Zheng Silang listened to He Rui explaining the world order China intended to establish to a group of lieutenant generals, feeling that the resistance in his heart had become very faint. This would have been unimaginable in the past, but now it seemed logical and natural.

In He Rui's political philosophy, the world needs to progress together, and advanced nations should even provide "fiscal transfers" to backward regions within the new order. At least a few years ago, Zheng Silang felt that He Rui's views were simply baffling. If He Rui hadn't launched the Sino-Japanese War and the Sino-British War, thrashing Japan and Britain, Zheng Silang would have suspected that He Rui had suffered some trauma and was mentally unstable.

But the current Zheng Silang no longer thought this way. Over the past few years, Zheng Silang had personally inspected the development of Upper Myanmar and Assam. He had also spoken in depth with the retired Han Haiquan and Li Runshi, the former Deputy Secretary of the Civilization Party's Upper Myanmar region, confirming that He Rui's policies were indeed highly effective.

When Britain colonized the Myanmar region, their policy was plunder. As He Rui said, the predatory policies of colonialism meant that Upper Myanmar couldn't even maintain a medium-level economic model. With a low-level economic model, output was very low. Upper Myanmar and Assam produced little, and the local people lived bitter lives. This suffering triggered constant resistance from the locals, which in turn caused the cost of British rule to rise continuously.

Under a low-level economic model with limited output, as long as the British tax farmers couldn't successfully collect taxes in kind, the cost of British colonial rule would skyrocket. Moreover, during the Sino-British War, although many local masses were vigilant against the Chinese army, they were happy to see the Chinese army thrash the British troops and provided cooperation and help within a limited scope. This seemingly small help actually had a huge impact on the British forces. When the ANZAC corps was put on trial, most of the captured ANZAC officers argued that the reason they killed people was because the Burmese locals were essentially acting as spies for China, so the ANZAC killings were not massacres, but legitimate military actions against spies.

After Upper Myanmar and Assam were integrated into the China-led economic system, the economic mode of the local people quickly shifted from a state of being plundered to a state of normal trade. To obtain better returns, the local people worked hard, and their incomes rose rapidly. Myanmar's tropical crops sold well within the East Asia + Soviet Union economic sphere, and Assam black tea was sold all over the world, even establishing its own brands.

China provided not only institutional help, including state ownership of land, but also production technology. The production efficiency of the local people improved rapidly, incomes rose, and the demand for industrial products exploded. The hundreds of thousands of locals with rising living standards were a market in themselves, not to mention the two or three million Chinese people who had gone to work in Upper Myanmar and Assam. The originally impoverished Chinese people earned incomes several times, or even ten times, higher than back home, which also solved a small part of China's domestic economic pressure. And this increase in income was achieved not by plunder, but by developing productive forces.

Adding together the Chinese immigrants and the local people of Myanmar and Assam, nearly ten million people had obtained better lives under the new economic order, proving that He Rui's design for the world's new economic model was completely feasible.

The influence of this change was much greater than Zheng Silang had imagined. Zheng Silang was now the head of the General Logistics Department. Before China's aircraft carriers had even begun construction, the problem of teak decks had already been solved. And the solution was not the savage exploitation and "draining the pond to get the fish" method used by the British. China conducted research on the growth of teak in Myanmar and surveyed the teak resources. Furthermore, they established forestry farms for planting teak.

Teak takes at least fifty years to mature. Even though China was cultivating teak saplings, the planting of artificial forests was just beginning. But this production efficiency was far higher than the natural reproduction of teak. In a few decades, teak would enter the market continuously. Precisely because of such long-term planning and investment, teak prices did not experience boom and bust cycles. Although the price rose somewhat, it remained within an acceptable range.

If China had not adopted the new economic model but instead used imperialist policies, given China's huge demand, the price of teak would have skyrocketed. Price hikes would lead to predatory exploitation, teak resources would shrink due to savage logging, which would in turn cause teak prices to skyrocket further.

In addition to teak prices, China also opened up plantations for tropical crops like palm, sugarcane, rubber, and sisal in Upper Myanmar. Because the minimum purchase price for agricultural products and the minimum wage system protecting farm workers were strictly enforced locally, the income of these farms increased rapidly. This, in turn, allowed local farms to have money to buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and to hire technicians to solve problems related to increasing crop yields and dealing with pests and diseases.

This provided employment opportunities for Chinese technicians. Those graduates who had studied hard in vocational schools found places to display their talents and earned more income. This also allowed the surplus rural population to be released. As the population decreased, the tense human-land contradiction in the Southwest region was relieved. After accumulating experience, these technicians could in turn help the people of the Southwest region plant crops like rubber and palm on the mountains, increasing the income of the local people.

Now, many materials needed by the army, such as rubber and rigging, had begun to be produced domestically. Even if the output could not yet meet demand, at least the problem of existence had been solved. Once a future war broke out, China would certainly face a trade embargo for a short time. Domestic demand would continue to operate because of these production capacities, and production would not immediately be interrupted.

