Chapter 26 Three Versions of "The Controversy Between Ni and Liu"

These are two people who have worked together for a decade. These are two people who planted the fruit of trust early in dire times. profile person.Before breaking up, they jointly created a miracle in China's computer industry for Lenovo. After the breakup, they did everything they could. All kinds of rumors and stories were rampant. desk. For more than 10 years, Ni Guangnan and Liu Chuanzhi have jointly created the most protracted personnel dispute in the history of Chinese enterprises, but until now, no one has been able to fully understand what happened between them.Who is the righteous?Who is the one who stretched out his black hand behind his back.

In the existing published texts, the analysis of Ni Guangnan and Liu Chuanzhi's battles over the years is almost all based on Liu's theory, as is the case with Chi Yuyu's "Legend Bureau", and Ling Zhijun's "Legend of Wind and Cloud". Chi Yuyu believes that "the dispute between Ni and Liu is the evil result of the evil causes Liu Chuanzhi planted for himself and his associations at the stage of self-acting rather than self-consciousness. Since Lenovo was completely eliminated, it has become a name and a symbol in the history of Lenovo, which is a typical zero-sum state in game theory.”

It can be said that it was Liu Chuanzhi himself who created the god and then destroyed him. Who is Ni Guangnan? The appearance of Ni Guangnan in "Lenovo Bureau" is considered "the arrival of a bizarre character". In fact, this bizarre character is still considered by many people to be one of the most creative scientists in China. Ni Guangnan was born in Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province in 1939. He graduated from the Radio Department of Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast University) in 1961. After graduation, he worked in the Computing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and participated in the development of the first electronic tube computer and the first transistor computer designed by my country. Successfully developed a Chinese character input system with partners. In 1994, he was selected as one of the first batch of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is currently a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the chairman of the Chinese Information Society of China, and a researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 1974, Ni and Liu had their first contact.While working at the May Seventh Cadre School, two people from the Academy of Sciences lived in the same room. "Liu felt that Ni was a person who could suffer a lot," and Ni admired "Liu's literary skills and expressive ability," Chi Yuzhou said. It was good at the beginning, but later it was strongly invited, which has been rumored in many versions. In 1984, Liu Chuanzhi and 11 veterans founded "Lenovo". In the early spring of 1985, Ni Guangnan decided to join Lenovo. Ni's joining was considered by Liu as a new life of Lenovo at the time.

"We were determined to choose our own products. He (Ni) was in the same room as us. We knew his Chinese character system a long time ago. Later we thought: Can we make this product, and then I went to talk to Lao Ni, and then went to Lao Zhang. " When Liu Chuanzhi invited Ni Guangnan to join Lenovo, he was once described as visiting the thatched cottage three times. Liu himself said that he was afraid of long nights and dreams, so he went to work for Ni Guangnan's wife. In Chi Zai’s book, he described this invitation beyond everyone’s expectations, saying that Ni “walked out of the computing office building as soon as he was invited.” promotion, and the second is to trust Liu Chuanzhi and others." (What a wonderful change between this and the subsequent collapse of trust between the two)

Ni became a member of Lenovo. This step 21 years ago seems so hasty now. One is a hard-working and accomplished scientist who has a scientific achievement that he wants to promote, and the other hopes to quickly have a product and then help the company Achieve growth. In this way, Ni and Liu came together. Perhaps out of respect for this outstanding entrepreneur and the desire to establish a technical god within the company, Liu Chuanzhi almost planned the god-making campaign against Ni Guangnan in his early years. The first is to agree to Ni's three conditions: first, not to be an official, second, not to accept interviews, and third, not to attend banquets.

In addition to these conditions, Liu Chuanzhi also accepted any request made by Xia Ni. Regarding people's doubts, Liu Chuanzhi explained: "A high-tech company must have a technical image, so we insisted on establishing Lao Ni as a publicity image. Second, in the process of setting up a company, I think the company's brand publicity is very important... I have done a lot of publicity outside. Yes, but it is not appropriate to promote me, I hope to have a specific image appear.” Liu also emphasized that if you want to promote Ni Guannan in the company, you should promote Ni Guannan.

What Liu said was only superficial language. In fact, Chi Yuzhou repeatedly stated in the book that in the process of shaping Ni Guangnan into a technological god, Liu Chuanzhi was almost unprincipled. An incident in 1989 was the pinnacle of the Ni Guangnan myth created by Liu Chuanzhi. "In 1989, when Ni Guangnan was designing the 286 mainboard in Hong Kong, Liu Chuanzhi told Zhou Xiaolan (then deputy general manager of Lenovo Hong Kong): 'The designed mainboard must be clearly reviewed in the third party before production.' Once, Ni Guangnan was impatient. , forced Zhou Xiaolan to put into mass production, but a big mistake happened. Liu wanted to pursue responsibility, and Zhou Xiaolan and Ni Guangnan had a big quarrel. Zhou Xiaolan insisted on giving an explanation—whose fault was it? Liu Chuanzhi knew Zhou Xiaolan’s grievances, but he still ruthlessly He yelled at Zhou Xiaolan heartily: "Any conflicts with Lao Ni are all your fault. If you do this thing and get results, it is Mr. Ni's fault. If you make mistakes, you have to bear them. No, you will be blamed." Transfer back to Beijing.'”

In Liu's view, Ni must be portrayed as a technical leader without any flaws. During this period, the cooperation between Ni and Liu was highly praised by the leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hu Qiheng, then vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, even said, "The cooperation between you and Ni Guangnan is a necessary condition for a successful enterprise. There has been such a cooperation in the history of intestinal juice, and you have the conditions to take off." In Lenovo's 1980s, Liu Zai created an era that belonged to Ni, and in this era, Ni enjoyed the widest space and freedom as a technical leader. In a sense, at this stage: to oppose Ni Guangnan is to oppose Liu Chuanzhi.

In Chi Yuyu's book, the dispute between Ni and Liu in Lenovo is more due to personnel reasons, rather than market and technology, and different views on whether it is a trader or a trader. In the early 1990s, under Liu's connivance, Ni felt like he was in the sky, and all the company's personnel, management and all conventional systems were out of his sight. For these days, both Liu and Ni have a clear understanding. Liu Chuanzhi said: "As long as I can mobilize the company, in order to show a kind of respect and courtesy to Ni Guangnan, I can put him in a very high position." Ni Guangnan said: "From 1984 to 1990, Liu Chuanzhi He trusts me completely, trusts me absolutely, basically, he supports everything I say."

