novelnext Chapter 109 In order to be correct
Chapter 109 In order to be correct
Chapter 109 In order to be correct
Allegheny Hilltop Club.
The building, located at the highest point in Pittsburgh, was brightly lit.
It overlooks the entire city, like a giant beast perched atop a mountain, watching the shimmering lights below.
A year ago, when Leo first came here, he arrived by taxi.
At that time, he was stopped by security guards at the entrance and was only allowed to enter after a long process of being notified and waiting.
Today, the situation is completely different.
A black Lincoln sedan pulled up directly in front of the club.
As soon as the car door opened, the security supervisor, who had once been aloof, was already standing beside the car, gesturing for the passengers to enter with a humble smile on his face.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor.
Leo nodded and strode into the club's lobby.
Ethan Hawke followed behind him, carrying a briefcase.
The waiter led them through the corridor and once again to the familiar cigar room.
Just as Ethan was about to go in, the waiter reached out and stopped him.
"I'm sorry, sir," the waiter said expressionlessly, "Mr. Morganfield only wants to speak with the mayor."
Ethan paused for a moment, then turned to look at Leo.
Leo took the briefcase from Ethan.
"Wait for me here, Ethan."
Leo patted him on the shoulder.
He took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and went inside alone.
Douglas Morganfield was still sitting in that familiar spot.
He was trimming an expensive Cuban cigar, his movements slow and focused.
Morganfield did not look up when he heard the door open.
He continued what he was doing, the silver scissors gesturing famously at the head of the cigar.
This is a habitual display of power; he decides when to start a conversation.
But Leo walked straight to the sofa opposite him.
He unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down.
Leaning back, I sank into the soft backrest.
He crossed his legs and rested his hands naturally on the armrests.
The movements were fluid and natural.
This change in posture is itself a form of language.
Morganfield's fingers, which were trimming the cigar, paused slightly, but he didn't say anything. He simply quickened his movements and deftly cut off the cap.
Put down the scissors and blow away the debris.
He lifted his eyelids and looked at Leo, who was already sitting comfortably.
"Leo".
Morganfield's voice was devoid of emotion.
"Douglas".
Leo responded calmly, looking directly into the other's eyes.
Morganfield paused for a moment as he lit his cigarette, then resumed his normal motion.
He took a puff of his cigar, exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, and looked at Leo through the smoke.
"You're quick, Leo."
"I saw the news. You scared that old man Moretti half to death with thousands of repair requests, and then you completely tied him to your chariot with a budget that included 500 million in bonds."
"Wonderful."
Morganfield clapped his hands lightly twice.
"Very imaginative and very decisive."
"Thanks."
Leo accepted the compliment.
He didn't want to waste time on small talk.
"Now that you know the contents of the budget, you should also know that I've encountered new troubles."
Leo opened his briefcase, took out the "Pittsburgh City Bond Issuance Plan," and placed it on the coffee table in front of Morganfield.
"Five hundred million US dollars."
Leo pointed to the prominent number on the document cover.
"This money includes all the start-up funds for the first phase of the inland port expansion project that you've been dreaming of."
"Land leveling, river dredging, railway line laying, and the foundation of that automated warehousing center."
"All the money is in here."
Leo leaned forward, staring into Morganfield's eyes.
"Once this bond is issued, your port dream can break ground within three months."
"Furthermore, I have already reached an agreement with Washington."
"Sanders is mobilizing progressive funds and union pension funds across the country to buy these bonds."
"I've already resolved the funding issue."
Morganfield picked up the document and casually flipped through a couple of pages.
Of course he knows these things.
"but."
Leo changed the subject.
"Those accountants in Harrisburg wearing arm sleeves are blocking the way."
"The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development is holding our approval process up."
"They think Pittsburgh is a bankrupt with a history of bankruptcy, and they don't believe we can pay back the $500 million."
Leo looked at Morganfield.
"Douglas, I need you."
"I need your commitment, a legal commitment stamped with the official seal of Morganfield Industries."
Leo pulled out a pre-prepared "Letter of Intent for Third-Party Credit Enhancement Agreement" from his briefcase and pushed it in front of Morganfield.
