Shadow Empire

Chapter 769: When something is linked to politics, it becomes bizarre
Every wealthy family is keen on large estates, which allows all family members to live together as much as possible, instead of requiring them to learn to be "independent" and move out because of poverty.

Letting children leave home after high school or high school graduation is just a helpless response of poor families, as it is difficult for them to support the expenses of an extra adult.

In order to avoid these embarrassing problems, the federal society packaged the fact that parents were unable to raise their children due to poverty as allowing children to gain freedom in advance.

But many people just fall for it, especially those in foreign countries who are blinded by federal propaganda.

Fran stood by the window and watched Ted and his two men walking quickly towards the parking lot in the courtyard, his eyes fixed on Ted's background.

I didn't look away until I saw him get into the car and drive away.

He turned and looked at the gentlemen in the room, slowly walked to his chair and pulled away, "So, should I say something?"

As he spoke, he sat down. The excellent workmanship of the leather chair will allow the action of sitting down to have a "deflation" process, with the seat cushion slowly sinking and stopping when it sinks to just the right degree.

He crossed his hands on the table in front of him and looked at his good brother Bob.

In fact, Bob was the cause of this incident. Of course, he would not admit at this time that he also needed to bear joint responsibility for letting Bob go.

Bob scratched his head, "How about we fight back?"

Fran nodded without changing his expression. "Good idea. How do we fight back?"

Bob was a little "stuck" again. He hesitated for a long time, looking at this and that, "We can drive the Lance family's business out of other places!"

"They have a lot of movie theaters in the Golden State and some in other states, and we can destroy all of them and make him pay a huge price for his arrogance."

He seemed to forget that it was he, not Lance, who was truly arrogant.

But this is a manifestation of arrogance. Arrogant people never think that they are wrong.

Even if it is the world that is wrong, it cannot be me!

Fran still nodded, "How much does a movie theater cost? Will it be painful for him?"

The cost of building a cinema nowadays is only tens of thousands of dollars. Just because they burned down those cinemas doesn’t mean the land was also burned down.

As long as the land is still there, they can rebuild a new cinema anytime and anywhere, and the cost is not expensive.

The price of a cinema is just the profit of a few dozen bottles of wine, and no one will feel the pain of the profit of a few dozen bottles of wine.

Fran raised his hand and pointed at the ceiling. "Besides!" He emphasized, "They can do this to us too!"

"The Maple Kite Farm was their counterattack. They burned our million-dollar maple kite. If we didn't have other farms and some inventory, it would be difficult for us to deliver this year."

"The harm he has done to us is much more painful than the harm we have done to him!"

Another family member whispered, "He is not afraid of going to war with us."

Fran shook his head. "He knows that the price we pay for going to war with us is the same as the price he pays."

The family lawyer took over, "Actually, what we do is entirely up to you, Fran."

"You want him to pay the price, and we will do as you say."

"If you are willing to temporarily put aside your hostility towards him, then we can stop."

Bob gave the brother a kind look, then looked back at Fran.

Fran also had a headache, actually.

The reactions of the Lance family and Lance himself, as well as their toughness, far exceeded his imagination.

He was really shocked to see such a cruel revenge in such a short time!

Now people outside are starting to laugh at them again. If they can't handle this matter, the family's reputation will be damaged to a certain extent.

After all, they were slapped in the face, but they chose to be "magnanimous". It is hard not to think that they are weak and retreating when facing a force more ferocious than them.

When a politician appears weak, he becomes a stepping stone for other politicians.

If a capitalist shows weakness, he will be put on the table by other capitalists.

If a gang shows weakness, the hungry wolves around it will hold a bonfire party around it.

He glanced at the lawyer brother who was speaking and gave him a sidelong look of reproach. They were all direct relatives here, but there were also distinctions of closeness and distance.

It's better not to say such things when there are many people around.

However, he was also very clear that the purpose of his lawyer brothers' words was to prevent external conflicts from becoming internal conflicts under excessive external pressure.

Unify thoughts, unite fronts, either fight or stop, you must choose one.

Old man Rong Yao, who had been silent, spoke again, "I can understand Fran's concerns."

"We don't have any powerful allies in the south, so we're thankful that those Griffin bastards don't cause us any trouble."

"We are obviously much stronger than the Lans family, but if we go to war with them, we will lose the advantage of being at home. Even if we are stronger, we will be in a passive position."

"We don't have any advantage in fighting."

