In the 21st century, the principles of an atomic bomb using fission could be found with a casual internet search. If one encountered big shots keen on collecting data, one could even obtain quite a few theoretical design blueprints.

He Rui had basically thought through how to respond to the nuclear physics institute experts' questions regarding the source of the design concepts, but by the end of the meeting, the experts hadn't asked. They merely reported the recent progress of various technologies with great excitement. It was evident that with the preliminary completion of the theoretical research and verification tests for nuclear weapons, the experts no longer harbored doubts about nuclear fission weapons. The remaining work was simply a matter of how to complete it.

Possessing nuclear weapons meant China possessed the qualifications to participate in the battle for global leadership. Seeing the experts' excitement, He Rui felt truly moved. Achieving nuclear weapons fifteen years after the founding of New China, and subsequently gradually restoring the Republic's international status, was by no means a windfall from the heavens, but something achieved through strength.

The goal He Rui had set for himself was also to complete nuclear weapons within fifteen years of liberation. In this timeline, China's national environment was superior; if it couldn't be done, it would only prove that He Rui and the Civilization Party definitely had problems.

At this time, on the surface of the Yellow Sea, a dilapidated warship was sailing slowly with a formation. Viewed from the front, the warship's bow had broken off; the prow that should have been able to cleave the waves was missing without a trace. The watertight compartments ensured the warship could continue sailing on the sea, but the bow-less warship looked both pitiful and ridiculous.

The vessels deployed this time were all destroyers, with speeds capable of reaching 30 knots. Because of this damaged warship dragging them down, the formation's speed was only about 8 knots; for a destroyer squadron, this wasn't much different from a turtle's crawl.

On the Chinese and Japanese warships in the formation, both Chinese naval personnel and Japanese naval officers were discussing the matter. Any naval officer could easily see what had happened. Insufficient hull strength had led to the bow breaking off. This Chinese warship was a cutting-edge destroyer, employing all the latest technology China currently possessed. For such a problem to occur, the reliability of the new technology naturally became the focal point of discussion.

At this moment, the fleet received a telegram; aircraft from the Chinese Naval Air Force would participate in the escort. Two hours later, several aircraft indeed flew into the airspace above the naval "formation." The planes began to circle, conducting the escort mission according to regulations.

On the plane were not only naval aviation personnel but also Yamamoto Isoroku and Yamaguchi Tamon. Looking down from above, every warship in the neatly arranged fleet dragged a long white wake, which looked quite aesthetic from high altitude. However, after the plane lowered its altitude, one could see that the warship with the broken bow was positioned exactly in the center, its wretched appearance truly causing one to sigh.

Yamaguchi Tamon watched for a moment before withdrawing his gaze. "Judging from its current sailing, this ship's condition is quite good, isn't it?"

Yamamoto Isoroku gave a light chuckle. "Yamaguchi-kun is firmly convinced that He-kun's ideas will not waver."

Yamaguchi Tamon had intended to discuss the issue of a warship's sailing speed under damaged conditions. He felt that since things were already like this, it would be best to test what the maximum speed of the warship could be after the bow broke off. Hearing that Yamamoto Isoroku actually wanted to discuss whether to persist with new technologies, Yamaguchi Tamon's face immediately showed displeasure. "Yamamoto-kun, if we give up just because we encounter some problems, then there is no need for us to build aircraft carriers, nor is there a need to adopt aircraft carrier tactics. Where are there new things that don't have problems?"

Seeing that Yamaguchi Tamon seemed to have misunderstood his meaning, Yamamoto Isoroku didn't want to explain, simply remaining silent with a grin.

Yamaguchi Tamon quickly figured it out as well. Yamamoto Isoroku was now the deputy leader of the Chinese side of the China-Japan Navy Liaison Group. Whether the Japanese Ministry of Defense's views on the navy were conservative or not couldn't affect Yamamoto Isoroku. In any case, the Chinese navy was absolutely not conservative, and was extremely patient. Yamaguchi Tamon bowed his head slightly. "Yamamoto-kun, I apologize. That was not what I meant."

