Chapter 173: Express Delivery Market—I Want Half the Share! (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

On December 3rd, Yun Su Express announced: for parcels within 2.5 kilograms in the North China, East China, and South China regions, the contract price dropped from 3 yuan to 2.8 yuan; for e-commerce small parcels within 1 kilogram, the contract price dropped from 2.5 yuan to 2.2 yuan.

Considering transportation and labor costs, prices in the Northeast, Southwest, and Central China regions would be 0.6–0.8 yuan higher per order.

Compared with the 3–5 yuan starting price of the Three Tong and One Da, Yun Su's pricing was simply cutthroat!

Su Feng Express boss Chen Feilei cursed Liao Wei as a mad dog!

At that moment, inside a private meeting room in Hu City.

Four middle-aged men sat around together; one was smoking a cigar, another had a Da Hong Ying dangling from his lips, and the room was thick with smoke.

"Everyone speak up—what do we do?" Shen Tong's Chen Dejun squinted his eyes and asked in a low voice.

"Find a truck and run that idiot down." Yuan Tong boss Yu Weijiao proposed viciously.

With this move, Yun Su snatched quite a few customers from Yuan Tong, and small and medium sellers in Yiwu decisively switched their deliveries to Yun Su.

The big sellers who had signed warehouse and contract-price agreements were still watching.

To put it bluntly, if Yuan Tong didn't cut prices, the big clients would all run off too.

Everyone is in business to make money; which courier is cheap, on time, and delivers to the door—that's what matters.

In terms of transport speed, Yun Su's transit hubs, sorting warehouses, and stations were fewer than those of the Three Tong and One Da.

But Yun Su couriers could deliver to the door, something the Three Tong and One Da couldn't do.

Add to that the low shipping fees, and customer loss was only natural.

"Old Yu, no offense, you're nearly fifty—stop yelling about killing people every other minute. Do you want to spend the rest of your life pedaling a sewing machine?"

Chen Dejun frowned and asked coldly.

"I think Old Yu's idea isn't bad—kill that bastard Liao Wei, and we can all breathe easier." Zhong Tong Express's Lai Haisong said with a smile.

"What other option is there? Fight him! With Liao Wei's measly strength, how many months can he last?" Yun Da Express's Nie Tengyu said with a look of disdain.

"But behind him is Sen Lian Capital. If Chen Yansen throws caution to the wind and dumps five or six billion, which of us can take that?"

Chen Dejun sighed and asked quietly.

In their eyes, Liao Wei was nothing, but Chen Yansen was different—young as he was, he held over 10 billion in cash. If it really came to a fight, even if the Three Tong and One Da won, they'd be badly crippled.

"Enough, I'm going home to sleep. Looking at you lot, you won't come up with anything."

Nie Tengyu stood up abruptly, ready to leave.

Dirty tricks won't work, a price war won't work—what's the point of talking.

Nie Tengyu made up his mind: tomorrow he'd cut his prices to match Yun Su Express, and see who couldn't hold out first!

"Boss Nie, don't rush—sit down and let's talk it over slowly. Let's work out a unified pricing strategy and join forces to crush Yun Su. Cooperation is how we make money!"

Zhong Tong's Lai Haisong, all smiles, grabbed Nie Tengyu and pulled him back down.

"Since Liao Wei wants a price war, we'll see him to the end!" After thinking it over, Chen Dejun gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

Just then, a knock came from outside the door.

The four exchanged glances, and Lai Haisong called out, "Come in!"

Then a young man who looked like an assistant walked in, went straight to Chen Dejun's side, and whispered a few words.

"What? Liao Wei got hit by a car?"

Chen Dejun's face was full of shock as he turned to look at Yuan Tong Express's Yu Weijiao.

Just three minutes earlier, Yu Weijiao had been saying he wanted to run Liao Wei over.

Yun Da Express's Nie Tengyu and Zhong Tong Express's Lai Haisong also immediately turned their eyes on Yu Weijiao.

"Shit! What are you looking at me for? I didn't do it!"

Yu Weijiao snorted and hurried to defend himself.

He'd only said it on purpose earlier because he saw the other three couldn't make up their minds.

Given his current wealth and status, anything that could be solved with money didn't require going to extremes.

If the matter came to light, he might even end up in jail.

This wasn't the early startup days, when grabbing market share justified any means.

He had luxury cars and mansions now, savings he couldn't spend in several lifetimes—no need to take risks for Liao Wei.

But the other three stared at Yu Weijiao with faces full of suspicion, clearly unconvinced.

Meanwhile.

Chen Yansen had just finished dinner when he got a call from Liao Wei's assistant and learned that Liao Wei had been hit.

"Is the person okay?" Chen Yansen froze, then asked.

