Shadow Empire

Chapter 646 Power Outage
Things cluster together.

Everyone understands that this is a battle, so they are also discussing how to continue to fight against Mayor Williams to get what they want besides money -

balanced.

In other words, in addition to wanting money, they also want to use this method to force Mayor Williams to surrender voluntarily.

If he is not told who the real owner of this city is, it will be a long-term problem for the Bay Area.

In order to fight for actual dominance, they will enter a state of anxiety.

They will continue to face provocations and temptations from City Hall and will focus more energy on dealing with Mayor Williams.

This is not what they want, so this time they are going to directly pressure Mayor Williams.

Let him know that becoming the mayor does not necessarily mean he will be the ruler of this city!
No matter what good plans he has, as long as the Bay Area disagrees, his plans cannot be implemented!

Of course, they will not continue to be tough. As long as Mayor Williams realizes that the city is not entirely controlled by him, they can give in.

After all, stability is what the ruling class pursues.

In a private social occasion, many factory owners from the old industrial areas gathered here, as well as some wealthy people from the Bay Area.

Everyone was discussing the recent changes in the land in the old industrial area, and everyone had a satisfied smile on their face.

The huge increase in land prices has greatly increased their net worth, from hundreds of thousands to millions. They never thought that making money could be so easy.

They don't need to do anything, just wait for a while.

If you want to make a stern capitalist smile, just tell him how much profit he is going to make.

The atmosphere in the room was very lively. People were sitting or standing around the circle in the center. The conversations of the gentlemen in the middle circle were the loudest in the room. The further out they went, the quieter the conversations became, ensuring that everyone could hear what the gentlemen inside were saying.

"...I heard today that some people chose to give up the profits they had already made and chose to accept the replacement subsidy from the city hall."

"I have no intention of judging whether this approach is wise or not, and I respect their choice."

“I’m only talking about ourselves.”

"I know Williams. We've been together for more than 30 years. I know him like he's looking in the mirror."

"Some of you may have met him, know him, and think he is a very approachable person."

"But in reality he is not easy to approach, and is somewhat arrogant and conceited."

"When he decided to expand the city to gain more family benefits, he had to reach a compromise with us on this matter."

"To make money, and to give us respect."

"I don't really care whether I make money or not, but respect is a must."

The gentleman who was speaking was called Charles, one of the major shareholders of Jingang Bank.

"Da" holds about 6.something percent of the shares of Jingang Bank, which is very considerable for a bank. He is also one of the core figures in the entire Bay Area.

Whether it is the Jingang Bank, which they use to reap the capitalists and people of Jingang City, or the dock management company that controls the economic lifeline of Jingang City, he is a major shareholder.

So his voice is the loudest here.

All eyes were on him, but he didn't feel any pressure at all. Instead, he sat on the sofa with his legs crossed in a very relaxed posture.

Holding a cigar in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, his posture and expression were very relaxed.

There was a hint of condescending contempt in his eyes when he looked at the people around him. Of course, he was not looking down on these people, but at the Williams he mentioned.

He bit the cigar, took a puff, and then slowly exhaled, "Wait until he takes the initiative to negotiate with us and compromises. Only then can we sell the land in our hands to others."

"It doesn't matter whether it's recycled by the city hall or sold to other new investors."

"But before he bows his head, gentlemen, I don't want to see anyone signing any agreement in private without our consent."

"We must unite. You have seen that when we unite, even the ruler of this city can't do anything to us!"

The gentlemen around him, whose blood was already boiling with excitement at his words, began to applaud and cheer, and each of them wished they could clap their hands until they were broken!

After the applause died down for a while, someone asked, "Mr. Charles, what if... I mean, what if Mayor Williams doesn't compromise?"

"Are we always going to be like this?"

Mr. Charles glanced at the person who asked the question, then nodded, "Is there any practical difference for us to relocate or not relocate?"

“We moved to a new industrial zone, but we still continue to produce, don’t we?”

"Or if we don't move from our current location, does that mean we won't have to produce anymore?"

"No!"

“We will continue to produce wherever we go, but it’s better to be closer to the city and more convenient in terms of transportation.”

"If he doesn't want to talk to us, then we will continue production and ignore him."

"The urban expansion plan he presented to the state failed to deliver on his promise to improve the city's living and working environment. That's his problem, not ours."

"Our job is to produce with all our strength and turn goods into money, that's all."