"I need Morganfield Industries as a joint guarantor for this $500 million municipal bond."
"This means that if the Pittsburgh city government's finances deteriorate in the future, if our tax revenue is insufficient to cover the interest or principal on our bonds."
"Then, Morganfield Industries will unconditionally fulfill its compensation obligation and bail us out."
"Only with this document will the bureaucrats in Harrisburg believe that the money is absolutely safe."
The room fell silent.
The only sound was the faint hissing of the burning cigar.
Morganfield put down the documents.
He looked at Leo with a half-smile on his face.
"Leo, you really know how to do business."
Morganfield flicked his cigarette ash.
"I don't know what kind of magic potion you gave that stubborn old man in Vermont that made Daniel Sanders personally get involved in running this municipal bond for you. That's quite a move."
He leaned back, his gaze becoming deep.
"But don't think I don't know which way the wind is blowing. You may have dealt with the radicals in Washington, but that doesn't mean you can handle the guys in Harrisburg."
Morganfield stretched out a finger, pointed it in the air a few times, and pointed east—towards the capital of Pennsylvania.
"Although the current governor is a Democrat and Democrats hold a significant number of seats in the state legislature, we both know what kind of Democrats they are."
"They are the establishment, the maintainers of party order. In their eyes, you and Sanders are not allies, but a virus; you disgust them more than the Republicans."
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"That door to Harrisburg is locked for you. The Secretary of Community and Economic Development is the governor's iron fist; he'd love to nip any restless element like you in the bud."
"There's something even more important."
Morganfield stood up, walked to the row of huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked down at the city below, which was shimmering with light in the night.
"Many people say that Pittsburgh has declined, its population has dwindled, its industries have collapsed, and it's an insignificant place."
"But in the political landscape of this country, Pittsburgh carries far more weight than its population."
"Every thumping of the heart, every protest, every speech about revival here will travel down the Ohio River throughout Pennsylvania."
"You've set a fire here, and Philadelphia and Harrisburg can feel the heat."
Roosevelt's voice rang in Leo's mind at just the right moment.
"He's right, Leo. Pennsylvania is the keystone state, it supports the entire Electoral College structure, and Pittsburgh is the most critical crack in that keystone."
"This is a geographical and cultural fault line. It has the genes of northern industry and is also the starting point of Appalachian culture."
"In the traditional political landscape, Philadelphia's stronghold is fixed, as is the red vote in the vast rural area in the middle."
"Only here, only in Allegheny County, are these hundreds of thousands of votes fluid, vibrant, and worthy of being contested."
"Beat Pittsburgh, and you've offset the red wave in the countryside; you've won Pennsylvania."
"Under this winner-take-all Electoral College system, without Pennsylvania's nineteen electoral votes, no one from any party can safely walk into the White House."
"You are a fulcrum, but this lever is long enough to move Washington."
Morganfield turned away, his back to the night view outside the window, his face hidden in the shadows.
"My old friend Warren called me late last night."
"He was very anxious. The midterm elections were coming up, and he told me clearly that I had been making too much noise lately, that my voice had spread beyond Pittsburgh and was starting to affect the election throughout the state."
"He demanded that I control your momentum."
"He doesn't want to see an uncontrollable Democratic mayor with $500 million to buy people's hearts in the heart of a swing state. That would be a huge threat to the Republicans."
Morganfield walked back to the sofa, placed his hands on his knees, and stared intently at Leo.
"So, do you understand the current situation?"
"In Harrisburg, your party colleagues want you to fail as a warning to everyone who tries to challenge the establishment."
"In Washington, Republican senators want you gone so they can keep their seats."
"Sanders? That old man may have a loud voice, but he's still a minority. In the Senate, he's often all alone."
"And you, Leo Wallace, you are the minority of the minority, the outlier of the outliers."
"On this huge chessboard, whether in the state or outside the party, you are completely alone."
"Now, you've come to me with a plan that's been attacked by everyone."
"You tell me you're going to use my credit to get Harrisburg to sign."
Morganfield let out a cold laugh.
"You're trying to get something for nothing, young man. What makes you think I'd risk offending my friends in Washington and Harrisburg for your sake?"
Despite Morganfield's persistent questioning, Leo's expression remained unwavering.
