Chapter 419

Councilman Williams acted as if he didn’t understand the things Lance was trying to express, still wearing a smiling expression.

The wrinkles on his face were already very obvious, making his slightly thin face look even more gaunt.

“What are your thoughts going forward?”

From the current point of view, Councilman Williams was Lance’s most worthy partner, bar none.

Especially since Councilman Williams was going to run for mayor. With the role he played in this crisis, the position of mayor was basically a sure thing. Many ordinary people might not have seen him contribute anything in the media or newspapers during this Golden Port general strike.

But what people can often see are the things on the surface, not touching the real core.

He connected the relationship between Likalai State and Congress and provided an opportunity for different factions within the party to win in the power struggle.

Now that Senator Cleveland’s faction in the party clearly had the advantage in Likalai State, it was a very reasonable result for Councilman Williams, who played a key promoting role, to become Mayor Williams.

He had paid the price and reaped the rewards. No one could question this result.

No matter how many years Councilman Williams planned to serve—four years, or eight, or if he had other ideas—at least in the first four years, Lance could develop rapidly by virtue of their cooperative relationship.

This was a very perfect partner. Since they were partners, then they should be a little more sincere with each other.

Lance had been sorting out his thoughts. He said斟酌ingly, “The Five Families have experienced low points and also glory. They have a huge influence on the underworld of Golden Port, and even Likalai State.”

“They are like a kingdom, a dynasty!”

“Now, they are once again heading towards decline. It’s time to let them become a thing of the past!”

James scratched his sideburns. He shifted his buttocks. Although he could still manage to not let his emotions show on his face…

But these small movements still allowed people to capture his shock at Lance’s statement, and his strong emotional fluctuations.

Councilman Williams nodded slightly. “You have a point. Even a country cannot exist forever, let alone a gang.”

He showed a slight smile as he spoke. “Of course I’m not talking about you guys. I’m just targeting the Five Families.”

“What do you plan to do first?”

Lance actually already had a complete plan. “After Rick’s death, the Cassia family will fall into internal strife.”

James reacted. “His son was just killed by Sarif.”

Lance nodded. “Yes, the Cassia family’s business is not small. Now Rick has not appointed an heir. It’s highly likely they won’t be able to discuss any result.”

“I think there are only two directions for the development of things.”

Councilman Williams liked these topics. Listening to the decline of an old friend’s family, he would be genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart.

Happy that a potential competitor or opponent would be annihilated in the long river of history, and also happy to be able to observe these processes from a bystander’s perspective, and from them find some measures to use in the subsequent development of the Williams family.

He picked up a small piece of pastry and put it in his mouth. Just a small piece. These pastries were too fucking sweet.

They were practically mixing flour into white sugar and honey. Although he had liked these pastries when he was younger—after all, “sweetness” had always been the exclusive preserve of the nobility—after getting older, eating these things again was a bit cloying.

So every time, he only ate a little, a little at a time.

He put the food into his mouth, clapped his hands, and picked up the napkin on the table to wipe his hands. “You can elaborate.”

“The first direction, the Cassia family will fall into internal strife. Their senior cadres will attack each other in order to compete to become the next family head. We just need to watch from the side, and they will die out on their own.”

Councilman Williams and James both nodded. This possibility was very high.

Although the Cassia family had immigrated here for many, many years, in the eyes of an old Federation citizen like Councilman Williams, these people were still no different from wild monkeys.

It was a comical thing in itself to expect savages to make a civilized choice. And the environment on the Yalan side was like this.

The leader dies, and the people below select the next heir through fighting. This process is very cruel and bloody.

“And the other direction?”

Lance continued with a smile, “The people of the Cassia family do not fall into internal strife. They feel the external pressure, and they unite together to discuss a solution.”

“Then we can consider pushing the Tita family to continue their high-intensity firefight through ‘revenge’.”

Lance’s tone became a little heavier. “The Tita family is a very united family. I am actually more inclined towards the second option.”

“After losing Sarif, they will not fall into internal strife either. But for us, this is not in our interests.”

“Only by letting them continue to have a firefight and wear down each other’s last bit of strength is it in our interests.” Councilman Williams nodded repeatedly after listening. “It sounds like you already have some ideas?”

