novelnext Chapter 148 Declaration of Independence
Chapter 148 Declaration of Independence
Chapter 148 Declaration of Independence (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader "I Have a Small Courtyard in Nanjing")
The meeting room at the construction site was temporarily pieced together from a few steel plates.
A simple, long, folding table stood in the center, surrounded by seven chairs borrowed from different offices, some of which had worn-out leather cushions.
Seven mayors, who control the lifeline of industrial cities in western and central Pennsylvania, are crammed into this small space.
In front of them sat exquisite ceramic coffee cups, the coffee steaming hot, but no one touched them.
All eyes were focused on the projection screen at the front of the conference room.
Ethan stood next to the screen and pressed the remote control.
An electronic map of Pennsylvania was displayed before everyone.
This is an industrial map.
The red lines represent railways, the blue lines represent waterways, and the gray lines represent interstate highways.
These lines converge on the shores of Lake Erie, the valleys of Scranton, and the banks of the Johnstown River, eventually all ending at the same destination—Pittsburgh.
"Gentlemen."
Leo stood in front of the map, drawing a huge circle on the screen with his laser pointer.
This circle, centered on Pittsburgh, extends north to Lake Erie and east to the heart of the Appalachian Mountains.
"This is our territory."
"Over the past forty years, we have been divided into isolated islands."
"Eli is begging Harrisburg to save its last machine tool factory."
"Scranton pressured New York builders to lower prices in order to keep the cement plant running at full capacity."
"We compete with each other, exploit each other, and even fight each other at hearings over the same federal funding program."
Leo's laser pointer is positioned in Harrisburg.
"The state government is happy to see this situation. The more decentralized we are, the weaker we become, and the weaker we are, the more we need to rely on their transfer payments and the little bit of budget they give us."
"That's how they manage us."
Leo turned around to face the seven people around the round table.
"But today, we're going to change that rule."
"I propose that the Pennsylvania Industrial Revitalization Alliance be formally established."
"This is not a loose mayoral association, nor is it the kind of administrative forum that holds a meeting once a year, takes a few photos, and then disbands."
"This is a community of shared interests."
"It is a self-sufficient supply chain system."
Ethan switched the slides in response to Leo's words.
A complex flowchart appeared on the screen.
The flow of funds, materials, and information forms a perfect closed loop within this alliance.
"Take the current situation as an example. Pittsburgh has $500 million in bond funds, so we are the financial center and logistics hub of this alliance."
Leo pointed to the core of the flowchart.
"We are responsible for contracting, procurement, and providing liquidity."
"Eli, you have the best heavy industry base and skilled workers in the state. You are the manufacturing center in this alliance. All the port machinery, bridge steel structures, and large equipment are manufactured by Eli."
"Scranton, you have cement and building materials. All infrastructure construction within the alliance will prioritize the use of your products."
""
"Johnston, you have the energy infrastructure and the glass manufacturing plant. You are responsible for providing parts and energy support for this massive industrial machine."
Leo placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.
"We are building an internal cycle for the manufacturing industry."
"But this doesn't mean we should shut ourselves off and play by ourselves; we're not trying to build an isolated island."
Leo's eyes sharpened.
"We want to integrate this entire rust belt into a single, tightly meshed industrial machine. We use internal orders to keep the machine running, ensuring the factory doesn't close down and workers don't leave."
"Then, we use our integrated industrial power to export it to the outside world."
"We're going to snatch federal infrastructure contracts and international market share. Before, you were all going it alone, with high costs and small scale, so you couldn't compete with anyone. But now, we're a giant with a complete upstream and downstream supply chain."
"As long as the factories are still operating and the workers have wages, they will spend money locally, buy houses, and have children. The population will not be lost, and the community's vitality will be restored."
"Even if Harrisburg cuts off all funding tomorrow, even if Washington politicians never look at us again."
"We can survive thanks to the mutually supportive supply chains and the internal circulation of this manufacturing industry."
