Chapter 1018: Orders, Kickbacks

"I have already come out of the President's Office. If you have time, it's best to come to my office before five o'clock. I will give you some documents, and you can get this money with these documents."

"I also want to introduce someone to you."

Passersby looked curiously at the phone booth.

Four bodyguards stood around the phone booth, and in the phone booth was a gentleman wearing a fur-collared trench coat who was on the phone.

The passerby just took a look, and the bodyguards' gazes focused over. From these gazes, he perceived the existence of some danger and immediately withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and quickened his pace.

This is the street outside the President's Office. It should be relatively prosperous, but in fact, it is not very prosperous.

High-rise buildings are not allowed around the President's Office. This is to avoid them peeking at the secrets inside the President's Office through telescopes and other means from some high places around.

Many people who haven't been to New Jincheng think that as long as they arrive outside the President's Office, they can see the general appearance of the President's Office.

But in fact, they can't do it.

Because most buildings are hidden behind vegetation walls, such as some spruce or other trees, people can only observe those dense plants.

And ordinary people are not allowed to enter the President's Office without permission. There are very strict guards at the entrance. Entering rashly will only get you arrested and then thrown into the police station.

Even if you are innocent, they will make you admit that you are related to a certain case.

So outside the President's Office, there are not many people, and it appears somewhat deserted.

Plus there are many patrols here, and the eyes of those patrol members are like knives, wanting to dissect the body of every passerby they suspect, so ordinary people are not very willing to walk from here.

At this time, Senator Cleveland is calling Lanse. The President signed the document. He will transfer this money from the fiscal account and then transfer it to different places according to the use.

As a core senator of the war hawks, Senator Cleveland has relatively close dealings with the Federation's military groups. After all, the longer the war lasts and the higher the intensity, the more orders they get from the federal government.

Sometimes Congress also specifies some businesses for these military groups to do, such as joint development projects, where the federal government pays and the military groups do the research.

Then they sell the products to the federal government. It sounds like there is no problem, but in fact, there are many problems here.

In order to reward these war hawk senators for bringing huge profits to the military groups, their family members will privately acquire some shares of the military groups.

On one hand, a portion of the profits generated by the Federation's military procurement orders will enter their pockets, which counts as part of the bribery.

On the other hand, the large amount of income brought by the rapid appreciation of stocks is also a link in the bribery.

Senator Cleveland also holds some shares in these military groups. Lapa needs military supplies, but hasn't specified what kind of weapon models they want.

An order of 90 million is already not small. The total military expenditure approved by the federal government for the whole year is only 5 billion-plus.

An order of 90 million, accounting for about 1.5 percent of the total orders for the year, is already a considerable value, so naturally, the first thing he will think of is the military groups that have a relatively good relationship with him.

Soon he came out of the phone booth and got into a car by the roadside to leave. Not far away, some people looked over here a few more times and didn't take it to heart.

The masters of the Federation are like this; they haven't been surprised for a long time.

About forty minutes later, Lanse appeared in Senator Cleveland's office—not the office in Congress, but his office next to Congress.

The office inside Congress is too small. Many ordinary people in the Federation think that a senator is the senator himself, or plus his secretary, driver, and so on, totaling a few people.

But in fact, behind a senator is a whole political team with the senator as the core. The number of people in Senator Cleveland's team has also been constantly increasing in the process of his power constantly increasing.

So far, his team has broken through 50 people and is still constantly increasing. If his power becomes more powerful, maybe one day in the future, the number of people in his team will directly break through 100, more than the number of people in the President's team.

So the office in Congress simply cannot accommodate so many people. All senators, and even some representatives, will arrange their own offices around Congress.

The federal amendment mentions the salary standards for legislators at all levels. They cannot support so many people, and that salary is not even enough to support themselves.

"Please come in...", Senator Cleveland didn't greet Lanse this time, mainly because there were other visitors here.

He sat behind the desk and took off the glasses on the bridge of his nose when Lanse entered.

These two years he has to read a lot of text every day. Those tiny texts were relatively clear at first, but as he looked at them, they became blurred. Now he needs reading glasses to see the letters on the documents clearly.

Sitting opposite his desk was a middle-aged man in his forties. When Lanse entered, he had already stood up in advance, a look of favor on his face.

Lanse took off his hat and cloak, hung them on the coat rack nearby, and walked to the side of the desk.

Senator Cleveland introduced him, "Ben, this is Lanse, we often mention him."

Then he looked at Lanse, "You should have heard me say it, this is Ben, the current executive CEO of McGray Industries."

