Chapter 996: Confrontation

Lans's "arrogant" words weren't really arrogant.

The federal system is like this. The power of the governor is indeed very great. He can determine the future development and direction of a state and can formulate many policy-related contents for this state.

But they cannot manage local administrative orders.

Within the scope of the city, it is still the mayor who is respected. This is the mayor system.

They decided everything in the city when they were mayors.

So does this mean that the governor absolutely has no way to control a city?

Actually, it's not completely like this. They can find ways to let the State Legislature pass an investigation team for local officials, and then dismiss the mayor in other ways that comply with federal and local laws and policies, and then support a mayor who listens to the governor, thereby achieving the purpose of indirectly controlling the city.

But doing so is not an easy thing. This relates to many political games.

If the governor wants to dismiss whoever he wants to dismiss, this country is already finished.

Including the mayors that Governor Wei De wanted to deal with who didn't support him before, the biggest limit he could reach was threatening to investigate whether they existed criminal behavior, and then forcing them to negotiate with him.

Everyone in the Federation carries various sins from the moment they are born, so no one can withstand an investigation.

More or less, problems can be found on them.

But as long as it's not a very serious problem, it's also very difficult for the governor to get a mayor off work.

The governor of Denuozhou before didn't like Wei De, who was mayor, very much. Even if the confrontation between him and the deputy governor had affected the order of this state, he could only ask the two not to continue to confront each other, rather than doing some other more radical means, because he couldn't do it.

The "market" that Governor Wei De mentioned to Lans before that could allow him to obtain more, or even monopolize the liquor smuggling market of Denuozhou to a certain extent, didn't mean he could handle those mayors who were not right with him or replace them.

It just let the police, state police, and these law enforcement departments pretend not to see their behavior of selling and transporting liquor.

If he wanted to deal with Lans, he would at most let the state police and local police continue to keep an eye on Lans and the liquor he sold.

As for the mayors in various places, he had no way at all, so Lans wasn't very afraid of him.

"I remember we still have some materials in our hands," Lans used a knife and fork to stir the remaining beef. The meat juice inside was pink, and it was clearly not roasted through.

"Roast it again, this is too raw."

Someone immediately took this beef out to re-roast it. Lans picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. "If he can be honest, we will do nothing. If he can't be honest, then give him some color to see."

Backed by Senator Cleveland, and also holding some black materials in his hand, Lans wasn't afraid of him at all.

Elvin sat on the side and asked softly, "Then do we continue to ship?"

Lans lit a cigarette. Eating something made his stomach have goods, and at this time, he especially wanted to light a cigarette.

Accompanied by the smoke being inhaled into the lung lobes and then slowly exhaled, he relaxed a lot. "Why not continue to ship?"

"Not only must we ship, but we must also prepare to increase the 'output' because we have more markets."

After a while, they brought the re-roasted beef in. Lans ate some more before going to sleep.

The next morning, he took the initiative to visit the Mayor of New Birmingham.

The Mayor of New Birmingham and Lans have a good relationship, otherwise the Lans family wouldn't have taken root here in New Birmingham. This mayor is a friend of Governor Wei De, and their relationship is still good.

Lans and the Mayor of New Birmingham know each other, also introduced by Governor Wei De.

This city used to be very quiet, until the Lans family came here, it started to become lively, and has a greater development prospect.

Seeing Lans, this "angel" who is truly radiating golden light and symbolizing wealth and strength, arrive, the mayor took the initiative to welcome him at the gate of the city government.

This is the status of "capital" in this country. As long as you can bring more fiscal revenue and job positions here, the mayor is just an ordinary person in front of you.

Because there are quite a few staff members in the city hall, the two didn't have any substantial exchanges on the way to the mayor's office, just chatting about some ordinary things that happened recently.

After entering the mayor's office, the two sat on both sides of the desk. Lans picked up the coffee and took a small sip before saying, "I went to see Wei De yesterday."

The mayor pursed his lips and nodded. "I heard."

"Met and talked about some things, but the result wasn't good."

The mayor didn't speak, just listened quietly.

Lans took another small sip of coffee. The coffee is quite good. It is the kind of slightly dark-roasted coffee he likes. The fragrance of oil completely permeates from the coffee beans, and the dense taste makes people like it.

He put the coffee back on the table. "He wants too much."

The mayor showed some curious expressions. "May I ask, how much does he want?"

Lans curled his lips. "Twenty percent."

When the mayor heard this number, he couldn't help but disagree with Lans's point of view. "It is indeed a lot. I think five percent or ten percent is a very appropriate number."

"I didn't expect him to ask for so much!"

This is obviously a mayor with good math. He can calculate that the dividend of five percent is also significantly higher than what he could get before. Governor Wei De is also a person who has been to university. Even if his math grades are not good, he should understand this truth.

So in the final analysis, it is still too greedy.

Lans smiled and shook his head. "If he could have your level, then we wouldn't be so unhappy."

A smile appeared on the mayor's face. Lans blew him a small, calm compliment, but he enjoyed such a calm compliment, which could make his body and mind become pleasant.

"If I were him, I would definitely agree, but I am not him, Lans."

"If you hope I can persuade him, I think it's completely unlikely, because I definitely can't persuade him."

"To say a more... direct sentence, he is not a local of Denuozhou, and our relationship hasn't reached the point where I can influence his trade-offs involving millions of interests." "So I'm sorry, I can't help you with anything."

