Shadow Empire

Chapter 622 Who Should You Be Loyal To and Inspecting the Construction Site
Money is something you can never make enough of. Lance firmly believes this.

As long as there are people and desires, there will be a market and ways to make profits.

Since money can never be earned enough, why should we ignore the construction of the environment for the sake of gaining wealth in a short period of time?
If a person is stingy with every penny, he will have no friends.

If he gets into trouble, no one will lend a helping hand. Instead, many people will look forward to putting him on a plate and serving him to the dining table.

Because he was so rich, everyone wanted to get their own share of it. Even if they could only have one bite, it was better than having no bite at all.

But if he is a generous person, then he must have many friends.

Friends surround him not because he is noble, but because of benefits.

In order to prevent these benefits from being divided up by more people, they will ensure that this person will not become the next meal.

A network of interests was formed in this way, and eventually every node connected together became a huge network, a huge umbrella that could resist all crises.

The contract fee is only a part of the total profit of Lanskin Port City, a small part, and he will not be stingy with the money.

And there will be many more people who will benefit from this money, including the Fire Department, Customs, Procuratorate, and even courts and judges.

As long as they dare to take, Lance will give.

When leaving the club in the evening, Director Dale was the last one to walk. He wanted to talk to Lance alone. Lance saw it, so he invited him to get in his car.

He asked the driver to drive around first and not to rush anywhere.

Everyone had drunk a lot of wine, and both of them were smoking at this time, using nicotine to suppress the riot of their thoughts.

After finishing a cigarette and enjoying the evening breeze for a while, and regaining some calmness and rationality, the two began to talk about business.

"I heard...you are quite familiar with Senator Cleveland," Director Dell said tactfully. He could not rely on his current connections in Congress at all.

It’s not that he performed badly. He thought he had tried his best. If it were someone else, he would have been screwed long ago.

He was able to do this and save himself from desperate situations several times. He has already used up his greatest wisdom and ability.

But he also knew one thing, that there were many people like him.

For Congress, the only people who can work for them are top talents like him who graduated from elite alliance colleges.

Such talents are extremely rare in the whole society, perhaps only one in a thousand or ten thousand people.

But from the perspective of gentlemen, there are many reasons, and the reasons are very simple.

They were gathered together.

His stunning performances may have been viewed by the Senators as "meh, good," and that was it.

There are many people who can do what he does among the senators. He is not the only one, nor is he irreplaceable.

When he fails to amaze everyone, he is destined to be abandoned by his circle. After all, to his previous circle, he is just a marginal figure.

Since his previous circle no longer values ​​him, why doesn't he change to another circle?

Senator Cleveland's circle is rising strongly. No one knows how far they can go, but everyone knows that this political circle will be in its "prime" in the next four or even twelve years.

How many four-year or twelve-year periods can a person have in his life?
He decided to take a gamble.

Lance looked at him, and when he saw that he himself felt a little... embarrassed, Lance said, "You are worthless right now, Dale."

"Although I don't want to say it so directly, what is the value of a city's hazardous materials director to a senator?"

"Can you help them deal with their political opponents who hold opposing views, or can you help them win votes in a state?"

"Or can you provide them with a large amount of irreplaceable political resources?"

He shook his head, "No, you can't do anything. Anyone can replace you, even those who are not human."

"A cat or a dog, as long as it is appointed, someone will do its job for it."

“You have no value.”

Lance said it very bluntly and directly, but that was the truth.

He's not irreplaceable, he's not like Lance.

Until the next person who can overturn the current underground world in Jingang City appears, Lance is irreplaceable.

Moreover, it would be difficult for Congress to support intervention in the attempt to overthrow the Lans family because they could not directly interfere with local administration.

They can't ask the mayor to do this or that because it's too far away!

In the underlying social framework of the mayoral system, if the mayor does not seek a higher political status, such as becoming governor or entering Congress, he can completely ignore the hints from Congress.

In particular, this kind of local political forces with factional colors are the most troublesome for Congress, because they don’t care what happens in Congress at all.

Senators will always change and replace, but local factional political forces will be passed down from generation to generation and become stronger and stronger.

In those states ruled by certain families, Congress has not been able to intervene until now. From the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general... to the local mayor, almost all of them are their people.

Are you embarrassing them?

They will only give you uglier ones.

Therefore, Lance's base is very stable and irreplaceable. Without him, the tens of millions of political donations each year will be gone.

Things that can be accomplished with this money will not be accomplished without this money.

So Lance is irreplaceable, he has value, important value, and the Cleveland Senators cannot give up on him or replace him.

We must also treat him well, so that he does not fall into the arms of his political enemies.

