Empire of Shadows

Just after walking out of the cemetery, Lance let out a soft sigh. A teenage boy having to bear the heavy responsibility of leading a family, this was too…

He didn’t know what to say.

From a rational point of view, this was clearly the wrong choice. Francisco was too young. His grandfathers, uncles, and aunts were in their prime and very powerful.

This would lead the Pasoretto Family to a more desolate decline, and it would be very difficult to reverse.

People were willing to listen to Paul because when Paul inherited this position, he was already an adult and had a certain amount of merit.

Not to mention his uncles and aunts, at least Paul’s siblings were loyal to him, so he could sit firmly in his position.

But now, who was loyal to Francisco?

This would inevitably plant some problems, which would then escalate and finally erupt.

But people are not rational animals. After Paul died, Alberto, who had received Paul’s kindness, wanted to protect his son and let his son regain control of the family. This could not be said to be wrong, only that it was very difficult.

So difficult that he might have to be an enemy of the rest of the Pasoretto Family.But this was Alberto’s choice. Lance would only support him, not negate him.

Everyone has to make a choice when facing crossroads again and again. They have their own reasons and determination for doing so. Others cannot change them, and he was not someone who could be changed.

Lance lit a cigarette and exhaled the turbid air from his chest along with the smoke.

Lawn drove the car over. After getting in, Lance asked, “How are things at the docks?”

Today was “payday.” In the past few days, some workers had been willing to accept the current terms and return to their posts.

This was also the reason why Lance had not fully staffed the refugee workers, because the dock management company would definitely still hire a considerable portion of these workers.

But there were also some people who, under the lobbying of the Federation of Labor, the Dockworkers’ General Union, and other unions, tried to continue to strike and protest.

The dock management company was not idle either. They directly removed these workers from the workers’ directory.

In other words, these people were no longer dockworkers.

They even had someone tell these striking workers that if they wanted to receive their wages for the previous half-month, they had to sign a “Waiver of Rights.”

To put it simply, after signing this “Waiver of Rights,” they lost the right to sue or otherwise challenge the docks.

The dock services company was using half a month’s or more of wages to completely buy out their right to sue the company.

Of course no one would sign this. And if they didn’t sign, they wouldn’t get paid.

Lance’s men and the police were both watching at the docks. Once a problem occurred, they had to nip it in the bud.

Senator Cleveland was also aware of this. In fact, everyone knew, including the people from the Federation of Labor, and even some of the workers knew.

But now, they had no way back.

Lawn said while driving, “I just heard there was some turmoil. It’s not clear yet.”

Lance thought for a moment. “Drive over there, just to the entrance.”

The convoy quickly merged into the flow of traffic. At the same time, the atmosphere at the docks had reached a point of extreme tension.

Lance had provided five thousand jobs, and in addition, there were more than a thousand who had voluntarily stayed before. This meant that now, for every two people, one could not return to the docks.

The initiative was now in the hands of the dock management company. They wouldn’t let you come back just because “you want to come back.”

They would weed out the troublemakers and only keep the decent workers.

It was precisely because of this that many workers who were not being accepted by the docks had already begun to confront the people from the dock management company.

Among them were the previous worker representatives.

The big-bearded man stood in front of the new manager, the spittle from his mouth landing on the manager’s face. “On what grounds are you not letting me go back to work?”

The manager just looked at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile. “You’ve been fired by the company. You are no longer our employee. There is no place for you here.”

“Fuck, I don’t agree with what you’re doing!”

The manager took out a handkerchief and wiped the spittle from his face. “That’s your business. I don’t care.”

He was just about to turn and leave when the big-bearded man suddenly grabbed him by the collar. “You’re not going anywhere until this is sorted out!”

Other workers, including the worker representatives, also began to clamor. All these troublemakers had been fired. This was something they could not tolerate.

The big-bearded man grabbing the manager’s collar was like a drop of water falling into hot oil. The tense situation escalated in an instant.

The disgruntled dismissed employees overturned the tables used for signing. Some of them even picked up things around them and began to attack the people from the dock management company.

The situation here went out of control in an instant.

The manager took a punch to the face, but he was not afraid at all. “You’re in for it, you know that?”

The big-bearded man cursed him while giving him an uppercut, hitting him so hard that he nearly curled up, feeling nauseous and retching.

But he showed no sign of backing down, constantly repeating that sentence—”You’re in for it!”

The first to enter the scene were the police. The dock management company might not be a particularly famous enterprise in the Federation, but in Golden Port, it was one of the very few.

Their influence on this city was huge. Charlie still needed their support, so how could he refuse their request?

