The British cabinet had finally weathered the worst of the storm. Although the opposition party attacked the ruling party ferociously, the Conservatives held their ground; after all, if the opposition were to take power, they likely wouldn't be able to do much better than the Baldwin government. Britain would determine its alliances based on its own national interests. China was merely a decisive force in the Far East, and it was impossible for Britain to build a close relationship with China right now.

If the Baldwin government attempted to do so, they would certainly face fierce attacks from the opposition. Conversely, if the opposition tried it, they would face equally fierce attacks from Baldwin's Conservatives.

The opposition could only attack the Baldwin government for its intelligence failures, but this line of questioning lacked lethality. To what extent should intelligence work be carried out? Were they supposed to plant spies within the Chinese and French governments? Even if there were spies, such things could not be discussed publicly.

Furthermore, the Baldwin government immediately stepped up its collection of intelligence regarding He Rui's European itinerary. On February 15th, He Rui arrived in Italy for a visit. The Italian Prime Minister personally went to welcome him, and the King of Italy hosted a banquet in He Rui's honor.

On February 18th, He Rui left Italy and arrived in Germany on the 21st. British newspapers immediately began to publicize this, striving to incite French dissatisfaction with He Rui. However, the British press was disappointed. The French indeed felt uncomfortable about Germany, but as the victors, the French mindset was completely different from the intense revanchist sentiments following the Franco-Prussian War. Moreover, Germany was indeed a major European power, and there was nothing to criticize about He Rui visiting Germany. Although the French public felt some displeasure, it did not translate into dissatisfaction with He Rui. French newspapers also reported on the event with a moderate tone, avoiding provocation, which largely neutralized the British press's attempts to fan the flames.

After concluding his visit to Germany, He Rui would visit Britain. The approximate time was around February 25th. Britain mobilized its intelligence assets in Germany and soon obtained a fairly public itinerary. After meeting with the German President and Chancellor, He Rui attended a meeting with the Chancellor that was also attended by the German Minister of Education.

On February 23rd, news of Sino-German educational cooperation was released. According to the agreement, China would invest in a cooperative research project in Germany to study the educational system of a modern industrial nation. China even put up 3 million pounds as the initial investment for this project.

With the franc continuing to appreciate, the exchange rate with the pound was roughly 100:1. Three million pounds was equivalent to 300 million francs. He Rui had only borrowed 10 billion francs in the first phase, so the investment in Germany represented 3% of the loan. However, the French side showed no intense reaction, so Britain could not say much either. Everyone felt there was something fishy about this money, but no one could figure out exactly what was going on. Furthermore, for their own reasons, neither Britain nor France wanted to puncture this mystery.

There was indeed something fishy about the money. China and Germany had a secret memorandum within this "educational system research fund." Germany provided China with certain military industrial technologies that France was unwilling to provide. This transfer of technology was not unacceptable to France. Even though France was immersed in a wave of friendship toward China, the French government could not provide China with certain cutting-edge military technologies, such as submarines.

Compared to France, Germany's military industry was completely restricted, and many outstanding military industrial technologies could only be mothballed. Rather than letting those technologies gradually become obsolete, it was better to sell them for cash.

On February 24th, Britain expected He Rui to proceed to the UK, but unexpectedly, he took a train directly to the Netherlands. The 1928 Olympic Games were to be held in Amsterdam from May 17th to August 12th, and China was participating. Advance personnel from the delegation had already arrived in Amsterdam.

He Rui's visit to the Netherlands was warmly welcomed by the Dutch government. During his meetings with the Dutch King and Prime Minister, He Rui had full exchanges regarding colonial and trade issues between China and the Netherlands. After the official meetings, He Rui also visited the Chinese delegation's residence to offer his regards to the advance personnel, expressing his hope that through their efforts, the Chinese delegation would be able to quickly recover their physical condition upon arrival in Amsterdam and achieve good results in the Olympics.

It was not until the morning of February 27th that He Rui concluded his visit to the Netherlands and took a ship to Britain.

At noon that day, He Rui's warship appeared at a British port and was immediately met with a warm welcome from the British government. When He Rui and his party disembarked, a Royal Gold State Coach was already waiting outside the port. This was top-tier British treatment; Britain's attitude toward China was self-evident.

Everything that followed went smoothly. After extensive diplomatic protocols, they attended a banquet hosted by the King of England. Britain's regard for He Rui was demonstrated through these procedures. On February 28th, He Rui finally met with Prime Minister Baldwin.

Both China and Britain had previously spoken out in the newspapers. Baldwin had stated that after defeating China, he would have He Rui arrested and paraded through the streets of India. He Rui had responded that however long Britain wanted to fight, China would oblige; they would wipe out the British army in India, destroy the British Raj, and liberate India from its colonial status.

Yet, upon meeting, the two shook hands warmly like old friends and exchanged greetings. Baldwin even stated quite frankly, "China and Britain have a history of 200 years of mutual embassies. The tragic events in between were all caused by poor communication and misunderstanding. I hope that in the future, China and Britain can prevent such tragedies through greater communication."

He Rui expressed his agreement, though he disapproved in his heart. He had absolutely no goodwill toward Britain. So no matter how correct Baldwin's words were, He Rui judged them purely rationally, without any emotional resonance.

Afterward, the two engaged in exchanges. Regarding the Sino-British financial cooperation proposed by Baldwin, He Rui frankly stated, "China is a country that keeps its word. At this stage, China is happy to see Sino-British cooperation. Whether it is financial cooperation or investment, the Chinese government will support it. However, this support cannot affect the agreements between China and France."

