"If you fall behind, you will be beaten." It is not only about modern China, but also about Panama.

The mayor of Panama, who is also a regional leader in the Isthmus of Panama, was blackmailed by a mercenary leader in this way, which is simply a joke.

But this joke is a bit unhappy, because Eddie Housman has no way to counter the situation except for verbal protests, which is also a true portrayal of "a weak country without diplomacy."

Ford Benjamin's request is very comprehensive. In addition to compensating for the losses of the station building, the Panama City Government also holds the relevant responsible persons accountable and compensates the losses caused by the inability to operate the Panama Railway Company during this period, and also ensures that similar incidents will not happen again in the future.

To be honest, Eddie Houseman couldn't do any of Ford Benjamin's requests. This is not because Eddie Houseman is so tough, but because the Panama city government does not have the economic strength at all. Not to mention $1.25 million, the Panama government can't even get $50,000.

Not all cities are as wealthy as the New York City Government. It takes tens of millions of dollars to build a city office building. There is only one New York in the world. Compared with the New York City Government, the situation of the Panama City Government is like living in Africa in the last century.

"No money? No money is simple. You can pay in other ways. We can also extend the period appropriately, but before your Panama City has paid compensation, we must supervise Panama City to ensure you will complete the payment." Ford Benjamin is not worried that the Panama City has no money at all, preferably the Panama City will never have money.

"You are delusional. I will never agree to these terms, and I will never accept such blackmail." Eddie Houseman's eyes were cold and he had the urge to rush to the end of the boat. He wanted to smash the pencil in his hand on Ford Benjamin's face.

blackmail!

Yes, this is indeed blackmail, but in this era, such things happen almost every day. If you count it carefully, more than one million dollars are still less. Look at the Qing Empire, every time you are blackmailed, it will be hundreds of millions. If you want less, it will be an insult to the Qing Empire at the center of the world.

"Listen to me, Mr. Mayor, if you agree to these conditions, why do I have a private gift for you? I hope you like it... And if you don't agree, the tragedy that happened some time ago will happen again, but this time, it's not the station building that was besieged." Ford Benjamin put down his leg and took out a $10,000 secret check from the Bank of America from his inner pocket, put it on the table and pushed it to Eddie Houseman.

Ten thousand dollars is not a small number. In Colombia, this money can be used to buy ministerial masters, and it is a bit wasteful to use it on Eddie Houseman.

However, this is exactly the true meaning of bribery. If you want to achieve the best results, you must come up with an irresistible temptation.

As for what Ford Benjamin said, "the tragedy will happen again", this is the threat of Red Guoguo.

The siege of the station building is a spontaneous resistance of Panama workers to the Panama Railway management. Since Panama is so bloody, Americans are certainly not bad. If Eddie Housman rejects Ford Benjamin's request, then maybe some Americans will also "spontaneously" come to siege the Panama government building in the next few days.

By then, the prospects are probably worrying.

Yes, the prospects are worrying!

There is a big stick on one side and chocolate on the other. It should not be troublesome to choose between the two, but Eddie Housman has not made a decision for a long time.

Can't this be blamed on Eddie Housman. Is it less than 10,000 dollars? Of course, it's quite a lot. This is almost the salary of Eddie Housman as mayor for ten years. However, if he gets this money, Eddie Housman will become a sinner in Panama and will always be nailed to the pillar of shame in Panama. When future generations talk about this history, Eddie Housman must be the object of being despised.

But if we don't take it, it's hard to say what these lawless Americans would do. When Panamanian workers besieged the station building, Americans dared to shoot the world, and killed hundreds of people. Now they shamelessly demand compensation, which fully demonstrates the bottom line of the Americans.

Their bottom line is that there is no bottom line. If we talk about American moral standards, then perhaps money is the only moral standard for Americans.

"If you are worried about parliament, then I can assure you that there is no need to worry about this. You can wait and see. The parliament's acceptance of these terms will definitely exceed your imagination. This is the collective decision of your Panama government, and the responsibility will not be entirely blamed on you-" Ford Benjamin was still chattering, and the meaning of the words made Eddie Houseman gradually fall into despair.

Since some people are singing the slander, then there must be some people singing the slander. Martinez Silva arrived in Panama City three days ago. He and Leonard Gilmore are conducting public relations with members of the Panama Parliament. Although they don’t know how the effect is, judging from the expenses over the past few days, Ford Benjamin is almost certain that almost half of the parliament has been bribed. Even if someone opposes it at that time, it will be overwhelmed by the majority.

This is also considered the tragedy of "democracy".

"What kind of supervision are you going to do?" Eddie Housman was still making his final struggle, but in fact Eddie Housman had surrendered.

"Dissolve the police and tax departments and leave Panama's police and tax work to our Panama Company. I can guarantee that the security situation in Panama City will be better than it is now, and the Panama government's revenue will also increase significantly. No matter how you look at it, this is a good thing for you Panama City and Panama governments." It was obvious that the lion spoke out loud, but from Ford Benjamin's mouth, it was like the Panama Company was doing charity.

Although it sounds incredible, Eddie Housman knows very well that Ford Benjamin is talking about the facts.

In Panama City, the security situation in Panama City is really not very good, and it can even be called severe. The weakness of the police station, the complex population structure, and the tough folk customs have led to the current bad security situation in Panama City, with frequent public security situations and gangs rampant. Although ordinary people will not be in a state of being in poverty, they must not be described as living and working in peace.

It must be said that Eddie Housman also wanted to change this situation, but in fact, Eddie Housman did not have many solutions. The main reason was that the Panama government had limited police force and could not effectively control the huge Panama isthmus.

