Empire of Shadows

For families with multiple children, how to reasonably distribute property is always a profound subject.

But precisely, the person who can make decisions about this matter cannot be so rational.

"Would you like to hear an interesting story?"

Lance thought of a very meaningful story, which fits well with the problem Roger faced now.

The latter naturally wouldn't refuse, even if he might not really want to listen, "Of course, why not?"

"There are a pair of parents, they have two children, one is older, and one is younger."

"You know, as parents, there will always be favoritism."

"They prefer the younger son more."

Roger nodded, "Yes, after all, the eldest son is more adapted to this society, while the younger one needs more opportunities and chances to make mistakes."

Lance smiled and continued, "When deciding how to distribute the property, the parents asked the eldest son to lift a millstone on the ground. Do you know what a millstone is?"

Roger laughed loudly after hearing this, "You underestimate me too much, I also did farm work when I was a kid, it's the thing used to husk wheat."

"We would tie it with a rope, and then drag it back and forth on the grain."

Lance nodded again, "Yes, that's the thing."

"The eldest son easily lifted the millstone, which was just a small matter for him."

"Then his parents said—"

"You are very strong, much stronger than your brother, you can completely rely on your strength to earn a lot of money, so we decided to give most of the property to your brother."

Roger showed a thoughtful expression when he heard this, "What they said is not wrong, in the countryside, a young man with strength must be good at working, he can find more wealth from the land."

Lance smiled without saying a word, "The story is not over yet."

"The eldest son was very unconvinced, he thought it was unreasonable, and asked his parents to set the question again."

"His parents still asked the same question, still asking him to lift the millstone."

"This time he had experience, he tried hard to pretend that he couldn't lift it, thinking in his heart that this time, he should be able to get a large share of the property."

"But his parents told him again that as the eldest son, he couldn't even lift a millstone."

"Even if they handed the family property to him, he wouldn't be able to keep this wealth, so they decided to hand the property over to his brother."

Roger was stunned for a while before suddenly laughing, "This sounds like a true story!"

"His brother didn't even touch the millstone, and he had already secured the wealth."

But laughing and laughing, he couldn't laugh anymore.

Recently, that young widow has been asking him to give her the gene fragments. If… if there were a child, he would most likely keep it.

This has nothing to do with faith (faith prohibits abortion), just because in the final stage of his life, being able to conceive a life would be regarded as a miracle by him.

Moreover, at his age, he is more aware of the preciousness of life.

This is the continuation of his life, the continuation in the true sense.

Constructed from the gene fragments spread by him, a new individual flowing with his own blood.

If personality is not considered, this is his "eternal life."

Moreover, this kind of eternal life is much fresher than the previous eternal life, and it is easier to move people.

Then, he is very likely to face what happened in this story, he will definitely leave most of the wealth to the younger one, instead of his eldest son.

He was silent for a while before asking, "What happened to this story later?"

Lance shook his head, "You wouldn't want to know his ending."

He paused for a moment, "I just told you a little story to remind you, don't let certain problems ruin you and your family."

Roger plays a very important role in the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, and Lance doesn't want anything to happen to him.

"Thank you, I will seriously consider it."

He repeatedly stated that he understood Lance's intention, so Lance didn't continue to emphasize it.

He changed the subject, the reason for calling Roger over this time, "I have been thinking about something recently."

Roger restrained those emotions and became more focused, "What?" he asked.

Lance leaned back, "The Lance family has developed very rapidly, but now we are also facing a problem."

"If we continue to expand, the organization will become too large, and people's work content will become very scattered from some more specialized things."

"They have to learn to shoot, to learn how to drive vehicles and force other people's cars to stop, to learn to drive large trucks in the necessary positions at the necessary times, accurately crashing into another car."

"They also have to learn to run bars, some things that may have a little criminal problem, they also have to learn to protect target tasks, and to fight."

"They have too many things to learn!"

Lance sincerely lamented, "And our manpower will become more and more scarce."

Roger was a little confused when he heard this, "Isn't this a good thing?"

"The expansion of the family needs to absorb more manpower, maybe we will have thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, at that time no one will underestimate us!"

In addition to Roger, there were also several senior cadres in the room. They usually stay here, and Lance didn't let them leave when he called Roger over today, just to give them a heads-up.

They were not very concerned about the chat here, but as Lance shifted the topic to the gang, they put down the work in their hands and also paid attention to the changes here.

