Empire of Shadows

Chapter 619 The Art of Persuasion [Alliance Master Title: Winter Rain, Sunny 333+2]

As the weather grew hotter, the weather in Yalan also became sweltering.

A large number of people gathered in a factory on the edge of the rainforest, and they were working.

There were many women here, all indigenous residents living nearby, employed by the gangs behind these factories to complete tasks such as filling and labeling liquor bottles.

In the corner of the factory were huge barrels, with a switch and a spout-like faucet at the bottom.

The women sat around rows of spouts, and after the bottles were neatly arranged, they were handed to them using a special tool.

They only needed to insert the spout into the bottles and pull the valve.

The amber-colored liquor would quickly fill the bottles, and then they would be handed to the person next to them.

The person next to them would put a sealing cap on the bottles, then tighten it with a special machine, and push the lever.

Under the action of the lever, the force was magnified, and the bottle caps were pressed hard onto the bottles, ensuring that they would not leak.

Immediately afterwards, the bottles would be placed on a conveyor belt, which would send them to more women behind, who skillfully applied labels to the bottles.

As long as it wasn't too outrageous, even if it was slightly crooked, it was acceptable.

The labeled bottles would eventually be placed in wooden crates by another group of women at the end of the conveyor belt.

Afterwards, they would grab the straw next to them and fill it between the bottles to ensure that they would not collide and break due to shaking during transportation.

Finally, the wooden crates would be nailed with iron nails and then sent to the trailer to be stacked neatly.

When a certain quantity had gathered, the trailer would leave, taking it to the port and then loading it onto a ship.

Eventually, these smuggling ships would secretly dock in the southern coastal area of the Federation two days later, transporting the liquor inside to the land.

This was the whole process of smuggled liquor from canning to arriving in the Federation.

It sounded simple, but it wasn't that easy to do.

The sweltering environment in the factory made almost everyone unbearable, and some of the older women were even bare-chested.

From time to time, higher-level staff from the distillery would come over with water pipes to rinse the workers' bodies with cold water, ensuring that they would not delay the progress of the work due to heatstroke or other reasons.

In a room on the second floor of the factory, a guy in a floral shirt looked at the continuous production in the factory through the window, with a satisfied expression on his face.

"Others only think they are filling wine, but we all know that it is actually money."

An Yalan native standing by the window turned around and looked at the others in the room, looking like someone not to be trifled with.

Just maintaining a calm state gave people a fierce feeling.

"The Federal people are right, money can grow out of the ground, it just depends on how you find it."

He had a slicked-back hair, smeared with hair wax, and even with the fan on the highest setting, his hair was not affected in the slightest.

He walked back to his beautiful chair and sat down, and behind him was an interesting enlarged liquor label.

In a farmland, two women with local ethnic characteristics held two large bundles of wheat, with simple smiles on their faces, and in the distant wheat fields, there were still people working with their heads down, as well as two barns.

It had a very good and easy-to-understand name, "Harvest."

Harvest Blended Whiskey sold fairly well in the Federation, it was inexpensive and had a slightly unique flavor.

They added some sugarcane juice during the whiskey-making process, which made the finished wine sweeter, with a special sweet aroma of sugarcane, and some people liked this slightly sweet whiskey.

In the past, as long as the wine was produced, it would definitely be sold.

But as more and more gangs started brewing wine, the competition became more and more fierce.

A year ago, his wine could sell well without any labels, but now, he not only needed labels, but also had to compete with other gangs.

After all, what flowed out of the barrels was not wine, but money, and that was the case for every gang in the Yalan area.

Trademarks help cultivate consumer loyalty, which is what an expert he hired said.

"That something…", he looked at the others in the room, "is that guy who asked us to go to Goldport City."

"The Lance Family, Boss."

He nodded, took out a silver cigar tube, took out half a cigar from it, and put it in his mouth.

"That Lance Family said to let us talk to them, what do you think?"

Lance sent this message to the smuggling liquor suppliers throughout Goldport City, that if they wanted to sell liquor in Goldport City in the future, they must go through the Lance Family.

If anyone wanted to directly sell liquor to Goldport City or even the entire Licarai State market without contacting them, then the Lance Family would cut off their smuggling channels, preventing even one bottle of their liquor from entering Goldport City or Licarai State.

