Empire of Shadows

Time always passes quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was already November, and the weather had turned completely cold. Mayor Williams had fully taken over the City Hall.

The former mayor did not participate in the mayoral election, nor did he participate in mayoral elections elsewhere, and he received no nominations within the Socialist Party.

To put it plainly, he was unemployed.

Having lost the opportunity to work in the federal government, he was now just an ordinary federal citizen.

Of course, he still had a job within the party, so after completely handing over the power and some documents in his hands, he set off for Mentenon.

They arranged a job that was very suitable for him—Senior Consultant to the Socialist Party Historical Research Association.

Every month, he could receive a salary of eighty-three yuan from the Socialist Party, plus other subsidies, totaling just over one hundred yuan.

And his job was to study the history of the Federation, study the history of the Socialist Party, and then try to find viewpoints and evidence such as "The Socialist Party is the great savior of the people of the Federation" from it, and put it forward at the working meeting.

Perhaps in the future, when the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party or the Federalist Party have a conflict in public opinion, these Socialist Party Historical Research Associations in various places will be able to put forward some of their views to criticize the views of other political parties.

You can't say that his work is meaningless, at least… he created an employed person, reduced an unemployed person, and provided a negligible change to the Federation's happiness index.

Mayor Williams fully took over the power of the entire city, and he quickly replaced all the officials promoted by the former mayor.

Regardless of whether they were doing well or not.

Politics has never been about right or wrong, nor does it care whether a person is outstanding or mediocre.

Politics only looks at camps and only looks at positions.

With Mayor Williams taking office, everyone has been discussing one thing recently, and that is the new city circle.

Lance was also looking at the newspaper in his hand, which had been reporting for many days in a row that the city circle would expand westward by about fifteen kilometers.

The plan has been determined after internal discussion, and then reported to the state government for approval by the state legislature.

Because behind this matter, such as expansion and construction, Mayor Williams intends to obtain some financial assistance from the state treasury.

Then this requires the state legislature to pass his city expansion proposal so that they can give some money.

Through some simple means, he has learned that the expansion of the city has been approved. After all, there is a military base here, and the population is continuing to expand. As long as the governor is not a fool, he knows what to do—

At the federal level, Congress is the highest ruling body, and even the president is below them.

But in a state, the governor is the ultimate ruler who decides everything. When the state legislature makes a choice on a case, it will refer to the governor's opinion.

The stronger the governor, the stronger the control over the state legislature.

Licaray State is okay.

So the recent reports are about the city's expansion plan, and at the same time, the King's Landing City Hall has begun to publicly bid.

The city is going to be expanded, and now many areas may face adjustments, and the expanded area needs to be leveled, divided into blocks, and then the infrastructure completed, and then the roads paved.

Finally, those businessmen can invest in building high-rise buildings or various apartments and living communities.

This is related to some future changes in King's Landing City, and the locals are very concerned.

At the same time, the newspaper mentioned that in order to quickly build a new home, bidding and recruitment have begun.

"Big project!" Lance put down the newspaper, and Patricia was cooking breakfast for him in the restaurant.

They still live on the manor. There are many different houses on the manor. If anyone needs it, they can build a house on a vacant lot anytime, anywhere.

Lance's house is behind the main building, a single-family building hidden in the vegetation. There are many such small buildings next to it, and some are also inhabited.

Lance used to live in the big house, where everyone was very lively, but now that he is married, he needs some privacy.

Patricia looked at the breakfast that she couldn't handle with her hands on her hips, and finally used her ultimate move, "Lance, I don't think I can handle this!"

Some things you will never know until you get married, such as Patricia not knowing how to cook.

In theory, Emily's cooking skills are very good, and Patricia should have inherited this specialty from her mother, but in reality, she didn't.

Emily doesn't actually cook often herself. They have maids, and Emily only cooks for Lance when Lance comes to visit, which is also a kind of respect.

But if he doesn't go, the maids do the cooking most of the time.

A girl from a family with maids has never been exposed to cooking since she was a child, and it is too difficult for her to make breakfast for Lance.

Lance shook his head and walked to the stove, easily preparing breakfast: some fried bacon, some ham cubes, some beef granules, a bowl of fruit salad, and some bread.

Oh, and milk.

Seeing Lance preparing all the food so quickly, Patricia kissed him, "Sorry, when I stand there, I feel my heart beating faster, my breathing is rapid, and my mind is blank."

"I might have a 'can't make breakfast' disease!"

Looking at her serious look, Lance smiled and didn't expose her, "That's really bad. It seems that for the sake of your condition, we have to hire a maid."

Patricia liked Lance's understanding and humor very much. She kissed Lance again with her greasy mouth, "Sweetheart, I love you."

"I love you too!" Lance responded, and then continued to eat his breakfast.

