On the other side of the sea, in the secret office of the May.

Houston never imagined that he would one day be able to replace Paine and sit in the main seat of the conference room.

He had thought that if he was going to sit in this position, he would at least have a chance until Paine was too old to think anymore, or until his threat was completely gone, and May would become a chicken department.

But unexpectedly, the other party's development speed far exceeded their own expectations.

The forced adjustment is not because the other party is no longer threatening, but because the other party's threat is too great.

So big that even Paine didn't make a mistake, but only slowed down, which led to a total rout of his own side.

Of course, it is precisely this outcome that gives me hope to enter the core decision-making level.

In a way, I owe Paine a debt of gratitude.

Although he is sorry for the country, he is really worthy of himself.

Anyway, hopefully he'll be fine on his Texas farm

Houston breathed a sigh of relief, put down the report he had read in his hand, and said to the assistant on the side:

"Are you sure this is their latest plan? Do they want to make efforts in the field of construction machinery? ”

The assistant nodded and replied:

"Yes, the level of secrecy of this plan is not high, and it has even been disclosed to the relevant participating departments."

"According to the information we have obtained, they should be planning to solve the problems in the areas of shield machines, heavy excavators, and bridge erectors on a priority basis, and they are responsible for coordinating a newly established working group called the China Democratic Development Office."

"The authority of this working group is very high, and it is said that it may be at the same level as or even above the Heavy Equipment Office."

"We suspect that the DAP is related to the mysterious working group we speculated earlier, and it is likely that it is their spokesperson in the field of civilian science and technology."

Hearing the assistant's words, Houston's brow furrowed slightly.

"You mean, their Task Force 0?"

"That's right."

"But this is a bit unreasonable, the No. 0 working group has always been responsible for scientific research in the field of military industry, and if it turns to civilian use now, the span will inevitably be too large."

"They don't have the accumulation of technology, and they don't have a reliable talent pool, so they rashly adjust their direction. Can it really work? ”

The assistant shook his head and replied:

"We don't particularly know that."

"But what is certain is that the early Sky Whale project is related to the No. 0 working group."

"In this project, they should have accumulated some civilian scientific research experience, which is enough to support them to start large-scale civilian scientific research projects."

"No, it's not enough."

Houston interrupted the assistant and said:

"No matter how rich the accumulation of project experience is, it is impossible to completely erase the gap in technology, which is an objective law."

"But the intelligence can't go wrong, it's even semi-public."

The assistant said suspiciously.

Houston sighed, his expression becoming solemn.

He took a blank piece of paper and wrote down a few words in turn.

Military.

Civil.

Fighters, missiles, electronics.

Ships, high-speed rail, infrastructure.

Then, he pointed the paper towards the assistant and asked:

"Did you find anything?"

The assistant shook his head, still looking dazed.

"It's so obvious, you can't see it?"

Houston glanced at his assistant helplessly, then continued:

"They're closing the gap, step by step, and they're taking the shortest path."

"The development of the military industry is aimed at expanding our influence to the greatest extent during the window period when our energy is involved in the Middle East, establishing a relatively stable external environment, and at the same time establishing international influence as quickly as possible."

"And all of this is actually paving the way for the development of their civilian science and technology."

"After all, civilian science and technology need a lot of capital and market support, if they don't have the right to speak in the world, their domestic market alone can't support the goal of rapid development."

"So, the military industry is the first step."

"After taking this step out and getting to the level of 'enough', they start to turn to civilian use."

"The high-speed rail is their first test project, followed by the Sky Whale belongs to the military-civilian mixed project, and the current construction machinery project, in their words, is a poor dagger."

"They want to build on the foundation of the military industry and quickly build a strong composite economy."

"Right now, they're only in sixth place in terms of GDP, but if this trend continues, they're likely to be in the top five in two or three years, in the top three in 10 years-—— or even second."

"When the time comes, the economic advantage will feed back to the military, and the whole situation will be completely revitalized by them."

"So, what they're doing right now is, in the end, just one thing."

"They're upgrading!"

"Upgrade?"

The assistant subconsciously repeated.

"That's right. It's like a table game where you have to collect all the ingredients you need to level up in order to complete it. ”

"And once you level up, your strength will instantly increase a lot."

"Obviously, what they're collecting now is infrastructure."

Houston suddenly got up and said firmly:

"We can't afford to sit idly by, or we'll make the same mistakes as Paine."

"Before, it was very difficult for us to intervene militarily, but economically, there was much more room to operate. Do you have any ideas? ”

Hearing Houston's question, the assistant was visibly stunned.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he replied:

"Trade protection, sanctions, monopolies, dumping, technological blockade. That's all I can think of. ”

"However, in the area of heavy machinery, we do not have much say in the world, and Mitsubishi and Hitachi are the largest suppliers of each other."

"It's not feasible to use sanctions to achieve the end."

"Technical blockade words. As you know, the technical strength of Working Group Zero is not bad, and since it has been proposed, it is almost impossible to rely on external technology, which is contrary to their original intention. ”

Houston nodded approvingly, and after a moment of thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"If none of this works, then it can only be through trade protection + dumping, right?"

"With this strategy, we can destroy both their domestic and international markets."

"At that time, no matter how advanced their technology is, what they can't sell will only rot in the warehouse."

"As long as the R&D funding chain is broken, they will no longer be able to pose a threat to us."

The assistant on the side nodded silently.

In his heart, he actually didn't agree with such a plan.

After all, relying on "dumping" to occupy the market is not actually the most "economical" approach.

