Empire of Shadows

It was reasonable and expected that the Vice President had no big figures backing him.

In fact, many companies don't have the support of any major figures, but they are able to obtain some political assistance, mainly due to the federal government's well-established "power-seeking industry chain."

When a politician reaches the upper echelons of the federal political arena, they can wield enormous power.

They have power, and some people need power, creating a supply and demand relationship.

We all know that as soon as there are people supplying goods and people demanding goods, a spontaneously formed market and trade will emerge.

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However, the sale of power is not that simple. Many people who can never touch power in their lives are staring at the power in these people's hands because they always believe that this power comes from them!

This is actually very ridiculous, but politicians explain it this way, and that's what they say, so the people really believe it.

The people of the Federation believe that the power of the Federation's politicians comes from the people and is granted by the people, but they never consider why the power they grant slaps them in the face.

They don't consider these things because they live in an illusion, maintained by various parties in the power market.

On the surface, power is pure and simple, but beneath the surface, power, brokers, capital, and the transfer of benefits at each stage make it very easy for power to be turned into wealth, or wealth into power.

As long as you have money or power and have a need, there will be brokers to help you solve your problems.

The Liji Group spends tens of millions of dollars in public relations fees on this every year, and they also have several senators supporting them behind the scenes. Otherwise, how could they continue to lead the entire industry after being dismantled by the "Anti-Monopoly Law"?

However, none of this has anything to do with the Vice President. He doesn't know any big figures, nor does he have a direct relationship with these brokers. He's just a more senior wage earner, nothing more.

Lance thought for a while and said, "I have some friends in Jinzhou…" The Vice President nodded. It's normal for a person to have friends in Jinzhou!

He also has many friends in Jinzhou and acquaintances in Jin Port City, so he didn't pay too much attention to the context and meaning of this sentence, treating it as an ordinary remark.

"I told my friends about the problem between us and mentioned our possible solutions, but my friends gave me a new plan."

The Vice President picked up his coffee and took a big gulp. He realized that the real stuff was coming. "Oh?"

"They are very interested in suppressing the stock price of Liji Group and hope to obtain a portion of the company's stock and gain more benefits from it!"

The Vice President's eyes gradually widened, like those hyperthyroid patients, his eyeballs almost popping out!

"I don't know… Are you sure you didn't say something wrong?"

"I'm not doubting whether you and your friends can do this, but this is Jinzhou, Mr. Lance."

"This is not a small place like Jin Port City. Sometimes, when we do anything, we can't just consider what we want to do or are doing. We also have to consider many other things."

He kept shaking his head, seemingly not very supportive of Lance's proposal. "This plan will put us all in a passive position, and please forgive me for being so blunt, but if the company suffers a heavy blow, I will also be implicated."

His meaning was clear. He didn't want to be involved in such a thing. He wanted to gain more power and benefits, not a big trouble.

Lance said a name, "Berman, do you know him?"

The Vice President's expression changed slightly. To Lance, Berman might just represent a name, but to him, the name Berman represented more than just a name, but also some capitalists behind him.

Berman is a front man pushed to the stage. Those capitalists like to do this so that if someone is unlucky because of their business one day, then the unlucky person will definitely not be themselves.

However, most of the time, these characters can live well as long as there are no problems with the capital forces behind them.

And this is one of the reasons why the Liji Group was dismantled. Some people saw the huge profits of the channels and wanted to take a share.

"I didn't know your friend also had such a big figure." The Vice President's expression became much more solemn. Now that the Bailide Group is involved, it means that this matter may not be so simple and pure.

Lance took out a pack of cigarettes, gave one to the other party, and lit one himself. "In addition to Berman, some people have also proposed a new plan."

"You can become the CEO of the company and have more shares in the company, but you have to cooperate with us to snipe the company's stock and help us obtain a portion of the shares."

"If you can do these things, you will be one of the most powerful people in the Liji Group!"

The Vice President fell into thought. He thought of many things, including the first time he was dismantled, harvested, and this time.

Lance didn't urge him, just quietly smoking his cigarette, waiting for him to make the final decision.

After about two minutes, Lance stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and took a sip of his coffee, the Vice President's forehead was already covered with a layer of sweat.

However, he had thought it through pretty clearly.

"If I refuse, this matter won't change in any way, right?"

Lance nodded, "How should I explain it?"

"This matter is like… a truck full of goods is crashing towards you. You can't dodge because you can't dodge it."

"You can struggle, you can do anything you want to save yourself, but you have no chance."

"The difference now is whether you want to be dismantled and crushed into dust, or get on the truck before it knocks you down."

