Empire of Shadows

“I disagree!”

The man with golden-brown hair sitting opposite Lance directly voiced his opposition. The look he gave Lance was very unfriendly.

The appearance of Golden Lion Wine was, in fact, plundering the market of Gold Label liquor. Their almost identical wine bottles, although there were differences, had almost the same label at first glance.

Although Golden Lion Wine was currently only spreading and occupying the market in Likalai State and the surrounding areas, it was very difficult for Gold Label liquor to counterattack the markets that had been occupied by Golden Lion Wine.

Because the channels were completely in Lance’s hands, it was already impossible for them to reopen the channels and send their own wine to the sales terminals.

At least, it was impossible before the end of Prohibition.

It was impossible for them to re-sell Gold Label liquor to the market that Lance had embraced. He believed that as long as they did so, Lance would definitely report them.

But on the other hand, he couldn’t report Lance either, because he also had to sell these liquors to the ordinary market.

If he reported Lance, would Lance also report him?

In short, this was a very bad situation. When Lance shouted out that the liquor market in Golden Port City was worth 200 million a year, it was equivalent to cutting flesh from their bodies!The pain was so great that he couldn’t even sleep!

Now Lance still wanted to be the rotating chairman of the industry committee?

He sneered. Have you asked me?

In short, no matter what, he would not agree.

Mr. Joseph, at this time, was like a dog raised by Lance. Before Lance could react, he pounced out to bite. “Mr. Lance is the initiator and promoter of the plan. He has been of great help to our return to the market.”

“And although Mr. Lance is young, I have talked with him. His wise conversation and words have convinced me. Can you understand what I mean?”

“You can’t just see him as a young man. He has an outstanding mind. He will make us develop more smoothly!”

“No matter how you decide, I am firmly in support of Mr. Lance being the first rotating chairman.”

Someone next to him immediately followed up, “I also support Mr. Lance as the rotating chairman.”

There were a total of four or five people who supported Lance, plus Lance himself. It seemed that he already had nearly half of the supporters.

How could the guy from Gold Label Distillery allow such a thing to happen? Although no one was clear what this industry committee was going to do, or what it would do, it was definitely a committee that would have a huge impact on the future liquor industry.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the chairman is rotating. It seems that everyone has a chance, but in fact, not everyone here has a chance to sit in that position.

If Lance sat on it first, his chance of sitting on it would become smaller.

Similarly, if he sat on it first, the difficulty for Lance to “usurp the throne” would increase.

This was absolutely not something to be compromised on!

Lance lit a cigarette. “You just say you oppose, but you don’t say why you oppose. I don’t know what I should call you?”

“Richard,” someone said.

“Mr. Richard, you have a lot of hostility towards me.”

The people in the room were all watching the two of them as if they were watching a show. Mr. Richard glanced at him sideways. “You used despicable means to steal our market, and you still expect me to support you with a smile?”

Someone made a sound of confusion. Not all of their liquors were sold to Likalai State. After all, that place was a little far from the wineries in the north.

In the past, when the profit of liquor was not so outrageous, the freight was enough to make them unable to compete with the local liquor in the south, so they did not know about these things.

However, some people knew. After they had briefly explained, the gazes of these people at Lance and Richard had undergone some subtle changes.

On the one hand, they were amazed at how bold Lance was. Prohibition had already been issued, yet he was still frantically brewing liquor and selling it to the market. Was he really not afraid of death?

On the other hand, they had not expected that the main market of Gold Label liquor had actually been dug out by Lance.

The main market of Gold Label liquor was in the south. Their market had been taken away by Lance by at least one-third, and the key was that it was the one-third with the strongest consumption capacity. So there was definitely an irreconcilable conflict between the two sides.

Hearing this, people began to look forward to their subsequent performance even more. This kind of good show was not something that could be seen at any time.

Mr. Rao actually didn’t know the specific details of what had happened. Now that he had been “educated” by those people, he finally knew that there was indeed a difficult-to-resolve conflict between the two sides.

