Chapter 1095: A Different Way to Play

Just as Sai Lin Na had guessed, Lanse's people were already in action, but the way they were acting was quite different from the past.

If a person possesses vast resources in their hands yet doesn't know how to use them, instead opting for the most primitive methods to get things done, then that person is definitely an idiot.

It's like having a lighter in your hand but thinking it can only be used to light cigarettes, so when you need to start a fire, you go looking for two sticks to rub together—that is the typical idiot.

At this moment, Lanse was sitting in a luxurious room, smoking a cigarette and reading the newspaper in his hand, not at all as impatient or furious as the outside world rumored him to be.

The newspaper reported on the economic development reforms in Lapa, mentioning that the federal government had achieved significant economic growth in Lapa within three months through methods like economic optimization and market liberalization.

A large number of factories had flooded into this region for investment and property development, and almost all ordinary Lapa people now had jobs.

Having a job meant having a stable income, and having a stable income meant that society would become more stable.

These changes didn't need too many grand words to embellish them; one only needed to go over and take a look to see that Lapa was developing at an incredibly high speed.

This left the surrounding countries and the entire Xiang Yalan region in a very strange state.

On one hand, they were very envious of the results the current Lapa government had achieved; they had persuaded the federal people to give them all kinds of aid—economic, industrial, and in every other aspect.

On the other hand, they were somewhat wary of the federal government's political interference in the Lapa region.

Now, the entire new Lapa government had been hollowed out by their own hands, replaced by these government employees from the Federation. If you wanted to say Lapa's sovereignty hadn't been shaken, that there was no problem, then saying it that way actually wasn't a problem either.

These Lapa tribal chiefs were still the core high-level officials of the new government.

But if you wanted to say their power hadn't slipped away at all, that didn't seem to be true either; after all, the ones actually doing the work and holding the power now were not themselves.

This was, in reality, a trade-off—a gaining and a losing.

They had let go of the power they had been clutching tightly in their hands in exchange for the rapid development of Lapa's economy and other aspects; this was actually a very worthwhile deal.

Perhaps people couldn't see it now, but as history progressed, people would eventually discover that this deal was much more worthwhile than imagined!

Lanse had also played a certain role in this; earlier, someone had even tried to butter him up, saying they wanted to make a bronze statue for Lanse, the "Father of Lapa Freedom," but Lanse had stopped them.

He always felt that anyone who made such a suggestion definitely wasn't a good person and was harboring evil intentions; he wasn't necessarily thinking for himself, but there was a high probability they wanted to stab him in the back.

As Lapa's development got better and better, the value of the special zone that Lanse had taken away would also become greater, because it was right in Zhuolan, not far from the port, and one could even say a small part of it connected exactly to the port.

He could completely establish a "tax-free zone" in the true sense, which could attract a large amount of capital to flood in, though he hadn't done so yet.

He had to synchronize with the federal government and Senator Wei De's side.

The senator had already leaked some news to him: the federal government might revoke the authorization for this concession, and Lanse could ask the federal government for some things.

However, he would try his best to help Lanse fight to keep this concession.

His gaze lingered on the faces of the Lapa people facing the camera, all full of smiles—dust, mud, but eyes bright and clear, seemingly reflecting not the sky, but their longing for a beautiful future.

Without a doubt, this report and this photo had a chance to contend for this year's Golden Newspaper Award, if this reporter could manage it.

When he turned the page of the newspaper, the room's door made the sound of someone turning the handle. He put down the newspaper, then stood up and walked out from behind the sofa's coffee table.

The door opened, and Tang Mu pushed the door and entered. He had a smile on his face, then moved aside a bit to let another person from outside the door walk in.

The guy behind him looked to be over forty, already visibly balding, but he had a large circle of a beard; it seemed his body hair wasn't satisfied with his mother's arrangement and had gone off to find a new place for itself.

This was a guy who looked very crude; people inevitably had some stereotypical impressions of men with big beards.

"Chief Chali," Tang Mu introduced him to Lanse, "Chali Monde, Chief of the Old City Police Department."

"Old City" was another relatively large city in Jinzhou, ranking only after New Jincheng, Aolisi, and one other city in terms of scale in all of Jinzhou.

This city and "New Jincheng" seemed to have some connection based on their names, and of course, that was indeed the case; before New Jincheng developed, Old City had served a relatively important role.

It was a bit further north of New Jincheng; the industry in the north was very developed, and previously, Old City had also been an important port.

But because it was too cold here, and following the end of the slave liberation movement, as well as the more comprehensive development of the southern region, many things in Old City began to migrate and shift to New Jincheng.

Some said New Jincheng was built on the "corpse" of Old City, but in fact, this statement wasn't entirely accurate, because Old City's current development wasn't bad either.

