Chapter 1189: Pushing the Waves

"How many days are you staying here this time?" Aierwen placed the ashtray in front of Lanse, and at the same time took out a lighter to light the cigarette in Lanse's mouth.

Aierwen knew the purpose of Lanse coming here, but didn't know the more detailed things, nor did he know how long Lanse was going to stay here.

Lanse leaned toward his lighter to light his own cigarette, then patted Aierwen's hand, "One or two weeks. I won't leave until this problem is solved."

"Strive to solve this matter within the maximum delay range of the State Assembly, otherwise there will be more trouble later."

If the Social Party loses its "veto power" in the Senate, the comprehensive defeat in the Senate will also drive the comprehensive defeat in the House of Representatives.

Once Senator Cleveland loses the power in his hands, Lanse's good days will soon come to an end.

Politics has never been gentle, because the resources in this world are limited. In the past, they could look at the fact that Senator Cleveland controlled power in his hands and not do anything to Lanse.

Once Senator Cleveland loses power, and he himself isn't strong enough, then trouble will follow one after another.

This is also the reason Lanse wanted to solve the problem from the root at the beginning—Governor Wei De is shaking the foundation of his current rapid growth. Once this opportunity is missed, it will be very difficult to find such an opportunity again in the future.

This list hasn't been officially announced to the public yet, and the State Assembly hasn't passed the review. Currently, it counts as a stage of being under review but not necessarily passing.

The Federal Congress can be like a sieve and can't hide news, let alone the state-level assembly; news can't be hidden here either.

The list was exposed on the first day. What's very different from before is that this time, among the candidates nominated by the governor, there are several well-known figures from the Liberal Party.

In the past, the state government would also nominate Liberal Party members, but they nominated those that people didn't hear much about, or simply didn't nominate Liberal Party candidates, which could ensure to the maximum extent that the Social Party congressional candidates were firmly controlled in their own hands.

This time, the addition of several Liberal Party congressional candidates with a certain degree of popularity made those local voters who pay attention to politics feel surprised.

Now there has been some discussion in society; they believe Governor Wei De might have changed camps and intends to jump from the Social Party camp to the Liberal Party side.

Although no further news has come out, it can be seen that people have already started to pay attention to this matter, even Aierwen, who has nothing to do with local elections, has started to pay attention.

Even Aierwen, under Lanse's influence, is also paying attention to this list, as well as some changes within the State Assembly.

Aierwen put away the lighter and asked tentatively, "The person we arranged to send money didn't send the money out. He was very careful and cautious. I think it's very difficult to want to manufacture some evidence."

After those few people who sent money returned, he called Lanse, but unfortunately Lanse didn't receive the call; at that time he had already boarded the train.

Lanse didn't feel any surprise at this result, "Just after these things happened, there appeared the behavior of someone sending money, which obviously has problems. As long as he has a little bit of normal political sensitivity, he knows what he can do and what he cannot do."

"And I didn't consider just finding a few people, giving him a little money, and being able to grab the evidence to drag him down. If it really could be done, then he couldn't be in that position now."

Lanse didn't deny it, "He owes us, and this is just an opportunity."

Aierwen asked, "How do you plan to deal with him?"

"He looks very careful and cautious now. I arranged for people to watch him. He almost doesn't go to other places besides his office, and doesn't really receive those who want to visit him."

"And now many local enterprises have been acquired by him and his people. They control a large number of job positions, and local people, a large number of voters, will highly likely only stand on their side."

"And an interest group with the Wei De family and several large capital groups as the core is also expanding. Wanting to drag him down from that position isn't an easy thing."

Lanse took a puff of his cigarette, "I've also considered it. After all, he is the governor. Without some evidence that can nail him to the coffin, we can't do anything to him, and there isn't much time left."

"So my idea is, since we can't change some current status quo, and can't find some problems from him himself to drag him down."

"Then find a way to have another person replace him."

After Aierwen finished listening, he thought for a while and shook his head, "I don't quite understand."

Lanse looked at him with a smile, "In the federal constitution and law, if the president has an accident, then the vice president will become the new president at the first opportunity."

"The governor actually also has such a choice. The local laws of Denuo State stipulate that if the governor has an accident and cannot continue to work, then the lieutenant governor will become the first successor and become the governor of this state."

Hearing Lanse say this, Aierwen already understood what he was going to do, which made Aierwen a bit worried, "If a governor dies and it involves us, will it trigger some problems?"

"After all, that is a governor!"

A governor is like a small king. For a governor to die is absolutely a major event for the federation no less than a president dying!

Aierwen was still a bit worried about whether doing this would trigger unanimous opposition from the entire federal society.

Since the Lanse family was established for such a long time, it has not only been a gang, but also involves the livelihood problems of perhaps hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

If one could choose not to have an accident, Aierwen felt it was best to choose not to have an accident.

After all, the one being dealt with is a governor, not some municipal councilor, nor some mayor; it is a governor!

Lanse reached out and flicked the ash in the ashtray, "Originally I was still considering how to do it... more secretly, but on the way here I saw those workers who were making trouble, so this matter had a very good solution."

"Tell me more about everything that happened here. It's best to arrange for some people to collect this news; perhaps some of it is what we can use!"

More than an hour later, Aierwen had already left to do what Lanse asked him to do, while Lanse himself called Senator Cleveland, "I arranged for absolutely reliable people to test him. He is very conservative now, basically doesn't do things, and doesn't see other people."

"Before the list comes out, it's hard to use some methods of setting traps for him to make him deeply trapped in the vortex of public opinion."

