Unlike the bustling scene at the Fuhe City Logistics Company compound, the place was rather desolate and quiet. It was immediately clear that business at Jinghui Logistics' Beijing branch was truly sluggish.
A white Audi A4 drove into the yard and parked sideways behind several cars. Chen Chaojiang and Xu Zhengyang got out of the car one after the other.
Xu Zhengyang wasn't in a hurry to go in. He stood by the car and looked around at everything in the branch office yard. Chen Chaojiang stood in front of the car door, staring coldly at the door of the second office from the east.
Inside the office, the arrogant voices of several men could be heard, along with the slightly helpless and angry response of a woman.
Xu Zhengyang frowned. It seemed that Zhan Xiaohui had indeed encountered some trouble.
Just as I was about to turn and walk toward that office, a young man who looked to be in his late twenties and was wearing a suit came out of an office next to me. He smiled and stepped forward and said, "Hello, hello, are you here to ship goods? Please come to the business office."
"Oh, no, I'm here to see your manager," Xu Zhengyang said with a smile.
"Ah, our manager is talking to someone about something. Please come inside and wait a moment while I inform him, okay?" the young man said politely.
Xu Zhengyang, the big boss behind Jinghui Logistics Company, was very satisfied with having such employees. It was impressive that someone younger than himself could be so polite and courteous! Xu Zhengyang smiled and turned his head to look at the office from which the argument was taking place, and asked, "What's going on?"
"Ah? It's nothing. May I ask who you are?" The young man seemed a little nervous, but then regained his composure, smiled, and gestured for Xu Zhengyang to enter the office next door.
"I'll go take a look." Xu Zhengyang smiled, then turned and walked towards the office without pausing.
"Hey..." The young man hurriedly tried to step forward to stop him.
Chen Chaojiang stepped in front of the young man, gave him a cold look, and after the young man froze in surprise and fear, Chen Chaojiang turned and walked towards the office.
Xu Zhengyang had already pushed open the door and entered the house.
Inside the room, directly opposite the door, is a brown desk with a computer and a telephone on it.
On the sofa by the window sat three men, some wearing jackets and others in casual clothes. Two of them were in their thirties, both with shaved heads and cigarettes in their mouths, looking arrogant. The other man looked to be under forty, with a buzz cut, a big belly, a fleshy face, and thick gold chains around his neck and on his left wrist.
On the two single sofas next to the coffee table opposite, sat a man and a woman. The man was very young, but his temperament was obviously inconsistent with his appearance; his face was somewhat gloomy. This was Zhan Xiaohui. The woman was about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, wearing a formal black suit, with neat short hair. The fine lines on her slightly serious face, left by the passage of time, could not hide her beauty.
However, at this moment, his stern face was covered with frost, and his eyes were filled with anger.
Volume 4, City God Chapter 152: Don't Pretend to Be Civilized, If You Want to Fight, Then Fight.
Upon seeing two ordinary-looking young men enter the house uninvited, the group immediately stopped talking and turned away.
A flicker of displeasure crossed Wu Juan's face as she frowned slightly, then a smile returned as she stood up and politely said, "What can I do for you two? If you're shipping or picking up goods, please go to the service room next door..."
"Da... um, Zhengyang, you've arrived."
Before Wu Juan could finish speaking, Zhan Xiaohui had already stood up and come over with a look of surprise on her face. She shook hands with Xu Zhengyang, then shook her head with a bitter expression and sighed.
"What happened? Why are you looking so long?" Xu Zhengyang walked to the single sofa where Zhan Xiaohui had been sitting, at Zhan Xiaohui's prompting, and sat down. He smiled calmly and said, "The company doesn't seem very busy." After saying this, he suddenly remembered that he had neglected Wu Juan, so he turned his gaze to Wu Juan and smiled, "Manager Wu, hello. I've heard President Zhan mention you before. This branch of Jinghui Logistics in Beijing is entirely dependent on your management."
"Who are you?" Wu Juan's face showed surprise. Who is this young man? He speaks in an old-fashioned manner, with a calm and composed demeanor. Moreover, President Zhan treats him very politely, and after inviting him to sit down, President Zhan actually stands aside. Hmm, the young man next to him is also quite strange, cold and aloof.
