Empire of Shadows

In a wolf pack, if someone tries to challenge the wolf king, the wolf king has only two paths to take.

Either tuck his tail between his legs and slink away from the pack, or retaliate fiercely.

Human society is not the society of wolves, but it is even more complex than the society of wolves.

When someone sends Lance a signal of defiance, they simultaneously stand face to face on a narrow bridge.

Their goal is to reach the destination behind the other, but this narrow bridge can only support one person passing, so one of them must fall.

Lance's words have already put the speaker in an awkward position. In Yalan, on their own turf, although he is not the leader of the gang, he is an important figure second only to the leader.

In that lawless land, even if he simply dislikes a passing pedestrian, he can draw a gun and shoot the pedestrian to death without bearing any responsibility.

From the local residents, police, to the local government, none of them would make things difficult for him because of these "small matters."

At most, he would compensate a little money, a few hundred Federal Sols.

People always say that life is precious and priceless.

When it is expensive, it is indeed very expensive. Those high-ranking masters can burn tens of thousands or even more in medical expenses every day in order to live a day longer, just to breathe a few more breaths of air.

But if you say it is cheap, it is indeed not that expensive. A few hundred dollars, or even a dozen dollars in some areas, can buy a life.

In the eyes of this Yalan gangster representative, he has no reverence for life, and he has no reverence for Lance either.

Now that Lance has put him in an awkward position, he certainly can't pull out any weapons to give Lance a shot, as the weapons have all been confiscated.

But he has his own way of fighting back. He stood up directly and then left the venue with his people.

Lance didn't try to stop him, just watched them leave, and then gave Elvin a look. The latter nodded slightly and then turned and left.

Lance retracted his gaze and looked at the others, "Does anyone else want to leave?"

"If anyone thinks that my invitation to you is just a farce, then you can leave now."

The scene was silent. No one answered, no one stood up. Before they were sure what Lance was going to say, they would not leave.

After waiting for a minute, with no one making a statement, Lance nodded and said, "Very good, it seems that was just an accident, so next, I don't want anyone to interrupt me."

His gaze lingered for a moment on the faces of several gang representatives he knew were relatively large in scale, and then he began to recall where he had left off.

He had forgotten a bit, so he decided to simply start over from the beginning, "We haven't met before, this is our first meeting, and it will also be the beginning of our first collaboration."

"I know some of you are already impatient, so I'll directly talk about some of my thoughts on the Goldport City market."

He signaled the staff to lower a curtain with a map of the entire Goldport City on it.

This map was divided into many blocks, each with a number on it.

People looked at this curtain somewhat at a loss, they didn't know what these things were.

Fortunately, Lance explained very promptly, "This is the sales situation of alcohol in Goldport City over the past week. The actual numbers may increase or decrease somewhat, but they won't differ too much. It can be used as an important reference."

In fact, these bars were also not very willing to truthfully tell Lance how much money they actually made, but Lance had a way of knowing. Some people would refuse his seemingly rude request, but others would not.

The gang representatives below all focused their attention on those astonishing numbers, with various changes occurring in the expressions on their faces.

"Goldport City is one of the most important alcohol consumption cities in the southern region of the Federation. According to our latest data, at least two hundred million worth of alcoholic beverages can be sold in Goldport City this year."

"This is a huge market, and I am confident that under the control of the Lance family over Goldport City, the sales of alcohol will rise to a new level."

"Two hundred and fifty million, or even three hundred million, and even with the arrival of the garrison, our sales will only increase!"

"I have a dream, a dream that in three years, Goldport City will become the number one alcoholic beverage consumption market in the Federation!"

Some people exclaimed. In terms of being surprised, gangsters and ordinary grassroots female citizens are no different. They also make meaningless exclamations because of things that exceed their understanding.

They didn't actually know exactly how much alcohol could be sold in Goldport City in a year, they just knew that alcohol sales were very good here.

This was the first time they had fully felt the madness of smuggled alcohol!

Before the Prohibition Era, a gang's annual income was only hundreds of thousands or millions, unless they could work for capitalists and participate in some important financial criminal activities.

Otherwise, most gangs couldn't earn a million in profit a year.

But with the advent of the Prohibition Era, making money became much easier, but they still didn't have an intuitive understanding of how easy it was.

Now, they understood.

The huge market made everyone's heart hide a beast, constantly churning and jumping, stimulating their emotions, making them involuntarily focus their attention on Lance.

