The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 811 Facing Malicious Competition!!!

What frustrates Western oil giants even more is that the "Liu" Group had already built a complete industrial ecosystem on the Kashagan project.

From exploration and development to pipeline transportation, from refining and processing to end-user sales, each link has formed a closed-loop advantage.

Especially in terms of technological innovation, the polar drilling platform and intelligent pipeline monitoring system independently developed by "Liu's" have enabled the oilfield to maintain stable production even in the frigid conditions of minus 40 degrees Celsius.

In recent years, with the rapid expansion of the "Liu's Mining Group" in overseas markets, its business footprint has continued to extend to mineral-rich areas around the world.

This inevitably touched a nerve with the established mining giants, primarily driven by Western capital.

These industry giants with a century-long history are no ordinary players. Like vultures entrenched in the resource sector, they have long built solid barriers across the global mining landscape.

Faced with the rise of new forces, these established companies have demonstrated the "skill" commensurate with their long history.

When direct market competition failed to curb the expansion of the "Liu's Mining Group," these mining oligarchs began to resort to underhanded tactics.

From political lobbying to media manipulation, from supply chain blockades to the establishment of technological barriers, various underhanded business tactics have emerged one after another, all with the same goal: to hinder and block the development momentum of this Dongda enterprise.

However, these open and covert attacks failed to stop the Liu family's advance.

People generally believe that the "Liu's Mining Group" has developed exceptionally rapidly in less than 20 years, taking big steps every year, but they are unaware of the extremely treacherous "competitive" environment that the company faces behind the scenes.

At the board meeting, Liu Zhenbang, the group's leader, stated unequivocally: "The more they suppress us, the more it proves that they are afraid of us, afraid of the rise of Dongda, and afraid that we are on the right track."

Liu Zhenbang's gaze swept across the faces of every executive in the conference room, his fingers tapping lightly on the solid wood table.

“They want to mess with us, but we’re not unprepared.” He gestured to his assistant to turn on the projector, which displayed a global mineral distribution map, densely marked with red markers.

“Over the past few years, all 12 of our key mining areas in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia have been put into operation.”

Group CFO Chen Ming pushed up his glasses and added, "More importantly, we have signed 20-year 'resources-for-infrastructure' agreements with 17 resource-rich countries. These countries are facing financial difficulties and desperately need the massive investment from 'Liu's Overseas Capital'..." His tone carried a hint of pride, "Western capital wanted to strangle us through the supply chain, but now it's their turn to worry about being strangled!"

A knowing laugh rang out in the conference room.

Liu Zhenbang nodded slightly, signaling his assistant to switch to the next slide.

A complex global logistics network map appeared on the screen, with transport routes flashing blue dots connecting continents like blood vessels.

"This is the 'Silk Road Logistics System' that our group has spent five years building," Liu Zhenbang said in a steady and powerful voice. "Through the 37 ports and railway hubs controlled by the 'Liu's Logistics Group,' we have established a completely independent mineral resource transportation channel."

Just then, the conference room door was gently pushed open.

General Counsel Zhang Wen rushed in, her face filled with barely concealed panic: "Chairman, something terrible has happened! We just received news from Zanbiya that they unilaterally tore up the agreement and have completely turned against us..."

Zhang Wen's words exploded like a thunderclap in the conference room.

All eyes were focused on the urgent document in her hand, and the blue light from the projection screen illuminated the solemn faces of the executives.

Liu Zhenbang took the document, his brow furrowing as he scanned its contents. The document prominently displayed the latest statement from the Ministry of Energy of Asia: terminating all cooperation agreements with "Liu's Mining Group," freezing its domestic assets, and accusing the group of "improper business practices."

"As expected, they've arrived." Liu Zhenbang sneered, handing the documents to the vice president beside him. "These Western capitalists finally couldn't hold back any longer."

Not long ago, a lawsuit filed in Africa shocked the world.

More than 400 local villagers in the country sued Liu’s Mining Group, a well-known mining company in Dongda, and demanded a staggering $50 billion in compensation.

Five hundred billion, in US dollars! What does that mean? You could sell the entire country of Asia for two years and it would cost about the same.

The trigger for this incident was a tailings dam leak that occurred earlier this year.

At the time, everyone thought the matter was over. Who could have imagined that it would escalate into such a high-profile lawsuit a few months later?
The news caused an uproar at Dongda University even before the "Liu's Mining Group" had made any moves.

Good heavens, we went through all that trouble to get to your poor, remote place, clearing roads through mountains and building bridges over rivers. What were we doing all that toil for?

In the end, instead of receiving flowers of gratitude, I was presented with a bill that could overwhelm you.

How could such goodwill be wasted on dogs?

To be fair, the work done by Southeast University's overseas enterprises, such as "Liu's Overseas Mining," is genuinely substantial.

