The planned UFMS family community covers an area of 30 hectares, directly demarcating a large wasteland on the western outskirts of Rivni City, so there is no need for very troublesome demolition.
When Simon and his party arrived at their destination, it was already a busy scene.
Thousands of workers and various construction vehicles are preliminary leveling the vast land as far as the eye can see.
Because the land resources are very rich, it is expected that only the first batch of 500 soldier families will be accommodated on 30 hectares of land. Excluding public facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals, etc., each family will receive a unified independent courtyard of 500 square meters.
Simon would never be able to afford such placement specifications in the United States.
At present, an independent courtyard covering an area of 500 square meters in Los Angeles will cost US$200,000 to US$300,000 no matter how bad the location is. If it is a prime location in Beverly Hills, it may cost more than one million US dollars. But here, in the entire UFMS family community, including all costs of land purchase, house construction, road construction, etc., the average budget investment for each household's courtyard is only US$3,000, and the total community construction budget is US$1.5 million.
1.5 million US dollars is not enough for Simon to buy a luxury house in some big cities.
However, for Ukraine, where the current average monthly income of residents is less than US$30, this is a very big deal.
The simplest calculation is that 3,000 US dollars, based on the average monthly salary of 30 US dollars, is equivalent to the total income of a Ukrainian resident for 8 years.
In fact, the monthly income of most Ukrainian residents does not reach US$30 at all.
Therefore, the planned two-story European-style small building with a courtyard area of about 200 square meters per household is already considered a luxury building in Rivni City. At present, many communities in this city are still large tracts of cheap wooden structure houses.
Rivni is different from Los Angeles, which has spring all year round. This inland Ukrainian city at the same latitude as Northeast China has long and extremely cold winters, with temperatures often reaching minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius. Living in a wooden structure house with extremely poor thermal insulation performance is absolutely dangerous. It is a kind of suffering, so it also shows the living conditions of the residents of this country.
Speaking of which, this declining trend has already started during the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, but has completely gone to hell in recent years.
Community construction site.
Simon walked on a plot of land that was about to be built into a school. After listening to Komorov's introduction, Simon asked: "How are you preparing to recruit teachers? I remember I said, we must be the best."
Sergei Komorov gestured to Celia and said: "Ms. Miller is in charge of this matter, but I think it must go very smoothly."
In recent months, Celia has been working hard to learn Russian and roughly understood what Komorov was saying. She took over the conversation and said to Simon: "Boss, the recruitment of teachers has started last month. Now many schools in Ukraine They are all on hold because they cannot pay salaries, including some universities. If you want, boss, I can even recruit a team of full professor-level teachers."
Simon knew that the domestic situation in Ukraine was very bad. He was still a little surprised when he heard that schools were starting to close down: "Is it that serious?"
Celia said: "The former Soviet Union attached great importance to education, especially in the economically developed Ukraine. At its peak, there were more than 1,000 higher education schools across Ukraine. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to government financial constraints, many schools were opened one after another. The shutdown has resulted in a large number of highly qualified senior teachers becoming unemployed.”
Simon didn't know what to say for a moment.
If a country's education system begins to collapse, it will have no future at all.
The reason why China has been able to rise rapidly after reform and opening up is inseparable from the resumption of the college entrance examination, which quickly provided the country with a large number of highly educated talents.
Think about some of the things that happened in Ukraine in my memory. National treasure-level aircraft design experts were beaten in the street. Aged scholars in their 70s and 80s still had to struggle for the most basic livelihood. Former combat heroes were not given the slightest respect they deserved. , the combat troops who carried out the orders were forced by politicians to kneel in the street in order to calm the public anger... In such a country, it is indeed difficult to say what hope and future it has.
Celia didn’t understand what Simon was thinking, so she didn’t say anything to her boss, and continued to add: “The day before yesterday when we were in Kiev, I received a handwritten letter from a former retired professor of the Department of Physics of Kyiv National University, and he read it in the newspaper Our recruitment inspiration is that we sincerely hope to try to return to work. He is 67 years old this year and said that he is still in good health. However, since last year, he has not received the minimum monthly payment of 1 million Ge for six months in a row. Pension is limited, and the family’s life is very stressful.”
The Ukrainian currency is the currency unit of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its full name is 'hryvnia'.
Simon stopped and listened calmly to Celia talking about this episode, and finally asked: "How much is 1 million gram coins?"
In the exchanges in the past few days, currency was involved. In order to facilitate understanding, people around him would automatically convert Simon into US dollars. He did not pay much attention to the exchange rate of Ukrainian currency.
