Chapter 464

“I hear there was a car accident in the city?”

The Mayor sat at his desk, looking at the documents in his hand as he had before. The primary control of this city had once again returned from the Mayor’s office to the hands of the “city’s masters.”

A failed battle, but he had come within a millimeter of victory.

He was actually more accepting of this failure than people might imagine.

He had single-handedly fought against an entire city’s interest group and had come close to succeeding. Even in final defeat, the losses of the city’s masters were actually far greater than his. Those favors, those behind-the-scenes compromises and deals—those were all enormous losses. To win a war, you must invest more of everything than your opponent. After the gambit failed, everything returned to how it was before. Besides his future political career being more or less cut short, there wasn’t much that was too hard to accept.

He still had a “dignified” outcome, and that was already the most dignified it could be.

The secretary, standing to the side, nodded and said, “Yes, the legal specialist from the Liji Group and their team were hit. Only two survived.”

The Mayor put down his pen, took off his glasses, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Whose hand was it this time?”

He knew the filth of this city too damn well. They had used this trick on the investors he had invited before, scaring them into leaving Golden Port overnight.

The secretary picked up the coffee pot and walked over, pouring him some. “It seems to be Lance’s work.”

“He wants to extort a $4,000,000 breach of contract penalty from the Liji Group.”

A look of realization appeared on the Mayor’s face. “So it’s him?”

“The first time I saw this guy, I knew he would become a big problem for us, and the facts have indeed proven it.”

“But just as I told you, he won’t just be a problem for us, but for others as well.”

As he spoke, he was also somewhat amazed. “His appetite is really not small.”

The secretary smiled and nodded in agreement. “There’s actually another matter to this. He did a deal with the Liji Group before, right when Prohibition started, and bought over a million worth of grapes at an extremely low price.”

“By the time delivery was due, the price of grapes had multiplied several times. The Liji Group’s side directly tore up the trade contract they had signed with him.”

“Then, through a transfer of creditor’s rights, he transferred the debt to the bank.”

“Although he got a sum of money, it was over a million less than what he could have actually obtained.”

The Mayor let out a long sigh after hearing this. “How greedy.”

“Actually, for the Liji Group, they had already made money, but they weren’t satisfied and wanted to earn more. But this time, they chose the wrong person.”

The Mayor had climbed up from the bottom. He had spent half his life making the magnificent turn from a grassroots politician with no foundation to a mayor, so he knew the inner workings of these things better than those who were born with a prominent background.

When the Liji Group signed the contract with the farmers, it was also when the price had not yet risen. In other words, they would make money no matter what.

But it was precisely because they were not satisfied with earning less that a series of situations were triggered.

He took a sip of his coffee. “This time, they’re going to hit a steel plate.”

It was a pity he couldn’t participate in such an interesting event.

As the two were enjoying a moment of leisure from their busy schedules, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

He looked at the ringing phone for a moment before picking it up. “This is the Mayor’s office.”

“Your Excellency the Mayor, Mr. Lance is outside. He says he wants to have a chat with you.”

“But he doesn’t have an appointment…”

“Let him in.” The Mayor’s expression was a little strange. He hung up the phone and looked at his secretary. “Lance is here.”

“Lance?”

A trace of bewilderment flashed in the secretary’s eyes. He began to clear the coffee and pastries from the table.

No matter what he was here for, ensuring the office was tidy was not a problem.

A few minutes later, the office door was pushed open by the secretary on duty. Lance said a “thank you” and walked in from outside.

“Sorry, my injury hasn’t fully healed, so…” The Mayor sat there without moving, a blanket covering his legs.

A gunshot wound is not so easy to heal, especially one that has passed through his body.

You couldn’t say this shot wasn’t worth it, because it had almost brought him victory.

It was just that looking at it from the perspective of a loser now, it was indeed a bit… not worth it.

Lance immediately expressed his understanding. “Of course, you don’t need to stand up.”

He took the initiative to walk to the desk and briefly shake hands with the Mayor, then sat down opposite the Mayor’s desk.

“So… what did you come over to talk to me about this time?”

The Mayor smiled and glanced at his secretary. “I was just talking about you with him.”

Lance said with a laugh, “I hope it was something good, and not something bad.”

The Mayor laughed heartily. “We were talking about the car accident.”

Lance was not surprised at all and said without any reservation, “I am teaching them a lesson. This is Golden Port, the Golden Port of the people of Golden Port.”

The Mayor’s smile faded a lot. He hated that sentence.

The sentence made his wound hurt again. He said sarcastically, “If I’m not mistaken, you are not a local.”

Lance didn’t deny it either. “But no one can say I’m not a local.”

