Chapter 420

422. Chapter 416: Legal Fees and the Same Plan

It's already September, and Branch Chief Bulu called Lanse to ask if the regular fees for this month should be collected or not.

Lanse asked him to stop starting from this month, because Lanse's people had already started collecting these new hygiene fees.

He changed the name of these protection fees to "hygiene fees," and he established a new company called "Wanli Cleaning Company."

The main business of this company is to provide environmental cleaning services to customers, and all merchants in the Empire District and Port District are their "customers."

Others didn't understand very well; they didn't understand why Lanse had to specifically establish a company for this matter and then come to collect this money.

You know, if it is a business operation, this money needs to be taxed; originally, the standard they collected was low, and if they paid taxes again, it would be even less.

Maybe only Sean, who has started university, understands a little, but not all of it.

Users can be monetized, and it's even possible to go public!

Lanse had a bad hobby; he wanted to package this Wanli Cleaning Company for listing. A company that collects protection fees can go public; this sounds like it might be a joke, but it might not be impossible to achieve.

As long as its scale is large enough and there are enough users, capitalists won't care why every merchant would use this company's business and pay for it.

What they care about is market share, market prospects, and whether there is a possibility of monopoly!

As long as there is, they are willing to pay wealth for it and obtain rich profits from its development.

As a future successful person, not having a few listed companies in hand, how does this look?

So these days, the salespeople in the company have already started collecting hygiene fees.

About 30% of the employees in the company are gang members guest-starring temporarily, and the rest are recruited from the Empire District and Port District.

This is their first time officially entering a working state; to be honest, it's not very adaptable.

In a retail store, the owner and two employees were organizing the shelves; the doorbell suddenly rang, and the owner didn't even lift his head and said, "We haven't started business yet."

But the person who came didn't leave, "We are here to collect hygiene fees."

The owner was stunned for a moment, then straightened up, wiped his hands on his apron, and walked over with a smile on his face, and even shook hands with the person walking in front.

"I seem to have seen you."

The young man smiled and said, "I live on the street next door; maybe you saw me when you passed by there."

The boss suddenly realized, "No wonder...", he glanced at the two people behind him, "How much should I pay?"

The young man looked at the staff on his left, and that guy quickly opened his notebook and said, "Boss, you hired two employees, right?"

The owner nodded, "Yes, is there any particularity about this?"

The staff asked again, "Are they immigrants or locals?"

The owner looked at the two employees and said, "Both are Empire immigrants."

The staff then explained, "The company regulations say that a shop like yours needs to collect six dollars in hygiene fees, but if you hire immigrants, then your hygiene fee will be reduced by one dollar. You hired two people, so you need to pay four dollars in hygiene fees this month."

The owner was even a little worried, "Will it be too little?"

The staff looked blank; he looked at his small leader, and that person smiled and said, "No, this is a rule set by Mr. Lanse himself."

The name "Mr. Lanse" seemed to have a kind of magic; the owner immediately walked behind the cash register, took out four dollars, and handed it over, "Here you go."

The leader signaled the staff to open a receipt, and then chatted for two more sentences before taking people away.

A new young man in the shop didn't quite understand, "Hygiene fee, what hygiene fee?"

The owner explained while working, "Actually, it's a protection fee."

The young employee widened his eyes, "Why not call the police?"

"I've always heard before coming that the Federation police are very clean and efficient; if we call the police, they will definitely be unlucky, right?"

The young man arrived in New Jincheng at the end of August and early September; he has a temporary visa and came through legal channels, and he has to leave every once in a while.

During this period, a large number of Empire immigrants came to the Federation and went to all parts of the world; the struggle between the royal family and the nobles has almost completely ended.

Those who longed for the royal family to be overthrown were defeated by the cruel facts again; they couldn't accept such a result, so they chose to leave the Empire by immigration, smuggling, or working to express their dissatisfaction with the results of the situation.

During this period, the population of New Jincheng is still increasing; some people say that it will soon reach a permanent population of two million.

In this period, two million in a city is already a very considerable number.

So it's normal that he doesn't understand these.

The owner looked at him like a fool, "Why should I call the police?"

The young clerk pointed outside the door, "They... shouldn't do that."

The owner shook his head, continued working, and didn't want to talk.

Instead, another old clerk explained.

Since Lanse changed the rules of the Empire District, the boss hired a new clerk and increased the content of business, which was unthinkable before.

He put his arm around the young employee's shoulder and explained, "The Federation is not as good as you think; the police and gangs here are often in the same boat."

"In the past, we had to pay a sum of money to the gang every month, and also pay a sum of money to the police, and they often came to blackmail us..."

