"If you are backward, you will be beaten" is not only talking about modern China, but also Panama.

It is a joke that the dignified mayor of Panama City, who is also a regional leader in the Isthmus of Panama, was blackmailed in this way by a mercenary leader.

But this joke makes people a little laughable, because Eddie Hausman has no way to counteract except for verbal protests, which can be regarded as a true portrayal of "weak countries have no diplomacy".

In addition to compensating the station building for the damage, the Panamanian city government will also hold those responsible accountable for the damage caused by the Panama Railways' inability to operate during this time, and also ensure that similar incidents will not happen again in the future.

To be honest, Eddie Haussman couldn't do any of Ford Benjamin's demands, not because of how tough Eddie Hausman was, but because the Panamanian city government didn't have the economic strength at all, let alone $1.25 million, and the Panamanian government couldn't even come up with $50,000.

Not all cities are as wealthy as the New York City government, and it costs tens of millions of dollars to build a city government office building, and there is only one New York in the world, and the situation of the Panama city government is like living in Africa in the last century compared to the New York City government.

"No money? It's easy to have no money, you can pay in other ways, and we can extend the deadline appropriately, but until you Panama City pays the compensation, we have to supervise Panama City to make sure that you will complete the payment. "Ford Benjamin is not worried at all about the Panamanian city government running out of money, and preferably the Panamanian city government will never have money.

"You are delusional, I will never agree to these terms, and I will never accept this kind of blackmail." Eddie Hausman's eyes were cold, and he felt the urge to smash the pencil in his hand on Ford Benjamin's face.

Extortion!

That's right, this is indeed blackmail, but in this era, this kind of thing happens almost every day, carefully calculated, more than a million dollars is still less, look at the Qing Empire, every time it is blackmailed is hundreds of millions, if you want less, it will be an insult to the Qing Empire in 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 here, I hope you will like it... And if you don't agree, maybe the tragedy that happened some time ago will be repeated, only this time, it will not be the station building that is being besieged. Ford Benjamin put his leg down, pulled out a bearer check for $10,000 from the Bank of America, put it on the table and pushed it to Eddie Hausman.

$10,000 is not a small number, and in Colombia, it is a bit of a waste to buy off ministers, and to Eddie Hausman.

But this is precisely the true meaning of bribery, and if you want to achieve the best results, you have to come up with a temptation that people can't refuse.

As for Ford Benjamin's statement that "the tragedy will happen again", this is the threat of red fruit.

The siege of the station building was a spontaneous rebellion of Panamanian workers against the management of the Panamanian Railways, and since Panamanians are so bloody, the Americans are certainly not bad, and if Eddie Hausman refuses Ford Benjamin's request, then perhaps in the next few days, some Americans will also "spontaneously" besiege the Panamanian government building.

At that time, it is estimated that the future is worrying.

Mmmm, the outlook is worrying!

Choosing between a stick on one side and chocolate on the other shouldn't be a hassle, but Eddie Hausman hasn't decided for a long time.

Can't blame Eddie Hausman, $10,000 less? Of course, it's a lot, this is almost Eddie Hausman's salary as mayor for ten years, but if he takes this money, Eddie Haussman will become a sinner in Panama and be nailed to the pillar of shame in Panama forever.

When Panamanian workers besieged the station building, the Americans dared to shoot at the risk of the world's condemnation, and killed hundreds of people at once, and now they shamelessly demanded compensation, which has fully explained the bottom line of the Americans.

Their bottom line is that there is no bottom line, and if you want to talk about the moral standards of Americans, then maybe money is the only moral standard of Americans.

"If you're worried about Parliament, then I can assure you that you don't have to worry at all, you can wait and see, the Parliament will be more receptive to these provisions than you think, this is the collective decision of your Panamanian government, and the blame will not be entirely on you—" Ford Benjamin was still chattering, the meaning of which made Eddie Hausman gradually despair.

Since someone is singing white face, then there must be someone singing red face, Martinez Silva has arrived in Panama City three days ago, he and Leonard Gilmour are doing a public relations work on the members of the Panamanian Parliament, although it is not yet known how effective it will be, but judging from the expenditure of these days, Ford Benjamin is now almost certain that almost half of the parliament has been bought, and even if there is opposition at that time, it will be overwhelming by the majority.

This can be regarded as the sorrow of "democracy".

"What form of regulation are you going to do?" Eddie Hausman is still making his final struggles, and in fact Eddie Haussman has already surrendered.

"By disbanding the police and the tax department, and leaving the police and tax work in Panama to our Panamanian company, I can guarantee that the law and order situation in Panama City will be better than it is now, and the revenue of the Panamanian government will also increase significantly, no matter how you look at it, this is a good thing for you Panama City and the Panamanian government." It was a lion's mouth, but from Ford Benjamin's mouth, it was as if the Panama company was doing charity.

As incredible as it sounds, Eddie Hausman is well aware that Ford Benjamin is telling the truth.

The weakness of the police station, the complexity of the population structure, and the fierceness of the people's customs have jointly caused the current bad public security situation in Panama City, the public security situation is frequent, and gangs are rampant.

It must be said that Eddie Haussman also wants to change this situation, but in reality, Eddie Haussman does not have many options, mainly because the Panamanian government has limited police resources and cannot effectively control the huge Isthmus of Panama.

