Chapter 766: Turning the Tiger Away from the Mountain

……

Richard Cheney walked into the office with a heavy heart. The situation of Phoenix Merrill Lynch changed faster than he expected. What was a week ago was a win in the palm of its hand, but now it has no chance of winning.

But even if this thing fails, it won't be much of a loss for him. He was just the former president of Halliburton Energy, and he got involved out of interest. Now, he has already got most of the money he should get, and even if he loses the rest, he still earns, but the income is not as rich as he imagined before.

"Knock...!"

Not long after Richard Cheney walked into his office, there was a knock on the door. It was his assistant who came in.

"Boss, there's a call from the President, and I hope you can get to his office soon!"

"President?!"

Richard Cheney frowned.

"Yes!"

"Did you say what it was?"

"Nope!"

"Okay, I got it. You go down first!"

The assistant nodded and turned to leave. In the empty office, Richard Cheney's mind was racing. Combined with what had happened in the past few days, he had a rough guess about the next meeting.

After briefly tidying up his desk, he walked out of the room. As vice president, Richard Cheney's official residence is not the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but the One Observatory Loop. Of course, the two are not far apart. Half an hour later, Richard Cheney was sitting in front of George W. Bush.

"George, you're looking for me?"

"Richard, you're here... Sit down and say!"

After waving his hand and motioning for him to sit across from him, Bush Jr. went straight to the point and said: "Originally, I was going to pay a state visit to Japan the day after tomorrow, but the war in Iraq suddenly changed somewhat, and I couldn't leave for the time being. That's why I want you to go to Japan instead of me. ”

"Japan!" Richard Cheney frowned slightly, looking at Bush Jr.'s deep eyes, "George, you can postpone it for a few days...!"

George W. Bush interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "The Marines have found the trail of Shodam in Hanaigan, a key town in the northern part of Iraq's Diyala province, and I'm going to stay and see this bastard killed first." But Japan's state visit is related to the G20 meeting to be held in Tokyo in May. Among them, on issues such as trade and Japan-US military cooperation, we must first communicate with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Now that time is tight, I can only let you go first!"

"George, Rice, as Secretary of State, is more suitable to come forward than me!"

"Condoleezza has already gone to England to meet the British Prime Minister, that's why I found you!"

Looking at the smiling George W. Bush, Richard Cheney's heart was heavy. He was not a fool, and it was clear that the arrangement of his visit to Japan was premeditated. Without him, the congressional hearings to examine whether the Phoenix and Merrill Lynch merger involved a monopoly would have had to change the person in charge.

Without him, a staunch opponent of high power, naturally no one would be able to prevent the merger of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch!

"Okay, I'll go!"

"Haha, Richard, I knew you would say yes!"

Richard Cheney smiled bitterly, Bush Jr. directly used national affairs as a weapon, leaving no way out for him at all. Moreover, the merger of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch seemed to him to be unstoppable. Because before he came here, he had already received more than a dozen lobbying calls, all of whom were bigwigs in American politics and business, including top figures such as the head of the Morgan family!

As a shrewd politician, Richard Cheney is not prepared to go it alone when he senses that something is not possible. Anyway, he has done enough for Halliburton Energy, and he will not live up to the promise he made to them! A state visit to Japan is just the right time to get him out of this vortex temporarily.

After thinking about this, his heart became much lighter.

……

"Thank you, George. … Okay, I'll treat you to dinner next time I come to San Francisco... Okay, goodbye!"

After hanging up the phone, Guo Shouyun showed a triumphant smile on his face and said to the three subordinates he relied on: "It's a success! Richard Cheney will go to Japan the day after tomorrow, and the head of the hearing will be taken over by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell!"

"It's great that there's no Richard Cheney as a stumbling block. The hearing is just a formality for us!" enthuses Michael Moretz.

Everyone here knows that Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, is a hardcore Bush Jr. Bush, and since Mr. President supports the merger of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch, he will naturally not oppose it.

"Now finally no one can stop us anymore!"

Ruben d'Estaing, president and chief operating officer of Phoenix Merrill Lynch, was equally pleased.

"It's still too early to rejoice, as long as the hearing is not over, the matter is not really settled. And the Schiffs and Citigroup, plus ING Group and Barclays Capital, are not so easy to deal with!" Stephen Bryan began.

"Stephen, do you think there's anything we haven't considered?" asked Guo Shouyun.

"No, I just don't think the alliance between the Schiffs and Citi is so easy to deal with. After all, even if we win over Morgan, Bush and other allied forces, it is unknown how much effort they will really make. So, we can't rejoice too soon. ”

Guo Shouyun pondered for a moment and nodded.

"It's better to be cautious... By the way, this financing of $75 billion will be put in the company's account for the time being. No one will move without my orders!"

"Yes!"

……

Compared to Guo Shouyun's relaxed chat atmosphere. The atmosphere in the conference room at the top of the Schiff family club was extremely solemn. Schiff Sr., William Schiff, Citi CEO Cram Pandit, Dutch ING Group President and COO Daniel Trotter, Barclays Bank CEO John Wally, Halliburton Energy CEO Steven Lipin, six people sat together. They are also the most core members of the entire alliance.

As for Chevron, Kongscart, General Electric, and Maersk, although they oppose Bruce Guo, they are more out of industry competition and do not mix personal contradictions, and they don't want to waste time and energy when things can't be done. Of course, if Schiff and the Citi Alliance can still let them see the possibility of war with Bruce Guo, then they don't mind providing support any longer.

"Richard Cheney has already called, and the president has asked him to go to Japan for a state visit the day after tomorrow, and he can't attend the hearing!" Steven Lippin said with an ugly face.

"So, our operation failed?" said John Wally.

Steven Lippin was about to nod his head when Old Schiff interrupted.

"No, we haven't failed yet!"

After seeing that everyone's eyes were attracted to him, "the successor to Richard Cheney as the head of this hearing is the Republican leader Mitch McConnell." Although this guy is a supporter of George W. Bush, he used to be a Ku Klux Klan, white supremacist in his early years, and it is not easy for him to help Bruce Guo, a Chinese-American!"

"Gesell, is this true?" said Steven Lippin eagerly.

"Of course, she and I were both students at Williams Middle School, and although the Triple Klan Club he founded was banned by the school, it also made this guy a popular figure in the school at that time!"

ァ新ヤ~(8)~1~Chinese 網ωωω.χ~8.~1zщ.còм

"So what are you waiting for, hurry up and get this guy!"

"Steven, don't worry, we still have plenty of time!"