The word Christmas Eve does not have a special meaning, and in the Chinese world, Christmas Eve is usually considered to be the eve of Christmas, that is, the night of December 24.

In fact, Christmas Eve refers to December 24, both day and night, when Christian families return to their homes, stay with their families, have a hearty dinner, and then sit around the roaring fireplace, just like the Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Therefore, Christmas Eve can be compared to the Chinese New Year's Eve in the Chinese world, and the beautiful meaning contained in it is very appropriate.

Generally speaking, in the days of Christmas, joy and peace are the main theme of people, no matter how many disputes and hatreds there are in the past, in these days, people always have to temporarily put aside disputes, say Merry Christmas to each other, and achieve a moment of peace of mind.

On this quiet and peaceful day, you can imagine how shocking the guns in Houston will be.

It was already 6 o'clock in the evening when Li Mu received the news, and Bresta did not call Li Mu, but personally rushed to Governor's Island and informed Li Mu of the news.

According to insiders, the murderer should have acted alone, using a python detective type revolver, the gunman fired a total of three bullets, one bullet hit Owen Hart's head, two bullets hit Owen Hart's chest, Owen Hart died on the spot, the murderer then fled the scene in a pre-prepared carriage, Houston police are currently pursuing the murderer with all their might, the Texas government dispatched the National Guard, but so far, the murderer has not been heard from, no one knows where the murderer is, No one knew who the killer was, and although the killer appeared to be familiar with the streets of Houston, no one had ever seen him before. When Bresta reported the situation, his gaze at Li Mu was very complicated.

Although the police and thieves are born enemies, but the relationship between Bresta and Li Mu is definitely not this kind of relationship, when the Horse Arms Company was just established, only Will and Bresta seized the opportunity to buy shares in time, which certainly shows that Will and Bresta have vision, but if it were not for the trust in Li Mu, I am afraid they would not be willing to take out the money.

The current Bresta is already a millionaire and is also the chief of the New York City Police Department, so although he was shocked by Li Mu's methods, Bresta also had to maintain a united front with Li Mu.

"It's a shame that this is happening on this beautiful day, it's so sad." Li Mu pretended to be fake, and he couldn't see the slightest sadness on his face.

"It's in your own home, who are you pretending to show it to?" Will doesn't look down on people like Li Mu, since returning to the army, Will's personality has become more and more direct, not that he can't be fake, but he doesn't disdain to fake at all: "All the southerners deserve to die, kill them, they deserve it." ”

Will is a standard regional black, and he is hostile to all southerners, and it has nothing to do with race.

During the Civil War, Will was a member of the Northern government, and in the process of fighting with the Southerners, Will's father and brother were killed in the war, and many of Will's friends also died in the war, so Will never concealed his hatred for Southerners.

"They do deserve to die, but the next time you do this, Ream, can you please tell me, you have to know that you have succeeded in making the Texans feel the fear by doing this, but with my understanding of the Texans, they will definitely retaliate." Bresta is a big head, New York City's public police resources are already insufficient, and now it has to spare some valuable police resources to strengthen the defense of the Junma Group's industry, Bresta really feels stretched.

In fact, the Junma Group itself has extremely strong defense capabilities, Li Mu's bodyguards and the security personnel of the Springfield Company are only part of the power on the surface, and more power is hidden in the Junma Automobile Company and the Junma Construction Company, both of which are labor-intensive industries, employing a total of more than 30,000 employees, most of whom are young and strong young men.

Although the Junma Group itself is strong, Bresta still has to adjust the police force and tilt as much as possible towards the Junma Group's industry, which is determined by the tax paid by the Junma Group every year, and it is not transferred by personal will at all, even if this way is not fair, everyone will accept it calmly.

"What do you want me to tell you? Do you want me to tell you that there's going to be a fire in Houston tomorrow so that you can get someone to stop it? Li Mu smiled.

Bresta is a bit too requested, after all, the case happened in Houston, and the New York City Police Department has no jurisdiction, even if Bresta reported the situation to the Houston police, it is probably thankless.

"Of course it would be better if I could report it, at least I could sell it to Gloria." Bresta is quite shrewd in his calculations, this is exclusive information, and it can be worth a lot of money.

"Don't talk nonsense, today's situation is special, I won't leave you to eat, see you another day." Li Mucai doesn't talk nonsense, let Bresta, the police chief, stay on Governor's Island for a long time, and if he is not suspicious, he will become suspicious.

"I've got something to do, I've got something to do." Bresta didn't leave, it seems that he must have something to gain: "Reem, this, you know, New York City is getting bigger and bigger, the population is getting bigger and bigger, the police are not enough, and when the World Expo is held next year, it will bring a disaster, so Reem, I think a well-known company with a sense of social responsibility should contribute to public utilities and possibly contribute its own strength..."

Bresta said foaming at the mouth, but Li Mu's face became darker and darker.

Okay... This is the fate of the Junma Group...

"Speak human words." Li Mu didn't have time to talk nonsense with Bresta, everyone had to go to church together at seven o'clock, and it was better to make a long story short about these things.

Bresta choked and rolled her eyes, but immediately put a smile on her face again: "Reem, what I want to say is that the New York City Police Department's current transportation is too backward, if possible, can the Horse Automobile Factory help the New York City Police Department produce a batch of cars, it doesn't require too good performance, as long as it can be driven." ”

Buying a car, this is a good thing, Li Mu must support it.

"Yes, I'll have you get ten prototypes to test later, and if it's okay, we can sign a contract." Li Mu agreed.

