Chapter 365: Symbolic Retaliation

A helicopter landed on the dedicated helipad at the Greatwood Manor, where the family's first heir Wood and the bank president Aldron greeted him. Then the patriarch George got off the plane, and Wood immediately ran over.

'Father, how was the meeting over there? Have those guys been too hard on us?' Wood asked nervously.

George rubbed his temples, showing signs of fatigue, and said to Wood, 'My boy, you must remember that all capitalists are a pack of ravenous wolves that devour people without sparing a bone, and every dollar of wealth in every bank is a delicious sheepfold in their eyes. As for you, the decision as to whether you want to become the wolf that occupies this sheepfold or the guardian shepherd dog is in your own hands.'

Wood was stunned at first, and then nodded, saying, 'Father, please rest assured, I will definitely become the wolf that occupies the sheepfold!'

George smiled, patted Wood's shoulder, and said something about being proud of Wood. Wood said to George, 'Father, did you see today's news? That little bitch Tang Ran from the Tang family actually announced in the media today that she is declaring war on the Morgan family!'

George's expression did not change much, and he was obviously not surprised by the news. He nodded and said, 'Of course I know the news. Her decision surprised me because it is not a wise choice.'

'Not just unwise, it's downright stupid!' Wood picked up where his father left off. 'The Downes are just an ordinary family of tycoons on the West Coast, not even comparable to our great Wood family. Now they want to declare war on the Morgans and say they're willing to the Great Depression. How can they say such things? They really are heirs without any systematic training, with minds and visions that are rubbish!

'I don't think she knows anything about how the Great Depression happened,' Wood said angrily. 'If they really dare to do anything, I'm afraid we won't need to do anything, someone will tear them to pieces.'

Wood concluded by suggesting to George: 'Father, since they are so reckless, let's join forces with the Morgans and take San Francisco. If the Great Wood Bank can take over the assets of the Chinese Bank, we will be able to make great progress!'

George was in no hurry to make a decision. Instead, he asked Aldron, who had followed him to greet him, 'What do you think?'

Aldron bowed to George before answering: 'I think their actions are very strange. Maybe Tang Ran is a 23-year-old who is prone to impulsive behaviour, but there are other members of the Tang family at Tang Bank, and they would not let her do whatever she wants. And Tang Ran, judging from her ability to inherit the Tang family, is not someone who knows nothing. At least she has someone like Zhou Ming to help her...'

At this point, Aldron paused for a moment before continuing, 'Unless something happened to that Zhou Ming in Itely, which caused him to become deranged in San Francisco, because according to the data, they seemed to be lovers.'

Wood snorted at this news, saying, 'Really? If that bastard Zhou Ming dies, that would be really great news!'

'So you think we shouldn't act for the time being and need to observe the situation first, right?' George asked.

Wood was unhappy: 'Father, why do we need to observe the situation? Now it is clear that they have made a huge mistake and this is our opportunity. Why don't we seize it?'

Aldron nodded his head in agreement with George, who then made a decision: 'In that case, let's do nothing and wait and see how the Downes family behaves in the future.'

After making the decision, George turned to Wood and said, 'My boy, you must understand one thing: when a hunter captures his prey, he always places the prey's the food they want most as bait. Sometimes waiting is easier than taking action. You have to understand that after they have taken advantage of the situation, they are the ones who should be anxious, not us.'

Time passed. On April 26, the revenge of the Down family, which had been watched by the entire United States, quietly kicked off against the Morgan family.

For San Francisco TV stations followed the whole revenge operation, so their reports were also the most representative. However, their headlines were a little intriguing: symbolic revenge.

At At 9:30 a.m., when the New York Stock Exchange opened for trading, hundreds of investment companies controlled by the Dow family and the California consortium began frantically selling the stocks of the three pillar banks of the Morgan family, causing the stocks of the three Morgan banks to fall by an average of nearly 1% within an hour.

However This was the extent of the decline, and the Morgans then used their financial power to show the Tangs why they were number one in the United States. With the financial support of the Morgan family, the decline in the stock price of J.P. Morgan & Co. quickly stopped.

The family did not cling to the battle and immediately sounded the retreat, abandoning the stock market attack on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and turning to acquire several investment banks focused on real estate that were controlled by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

These investment banks not only provide venture capital for real estate projects, but also have an even more important function: they handle the non-performing assets acquired by JPMorgan Chase. You should know that JPMorgan Chase & Co. has just bought a $15 billion package of distressed assets from the Woodrow family. If they lose their outlet for these assets, they will suffer a net loss of $15 billion.

Although the Morgans were rich, and there were political considerations involved in buying up the distressed assets of the Daewoo Bank in one package, but that didn't mean they were willing to bear the loss.

