Empire of Shadows

After Roger left, the room was filled with only their own people, so the conversation naturally became more casual.

“Is it necessary to carry out the reform so quickly?” Mello asked with a slight frown.

In his, and in the eyes of many others, the Lance Family had just established the concept of its “golden age,” a period of rapid development for the family.

Look, the Five Families were already a thing of the past. Alberto was about to go to Summuri Island to die.

Once he was dead, the Pasoretto family would have no one who could stand on their own.

Francisco was indeed not bad, but he was still too young, and it was not a simple matter for the family to regain its strength.

As for the other small and medium-sized gangs, they were not worth mentioning. Whoever disobeyed would be wiped out.

With Chief Bruce’s current respectful attitude towards Lance, they could even have police officers and members of the Lance Family act together, to fight or to do the cleanup work.

In this city, there was no force that could stop the Lance Family!

Isn’t this the perfect time for a crazy expansion?Take over all eleven administrative districts, fill them with bars, fill them with branch offices.

Now there were so many young people outside who were eager to join. They could easily recruit thousands or even tens of thousands of people with a simple recruitment!

A gang of tens of thousands… just thinking about it was exciting!

The person who asked Lance was Mello, but in fact, the others also had the same idea. They didn’t quite understand.

Lance glanced at Mello. “This is a society of interests. First there are interests, and then there is society.”

“If we really continue to expand, recruit thousands or tens of thousands of people, then how are we going to reform?”

Lance’s one question left all these people speechless. The disadvantage of a low level of education was vividly demonstrated at this moment. They could not find any cases from what they knew to express their views.

If you want to persuade others, you certainly can’t just say “I’m right.” You have to use some existing examples to tell others that there is no problem with doing so.

At the same time, you have to be reasonable, to explain why you are doing this, and what the benefits of doing so are.

But they didn’t know, couldn’t say it. They only knew…

“More people is always better than fewer people.”

Lance looked at the speaker, Hiram. He was the kind of person who might have this idea.

Lance shook his head. “The more people there are, the more bloated we will become, and the more difficult it will be to make changes.”

“If you’ve seen the wild boars in the wilderness, you’ll find that they run very fast and are very powerful. If wild boars appear in groups, even wolf packs will not easily provoke them.”

“But look at the pigs on the farm. They are obviously much larger. Why can’t they make the wolf pack feel threatened?”

“I know this is not a suitable example, but it tells us very vividly that being bloated is not a manifestation of strength.”

“When we have a scale of thousands or tens of thousands of people, we will find it very difficult to adjust the direction of many of our businesses.”

“More expenses will make us more dependent on high-profit criminal income. Once our income has a problem, the company will soon be unable to sustain itself.”

He paused for a moment. “Mello, how much do we currently have to pay each person per month?”

Mello was the family’s general manager. He was responsible for these contents. Every two weeks, Lance would just have to look at the materials he had written.

“About 120.”

Lance nodded. “120. Ten thousand people would be 1.2 million. We also have to bear the cost of their food, housing, and their clothes.”

“We can’t let them stand on the street like fools. We have to rent a house or buy a building for them to have a place to work.”

“Do they need vehicles to be arranged?”

“Even if we don’t arrange that many small cars, it’s necessary to have a total of seven or eight hundred. Then there are vans, and other cars…”

“Every year, just maintaining this part of the expenses is in the millions. Once Prohibition ends, or other accidents happen, and making money becomes difficult, how do we sustain ourselves?”

Seeing these people fall into deep thought, Lance did not stop because of this. He was still talking.

“When that day comes, whether it’s because of income problems or other problems, when we need to reduce our scale, a huge conflict will break out.”

“Whose manpower should be cut, and whose should not? How do we decide?”

“Those young people have risked danger for the family. Although it may not be a great danger, at least they have borne all the risks to work for us and make money.”

“Because of our reasons, we have to let them no longer be protected by the family, and we will not give them a salary, a place to live, or food.”

“Have you ever considered, what changes will these trained people bring to this society after they return to it?”

“Are you going to have them do a job that only pays about forty a month?”

“Or is it possible that they will form a new gang, not to fight us, but just to maintain their lives?”

“If there is friction between them and us, what should we do?”

“What should they do?”

Lance kept shaking his head. “We need to consider all these issues. The more people there are, the fewer options we have to choose from, and the more dangerous we will become.”

“So much so that even if we successfully clear out a portion of the people, the impact of their crimes outside will be naturally considered our fault by people.”

“So, gentlemen, this is not a negotiation or a discussion. This is a set plan.”

