In fact, when Lü Mingliang decided to expand the regular express delivery business, he had already deeply considered this series of issues.

This included Mr. Pei’s deeper reasons for establishing Headwind Logistics, as well as how Headwind Logistics should respond after other courier companies counterattacked.

Did Mr. Pei establish Headwind Logistics purely to lose money? That was certainly impossible.

Was it to optimize resource allocation, increase employment opportunities, change people’s lifestyles, and provide convenience for ordinary people? These might all be factors, but definitely not the main reasons.

Because everyone knew clearly that whenever Mr. Pei established a new industry, he would pioneer a new business model.

In other words, no matter how much money it lost or for how long, it would eventually make money and definitely become the ultimate winner!

Looking at Headwind Logistics from this perspective, many questions would lead to completely different conclusions.

Like Tenda’s other industries, Headwind Logistics would be a process where good currency drives out bad currency. Even if it lost money in the early stages, it would eventually capture the high-end market through better service, then expand to the low-end market, and finally achieve profitability.

Therefore, regarding the actions currently taken by Shengrun Group, Lü Mingliang had anticipated them long ago and made preparations for two possibilities.

The first possibility: Shengrun Group would find it difficult to make a clean break from Headwind Logistics.

This situation would be the most optimistic scenario.

Because Headwind Logistics would continue to expand into second and third-tier cities, counties, and even more remote areas, as long as Shengrun Group couldn’t resolve to cut ties with Headwind Logistics, Headwind Logistics would definitely completely dominate the terminal link of the entire express delivery industry.

Of course, controlling everything was unlikely, but it would be enough to control all the major cities and some remote areas.

If it reached this point, Shengrun Group and other courier companies would become meat on the chopping block, to be arranged however Headwind wanted.

What was so difficult about regular courier business? It was nothing more than using large trucks to transport parcels from one logistics distribution center to another. It wasn’t something with a high technical threshold. If Headwind Logistics allocated some of the money it burned each year, or simply asked Mr. Pei for it, this regular courier business could be started in no time.

At that point, Headwind Logistics could directly perform a bait and switch, gradually replacing other logistics companies’ courier services with their own regular courier business, constantly squeezing their market space. Wouldn’t that be easy manipulation?

Therefore, if Shengrun Group truly couldn’t resolve to separate from Headwind Logistics, Lü Mingliang would continue to fully focus on building stations. Although this process would be longer, as long as there were no funding issues, victory would be certain in the end.

But obviously, Shengrun Group wasn’t stupid, and Nie Yunsheng was quite decisive. Although Shengrun Group suffered from big company syndrome, Nie Yunsheng still forcefully built up his own terminals and resolved to separate from Headwind Logistics.

For this second possibility, Lü Mingliang also had another contingency plan.

After seeing Shengrun Group begin to build their own courier terminals, Lü Mingliang understood that they would soon cut ties with Headwind Logistics.

Shengrun Group had ample time to prepare, so naturally, Lü Mingliang had even more time to prepare.

Compared to the first possibility, the second was relatively less secure and would lead to daggers drawn more quickly, but it would mean enduring for a much shorter period.

“Prepare to open land transportation services in more cities to fully supplement the existing freight system.”

“Then, our long-planned ‘system upgrade’ will be fully implemented!”

“Let the online public opinion ferment for a few days, and then, I will personally slap Shengrun Group in the face!”

Lü Mingliang quickly arranged the work. He, who had been somewhat idle for a while, suddenly became sharp and aggressive.

……

At the entrance of a Headwind Station in Shanghai.

As evening approached, a Shengrun Express courier stopped his electric tricycle at the entrance, loaded with a full vehicle of parcels.

This was the last batch of goods for the day. After dropping them all off at the Headwind Station, the main work for the day would be considered complete.

Of course, there would still be many other tasks to do after returning to the courier point, and he probably wouldn’t get off work until after 8 PM.

This morning, the courier point had already received notice from the group company, requiring that except for the core areas of Handong Province and the surrounding areas of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, courier services in other second and third-tier cities would no longer be delivered to Headwind Stations. Instead, they would all be sent to Shengrun Express’s own parcel lockers and community stations.

However, Shanghai was not affected, and parcels still needed to be delivered to Headwind Stations.

For the couriers, this didn’t make much difference. Either way, they just had to haul the goods over and drop them off at the station. What difference did it make whether they were dropped off at a Headwind Station or a Shengrun Express parcel locker?

The courier parked his tricycle and prepared to check in these parcels as usual.

However, before he could unload, a Headwind Station staff member had already stopped him, then with a smile and a hint of apology said, “Sorry, Headwind Station has just undergone a mandatory system upgrade, and it seems there’s a bug with Shengrun Group’s parcels—the system can’t register them.”

The courier was stunned: “Huh? System upgrade? When did this happen?”

