Chapter 320 Above the Ten Thousand People
On the night when Xie Jingxing released the promotional poster, Meituan’s official Weibo account followed up with a subsidy promotional poster.

Late at night, Baidu announced that it would directly invest in Baidu Nuomi to increase its market competitiveness, restarting the melee on two fronts from food delivery to group buying.

The storm continued to blow through Wuxi until the next day, when the relevant local departments finally caught up with the storm and imposed penalties on unfair competition and monopolistic business practices. The subject of the penalty was only mentioned with a few words: "relevant food delivery platforms."

As for the street bloodbath involving hundreds of people, all the major punishments were dealt with swiftly, and the related public opinion that dominated the public's attention for many days was also dealt with.

Whether it was Ele.me confronting CCTV or Meituan secretly changing the prices on merchants' menus, they all disappeared completely.

“Related food delivery platforms?”

The bald man sneered and threw down his phone, causing dust to fly up from the ashtray. He picked up the cup of tea filled with Da Hong Pao and sipped it, while in his other hand he pinched two walnuts that made a rattling sound.

His name is Gao Ming. The president of the city's calligraphy association said "Gaoming means heaven". The name Gao must have been chosen by a master of Chinese studies.

The president didn't know that he actually had two brothers named Gao Liang and Gao Guang. They were named by their illiterate father.

When they were young, in order to seize a river sand building materials factory, two younger brothers picked up a five-shot homemade rifle and shot a family of three of their enemy on the battlefield. Then they were shot by a 56 semi-automatic rifle.

But since no one was trying to take over the battlefield, he gradually expanded his business by himself. Now he runs a financial loan company, the largest department store in the area, the most upscale hotel in the area, and a logistics company.

Counting on my fingers, twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. The bloody battlefield has turned into a clean industry. The complexity and sadness in it cannot be explained to outsiders.

From this perspective, it is not wrong for the president to say that he is smart, and he thinks he is indeed very smart.

"Brother, Old Zhang said he doesn't want to talk!"

The office door was pushed open, and a man in his thirties with a scar on his face walked in cursing. He slumped down on the Italian imported sofa, with his feet resting on the edge of the mahogany coffee table.

Gao Ming's temples throbbed and he was so angry. Damn it, how can I be considered Gao Ming with someone like you?

Scarface felt the deep gaze and immediately stood up and walked out of the office. He bowed slightly and knocked on the door carefully before coming in: "Chairman, Mr. Zhang, the city agent of Ele.me, is unwilling to arrange a dinner with us."

"Mr. Zhang didn't say anything else?" Gao Ming supported his chin with a leisurely and lazy look.

Scarface thought for a moment and said, "I told you, Mr. Zhang said that no matter who survives, Li Huazi must die first."

"Damn it... Hey, I don't know what Ele.me has been telling Mr. Zhang. Let's go talk to him properly. We can talk about it in person if we have anything to say."

Gao Ming immediately became furious and glared, trying hard to hold back his curse words, sighing and looking sad.

Scarface gritted his teeth, wondering whether he should offer a plan, such as picking up Old Zhang's wife from get off work tonight. But then he looked at the half-pound pure gold Buddha amulet around his eldest brother's neck and finally gave up.

My eldest brother now eats vegetarian food, practices compassion and does not do evil things.

But in this damn society, you can’t make money by being a vegetarian. Those cunning bastards are really not afraid of them and even dare to cheat them!
"Go away, go away, stop bothering me here."

Gao Ming rubbed his bald head to chase people away, then he remembered something and added, "By the way, ask Manager Sun to come over."

Scarface responded with a solemn expression and left. Manager Sun was a top student and a capable and educated person. He helped the group's financial loan company develop Internet programs and transformed it into an Internet consumer finance institution.

City leaders came specially to inspect and praised local private enterprises for learning from them and making persistent efforts to transform to high-tech and high-innovation industries.

It was also Manager Sun's idea to become Meituan's city agent. He said that this thing belongs to the people's livelihood economy, and making money requires steady and long-term efforts, just like a power station water supply company.

Gao Ming understood that this was a business that could support him for a lifetime!
He has been in this county-level city that can only be seen when zooming in on the local satellite map. He has been living there for most of his life and has had plenty of fame and fortune, but they were all for quick money. Now that he is old enough, he has to think about his children.

So, Gao Ming signed a three-year city agency contract with Meituan. At first, he actively cooperated with Meituan and contributed money and effort to the activities. The early investment was to defeat the competitors and make more money in the future. Gao Ming was very clear about this principle.

As a result, after more than half a year, he burned through nearly one million in cash, but his competitors were still alive and well, which was a bit difficult to bear.

"Xiao Sun, why do I feel that these food delivery platforms are burning money endlessly? You said that their money comes from the wind, so don't you feel sorry for it?" Gao Ming poured the tea himself to show his respect.