"And they will live with dignity."
Ethan then promptly produced a copy of the "Regional Economic Cooperation Memorandum" and placed it on the table.
Silence fell over the meeting room.
The mayors looked at the image on the screen, at that grand strategic vision.
From a business perspective, this is a very good solution.
It preserved the industrial spark through internal cooperation, solved the problem of overcapacity in a single region, and sought external growth through integrated efforts.
If this were a board meeting of a large corporation, the proposal would be passed, and everyone would stand up and applaud.
But this is Pennsylvania's bureaucracy.
The people sitting around the table were not the company's general manager, but the democratically elected mayor.
Behind each of them is a complex electorate, rivals eyeing their positions, and state legislators and party leaders who control their fate.
The silence lasted for a full minute.
Ron Smith was the first to break the silence.
He picked up the coffee cup in front of him, took a sip, and then put it down.
The porcelain cup struck the tray with a crisp sound.
"Leo".
Smith changed his form of address, which indicated that he was prepared to talk about something less pleasant.
"Your PPT looks great and the logic is very clear."
"If I were a businessman, I would sign right now."
"But I am not."
Smith leaned back in his chair, staring at Leo.
"I am a Republican."
"And you, Leo Wallace, are now the most notorious progressive madman in all of Pennsylvania."
"You ousted Cartwright, you battled Morganfield, and you even wanted to send Murphy to the Senate to challenge Warren."
"In Harrisburg, your name is number one on the Republican State Committee's blacklist."
Smith pointed to himself.
"In Erie, I was able to become mayor because of the Republican base, because of those conservative white blue-collar workers."
"If I join your so-called alliance..."
"If I were to associate with a radical Democrat."
"What will my voters think of me?"
"They will think I have betrayed the party, that I have been bribed by you."
2
"And Senator Warren."
Smith lowered his voice.
"Warren has deep roots in Erie. If he knew I was helping his arch-enemy Murphy gain political credit, he would kill me."
"He will cut off all my resources in Washington, and he will support my rivals to take me down in next year's election."
"To risk my political life for a 30 million dollar order?"
Smith shook his head.
"This is too expensive."
No sooner had Smith finished speaking than Scranton Mayor Joe Byers, who was sitting next to him, also spoke up.
This moderate Democrat adopted a very businesslike approach.
"Ron is talking about political risks, so let's talk about legal risks."
Byers took out his phone.
"Leo, your chief of staff mentioned the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act."
"Indeed, that bill allows local governments to cooperate."
"But have you read that bill carefully?"
Byers pointed to a line of text on the phone screen.
"Agreements involving significant cross-regional economic cooperation and resource integration must be filed with the State Department of Community and Economic Development and, if necessary, subject to questioning by the relevant committees of the State Legislative Assembly."
Byers looked at Leo.
"Filing? Inquiry?"
"That's just a nice way of putting it; it's actually just approval."
"The people in Harrisburg aren't stupid. What do you think they'll think when you link seven major industrial cities together and create such a large, independent economic loop?"
"They'll think you're establishing an independent kingdom."
"You are challenging the authority of the state government; you are undermining Harrisburg's fiscal allocation power."
"The state attorney general is a Republican, and he's just waiting for an opportunity to get back at you."
"Once we announce the alliance, he will sue us the very next day for overstepping his authority, violating state financial discipline, and even unlawful association."
"At that time, each of us will have to go to court to respond to the lawsuit."
"Leo, I don't want to go to jail, and I don't want to lose my retirement savings."
Byers' concerns resonated with several other mayors.
The mayor of Johnstown also tapped on the table.
"And Washington, Leo."
"In poor cities like ours, 30 percent of our budget comes from federal transfers each year."
"Housing subsidies, education grants, and public security funds."
"This money is in the hands of federal agencies and the Congressional Appropriations Committee."
"If the alliance you form is seen by Washington as a form of confrontation, as a sign of disobedience."
"What if they cut off these transfer payments?"
