Yamamoto Isoroku could not understand Ishiwara Kanji's perspective at all. He didn't try to guess Ishiwara's train of thought, but asked directly, "Why do you say that a single sentence can solve the naval issues between China and Japan?"

Ishiwara stopped smiling. "Because once the Coal and Steel Community agreement is finalized, He Rui's biggest concern will be resolved. With the completion of the East Asian Common Market, all that remains between China and Japan is cooperation."

Yamamoto Isoroku knew Ishiwara was talking about politics. He didn't like politics, so he continued to ask, "Will there be no friction afterwards? I thought that in a common market, there would only be more friction."

Nagumo Chuichi couldn't help but interject, "Yamamoto-kun, differences will always exist. If we only consider it from our own country's perspective, Japan would certainly want to occupy the entire market. But do you think that's possible?"

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded, "Exactly, Nagumo-kun. That is precisely why I believe conflicts will not decrease."

Nagumo Chuichi admired Yamamoto's military accomplishments, but he felt Yamamoto's strategic vision wasn't high enough. So he said in a steady tone, "So is Japan prepared to destroy the common market? If the common market is destroyed, where is the benefit for Japan?"

Yamamoto shook his head. "Nagumo-kun, I think you have misunderstood my view. I know very well that one cannot smash the pot while eating from it. But the pressure within Japan is great, and the pressure within China is equally great. can a single common market really solve all problems?"

Ishiwara spoke up at this point. "Everyone understands this logic. Therefore, the common market must absolutely not be under the unilateral command of any one party. China cannot order Japan, and Japan cannot order China. The function of the league lies in the fact that all league members can frankly raise their own issues at various meetings and seek to solve the problems facing their own countries together with other member states."

Seeing that Yamamoto Isoroku still wasn't convinced, Ishiwara continued to explain, "Yamamoto-kun, although East Asia has restored its traditional borders, East Asia will absolutely not implement the traditional Celestial Tributary System again. The tributary system was the method for resolving the East Asian order in the agricultural society era. Now that East Asia has entered the era of industrialization, there must be a model that conforms to the industrial era."

Although Yamamoto Isoroku understood these words, he still couldn't truly accept them in his heart. However, the conversation could not be pushed any further at this point. Yamamoto Isoroku asked, "Ishiwara-kun, what should I say to He Rui?"

"Tell He Rui that Japan expects to fully understand China's naval construction thinking," Ishiwara replied.

Hearing this, Yamamoto bowed slightly. "I will do as Ishiwara-kun says, but... excuse me."

Leaving the conference room, Yamamoto Isoroku felt both anticipation and unease. In Asia, this level of cooperation had never appeared before. Looking at the world, this level of alliance had also never appeared. Because this alliance was built on a foundation of complete frankness and sincerity. Everyone was not a fool; no one could be deceived. As long as there was any deception or shifting of blame, the mutual trust of this alliance would be shaken to its foundations. Once the construction of the alliance failed, the relationship between the two countries would regress comprehensively, perhaps even back to a state of hostility.

Initially, Yamamoto Isoroku's mind was filled with these pessimistic views. When he returned to his room in the hotel and sat down to smoke for a while, Yamamoto suddenly felt as if he had just woken from a dream. It turned out that the hurdle in his own heart was stuck on the 'grievance' deep within him.

In 1922, if He Rui had not gone to war with Japan but had instead marched south to unify China, Japan might not have actually gone to war with He Rui in 1923. By 1924, Japan might not have dared to go to war with China. Then the current Japan would not have suffered consecutive years of heavy blows. In the current alliance relationship between Japan and China, Japan would be much more relaxed.

But after feeling aggrieved for a moment, Yamamoto also knew that this was just his own wishful thinking. If He Rui really hadn't attacked Japan in 1922, Japan, after surviving the Great Kanto Earthquake, would definitely have chosen to become a tool for extra-regional powers to balance the East Asian situation. At that time, China and Japan would still have had to go to war.

If He Rui had not defeated Japan in 1923, the various warlords within China would absolutely not have truly shown weakness to He Rui. The civil war would absolutely not have ended in 1924. After Japan went to war with He Rui in 1924, the flames of war would have swept across the entirety of China. A strategist as brilliant as He Rui would absolutely not have chosen such a dangerous situation.

Sighing, Yamamoto decided to abandon this feeling of 'grievance' and wholeheartedly promote cooperation. At least He Rui's strategic judgment was coldly realistic. Perhaps only under He Rui's leadership could the East Asia League truly have a possibility of defeating the Anglo-American brutes.

On April 7th, Yamamoto had returned to Qingdao. On April 6th, through the Secretary of the Civilization Party Committee at the Naval Academy, he had already passed that sentence—'Japan expects to fully understand China's naval construction thinking'—to He Rui. At this moment, Yamamoto was looking at the newspaper content regarding the victorious conclusion of the Asian Coal and Steel Community.

