After confirming that China could guarantee the pesticide supply and cargo transportation, the Soviet representatives immediately entered into negotiations for technology transfer. Orders for transporting the pesticides could be placed immediately to expedite loading. China had signed a shipping safety agreement with Britain and France, so there was little concern about merchant ships being attacked. The cargo could potentially reach the Soviet port of Odessa in just over a month.

The technology transfer would take much longer, and there was much more to discuss. It wasn't as simple as China handing over some technical data and factories immediately appearing on Soviet soil. From industrial land allocation to plant construction, from raw material transport to product storage, there was a lot to cover.

Secretary Korchagin of the Kiev Agricultural Bureau tried very hard to understand, but his knowledge reserve only allowed him to comprehend so much. However, Comrade Korchagin's diligent attitude still caught the attention of the Chinese representatives.

During the evening break, the Chinese delegation held a meeting. They all felt that Comrade Korchagin seemed to represent a certain attitude within the Soviet Union. However, since the Soviet Union was an industrial country after all, everyone felt there wouldn't be an "army supervisor" role involved.

Seeing that everyone was concerned about Comrade Korchagin, Feng Qian made a suggestion. "Why don't we invite Comrade Korchagin to inspect the port so he can confirm that we have already started loading the ships?"

The comrades felt this suggestion had merit. Any negotiation required supervision. In technology transfer negotiations, the financial aspects were naturally managed by the finance department, while the technical content was the responsibility of technical experts. Judging from today's interactions, Korchagin was not a technical expert. Feng Qian's suggestion could serve to probe the organizational model of the Soviet delegation.

Officials were responsible for handling problems. Once the goal was determined, there were plenty of methods. During the first break of the meeting the next day, Feng Qian went to the Soviet representatives' lounge and said to the head of the delegation, "We have already started preparations for loading, so we would like to invite you to send personnel to follow the process."

"We thank the Chinese side. We will immediately contact the Soviet Chamber of Commerce personnel in China," the head of the Soviet delegation replied, somewhat puzzled.

"Not the customs clearance process, but the loading and unloading process. These are chemical products, and there is a flammability issue. Since the Soviet side is in such a hurry, we suggest you send someone to learn the safety points with us now to avoid unnecessary danger during the process. After all, these are highly toxic pesticides."

As the Soviet interpreter translated Feng Qian's Chinese into Russian, the Soviet representatives nearby all looked up. This was exactly the effect Feng Qian wanted. Noticing that Representative Korchagin had looked up, he continued, "I think the transport of these highly toxic chemicals can be viewed as munitions transport. It would be best to have someone with military experience observe."

Having had the idea yesterday, the officials naturally took action. They soon found out some information: for instance, Secretary Korchagin of the Kiev Agricultural Bureau was from the 1st Cavalry Army. This unit was the one Comrade Stalin trusted most, so cadres who came out of this unit received extra trust from Comrade Stalin.

The head of the Soviet delegation did not answer immediately. He replied, "We will discuss it."

By the time the negotiations ended that evening, the head of the Soviet delegation brought Korchagin and another representative named Nikolayev to meet the head of the Chinese negotiating team. "We ask these two comrades to follow the transport process with you."

With things proceeding to this point, the Chinese delegation naturally would not refuse. At the small meeting before resting for the night, everyone made a judgment on Korchagin's status. From the Soviet arrangement, Korchagin's status in the Soviet delegation was obviously not that of an army supervisor. Of course, there was also a possibility that the Soviet delegation might not like Korchagin very much either.

The Chinese members generally believed that if nothing unexpected happened, the negotiations would be finalized within two days. Based on the reaction of the Soviet delegation, the possibility of Korchagin being an army supervisor could basically be ruled out. It wasn't that the Chinese delegation thought they could deceive or bribe the Soviet negotiators; the reason for doing this was that everyone wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The revolutionary nature of the Soviet cadres was quite high, but their professionalism was so-so. The frequent unpleasantness stemmed from the widely different understandings of economics between China and the Soviet Union. The most frequent disagreements arose over cost discussions.

