Empire of Shadows

After Rogerfu left, only their own people remained in the room, and they spoke much more freely.

"Is it really necessary to implement reforms so quickly?" Mello asked, his brow slightly furrowed.

In his view, and in the view of many others, the Lance family had only just established the concept of "prosperity" and was in a period of rapid development.

Look, the five major families had become a thing of the past, and Alberto was about to go to Sumuli Island to die.

Once he was dead, the Pasleito family would have no one capable of standing alone.

Francisco was indeed good, but he was still too young, and it wouldn't be easy for the family to regain its strength.

As for the other small and medium-sized gangs, they didn't need to be taken seriously. Whoever disobeyed would be wiped out.

With Chief Blue's current respectful attitude towards Lance, they could even have police officers and Lance family members act together, either to fight or to clean up the aftermath.

In this city, there was no force that could stop the Lance family!

Wasn't this the perfect time for crazy expansion?

Taking over all eleven administrative districts, opening bars everywhere, and opening branch offices everywhere.

Now, so many young people outside were eager to join, they could easily recruit thousands or even tens of thousands of people!

A gang of tens of thousands of people... just thinking about it was exciting!

It was Mello who asked Lance, but in reality, everyone else had the same thoughts. They didn't quite understand.

Lance glanced at Mello, "This is a society of interests. First, there are interests, and then there is society."

"If we really continue to expand and recruit thousands or tens of thousands of people, then how will we reform?"

Lance's question left them speechless. The disadvantage of their low level of education was fully exposed at this moment. They couldn't find any examples from their limited knowledge to express their views.

If you want to convince others, you can't just say, "I'm right." You have to use existing examples to tell others that there's no problem with doing so.

At the same time, you have to be reasonable, explaining why you're doing it and what the benefits are.

But they didn't know, couldn't explain, only knew...

"More people are always better than fewer people."

Lance looked at the speaker, Hiram. He was the kind of person who would say such a thing.

Lance shook his head, "The more people we have, the more bloated we become, and the harder it is to make changes."

"If you see wild boars in the wilderness, you'll find that they run very fast and are very strong. If wild boars appear in groups, even wolves won't easily provoke them."

"But look at the pigs on the farm. They are clearly larger, so why can't they make the wolves feel threatened?"

"I know this isn't a suitable example, but it vividly tells us that bloat is not a sign of strength."

"When we have a scale of thousands or tens of thousands of people, it will be very difficult for us to adjust our direction in many businesses."

"More spending makes us more dependent on high-profit criminal income. Once our income has problems, the company will soon be unable to maintain itself."

He paused for a moment, "Mello, how much money do we have to give each person each month currently?"

Mello was the family's chief steward, responsible for these matters. Lance only needed to look at the materials he wrote every two weeks.

"About one hundred and twenty yuan."

Lance nodded, "One hundred and twenty yuan, ten thousand people is one million two hundred thousand. We also have to bear their food, housing, and clothing."

"We can't let them stand on the street like idiots. We have to rent or buy a building to give them a place to work."

"Do they need to be provided with vehicles?"

"Even if we don't arrange so many cars, a total of seven or eight hundred is necessary, and then vans, other cars..."

"Every year, we spend millions just to maintain this part of the expenditure. Once the Prohibition ends, or other accidents happen, and it becomes difficult to make money, how will we maintain it?"

Seeing these people fall into contemplation, Lance didn't stop. He continued to speak.

"When that day comes, whether it's because of income problems or other problems, when we need to reduce our scale, huge contradictions will erupt."

"Whose manpower to cut, whose manpower not to cut, how to decide?"

"Those young people take risks for the family, although maybe not very big risks, but at least they bear all the risks to work and earn money for us."

"Because of us, we have to let them no longer be protected by the family, and we won't pay them wages, or provide them with places to live and food."

"Have you considered what changes these trained people will bring to society after they return to society?"

"Are you going to let them do jobs that only pay forty yuan a month?"

"Or are they likely to form new gangs, not to fight against us, but just to maintain their lives."

"If friction arises between them and us, what do we do?"

"What do they do?"

Lance shook his head constantly, "We need to consider all these issues. The more people there are, the fewer options we have, and the more dangerous we become."

"Even if we successfully remove a portion of the people, the impact of their crimes outside will naturally be attributed to us."

