Shadow Empire

Chapter 182 Who is harming me?
The ringing of the phone disturbed Mr. Jobaf who was sleeping. The mayor had a party last night and he was invited to attend.

Among the people who came were several representatives of the state's society. The mayor told him privately that these gentlemen not only had a say at the meeting, but also had a very high status.

Many people, especially those at the bottom of the federal government, refer to themselves as senators, congressmen, or speakers of the House of Representatives.

It seems that in their eyes, politicians in a city or a state are not taken seriously.

But Mr. Jobaf knew that was because people at the bottom only knew what some of the top officials were doing and who they were, but they had no idea about those in the middle.

They don't know who the Senate President is, or who the Speaker of the House is. They may not even know who the Lieutenant Governor is, let alone the first and second chiefs of various departments.

But it is these people who are actually not well known by most people, but they are the ones who truly control the pulse of a state or a city and truly determine the fate of the people.

Just like Mr. President, he cannot decide whether an ordinary person can live a happy life, but the mayor and the governor, they can.

It is these representatives who can decide who is qualified to sit in these important positions.

Although the federal government is also actively promoting the implementation of the right to vote, there is no climate for individual candidates to run for office, at least for now.

These people whose names might not even appear in the newspapers were, in some ways, more important than the mayor, so he had no reason to refuse.

He had never had such an opportunity before, and it was impossible for him to have such an opportunity, so he cherished it very much.

Naturally, he invested more than 5,000 yuan and covered all the expenses of the party. It was his honor and what he should do.

The more than five thousand yuan was already one of the smallest expenses he had ever spent since he joined the mayor. He even felt it was a little unreal - just let me go like this?

It's no wonder he feels this way, when he joins the mayor's small group as a "banker", he takes on the job of an extra money bag.

The mayor doesn't run a business himself and doesn't accept bribes, so how could he have any money?

As for political donations?
That money obviously shouldn't be used for private eating, drinking and entertainment. The mayor is a principled man, but he is very grateful to his banker friend named Jobaf.

This banker friend always generously helped him solve all the problems that could only be solved with money, and never asked for anything in return.

The mayor was so moved by this sincere friendship that he would invite Mr. Jobaf to any event he organized.

When they exchanged business cards at the party yesterday, he could feel that those people still didn't take him seriously. He didn't find it strange because he was now what Lance called a "chicken lady", and you can't take a chick seriously.

Unless, one day, he is no longer the person who pays the mayor, and has a higher status and greater influence.

This is also what he has been actively pursuing. He plans to set up an Imperial Struggle Fund, select some federal people who are actively working to realize their social value from the entire federation every year, award them bonuses, and publicize their deeds.

The people of the Federation will certainly like this kind of thing very much. They will like anything that helps to govern and stabilize.

He had actually discussed this matter with the mayor privately, but not so formally. The mayor was very interested after listening and asked him to come up with a plan.

This move will not only help him better integrate into the local and even social and political circles, but also help him gain great influence among the imperial immigrants.

Win-win.

In a dream not long ago, he dreamed that he was invited to the Presidential Palace to give a speech, and the title was "I come from the empire, but I have a federal dream." He stood on the podium and gave an impassioned speech, and even the President and the bigwigs in Congress stood up and applauded him.

But he couldn't hear clearly what he said. Those people in the audience were so fucking annoying. Couldn't their applause be a little quieter?
In this way, he could copy down his speech in his dream, so he wouldn't have to rack his brains to compile it again.

Just when he was about to reach the peak of his life, the phone rang in his dream. Everyone stopped moving suddenly and looked at the bedside table that had appeared next to him at some point.

There was an enamel telephone, and the sudden silence in the lecture hall made him feel scared and a little angry, because this might be a highlight moment that he would never truly realize in his life!

At this moment, Meng was awakened by the ringing of the phone. He was a little crazy, but still opened his eyes.

The bed head was beautiful, the curtains looked nice too, but for some reason, he just wasn't happy about it.

He leaned on his elbows to sit on the bedside, glanced at the phone, and picked it up, "This is Qiaobaf..."

"Master, it's me. We may have encountered some trouble..."

The assistant was standing in a public telephone booth outside the gate of "Jinda Bank". Jinda Bank was a bank in Jingang City and only had a certain influence in the Imperial District.

Because this bank belongs to the imperial banker Mr. Jobaf, no matter whether you have a legal federal identity or not, as long as you are an imperial citizen, you can open an anonymous account in this bank and deposit money into it.

Of course they also provide check services, but more people do not accept it, so basically they only provide cash deposits, withdrawals and loans.

Because Mr. Jobaf has a great influence among the imperial people in Jingang City, many people trust him very much and think he is the "light of the empire", so they deposit their money here.

