187: Chapter 187 GDP Surges by 500%, Western Countries Stunned

...

Naypyidaw, Shuguang Group Headquarters.

Zhang Cheng sat in his spacious office, looking at the reports Li Lanzhi had handed over, grinning from ear to ear.

"Brother Cheng, don't you think these Westerners are pathetic?" Li Lanzhi complained as she poured tea for Zhang Cheng. "On the surface, they shout about boycotts and sanctions, but in private, their calls are nearly blowing up our Ministry of Commerce's phones!"

"Look at this one," Li Lanzhi pulled out an order. "This is from Siemens in Germany. Through a shell company registered in Singapore, they want to order fifty thousand industrial-grade Longteng Chips. And this, the Dassault Aviation factory in France; they want to buy our computing cards for wind tunnel simulations. They said as long as we can ship them, the price can be marked up by 20%!"

"And then there's Japan..." Li Lanzhi laughed. "Sony sent a vice president over. He's currently squatting in the reception room and refuses to leave, insisting that we provide custom chips for their next-generation gaming console. He said as long as we give them the goods, they're willing to print 'Thanks to Shuguang' on the game's startup screen."

Zhang Cheng took a sip of tea, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "This is the nature of capital. As long as there's a 300% profit, they'll dare to trample over every law on Earth. Right now, our product performance crushes the competition and the price is cheaper—why wouldn't they buy? Not buying means waiting for death! Not buying means being squeezed out of the market by their competitors!"

"What about the USA?"

"The USA?" Zhang Cheng sneered. "Those big corporations are sharper than anyone. Look at Musk; he stays quiet on Twitter, but in private, he's already sent three waves of people to negotiate. They'll find every possible way to bypass the ban. Smuggling, re-export trade, even forming joint ventures in third-party countries... there are plenty of ways."

"Then are we selling?"

"Sell! Why wouldn't we?" Zhang Cheng stood up and walked to the window. "Aside from strictly controlling the core military-grade chips, the civilian and commercial markets are wide open! We're not just going to take their money; we're going to make their industrial chains completely dependent on us! When the day comes that they can't live without us, that's when we'll truly have them by the throat!"

"However," Zhang Cheng's tone shifted, "for our brother enterprises in the Dragon Kingdom, we must give them ample discounts. Huawei, Xiaomi, BYD... prioritize the production of their orders and give them the lowest prices. I want to help them drive down costs so they can take our chips and crush those Westerners in the international market!"

"Understood!" Li Lanzhi nodded excitedly.

Over the next few months, Shuguang Group entered a frenzied money-printing mode.

Every day, trucks loaded with chips and graphics cards, escorted by heavy military forces, headed toward the Dragon Kingdom border in a grand procession. The Ruili Port practically became the world's busiest distribution center for electronic products.

Money poured into Zhang Cheng's pockets like a rising tide.

With the money, Zhang Cheng didn't just hoard it like a miser.

"Lan Zhi, send out the notice to launch the 'Great Industrial Development' plan!"

Zhang Cheng pointed to several spots on the map. "Establish three large semiconductor packaging and testing plants in Yangon, Naypyidaw, and Mandalay! Move those labor-intensive processes there."

Once the factories were built, jobs followed.

Those Myanmar youths who used to idle all day or be coerced by warlords into fighting were now wearing clean uniforms and walking into temperature-controlled, dust-free workshops. A monthly salary of several thousand RMB was enough for them to support their families, build new houses, and buy motorcycles.

With a stable income, who would want to risk their lives in war? Who would want to grow poppies?

The people's hearts were thus firmly united by Zhang Cheng through chips and factories.

And in the Dragon Kingdom, because of Shuguang's intervention, the entire tech industry welcomed a massive explosion of growth.

Graphics card prices plummeted; net cafe owners woke up laughing, and gamers felt like it was New Year's every day.

AI companies were no longer restricted by computing power bottlenecks, and various large models sprouted up like mushrooms after rain.

New energy vehicles used more powerful intelligent driving chips and went on a rampage in the international market.

The internet was boiling with excitement:

[Thank you, President Zhang! Thank you, Shuguang! This is the true light of the nation!]

[Did you hear? The factories in Northern Myanmar have long queues for recruitment now. The benefits are even better than some of the factories here!]

[The USA really shot itself in the foot this time. The sanctions were for nothing!]

Looking at this feedback, Zhang Cheng sat in his office and opened the system panel once again.

His point balance was growing at a terrifying speed. Every graphics card sold and every factory established provided him with a continuous stream of points.

"It seems I won't have to wait too long."

Naypyidaw, Federal Assembly Hall.

The annual summary meeting was so heated it felt like it might explode. Under the massive crystal chandeliers sat governors from various administrative regions, military generals, and rows upon rows of foreign journalists with complex expressions, armed with cameras and equipment.

Zhang Cheng sat on the rostrum in a sharp Mao suit, looking calm. A cup of tea sat by his hand, and on the massive electronic screen behind him, rows of shocking red numbers were flickering.

"Everyone," Li Lanzhi, as the Federal Prime Minister, was delivering the annual work report. Her presence today was overwhelming, her voice crisp and powerful, radiating a sense of triumphant confidence. "In the past year, under the leadership of the Greater Myanmar Federation government and the wise decisions of President Zhang Cheng, our economy..."

She paused intentionally, her gaze sweeping over the reporters from the The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. These people were badmouthing Myanmar six months ago, predicting that Zhang Cheng's regime would "collapse within three months" due to sanctions.

"Our GDP has grown year-on-year by—" Li Lanzhi suddenly raised her volume, "500%! Reaching 1,603 billion New Myanmar Kyats!"

Boom!

The audience erupted instantly. Applause and cheers broke out like a tsunami.

The Western journalists all gaped as if they had been forced to swallow a dead rat.

"How much? Five hundred?!" A reporter from the The New York Times frantically hammered at a calculator, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. "That's impossible! This must be faked data! According to our models, a sanctioned economy cannot have this kind of growth rate!"

"Faked?" Li Lanzhi sneered and pressed the remote in her hand.

The screen image changed from dry numbers to actual footage:

In the Mandalay Industrial Zone, within modern factory buildings that stretched as far as the eye could see, machines roared as 'Shuguang' brand phones and computers were continuously boxed on assembly lines. In the Yangon Port, containers were piled like mountains as giant ships from the Dragon Kingdom queued up to unload, cranes busy like tireless steel giants. In the Hpakant Mining Area, what were once sweatshop mines had become standardized modern excavation sites, with massive excavators at work and workers in clean uniforms with smiles on their faces.