“I have a Golden Port birth certificate and identity card, and I will be marrying a girl from the Lawrence family. You know, they still have a lot of status in the hearts of some people, although they haven’t had any outstanding representatives in these years.”

As a former large landowning class, large slave owners, large ranchers, large plantation owners…

The Lawrence Farm, with a series of titles, was, in the eyes of the old Golden Port residents, an existence on par with the Wade family and the Williams family.

However, they did not have any particularly representative figures in politics. That was all.

But in agriculture, and in terms of influence, they performed very well. The farmers around the Lawrence Farm would give their agricultural products to the Lawrence family to sell on their behalf. This would allow them to earn more money than if they gave their agricultural products to the channel distributors.

So Lance’s words did indeed hit the nail on the head. With this double “affirmation,” he was now a thorough Golden Port resident. No one, no matter who, could change this perception.

As for whether he was an Empire immigrant, did that still matter?

The Mayor was a little emotional, because Lance was as “sharp” as ever.

“Then what is this Golden Port resident doing here, looking for a failed outsider like me?” He motioned for his secretary to prepare a cup of coffee for Lance.

Lance said, “To talk about cooperation,” as the coffee was brought to him. He took a sip. “Tastes good.”

The Mayor was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly reacted. He looked at Lance, his mind also making its own calculations.

“It seems you’ve run into some trouble,” he said.

Lance put down his coffee and shook his head. “Not really trouble, just some people I don’t like.”

A few more smiles appeared on the Mayor’s face. “I don’t like these people either. On this point, we can reach an agreement.”

He motioned for the secretary to open the cigarette box and then made an inviting gesture. “Want one?”

Lance took one and lit it. The Mayor asked, “What do you want?”

He glanced at the azure sky outside the window. “The position of police chief.”

The Mayor frowned slightly. “Do you have a conflict with Hunter?”

Lance did not answer directly. “You could say that.”

Their relationship was not particularly good to begin with. Now that Hunter had helped others set a trap for him, no matter what his relationship with these people was or why he had done it, it couldn’t change the fact that he had done it.

Since the person in such an important position as police chief couldn’t even maintain the most basic “neutrality,” let alone stand on his side, then it was time for a change.

The city police chief had administrative duties. This position was, to a certain extent, indeed very important.

At the same time, it was also a position that had always been controlled by Charlie. Whether it was himself or Hunter, it was all from the same line.

The Mayor became interested, and the smile on his face became warmer. “It’s not an easy thing to get this position, Lance.” “I’m not underestimating your ability. I underestimated you before and paid the price for it.”

“Behind Hunter and Charlie is the entire Bay Area supporting them.”

“It’s very difficult for you to arrange for your own person to take this position.”

“And you see, I am a loser now. It’s very difficult for me to provide you with help in this matter, for example, helping you get Hunter down.”

“It depends on your own ability.”

“However, if you can get Hunter down, then on the matter of appointing a new police chief, I can help you.”

The Mayor had lost most of his power. Although he was still the mayor, if he wanted to remove Hunter, someone would soon come to trouble him.

But he didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so this matter had to be handled by Lance himself.

Undoubtedly, this would put Lance in a direct confrontation with the Bay Area.

This was also what the Mayor wanted to see. He wanted to see such a situation. Only in this way could he vent his anger. He had lost, so what? Everyone else can go to hell.

Lance nodded. “If you can agree, then I will find a way to get Hunter down.”

“Finally, I also have a question. What do I have to pay?”

The Mayor considered for a moment. His expression became somewhat strange, as if he were reminiscing, or as if he were wistful and regretful. In the end, it turned into resignation.

“Many people who supported me placed heavy bets on the New Port District. If you can, I hope you can take care of them a little.”

Lance’s gaze shifted to the Mayor’s face. The Mayor looked at him frankly, with no hidden or flickering gaze. After the two looked at each other for a moment, Lance nodded slightly and stood up.

“Alright, then it’s a deal. I have some other things to do, so I won’t stay long.”

He drank his coffee in one gulp and, without shaking hands with the Mayor again, left directly.

“See Mr. Lance out.”

The Mayor gave an order. The secretary took two small steps, pulled open the door for Lance, and followed him out of the office.

Neither of them spoke along the way. Just as they were about to leave the city hall building, the secretary finally asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Lance did not answer him, just shook his head, and left by car.

After seeing Lance off, the secretary returned to the office. He was a little curious. “Why did you say that?”

The Mayor looked at the cloudless sky outside the window, as blue as a flawless sapphire. “Because of Williams.”

“You know, when Williams stands with them, they are one.”

“But Williams has already decided to run for mayor, and there’s a high probability he will win and become the new ruler of this city.”

“You tell me, at that time, will this city listen to Williams, or to the Bay Area?”

This was a question. The secretary thought for a moment and then said, “Of course, they will listen to… Williams.”

