Chapter 809: Family Iron Law

Mero was handling some work that was originally meant for Lansi to handle.

If Elvin was the number two person in the Lansi family, then Mero was the number three.

He wasn't as dazzling as other high-level cadres. In fact, many people would ignore this guy at first; he didn't like standing in front of people, just standing quietly in a corner.

But he was a reliable person, steady, introverted, and careful, so Lansi often smiled and called him the "Family General Manager."

His ability was much stronger than people imagined, and he was also older in the family, with rich experience.

So when Lansi and Elvin were not around, it was Mero who was responsible for the operation of the family.

His voice was gentle, unhurried, without the ostentation that young people could project through their voices.

"This matter should follow Lansi's wishes first. If it doesn't work..." The phone on the table suddenly rang. He paused, then handed the document to the person in front of him. "If it doesn't work, tell me again, and I will contact Lansi."

The person opposite the desk nodded, took the document, and left the room sensibly. After the door closed, Mero picked up the phone. "This is Wanli Company."

Externally, they were all from "Wanli Company" or "Wanli Group." The voice of the State Police Department Director from the neighboring state came through the receiver. "Hello, I want to speak with Mr. Lansi."

"Mr. Lansi is busy and cannot answer your call for the time being. You can leave your name, number, and why you are making this call. After Mr. Lansi returns, I will convey it to him."

The Director was silent for a while. He reported his name and number. "I have some more private matters that I can only tell Mr. Lansi, so... I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

Mero, who was recording the number, looked at this strange number that was not from this state. He seemed to understand something. "This is a number from Denuo State."

The Director thought that perhaps the person answering the phone had some friendship with Lansi, so he added, "There might be some misunderstanding between us, and I hope to communicate with Lansi to resolve this misunderstanding, so please."

Mero didn't refuse. "I will tell Mr. Lansi, but I cannot guarantee you how he will do it."

"Besides this, is there anything else?"

The Director shook his head. "No, sir, nothing else."

Mero said with a smile, "Good luck, sir."

"You too."

He put down the phone, smiled, and dialed the number left by Elvin.

Elvin was already waiting for Lansi. Lansi's train would arrive in the middle of the night today. With enough money spent, the speed of the train had been increased to the maximum, and there were only a few carriages for them.

The people at the railway company liked to serve Lansi; Lansi gave a lot, and there was a lot of business, and he wasn't arrogant or unreasonable.

This was unlike some idiots who felt they had a little money and would do this or that, always trying to find fault with them.

Lansi was so gentlemanly that he didn't look like a gangster at all!

They were also willing to run faster.

So at this time, Lansi hadn't arrived yet, and the one answering the phone was still Elvin. "Has Lansi arrived?"

"No, not yet, it will take a few hours. What's wrong?", Elvin looked at the time on his wrist; they had agreed to arrive between eight and nine in the evening.

Mero replied, "Nothing!"

"Someone wants to talk to Lansi. He left a phone number and name. It should be from your side."

"Have you already taken action?"

Hearing this, Elvin knew a little bit. "Yes, we have taken action and caught the mastermind, but it's a bit troublesome to know what to do now."

Mero was one of their own, and a core character, so Elvin didn't hide anything and briefly explained it.

Mero couldn't provide more suggestions for this, and he didn't think this problem could stump Lansi, so his focus was still on Lansi's safety.

"I'm at home, I will handle everything, you don't have to worry."

"You have to put your energy into Lansi's safety. Anyone can have an accident, but he cannot!"

The deeper meaning of this sentence was that Elvin could have an accident, but only Lansi, absolutely could not have an accident.

The whole family didn't say it completely relied on Lansi, but as long as Lansi fell, the Lansi family would disintegrate.

The reason was simple: it wasn't that they couldn't find someone brave enough to fight and kill, nor was it that they couldn't find someone smart enough, but that the person they found couldn't be brave enough to fight and kill while also being very smart.

And they couldn't find someone who could achieve absolute mastery over the development of some things, nor could they find someone who could build relationships with Congress.

So Lansi couldn't have an accident.

Elvin said "um," "Don't worry, I guarantee he won't have an accident."

After hanging up the phone, he returned to the window. The sky outside began to darken gradually. It was still a few hours before Lansi arrived here.

These few hours were also agonizing.

The State Police Department Director sat in his office, staring at the phone that had no movement, thinking about how much black material Sheriff Ma Xiu had that was related to him.

Sheriff Ma Xiu, honestly, was a "clever person." He would also send a portion of his illegal income to the Director.

In the whole state, dozens of sub-stations, even if these sub-stations could only send two hundred dollars a month, his monthly income would be several thousand to ten thousand.

A year would be seventy or eighty thousand, over a hundred thousand.

