"Whoosh!
Whoosh! "The gigantic black steel dragon monster emitted white smoke as it whizzed past the train tracks at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour.
In one of the carriages.
Jones was dressed in a suit. He kept twisting and turning, feeling that something was wrong. His ugly behavior instantly caused a few female passengers to cover their mouths and smile.
"Li Wei, where are we going?"
Jones was a young man after all. After the novelty of riding a steam locomotive for the first time, he was left with nothing but boredom.
"Gaust City. It used to be a famous winery city in the Mesopotamian Federation. Many famous wineries are located there …"
Chung Shen-soo was also dressed in a suit. His hair was combed until it was shiny, and he had the demeanor of a successful person.
Thanks to Ol 'Seadog, he had made a fortune. Otherwise, he wouldn't even have been able to pay for the train ticket.
Unfortunately, Li Wei's obsession was not complete. There was still a gap.
"But … how can wineries still operate after Prohibition?"
Jones lowered his voice and looked around again.
"So … I'll be the one talking this time. Just listen."
Chung Shen-soo closed his eyes, too lazy to pay attention to this kid.
The journey was overly peaceful, and Chung Shen-soo's expectations of encountering the mysterious side were dashed.
The train finally stopped at Gaust City Station during the day of the second day.
The energetic Jones had turned into a dead dog. "I never knew that taking a train could be so tiring …"
"That's because you haven't experienced traveling during holidays …"
Chung Shen-soo gave him a sideways glance. He pulled Jones along with him, carried his suitcase, and went out of the station to find a rental carriage.
"Bring me to a winery that's still in business. The more famous and big, the better."
He handed over a one-dollar bill and said.
The driver was a middle-aged man in his forties. When he saw the one-dollar bill, his eyes seemed to glow with greed. "Of course, generous sir … Wayne Winery is definitely the biggest winery in Gaust City. Before Prohibition, the line of carriages to pick up their products stretched from the entrance to the end of the sky …"
"Alright, let's go there."
Chung Shen-soo smiled and nodded as he watched the carriage start up and move through the streets.
Half an hour later, the carriage drove out of the city. Large tracts of black wheat fields could be seen outside. In the middle of the rural scenery was a huge winery.
Chung Shen-soo and Jones came to the gate of the winery and found the guard. "We are merchants, here to place an order."
The guard was an old man in his sixties. His nose was red, and he rubbed his eyes sleepily. He replied mechanically, "According to federal law, this winery no longer sells alcohol …"
"I know, we are candy merchants! I'm here to buy some syrup! "
Chung Shen-soo replied with a smile.
The old man's eyes immediately lit up, and he carefully sized up the two of them. "Come with me!"
He led the two into the winery, walked around the huge factory, and came to an office. "Please wait for a moment. Our salesperson will be here soon."
"We … candy merchants?"
When Jones saw the old man leave, he immediately asked curiously, "Are we going to do a candy business?"
Chung Shen-soo rolled his eyes and drank the drink that his secretary had brought.
Not long after, a young man walked into the office. "Hello, I'm Chris Wayne! Salesperson of this factory, I heard that you want to buy syrup? "
"Yes, we are candy merchants from Byron City. We want to buy a batch of malt syrup. If the quality is good, we are willing to sign a long-term contract."
Chung Shen-soo put down his drink and spoke in a very confident tone.
"Byron City? Very good, we don't have any partners there … I've brought some samples for you. "
Chris smiled and brought out a few paper cups. Jones looked at them expectantly, but in the end, he sighed in disappointment.
It was really just syrup.
However, Chung Shen-soo smiled and dipped a little into his mouth, tasted it, and narrowed his eyes. "The quality is not bad. If you can ensure that the goods are of this quality, I can sign a three-year contract first."
"Of course, no problem. This can be recorded in the contract." Chris was somewhat excited, as if he could see a large amount of US dollars rolling in.
"Very good. Apart from that, we also need a detailed instruction manual to guide us on how to properly store this batch of malt syrup. We need to ensure that it will not undergo any chemical reaction due to improper handling and become some kind of alcoholic beverage …"
Chung Shen-soo said in a deep voice.
Jones, who was beside him, immediately widened his eyes.
"Of course!" Chris put on a righteous expression and said, "Helping every customer is our mission! Apart from that, we are also a famous grape town. I wonder if the two of you are interested in raisins or compressed grape bricks? "
He blinked and revealed a mischievous smile. "The same kind that comes with a complete set of instruction manuals …"
…
After taking out Ol 'Seadog's savings, paying the deposit and signing the contract, Jones was dumbfounded. "Li Wei … Where am I? What are we doing?"
"Looking for goods for the bar."
Chung Shen-soo knocked him on the head with the contract. "The Confederation is a place of law and evidence. Selling malt syrup and grape bricks does not violate alcohol prohibition. They don't even need to go through smuggling channels. They can directly enter Byron City through customs declaration … All the procedures and processes are legal. Wayne's Distillery will never allow their goods to contain even a trace of alcohol."
"So …" Jones continued to ask in a daze.
"So the real risk has been passed on to us … We need to set up a 'pharmacy' in Byron City!" Chung Shen-soo sighed.
A pharmacy was not a real pharmacy, but a nickname for a moonshine distillery.
Once they were caught, it would be fatal.
Those federal alcohol prohibition agents would track down the address of the pharmacy like rabid dogs.
"We need to recruit reliable people to transport the goods and take care of the pharmacy. Above the pharmacy, perhaps we can open a spicy restaurant as a cover …"
Chung Shen-soo said casually.
Firstly, this restaurant could conceal the entry and exit of personnel. Secondly, it could cover up the smell of alcohol with a pungent smell and numb the noses of police dogs.
"Finally, we need to open a laundry shop or some other shop with a large amount of spare change to launder money and convert the money from the underground bar into clean, usable money …"
"This series of things is complicated. But if we really do it, our business will soar to the skies. When that happens, we might even become a family more powerful than Notting Hill …"
Actually, Chung Shen-soo really wanted to ridicule them.
It was just a matter of selling moonshine. Why did it sound like he was selling something?
Jones was dumbfounded. "But … I heard that other bars purchase their goods directly from small workshops in the nearby countryside. Why do we need to invest such a large sum of money in advance?"
If not for Ol 'Seadog's savings, they wouldn't have been able to fork out the capital even if they sold themselves.
"This is a necessary investment … Moreover, if we don't directly control the source, how can we obtain a stable, safe, cheap, and high-quality supply?"
"As long as the monopoly reaches a certain scale, and we have complete control over the raw materials, production, transportation, and sales, the next step is to wait for the money to be collected. The investment now will be returned tenfold, a hundredfold, and a thousandfold in the future!"
Chung Shen-soo smiled meaningfully.
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