Lans smiled and explained, "The purpose of my visit to you is not to let you help with this matter. I just want to tell you that no matter how the changes between Wei De and me are, our transactions will not terminate."

"The share of sales in the city will not change in any way. How much you should get, you still get how much money. Everything is the same as in the past."

The Mayor of New Birmingham had some more sincere smiles on his face. "This is indeed good news!"

He said and paused. "Lans, don't worry. As long as I am still in this position, I can ensure that in this city, except for the Contraband Administration, no other law enforcers will find trouble for you."

He just finished saying it and added a sentence, "The Federal Tax Bureau doesn't count."

The federal government's original starting point for tax collection was an annual income of one thousand dollars. Ninety percent of people couldn't get this income. Although there is a tax bureau, the scale is not very large.

The number of people who can afford to pay taxes in a city is just a small handful. They don't need to have many staff members to take care of it.

But as the starting point now drops to the level of "having income," even if it is a cent, it must be reported for tax. The situation facing the tax bureau will only become more complex, so Congress has passed some acts and is continuously strengthening the actual collection ability of the local tax bureau.

After all, a considerable part of the taxes they collect will enter the federal government's finance, and then it is local finance.

They are also given great power, even the mayor doesn't want to deal with them.

The mayor is full of confidence in controlling this city. When Wei De is there, and when he is not there, the only voice in this city is the mayor, not the governor or anyone else.

At the same time, he also understood Lans's meaning, shaking off Governor Wei De to contact these mayors alone. After all, they are the "frontline commanders."

For Lans's response measures, the mayor can only express that it is indeed very sharp. In such a short time, he found a "balance point."

The governor cannot directly interfere with the city's administrative affairs.

The mayor is very surprised by some of Lans's decisions. Few such young people find a "balance point" in such a short time.

At the same time, he also made a corresponding statement. "I just changed a new car and plan to change a villa, so you don't have to worry at all, Lans. I will stand on your side!"

Although he didn't say what car, wanting to change such a villa, these things are definitely not cheap.

It is impossible for him to save this money by himself, so this money can only be obtained from other places, and he doesn't feel distressed when using it.

If Lans doesn't do it, this will make him lose a large sum of money, and his dream of a luxury house will also be broken. All his beautiful drawings for the future will be void!

He doesn't allow such things to happen!

This is also his true thought in his heart, because the money that can be earned from these illegal businesses is really too much!

Lans keenly captured a word he used in the process of speaking just now—"local."

The lethality of the word "local" is still very great in this era. This means that even if Governor Wei De is governor now, some cities and some mayors locally can completely ignore him.

As long as you don't ignore him, the governor is just a display.

"Some of you don't like Wei De?" Lans took the initiative to ask.

This looks like an interrogative sentence, but in fact, it is an affirmative sentence. Lans can almost be sure that quite a few people don't like Wei De. Perhaps these people can also become his help.

The mayor nodded and didn't hide this. "State government, State Legislature, there are many people inside who don't like outsiders, unless you come from Jin State."

Lans laughed twice. This is obviously a small joke with a bit of black irony.

In the Federation, there will also be regional discrimination, just like those who engage in finance look down on those who engage in factories, or northerners will look down on southerners, and places with outstanding development will look down on places with backward development.

Almost every country will have some similar things. People living in Jin State, as the core of the Federation, will feel that they are superior to others. Even if he is a beggar, he thinks so.

This is perhaps another feature of the Federation—the local group.

Perhaps because they are not truly "locals," they will be more fanatical about their obsession with "locals" than people in other countries.

Visiting the Mayor of New Birmingham is just the first step. Afterward, Lans and Elvin separated to visit other mayors and talk to them about this matter.

The gubernatorial election has ended, and the victory of Governor Wei De has made some mayors who were originally in the "election hostile camp" worry in their hearts. They worry that because of the previous "unfriendliness," they and their cities will be treated differently.

The mayor has to be re-elected in two years, so these mayors who were not in the same trench as Lans are also willing to accept Lans's offer.

No matter whether they can be re-elected in two years, or whether they want to go to other places, having money in their pockets is ultimately not wrong.

For several days in a row, Lans didn't contact Governor Wei De, which made Governor Wei De a bit unable to sit still.

He started to actively inquire about Lans's movements. After his cousin staff inquired, he told Governor Wei De the truth—

Lans ran away overnight, and it was also heard that he was contacting mayors everywhere.

Hearing this result was beyond Governor Wei De's expectation, but it was also in his reason. After all, what he asked for was a large sum of money. Even if it were him, he would actually be reluctant.

It's just that he didn't expect Lans's reaction to be so fast, so rapid, and so... intense!

"Help me contact Gold Standard Liquor, let someone who can make the decision come to talk to me."

Governor Wei De didn't feel very disappointed either. Since Lans didn't want to "strengthen cooperation" with him, he would do it himself.

Soon he received a call from the new president of Gold Standard Liquor. "Governor, they said you want to find me to talk?"

Governor Wei De didn't go around in circles with him, straight to the point. "I heard that Gold Standard Liquor was destroyed by a big fire some time ago."

The newly appointed president didn't know how to answer this question and kept silent.

Governor Wei De didn't delay time either. He said whatever he wanted to say.

"Do you have any plans to accept investment?"

Before the president of Gold Standard Liquor refused, Governor Wei De added, "My personal investment." ===== CHAPTER 997 =====