The accumulation of a large amount of funds made it easy for him to make money with money. Some people also said that he was secretly laundering money for some imperial nobles, but no one knew whether it was true.

Now, there is actually a queue in front of this bank, which usually doesn't have too many people.

Listening to the assistant's familiar voice, Mr. Jobaf held the receiver between his shoulders and rubbed his hands in his eye sockets.

After he rubbed off some of the eye boogers that irritated his hands, he stretched lazily and turned around to sit on the edge of the bed. He was not actually too worried.

Because he is no longer the same person he was before.

Even those who have some ability and want to provoke him have to think about whether they can withstand the mayor's wrath.

"So why are you waking me up before 8 o'clock?"

Even though he felt that the assistant did have a bit of a solemn vibe to him, he had been like this ever since his nephew died, so he really didn't think anything serious would happen.

Until the assistant said the following words -

"Master, there's a possibility of a bank run!"

Mr. Jobaf was still considering whether to take a nap a second ago. He had nothing to do today, it was still early, and he was still a little sleepy.

But the next second, he was so scared that he stood up suddenly, and his skin began to heat up and he even started to sweat!

His expression changed from helplessness to fear, and he quickly walked to the window with the phone in hand and looked at the street outside.

The house is some distance from the road, but you can still see some of it, just some!
It didn't look like anything big was happening on the street, and he was a little confused, "What happened? Why was there a run? Was it because there were too many people?"

His voice was already a little unsteady. Once a run on money breaks out, it cannot be contained.

This is human nature. When we see fire, we hide; when we see food, we eat.

When bad things happen they will try to avoid them, and bank bankruptcy is obviously the worst thing that can happen!
In fact, not to mention that bank capital operations are unhealthy, even healthy banks cannot withstand bank runs during this period!
He knows the situation in the bank better than anyone else. He can't really keep the depositors' money in the bank forever, otherwise he will lose a lot of money.

So about sixty to seventy percent of the money here is not in the bank. It is loaned out in the form of loans to earn interest, which also includes but is not limited to investment, buying real estate at low prices, buying gold and buying federal bonds and the like.

If the bank run is only on a small scale, he can handle it easily by urgently transferring money from other banks.

But I’m afraid that someone is manipulating this matter behind the scenes!

While he was getting dressed, he dialed the mayor's number.

Compared to when he was sleeping just now, the mayor is already working.

Recently, Mr. Jobaf has been working very hard to show his value to everyone, and the mayor's attitude towards him has also softened a lot. After all, he has "extorted" nearly four or five hundred thousand yuan from Mr. Jobaf.

Of course, this money is not completely gone. Instead, Mr. Jobaf invested in infrastructure to thank Jingang City for giving him a place to live.

According to those people, these investments will pay off in 20 to 30 years.

But 20 or 30 years later…whether these hundreds of thousands are still worth so much is another matter. In addition to some other investments that are not part of urban construction, the mayor's attitude towards him is still good.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" The mayor put down his pen. In addition to taking a look at the current development of Jingang City, the state representative also wanted to get a feel for the elections that would begin in various parts of the state at the end of the year.

They have always had a good dominance in the state, but they cannot let their guard down in the election. They must better understand the choices of grassroots voters in the election.

Sometimes elections are like a tug-of-war, and it is often not the overall strength of the two teams that determines the outcome.

After all, they can all stand on the same field for the final, and the strength of both sides must be very close. At this time, if we only consider the average strength of both sides, it is obviously impossible to truly predict the correct result.

Because in a evenly matched competition, what determines who will win in the end is never the difference in overall strength.

But which side made the mistake first?
As Jingang City is a relatively important city, observing the election sentiment of voters here is also a top priority.

Of course, there may be some expenses incurred during this process, tens of thousands of yuan, or more.

Of course he couldn't pay for it himself, but he wouldn't let Mr. Jobaf pay it all by himself, after all, there were other people who were willing to pay.

But at least Mr. Jobaf will have to come up with about thirty-five thousand dollars, not counting yesterday's expenses.

No one can be indifferent to the future 35,000 yuan, not even the mayor, and 35,000 yuan is just the beginning, there is still a long way to go in the future.

Mr. Jobaf's voice was slightly anxious. "I don't know if anyone was doing anything, but there was a run on the bank and I was just about to get there."

"I need some help with the precinct. I'm worried there might be a conflict."

The mayor frowned. "Is the situation serious?"

Mr. Jobaf said as he cleaned himself up, "I'm not sure. I'll let you know once I figure out the situation."

After hanging up the phone, the mayor frowned and called the city police department, "Where's Charlie?"

