Shadow Empire

Chapter 630: Export
At night, when a smuggling ship approached the waters around Jingang City, it stopped the sound of its engine and turned off all the light sources on the ship.

This is a smuggling ship from Alan, carrying about 250,000 tons of smuggled liquor.

This was a routine smuggling operation for them. They agreed to meet in this area. All they needed to do was unload the wine onto the consignee's ship and leave with the cash.

Smuggling is now much more difficult than before. Even in the middle of the night, the success rate is not very high.

Coast Guard ships are constantly searching the sea for fishing boats or smuggling boats in need of help.

They are equipped with some advanced equipment, and the sound of the engine and the light can make them visible from a long distance. Life is getting harder and harder now. If the prices of these wines were not very low, they would most likely not do this.

The cost of producing a bottle of wine worth 250,000 yuan in Yalan may only be around 70,000 or 80,000 yuan.

A three hundred percent profit is enough to drive anyone crazy.

In the night, they blended into the moonlight reflected on the surrounding sea and the dark night sky.

It would be difficult to spot them if no one knew they were there.

Everyone on the boat was waiting quietly, and the wait might be for an hour or two.

Someone couldn't help but want to smoke. He just put the cigarette in his mouth, took out a lighter and tried to light it, but before he could light it, he was slapped on the head.

"You want to be thrown down to the sharks?" a guy who was obviously a junior cadre shouted, "Have you forgotten what the boss said?"

"If you want to smoke, wait until we unload the cargo."

"If the Coast Guard comes to town because of your fire, you and your family will go to hell!"

The look that originally showed some dissatisfaction and resentment gradually softened and became submissive.

The young cadre looked at the young man in front of him in the moonlight. The faint light shone on his eyes and then reflected back, bringing with it a hint of chill.

"I was wrong……"

"Well, next time if you do this again, I'll throw you down."

Soon, someone suddenly shouted, "There's a boat coming, at three o'clock."

They looked towards the three o'clock direction, but it was pitch black and they couldn't see anything.

The guy who made the judgment had a special receiver for listening to sounds, which could gather the sounds spreading around, so that some faint sounds became clear.

About four or five minutes after he said this, a light appeared on the sea.

A larger fishing boat, the lights on the boat seemed to be broken and kept flickering.

Only these smugglers know what those flashing lights mean.

This is a secret code for contact. Only when the code is matched will they expose themselves.

After watching the other party's lights flash three complete secret signals in a row, the young cadre asked people to turn on the lights.

Soon the smuggling ship began to respond using lights, and the other party easily discovered the situation here.

After exchanging secret signals, the two sides gradually moved closer together. The people on the connecting boat used a lasso to connect the two boats together so that their people could jump onto the smuggling boat.

The gang member in charge of receiving the goods hugged the smuggling cadre. It was not the first time they met, nor was it the first time they were in charge of escorting the goods.

After a few words of casual chatting, the person who was going to receive the goods entered the cabin under the guidance of others.

The cabin was full of wine. He picked up a box at random, opened it, and then carefully examined it for a while under the dim light.

From the foam formed by the tumbling back and forth, from the color it was illuminated by at night, and everything.

Finally, he opened the bottle, poured himself a little, and tasted it.

"This batch of goods is great!" he praised sincerely.

The "cost" of the wine, including the profit-seeking of the gangs that produced it and sent it here, was about fifty-five a bottle.

But its price in the bar is more than two hundred per bottle.

This is not the craziest thing. The craziest thing is that the cost price of whiskeys is only a dozen yuan, but their prices in the bar are basically seventy or eighty yuan per bottle, and some can even be sold for a hundred yuan.

With profits ranging from several times to ten times or more, it's no wonder people go crazy over these things.

Not all wines from all places can be sold at high prices. Only wines from very few cities can be sold at very high prices. Jingangcheng is one of them.

After talking for a while, the leaders of the two groups shook hands and then hugged each other.

The consignee placed the two suitcases on the table, and the delivery person did not check whether the money was sufficient because they often cooperated with each other.

While they were checking whether there was enough money, the person who received the goods had already started arranging his men to move the wine out and load it onto their cargo ship.

"I heard these days that your Lance family said that they would not allow any bottle of wine to enter Jingang City without their permission. Is that true?" The young cadre in charge of transporting the wine lit a cigarette.

Twenty minutes later, when the wine is loaded onto the boat, everything will have nothing to do with him. It can even be said that at this moment, safety has nothing to do with him.

He had already put the money into the secret compartment, so let alone smoking, if he had fireworks in his hand, it wouldn't matter if he set off one now.

The person who received the goods nodded, looking a little depressed, "That's true."

