Hu Lei hadn't expected the *National Defense Journal* to be so much more interesting than he had imagined. Just as he hadn't expected to receive a letter from the Industrial Zone, asking him to choose between two positions: a teacher at the Shanghai No. 3 Vocational School or a teacher for Shanghai Adult Technical Education.

The "Special Appointment Teacher" was a temporary post. The only benefit was obtaining a teacher's certification and a Junior Engineer qualification. Obtaining the engineer certification meant Hu Lei would be on the official register. When the state had relevant needs, his name would appear on the draft list.

Hu Lei still didn't want to work for the He Rui regime, but this time he hesitated. A thirty-year-old man was not a child, after all; he understood the basic priorities of life. If Hu Lei's family hadn't been the "cost" of China's rejuvenation, he probably would have happily thrown himself into serving the government long ago. Even if his family was part of that cost, He Rui's achievements could not be erased. If it were any of the other Beiyang warlords in power, Hu Lei wouldn't have had any hope for China's development.

In the end, Hu Lei chose the option that paid the most: accepting the position as a teacher for adult technical education. The government was fairly decent in its dealings; since Hu Lei's factory would serve as a demonstration factory providing training services, the government would provide financial compensation. Moreover, Hu Lei had his own calculations—he hoped to discover some outstanding young people among the students and recruit them into his own factory. For a factory with a dozen lathe operators to grow bigger and stronger, it needed more outstanding workers.

On the way to the Department of Industry, Hu Lei's mind was full of how to use the compensation money once the factory received it. The best application might not be to pay off debts first, but to add a few other work processes. If a machinery factory wanted to produce more parts, it needed the capability to complete more procedures, and these procedures required skilled technical workers. If they just continued as they were, using purchased high-precision equipment to process purchased metal raw materials, they would only earn hard-earned meager profits. Only by increasing the technical content could they make more money.

The cadre receiving Hu Lei, after hearing that Hu Lei wanted money, answered decisively, "We are willing to provide more orders to your factory. If you need money, you can use these orders to apply for a loan from the bank."

Hu Lei thought this suggestion was reasonable, but he didn't quite dare to believe the cadre's words. He answered frankly, "Doing that would be the death of me."

Facing the cadre, whose expression had turned somewhat unsightly, Hu Lei decisively explained his view. Getting a loan required a lot of procedures. Unless the person in charge was an expert, Hu Lei didn't dare believe he could get the money every time. Hu Lei was already in debt; if just one sum of money didn't arrive in time, the entire factory could very likely collapse.

Having finished, seeing a look of understanding appear on the cadre's face, Hu Lei emphasized slightly, "I've seen so many factories collapse just like that. It wasn't that the factory was incapable; it was just that they hadn't received money for the work in hand, yet they started a new job. If the slightest thing went wrong in the middle, the factory wouldn't be able to pay wages immediately. Once the workers left, the factory would be blind and helpless. Even if the money arrived later, qualified workers couldn't be found immediately. When the deadline came, the factory would be finished. I can't take that risk."

The cadre spread his hands. "I don't think things would be that bad. Engineer Hu, your craftsmanship is so good; many people trust you."

Hu Lei also spread his hands. "My craftsmanship is good, and the workers know it too. But workers come to me to make money. If I can't pay wages, what will they eat?"

"I think you are underestimating the workers," the cadre said somewhat unhappily.

Hu Lei chuckled. "Leader, I've dealt with quite a few workers. Once they learn skills in a factory, they go back to factories that pay more. For me, I think there's nothing to be said about that. But once a factory loses these workers, the work can't be completed. Leader, you are certainly knowledgeable and experienced. There are many people in the industry doing this; some factories operate exactly like this. They screw up other factories, and then they are the only ones left. The orders eventually fall into their hands. Although I never have the heart to harm others, I must always have the heart to guard against others."

The cadre already understood that Hu Lei's technical level was very good and that he was no amateur in business either. Seeing that ordinary words couldn't dismiss Hu Lei, the cadre asked, "Then what does Engineer Hu want?"

Hu Lei felt he was never one to be pretentious and gave a frank suggestion. "If the government gives orders and can pay according to progress, I dare to agree. But that would require the government to send someone to audit. If the government can't send someone, it's fine if the bank sends someone to check. I can only do this much; if the government can't do it, I really don't dare to agree."

The cadre clearly couldn't make the final decision and asked Hu Lei to go back first, saying he would give Hu Lei a reply after some time. After Hu Lei left the Department of Industry, he gave up on this idea. Such things were easy to say, but actually doing them was very difficult. Many factories indeed relied on their skills to eat, like Hu Lei's, but there were probably even more that just wanted to muddle through. those muddling factories would use various means to fool their way through, so Hu Lei's very reasonable suggestion would be completely unsuitable for those slackers.

On the way back, Hu Lei passed by the library. Seeing that it was still early, Hu Lei simply went in. Anyone with a library card could go to the periodical reading room. Hu Lei took the newspaper clamp for the *National Defense Journal*, found an empty seat among the crowd, sat down, and began to read.

