He Rui made a slight adjustment to Zhong Yifu's judgment. "The American South is extremely dissatisfied with the North dominating the war once again."

Zhong Yifu pondered for a moment, trying to keep up with He Rui's train of thought. "Does the American South truly not wish to see American world hegemony?"

"Heh." He Rui chuckled. "The last war dominated by the North already caused the South to lose its wealth and status. Before the Civil War, the South was wealthier than the North and was the leader in American exports. After the war, the North turned the South into a source of raw materials, causing the South's economic status to plummet. Let's analyze it from the South's primary economic model: in this war for world hegemony, even if they win, what benefits could the South possibly gain?"

Having said that, He Rui called over Zhong Yifu, and the two began writing out the economic situations of the American North and South on the blackboard in the conference room. By the time they sat back down on the sofa, the blackboard was filled with content.

In comparison, the American South had no financial centers for international trade; the major commodity futures centers for grain and cotton were in Chicago, in the North. The South did not have powerful industrial centers like the North; the South's primary agricultural products were all controlled by the North.

Compared to their economic weakness, the South's conscription received no special treatment, following the same regulations as the North. In contrast to this superficial fairness, the American conscription regulations stipulated that technical personnel would enter relatively safe technical branches. The North's industrial and technological levels were far higher than the South's, so most Southern officers and soldiers entered front-line units. While it hadn't reached a point of extreme divergence yet, as the war became bloodier and more brutal, the casualty rates for Southern manpower would certainly be higher than the North's.

Zhong Yifu looked at it for a while and said with some hesitation, "These gaps might not necessarily lead the South to choose independence."

He Rui nodded. "Correct. It certainly wouldn't happen at this stage, and it might not even happen in the future. I simply hope the American South can become the oriole. Not the oriole that harvests the world, but the oriole that gains independence through war."

Initially, Zhong Yifu felt that He Rui's words seemed to carry a strong sense of irony, but putting himself into the shoes of the American South, he felt that after an American defeat, the South truly would have an internal need to secede. The economic models of the North and South were too different, and the American South seemed to truly consider themselves the 'authentic' Americans. The Yankees, on the other hand, were an economy dominated by financial capital and immigrants.

"Chairman, who will be responsible for this aspect of the work?" Zhong Yifu asked.

"Oh... are you prepared to go to Australia?" He Rui was gratified. Zhong Yifu was not a high-purity idealist like Cheng Ruofan, nor was he a high-purity imperialist like Xu Chengfeng. If one had to characterize Zhong Yifu, he was a thoroughly pragmatic socialist. In this highly political war, Zhong Yifu was a very suitable commander to handle operations against the United States.

"If it can truly help the American South gain independence, I am willing to help the American people," Zhong Yifu replied.

He Rui was very happy and gave Zhong Yifu a hearty pat on the shoulder. This answer proved that Zhong Yifu was indeed suited to help the people of the American South achieve independence. If one could not view the issue from the perspective of the American people, the Southern people would surely believe that China was setting some kind of trap to trick them into independence. What He Rui looked forward to was America breaking free from imperialism; he truly had no intention of seizing American territory. The independence of the Southern American people would be a good thing for the world. If the world improved, both Northern and Southern America would improve as well.

Before the appointment could be issued, a report arrived from Li Runshi, Secretary of the Southern Bureau. The old colonial rule in Southeast Asia had been eradicated, and the first phase of work was basically complete.

In the second phase of work, the trade efforts were going exceptionally well. Generally speaking, a change in regime inevitably leads to economic turmoil. However, China possessed a massive manpower advantage. Over the past nearly twenty years, China had produced tens of millions of high school graduates and hundreds of millions of middle school graduates. The citizenry had basically all received literacy education. While liberating Southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of "Southward Cadres" had already arrived and begun taking on roles as economic cadres in the region.

This group of cadres rapidly took over foreign trade in Southeast Asia. The trade that was originally controlled by the colonizers was transitioned seamlessly into the Asian Economic Community. The former Southeast Asian colonizers had sold many commodities to other parts of the world, which violated economic laws. China was now adjusting these distorted trade directions back to their naturally most efficient channels, so Southeast Asian products were flowing into China like a tide. In return, a large volume of China's high-quality, high-value-for-money industrial goods flowed into Southeast Asia.

