Chapter 350: Undercurrents in the Stone City
Chapter 350 The Undercurrent in the Stone City
”Good morning, dear audience friends, I am your dear House! Before I interrupt the news, please allow me to pay the highest respects to our great city lord!”
”Today, Qingquan City is still calm. Out of fear of us, the group of primitive people with python tattoos on their faces began to flee eastward! What a pity, if they came to us, I would like to interview these brainless guys… Go south? What are you thinking!”
”It’s not just the plunderers who are terrified of our mighty military force, but also our neighbors to the north. Those guys who are in a hurry in the waves have recently been beaten black and blue by the minions in the north, and are now hiding in the sewers to lick their wounds.”
”What a group of pitiful people, tut tut. But recently, their brains finally opened up, and they sent their city lord – the lord of the Dawn City, to our city hall to negotiate with us.”
”It seems that they finally realized that in the wasteland, relying on the strong is the way to survive!”
On the bar of an unknown tavern, there is an old radio, and the dusty speakers are blaring exciting sounds. ”
The Voice of Boulder City” is always the favorite program of Boulder City citizens. After all, there are only a few signals that can be heard in the wasteland.
The channel plays pre-war classical music 24 hours a day, and occasionally inserts one or two news or “getting rich” about Mr. House, which not only meets the citizens’ needs for fun, but also provides imagination materials for those who love daydreaming.
However,
not everyone is satisfied with the sharp duck voice.
Especially those who are not satisfied with their lives.
”Can’t this annoying guy shut his bird mouth?”
After taking a sip of beer that is lighter than water, the man in a brown leather jacket muttered in a muffled voice, and the corners of his unshaven mouth moved because of anger.
His name is Sberg.
In Boulder City, this is an insignificant name.
Mr. Sberg’s job is just as insignificant as his name. He is just an ordinary cannery worker.
As for why he is sitting here drinking at this time…
it is naturally because he is about to lose his job.
In Boulder City, canned food is not a hot commodity. The nobles will not eat it, and ordinary residents cannot afford it.
Only some large caravans and mercenary groups will purchase canned food to improve the food and boost the morale of the team.
As for those mercenaries who fight alone, they prefer to take some daily jobs that are close to the distance, and use dry food to deal with two or three days of going out. Although they have good spending power, they prefer to spend money on wine and women.
Due to the low profit margin and the low volume, a group of food processing giants including Weijia Trading Company look down on this business. There
are only two small factories in the entire Boulder City that produce canned food, and the varieties launched are only two types of two-headed beef and hyena meat. However
…
Recently, “instant noodles” and “ham sausages” suddenly appeared on the shelves of Boulder City stores.
The former, as the name suggests, is a kind of noodles that have been fried and sold in paper cups. You can tear off the lid and soak it in boiling water for five minutes before eating, or you can eat it directly without boiling water.
I don’t know what kind of meat the latter is. It tastes like starch, but maybe it’s because of a lot of salt, it’s surprisingly delicious?
In short, Sberg has never seen such strange food before. There is no doubt that it must be made by their next-door neighbor.
Since instant noodles and ham sausage entered the Boulder City, their canned food has been completely unsalable. When their boss finally realized the seriousness of the problem, the cannery was on the verge of closing.
The boss gave all the workers a holiday and asked them to go home and wait for notice.
Sberg knew very well that although it was a holiday in name, it was actually no different from being fired. It
was only a matter of time before the cannery closed. While the equipment could still be sold for some money, the guy with a fat brain would definitely sell it without hesitation.
Now there were only two options left for Sberg.
Either become a mercenary or a caravan guard, or try your luck in the northern suburbs.
The threat from the north has just been lifted, and the trade route to the north of the River Valley Province has been restored. All the major caravans and mercenary groups are recruiting people. No experience is required, as long as you can carry a gun, you can join .
As for the northern suburbs, the demand for jobs there seems to have always been strong, but I heard that they are not given chips but their own “silver coins”?
