189: Chapter 189 I Use Myanmar as a Pawn to Solve the Dragon Kingdom's Energy Deadlock

He stood up and walked over to the map, watching as the green section already marked as the 'Chinese Language Popularization Zone' grew larger and larger, his heart filled with a sense of achievement.

"Old K, ramp up the efforts!" Zhang Cheng waved his hand grandly. "Bring in the entire curriculum from Dragon Country! The history textbooks need to be revised; let the children know that we and Dragon Country share a 'Paukphaw' friendship, that we are brothers separated only by a strip of water! Also, give those teachers from Dragon Country who came to support education another raise! They are the real heroes of our assimilation policy!"

"Furthermore, encourage young men from Dragon Country to marry local girls! Give their children automatic household registration and milk powder subsidies! I want to use one generation to turn this land into a solid stronghold of the Longhua cultural sphere!"

"Yes!" Old K acknowledged the order and left.

Zhang Cheng looked out the window, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"Only when there is cultural identity can our hearts be united. Once our hearts are united, this territory will truly belong to Zhang, and it will truly be considered Dragon Country's... backyard."

Western Strategic Zone, Kyaukpyu Port.

Once an obscure little fishing village, it had now transformed into the busiest and most modern deep-water port along the entire Indian Ocean coast.

The sea breeze howled, whipping up thousands of piles of snow-white foam.

Zhang Cheng stood on the highest command tower of the port, holding binoculars, gazing out at the distant horizon. Beside him stood Zhao Gang, a special envoy from Dragon Country, along with several high-ranking Dragon Country naval officers in white uniforms.

"It's here!" Zhao Gang pointed into the distance, his voice filled with unconcealable excitement.

At the junction of sea and sky, a massive dark shadow slowly emerged. It was a giant oil tanker, fully loaded with 300,000 tons of high-quality crude oil from the Middle East, moving steadily toward the port like a floating island.

This ship did not have to take the miserable, thousands-of-kilometers detour through the congested Strait of Malacca, which was constantly being watched by the USA, as it had done in the past. It sailed directly across the Indian Ocean and swaggered right into Kyaukpyu Port!

"Wooooo—!"

The ship's whistle blared, echoing through the clouds.

This sound announced the complete breaking of the 'Malacca Dilemma'! It announced that Dragon Country's energy lifeline now had an additional, most solid layer of insurance!

"President Zhang, this moment will go down in history." A Dragon Country naval rear admiral remarked with emotion. "With this port and the oil pipeline leading directly to Southern Yunnan, our energy security coefficient has increased by at least an order of magnitude!"

Zhang Cheng smiled and pointed to the military pier on the other side of the port.

There, several warships flying the five-star red flag were quietly moored. One Type 052D destroyer, two Type 032A frigates, and one comprehensive supply ship. Although the scale was not large, the solemn, murderous aura they exuded was enough to make any hostile force tremble with fear.

"General, having a pipeline alone is not enough; one must also have guardians for the house." Zhang Cheng said meaningfully. "This 'escort fleet' is permanently stationed here; in name, it is for escorting, but in reality... it is a stabilizing force."

The rear admiral understood immediately and laughed heartily. "That goes without saying! Since it's our own business, of course, we only feel at ease when our own brothers are watching over it! By the way, I heard that the USA's carrier strike group has been wandering around nearby waters again recently?"

"Wandering?" Zhang Cheng snorted coldly. "They only dare to brush against the edge of the high seas. A couple of days ago, their reconnaissance plane just approached our airspace and was immediately locked onto by my anti-aircraft radar. Before I could even order them to fire, they were so scared they turned tail and ran."

"That's all they have left these days." Zhao Gang curled his lips in disdain. "Over these past few years, our national strength has risen, and with you as a strategic pivot point in Myanmar, their leverage in Southeast Asia has been almost completely severed. Without the Malacca card to play, they have nothing left in their hand."

Just then, a cheer erupted from the pier.

It was the first batch of crude oil beginning to flow through the massive oil loading arms into the port's storage tanks, and then, via booster pumps, it would travel along that steel dragon traversing the high mountains and steep ridges of Northern Myanmar, heading straight for Southern Yunnan in Dragon Country.

"What's flowing here isn't just oil; it's gold, it's a lifeline." Zhang Cheng looked at the thick pipeline, his heart filled with soaring ambition.

This pipeline could bring Myanmar hundreds of millions of dollars in transit fees annually, and more importantly, it tied the interests of Myanmar and Dragon Country tightly together. As long as this pipe was flowing with oil, Dragon Country would never let Myanmar fall into chaos, and they would never let Zhang Cheng fall from power!

"By the way, President Zhang." Zhao Gang seemed to recall something. "Some old comrades back home are worried; after all, this is the Indian Ocean, and the USA's Indian Ocean base is not far from here. What if they act like a dog jumping over a wall in desperation..."

"Desperate enough to jump over a wall?" Zhang Cheng turned around and pointed to the hidden mountain forest behind him.

There, although covered by camouflage netting, one could still vaguely see a few massive special vehicles. Those were the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile launchers redeemed from the system!

"Brother Zhao, please pass a message on my behalf to the old comrades back home." A flash of ruthlessness crossed Zhang Cheng's eyes, the domineering air of someone who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. "Since I, Zhang Cheng, dared to open this door, I have the ability to guard this home! I have already fully charged those 'delivery trucks,' and the coordinate parameters have all been preset."

"As long as the USA's aircraft carrier dares to cross that red line, I will let them taste what 'Dongfeng Express, Mission Must Be Accomplished' means! Even if it means mutual destruction, I will knock out a few of their teeth!"

Zhao Gang looked at Zhang Cheng's murderous appearance, stunned for a moment, then immediately gave a thumbs up. "Good! That's guts! This is what a good brother of our Dragon Country should be like! Don't worry, the folks back home won't just watch you carry this alone. If it really comes to that point, our 'express' will definitely arrive before yours!"

The sun set in the west, casting golden afterglow onto the surface of Kyaukpyu Port, making the water shimmer.

Warships, oil tankers, pipelines, soldiers... all of this composed a magnificent and sweeping picture.

Zhang Cheng stood on high ground, looking at all of this, feeling incredibly secure.

In the past, he was just an ant who had his bones broken while trying to collect unpaid wages; later, he was the warlord struggling to survive in the jungle; now, he is the helmsman of this country, an indispensable chess player on the chessboard of great power games.

"But this is not enough." Zhang Cheng said silently to himself. "Our journey has just begun."

New Delhi, Ministry of Defense Combat Command Center.

Lieutenant General Rajesh Singh of the Army slammed his fat hands, adorned with three gemstone rings, heavily onto the massive electronic sand table, shaking it so hard that several tank models on the edge jumped.

"Gentlemen! An intolerable piece of news!"

He spewed saliva as he roared in English, thick with a heavy Punjabi accent, at the room full of high-ranking military officers and civil officials. The portraits of past Indian Army Chiefs of Staff hanging on the wall seemed to tremble slightly from the volume of his voice.