After confirming that British enterprises in early 1928 still hadn't completely broken away from steam power, He Rui relaxed and began to view these products—perhaps the pinnacle of the steam age—with an appreciative eye. It had to be said, this was a genuine novelty tour.

"Multi-rivet Steam Rigid"—referring to multi-turret, riveted armor, steam power, and rigid suspension—had always been a dream toy for military enthusiasts on the internet. Most of these contraptions only appeared in CG images and text; in real life, no one would spend a fortune to build such a giant toy. Now seeing British steam equipment with his own eyes, He Rui felt he must appreciate it thoroughly.

The British Foreign Secretary, who was accompanying He Rui, keenly noticed the change in his expression and felt slightly surprised. His old superior had introduced Qing dynasty officials from before 1900, noting that because they didn't understand machinery, they would sometimes show unusual enthusiasm. But He Rui didn't look like such an ignorant person, so this sudden interest was suspicious.

Chairman Henry, who was leading the tour, was a British gentleman. He also noticed He Rui's sudden interest, as well as the Foreign Secretary's reaction. At this moment, the group had just walked out of a workshop. The roaring sound of machines was a bit unbearable for the beautiful female secretary beside He Rui, causing her to frown slightly. Moreover, the road surface outside the factory building was a mixture of coal slag and oil sludge under the rain. He Rui took the female secretary's hand, allowing her to leverage his support to cross two relatively wide puddles floating with a layer of colorful oil slicks.

Chairman Henry was slightly surprised. He Rui's unmarried status was no secret. Originally, Chairman Henry guessed that He Rui's orientation might be "quite British"—after all, Britain was a "corrupt country" where same-sex love was everywhere. Furthermore, British sources of joy were also quite stimulating, with whipping rooms everywhere to counter inner pain through physical suffering. Now seeing the relationship between He Rui and his female secretary, it turned out he was just an ordinary unmarried middle-aged man. This prompted Chairman Henry to immediately find a moment to order a change in the reception arrangements, swapping the handsome men in the office for beautiful women.

In the end, these arrangements didn't succeed. Because He Rui saw that his female secretary truly couldn't stand the factory environment, he found an excuse to let her leave the tour group first. Then, He Rui, like he was looking at a beloved toy, enthusiastically examined the large-scale steam equipment in the British factory to his heart's content.

After finishing the viewing, He Rui didn't go to the office at all but left directly. When the British Foreign Office gave the adjusted tour itinerary to the Chinese delegation the next day, they learned that He Rui still wanted to follow the previous itinerary.

Interested in factories on the first day, but having zero interest in the temporarily added factory tours on the second day—the British Foreign Office had to guess: could it be because He Rui cared very much about the female secretary's feelings?

No one in the Chinese delegation thought so. The Minister of Industry and the Minister of Commerce were both negotiating and signing agreements with the French in France. Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing chatted with the comrades sent by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce. "Will these British steam-age industrial enterprises face restrictions if they invest in China?"

"If the British are willing to assume sole responsibility for their profits and losses and build wholly-owned factories, we won't restrict them. But they shouldn't expect to receive our policy funding support. Unless the factory's production process has a huge advantage, fits the concept of modular production, and can quickly replace the parts that use steam power."

Yan Huiqing felt he only half-understood, so he went to see He Rui. After listening to Yan Huiqing's question, He Rui thought for a moment before answering, "We may not necessarily let state-owned enterprises undertake the majority of the investment."

"Private enterprises will undertake it?" Yan Huiqing was somewhat shocked.

"Why should we support private enterprises?" He Rui asked back.

Yan Huiqing couldn't figure out where the problem lay and was speechless for a moment. However, after a while, he asked, "Let's go back to the original question. Will we let British steam power enterprises invest in China?"

"We have already completed the formulation of national investment policies. At this stage, our biggest guard is against speculative capital coming to China. Moreover, we control foreign exchange and the inflow and outflow of capital. Therefore, we can control speculative capital causing trouble in China. For investment in the industrial field, as long as it complies with Chinese regulations, we will allow it. If British enterprises comply with the regulations, even if they use steam power, we will agree."

"What is the core of this regulation?" Yan Huiqing felt he had grasped the main point.

"The core is how high their average production efficiency is. Under the condition of ensuring our labor protection laws, enterprises whose average productivity meets the standard can come to China to invest."

"Is it not self-financing?" Yan Huiqing felt somewhat unexpected.

"Foreign enterprises come to invest with the goal of making a profit. Industrial investment takes a long time, requires large investment, and has high risks. If we let those enterprises with low labor productivity come to China from the beginning, they will definitely lose money. Rather than that, it is better to tell them clearly from the start that we do not accept their investment. It saves everyone trouble. Moreover, such regulations are also conducive to the normal development of enterprises. Those enterprises with high productivity are also willing to invest in an environment with high production efficiency because the overall efficiency is high. Doing business is not afraid of crowding."

Yan Huiqing felt that the previous part was straightened out, so he asked, "Why do you hope that private capital will undertake it?"