Were there clean police officers in this era?

Yes!

There would always be some people with spiritual cleanliness who were unwilling to be in the same boat as others, unwilling to take black money, unwilling to frame good people and release bad people after taking black money to help others.

But these people in this era absolutely could not reach the level of Police Department Director, sub-station Director, or Sheriff.

The reason was simple: the time the Federation was established, the time the Federation moved from barbarism to civilization, was still too short!

How many years had it been since the slave liberation movement ended?

For young people, there might not be too much feeling, but for those older people, in their past lives, they represented lawlessness!

And these people, just happened to be at the age or stage of holding power now. Their lifelong habits would not change because of the progress of society.

Like the mountain-topism that was a big problem in the Federation now, these states were controlled by some families, and there was a possibility of breaking away from the federal government at any time.

Do you expect that within these states, federal law, or secular morality, can play a role in regulating the behavior of officials?

Obviously impossible!

People cannot be selfless, and the ruling class also has things they like and dislike. No ruling class can achieve absolute fairness, even God has children he likes and children he doesn't like, let alone people.

So a group of people similar to them, who were liked by them, became the ruling class, so the people below naturally were all such people.

Perhaps in the Forest Police Department, you could find those fair police officers.

But in the city, no one could do that.

The Director thought, if the scandal was exposed, he would also be implicated. He looked at the phone; now the only thought was that this Mr. Lansi could communicate better to avoid this terrible situation.

At the highway sub-station, Sheriff Ma Xiu also sat on a chair, also looking at the phone. He hoped and feared it would ring.

He hoped he could hear the Director tell him that everything was resolved.

He feared hearing the Director tell him that he was finished.

Just sitting, he was constantly sweating. He suddenly thought of some suspects they had caught. They sat in the interrogation room, even if you didn't ask them, didn't interrogate them, didn't do anything.

They just sat, and they would sweat all over and be restless, just like him at this very moment.

As for the core of everything, Lansi.

He was sitting on the train reading the latest newspaper, "Federal Post." The newspaper claimed that the two neighbors to the north of the Federation also seemed to have become restless recently.

Lansi's expression was still a bit serious.

The Federation was not the only country on this land. There were four other countries in the north, and all countries together divided this land.

It was just that the federal people and these neighbors had always maintained a very good relationship. The developed Federation always aided them, which also led to many people from these neighbors running to the Federation to live.

According to reason, the war in another "world" would not affect the situation here, but recently there had indeed been some problems in the north.

The two countries bordering the Federation began to increase the crackdown on illegal border crossings. Before, the federal government had actually mentioned it to them, that too many illegal immigrants from their side crossed the border through various means to work in the Federation.

Considering that society as a whole was still developing upwards and needed cheap labor, the federal government turned a blind eye.

As for the two governments saying they would manage it, they had never really managed it.

After all, letting citizens smuggle into more developed countries to work and earn money, and then come back to consume, was a good thing; they wouldn't stop it.

But now they began to strengthen the management of the border line, which was actually not a good thing.

If it was in non-war times, this was a good thing, but now it was war time.

Since the "Federal Post" published this report, it meant that they also felt something wrong, and even the old men in Congress felt something wrong.

It was just that how wrong this wrong was, people didn't know yet.

Terrible world!

This was Lansi's evaluation. He put down the newspaper, and the dining car was ready for dinner.

No matter how terrible this world was, as long as he held money, held power, had people, and had guns, it definitely wouldn't be too terrible!

After finishing dinner, Lansi lay on the bed and rested for a while. When he woke up again, he had arrived at the New Jincheng station.

The train slowly entered the station. With a "chi" sound, the whole station was shrouded in steam, just like a fairyland.

After a while, the steam was blown away by the whistling wind, and the people in the carriage came out. They first cleared the platform, and then Lansi came out of the carriage.

Elvin was also on the platform. He walked over and hugged Lansi, followed by others, but most were handshakes.

The group carried large boxes and small boxes and walked outside. While walking, Elvin said, "Mero called in the evening. Someone here wants to contact you. The other party left a phone number and a name."

He gave the small card recording these things to Lansi. Lansi took a look and didn't recognize it.

"Who is this?"

"State Police Department Director.", Elvin replied.

Facing Lansi's confused gaze, he explained, "I asked Clara...", he looked at Lansi's eyebrows grabbing together, seemingly having no impression of this name, so he explained, "It's Bolton's wife, that young girl."

Lansi showed a sudden realization expression. "I actually know this name, but I can never remember it. You remind me and I remember it."

A small character, even a name that couldn't be counted as a small character, he didn't take it to heart at all, just remembering "something-la," anyway, when he needed to know, someone would remind him.

