Chapter 1204: Dealing with it is for your own good

Christopher's use of the name "Leon" made Leonardo feel more or less uncomfortable; he was, after all, an elder to Leon, having married Leonardo's granddaughter.

The Sumuli people are very traditional, and tradition implies being rigid, conservative, and stubborn. To them, such a chaotic form of address was clearly terrible and inappropriate.

It was clearly wrong for Christopher to address him that way, but it also reflected something else: the seriousness of this matter.

If this problem were not resolved, the Bianchi family's current greatest source of wealth would be cut off, and it would be difficult for him to maintain his higher style and status among these old associates.

Money is a thing that, when you don't have it, you don't necessarily need to have it to survive.

But the moment you get used to having endless money in your pocket, you have no way to adapt to days without it.

Leonardo was just like that; he was already accustomed to losing tens of thousands of Federal Sol without changing his expression, and could even arrogantly say, "It's just some pocket change," amidst the flattery of others.

The other three major families and some political figures were also selling alcohol to the Federation through his channels. If he lost all of this, not only would he be unable to continue enjoying the pleasure of endless wealth, but his status would also drop significantly.

He turned around, looking at the heavy snow outside the window, feeling the heat generated by the expensive firewood—worth several dollars a pound—burning in the room.

Looking at the other gentlemen by the gambling table, who were of similar status to him and had paused their game to wait for his return, he made his decision at that moment.

"How do you want me to help you?"

Upon hearing the answer he wanted, Christopher finally let out a sigh of relief. He was confident that Leonardo would compromise, but that confidence was not one hundred percent.

Fortunately, Leonardo did compromise, for the sake of money, for the sake of those channels, and for the sake of... whatever circumstances he didn't know about.

"When I was in New Jincheng, I learned a bit about the Lansi family. The core figure of the entire family, that is, Lansi White, is the core of the entire gang's core. He is the link between the Lansi family and the Congress."

"In other words, as long as he is taken care of, the connection between the Lansi family and the federal ruling class will be severed."

"The resources and wealth they hold will become the reason for their downfall. We won't even need to do anything; those greedy people will tear them apart and then swallow them up."

Leonardo understood the meaning behind his words. "You mean, let me send family gunmen to take out Lansi."

Two seconds later, Christopher said, "Mm." "This is the simplest, fastest, and most effective method."

"Sumuli gunmen are world-famous."

Leonardo did not deliberate for too long. "Someone will contact you in the next few days."

After saying this, he hung up the phone and returned to the gambling table to sit down. "There was no need for you all to wait for us."

A guy next to him, who previously had the same status and position as him, chimed in, "The game isn't complete without one person, and it didn't take long to wait anyway."

"Look, you're already back."

Leonardo felt the truest, kindest side of these people, and his previously fluctuating mood gradually stabilized.

To him, Lansi White had nothing to do with him directly, and he didn't even know the man.

Therefore, sending people to take out Lansi was just like a very ordinary, small matter, just like when he arranged for people to take out those obscure but troublesome opponents; it was just an ordinary choice.

They reshuffled the cards and began dealing, and Leonardo's attention also focused on the game.

After Lansi handled some matters in New Jincheng, he returned to Denuozhou. He still needed to meet with some local partners to have a simple communication regarding the change in profit-sharing ratios.

After all, a sudden tenfold reduction in income was indeed hard for them to accept.

They were accustomed to receiving this astronomical amount of benefits regularly; now that it was suddenly gone, the gap in their hearts was enough to make them do some stupid things.

Regarding Lansi's departure, Senator Cleveland didn't try to hold him back or anything; it was clear that everyone had their own work and things to do.

He had his, Lansi had his, and others had theirs.

After several days of travel, in mid-February, Lansi returned to Denuozhou. He had Aierwen invite the mayors who had always been in partnership with him to gather in Hongshi City in his name.

Mid-February is a very cold season, with blizzards still falling continuously, and the entire society had entered a very slow-paced life due to the winter blizzards.

The heavy snow sealed everything!

There were still vehicles coming and going on the streets of Hongshi City, but the speed was very slow. Snowplows and icebreakers were constantly driving on the roads in the city, but the newly cleared snow would soon pile up again, forming ice on the ground.

"It is said that the north is even colder than here. I simply don't know how the people in the north get through the winter!"

The inconvenience of travel meant that at least half of the people had never been to other places, let alone leaving the state they lived in.

These conversations came from the mouths of pedestrians on the roadside. Lansi threw his cigarette out the window and then rolled up the window again.

Just a brief opening of the window, and the cold air from outside rolled in, making people feel their scalps tighten.

The motorcade continued to move forward, and Aierwen sat beside Lansi.

"This time I invited more than twenty mayors to come over, as well as some sheriffs from the towns."

A sheriff is a comprehensive position, handling both politics and law. For blocks like towns, sometimes what is needed is arbitrary power.

Lansi was a bit surprised. "So few?"

There were more than seventy cities in the entire Denuozhou, and only less than a third had come, which was much fewer than Lansi had imagined.

Aierwen smiled and explained, "Some cities have relatively small populations, just seventy or eighty thousand people. They are called cities, but they are actually more like towns. But you know, the federal government sometimes..."

"In cities of this small scale, internal sales are very limited, so we didn't directly contact them. Instead, the gangs in the surrounding cities naturally spread into these cities and sold the alcohol in."

"We didn't establish a partnership with the mayors of these cities, so we didn't need them to appear here. If they also enjoy this profit-sharing plan, they actually earned it."

Lansi nodded slightly. "I understand much better now that you put it that way."