Lance did not deny it. “Spread some rumors, create some new conflicts and contradictions for them, for example… the people of the Cassia family have killed their family members again.”

Councilman Williams and James both knew from these words that this so-called “person from the Cassia family” must be played by Lance.

Councilman Williams’s appreciation for Lance grew. Lance had connected with Senator Cleveland, which meant that they were truly one of their own. He didn’t believe that Lance would abandon the line of a United States Senator. With the ambition Lance was showing now, before he found a more suitable superior, they would definitely be bound together.

So could Lance find a more outstanding superior? Impossible in the short term.

For a local gang to want to open up the situation in Congress, this was as incredible as a man giving birth.

The senators in Congress were not some cheap political resource. Without a certain scale and level, they were simply not qualified to contact them.

Even Senator Cleveland, it was only because of a coincidence. They needed Lance to help write a solution to the strike problem.

Then he handled it very appropriately and even gave a better solution, using refugees and humanitarianism to make an issue of it, which not only solved the problem of whether to provide relief to the refugees but also took care of the strike problem. That was why Senator Cleveland had given him a business card.

Before, Congress had been discussing how to place the large number of refugees pouring into the Federation.

These refugees had little money and no jobs. They had fled in a hurry and could not carry much of value.

If they were directly given humanitarian aid, then the federal government would have to bear an additional expenditure for no reason.

But Lance gave them a reminder. Letting the refugees work legally solved this problem.

There were so many wastelands in the west waiting to be developed. Wouldn’t another westward expansion solve the problem of too many refugees? As for whether they would die from overwork, that had nothing to do with the federal government.

They all thought Lance was a very resourceful person, not that he was very smart.

The senators in Congress would not admit that he was very smart. They also believed that they could have come up with a similar method with just a little time, so they just felt that Lance’s mind was very active, that’s all.

They wouldn’t favor Lance because of this, nor would they contact him and form a relationship of interest transfer with him. So before he showed more excellence, so excellent that the brilliance he exuded could block out the sun…

Lance, he, and the Williams family were all connected.

Councilman Williams nodded slightly. “The Yalan people are like this, savage, not knowing what civilization is. I hope the Tita family can handle it properly.”

This was an affirmation of Lance’s idea. Thinking of this, a lot of smiles also appeared on Councilman Williams’s face. “In this way, of the Five Families, only the Pasoretto family, the Keane family, and the Kodak family are left.”

This was a declarative sentence, but what he wanted to express was “What do you plan to do with these three families?”

Lance pondered for a moment. “Paul helped me once before.”

Councilman Williams nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard. So you plan to leave that young man, what’s his name?”

James leaned forward slightly. “Francisco, Francisco Paul Pasoretto.”

Adding the father’s name to the name was not a particularly strange thing. From a cognitive point of view, this name could be understood as “Francisco is Paul’s son, and they both come from the Pasoretto family.”

Councilman Williams nodded. “Yes, that’s the young man.” He looked at Lance. “Do you plan to leave him and the Pasoretto family?”

Lance did not deny it. “When the other four families have all disappeared, the Pasoretto family will only be the Pasoretto family. It will be under my control.”

“Like a pyramid, the existence of the tip is because there is a sufficient base. It will also become one of the bases.”

Councilman Williams did not continue to dwell on this. He was actually very satisfied with Lance’s actions. He believed that Lance was a person “with human feelings.”

If it were thirty years ago, when he was James’s age, he might have sneered, thinking that Lance was a bit indecisive.

But as people get older, their thinking will change. He now felt that having human feelings was better than not having them.

At least this way, the connection between them was not just because of interests. Any cooperative relationship has an end. If one day there is no interest as a connection between them, will Lance still have human feelings for them?

As people get older, they always have wild thoughts, or rather, think about some bad situations.

This is actually a negative thought that is inevitably produced by human aging. When people are in their prime, they don’t think anything will be difficult, so their thinking will be more radical.

But as the human body ages and they begin to need more help, their thinking will also begin to lean towards conservatism.

Thinking of this, Councilman Williams broke off another small piece of pastry and put it in his mouth.

As long as you don’t eat too much at once, it won’t be cloying. It’s sweet and delicious.

(End of chapter)