Empire of Shadows

The Gold Label Distillery’s factory and warehouse had burned to the ground in the summer, and three or four months had passed since then.

In October, Gold Label Distillery had sued the insurance company in court. They claimed that this was an ”accidental fire,” so the insurance company should pay the claim.

In fact, the compensation itself was not about how much money the insurance company had to pay, but based on an assessment, to calculate the losses caused to the Gold Label company by the fire, and then to compensate according to this loss.

For a factory like the Gold Label company, which had a very long history, the compensation was actually not much, and strictly speaking, the compensation money was not necessarily more than the premiums they had paid in total.

In other words, the insurance company had not suffered a loss over a long period of time.

However, this was not about whether there was a loss or not. They just didn’t want to pay.

And then they had begun to go through the procedures.

Originally, this case was not leaning towards the insurance company, but last month, in November, someone had suddenly turned himself in and said that he had set fire to the Gold Label Distillery’s warehouse, which had then caused the entire factory to explode.

Anyway, he had admitted that he had done it, and then the insurance company, on the grounds that ”arson out of hatred may not apply to the insurance rules,” had refused to pay.

They had also pulled some strings, and the court, after a trial, had accepted their point of view.At this time, the consequences of man-made arson did not need to be paid by the insurance company, because there was too much insurance fraud. The incomplete laws and rules had also made the capitalists afraid to rashly lower the threshold.

Just like car insurance.

A brand new car costs more than ten thousand. After a dozen or so hands, the price is only a few hundred.

A car of a few hundred pays a few hundred or a thousand in insurance, and then finds a place to crash it. How to compensate?

Pay a few hundred?

Obviously not. After a lawsuit, they can get at least a few thousand.

Too many cases of insurance fraud had occurred, and the work of promoting the relevant bills was very difficult. And such things had indeed happened.

There was an enterprise that, during an economic recession, could not get any orders. They wanted to stop work, but it was very difficult to solve the dissatisfaction of the workers. In the end, they had simply found someone to set a fire, seeking to, through the means of insurance, to turn their burden into cash and then to flee the local area.

In the end, they had even succeeded. They had used the insurance company’s clauses to get the insurance money, and the price they had paid was not worth mentioning.

From then on, the insurance company’s clauses had made some additions to this situation, for example, not to compensate, or to only compensate a very small part, and to push the main responsibility onto the arsonist.

A million worth of things had been burned, and they would pay a token of thirty or fifty thousand.

If this kind of thing had happened to someone else, President Richard would only have treated it as a joke, but when it was placed on himself, he was a little unable to accept it.

The two sides had been fighting in court all along, but the results were not good.

The lawyer had told him that the best result was that the insurance company would at most bear 15% of the losses, and how to determine this amount of loss was also up to the insurance company to decide.

In the end, to be compensated with a few tens of thousands was probably the limit.

A few tens of thousands was not even enough for a fraction of their inventory in the warehouse. President Richard was so angry that he had cursed loudly in the court and had been expelled.

This case was still under trial, and then he had turned his spearhead to another person, Lance.

This matter had nothing to do with Lance, but Golden Lion Distillery was constantly expanding in Indeno State. More than half of the whiskey in Indeno State had begun to be imported from their side.

This was originally all the market of Gold Label Distillery. Now not only was their factory gone, but their market had also been occupied.

To want to snatch it back, it was unknown how long it would take, and how much would have to be invested.

So they were particularly annoyed, and were constantly, through the lieutenant governor, the state police department, and the gangs, to find trouble with the Lance Family.

”They have been sweeping our goods on the highway for a long time. Now a considerable part of our goods are being transported by rail.”

”When they find out, it will definitely become difficult to walk.”

”There are firefights on the highway every day. Our transportation costs are getting higher and higher.”

”Should we think of a way?”

Lance lit a cigarette. ”Have you talked to Wade?”

