Having received a rather high-level private reception in China and Japan, Professor Karl felt he should receive a decent welcome in Korea as well. However, upon arriving in Korea, only Yin Taida, the Director of the Korean Academy of Sciences established just two years prior, received him with a lukewarm expression. Aside from the most basic friendly greetings, Yin Taida immediately asked about the purpose of Professor Karl's trip.

Professor Karl had spent some time in Korea before. Seeing this reaction, he knew he was completely unwelcome, though he couldn't understand why. Director Yin Taida didn't ask much more, and after a few exchanges, he asked, "When does Professor Karl plan to leave?"

Being asked this, Professor Karl understood that official Korean channels did not welcome him. Since the other party had this attitude, Professor Karl could only reply, "I plan to leave after seeing a few old friends."

Director Yin Taida nodded. "Do you need my assistance?"

Seeing that the other party had even cancelled the most basic inquiries, Professor Karl said, "No need, I will contact them myself."

"In that case, I won't disturb Professor Karl," Director Yin Taida said, then immediately rose to take his leave.

Watching Yin Taida's retreating figure, Professor Karl felt that this man had no desire whatsoever to have any contact with the German side. The Director of the Korean Academy of Sciences had only come out to receive him due to basic politeness. Subsequent events proved this feeling correct. When Professor Karl contacted his old acquaintances, they all very politely expressed that while they welcomed Professor Karl to Korea, they were too busy to host him.

Since Korea held such an attitude, Professor Karl could only choose to fly back to his country. On the plane, although Professor Karl was disappointed, he wasn't angry. Subjecting this matter to a bit of geopolitical analysis, one would discover that Korea's choice was quite rational.

Professor Karl's old acquaintances in Korea were also scholars. Although their standards were so-so—hardly first-rate—they weren't completely ignorant of the world. If one were to ask these people to construct a grand global strategy, it would be beyond their capabilities, but for them to understand basic state-to-state interactions was not too difficult.

Although Korea was theoretically under a ten-year trusteeship by China and Japan, in reality, neither country had stationed troops in Korea. The transfer of political power had gone very smoothly, and in practice, Korea could be considered to have restored its political independence.

Korea's economy had already been integrated into the East Asian Alliance, especially after the establishment of the East Asian Coal and Steel Community. Korea's mineral resources had been effectively developed. By taking loans from China and Japan and purchasing equipment from them, Korea had built its own metallurgical industry. As a country in a subordinate economic position, rejecting economic cooperation with other countries was a wise choice.

From the perspective of national sentiment, in this world, only China had paid a huge price for Korea's national independence. Other countries, even if not Korea's enemies, were certainly not friendly nations. Korea had no interest in dallying with Germany, nor any reason to draw closer to it. Since China had already downgraded diplomatic relations with Germany, Korea treating Professor Karl this way could already be considered very polite.

Figuring out the reason didn't make Professor Karl feel any happier, and the noise inside the cabin was even more unpleasant. However, it only took one day to return to Berlin. After getting off the plane, hearing the familiar local dialect and seeing his wife and sons who had come to the airport to welcome him, a feeling of joy arose spontaneously.

The joy of family quickly dispelled all unhappy moods. Upon returning home, Professor Karl's two sons told their father that they had already entered the German government to work, which made Professor Karl feel very happy. However, as a father and a scholar, Professor Karl still kept a straight face and made demands of his sons: "You must hold a sincere attitude toward work. You must never think that just because you have something to rely on, you can be lazy. Your individual value is realized on the basis of providing service to society..."

The sons looked like they were listening very seriously. As for whether these words were truly taken to heart, Professor Karl wasn't very confident. He had met many people, including quite a few extremely excellent scholars. These top scholars without exception had powerful internal drive. Compared to them, his sons were just ordinary educated people.

