Chapter 211: Donation

……

On Wednesday morning, Li Mochen received a call from Cadillon Jebson. A large number of employees had left Sunrise Company, including at least a third of the newly recruited trainees, and even two old retainers left by his father. Two decoration companies had also terminated their contracts.

Li Mochen was helpless and powerless, only able to instruct Cadillon to continue recruiting to fill the gaps and hire new decoration companies.

His war with the Blood Hand Gang was now in full swing, raging fiercely. While he was doing his utmost to attack all of the Blood Hand Gang's assets, Antonio was equally relentless in his strikes against Li Mochen.

In just the three days since the war began, six of their stores had been set on fire, and the company headquarters and dormitories had been strafed with machine guns. If not for the initial formation of the security force led by Zhang Wei, and the help of Dwight Payton in arranging for patrol officers to be stationed around these stores, perhaps two stores would have been burned down and the headquarters bloodied.

Antonio's men even attempted to retaliate in kind, setting fires late Monday night and attacking their dormitory in the north of the city. Fortunately, Jeremy Burt detected it in advance, and Sampson Brut, upon receiving the news, decisively went to support, foiling the Blood Hand Gang's plot.

Thanks must go to Randall Cadilla of the North District Police Station. This inspector, whom Li Mochen had met at Angela's cocktail party, personally led a squad of SWAT to reinforce and repelled the gangsters.

Even so, Sampson Brut's men suffered seven casualties. The enemy had planned to attack a vital point to force a rescue and ambush reinforcements, but they miscalculated this new inspector of the North District Police Station. With the friendship from that cocktail party and Dwight Payton's patronage, this man supported Li Mochen without reservation.

Li Mochen did not hesitate. That same day, accompanied by Alisa Targaryen, he donated 1.5 million Golden Shields to the North District Police Mutual Aid Fund, then 3,000 Golden Shields to Prosecutor Richard Claire's campaign office, and 400,000 Golden Shields to the Atlanta North District Joint Public Security Action Committee. Finally, he also invested 1.6 million Golden Shields at the East District Police Station, only slightly less than the North District.

Additionally, under Dwight Payton's guidance, Li Mochen donated 115,000 Golden Shields each to at least seven city councilors.

According to American constitutional law, for government office campaigns like prosecutors, there are upper limits on individual political cash contributions. For a prosecutor position like Richard Claire's, the limit is three thousand, and for political parties, it's 15,000.

However, this system has long been a dead letter. Voters can use 'Political Action Committees' to bypass this restriction.

While Political Action Committees cannot directly give money to candidates for their use, they can buy advertisements on TV and in newspapers to publish biased political commentary, or host cocktail parties and fundraisers for candidates, or even donate to various charities, libraries, schools, and other institutions, using every means to boost the candidate's reputation.

Afterward, Li Mochen personally visited Ms. Isolt, the 'Comptroller' of Atlanta. She was very dissatisfied with the war between Li Mochen and Antonio, calling his actions absurd and destructive to the long-standing peace in Atlanta.

Then, just as Li Mochen was leaving in disappointment, this lady softened her stance, saying that she felt it was necessary to conduct a detailed audit of the East District Police Station's finances to see if there was any corruption or misappropriation of funds.

"You know, Andre, you're really absurd. It's like a lion cub that hasn't even grown teeth, provoking a jackal."

After seeing Li Mochen out, Ms. Isolt sighed slightly and said, "But your character reminds me of your father. For things he believed in, he often spared no expense."

Li Mochen could only smile awkwardly, thinking that this had nothing to do with Li Chunchu; Wenjian Taoran from the Primordial Boundary would have done the same. No one could touch the people or things he valued and walk away unscathed.

"But since you've already done this, do your best to win this war and knock down that Antonio. You have no retreat, Andre."

Ms. Isolt said this and pointed at Alisa Targaryen, who was following not far behind Li Mochen: "I must remind you to make good use of this girl's power. I know Angela Medici has special feelings for you, but in Atlanta, her help to you is limited. The Medici are high in the clouds, with a chasm-like distance from the bottom of society. But this Targaryen girl—her many cousins serve in the police department, about sixty or seventy? I can't count. Although few of them hold high positions, they occupy many mid-level posts and are the backbone and pillar of the Atlanta Police Department. If you can gain their support, then even if Antonio bribes the entire upper echelon of the police department, he won't be able to touch you. Understand? No matter what decisions are made, they need people to implement them."

"I understand."

Li Mochen's expression was solemn: "That's exactly what I'm doing now."

In fact, his purpose in having Alisa Targaryen come to help was precisely this. Over the past few days, he had participated in two Targaryen family banquets and spent nearly four million on these 'Targaryens.' All in cash, giving thirty thousand to a hundred thousand depending on their positions.

This might seem unnecessary—Sunrise Company's stores hadn't even opened yet, and their attacks on the Blood Hand Gang's assets didn't require police help—but Li Mochen had to consider the future. He didn't want to ruin his relationship with the Targaryen family.

The continuous war over these days had already caused complaints from the police department. The frequent call-outs and the endless string of violent incidents had put great pressure on the East District Police Station.

When Li Mochen appeared at these two Targaryen banquets, many people's faces were pale. But after Li Mochen generously threw money around, the situation improved significantly.

An old Targaryen who was an inspector, half-drunk, advised Li Mochen: "Keep going! Don't stop, kid. I'm optimistic about you. The Sampson Brut and Thompson Adams you brought in are both genius commanders from special forces. So far, they haven't let the FBI or the Major Crimes Unit catch any evidence. Even apart from the Craig Community Bank, you've already killed at least nine of his outlaws, making it impossible for him to do any business for five days straight, right? Do you know that our current chief, Mr. Ive Leder, is already at his wit's end?"

"You need to make the higher-ups realize that if Antonio doesn't fall, the Blood Hand Gang won't be able to do business, and this war engulfing the entire East District won't stop. Then you'll win, and everyone will be on your side. You know? Election season is about to start. The East District supervisors and the incumbent councilors will never allow this chaos to continue. They can only choose between you two. But they can't touch you, Andre."

"Damn it, ever since Antonio's position in the East District became more stable, they've been giving less and less money. To be honest, many people in the East District still hope to see that guy fall. Among all the gang leaders in the East District, he's the most unscrupulous and inhuman. Sometimes, there are vicious cases that we can't bear to look at, yet we can't do anything about him."

"Don't worry, whether it's your headquarters or the dormitory in the East District, leave it to us Targaryens. He won't be able to touch those two places."