Chapter 751: Trouble and Making Money

The sea is so big, and the water surface looks calm, but in reality, the water surface you see may have drifted to who knows where in a few minutes.

The fluidity of water is hard to discover with the naked eye, let alone the surging undercurrents beneath the calm sea surface. Once you are swept in, you will soon sink to the bottom of the sea.

Four corpses were thrown into the sea and disappeared in less than a moment. Someone told Francisco this news. It might have been done by Christopher on purpose, just to anger him and make him lose his mind and go to Sumuli Island.

Francisco, who had completely calmed down, did not do so; he just told Lanse about this matter.

Because of the war, the situation in Tanfite is currently very complicated. Only when the situation stabilizes a little will Lanse go back.

But before that, he can collect some interest.

The outbreak of war has brought about changes in many things, whether in the Federation or elsewhere—the Empire, other countries, including Sumuli Island.

Sumuli is not a huge country; it is just a coastal island country with a population of more than 20 million, but it has a continental dream.

This war is their opportunity to realize their continental dream, although some people think this is actually very stupid—

If they cannot obtain land adjacent to Sumuli Island, but obtain an exclave, the value of this exclave is actually not great.

Because they cannot truly rule that piece of land in a real sense, unless there is a large amount of immigration and the people originally living on the land are driven out.

But the pro-war faction does not consider these; they consider achieving their demands through war, even if the final result is not very good.

It's just that this matter is more complicated than imagined.

"Now we have encountered a little trouble." In the Prime Minister's office, the four major families and some businessmen on Sumuli Island gathered here.

The Prime Minister's hair is a bit sparse, and he doesn't look like someone easy to get along with.

Compared to being a Prime Minister, he looks more like a butcher working in a slaughterhouse!

He has a good family background. Sumuli Island is very small and cannot accommodate so many people, which means that power is always being passed down.

At this time, he looked at every gentleman in the room, and a helpless expression appeared on his face.

The businessmen didn't speak; they were waiting, waiting for the big figures to speak.

As a pro-war faction, Mr. Leonardo certainly wouldn't sit by and watch others continue to remain silent. He frowned, "What trouble?"

The Prime Minister spread his hands, "We have no money."

This sentence was like a joke. The gentlemen in the room were stunned for a while, and then they all laughed, including Mr. Leonardo and the heads of the other three families.

Everyone was laughing. Perhaps they really showed the appearance of feeling funny. Some businessmen performed particularly exaggeratedly, like the kind of laughter that was about to die.

Ahahahahaha uh-uh-hahaha uh...

And the sound was very loud. One could see that they used the strength of sucking milk and pooping at the same time.

But the Prime Minister didn't laugh; he just looked at these people calmly with his hands on the table, waiting, waiting for their laughter to gradually stop and then disappear.

Mr. Leonardo took out a cigarette. The businessmen behind him took out lighters one after another, wanting to light it for him.

But he raised his hand and took out a lighter inlaid with gems himself, lighting it for himself.

He wasn't very used to the fire lit by lighters of other materials; he was only used to the fire lit by pure gold lighters.

If this sentence was said by some ordinary person, then he would likely encounter some trouble. At this time, the gangs—no matter what gang, what country's gang—

They don't reason much, and they are particularly "attentive" to those arrogant people.

But he is the head of one of the four major families, which means he has privileges on this island.

"Are you sure you're not joking?", he exhaled a puff of smoke at the Prime Minister, very impolitely.

The Prime Minister nodded slightly, "I don't joke about serious matters."

Now, people's expressions became much more serious.

The Prime Minister didn't wait for them to guess for themselves and took the initiative to solve the riddle, "Almost all of our equipment was bought from the Allied Forces."

He stretched out his hand and started counting with his fingers, "Steel helmets, weapons, bullets, even boots, and everything on the soldiers—except for their clothes, underwear, and socks, everything else was bought with our money."

"We need to pay about 1,500 Yalei (equivalent to more than 200 federal Sol) for every soldier, and as they get injured and need supplies on the front line, we have to continue to pay more expenses."

"This battle is very cruel and also very tragic, because... for some reasons, we are responsible for part of the battlefield."

"In short, so far we have paid a total of about 300 million Yalei in military expenses, and we have to continue to spend later."

"Now there is still money in the national treasury, we have to keep a part as the normal budget and expenditure on the island. If there is another one or two wars of this intensity, we might have no money."

Sumuli Island is a small place after all, a country of 20 million people, and many people do not pay taxes.

Like the four major families, they have never paid taxes, and at the same time, they control some of the most profitable businesses on the island.

