When the three patrolmen passed through the street, several old men stood at the corner of the street with a slight frown, and one of them, a white-haired old man on crutches, stroked his pale goatee, and the corners of his eyes jumped.

"Look, I just said that the mayor is definitely not at ease, see? Now even the police have appeared, which shows that the city's law and order problems have threatened everyone's lives!" He is not the oldest, but he can also rank in the top ten, and he is known for his prestige on weekdays, and many people are willing to get closer to him.

In the park, he has about three acres of farmland, and this demolition plan will destroy his farmland, and he will naturally be unhappy. In fact, there are not a few people who take advantage of this kind of land and really regard it as their own, and no one has emphasized the problem of the park before, so there is no contradiction. But after Dühring's notice was issued, the contradictions arose, and they continued to intensify.

The purpose of these patrols was not to threaten the elderly who had taken up the common land, but to deter some of the fanatics who had come to the city of Otis from Namirinders. But the old man interpreted this discovery as another signal, and thought that Durin might be targeting himself. Who made his family background one of the best in this area, and who made himself have a certain prestige in this area?

That stupid mayor must be trying to intimidate the others by striking me, and I'm not going to let his plot succeed!

The old man pounded on the ground with his cane, "I can't let him go on like this again, once he really plans to bulldoze our park, what will we do then?", his cloudy eyes showed a green light, and he looked at the others with eyes full of pity, and then said nonchalantly: "I don't care, my child will mail me back ten yuan every week, and some canned meat and fish, enough for me to live well, but what do you do?"

His voice gradually became louder, and the number of people gathered on the street corner was a little larger, and many people surrounded him in the middle and listened to him, "Do you old bones still have to walk more than ten miles to open a wasteland outside the city? Even if you have the ability to walk over, can you do it? You have to walk so far every day, if you accidentally fall on the road, you will be like a stinky old man, have you considered the consequences?"

The old man called him a "stinky old man" was one of their neighbors, and the last time it rained, he went out to buy salt, stepped on the mud, and fell down. His family sent him to Namilindes, spent more than eighty dollars and then pulled it back, and died. The old man's family conditions are not good, he can't afford the expensive treatment, and because of his age, this fall is basically gone, and he is still lying in bed, unable to even sit up.

When talking about this guy, the onlookers showed a sad look, and at the same time felt that the old man was right, after all, everyone is old arms and legs, what if you fall?

The old man snorted softly, and pounded the ground with his cane again, and the slight chatter around him stopped, and everyone looked at him. He lifted his chin slightly, and said with an inherent arrogance, "We need to show the outsider the color, let him know that an outsider is not qualified to go wild in Odis!"

"And what do you say to do?", someone in the crowd shouted, which was the unique way Otis City handled things.

They don't rely on city halls, they don't rely on courts and judges, and there are no police here for a long time, so the elders of each neighborhood are like the little emperors of each block, with high prestige and a certain amount of "executive" power.

"Of course, let him understand that the Otis people are definitely not easy to mess with!", the old man waved his cane, said follow me, and led everyone in the other direction.

Meanwhile, in the mayor's parlor at the town hall, Durin meets with the Namirinders businessman who has come to discuss cooperation, to be precise, the boss of Sally, a middle-aged man named Edgar.

This Mr. Edgar looked well-dressed and personable, like a gentleman more than the leader of a smuggling ring. The weather wasn't cool today, and he wore a gray suit, one hand tucked at his waist, the other tightly clasped with Durin's hand, and he was slightly bent over. He had a humble smile on his face, not at all the arrogance of a smuggler, like a businessman or a politician.

Durin took him by the hand and pressed his arm to lead him into the living room, where some of the broken sofas and missing coffee tables made it look a little unsatisfactory. But neither Durin nor Edgar paid any attention to this, and they sat directly on either side of the coffee table, facing each other.

"Mr. Doolin, we had already heard of your reputation before you came to Otis City!", Edgar was very good at talking, and he appropriately released a sigh and a hint of jealousy, "To be honest, I never thought that a young man like you, a young man as young as you, could break into such a big reputation, but when I saw you, it was now, I believe it!"

Half of what this guy says is true and half is false. It was really that he had indeed heard of Durin's name, after all, he had swept through more than fifty city moonshine markets and established a very stable sea smuggling channel of his own, which was simply shocking! His methods, his wrists and his style all made people feel that he was strong, and everyone thought that this guy was not a good person to get along with.

As for the fake, it was his compliment to Durin, a man in his forties who was accustomed to the wind and rain, especially those who did his business, saw and heard much more than ordinary people. Surprised, but definitely not as surprised as he appeared.

In the early years, Derek's gang was invincible, and Derek himself was similar to Doolin, and that guy's fame spread abroad, and in the end, it wasn't because of arrogance and lawlessness that he was wiped out by the army?

In Edgar's opinion, fame is a good thing, a certain amount of fame is enough, if the fame is too big, it can only cause disaster!

Durin waved his hand and crossed his legs with a smile, "Mr. Edgar's praise has made me a little embarrassed, I just helped some people find their way to go, that's all." He paused and directly started today's topic, "This time, let Ms. Saili invite you over, there are some words that are inconvenient for people to convey." You know, sometimes different tones and contexts can lead to very different interpretations. ”

Edgar nodded, this is not Durin nonsense, like the word bastard, sometimes close people will call each other bastard at some point, this is not swearing or offensive language, but a very affectionate title. But if it's two people who have nothing to do with and are still very strangers, and suddenly someone says a bastard, it must be a provocation.

"I heard from Ms. Cylie that you have some ideas about special taxes?", Durin glanced towards the door of the living room, and Dover walked in with two cups of coffee, and then stood in the corner against the wall, he withdrew his gaze and continued, "You want a lower tax rate, do you?"

Edgar actually doesn't like to say something to the officials, guess me and guess, he is straightforward in this line of work, and if he says something ambiguous during the negotiation, maybe the other party will think that you want to eat black. So he nodded, and then expressed his opinion, "Mr. Dulin, I asked the lawyer to check, the empire does levy fifty to ninety percent taxes in special industries, and I am very grateful that you can give us the lowest tax point." ”

"I think you should also know that, after all, you have also done this business, and the cost of our transportation is actually very high, and the income plummets after paying taxes, which may be a very troublesome thing for us! We have a lot of people to feed, and we need to do some other business, so I wonder if we can change the name a little and strip our smuggled moonshine from the special tax collection project?"

Edgar was embarrassed for Durin to say something impossible, but he didn't expect Durin to say that there was a way, so that he was stunned for a moment, "You mean...... Can you?", even he couldn't help but have a smile on his face. He didn't need Dulin to cut too much, even if it was a thirty-five percent tax, he was satisfied.

Durin nodded and said, "Yes, I actually think that it is possible to remove moonshine from the special tax collection list by some small means, and I will give you a very preferential levy, but what can you give me in return?", he shook his shoulder, this action is actually not good-looking, but it gives people a very special momentum when he does it, "Money, I believe I will not have less than what you have." Right, now that I'm mayor, I can go somewhere else with a little operation. Or is it prestige?"

"Mr. Edgar, I believe that all you can give is what I am not lacking. The question is back to square one, I can give you what you want, but what can you give me, or how are you going to convince me?"

Durin's words caused Edgar to fall silent, yes, whether it was money, power, fame and prestige, Durin already had it. Even the biggest money launderer in the empire can speak for Durin, and you can imagine how much money Dulin fed them to pull these neutral guys to his side. So what can he bring to Doolin?