Chapter 336

337. Chapter 333: Middleman

Losing two batches of alcohol in succession made Luigi feel that someone was targeting him.

If his goods couldn't enter New Jincheng, he would become a joke among the forces of the Republic of Aldra.

Those hostile gangs he once looked down upon, or those who didn't have such a good relationship with him, would soon be able to obtain huge profits by smuggling alcohol to the Federation, but he, however, didn't have such high profits!

New Jincheng was always one of the places all smugglers were most keen on; it had strong logistics capabilities, and the local gangs were also astonishing in size. They could consume a shocking amount of alcohol.

And then cover the entire Federation with this alcohol!

It wasn't that no one needed smuggled alcohol in other places; it was just that the price of smuggled alcohol couldn't go up in those places.

This is like those girls who can only survive in this society with the help of kind-hearted people. Perhaps two girls are similar in appearance, figure, and connotation.

But one is a high-end call girl; every time she repays a kind-hearted person with her warmth, she can get dozens, hundreds, or even more in aid.

While the other is just roadside fast food, and kind-hearted people won't even stay for too long, then give her three dollars, five dollars.

It's the same need for help from kind-hearted people, the same enthusiasm, but in the end, it can exchange for a profit gap of dozens or hundreds of times. This is what Luigi is most unwilling to see.

Sending goods to other places not only requires arranging people to expand the market but also doesn't have much profit.

The gap between him and other gangs will be widened in trade after trade.

In this place called Xiang Yalan, money is everything!

People here care more about money than in other places!

As long as you have money, you can possess everything.

You can sleep with any woman you see, and you don't even need any coercive means, as long as you take out your "banknote power."

You can quickly build a huge force by spending money; you will become a frequent guest at the dining tables of top national figures like presidents and prime ministers.

Money is omnipotent; in some places, people even jokingly call banknotes "God," and different banknotes are "Gods wearing different clothes"!

People need to eat, but many people here can't get enough to eat.

If Xiang Yalan didn't belong to the tropical region, perhaps just winter would be enough to kill many Xiang Yalan people.

So here, there is no problem that money can't solve. When others are developing rapidly, if Luigi's development speed is slower, then he might become someone else's target.

He thought back and forth, thought over and over, and finally only thought of one person who had the possibility of doing this, and that was Lans!

He had only offended Lans alone. Before this, whenever he thought of this matter, he felt furious. He picked up the phone and dialed according to the number Lans left behind.

This kind of international long-distance call requires multiple relays. By the time he could hear the waiting tone of the Lianbang Federation, it was already several minutes later.

The call was connected quickly. "This is Wanli Office."

"Is Lans there?"

"Who are you?"

"I am his friend, Luigi!"

The person on the other side of the receiver wasn't Lans; Luigi could still distinguish Lans's voice.

"Wait, I have to ask him if he's willing to talk to you."

Luigi held a pipe, lit the tobacco in the pipe, and sat there smoking.

On the other side of the receiver, Elvin knocked on Lans's office door and poked his head in. "Luigi's call, do you want to take it?"

Lans raised his eyebrows. "On which line?"

"Line 2."

He nodded, and Elvin closed the door.

He picked up the phone, pressed the "2" button on the phone, and the call was connected immediately.

"I heard you're looking for me?" His words were very impolite, without even a greeting. For someone who didn't keep his word like this, Lans had never had a good temper.

After Luigi heard Lans's voice, he couldn't help but ask, "Did you do it?"

Lans changed his sitting posture. "What did I do?"

"My goods!"

"And my fucking people!"

Luigi was almost roaring!

His nephew died, and he lost tens of thousands in goods combined twice.

It was mainly the alcohol he lost that made him feel the pain; nephews, subordinates—these things, as long as you have money, there are countless people willing to sell their lives for him.

The local people of Aldra, people from other Xiang Yalan countries—as long as there is money, they are willing to do anything.

As for the nephew, that's even simpler; he can spend money to find a few more girls for his brothers. As long as he finds enough, isn't it just a matter of how many nephews he wants?

But the key to all this lies in how much money he can get!

Money is the real reason for his anger.

After Lans was silent for a while, he asked slowly, in a tone with some mockery, "Do you have evidence?"

The moment this sentence was said, Luigi actually understood that it was Lans who did it.

And Lans was also saying it on purpose; he just wanted Luigi to understand that his goods were lost and his people were gone because he offended him, not because of anyone else!

"How dare you?"

"Lans!"

Luigi suddenly roared, not at all like the way he was so easy to talk to when they met for the first and last time.

Lans moved the receiver away from his ear, and only after his voice became small again did he bring the receiver back to his ear.

"We need to talk, Lans!" After Luigi vented his anger, he finally calmed down a bit.