He seemed reluctant to say more. The Lance family was not well-known in the outside world, but within Jingang City, there were still many people who could see its strength.

It is said that the entire city's law enforcement department is now Lance's people. In this case, there is really no good way to bypass what Lance says and the rules he sets.

Just like buying smuggled liquor now, it can only be said that each time you buy it, you will have less.

Normally they would only buy about 100,000 yuan worth of wine each time, but this time, they bought 250,000 yuan worth of wine, just taking into account some changes in the future.

It's not that they don't want to buy more, but they are worried that something might go wrong.

If there is no problem with this transaction, they will arrange the next transaction as soon as possible, which is just one day later.

Hearing the receiver's admission, the delivery cadre sneered and patted his holster. "If I were you, I would let him know how big a sin it is to stop others from making money."

The consignee had no intention of continuing to argue about this issue. They, the monkeys in the tropical jungle of Asia, had no idea how terrifying the Lance family was.

It can be said that the Lans family has now fully established itself. Once they take action, it will not just be a gang fight, but the police will also cooperate with them in enforcing the law.

If you shoot, you are attacking a police officer.

If you don't shoot, they will shoot first.

No solution.

They dare to trade now, actually they are taking advantage of a loophole. Lance said it started from October, but it is not even October yet.

As the two were chatting, suddenly several light sources appeared on the surrounding sea. Some high-magnification searchlights were aimed at them in an instant, and shouts were heard through loudspeakers on the surrounding sea.

"This is the Likalai State Coast Guard. Everyone immediately raise your hands and stand on the deck to accept our contact."

"I repeat, this is the Likalai State Coast Guard, everyone immediately raise your hands and stand on the deck to accept our contact."

Whether it was the people who were carrying the drinks or the people who were escorting the goods and had completely relaxed, they were all stunned.

The glaring searchlight made it impossible for them to open their eyes, and they soon reacted.

There were two different attitudes among the people on the boat.

The gang members who came to Jingang City to receive the goods all raised their hands and stood in the most conspicuous places.

But the smuggling group members from Yalan tried to fight back.

The cadre in charge of receiving the goods showed a panic expression on his face. He watched the guy who had just been chatting with him take out a rifle from under a rainproof cloth, and his entire consciousness went blank for a moment!
He suddenly shouted with all his strength, "Don't shoot!"

But the moment he opened his mouth, gunshots rang out, and the words he shouted had no effect at all! More than one gun, more than one round of bullets were fired, one of the searchlights was broken, and the light suddenly dimmed a lot, and then they started shooting at the other searchlight.

Their idea was simple. They would smash the searchlights and then run away at full speed on the dark sea. There was a high probability that they would be able to escape.

If they are caught, they don’t know what they will face, and it is possible that their families will also be blamed by the boss for their arrest.

This kind of thing happens frequently in Yalan. They often hear about someone losing a batch of goods or a batch of money, and then the whole family is thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

So their only thought now is to find a way to leave here!

But they clearly underestimated the firepower of these Coast Guards and overestimated themselves.

Under the horrified eyes of the gangsters who were receiving the goods in Jingang City, the three armed ships on the sea opened fire directly.

The bullets fired by the machine gun can no longer be called bullets, they are small cannonballs!
The tongues of fire spewing from the muzzle of the quadruple machine gun were like a powerful sword in the night, tearing through the darkness!
The expression of fear on the contact person's face froze at this moment. One of his companions was torn into two halves by a bullet as thick as a child's arm in an instant, and blood and internal organs were spilled all over the surrounding decks.

There was even a small piece of intestine or something hanging on his face.

People were constantly being torn to pieces, and the ship was wailing under the gunfire. With a loud "boom" from the cannon, the surrounding sea surface sank noticeably.

The two ships on the sea also experienced severe shaking.

"Farke, Farke!"

He could only lie down and try his best not to become a target in the storm of metal.

This "rainstorm" came suddenly and ended quickly.

When the machine gunner on the armed ship found that there were no more bullets, he licked his tongue with some satisfaction and said, "It's really enjoyable, but the ammunition belt is too short."

"They should have designed a longer belt..."

A gust of sea breeze blew away the smoke, and on the quiet sea in the distance, only two lifeless floating objects like ghost ships remained.

They lowered a boat, in which some armed men took board, and approached the two ships.

Although the fire coverage time just now was short, it almost destroyed the two ships, which were slowly sinking.

Some gang members who were not hit shouted for help, but all they got in return were bullets.

Ten minutes later, the two boats sank to the bottom of the water, but before sinking, they used a floating beacon to mark them.

As veterans of the Coast Guard, they knew very well that these transactions were basically all cash transactions.

In other words, there may be tens or hundreds of thousands of cash down there.

