I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 505 Sky-high liquidated damages

Ford was shocked when he heard this: "Is Brian crazy? Is he planning to shut down the government?"

Hope frowned slightly and raised his hand to interrupt him: "Please calm down, Brian is probably bluffing. You often see this kind of people in the vendors. They really want to buy, but they pretend to leave in order to bargain."

"But, could it be that Brian really got 2 million francs?" Charles asked nervously, "What should we do if that happens?"

The assets in the hands of these financial giants must not just lie on their accounts, because many of them are entrusted to them by other investors and most of them are long-term agreements.

That is to say, they have to pay interest to others at any time. If the money cannot generate more profits, they will lose a lot of money.

Borore said disdainfully: "It is impossible for the government to raise so much money. I bet that in 10 days at most, Brian will come back to beg us again."

"But what if the government really abolishes the tax-sharing system? We must be prepared!"

Hope pondered for a moment and nodded, "You are right. We need to prepare in advance. The key issue now is whether the government has really raised enough money to maintain operations."

Ford immediately replied, "Such a large sum of money must be kept in the bank. With the connections of the General Association, it is not impossible to find out."

Tax farmers are a very popular investment direction in France now. Therefore, everyone from royal family members to ordinary landlords may be a member of the tax farmers' association. Even scholars like Lavoisier once invested hundreds of thousands of livres to collect tobacco taxes in a certain area.

In this way, the tentacles of the General Association of Tax Farmers can reach all aspects of French society. After all, it is related to their own interests. If necessary, the tax farmers are willing to provide intelligence to the General Association, which is also the source of Ford's confidence.

Hope nodded. "Then I'll leave this to you. You must find out how much money Brian got as quickly as possible."

Upon hearing the news, all the bigwigs in the hunting ground gathered around and started discussing the tax-farming negotiations. They no longer had the leisure to hunt and let the servants run around with the hunting dogs.

……

London City Hall.

London Mayor Herbert stared gloomily at the Lightning Coal manager who was standing with his head bowed before him, and said angrily: "It has been two whole months, and apart from the coal storage and office building, there has been no progress in the installation of important equipment in the distillery!"

He was the direct person in charge of the London gas streetlight project. This project had a great impact on his future, so he would ask about the progress of the project every few days.

However, two months have passed and all that can be seen now are the large number of pits dug on the streets of London for laying pipes and the useless buildings of the gas distillery.

Styler looked bitter, and after a long while he stammered, "Mr. Mayor, in fact, the construction of the distillation reactor started last month..."

"But I didn't see anything."

"It's because there was a problem with the technicians." Styler spread his hands. "Our chief technician, Mr. Hannes, eloped with his wife's sister and all the family property earlier this month..."

"?!"

"I heard that he failed in his investment in a shipping company and owed several thousand pounds. In order to avoid his debts, he fled to the United States. Some people also said it was Brazil, but I don't know the details.

"In the past, Hannes was responsible for all the technical details of the retort. After he ran away, the progress of the project was inevitably affected."

Before Herbert could get angry, he immediately added: "But don't worry, the technical drawings are still there. Once other technicians in the company are familiar with it, we can start construction immediately."

Herbert took a deep breath and said, "I don't want to see any more delays in the construction period, otherwise I will have to deduct liquidated damages from your company according to the agreement!" "Yes, yes, sir. I will try my best to make up for the time."

Styler said some nice words again and then turned and left.

When he returned to his office, he simply asked the servant to make him a cup of tea, and then took out the newspaper and read it leisurely.

Yes, his job is to delay the construction period.

This is just the beginning. Captain Deloni has already prepared a lot of excuses for him - first, the chief technician ran away to avoid debt.

Then, a body was dug up at the company's construction site. The police had already made arrangements. It would take half a month to repeatedly investigate the scene. Styler himself would become a suspect and was only proven innocent after being interrogated by the police for a month.

Then, several technicians made a bet and went for a winter swim in the Thames, but they all disappeared. It is not surprising that the company organized a large number of people to salvage along the river, and it would take a month to do so.

Then, Hannes' wife discovered that her husband had sneaked back home to get the land deed, and in anger she wanted to set him on fire, but ended up setting the coal depot on fire...

In short, Lightning Coal will be plagued by all kinds of "bad luck" in the next year, almost always occupying the headlines of newspapers. Under such circumstances, even if the city hall is very dissatisfied, it can only have grievances.

Of course, there will be penalties for delayed construction, and according to the contract signed with London City Hall, the penalties are extremely high.

But does Styler care about the penalty? He doesn't care at all. He just deducts it from the project payment. 26 pounds is enough.

He even claimed that the company was short of cash and demanded that the penalty should not be deducted from the down payment...

At the same time, because Lightning did not commit serious breach of contract - such as insufficient technical capabilities or malicious delays in construction - London City Hall cannot terminate the contract, otherwise the penalty will be as high as 10 pounds.

Even if the City of London decides to make a bold move, the subcontracting companies will try their best to get them to take back their orders. They have already advanced a large amount of funds, but Lightning Company has not paid them back yet...

……

Southern suburbs of Paris.

Ford looked at the tax farmers in front of him with a serious expression and said in a low voice: "I have asked someone to investigate. I am afraid the situation is a bit tricky."

Someone immediately asked anxiously: "What happened?"

"My friend at the bank confirmed that the government's financial accounts have received more than 1 million francs in the past three months. Moreover, it continues to receive 1 million francs per week. At this rate, it will reach 12 million francs by the beginning of December."

Everyone was shocked:

"Where did Brian get the money?"

"This is impossible!"

"Is the news accurate? Will it be..."

Ford shook his head sadly:
"Several of my friends at the French Reserve Bank have verified that the accounts are clear. Funds have also been received in the accounts of many provinces."

(End of this chapter)