Korean TV series: King of Peninsula 1997

Chapter 197 Smuggling Group
The curtain of night was slowly opening, with the last rays of sunset still lingering on the horizon. A group of people walked briskly through the bustling streets and finally stopped at the door of a familiar old place.

The barbecue restaurant in Beidaemun Market is their most familiar dining place. The air is already filled with the aroma of smoke and fire. The charcoal fire crackles on the grill, reflecting Ding Qing's excited face.

Li You sat leisurely at the table, watching Ding Qing's busy figure calmly.

The barbecue restaurant was booked early this morning. Only people from the Kinmen Group were in the restaurant. Li You waved his hand gently, signaling others to leave before lunchtime.

As everyone left, the space in the barbecue restaurant suddenly seemed much more spacious, with only the three of them left.

Li You glanced out the window and saw that the street was full of people from the Kinmen Group, making sure that no one could disturb them.

While Ding Qing was grilling meat, he greeted the families of several prosecutors, and the atmosphere seemed relaxed.

Li Zicheng was still a little hesitant and confused at this time. He wanted to speak several times, but was restrained by his heart.

With Li You's encouraging gaze, Li Zicheng mustered up his courage and said, "Brother."

His voice was low, and every word seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. "I have something to tell you."

Ding Qing paused for a moment with the barbecue tongs in his hand, raised his head and rolled his eyes, "Just fart if you have to, don't hesitate like an old woman."

Li Zicheng was silent for a while. Although he had made up his mind, he was still a little uneasy when he really arrived in front of Ding Qing.

He gritted his teeth and said, "I'm undercover."

Ding Qing paused for a moment, then returned to normal, but a complex look flashed in his eyes.

He put the roasted meat on a plate, put down the roast tongs, and sighed, "Anything else you want to say?"

Li Zicheng put down the burden in his heart and shook his head gently, "No more."

Ding Qing smiled gently, carefully wrapped the barbecue in lettuce, and stuffed it into Li Zicheng's mouth. "I had some vague guesses about you being an undercover agent."

He smiled, somewhat happily, "I'm very happy that you can take the initiative to say it."

Ding Qing looked at Li You with a smile, his eyes showing some gratitude, "It seems that our Vice President Nim already knew about it?"

Li You shrugged lightly, "You know it, but he has to take the step of telling the truth himself, otherwise the brotherhood between you two will be discounted, right?"

"Nonsense," Ding Qing grinned and laughed, "Even if he didn't tell me, he wouldn't hurt me. I won't blame him, and I won't stop treating him as a brother."

As he was speaking, he quickly grabbed Li Zicheng who was about to stand up and apologize, "Shit! What are you doing?"

"Brother," Li Zicheng lowered his head, "This is what I should do."

Ding Qing stood up helplessly, holding his waist with both hands, and deliberately avoided the direction where Li Zicheng was kneeling, "I'm in a hurry to eat, just show some respect."

After the two sat down again, Ding Qing nodded towards Li You, "Although I don't know what plan you two have made, I know you must have helped Zicheng a lot."

His expression was serious. "I'll remember this favor."

Li You raised his glass to him and accepted his statement.

"Since you are not hiding anything from me, tell me." Ding Qing closed the distance between him and Li Zicheng, "Let me enlighten you."

Li Zicheng gave a stiff smile, "I don't know what to say. I was about to collapse as an undercover agent, but the vice president came to my rescue."

He scratched his head, thinking of what he had written down, and Li Zicheng looked at Li You, "Thanks to the help of the vice president these days, I have made up my mind. I also want to thank the vice president for asking someone to release my father-in-law."

"Wait," Ding Qing listened carefully to Li Zicheng's words while grilling meat, "What's going on with my father-in-law?"

"Zhijing has been threatened by Section Chief Jiang, the police officer who sent me undercover. As long as she stays by my side and keeps an eye on me, her father will have a chance to be released from prison early."

Li Zicheng raised his glass to Li You and drank it all. "It's better that the vice president finds someone to help these days. Her father is about to be released, and she doesn't have to be threatened by the police."

Li You smiled and drank half a glass of wine, "You really know that she was sent by the police."

"How could I not know?" Li Zicheng sighed, "She is not a smart person, how could she hide it from me?"

Ding Qing was a little confused, "Isn't it me who introduced Zhijing to Zicheng? How come she became an undercover agent?"

"It should be that he was threatened after that." Li You waved his hand nonchalantly, "Now that the matter is resolved, there is no need to dwell on it."

Ding Qing ate the meat and asked vaguely, "Um, Chief Jiang, did you kill him?"

"I did it myself," Li Zicheng replied quickly.

Ding Qing raised his eyebrows. "Although you always have a stern face, I know you are a sentimental person. I didn't expect you to do it yourself."

Li You shook his head and said, "The little affection between Zicheng and Section Chief Jiang was long gone by Section Chief Jiang himself."

"That's true," Ding Qing swallowed the meat in his mouth and looked at Li You, "I'll give you another 10% of the profits from Kinmen Trade, from the share of Zicheng and I."

"You must accept this. Brothers should settle accounts clearly. You have helped us so much and this is what you deserve."

One tenth of Kinmen's trade is not a small amount. Ding Qing and Li Zicheng together can only get less than 40% of the total harvest.

Most of the remaining money will be distributed among the Kinmen Group and shareholders, and some will be used as the company's working capital.

Li You was originally one of the shareholders who received profit sharing, and he could get 15% in total. Now Ding Qing and Li Zicheng gave him another 10%, so he is considered the third largest beneficiary of Kinmen Trade.

Of course he would not refuse, but clinked his glasses with Ding Qing and accepted the gift.

