novelnext Chapter 169 The Rusty Belt's Winter
Chapter 169 The Rusty Belt's Winter
Chapter 169 The Rusty Winter (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets 11/12)
This silent war has been raging for two weeks on the highways of Pennsylvania.
The state police checkpoint is still there.
Although conscientious police officers like Officer David let some vehicles pass, more checkpoints sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
The reasons given for the inspections are varied.
Counter-terrorism inspection.
Road load-bearing capacity test.
Even agricultural quarantine under the guise of "preventing the spread of invasive species".
Two weeks is enough time for many things to change.
In Pittsburgh City Hall, Leo sat behind his desk, looking at the latest project progress report in his hand.
All indicators are falling.
Construction speed at the southern site has decreased by 70 percent due to a lack of steel.
The foundation of the inland port had just been laid when it was forced to stop construction due to a shortage of cement.
"mayor."
Ethan stood at the table, holding a financial statement in his hand, looking anxious.
"If supplies don't get in soon, we'll have to announce a partial suspension of projects next week. The workers have started playing cards on the construction site. Although they're still getting paid, this doesn't fit our plans."
"This is a war of attrition."
Leo put down the report he was holding.
"Warren wants to wear us down; he wants to see us accomplish nothing before we run out of money."
"So what do we do?" Ethan asked. "Should we organize another breakthrough? Or apply for an emergency injunction from the federal court?"
"No."
Leo shook his head.
"We won't move."
"But----"
"Ethan, you need to understand one thing," Leo said slowly, "the pain you're experiencing right now is two-way."
"Pittsburgh just doesn't have the skills to do the work, but we still have money, a foundation of $500 million."
"But what about them?"
"The goods produced by Yili's factories can't be sold and are piling up in warehouses, tying up capital. Cement trucks in Scranton are sitting on the road burning fuel, losing money every day."
"And don't forget what Warren did."
"He cut off federal funding."
"For mayors like those in the Rust Belt who live off fiscal transfer payments, this is fatal."
2
Leo's eyes were cold.
"Now, it's a contest of who blinks first."
"In the past, I would have rushed to save them, but now, I'll wait for them to beg me."
"They will only accept my new rules when they are truly desperate."
Erie, City Hall.
Mayor Ron Smith felt like he was sitting on a volcano.
Because Warren cut off $20 million in special funds, a huge hole appeared in the city of Erie's budget.
This hole was originally intended by Ron Smith to fill the pension gap for municipal civil servants.
This is a common financial trick of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
But now, the east wall has collapsed.
The crowd gathered in the square below the city hall began to become more complex.
On the left are the workers covered in oil stains.
The machines in the factory were still roaring, and the conveyor belts were still running day and night. In order to meet the Pittsburgh order, the blast furnace was burning even more fiercely than before.
But that's precisely the strangest part.
The products cannot be shipped out.
Huge I-beams and bundles of rebar filled the warehouse, the open-air storage yard, and even the factory's passageways.
Meanwhile, this week's payslips have been issued.
The numbers have decreased.
Overtime pay is gone, performance bonuses are gone, and all that's left is a basic salary that barely covers the cost of living.
For these veteran workers who toiled in the rusty conveyor belts and experienced several large-scale layoffs, this was a more terrifying signal than a work stoppage.
This is a harbinger of death.
They are all too familiar with the capitalists' tricks: first, inventory piles up, then wages shrink, and finally, the door is sealed off and everyone is fired.
They don't understand what interstate highway checks are.
What kind of checkpoint can hold out for two whole weeks? What kind of police would let thousands of tons of urgently needed steel rust in their homes?
All they knew was that if the factory shut down, and if they didn't even get their basic wages next week, they would starve to death.
This fear is turning into violent impulses, and they could erupt at the slightest spark.
They've gathered here just to pressure the mayor to go to the state government and clear that damn road.
Standing beside these burly men was another group of completely different people.
A group of elderly people with gray hair, wearing old suits.
They are retired teachers, retired police officers, and retired civil servants from Erie.
They are the backbone of this city and Ron Smith's most staunch support base.
They are usually mild-mannered and conservative, and have voted for the Republican Party their whole lives, believing in order and stability.
But today, their order has collapsed.
They went to the bank to cash their pension checks, which should have been deposited that month, but the teller coldly told them that there was no money in the municipal account.
"Ron Smith! Get out here!"
A retired deputy police chief was speaking from downstairs using a megaphone.
His voice trembled with the rage of betrayal.
"What did you do with our money? Why did the federal funding stop?"
In his office, Ron Smith listened to the shouts downstairs, the bottle of blood pressure medication in his hand clattering on the desk.
