Although the title of the US Secretary of State contains the word "State" (Guowu), which easily leads Chinese people to associate it with the "State Council" (Guowuyuan), the US Department of State is actually the executive department of the US federal government responsible for foreign affairs and some domestic duties. It is a foreign affairs agency directly under the US government, equivalent to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After Li Chenggang reported the meeting to He Rui, he couldn't help but complain: "Chairman, there are too many problems with foreign names domestically right now. many newcomers haven't learned these details well and actually think the US State Department is the same kind of department as our State Council."

He Rui gave a short laugh. After laughing, He Rui said: "Then let the Ministry of Culture send professionals to conduct a comprehensive cleanup and standardization of titles for various countries. How about it, does your Ministry of Commerce feel the pressure?"

Li Chenggang really hadn't expected that a casual remark would lead to such a result, and he was pleasantly surprised. Chinese characters have a long history; although they change, it is mostly a shift from "single-character words" to two-character words to express richer meanings. The addition of English words often involves creating entirely new words from scratch. As the Minister of Commerce, Li Chenggang had seen many new English words in recent years, and these words had added some trouble to the Ministry of Commerce.

As a member of the Civilization Party, Li Chenggang adhered to the methodology of materialist dialectics. What determines things is the essence of the thing itself; external causes only determine when that reaction occurs. Applied to this matter, Li Chenggang could not determine that He Rui would organize a major translation project; He Rui must have had the idea long ago, and Li Chenggang merely served as the external trigger.

Since he understood the development of events well, Li Chenggang naturally clarified the difficulties of his department's work: "Chairman, seniors in translation work believe that translation should be 'faithful, expressive, and elegant' (Xin, Da, Ya). But foreign terms are increasing, and the content of old terms is also changing. This is a challenge for our Ministry of Commerce. I feel that the Ministry of Commerce cannot achieve 'faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance' in our field of work."

"'Faithful, expressive, and elegant.' Of course we can't achieve that. The purpose of this major translation effort is to provide services for China using simple, clear, and unambiguous translations. From our standpoint, we neither look up to nor look down upon others. Therefore, 'faithfulness' must be achieved. As for the latter two, we don't need to consider them for now. As long as there is no malice in the translation, it will suffice."

Li Chenggang paused for a moment; he hadn't thought about adding malice to translations, but he felt that He Rui's mention of it was likely not baseless. However, translation was just an unexpected topic. Li Chenggang simply nodded and continued with his own work. "Chairman, are we going to sign the grain purchase agreement with the United States?"

He Rui pulled his thoughts back to the matter at hand and asked: "You mentioned just now that Secretary Hull believes the US is using US market access to solve the world crisis. Does this man really understand what he is saying?"

Li Chenggang already had a basic judgment, so he replied: "Even if Hull only learned this concept from others, listening to what he said, I feel Hull at least knows what kind of concept he is articulating."

After speaking, Li Chenggang asked: "Does the Chairman want to see him?"

He Rui shook his head. "No time to see him."

The reason he didn't want to see Hull was that He Rui indeed had many things to do recently. China's nuclear weapons research had entered a new stage, and destroyer design had also entered a new phase. Time was precious right now, and Hull clearly didn't have a value that made meeting him imperative. Understanding that industrial nations need markets to absorb the productivity of other industrial nations was merely the level expected of a senior cabinet member.

As for Hull's statement that "The US is using the US market to solve the world crisis," which could be interpreted as a threat—implying that without the US market, China's economy would likely face problems—He Rui wasn't afraid in the slightest.

If the United States were truly as awesome as Hull claimed, how could the Great Depression have broken out? Moreover, it was the United States running to China seeking grain exports now, not China running to the United States seeking US acceptance of more Chinese exports.

"Minister Li, we will import at most 20 million tons of grain from the United States annually. Furthermore, the proportion of feed grain within that will become higher and higher. Although we may not necessarily reach this total volume, and the United States may not truly dare to be controlled by a major client like us, I am just telling you that this is our upper limit. As for the arrangement of export policies toward the US, that is the Ministry of Commerce's job."

Hearing He Rui define the grain import volume to this extent, Li Chenggang felt reassured. This figure had been worked out by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Population and Resources; Li Chenggang had heard it at State Council meetings. The first time he heard it, Li Chenggang was indeed frightened. But after calculating carefully, 20 million tons of grain is only 40 billion *jin*. With a population of 650 million, that's just over 61 *jin* per person. Compared to China's current grain production of over 200 million tons—heading straight for 300 million tons—it wasn't that significant.

Without importing these 20 million tons of grain, the Chinese people wouldn't starve. But without exporting these 20 million tons of grain, the losses the United States would suffer would be far greater than China's. This was also the basis for Li Chenggang's consistent composure when facing Secretary of State Hull.

"Chairman, I will take my leave then," Li Chenggang said.

After Li Chenggang left, He Rui continued to judge whether it was possible to achieve strategic mutual trust between China and the US. Based on Li Chenggang's report, the US high command had not lost its confidence yet. The US at this time had mountains of problems and a need to solve them; this era in America really seemed to be producing talent in large numbers.

