Empire of Shadows

Any interest group is constantly expanding outwards. It is impossible for the Lawrence family to forever only guard their farm.

As this unexposed interest group continuously grows, they will also have more demands for their interests.

Only in this way can they maintain a relatively leading position in this interest group.

Controlling Likalai State’s transportation, implementing actual monopolistic behavior, and controlling the market pricing power might only be their first step.

After they have controlled this industry, Lance can roughly imagine that they might soon begin to interfere in the overall agricultural sector of Likalai State.

The Lawrence Farm, as the largest farm in Likalai State, bar none, they have a dominant position in this aspect.

They can annex high-quality farms everywhere, and can also continue to reclaim wasteland to expand the area of the Lawrence Farm’s headquarters. In the end, they will form a giant here, and will gradually begin to expand outwards, creating a huge influence.

The gentlemen who were introduced by Governor Terry last night, what they actually wanted to do was similar to what William had expressed to him. They also wanted to achieve the absolute number one in their own field, and then to form a trust group, firmly controlling the industry they were in.

In the end, the clothing, food, housing, and transportation of the residents of the entire Likalai State, from the breakfast they eat every morning, the lunch at noon, the dinner in the evening, or some midnight snacks and snacks, to the clothes they wear, the shoes on their feet, the bus they take when they go out, or the car they drive themselves, and the television they watch, the newspapers they read, the place where they work...

Everything that is closely related to their life and work comes from this interest group. This is the ultimate form of monopoly.People may not be clear what kind of a world they are living in. They have not noticed, but they are all directly or indirectly related to everything here.

This is also the reason why the federal government finds it very difficult to clean up those localist regions. The local interest groups’ control over the local area is too terrifying. They are not afraid of any federal means at all.

On the dining table, Lance and William chatted about some other matters. The elderly people at home very much hoped that he could visit the farm when he had time. In this regard, Lance just indicated that if he had the opportunity, he would definitely go.

After breakfast was over, Lorraine proactively followed Lance, who was about to go out. Lance, by just a glance at her, knew that she had something to say.

”Darling, I’ll chat with her first.”

He kissed Patricia. What neither Patricia nor Lance noticed was that a look of envy and jealousy flashed in Lorraine’s eyes.

A girl who had grown up under her father’s abuse, on the surface, looked very cheerful and sunny. But deep down, she was still different from ordinary people, from the girls who had grown up in a normal environment.

Lance was planning to take Patricia and Ace out to play today. Today was the first day of the New Year. Golden Port City, as one of the more famous tourist cities on the East Coast, would definitely need to hold some celebration activities.

For example, in the Golden Port Casino, they had organized all kinds of events that were similar to... a fair.

Morris had allowed ordinary people to set up stalls in the square outside the Golden Port Casino. Whether it was selling some of the food they had made at home, or setting up some stalls with games similar to a playground, it was all allowed, and they only needed to register. No fees would be charged.

This was definitely a very lively place to go. Lance had heard from Morris that the majority of the stalls had already been booked out a few days ago, and the newspaper had also reported this matter.

The population of Golden Port City was still continuously growing. It was said that it was already 2.6 to 2.7 million.

The completion of the new industrial park had made more factories move to Golden Port City. Mayor Williams was quite bold in attracting investment.

Subsidies, tax reductions, and policy support. The factories were springing up like mushrooms after a rain, everywhere overnight.

With more and more factories, the number of jobs and opportunities was also increasing. The young people and labor force who were coming here from the surrounding cities to work were also increasing.

Now it was no longer just Valley City that was being bled by Golden Port City—speaking of Valley City, strictly speaking, Valley City had actually already seen some labor reflux.

Valley City has many movie studios. This place also needed a large number of extras. There would always be some extras who would suddenly become popular after starring in some movies.

In the eyes of these young men and women who longed to become a big star, this was the typical Federation Dream. Although they didn’t know what they had to pay for it, everyone was joining in, one after another.

So, strictly speaking, Golden Port City was no longer able to ”suck the blood” of Valley City.

On the contrary, Golden Star City, another city to the west of Golden Port City, had begun to be bled by Golden Port City.

Some of the young people in Golden Star City had begun to go to Golden Port City to seek better job opportunities. This outside population had greatly enriched the types of people in Golden Port City, and had also increased the population.

Mayor Williams had already begun to consider the next plan. He wanted to, before James took office, to lay a good foundation for him here, so that he could quickly get started and rapidly develop as soon as he took office, and gain the full support of the locals.

It was precisely because the population of Golden Port City was continuously increasing now that this year’s New Year would be much livelier than in previous years.

So Lance had wanted to take Patricia and Ace to stroll around the city today. Patricia rarely went out to play now. She had been taking care of Ace all along.

In this aspect, Lance did indeed owe her a little, but just a little, not much.

Patricia proactively held Ace’s hand and walked outside the door. They were waiting in the car for Lance, while Lance and Lorraine went into the small room next door.

”Is there anything you wanted to say to me?” Lance asked.

Lorraine took out a small gift from her pocket and gave it to him. ”You came back very late last night. I was already asleep, so I couldn’t give it to you. This is my New Year’s gift for you.”

Lance looked at the exquisitely packaged small gift box in his hand. While smiling and accepting it, he observed some of Lorraine’s expressions.

Her eyes, her demeanor, and some of her small movements.

This also made him realize that there might be a little trouble.

He was, while saying ”thank you,” asking, ”Can I open it now?”

”Of course, why not?” She looked very expectant, and also very excited.

Lance opened the small gift box and slowly opened it. Fortunately, inside was just a tie clip, a pair of cufflinks, and a pair of collar clips. Very standard ”gentleman’s accessories.”

