "savior", help him, and gain his promise and favor.

But except for Lance, he is more or less friendly towards other gangsters.

Naturally, he also knew about the big things that happened in the past few days.

The Holy Bell Party in Likalai State suffered a severe blow. A large number of criminal facts were thrown in front of the people, leaving them no time to react.

In particular, some girls also stood in front of the camera and told the public about a series of things such as being kidnapped, violated, and abused.

They exposed all the things that cannot be exposed!
For the conservative landlord class, things like human trafficking and racial discrimination don't matter to them, and they even support them.

Few of the early federal farmers were good people. Many of them would actively kidnap passers-by and force them to work for them. Violation and abuse were commonplace.

But they are firmly against anything that goes against tradition, like smuggling and selling alcohol, selling paid escorts, and the like.

For some ordinary people, smuggling and selling illegal liquor does not seem to be a problem. After all, everyone has needs sometimes, including being called in. Isn't this great? !

But they cannot accept racial discrimination, human trafficking, or even violations and abuse.

So they offended everyone at once, and because of their religious background, even the patriarchs in the southern region have begun to accuse them of bringing discredit to the Lord.

From top to bottom, everyone is moving away from them. They are in big trouble.

Adams and some other friends who are also brokers talked about this matter during their conversations. After all, it is so popular.

They all believed that the only way out for the Holy Bell Gang now was to disband on the spot and then form a new gang.

However, they also have a troublesome problem, which is that they are too deeply tied to religious beliefs. Once they are dissolved, it is likely to lead to unpredictable consequences.

The collapse of faith is no joke, so they all believe that Joshua and his father's success comes from their combination of gangs and faith, and the biggest drawback also lies here.

Simply put, it's a dead end. The more dead end it is, the more money brokers like Adams can make.

"Although I don't quite understand why you want to provoke Lance, but things have come to this point, what are you going to do?"

Adams knew that Lance had connections in Congress. He even heard that Lance might have proposed a plan in Congress that had received a lot of support.

With his status and connections, knowing these things is already the limit, so he found it very funny.

A little kid holding a branch to provoke a giant carrying a large-caliber howitzer, isn't this courting death?
Even though the entire federal society is now almost rampant with gangs, this is actually just another "social experiment". Once Congress feels that there is no need to continue in this way, the gangs will soon be cleaned up.

Lance was the truly smart one, and he quickly began to seek change.

It was just that he couldn't tell Joshua or anyone else what he knew for free, and other people wouldn't proactively ask about this question that might require paying a favor and had nothing to do with them directly.

Therefore, apart from the top gangsters, not many people know about it.

"I would like to ask for your help in mediating when necessary."

"Is there any way to calm down the public opinion?"

“As long as people stop talking about it, we’ll have more room to deal with it.”

Adams fell into deep thought, and Joshua did not dare to disturb him, but just hoped for such a possibility.

After four or five minutes, Adams spoke up and said, "It's easy to suppress public opinion, but it's not that easy to mediate. Lance and I, as well as the people around me, don't have any direct relationship with Lance. He may not buy into our story."

Joshua also knew this situation. He emphasized his tone a little, "What if we let the five major families come forward?"

The five major families he mentioned are definitely not the "Five Major Families of Jingang City" that have become a thing of the past, but the five "Federal Criminal Emperor Families" in the true sense.

These five families are involved in a large number of criminal businesses throughout the Federation.

Many gangs have business dealings with them, or have some personal connections with them, and they are also said to have the support of members of Congress.

It should be possible to ask a big shot of this level to mediate the conflict.

Adams took a breath. He didn't expect Joshua's idea to be so "big". "Have you thought about it?"

"How much do you need to pay to invite people from the five major families?"

"It's possible that you will become a direct subordinate of one of their families, or they will take away most of what you have now."

Joshua was actually mentally prepared, and compared to taking a dead end, he could accept these things.

"And, Adams, I'm not saying I'm going to look for them right now. I'm going to fight Lance first and test his abilities."

"If I'm no match for him, I'll call you. I mean you have to be ready."

"But if I win..."

Adams whistled, "If you win, you'll win big, and you'll have a chance to participate in the combine this summer."

The joint conference he mentioned belongs to the "Congress" of the federal underworld, a joint meeting composed of the leaders of major gangs in the federation.

They are actually modeled after Congress, and they meet once every one or two years to resolve business disputes and then redefine their respective business scope.

The five major families are equivalent to the initiators, organizers, and apparently the highest-ranking members of the joint meeting.

Many people are eager to join the Federal Mafia Conference, which is not only a symbol of status, but also represents countless benefits.

If Joshua can replace Lance and control the smuggling in Jingang City, then many international smuggling businesses of gangs in surrounding areas will pass through him.

As long as he stayed out of it and ensured the safety of the goods within the state of Likalai, he could ask for a share of the profits.

They can make money by doing nothing, that's why they want to join.

Whether it’s a salesperson, a politician, a congressman, or a gang leader, from this other perspective, everyone is working hard and hoping to go higher!
Indeed, the Federation is a country full of hard work, struggle and miracles!

Joshua banished the image of himself sitting at the long table from his mind. He coughed and said, "Anyway, try to find out who is willing to take the job during this period of time."

"When the time comes, I will call you if necessary, and you can start right away to avoid wasting time."

Adams thought for a while and said, "This job is a bit difficult. Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, give me $150,000. If I help you contact someone, give me $500,000, and you owe me a favor."

At this critical moment of life and death, he would be willing to give not only 500,000, but even 5 million!
“No problem, give me an account…”

(End of this chapter)