I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

At 7:50 a.m. the next morning, long queues had already formed at Walmart, Carrefour, and six foreign chain stores.

Eggs cost 99 cents per pound, rice costs 29 yuan per bag, five liters of cooking oil cost 19 yuan, and imported laundry detergent is also labeled as 50% off.

The store's loudspeaker continuously broadcasts the 21-day subsidy plan, and a whole wall of coupons is displayed at the entrance.

At 8:00 a.m. sharp, the roller shutters were raised, and the crowd surged into the store.

In less than half an hour, the fresh food counters in dozens of stores were emptied.

The foreign company's public relations staff, who were in charge of filming the scene, uploaded the footage to the internet, uniformly titled "Foreign Retailers Offer Discounts in Jiangnan."

The Lin family's six Huimin hypermarkets were directly impacted.

At 9 a.m., customer traffic was down 40% compared to the same period yesterday. The fresh produce section still had stock, but only local residents were at the checkout counters.

Boss Zhou stood in the grain and oil section, looking at the long queues of foreign-owned stores across the street, unable to hand over his restocking order for a long time.

He had only been on the Lin's wholesale platform for ten days. If foreign investors maintained the price for twenty-one days, the surrounding small shops would be the first to go under, and Lin's stores would also have to bear a large amount of inventory.

After 10 o'clock, twelve suppliers called one after another.

The head of a daily chemical factory put it bluntly: "Howard's people informed us that if we continue to supply Lin's, all 300+ display locations across the country will be canceled."

We cannot afford this loss. Orders already placed will be delivered as scheduled, but subsequent contracts will have to be suspended.

Another paper products factory also proposed to suspend cooperation, as foreign groups control too many nationwide distribution channels, and local manufacturers dare not risk the entire market.

Lin Fu sent the supplier list and store data to the dispatch center.

"Eight foreign groups invested more than 40 million yuan in promotional subsidies today, 27 local suppliers received exclusivity notices, and nine are preparing to stop supplying goods."

If they lower their prices accordingly, the six stores will lose more than seven million yuan every day.

After reviewing the data, Lin Ting placed the product structure table on the table.

"They use headquarters' money to buy customers, but Lin's doesn't burn money for them. We price our own products based on production costs plus operating expenses, eliminate membership prices, eliminate bundled sales, and have no purchase limits."

External suppliers are willing to stay, and payments will be settled on the same day. Those worried about retaliation from foreign capital should be asked to stop for now.

After listening, Lin Dayou went to the warehouse dispatch area.

The agricultural cooperative in Tazhai Village received a delivery order, and salt-tolerant rice, peanut oil from the village-run oil mill, poultry eggs, vegetables, and bean products were loaded onto trucks in batches.

Wangjiacun Shipping Community delivered the day's seafood to six markets, and Kang Sheng Pharmaceutical replenished the pharmacy's inventory.

The four household goods factories controlled by Yitang also opened warehouses. Paper towels, soap powder, towels, and cleaning supplies were all relabeled as being supplied by the Lin family.

At noon, the first batch of 180 trucks entered the provincial capital.

The unloading area reports its inventory every ten minutes; whatever is sold at the front desk, the warehouse at the back replenishes accordingly.

The first batch of 3,600 boxes of golden fruit were put on the shelves, priced lower than imported fruits sold in foreign stores, and there was no limit on the quantity that could be purchased.

When Boss Zhou received the new wholesale catalog, he recalculated it three times.

For the same bag of rice, the wholesale price on Lin's platform is two yuan lower than the 50% discount price offered by foreign companies.

Foreign companies rely on headquarters subsidies for pricing, while Lin's prices come from direct supply from the production area. There are no entry fees, display fees, or long-distance warehousing fees in between.

At 2 p.m., Mr. Zhou replaced all the old price tags in the store and sent Lin's purchasing links to four nearby small shops.

Customer traffic at the six benefit stores has begun to recover.

