Chapter 60: Not interested in 200 million, but serious about 200 billion

On 20th May, Zhou Ming arrived at the most famous Red Square building in Northern Russia in his own Volga. He parked in the car park, which was already full of cars at this time, including many high-end German cars.

In the midst of the economic depression in Northern Russia, when many people are selling their assets to get by, these newly purchased high-end cars undoubtedly represent the nouveau riche status of their owners. In fact, the people who can come here for the meeting today are also a group of people who have become rich with the economic crisis in Northern Russia. They are also the main players who will seize the wealth of the Soviet Union together with the Dota Project.

It can be imagined that when this economic crisis is over, these people will definitely become the oligarchs who control the economic lifeblood of the Northern Russian Republic, just like the six major consortia in the previous life.

However, none of this is what Zhou Ming is thinking about right now, because there is another problem in front of him.

'Mr. Zhou Ming, I believe you will definitely succeed!' Katerina cheered Zhou Ming on, "just like yesterday when you convinced Irbedov at the securities company.'

Zhou Ming smiled slightly and said, "Of course, I must succeed too, otherwise Irbedov alone will not be able to compete with the Dota Project and will be quickly eaten up by it.'

Although Zhou Ming said so, in reality, he was still under a lot of pressure. Even though he had convinced Irbedov yesterday, he was still only one person after all, and today he had to face the entire wealthy class of Northern Russia. Everyone in it had their own unique ideas, and the difficulty was not just a simple one plus one, but an increase by a geometric factor.

Zhou Ming did not tell Kareina about this pressure. On the one hand, he did not want her to worry; on the other hand, Zhou Ming himself liked challenges. After all, difficulties led to progress!

When Zhou Ming brought Kareina to the door of the conference room in the Red Square building, he could hear voices coming from inside even before he opened the door. The voices were very noisy and boisterous, and they gave Zhou Ming the impression that it was not a meeting of a group of upper-class wealthy people, but more like a farmers' market in some county town.

But this situation is normal, because today Zhou Ming came here to ask them to abandon their plan to continue selling rubles to devalue the ruble under the Dota Project, and instead support the ruble and become the saviour of the North Russian economy and confront the Dota Project. How can this news not surprise people? You have to understand that over this period of time, under the auspices of Irbedov, they have already tasted great sweetness by following the Dota plan. Now suddenly they are being told to give it up, they definitely can't accept it. The fact that they haven't just turned around and left already shows that they are very restrained.

Katerina looked at Zhou Ming with concern. Zhou Ming gave her a reassuring smile and then pushed open the door to the conference room.

As the door to the meeting room was pushed open by Zhou Ming, the sound inside also came to an abrupt end, and everyone's attention was focused on Zhou Ming at the door.

Zhou Ming walked into the meeting room under everyone's gaze, with his head held high, just like an emperor attending court in front of all his subjects. He walked all the way to the top of the meeting room, because here, Irbedov had deliberately reserved a seat for him.

Zhou Ming did not sit down directly after arriving here, but stood there and looked around the meeting room before saying, 'I believe everyone already knows the topic of today's meeting. Our next goal is Project Dota.'

Although Zhou Ming's words were completely within everyone's expectations, when he actually said them, they still surprised everyone for a moment, and moments later, someone immediately stood up and questioned Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I really don't understand. This is precisely the time when the financial market in Northern Russia is the most booming. I don't understand why we should give up at this time?'

The person speaking was named Boltarsky, currently the second richest man in Northern Russia after Irbedov. Since he controlled the largest private bank in Northern Russia, he was also the biggest beneficiary of the Dota Project. Now that Zhou Ming was saying that he wanted to resist the Dota Project, he naturally jumped up first to question him. And after Boltarsky, one after the other, the others also jumped out to question Zhou Ming.

'Mr Zhou Ming, I think it's a bit premature to rebel against the Dota Project right now, because the resources we have in our hands are simply not comparable to theirs. Don't you think you're being a bit hasty, Mr Zhou Ming?'

'Mr. Zhou Ming, you said a long time ago that by following the DOTA Project, we were also protecting our own wealth. But now the ruble has obviously not yet reached its peak and you want us to turn our guns on the DOTA Project. Isn't this asking us to hand over our wealth to someone else? Mr. Zhou Ming, you said that you are a capitalist who will not give up your own interests, so of course we Northern Russian businessmen are just like you.'

