**Chapter 812: American Personality (9)**

Although General Zhukov did not go against his own thoughts, he was no fool. No matter how much he believed China expected the Soviet Union to join the Chinese camp, he would not voice the hypothesis of "a major defeat for the Soviet Union once war breaks out with Germany." Publicly suggesting that the Soviet Union might lose to the Wehrmacht was already an extremely dangerous statement; to further suggest seeking help from China after a defeat would be suicidal.

While he believed China would support the Soviet Union, Zhukov couldn't clearly figure out what demands China would make at that time. Moreover, nothing was absolute; what if Germany and China reached an agreement, with Germany leaving the Allied Powers and joining China's side? From a strategic perspective, excellent conditions for strategic cooperation existed between China and Germany. A Sino-German alliance held no logical inconsistency.

In fact, Zhukov had always found it difficult to understand why the He Rui government had consistently been anti-Nazi over the past decade. The Comintern was anti-Nazi because it was competing with the Nazis for dominance in Europe. There weren't many actual conflicts between the Nazis and China, yet China's opposition to Nazism was a genuine ideological war. However, in Zhukov's impression, the He Rui government never seemed like one that prioritized ideology.

Therefore, Zhukov could only express his purely military views on the Chinese suggestion. After finishing, to avoid Stalin's misunderstanding, he added: "As the General Secretary said, China's suggestion seems defensive, but in reality, they are already prepared for war with Nazi Germany."

Stalin hadn't initially considered the possibility of Zhukov being pro-China. Seeing Zhukov support the Chinese suggestion, Stalin said with some displeasure: "He Rui is a man who does things very extremely, preferring to use war to solve problems. Anyone who doesn't accept his suggested peace plans is viewed by him as having war intentions, and he resorts to military means."

After emphasizing this point, Stalin first took a puff from his pipe, watching the reactions of Marshal Tukhachevsky and General Zhukov. Marshal Tukhachevsky merely said, "He Rui simply doesn't care about the safety of the people in the Western Soviet Union." Zhukov just nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the reactions of the two military leaders were not intense, Stalin didn't truly get angry. He cared about this point himself. The sacred territory of the Soviet Union had been invaded by foreign powers before, but the Soviet Union was weak then and had no way to resist the enemy outside its gates. The present Soviet Union was in no way comparable to that time. As someone who had resisted foreign invasions, Stalin could not accept the prospect of the Soviet Union being invaded again.

If they followed China's suggestion and the Soviet Union adopted a posture of "if you Nazis dare to attack, you will be annihilated on Soviet soil," it could indeed release a signal to Nazi Germany that the Soviet Union was prepared to fight to the end. But with such determination, why not fight the battle on German soil?

Seeing that the two generals had nothing more to say, Stalin changed his tobacco before speaking: "From the Chinese side's statement, what do you think is China's attitude toward a possible Soviet-German war?"

Marshal Tukhachevsky spoke first: "The Chinese statement was polite enough; they didn't make a specific statement at all, only emphasizing the traditional friendly relations between China and the Soviet Union."

Having stated what could be confirmed, Tukhachevsky fell silent. Zhukov merely echoed him, saying nothing more. Zhukov felt this was already the greatest goodwill toward China—at least they hadn't distorted China's attitude. On issues concerning major national affairs, there was never a lack of speculation. These speculations were often distortions of the greatest malice; after all, one cannot use goodwill to explain major national affairs.

Stalin also didn't believe China would be wholeheartedly friendly toward the Soviet Union; if China were friendly, it wouldn't have maintained a distance for twenty years. Since the two generals' descriptions contained no friendly views toward China, Stalin moved to the next discussion: "If the United States supports Germany, how much influence will it have on Germany?"

This time, Tukhachevsky did not speak. After waiting a while, Stalin looked at Zhukov. Zhukov could only reply: "I don't think the impact on Germany will be very large. Although there is extensive military-technical cooperation between Germany and the United States, the US currently has no way to provide weapons and equipment to Germany; their own equipment is being used in the war against China."

After hearing Zhukov's judgment, Tukhachevsky expressed his agreement. Hearing this, Stalin furrowed his brows. Information about whether there were large-scale arms deals between the US and Germany could actually be obtained from the American presidential envoy, Hopkins.

At that moment, Harry Hopkins sneezed. He rubbed his nose, a puzzled look on his pale face. The delegation this time consisted of more than just Hopkins; there were also some young aides. These aides were outstanding young elites from various fields; working in the White House team was a very important experience in their lives. With this experience, they would have great prospects in various fields in the future.

Hopkins asked Major Smith, who was accompanying them: "Major, do you think the CPSU leadership truly understands that their current actions are seen as a provocation by Germany?"

