When the CPSU Politburo made the decision to annex the three Baltic states, they had already prepared for potential German military intervention. However, since the operation began on June 26th, the Soviet Union had faced no military threats whatsoever.

Entering July, the air war between Britain and Germany left both nations with no time to look elsewhere. This further reduced the scrutiny on the Soviet Union, allowing them to act with a free hand. The Soviet economy had been performing well in recent years, and the three Baltic states had relatively close economic and trade relations with the Soviet Union. Coupled with the fact that these three countries had significant populations of Russian descent, the annexation process proceeded very smoothly.

By August 12th, the three Baltic states had become the 13th, 14th, and 15th union republics of the Soviet Union.

The CPSU Politburo was filled with voices praising General Secretary Stalin. Russian nationalists, who had previously expressed dissatisfaction with many CPSU policies, also changed their views, believing that the CPSU represented Russia's interests.

Only after annexing the three Baltic states did Stalin contact China, hoping to send Vyacheslav Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, to visit China. He Rui only saw the document after concluding the Central Economic Conference. At this moment, He Rui was exhausted to the point of death and had absolutely no mood to continue working.

France's defeat had a tremendous impact on China. The core of Sino-French cooperation was the maintenance of a strong Franc. Because the exchange rate between the Franc and the Chinese Yuan was fixed, a strong Franc meant a strong Yuan. With France's defeat, the strong Franc ceased to exist. In order to avoid cooperating with Nazi Germany, China had to cut off economic and trade exchanges with France. Now, the Chinese Yuan could only rely on China itself for support.

Although the comrades in the State Council's Economic Working Group had desperately studied various international financial subjects and gained work experience over the past dozen years, facing the urgent reality of independently building an international economic system led by the Chinese Yuan, these fellows all felt immense pressure.

He Rui only knew some basic conditions of international financial systems; the State Council comrades were far richer in specific financial knowledge. Therefore, the working conference turned into a funding application meeting. To build an international financial system, they first had to lay a massive number of dedicated communication lines, and then they needed to protect these lines. Financial hegemony must be built upon the foundation of military hegemony; without the protection of military hegemony, even the safety of communication equipment could not be guaranteed.

After resting in his chair for quite a while, He Rui finally picked up the few reports that had to be processed. The first was the news that the Soviet Union wanted to dispatch a special envoy. Next to it was the file on how the Soviet Union had annexed the three Baltic states.

He Rui hadn't read the specific process of the annexation of the Baltic states, so he began reading it now with the mindset of reading light entertainment.

The Soviet Union first propped up pro-Soviet parties within the three Baltic states, then conducted large-scale military exercises right next to them. The combined population of the three Baltic states was not even as large as the Soviet Army in 1940, and they were left trembling in fear by these massive exercises. They immediately signed peace treaties with the Soviet Union. The treaties stipulated that in the event of instability in the three Baltic states, the Soviet Union had the right to assist their governments in restoring order.

Having obtained the power to enter the three Baltic states through treaties, the Soviet Union determined that these three countries did not have the courage to go to war with them. Immediately, using "missing Soviet soldiers" as a pretext, they marched their troops into the three Baltic states.

Once executed to this step, the Soviet Union, having experience from annexing eastern Poland, felt on familiar ground. They disarmed the armies of the three Baltic states and eliminated opponents, especially the intellectual class. Then they pushed the Soviet-backed parties into power. The ruling parties signed agreements to merge with the Soviet Union, and by August 12th, Latvia, the last of the three, was annexed.

"Haha!" He Rui laughed and threw the document back onto the desk. Japan used "missing soldiers," and unexpectedly, the Soviet Union was pulling the exact same trick. This point indeed gave He Rui a great sense of relief.

Picking up the report on the Soviet special envoy again, He Rui felt that General Secretary Stalin was either getting carried away or was overly nervous. There was another possibility: Stalin was nervous about Germany's combat power while simultaneously getting carried away by the realization of Russian nationalist ideals.

