Chapter 1244: Litigation

Lans was making some arrangements for the upcoming groundbreaking. He was not a professional expert in civil engineering, and he was not very well-versed in how to build a new city in the wilderness.

But fortunately, he had money.

Money is a magical thing. People always say that money cannot buy knowledge, but as long as you have money, those who possess knowledge can work for you.

Just like now, some architectural teams from New Jincheng were sitting in the conference room, introducing the construction plan for the project to Lans.

Lans did not understand this, but he could not show that he was completely ignorant. He had heard someone say before that if a boss knows nothing, his subordinates will have bad intentions.

But if he knows even a little bit—he doesn't need to know much—and can occasionally throw out some of his own questions, the probability of these problems occurring will decrease.

"... In other words, we need about two years to complete all our planning." Lans held a pen in his hand, and he casually wrote something on the notebook in front of him; no one could see it.

If someone stretched their neck to look over there at this moment, they might be able to see that he had drawn some indescribable little people fighting on the notebook.

The manager responsible for explaining the entire project nodded and said, "That is the case, Mr. Lans."

"Then... can we complete the entire project faster?"

"I don't really want to drag it out for such a long time. A long construction time means we need more time to recover our costs. Can the cycle be shortened a bit?"

Perhaps realizing that Lans would propose this idea, the manager had already prepared in advance, "Theoretically, it is possible, but the investment will become larger and more concentrated."

"Generally speaking, the investment in project engineering is in batches. We complete the first step, and only then will we proceed to the second and third steps."

"If we do everything that needs to be done from the beginning now, then some waiting time during the period will be shortened."

Lans raised his hand to stop him from continuing his long-winded speech, "How much time can be saved?"

The manager considered it for a moment, "Three months to half a year."

"How much money do I need to invest at once?"

"Over two hundred million..."

He introduced the reasons to Lans: more equipment rental, more workers participating in the work, and all factories starting to produce prefabricated parts now.

The most popular construction method in the Federation now is building blocks. From building highways to building skyscrapers, they love using this method to build those things too much.

Construction used to be very troublesome, but assembly is very fast. These things are put together with cranes and then welded.

So, apart from workers' wages, other investments are put in from the beginning.

Once the basic work is done, you can immediately start the full-scale assembly, and the speed can be greatly improved.

Lans did not think for too long, tapped the table with his finger, "Go make the budget, just follow this."

While speaking, he seemed to hear something, turned around, stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window on the wall, and looked down at the building.

A large group of workers had gathered downstairs again. They were waving their fists, and their emotions were much more agitated than when they gathered here last time.

Many of them were still wearing white gauze, and Lans also noticed some slogans, such as "Severely punish the murderer," and many reporters were taking pictures and conducting interviews.

At this time, someone knocked on the office door. Aierwen walked in from the outside. Lans glanced at him and let the others rest for a while, then he followed Aierwen and walked outside.

"Why did they gather here again?" Lans went to another room with him. There were some other people in the room, including Lawyer Luo Ben and another lawyer.

Seeing Lans enter, the two also stood up afterwards, "Sit."

The lawyer responsible for collecting the black material of the labor union handed some documents to Lans. Lans took them and flipped through them a few times. There were many photos inside, as well as some written records.

"They received funding from some people?" Lans finished reading the material at a glance, and his eyes finally locked on two people who looked relatively wealthy.

The lawyer nodded and said, "The people we are responsible for tailing discovered that these two people contacted the labor union, and then there was a deposit of 500,000 in the labor union."

"After they used this money to pay for the medical expenses of those injured workers, they also paid them some extra subsidies."

"At the same time, we received some news from other sources that more suppliers have joined the confrontation against the Wanli Group."

"All of this proves that behind these people, there are still some people controlling and directing them to do so."

Lans nodded and threw the document on the table, "The local consortium only talked to me two days ago, and now such a thing has happened. I don't even need to ask anyone to investigate to know who did it."

He pursed his lips and considered for a while, "Is there enough evidence to sue them?"

The lawyer nodded, "We have initially collected some evidence..." He handed over another document, "According to some ideas provided by Mr. Lans, we found some small problems."

The idea Lans provided to the lawyer was to investigate the living conditions of the two people, the president and the vice president.

Whether everything they own matches their income. Just like a person who only has a salary of fifty yuan a month, but he lives in a house worth tens of thousands of yuan and does not have a mortgage for decades, this is obviously not very reasonable.

The lawyer conducted a thorough investigation into the sources of income of the president and vice president according to this idea of Lans, and he really found some problems.

