America's Road to Wealth

next morning.

After sending Kayla, who was already showing some signs of pregnancy, to work at the New York headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank on Madison Avenue.

Abel did not return to Smith Tower, and the convoy headed for the southern tip of Manhattan.

As the sun rises, the bright blue sky becomes darker, and the pure white clouds are suspended in it, changing into thousands of shapes.

The Hudson River against the warm sunshine in early spring, surrounded by high-rise buildings and jungles like a bright flat mirror, outlines the clear appearance of Manhattan.

Abel looked sideways out of the car window, and could vaguely discern the shape of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in the distance at the mouth of the Hudson River.

This is New York, known as heaven, but also the New York of hell.

After the heavy traffic jam in the morning rush hour, about an hour later.

Abel's motorcade finally arrived at its destination - the southern Manhattan waterfront near Hudson Bay, the center of Manhattan, the capital world, and the only remaining super real estate project that can be redeveloped.

When Abel's motorcade arrived, he saw that the old buildings in Hudson's Bay Town Square were being demolished, and the demolition work was almost half way through.

In places where old buildings have collapsed, in addition to construction workers and demolition equipment, today there are also many journalists with bright appearances, cameras and shorthand notebooks on their bodies.

These reporters are all surrounding a white-haired, but energetic, white elite Bloomberg, doing interviews.

"...In the future, a few years at most. This place will become Manhattan and even New York, a new city landmark and commercial center! It will become a place not to lose to Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, and Chrysler Square!"

"There will be more than 20,000 people working in the office building here, and there will be a super commercial center downstairs. A pocket version of Fifth Avenue will take shape here."

"Together with the rebuilding and renovation of the subway and other civic projects, all of this will benefit at least a million New Yorkers. When Hudson Yards is completed, it will become a new icon of New York!"

Bloomberg, after serving as mayor for more than a year, his level in all aspects has obviously improved a lot.

At the end of last year, some media launched a public opinion support survey, and the support rate of the current mayor was as high as 58%.

This is a remarkable number. Generally speaking, the approval rate of Zhengke in office and in office are two different concepts.

For the regular guests who have not yet been elected, some have a high approval rate and some even exceed 70%.

However, among those who are successfully elected, the support rate rarely exceeds 50%. Because some of their actions after coming to power will definitely offend their original voters, and at the same time make more people dislike it, which is unavoidable.

So Bloomberg now has an approval rating of 58%, which can be said to have been very successful.

Even the mayor of New York City with the highest approval rate in history.

Of course his survey approval rating would be that high. Naturally, the media who made this investigation are either related to Bloomberg or Smith Media...

After the old guy was interviewed, the crowd of reporters gradually dispersed.

Abel just came out, smiled and hugged the New York manager, jokingly said:

"I feel that if you continue to do this, you will be able to participate in the White House election."

Hearing what Abel said, Bloomberg's eyes obviously flashed with surprise, even though he could hear that Abel's words were full of jokes.

But what if? Although Bloomberg himself knows it, because of his background as an oilman, this possibility is almost impossible.

Thinking of this, Bloomberg restrained his ambition a little.

He pointed to the reporters who found Abel over there and wanted to come to interview, but were rejected by the security team and pushed away.

"I saw you just now when you came here. Why don't you come up and say a few words? What you said is much more useful than mine."

Abel shook his head with a smile, "It's not necessary. I'm different from you. You need exposure, but I don't need much."

Hearing what he said, Bloomberg couldn't help complaining in his heart-you don't need exposure, and your exposure in the United States is more exaggerated than anyone else! !

But he also knew that what Abel said was true. In the United States, only celebrities and regular customers need exposure, not big capitalists.

"Probably in the middle of the year, the demolition work will be basically completed." Bloomberg pointed to the place that is still being demolished, "And then after a month or two of leveling, the new landmark of New York can be erected !"

Speaking of this, Bloomberg's tone also cheered up.

A new landmark in New York can appear in his tenure. Not to mention that he has huge interests in it, even if it is just the construction of Hudson Square, it is enough to support him to participate in the next election for mayor of New York City!

This is a great achievement.

The existence of Hudson Yards is for Bloomberg now. It can be said that he has both money and power, so now he is more concerned about him, the mayor of New York, than Abel, the chairman of the Hudson Square Group.

According to David, Bloomberg is here almost every day or two.

Sometimes as mayor, sometimes as a shareholder of the Hudson Yards Group.

The demolition work in this neighborhood can be carried out so smoothly. He and Robert Morgenthau contributed a lot.

"Yes." Looking at the Manhattan that was dismantled into flat land and ruins because of his own influence, Abel felt somewhat proud and proud.

This is Manhattan, where demolition can be played. It is possible to build landmarks here, to build wonders here.

