General Cheng Ruofan, the Minister of National Defense, walked through the hospital corridor. The young nurses all cast admiring glances at him. Seeing that this handsome young man was actually a general aroused the nurses' admiration even more. Whether it was his appearance, status, or the jade-like demeanor formed through accumulation, Cheng Ruofan indeed struck a chord in the young girls' hearts.

Cheng Ruofan paid no attention to this. Guided by Xu Chengfeng's guard, he entered a high-class ward and saw Xu Chengfeng lying on the bed chatting with Zhong Yifu. Cheng Ruofan smiled and said, "Chengfeng, it seems the appendectomy didn't affect you much."

Xu Chengfeng pointed to a nearby chair. Cheng Ruofan sat down and placed a bag of fruit on the table. Before he could speak, Xu Chengfeng ordered his guard to stand watch outside the door, then asked, "I've read the meeting minutes. In my opinion, we have the ability to win the next war. But why must we pay such a huge price?"

Zhong Yifu nodded slightly. "Ruofan, the price for the war the Chairman spoke of is too great. And we can't guarantee that under a world order led by us in the future, the world will truly go in the direction we set. From what I see of the Chairman's meaning, he doesn't want to build an order with coercive power."

Cheng Ruofan wanted to express opposition, but he didn't voice it. Instead, he asked sincerely, "Does everyone feel that the traditional methods in history have their merits?"

Xu Chengfeng's gaze lowered slightly, but after a moment, he met Cheng Ruofan's eyes. "I believe China's current strength is far from reaching the stage where it can provide services to the whole world. Even if we win the war, our losses will inevitably be great. prioritizing the restoration of China's strength will make the order led by China more stable."

Zhong Yifu felt Xu Chengfeng was being a bit too implicit. Before he could think of how to put it more clearly, Cheng Ruofan already asked, "Do the comrades privately feel that the Chairman is too committed to the Kingly Way?"

Zhong Yifu couldn't help but seize the conversation. "The comrades' views are about the same; we all feel there's no reason for us to do that. Korea, Burma, and Annam were originally China's vassal states. Bringing them back into the economic integration led by China so they are no longer subject to foreign invasion is a good thing. But we don't owe this world anything. Paying such a huge price, what are we after?"

The pain from the appendectomy incision made Xu Chengfeng adjust his semi-reclining posture slightly. If he hadn't missed the Military Commission meeting due to hospitalization for appendicitis, Xu Chengfeng would have directly raised his views at the meeting. Seeing that Cheng Ruofan seemed to completely support He Rui's views, Xu Chengfeng said, "Analyzing from a geopolitical perspective, any country surrounding a great power will treat that great power as a hypothetical enemy. From the perspective of human nature, a small favor is remembered as gratitude, but a large favor breeds resentment. We need to protect our interests."

Cheng Ruofan didn't like his old comrades' views, but he didn't get angry with them. He tried to communicate, "Do you think the Chairman has changed, or have you changed? Or has neither side changed?"

"What do you mean?" Zhong Yifu felt Cheng Ruofan's words were unpleasant.

Cheng Ruofan wasn't actually too sure either. Seeing Zhong Yifu was merely unhappy, he turned to the usually steady Xu Chengfeng. Xu Chengfeng frowned slightly, unsure if it was because the question was puzzling or because the anesthesia was wearing off and the wound was hurting more.

Xu Chengfeng couldn't find an answer immediately, so he could only ask, "Ruofan, do you think you have changed?"

Cheng Ruofan didn't hesitate at all. "I have definitely changed. When we were in the military academy, I identified with the German set of values: victory, conquest, honor, empire. Looking at it now, where is that German Empire? Yet, striving together in the direction the Chairman leads, everything we once expected has become reality. Everything we dared not expect has also become reality. The more I study communism, the more I believe there are no problems with this discipline. So, I abandoned my previous thoughts. What about you all?"

Surprise appeared on Xu Chengfeng's serious face. He hadn't expected Cheng Ruofan to have truly changed, but Xu Chengfeng didn't feel there was anything wrong with his own views. Xu Chengfeng believed there was no problem with communist ideals and also believed He Rui's strategic judgments were incomparably correct. However, Xu Chengfeng still believed China should be the core of the world, not the leader of a so-called new order.

But saying these things now was of little use. Xu Chengfeng said to Cheng Ruofan, "After I'm discharged, I will personally explain my views to the Chairman."