China's cost accounting was corporate behavior, while the Soviet Union, because the whole country was "one game of chess," often included systemic costs when calculating costs. What China saw as corporate behavior became government behavior in the Soviet Union. Although the two sides could eventually reach an agreement and weren't unable to understand each other, if the Soviet Union simply didn't want to buy, they would give a pile of reasons that disgusted the Chinese side.

The He Rui government originally opposed "paternalistic governance," and the Soviet side's paternalism was even stronger than China's traditional feudal autocracy. Moreover, the Soviet side frequently talked at length about "responsibility and obligations to the people," which made the Chinese side even more unhappy.

The Chinese side fully acknowledged the Soviet Union's achievements in national construction, but China's construction achievements were no worse than the Soviet Union's. In the eyes of the Chinese representatives, China's construction achievements were probably even above the Soviet Union's, so why should they listen to the nonsense of the Soviet representatives!

So if some trouble could be eliminated, the Chinese side also hoped to eliminate it. Everyone was human, with so much work every day and too many unsolved problems. Who had the mood to listen to the Soviet representatives' speeches on values?

Finally, the delegation let Feng Qian take charge of taking Korchagin and Nikolayev to follow the process. Although Feng Qian didn't want to go, he didn't refuse. After all, his reason for being in Shanghai was not specifically to participate in the negotiations; he had been temporarily pulled in to help because of the urgency of the matter. After this matter was finished, Feng Qian still had to continue his investigation.

Early the next morning, Feng Qian took Korchagin and Nikolayev to the Shanghai docks. Korchagin did not know the thoughts of the Chinese delegation. His reason for joining the delegation was quite accidental. The natural disasters of 1932 had greatly affected Ukraine's agricultural output. After Korchagin had run through almost all the farms in the Kiev area, he submitted a report to his superiors. Soon, he was told to go to Moscow.

In Moscow, Korchagin met his old leader, General Secretary Stalin. This meeting made Korchagin very excited, but also somewhat fearful. Because General Secretary Stalin asked about some descriptions of Soviet grassroots cadres in Korchagin's report.

"...Communist Party members who are not active enough in using suppressive means face the threat of expulsion from the Party, arrest, and starvation... Shalapov, the leader of the Upper Don District, judges the work of plenipotentiaries or branch secretaries not only by the amount of grain obtained but also by the number of families driven out, the number of roofs uncovered during searches, and the number of stoves pushed over... Some cadres, in order to force peasants to hand over surplus grain, used heinous illegal acts, torture, and threats of execution."

Korchagin initially understood that Comrade Stalin would be unhappy, but he didn't expect to be criticized by Comrade Stalin himself. At that time, Korchagin felt the substantial pressure emanating from Comrade Stalin, trembling all over and sweating profusely on his forehead.

Afterward, Korchagin recorded General Secretary Stalin's criticism from memory: "...Our cadres face such a dilemma: either starve the cities, destroy the developing industrialization, disarm the army and weaken the country's strength in the face of military threats; or sacrifice the abundant material life, health, and even lives of the peasants, and these peasants are often greedy, selfish, ignorant, and crude people!"

Although he felt great pressure at the time, realizing that he was being reprimanded by General Secretary Stalin, Korchagin felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

After reprimanding Korchagin, General Secretary Stalin spoke a few words with Politburo member Kirov. Member Kirov said, "Comrade Stalin, I think for a considerable number of administrative cadres, they have been baptized by the Civil War. Apart from threats and violence, they do not know and cannot use other methods to work..."

Kirov's words made Korchagin uncomfortable, but he couldn't feel dissatisfied with Comrade Kirov. After all, Korchagin believed this matter was triggered by him. Afterward, somehow, he was arranged into the delegation to go to China.

At this moment, as Korchagin rode in a Chinese car straight to the Shanghai port, he couldn't help but recall these emotional matters. He also really wanted to see what China, described domestically in the Soviet Union as a "friendly, powerful, capitalist neighbor," really looked like.