After the matter of Indeno State had been handed over to Elvin, Lance had naturally also had Mayor Wade connect with him. If Mayor Wade had any problems, he could directly find Elvin, and if Elvin had any matters, he could also directly find Mayor Wade.

”I have, but the effect is not very good.”

”The new chief of the state police is a candidate recommended by the Secretary of State, but this candidate also has a certain connection with the lieutenant governor.”

”Although the Secretary of State has not explicitly stated that he is on the side of the lieutenant governor, I hear from Mayor Wade that their private relationship is not bad.”

”As long as they get into a firefight with us, the police will soon come over and arrest our men, but they won’t go and arrest their men.”

”Our losses will get bigger and bigger.”

In Golden Port City and even the entire Likalai State, Lance had used this set of plans to rub all his competitors on the ground.

Either they didn’t fight back, and were eaten away bit by bit.

As long as they fought back, there was no need to worry about any major accidents. At most, the men under them would be arrested and thrown into prison.

The battle between the gangs, the families, these organizations, in the end, was still a competition of who had more people.

You have ten gunmen, I have twenty. I am better than you. After a one-for-one exchange, I still have ten left.

Although it was not out of the question that there were individual gunmen who were very accurate, and one could fight two or three, or even four or five, this was the limit.

The era of hot weapons and the era of cold weapons are different. In the era of cold weapons, an outstanding warrior could deal with several enemies.

But in the era of hot weapons, even if a person is so formidable, a three-for-one, a five-for-one, is enough.

So Lance could understand how troublesome it was for the number of men to be getting less and less, and to have to constantly transfer men from Likalai State.

”It seems that Mr. Richard hasn’t learned his lesson.”

This sentence already had a sufficient hint. Elvin did not interrupt, but waited quietly.

Lance thought for a long time and then said, ”Arrange for someone to take care of him. The best way to deal with a mad dog is to kill it with one blow.”

”Contact me again if there are any new problems. Be careful to pick a reliable gunman. This is not Likalai State.”

”By the way, ask lawyer Robben if there is a way, after the gunman has finished his work, to extradite him back to Likalai State for trial or imprisonment. It doesn’t matter if it costs a little money. The main thing is to get the person back.”

The matter of Mr. Walter being extradited to a swing state this time had given Lance some inspiration. Sometimes, you don’t have to worry too much about some of the matters outside the state being difficult to handle.

At worst, find a gunman to do the job, and then extradite him back. You also don’t have to worry about the gunman’s safety and whether he will spill anything.

”I see. I’ll go and do it right away.”

Lance asked casually, ”How is the situation with those Summurian people?”

After Gold Label was finished, a group of Summurian’s wine had begun to penetrate the market of Indeno State.

Gangs are just like this.

They will not, just because Gold Label Distillery is now unable to produce, stop selling. They will not delay their own making money. On the contrary, whoever stops them from making money is their enemy.

Some of them had already formed an oppositional relationship with the Lance Family, in the process of competition, so even if Gold Label Distillery was finished, they would not go to Lance’s men to buy.

The suppliers in South Anan State, which was further to the west, had become their first choice. The Summurian people, who were currently the most powerful in South Anan State, were their best choice, bar none.

A large amount of liquor had flowed into Indeno State through the Summurian people’s channels. Although the two sides had not had any formal contact, the competition was real.

Elvin’s tone was not serious. ”It’s okay. They mainly sell brandy. The quality of the whiskey is not very good. I hear that their whiskey is from some of the local distributors in South Anan, and then they add a markup and sell it to Indeno State.”

”So in this aspect, we actually have more of an advantage.”

”If it weren’t for the fact that some of the gangs don’t have a very good relationship with us, our market share would continue to expand.”

”But in the brandy market, because we don’t have any outstanding products, it’s completely their world.”

”We don’t have any strong competitive relationship between us now, so we haven’t had much contact.”

