As autumn gradually entered, the temperature in Gotham began to drop, and the morning was particularly cold, but the conference room on the top floor of Wayne Tower was filled with gang bosses in suits and ties.
Bruce stood at the front and said: "I'm sorry, but Wayne Group only accepts cash investment..."
As soon as these words came out, the whole audience was in an uproar. Lawrence immediately stood up and said, "Wayne! Are you kidding us? How can city and transportation construction only accept cash investment? Don't you need raw materials and transportation costs?"
Bruce cleared his throat and looked down at the document in his hand. In fact, there was nothing written on the document. The technical information was all in his mind, but he still pretended, as if he was writing a speech to the staff team.
The manuscript read the same:
"Please be patient, I only accept cash investment for a good reason. The reason is that the construction level of Wayne Group has reached a technical fault. The raw materials and transportation costs you can provide are, in our opinion,
Come on, it’s not worth mentioning.”
"You can take a look at the TV screen. It shows the raw materials used by our company in the first and second phases of the project. All parts with vague labels involve technical secrets..."
A large number of professional and technical terms appeared on the screen that the heads of the twelve families could not understand at all. Unfamiliar English words could only be guessed based on their root affixes, and the roots and affixes of most professional nouns were also relatively unfamiliar.
If you don't know him at all, you can't even guess.
Bruce raised his voice and said: "As you can see, the materials I use to build my house are not ordinary concrete and steel bars. The structure of the entire house is integrated, earthquake-proof, fire-proof, and even tsunami-proof."
"The raw materials you can buy on the market, the workers you can hire, and the engineers you can recruit cannot participate in this kind of construction because their technical level is not enough and is much worse."
"Now, only the Wayne Group's production line can produce similar buildings, and those defense systems can only be used in such buildings. Otherwise, a laser cannon will hit the floor and a big hole will be punched in the floor, and the entire building will be destroyed.
If it collapses, then why should I build it?”
What Bruce said was very reasonable and pointed to the core. He did not worry about the amount of investment, but said directly, you don't understand my technology, so investing in technology or production line materials is a no-brainer. The only way to get involved is
The only way is to invest money.
Originally, the heads of the twelve families were not short of money, especially the funds injected by the twelve families combined could give the entire project a shot in the arm, but they just spent a lot.
Although the price of the collection of treasures sold by Savage is very low, it is also based on its market price. There is no need to talk about how much the original works of the three Renaissance masters, Van Gogh and Monet are worth in their heyday.
Based on this price, even with a 10% discount, it is still very expensive.
And Savage doesn't just sell one or two pieces. From oil paintings to sculptures, from antiques to rare and precious gems, he owns tons of collections.
He was in a hurry to cash in, so the discounts were very severe and the quantity was very large, so the Twelve Families took a lot of money. As a result, after this wave, the liquidity in their hands also bottomed out.
Everyone is hoarding collections, intending to buy them at low prices and sell them at high prices. Some people also want to collect them themselves, and the liquidity in their hands can only be maintained at a safe level.
At this time, they realized that the construction plan proposed by Bruce threatened their foundation. At the same time, they realized that as long as they could participate, the future rewards would be amazing.
But Bruce only wanted cash, and now the heads of the Twelve Families felt a bit uncomfortable. Should they save their heads or their butts? This is an eternal question.
After the meeting, the heads of each family crowded together and filed out of the conference room, all talking in low voices.
"I just got an authentic painting by Van Gogh two days ago. The appraiser from the auction house I know told me that as long as the auction process is completed, it is at least this amount, but if it is sold privately, it will be difficult to maintain the capital..."
"Who isn't? Didn't I also buy two sculptures? The appraiser also said they were genuine after appraisal, but if you don't follow the auction process, you won't be able to sell at a high price..."
"If you rush to sell it, you have to lower the price. They lowered it by 10%, but it's millions of dollars. Who can give it up?"
"But this damn Bruce just wants cash. You think his project shouldn't be able to cover the whole city so quickly, right?"
Lawrence coughed and said, "If you want me to see it, we'll just drag it and make trouble for him from time to time. When we have money in hand, we can talk to him again."
"I think so. The art market has been very good recently. As long as I can go to the auction house, it will only take a year at most, and I will have money again."
"Yes, it's the same for everyone. Since everyone has no money, there's no need to worry about them taking the first step and leaving others behind. Let's unite and fight him until we have money, right?"
The heads of the twelve families exchanged opinions, and they all felt that there was nothing wrong with this method.
This is also very common in the business world. You don’t have enough working capital, but you want to win the project. It’s nothing more than “procrastination”. If there are competitors, just make some trouble and wait until you have enough money.
Spend more money.
But Bruce walked out of the conference room knowing that he had won this battle.
In fact, the biggest difficulty in Gotham's transformation plan is that once the core interests of the gangs are touched, they will unite to violently resist. And once the gangs start fighting, many people will be endangered.
