"Sir, our plan is a resounding success. Three days have passed, and the Jiangnan Group has made no move. They dare not deny this matter!" the secretary reported to Professor Parkinson in his office.
"Mr. Bick, it seems our initial plan has succeeded. I never imagined we would have such talent within our company!" Professor Parkinson was seated opposite Bick.
Professor Parkinson, as the president of Goldman Sachs Group, had naturally attended the previous salon. Although he had remained a silent observer throughout, he had taken in everything that transpired.
He had certainly taken note of Bick, who had stolen the spotlight. Especially after discovering that Bick's company was an affiliated enterprise of their own Goldman Sachs, essentially one of their own, he immediately held Bick in higher regard. He then transferred Bick directly to his office, leading to the current situation.
"Then what do you think the Jiangnan Group's response will be?" Professor Parkinson asked curiously.
"Yes, I believe the Jiangnan Group's response options are limited to two. The first is the delaying tactic. With the current public opinion, they dare not directly deny it, but they can remain silent, make no commitments, and simply let time pass. Once public attention wanes, they can quietly divest their shares."
"Concurrently, because the stock price has already risen, even without selling assets, they can discreetly offload their shares at a high price, at least recouping the tens of billions of dollars in costs. This is not an issue!" Bick stated.
"Indeed, that is an excellent approach!" Professor Parkinson nodded. "Then how should we counter this delaying tactic?"
"We cooperate with them first, and then strike back!" Bick replied. "Currently, the world's attention is focused on Little Swift and his Western Mustang Fund, so he absolutely dare not withdraw his funds from the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company at this moment."
"If he dares to withdraw, we will immediately leak this information. Little Swift will then be universally condemned, his reputation utterly ruined, and everyone who subsequently invests in the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company will want to kill him."
"Then, with just a black man and a handgun, he can be completely finished. No one will know it was us; they will merely believe it was the retaliation of enraged, manipulated stockholders."
"And through this manner of death, the Western Mustang Fund will also suffer a severe blow. We can then utilize other means to acquire this fund, completely severing a vital limb of the Jiangnan Group!"
"And what if he doesn't withdraw immediately?" Professor Parkinson asked.
"If he doesn't withdraw, then we withdraw. We will seize the opportunity to divest our 26.8% stake, earning more than if we simply sold assets. After we divest, we will release news that Little Swift and the Western Mustang Fund intend to withdraw their investment. This will keep the entire market focused on him, and he will remain immobilized."
"If he intends to sell company assets, it signifies he no longer plans to build the pipeline. The United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company will consequently experience a sharp decline, and stockholders will still be furious. We can then simply repeat the operations I described earlier!" Mr. Bick chuckled.
"At the very least, the worst-case scenario is that the entire company remains in a state of inertia, Huang He's tens of billions dare not be withdrawn, and annually vast sums of capital must be injected to maintain the company's basic operations, becoming a constant source of bleeding for the Jiangnan Group. While it may not cause significant damage, it will be sufficiently vexing, enough to bother the Jiangnan Group for a lifetime!"
"Vexing him for a lifetime, I like that outcome!" Professor Parkinson's face lit up with a smile. While he had also considered this method, he hadn't thought it through as thoroughly as Bick. Now that Bick had laid it all out, Professor Parkinson felt refreshed, as if he had just emerged from a sauna, as if he could already see Huang He and his Jiangnan Group suffering misfortune from a failed scheme.
"Wait, I recall you mentioning that the Jiangnan Group has two possible paths. You've only discussed the first path; what is the second?" Professor Parkinson suddenly recalled something and asked with curiosity.
"As I said before, every path has two directions, they are just the opposite."
"One path is the delaying tactic, doing nothing but dragging it out."
"The other path is the swift tactic. No delays, turn the tables, and directly announce that they will commence construction of the vacuum hyper-speed magnetic levitation pipeline!" Bick said.
"What!" Professor Parkinson's expression changed drastically. He had never imagined that the Jiangnan Group would actually have the audacity to proceed in this manner.
