At 3:45 AM on August 1, 1939, the indicator lights on a German military airfield near the Polish border all illuminated. The sky had already brightened, though the ground remained dim.

Soon, squadrons of German fighter planes took off. Before the pilots even reached an altitude of 400 meters, it felt as though they had suddenly traveled four hours into the future. By the time they climbed past 1,000 meters, the light in the sky was nearly as bright as noon. Illuminated by the rising sun, the German air groups dove straight for their targets: Polish airfields, bridges, railway hubs, and road junctions.

The primary attack mission was undertaken by the Luftwaffe's Stuka dive bombers, a two-seater combat aircraft. The rear gunner was by no means idle; he constantly judged the plane's approximate location based on flight speed and direction, verifying his judgment by comparing conspicuous landmarks on the ground with the maps in his hand.

After flying for less than an hour, the bomber wings responsible for attacking Polish airfields had identified their targets. On the slightly undulating terrain, the orderly outlines of the Polish airfields were very striking. Rows of fighter planes were parked neatly on the airfield, clearly visible in the observation sights.

No Polish planes took off; there was not even any reaction visible on the Polish airfields. All aircraft in the German Stuka dive bomber wings received the signal: "Commence attack!"

The captains of each squadron dipped their wings, signaling their units. The dive bomber formations first flew to the far side of the airfield, away from Poland, then pulled up. One by one, they flew an inverted figure-eight in the air, and then, one after another, dove headfirst toward the ground.

From a distance, the German dive bomber group looked as if they had lost control, plummeting straight toward the earth. In the eyes of the pilots inside the dive bombers, the ground was approaching rapidly; it wouldn't be long before the plane smashed violently into it.

Seeing that the distance to the ground had reached 200 meters, the well-trained dive bomber operators released their bombs. The bombs fell toward the target following their current trajectory, while the German dive bombers immediately pulled up. The planes transitioned from a plummeting posture to level flight. Within a distance of a hundred meters, the planes traced an arc, leveling out completely within tens of meters of the ground, and then continued to pull up, flying away as if skimming the earth.

This acrobatic flying was not the Luftwaffe showing off. During World War I, military technical experts from both Britain and France had proposed the concept of dive bombing. This type of bombing had very high accuracy, and as a frontline tactical weapon, dive bombers could provide rapid support for frontline combat. The benefits were truly innumerable.

During World War I, British technical departments discovered during tests of dive bombers that even concentrated fire from light machine guns could turn a dive bomber into a sieve. After several tests, the concept was rejected.

After World War I, every four or five years, Britain would come up with a new dive bomber. The test results didn't change much: initially, light machine guns could take them down, and later, anti-aircraft machine guns and rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns could easily deal with them.

After the end of the Sino-British War, Britain, having been thoroughly thrashed by the Chinese Air Force in Burma, developed aircraft with a top speed exceeding 450 kilometers per hour in 1930. They tested again, and the results were even worse. When these high-speed planes attempted a dive, they would plunge straight into the ground, destroying the plane and killing the pilot. Ultimately, Britain abandoned dive bombing and turned to level bombing.

If Britain saw Germany's dive bombers now, they would probably think the Germans were single-minded fools.

But the Germans were not single-minded. Dive bombing was directed at hardened, high-value targets. The Luftwaffe used fighter machine gun fire to deal with combat aircraft parked outside hangars, and autocannons to attack less sturdy structures. In moments, all valuable targets on the Polish airfields were destroyed.

At this moment, ten thousand guns of the German Army fired at once. The German battleship *Schleswig-Holstein*, anchored outside the port of Danzig under the guise of a friendly visit, also suddenly opened fire on the Polish base. Compared to the trouble caused by this battleship, the entire Polish military was in chaos.

The Luftwaffe instantly destroyed Poland's communication, transportation, and aviation systems. The Polish troops under attack desperately tried to send out messages, but many transmissions were blocked and never reached their destinations.

It was also at this moment that the German Army began crossing the German-Polish border. At 4:45 AM, a thick layer of morning fog covered the damp plains. Lieutenant General Guderian, commander of the XIX Army Corps, acting as the spearhead, was at the very front of the troops as usual. The vanguard was the 3rd Panzer Division of the XIX Corps, and Guderian was at the very front of the 3rd Division.

According to Guderian's plan, the German army should have used bombers to clear the way, but due to the fog, the air force could not sortied. Fortunately, Guderian was not one of those stubborn, conservative World War I generals; since the air force couldn't fly due to the weather, the armored forces would go in directly.

Just a few minutes after moving out, the whistle of heavy artillery shells tearing through the air was heard.

"Sh*t..." Guderian cursed inwardly. Before the battle, Guderian had personally ordered the heavy artillery of the 3rd Division not to open fire. But these German officers and soldiers, a group who had never fought a war, were extremely nervous. The unease brought by the heavy fog made these greenhorns even more jittery. Needless to say, this bunch had completely forgotten Guderian's strict temporary order. Upon receiving the order to attack, they naturally began shelling enemy positions according to the regulations of the artillery manual.