Relying on its decent industrial port, it could also be considered part of the transportation hub for the entire waist region of the continent, and there were quite a few ships coming and going.

Busy trade and transportation brought more opportunities; except for the lack of a financial industry here, it was almost another New Jincheng.

Putting it in any other state, it would definitely be one of the top cities.

It was just a pity that it had too many competitors here; it wasn't just that it couldn't beat these competitors—even if you swapped in other cities, they wouldn't be able to beat a super city like New Jincheng either.

The Peileisi family's base of operations was in Old City.

"This is the Mr. Lanse who I mentioned to you before; you should have heard his name."

Chali appeared very enthusiastic; he walked over with a face full of smiles and took the initiative to grasp Lanse's hand. "Of course, I have always heard some news about Mr. Lanse, and I have seen your glorious image in the newspapers quite a few times. I have always wanted to make friends with a big shot like you, but I just haven't had the opportunity."

"This time, thanks to Mr. Tang Mu's introduction, I finally have the honor to get to know you!"

Chali's attitude was very humble. Lanse glanced at Tang Mu; Tang Mu's mouth curled up slightly. He didn't say anything, but it seemed he had said everything.

"No need to be so polite, Chief Monde. You should have also heard that I like making friends, right?"

Chief Chali Monde nodded repeatedly. "Yes, everyone praises you as someone who loves making friends."

"Then it seems we also have the opportunity to become friends."

If this big-bearded chief still couldn't understand Lanse's words, then he could completely leave this room. "I look forward to becoming your friend, Mr. Lanse!"

Lanse let go of his hand. "Now you are already my friend. My friends all call me Lanse, so I can also call you Chali, right?"

"Of course!" The big-bearded chief acted very enthusiastically. Lanse signaled for him to sit down, and Tang Mu began to take on the work of a waiter.

He brought over some coffee, and of course, some alcohol; how they chose was entirely their own business.

"Inviting you over this time is because there are some things, or rather, some work, that I want to cooperate with you on."

The big-bearded chief picked up the coffee; he didn't choose the alcohol, as he was a relatively cautious person. "For anything, I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Lanse."

Lanse smiled and waved his hand. "Friends are equal; there's no need to use honorifics, Chali."

"I am not a person good with words, so I will be blunt: I want to deal with the Peileisi family, and you are the person who understands them best. I need your cooperation."

The big-bearded chief had thought of many possibilities, and he had also considered that the reason Lanse called him over might be because of the Peileisi family, but he hadn't thought the other party would be so direct.

He asked somewhat uncertainly, "Mr. Lanse, do you trust me that much?"

This was also what puzzled him; in many versions, he, this police chief, had long ago become a lackey for the Peileisi family, helping them clean up their messes.

Some of these rumors were spread by his enemies, such as those competitors or political rivals he had dealt with.

And some might have been spread by the Peileisi family themselves, just to show off their authority in Old City.

The big-bearded chief did indeed receive an extra income from the Peileisi family every year, but it wasn't as much as people imagined—ten thousand dollars.

For ordinary people, this was an astonishing fortune, but for a city police chief, this was actually no different from an insult.

Like the previous chief of Jincheng, Lisi, who could receive tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand in income from the entire city's black money system every year.

This money mainly came from underground world transactions and from extorting legitimate business operators under various pretexts.

Old City was a very large city, and gang transactions were rampant; if they collected fees according to the method Lisi and the others used, perhaps the big-bearded chief's annual income would also be a hundred thousand or more.

But the Peileisi family only gave him ten thousand dollars, and didn't allow him to interfere in gang transactions or the like, and they often ordered him around.

He was indeed the Peileisi family's dog, but not a lackey—just a watchdog tied with a rope, not even counting as a lackey.

How could he be content with this as a police chief? It was just that the Peileisi family's power was too great; whether in the light or in the shadows, it was all their home field.

On their home field, besides bowing their heads to them, any other rash move would bring terrible consequences.

The big-bearded chief couldn't quite figure out how Lanse thought he could cooperate with him; this was where his curiosity lay.

If he couldn't figure this out, it would be hard for him to truly reach a cooperation with Lanse.

Lanse shook his head slightly; he stood up and walked to another low table nearby.

When the big-bearded chief came in, he had seen that low table because it seemed to have some things piled on it, but these things were covered by a silk cloth.

At this moment, Lanse walked over and pulled the silk cloth hard; the big-bearded chief suddenly gasped.

On the table were twenty-dollar bills, stack by stack, piled up quite high; it looked like there should be a lot of money here.

He had never seen so much money together before, and even his breathing slowed down.

Tang Mu, sitting to the side, took a look and couldn't help but reveal a smile. He understood Lanse too well, and he felt surprised by some of Lanse's methods and his line of thinking.

