America: My Time

Chapter 204 The Vanguard's Scheme

Chapter 204 The Vanguard's Scheme

When John was laying out his plans in Hong Kong and Sanhe Bank was preparing to choose its target, there were naturally many different reactions within Japan. The first to change their minds was Vanguard. When they learned about Sanhe Bank's gains, they also had different ideas!

“We can’t go on like this. We don’t need to risk our lives for others. Warner can choose to fight back, but we can’t. The previous plan has to change. We need to resolve the conflict with John. We can’t take all the responsibility on our own shoulders. We need to get rid of this pressure. The situation has changed now, and we must get rid of the pressure as soon as possible!”

“Sir, isn’t this a bit inappropriate? We have an agreement with Warner, and things have already begun. Even if we wanted to change things, it would be too late. We also joined the fight against John before, so they must know that. Even if we back down now, they won’t let us off easily. We might as well continue to stand with Warner and weather this storm together!”

"It's precisely because he knows this that we have a chance to break free. If we do nothing now, the consequences will be severe. We are not Warner; we cannot afford their retaliation. Don't place your hopes on Warner, and don't believe their promises; their promises are unreliable. The other side is different from Warner; they control NBC, a media giant. If they were to attack us, how much do you think we would suffer? I don't believe those guys would risk their lives for us, or that they would keep their promises. They are just using us!"

"But how can we resolve our past grievances? Sanhe's actions have potentially destroyed our public relations!"

"Foolish! Although Sanhe has ruined everyone's chances of using beautiful female PR people, we're not completely helpless. If Sanhe can pay such a price, we can certainly pay an equal price. If Sanhe can disregard everything, why can't we? What did Sony do? What did Akio Morita do? Can't we learn from them? Doesn't Warner Bros. Pioneer have such candidates? We can make full use of them!"

"Sir, I'm afraid that will be difficult. After all, Warner Pioneer is just a record company with only record contracts. It's hard for us to control those idols, and our public relations capabilities are nowhere near those of Sanhe!"

"What's wrong with the record deal? We can terminate it and hand it over to Universal Music. Isn't that an opportunity to improve things? And what do you think Warner Music will think if we do that? Will they think we've done something underhanded, or will they think it's Universal's retaliation, an attempt to poach talent?"

"I'm afraid something might happen to the idols. As for these agencies, I'm afraid they won't want to get involved in this battle. This internal war in the United States has already spread throughout the Japanese entertainment industry. No one wants to get involved in such a battle. This is no small matter. They won't take such a risk and sacrifice their own interests for us!"

"Damn it, I've already laid it all out, and you still have all sorts of worries. You can't target large firms, so why don't you go for small ones? They're not in a position to negotiate with us, and they won't have to pay the termination fees. There won't be any difficulties. If things go well, we'll only benefit, not suffer any harm, and we won't have to bear any responsibility. Warner will take the blame!" Insidious and ruthless, it has to be said that Vanguard's plan is quite clever and vicious. If it succeeds, it could truly leave them unaffected and even resolve the conflict with John, giving him a satisfactory explanation!

"Is it worth it for you to do this, sir? If we do this, it means giving up the record company's interests? Or even standing on the opposite side of Warner. They're not stupid; they can't possibly be unaware of our actions."

"What do you consider our core business? Are record labels important to us? If sales in North America go wrong, it won't just be a loss for the record labels! Although I hate to admit it, I have to accept it. That old guy Akio Morita is really shrewd. Look at Sony now, and look at our situation with Toshiba in North America. Do you think we need to care about losses from record labels? The profits from one idol's records are insignificant to us. We could give up even if there were a few more idols. Not only Sony, but Hitachi and Panasonic have also benefited, all thanks to their cooperation with John. Go for it, finish everything as quickly as possible, and push all the responsibility onto Warner. Everything that happened before has nothing to do with us; it was all Warner's doing. If all else fails, find a scapegoat within our organization and make him take the blame!" Good grief, Vanguard is now desperate. After understanding everything from the party, they don't want to continue cooperating with Warner, at least not to further offend John. They want to resolve the crisis! The business world is like a battlefield. For their own benefit, Vanguard decides to sacrifice Warner and let Warner take all the blame!
"If we don't resolve this crisis quickly, we'll soon suffer a devastating blow. John is a very vengeful kid. If he launches an attack on us, the North American market will collapse, and the North American market is extremely important to us! In retrospect, we were too arrogant and overconfident, thinking that this fight wouldn't cause too much of a stir. But we were wrong. This kid is going to launch a full-scale counterattack, and we can't become his target!"