Celia took out her wallet from her Hermès satchel, searched for it, pulled out a banknote worth 200,000 Gobius and handed it to Simon, saying: "This one is about 95 cents. The Ukrainian Goni currency was the same as last year." The Russian ruble is also suffering from severe inflation, but authorities in Kiev have not yet issued a new currency, as Russia has done."
Simon took the 'large-denomination' banknote handed over by Celia. 200,000 Gogo coins was only equivalent to 95 cents. A retired professor was owed a monthly pension of 1 million Gogo coins for half a year, which converted to less than 5 Dollar.
For some reason, a strong feeling of sadness suddenly arose in Simon's heart.
Glancing at the busy crowd on the construction site around him, Simon asked again: "Where are they?"
Celia understood what Simon was asking and answered skillfully: "The average daily salary is about 100,000 Godan. It will vary depending on the type of work. In addition, we will also provide a lunch."
Simon nodded, thought for a moment, and said to Celia: "Recruit according to the scale of 1,000 teachers. As you just said, select the best possible ones. It would be better if all of them are university professors."
Celia said: "Boss, is it too much?"
Although the educational benefits of UFMS will benefit all children of soldiers, in fact many soldiers are still single. Even if 5,000 soldiers have one child on average, 1,000 teachers teach 5,000 students, with a teacher-student ratio of 1:5, many of the best in the world No university can compare.
What's more, this is only primary education from kindergarten to high school, so too many teachers are even more unnecessary.
Simon insisted: "Not only the children of soldiers, but also the soldiers of UMFS will continue to receive education in the future. They need to be proficient in at least one foreign language, which will be taught by our team of teachers. In addition, schools do not need to be limited to children of soldiers. , and can also recruit students from the whole society. However, in this regard, we will only accept very smart and hard-working children. As long as they meet these conditions, the Westeros system can provide them with the same tuition-free treatment as the children of soldiers."
Simon doesn't believe in people's hearts, but he firmly believes that any effort will be rewarded to some extent.
Education is actually an investment with the most generous returns.
There may be some illiterate heroes in this world who climb to the top of the pyramid, but generally speaking, people with good education and high academic qualifications definitely occupy the majority of the people at the top of the pyramid.
Now that this country has completely lost its direction, Simon doesn't mind cultivating more elites for them to gradually take control of this country.
After visiting the UMFS Family Community Company in the morning and visiting several factories owned by the Oldek Company in the afternoon, Simon and his party only returned from a quarry in the south of Rivni City after dusk.
The convoy entered the city from the main road in the south of the city. Just as it turned left and planned to pass through a residential area, it suddenly stopped due to some obstacles.
Simon was discussing with Celia in the carriage the training of the female guard team in Ukraine.
Just like in North America, 100 girls with sports talents have been recruited from various colleges and universities.
However, because the girls here are not in a hurry to use them, Simon is more patient with the training of these Ukrainian female guards and plans to train them slowly. Therefore, they did not immediately enter the military base for training like in North America, but were placed in Kiev to receive intensive foreign language training and some professional agent skills education from former KGB agents recruited from Ukraine by the Westeros system. Of course, it's definitely not the 'swallow' kind.
Sensing the sudden stop of the convoy, Simon looked to the front row.
The black Mercedes-Benz that cleared the road ahead blocked the view, and for a moment I didn't know what was going on.
The driver chatted a few words with the bodyguard in the previous car through the intercom, then turned to Simon and said: "Boss, there was a gang fight at the intersection ahead and the road was blocked."
As the driver said this, Ken Dixon had already got out of the car in front of him, and Sergey Komorov, Krim Derevyanko and others who had originally followed Simon's motorcade and planned to go home also started to do so. get off.
Simon warned Celia and then he opened the door and got out of the car.
Seeing Simon get out of the car, Ken Dixon and several other bodyguards quickly protected Simon in the center.
Except for Simon's motorcade, there were few other vehicles on this road. Everyone stood directly in the middle of the road and looked forward. About twenty or thirty young people happened to block an intersection not far ahead, holding razor blades and wooden sticks. Waiting for weapons, they were fighting together. Looking around, in the melee, some people screamed loudly, some were torn apart, and some fell to the ground. It was very lively.
Guns are banned in Ukraine, but the number of private guns is actually very large.
It seems that these young people have not lost their minds. They abide by the rules of the road and only use cold weapons.
Roman Nischuk, the mayor of Rivni who had been following Simon around all day, ran over from behind with an embarrassed look on his face and apologized: "Mr. Westeros, you really made you laugh. I will notify the police department to come and arrest you." These bastards."
