Empire of Shadows

Lance’s ”arrogant” words weren’t exactly true arrogance.

The Federation’s system is just like that. A governor’s power is indeed great; he can decide a state’s future development and direction, and can formulate many of the state’s policy contents.

But they cannot manage local administrative orders.

Within the scope of a city, the mayor is still the one who is respected. This is the mayor system.

They decide everything within the city, while they are the mayor.

So does this mean that a governor has absolutely no way to control a city?

Actually, it’s not entirely like that. They can find a way to have the state legislature form an investigation team against a local official, and then, using other methods that comply with federal and local legal policies, remove the mayor, and then support a mayor who listens to the governor, thereby achieving the goal of indirectly controlling the city.

But doing so is not an easy matter. It involves a lot of political games.

If a governor could just fire whomever he wanted, that country would already be finished.

Including Governor Wade, who wanted to deal with those mayors who didn’t support him before. The most he could do was to threaten to investigate them for criminal behavior, and then force them to negotiate with him.In the Federation, everyone, from the moment they are born, carries various sins, so no one can withstand an investigation.

More or less, some problems can be found on them.

But as long as it’s not a very serious problem, it’s very difficult for a governor to get a mayor removed from office.

The former governor of Indeno State had really disliked Wade, who was still a mayor at the time. Even though the confrontation between him and the lieutenant governor had already affected the state’s order, he could only ask the two not to continue the confrontation, rather than doing anything more drastic, because he couldn’t.

What Governor Wade had mentioned to Lance before, about being able to get him more of the market, and even to a certain extent, to monopolize the liquor smuggling market in Indeno State, was not to say that he could get rid of those mayors who were not on his side, or to replace them.

It was just to let the police, the state police, these law enforcement departments, pretend not to see their behavior of selling and transporting liquor.

If he wanted to deal with Lance, at most, he could just let the state police, the local police, continue to keep a close eye on Lance and the liquor he sold.

As for the mayors of various places, he had no way at all, so Lance was not very afraid of him.

”I remember we still have some materials.” Lance used his knife and fork to poke at the remaining beef. The juices inside were pink, clearly not cooked through.

”Grill this again. It’s too raw.”

Immediately, someone took the beef away to re-grill it. Lance picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. ”If he can be honest, then we won’t do anything. If he can’t be, then we’ll show him some color.”

With Senator Cleveland at his back, and still holding some dirt on him, Lance was not afraid of him at all.

Elvin sat on the side and asked in a low voice, ”Then are we continuing to ship?”

Lance lit a cigarette. After eating, his stomach was full. At this time, he especially wanted to light a cigarette.

As the smoke was inhaled into his lungs, and then was slowly exhaled, his whole person relaxed a lot. ”Why not continue to ship?”

”Not only do we have to ship, but we also have to prepare to increase the ’output,’ because we have more of a market.”

After a while, they brought in the re-cooked beef. Lance ate some more, and only then did he go back to sleep.

The next morning, he took the initiative to visit the mayor of New Birmingham.

The mayor of New Birmingham had a good relationship with Lance. Otherwise, the Lance Family would not have taken root in New Birmingham. This mayor was Governor Wade’s friend here, and their relationship was not bad.

Lance had gotten to know the mayor of New Birmingham, and it was also Governor Wade who had introduced him.

This city used to be very quiet, until the Lance Family had come here. It had begun to become lively, and had greater development prospects.

Seeing Lance, this ”angel” who, in the true sense, was radiating golden light, and was symbolizing wealth and strength, arrive, the mayor had taken the initiative to welcome him at the entrance of the city hall.

This was the status of ”capital” in this country. As long as you could bring more financial revenue here, and also jobs, the mayor, in front of you, was just an ordinary person.

Because there were many staff members in the city hall, the two had not had any substantial communication on the way to the mayor’s office, but had just chatted about some of the ordinary things that had happened recently.

After entering the mayor’s office, the two sat on opposite sides of the desk. Lance took a small sip of his coffee before he said, ”I went to see Wade yesterday.”

The mayor pursed his lips and nodded. ”I heard.”

”We talked about some things, but the result was not good.”

The mayor did not speak, but just listened quietly.

Lance took another small sip of coffee. The coffee was really good. It was the kind of slightly dark roast that he liked. The fragrance of the oils had completely seeped out of the coffee beans, and the dense, smooth texture was very pleasant.

He put the coffee back on the desk. ”He wants too much.”

The mayor showed a look of curiosity. ”Can I ask, just a little, how much did he want?”

Lance pursed his lips. ”Twenty percent.”

When the mayor had heard this number, he couldn’t help but disagree with Lance’s view. ”That is indeed a lot. I think five or ten percent would be a very appropriate number.”

”I didn’t expect him to actually demand so much!”

This was clearly a mayor who was good at math. He could calculate that a 5% dividend was also clearly higher than what he could have gotten before. Governor Wade was also a person who had been to university. Even if his math was not good, he should have understood this.

So in the end, it was just too greedy.

Lance smiled and shook his head. ”If he could be at your level, then we wouldn’t have had such an unpleasantness.”

A smile appeared on the mayor’s face. Lance had given him a small compliment, but he enjoyed this kind of subtle flattery very much. It could make his body and mind become happy.

”If I were him, I would definitely have agreed. But I am not him, Lance.”

”If you are hoping that I can help you to persuade him, I think it’s completely impossible, because I definitely can’t.”

”To put it... directly, he’s not a local of Indeno State. Our relationship is not yet so good that I can influence him in a matter involving the trade-off of several million in benefits.”

”So I’m very sorry, I can’t help you.”

Lance explained with a smile, ”My purpose in coming to see you is not to have you help in this matter. I just want to tell you that no matter how things change between Wade’s side and me, our deal will not be terminated.”