He never imagined that on the very first day of Yun Su's price cut, someone had already arranged a dump truck for Liao Wei!

He couldn't help wondering—if he himself got hit by a truck, could he take it?

"President Chen, President Liao is still in emergency treatment; the specifics aren't clear yet." The assistant replied.

"Got it. Send me the hospital address."

Chen Yansen said.

No matter what, Liao Wei had gotten into this accident working for him, so he had to go.

After hanging up, Chen Yansen had Xu Xingxing book a flight and flew to Tang Cheng that very night.

When he arrived at the hospital and had just walked in, he saw four uniformed inspectors questioning Liao Wei's assistant.

"President Chen!" The assistant, spotting Chen Yansen, left the inspectors and hurried over.

"How's Old Liao?" Chen Yansen asked.

"He just came out of surgery and hasn't woken up yet. Three ribs broken, comminuted fracture of the leg bone. Luckily no vital organs were hit; the rest are minor injuries." The assistant explained slowly.

"I'm Yan Liang of the Tang City Inspector Office. How should I address you?"

An inspector in his thirties, with rough skin and a burly look, stepped forward and asked.

"Chen Yansen, boss of Yun Su Express. Liao Wei is my employee."

Chen Yansen gave a brief introduction.

"At 3:27 this afternoon, a Yun Su cargo truck smashed the Sufeng Express station in Yiwu to pieces. That same evening, Liao Wei was hit by a cargo truck. Are you running a business, or running a gang war?"

Yan Liang suppressed his fury and asked coldly.

It's the end of 2011, and someone still dares to pull this stunt right under his nose — do they really think it can't be traced?

A Yun Su cargo truck crashed into the Sufeng Express station?

Liao Wei went that hard?

Didn't I say we go through legal channels?

He looked toward Liao Wei's assistant, a questioning look in his eyes.

The assistant gave a slight nod, tacitly confirming Yan Liang's account.

"As for the specifics, I'll need to wait for the Yiwu station and the local patrol office to get back to me."

Chen Yansen didn't take a clear stance, only replied softly.

Yan Liang stared hard at Chen Yansen, but couldn't read a trace of tension or panic on his face.

Yan Liang then led his people out without another word.

After all, as Chen Yansen said, suspicion alone was useless — they needed evidence.

"President Chen, please go back to the hotel and rest. I'll stay here. The moment President Liao wakes up, I'll notify you right away."

The assistant said.

"Good, thanks for your hard work." Chen Yansen patted the assistant's shoulder and gave a reply.

"I'll see you out." The assistant followed behind Chen Yansen, walking and making a phone call at the same time.

The two reached the hospital entrance, where a black Mercedes-Benz was already parked by the curb.

In the passenger seat and the left side of the back row sat two young men in crisp suits, backs ramrod straight, eyes alert, watching their surroundings.

"Given the special circumstances, I hired two bodyguards from a security firm, just in case."

Zhai An pulled open the car door, gestured for Chen Yansen to get in, and explained at the same time.

"What's your name?" Chen Yansen, seeing how thorough he was, asked with a smile.

"Boss, my name is Zhai An." Zhai An, hearing the big boss address him, hurried to answer.

"Take good care of Old Liao." Chen Yansen said, then got in the car.

Back at the hotel, Chen Yansen soon received Zhai An's investigation results: the Yun Su Express cargo truck had lost control and crashed straight into the Sufeng Express main gate.

It happened to be the station's dispatch time, so aside from the dispatcher and the station manager, none of the couriers were there. Fortunately, no one was hurt — only property was damaged.

Chen Yansen shook his head. This was clearly Liao Wei's retaliation.

The truck just happened to lose control, the other station just happened to be empty, and it just happened to only damage goods and vehicles — how could there be so many coincidences?

No wonder that inspector named Yan Liang suspected right off the bat that he had ordered it.

With the limited information Chen Yansen currently had, this was all he could conclude for now.

Early the next morning.

Chen Yansen took a car to the hospital again, followed by two bodyguards.

Though he felt he didn't need them — given his current strength and reflexes, these two bodyguards couldn't possibly be of any use.

"President Chen, you're here! President Liao is awake." Zhai An hurried over and said.

"Take me to him." Chen Yansen said.

Zhai An led Chen Yansen forward, stopping in front of a single-patient room, with two more bodyguards standing guard at the door.

Walking into the room, he saw Liao Wei in a hospital gown, lying weakly in bed, his face covered in bluish-purple abrasions.

Thick bandages were wrapped around his left leg and waist.

"President Chen, sorry to trouble you! I'm sorry you had to make the trip." Liao Wei, seeing Chen Yansen come in, said with a bitter smile.

