The Democratic and Republican parties were both thousand-year-old foxes, so they naturally had no interest in playing ghost stories. The Democratic bigwigs united the congressmen within the Democratic Party with great sincerity and offered three options to the Republican Party.

With the blessing of linguistic art, none of the three proposals contained a single word related to 'Blacks', 'Racial Discrimination', or 'Segregation'. But the Republicans saw at a glance that all three proposals were bills reinforcing racial discrimination. At this stage, Lincoln's name was still on the Republican Party's memorial tablet. Even if the Republican Party had little interest in promoting equal rights, it could not directly accept the Democratic Party's political trade.

Since the parties couldn't settle it, the matter was pushed back to the President. After reading the three proposals from the Democrats, cabinet members gave suggestions to the President from the perspective of technocrats.

Among the three options provided by the Democrats, the most excessive was to make Jim Crow laws federal law. Under Jim Crow laws (named after a derogatory term for blacks), legislators segregated everything from schools to residential areas, parks, theaters, swimming pools, cemeteries, mental hospitals, prisons, and residences. Hospitals had separate waiting rooms for whites and blacks.

The Democrats believed the sufficient reason was that in 1915, Oklahoma became the first state to even separate public telephone booths. Colleges were segregated, and separate black institutions were established, such as Howard University in Washington D.C. and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Although the other two options were not so radical, they were also plans supporting segregation. Therefore, most cabinet members believed the President did not need to accept the Democratic Party's political blackmail. The Secretary of Health believed that as long as external pressure increased, the President could use such an external situation to demand the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Hoover listened quietly. He already had his own judgment at this time, so he was not in a hurry to speak. It wasn't that the Democratic Party bought Hoover, but the Democratic Party indeed expressed sincerity to Hoover. Of course, this sincerity was based on the Democratic Party's belief that Hoover's stance on racial issues was relatively close to the Democratic Party, so they informed Hoover of the plan the Democratic Party genuinely wanted to pass. This was equivalent to revealing their bottom card to Hoover, and this bottom card was sincere enough.

Secretary of State Frank expressed an opinion against waiting at this time, "China and Britain are gradually getting closer now. Once they get too close, many situations we don't want to see will happen."

"For example!" asked the Secretary of Health who spoke just now.

Secretary of State Frank answered immediately, "If China, Britain, and Japan hold joint military exercises, in what direction do you think domestic sentiment will develop?"

Cabinet members inclined to wait and see changed their expressions upon hearing such a hypothesis. Before they could question whether such a hypothesis was too absurd, Secretary of State Frank continued, "Gentlemen, judging from everything He Rui has done, why do you think He Rui wouldn't do this?"

The cabinet members fell silent. Since stepping onto China's political stage in 1915, everything He Rui did was beyond common sense. What was more surprising was that no matter what choice beyond common sense He Rui made, he was the final victor. Considering this line of thought, it wouldn't be strange for China, Britain, and Japan to conduct joint military exercises.

The US National Security Advisor joined the speech, "If the current US-China dispute hadn't occurred, we would have wanted to propose to He Rui that we are willing to help China build a fleet with more than 3 battleships."

Some cabinet members had heard of such an idea, but more members hadn't. Facing those stunned cabinet members, the National Security Advisor added, "My suggestion to Mr. President was that if China wants to immediately possess a navy with more than 5 battleships, we can provide preferential loans to China to facilitate China's purchase of battleships from the US Navy."

Some cabinet members were even more surprised, but some understood, such as Secretary of Commerce Hoover. A smile appeared on Hoover's face; he felt the National Security Advisor was really a talent.

The purpose of any country developing a blue-water navy must be to fight against a set enemy. If China accepted the US suggestion and purchased a blue-water fleet with 5 battleships as the core, the enemy set by China would inevitably be Britain. Being designated as a combat target by China, Britain's national security would immediately face a challenge.