"Including us, there are almost forty or fifty gangs supplying those liquid gold to the alcoholic beverage market in this city."

He raised his hand, and the image on the curtain behind him changed to a front photo of a bar counter, with the liquor cabinet filled with various bottles of wine, many of whose producers were sitting here today.

Then the picture switched again, showing some scenes of identifying brewing sites, with some dirty people wearing handcuffs, standing next to some brewing tools.

"In addition to you, there are also some underground workshops providing alcoholic beverages to bars."

"Alcoholic beverages, wine, are not easy things to manufacture. Inferior wine may cause unpredictable and terrible consequences."

"These small workshops that lack experience in privately brewing alcoholic beverages will also disrupt our normal market reputation."

"So the market must be standardized, there must be rules."

"Starting in October, we will severely crack down on the entry of unlicensed alcohol into Goldport City, whether it is smuggling teams or private brewing workshops, all are within our scope of attack."

"But we don't have that much energy to handle all the alcohol and channels, which requires our joint maintenance."

He paused as he spoke, the images on the curtain behind him were constantly changing, with slides being manually switched.

Some news reports about people drinking inferior wine appeared on the curtain, these were all internal materials obtained from the Hazardous Materials Administration, covered in blood.

"Just like I said to you at the beginning, you don't know me, you don't understand me, you are completely unfamiliar with my style."

"But it doesn't matter, you can inquire. I am a person willing to take responsibility, whether it is to my subordinates, my partners, my friends, or to the people in this city who bring us benefits through the consumption of alcoholic beverages!"

"Considering these situations that have already occurred, I have set a few rules."

"First, from today onwards, all alcohol producers entering Goldport City must pay a security deposit to me, to the Lance family, according to your output scale."

"This fee accounts for three percent of your total output, that is, if you sell one million worth of alcohol to Goldport City this year, then you need to give me 30,000 as a deposit."

"This 30,000 is not taken away by me, but placed here with me."

"If someone has a medical accident because of drinking your alcohol, their medical expenses will be deducted from this deposit."

"By the second year, you will need to make up for the shortfall, and because of your bad credit record, the scale of this security deposit will increase."

"Of course, if any of you do not plan to continue to cooperate with us, we will also return the deposit to you at the same time as the end of the cooperation."

"Second, in order to avoid the dumping of some inferior alcohol into a high-quality market like Goldport City, we will adopt an admission system."

"In addition to paying an admission deposit of 30% of the total price of your imported alcohol, you also need to pay 10% of the total price of alcohol and beverages imported annually, as a special fund for maintaining the market and combating illegal smugglers and private brewers."

If people thought the first rule was barely acceptable, then this second rule was a bit too much for them to bear.

Someone raised his hand, and Lance raised his chin, "Does this gentleman have any questions?"

The person who stood up was short and fat, wearing a suit that was obviously one size too small, which made his belly look particularly large.

"Mr. Lance, I can understand the security deposit for medical treatment, but isn't this admission deposit and special fund a bit unreasonable?"

He asked very euphemistically, but people could hear the dissatisfaction in his tone.

Lance, however, acted as if he didn't hear it, and explained patiently.

"If the alcohol you import has problems due to quality issues, this money will be directly deducted as a penalty. The purpose of doing this is to make you pay attention to its quality during production."

"It can not only bring people happiness, but also bring people harm."

"I don't want the residents of this city to spend the money they have worked so hard to earn in order to be happy, to buy your terrible products, which will not only fail to bring them happiness but also damage my reputation."

“I believe that when you realize that if you try to cheat us on quality and safety, you will lose a lot of money, you will be extra careful when producing these wines.”

“This money will continue to exist as long as you don’t mess around, and I will return it to you when you don’t plan to continue cooperating with us.”

“It doesn’t become my money, nor does it go into my pocket. It’s just a key to witnessing and guaranteeing our mutual trust during the cooperation process.”

“As for special expenses…”

Lance was silent for a moment, “Police, Dangerous Goods Administration, Fire Department, Prosecutor’s Office, Customs, City Hall, State Government, even the Navy!”

“Do you know how much public relations expenses and favors it costs me to have your wines placed on the wine cabinets of those bars and sold openly?”

“Asking you for ten percent is just a small part, gentlemen, this is already my greatest sincerity to you.”

“If other wines want to enter Goldport City in the future, the cost will exceed ten percent!”