"This involves several issues. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) must play a role in the military industry field and fields related to national welfare and the people's livelihood. Because SOEs have a very realistic difficulty, which is who will bear the risk. Minister Yan, any investment, whether it is production or R&D, has risks. SOEs are state investments; what will the people's requirements for their risk be?"

"...Preferably no risk," Yan Huiqing sighed.

"Therefore, for these relatively high-risk fields, we would rather let those private enterprises that dare to take risks undertake them. Moreover, these private enterprises cannot do whatever they want; they must execute according to the method of combining industry, R&D, and academia. Instead of them putting up some money themselves and then getting something for nothing, tricking money from the state. If we do that, rest assured, a large number of scam projects will definitely appear. And these projects will inevitably gain government recognition by corrupting leading cadres."

"Can you give a simple example?" Yan Huiqing didn't think for himself.

"This enterprise doesn't even need to pursue state shareholding, or the state holding 100% of the shares; neither is a problem. Industrial production requires efficiency, production capacity, and a large amount of technical and engineering capabilities accumulated in the process of practice. The enterprise is just a carrier, a tool to achieve a certain goal according to capital operations. A lot of the worry is that the government is conversely manipulated by these tools, rather than the government using the tools to achieve its goals."

Yan Huiqing felt as if he understood a lot, but also as if he didn't understand. But he continued to listen, wanting to unify it through the context.

"For example, large-scale synthetic ammonia enterprises—after the equipment is shipped over, can it operate well? This is the goal of the first stage. The second stage: can we reverse-engineer the entire principle of the large-scale synthetic ammonia production line, as well as the design and operation ideas of each link? And through such reverse engineering, replace those original equipment parts with Chinese-produced parts. The third stage: can we iterate the technology of this set of equipment based on our understanding of the principles and process ideas? That is to say, by adjusting and replacing parts with upgraded technology on the original equipment, improve the production efficiency of this equipment. The fourth stage: based on technological iteration, design and produce our own complete sets of equipment. Even with new complete sets of equipment, technological iteration will not end. Instead, it proceeds in a cycle."

"...Hmm..." Yan Huiqing felt as if he understood, but also felt something was wrong. After thinking for a while, he felt he found the key. "Will private enterprises be willing to continue like this? If it were a state-owned enterprise, at least with one order, they would do it."

He Rui nodded. "This is a very good question. In a sense, this is also the defining standard for what is socialism and what is capitalism. For capital, the interest of capital is paramount. If the goal of the state is to satisfy the interests of capital, then if this country says it is a socialist country, no one will believe it. If a country pursues the development of productive forces while ensuring the social bottom line and constantly giving citizens opportunities for improvement, then is such a development opportunity capitalism?"

"...I was asking about SOEs being more reliable than private enterprises." Yan Huiqing felt He Rui had gone off-topic.

He Rui felt that Yan Huiqing indeed couldn't quite understand some of the troublesome matters in politics, reinforcing his determination to move Yan Huiqing to another post after returning to China this time. He then continued to explain to Yan Huiqing, "In this development process, we will give laborers remuneration. Technological progress iteration, patent fees—all will be there. And the state will also force enterprises to adopt new technologies. If they can withstand such tests, those enterprises can continue. If they can't hold up, they should collapse."

"But is there really anyone willing to bear such huge risks?" Yan Huiqing still felt He Rui was too optimistic.

He Rui laughed. "Haha, Minister Yan, based on my personal experience, for those professionals, these are not risks at all. The risk they face is only one: when solving problems according to laws, they cannot find collaborators. And we will provide academic and research support for technical cooperation to ensure they know how to continue moving forward in the next step. When they need financial support, we will also provide funds according to their plans. Many people don't know what to do even with these, but there are also some people who only need these to continue. Selecting such people from numerous candidates is the government's job. The government must have the ability to make judgments."

Yan Huiqing was speechless for a moment. He felt He Rui's requirements were too high, but as the Foreign Minister, Yan Huiqing also knew he wasn't actually responsible for this. Moreover, Yan Huiqing also discovered that he actually couldn't be responsible for it. Different trades are like different mountains; the gap within was not something that could be replaced by experience in other fields.

After chatting with Yan Huiqing, He Rui continued to read materials. These materials were about the UK General Strike of 1926. At the time, He Rui hadn't paid special attention, but after arriving in the UK this time, he discovered that this event actually had a significant impact on the UK.

In 1914, British dockers, transport workers, and coal miners established the "Triple Alliance." But in 1916, the British government nationalized coal mines. During the British economic crisis of 1921, the government returned the coal mines to private mine owners. To shift losses, many mine owners proposed lowering miners' wages and extending working hours. After the proposal was flatly rejected by miners and unions, mine owners threatened to close mines one after another. On April 15, 1921, British coal miners went on strike but did not receive support from the other two parties of industrial workers in the "Triple Alliance." The alliance collapsed; this day was called "Black Friday."