Actually, this "order" doesn't need the executive CEO to run a trip personally, but the person who placed this order is not an ordinary person, not some office in the Department of Defense, nor some department in the President's Office. This was placed by Senator Cleveland personally.

So the CEO of McGray Industries made a trip personally. The connection between them and Senator Cleveland is not just friends, but also colleagues, and more connections.

Lanse shook hands with him, "I have always heard people talk about McGray Industries these few years. The financial newspaper I read last time said that your total market value has broken through 5 billion."

"This is an amazing achievement!"

Ben appeared very humble, "This is mainly due to the federal government's recognition and trust in our products."

For two consecutive years, McGray Industries received orders of more than 2 billion, of which nearly half were profits. These profits in the financial market, in stocks, are not just 1 billion.

It could be 2 billion, 3 billion, or even more.

Because the war hasn't ended yet, people believe that in the next year, they will be able to get more government orders from the federal government.

And they have good performance in the civilian market and the international market. The market value breaking through 5 billion is just the recognition of the value of McGray Industries by the public in the next three to five years.

This price is not fixed and changes every day. Just now, looking at the price of their stocks, McGray Industries' market value also broke through 6 billion and is still constantly increasing.

There is news that Congress will continue to increase military orders. Just this one sentence, their stocks pulled up a section fiercely again.

Professional analysts on Detran Financial Street believe that after the New Year, in February to March, after the new year's military expenditure comes out, McGray Industries' market value might break through 7 billion, and it might also become the first listed company in the Federation to break through a market value of 10 billion!

This is the financial miracle brought by the military-industrial complex during the war!

A miracle piled up hard by the taxes of taxpayers!

Although it might not sound so good, a miracle is, after all, a miracle!

Facing Lanse's flattery, Ben always appeared very humble. He also flattered Lanse a few times. Commercial mutual flattery didn't just exist later; it already existed and was mature in the feudal era.

The jesters flattered each other to gain more trust from the king and manipulate the court.

The two flattered each other a few times and then sat down separately. Senator Cleveland took a federal government-specific bank cashier's check and gave it to Lanse. This is a cashier's check issued by the Federal Bank, with a face value of 10 million.

Lanse can cash it at any domestic bank or international bank that has settlement with the Federal Bank. This is also for the convenience of capital flow and transportation.

Senator Cleveland couldn't take 10 million in cash back and put it here, waiting for Lanse to come and take it, right?

Although it will eventually be exchanged into cash by Lanse and then transported to Lapa, for convenience, it is currently still a cashier's check.

Lanse put it properly into the document bag and put it away.

"Talk to Ben about the remaining things. I have another meeting. After you talk, if I haven't come back, you can leave by yourselves."

"You know, I probably don't have any time to take care of you either. There are still many things in the evening!" Both nodded. As a government power figure who is currently important, Senator Cleveland's dinner arrangements have already been arranged for 20 days later, and other times are basically occupied.

The two got up and sent him to the door. Afterwards, they didn't really stay here. Letting them talk in Senator Cleveland's office was just a kind of... scene statement, not really letting them be here.

They each took their clothes and hats, and at Ben's invitation, the two came to a private club nearby.

The club is still popular. Military clubs, police clubs, worker clubs, student clubs, teacher clubs...

It is an important part of social interaction in this era.

The membership-based club Ben brought him to is very high-end and luxurious. Its value is to temporarily provide a high-end place that meets the status of VIPs, allowing them to talk.

After the beautiful girls sent everything up and left the room in disappointment, Ben invited Lanse to taste some food here while laughing and saying, "Actually, I wanted to get to know you very early, but you have always been in Lapa, and I also have other work."

"When the Senator called me today, I immediately told him I would come personally. I didn't want to miss getting to know you, Mr. White."

"I have heard many rumors about you and have a vague understanding of you."

"But the moment I saw you with my own eyes, I overturned all the concepts I had about you in the past!"

Lanse responded with a smile, "I hope it's not too bad!"

"Bad?"

"No, of course not. On the contrary, it's even more outstanding and excellent than I imagined. I can't even find language to describe it!"

Ben's face has many deceptive smiles. Any successful person needs the ability to look into someone's eyes and tell lies with a smile, while also being able to express his sincerity concretely.

This is just the foundation for moving toward success. Ben did it very well. If you stare into his eyes, you can feel the thoughts from his heart. All of this is true!

Lanse smiled, "You are too exaggerated. To be honest, I am just an ordinary person, with more ideas than others, and then going to realize them."

