Doctor, I'm really strong!

The only problem is that, judging from the results, Future Technology Group is not someone to be trifled with.

As a result, Liu Jiuli's rating was immediately raised to the highest level in Wei Yanwu's mind.

"Bastard! Bastard! How dare he, how dare he!"

Cheng Jiali smashed everything he could in his office. In his view, only Taikoo Group was good at bullying others. No one dared to resist Taikoo Group, let alone kill someone to silence them. After all, you have to consider the owner before you beat a dog.

But Future Technology not only dared to fight, but also killed the dog, and then hung it up after killing it. This is too much!

This classic double standard perfectly reflects Cheng Jiali's inner thoughts: I can bully you, but you can't fight back.

After his anger subsided, Cheng Jiali began to calmly consider his options, and he realized he should back down.

They've already played all their cards, and the results are appalling. If things continue like this, Cheng Jiali will have to consider the possibility of packing his bags and leaving. Ultimately, the resources of the Swire Group aren't his own, and if he suffers too much loss, he won't fare well either. The most urgent thing is to cut his losses. If he can gain more benefits through cooperation, that would be even better.

What? You not only want to back down, but you also want to cooperate with future technologies? Have you no shame?

For money, what is the value of face? As an adult, Cheng Jiali clearly understands the importance of knowing when to advance and retreat, and the importance of gains and losses. Shouting for violence is the world of children. Adults cannot have a binary mindset, especially businessmen who prioritize profit above all else. If being humiliated by Liu Jiuli could make up for the losses, he would be willing to lie down and wait right now.

To put it simply, strength is the foundation of the business world. When your strength is recognized by your competitors, they will take the initiative to seek cooperation as soon as possible. As long as there is a possibility of cooperation, they will understand your strength better and know how much they can gain after cooperation.

War is their means of testing; once you've held out, that's when cooperation begins.

This is definitely a Western way of thinking.

Having thought all this through, Cheng Jiali immediately began preparations. First, he would proactively seek negotiations, adopting a sufficiently humble stance and striving to secure benefits. If that wasn't possible, he would at least ensure that the hostile relationship could be resolved, that everyone would stop the vicious competition in the market, and that they could discuss anything.

Subsequently, Cheng Jiali wrote an email to Liu Jiuli, the contents of which can be summarized as: Future technology is too amazing, Mr. Liu Jiuli is too awesome, I admit defeat, let's stop fighting, if you are still angry, I will come to your door and let you beat me up, okay?

At this point, less than three hours had passed since ACE and his team finished their operation. Liu Jiuli was still preparing to fight Taikoo Group for another three hundred rounds and then climb over their corpses to take the throne. However, Cheng Jiali expressed his acceptance of the company and even brought gifts to apologize. His attitude was no longer a matter of being humble or not; he was practically crawling on the ground.

For a moment, Liu Jiuli couldn't figure out if this was a delaying tactic or some other conspiracy. Surely he wouldn't be easily defeated, so he simply surrendered twenty times.

After much deliberation, Liu Jiuli decided to meet with the other party. In any case, no matter what Cheng Jiali wanted to do, with Liu Jiuli backing him up, it would be a waste of his time. He could just treat it as watching a monkey show.

So, on a sunny afternoon, Cheng Jiali arrived at the Future Technology headquarters in his luxury car.

Section 65: Children make choices; adults only look at benefits.

(Good evening, comrades! (^?^))

Liu Jiuli never expected that Cheng Jiali would actually admit defeat. Not only did he admit defeat, but upon meeting him, he immediately bowed and said, "I was wrong," and presented him with a generous gift: exquisite gemstones from Victoria.

This is a multifaceted gemstone meticulously polished by Victorian gem artisans. It sparkles from every angle. Red is the Victorian people's favorite color, representing passion and fire. It is also Liu Jiuli's favorite color, representing miracles.

Hey, you villain, don't you ever consider a plot where you fight to the bitter end, rage helplessly, and are ultimately killed by the protagonist?

