On February 8, 1936, the 16th day of the first lunar month. The streets of Hanseong were filled with the bustle of "the whole year's work depends on a good start in spring." In Chinese culture, the 15th of the first lunar month is considered the last day of the New Year celebrations, and the 16th marks the formal beginning of the new year. As a country deeply influenced by Chinese culture, Korea had fully inherited such customs.

Several diplomatic vehicles flying the Chinese flag drove out of the Korean Presidential Palace and entered the citizens' field of vision. Seeing the Chinese flag, many Koreans cast curious glances at the cars. Although the four member states of the East Asia Cooperation Organization were equal relations, in the eyes of ordinary Koreans, the China that had defeated Japan had returned to Korea with the status of a suzerain state, and ordinary Koreans carried no psychological burden regarding this.

It wasn't until they saw the Japanese diplomatic convoy closely following the Chinese one that the Koreans' gazes became complicated. In the eyes of ordinary Koreans, Japan was an enemy, a neighbor, and an invader. Most importantly, ordinary Koreans considered Japan a country on equal footing with Korea. Being trampled underfoot by an equal country triggered the most intense unhappiness.

Revisiting this old haunt, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiwara Kanji, sitting in the car, felt very nostalgic. Especially when the car passed the Hanseong Railway Station, Ishiwara couldn't help saying to his wife beside him, "In the Hanseong Campaign of 1922, I boarded the train right here and headed straight for Pyongyang. At that time, I was prepared to die at Teacher's hands."

Mrs. Ishiwara felt a lingering fear and a heart full of tenderness. She consoled him, "Darling, that is all in the past."

Ishiwara held his wife's hand. "Don't misunderstand, I am just sighing with emotion. back then, I was foolish enough to be unable to comprehend Teacher's vision for the future. Thinking about it now, too many people died in vain, completely without value."

Mrs. Ishiwara was surprised by her husband's thoughts and didn't know what to say. Ishiwara's attention was attracted by signs announcing big sales at the entrances of several shops outside. The signs read "Big Sale on Japanese Goods" in Chinese characters. As the car continued to drive, several roadside shops displayed signs for "Big Sale on Chinese Goods." Ishiwara sighed in his heart and withdrew his gaze.

That evening, the plane arrived in China's capital. Under the bright sun, the plane began to descend. Before long, the surrounding light began to dim rapidly. Sensing the drastic change, Mrs. Ishiwara couldn't help but grab Ishiwara's arm. Soon, a bright area on the dim ground expanded rapidly in their field of vision. Bright lights on both sides of the flight path outlined runways radiating like blooming flower petals, and spotlights illuminated the runways incredibly brightly.

The lower the plane's altitude, the more the full view of the magnificent airport could be seen. Mrs. Ishiwara felt as if the plane she was riding was falling into a brilliant flower. This made her involuntarily chant a Buddhist prayer in a low voice.

What Ishiwara cared about was that such a huge airport inevitably meant a large number of aircraft taking off and landing here. These civil aviation demands provided a solid foundation for the Chinese Air Force. According to intelligence Ishiwara knew, Chinese aviation schools recruited high school graduates every year, and the recruitment standards were quite strict. In addition to academic qualifications, these requirements included checking three generations and clarifying all social relationships.

These aviation schools adopted militarized management. In the second semester of the sophomore year, students were streamed. Cadets with excellent grades, physical fitness, and political standing would be selected for the Air Force to become fighter pilots. At the current scale, China recruited 5,000 Air Force pilots and tens of thousands of Air Force ground crew annually. These people completed undergraduate education; every single one was engineer-level talent. After retiring, they were basically employed in civil aviation and related industries. Seeing such a huge airport, Ishiwara felt he had a very good entry point for when he met He Rui.

Three hours later, Ishiwara and his wife arrived at the Chairman's residence at No. 7 Renmin Road. Mitsuko, carrying a child, came out to welcome them. Seeing Ishiwara, Mitsuko bowed to him with Japanese etiquette. "Brother Ishiwara, welcome to China."

Ishiwara lamented inwardly; the little sister he had looked after back then had become one of the symbols of Sino-Japanese friendship. He took two steps forward and stopped in front of Mitsuko. "Mitsuko, thank you for coming out to welcome us so late. Where is Mr. He?"

Laughter rang out from behind Mitsuko. "Hehe, Ishiwara, Mitsuko came to welcome you, and you're still not satisfied?"

With the voice, He Rui walked out wearing pajamas. Under the light, Ishiwara saw that the silver threads in He Rui's temples were very obvious, and he felt somewhat emotional. Stepping forward a few paces, Ishiwara extended his hand to He Rui. "Teacher, you've worked hard. I came this time with some doubts I'd like to ask Teacher to resolve."