So Britain took advantage of the Sino-US dispute to send generals from naval academies to visit the Qingdao Naval Academy and Dalian Naval Academy in China. According to the news released by the British side at the press conference, the British side proposed to the Chinese Navy that Britain provide China with construction technology for battleships and cruisers, as well as British naval training.

If China accepted British naval training and British naval technology, then the enemy of the developed Chinese blue-water navy would naturally be set as the United States. In the matter of wooing China, Britain, like the United States, wanted to set up a new enemy for the other side.

US cabinet members were all elites. Even if they were shocked at first, they quickly calmed down and straightened out their thoughts. Everyone had to admit that Secretary of State Frank's view was correct. He Rui's strategy was clear and cold. If the United States could not abolish the Chinese Exclusion Act, He Rui would very likely take more drastic measures. If the President wanted to abolish the Chinese Exclusion Act quickly, he had to accept one of the three proposals from the Democratic Party.

The eyes of the cabinet members fell on President Coolidge. President Coolidge was also somewhat indecisive. He finally asked, "Herbert, what do you think?"

Hoover's full name was 'Herbert Clark Hoover'. Hearing the President ask, Hoover answered immediately, "I think we can choose the Zoning Act."

This answer expressed both Hoover's view and his suggestion. Hearing Hoover speak so clearly, President Coolidge fell silent again. But without considering for too long, President Coolidge informed the cabinet members to adjourn. This order undoubtedly informed the cabinet members that President Coolidge accepted Hoover's suggestion.

After the meeting, Hoover was somewhat absent-minded. While making suggestions to the President, he also accepted the goodwill of the Democratic Speaker of the House. Although reciprocating to this extent was not a big deal in American politics, Hoover himself didn't like it much. Moreover, Hoover felt China's increasing influence. Hoover already intended to participate in the next presidential election, but the current 'Coolidge Prosperity' made President Coolidge's prestige sky-high. Someone in the Republican Party was already asking President Coolidge to run for the next US President. It was generally believed within the Republican Party and among the American public that if President Coolidge continued to run, it would basically be a sure win. If Hoover showed his intention to participate in the election, he would face hostility from Republican members supporting Coolidge. Expressing the intention to participate in the election now would undoubtedly be foolish.

Since Hoover intended to run for president, he had to start considering the diplomatic part of his campaign platform. With China's influence expanding day by day, Hoover had to consider China. With the strength displayed by the He Rui government now, Hoover really couldn't be sure about the situation a year later.

Out of the idea of running for president, Hoover had his own considerations. US congressmen who had no intention of running for president also had their thoughts. Democratic bigwigs quickly got the results they hoped for. Since they could explain to their voters, those Democratic congressmen who said they would oppose the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act changed their stance one after another. Some Democratic congressmen who originally supported the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act also conveyed the latest US political changes to the consortiums providing campaign funds through various channels at this time.

The Morgan Consortium was eager to go to China, and Rockefeller was satisfied with the restoration of Sino-US oil trade. The DuPont family had mixed feelings, perhaps with a little more worry. After Sino-US relations improved, DuPont family's sales to China might increase, but the DuPont family felt that China had already participated in technical competition in many advanced fields, and this development was a bit too fast. The emergence of strong competitors was normal for the DuPont family; even during the recent Great War in Europe, the DuPont family was not even considered a competitor by those European companies. But now the DuPont family had become a world-renowned chemical enterprise, competing with European rivals. So the DuPont family had more feelings about the rise of Chinese peers.

However, generally speaking, US consortiums were happy to see changes in US political circles. However, things thought to be settled quickly dragged on from late June to late July. This made the consortiums feel something was wrong.

On July 31, a guest came to Rockefeller's large country villa; it was a Senator. After a few hours of conversation, the Senator left Rockefeller's house and continued to go to the Caribbean for vacation. Rockefeller had already arranged to host the Senator's family at a luxury holiday estate in the Caribbean region.