Even after being rejected so explicitly, Baldwin expressed no displeasure. If He Rui hadn't done this, Baldwin would have truly looked down on him. But the necessary probing could not be omitted. Baldwin asked, "In other words, the franc will become the priority currency for the Chinese government's foreign trade. From a financial perspective, this is not beneficial for China's international trade."

"Mr. Prime Minister, this matter falls under the category of things that cannot be discussed," He Rui replied decisively.

Seeing He Rui's attitude was so clear, Baldwin turned to the issue of Most Favored Nation status between China and Britain. Although the war between the two countries had ended and three joint communiqués had been issued, the implementation process was not fast. This could not be entirely blamed on the British government. The Sino-British War had caused hundreds of thousands of British casualties, and the captured ANZAC troops were currently facing trial at the Asian International Tribunal. The trials were expected to be basically completed by the end of 1928 or early 1929.

According to the evidence already confirmed and various confessions, approximately 40% of the ANZAC officers and soldiers would be executed. Especially the officers—about 80% of them would likely end up on the gallows. Under such circumstances, no one could expect domestic support in Britain for a rapid restoration of good relations with China.

However, Sino-French cooperation was actually a good opportunity for Britain. The British cabinet could use this pressure to push through quite a few policies. At the very least, the Sino-British Most Favored Nation treatment could be signed.

Baldwin looked very tired, and his tone sounded weary. He Rui could understand just how much pressure this British Prime Minister, who was desperately trying to repay debts, was under. Even for Britain, repaying billions of pounds in war debt was extremely strenuous. From an economic perspective, currency is the blood in the veins of the economy; repaying war loans is equivalent to drawing blood. When a person loses blood, their body weakens. When an economy loses blood, it also leads to weakness.

To increase the body's ability to generate blood, one must expand the scale of the economy. China was still far from modernization; although poor, it had immense room for improvement. Britain, on the other hand, was a highly developed industrial nation. To expand its economic scale, it could only rely on the emergence of new technological breakthroughs.

But where would technological breakthroughs in human society appear so easily? In He Rui's original timeline, although Britain participated in the subsequent information technology revolution and the computer technology revolution, and even led the world in gene technology development for a time, Britain failed to seize any of these technological revolutions to become the leader of that technology. Thus, Britain's relative decline continued from 1928 for a hundred years, always remaining in a state of relative decline.

It was evident that Prime Minister Baldwin was exhausting his wisdom and energy in an attempt to reverse this process. He Rui just didn't know if Prime Minister Baldwin truly realized that he was merely a "paperhanger," making efforts that were actually of little use. However, He Rui ultimately refrained from asking this. After all, Britain was still the world hegemon at this time. Baldwin could not imagine what Britain would look like after losing its qualification as world hegemon. Naturally, he could not understand that what he was doing was futile work.

After all, the "futile work" He Rui referred to was Britain's attempt to maintain its world hegemony.

The real area for cooperation between China and Britain at this stage was in security. So, after probing other fields, Prime Minister Baldwin turned the topic to naval construction. "Mr. Chairman, the negotiations for the second phase of the Washington Naval Treaty will begin by 1933. As a stabilizing force in the Far East, China needs to build its own naval power. Britain believes that China should possess a sufficient quota."

Unlike his previous perfunctory responses, He Rui answered frankly this time: "I agree with your view, Mr. Prime Minister. However, China's shipbuilding capability remains weak, so we have no plans to build a blue-water navy at this stage. But when the second phase arrives in 1933, China will seek a reasonable quota based on our own shipbuilding capacity."

Baldwin was very disappointed. He Rui's answer meant that China intended to strive to develop its own shipbuilding capacity. Britain, meanwhile, hoped to control China's shipbuilding capacity within its own hands. But China was a major power with complete sovereignty, and Britain had no way to force China to accept Britain's "kindness."

Even so, Baldwin did not give up completely. "Britain has always been helping China's naval construction, especially in terms of naval officer training, providing long-term assistance to China. Britain is still willing to provide comprehensive assistance to China now."

He Rui smiled. "I am aware of this. A portion of our navy's current officers are students of British naval schools. Therefore, we look forward to exchanges with Britain regarding the advanced studies of naval personnel."

Baldwin could only reluctantly express that he was happy to see such exchanges, though he was quite disappointed in his heart. He Rui's answer was very clear: China would not accept Britain training its basic naval personnel. It wasn't that the teaching standards of current British naval schools and academies were worse than China's. Rather, basic naval education provided entirely by Britain would determine that the naval personnel receiving this education would be greatly influenced by Britain.

He Rui wanted to build a naval force that belonged completely to China, so the training of basic naval personnel had to align completely with the rhythm of China's naval development. Naturally, there was no reason to let Britain help with the training. As for naval personnel exchanges, that meant excellent naval officers who had received their own country's naval education going abroad to broaden their horizons, not turning to enter the British naval education system.

By this point, Baldwin found that he had basically finished discussing the content he had prepared. He had his secretary bring in tea and chatted with He Rui while drinking. "I wonder if you have any arrangements for today, Mr. Chairman?"

He Rui answered readily, "Today I am to accept an exclusive interview with the BBC. British journalists have a high standard, and I always feel I will be subjected to all sorts of difficulties. Do you have any advice, Mr. Prime Minister?"

Hearing about British journalists, Baldwin could only smile, a smile filled with helplessness. British journalists would not only make things difficult for He Rui; Baldwin, the British Prime Minister, was also subjected to difficulties during interviews. In this matter, they were birds of a feather, so there was no need to mock anyone.

After chatting for a while longer, He Rui stood up. "Mr. Prime Minister, I will take my leave first."

Baldwin stood up. "I will listen to your interview on the BBC."