Chapter 606

Councilman Williams’s campaign speech was to be held in the Golden Port City Port District.

Although the Bay Area, the Starlight District, and the city center were considered the core of the city in the eyes of many, everyone knew that the port was the true core.

The reason Golden Port City had developed so much today was not because of what the rich had done, but because the Golden Port Docks had brought a large number of opportunities here.

Even a freighter docking here for a few days could bring tens of thousands in revenue to the city, as well as corresponding jobs.

So the docks were very important. Holding a public campaign speech here could also, to a greater extent, show his emphasis on the docks, the city, and the city’s foundation, and could better cater to the preferences of the underlying workers and even the poor.

The plan was good, but the staff who were setting up the speech venue told him that a large number of refugees had gathered there.

They were not protesting, but gathering in the form of a rally. These people were organized. They held up signs like “We Need Food,” “We Need Doctors,” “We Need Shelter,” and waited quietly.

It was also possible that Councilman Williams had not arrived yet. In short, they were very quiet now.

There were already many reporters at the scene, including reporters from the state newspaper. They were observing these groups.

This was a very important speech. The friction between the refugee group and the locals was already showing signs of escalating. If these people appeared at the speech venue, it was hard to say whether any conflict would break out.

Once it broke out, it would definitely not be a good thing for him. Someone could use these things as a means of attack to attack him.

Even if it didn’t break out, with so many refugees staring from the side, the locals would be more or less unhappy.

On one side were the refugees who had no votes, and on the other were the locals who had votes. From the very beginning, this was not a choice.

He couldn’t handle it himself, so he asked Lance to step in. This was also why gangs could not be eliminated in the Federation.

The police, or any other law enforcement agency, simply could not take action against the refugees. Not just the refugees; it was difficult for them to play a valuable and effective role in large-scale group incidents.

On the contrary, the gangs were more likely to do things at this time, and the aftermath was also very simple.

After hanging up the phone, Lance immediately drove over to take a look. From a distance, he saw a dense crowd of refugees sitting on the open ground next to the speech venue. From a long way off, he seemed to be able to smell the scent emanating from the crowd.

The weather was getting hotter, and the smell on people was getting stronger. They could actually go and take a shower. There were seas everywhere nearby.

But sea bathing was not a good choice. If people washed with seawater and did not clean the salt remaining on their bodies after coming ashore, those salt crystals would cause serious damage to the human skin, making the skin dry, cracked, and so on.

Almost all seaside resorts or beaches would have some freshwater shower places, just to allow tourists to clean off the salt remaining on their bodies.

But there was no such equipment in the New Port District, so they could not take a shower with seawater.

Sweat, sebum, all sorts of things, eventually accumulated together, forming this group of people who exuded a strong smell, a smell as conspicuous as the signs they held high!

Fucking really…

“Should we have someone drive them away?” Elvin asked, sitting in the driver’s seat.

Lance shook his head. “You can’t drive them away. These people are obviously organized. Do you see those few people?”

Lance pointed to some people in the distance who were constantly moving among the crowds. They were different from the others.

The others were either sitting or standing, holding up signs or just waiting quietly without moving.

But these people were constantly moving back and forth between different groups. They were like the wires that connected these groups, playing an important role.

Elvin nodded. “I see them. What about them?”

“If you don’t find out who organized them, even if you arrange for people to drive them away, they won’t leave. It might even trigger a series of conflicts and make things get out of control.”

Lance lit a cigarette. “It seems that if this matter is not handled well, Councilman Williams won’t be able to come over and give a speech for a while.”

Elvin, sitting in the front, was a little disbelieving. “Is it that serious?”

“Much more serious than you imagine!” Lance’s expression was very serious. Once anything was linked to politics, it could never be clean.

“These people might be more eager for a conflict to happen than we are.”

“Let’s go back first. Get Boni (the refugee gang leader he had supported).”

After returning to the office, Lance immediately gave Councilman Williams a call and talked about what he had seen in the Port District. “Those people behind the scenes clearly have traces of manipulation, so you’d better cancel the afternoon’s speech.”

Councilman Williams frowned after hearing this. “Is it that serious?”

“Can’t we just drive them away?”

Lance directly shattered his little hope. “I believe they are more eager for a bloody incident than you are.”

Councilman Williams was an old politician. He immediately understood Lance’s meaning. “You’re saying they plan to use this incident to attract more attention?”

Obviously, his tone was filled with some anger. He was being used as a stepping stone for them to assert their demands. This was something Councilman Williams could not tolerate.

“Do you have any solution?” he asked.

Lance said “hmm.” “Use refugees to deal with refugees, but this will take time. If you can’t change your afternoon’s schedule, then you have to be prepared to be watched by the Federation and even the world, and not with friendly eyes, but with scrutinizing, dissatisfied eyes.”