Xu Zhengyang was about to introduce himself with a smile when Zhan Xiaohui introduced him first: "This is Xu Zhengyang, the chairman of our Jinghui Logistics Co., Ltd."
"Huh?" Wu Juan's face immediately showed disbelief as she looked at Xu Zhengyang in surprise.
"Just call me Zhengyang, don't try to label me with official titles, haha." Xu Zhengyang waved his hand, then turned to the three men sitting opposite him and smiled, "Xiaohui, are these our clients? Introduce them to me..."
The three men also looked surprised and puzzled as they stared at Xu Zhengyang.
The obese man in the middle, who looked to be in his forties, was slightly surprised. He secretly scoffed at Jinghui Logistics Company, thinking it was utterly incompetent. Not only was the general manager, Zhan Xiaohui, young, but the chairman was even younger than him, looking no more than twenty years old. He was probably just a rich man who was messing around.
Zhan Xiaohui leaned down and whispered a few words in Xu Zhengyang's ear, while giving the three men opposite him a cold smile.
"So it's Chairman Xu. That's perfect." The fat man smiled, lit a cigarette, leaned back on the sofa with an arrogant air, and said, "Let me introduce myself. I am Zhang Tianshun, the head of Speedy Logistics Company. Well, we're in the same industry, I suppose. We also handle the dedicated line less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation business from Beijing to the provincial capital of Hebei. Our company is just across the street, in warehouses number eight to ten."
"Oh, nice to meet you." Xu Zhengyang smiled and nodded respectfully, saying, "Jinghui Logistics has just arrived in Beijing and doesn't know much about many things yet. We need to learn a lot from your experience! People often say that competitors are enemies, but I don't think that's entirely true. Competitors can also be friends."
"Hmm, well said!" Zhang Tianshun nodded with a sinister smile. "Our company is probably a bit larger than yours, and we have more cities to and from via dedicated lines, so sometimes we inevitably get busy and can't keep up with the demand. Some goods can't be shipped out, so we need our competitors to help us send them out... But your Manager Wu and General Manager Zhan aren't as easy to talk to as you. I sincerely want to cooperate with you and make money together."
Xu Zhengyang laughed and said, "Cooperation is great! Mr. Zhang, tell me how we plan to cooperate?"
"Regarding this cooperation, I was thinking that your company also has branches in the Hongximen Clothing Wholesale Market and several other small commodity wholesale markets to collect scattered goods, and our company also has branches... Originally, there was nothing wrong with that, competition is inevitable, but we can't push down the freight rates, that would be bad for both of us, right?"
“Hmm.” Xu Zhengyang smiled, indicating his agreement with the other party’s point of view, and looked at Zhang Tianshun very seriously, waiting for him to continue.
Wu Juan sneered from the side, "The cost of shipping is not something you can decide."
Xu Zhengyang waved to Wu Juan, signaling her not to speak. Wu Juan was about to say something, but remembering Xu Zhengyang's identity, she turned to look at Zhan Xiaohui. Unexpectedly, Zhan Xiaohui had a smile on her face, completely unlike her previous troubled and helpless expression.
"Of course, we can't control the freight rates, but... in the Hongximen Clothing Wholesale Market, and several other small commodity wholesale markets in Beijing, we can still influence which freight companies operate dedicated lines from Beijing to Hedong Province can open branch offices there to pick up goods." Zhang Tianshun's words carried a hint of threat and arrogance. His face darkened, and he sneered, "I wouldn't dare say anything more powerful, but it's not just boasting. In Beijing, the major clothing and small commodity wholesale markets, regardless of which logistics company operates on which route nationwide, all have to give us some face. Oh, and by the way, the large companies that operate on the same Beijing-Hedong-Hedong route as our two companies don't dare compete with our Speedy in the clothing and small commodity wholesale markets. But they have the strength; most of their clients are goods from various large and small enterprises in Beijing..."
