Empire of Shadows

Everyone yearns for big cities. Not only do foreigners yearn for the big cities of the Federation, but people in the small cities within the Federation also yearn for the big cities.

The dream of many people’s lives is to live in a big city, to have their own little nest in a big city, to be able to call themselves a big city person. This is the goal they have strived for all their lives.

So you can see that many small cities are being sucked dry by the population siphoning effect produced by the surrounding big cities, so much so that there are not many young people in the cities.

Creek Valley City was like this in the past. Next to it was Golden Port City, a city full of opportunities and wealth. Almost all the young people with a little bit of ability would, after graduating from high school, go to Golden Port City to find opportunities.

If it weren’t for the fact that Creek Valley City had now become the ”City of Movies,” its population loss problem would have become more and more serious.

Before, the officials of Creek Valley City had been worried about these matters. Some experts had said that in less than fifty years, the population of Creek Valley City would fall below the 100,000 mark, and would eventually gradually die out.

Fortunately, the film industry had saved Creek Valley City. Now, young people from all over the country who hoped to make a name for themselves in the film industry had all come to Creek Valley City, which had provided a lot of fresh blood for the city.

The city where Gold Label Distillery was located was not a particularly large city, nor was it in the capital of Indeno State. For many labor-intensive enterprises, a big city was not necessarily their best choice for building a factory.

Big cities, because of their good innate conditions, did not have much policy support for these enterprises, and the land prices were expensive, and the various extended costs were also very expensive.

The cost of living in a big city is relatively high, and the wages of the workers are also higher.On the contrary, to choose some of the small and medium-sized cities with not-so-bad industrial support and convenient logistics was more conducive to the development of these enterprises.

The local government’s policy support would also be in place. They would encourage people to start businesses, to build factories, and would give all kinds of conveniences, for example, lower loans, or even provide free sites.

This was very attractive to labor-intensive enterprises. Of course, the most crucial point was that the cost of living in small and medium-sized cities was low, and the cost of labor was low. This was the main thing.

But it was not all advantages. There were also disadvantages, for example, it was very difficult to hire young people.

Because young people all yearn for the exciting life of a big city, those who could leave had all gone to the big cities, so many factories could only hire middle-aged people.

Just like the distillery of Gold Label Distillery at this time, they actually also really wanted to hire young people.

Young people are energetic, and they lack social experience, which can make them do more work, and they are also more convenient to manage.

Those middle-aged people, on the other hand, were not so easy to manage. They would, at any moment, bring out the union, or know how to deal with exploitation, and were not so easy to manage.

These few days, the new workshop of the factory had already been assembled. The rest was to recruit workers to come in and start to work. No matter when, the problem of labor and capital was always on the table.

Outside the factory, the guy in charge of recruitment was standing on a platform made of several wooden boxes, loudly reading out their work policy to the workers who had come to participate in the recruitment event—

”Our assembly line is now in three shifts, eight hours a shift, with one day off a week.”

”We only provide accidental work injury insurance, at thirty-two dollars a month. The salary is paid on the tenth of every month...”

The surrounding workers were asking this guy about some of the other benefits in the factory, for example, whether they would issue work clothes, and whether they would be charged for the work clothes.

Also, whether the food was brought from home by the people themselves, or if the factory would provide food.

If the factory did not provide food, would they provide a food supplement, and whether there was a transportation subsidy or the like.

In fact, from here, it could be seen that the working class was still relatively simple and poor. For them, a transportation subsidy of one dollar a month, and a food subsidy of one or two dollars a month were all an important part of their income.

However, most of the time, their demands could not be met. For example, this factory did not provide food. Although they could not be open when it was time to eat, they did not provide free work meals.

People who have not opened a factory do not know that if you provide free work meals, the things that these workers eat every day are also a large sum of money!

An ordinary person can be very full after eating half a pound of whole wheat bread for a meal, but for these manual laborers, they can finish two pounds of bread, and also have to add side dishes!

The price of food was rising rapidly. Now these two pounds of bread, plus side dishes, might cost about twenty to twenty-five cents.

They would work here for twenty-five days a month. On average, each person would have to spend an extra four or five dollars on work meals.

So they simply did not provide it, but gave a meal allowance of one dollar and fifty cents for them to solve it themselves. This way, the cost was compressed.

And also the transportation subsidy. Here it was also pressed very low. They were only willing to provide a transportation subsidy of sixty cents a month, which was far worse than in Golden Port City.

One after another, the workers had torn the recruitment information in their hands and had thrown it on the ground, and had even stepped on it a few times before leaving, cursing.

But there were also some who were in urgent need of money now, or who were no longer qualified to be picky about a good job. After signing a contract on the side, they had walked towards the factory.

Phil had led a few of his subordinates to the recruitment site. They had specially changed into a set of clothes, and had also messed up their hair, and were also wearing a pair of ordinary shoes, looking no different from the young people in this city.

Seeing these few young people walk over, the recruiter had immediately and enthusiastically introduced the situation here to them. ”Believe me, working here is definitely much more comfortable than working in other places.”

