Ribbentrop took the list but did not look at it. This was not because he dared to treat China with such arrogance, but because his status within the core circle of the Nazi Party was relatively low, and he had no authority to make decisions regarding personnel matters. Ribbentrop had come to seek the possibility of economic cooperation between China and Germany. He asked, "Chairman, is China not worried that Russia will form a pressure on China after it becomes powerful?"

After saying this, Ribbentrop observed He Rui, only to find that there was absolutely no unease in He Rui's expression. Instead, He Rui was scrutinizing him with a steady gaze. This was not the kind of scrutiny that sought to probe Ribbentrop's thoughts, but rather a scrutiny like a teacher examining a student. This condescending posture was not feigned; it naturally emanated from within.

Ribbentrop was very sensitive. After enduring it for a few seconds, he couldn't help but probe, "Has the Chairman heard of me?"

He thought He Rui would deny it, but unexpectedly, He Rui nodded. Ribbentrop was even more surprised and laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly, "I imagine those rumors are not friendly towards me."

He Rui shook his head. "I heard that you are full of passion, hope to achieve some great deeds, and have found someone you are willing to follow."

"Are those rumors not about my personal history?" Ribbentrop was very puzzled.

He Rui found this fellow Ribbentrop quite interesting. However, outsiders on the fringe of the high-level circles attempting to enter the inner sanctum always had such hesitation. He replied, "In China, there is a saying: 'A hero is not asked about his origins.' Mr. Ribbentrop, I do not care how you obtained your wealth or your noble title. The true value of a life is not in those things, but in what you yourself can actually achieve."

Ribbentrop sensed no malice in He Rui's expression, which surprised him greatly. In 1920, Ribbentrop had married Annelies Henkell, the daughter of the German champagne magnate Otto Henkell, and began to step into high society. In 1925, Ribbentrop was adopted by his aunt who held a noble title, thereby acquiring the aristocratic prefix to his surname. This was one of the reasons why the European upper class looked down on Ribbentrop.

Another part of the reason was Ribbentrop's worship of Hitler. On May 1, 1932, Ribbentrop joined the Nazi Party. Within a year, he became a member of the Reichstag, an SS Colonel, and Hitler's foreign policy advisor. Ribbentrop's luxurious villa on the outskirts of Berlin became the ideal venue for the secret meetings Hitler held in January 1933 to organize his first cabinet.

First, he obtained wealth and status through women, then used this wealth and status to curry favor with Hitler, becoming a high-ranking official in Germany in a short time. In Europe or China, the upper class would naturally look down on Ribbentrop.

Seeing that He Rui actually seemed to appreciate him very much, Ribbentrop truly could not hold back and asked again, "Chairman, do you think Germany's national movement can succeed?"

"What is your standard for success?" He Rui asked.

With the topic turning back to this, Ribbentrop suddenly calmed down. Just now, he felt that He Rui did not consider the Soviet Union to be any pressure at all. This reaction surprised Ribbentrop. He had discussed the threat of the Soviet Union with high-level personnel from countries like Britain and Poland. Unlike He Rui's calm reaction, the upper echelons of those two countries clearly showed vigilance against the Soviet Union.

Ribbentrop was certain that He Rui could not be fearless out of ignorance. The reason for such a reaction was probably that He Rui truly did not fear the Soviet Union, and even less so Russia.

Such a reaction made things somewhat difficult for Ribbentrop. His method in the diplomatic field was to gain the other party's support by inciting fear. For example, Ribbentrop's goal was to make Britain accept the reality of Germany's military expansion. The specific method was to propagandize the Russian threat to Britain, and to preach that if France became the hegemon of Europe, Britain's policy of continental balance of power would completely fail. Then, on the European continent, naturally only Germany would remain capable of simultaneously countering Russia and France. Germany must possess sufficient military capability to achieve such a goal, so Ribbentrop repeatedly emphasized to the British upper class that only by supporting Germany could Britain obtain security.

The fact that He Rui in front of him was not worried about the Soviet Union naturally rendered Ribbentrop's methods ineffective. Yet Ribbentrop did not give up. He continued, "Even if China does not fear the Soviet Union, the Versailles System is unfair. Only by establishing a fairer world order can China obtain a larger living space."

"Mr. Ribbentrop, our views on living space are different. Survival is a very serious matter, but in China's view, a new world order must first ensure that *any* country has its own living space. A country's sovereignty and security should be protected. If these cannot be achieved, what meaning does a new order have?

"I know that some countries in the world are very stupid. But a true new order will not deprive stupid countries of their survival. Instead, it ensures that in a peaceful environment, countries do not engage in further cooperation with those stupid countries.

"In my view, the new order Germany expects is different from the new order China expects. This is the fundamental reason why China and Germany cannot engage in deep cooperation."

Ribbentrop was stunned. If He Rui hoped for China to become the country dominating the world and was using this description of the future to win over collaborators, then He Rui was a great liar. If He Rui really wanted to establish a new order where countries around the world truly lived in peace, then He Rui was undoubtedly a madman.

