Chapter 312: The Essence of Pretentiousness

As soon as Wood and Tang An's press conference was held, the Tang family got the news at the first opportunity, and even achieved real-time broadcast at home through technical means on the media side.

Huo Ranwen

Zhou Ming and Tang Ranlin Muqing also rushed to Tang Jingsheng's villa after getting the news. Tang Jingsheng also told his butler to wait by the door early, and as soon as Zhou Ming arrived, he took him to the study. At this time, he happened to be watching Wood's outlook on the future of the two companies Lombardy and Hamilton on TV.

Looking at this unfamiliar face, Zhou Ming couldn't help but point at him and ask, 'Who is this guy? He looks pretty awesome!'

In response to this question, Tang Ran told him: 'Brother Ming, this person is named Wood, the first-in-line heir to the Great Wood family from Itely, the capital of Michigan. He has already taken over many family businesses and has a very important position.'

Zhou Ming's knowledge of the major American conglomerates and wealthy families was not as detailed as the Downes', but at least he had done his homework, so when Tang Ran mentioned the name, Zhou Ming immediately remembered.

The Daewood family is also a very important American family. Perhaps it is not as well-known as family conglomerates like Rockefeller or Morgan, and it is not even as influential as presidential political families like the Addamses or the Kennedys political family is not as well-known as it. However, it occupies a very important position in the historical landscape of the United States because it occupies the largest heavy industrial base in the United States.

Etrile is located in the centre of the Great Lakes industrial region. With its reliance on shipping and railways and rich mineral resources, Etrile has long been the centre of the US heavy industry. Not only are the headquarters of the four major US car companies located here, but the production of steel, instruments, plastics, glass and tyres, engines and other parts related to the automotive manufacturing industry is quite well developed, with the production of steel, instruments, plastics, glass and parts such as tyres and engines. It is no exaggeration to say that one in every four American cars in the world is definitely from Itely.

This is undoubtedly an exaggerated figure, and relying on the industrial cluster foundation brought about by automobiles, Itali also has very strong capabilities in other heavy industries such as aircraft and tanks.

If you say that the United States has a huge and terrifying automotive kingdom, then the Bigwood family is the royal family of this kingdom. They have absolute control of all the automotive companies here, as well as being the largest shareholder in other steel and metal processing industries. Whether it is a car company such as General Motors, Ford or Chrysler, or other general processing plants, as long as they are within the scope of Itely or even Michigan, they cannot escape the control of the Bigwood family.

Just from such a strong control, it is not difficult to see the strength of this Bigwood family. Even if you rank the family's strength alone, the Bigwood family can still rank among the top ten. Those who can rank above him are only super families like the Rockefellers and Morgans.

And now the young man who is currently holding a press conference with Tang An on TV can only be the first-in-line heir of the Bigwood family, Wood VIII.

Following Tang Ran's prompt, Lin Muqing also apparently remembered this Bigwood family, so she immediately asked, 'So now that he has openly appeared on TV, is he publicly expressing support for the division of the Tang family and showing that he is the mastermind behind Tang An who is leading this whole thing?'

Regarding Lin Muqing's conjecture, Tang Ran immediately echoed, 'Muqing, you are right. As far as I know, although the Daewood family controls the automobile kingdom, it is also due to their heavy investment in heavy industry and are overly reliant on local mineral resources, which has led to their financial weakness. This is also an important reason why they have been unable to compete with the large Eastern and Western consortia.'

'All have always longed to have their own banking group, but due to the obstruction of other consortium families, they have never been able to do so. That is why they are now setting their sights on our Tang Bank and supporting Tang An's split of Tang Bank at any cost,' guessed Tang Ran.

Zhou Ming but shook his head and said, 'It is certain that he supports Tang An's splitting up the Tang family and wants to get Tang's Bank, but he may not be the real mastermind behind the scenes.'

This remark made both Lin Muqing and Tang Ran a little confused. Zhou Ming then explained, 'It's simple. If we were determined to take on a certain group, do you think we should we hold a big press conference to tell them, or should we quietly prepare and wait for the right moment to suddenly attack and knock them off their pedestal?'

'Of of course it's better to quietly prepare for a sudden attack. If you hold a press conference with a big fanfare, that's too presumptuous.' Lin Muqing and Tang Ran coincidentally made the same choice.

'But since they are not the ones behind the scenes, why would they choose to come forward to help Tang An?' Tang Ran asked again.

Zhou Ming did not give a direct answer, but hinted, 'I don't know if you remember what I said before. The real mastermind will not come forward directly, but he will manipulate the forces he can control to make our lives miserable.'

'So So Ming, do you think that this suddenly appeared Da Wu family is also the same as Tang An and their family, the evil dog that the masterminds released to bite us?' Tang Ran asked.

'From the current situation is the case,' Zhou Ming replied, 'I guess now they will be so high-profile to hold this press conference, is to hope that we can divert our attention to them.'