”Although our salary may not look very high, and the subsidies are not much, but guys, you only need to work eight hours a day, and that’s enough!”

”Other jobs may pay a few dollars more than us, but they often have to work for eleven or even twelve hours. I was also young once, and I have also come from your age.”

”Don’t you want to, after work in the evening, still have the time and energy to go on a date with a girl and flirt?”

”Listen to me, this is definitely the most suitable job for you. At least you can come and give it a try...”

Phil and his group had not considered for too long and had decided to join the company.

This had made the recruiter’s flower of joy bloom. He had arranged for Phil and these people to leave this place and enter the factory. If they joined today, they could start work today.

It was just that he didn’t know what kind of guys he had recruited!

Phil had led his men and had swaggered in from the factory gate. He had already discussed it with Elvin. The security force on this side of the distillery was very tight, and to directly attack the factory would require a great price.

The new chief of the state police was not very fond of the Lance Family either. He would check their cars for no reason. If he were to arrange for a large number of people to come to the central region of Indeno State to attack this factory, they might lose a lot of people.

So in the end, Phil’s mission was to sneak into the factory, and then to set a fire. This was a very suitable plan.

A distillery is full of alcohol. Because whiskey actually also needs to be distilled and purified, so in some of the workshops, there will be a large amount of high-proof whiskey.

They just had to find these warehouses, and then set a fire, and the rest, they didn’t have to worry about much.

Phil had not been to the Lawrence Distillery, but he had also heard some. Following a group of newly hired workers, they had come to an old workshop that was not a new-style one.

The new-style workshops all used new-style equipment. The operation difficulty of this equipment was a little more complicated than the old-fashioned equipment, so these new hands were all here to fill the old workshops.

As soon as they entered the workshop, they could feel waves of heat coming at them. Smelling the smell of fermentation and alcohol in the air, Phil’s eyes had narrowed into a smile.

Their entry into the job was very smooth. The main thing was that the work was not complicated. There were veterans who were specially leading them, and they were not required to be responsible for every process, but just one.

Repetitive, mechanical labor. This was actually also the most tormenting, and the most able to murder a person’s vitality, job.

Eight hours of time had never felt so long for these few young men!

After they had left the workshop, they had not immediately left, but had wandered around their workshop.

Because they were wearing the work clothes of the distillery, no one had stopped them. Soon they had roughly figured out the layout of the distillery...

As soon as July had begun, Gold Label Distillery had privately announced to the outside that the wholesale price of Copper Label Whiskey would be reduced by another dollar, which had also made the liquor dealers in Indeno State look forward to the competition between Gold Label Distillery and Golden Lion Distillery even more.

Some had guessed that in the end, the wholesale price of Copper Label Whiskey would be reduced to twenty, or even within twenty!

This price, for Gold Label Distillery, actually did not have much profit left. It could only guarantee that they would not lose money by selling this wine.

There were also some who believed that Gold Label Distillery had put the center of their profitability on the two grades of wine, Silver Label and Gold Label, and were using the low-end wine to impact the market, to obtain a huge market share, and then to profit from the high-end wine.

Only the large smugglers knew that the struggle between the two major factories had actually already entered a white-hot stage. If there were no accidents, the winner would be decided soon.

A price war is just like this. As long as one of them fails to keep up, the market reaction will be very rapid. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s just a one-dollar difference. It’s enough to make the large-scale smugglers abandon Golden Lion Wine.

They were shipping a thousand bottles at a time. That was a profit of a thousand or even a few thousand. Did they even have to say which to choose?

A sense of identity, a sense of belonging, these are all worthless. No matter how good the wine of the Lance Family is, as long as the price cannot catch up, it will gradually lose the market!

Once a distillery is squeezed out, the next step is a crazy price hike.

They also knew that the current operating cost of Golden Lion Distillery was much higher than that of Gold Label Distillery, so almost everyone was not optimistic that Golden Lion Distillery could hold on in Indeno State.

Maybe they could sell stably in some of the cities, but it would be very difficult to be as competitive as they were now.

Once you lose the market, you will only continue to shrink, and in the end, you will disappear.

Some of the large smuggling groups had begun to hoard Copper Label Whiskey, this lowest-end whiskey with a suitable price and an astonishing sales volume on the market.

They were sure that a winner would be decided in two or three months. At that time, once the Lance Family had retreated to Likalai State, the wholesale price of Copper Label Whiskey would soar!

To hoard a batch, a large batch, now, and at that time, they could also make a huge price difference!

In the face of Gold Label Distillery’s continuous price reduction strategy, this time the Lance Family did not seem to plan to continue to fight a price war with them on the price, but had remained silent.

Many people believed that the current price had already touched the bottom line of the cost of the Lance Family’s liquor. After all, the money they earned still had to be shared with the mayor, and they also had to support Mayor Wade in his campaign for governor.

Their expenditure here was actually very large. If they were to lower the price of the liquor again, and also had to ensure the income of the mayor’s side, then they could only sell at a loss.

