Chapter 384: Rely on Mountains to Eat Mountains, Rely on Water to Eat Water

Gu Dayang's information also contained many other things. The entire response plan was very complex, including proving that domestic lighters were different from Old European lighters in terms of materials, structure, craftsmanship, price, and consumer groups.

Gu Dayang clearly spent a lot of thought and energy on this information, consulting a large amount of Old European laws, as well as anti-dumping cases against Old Europe and America from places like Japan, the Bangzi, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

It seemed that Gu Dayang's strategy was feasible, but... it only looked that way. This was based on the premise that Old Europe followed the rules. But would the other side follow the rules completely?

Regarding this point, Li Dongling actually had doubts in his heart. Li Dongling was skeptical about expecting the Anglo-Saxons, who started as pirates, to completely abandon rogue tactics and follow the rules completely.

If the Torch Group defeated lighter manufacturers like Bic and S. T. Dupont under Old Europe's set of laws and rules, would Old Europe introduce a new set of rules?

There is a saying: the person who wrongs you knows better than anyone else how wronged you are. But when the other side really wrongs you, will they show mercy?!

Gu Dayang's plan could be used, but one couldn't rely entirely on this plan. Li Dongling's previous plan of using great effort to create miracles, directly killing Old European lighter manufacturers, also had to be carried out.

The Kingly Way uses virtue to convince people, the Hegemonic Way uses force to convince people. Only by using both can one respect heaven and govern people!

To deal with that group of people in Old Europe, just reasoning was useless. To deal with rogues, one had to use fists to make them "calm down" first before they would obediently sit down and listen to reason. Otherwise, just reasoning would only lead to being mocked by the other side for being pedantic.

Confucius focused on using virtue to convince people, but his virtue was built on the fact that he was two meters tall, could lift a city gate bolt weighing hundreds of jin, could play at speeding while driving a bronze war chariot, and could also easily draw a bow and shoot arrows with pinpoint accuracy. May I ask, when encountering someone like this whom one couldn't beat and couldn't run away from, what else could one do but sit down and obediently listen to his teachings?

Relying solely on reasoning, even someone as strong as Confucius probably couldn't make people obediently listen to teachings completely. One had to "slightly understand" martial arts to be able to use virtue to convince people!

"We can invite Gu Dayang over and let him serve as the domestic legal representative of the anti-dumping legal team, and then find overseas lawyers and public relations teams to jointly form an anti-dumping legal team!" Li Dongling said to Zhang Xiaocheng.

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Zhang Xiaocheng's eyes lit up. "Do you think Gu Dayang's response plan is useful?"

"This still needs to be discussed with professional legal personnel, but it should be useful!"

Before Zhang Xiaocheng could be happy, Li Dongling added, "But relying solely on fighting the lawsuit to win the anti-dumping litigation will probably be very difficult!"

Zhang Xiaocheng was stunned there, not knowing what Li Dongling meant by this. This was the domestic misunderstanding of overseas. Zhang Xiaocheng hadn't dealt much with that group of overseas companies and didn't know the nature of that group of people.

"To respond to the anti-dumping litigation, the Torch Group needs to advance on two paths, one bright and one dark!"

Li Dongling stood up and walked a few steps in the office. "The bright path is to proceed with Gu Dayang's plan, form a legal team to respond to the lawsuit, and invite a public relations team to lobby members of the European Ministry of Trade and others!"

"The dark path is to fight a price war with Old European lighter manufacturers like Bic, at all costs, even if it means not making money, or even losing money, to win over Old European lighter distributors and retailers to the Torch Group's camp, so that Bic and the others can't sell a single lighter in Old Europe, completely crushing them, or making them come to the Torch Group to seek peace!"

Zhang Xiaocheng felt his teeth ache listening to these murderous words. He felt terrified just listening to them. Lighter manufacturers like Bic and S. T. Dupont thought that by driving away old-fashioned lighter companies like Gu Ming, they could sit back and relax.

They probably never dreamed that the Torch Group's fighting style was even more ferocious than that of the old-fashioned domestic lighter manufacturers.

Zhang Xiaocheng nodded and then smiled bitterly. He felt that with this fighting style of the Torch Group, he didn't know how many more storms would be stirred up. There hadn't been such a company in the country before.