Regardless of how his sons were, as a father, he had to educate them this way. Only after finishing this talk did the dinner at Professor Karl's home officially begin. Professor Karl's wife somewhat happily told him that her family had already received the "Honorary Aryan" certificates. With these certificates, they had at least kept their jobs.

Professor Karl had experience in both military academy and university education, and had many friends in both types of institutions. Hearing his wife inadvertently mention in her narrative that the Nazi government had begun to purge the education system, he felt some regret in his heart. But Professor Karl believed this was unavoidable; the supporters of the Nazi Party needed to see changes in the country.

Jews did not equal Jewish profiteers, and Jewish profiteers were mostly lackeys of the German upper class. Now that the German people's tolerance for a painful life had reached its limit, "enemies" had to be found to bear the people's anger. Not everyone in academia was a true scholar; struggles based on interest were extremely fierce. It was unavoidable that the Nazi Party's actions would be utilized by those dirty people. Moreover, Professor Karl had a very clear positioning of himself: he had become the President of the German Academy of Sciences because of Hitler's personal decision. Because of this position, Professor Karl would face a great many attacks.

"Be cautious in speech and action," Professor Karl reminded his wife and children using a Chinese idiom he liked very much.

After resting at home for only one day, Professor Karl was summoned by Hitler. In addition to officially granting the employment certificate for the President of the German Academy of Sciences, Hitler was very concerned about this trip to East Asia. Professor Karl had also prepared a report. Hitler listened very seriously, especially after hearing Professor Karl's analysis of China downgrading Sino-German diplomatic relations. He first raised his hand to stop Professor Karl's narration, then walked to the window with his hands behind his back to look outside. After standing for quite a while, Hitler turned his head and said to Professor Karl, "Professor, do you think China's judgment of Germany will have an impact on other countries in the world?"

Professor Karl shook his head. "The words of top geopolitical masters are always only recognized after the fact. People who attack you for potentially starting a war were saying so several years ago; do you think the rest of the world believed them?"

Hitler nodded slightly, the bit of worry in his heart dissipating considerably. Just as Professor Karl said, the people accusing Hitler of planning to start a war were as numerous as carp moving down a river. Just in last year's German presidential election, both the Communist Party of Germany and the Social Democratic Party of Germany had declared in their campaigns that choosing Hindenburg was equivalent to choosing Hitler, and choosing Hitler was choosing war.

Faced with such attacks, Hitler naturally cursed the KPD and the SPD for talking nonsense. Privately, Hitler was extremely puzzled by the indecisiveness of the leaders of these two parties. Since they clearly understood things would develop this way, why did these two parties still adopt the model of parliamentary struggle instead of decisively taking hardline measures? Wasn't this seeking their own destruction?

After personally banning the KPD, the SPD, and other political parties, Hitler believed even more firmly in his own philosophy. This world was full of trash who believed in elections. These pieces of trash also smugly thought they represented public opinion, thinking they could solve problems through compromise and intimidation. Chancellor Bismarck had seen through these pieces of trash back then, frankly declaring, "The great questions of the time will not be resolved by speeches and majority decisions—that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by iron and blood!"

Looking at the international changes over the past dozen years, He Rui was undoubtedly an outstanding leader like Bismarck. He Rui did not intimidate other countries, but won China's interests through various means of struggle. Since Professor Karl believed He Rui's view of the Nazis wouldn't influence other countries in the world, Hitler felt much more at ease. After all, everyone hopes to have a confidant, but no one likes having all their plans seen clearly and thoroughly by others.

Professor Karl analyzed the current economic situation from a geopolitical perspective. The most dynamic country willing to engage in trade at present was China. However, due to France, it was difficult for Germany to establish comprehensive economic and trade relations driven by official channels with China. On the contrary, due to the needs of its domestic economic situation, the United States had a large demand for investing in Germany.