Cheng Jiali retorted, "Pah! Capitalists' lives matter too. Knowing full well that persisting will only bring misfortune, yet still stubbornly resisting, is he trying to hang himself on the streetlights because they think they're too idle?"

We're all adults. Children focus on right and wrong; adults only care about what's worthwhile.

The ensuing exchange was essentially Cheng Jiali's one-sided fawning. He first admitted that he had failed in managing his subordinates, resulting in disobedience. He then said that no matter what, it was his own fault, so he came to apologize as compensation and asked Cheng Jiali to forgive him this time.

Cheng Jiali was unaware of what had happened at the Governor's Mansion that night, but he was well aware that if he continued to confront Future Technology, he would have to worry about the costs he would incur and the consequences of his actions. Therefore, his show of weakness represented himself, not the Swire Group, a point that was clearly demonstrated in Cheng Jiali's words.

Brother, I admit my mistake, but my older brother behind me didn't do anything wrong; he hasn't even really made a move yet.

This is the attitude Cheng Jiali wanted to express: admitting defeat but not completely, indicating that everyone still has the ability to deter each other. Since that's the case, let's not go down together and let others benefit. We're all adults, so wouldn't it be better to shake hands and team up to take advantage of others?

Cheng Jiali is a scoundrel, but a scoundrel who knows how to assess the situation. After all, he has risen to the position of general manager of Longmen Taigu Group. As a dog, he is the most cunning and ruthless one. He knows very well when to show his cunning and when to show his ruthlessness.

Future Technology's commercial strength is undeniable, and they are capable of taking direct confrontation with dark forces, daring to act decisively, and even receiving support from the Lungmen government in the process. What, you say Wei Yanwu didn't provide support?

In this situation, neutrality is tantamount to tacit agreement. According to the previous script, Wei Yanwu would always ask for benefits from the Swire Group and then sacrifice the children. But this time he didn't, which means that Future Technology is not a child, but might be the Hulk.

If the Swire Group were to commit its entire resources, coupled with the background of the Swire family, Cheng Jiali was confident that he could easily manipulate Future Technology. The Swire family was a newly established century-old family, currently in a period of rising strength, with a solid foundation, which Future Technology, a newcomer, could not possibly contend with.

What, are they going to go to Victoria and slaughter the entire Swire family?

The problem is that the Swire family can't possibly travel all the way to Lungmen to do this. Putting aside the cost, the Great Yan government would have to slap them in the face first and let the Swire family know who's in charge here.

Compared to the entire Yan Kingdom, the Swire family was no match for them, a fact that Cheng Jiali was well aware of.

The relationships here are arranged as follows: Cheng Jiali < Swire Group < Future Technology < Swire Family < Longmen Government < Yan Kingdom Court.

Once you understand this point, it's not hard to understand Cheng Jiali's choice.

After a superficial show of pleasantries, Cheng Jiali left Future Technology, while Liu Jiuli played with the ruby ​​that Cheng Jiali had given him as if it were a toy.

At that moment, Talulah walked in and asked, "Are we going to reconcile with the Swire Group?"

Liu Jiuli fiddled with the gemstone and asked in return, "Do you think the Swire Group, Cheng Jiali, and the Swire family behind them are the kind of people who are reasonable?"

Talulah shook her head: "That depends on the reasoning."

Liu Jiuli laughed and said, "On the surface, he acts like a coward, but in reality, he's implying that he's very strong. That's typical imperialist behavior."

Talulah: "That's true, but it works well for the weak."

Liu Jiuli: "But we are not like that. If even a dog of the Swire Group is so domineering, it's hard to imagine what it does on a daily basis."

Talulah: "Should we continue our counterattack?"

Liu Jiuli fell into deep thought, the gem in his hand bouncing up and down like a coin, then suddenly asked, "Do you think I have any chance of completely taking control of the Dragon Gate?"