He Rui didn't care about Stalin's personal psychological history. Before China went south to take over Indochina, it had first notified the Soviet Union and the nations of the world. The Soviet Union, however, had not informed China in advance of its annexation of the Baltic states. Diplomatically, this was an attitude of extreme distrust toward China. Now, sending Molotov to see He Rui—Stalin was really thinking too much.

If He Rui met Molotov at this time, it would be tantamount to positioning himself as the Soviet Union's little brother. How could He Rui agree to that? After thinking for a moment, He Rui wrote instructions on the document: "This is merely a meeting at the Foreign Minister level."

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied to the Soviet Union by August 15th that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Shiguang would meet with Molotov. Originally, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted to receive Molotov with even lower protocol, such as sending the Director of the Department of European Affairs to meet him. But with the world in flames and no sign of the war in Europe extinguishing, it was not suitable to express too hard a line against the Soviet Union at this time. Only then was this slight compromise made.

When the news reached the CPSU Politburo, it immediately triggered a round of mockery directed at He Rui. In the view of the Politburo members, He Rui was being hypocritical. China could annex French Indochina, so why couldn't the Soviet Union recover the three Baltic states?!

Bukharin attacked fiercely: "China has already displayed imperialist arrogance. This is very dangerous!"

Such remarks received the approval of a considerable number of Politburo members. Stalin, however, slowly smoked his pipe, pondering what exactly He Rui meant.

Out of political courtesy, China had informed Stalin before moving south to take over French Indochina. Stalin believed that China might not actually want to turn French Indochina into Chinese territory; they would likely continue to manage it according to the "Korea Model," which in the Soviet view meant establishing a satellite state.

Soviet research institutions had seriously studied China's model of building spheres of influence. Their reports to the Central Committee cited the views of many European scholars. Comparing the traditional Chinese "Celestial Empire tributary system" with He Rui's actions in handling Korea, Assam, and Upper Burma, European scholars deduced that He Rui's current methods were those of China's traditional establishment of spheres of influence.

Stalin did not consider He Rui to be an arrogant man, so China's current reaction puzzled him.

The members of the CPSU Central Committee did not think China's current attitude was very important to the Party. The discussion quickly turned to how to deal with the pressure from Germany. Members who closely followed Stalin's policies believed that as long as the Soviet Union completed the Third Five-Year Plan in 1942, Soviet industrial strength would rank third in the world and first in Europe.

This was a very solid and massive advantage. In raw material extraction (mining), raw material processing, and military technology, the Soviet Union had closed the generational gap with the world's advanced levels, and its production of military equipment far exceeded that of Germany.

Although the Soviet Union's output of light industrial goods was unsatisfactory, China had set no barriers in light industrial trade in order to obtain Soviet raw materials. The Soviet raw material extraction industry had enormous capacity, sufficient to pay for the trade volume between China and the Soviet Union with raw materials.

Therefore, most leaders of the Central Committee believed that since the Soviet Union was set to soar from any perspective, what they needed to do now was to stall until the day the Third Five-Year Plan was completed in early 1943.

Stalin also put He Rui's matter aside and discussed this issue with his comrades in the Politburo. After discussing for quite a while, Stalin finally decided to begin constructing defensive lines on the current Soviet-German border. It was now August 1941, and there were still 28 months until the completion of the Third Five-Year Plan. Based on Soviet experience in building fortified regions near cities, 14 months would be enough to complete basic fortified region construction. Having all fortified regions completed at the same time as the Third Five-Year Plan—this was the best outcome.

The Soviet leaders outlined a beautiful future on paper and handed the plan down for execution. On August 18th, Red Army Chief of General Staff Zhukov came personally to see Stalin. Just as Stalin was thinking that Zhukov had come too quickly, he heard Zhukov say, "General Secretary Stalin, I believe this plan is not feasible."

There were not many people who dared to oppose Stalin to his face, but Stalin felt he should at least listen to Zhukov's thoughts, so with a cold face, he signaled for Zhukov to continue.

Zhukov did not stand on ceremony. He told Stalin that the course of the Western European campaign confirmed that the Red Army's overall thinking on future warfare was correct. However, the current training and organizational level of the Red Army simply could not fight a war at the same level as the German Wehrmacht. Since they lacked the ability to fight such a war, the Red Army should not be deployed to positions where the German army could easily attack.