However, Liu Chuanzhi's absolute trust did not get the support of more people - after all, Ni Guangnan, who is a technical man, is not Liu Chuanzhi who is strong in management. It is said that Zhang Zuxiang was the one who first started to dislike Ni Guangnan——Zhang was one of the 11 founders of Lenovo, and was once Ni Guangnan's close comrade-in-arms. He was one of the inviters back then. "Zhang Zuxiang began to despise Ni Guangnan in 1994. At that time, Lenovo wanted to go public, and Ni Guangnan proposed to be a director. Lenovo's original directors included Liu Chuanzhi, Li Qin, Zhang Zuxiang, and Ni Guangnan's request made Liu Chuanzhi extremely embarrassed. The addition of Ni Guangnan will definitely change the board of directors. Zhang Zuxiang couldn't bear Liu Chuanzhi's embarrassment, so he gave up his directorship to Ni Guangnan. Although the dispute ended with sacrifice, he felt that Ni Guangnan's desire for power began to increase. Soon, the dispute between Ni and Liu became public." Chi Yuyu wrote in the book Say. The conflict between Li Qin and Ni Guangnan, another key figure in Lenovo, was considered to be the beginning of Liu Chuanzhi's inability to reconcile. "In 1993, because the R&D center repeatedly failed to become the support of the 'third or second ending', the multi-port card project with an investment of more than 8 million yuan failed again, and the conflict between Li Qin and Ni Guangnan intensified. Ni Guangnan believed that the reason for the failure was 'slow speed' Li Qin believes that the management foundation and the company's ability are insufficient; Ni Guangnan demands to continue to increase investment in research and development and give better treatment to technicians, but Li Qin believes that increasing investment is useless. The origin of the conflict between Li and Ni For a long time, this was a contradiction between the operation officer, the army commander and the chief engineer of an enterprise, and it was the contradiction between profit and cost. But Ni Guangnan didn’t think so. That was the first time that Beijing Lenovo failed to meet the business target, and Ni Guangnan took the opportunity I went to the Academy of Sciences to sue Li Qin. The culpability was: 1. Li Qin was mainly responsible for failing to complete the task in 1993; It has become intensified, and two factions have begun to compete, one faction supports Li Qin, and the other supports Ni Guangnan; but the latter is at a complete disadvantage in numbers. Liu Chuanzhi rushed back to Beijing from Hong Kong, and then he set off a "Lenovo Thought Discussion" in Beijing. The form of mass movement stabilized the situation. ... On May 3, 1994, Ni Guangnan wrote a letter to "President Li and the members of the President's Office (reporting to the Chairman)", which is called "Ni Guangnan's Letter to President Li and the President's Office Regarding the Motor Vehicle Issue" in Lenovo's files.In the letter, Ni Guangnan accused a guy named Wang Wei of spreading rumors in the motorcade, saying: "It's not safe for Xiao Hou to drive Mr. Ni." Ni Guangnan believed that this was a complete fabrication. This letter became the fuse and Liu Chuanzhi was brought into the range of the explosion. Liu Chuanzhi offered to change Ni Guangnan's driver, but Ni Guangnan was still furious, no doubt expressing his anger to Liu Chuanzhi.Liu Chuanzhi originally thought that Ni Guangnan just had a problem with Li Qin, but he never expected that Ni Guangnan would be so angry with him, so Liu Chuanzhi wrote a letter to Ni Guangnan overnight. "After reading the fax you gave me, I feel very disturbed and unhappy. I have expressed very clear opinions on dealing with the driver's problem. When I knew that he had crashed four times and was still drinking while on duty, I insisted on it. The convoy hung him up, and I asked them to change the driver to drive you immediately....Moreover, we can be friends who depend on each other for life and death. Even if we take a step back, we are also friends of gentlemen. Deep feelings. You are a gentleman, but you are very stubborn and sometimes extreme. When you look at someone who is good, everything is good. When you look at someone who is not good, you may think that this person is not good at all.” Liu Chuanzhi wrote, "From my heart, I respect you very much, and I regard it as an honor to be respected by you. I put the relationship with you on top of 10 points. Of course , there may be something that I haven't noticed, I don't know what the problem is, it caused you such unhappiness, and the trust and friendship we have been together for 10 years have been blown away. We must make the conflict public. My respect for you My biggest opinion is that my personality is too introverted, I must hold my words in my stomach, and I must accumulate enough before speaking, sometimes, it is obviously a misunderstanding, and I will talk about it early and resolve it, and I will definitely not talk about it, and I must feel that I am right.” He told Ni Guangnan that if possible, he would like to talk thoroughly in person, pour out all the thoughts in his heart, and truly achieve a heart-to-heart bond and a close relationship.He said that Ni Guangnan is a gentleman, he can trust Ni Guangnan, Lenovo is now at a critical juncture, "If the core part cannot be drummed, the result will be difficult to imagine." Liu Chuanzhi thought that if Ni Guangnan wrote back, he could still communicate with him, but he did not wait for the reply.In the book, Chi Yuyu felt rather helpless that Ni Guangnan's refusal to reply to the letter hurt Liu Chuanzhi to a certain extent, and also forced Liu Chuanzhi to give up hope of communicating again. "On June 5, Ni Guangnan wanted to establish a large-scale integrated circuit design center in Shanghai. Liu Chuanzhi vetoed his proposal at the last moment. He said 'no' to him for the first time in ten years, which made Ni Guangnan feel unprecedented hurt.  …Ni Guangnan felt quite hurt after many years. Wei sadly said to a visitor: "Liu Chuanzhi said "no" to me for the first time in ten years. Afraid of hurting me, others don't know about it.'” Two people who have worked together for ten years, two people who once admired each other so much, after such an accidental change, they start to move towards an absurd new starting point. Chi Yuzhou's "Legend Bureau" did not describe Ni Liu's final battle in great detail.His headlines reveal this ambiguous tendency. "Ni Guangnan overestimated his own energy. Although he received a small amount of support in the president's office, those forces could only compete against Li Qin in 1993, and were vulnerable to Liu Chuanzhi. Liu Chuanzhi knew how to use public opinion to destroy Lenovo. The internal aristocratic power makes it insignificant. It is very simple for Liu Chuanzhi to weaken Ni Guangnan. In June of that year, Liu Chuanzhi was hospitalized due to illness. The first thing after he was discharged from the hospital was to discuss and determine Lenovo’s rules of procedure. The president decided, what should be discussed collectively. Liu Chuanzhi expressed his opinion, and everyone agreed. Ni Guangnan quarreled with Liu Chuanzhi at the meeting. Ni Guangnan said, "The chairman should have the final say, and the chairman is the legal representative. Liu Chuanzhi like you This is the first time that Liu Chuanzhi and Ni Guangnan have had a confrontation at the meeting. Ni Guangnan’s previous opinions could be passed because he did it through Liu Chuanzhi. When Liu Chuanzhi disagreed, no one could Agree with his opinion. Ni Guangnan suddenly found that he could not do anything. Liu Chuanzhi later said: "Ni Guangnan made a mistake at the time, thinking that Lenovo could not do without him. But I can do without him, so he started to sue me in the court. The courtyard did some investigation, Lao Ni received 8 sticks, and I received 2 sticks. At that time, my heart was actually unbalanced. Now that I have investigated, I must have some shortcomings. Then I said, is it just my personal opinion? Too number one? In fact, I don’t think I’m number one at all. When it’s time for me to strike, what ability does he have to fight back.’” Liu Chuanzhi underestimated Ni Guangnan. Although he could put Ni Guangnan on the shelf within the company, for an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with extensive connections and a great scientific reputation, he has too many ways to let Liu Chuanzhi run his life in this dispute. Chi Yuzhou believes: In this war, "Ni Guangnan bid farewell to Lenovo as a loser. His image of a weak person easily arouses sympathy, while his persevering and persevering actions to sue give people the illusion of a hero.  … Ni Guangnan sued almost everything he could through the organization." "In 1997, Ni Guangnan's pleadings were delivered to Zhu Rongji and Luo Gan. Both Zhu Rongji and Luo Gan gave their replies. Luo Gan's reply was: 'take forceful measures to investigate the relevant problems and report the results of the investigation to the State Council.' "In July, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the National Audit Office and the Ministry of Supervision, organized relevant departments and bureaus of the academy, equipped with 13 accounting personnel, and went to Hong Kong to investigate Liu Chuanzhi and Hong Kong Lenovo. Executive Vice President Lu Yongxiang went to Hong Kong on the 21st. At the preparatory meeting of the Hong Kong investigation team, the investigation team was asked to "thoroughly find out the facts and write a report to the central government". "On August 22, 1997, the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued the "Report on the Investigation Results of Hong Kong Lenovo's Related Issues" to report 'Comrade Luo Gan and Comrade Chengji'. In this 'secret' document, the Academy of Sciences concluded that: the investigation report The problems raised in the report are all deficiencies and problems in the work, and no personal (including Hong Kong personnel) violations of laws and disciplines have been found; the opinions raised on the problems in the management of Beijing Lenovo and Hong Kong Lenovo are pertinent, and it is indeed necessary to further Take practical measures to strengthen and improve the management of enterprises. "On August 31, Lenovo's board of directors issued a 'confidential document' "Explaining Opinions on Comrade Ni Guangnan's