Empire of Shadows

In the early morning, as the sky was just beginning to lighten, Luca suddenly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

It's hard to fall asleep when you have something on your mind. In fact, he had already gotten up twice in the middle of the night, only to fall back asleep, but he couldn't sleep soundly.

He felt a little flustered, but also a little excited.

Not everyone has the chance to screw over the Ligee Group in their lifetime, and the Ligee Group doesn't have a good reputation in the Lawrence family.

When they tried to blackmail the family with their channels, some conflicts broke out between the two sides.

So, he didn't have any psychological burden in doing this, except for being a little scared.

After all, even a large farming family is just a large farming family, no matter how powerful.

But the Ligee Group is already a successful and mature capital, and every capital is like a ship.

Some ships are a little smaller; not only can they not knock people away, but they will also capsize themselves.

But there are also some ships that, let alone people trying to stop them, even an iceberg would be crushed by them!

He climbed out of bed. Strangely, even though he shouldn't have had enough rest, he didn't feel very tired, and his energy was abundant.

After a quick wash, he went to the dining room and made himself some milk chocolate cereal, grabbing the newspaper he had just brought back.

Before the Saint-Agron Festival, the main topic of discussion in the "Golden Port Today" was still the kidnapping case, but in just three or four days, it seemed to have lost its heat before the festival.

People are still discussing it, and the influence is expanding outward, but for some reason, it just gives people a feeling that there's nothing to discuss.

In fact, this feeling comes from the rapid "detection" work. The final conclusion has been reached, and the good guys and bad guys, good things and bad things, have been divided like in a textbook, so naturally there is no hot topic for discussion.

People may care about where the missing teenagers went, but there's nothing to talk about.

You can't have a group of people sitting together, asking each other, "Where do you think so-and-so was sold?", can you?

Compared to these topics, the people who should bear the responsibility taking responsibility, and the bad guys being punished, is more attractive to people.

On the contrary, the situation in the Danterra Republic has continued to deteriorate recently. The Secretary of State has already started negotiations with the Danterra ambassador, and it is said that the negotiation process is not so friendly.

While chewing on the hard cereal, he enjoyed the unique taste and sweetness of the sweet milk, chocolate, and cereal. This is one of the favorite breakfasts of the people of the Federation.

He was like an office worker, eating breakfast while paying attention to national affairs. Then, he cleaned up the things and returned to the bedroom.

After changing into a neat outfit, he took a deep breath in front of the mirror and left the house with his briefcase.

His destination was the Ligee Group office.

At eight o'clock, the Ligee Group's staff had already arrived at the dock. They would have a "work list" telling them what they were going to do there today.

Basically, it was either opening the warehouse and shipping things out, or opening the warehouse and loading things in.

The staff briefly scanned the list and began to assign tasks.

These tasks also required the assistance of dockworkers. After they requested enough workers from the dock management company, they started working.

The moment the huge warehouse door was pulled open, the expressions of the people standing by the door changed.

Because a surge of hot air poured out of the warehouse, accompanied by a musty, grassy smell that was hard to describe.

He stared intently at the changes in the warehouse, and his mouth, like the constantly opening warehouse door, grew larger and larger, unable to close.

A green hill!

The moment the light entered the dark warehouse, the mountain of sprouted wheat appeared before him. His mouth opened so wide that his jaw almost dislocated, and his mind stopped at that moment!

He suddenly lowered his head and glanced at the delivery note in his hand. It said "wheat," not "malt."

Wheat refers to unmilled wheat grains, while milled wheat is "wheat kernels." After repeatedly confirming the items on the delivery note, a wave of urine surged to the top of his head.

He ran like crazy to the outside of another huge warehouse, urging the workers to open the warehouse door, and then the third, and the fourth.

Seven or eight minutes later, the door of the general manager's office inside the Ligee Group's office building was knocked on.

The general manager was reading the newspaper, with a saucer and a coaster on the table. He held the newspaper in one hand and the coffee cup in the other.

Breakfast was taken care of in the office. The secretary would prepare the food and coffee for him, which was much more convenient than preparing it at home.

He was also very clear about some of the secretary's little thoughts. The workplace in the Federation is like this, full of human relationships and connections.

If someone thinks that these things don't happen in the workplace in the Federation, it must be because they have no value and can't create value.

"Come in."

The petite, blonde secretary poked her upper body in. She wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and looked a little silly.

"The dock called, saying there's something they must tell you personally, on line one."

The general manager put down his coffee cup. "Thank you for the coffee. The coffee is very good!" He smiled slightly, then signaled for the other party to leave, while picking up the phone and pressing the number one line button.

"What's the matter?"

"A major incident has occurred. Four warehouses involving millions of dollars of wheat have sprouted!"