Just as Senator Cleveland frowned, considering how they would respond if Lanse couldn't solve Governor Wei De, he heard Lanse say—

"My idea is, since he already has precautions and vigilance, then rather than us constantly trying and failing in the limited and precious time, constantly provoking and making him guard against us, it's better to follow my idea and make him shut up completely."

"After I arrived here, I discovered some changes here. The Wei De family is expanding savagely. In this process, many workers here are making trouble. If they can be united, it will be a very powerful force."

Senator Cleveland interjected, "If it isn't a general strike that affects the entire state, it won't cause any impact on him at all."

Lanse corrected his idea slightly, "I'm not saying to use a general strike to pull him down, but to choose a suitable protagonist for our script: an unemployed worker whose life has fallen into a predicament and cannot break free. He will represent others, including justice, to sanction Wei De."

"So, I want to ask, is the lieutenant governor one of our people, is he the kind of person who can be relied upon?"

As the second-in-command of the Denuo State government, and also the Speaker of the State Senate, if he is one of our own, then everything can be turned around.

If he isn't one of our own, Lanse's work might have to be done more, and traces would be left behind.

Senator Cleveland didn't answer immediately, but waited for seven or eight seconds, "He is one of our own, you can completely trust him."

"Do you need me to contact him?"

This time Lanse gave him a negative answer quickly, "No, no need. If I contact him now, it will only bring some accidents. He will guess what exactly led to all this happening. It's better to wait until the matter is over, when he becomes governor, and then I will go visit him."

Senator Cleveland thought about it and felt that what Lanse said was very reasonable, "It was my consideration that wasn't thoughtful. After the matter is solved, I will contact him, and then you can go directly to find him."

"Try to do this matter without leaving traces. If the traces are too obvious, the Liberal Party side will definitely grab onto it and not let go. You understand what I mean!"

If there are traces, now that the president has been sworn in and the control over the federation has been greatly strengthened, they are very likely to constantly put pressure on Lanse through reasonable and legal channels.

Investigating him openly and honestly, inviting him back to drink coffee when there's nothing to do—this kind of approach might not bring any direct harm to Lanse and the Lanse family, but it can definitely affect their status and authority.

Lanse didn't tell Senator Cleveland exactly how he was going to do it, and Senator Cleveland didn't ask. Not knowing such things is better than knowing.

In the evening, George returned home with a bruised and swollen face, and his wife immediately came up to him with concern.

George and his wife had no children, and he didn't know if it was him or his wife who couldn't conceive. They had known each other for a long time before they got married, and could be considered one of the few whose first love bore fruit.

Although they had no children, neither side disliked the other, and they had lived until now, still loving each other.

Looking at the wounds and bruises on her husband's face, George's wife felt heartache.

She wanted to check these bruises and wounds, but was afraid of hurting her husband, so she could only keep reaching out and pulling back in a hurry on the side, but couldn't do anything.

"I went to find you at noon, but couldn't find you."

George returned to the broken sofa in the living room and sat down. He touched the wounds on his face, "I was taken to the police station. They locked me up for a day, and only just let me out."

His wife asked while heading to the dining room to prepare food again, "Why did they do that?"

Why?

A look of helplessness appeared on George's face. Of course, it was because behind these people was the governor, the Wei De family, and big capital.

And he was just an ordinary worker whose rights and interests had been infringed upon.

He felt a bit emotional. After being taken to the police station this time, there were even special police who came to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. The general meaning was to persuade him to think about other ways out.

Returning to the factory to work was not feasible. The police officer who tried to do his job said it more directly: they had to face the Wei De family, who had the governor of the state backing them.

As an ordinary worker, going to fight against the most powerful person in the state, under such a huge gap, the outcome often isn't very good.

Just like what that police officer said, no matter how strong his arms were, they were definitely no match for someone else's thick thighs.

This time he was just grabbed and educated, so what about next time?

What would be the result?

And the time after that?

He didn't know, and didn't want to know.

But he needed money now, and also needed to continue paying the social security fund.

This wasn't just a problem of eating; his wife also needed to see a doctor. Once he lost his job now, basically, the social security fund would be very difficult to pay.

This meant that after he reached retirement age, it would be difficult for him to get the full pension. Originally, these pensions could only barely keep him and his wife from starving to death. Now that a part was missing, the days ahead would be very difficult to endure.

He could even imagine that when their savings were used up, the whole family would fall into an abyss of despair!

What to do in the end?

He had already thought of some people he heard chatting while working before: lost everything—house, car, everything—and then ended up on the street, finally dying quietly in some night.

And what about the chronic diseases his wife had?

Once there was no money, it would continuously worsen, and in the end, they could only move toward death in pain!

He sat there, his eyes a bit hollow, mechanically chewing the food in his mouth, just like chewing sealing wax.

After a while, he finished eating and went directly back to the room, lying on the bed.

He had to think, think about the present, the future, everything.

The next morning, this time he arrived at a place about twenty or thirty meters away from the factory gate. The people gathered here had more or less traces of having been beaten on their faces or bodies.

What made him feel surprised was that a young man he didn't know had also come today, and everyone was gathered around this young man.

He hadn't gotten too close yet, but he heard the young man's voice—

"... All the problems don't stem from the previous and current factory owners, but from the governor."

"If it weren't for some of his practices and attitudes, all this wouldn't have happened. We make trouble with these factories, and in the end, there won't be any results, nor will anyone care about the voices we make."

"We have to go to the state government gate to demonstrate and protest, only then will someone truly come to help us, and we even have to talk directly to the governor!" ===== CHAPTER 1190 =====