"Come in, dinner is ready." He Rui patted Ishiwara on the shoulder and turned to lead the way.

Many cold dishes were already set on the table in the dining room. Just as everyone sat down, hot dishes were brought out one by one. Ishiwara looked at He Rui's Chinese wife and felt that she had a strong air of a young lady from a wealthy family, yet she was quite different from the noble ladies of Japan's upper class. Japanese noble ladies had to bear the responsibility of managing the family business; He Rui had no servants here, and He Rui himself hadn't acquired any property. He Rui's Chinese wife looked merely like the mistress of the house.

*Is Mitsuko being bullied?* This thought popped up.

During the meal, Ishiwara felt that Mitsuko's status hadn't been suppressed, and he gradually relaxed. If the Japanese public knew Mitsuko was being bullied, they would have opinions.

The meal wasn't very peaceful, mainly because the little ones were rowdy, and the two mothers had to take care of the children eating. Ishiwara saw He Rui eating very fast, so he also sped up his own eating. Ishiwara really hadn't come to He Rui's place this time for the food. Soon, the two men, having finished their meal, put down their chopsticks and went upstairs. The light in the study wasn't off, and many manuscripts were placed on the desk. Ishiwara recalled the days when he ran the *Military Soul* tabloid with He Rui and almost couldn't resist going up to look. Fortunately, Ishiwara wasn't young anymore, and he quickly suppressed the impulse.

He Rui laughed, "I wonder if you can understand the latest book I'm writing now."

Ishiwara hurriedly replied, "Even if I can't understand it, I must take a look. But Teacher, do you sense that an economic crisis is coming?"

Seeing Ishiwara speak so urgently, He Rui felt that the situation in Japan was probably even worse than he had thought. "I heard that the economic data over in Japan isn't optimistic."

"Although it's not optimistic now, it hasn't reached the point of outbreak yet. According to a report from the Institute of Economics of the Japanese Academy of Sciences, several signs that appear before an economic crisis have already emerged. When I was in Korea, I saw shops selling Japanese goods and Chinese goods starting to cut prices. And Japanese merchants have also started selling at reduced prices."

Ishiwara was the Prime Minister of Japan and personally came into contact with a large amount of frontline data to solve many practical problems. At this stage, He Rui focused only on strategic issues and didn't participate much in the specific operation of the country, so he spoke of content he had seen in reports. "China is about the same. current technological diffusion makes opening factories easier and easier. The products of many Chinese township enterprises have begun to ship in large quantities, and inferior products are all over the streets. Customs is strictly investigating smuggling to surrounding countries, though I don't know if they've managed to stop it."

Ishiwara had personally decided on the strict investigation of smuggling. He nodded and replied, "Japan is about the same. The report from the Japanese Institute of Economics describes those enterprises with no technological content as going crazy, desperately looking for channels to sell their shoddy goods. Based on Japan's experience, it won't be long before these enterprises go bankrupt, leaving behind a pile of junk commodities. Hehe, it's still good if they leave products behind; the worst are those who start scamming. I don't know what the situation is in China?"

"The People's Bank has required banks to conduct a comprehensive check on contracts provided by loan recipients. Anyone forging contracts is to be arrested immediately," He Rui replied. Although He Rui didn't need to manage this work, the fact that the central bank had issued this order showed the situation wasn't optimistic.

Ishiwara felt the preliminary exchange was sufficient, so he cut to the main topic. "Teacher, this round of economic crisis in Japan will probably come next year, that is, in '37. The theory proposed by Teacher believes that demand and employment can be created through government investment, but a new economic equilibrium takes time to reach. If the goods produced by expanded production do not have a sufficient market to consume them, what follows is production cuts, layoffs, and depression. Therefore, I feel perhaps it is time to invest in heavy industry related to the military industry to drive the economy and promote economic improvement."

He Rui shook his head. "Ishiwara, why do you think it has reached this stage? In my view, if China and Japan support the development of civilian high technology, it can play a similar role."

Ishiwara did not give up his view but explained, "Teacher, China is a major power and has too many temporary job opportunities. Japan is a small country; if it relies only on Japanese domestic demand, Japan cannot achieve industrial upgrading. The Japanese government can't just say to enterprises, 'You guys hurry up and stop work and close down; those who should close, close; those who should go bankrupt, go bankrupt,' right?"

"It depends on human effort," He Rui teased.