The vineyard on the Lawrence Farm’s side still had to wait for a year before the grapevines could be considered to have entered their full form, and the grapes produced would be suitable for making wine, for orthodox brandy.

Hearing this, Lance had no other questions. ”Pay attention to your safety. Call me anytime.”

After putting down the phone, Elvin began to handle this matter. It was almost the New Year. He planned to, in the few days of the New Year, to put a stop to all this.

He glanced at the desk calendar on his desk. There were still five days.

For some people, five days passed very quickly, for example, those who were a little older.

Their perception of time was more dull, so they would always have a feeling that ”time is getting faster and faster.”

On the contrary, for the young people, especially for the children, a single day was as long as a year.

Because they were more sensitive to time.

Richard was an adult, and his age was not small either. For him, time seemed to pass very quickly. In the blink of an eye, there were only three or four days left before the New Year.

It should have been a very happy thing, but he just couldn’t be happy!

The newly ordered assembly line needed to be assembled in February or March, which meant that he had to endure the predicament of having no products to sell for another two or three months.

The continuous sales of goods will produce more positive effects. People are just like this. What they need to buy, they need to buy in a queue.

And, it will also give birth to the thing that the capitalists hope to see the most, and the competitors least want to see—inertia consumption.

For example, the people who have bought their liquor, as long as their wine and Lance’s wine are not very different, then people will have the habit of inertia consumption, and will continue to buy his wine.

But once he has a period of time where he does not sell liquor, then these customers will turn to Lance’s side, and in the process of buying, they will cultivate a kind of ”loyalty.”

People are always like this, defending the things they have bought, to prove that their own judgment is not wrong.

So many times, once there is a major mistake in the business strategy, and the market is lost, then it is really lost, and it is very difficult to get it back.

Now Mr. Richard was facing this problem.

There was no problem with the quality of Lance’s wine, so for them to want to recapture the market, it would not be so easy, unless they could always maintain a lower selling price.

Before, their competition had always been very intense. This time, the lost market would make them pay a greater price to get it back, little by little.

He might, because of this, lose his position as president, and it was even possible that the board of directors would kick him out.

To keep him now was just to wait for the final ruling from the insurance company’s side.

If they could win the lawsuit, then he would still have a chance to stay.

If they couldn’t win, then he would have to hand over the power in his hands, and might even have to leave the company.

This was also the reason why he had been going crazy recently!

He had to, before everything was irreversible, to turn everything around!

The company has many shareholders, but there is only one president, and there are only a dozen or so members of the board of directors!

In the evening, as he was coming out of his office, he had just happened to run into the vice president.

He and the vice president had been cooperating for many years, and the two of them could also be considered to be very good friends.

In the glory of Gold Label Distillery all these years, both of them had contributed.

It wasn’t just one person, but two.

Without the office politics, the whole company had maintained a high-efficiency and precise operation. The two were partners, and also good friends in private.

Seeing Mr. Richard’s tired face, the vice president had taken the initiative to walk over and had held his arm. ”You have to rest for a few days.”

”You look very tired. You don’t have to torture yourself like this. We still have a lot of time to do everything well!”

Mr. Richard sighed. ”I know, but I’m now... I have to find a solution before my trouble appears.”

”Otherwise, our cooperation can only end here!”

The vice president was silent for a moment. ”Although I really want to say that this is something I have been looking forward to for a long time, I still think that the company cannot do without you.”

Mr. Richard pursed his lips. ”The board and the shareholders don’t think so.”

The two were talking as they walked towards the garage. The vice president was still comforting him. ”I hear there will be some new materials. Maybe there will be a turn for the better at the next court hearing.”

”It’s almost the New Year. Do you have any thoughts of taking a vacation?”

Mr. Richard shook his head. ”God, I’m in such a mess now. Can you still expect me to want to go on a vacation?”

The vice president smiled and shook his head. ”It seems I’ve used the wrong topic.”

”Then...”

