Fifty billion US dollars, while a substantial amount, was not significant when compared to the multi-trillion dollar construction costs of the US United Super Vacuum Tube Railway Company.
Almost all shareholders of the US United Super Vacuum Tube Railway Company had greatly benefited from this long-term railway construction process. Everyone hoped that this railway could be completed smoothly.
Coupled with the current general rise in material prices, and the fact that Chairman Swift was one of their own, the US United Super Vacuum Tube Railway Company readily agreed to the notice from Jiangnan Group regarding the price increase.
The American people never dreamed that the computers sent globally by the Chinese would ultimately be paid for by their American investors.
What they should have been angry about was that Chinese computers were distributed across Europe, yet there was no intention to recall any computers in the US.
The US market was, in fact, the second-largest sales market for Fantasy Computers globally. Why did Jiangnan Group recall computers in Europe but completely overlook the United States?
Did Americans not want new quint-binary computers?
However, in reality, there were not many such angry Americans, and their voices could not be heard online because across the entire US, from television, newspapers, and magazines, to various online media, with very few exceptions, virtually no news was reported about Fantasy Computer's free recall in Europe.
Therefore, 98% of Americans were completely unaware of this matter, being kept entirely in the dark.
Undoubtedly, it was Jiangnan Group that must have blocked this information, likely fearing that if the American people learned that people in other countries were getting computers for free while they received nothing, they would unleash their fury upon Jiangnan Group. Hence, Jiangnan Group needed to expend considerable effort to block the news.
But the reality was precisely the opposite. Jiangnan Group had not contacted any media outlets about this matter from beginning to end. The entity that had genuinely utilized almost all its social connections to suppress this news was Jiangnan Group's competitor, Microsoft.
This answer might sound somewhat unbelievable, but it was also logical. This was because Microsoft was the most fearful of Fantasy Computer truly launching a recall campaign in the US.
Initially, Microsoft was not very concerned about this and did not suppress domestic news.
However, upon seeing the recall data from the first month, and more alarmingly, that some users had already begun to change their usage habits, Microsoft realized that it had to desperately protect its core market and absolutely could not allow Fantasy Computer to capture its home turf as well.
But, much like the situation they faced in Europe, Jiangnan Group's strategy remained effective in the US, especially since US policies were more supportive of corporate recalls.
Of course, Microsoft could have employed some special measures to prohibit Fantasy Computer's recall, but doing so would have shifted the responsibility to the relevant US authorities.
Imagine when a company offers to replace a computer for free, but is prohibited from doing so by an order. How much anger would that ignite?
Anyone who dared to issue such an order would forfeit any chance of getting re-elected. Therefore, normal politicians would never dare to issue such an order. After much consideration, the only option left was to leverage their advantage in the media to suppress the news. If no media outlets reported on the Fantasy Computer recall, then the matter would naturally cease to exist.
Although this would consume a significant amount of connections and capital, the effect was quite good. At least for the past half-year or so, the Americans who knew about the recall were limited to those who frequently traveled abroad; the majority of Americans remained unaware.
However, Microsoft was also curious. During the execution of their entire plan, they encountered no resistance from Jiangnan Group, nor did Jiangnan Group publicize its recall policy in the US.
This left everyone at Microsoft feeling somewhat incredulous, as, logically, Jiangnan Group would not abandon the crucial US market.
However, Microsoft was mistaken. Jiangnan Group genuinely intended to abandon the US market. During an internal promotional meeting for Lingyun System, Huang He clearly pointed out that Lingyun System's primary focus should be on Europe and the domestic market. As for the US, there should be no extra actions taken; they should act as if the US did not exist.
The reason Huang He issued this directive was precisely because he was fully aware of the immense influence Microsoft held within the US. Engaging in a direct competition with Microsoft for computer systems within the US would be exceedingly difficult for Jiangnan Group, requiring ten times the investment for minimal effect.