Hitler had long heard Professor Karl analyze these things. Hjalmar Schacht, who was responsible for Germany's economic work, had also done the same analysis. Professor Karl had merely gone to confirm it personally. Hitler currently didn't lack people to analyze the situation for him; what he lacked were people who proposed solutions. After Professor Karl finished speaking, Hitler asked, "Professor, do you think there is any way to solve this?"

Professor Karl answered immediately, "I think we can utilize American investment to let some German enterprises open factories in China. China's market demand is very large, and the demand for high-end technology is even greater. I believe such investments can obtain rich returns in a very short time."

Hitler was stunned for a moment and didn't answer immediately. He acknowledged Professor Karl's academic ability, but never considered Professor Karl to be an economics expert. Pondering for a moment, Hitler asked, "Is this a request from the Chinese side?"

Professor Karl hurriedly shook his head. "No, this is my personal view."

Hearing this, Hitler stood up again with his hands behind his back, paced back and forth a few steps, and said, "Professor, Germany now needs to establish an economic system that relies as little as possible on world finance. You know very well how much damage global financial fluctuations have caused Germany!"

Professor Karl naturally knew Hitler's worries. Within the Nazi Party, there was also considerable resistance to foreign capital. Among the culprits causing Germany's current predicament, the extortion of the Treaty of Versailles was one, the inhumane policies of the Weimar government were one, and American capital was also one.

In 1924, in order to allow the German economy to function and have money to repay war reparations, the United States created a Young Plan. A large amount of American capital flooded into Germany, allowing the German economy to recover rapidly. The US economic crisis of 1929 caused the US to withdraw funds, and the German economy plummeted, falling into the current miserable situation. The Nazi Party had grasped power during this economic crisis, so naturally, they were extremely vigilant about the influence of international capital on the German economy.

Professor Karl explained his policy. "Based on my observations of China, China has already obtained heavy industrial technology and has mastered these technologies at an admirable speed. China also has abundant labor, and light industrial enterprises requiring large amounts of labor are also developing very rapidly. Based on Germany's industrial development experience, what China needs now are those small and medium-sized enterprises that require time to accumulate before they appear. These enterprises can provide specialized equipment for heavy and light industry, solving those detailed problems. Germany has a great advantage in these areas, and in the German economic crisis, these enterprises have suffered the greatest damage."

Hitler could vaguely understand what Professor Karl was saying. He asked in puzzlement, "Professor, where did you get this inspiration?"

Professor Karl had to answer truthfully. "This is an idea I got while talking with Japanese President Taira Toyomori. Japanese workers' wages are not high, and exports to China compete on low prices. Japan has a population of less than 50 million, and its production capacity is limited. China itself also has a large number of similar enterprises, resulting in very low profit margins for Japanese industrial products. Japan discovered that the industries with sufficient profit margins are those I just introduced. Japanese President, Professor Taira Toyomori, hopes that Germany and Japan can cooperate in this field. I personally believe that rather than cooperating with Japan, it is better for Germany to invest directly in China. The money for German enterprises to invest in China can utilize American loans."

Hitler hadn't expected that Professor Karl, a geopolitical scholar, would actually propose an economic suggestion. Since Hitler himself wasn't an expert in economics and had to rely on German economic experts, he asked Professor Karl to organize his thoughts again, and if there was a need, he would ask Professor Karl to come forward.

Sending Professor Karl away, Hitler thought for a while before sending someone to invite Dr. Schacht. Ribbentrop had already returned from the Soviet Union, bringing back a consensus that the Soviet Union was willing to trade with Germany, which surprised Hitler somewhat. The German Weimar government had already had quite a lot of cooperation with the Soviet Union, ranging from economic to military. That kind of cooperation belonged to small-scale cooperation; the Soviet side had never proposed a comprehensive economic cooperation framework. Based on the Nazi Party's understanding of the Soviet Union, they believed the Soviet Union lacked the ability to propose a reasonable cooperation framework.