In order to better transport materials out of the Southwest region, the state also began to increase investment in infrastructure construction in the Southwest. This pulled the development of the Southwest economy, so much so that the once incredibly fierce conflict between locals and migrants in the Southwest calmed down significantly. Although the means to quell the local-migrant conflict were quite bloody—local tyrants who once ruled their own fiefs were arrested, and tens of thousands of fierce criminals were publicly executed—this killing was not done to establish authority. Every person executed or sentenced was tried publicly; their crimes were not fabricated, but proven through open and legitimate legal processes.

Although the local people feared the thunderous methods of the new government, they also clearly knew that these criminals were executed for participating in murder and highway robbery. After this group of people was executed, the most direct feeling of the people in the Southwest was that when they passed near another village, they no longer worried about being killed by people rushing out suddenly. The government's thunderous methods not only did not terrify the local people but instead won their support. The number of locals participating in infrastructure construction increased dozens of times over, while robbery and theft of infrastructure materials plummeted, causing infrastructure costs to crash.

To this day, Zheng Silang still had no feelings for foreigners. If China adopted imperialist policies towards the outside world, Zheng Silang wouldn't feel it was inappropriate. But in terms of reason, Zheng Silang truly believed that the new model proposed by He Rui was indeed more beneficial to China's economic development.

Listening to the questions raised by the lieutenant generals and He Rui's answers, Zheng Silang felt that these guys were like elementary school students. He, having followed He Rui for a longer time and having more opportunities to communicate directly with He Rui, had really passed this stage of not understanding the principles. Moreover, these were economic and political issues. Zheng Silang felt it was completely understandable that generals who focused on military research had naive ideas about this.

Wu Peifu did not know the thoughts of Zheng Silang, the Minister of General Logistics, because Zheng Silang remained silent, and Wu Peifu didn't pay any attention to him. Unlike Zheng Silang, Wu Peifu had not been in contact with specific national economic data, nor had he participated in economic construction. Even though Wu Peifu was knowledgeable and experienced in the old era, in his exchanges with He Rui, Wu Peifu only sensed a brand-new train of thought, a line of thinking that seemed paradoxical to him.

On the contrary, a theater commander like Yu Cen could better understand this theoretical knowledge. After listening for a while, Yu Cen was quite touched. The military's operations were not just about protecting the country, but also about realizing the country's policies.

As a soldier, Yu Cen's job was how to fight the enemy. The better domestic industry developed, the better the army's equipment would be, and the more sufficient the supplies. So, logically, Yu Cen naturally accepted the concept that the army served the country and the people. But this also made Yu Cen's thinking regarding foreign wars relatively conservative and passive.

Although he couldn't yet fully grasp the relationship between active offense and the world order, Yu Cen felt that his thinking had been greatly expanded.

The meeting lasted for most of the day, and He Rui felt a bit tired. The overall effect was okay; at least the lieutenant generals were not a bunch of hot-headed imperialists. After the meeting ended, He Rui recalled the proceedings and suddenly understood what his feeling during the meeting actually was.

The feeling given by the current military generals reminded He Rui of reading the memoirs of German generals from World War II. Although it is a historical norm for the living to push all responsibility onto the dead, the memoirs of WWII German generals were considered by He Rui in his youth to be stories of a bunch of despicable guys making excuses for themselves. The most famous among them was Manstein's memoir. Chinese netizens gave this memoir the nickname "The Art of Pot-Throwing" (The Art of Shifting Blame).

But at least the current Chinese National Defense Force generals already had the professionalism of career officers. Military war was a field of knowledge for them. In other words, the Chinese National Defense Force could be seen as a group of science and engineering men ("tech bros"). And they weren't even science men from Junker noble backgrounds. That is to say, even if this group was bad, they couldn't be that bad. Science men had at least one advantage: they had great respect for objective laws.

Compared to the science men, the aura of a literati on Wu Peifu was very obvious. He Rui felt that since he had started making such comparisons, he might as well try to find someone from the Nazis who felt relatively similar. After thinking about it, the name Ribbentrop popped up.

He Rui wasn't quite sure if Wu Peifu was really qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as Ribbentrop. After the Nazi defeat, because Ribbentrop knew too much dirt on Britain, the Soviet Union, and even the United States, the Allies wanted Ribbentrop dead. Of course, there were other views, thinking that since Ribbentrop knew so much, the Allies might have wanted to spare him in exchange for him keeping his mouth shut.

He Rui personally leaned towards the view that the Allies wanted Ribbentrop dead. But what was truly admirable about Ribbentrop was that facing trial, he not only didn't shift the blame at all but declared impassionedly, "I fully supported Hitler's philosophy and strategy, and unremittingly promoted his policies."

When the judge asked Ribbentrop for his opinion on Hitler, Ribbentrop replied: "If Hitler appeared here now and said to me, 'Do it!', I would still follow him without hesitation." This feeling, similar to blind loyalty, was very similar to Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu was extremely loyal to his "Big Brother" Cao Kun.

Thinking of this, He Rui couldn't help but sigh. The current Wu Peifu hadn't done anything to harm the common people, so he was spared. But in future military operations, who knew if this guy would pull some stunt.

