The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 525 Thunderstorm
"Academician Liu, isn't it a bit risky to use lawyers from the opposing country to fight a lawsuit against them?" someone asked doubtfully. "What if the other side doesn't fight the case properly for us and instead colludes with the enemy to withdraw money?"

"The legal profession and the steel industry are completely unrelated. Both the legal profession and the steel industry need to make money. We hire lawyers to give them the opportunity to make money. If they engage in shady dealings, they will damage their own reputation."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "I know that all of you bosses are farsighted people. Would you ruin your own brand to make money?"

"No way. It's so hard to build a reputation. We've worked so hard to establish our own foothold in the global steel market, how could we bear to ruin our brand?"

Liu Hua clapped his hands: "So isn't this the same principle? The lawyer we pay a lot of money to hire to deal with the dumping case must be a famous lawyer. He cherishes his reputation, so why would he ruin it?"

"But he was dealing with national interests."

Liu Hua laughed heartily: "Looking at the whole world, how many countries truly understand the meaning of 'national interest'? Probably only East Asia. There aren't many countries left."

"What if their country puts pressure on lawyers?"

Liu Hua shook his head: "You guys still don't understand the operating logic of Western society. Most Western politicians are lawyers by profession, so as a famous lawyer, would he be afraid of pressure from his colleagues?"

Only then did everyone understand that this was the logic. For people in our country, this was simply incomprehensible. Such people are generally called scoundrels or traitors to the country.

"As expected of an academician, a wise and experienced strategist," the secretary-general of the steel industry association praised. "If you hadn't explained, how would we have understood the intricacies of Western society?"

"Now there is another problem. There are many rumors internationally, claiming that the quality of our special steel is not good. Academician Liu, do you have a way to refute these rumors?"

Liu Hua smiled and said, "The ones who spread rumors just open their mouths, while the ones who refute them run themselves ragged. If you keep following them around refuting their rumors, you'll be exhausted to death."

"What should we do? We can't just let him slander us, can we?"

"This is actually easy to handle. Human memory is time-limited; people forget things after a while."

The secretary-general shook his head: "No, as long as the rumors persist, they will cause us enormous harm."

"Since the hottest news in the international steel industry right now is that our steel quality is poor, let's create another, even bigger news story to cover up the rumors that are slandering us."

"Oh, any big news lately? I mean the steel industry, I haven't heard anything."

"This mine has always been there, it just hasn't been exposed yet."

A dozen or so big bosses asked in unison, "What kind of mine? Won't it hurt us?"

"Don't worry, we're upright and honest, what are we afraid of?"

"Then please tell me in detail," the secretary-general hurriedly asked. "With so many of us here, let's discuss how to maximize our profits using that 'mine' you mentioned." "The Japanese steel company has a history of falsifying data."

"Are you referring to Toyo Steel? Kobe Steel, or Sumitomo Metal?"

Liu Hua curled his lip: "Be bolder. Why do you have to ask which company? Can't this kind of behavior be common throughout the entire industry?"

It was indeed a bombshell, shocking everyone present. How could it be that the entire industry was rife with fraud? You have to understand that in the international steel market, Japan's steel is one of our main competitors.

Such a respectable yet hateful opponent seems to be fabricating everything, leaving everyone present frowning and resting their chins on their hands, but no one believes Liu Hua is telling the truth.

"Don't you believe me? It's simple. You should be able to get your hands on samples from these steel companies. Just test them and you'll know."

The Secretary-General opened his phone and dialed a number, saying, "I'll handle this. There are still some companies in China that import products from Japan. I can get accurate data within a few hours."

To become the secretary-general of the steel industry demonstrates that this person has extensive connections within the industry and is an exceptionally capable individual.

Within two hours, a batch of data had been sent over via fax. Everyone present was an expert, so they took out the data released by the companies in Xiaodongyang that they had found within those two hours and compared it with the data.

"This isn't just widespread fraud; it's a long-standing and widespread problem of fraud."

"If we release this news, it will be earth-shattering. No one will be interested in our rumors anymore, and some people will probably be too busy to care about themselves."

Liu Hua waved his hand: "Why should we be sent out to do this dirty work? Don't get your hands dirty."

"Academician Liu, what do you mean?"

"Leave this news to the Americans," Liu Hua said shrewdly. "If we were to release this news, the Japanese would argue that we were slandering our competitors, and then the two sides would argue back and forth, which wouldn't have an immediate effect. But if their godfather releases it, they won't dare to say that, because they're spineless."

"Most importantly, many of America's military industrial companies are clients of Japan Steel Corporation. Over the years, some of their weapons development has failed to materialize due to Japan Steel Corporation's falsification of data. Of course, this is not the case for all of them, but it doesn't matter. If it happens once, it will happen a hundred times. Those American capitalists will blame all the mistakes on Japan Steel Corporation, so the drama will be huge."

The people present were all shrewd individuals. After exchanging glances, they chuckled and unanimously gave Liu Hua a thumbs-up.

The Secretary-General stepped forward without hesitation: "I will handle this matter. I also have some connections with the media in the United States, so I can guarantee that our domestic steel industry will not be implicated. Everyone, just wait and see."

The general manager of Shagang Group stood up and said, "You are all from state-owned enterprises, while Academician Liu and I are from private enterprises. We have more convenient access to funds. Since Academician Liu has already come up with the idea, the funds for this event will all be mine. Secretary-General, you can rest assured and carry out the operation. Just tell me how much money you need."

Other steel mill managers were not happy. A Baosteel manager said discontentedly, "Although Baosteel is a state-owned enterprise, we still have a large amount of advertising budget every year. I think this operation can be entirely attributed to advertising. If you don't let Baosteel pay for it, you are disrespecting us Baosteel people."

(End of this chapter)