The verbal agreement Ribbentrop brought back surprised even Schacht, and Hitler also felt it was very unexpected. In the Tsarist Russian era, Russia's industrial development model was to introduce technology from France, Germany, and Britain en masse, using Russia's tariffs or mineral resources as collateral. Russia itself did not possess a complete industrial system.

In this verbal agreement, the Soviet Union was clearly no longer that country that could only import; instead, it was in a state of picking and choosing based on an industrial system foundation. Neither Hitler nor Schacht quite believed the Soviet Union possessed such strength. But Ribbentrop recounted what he had seen with his own eyes, and believed that although the Soviet Union did not possess powerful industrial strength like Western Europe and the United States, the current Soviet Union was no longer that Russia that only knew how to buy factories. This communist country not only had heavy industrial strength but had also made considerable progress in light industry.

In Ribbentrop's description, ordinary Soviet people basically had decent clothing, had bicycles, and a portion of Soviets could even drive motorcycles and cars. This level indeed couldn't compare with Western European countries, but compared to the Central and Eastern European countries surrounding the Soviet Union, the living standards of ordinary Soviet urban residents were already in an advantageous position.

Regarding this, Schacht clearly showed great distrust. Although he didn't attack Ribbentrop to his face for exaggerating, Schacht still indicated he would investigate this. In terms of timing, Schacht's investigation should have ended by now.

Soon, Schacht arrived at the Chancellor's office. Judging just from his expression, this scholar was somewhat depressed, yet somewhat excited. Without exchanging pleasantries, Schacht said, "Führer, I believe selling industrial products to the Soviet Union can be exchanged for much more raw materials than imagined. The Soviet Union's raw material output exceeds our imagination."

Hitler suppressed his mood and asked calmly, "Mr. Schacht, is the Soviet Union willing to export raw materials at a low price?"

Schacht hurriedly shook his head. "No, the Soviet Union's raw material prices are about the same as international market prices. Führer, the total amount of raw materials the Soviet Union can stably export is much more than the Ministry of Finance imagined. Although we cannot pin Germany's economic development on the Soviet Union's goodwill, the Soviet Union's raw material output can indeed help the German economy recover at a faster speed."

Hearing Schacht's introduction, Hitler instinctively felt some resistance, but Schacht spoke more and more excitedly. In Schacht's vision, the markets Germany utilized at the current stage were mainly the former Austro-Hungarian countries. The traditional trade countries in Eastern Europe like Romania and Bulgaria were being developed, and South American countries were being strived for. The markets that needed some means to open up were the United States and Britain. Although the East Asian and French markets were very active at present, the difficulty for Germany to open them up was relatively large.

The Soviet market was a market Schacht originally hadn't dared to believe in. At least at present, the performance of the Soviet market exceeded Schacht's expectations. Iron ore, coal, oil, non-ferrous metals—everything was available on Soviet land. Since the Tsarist era, what the Russians lacked was the ability to develop these resources.

During the German Second Reich, Germany didn't necessarily not need Tsarist Russia's raw materials, but what Tsarist Russia could offer then was agricultural products, not raw materials. Back then, Bismarck set high tariffs on Tsarist Russian agricultural products to protect the interests of the Junkers. If Tsarist Russia had exported raw materials like iron ore and oil, Bismarck probably would have signed a trade agreement with Tsarist Russia immediately.

Schacht believed the Soviet Union's external propaganda of "Socialism in One Country" was boasting, and the reliability of the numbers published by the Soviet Union was worrying. But after Ribbentrop met with Molotov, Schacht, who had been responsible for economic work in the Weimar government, immediately sent people to contact the Soviet Union, and the news received was very inspiring. The Soviet economic department gave a specific trade plan, stating that the ore was ready. As long as Germany shipped the machinery and equipment needed by the Soviet Union to the Soviet Union, they could immediately haul iron ore back from the Soviet Union.