"This is actually not such a complicated multiple-choice question, right?"

Just a simple description, but it gave the Vice President a sense of being there.

He knew what Lance meant. The "big killer" that Lance held in his hand now was the issue of liquidated damages.

If they had paid the liquidated damages before this, although they would have suffered some losses, it would definitely have been within an acceptable range.

But it was the board of directors that was unwilling to pay the four million liquidated damages and tried to solve the problem using other methods, which directly caused the situation to get out of control!

The Bailide Group began to intervene, so as one of the executioners who once dismantled the Liji Group, have those people behind it also joined in?

Although they directly dismantled the Liji Group, it was still the strongest in the industry!

This is the situation that those executioners like the least. Their purpose in using the "Anti-Monopoly Law" is to maximize profits, but now the maximum profit has not fallen into their hands.

This time, will they also participate?

If these people also participate, then this "battle" will not be so easy to fight.

The Liji Group can be dismantled once, and it can be dismantled a second time, a third time, until they lie on the corpse of the Liji Group, fill their stomachs, burp, and can't hold any more, then they will stop.

Commercial means plus the use of some power, this time the Liji Group will definitely fall again, and the reason is just that they are unwilling to pay the ridiculous four million liquidated damages!

Thinking of this, the Vice President suddenly couldn't help laughing, laughing non-stop!

They have actually been very careful in recent years.

They never confront those capital forces who have the ability to wrestle with them, and have been carefully guarding against them.

After Baihui Bank obtained Lance's creditor's rights, they just sent a letter, and the Liji Group transferred the money over there.

Because they know that they are not suitable for wrestling with the same level.

But their attitude towards those farmers and bottom-level merchants who don't have the ability to wrestle with them is completely different.

They tear up the contract as soon as they say they will, and they refuse to pay as soon as they say they will, completely ignoring their demands.

Lance's case is like this. Whether it is contract fraud or not, at least for now, they should fulfill the contract, including the previous time, but they refused, so they caused trouble.

No one could have imagined that a gangster in Jin Port City could leverage a listed company. Maybe he is just a knife in the hands of those behind-the-scenes characters standing in the shadows.

But this knife is very sharp, and for the Liji Group, it is also very deadly!

It's like commoners challenging nobles in the past. First, they have to defeat the guardian knights around the nobles before they are qualified to fight the nobles who are holding swords barehanded.

Unless they are absolute fools, otherwise the nobles cannot lose such a competition, and the Liji Group also thinks so.

It's just that they didn't expect that they made a mistake.

The Vice President already had a decision in his mind, "What do we need to do?"

He used the word "we," which means that his position has already changed.

"Collect information on the President and the Chairman of the Board, as well as their loyal followers."

"The Liji Group should have a compulsory share repurchase agreement, right?"

The Vice President nodded in shock. He wanted to hide the disbelief in his eyes, but the news was too shocking for him to hide!

He suddenly realized that he might be involved in something even bigger, and the cause of all this still made him want to say—

A mere four million!

The more this is the time, the more he finds it ridiculous and laughable. Maybe those who made the decision, of course, including himself, never thought about it.

Even a small, inconspicuous pebble on the ground could not only make them stumble, but also cause them to fall headfirst, perhaps even leading to a fall from which they could never recover!

“Yes, we have redemption clauses, but triggering them requires some harsh conditions.”

“Such as?” Lance gestured for him to elaborate.

“For example, if a shareholder suddenly loses their capacity for responsibility due to some unforeseen event, and according to federal law, their heirs are unwilling to inherit the shares, or are underage, or also lack the capacity for responsibility.”

“Then, after a resolution by the board of directors, the company has the right to internally redeem those shares at market price.”

Basically, all large capital groups have similar repurchase clauses. Capitalists have been fighting each other for centuries, and they know best how to defeat their own kind!

The scenario of “being kicked out of the company after a hostile company acquires a large number of shares” has played out countless times. Capitalists have also been constantly researching how to prevent shares from flowing out, and repurchase clauses are the simplest and most effective means.

Even some capital families do the same. Each member has the right to family shares and dividends, but they can only marry within the family—

This is also a very interesting, or rather, constantly consolidating method of governance for the top federal aristocratic families.

They only accept internal family marriages. Things like uncles marrying nieces, or male cousins marrying aunts, often happen. This is also why there are always a few fools or mentally challenged individuals in large families.

They are all descendants of consanguineous marriages.

Some stipulate that they can only marry into certain families to avoid the problems caused by consanguineous marriages, but overall, people in the Federation don't really care that much about consanguineous marriages.