After all, everyone knows that when they go out, they represent the image of a student from Tokyo University.

Doing anything that tarnishes the reputation of our fellow countrymen is absolutely unacceptable.

From the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway in East Africa to Lekki Port in West Africa, the sweat of students from East China University has been poured across this land.

The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has been running for over 3,000 days without a single mishap, reducing a bumpy seven-hour journey to a four-hour afternoon tea time, transporting tens of millions of people and tens of millions of tons of goods.

Lekki Deepwater Port in Niger was the first modern port in West Africa. It was the "Liu's Infrastructure Group" that revitalized the previously chaotic logistics here.

Not to mention inland areas, the "Liu's Infrastructure Group" built a hydroelectric dam in Ethiopia, bringing light to 50,000 households at night;
The new highway in Mali allows mangoes from remote mountain villages to reach the capital in just three days, doubling their price.

Countless Africans like Mary have benefited from this.

Compared to Western capitalist companies, Dongda's companies are very socially responsible. They come to Africa not only to make money, but also to help the locals get rich and improve their lives.

But none of this stopped the lawsuit worth 50 billion.

However, behind this seemingly sudden lawsuit lies a more complex power struggle.

Recently, a large number of reports have suddenly appeared in some foreign media, exaggerating an ordinary tailings leak accident into an "environmental disaster," and some Western environmental organizations have taken the opportunity to make a big fuss about it.

Meanwhile, edited so-called "victim interviews" circulated on overseas social media, in which emaciated locals were deliberately spliced ​​together with the "Liu's Mining" logo.

Liu Zhenbang put down the documents, his eyes gleaming: "This is a premeditated trap. They first used public opinion to create momentum, then exerted legal pressure, and finally tried to force us to submit."

He turned to the legal team and said, "Immediately activate the emergency plan and establish three working groups: the first group will be responsible for international arbitration, the second group will investigate the masterminds behind it, and the third group will prepare countermeasures."

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became tense.

Just then, the phone of the head of the international business department suddenly rang.

His expression changed drastically after he finished the call: "Chairman, I just received news that Western Union has suddenly announced a 25% special tariff on our mineral products, citing 'environmental compensation fees' as the reason."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhenbang laughed instead: "What a well-executed combination of moves. However," he stood up and walked to the world map, "they forgot one thing—we are not a lone wolf company; behind us is the entire 'Liu Family'..."

Such blatant targeting from the enemy indicates that it's not simply a matter of commercial competition.

Since they were going to use underhanded tactics against the "Liu's Mining Group," Liu Zhenbang decided to find a "backer."

The timing of this lawsuit is too coincidental, almost like something out of a script.

Zanbiya still owes Dongda billions of dollars in debt. At this critical juncture, it has completely turned against them and broken ties with "Liu's Mining Group." What is it trying to achieve?
Even more interestingly, just last month, the Americans made a high-profile announcement that they would invest heavily in the "Lobito Corridor" in Bia.

The purpose? It's obvious they want to bypass the logistics line that Dongda has been operating for many years and steal our business.

This is a very big game.

No sooner had a prominent American mining giant declared its intention to challenge the "Liu's Mining Group's" dominance in the copper and cobalt market than this lawsuit erupted. While the African Union remained silent, its mining departments tacitly approved the investigation, prompting Western media to pounce, unanimously accusing the "Liu's Mining Group" of concealing the scale of the accident.

An ordinary civil dispute has suddenly turned into a major drama on the international stage.

But then again, it would be too much of an overestimation of ourselves to shift all the blame onto external forces.

Flies do not bite seamless eggs.

The reason why the lawsuit against Zanbiya could turn from a technical issue into a public outcry lies with Dongda Enterprise itself.

The people from Dongda University helped build high-rise buildings in the area, but they failed to win the hearts of some locals.

Language is the first wall.

Dr. Hua Qing, who has worked here for many years for the "Liu's Mining Group," said that he writes papers, attends international conferences, and speaks fluent English. He is not afraid to debate with experts from Europe and the United States.

But as soon as he sat down at the negotiating table with the African business owner and listened to their heavily accented and wildly grammatically incorrect English, he was instantly dumbfounded. He went from being a social butterfly to being mute, having to repeat himself several times for every single sentence.

This is not an isolated case.

There are more than two thousand languages ​​in Africa. Even in Mary, where French is the official language, the locals usually chat in their own Bambara language.

The engineers of "Liu's Mining Group" had to go through two translations: from "local dialect" to "local English" and then to "English we can understand." By the time they heard the information, the meaning had long since been distorted, and that's how the misunderstanding arose.

Culture is more difficult to understand than language.

In Ethiopia, a Chinese manager of the "Liu's Mining Group" lost his temper on the spot and deducted everyone's bonuses because the local employees left on time.

He didn't understand. The project was in such a rush, what was wrong with working overtime?
The next day, several employees simply didn't come to work.