Lans had some disdain on his face, but he still said, "Aren't we talking right now?"

This sentence made Luigi silent for a while. "I don't need you to apologize to me or anything; the two batches of alcohol add up to over fifty thousand. You give me a cost price, thirty-five thousand."

"I won't hold you accountable for those dead people. After the money arrives, I will arrange for someone to send you another forty thousand in goods, and the problem between us will be written off."

"You don't owe me, and I don't owe you."

"If you touch my things again, I won't be polite!"

He originally still owed Lans eighty thousand in low-priced alcohol, just because he didn't want to sell to Lans at a low price and wanted to seek greater profits, so he refused to continue supplying Lans at a lower price.

This led to the relationship between the two sides, which was originally quite good, suddenly turning bad.

Listening to the other party's nonsensical words, Lans sneered and said, "You're thinking too simply, Luigi."

"You destroyed our friendship and also made you lose this business route."

"Now we are not in an equal relationship, understand?"

"If you want to regain my friendship, you have to pay a greater price, instead of giving me back what originally belonged to me like this, as if giving alms."

"If you don't understand this, find someone who does and ask them, see how you can seek my forgiveness!!"

Lans's tone was also a bit intense. "Before I nod, I guarantee that as long as I know about it, not a single bottle of goods from you will enter New Jincheng!"

He didn't wait for Luigi to say anything and hung up the phone directly.

He sat by the table and thought for a while, strode to the window, opened it, and shouted to the outside, "Ma Duoer?"

"Here!"

Soon Ma Duoer came to Lans's office. "Boss, are you looking for me?"

Lans pointed to the chair opposite. "Sit and talk."

After Ma Duoer sat down, Lans said, "How is the situation in the Empire recently?"

When Ma Duoer heard this question, he was stunned for a moment, then sighed. "It's getting worse and worse. Now those insurgent armies have woken up; they have started to huddle together again, but it looks like being wiped out is just a matter of time."

The nobles are very disappointed in them and no longer intend to or no longer continue to fund them.

Having lost the support of the nobles, lacking funds, lacking supplies, they have found it very difficult to organize any threatening counterattacks or offensives.

They can only stay where they are and wait for the result of being annihilated!

Of course, they did indeed obtain many things in the war—large amounts of land, real estate—but these things, as long as the nobles don't nod, are simply worthless!

The funds in their hands are being consumed bit by bit, yet there is no way to obtain new funds; they can only wait for the end of the world in torment!

Many people have completely given up resistance under these circumstances and have turned to fleeing overseas.

During this period, someone also contacted Ma Duoer. He is someone who is doing well in fleeing overseas; someone wants to come and rely on him.

"Boss, some people from my hometown want to come over; they want to ask if we still need people here."

Lans looked at him. "Are they reliable?"

"I don't want people we can't trust ourselves. You can bring over all the friends you know, but you must guarantee that they will only have a positive impact on the family business."

"If they cause trouble for us, or say they do something harmful to us, you have to be responsible."

The meaning of his words was very clear: if Ma Duoer wants to be a guarantor, if they come and mess around, Ma Duoer will also be implicated.

If it were before, Lans wouldn't have said this; at that time, Ma Duoer's family hadn't been brought over yet, and it couldn't be considered that they had settled down in the Federation.

Now his family has also been brought over, and their life is very good; everything is very stable.

People in this state are most afraid of changes; sometimes, for the sake of stability, they can even make partial concessions or even sacrifices.

When he discovers that the consequences of doing something might have an unpredictable impact on him and his family, he becomes very cautious.

He didn't answer immediately, but thought for a while; faces kept flashing in his heart.

After more than ten seconds, he nodded and said, "I can guarantee it!"

Lans gave a noncommittal "Hmm." "Coincidentally, I also have a task that originally needed you to do; now it's just right to test the ability of your friends."

"In the Republic of Aldra in Xiang Yalan, there is a Sumuli merchant named Luigi."

"I don't like him; do you understand what I mean?"

Ma Duoer nodded repeatedly. "I will arrange for them to bring a gift you like from Aldra before they come, Boss!"

Lans was very satisfied with his understanding of his instructions. "I will have Mero give you a sum of money, including providing all necessary equipment."

"Solve those problems; I'll be here waiting for our new family members!"

"I'll go prepare now, Boss."

Lans nodded and watched him leave.

Actually, the conflict between him and Luigi can no longer be resolved. Even if he doesn't indirectly admit that he was the one who did it, Luigi will eventually conclude that he was the one who did it!

He doesn't know if Luigi has offended anyone recently, but he knows that in New Jincheng, he should have only offended him alone.

So the best way now is to replace him, replace him with other partners or ordinary people; the problem can be solved completely at once.

