A task force sent by the U.S. federal government arrived in Houston as early as yesterday afternoon.
This group of young people, the oldest of whom was only in their early thirties, had already learned before departure that Tom's Smith Company was a "dictatorship" giant company with one person making decisions.
Most of his direct descendants are a bunch of brainless veterans from northern Germany, and Tom's existing direct family members are all women.
After everyone came to Houston yesterday, they summoned some of the secret lines that had been deployed by the major families in advance. Thousands of former mafia desperadoes gathered in Houston.
Tom was not in Houston at this time, but in Austin, the capital of Texas, dealing with the details of the revised tobacco plan that Tom had previously proposed. These were issues that Tom could only handle with his presence.
Several people in the task force keenly sensed that this was a golden opportunity to completely eliminate the threat of the Smith Factory area to the Yankee area.
"Adams, do you really want to do this? Isn't this too much?"
"Why can't we do this?"
"I also support Adams' plan. Just kill him. He's just a dirt-legged Dixie guy."
"But what's the explanation from Washington?"
"When we come out, we have the trust of our family. We can't live under the protection of our seniors all our lives, right?"
At the suggestion of a young man named Adams, everyone began to have a heated discussion about the assassination plan.
The surname Adams is one of the most noble surnames in the United States. It is the surname of Samuel Adams, the founding father of the United States.
"The most important thing is that as long as Tom Smith, the brains of Smith Company, dies, this dense industrial area with millions of employees can be quickly dismembered and acquired by our big families."
"After all, not everyone under Tom Smith likes his almost emperor-like autocratic management."
"I have also contacted many factory managers, and they all support turning Smith Company into a joint stock company."
"After all, this is his territory. Is this safe?"
"His territory? If you knew how many people opposed his dictatorship, you would know whether this is the territory of American democracy or the territory of his dictatorship."
"Such a large company controls the government and most of the land in Texas. It's not an exaggeration to say it's a small country."
"How can there be officials who support dictatorship in a country with a population of several million and more than 300,000 square miles? Who doesn't want to eat more?"
Everyone was gradually convinced, and they all recognized in their hearts that such a huge company was no different from a country.
It is absolutely impossible for the middle management of any country to like a one-man dictatorship system.
Because this system greatly limits the autonomy and administrative efficiency of the middle level.
It is just an excuse for dictatorship to limit the efficiency of middle-level administration. The essence is to use this "autonomy" to obtain benefits.
When people go to high places, water flows to low places. The greed of middle-level managers is often the root cause of the collapse of powerful empires.
"In this way, one-third of the secret agents will be dispatched to assassinate Tom. Half of the remaining people will go to convince the managers of Smith Factory Divisions across Texas, and the other half will continue to hide in the shadows, ready to face emergencies at any time.
It's good to have manpower to adapt to the situation."
"There are thousands of assassination troops. Unless Tom is an angel with wings, I don't believe Tom can survive."
After arranging tasks for secret agents across Texas, the task force immediately went to the Smith Farm and asked to see Tom Smith.
The task force from Washington, representing the federal government, and the women who stayed behind at Smith's farm had no power and ability to deal with it. They immediately sent a telegram to page Tom to return to Houston.
The timeline also picks up again when Tom walked out of the governor's office.
Tom walked out of the state government building and got into a dark carriage without decoration.
There were no exaggerated decorations inside the carriage, just like its appearance. There were only two rows of hard seats facing each other, like the old green leather trains in later generations, and a small table nailed in the center of the carriage.
"John, how many are there?"
"It is conservatively estimated that there are thousands of ambush troops. From forest trails to highways to train tracks, there are more than a dozen entrances and exits in Houston. Each one has an ambush of hundreds of people."
"How come there are so many young men mixed in?"
"It's not that we are recruiting too many workers. A year ago, Texas had a population of less than 200,000. Now, even the most conservative estimate of Texas has a population of more than 5 million.
Got it!"
John, who is often by Tom's side, also understands what Tom means by two-five-boy, a traitor boy.
"Too big a step?"
"What do you think? In the past few months, a steady stream of people have come from Ireland, Tsarist Russia, Ottoman Turkey, Yankees, Ku Klux Klan riot areas and other places. They are a mixed bag. How can they all be refugees and slaves?
?”
"You are right, but I still feel that there are too few people. If I were not afraid of traveling through time again, I would have planned to go to Lafayette and buy tens of millions of dollars."
"Who is Lafayette?"
"He is a character who can only be understood but cannot be expressed in words. Don't talk about it anymore, I don't want to travel through time again."
Tom showed an embarrassed expression, indicating that Lafayette, a restricted person, was not in a position to elaborate, and John did not dwell on this.
"Leaving aside the issue of low-level employees easily getting mixed up with young people, there are also many factory area managers who are dissatisfied with our company's direct management."
"I have received a lot of information about corruption among factory managers. I have dealt with some that were too egregious, but I have not completely dealt with some that were not so egregious."
"These people may rebel at any time and become supporters of gay Yang."
"What should I do with them? Do you want me to deal with these Yang guys and 25-year-olds directly?"
John made a gesture that only the direct members of the Smith family could understand. The meaning of the gesture was to let these Yang guys and the 25 boys go to the North Atlantic to swim with rocks and sharks together.
"Let's slow down the issue of gay Yang for a moment. Now I am more concerned about the corruption issue? How serious is it?"
"It has become so serious that out of ten managers, nine and a half are corrupt. There are only serious corruption and general corruption. There is no one who is not corrupt. The most important thing is that except for the top managers of each Smith factory division, the middle and low-level managers
All of them are new people recruited after the expansion.”
"this……"
Tom felt that things were beginning to develop in an uncontrollable direction. A large influx of people forced Tom to recruit middle and lower-level managers who were not directly related to him.
The top managers are all direct descendants. Of course, Tom can condone the corruption of these people. After all, this is a critical period for development. Appropriate indulgence of the power of direct descendants can exchange for greater trust.
But these non-direct managers have become a terrifying time bomb. Tom leaned on the back of the sofa, thinking about how to deal with these young people and potential young people.
As for the Yang problem, the collapse of an empire always originates from within, and external forces cannot break through the walls of the empire.
"John, how many German veterans do we have under our command now? I mean they can take care of their families."
