Shadow Empire

Chapter 642: Difficulties are always plentiful and those who can solve them
Time always flies quickly. In a blink of an eye, it is already November. The weather has turned completely cold, and Mayor Williams has completely taken over the city hall.

The former mayor did not run for mayor, nor did he run for mayor anywhere else, nor did he seek any nomination from the Socialist Party.

In simple terms, he is unemployed.

Having lost the opportunity to work in the federal government, he is now just an ordinary federal citizen.

Of course he still had a job in the party, so after completely handing over his power and some documents, he left for Maintenon.

They arranged a job for him that was very suitable for him - senior consultant to the Socialist Party History Research Institute.

He could receive a salary of 83 yuan from the Socialist Party every month, plus other subsidies totaling just over 100 yuan.

His job was to study the history of the Federation and the history of the Socialist Party, and then try to find opinions and evidence such as "The Socialist Party is the savior of the Federal people" and put them forward at work meetings.

Perhaps one day in the future there will be a conflict in public opinion between the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party or the Federal Party. Then these Socialist Party History Research Associations in various places will be able to put forward some of their views to criticize the views of other political parties.

You can't say his work was meaningless, at least... he created one employed person, reduced one unemployed person, and provided a negligible change to the federal happiness index.

Mayor Williams took full control of the city and quickly replaced all the officials promoted by the previous mayor.

No matter whether it is done well or not.

Politics is never about right or wrong, nor does it matter whether someone is outstanding or mediocre.

Politics only looks at camps and positions.

With Mayor Williams taking office, one thing everyone has been discussing recently is the new urban circle.

Lance was also reading the newspaper in his hand. It had been reported for many days in a row that the urban circle would expand westward by about fifteen kilometers.

The plan has been finalized after internal discussions and then submitted to the state government for approval by the state legislature.

Because of the expansion, construction and the like behind this matter, Mayor Williams plans to get some financial help from the state treasury.

This requires the state legislature to pass his urban expansion proposal so that they can give some money.

Through some simple means, he had already found out that the city's expansion had been approved. After all, there was a military base here, and the population was continuing to expand. The governor, if he wasn't a fool, would know what to do.

At the federal government level, Congress is the top governing body, with even the president below them.

But in a state, the governor is the final ruler who makes the final decision on everything, and the state legislature will refer to the governor's opinion when making a choice on a case.

The more powerful the governor, the greater the control over the state legislature.

Likalai is OK.

So the latest report is about the city’s expansion plan, and the Jingang City Hall has started public bidding.

The city needs to expand, and many areas may need to face adjustments. The expanded areas need to be leveled and divided into blocks, and then the infrastructure construction will be completed and then the roads will be paved.

Finally, those businessmen can invest in the construction of high-rise buildings, or various apartments and living communities.

This is related to some future changes in Jingang City, and the locals are very concerned about it.

At the same time, the newspaper mentioned that in order to quickly build new homes, bidding and recruitment have begun.

"Big project!" Lance put down the newspaper. Patricia was cooking breakfast for him in the restaurant.

They still live in the manor, which has many different houses. If anyone needs it, they can build a house on a vacant lot at any time.

Lance's house is behind the main building, a stand-alone small building hidden in the vegetation. There are many such small buildings nearby, some of which are also inhabited.

Lance used to live in a big house and it was very lively, but now that he is married, he needs a more private environment.

Patricia pinched her waist and looked at the breakfast that she couldn't handle. Finally, she used her ultimate move, "Lance, I don't think I can handle this!"

There are some things you would never know if you weren't married, like Patricia didn't know how to cook.

Logically speaking, Emily's cooking skills are very good, and Patricia should have inherited this skill from her mother, but in fact she did not.

In fact, Emily doesn't cook for herself often. They have a maid. Only when Lance comes to visit will Emily cook for him herself. This is also a form of respect.

But if he didn't go, most of the time it was the maid who did the cooking.

A girl who has a maid at home and has never been exposed to cooking since childhood, it is too difficult for her to make breakfast for Lance.

Lance shook his head and walked to the kitchen stove, easily preparing breakfast, some fried bacon, some ham cubes, some beef cubes, a bowl of fruit salad and some bread.

Oh, and there's milk.

Seeing that Lance prepared all the food so quickly, Patricia kissed him and said, "I'm sorry, when I stood there, I felt my heartbeat quicken, my breathing became rapid, and my mind went blank."

"I might have the 'can't make breakfast' disease!"

Seeing her serious look, Lance smiled and didn't expose her. "That's too bad. It seems that for your condition, we have to hire a maid."

Patricia really liked Lance's thoughtfulness and humor. She kissed Lance again with her greasy mouth, "Sweetheart, I love you."