“You don’t have to worry about my feelings!” the Mayor said, and then nodded. But after a while, he began to shake his head again. “Yes, but not entirely.”

“When they are together, they are friends. When they are apart, they are enemies. No one is willing to give up the power in their hands, so there will be competition and struggle between them.”

“Lance is obviously on Williams’s side, so they will sooner or later have a direct confrontation.”

“To have the guys in the Bay Area, who are already used to carrying power in their pockets as a personal item, hand over their scepter of power, they will not agree.”

“Helping Lance is equivalent to accelerating the friction and struggle between them.”

“Anyway, I’m already like this. What else is there to worry about?”

He even hummed a couple of songs, for no apparent reason, as if he were in a very good mood at this moment.

“Williams is a smart man. Once he has a conflict with the people in the Bay Area, he will realize that the best way to get rid of the Bay Area’s control over his power is not to rely entirely on the Golden Port docks.”

“Besides the Golden Port docks in this city, what other docks can he quickly get his hands on and use to play a game with the Golden Port docks?”

This was equivalent to giving the standard answer. The secretary also gave the answer the Mayor wanted. “The New Port docks.”

The Mayor smiled and nodded, very satisfied with this answer. “Yes, the New Port docks. We all know that someone will eventually activate it, but none of us thought that it would be restarted in this way.”

Restarted by way of the Golden Port interest group splitting and starting to confront each other.

Lance was now on Williams’s side, so it was very natural that the future of the New Port District was also Lance’s territory. For him to take care of the investors in the New Port District, wasn’t this the most normal thing? With this “deal,” although the Mayor had already failed, he could still maintain some political and capital resources. After hearing this, the secretary’s admiration for the Mayor grew even more. Although he had lost, he was really only a millimeter away from victory.

Lance, who had come out of the city hall, was still recalling the conversation he had just had with the Mayor. The process was actually not long, and the content was not much, but the information revealed was very rich.

This was a good way to solve the trouble of Charlie and Hunter, but before that, there needed to be a way to get Hunter down from the position of chief.

The reason it was to get Hunter down, not to kill him, was to avoid a full-scale intensification of the conflict between Councilman Williams and the people in the Bay Area before he won the election.

Although doing so would also be a little unpleasant, it certainly wouldn’t be too bad.

Kicking the master’s dog, and killing the master’s dog, are absolutely two different things. One is that you don’t respect the master, and the other is that you despise the master. That’s a huge difference.

Although the Mayor had lost, he was still a wise man.

Lance had the driver go directly to the Williams estate. He had to talk to Williams about changing the police chief.

The vehicle turned directly from the city center and headed for another district.

William, who had just come out of his office, frowned slightly at the back of the convoy in the distance. “That looks like Lance’s convoy.”

He said to his assistant, “What could he be doing in the city center?”

As he spoke, he shook his head himself and then got into the car. He didn’t expect Lance to go and find the mayor. Perhaps no one except Lance himself could have thought of this.

You have to know, they were “mortal enemies” before. The mayor had sent two groups of people to deal with Lance. If it weren’t for Lance’s formidable strength, he might have really been beaten down.

William skipped over these messy thoughts. He was going to talk to a few pre-selected landowners in the Empire District about the purchase.

He wanted to buy a piece of land to build a high school. This was what he had promised, and he certainly needed to fulfill this first.

It’s actually very easy to become a politician that people trust. As long as you keep your word.

But this is also the most difficult, because most of the things politicians promise cannot be fulfilled, especially what is promised to their basic voters.

He didn’t want to become a “lying politician.” He was still thinking about what Lance had told him before, that he might be “Mayor William” in the future.

And Emily was also pregnant. What if it was a boy? He had to continue to work hard in this direction.

Not long after the car had started, the driver vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

“Mr. William, someone is following us.”

William subconsciously turned his head to look behind him. The driver hadn’t even had time to remind him.

The car behind suddenly started to accelerate. They had noticed William turning back and also realized that they had been discovered. This made William unable to help but feel a little frightened and angry. “What the fuck do these people want to do?”

But the driver didn’t know. He could only tell him to “sit tight” and then began to control the car.

However, fortunately, he was not alone. Besides his assistant in the car, there was also a bodyguard.

The bodyguard directly drew his weapon and shot at the car that was intending to ram them. For a time, gunshots rang out, and the whole street was filled with screaming people.

The cars on the road also all took the initiative to stop on the side of the road. The Federation people knew this too well. No one would be a spectator during a gunfight, because every year the newspapers would report that someone had been hit by a stray bullet while watching a gang firefight.

Or even been mistaken for someone and shot. So the first moment the gunshots rang out, the whole street was filled with people looking for cover.

(End of chapter)