Shadow Empire

Chapter 445: Bad News Early in the Morning

Early in the morning, when it was still light, Luca suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while.

It is difficult to fall asleep when something is on his mind. In fact, he has woken up twice in the middle of the night and went back to sleep, but he always felt restless.

He was a little flustered, but also a little excited.

Not everyone has the opportunity to cheat the Liji Group in this life. The Liji Group does not have a good reputation in the Lawrence family.

When they tried to use the channel to blackmail the family, some conflicts broke out between the two sides.

So he had no psychological burden in doing this, except for being a little afraid.

After all, a large farmer family, no matter how powerful it is, is just a large farmer.

The Liji Group is already a successful and mature capital, and each capital is like a boat.

Some boats are smaller and not only can they not knock people away, they may also capsize themselves.

But there are also some ships that will be crushed by an iceberg, not to mention people trying to stop them!

He got up from the bed. The strange thing was that although he should not have had enough rest time, for some reason, he did not feel tired and was full of energy.

After a simple wash, he came to the restaurant, made himself some milk chocolate cereal, and picked up the newspaper he had just brought back.

Before the Shengnong Festival, the main topic discussed on "Today's Jingang" was still the kidnapping case, but after only three or four days, before the Shengnong Festival, it seemed to have lost its popularity.

People are still discussing it, and its influence is expanding outward, but for some reason, it gives people the feeling that there is nothing to discuss.

In fact, this feeling comes from the quick "detective" work. The final conclusion has been made, and the good and bad people, good things and bad things have been separated like a textbook, so naturally there is no hot topic for discussion.

People might care about where the missing teenagers are, but that's not much to talk about.

We can't all sit together and ask each other questions like "Where do you think so-and-so was sold to?"
Compared to these topics, it is more attractive if those who should be responsible take their responsibilities and the bad guys are punished.

On the contrary, the situation in the Dantra Republic has continued to deteriorate recently. The Secretary of State has started negotiations with Ambassador Dantra, and I heard that the negotiation process is not so friendly.

Chewing hard cereal loops while enjoying the unique taste and sweetness of sweet milk, chocolate and cereal loops, this is one of the favorite breakfasts of federal people.

He was like an office worker, eating breakfast while caring about national affairs, then packed up his things and returned to the bedroom.

After changing into a neat outfit, he took a deep breath in front of the mirror, picked up his briefcase and left home.

His target was the Liji Group office.

At eight o'clock, the staff of Liji Group have arrived at the dock. They will have a "work list" telling them what they are going to do here today.

Basically, it's opening the warehouse and shipping things out, or opening the warehouse and loading things in.

The workers briefly glanced at the list and began assigning work.

These tasks also require the assistance of dock workers. After they get enough workers from the dock management company, they start working.

The moment the huge warehouse door was opened, the expression of the person standing by the door changed.

Because a burst of heat surged out of the warehouse, accompanied by some indescribable damp grass smell.

He stared at the changes in the warehouse, and his mouth, like the warehouse door that kept opening, became bigger and bigger and couldn't close.

A green hill!

The moment the light entered the dark warehouse, a mountain of sprouting wheat appeared in front of him. His mouth opened so wide that it was about to dislocate, and his thoughts stopped at this moment!
He suddenly lowered his head and took a look at the delivery note in his hand. It said "wheat" instead of "malt".

Wheat refers to unhulled wheat grains, while the hulled ones are "wheat kernels". After he confirmed the items on the delivery note again and again, he felt the urge to urinate.

He ran to another huge warehouse like crazy, urging the workers to open the warehouse door, then the third, and the fourth.

Seven or eight minutes later, there was a knock on the door of the general manager's office inside the Liji Group building.

The general manager was reading a newspaper. There was a plate and a coaster on the table. He held the newspaper in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

He had breakfast in the office, and his secretary would prepare the food and coffee for him, which was much more convenient than preparing it at home.

He was also well aware of some of the secretary's little thoughts. That's how the federal workplace is, full of personal connections and relationships.

If anyone thinks that these things will not happen to them in the federal workplace, it must be because they have no value and cannot create value.

"Come in."

The petite blonde secretary leaned her upper body in. She was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and looked a little silly.

"The call from the dock said there's something they need to talk to you about in person. It's on Line 1."

The general manager put down his coffee cup and said, "Thank you for the coffee, it's delicious!" He smiled slightly, then motioned for the other party to go out. At the same time, he picked up the phone and pressed the button for Line 1.

"what's up?"

"Something serious has happened. Millions of tons of wheat have sprouted in four warehouses!"

The general manager didn't react at first. "Can't we just remove the sprouted wheat?"

