Empire of Shadows

People's gazes fell on those small squares. Even if Lance didn't say it, they knew what these small squares probably meant.

"Each small square represents the business scope of a bar. Within these scopes, only one bar is allowed to operate, thus avoiding a certain degree of vicious competition."

"I've been running a bar for some time now, and I know very well what consequences this kind of vicious competition can bring!"

He made an exploding gesture with his hand, "Fighting to the death to compete for customers."

"The profit from alcohol is very high, so for you all, as long as you can defeat the other party, even if you lose some manpower, it's worth it."

The people in the small auditorium nodded one after another. How much compensation is needed for the death of one person?

Five thousand to ten thousand dollars. Not all gangs can be like the Lance family, compensating ten thousand dollars. Some gangs are already considered kind if they can compensate three thousand dollars in consolation money.

As for some smaller gangs, they don't even mention the issue of consolation money.

Even at five thousand dollars, how many days does it take for a bar to earn five thousand dollars?

If the bar business is good, two days.

In other words, as long as you can snatch the customers, even if a dozen people die, it's worth it, because one month's profit is enough to pay for these consolation fees.

From next month onwards, it's pure profit.

Almost every week, gangs fight over customers, and they fight because they rob each other's alcohol. There are too many of these things, but some fights are small in scale, almost imperceptible—

Maybe just a few gunshots in the middle of the night, and then the fight is over, instead of a large-scale firefight, with constant 'ku ku ku ku' sounds, and maybe even explosions.

But in any case, a fight is a fight. People get injured, people die, and there are a lot of losses.

Lance looked at these people, "So, in each area, only one bar is allowed to operate, ensuring that this bar doesn't need to compete for customers and can have a good business effect."

"There are more than two hundred areas here in total. As you can see, there are some areas that don't have small squares. We haven't included those places in the management system."

Someone suddenly raised his hand. Lance raised his chin at that person, "What's your question?"

"Mr. Lance, if we want to operate in a certain area, what should we do?"

Lance nodded slightly, raised his hand to signal him to sit down. He took a puff of his cigarette, crossed his legs, and placed his hand on his knee, "Bidding."

"Except for some red squares that determine who can contract this operating area through bidding, the other green squares are directly bid on."

"For example, I think this place can provide me with a profit of one hundred thousand dollars. I want to operate here, so I write a bid."

He picked up a bid form and demonstrated, "Fill in the number I can afford in this position, for example, I fill in forty thousand dollars."

"Then I seal it and fill in its target according to the number in the lower right corner of this square, and put it in the box."

"In the end, we will contract it to the person who offers the highest price based on everyone's bid."

"If the highest bidder gives fifty thousand dollars, then fifty thousand dollars contracts the bar operating rights in this area."

"I know you may have doubts about their output, so it doesn't matter. For the first year, our fee will be changed from a fixed bid fee to a revenue sharing model."

"No matter how much money you sell, no matter how much money you make, we take half."

"Starting next year, the bidding will be the standard, and we will also announce the specific operating results to the public."

The small auditorium became lively again, and everyone started discussing.

Many of them don't know each other, don't know the person next to them, and don't know the people around them.

But this doesn't prevent them from actively discussing these things. They have never encountered this kind of thing before. While feeling a little uncomfortable, they vaguely feel that this method is actually a good one.

Avoiding vicious competition and fighting, especially for those small and medium-sized gangs.

The imbalance of power between them and the large and medium-sized gangs makes them have no advantage in fighting and competition.

As long as competition occurs, as long as fighting occurs, the unlucky ones are definitely them!

But if according to Lance's statement, they use a contracting system, then it means that competition disappears, and there is no need to worry about fighting.

Because the rules are set by the Lance family, whoever violates the rules is equivalent to fighting against the Lance family.

With Lance's personality, he will definitely not allow those who challenge his family to continue to exist.

Many people think that Lance is a very difficult person to evaluate. Sometimes he behaves very kindly, not at all like a gang leader should be.

He even organizes the Lance family to go to the New Port District, the Empire District, and the Port District to distribute relief supplies in the winter.

Free food and winter clothing, etc.

These things don't seem valuable, but when the quantity goes up, it's a considerable amount, and it lasts for an entire winter. He spends at least millions on this.

Gangs can pull out guns and shoot bullets at each other for tens of thousands of dollars, but he scatters this money without even considering it. He is not like those greedy hyena-like gang leaders.

But at the same time, he is not completely a good person.

Everyone came to a conclusion that most of the people who offended Lance disappeared with their whole families. Few people can survive alone, or have their families safe and sound after something happens to them.