Councilman Williams knew how to make trade-offs. This was just a “convention.” Just as in fact, before the results of the presidential election came out, the Senate already knew the results but was unwilling to say so. These were all the basic face of politics.

They needed to make the public understand what fairness was, what justice was, even if it was false fairness, false justice.

The Federation is a magical society, and at the same time a “placebo effect society.” This false fairness and justice is the placebo that the federal government distributes to the public, so that they can be numbed to their own lives and not think about doing something to change it.

Since the result was highly unlikely to be changed, then it was not necessary for Councilman Williams to attend this speech. He immediately made a decision. “I will change my schedule, but this matter, I hope it can have a result.”

Lance said with a smile, “As you wish, sir.”

The furious Councilman Williams hung up the phone. He sat there for a long while. Although preparing for this speech did not require much money, and some of the people he had invited to come and support him were not too big of a favor, he was still very unhappy, even a little angry.

Because he had been “forced to retreat.” He had been forced to retreat by those refugees. Councilman Williams, who had already considered himself the master of this city, could not accept this result. He needed some people to pay the price for their “arrogance”!

The word “arrogance” used on refugees might seem a bit abrupt, but when used in politics, it was not abrupt at all.

“Refugee” was the label of these people, and at the same time their political face. Some of them were using this political face to try to move a city’s mayoral candidate to achieve their political demands. If this wasn’t arrogance, what was it?

You go to someone else’s house to stay, but you really think of yourself as one of the masters of that house, and you even want to use some of your own labels to force the owner to compromise with you.

This is a typical arrogant way of thinking. They feel that Councilman Williams can’t handle this matter, and that no matter what, they will definitely succeed!

Sometimes being “disadvantaged” does indeed have a great advantage.

Councilman Williams sat for a while, then picked up the phone and dialed a number, canceling the afternoon’s schedule.

Soon James knew this news and came to his room.

James was also one of his main guest speakers at the event. He was not only Councilman Williams’s son, but also one of Golden Port City’s municipal councilmen, with enough status to sit in the front row.

As soon as he entered the door, he asked, “Why was the afternoon’s event canceled? Did something happen that I don’t know about?”

Councilman Williams looked at him and nodded. “Lance went to the scene. He said that those refugee groups might be controlled by someone behind the scenes, and he suspects that the purpose of those people is to escalate the conflict to assert their demands.”

James, hearing this, couldn’t sit still. He swayed his body back and forth a couple of times. “Are you serious?”

Councilman Williams looked at him without speaking, which made him realize that this was true. He sucked in a breath of cold air. “Damn it, why didn’t we drive these refugees out in the first place?”

Why not?

That was another matter, but now Councilman Williams didn’t want to talk about these things. “So the afternoon’s event has been canceled, but I’ve asked Lance to handle this matter. I believe he will have a result soon.”

James hesitated slightly. “He’s now… do we need to show some sort of gesture?”

What he meant was that Lance had already gotten on good terms with the senator and the Department of Defense. He was no longer an ordinary gangster. Asking Lance to do things could not be taken for granted as in the past.

Councilman Williams nodded in gratification. “I’m glad to see you’re not that stupid!”

James showed a wry smile. “To be honest, I can’t tell if you’re mocking me or praising me right now!”

The laughter made Councilman Williams’s expression soften a lot. “We are partners. If I’m doing well, he’s doing well. Similarly, if he gets into trouble, I will do everything in my power to protect him, so you don’t have to worry.”

“I’ll call to express my thanks, and then invite him to dinner at home. It’ll be a good opportunity to talk about some things.”

He added, mainly because he was afraid that James wouldn’t understand, “Good things.”

As the father and son were exchanging their thoughts, the speech stage that had just been built over there began to be dismantled amidst the complaints of the workers. However, the complaints were not very loud, because the dismantling was also included in the remuneration.

Looking at the venue being dismantled over there, some refugees were suddenly stunned.

Soon, the news converged on one of the refugees. This guy looked to be in his forties. Although his clothes were simple, they were very clean, and he had no strange smell on him.

He looked to give people a very “upright” feeling, with many people surrounding him.

This was a member of a local political group in Slad, a minor leader.

As a de facto opposition party that couldn’t be called an opposition party, he had no power to exert in his local area. Slad was not a place with a relaxed political environment. It was very difficult for a political group in such a small place to develop.

He had heard that the political environment on the Federation’s side was relatively relaxed, so the idea of coming to the Federation to give it a try was born.

To give it a try, it didn’t cost anything, and there was nothing to bear.

After he came here, he found that although the political environment here was relaxed, everything was linked to money.