"So, gentlemen, this is not a negotiation or a discussion, this is a set plan."

"From now on, our identity will change from 'independent operators' to 'managers'. Our income will increase compared to the past, while the risks we bear will be smaller."

"All we need to do is set the rules of the game, and then find those who don't follow them, and teach them to follow the rules."

"We won't even directly commit crimes!"

The future trend will definitely be to solve the problem of gangs. Any world, era, or government will do so.

When economic construction stabilizes and the ruling structure tends to be stable and mature, then they will begin to eliminate those things outside the framework.

Not to mention that gangs, to some extent, are stealing a portion of their ruling power, so they will not allow the existence of gangs.

Of course, a small number of gangs with backgrounds will still exist, but the era of gangs all over the world like today will be gone forever.

Before I become a "bargaining chip" for some councilor to promote this plan, the best choice is to complete the transformation as soon as possible.

Although they may not all understand, these people have one advantage, which is that they will not try to change things that Lance has decided.

Lance rarely makes mistakes in the big direction, or rather, has never made a mistake. Based on their unconditional trust in Lance, no one raised any objections.

After Rogerfu left the company, he immediately began to spread the news. He still had a great influence in the Imperial District. Before long, many people knew that Lance was planning to contract out the criminal business.

Even Councilor Williams knew about this.

He also had informants on Lance's side. Although they were very close partners, it didn't mean that he trusted Lance completely unconditionally.

Having informants and passing on information was the normal situation. The situation where nothing was done and nothing was known was abnormal.

"What are your considerations?" Councilor Williams asked on the phone.

Lance told his thoughts very bluntly. There was nothing to hide. Councilor Williams showed some surprised expressions after listening.

It was a pity that Lance couldn't see it.

For older politicians, it was rare for this kind of emotional management failure to be reflected through changes in expression.

But he did fail in management, because he found that Lance was smarter and harder to "deal with" than he had imagined.

Here, "hard to deal with" didn't mean that he wanted to deal with Lance, but referred to Lance's handling of potential crises and his lack of blindness.

Anyone who could do this at Lance's age would definitely expand recklessly.

Whether it was a gang, a capitalist, or any other industry, it was the same.

If a young man in his twenties achieved a monopoly of resources, he would only use the "sickle" brought by the actual monopoly more arrogantly, frantically harvesting wealth or something else.

But Lance's approach, which clearly had the flavor of retreating bravely in the face of difficulties, didn't match his age.

It was more like the choice that a forty or fifty-year-old man with a mature mind and rich experience would make, choosing to take a step back before the danger had even sprouted.

After chatting simply for a few words, he hung up the phone. Lance's move caused some turbulence in his emotions.

He left the table and walked to the balcony, lit a cigarette, and needed to think.

Inadvertently, the corner of his eye caught Arthur pawing at the new maid, and seeing the frivolous smile on his face that was unpleasant, Councilor Williams suddenly felt a burst of anger.

This... he thought about it, no matter what he said, it would eventually be repaid on himself, so he started with "This idiot."

He had to find something for him to do. When there was a good enough person in front, Arthur's performance, which was actually not too bad, seemed extremely stupid.

They were both young people, how could someone have already become an "old fox," while this idiot was still harassing young girls?

He turned and went back into the room, picking up the receiver. After seven or eight minutes, Arthur, looking troubled, brought a rattan cane into the study.

Soon, his piercing screams echoed, along with whistling shrieks...

Accompanied by Arthur's cries, the news continued to spread.

In two days, the entire Goldport City realized that the new "Emperor" was about to issue his laws.

This was not a good thing for all the gangs, because no emperor would issue laws that would harm themselves, but at the same time, it wasn't bad news either—

Because this emperor was clearly more tolerant.

The gathering was set at Lance's manor (Mr. Chobaf's manor had been renamed Lance Manor). After three o'clock in the afternoon, people began to gather there.

By four o'clock, the small auditorium in the manor was full.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were even reporters present.

The Lance family's reform was, to some extent, a positive trend, so after Lance communicated with George, George was willing to report on it.

It might allow him to win another "Golden Newspaper Award," and no one would complain about having too many of those.

Today's reporting job was the most difficult one George had ever undertaken. He even brought three apprentices, and each of them was sweating profusely.

