Chapter 114 A single notice: Was the clown actually myself?

In the Imperial Capital, within that confidential compound closed to the public.

The night was deep, but the meeting room remained brightly lit. The ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts, and the heavy scent of tobacco mixed with an oppressive feeling that permeated the air.

Liu Jianguo sat in his chair, clutching the newly signed procurement contract worth eighty million in total, looking dazed.

Although the items were purchased and the aircraft carrier's urgent need was resolved, the mystery in his heart was snowballing, growing larger and larger.

Why did that company from the Ugly Country want to return the goods?

With a clear hundredfold profit margin, where they could become millionaires just by flipping the goods, why would they choose this critical moment to go crazy and offend their only supplier?

This didn't fit the logic of capital seeking profit.

Just then, the meeting room door was pushed open.

A thin middle-aged man wearing a Mao suit entered. His name was Chen Guobang, the person in charge of national security-related affairs, and the "Old Chen" Liu Jianguo spoke of.

He held a thin document in his hand and walked with a brisk pace. A very strange expression hung on his face, as if he had just watched some comedy film and wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

"Old Chen, did you find out?" the Old General looked up and asked in a low voice.

"I've found out."

Old Chen walked to the conference table, gently placed the document on the surface, scanned everyone present, and finally let his gaze rest on Liu Jianguo's face, saying meaningfully:

"Jianguo, this time... you've really performed a great service. No, I should say, your 'young friend' Little Li has truly given us a massive surprise this time."

"What do you mean?" Liu Jianguo's heart skipped a beat, and that familiar feeling of 'Li Jiajun Phobia' returned.

"Titan Heavy Industry, which is that company from the Ugly Country."

Old Chen pointed at the document, his tone becoming serious, though the playfulness in his eyes could not be hidden:

"After our deep investigation into all their capital flows, customs declarations, and the upstream and downstream of their supply chain over the past five years... we discovered a shocking fact."

"This company doesn't have a production line at all."

"What?!"

A chorus of exclamations rang out in the meeting room.

"No production line? Then where did the arresting cables they sold to the Navy of the Ugly Country come from?" A lieutenant general's eyes widened.

"Buying and reselling."

Old Chen shrugged and threw out the truth that made everyone's scalp tingle:

"They are just a shell company, a middleman. For the past five years, all the 'Titan-1' top-tier arresting cables they supplied to the Navy of the Ugly Country have all originated from the same place..."

At this point, Old Chen paused, glanced at the already dumbfounded Liu Jianguo, and said word by word:

"Eastern Country, Lu Province, Baishui City, Li Family Toy Factory."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

The entire meeting room seemed to have been hit with a pause button.

Everyone's brains crashed at this moment. They looked at the document on the table, then at Liu Jianguo, and then thought about how they had just been worrying themselves gray over this single rope, even preparing to endure humiliation to sign an unequal treaty...

An extremely surreal feeling instantly pierced through everyone's reason.

'I... Holy crap...'

Liu Jianguo's lips trembled as he thought to himself.

'So after all that fuss, we were being choked to death, and it turns out the hand choking our neck... was the one we handed over ourselves?!'

'The core equipment used by the aircraft carriers of the Ugly Country is actually a jump rope made by a toy factory in our Eastern Country?!'

'This... even novels wouldn't dare to be written this way!'

He had roughly guessed it before, and now it was finally confirmed.

"Then... then why did they want to return the goods this time?" The Old General was, after all, someone who had weathered great storms; he was the first to react and seized the key point.

"This is even more interesting."

Old Chen couldn't help but laugh out loud. "According to internal communications from the high-level officials of the Ugly Country that we intercepted, it's because The Pentagon of the Ugly Country, in order to blockade our aircraft carrier technology, ordered a strict ban on Titan Heavy Industry exporting any related equipment to us."