Even more frighteningly, as Professor Parkinson began to meticulously consider this possibility, he realized it was actually an excellent strategy.
Firstly, as they had advertised, the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company already possessed the potential and conditions for commencement. It wouldn't even require 100 billion US dollars in initial funding; a few tens of billions would suffice for the entire pipeline to begin construction immediately.
"Impossible, surely they know the immense cost of building the entire pipeline, a cost that might not be recouped even after ten or twenty years of operation. Investing all of the Jiangnan Group's assets might not cover it. The Jiangnan Group wouldn't do such a foolish thing!" Professor Parkinson muttered to himself.
"Professor, this is not a foolish endeavor!" Unexpectedly, Bick shook his head. "The Jiangnan Group simply needs to replicate what we have done before!"
Bick's words struck Professor Parkinson like a bolt of lightning. Yes, Bick was right. As long as the Jiangnan Group copied the methods Goldman Sachs had previously employed.
That is, through continuous issuance of stocks, they would continuously absorb funds from retail investors in the stock market, using the retail investors' money to invest in pipeline construction, thereby seizing the opportunity for immense profits. Wouldn't this be the best business in the world?
Goldman Sachs had previously earned over 500 billion US dollars in massive profits using this tactic, more than its profits over the previous ten years. This was truly a business for making big money!
If the Jiangnan Group and Huang He were to replicate this, wouldn't they also be able to turn their fortunes around?
Upon thinking of this, Professor Parkinson felt a surge of blood rush to his throat, almost causing him to spit it out.
In the next second, Professor Parkinson pointed his finger at Bick and questioned him with a hoarse, desperate voice, "Bick, who exactly are you? Why are you trying to harm us and offer such advice? Are you Huang He's man?"
"Professor, what are you talking about? How could I possibly be Huang He's man!!" Bick was also stunned by Professor Parkinson and looked utterly bewildered.
"Hmph, if you hadn't offered this idea at the banquet a few days ago, why would we have used various means to pressure the Jiangnan Group into commencing pipeline construction!" Professor Parkinson said through gritted teeth. "You know, we've put in tremendous effort to create momentum these past few days, getting various relevant US departments to give the green light. Huang He, without even applying, had all the construction permits approved."
"If you hadn't been offering bad advice here, we could have stalled Huang He on these procedures. Instead, everything is now wide open for Huang He!" Professor Parkinson was so angry his eyes were about to pop out.
To thoroughly suppress the Jiangnan Group in the public opinion war, in addition to releasing rumors, other directors of the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company had even banded together, leveraging their influence to order major US agencies to leak information externally, actively having these agencies approve the pipeline's various review procedures and so forth.
Many procedures that the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company hadn't even applied for had been proactively approved by these agencies, and news was then released to the public that these approvals were completed under the application of the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, clearing all legal obstacles.
In other words, as long as the United States United Hyper-Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company was willing to commence construction, they could start the next day and operate the day after, without any restrictions.
Originally, all of these were the best means to constrain Huang He. If they had merely stalled on any one procedure, Huang He, no matter how hard he tried, would never have been able to commence construction.
However, this time, in order to create an absolute advantage in public opinion, these roadblocks were all removed through the joint efforts of Goldman Sachs and other companies. Now that it appeared the Jiangnan Group might turn the tables and commence construction, reaping significant profits, Professor Parkinson was naturally spitting fire from his nostrils.
"Professor, haven't you forgotten that at the salon that day, I only suggested we build momentum on the public opinion front? I never mentioned opening up the procedures for review."
"My original intention was to retain these procedural pawns, allowing us to control the entire game with flexibility. I never expected these government agencies to proactively lift restrictions; this truly has nothing to do with me!" Bick said aggrievedly, causing Professor Parkinson's face to turn red.
However, upon reflection, what Bick said seemed to be the truth. Bick had indeed never spoken about opening up reviews from beginning to end. It was the company itself that had acted too cleverly and devised these tactics.
Could this be what the Chinese call "self-inflicted suffering"?