The size of Shanghai's urban area dwarfed Kiev and even Moscow. The buildings on both sides of the wide streets were generally six or seven stories high. After watching for four intersections in the car, Korchagin had to admit that the Soviet view of China as a powerful country was correct.

Some Europeans could be seen on the streets of Shanghai, but the proportion was not large. This city was very warm; even in early October, many people still wore short sleeves. In the Soviet Union, snow had already begun to fall in some northern regions.

There was a saying in the Soviet Union that China was a "Kingdom of Bicycles," and Korchagin agreed with this statement. Although there were many pedestrians, there were even more cyclists, and bicycles could be seen everywhere on the streets. Moreover, the number of cars on the streets was also large, especially on the streets leading to the port, where the number of trucks was even greater than cars.

The scale of the wharves left a deep impression on Korchagin. While waiting for the wharf arrangement, Korchagin noticed that almost all the ships on the Chinese wharves were flying the American flag. He couldn't help but ask Comrade Nikolayev if he saw ships from other countries. Only then did Comrade Nikolayev notice the flags. After gazing for a long time, Nikolayev asked somewhat nervously, "Why are they all American ships?"

Korchagin couldn't explain it either, but he just concentrated on observing during the whole day of following the process. The sheer number of equipment used on Chinese wharves left a deep impression on Korchagin. Soviet wharves used more manpower or handcarts. On Chinese wharves, forklifts and flatbed trucks were the main force. Manpower was heavily used only in those parts where machinery really couldn't be used. Even so, Chinese manpower was used more to move goods onto conveyor belts or place them on pallets for forklift transport. With the assistance of so much equipment, the efficiency of Chinese wharves was much higher than that of the Soviet Union.

For the transport of highly toxic pesticides, China had specialized wharves. The workers on these wharves wore various protective equipment, and the transport speed was much slower than other wharves. This convinced Korchagin that the extra caution mentioned by the Chinese side was not just rhetoric. Even so, the use of a large amount of equipment also improved efficiency. Korchagin believed that Soviet wharves probably couldn't achieve such efficiency and safety levels.

At dinner, the food was very rich. Korchagin had heard old comrades who had been to China complain about the fish treated by the Chinese, saying the small fish bones would prick the throat. Korchagin was mentally prepared, but he didn't expect that there would be no fish at all in this meal. It was all food based on pork, and one dish was beef.

Chinese Baijiu was also as Korchagin's old comrade had said, too strong. Just one cup, and Korchagin felt a bit tipsy. Borrowing the courage from the alcohol, Korchagin asked his biggest question of the day, "Comrade Feng, why are there all American ships at the wharf?"

Feng Qian didn't expect Korchagin's observation ability to be so strong. He thought for a moment before replying, "These are grain transport ships from the United States."

"Is China very short of grain?" Korchagin was very puzzled.

"We in China have a population of 650 million, and there is a very large demand for grain."

Recalling the prosperity of Shanghai he had seen, Korchagin was even more puzzled. "Can't China meet the people's food needs?"

Feng Qian wasn't sure how he should answer. China at this stage hadn't reached a situation of hunger due to food shortages, but to let 650 million people eat their fill and eat well, China's current grain and meat production was far from enough.

There was nothing wrong with telling Korchagin this directly, but Feng Qian felt that since the Soviet Union was encountering a disaster year, it wasn't appropriate to discuss eating well. Finally, he replied, "If we can let all the Chinese people eat two more steamed buns, importing some grain is what should be done."

Hearing such an answer, Korchagin was inexplicably moved. What he looked forward to was a communist world where everyone could enjoy a good life. Although Korchagin also knew that realizing communism was not easy, he felt that Feng Qian's words had quite a bit of revolutionary progressiveness.

After drinking another cup of wine, Korchagin couldn't help but ask, "Why do some people think China is not a socialist country?"

Feng Qian was a bit confused by this. Since the Constitution of '25, the Republic of China's nature as a socialist country had been written into the constitution. Korchagin thinking China was not a socialist country was simply baffling.