How did he explain it?
Tell them that you were sanctioned by Republican senators because you got involved with the Democratic mayor of Pittsburgh?
Those old guys would just rush up and tear him to pieces.
The phone on the table rang.
It's Joe Byers of Scranton.
"Ron, I can't take it anymore," Byers said, her voice trembling with tears. "We've run out of money for road maintenance, and the contractors have dumped asphalt in front of my house. And those truck drivers, they're saying they're going to drive their trucks into my office if we don't pay them."
"We need to find Leo."
Smith said through gritted teeth.
"That bastard has five hundred million dollars. As long as he settles the remaining balance and makes an advance payment for the next installment, we can plug the hole we're in right now."
"But the goods haven't been delivered yet—"
Smith roared, "That was Warren's doing the blocking! What does it have to do with us? We produced it, we shipped it—that's fulfilling the contract! This is force majeure!"
"Tell him to pay us back!"
Five minutes later.
The phone rang in the Pittsburgh mayor's office.
Ethan glanced at the caller ID and nodded to Leo.
"It's Smith."
Leo sat down in the chair, straightened his collar, and then picked up the receiver.
Good afternoon, Ron.
Leo's voice was calm, devoid of any emotion.
"What a load of rubbish!"
Smith yelled on the other end of the phone.
"Leo, listen to that noise outside! It's my constituents banging on my door!"
"Our goods are already on their way, but the state troopers are stopping them from getting in! It's not our fault!"
"But your money has to be in place!"
"We signed a contract! You've paid 30%, there's still 70% left! Now, immediately, transfer it to me!"
"If I don't see the money by sunset today, I will—"
"What will you do?"
Leo interrupted him.
"Are you going to quit the league? Or surrender to Warren?"
"Ron, save your breath."
"Warren has already made his move. Do you think he'll give you back your money if you kneel back now? No way. He wants your corpse to warn the others."
"Your only way to survive now is through me."
Smith, panting heavily, said, "Since you know that, then give me the money! Don't you have five hundred million? Give me ten million, twenty million, it'll be a lifesaver for me, but it's just a drop in the ocean for you!"
"I am rich."
Leo leaned back in his chair.
"But I can't give it to you."
"Why?!"
"Because the goods haven't arrived."
Leo looked at the project schedule on the table.
"I am the mayor of Pittsburgh, and I am accountable to the taxpayers of Pittsburgh. I cannot pay for a shipment of steel that hasn't even arrived yet, and may even be rusty."
"That's financial discipline, Ron. You know what I mean."
"To hell with financial discipline!" Smith yelled. "This is a special case! What kind of bureaucracy are you spouting?"
"I did not engage in bureaucracy."
Leo's voice turned cold.
"I'm following the rules."
"Besides, Ron, even if I were willing to give it, I couldn't give it in cash."
"Because my cash flow is also very tight, I have to pay the wages of local workers and pay compensation."
"That five hundred million dollars is not unlimited."
Smith fell silent on the other end of the phone.
He understood the meaning behind Leo's words.
"However," Leo changed the subject, "while I can't give you cash, I can give you something else."
"What?" Smith exclaimed as if grasping at a straw.
"bill."
Leo uttered that word.
"Alliance Credit Notes"
"As I mentioned before, that settlement system has already been launched."
19
"I can immediately transfer $20 million worth of credit notes into your account."
"You can use these receipts to pay your factory and your contractors."
"Within our alliance, this is money."
"bill?!"
Smith's anger erupted once again.
"You expect me to use these electronic codes to pay pensions to retired police officers? You expect me to use these IOUs to buy bread for starving workers?"
'
"Can they use this to buy things at Walmart? Can they use it to pay their hospital bills?"
"Leo, you're playing me!"
"They can't use it now because you haven't enforced it yet."
Leo's voice hardened.
"Ron, this is your only chance."
"As long as you're willing to push it, it's money."
"I won't do it!"
Smith refused.
That's your choice.
Leo said calmly.
"We don't have cash, only receipts."
"Or, you can figure out how to break Warren's blockade and get the goods in. I'll pay for the goods as soon as they arrive."
"Choose one of the two."
'
Leo hung up the phone.
"He'll go crazy," Ethan said worriedly. "You've cornered him."
"People only learn new ways to survive when they are in a dead end."
Leo stood up.
"But before he learns the new way, he will do one thing first."
"What is it?"
"Bite."
Leo looked out the window.
"He can't handle Warren, and he can't handle me."
"But he has to give an explanation to those angry citizens, and he has to find an outlet for that pent-up emotion."
