Chapter 1203: Losses

"Hoo..." 【1203-2

"Hoo..."

In an old trash can on the side of the road, a guy wearing high-end formal wear had already crawled inside. Filthy trash covered his expensive clothes, and the pungent stench almost made him vomit.

But he forced himself to slow his breathing as much as possible. After taking two deep breaths, he gradually gained control.

Inside the pitch-black trash can, he widened his eyes, and his perception of the surrounding environment was elevated to the extreme at this moment!

He didn't know if a blind person's world was like this—seeing nothing—so the changes in the surrounding environment were presented in his mind as if they had been magnified.

This might also have to do with his focus; he could even hear the sound of mice crawling everywhere.

The sound of footsteps coming from afar made his attention highly concentrated. As the footsteps went from far to near, his heart rose to his throat.

Those footsteps were very dense; at least five or six people were running toward him. He was terrified!

"The person is gone..."

"Split up and search."

Soon, the footsteps turned into two groups, gradually moving away in two other directions and disappearing.

After a long while, the young man hiding in the trash can crawled out from inside. He didn't care about the trash on his body. After confirming there was no one around, he ran toward the direction he had come from under the cover of night.

These people from the Lansi family are too hateful!

His eyes were filled with an indelible hatred. He was the only one who survived the entire stronghold, and the police sirens constantly sounding in the distance felt like a mockery.

Only after the firefight ended did these police officers come to clean up the mess, but this also proved one thing: a huge change had occurred in Denuozhou.

He had to go back and pass the news here back.

Whether it was because he feared death or truly wanted to pass this news back, in any case, he was lucky enough to escape a disaster.

He didn't dare to return to the "company" and went straight to a parking lot not far from the company, driving away a spare car. He had to pass the news of what happened here back.

Two days later, he finally appeared in front of Luo Bote.

Luo Bote had spent the past few years very happily. Lian'angna Duo had exiled him to the Federation, originally intending to teach him a lesson, but he had done quite well with the liquor business here.

Gradually, Lian'angna Duo's dissatisfaction over losing family members transformed into satisfaction with Luo Bote's ability to make money. Basically, the two sides were now in a situation of being half-family, half-business partners.

The young man who had always been suppressed by Baoluo had finally achieved his own career; this was everything he wanted.

In the past period of time, a few years ago, he would still regret the decisions he made when thinking about the past in the dead of night. He shouldn't have hurt Baoluo; he should have realized sooner what stupid things he had done.

But as his current situation kept improving, he also began to ignore this matter, and even felt that what he did was deserved and correct.

If he hadn't finished off Baoluo, he wouldn't have all the achievements he had now.

With a call, hundreds would respond; he was a gang Boss with endless money, surrounded by female stars or beauties, and socialites had also become his guests.

This was the life he wanted, and everything done to achieve such a life was worth it!

He firmly believed this!

He was originally supposed to stand in a more glorious place to enjoy people's worship, rather than living like a clown in the Pasi Lei Tuo family under the identity of an "adopted son."

At this moment, he was wearing high-end clothes handmade by a famous tailor, pinching his nose as he stayed away from the subordinate whose body had already started to stink and grow mold. "You look like you were just fished out of a manure pit. Who the hell can take this ball of dung to take a bath first?"

The subordinates around him also had looks of disgust, but eventually, someone stood out; after all, this was a good opportunity to perform in front of the Boss.

Never mind taking that person who was emitting a stench to take a bath, even if it meant doing something with him, as long as the goal could be achieved, there were still people willing to do it.

Half an hour later, the refreshed subordinate returned to Luo Bote's presence. He sat on a soft chair with his legs crossed, his toes tapping up and down.

He looked the guy up and down and nodded slightly. "You look much better; at least you look like a human."

"So, tell me what happened over there. What made you become the way you were just now?"

The guy who ran back from Denuozhou sorted out what he wanted to say in his mind and said with his own understanding, "Our business in Denuozhou is all finished."

At first, Luo Bote didn't think of anything too serious. Could it be that this subordinate encountered some trouble?

Or perhaps their business in Denuozhou was attacked; this kind of thing was very normal.

The profit of liquor is huge, and everyone hopes that what is sold on the market is their own goods; only in this way can they obtain more profit.

After all, the market is only so big, but there are many products. What to do?

Struggle.

In regular commercial warfare, the most direct manifestation of this struggle is price reduction and promotion to attract more customers to buy one's own products, compress the market share of competing products to the limit, then kick them out of the game, and re-price after mastering the pricing power.

The capitalists of the past did exactly this. They would compete with opponents in the market through subsidies or direct price cuts.

Once their competitors were finished, the market would be decided by them. This was also a common monopoly behavior in various industries in the early Federation.

