Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Lingxi Search focused on artificial intelligence, while 360 touted its lack of pharmaceutical ads. Every move was aimed at Qian Du’s jugular.

In just one month, Li Yanhong lost 20% of the search market share, and his company’s stock value evaporated by over five billion US dollars. He wanted nothing more than to kill Chen Yansen.

Therefore, backing down was not an option.

He decided to ramp up his investment, determined to make Chen Yansen feel the same sting.

After the meeting, at 11 a.m. that same day, Qian Du Delivery sent a push notification to all users with a link to claim a cash bonus.

Both new and existing users could claim an 18-yuan voucher with no minimum purchase required.

Using the voucher to buy items like milk tea, bread, or fast-food meals meant they could essentially get them for free.

Although Qian Du Delivery was known for slow deliveries and riders with poor attitudes, users weren’t about to turn down a free meal.

Milk tea shops like CoCo, Happy Lemon, Hu City Auntie, and A Little Tea were successively slammed with orders. The cooks at restaurants serving braised chicken and rice, Yunnan ”crossing-the-bridge” noodles, Shaxian County snacks, and Lanzhou Noodles also went mad, with dozens of new orders flooding in every minute.

There was an endless stream of milk tea to shake, egg-fried rice to cook, and beef noodles to pull.

The merchants were going insane, and so were the riders.

In just half an hour, Qian Du Delivery’s order count had surged by 300,000!

”Hurry! Kuai Pao is fighting back! Click the link to get a 20-yuan voucher with no minimum purchase, plus another 20-off-40 coupon!”

”One-cent milk tea for everyone! Just log into Kuai Pao to claim yours!”

”Can anyone help me with a referral? Get three new users to sign up, and you’ll get a free KFC family bucket.”

Suddenly!

A deluge of deal-focused influencers popped up on Weibo and Toutiao, all posting links to claim Kuai Pao’s cash bonuses on their homepages.

QQ groups, WeChat groups, Douban forums, and the comment sections of Renren Network were also flooded with referral discount links.

It was simply a battle of marketing tactics!

Pei Yi was completely unfazed. After getting the go-ahead from the big boss, he immediately launched a counter-attack, targeting the cities where Qian Du Delivery was most active.

”Awesome! This is the life! I hope these promotions never stop!”

”I got two milk teas and a cream puff for zero yuan. Things always taste better when they’re free!”

”Why isn’t Taodian giving out coupons? @Taobao, come on, stop playing dead, will you?”

Netizens were discussing it heatedly in the comments, their words brimming with excitement.

Far away at the Hang City Ali Headquarters, Tang Yongbo requested instructions from Ma Liyun, only to be told not to get involved.

Taodian’s operational scope was mainly concentrated in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area, with just over 30,000 orders a day. There was no need to throw money around just to join the commotion.

”Doing business the way Chen Yansen and Li Yanhong are, even ten billion wouldn’t be enough to cover the cash burn.”

In his office on Taohua Island, Ma Liyun spread his hands and spoke with a helpless expression.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered joining the ”delivery war,” but the thought of the astronomical marketing costs quickly sobered him.

”Li Yanhong encroached on Senlian Capital’s territory, and in response, Senlian Capital teamed up with 360, Sogou, and Penguin to snatch away twenty percent of Qian Du’s search business. The way I see it, Li Yanhong has been backed into a corner and is lashing out.”

Zhang Yong said with a faint smile.

”By a rough estimate, Qian Du Delivery’s marketing spend for today will exceed 60 million yuan. Kuai Pao’s will be at least that much, if not more.”

Lu Zhaoxi’s brow furrowed slightly as he remarked with a sigh.

Ah Li was considered to have deep pockets, but they never dared to burn cash like this, not even during the 618 or Double 11 shopping festivals.

”Food delivery is indeed a good business. Ever since we added an entry point for Kuai Pao on Taobao’s homepage, our daily active users have increased by 11.7%,” Ma Liyun mused.

He coveted the high-frequency nature of the food delivery and Group Buy businesses, yet he could never bring himself to fully commit to entering the O2O market.

For now, the competition between Ah Li and Senlian Capital was still relatively mild. Based on his understanding of Chen Yansen, if he were to provoke the man, Pinbei and Jingdong would team up, and Ah Li would suffer disastrous losses.

It was clear from Qian Du’s miserable state that Chen Yansen was a man who not only had outstanding project execution skills but also lacked no shortage of ruthless methods for crushing his competitors.

Lu Zhaoxi and Zhang Yong exchanged a look, instantly understanding the subtle intentions behind Ma Liyun’s words.

”Mr. Ma, it’s not a good time to expand Taodian’s business. The market isn’t mature enough yet,” Lu Zhaoxi said, thinking for a moment before gently trying to persuade him.

”I know.” Seeing their reaction, Ma Liyun temporarily shelved the idea.

He paused, then looked at Zhang Yong and said, ”618 is just around the corner. Let’s focus on our core business for now. Didn’t Liu Qiangdong issue a ’red declaration of war’? I want you to crush Jingdong’s 618 promotion!”

