Empire of Shadows

For the lower class, cheap, low-quality whiskey costing less than a dollar, ideally under fifty cents, is what they need most.

But from James's perspective, and considering the important figures he was about to associate with, discussing such low-priced alcohol was meaningless.

Only high-priced alcohol mattered.

Arthur nodded, somewhat proudly, and said, "My first batch was all mid-to-high-end liquor, Gold Label and Derain."

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James glanced at Councilor Williams, who had closed his eyes. In James's mind, the label of Arthur as a dim-witted brother was permanently affixed.

Arthur didn't even know what to stock in the first batch or the second. This time, he made money purely by chance.

If it weren't for his good father, who promptly informed him that Goldport City was banning alcohol, he wouldn't have earned a single penny from alcoholic beverages!

But… well, he also carried the Williams name.

"Tell me the specifics about your stock and how much you plan to sell it for. You don't have to worry about the rest; just wait to collect the money."

"Also, with such a large sum of money, you need to consult about legally avoiding taxes, or the taxes alone will bleed you dry."

Arthur explained the situation with the alcohol and suddenly thought of something, "There's a small problem."

He scratched his cheek, "I mortgaged those high-end liquors to Chobaf…"

James frowned, "Are you planning to get your alcohol back through other means?" Before William could say anything, he shook his head, "Recently, Chobaf invested in a municipal project promoted by the mayor. He's the mayor's man, so don't use any of your petty tricks on him in the future."

"Follow the agreement you signed."

William was somewhat surprised, "How much money did he invest in the mayor's project?"

"Three hundred and fifty thousand, plus ten thousand in political donations," fearing William wouldn't understand, "No less than twenty-five thousand each quarter."

Four hundred and fifty thousand.

Arthur was silent, "I understand."

After Arthur provided all the documents, James left. To him, time was precious.

After Lance returned, he had everyone from the warehouse come back. When they were called back from guarding the warehouse under Ethan's leadership, they realized the alcohol had been sold.

Lance didn't hide this, "Four hundred and sixty-five thousand. I will deposit two hundred and thirty thousand into the company account. If you have time, look around for suitable and safe houses nearby."

"Ideally, townhouses with yards, so we can renovate and connect a few houses together."

He glanced at Enio, "You go run errands; have Morris drive you."

Enio readily agreed. His arm still needed time to heal. Although he no longer needed a splint, he still couldn't bear weight or impact.

He definitely couldn't do heavy work, so he could only run errands.

Lance gave them twenty dollars for errands, gas, food, etc. Not having employees use their own money to subsidize company expenses was a bottom line.

Lance was away from the company all afternoon, going to places with factories to get a sense of the market.

The next morning, Lance went to the City Commercial Service Bureau to see Patricia and register another company.

"So, what are you doing this time?" Patricia handed Lance a form. Her colleagues around her smiled, but some were also sad.

Lance filled out the form while answering, "I plan to register a clothing company to produce clothes."

Patricia was curious, "What exactly do you do? Why is the scope of each business so different?"

"One moment it's a consulting company, then a labor agency, and now a clothing manufacturer?"

Lance shrugged, "I need at least tens of thousands of pieces of clothing. Even if they only make ten cents profit on each piece, that's still several thousand dollars."

"And I'll be producing more clothes in the future, so I might as well open my own factory."

"Besides, it doesn't cost much money."

Goldport City Hall encouraged the establishment of businesses and factories because it could provide more job opportunities for the residents of Goldport City and the state.

Job opportunities were related to social security, stability, and public support for politicians, so they valued this greatly.

Capitalists could force the federal government because they had money, connections, and leverage over government officials. Most importantly, they controlled residents' jobs and income.

This was the most terrifying weapon. They didn't even need to stand against the government themselves. They could simply tell the workers that a factory had to shut down or a company had to temporarily close due to a certain policy, and those angry and afraid-of-change workers could tear the government apart!

Regardless of whether it was needed, having more jobs in hand only had advantages, not disadvantages.

Land outside Goldport City wasn't valuable; it could be obtained at a very low price. The only rigid requirement was to provide jobs to society based on square footage.

If that could be done, the land was practically free.

But if it couldn't be done, various fees had to be paid, as stated in the contract.

Patricia shook her head after listening, "It's hard to imagine why you would want so many clothes, but… oh well!"