“From now on, our identity will change from ‘independent operators’ to ‘managers.’ Our income will increase compared to the past, while the risks we bear will be smaller.”

“What we need to do is to set the rules of the game, and then find those who do not abide by them and make them learn to abide by the rules of the game.”

“We won’t even be committing crimes directly!”

The future trend is definitely to solve the problem of gangs. Any world, any era, any government will do so.

When the economic construction stabilizes and the ruling structure also tends to be stable and mature, then they will begin to eliminate those things that are outside the framework.

Not to mention that gangs, to a certain extent, are equivalent to stealing a part of their ruling power, so they will be even less likely to allow the existence of gangs.

Of course, a small number of gangs with a background will still exist, but the era of today, where the world is full of gangs, will be gone forever.

Before he became a “bargaining chip” for a certain congressman to push this plan, completing the transformation as soon as possible was the best choice.

Although they might not all be able to understand, these people had one advantage, and that was that once Lance had made a decision, they would no longer try to change it.

In the big picture, Lance rarely made mistakes, or rather, had never made a mistake. Based on their unconditional trust in Lance, no one raised any objections.

After Roger left the company, he immediately began to spread the news. He still had a great influence in the Empire District. Not long after, many people knew that Lance planned to contract out the criminal business.

Even Councilman Williams knew about this.

He also had a spy on Lance’s side. Although they were very close partners, this did not mean that he had complete and unconditional trust in Lance.

Having a spy, passing on information, this was a normal situation. The situation where you don’t do anything and don’t know anything is what’s abnormal.

“What are your thoughts?” in the phone, Councilman Williams asked.

Lance stated his thoughts very directly. There was nothing to hide. After Councilman Williams finished listening, he showed a look of some surprise.

Unfortunately, Lance couldn’t see it.

For an old politician, for this kind of emotional management failure to be reflected through a change in expression was very rare.

But he just had a management failure, because he found that Lance was smarter than he had imagined, and also more difficult to “deal with.”

The “difficult to deal with” here was not to say that he was going to deal with Lance, but referred to Lance’s method of dealing with potential crises, and his lack of blindness.

Any person, at Lance’s age, who can achieve this, then he will be unscrupulous and constantly expanding.

Whether it’s a gang, a capitalist, or any other industry, it’s all the same.

If a certain young man in his twenties has achieved a monopoly of resources, he will only more wildly use the “scythe” brought by the actual monopoly to frantically reap wealth or something else.

But Lance’s practice, which clearly had a taste of retreating from the torrent, did not conform to his age.

This was more like a choice that an old man in his forties or fifties, with a mature mind and rich experience, could make: to choose to take a step back when the danger had not yet sprouted.

After a brief chat, he hung up the phone. Lance’s move made his emotions a little shaken.

He left the table and walked to the balcony, lit a cigarette. He also needed to think.

Inadvertently, the desire in the corner of his eye caught sight of Arthur making a move on the new maid. Looking at the frivolous smile on his face that he disliked, Councilman Williams suddenly felt a wave of anger.

This… he thought for a moment. No matter what he said, in the end it would all come back to him, so he started with “this fool.”

He had to find something for him to do. When there was a sufficiently outstanding person in front, Arthur’s performance, which was actually not too bad, seemed extremely stupid.

Both are young men. How come the other has already become an “old fox,” while this fool is still harassing a little girl?

He turned and went back into the room and picked up the receiver. Seven or eight minutes later, Arthur came to the study with a grim face, holding a cane.

Not long after, his mournful screams and the whistling sound of the cane could be heard…

With Arthur’s cries, the news was still constantly spreading outwards.

In two days, the entire Golden Port City realized that the new “emperor” was about to promulgate his laws.

This was not a good thing for all the gangs, because no emperor would promulgate laws that were harmful to themselves. But at the same time, it was not a bad news—

Because this time the emperor was clearly more lenient.

The meeting place was set at Lance’s manor (Mr. Jobav’s manor had been renamed Lance Manor). At a little after three in the afternoon, people began to gather here.

At four o’clock, the small chapel in the manor was already full of people.

What was a little surprising was that there were actually reporters here.

The reform of the Lance Family was actually a trend of development in a good direction to a certain extent, so after Lance and George communicated, George was willing to report on this matter.

It might even be possible for him to win another “Golden Newspaper Award.” No one would complain about having too many of this award.

Today’s reporter work was also the most difficult one George had ever done in his life. He had also brought three apprentices over. Everyone was sweating profusely.

There were too many gang members here. A large group of them were standing at the door.