The person who asked the question, as well as some people who had the same idea, all nodded. This is the truth.

Some people focus on the skyrocketing land prices and ignore the fact that their production itself can also bring profits.

Although not many can be sold directly, at least there are some.

Then some people raised some questions, which Mr. Charles solved easily, which made them believe more that the future is bright!
Everyone was chatting excitedly, as if Mayor Williams had knelt on the ground and begged for their forgiveness, as if the price of an acre of land had increased more than tenfold, and most of them had made a fortune.

A guy who looked like a staff member knocked on the door.

He named a gentleman and conveyed the message that there was a phone call, then left.

People did not stop because of one person's departure. They continued drinking, smoking and talking about the future.

The gentleman with a flushed face took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his temples. He went to another room, picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

"what happened?"

"power cut!"

The power is out, yes, the power is out.

"Wang Defa, why is there a power outage?"

“Did you call the power company?”

"You have to tell them that if the failure to guarantee electricity supply causes problems in our production plan, I will fucking sue them!"

The businessman's face suddenly turned redder, but not because of excitement, but because of anger and a hint of uneasiness and fear!
power cut!
A power outage means a shutdown, which means the assembly line will come to a complete stop, and it also means everything has been paused!

When a factory stops production due to a power outage, it is not just as simple as being unable to continue producing products. There may also be a certain risk of breach of contract.

Suppose a factory has a thousand workers, and they need to pay each worker about forty-seven or eighty yuan in wages every month.

The factory needs to pay 47,000 to 48,000 yuan in wages per month for these 1,000 people, so let's say 50,000 yuan.

Once the factories stop, wages become a heavy and huge expense. In order to ensure that the factories do not run idle, most factories have full orders.

One order comes after another. Some factories with booming business basically work in two shifts around the clock and never let the assembly line stop.

Only in this way can the wages paid by factory owners to workers not become a burden on the factory.

But because of this, the orders are full. Once production problems arise and affect the production plan, it may be a big problem, which may involve breach of contract and compensation.

Therefore, once a factory, especially a large one, starts operating, it will not stop easily.

He didn't understand why the power suddenly went out?

His factory manager whispered into the receiver, "Boss, the power company said... the substation exploded!" "Until it's repaired, they won't supply power anymore."

The substation exploded?
This was the second time he cursed today, "Fuck, why did the substation explode?"

“Ask them when it can be repaired and whether our production schedule will be affected?”

The factory manager said, "They said they need to transfer equipment from Venus City and Valley City. It may take until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to repair it."

"As for production arrangements, there may be some impact."

The businessman felt his liver ache after hearing this. He walked back and forth a few steps and asked, "What if we generate our own electricity?"

The manager fell silent. This was his way of letting the businessman know that he was daydreaming.

After making sure that there would be no call in the short term, the businessman hung up the phone and returned to the salon with a grim look on his face.

He also has friends here, and his friend asked curiously, "What's wrong with you?"

He pursed his lips and said, "There's a power outage at the factory. I'm a little worried about the production plan."

His friend hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation yet, and still had a smile on his face that said, "It's just a small matter." "Is it a temporary power outage?"

"How long will they keep the power out this time?"

"Damn it! These workers have been given another chance to slack off. I have to find a way to deduct some of their wages this month."

Several businessmen around him also laughed, mocking his friend for trying to exploit such a small amount of money.

During this period, temporary power outages do occur sometimes, and the electricity supply is often insufficient.

Even at the federal level, some regions will implement periodic power outages in order to ensure electricity production.

There may also be temporary power outages, such as when connecting to a new power network.

As long as the power outage is not too long, everyone can accept it.

But the businessman's next words made everyone lose their composure.

"The power company said it would take about... two or three days."

Those people with relaxed smiles on their faces immediately became uneasy, and more people were called out and new calls came in.

Mr. Charles, who was sitting in the middle of the crowd and instilling his ideas into others, also noticed something was wrong. He asked someone and found out that there was a power outage and it would last for several days.

The first thing that came to his mind was that this was a conspiracy!
It must have been Mayor Williams who did this. He used this method to force others to bow to him and compromise with him.

Many factories have seen an increase in orders recently because, due to the war, some production plans have been sent to the Federation by countries that have joined the war.

The number of these orders is quite large, and they are no different from ordinary orders. If they cannot be completed within the specified time, they will face huge claims.