In the joint declaration issued after the meeting, the equality of East Asian countries and equality in cooperation were emphasized. All parties would use productivity and the technological content of equipment as standards to set prices for iron ore, coal, and various smelting auxiliaries. Technology sharing would be implemented, and various enterprises in China, Japan, and Korea would be mandatorily enrolled in the technology cooperation system to share technological achievements.

As a soldier, Yamamoto couldn't read any special content from the joint statement, so he gave up. He picked up the *National Defense Daily*, and saw that it had actually published an article about Europe: "Alert to European Fascist Ideology and the Rise of Fascist Regimes."

In the discussions over the past two days, Ishiwara Kanji believed that the outbreak of a real Spanish Civil War meant that the security situation in Europe was about to spiral out of control. Yamamoto Isoroku read it with great interest, fearing that this article might have been written by He Rui. After reading for a while, just by the writing style and the characteristics of the vocabulary used, he could determine that it was not He Rui's style.

The use of a large number of new vocabulary words and the special feel of the writing mode were He Rui's style. This article's writing was full of the flavor of traditional Chinese, which actually suited Yamamoto Isoroku's taste better. Moreover, aside from the difference in style, the logical thinking of this article was absolutely not inferior to He Rui's.

The author believed that the economic collapse made the traditional political structures of some countries unable to solve problems. The people who felt this result expected the appearance of political groups or even political strongmen who could solve the problems. Whether it was political groups or political strongmen, in the era of economic crisis, their means of solution would without exception adopt high efficiency, which created conditions for Fascism centered on centralization of power.

As for whether Fascism could truly solve the problems, it was actually not optimistic. But at least Fascism dared to admit the existence of problems and use the means they could display to solve them. This was much more reliable than those vested interest classes whose primary goal was protecting their own interests. Therefore, the more a country's social economy collapsed and its order was swept away, the more Fascism would rise.

But Fascism is unreliable because what Fascism promises is 'relief from pain', not facing the fundamental problems of society and solving them from the level of true economic contradictions. Therefore, Fascism is highly likely unable to smash an old world institutionally, but has a high probability of causing huge destruction to the world...

After reading this "Alert to European Fascist Ideology and the Rise of Fascist Regimes," Yamamoto Isoroku found that he actually resonated quite a bit with the description of Fascism thoroughly destroying the current world. However, Yamamoto was a military scholar after all. Because He Rui always called himself a communist, like most Japanese officers, he had carefully studied the basic documents and manifestos of communism.

Yamamoto knew that at the end of the *Communist Manifesto*, Marx wrote with generous and heroic prose: "The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions."

So Yamamoto was very sensitive to the author's emphasis that 'Fascism is highly likely unable to smash an old world institutionally'. It could be seen that this author was indeed a communist. Looking at the author's name again, it was Li Runshi. Yamamoto thought for a good while, feeling like he had heard of this person somewhere, but couldn't remember clearly where. He decided to ask around when he had time.

Reading the whole article, Yamamoto's mood inexplicably improved. Although this article did not mention war, but only analyzed the development of public opinion in Europe, in the eyes of a military scholar, such public opinion meant war. The ancient Roman historian Livy said that to those who need war, war is just; to those who have lost all hope, war is reasonable.

Yamamoto had heard some things about the current status of Spain, Italy, and Germany. Italy had already elected the Fascist party led by Mussolini. The Nazi Party, Germany's Fascist party, had fallen to rock bottom in 1929, but with the arrival of the Great Depression, the Nazi Party was gaining advantages in one electoral district after another in Germany like wildfire. As for the Kingdom of Spain, it had forcefully produced a Prime Minister who persisted in dictatorship for seven years, after which the Kingdom of Spain was overthrown and the Spanish Republic was established. However, the domestic government of the Spanish Republic was even shorter-lived than the cabinet of the French Third Republic. It seemed that there was a high probability that Spain would also become a Fascist country.

When Yamamoto Isoroku heard Ishiwara say that the Spanish Civil War would become the fuse for the outbreak of war in Europe, he still felt that Ishiwara's statement was a bit far-fetched. After reading Li Runshi's article, Yamamoto Isoroku felt a sense of sudden enlightenment. Putting down the newspaper, Yamamoto suddenly sighed with emotion. He had originally thought that China only had He Rui as a strategist, and the others were just riding on his coattails. Li Runshi made Yamamoto discover that China was indeed producing heroes in large numbers. Although he didn't know whose strategic level was higher, Li Runshi or He Rui, at least Li Runshi was indeed a strategist.

How to fight a specific war is the work of a tactician. The work of a strategist is to judge why a war will break out, and after determining that a war will break out, formulate strategic arrangements beneficial to one's own country's interests. That is to say, who are our enemies, who are our friends. What path should we choose to defeat the enemy.

Just as Yamamoto Isoroku was engaging in the reflections of a military scholar, there was a knock on his office door. The person who entered was the Secretary of the Naval Academy's Party Committee. The Secretary formally told Yamamoto Isoroku, "Chairman He invites Principal Yamamoto to depart for the capital immediately."