"No outsiders here — tell me, what exactly happened?" Chen Yansen stared at Liao Wei and asked.

"Boss, it really was an accident! I never ordered anyone below me to do this."

Liao Wei looked utterly innocent, so angry he wanted to curse someone out.

If he really had done it, taking a little suffering on the chin would have eased his conscience — but he truly hadn't!

An accident?

That's quite a coincidence.

It wasn't that Chen Yansen didn't trust Liao Wei — it was just that this whole thing looked like it had nothing to do with an accident.

"Fine, as long as the man's not dead."

Chen Yansen didn't want to dig deeper. If Liao Wei said it was an accident, then so be it.

If the patrol investigation turned up something else, Chen Feilei might let Liao Wei off the hook, but he wouldn't be so lenient.

When Chen Yansen hired people, ability came second — the most important thing was that they listened.

If Liao Wei really had taken it upon himself to retaliate against Sufeng Express, then his run as CEO of Yun Su Express was over.

The two chatted for a while, and then Yan Liang arrived with his people.

No matter how Yan Liang questioned him, Liao Wei insisted that the traffic accident in Yiwu was an accident.

Yan Liang had no way to deal with Liao Wei, so he brought up last night's incident.

As expected, the one who hit Liao Wei was a Sufeng Express cargo truck driver, who said the brakes failed and he just plowed into him.

But Yan Liang checked the surveillance and found that the truck had been circling near the Yun Su headquarters building for over ten hours, parked at the intersection the whole time — its intent was obvious.

Yet when Yan Liang produced the surveillance footage, the driver changed his story, saying he'd been drinking that day and was just resting nearby.

Unable to get any useful information, Yan Liang had no choice but to leave and wait for the results of the Yiwu investigation.

"I never expected the competition in the courier industry to escalate to this point. I'll hire a few more bodyguards from now on — the company will cover the cost."

Chen Yansen said with a smile, teasing.

"How about I move the company headquarters to Shencheng? Staying in Tang Cheng, I just don't feel at ease."

Liao Wei had nearly lost his life — how could he not be afraid?

Sufeng's headquarters was right in Tang Cheng, too close by; Liao Wei didn't feel a shred of security.

"Fine, we'll talk about it after you've recovered." Chen Yansen nodded in agreement.

An hour later, Liao Wei's wife finally came to see him, bringing their child.

Seeing that Liao Wei could eat and drink normally, Chen Yansen rose to take his leave and walked out of the hospital room.

"Buzz buzz buzz—!" Chen Yansen's phone rang in his pocket.

He pulled it out and saw it was Liu Zhiping from Penguin. After a brief moment's thought, he pressed the answer key.

"Hello, Martin-ge, inviting me out for tea?" Chen Yansen said, half in jest.

"I've heard about the Yun-Su Courier situation. Chen Jiahai from Quanfeng asked me to step in and mediate — he wants you to raise the price back to 3 yuan. What do you think?"

Liu Zhiping got straight to the point.

"I want half the courier market share. If he can persuade Santong Yida and Shunfeng, then I'll raise the price."

Chen Yansen didn't hide it at all, his tone arrogant.

Liu Zhiping knew at once there was no deal to be made. He laughed and said: "Alright, I got it. Come by Shencheng when you have time — Pony has been mentioning you a lot lately."

Penguin had invested tens of millions in Quanfeng in the first half of the year, making it one of Quanfeng's shareholders — which was also the reason Chen Jiahai had asked Liu Zhiping to step in.

But from Liu Zhiping's attitude, one could tell he was merely going through the motions; between Quanfeng and Chen Yansen, he clearly leaned more toward Chen Yansen.

Soon, Santong Yida received Chen Jiahai's message. The other party stated bluntly:

"Nothing to discuss — let's go straight to war!"

"That bastard Chen Yansen said, unless they're willing to spit out every last bit of market share in their hands!"

In the final month of 2011, the four courier tycoons of the Tonglu faction were forced to take up the fight and one after another announced price cuts.

On e-commerce platforms, goods originally priced at 9.9 yuan with free shipping quickly dropped to 8.9 yuan, even 7.9 yuan.

The number of low-tier group-buy goods on the Pin-Be platform instantly surged by 30%.

Small sellers from Yiwu flooded in, leveraging Yun-Su Courier's 2.2 yuan starting fee to sell dish-washing sponges, nail clippers, toilet paper, clothes-drying racks and the like like crazy,

with single-day sales of certain products soaring to 400,000–500,000 orders.

Upon learning of the situation, Chen Yansen immediately had Zhuang Rui reduce the exposure weight of low-priced goods.

He wasn't opposed to low-priced goods, but the volume of exposure needed to be kept within a reasonable proportion.

(End of chapter)