Since the Lance Family had unified their dress, now the entire underworld of Golden Port City seemed to be setting off such a trend.

Everyone had made some small designs on their appearance and unified them, because this would make people feel that they were very solemn and cool.

This also brought a huge visual impact!

The last gang leader arrived at the venue a few minutes early. After being searched, he was allowed to enter the small chapel.

He did not feel that he had been offended. In the past, during the era of the Five Families, when they went to see the people of the Five Families, they also had to be searched.

Although people all say that life is priceless, in fact, it still has a high and low price.

When the last leader arrived at the small chapel, he was immediately stunned by the crowded small chapel.

As far as the eye could see, it was all leaders of various gangs and families. They were only allowed to bring one person in, but it looked like there were at least two hundred people here.

Under the guidance of the “staff,” he found a place to sit down, wiping his sweat while greeting the people around him.

He knew some, and he didn’t know some. He actually had never thought that there were so many gangster families in Golden Port City. Of course, no one here had thought of it.

The time pointed to 4:15. Elvin walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone. “Quiet.”

The noisy scene instantly became quiet.

Although these people were all very young, Lance and his group, but no one would look down on them.

After the scene became quiet, Elvin returned to the side of the stage. Soon, Lance walked in from outside.

He walked with a lot of style. The moment he appeared, the spotlight fell on him, dazzling, making people subconsciously hold their breath.

“They just told me that 179 bosses came today. Thank you all for your trust in me, to be able to come here and participate in such a gathering that may seem absurd and ridiculous to many.”

Someone in the audience immediately echoed Lance’s words, saying some nice pleasantries.

Lance smiled and nodded. After they had talked for a while, he raised his hand and pressed it down. “Actually, we invited more than 240 bosses to come, but it’s clear that not everyone is willing to believe me this once.”

Many of the leaders in the audience laughed. In fact, some of them were not very convinced about this matter, but considering that they were indeed not as good as the Lance Family, and Lance’s reputation was not too bad, so they had risked coming over.

There were also some people who had found various reasons not to come. Their idea was very simple, to leave a buffer zone.

No matter if what Lance was going to say was a good thing or a bad thing, as long as they didn’t come to the scene, they could not take a stand immediately, which left them with time and opportunity to deal with it.

If Lance said it was a good thing, and really as people said, he would completely give up the criminal business that targeted the crowd, then these people who didn’t come would soon come to the door to apologize, and then join in.

If Lance said it was a bad thing, then they would have enough time to deal with it. Whether to choose to leave Golden Port City, or to resist the Lance Family, or to choose to submit, they would all have time to think and deal with it.

As long as they didn’t have to take a stand on the spot, their choices were many.

But, they didn’t know that Lance was not the Five Families. He was even less like Bandy and those people, still thinking about weighing the pros and cons.

This time, they had made a wrong idea.

Lance raised his hand and pressed it down to quiet the people. “The gangs of Golden Port City are one family. We all live in this city, seeking profits in this city, seeking everything to live.”

“We are a whole, but now, some people are not willing to become a whole with us, and are breaking the new rules I have set.”

“So…” he looked at Elvin, “record the people who didn’t come and their gangs. There is no need for them to exist anymore.”

The small chapel, which had been a little noisy just now, instantly became so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

Someone pushed a sofa and a small coffee table onto the stage. Lance took the opportunity to sit down, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. “I know, some of you may think that I am very domineering and unreasonable.”

“But I don’t think this is domineering and unreasonable. I invited everyone. Even if some people really couldn’t come, they could arrange for a representative to come.”

“But not only did they not even send a representative, they didn’t even personally tell me why they couldn’t come.”

“This is disrespectful to me!”

“My friends will definitely respect me.”

“Those who don’t respect me must be my enemies!”

He flicked his cigarette ash. “Let’s not talk about those unhappy things. Let’s talk about the reason why we are gathered here today.”

“Recently, some rumors about us have been circulating outside. For example, the Lance Family will no longer personally operate any bar.”

There was some commotion in the small chapel. Lance also showed a smile. He nodded. “Yes, this is true.”

“Including the Empire District, the Port District, any district. We are going to re-divide the way bars are operated.”

“The Lance Family will no longer operate any bar business. At the same time, we will cut my territory into different sizes according to a certain method and contract it out.”

“In each area, only one bar is allowed to exist, so that the profit of each operator can be guaranteed.”

A huge city map suddenly appeared behind Lance. It was just different from an ordinary map. It only had an outline and was cut into many small grids…

(End of a Chapter)