With a loud *boom*, the first shell landed exactly 50 yards in front of his command vehicle. Guderian's driver immediately slammed on the brakes. Before the vehicle had even stopped steadily, there was another loud *boom*, and the second shell landed 50 yards behind the command vehicle.

Guderian had participated in World War I. During World War I, the German army had perfected the artillery technology of firing tables. Every artillery piece completed various test firings before leaving the factory. Based on the parameters of the gun itself, a firing table belonging to that specific gun was created. When shelling, as long as the gun was anchored steadily and leveled, one could calculate the firing data based on weather (sunny, rain, or snow), air humidity, wind speed, and other parameters, combined with the gun's firing table parameters, and fire directly.

This design had considerable accuracy, so the artillerymen could fire rapidly, for example, "three rounds rapid fire"...

Seeing that two shells had already landed, according to German firing habits, the command vehicle's position would be the landing point for the third round. Guderian shouted loudly at the driver: "Drive! Drive immediately!"

Although the driver had been in the army for several years and had driven tens of thousands of kilometers, this was his first time on a real battlefield, and he was still a greenhorn. Amidst the panic of being shelled, hearing the corps commander's angry shout, the driver subconsciously slammed on the gas. The command vehicle shot straight forward. After traveling less than 200 meters, the wheels slipped, and the command vehicle plunged into a ditch to the front right.

Guderian was lucky and wasn't injured. Waiting for the round of indiscriminate shelling to end, he immediately jumped onto a light tank sent by the armored unit to search for him. He first returned to the 3rd Division's heavy artillery unit, scolded the artillery commander thoroughly, and then made him repeat loudly three times, "Without orders from corps headquarters, absolutely no firing is permitted!" Only then did he board a replacement command vehicle.

Although there was a torrent of armor behind him, Guderian, like a general of old charging the lines first, was personally at the very front. The subsequent battles were much easier. The German frontline air force had already destroyed the Polish Army's artillery positions. The German armored troops did not crash head-on into the Polish Army's solid defensive positions but instead broke through at weak points. Even when they encountered Polish field troops, the weapons carried by the field troops could not penetrate the armor of the German tanks. A single charge by the German armored forces routed the few Polish troops marching in the open fields.

Along the way, they also encountered a Polish artillery unit. The German tanks easily destroyed the enemy. During the battle, the Polish artillery only had the opportunity for two guns to fire, but after firing one shot, they were destroyed by a single shot from a charging German tank.

He Rui only received the news on August 3rd, because on August 3rd, both Britain and France presented an ultimatum to Germany. Britain and France both proposed to Germany that if Germany did not withdraw from Poland, both Britain and France would declare war on Germany.

Hitler paid absolutely no attention to this. At 9:00 AM on August 3rd, Britain issued a final ultimatum to Germany, demanding that Germany provide guarantees of a truce before 11:00 AM, otherwise Britain would declare war on Germany. According to the recollections of Hitler's interpreter, Schmidt, when Hitler received Britain's final ultimatum, he sat silently and motionless.

Göring turned to him and said, "If we lose this war, then God should forgive us."

At noon, France also issued a similar final ultimatum to Germany, with a deadline of 5:00 PM. Germany ignored the final ultimatums of both Britain and France, making no response. On August 4th, both France and Britain successively declared war on Germany. The Second World War had fully erupted. That night, Hitler moved his office from the Chancellery in Berlin to the special train "Amerika" (later renamed), traveling to the front to inspect and handling the war on the Eastern and Western fronts from the train.

Hitler actually didn't quite understand the attitude of Britain and France while on the train. Under British urging, on July 29, 1939, Germany issued its final diplomatic statement. The German government announced that in addition to protecting the German minority in Poland, Germany also wanted to recover Danzig and the Polish Corridor (previously Hitler had only demanded the construction of a highway in the corridor, now he wanted the entire corridor).

Ribbentrop told the British special envoy that the Polish plenipotentiary must arrive in Berlin within one day to sign an agreement. The British Chamberlain cabinet was still happy that negotiations could continue, but considering Germany's stipulation that the Polish plenipotentiary must arrive within a one-day limit, this difficult-to-achieve time limit also meant this was Germany's final ultimatum.

In the early morning between July 30 and July 31, 1939, Ribbentrop read Germany's sixteen demands to the British ambassador. When the British Ambassador Neville Henderson asked for a copy of the document to be passed to the Polish government, Ribbentrop refused, on the grounds that "the Polish representative failed to arrive before midnight." When the Polish Ambassador Józef Lipski arrived in Berlin at noon that day and sought an audience with Ribbentrop, stating that Poland was willing to consider negotiating with Germany but admitting he did not have full authority to sign any agreements, Ribbentrop drove him away.

Germany had already gone to this extent. Britain and France, especially Britain, should have at least felt Germany's goodwill. Germany's request was very simple: as long as Poland accepted joining the German camp, all problems could be solved. But since Poland refused to join the German camp, Germany's only remaining choice was the option of "no Poland at all."

***

Mitsuko received enormous publicity in Japan. To the Japanese upper class, a female university student who attended a girls' high school after graduating from junior high, and then attended the Imperial Tohoku University, was one of their own. One of their own who married China's leader, He Rui, and gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl, was even more of an insider among insiders.