But Feng Qian also knew that many Soviet cadres who didn't understand China seriously really viewed China this way. Moreover, the Soviet government considered itself a socialist country, and from the Soviet set of economic theories, China was indeed vastly different from the Soviet Union.

In the Soviet economic view, as long as it wasn't state-owned economy or collective economy, it wasn't socialist economy. The purpose of the economy was to satisfy people's needs.

The He Rui government's economic philosophy was profit-driven. The state's investment in meeting social production and development needs at least shouldn't lose money. And private enterprise capacity could make money while meeting national needs.

Take this pesticide technology transfer as an example. China's petrochemical industry level was higher than Russia's. Even if Russia lowered some prices in technology transfer, it was impossible for the Chinese side to make concessions on the price of raw materials purchased from China. And the cost of China's synthetic chemical raw materials was continuing to decrease. As long as the raw material price remained unchanged, China would only earn more and more. Even if future raw materials dropped in price due to market factors, the overall profitability level wouldn't be lower than now.

So facing this question of social system, Feng Qian really didn't know how to explain for a moment. So Feng Qian replied, "I think these are the characteristics of the two countries. Essentially, both are to develop productive forces."

Regardless of whether Korchagin could understand, Feng Qian began to serve dishes and pour wine again. His job today was not to discuss politics, but to make the negotiations go more smoothly and to complete this potentially unlikeable job as soon as possible.

And Korchagin didn't ask further. After eating and drinking with Nikolayev, who acted as an interpreter, he made a request. "Can we see how the Chinese wharves work at night?"

Compared with the daytime, the wharf at night did not rest. Although a considerable part of the work had stopped, the loading and unloading work, mainly mechanical, was still going on. So although there were fewer people on the wharf, the number of vehicles didn't decrease much. This made Korchagin feel that the wharf at this time seemed to be a world composed of steel monsters that didn't rest.

Could such a China be short of food? Korchagin felt it was unlikely. How could a country that couldn't even get enough to eat possess such powerful industry?

And in the place where this American grain originated, US Democratic presidential candidate Roosevelt was also thinking about China's grain imports. After entering October, as old grain was sold out and new grain was harvested and stored, the US economy, which had obtained grain orders, began to rebound from the bottom. This increased the approval rating of incumbent President Hoover quite a bit. The election, which originally looked like a sure win, also became somewhat confusing.

Moreover, President Hoover's campaign team also began to make articles around exports to China. Various news, true and false, began to spread in the US. Because the grain export operation was very successful, and Hoover had indeed won the approval of the American people in the past twenty years, a considerable number of Americans believed that President Hoover could completely open the Chinese market.

Roosevelt didn't think Hoover could really open the Chinese market, nor did he believe Hoover had the ability to solve the problems the US encountered. So Roosevelt summoned his campaign team, hoping to find a countermeasure. But Roosevelt's campaign team had no good solution at this time. The incumbent president had a huge propaganda advantage after all, especially in publicizing political achievements, as the incumbent president could easily use the national propaganda channels.

Whether to oppose tit-for-tat or let President Hoover possibly turn defeat into victory, the campaign team was somewhat in a dilemma.

In such silence, Roosevelt spoke up. "I think there is reason to let the American people know that the current Hoover administration has completely rejected the issue of the American people asking the federal government to provide food relief."

Hearing that Roosevelt was actually going to go tit-for-tat, the campaign team was unwilling to express support. Roosevelt was well aware of everyone's worries. He replied confidently, "It is necessary for us to inform the American people of the truth. The current grain exports are plunging the American people into hunger. President Hoover's decision has not changed America's economic reality, nor has it restored economic order. My campaign is not to survive this economic crisis, but to solve the economic crisis. This is the biggest difference between me and President Hoover!"

The person in charge of the campaign team felt he had to express his attitude. He voiced his concern, "But the American people think that as long as the economy recovers, it's fine."

Roosevelt was unwavering, the look on his long cheeks very determined. "Who to choose as president is the choice of the American people. What we have to do is let the American people know what we are going to do, why they should choose me instead of choosing my competitor. As for what result will follow after telling them, let's leave the right of choice to the voters."