"I love you too!", Lance responded and then continued eating his breakfast.

These things are not complicated to make at all, and the Federation only has three cooking techniques.

Whatever it is, fry it in a pan.

Whatever it is, cook it on the grill or in the oven.

Whatever it is, cook it in the soup pot.

Apart from these cooking techniques that require open flames, the rest are various cold dishes.

So Federal dishes are not difficult to make, the key is the seasoning.

She didn't want to study, and Lance didn't intend to force her to study. Theirs was not a poor family where one person had to take on the responsibility of making money and one had to take on the housework.

Problems that can be solved by spending some money are not problems at all for them.

When Lance dipped the runny egg yolk into his mouth along with the bacon-wrapped beef, the multi-layered changes in texture and taste made him feel particularly satisfied.

He added some spices when frying the beef cubes, which made the taste more varied.

Patricia was also amazed at Lance's cooking skills. She had never thought a man could cook so well.

Except the cook.

"Are you still going to work?" Lance asked while having breakfast.

Patricia nodded, "I don't know what I would do if I didn't go to work."

Lance didn't object to this, "As long as you are happy, but don't push yourself too much."

Patricia couldn't help laughing at the thought, "Our director was also here when we got married."

Lance was a little surprised, "I didn't see him."

"He wanted to come over and talk to you, but there were too many people around you and he couldn't squeeze in."

"He said he wanted to come visit us sometime."

Lance shook his head indifferently, "I'll talk to you when I have time."

The phone in the living room rang. Lance answered the call and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He walked behind Patricia, hugged her, and kissed her on the lips. "I have some work to do. I'll go to the front first."

"Okay, dear, I'll go to work later."

Patricia has special people protecting her, so Lance is not worried about her safety at all. Not only does she have close protection, but there are also people who provide high-altitude support, so he feels relieved.

Back in the manor's office, Roger was already standing there with some people from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce.

They made a lot of money following Lance. Now the price of medicines is getting higher and higher. Someone has contacted them and planned to buy the medicines from them for 10 million, but Lance refused.

We can wait a little longer. When the federation comes into play and problems arise with the federal transportation of supplies, those medicines will truly reach their peak!
It is obvious that the Dantra Military Alliance has not taken action yet, not because they are afraid of the Federation, but because they are making strategic adjustments.

Once the strategic adjustment is completed, fire will be opened on multiple fronts, and the Federation will definitely be greatly affected.

Once there is a problem with the transportation channel, the price will soar. Lance thinks it is not a problem to sell the medicine bought for more than 3 million for 20 million.

Even more is not a problem!
Because these special anti-inflammatory drugs represent lives.

Not those cheap lives, but those expensive lives!

The Empire's commerce also made a lot of money on the food issue. Now that the price of food has begun to stabilize, Lance asked Roger to sell all of it before the Holy Farmer's Day.

If you take advantage of the price when the price starts to fall back, you can also make a lot of money.

Everyone has money now, so he could roughly guess why Roger came here.

"Mr.president."

When there are many people around, Roger would still call Lance by his title, Chairman of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce. This old guy is really smart.

Lance nodded slightly, lit a cigarette, and motioned for him to continue.

"We have also been paying close attention to the city's expansion plans recently." He set the tone, then looked at the others and continued, "We also want to undertake some of the projects."

Lance heard this and understood what they meant.

In fact, this is a telepathic connection that everyone in the Federation knows, but no one talks about it.

When the Ministry of Defense was calculating the construction costs of military bases, didn’t they know that the construction companies would hire refugees as workers?

they know.

When Mayor Williams was budgeting for the project, was he aware that contractors would also use refugees as workers?

He knows it too.

However, when everyone is doing it, the cost is still based on the normal worker's employment price. In a capitalist commercial society, the purpose of everyone's work is to make money, not for risks.

Who would be willing to do these things if there aren't enough benefits?
The budget made by the city hall has considerable profit margins. If they can contract a few projects, not only will the Imperial Chamber of Commerce gain more experience, but they will also be able to earn a large sum of money.

There are many companies participating in the bidding, not only local companies, but it is said that companies from other places are also rushing here.

Lance nodded after listening to their general idea, "Which projects do you plan to take?"

Roger and his team already had this intention before they came.

The Imperial Chamber of Commerce does not have much experience in construction, so it is not realistic for them to bid for projects that are very difficult, so they only participate in relatively ordinary projects that do not require much experience and are not very difficult.

If we only look at the cost of these easy projects, the profit will be very low, after all, anyone can do it.

There is little or even no technical added value, so not much money can be made.

But if refugee workers were to do the job, there would still be a lot of room for profit, and at the same time, a group of people of their own could be trained.