Customers quickly discover upon entering the store that only the first 100 low-priced foreign-brand products are available each day, and some discounts require the purchase of membership coupons.

Lin's shelves have uniform pricing, and purchases of whole cases are settled at the same unit price.

At 7 p.m., all 600+ cash registers at Lin's store were operating at full capacity. There was no pushing or shoving outside, but restocking vehicles never stopped.

Howard sat in the regional headquarters, looking at the sales figures on both sides.

Foreign-owned stores saw a threefold increase in customer traffic that day, but their operating losses also exceeded the original budget by more than double.

Lin's Supermarket's sales increased instead of decreased, and the turnover rate of fresh produce inventory was reduced to less than four hours.

Bell presented him with the new proposal.

"Headquarters only approved 21 days' worth of expenses, and at the current rate of consumption, it will be used up in seven days."

Lin's did not lower the prices of all its products. They attracted customers with their own fresh produce and retained family purchases with medicines, daily necessities, and seafood.

"If we keep offering 50% off, we're losing more money with every truckload we sell."

Howard pressed down on the report with his hand.

"Reduce the price of eggs to 50 cents and rice to 19 yuan. Tell suppliers that they can only choose one supplier in the Jiangnan market. Anyone who dares to enter the Lin family's platform will have their nationwide settlement qualification revoked."

The new round of pricing will begin the following day.

Foreign-owned stores are depleting their inventory faster, while regional warehouses lack sufficient replenishment capacity.

Suppliers nationwide are willing to comply with the exclusivity requirement, but demand payment in advance for promotional goods.

Foreign headquarters did not provide additional cash, and local banks were unwilling to extend credit to loss-making activities.

The Lin's platform added 420 new community merchants within three days.

Local food factories that previously relied on foreign investment channels have switched to Lin's warehousing and distribution system.

They no longer pay barcode fees and display fees, and the settlement cycle has been reduced from ninety days to seven days. Factories would rather give up foreign-owned stores than lose cash flow.

On the fifth day, Carrefour's fresh food section in the southern part of the provincial capital was closed.

On the sixth day, the two foreign-owned convenience store groups stopped operating at night.

On the eighth day, 39 chain stores posted notices announcing the suspension of operations.

Customers received a large number of refunds for their prepaid cards. The regional account of the foreign-owned group could not handle the refunds and suppliers' demands for payment, and twelve stores were cut off from electricity by the property management company to demand rent.

Howard stood in the empty warehouse and calculated the true cost of the Lin family for the first time.

The Wu family's property is rent-free, the Eighteen Villages provide agricultural products, Lin's Logistics is responsible for transportation, and Wang Family Village supplements the aquatic products.

Foreign companies, which excel at large-scale procurement, lose their advantage in the face of this local supply chain.

That evening, the overseas headquarters terminated the promotional subsidies in Jiangnan.

Two more business days passed, and 76 foreign-owned stores in the province suspended operations.

Six local chain stores have applied to Lin's for supply chain trusteeship, and the original foreign suppliers have also begun to contact Lin Fu again.

Lin's six stores continue to restock 24 hours a day, with all shelves kept fully stocked.

Howard did not return to headquarters. Instead, he handed over the central cold storage route, duty rosters, and quarantine declaration records to a food safety consulting firm.

"The price war is over; normal business practices won't win against Lin's. If animal diseases are detected in the cold storage, all six stores will have to close, and the agricultural base will also be traced."

"I only want one result: for Lin's meat samples to test positive."

The following morning, five quarantine vehicles were parked outside the Lin's Central Cold Storage.

Twelve people in quarantine uniforms got off the vehicle, and the team leader presented a stamped document. Two staff members took out a seal and affixed it directly to the cold storage door.

Team leader Guo Cheng held up the seizure notice and read it aloud to the warehouse staff:

"Lin's Central Cold Storage is suspected of being contaminated with a major animal disease. The entire storage area is to be sealed off immediately, and no one is allowed to open it!"