These accessories did not look flashy. On the contrary, they were relatively mature and stable.

”Do you like it?” Lorraine asked.

Lance nodded. These things did not look expensive. At most, they were only twenty or thirty dollars. However, it was very difficult for him to say cruel words like ”I don’t like it.”

His expression made Lorraine very happy. She took a step forward. ”Can I hug you?”

Lance looked at her, and in the end, he nodded and agreed. ”You are my sister. Why would I refuse your not-so-excessive request?”

He had used two keywords here to remind her.

One was ”sister,” and the other was ”not excessive.” However, it seemed that she had not ”received” this signal.

She hugged Lance, and hugged him hard. She also took a deep breath. ”Thank you, thank you.”

After a while, seven or eight seconds, she had let go, her face flushed red.

Lance patted his pocket. ”I’m sorry, I didn’t prepare a New Year’s gift for you.”

She said with a smile, ”You have already given me the best New Year’s gift!”

Lance was stunned for a moment. He then felt a little speechless. He knew what the ”best New Year’s gift” in her mouth was. He didn’t know how to handle this girl and her feelings.

He lacked experience in this area.

He pursed his lips. ”I will make it up to you,” he paused for a moment. ”I’ll go out with them now.”

Lorraine did not obstruct him. ”Alright, Brother. Have fun!”

Lance nodded, smiled, and turned to leave.

He didn’t know if this would be a new trouble. Possibly, but maybe not.

...

When he had entered the car, Patricia had asked with some curiosity, ”What did she chat with you about?”

Lance took out the small gift box. ”She prepared a New Year’s gift for me.”

Patricia looked at the small gift box in a daze, and then a look of panic appeared on her face. ”I forgot to prepare gifts for them...”

As the ”mistress,” she definitely had to give the servants who worked for Lance in the manor some small gifts. This was a tradition. She had completely forgotten!

Lance smiled and comforted her. ”I’ll have someone prepare it. Don’t worry. Everyone will get a small item that will satisfy them at dinner.”

Then the convoy slowly started and left the manor.

On the first day of the New Year, there were many people on the street. The closer they got to the city center, to the Golden Port Casino, the more pedestrians there were, and the roadside also became livelier.

Lance had not paid attention to the changes here for a while. He found that in the windows of some of the electrical appliance stores on the roadside, more and more televisions had appeared.

Before, a television might have cost two or three thousand, but with the rapid advancement of technology, now a television only cost five or six hundred.

And there was a trend of a further reduction. People might not have realized it, but it might not be long before television, this luxury appliance that ordinary people could only stand outside a shop window and watch for a while, would be popularized in every household.

The many stalls in the Golden Port Casino had made this the liveliest place today, bar none. Lance had taken Patricia to eat many snacks, and had also played some interesting games.

The entire day was spent in laughter.

...

Meanwhile, in the Jede Republic, accompanied by the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Commerce, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Jede Republic, two merchants from the Federation were inspecting the factories that were under construction.

Many federal people were investing in the Jede Republic now. As the richest country in the Yalan region, bar none, the economic situation here was much better than in other countries. It was not even in the same dimension.

And the market here had already matured. The workers’ incomes were very stable, and every household had some savings.

These savings, with a certain external stimulus, could become their consumption, and could, in an instant, activate a larger commercial market.

To invest here was much better than going to poor places like Rapa or Makan. The results were also faster.

Starting from August or September last year, with the federal government’s promulgation of the strictest ”firearms export restriction,” the Jede Republic had been seeking a solution.

Their stock of weapons was too high. If they were to completely replace them with new equipment, they would lose a large sum of money, and there was also no place to dispose of the replaced weapons.

So they had been buying standard-issue bullet casings from the Federation everywhere. After buying them back, they would refill the gunpowder, and then load the warheads, so they could continue to use them.

But this was not a good solution. Around October, their intelligence personnel had discovered that there were some personnel changes in a federal arms factory, and some problems had occurred.

Two designers or engineers who had been manufacturing the bullet production assembly line had been sued by the arms factory they had worked for, demanding that they pay a large sum of compensation.

It was clear that they couldn’t come up with this money. If there were no accidents, there was a high probability that they would go to jail.

Under the instruction of the President of the Jede Republic, a Jede spy who was lurking in the Federation had disguised himself as a lawyer, had met with the two, and had explained his intention—

The Jede Republic was willing to pay this huge compensation for them, and would also reach an out-of-court settlement with the arms industry enterprise they had worked for, helping the two to be free from jail.

What they needed to do was to help the Jede Republic build an assembly line that could produce standard bullets.

This seemed to be an unexpectedly good piece of news for the two engineers. They had agreed almost without hesitation.

The Jede Republic’s side, after paying about 12 million in settlement money, the two engineers had, in the name of traveling for relaxation, come from the Federation to the Jede Republic, and had met with the president himself.

They had gone through some negotiations, and had finally agreed on a series of plans to build an assembly line locally.

After the arms factory was completed, for every bullet produced here, they would have to pay the two a total of three cents (Federal Sol) in patent fees.

And this would increase over time, due to the devaluation of the currency and other reasons.

This contract was definitely a super contract for an ordinary person, because the President of the Jede Republic had told the two that the bullets they produced would be dumped in the eleven countries of the Yalan region.

These countries were all, more or less, facing the same problems and internal turmoil. The consumption of bullets had soared!

And they also needed a large amount of reserves. A preliminary calculation showed that the bullet market in the Yalan region was about 1 billion rounds, which was a market of about 30 million.

And the two engineers, besides having a stable salary, would also receive a dividend of at least 30 million. It was stipulated in the contract that if it was less than 1 billion rounds, they would still be paid according to the 1 billion rounds.

With such good conditions, the two would certainly not refuse!