Hearing this, Ishiwara simply pretended to be serious and replied, "It's true that it depends on human effort. Then please, Teacher, let Mitsuko return to work in Japan, and then curse loudly in the newspapers. I've already thought of the theme. Just curse damn capitalism!"

He Rui was amused and laughed heartily.

Just then, the door was pushed open. Mitsuko walked in carrying fruit and cookies. Seeing He Rui laughing happily while Ishiwara beside him looked indifferent, she couldn't help but chime in, "What is so funny?"

"Ishiwara wants to invite you back to work at a Japanese newspaper office to curse evil capitalism every day."

Mitsuko knew that Ishiwara often liked to play pranks, so she replied, "Brother Ishiwara, capitalism's reputation is already rotten in the streets. Even in imperialist countries, a large number of people curse capitalism as the cause of social decay. If I go to curse it, it would just be teaching fish to swim."

Ishiwara nodded. "Teacher, the difficulty of Japan wanting to upgrade its industry is great; the capitalists have united to boycott it. Without sufficient market capacity, Japan cannot complete industrial upgrading relying solely on the Japanese market. At this time, the best propaganda is actually to curse capitalism loudly; only then can we counter those capitalists who are crying, wailing, and threatening suicide."

At this moment, Mitsuko put down the fruit and snacks and withdrew. He Rui replied, "Ishiwara, capitalism isn't just one type. The kind you're talking about is industries with low technological content and high repetitive workload. For example, real estate. Or enterprises that have already built a monopoly system.

"Such industries, no matter how vibrant and enterprising they once were, no matter how great the achievements they obtained, their leaders will ultimately support rent-seeking in politics and feudal privileges in the economic structure. Only in this way can they transfer the cost of maintaining the enterprise's survival to others. These enterprises are also considered national parasites inside capitalist countries."

Speaking of this, He Rui couldn't help but sigh. In He Rui's original timeline, those capitalists who had a sense of responsibility, who took responsibility before destruction, paid off debts, and exited gracefully while hurting others and themselves as little as possible—even if one couldn't say they were unique, they were at least rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Because this behavior went against human nature.

More than 99.99% of capitalists would try to drag as many people as possible down with them before they were finished. If they had enough ability, they wouldn't hesitate to drag the country down with them. This is the fate of capitalists, a cursed fate.

As long as an enterprise enters the "cursed" path, it will definitely play the "too big to fail" trick as much as possible. These capitalists, who only pursue good-looking earnings sheets, have become scourges in every country. In China, there are plenty of guys who rose with the trend, used incomplete national policies to create astronomical debts, and then tried to escape by transferring responsibility, causing huge economic losses to the country.

Ishiwara didn't know what He Rui was thinking. He explained straightforwardly, "Teacher, Japan doesn't lack enterprising companies, nor does it lack enterprising scientific and technological talent. What Japan lacks is a market. Even if China only gives Japan one or two industrial fields, Japan can promote industrial upgrading.

"The current Japanese *Kabushiki Gaisha* [joint-stock companies] can be said to be feudal remnants, but they are also a self-saving system. The *Kabushiki Gaisha* formed by these small enterprises form Japan's industrial chain. As long as the leading enterprise above decides to implement industrial upgrading through the discussion system within the *Kabushiki Gaisha*, the whole system will operate. Its effect is higher than simple government promotion. Teacher's understanding of Japan is probably above mine; I request Teacher to support Japan's industrial upgrading."

After speaking, Ishiwara saw He Rui still looked thoughtful. He knew that even a politician of He Rui's prestige couldn't ask the Chinese government to give up a certain industry to Japan and provide a market to Japan at the same time. Ishiwara's intention wasn't really to achieve such a goal. After a pause, he continued, "I still believe that the military industry is top-tier content even within the heavy industry field. The completion of the development of a 140,000-shaft-horsepower warship power system is the foundation for the power system of future 100,000-ton freighters. The most important thing now is that time waits for no one. The Japanese Institute of Geopolitics believes that another great war is likely to break out in Europe. In the news obtained by the Japanese *Tokko*, there is definitely someone in Roosevelt's think tank who submitted a report to Roosevelt. It argues that the U.S. needs to fully support German military development to promote the outbreak of a European war. It is said that the report has even calculated the amount of money. Just 4 to 6 billion U.S. dollars, entering Germany in the form of normal investment, would suffice.

"In the last European war, the United States profited from the conflict. The current United States is much stronger than the United States of 20 years ago. If given the opportunity this time, they will likely become the dominant force in Europe and America."

Ishiwara stopped here and picked up a mandarin orange to peel. The upper echelons of the great powers generally believed that He Rui had strong initiative and aggression; saying this much was enough. Saying more would only appear to underestimate He Rui.