But now, if you really want to curb the trend of "escalation" of the other side, it seems that there is really no other better solution

A few days later, Caterpillar corporate headquarters.

Chairman Qian Ning looked at the man opposite with a serious face and asked:

"Are you serious? Are you sure you want us to cooperate with the implementation of the price reduction dumping strategy? ”

"Do you know that once the price of the product is reduced, it is not them who will be affected first, but our own domestic market!"

"Our profits will plummet, our capital chain will break, and we may not even be able to repay our bank loans. Is that what you want? ”

Houston shook his head calmly and replied:

"Of course not."

"In fact, we value your own profits more than you, and even a small reduction is a huge tax loss for us."

"So, you can rest assured that this time the official is definitely not trying to make it difficult for you, on the contrary, we will provide a lot of convenience."

"One of the most important is tariff subsidies."

"All the customs duties paid by your products exported to China will be subsidized by us."

"But in return, you have to cut the price of the product by 20 percent."

Looking at Houston's expression of course, Channing was speechless.

A 20% reduction?

You must know that the tariff paid by their heavy machinery exported to China is only 13%.

Now, you're asking for a 20% cut in one go, where will the other 7% come from?

Aren't you just taking my money and doing your business?

Thinking of this, Qian Ning shook his head and said:

"I'm sorry, sir."

"We can't do that."

"You know, the construction machinery industry itself is a low-profit industry, and if the selling price is reduced by 20% as you said, it will lead to a loss for all our export products."

"This is absolutely unacceptable – not only for me, but also for the rest of the company's investors."

Houston seemed to have expected Channing's answer, and he took the document from the assistant next to him and handed it to Channing.

"I guess you're going to have that concern."

"So, before we came, we visited all the Caterpillar investors in advance."

"This is a transcript of our conversation with them-—— which contains several preliminary white papers of intent."

"Obviously, these investors have a longer term of vision than you."

"They all agreed with the plan, and they thought it would be good for us to be able to capture that huge market."

Qian Ninghu took the document suspiciously, and after opening it, he really saw those signatures that he was extremely familiar with on the document.

"Blackwater. Mr. Fuller agreed? ”

Channing asked incredulously.

You know, Blackwater Capital's Fuller Kepler is the most cautious investor he knows, let alone a risky move, and even if it's just a normal strategy change within the company, he has to call himself again and again for advice.

But now, he actually signed the white paper of intention directly without going through himself?

It's unreasonable

"Of course, he's the most active one."

Houston replied with a relaxed expression.

Qian Ning frowned, he knew that these letters of intent could not be forged.

In fact, there is no need for the other party to forge the letter of intent.

After all, a letter of intent represents only "intent", and if you don't agree with it, then it can only stay on paper.

Of course, the other party can sign these intentions, and the pressure on them is indeed not small

"How did you convince them?"

Qian Ning put down the document as if resigned to his fate and asked.

"Quite simply, we promise to provide unlimited financial support for this project until Caterpillar can make more money in the Chinese market."

"Financial support?"

Channing was shocked.

"If there is financial support, why not give it directly to us and the company, but to the investors?"

This is very normal logic, if you want to fight a price war, then the best way is undoubtedly to directly subsidize the company, through the subsidy to improve the company's interests, in order to support lower pricing.

But now, the strategy that the May Club is considering seems to be somewhat complicated

"That's not something you need to think about, Mr. Channing."

"You know, this matter is originally a duel of capital, and you are just a manager of a company."

"You don't have that ability, so not interfering is the best option for both of us."

"Got it."

Qian Ning nodded and picked up the cigarette on the side.

He subconsciously wanted to light one for himself, but until the match ran out, he didn't come up to light the cigarette.

At this moment, he was a little confused in his heart.

It's just a game of capital

In that case, why do we need Caterpillar to participate? ——

Yes, this company is nothing more than a tool.

A tool that serves as a springboard for them to achieve their goals.

Perhaps, after the goal of the "dumping" is accomplished, they will kick themselves out of the way and replace them with other, closer partners.

At that time, I didn't even have the right to oppose myself.

Well, not now.

Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly.

"Okay, I see."

"I'll cooperate, but I'm wondering, what the hell are you going to do?"

"It's simple."

Houston sat up straight and spoke:

"Occupy the market, destroy all their related industries, and subsequently, achieve a monopoly."

"It's like, um, it's like what we're doing on chips."

"Han Xin?"

Qian Ning's heart moved.

"That's another story—a story you don't have to worry about."

Houston replied with a smile.

He stretched out his hand to Channing, and as the two of them clasped hands, a large-scale and far-reaching plan began.

Neither side of the plan could have predicted where it would end up, but there was no doubt that if one side prevailed, the other side would be doomed

A few days later, an astonishing piece of news caused a sensation throughout China.

Caterpillar Inc. announced that due to the reduction of material costs and the use of new technologies, the cost of some products has decreased, and in order to ensure the optimal development curve, the company has decided to implement price reductions, discounts, and preferential treatment strategies in multiple markets, including Huaxia.

The comprehensive price reduction range reached 20%.

But the price reduction window is only one year.

As soon as the news came out, the whole world was in an uproar.

Everyone is talking about why the Yankees suddenly started doing charity.

Others believe that this is purely a normal decision made to seize the market, and is essentially a trap.

However, no matter which side of the view, it cannot change the fact that it is:

All domestic manufacturers who need construction machinery have begun to advance the procurement plan that was originally expected to be placed in a few years