Empire of Shadows

In the warm room, Lance and Mayor Williams sat on the side of the sofa. Arthur stood in front of them with his head bowed.

Everyone had a lot of things to do these past two days. After the matter was over, Mayor Williams invited Lance to his home for dinner, a standard family banquet.

Patricia went to accompany Emily. Emily was already showing. Patricia was also very concerned about this child, who she didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl.

She had never been separated from her parents for such a long time. Now that she was married to Lance, she had been living with Lance. Although she was very happy, she also had a little bit of her own thoughts.

She always felt that she could not be by her parents’ side, and she was a little regretful.

So for this little guy to come out and be able to accompany her parents on her behalf, she was very happy and liked it very much.

She didn’t have the thought of “a little thing is coming to divide my family’s property,” and she didn’t care much about the family property.

The Williams couple could not be said to be very rich and noble, but they had also managed to let Patricia live a life free of worries about food and clothing since she was a child. So she was not so eager for money, nor did she have such a clear understanding of it.

Emily had some physiological reactions of pregnancy. Patricia, who was very worried about her, took the initiative to take on the job of taking care of her, so Lance came to the family banquet alone in the evening.

Before dinner began, Arthur expressed his sincere thanks to Lance!After all, it was Lance’s men who had rescued him.

“I accept your thanks, and at the same time, I also want to remind you that now with the occurrence of some things between me and your father, and the change in our status, you’d better not run around at this stage.”

“Otherwise, what has just happened may happen again.”

“This time, we were lucky. The people of the Holy Bell Party were not familiar with this place, and they also overestimated themselves, so we were able to bring you back.”

“But next time, Arthur, I can’t guarantee that I can still find you, and bring you back alive!”

Mayor Williams glared at him, which made Arthur feel a deep sense of fear.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of being kidnapped or killed, but that after he was rescued, Mayor Williams had given him a good whipping with a belt.

He had never been beaten so hard in his life!

A good whipping had made him honest. At that time, he had a feeling that he was going to be beaten to death, which also made him more afraid of Mayor Williams.

“I see, Mr. Lance,” he said dejectedly.

Lance smiled and didn’t care if he had realized this problem or not. Anyway, just as he had said, if he still wanted to run around, the next time they met, it might be at Arthur’s funeral.

Mayor Williams impatiently let him get lost, and then chatted with Lance about some things that Lance didn’t know.

“The Speaker of the State House of Representatives called me this morning…”

As he began to talk about serious business, Lance also became serious.

The state legislature of the Federation was also divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives. Their responsibilities were not much different from the Senate and House of Representatives of Congress. It was just that one managed the entire country, and one only managed one place.

But in terms of the confrontation of power, Congress was, in most cases, an existence that could confront the president.

In the history of the Federation, there was no lack of presidents who had been impeached and lost their power.

But within a state, the state legislature could not confront the governor, because the governor could directly and accurately control the generation of the members of the state legislature.

Those who were not beneficial to him, he could not allow any of them to appear in the state legislature. But the president could not prevent the people he disliked from appearing in Congress.

So this also led to the political ranking of the speaker of the state legislature being a little lower in the state, and not as high as the speaker of Congress and the spokesperson.

But whether it was high or low, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was a big shot to Mayor Williams, and he could not refuse.

“The Speaker of the House wants me to go to Manteno before January 5th.”

He leaned back. “He said he wants to mediate some of the conflicts between us and the Bay Area. It should be the pressure from the senator’s side.”

Lance nodded. “Very likely, but the problem is that they plan to continue to escalate the situation on the first.”

Mayor Williams was not surprised. When one of them had to die, no one’s mediation was useful. One had to die.

He pondered for a moment. “What are your plans?”

“Is there anything you need me to do?”

“If you’re short of manpower on your side, I can transfer some people over from my side.”

He was implicitly conveying a message to Lance. If Lance didn’t plan to do anything, then they would have to.

The Williams family was not without a bit of resistance. When he was back at the farm for the festival, Lance had talked about this matter with the three old uncles. As one of the oldest large farmer groups in Likalai State, they were also very familiar with the Williams family.

After all, in the past, they were also competitors. It was not until the deep-water port of Golden Port City was developed that the Williams family gradually withdrew from the agriculture and animal husbandry industry and began to flex its muscles in the city.

But before this, they were opponents.

No one would turn a blind eye to their opponent. If you don’t want to become a rotting corpse in the sewer, then it is very necessary to have a sufficient understanding of your opponent.

The Williams family once had perhaps ten thousand slaves. Of course, this was what they themselves promoted to the outside world. When the slavery system existed, this kind of promotion was also a symbol of strength.