These police officers, carrying riot shields and holding batons, rushed in quickly. They didn’t care about those who were fighting and raised their batons and struck.

In an instant, these troublemaking workers and the police were fighting together.

A reporter excitedly kept pressing the shutter.

The weather was good today, and he could capture the changes at the entire dock without needing a flash. He knew he had a big story.

But just as he was muttering about the press release he would send out with these photos, the camera in his hand suddenly felt light.

By the time he reacted, it had been taken by two young men who looked… a bit hard to mess with.

“No photography allowed here!” One of the young men fumbled with the camera for a while. He had never handled this camera before. Then he asked, “How do you take the film out?”

At this moment, the reporter reacted. “Fuck, I’m a reporter for The New Post. You’re interfering with my freedom of the press!”

He even tried to snatch the camera back. The young man who still couldn’t figure out how to take out the film took two steps back, dodged his arm, and then forcefully smashed the camera in his hand on the ground.

This kind of small camera was a very precise instrument at this time. The person who made it probably never thought it would have such an application scenario.

So they didn’t make too many arrangements for its drop resistance, which led to the camera’s parts scattering all over the ground.

He smiled, bent down to find the film, and then pulled it all out. “They said this should do it?”

The reporter looked at his actions in disbelief. “What the fuck have you done?”

This camera was his most beloved thing. He had spent a lot of money to buy it, and now it was smashed by these sons of bitches.

His face turned red from the rise in blood pressure. He was about to rush over in a fit of emotion, but suddenly stopped, because the other young man had lifted his jacket, revealing the gun holster inside.

The great equalizer could awaken the reason of most people at the last moment. He slowly raised his hands and retreated.

At this time, a louder noise came from a distance. The reporter suddenly turned his head to look at the place where the conflict was erupting. A large group of young men with red armbands on their sleeves, carrying Sailing Team baseball bats, appeared at the docks.

Like the police, they were madly attacking the workers who were causing the conflict and riot.

These people were more ruthless than the police, and also more unscrupulous.

The originally somewhat deadlocked situation instantly underwent a huge change. The workers completely lost their ability to resist and were beaten to the ground.

Some were still resisting, which only attracted more people to surround and attack them.

These people were not the police, everyone knew this, but they couldn’t say it.

When he looked back again, one of the young men had already moved on to the next “reporter,” while the one left in front of him stepped on the debris on the ground and gave him a suggestion—

“Get lost!”

Lance’s car was parked outside the docks at this time. He watched the conflict on the docks without any emotional fluctuation.

Before, he had actually been very sympathetic to these dockworkers. Even when Councilman Williams proposed to kill some dockworkers to escalate the conflict, he had taken the initiative to choose other methods to reduce the number of casualties among the workers, although a few still died in the end.

But if they had done it their way, the number of casualties might have been even higher.

Group incidents are very difficult to control. Once group emotions erupt, individual reason will only be crushed to渣 under the will of the group.

Lance was not a saint, it was just that he felt it was unnecessary. He had hoped these people could stand firmly with him and become his helpers.

But in a blink of an eye, these people had abandoned him for profit, just because they could work one hour less every day and get a few dozen cents more in wages a month?!

His friendship was not so cheap.

However, he was not angry either, because these dockworkers were just ordinary people.

Ordinary people are all around us. They might act very fawning, sucking up to their leaders.

They might act very lazy, only doing their own work and not asking about anything else.

They are keen on taking small advantages, can only see some immediate benefits, and ignore long-term benefits.

This is what ordinary people are like. You can’t ask everyone to be smart or rational, so Lance felt it was normal for them to stand on the other side for that little benefit.

Since they are ordinary people, then you can only use the methods for dealing with ordinary people to deal with them.

These baseball-loving young men immediately changed the situation at the docks. Under the coordinated attack with the police, some workers soon couldn’t take it anymore.

They began to run out of the docks, and some drilled into the docks. Soon the scene was completely controlled. The workers were either pressed to the ground or lying on the ground.

With the sound of a whistle, the young men with red armbands retreated like a receding tide, quickly and orderly disappearing from the docks, leaving only the police with shields and batons.

At this time, the permitted reporters began to take pictures frantically. These were all reporters found by Senator Cleveland and the Bay Area through their connections. They would report what they saw “fairly and justly.”

At this moment, what remained on their camera film were only the mighty police and the defeated rioters.

Watching everyone quickly disappear from the docks, Lance raised his hand and knocked on the partition of the driver’s cabin.

The convoy slowly started up and finally left here.

The former dockworkers lying on the ground wailing, and the new dockworkers standing in a cold crowd watching them, formed a stark and strong contrast.

A “legal reporter” captured this scene. A wire fence separated two worlds.