Among the relatives of the president and vice president, some operate many small businesses. These small businesses are often supporting the welfare benefits that the labor union requires enterprises to provide.

For example, there are fast-food companies that provide meals with meat, retailers that provide labor insurance products, and those that provide tools. In short, these people and their enterprises rely on the requirements set by the labor union to get many orders.

Then, a portion of the money earned by these enterprises is deposited into multiple anonymous accounts, and most of the products paid for by these accounts are being used by the vice president and the president.

Major banks in the Federation have relatively strict standards for the use of checks. They will customize a special file for check customers. Every check in every checkbook, as long as someone brings it to the bank for verification, the bank will register it in this file.

For example, when and where a check numbered so-and-so was used to buy what, there will be evidence inside.

Ordinary people cannot check these things. Even if they want to use the relationship with the police and the relationship with the judicial department, they may not be able to investigate it.

According to the bank's statement, as long as the law enforcement department and the judicial department cannot prove that the inflow of funds is the proceeds of illegal crimes, they cannot disclose customer privacy. This is also the reason why anonymous accounts are rampant.

But Lans has a good relationship with major banks, plus some reasons for the Social Party, the bank cooperated very well to investigate the information of these accounts, allowing the lawyer to get first-hand resources.

After reading it, Lans nodded, "Then sue them and try to send them in."

After talking about this matter, the lawyers got up and left directly. The remaining things have nothing to do with them. If they need them, Lans will also keep them.

After the people left, Aierwen sat down and asked, "What should we do next?"

Lans glanced at the closed door, "They will send those two in."

Aierwen shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about this, but those building materials suppliers. They are now standing with the labor union. If they refuse to supply us, we will be in trouble."

"You have such a huge construction plan. Without these things, no matter how good the plan is, it is just an empty shell."

Lans turned his head to look at the sky outside the window, "Let them transport it from Laizhou."

The cost of transporting from Laizhou will obviously increase, and the increase is not small.

Things are produced by factories, loaded into cars, sent to the wharf, then loaded onto ships, and then transported by sea for at least a few days, arriving at the wharf of Sheer City to start unloading, and then handling, transportation, and storage. Every link will generate additional costs.

Local suppliers only need to transport their goods from the warehouse to the construction site, and the only transportation cost can also be borne by the suppliers.

A bag of local cement costs about one yuan, but transporting it from New Jincheng, the cost will exceed one yuan and thirty cents or even one yuan and forty cents.

It seems that it only increased by thirty or forty cents, a painless number, but in such a huge project, you cannot just look at the change in numbers, you have to look at the change in the overall percentage.

The construction cost has increased by at least 30%. If the storage cost is also included, the cost of each bag of cement when it arrives at the construction site may exceed one yuan and fifty cents.

An investment of three to five hundred million suddenly expanded to five hundred million starting, which is indeed a not small loss.

Lans sat there in a daze for a while, then turned to look at Aierwen, "What we lost, we will take back from them double."

Aierwen was a little eager to move. In fact, this role should be played by that guy Hailamu, "What if we take action?"

Lans considered for a while and said, "Taking action is indeed a very simple thing. As long as we get rid of those leaders, those presidents, chairmen, this matter can be controlled by us."

"However, Aierwen, we cannot always do this. Breaking the rules cannot be used as a routine means. It should be a means for us to protect our own interests."

"If we trample on the rules at will, then others will also trample on our rules. I don't mean that we can't do it now that we have washed our hands, but when to do it and when not to do it, there must be a change."

"And, it's not the time yet."

It is now the Liberal Party in power, and there are still some small frictions between Lans and President Potter, and even the Potter family, that have not been resolved.

He believes that as long as he does something a little too much, he will definitely give President Potter a chance to find trouble for himself.

Don't look at the fact that he is not looking for his trouble now, that is because Lans's trouble is not easy to find. If he sends his handle directly to the other party's hands, President Potter has evidence that can hold Lans, he, a president, directly signs a special order, even if Senator Cleland wants to block it, it won't work.

By the time he questions the presidential special order and tries to reject it, Lans will either have been reincarnated or have fled overseas.

So the best way now is to use conventional means as much as possible. After they bring President Potter down, there are plenty of ways to clean up these people today.

Aierwen did not continue to express his views. He knew that in such matters, Lans always considered more and was more mature than him.

Afterwards, Lans made a phone call to Luo Jiefu (President of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce) and another phone call to Governor Terry, asking them to arrange for relevant people to come over and talk about the specific approach to this matter.

