Empire of Shadows

Elvin stood opposite Lance’s desk, looking at him, waiting for him to issue a command.

With just a word from Lance, he would find a way to stop these goods from entering Likalai State.

He could have the state police cooperate, give them a heads-up when they found a truck transporting these solid grape juices, and then they would play the role of the Death Angels and overturn all these trucks on the way.

For Elvin, for the Lance Family, this was just a very ordinary matter. They were a gang, after all, weren’t they?

You can’t expect a gang to abide by the law. Then they wouldn’t be a gang, but a fucking charitable organization!

Lance knew what he was waiting for, but at this moment, he shook his head. “Just stopping them from transporting is not a solution. They will definitely find other ways to transport these things in.”

“If they don’t take the interstate highway, but take the back roads, and even get some bigfoot monsters, tractors, or something that can travel in the wild, we still have no way to deal with them.”

“Let me make a few calls.”

As he spoke, he picked up the phone and dialed the number of the Lawrence Farm. The person who answered the phone was Deans, who was one of the younger ones in William’s generation, and was already thirty-nine this year.

He was the manager of the Lawrence Farm and the Lawrence family’s agricultural product stores in Golden Port City and the surrounding cities, responsible for the sales of the agricultural products of the Lawrence Farm and the surrounding farms.However, with the full-scale expansion of the liquor business, the matter of selling agricultural products had already been handed over to others, while Deans was in charge of the transportation of liquor on the farm.

He had rich experience in this aspect. In the past, the vegetables, eggs, milk, and other products produced by the Lawrence Farm, which had a time limit, had also been transported out through his hands.

So to have him be in charge of this aspect of things, the three old uncles and Lance were very at ease—

It is worth mentioning that the team responsible for transportation were all the cowboys of the Lawrence Farm. These cowboys, who usually seemed very easy to get along with on the farm, regarded the Lawrence family as their “lord,” and they were the common people living in the fief.

So sometimes they would call the young girls of the family like Patricia “Her Royal Highness.”

But outside, they were not so easy to get along with. Everyone carried at least one handgun with them, and some might carry two handguns and then two long guns on their backs.

It wasn’t that no one had ever tried to mess with them, but that all these people had completely disappeared. These cowboys were more skilled at disposing of bodies than Lance and his men. They knew the wild too well.

They knew where to put the body so that it would soon be torn to pieces by the predators in the wild.

Deans was very happy to receive Lance’s call, because the changes brought by Lance were real. Everyone in the Lawrence family had benefited from it, and they were sincerely grateful to Lance.

And the better Lance’s development, the better their future development would be.

Lance had no family here. He was alone. So many times, when someone was needed to “step up,” they would choose someone from the Lawrence family.

This was also one of the reasons why the three old uncles trusted Lance so much.

“Why do you have time to call me? Are you asking about the liquor production situation for this quarter?”

It was almost June. Maybe Lance had this idea. This was definitely a month of explosive production. The newly invested and built distillery had already started production.

After discussing with Lance, the three old uncles had let the surrounding farms also brew some base wine themselves, and then have them send the base wine over.

Here, they would add flavors, thickeners, pigments, and the like, to turn some of the not-so-valuable wine into slightly more valuable wine.

However, the premium plan had not been put down. A portion of each batch of wine would be put into the cellar to age, and the quantity would be more and more.

He had thought that Lance was concerned about the data in this aspect, so he had planned to report some good news to Lance.

But Lance interrupted him. “No, tell me after July. I have a question. Do you know the vineyards in this state and their owners, as well as the vineyards in the neighboring few states?”

“The large-scale ones!”

Deans was a little curious. “I’m not very familiar with this aspect. You have to ask Schubert. He likes to run around and knows a lot of people.”

“By the way, what’s wrong?”

“What happened?”

Lance glanced at the corner of the grape brick on the table that had been broken off. “Someone is destroying our business.”

“Are you serious?”

“Fuck, these people are damned. Who is it?”

Just through the phone, Lance could imagine Deans’s anger at this time. He comforted him a couple of times. “I’m looking for them. When I find them, I will definitely make them pay.”

“Is Mr. Schubert at the farm now?”

“Yes, he is. I saw him this morning.”

“Okay, I’ll call him. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything.”

Lance hung up the phone and then dialed another number. After waiting for a long while, someone answered, but it was not Schubert, but an old friend of his.

A character similar to a butler, an old cowboy who had been working for the Lawrence family his whole life. When he got old, he began to be responsible for some of the things he could do.

No one would look down on him, look down on this kind of person. There were many such old cowboys on the farm, and they were also a force!

After another four or five minutes, Schubert’s voice finally came from the receiver. “They said you were looking for me?”

Lance repeated what he had said to Deans. “I need the specific information of the local vineyards and the vineyards in the neighboring states.”

Schubert asked, “How are you going to deal with them?”

Lance did not hide it. “If they are willing to have a good talk with me, I will talk to them nicely, and I can also contract their grapes.”

