My Manor

"Let's talk inside!" After chatting with a few people, Jiang Hai raised his hand and spoke to them. Hearing his words, everyone didn't say much but followed Jiang Hai into the house. As for the two dogs and the big horse, Jiang Hai let them play. Compared to Xiao Bai and Xiao Xia, who went to play directly, Xiao Huang hesitated for a moment. Though it went to play, it didn't go far, staying by the door in case anything happened, so it could go in and help Jiang Hai immediately.

Of course, no one knew that it was thinking like this, but Jiang Hai vaguely felt that this dog was truly loyal. He was comforted by that thought.

The group walked into Jiang Hai's villa and went straight to the living room without going anywhere else.

Jiang Hai personally went to the wine cabinet to get some drinks. After asking, Moses Adams wanted red wine, while the girl with him only asked for orange juice. The old man, like Jiang Hai, requested a can of beer. As for the driver, he didn't dare to drink while driving, so he also asked for a soft drink.

"I'm here mainly to report to you about the progress of the lawsuit..." After everyone sat down, Moses Adams took a bag from the girl beside him. He opened it, revealing some documents inside. He took out a stack of papers and handed them to Jiang Hai. Although Jiang Hai had been possessed by the dragon spirit and his IQ had increased, he was still generally unwilling to learn. If it concerned his manor, he would calm down and take a look, but for matters like this, he couldn't focus. He just glanced through it briefly.

The documents mostly covered the convictions of those involved. Moses Adams had prosecuted them on four charges: attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, extortion, and malicious wounding. Three of these charges were upheld in court: attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, and extortion. As for malicious wounding, it wasn't substantiated, since the victims were only moderately injured.

However, the sentences for the three confirmed charges were not light. The leader was Faraday Wilson, and another person named Romund Dury. These two were sentenced to 76 months in prison, or six years and four months. The rest of the people received sentences of more than five years. Honestly, Jiang Hai felt the sentences were a bit light.

However, Jiang Hai's opinion didn't matter. It was merely his subjective feeling. If he were to judge, these people had tried to kill him, and he wouldn't have thought twice about shooting them. Unfortunately, the four charges mentioned above couldn't be formally established.

The charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, and extortion were serious, so even though Jiang Hai felt dissatisfied, it had to be this way. What could he do? Bribe people to have these guys killed in prison?

Jiang Hai thought about it, but it was just a fleeting thought. He had just arrived and was unfamiliar with the place. He wasn't prepared to land himself in jail over this, which would be too costly.

"The second thing is the lawsuit against the police. Due to the circumstances, we can't deal with the state and city police departments directly, so we're focusing on the county police. The officer who blackmailed you has also been arrested. He's expected to be sentenced to about three years. His superior is the deputy director of the police department, who will likely be sentenced to about three years as well..." Moses Adams said while exchanging a look with the old man beside him. The old man stood up immediately.

"Mr. Jiang Hai, hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Morris Smith, and I am the director of the Winthrop Police Department. I've visited you before, but you didn't see me. This time, I humbly asked Mr. Moses Adams to bring me here, just to ask if we can consider this matter closed?" The old man said sincerely. Jiang Hai frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"What do the top leaders of this country mean by that?" Ignoring the old man, Jiang Hai turned to Moses Adams.

"Except for these two officers, all others will be dismissed and reassigned," Moses Adams replied seriously. The police in the United States are divided into three levels: federal, state, and city or county. The federal and state police exercise powers granted by the federal government and individual states, respectively. Below the state level, police departments are governed by local governments.

In other words, apart from federal law enforcement, the state police, city police, county police, and even private security guards are not under federal control. They answer only to local governments. Unless a case is significant, no one can control anyone else. This system is similar to the relationship between the president and state governors. While the president is elected by the people of the entire country, the governor is elected by the people of a specific state. In legal terms, both hold equal authority.

Initially, the case had attracted attention from federal forces, as it was an international scandal, but once it was confirmed that it wouldn't escalate to an international level, the matter was transferred to the state government. After investigating, the state found that the issue was local and related only to the Winthrop Town Police Department. Normally, such cases would be handled at the local level.

However, Jiang Hai's status as a wealthy man made his case different. The state government decided to show him some favor and replace the offending officers.

"Please, let's consider this over. To put it simply, this matter is the personal wrongdoing of those two officers and has nothing to do with anyone else. If they are reassigned, it will mark a black spot on their resumes, making it difficult for them to find future employment." The old man spoke with urgency, clearly hoping to settle the issue.

"Why should I let it go? You know very well these people were bribed, right? If I were without money or power, they would have bribed me, and I would have deserved it. But who did I offend? This time, I'm teaching them a lesson. You need to be more careful about those around you. Don't assume that if it's not your business, you can just ignore it. You'll be punished for it."

If Jiang Hai were a saint, he might have softened his heart when seeing the old man plead like this, but unfortunately, he wasn't. While not a bad person, he wasn't a saint either.

He didn't believe no one knew about the bribes within the police department. They must have known, but since they didn't speak up, they had to be prepared to bear the consequences.

What's forgiveness when you can? What's making a mountain out of a molehill? What's sympathy? Jiang Hai thought.

Why didn't these people have sympathy for others before? Why didn't they care when others suffered? Now that they were in trouble, they wanted others to sympathize with them? That wasn't going to happen in Jiang Hai's case.

The old man's face fell slightly, realizing that Jiang Hai, although a little harsh, wasn't wrong. This was the responsibility of the individuals involved, and he had nothing further to argue.

"Boss, take a look at this first..." Seeing that the situation had become tense, Moses Adams took a piece of paper from the end of the stack of documents and handed it to Jiang Hai. Although Jiang Hai was still angry, when he saw the contents of the paper, he was stunned. On it was a letter of intent.

The letter, issued by the town of Winthrop, expressed support for Jiang Hai's local business. It proposed exempting him from 0.2% of the annual land use tax, meaning he would only need to pay 1% in the future. Additionally, when Jiang Hai purchased livestock, fish, fish feed, and cattle feed, he could receive a 1.3% government subsidy.

This meant Jiang Hai would receive a subsidy of 260,000 yuan for the 20 million yuan he spent on cattle, and his land use tax would decrease from 330,000 to 280,000 yuan annually. Together, these measures would save him around 1 million yuan each year.

Jiang Hai understood this letter was likely just a draft, but it reflected the town's intent to smooth over the situation. If he pushed too hard, he might forfeit these benefits.

After a few minutes of hesitation, Jiang Hai handed the letter back to Moses Adams, who smiled, knowing that Jiang Hai had come to a decision.

"Since the two officers have been arrested, we can consider this matter closed. I won't require their resignations. I hear you're about to retire, so let's leave it at that. However, I reserve the right to pursue further action if necessary. I'm sure you understand what I mean."