Basically, once something happens, the whole family dies. This approach does make people feel horrified and uneasy.

It also reflects his decisiveness and ruthlessness in dealing with these problems, which is in line with people's impression of the "Gang Emperor."

But his kindness and benevolence and his ruthlessness and ferocity are mixed together, forming a complex person, a person with fatal charm!

These people came here today, in fact, they are also afraid of the result of their whole family going to God for a vacation because they didn't come.

They fear Lance's "rules" and "execution," so they will naturally abide by them. Then, as long as a small gang bids for an area, it will definitely be able to develop steadily.

This is simply a… super great thing for those small and medium-sized gangs!

Visible smiles appeared on their faces. They don't need to worry about competition and fighting, and they can put more energy into the development of the gang and into making money. They will be able to bid for more territory in the future, open more bars, and earn more money!

Not to mention catching up with the Lance family, catching up with the current Pasreito family may not be a problem.

People began to ask questions enthusiastically—

"Mr. Lance, I noticed that there are more than twenty plots in the Prisia District above. What I know is that there are two bars on one of the plots."

"If I bid for this plot, how will the two bars above be dealt with?"

"Does the business protection here mean that we people won't be crowded together, or does it mean that no one will be crowded together?"

He emphasized the words "everyone," and some people suddenly realized that there are indeed many places on this map that have bars, even their bars.

If their bars are not allowed to close, then these so-called protected business strategies are meaningless.

They don't need to compete with people who also spend money on bidding, but they have to compete with bars that have not joined the system. Then what's the point of doing this?

Lance had already considered this issue. He put out the cigarette in the ashtray, "A good question."

"Before we implement these plans, we will clear out all the bars in all the blocks and ask them to leave."

"If they are willing to cooperate, then good, there will be no problems, and no conflicts will break out."

"But if they are unwilling to leave, then I have to ask them to leave."

"I know that many of you are also running bars, and they are in these blocks."

"I also know that you must have some dissatisfaction with my decision in your hearts, because before this, you didn't have any extra costs to run your bars."

"But after my plan starts to be implemented, your business will have additional costs."

"It doesn't matter, there are problems, there are opinions, it doesn't matter, you can leave, go to Creek Valley City, go to Venus City, go to Manteno, go to… anywhere you want to go that doesn't have the Lance family."

"I won't care what you do in those places."

"But in King's Harbor, in my territory, everything must follow my rules."

To be honest, these words were too domineering. Some people frowned, but they didn't express anything immediately. They were waiting for a dumbass.

Their wait was worth it, because someone did stand up, "Mr. Lance, I respect you very much, but I also hope you can respect us."

Lance raised his hand to interrupt him, "Who are you, where is your territory?"

This guy briefly introduced himself. He was the leader of a gang with about a dozen people. He ran a bar in his own house.

"I have never thought about competing with anyone, and I only operate in my own home. According to you, does it mean that when your plan starts, the bar in my house will also have to stop?"

His face was obviously unconvinced. If the issue of territory might have some uncertainty, such as how to determine whether a block is Lance's territory?

Then his own home couldn't be the Lance family's territory, right?

That was a house he bought with a loan. Is he not allowed to sell alcohol to others in his own house?

Lance looked at him calmly, "No."

There was an uproar among many people, but some felt that if Lance really intended to do this, then this was the bottom line.

But surely some people couldn't accept it.

That person's face was full of disbelief, "This is too disappointing, Mr. Lance. We cannot accept this decision."

Lance smiled, "I won't force you to accept it, because I'm just informing you that the city's rules have changed, not asking if you can accept this change."

"You can sell your house, then take your brothers and reopen a bar elsewhere as I said, doing what you want to do."

"Or, do as I say."

"If you neither want to leave nor want to follow my instructions, then I can only ask you to settle in Angel Lake."

"I must not only be responsible for you, but also for others who abide by the new rules, to protect their rights."

Hearing Lance's affirmative words, some people began to cheer.

He was also tough, unchangeable, so for those who were willing to abide by the rules, this was even better news.

There are always people in this world who are willing to go with the flow and abide by the rules, and there are many of them.

Not everyone has the courage and strength to resist authority. Rather than being like a fallen leaf on the water, overturned by a speeding yacht, it is better to be one of the guests on the yacht.

The speaker's face changed constantly as he sat back down. He didn't dare to mess around at this time.

Soon someone asked, "Mr. Lance, will our open discussion of bar distribution attract the attention of the Bureau of Prohibition (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)?"