What Roger said went to their hearts, like Hiram this violent maniac, the more people there are, the more secure he feels, he can't wait for the streets to be full of his own people.

Then when going out to fight with other gangs, he only needs to wave his hand, and hundreds or thousands of people carrying submachine guns will shoot everything visible on the opposite side into sieves.

Including Elvin, he also felt that increasing the number of family members was a good thing, which represented their invincibility, strength, and would also make their enemies feel terrified.

Lance shook his head, "This is precisely the biggest problem, we are already big enough."

He tilted his head slightly, his eyes bypassing Roger to look at the people sitting on the sofa set behind him, "How many people do we have now?"

Mero thought for a moment, "There are eight or nine hundred core members, I haven't counted the peripheral members, there should be a thousand."

Each senior cadre has three captains under him, and each captain has a few, or a dozen or so, people following him.

Not strictly speaking, seventeen or eighteen senior cadres, they control at least five or six hundred core members.

Then in addition to these people, there are also some rising captains, these captains will also promote some ordinary bottom-level people to become core members.

So this number is actually not exaggerated.

Lance continued to look at Roger, "You see, a gang already has a thousand core members, how exaggerated is that?"

"If Councilor Williams and I weren't friends, if I didn't have any connections in the state government, do you think Councilor Williams could sleep soundly?"

"In his city, there is such a large group of people not under his control."

"Can the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general sleep soundly, a group of one or two thousand immigrants who can arm themselves at any time, will they become an unstable bomb at some point?"

As Lance's words went from shallow to deep, the expressions of Roger and the others in the office gradually became serious.

No longer like just now, all smiling.

"This is the problem."

"The city is still expanding, we can be said to be the underground emperors of this city, we rule here."

"But our manpower is not enough to cover the entire city, and there are still many gangs doing criminal business in our territory without our consent."

"If we want to control every block and every alley in this city, then we must continue to expand by at least one or two thousand core members, and corresponding peripheral members."

"Gentlemen, when a gang has thousands of armed thugs, and is active in important cities of the federation, do you think the gentlemen of the Department of Defense, the gentlemen of the cabinet, can still sleep?"

These words directly silenced the people in the room, and the people on the sofa stood up and came to the table to sit down, or just stood there.

Everyone's expression became serious, this is indeed a very terrible problem.

Lance gave them a period of time to think, and then continued to ask in depth, "We rule Goldenport City, do we still want to expand outwards?"

"Creek Valley City, Golden Star City, Rica Lai State, a few thousand people are not enough, tens of thousands of people, is it enough?"

"Hundreds of thousands of people?"

"Then are we private armed forces, or just a gang?"

"But the problem is, which gang has so many people?"

"At that time, even the president can't sleep!"

"Because no one knows if we will be that bomb, for safety, even if we are not, we must be."

The federal government does not encircle and suppress gang organizations now, it does not mean that they can really coexist with gangs, just from the current imperfect social system, letting the development of gangs benefit the federal ruling class in managing various regions.

But once society stabilizes and the economy starts to develop again, they will begin to encircle and suppress these gangs.

Lance could even foresee Congress passing legislation to crack down on gangs and related industries.

The bigger they swell now, the more miserably they will die when the reckoning comes.

Lance wasn't sure when the federal government would suddenly "awaken," but they would definitely awaken and would definitely take back the basic ruling power from the hands of the gangs.

Rather than waiting until the last moment to reform, it's better to take advantage of the still lenient gang environment and reform in advance.

The reason for reminding him was still that there were too damn many people!

If it were a different mayor, they might not allow the Lance family to be so dominant.

Gang reform is imperative.

Seeing that they weren't speaking, after a long while, he began to talk about today's matter again, "I have an idea: streamline the organization, de-gangsterize, capitalize, but not blindly whitewash."

"Bundy's stupid method is not suitable and meaningless. We will not lay down the knives and guns in our hands. We will take another path."

"We are no longer the common kind of gang, but we will be purer than ordinary gangs."

Ervin raised a question, "If we reform and reduce manpower, how can we ensure that we can still control this city?"

"Just the bars, warehouses, and farm businesses and transportation teams under our control now require a lot of manpower."

"Not adding new manpower is already our bottom line. If we streamline further, some businesses may have problems."

For example, the transportation team. Lance wanted to ship goods to the entire state, and the transportation team alone had two hundred people. This definitely couldn't be streamlined. So, what about the farm?