Xu Zhengyang shook his head, interrupting Zhang Tianshun to continue, and said, "Mr. Zhang, don't laugh at me, but I know absolutely nothing about logistics. I don't understand what you're saying either. Let's be frank, how do we cooperate? Why do General Manager Zhan and Manager Wu disagree?"
"Chairman Xu is so generous! Then I won't waste any more time." Zhang Tianshun said with a sinister smile, "Your company shouldn't set up branches in several wholesale markets to collect goods. Our company can collect goods there. That way, we can set the prices. Without competition, those merchants will have to obediently pay whatever the freight costs are, right? Don't worry, our company handles many routes and collects a lot of goods. We're so busy that every now and then, we can always spare some less-than-truckload (LTL) goods from Hedong Provincial Capital for you. And you won't be shortchanged on prices; we'll just use the freight rates you're currently using... Oh, by the way, just a friendly reminder: if you can't collect a full truckload of goods, you'll lose money. You can collect some more from the Beijing Logistics Information Network; there are quite a few goods available online..."
“I understand. What Mr. Zhang means is that you eat the meat, but leave some soup for us, right?” Xu Zhengyang was still smiling, but if someone else had said these words, they really wouldn’t have been able to say them so easily, nor could they have maintained such a lifeless smile.
"Hey, you can't say that. Let's all make money together! Let's take care of each other." Zhang Tianshun grinned wickedly, his expression extremely arrogant. "Besides, our company doesn't have a dedicated route to and from Fuhe City. As for the goods we receive, there were originally two freight companies that cooperated with us using Fuhe City. I can decide to give you some of them, how about that?"
Xu Zhengyang smiled and turned to look at Zhan Xiaohui and Wu Juan, saying with a smile, "I don't understand these things either. What are your opinions?"
"Zhengyang, I'll listen to you," Zhan Xiaohui said easily, without any pressure.
“Chairwoman Xu.” Wu Juan’s face was frosty, and she was furious inside. So young, she didn’t know anything. She had the money to be a boss, but she shouldn’t be interfering in management and operations. She said, “Since our company is going to do dedicated line transportation, how can we do this kind of business that’s been exploited by layers of intermediaries? Without our own stable, long-term clients, we simply can’t survive! Moreover, Speedy Express is clearly threatening us. The damage and loss of goods on the few orders our company undertook were all intentional. Furthermore, our people were beaten at the wholesale market, and our branch was vandalized twice…”
Xu Zhengyang turned to look at Zhang Tianshun and asked calmly, "Mr. Zhang, is that true?"
"It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. Some of the younger guys in the company have bad tempers, don't mind them." When Zhang Tianshun said this, there was not a trace of apology on his face. On the contrary, his face was full of arrogance and haughtiness.
"Oh, it was a misunderstanding!" Xu Zhengyang chuckled and said, "Alright, I don't understand these things, so I won't interfere. Let's listen to Manager Wu's opinion." After saying this, Xu Zhengyang turned to Wu Juan and Zhan Xiaohui and said lightly, "You got beaten up, someone caused trouble and disrupted the place, why don't you call the police?"
“This…” Zhan Xiaohui shook his head and looked at Wu Juan.
Wu Juan was initially quite pleased to hear Xu Zhengyang say he would listen to her opinion, but upon hearing his next words, her face darkened, and she said resentfully, "Chairman, many things cannot be prevented by the police..."
Before she could explain further, or perhaps Wu Juan didn't want to say anything more, Zhang Tianshun said with a cold smile during her brief pause, "Chairman Xu, so you're saying you don't intend to cooperate?"
"Hehe, I love making friends, and I especially love making money with them," Xu Zhengyang said with a smile. "But I don't like being bullied." His smile faded, his expression calm, and he said softly, "Besides, I'm petty and hold grudges..."
"Oh ho, so there's nothing to talk about then?" Zhang Tianshun's face darkened with anger. He'd been all that polite talk, and it turned out this kid was just messing with him? He sneered, "Then let's not talk about cooperation. Your company will immediately compensate us for the losses on those shipments you handled for us!"
Xu Zhengyang shook his head and said, "If you won't pay, then sue us in court."