But no matter which option, Sberg finds it difficult to make up his mind.
After all, no matter how poor he is, he has a house in Boulder City that can shelter him from the wind and rain.
However, once you leave the giant wall, it means entering the barbaric world of cannibalism.
He has heard from the radio that there are no law-abiding people outside the giant wall. Those uncivilized barbarians will catch civilized people and throw them into the oil pan.
When he thought of this, he was so scared that he couldn’t sleep all night.
This is terrible!
…
It’s not just small characters like Sberg who are worried about the future of Boulder City.
Since hearing that the Boulder City Hall will sign the “Friendly Cooperation Agreement” with the New Alliance, Weijia has been sleepless all night.
He didn’t care what rifles or canned goods were on the shelves of the Boulder City store, but the existence of Didiwei Nutrition Paste had seriously threatened the business of Weijia Company.
The low price had even broken his cost line.
It was no exaggeration to say that if he closed the factory directly, imported the nutrition paste from the northern suburbs and sold it to the south, he would make more money than what he produced now!
This was simply too exaggerated!
Did those country bumpkins open the factory for charity?
”The guys in the city hall are just a bunch of pigs! No… calling them pigs is flattering them!”
In the magnificent room.
Weijia, who was sitting at the long table, couldn’t help but curse.
This was the reception room of Weijia Company, and the bosses of major companies were sitting here at the moment.
Although everyone was a person of status, they didn’t have to care about their image here.
Because everyone was very unhappy with the results of the city hall.
”The funniest thing is… these pigs actually had the nerve to show off the so-called friendly agreement, thinking they had done something great.” The man in the high-collared shirt had obvious anger on his face.
His name is Jonah, and he runs the largest cotton mill in Boulder City. The cotton cloth, cotton clothes and shirts he produces not only occupy more than 60% of the market share in Boulder City, but are also exported to Jinchuan and Luoxia provinces.
Since the beginning of the year, the group of country bumpkins in the northern suburbs have also started to produce cotton cloth and clothing.
At first, he didn’t take it seriously. After all, one or two small workshops were not worth his worry.
However, it didn’t take long for him to realize how wrong he was. In
just half a year, the clothing produced by the New Alliance first occupied the bars in Boulder City, and then conquered the mercenaries who were willing to spend money through the bars, and then took over the entire outer city.
They not only produce sturdy and durable gun bags, bulletproof vests and backpacks, but also less durable coats or clothes.
There are also those long socks that can be worn as pants… He remembered that they seemed to be called black silk?
Of course, it doesn’t have to be black, there are also white and other colors, even transparent. It’s
not even limited to socks.
How did these unruly guys come up with these immoral things?
Jonah was very annoyed.
What annoyed him most was that although reason told him that the thing was the culprit for his shrinking wallet, he just couldn’t control his eyes and hands.
Another boss who runs a liquor business said angrily.
”And that Nuka-Cola… Since that thing appeared, our winery’s orders have plummeted by 10%! It’s crazy! What’s so good about sugar water!”
As several bigwigs spoke one after another, the chatterbox at the conference table was completely opened.
Everyone complained indignantly.
”They have been plundering our trade for a whole six months, but the guys in the city hall have done nothing!”
”I really don’t understand. We have cannons, airplanes, power armor, thousands of mercenaries and tens of thousands of reservists. Why should we talk to them?”
”Even if we don’t need to send out the militia, just throw some chips out, we can easily crush those grasshoppers!”
Looking at the boiling waves of voices at the conference table, Weijia’s face was expressionless.
Originally, he organized this meeting today to call everyone to discuss countermeasures together, but he didn’t expect it to become a grievance meeting.
Everyone was venting their grievances over the past six months, but no one could come up with a specific countermeasure.
But he didn’t stop everyone.
Sometimes emotions are also a weapon.