Li Runshi's report emphasized that the internal economic structure of Southeast Asia was currently extremely distorted, a result of long-term colonial rule that could only be adjusted, not reversed, in the short term.

Take, for example, the abundant coconut production in the Philippines. Originally, the coconuts harvested by the local people were first shipped to crude processing plants owned by Americans, processed into copra, and then shipped to the United States for fine processing. American capital desperately suppressed prices, leaving the local people with very little compensation, and the long shipping distances resulted in serious waste.

Now, China's purchase price was based on domestic demand, which was double the price previously paid by American companies, and all of it went into the hands of the local Filipino workers harvesting the coconuts. China's utilization rate for coconuts was much higher. After ship after ship of coconuts were transported to the Kwantung region, they were used for coconut milk processing, oil extraction, and shredded coconut production in the food sector. Coconut shells could be made into buttons, and the waste material was burned into high-quality activated carbon. Because China's purchase price was fair and China would buy as much as the Filipino people could produce, the income of the Filipino people from coconut exports increased at least sixfold.

At this stage, the Philippines exported not only coconuts but also rubber, tobacco, sugar, and bananas. China's low-temperature transport ship technology was sufficient to bring products like bananas into the country.

Based on the ethnicity, religion, and traditions of the Philippines, and following preliminary democratic conferences, it was basically determined that four independent states would be established. Currently, China had taken over trade in the Philippines and had accumulated a significant amount of Renminbi foreign exchange reserves. these reserves were already beginning to help the people of the four regions form governments. Once the independence of the Philippine regions was complete, these reserves would be entirely handed over to the independent states of the Philippines.

It wasn't just the Philippines where independence was being promoted; the British and Dutch colonies had also been liberated. On the island of Borneo, there were already two states: one was the historically significant Sultanate, and the other was the Lanfang Republic. The establishment of states for the Malays and local indigenous people was also being promoted.

The Dutch colonies were more problematic. Sumatra had gained independence, as had Java. Other regions, due to lower levels of development, did not yet understand the difference between establishing a state and organizing a tribe. Li Runshi was currently holding discussions with the Malayan Communist Party, planning to resolve these issues through a trusteeship model for the time being.

Seeing this, He Rui almost wanted to pen an instruction: "The work is completed to a very high standard. The comrades of the Southern Bureau have worked hard."

However, there was still much more to the document. He Rui restrained himself and instead leaned back in his chair, reflecting on the progress in the Indian region.

As Southeast Asia entered the second phase, the next stage of the world revolution would inevitably follow the complete independence of India. Indian independence would mean the European and American Allies losing their largest colony, especially the vast human resources of the Indian colony.

Although Africa had a large population, and the British and French colonial powers could theoretically squeeze out an army of several million if they tried, no more than 500,000 of those millions would have actual combat effectiveness. Britain and France knew their colonial troops very well; they wouldn't waste massive resources training millions of soldiers who wouldn't serve any purpose.

The second phase of world liberation would be a war between the World People's Liberation Army and the white European and American armies. In World War II, civilian casualties were enormous. European military casualties were primarily between the Soviet Union and Germany. Although surrendering nations like France had lost much of their population, most of it was due to being plundered too severely, leading to death from malnutrition. There were also the members of the resistance killed by Germany, but the casualty rate was far lower than in World War I.

However, when the Allies formed by Europe and America fought against the World People's Liberation Army seeking liberation—whether it was the Anglo-Americans of the Allies or the German-Italian Fascist bloc—they would have to fight using their own domestic populations. Thinking of the image of arrogant white racists being gunned down on a large scale, He Rui couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

Although war was cruel, a just war always pushed social development forward. While it was unknown exactly how many Europeans and Americans would die for their sense of racial superiority, given the current level of Western civilization, over 90% of Europeans and Americans held quite strong racist ideologies.

After considering the future for a while, He Rui continued reading Li Runshi's report. The report detailed the latest progress, where progressive forces in Southeast Asia had requested the release of local imprisoned revolutionaries. Li Runshi believed that the work of the trials could begin.

He Rui knew Li Runshi would take the lead, but seeing him so determined, He Rui felt a sincere admiration, and his thoughts began to drift away from the administrative affairs themselves.