"Why do you have to call me to answer such a simple question in person?"

He even found it a little funny!
In fact, there are sometimes some abnormal situations in the process of transporting and storing these crops.

For example, it is normal that due to poor management, there are leaks and drips on the site, which may cause some crops to sprout.

If we remove this part of the crops or simply mix them in, no one will be able to detect it.

He didn't think he had to deal with such a small matter himself. He wanted to hang up the phone, but the person on the other end of the phone quickly added, "I mean, they have all sprouted."

"All... have sprouted?" The general manager laughed twice, "Are you kidding me?"

"Honestly, you made me laugh, but the joke wasn't very funny."

The smile on his face began to fade gradually, because he knew that this call was most likely not a joke to him.

"You'd better come and see for yourself!"

He hung up the phone and then brought it up again, "Please arrange a car for me. I need to go to the dock warehouse immediately!"

Five minutes later, a luxury car stopped at the company gate, and the general manager got into the car after coming out of the elevator.

About ten minutes later, the car stopped outside the warehouse.

When he got out of the car, he found that there were already a lot of people gathered outside the warehouse.

Seeing the car, the staff in charge of the case hurried over with a pale face.

He wanted to say something, but the general manager glared at him back, then pushed through the crowd and stood outside the main entrance of the warehouse.

A green mountain of wheat. His face looked even worse. He strode over and grabbed a handful of sprouted wheat without pulling it.

After pulling hard, he pulled out a small handful. He looked around, found a shovel, and started shoveling the wheat hill.

The air at the seaside is very humid, and it is possible that only the surface is damp, he comforted himself, although he had already made some judgments.

As the area being dug deeper and deeper, the situation inside was just as bad!
Either it has sprouted or it shows signs of mildew. All this wheat is useless!
He threw away the shovel, looked at the sweaty worker beside him, and took a deep breath, "What's wrong with all this wheat?"

The staff immediately handed over the delivery note and said, "These are to be delivered to customers today. I came here in advance to check and load the goods in advance."

"But I didn't expect..."

I didn't expect that they were all fucking green!

The general manager's temples were throbbing.

Even if his wife cheated on him, he wouldn't be so angry. It's nothing more than changing a woman, and it doesn't cost much. But here is two million dollars of wheat, all sprouted and moldy!

How could the company be willing to accept such a huge loss?

His eyes were a little straight, maybe he was in trouble!

The head office was not satisfied with some of his work results, especially the grape trade, which caused the company to lose more than two million yuan in profit.

It's not that they lost more than two million, but that they earned less than two million. They started to discuss whether the general manager was capable of continuing to sit in this position.

Fortunately, his connections in the head office suppressed some of the negative impacts. After all, who could have thought that the price of grapes would rise so quickly and so outrageously?

If that problem can still be suppressed, then this problem probably cannot be suppressed!

Moreover, it is not just a matter of two million tons of wheat sprouting and mildewing, it is also about the issue of liquidated damages.

Double the penalty.

His expression became a little subtle. This approach...

"Let someone deal with these wheat first and see if there is anything that can be salvaged."

"I will report to my superiors. This kind of thing is not something I can decide."

After returning to the company, he immediately called the manager who signed the contract.

"Tell me about the process of how you signed this contract, including the details."

The manager received a lot of commission from this contract, which was obviously a happy thing.

But when the general manager said this at this moment, my heart suddenly skipped a beat and I began to repeat the entire signing process with a little uneasiness.

"You said he took the initiative to talk about the issue of liquidated damages?"

The manager nodded quickly, "Yes, he proposed to increase the penalty to constrain our trading behavior."

"I told him that our Liji Group would not do anything that would damage our business reputation, but Mr. Luther thought that only liquidated damages could truly constrain us from breaching the contract."

“And he accepted our 25 percent deposit requirement and an offer price slightly above the market.”

"Because the other party wanted it in a hurry, the selling price was increased by 7% compared to the normal price."

If the goods are arranged normally, it may not be Mr. Luther's turn to pick up the goods until November.

But after he raised the price, the company was willing to give him priority in ordering goods. This is the power of money!
Even though 7% may not seem like a lot, it is actually pure profit, which is already amazing for a relatively low-profit product like agricultural products!
Their gross profit is only 20 to 30 percent, so this is equivalent to directly increasing their net profit by 50 percent or even more.

The female manager added, "The entire contract signing process supervisor is also aware of it and has consulted the head office."

After listening to the case, the general manager felt that this case was inexplicably similar to ordinary penalty cases.

Although he had no evidence, he just felt that the same group of people might be behind this.

And the reason is simple: revenge.