The motorcade slowly entered the highest-end hotel in Hongshi City. It was already afternoon, and Lansi was indeed a bit exhausted after riding in the car for several days, so he went straight to rest.

At nine o'clock the next morning, in the conference room on the third floor of the hotel, Lansi met these partners of his.

Perhaps these mayors and sheriffs had also heard some things. Before Lansi arrived, they had also held some heated discussions, making a little resistance to how to deal with the losses they were about to suffer.

The moment Lansi entered the room, everyone stopped talking. Whether they were willing or not, everyone stood up one after another, and their attention was focused on Lansi.

Lansi smiled and raised his hand to press down, signaling them to sit down. "We can sit and talk. This is not a government meeting, just a meeting, a consultation, a chat."

Some mayors who knew him took the initiative to go over and greet him, but more people were just watching from the sidelines.

Simple pleasantries went on for about ten minutes. After ten minutes, he came to his seat and sat down, and also let everyone else sit down.

The scene was very quiet. The gazes of these various mayors were focused on Lansi, and Lansi was also looking at them.

"From the expensive formal wear on you, and the brand-new, expensive watches on some gentlemen's wrists, it can be seen that everyone's life is very good now, and I am also very gratified."

The room was very quiet. They neither laughed nor gave any other response. Before coming, they actually already knew some things, general things.

It wasn't a good thing. Just now, when Lansi hadn't come in, they were also discussing these. With such a large reduction in income, who could stand it?

At this time, their lack of response and lack of stance to Lansi's words was precisely the best stance.

Regarding their reaction, Lansi just smiled and didn't take it to heart.

"However, gentlemen, any policy will have a golden period, a period of decline, and even the possibility of being modified or abolished."

"The legal proposals of the federal government are all like this, let alone some problems we are facing."

"Recently, many old business partners have also been asking me why they cannot enjoy the benefits and treatment here."

"I told them that because there are special circumstances here, we are facing huge competition, and allies have supported us. In the situation of resisting the governor's pressure, they still chose to support us, so we must give them enough returns."

"In fact, we have always been doing this, and it has been two years."

"Just a short while ago, Governor Wei De had an accident, collapsed, and couldn't get up again."

"The long confrontation has ended, everything has returned to the right track, and some 'wartime rules' must also stop and be replaced by daily rules."

"For example..."

He drew out his voice and stretched out a finger, pointing directly at the ceiling. "Our profit-sharing ratio with everyone will also face adjustments."

At this time, a mayor couldn't help but make a sound and ask, "I can understand your thoughts, Mr. White, but please forgive me for speaking more directly."

"Reducing from fifty percent to less than five percent, isn't it... a bit excessive?"

Lansi looked at this guy who was not very tall, had fair skin, and was a bit short and fat. "What do you mean by excessive?"

"Do you mean that the share we gave you from the money earned through smuggling contraband and committing crimes is less, so it's excessive?"

This sentence made the short, fat mayor not know how to refute. After all, this money, as Lansi said, was the proceeds of crime.

If he admitted it, then this was undoubtedly punching himself.

But letting him say nothing, he wanted to say something.

At this time, another mayor saw his predicament and took the initiative to speak, attracting people's attention to himself. "Mr. White, when you were in your most difficult time, we supported you."

"Now that you have reaped the fruits of victory, are you going to abandon the friendship between us?"

Lansi also looked at him. "Abandon?"

"No, I don't think this is abandonment. On the contrary, I think this is an evolution of our friendship and relationship that is more solid!"

"Any friendship built on an unreasonable relationship will eventually collapse because of the unreasonable relationship."

"Everyone!", he rested his hands on the table on both sides of his body and leaned forward slightly.

Just such a small action made some mayors subconsciously lean back and tilt their necks slightly, as if something made them feel pressure, making a defensive avoidance posture.

"We are the ones who manufacture, we are the ones who transport, we are the ones who sell, we are the ones who bear the risks, we are the ones who handle the Contraband Investigation Bureau, and we are the ones who fight with those disobedient gangs."

"Now, we have to give you half of the money we earned."

"Do you think... it's reasonable?"

A murderous atmosphere spread rapidly in Lansi's "we" sentences, making everyone fall into silence.

Clearly, it was not very reasonable, or rather, it was too unreasonable.

They only supported Lansi in selling in their cities, but in fact, they didn't provide any help. Don't look at it as if they didn't let the police investigate Lansi's moonshine business.

Even if they didn't order it, the police wouldn't investigate, and wouldn't dare to investigate, so they actually didn't make any contribution to Lansi's earnings.

Maybe there was in the past, they withstood the pressure of Governor Wei De and stood firmly on Lansi's side.

But now, they no longer had such high value, so naturally, they couldn't match this income.

Everyone didn't speak. People who can become mayors may not necessarily be smart people, but they certainly won't be too stupid.

Their silence was the best agreement with Lansi's views at this time.

Lansi suppressed the whole room by himself. His sharp gaze made it difficult for everyone to look him in the eye, and they would all shift their gaze during the eye contact and look elsewhere.

"So!", Lansi let go of his hands and sat back, which made the tight and serious atmosphere in the room ease a lot. "Readjusting the distribution of profits is the greatest help for us to maintain a stable friendship."

"Of course, I know that some of you are already used to your current life."

"Big houses, luxury cars, gold watches, so I also provide you with another opportunity to maintain your current wealthy life."

"That is, become my partner, a business partner, become an alcohol agent."

"My alcohol will no longer enter the city directly, but will be handed over to you to be responsible for sales. I won't care how much money you make."

"Earning five dollars a bottle, fifty dollars, or five hundred dollars, has nothing to do with me."

"You can consider it!" ===== CHAPTER 1205 =====