367: Chapter 367 Is Your Harbor Deep Enough?

"Mediation?" Zhang Cheng took the tablet and flipped through a few pages, a cold arc appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Mediation on the second day of fighting? Since when has the United Nations been so efficient?"

"Because the Ream matter was leaked by the Thai side," Li Lanzhi explained. "Bangkok gave an exclusive scoop to the Bangkok Post this morning regarding the intelligence on Japan building a base in Ream, complete with satellite photos. The silhouette of the P-3C hangars is clearly visible in the photos. As soon as the news broke, the ASEAN Secretariat was in an uproar—the Philippines and Vietnam have both issued statements of concern. The United Nations wants to take the opportunity to intervene and avoid an escalation of the situation."

Zhang Cheng handed the tablet back to her. His voice was steady, but every word carried a cold, metallic hardness.

"Let them curse. Once they're done, it'll be the perfect time to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys."

Li Lanzhi looked at him. He stood under the cold light, the red and blue lines on the whiteboard behind him intertwined like a tightening net. No anger could be seen on his face, only a focus so calm it was almost cruel—like a surgeon looking down at a lesion exposed after cutting the skin under the surgical light.

"Use the strongest version for the diplomatic note's wording. Use the actual figures for the Cambodian army's casualties—no need to adjust them, but emphasize that the evidence chain for 'the Cambodian army firing first' must be complete. Ignore the mediation request for now. If the United Nations wants to intervene, that's fine, but have Hun Sen call me personally first." He pulled his hand out of his pants pocket; the red marks on his knuckles hadn't faded yet. "Over the next two days, the Southeast Asia media will surely unite to call me a warlord. Have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepare a public opinion counter-attack plan—not to respond to them, but to organize the evidence of Chen Feng's ten fraud parks. When the 'decontamination' operation is over, the whole world will see who the warlord is and who the cancer is."

Li Lanzhi noted the key points on the tablet and closed the protective cover. "One more thing. The Dragon Nation's Ambassador to Myanmar called half an hour ago, saying the Chief wants to have a video call with you tonight."

"What time?"

"They said, whenever it's convenient for you."

Zhang Cheng fell silent for a moment. Then he looked at the clock on the wall—10:30 AM.

"Reply: 8:00 PM tonight, Naypyidaw time."

Li Lanzhi nodded and left.

Silence returned to the archives. Zhang Cheng walked to the screen wall and pulled up the Southeast Asia meteorological satellite cloud map. On the map, a large mass of white cumulonimbus clouds was accumulating over the Gulf of Thailand, slowly moving toward Cambodia. Below the cloud layer, the silhouette of the Dangrek Mountains was sharply outlined by the afternoon tropical sunlight—on the other side of the mountains, two mechanized divisions of the Thai Army were covertly deploying amidst the roar of bulldozers.

He watched for a long time, then picked up the blue pen and lightly tapped the location of the Ream base on the cloud map.

"The Japanese," he muttered to himself, "do you think that by squatting in someone else's port, you can figure out my bottom line?"

The tip of the pen moved northeast, crossed the Gulf of Thailand, and landed on a certain point on the First Island Chain.

"Is your own port deep enough?"

3:00 PM, Bangkok time.

The press conference hall of the Prime Ministers Office of Thailand. Rama's televised speech was being broadcast simultaneously on all national channels. He sat on a throne—not the modern office chair of the Prime Ministers Office, but a teak-carved throne in a side hall of the Grand Palace, with portraits of Rama I through IX behind him and a nine-tiered white umbrella canopy hanging overhead.

He was wearing a dark blue suit with a Kingdom of Thailand national emblem brooch pinned to his left chest. His cheeks were a bit thinner than during his last televised speech, the angles of his cheekbones more prominent, but his gaze was calm and firm—this was an effect meticulously crafted by a makeup artist over two hours, the shadows under his eyes layered with brownish-gray foundation to appear both "toiling for the country" and yet not like he was about to die.