What Lans doesn't know is that after Luigi hung up the phone, he called Paolo again. Now the atmosphere on Sumuli Island is like the friction between the four countries, and it's about to catch fire; there aren't that many people who can be transferred out at all.

On the contrary, the Four Great Families are constantly recalling family members from all over the world, wanting them to fight for the glory of the family.

The Pasleto family, as a branch with some fame in the Federation, is naturally among those being conscripted, but Paolo refused.

The Pasleto family, which has become almost completely independent, certainly doesn't agree to be conscripted. When the time comes, they will go to fight and die, while those people sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor—why?

The family faction behind Paolo gave him another choice: if he isn't willing to take the "children" back to Sumuli Island to participate in the war of justice, then take out at least five million!

This five million is for hiring others and buying military supplies; you can't have it both ways—not sending people and not sending money, right?

But he also refused to be blackmailed, which also led to his bad reputation now. Many people say that now that he has money and status, he has forgotten the fact that the blood of Sumuli flows in his body.

Luigi's situation is similar to his; he didn't do well on Sumuli Island in the early years and was dispatched, or rather, sent to the Republic of Aldra.

Now that his business has started to improve, those people want to target him again.

Actually, he and Paolo are the same. Sumuli people, the Four Great Families, and those politicians proposed a concept, a saying, in the early years: "The resources of Sumuli Island are limited, but the world is infinite."

The general meaning is that there is no space for them to survive on Sumuli Island. If they don't want to become the lowest class of society, then don't fucking compete for living space with others on Sumuli Island.

The so-called "outward expansion," from the perspective of the actual ruling class of Sumuli, is more of an outward dispatch, deportation; it is definitely not an expectation that they can make a name for themselves in international society.

They kicked them away when they looked down on them before, and now they are kidnapping them in various ways when they need them. Many Sumuli people who have already taken root outside are unwilling to go back.

It's just that those who can be like Paolo and absolutely won't go are still a minority.

So Luigi and Paolo still have some words to say because of these things.

"I need some help from you, Paolo."

As the leader of the largest Sumuli gang in the Republic of Aldra, Luigi is indeed on par with Paolo in "status," so he doesn't need to be so careful and polite when speaking.

Including the fact that he has been having a headache. "Tell me what it is first; I might not be able to help you. I'm also in a mess on my side right now."

Luigi wasn't in the mood to ask why he was in a mess; he was only thinking about his own affairs. "I have a small conflict with Lans..."

He talked about his small conflict with Lans. "I need you to act as a middleman to help us talk it over."

"It's just a matter of money. I've already talked to him; I can make up the eighty thousand in goods at cost price."

"I've already made a big concession, and even if he wants to get goods from me in the future, I can give him a price that can't be obtained on the market!"

"Things shouldn't have turned out like this between us; we need a middleman."

Luigi hadn't considered sending gunmen, but he wasn't sure if the gunmen could finish off Lans, so he planned to talk to Paolo first to see.

If Paolo could come forward to help him talk to Lans, then he wouldn't have to take the risk.

Assassination is indeed a very useful means to solve enemies physically, but if it's a failed assassination, that is definitely the worst situation.

Paolo frowned the whole time while listening to him talk about his small conflict with Lans.

"I'm not sure if I can convince Lans; I can try, but not now."

"We have some big things to do during this period; after we finish, I will definitely make an appointment with him as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, I will keep your matter in mind."

Paolo's reputation on Sumuli Island is bad, but among these Sumuli people who have come out, it is still considered quite good.

Hearing him say he had to wait, Luigi didn't continue to force it. "No problem, I'll wait for your good news."

"Is there anything I can help with regarding your trouble?"

Paolo smiled and refused. "You can't help with these things, but thank you for your kindness, Luigi."

"Believe me, your problem with Lans will be properly resolved!"

The two chatted for a few more sentences about some things on the island, and then ended the call.

After putting down the phone, Paolo rubbed his temples. Muller entered with a tray and tea. "Do you want to rest for a while?"

He placed the things in front of Paolo. Paolo shook his head slightly; he still had many things to deal with. Only by standing in his position did he know how hard it was to be the head of the Five Great Families.

He picked up the tea, took a sip, and let out a sigh. "I heard Dover got dead drunk and was sent back again?"

There was clearly dissatisfaction in his tone. He hoped Dover could pull himself together, inherit his father's aspirations, and become his right-hand man.

Instead of... a piece of trash that no one in the family likes!

Muller sighed expressionlessly. "Together with those people around him, he drank until he was unconscious and slept until just now."

"He just woke up, took a shower, and went out again."

Paolo was also speechless when he heard this and sat there for a while. "Forget it, let him be."

"This is what I owe their family!"

Soon, he buried himself in work again.