Political competition is not as simple as adding one or subtracting one. If resources remain unchanged, if you become a little stronger, you are actually two points ahead of your opponent.

But what does Chief Dale have?
He was just the director of the lowest level of the vertical management agency of Congress. He didn't even need an executive order from the Congressional Prohibition Committee, just a phone call, and he would have to adjust his work quickly.

What makes him irreplaceable?
Lance's words were so poignant that Director Dale didn't know how to refute them. For a moment he fell into silence and lack of confidence.

"Although you have no value to Congress, you still have some value to me now."

"Get rid of those guys you have and go to the State Prohibition Commission."

"Look, the bootlegging business in Jingang City alone can provide us with over 100 million yuan in profits every year. What about the entire state?"

Director Dale's eyes lit up slightly when he heard this. He was not stupid enough to ask Lance why he didn't let Senator Cleveland take advantage of it. Once Lance did that, most of the profits would be sent to Congress again.

Whether it's Lance, him, or anyone else, they are not selfless little bees, they also have their own interests.

So for this matter, at the moment, he seems to be the most suitable candidate.

At the same time, Lance was also sending him an important signal—

Your loyalty is to me, not to Congress!
Seeing Director Dale lost in thought, Lance knew that he understood what he meant, but he did not force Director Dale to express his opinion.

It was indeed a bit difficult for a man of his age to suddenly bow his head and show his loyalty to a gang leader in his twenties.

Lance patted his arm, "Think about it."

“Only practical benefits that can be gained are worth investing in. Those false things may not necessarily come true.”

"We are friends. We should consider each other and fulfill our responsibilities as friends. Don't you agree?"

Director Dale pursed his lips, nodded and said, "You're right, Boss."

Lance was slightly stunned, then he couldn't help laughing. He pointed at Director Dale and said, "You are such an interesting person. I am optimistic about your future!"

He used a slightly joking "Boss" to express his determination without making the scene too awkward or greasy, and also maintained his dignity and demeanor. Talking to smart people is comfortable and pleasant, much more comfortable than those people in the gang.

But when it comes to reassurance, the old brothers are more reassuring.

"After finishing the work during this period, I went to the State Prohibition Committee and won over those people as soon as possible. We gave them money, sex, anything we had and they wanted."

"If someone doesn't give me face, send me his name and information."

"We are a gang. Our methods of dealing with some issues are not that complicated. Do you understand?"

Chief Dale nodded vigorously, "I know what to do."

He has experienced this before. The deputy director was disobedient and has now fled on charges of "occupational crimes". Even if he dies, he will still have a lot of shit to clean up.

This is the gangster style, or Lance's style.

If it were him, he would have to think of many ways and use some political means to deal with it, which would make things full of variables and complexity.

It wasn't as easy as Lance and the others handled it.

The car soon stopped outside the community where Chief Dell lived. After all, he had not yet dealt with his men and still had to take care of some decent issues.

As for the car he left at the club, someone will send it back.

Looking at Director Dale standing there watching his car disappear into the night, Lance smiled and shook his head.

Why does the emperor like jesters? Isn’t it because jesters can make him happy?
Hopefully, Chief Dell gets his money’s worth.

The next day, Chief Blue took the chief of the city fire department to meet Lance. Before the fire chief met Lance, he didn't know how he could have a relationship with this "big shot".

The chief was a local, so he was cautious in his attitude. He knew what Lance and his current position meant to the city and the people who lived here.

Director Blue said there were benefits, and he thought it might be just a few tens of thousands of dollars as a token of his appreciation, but Lance directly gave him one million.

At the same time, I also told him the most basic requirements:

"Everyone needs to get a share of this money, even the guard at the door of your fire station."

"This is a long-term matter, so I hope you can use your brain and not let me pay this money and still make people think that I did something wrong. Do you understand what I mean?"

The chief of the fire station nodded repeatedly. As a local, he was very decisive. "I know what you mean, Mr. Lance."

"I will distribute most of this money equally to all firefighters and tell them that this money comes from your free donation."

Lance was very satisfied after hearing this. He was a pragmatic person.

The joy of having money in hand and being able to spend it at will lies here, and after spending this money, it will come back in other forms in the future, which makes it even more pleasant.

"The city is constantly expanding, and the scope that the fire department needs to take care of is also getting bigger and bigger. I heard that our fire department hasn't updated its equipment for some time?"

The fire chief nodded quickly, "That's right, our fire truck is still from more than ten years ago..."

"I will donate another 20 of the latest fire trucks to you, hoping that they can reduce the casualties of our firefighters and enable you to save more lives and property of the people."