"You..." Zhang Tianshun was furious. How could anyone talk like that? More thuggish than a hooligan, more shameless than a rogue, and... so arrogant! Zhang Tianshun gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, fine, then you just wait and see. We'll have a proper talk sometime..."
"What are we talking about? Stop with the fancy talk. Judging from Mr. Zhang's words and demeanor, he's not exactly a cultured person, and I doubt he likes doing things this way. Why bother?" Xu Zhengyang narrowed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, tilted his head slightly back, placed his hands on either side of the sofa, and said casually, "Let's get straight to the point and start fighting. If you want to fight, then let's fight!"
Everyone inside the room was stunned by Xu Zhengyang's words.
Even Zhang Tianshun and his two henchmen, accustomed to this kind of cutthroat competition, forced buying and selling, and daily brawls and provocations, never expected Xu Zhengyang to utter such direct, arrogant, and utterly unrestrained words. You see, even thugs these days have to be somewhat civilized in certain situations.
This isn't a martial arts novel where gangs devise tactics and engage in a massive battle to determine the winner.
After a while, Zhang Tianshun stood up with a sinister grin and said viciously, "Fine, fine, you're just a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger. You really don't know how deep the waters run in the capital! We'll see..."
"What are you so arrogant about? If you've got the guts, let's fight one-on-one!" Xu Zhengyang said with a sneer and disdain, looking like a thug, completely different from his former boss.
Zhang Tianshun glared, gritted his teeth, snorted coldly, and walked out with two of his men, his face contorted with rage.
Inside the room, Xu Zhengyang's expression returned to normal. He calmly looked at Zhan Xiaohui and Wu Juan, smiled, lit a cigarette, and said nothing.
“Da…Zhengyang, this…isn’t this inappropriate?” Zhan Xiaohui walked to the sofa and sat down, but there was no tense or worried expression on his face. He smiled respectfully and said, “This is the capital city. We can’t just go and fight head-on. We’re doing legitimate business, not organized crime.”
"Didn't Manager Wu just say that there are some things that the police can't prevent?" Xu Zhengyang said with a smile.
Wu Juan, slightly embarrassed, walked over and sat on the sofa, saying, "What I mean is not that the police don't care, but rather, conflicts and disputes happen every day in the wholesale market. When the police come to mediate fights, they only try to mediate. Who would actually arrest or detain someone? At most, they'd just issue a fine or a warning... But, but if things really escalate, it won't be good for us either. Besides, Speedy Logistics Company is notorious in Beijing. They employ a group of thugs. They don't care about detention, fines, or even spending two or three years in prison."
As Wu Juan spoke, she felt somewhat uneasy and doubtful. She was uneasy because she hadn't been able to handle things well, even though there was really no other way, but as the person in charge, she couldn't shirk her responsibility; she was doubtful because she didn't know the identity or personality of this suddenly appearing real boss. Not only was he young, but his face changed faster than a dog's face. Before, he was polite and calm as still water, but suddenly he became like an extremely arrogant, unreasonable, fearless, vulgar, and reckless thug.
"Don't think of me as a jerk, I'm a good person." Xu Zhengyang said with a smile, "Xiaohui, you're too kind, well, that's not a flaw. But with people like this, there's no need for so much nonsense and politeness, I'm very lazy in that regard."
Wu Juan calmed herself down a bit, and then said very rationally and seriously, "Chairman, I need to remind you that our company cannot set such a precedent. We want to be a regular and legal logistics company, and we cannot be like Speedy Logistics Company, which has the characteristics of organized crime."
Xu Zhengyang wasn't angry; Wu Juan's attitude and thoughts were correct.
So Xu Zhengyang smiled and said, "Thank you for reminding me. I will try my best to avoid it. Don't worry about doing your job."
Zhan Xiaohui remained unperturbed, nodding with a smile.
Wu Juan was stunned. She couldn't understand why the young chairman had suddenly changed his expression and attitude, listening to and agreeing with what she had just said. And why was he so confident? Could it be... that he had a powerful background? Did he have a powerful backer?
Of course, she didn't know that Xu Zhengyang was indeed very good and very powerful.