"Brother," Li Zicheng said hesitantly, "I have submitted a lot of evidence of crimes committed by the Peking University sect before."

Ding Qing waved his hand disapprovingly, "I know you know. Those evidences are not worth mentioning to the current Kinmen Group." He shouted towards the door, asking the people standing outside to come in for dinner, interrupting Li Zicheng's self-complaint, "They are coming in for dinner, so don't say anything more."

Ding Qing raised his eyebrows at Li Zicheng, "Eat the meat quickly."

Seeing that more and more people came, Li Zicheng stopped talking helplessly and ate the meat that Ding Qing gave him obediently. It must be said that Ding Qing's barbecue skills were really good.

"By the way," Ding Qing thought of what he had done before this incident, "Li You, are you interested in finding another way to make money?"

Li You looked over and asked, "A way to make money? Kinmen trade?"

Ding Qing shook his head. "Not really. This matter cannot be attributed to Kinmen Trade, otherwise Kinmen Trade will be caught."

Li You understood that this might be the private business that Ding Qing was developing recently. He nodded and said, "Tell me about it."

"In the past two months, apart from managing Kinmen Trading's business, I have been developing new products."

Ding Qing did not lower his voice either, as these were his most trusted people, "Smuggling business."

Li You raised his eyebrows. "This is not an easy job. The risk is terrifyingly high. Have you started looking for channels?"

“Two months is not a short time,” Ding Qing shook his head, “but it won’t be enough if we start looking for channels all over again.”

"The Peking University sect originally had some smuggling business, but it was temporarily shelved after the merger with Kinmen," Ding Qing smiled, "but it was picked up again, so it started last month."

Li You thought about it carefully for a while, "Who is the partner?"

"For now, there are only those countries in Southeast Asia, including Japan," Ding Qing said after eating and drinking. He lit a cigarette and took a deep puff, "and it's not just us cooperating with them unilaterally."

Li You listened to Ding Qing's words and understood what he meant. "Is there someone from the official department?"

Ding Qing chuckled twice, "Of course there are, and there are many of them, all newly recruited people."

The information is already very clear. The smuggling business during the Peking University sect period was definitely not so big, but Ding Qing borrowed some power from the Kinmen Group and gathered a group of people again.

"You don't have to think so complicated," Ding Qing waved his hand. "We have an ocean trading company. We always go to these countries for regular business. We just unload more goods at the dock when we go there or come back."

He lit a cigarette for Li You and continued, "Now this ocean trading company is under my name, and I am in charge of all the business. Those officials in Incheon are only responsible for protection. I will give them 40% of the profits. How can they not be tempted?"

Li You frowned and shook his head, "You'd better not put it under your own name. We can do these businesses, but our position in the Golden Gate Group is too high, and the companies under our name will definitely be targeted."

"The company is actually very formal. On the surface, it is a company engaged in legitimate import and export trade and pays taxes."

"These shady smuggling businesses are definitely not visible on the surface, and those who check them are paid a lot of money."

"You can transfer it to my name," Li Zicheng looked at Ding Qing and took the initiative to ask for it. "Just consider it as my atonement."

Ding Qing was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded, "Okay."

Li You thought carefully, "I also have someone who can replace me."

He thought of Xu Zhonglie, who was sent to Lishui by him. Now he took over most of the smuggling business in Lishui.

When Li You told Ding Qing about Xu Zhonglie's situation, he slapped his thigh and said, "The smuggling business can be integrated into the trading company. Sometimes, who can understand a few more crew members?"

Ding Qing smiled and said, "What's the point of just doing the smuggling business in Yanbian? We can expand this business to the whole of Southeast Asia!"

Li You nodded, "I will go back and tell him to contact Zicheng then."

This ocean trading company is not a simple smuggling company. Just like the interest group that Li You has now combined through his own power and connections, Ding Qing's company is also his interest group.

Ding Qing introduced this company to Li You. The company is headquartered in Incheon and has large warehouses in several areas of Incheon Port. It is quite large in scale.

The company openly imported fish and local specialties from countries like Japan, but secretly smuggled meat and meat products, as well as some scattered expensive luxury goods.

But the main thing is meat and meat products.

Li You took a deep breath. Before Ding Qing introduced it, he had never thought that the smuggled meat was meat. "If there is a problem with this thing, it can't be suppressed."

Those scattered luxury goods are actually insignificant, and the total profit is not large, because they are luxury goods after all. If the supply increases, who will still consider them luxury goods?

But meat is very important in Korea, or even the most important thing.

It's not just South Korea, but also Japan. The meat or agricultural products in these two countries are too expensive, and the production costs and product sales prices are very high.

It is also encouraging farmers to engage in high-quality planting and promoting the idea of ​​"body and land are one", so that the Korean people will pay for the expensive local agricultural products out of emotion.

The most typical example is Korean beef. The cheapest local Korean beef costs more than 20,000 won per 500 grams.

But the price of beef imported from the United States is only over 10,000 won per kilogram, while the price of some beef imported from Australia can even be kept below 10,000 won.

Due to the huge difference in prices, Li You certainly knew how high the profit from smuggling this stuff was.

"I understand," Ding Qing said seriously, "We have bought professional quarantine equipment. We will conduct the most stringent inspections on the meat that comes in. The people below are my confidants. They know the seriousness of the matter and will not be careless about this kind of thing."

"Those officials also took it seriously. After all, if they were caught, they would be in a much worse situation than me."

Ding Qing smiled and said, "Besides, Hui Zicheng will be in charge of these matters, so we can rest assured."

Li You nodded, "That's good."

(End of this chapter)