The capitalists behind them will pay taxes, but they don't pay that much. Because of family and social environment problems on Sumuli Island, corruption is relatively serious.

They would rather take the money that needs to be paid in taxes to bribe officials than pay taxes.

Bribing officials will get them some new friends, while paying taxes just makes people think they are stupid.

As for taxing ordinary people, it's not impossible, but the possibility is not great. Sumuli has a tradition of resistance. They pay if they want to, and if they don't want to, forcing them to pay money will make them turn against you.

In short, this is a difficult place. If the corruption problem of the four major families and the government is not solved, the government's annual tax revenue is around 2 billion Yalei.

Then one-third is occupied by island construction and maintaining government expenditures. If the Prime Minister does something special, there won't be any left.

When every Prime Minister of Sumuli steps down, if there is still money in the national treasury, it can show that this Prime Minister is a good Prime Minister.

Most Prime Ministers leave a mess when they step down, which may be one of the reasons why government power can be passed down smoothly.

No one wants to accept these broken things.

If put together, it doesn't matter if the government has no money, but now it's different. They are actively participating in the war. If the government has no money, they cannot continue to invest in the war, making their previous investments a joke.

The Prime Minister explained the matter simply but in detail, told people where the money went, and then reiterated the purpose of inviting everyone here.

"So, the problem we are facing now is like this: we have no money.", he spread his hands and threw the problem to others in the room.

Someone asked, "Is it okay to force a tax collection now?"

At this moment, they hadn't considered cutting their own meat, but first cutting the ordinary people's.

The Prime Minister smiled and nodded, "It's possible, but we are forcing them to go to the front line on one side, and now we want to take their wealth on the other. Do you think they will resist?"

"Conscription has already caused some social problems. If we take away the money in their pockets, it is highly likely that you will see me again on the guillotine."

He told a cold joke, and no one laughed.

Another businessman frowned and asked, "Then what is the purpose of you finding us to say this?"

"Counting on us to take on the expenses of the war?"

"We probably can't support it either!"

He was lying, but everyone nodded like this, so it wasn't a lie.

The Prime Minister now looked indifferent, "So I invited you to discuss with you. In short, we will soon have no money."

"Only four months have passed this year, and there are still eight months. This war is obviously not something that can be fought in eight months."

"It doesn't need to be until the end of the year, September or October, the fiscal will be exhausted, and then we can only retreat from the battlefield."

"After all, we can't let the soldiers spend their own money to buy equipment, replenish ammunition, and then pay themselves pensions, right?"

"Of course, if you are not afraid of them messing around again, I can also do it according to your ideas."

Mr. Leonardo couldn't help it anymore. If the war stopped, his interests would be the biggest loss. He wouldn't let the war stop.

"Issue national debt, war bonds, increase taxes, and borrow from allies when necessary."

When he said these words, the Prime Minister couldn't help but laugh. Borrowing from allies and then fighting for allies—even if he couldn't be considered a qualified politician, he couldn't help but laugh at this time.

Noticing his smile, Mr. Leonardo's expression was very unhappy, "Do you think it's ridiculous?"

The President pursed his lips and shook his head, "No, I just think it's a good idea."

He said so, but everyone actually knew that this was not a good idea.

The Prime Minister clapped his hands, "In short, I just want to tell you about this. In case the subsequent war needs to be conscripted again, or the casualties are too heavy, we might stop halfway."

"As for the loans you mentioned, I will consider them, but now the countries around us are participating in the war, and we have no resources to sell, so they may not give us many loans."

"Unless we sign some terrible terms, in short... let's do this first, let's all consider it seriously, and then think about countermeasures."

"If any of you have good ideas, you can call me."

Soon the gentlemen in the room left, but they gathered in another place again.

Christopher was also called over. He didn't know why Mr. Leonardo wanted him to come, so he found a corner and sat down.

In fact, Sumuli people are not too concerned about the matter of marrying into a family, but he himself is actually a bit concerned.

Fortunately, his wife is finished, and now he feels much more comfortable.

As soon as he sat down, he heard the head of another family's unhappiness in his tone, "He actually just wants us to take out the money and give it to him to continue to promote the war."

"If he talked to us properly, this matter might not be impossible to discuss, but he used such a method to make me feel uncomfortable!"

"I don't want to give him this money."

This is a head of a non-pro-war faction. Mr. Leonardo sneered, "To put it bluntly, you just don't want to pay, so you found a reason for yourself."

The person who was refuted stared, "Are you willing to give?"

"This is not three or five million, Leon!"

"And we paid this money, what can it bring us?"

"An honorary medal?"

"I can use the honorary medals bought with this money to fill my swimming pool!"