"We cannot afford this risk."
"We'd risk our whole family's lives just to get a bite of your meat."
"This isn't worth it."
The lively atmosphere that had been building on the construction site just moments before vanished instantly.
This is the gravitational pull of reality.
The profits are tempting, but the risks are even more frightening.
These seasoned veterans, who had spent half their lives navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom, were all as shrewd as devils.
They want orders, they want political achievements, and they want to solve employment problems.
But they don't want to take on any political responsibility.
They hoped Leo would charge ahead and withstand all the artillery fire while they hid in the trenches to divide the spoils.
Now, Leo asked them to stand up and charge with him.
They hesitated and backed down.
Ethan stood to the side, his palms sweaty.
He looked at these mayors who had just been calling each other brothers, now all of them looking embarrassed and full of excuses.
This is the fragility of political alliances.
We have no shared beliefs, only shared interests.
Once the risks outweigh the expected benefits, the alliance will collapse instantly.
Leo sat in the main seat.
He listened quietly, looking into everyone's eyes.
He knew that these difficulties were real.
Party pressure, legal risks, and financial threats.
Each of these points would be enough to make an ordinary mayor back down.
But he knew even more clearly that these mayors were not putting these difficulties on the table to reject him.
If they really wanted to refuse, they wouldn't have gotten on this car or even entered this meeting room.
They're saying all this now in order to bargain.
It is in order to strive for better conditions.
In order to allow Leo to provide them with more security.
This was also to make Leo understand how much risk they were taking to play this game with him.
Leo picked up the coffee cup in front of him and took a sip.
"Are you done talking?"
He stood up, walked around the long table, and went to Ron Smith. He pulled over a chair and sat down opposite Smith, his knees almost touching.
“Ron,” Leo began, “you just mentioned Senator Warren, and your Republican voters. You’re worried that if you cooperate with me, they’ll think you’ve betrayed your beliefs.”
Smith did not deny it.
"But I'd like you to recall," Leo said, staring at Smith's wrinkled face, "when the Erie Machine Tool Plant announced its layoffs, how many people were gathered outside your office? Five hundred? Or a thousand?"
Smith's eye twitched.
"Those workers held up signs and chanted slogans, asking you for jobs and food. Did any of them ask you, 'Mayor, are you a Republican or a Democrat?'"
"Has anyone ever said, 'Because you're a Republican, we're willing to go hungry'?"
Leo turned his head and scanned each of the mayors present.
"Gentlemen, we all live in the real world."
"In this world, potholes on asphalt don't belong to any party. They don't become smoother just because a Republican is driving by, nor do they become deeper just because a Democrat is driving by. When a sewer is clogged, the gushing sewage doesn't discriminate based on a voter's political leanings."
"When a worker loses his job, when he can't pay his rent, when he sees only two slices of dry bread in his child's lunchbox, he doesn't care which elephant or donkey is sitting in Washington or Harrisburg."
"He only cares about one thing: who will give him a check."
Leo looked at Smith again.
"Senator Warren certainly has a lot of power. He talks a lot in Washington, he defends traditional values on television. But can he give you orders? Can he buy the thousands of tons of steel piling up in your warehouse? Can he get your nearly bankrupt machine tool factory back to operation?"
"He can't."
Leo provided the answer.
"He'll just tell you it's the law of the market, a necessary sacrifice. He'll make you patient, make you appease those angry voters for the sake of the so-called big picture."
"But I can."
Leo pointed to his chest.
"I have $500 million, I have a revitalization plan, I have an inland port project, and I have huge demand. I can buy your steel, I can hire your workers, and I can get your city running again."
"Ron, your voters elected you as mayor to help them build roads and find jobs, not to be a loyal soldier in partisan battles."
"If you go back with a ten million dollar order, and you tell them the factory doesn't have to close, do you think they'll refuse it because the money comes from a Democratic mayor's project? Or will they see you as a hero who saved the city?"