There were too many gang members here, with a large crowd standing at the entrance.

Since the Lance family unified their attire, it seemed that a similar trend was sweeping through the underworld of Goldport City.

Everyone made small designs on their appearance and unified them, because it would make people think they were solemn and cool.

This also brought a huge visual impact!

The last gang leader arrived at the venue a few minutes early. After being searched, he was allowed to enter the small auditorium.

He didn't feel offended. Back in the days of the Five Great Families, they had to be searched when they went to see them.

Although people say life is priceless, it actually has a price.

When the last leader arrived at the small auditorium, he was stunned by how crowded it was.

Everywhere he looked, there were leaders from various gangs and families. They were only allowed to bring one person, but there seemed to be at least two hundred people here.

Led by a "staff member," he found a place to sit down, wiping his sweat while greeting the people around him.

He recognized some of them, but not others. He hadn't really thought that Goldport City had so many gang families, and of course, no one here had thought about it.

As the time approached 4:15, Elvin walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone. "Quiet."

The noisy scene instantly quieted down.

Although these people, including Lance, were very young, no one would underestimate them.

After the scene quieted down, Elvin returned to the side of the stage. Soon, Lance walked in from outside.

He walked with great flair. The moment he appeared, the spotlight fell on him, dazzling and making people unconsciously hold their breath.

"They just told me that there are one hundred and seventy-nine bosses here today. Thank you all for your trust in me, for coming to such a gathering, which many might find absurd and ridiculous."

Someone in the audience immediately echoed Lance's words, saying some flattering things.

Lance smiled and nodded, and after they spoke for a while, he raised his hand and gestured for silence. "Actually, we invited a total of two hundred and forty bosses, but obviously, not everyone is willing to trust me this once."

Many leaders in the audience laughed. In fact, some of them didn't really believe in this, but considering that they were indeed not as strong as the Lance family, and Lance's reputation wasn't too bad, they took the risk to come.

Others found various reasons not to come, their thinking was very simple, leaving a buffer zone.

Whether Lance was going to say something good or bad, as long as they didn't come to the scene, they wouldn't have to express their position immediately, leaving themselves time and opportunity to respond.

If what Lance said was a good thing, really like the rumors said, that he completely gave up the crime business facing the public, then those who didn't come would soon come to apologize and join in.

If what Lance said was a bad thing, then they would have enough time to respond, whether to choose to leave Goldport City, resist the Lance family, or choose to obey, they would have time to think and respond.

As long as they didn't need to express their position on the spot, they would have many choices.

However, they didn't know that Lance wasn't the Five Great Families, he wasn't like Bandi and those people, still thinking about weighing the pros and cons.

This time, they miscalculated.

Lance raised his hand and gestured for people to be quiet. "The gangs of Goldport City are one family. We all live in this city, seeking profits and finding everything we need to survive in this city."

"We are a whole, but now, some people are unwilling to be a whole with us, destroying the new rules I have set."

"So..." he looked at Elvin, "record the names of those who didn't come and their gangs. There is no need for them to exist anymore."

The small auditorium, which was still slightly noisy, instantly became so quiet that only breathing could be heard.

Someone pushed a sofa and a small coffee table onto the stage, and Lance sat down, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. "I know, some of you may think I am very domineering and unreasonable."

"But I don't think this is domineering or unreasonable. I invited everyone, and even if some people really couldn't come, they could arrange for a representative to come."

"But not only did they not send a representative, they didn't even personally tell me why they couldn't come."

"This is disrespect to me!"

"My friends will definitely respect me."

"Those who don't respect me must be my enemies!"

He flicked the ash, "Let's not talk about those unhappy things, let's talk about why we gathered here today."

"Recently, there have been some rumors about us outside, such as that the Lance family will no longer personally operate any bars."

There was some commotion in the small auditorium, and Lance also smiled. He nodded, "Yes, that's true."

"Including the Imperial District, the Port District, any district, we will re-divide the way bars are operated."

"The Lance family will no longer operate any bar businesses, and at the same time, we will cut my territory into different sizes in a certain way and contract it out."

"Only one bar will be allowed to exist in each area, so that the profits of each operator can be ensured."

Suddenly, a huge city map appeared behind Lance, but it was different from ordinary maps. It only had outlines and was divided into many small grids...