He knew, of course, that he was all alone.
He knew he was walking a tightrope.
But it is precisely because he is all alone, and because he stands on the edge of an abyss, that he possesses a resoluteness that those who wear shoes do not have.
"You're absolutely right, Douglas."
Leo spoke, his voice steady.
"Politically, I am indeed surrounded. The establishment hates me, and the Republicans are afraid of me."
"But this also proves one thing."
Leo looked up, his gaze intense.
"This proves that the chips I hold have weight."
"If I were truly insignificant, Senator Warren wouldn't have called you late at night. If Pittsburgh were truly unimportant, those bureaucrats in Harrisburg wouldn't have gone to such lengths to block me."
"They are afraid because they know what five hundred million dollars means."
"This is a win-win situation," Leo corrected. "The biggest beneficiary of the port's completion is the Morganfield Group."
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"As for my situation—"
Leo smiled.
"As a businessman, you should know best that the higher the risk of an asset, the higher its potential return."
"Senator Warren wants you to control me, Harrisburg wants me to fail."
"But what can they give you? All they can give you is to maintain the status quo. To maintain that inefficient, costly, and shrunken old logistics system that makes your profits shrink year after year."
"And I, though dangerous, can give you a path to the future."
Leo leaned back and crossed his arms.
"And, Douglas, I have another gift for you."
"My audit team is very hardworking, and they recently discovered some very interesting coincidences while reviewing concrete supply contracts from the past few years."
"I believe you'd rather see this report on the front page of The New York Times than the approval process in Harrisburg, wouldn't you?"
Morganfield stared at Leo.
After a long while, the gloom on his face dissipated, and he let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Good! What a lonely man indeed!"
"I admire your audacity in extorting people even when you're on the edge of a cliff."
"However, your price isn't enough."
His eyes suddenly sharpened.
"You're in too much danger right now. You're taking this $500 million, and you're going to use most of it for your so-called community revitalization."
"You need to build affordable housing, establish workers' cooperatives, and provide welfare for the poor."
"These things are worthless to me, and even harmful."
"They will drive up labor costs and crowd out urban resources."
"Not to mention that this is a crucial moment in the midterm elections, and every seat in Pennsylvania is a matter of great concern in Washington. Senator Warren is an old friend of mine and a political investment I've made on Capitol Hill over the decades."
"Your current demand is tantamount to asking me to betray him, to betray the entire Republican Party's strategy in Pennsylvania, and to support a Democrat instead."
Morganfield shook his head.
"This is a huge political shift, a high-stakes gamble."
"What you just said, such as reducing logistics costs and future commercial benefits, is all business."
"Business is business, and politics is politics."
"Ordinary business profits are not enough for me to take such a big risk to betray Warren."
Morganfield picked up a cigar again, but didn't light it; he just played with it in his hand.
"I want more than just profits, Leo."
"What can you offer me that would make me make such a political decision for you?"
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Looking at the shrewd old man before him, Leo felt an unprecedented pressure.
Morganfield was not only a businessman, but also part of the country's power structure.
To get him to turn against them, the stakes would be much higher than Leo imagined.
Leo fell silent.
His brain raced, trying to find other alternatives.
"Mr. President," Leo called in his mind, "do we really have to do this? He's not the only oligarch in Pennsylvania, and there's the Financial Times in Philadelphia. Can't we look for someone else?"
"I don't want to talk to this old guy anymore; his asking price is higher than I expected."
Roosevelt's voice soon rang out.
"Can't be changed, Leo."
"Why?" Leo retorted. "There are so many rich people in the state, I don't believe no one is interested in five hundred million dollars."
"Because of geopolitics," Roosevelt explained. "Look at the map. You want to expand Pittsburgh's inner harbor, and you want to dredge the Ruhr River channel, while Morganfield controls eighty percent of the docks and warehouses along that river."
"He is the landlord here."
"If you seek financial assistance from Philadelphia, Morganfield will use every trick in the book to make your project impossible to progress."
If you approach other local small giants, they simply wouldn't dare take on this job right under Morganfield's nose.
"In this case, he is the only client."
"Only he has this need, and only he can make this happen."
"You can't get anything done if you go around him."