If kowtow was not unpopular among federal people, the fire chief would have been eager to kowtow to Lance right now!
Firefighting is a very dangerous job, and many insurance companies will refuse to provide commercial insurance when they hear that you are a firefighter.

In this era of relatively backward equipment, the environment at the fire scene will not become simpler just because of the backward fire-fighting equipment, and serious casualties may occur if you are not careful.

Fire protection in cities has always been a top priority, but people don’t care much about the safety of firefighters.

Lance not only gave them some benefits, but also donated some fire trucks, which made the fire chief completely speechless.

How about applying to build a fire station next to Lance's office?

The weather in September was getting hotter and hotter, and it was already the hottest time of the year. Lance's work of infiltrating the city government system was temporarily paused because Bruni came.

This time Bruni came here to check the progress of the construction of the military base. Although the Dantra Republic did not give a positive diplomatic response to the federal government's establishment of a naval base in Jingang City, they began to increase the number of patrolling warships in the Eastern Ocean and continued to invade northward.

This is a very dangerous sign that they are testing, and this testing that does not happen is more disturbing than the testing that is spoken.

The Ministry of National Defense and the Presidential Office decided to arrange for warships to come as soon as possible. Even if the military base has not been built, at least they must ensure that there is a military counterattack capability here.

As a major general in the Ministry of Defense, Bruni is considered the forerunner. The navy will arrive here around the end of October.

With another month and a half left, he had to ensure that the camp's infrastructure was completed so that the naval officers and soldiers would have a place to live.

When Lance met Bruni, there was another guy with him, Owen (the mayor's secretary).

Originally, the mayor should be responsible for this kind of thing, but everyone subconsciously skipped the mayor's link.

But this time it was official business, and according to official procedures, the Ministry of National Defense sent a document to the Jingang City Hall, so the mayor knew that Bruni was coming.

He originally wanted to entertain the major general of the Ministry of Defense himself, but when Bruni arrived, he directly asked to hand over to Lance. After being stunned for a while, the mayor sent his secretary to accompany him throughout the process.

The reason was very simple. He himself was in “poor health” and could not accompany him throughout the trip, so he arranged for a mayor’s secretary to accompany him.

If he has any needs, he can tell his secretary, who can help him handle various official matters.

Bruni did not refuse this because it is possible that he really needs it.

The two met at another hotel in Jingang City. Bruni's face was full of smiles as soon as they met because they were "good friends."

Under Owen's somewhat surprised and suspicious gaze, the two did not shake hands but hugged each other directly.

It was Bruni who first made the hug gesture, and Lance followed suit.

"I've always wanted to come over, but there's too much work at the Ministry of Defense. You know, it's all related to that big guy across the sea!"

Lance nodded, "I can understand. The Dantra Military Alliance is gradually going crazy. I heard that they have already invaded Slade?"

Major General Bruni nodded solemnly, "Yes, and they also carried out massacres in the captured cities."

His tone was a little heavy when he said these words. Massacre is a barbaric act, but as warring countries, although everyone is disgusted with this behavior, they are not disgusted to the point of being unable to listen to it.

After all, the federals themselves were not good people either. After they came to this land, they also massacred many local indigenous people.

My butt is covered in shit, so I can't laugh at other people's butts that have shit on them.

Lance sighed, "This is terrible news. No wonder there are more and more refugees."

Major General Bruni nodded. He didn't want to say more on this issue. "So the Ministry of Defense sent me here to inspect the construction situation here."

Lance glanced at his watch. "If you don't have other work, we can go to the site now and take a look."

Major General Bruni stood up and said, "That's what I hope for, too."

Lance glanced at the mayor's secretary, who smiled and lowered his head without saying anything.

The group quickly went to the construction site of the naval base. When Major General Bruni got out of the car and went to a high place with Lance to overlook the entire construction site, an expression of shock appeared on his face!

The basic leveling work of the ground of the entire naval base has basically been completed, and some underground space is being built according to the drawings.

There are many huge water pipes on the construction site, which constantly spray water mist at the workers around to cool them down.

Just by looking at it, you can feel how hot the construction site is!

Major General Bruni couldn't help but turn his head to look at Lance at the huge construction site with tens of thousands of people. "They..."

He only managed one word and couldn't say any more. He wanted to ask something like "How do they bear the heat?" but he soon realized that it was pointless to ask this question.

Everyone here is a refugee. If they don't want to work, there are plenty of people outside who will do the job. So there is no need to worry about issues like the working environment. As long as you don't die from working, you will work yourself to death.

"Concrete laying has begun in some places around here, and we expect to complete the concrete laying and solidification work by the end of this month..."

(End of this chapter)