Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

A week consists of only 168 hours.

In the past, this would have been nothing more than a leisurely time for multinational giants to drink a few cups of fine coffee and play a few rounds of golf.

But for the entire Western high-end manufacturing industry, this week has been nothing short of a long and desperate torture.

The power of the counter-sanctions list is a hundred times more terrifying than those armchair economists predicted. It is not a slow-seeping poison, but a highly precise scalpel that directly severs the lifeline of industry.

……

Stuttgart, Germany.

This city, known as the industrial heart of Europe, is now filled with an eerie atmosphere of deathly stillness and restlessness.

On the outskirts of this city lies the world's leading five-axis CNC machine tool manufacturing base – Michael Heavy Industries. The machine tools produced here are the "mother machines" of industry, manufacturing high-precision components such as aerospace engine blades and nuclear submarine propellers.

In the past, the workshops here were always brightly lit, and the roar of machines never stopped day and night.

But today, the vast factory area is eerily quiet.

Workshop foreman Hans stood before rows of precision machine tools worth tens of millions of euros, his face ashen, as if he were looking at rows of expensive iron coffins.

"Mr. Hans, lines 3 and 5 are also suspended."

An engineer ran over, holding a red error report in his hand, his voice filled with barely concealed panic.

"Due to the lack of high-frequency pulse control valves supplied by China, the machine tool's cooling system is unable to perform microsecond-level temperature regulation. Forcing it to start will cause the spindle to overheat and become completely unusable within three minutes!"

"What about spare parts? Don't we have spare parts in our warehouse?"

Hans suddenly grabbed the engineer by the collar and roared hysterically.

"It's all gone... all gone..." The engineer shook his head bitterly.

"China has cut off all supplies. Our suppliers in Europe and North America simply can't manufacture valves of this precision. Even if we start developing them now, it will take at least two years!"

"It's not just us; the 'optical giant' Zeiss next door had to completely shut down their deep ultraviolet lens polishing workshop yesterday because they ran out of high-purity polishing powder!"

Hans slumped down, releasing his grip and collapsing onto the cold concrete floor.

It's over, it's over.

These industrial giants, who once dominated the international market and bossed around Chinese companies, only realized this in horror at this moment.

Their proud "core technology" is actually built on those seemingly insignificant but irreplaceable basic materials and components provided by China.

China was like the foundation of this skyscraper. Now, the foundation has been removed, and the building has collapsed.

……

Panic quickly spread from the factory to the streets.

Without control valves and without superconducting rare earth elements, not only the military and high-end manufacturing industries, but also downstream industries such as automobiles, electronics, and even medical devices have begun to experience large-scale, precipitous production stoppages.

The wave of unemployment swept in like a tsunami.

In North America and Europe, tens of thousands of industrial workers have been ruthlessly laid off from factories.

Holding bank bills and dwindling welfare payments, they angrily took to the streets.

"We need to work! We need to eat!"

"Stop these foolish sanctions! Resume trade with the Dragon Kingdom!"

"Get those stupid politicians out of office!"

The demonstrations turned into riots, with flames and thick smoke rising from the streets of cities that once touted themselves as "beacons of civilization."

Riot police batons and tear gas were no longer able to suppress the fury of the underprivileged who were being deprived of their livelihood.

……

Meanwhile, inside that white building...

The top brass of the Western alliance were like ants on a hot plate, arguing fiercely in a top-secret conference room.

"This is a disaster! Our economy is bleeding! We're losing tens of billions of dollars every day!"

A representative from a European country slammed his fist on the table in anger. "Who was it that proposed a complete blockade of China? Now look what's happened! Our factories are shut down, our workers are in the streets! And the Chinese are just sitting around drinking tea and laughing at us!"

"Don't put all the blame on us!"

The North American representative, equally ashen-faced, retorted through gritted teeth, "This was a joint decision of the alliance! Who would have thought those yellow-skinned monkeys would actually dare to overturn the table with us? Who would have thought they held so many of our Achilles' heel?"

"What's the point of saying all this now?"

Another representative clutched his hair in despair.

"The military just sent an urgent message. Due to a lack of superconducting materials, our latest batch of stealth fighter maintenance programs have been completely paralyzed. If we don't receive supplies within a month, one-third of our air force's fighter jets will be unable to take to the skies for combat!"

"That's our bottom line for national defense!"

A deathly silence fell over the conference room.

Shifting blame and pointing fingers is pointless. What lies before them is a bloody and cruel reality.

They once thought that China was merely a "world factory" in their industrial chain, a laborer earning only meager processing fees. They believed that as long as they cut off high-end chips, they could instantly strangle China's technological lifeline.

But they were wrong, and extremely wrong.

That ancient Eastern power, despite their arrogant neglect, had already quietly laid out a vast network in the most basic fields of materials science and precision machining.

Now, the net has tightened, suffocating them.

……

In the city, at the High-Tech Industry Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Liu Ming sat in her office, flipping through the global industrial shutdown analysis report that Ghost Hand had just submitted.

"Boss, those foreign devils are completely finished."

Ghost Hand stood to the side, grinning like a fox who had just stolen a chicken. "Just got intelligence: Lockheed Martin can't even gather enough screws to replace the radar dome on an F-35. I heard their logistics manager is so desperate he's about to jump off a building."

"You can't even handle this?"

Liu Ming put down the report, picked up the teacup, took a small sip, and a kind of almost cold pleasure flickered in his deep eyes.

"When they imposed a technological blockade on us, and those comprador capitalists were swaggering around the country, did they ever consider how our Chinese scientists toiled day and night in laboratories, their hair turning white, how they gritted their teeth and persevered through humiliation?"

Liu Ming stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the city bustles with activity. Although China has also been impacted by this global trade storm, it continues to operate strongly thanks to the "internal circulation" and "backup supply chain" that Liu Ming and Nangong Yao had laid out in advance.

The scenery here is exceptionally beautiful.

"This is just a lesson."

Liu Ming looked at the horizon, her voice so calm it was unsettling.

"I want them to get used to a new way of life."

"I'm used to that kind of..."

He paused, a cruel smile curving his lips.

"...The foreign lords who used to be high and mighty, giving orders, now have to kneel at our factory gate, queue up, draw lots, and be at our mercy, even if they want to buy the most basic component."