The content of the *National Defense Journal* was much better than Hu Lei had thought. He hadn't been interested in reading it before because he thought the *National Defense Journal* would probably publish a pile of sycophantic articles praising He Rui, so he had never had any interest.

Now that he was reading it, although there were one or two articles in the *National Defense Journal* describing the "fish and water" relationship between the military and civilians, they were short, and he could just skip over the unsightly parts. The majority of the content in the *National Defense Journal* was about China's strategic situation, as well as introductions to China's current security situation and the world situation.

The London Naval Conference was the main subject of the last few days. Several articles in the *National Defense Journal* argued that "...currently, all countries place great emphasis on offensive military forces. Although the scale of the East Asian navy can protect shipping safety in East Asian waters, it does not have enough strength to protect the navigation safety of East Asian fleets in other waters. Even with Sino-French economic cooperation, where France coordinates with China on shipping safety, the transportation lines for East Asian goods still cannot cover the entire world. Therefore, China needs to promote a worldwide shipping safety agreement..."

Although the *Times* Asian edition had depth, in terms of national interests, it was obviously based on British interests. Hu Lei was very satisfied that the *National Defense Journal* frankly expressed views based on China's standpoint. Hu Lei felt that China had best secure the greatest benefits for itself at this London Naval Conference. At the very least, China's naval quota shouldn't be lower than Japan's.

At this moment, the London Naval Conference was conducting its initial sessions. Japan was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, while China was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Shiguang. It wasn't yet the turn of China and Japan to speak; the French Foreign Minister was currently making an impassioned speech. "...As one of the most important countries in the world, the French government believes that France has a necessity to make a greater contribution to world peace. When the Washington Naval Treaty was signed previously, France had just experienced the Great War in Europe. In order to defeat the evil Germany that wanted to rule the world, France paid the price of millions of French casualties. To avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings, France accepted a very low quota.

"Now, the French government believes that France should possess the same naval tonnage as Britain. Only in this way can the world obtain a true guarantee of peace..."

For China and Japan, France possessing the same naval tonnage as Britain was not a direct threat. The ones who truly felt threatened were Britain, followed by the United States. So the representatives of the two countries just watched the show. The British Foreign Secretary and the US Secretary of State, however, looked very grim. Because the diplomatic departments of both countries knew very well that the French were not bluffing this time; they were serious.

The current Franc had become a strong world currency capable of competing with the Pound and the Dollar. With the support of astronomical amounts of Francs, and France's naval shipbuilding capability being far from weak, France had the complete capability to build capital ships of the same scale as the British Navy. Even if France's current dockyards were insufficient, China had built quite a few new dockyards in recent years and had progressed very quickly in the construction of ships under 10,000 tons.

China currently owed France a lot of money; France could absolutely build those auxiliary vessels of several thousand tons, or even mass-produce civilian ships, in China's dockyards. For France, its precious large dry docks could then be used to go all out in producing capital ships like battleships, battlecruisers, and heavy armored cruisers.

When the French Foreign Minister finished his impassioned speech, the British Foreign Secretary considered whether to express objection immediately. But he decided not to rush; it was better to let China and Japan express their views first. Of the six countries participating in this London Naval Conference, France, China, and Japan could be seen as one group. If these three countries all expressed a strong desire to increase naval armaments, under such immense pressure, Britain could pull the United States and Italy to its side to counter the trio of France, China, and Japan. Britain was very confident in playing this kind of balancing act. If France didn't show a strong attitude, Britain would actually have no way to rope in other countries.

The next to speak was the US Secretary of State. As soon as he opened his mouth, he spoke of the traditional friendship between the US and France. This tone made the British Foreign Secretary feel that something was wrong. In these years, the joke about "Louis XVI being the Founding Father of the United States" had appeared many times. Seeing that the US Secretary of State was practically about to say this phrase out loud, the British Foreign Secretary already had a basic judgment—the United States really wanted to mess up the situation completely. If a war broke out in the world, the US Secretary of State would likely be very happy.

On the strategic level, there is only the contest of strength; the space for conspiracies and deception is very small. Britain had long determined that the United States would be Britain's greatest competitor. America's ambition was clear for all to see: it wanted to replace Britain. There were two ways to replace Britain: one was for the US to actively attack Britain and drag it down from the throne of hegemon. The other was to let Britain fall into chaos and completely drain its strength.

The United States was a whelp spawned by the Anglo-Saxons; Britain was very proficient in offshore balancing and provoking various conflicts. To use a Chinese saying, as soon as the US stuck its ass out, Britain knew what it wanted to do. But unfortunately, choices on this strategic level could only rely on strength. No matter how clearly Britain understood America's ambition, it could only rely on Britain's hard power to respond.

The British Foreign Secretary had already begun to consider Plan B. If the world was going to be in chaos, then let the whole world be in chaos together. No one should expect to have it easy!