It's the same with the tax department, although it sounds a bit humiliating to hand over the tax department to a company to control, but in fact Eddie Hausman is very clear that the tax department in Panama City is rotten, and unless there is a complete overhaul, the financial situation of the Panamanian government will never improve, and if the Panamanian company takes over the tax work in Panama City, then even if the tax revenue does not actually increase, the government's financial statements will look better than before, for no other reason than to reduce the human factor as much as possible.

This point has been verified, the current Qing Customs, is controlled by the British Hao De, Hao De's management ability can not be said to be high, Qing foreign trade has not seen a large-scale growth, but under the control of Hao De, Qing Customs is now the most clean department in the Qing State, the income of the customs has been increasing, compared with the previous Qing Customs, and now compared with other departments of the Qing State, this is definitely an irony, foreign monks are not necessarily more able to chant the scriptures, they are just more serious, This has actually become the evidence that some people say that "the moon in a foreign country is relatively round" -

As he left the Panamanian City Government Building, Ford Benjamin glanced back at the gray City Hall building, a disdainful smile on his face.

This building is indeed too old-

The buildings of this era are not as crazy as they are in the 21st century, and although many buildings are called "buildings", they are actually three or four floors, but in this era when it is still generally a one-story cabin, such buildings are indeed relatively tall, so this name is fine.

The "building" of the Panama railway station to be rebuilt is more worthy of the title "building" than most buildings of this era.

Because the station building has to carry part of the waiting hall function, so the new station building has a total of three floors, the total height has reached an astonishing 21 meters, and the waiting hall alone has a ceiling height of as much as eight meters, such a building level, the entire Isthmus of Panama does not have, so the construction work of the station building should be undertaken by the horse construction company from the United States.

"Just a station building costs $600,000, which is a bit too much." Leonard Gilmour, a member of the Vanderbilt family, was clearly unimpressed by the offer.

"Of course, the cost of the building is less than $600,000, but the offer also includes the cost of 11 technicians and 150 workers to travel from New York to Panama, as well as a subsidy for their work abroad, is that acceptable?" Simon Rutherford, the business manager of the Horse Construction Company, was there, and he was not worried at all that Leonard Gilmour would not agree.

Since it is the business of the Panama station, of course, it must be borne by the Horse Construction Company, and this price must be greasy, but no one cares, even the Canal Management Committee will not care, just like the Vanderbilt family runs the Panama Railway, there will be a cat, everyone tacitly, no one will say it, anyway, in the end, it will be borne by the shareholders of the Panama Canal Company, the wool is out of the sheep, and everyone makes money.

"We should hire workers locally, at least that will save some costs." Leonard Gilmour is just habitually questioning, not opposing, and he has no right to object.

Simon Rutherford stopped talking, and the expression on his face was strange.

Maybe Leonard Gilmour is just unintentional, but in fact, Leonard Gilmour is right, the Horse Construction Company is ready to hire construction workers from Panama, so that the labor cost will be greatly reduced, but there is no need to say this kind of thing, as long as the quality of the project can be guaranteed, it is reasonable for the Horse Construction Company to do whatever it does.

"Gentlemen, let's discuss how to arrange those upcoming planes, look at this document from Boston Airlines, it seems that we have to prepare an airport first, has the address of the airport been determined?" The new general manager of Panama Railways, Robert Cronin, is more pragmatic, having taken office just after the "conflict" and was previously a lawyer and accountant in New York.

Robert Cronin was a member of the Morgan family, and he was not only responsible for the financial affairs of the Panama Railways, but also supervised the financial situation of the Panamanian company, which was actually run by Ford Benjamin and Leonard Gilmour.

That's right, the plane is finally coming, this is also the first time in the world to put the "airplane" into practical use, although Robert Cronin does not know what the plane is like, but from the telegram sent by Boston Airlines, Robert Cronin has a certain understanding of the "airplane", one thing is certain, the use of the plane will greatly speed up the exploration of the Isthmus of Panama, will shorten this time from three years to eight months, from this point, the Canal Company's investment is indeed worth the money, After all, time is money.

According to the contract, Boston Airlines will provide 20 pilots and a 60-person logistics support team, and the costs incurred by these people working in Panama will also be borne by the Panama Canal Company, which makes the total value of the entire contract reach a huge $5 million, which is an insane figure in this era.

Of course, from the moment of birth, the plane is not destined to be a toy for ordinary people, perhaps ordinary people and the automobile industry will have a certain intersection, but the aviation industry is still a bit far away for ordinary people.

"It's confirmed, right next to the station, near the ruined site, and the Panamanian government has promised to hand over all that area to us and let us dispose of it." Ford Benjamin's tone is quite proud, this kind of thing is what Ford Benjamin does best.

Panama City has a long history, in 1519, the Spanish dynasty sent Davila to Panama as the governor, Panama City became the base of the Spanish colonists to enslave the American Indians and the center of religious activities, but also the Spanish colonists in the Americas to loot wealth, the distribution center of the black slave trade, the Spanish colonists will plunder from all over the world a large number of gold, silver and jewelry concentrated in the city, and then transferred to the Spanish mainland, Panama City's large wealth has naturally aroused the coveted pirates.

In 1671, the English pirate Morgan invaded Panama City by force, sacked it and set fire to the entire city.

Ford Benjamin's "ruins" are referring to this ruin.