Chapter 173: Rights and Obligations of the Chamber of Commerce and Unification of the Imperial District

The Chamber of Commerce isn't rare.

But not rare doesn't mean it must be a low-end thing. The Chamber of Commerce isn't low-end at all.

These people in the seats looked at each other, a bit not knowing how to pick up the conversation. Finally, the oldest old gentleman opened his mouth to ask, "Mr. Lanse, if we join this Chamber of Commerce, what can it bring us, and what do we need to pay?"

"If we don't join the Chamber of Commerce, will it..."

He was very worried, but seeing that Lanse didn't seem to be that difficult to talk to, he asked what was in his heart.

Lanse still sat there. He crossed his legs, but his body didn't lean forward or backward, but maintained a straight posture, which would make people involuntarily listen to his every word seriously.

"I don't have the idea of finding another way to ask you for wealth. Just as I said, in the Imperial District, on my territory, no one needs to pay protection fees."

"If you don't join the Chamber of Commerce, there won't be any loss. My people will still patrol the streets and maintain security."

"They won't make things difficult for you, blackmail you, or anything just because you didn't join the Chamber of Commerce. If you encounter trouble, you can still go find Bo Dun, or our people."

"Everything will be no different from now!"

"Whether to join the Chamber of Commerce depends completely on yourselves, whether you are satisfied with your current situation, and whether you still have the wish to do something for your children."

"Then let me talk about joining the Chamber of Commerce."

"I believe you have already understood more or less about the Chamber of Commerce. You should have seen clearly these years that in the Federation, if we don't unite, we will definitely be bullied..."

Every time he wanted to say a lot of words, he would have a subconscious behavior of taking a few puffs, which could help him better sort out the train of thought for speaking.

He took out a cigarette case from his pocket. This was the silver ivory cigarette case Luiji gave him, emitting expensive light under the illumination.

The frame was pure silver, and other places were made of the best ivory, looking warm and moist like jade, and it was also very comfortable to hold in the hand.

The price of this thing wasn't cheap, but it wouldn't be too expensive either. The current market price was about one or two hundred dollars.

Pressing the switch, it *clack* popped open, revealing two rows of neatly arranged cigarettes.

These cigarettes were pressed in the cigarette case by a total of four silver pressure plates. He pushed aside one side of them and took one out.

Then, after closing the cigarette case, he held the cigarette holder and tapped it against the surface of the cigarette case. Doing this could make the tobacco press tighter.

Afterward, the cigarette holder was put into his mouth. He tilted his body to one side and reached out to touch the matches. Bo Dun walked over immediately, took out matches from his pocket, bent his waist, stuck out his butt, and struck it.

Lanse slightly raised his head and glanced at Bo Dun. Bo Dun's face full of fawning flattery appeared in the firelight like a clown, but you couldn't really treat him as a clown.

At least a clown didn't have this kind of determination and vision.

He tilted his head and lit the cigarette with the firelight. He patted Bo Dun's hand. "Thank you."

Bo Dun had a face full of smiles. "You are too polite." Then he dropped the match and very sensibly returned to his seat.

Lanse exhaled a thick puff of smoke. Some old smokers seemed to feel the signal and couldn't help but start touching their cigarettes.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became very relaxed. Lanse's hand holding the cigarette raised casually. "Why don't Federation people dare to bully Sumuli people casually?"

"Because they are very united. You bullied one of them, and you might have already provoked someone in their genealogy."

"Family honor will make them, in order to wash away the shame you gave their family, take a boat from Sumuli Island, cross one-third of the world to come before you, and then give you a shot."

"They are very united, so Federation people don't bully them, and don't dare to bully them casually."

"But Imperial people?"

A rhetorical question left people speechless.

"That son of a bitch Haile himself bullied his own people, opening a very bad head. Federation people know we don't unite ourselves, so they can wantonly exploit and oppress us."

"They know no one will take a boat from the Empire to the Federation, come before them, give them a shot, and tell them all this is because they extorted someone among you."

"Without cost and price, behavior will be unscrupulous."

"I want to change this situation!"

He raised his finger to point diagonally upward again. The cyan smoke drifting from the cigarette tip formed a mass of smoke rings under the not-so-intense spotlight, slowly, curling, constantly stretching.

His gaze flowed one by one on the faces of these people, nodding slightly, continuing to say:

"I want to change this situation. We are not like Sumuli people, having very special family relationships, and the Empire cannot provide us with any assistance."

"We people who drifted here can only rely on ourselves, rely on our brothers and sisters."

"The Chamber of Commerce plays such a role."

"It's very simple: earn money together, act consistently toward the outside."

"I, or other Chamber of Commerce members, can all share some insights on earning money, or business opportunities discovered."

"Some businesses you saw, but couldn't do, and then watched others use these business opportunities you discovered first to make a lot of money."

"This situation, as long as you join the Chamber of Commerce, won't appear again."

"You don't have money, but the Chamber of Commerce has money. Businesses you can't do, we can do. This is the power of unity!"

"If you encounter trouble, we will all come to help you, face it together. I believe as long as we also unite together, Federation people will also value us and listen to our voices."