After all, some of these commodities have a direct or indirect relationship with war, such as equipment used by engineers.

Before, they were still happy about the sudden large orders, but now, they began to feel uneasy.

More people began to panic and lose their concentration. They could no longer stay here.

Mr. Charles couldn't force them, so he offered to go with them to the substation to take a look.

Soon a large group of businessmen drove to the substation with Mr. Charles.

Before they got close, everyone smelled something burning. There were also some fire trucks at the scene, and it looked a bit messy.

Soon they saw the person in charge of the substation here. There was some black dust on his face. He looked at the businessmen in front of him, not knowing what to say.

"What happened?", Mr. Charles asked.

The person in charge of the substation seemed to come back to his senses. He swallowed and explained, "I don't know. Before the accident, all the equipment was operating normally, and I didn't find anything abnormal during the patrol. But I don't know why, suddenly several sets of equipment exploded."

"In order to avoid a bigger disaster, we immediately cut off the power supply and called the fire truck."

Mr. Charles glanced at the equipment group in the distance and said, "It doesn't look like there's any big problem."

The person in charge of the substation shook his head and said, "Many equipment has been damaged and cannot be used any more. This will bring huge safety risks."

In fact, it is not impossible to use it if it is really necessary, but power companies and power grid companies are unwilling to bear the consequences.

If the power grid burns down, who will compensate for the loss?

Even if they really don't want the power to go out, they won't turn on the power until the equipment is replaced.

The others started asking questions in a confused manner, and the person in charge of the substation kept repeating the same few sentences. The scene was in chaos.

This kind of thing just happened, and the person in charge of the substation was also very angry. After answering a few questions, he explained the situation loudly and then left, leaving the bewildered businessmen there.

What about production plan?
What if there is a breach of contract?
Who should I ask for the penalty for breach of contract?
Nobody knows.

At this time, some damaged equipment was moved out. Mr. Charles took the initiative to walk to one of the damaged equipment, took a look at it, and frowned.

The equipment looked badly damaged. The powerful force had caused it to be completely deformed and part of it was broken. He didn't quite understand whether an accident at a substation could cause such damage.

In his impression, if there was a power problem, the worst that could happen was a meltdown, but it was not like the equipment in front of him, which seemed to have been destroyed by some tremendous force.

He was more certain of his previous thoughts that there might be the shadow of Mayor Williams involved.

While comforting others, he said that he would find a way to transport the equipment here as soon as possible.

a terrible day.

But for the workers, this was obviously a happy day, and they had a day off in the second half of the day.

Except for those factories that have their own power generating sets, the old industrial areas have ushered in a rare "tranquility".

All night long, the businessmen were worried and concerned about the transportation of equipment, but it was obvious that bad news continued to emerge.

Early the next morning, the person in charge of the substation reported some bad news to some businessmen who came to supervise their work.

"Last night, the vehicle transporting the equipment had an accident on the road due to the slippery road caused by snow. The plan to repair the substation may need to be postponed."

This sentence made many businessmen instantly furious. If they could barely accept waiting for two days, then further postponement was unacceptable to them.

But there is no good solution at the substation as the explosion caused too much damage to the equipment.

The local backup equipment is not enough and has to be transferred from other places.

When federal people are faced with problems that they cannot solve or explain, they often think that these are conspiracies and the result of manipulation by some force.

They still think so this time. Some people think that this is a trick of Mayor Williams, and his purpose is to force people to sign some replacement subsidy agreement!
If people had been able to hold out before, they would have thought that even Mayor Williams might not be able to do anything to them.

Well now, they realize they are not "safe".

This is an "advanced war". In fact, some of them understand it, but they are blinded by the huge profits.

Even now, there are still people telling them that they have to do this to stabilize land prices and continue to increase them, because Mayor Williams is anxious.

He was anxious, so he tried to force them to compromise in this way.

Then they can simply pass the losses on to the mayor or new investments, making them pay more money.

That's a good idea, at least it sounds like it.

The price of land continues to rise and the confrontation between the two interest groups continues.

However, there are also a small number of people who have begun to regret.

What about the substation explosion and the car accident caused by slippery roads due to snow? Who knows whether these are real natural occurrences or human-controlled?
Now the substation can explode, so what will explode next time?

persist in?

It sounds simple, but how do you stick to it?

(End of this chapter)