"Does she know?"

"Not her, it's her cousin's family. They don't know who this name belongs to."

"Then I asked the State Police Department officer we caught, and he told me this is their Director's name, should be."

Lansi emphasized the tone on a keyword. "Should be!"

Elvin shrugged. "That's what he said, and I have no way to verify it here..."

He actually also asked the leader of the local Imperial gang, and they didn't know either.

This was actually not strange. This was like someone suddenly asking you who the official of a certain department of the provincial government was.

Unless it was someone who cared very much about these people and these things, otherwise who would care about the name of someone who had absolutely no interest relationship with them and would not have contact?

Lansi nodded. "It seems they are a bit anxious."

The group left the station. The train arrived in New Jincheng a little earlier than expected.

If they were going out from the Jincheng station now, it would definitely still be a bit lively, but here it looked very deserted, although there were also some people lingering here.

They saw such a large group of people dressed uniformly coming out, and subconsciously avoided their eyes, not wanting to cause trouble.

But in the night, under the streetlights, that flash of bright red was also deeply imprinted in their minds.

Elvin got some buses over, otherwise they couldn't fit so many people. Nowadays, they didn't have any aversion to buses.

The atmosphere of the Lansi family was good in this point. Under Lansi's leadership, they never felt they were superior, so they must take a small car.

Small cars could be taken, buses could also be taken, even if they were made to run, they didn't have any problems.

Elvin had rented all the vacant villas around the villa area. The development of New Jincheng was very slow, and there were many vacant houses in the villa area.

These houses were all affiliated with the real estate company. Hearing that someone was willing to rent, the real estate company didn't care what these houses would be used for. Getting money was the real benefit.

Elvin specially prepared a villa for Lansi. Because he had slept before, Lansi was not sleepy or tired.

After he simply washed up, he sat in the living room, picked up the phone, and dialed this number.

So late, he didn't know if there was anyone on the other end of the phone, but Lansi believed that there must be someone on the other side.

The fact was indeed as he guessed. After the phone rang for a while, it was answered.

"Mr. Lansi?"

"Yes, it's me."

Lansi really called. The Director didn't know what to say for a moment. He was silent for more than ten seconds, seemingly thinking about how to open his mouth.

Before he opened his mouth, Lansi first heard a sound of gasping. "I'm very sorry that we are communicating under these circumstances. I only found out today that my subordinates accidentally intercepted your commodity transportation."

"Accidentally?", Lansi emphasized the tone on this word. "We have twenty or so good hands here, plus the driver. This is not something that can be explained by accident."

"If we only had one car and one driver here, and you intercepted it, I could accept your explanation."

"But you killed twenty or so people and hid two million in goods. This is not an accident; this is intentional, Mr. Director."

The Director clearly wanted to resolve this matter peacefully. "Mr. Lansi, we are willing to compensate. You set the conditions."

"How about it, let this matter end here."

Lansi was a bit surprised by the State Police Department Director's initiative to lower his posture. However, if he could resolve all troubles without taking action, he was also supportive.

This could also sell the other party a face, and there could be a series of cooperation later.

The Lika Lai State Police Department Director cooperated well with him, and it had a very obvious effect on monopolizing road smuggling in the state.

Lansi thought for a while. "First, this batch of goods, how much it is, how much it is. Spit out the money to me, or spit out the goods to me."

"Then, hand over everyone who planned and participated in this incident to me for handling, including that Sheriff Ma Xiu and his subordinates."

If it were Lanse's previous demands, the Director might still have been able to agree; he roughly knew how much of a fortune Sheriff Ma Xiu had, and at the same time, he knew that this batch of alcohol itself could be sold for quite a lot of money.

Now that someone has come knocking, there is no need to be secretive; they can deal directly with those bars, and he himself wouldn't even need to pay much out of pocket.

But the second demand, he had no way to agree to.

Once Ma Xiu is handed over, or even if there is just the thought of it, if Ma Xiu finds out, it is very likely to trigger a series of problems.

At the same time, his own authority would also be challenged; just because of a conflict, he hands over his own subordinate—how would others view him?

One must know, he has dozens of branch bureaus and dozens of sheriffs under him; he can sit securely in his position today not only because he has someone above him, but also because he has people below supporting him.

What is the thing that this type of administrative position fears most?

It is being rendered a figurehead!

He pondered for a while, "Mr. Lanse, this demand is slightly... I have no way to help him agree to it, can we change to another one?"

"For example, I help you vent your anger, break one of his arms, or a leg?"

Lanse said in a very calm tone, "I have lost dozens of brothers!"

"A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, blood for blood—this is the iron law of the Lanse family; there is no room for negotiation on this point!"

(End of chapter)