Chapter 634 - 296: Rebuilding Pennsylvania

A massive steel and glass structure now shot up from the ground, standing tall beside the newly completed first phase of the Inland Port Terminal.

This was the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Industrial Revival Alliance.

It was more modern and more ambitious than the old State Capitol Building in Harrisburg.

Its huge floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the busy barges on the river, and a helicopter sat on the rooftop helipad, ready to depart at a moment’s notice.

This was Pittsburgh’s new landmark, and the fist the city used to flex its muscles to the outside world.

Tonight, a convoy of black SUVs was driving through the gates, following a freshly paved asphalt road.

The motorcade was shockingly long, stretching from the main gate all the way back to the expressway ramp several hundred meters away.

The car doors opened one after another.

Out stepped a group of middle-aged men of varying builds, all dressed in dark suits.

They were mayors.

More than twenty mayors from Erie, Scranton, Alondon, Bethlehem... from all across Western and Central Pennsylvania—the so-called Appalachian Corridor of the Rust Belt.

A year ago, these men probably couldn’t even name all of each other.

They had each guarded their own little fiefdoms, fighting tooth and nail for the State Government’s pitifully small grants.

In the eyes of the Harrisburg bureaucrats, they were nothing more than a bunch of beggars with their hands out.

But now, they walked into this building with their heads held high.

They were members of the Industrial Revival Alliance.

Inside the conference hall, holographic technology projected the entire logistics network of Western Pennsylvania into the air.

Green lines of light represented active freight routes, while yellow dots represented transaction nodes being settled through the Alliance’s credit note system.

It was a living economic map.

Joe Byers, the Mayor of Scranton, was holding a glass of champagne and talking enthusiastically with Foster, the Mayor of Johnston.

"Joe, what was your city’s credit note settlement total last month?" Foster asked.

"Thirty million." Byers held up three fingers, the wrinkles on his face filled with glee. "It’s all thanks to the steel orders from Pittsburgh. I reopened those cement plants that were about to go under. The workers are now using credit notes to trade for living supplies, and it’s smoother than using US Dollars."

"I’m in a similar boat," Foster said with a sigh. "In the past, if we wanted to repair a road, we had to go to Harrisburg and beg and plead, then wait for those old suits to approve the budget. We’d be waiting for half a year."

"Now? We just post a job in the Alliance system, and the construction crew from Erie shows up with their excavators the next day. The efficiency... incredible."

They exchanged a look, one that held a sense of belonging, of having finally found their people, along with the security that came from having powerful backing.

Here, as long as they followed that young man, there were profits to be made.

This shift in mentality was quite subtle.

Legally, Harrisburg was still the capital of Pennsylvania.

But in the hearts of these mayors, who held real power at the grassroots level, the true political center had already shifted south.

Here, in Pittsburgh, was the de facto state capital.

"The Mayor has arrived."

A security guard by the door announced in a low voice.

The once-noisy conference hall fell silent in an instant.

The main doors slid open.

Leo Wallace walked in.

He was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He held a folder in his hand and walked with a quick pace, carrying with him the scent of dust from a construction site.

Ethan Hawke and Sarah Jenkins followed close behind him like two bodyguards.

The moment they saw Leo, the twenty-odd mayors in attendance instinctively straightened their backs.

Leo’s official rank was the same as theirs: Mayor.

But in that moment, his presence completely dominated the room.

Leo walked straight to the head of the long table and tossed the folder onto it.

SMACK.

The sound was crisp.

"Gentlemen, good evening."

Leo’s gaze was like a torch, sweeping over every person present.

"Let’s skip the pleasantries. I know you’re all busy, and so am I. Let’s get straight to the point."

Leo gestured to Ethan, who was standing beside him.

Ethan tapped a key on the keyboard.

On the massive screen in the center of the hall, the logistics map vanished.

In its place, a huge golden number appeared.

$10,000,000,000

Ten billion US Dollars.

The string of zeros flickered on the screen, reflecting in the pupils of every mayor and casting their faces in a golden glow.

A collective gasp echoed through the conference hall.

"What is this?" stuttered Mayor Byers of Scranton.

"This is our future."

Leo’s voice was calm, yet it carried a fervor that could set the very air on fire.

"Gentlemen, everything we’ve done so far—the credit note swaps, the resource allocation, the mutual aid on projects—that was all just tinkering around the edges. It was about survival."

"Now, we have survived."

"And since we’ve survived, we should start thinking about how to live better. How to live in a way that makes others afraid."

Leo pointed at the number.

"I’ve prepared a draft of a bill."

"Its full title is the ’Pennsylvania Comprehensive Infrastructure and Industrial Modernization Act’."

"Total funding: ten billion US Dollars."

"This will be the largest infrastructure investment plan in Pennsylvania’s history. We’re going to renovate all the interstate highways, upgrade all the railway hubs, and even build a new industrial data center deep in the Allegheny Mountains."

Leo looked at the stunned mayors.

"We are going to pour this money into the cities of everyone sitting here."

"We are going to rebuild Pennsylvania."

"And we are going to make the State Assembly pass it."

After a moment of dead silence, the conference hall erupted.

Ron Smith, the Mayor of Erie City, could no longer hold his coffee cup. It slipped from his hand and clattered onto the table.

"Leo, have you lost your mind?"

Ron stood up, his voice sharp with shock.

"Ten billion? Do you have any idea what the state’s budget deficit is right now? Those people in Harrisburg will argue for three months over a two-hundred-million-dollar education budget!"

"Besides, your drug price bill is still stuck in the Senate! The Republicans are watching you, just waiting for an excuse to tear you to pieces."

"And at a critical time like this, you’re proposing a bill with such an astronomical price tag?"

"This is pie in the sky!"

Ron bluntly pointed out the core of the problem.

"The state doesn’t have that kind of money! You want us to support an empty promise that can never be delivered?"

The other mayors nodded in agreement.

Although they trusted Leo, the number was too absurd. So absurd it defied common sense.

Leo looked at Ron, not a hint of offense on his face.

"Ron, you’re still thinking with Harrisburg logic."

Leo walked around the table and stood in front of Ron.

"You’re right. It is pie in the sky."

Leo admitted it freely.

"But this money isn’t coming from taxes, nor is it coming from appropriations."

"It’s coming from bonds."

"From super-bonds, backed by the next thirty years of Pennsylvania’s industrial tax revenue as collateral."

"We are going to force the State Government to issue these bonds."

Leo walked back to the head of the table, placed his hands on its surface, and leaned forward, projecting an aura of absolute dominance.

"Gentlemen, don’t you get it yet?"

"I’m not here to discuss how we can go begging in Harrisburg."

"I’m here to take you on a heist."

"As long as you do as I say—mobilize all the resources in your respective cities and put pressure on the state assemblymen in your districts."

"We can turn the flour into a pie."

"We are going to rewrite the power structure of this state."

Leo’s voice echoed through the conference hall.

"Before, capital controlled the government, and the government controlled us."

"Starting today, that order is going to change."

"Not only will the voters’ ballots be ours to command, but capital will listen to us too."

"That is the true meaning of this Alliance."

"We didn’t band together just to stay warm."

"We came together to write the rules."