Chapter 1219

The moment the customs official pushed open the door to the Director's office, a smile appeared on his face, and even his straight spine bent slightly; at the very least, he didn't look quite as aggressive.

"Sir..."

The young Customs Director sitting behind the desk looked to be only thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old. He couldn't be called handsome, but he certainly wasn't an ugly guy; giving him a rating, it would be around seventy-five points.

But he is wearing a uniform now, and with a very special temperament, one could add a few points to him; at the very least, he is an eighty.

"Sir...", he walked to the front of the desk and stood there, addressing him as "Sir" once again.

The Director raised a hand to stop him, "You sit down first."

The official carefully pulled out the chair by the desk and sat down.

Jack continued, "Is there something?"

Even though he wasn't old, he gave the official the feeling of facing a Customs Director in his forties or fifties.

He had heard that this guy previously worked at the Customs in Liklai State. By logic, federal customs personnel transfers shouldn't be carried out with such large-scale appointments.

Transferring someone from the East Coast to the West Coast clearly doesn't conform to common sense.

But this is a vertical department; specifically speaking, those at the top have the final say.

In fact, he could guess a little bit: behind this Director Jack, it is very likely the Socialist Party and that Lanse White, who has been in the limelight recently.

With such a big backer, everyone actually feels quite uncomfortable inside.

Director Jack is not a director from their local faction, and many things will appear very troublesome, for example, everyone's attitude toward work.

The local old officials are all very clear that it is impossible for Customs to investigate every smuggling case; most of the time, they just turn a blind eye.

When the car had left a sufficient distance, the coyotes also disappeared.

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

In fact, this is not a contradictory issue, because once smuggling syndicates find they can get through Customs, they won't take greater risks to play hide-and-seek with the Coast Guard and the like.

Nor do they need to bear more various natural risks that might cause losses; they only need to load the goods onto cargo ships and then transport them to the federal ports.

Before these goods arrive at federal ports, Customs already knows which smuggling syndicates are planning to send what into the Federation.

This is a type of "strong management"; smuggling syndicates will proactively report information.

When Customs or the federal government needs to seal or operate on some smuggled goods, they can easily seize these goods, just like this time.

Director Jack very easily found those smuggled items and then seized them.

On the other hand, even if they refuse to clear them, these smuggling syndicates still have ways to transport these things in.

There are many smuggling channels; as long as the profit is large enough, they always have a way to get things in.

Since it is essentially impossible to prevent smuggling, and it will cause smuggling crimes to spiral out of control, why not control it?

In fact, the Federation tends toward stability in many issues, rather than strict law enforcement.

Just like law enforcement departments and officials in various places treat gangs.

They know those gangs, they know where they are, they know who the leaders, cadres, and members are in these gangs, and they even know the specific processes of some of their crimes and hold some criminal evidence.

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

But what to do after arresting them?

No one really thinks that after a city has no gangs, it will be completely free of gangs, right?

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

Society will be turned into a mess by them. The connection between these emerging gangs and the city management class is almost zero, and both sides still need to go through a period of wits and courage to reach a tacit understanding.

In this process, they will face many troubles, harassment of ordinary people, destruction of urban public security, and so on.

Since new gangs will appear after arresting these gangs, and the new gangs will turn a stable and quiet city into a mess, the final result is still the government controlling the day and the gangs controlling the night.

Then why not give up on dealing with these gangs from the beginning?

There are many such things, and they can be encountered in any department with power.

At this moment, the customs official opposite Jack hopes that this new Director is not the kind of "new Boss" whose brain gets hot easily and who is impulsive; he hopes even more that this Director can respect the "tradition" here.

In a trance, many things drifted through the official's mind. He blinked his eyes and came back to his senses, "We seized those smuggled goods from Sumuli Island today..."

Jack lit a cigarette, "So?"

The official found it a bit hard to speak. For the sake of the 150,000, he gritted his teeth, "Someone wants to talk to you about these things."

Jack took a puff of the cigarette and exhaled, "You are talking about the owner of these smuggled goods."

The official nodded; isn't this an obvious thing?

Jack smiled, "You are a customs official; your job is to prohibit these goods on the prohibited entry list from entering federal territory."

"We just finished a big case, and now you tell me that the main culprit of this case, possibly the main culprit, wants to talk to me, and you are the one helping him pass the message."

"Can I understand it this way?"

"You have some connection with the main culprit of this case, or even financial dealings?"

The official thought for a while, "I am just responsible for passing a message."

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

"I heard that the smuggling problem in Liklai State is also very rampant and widespread. When you worked there, how did you handle these problems?"

This sentence made Jack unable to help but laugh out loud, "You have a good question, but not at this time."

"Whether it is in Liklai State or here, we should follow the rules."

"Rules?", the official repeated this keyword. Some confusion also appeared on his face, "Please forgive my directness; from what we are doing now, Director Jack, you are not following the rules!"

If one were to follow the rules, then clearly, letting them pass is the rule, not seizing them! He likes what this Director said; to follow the rules means the other side is not purely brainless.

As long as they can communicate smoothly, perhaps this Director can also follow their rules and integrate him into the Customs system of South Yalan State.

Thinking of this, he had more expectations. If he could handle this matter, he could ask that Camilo Bianchi for more kickbacks; this is what he deserves!