He asked around and found out that it was a colleague's child's birthday the day before. In their culture, family matters are the most important.

This cultural incompatibility has led many companies from Southeast Asia that invest in Africa into a vicious cycle: they would rather spend a lot of money to hire people from China than dare to employ local staff.

A factory owner in Kenya did the math: sending a technician from China, including salary and subsidies, costs more than 10,000 yuan a month; hiring a college graduate locally only costs 3,000 yuan.

The price difference is three or four times, but people still choose the more expensive one.

Why? Because I'm afraid of losing control.

Many grassroots managers treat local translators like thieves.

They felt that translation was their only channel to the outside world, and they were afraid that others would take advantage of the information gap to cause trouble, or collude with the locals to sideline them.

A project director at a state-owned enterprise in Dongguan even said that he would rather hire a recent English graduate from China at a high price than use a local translator, because "they don't understand the technical terms."

But your company hasn't trained them at all, so how can you expect them to be born with the skills?
This distrust has wasted so many opportunities.

A trading company in Uzbekistan has good products, but it can't sell them.

Later, when all else failed, they tried hiring a local sales manager.

guess what?

The manager's uncle is the vice president of the local chamber of commerce. Within a week of taking office, he had already secured a deal with the largest home appliance chain supermarket in the country.

The situation opened up immediately.

The alarm bells rang in Liu Zhenbang's ears at the thought of the $50 billion loss.

Geographical politics are the broader context, but the "Liu's Mining Group" itself also has weaknesses, which are the entry points for their attacks.

Enterprises like Liu's Mining Group, when venturing out, can no longer simply be "infrastructure maniacs" focused on building; they must learn to be welcoming "neighbors."

Fortunately, change is already underway.

Following the tailings dam accident, Liu's Mining Group not only cooperated with the investigation, but also took the initiative to hold a communication meeting with local people, inviting local representatives to discuss how to restore the environment, and even set up a foundation.

This attitude of not shirking responsibility and daring to take charge is gradually winning people's hearts back.

In Lusaka, the capital of Georgia, a unique community football match is underway.

Children wearing jerseys printed with the national flags of East and West Asia cheered around the newly appointed community liaison officer, Zhang Kaiwen.

This mixed-race youth, who speaks fluent Bambara, has a father who is a miner from Shanxi and a mother who is a teacher in Mali.

A recent report from the legal department of Liu's Mining Group indicates a subtle shift in public opinion.

The front page of the largest local newspaper, the African Business Daily, featured a report on the Minister of Mines' inspection of the restoration project. Among the environmental workers wearing protective suits in the accompanying photos, one-third were local university students.

On social media, under the hashtag #ThankYouDongDa, selfie videos of Asian women showing off newly built wells have begun to appear.

"Chairman, we just received an invitation to a meeting from the African Union." The secretary pushed open the door to report, and Liu Zhenbang was reviewing the newly drafted cooperation agreement.

Liu Zhenbang knew that the real problem wasn't the issue of the "Zanbiya" incident.

The real rivals of the "Liu's Mining Group" are those overseas mining giants who are passively profiting from the market.

Liu Zhenbang closed the document and his gaze fell on the real-time ore price trend chart on the wall.

The sudden and unusual fluctuations in the copper price curve confirmed his judgment—this storm was far more complex than it appeared on the surface.

"Notify the Strategic Investment Department to immediately activate Plan B." He pressed the communication button on the table. "Have the project team in Tanzania, which is next to Libya, speed up the process. We need to open up a transportation corridor between the two countries within three months."

Liu Zhenbang recalled a sentence his uncle Liu Zhiye had said when he first set foot on the African continent more than ten years ago: "To do business overseas, you have to be like a banyan tree—you have to grow upwards and also put down roots."

The general counsel rushed in: "Chairman, breaking news! Western Union has announced that it will launch an anti-dumping investigation against us."

Interestingly, however, it was BASF, a German company, that extended a cooperation invitation to us.

"As expected." Liu Zhenbang chuckled and spun the globe. "Some people want to force us out of the game, while others want to hitch a ride on our coattails."

"These Westerners aren't a monolithic group after all!"

Liu Zhenbang's finger traced lightly across the globe, finally stopping at the Europa Plate.

He recalled a secret dinner in Brussels last month—a BASF executive, under the guise of wine tasting, implied that they were being squeezed out of market share by North American mining giants and wanted to seek help from the "Liu's Mining Group".

The saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" applies equally to the international business world.

Liu Zhenbang knew that the globalization journey of "Liu's Mining Group" was still a long one.

To go far and steadily, you have to abandon the get-rich-quick mentality and have the patience to accept that success doesn't have to be yours.

The competition of the future will not be about who has the strongest steel and concrete, but about who understands culture better, integrates into society better, and wins people's hearts better.

(End of this chapter)