Shadow Empire

Chapter 897: Run and Thinking

In Zhuolan's hotel, Lance sat on the sofa with a glass of wine.

There is no prohibition on alcohol in the local area, so they can feel free to taste these delicious alcoholic drinks at any time and anywhere.

The liquid in the glass looks very beautiful and tastes good. This is whiskey that has gone through an aging process and is made in accordance with the whiskey production process.

Many liquors, including the whiskey produced by Lans himself within the Federation, do not comply with the technological process and do not go through the aging process.

Gold Label also used to age its whiskey, which took about one to two years.

If it weren't for the Prohibition, if Lans wanted to produce wine, it would also age it according to the process standards.

But because of Prohibition, the market needed a large amount of alcohol, and the wines could not wait for such a long time to age in the cellar before being sold.

So let alone the two or three years of ordinary-grade aging, his wine can’t even reach two or three months of aging!

However, the winery is already working hard on it. Every day they store a portion of the wine in a cellar for long-term aging.

The wines in these cellars are basically aged for at least two years, so the quality is very good.

Because of the busy trade, there was simply not enough time for the wine to fully age in oak barrels, so the taste was a little off.

To make up for these shortcomings, Lans used technology, thickeners, flavor enhancers, and added some spices and flavors to adjust the taste and flavor of the wine.

Of course he also has aged wines, silver labels, and gold labels, but they are not very old.

Unlike the wine in his hand, which costs about two thousand paras, it is only more than thirty dollars when converted into federal sols.

Its flavor is obviously very "mature". The long aging time makes it "docile" and no longer so hot. The change of flavor after the wine enters the mouth is very obvious and timely. It is a very good wine with a very high level.

Of course in Lapa, the only people who can afford to spend 2,000 yuan on a bottle of wine are the ruling class.

All the luxurious enjoyments here are prepared for the ruling group and are as perfect as possible.

Roger sat next to Lance, also holding a wine glass in his hand. He had a very comfortable time during this period.

Some local officials treated him as a distinguished guest and constantly tried to corrupt him through means they believed to be effective.

He dared to swear that it was not because he was weak-willed, but because the corruption of these people was too severe.

He had done something wrong to his wife, but...it felt good.

He felt from those young girls something that he once had, but later lost, and wanted to find back very much—

youth.

He originally thought that this trip would be dangerous, but now it seems that it is not dangerous at all.

Swirling the glass, he took a sip, "Lance, I don't quite understand."

Lance came out of his thoughts, turned to look at Roger, and motioned him to continue.

"What is the purpose of us buying these grains bit by bit?"

"They still have quite a few grain warehouses. I heard that there are mountains of grain in the warehouses, and some farms also have a lot of grain reserves."

“Why don’t we buy from them?”

"Isn't this faster and more efficient than us buying from the public bit by bit?"

Lance put down his glass. "The purpose of purchasing food from those food stores and grocery stores is to create a sense of tension."

"People don't actually know how much less food there is, but they will observe."

"When food stores and grocery stores sell out as soon as it arrives, they worry about whether there will be a shortage of food."

"People are all like this. Remember Mr. Jobaf?"

Roger was a little distracted when he suddenly heard a very familiar name.

Mr. Qiaobaf was definitely the most powerful person in the eyes of the imperial people who lived in Jingang City a few years ago!

As an imperial immigrant, I realized my federal dream here, possessed countless wealth, and was the envy of everyone!

Several years passed in the blink of an eye. After hearing this familiar name again, he felt a sense of confusion in time and space.

It seems as if everything happened just yesterday, but when I think about it carefully, a long, long time has passed.

After a few seconds, he broke free from the vortex of consciousness. He sighed and nodded, "Yes, I still remember Mr. Jobaf and his bank."

Now Lance's company is the former site of Mr. Jobaf's bank. Roger himself doesn't believe that Lance has nothing to do with Mr. Jobaf's downfall.

But that's how capital works. He has been in the Federation for many years and has long been accustomed to the Federation's capital environment.

When capital conflicts break out, not to mention fellow villagers, even between fathers and sons, there will be bloody fights!

Therefore, Mr. Jobaf's death was just a pity for him, but he didn't feel that he shouldn't have died, or that he was dissatisfied with Lance's actions.

In this world, although wealth has been growing, if one wants to obtain more wealth by violating the laws of natural development and cannot obtain it through labor, the only option is plunder.

Just like the wealth he possesses now, he also obtained it through plunder, and some people will lose their families directly or indirectly because of his plunder.

This is the federation, this is capital.

Lance had no idea that so many things had gone through his mind in such a short time. He smiled and said, "In fact, it was the run on Mr. Jobaf that brought him down."