Even workers can be recruited from Laizhou. Of course, recruiting from Denuozhou is also fine. He can talk to them about it, which can also save some costs, including the supply of materials.

Lans returned to the conference room and briefly talked about these things. He didn't take the increased cost to heart at all. That little money would come back if he sold a little more alcohol.

Controlling the alcohol sales in three states, he had long ceased to care about money. For him, money is just a set of numbers that will constantly change.

A little more or a little less will not bring any changes to his life.

The speed of Luo Ben and his friends was very fast. The next day, they provided relevant materials to the State Prosecutor's Office. The person who received them was the State Attorney General. It was obvious that Lans had greeted the Governor in advance, and the rest was just going through the motions.

After the Attorney General checked all the materials, he nodded, "The materials are prepared very completely, and the evidence is also very sufficient. This can save us a lot of time."

"Then next, we have to start going through the motions."

At the same time, in Sheer City, some gossip began to circulate in the market.

When it comes to spreading gossip, it must be the fastest for gangs and the underclass to spread it.

In less than half a day, some people heard about the "accusations" against the president and vice president of the construction workers' union, involving some situations of interest transfer.

These rumors are not necessarily all true, but as long as there are one or two true ones, plus people's imagination, and the irrational rage of the underclass after being deceived, basically the public opinion can be hyped up.

What's more, rumors are not necessarily rumors!

"These are all framing me personally, and the means are so despicable that it makes people feel angry!"

The president of the construction workers' union was slapping the table in front of the reporters, and there were even some spit stars on the corners of his mouth, "I have fought for the interests of construction workers for thirty years, and I have always been running on the front line, never stopping for a moment, including now."

"The rumors outside are very painful, and what makes me feel even more painful is that there are actually people who believe in these accusations without any actual evidence. This seems to be the greatest humiliation to my diligent work for thirty years!"

"I can guarantee to our union members and to people from all walks of life who are concerned about this matter that we have not obtained any benefits from it. The occurrence, process, and handling results of every matter are in line with the union's procedures."

"There is no problem of interest transfer in this, and there cannot be interest transfer!"

"We are neither capitalists, opening factories, relying on exploiting and oppressing workers to obtain huge profits."

"We are not politicians, holding the power that capitalists covet, making them have to use money to corrupt our will."

"We are just people serving the working class. We are the enemies of capitalists. They hate us, hate us. Under our efforts, in the past thirty years, the income of construction workers in South Yalan State has achieved stable improvement, and welfare benefits can also be considered above average in the entire Federation."

"These are all victories we have obtained from their hands through negotiations, through our strikes, demonstrations, and struggles with capitalists."

"So it is most impossible for us to have any interest trading relationship with capitalists!"

"We have entrusted union lawyers to start collecting evidence of these rumors and file lawsuits against those who actively spread and disseminate rumors."

"We want to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests. No matter who that person or those people are, we will fight them to the end!"

He waved his fist under the flash, like a "giant." He also infected himself, and his eyes were full of firm expressions. At this moment, no one could find any flaws in him.

Reporters raised their hands frantically to ask questions. They were very concerned about one question, that is, whether the person who made rumors behind his back was the Wanli Group, and whether it was directed by Lans White.

For such accusations without any substantive evidence, the president will not admit it, and will not even guess it. He said he only believes in the law, he has already reported the case, and will wait for the police and the prosecutor's office to give him an explanation.

Although he did not admit that this was the work of Wanli Group and Lans, reporters generally believed that this was done by Wanli Group.

At the same time, more industry unions are expressing their views. They support the two presidents of the construction workers' union and are very dissatisfied and opposed to Wanli Group's practice of interfering with local normal labor.

The Labor Federation also stated that it would contact Wanli Group and the labor agency to talk about the issue of "labor relations."

After finishing a day's work, the president drove home. As soon as he opened the door, he saw his nephew walking back and forth at the door. It could be seen that he was very anxious.

When he saw his vehicle approaching, a relaxed look appeared on his face, and he quickly greeted him.

"What's wrong?" The president got out of the car, and he closed the car door casually, "Where is your father?"

His nephew heard this question and became nervous again, "I came here for my father's business. He was taken away by someone, saying he was going to accept some investigation."

The president was stunned for a moment, "What has he done recently?"

His nephew shook his head and said, "I haven't heard him say it, and you know, I don't touch what he does, and I can't interfere."

These things, after all, are a kind of crime in a strict sense. The president's brother, in order to protect his own son, did not let this guy touch their "family business."