New Gods of North America

Mr. Ben Harmon is a middle-aged man who seems to have received a good education and looks good.

He is not tall but has a strong physique, with a short and thick beard, deep eye sockets and a high nose bridge. At first glance, it looks like he has black pupils and black hair, but upon closer inspection, he can see that they are actually just a slightly darker brown.

After seemingly having heard the butler's initial report and Wayne's self-introduction in person,

It seems that Mr. Ben Harmon is quite satisfied with Wayne's detective agency, and is even interested in chatting about family matters:

"Mr. Wayne came to Georgeburg because he was going to study at the 'College'? That's really excellent.

"'College' is the pride of us Southerners. Which southern state did Mr. Wayne come from?"

Wayne scratched his hair and said, "I came from Kansas City."

At this time, the "South" in America usually refers to several southern slave states dominated by the descendants of the traditional Windsor upper class, while the "North" refers to the northern free states where the old world poor people such as the Puritans were in the majority.

This is not only a geographical division, but also a conceptual distinction.

For example, Missouri, which is geographically located in the north, is also considered a "Southern state" in people's minds.

Kansas is not very "Southern" in either of these respects.

But it’s not very “northern” either.

"Kansas, it is said that a proposal to officially establish a state has been sent to Congress this year. According to convention, it should be officially established next year."

Mr. Ben Harmon was very talkative. "I guess it must be difficult to live in a place where you have to mix with northerners? Do you feel more at home when you return to our southern state?"

Hmm...

According to the current definition of the American Federation, the descendants of April Grass should be considered as pure "Northerners"...

But according to Lina,

Compared to calling someone "Yankee", the term "Northerner" is relatively friendly and polite.

Wayne hesitated for a moment, then chose to tell the truth:

"Mr. Ben Harmon, strictly speaking, I am actually a 'Northerner'..."

"ah?!"

Mr. Ben Harmon was obviously a little surprised. "You were born in the North, but you can study in the 'college' that we southerners are proud of. Mr. Wayne, you seem to be better than I thought."

hiss……

Okay, you are the employer, as long as your logic can close itself... I have no objection.

Wayne decided to steer the subject away, lest any more "clash of ideas" should arise:

"I heard from your butler that you seem to have security concerns, so you made the commission. Can I know the details of the commission?"

"Oh, of course."

Ben Harmon sorted out his thoughts a little, “I was a lawyer by training, and now I’m mainly in the tobacco business. I also provide some economic advice to some bigwigs, so I often need to travel between Richmond and Georgeburg.

"The butler may have told you that I have two key things on hand recently. One is that I am competing with other tobacco companies to win a special supply share in a certain market in the Old Continent. The other is that I am assisting the governor and his party in drafting a bill to reduce tariffs.

“I don’t know what caused the trouble, but I recently found that my safe seemed to have been pried open by someone.

"And I'm allergic to peanuts. The servants in my house all know this, and recently peanut powder has been mixed into the food given to me. The day before yesterday, when I was coming back from Richmond, my carriage collided with another carriage in the suburbs, and the other carriage quickly escaped.

"I think someone is trying to steal information or, more directly, use it against me.

"So the content of the commission is ostensibly to provide me with protection when I travel between Richmond and Georgeburg. In fact, I hope you can conduct a secret investigation to find out if there is really someone secretly targeting me."

Wayne understood, so he hinted at the price, "Secret investigations and providing protection outside both require manpower..."

"I know that, so I specifically told the butler not to look for detective agencies that can only provide one or two people for investigation. But..."

Mr. Ben Harmon paused for a moment:

"I have put all my disposable funds into the business recently, and the cash I can pay directly for it is about $1,000.

"If you need more, Mr. Wayne, would you mind taking the options as collateral first? Once I have the money back, I can redeem them with cash."

Wayne thought for a moment, "If you have options, sir, can't you mortgage them to the bank? This will free up more funds for business."

Mr. Ben Harmon shook his head:

"Recently, several countries in the Old World are at war. Currently, banks do not recognize the expected profits from shipping to those countries. But that is actually the most profitable business."

Wayne took a quick assessment.

According to what Lina had said before about the personality traits of the Southern "Dixie", and the comparison between his recent impressions of the Southerners Ian Fisk and the landlord, the typical American Southerner at this time was roughly the type of person who would not let you suffer if you were generous, and would be thrifty if you were calculative.

1,000 US dollars is actually not bad, just think of it as making a friend. As for the blank check, it’s better not to take it.

So Wayne made a proposal:

"Then let's estimate the commission fee at $1,000. During this time, we will provide you with security on your way to Richmond, and we will also conduct a secret investigation.

"The commission will continue until we find the suspect, or after a period of time, we determine that everything was purely accidental, or the suspect has temporarily stopped. What do you think?"

Mr. Ben Harmon nodded in approval and held out his hand. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

After shaking hands, the agreement was reached.

Mr. Ben Harmon continued, "In fact, in my personal opinion, the ones who are more suspicious in this matter are still those greedy Northerners. Ah, Mr. Wayne, I have no prejudice against 'Northerners'. I am only targeting those greedy guys."

Wayne didn't mind it very much: "Can you tell me the reason for your doubt?"

"The answer is obvious. Mr. Wayne, do you know how greedy those Yankees are?

“According to the current federal tariff policy, the southern states account for only one-third of the federal population, but pay three-quarters of the federal tariffs.

"But they are not satisfied yet and have been proposing to continue raising tariffs. According to a proposal I learned about, they plan to increase tariffs by another 70% overall, and the tariffs on some goods will even be raised from 5% to 48%. They are simply squeezing the blood and sweat of the Southerners and plundering the wealth that should belong to them."

Hmm...

Wayne declined to comment.

As a small business operator in the service industry, the detective agency does not need to pay taxes anyway...