With so many slaves, it meant that they needed the same number of “cowboys.” These cowboys were not the cowboys in the eyes of people now who represented the romanticism of the West, but were real musketeers, the family guard.

They would ride on horseback and roam the land of the farm, carrying two or three shotguns and moving in groups, urging the slaves to work, and when necessary, they would also suppress the slaves’ riots.

In other words, these cowboys were a private armed force.

After the Williams family changed their track, it seemed that they had no connection with the large farmers, plantations, and the like, but this was not entirely the case.

There were still people in their family who were running farms, and the small farmers who had previously been attached to their family were still there.

There were at least a few hundred lawless cowboys still active on the Lawrence family farm—what they abided by was not the laws of the Federation, but the orders of the Lawrence family.

The Williams family, and the small farmers who had been attached to them before, still had some cowboys in their hands.

If the Williams family were to decline from now on, these people might not take them seriously. After all, glory is only temporary, but interests are permanent.

But as the Williams family grew stronger and stronger, those small farmers would continue to offer their loyalty.

They could mobilize some cowboys from those small farmers. These people were more fierce in some aspects than the ordinary gang members.

They would carry a gun from morning to night, and would often kill to drive away wolf packs or predators.

If Lance had no intention of dealing with Hope, then Mayor Williams would have to mobilize his own men.

From this point, it could also be seen that this time he was really pushed to the edge and had already planned to personally use some not-so-decent methods to solve the problem.

At the same time, this was also another hidden hint and statement from Mayor Williams to Lance. They were not without a bit of armed resistance.

With the Lance Family still growing, even if their relationship was as friendly as people saw it, Mayor Williams still felt a little pressure.

Between friends, there cannot be too big of a gap. Once the gap is too big, it is very difficult to be friends.

Lance also heard it. He explained with a smile, “I’ve already arranged for it.”

“I’ve cultivated a young man over in the New Port District, named Carl. He’s very clever, and also very ambitious.”

“It was also he who told me that Hope was preparing for the rally on the first.”

“I’ve asked him to find a way to deal with Hope before the first. This way, even if the Bay Area makes a fuss again, it will be an internal conflict among the refugees.”

Mayor Williams listened and kept nodding. He glanced at James. Seeing that James had already started to frown and think, a look of gratification also appeared on his face.

This incident had happened very suddenly, with a lot of bad news, but there was also one piece of good news, and that was that James had grown a lot compared to before.

He suddenly thought of the former mayor and his secretary. He had heard a small piece of gossip that Sidney (the former mayor) had used his last bit of personal connections and political assets to exchange for a better starting opportunity for his secretary.

Some people said that his secretary was actually his son, but some people also said that he was just a successor he had chosen.

To cultivate a qualified successor was the most urgent thought for people like them, besides gaining their own power.

Only a qualified successor could lead the family to continue to grow healthily and strongly.

“You want to split the refugee group,” Mayor Williams continued to teach James. The confusion on James’s face was immediately filled with a trace of joy from having figured it out. He looked at Mayor Williams in pleasant surprise. The latter pretended not to see his gaze.

Lance didn’t mind being a part of their teaching. He didn’t have this burden yet, but maybe he would in the future.

He nodded, looking very relaxed. “This is a relatively effective method. We can’t always emphasize the issue of confrontation. Congress will not allow us to do so.”

“When Tom spoke with me, he mentioned these things. I can feel that the senator, and even this Congress, hopes that we will consider the demands of foreign affairs.”

“We have to find a way for us to step down from the stage ourselves, so I thought of this.”

Mayor Williams’s face was also full of smiles. “That’s about what I thought.”

The phone calls encouraging him to expel the refugees certainly didn’t wish him well, but on the contrary, they could also become a force in his hands.

If Congress had not intervened, he would have really planned to go down this road. But now that Congress had intervened, he had to change a little.

“There are some very active ‘civilian politicians’ over in the New Port District…” he couldn’t help but laugh when he said this word. As a real politician, he found this word very funny.

“I think some of their views can be taken out and used. I plan to ‘negotiate’ with them.”

After hearing this, Lance raised his eyebrows. This was a very mature choice.

He couldn’t just change his position at once, but he couldn’t keep rushing forward with his head down either. He needed a step, but this step was not so easy to find.

Mayor Williams’s idea was essentially the same as Lance’s, but Lance’s means seemed more direct, while his means were a little more gentle.

This kind of thing, you can’t tell whose is good and whose is bad. As long as it’s useful, it’s all good.

Both of them had their own ideas, but the core was the same. It was not surprising that Mayor Williams could have such an idea. How many years had he been immersed in politics?

But for Lance to be able to make such a decision made Mayor Williams very shaken.