Just as he was thinking, the secretary walked in. "Chairman, Minister Zheng requests an audience."

Soon, Zheng Silang appeared before He Rui. He sat opposite He Rui. "Chairman, I've read Minister Zhou's book. I find his views very strange. Why does he have such a big reaction to the arrest of a few literati?"

"The understanding of an industrialized government by literati is different from that of science students," He Rui answered decisively. If possible, He Rui didn't want to mention the essay "Theory of Friendly Nations' Surprise" written by Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun). This wasn't because Zhou Shuren's criticism was directed at He Rui personally. He Rui didn't care about criticism from others; for someone who had commanded millions of troops in battle, such things had long since ceased to be a consideration.

He Rui just didn't want guys like Zhou Shuren to suffer unnecessary shocks. To avoid China's foreign wars degenerating into an imperialist war for hegemony, ideological mobilization and the establishment of clearer concepts were necessary domestically. This was a struggle in the realm of thought, and the result of the struggle would cause some people to be impacted.

Zhou Shuren's "Theory of Friendly Nations' Surprise" represented the patriotism of the literati, and literati were prone to believing that there were "bad people" in the government, which was why some unpleasant actions were carried out. For example, the government had cracked down on some individuals who expressed radical views. Zhou Shuren believed that these people were not wrong to attack European and American countries, as those countries had committed crimes against humanity.

But the situation He Rui saw was different. Those people were not opposing crimes against humanity, but were trying to realize their ideas, or at least vent their emotions, by inciting hatred. And these guys who were being "tapped" (warned/punished) were using the expression of opposition to anti-human behavior as a means, not an end.

One can only judge people by their deeds, not their hearts. So the purpose of the "tapping" was to let this bunch know that they wouldn't be treated as "one of us" just because they shouted a few slogans. But this approach was interpreted as opposing domestic nationalist tendencies.

As a government, sometimes it is this helpless. Some things simply cannot be said, because if the government stated the true reasons, the result wouldn't be clarifying the issue, but would instead make the guys being warned targets of public criticism, directly getting them killed.

It was obvious that Zheng Silang hadn't thought that much. After hearing He Rui's evaluation of Zhou Shuren, he said somewhat unhappily, "Is the Chairman just going to let Zhou Shuren off like this?"

He Rui knew that Zheng Silang wasn't narrow-minded, but that didn't mean he was a casual person. If Zheng Silang felt there was a problem with Zhou Shuren, he would handle it with a touch of "Jianghu" style (vigilante justice).

If Zheng Silang privately made things difficult for Zhou Shuren, He Rui couldn't pretend not to see it. Out of necessity, He Rui explained his views to Zheng Silang in full detail. Zheng Silang listened very seriously, his expression changing several times. After He Rui finished, Zheng Silang remained silent for a good while before saying, "Chairman, I know I was wrong. I will never think about getting involved in these matters again."

He Rui felt that if Zheng Silang could really do what he said, that would be great. One doesn't fear a lack of good deeds, but a lack of good people. If everyone could refrain from overstepping their bounds, the world would have far fewer troubles. At this moment, He Rui could only temporarily trust Zheng Silang. "Silang, nationalism is a double-edged sword. Its positive significance is maximized when the country is invaded. But when the situation is not dangerous, the less positive parts of nationalism will appear. To limit the negative effects of nationalism, we can only rely on education and realistic warnings. I don't want everyone to get hurt; such harm is meaningless."

Zheng Silang pondered after listening, and a moment later asked tentatively, "Chairman, if we start a war to liberate the world, will this kind of criticism decrease a bit?"

He Rui shook his head. "If someone trumpets the legitimacy of China conquering the world, is there any essential difference between that and criticizing us for not being nationalist enough? The key is to establish a better world order, not to listen to others' comments."

Zheng Silang fell silent for longer this time. It was evident that he was touched inwardly. Finally, Zheng Silang said, "Chairman, I can't grasp these things either. I can only say that in the future, I will absolutely not mix in these matters."

"Thank you, Silang. I am very glad you chose this way," He Rui sighed sincerely.

Ideological education in the army proceeded step by step, and by the end of 1933, this round of education basically concluded. Although more than a dozen officers were sent to the Party School for study, the overall impact was not significant. On the contrary, the request to visit China from Ribbentrop, who had been promoted to German Foreign Minister, caught He Rui's attention.

Ribbentrop's visit definitely meant that the "Little Mustache" (Hitler) wanted to rope in China. He Rui didn't want to have any dealings with the "Little Mustache's" regime. Although engaging in private maneuvers might seem to solve a lot of things, He Rui believed there was no need for that. Because when it came to playing little tricks, the "Little Mustache" was an expert.

But after thinking it over, He Rui finally decided to meet Ribbentrop. If he couldn't get some cooperation from the Nazi regime, China wouldn't be able to invite some outstanding German scientific and technical personnel to China. When it came to punishing people, the German Nazis were truly ruthless. In German culture, there really wasn't a tradition of "leaving a line in life so that we can meet on good terms in the future" (burning bridges).