Cheng Ruofan didn't say much more. The tendency within the military was becoming increasingly obvious. Like Xu Chengfeng, these comrades were all loyal to the country. But the national interest these comrades perceived was 'China First,' maximizing China's interests. But their view largely belonged to the imperialist perspective. If imperialism were advanced, the two imperialist countries, Japan and Britain, wouldn't have been defeated by China. He Rui officially used the superiority of communism and the socialist system as tools to complete achievements that seemed like myths on the foundation of Chinese culture. Xu Chengfeng and those comrades completely failed to see this point.

Standing up, Cheng Ruofan said, "Chengfeng, rest well. I wish you a speedy recovery."

Seeing Cheng Ruofan leave, Zhong Yifu couldn't help but sigh, "The outbreak of the Great Economic Crisis in the US is truly lucky for us."

Xu Chengfeng endured the pain and replied, "It's not that we are lucky, but that we had already prepared our response before the economic crisis broke out in the US."

Zhong Yifu nodded. "Yes. The US economic crisis also gives us greater freedom of action."

Ten thousand miles away from Zhong Yifu, in Moscow, there was already a thin layer of snow on Red Square outside the Kremlin. Entering November, it began to snow in northern Russia. Pedestrians on the streets of Moscow wore thick woolen coats, wrapped in down or woolen scarves, and wore warm fur hats and gloves. Even with the cold wind blowing in their faces, the citizens had enough light industrial goods to withstand the severe cold.

Inside the Kremlin conference room, wood burned in the fireplace, making the room very warm. General Secretary Stalin was looking at the briefing on the Great Depression in the US. When Comrade Stalin looked up, the committee member responsible for heavy industry couldn't help complaining, "General Secretary Stalin, China has too much of a capitalist style."

General Secretary Stalin seemed not to have heard this statement full of realistic politics at all. From the perspective of Soviet pragmatism and utilitarianism, China's refusal to privately transfer French technology was getting close to France and distancing itself from the Soviet Union. From General Secretary Stalin's perspective, although he was a bit unhappy, he could completely understand He Rui's very realistic choice. So General Secretary Stalin asked Committee Member Kirov, "Has the work plan for the distribution of light industrial goods been completed?"

Politburo Member Kirov immediately replied, "It is roughly completed. There are still some details that require reports from various localities. It can be completed in about three weeks."

Seeing General Secretary Stalin fill his pipe and start smoking, Committee Member Kirov quickly added, "Comrade General Secretary, judging from the completion of the First Five-Year Plan to the present, the construction of socialism in one country has achieved tremendous progress. The superiority of the socialist system has been fully demonstrated, and the masses' enthusiasm for production and living standards has significantly improved."

Hearing Kirov introduce the results, the committee members closely following Stalin looked very proud. The Soviet Union's Five-Year Plan roughly included three parts: raising production capacity to a certain level, raising technology to a certain level, and producing various products specified in the plan.

Everyone felt that during the execution process, a very large number of cadres would be dismissed for incompetence, investigated by the KGB, or even arrested. However, things didn't turn out that way. Problems that many committee members thought would require exhausting efforts to solve were solved very easily.

Take light industrial goods like shoes, hats, and socks for example. The Soviet Union had manufacturing enterprises, but their efficiency was low and capacity small, unable to meet the needs of all Soviet masses. China provided the Soviet Union with machinery, equipment, and technology, and even helped the Soviet Union build the necessary factories. With the completion of these factories, the Soviet Union's production capacity increased. Even if there were still capacity shortages, they could simply buy directly from China.

At this moment, Kirov was recounting his understanding of Stalin's proposal of 'building socialism in one country.' "General Secretary, through trade, we have developed relations with China. And this trade is the best manifestation of a reasonable division of labor. Through trade, we can extract a large amount of labor from the light industry sector and use it in other fields."

That Kirov was so valued by Comrade Stalin made many Politburo members sigh in their hearts. Everyone was truly somewhat convinced, because the same topic, when spoken by Kirov, was just so appropriate. And Kirov's words were very accurate.

The underdeveloped state of the Soviet Union's light industry was largely because light industry required vast amounts of raw materials and labor. Liberating a large Soviet population from light industry to invest in other fields indeed greatly alleviated the Soviet Union's shortage of skilled workers.

Similarly, the mining of timber, coal, oil, and various non-ferrous metals required a large amount of labor. Even those prisoners in the ferocious Gulag camps could have employment opportunities for labor reform. It was already achieving multiple goals with one stone.