484: Chapter 484 Frozen Assets of the English Branch

"I reckon it's some Mi Fans waiting for the Dami Auto launch who are cursing you. We've been dangling this carrot for so long, and there's still no sign of movement."

"It's coming soon! Hu Zhengnan has already been secured, and he's currently helping us poach a group of key members from Geely. Our automotive business is about to set sail."

"Really?"

"As real as it gets."

After saying that, Lei Jun looked at Lin Bin, who was grinning foolishly beside him.

...

Meanwhile, at the Transsion headquarters, Shen Fei looked at the enthusiastic Lu Weibin and waved his hand with a smile.

"There's no need for a military pledge; I trust in your ability. Go back and draft a detailed brand and product plan; we'll officially approve the project at next week's board meeting."

Just as Lu Weibin was about to leave, the encrypted phone on the desk suddenly rang urgently.

Shen Fei picked up the phone, and the somewhat panicked voice of the European regional president came through immediately:

"Mr. Shen, something has happened! People from the England CMA showed up suddenly half an hour ago with a search warrant, claiming we are suspected of abusing technology and violating antitrust laws. They have now sealed off our subsidiary in England. Servers, warehouses, everything is locked down, and key personnel are prohibited from leaving the country. It's already trending here; this time, the enemy means business."

The smile on Shen Fei's face vanished instantly, and his eyes began to calculate.

"We haven't just been in England for a year or two. Did we receive any prior notice?"

"Absolutely none. It was a dawn raid." The person in charge, Sabala, was also a bit confused. "They directly presented a court search warrant, citing an anonymous tip claiming that we are achieving a monopoly in England through Transsion phones, squeezing out phone manufacturers like Samsung, Apple, and HTC. And there's word now... that the Eagle Eye Alliance is pushing this from behind the scenes."

The Eagle Eye Alliance was a new organization recently established by the United States. It was a secret organization led by the United States, with deep participation from multiple national intelligence and security agencies. Of course, on the surface, it was just a cooperation initiative between enterprises, but those in the know understood that it was intended to unite everyone to jointly check and balance Transsion, even if it meant using unconventional means. The main goal was simply to stifle it, and since it was a private organization, it didn't matter...

"Understood. I didn't expect them to act so quickly and so brutally. Follow the emergency plan. The legal team will fly to London first thing tomorrow morning. Cooperate where necessary, but never admit to any trumped-up charges. Also, encrypt all core technical data; not a single word that shouldn't be given away must be leaked."

Shen Fei hung up the phone. Lu Weibin had overheard some of it, and his brow furrowed, appearing somewhat nervous. "I seem to have heard that there is a coalition of interests formed by Google, Samsung, and those investment banks."

"You're talking about Silver Lake Capital! They are the masters behind them, and their methods are even more brutal."

"Fortunately, the European branch doesn't have any important research projects, otherwise, this raid might have actually succeeded for them."

After saying this, Shen Fei paced around the office. Since entering the Smartphone market, the company had begun to popularize its own Taishan System, so European users were not currently held hostage by the Google suite, but were instead held hostage by Transsion's own suite. On the surface, this matter was because someone couldn't stand it, but in reality, it was still the United States making trouble behind the scenes.

"A bunch of losers who can't win in direct competition, so they're playing the old trick of regulatory games, using the knife of antitrust to kill."

In fact, this wasn't the first time the United States had acted behind the scenes. Silver Lake Capital was one, and the United States' Centennial Plan was another... It seems they really hit the United States hard last time; they aren't even playing in the open anymore, just resorting to these petty tactics?

"Public opinion will probably flare up immediately." Lu Weibin's face showed some disdain. "The news media are all in cahoots. I bet by tomorrow, the entire Western media will be filled with press releases about us, and it will be plastered all over the internet."

...

Lu Weibin guessed correctly. Less than two hours later, the Financial Daily, The Wall Street Journal, and various mainstream European media outlets all published articles at the same time. They stated very definitively that China Star's Taishan System was an unstable factor in the global tech world, and that Transsion was abusing its system to suppress disobedient software developers... This was blatant unfair competition. It left no room for small businesses to survive. Under their propaganda, Transsion was nothing but a tyrannical landlord.

"Damn, the Chinese have such big ambitions, and we didn't even notice before."

"Boycott Transsion!"

"England has raised the banner, so we should follow suit and support France in banning Transsion."

Of course, besides these haters, there were some users defending Transsion.

"Transsion phones are very easy to use, why say that? And their system GG is already much less than Android."

"That's right, these media outlets are the ones suppressing an excellent company; they will regret it."

...

Meanwhile, over in England, they were planning their next move.

"Boss, we didn't find anything! Except for that annoying group of black coal miners."

"Really, there's no other dirt, like tax evasion or malicious competition?"

"None! Is it just that they can't beat them?"

"No way, we absolutely cannot admit defeat like this, otherwise we're going to be in deep trouble."

After saying this, the person in charge paced back and forth in the office, hesitating, trying to think of a way—they had to pin something on them.

"Right, on what grounds did that group of black coal miners get in? Is there any dirt on them?"

The person in charge shook his head: "I carefully searched through the files of those 300+ black coal miners, and they were all brought in using Transsion labor contracts!"

Moreover, these people were very low-key and had no history of criminal behavior. If there was really a problem, it was that these 300 people had already fissioned into 1,500 people, which was a very tricky problem for England. After all, racial issues were not easy to handle lately...

"This is going to be bad!"

The person in charge of execution panicked instantly. He had been too focused on listening to his superiors and getting a promotion and raise. He had forgotten what Transsion had done in Africa; the other party really held an "army" in their hands.

Just as the minister was still confused, he said: "I don't care, figure out a way, you must pin a crime on Transsion."

...

While he was anxious, the Chinese internet was also heating up. Several major testing agencies invested in by Silver Lake Capital immediately took action and followed the trend.

"Transsion's Overseas Monopoly"

"Domestic Enterprises Going Abroad to Monopolize, Losing Face for the Chinese"

"It's one thing to monopolize domestically, but to dare to do so overseas, that's truly not fearing death. Do you really think everywhere is your home?"

"Just wait to be fined to death!"

"As expected, only overseas is true democracy, unlike here where black can be called white... Poor Gionee!"