Shocking is not the right word. He had been shocked many times, but there was definitely a tremor.

He no longer doubted how far Lance could go. As long as he didn’t die in an accident, this country would definitely have a place for him in the future, and would also leave his name.

All sorts of complex thoughts flashed through his mind. It seemed like a lot of content, but in terms of time, it was just an instant.

He immediately turned his attention to this matter. “The people you’ve supported, can they do it?”

It wasn’t that he doubted Lance, but that he had some doubts about those refugees. At the same time, this matter was still relatively important. Lance nodded. “It doesn’t matter if they can’t do it. I’ve arranged for people.”

“In fact, what we need is just to let people know that this is the result of their internal division and infighting. As for whether that bullet was really fired from their gun, isn’t it up to us to say?”

Mayor Williams had more smiles on his face. He said with some emotion, “You are the most capable young man I have ever seen in your age group, bar none!”

At this time, the butler came in from outside. “Master, Mr. Lance, Master James, dinner is ready.”

Mayor Williams stood up. “Let’s go. I’m getting hungry too.”

The dinner was still a very sumptuous dinner, and there was also fine wine.

The pleasures of music from the gramophone and glittering lights formed a sharp contrast with the shivering figures huddled in the corners against the winter cold.

One after another pair of eyes stared at the enviable, jealous, and hateful, but helpless life behind those windows. This was the Federation.

For a whole night, a few young men almost froze to death on the side of the road. If it weren’t for them huddling together for warmth, maybe they would have frozen to death before they had a chance to kill anyone.

If Lance had known their plan, he would only have said that this was a plan with ideas, but obviously not much depth. They hadn’t even considered these problems first.

But it couldn’t be entirely blamed on them. After all, they had never done this before.

At a little after eight in the morning, the sky had completely brightened, and the snow had also stopped.

Today was December 29th. There were only two days left before January 1st.

For the past day, the news that Mr. Hope was planning to protest against City Hall on behalf of the refugee group had gradually begun to spread. At the same time, some people had also jumped out, saying that these actions of Mr. Hope were not only of no help to solving the current conflict between the refugees and the federal people, but on the contrary, might continue to intensify the conflict!

The people, especially the people at the bottom, are often ignorant and have no firm stance, no ability to think for themselves.

When they heard that Mr. Hope was doing it for their own good, they enthusiastically supported Mr. Hope.

But now a group of people had stood up, and clearly more people than on Hope’s side, and said that doing so was actually not good for them.

Some people could still hold on for a while, but some people directly jumped ship.

The resistance generated in pushing this matter quickly converged on Hope. The action on the first was very important, related to whether he could realize his dream, so he could not allow any accidents to happen to this action.

But now the resistance outside was indeed generating. If he stayed here and did nothing, even if he cursed as ugly as he wanted, it would have no meaning to the whole matter.

So he planned to go out for a trip, to face the public directly, to face those “opponents,” and through a debate, to have the public support him again!

He was a social activist. He had a very accurate grasp of the psychology of the ordinary people at the bottom. He had to show up.

After breakfast, he began to prepare. He found out that several young “juniors” were calling on people to put down their opposition, so he prepared to rush over.

He wanted to defeat them in a debate in front of these people and let people know that he was the real savior!

“Will it be dangerous?” his assistant couldn’t help but ask.

Appearing in public at a time like this was not a good idea.

Hope shook his head. “I believe you can protect me. And what is there without risk?”

“If we want to achieve the greatest success, we must definitely bear a huge risk.”

“Lying in bed and not going anywhere has the smallest risk, but what can you get by doing so?”

“You can get nothing!”

He looked at the others. “Remember what I told you?”

“We came to the Federation not just to survive here, but we also have to survive better than anyone else. We want to be a person of a higher class!”

He clenched his fist. “No one can stop us, not even danger!”

Under his encouragement, the others had no objections. After all, the things they were doing were already very dangerous.

Now that they were surrounded by Slad people, they shouldn’t encounter any danger, right?

They thought so.

A group of people simply finished their breakfast and were about to leave. His bodyguard was the first to leave the house to prepare the vehicle.

After waiting for a while, Hope came out of the room. He was wearing a hat and a scarf and took a deep breath.

The moment the cold air was inhaled into his lungs, his whole person became a little invigorated.

He strode to the side of the sidewalk and happened to see his bodyguard scolding some beggars to leave.

Those beggars looked very young. Looking at these young faces, some thoughts suddenly came to Hope’s mind.

He raised his hand to stop the bodyguard and walked towards these young people. Under their disbelieving eyes, he came to them. “Young gentlemen…”

(End of a Chapter)