Dong Jian's strategy was sound.
After convincing Bob, the authorization from General Dynamics in the United States came through quickly.
Adhering to the principle of "you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a cub," Dong Jian wagered his entire fortune accumulated over the years.
Under the onslaught of money, various online trolls were fully deployed.
Dong Jian's strategy was quite simple: to elevate his brand's status by relentlessly disparaging Meng Hao.
"Huarong Industries, a mech production company that is not what it claims to be… For the pride of Chinese manufacturing authorized by General Dynamics, it's AoShi Heavy Industries!"
"Review: The latest mech from AoShi Heavy Industries is enough to crush Huarong Industries!"
"Now accepting pre-orders, no more hunger marketing. Pre-order a new mech from AoShi Heavy Industries, and all shipments will be delivered within six months!"
"..."
Yes.
That's right.
AoShi Heavy Industries.
This was precisely the mech research and manufacturing company recently established by Dong Jian, relying on PowerPoint presentations and online trolls to aggressively promote it and disparage Meng Hao's Huarong Heavy Industries.
This marketing strategy, which piggybacks on the traffic of other brands and selectively and maliciously fabricates claims that other companies' products are incomparable to their own, has been extensively used by many brands.
Among them, the most representative was Lei Bus, who shouted about defeating Apple phones, and his self-created Lei-style comparison method.
Led by Dong Jian, the market was thrown into a frenzy.
Mech manufacturers claiming authorization from Gallic Gaolv Titanium Industry and British Guoke Baom Heavy Industries, among a host of others that existed only on PowerPoint slides with no actual products, suddenly appeared in the Great Xia market like mushrooms after rain.
It even went so far as to say that a brand new sector, "Mech Concepts," suddenly appeared in the stock market of Great Xia.
Of course, among the numerous mech manufacturing companies that were in a chaotic frenzy, AoShi Heavy Industries, which had just been established, was the one that attacked Huarong Industries most fiercely.
...
Dong Jian was grinning from ear to ear.
He was completely adopting Meng Hao's strategy.
He hired top-tier streamers with high salaries to heavily promote his mech brand on platforms like Bilibili, Douyin, and Weibo. Unlike Qin Muyan, whom Huarong Industries hired, the streamers Dong Jian recruited were previously known for their revealing outfits on various live-streaming platforms, dressing as provocatively as possible.
Subsequently, experts from General Dynamics were brought in to endorse the product, claiming that the mechs produced by AoShi Heavy Industries were made with the latest American technology and were tens of times superior to Huarong Industries' toy mechs. Words of praise such as "pride of China," "world's best," and "invincible globally" were lavished without restraint.
Indeed, whether it was the United States, Britain, or Gaul, their national strength and status were not inferior to that of the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the hyperbolic praise described by these "foreign experts," who were paid handsomely, was much more nauseating than General Goodyev's "strongest on Earth" from the Soviet Union.
The final result was extremely satisfactory to Dong Jian.
In just a few days, the number of orders had already reached tens of thousands. This was a business worth hundreds of billions. All that was needed was for the factory to produce the visually stunning, technically inferior industrial garbage that was presented on PowerPoint slides – technology that didn't even amount to a fraction of the Phantom's power armor – then ship it to these pre-order consumers, and finally reap a harvest of leeks. Once the consumers realized they had been duped, he, Dong Jian, would be enjoying life in the long-desired United States.
It was clear that other "entrepreneurs" who followed the trend and jumped into the mech concept industry held the same attitude.
...
Kyoto.
Ministry of Homeland Security.
Zhang Weimin, who had reported for duty a few days prior, had been promoted to Brigadier General. He was now fully responsible for the dismantling and reverse-engineering research of the Phantom power armor. For several consecutive days, his work had yielded no progress. In desperation, he had to report to his superiors. The black technology contained in the mechs produced by Huarong Industries was so advanced that even the most cutting-edge experts in the Kyoto military could only understand it but not reproduce it through reverse engineering, let alone redesign this product, positioned as a civilian mech, into a military robot.
Upon hearing Zhang Weimin's report, the high-ranking military officials who had been closely monitoring Meng Hao and Huarong Industries frowned.
"I never expected this Meng Hao to be such a genius!"
"The mechs developed and produced by Huarong Industries, the company he founded, are so advanced that even our military cannot crack them."
"It seems we have no choice but to break our original plan of not interacting with Meng Hao. Zhang Weimin, you will go and contact Meng Hao and place an order for a batch of mechs."
"If he has any requirements, you are authorized to handle them fully and provide assistance!"
...
The sun rose in the east.
Another bright morning.
As usual, Qin Muyan, meticulously dressed, prepared to go live.
"Huh?"
"What's going on?"
When she logged into Bilibili, an official message popped up.
"Due to 'Live Streamer Ji's' live broadcast room violating regulations, the room will no longer be recommended and the account has been frozen!"
"Please rectify your live broadcast room within 10 days, and do not attract traffic by蹭ting off military hype."
"If rectification is not made and a reasonable explanation is not provided within 10 days, the live broadcast room will be permanently shut down, and the account funds will also be cleared to zero!"
"Damn it."
"This is too ridiculous!"
She, Qin Muyan, had emphasized daily in her live broadcast room that Huarong Industries was not a military factory. She wished she could directly draw a line between herself and military robots or combat mechs. How could the authorities directly deem it as蹭ting off military traffic?
What was even more outrageous was that although the live broadcast permission was temporarily retained, it would no longer be recommended on Bilibili. This meant that unless she gained popularity through word-of-mouth among viewers, only existing followers would watch her broadcasts. This effectively cut off the channel for the Mech Ji live broadcast room to attract external traffic.
Furthermore, within ten days, if a "reasonable explanation" was not provided, not only would the live broadcast room with millions of followers be shut down, but even tens of millions in advance payments in the account would be cleared. These Bilibili officials were going too far.
Even more critically, Bilibili's warning was not only sent to Qin Muyan's backend via an internal message. There was also a "Public Announcement on Ordering the Mech Ji Live Broadcast Room, Which is蹭ting Military Hype, to Rectify" posted in Bilibili's top pinned official statement.
"Damn it."
"And,"
Weibo, Zhihu, and Douyin also had trending searches purchased by Bilibili. It was solemnly declared that Bilibili had no intention of蹭ting off military hype, and all actions were the personal conduct of the streamer "Mech Ji."
"Nima."
"This is trying to cut off Huarong Industries' online marketing future!"
Qin Muyan had no desire to continue the broadcast. She quickly reported the situation to Meng Hao and urged him to take corresponding countermeasures.
This matter… seemed to have become quite serious!