That evening, his departure from Lundan was impromptu, with Veronica paying for the ticket on the spot; for Little Mustache to have caught up to this...
"Why surrender? With this intelligence capability, this execution efficiency, San Dezi could literally be played to death by you all."
"All this, just to create an obstacle and have a laugh about it?"
"Boss, should we teach him a lesson? The way he looks at you really annoys me," Mona complained.
She didn’t know what grudge Wayne had against Little Mustache, only that Wayne could do no wrong, so the fault must lie with Little Mustache.
"No need to bother with him...um, do this instead," Wayne mused.
Wayne had originally planned to let it go, but after some thought, he said with a mischievous delight, "Mona, go find the airport police. I know those guys, and the leader with the little mustache is a bandit, a repeat escapee and a wanted man. The police will surely find his warrant if they check."
Mona nodded and quickly made her way toward the airport’s police office.
"Nicholas, continue, I’m listening."
Ten minutes later, Mona returned; twenty minutes later, a disturbance arose in the corner of the waiting hall, and several men in black were escorted out by the officers.
Expletives were hurled.
Wayne didn’t quite catch what was said, hearing only the other side shouting "son of the beach," which must have been praise for freedom.
The beach represents freedom; thus "son of the beach" refers to a person with a free spirit. Praising someone’s free soul involves calling them "son of the beach," which makes sense.
The group boarded the private plane through the VIP passage.
Back then, the concept of private planes was not widespread, mainly because aviation companies did not produce luxury private planes. Without comparisons to incite the desire of the wealthy, there was no spark to drive demand.
A few companies under Lando Corporation did have private planes for business use; by dropping Austin’s big name, one could get a flight path on the same day.
However, the environment in a passenger plane was quite ordinary, limited by the current industrial level. Not only was the ride bumpy, but it also suffered from noise and odor, with no sense of comfort.
Wayne suspected Old Login did not want to go abroad; ninety-nine percent of the reason was the poor flight environment.
Aboard the plane, Nicholas sat across from Wayne as requested and discussed the difficulties of the mission.
The first was the bidding. Lando Corporation’s partner, Murphy Mining Company, was not at an advantage.
If they could secure the order, then with the leverage of a large order, seek to cooperate with other mining companies to drive down acquisition costs and earn a margin, a significant amount could be saved later on.
The crux lay in the initial bid, which couldn’t be brought down.
In comparison, the Boswell Family’s partners didn’t have these concerns, offering a very low price, easily passing the first two rounds.
But the Boswell Family couldn’t possibly succeed either; several mining companies in Prussia held a geographical advantage, saving substantial costs on transportation alone, and were sure to advance to the final bid.
The Grand Duchy of Lucerneburg was geographically ill-positioned, squeezed between two military powers with insufficient body mass and pitiful military strength.
With scant natural resources and a narrow market, the economy was highly dependent on others; they dared not offend Frank, let alone Prussia.
At the four-nation summit in September, it was clear to any fool that Prussia was strong, wealthy, and armed, the only one who could swagger, while everyone else had to give way.
"This tender not only needs to impress Albert Steel Company but also to convince the authorities of Lucerneburg and the current Grand Duke Charlotte," Nicholas analyzed. "But that’s not enough; convincing the authorities will only ensure Lucerneburg doesn’t waver. The final outcome still depends on the bid."
Wayne frowned as he listened; he had already glanced over the documents and was at his wit’s end, having specially consulted Austin if there was any way to break the deadlock.
That day Austin had been wearing a bandage on his head, and judging from his own perspective, Wayne knew he was feigning misery for sympathy, so he didn’t inquire about his injuries.
Austin didn’t mention seeing Wayne from a superior perspective while flying either; he had flown further, so mocking someone else would only end up embarrassing himself.
But let’s get back on track; Austin didn’t have a solution for breaking the deadlock. The Lando Family had limited political influence in Lucerneburg and couldn’t manipulate this tender; failure was inevitable. All he wanted was for Wayne to taste the bitterness of failure.
Whether there were personal grievances was uncertain, but according to Austin, this was necessary training.
Wayne knew there was actually a way. If the Lando Family and the Boswell Family joined forces, they could make money together. With a fifty percent chance, they could seize the order based on price advantage while authorities in Lucerneburg played dead.
Steel-making required coal, and cheap, high-quality coal would reduce costs. Being profit-driven, Lucerneburg, with such reasoning, would find it hard for mining companies in Prussia to make a fuss even if they failed.
"The Boswell Family..."
Wayne’s eyelids twitched, suspecting Old Login had done it on purpose.
First, he was told the Boswell Family wanted to snatch the meat out of his bowl; then he was assigned a mission doomed to fail. Not wanting to fail meant learning to be patient and cooperating with the Boswell Family.
"Then I’d rather fail. If it causes harm to others and no benefit to me, that’s not so bad," Wayne muttered under his breath, unable to bear the foul smell in the air, requesting the fragrant Mona to draw a bit closer.
"Mister Wayne, are you planning to cooperate with Boswell Mining?" Nicholas’s gold-rimmed glasses sparkled; indeed, it seemed a good idea.
"We’ll see. They are our business competitors; we shouldn’t alter our grand strategy for a small profit," Wayne shook his head slightly. Austin thought too highly of him; his ambition was that small, preferring not to earn if it meant making the Boswell Family lose money.
Grand Duchy of Lucerneburg, Lucerne City, airport.