This sentence is the reason why these people are unwilling to speak out.

They are not unwilling to pay, but they have to see what can be exchanged for this money.

The Prime Minister never expressed his position. They take money to support the country to go to war, and then?

After the war, what can they get?

If it's just a medal, they would rather remain silent.

Mr. Leonardo considered for a while, "I will talk to him about this matter and strive to implement the benefits."

"But if you want him to make concessions, you have to have something as a bargaining chip."

"If you are willing to pay this money, how much can you pay?"

"I'll take the lead, I can take out 200 million (about 30 million federal Sol)."

Others also expressed their positions one after another, and soon they gathered over 5 billion.

Whether this money can persist until the end of the war is uncertain, but at least it can persist until half of the war.

So the most critical thing is the question they raised: money can be paid, but what can they get?

If what they get makes them feel super value, then they don't mind paying some more money to make happiness double.

But if the Prime Minister and the Sumuli government cannot give them any real benefits, they are absolutely unwilling to pay.

After the discussion was almost done, everyone left separately, and they had to talk in groups of three or five in private.

Christopher and Mr. Leonardo returned to the manor together and went to his study.

He asked the butler to get some liquor and some snacks to go with the liquor. Mr. Leonardo ate snacks while drinking, "What did you gain?"

"From our conversation, what did you get?"

Christopher didn't know what Mr. Leonardo meant, so he could only say honestly, "The government has no money, but we have it, but this money can't be spent for nothing!"

Mr. Leonardo nodded, "The summary is very in place."

He stopped here, picked up the wine glass and took a sip, and the topic suddenly shifted to other places.

"I heard that the Federation is implementing a prohibition order, and the price of grapes has soared because of the prohibition order."

It's not just the price of grapes in the Federation that has soared; the price of grapes in almost all countries that trade with the Federation has soared!

The forty-fold increase made everyone's eyes red. Sumuli is also a grape-producing area, and the grapes here have been rising continuously because of the soaring prices in the Federation.

Christopher seemed to taste something, "You want to sell grapes to the Federation?"

"Please forgive me for being direct, agricultural and pastoral trade is monopolized by the three major channel merchants in the Federation. Even if our grapes enter the federal market, it will be difficult to sell, and there may even be difficulties."

In these years in the Federation, as a native-born second-generation immigrant, he knows very well the control of the three major channel merchants over agriculture.

They only need to find a reason at will, and the grapes transported from Sumuli will become unqualified. Unless sold to them at a low price, they can only be pulled back.

Mr. Leonardo shook his head, "No, I mean, their liquor is also very expensive now."

More than just expensive?

Christopher sighed and said nothing.

Mr. Leonardo continued, "If we smuggle liquor to the Federation, is the profit high?"

The liquor on Sumuli Island, converted into federal Sol, is basically the same as the production cost of federal liquor, slightly lower, because the labor here is low, and the price of some brewing agricultural crops will also be relatively low.

But if you add shipping costs, it's about the same.

"Selling fifty-dollar liquor for four hundred shouldn't be a problem, but it's limited to whiskey, brandy, and these liquors."

"Like wine, fruit wine, beer, the profit is also very high, but the unit price is very low."

Mr. Leonardo nodded, "If you do this..."

Christopher was surprised and happy at first, but soon hesitated, because he had just thrown those corpses into the sea.

Going to the Federation at this time, doesn't it mean turning himself in?

He hesitated for a while, then shook his head, "Mr. Leonardo, please forgive me for not being able to agree with this plan, because there are some other things in it."

He briefly explained the conflict between him and Francisco, as well as Lanse. Although Mr. Leonardo frowned, he didn't blame him.

He changed his thinking, "If we can supply liquor to those Sumuli gangs who haven't returned home yet, what do you think?"

"You can also let them donate some money back. After all, we have become strong, so they can live more comfortably in the Federation."

Christopher considered it seriously and nodded approvingly, "I think it's feasible!"

Mr. Leonardo is a person with execution ability, "You go to contact the leaders of the Sumuli gangs in the Federation, let them arrange for representatives to come back, discuss the supply and sales issues with us, and let them show a patriotic attitude."

He said, holding the armrest of the chair and standing up, "I'll go talk to the Prime Minister, he will be interested in this."

As for what he wanted, he had already thought about it—let his son become the next Prime Minister!

He wants the Bianchi family to realize the transformation from a single gang family to a super family spanning both the underworld and the political arena!

Even in the future, if there is a chance, it is possible to be the royal family!

For someone of Mr. Leonardo's age, this is full of temptation! ===== CHAPTER 752 =====