Repeated Reporting of Lenovo Group President Comrade Liu Chuanzhi", saying: "Comrade Ni Guangnan's actions have exceeded the legitimate exercise of citizenship for personal purposes. Scope of rights. After Comrade Ni Guangnan left Lenovo’s leadership team in Beijing, the company’s turnover and profits have increased by more than 100% for three consecutive years, which further demonstrates Lenovo’s leadership team and Comrade Liu Chuanzhi’s management level and their commitment to the country and the company. outstanding contribution.' "On September 10, Luo Gan commented: 'I intend to agree with the opinion of the Chinese Academy of Sciences party group's investigation report on the shortcomings of Lenovo Group's work to improve. Lenovo Group should continue to support, and at the same time, further strengthen management and supervision, so that Lenovo The group will develop more healthily and make greater contributions to my country's computer industry. Comrade Rongji please read the instruction.' The next day, Zhu Rongji issued an instruction: 'I agree with Comrade Luo Gan's instruction.'” All the denunciations seemed to have reached their peak in 1997, and after this peak, the dispute between Ni and Liu had reached the point where one side had to admit defeat.In the book of Chi Yuyu, there is a description that surprised the author, and made people even more confused by the bizarreness of this personnel battle. Ni Guangnan's complaint in 1997 first followed the organizational principles. He first submitted the complaint to Zeng Maochao, saying that Liu Chuanzhi escaped with 120 million funds when he went public.Zeng Maochao later recalled that he had a conversation with Ni Guangnan at that time. "Aren't you going to make him lose his head?" "I just want to send him to jail." "It's not easy for Lenovo to develop today. The boundary between crime and non-crime is clear. He can't be a crime. If you get Liu Chuanzhi down, what will Lenovo do?" "Lenovo is easy to handle, find a young man." It is said that Ni Guangnan did not admit that there had been such a conversation, but the pressure of rumors had to make one person leave Lenovo. One thing that is certain is that the war apparently ended at 9:30 am on September 2, 1999.On this day, in the conference room on the 7th floor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lenovo Group Chairman Zeng Maochao announced that Lenovo would dismiss Ni Guangnan and give Ni Guangnan a new unit of RMB 5 million. "Both parties involved—Liu Chuanzhi and Ni Guangnan did not participate in the dismissal meeting. Ni Guangnan said he did not expect to publicly dismiss him on September 2. He told reporters: 'Lenovo has no right to fire me', 'Lenovo wants to make a mess I'. Four days later, Ni Guangnan sent an open letter to the "Lenovo Board of Directors" entitled "Please Don't Dismiss My Work Results" to the outside world through the Internet, requesting that he be given a chance to appeal and please don't "dismiss" his work results. " But such a statement seemed so weak in the face of the huge vortex. Liu Chuanzhi, who had been irritated for many years, said: "If I knew that Ni Guangnan would sue like this, I would regret inviting him into the company." Ni Liu’s ending in 1999 was hesitant and helpless. On the one hand, “Ni Guangnan published “My Self-Criticism” to Lenovo’s board of directors via the Internet, saying that the dismissal incident prompted him to reflect deeply and felt that he had a great responsibility. 50 Daqing The festival is approaching and cannot have a negative impact on the festive atmosphere, so he is determined to criticize himself and end this incident as soon as possible." And when Ni Guangnan hit the last key on the computer, Liu Chuanzhi was lying in Beijing No. 301 Hospital, and his secretary promptly printed out "My Self-Criticism" and sent it to him.He hoped to write a letter to Ni Guangnan, but he changed his draft four times and finally gave up. "The public relations department then sent an 'official document' as a reference for Liu Chuanzhi to reply to Ni Guangnan. It welcomed Ni Guangnan's positive attitude and encouraged Ni Guangnan to look forward with a crowning tone. Liu Chuanzhi was stunned for a while after reading it, and finally nodded in agreement:' Let it be...'" "Let it be", Liu Chuanzhi sadly ended the five-year war between the two with these three words. The most dazzling generation in Lenovo's history, which will never appear in the future, suddenly fell down. In the writing of Chi Yuyu, no one is a loser, but they are all losers. Did Ni Guangnan create Liu Chuanzhi, or did Liu Chuanzhi create Ni Guangnan?This seems to be the problem that Ling Zhijun has been trying to explain in "Legend of the Wind and Cloud". In his opinion, Ni Liu's reversal is actually a problem of human nature in the end. When the problem was a matter of personal quality and plagiarism of state property, Liu still gave Ni Guangnan a positive evaluation. The two different people have different approaches to each other's attacks, which in itself is due to their positions: Liu Chuanzhi is the owner of the right to speak and a Chinese business leader who cannot be offended by most of