Germany was currently undertaking massive infrastructure construction. Due to the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, Germany's source of metal ores had also been cut off. Swedish iron ore was high grade and had large reserves, suitable for use in high-quality metal smelting. The Soviet Union's iron ore output was equally huge, but the grade wasn't high; however, it could be used for low-grade needs.

Germany's biggest problem now was unemployment. Even if the profit margin on industrial products wasn't high enough, as long as the trading volume was large enough, it would be enough to pull the German economy out of the crisis. Schacht decided to take a gamble. Moreover, the plan Schacht proposed was to solve the immediate problems in the short term, not some long-term plan.

Listening to Schacht, Hitler couldn't be completely sure how things would develop, but Germany had already reached this point; no matter how bad it got, it couldn't get much worse. Furthermore, Hitler and Schacht were different from other Nazis; he trusted Ribbentrop very much. And Ribbentrop himself had a high evaluation of the Soviet Union.

Since Schacht was also so affirmative, Hitler immediately stated, "Mr. Schacht, please proceed freely."

Obtaining Hitler's consent, Schacht felt much more at ease. Just as he was preparing to take his leave, Schacht heard Hitler slowly recount his views on expanding the scale of investment in China. For the first few sentences, Schacht thought Hitler was just saying some polite words. After Hitler brought out the general idea, Schacht felt some wild joy in his heart. But Schacht didn't completely trust Hitler at this time, so he suppressed his mood and listened to Hitler's narration as calmly as possible.

When Hitler finished speaking, Schacht was still unwilling to state his position immediately. It wasn't because Schacht disagreed, but because Schacht couldn't believe that Hitler, this "Bohemian Corporal," could understand economic details to such a degree.

Industry is a complex system, but the principles of industry are simple. Scientists propose explanations for the laws of the world, and engineers use these principles to manufacture equipment according to needs to fulfill market demands. Scientists constantly deepen their understanding of the laws of equipment, while engineers constantly improve during the production process, achieving technical iteration.

Established industrial countries have a long history of industrial development. Excellent economists can judge based on experience where investment at the current stage can drive rapid economic development. Schacht agreed very much with what Hitler recounted. Although only Poland and the Baltic states separated the Soviet Union and Germany by land, Schacht's understanding of the Soviet economy was even less than his understanding of the Chinese economy.

When the Asian International Tribunal was established, the He Rui government invited a large number of European legal experts. After the trial of the ANZACs, the Asian International Tribunal was not abolished; instead, it continued to provide legal services for human rights issues in various countries around the world. In addition, China subsequently carried out a large number of economic, trade, and political exchanges with various countries around the world, and many German legal experts stayed in China to engage in the legal profession. Among them were many of Schacht's old friends.

From the correspondence of these old friends, as well as meetings when these people returned to Germany from China to visit relatives, Schacht had a general impression of the Chinese economy. This was also why Schacht had borrowed quite a bit of China's economic development experience to use in Germany's economic development plan.

Current China was surprisingly developing rapidly in the field of science, and also not surprisingly but admirably making considerable progress in the technical field. These two were high-end and low-end respectively.

The He Rui government emphasized the "Electrical Revolution," and these fields were exactly the fields Germany had developed first. Therefore, Schacht believed that China lagging behind the world in the "mid-range field" produced by long-term industrial accumulation was not because China didn't work hard, nor because the Chinese nation wasn't capable, but merely because the development time hadn't been long enough. Given time, China would definitely be able to develop.

If Germany could cooperate with China in these fields, the two countries had great room for cooperation. Although France had political advantages in these fields, France's economy was currently overheating, and the Franc was very strong, leading to increased prices for industrial products. What Germany cared about now was whether there was a market. In order to get out of the economic crisis as soon as possible, Germany was not pursuing making as much money as France.

But this kind of thing was by no means content Hitler could completely understand. Even Schacht himself wasn't quite sure who should be sent to be responsible for this matter now. In the silence, he heard Hitler say, "Mr. Schacht, I hope to see a report on this matter."