As for how the US could solve its problems, He Rui knew the answer. History proved that the US upper echelons also knew how to solve the problems. That was to overthrow the Versailles system, get rid of Anglo-French hegemony, and establish a world economic system led by the United States. This system solved the market problems the US needed to solve and also achieved US world leadership.

He Rui's goal was not to target the United States, nor did he have any intention of maliciously targeting the US. It was just that this world is a material, realistic world, and the methods for solving problems are the same for everyone. A world economic system led by the US could solve the US's problems; China establishing a world economic system could also ensure China's future development. Two cars trying to squeeze onto the same road—only the country that reaches the finish line first can win. He Rui naturally hoped China would win.

However, He Rui felt that he really seemed to have improved quite a bit. Originally, He Rui always felt that if he didn't win every time, it meant he had lost. Now, thinking about the competition determining the fate of China and even the world, He Rui actually didn't have those anxious feelings of worrying about gains and losses.

There is no need to win every time; as long as China doesn't lose, there will always be opportunities. In this competition, the difficulty for China *not* to lose is not great. The cost required to maintain world hegemony is extremely high. The future strategy He Rui envisioned was not a plan for China to dominate the world. As long as China liberated Asia and obtained an economic system of free trade with countries around the world, it would count as not losing.

Of course, He Rui felt that such a "standard of not losing" would definitely be seen by the United States as China winning. China currently had a large market of nearly 900 million people. After liberating Asia, the total population of this market would reach 1.4 to 1.5 billion. With a global population of 2 billion now, possessing a large market accounting for 70% of the world's population and being able to trade fully with countries around the world—no matter how you looked at it, that was winning.

Thinking of this, He Rui stood up, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked to the window. The garden outside the window was already a riot of colors, but the brilliant purples and reds made He Rui feel a bit annoyed, so he walked back to his simple, empty seat and sat down. Without the influence of the scenery outside, He Rui's mood immediately calmed down again.

pondering the strategic relationship between China and the US again, He Rui couldn't feel optimistic no matter what. Both China and the US were great powers; great powers had immense endurance, and great powers were all quite aggressive in spirit. US industrial capacity had already grown to a level where it could not be digested without the world market. China's industrial capacity was likewise developing toward such astronomical figures.

In He Rui's original timeline, China even caused the WTO established by the United States to become ineffective. The core of the WTO system is a multilateral trade agreement. It is the organizational and legal foundation of the trade regime, the administrator of numerous trade agreements, the supervisor of member trade legislation, and a venue for resolving disputes and conducting negotiations.

Because China possesses the entire industrial spectrum of the world, and in very many important industrial categories possesses the world's most advanced level, any country trading with China can obtain all the goods and technologies it needs. Moreover, China does not demand possession of other countries' markets, but only demands free trade with that country. With China as this infinite supplier, the WTO system established by the US became useless, and the WTO naturally lost its function.

Of course, after this kind of victory, China was also very clear that China had to give other countries a way to make a living. So China had to place a part of the industrial chain abroad, allowing foreign countries to also gain benefits from trade with China. If China didn't do this, relying on sales of goods where China held absolute superiority, other countries would be sucked dry by China. Thus, an economic system centered on China was established quite naturally.

Correspondingly, the world economic system dominated by the US withered in sync with the development of China's world economic system.

"It seems... the struggle with the United States will be very fierce," He Rui muttered to himself. Although he used terms that quite glossed over the peace, He Rui's meaning was "War between China and the US is inevitable." Thinking of the flames of war igniting over the vast Pacific Ocean, He Rui couldn't help but give a bitter smile.

In his teenage years, He Rui used to face a globe, download topographical maps of various countries on his computer, and play games of ruling the country and conquering the world. At that time, "war" was just a game to He Rui, merely a synonym for victory and glory. Now, having launched two wars that mobilized millions of people, He Rui knew very well what war actually was. Even if a war on a grand scale would make He Rui a little excited, He Rui was not happy at all.

He Rui even hoped that the intensity of the war wouldn't be that high, so He Rui had his secretary call the Ministry of Education to inquire about the issue of recruiting foreign students. Soon, the secretary came back and told He Rui: "Chairman, the Ministry of Education asked if they could send someone to give a report to the Chairman."

He Rui nodded, but thought of the Minister of Education who had resigned, Zhou Shuren. It must be admitted that making Zhou Shuren the Minister of Education, while politically a gesture of goodwill to the so-called cultural circles, was a failed personnel arrangement from a work perspective. Zhou Shuren was a literary figure; his personal integrity and intelligence were fine. But Zhou Shuren did not have the ability to operate a modern education system. To put it more coldly, casually pulling a Lieutenant General with staff officer characteristics from the army to be Minister of Education would have resulted in better work than Zhou Shuren.

It wasn't that staff-type Lieutenant Generals from the current Republic of China National Defense Force possessed the abilities of educators, but that the core work of the Ministry of Education at this stage was to provide human resources educated in relevant fields to the required industries and sectors by formulating various education policies.