He frowned imperceptibly.

Behind Lance was that small group of Senator Cleveland’s. They were originally in a rising phase, and now they had a huge amount of wealth in their hands.

Wealth is a resource. For these top politicians, with the blessing of power, money has become a universal thing. It can solve all problems.

There have already been some discussions in Congress. Some people believe that this small group of Senator Cleveland might consider promoting the next presidential election.

After all, they are not short of money now. To spend tens of millions to try to push a president to power would be of great benefit to them.

Whether the president cooperates with the senator, or the senator cooperates with the president, the person who holds the initiative will always get more benefits and supreme power!

From Mr. Rao’s point of view, he preferred for Lance to really win the election for the rotating chairman of the committee. This way, on Senator Cleveland’s side, he could also get some face.

He glanced at Mr. Richard with a trace of disgust in the depths of his eyes.

The emotions of an old federal man are just that direct. If you do something that is not beneficial to me, I will hate you.

Regarding Richard’s accusation, Lance completely denied it. “When my wine appeared on the market, the market was a blank.”

“Did you engrave your name on the liquor sales channel in Golden Port City?”

“What, you’re not selling it yourself, but you won’t let others sell it?”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t say that. You’ll only make people think you’re naive, and also very ridiculous.”

“You’re not a child anymore, and there’s nothing that necessarily belongs to you. You can fight to get back what you’ve lost through competition, not by crying and calling for mommy!”

Mr. Richard’s face began to flush after being told off. How could he have ever suffered such an insult in his life?

Whether it was when he was a child, or when he grew up a little, in his teenage years, or even bigger, until now, even if someone was not so friendly to him, they would not be so direct.

“Your wine bottles and labels are all imitating our products. You opened up the market by counterfeiting our products!”

Facing the already somewhat incoherent Mr. Richard, Lance tapped the table with his hand. “Go and sue me. The city court, the circuit court, the federal supreme court, go and sue me.”

“If you can win the lawsuit, however much it is, I will compensate you that much.”

“You can also compete with me. If you lower the price of your liquor, I don’t believe that those drunks will choose a more expensive product instead of a cheaper one!”

In the end, it was still that the price of Gold Label liquor was relatively high. It wasn’t that they couldn’t lower it, but the board of directors, the shareholders, might not agree.

Mr. Rao, seeing that the two were no longer arguing, interjected, “The matter of electing the rotating chairman of the committee is not for you to choose now. You still have a few days.”

“So you can think about it first, and you can also canvass for votes. We are very democratic and also very free. You have a week.”

“So, does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?”

The people began to discuss enthusiastically again. Only Lance and Mr. Richard were silent.

During this period, Mr. Joseph also met Lance’s gaze several times and showed a friendly smile, as if he were really looking out for Lance.

Originally, Mr. Rao’s intention was for everyone to have lunch together, and then take a picture as a memento. Maybe one day his back could use this photo.

Because Mr. Richard refused to be in the same frame as Lance, this plan was also canceled in the end. Richard and a few of his liquor merchants left in a hurry after the meeting.

This made Mr. Rao a little embarrassed, and at the same time a little annoyed.

It seemed that he was not giving Lance face, but in fact, he was not giving him, Rao, face. If Mr. Richard fell into his hands, he would definitely squeeze the piss out of this bastard!

Lunch was still held, but there were not so many people. Mr. Rao was also in no mood to say much. He just made a few perfunctory remarks during lunch.

Everyone seemed to have also sensed that his mood was not very good now, and they did not take the initiative to chat lively.

After eating, they all said their goodbyes.

When Lance was leaving, he happened to be with Joseph. Or rather, Joseph should have deliberately waited for Lance. He even deliberately had his driver park the car on the side of the road to let Lance go first.

Looking at the smiling face behind the car window, Lance’s smile was also just as happy.

This dog.

As for why Mr. Joseph had to dig a hole for him as soon as they met, he had some guesses.