Talulah was stunned, realizing that Liu Jiuli wasn't just talking. She cautiously asked, "When you say 'control,' do you mean completely making Lungmen your own, or even getting rid of Yan Kingdom, or just being a shadow governor?"

Liu Jiuli: "Well, which do you think is easier to develop, Lungmen or Chernobog?"

Talulah thought for a moment and said, "Chernobyl and Lungmen are not far apart. If it weren't for their different functions, they would be competitors."

Back then, Kosichrie the Black Serpent had wanted to take down Lungmen, but he failed, which triggered a series of chain reactions.

Longmen, which controlled the trade route between East and West, quickly rose to prominence as a trading city. As a result, cities that originally had similar functions began to decline rapidly, either becoming supporting cities for Longmen or being downgraded to a part of a large commercial chain. This was the economic benefit brought about by the location advantage. Cities that could not benefit from the location would be devoured by the nearest advantageous cities, and the population and industries began to migrate outwards.

Chernobog was once a trading city, with industrial output accounting for only one-fifth of the city's total output. However, after the rise of Lungmen, Chernobog quickly lost its trading status and eventually became a purely industrial city.

There's also Black Serpent's ulterior motive here. As an industrial city, Chernobog is more likely to provide supplies to the front lines during wartime, maintaining the army's combat effectiveness. This is also why the Ursus Fourth Legion is stationed nearby. And all of this stems from the failure of the Battle of Lungmen.

There was no other way; the trading city was simply too easy to make money from. The enormous economic benefits had reached the point where Black Serpent was willing to take action personally, even if it was just an avatar. That still represented a considerable degree of importance attached to it.

It was out of this strategic consideration that Black Serpent instructed the Reunion Movement to operate in Chernobog, sacrificing the area to provoke a war. This was followed by a series of coordinated plans, including a major war with Yan, all interconnected.

However, Liu Jiuli's mechanical intervention, which irrationally shattered everything and allowed the Black Serpent to witness unimaginable power, laid the foundation for cooperation between the two sides.

So in a sense, there's not much difference between Black Snake and Trump; he wants Ursus to be great again.

Talulah herself had complicated feelings about Lungmen, but that didn't stop her from watching Wei Yanwu provide the rations. Moreover, judging from Liu Jiuli's style of doing things, if he were to take charge of Lungmen, the people here would definitely be living better than under Wei Yanwu's rule.

Liu Jiuli walked to the map, looked at Lungmen and Chernobog, gestured a couple of times, and then said with a smile, "I will give Wei Yanwu a condition he cannot refuse."

Section 66: This answer is disappointing

(There's one more chapter coming up, could you guys give me some encouragement? (?ω?))

For Liu Jiuli, there are not too many cards to play.

Longmen is a very special city, not only in an economic sense, but also in a political sense.

Wei Yanwu was a member of the Yan Kingdom's royal family and a former heir to the throne, only one step away from it. Even after his defeat and exile to Longmen, he still retained considerable strength.

It's impossible for the current emperor of Yan not to mind, but for various reasons he can't go too far. So he can only start from the perspective of weakening Wei Yanwu's strength and slowly boil the frog in water.

Therefore, although Lungmen has military strength, its standards are very low and do not match those of a mobile city with a population of millions.

This involves the most fundamental element of civilization in Terra—the mobile city.

The completely closed and independent civilization system, coupled with the fragmentation caused by natural disasters, makes each mobile city like an independent kingdom. The central government's control over the local area is greatly reduced, and the mobile cities themselves have a strong degree of autonomy. As long as the scale is large enough, the governor of the mobile city can completely control the military and political power. The mobile cities also have complete light and heavy industries. Once the supporting facilities are in place, it is only a matter of a word to rebel.

Given these objective conditions, no matter how hard the locals try, the tendency for division among the various countries of Terra is very strong. Yan Kingdom is considered to have done relatively well. Look at the other countries around it, they are either in civil war or have many feudal lords. Even within the Ursus Empire, there are often physical exchanges between two nobles. Not to mention other countries with the nature of a united kingdom.