The general manager didn't react at first. "Just remove the sprouted wheat, right?"

"Do you have to call me to answer you personally for such a simple thing?"

He even felt a little amused!

In fact, in the process of transporting and storing these crops, there are indeed some abnormal situations sometimes.

For example, if the site is poorly managed, there are leaks and drips, causing some of the crops to sprout, which is normal.

Remove this part of the crop, or simply mix it in, and no one will notice.

He didn't think that he would have to solve such a small matter himself. As he spoke, he wanted to hang up the phone, but the person on the other end of the phone quickly added, "I mean, all of it has sprouted."

"All... sprouted?" The general manager even laughed twice. "Are you joking with me?"

"Honestly, you made me laugh, but this joke isn't very funny."

The smile on his face had gradually begun to disappear, because he knew that this phone call was most likely not telling him a joke.

"You'd better come and see for yourself!"

He hung up the phone and picked it up again. "Arrange a car for me. I'm going to the dock warehouse, immediately!"

Five minutes later, a luxurious car stopped at the company entrance. The general manager came out of the elevator and got into the car.

About ten minutes later, the car stopped outside the warehouse.

He got out of the car and found that many people had already gathered outside the warehouse.

Seeing this car, the staff member in charge of the case quickly walked over with a pale face.

He wanted to say something, but the general manager glared him back, then pushed through the crowd and stood outside the main gate of the warehouse.

A green mountain of wheat. His face turned even worse. He strode over and grabbed a handful of sprouted wheat, but it didn't budge.

He tugged hard and only pulled out a small handful. He looked around, found an iron shovel, and started shoveling at the wheat mountain.

The air by the sea is very humid. It's possible that only the surface is damp. He was comforting himself, although he already had some judgment.

As the shoveled area became deeper and deeper, the internal situation was just as bad!

Either it had sprouted, or there were signs of mold. All of this wheat was ruined!

He threw away the iron shovel and looked at the staff member next to him, who was constantly sweating, and took a deep breath. "What's going on with this wheat?"

The staff member immediately handed over the delivery note. "These are all to be delivered to customers today. I came over to check in advance and load the truck in advance."

"But I didn't expect..."

I didn't expect it all to be green!

The general manager's temples throbbed.

Even if his wife cheated on him, he wouldn't be so angry. It's just changing a woman, and it doesn't cost much money.

But this is two million dollars worth of wheat, all sprouted and moldy!

How could the company possibly be willing to accept such a huge loss?

His eyes were a little dazed. He might be the one to suffer!

Previously, the head office was very dissatisfied with some of his work results, especially the grape transaction that caused the company to earn more than two million less —

It wasn't a loss of more than two million, it was earning more than two million less. They had some discussions about whether the general manager had the ability to continue sitting in this position.

Fortunately, his connections in the head office suppressed some of the negative impact. After all, who could have imagined that the price of grapes could rise so quickly, so outrageously?

If that problem could be suppressed, then this problem, I'm afraid, cannot be suppressed!

Moreover, it's not just the problem of two million dollars worth of wheat sprouting and becoming moldy, but also the issue of liquidated damages.

Double liquidated damages.

His expression became a little subtle. This approach...

"First, have someone deal with this wheat and see if there's anything that can be salvaged."

"I'll report to the higher-ups. I can't make a decision on this kind of thing."

After returning to the company, he immediately called over the manager who signed this contract.

"Tell me about the process of signing this contract, including the details."

The manager received a lot of commission from this contract, which was supposed to be a happy thing.

But at this moment, when the general manager said this, he suddenly felt a thump in his heart and began to recount the entire signing process with a little unease.

"You said he proactively brought up the issue of liquidated damages?"

The manager nodded quickly, "Yes, he proposed increasing the liquidated damages to bind both parties in the transaction."

"I told him that our Liji Group would not engage in any behavior that would damage our commercial reputation, but this Mr. Luther believes that only liquidated damages can truly restrain us from breaching the contract."

"Moreover, he accepted our requirement for a 25% deposit and a slightly higher-than-market quotation."

"Because the other party needed it urgently, the selling price was increased by 7% compared to the normal price."

If we were to schedule the shipment normally, it might not be Mr. Luther's turn to pick up the goods until November.

But after he increased the price, the company was willing to give him priority in scheduling the shipment. That's the charm of money!

Don't underestimate that 7%. That 7% is actually pure profit. In agricultural products, which have relatively low profit margins, it's already astonishing!

Their gross profit margin is only about 20-30%. This is equivalent to directly increasing their net profit by 50% or even more.

The female manager added at the end, "The supervisors also knew about the entire contract signing process, and they also sought instructions from the head office."

After listening, the general manager felt more and more that this case, like ordinary liquidated damage cases, had a kind of inexplicable similarity.