The owner couldn't help cursing when he heard these, "Those greedy bitch-raised dog things, I curse them all to hell!"

The older clerk briefly explained that those gang members or police would buy things here, and once they would pick out a few dollars worth of things, but when paying, they would only give some coins.

If you are lucky, you can get fifty cents; if you are unlucky, you might only have ten or twenty cents.

If you feel it's less and want to reason with them, trouble will appear, and the loss will be far more than what they plan to take away.

Especially some bottom-level gangs, they come to take cigarettes without paying at every turn, and the owner is also miserable.

As for why he is so miserable and still insists on operating?

That's because although it's bitter, it can indeed make money.

Just like Jonny's bakery, although the police and gangs have been collecting his money, he can still have a surplus of seventy or eighty dollars to about one hundred dollars every month, which is much more comfortable than going to work—of course, all this is based on the premise that he doesn't pay the apprentices and Lanse's wages.

Other shops are roughly the same, a little better than going to work, so they can persist.

When hearing these words, the young employee felt that his cognition of the Federation was completely shattered, because in his cognition, the Federation police are clean, efficient, and official.

Anyone can call the police and enjoy the various rights granted to them by the Federation justice, but after really coming here, it seems that it is not the case!

The older employee smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "These people are Mr. Lanse's people; the whole Empire District is his territory. He exempted us from the protection fees we had to pay to the gangs, and now he has exempted the large protection fees we had to pay to the police. Compared to the fifteen-dollar protection fee we had to pay every month in the past, it only costs four dollars now; I think this is very appropriate."

The owner hummed twice on the side, "You should be grateful to Mr. Lanse for having a job, otherwise I wouldn't consider hiring another person..."

If the young clerk was still rebuilding his cognition of the Federation, then the two staff members standing at the shop door were also rebuilding their cognition of the Federation.

One of them is an immigrant, one is a local, both are ordinary people, and this is their first time collecting protection fees.

"Manager... are we sure we don't need to arrange someone to clean up for them?"

The local asked in a low voice on the side, "Even if it's just... doing a show at the door?"

The guy called "Manager" smiled and shook his head, "We are collecting protection fees, not real hygiene fees; you helping them clean up will only make a joke."

Both of them were silent; collecting protection fees so openly, and even establishing a company to collect it, is this appropriate?

The three walked to the next store, and he said while walking, "Don't worry that this matter is illegal; it meets all the requirements of the Federation laws, and we will also pay taxes normally, and we will also issue wages for you."

"As for whether we send people to clean up or not, it has no direct practical relationship with whether they pay or not."

"Now you are not familiar with it, so I brought you to collect it once; starting next month, you will collect it yourself."

"If someone doesn't pay..."

The three happened to walk outside the next store, and the owner had been waiting at the door early, with an expression of righteous indignation, "Who didn't pay?"

"Tell me, I'll go scold him!"

"Mr. Lanse is such a good philanthropist, and he actually doesn't appreciate it; we will drive him out of the Empire District!"

Saying that, the anger on his face turned into a smile, "How much do we need to pay here?"

The staff subconsciously looked at the notebook, "Five dollars, you hired an employee, you can reduce it by one dollar, it's also four dollars."

"Come, this is four dollars...", the owner had already prepared the money, and also packed two kraft paper bags, inside which were some cooked food, meat, etc., at least worth about one dollar.

"Just cooked this morning, taste it."

The leader said thank you, and took it, and even ate a piece in front of the owner, "Very delicious, the taste is very good, I will recommend it to friends."

The owner was overjoyed, "If your friends come over, I will give them a preferential price..."

Along the way, the two people were like opening a new world; almost all the shops paid the money very enthusiastically, and some would give them some small commodities.

Food, drink, or something else; this is the first time they have encountered this situation.

The people who paid the protection fees were so active, which was completely different from their understanding of society before!

Before, they heard that those who collected protection fees were evil people, and those who were collected protection fees were poor people, but the situation... how is it a bit different?

Their brains couldn't figure these out, but it didn't matter; as long as someone could figure it out.

However, there were also people who were unwilling to pay and cursed, saying that they had never paid before, and they would not pay in the future!

"Have the names of these people been recorded?"

Lanse sat behind the chair; he had just finished the phone call with Branch Chief Bulu. This money could be collected in at most three days. After collecting it, it would be about the 10th, and then he would issue another salary to the police according to the list submitted by the two districts.

It sounds unbelievable!

Gangs pay salaries to the police, but this is precisely one of the most bizarre "portraits" of this era, and there will be things even more bizarre than this!

