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"The Jiang Family?"

Zhu Yun thought for a moment before speaking:

"The Jiang Family is one of the eight great families of the capital. Their influence is widespread and their foundation is deep. To be honest, even though we took over the Net Entertainment Group, it was barely a scratch for them—not enough to cause any real harm."

"True."

Ye Ling nodded in firm agreement.

"Chairman Ye, are you planning to make a move against the Jiang Family?"

Zhu Yun asked tentatively, "I think with Shengding’s current strength, moving rashly against the Jiang Family... would be rather difficult."

In truth, she was being quite diplomatic.

In reality, for the Shengding Group to go after the Jiang Family would be like taking a rifle to a tank fight. They’re in completely different leagues!

"I don’t intend to go after the Jiang Family directly. My target is Bauhinia Energy."

Ye Ling waved his hand and explained.

"Bauhinia Energy?"

Hearing this, a glint appeared in Zhu Yun’s eyes once more.

Bauhinia Energy had a big name; of course she’d heard of it.

As Xia Country’s leading new energy company, and with the current government support for the new energy sector, its future was undoubtedly bright.

"Chairman Ye, I think you should reconsider. The new energy sector that Bauhinia Energy is in is a national priority for development, and it enjoys substantial subsidies... Trying to make a move on it would be at least ten times more difficult than sniping the Net Entertainment Group."

Zhu Yun said gravely.

"You’re right. Bauhinia Energy is a giant in the new energy field with an incredibly bright future. Plus, with the Jiang Family backing it, it’s very difficult to snipe through the stock market."

The reason the Shengding Group was able to successfully snipe the Net Entertainment Group through the stock market this time was due to two main factors.

First, Ye Ling injected one billion in capital. Without such a massive amount of funding, it would have been impossible to shake a newly merged internet company like that.

Second, the Net Entertainment Group got too clever for its own good, creating a knockoff to imitate Lingxi’s Love.

The stock market is extremely sensitive. The slightest bit of bad press can have a huge impact, to say nothing of a plagiarism scandal being exposed.

So, after the scandal broke, the Net Entertainment Group’s stock plummeted. Large numbers of shareholders dumped their shares, which gave the Shengding Group the opening it needed...

It’s safe to say that if either of these two factors had been missing, the Shengding Group could not have taken over the Net Entertainment Group so smoothly.

But Bauhinia Energy is completely different. It’s in the new energy industry, which has excellent prospects, and it’s still in its growth phase. Investors are naturally and universally bullish on it.

In the stock market, buy orders basically always outnumber sell orders, and its stock price is rising steadily. Under these circumstances, trying to snipe Bauhinia Energy is incredibly difficult. You could even say it’s next to impossible.

"Then, what you mean is..."

Zhu Yun looked at Ye Ling, a little confused.

Ye Ling smiled slightly. He opened the laptop in front of him, quickly ran a search, and pushed the laptop toward Zhu Yun. "Take a look at this company."

"Shenzhou Limited Company?"

Zhu Yun glanced at it and froze for a second, clearly not understanding what Ye Ling was getting at.

"This Shenzhou Limited Company is one of Xia Country’s leading vehicle rental platforms."

Ye Ling raised an eyebrow slightly and explained:

"Bauhinia Energy, as a new energy company, primarily deals in new energy vehicles. As far as I know, Bauhinia Energy has a contract with Shenzhou Limited Company to sell them hundreds of new energy vehicles every year."

"The government’s incentives for new energy vehicles are huge right now. As an established vehicle rental platform, it seems pretty normal for Shenzhou to sign a contract with Bauhinia Energy, right?"

Zhu Yun shared her thoughts.

"It is normal. But the problem is, the power behind this Shenzhou Limited Company is the Jiang Family!"

"According to a reliable source, Bauhinia Energy sells its self-produced new energy vehicles to the Shenzhou Company, collects the subsidies, and then reclaims the vehicles under the guise of ’battery maintenance’ or other reasons. They then salvage the parts for resale, thereby recycling the subsidies."

"In other words... they’re committing subsidy fraud!"

A sharp glint flashed in Ye Ling’s eyes.

This information, of course, came from that ’trade secret’ he had received!

Hearing this, Zhu Yun couldn’t help but gasp, her eyes filled with shock.

Ye Ling wasn’t surprised by her reaction. In fact, even he had been startled when he first learned this information.

He truly hadn’t expected the Jiang Family to be so brazen!

’Some people might think, "It’s just a few subsidies, right?"’

’What’s the big deal?’

But you have to understand, these aren’t some meal-delivery app coupons!

Take electric buses, for example. The subsidy amount is mainly determined by length. A six-to-eight-meter bus gets a 300,000 yuan subsidy, an eight-to-ten-meter bus gets 400,000, and one over ten meters gets 500,000.

Meanwhile, the actual production cost is between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan.

In other words, just by selling one such bus, they make a net profit of at least 140,000 yuan.

That’s a full 140,000 yuan! And they get to do it over and over!

"If this is true, then the matter is very serious," Zhu Yun said gravely.

If something like this were exposed, it wouldn’t just involve Shengding and the Jiang Family. It could even alarm the higher-ups in the Xia Country government!

Committing subsidy fraud is no small matter.

"The Jiang Family really went too far this time. If they had just developed their new energy business honestly, their future would have been just as bright. Besides... the ultimate reason the country is promoting new energy so heavily is to capture the market and increase our voice on the world stage in the future."

Ye Ling sighed and shook his head.

’To be honest, I find the Jiang Family’s behavior truly shameless!’

Xia Country has been working hard for years to catch up with the rest of the world. In the new energy sector, in particular, it has invested tens of billions to capture the market.

’And with so much money invested, how much of it has actually been effective?’

Let’s put it this way: after spending tens of billions, they still can’t produce a single pure electric vehicle on par with a Tesla!

There’s undoubtedly a huge problem here.

And Bauhinia Energy is just the tip of the iceberg!

"I need you to do something for me. Secretly investigate the details of the transactions between Bauhinia Energy and the Shenzhou Company."

Ye Ling said, "What we discussed today must be kept confidential. Don’t let a third person know."

"I understand."

Zhu Yun nodded solemnly.

"Right. How much liquid capital does the company have on its books right now?"

Ye Ling asked, another thought having occurred to him.

"Although Shengding won a great victory in sniping the Net Entertainment Group, it also consumed a large amount of cash flow, including the one billion you invested earlier..."

Zhu Yun did a quick calculation, then replied, "The company’s current available liquid capital isn’t much. Around two billion."