These things are not complicated to make at all. There are three federal cooking techniques.

No matter what it is, put it in a frying pan and fry it until it is cooked.

No matter what it is, put it on a grill or in an oven and bake it until it is cooked.

No matter what it is, put it in a soup pot and boil it until it is cooked.

In addition to these cooking techniques that require an open flame, the rest are various cold dishes.

So federal cuisine is not difficult to make, the key is seasoning.

She doesn't want to learn, and Lance doesn't plan to force her to learn. They are not the kind of poor family where one person must take on the responsibility of earning money and one person must take on housework.

The problem that can be solved by spending money is not a problem for them at all.

When the runny yolk was dipped by Lance in bacon and rolled up with beef and put into his mouth, the changes in multiple levels of taste and taste made him particularly satisfied.

He added some spices when frying the beef granules, and the taste changes became more.

Patricia was also amazed by Lance's cooking skills. She had never thought that a man's cooking skills could be so good.

Except for chefs.

"Are you still going to work?" Lance asked while eating breakfast.

Patricia nodded, "If I don't go to work, I don't know what I can do."

Lance didn't object to this, "Just be happy, but don't push yourself too hard."

Patricia couldn't help but laugh when she thought of this, "Our director also came when we got married."

Lance was a little surprised, "I didn't see him."

"He wanted to come over and talk to you, but there were too many people around you, and he couldn't squeeze through."

"He said he wanted to find a time to visit us."

Lance shook his head indifferently, "I'll talk about it when I have time."

The phone in the living room rang. Lance answered a call, picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. He walked behind Patricia, put his arms around her, and kissed her on the lips, "I have some work, I'll go to the front first."

"Okay, dear, I'll go to work later too."

Patricia has someone to protect her, so Lance is not worried about her safety at all. Not only are there people protecting her at close range, but also people providing high-altitude support, so he is very relieved.

Back in the manor's office, Rogerov had already brought some people from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce to stand here.

They made a lot of money with Lance. Now the price of medicines is getting higher and higher. Some people have contacted them and plan to buy the medicines in their hands for 10 million, but Lance refused.

You can wait a little longer. When the Federation also enters the market and the Federation's material transportation also has problems, those medicines will usher in a real peak!

This is obvious. The Danterra Military Alliance has not yet taken action. It is not that they are afraid of the Federation, but that they are making strategic adjustments.

Once the strategic adjustment is over, they will open fire on multiple fronts, and the Federation will definitely be greatly affected.

Once there is a problem with the transportation channel, the price will skyrocket.

Lance doesn't think it's a problem to sell medicines bought for more than three million for 20 million.

Even more is not a problem!

Because these special anti-inflammatory drugs represent lives.

Not those cheap lives, but those expensive lives!

The Imperial Commercial also made a lot of money on the grain issue. Now the price of grain has begun to stabilize. Before the Saint Nong Festival, Lance asked Rogerov to sell everything.

Stepping on the price that began to fall back, it can also be said that he made a lot of money.

Everyone has money in their hands now, so he can roughly guess why Rogerov is here.

"Chairman."

Rogerov will still call Lance by his position when there are many people, the chairman of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce. This old thing's brain is really good.

Lance nodded slightly, lit a cigarette, and signaled him to continue.

"Recently, we have also been very concerned about the city expansion plan." He set a tone first, then looked at the others and continued, "We also want to contract some of the projects."

Lance understood what they meant when he heard this.

In reality, this was a tacit understanding that every federal citizen knew but wouldn't speak about.

When the Ministry of Defense was calculating the construction costs for military bases, did they not know that the construction companies would hire refugees as workers?

They knew.

When Mayor Williams was making project budgets, would he not know that contractors would also use refugees as workers?

He also knew.

But when everyone was doing it, they still calculated costs based on the hiring prices of normal workers. In a capitalist commercial society, everyone's goal in working was to make money, not to take risks.

If there weren't enough profits left, who would be willing to do these things?

The budget made by the city hall had considerable profit margins. If they could contract a few projects, it would not only give the Imperial Chamber of Commerce more experience, but also allow them to earn a large sum of money.

There were many companies participating in the bidding, not only local companies but also companies from out of town were said to be rushing over here.

Lance nodded after hearing their general idea, "Which projects are you planning to take down?"

Roger and the others already had intentions before they came.

The Imperial Chamber of Commerce didn't have much construction experience. It wouldn't be realistic to bid on those highly difficult projects, so they were participating in projects that were relatively ordinary, with no requirements for experience and no difficulty.

If these projects without difficulty were only viewed from the perspective of construction costs, the profit was very low, since anyone could do them.

The added value of technology was low, or even non-existent, and they couldn't earn much money.

But if they used refugee workers, then there would still be considerable profit margins, and at the same time, they could cultivate a group of their own people.