He Rui pondered the intelligence gathered by the *Tokko* that Ishiwara mentioned. Industrial nations had powerful national strength, numerous talents, and tight organization. Especially with tight organization, even if decision-making by slapping one's head wasn't rare in industrial nations, the industrial nation knew doing so was stupid, so it would order various specialized agencies and think tanks to propose various plans.

Even France, which had a preparatory alliance relationship with China, definitely had various plans within the French Ministry of Defense for war with China. This didn't mean France really wanted to go to war with China, but the staff officers in the French General Staff had to complete such plans. This was why industrial nations were powerful. Although Europe and America didn't have the saying "Preparedness ensures success, unpreparedness spells failure," their basic concepts were similar.

What He Rui cared about was whether U.S. President Roosevelt accepted such a concept. Since Roosevelt took office, this brother had really restricted U.S. technology and equipment exports to the Soviet Union. He Rui didn't doubt Roosevelt's strategic ability. Moreover, in history, Roosevelt did indeed use economic means to force Japan to attack the United States first, thereby solving the issue of domestic isolationism in the United States.

"Ishiwara, what else did the *Tokko* find out?" He Rui asked.

Ishiwara had already eaten his third mandarin orange. He picked up a tissue to wipe his fingers. "Teacher, the *Tokko* heard that the U.S. fleet is preparing to conduct a military exercise of a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor."

"Uh..." He Rui was speechless. This was indeed something the U.S. could do.

Seeing He Rui's surprise, Ishiwara smiled. "Teacher, I am not surprised that the U.S. wants to use those broken ships from a dozen years ago to conduct such an exercise. There is a rumor that Roosevelt will soon propose a bill to give the Philippines the status of Puerto Rico. Teacher surely knows Roosevelt's intention."

"Hehe." He Rui smiled. If Roosevelt did this, not just He Rui, but basically all the upper echelons of the great powers in the world could understand Roosevelt's strategic considerations.

Sensing the pressure the United States was under, He Rui felt happy, and his tone became much more cheerful. "Ishiwara, if this proposal really happens, start preparing the list of what Japan can undertake."

Ishiwara was overjoyed. Before coming here, he had discussed with the cabinet several times and prepared three contingency plans. The Japanese cabinet believed that the one most beneficial to Japan was for the East Asian Alliance to start increasing military expenditure and preparing for war. The Japanese Ministry of Industry indicated that as long as Ishiwara could bring back He Rui's agreement, the Ministry of Industry would formulate a comprehensive Japanese industrial upgrading plan as soon as possible, which would definitely thoroughly solve Japan's many chronic illnesses.

Now He Rui had practically agreed. Next, it would depend on the level of the Japanese *Tokko*'s intelligence gathering ability.

Since the goal had been achieved, Ishiwara stood up and said, "Teacher, I want to go see Mitsuko and her child now. Having the child call me Uncle shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Hehe. It is only right. After I left Japan, you were the one taking care of Mitsuko all along," He Rui laughed.

"Then I'll go down first." Ishiwara finished speaking, saw He Rui nod slightly, and bowed to take his leave.

If it were an ordinary family, He Rui would certainly have gone to keep him company. But in He Rui's position, he could no longer do whatever he wanted. The pieces of intelligence collected by the *Tokko* made He Rui's strategic puzzle a few degrees clearer. At this moment, He Rui had to consider these matters as soon as possible.

Looking at China and the United States located on opposite sides of the Pacific on the world map, He Rui actually looked forward to the United States taking the lead in military construction because it couldn't withstand the pressure caused by China's development. And the United States had every reason to conduct military construction.

In 1935, the U.S. Federal Government had an army of only 100,000, about the same as the German Army. Germany's 100,000-strong army was bullied by surrounding countries in Europe. The United States had the security advantage of two oceans; 100,000 troops were just enough to protect the United States' security at this stage. The United States possessed the same naval tonnage as Britain, and its two-ocean fleet was powerful. It could afford to be this lax.

But the situation had changed now. The rise of China had indeed put pressure on the United States. The combined naval tonnage of China and Japan equaled that of the United States. To protect its own security, the United States had every reason to increase the size of its army. Otherwise, if the Sino-Japanese coalition forces attacked Hawaii, the U.S.'s 100,000 federal troops would be useless. Once Hawaii was lost, the U.S. West Coast would face a threat.

Recalling the U.S. Navy in World War II, He Rui's mood couldn't help but soar. This time, what kind of combat power could the massive U.S. Navy unleash? He Rui really wanted to know.