Zhou Shuren was good in every way, but essentially he was not a man of the industrial age, but a literati of the old era. China had already stepped over the threshold of industrialization; even a person as outstanding as him was destined to be unable to shoulder heavy responsibilities in the new era.

He sighed slightly in his heart, which counted as adjusting his mood. He Rui, having adjusted slightly, stood up and asked his secretary to arrange meetings with the Nuclear Physics Institute and the heads of the Navy.

On the other side, US Secretary of State Hull was also thinking about the progress of his trip to China. Although the various things encountered in between had exceeded Hull's assumptions before coming to China, Hull was quite calm. Up to now, Hull was certain that the objective of this trip—confirming that China would continue to purchase large amounts of grain—could be completed.

In this process, Hull gained a deeper understanding of the worldview and methodology of China's high-level officials. Unlike the view within the US that "Chinese people are atheists," the Chinese upper echelon was simply a group of materialists. That is to say, if Jehovah or Jesus really descended from the sky, appeared before the Chinese upper echelon, and displayed various miracles, the Chinese upper echelon would also admit the existence of Jehovah and Jesus.

Although Hull himself believed in God, Hull knew very well that Jehovah would absolutely not descend to the mortal world; that was something that would only happen at the end of the world. Hull certainly did not wish for the end of the world to arrive now.

China was not an atheist country as believed domestically in the US. As Secretary of State, Hull did not feel optimistic because of this. Compared to atheism which opposes the existence of God, the materialist attitude is more dangerous to religion. Opposing God, in a certain sense, is still considering problems using a theistic line of reasoning. Materialism, however, is a line of reasoning that completely breaks out of the theistic framework; whether "God" exists or not is merely a question within the materialist system. The materialist system is higher than God.

Humans are more prioritized and higher than God—this is the characteristic of a materialist country. Such a view was undoubtedly blasphemy against the gods in Hull's eyes. But in the eyes of materialists, if there is not even proof of the gods' existence, how can there be any talk of blasphemy?

Hull's education since childhood contained two important elements: believe in God, and hate the British. Now Hull discovered that perhaps one more item should be added: loathe the Chinese.

But no matter what Secretary of State Hull thought, he knew he was a public servant, and a public servant's job is not to serve God, but to serve the realistic interests of the United States. He probably wouldn't see He Rui this time, and the work for this stage was already mostly completed; what needed to be considered next was how to give China an explanation. Since China would continue to import large amounts of US grain, the US also had to consider how to let China earn money from the US market. If the US government didn't let China earn the money to pay for the US grain, China would refuse to buy grain from the US.

At this stage, although Roosevelt had considered gradually lowering tariffs, the US economic situation was still terrible. Rashly opening up imports would be very harmful to the Roosevelt administration.

That meant Hull now had to do his best to obtain China's understanding of the Roosevelt administration, so that China would import from the US first. Hull asked his secretary to make a cup of coffee; he needed to perk up.

The bitter taste of the strong coffee was indeed very refreshing. Hull thought for a while and found that the idea initially proposed by the Chinese State Council was actually the best method. If the US did not increase trade volume with China, then it would have to accept RMB payments. That is, at this stage, the US government would hold onto the RMB first, and spend the RMB later by importing goods from China. Or exchange these RMB for other currencies in the international market.

Currently, the only country in Europe and America with an RMB overseas settlement center was France. If the US did this, it would be equivalent to adding bricks and tiles to the Frenchmen's Franc system... It really made one angry!

Hull couldn't make the decision on this kind of matter. Thinking of the long 3-day flight, Hull suddenly felt it wasn't unacceptable. Getting back to Washington after tossing about on a plane for 3 days—this speed was actually quite fast. So Secretary of State Hull bravely challenged his limits again and booked a flight ticket.

This flight was on a Chinese plane. Before departure, Secretary of State Hull also accepted a small gift from Chinese Foreign Minister Li Shiguang: headphones with rubber plugs. Once these headphones were put on, they really blocked out the outside vibrations to a great extent. Providing music for the headphones was a cassette player the size of a large tome.

Although this cassette player was heavy, it was portable. Most importantly, what drove this device was not a power plug, but 6 dry cell batteries. In this era, dry cell batteries were not cheap goods, but for the United States, dry cell batteries were nothing.

The tapes provided by Minister Li Shiguang included Chinese opera, Chinese pop music, and foreign music. Initially, what came out of the headphones was the sound of symphonies. This grand music was indeed effective in resisting the roar inside the aircraft cabin. Afterward, it was opera again.

After enduring the bombardment of these sounds for more than ten hours, Secretary Hull felt exhausted. He started listening to Chinese music. That brisk and graceful music was full of Chinese sentiment. Secretary of State Hull soon fell asleep, and even the roar inside the plane couldn't wake him.

Gifts from foreign officials received by the Secretary of State had to be reported to the state. When Secretary of State Hull returned to Washington, he filled out the documents according to regulations. But Secretary of State Hull had already made a decision: if he returned to China, he would buy a Chinese-made cassette player with his own money. If he couldn't go in the short term, he would mail-order one. Just consider it as balancing Sino-US trade a bit, and also making travel a little more relaxing.