Chapter 116: Setting the Rules of the Game
"Quiet the chaos."

On the flight back to China, Xie Jingxing repeated Cheng Wei's words in an unclear manner.

Judging from history, this can indeed be called a chaos. In the future, there is a high probability that Harbin's taxi industry will experience a large-scale shutdown, and will take advantage of the situation to negotiate with online car-hailing companies and local relevant departments for their interests.

Harbin is the most representative taxi market in the three northeastern provinces. If the chaos cannot be put out quickly and forcefully, other regions will inevitably follow suit; otherwise it will be much easier for Didi to expand its market in the three northeastern provinces in the future.

Is this worth his personal involvement?

Outside the porthole, the stars were turning and the night was heavy. Xie Jingxing shook his head gently: "This is an accident."

"Mr. Liu Qingliu is leading the crisis public relations team to Harbin. The specific situation there remains to be confirmed." Song Anli reminded cautiously.

"No, this is a surprise to us, and to Kuai as well."

Xie Jing Xing paused for a moment, then continued in a firm tone: "We need perfect rules to prevent accidents to the greatest extent possible and prevent tragedies from happening again."

It was a very official statement, and Song Anli was puzzled, but now was not the time to humbly seek advice.

"We have to set the rules of the game." Xie Jingxing made the decision.

The current chaos in Harbin and the subsequent chain reaction related to Didi are just a dispute between one city and one place. The most important point lies in how Beijing views this matter and what kind of macro-level regulatory adjustments it will make to the entire online car-hailing industry.

It’s not worth it for Didi to get involved personally, but the opportunity to set the rules of the game for the entire online ride-hailing industry is worth it.

Xie Jing Xing suppressed the unspeakable eagerness in his heart, diverted his attention and asked: "Have you dealt with Cui Yunxiu?"

"Almost there... I want to hire a headhunter while waiting for her reply."

Song Anli was not willing to give in. She had originally planned to take Choi Yun-soo to the Fashion Week show today and win him over by spending money.

The first few steps were perfect. She waved the American Express Black Card to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of shopping bills for Concubine Pei and herself, shocking Cui Yunxiu so much that he even doubted whether she was an assistant or a lover.

She did not give a direct explanation, but took the latter to the Rockefeller Center and booked the high-rise observation deck that was open to the public. Half of Manhattan, known as the world's financial center, was lying at their feet.

She said that this was the stage Xie Jingxing built for her, and it could also be your stage.

Choi Yun-soo, who has feminist ideas and dreams of becoming a heroine in the workplace, was about to accept the olive branch, even if it meant becoming his lover... But her phone rang at an inopportune time...

"That's good, but if it were me, I would rent a helicopter and take her to fly over Wall Street to enjoy the city view. The effect would be better." Xie Jingxing couldn't help but make a suggestion.

Song Anli nodded seriously, then asked curiously, "Can the American Express Black Card really be used to rent a helicopter temporarily? I heard that it seems very troublesome to apply for an air route in Manhattan."

"Well, if there is a patient who suddenly becomes seriously ill on a plane and calls for help with an iPhone, the plane will temporarily turn around and return to Manhattan for humanitarian reasons. Does this mean that an iPhone can make the plane turn around?" Xie Jingxing gave an inappropriate analogy.

Song Anli hesitated to speak: "Princess Pei wants the American Express black card."

"Apply for my secondary card for her." Xie Jingxing was helpless.

In the past two years, wealthy lifestyle service products such as the American Express Black Card and the Vertu mobile phone have been rumored to be magical, as if they are omnipotent and comparable to Aladdin's magic lamp. Domestic nouveau riche are very keen on using these things as symbols of class.

This is especially true for celebrities and public figures, who may have problems with their brains but are also seeking a sense of social class identity.

In fact, there is no difference between the American Express Black Card and the Knight Card with free shipping for 9.9 yuan. It is just an integration of social resources. In addition to investment, Taihe Family Office also exists for this purpose.

Xie Jingxing could ask American Express to help him arrange for him to watch the Korean girl group Girls' Generation perform striptease at Shang K, and he could also use Rittal's operation to buy a small island in Europe and establish a country, but that doesn't mean that all American Express and Rittal's customers can do it.

Song Anli was in mixed feelings and didn't explain further. Concubine Pei wanted the American Express black card not only out of vanity, but more out of jealousy.

Their interaction at the fashion show this afternoon was far from friendly. Any shopping expenses the girlfriend spent had to be paid through the boyfriend's assistant, who was a pretty young girl.

This matter sounds very difficult to deal with. In Concubine Pei's eyes, she is not even a mistress. At most, she is a personal maid of an ancient landlord.

Song Anli felt quite aggrieved by such a dramatic plot. Thinking about Concubine Pei's hostile and sarcastic face in the afternoon, if she really slept with Xie Jingxing, the first thing she would do after sleeping with him would be to jump out of bed and slap this bitch a few times.