"If we don't fight, those people outside will laugh at us, our authority will be hit, and our business will be affected, so this is indeed a dilemma."

A young man sitting in the corner asked, "Even if we mobilize all our forces, can't we solve the Lance family?"

The old man shook his head, and in the young man's slightly surprised expression, he said something else, "Of course not."

"We may be able to deal with the Lance family, but how can he be our opponent?"

"But now we can't mobilize our manpower on a large scale to do this. Congress should have already called." He looked at Fran.

Fran nodded and admitted, "After we burned down the theater, he called me and warned me not to do anything so extreme again."

Although more than a dozen innocent people died, in essence, to the masters, it was just a "prank".

But even if it was just a joke, they reminded Fran in time that the first time could be considered a joke, but the second time was a deliberate act.

This is also the reason why it is difficult for him to make a choice now.

The old man continued, "Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have such a hard time choosing. We would just send someone over to crush them."

The young man probably understood what he wanted to express, shook his head and stopped talking.

The other raised his hand and said, "I have an idea."

Fran took out a cigarette, and his son Robin came over with a lighter to light it for him, "You say."

"We can fight them again. Isn't Ted going to Indenor State to bring back Milo?"

"From what I know about Ted, he definitely won't just bring Milo back. He will definitely go looking for trouble with Lance."

"He wants to fight Lance, so we support him in fighting Lance. It would be best if the fight is bigger. Then we can find someone to mediate."

"This will not only convey to the outside world that we have no intention of backing down, but will also temporarily end this fight in a decent and appropriate way."

"When the war is over, we will crush them."

This gentleman's words made all the gentlemen in the room fall into deep thought. Fran frowned and thought about it. It must be said that this is indeed a good idea.

It's like a lion provoked by a hyena and has started to bite. It shows its majesty, but the zoo administrators terminate its hunting plan.

The outside world will never view it as a "coward", but will only think that it can take the overall situation into consideration, and under the pressure of Congress, a mafia family, even a black political and financial complex, can only bow its head temporarily.

Even the president has to bow his head, let alone Fran Perez?
It avoids all current troubles and does not show weakness. It is a good idea.

However, he did not express his opinion immediately, but looked at his other brothers.

Bob was the first to speak out in support, "I think it's fine. We got it respectably and didn't suffer any loss. Others can't say anything."

The old man who always talked about glory also stomped his cane and said, "Okay, that's a good idea."

Soon everyone seemed to have reached a consensus on this matter, and Fran nodded slowly, and the matter was decided.

But what happens next won't be much easier. Since they still have to fight, how to fight and to what extent, this also needs to be discussed.

However, everyone reached a consensus on this issue much faster, and that was to show the power of the Perez family. Even though they all knew that it would be mediated in the end, at least before the mediation, they had to let people see their power!

After discussing the details for a while, Fran asked them all to leave, leaving him alone.

He went over the whole thing in his mind again and then made a phone call to a senator in Congress.

The phone was quickly picked up, "This is the manor of..."

"My name is Fran, and I want to speak to the Senator."

"Please wait a moment. I will tell the Senator."

"He's socializing right now, so he may not answer."

About seven or eight minutes later, footsteps were heard in the receiver. "The senator has five minutes to spare for you. Don't hang up. Keep the call open. He will answer your call in the study."

Soon he heard the sound of the phone being hung up, but there was no busy tone.

After waiting for about twenty or thirty seconds, the call was picked up again.

"What's the matter?" There were sounds of a lighter being lit and a cigarette being smoked from the other end of the line. It seemed that the Senator was using the time to "smoke a cigarette" to chat with him.

The guests he was entertaining must not be ordinary people.

Fran didn't dare to delay too long and quickly told what had happened.

“…That’s roughly the situation.”

"Both he and I have been set up, and neither of us can bow down first. And I think there is a high probability that they will not take the initiative to make peace with us."

"So in order to prevent the situation from escalating further, we need a middleman."

The Senate understood, "So to put it bluntly, you don't want to lose face, but you don't want to actually do it?"

Fran was a little embarrassed and annoyed, "If I really want to do it, will you allow me to do it?"

“There are tens of thousands of members of the Perez family. I am willing to take action. Do you dare to let me do it?”

The sharp question left the senator unable to react for a moment. Indeed, the most important thing now is to maintain domestic social stability.

If the Perez family really wants to launch an all-out war, Congress will suppress them immediately and the military will also be dispatched.

The two sides have cooperation or interest relations in many areas, and the senator would not want to see this scene. The reason why he used such a mocking rhetoric was not entirely malicious.