“After all, our demand for liquor is getting higher and higher. It’s equivalent to everyone making money together.”

“But if they don’t listen, I won’t be so merciful as to still let them do so after knowing that they have offended me!”

Schubert laughed twice. “I just like your directness, Lance. It’s much cuter than those little bastards!”

“You should teach these people a lesson, let them know whose cheese they’ve moved, fuck!”

He cursed a couple of times, and then had Lance write it down.

The south of the Federation is in the subtropics, so many places in the entire south are suitable for growing grapes. The climate is pleasant, and when necessary, dry. This place has such a climate.

After hanging up the phone, Lance glanced at the information of more than a dozen vineyards he had recorded down and handed it to Elvin. “Deal with them!”

Lance was certain that there was a high probability that these grape bricks were local, or from the surrounding areas.

Because the price was too cheap.

Three dollars. If the journey was too long, the shipping fee would increase. Three dollars wouldn’t make much money, so they must be in the local or surrounding areas.

Elvin took the note and nodded. “I’ll arrange it as soon as possible,” he said and then left the room.

Lance glanced at the grape brick, broke off some more, and rubbed it loose.

He found that in fact, there were not only grapes in it, but also some other miscellaneous fruits.

The current price of grapes was not cheap at all, about ninety cents a pound, so if this thing was purely made of grapes, then the vineyard owner would definitely lose money.

But if it was mixed with some other worthless crushed fruits, they could earn at least a dollar for a brick.

It might not seem like much, but on the other hand, this method did not require any complicated technology or craftsmanship, no brewing time, no distillation, no canning.

So much so that they didn’t even need to get a beautiful shell for it. They just needed to wrap it in this oiled paper and add a little glue.

And brewing does not depend on the quality of the fruit. It might be the poor-quality fruits that can’t be sold. The cost of three tons is only about 1,700 or 1,800. Plus these oiled papers and cartons, let’s say 2,000, but it can be sold for about seven or eight thousand, a three or four times profit!

The most crucial thing is that this fucking thing is actually legal!

This is enough to make some merchants go crazy!

What Lance was not sure about now was whether channel providers like Ligier, Blythe, and Nongda were involved.

He picked up the phone again and called Mr. Berman (the executive president of Blythe, who had cooperated with Lance to extort Ligier). Golden Port, as the most important deep-water port in the Federation, Mr. Berman had always maintained a good private relationship with Lance.

When he answered the phone, it was almost the same as what Deans had said!

“Why did you suddenly think of calling me?”

“Is there some good thing you want to take care of me with?”

The hearty laughter and the rising tone made people have a good impression of this voice. After Lance had chatted with him for a few sentences, he asked about this matter.

“Recently I have found someone selling mixed fruit bricks on the Likalai State side,” he did not make the matter too clear at once. “It’s the kind of fruit brick where a lot of fruit pulp is mixed together, and it is said that it can be restored to fruit juice after being stirred with cold water. Are you involved?”

Mr. Berman immediately revealed what Lance wanted to ask. “Actually, you want to ask about the grape brick, right?”

Lance coughed. “Yes, I just don’t want us both to be embarrassed.”

Mr. Berman sighed with a smile. “Lucky guy!” What he was saying was actually about Lance getting the franchise.

However, he also knew very well that this could not be achieved by luck. There were many things he didn’t know that had happened behind the scenes, and it involved Congress.

“We haven’t gotten involved in this business, but I know a little about it.”

Blythe did not have its own factory. What they had were just various warehouses and channels. If they also wanted to do the business of grape bricks, then the scale certainly could not be small, and the initial investment would also be very large.

Now the Prohibition Committee’s side might not be very clear about this matter, or rather, the degree of small-scale trouble was not in the eyes of Congress.

Once an industry monopoly enterprise like Blythe also began to join in, Congress would very likely adjust its strategy.

For the senators, they just needed someone to first say, “I think we should do this…”, and then the others would nod and not object, and their investment would be in vain, and they might even be fined.

So they did not intend to rashly intervene in this kind of cross-industry business.

He briefly talked about what he knew. Now some places were indeed doing this, and there were also people who were getting goods from them.

“The quotation I gave them was for mixed fruits, including at least 30% grapes. The price for a ton is a little over 860.”

When Lance heard this number, he roughly understood.

Not to mention a tenfold profit, an eightfold profit was enough for them to take the risk!

“It’s not entirely the vineyards that are doing it, but also some merchants,” he stopped here. He knew what he was waiting for, and Lance also knew what he was waiting for.

He was waiting for Lance to take the initiative to speak, so that Lance would owe him a favor.

Don’t think that doing this is… not good. This just shows that Lance’s current market is good, so his favor is very valuable. Even a big shot like Mr. Berman wants to get his favor!

Ligier Group’s backbone had been broken. Now Blythe was already number one in the industry. Although its market share was about the same as that of Ligier Group and Nongda, and the leading advantage was very weak, it was still leading.