As for the seemingly perfect plan proposed by the Politburo, Zhukov believed it was full of wishful thinking. If it were just about completing fortified regions, it would be best to deploy the corresponding troops as soon as each region was finished. Putting large army groups into the Polish region now, while also requiring the troops to exercise restraint and absolutely not provoke Nazi Germany—Zhukov could not figure out the relationship between the two.

Listening to Zhukov's answer, Stalin had already concluded that the Red Army Chief of General Staff was unreliable. However, Zhukov came from Stalin's own units and had not engaged in any small-circle conspiracies; he was frankly and directly expressing his views. So Zhukov did not mean to betray him; he was purely viewing military issues from the perspective of a Chief of General Staff. He lacked the ability to view problems from a comprehensive angle.

The day after stating his views, Zhukov was removed from his post. Stalin did not make things difficult for Zhukov, only assigning him to be responsible for Red Army reserve training work. The ailing Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov once again assumed the post of Chief of General Staff.

A small number of generals in the Red Army high command agreed with Zhukov's views, but more felt that Zhukov's removal was not unjust. Judging from the Western European campaign, the German army was indeed elite, but their military concepts did not exceed the latest concepts of the Soviet Red Army. Moreover, in terms of equipment, the Red Army had a great advantage over the Germans.

Especially during military exchanges with Germany, the Red Army discovered that the strongest German tank was only the Panzer IV. The Soviet T-34 tank had already begun mass production, and in front of the T-34, all German tanks were vulnerable to a single blow. Even if the number of T-34s was not large, the Soviet Union's current military power was much stronger than Germany's.

Although Germany was powerful, as long as the Soviet Union did not provoke them, Germany really wouldn't have the guts to proactively attack the Soviet Union.

Zhukov accepted everything he encountered very calmly. If he, as Chief of General Staff, had to personally execute the Red Army's erroneous arrangements, he really couldn't do it. Having done his best, Zhukov even felt a sense of relief. After handing over work to his successor, Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov, Zhukov took a car home.

Seeing the carefree children playing in the street parks along the way, Zhukov felt a wave of exhaustion. It wasn't that military work was too heavy for him, but rather that the responsibility of defending the people of the motherland was so heavy.

Stalin did not make things difficult for Zhukov; although no longer Chief of General Staff, Zhukov could still see high-level documents. Upon returning home and finishing dinner, Zhukov went to his study and opened the secret intelligence on China's current military organization.

Zhukov was extremely interested in the construction of the Chinese National Defense Force. Countries all over the world were studying its development, and many military personnel viewed it with a sense of novelty. After all, it was astonishing that an army from a formerly agricultural country had risen to the level of the Great Powers in just seven years. There was no shortage of officers in the Soviet military who held this curiosity toward China.

Zhukov did not feel this way. Over the years, he increasingly felt that the military concepts of the Chinese army were extremely advanced. In Zhukov's view, as early as 1922, the Chinese army had a certain flavor of the 1939 German army. It was just that China's equipment was really poor back then, making those signs look like mere accidents.

Now that China's industrial strength was advancing by leaps and bounds, China's current military organization was the most concrete embodiment of its military power.

The data showed that the Chinese Army now had a total of 18 Group Armies. One Group Army commanded 12 brigades (including 6 Combined Arms Brigades and 6 Support Brigades). One Combined Arms Brigade commanded 9 battalions (including 4 Combined Arms Battalions and 5 Support Battalions). There were three levels from Corps/Army to Battalion: Army, Brigade, Battalion.

One Combined Arms Battalion commanded 8 companies, one company commanded 3 platoons, and one platoon commanded 3 squads. There were four levels from Battalion to Squad: Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad.

If it were just this bit of information, this document wouldn't qualify as secret. The file further showed that the 12 brigades of a Group Army were: 2 Heavy Combined Arms Brigades, 2 Medium Combined Arms Brigades, 2 Light Combined Arms Brigades, 1 Field Artillery Brigade, 1 Air Defense Brigade, 1 Special Operations Brigade, 1 Aviation Brigade, 1 Engineering & Chemical Brigade, and 1 Service Support Brigade.