Yamamoto Isoroku replied magnanimously, "It is nothing. I hear that attitudes within the Japanese military are now severely polarized. Regardless of which attitude it is, they have lost their fighting spirit."

Yamaguchi Tamon felt surprised that this fellow Yamamoto had suddenly become so serious. "Lost their fighting spirit"... it was thanks to Yamamoto that he could use such euphemistic words to describe the current attitude within the Japanese military.

In recent years, Yamamoto had been teaching in China, cultivating Chinese naval talent, and rarely returned to Japan. The aircraft carrier project Yamaguchi Tamon was engaged in required him to run back and forth between China and Japan, so he could naturally feel the gap between the two countries more keenly. The Chinese military was systematically making preparations to challenge the Versailles system, while the Japanese military was relatively confused about who the enemy was.

The consensus driving the Japanese revolution was that if Japan continued its previous strategy of expansionism, it would fall into a state of total economic collapse and unspeakable suffering for the people. Moreover, even if the Japanese people endured with immense pain, Japan could not win a war. It was only when driven to such a desperate impasse that the Japanese revolution occurred.

After the success of the revolution, the Japanese economy recovered rapidly. By 1933, the Japanese economy had surpassed the highest level before the revolution. This gave the ruling Mirai-sha (Future Society) sufficient legitimacy, and also caused the Japanese upper crust, who had been forced to unite out of fear and anger, to differentiate rapidly.

This differentiation, when manifested in the military, presented itself in the Japanese military's definition of "the enemy." Current Japanese military personnel had all suffered defeats at He Rui's hands, and more or less harbored some grievances. However, officers who considered China the enemy were a considerable minority in the military, and this view held little influence.

Most Japanese naval personnel believed the "Anglo-American devils" were the enemy. The Army, on the other hand, believed the "Euro-American devils" were the enemy. Regardless of which it was, a state of having the will but not the strength had emerged. With Japan's power, it was insufficient to confront any enemy. The one who could truly confront Europe and America, or Britain and America, was China, whose national power far exceeded Japan's.

For Japan, standing behind China, was it to passively provide auxiliary war support to China, eating meat while Japan drank soup afterwards? Or was it to actively participate in the war China would launch, striking Japan's enemies together with China?

Discerning people in Japan knew this was a test Japan could not escape. Precisely because no one could escape, the Japanese nature was highlighted. The feudal culture, ingrained to the bone due to weak strength, did not naturally disappear just because the Emperor and the dignitaries had been revolutionized. Most Japanese adults displayed an attitude of fence-sitting; they believed that since China was confronting the enemy, why shouldn't Japan shrink behind China and watch the show?

There were even some good-for-nothing fellows who thought that if China found its strength insufficient in a future war, Japan might even be able to ally with China's enemies and stab it in the back...

The revelation of this national character infuriated the clear-headed people in Japan, who wrote books fiercely criticizing Japan's national inferiority and attempted to use He Rui as a blueprint to explain to the Japanese people what noble qualities were. But this effort had not been going on for long, and no results were visible for the time being.

Yet among the Japanese naval personnel Yamaguchi Tamon came into contact with, there were not many with a true enterprising spirit. Although there weren't too many fence-sitters, most Japanese naval personnel held a skeptical attitude towards war, believing the Anglo-American devils actually dared not launch an attack on East Asia, so they should wait and see.

For the past two years, Yamamoto Isoroku had been propagating his view within the Japanese military and even the Chinese military: Britain and America would definitely launch a war against China again. Because after the rise of East Asia, the entire whole of Asia would be influenced by China and begin to seek liberation. This kind of national liberation was something Britain and America could not withstand. Therefore, Britain and America would definitely launch an attack on China, attempting to strangle the liberation cause of the Asian people.

Although up to now, the Japanese military did not really agree with this view, Yamamoto's attitude had not changed. He simply informed his colleagues in the Japanese military that the time had not yet come; before long, they would see Britain and America rapidly expanding their military preparations.