After brewing his emotions for a while, Weijia put his hands on the table and slowly got up from his chair.
He looked around at everyone and said.
”I have never understood how they can keep the cost so low.”
Hearing this, everyone sitting at the conference table fell silent.
After a pause, Weijia continued.
”Especially, I have asked someone that the New Alliance requires all factories to have workers work a maximum of 12 hours a day, and the minimum hourly wage is 1 silver coin. If you work for 12 hours, you have to pay at least 12 silver coins a day, which is equivalent to 6 chips! This is almost three times the salary we pay the workers!”
”There is a problem with this statement. It is impossible for ordinary people to exchange silver coins for chips at will. They can only exchange chips for silver coins.”
A factory owner looked a little dissatisfied.
This statement is as if he is very stingy.
To be honest, he has already filled those people’s stomachs, not only did he not put handcuffs on them, but he even paid them wages.
Isn’t this kind enough?
If the electricity and maintenance costs were not so high, he would have replaced the workers on the assembly line with those capable and hardworking bionic people!
Another factory owner also nodded and said.
”I’ve heard that they have a saying there, something called forced exchange settlement? The profit from exports will be settled in the local currency, that is, those silver coins. Only when it is needed can it be exchanged for foreign currency at the bank.”
”Isn’t this too bad?”
”No wonder… I had a friend who went there to open a factory and complained to me that it was too bad to open a factory there, and he couldn’t make any money at all, and told me not to come.”
Everyone was talking about it.
However, at this moment, Weijia interrupted them.
”…That’s what you say, but the money is real after all, right?”
Everyone fell silent.
Looking at the silent people, he continued.
”If those silver coins are really waste paper, I believe that even if they give more, the workers will not be willing to take them, and the factories will definitely run away.”
Hearing this, the factory owners sitting around fell silent, looking at Weijia a little confused, wondering why he was speaking for the New Alliance.
Shouldn’t everyone scold the cunning blue gophers at this time?
Saying so much nonsense, it proves that they did not exploit workers, and proves that silver coins are not waste paper. Does that mean that our management ability is not good?
Who are you looking down on!
Seeing that the time is almost right, Weijia continued.
”Later I found out where the problem lies.”
”According to the research of my salesman, the salary expenditure can be deducted from the tax when setting up a factory in the New Alliance. I have specially calculated that as long as the work efficiency per unit time is guaranteed, although the salary cost will increase, the actual expenditure will be lower.”
This is equivalent to subsidizing part of the fiscal revenue obtained from the factory to the workers in the form of tax rebates.
Due to the increase in the consumption capacity of ordinary people, the light industry of the New Alliance is like a sponge that absorbs water.
And the factories run by those blue coats are even more outrageous. They seem to use a completely different system.
Because of the language barrier and cultural differences, he still hasn’t figured it out.
But that’s not the point.
The real point is that these people are playing dirty!
After a pause, Weijia’s face showed an angry expression, and he gradually raised the volume of his voice.
”Not only that, they also played tricks on the exchange rate, forcibly setting the exchange rate between silver coins and chips at 2:1. This is not called competition at all. The consumer goods we produce can’t enter their market at all!”
”As you can see, our factory can’t compete with them, not because we are not hardworking enough, nor is it that our production methods are backward, but on the contrary, we are too honest and our opponents are too cunning!”
”They used evil means to snatch the chips in our hands, watched our factories go bankrupt, and then scattered a lot of chips to plunder the wealth we have accumulated for two centuries!”
”From the beginning, we were not standing on a fair arena to compete, but fell into their trap!”
After hearing this, many people showed expressions of sudden enlightenment on their faces, as if they had just woken up from a dream.
In fact, it’s not their fault that they didn’t expect it. The key is that they have never encountered such a thing before.
Ideal City?
The things there are really good, but too few can flow to the southern part of the River Valley Province. One or two rare things do not pose any threat at all, and the other side does not think much of what they have.
