**Chapter 826: The Era of Global Ebullition (4)**

The news regarding China's possession of nuclear weapons was known only to a few and was not allowed to spread. The tour of the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons development center continued, with Roosevelt and Marshall both appearing unaffected, having completed their respective tasks. After the tour, the congressional "masters" and cabinet members were filled with increased confidence in America's prospects for winning the war. Upon returning to Washington, meetings were convened across Congress, the government, and the military.

As the war progressed to this point, the patriotism of ordinary Americans had been thoroughly whipped up. To the average citizen, the war and the enemy were quite abstract; the information they possessed was insufficient to construct a real picture of the conflict. As for those already on the battlefield or preparing to go, they saw tens of thousands of planes, tanks, and cannons produced by America's powerful industrial system, along with various advanced technical equipment that ordinary people never had the chance to see. This filled the American populace with confidence and expectation for victory.

Compared to these ordinary citizens, the American elite, with their more complete knowledge systems and better understanding of China, were not as confident. The leadership of the Rockefeller Syndicate was representative of this tiny, less-than-optimistic minority.

Hearing that the Roosevelt administration's cabinet members intended to hold another syndicate meeting, Rockefeller told his secretary directly, "Send the CEO. Tell him not to believe a single word the government says!"

Seeing Rockefeller's firm attitude, the secretary didn't dare ask more and hurried to make the call. Rockefeller himself, feeling agitated, simply stood up and left his office, taking the elevator to the top floor of the Rockefeller Building to look down over the New York skyline.

New York, like other industrial cities, was shrouded in smog. Even with the building's excellent view and the sea breeze from the coast, the city in his sight was a blur, offering no sense of tranquility.

Looking at the chimneys belching thick smoke in the distance, Rockefeller couldn't help but feel a twinge of compassion. These companies thought they were making a fortune now, but Rockefeller had witnessed the misery of Germany after the First World War. The price of a loaf of bread had reached 500,000 marks; even with the largest denominations of the time, the weight of the marks would have been dozens of times that of the bread itself.

According to articles He Rui published during Germany's hyperinflation, that inflation was indeed affected by the Entente's debt collection, but the true cause lay in the bonds issued by the German government during the war. When it came time to repay them, the government could print money but couldn't provide jobs or products. That was the real reason for Germany's hyperinflation in the 1920s.

Present-day America was following that same old path, issuing astronomical amounts of bonds. If America could win the war and gain world hegemony, a bright future would attract investors, and the government could digest war debt by issuing new bonds to pay off the old. Simultaneously, American goods would see booming production and sales, so that even when large amounts of war bonds came due, America wouldn't trigger inflation.

The Rockefeller Syndicate had cooperated with China for over a decade and was well aware of its industrial strength. Especially after the war broke out, learning that the fuel for China's massive air force was actually aviation kerosene, they immediately calculated that the cost-efficiency ratio of the US Air Force's funding was far lower than China's. Under such a ratio, America lacked the strength to defeat China. Failing to defeat China meant America could never win postwar hegemony. And without that hegemony, the massive war bonds would directly crush America when they came due.

The smog-shrouded New York City was like the future Rockefeller saw. The tall buildings were shadowy and indistinct, yet once a gale blew through, their true forms would inevitably be revealed. This was an inescapable future unless they changed direction now and stopped marching down a path of certain defeat.

Thinking of this, despite his irritability, Rockefeller made a decision. He Rui had already made multiple gestures of compromise, indicating he didn't want war for war's sake. The conflict had only been going on for six months; although American losses were great, they hadn't reached the point of being unbearable. At this stage, someone had to start doing something.

Rockefeller returned to his office and called a meeting of the syndicate's top brass. He didn't try his best to explain the war's direction; they had seen the data and would surely make the correct judgment. If anyone still didn't understand by now, Rockefeller wouldn't mind kicking such a fool out of the decision-making circle.

As he expected, these leaders understood that the US war situation was far from optimistic. Odin, head of the syndicate's strategic department, asked worriedly, "Will China try to invade the American mainland?"

Others shared similar concerns. America would likely lose the Pacific War; after China occupied all the islands and mastered the entire Pacific, would they take further action?

Rockefeller replied calmly, "I have met Mr. He Rui; he is a very rational man. I don't believe he will continue to expand the war just because the US military adopts a posture of continuing the fight. At this stage, we need to worry about America; if the US is determined to continue the war, China will be forced to fight on."

The syndicate leaders basically trusted Rockefeller's judgment. Those who didn't wouldn't have made it into the upper circle. Since Rockefeller had given a very simple structural judgment, the others found it easier to make their own. Soon, a leader with a Southern accent asked, "Mr. Rockefeller, do you think we can resume cooperation with China after the war?"