Smith remained silent.
Leo then turned to Byers.
"Joe, are you worried the state attorney general will prosecute you?"
"Have you ever worried that Scranton's fiscal deficit this year has reached the warning line?"
"If you don't get the tax revenue from this order, you won't be able to pay the police officers' salaries next month."
"At that point, without the state attorney general even lifting a finger, your city's security will collapse, and you will become the most incompetent mayor in Scranton's history."
Leo stood up and walked back to the map.
His shadow, cast across the map of Pennsylvania, resembles an eagle spreading its wings.
"You're also worried about Washington's reaction, worried that they'll cut off transfer payments."
Leo gave a cold laugh.
"Gentlemen, open your eyes and see. Washington has long forgotten about us. In the eyes of those elites, the Rust Belt is nothing but a burden, a bottomless pit that only knows how to ask for money."
"They won't give us more money voluntarily; if we want resources, we have to take them ourselves."
John Murphy is running for senator.
Leo threw out a heavyweight bet.
"He is not only my ally, but also the mouthpiece of this alliance in Washington. If this alliance is formed, if all of us here can work together to get Murphy into the Senate."
"Then we had our own voice in Washington."
"They will no longer be lambs to the slaughter."
"Murphy will fight for more federal projects and more policy support for this alliance. Because this is his base of support and the source of his power."
The atmosphere in the meeting room began to subtly change.
The temptation of profit, the pressure of survival, and the stakes of the future—everyone is torn between these conflicting emotions.
But not enough.
Leo knew that these people were all seasoned veterans; they were used to observing and playing both sides.
They won't place bets easily unless they're cornered.
"certainly."
Leo reached out and poked hard at the western edge of the map, where Pennsylvania and Ohio meet.
"I understand your difficulties. After all, party discipline is very strict, and the state government is under a lot of pressure. If you really feel the risks are too high and are afraid to join this alliance, I completely understand."
Leo turned around, looked at them, and a regretful expression appeared on his face.
"But the Pittsburgh project can't stop. My money has to be spent, and my roads have to be built."
"Since the neighboring cities in this state are unwilling to take on this order, I have no choice but to look for friends outside the state."
17
Leo's finger crossed the state line and touched the map of Ohio.
"Youngstown, Cleveland, and even Wellington in West Virginia."
"The factories there are also starving, and the mayor there is also worried about employment."
"If I called the mayor of Youngstown and told him I had a $30 million steel order, what do you think his response would be?"
"Will he ask me if I'm a Democrat or a Republican? Will he be worried about state government scrutiny?"
"He would drive over immediately, even in the middle of the night, and knock on my door. He would bring his union president, his contract, and treat me like a god."
"Because he wants his city to live."
Leo's gaze sharpened like a knife, sweeping over everyone present.
"Gentlemen, this is a five-hundred-million-dollar cake. It's a large cake, but also finite. Pittsburgh can't finish it, but it certainly won't beg you for a piece of it."
"If you're not sitting at the table, then you'll be on the menu."
"If Erie's steel mills go bankrupt, it won't be because the market is bad, but because you pushed your life-saving orders to Ohioans."
"At that time, when your voters see factories in the next state working overtime, and workers in the next state receiving wages from Pittsburgh, while they themselves are receiving welfare."
"How do you plan to explain this to them?"
"Tell them this is to maintain the purity of the party? Tell them this is to abide by the rules of Harrisburg?"
""
"Good luck to you."
This is a blatant threat.
Leo placed the carrot and the big stick on the table at the same time.
Let's eat carrots, get rich together, and fight against the state government together.
If you refuse carrots, then wait to be drained dry by the surrounding cities and to be ousted by angry voters.
fear.
This is the most effective adhesive in politics.
The fear of being marginalized, the fear of being surpassed by competitors, the fear of being abandoned by voters.
This fear outweighed any apprehension towards Warren, and any concern about the law.
Ron Smith's hand trembled.
He stared at the glaring red circle on the map.