In the world Ribbentrop had seen and known, it was all the law of the jungle, mutual deception and rivalry. Those countries that infringed upon others, without exception, advocated peace to gain their own legitimacy, while what they did was invade and oppress other countries.

But the feeling He Rui gave Ribbentrop was very strange. When such words came out of He Rui's mouth, Ribbentrop always felt as if he had a bit of expectation for He Rui. Because He Rui was just different from those people in Europe.

After considering for a moment, Ribbentrop decided to make one more effort for his diplomatic mission. "Chairman, why are you unwilling to cooperate with Germany at a strategic level?"

Ribbentrop could not see his own expression; he could only see that He Rui was amused. This made Ribbentrop feel a sense of near-insult.

The reason He Rui laughed was really not mockery, but simply because He Rui hadn't expected Ribbentrop to be such a sincere fellow. Historically, Ribbentrop himself had great success in the diplomatic field. The completion of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis and the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact were very remarkable successes for a diplomat. For Nazi Germany, these were also the best diplomatic results they could obtain at the time.

As for Germany's defeat, it was not because of these diplomatic achievements, but because Germany did not have the capability to realize their grand strategy and was ultimately crushed by reality. Without the alliance of Germany and Italy in these diplomatic achievements, Germany probably couldn't even have managed the annexation of Austria. Ribbentrop, who achieved these things, could be considered a figure of some standing.

He Rui laughed simply because of the sincerity Ribbentrop displayed. In the books He Rui had read, Ribbentrop was always described as a despicable villain. But a despicable villain would not have such sincerity.

Seeing Ribbentrop looking a bit hurt, He Rui put away his smile. "Our paths are different, and we cannot make plans together. The new world order China expects is completely different from Germany's, so it is impossible for China and Germany to cooperate at a strategic level."

"Can China's current partners help you achieve your actual new order, Chairman? Do you think the Soviet Union and France have true goodwill towards China? I believe these two countries are just using China."

"Cooperation is inherently about using each other's resources to complete one's own national economic development. Therefore, from the very beginning of cooperation between two countries, contradictions will arise. Mr. Ribbentrop, contradictions are not hostility, but a description of reality. The intensity of the contradiction is determined by the means the two parties choose to resolve it. China does not agree with Germany's methods of resolving contradictions. This is the core reason." He Rui used all his patience, trying to make Ribbentrop understand this content.

However, this was also He Rui's final patience. Seeing Ribbentrop fall into thought rather than giving an immediate answer, He Rui said, "Let's end the discussion here for today. I think I have spoken very clearly."

Although Ribbentrop wanted to continue trying to persuade He Rui, he also felt that the divergence between the two sides seemed unbridgeable, so he could only give up.

Watching the secretary see Ribbentrop out, He Rui felt much more relaxed. The current world was very different from the 21st century. Since a globalized market had not been established, every industrial nation possessed its own complete industrial system. He Rui picked up the report and continued reading. The year-end economic report was a summary of this year's economy. From the data, by the end of 1933, China had preliminarily completed its full range of industrial categories by purchasing technical equipment and introducing foreign enterprises to invest and build factories in China.

Having a full range of industrial categories was just a start. The reason He Rui believed China would need until 1939 to possess the strength to win victory was that China's economy could not yet withstand a world-scale war. For example, the Zeiss company had already applied to invest and build a factory in China. Before this, French optical instrument companies had already invested and built factories in China. And China had also established its own optical instrument factories by introducing optical instrument technology.

If it were just for producing military equipment and the components needed by military industrial enterprises, the output of these optical instrument factories could be considered barely sufficient, and the technology was just so-so. Judging from the needs of China's overall industrial chain, the production capacity and technological level of these optical instrument factories were quite terrible.

For example, the sputtering coating technology China introduced from the United States was a prototype design. China spent a great deal of effort to fully grasp it and established its own sputtering coating industry. But these only solved the problem of existence. Many devices required specialized equipment that used optical lenses. After having sputtering coating technology, the components produced were not necessarily satisfactory, the reason being that the optical lenses did not meet China's requirements.

Since China was building its own industrial system, its technical direction and process parameters were different from those in Europe. A large part of the technical field was a blank slate; Europe not only lacked such technology, but they didn't even have research in these areas. This created a paradox in reality: if China hoped to use European corporate technology to solve problems, there was a risk of technology leakage. If China figured out these technologies itself and only gave Europe technical parameters, asking European companies to produce products according to these technical parameter standards, then Chinese companies could handle it themselves—why would they need to place orders with European companies!

How to solve these problems was a challenge for China. This challenge was not only a challenge of technological development and technological security, but even a challenge to the globalized order China wanted to establish. If China simply monopolized all the technology in the world, rudely pushed other countries aside, and used China's first-mover advantage to maintain China's absolute leading position, this attitude could not build a new globalized order led by China.

