Empire of Shadows

In the warm room, Lance and Mayor Williams sat on the sofa, with Arthur standing before them, head lowered.

Everyone had been busy these past two days. Once things settled down, Mayor Williams invited Lance to his home for dinner—a standard family meal.

Patricia went to be with Emily, who was already showing. Patricia also placed great importance on this child, whether it be a younger brother or sister.

She had never been separated from her parents for such a long time. Now that she was married to Lance, she lived with him, and although she was happy, she also had her own thoughts.

She always felt a little regretful that she couldn't be by her parents' side.

So, she was very happy and fond of the idea that this little one would come out and keep her parents company in her place.

She didn't have any thoughts like, "This little thing is going to come and take my inheritance," and she didn't really care about the family fortune anyway.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams weren't exactly super wealthy, but they had ensured that Patricia had lived a life of comfort and plenty since she was a child, so she wasn't that eager for money, nor did she have a clear understanding of it.

Emily was experiencing some pregnancy-related physiological reactions, and Patricia, worried about her, took the initiative to take care of her. So, Lance came to the family dinner alone that evening.

Before dinner started, Arthur expressed his sincere gratitude to Lance!

After all, it was Lance's people who had rescued him.

"I accept your gratitude, and I also want to remind you that, with the things happening between me and your father and the changes in our positions, it's best if you don't run around right now."

Mayor Williams glared at him, which made Arthur feel a deep sense of fear.

It wasn't so much the fear of being kidnapped or killed, but the fact that Mayor Williams had given him a severe beating with a belt after he was rescued.

He had never been beaten so badly in his life!

The belt had knocked him into submission. At the time, he felt like he was going to be beaten to death, which made him even more afraid of Mayor Williams.

"I understand, Mr. Lance," he said dejectedly.

Lance smiled, not caring whether he understood the issue or not. Anyway, as he said, if he continued to run around, the next time they met, it might be at Arthur's funeral.

Mayor Williams impatiently told him to get lost, then began to chat with Lance about things Lance didn't know.

"The Speaker of the House of the State Assembly called me this morning…"

As he began to talk about business, Lance became serious.

The federal state assembly also has a Senate and a House of Representatives. The responsibilities are not much different from the two houses of Congress, except that one manages the entire country and the other manages only one place.

However, in terms of the struggle for power, Congress is able to stand against the President most of the time.

There have been presidents in federal history who have been impeached and lost their power.

But within a state, the state assembly cannot stand against the governor, because the governor can directly and precisely control the election of state assembly members.

He can prevent anyone who is unfavorable to him from appearing in the state assembly, but the President cannot prevent people he doesn't like from appearing in Congress.

This leads to the Speaker of the House of the State Assembly being ranked slightly lower in the political hierarchy within the state, unlike the Speaker and Spokesperson of Congress, who are ranked so highly.

But whether they are ranked high or low, the Speaker of the House was a big figure to Mayor Williams, whom he couldn't refuse.

"The Speaker of the House wants me to go to Manton before January 5th."

He leaned back, "Said he wants to mediate some of the conflicts between us and the Bay Area. It should be pressure from the Senate side."

Lance nodded, "Very likely, but the problem is that they plan to continue escalating the situation on the first."

Mayor Williams wasn't surprised. When it comes to the point where one has to die, no amount of mediation will work. One has to die.

He (Mayor Williams) pondered for a while, "What are you planning to do?"

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"If you don't have enough people on your side, I can transfer some people over here."

He subtly conveyed a message to Lance, if Lance wasn't planning to do anything, then they would have to take action.

The Williams family was not without any power to resist. When Lance went back to the farm for the holidays, he talked to the three old men about this matter. As the oldest group of large farmers in Licarai State, they knew the Williams family very well.

After all, they used to be competitors, until the deep-water port of Gold Harbor was developed, and gradually the Williams family withdrew from the agricultural and pastoral industries and began to flex their muscles in the city.

But before that, they were rivals.

No one can turn a blind eye to their rivals. If you don't want to become a rotting corpse in the sewers, then it is very important to know your rivals well enough.

The Williams family once owned perhaps tens of thousands of slaves. Of course, this was their own publicity. When the slave system existed, such publicity was also a symbol of strength.

Having so many slaves meant that they needed just as many "cowboys." These cowboys were not the cowboys that people now see as representing Western romanticism, but real gunslingers, the family guard.

