Shadow Empire

Chapter 1219 Where Do Rules Come From and Squeezing?

The customs official smiled as he pushed open the door to the customs chief's office, and even bent his straight back slightly, at least looking less aggressive.

"Sir..."

Sitting behind his desk, the young Director Guan looked to be only thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he certainly wasn't ugly. I'd rate him around seventy-five points.

But now he's wearing a uniform, and he has a very special aura, which adds a few points to his score, at least an 80.

"Sir..." He walked to the desk and stood there, addressing the officer as "Sir" again.

The customs officer raised his hand to stop him, "Sit down first."

The official carefully pulled out a chair next to the desk and sat down.

Jack continued, "Is there something you need?"

Despite his young age, he gave the officials the feeling of facing a customs chief in his forties or fifties.

He had heard that this guy had previously worked in customs in Likalai State, and in principle, the federal customs personnel reshuffle would not involve such a large-scale appointment.

Moving people from the East Coast to the West Coast is clearly illogical.

But this is a vertical department, and the specifics are determined by those above.

In fact, he could guess that behind this Chief of Staff Jack was likely the Socialist Party and the recently rising star, Lance White.

Having such a powerful backer makes everyone feel quite uncomfortable.

Chief Commissioner Jack wasn't from their local faction, which made things quite complicated, such as everyone's attitude towards work.

Local veteran officials are well aware that customs cannot investigate every smuggling case thoroughly, and often they turn a blind eye.

On the one hand, capitalists or criminal groups are using threats and inducements, making it difficult for them to refuse these people's "invitations." On the other hand, it is also a matter of managing and controlling smuggling cases.

It sounds like a joke, that condoning smuggling has become the management and control of smuggling cases?

In fact, this is not a contradictory issue, because once smuggling groups find that they can get through customs, they will not take greater risks to play hide-and-seek with the Coast Guard and the like.

They also don't need to bear the various natural risks that could cause losses; they just need to load the goods onto cargo ships and transport them to federal ports.

Even before these goods arrive at the federal port, customs already knows which smuggling groups are planning to send things into the federal territory.

This is a form of "strong management," where smuggling groups will proactively report information.

When customs or the federal government needs to seize or process smuggled goods, they can easily detain them, just like this time.

Chief Inspector Jack easily located the smuggled goods and then detained him.

On the other hand, even if they refuse to open the border, these smuggling groups still have ways to bring these goods in.

There are many smuggling channels; as long as the profits are big enough, they will always find a way to get things in.

Since it's impossible to prevent smuggling in essence, and it would only make smuggling crimes spiral out of control, why not bring it under control?
In fact, the federal government tends to prioritize stability over strict law enforcement on many issues.

Just like law enforcement agencies and officials in various places, they treat gangs the same way.

They knew those gangs, where they were, who the leaders, officers, and members were, and even the specific details of some of their crimes, possessing some evidence of their crimes.

But they just don't arrest these criminal groups or break up these gangs, because they know that arresting these gang members is easy.

But what do we do after we arrest them?
No one really believes that once a city is free of gangs, there will be no gangs at all, right?

In reality, the moment those gangs are eradicated, new gangs are born. They fight each other to seize the territory left by the previous gangs, and then accumulate wealth quickly through more intense and frequent crimes.

Society will be thrown into chaos by them. These emerging gangs have almost no connection with the city's management, and it will take a period of time for both sides to outwit each other before they can reach an understanding.

In this process, they will face many troubles, such as harassment of ordinary people and disruption of urban security.

Since new gangs will emerge even after these gangs are arrested, and these new gangs will wreak havoc on the stable and peaceful city, the final result will still be that the government controls the daytime and the gangs control the nighttime.

So why not just give up on dealing with these gangs from the start?
There are many such cases, and they can be encountered in any department with power.

At this moment, the customs officer opposite Jack hoped that the new customs chief was not the kind of "new boss" who was easily impulsive and hot-headed. He hoped that the customs chief could respect the "tradition" here.

In a daze, many things flashed through the official's mind. He blinked and came back to his senses. "Today we seized those smuggled goods from Sumuli Island..."

Jack lit a cigarette. "So?"

The official hesitated to speak, but considering the 150,000, he gritted his teeth and said, "Someone wants to talk to you about these things."

Jack took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled. "You mean the owner of these smuggled goods?"

The official nodded. Wasn't that obvious?
Jack smiled. "You're a customs officer. Your job is to prevent these goods on the prohibited entry list from entering the federal territory."

“We just closed a big case, and now you’re telling me that the mastermind behind it, or maybe the mastermind, wants to talk to me, and that you’re the one relaying his message.”

Can I understand it this way?

"Do you have some connection, or even a business relationship, with the main culprit in this case?"

The official thought for a moment, then said, "I'm just responsible for relaying a message."

"Director, have you ever had the opportunity to work on the front lines of customs?"

"I've heard that smuggling is rampant in Likale State. How did you deal with these problems when you were working there?"

This made Jack burst out laughing. "You have a good question, but not at this time."

"Whether in Licale or here, we should all follow the rules."

"Rules?" the official repeated the key word, a hint of doubt on his face. "Please forgive my bluntness, but judging from what we're doing now, Chief Jack, you haven't followed the rules!"

If we're going to follow the rules, then it's clear that letting them through is the rule, not detaining them! He really liked what the customs chief said; following the rules meant that the other party wasn't just plain stupid.

