Red Dead Redemption: The Great Philanthropist of the West

Henry then learned more about the guard team from Robert and Wang Zhiqiang. After another round of recruitment, the guard team had reached 30 members. Most of them were elite soldiers Robert had recruited in the army, while a smaller number were skilled and well-behaved bounty hunters or cowboys. After careful training by Robert, David, and Mike, most of them were close to being top-tier marksmen.

In addition, Wang Zhiqiang trained a separate team of eight people, all of whom were talented homeless children he had found in Saint Denis. They are currently in the basic training stage, and the progress is quite good. After nearly two months of recuperation, they have all become much stronger and more agile, but their skills are still relatively rudimentary and require more training.

......

East District of Heishui Town

Henry's residence in the center of Blackwater.

Henry was talking with three members of Congress, Philip, Tom, and Yotro, about preparations for the recent election.

As for West District Councilor Tom, his family has lived in the West District for many years, with a deep-rooted network of connections. They maintain good relationships with many businessmen, and their factory also supports a significant number of West District workers, making their votes relatively stable.

South District Councillor Yotro's votes mainly came from ranchers and farmers. Under the previous system, this support would likely have secured his re-election. However, Sheriff Grant's recent rapid rise, even surpassing Yotro in popularity, significantly impacted his chances of re-election. Fortunately, Yotro had formed an alliance with Henry, and Grant's ambitions extended beyond the council, allowing Yotro to escape unscathed.

As for Philip, the former East District councilor, after following Henry's instructions, he moved to the North District and, with Henry's intelligence, cracked the real estate fraud case that Hosea and his team had been investigating. This greatly boosted his reputation in the North District, allowing him to quickly establish a foothold. Then, using the dirt he bought from Henry on the bank and North District councilor Matthew, he threatened and bribed some bank executives, ultimately gaining a large number of supporters from the bank and further suppressing Councilor Matthew. With the support of the dockworkers, he should be able to take down the councilor.

"Cheers to our friendship!" Seeing that everyone was well prepared, everyone was happy and opened the champagne to celebrate.

"Henry, thanks to your help this time, otherwise, apart from Tom being unharmed, Yotro and I would have been in jeopardy in this election. Not to mention the huge dividends from Blackwater. No problem, just let me know if you need anything in the future, I promise I won't hesitate."

The happiest person present was Philip. While Yotro might have had a chance to struggle, he only managed to rise to power thanks to Henry, and even managed to take over a significant portion of the seats that originally belonged to Congressman Matthew. Therefore, he had the best impression of Henry.

"Besides confirming that everyone can successfully run for councilor, I have another important matter to discuss with you. Blackwater Company currently only has the fast food industry, which is too monotonous. After we remove Councilor Matthew from Blackwater, we will jointly take over his mineral resources. Then I plan to build a cement plant. I wonder if any of you are interested?"

"Let me make it clear, I'm not against you, Henry. I just want to know why you're building a cement plant. Right now, we don't have much demand for cement."

Trusting Henry's business acumen, Yotro and Philip did not voice their objections. Tom, whose relationship with Henry was relatively equal, spoke without much hesitation and directly asked the question that had been bothering him.

"Have you ever heard the Chinese proverb: 'To get rich, build roads first.' In the east, they've already invented a mode of transportation called the automobile. It can carry people and run fast without being pulled by horses. With the rapid development of civilization, automobiles will soon become common here. At that time, besides trains, the main mode of transportation will rely on these automobiles. And to make automobiles run, we need to build cement roads. Moreover, horse-drawn carriages will travel more easily and quickly on cement roads."

If road construction didn't involve so many government resources and required such a large amount of funding, Henry would have planned to build it himself and wouldn't have bothered explaining so much to them.

"Moreover, many towns in the west still have dirt roads in their centers, which are dusty when it's not raining and muddy when it rains. We can take advantage of the road construction opportunity to expand our fast food restaurants there."

......

After Henry's explanation, everyone happily agreed that Blackwater would continue to operate the cement plant. They would then work together to push the government to build roads, profiting through contracting government projects or by raising funds to build roads and then collecting tolls.

The initial investment was financed through loans obtained from banks by Blackwater. Additionally, the fast-food business temporarily suspended profit sharing, with all funds invested in road construction and opening new branches.

......

Meanwhile, Henry returned to Blackwater.

Arthur got off the train at Flatneck Station due to the train's route. While he was still debating whether to take another train or ride directly back to Valentine, he unexpectedly heard a familiar voice at the station. It was Swanson, the self-destructive gang priest, drunkenly gambling with others. After some commotion, he managed to tie Swanson to a horse and gallop back to Horseshoe Watch.

When he returned to the camp, he found that there were very few people left, and the camp's main combat force was gone, leaving only Lenny on guard duty.

After leaving Swanson aside, I kicked the lazy old man awake, only to find out that John, Sean, Dutch, and Micah had gone to Rhodes to rob a train—the same train full of wealthy passengers that Mary Beth had inquired about in town when they first arrived in Valentine.

John had originally intended to go with Arthur and Charles, but one had gone off to party with Henry, and the other had gone hunting with Hosea. The train wouldn't wait, so he ended up going with Dutch. Dutch, in turn, dragged Micah, who had just robbed a bank carriage and was about to show off, along to ambush them at Scarlett Meadow. On the way, they even forcibly seized an oil tanker at a Cornish coal mine and blocked the railway tracks, only this time it wasn't Arthur standing on it, but John.

With nothing to do, Arthur wandered around the camp for a while, and then, at Abigail's request, took the gang's pet fishing to the Dakota River.