Once the world liberation war entered the second phase, a world government would need to be established. He Rui quite liked the name "United Nations" and could use it directly. At this stage, He Rui's own position would inevitably have to change. If He Rui were to serve as the leader of the future United Nations, he would have to resign from his position as China's leader. Holding both leadership roles simultaneously would not be good for the future United Nations.

In the New World Order created by Roosevelt in history, the United States did not directly appear as the leader. This was Roosevelt's political maturity. From a political perspective, China could establish a New World Order, and He Rui could serve as the world's leader, but China itself could not serve as the world's leader.

The United States' most brilliant action was the first Gulf War. George H.W. Bush organized a coalition in the name of the United Nations, defeated Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and after restoring Kuwait, did not go on to eliminate Saddam but instead withdrew from Iraq. Militarily and politically, they gained credibility and demonstrated the world order led by the United States. It had a flavor quite like Duke Huan of Qi.

However, the level of American civilization was low. While a few elites could achieve this, it was only the inspired strokes of a small number of political elites. As for America itself, it was far from reaching such a high level of civilization.

Long before the elder Bush, Roosevelt's successors had continuously emphasized America's direct leadership over the world. This direct leadership madness consumed America's national strength. Even though America had brilliant politicians like Nixon at the time who could formulate strategies in line with American interests, the control these American politicians had over the American empire had rapidly faded.

He Rui had great confidence in China. The primary reason Chinese civilization was highly advanced was that it understood very clearly how historical cycles functioned and had found the endogenous driving force that allowed Chinese civilization to continuously develop. Even if He Rui were to die, or even if all the elites selected by He Rui were to pass away, China would still be able to understand the fundamental reasons for the world's direction as established by He Rui. This was because the policies established by He Rui were not meant to satisfy Chinese civilization's demand for world hegemony, but to satisfy the demand for the world's common development.

China once held an incomparably leading position in the world, yet it too could not resist historical cycles. With the establishment of the economics of Communism, China's historical cycles not only gained a scientific explanation but also a direction for resolving those cycles.

If humanity were to simply continue wasting away on Earth, even if a new world order were built, they would not escape civilization's historical cycles. When the upper limit of productivity is sealed, the cycles will repeat again and again. To break this limit, humanity must work together to break through the cradle that is Earth.

As for where human society would go after truly breaking through that cradle, He Rui didn't care about such a future. When productivity reaches that stage, there will inevitably be a corresponding social structure and moral standards to match it. He Rui's imagination was far from sufficient to construct the system of that era.

However, He Rui himself was very confident. As long as the core of "seeking problems within oneself"—the most critical endogenous driving force of Chinese civilization—continued to exist, Chinese civilization would not perish even upon entering the space age; on the contrary, it would become even more brilliant and powerful.

Finding that his thoughts had wandered too far, He Rui pulled his focus back and wrote an instruction on the document: "The issue of the trials shall be decided by Comrade Li Runshi. Please directly state any support required. At this stage, our country will continue to issue invitations to legal scholars from all European and American countries, inviting as many people from the global legal community as possible to participate in the trials against colonialism. Doing so is not for the sake of fishing for fame, but to allow the people of the world to be liberated from the poison of colonialism as early as possible."

After finishing the instruction, He Rui picked up his pen and began to write. This was an open letter in which He Rui called upon all people of insight who wished for the human world to move to the next stage to break through all prejudices and self-imposed limitations and participate in the upcoming trials for the various crimes committed in the colonies.

"...The liberation war initiated by the Asian Alliance is not intended to thoroughly eliminate any race, but to liberate the entire world. Therefore, China's invitation is not about forming factions or punishing the losers as victors.

You people of insight who care for humanity: from the perspective of the human world, colonialism, as a stage in human history, is about to breathe its last. The current trials are undoubtedly the final verdict on colonialism.

Whether one supports colonialism or racism, China will not refuse any scholar who comes to participate in these Great Trials. Setting the final verdict on colonialism is like a funeral for the human world. The people who come to attend the funeral will have widely varying evaluations of the deceased—some supportive, some opposing.

However, as a human community, if one does not come to participate in this funeral, it would appear both lacking in class and lacking in confidence. Blindly hiding away, fantasizing that the deceased is still alive, or delusionally trying to revive the deceased, will only result in being buried alongside them..."