"Are you free this weekend?"

Lance handed her the completed form, "Not sure, but I'll try to make myself available. I'll give you an answer on Saturday afternoon."

Patricia processed his form while whispering, "It's my cousin's birthday on Sunday. William has to go to the state government, and my mom and others have planned a picnic, so I don't want to go alone."

"I'll try!"

He then asked, "If I want to acquire land in the surrounding area, can William handle that?"

Patricia shook her head, "I'm not sure; I'm not interested in his work."

After Lance left, some of Patricia's colleagues couldn't help but ask her about Lance. She was previously a little embarrassed to admit it, but now she openly acknowledged it.

Meanwhile, he went directly to City Hall and found William in the Public Works Office.

Looking at the other four people and their desks in the office, Lance ultimately decided to talk to him privately outside.

Fortunately, City Hall didn't have strict requirements for civil servants to be at their posts during working hours. The two sat down at a coffee shop near City Hall.

"I want to acquire a piece of industrial land to open my own factory," Lance got straight to the point. "Who should I contact for this?"

"The Land Management Bureau, but there are also people in City Hall who can handle this. You plan to open your own factory?"

"A clothing factory." He briefly explained the reasons and his ideas. "So, they'll make the money of an entire factory from me. Why don't I just open my own clothing factory?"

"Even if I don't have my own needs, I can still take orders from others. It just can't become an economic burden to me."

William couldn't help but marvel at Lance's ideas after listening. "Very mature and impressive thinking. You're doing the right thing, and providing job opportunities will get you more policy support."

"Even if you're slightly in violation of regulations in other matters."

He had investigated more clearly what Lance was doing. After all, they were in the "recognition" stage, so naturally he needed to know more about what Lance was doing.

Exploiting legal loopholes for usury. Small amounts weren't illegal, and neither were large amounts.

Labor agencies. Currently, no federal law stipulated that work permits couldn't be rented or transferred. It only stipulated that people without work permits or permanent residency weren't allowed to work within the Federation.

He didn't do illegal business, but it wasn't legal either.

At this time, if he could provide some job opportunities to society, it would be easier to resolve any problems that arose.

This was the Federation's way of thinking.

After discussing Lance's own affairs, Lance became curious about William's current situation. "It seems like you're not having a very pleasant time at City Hall. Everyone else has individual offices, but there are several people on your side."

"Have you considered changing environments?"

William didn't have any negative emotions about this. "Because I'm a Federalist."

"Here, they don't care about my ability, only my political stance."

"Actually, it's the same everywhere."

"In the Federalists' territories, people from the Liberal and Socialist parties wouldn't have a good time either, just like me."

"And even if I went to those Federalist territories, my actual situation wouldn't change much. I lack backing; no one supports me. I wouldn't be better off than I am now; in fact, it's possible I'd be worse off, because in their eyes, I'd become a threat that could compete with them."

"But here, no one thinks I'm a threat, so it doesn't matter to me."

Lying flat.

Lying flat as a matter of course. As a City Hall civil servant, enjoying the best treatment and benefits, this kind of lying flat was what many people wanted.

"Have you considered moving up a step?"

William glanced at Lance, "We'll discuss this issue when you can stand in that position."

"It's too early to talk about it now."

Lance didn't mind his rejection. "I just wanted to inquire how much it would cost to push someone… like you, upward."

William frowned, "It seems you've indeed made a lot of money." He thought for a moment, "Tens of thousands, but it's meaningless."

"Even if I were in charge of an office, I would still only be able to do what the mayor tells me to do every day, instead of doing what I want to do."

Lance then asked, "What about a city councilor?"

William was a little surprised. "Do you have so much money you can't spend it all?"

But he still answered, "This is a long-term investment. Gold Harbor City has ten electoral districts. We first need to gain a lot of support and votes in one of them."

"After I'm elected as a councilor, it will cost about fifteen thousand dollars a year to maintain the basic expenses of me and my team. That's if you don't do anything."

"If we want to do something, we have to hold various political events and invite some people to cheer us on. Do you know why many city councilors stay in office for so many years?"

"Because the investment to get a new councilor into office is too large, but the returns are not necessarily very high!"

He finished the last bit of coffee in his cup in one gulp. "If you want a valuable councilor, you have to prepare more than sixty thousand dollars a year, every year."