"Forming an anti-dumping response legal team, plus competing with manufacturers like Bic in Europe, I'm afraid the Torch Group will have to spend a significant price and pour in a lot of funds!" Zhang Xiaocheng said with some worry.

"Some costs must be borne. The Torch Group also has the support of shareholders like Dongling High-Tech, Hanxi State Investment, and Pingyang City Investment. If necessary, we can also ask the State Economic and Trade Commission to step in and raise funds for the Torch Group. There is no need to worry about this aspect!"

Li Dongling said to Zhang Xiaocheng. This battle looked dangerous, but the Torch Group had a chance of winning. At worst, they still had the domestic lighter market, so they wouldn't be completely defeated in one wave and ruin themselves.

Moreover, the Torch Group didn't just have major shareholders like Dongling High-Tech and Hanxi State Investment. Numerous departments like the State Economic and Trade Commission were also closely related to the Torch Group and couldn't just watch it collapse.

The State Economic and Trade Commission was about to reorganize and merge multiple departments, mastering a large amount of resources and connections. Helping the Torch Group wouldn't be a problem.

Besides, just because that group of companies like Bic could call for help, couldn't the Torch Group call for help?

The lighter industry, in the final analysis, was still just a niche market, not a market involving huge profits like automobiles, computers, and mobile phones, where it was a life-or-death struggle to determine a winner. Whether it was Old Europe or America, it was impossible to really flip the table just for a lighter market.

In his previous life, companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple in America did things much more excessively than the Torch Group.

Old Europe would shout every few days about imposing fines on Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc., in the operating system, search, and mobile phone industries.

Facing fines, companies like Microsoft would also have one word: drag. When Old Europe imposed a fine, companies like Microsoft would file an appeal. It was common for a lawsuit to be fought for seven or eight years. Anyway, the main strategy was: you issue the fine, but I just won't pay a penny.

What if they really couldn't hide? Then they would take the wool from the sheep's back. Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc., would start raising prices in Europe, increasing system prices, advertising fees, etc. Anyway, they wouldn't pay a cent!

Old Europe shouted loudly, but they couldn't do anything about companies like Microsoft and Google because these companies were truly monopolizing their respective industries in Old Europe. Without them, Old Europeans really wouldn't have anything usable!

"I understand. I will let Gu Dayang come over as soon as possible to form an anti-dumping litigation legal team!

In addition, contact overseas lighter distributors to let the Torch Group's lighters start going overseas as soon as possible!"

Zhang Xiaocheng took a deep breath and said. For Zhang Xiaocheng, who had been a soldier, he had never been the indecisive type. Since he had decided to do a big job, he wouldn't hesitate anymore.

After leaving the Torch Group's office building, Li Dongling went to the Torch Group's actual site. Along the way, he could see that the Torch Group was still a large construction site.

Originally, the Torch Group was still building dormitories, restaurants, sports activity centers, basketball courts, and other facilities. Now that the second phase of the project had started, it had become an even larger construction site.

If one went out of the Torch Group's main gate, one could see that a huge living area was forming around the Torch Group.

Small restaurants, barbershops, supermarkets, video stores, and even small karaoke halls and other living places were popping up in large numbers. As for the families who originally lived around there, they had successively started their lives as landlords, renting out their own houses.

Because the Torch Group's own dormitories hadn't been completely built, there weren't enough dorms. Even if they were built, they couldn't provide husband-and-wife dorms or employee housing like the Dongling High-Tech Industrial Park. If a husband and wife both worked at the Torch Group and wanted to live together, they still needed to rent a house, which gave birth to a massive housing market.

The appearance of the Torch Group didn't just bring benefits from the lighter industry chain, but also massive demand in the surrounding living area. If residential areas were developed around the Torch Group now, the sales would likely be quite strong.

Li Dongling walked all the way to the lighter laboratory. Li Dongling valued this place more than any other department of the Torch Group. How far the Torch Group could go in the future and whether it could complete its transformation actually depended on the level of the laboratory here.

"Chairman Li!"

After passing the security check, Li Dongling entered the laboratory. Seeing Li Dongling come in, Zhou Wenyuan, the "old ox" who was leading the team in busyness, stood up quickly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 385 =====