Yamamoto Isoroku knew that the group of conservatives Yamaguchi Tamon criticized might not actually be conservative. They were simply Japanese officers who had no confidence in war. And Yamamoto Isoroku also felt that these people indeed embodied Japan's national inferiority; when Japan could dare to be the first in the world, the national inferiority of the Japanese race caused these people to actually shrink back. Japan loved to gamble on national destiny too much, rather than truly creating the general trend. Because creating the general trend required a spirit of daring sacrifice, whereas Japan only had the mood for adventure; as soon as they saw the future beginning to slip out of control, they would immediately give up.

...Shameful! Truly a shameful national character!

Yamaguchi Tamon was also angry enough inside. He looked out the plane's porthole again and saw the Chinese warship with the broken bow stubbornly continuing its return voyage. The Chinese naval personnel on board were definitely doing their utmost to control the ship's trajectory under this unprecedented situation; this would require expending far more energy and physical strength than usual. If it were the Japanese Navy, these naval personnel might face a deluge of verbal and written attacks after returning to port.

The warship was not built or designed by the naval officers on board; there was no reason to let these naval personnel at the execution level take the blame. The most reasonable approach was to find the person responsible and hold them accountable. The servicemen operating the warship, remaining calm and composed in the face of such an accident and dealing with the emergency with all their might, deserved commendation.

The ship with the problem before them was a Chinese naval vessel, so the Chinese naval personnel would receive the treatment they deserved without worrying about being made scapegoats. But if it were changed to the Japanese Navy, it really was hard to say.

Withdrawing his gaze, Yamaguchi Tamon found a topic that made him happy. "Yamamoto-kun, do you think this type of destroyer, with air defense and anti-submarine warfare as its main objectives, can represent the future development direction of the navy?"

Yamamoto Isoroku answered without hesitation, "Although the new ship-to-ship attack methods have not yet been determined, the combat method of warship-to-warship shelling is no longer the future direction of naval development. Since ancient times, naval battles have always revolved around shipping lanes and unfolded near land. It is impossible for two fleets to conduct a naval battle in the center of an ocean far from land. And these battlefields are all within the operational range of the air force. Under the trade-offs, air defense and anti-submarine warfare are indeed more important combat objectives for current destroyers."

Yamaguchi Tamon nodded repeatedly. The main gun on this damaged Chinese destroyer was a twin 75mm rapid-fire gun; in terms of past naval warfare, this main gun could be said to be extremely weak. But this destroyer had eight twin anti-aircraft guns, as well as depth charge throwers targeting submarines. Even if the Japanese Navy recognized the future direction, the Japanese Navy just couldn't truly make a thorough change. This was where the problem that exasperated Yamaguchi Tamon lay.

Just as Yamaguchi expected, when the damaged Chinese warship returned to Dalian Port two days later, He Rui's figure was surprisingly among the crowd welcoming the officers and men. After the naval officers and men disembarked, He Rui personally gave them a verbal commendation. At the same time, a large number of technical personnel immediately boarded the ship for inspection to determine exactly what caused the bow to break off this time.

He Rui wasn't angry at all. At this stage, the Chinese Navy's enthusiasm for building frigates wasn't high; the combat effectiveness of those small warships just over 1,000 tons was limited. Destroyers of 2,800 tons were the most valuable "small" warships at this stage. These warships were launched two at a time. This voyage was an exercise entering the North Pacific waters through the wind-swept and wave-tossed Tsugaru Strait. The warship manufactured by the Dalian Shipyard had a problem, while the one manufactured by the Jiangnan Shipyard did not. This had to be investigated clearly—why was it so?

This inspection would take some time. He Rui came this time also to reduce the pressure on the Dalian Shipyard, not to lecture people. Six warships of this model had already been built; the other four warships of the same model would follow the same route, passing through the Tsugaru Strait again to enter the North Pacific waters for exercises.

Hearing this news, Yamaguchi Tamon felt even more depressed. This was indeed He Rui's style, and a style the Japanese naval upper echelons did not possess.

Of course, Yamaguchi Tamon didn't know that He Rui's attention was not entirely focused on this matter. Even in Dalian, He Rui spent more time paying attention to the "Hundred Days" brought about by US President Roosevelt.