As the saying goes, "the emperor is far away and the sky is high," and just look at the map to see that this distance is comparable to that from Greece to Baghdad. Coupled with the independence of mobile cities, the central government's influence has been weakened to the extreme. The fact that Yan Kingdom can still maintain control over this area is enough to demonstrate its excellence in terms of unification. It is not an exaggeration to give it the same rating as Qin Shi Huang.

However, the Yan Kingdom's court cannot react in time to what Wei Yanwu does. The network latency is severe, and if a natural disaster occurs, it is normal for Longmen to lose communication for one or two months.

Therefore, the key issue became whether Wei Yanwu wanted to, rather than whether he could.

Does he have ambitions?

There must be, otherwise those black raincoats can't be explained.

However, he was also a man of principle. He would spread his wings like a roc near the red line, but never cross it. This allowed both sides to maintain a certain tacit understanding. If the world changed, he could go to the capital to defend the emperor and explain the situation to the court officials. At the very least, he could wear a sword and shoes in the palace and enter the court without bowing.

Prime Minister Cao said he was very familiar with this.

As for how to determine this, Liu Jiuli only needs to do one thing.

Investing in heavy industry in Longmen, specifically heavy industry related to military industry, such as threaded steel pipes and bulletproof linings, is a test of Wei Yanwu's reaction.

If he acquiesces, it means that this person harbors rebellious intentions.

If he keeps making excuses, then we should directly target the food and light industry sectors, absorb a large number of Lungmen laborers, compete with the Swire Group through formal business channels, directly take over the entire Lungmen economic system, and then seize power to sideline Wei Yanwu.

Of course, this is a long process. Compared to confronting a large country with a relatively well-established centralized system right from the start, Liu Jiuli prefers to bully the Ursus Empire, which has not reacted much for half a year.

Given that dismal political structure and management model, Liu Jiuli believed that the Ursus Empire would only realize something was wrong when they had conquered half of the Far East and were approaching Saint Jun's Castle.

When the Soviet Union launched its blitzkrieg against the USSR, it took the Russians three months to react. The Ursus Empire has no chance of reacting faster than the Soviet Union; it would be good enough if it could compete with the beacon towers of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in terms of speed.

It wasn't that the Ursus Empire lacked a modern communication system, but rather that their bureaucratic system was accustomed to covering things up, believing they could handle things themselves, fearing that Saint-Germain would seize the opportunity to infiltrate and weaken their control over the territory. As a result, the news was concealed layer by layer, and in the end, if Saint-Germain received a message like "Good morning, there's fighting today," it was considered timely.

This is a long-term strategy; we have to take things one step at a time, there's no rush.

With the end of the conflict between Swire Group and Future Technology, Future Technology entered a period of rapid development. A large number of factories sprang up in District 6, including heavy industries with military characteristics. When applying for relevant permits, these documents were naturally sent to Wei Yanwu.

The approval was completed in the afternoon, and it had Wei Yanwu's signature on it.

This shows that he is indeed a person with ideas. He certainly can't do it himself, but others can invest in it, especially a heavyweight like Liu Jiuli. Wei Yanwu is very happy.

However, matters that needed to be reported still needed to be reported. Wei Yanwu was well aware that there must be people from the imperial court in Longmen.

Yes, there are indeed some, and more than one. Due to certain reasons, there are undercurrents throughout Lungmen.

On the very day the factory began construction, Ling immediately contacted Liu Jiuli.

"Jiuli, I need to talk to you."

"What's up?"

With a serious expression, he asked, "Do you know how deep the waters of Longmen are, and how much trouble you've stirred up?"

After thinking about it carefully, Liu Jiuli shook his head decisively: "I don't know."

Knowing what's the point? Once you embark on this path, there's no stopping you. Why bother researching something so useless and giving you a headache? Just get on with it.