Later, the federal government passed the "Anti-Monopoly Act" to strike, dismantle, and reorganize all monopolistic capital.

One large monopoly group after another disappeared from people's sight, but their monopolistic behavior did not stop; they just changed to a way that was easier for people to accept and less likely to cause resentment.

It's like... the actual controllers of every similar product on the market all come from a group of people. They monopolize 98 percent of similar products in the industry, which is the same as mastering the market.

They formed industry self-regulatory organizations, and 98 out of 100 seats were their own people.

Such a monopoly is silent.

Commercial struggle is very cruel because the huge profit behind it can drive people to do so.

Illegal criminal business is actually the same, and the way of competition is even more direct—physical destruction!

I am selling liquor, and you are also selling liquor. Both sides are gangs; it is impossible to conduct price wars like commercial competition, so they will only eliminate the other side.

If there were originally two liquor suppliers and now it becomes one, isn't that a monopoly?

Luo Bote used such means to become the largest liquor supplier in Southern Yaan State. The level of Sumuli's gunmen is still very high.

He thought that this small conflict in Denuozhou was also a similar firefight. If they suffered a loss this time, wouldn't it be enough to send more people next time to finish off those who made them suffer?

But when his subordinate said "the business is all finished," he realized something was wrong.

The indifferent smile on his face was immediately restrained, and he leaned forward. "Make yourself clear; I don't like guessing!"

This is actually a manifestation of a lack of culture, but gangs, after all, are always like this.

If they were highly educated and very well-bred, perhaps their external expression wouldn't be so simple.

His subordinate swallowed a mouthful of saliva and then began to talk about the whole thing—

"Governor Wei De previously had some conflicts and contradictions with people from the Lansi family. The people from the Lansi family couldn't control the liquor market of the entire state, so our liquor could enter Denuozhou."

"But Governor Wei De was finished off there last month, and many people suspect that it was Lansi and the others who did it."

"After the Deputy Governor took office, he began to clean up Governor Wei De's forces, and the Lansi family also began to continue expanding."

"For the past month, the entire state has been in a firefight. If you don't submit, you will be destroyed. They are too crazy and too arrogant."

"And, it also affected us."

"The night before last, we had just sent out a batch of liquor, and on the way back, we saw people from the Lansi family attack our company. Everyone was finished off by them. I struggled to run out just to pass this news back..."

He spoke a bit scattered, but Luo Bote had already understood, and his expression was very ugly.

"The people from the Lansi family finished off our people, so what about our goods?"

In the warehouse in Denuozhou, there was still at least ten million in liquor!

Cross-state transportation is a bit troublesome; there are many uncontrollable factors on the road, and coupled with the large demand, each transport involves many vehicles together, which can reduce costs.

The liquor in the entire Denuozhou warehouse actually wasn't that much, only six or seven million or seven or eight million.

His subordinate swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "It seems they took it away."

Luo Bote, who had been motionless, adjusted his sitting posture, but no matter how he sat, he wasn't comfortable. He stood up directly and walked back and forth a few steps.

His gaze stopped on the subordinate's face many times, his eyes filled with a kind of anger!

Whether it was seven or eight million or ten million in goods, this was a huge loss!

His relationship with the Bianqi family is very complex now; it counts as a kind of kinship cooperation relationship. The kinship relationship is weaker; after all, he finished off his own wife, and the cooperation relationship is clearer.

If it were a kinship relationship, he would be ordered to work here, and losing such a large batch of goods would mean the main body of the loss is the Bianqi family. His personal interests certainly suffered a loss, but not much.

But now it is cooperation. On the Bianqi family side, that old guy Lian'angna Duo won't pay for his losses; this money lost is all his personal interests!

How could he not be angry?

Making money is indeed easy, but to get this money back, at least two months would be in vain, and perhaps it wouldn't be enough, because their sales network in Denuozhou was also broken, and the profit became even less.

The consumption power on the West Coast is still a bit worse than the East Coast, and the market here in Southern Yaan State is also not as big as Denuozhou. Of course, if he could, he would prefer to sell liquor to Likaile State; that is the place with the most consumption.

He pointed his finger at this subordinate who escaped back. He also knew that this matter had nothing to do with this bastard, but he was just very angry.

Luo Bote's change in mood and attitude made everyone slow their breathing. Ever since he finished off Baoluo, his mood would occasionally spiral out of control.

Once out of control, it was a disaster for everyone.

He wouldn't finish off anyone for no reason, but he would point at others' noses and curse some ugly words, and even slap them a few times.

Everyone is in the gang, even if it's the bottom of the gang, they are still people who want face.

For them, perhaps only face is left.