Leo felt a sudden suffocation.
He was locked up.
"What else can I give him?" Leo questioned inwardly. "I've already promised him the engineering contract and the logistics benefits. If I give him any more, I'll hand over the port's management to him."
"With you like that, what difference is there between me and that Cartwright bastard?"
"I kept saying I would take back the city for the people, but I turned around and sold the city's most valuable assets to the biggest oligarch."
"I will become the kind of child I hate the most."
"the difference?"
Roosevelt's voice suddenly sounded much more weathered.
"The difference lies in the purpose, nursery rhymes."
"But the treasures we hold in our hands are often the same."
Do you think Abraham Lincoln was a saint?
Leo was taken aback; he didn't understand why Roosevelt would mention Lincoln at this moment.
"When you go to Washington, stand in that magnificent Lincoln Memorial, and look up at him, at that nineteen-foot-tall white marble statue."
"He sat there, his eyes deep and his expression compassionate, bathed in the specially designed sacred light, looking like a prophet from Mount Sinai, or a god from the Greek pantheon."
"But the real him wasn't made of marble; he was made of flesh and blood, calculation, and extreme realism."
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"In order to pass the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery and to forcibly stitch this divided nation together, he did not expect any conscience from the members of Congress."
"He bribed that outgoing lame-duck Democratic congressman, trading the lucrative post of postmaster general for a lifetime federal judge position."
"He even used presidential privilege to release the senator's nephew, who had been captured while serving in the Southern army, in order to get rid of a stubborn senator."
"In those months that determined the fate of the nation, this great liberator was the most ruthless and corrupt politician in all of Washington."
"If he had refused to make that bad deal, the black slaves might have had to stay in chains and groan for another fifty years."
"A saint cannot sit in that position, Leo."
Roosevelt's voice rose a few decibels.
Do you think I'm a saint?
"In 1940, Nazi tanks were crushing Europe, and the British were bleeding. But my people did not want to fight; they were indulging in the dream of isolationism."
"In order to drag the United States into this war, I secretly met with Churchill in the Atlantic Ocean and bypassed Congressional authorization to give the Fifty M6 destroyers to Britain."
"A few months before the Pearl River Delta incident broke out, I induced Japan to fire the first shot by imposing an oil embargo."
"At that time, half of Americans were criticizing me."
"They called me a dictator, a war liar, and a fraudster who dragged the country into the abyss."
"But I don't care."
"Because I know that if I don't do this, the free world will perish."
Roosevelt stared at Leo.
"Leo, you must remember this."
"The leaders who have left a perfect reputation in history are usually those who did nothing and took no responsibility."
"Those who truly want to achieve great things must be prepared to be misunderstood, attacked, and despised."
"You must be prepared to get your hands dirty for the goal you feel compelled to achieve."
"This is the flaw of a leader, and also the price a leader pays."
"The last time you sat in this room, you were just inviting Qi Gui to dance."
"At that time, all you needed to do was give him a vague, harmless promise, and in return, he gave you a little bit of benevolent neutrality. It was a relaxed social interaction, a test without any real cost."
"But today is different, Leo."
"Today, you're here to make him bleed."
"You've come to make him betray his political allies of decades, to make him confront the bureaucracy of Wells Frissborg, and to make him mortgage the Morganfield family's credit on your desk."
"This level of betrayal cannot be bought with nice-sounding slogans like 'win-win'."
"You must pay the price."
"That's why I'm here, Leo."
"That's why I didn't go to the library in Vermouth to become a ghost, nor did I go to the cemetery in Hyde Park to rest, but instead squeezed into your brain full of coal smoke and anxiety."
"To change America, we must start now, right here."
Roosevelt posed his final question.
"Now, answer me."
"To feed the starving workers in Pittsburgh, to ensure that the $500 million in bonds will last, and to give this city a real future."
"Are you prepared not just to dance with the demon, but to cut a piece of your own soul and feed it to him by hand?"
"Are you ready to become a truly wicked person?"
"Are you prepared to bear the infamy of betraying the port and be cursed by your former supporters?"
"
"If you can't even bear this much stigma, then you should go back to your school and write your thesis instead of sitting in this position and harming people."
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