If communication goes smoothly, perhaps the customs chief will be able to abide by their rules and integrate him into the customs system of Nam Yaan State.

Thinking about this, he felt a surge of anticipation. If he could resolve this matter, he could ask Camilo Bianchi for even more kickbacks, which he deserved!
Jack smiled, pursing his lips. "What's your view on rules?"

The official thought for a moment and said, "Everyone follows these rules. Although there are no written documents, they are all agreed upon and are the rules."

Taking bribes can't be written in the work manual, nor can taking bribes to let smugglers pass through. There's nothing written about it, but everyone knows what to do; that's the rule.

However, Jack clearly had a different opinion. He said meaningfully, "The decision of the strong is the rule!"

"You won't care about the hard work of ants moving their nests on a rainy day, because the weak don't have the right to decide the final outcome of anything, but the strong do."

"The decisions of the strong are the rules."

"Here, my decision now is the rule."

"Since you are someone who is willing to follow the rules, then I hope you will follow my rules, instead of me following yours, understand?"

He paused, not giving the officials a chance to speak further, "Go tell those people that this shipment is going into the Western Ocean, and won't be sent to their warehouses!"

"I have to go to work now. You can leave if there's nothing else."

The official, supported by his deputy, stood up and looked at the newly arrived customs chief. The two stared at each other.

After a while, he nodded. "I will abide by your decision, but that doesn't mean I think you are right."

After he finished speaking, he looked away and turned to leave.

Jack watched his departing figure, his face devoid of any complex or superfluous expression—just a minor character.

After the door was completely closed, he picked up the phone and dialed Lance's number. "Christopher is in a hurry. He persuaded a customs officer to come and relay a message to me, but I sent him away."

Lance chuckled twice after hearing this, "Don't worry about them, the trouble will be resolved soon."

"However, you still need to be careful during this time. Remember to wear a bulletproof vest, and make sure to arrange bodyguards properly."

"Yes, I'll be careful," he said, pausing for a moment. "Regarding this shipment, are we really going to dump it all into the Western Ocean?"

Even he thought it was a bit too damn extravagant to pour all the liquor worth tens of millions of federal sols into the sea!

That's not 100,000, not 1 million, it's tens of millions of dollars worth of wine!
In the Federation, alcohol is now considered a form of hard currency, possessing the same properties as cash, gold, and silver, and is easily convertible into cash.

There's no problem turning 10 million worth of wine into 8 million; there are plenty of people willing to take on these goods because they can make millions just by reselling them!
It's a real shame to just dump it into the sea like that.

Lance was still laughing. "We have to pour it into the sea. That's the only way to drive him crazy. Do you understand what I mean?"

“If you hand over this batch of wine to someone else, he will find a way to get it back. For him, there is no loss at all, or even if he loses hundreds of thousands or millions, it is within his acceptable range.”

"He'll only go mad if all this wine is completely destroyed!"

"Moreover, this is a very important achievement for you. Take a good look. I hope to see you in the cabinet in the future."

Jack paused for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Alright, I'll do as you say. I hope your blessing comes true."

"I just want to laugh at the thought of having the chance to enter the cabinet; it's simply unbelievable!"

The call ended quickly, and Jack hung up. He then contacted the local state prohibition commission.

Lance had already given the word, so they quickly responded to Jack's invitation, arranging for several members of the state Prohibition Commission, along with local Prohibition agents, to personally witness tens of millions of dollars worth of liquor being poured into the sea.

To this end, Jack also contacted major local newspapers, as well as reporters from nationally distributed newspapers such as the Federal Post and the Federal Times, to witness this "destruction of the century."

After returning to his office, the official told Christopher what he had learned from Jack. Although he had a premonition, he still couldn't help but get angry.

Even he felt excruciating pain from the loss of tens of millions!

"These sons of bitches!" he cursed, pacing back and forth in the study.

For him, it's not just a matter of this batch of goods being seized and destroyed; more importantly, he doesn't have much stock left, enough for at most about a week's supply.

A week later, he will be unable to sell the liquor, or sell it to gangs in other places.

The market he painstakingly built up might be gradually swallowed up by the Lance family because he has no stock.

When those gangsters had their goods in his hands, they were as obedient as pet dogs.

Once he ran out of alcohol, they would immediately turn hostile, and Christopher didn't expect them to have any principles or anything like that.

"Farke, Farke!"

He paced back and forth, cursing all the while. Soon after, the phone on the table rang, but he seemed lost in his own world, still cursing and swearing.

His brother-in-law walked to the table and answered the phone. After the person on the other end had finished speaking, his expression changed, and his tone became sharp, "I'm coming right away!"

Christopher turned sharply to look at him, and he could only briefly explain the situation, "Just now, the police and agents from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials raided our bar on... Main Street."

Christopher's breathing became heavy. He walked to the wall, one hand on the wall and the other on his chest. Every breath seemed to be a difficult thing for him!

He was stressed!
Just like those small animals that react to sudden situations, he also reacted.

It must be Lance!

He had assumed that Lance would send assassins to kill him, just as he had asked Leonardo to arrange when to kill Lance, so he had always been very concerned about his safety.

But to his surprise, Lance did not do that; he used a different method to deal with him.

He was slowly squeezing Christopher's living space. Everything around him, from front to back, left to right, up to down, was like an invisible wall, gradually pushing him towards the center. He could hardly breathe!

(End of this chapter)