So the Morgans also made adjustments immediately, injecting capital into these companies and adjusting the share structure to make it less convenient for the Downes to make a purchase.

Time At 2 pm, a sudden quality problem with the steel of Pan American Steel Corporation was revealed, and the stock of Pan American Steel Corporation was then sold off on the stock market, falling by more than 5% in an hour.

This Pan American Steel Company also belongs to the holdings of the Morgan family, and the Morgan family of course would not ignore it. So the Morgan family also returned to reallocate funds to support Pan American Steel Company, first to stop the decline in the stock market, and then to handle the public relations of the exposed steel issues.

They first recalled all the steel with quality problems, compensated all dealers, and set up an investigation team to conduct a detailed investigation of the incident.

Today The Down family's revenge move was very clever. They didn't fight the Morgan family in one field, but switched back and forth between several fields. If they saw that the Morgan family was not going to give up, the Down family will simply retreat. Therefore, although the actions of the Tang family are dazzling, they have not actually caused the Morgan family much loss.

And there is an interesting detail is that after the day's confrontation between the Downes and Morgans, at the close of trading at 4pm, the shares of both Downes Bank and the three major Morgans banks rose slightly, by between 0.3 and 0.8%. Although the increase was not significant, it was still very unexpected. Perhaps investors believe that their confrontation can better invigorate themselves.

The day passed quickly. With the closing of the US stock market at 4pm, the day's fierce financial duel between the Dow family and the Morgan family also temporarily came to a halt. However, at this time, Zhou Ming received a phone call that he had been waiting for but was very unexpected.

'Hello, Mr. Zhou Ming Hello, Mr. Zhou Ming, I think you should remember my voice. I really can't help but say to you from the bottom of my heart, you win, I admit defeat to you.'

With these words on the phone Zhou Ming finally let out a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on his face. As the other party had said, he did remember the voice, it was the voice of Jack, the head of the Morgan family.

'It seems that the Daewood family must have made a very stupid decision, right?' Zhou Ming asked.

Jack replied cheerfully, 'Yes, because of what you did, the Greatwood family made a wrong judgment and he no longer trusts me.'

This is what Zhou Ming wanted, and it is also his goal to let the Down family take gentle revenge on Morgan.

The art of war emphasizes . After all, the Morgans did lay their hands on the Downes, so if they simply gave up on revenge against the Morgans, it would seem too superficial and be hard to convince the Greatwood family. Therefore, revenge is still necessary, but the method of revenge needs to be carefully considered.

A loud noise with little rain The core idea of the Dowager's revenge is to make a big fuss about taking revenge on the Morgans' property, but in reality, it does not cause any substantial harm to the Morgans, and it looks very much like a deliberate performance.

The Greatwood will feel that the Downes and Morgans are deliberately putting on a show for them. Once the Daewoods have doubts, the rest will be much easier.

This method is not effective with people who are stubborn, but it is very effective with people who are suspicious and distrustful of others. Especially when discovery is their own, they will believe in it without a doubt. This is how people are: once they notice a problem, they will imagine the worst and this will ultimately affect their decision.

Now judging from Jack Jack's words, it is clear that his plan worked.

While he let out a breath, Zhou Ming asked curiously, 'Mr. Jack, I'm glad you called, but I'm still a little curious. Even if the Daewood family thinks they've found the problem, they're just simply distrusting you guys, so they shouldn't break off the relationship, right?'

'Mr. Zhou Ming is really cautious in his character,' Jack said. 'In fact, I have not broken with the Daewood family, I simply no longer think they are worth working with. To put it simply, after considering your abilities and George's, I decided to work with the more capable party.'

In the words that followed subsequent words, he told Zhou Ming that originally, Morgan Bank had packaged and bought the 15 billion US dollars of non-performing assets of Daewood Bank at their theoretical original price. This transaction had conditions for exchange, and now that George had begun to doubt the Morgan family, he wanted to delay the delivery of the exchange condition for insurance purposes. However, Morgan could not agree, so they broke up. Then Jack called Zhou Ming.

'So that's I didn't realise there was such a connection. I thought there would be some time before the Daewoods made a move, but I forgot that you Morgans don't really do that kind of losing deal,' Ming said. 'And you, Mr Jack, were quick to make a decision.'

'A broken jewel, even if it was once worth a lot of money, I would give up,' Jack said, 'So, Mr. Ming Zhou, now that we are allies, what should we do?'

'Not us, but you,' corrected Ming. 'Jack, I think I need to remind you that we are not allies, but just robbers with a common interest in sharing the loot. I have been doing this all along, and now that you want to get involved, it's your turn to do your part.'

Jack Jack was stunned for a moment before replying, 'You're too clever, Mr. Ming Zhou. I feel like I've made a really bad decision.'