the media, while Ni Guangnan is a Chinese business leader who uses his own reputation and "" Responsibilities to the country and associations" running scientists. No one can say clearly, among them, who is the final victor. "The Biggest Thing of 1985" Judging from any version, Ni Liu's first love is beautiful. In December 1985, Lenovo held its first summary meeting one year after its establishment.Liu Chuanzhi summarized the one-year-old company at the meeting. "——KT8920 large-scale computer, earning a profit of 600,000 yuan;——The Chinese Academy of Sciences purchased 500 IBM computers, and the company was able to collect a service fee of 700,000 yuan;——The last and most important thing, Ni Guangnan, an associate researcher, also served as the company's general manager engineer, and brought the research result 'Chinese character system' of the Institute of Computing to the company." Liu defined the most important thing in the establishment of the company as Ni's joining. The description of Chi Yuyu also found traces in Ling Zhijun's book. "The most brilliant peak of Ni Guangnan's personal career occurred after he joined the company in 1985. Before that, he was always unknown, and the early history of the company also shined with the light of Ni Guangnan. Some people think that 'without Ni Guangnan, there would be no Lenovo, or even As far as Lenovo is concerned, it is all thanks to Ni Guangnan's invention.'” Lenovo and Ni Guangnan were almost inseparable in the early years. Without Lenovo, Ni Guangnan’s Chinese character system could not have entered the market so quickly, and without Ni Guangnan, Lenovo could not have found the competitive products and technical leaders that supported the company in the early years. Ling Zhijun judged that "Ni and Liu came together, more because of the needs of both parties." "I have sweated in the development of large-scale computers; I have achieved national research breakthroughs; I have also achieved major scientific and technological achievements of the Chinese Academy of Sciences several times. But unfortunately, these breakthroughs are still on the certificate and have not become products. " Liu Chuanzhi obviously understood what could impress Ni Guangnan, and he persuaded Ni Guangnan with one sentence. He said to Ni Guangnan: "I promise to turn all your research achievements into products." Ling Zhijun added a title to this history: the common dream of Liu Chuanzhi and Ni Guangnan. Yeah, when both find the same direction, history is harmonious and beautiful.But no one would have thought that the most important thing in 1985 would become Lenovo's biggest headache a few years later. If we want to look back at Ni's early years, we will be surprised to find that it is the role of the company's publicity rather than technical achievements that make him shine. This is even more intense in Ling Zhijun's "Lenovo". "Today, when we review the company's promotional materials at that time, we can find that the reporters all focused on Ni Guangnan. Of course, sometimes they would look for others. For example, when the reporter of CCTV was filming Ni Guangnan, he felt that there should be a student standing beside him. I came to Li Lan by chance, wearing a white coat, as a substitute, that spring belonged to Ni Guangnan, and everyone else was a supporting role....Liu Chuanzhi privately instructed the PR department: In our company, only one person is allowed to be promoted, and that is Ni Guangnan." The press release at that time also promoted Ni Guangnan more as a practical scientist in the process of reform. "Comrade Ni Guangnan has made remarkable achievements in the computer field with his outstanding talent and tenacious fighting spirit.... (Ni Guangnan) has created tens of millions of wealth for the country. Since the reform and opening up, he has been brave to open up since the reform and opening up, and he can be regarded as a middle-aged man. A role model for scientists." The media even packaged Ni Guangnan as icing on the cake. "Scientists with the most market vision", "talented researchers", "patriots with outstanding achievements", "scientists with reform ideas", "big-name experts", "pathbreakers", "father of Lenovo Chinese character system"... Ni Guangnan has become Lenovo to some extent. We have to be dumbfounded, how close this is to the aura given to Liu Chuanzhi by the media a few years later—"China's entrepreneur leader", "the banner of reform and opening up", "the leader of China's IT field", and "the father of Lenovo"—— They have become Lenovo's external banners in different periods of history. The fading aura of Ni Guangnan's body and Hanka's trend became two lines that complement each other. In 1990, under the auspices of Ni Guangnan, Lenovo released seven types of Chinese cards, setting a new record for the sales of Chinese cards.Ni Guangnan tried to make Hanka a permanent cash cow for Lenovo. He even said to his subordinates who were full of worries and feared that their opponents would follow suit: "It doesn't matter, we keep launching new versions, and they can't keep up." "At least until 1992, the chief engineer's idea has been very successful. The sales volume of Lenovo's Chinese character