Manager Sun looked very young and smiled shyly, "Boss Gao, all Internet start-ups are like this. The more money they spend, the more money they can get from investors."

"They can get money from investors, but we can't." Gao Ming frowned slightly in distress.

Manager Sun was speechless for a moment. He had proposed a plan some time ago to separate Meituan's city agency rights from the group and introduce other shareholders of the loan company to invest in it, imitating Ele.me and Meituan to share the competition costs through financing.

However, the small bosses who had some money in this poor place were all very poor. After seeing that they had burned through hundreds of thousands of dollars in half a year, they refused to invest and joined the business. They totally lacked the courage of the rich people in big cities.

Manager Sun felt quite lonely as if he had skills to slay dragons but nowhere to display them. Everyone knows how to operate capital, but he just doesn't have a platform like Xie Jingxing. Times do not create heroes, but make young men famous!
"Boss Gao, I think we should continue the fight. Whether or not we can kill Ele.me is not the same. Let's kill Li Huazi first!"

He muttered a few sad and sour words in his heart, then regrouped and made suggestions.

Mr. Gao grinned: "What a coincidence, Old Zhang thought the same way."

"When Coca-Cola and Pepsi fought, Fanta was gone; when Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji fought, Heqi Zheng was gone. Since ancient times, in the business world, the third-largest player will be killed first, and the biggest player will be able to divide up the market share." Manager Sun analyzed in a sonorous and powerful voice.

"That's the truth."

President Gao directly pointed out: "Xiao Sun, please analyze it again. Will Ele.me and Meituan have to decide the winner and monopolize the market in the end? Is it possible for the two companies to coexist peacefully?"

"Mr. Gao, I think it's unlikely. The Internet industry has a stronger head effect than traditional industries. Only monopoly can maximize traffic harvesting." Manager Sun was full of confidence.

Gao Ming shook his neck to ease his impatience. He didn't care why he had to have a monopoly, he just wanted to know when the money burning would stop!

Old Zhang is not actually old. He is a rich second-generation in his twenties. He may have had too much time studying abroad and his hair turned gray prematurely, so everyone calls him Old Zhang.

He has been very restless since he returned home after graduation. He gradually took millions of startup funds from his father's factory, but each time he failed, he lost so much money that he had no idea what to do.

I heard that his father was so angry that he regretted and cursed at home, saying that he should have shot him against the wall. However, last year when Ele.me came to the local area to bid for the city agent, Old Zhang boasted that he and Xie Jingxing were buddies and often played together when they were studying abroad in New York.

His father immediately performed the stop-inch challenge on the spot and stopped shooting at the wall. His wealthy father waved his hand and gave him another 5 million in start-up capital, and also sponsored a lot of money for making friends.

Old Zhang took the money and went to Shanghai to hang out for more than half a month. It was unknown whether he really knew Xie Jingxing or took some unorthodox route. When he came back, he signed a five-year city agency contract with Ele.me.

Gao Ming specifically inquired about it and found that in several surrounding counties, whether it was Meituan, Ele.me or Baidu Waimai, the agency rights were all signed for three years. It didn't matter how Zhang signed the five-year contract. The key was that if he spent three years with the brain-damaged rich second generation and still couldn't decide who would win, it would be a bit abnormal if Meituan didn't renew the contract with him when the agency rights expired.

There is also Li Huazi, who was a welder in his early years. His eyes were blinded by welding, so he saved some money and worked as a city agent for Baidu Takeout. People in the industry nicknamed him Hua Laoban.

Gao Ming never took this kind of stuff seriously, but there were too many of them. Just like Manager Sun found a few computer science students to turn his loan company into a consumer finance APP.

The software development of the food delivery platform is also not difficult. In addition to the three local agents, Ele.me, Meituan, and Baidu, there are two local platforms whose business scope is only in a few surrounding counties.

No matter how long the three foreign companies sign the agency rights, it is only long-term. The two local platforms are actually the entire wealth and life of their bosses.

They may not be able to compete in spending money, but judging by their determination in fighting, they are definitely not cowardly at all.

All in all, a small county-level city is more chaotic than the Three Kingdoms. In the future, even if a local small boss who has some money has a brainwave, he may outsource the entire food delivery platform software and a new force will emerge out of nowhere.

The life experience of the past twenty years is not enough to help Gao Ming see the future clearly. He has never seen such a business. To go to the battlefield, it is not enough to just be ruthless, you also need connections.

This fucking takeout industry is like a bitch. As long as you have money, anyone can come in and have a try. There are absolutely no industry barriers or moats.

"I can't see the end, little sun."

Gao Ming touched the golden Buddha amulet on his chest with one hand and said, "We should either buy the agency rights of Ele.me and Baidu Waimai, or sell our agency rights to that brat from the Zhang family. No matter what we do, we have to do it quickly and efficiently."