Although he had no evidence, he just felt that the people behind this might be the same group.

And the reason was very simple: revenge.

Although they delivered the grapes, they didn't recover much of the loss, but that was because the other party was a bank!

He learned through some channels that the bank had earned a profit of about 1.2 million from the grape case. In other words, this was the other party's loss.

If they delivered these grapes according to the contract, whether it was spot goods or direct settlement of the contract, this money should have belonged to that buyer.

Could it be them?

Using this method to make up for the loss?

He wasn't sure.

At this time, the female manager saw him fall into thought for a while and couldn't help but ask softly, "What's wrong with this contract?"

This was related to her commission. For a two million order, she could at least get a commission of five thousand yuan, which was a lot of money!

The general manager came back to his senses. He looked at her, "The wheat has sprouted."

The female manager breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could say what she had said to the general manager on the phone before, the general manager added, "All of it!"

Just as the female manager was shocked by this news and couldn't speak, the phone suddenly rang again.

The general manager answered the phone. It was from the dock.

"There's a Mr. Luther with a delivery order and a contract, demanding to pick up the goods now…"

The sense that the whole thing was a conspiracy became stronger. The general manager asked the female manager to go to the dock and chat with this client, while he himself had to report this matter to the head office.

Like most industry monopoly companies, Liji Group's headquarters was rude, barbaric, and arrogant!

In the company lobby, you could see a scene that other companies couldn't see, a spectacular scene!

A large number of staff were on the phone in an impolite tone, and the other end of these phones were mostly farmers who were complaining about them or calling to curse them.

Liji Group used its channel advantages to force farmers to sign unequal mediation agreements, but even so, when there were major price fluctuations, they would not hesitate to tear up the already unfair contracts and then demand more profit!

When a group company gets to a certain size and they have to face a lot of lawsuits.

The cost of litigation will be the same as the cost of industrialized production. As the volume increases, the cost continues to decrease!

They directly hired a large number of lawyers to litigate for them. Whether there was a lawsuit or not, it was all the same money. They didn't care about winning or losing, as long as they dragged it out!

For the farmers, if they didn't sign those unequal terms.

The agricultural products would rot in the ground.

If they signed those unequal terms, then they could only earn meager profits.

Besides cursing them and complaining about them, there were almost no other good ways!

They, like those insurance companies, were making unconscionable money.

But this also conformed to the saying that when you put down your conscience, you earn more!

The vice president was checking the latest yacht quotations. His previous one was a bit old, and he planned to replace it with a bigger, newer one.

He casually answered the phone, "What is it?"

The general manager explained what had happened, and his expression gradually became serious.

The sprouted wheat was easy to solve. There were ways to squeeze out their value through industrial means.

Whether it was making maltose and then trying to disguise it as honey, or reprocessing it into wheat products such as wheat rings and selling them, they had channels.

As one of the largest agricultural product channel vendors, Liji Group had very close cooperation with many agricultural product processors. This was an entire industry and industrial chain, and there were already corresponding emergency measures.

What was really troublesome was the double liquidated damages, four million.

"Find a way to appease the client and tell him that we will transfer a new batch of wheat from other places."

The general manager's voice came from the receiver, "If, I mean if, the other party doesn't agree and sues us for compensation for liquidated damages, what should we do?"

The vice president frowned. Who the hell would go against them for no reason?

But it was possible, no, it was very likely that such a thing would happen.

Because forcing the other party to breach the contract and then filing a lawsuit to obtain liquidated damages was also a way for capital to make money, and it was faster, more, and simpler!

If you take a hundred yuan of goods and sell them at retail for two hundred yuan, it looks like there is a 100% profit, but it also includes various transportation costs, warehousing costs, sales costs, etc.

But if you sue the other party for breach of contract and let the other party directly compensate you two hundred yuan, that's pure profit!

"If the other party insists on resolving it through litigation, then fight them and keep dragging it out."

The vice president let out a sneer, "I don't believe that in the Federation, anyone can fight against us!"

Of course, this was a boast. In fact, there were many capital groups and political groups that could fight against them, but in his opinion, the current small trouble could not fight against them.

The general manager poured cold water on him again, "If, I mean if, if this person solves it through the bank?"

"They transfer the creditor's rights to the bank. As long as they give the bank enough benefits, I believe any bank would be willing to accept this transaction."

"Even some capital groups, they are willing, after all, this money can be taken away anytime, anywhere for people or organizations with the ability!"

Whether it was a bank or those big capital groups, it was not difficult for them to get this money back from Liji Group.

Just like the last case, when they learned that the creditor had become a bank, they directly gave up resistance and paid the money directly.

However, this also reminded the vice president of that case, "Are you saying that they are the same group of people?"