system (before 1992) was growing at a rate of more than 70% every year. By October 1992, the cumulative sales of Chinese cards had exceeded 60,000 This means that one out of every 10 microcomputers in the country is equipped with Lenovo Hanka.” Ling Zhijun said. Under the gorgeous cloak, a huge market crisis has emerged—the fate of Hanka has already been doomed in the process of continuous growth of microcomputers. "In August 1992, Liu Jinquan, the leader of the company's sales leadership team, frankly described a dark picture to all sales staff: "The computer market is filled with gunpowder and swords are at war, and domestic and foreign computer peers all regard Lenovo Group as their competitor." At this time Everyone knows that the sales volume of Hanka has reached a record 1,701 sets in December 1991, and then began to decline. In the first four months of the 1992 fiscal year, only 5,555 sets were sold. 67% of the plan was completed .” In 1992, Ni Guangnan's Hanka had been researched to the ninth generation, that is to say, when he was constantly perfecting his Hanka, he had already begun to be abandoned by the market.At that time, the director of the Computer Research Institute once said to Ni Guangnan: "You want the user to plug in your Chinese card, but let him unplug the original display card?" Lenovo had to face new market choices, and Liu Chuanzhi and his colleagues had to find a new direction: should they continue to rely on technology to promote the company, or should they be market-oriented and develop new products?Or focus on proxy trade? In December 1992, Lenovo Hanka sold 2664 yuan, exceeding the target by 164 yuan, which became the last madness of Hanka. During the same period, Microsoft and Lenovo signed an agreement to jointly develop the "WORKS Chinese version". The development of the software Chinese character input system that was shot down by Ni Guangnan officially started.But even at this time, Liu Chuanzhi still believes that the company needs the banner of Ni Guangnan. Like Chi Yuyu, Ling Zhijun believes that the beginning of the break between Ni Guangnan and the Lenovo family also stems from different views on personnel and management. In 1993, Ni Guangnan, who rarely intervened in the company's daily management, proposed to relieve Li Qin from his position as executive vice president. He believed that Li Qin should be responsible for the first stagnation in Lenovo's history in 1993.He even hoped to pull Liu Chuanzhi and Zhang Zuxiang to take the same action. Ling Zhijun believes that the cracks appeared at this moment. From this moment, perhaps even Liu Chuanzhi began to realize that if Ni Guangnan continued to play a huge role in Lenovo, he "on the basis of being able to control Lenovo" might not be able to survive at all. It is impossible to control Lenovo anymore (Whether Ni Guangnan intervened in Lenovo management to perform his director's functions or whether he wanted to break away from technology and turn to company management to bring Lenovo to a higher point that he thought he could reach is unknown.). The beginning of Ni Liu's complete breakup, Ling Zhijun's description is no different from Chi Yuyu's. First, Ni Guangnan had a big public argument with Li Qin about the company's arrangement of drivers. It was not safe, and Liu Chuanzhi faxed to request a replacement driver.From this moment, Liu Chuanzhi began to feel sore in his heart. He believed, Lenovo, that it was time to establish a new leader. "Liu Chuanzhi immediately became disgusted with Ni Guangnan's insinuations (on the driver issue). He believed that the sharpness of this letter was aimed at himself, so he was determined to showdown with his partner." Ling Zhijun wrote. Liu Chuanzhi wrote a long letter to Ni Guangnan, hoping to use letterhead for a showdown and appeasement, but it failed. Ling Zhijun and Chi Yuyu agreed that Ni Guangnan did not take this letter to heart. He still seemed to think that his This little brother who made him a myth in the past is just a little bit of a temper. Thus, the first "no" officially debuted.On the integrated circuit project in Shanghai, on Lenovo's future strategic choice of whether to manufacture "China chips" or continue to use market channels (Yang Yuanqing had already started to promote the E-series home computers at that time), the dream was to find another new starting point for technology. Ni Guangnan was rejected by Liu Chuanzhi for the first time. He sent a letter to Ni Guangnan and Lu Tanping, who was in charge of the China Chip Project with Ni Guangnan at the time. He put forward four conditions for setting up a design center for the development of China Chip in Shanghai, and believed that one One cannot be reached. Ni Guangnan and Liu Chuanzhi have different opinions this time. In my opinion, this may be the only time in Lenovo's history that someone put forward different views on strategic issues. On this issue, their final conversation was feeble. After meeting and discussing with Liu Chuanzhi to no avail, Ni Guangnan finally questioned Liu Chuanzhi: "Tell me, why is my idea wrong?" "What if everyone has different opinions?" Liu Chuanzhi asked. Ni Guangnan said: "I have to deal with