He was sure that Mr. Joseph and Mr. Richard also had a certain feud. He didn’t want Richard to become the rotating chairman. That way, his own days would not be so good.

But for him to directly confront a liquor merchant like Gold Label, who had a certain status in the Federation, he himself might not be willing to take such a big risk.

From a certain perspective, they were actually on the same level. Because of Prohibition, they had not sold liquor to the outside until now, and their market share had already been exhausted.

If their two families started a price war, then it would not be good for either of them. So Mr. Joseph had found an opponent for Gold Label Distillery.

As for whether Lance would notice this, and whether he would have a disgusted emotion towards him, he actually didn’t care much.

Anyway, they didn’t have many chances to meet, and even if Lance wanted to find trouble with him, he had to first deal with Mr. Richard and the Gold Label Distillery behind him.

He actually didn’t think that they could “kill” each other. It was also very likely that neither of them would become the rotating chairman. As long as he achieved this, he would be satisfied!

But he had overlooked one thing, or rather, Lance’s performance was too good, which made people subconsciously forget that Lance White was not a pure businessman. He was also a gang leader!

Politicians, capitalists, many times will present the facts and reason with you, but a gang doesn’t need to!

When he returned to the hotel in the afternoon, Tom had been waiting for a while.

“I thought you would be back before lunch,” Tom shrugged. “So my bill was put on your tab.”

Lance smiled and walked to his side. Now the two were friends, and there was no such formal social etiquette as shaking hands between friends.

“These are all small matters. Mr. Rao was very enthusiastic. He had already opened his mouth. I couldn’t possibly refuse his invitation, could I?”

“And this was our first meeting. To refuse someone on the first meeting is not good.”

Some people pay attention to this, and they take the first time very seriously. If he was rejected the first time, he might think that Lance had an opinion of him.

Tom walked with him, and at the same time, he took out the sealed document bag from his briefcase and handed it over. “Before you hand it over to the Department of Defense, don’t open it.”

Lance glanced at the document in his hand. It was sealed very tightly. Tom thought he had read his confusion. “Because of the ‘Procurement Act,’ so this bidding is actually also an open bidding to a part of the enterprises in the industry.”

“Of course, you don’t have to worry that they will affect the final result, because the result has already been decided.”

“Doing so is just for… you know, we make the laws, and we abide by them.”

He explained very forcefully, although in terms of the order of words and the content he expressed, there were indeed no major flaws.

Lance nodded and said, “I understand. Fair, just, and open.”

Tom’s footsteps paused for a moment, and then he chased after Lance in one step. “You’ve summarized it very well. You always give me some surprises, Lance!”

Fair, just, and open. When placed alone, it doesn’t make people feel surprised at all, just like those… sexy clothes.

It can be in a shop window for a lifetime and you won’t find it that attractive, until it is worn on someone’s body!

These words were very short, and at the same time very powerful, very suitable for use in some speeches. He would remember it, and then use it in his own manuscript one day.

When they reached the elevator, Tom stopped there. “I won’t go up with you. Don’t forget to go to the Department of Defense at three o’clock in the afternoon!”

Lance nodded, and did not forcefully ask Tom to go up and sit for a while. There was no need for that.

He returned to his room and rested for a while. At 2:20, Tom had specially given him a call.

From his hotel to the Department of Defense, forty minutes was enough.

At 2:45, Lance’s car was allowed to enter the Department of Defense parking lot after an inspection.

At 2:50, he appeared in the lobby on the first floor of the Department of Defense. Under the guidance of the staff, he walked towards the multi-functional conference room, which was also on the first floor.

On the way, many military personnel looked at Lance with curiosity. Twenty-three years old was still a very young age. In addition to his handsomeness, some even thought he was some kind of celebrity, who had come to participate in the ongoing recruitment drive of the Department of Defense.

Some people had suggested that they should spend money to hire celebrities to do advertisements for them, to shoot posters, to attract more young people to join the army. This plan had been adopted.

(End of a Chapter)