xymnovel Chapter 80 Temporary "Work Inspection"
Chapter 80 Temporary "Work Inspection"
With the dramatic quelling of the workers' riots, the entire port of Piraeus fell completely under Constantine's control at an unprecedented speed.
The port no longer needs to be blocked.
Those spontaneously organized workers' "patrol teams," to protect their newly acquired "victories," guarded every inch of this land with even greater vigilance than the most elite soldiers. No unfamiliar face or suspicious action could escape their sharp eyes.
Constantine did not return to the palace in Athens.
He turned the port authority building into his "battlefield command post" and an unprecedented "provisional court."
The liquidation has officially begun.
The first to be brought to trial were Port Authority Director Mavromi Harris and the dozen or so other key customs officials who were arrested.
But Constantine did not secretly interrogate them in a dark basement.
He authorized Professor Andreas and his "army of accountants" to conduct an unprecedented "public audit" of all the seized ledgers!
The audit was conducted in the plaza in front of the port authority building.
Dozens of long tables, moved from the office, were lined up in a row. Professor Andreas and his group of young accountants, in front of thousands of workers, began to check the mountains of accounts that recorded the crimes.
A huge blackboard was erected in the center of the square, and an accountant with the most beautiful handwriting was responsible for updating it in real time.
He used white chalk to write lines of alarming numbers on the blackboard.
"Scopelos family warehouse number seven: 37 crates of smuggled French luxury goods (silk, perfume, wine) seized! Estimated evaded customs duties: 80,000 drachmas!"
"The Siren, a cargo ship of the Sigros Shipping Company, falsified its cargo manifest, disguising high-tax British industrial machine tools as low-tax scrap steel, evading 120,000 drachmas in tariffs on a single voyage!"
"..."
Every astronomical figure read from the ledger was like a boulder crashing into the hearts of the onlookers, eliciting uncontrollable gasps and curses.
"My God! 120,000! That's enough for our entire neighborhood to live on for ten years without doing anything!"
"These damned vampires! They're drinking our blood!"
"Burn them! Hang them!"
For the first time, the workers witnessed firsthand how those usually impeccably dressed, respectable figures were like a horde of greedy vampires, clinging to the nation and frantically sucking every drop of its blood.
What Constantine wanted was never a secret trial.
What he wanted was a large-scale public lecture!
He wanted to expose the oligarchs' crimes to the light of day and to the entire nation in the most direct and brutal way!
He wanted every Greek to know that their poverty was not because they didn't work hard enough, but because a group of parasites were hollowing out the country!
Meanwhile, in an empty office in the port authority building, the actual trial is underway.
Constantine personally oversaw the operation.
But he sat in the shadows in the far corner of the room, like an indifferent observer, not presiding over the trial.
Across the interrogation table sat Port Authority Director Mavromi Harris. Gone was the arrogance of a few days prior; his face was ashen, and his body trembled like a leaf in the wind. The roars coming from outside the window were, to him, the tolling of a death knell.
The presiding judge is Nicholas Costas, a former Athens detective and now one of the commanders of the Royal Tax Police.
Constantine placed a file folder in front of Kostas.
It contained not only evidence of Mavromhalis's crimes, but also a detailed record of how Kostas was framed step by step and eventually driven out of Athens.
"This is your revenge, and also your pledge of allegiance."
Constantine's voice rang out in the quiet room.
"I'm giving you the power to let him speak."
Costas's hand stroked the file folder, his fingertips trembling slightly.
He raised his head and looked at the enemy who had ruined the first half of his life and wronged him for many years, his eyes burning with fire.
But he did not roar, he did not curse, and he did not resort to any vigilante justice.
He pulled out an account book from the file folder, which Professor Andreas had marked up in red pen.
"Mr. Mavromi Harris."
Costas's voice was cold and professional, like that of an emotionless surgeon.
"On March 12, 1884, the cargo ship 'Hope' entered the port, declaring that the cargo was three thousand tons of Algerian iron ore, with a tax rate of three percent."
Mavromie Harris's body trembled violently.
Kostas turned the page.
"However, according to the logbook we found in the captain's cabin and the records of our questioning of the dockworkers that night, before entering the port, the 'Hope' docked with the British merchant ship 'Lionheart' off Salamis Island. The actual cargo unloaded was fifty state-of-the-art textile machines and their spare parts. According to the Kingdom's tax law, the tax rate should be thirty-five percent."
Costas pushed another document in front of him.
"This is your bank account located in Syntagma Square, Athens. Three days after the 'Hope' departed, an anonymous deposit of five thousand drachmas appeared in your account. Coincidentally, the sender of this money was a shell company controlled by the Skopelos family."
Account books, transaction records, witness testimonies...
Kostas gave him no chance to argue or breathe.
Using his most professional interrogation skills, he dissected the cold evidence like a scalpel, revealing it piece by piece, bloodily, to Mavromie Harris.
This is not a forced confession.
This is a public, spiritual torture of him!
Mavromi Harris's psychological defenses had already begun to crack when Constantine broke him down with his mistress and secret accounts.
At this moment, under Kostas's meticulously crafted chain of evidence, the crack was ruthlessly torn open, widened, and finally collapsed with a deafening roar!
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"
He broke down.
The port authority chief, who once wielded immense influence in Athens politics, slid off his chair like a lump of mud, knelt on the ground, and wept uncontrollably.
In order to protect himself, and to grasp at the lifeline promised to him by Constantine, he revealed everything he knew.
How the Skopelos family systematically bribed customs officials.
What are their special codes and methods of communication?
Their smuggling network extends beyond the port of Piraeus to other ports as well.
He even revealed the names of several other oligarchic families with deep-rooted interests entangled with the Skopelos family!
A lengthy, bloody confession, stained with greed and sin, spanning dozens of pages, was meticulously recorded by the clerk, word by word.
The moment Mavromie Harris pressed his fingerprint on the last page of his statement with trembling hands.
Kostas stood up.
He picked up the heavy confession, walked to Constantine in the shadows, knelt on one knee, and presented it with both hands.
He knew this was more than just a confession.
This was the most perfect pledge of allegiance he had offered.
It is also the first and sharpest lever that His Highness the Crown Prince will use to break the entire Greek oligarchic group.