385: Chapter 385 Chips for National Destiny

Meanwhile, Old K's communication cut in. "Mr. President, Somsak will be inaugurated in one hour. At the Independence Monument Square in Phnom Penh."

Zhang Cheng switched the screen signal. Real-time footage of Phnom Penh was transmitted back from a "Hummingbird" high-altitude drone—the Independence Monument Square on screen was completely different from when he watched Hun Sen sign the surrender document three months ago.

Newly laid gray granite had replaced the old floor tiles; the Cambodian flag on the flagpole was no longer in a lowered position, rippling in the wind under the scorching noon sun.

A person stood under the flagpole—Somsak. He was wearing a dark blue three-piece suit, with a small piece of a rice-ear-patterned gold-trimmed handkerchief peeking out from his left breast pocket, standing there with a straight back.

The swearing-in ceremony began. Somsak placed his left hand on the constitution and raised his right hand. He said, "I solemnly swear to the people of Cambodia: to be loyal to the constitution, to defend territorial integrity, to uphold national dignity, and to dedicate all my heart's blood and life to the happiness of the people and the revival of the nation—until the last drop of blood is shed."

As the last word landed, the crowd in the square erupted into deafening cheers.

Hundreds of thousands of Reform Party flags waved simultaneously. On those flagpoles that, three days ago, were still engraved with the foundations of telecom fraud parks, the old slogans of "Integrity · Win-Win · Future" had long been scraped off and repainted, and now bore new large characters—"Rice Ears and Dignity Grow Together."

The drone swept by at a low altitude, cutting the footage of the surging flags into the national live broadcast signal.

Somsak walked onto the podium, his gaze slowly sweeping across the entire square, his voice waves vibrating along Norodom Boulevard.

"Today, in my capacity as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I announce the following three basic national policies."

The square instantly fell silent.

"First. The Kingdom of Cambodia will officially establish a 'Special Friendly Partnership' with the Federation of Myanmar. The two countries will carry out comprehensive cooperation in the fields of defense and security, economic trade, infrastructure construction, and cultural exchange. At our proactive request, the Federal Government of Myanmar has agreed to send an advisory group to assist us with defense reconstruction and economic planning. These advisors are not military supervisors; they are our candid friends."

He paused slightly, looking at the diplomatic corps seated in the first row below the stage. The seat of the USA Ambassador, Peterson, was empty; the Japanese Ambassador was bowing his head, quickly taking notes in a notebook; the Chinese Ambassador sat upright and motionless, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Only the newly appointed Thai Ambassador to Cambodia—Death Soldier Phibun—took the lead in applauding, the applause sparking a series of abrupt yet firm echoes in the silent diplomatic section.

"Second. The Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia announces that, effective immediately, it will fully adopt the 'Shuguang Cloud' government platform and 'Longteng' series chip standards developed by the Federation of Myanmar and manufactured by Shuguang Technology Group to build our country's digital government, education network, and communication backbone network. This is not technological dependence; it is technological win-win. We choose the best, because the people of Cambodia deserve the best."

The drone's microphone captured the fingers of dozens of foreign reporters below the stage tapping their keyboards almost simultaneously.

"Third." Somsak turned the draft to the last page. "I am honored to report to the citizens that early this morning, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia received a technical document delivered by Myanmar's 'Shuguang Investment Group' on behalf of the Federal Government of Myanmar—the complete design blueprint for the 'Mekong-Tonle Sap Water System Intelligent Regulation System,' accompanied by the first-phase construction technical plan and all patent authorizations. Once this technology is implemented, it will expand the available arable land in our central plains by more than 40% within eight years, completely changing the fate of Cambodian farmers who have been driven by floods and droughts for generations. This aid comes with no additional political conditions, only binding technical cooperation terms during construction and joint procurement of engineering materials. Here, on behalf of the Cambodian people, I express my deepest gratitude to the Federal Government and people of Myanmar."