They would ride horses around the farm's land, going out in groups with two or three shotguns, urging the slaves to work, and suppressing slave revolts when necessary.

In other words, these cowboys were private armed forces.

After the Williams family changed their track, it seemed that they had nothing to do with large farms or plantations, but that was not entirely the case.

Some people in their family still run farms, and those small farmers who used to depend on their family are still around.

At least hundreds of lawless cowboys are still active on the Lawrence family's farm—they don't abide by federal law, but by the Lawrence family's orders.

The Williams family, and those small farmers who had previously depended on them, still had some cowboys in their hands.

If the Williams family declined, these people might not take them seriously, after all, glory is only temporary, and benefit is permanent.

But when the Williams family became stronger and stronger, those small farmers would continue to offer their loyalty.

They could transfer some cowboys from those small farmers, and these people were more ferocious than ordinary gang members in some ways.

They would carry guns from morning to night and often kill to drive away wolves or predators.

If Lance had no plans to deal with Hope, Mayor Williams was planning to mobilize his own people.

From this point, it can also be seen that he was indeed pushed into a corner this time and was planning to personally use some less-than-dignified methods to solve the problem.

At the same time, this was also another kind of hidden hint and statement from Mayor Williams to Lance, that they were not without some armed resistance capabilities.

As the Lance family continued to grow stronger, even if their relationship was as friendly as people saw, Mayor Williams still felt a little pressure.

There can't be too much of a gap between friends, and once the gap is too big, it's difficult to be friends.

Lance also heard it, he smiled and explained, "I've already arranged it."

"I've cultivated a young man in the Newport area, named Carl, who is very clever and ambitious."

"He was the one who told me that Hope was preparing for the January 1st rally."

"I asked him to find a way to get rid of Hope before the first, so even if the Bay Area makes trouble again, it will be a conflict within the refugees."

Mayor Williams nodded continuously as he listened. He glanced at James and saw that James had already begun to frown and think, and a look of relief appeared on his face.

This time, things happened very suddenly, with a lot of bad news, but there was also one good news, that James had grown a lot compared to before.

He suddenly thought of the former mayor and his secretary. He had heard a rumor that Sidney (the former mayor) had used his last bit of influence and political capital to secure a better starting opportunity for his secretary.

Some said that his secretary was actually his son, but others said that he was just a successor he had chosen.

Cultivating a qualified successor is the most pressing thought for these people, besides obtaining power for themselves.

Only a qualified successor can lead the family to continue to grow healthily.

"You want to divide the refugee community," Mayor Williams continued to instruct James. The confusion on James's face was immediately filled with a hint of joy as he seemed to understand. He looked at Mayor Williams with surprise, but the latter pretended not to see his gaze.

Lance didn't mind being a part of their teaching process. He didn't have that burden yet, but he might in the future.

He nodded, looking very relaxed, "This is a more effective method. We can't always emphasize the issue of opposition; Congress won't allow us to do that."

"Tom mentioned these things when he spoke with me. I can feel that the senators, and even this Congress, want us to consider diplomatic demands."

"We have to find a way for ourselves to step down from the stage, so I thought of this."

Mayor Williams also had a smile on his face, "Almost exactly what I was thinking."

Those calls encouraging him to expel the refugees were certainly not intended to benefit him, but looking at it from another perspective, they could become a force in his hands.

If Congress hadn't intervened, he really intended to follow this path, but now that Congress had intervened, he had to change his approach slightly.

"There are some very active 'grassroots politicians' in the Newport area..."

He couldn't help but laugh when he said this term. As a true politician, he found the term very amusing.

"I think some of their views can be taken out and used. I plan to 'negotiate' with them."

Lance raised his eyebrows after hearing this. It was a very mature choice.

He couldn't change his position all at once, but he couldn't keep pushing forward stubbornly. He needed a step down, but that step wasn't so easy to find.

Mayor Williams's idea was essentially the same as Lance's, except that Lance's methods seemed more direct, while his methods were more gentle.

There's no distinguishing good or bad in this kind of thing. As long as it's useful, it's good.

The two had their own ideas, but the core was the same. It was not surprising that Mayor Williams could have such an idea. How many years had he been immersed in politics?

But Lance's ability to make such a decision greatly shocked Mayor Williams.

Shocked was not the right word; he had been shocked many times already, but there was definitely a tremor of surprise.