”The cut of the sales in the city will not have any changes. How much you should get, you will still get. Everything is the same as in the past.”

A few more sincere smiles appeared on the mayor of New Birmingham’s face. ”This is indeed good news!”

He paused for a moment as he spoke. ”Lance, you can rest assured. As long as I am still in this position, I can ensure that in this city, besides the Dangerous Goods Administration, there will be no other law enforcers who will find trouble with you.”

Not long after he had finished speaking, he had added, ”The Federal Tax Service also doesn’t count.”

The original tax threshold of the federal government was an annual income of 1,000. 90% of the people couldn’t get this income. Although there was a tax bureau, its scale was not very large.

In a city, there was only a small group of people who could afford to pay taxes. They didn’t even need many staff to cover it.

But now, with the threshold having been lowered to ”having an income,” even if it was one cent, you had to report your taxes. The situation that the tax bureau was facing would only become more complicated. So Congress had passed some bills, and was constantly strengthening the actual collection ability of the local tax bureaus.

After all, a considerable portion of the taxes they had collected would enter the federal government’s treasury, and only then would it be the local finances.

They had also been given a lot of power. Even the mayor was not very willing to deal with them.

The mayor was full of confidence in his control of this city. When Wade was here, and when he was not, in the end, the only voice in this city was the mayor, not the governor or anyone else.

At the same time, he also understood what Lance meant, to bypass Governor Wade and to directly contact these mayors. After all, they were the ”front-line commanders.”

For Lance’s countermeasures, the mayor could only say that it was indeed very sharp. He had, in an instant, found the key to solving the problem.

A governor cannot directly interfere in the administrative affairs of a city.

The mayor was very surprised at some of Lance’s decisions. It was rare for such a young man to, in such a short time, to find a ”balance point.”

At the same time, he had also made a corresponding statement, ”I just got a new car, and I’m also planning to get a new villa, so you don’t have to worry at all, Lance. I will be on your side!”

Although he did not say what car it was, and what kind of a villa he wanted to get, the consumption of these things was definitely not cheap.

It was impossible for him to have saved this money himself, so this money could only be obtained from other places, and he wouldn’t feel the pinch when he used it.

If Lance stopped, this would make him lose a large sum of money. His dream of a luxury house would also be shattered, and all his beautiful plans for the future would be void!

He would not allow this to happen!

This was also his true inner thought, because the money that could be earned from these illegal businesses was really too much!

Lance had keenly caught a word he had used in his speech just now—”local.”

The word ”local” still had a lot of killing power in this era. This meant that even if Governor Wade was the governor now, some of the cities, some of the mayors in the local area, could completely ignore him.

As long as they ignored him, the governor was just a decoration.

”Some of you don’t like Wade?” Lance asked, taking the initiative.

This might look like a question, but in fact, it was an affirmative sentence. Lance was almost certain that there were many people who didn’t like Wade. Perhaps these people could also become his help.

The mayor nodded, and did not hide this. ”In the state government, in the state legislature, there are many people who don’t like outsiders, unless you are from Golden State.”

Lance laughed twice. This was clearly a small joke with a bit of a dark, satirical meaning.

In the Federation, there would also be regional discrimination, just like those in finance who looked down on those who were in factories, or the northerners who would, somewhat, look down on the southerners, and the places with more prominent development would look down on the backward places.

Almost any country will have some similar things. Golden State, as the core of the Federation, the people who lived in Golden State would all feel that they were superior. Even if he was a beggar, he would also think so.

This was perhaps another characteristic of the Federation—the local community.

Maybe because they were not ”locals” in the true sense, so they would, more than people from other countries, have a fanaticism for ”local.”

...

The visit to the mayor of New Birmingham was only the first step. Then Lance and Elvin had separated to visit the mayors of other cities, and to talk to them about this.

The gubernatorial election was over. Governor Wade’s victory had already made a part of the mayors, who had previously been in the ”opposing campaign camp,” feel a little worried. They were worried that because of their previous ”unfriendliness,” they and their cities would be treated differently.

In two years, the mayor would be re-elected. So these mayors, who had originally not been in the same trench as Lance, were also willing to accept Lance’s offer.

No matter if they could be re-elected in two years, or if they were to go to other places, to have money in their pockets, in the end, was not a mistake.

For several days, Lance did not contact Governor Wade, which had made Governor Wade, more or less, really a little unable to sit still.

He had begun to take the initiative to inquire about Lance’s movements. His cousin-aide, after he had inquired a little, had told Governor Wade the truth—

Lance had run away overnight, and it was also heard that he was in contact with the mayors of various places.

Hearing this result, it had both exceeded Governor Wade’s expectations, but it was also within his reason. After all, what he was asking for was a large sum of money. Such a large sum, even if it was him, he would actually also be reluctant.

It was just that he had not expected that Lance’s reaction would be so fast, so swift, and so... intense!

”Help me to get in touch with Gold Label Distillery. Have the person who can make the decisions to come and talk to me.”

Governor Wade also did not feel too disappointed. Since Lance was not willing to ”strengthen the cooperation” with him, then he would just do it himself.

Soon he had received a call from the new president of Gold Label Distillery. ”Your Excellency Governor, they said you wanted to talk to me?”

Governor Wade did not beat around the bush with him, but went straight to the point. ”I hear that some time ago, Gold Label Distillery was destroyed by a big fire.”

The newly appointed president was a little unsure of how to answer this question, and had remained silent.

Governor Wade did not, with him, to delay time or anything. He just said what he was thinking.

”Do you have any plans to accept an investment?”

Before the president of Gold Label Distillery could refuse, Governor Wade had added, ”My personal investment.”