Lance laughed twice. “Come on, this is just a small matter!”

He paused for a moment. “Alright, I promise you.”

Mr. Berman laughed heartily, happy to have gotten a favor from Lance. Although he knew that this favor would not be too heavy, at least it was something.

He gave Lance a list of the several merchants in Likalai State who were getting goods from him, and then, after a few more words, he hung up the phone.

After getting another list, Lance picked up the phone. “Have Alan come in.”

Soon Alan walked in. “Boss?”

Lance signaled for him to come in front of him, and then handed him the list in his hand. “Deal with them.”

Alan glanced at it and then nodded. “I’ll do it as soon as possible.”

These people clearly knew that the liquor market in Likalai State had already been controlled by Lance, and they were still playing this kind of borderline game, which was a gamble.

They were betting that Lance would not make a move on them. After all, a profit of 800% was enough for them to go crazy for a bit.

At the same time, they must have also been mentally prepared. What if Lance came to find trouble with them, what should they do?

Since they were already prepared to bear Lance’s wrath, then let them enjoy it.

The appearance of the grape bricks soon caused a lot of vibrations in Likalai State. For the drunks, although the alcohol content of wine was not very high, this thing had a large quantity.

What is the concept of five liters? To be packed in a 750ml bottle, it’s a little over six bottles. Even if it’s six bottles, an average price of fifty cents a bottle is definitely much cheaper than drinking in a bar!

Many people had bought the grape bricks. While they were buying, they were also discussing and looking forward to the moment when the grape juice would turn into grape wine!

To the east of Manteno was a city called “Le City.” It was a satellite city of Manteno. Like Creek Valley City and Golden Port City, it was responsible for being sucked dry by Manteno.

The entire Le City was not happy at all. The siphoning effect of Manteno had caused the surrounding cities to continuously transfuse blood to it, which had also led to the continuous shrinking of the scale of Le City.

Twenty years ago, there was a permanent population of about 300,000 here, but now, there were less than 100,000.

Most of the people had gone to the not-so-far Manteno, where there were more job opportunities.

Having seen the prosperity of a big city, when those young people returned to a slow-paced small city, they would not be able to stand it.

The places that had once been regarded as advantages by them had now all become disadvantages in their eyes.

However, for some people, such a city was actually very good.

Convenient transportation, easy transportation, and accessible from all directions. The most important thing was that the labor was cheaper than in Manteno, and it was also very empty.

A city that used to have a population of 300,000 now only had a few tens of thousands. Besides the city center and some of the areas with a relatively large number of elderly people, there were not many people in other places.

In the suburbs, there was a group of factories, with trucks coming in and out every day, looking very busy.

The area around the factories was filled with a fruity aroma. Some said this was a beverage factory, while others said it was in the business of animal feed or something. No one knew.

Anyway, a large amount of fruit was sent in every day, and then it was crushed, mixed together, and after a simple dehydration process, it was pressed into shape, packaged, and sold to various regions.

All the assembly lines were already maxed out. In the factory manager’s office, the factory manager, the manager, the boss, and some investors were all excitedly watching the workers constantly packing the fruit bricks and putting them into cartons.

“Yesterday alone, more than 80,000 boxes were produced!”

The factory manager said this number with some excitement!

A box had twelve pieces, and the profit was about fifteen dollars.

More than 80,000 boxes, that’s 1.2 million.

After deducting all the expenses, taxes, and the like, the net profit was about six or seven hundred thousand!

One day!

Six or seven hundred thousand!

The manager couldn’t help exclaiming with emotion, “What kind of fruit bricks are these? We’re practically printing money here!”

“So much so that even printing money is not as fast as us. The most important thing is that these are all legal businesses!”

The others couldn’t help but laugh. Like the factory manager, he had a 20% stake in his hands. An income of more than 100,000 a day made him feel that he had reached the peak of his life!

The manager also had 10%, and also had an income of several tens of thousands a day, and this number would be more and more.

The boss had the most in his hands, but he also had to share with others, because he was not the only shareholder.

“I suggest we have a drink!” The boss had invested 500,000 to do this. Facts had proven that this gamble was right!

In just two days, the investment had been returned. The rest was pure profit!

The others did not refuse. He picked up a bottle of Golden Lion five-year-aged whiskey and poured the wine into everyone’s glasses.

His face was a little abnormally red, but at this time, who would care about these?

“There’s a fortune teller in Manteno. She once told me that the turning point of my life is this year!”

“I have been uncertain, what on earth is the turning point that will change my life. Now, we understand!”

“I wish our fruit bricks will be a big hit, I wish our daily net profit will break one million, I wish that each of us will become a big rich man, cheers!”

Everyone’s face was flushed with excitement. They clinked their glasses hard and drank a large mouthful of wine. A beautiful and bright future seemed to be in the wine in their glasses!

They raised their glasses. “Cheers!”

(End of a Chapter)