The two stood by their respective cars. ”Happy New Year?”

Mr. Richard squeezed out a not-so-good-looking smile. ”Happy New Year!”

Whether the New Year was happy or not, only he himself knew.

He got into his car and lit a cigarette.

After he had taken two puffs, and the vice president’s car had already left, he had finally driven his car and had left the company.

He had been thinking about these matters all the way, and his mind was a little confused.

But he believed that everything he had done was correct.

If they couldn’t defeat Gold Label Distillery, defeat those people of Lance’s, through legitimate competition, then they would just use what they were good at, to deal with them!

Every day, the interstate highway police of the state police department were whistling past on the state’s highways.

They would impound the trucks that looked a little problematic, and would only release them after an inspection.

It might seem that this kind of a random check might not be effective, or that the effect might not be very good, but that would be a big mistake!

The effect was very good. These police officers, who worked on the state highways every day, had gradually gained a kind of experience.

Just as you know how to jack off most smoothly, and which teachers can make you excited and hard (an expression, meaning very excited), and to smoothly finish today’s jacking off.

This is a process of being able to do something well.

They just had to glance at the trucks, and they would roughly know in their hearts which truck was suspected of smuggling liquor, and which was just an ordinary driver.

Of course, it was not 100% accurate, and the proportion was not good-looking, but the effect was very good.

A large batch of vehicles that were used for smuggling had been seized by them. Because the people in charge of the search were from the state police department, not from the Prohibition Bureau, it was fine for the police department to take these liquors or not, which provided them with a new solution.

Before, the board of directors had mentioned a suggestion. They had suggested to take the intercepted and impounded liquor of the Lance Family, and to re-bottle it in their own Gold Label Distillery’s bottles.

Many people on the board of directors had tasted Lance’s Golden Lion Wine. They also admitted that although Lance’s distillery had been established for a very short time, in the matter of brewing, he still had a certain talent.

To pass off Lance’s wine as their own to sell, might not be a bad idea.

This way, they could also, in a short period of time, give their clients an explanation, and at least to complete the orders in time.

However, Mr. Richard had not agreed. The wine of Gold Label Distillery and Lance’s liquor were not the same taste, let alone the same style.

If they were to forcibly sell Lance’s wine as their own, in the end, they would only lose more customers!

For this, he had even had a fight with the board of directors. The board’s side had believed that the most important thing now was to make up for the losses, and not to continue to fight with the Lance Family.

In short, Mr. Richard’s days had not been very good recently.

”Perhaps, I should take advantage of the New Year’s holiday, to let myself relax.”

With this thought, he had stopped by a flower shop on his way. He had ordered a bouquet of flowers from the flower shop.

Then he had gone to a cake shop, and had confirmed the time and address. He needed a home delivery service.

After all was ready, he had returned home.

Mr. Richard’s wife was very gentle to him. She knew that her husband had run into a big trouble recently, so no matter what, she was very supportive.

Today, when she had seen a few more smiles on her husband’s face, while she was relieved, she had also curiously inquired, ”Did something good happen?”

Mr. Richard had replied with a smile, ”It’s not too bad. It’s almost the New Year. I can’t still look so sad and tearful at the New Year, can I?”

His wife did not pursue it. Not to be overly inquisitive is the panacea for maintaining a marital relationship.

The two had spent a harmonious night, and a few days.

As the New Year was approaching, the entire state’s liquor market had been completely detonated. People had worked hard for a year, and they always had to have a few good drinks in the last and the first few days.

The sales were very hot, but none of it belonged to Gold Label Distillery, nor did it belong to Mr. Richard.

Looking at his competitors constantly having their orders explode, Mr. Richard could only pretend not to see.

On the last day of the New Year, after he had gotten off work in the evening, he had returned home early.

”You don’t have to socialize today?” his wife asked.

Richard had walked into the dining room and had sat down at the dining table. ”No. I came back specially to spend the New Year with you today...”