different opinions." "A disagreement in a strategic decision has turned into a breakup between the partners, which is really a tragedy to say the least." Ling Zhijun said. Different from Chi Yuyu's analysis, Ni in Ling Zhijun's book is more like a "victim who internally feels that he has not been treated fairly, and then appeals everywhere, or the appeal is invalid", while Liu Chuanzhi is furious for a while, For a while, helpless and sentimental. It is unproven that the quarreling atmosphere in the three subsequent meetings determined that a tragedy had really begun to take place. To a certain extent, it also showed that different perceptions of individual behavior had become the mainstream in a new stage. Liu Chuanzhi believed that Ni Guangnan was "messing around and messing around", while Ni Guangnan said the following things at the meeting: I will never end with you, what you do is against the company law, and I am determined to fight you to the end. These descriptions of Ling Zhijun did not indicate whether they came from the meeting minutes or other documents, but judging from the rough language, it is hard to imagine that they would come from a gentle, honest and well-known scientist. "The chief engineer did what he said, and the president 'did it to the end'" Ling Zhijun said helplessly in the book, "He accused Liu Chuanzhi of domineering style to his superiors, and then accused Liu Chuanzhi of serious economic problems. 10 million, the matter has come to this point, it is completely a life-and-death situation. If his report is confirmed, Liu Chuanzhi will be finished from now on." He immediately described Liu Chuanzhi's reaction: "In the last few months of 1994, when Liu Chuanzhi mentioned this matter, he became very angry. He said to Zhang Zuxiang: "Old Ni said something out of his heart, and he sued me." Zhang Zu still wanted to reconcile it, because he knew the two A personal breakup is a great loss to the company, and Liu Chuanzhi didn't know it, but he said: 'You should also consider my feelings.'” From company grievances to personal disputes, Ni Liu's early struggles began to lean towards personal details. The first climax of the Ni-Liu dispute came in 1995, when Ni Guangnan had just become an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, "urgently hoping to restore his influence on the company." Ni Guangnan began to pass the pleadings to a higher level. He went to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and accused the general manager of arbitrarily acting in the company's investment decisions and taking personal revenge on employees who opposed him; The property rights of the Institute of Industrial Science and Technology are unclear. He also revealed that Liu Chuanzhi had suddenly replaced the chief financial officer and lent the company’s US$5.5258 million to Lu Tanping and others to expand their private equity, allowing the latter’s shareholding in the company to expand from 33.3% to 43.3%. "He will never give up until he puts me in prison." Liu Chuanzhi realized the seriousness of the problem. In 1995, Zhongguancun was entering a delicate period. Because of the existence of Wang Xuan, who was also an academician, Fang Zheng was constantly changing the president. Very wonderful. The investigation team from the Academy of Sciences entered Lenovo for the second time, and Liu Chuanzhi's grievances can be imagined. In his written speech to the Academy of Sciences, Liu Chuanzhi wrote: The conflict between Ni and I cannot be reconciled, and I can no longer work with him. As the president, I will propose to the board of directors to remove him as the chief engineer, and at the same time ask the leaders of the academy to Consider removing him as director of Lenovo Group and Lenovo Hong Kong. Liu Chuanzhi knew that he had to make a further statement. After this written speech, the Chinese Academy of Sciences also made a decision for the first time in this dilemma. On June 30, 1995, Lenovo's board of directors announced that Ni Guangnan was removed from the post of chief engineer of Lenovo Group Corporation. He also answered Liu Chuanzhi's questions that Ni Guangnan responded to one by one. Ni Guangnan completely lost the competition at the academy level. 在这次会议上，凌志军认为柳传志发表了他一生中最具备感染力的演讲之一，他回顾了这段纷争的来龙去脉，回忆了和倪的过去，解释了纷争中的种种因果，他判断和倪的矛盾是“和他的关系的位置估计得过高，而不敢想象和其他同志一样开展批评和自我批评”，在最后，柳传志说：“今天我的发言是最不像总裁的一次，11年了，让我的眼泪忘情自由的流淌一次吧。请大家原谅。” 同样在会场上的倪光南则平静很多。他所表现出来的是让所有失败者都惊讶的平淡，在这个仅仅600来字的演讲中，似乎只有最后一句话，表明他将继续斗争下去，他说：“我希望能将意见反映到院里，如果我还能工作的话，我始终将为联想工作。” 倪柳的平静仅仅过了2年，这期间他们如何相处不得而知。可以揣摩的是，倪光南已经无法相信中国科学院会在这件事情上给予自己支持，他开始寻求更高的部门来帮助自己。 1997年3月，更高级别的调查组进驻联想，这支几乎囊括了中国科学院、国家审计署、监察部和中纪委等各部门人员的调查组由中南海直接指派，朱镕基和罗干进行了批示。倪光南已经不相信科学院能够“主持公道”了，他把举报信直接递交到了中国证监会、国资委和党中央。 著名IT记者刘韧对柳传志在接受调查进行了如下描述：“柳传志在房间里走来走去，气急败坏：'一个调查没事了，又换了一个新内容调查，如果他老是瞎编，你们老要调查，我还干活不干？'” 柳传志的心态可以理解，毕竟他以为自己的麻烦早已了解。何况，这次来的风暴显然更为猛烈。 倪柳之争从2年前开始就变的更加扑朔迷离，旁观者更能够说明问题，凌志军在书中描述了一个叫唐旭东的人的观点——他是联想条约法规部的负责人，因为对公司有违法乱纪行为的监查权，他看到了更多不为人知的材料——他告诉凌志军： “倪光南的告的事情触到了一个人的根本，不再是工作上的分歧，不再是战略上的分歧，而是对你的人格，人品的怀疑，是触犯刑律的问题了。” 在某种程度上，倪光南和柳传志都出现了人性上的纷乱，到底谁是正义的，到底谁又是把立场放在联想的位置上？已经没有人能够说清楚了。 第三次调查在5个月后有了结果，和第二次调查并无两样，罗干甚至找来路甬祥让他转告倪光南，表示国务院对倪光南的信不再批示。 倪光南的最高状纸也失效了。