In the mayor's office in Erie, Ron Smith suppressed the anger he had just displayed and sat calmly in his chair.
He had anticipated all of this.
He just hadn't expected the pressure to come so quickly and so intensely.
The noise downstairs grew louder and louder, like a pot of boiling water that could burst open at any moment and scald the mayor to a pulp.
But he knew very well that now was not the time to admit defeat.
He stood up, walked to the full-length mirror, straightened his tie, and smoothed out the wrinkles on his suit.
He had to confront the angry crowd.
But he didn't go to apologize; he went to fuel the anger.
A few minutes later.
Ron Smith appeared on the city's balcony.
The crowd downstairs instantly erupted in excitement.
"Master's money!"
"fraud!"
All sorts of odds and ends were thrown at him, but Smith didn't dodge.
He stood there, his expression solemn, even carrying a heartbreaking sense of tragic grandeur.
He raised the megaphone.
"Fellow citizens! Fellow workers! I know you are anxious! I am anxious too!"
Smith's voice was loud and clear, drowning out the noise in the square.
"I want to collect my pension too! I want the factory running at full speed right now!"
He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the angry faces.
"but!"
Smith suddenly raised his hand and pointed straight south, towards Pittsburgh.
"Our money has been withheld!"
"To support the construction of Pittsburgh, we worked day and night, sending our best steel and the blood and sweat of our workers!"
"But that mayor named Leo Wallace broke his promise!"
"He took our goods, but he's withholding our money!"
"He sits on that mountain of gold worth hundreds of millions of dollars, while our elderly go hungry! He watches our workers go hungry!"
'
Smith's voice was filled with heartache and indignation.
"He said it was because the road was blocked? That's just an excuse!"
"He just wants to renege on his debts; he just wants to bleed us dry to enrich his own city and fill the holes in his own political record!"
A buzz of discussion arose from the crowd.
Compared to distant Washington and complex federal funding, a treacherous neighbor is clearly a better target for hatred.
Smith struck while the iron was hot.
"As for pensions—"
He spoke gently and sincerely to the elderly people dressed in old Western Xia clothing.
"I know everyone is going through a tough time, and I know this is everyone's lifeline."
"The municipal government's budget is indeed empty because we have put all our working capital into the steel mill to get the machines running and to give young people jobs."
"I don't think the money from Pittsburgh will be enough to fill this hole."
"But I didn't expect them to be so shameless."
Smith sighed, his face full of helplessness.
"But please believe me."
"If I can help everyone find jobs, if I can get a factory that has been shut down for three years to start smoking again, then I will definitely be able to get everyone's money back."
"I'm going to Pittsburgh right now."
"I went to block Rio Wallace's door and I slept in his office."
"I won't come back until I get the money!"
"Please give me some time, everyone! Give Yili some time!"
The workers chatted with each other.
Although they were angry, they knew that Smith was telling the truth.
The factory has indeed started operations, and the orders are indeed real.
Without Smith, they might be starving at home right now.
"Let him go!" one of the workers shouted. "If he doesn't get his money back, we'll go to Pittsburgh and help him!"
"Yes! Let him go!"
The retired elderly have also become more relaxed.
They are, after all, respectable people; it wouldn't be good to push them too hard.
Since the mayor has already made his point, it would be unreasonable to continue making a fuss.
The crowd began to slowly disperse.
Smith looked at the empty square and let out a long sigh.
He returned to his office and picked up his phone.
I dialed the number of Scranton Mayor Joe Byers.
"Joe, it's me."
Smith's voice regained its composure.
"I've already calmed those people down and shifted the blame to Pittsburgh."
"How's it going on your end?"
"Pretty much." Byers sounded a little tired on the phone. "I also blamed it all on Leo, saying he was withholding our project payments, and the workers are preparing to go to Pittsburgh to demand payment."
"very good."
Smith sat back down in his chair.
"Joe, we need to wake up."
"This incident is very clear; Warren is making an example of someone."
"So many cities joined that damned alliance, why is it that only our federal funding has been cut off?"
"Because Warren wants to use us as an example to scare the others."
"Mayors in other cities must be having a field day right now because they aren't under this much pressure."
"We cannot sit idly by and wait to perish."
"We have to go to Pittsburgh."
"Are you really going?" Byers asked.
"Of course," Smith sneered. "We're going to find Leo Wallace."
"He dragged us into this mess, and he wanted to be the so-called leader of the alliance."
"Then he has to take full responsibility."
"We need to force him to take action, force him to fight Warren, force him to break that damn blockade."
"Otherwise, we'll really die for his son."
"Okay," Byers agreed. "I'll head out now. See you in Pittsburgh."
>