Cheers erupted. From in front of the Independence Monument to both sides of Sihanouk Boulevard and De Gaulle Boulevard, the sea of red party flags surged violently. Some people pressed their palms together, their foreheads knocking against the scorching metal collars of the flagpoles; some elderly people squatted on the roadside, their palms covering their entire faces, their shoulders shaking for a long time before their arms were held by the children beside them. Somsak stepped back two paces from the podium, bowed deeply to the square, and then walked toward Zhang Cheng, who was seated in the back row—the Federation President himself, who was not at the scene but watching the entire process via encrypted video.

Zhang Cheng finished watching and turned off the screen.

He was silent for a moment, then dialed Zhao Gang's encrypted video call.

On the screen, Zhao Gang appeared in front of that simple desk. He was holding a thermos cup, and a world map hung on the wall behind him, with global hot spots marked with red and blue thumbtacks. Pu'er tea from within China was already prepared.

"Congratulations." Zhao Gang got straight to the point. "Somsak's debut was very steady. The person you chose has good delivery skills."

"I have officially handed over the water conservancy system blueprint to Phnom Penh. All technical documents are bilingual in Chinese—Chinese and Khmer. If domestic hydropower design institutes are interested in participating in the project contracting, I can open a joint bidding channel." Zhang Cheng added, "State-owned enterprises have priority."

Zhao Gang put down the thermos cup. "The Chief has approved the expansion plan for the Mekong Joint Development Committee. With Cambodia joining as a formal member, the voting weight of Vietnam and the Philippines will be diluted. In addition, the joint investment plan for the Kra Canal project—our side has approved it in principle. The next step is specific route comparison and ecological assessment."

"I have three versions of the route comparison plan on my end, and the first round of geological and ecological assessment has been completed." Zhang Cheng said, "As for shipping fees, the Thai side has already transferred the berth operating rights of Sihanoukville Port to the Cambodian side, and the Cambodian side just signed a joint port management agreement with us this morning."

Zhao Gang picked up the cup and smiled slightly. "The Chief also said, come to Naypyidaw to drink tea next spring. Twenty-year-old Pu'er, bring two pots." Zhang Cheng leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping and pausing on the armrest. "Tell him, the foundation stone of the Kra Canal will be inscribed in four languages: Chinese, Burmese, Khmer, and Thai. The first line will have four characters—'Cooperation and Win-Win'."

The video call ended.

Yangon, Dagon Industrial Zone.

The morning sun shone through from the direction of the palm forest on the other side of the Bago River, casting a thin layer of gold onto the glass curtain wall of the newly built "Shuguang Semiconductor" headquarters building. This building was not tall—only eight stories. But its underground section was as large as the ground floor area, burying three layers of ultra-clean workshops. The core equipment of the workshop was a lithography machine redeemed directly from the system mall—a 1nm extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, running in a fully enclosed state, not connected to any external network. The maintenance technicians were all Death Soldiers, responsible for cleaning wafers, changing masks, and replacing seals in the vacuum chamber. The factory manual was printed with a special photoresist formula that didn't even have an English translation, and the three key rare earth elements in the formula all came from mining areas in Kachin State in the northern Federation of Myanmar, delivered to specific points via a separate temperature-controlled transport chain.

Outside the workshop, nine heavy-duty anti-vibration container trucks were loading cargo simultaneously. Inside the containers were sealed "Shuguang MX-1" series chips—this was the world's first commercial AI processor mass-produced at the 1nm process node, with fourteen cores, integrating three trillion transistors, with energy efficiency 30% higher than the fastest similar products on the international market, while the price was 60% lower.

The containers' destinations: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport bonded zone, Phnom Penh Sihanoukville Port free port warehouse, Singapore Jurong East bonded logistics center, and Nairobi Mombasa Port. Six hours later, these chips would be loaded and shipped out via the Federation of Myanmar's own logistics network—"Shuguang Shipping"—on eight ten-thousand-ton container ships. The loading manifest was simultaneously encrypted and sent to the booking parties: The Cambodian Ministry of Education had pre-ordered the first batch of 200,000 "Longteng" chips to replace the CPUs in computer rooms of primary and secondary schools nationwide. The Cambodian Ministry of Telecommunications placed a framework order for 500,000 chips directly, covering all communication base stations under construction. The additional order from Thailand was even larger—two million chips, used for upgrading energy network smart metering terminals.