The staff member explained, “This system upgrade was mentioned some time ago, but it hadn’t been pushed out until today when it was suddenly forced through.”

“However, this new system doesn’t seem to be fully refined yet. I’m not sure exactly what the problem is, but it should be in the process of being fixed.”

The courier looked inside the station: “That’s not right. What about all those parcels inside the station?”

The staff member smiled: “Those parcels were either delivered this morning or are from other courier companies. The system pushed the upgrade this afternoon, and currently, only Shengrun Express can’t be checked in. We’ll need to be patient; maybe the next version update will resolve the issue.”

“As for why, it’s a technical reason that I can’t fully explain. Shengrun Express has a large volume and operates under a separate set of rules, different from Headwind Logistics and other smaller companies, which is why this situation has occurred.”

The courier was confused: “So what do I do with these parcels?”

The staff member looked a bit embarrassed: “Well… I don’t have a solution either. If the system doesn’t support it, I can’t check them in for you. Besides, this was decided by higher-ups, and I don’t have the authority to override it. Why don’t you… make a call to your supervisor for instructions?”

The courier was speechless. He stepped outside to make a phone call, then drove away with his electric tricycle.

Obviously, he planned to place the parcels in nearby parcel lockers and Shengrun Group’s own community stations.

Similar scenes were playing out at all locations covered by Headwind Stations.

Couriers in Jingzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and key areas around Guangzhou brought parcels to Headwind Stations as usual, only to discover that Headwind’s new system seemed to have problems and couldn’t register them!

They called to report this, causing headaches for the courier point managers, who then had to report it up the chain.

In the end, they had no choice but to send all the parcels to Shengrun Group’s own parcel lockers and community stations.

After a short while, they were completely overwhelmed!

Not only were the parcel lockers completely full, but the community stations were also packed to capacity. It wasn’t just the shelves—the entire stations were filled with parcels, without even space to put one’s feet.

The reason was very simple: although Shengrun Group had deployed parcel lockers and community stations in these top-tier cities and surrounding areas, they hadn’t fully saturated the market.

Because according to Shengrun Group’s plan, they hadn’t considered stopping all Headwind Stations in these top-tier cities and surrounding areas right now!

Their main targets were second and third-tier cities, so their deployment of courier terminals was mainly focused there.

And the terminals in these top-tier cities simply didn’t have enough capacity to accommodate so many parcels!

But there was no choice—they had to force them in even if they didn’t fit. They couldn’t just keep all the parcels piled up at distribution points and warehouses without delivering them to consumers, could they?

Many couriers watched helplessly as the shelves in Headwind Stations had plenty of empty space, yet they couldn’t check in their parcels. It was agonizing.

Shengrun Group’s couriers were tormented to the point of exhaustion.

Previously, they would have finished delivering most parcels by six or seven in the evening and could get off work after eight.

But today was different. They had to take these parcels to nearby parcel lockers and community stations and check them in one by one. Some community stations were already full, so they had to find other collection points. After all this running around, it was already past eight o’clock by the time they finished unloading a single cart of parcels.

After returning to the distribution point to handle other matters, their work hours would clearly extend until ten o’clock.

What was even more infuriating was that when passing by Headwind Stations, they found them to be extremely relaxed!

Headwind Station couriers originally had to deliver parcels to customers’ doors, so they operated on a shift system, with staff taking turns watching the store and making deliveries, keeping them quite busy.

In the past, when these Shengrun Group couriers got off work, the Headwind Stations were still operating.

Of course, Headwind Stations worked in shifts, so their working hours were much shorter than those of other couriers. But when Shengrun Group couriers finished work and saw Headwind Stations still busy, they could at least claim a moral victory.

But today, Headwind Stations had become completely relaxed and were happily ending their workday!

Shengrun Group’s couriers felt even more imbalanced.

It was one thing that Headwind Logistics couriers had shorter working hours, earned more money, had rotating shifts, and better benefits. At least in the past, they got off work later than we did.

But now, they were getting off work earlier than us too!

How could anyone remain calm about this?

It was as sour as eating several tons of lemons!

What was even more desperate was that these couriers’ phones were being bombarded with calls.

Because many people discovered that their parcels weren’t being delivered to their doors, nor were they placed at the familiar Headwind Stations. Why were they being thrown into collection points so far away?

Many people immediately became agitated after checking their logistics information. Why were their parcels sent so far away? Why did they have to pick them up themselves?

They couldn’t reach Headwind Logistics, so they could only frantically call Shengrun Group’s couriers.

But after calling, they found that the lines were either busy or engaged, and some couriers had even turned off their phones completely.

Shengrun Group’s couriers were on the verge of breakdown, and the customers who couldn’t get through were also falling apart!

This anxiety, like an electric current, quickly transmitted to Shengrun Group’s upper management.