When Mitsuko smashed a bottle of champagne against the battleship during the launching ceremony of the Chinese battleship contracted by the Tokyo Shipyard in Japan, the path Japan would choose was already self-evident.

When He Rui sat together with Taira Toyomori and Ishiwara to discuss the future world situation, Ishiwara's first question was, "Teacher, can we win?"

"Are you asking me, or do you want to have an answer for the Japanese people?" He Rui asked in return.

Professor Taira Toyomori smiled bitterly. "He-kun, Ishiwara-kun also has no other way."

Ishiwara displayed an attitude of regarding it not as a disgrace but as an honor towards Taira Toyomori's assistance. "Teacher, the one thing the Japanese people can accept now is that it doesn't matter how many people die, but what will the survivors get!"

He Rui sighed. "I am a bit disappointed!"

Ishiwara Kanji didn't care at all. "Teacher, this is the demand of the Japanese people. If you can satisfy the Japanese people, the Japanese people will follow the direction of the future world. It doesn't matter how great a price is paid!"

He Rui gave a bitter smile. "This is not the Japan I hoped for."

Taira Toyomori also smiled bitterly. "He-kun, you are the person the Japanese people are expecting! The Japanese people are very patriotic, but Japan no longer has the ability to decide its own future. If He-kun cannot give the Japanese people hope, the Japanese people will have no direction!"

"Taira-kun, Ishiwara, do you believe the world can complete the socialist revolution?" He Rui asked helplessly.

"If Japan is given thirty years, perhaps Japan can go and think about this question," Ishiwara Kanji answered straightforwardly.

"Thirty years... Hehe, I'm afraid I won't live to see that day," He Rui smiled bitterly. Although He Rui had paid close attention to exercise over the years, the forty-nine-year-old He Rui already felt the frailty of his body.

He Rui did not fear death. He Rui believed that if there were no death in this world, it would be such a terrible thing. A group of old immortals trying every means to interfere with the world's progress—to be old and not die is to be a thief. He Rui did not want to become an old thief himself, and he even less wished for a group of slightly younger old thieves to do those conservative things under He Rui's banner.

"Then I will tell you two one issue. When China liberates Southeast Asia, the imperialists among the Japanese in Southeast Asia must be publicly executed!" He Rui did not conceal his view.

Taira Toyomori was stunned, but Ishiwara answered decisively, "If the deaths of these people can open a brighter future for Japan, please kill a few more, Teacher!"

He Rui sighed. Those who understand dynamic materialist dialectics can be cruel to this extent. No one's life is important, including these understanders of materialist dialectics themselves. Perhaps what they care about least is their own life and death. As long as there is enough value, their own life and death mean nothing!

Taira Toyomori was a scholar after all. He asked, "He-kun, what exactly is the value of a person! If we can't clarify the value of a person, many things will have no foundation."

He Rui chuckled lightly. "Hehe! Brother Taira, my old brother, how much value do you think a capable person has if they are detached from society?"

Taira Toyomori never retreated on academic issues. "What about individual awakening?"

"Brother Taira. Human genius is how imagination conforms to the laws of the real world. Do you have doubts about this?" He Rui asked.

Taira Toyomori shook his head. "Although He-kun's view is cold, it is reasonable."

Since Taira Toyomori could understand to this extent, He Rui asked, "If a person's imagination naturally conforms to the laws of the world, that is called a genius. Does the matter of being a genius have anything to do with the person themselves? If a person has no genius, but through learning, understands the unity of knowledge and action, that is the path for ordinary people to lead to self-liberation. Then, how much does wanting to complete such a path have to do with them?"

Taira Toyomori answered almost simultaneously with Ishiwara Kanji, "The individual does not occupy a large component in success."

"In that case, our work is not what we have achieved, but what level we have pulled this world to." He Rui answered calmly, "If we have any success, what does it have to do with us? It is the status quo of the world that determines whether we can succeed. That we can push the entire world a small step toward a more civilized, more advanced level is already our good fortune. Apart from this, what else do we want?"

Taira Toyomori began to ponder, but Ishiwara answered immediately, "If so, no regrets in this life!"

He Rui was amused by Ishiwara. "Regrets? That is actually a good thing. But do you regret?"

Ishiwara answered immediately, "Only the incompetent regret. I have countless regrets in this life, but looking back, I have a clear conscience!"

"Isn't having a clear conscience enough!" He Rui replied.

Ishiwara thought for a moment, and his eyes already had light in them. "Indeed so."

It was Professor Taira Toyomori who was somewhat hesitant. "If one could do it a bit better..."

Ishiwara laughed, "Hehe, Professor, if one cannot do better, must one deny the value of what was within one's power?"

Japanese President Professor Taira Toyomori, although still somewhat unwilling, did not say anything more.

Only then did He Rui say, "What cannot be done, cannot be done. To govern is to rectify! In the past thousand years, although Chinese civilization's technological development stagnated, it strove for progress in philosophical thinking. Even if it can't be done, accept fate! Man proposes, Heaven disposes!"