An hour earlier, Handsome Dong, having returned from his studies abroad, had personally taken command at the headquarters. He posted a teaser for the 618 promotion on Weibo with the caption: ”Don’t kid yourselves. For the big June sale, there is only Jingdong! Shop on Jingdong for guaranteed low prices.”

Sunning, Dangdang, and Yixun immediately fired back with their own taglines—”Don’t boast,” ”Don’t bicker,” and ”Don’t pretend”—clearly trying to prevent Jingdong’s 618 event from becoming a branded phenomenon.

”Understood, Mr. Ma,” Zhang Yong replied with a nod.

「Meanwhile.」

Kuai Pao and Qian Du Delivery’s frenzy of handing out cash bonuses resulted in hundreds of thousands of merchants across the country being overwhelmed with orders. Riders worked from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., running nonstop without a break.

But their earnings were equally astonishing!

Qian Du Delivery riders were commonly earning over 600 yuan a day, with some top performers even hitting 1,000 yuan.

The same was true for Kuai Pao Riders. Though physically exhausted, they were secretly thrilled, wishing the company would hand out cash bonuses like this every day.

「Yishan Road Station.」

Inside a Shaxian County Snacks eatery, Li Zhou and a few of his colleagues were gathered around a table, wolfing down their food.

After a full day of non-stop work, his hands and legs were trembling. He couldn’t even remember how many flights of stairs he’d climbed or how many deliveries he’d made. All he knew was that the app showed an estimated income of 1,137.5 yuan.

”Brother Zhou, the station manager said we can rest until eleven tomorrow. The part-timers will cover the morning rush.”

a Kuai Pao Rider said, looking at his phone.

”The company’s burning through a ton of cash. Damn, it hurts to see,” another Kuai Pao Rider said, talking around a mouthful of steamed dumplings.

”Xiaowang, what the hell are you pained about? It’s not your money,” someone retorted.

”Old Zhang, you don’t know shit! We have equity. If they hand out cash bonuses to users every day, the company’s valuation will plummet, and our losses will be huge,” someone else shot back immediately.

”Brother Zhou, is that true?” the rider holding his phone asked.

”I only went to school for a few years, why are you asking me? Just focus on doing a good job. The bigwigs will worry about the important stuff; there’s no point in us thinking too much about it. Just deliver every order well, don’t be late, and no matter how busy you are, don’t forget to smile and be polite.”

Li Zhou felt weak all over as he shoveled large mouthfuls of fried rice into his mouth.

If he didn’t eat something soon, he was going to collapse.

He hadn’t been this exhausted even last year when they were fighting Eleme for market share.

”Brother Zhou is right. The better our service, the more orders the company gets, and the more our equity will be worth.”

The others chimed in, grinning.

”Cheers! Let’s drink up and go home to get some sleep. Goddamn, my whole body aches,” Li Zhou said, putting down his plate and raising his beer.

「Over ten kilometers away, at the Yiyuan Office Building on Longcao Road No. 200.」

In an office on the top floor, Pei Yi rubbed his eyes, picked up his long-cold coffee, and downed it in one gulp.

From the beginning of May to the beginning of June, the battle between Kuai Pao and Qian Du had been incessant, reaching its peak today.

The single-day subsidy cost for their Group Buy and food delivery businesses had already exceeded 80 million yuan.

If it weren’t for the 870 million US dollars raised in their Series B funding round, Kuai Pao would likely have been unable to withstand such immense financial pressure.

Pei Yi turned to look out the window, then glanced back at the bottom right corner of his computer screen. It was already 11:54 p.m.

He forced himself to stay focused and finished revising the marketing campaign and response strategy for the next day, then sent the file to the relevant group chat.

”Still at work?”

Just then, a message popped up in his chat window.

”Boss, I was just about to leave,” Pei Yi replied instantly. He knew Chen Yansen’s temperament; the man didn’t like his subordinates working overtime.

”Temporarily lift the registration restrictions on the Kuai Pao Rider app for part-timers and increase the per-order pay. Tomorrow, let’s focus on crippling Qian Du Delivery’s logistics system first,” Chen Yansen instructed.

”Boss, in that case, how can we guarantee the order volume and income for our full-time riders?” Pei Yi asked, frowning.

”Prioritize the full-time riders. The overflow orders can go to the part-timers,” Chen Yansen replied.

His plan was simple: use financial incentives to lure Qian Du Delivery’s riders into Kuai Pao’s camp.

Rather than wasting money on deal-hunters, it was better to spend it on the riders. Besides, it would also generate Human Dao Fire for him.

Pei Yi’s mind quickly processed this, and he instantly grasped Chen Yansen’s intent. He replied with a smile, ”No problem.”

”Go home and get some rest. The work is never-ending,” Chen Yansen said before promptly going offline.

Pei Yi’s heart warmed, but he didn’t follow the advice. Instead, he called over Kang Jia from the delivery department and told him to inform all the station managers across the country to disseminate the poaching plan.

By tomorrow morning, he wanted to see Qian Du Delivery’s orders go completely unanswered!