Chapter 182: Absolute Obedience

Fanghuan Shipping, this ferocious beast rampaging through the capital market, after swallowing a number of near-bankrupt shipping companies...
The company's size expanded at a breathtaking rate.
Such explosive growth naturally required a more robust framework to support it.
Thus, at the crest of the wave of the times, Fanghuan Group was born.
And the group's first move was to choose a target no one could understand—acquiring a port.
When Su Hao casually proposed this "small suggestion," the entire company was thrown into an uproar.
The board meeting resembled a bustling marketplace, with the opposition so loud it nearly overturned the meeting room table.
Back then, what did it mean to hold the operating rights to a port?
It was practically like counting money while lying down, making a fortune every day!
More comfortable than a landlord owning ten apartments within the second ring road of a first-tier city—the ultimate form of a low-cost, high-return model!
But times have changed, my friends!
A global trade winter has descended, shipping routes are dwindling day by day, and ports are so deserted you can hear the seagulls' mocking cries.
The once bustling ports have become bottomless pits devouring cash overnight, a scene of utter desolation.
Even the deep-pocketed giants can't hold on, dumping their ports like hot potatoes.
But even those prime ports with decent shipping volumes are attracting no buyers.
The reason is simple: all the analysts and economic gurus are predicting a downturn, unanimously forecasting that future trade will only get colder!
Taking over a port now isn't investment; it's targeted poverty alleviation, a transnational act of charity!
So, when Su Hao proposed this "crazy" plan, the board's first reaction was:
Is our young director under too much pressure? Has the string in his brain snapped?
***
“Chairman Huang… Chairman Huang! Have you seen the news?!”
“Yes, I just came over.”
In the conference room, Huang Fengwen's expression was calm, but the company's board members were all deathly pale, as if they had just been pulled out of an icebox.
“That ‘Global Shipping Route Plan,’ wasn’t that mentioned once a year ago, and then nothing happened?”
“Who says it wasn’t! Back then, it was all talk and no action. But this time… it seems they’re serious!”
The news clearly stated that, in response to the US maritime blockade, the country officially launched the “Global Shipping Route Plan.”
The related land-based infrastructure construction has already begun in full swing, and the maritime route map has also been officially released, accompanied by the government’s aggressive global deployment regardless of cost!
And the most crucial, and most chilling, point is this:
In the officially released "Global Shipping Route" map, the most critical and vital transportation routes, the ports designated as "golden nodes"...
have all been acquired by Fang Huan Group recently, like "scavenging for scrap"!
What does this mean?
It means that those acquisitions initially considered "hot potatoes" have overnight transformed into gold mines!
Acquiring ports, at the time, was seen by any sane person as the stupidest thing only a madman would do.
Yet Su Hao issued that order anyway.
Huang Fengwen, however, withstood all the pressure, like a loyal warrior, and carried out this "foolish" act flawlessly!
"I remember...we were vehemently opposed to it back then..."
One director muttered to himself, his face burning with embarrassment.
"That's right, that's right!" another quickly chimed in, "If it weren't for Chairman Huang's strong opposition and his insistence on doing it despite the pressure, we'd be utterly humiliated now..."
Recalling the scene, everyone wished they could disappear into the ground.
However, Huang Fengwen was quite understanding:
"To be honest, it's not your fault. Back then, it would have been abnormal if anyone hadn't opposed it."
In anyone's eyes, it was no different than scattering stacks of banknotes into the Pacific Ocean.
"So you still insisted back then...?"
"Of course," Huang Fengwen replied matter-of-factly, "because the one giving the order wasn't just anyone, it was Su Hao!"
A department director at a private equity firm, directing the entire group's strategic planning—it sounds somewhat surreal.
But within Fanghuan Group, it was simply taken for granted.
Everyone in the company, without exception, dared not truly regard Su Hao as an ordinary department director.
It was already widely known that Huang Fengwen, the chairman of the board of directors of Fanghuan Group, obeyed Su Hao's every word.
Even more so, rumors circulated that even if Huang Fengwen was sound asleep in the middle of the night, a single phone call from Su Hao would send him sprawling from his bed.
This wasn't a director; this was clearly a de facto emperor ruling from behind the scenes!
"How many times have I told you? Never suspect Su Hao!"
Huang Fengwen scanned the room, repeating the company culture like a broken record...
"But... this is too outrageous! How did he know?"
The board members felt their worldview being brutally rubbed into the ground, their minds on the verge of exploding.
They unanimously agreed that there was only one possibility behind this—
Su Hao had someone backing him! And a powerful figure with immense influence!
Huang Fengwen was absolutely certain of this.
It wasn't some mystical or supernatural power, nor was it luck gained through prayer; it was a "calculation law" unique to Su Hao, based on massive amounts of information, rigorous analysis, and extreme deduction!
And for this law to operate, a solid, reliable, and frighteningly high-level intelligence source was indispensable.
"I heard Director Su is only in her early twenties... My goodness, so young, with such an incredible background...
And what about us old guys? All we do is hold us back and raise unfounded suspicions..."
For a moment, the group of seasoned veterans in the office, whose combined age was several hundred, were all a little embarrassed.
"Alright, enough with the sentimentalism," Huang Fengwen grinned. "I think our group should officially establish a corporate culture."
"Huh? What kind of corporate culture?"
Huang Fengwen cleared his throat and said, enunciating each word clearly:
"Abandon ego, absolute obedience!"