Chapter 858: Chapter 836: Indiscriminate Offensive On December 24, just before Christmas, the second phase of Tianxing Auto Park was officially launched in Wuhan. During the groundbreaking ceremony, Lu Liang took the stage to give a speech, declaring that Tianxing Automobile will invest no less than 12 billion yuan to build the largest car production base in Central China. Upon completion, it is expected to roll out 1 million new energy vehicles annually, creating over 12,000 direct jobs and over 30,000 indirect jobs locally. On that day, the city’s leadership team attended in full, and to show their importance, the provincial leaders also sent the second-in-command responsible for the economy. On stage, Lu Liang looked ambitiously into the future and smiled humbly: “Last year, I made a prediction about this year’s new energy vehicle market, estimating that total market sales would reach over 2.4 million units.” “In the blink of an eye, we are down to the last week of this year, and according to data from the New Energy Vehicle Industry Association, it is estimated that by December 31st, the full-year sales of new energy vehicles will only reach 2.25 million units.” “This data, while reflecting a year-on-year market growth of 92.25%, 92% is still 92%, and not 100%.” “15,000 units actually isn’t much, if our Tianxing Automobile’s production capacity could keep up, perhaps we could make up for this shortfall.” “So, for that, I feel very ashamed!” The moment these words were spoken, the business peers who had come to support stiffened their smiles. The onlookers turned to the business peers, delighted to see them in a tight spot, with faces showing a smile of joy at watching the commotion unfold. Because roughly around the same time last year, when Lu Liang predicted that the full-year sales of new energy vehicles would be 2.4 million units, he was mocked by quite a few people. Some business peers even commented on Weibo, saying that having confidence in the future market is a good thing, but blind confidence is a form of self-deception. At that time, Sky Star·Tianshu hadn’t been launched yet, but in preparation for its launch, there were continuous marketing efforts, which dissatisfied many business peers, who often criticized Lu Liang using Old Jia’s car-making PPT, calling him the second Jia Yuetting. However, a year has passed. Sky Star Automobiles’ Tianshu and Yao Guang, two pure electric vehicles, consistently rank among the top five models in terms of sales, selling a total of 200,000 units. Now, Lu Liang puts on a bold face, claiming that the reason for not achieving the predicted target is due to his own production capacity not keeping up, not because the business peers are too lousy. “Mr. Lu is always so witty and humorous.” The leaders in the front row exchanged glances and smiled. In such a formal occasion, normally Lu Liang isn’t allowed to show off, nor sarcastically target business peers. But who could stop him since he is Lu Liang. Ever since Tianxing Phase II Park settled in Wuhan, the leaders above specifically conveyed the message that it must be taken seriously and treated as a major project in the city to provide support, must adhere to principles and do as much as possible to meet Tianxing Automobile’s needs. Three “musts” show the attitude of the higher-ups towards Lu Liang and Tianxing Automobile, so Lu Liang likes to poke fun verbally, which he is allowed. Moreover, being sarcastically targeted might actually stir up the self-esteem of local car companies, hoping to spark a burst of energy next year. “Let’s be a bit conservative next year, to avoid being slapped again, just 4 million units or more.” Lu Liang brightly smiled and continued, “As a member of the new energy industry, I hereby set our full-year sales target at 700,000 units across the entire range of Tianxing Automobile.” Saying this, Lu Liang looked at Wang Xiaofeng, who was trembling beside him, and asked: “Mr. Wang, share your thoughts.” Wang Xiaofeng felt great pressure, given that they already set next year’s sales target during a meeting, estimated at 500,000 units. With only two models, though both currently maintain sales of over 20,000 units a month, the monthly new orders are only 15,000 units. Monthly new numbers can’t catch up with delivery numbers; in less than half a year, sales will show a declining trend. So stabilizing monthly sales at 20,300 units next year is an ideal and relatively easy target to achieve. However, Lu Liang somehow forgot the sales target proposed in their meeting, raising it by 40% from the original basis. “Thank you, Mr. Lu, for your speech. Tianxing Automobile will definitely meet expectations and achieve the annual goal of 700,000 units for the entire range.” Wang Xiaofeng, though a seasoned professional manager, smiled. Despite being a bit flustered, he understood that this was not the moment to falter. The boss has already raised the sales target sky-high, they as subordinates, no matter how hard they have to fight, must meet his expectations. Seeing Wang Xiaofeng’s demeanor, the business peers finally showed a trace of a long-lost smile on their faces. Liangzi’s offensiveness is indiscriminate, attacking not just the enemies but the allies too. At least it serves as a bit of consolation. As Wang Xiaofeng concluded his speech, the hour-long groundbreaking ceremony and speeches also approached their end. In the sound of gongs and firecrackers, Lu Liang and Wang Xiaofeng, along with other company executives, took the shovel wrapped in red silk and dug the first handful of soil, representing the official start of construction for Tianxing Automobile’s Phase II production base. After the meeting, seeing Lu Liang finish his conversation with the leaders, Lei Jun smiled and quickly stepped forward to greet