Over a year, investing about two million could earn five or six hundred thousand. This rate of return was actually quite amazing.

Since they didn't ask for any major projects, Lance naturally promised them, "I'm going to City Hall later. I'll talk to him about this matter in person. Is there anything else?"

Seeing that things were settled so easily, everyone's face lit up with a smile.

Life was like a dream. A few years ago, they were just middle-class people in the Imperial District with a little money.

But a few years later, they could already scrape together more than two million to participate in municipal engineering bidding.

The encounters in life were truly amazing.

Roger and the others immediately stood up. Since their demands had been met, they wouldn't stay and waste Lance's time.

One by one, they got up to say goodbye.

Although they didn't say anything about promising Lance any benefits, they would definitely give Lance a sum of money when settling the bill. If they couldn't even figure these things out, they would have lived in vain.

He dealt with some family affairs, mainly because the family was now undergoing a transformation, starting to break away from the low-level, bottom-tier gangster logic, and some things needed to be adjusted.

For example, some small groups of "neighborhood families" had appeared on the streets again, and Lance had to make sure they wouldn't violate his rules.

Or, for example, some gangs from other cities wanted to come over and develop. In short, these were all matters.

Goldenport City's prosperity was like a bright moon in the dark night, attracting "gold diggers" from Licarlei State and even surrounding states who wanted to come here and make a fortune.

Lance had been to City Hall many times, but this time, he had a different experience than before.

After Mayor Williams directly took over City Hall, he abandoned the former mayor's office and chose a new room as his office, and used his own furniture.

Having a foundation and not having a foundation were different.

The former mayor's office seemed to have a very impetuous feeling. The furniture he used was all bought from stores, and it looked very fashionable or very new.

But after looking at it for a while, you would find a kind of unpleasant and irritable feeling.

And the furniture that Mayor Williams used was all made by the carpenters and lacquerers in the family.

They might not be as new, not as fashionable, but the more you looked at them, the more tasteful they were, and the more they could make people feel a kind of low-key nobility.

This was the foundation.

After Lance entered the office, he was not polite and directly threw his hat and windbreaker on the sofa, and then sat opposite Mayor Williams.

"Roger came to me just now. The Imperial Chamber of Commerce intends to take down two municipal construction projects."

Mayor Williams nodded, "Tell me the numbers."

Each project had a number. Lance told him, and he picked up the phone and asked his secretary to remove the two numbers from the bidding plan and handle them internally.

Then he put down the phone and looked at Lance.

They had made an appointment a few days ago. Mayor Williams thought for a while about how to start, and then lowered his voice slightly, "After thinking about this matter, among the people around me, only you have the ability to complete it."

Lance nodded noncommittally. He had only heard a general idea, but hadn't understood it in detail, so even he couldn't give Mayor Williams an accurate answer.

"We have two problems now, one is the construction of the new industrial zone, and the other is the relocation of the old industrial zone."

"The construction of the new industrial zone is not a problem. We don't need to build it ourselves. Those factories have their own construction standards, and they will handle it themselves."

"What I'm worried about now is that they may bite the finance hard on the demolition issue."

He picked up a document and handed it to Lance. Lance opened it and took a look. He also introduced, "Now the land price in the industrial zone has begun to increase. If you have noticed, the housing price in the Imperial District should also have increased significantly."

Lance nodded while looking at the document, "Yes, there is a general increase of five to seven percent."

This document marked the changes in the land price of Goldenport City every week. The Bay Area has been maintaining a stable and slow growth.

Currently, the place with the fastest growth in land price is the industrial zone, followed by the city center, and then the new port area.

The reason for the rapid growth in land prices in the industrial zone is not complicated. It is located next to the Imperial District and the New Port District. In the words of the former mayor, this will become the periphery of the new core, equivalent to the current Prussia District.

Its land price increases by more than ten percent or even twenty or thirty percent every week.

The most rapid increase was when Mayor Williams announced that he would create a new urban plan and relocate the existing industrial zone.

Some land prices have directly doubled!

It's not just that people have discovered its future potential and business opportunities on this land, but more importantly…

"They are still frantically raising the price of land, trying to extort a sum from me!"

His expression was very serious, with some anger.

Because once the land of the Federation is privatized, it belongs to private individuals.

In other words, factories can move away, but the land still belongs to those factory owners and capitalists.

Whether Mayor Williams' plan can be realized does not depend on whether he can do it, but on whether these people are willing to let him do it!

Everyone in charge of one side has their own governance plan, and this is Mayor Williams' plan.

If he can't even finish the first step, he will be a joke like all the previous mayors.

He doesn't want to be a joke, not only doesn't want to be a joke but also wants to stamp the family's mark on the city's ass, he needs some off-the-field tricks!