Moreover, the Lingyun computer was not in a position to achieve massive success overnight. Therefore, rather than engaging in a fierce battle with their rival in the most challenging US market, it was better to first address the relatively easier European market, followed by other countries.
Once all global computer users began using the Lingyun system, the market would naturally compel Americans to adopt Lingyun systems.
Thus, Microsoft spent hundreds of millions of dollars on news suppression, only to achieve nothing, as Jiangnan Group had no intention of playing along with them.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Microsoft's various "little essays" (online posts) prepared with tens of millions of RMB had not even had time to spread across the internet before the news of Fantasy Computer's recall operations in China, along with compensation for consumers who purchased quint-binary computers, dominated the entire network, effectively blocking these posts at their source.
The money Microsoft spent was, of course, non-refundable, perfectly highlighting their role as the "sucker."
In this manner, Jiangnan Group achieved a small goal of challenging the Windows system in China and Europe.
"Mr. Huang, Huang Fan is truly an excellent child. Over the past nearly year, his training has been exceptionally resolute and arduous. His training intensity ranks within the top 20 among all trainees."
"Furthermore, Huang Fan has sustained over ten injuries in the training camp, yet each time, he resumed training after no more than 10 minutes of rest."
"He has also earned the unanimous approval of all his classmates in the training camp and possesses great leadership potential!" Sun Hai, the overall head of the training camp, introduced Huang Fan to Huang He.
It had been a year since Boss Huang selected promising football talents nationwide. During this period, aside from New Year's Day and Spring Festival, Huang He had only seen his child through surveillance feeds, observing his every move in the training camp. This had led Zhi Ruo to secretly sob in the quiet of the night for one to two months during the year, missing their child.
However, Huang He and Leng Zhi Ruo had maintained a resolute demeanor, never specifically visiting their child. But today was Huang Fan's birthday, and Huang He and Leng Zhi Ruo could no longer suppress their longing for their child. They reasoned that visiting their child once a year was not excessive, so they had come.
The head of this training camp was Sun Hai, but many foreigners could be seen within the camp. These were top youth football coaches specially invited from abroad by Boss Huang.
Although Boss Huang genuinely wished to hire domestic youth football coaches, such talent was exceedingly scarce in China. Moreover, most of them were retired players.
These individuals, while their on-field performance was often dismal, were expected to effectively coach the children meticulously selected by Boss Huang.
Conversely, youth football coaches from abroad were much more professional, especially from traditional football powerhouses like Brazil and Argentina, where many children began football training from a young age, resulting in a wealth of experienced and professional youth football coaches.
While these coaches might not have been outstanding players themselves, the children they coached were all top-notch.
In fact, Huang He had even lured away the former coaches of Messi and Kaká with substantial financial incentives, who were now nurturing these children.
Simultaneously, to enable these children to focus solely on football, the entire football training camp was not built in a bustling city but rather established from scratch in a vast forest area.
In just half a year, a complete, well-equipped facility was constructed, featuring two academic buildings, ten dormitory buildings, and a remarkable ten standard football fields, all newly built according to international standards for the children's training.
Moreover, to provide the children with the best living environment and the most robust training system, the total number of other staff members within the training camp exceeded the number of children.
With 1000 children and 1232 staff members, the monthly operating cost exceeded 100 million RMB, a testament to the rapid pace of expenditure.
"How are Huang Fan's results!" Huang He inquired. "Sun Hai has been consistently praising the child's training dedication, but he's been completely silent about his performance, leading Huang He to suspect the situation might not be optimistic."
Sun Hai quickly responded with a smile, "Huang Fan's results are quite impressive. In the professional examination that concluded not long ago, he achieved the 3rd best result among all goalkeepers!"
"Third place?" Huang He was taken aback. He recalled that he had already sent away the first and second-ranked individuals from the preliminary selection. Therefore, Huang Fan should theoretically be in first place. How had he dropped to third?