Persuading someone who doesn't actually trust you to believe that your trust in them is reliable is actually very difficult.

It's like finding a random person on the road and asking them to trust you, to trust you enough to put their life in your hands; one could say this is an almost impossible task.

So Lanse used another simplest method: "I believe I can use this much money to exchange for your honesty and loyalty to me."

"There is five hundred thousand here. I heard they only give you ten thousand a year?"

Lanse sat back down by the sofa; he picked up the wine bottle and poured some alcohol into two glass cups. "Your value far exceeds what they give you."

"Chali, I don't know what you are thinking, but from my perspective—your friend's perspective—they are not only insulting you, but even more so, they are using you as a banner of humiliation to show everyone."

"Cooperate with me, and besides the wealth changes I can bring you, I will heavily strike at the Peileisi family's industries and power. I will drag them down from their position as one of the Federation's five great families and smash them heavily onto the ground."

"All the unfair treatment and humiliation you have suffered over these years—you can take heavy revenge for all of it!"

"Use these shoes of yours to step heavily on Fran's old face and make him say to you, 'I'm sorry, Chief Monde.'"

Hearing these seductive words from Lanse, the big-bearded chief's emotions began to change, and his breathing also became rapid, thick, and heavy.

Before his eyes, it seemed this day had truly arrived; he stood at the entrance of the police station, spat a mouthful of saliva onto Fran's face, and then told him to get out of his police station!

Thinking of the grievances he had suffered over the years and the opportunity to take revenge, a trace of cruelty flashed in the big-bearded chief's eyes.

He looked at the money again, and finally, when he looked at Lanse, his eyes became gentle again. "No problem, I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Lanse."

He reached out and picked up the other cup with some alcohol, clinked it against the cup in Lanse's hand, and then drank it in one gulp.

For countless nights, he had calculated the heart-piercing pain before falling asleep, and also because he fantasized about one day being able to stand up, filled with a kind of masturbatory pleasure.

Now, the dream had shone into reality, and an opportunity had appeared.

If it succeeded, then he would naturally turn things around and become a real chief.

If it failed, that was also Lanse's own problem, and it had nothing to do with him; he could still continue to play the role he was playing now.

Lanse nodded very satisfactorily. "Very good, you will soon see that we are different from them."

"Then, let us first talk about some of the core members of the Peileisi family and their industries."

In reality, Lanse had already investigated some of the information on the core members of the Peileisi family, but it wasn't necessarily accurate, complete, or exhaustive; this still needed the big-bearded chief to help perfect it.

On the other hand, he intended to directly give this group a heavy blow, making them realize that from the very beginning, they had provoked a big trouble for themselves.

Perhaps others would fear them, fear the name Peileisi family and everything it brought.

But Lanse and the Lanse family wouldn't; all they saw was conquest!

This long talk was surprising and satisfying for both Lanse and the big-bearded chief.

Lanse got what he wanted, and the chief, who should have played an important role in the city, would also harvest the real power that belonged to him.

He would no longer be a watchdog; he would become a vicious dog, or even a hungry wolf! To tear at everyone who had once looked down on him and humiliated him.

After the talk ended, Lanse had someone send the big-bearded chief back, and only he and Tang Mu remained in the room.

Neither of them spoke; they were both drinking. After taking two sips, Tang Mu asked, "Can we win?"

Lanse looked up at him, eating the small snacks used to accompany the alcohol, and said with a smile, "That big beard has confidence in me; do you not have confidence in me?"

Tang Mu revealed some smiles. "I have it, but this time your opponent is obviously different from those in the past. They also have people in the Congress, and recently..."

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to speak up, because his own vital interests were bound together with Lanse's.

The better Lanse developed, the higher his status would be with Senator Wei De; even just the point of Lanse's annual inflow of hundreds of millions in funds was enough to keep his status solid in Senator Wei De's staff group.

It was also because his current status was different that he could be so successful in federal politics, with so many people willing to become friends with him and show him their good, thornless side.

All of this was because of Lanse, not because of his own ability or anything else.

If Lanse fell, he would also lose all of this, overnight.

"The senator's side is inquiring about who exactly wants to shake us; there are already a few candidates."

"There are people from the Ziyou Party, people from within the Shehui Party, and possibly two or three presidential candidates."

"They are a group, and we are not sure what role the Peileisi family plays in this, so I am a bit worried."

Hearing him say this, Lanse shifted his butt and sat over, patting him on the shoulder. "You should believe in me; I am more skilled at dealing with these people than you are."

"You and the senator just wait for good news; it absolutely won't affect those performances for the year-end election."

Half a year was enough for Lanse to handle this Peileisi family. ===== CHAPTER 1096 =====