However, if someone in the family wants to break free from these rules, if they are unwilling to marry a relative, or if they have their own lover.

Then, the way for them to gain freedom is to give up their shares and the right to dividends, preventing the shares from flowing out and being acquired by enemies.

They will also transform from members of a large family into ordinary people, relatively speaking.

The same applies to the shareholders of large companies. If the shares of large companies can be freely bought and sold, then capitalists will not be able to protect their companies from being taken away.

Therefore, repurchase clauses must exist.

After saying this, the vice president actually already knew what Lance and the others were planning to do. At this moment, his palms were covered in sweat.

Because if he had made the wrong choice just now, then he might soon meet with an accident as well.

Lance looked at him, “You can tell your president or chairman of the board about this, but no one can stop it from happening, from changing anything.”

“When a bullet is already loaded, and pulling the trigger will fire it, the best course of action is not to stand in front of the muzzle with your flesh and blood.”

“This is my advice to you, Vice President… no, maybe you will become the chairman of the board in the future.”

“Then this is my advice to you, the future chairman of the board, see the big picture clearly!”

Lance's words left him speechless.

It took him several minutes to accept this fact, and a very strange emotion sprouted in his heart again!

He actually stood on Lance's side, thinking that he had done a good job, while hating the president, hating the chairman of the board, and the other directors who resolutely disagreed with paying the penalty and fulfilling the signed contract.

For the sake of the two million or so profits they hadn't even received, they not only had to throw in four million, but also lose their lives!

“I know what to do, Mr. Lance. When people make mistakes, they have to pay for their mistakes. This is what they deserve!”

Lance pointed at him with a smile, “Smart!”

“I need detailed information about these people who have made mistakes, so that we can resolve this case as soon as possible.”

“I still plan to spend the New Year in Goldenport.”

The vice president took out a handkerchief and sighed, “I will investigate it clearly in the next two days.”

In the evening, Lance took the vice president to meet Mr. Borman. The vice president and Mr. Borman were “old acquaintances”. The two sides had competed in this field for many years, and overall, Bailide had always been at a disadvantage.

In the past, when he met Mr. Borman at those formal social occasions, he always carried a kind of arrogant humility. It's hard to describe, but you could sense it.

It was the kind of attitude, the disdain in his eyes, that said, “You know I look down on you, but I will still maintain respect for you.”

But this time, the positions of the two sides were reversed.

“I thought we would meet at the conference after the start of spring!” Mr. Borman laughed and stretched out his hand towards the vice president.

The conference he was talking about was a large-scale conference on the overall agricultural industry held by the Federal Agricultural Committee before the spring planting season. At that time, representatives from the large farms, agricultural product deep processing, transportation, and channel links on the federal list would attend this conference.

It is used to discuss the direction of agricultural development in the new year, coordinate resources, etc., and is very important.

Every year, the vice president would attend with the president, but now it seems that they will have to change people tomorrow.

The vice president was a little embarrassed, “I am honored to see you again before the New Year, Mr. Borman.”

Borman looked at Lance and patted the vice president's hand, “He is a very capable person, I have always admired him!”

As he said, his gaze shifted from Lance's face to the vice president's face, “When we work together in the future, I will need your cooperation?”

“Definitely, definitely…”

Since Lance could bring the vice president over, it meant that the vice president would also be deeply involved. After the three sat down, they began to discuss some follow-up operations, listening to Mr. Borman's nonchalant tone as he spoke of plans that made the vice president's heart tremble.

At this time, he was even more convinced that his choice was correct!

Rather than letting the company perish with them, it was better to find a way to bring the company back to its former glory!

Yes, even if the company would encounter a major disaster and fall from the altar, they were still at least one of the three giants of agricultural channels!

The three discussed for more than an hour and finally came to a general decision. The vice president also vaguely realized that there were multiple senators supporting them behind the scenes, and he became even more humble.

Even towards Lance, his humble attitude came from the bottom of his heart, rather than being disguised.

He couldn't quite understand Lance. Although the development of Goldenport City was very rapid, he didn't understand how this twenty-one-year-old young man had connected with Congress.

It's really amazing!

In the next two days, the vice president stated in the board of directors that he had used some connections to reach the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court was willing to hear the case.

The people in the company did not suspect the vice president. After all, he was considered to be above tens of thousands of people in the company, so who would suspect that he would stab himself in the back?

The legal department quickly began to contact the court of appeals to transfer the case to the Federal Supreme Court. Originally, they planned to do it quietly.

But someone leaked the news, and the media suddenly began to pay attention to the case…