He knew Youngstown all too well; the city was less than a hundred miles from Erie, and its factories were direct competitors of Erie.
If this order is actually awarded to Youngstown, Yili's steel industry will be truly finished.
He cannot bear this responsibility.
"Oh shit."
Smith muttered a curse under his breath.
He suddenly grabbed the coffee cup on the table, drank it all in one gulp, and then slammed it heavily on the table.
"Leo, you bastard."
Smith looked up, his eyes fierce.
"You win."
"I don't care what that old man Warren thinks, and I don't care what those idiots at the state party headquarters yell about."
"Yili's factories cannot be closed."
""
"That order must remain with Yili."
Smith reached out, grabbed the Regional Economic Cooperation Memorandum, took out a pen from his pocket, and signed his name on it.
The sound of the pen nib slicing through the paper was particularly jarring in the quiet meeting room.
That was the first crack in the collapsed dam.
Once there's a first one, there's bound to be a second.
Joe Byers sighed and picked up his pen.
"Scranton's in," he said helplessly. "If I let the Ohioans steal the cement orders, the union will tear down my office."
The mayors of Johnstown, Altoona, and Newcastle —
One by one.
Seven mayors, seven cities.
Driven by self-interest, under the pressure of survival, and faced with the grand vision envisioned by Leo Wallace, they bowed their heads.
They signed this memorandum, which has no legal force but is more binding than any law.
This is a pledge of allegiance, and also a declaration of independence.
The Rust Belt of western Pennsylvania, this forgotten, neglected, and fragmented industrial wasteland, was at this moment reconnected by a golden chain.
They are an alliance.
A massive political entity with a complete industrial chain, millions of people, and the power to influence the outcome of statewide elections.
Leo looked at the document covered in signatures, but the expected smile did not appear on his face.
He felt only a deep weariness and an even heavier responsibility.
He tied all these people to the chariot.
Now, he must drive this vehicle through the minefield ahead.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen."
Leo put away the file and handed it to Ethan, who was standing next to him.
"Tell the Erie and Scranton plants that the machines can be preheated."
"Our truck convoy is already on its way."
The mayors all stood up.
At this moment, the way they looked at Leo changed.
That is a form of obedience to the strong.
This young man accomplished what they had wanted to do for decades but dared not do.
He cleaved a pile of loose sand into a fist.
"Leo." Smith glanced at Leo one last time before leaving. "I hope you know where you're leading us."
"Of course I know."
Leo answered calmly.
"To lead you to a way out."
"Towards a future where we control the future."
The meeting room was empty.
Leo walked to the window and looked outside.
On the construction site in the southern district, a huge crane is slowly turning, as if paying tribute to the city.
"Mr. President," Leo thought to himself, "we now have an army."
Roosevelt's voice rang out, filled with satisfaction.
"Yes, child."
"You not only have an army, you also have territory."
"Take a look at this map."
Roosevelt seemed to be guiding Leo's gaze.
"Pennsylvania Industrial Revitalization Alliance"
"That's a great name."
"But it also has a deeper meaning."
"This is not just a supply chain community, but a demonstration against Harrisburg and Washington."
"You're telling them: Since you don't care about us, we'll take care of ourselves."
"You are establishing a new order."
"An order based on production, on labor, and on real economic interests."
"This order is ten thousand times more solid than those castles in the air built on slogans and ideologies."
Roosevelt paused for a moment.
"The ship has now been launched."
"Everyone is on board."
"From now on, there's only one thing you need to do."
"Take the helm carefully."
"Don't let this ship capsize."
"Because now, you are not the only one sitting on the ship."
"And the fate of the entire western Pennsylvania."
Leo looked out the window at the river rushing forward.
The Mononga Hilla River flows into the Ohio River, then towards the Mississippi River, and finally into the ocean.
The flow of water is unstoppable.
Like the torrent of this era.
He's already at the forefront.
There was no way to retreat.
The only way forward is forward.