"If there hadn't been a bank run, he could have held on for a while, and he might even have had a chance to come back to life."

“But it was the run that ended everything.”

"People are afraid that they will be the last one. If Lapa is a bank now, and food is the savings of people's lives and lives, then it is starting to become tight."

“We just need one more push and there will be a run.”

"People will find that they don't have enough food to eat and they can't buy more food, so they will overstock whatever food they can buy."

“Even if they can’t actually eat that much.”

"Look!" Lance spread his hands, "If a person only needs one unit of food a day to fill his stomach."

"There are now ten units of food, enough for two people to eat for five days each."

"But because of the run, one person monopolized 10 units of food, while the other person had no food at all, which meant that he would go hungry for at least five days."

"Being hungry is not a pleasant feeling. In order to fill his stomach, will this person without food do something crazy?"

Lance picked up his glass again and took a sip. "Let them continue to buy, and raise the price every once in a while."

“Not only do we have to collect the money, we also want people in Lapa to spontaneously hoard it, and then cause a run on the bank.”

“Even if there is enough food left to feed everyone, in a run on the bank, the price of food will become ridiculously high, and every household will stockpile far more food than they consume on a daily basis.”

"Soon, people here will start to go hungry."

Listening to what Lance said, Roger was already sweating coldly.

The consequence of a bank run is that the bank will be unable to make payments and will go bankrupt.

What happens if the country cannot provide food to its people?
Huge riot!
This kind of thing had happened in the empire, and he vaguely remembered what happened at that time.

The angry people rushed into the nobles' castle and killed everything they saw on the way...

After a brief silence in the room, Lance asked, "Have those invited to attend the seminar been confirmed?"

This time, when they were showing the movie for promotion, Lance and the federal government staff recruited some people.

These people have the potential to become the first batch of "awakened ones", but they still need to be polished.

In any matter, there always needs to be someone who stands up first and breaks the situation.

These people are the chisels that break the ice and the seeds that break through the soil.

During this time, Diego was also paying attention to these foreigners. He sat on a chair and constantly adjusted his body posture.

If someone is more careful, they will find that the chairs and sofas in the Presidential Palace are all upholstered and have thick cushions.

It is because Diego is too heavy that he feels very uncomfortable sitting in a certain position for a long time.

Many people think that obese people have more fat on their buttocks and should not show this kind of behavior. But in fact, this is not the case.

People with more flesh may be more afraid of being squeezed, and Diego's squeezing has been long-term. His body has already shown various discomfort symptoms under the huge weight.

The doctor he invited back from the federal government also made some arrangements for his health, including stopping drinking juice and increasing exercise, but he rejected them all.

He hadn't realized the seriousness of these problems yet, he thought he was just fat.

"Has our money arrived?" His eyes were filled with greed. This time, he would get 20 million out of the 60 million, and the others would get the remaining 40 million.

Twenty million. In the past, it would take fifteen to twenty years to earn this much money.

But this year the goal was achieved all at once, which gave Diego an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Actually, this is a very interesting thing.

With the addition of the 20 million, Diego now has about 50 to 60 million in his account at the Federation, but he rarely makes large-scale purchases at the Federation.

In Lapa, his consumption is actually not that high. He just drinks a few large bottles of juice every day and eats some delicious food, which actually doesn't cost much money.

There was no need for him to sell grain in order to continue to increase the already meaningless numbers, but all those who pursue extreme wealth cannot resist big numbers.

Maybe he can't spend thirty or fifty thousand in a whole year, but as long as he has the opportunity, he will continue to increase this number.

The Minister of Finance nodded and said, "I have confirmed over the phone that the money in our federal bank account has arrived."

Diego was very satisfied. He patted his belly and said, "Although I don't like the federals, they are still very straightforward when it comes to doing business."

The finance minister coughed, which made Diego look at him in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"Diego, we have too much money deposited in the Federation. All of us together, it's over 200 million."

“I think this is a little unsafe.”

"Once the federal government freezes our bank accounts, we won't be able to get any money out."

What the finance minister said made some sense. Diego thought about it for a while and said, "You make a lot of sense. So which bank should we put some of the money into?"

This question left the Finance Minister speechless for a moment.

Currently, the federal government has the most stable economy and finance in the world.

Other countries are either poor and backward or affected by war.

The situation in the empire was still peaceful and there was no chaos, but they were far away from the empire and they had no friendship with the emperor.

Diego felt it was not safe to rashly deposit so much money in the Imperial Bank.

In fact, the National Bank of the Czech Republic is a good choice. They have a good reputation and are very stable, but Diego doesn't dare to deposit his money in it.

Who knows if these people will find a way to take his money away?