He paused, "I believe you must be a busy person. I am actually too. Why don't we put our attention on business first?"

Ben nodded, "You are right. This is also what I wanted to say."

"I heard that this time President Diego didn't require a clear brand and model. This order is very important to us, and I don't want to lose it."

"If I didn't know, that would be fine, but now I know, and have the opportunity to contact it, so I hope you will eventually choose us!"

This order is actually negotiated by the federal government and these military groups, but now all the work in Lapa is Lanse's responsibility.

No matter how Lanse chooses, the benefits Senator Cleveland should get will not be less by a single point, so he recommended his own people first.

As long as Ben is not too stupid, this matter is actually set.

Lanse didn't answer immediately, but was thinking.

Perhaps to finalize this matter as soon as possible, Ben continued, "Three percent."

"Actually, the thank-you money we have given is often only one-point-something percent. Three percent is the upper limit I can offer personally. Any more would require reporting to the board of directors for review."

"I am very sincere and also very much want to get this order, Mr. White."

"In addition, I also plan to send you a gift."

He said, taking out a picture album from the briefcase he carried with him, and handed it over, "This is the McGray Industries centennial commemorative weapon for next year. We will manufacture 100 sets of pure gold souvenirs."

"There will be your name and number on it."

Actually, compared to huge kickbacks, these pure gold firearms are not that valuable; they just have some other meanings.

Lanse flipped through the album while saying, "I only have one requirement. If you can agree, I can agree to sign this contract."

Ben pursed his lips, "Please say it!"

Lanse put down the album and looked at him, "If I buy from you in the future, I hope you can give me a more favorable price."

Hearing Lanse say this, Ben understood immediately. The processing standards for personal orders, corporate orders, and federal government orders are different.

In personal orders, the marketing and public relations expenses of military enterprises will be relatively low, and at the same time, there is no need to spread public relations costs, so more concessions can be made in price.

For example, if the military enterprise spent 200 million in public relations funds this year, then these 200 million in public relations expenditures must be spread across all government orders, and it certainly won't be borne by themselves.

The benefits they give to those politicians are eventually earned back from the orders, and even earned more.

Originally a 1 million government order, because this part of the public relations cost was added, they might quote 1.5 million, or more.

But personal orders don't have this situation.

Personal orders don't have any public relations expenses, the cost of the order is lower, there is more profit space, and there is more room to talk.

For the same 1 million order, if Lanse buys it in a personal capacity, then it might only need 800,000, or even 750,000 to buy it. This is the advantage of personal orders.

However, military enterprises don't attach much importance to personal orders, because personal orders cannot provide them with hundreds of millions or billions of order amounts a year.

Ben didn't hesitate at all and nodded, agreeing, "I can guarantee to give you the most favorable policy!"

Hearing this, Lanse stretched out his hand. He never worried that Ben would deceive himself, saying it was the most favorable policy when it wasn't.

If he really did this, it would only make Senator Cleveland and these people doubt whether the benefits and promises he gave them were also discounted.

This is the benefit of power and status.

Those who promised you will definitely keep their promises!

Lanse stretched out his hand and shook it with him, "Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation!"

With a decision, Ben left quickly. He had to get the government order contract from Senator Cleveland and act accordingly.

However, Lanse's 3 percent, which is 2.7 million in kickbacks, was transferred over immediately.

Now the federal government is not short of money, and military groups are not short of money. It's only 2.7 million. In the blink of an eye, they earned more back from the stock market.

Not to mention that in this 90 million order, after removing various costs, the profit is 20 million.

On the evening of the same day, Ben called Lanse again. Their weapons and supplies had been loaded and shipped to Jincheng. These goods were eventually shipped out of Jincheng and then transported to Lapa.

Lanse also took the cashier's check to cash it. 10 million in cash didn't sound like much, but in fact, when loading, Lanse noticed that it filled seven or eight cubic meters, filling the small warehouse of his special train carriage.

These are 20-dollar denomination banknotes. After arriving in Jincheng, they still need to be split, exchanged into 10-dollar, 5-dollar, 2-dollar, 1-dollar.

There are even some coin denominations. After all, the federal Sol circulating in Lapa is not much. If they are all 20-dollar denominations, it is hard to find.

Lanse wasn't at ease with so much money on the train, so he left overnight, and Diego couldn't wait long either.

He had to send those weapons and these banknotes to Zhuolan as soon as possible, adding another fire to the mutual slaughter between the government army and the anti-government armed forces! ===== CHAPTER 1019 =====