There was no need for Roman Nischuk to notify the police. He found that an impressive motorcade that was obviously untouchable was blocked by him. Even the two bodyguards closest to them had taken out automatic rifles only used by the army and pointed them at them. A group of gangsters The militants quickly stopped fighting, carefully divided into two groups, helped up their injured or unconscious brothers, and dispersed into the surrounding streets in a blink of an eye.
In the last ray of sunset coming sideways, several shocking scarlet bloodstains were left on the ground at the intersection.
Seeing that Simon was still standing still and looking at the blood stains at the intersection, Roman Nischuk had no choice but to pull Krim Derevyanko next to him. Although this matter has nothing to do with him directly, if this young tycoon, who is also very knowledgeable in Ukraine, takes his unhappiness and anger on him, the mayor's position will not be secure.
Derevyanko, who had been on the battlefield more than once, didn't care at all about the small scene just now. He was accompanying Simon to watch the fun, but when he noticed Nischuk's actions, he said to Simon: "Boss, it's just some little gangsters fighting. There’s nothing to see, so it’s better to go back early.”
Simon nodded and got into the car. After the Mercedes-Benz restarted, he said to Celia beside him: "I have to change my plan temporarily. I will stay here for one more day."
Celia was just stunned for a moment, then quickly agreed, thought for a while and said: "In recent years, the unemployment rate in Ukraine has exceeded 20%, and the unemployment rate among young people is even higher. Because of the lack of livelihood, many people have gradually joined gangs. UFMS When the construction of the family community first started, there were some gang members who came to provoke, but after Kerim came forward once, no one dared to harass us again. This kind of thing will not have an impact on us."
Of course Simon understands.
Even if the Westeros system is not deeply rooted in Ukraine, it is definitely not something some gang members dare to provoke at will.
Especially the Rivne Oblast, which will become the base of the Westeros system in Ukraine.
Simon suddenly decided to stay in Ukraine for one more day, only to have other things on his mind.
In this world, if there is light, there will inevitably be darkness.
Gangs cannot be eliminated from their roots.
In this case, Simon plans to try to control this dark force.
The Russian gangsters in my memory have successfully extended their tentacles to all parts of the world, and their control power is no less than that of the more famous Italian gangsters.
So, as long as they dare to fight hard and maybe have some strong support behind the scenes, there is no reason why Ukrainian gangs cannot do this.
Simon has no intention of profiting from the gang. However, if he can control an underground force affiliated with the Westeros system, it will not happen again in the future when the Italian mafia sends bullets to the core figures of the Westeros system. There is no need for Simon to come forward in person, and he can completely adopt the strategy of black and white.
Simon was still considering the matter carefully until he returned to the small manor in the city center.
It is entirely possible to start from Rivni and quietly provide assistance to send some young people who are "daring to fight" to Western Europe and North America. This will also prevent the city of Rivni, which is the focus of the Westeros system, from being invaded by gangs. Disturbance, kill two birds with one stone.
However, how to control this group of people to the greatest extent is also a difficulty.
Simon soon thought of the KGB.
The key to why there were so many former KGB agents in Russia who entered the upper echelons of the government, and even *** was born here, is that the KGB agents in the former Soviet Union were indeed a group of people who could be called the social elite.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine adopted a completely negative strategy towards the former Soviet Union in the past few years. The Ukrainian branch of the KGB was directly abolished, and a large number of elite agents became unemployed like many ordinary people.
Perhaps some elite agents who are good at navigating the edge of darkness can be arranged as leaders.
Entering the villa, Simon temporarily let go of his thoughts after a busy day.
Six girls took the initiative to greet them this time.
Simon is a big shot in the clouds towards these girls, so he naturally has a submissive attitude. The man's inadvertent thoughtfulness since last night made the girls who originally had no extravagant expectations unconsciously develop an attitude of admiration for him. At this time, they see Xiang Simon's eyes were more obviously submissive.
After running around for a day, I planned to take a bath first. I just asked two girls whose names I couldn't remember clearly to go upstairs to prepare bath water for myself. Emily mentioned that there was an indoor swimming pool in the villa, which was on the west side of the villa.
Taking a bath in a swimming pool is definitely more comfortable than a bathtub.
Hearing this, Simon turned around, unbuttoned his coat, and called out casually. After hearing the man's instructions, the six small vases either took the initiative to lead the way, or took over the man's clothes, and gathered around him diligently to follow. Go up.