The situation on the ground, however, once again exceeded his expectations.
“What news? Nothing, did something happen to you?”
Zhou Tong’s bewildered expression made Li Chonglou realize that Tie Lao had deceived him. Although he didn’t know why, Li Chonglou was greatly relieved that the company was fine.
“It’s nothing, it’s good that everything is alright. Oh right, I just got some money, take it to use first.”
There were two bank cards in total, one given by Dong Zi, and the other obtained from Wei En in the underground world.
Although the combined amount of money wasn’t particularly large, it was enough to ease Zhou Tong’s worries, and his smile immediately brightened.
“Brother Li is always reliable. With this, I can arrange the entire Shangjing route! From now on, if you need transportation, just find your own people!”
Li Chonglou’s eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, “Is the transportation team’s matter settled then?”
Zhou Tong nodded. “According to Mr. Du Lao’s wishes, the transportation team’s matter must be stabilized first. Brother Li, I actually learned something just these past two days.”
Zhou Tong’s expression suddenly turned serious, and Li Chonglou narrowed his eyes slightly.
“It turns out that above us, there is another stratum. The sixteen names don’t even have the qualifications to enter, and only the eight great families have some capital to interact with them.”
Li Chonglou was hearing this for the first time. He knew there were distinctions in cultivation realms, but now there were such distinctions in the business world as well?
“Who told you this? Du Tian?”
Zhou Tong didn’t deny it and nodded. “Mr. Du Lao told me the day before yesterday. He said that if we want to truly grow and strengthen in Shangjing, we can’t bypass the people in this circle, so we must plan ahead.”
Li Chonglou walked over to the sofa and sat down. Seeing this, Zhou Tong quickly sat down as well and poured a cup of hot tea. As expected, he knew Li Chonglou had something to ask.
“What else did Du Tian tell you?”
Zhou Tong chuckled, “As expected, nothing can be hidden from Brother Li. Mr. Du Lao primarily wants to borrow some people from you, to lend Chen Pao and the others to handle some matters.”
Li Chonglou’s brows furrowed tightly, but before he could speak, Zhou Tong continued, “Brother Li, I’m not stupid. Du Tian is, after all, an outsider, and his schemes run deep. I can’t trust him completely.”
Li Chonglou breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I was just about to remind you.”
Zhou Tong put away his joking expression and said seriously, “Don’t worry, Brother Li, I’m not that foolish. Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to manage the company for you.”
Li Chonglou took the teapot and poured him another cup of hot tea. Zhou Tong then continued, “But speaking of which, even if Du Tian has ulterior motives this time, I think it’s worth it, because the reason he wants to borrow people is for our company.”
“Tell me in detail first.”
Upon returning this time, Li Chonglou had intended to brief Zhou Tong and then meet with Wu Long to understand the matter of the forbidden zone. If it truly was related to the underground world, then he wasn’t in a hurry.
The lost lands were also a top priority.
This time, he had witnessed the inconvenience caused by the curse power. If it weren’t for Elder An’s intervention, he feared he wouldn’t even have been able to withstand the Black Spirit stage!
More importantly, after experiencing the underground world, he became even more curious about those lost lands. It wasn’t just him; it was the goal of Elder An and everyone else. If they could thoroughly understand the relationship between the two.
Perhaps Elder An could continuously produce soul bodies for him!
If that day ever came, what would he dare not do, or be unable to do?
If he could freely use soul bodies now, there would be no need for lurking and investigating. He would only need to find a key figure, directly stuff a soul body into their body, and then there would be nothing he didn’t know.
Li Chonglou felt excited just thinking about it, but for now, it was just a thought. The situation of the lost lands would have to wait until he went again to confirm, and now, with Du Tian’s matter, Li Chonglou had to take it seriously.
Therefore, as Zhou Tong began to explain from the beginning, Li Chonglou put aside his other thoughts and analyzed Zhou Tong’s words sentence by sentence.
In fact, it wasn’t complicated. The core issue was still about the transportation team. It was only then that Li Chonglou realized they had both thought of the matter too simply.
The transportation team, on the surface, only needed to win over the bosses at key points. In reality, it also involved people from the stratum Zhou Tong had just mentioned.
The Shangjing financial circle, this was the true aristocracy within the Shangjing business world!
They had been wanting to control the transportation team for a long time. In this era, although information was the most widespread, it remained the most important.
After all, most businesses operated on information asymmetry, earning profits from price differences. This inherently reflected the importance of confidentiality. And a transportation team solely for their own use obviously guaranteed confidentiality.
But the problem lay precisely here. If even people at their level couldn’t succeed, how could outsiders like them do it?
Du Tian’s proposed method was also simple and crude: use force!
The reason Zhou Tong still chose to support it after knowing everything was that, at present, if they were to actually act on this, it would truly align with the opportune time, geographical advantage, and human harmony.
Firstly, the timing.
The current situation in Shangjing was obvious to any discerning eye – a complete calm before the storm. In such circumstances, as long as one dared to be bold and do things that others normally wouldn’t, even if something went wrong, the situation would provide a buffer!
Such timing wasn’t always available. At least in Shangjing’s history for so many years, they had never encountered such a tense moment! Even the General Bureau dared not act openly!
Next was the geographical advantage. This was the central Shangjing. Sometimes, places with stricter standards were precisely the places for reform. In the past, there was an absolute separation between the martial arts circle and the business circle, and everyone deliberately maintained this distinction for the sake of peace in the business world.
But now, even people in the martial arts circle couldn’t protect themselves. Who cared about these distinctions anymore? If Li Chonglou acted quickly and succeeded before they could react, the outcome would definitely be different from usual!
This point, similar to the timing, was also within reason. A large part of the reason Zhou Tong agreed with Du Tian’s proposal was because of this.
As for human harmony, it was also simple. The current Tonggu Mingjin Company could be considered to be at the peak of its talent. Besides the experts brought by Du Tian, there were also reliable people like Chen Pao.
If they really had to resort to force, they had enough hard power to accomplish these things without needing to prepare additional forces!
In simple terms, their current advantage was so great that all they needed was Li Chonglou’s nod, and they could act on this matter immediately!
The only thing missing now was Li Chonglou’s approval!
However, after hearing all of this, the latter did not give an immediate answer.