Chapter 608: Swift Retribution
After confirming that all senior executives of the Lightning Company had "disappeared," the Mayor of London ordered the forced opening of the distillation workshop's doors.
The place was brightly lit, yet not a single soul was in sight. Only the metallic gleam of retorts and other equipment lay there dormant.
"Make them work!" Herbert roared, turning to the technicians.
The technicians exchanged glances, admitting they had no idea how to operate the machinery.
Around noon, two scholars from the British Royal Society arrived at the Lightning Company.
After repeated confirmations and attempts to operate the equipment, the elder scholar regretfully informed Herbert, "I'm afraid, Mr. Mayor, this appears to be nothing more than an empty iron can."
"It can't even burn for an extended period," the other scholar pointed to the heating furnace. "It can only hold less than 50 pounds of coal, certainly not enough to distill gas for all of London..."
Refusing to give up, Herbert had the scholars comb through the entire Lightning Company. They finally confirmed that only the equipment in the basement could produce a small amount of gas—a mere 'face-saving project' to power a few dozen streetlights around City Hall.
Beyond that, not even half a liter of gas could be produced.
No, it wasn't just him; all of London, even the entire United Kingdom, had been duped!
That very evening, the matter was reported directly to William Pitt Junior.
The young Prime Minister stared at the Duke of Portland, the Home Secretary, his brow furrowed. "So, this Lightning Company also issued hundreds of thousands of Pound Sterling in bonds through a bank?"
The Duke nodded. "The Commercial Credit Bank, run by the Goldsmid family. I've already dispatched men to verify the total bond amount. It's estimated to be at least 700,000 Pound Sterling."
William Pitt Junior felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
700,000 Pound Sterling—that figure was certainly enough to cause an uproar in London. After all, the entire gas streetlamp project had only been allocated 300,000 Pound Sterling.
He quickly interjected, "What is the relationship between that Commercial Credit Bank and the Lightning Company? Freeze all their accounts immediately!"
"Yes, Prime Minister, I've already done so," the Duke of Portland replied. "However, there are only just over 20,000 Pound Sterling in the bank's accounts; other assets are still being tallied. As for their relationship, it now appears they were accomplices."
The funds British citizens had used to purchase Lightning Company bonds had long since been transferred out. The mere 20,000 Pound Sterling remaining were bank's own deposits and similar assets.
William Pitt Junior slammed his hand on the table, instinctively asking, "Is there still time to suppress the news?"
"That, I'm afraid, won't be easy. Too many people are involved, and the streetlights across London have yet to light up."
William Pitt Junior sighed, leaning his head back. He then ordered, "You are to immediately inventory that bank and the Lightning Company, and find as many assets as possible to mitigate the incident's impact.
"Furthermore, Mordaunt must resign as Member of Parliament at once. As for Herbert... he was directly responsible. We can only use him to appease the public's wrath."
Even at this point, he still viewed the matter as an ordinary fraud case, albeit one involving a very large sum. Thus, he was focused on how to minimize the fallout and manage the aftermath.
In reality, compared to the hundreds of thousands in corporate bonds, the subcontractors involved in London's gas streetlamp project were the real ticking time bomb.
After the Duke of Portland departed, William Pitt Junior had his attendants summon representatives from Lloyd's of London, Britain's most powerful private intelligence agency, and tasked them with investigating the gas streetlamp affair.
Bad news always traveled the fastest.
By noon the very next day, almost everyone in London knew that the gas streetlights were nothing but a scam.
From the church bell tower, Sir Elvis gazed blankly into the distance.
He had invested his entire fortune in Lightning Company bonds. Just yesterday, he had been boasting to everyone about his investment prowess, certain of future prosperity. Today, he was a laughingstock.
He then recalled how he had previously fawned over Baron Watson, even offering his sister to him, only to facilitate the scoundrel in swindling his money...
'You are simply the stupidest fool in the entire world!'
He pointed at himself and exclaimed, 'A fool like me shouldn't be alive!'
With that, he leapt from the bell tower.
Reality seemed cruel, yet it was also fair. If Joseph hadn't timely uncovered the order scam and managed to recoup some of the losses, who knew how many bankrupt factory owners in France might have 'taken the plunge' like Elvis?
In the following days, the situation in London continued its rapid decline.
First, dozens of subcontractors involved in the gas streetlamp project demanded payment from London's City Hall, which, naturally, refused without hesitation.
These subcontractors had all signed agreements with the Lightning Company. How could the London city government possibly acknowledge these debts? Moreover, the city government simply didn't have that much money.
That very afternoon, two subcontractor companies declared bankruptcy.
After all, it was a project involving hundreds of thousands of Pound Sterling. The costs for previously completed work, such as manufacturing streetlights and laying pipes, had all been advanced by these companies. The amounts were staggering, yet they hadn't received a single penny in return.
The enormous losses left them no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
A wave of bankruptcies quickly ensued. In less than a month, nearly 20 subcontractors went out of business one after another.
The shockwave of bankruptcies then began to spread downwards.
Suppliers who had sold raw materials and equipment to the bankrupt companies also began to collapse, unable to recover their substantial outstanding payments.
Consequently, large numbers of workers employed by these companies became unemployed. These individuals soon arrived at London's City Hall, joining the protesting ranks of the subcontractors.
All the windows of City Hall were smashed, and its exterior walls were splattered with filth. Officials were so terrified they dared not come to work.
Finally, Mayor Herbert, seeing protesting workers light fires outside City Hall, could no longer restrain himself and mobilized the police to disperse the crowd.
Inevitably, clashes broke out. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested and imprisoned, and dozens of police officers were injured.
And even more serious problems were just beginning to emerge.
The immediate cause was London's City Hall needing to repair problematic sewage pipes in a certain area, only to find it utterly impossible to locate a contractor capable of doing the work.
Herbert ordered an investigation and only then discovered that almost all companies in London involved in pipe-laying had gone bankrupt. The gas streetlamp project had been so enticing that every company with even a modicum of strength had sought to get a piece of the action, only to perish within it.
In fact, it wasn't just the pipe-laying industry. Companies related to pipe casting, valve manufacturing, gas lamp production, and distillation equipment processing industries had also been completely wiped out.
It could be said that the very foundation of Britain's gas streetlamp industry had completely collapsed...
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