Although they delivered the grapes and did not recover much of their losses, that was because the other party was a bank!

He learned through some channels that the bank made a profit of about 1.2 million in the grape case. In other words, this was the loss of the other party.

If they deliver the grapes as per the contract, either spot or direct settlement, the money should belong to the buyer.

Could it be them?

Use this method to make up for the losses?
He wasn't sure.

At this time, the female manager watched him fall into thought for a while, and couldn't help but ask softly, "What's wrong with this contract?"

This is related to her commission. For an order of two million, she can get at least five thousand yuan in commission, which is a huge sum of money!
The general manager came back to his senses and looked at her. "The wheat has sprouted."

The female manager breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could say what she had said to the general manager on the phone, the general manager added, "All of it!"

Just when the female manager was so shocked by the news that she was speechless, the phone suddenly rang again.

The general manager picked up the phone, it was a call from the dock.

"There is a Mr. Luther who has the bill of lading and the contract and wants to pick up the goods now..."

The feeling that the whole thing was a conspiracy became stronger and stronger. The general manager asked the female manager to go to the dock to talk to the customer first, while he himself would report the matter to the head office.

Liji Group Headquarters is just like most industry monopoly companies: rude, barbaric, and arrogant!
In the company lobby, you can see a scene that other companies cannot see. It’s a spectacular scene!
A large number of staff members were holding phones and talking in impolite tones. Most of the people on the other end of the phone were farmers who had complaints about them or called to curse them.

The Liji Group used its channel advantage to force farmers to sign unequal settlement agreements with them. But even so, when there were major price fluctuations, they would not hesitate to tear up the unfair contracts and demand more profits!

When a group company grows to a certain size, they will face many lawsuits.

The cost of litigation will be the same as the cost of industrial production. As the volume continues to increase, the cost will continue to decrease!
They directly hired a large number of lawyers to fight the lawsuit for them. Whether there is a lawsuit or not, the money will be the same. They don’t care about winning or losing, they just want to drag it out!
For farmers, do not sign unequal terms with them.

Agricultural products will rot in the fields.

If you sign those unequal terms with them, then they can only make a meager profit.

There is almost no other good way except cursing them and complaining about them!
They are just like those insurance companies, making money unscrupulously.

But this also fits with what the saying goes: when you let go of your conscience, you can earn more!

The vice president is checking out the latest yacht quotes; his previous yacht is a bit old, and he plans to trade it for a bigger, newer one.

He picked up the phone casually, "What's the matter?"

The general manager recounted what had happened, and his expression gradually became serious.

Sprouted wheat is easy to deal with. There is a way to squeeze out its value through industrial means.

Whether it is making maltose and then trying to disguise it as honey, or reprocessing it into wheat products such as Cheerios and selling them, they have channels.

As one of the largest agricultural product distributors, Liji Group has very close cooperation with many agricultural product processors. This is an entire industry and industrial chain, and they have long had corresponding emergency measures.

What really caused trouble was the double penalty of four million.

"Try to appease the customer and tell him that we will transfer another batch of wheat from other places."

The general manager's voice came from the receiver, "What if, I mean, the other party disagrees and sues us for liquidated damages?"

The vice president frowned. Who the hell would go against them?
But it is also possible, no, it is very likely that this will happen.

Because forcing the other party to breach the contract and then filing a lawsuit to obtain liquidated damages is also a way for capital to make money, and it is faster, more, and simpler!
If you sell a commodity worth one hundred yuan for two hundred yuan at retail, it may seem like you have made a 100% profit, but this also includes various transportation costs, warehousing costs, sales costs, etc.

But if you sue the other party for breach of contract and make them pay you two hundred dollars directly, that's pure fucking profit!
“If the other party insists on resolving the issue with us through litigation, then we will fight them and keep dragging it out.”

The vice president sneered, "I don't believe that there is anyone in the Federation who can fight against us!"

Of course, this is just an exaggeration. In fact, there are many capital groups and political groups that can fight against them. However, in his opinion, they cannot fight against this small trouble in front of them.

The general manager poured cold water on him again, "What if, I mean, what if this person solves it through the bank?"

"They transfer the debt to the bank. As long as they give the bank enough benefits, I believe any bank will be willing to accept this deal."

"Even some capital groups are willing to do so. After all, this money can be taken away anytime and anywhere by capable people or organizations!"

Whether it is a bank or one of the large capital groups, it is not difficult for them to get the money back from the Liji Group.

Just like the last case, when they learned that the creditor had become a bank, they simply gave up resistance and paid the money.

But this also reminded the vice president of that case, "You mean, they are the same group of people?"

(End of this chapter)