The liquor consumption capacity of Licarai State is one of the best in the southern region, and if they lose the Licarai State market, sales will definitely decline.

A decline in sales meant that he would earn a lot less money, and in order to sell the wine to farther places, he would have to bear greater transportation costs and risks.

The news had been back for several days, and some people didn't take this threat from the Lance Family to heart.

Although Yalan is very poor, the population is not small at all, and there are plenty of gunmen here who are willing to take risks for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

If the Lance Family really annoyed them, they would send gunmen over there to teach that "Mr. Lance" how to communicate with the Yalan people.

But some people also believed that the Lance Family might not be joking.

The five major families have all been terminated, and maybe this family really has the opportunity to decide whether their liquor can enter.

The room was very quiet. After a while, the only person here who had gone to high school spoke, "We can arrange for someone to go over and see what they plan to say and do."

"If their plan doesn't cause us any losses, I think we can do it."

"But if their plan damages our interests, then we will ignore them."

The Big Boss nodded and pointed to the high school student who was speaking with a lit cigar, "You go…"

Since the Federal Coast Guard has started using gunboats, the risk of directly smuggling to the coastline has become greater and greater.

At the same time, the navy will be stationed in Goldport City, and it will become more and more difficult for smuggling ships to pull goods along the coast of the entire Licarai State and even some surrounding coastal areas.

This is obvious. If the navy can't even find some smuggling ships and can't stop them from docking, then what if these smuggling ships are transporting not liquor, but explosives or something?

So it is foreseeable that wanting to send goods to Goldport City will definitely no longer be an easy task.

Direct smuggling ships are not feasible, so what should we do?

Customs!

"…The problem you mentioned does exist."

Jack sat next to Lance and gave an affirmative answer to Lance's statement that "some customs officers may be in contact with smugglers."

"In the past, very few smuggled wines went through customs, but now, the number and proportion of smuggled wines passing through customs is increasing."

"Customs is not the Dangerous Goods Administration. We will not immediately destroy the liquor we receive, which gives some people the opportunity to manipulate it."

Smuggled goods are detained at the port. After being detained for a period of time, when people don't remember the matter, it will be transported out and then reported to the superiors that it has been destroyed.

This kind of thing is very common in customs, just like some other smuggled goods.

Some smuggled goods don't even have anyone to "pay the bill", and customs officers will still secretly take them out and dispose of them.

After all… the waste after destruction can't be sold for much money, but if these things are not destroyed, it's money.

Who can hate money?

Including Jack himself, he will also participate in this kind of thing.

It's just that he used to be a customs officer, but now he is an official, and the destruction of some categories of goods requires his signature.

He not only has to sign, but also supervise the destruction work. If they don't win over Jack, then this category of goods cannot be "recycled".

In addition to this part of the income, there is also a part of the customs clearance fee for the export of goods.

However, this part is relatively small. For example, now the federal government prohibits the sale of sensitive materials to the Danterra Military Alliance.

But capitalists who really intend to sell things over there would not be stupid enough to directly declare that they are transporting sensitive materials there, but instead use a third party or even a fourth party as a stepping stone to transfer the sensitive materials around the world and then send them to the Danterra Military Alliance.

So relatively speaking, the economic benefits obtained from this part are not much.

"Recently, I have done something in the hope of rectifying the smuggled liquor market in Goldport City and even the entire Licarai State."

Lance took the last puff of smoke, inserted it into the ashtray, repeatedly pressed it firmly two or three times, and then threw it away.

"I hope that customs will stop trading with those smuggling groups or gangs and prevent any bottle of liquor from flowing into their hands."

After listening, Jack thought seriously for a while, "I will withhold all the liquor that goes through me, but it is not easy for me to negotiate with others."

"After all, it involves a lot of income, and many people need to rely on this to maintain their current lives."

Lance shook his head, "You misunderstood what I meant. When I said withhold it, I didn't mean for you to destroy it."

"Before, you sold them to certain merchants, to certain gangs."

"No problem. Now, sell them to me, at your previous prices."

"It's safer and more efficient this way."

"Talk it over with your colleagues."

"If anyone feels this proposal is unsuitable…"

Lans laughed. "Give me his name."

"I'll persuade him."