Not to fight a price war, had proved this point.

Mayor Wade had soon given Lance a call. He was actually also very worried that Lance would not be able to hold on.

”I’ve heard a lot of rumors recently, Lance,” Mayor Wade said very euphemistically. ”They think that your wine’s operating cost is relatively high, and that you lack competitiveness in the fiercely competitive market of Indeno State.”

”I was thinking, is it possible for Golden Lion Wine to build a factory locally in Indeno State? Our side will give you some tax rebates and subsidies to lower your production costs.”

He had absolutely not mentioned the matter of him, and his political allies, taking a cut from Lance’s sales, this biggest extra cost, because he was very clear that this was a necessary means to maintain his having more supporters in the election.

If he were to open his mouth and suggest to lower the cut of the mayors, it was very likely to trigger some chain reactions that even he would not want to see.

People are just like this. You can only give more and more each time, not less.

If you give more, he will think you are a good person, but if you want to give less, no matter what reason you have, he will think you are not a good person.

Of course, Mayor Wade would also have some worries, worrying that Lance really couldn’t hold on. If he were to run away, Mayor Wade’s side would definitely also be greatly affected.

For the things that Mayor Wade was worried about, Lance did not think there was anything wrong. Everyone is essentially an egoist, and will only do things that are beneficial to themselves, not things that will harm their own interests.

”Don’t worry, Mayor Wade. Everything is under control.”

”In a week at most, you will see the result.”

Hearing Lance’s so certain words, Mayor Wade did not continue to ask. ”That’s for the best. But you can still consider my suggestion.”

”If you can build a factory locally, I can give you some preferential policies on tax rebates, which can also reduce a part of your operating costs.”

Lance did not give a flat refusal. ”I’ll think about it.”

Mayor Wade, seeing this, did not persuade him anymore. ”It’s good that you have a plan in mind, Lance. Although we haven’t been in contact for a long time, and we’re not as in tune as you and Williams,”

”But I want to say that we can also be good friends, good partners.”

”If you have a problem, you don’t have to face it alone. We can face it together!”

Lance smiled and agreed. It sounded very touching, but the touching part was built on a network of interests maintained by money.

The allies of Mayor Wade had, through the sales of Lance’s liquor, had obtained a lot of money in these few months. It was a wealth that they could not have imagined before!

And Lance’s side had a mature channel for the transfer of benefits. This was thanks to Bandy (the deceased head of the Koda family). He had left Lance a whole set of a benefit transfer chain.

Not only can it be transported upwards, to transport the benefits to Congress, but it can also be transported in parallel.

One after another, the poor mayors had suddenly, because of an accurate investment, had obtained a large sum of money. Their living conditions had immediately been improved. They, who were used to living a hard life, would, more than Mayor Wade and Lance, want to continue to maintain their current life.

Just like Ambassador Cassia, he had begun to accept, to get used to his current life. It was very difficult for him to leave this kind of life.

He would go from passive acceptance, to active demand, and even to find all kinds of ways to maintain it. This was the most terrible part of the erosion of corruption.

You can’t leave it!

For the next few days, some more young people had joined the factory of Gold Label Distillery, and the Lance Family had still not given the market any positive response. Elvin had always maintained his silence.

They were losing their market share!

The mayor of New Birmingham had had a private talk with Elvin, about the possible impact of the continuous loss of market share. He had, in a not-so-obvious way, been telling Elvin that he had to do something.

Elvin and Lance’s statement was the same: to have him wait a little longer.

The more there was no movement like this, the more Mr. Richard had thought that Lance and his group could not lower the price. This was exciting. After an emergency consultation and discussion with the board of directors, they had lowered the wholesale price of the liquor by another fifty cents!

The orders of Gold Label Distillery were already scheduled until October. The factory was running at full power, producing like crazy, but it was still not enough to meet the demand of the orders!

A few days later, Phil and his group had already gotten familiar with the people in the factory, including the security guards.

After their work was over, they had not immediately left, but had wandered around to see if there was any place where they could help. This was also the reason why the capitalists liked these simple young people.

Even if they were wandering around now, the security guards, upon seeing them, would not shout at them, but would turn a blind eye.

Today they were on the night shift. In the evening, they had come a little earlier. Because it was relatively late, the security guards had not noticed that they were all carrying something.

In fact, it wasn’t just tonight. These few days, they had been secretly bringing things into the factory—dynamite.

And tonight was the time for them to act.

They had already figured out what the important equipment in those production workshops was. A part of them would go and blow up this equipment, to destroy the production, and another part would go and set fires everywhere.

Seeing that the time for the change of shift had arrived, the factory was also in a moment of utter chaos. Some of the workers who could no longer stand the repetitive labor had already left their posts in advance, but some of the workers on the rotation had not yet arrived.

There were people everywhere. The line leaders, the group leaders, were all shouting the names of some people loudly.

And at this very moment, a raging fire had suddenly started on the warehouse’s side. The fire was very fierce, and the factory’s fire alarm had in an instant rung out...