He just stood at the pinnacle of his life and made a joke to a small and powerful character in his opinion.

But Fran's reaction was so strong that he had to think seriously about it.

Two minutes later, he agreed, "Okay, I think your plan is feasible. Call me when you need me..."

The Senator agreed, then he hung up the phone, leaned back in his chair, took a few puffs of his cigarette, and then put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

There wasn't much joy on his face, he just looked calm.

He returned to the side hall, and his colleagues greeted him warmly when they saw him coming back.

He sat down at his seat and asked with a smile, "Where were you talking about?"

"We're talking about the new FBI director, the one appointed by the president. Do you know him?"

The senator nodded repeatedly. He picked up a piece of fruit from the table and put it in his mouth to neutralize the slight bitter taste after smoking. "I know. It is said that he is a very capable person."

The senator he was talking to nodded and said, "He has submitted a bill to Congress through the Presidential Palace. The bill on expanding the FBI's authority should be delivered to you soon."

"This bill mentions that the police forces in various parts of the federation have been bribed by local capitalists and gangs due to serious corruption. They are no longer able to be defenders of the law and have become involved with those evil forces."

"He intends to expand the FBI's authority to higher than local law enforcement powers. He wants to intervene in public security cases, criminal cases, all kinds of cases, even espionage cases and political cases."

The Senator chewed some fruit with a slightly surprised expression and exclaimed, "He is so ambitious!"

"But if he does this, he will offend police officers across the federation, which is tantamount to snatching power from them."

The senator who told the news had a nonchalant expression on his face, "Who made the police corruption problem so serious now?"

"He picked a good time, a good entry point, and I heard that this bill will pass."

"And you know, it's actually not bad for us."

The police system is also an independent system, and the power belongs to governments at all levels, but the FBI belongs to the Presidential Office, and of course Congress can also intervene.

In other words, the highest ruling group of the Language Federation has put its hands into the pockets of the relatively independent ruling groups at lower levels. The real opposition will come from the city-level governments, the lowest-level law enforcement officers, and the rulers.

This is indeed very special news, but they did not discuss this issue in depth. Anyway, it is good for them, which means that Congress will not make things difficult for the new director on this bill!
As for the people below?

As long as they want federal funding, they have to accept this outcome.

Later, Robin (Fran's son) took the initiative to find Ted who was recruiting people. After all, they were all family, and he knew where to find this guy.

Ted seemed a little surprised by Robin's sudden arrival and didn't know what to say for a moment.

His office was filled with people inside and outside, and it looked like they were preparing to do something big, and he couldn't hide it at all.

Just when he was about to respond with silence, Robin asked everyone in his office to leave.

Others did not follow suit.

Although they are also members of the Perez family, it is Ted who pays them, not Robin or anyone else.

Ted nodded slightly, and these people went out one after another from the door behind Robin.

When they passed Robin, the looks they gave him were filled with questioning, defiant and even provocative eyes!
Robin smiled and walked over to sit across from Ted's desk, very naturally and easily, "Are you ready to avenge Milo?"

Ted didn't say anything, Robin continued to laugh and said, "Kang Mang, brother, you can't fool me!"

Although Ted is much older than Robin and only slightly younger than Fran, they are of the same generation in terms of seniority.

Ted didn't know what Robin wanted to do by coming here. Was it Fran's idea or someone else's? He could only remain silent until he figured it out.

Robin laughed twice more, "You are cautious and wary of me, which is a good thing."

"Actually, I came here to tell you that father is not stopping you from taking revenge, but you know the current family situation and the external pressure."

"As the de facto leader of the family, he has so many things to consider!"

"There are some things he can allow you to do, but you can't say them out loud."

"He can't just say in front of everyone, 'Let's just get revenge and ignore everything else,' right?"

"You think he doesn't know what you're going to do in Indenor?"

"He knows, that's why he asked me to come and talk to you about it!"

Hearing Robin say this, the coldness on Ted's face warmed up a little, and his expression became a lot more natural. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Robin was still smiling, "See, it's not that difficult!"

"Fran was afraid that you would leave too hastily and suffer losses in the past, so he asked me to transfer another group of people to you."

"There are about two hundred of them, all of them are good workers in the family."

"Weapons, and a special train. You can choose to go to Indeno Province first, or appear directly in Likalai Province. It's all up to you."

"At the same time, he asked me to tell you something——"

“Don’t let people look down on the Perez family!”

(End of this chapter)