“What about the current activities on the platform?” Manager Sun couldn’t help but clench his fists.

Gao Ming made the decision decisively and said with gritted teeth: "Hit them! Free delivery, 10 yuan red envelope for new users, 20 yuan off for orders over 6 yuan on the platform. If we don't hurt them, we won't be able to negotiate a good price."

"I'll arrange it right away." Manager Sun's heart ached badly.

Small cities are different from big cities. Diners often go to restaurants offline and are familiar with the prices, so they cannot use the food delivery platforms’ trick of raising prices and then reducing them. Every subsidy and discount is a real cut of the agents’ flesh and blood.

Mr. Gao has invested a lot of money this time and is going to have a hard time. If he can drive Old Zhang and Li Huazi away and take over their agency rights, there will naturally be no talk of burning money in competition in the future; if he cannot drive them away, he can sell his own Meituan agency rights and cut losses in time, and there is nothing to say.

The Three Kingdoms War was about to break out in the county town. Gao Ming took the lead and mobilized his thirty cavalrymen to sweep the entire town.

This war, which will not leave any trace in the history of the takeout industry, entered a highly intense and bloody state from the very beginning.

On the first day, the delivery riders of the two local food delivery platforms were essentially unemployed.

The next day, Baidu Takeout agent Li Huazi personally ran all over the city but couldn't find a printing shop willing to do his business printing flyers.

On the third day, a Meituan takeaway rider ran a red light while rushing to deliver a group order, got into a car accident and was thrown several meters away. Some people said it was Li Huazi who did it.

……

On the eighth day, Lao Zhang, the food delivery agent of Ele.me, acquired a local food delivery platform. At the celebration party that night, he announced that he would invite Xie Jingxing to visit us some other day and that he must give us more support resources!

On the thirteenth day, the local Baidu Takeaway business was shut down, and the agent Li Huazi was sued by the bank for debt collection. The funds were frozen and the house was sealed, leaving the family of eight sleeping on the streets.

Rumor has it that in order to do business, Li Huazi and his wife's parents sold their house, and this meant their family was on the verge of collapse.

On the fifteenth day, the agency rights of the local Baidu Takeaway business changed hands, and the buyer was Lao Zhang's father.

On the fifteenth day, Meituan Waimai and the local agent had spent a total of 27 yuan in the past half month, with each party paying half.

"Xiao Sun, how many small cities like ours are there in the country?" Gao Ming asked quietly.

"If not a thousand, at least eight hundred."

Half a month later, the shy smile on Manager Sun's face turned into embarrassment and he rubbed his hands together and responded awkwardly.

"It's too much. Meituan and Ele.me are not opening cities as fast, so let's count it as 300."

Gao Ming smiled helplessly: "They and us cannon fodder each pay half of the subsidy. 4000 million is burned a day, which means 6 million in days? How many car accidents have occurred, and how many families have been destroyed?"

"..."

Manager Sun couldn't accept this. He thought that these two companies also had group buying business. Although the pure loss in revenue could not be calculated so simply, it was reasonable to have burned tens of billions in the past half month.

Gao Ming clenched a pair of walnuts and said, "Forget it, let's sell the Meituan agency rights. We don't want to be cannon fodder anymore."

"Mr. Gao, it may not be that easy to sell." Manager Sun hesitated to speak.

Gao Ming raised his eyebrows: "Why is it not selling well?"

"The contract stipulates that if we want to trade the agency rights within the agency period, it needs to be approved by Meituan, and... we have to pay a large amount of compensation for breach of contract."

“Didn’t Baidu Waimai sell itself off so easily?”

"The Baidu Takeaway guy, Li Huazi really has no money to squeeze out, and Baidu's regional manager knows it very well."

Gao Ming was speechless. What kind of logic was this? For a moment, he even deeply doubted whether he had started out as a gangster. Compared to these food delivery platforms, he was simply a kind-hearted person.

Manager Sun looked down at his toes. Guojianglong could act according to the contract and freeze the agent's deposit at any time, and give up the local market so that they could not sell the agency rights, resulting in a total loss of the initial investment.

There has never been any black or white, it's just that times have changed and violence no longer works.

"I don't know how many people have become cannon fodder. The Jianghu is buried in this battlefield... Those big shots are willing to risk the lives of all living beings for a secret book. You said that to be a man, you must be the king, above all those people..."

In the silence, downstairs at the station, a delivery rider came back with a meal. The subwoofer mounted on his electric bike created a wild noise, and the lyrics were inexplicably appropriate.

"Xiao Sun, if I go to the rooftop of Meituan headquarters and hang a banner to cause trouble, can I pay less and get my deposit back?"

After listening to a song, Gao Ming looked around at the full set of mahogany furniture in the office and the works of the president of the Calligraphy Association on the wall, and asked absentmindedly.

(End of this chapter)