"People of Thailand, people of the ASEAN nations, and all people of the world who cherish peace and justice."

He spoke. His voice, fine-tuned by an audio processor, was slightly deeper than the true King's vocal cords, but it retained that raspy middle-aged quality.

"Today, in my capacity as the King of Thailand and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I am informing you of a series of deeply concerning developments."

He held up an enlarged satellite photo. In the photo, the newly built pier and hangars of the Ream base were clearly visible.

"This is not a commercial port expansion project. This is a military base. P-3C anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force have already entered the base, and a military advisory group from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force has been deployed on the Cambodia-Thailand border, less than sixty kilometers from our territory. The Cambodian government has remained tight-lipped about this, even beautifying this act of inviting a wolf into the house as 'international cooperation'."

He put the photo down.

"The Kingdom of Thailand has no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of any country. But when foreign military forces pass through Cambodian territory and point their guns at Thailand—this is not an internal affair, this is a provocation. When such a provocation occurs against the backdrop of the conflict over the disputed territory of the Preah Vihear Temple—this is not a coincidence, this is premeditated."

His voice rose half a pitch.

"The Thai government issued the strongest diplomatic note to the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia this morning. We demand: first, an immediate end to all foreign military presence at the Ream base; second, the immediate withdrawal of all illegal armed forces deployed around the Preah Vihear Temple; third, an immediate formal written apology for the acts of violating Thailand's territorial sovereignty. If the Cambodian side fails to provide a response satisfactory to the Thai side within forty-eight hours—Thailand will be forced to take all necessary measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

After finishing the last sentence, he paused for three seconds and then slightly lowered his head, as if praying for what was to come. This gesture was personally taught by Zhang Cheng over encrypted communication—"Lower your head for three seconds, and public outcry is halved."

The live broadcast ended.

Phnom Penh, Japanese Embassy in Cambodia.

Ambassador Nobuo Sato turned off the television and walked to the window, watching the chaos in the streets outside—Phnom Penh citizens were rushing to supermarkets to panic-buy supplies, long lines had formed in front of gas stations, and a military truck was setting up a machine gun post at a crossroad.

His secretary knocked and entered, holding an encrypted telegram just sent from Tokyo.

Sato took the telegram, read three lines, and his expression changed. The telegram had only a few short lines: "Confirmed. The 1st and 3rd Mechanized Divisions of the Thai Army have completed deployment along the entire Cambodian border. Equipped with VT-4 improved tanks, VN-22 infantry fighting vehicles, and SH-15 155mm self-propelled howitzers. Total troop strength is approximately 12,000. Additionally, intercepted encrypted communications between the Thai Eastern Military Region and Naypyidaw confirm that the aforementioned units are under the direct command of the 'Federation of Myanmar Military Advisory Group'. It is recommended that non-essential personnel at the Ream base evacuate immediately. Tokyo, Ministry of Defense Intelligence Headquarters."

Sato crumpled the telegram into a ball and stuffed it into the shredder.

The northern side of the Dangrek Mountains, 4:00 AM.

There were no birds chirping in the jungle. This was not the silence a tropical rainforest should have—4:00 AM should have been the loudest time for cuckoos and leaf frogs, but the entire mountain forest was as quiet as if it had been placed under an inverted bell jar. Only the low-frequency vibrations emitted by diesel engines at idle leaked out from under camouflage boxes and stealth tents, seeping inch by inch into the soil along the ground.

Chatchai Chunhawan, commander of the 1st Mechanized Division of the Thai Army, stood outside the hatch of an armored command vehicle, night vision goggles hanging from his chest, holding a cup of unsweetened bitter coffee. He hadn't slept for forty-eight hours, and the whites of his eyes were bloodshot, but his fingers were as steady as a piece of granite—this was not something a human soldier could do. He was a command-type unit promoted from an Advanced Death Soldier, having just completed a tactical awareness module upgrade last month. His sleep requirement had been compressed by the system to one hour every forty-eight hours.