The 9 battalions of a Combined Arms Brigade were: 4 Combined Arms Battalions, 1 Field Artillery Battalion, 1 Air Defense Battalion, 1 Reconnaissance Battalion, 1 Support Battalion, and 1 Service Support Battalion.

The 8 companies of a Combined Arms Battalion were: 5 Main Battle Companies (including Infantry Companies and Tank Companies), 1 Field Artillery Company, 1 Support Company, and 1 Service Support Company.

Aside from the organizational model, Soviet intelligence had also collected basic operational details of various Chinese combat units. The more he read, the more regret Zhukov felt in his heart. The Chinese National Defense Force had clearly constructed a brand-new military organization based on their own understanding of armored forces. The Soviet Red Army's understanding of modern warfare was no worse than China's, but its execution capability was worrying. If a reason had to be found for the status quo of the Red Army, it was probably that it had failed to complete a systemic force. In the Red Army, there was too much imagination and not enough execution.

After these thoughts surfaced, Zhukov easily made himself continue to focus on studying the documents, excluding those distracting thoughts.

At this stage, the armies of all nations used the Corps, Division, Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad organization. China's military units only had Army, Brigade, Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad—two fewer command layers than other countries. In Zhukov's experience, missing just two command layers greatly increased the difficulty of command. The purpose of adding command layers was to have more commanders close to the front line who could react quickly to combat. China had not only eliminated two command layers, but the number of troops commanded simultaneously by higher-level headquarters had also increased. This type of organization contradicted current basic concepts of military command.

Zhukov did not underestimate the Chinese National Defense Force. He pondered for a long time and concluded there was only one reasonable explanation: China might have solved the problem of rapid communication between various combat units. But Zhukov couldn't imagine *how* the Chinese National Defense Force had solved such a difficult problem.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, it was September. The Luftwaffe had lost hundreds of pilots in the air war with Britain, losses that even Göring could not bear. Finally, on September 17th, Hitler had to order the postponement of Operation Sea Lion.

There was never a shortage of people in the German military with various connections to Britain. From September 18th to September 21st, several channels delivered the same news. Moreover, the fact that the Luftwaffe did not launch any air raids against Britain from September 18th to September 21st also proved from the side that Germany had paused its military operations to attack Britain at this stage.

From July to now, over more than two months, the Chinese Volunteer Air Force had fought together with the Royal Air Force, tenaciously resisting the Luftwaffe's attacks. Also within these two months, more than 7,000 French officers and soldiers willing to follow De Gaulle left Britain by ship, heading for Indochina.

On September 30th, De Gaulle left the British docks with the last batch of 2,000 French officers and soldiers. Leaving with them were 40 Chinese volunteer pilots; the continuous high-intensity sorties had caused these Chinese pilots to fall ill. On the dock, De Gaulle shook hands and bade farewell to his British friends and the commander of the Chinese Volunteer Air Force, Feng Chengzhi.

When saying goodbye to Feng Chengzhi, De Gaulle sighed, "Feng, thank you for bringing me to Britain. When you return to China, I will treat you to a drink."

Feng Chengzhi laughed. "Don't get it wrong. When we get to China, naturally *I* will be the one treating you to a drink."

Saying this, Feng Chengzhi gripped De Gaulle's hand tightly and continued, "When France is liberated, you must treat me to a drink in Paris!"

Hearing this, De Gaulle wanted to grin and give Feng Chengzhi a smile, but his lips trembled involuntarily. De Gaulle wiped away tears with the back of his hand, opened his arms, and gave Feng Chengzhi a hug. Patting Feng Chengzhi on the back, De Gaulle said loudly, "My friend, whenever you come to Paris, I will treat you to a drink!"

In an atmosphere that was by no means sorrowful, the whistle of the Chinese cruise ship sounded. De Gaulle waved to the crowd on the dock from the ship's rail. Out in the open sea, two Chinese cruisers and four destroyers were waiting. After rendezvousing with the cruise ship carrying De Gaulle and the others, they escorted this group of France's future towards the south.