On August 3, the chubby Italian-American Al Capone left the 'Lexington' Hotel and walked into the parking lot. His driver had already driven out the black Ford sedan Capone often rode. Capone immediately ordered the driver to drive out the silver-gray Cadillac.

Soon, Capone's convoy drove out of the parking lot and headed straight for the shores of Lake Michigan. The federal agents who recognized Capone's convoy immediately began to tail them. In the eyes of federal agents, such a large convoy going to Lake Michigan likely had several corpses in the trunk of a certain car, or Capone's enemies tied up securely, ready to be thrown into Lake Michigan with stones attached.

Although the classic method of the Capone gang was strafing with submachine guns nicknamed 'Chicago Typewriters', this didn't mean Capone would leave Lake Michigan unused.

However, at the intersection, a silver-gray Cadillac left Capone's convoy. Federal agents had encountered such things before and knew this was a diversion tactic (luring the tiger away from the mountain), so they ignored the first silver-gray Cadillac leaving the convoy and continued to tail. They prepared to split forces to track only when a second car left the convoy. The silver-gray Cadillac went straight to the shores of Lake Michigan.

By a woods with nice scenery, Capone got out of the car. He walked off the road, undid his pants in the wormwood by the roadside, peed comfortably, and then returned to the car. The silver Cadillac continued forward, turned a corner, and drove along a small path.

Soon, the humid and hot feeling of the summer lake water entered the car through the open front window. There was a lakeside bench ahead, and a man wearing a business suit common in the United States was already sitting on the bench. Americans' 'suits' were not called suits at all in European eyes, because these loose clothes were favorites of American businessmen, and Europeans called American-style suits characterized by looseness 'business suits'.

But Americans didn't care about the evaluation of Europeans. All classes in the United States would choose 'business suits' as long as they could afford them. Capone was Italian, so naturally, he wore a handmade Italian suit. Walking up to the person who had already arrived, he heard the person say, "You're late."

Capone had a chubby face with three scars on it, which was the origin of Capone's nickname 'Scarface'. However, Capone had a naive look; even with 'scars', he didn't look particularly vicious.

Facing the other party's unfriendly opening, Capone replied smilingly, "Since I'm already late, saying more apologies is useless. May I ask why you called me here?"

The person didn't answer but opened a very ordinary briefcase and took out a document from it. Capone took it and looked at it for a moment, his expression finally becoming serious. The document was about the FBI's investigation into Capone's strong support for Dever's opponent "Big Bill" Thompson in April 1927—Chicago's election month—enabling him to win the election with 83,072 votes.

After "Big Bill" Thompson became mayor, Capone moved back to Chicago from Cicero and owned two floors in Chicago's best hotel—the Lexington.

The FBI tried every means to find solid evidence of the Capone crime syndicate earning 100 million dollars annually through criminal activities, but the report showed that even though they found two informants, they couldn't get solid evidence.

Capone asked, "If I want to know the names of these two people, what do I need to do?"

The person meeting Capone took out a piece of paper. Capone hadn't expected this person to be so straightforward and took it with some hesitation. He saw the information of several people written on the paper; they were all Southerners, hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from Chicago.

"Do you understand?" The person said, kicking a small stone by his foot into Lake Michigan.

Capone knew he couldn't bargain with this person. Capone's syndicate might not even earn 100 million dollars a year, and this was the income of a syndicate, not Capone's personal income. The person behind the one who called Capone here had an income of hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Moreover, the person behind him also owned his own private army, a private army that had bloodily suppressed very many worker riots. A private army that Capone's gangsters couldn't fight against at all.

Putting away the paper, Capone asked, "Do I need to notify specially?"

"We will know." After speaking, the person stood up, picked up the briefcase, left the bench, and disappeared into the woods by the lake before long.

Only then did Capone couldn't help spitting. Although Capone was famous, compared with those at the top of American power, Capone was just a running dog remembered only when he had utility value.

'These evil capitalists!' The evaluation only used by left-wing newspapers popped up in Capone's mind.