In 1925, then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Churchill ordered the pound to return to the gold standard at the pre-war exchange rate. The pound appreciated, which further reduced British coal exports. Labor disputes in the hard-hit British coal industry became increasingly serious. When labor and management were in a stalemate, the British government intervened to mediate. On July 31, 1925, Stanley Baldwin's Conservative cabinet proposed that the government provide a special subsidy of 23 million pounds to the coal mining industry for nine months to maintain the miners' original wage levels. Miners and unions considered this a major victory for themselves; this day was also a Friday, so it was called "Red Friday." But in reality, this special subsidy could only solve the immediate urgency. Nine months later, the money was spent, and the problem still existed. Mine owners continued to advocate the original proposal of wage cuts and extended working hours.

At this time, the Sino-British War broke out. For the sake of stability, the UK froze this matter. Moreover, with British conscription, a large number of British youths joined the army, reducing the domestic labor supply and the number of miners. This also led to wages being maintained.

However, after the Battle of Shankou ended in 1926, the UK found it was powerless to solve the problem through war and could only choose peace. It was also at this time that the Royal Commission headed by Samuel conducted a six-month investigation deep into major coal mines. In September 1926, the committee submitted a report agreeing to the mine owners' proposal to cut wages by 13% and extend working hours from 7 hours to 8 hours a day. Miners and unions flatly rejected the proposal. Afterwards, the UK General Strike began.

About 3 million people participated in the strike, including every major industrial sector. The national economy fell into chaos. In some places, strike committees and action committees controlled transportation and food supply, exercising part of the functions of local government organs. The Communist Party of Great Britain also proposed requirements such as nationalizing mines and establishing workers' supervision over coal mines. The general strike increasingly took on the nature of a political strike.

On October 11, a High Court judge declared the general strike illegal. The Baldwin government organized a large number of reserves to go into production to break the strike and refused to have any contact with the unions before work resumed. They also used the reorganization of the coal industry as bait to deceive the Trades Union Congress into agreeing to resume work. At this time, right-wing union leaders feared that the further development of the general strike and the intensification of the struggle would strengthen the influence of revolutionary forces. On October 12, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress announced the end of the general strike. Subsequently, right-wing leaders of various unions signed humiliating agreements with business owners one after another, and the general strike failed.

Thereafter, miners persisted in striking alone for nearly seven months, eventually having to resume work on May 31, 1927, due to exhaustion of funds.

That is to say, in a sense, this British strike also disguisedly promoted the action where the UK had to hastily end the war in the Sino-British War.

But in the overall impact, China became a target of criticism by British officials. They believed that the Chinese and the British strike groups echoed each other, and there were issues of China interfering in British internal affairs and "British traitors" appearing within the UK.

The general strike dealt a heavy blow to the British bourgeoisie, demonstrating the strength and fighting spirit of the British working class. However, the failure of the general strike brought serious consequences to the British working class: in 1927, Parliament passed the *Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act*, declaring general strikes and all sympathetic strikes illegal, prohibiting the organization of mass strike pickets, and restricting the right of unions to raise funds for political purposes. The worker masses called it the "Scab Charter." The British bourgeoisie, in cooperation with right-wing union leaders, began to vigorously promote the "industrial rationalization" movement, strengthening the suppression and exploitation of workers.

With He Rui's visit to the UK this time, the British right wing was very nervous. They thought it was possible that He Rui wanted to further stir up trouble within the UK, especially He Rui's speeches on politics, which were considered communist propaganda. The BBC, which interviewed He Rui, was unanimously criticized by the right wing, who believed the BBC was a communist media outlet.

He Rui finished reading the report on this matter and felt that he had indeed been too busy during this period and hadn't paid much attention to these things. Although capitalist forces in the UK were very strong at this stage, this was indeed a very good grip. He would help the British masses after leaving the UK.

Moreover, under the visit at this time, He Rui's understanding of the UK had also deepened a lot. The empire on which the sun never sets was setting, and there was no possibility of any rebound to be seen. After industrial decline, there was nothing left to talk about.

So He Rui invited Yan Huiqing over again. "I am preparing to end the visit to the UK."

"How to explain it to the UK?" Yan Huiqing was somewhat surprised.

"We have matters at home," He Rui replied.

Contrary to Yan Huiqing's expectations, the British Foreign Secretary actually expressed complete understanding of this. And he stated that the basic scheduled itinerary was completed, and the remaining itinerary would not affect Sino-British relations at all.

Thus, on March 7, He Rui ended his visit to the UK and left the UK. Watching He Rui leave on the ship in one piece, the British Foreign Secretary couldn't help but take out his handkerchief and wipe his sweat. According to some news, there were indeed assassins eager to make a move. The itinerary He Rui didn't execute was not visiting enterprises, but contacting British citizens.

In European history, assassination has always been a very important part. For instance, the fuse of the Great War in Europe was an assassination event. As for European kings and members of royal families, if they hadn't experienced some assassination events, they would be embarrassed to come out and brag.

Moreover, the assassination that might appear this time was based on ideology. There were some lunatics who chose assassination out of personal likes and dislikes. Furthermore, the contradictions between China and the UK were actually quite profound, so it wouldn't be strange for He Rui to encounter assassination. But at any rate, the matter ended smoothly. If anything happened to He Rui again, it would have nothing to do with the British government.

Thinking of future relations between China and the UK—at worst, visit China. Isn't that what the Foreign Minister's job is?