But the pressure in reality always existed. If China let technology flow out too early, there would be the possibility of failure in competition. And in the view of He Rui's comrades, China's failure in competition meant the failure of China.

How to convince the comrades was the biggest problem He Rui faced. The China of today was already an industrial nation. It was no longer the era where He Rui could issue a single order and the entire national economy could achieve its goal through simple execution. There had to be outstanding leaders responsible for each field, and common progress in all fields, for China to develop most efficiently. Human society expects such good cooperation, but what is most lacking is undoubtedly such good cooperation.

While He Rui was fretting over these matters, Ribbentrop also disappointedly boarded a flight from China to Europe, returning to Germany. Current Chinese flights were the fastest means of transportation between China and Europe. Aircraft capable of continuous flight of 6,000 kilometers allowed people to cross ultra-long distances that were previously unimaginable in a very short time, making communication much simpler and easier.

As soon as Ribbentrop returned to Germany, he wanted to report to Hitler, but was informed that Hitler was currently conversing with Schacht, and his schedule would have to be pushed back. Ribbentrop felt very puzzled. Was the possibility of Sino-German strategic cooperation no longer important in Hitler's eyes?

Thinking this way was underestimating Hitler a bit, because Hitler was currently discussing the field of Soviet-German economic cooperation with Schacht, which was a more imminent major matter for Germany.

"Führer, President Ebert said that if they (referring to Britain and France) took away all our weapons, once a great war broke out again, our poor children would have to pick up sticks to fight them," Schacht recounted the words of his old superior.

Hitler listened with a solemn expression. Just hearing Ebert's name made Hitler feel a burst of unhappiness. Ebert, the first president in German history, had always been considered a representative of weakness and compromise with Britain and France, and his reputation was very poor. However, Hitler was not surprised that even Ebert believed the Treaty of Versailles must absolutely not be accepted.

Schacht continued to introduce the history of Soviet-German cooperation. The German Weimar Government saw that it was impossible for Britain and France to allow Germany to continue developing its military industry. Starting from 1921, the Soviet and German sides signed a series of economic, trade, and military agreements. Germany provided secret aid such as funds, technology, personnel, and equipment to the Soviet Union. As a return, the Soviet Union allowed Germany to establish military industrial bases and training bases within its borders. The landmark event among these was undoubtedly the signing of the "Treaty of Rapallo" in 1922.

Based on the treaty, in 1922 Germany provided the Soviet Union with a low-interest loan of 75 million gold marks to purchase German industrial equipment, and three years later added another low-interest loan of up to 300 million gold marks. On this basis, the Soviet Union built its first modern electrolytic aluminum plant with an annual output of 30,000 tons; the Zaporizhzhia large-scale steel plant also took shape on the basis of German experts and loans. Although the main part of the Soviet Union's current super-project, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, was completed under the guidance of Americans, the core part used generators from Siemens of Germany, and its supporting power transmission and transformation equipment were also provided by Siemens.

In 1926, German Chancellor Stresemann signed the "Treaty of Berlin" with the Soviet Union, reaffirming and strengthening the "Treaty of Rapallo" signed by the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union in 1922. This treaty allowed Germany to secretly open a fighter pilot training school in Lipetsk, Soviet Union, allowing the German Air Force to develop secretly. However, the Soviets also used this school to train more than 10,000 pilots.

Not only that, in order to circumvent the military constraints of the "Treaty of Versailles," Germany also opened the Kama tank school in Kazan and the Tomka gas test site in the Soviet Union, enabling German military technology to develop rapidly. The Soviet Red Army also used the Germans' advanced concepts, facilities, and equipment to vigorously develop their own armored forces.

From 1922 to 1927, Germany exported a large number of engineers and technical experts to the Soviet Union. In 1931, the number of German technical personnel in the Soviet Union reached a peak, exceeding 10,000, which was more than the number of engineers and technical experts from the United States.

Schacht certainly knew the Nazi Party's view of the Soviet Union. His purpose in recounting this first was to hope that Hitler could be unaffected by the Nazi Party's narrow ideology and make a clear choice based on reality. After introducing these things, Schacht stopped, waiting for Hitler to evaluate the Soviet-German cooperation.

Hitler noticed Schacht's thoughts. He asked calmly, "Where does Mr. Schacht think the field for cooperation lies next?"

Seeing that Hitler had no intention of objecting, Schacht immediately replied, "According to our investigation of the Soviet market, what the Soviet Union lacks least now is the supply of civilian consumer goods."

Hearing this, Hitler's eyebrows raised slightly unconsciously. Schacht's description was indeed unexpected. The supply of civilian consumer goods was no small matter. From cloth, pots and pans, to bicycles, radios, and other daily consumer goods, every item required considerable investment to meet the country's needs. The Hitler government was attempting to solve Germany's civilian product supply through rationing. He hadn't expected the Soviet Union to have solved the problem in this area first. Hitler waited for Schacht to explain how backward Russia had solved a matter that even advanced Germany found very difficult.