Will John's all-out counterattack only target Warner? That's impossible. Any force aligned with Warner would be attacked, with Vanguard naturally bearing the brunt. In Japan, John may be powerless against them, but in North America, it's a different story. With media giants like NBC controlling the network, targeting Vanguard would be incredibly easy.

After dismissing his subordinates, another sigh quickly followed: "Do you think we can succeed? Although the other party is young, he is a cunning fox. He may have seen through our scheme. No matter how discreet we are, we can't be completely foolproof. After all, we planned all of this. The most important thing is that there are other people behind this. The 'Weekly Bunshun' incident is very unusual. There is a big conspiracy behind it!"

"So what if he sees through us? Would he still choose to be our enemy? That's impossible. We're only doing this to protect ourselves. We don't want to get involved in their feuds. We're just dragged into this by Warner and have no choice but to do this. He'll understand us. And you don't really think that Sanwa is as simple as it seems on the surface, do you? As for the 'Weekly Bunshun' incident, it has nothing to do with us."

"That's true, but I'm afraid they're young and impulsive, and might do something irrational in a moment of anger. Besides, we don't have enough confidence, after all, we're not Akio Morita, and we don't have that much of a relationship with him. As for Miwa, needless to say, they are indeed not as simple as they seem, but our plan is not without flaws either!"

"Friendship? No, we don't need that. All we need is an excuse, a chance to apologize to the other side, nothing more. Nothing else matters. We only seek self-preservation and don't want to get involved in this struggle. Akio Morita and Sony have their own ideas and pursuits. They hope to have a reliable ally in the United States, a friend who can stand on the side of Japan. But not everyone has such thoughts, and Toshiba is one of them."

Toshiba didn't want to be controlled forever; they wanted to rebel and be independent. Chacha and his group also had a similar group behind them, so they saw this as an opportunity and chose to participate in the internal struggle within the United States! We, on the other hand, sought self-preservation. Naturally, we stood on the neutral side. Sanhe could forcefully use public relations tactics to achieve their plans. Why couldn't we? Besides, weren't Warner and Ken-On protecting us?

"Yes, different people have different pursuits. Even within the same conglomerate, there are different stances and different choices. Some people want to take this opportunity to get everything they want, so they are scheming and plotting. We, on the other hand, have been dragged into this chaotic situation against our will! However, I am worried that these bastards under my command are too stupid. Things will deviate from our plan. Once that happens, the situation will become dangerous!"

"No matter how much scheming there is, it is all in vain in the face of absolute power. Someone wants to keep John in Japan, but such a move is too obvious and cannot be concealed from the other side. So we must not be targeted! As for those bastards under my command, it is best if they are stupid. I never thought they could understand our intentions. Ken-on's choice is not important. Haven't we already dealt with that greedy family in secret? As long as they take action, everything will turn out well."

“I agree with your plan, but there’s no need to go to such lengths. Acting alongside Sanhe in such a short time will weaken our operations. No matter how good our public relations are, we can’t just keep piling on beauties for them. That will only make them look down on us, which is very disadvantageous. Most importantly, I’m worried that that greedy family of bastards will betray us completely. That’s the real problem!”

Naturally, different people have different opinions on such an arrangement. Not everyone thinks the plan is feasible and can achieve its goals. Even the best plan is just a plan until it succeeds, and there's always the possibility of failure—that's what's most worrying. Especially now, with so many people secretly watching, you can't do whatever you want. Perhaps your enemy will deliver a fatal blow at a crucial moment, ruining your plans and exposing everything to everyone, or even making you a scapegoat or a shield!

(End of this chapter)