What about the local bars?

What about those people on the streets?

If we streamline them all, will there be problems?

Lance pointed at him, "You asked a good question."

"What I want to streamline is not our current manpower, but our management methods for the industry."

"Currently, all of our industries are operated by ourselves: bars, wineries, transportation industry."

"We will not change the transportation aspect for the time being, but the bars, warehouses, etc., I plan to hand them over."

"The core purpose of us operating bars and selling contraband is to make money."

"As our industry will become more and more extensive and the scale will become larger and larger, we don't need to operate those consumer-facing terminals ourselves at all."

"Contract it out."

Lance looked at Roger, "If I now rent out all the bars with clearly marked prices, guaranteeing the safety of each bar, do you think anyone would be willing to operate the bars by contracting?"

"You provide the people, I am responsible for the liquor and transportation, and if anyone causes trouble, I can also help you solve the trouble."

Roger's heart started to beat faster. He knew how profitable Lance's bars were!

The accelerated heartbeat made his mouth a little dry. He licked his lips, "Can I contract one?"

Lance nodded and said, "Absolutely no problem. If you are willing to contract, I will give you a good bar."

"Let you earn at least a generous reward from here every month."

He thought for a while, "At least two or three thousand dollars."

It didn't sound like much, but this kind of business was written in the criminal law and constitutional amendments, which also meant that it was a sure profit as long as it could be operated.

Roger said almost without thinking, "I am willing to contract..."

He glanced at Lance, "Can I contract a few more?"

Lance shook his head, "Giving you a quota without competition is because you have done a lot for the Empire Chamber of Commerce."

"The other bars must be completed through bidding. Whoever gives the higher contract price, we will let them operate."

"This time the contract period is one year. After one year, all will be converted to two years."

After Roger seriously thought for a while, he couldn't help but exclaim, "What a genius idea!"

As long as Lance announced his profit situation, someone would definitely gamble that they could operate better, and now that the five major families had been eradicated, the three most profitable districts of the city center, Starlight District, and Bay Area were all in Lance's hands.

At the same time, those small and medium-sized gangs posed no threat to him. He could completely do this matter uniformly.

Without continuing to expand manpower, indirectly earning more money from more bars, this was really a genius!

However, Roger also had a little confusion of his own, "How do you guarantee the operational safety of these bars?"

"I am not questioning your ability, Mr. Lance, but the people outside must have a guarantee before they will take out the money."

Lance laughed twice, "Ten percent of the contract fee is taken out, divided into three parts: one part is distributed to the local police force, one part is handed over to the city hall, and another part is handed over to the Hazardous Materials Administration."

"Not long ago, I had already persuaded Director Dale and the next director."

Roger looked at Lance dumbfounded. He couldn't imagine how Lance did it, but he knew that this city was really going to change!

"The reason for letting you come this time is that I hope you can talk to people inside the Empire Chamber of Commerce and with the locals. I hope that the bars in the Empire District are all in the hands of the locals. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I don't want external forces to penetrate into our core territory, which would complicate things."

Roger understood Lance's meaning, "I will tell them."

He paused, "If there is competition... how much would a bar cost?"

Melo knew this question more clearly, "The annual profit of the bars in the Starlight District is about two million. The Empire District is a little worse, but the annual profit is also between two hundred and fifty and three hundred thousand."

"If it is to be contracted out, I think the price may be about the same."

Lance nodded, "It will be a little lower, so that you can at least earn something. For bars like those in the Starlight District, which have an investment of two million, the contractor can't only earn tens of thousands a year."

"One million five hundred thousand, with a profit of five hundred thousand, should be able to attract people."

Roger swallowed, five hundred thousand a year?

His eyes were slightly red. He also wanted to contract this, but he knew he couldn't use the free quota, otherwise, he would be ignorant.

But he would contact other people and try to contract one. Even if everyone divided it up, it would still be a lot of money.

The annual rate of return is more than 30%. Besides criminal business, what else can have such a high rate of return?

Lance also introduced some of his ideas, such as that liquor must be purchased from the Lance family.

After all, strictly speaking, the entire King's Port City is now Lance's territory. It would be fine if he didn't sell liquor.

He was still brewing wine like crazy, so naturally, he wouldn't allow others to ship goods on his territory.

These were actually minor issues. Everyone knew that Lance's liquor prices were not high. As long as he wasn't too greedy, people would still be willing.