After a year, with an investment of about two million, you can earn five or six hundred thousand or so. This rate of return is actually quite astonishing.

They didn't ask for any big projects, so Lance naturally agreed to them. "I'm going to the City Hall later, so I'll discuss this with him. Is there anything else?"

Seeing that things were done so easily, everyone had a smile on their face.

Life was like a dream. A few years ago they were just middle class people with a little money in the Empire District.

But a few years later, they were able to raise more than two million yuan to bid for municipal engineering projects.

The encounters in life are truly amazing.

Roger and others stood up immediately. Since their demands had been met, they decided not to stay and waste Lance's time.

One by one they stood up and said goodbye.

Although they didn't promise Lance any benefits, they would definitely give him some money when paying the bill. If they couldn't even figure out these things, their lives would have been lived in vain.

I dealt with some family affairs, mainly because the family is now undergoing transformation and starting to move away from the low-level gangster logic, so some things need to be adjusted.

For example, if some "neighborhood families" appeared in groups of three or five on the streets, Lance would make sure they would not break his rules.

For example, there are gangs from other cities who want to come here to develop or something. In short, these are all problems.

The prosperity of Jingang City is like the bright moon in the dark night, attracting "gold diggers" from Likalai State and even the surrounding states who want to come here to make a fortune.

Lance has been to City Hall many times, but this time, he had a different experience than before.

After Mayor Williams moved directly into City Hall, he abandoned the previous mayor's office, selected a new room as his office, and used his own furniture.

There is a difference between having background and having no background.

The previous mayor's office had a very fussy feel to it, with all the furniture he used being store bought and looking very trendy or very new.

But after watching it for a while, you will find that there is a kind of irritating feeling that you don’t like.

The furniture used by Mayor Williams was made by the carpenters and painters in his family.

They may not be as new or fashionable as those, but the more you look at them, the more tasteful they become, and the more you can feel a sense of low-key dignity.

This is the foundation.

After Lance entered the office, he didn't say anything polite. He threw his hat and windbreaker on the sofa and sat down opposite Mayor Williams.

"Roger just came to me and said that the Imperial Chamber of Commerce is interested in taking over two municipal construction projects."

Mayor Williams nodded and said, "Tell me the number."

Each project has a number, Lance told him. He picked up the phone and asked his secretary to remove the two numbers from the bidding plan and handle it internally.

He then put the phone down and looked at Lance.

They had made an appointment a few days ago. Mayor Williams thought about how to start the conversation and lowered his voice a little. "I've thought about this matter over and over again. Among the people around me, you are the only one who has the ability to accomplish it."

Lance nodded without comment. He had only heard a general idea but not the details, so even he could not give Mayor Williams an accurate answer.

"We now have two problems: one is the construction of new industrial zones, and the other is the relocation of old industrial zones."

"The construction of new industrial zones is not a problem. We don't need to build them ourselves. Those factories have their own construction standards and they will do it themselves."

"What I'm worried about now is that they might bite the finance department hard on the demolition issue."

He picked up a document and handed it to Lance. Lance opened it and took a look. He also introduced, "The land prices in the industrial zone are starting to increase. If you have noticed, the housing prices in the Empire Zone should have increased significantly as well."

Lance nodded as he read the document, "Yes, generally there is a 5 to 7 percent increase."

This document shows the weekly changes in land prices in Jingang City. The Bay Area has maintained a stable and slow growth.

At present, the place with the fastest land price growth is the industrial area, followed by the city center and then the new port area.

The reason for the rapid growth of land prices in the industrial zone is not complicated. It is located next to the Empire District and the New Port District. In the words of the former mayor, this place will become the periphery of the new core, equivalent to the current Priscilla district.

Every week its land prices increase by more than ten percent, or even twenty or thirty percent.

The most rapid increase occurred when Mayor Williams announced the creation of a new urban plan and the relocation of existing industrial areas.

The prices of some plots of land have doubled!

Not only did people discover the potential and business opportunities in this land, but more importantly...

"They are still raising the price of the land crazily, trying to extort money from me!" His expression was serious and a little angry.

Because once federal land is privatized, it is private.

In other words, the factory can be moved, but the land still belongs to the factory owners and capitalists.

Whether Mayor Williams' plan can be realized does not depend on whether he can do it, but on whether these people are willing to let him do it!
Everyone who governs a place has his or her own policy plan, and this is Mayor Williams' plan.

If he can't even complete the first step, he will be a joke like all the mayors before him.

He doesn't want to be a joke. Not only does he not want to be a joke, he also wants to put the brand of his family on the city's butt. He needs some tricks!

(End of this chapter)