Who doesn't have some beauty? Why are you pretending...

"What are you thinking?"

Hearing the question in her ear, Song Anli quickly retracted her wandering thoughts and looked at Xie Jingxing. Her face suddenly became hot for no reason, and she asked inexplicably: "Is Milk Tea Sister beautiful in real life?"

Xie Jingxing was speechless and turned his head to glance at him. Li Yan shrugged helplessly to indicate that he was not telling tales and it was only natural to report the itinerary status openly.

"Some media on the Internet are hyping up your scandal. Concubine Pei might misunderstand." Song Anli found an excuse to cover up her embarrassment.

Xie Jing Xing looked at her, put on his eye mask and covered himself with a blanket: "If you have nothing to say, you can rest."

Song Anli opened her red lips slightly, but said nothing in the end. She turned her back to him, closed her eyes, and pretended to take a nap.

…………

The next day at noon, Xie Jingxing returned to China and arrived in Shanghai. Old Xie's A330 airbus had been waiting for a long time, so he boarded the plane directly to Harbin without having to transfer.

At this time, more than ten hours had passed since the conflict, and the subsequent chain reactions were basically consistent with his judgment. During today's morning rush hour, taxis in Harbin were largely out of service.

The relevant local authorities urgently summoned representatives from Didi, Kuaidi and other online ride-hailing companies as well as taxi companies to negotiate a solution to the problem, but no conclusion has been reached so far.

However, there were also unexpected situations. An insider revealed that the battle for the top spot in the map navigation market, which had been deadlocked for more than a month, was coming to an end, and AutoNavi signed a US$2 billion full acquisition contract with Alibaba.

The combination of the two pieces of news and public opinion gradually fermented and exploded, and the argument that Internet giants monopolized the basic areas of people's livelihood became rampant. At the first time, some public intellectuals stood up and waved the flag and shouted - the livelihood of the three million taxi drivers in the country depends on them!
As the situation worsened, Xie Jingxing rushed to Harbin. Tang Man and Liu Qing met him at the airport, along with Liu Qiming.

The old saying goes that the taxi driver should be killed even if he is innocent. It still makes sense in modern society. Taxi drivers have never been a good business, so Yunshan has some face. At least it is not a problem to make a few connections and say a few words in private. "Mr. Xie, thank you for your trouble." Liu Qing forced a smile and shook his hand vigorously.

Xie Jing Xing patted her arm to comfort her: "Some things are unavoidable. We will do our best. What does Tencent say?"

"I spoke with Mr. Liu Chih-ping on the phone. He hoped that we could resolve the issue as soon as possible. If that doesn't work, we can use conventional means to resolve it." Liu Qing said euphemistically in a pale and weak voice.

The so-called "if you really can't solve the problem through conventional means", in other words, you're just catching a hammer on your head and waiting to be dealt with. If you deserve to be punished, you'll be punished; if you deserve to accept rectification, you'll accept rectification. Tencent will not come forward to help with crisis public relations.

This is also what other investors mean. What we are doing is venture capital, not investing in startups. If every bad thing has to be solved by the investors, then how can the value of the founder be reflected?

In the past, there were bloody battles on the streets between Wang Wei and logistics companies across the country, and later there were blue and yellow deliverymen fighting each other while picking up food. Online ride-hailing services are naturally no exception. All O2O industries are inherently subject to such risks.

Investors must be mentally prepared when they enter the game, and Liu Qing and Cheng Wei as founders should be even more so.

Xie Jingxing didn't think Didi had done anything wrong from the bottom of his heart, and he also understood the choices of investors such as Tencent. In fact, he had just talked to Pony Ma on the way here, and both parties agreed that the subsequent development of Harbin was not the most critical.

It depends on how Beijing reacts. If necessary, we can sit down and talk with Alibaba.

——Xiao Ma Ge expressed his sincere attitude. Xie Jingxing had a rough idea in his mind and deliberately asked Liu Qing in order to seize the initiative.

Since he is personally involved, he has to take the lead in this matter. Even Liu Chuanzhi's daughter has to stand aside. This is Northeast China, not Beijing.

"The restaurant has been booked, and eight taxi owners from Harbin are here, accounting for more than 50% of the market share."

As they left the airport in a business car, Liu Qiming took the lead in introducing the situation.

Outside the car window, a large group of fully armed special police were patrolling. The mess left over from last night could still be seen on the roadside. Several reporters with cameras stood outside the cordon and kept filming, as if they could smell the blood.

Song Anli opened her notebook and asked, "How are the families of the deceased doing?"

"The families of the two deceased are in a relatively stable mood. The relevant departments have taken over this matter. There is a limit to what we can do, such as giving some compensation out of humanitarianism."