This is not something that everyone can do, and now I have done it myself!

"How is the construction company and the construction team preparing?"

Abel was concerned with another issue.

This is a super-large construction involving tens of billions of dollars, and may even be as high as hundreds of billions of dollars.

Including the main body of the city square, as well as the underground subway, air-raid shelters and surrounding municipal parks. The cost of the building was shared between the Hudson Yards Group and the New York City Government.

In terms of municipal engineering, of course, the New York authorities took the lead. The construction of commercial real estate and office buildings is naturally in the charge of the Hudson Yards Group.

It's about four or six.

Originally, according to Abel's plan, it would be best if it could be built and sold in 2006.

Because it happened to be the peak period of the real estate boom in the United States at that time, and the houses could be sold at the most expensive.

Afterwards, when the real estate boom shattered, Manhattan houses, although resilient, would also be affected.

That's when Abel can sell, accept some unlucky guys who bought a house and sold it. Win-win, he wins twice.

But the problem now is that there are indications that the subprime mortgage crisis may be ahead of schedule. Naturally, the real estate crisis that caused the subprime mortgage crisis may also be brought forward.

Time can not wait until 2006.

So Abel is in a hurry now and wants to get this project ahead of schedule.

Or... sell it in advance.

The former is actually somewhat unrealistic. It is almost impossible to complete such a large-scale regional transformation within three years.

It's the same even if Huaxia is asked to come, because the safety of the building and the impact on the surrounding area must be considered during construction.

You know, this is Manhattan, and the traffic jam is terrible. Even if the materials can come from the sea, the sea traffic in Manhattan is still very congested.

The construction period may be as long as five or six years, and it will probably take 2008 and 2009 to complete the project even if Abel is behind the push.

Abel's current thinking has become that he is trying to sell part of the "off-plan house" while building.

Only in this way can we earn a wave of dividends from the real estate crisis and the subprime mortgage crisis.

"The basic contact is completed. According to the plan, there will be a week-long public bidding on the 15th of this month."

Abel, the chairman of the project, has many things that Bloomberg has not yet understood clearly.

The mayor of New York City continued: "At that time, there will be a total of 138 bids, which will be bid by construction companies from various countries and regions around the world."

These are all things that have been announced to the public, and the promotion of various aspects has already started as early as last year.

The world's largest real estate project, the new landmark of Manhattan, the new American Empire Center, the world's tallest building and other gimmicks have already been played out.

The global bidding is also a gimmick, because it is obvious that most of the construction work will still be handed over to the Americans.

Even if Americans are slower and more expensive.

This kind of decay is inevitable when the empire develops to a certain extent.

However, under Abel's insistence, about 20% of the construction volume will be handed over to foreign companies.

This part of the project progress will be the hardest and most troublesome batch. The reason why Abel did this was because of the consent of other people.

It is because the 20% of the engineering quantity can save at least 5% of the construction cost for the entire project.

Don't underestimate the 5% construction cost. If you look at hundreds of billions of dollars, 5% is more than 5 billion dollars.

Can save more than 5 billion US dollars, no one will say no. That's why his proposal was passed.

And so, Abe and Bloomberg stayed in Hudson Yards until noon.

Bloomberg went back to his town hall, and the guy has now stepped down as chairman of Bloomberg and spent most of his time as mayor.

However, there is no need to worry about the change of ownership of Bloomberg Society. Bloomberg has always held absolute control over Bloomberg, and it does not matter if he is not the chairman.

Abel returned to Smith Tower to continue his work.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, overlooking the busy traffic in Lower Manhattan for a while, there was a knock on the door behind him.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open, and Lydia, who was wearing a white lotus leaf shirt and a knee-high lace tun skirt, walked in with a charming smile on her face.

"Boss, Mr. Plepler is here, he is outside now."

Looking at the somewhat dull Miss Hester, Abel felt a little amused.

Yes, Richard Plepler was indeed called by Abe after the Secretariat notified him.

But Plepler is here, wouldn't it be enough to make a phone call outside? Is it necessary to go inside and tell yourself?

Abel knew that this was Amanda's little cousin, and she deliberately dangled in front of him!

The two cousins ​​are competing fiercely now, and they both want to show their faces in front of him more.

For this kind of thing, of course Abel... raised his hands and feet and agreed!

They are motivated only when there is competition. Wasn't he Abel Smith who benefited in the end?

So as long as they don't make trouble, he very much welcomes them to engage in this kind of small competition!

Thinking this way in his heart, he said with a smile on the surface: "Then invite Mr. Plepler to come in."

"Okay." Lydia replied with a smile, and then stepped on high heels like a stage show, turned and left, making it clear that she was showing someone.

