The Mafia Empire
Chapter 24: Chapter 24 Looking For A Good Location For The Factory

In Julian's dreams, he had once witnessed an astonishing contractual maneuver that still left him impressed to this day. That guy had managed to swindle over a hundred million and then disappeared. Regardless of whether the person was good or bad, or whether what he did was right or wrong, his method and strategic thinking were nothing short of brilliant. And his boldness!

With not a penny to his name, relying only on his words and his plan, he was able to deceive people out of hundreds of millions. A true talent!

Julian only borrowed a small part of this grand scheme—the part about "turning nothing into something." He had no intention of becoming a fraudster or fleeing the country, so he didn't plan to follow through with the entire operation.

After acquiring 1,700 dollars and a brand new letter of intent, Julian quickly approached four more liquor suppliers the next morning. This meeting was far more credible than the last one, after all, the agreement was genuine. The document clearly stated that the moonshine brand had appointed an agent in Ternell City, with Richard's signature and address.

It would only take asking a few people to confirm that the letter of intent was legitimate, and no one would dare forge something like this.

Two of the suppliers were unwilling to take on such a large risk and withdrew voluntarily. That left two foreign suppliers who, like Richard, were ready to gamble. From them, Julian obtained new letters of intent and two more advance deposits, bringing his total to 5,000 dollars.

What could 5,000 dollars do?

While Julian was thinking about his next steps, Graf, sitting nearby, was pondering the same question. Five thousand dollars could buy a dozen storefronts, allowing someone to live a life of ease and leisure. It could buy a large house, an upscale car, and still leave some money for a small business.

With any of these choices, having 5,000 dollars meant that one wouldn't have to worry about a bad ending to their life.

That was five thousand dollars!

But soon, Graf became nervous. What Julian was attempting this time was too big, so big that Graf's heart kept racing. This was a deal for 150,000 bottles of liquor! That came to nearly 100,000 dollars! Yet Julian only had 5,000 dollars. What now?

Should they run? Where could they run to?

Graf glanced anxiously at Julian, thinking that such complex matters were better left for a smart person to figure out.

From Julian's perspective, Graf's concerns were nothing more than groundless fear. Yes, Julian needed to buy 150,000 bottles of liquor within a year, which would indeed require about 90,000 dollars. But the liquor wouldn't be delivered to him all at once, and his payment wouldn't be a lump sum either.

To put it simply, as a major client, Julian was fully justified in paying an initial deposit for 10% of the price for the first 10,000 bottles.

Once he sold all that liquor, he would pay the full amount for the first 10,000 bottles, then repeat the process—paying another deposit and selling more liquor, settling accounts only after the sales were complete. This method minimized the pressure on his cash flow.

The combined deposits for the three suppliers, totaling 30,000 bottles, would only cost around 2,000 dollars, leaving Julian with 3,000 dollars on hand. The real challenge for him would be replaceing a place to store so much liquor and a facility capable of large scale distillation.

Using small iron pots for distillation was no longer practical. He would need to hire a blacksmith to craft a much larger distillation apparatus, which would cost at least 1,000 dollars. He also needed a secluded, hidden location that was difficult to discover, yet still reasonably convenient for transportation, where he could convert low proof liquor into high proof liquor.

Just renting a warehouse for a year would cost 300 to 500 dollars. After renovations and modifications, he would likely have little money left.

None of this was easy.

Over the next few days, Julian broke down all these tasks into independent projects and assigned them to Graf, who would work with members of the Fellowship association to carry them out. Julian himself went ahead and registered a new company.

The newly registered "Ternell Leather Goods (Bags) Company" was a fallback in case money became tight. If necessary, he could use fraudulent means to secure a loan from a bank, or even transfer assets when needed. But unless it was absolutely necessary, he had no intention of using this company.

As the young members of the Fellowship association began appearing on the streets in their new clothes and decent shoes, they attracted the curiosity of other young people. The Guartans lived hard lives, and everyone wanted new clothes and a full stomach. With this in mind, more young people joined the association after hearing about it. Mr.

Heidler's 200 dollars, which arrived almost five days early, helped alleviate Julian's dwindling funds just in time.

Coincidentally, they had also found a good location for a factory.

Ternell was a border town, with endless fields and pastures stretching out beyond the suburbs. After several locations were rejected by Julian, Graf went outside the city to search for a suitable place and, surprisingly, found one.

An old, rundown ranch.

Due to mismanagement and the government's wartime efforts to suppress skyrocketing food prices, a large number of cattle had been forcibly purchased by officials at extremely low prices. The ranch owner, having lost money, had borrowed funds to buy calves in hopes of raising them and recouping his losses. However, after two years, the situation had not improved, and debt collectors came knocking.

With no sign of the ranch owner, the creditors took the cattle as repayment, leaving the rancher completely ruined.

The creditors, who were ruthless, had threatened that if he didn't repay his debt, they would sell his female family members to brothels. Fearing for the destruction of his family, the rancher put his property up for sale.

He had no interest in maintaining the ranch. Weeds grew wildly, and the buildings were falling apart from neglect, scaring off any potential investors.