Major Smith was a top graduate of the military academy, particularly brilliant in strategy. His graduation thesis, which studied the military application of He Rui's geopolitical theory, received extremely high praise. He was considered the person in the American military who best understood Chinese culture.

In response to Hopkins' question, Major Smith replied: "Russian philosophical and military thought are very different from China's. This is based on the fact that China has a rich variety of climates and geography, while Russia's territory and climate are too singular. So, the Soviet Union realizes it is provoking, but it doesn't think this provocation will trigger a violent reaction from Germany. In this regard, China's attitude is very similar to that of the United States."

After hearing this, Hopkins nodded slightly. In Hopkins' view, there were huge differences between China and the United States, not only in race and geographical location but also in history; Chinese history was so ancient that it would give the US a headache just thinking about it.

But Hopkins discovered that China and the United States shared a very mysterious similarity. Previously, Hopkins hadn't had time to study the origin of this similarity; hearing Major Smith's answer now gave him a sense of enlightenment.

Indeed, the greatest similarity between China and the United States lay in the enormous natural differences between their northern and southern regions. When it was snowy in the American North, one could still wear short sleeves in the southernmost US. In this regard, there was truly no difference between China and the US. To maintain continuous production under such diverse climatic conditions, the United States naturally had to adopt organizational methods very similar to China's.

Compared to China and the US, the Soviet climate was highly singular; after it snowed, the entire Soviet Union was covered in ice and snow. Naturally, production patterns everywhere were very similar. The only difference was between cold and colder.

In terms of threats, the American response to a threat itself was much more cautious than the Soviet one. Threats must exist, but the degree of the threat was chosen very skillfully. If the US were to station a large number of troops on a border, it was very likely they were going to fight. If it was just a threat, the US would also make sure the opponent fully believed the US was truly threatening.

If the US placed a large number of troops on a border while telling that country "what we want is peace," then there was nothing more to say; the US would inevitably go to war.

It was precisely based on this "American personality" that Hopkins had spent quite a bit of effort, with the help of American elites, to finally understand that this Soviet approach, in the Russian style, might truly be intended only for intimidation, rather than for war.

Even having accepted such an explanation, Hopkins often still couldn't understand why the Soviet Union couldn't grasp that stationing so many troops in border areas was actually very stupid.

After some discussion, Hopkins asked another question he felt he couldn't quite understand: "Does the Soviet Union really believe it can gain huge benefits from the war without participating in it? If the Soviet Union really has such great ambitions, it must pay the corresponding price!"

A PhD in Political Science from Columbia University in the American team replied: "This is also a Russian tradition. They only show their fangs when facing the weak. The last time Russia gained the support of a strong power was during the Napoleonic era. During the anti-Napoleonic wars, Russia's firm decision to strike down its opponent came only after Napoleon captured Moscow. Other than that, Russia's strategic thinking has always been about grabbing benefits—grabbing benefits in various ways. Their strategy often serves their tactical objectives."

Hopkins felt this evaluation was a bit too acerbic. But this explanation did make many things clearer. At least comparing the Soviet Union's actions over the years with He Rui's actions—especially comparing He Rui's "Asian International Court" with the Soviet-led "Third International" (Comintern)—one could really see the differences between the two countries.

China's He Rui used the Asian International Court to form an international exchange platform. As the war continued to this point, he could bring "scholars" from various countries together to promote China's position and describe the world order China wanted to establish. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union's Third International had come to a dismal end, dissolving itself.

Between the Asian International Court and the Third International, the latter clearly spent more money and had more members. But their strategic height was worlds apart. He Rui's goal was to propose a world order through the Asian International Court, making various governments follow China's direction. The Third International's goal was to subvert those governments. The gap between them was truly enormous.

Thinking of this, Hopkins suddenly found the similarity between China and the US to be even greater. The United States also wanted to establish a new world order, while what the Soviet Union wanted to establish was a more Europeanized sphere of influence.

Hopkins couldn't help but ask: "Does the Soviet Union realize the gap between their national personality and China's?"

This proposal left the members of the American delegation somewhat stunned; no one had thought of "national personality." But with Hopkins saying this, the Columbia University PhD was the first to express agreement: "I don't think the Soviet Union has realized the similarity between the Chinese and American national personalities. And the Soviet Union also hasn't realized that at the core of the Soviet national personality is that of the Tartars (Mongols). At the same time, Russia very much admires the German national personality."

At the mention of the view that the Soviet Union and Germany were more similar, the members of the American delegation expressed their sincere agreement. in the eyes of the United States, the Soviet Union and Germany were truly completely similar. It's just that the Soviet Union and Germany themselves wouldn't admit it.