He didn't trust the people in the Czech Republic. He always felt that they were not good people.

For a moment, the people in the room couldn't find a more suitable place to store their funds than the Federation.

"How about we split our account and deposit the money evenly into different accounts."

"This way, even if some individual accounts are affected, our losses will only be a portion."

It is not rocket science to know that you should not put all your eggs in one basket.

This is the new solution that the Minister of Finance came up with. Although it has no practical significance other than causing trouble for themselves, Diego and others still agree with his suggestion.

It does sound much safer than keeping all the information in one account, but they don't think about it.

Once the federal government decides to freeze their wealth, even if they divide their money into a hundred accounts, all a hundred accounts will be frozen, and not a single one will be left for them!

Having said this, he asked, "Has our grain been shipped?"

The Minister of Agriculture nodded and said, "They were all shipped away yesterday."

"I asked someone to inquire about it. These cargo ships did not deliver the food to Tanfit, but directly to the Federation."

Diego waved his hand, interrupting him. "After the food is sold, we don't care whether they eat it themselves or resell it. It has nothing to do with us anymore."

Although the Minister of Agriculture wanted to say something, he chose to keep silent.

Diego took a look and paused, "What are those federals doing recently?"

Another official quickly replied, "They are busy showing free movies everywhere, and holding seminars and salons."

"I heard the Federals were planning to start a newspaper here."

Diego looked like he wanted to frown, but he was too fat, so he only saw his eyebrows move but didn't see them squeezed together. "Don't we have newspapers?"

There is only one newspaper currently being published in Lapa because the illiteracy rate in Lapa is very high. Seventy percent of the people are illiterate and it is impossible for them to buy newspapers to read.

As for those who are not illiterate, such as students in school, they most likely will not buy the newspaper, and they do not have much money to buy newspapers every day, so basically the only copy of the newspaper has little sales.

Originally it covered the entire Lapa, but sales and the market have gradually shrunk over the years, and now it can only be bought near Zhuolan.

The official in charge of this matter seemed to have a look of laughter on his face, "Who knows?"

"Maybe they're not used to sharing a newspaper with us."

Diego thought for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, "I don't know who they plan to sell the newspaper to."

In his opinion, with such a high illiteracy rate, it is impossible for newspapers, magazines and the like to have a large market.

If the ruling group was not the only newspaper backing it, it would have collapsed long ago.

Since the federals are not afraid of spending money, let them spend it.

During this period, someone brought some magazines and books distributed locally by federal people. Diego looked through them for a while but didn't find any problems. They mainly introduced the social structure, humanities and culture of the Federation, as well as some tourist attractions.

There is nothing radical in all the contents, which are very peaceful and mainly introduce the federation.

Rather than wondering if the Federals were hiding something in their cultural exchange promotion, Diego was actually more concerned about the issue of taxation.

"I've been thinking about this these past few days. The federals built factories in our country, and then produced goods at extremely low costs, and then shipped them to the federation to sell them, making more money."

"What have we gained from this whole process?"

"Take the alcoholic beverages for example. The cost of producing the alcohol here may be only a few dollars, but after being transported to the federation, it can be sold at three or four times the price. This is clearly an exploitation of our cheap labor."

"We need to come up with some means."

He shifted his hips again, shifting his weight to the other side. "Taxes!"

Taxation is a big project and Diego wants to change the tax standards. He believes that more foreigners will come to Lapa in search of development opportunities.

There is a high possibility that they will build factories here like Lance did, produce, and then bring all the goods and profits back to the Federation without leaving anything for themselves.

So Diego wants to make some reforms to the tax laws. For example, people working in factories built for foreigners will need to pay an extra amount of money, but he hasn't figured out what the name is yet.

He gathered everyone here today to discuss this matter. They have to find a way to squeeze more money out of the federal people and those who work for the federal government.

Lapa was too poor, so poor that even though they were obviously rich, they would pounce on them and bite them if they got the chance.

After a day, Pedro finally arrived in Zhuolan.

This is his fifth time to come to Zhuolan. Every time he comes to this city, he has different feelings.

At first, he thought Zhuolan was the most magnificent city in the world until he visited the Republic of Jede.

Then he felt that the Republic of Czech was the most prosperous place in the world, while this place was just average.

Until he saw the Federation in the movie.

The skyscrapers in the movies were firmly imprinted in his mind. He could hardly imagine how buildings of two or three hundred meters were built.

Would standing on it feel the same as standing on a mountain?
The more he marveled at the skyscrapers, the more he felt Zhuolan was dilapidated and backward.

Sitting on the wobbly ox cart, he was thinking about a problem.

Where did all the money of the Lapa people go?
(End of this chapter)