The same is true for the tax department. Although it sounds a bit humiliating to hand over the tax department to a company to control it, Eddie Housman is very clear that the tax department in Panama City is already rotten. Unless a complete change is carried out, the financial situation of the Panama government will never improve. If the Panama company takes over the tax work in Panama City, even if the tax does not actually increase, the government's financial statements will look better than before. The reason is nothing more, just to minimize human factors.

This has been verified. The current Qing Customs is controlled by the British Hao De. Hao De's management ability cannot be said to be high. The Qing foreign trade has not seen a large increase. However, under the control of Hao De, the Qing Customs is the cleanest department in the Qing Dynasty. The revenue status of the customs has been increasing. Compared with the Qing Customs before, and compared with other departments in the Qing Dynasty, this is definitely an irony. Foreign monks may not be able to recite scriptures more. They are just more serious. This has become evidence that "the foreign moon is rounder" among some people-

When leaving the Panama City Government Office Building, Ford Benjamin looked back at the gray City Government Office Building, and a disdainful smile flashed.

This building is indeed too old-fashioned

The buildings in this era are not as crazy as the 21st century. Although many buildings are called "building", they are actually three or four floors, in this era when one floor is generally a small wooden house, such buildings are indeed relatively tall, so there is no problem with this title.

The "building" that Panama Railway Station is preparing to be rebuilt is more worthy of the title of "building" than most buildings in this era.

Because the station building has to carry part of the waiting room function, the new station building has a total of three floors, with a total height of an astonishing twenty-one meters. The waiting room alone is as high as eight meters. Such a building level is not available in the entire Panama Isthmus, so the construction work of the station building must be undertaken by Junma Construction Company from the United States.

"It costs $600,000 just a station building, which is a bit too much." Leonard Gilmore, a member of the Vanderbilt family, obviously disapproved of this offer.

"The cost of the building is of course less than $600,000, but the offer also includes 11 technicians, 150 workers' travel expenses from New York to Panama, as well as their overseas work subsidies. Is it acceptable to think so?" Simon Rutherford, the business manager of Junma Construction Company, was there, and he was not worried that Leonard Gilmore would not agree.

The wealth is not flowing to outsiders. Since it is the business of Panama Station, of course it has to be borne by Junma Construction Company. There must be some tricks in this price, but no one cares, and even the Canal Management Committee will not care. Just like the Vanderbilt family will have tricks in running the Panama Railway. Everyone knows it, and no one will say it out loud. Anyway, in the end, the shareholders of Panama Canal Company will be borne by the sheep. The wool comes from the sheep, and everyone makes money.

"We should hire workers from local areas, at least this will save some costs." Leonard Gilmore was just accustomed to questioning, not against, nor did he have the right to object.

Simon Rutherford stopped talking, his face was weird.

Perhaps Leonard Gilmore was just a heartless word, but in fact what Leonard Gilmore said was right. Junma Construction Company was planning to hire construction workers locally from Panama, so that labor costs would be greatly reduced. However, there is no need to make such a clear statement. As long as the quality of the project can be guaranteed, Junma Construction Company will be reasonable no matter how it is done.

"Gentlemen, let's discuss how to arrange the upcoming planes. Look at the document sent by Boston Airlines. It seems that we need to prepare an airport first. Is the airport address determined?" Robert Croning, the new general manager of Panama Railways, is more pragmatic. He just took office after the "conflict incident". He was a lawyer and an accountant in New York.

Robert Cronin is a member of the Morgan family. He not only has to be responsible for the financial work of Panama Railway Company, but also has to supervise the financial situation of Panama Company, which is limited to finance. In fact, the operations of these two companies are still managed by Ford Benjamin and Leonard Gilmore.

That's right, the plane is finally here, and this is the first time in the world that a new thing like "aircraft" has been put into practical use. Although Robert Croning doesn't know what the plane looks like, Robert Croning has already had a certain understanding of "aircraft". One thing that can be confirmed is that the use of the plane will definitely speed up the exploration of the Panama Isthmus, and will shorten this time from three years to eight months. From this point, the investment of the Canal Company is indeed worth the money, after all, time is money.

Li Mu signed a contract signed on behalf of Panama and Boston Airlines, which also includes the aircraft's later maintenance costs. According to the contract, Boston Airlines will provide 20 pilots and a logistics support team of 60 people. The costs incurred by these people working in Panama also need to be borne by the Panama Canal Company, which makes the total value of the entire contract reach a huge amount of US$5 million. In this era, this is a maddening number.

Of course, from the moment of its birth, aircraft are destined to be not toys for ordinary people. Perhaps ordinary people and the automobile industry will have certain intersections, but the aviation industry is still a bit far away for ordinary people.

"I'm sure, just near the abandoned site next to the station, the Panama government has promised to hand over the entire area to us and let us deal with it." Ford Benjamin's tone was quite proud, and this kind of thing was what Ford Benjamin was best at.

Panama City has a long history. In 1519, the Spanish dynasty sent Davila to Panama as governor. Panama City became the base for Spanish colonists to enslave American Indians and the center for religious activities. It was also a distribution center for Spanish colonists to plunder wealth and sell black slaves in the Americas. Spanish colonists concentrated a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry that had been looted from all directions in the city, and then transported it to the Spanish mainland. Panama City's large amount of wealth naturally aroused the coveting of pirates.

In 1671, the British pirate Morgan attacked Panama City with force. After looting it, he set fire to burn the entire city into ruins.
Chapter completed!