Chapter 102: The Black Pyramid
Bruce never dreamed that after returning to Schiller and giving him a positive answer, he would hear such a stunning plan from him.
The professor, who claimed to be an ordinary person and a good man, told him in person: "It's not Gotham that's wrong, it's the world."
And for this, Schiller presented a plan, a plan that made Bruce somewhat hesitant, even though the professor said it was just a flash of inspiration one morning.
In this plan, Gotham is described by Schiller as a "perfect" city that occupies the time, place, and people, but this "perfect" is for the black industry.
The first step of this plan is to connect the three major ports on the East Coast of the United States, namely Gotham Port, Chicago Port, and Miami Port. Coincidentally, the specialties of these three cities are all gangs.
Gang meets gang, and they burst into tears. And what's more coincidental is that Gotham has a unique advantage in this regard, where the gangs of Chicago and Miami cannot match the gangs of Gotham.
By linking these three cities together, with Gotham as the leader, it almost controls more than half of the port trade on the East Coast of the United States.
No single independent port city can digest the entire black industry of the United States, but if the three port cities are combined, it is definitely not as simple as 1+1+1=3.
The black industry chain that cannot be completed by an independent port city will be perfected by downstream cities, and the three ports will respond to each other. With the same order structure as the twelve gangs in Gotham, they will be subdivided layer by layer, which can bear more than 70% of the black industry chain in the United States.
Most cities on the West Coast of the United States are still orderly cities, such as Coastal City where Green Lantern Hal is located, and Los Angeles and Seattle, which, although have a high overall crime rate, are actually stronger than the East Coast.
Looking at these cities on the East Coast, Gotham goes without saying, it is the largest center of crime in the universe, and Miami's specialty is tornadoes and gangs, while Chicago is known as a paradise of crime and its typewriters are famous throughout the United States.
The average crime index in the United States is 30-40, but the crime index of these three cities, Gotham, Chicago, and Miami, combined, may exceed 300, which is a strong alliance.
What Schiller did not mention in the plan he showed Bruce was that as a time traveler, he knew that in about seven months, in October 1987, a Black Monday would come, and the country would experience a severe stock market crash, with stocks hitting the limit and companies going bankrupt. A large number of unemployed people took to the streets and the crime rate almost doubled.
Gangs received countless fresh blood supplies, and many unemployed financial personnel began to join them. Many unsuccessful street gangsters began to transform into professionals, and a new batch of professional talents in large gangs moved towards company and shareholding systems.
Subsequently, the end of the Cold War arrived, and a large number of arms were withdrawn. The adverse effects of excessive investment during the competition period began to gradually emerge, and many personnel were laid off. Most of these people had undergone professional military training but lacked skills to make a living. After the gang armed their brains, they could further improve their physical strength.
Then, the large amount of hot money fleeing caused the 1994 Mexican economic crisis. Yes, Mexico's specialty is also...
It can be foreseen that if this plan is followed, the next few years will be the most prosperous years for Gotham.
Of course, Bruce doesn't have foresight, he only knows that one of the two people who came up with this plan with him is not normal.
When you want to bring a new order to a City of crime,
What would you do?
Most people may think about how to suppress gangs, or use absolute violence to eradicate the root cause of crime from the roots.
But it will never be "since I can't do it, let's rot together."
But if this plan really succeeds, Bruce's genius brain calculates very clearly that once the Gotham gang mode is applied to the entire East Coast, Gotham will become the top of this black pyramid, just like the position of the Falcone family in Gotham now.
Becoming the top of the pyramid in the largest crime industry chain in the United States means that Gotham is likely to become the most developed city in the country. Everyone in this city will become the head of the phoenix passively, even if they are the last feather of the head of the phoenix, they will be more brilliant than other feathers.
Of course, Gotham will not change its nature as the City of Crime because of this. After all, the top of the black pyramid is also black.
But what makes Gotham different from other cities is that whether it is the head of the phoenix or the tail of the chicken, it has already been rotten to the core. Gotham has no lower limit to break through, so since everything is rotten, why not be a little more prosperous and thriving?
Bruce had many opinions on this plan, but he kept them to himself because he had already given Schiller a positive answer. He thought it was just one of the countless questions Schiller had asked him before, and he just needed to think about it for a while and give him an answer. He didn't expect Schiller to come up with a careful, absurd, and possibly very effective plan so quickly.