Before the emergence of the New Alliance, they were the only ones in the southern part of the River Valley Province that were engaged in industrialization. As for the survivor settlements such as Bet Street and Brown Farm, they were not even opponents in front of them,
and at most they could be regarded as leeks. As for the farmers in the south, they were just the objects of plunder by their factories.
However, now, a catfish has quietly mixed into this clear water pool.
They vaguely felt that something was wrong, and felt that the warm water pool suddenly became a little cold, and felt that they could not use their strength.
A factory that could not see any advantages, relying on second-hand equipment and those workers who were eliminated by them, produced a lot of cheap and easy-to-use “substitutes”, snatching the market that originally belonged to them from them.
It was not until they heard what Weijia said that they suddenly reacted.
Good guy!
The other party has been fleecing them for half a year with these “little cleverness”!
Now the city hall is trying to sign some friendly cooperation agreement, saying that they want to expand the scale of trade and strengthen people-to-people exchanges. They are about to sell them out, but they haven’t come to their senses yet.
Of course, that was in the past. Now they have realized the problem.
How can we tolerate this? !
The people at the conference table could no longer sit still.
Jonah, who had been silent since just now, stood up and punched the table in anger.
”We must make this clear to Duron!”
”Either reduce taxes in industrial zones, or impose taxes on goods from the New Alliance!”
”Not just taxes! But also exchange rates!”
Weijia continued to strike while the iron was hot.
”In addition to taxes and exchange rates, we also need to expand the list of banned sales, stipulating what they can and cannot buy! What can be bought should be bought how!”
”If our city hall does not protect our interests, then what is the point of it?”
”We should unite! Put pressure on those guys whose brains are full of garbage! If our director does not respond to our demands–”
He dragged out his tone, glanced around at the allies present, and continued in a sonorous voice.
”We will give the employees a holiday!”
The words fell, resounding.
The voices supporting him were like a surging tide.
”Support!”
”Strong support!”
”Count me in!”
Looking at the indignant crowd, Weijia had a confident smile on his face.
He just didn’t believe it.
He couldn’t mess up this contract!
…
Qingquan City, the edge of the North Fourth Ring Road.
In the ruins-filled urban area, a group of people were slowly moving along the cracked concrete road.
Soldiers wearing exoskeletons were scattered around, carefully guarding the shadows around them.
It was summer now, and the lush vegetation and the water in the ruins made the situation in the urban area extremely complicated.
The seasonal change system of Wasteland OL is as real as ever, but this seems to be a basic operation for various 3A masterpieces.
”I always have a bad feeling…” Fang Chang looked around, holding a rifle.
Lao Bai, who was walking beside him, teased.
”How come you are also a perception system?”
Fang Chang rolled his eyes.
”What does this have to do with the perception system? Do you think it is reasonable that nothing will happen in such an important mission?”
”You make sense,” Lao Bai nodded thoughtfully, “But speaking of it, Ye Shi is not here, and I always feel like something is missing.”
It’s not just Ye Shi who is not here.
Kuangfeng and Jieyan are not here, and it feels like a lot of fun is missing instantly.
Thinking of this, Lao Bai couldn’t help but have a strange expression on his face.
If this wasn’t a game, those three guys might never come back…
At this moment, the voice of his teammates came from the communication channel. It was the reconnaissance team he sent to explore the way ahead.
”…500 meters ahead, we found unidentified armed forces, about 20 people, armed with automatic rifles and other light weapons, and a heavy machine gun.”
At this moment, Lao Bai’s footsteps suddenly stopped, and his eyes gradually became sharp.
Noticing the change in Lao Bai’s expression, Fang Chang cast a questioning look at him.
”Is there a situation?”
He clenched his right fist and made a gesture, and Lao Bai loaded the rifle in his hand neatly.
”Here comes the job.”
–
(After hanging the last bag of water today, I don’t have to go to the hospital tomorrow TT)
(End of this chapter)