Jack pursed his lips and smiled, "How do you view the matter of rules?"

The official thought for a while, "Things that everyone follows, although there are no written documents, are things that are agreed upon; that is the rule."

Taking black money cannot be written in the work manual, and taking black money to let those smuggling merchants pass cannot be written in the work manual. These things have no written form, but everyone knows what to do; this is the rule.

However, it is clear that Jack has a different view. He said meaningfully, "The decision of the strong is the rule!"

"You wouldn't care about the hardship of ants moving house on a rainy day, because the weak have no qualification to decide the final outcome of anything, but the strong do."

"The decision of the strong is the rule."

"Here, my decision now is the rule."

"Since you are a person willing to follow the rules, then I hope you can follow my rules well, instead of me following yours, understand?"

He paused, not giving the official more opportunity to speak, "Go tell those people, this batch of goods will flow into the West Ocean and will not be sent to their warehouse!"

"I have work to do; you can leave if there is nothing else."

The official held the armrest of the chair and stood up. He looked at this new Director, and the two stared at each other.

After a while, he nodded, "I obey your decision, but this does not mean I think you are right."

After he finished speaking, he moved his gaze away, turned, and left.

Jack looked at his departing back; there was no complex or redundant expression on his face—a small character.

After the door was completely closed, he picked up the phone and dialed Lanse's phone number, "Christopher is already anxious. He persuaded a customs official to come and pass a message to me, but I sent him away."

Lanse laughed twice after hearing this, "Don't care about them; the trouble will be resolved soon."

"However, during this time, you still need to pay attention to safety. Remember to wear a bulletproof vest, and also pay attention to arranging bodyguards."

"Mm, I will pay attention to safety," he said and paused, "Regarding this batch of goods, do we really want to pour them all into the West Ocean?"

Liquor worth ten million federal Sol; if it were all poured into the sea, even he felt it was a bit too fucking extravagant!

That's not one hundred thousand, not one million; it's ten million in liquor!

Now in the Federation, liquor is also considered a hard currency. It has the same attributes as hard currencies like cash, gold, and silver, and it is very easy to cash out.

Ten million in liquor, there is no problem cashing out eight million; there are plenty of people willing to take over these goods, because one can earn over a million just by turning them over!

But pouring it into the sea like this is indeed a bit of a pity.

Lanse was still laughing, "It is precisely to pour it into the sea; only in this way can he be driven crazy. Understand what I mean?"

"If you hand this batch of liquor to others to handle, he will find a way to take it back. For him, he has no loss at all, or a loss of a few hundred thousand or a million is within his acceptable range."

"Only by completely destroying all this liquor will he go mad!"

"Besides, this is also a very important political achievement for you. Watch well; I hope to see you in the cabinet in the future."

Jack was stunned for a moment, and then he also laughed out loud, "Alright, I will do as you say. I hope your blessing can come true."

"I just think about having the opportunity to enter the cabinet and want to laugh; this is simply too incredible!"

The call ended quickly. Jack put down the phone and then contacted the local State Prohibition Committee.

Lanse had already greeted them there, so they quickly responded to Jack's invitation, arranging for multiple members of the State Prohibition Committee, together with local prohibition agents, to personally witness ten million in liquor being poured into the sea.

For this, Jack also contacted major local newspapers, as well as reporters from nationally distributed newspapers like the "Federal Post" and "Federal Daily," to jointly witness this "Century Destruction."

After the official returned to the office, he told Christopher the news he got from Jack. Although he already had a premonition, he still couldn't help but start to get angry.

A loss of ten million; even he felt a burst of heart-wrenching pain!

"These sons of bitches!", he cursed while walking back and forth in the study without stopping.

In fact, for him now, it is not just that this batch of goods is seized and needs to be destroyed; more importantly, he doesn't have much stock left, only enough for about a week of supply.

After a week, he will not be able to produce liquor for sale or to sell to gangs in other places.

The market he worked so hard to conquer might gradually be swallowed by the people of the Lanse family because he has no goods on hand.

When he had goods on hand, those gangs were as obedient as pet dogs.

Once he has no liquor, they will immediately turn their faces. Christopher doesn't count on them having any persistence at all.

"Fuck, fuck!"

He walked back and forth while cursing. Before long, the phone on the table rang, but he was like someone immersed in his own world, still cursing and swearing.

His brother-in-law walked to the table and picked up the phone. After listening to the voice on the other end for a while, his expression changed, and his tone was a bit sharp, "I'm coming over right now!"

Christopher turned his head sharply to look at him. He could only briefly explain the situation, "Just now, the police and agents from the Hazardous Materials Bureau sealed off our bar on... Street."

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

He had a stress reaction!

Just like those small animals that have a stress reaction after encountering a sudden situation, he also had a stress reaction.

It must be Lanse!

He originally thought Lanse would send a killer to finish him off, just like how he let Leonardo arrange when to finish off Lanse, so he had always attached great importance to his own safety issues.

But what he didn't expect was that Lanse didn't do that; he adopted another method to deal with him.

He is squeezing Christopher's living space bit by bit, front and back, left and right, up and down; everything is like an invisible wall, squeezing him toward the middle bit by bit. He can no longer breathe!