No one thought that the gang gathering initiated by the Jewish gang with the three major forces in the southeast city to sanction the recent crimes committed by the patrol team led by Zhang Heng could now be forgotten.
Those who were waiting to see the patrol team were all dumbfounded.
They all thought that Zhang Heng must have fed magical potions to Lockheed and forced him to obey his order. In the end, the three major forces fully recognized the territory that the patrol team took over recently, including Soap’s gang and the anti-patrol alliance. The Jewish gang also nodded and showed everyone that they allowed the patrol team to carry on with whatever they were doing right now. In other words, they had now approved their existence in this place. Soap and others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard what Lockheed said.
Other than that, the three major forces did not prevent the patrol team from expanding their territory in the southeastern city. However, they did agree on only hiring a maximum of 120 patrol members. A lot of gang leaders were taken aback when they heard the number. Although 120 members constituted a medium-sized gang, this would undeniably be a nightmare for all the street gangs except for the three major forces with the patrol team’s nature.
Fortunately, Lockheed did put the emotions of the other small and medium gang leaders into consideration. To make sure that everyone was happy with the decision he made, he reached a series of agreements with Zhang Heng. From now on, the patrol team’s power would be restricted. Unlike before, where they could just find an excuse to raid a gang, Lockheed promised everyone that something like this would not happen again. The patrol team would resume their duties to maintain law and order in the neighborhood.
Of course, considering the special circumstances of the southeast urban area, almost every gang was involved in some criminal activity. The patrol team couldn’t catch all of them. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that the patrol team was there to deal with some sudden or relatively vicious crimes. At the same time, the gangs around the area would need to provide them with assistance if the patrol team asked for their help.
In addition, from now on, all the gangs had to ensure order on their respective territories. Once the chaos reached a certain level and affected the lives of ordinary people around the area, the patrol team would intervene to deal with the situation.
The purpose of this particular rule was to let Zhang Heng brush up on his political achievements. However, no one knew that Lockheed had already wanted to implement such a rule quite some time ago. As we all knew, Lockheed came from the bottom society, and no one knew the bottom society’s life better than him. All this while, he had always wanted to do something for the people that were living here. A man with his position was required to consider all the possibilities and consequences whenever he wanted to make an important decision. Sometimes, it was inappropriate for a man like him to carry out a certain task. Since he was now working with Zhang Heng, he might make use of the patrol team to achieve something that he wanted to do for a long time.
…
In the short span of half an hour, Zhang Heng and Lockheed argued about a series of important issues. They were testing each other’s bottom line, each showing their points of argument, and at the same time, they compromised with each other’s request. In the eyes of ordinary people, such a scene would be somewhat dull because this was not a fist-to-fist fight. But for those who could look at a bigger picture, this negotiation was far more exciting than the battle on the street.
Lockheed, the uncrowned king of the southeast city, had held onto the dominating role firmly since he spoke the first word. He said a lot, but every word uttered from his mouth proved a strong point. And at the same time, he kept applying pressure on Zhang Heng’s shoulders.
The boss of the Golden Crown had known him for a long time, and he cooperated with him very well. Their biggest advantage was that they knew the southeast city very well. Besides, Beehive was constantly feeding them with information. It allowed the two old men to gain the upper hand in the negotiation.
But what surprised Lockheed was that Zhang Heng had never allowed himself to fall to the disadvantageous side, whether it was the way he acted in front of everyone or the content they debated on.
He was alone in a place surrounded by many enemies yet still managed to maintain his calm from beginning to end. His confidence level and the way he talked gave Lockheed the impression that this couldn’t be his first time dealing with something like this. However, when he was reminded of his age, Lockheed thought that his deduction was ridiculous.
Lockheed remembered when he was as old as Zhang Heng, he was just a nobody in the Jewish gang. Whenever he saw the leader of the Jewish gang from a distance, his legs would tremble. However, Zhang Heng managed to respond to them calmly and confidently.
On the other hand, it was not easy for Zhang Heng to handle something like this. Although he had done a lot of preparation work earlier, he still realized that he had underestimated the legend of the southeast city.
Lockheed was more difficult to deal with than he thought. So Zhang Heng also realized that his previous plan to integrate all the southeast city forces might change. Although he could easily replace Lockheed, that would mean that he had to spend more energy and time in the southeast city.
This time, the situation was different from that of Black Sail. At that time, Zhang Heng was trying to stay alive when he announced that he wanted to retrieve Jackdaw and attempted to become the King of Nassau. But this time, he had to put more energy into learning. His main goal was to visit the library containing all kinds of classic assassin books.
The southeast city was just a transition to him. Even if he wanted to grow his power here, Zhang Heng did not want to invest too much of his resources and energy in this matter. Hence, he was willing to accept Lockheed’s proposal and seek a stable coexistence with multiple parties.
However, Zhang Heng would not reveal his true intention prematurely in the negotiation. On the contrary, he still adopted a rather offensive approach in the argument, especially when he realized that Lockheed was willing to meet him because he hoped to find a new political ally. After they wanted him to eliminate the blood-sucking nobles for the Jewish Gang, Zhang Heng found out that he had more bargaining chips than before.
So the negotiation between the two became more intense.
When Lockheed and Zhang Heng reached an agreement on the final issue, the old man held up a glass of wine. “Although you are an outsider, I have to say you just as competitive as the people that are born and bred here. And you are eager to grasp on to everything in front of you.”
Zhang Heng to a drink to that. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s both a good and a bad thing. It depends on how you look at it. If I can be twenty years younger, I might want to fight with you longer. And I will not limit that to negotiation only.” Lockheed drank his glass of wine and stood up from his seat with the help of his granddaughter.
Golden Crown, on the other side, stood up as well.
Lockheed put down the empty wine glass, “Next, let’s hand over the time to the young people. For more specific details, you can talk to my granddaughter. Old men like us will not bother you anymore.”
After Lockheed finished speaking, he walked up the stairs with the Golden Crown boss and the waiter next to him. He was, after all, an old man. Although he showed his domineering side during the negotiation just now, in the end, he could not hide the fact that age had taken a toll on him. When everything was set in stone, he did not have the energy to wrestle with Zhang Heng on the details anymore.