him. “Mr. Lei, long time no see, how have you been recently?” Lu Liang turned his head back to look, it’s been a while since he last saw Lei Zi, who had gained weight, darkened, and grayed hair considerably. After all, Xiaomi’s recent days have been quite rough, India isn’t paying, the phone’s foray into the high-end market has failed, and the progress in new energy vehicles has been slow. The company’s stock price peaked upon listing, but in the past six months, it has been on a steady decline, nearly halving. I heard Shen Peng from Redwood almost cursed Lei Jun straight to his face. Because when Lei Jun started his business, he had a lot of money, similar to Lu Liang, so many investment banks had to wait until the last few rounds to enter. Redwood Capital invested 1 billion US dollars in Xiaomi when its valuation was about 30 billion US dollars to aid its growth. Eventually, Xiaomi successfully went public with a valuation of 55 billion US dollars. Now, Xiaomi has fallen to only 26 billion US dollars, and after two years of investment, it’s actually losing money. It’s only natural for Shen Peng to be angry. “Actually, it’s still okay,” Lei Jun smiled and informed him that Xiaomi’s concept car is about to debut, inviting Lu Liang to an internal exhibition to provide some guidance. Lu Liang’s vision is undisputed, and the new Xiaomi car bears many traces of Tianshu, so he hopes Lu Liang can attend and offer some advice. “When exactly?” Lu Liang was taken aback; he didn’t expect that today’s Tianxing Automobile had become an object of homage for others. “On the 18th of next month.” Lei Jun smiled cheerfully, without any trace of embarrassment on his face. After all, if car models are not distinctive or unique, they are just the same few designs. Sky Star·Tianshu can pay homage to Porsche Panamera and Lamborghini, so naturally, it can also be honored by others. Lu Liang pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll try to find time to come over and take a look.” Next month, the 28th is the New Year; having the internal meeting on the 18th indicates that Lei is truly under a lot of pressure, otherwise, he would never choose such a hectic time before the holidays. Lu Liang no longer has any rivals domestically, and when he looks around, all he sees are good friends, so he tries to help whenever he can. “We warmly welcome Mr. Lu.” Lei Jun expressed his gratitude and left in a hurry. The assistant quickly followed, discussing as they walked, visibly busy and in a rush. After finishing the conversation with Lei Jun, Lu Liang was taken by Wang Xiaofeng to meet local auto parts suppliers. Coming to a new place means welcoming new changes, and local auto parts suppliers should be given a chance too. Just like Tesla’s supply chain, which involves more than one set of suppliers, for battery suppliers alone, there are Panasonic, LG, Ningde Era, BYD, Yiwei Lithium Energy, and others. Although Lu Liang is a shareholder of Ningde, from the perspective of a complete vehicle manufacturer, downstream suppliers need competition for upstream companies to maximize profits and for technologies to advance rapidly, so Ningde cannot be favored alone. With the construction of the Tianxing II park, they should also emulate Tesla and diversify their existing supply chain. After an afternoon and half an evening of socializing, it was past eleven o’clock at night when Lu Liang returned to the hotel to coordinate tomorrow’s schedule with Sun Zheyuan. Sun Zheyuan said, “Mr. Lu, General Tianxing will hold its first roadshow tomorrow morning at ten on the 8th floor of the Xiangjiang Hilton Hotel, so I contacted the airport manager to book your flight at 7:20 a.m. We need to leave for the airport at 6:30.” Lu Liang lay on the sofa, yawning, with his eyelids drooping, clearly exhausted. He waved his hand and said, “We’ll talk about the rest of the schedule once we’re on the plane tomorrow. That’s enough for today.” “Alright, good night, Mr. Lu.” Sun Zheyuan chuckled helplessly, got up to leave, planning to come wake Lu Liang at six the next morning. At that moment, the European-style classical wall clock in the living room chimed loudly, indicating a new day had begun. Sun Zheyuan glanced at Lu Liang before closing the door, noticing Lu Liang suddenly sat up straight, with all signs of tiredness gone from his eyes, a complex worry etched between his brows. Sun Zheyuan was startled and cautiously asked, “Mr. Lu, is there anything you need me to handle?” Lu Liang hesitated for a long while, only responding after Sun Zheyuan reminded him again, “No, nothing. You should go back and rest early. Remember to come wake me in the morning.” With a click, the door closed. The room was quiet, with only Lu Liang’s heavy breathing. The orange lamp by his side illuminated half of his face, leaving the other half in shadow. “He really dares to do this!” He sighed softly, picking up a piece of paper to jot down the information he had just heard to etch it deeper into his mind. Staring at the words on the paper, Lu Liang remained silent for a long time, eventually tearing out several pages from the notebook, leaving no trace of written words. He took a lighter, ignited those pages, and tossed them into the ashtray. As the flames danced, they illuminated the message on the paper, the words ‘Hero City’ gradually being consumed until they turned to ashes. “This might be the origin.” Lu Liang took the ashtray to the bathroom, dumping the ashes into the toilet, a complex expression in his eyes. Upon reflection, it indeed seemed suitable; the Tianxing Automobile Phase II factory was chosen to be here because it recognized the area as the core of Central China, a vital transportation hub linking the entire country. Newest update provıded by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