diskusbooks Chapter 956 Business War?
Chapter 956 Business War?
As fate would have it, Zhang Ping'an ran into Minister Fan again at the palace gate. The minister saw him too and gave him a forced smile.
The colleague next to them quickly noticed that the atmosphere between the two was not right and asked in a low voice what was going on.
Regardless of any internal conflicts between the two, it's not time to publicly break up yet. Neither of them are naive in officialdom, so they didn't say anything when others inquired, maintaining a facade of politeness.
Seeing this, the man with the beady eyes stepped forward and bumped Zhang Ping'an's shoulder, asking, "What's going on? What happened?"
Zhang Ping'an was already troubled by this matter. Seeing that the green-eyed man was asking, he didn't hide anything and told him everything about the situation with the Hibiscus Ointment in the past few days. He worriedly warned, "In short, this Hibiscus Ointment must not be touched. It is more poisonous than arsenic. It will not only harm your own life, but also the people around you!"
"It sounds even more toxic than Five-Stone Powder!" Green-eyed man concluded quietly after listening.
His expression also became serious. After thinking for a moment, he recognized the person: "I think I know who the Wu family member you mentioned is. When Shuisheng and I were doing business together in Shandong, we often visited the Wu family. I can say that I know about 80 or 90 percent of the male members of the Wu family. After coming to the capital, I also occasionally corresponded with friends in Shandong and learned about the interesting stories and anecdotes of various families."
"That's great, let's talk as we walk," Zhang Ping'an said excitedly, clapping his hands lightly.
The two walked side by side, and after they had gone a little further away from their other colleagues, the man with the beady eyes continued to recall: "If I remember correctly, this man's full name should be Wu Wei. When I was in Shandong, he was just a young man. His father was a womanizer, with three wives and four concubines at home. He was never idle and always making a ruckus."
Therefore, he had many children, including thirteen or fourteen sons. Wu Wei was the eighth child, neither high nor low in rank, and being born out of wedlock, he was not usually favored. He would always show a slight smile when he met people, being very humble, but the smile never reached his eyes.
However, it is said that he had a very good memory when he was a child, almost like he could remember everything he saw. His father once regarded him as a potential scholar and hoped that he would take the imperial examination and bring glory to the family. However, after studying for only a few years, his right hand was crippled, and he could no longer study. His status at home plummeted.
A few years ago, I was quite surprised to hear that he stole money from his family and went overseas to do business with a group of people. He never came back, and I thought he had died overseas. But last year, I heard from a friend that he returned from overseas with gold and silver, and even had a fight with his father. The two almost became estranged forever. The locals in Jiaozhou all treat the father and son's story as a joke and gossip about it! Based on this information, I think this man has quite a story to tell.
“Yes, I also feel that things are not simple, especially Minister Fan’s attitude, which has strengthened my idea. He is, after all, one of the six ministers, and he holds real power. In officialdom, if it’s not a big deal, he will definitely give me some face, but this time he refused the matter of the hibiscus ointment without hesitation. There must be some interests involved behind it,” Zhang Ping’an said.
With his beady eyes, Zhang Ping'an glanced at him and offered his honest opinion: "Ping'an, your career has been too smooth throughout your life. You've rarely done business. As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. You may be good at being an official, but you're an amateur when it comes to business. You lack a businessman's mindset. Since it's clear that there's resistance from the government, I think you should temporarily stop the government from getting involved and wait for them to come to you later. Now, we can have a business war. The marketplace is like a battlefield, and doing business is no simpler than fighting a war!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ping'an humbly inquired, "Business warfare? You mean...?"
"Hehe, finally it's my turn to lecture you," the man with beady green eyes chuckled, stroking his beard with a sly grin, like a mischievous old man.
“Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me. Alright, stop keeping me in suspense and give me your analysis!” Zhang Ping’an said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, the man with the beady eyes stopped teasing him and said seriously, "When anything comes out, some people will say it's good and some will say it's bad; that's a normal market reaction. But now everyone is saying that this hibiscus ointment is good, which is abnormal and doesn't conform to market rules."
You call it poison, but it hasn't become widespread yet, and its use hasn't been long. There's no strong evidence to prove its harmful effects, such as addiction, hallucinations, and skin ulcers, as you just mentioned.
So what should we do? Our first step is to expedite the verification process. We can find some of our own people to impersonate victims of the "Hibiscus Ointment" scam, making a big fuss. This will, firstly, make pharmacies and clinics hesitant to sell it, cooling down the market; secondly, it will encourage people to be more rational and hesitant when buying, slowing the spread of the product. Over time, as the impact grows, it will naturally indirectly attract the attention of the government, drawing out the person behind it all.
With you stirring things up behind the scenes, even if Minister Fan wanted to downplay the matter, he would have to think twice before making a decision.
Furthermore, we must trace the source and find out where this stuff came from. Now that they've distributed it nationwide, the scale of this operation must be enormous, requiring a significant investment. Like you just said, if you repeatedly ruin their goods and block their path, they definitely won't sit idly by and will come after you again.
“I understand. I’ve thought about that before too, but I always felt like I was complicating things,” Zhang Ping’an said.
The man with the beady eyes shook his head: "What's so scary about complexity? You don't have to do it yourself anyway. Besides, you've underestimated the power of rumors in the business world. How many time-honored brands have been crushed by rumors? When ordinary people are misled, they easily get carried away and believe whatever they're told, without any ability to think for themselves."
Besides, we're doing this for the country and the people, doing good deeds, not for money, so we feel even more at ease. Later, we can find a few influential scholars to spread the word within their circles, and that will be more than half done!
At this point, Green Bean Eyes suggested, "Actually, I think your Xiaoyuer is quite good. He has a wide influence in the circle of scholars. As long as it doesn't involve the royal family, there's no need to worry about offending the powerful circles. With him taking the lead, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort."
"Hmm, let me think about it," Zhang Ping'an said hesitantly.
The man with the beady eyes understood perfectly. “It’s something to consider. After all, this is a double-edged sword. If you do it well, your reputation in the official circles will rise to a higher level. If you do it poorly, the result will be the opposite. Not everyone has that kind of courage.”
After saying that, he patted Zhang Ping'an on the shoulder, "We've arrived. We'll talk more after court."