Seeing Lydia's charming figure outlined, Abel couldn't help but smile.

This chick is much smarter than her cousin. Knowing that I actually prefer this kind of intellectual and capable dress.

"Good afternoon, boss."

"Good afternoon, sit down, tell Miss Hurst what you want to drink, please wait a moment, I'll read the last point."

Seeing Plepler walking in, Abel smiled and pointed to the seat opposite him and said.

"Thank you, boss, you are busy first."

Plepler said with a smile, then sat across from Abel, and whispered respectfully about coffee with Amanda who came in behind.

Although in the past, Amanda used to be Plepler's subordinate, she worked in the TV content department.

But Plepler is very clear that these women around the boss cannot be offended.

Companion to a king is like companion to a tiger, smart people know the power of the wind beside your pillow.

After thanking Lydia who brought in the coffee, Plepler waited quietly.

Brush——

After signing a few documents with the pen in Abel's hand, he closed the folder in his hand, looked up at Plepler and smiled, "Dear Richard, do you know why I asked you to come up?" ?"

Plepler, who was originally in a calm mood, the general manager of the AMC TV station group, his heart beat faster after hearing what Abel said.

Of course he does.

"I, I'm not very clear. Is there something wrong with my work? Boss, if that's the case, please point it out, and I'll fix it right away!" Pleppler reacted quickly and blurted out softly.

Abel shook his head slightly with a smile, and nodded Plepler with his fingers.

None of the senior managers under him, whether it is Smith Financial or Smith Media, is stupid.

One and two are both smart people, and of course Abel knew that Plepler could never be unaware of why he called him over.

But superficial work still needs to be done. Abel smiled and continued: "No, your job is very good. AMC can have the current results, it can be said that you have contributed a lot."

Having said that, Abel took a look at the information sheet on the table, and continued with satisfaction:

"In 2002, the TV ratings in the United States ranked fourth. As a newly established TV network group, I am already very satisfied with this result."

"It's all me, no, exactly what we're supposed to do."

Facing the boss's compliment, Plepler seemed to take no credit for it, and replied modestly: "Boss, you have given us the best salary and the best benefits in the United States. You also have strong support from all sides. If so My son, if we fail, then we are all useless. If I say that we can have the current grades, the most important reason is because our boss is named Abel Smith!"

"Haha... well Richard you always make me happy."

Facing the flattery of his subordinates, Abel readily accepted.

"But these are all in the past, let's talk about the future. I think...Richard, you are smart, you should know why I asked you to come up."

Abel restrained his smile and looked at Plepler calmly, putting great pressure on the other party.

Plepler took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't just say nice things anymore.

"Is...is it because of Michael's matter?" Plepler said carefully and softly.

Seeing Abel nodding, Plepler added in a low voice: "Poor Michael, I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen to him. Really, hey..."

Abel shook his head amusedly, "It's not about Ovitz. The unlucky Ovitz got cancer, which is his misfortune. But I asked you to come here today, and what I want to talk about is about you and another Michael. I I think you know it, Richard. Michael, Michael Levine is a few months away from stepping down as CEO. Ovitz was supposed to be in charge, but now Ovitz has cancer and his His physical condition no longer supports him to take up this job. Therefore, there is a high probability that you will be the next rotating CEO."

"Have you anything to say? My dear Richard."

In fact, Plepler knew all these things, and he was just pretending to be humble and confused.

But now, Plepler knew it was time to speak up.

Don't pretend to be modest until the end, pretending to be a big shit, when the rotating CEO falls on someone else's head, it will be really wronged.

"BOSS. I believe that I am fully capable, both physically and mentally, of being able to take on the job of being the CEO of Smith Media!"

The legendary TV director in the parallel time and space stood up and said decisively.

Seeing him like this, Abel smiled and chatted on this topic for a while.

It was mainly about the future development of Smith Media, and they had some exchanges and discussions until Lydia knocked on the door and walked in.

"Boss, Mr. Morgenthau is here."

"Well, let him come in." Abel nodded, then stood up and shook hands with Plepler and said, "That's it, go back and continue to develop according to the established plan. I will talk to Michael, and then let you Gradually familiar with the work of the group. I hope you will not disappoint me, dear Richard."

"I understand, boss, I know what to do. I will never let you down." Plepler heard the words of the big boss, and the doubt in his heart dissipated.

He tried his best to suppress his excitement, lest his voice tremble and express his opinion to Abel again.

No sooner had Plepler left the office than Robert Morgenthau walked in.

After the old man came in, he sat down on the seat unceremoniously, and said to Abel:

"Maybe you're wondering how I came to see you during work hours. Maybe you're going to be surprised next time. But I want to tell you, dear Abe. I'm going to let Paige take over from me."