"Of course, there are many benefits to joining the Chamber of Commerce. Regular salons, gatherings, any..."

"In addition, if..."

He suddenly paused, as if thinking about how to phrase it. For about a minute, he just stopped there like a sculpture.

So much so that some people at this time even felt... did he suddenly get sick or something? Although very offensive, people still revealed concerned eyes.

Fortunately, he retreated from that frozen state. "For example, I have a business in my hand now that can earn a lot of money. I am willing to share it with you, and then the Chamber of Commerce will do this thing uniformly."

"If you earned money from this business I shared, then fifteen percent of your net profit needs to be taken out."

"Ten percent to the initiator. After all, I take you to earn money, so it's only right that I get some from you."

"Another five percent, handed over to the Chamber of Commerce side, counted as the Chamber of Commerce's development fund. After all, we need to organize a large number of activities and publicity."

"Then what do you need to pay for joining the Chamber of Commerce?"

"First, membership fee. This isn't a protection fee. Ten dollars a month. This is just an initial fee; perhaps it will change later."

"As our operating situation gets better, perhaps it won't be long before we completely cancel the membership fee and change to a recommendation and review system."

"By that time, wanting to join won't be that easy."

"Secondly, when someone among us needs your help, and you can do it, you must lend a helping hand."

"If you don't lend a helping hand when we are suffering, then when you are suffering, don't expect others to lend a helping hand."

"Finally, I need you to unite. Only by uniting together, becoming iron, becoming steel, can we no longer be bullied!"

Lanse took the last puff of the cigarette. Bo Dun had already walked over holding the ashtray. For this "Mr. Bo Dun" who was extremely fawning, Lanse didn't like him, but didn't hate him either.

A true small-minded person who is easy to use—this is the evaluation of him.

"Trouble you." He extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

Bo Dun didn't seem to feel at all that he was acting like a clown. "No, not troublesome at all. To be able to do something for someone like you who has great sentiments, I am sincerely honored."

Lanse couldn't help but laugh out loud and patted Bo Dun on the shoulder. "I'll have Erwin make you two sets of clothes later."

Bo Dun's face immediately revealed a surprised expression. Lanse stopped his impulse to thank him with his eyes. Now wasn't the time.

"Work hard, everything will be better later."

He carried the ashtray and excitedly returned to his seat, his brain full of a beautiful future.

You give a small-minded person some benefits; for you, there is no loss, but it will make the small-minded person feel you are a generous person. Even if he might feel sometimes you didn't do quite right, at least he won't harm you.

But if you are cold to a small-minded person, even if you didn't cause him substantial harm, just because he thinks his self-esteem was frustrated, he will also find ways to retaliate against you.

Lanse had seen quite a few such small-minded people, although he wasn't worried about whether this Mr. Bo Dun could cause him trouble under the current era rules.

But he didn't mind telling people that as long as he was useful to him, then he had value.

Others were discussing and consulting in low voices. Lanse didn't force them. Even if they weren't willing to participate, it didn't matter, because soon, he would let these people see the benefits of the Chamber of Commerce—betting on grapes.

However, his worry was obviously redundant. Ten dollars a month, even if this was a protection fee, these people were willing to pay.

At least Lanse's family members were truly maintaining order on the street every day, and their figures could often be seen. With the help of these people, some police seemed to rarely come to this side.

Before, sometimes police would go to their shops, eat something, drink something, and then not pay a cent. When leaving, they still had to take something.

If you wanted to entangle with them, they would say these might be stolen goods.

If you met one with a slightly not-so-bad temper, they would move away a large box of your goods.

If you met one with a bad temper, perhaps your entire shop would have to close for investigation.

But ever since the streets were full of Lanse's people, the number of times police came to harass them had decreased quite a bit, and even if they came, they wouldn't go too far.

Soon these people expressed their willingness to join the Chamber of Commerce. Lanse also let them go back and publicize this matter to the people in the streets where they were, but also put forward a requirement.

"... I absolutely don't force you to join. You must make this point clear to people. Regardless of whether you join the Chamber of Commerce, we are all Imperial people."

"I will take care of you within my ability, not because you joined the Chamber of Commerce, gave me a membership fee, or didn't give one."

As he spoke, he patted his leg and stood up. A large group of people also stood up.

"That's it..."

People took the initiative to step forward and shake hands with Lanse, and then said goodbye to him. It could be seen that Lanse still had a lot of prestige in their hearts now.

Lanse wouldn't think this was too troublesome either. He lined up and shook hands with everyone, and said goodbye to each other.

After they all left, Lanse finally breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Erwin was actually here too, but sitting in the corner, and others were also sitting in the corner.

After the people left, he walked over. "Can it be useful?"

Lanse nodded. "It will definitely be useful!"

"I don't guarantee that everyone will feel I can change something, but as long as a portion of people believe it, and it indeed changed, others will believe it."

While talking, staff members had already come to work. The sky outside had already started to darken. Some dance actors, singers, including striptease dancers, all started to enter the venue.

They greeted Lanse enthusiastically. Now the Night of the Empire nightclub was much better than before under Lanse's management, at least for them, these people.