Unlike the small-government policy Hoover inherited from Coolidge—that is, the policy of government indulgence towards the economy—Roosevelt made the US federal government a more combat-effective organization. Through massive government intervention, he ran the US economy.

Although Roosevelt was called a "communist" by some, Roosevelt himself had great confidence in the American capitalist system. He believed the most important problem at the moment lay in economic confidence, financial confidence. So Roosevelt's Hundred Days started with financial confidence.

The first step was to solve the banking crisis by introducing the *Emergency Banking Act*. On March 9, 1933, just five days after Roosevelt took office, the Emergency Banking Act was quickly approved on the day it was submitted. The bill promised that the Federal Reserve would back the banks, effectively giving the banks a 100% deposit insurance. All banks closed immediately, entering a bank holiday. During this period, all business was prohibited, and the US entered a cashless society. The government needed to re-examine these banks; those qualified would reopen. These qualified banks would ensure the safety of the public's deposits.

Next were the currency and gold issues. in April 1933, Roosevelt issued a gold ban, requiring US citizens to sell their gold to the state before May 1st (or 10th), at an exchange price of $20.67 per ounce. After this day, private possession of gold would be an illegal act. Simultaneously, the export of gold was banned to ensure the state had enough gold to support the dollar. Subsequently, the US also abandoned the gold standard. From then on, the dollar and gold abandoned a fixed exchange rate, switching to a floating exchange rate. The dollar was devalued against gold in one go to a price of $35 per ounce, giving the government a degree of freedom to print money.

After the combination of punches was thrown, by mid-April, large amounts of gold returned to the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. Confidence in the dollar was restored with the support of gold, and following the banks, the monetary order also gradually recovered.

And in the news He Rui received, the US FBI and the IRS really did raid many locations where gold was privately stored, using the weapons in their hands for physical correction.

Those federal agents, holding Remingtons, would first knock violently on the door, shouting "FBI! Open the door!" After shouting, regardless of the reaction of the people inside, they would immediately break the door and enter. Once inside, they would start rummaging through chests and cupboards looking for gold. If they found it, they would immediately confiscate it and take the Americans who violated the decree away with them. If they didn't find it, they would immediately take the people away, and paste seals on these broken doors, announcing that these families had violated federal law.

Americans had always shouted that "bearing arms is to oppose government tyranny." This kind of propaganda clearly belonged to the category of "shouting about whatever is missing." Faced with violence, the American people had always been extremely docile. Only when facing the weak would the American people display that side more cruel and savage than beasts.

First restore financial confidence and ensure banks could continue to operate; next was to deal with the financiers.

Next was securities. Roosevelt simultaneously began investigating various violations on Wall Street during the Great Depression, finding a large amount of fraud and related-party transactions, and proposed the introduction of the *Securities Act*. The SEC was formally established to begin implementing supervision over the securities industry. The chairman of the SEC was appointed by the government. Ironically, the position of the first SEC chairman was given to Old Kennedy, who had supported his campaign all the way. In reality, it was still Wall Street regulating itself. The stock market began to bottom out and rebound starting in 1933, and the situation began to gradually improve.

In terms of agriculture, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration was established to moderately regulate the prices of agricultural products through purchasing, providing subsidies and guarantees for farmers. This was also why Secretary of State Hull was sent to China to seek a major grain customer.

In terms of industry, the *National Industrial Recovery Act* was implemented in 1933. Massive infrastructure construction was launched to restore employment, while at the same time allowing the existence of chamber of commerce price alliances to a certain extent, protecting the prices of industrial products and stimulating industrial recovery, thereby creating more jobs. Because this bill allowed price alliances, it was considered to encourage monopoly. However, it still played a certain positive role in the early stages of recovery; industrial products produced still needed purchasing power.

In restoring the people's consumption ability, through a series of laws and regulations, Roosevelt finally established a social security system in the US. At that time, the US was the only developed country without a social security system. After that, he used the *National Labor Relations Act* to ensure a minimum hourly wage, the 8-hour workday, etc. These systems, which had long existed on paper, could be truly implemented to protect the interests of workers.

He Rui was paying attention to the execution of Roosevelt's New Deal precisely to determine if there was still any possibility of cooperation with the United States.