On one side were cold expressions, on the other, faces were contorted with pain.

One side was standing, the other was lying down…

The big-bearded man who had started the trouble was gasping for breath. He was being held down by four or five police officers, who were handcuffing him.

His head was already broken and bleeding, his eyes were also swollen, and there was a dark bruise on his cheek.

At this moment, he could no longer speak, even though he felt he was having trouble breathing.

“It’s over!” After listening to the secretary report on these matters, the Mayor rubbed his temples. “Simple, direct, brutal, yet reasonable. This is the senator’s solution.”

He looked at the secretary and continued to analyze, “Lance, the police department, the Bay Area, plus the news propaganda. He wants to use this method to tell these people that resistance and struggle are meaningless.”

“When those ordinary people sue them, they simply can’t win. From the attorney general to the chief justice, they are all their people. How can they possibly win?”

“Use other means?”

“Lance’s people have already controlled most of the Port District and the entire Empire District. That is to say, if they really want to do something, they must first move out of these two districts!”

“The houses in Golden Port are not cheap!”

“The rich people in the Bay Area represent the most stubborn and orthodox forces in the Federation. They can connect with all classes. These people have no way at all.”

“They will soon, according to their wishes, sign, take the money, and then accept their fate!”

He smiled as he spoke. “But we most likely won’t be able to use this method, at least not now, because we can’t integrate so many forces.”

“You can’t make the gangs, the police, and these people in the Bay Area all be at your beck and call, so you can’t do what he did.”

“But, Owen, don’t be discouraged. One day you will be able to do it!”

A light flickered in his secretary’s eyes. “I will work towards that direction.”

The direction he was talking about was becoming a senator.

The Mayor was very gratified by his statement. He turned his head to look at the bright sunlight outside the window. “The time I can be active in the political arena is not long. I’ve been thinking about one thing recently, to give you a final push.”

The secretary showed a somewhat sad expression. He knew that the Mayor had been abandoned by the higher-ups, and his future was bleak.

To this day, Senator Cleveland had not contacted him, nor had he asked him to come forward for anything. This showed how bad the impression of him in Congress, or rather, the Social-Democratic Party, was now.

Although they did indeed want to get the huge benefits of Golden Port, it was not for him to destroy this place.

For the superiors, all tools only have one chance.

As long as you don’t do it right this time, or if you’re clumsy, then there won’t be a second time. They will directly throw you in the trash can and then throw it away.

Because they have countless tools waiting for them. They don’t need to be like the poor, who have to repair and polish a tool that is not handy to continue using it.

If you can’t do it, someone else can.

“Go and find out, and issue a press release. Although we have been marginalized, you should still do what you need to do.”

“The one who is marginalized is me, not you!”

A little later, the secretary issued a notice on behalf of the Mayor. The general meaning was that some former dockworkers had a conflict with the dock management company due to a dispute.

The Golden Port police department, after receiving the alarm, quickly arranged for police forces, swiftly resolved this conflict, and captured the person who had first started the dispute.

The city hall will conduct an investigation into them and eventually file a lawsuit against them for the crimes they have committed…

The docks completely quieted down.

The next day, with the printing and sale of newspapers carrying relevant news and pictures, more people learned about the small riot that had happened yesterday through the newspapers.

The official government had already characterized this incident as a “riot by unemployed people dissatisfied with society,” and emphatically stated that the strike in Golden Port had ended.

Vaughn also appeared in the newspapers. He, Dave, and the executive director of the dock management company stood together, shaking each other’s hands, standing in a way that looked very uncomfortable.

These reports stated that under the arrangement and promotion of the Golden Port Dockworkers’ Union, the problem of the workers’ strike had been satisfactorily resolved.

The workers had already obtained what they wanted and had all returned to their posts.

The Federation of Labor called it “a disgusting conspiracy,” but it didn’t have much effect. The national general strike they tried to promote could not continue to be pushed forward.

For the public, they believe what they see, and also what those in authority say.

There were indeed many workers working at the docks. If those who were arrested were dockworkers, shouldn’t there be no one working at the docks now?

Although this matter might still have some twists and turns, these twists and turns were no longer so obvious.

Even the Federation of Labor soon gave up the practice of continuing to speak up for those people.

Now the real economy of the Federation is not so prosperous. Many people care a lot about their jobs. Not everyone can empathize with the encounters of others and pay the price with their own lives and work.

On the other hand, Congress also put a lot of pressure on them, forcing them to handle this matter with a cool head.

Except for the worker representatives who were detained and about to be sent to court and prison, and the ordinary people who suddenly lost their jobs, for the people of Golden Port, the docks had not changed much from before.

(End of chapter)

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