He no longer doubted how far Lance could go. As long as he didn't die in an accident, this country would definitely have a place for him in the future, and his name would be remembered.

Various complex thoughts flashed through his mind. It seemed like a lot of content, but in terms of time, it was just a moment.

He immediately turned his attention to this matter, "Can those people you've supported do it?"

It wasn't that he doubted Lance, but he was somewhat suspicious of those refugees. At the same time, this matter was indeed quite important. Lance nodded, "It doesn't matter if they can't do it; I've arranged people."

"Actually, all we need is to let people know that this is the result of their internal divisions and armed struggles. As for whether that bullet was actually fired from their gun, isn't it up to us to decide?"

Mayor Williams had more smiles on his face. He was somewhat emotional, "You are the most amazing young man I have ever seen in your age group, without a doubt!"

At this time, the butler came in from outside, "Sir, Mr. Lance, Young Master James, dinner is ready."

Mayor Williams got up, "Let's go, I'm hungry too."

Dinner was still a very sumptuous dinner, with fine wine.

The extravagant life, the music played on the gramophone, and the brightly lit lights formed a sharp contrast with the people shivering and huddled in the corners in the cold winter outside.

Pairs of eyes stared at the enviable, jealous, and hateful life behind those windows, yet they were powerless to do anything about it. This is the Federation.

One night, several young people almost froze to death on the roadside. If they hadn't huddled together to keep warm, they might have frozen to death before they could even carry out their plan.

If Lance knew their plan, he would only say that it was an idea with potential, but clearly lacked depth. They hadn't even considered these issues beforehand.

But they can't be completely blamed, after all, they hadn't done this before.

It was past eight o'clock in the morning, the sky was completely bright, and the snow had stopped.

Today is December 29th, only two days away from January 1st.

Yesterday, the news that Mr. Hope planned to protest to the City Hall on behalf of the refugee community had gradually spread. At the same time, some people jumped out, saying that Mr. Hope's actions not only did not help to resolve the current conflict between refugees and Federation citizens, but might even continue to intensify it!

People, especially those at the bottom, are often ignorant and have no firm stance or ability to think for themselves.

When they heard that Mr. Hope was doing it for their own good, they enthusiastically supported him.

But now, there was a group of people standing up, and obviously more people than Mr. Hope's side, saying that doing so was actually not good for them.

Some people could still hold on for a while, but some people directly switched sides.

Some of the resistance generated in promoting this matter quickly converged on Hope. Number One's actions were very important, related to whether he could realize his dream, so he did not allow any accidents to occur in this action.

But now there was indeed external resistance being generated. If he stayed here and didn't go anywhere, even if he cursed as harshly as possible, it would not make any difference to the whole thing.

So he planned to go out and face the people directly, face those "opponents", and let the people support him again through a debate!

He was a social activist, and he had a good grasp of the psychology of ordinary people at the bottom. He had to come forward.

After eating breakfast in the morning, he began to prepare. After finding out that several young "juniors" were calling on people to put aside their opposing positions, he prepared to rush over.

He was going to refute them in front of these people and let people know that he was the real savior!

"Will there be any danger?" his assistant couldn't help asking.

Appearing in public at this time was not a good idea.

Hope shook his head, "I believe you can protect me, and what is there that has no risk?"

"If we want to achieve the greatest success, we certainly need to bear great risks."

"Lying in bed and not going anywhere has the least risk, but what can you get from doing that?"

"You get nothing!"

He looked at the others, "Remember what I told you?"

"Our purpose in coming to the Federation is not just to survive here, we must survive better than anyone else, we must become people above people!"

He clenched his fist, "No one can stop us, and that includes danger!"

Under his encouragement, the others had no objections. After all, the things they were doing were very dangerous in themselves.

Now there were Slavs all around, so they shouldn't encounter any danger, right?

They thought so.

A group of people simply finished breakfast and prepared to leave. His bodyguard left the house first to prepare the vehicle.

After waiting for a while, Hope walked out of the room, wearing a hat and scarf, and took a deep breath.

The moment the cool air was inhaled into his lungs, he became a little more energetic.

He strode to the sidewalk and happened to see his bodyguard scolding some beggars to leave.

Those beggars looked very young. Looking at these young faces, Hope suddenly had some thoughts emerge from his heart.

He raised his hand to stop the bodyguard and walked towards these young people. In their unbelievable eyes, he came to them, "Young gentlemen..."