In a period when the overall order of the country is not perfect, anything strange can happen; as long as it happens, it is reasonable.

Elvin nodded and said, "It has all been recorded. What do you plan to do?"

Lanse leaned back in the chair; he crossed his legs, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest, "The formulation of rules is not formulated to let a few people not follow them. I am not a good person, let alone a soft-hearted person. Since they don't follow our rules, let them follow them according to the rules."

Elvin was a little worried, "Will this cause some negative impact?"

"After all... they have also lived here for a long time, and they are Empire immigrants, with certain social relationships."

Lanse asked back, "Do these have anything to do with them not following my rules?"

"If everyone knows many people, they can not follow the rules, then what is the purpose and meaning of my setting these rules?"

"Don't worry about causing any unfavorable discussions about me; as long as we let people understand that the problem is not on our side!"

"Arrange some people to give them a lesson; you can give them a chance to regret, but only once!"

Elvin immediately understood, he understood where this scale was; he had to make them feel scared, and then let them pay the money.

As for those who are firmly unwilling to pay, they can only become negative teaching materials.

While speaking, the phone on Lanse's desk rang, and Elvin also stood up with the ringing of the phone, "I'm going to do things."

Lanse nodded and picked up the phone, "This is Lanse."

"It's me, Alberto. Just now Salifu called me and said that Bandi made an appointment with him to negotiate in the city center, and Rick too."

Lanse gave an "un-huh," "He wouldn't want us to ambush Rick on the way, would he?"

Alberto laughed, "I knew you could guess it."

"Is it really?", Lanse was also a little surprised, "I was guessing randomly."

Alberto explained, "He is worried that if Rick falls into a disadvantage, he will let Bandi increase his support for him, and he hired another batch of gunmen. This time we have not been able to get their meeting location and route."

"So in order to avoid being dragged on indefinitely, he decided to solve the problem once and for all."

Lanse thought for a while, "No problem is no problem; when, where, how do we act?"

"I'll come to find you in the afternoon."

In the afternoon, Alberto and Francisco came to Lanse's office; Francisco was still a little restrained, and apart from greeting, he didn't say anything to Lanse.

Alberto looked very relaxed; he sat in the chair, crossed his legs, "They made an appointment to negotiate at the Jincheng Century in two days; we will take action against Rick when he comes out."

"You send some people, we send some people, Salifu also sends some people; the people he sends will definitely be more than us."

Lanse thought for a while, "It sounds very reasonable; why did they suddenly want to negotiate again?"

Alberto shrugged, "Isn't it because Rick's son died and the bar was taken down?"

"I guess there is also Bandi's reason; didn't you notice?"

"Bandi has been very active in mediating the conflicts between us these two times; he is very concerned about this matter."

"I heard a piece of gossip, I don't know if it's true or false."

Lanse became a little interested; he opened the cigarette case and signaled Alberto to take one, and Francisco also took one on his own initiative.

Although he is only sixteen years old.

His pressure recently is also very great, the pressure inside the family, the pressure outside the family, and his father's revenge to be avenged; it is actually not an easy thing for him to be able to stabilize until now without collapsing.

Not everyone who is sixteen and has always lived a pampered life can be so stable when encountering sudden changes.

"There may be some personnel adjustments within the Likai State Social Party; you know, adjustments mean opportunities, and opportunities need money."

"Besides, the chaos in New Jincheng during this period has reduced their casino revenue a lot; they need to transport a large amount of benefits upward. It looks like they earned less, but in fact, the people above got less."

"Someone is urging them."

"I don't know if these news are true; they are all heard. But I think it's possible, because Bandi is indeed very active."

Lanse couldn't distinguish the truth from the false for a while; after all, he didn't have connections at this level.

Although he knows Tom and Senator Cleveland, he couldn't call to verify this kind of thing; it's not appropriate.

Lanse nodded, "Do I need to prepare a large truck?"

Hearing this, Alberto couldn't help laughing; after laughing for a while, he thought about it, "It's better to prepare; no one knows how things will develop..."

"I hope this time, we can solve this trouble once and for all."

Lanse nodded in agreement.

When they were preparing manpower, Rick was also preparing manpower; the new batch of gunmen would arrive tonight, and this batch of gunmen would all be used in the attack on Salifu.

His plan is actually similar to Salifu's plan; after they finish negotiating and come out, they will take action against Salifu.

Why not before the negotiation?

Because he didn't know where Salifu was coming from; only after he entered the hotel could he determine where he was.

As long as Salifu is settled, other people in his eyes are not a problem!

He is looking forward to the arrival of two days later more and more!