Lance shook his head, "You don't have to worry about that. I have people in the Bureau of Dangerous Goods Management, and they are in high positions. I can guarantee that as long as you pay me the money, the bar I allow you to operate will not have any problems."

"If there are any problems, then come to me, and I will compensate you for all losses!"

The questioner bowed slightly, looking pleasantly surprised, "I like your answer, Mr. Lance!"

"I have no other questions," he said before sitting back down.

Besides the bigger gangs, what these bar operators fear most is the Bureau of Dangerous Goods Management.

After all, they are law enforcement officers, with inherent huge advantages. Once they are discovered, basically the bar will be completely destroyed, and maybe even people will be arrested.

Members of small gangs may not be very loyal, because they also know that the gang is small. As long as everyone is caught, no one can deal with them.

At least not in the short term.

So, often the people who betray their own families and gangs come from small gangs. In the absence of serious consequences, they don't care much about the internal discipline of the gang.

On the contrary, those big gangs rarely have people betraying the inside, because they all know.

That is, whether they confess or not, it is difficult to shake the core members of the family. As long as the core members of the family are not all arrested, as long as even one person remains.

Then even if they are acquitted in court, they will most likely not be able to walk out of the courtroom alive.

The faster and harsher the punishment comes, the less dare those people to talk nonsense.

Lance looked at the somewhat chaotic small auditorium, "Does anyone else have any questions?"

Someone raised their hand again, and with Lance's permission, stood up. It was also the leader of a small gang, "Mr. Lance, we... actually don't have good connections to obtain large quantities of alcohol."

"If we contract a block, what if we can't get that much alcohol?"

Immediately, some people laughed and scolded, telling them to go back to the countryside and not embarrass themselves. Some said they could sell alcohol to them, and others said they could cooperate with them.

Lance also smiled and raised his hand to calm everyone down, "Originally, this matter would be discussed later, but since someone has brought it up now, then I will talk about it."

"I have released all the bars, and I believe that as long as you are not too stupid, you will know that this will definitely allow you to make money."

"So, in addition to the bar issue, we also have a new rule."

"From the official start of operations, all alcohol will be shipped uniformly by me."

The small auditorium buzzed with discussion again. Lance waited for them to discuss for a while before saying, "The price of getting goods uniformly from me will not be higher than what you get now. In addition to my own alcohol, we will also talk to suppliers in Yalan."

"We will use our advantages to suppress the price of alcohol, ensuring that you can make money, and we can also make money."

"In addition, we can also provide aged wine, more types of wine, ensuring that the bar's supply is constantly updated."

"For those gangs with inconvenient channels, you will no longer have the situation where you cannot get goods."

"All you have to do is take out a delivery note, then check the alcohol you need to sell, and then give us a call."

"Within an hour, the alcohol you want can be delivered to any place you specify within the Jin Gang City range!"

"At the same time, I can guarantee that as long as you get goods from me, even if your alcohol is piled up on the road, no one from the Bureau of Dangerous Goods Management will come to inspect!"

"But if someone privately disrupts our overall unified situation and gets alcohol from other smugglers."

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. Although he didn't say anything, everyone could feel that it was definitely not a good development!

The leader of the small gang immediately sat back down contentedly. This is actually a common problem for many small gangs.

They have little capital and little power, and they can't get goods at all.

They can only wait for the secondary distributors, that is, the smugglers, to increase the price and distribute to them.

A bottle of alcohol that costs fifteen yuan may have to be sold for more than twenty yuan after the smugglers increase the price. If they are unwilling to accept this price, then they have no alcohol to sell.

Directly import from Yalan?

They often cost hundreds of thousands for a boat, and no one will run for your three or five thousand yuan, twenty or thirty thousand yuan.

So, from a certain point of view, Lance's approach also solves the big problem of small gangs not being able to get goods.

For those gangs who can get goods themselves, it is not necessarily a good thing, but it is not necessarily a bad thing either.

It's still Lance's words, if you can accept the new rules, stay.

If you can't accept the new rules, you can leave.

But if you are unwilling to accept the new rules and unwilling to leave, then that is presumptuous.

Presumptuous people, presumptuous gangs, families, generally do not have a good ending!

A meeting will continue until the evening. Lance has to talk to them about many things, such as the specific operating conditions of the bar, and whether Lance, who plans to formally change the "Lance Family" to "Wanli Group," will send people to participate in the operation.

How to resolve conflicts if bar operators in two regions have conflicts, or how to steadily and effectively improve business performance, Lance has to talk to them about it.

The main thing is to reassure them that there is a lot to be done in this industry!