The short, fat gentleman who asked the question couldn’t help but say, “Too much, Mr. Lance, if… two or three percent, we can accept.”

“You also said that the wine market in Goldport City is very large. Even if it’s two or three percent, that’s a lot of money!”

Others also nodded continuously. According to the market size of 200 million, two or three percent is four million to six million. So much money a year is not a small amount.

Lance shook his head, “It’s not calculated that way. If I give you two million, can you find me a senator from Congress to do something for me now?”

“I’m not discussing with you, nor am I intending to discuss this number with you. I’m just telling you a fact that you need to understand and know.”

“You can be dissatisfied with my pricing, and you can choose not to send the wine here. As long as it’s not in Goldport City, not on my territory, you can do whatever you want!”

“But on my territory, as long as you want to sell your wine here, no matter who you are, you must listen to me!”

Some people’s expressions became unsightly again. Everyone was not a good person. Violence, crime, and murder were like daily life to them.

Lance’s tough and unyielding attitude did indeed annoy some of them.

Those who were slightly more polite suggested going back to consider it in advance, or reporting the news to their gang’s big boss, taking the opportunity to leave.

And those who were not so polite left the scene directly.

Lance also had people record their gang names and products. Leaving here today is simple, but wanting to return here tomorrow will be more than just ten percent.

The ten percent he asked for was actually ten percent of the sales. If the cost is included to amplify this number, it may be twenty or thirty percent of the net profit.

After these people left, only twenty-seven or eight gangs remained on the scene.

Nearly half of the people left, but no embarrassment or unease could be seen on Lance’s face. He appeared extremely calm.

He clasped his hands together in front of him, then spread them out again, “Actually, their initiative to leave is beneficial to those of you who stay.”

“A market of 200 million divided among fifty or so companies means that each company can only occupy a little over one percent, but divided among you twenty or so companies, the average is four percent.”

“The market is constantly growing, but the competitors are constantly decreasing. Gentlemen, you have grasped the pulse of the times!”

He paused and said with a smile, “If you have any questions, you can ask them now. Of course, those who plan to leave can also leave. The door is in the back.”

Zabry raised his hand, and Lance motioned for him to stand up. Then he asked, “Mr. Lance, I am Zabry, from the Marcus family.”

“I have a question. Our main business is smuggling, but we don’t produce wine. If we want to get those wines in…”

Lance nodded slightly, “That is indeed a problem, but my idea is that you can customize a batch of wine that belongs to you from the wineries that provide you with wine.”

“You arrange people to supervise their production and withhold part of the payment. As long as there are no problems with this batch of wine, Goldport City welcomes you!”

Zabry sat back contentedly. The Marcus family did not have its own winery. They purchased various cheap wines from other places for sale, which is also the main business of many smuggling groups.

Smuggling a car, or smuggling some raw materials, or even selling some slaves and people, the profit from a ship is at most one or two million.

But selling wine, the profit from a ship may be much more than that.

Zabry was in a larger arena, and he could understand the meaning of Lance’s words. He could even imagine how crazy people would be when they discovered that Goldport City was selling wine semi-openly!

Those alcoholics would definitely come to Goldport City from all directions. At that time, the wine market in Goldport City would really expand continuously as Lance said!

Afterwards, some people asked some questions, and Lance answered them patiently.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about monopolizing the market, but the risks brought about by monopolizing the market were definitely much greater than letting go of the market.

Many federal people don’t understand this principle. When the superiors and the ruling class want to use someone or something to establish authority and tell others the rules, they will definitely choose the most authoritative and largest one!

Lance has always refused to become "the largest".

Seeing that almost everyone had no questions, David (representative of the Holy Bell Party), who had been silent, stood up, “Mr. Lance, some people say you are a local, but others say you are an immigrant. I am very curious about this.”

Lance looked at David, who could not see any emotional changes, and frowned slightly, “This has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about today.”

David chuckled a few times, “That’s right, you’re right, I asked a question I shouldn’t have asked.” After he finished speaking, he sat down and talked to the people around him.

Lance’s gaze stayed on him for a moment before shifting to others, “Is there anything else you want to ask?”

“If not, you can go back and discuss it with your people. We will start implementing it soon.”

“Of course, if anyone wants to try to challenge it, they are welcome to do so.”

Looking at these people who seemed to accept it, but not necessarily sincerely, Lance felt that he still had to use some people to establish the rules.

Some people are like this. If you don’t make them afraid, they won’t understand awe!