"Not here?"

"There may have been some malicious bank runs and riots at Jinda Bank in the Imperial District. You and the Imperial District Branch should arrange for people to go there to maintain order and understand Mr. Qiaobaf's demands."

He did not ask them to listen to Mr. Jobaf, as this was not what a mayor should say, but he did say that they should understand the other party's demands, which was actually very clear.

Soon, the blaring sound of police sirens on the street pierced the morning tranquility of the Imperial District. Four or five police cars gathered in the cold wind and finally stopped outside the entrance of Jinda Bank.

The crowd in line, which had been relatively quiet, suddenly became agitated.

The disadvantaged imperial people will instinctively feel fear when they see these policemen. These are not policemen from civilized countries, they are federal policemen!

Mr. Jobaf had just arrived and saw Blue, but he didn't know the police chief sent by the city police department. Fortunately, Blue introduced him to him.

During this time, some people also greeted Mr. Qiaobafu, but he just responded with a forced smile, which made others reluctant to come over, and there were police officers around him.

The three of them then entered the bank and lined up from the main door to the counter. There were only three counters here, and they were all occupied.

When the assistant saw Mr. Jobaf, he took the initiative to open the security door of the counter and let them in.

"What's going on?" As soon as he came in, he pulled his assistant to the corner.

The assistant shook his head. "I don't know for sure, but I asked a few people and they said they needed the money urgently."

"Urgent?"

"How urgent can it be? There are so many people!"

He looked outside again and said, "Find a way to make them not have to queue so long. This will easily cause panic among others. Let them come in different time periods!"

As he said this, he looked at Chief Blue and the police chief from the city police department and said, "You two should take a break. Maybe we can solve the problem here soon."

He went to the safe, opened it, and personally pushed out a cart of money.

The cart was actually not very big, and there was a tray on it, which was full of money.

This amount of money seems to be a lot, but if someone counts it carefully, there is only about three or four hundred thousand.

But the visual impact it brings to people is definitely much stronger than its actual numbers!

"I need your help!" said Mr. Jobaf, and Chief of Blue and the Sheriff would definitely not refuse.

Soon, people in the queue saw Mr. Jobaf himself coming out pushing a cart of money. He told everyone who came to withdraw money that there was enough money.

Even if they all take it away, it doesn’t matter.

But considering the weather was so cold, he was worried that everyone would be cold, so he invited everyone to a nearby cafe for a drink and two donuts.

"My treat!"

Those who were already somewhat tempted were tempted again when they heard that they could get a free cup of coffee and free donuts. For these not-so-rich people, they became more interested.

Mr. Jobaf breathed a sigh of relief when the first old woman in a knitted hat walked out of the line with a smile on her face.

"Once you have filled your stomach and warmed up your body, I will arrange for staff to come find you."

"You don't need to wait in the cold!"

"Mr. Jobaf, you are such a kind and generous man!"

The people in the queue started to move. Mr. Jobaf quickly asked the staff to send them to a nearby coffee shop and told the boss to keep the bill first, as he would settle the bill before twelve o'clock.

Soon, the people queuing up on the street to withdraw money disappeared, but in order to avoid similar incidents from happening again, Jobaf asked his assistants to do everything according to the current practices.

Anyone who comes to withdraw money, unless they can get it immediately, let them go to a nearby cafe first.

Mr. Jobaf, who has been in the banking business for decades, knows very well that once a panic occurs, it will be too late!

His business scope is only in the Imperial District. It won’t take long for people from here to come over and he will be dead!
Even though he would lose a small amount of money now, it would not cause the bank to close. Besides, compared to the appetite of the mayor and his people, this amount of money did not hurt him at all!
"Very clever trick, Mr. Jobaf!" the police chief from the city police station praised. "Since you have solved the problem here, can I go back to work?"

"Today is the official working day of the Tobacco, Alcohol and Hazardous Substances Administration, so we are a bit busy..."

"But Blue will stay here and continue to assist you, right?"

Right? I said to Blue, who nodded repeatedly, "I'm not going anywhere until this problem is solved."

Mr. Jobaf nodded, stretched out his hand and shook hands with the other party. "Thank you for the trip. If you are free in the evening, we can have something to eat together."

The sheriff smiled and refused, "We are very busy this week, so..."

"There's always a chance!" Mr. Jobaf added.

Soon they drove away, leaving Chief Blue alone.

They actually knew each other before. In the past, when Mr. Jobaf faced Blue, he didn't feel that the other party was superior to him, but he was still a little afraid of trouble.

Now, he doesn't have that feeling anymore.

"Would you like to go have a drink and get some coffee and food for your colleagues..."

(End of this chapter)