That son of a bitch Haile liked to trample on other people's personality to reflect his own extraordinariness, but Lanse wouldn't.

He greeted everyone in a friendly way, which also made these people like him even more.

As more and more people arrived, Lanse wasn't very suitable to continue waiting below, so he went upstairs with Erwin and others.

Haile's office was renovated again, removing the bar and bookcase, the space became much larger, and more sofas could be arranged for people to sit down.

After everyone sat down, looking at the dozen or so good brothers around, Lanse said the idea he hadn't said when he was below.

"I intend to unify the entire Imperial District, so that there are no other gangs and families here."

At first, they didn't react, but soon Hai Lahan revealed an excited look!

"Is it going to war again?"

Currently, more than thirty percent of the territory in the Imperial District was controlled by the Red Dog gang. In fact, their business content didn't have a high degree of overlap with Lanse's side.

The Red Dog gang mainly sold smuggled alcohol, pimped, and provided pornographic services, and also incidentally provided security services for some bars.

After all, security with a big gang background could bluff people better than the bar's own security.

Just like when Lanse and his men went to the bar to find people before, the first sentence of the security guard after being controlled was "I am a person of the Red Dog gang."

If it were people from some small gangs, they might really be scared.

But although there was no conflict between the two sides, and the overlap of operating businesses wasn't high, it didn't mean they didn't affect Lanse's overall plan.

Controlling the entire Imperial District was actually a firm statement, just like the entire Sumuli District only had one Pasleto family. You could say this was a symbol of "status" or "strength."

Otherwise, just an Imperial District, inside there were two big gangs and some messy street families. Even if Lanse performed very well, others wouldn't feel how excellent he was after seeing it.

You can't even handle the situation in your own home, so how can you convince others to identify with you on some things?

And, this could also increase the confidence of Imperial immigrants in him.

Although the Kamila gang later became rotten, in the early days, they indeed raised the banner of standing on the side of Imperial people to fight against other gangs.

Even the Kamila gang at its peak couldn't unify the Imperial District, but Lanse did it, so he could represent the interests of Imperial people in New Jincheng to a certain extent!

In fact, thinking carefully, there were so many things that could be done, but there wasn't a single person who stood up to do them. Perhaps they were overly short-sighted, or perhaps they really couldn't see these benefits.

Just like Mr. Qiaobafu, he hadn't thought about sponsoring the poor for so many years. Perhaps the fanaticism of capitalists only wanting to obtain benefits made him unable to see the benefits of paying, but this just happened to be cheap for Lanse.

As for whether to go to war with the Red Dog gang immediately, Lanse shook his head slightly. "Not necessarily go to war. If they can take the initiative to retreat, that is the best result."

"We can talk to them first, but if they aren't willing to retreat, then we can only drive them out."

"The unification of the Imperial District is a cause we can't bypass, and it's also a cause that must be completed. Its priority level is equal to the Imperial Chamber of Commerce!"

Mo Lisi sat in the corner of the sofa. He wasn't tall. If he sat on the sofa, he would give people a feeling of "a child mixed into a group of adults," so he hated sitting on the sofa.

But for sitting on the back of the sofa, he could still accept it.

"I will send people to keep an eye on their people immediately."

Lanse nodded. "Their boss, what's his name again?"

"Bill."

"Right, keep an eye on Bill, and then the senior cadres active in the Imperial District side. It's best not to go to war if possible, but if we really have to go to war, we need to disintegrate their resistance in the shortest time."

As he spoke, he looked at Erwin. "Have you recruited some soldiers?"

Erwin nodded. "The news has been spread. Some people in the Empire want to come and defect to us, but they need some money."

"The situation inside the Empire is very rotten now. There are some problems within the insurgent army, and many people want to come to the Federation."

"Not just the Imperial Army, but also some insurgent armies want to come over."

The Imperial Emperor was forced to run everywhere, and it looked like he was about to become a joke in history, but some conflicts broke out within the insurgent army.

It was said that His Majesty the Emperor sent word that he intended to surrender, but he didn't know who to surrender to, and needed the insurgent army side to give him a candidate.

These "private messages" were actually public, plus some of his conspiracies, making people clearly realize that whoever His Majesty the Emperor surrendered to, that person might be the next emperor!

The insurgent army wasn't one, but many. Everyone started an uprising holding the concept of overthrowing the tyranny of the Imperial royal family.

But now it seemed the fruits of victory were within reach, yet a problem they hadn't thought of before appeared, that was, who would go and pick this fruit!

For a time, the situation inside the Empire was surging again, which Lanse found wonderful, but soon his attention left this aspect.

No matter how the Imperial Emperor played, that was the Imperial Emperor's business, and it had nothing to do with him.

What he needed now was to solve the things in front of him!

"Arrange for some people to come over as soon as possible. We need some militarized training, and also expand recruitment a bit. Our manpower is not enough again."

"Although my original intention is not to go to war, we must be prepared for a full-scale war."

"The Imperial District can only have one voice, and that is the voice of me, Lanse."

"And there can only be one family, and that is our Lanse family!" ===== CHAPTER 174 =====