That's nonsense. Well, if we're talking about backers, Xu Zhengyang has a few backers in Beijing, though I don't know if they're that big or not. And there's a long mountain range behind him!
Volume Four, City God Chapter 153: Heaven is High, Earth is Thick, Water is Deep
Before reaching the future capital, Xu Zhengyang thought Jinghui Logistics Company was huge and remarkable, worth at least several million, right? In the logistics industry of Fuhe City, it was a well-known and powerful company. He, the absentee manager, was being given the title of chairman by Zhan Xiaohui, which made him quite smug. Just six months ago, he was a penniless young man; now, with this title, he felt quite prestigious.
So even though he knew nothing about the logistics industry and always wanted to be a hands-off manager who didn't care about these things, he had to take charge when the branch office needed him.
Ultimately, he owns half of the company, so if it loses money, he also owns half.
Xu Zhengyang certainly didn't want to see his money go down the drain. Who was he? Just six months ago, he was a small business owner, painstakingly exchanging millet every day to earn a meager thirty or twenty yuan. He was shrewd and stingy. Deep down, in his mind, spending money and losing money were two different things.
Now that I'm in Beijing and at the branch office, I need to get involved in its affairs. Having met Wu Juan, a highly paid logistics professional hired by Jinghui Logistics Company, I should at least act like a leader, right? This doesn't mean putting on airs, being arrogant, or bossing people around; rather, it means… attentively listening to work reports and understanding some of the company's details.
It can be considered a form of learning.
Fortunately, the branch office in Beijing was not very busy because it had just opened and there were people interfering. Therefore, Wu Juan had some free time to report to the chairman on the work for the afternoon.
Well, to be precise, I gave Zhan Xiaohui and Xu Zhengyang an afternoon of lessons.
Xu Zhengyang then realized that his vision was narrow, his mind was small, and he knew far too little; Jinghui Logistics Company was small, really small. In the context of reality, especially in the living environment of a metropolis, Xu Zhengyang's mentality and ideas were still stuck in a narrow-minded peasant mentality, and he had not yet reached the level of those truly successful people at the top of society, where he could survey all the mountains below.
Indeed, he is now on another level, able to stand above all of humanity and look down upon all living beings.
These are still two different things.
According to Wu Juan, in Beijing, a company the size of Jinghui Logistics wouldn't even crack the top 500 if ranked. Let alone those mega-multinational logistics companies—there's no comparison—just consider these point-to-point city-to-city logistics companies across the country, and those freight company fleets and special cargo transport fleets with dozens or even hundreds of large trucks. Which of them wouldn't be worth millions to even dare to show their face in Beijing?
In terms of city-to-city dedicated line less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation, Jinghui Logistics is simply not even worth ranking.
There are countless freight companies that operate between two or three cities. If you don't have freight services between ten or eight cities, you'd be embarrassed to call yourself a "logistics" company.
Speedy Logistics has expanded to include branches or agencies in more than twenty cities across the country, as well as partners.
Wu Juan said that many large-scale logistics companies, after reaching a certain scale, neglect the value brought by small, scattered customers in wholesale commodity markets, and instead focus on developing business related to the transportation of goods from enterprises and manufacturers. In most people's eyes, where are the real big customers who can make money?
Similarly, the current domestic management and control of the logistics industry also focuses more on this aspect.
However, Speedy Logistics Company focused solely on monopolizing the transportation of less-than-truckload (LTL) goods in seven or eight clothing and small commodity wholesale markets in Beijing. Most small business owners throughout Hedong Province, and even parts of Hexi Province, grassland provinces, and Tianjin, source their goods from Beijing.
When calculated this way, the profits are staggeringly high.
After listening to Wu Juan's account, Xu Zhengyang couldn't help but sigh. Indeed, it's not the thugs that are scary, but the thugs with education. He said with a hint of admiration, "It seems Zhang Tianshun is quite a character!"
“Zhang Tianshun?” Wu Juan said disdainfully, “What is he? At best, he’s just a dog used to bite people by the Speedy Company.”
"Oh." Xu Zhengyang was embarrassed, realizing he had oversimplified things.