Becoming an Emperor Starting from the World of The Wandering Earth

"Skynet".

"Yes, Master."

"What about the others?"

"It's progressing as planned. An unexpected incident is expected to occur three days later, as planned, involving the transport convoy of suppliers for Green Industries and Howard Machinery."

Murphy took a sip of coffee, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Gerrard was the first, but not the last.

Those companies that can absorb rising electricity prices and thrive in turbulent times are his stumbling blocks.

He wanted to devour the entire industrial area of ​​Houston, to make the workers of closed factories, the customers who lost orders, and the unemployed with nowhere else to turn flock to his relief window, and to make them all remember the name Murphy.

Therefore, those capitalists who are doing well, or even those who want to take advantage of the situation, should not be allowed to live.

If they don't die, those who are unemployed will have other places to go.

If they don't die, Murphy won't be the only savior.

Therefore, they must die.

It doesn't necessarily mean people die, but the business must die.

The materials exploded, the orders fell through, the loans couldn't be repaid, and the bank took over the factory.

Then, in order to recover the bad debt, the bank resold it to Mo's Energy at a low price, which was perfect.

As for the unemployed, Murphy has already begun to take action; suppressing electricity prices is only one aspect, and there is more to it than that.

"Skynet".

"Yes, Master."

"Notify Garcia that we can begin contacting Gerrard's lending bank. Also, how are the five relief windows and staff quarters coming along?"

"Master, the site selection for the five new relief windows has been completed. Three of them are located in the heart of the Southeast Industrial District, and the other two are located in East Houston, adjacent to the borders of several gang territories where conflicts are currently most frequent."

A detailed map popped up on the screen, with five green markers standing out prominently in the night.

"The infrastructure for each window has been set up, and the material distribution channels have been cleared."

"In terms of personnel, each window is staffed with twenty staff members, five of whom have some experience in handling emergency conflicts."

Murphy nodded without saying anything.

SkyNet continued its report: "Regarding employee dormitories, a total of four dormitory buildings have been completed and meet the occupancy standards. These are located in the living area on the north side of the factory. Each building has three floors, with twenty rooms per floor, totaling two hundred and forty rooms."

"Currently, about 900 workers and their families have moved in, and three more dormitory buildings are under construction and are expected to be ready for use within two weeks. At that time, the total capacity will exceed 2,000 people."

Murphy turned around, placed the now-cold coffee on the table, and sat back down in his chair.

"What about our supplies? How long will they last?"

"Based on current reserves and vertical farm capacity, if a large influx of new unemployed people occurs within a week and all five new windows are opened, the rate of consumption of supplies will increase to 2.7 times the current rate. Based on Mr. Garcia's purchasing power, the existing supplies can last for more than eight weeks."

Murphy tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

Eight weeks, which is two months.

"Very good, Tianwang, start a new round of recruitment expansion plan."

"Yes, Master. Please confirm the scale of the expansion and the priority levels."

Murphy stared at the map on the screen, his gaze sweeping over the dense array of red dots.

Each of those red dots represents a factory that has already closed down or is in the process of closing down.

"The first batch will recruit 1,000 people, giving priority to skilled workers from closed factories and veterans. As long as they have experience and are in good health, they will be hired."

"Secondly, those with families, children, or elderly members will be given priority."

"Job assignments will follow the old rules. You will be in charge of the initial compatibility analysis for Skynet, and the technicians will be sent to the factory. If they are veterans, they will be screened and, if confirmed to be safe, assigned to Mullen's security department."

"It's going to be very busy from now on; it's time to give Mullen more responsibilities."

As Murphy finished speaking, the data stream on the screen began to scroll.

"The requirements have been entered. Based on this standard, the first round of recruitment is expected to be completed within seven to ten days, at which time the total number of employees in the factory will exceed 1,800."

Eighteen hundred people. Murphy's lips twitched slightly.

Indeed, Murphy's actions will plunge the entire city of Houston into turmoil, cause thousands of people to lose their jobs, and tear hundreds of families apart.

But Murphy didn't want people to die; instead, he wanted them to live, and to live better.

Fear and despair can give rise to faith, but faith cannot consist only of fear and despair; it must also include a bright future.

So Murphy, on the one hand, had Betty raise prices, intending to destroy all the factories in the industrial park and cause workers to lose their jobs, while on the other hand, he continued to recruit workers.

The compensation and benefits they offered were several times better than what they used to receive.

........................

As Murphy had predicted, subsequent developments unfolded exactly as he had.

One by one, the few remaining businesses in Houston that could hold on suffered "accidents".

Either the warehouse caught fire, critical equipment was destroyed, or the transport convoy was hijacked en route.

Although they didn't have a mountain of debt like Gerrard, the damage to their factories caused their market value to plummet.

If the production line stops for a day, a batch of orders will be canceled, and a batch of customers will leave.

If you can't hold on, you have no choice but to shrink back.

If you shrink, you have to sell assets.

Then Garcia reappeared, dressed in a suit and tie, and offered a price they couldn't refuse.

To avoid the company going bankrupt, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and sell all the factory buildings and equipment.

Of course, there are also those who are tough.

They gritted their teeth and refused to sell, saying they could handle it and that they would get through this period.

Garcia didn't waste any words with this, politely took his leave, and then went about his business.

In less than half a month, those tough guys will come back on their own.

Because banks won't wait for you, customers won't wait for you, workers need to eat, equipment needs to be maintained, and the electricity bill is still there.

Carry it? With what can we carry it?

Over time, in the southeastern industrial area of ​​Houston, the small factories were all gone, the medium-sized ones shrank, and less than 30% of the factories were still able to survive.

Of these 30%, more than half of the business is already tied to Mo's Energy.

They either supply their goods, use their distribution channels, or rent land from Murphy for their factories.

Garcia calls this "ecological integration".

Murphy listened, smiled, and said nothing.

It doesn't matter what it's called, as long as it works.

Meanwhile, the factory's recruitment drive never stopped.

The recruitment booth was set up right next to the relief window, and as soon as the sign was put up, people flocked over.

The data analysis capabilities of Skynet proved invaluable.

Each person who comes to register first fills out a form, then goes into a small room where several cameras scan them, they walk a few steps, move something, and that's it.

When I left, my job was basically already decided.

Garcia was initially worried that this recruitment method might lead to an imbalance in job positions.

The solution proposed by Skynet completely astonished everyone.

Its calculations are accurate down to the hourly output requirements of each workshop, the daily workload of each person, and the optimal operating time of each piece of equipment.

Where to put an extra person, and how to make up for a missing person—it's all crystal clear.

In less than a month, the factory's total number of employees exceeded 1,800.

Three new dormitory buildings have been built. When the cafeteria is open, the lines at the food windows can stretch for half the living area.

As the workers squatted by the roadside eating their meals, the topics of their conversations changed.

Before, it was "When will this ever end?" Now it's "Mr. Murphy is such an angel, such a wonderful person."

But outside the factory walls, the scene was quite different.