但他依旧认为自己是在向腐败做斗争，在和凌志军的交流中，他把倪柳之争归结于私仇：“过去我们在科技路线上没有分歧，我们10年合作，一直很好，他举不出在1994年以前反对过我的任何一件事情，很明显，是因为我告了他以后，他才开始反对我做的事情。” 倪光南彻底把柳传志归结为一个玩弄权谋者、一个腐败和导致国家巨大损失的人，对于这一点，凌志军没有说出来，也没有写出来，但倪的这些言语，已经说明了一切。 迟宇宙和凌志军关于倪柳之争的最后一幕进行了几乎相同的描述，倪光南的最后出局，其实早在1997年就已经被注定，2年后的解聘，可以认为是整个联想的一致判断。 在凌志军的书中，有两段柳传志对倪光南的评价让我们对这段几乎令人哑然的争斗有了些须温暖的感觉，在被无数次攻击后，柳传志评价说：“老倪的动机肯定没有谋私，他这个人是不爱财的，不求那种小的虚名，他还真的就是技术至上，并不清楚整个市场是怎么回事。” 另外，而在所有的结论都被定性后，他依旧保留了对倪光南的某种尊敬，他对凌志军说：“倪光南在这一方面（钱财上）有一身傲骨。” 1999年的后半期，对于倪柳而言，都是极度疲乏的。他们似乎也已经不想再为这个问题而互相攻击了。但一篇发表在计算机世界上，名为《裂变的痛苦》的稿子的出现，让倪柳之争从内部吵到了外界，然后在本该结束的21世纪，进入了新的无序和无奈——一如这些网络所本身拥有的特质。 如果没有网络，倪柳之争未必有后来的突然大热。 在旷日持久的倪柳网络大论战中，更多的观点和难以考究的材料开始纷繁的出现了，倪的同情者似乎也首次超越了柳传志的支持者，开始占据上风。 另外一方面，联想在21世纪的多次变故也让这个被认为中国最优秀的高科技企业成为了众人的焦点，“联想原罪”、“联想不是我的家”甚至引发了两次大辩论，这也在客观上，把倪柳之争重新带出了水面。 关于倪柳的网络版本，我认为主要存在二大观点。 争论一：联想原罪？ 21世纪的头一年，对于联想而言是忙乱的，这种忙乱更多是源于刊登于1月3日《计算机世界》上的一篇文章，这篇用八个版的篇幅、题为《痛苦的裂变》的特别报道首次披露了联想成长过程中的倪柳之争，这也是第一次在权威的国家级媒体上出现了联想不想听到的声音。据传媒消息，联想在此间停止了对《计算机世界》高达千万元的广告投入。联想集团称：由于该文有大量失实报道，集团法务部正在与各方磋商提请诉讼事宜，此前双方必须停止所有的经济往来。 由此开始，一系列质疑联想的稿子开始甚嚣尘上，其中“BLOGWAY”（博客为什么）上的《质疑联想原罪》，更因为大量内幕的揭批而成为了互联网上的一个热门网站。 王育琨在《失去联想》中具体描述了《痛苦的裂变》促使联想怒撤2000万广告费的经过和原因。 “由于联想对中文媒体强大的控制力，关于'柳倪之争'的讨论，信息不对称，成了一边倒，除联想官方言论外，'反方'意见几乎不能发表。2000年1月3日，《计算机世界》新千年第一期以8个整版篇幅发表《痛苦的裂变》，因为该文涉及'柳倪之争'的根源，且不合联想官方口味，被联想处以停止近2000万广告费的惩罚，那么，《痛苦的裂变》究竟在哪里冒犯了联想？这点联想没有挑明。 本来，这篇文章是《计算机世界》记者蒋青玥通过对计算所和联想发展的调查研究写出来的，它探讨了科技体制改革、科技产业化、企业和研究所关系等问题，不应引起联想官方的反感，但文章披露了某些鲜为人知的情况，这可能得罪了联想官方，例如《痛苦的裂变》专题中《缠绕的痛苦和委屈》一文，专门写“柳倪之争”，蒋青玥这样写道： “倪认为柳犯下不可饶恕的大错为，柳传志在没有通过北京联想董事会的情形下，私自将北京联想从中国银行借来的钱转借了552万美元给一个香港的私人公司，即香港导远的吕谭平等四人。” “港方人员于1998年离开了香港联想的经营管理层，带走了约2亿股的股票，但贸促会仅有1500万股权，原本素昧平生的香港人没花多少力气，便依仗联想人劳动创造的财富摇身一变，成了亿万富豪，而为联想殚精竭虑，呕心沥血的倪光南和柳传志等创始人却几乎赤贫（2000年1月的柳传志还没有拿到后来的股权）。” “柳的这种贷款行为可能已构成违法。因为国家明文规定，非金融机构不准借贷资金，贷款给私人负债持股也是违法的。1998年中科院在调查结论中确认，柳传志向港商提供巨额贷款确有其事，但未对此行为是否合法，是否合理做出评价，并指出柳个人确实并未从中获取好处。” 也许还有一些，但仅仅这些披露，恐怕就足以若恼联想官方了。 首先，吕谭平等人在香港联想上市后确实成了数十亿港币的富翁。联想曾大张旗鼓的在媒体上宣传联想想出多少个“百万富翁”，但为什么出了几十亿港币的“亿万富翁”反而不宣传？非但不宣传，连披露一下都要受到制裁呢？ ……吕谭平等与香港联想原来的另一股东贸促会相比，“贸促会仅有1500万股权”，为什么吕谭平等能比贸促会等多拿1.8亿多股呢？是因为借了552万美圆，简单做一个除法，吕谭平借钱买到的股票价格大约为3美分（合港币2毛多），而据联想老员工说，香港联想上市时，他们从股市上买到的股票是港币2元多。更令人羡慕的是，吕谭平不但拣了便宜货，而且连腰包都不用掏，难怪联想有人说，“如果当初这552万美圆借给我，我不就成吕谭平了。”刚进联想时吕谭平不过小康水平，这552万美圆他当然承担不起，好在一切有联想担着。 后来联想官方为平息由此引起风波，曾大力宣传吕谭平的贡献，好象不给吕谭平这么多好处就对不起他。现在高科技公司给干股也是有的，不过拿“干股”后这些人要留下来做贡献。哪有箱吕谭平一样，拿了2亿干股（后来联想股票1分4，就是8亿股），造成香港联想巨亏，然后抛股套现后，就金盆洗手，一走了之呢？ 风乍起吹皱一池春水，这之后，网络上质疑联想的稿子越来越多，质疑联想的最大声音往往集中在两方面，第一是股权迷雾，特别是香港联想的问题上的负债持股，如王和蒋所说，柳传志凭什么借522万美元给吕谭平？（柳传志后来在凌志军的书中公开对调查组解释是出于北京联想控股香港联想的前提条件。）第二是联想在早年的创业当中，有多大程度是钻了国家的空子，柳传志到底有没有用非法的、灰色的手段为联想聚敛财富？ 这两点和倪光南当年的告发也不谋而合，倪光南始终认为，是柳传志借款给吕潭平导致了大量国有资产的流失，另外柳传志个人有腐败和经济问题，这在他给国务院写的信里都有明确表示。 2005年1月当年撰写《痛苦的裂变》的蒋青玥在他创办的WHY博客上发表了一封给审计署的公开举报信，在信中他表明了自己介入“倪柳之争”的过程和立场： “我从1999年9月2日，中国联想集团召集新闻发布会，公开开除倪光南院士以后，开始以记者身份介入此事。……《痛苦的裂变》长篇报道，因其中4000多字触及“柳倪之争”的根本问题，首次在主流媒体上质疑：1994年香港联想上市，柳传志在资本运作中可能已涉嫌严重的违法违纪问题，而导致当时柳传志主导的联想集团停止了在计算机世界报业集团每年约2000万元人民币的广告投入…… ... 联想自《痛苦的裂变》之后，开始不断解密并向舆论界抛出一个又一个关于“柳倪之争”的解释。我从未间断对于此的关注，并于2003年5月开始，试图继续对它进行调查。无奈，因我当时在健康上已因劳损过度，患病一年有余，加上一些未曾预料的干扰……进展实在缓慢…… ……由于《痛苦的裂变》已经直接触及“柳倪之争”最要害问题，此后，联想已经自行地，不断解密，也有几位出色的记者，就此采写了一系列详实的报道。虽然他们全系“柳说”，“倪说”们几乎找不到场所发言。 ……我的调研、采访过程、全部证据都放在Why博客中“质疑联想专题”中，它也可看作2000年1月3日，“痛苦的裂变”之续集。 在能够查到的所有的文字中，只有这篇文章直接点明了作者想要看到的结果——和倪光南要和柳传志干到底一样——作者如此希望自己在告发柳传志事件中能够得到一个结果：“20万元人民币起家的联想，走到今天，我认为柳传志是有功的，至于功过是五五，还是四六开，恐怕尚需时间检验。主观意愿上，我个人并不希望近60岁的柳传志受到过于严酷的责罚，我个人希望，在刑事上，他为自己过错受到如同刘晓庆那样的处罚。” 争论二：淡化倪光南？或倪光南为什么？ 在凌志军、迟宇宙甚至更早年的《联想为什么》等书中，大量篇幅描述的是成功的联想，在80到90年代，似乎也只有联想的微机是他们看到的，而在联想企业发展的过程中，曾经试图涉足的领域非常之广泛。为什么所有的见诸媒体的文字，刊印的书籍很少涉及联想的其他产业板块或者曾经试图进入并有可能获得成功的板块呢？又为什么，除了汉卡之外，倪光南对于联想个人电脑、联想打印机、联想OFFIC、联想程控交换器方面作出的独特贡献从来没有人去正式分析呢？ 淡化倪光南或者将灯光下的倪光南仅仅集中在一点，几乎成为了所有公开文字的基础。 网络上的一篇文章认为，如果倪光南的技术第一能够长期进行下去，今日的联想也许不仅仅在个人电脑领域成为领头羊了，甚至可能在通信设备领域同样成为另外一个华为（当时联想在通信设备领域领先华为）。 方向东如此评价技术上的倪光南： “对于倪光南，每个人都可以有自己的看法。但是，再不屑的人都得正视倪光南这20年来的技术眼光，从汉卡、微机、程控交换机、打印机、主板等，都是最好的印证。直到今天，细心的人都可以发现（我想柳传志应该比任何人都会明察秋毫），没有一个公司作为背景、近乎一无所有的倪光南，依然顽强地在中国IT业四处点燃技术之火，无论是国产CPU、集成电路、自主NC、国内Linux还是永中Office，都深深打着倪光南的烙印，星星之火随时都会燎原。倪光南会有弱点和缺点，但是在技术判断的敏锐和技术追求的执着上，业内可能还找不到第二个人。……今天谁要低估倪光南，谁可能就会跌眼镜！谁要是高估联想技术创新的成功概率，谁也会跌眼镜。” 也许对于技术的推崇让网络上大批博客热衷于挖掘倪光南在技术上的闪光点，很多人在评价倪柳之争的时候，往往会认为倪是一个偏执的科学家，是一个创新精神闪耀的全身心投入的实干者，而把柳定义为一个轻技术而重工贸的企业家。在这样两个人之间的战争，早已经决定了谁会是失败者。 立场决定了语言。当这些技术至上的“业内人士”一次又一次站在这块石头上不断重申倪光南之于联想的价值的时候，没有人可以苛求他们——毕竟在联想1994年前的历史中，几乎每一件产品的出现，都离不开倪光南的殚精竭虑。 但是，很少有媒体和记者们，真正去了解这方面的真相并将之公布。在一定程度上，当联想越长越大的时候，退步和牺牲的往往是个人，曾经被联想送进监狱的孙宏斌如此，倪光南也如此——联想已经容不得个人来打击了，哪怕他是亲密的友人还是曾经的功臣。 方向东无奈地认为：迄今为止，为联想带来创新的最多、功劳最大的人，依然是倪光南，依然无人可比。可以说，联想如果与创新有关联，那么这个链结上一定有一个大大的名字叫“倪光南”。但是，众所周知的原因，他的名字“创新”般地消失了，……斗争的失败者已经永远不可能卷土重来，倪光南已经是真正的“赤脚”企业家。斗争的胜利者名利双收，江山一揽，永远是“伟大”的企业家。 他的指向明确而犀利。 方兴东的博客在很长一段时间内是“倒柳挺倪”的最大阵地，几乎在他所有的稿子里，都表明了个人对技术至上的倪光南的支持，在联想一方面，则更倾向于杨元庆而非柳传志。 除此之外，大量网友在意的则是“倪光南为什么”？ 当旷日持久的争辩耗费掉这个曾经中国最具备创新意识的科学家的激情的时候，他为什么要在这场悬殊的战斗中一直走下去？ 是如他所说“为了国家的利益不蒙受重大损失？”还是在一些书中认为的“个人受到排挤和打击后，出于找回公正的位置？”、或者是“为了挽回一个院士的荣耀，继续走技术至上的道路？”再或者“出于人格上对柳传志的鄙视和个人的攻击？” 抛开两人之间的恩怨是非，方兴东的一句话倒可以作为这场战役的一个补白： “倪柳之争最大的损失，不是两人的损失，而是由此造成联想技术研发的断裂。十多年建立的研发精英队伍后来几乎流失殆尽！” 在这个意义上，倪柳之争都是失败者。 人性的战争从来不可能在一个阶段的历史中找到位置，当把它放到更长的历史长河中去的时候，我们才能够清晰而淡定地看到更多的真相。 2005年，柳传志61岁，倪光南66岁，在中国人看来，他们已经是可以在家安享晚年的老人，这一年，柳传志还在为联想收购了IBM个人电脑事业部的问题而苦恼，倪光南则仍旧坚守着科学的态度在寻找中国IT业的出路。 他们开始忙自己的事情，并且都不再为当年的“倪柳之争”说更多的话。 我更愿意以网络上一个叫薛冰雷的作者的一句疑问，暂时发落了这个话题：倪光南需要我们这么迅速的立传么？（把联想从20万，带到数百亿资产的、在很多方面令人肃然的柳传志难道不是吗？） 无论是柳传志还是倪光南，作为依旧在不同领域坚持着的两个老人，我们还远远没有看到透着光亮的终点。