klisemfg Chapter 1124 Greedy for money, his eyes would pop out at the sight of gold.
Chapter 1124 Greedy for money, his eyes would pop out at the sight of gold.
If Zhang Guangwen had known that his brother-in-law, Li Bo, was being scolded like a dog by Da Bao at that moment, he wouldn't have been so arrogant.
Why do local leaders treat those coming down from the central government with such deference? In reality, the imperial envoy is not scary. What is scary is that after returning to the capital and reporting to the higher-ups, the envoy sees the leaders every day, while you may not see the leaders for three or five years. Whose words will the leader listen to?
How could Wang Enming, a junior cadre who had just graduated and started working, possibly understand the reasons behind this?
Ah Wang and Ah Cai waited at the restaurant entrance. They weren't small boat owners. If they were, they wouldn't be at customs. Do you need to declare your catch?
Small boats can't sail out to sea; only cargo ships can cross oceans and transport goods to all parts of the world. So, Awang and Acai together own three cargo ships. The two recently contacted a supplier of steel, planning to smuggle it out of the country by hiding it among the goods passing through customs.
Currently, the entire Asia is engaged in economic development, and the most scarce resource is steel. The international price of steel has already increased by ten or twenty times. For such huge profits, many people in southern Fujian are taking risks.
Why was Zhong Qingfa, the owner of the heavy machinery factory, so reluctant to give up such a lucrative business? It was because the factory received a fixed allocation of steel from the state, which could be resold for ten or twenty times the profit. Zhong Qingfa had made a fortune in the past few years, but unfortunately, half of his wealth was confiscated by Da Bao, and he even lost his life.
Upon seeing the silver Ford sedan, Ah Wang and Ah Cai hurriedly went to greet it. This Ford belonged to customs and was a confiscated smuggled car.
Zhang Guangwen's car is even better than that of provincial leaders. There's nothing you can do about it; that's just the nature of customs. Smuggled goods are always of high quality and expensive.
Zhang Guangwen and two others got out of the car, and eight more police officers got out of the truck behind them. The driver usually ate with the officers, which was the rule, but no one dared to neglect the driver because he was the leader's trusted confidant.
Zhang Guangwen entered the private room first. Hu Tongxue, Tan Yuming, and Xia Tianming all stood up with smiles. In terms of rank, these people were all higher than Zhang Guangwen. There was no way around it; the highest rank in the entire Minnan Customs was only the division level, and it wasn't until 84 that they were promoted to the department level.
However, none of these people dared to underestimate Zhang Guangwen. Putting aside everything else, the fact that he was Li Bo's brother-in-law was enough to make them look down on him. Moreover, they were on good terms with Zhang Guangwen and would sometimes go to the warehouses that had been raided by customs to pick out some good stuff, which was a kind of benefit they could earn for themselves.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the group took their seats. Since they were all people within the system, their common topic was gossiping about their superiors. Zhang Guangwen was completely uninhibited; he could talk about anyone except his brother-in-law. Even bigwigs in the province had no right to dismiss him, as customs was an independent department, not subordinate to the government.
No one in the room paid any attention to Awang and Acai. He was just a boat owner, a small capitalist. He made his money only because of the leaders present; they were all his bread and butter.
Ah Wang and Ah Cai served the group food and drink with beaming smiles, like dogs licking their master's boots.
Xia Tianming and Zhou Zihao were sitting closest to each other. They had been drinking together a few times and were quite familiar with each other. Xia Tianming toasted Zhou Zihao and patted him on the shoulder.
"Old Zhou, I heard your police force is going to be disbanded? How about it? Come work for us at the Public Security Bureau as a branch chief?"
Zhou Zihao was troubled by this matter when Guan Chang called back from Beijing and mentioned it briefly. He gave a wry smile.
“I’ve been following Brother Zhang ever since I was discharged from the army. He treats me like a brother. I’ll die for my confidant. I’m sticking with Brother Zhang for the rest of my life.”
No one dislikes hearing such words, especially Zhang Guangwen, who has always coveted the position of customs chief. Therefore, it is crucial for him to have trusted confidants. Zhou Zihao is the captain of the customs police team, with more than forty customs police officers under his command. Coupled with their excellent equipment, this is a force that cannot be ignored.
Therefore, Zhang Guangwen had been trying to win over Zhou Zihao, and Zhou Zihao reciprocated by wholeheartedly acknowledging Zhang Guangwen as his master.
Zhang Guangwen laughed heartily and pointed at Xia Tianming with his hand.
"Old Xia, you old bastard, you're not being fair. You poached my brother right in front of me. My brother won't go to your backwater village. Once there's a case, he won't even be able to go home."
Our customs office is so great! Every day nobody talks or cares. It's true that the customs police force is going to be abolished, but that only applies to the customs police force that only does some guard work, like the Xiaguan branch in Nanjing.
Our Minzhou Customs faces the East China Sea and the South China Sea. We've abolished the Customs Police Team and established a more authoritative Anti-Smuggling Team. The Customs Chief said that the Chunxi ship will be assigned to you. Zihao, just imagine, you'll have control over the entire sea surface—how impressive would that be?
Customs used to have an anti-smuggling department. The Chunxi was a gunboat that was used by the anti-smuggling department. According to Zhang Guangwen, the customs police team will be renamed the anti-smuggling team in the future, which will be responsible for catching smuggling ships at sea. This will give them enormous power.
Zhou Zihao was overjoyed. The Alliance grabbed a wine glass and toasted Zhang Guangwen, not forgetting to express their loyalty.
After several rounds of drinks and dishes, everyone present was a little tipsy, especially Zhang Guangwen. Several people were toasting him, but he couldn't hold his liquor and became a bit dazed. Upon seeing this, Wang Enming quickly ordered the restaurant to prepare a bowl of fresh fish soup to help him sober up.
Zhang Guangwen was excited. He unbuttoned his uniform. The customs uniform was modeled after the navy uniform, except it didn't have rank insignia. However, the customs uniform was made of high-quality material and looked very crisp.
Zhang Guangwen ate a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. He never tired of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall made by Minzhou Restaurant. He waved the soup ladle in his hand and said loudly.
"Give me another bowl, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall! The aroma is so enticing, even Buddha would jump over the wall to get to it!"
Everyone burst into laughter. Ah Wang quickly served another bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and brought it over. Ah Cai picked up the box and followed behind him. Ah Wang served the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, then turned around, took the box, and opened it on the table.
Once it was opened, everyone's eyes were glued to it; the entire box was filled with gold bars, at least twenty of them, by sight.
These aren't the kind of gold bars shaped like large or small croakers; they're gold bars cast by the national bank, each weighing 1000 grams. Based on domestic market value, one of these bars is worth 100,000 yuan.
Everyone present knew the ship owner was incredibly wealthy, but no one expected him to be this extravagantly rich—this box contained nearly two million dollars!
Zhang Guangwen's eyes were glued to the gold bricks, unable to look away. It wasn't that he lacked ambition; no one disliked something as gleaming as gold...