Chapter 504: Sky-high Penalty

Chapter 505 Sky-high liquidated damages

Fuld 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 at vendors. They really want to buy, but they pretend to be in order to bargain. The way you walk."

"But, could it be that Brian really got 200 million francs?" Charles said nervously, "What should we do in that case?"

The assets in the hands of financial giants like them must not be left on their books, because many of them are entrusted to them by other investors, and most of them are long-term agreements.

In other words, they have to pay interest to others at any time. If that money doesn't generate more profits, they will lose a lot of money.

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

"But what if the government really cancels the tax farming system? We must be prepared!"

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

Fuld immediately answered: "Such a large amount of money must be placed in the bank. With the association's relationship, it is not impossible to find out."

Tax collectors are a very popular investment direction in France right now. Therefore, everyone from members of the royal family to ordinary landowners may be members of the Taxpayers Association. Even scholars like Lavoisier invested hundreds of thousands of livres to cover tobacco taxes in a certain area.

In this way, the tentacles of the tax collectors union can be extended to all aspects of French society. After all, it is about their own interests. If necessary, tax collectors are willing to provide information to the General Assembly. This is also the source of Fuld's confidence.

Hope nodded: "Then I'll leave this matter to you. You must find out how much money Brian got in the shortest possible time."

After hearing the news, all the predators in the hunting ground gathered around and discussed the tax package negotiations. They no longer had the leisurely leisure time of hunting, and allowed the servants to run around with the hunting dogs.

…

London Guildhall.

The Mayor of London, Herbert, stared at the Lightning Coal Manager who was standing in front of him with a gloomy face, and said angrily: "It has been two full months. Except for the coal warehouse and office building, there is no installation of important equipment in the distillery. There’s no progress at all!”

He is the direct person in charge of the London gas street lighting project. This project has a great impact on his future, so he has to check on the progress of the project every few days.

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

Styler had a bitter look on his face, and after a long while he muttered: "Mr. Mayor, the construction of the retort actually started last month..."

"But I didn't see anything."

"It's actually because there was something wrong with the technician." Styler spread his hands, "Our chief technician, Mr. Hannis, eloped with his wife's sister at the beginning of this month and took all his family property... "

"?!"

"I heard that his investment in a shipping company failed and he owed several thousand pounds. In order to avoid the debt, he ran to the United States. Some people said it was Brazil. 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, they can start construction immediately."

Herbert took a deep breath and said: "I don't want to see any further delays in the construction period, otherwise I can only deduct your company's liquidated damages in accordance with the agreement!"

"Yes, yes, sir. I will try my best to get the time back."

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

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

Yes, his job is to delay the project.

This is just the beginning, Captain Deloni has already prepared a lot of excuses for him - first, the chief technical officer runs away to hide from debts.

After that, the body was dug up at the company's construction site, and the police had taken care of it. It would take half a month to repeatedly investigate the site. Styler himself would become a suspect, and he would be proven innocent after being interrogated by the police for a month.

Then several technicians made a bet that they must go for a winter swim in the Thames River, and they disappeared collectively. The company will organize a large number of people to salvage along the river, and it is not surprising that it will be busy for a month.

Then Hannes's wife found out that her husband had sneaked home to get the land deed, and she wanted to set fire to him in a rage, which ended up igniting the coal warehouse...

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 extremely dissatisfied, it can only be expressed in bitterness.

Of course, liquidated damages for delaying the construction period will definitely be fined, and according to the contract signed with the London City Hall, the liquidated damages are extremely high.

But does Styler care about liquidated damages? I don't care at all. Just deduct it from the project fee. £260,000 is enough to deduct it.

He would even use "the company's cash shortage" as an excuse to demand that liquidated damages cannot be deducted from the down payment...

At the same time, because Lightning Company has not committed a serious breach of contract - such as insufficient technical capabilities or malicious delays in construction - the London City Council cannot terminate the contract, otherwise the liquidated damages will be as high as 100,000 pounds.

And even if the London City Hall decides to cut off the strong man's arm, the subcontracting companies below will try their best to get him back. They had advanced a large amount of funds before, but Lightning Company hadn't paid them any yet...

…

Southern suburbs of Paris.

Fuld looked at the giant tax collectors in front of him solemnly, and said in a low voice: "I have asked someone to investigate. I'm afraid the situation is a bit tricky."

Immediately someone asked anxiously: "What happened?"

"My friends at the bank have confirmed that more than 100 million francs have been transferred into the government's financial accounts in the past three months. Moreover, they continue to be transferred at a rate of 10 million francs per week. At this rate , it will reach 200 million francs in early December.”

Everyone was immediately shocked, "Where did Brian get the money?"

"This is impossible!"

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

Fuld shook his head sadly: "Several of my friends at the French Reserve Bank have verified it separately, and the accounts are clear. In addition, funds have gradually arrived in the accounts of many provinces."