For this answer, Tang Jingsheng and Tang Huiyin couldn't help but gasp in shock, because a family that could use a family like Da Wude as a gun and that family was so willing to take the initiative to come forward and get themselves into trouble, just how terrifying such power was, was imaginable.

Thinking of here, everyone in the room felt the immense pressure and fell silent, not even reacting when the news conference on the television ended.

After a while, Tang Jingsheng asked Zhou Ming, 'So now that the Daewood family has come forward, what should we do next?'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and replied: 'From the current situation, since the Wood family has come forward and made itself a target, and has declared war on us through this press conference, then there is no need for us to consider anything else, we should just fight back. Didn't hasn't he just invested in Lombardy and Hamilton? Then let's target them first.'

'Is this really a good idea? Because in that case, aren't we being led by the nose?' Tang Jingsheng asked tentatively.

Zhou Ming shook his head and replied, 'No, because this is only a temporary solution. We still don't know what the Wood family really thinks. If possible, I would like to have a good chat with this Mr. Wood VIII. I think he may feel the same way.'

As if as if to prove Zhou Ming's thoughts, as soon as his words fell, his phone at his waist suddenly rang.

It was a futuristic concept phone that Jobs had specially made for Zhou Ming. Although in Zhou Ming's opinion it was just a very common push-button phone ten years later, it did have a very 'futuristic' feel for the era when brick-sized mobile phones and pagers were everywhere.

The phone showed an incoming call from a completely unknown number. Zhou Ming answered the call and a slightly frivolous voice came through: 'Hello, is this Mr Zhou Ming? This is Wood. I think you already know about me, right? I'll make this short. I'm calling to ask you to meet me for a face-to-face chat. We'll meet at noon today, wherever you like.'

Hearing it was Wood, Zhou Ming immediately put him on speakerphone, so everyone heard what Wood said, which also left everyone confused. They had no idea what Wood was up to.

However the confusion was only the beginning, because then Wood continued: 'If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Ming Chow, you must be on speakerphone, right? Perhaps you're using the latest product from Apple, a very compact and practical concept phone. I think in the future, these convenient portable phones will definitely become the mainstream! If possible, I would love to have one too.'

'Okay It seems a bit off-topic. Let's get back to the topic. I really want to invite you to meet me because I know you definitely want to meet me too.' Wood continued over the phone, 'Even in a gang war, before anyone actually pulls a gun, everyone has to find out about each other's background, let alone the fact that the war we are about to wage is far more serious than a gang war, isn't it?'

Speaking of here, Wood suddenly remembered something: 'Yes, there is something I think you will be very interested in. That is, for the war between Lombardy and Hamilton prepared tens of billions of dollars for this war, and I heard that you, Mr. Zhou Ming, also want the ten percent of the shares of Tang Bank that Tang An has in his hands. I'm afraid I have to tell you with regret that these shares will probably be transferred to my name in the future.'

As Wood with each word, Tang Jingsheng and Tang Huiyin no longer knew what to say, and Lin Muqing and Tang Ran also frowned, as these words were undoubtedly very irritating.

Indeed, Zhou Ming just said that he was going to talk to him about the situation, but now he's just said that he's taken the shares from Tang An and that he's got tens of billions of dollars in funding. This is like the landlord in a card game, after he's dealt the cards, you just show him your two kings, four twos and three aces. How can you possibly win with a hand like that?

But this Mr. Wood would not have been so arrogant as to call if he didn't have such a supreme hand, would he?

Of course, in reality trillions of dollars cannot possibly defeat the Tang Bank, but the problem is that these trillions of dollars are just a lead, and his goal is to use this lead to trigger internal problems within the Tang family, such as those of Tang An.

After all is said and done Tang Ran, as an outsider, has inherited the family business but has not yet officially managed the family. In other words, this is the time when the family's cohesion is at its lowest. If they are unable to solve all difficulties, then it is hard to say what the jealous people will do. This is what Tang Jingsheng and Tang Huiyin are most worried about, otherwise they would not have supported Zhou Ming and Tang Ran like they did.

But when everyone else people feel a little powerless, Zhou Ming took over from Wood, 'I think I understand what you're trying to say, except that Mr. Wood, you're a bit overdoing it with the pressure.'

Wood didn't expect Zhou Ming to suddenly blurt out such a sentence. At that time, he was a bit overwhelmed and subconsciously asked, 'What do you mean by that?'

'What I want to say that I originally planned to ask you out for a chat, because I wanted to know what your intentions really were, but now that you've told me everything, what else is there to talk about? Tell me honestly, are you out of your mind? Have you gone too far with this act?' Zhou Ming helplessly said Zhou Ming helplessly, 'I just want to ask you, brother, how long has it been since you last spoke? You've given me such a load of nonsense.'

'In the end, I'll teach you. The essence of being a show-off is to say the most awesome things at the most opportune times, not to ramble on like you do, just like when you fight. The landlord, you come with four twos and two kings, you say you are playing with a strong hand, but in other people's eyes, aren't you just a silly thing? So my child, in the future, you'd better be more careful!' Zhou Ming said with a sincere heart.