Even the presidential election was clearly priced. With an election fund of 20 to 30 million, you would be qualified to try to make a charge for the presidency, but only qualified.

In fact, from a strict point of view, the guest speakers, the runners-up, including the celebrity politicians who publicly expressed their support for them during the general election, were themselves also valuable.

If you don’t know them, and you don’t have a very close relationship with them, if you want these influential people to support you, you have to make an offer.

So the official election funds were only 20 to 30 million, but in fact, its total value might be 50 million or even more.

In this environment, you couldn’t become a politician just by talking, let alone realize your ambitions and ideals.

Even to become a municipal councilman required background and funds. At this time, he finally understood that the so-called relaxed environment was for those with a background, not for ordinary people like them.

He wanted to make his voice heard. He had given up everything in his home country to come to the Federation, not to be an ordinary person and work.

The life that the rich, powerful, and influential people here lived also deeply attracted him. He wanted to be one of them, but there was no good way.

Until he set his sights on these compatriots of his.

His plan was very simple. Wasn’t Councilman Williams going to be elected mayor?

His requirements were not high. His initial plan was to become a refugee public opinion consultant, and have Councilman Williams open up an office for him in City Hall.

Then, using this as a springboard, he would constantly move up, first as a refugee public opinion consultant for Golden Port City, then as a refugee public opinion consultant for Likalai State.

In the end, he could even become a consultant in the refugee public opinion office of the Presidential Palace, or join the immigration bureau to deal with all matters related to refugees.

He had seen it very clearly during this period of time. The prosperous federal society had attracted the attention of all refugees. There was a high probability that after the war was over, they would not leave the Federation.

Then there would be problems, contradictions, and disputes, and these problems also needed to be solved.

As a “refugee expert,” he was sure he could find his own place in this land.

As long as he could successfully complete the first step, and take it without falling, then the road ahead would be very easy to walk.

What if Councilman Williams didn’t adopt his ideas, didn’t let him become a refugee representative, didn’t let him have his own office in City Hall?

Very simple, create conflict, escalate contradictions, and have a bloody incident!

The federal government was deepening its ties with the military alliance. If at this time the news of the federal government suppressing refugees broke out, there might be variables.

The federal government would definitely adopt relatively conservative measures to deal with these bloody incidents. At that time, as a “meritorious official” who had helped the federal government appease the emotions of the refugee group, it wouldn’t be too much to give him a government office job, right?

It could be said that his idea had a high probability of being realized, because he was the person who created the problem, and at the same time, the “key man” to solve the problem.

The refugees did not completely trust the federal government. If the federal government was reliable, it would not have let so many people starve to death.

So his position would be very prominent.

It was just that… he looked at the people who were dismantling the scene, and couldn’t help but frown.

Before he organized today’s event, he had considered many possibilities: the possibility of Councilman Williams accepting their opinions, the possibility of him rejecting their opinions, or the possibility of him perfunctorily dealing with them.

But the one thing he had not thought of was that that guy had actually run away without even showing his face.

“Dave, what do we do next?”

This Mr. Dave, full of ideals and aspirations, had a throbbing headache. Now the one who was in trouble was not that Councilman Williams, but him.

If there was no result from today’s rally, it would be difficult for him to gather these people together next time, at least not like today, with several thousand people coming over.

People would also be disappointed in him. Their disappointment would turn into no longer supporting him, into a wait-and-see attitude.

But there was no reason to go directly to Councilman Williams’s manor for a rally. That was still private territory. They couldn’t even get close, otherwise the federal police would have the right to expel them.

This kind of expulsion, and even a bloody incident, would not bring any positive impact. It was not what he wanted.

As for going to City Hall… he had already learned that the position on that was just a decoration. For a time, he had a bit of a headache.

How much he wished he had the support of a capitalist behind him.

If he gave these people some roast chicken or something, the problem would be solved.

“I’ll think about it,” he said perfunctorily, his face a little grave. His brain was spinning at high speed, trying to find a point that he could break through.

After a long while, his gaze rested on those reporters, and then he strode towards them.

At the same time, Boni also came to Lance’s office. He still appeared a little restrained, but much better than last time.

“How have you been during this time?” Lance asked him to sit down and also made him a cup of coffee.

Boni had already changed into a new set of clothes and also looked much more energetic. Lance had given him some job opportunities.

For a gang like the Lance Family, liquor might be more valuable.

But for these refugees who had no spending power, the opportunity to work was the most important thing!

Boni took a commission from these people, whether it was food or money, it was fine.

With money, he quickly pulled up a large group of people. It had initially taken on some of the style of a gang, and was also currently the largest in scale among the refugees.

(End of a Chapter)