Chapter 515 Money and Power
"No need to see me off, gentlemen." Sir Humphrey, the Cabinet Secretary, slowly got out of the luxurious Rolls-Royce car.
He responded to a white-haired old man in the car with a standard professional smile.
The service staff who had been waiting nearby closed the car door professionally and considerately, and the car quickly started the engine and drove away.
The top leader of Britain's civil service was left alone on the streets of the City of London.
Sir Humphrey is a standard elite politician with a standard elite appearance, and his hair looks a little thin for reasons well known in the UK.
His big nose makes him look a little funny, but the smile he always wears on his face makes him look somewhat amiable to ordinary people.
But to the civil servants working at 10 Downing Street, this smile seemed a little sinister and despicable.
He looked up and around, pursing his lips gently as if he was recalling something. It could be the luxurious lunch at noon, or it could be just a sigh of emotion.
From the hustle and bustle of the City of London to the political center of 10 Downing Street, this journey seems to travel through two completely different worlds.
As soon as you step into the financial city, what catches your eye are the towering skyscrapers with their glass curtain walls sparkling brightly in the sun.
On the busy streets, people in suits and ties are walking hurriedly, their eyes revealing shrewdness and decisiveness.
This is a world-renowned international financial center, where every transaction and every decision may affect the direction of the world economy.
Signs of financial institutions line the streets, and electronic display screens of stock quotes constantly flash numbers, showing the flow and growth of wealth.
Here, time is money, efficiency is life, and everyone is working hard for their own dreams and interests.
However, as you gradually move away from the hustle and bustle of the City and walk towards 10 Downing Street, the atmosphere begins to change subtly.
The buildings on both sides of the street are no longer modern high-rise buildings, but have more historical traces and a solemn atmosphere.
The number of pedestrians around gradually decreased, and occasionally one could see some policemen patrolling, their expressions serious and focused.
As we got closer, the iconic black door of 10 Downing Street appeared before our eyes.
Different from the bustling financial city, a solemn political atmosphere permeates here.
On both sides of the gate stood alert guards, motionless, as if guarding an important secret of the country.
Looking inside from the gate, one can only vaguely see the courtyard shaded by green trees and the quaint exterior of the building.
This is no longer an arena for money, but a center of power, where every decision can determine the fate of the country.
The feeling of being in power became so real and strong at this moment.
Sir Humphrey, having walked this path countless times, knows this feeling particularly well.
As the top leader of the entire British civil service system, he is always surrounded by wealthy people from the City of London.
These wealthy people who call the shots in the City of London, after entering the Whitehall of 10 Downing Street, all become like a group of rats in a cage.
There was an air of uneasiness all over his body, and he was the British Blue cat outside the cage, able to end their lives at any time.
Whether it is to cover up the scandal of its own bad debts, or after the new government comes to power, it hopes to ensure that the government's financial regulatory policies will not be shaken.
But sometimes it may just be for the sake of one's own children to be able to enter Eton College or certain colleges of Oxford University without taking exams.
There are also some people who build their own mansions on the edge of some nature reserves.
There were countless requests of all kinds, countless banquets in high-end hotels, and he could hardly remember how many times he had made promises to patients recently.
However, compared to those insignificant promises, what he has been busy with in recent weeks may be more in line with ordinary people's imagination of a person like him.
He attended various secret cocktail parties every day, and during the banquets, he sold out the interests of the British Empire to those shameless businessmen.
I have been busy recently with Mr. Hohenzollern's crazy and tempting factory construction plan.
It has been rumored in the City of London that the government has decided to build a new wafer factory in an old industrial area in Wales.
For this purpose, the Government Office's Spokesperson's Office actually issued an announcement without using any specific words.
The result was that because of this short announcement, the land prices in that area and the land prices where several bankrupt steel companies were located increased.
In just one week, it skyrocketed nearly 30 times, triggering a financial carnival of some size.
Property prices across the UK have seen a general rise, but unfortunately after the carnival, all that is left is a mess.
The government never intended to build this important political achievement project in such a remote area, not to mention that such areas simply do not have sufficient infrastructure.
To support the construction of such high-tech industrial factories is nothing more than a naive idea of the Prime Minister to attract votes from marginal constituencies.
The deliberate disclosure of information to the entire press should, in theory, be subject to an independent investigation into this act of leaking government secrets.
However, in order to maintain the unity of the entire civil service system, this independent investigation still did not produce any results.
After all, we can't check everything. If we really find out something, it would be very embarrassing.
However, this leak brought them an unexpected benefit. Many wealthy people in the City of London were afraid of this important investment.
The investments were really made in such remote areas that they could not get a piece of the pie, so they contacted him in a hurry.
In the hope that he could change the cabinet's mind, he offered many excellent conditions and some benefits that were of no importance to him personally.
Faced with these generous conditions, Sir Humphrey's answer was still so ordinary.
"I am just a humble civil servant. How can I possibly have the power to change the minds of ministers appointed by the Queen?"
With such words, he achieved this in about three days.
And at the banquet at noon today, I kindly and humbly showed those people the small efforts I had made.
As long as it is approved by today's formal cabinet meeting, those promises made at the drinking party and those humble benefits will become a reality.
Thinking of this, Sir Humphrey couldn't help but feel a little excited, and the smile on the corners of his mouth was difficult to suppress.
Until the guard's voice came from beside him.
"Sir, Mr. Bernard has just informed us that the Prime Minister has entered the conference room,"