'Mr. Zhou Ming, we are all Northern Russian businessmen with our own ideas. We admit that your knowledge of the Dota Project is very accurate, and we are also grateful to you for pointing out such a profitable way for us. But that is not a reason for you to drive us, and we are not your lackeys!'

Everyone questioned you one word and I one word, and they started off with very careful words, but as the atmosphere heated up, what they said became more and more impolite, and their tone became stronger and stronger, clearly showing an uncooperative attitude.

Zhou Ming was not angry about this, because their reaction was also within his expectations. After all, he is not even a Northern Russian, and he is asking them to stop their current way of making money and take the risk to do something else, especially since this thing is contrary to the money they are making now. It would be inconceivable for them to agree so easily.

Therefore, Zhou Ming just sat there, silently watching them argue below. When they had finished arguing and their voices had died down, Zhou Ming asked, 'Have you all finished?'

A very simple question, but it irritated everyone below, making them immediately realise just how rude their behaviour had been. They all lowered their heads in shame.

This was very impressive, but Zhou Ming was not proud of his boldness. He didn't even take this matter too seriously, and just looked around before continuing, 'Actually, I want to say that you are really stupid. You keep emphasising that you are businessmen, that you put profit first, but you seem to have forgotten that I am essentially the same as you, and I even took this step before you.'

Zhou Ming's words woke everyone up like a bolt from the blue, and they only reacted to it then.

Yes! Zhou Ming is also a businessman, and he also puts profit first. He was also the first to lead them to make money with the Dota Project. How could he possibly be self-defeating?

Sergeyevsky, who had the closest relationship with Yelbeldov, immediately responded by taking the lead and asking, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, so to speak, you must have discovered something even more profitable, right?'

'Yes, it's just that unfortunately, this business must be built on the opposite side of the Tower Project, otherwise it will be difficult to expand, so I decided to give up following the Tower Project.' Zhou Ming nodded and replied, and then said, 'Of course, this was also part of my original plan. I don't know if you remember, when I first gave you a meeting, I told you that I was going to fight against the Tower Project. Now I'm just fulfilling my original promise.'

Zhou Ming's words made everyone suddenly remember that Zhou Ming did say such things at the beginning, and that he even wanted to fight the Dota Project to the top of Red Square. However, after the arrival of the Winter of Krysztal, the ruble depreciated like a jump in value, and they all made a lot of money, so they gradually forgot about this.

'Then Mr. Zhou Ming, if we fight against the Dota Project, can we make even more money, up to two hundred million?'

This time, the question was again asked by the financial tycoon Boltarsky. Although he was eager to overthrow Zhou Ming and Irbedov and become the number one financial oligarch in Northern Russia, under the current circumstances, he still preferred to continue following Zhou Ming's footsteps in the primitive accumulation of capital.

Facing Boltarsky's question, Zhou Ming gave a disdainful smile: 'Mr. Boltarsky, what are you asking about two hundred million?'

'Of course it's US dollars!' Boltarsky said, 'Rubles no longer have any credibility with us.'

Zhou Ming let out a sound of exclamation, and then threw out a sentence that made everyone gape in disbelief: 'I'm sorry, if that's what you're asking, Mr. Boltsky, then I'm afraid I have no interest in answering you at all. Whether it's two billion rubles or US dollars, if you're asking for twenty billion or two hundred billion or even two hundred billion, then I think I'll still answer you very seriously.'

A single stone has set off a thousand ripples. Zhou Ming's words, which were translated by Katerina, immediately shocked everyone.

Everyone looked at Zhou Ming in shock, their eyes full of disbelief. They were shocked not by the frightening figure that Zhou Ming blurted out, but by Zhou Ming's attitude.

Two hundred million is not interesting, but two hundred billion, I will answer you seriously.

What kind of arrogance is required to say such a thing? Of course, if it were someone else, they would think that person was just blowing hot air, but with Zhou Ming, they believed that he really had such ambition.

'Two hundred billion? Can we really earn two hundred billion?'

Someone below asked blankly, and although his words had already made his tongue tie, he still received unanimous approval from the others.

Facing such a question, Zhou Ming confidently asked in return, 'Why not? I think you must have forgotten that I also told you at the beginning that if the Dota Project was successful, it would earn 20 trillion. So now we are fighting against the Dota Project. If we can't even earn 200 billion, what are we doing? Just give up and go home to play in the mud!'

At the end, Zhou Ming deliberately asked them in return, 'What do you think?'