It’s too dark now, so it’s difficult for them to operate. They will come again tomorrow morning to find the money inside.

Not to mention that each person gets more, there shouldn't be any problem in dividing one or two thousand yuan.

The boat will start to return only after confirming that there are no survivors. They will continue to search the surrounding sea areas.

Because Lance said that no bottle of wine would be allowed into Jingang City without his permission!
The next morning, at the customs dock, two businessmen were surrounding a customs officer. They kept trying to stuff their gold bars and other things that represented wealth into the officer's hands.

But he was stopped by the customs officer. He didn't want any of the things or the money, and he didn't dare to take any of them.

"Help me, I can give you another number after this is over!"

They are called businessmen, but the gangster vibe they emanate cannot be washed off.

They were notified to clear customs early in the morning, which was a good thing, but the bad thing was that their containers were randomly selected for inspection.

This is so bad!
Unlike those gangs who are still trying to smuggle alcohol and beverages using smuggling ships, these gangs are obviously more "advanced". They disguise their alcohol as other goods, then go through formal customs declaration procedures and then enter the dock warehouse in Jingang City.

After being packaged, it can be sent to the designated place, and then the sales gangs will fill it into glass bottles and put a wine label on it, and it will become a bottle of original imported wine.

Jingang City is a super port with the largest throughput in the Northern Hemisphere. It is impossible for the customs here to inspect every container, so random inspections have always been used.

They will randomly select some containers for inspection based on various factors such as the arrival batches and the location of the goods.

The probability of being selected is very small, and even if they are selected, they have a way to solve this problem, which is to pay money.

Opening the container and taking a look is also considered an inspection. Opening the container is not just about taking a look, but also about randomly opening some goods and checking them thoroughly, which is also a kind of inspection.

If you give enough money, most customs officers will lift it high and put it down gently.

But this time, for some reason, the customs officer who I had worked with before refused to take any money.

"Fifteen thousand!" The guy behind him couldn't help but offer a higher price. "I promise, as soon as the container leaves the dock, I'll show you the money."

The customs officer glanced at him sideways, and considering that the other party had given him money before, he said softly, "You should tell these words to Mr. Lance. As long as he calls me now and tells me that he can release me, I will directly sign the inspection form."

A small businessman's face turned black with ugliness. "Can't we discuss this at all?"

"No one will know what you did!"

The customs officer shook his head and said, "I can't gamble my family's happiness on them not knowing."

"I can't afford to gamble, and I can't afford to lose!"

He paused before pushing the two of them away, "Sorry, I have work to do. You don't have much time."

The two men looked at the customs officer's back as he left and exchanged glances, their eyes filled with disappointment and even despair.

There is a high probability that goods worth hundreds of thousands will be seized.

Once a container is sampled and contraband is found, all containers in the batch must be fully inspected.

The wine exported in oil drums under the name of soybean oil will definitely be discovered.

They now have only one question: how did customs find their containers?
Hundreds of containers are piled together. Even they themselves cannot find their own container accurately. Why can the customs find it?

They didn't understand, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that the batch was ruined.

Sharing the same depressed and desperate mood as them were two trucks on the road leading into Jingang City.

The driver was standing on the side of the road. Their car was stopped by a patrol policeman. The driver was explaining that they didn't know what was in the train and they couldn't open it casually, otherwise they would fail to complete their mission.

But the police demanded that they open the cargo compartment immediately, otherwise they would not be allowed to enter Jingang City, and even talked about arresting them!

"I've never encountered anything like this before. Do you see this seal?"

"This is the seal the company put on the goods after loading. If I open it carelessly, I will have to pay for all the losses."

"God, I'm just an ordinary driver, why do you have to make things difficult for me!"

A patrol officer put his hands on his waist and said, "We can issue you a certificate. We request a temporary inspection of the goods in the truck. If they don't pay you or ask you for compensation, you can sue them. We can help."

But the driver obviously disagreed. The bearded driver complained loudly. He was wearing a sleeveless leather jacket and looked a bit fierce. "Why do you have to embarrass me?"

"What did I do wrong to deserve this?"

"I'm not someone who can be bullied!"

When he was speaking excitedly, he took two steps towards the patrolman. His tall stature and fierce appearance made the patrolman suddenly nervous. They immediately drew their pistols and loudly asked the other party to step back and lie on the ground.

Sometimes when people are emotional, they lose their rationality. The driver felt that he was being harassed again and again. He kept waving his arms and walking forward, expressing his views with a flushed face.

But he was too excited, and as an old Federal, he hadn't been treated like this for a long time.

This was something only dark-skinned people could enjoy, and he thought the police officers wouldn't shoot.

He thought...

(End of this chapter)