Public vehicles have always been the main direction of the horse car company, how much money can be made by the rich, the total number of rich people is limited, relatively speaking, the government department is simply too rich, such as the New York City government, the government side needs public vehicles, the parliament side also needs it, and now plus the police department, this is a big piece of fat.

"So, the price?" Bresta also wants to get a price.

"You don't need to worry about it, you just need to apply, and I'll take care of the rest." Li Mu didn't negotiate the price with Bresta, and it was useless to negotiate, because the decision was not in Bresta's hands.

If the NYPD wants to have a police car, the decision is in the hands of the New York City Council, and even Arthur has little role to play in it.

The process is roughly that Bresta submits a car application on behalf of the NYPD, and then the city evaluates the application, and if it deems it necessary, the government raises the application to the city council for a vote, and finally the city council decides when you buy a car, how many cars you should buy, and how much you should spend on a car.

This set of processes, if you go down according to the normal situation, you don't want to see hope in three or five years, so Li Mu doesn't talk nonsense with Bresta, as long as Bresta submits an application, the work of the city government and the city council is all in charge of the Junma Group.

Arthur said very well that as long as Bresta submits an application, Arthur will approve it quickly, and the main difficulty is still in the city council, but this is not too difficult for the Junma Group, the big deal is to take the money to smash it, anyway, the wool is out of the sheep.

The only thing that could interfere with this plan is probably the Vanderbilt family car factory, but the Vanderbilt family car factory has a large performance gap between the cars produced by the Vanderbilt family car factory and the cars produced by the ZAMA Motor Company, and this alone allows the ZAMA Motor Company to reasonably and legally take out the Vanderbilt Automobile Factory.

"Very good, I'll apply to the city tomorrow, I've got people to make a budget, at least 400 cars are needed to meet the needs of our New York City Police Department, it's a big business, let's do it." Bresta was satisfied and immediately took his leave.

400 cars, estimated at the price of BMW, will cost about two million dollars, which is not too much or too little, and should still be within the reach of the city council.

Since Arthur took office, the scale of New York City's debt has not only not decreased, but has been expanding, especially the hosting of the World Expo next year, which has increased the debt of New York City by 15 million US dollars, which has led to the total debt of the city government has exceeded 120 million US dollars, but the money of the World Expo should be able to be recovered because of Li Mu's operation, and even if it is optimistic, there should be a surplus, and then the New York City government will be able to turn around.

Bresta's plan came at a timely time, and by the end of next year, the proceeds of the World's Fair would be available, which could be used to pay for the goods of the horse company.

In fact, the New York City Government owes a lot of money to the Horse Group now, and in the case of the Horse Motor Company alone, the City Government and the City Council have purchased hundreds of cars from the Horse Motors Company, and these cars are not only BMWs, but also the more expensive Phantoms, and the total amount owed is more than $2.6 million, and the New York City Government has to pay more than $300,000 in interest every year.

As for the money that the New York City Government owes to the entire Horse Group, it is an astronomical amount, you must know that the New York City Government has been building on a large scale in the past two years, from the simplest road renovation, to the complex pipe network transformation, and the laying of telephone lines, all of which are in charge of the Horse Group, as of Christmas, the New York City Government owes more than $20 million to the Horse Group, that is, Li Mu and Arthur have a good relationship, otherwise the Horse Group will now go to the city government to ask for money, which can directly force the city government to go bankrupt.

In this way, we can understand the special situation of ZAMA Group in New York, as a large creditor of the New York City Government, ZAMA Group is indeed qualified to do whatever it wants in New York.

"Do you need to buy a car for your 1st Cavalry Division?" Li Mu is not afraid of debts now, although the war is not the same because there is no money to make an IOU, but as long as the US government exists, this money is not afraid of being relied upon, and the Junma Group can also get a lot of interest income every year, so Li Mu is only worried about not selling enough things, or too many orders to accept.

"Don't think about the military, the Ministry of War is poor, the warehouse is so clean that it can't even feed the rats, and all the orders for next year will be on the navy's side, and our army will have no fun." Will was also depressed when he mentioned this.

In its original history, it was not until World War I that the United States had a standing army.

In this lifetime, the standing army of the United States appeared almost 50 years earlier, but it also faced an unsustainable situation.

In the mid-to-late 19th century, it was in the period of the second industrial revolution, human beings began to enter the "electric age" from the "steam age", the speed of scientific and technological development is changing with each passing day, it is possible that a new product will appear, the first generation of products has not completely spread the market, the second generation of products has been launched, so now not only the United States is poor, all countries in the world are poor, are facing great pressure to replace equipment.

Take the current navy as an example, in fact, the navy's universal "paddle steamer" has only been in the list for a few years, but in the current mainstream market, the "paddle steamer" has been eliminated, and the propeller has begun to become the main marine power, which forces almost all navies in the world to replace equipment.

With the help of this wave of east wind, the Horse Arms Company has reached a number of cooperation agreements with the U.S. Department of War, the research of naval guns is only one part of it, and the Ministry of War will cooperate with the Horse Weapons Company in more fields in the future.

It is not unreasonable for almost everyone to be optimistic about Li Mu's prospects, the New York City government owes 20 million to the Horse Group, which sounds like a lot, but in fact Washington owes more than the Horse Group, and by December, the total bill has exceeded $60 million, and the Washington government has to pay more than $10 million in interest every year.

Doesn't it look like the interest rate is a bit high?

In fact, it has not reached the top, because the current interest calculation method is not double.