Liu Qing took over the conversation and set the tone, focusing on appeasing the people before finishing the talks with the taxi company, and trying to make the matter smaller.

During the time she had been at the company, she had been in charge of government public relations. She had an intuitive sense of the policy risks that the entire online car-hailing industry was currently treading on, and instinctively resisted seeing negative incidents become a big deal.

Cheng Wei agreed with her idea and thought it would be best to take this opportunity to negotiate reasonable terms with the taxi companies and local relevant departments, clarify the boundaries and take over the Harbin market.

We should take a step back and focus on crisis public relations to quickly reduce public opinion and resolve the negative impact, and not let it become the fuse that triggers macro policy adjustments.

The worst case scenario is that in order to stabilize the overall situation, relevant local departments will turn to the traditional taxi industry and completely ban emerging online ride-hailing services from entering the market.

"This is the most likely scenario." Tang Man gave a pessimistic assessment in a gloomy tone.

Everyone in the car was speechless. From the perspective of the relevant departments, stability is above all else. The most beneficial option would definitely be to put an end to last night's misfortune as soon as possible and resume taxi operations to pick up passengers.

The songs and dances continue as usual as if nothing had happened, and the online ride-hailing service that caused all the trouble should be gotten as far away as possible.

Liu Qing looked at Xie Jingxing: "It's a good idea, Mr. Xie, what do you think?"

"First, we need to calm down the public opinion. All Internet media and traditional media need to do public relations. Solve the current problems before we move on to other issues."

Xie Jing Xing's attitude was not very positive. He resisted the urge to look at him as an idiot and replied.

Taxis and online ride-hailing services are two completely different business models. Taxi companies rely on special operating licenses to purchase a batch of taxis, and then rent, sell or hire the taxis to grassroots drivers, from whom they collect operating fees, commonly known as "share money."

This de facto exploitative monopoly has resulted in taxi companies making huge profits, while grassroots drivers have high operating costs and are forced to take detours, share rides, refuse to pick up passengers, and other methods to try to make more money.

Online ride-hailing services do not require a franchise license or the purchase of taxis. They take an asset-light approach, creating a transaction platform for passengers and drivers, taking a cut of the transactions, and paying drivers for each order they take.

It seems that transparent charges reduce drivers' operating costs, which means that the entry threshold is lowered. As long as you have a driver's license and a car, you can make money. This will increase market competition on the driver side and optimize passenger services a lot.

But there is a very serious problem here. Didi and Kuaidi are now burning money on subsidies frantically in order to compete in the market. Drivers can easily earn a few thousand yuan a month, which is much higher than the traditional taxi industry.

Market subsidies will stop sooner or later. When more and more drivers follow suit and the passenger volume increases, there will be an upper limit, and a deformed market with oversupply will emerge.

Under such circumstances, it is impossible to cancel the franchise license of the traditional taxi industry. In other words, it is necessary to retain a certain level of entry threshold to artificially regulate the supply and demand relationship of the entire market.

To some extent, this is even a way to restrain the unbridled development of online ride-hailing services, which will eventually destroy the entire market, and it can be used as a long-term and effective backup to maintain the basic operation of people's livelihood.

Then the contradiction arises. As long as the franchise license is not cancelled, the operating cost of traditional taxis will be higher than that of online ride-hailing services, not to mention that online ride-hailing services are strongly supported by capital bandits like Xie Jingxing who are stirring up trouble in various industries across the country.

Traditional taxis are powerless to resist the competition from online ride-hailing services. The conflicts between the two sides are irreconcilable, and resorting to brutal means such as overturning the table seems to be the only way for the disadvantaged groups to make their voices heard.

Liu Qing is treating others as fools if he wants to take advantage of the opportunity to negotiate and get a piece of the market now. No local functional department in the country can shoulder this landmine that concerns the livelihoods of three million traditional taxi drivers and the basic livelihood of hundreds of millions of urban residents.

Only the capital has the courage and the power to set the rules of the game and wave the baton to tell the people below where to go. Only then will the local governments dare to follow the rules.

That’s how it is. Even ten years later, there are still many second- and third-tier small cities that have not officially legalized online ride-hailing services, and traditional taxis firmly occupy more than 50% of the transportation market share.

Xie Jingxing never thought about directly taking over the Harbin market, doing crisis public relations to solve the problem, not causing misunderstandings and conflicts with the relevant local departments in Harbin, and quietly waiting for the macro-level impact that this incident will cause. The key point is to participate in the formulation of market rules.

Furthermore, now that Alibaba has acquired AutoNavi Maps, it is difficult to predict how the subsequent market competition in the online car-hailing industry will develop. There is really no need to devote too many resources to the Harbin area.

Old Xie often said that you should wear pants that fit your butt, and Xie Jingxing always kept it in mind. Liu Qing seemed a little unaware that her butt was quite small...

(End of this chapter)