Roy impressed Schiller because in the time it took to smoke a cigarette, he fully understood Schiller's intentions to unite the Gotham and Chicago gangs and develop together. He also strongly agreed with this idea.
Roy was also a ruthless person. During the rampant era of the Chicago housing gang, he held onto the traditional gang's territory with the inheritance left by the Mafia.
Although the Chicago gang was not as terrifying as Gotham, it was actually more complicated because it involved the dispute between traditional gangs and modern gangs, as well as the fight between different skin colors. The one who can survive in this complex situation is certainly not a fool.
As the head of the Chicago gang, he certainly did not dare to try to connect with the Gotham gang. That would be no different from inviting a wolf into his home. But if he could join the Gotham gang and then connect with the Chicago gang, he would become the wolf that entered the house.
Moreover, he was justified. The Falcone family was also a branch of the Mafia, and the old The Godfather Falcone was the most authentic Roman, with Italian blood flowing in his body.
What is the meaning of the Mafia being legitimate in Gotham? This is called returning to the roots.
Because Roy knew gangs well, he knew that this plan had a great chance of success.
In this era, the idea of uniting to make the cake bigger was relatively rare. Everyone was a lone ranger, but as long as the smart people among them could see the huge benefits of doing so, they would naturally unite.
So Roy became a spiritual Gothamite without any burden and went straight to the broken place of Chicago.
An outsider from Chicago who pointed fingers and drew on Gotham gang affairs would certainly be rejected by the gangs, but if this person was The Godfather Falcone's disciple, it would be different.
Some people speculate that perhaps The Godfather felt that his own son Evans was unable to take on the great responsibility, so Roy came to Gotham. Although Roy is indeed a little older than Evans, he is still very young and is a good candidate for succession.
The first step of this plan had a significant effect. The largest gang in Gotham and the second largest gang in Chicago joined forces, and the effect was remarkable.
They subdivided the source of goods at the pier, and according to the different types of smuggled goods and the distance of logistics transportation, they redistributed the location of the goods ships that landed. All the Piers under Gotham's control and the Gospel Gangsters united with Chicago's controlled Piers, quickly sorting out their respective chaotic smuggling routes.
Of course, they also did not forget to attract external investment. Smuggling is basically something that all parties have some experience in. At this time, they only need to pay a small price, and they can enjoy the right to park and transport at the two important piers in the two cities with preferential policies. They can even open a new logistics channel between them to speed up the circulation of smuggled goods along the entire East Coast.
This move was very effective, and Falcone's continuously rising economic reports were the strongest evidence.
Originally, the old The Godfather was in his old age, and his greatest wish was to smoothly hand over the Falcone family, so that his life's work would not be wasted.
But now, Schiller suddenly brought out a large cake and claimed that it was just an appetizer. Falcone's long-declining appetite suddenly revived. He had been invincible in Gotham for too long, but the Godfather's appetite was never small. When he saw Schiller's somewhat crazy plan, Falcone suddenly felt that he could rule Gotham for another 40 years.
Falcone thought that if the black pyramid depicted in this plan could really be realized, no, as long as half of it was realized, perhaps the entire world's black industry would undergo a major reshuffle.
The cigar in the hands of the Godfather, who had been dominating for many years, went out, but what was rekindled was the huge ambition he had when he first set foot on this land.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the mansion, he heard the bells of Gotham Cathedral ringing again, just like decades ago when he stepped on the waves on the coastline and rose to the surface in the tide of crime in this city.
In countless dreams of seeing the truth, Falcone remembered that in every Gotham rain, those dark clouds that blocked most of the raindrops were the first half of the Godfather's life.
He thought, dark clouds are also clouds, just like the black pyramid is also a pyramid.
He hoped that he could live to see the day when a pyramid would rise from this land that he deeply hated and deeply loved, facing the bone-corroding rain.
In the office, Schiller stood in front of the window, listening to the dull bells echoing over the city, drifting farther and farther through the layers of clouds.
Now, these gradually thinning clouds are about to dissipate, and Gotham will face all this malice.
He thought that here, the only thing that could deal with evil was evil, and the only thing that could resist darkness was even deeper darkness.