Bruce's biggest goal is to eliminate violent conflicts as much as possible and prevent them from turning into a city-wide war.
In the past, the anesthetics injected into the gangs were relatively easy to use, but in the end, the Twelve Families will definitely react, and at this time, psychology and behavioral knowledge will have to be used again.
When people make investments, they all hope to maximize their returns, and the lower the purchase price, the better. Therefore, when Savage began to sell off his collection at a low price, Bruce handed the olive branch to the heads of the Twelve Families, and they naturally
Just took it.
At present, there are no signs of a collapse in the art market. The experts they invited came to the same conclusion after analysis. As long as they can get those precious collections from Savage at a low price, it is equivalent to providing their family with
asset appreciation.
However, assets and liquidity are different. What they pay now is liquidity, and what they increase is estimated assets in the future.
At that time, they made the right decision because at that time, they did not need so much liquidity.
But Bruce happened to ask them to pay more working capital at this point, and downplayed the matter into an investment.
If you don't have money, you can't invest. This is a fact recognized by everyone. If you don't have money, you can't blame me for not taking you. Bruce stood firm from the perspective of axioms.
The reason why the members of the Twelve Families adopt the procrastination strategy is also based on the fact that Bruce is a businessman who wants to recover costs and earn profits. In their view, Bruce cannot invest uncontrollably. Since he wants to
Their investment will naturally be delayed.
But this plays into Bruce's hands. What he wants is this one-year buffer period. The Twelve Families can rely on this year to make money, and so can he.
The reason why he was anxious for money before was that he planned to build everything in one go before the gangsters reacted, in order to prevent them from reacting midway and violently counterattack.
But since they plan to delay, Bruce will delay with them. In the same year, Batman's earning speed is not at the same level as others. Bruce is sure that he can make enough money to transform most of Gotham in one breath.
funds.
A year later, the Twelve Families, who have regained liquidity, will find that they may be facing a half-Terminator, Batman with full power, and it is only a matter of time before he buys the earth.
It can be said that this injection of anesthetic was not given to them by Bruce, but given to themselves by themselves.
The leaders of the Twelve Families want both. They want the value of their collections to increase and make money on their own, but they also want to participate in Bruce's investment and completely control everyone in Gotham.
Therefore, they failed to be so decisive. They cut off the tail of the gecko, broke the boat, sold the collection urgently, spent money to enter the market, and played a game with Bruce.
In the final analysis, it is still the interests that move people's hearts.
"That's what I said, we can take advantage of their lack of long-term vision..." In the office, Schiller smiled and said: "The price they paid for the collection was too low, so the profit margin is too large.
This is money that is very certain to be obtained and they will not be willing to give it up.”
"But at the same time, they were reluctant to let go of the future you talked about and failed to see your fundamental purpose. Therefore, they made the choice you wanted most, which was not to resist with guns or violent conflicts, but to have peace.
If you drag it on for a year, both sides will get the best of it."
Bruce lightly rubbed his fingers and said, "One year..."
He shook his head and sighed softly. Alberto turned to look at him. He knew that it only took Bruce just 20 years to learn almost all the knowledge in the world. One year was already a long time.
It’s time to believe.
"Don't forget our agreement." Alberto said: "The Twelve Family is just a dog raised by my father. Maybe he will sigh a few words, but I am different. I just want to move forward in the new era."
"Aren't you afraid that he will average you out?" Schiller asked.
"I don't plan to just stay in Gotham. That's not the end of the Falcone family." Alberto glanced down at the watch on his hand and said, "My father wants to return to Italy to retire."
"Maybe one day, Wayne really rules the world..." Alberto glanced at Bruce and said, "Then maybe we can go to a farther place to see, you won't mind, right?"
Bruce turned to look at him and said, "Your father spent forty years establishing the order of Gotham. If you want to surpass him, Gotham is indeed not your end..."
Alberto stood up, looked at Bruce and said: "Actually, I don't care at all whether the people here are living well or not. I don't care about the outcome of the Twelve Families. I don't care when the gang will perish. The same goes for the Godfather.
…”
"In that era, he tried his best, and it didn't matter whether he succeeded or not in the end, because he knew earlier than you that on this road, only the one who reaches the end is not the winner."
Before leaving, Alberto turned his back to Bruce and said, "He also asked me to tell you that he doesn't like this sentence, because it sounds like an excuse for a coward to give up and run towards the finish line."
"Bruce Wayne, Godfather said you're not a coward... you better not be."
Bruce sat there in silence for a long time, and then he asked Schiller: "Do you think I will change?"
"People change." Schiller paused and replied.
Then he said: "You might as well ask your butler about this issue."
Bruce left silently, and Schiller looked out the window.
The rich greenery is fading, and the most luxuriant vitality of summer is gradually withering along with the autumn wind. The red color of maple leaves is like the blood of the earth, telling everyone who is in the midst of great changes that autumn in Gotham is coming.
This chapter has been completed!