"The boss of Titan Heavy Industry had a batch of goods stockpiled that he couldn't sell, his capital chain broke, and to mitigate losses, he came up with a rotten idea to seek a return and compensation from Li Jiajun, hoping to cheat his capital back."

"He didn't expect to kick a steel plate this time and blow the whole matter up."

After hearing this explanation, the meeting room fell into silence once again.

But this silence only lasted for a few seconds.

Immediately after.

"Pfft..."

Someone couldn't hold it in first.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahaha!"

A burst of explosive laughter instantly blew the roof off the meeting room.

Those generals who were usually solemn and stern were now laughing so hard they were doubled over, some even laughing to the point of tears, constantly slapping the table.

It was too funny!

It was too satisfying!

The people of the Ugly Country exhausted their schemes to implement a technical blockade, only to blockade a whole lot of nothing! The big stick they used to blockade us turned out to be a fire poker we made ourselves!

"The joke is on me... no, the joke is on them!"

A major general wiped his tears, laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath.

The Old General was also beaming, looking as if he had suddenly aged ten years younger. He took a deep breath and suddenly slapped the table, a sharp light flashing in his originally cloudy eyes.

"Good! Excellent!"

"Since the truth is out, we can't just watch the joke."

The Old General stood up, paced twice in the meeting room with his hands behind his back, his tone carrying an unprecedented dominance:

"Don't they like to engage in embargos? Don't they like to engage in technical blockades?"

"It is only polite to reciprocate!"

He suddenly turned around, looking at the heads of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his voice powerful and resonant:

"Pass down my order! Immediately! Right now!"

"On the grounds of protecting national core technology intellectual property rights and maintaining national security, issue Export Control Order Number One!"

"Effective immediately, a total ban is placed on the export of ultra-high-strength carbon fiber composite cables and their related manufacturing technologies to the Ugly Country and its associated entities!"

"I want the whole world to see exactly who is choking whose neck!"

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison, their voices loud and clear, carrying a sense of exhilaration from finally venting their frustrations.

Liu Jianguo sat in his chair, looking at this group of excited big shots, his mouth twitching, feeling speechless.

He felt the quick-acting heart-saving pills in his pocket and felt that this time, he really wouldn't need to take them.

'Li Jiajun, oh Li Jiajun...'

'You kid, you've really poked a hole in the sky this time, but... well poked!'

...

The next morning.

A single notice titled "Announcement on Implementing Export Controls on Certain High-Performance Materials," jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce of the Eastern Country and the General Administration of Customs, instantly ignited global public opinion.

The announcement explicitly listed a ban on exporting a product called special polymer composite cables to the Ugly Country.

When this news reached the other side of the ocean, it immediately drew collective ridicule from the media and politicians of the Ugly Country.

Washington, the White House Press Briefing Room.

Facing the hundreds of cameras and microphones from reporters below the stage, the White House spokesperson, Johnson, arrogantly adjusted his tie, a signature mocking smile on his face.

"Regarding the so-called embargo order issued by the Eastern Country..."

Johnson shrugged and even exaggeratedly spread his hands, triggering a burst of laughter from the audience.

"To be honest, this might be the funniest joke I've heard all year."

"As everyone knows, in the field of high-end materials, the Eastern Country is at least twenty years behind us. Their aircraft carriers can't even be launched because they can't manufacture qualified arresting cables."

"Now, a country that can't even make a decent rope has actually announced a technical blockade against us?"

He paused, leaned forward toward the microphone, and said in an extremely humiliating tone:

"This is like a beggar who is still worrying about food and clothing suddenly announcing that he will cut off the King's food supply."

"Absurd! Ridiculous! And overestimating their own capabilities!"

"We don't care about this meaningless 'political theater.' If they want to play, let them play by themselves."

After speaking, he left the stage with the smile of a victor.

At this very moment,

He did not yet know that in a few hours, these words would turn into a resounding slap, fiercely striking him and the entire military of the Ugly Country in the face.