Just when people thought he would lose control, Luo Bote took a deep breath and actually suppressed the emotion that was about to spiral out of control.

"Before I beat you, get out of my sight."

That subordinate left the room in a hurry without looking back. Luo Bote sat back on his soft chair, crossed his legs, subconsciously put his thumb into his mouth, and started biting his nails.

What he is considering now is no longer that the business in Denuozhou is finished and he lost a large batch of goods; what he is considering is whether Lansi will continue to expand westward.

If they intend to take down the markets of the three southern states, this means Luo Bote will soon have to face the Lansi family directly!

He is a bit afraid of Lansi and the Lansi family. Although he is unwilling to admit this, he is just afraid!

He thought of the process of how he once dealt with those two Lansi subordinates. At that time, they went to get the bodies of Aerbeituo and his men and were caught by Luo Bote.

He demanded that the two people kneel and beg him for mercy and call Lansi to let Lansi go there in person, but those two people refused.

Even after accepting torture!

When they were on their last breath, what one of them said left a very deep impression on him—

Lansi will send you to hell himself!

Thinking about it now, he still feels a bit cold.

After being quiet for a while, one of the guys beside him... who could be considered to use his brain, bent his waist slightly. "I think we should communicate this matter with Lian'angna Duo and the others. After all, we sell liquor here, and they can also profit."

"It makes no sense that when we encounter trouble, we have to endure it ourselves while they pretend to know nothing. What do you think?"

Luo Bote looked back at this subordinate of his, hesitated for a while, and then nodded. "You're right. Bring the phone."

This subordinate was dug out by him later and can be considered a trusted aide. Those people who followed him back to Sumuli Island before could be said to be useless.

It was fine to eat, drink, and have fun with him before, but once they were asked to do serious work, they couldn't do this well and couldn't do that well.

After losing Baoluo's protection, his growth was also rapid, and he also knew he had to build his own team.

Fortunately, these things could be considered more than half completed; now he already possessed his own team.

The phone was soon brought and placed in front of him. He thought about the way of speaking and then dialed the Bianqi family's phone number.

After being transferred by the butler, it was finally answered by Lian'angna Duo.

"Say what you have to say quickly; I'm playing cards."

One could even hear the voices of those people at the card table in the receiver, as well as the sound of chips colliding when thrown onto the gambling table.

"We encountered a bit of trouble."

Lian'angna Duo put the receiver on his shoulder, held it with his shoulder, and then threw a few chips onto the table.

Lansi Poker.

This is its formal name. Of course, some people also call it "Federal Poker," but as federal culture begins to permeate the world, more and more people will know that it is actually called "Lansi Poker," invented by a person named "Lansi Huai Te."

It must be said that this way of playing, which involves wits and courage and can stimulate adrenaline to bring strong excitement and pleasure, has become the favorite game of gamblers in the world without needing any promotion, bar none.

Lian'angna Duo's life is very comfortable now. He advocated participating in the war, and the war was won.

Although there are some negative evaluations of him within Sumuli, these evaluations mainly come from the underclass of society.

Because he sent a large number of young men on the island to the battlefield, and nearly 40 percent of these people couldn't come back, he is also the person most hated by ordinary people on Sumuli Island.

But the ruling class and the upper class like him very much because the victory of the war also brought them war dividends.

When fighting, it was the men from ordinary families at the bottom of society who were responsible for going to die, but after the war dividends arrived, they were basically all put into their pockets. Those ordinary families who paid a heavy price for the war almost didn't get any benefits.

Lian'angna Duo doesn't rely on ordinary people to live, so he cannot feel the dissatisfaction, hatred, and disgust ordinary people have for him; on the contrary, the political dignitaries and socialites around him get along very well with him.

They often go fishing, play cards, and do everything together, including gambling.

A game can involve winning or losing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or more, but this bit of money is no longer that important to him.

"What trouble?", he was a bit absent-minded.

Luo Bote frowned. "The Lansi family finished off our company in Denuozhou. Our business in Denuozhou is finished, and we also lost a batch of goods."

Lian'angna Duo, who was originally indifferent, had his expression change somewhat. "How much was lost?"

"Ten million."

He threw his cards directly on the table, and then, amidst the curious gazes of others, carried the phone to a further and quieter place.

He lit a cigarette. "What do you plan to do?"

Without waiting for Luo Bote to answer, he said, "This loss is recorded on your account; I cannot bear it for you, understand?"

Luo Bote didn't answer. After a while, he said, "Let's not talk about this for now. I am very worried that Lansi and his people will continue to expand toward our current territory."

"Once they do that, our business might suffer a devastating blow."

"This is not 'my business' or 'your business'; this concerns the subsequent interests of all of us, do you understand?"

"Lian'ang?"