Rockefeller shook his head. "I believe what we need to consider now is what kind of commercial opportunities we want to occupy in the New World Order Mr. He Rui is trying to create. Will the new economic system he wants to build be open or closed? If it's open, where are the boundaries of that openness?"

Capital doesn't need governments to teach it how to operate; in brutal competition, the victors are those who first figure out the operation model themselves. For a capital group like the Rockefeller Syndicate, what they need from the government is to know where the permitted boundaries are!

For example, in the New Order He Rui was establishing, would the Rockefeller Syndicate be allowed to compete in all related fields, or only some? Or perhaps they would be barred from many areas, even their own professional fields.

As long as they could figure this out, the syndicate could determine its position: support the war, oppose it, or just endure until it ended. Their judgment of future interests determined their current choice.

Although these were the standards for the syndicate leaders, Rockefeller himself didn't emphasize them. Because of individual differences, everyone would make their own judgment under the same conditions. Rockefeller only had one thing to do now: tell them that "considering the order led by the He Rui government is already one of the directions the Rockefeller Syndicate can consider."

The syndicate's CEO did not attend this meeting, as he had to be at the meeting in Washington. Upon receiving the call from Rockefeller's secretary, he felt quite regretful. Personally, he certainly hoped the US could cleanly defeat China and even rule the world. But he was well aware of the difference between reality and a fairy tale; defeating China in a dream had nothing to do with defeating them in reality. What the US government was doing now was painting a fairy-tale future for the American people.

In fact, the content of the Washington meeting was exactly that. Cabinet members first presented a seemingly perfect data table to the syndicates, showing they had earned unimaginable wealth. Furthermore, through their work, the syndicates now possessed a force of engineers and workers never seen before—a force sufficient to complete the projects of their dreams and earn the wealth of their dreams.

The Rockefeller CEO tried his best to appear immersed in this dream; he found many were truly immersed, while some were also faking it.

Once the "painting of the pie" phase was complete, the cabinet members began describing the latest requirements: the government intended to set up production lines for jet fighters. Compared to piston-engine fighters, the technology was far more complex. The military's research centers had developed the relevant technology, but as for how to actually build them, companies would have to spend heavily on their own R&D.

Given that the participating companies had already earned a fortune from military demand, most showed great enthusiasm. When the bidding phase began, many companies tried to participate almost desperately. The Rockefeller CEO showed no less enthusiasm than his peers, but he spoke with absolute honesty. He stated the syndicate's advantages clearly, but also didn't hide its shortcomings.

In this reality-based attitude, several key parts of the jet fighter project were bid away by other companies. At this, the CEO fell silent with a displeased expression. To outsiders, it appeared the powerful Rockefeller Syndicate was unwilling to participate in the "odds and ends" because they disdained fighting over such small profits. This was a perfectly reasonable choice; after all, they had already earned enough.

To the representatives of Rockefeller and other syndicates that also failed to "win" large projects, this was a choice to not participate and to avoid offending others.

The Roosevelt cabinet members were a bit surprised; they truly didn't want a few syndicates to keep growing larger, so they wouldn't have gone out of their way to favor them. But the situation where the major syndicates came away empty-handed was indeed unexpected. Yet they couldn't overturn the completed bids and could only watch as the giants were not selected.

Once the meeting ended, the Secretary of Commerce specifically invited the syndicate representatives together to recommend war bonds. Faced with this request, as if by prior arrangement, they all brought up their current orders as an excuse.

These excuses were very reasonable: to complete these orders, the syndicates were all pre-funding production. Now they were all short on cash and couldn't buy war bonds.

No matter how eloquently the cabinet members spoke, trying to convince the syndicates to borrow from banks, the representatives refused. Although the conversation was polite throughout, their attitude was extremely firm; they wouldn't fall for it.

Borrowing from banks could indeed fill the capital gap, but it required paying interest. Furthermore, after military products were sold, a large portion of the profit had to be handed over, and the remaining profit had to be used to buy war bonds. This meant the more they borrowed, the more bonds they had to buy. The Rockefeller CEO already believed it would be difficult for the US to defeat China and naturally wouldn't let the syndicate shoulder heavy debt. Holding cash only meant considering inflation risk; holding bonds meant facing the risk of a default. Which was more important was obvious.

In contrast to the mixed results on the government side, the situation in Congress was quite optimistic. Although the congressional "masters" who had visited Oak Ridge couldn't reveal any information due to non-disclosure agreements, seeing that the money Congress invested was truly being used to develop a nuclear weapon that could destroy China greatly boosted their confidence. They passed several bills regarding war mobilization and appropriations in succession. It wasn't until the proposal for Black Americans to join the military reached Congress that their brows furrowed.

Although a minority, Black Americans had participated in all of America's wars. But each time, they had failed to receive rewards equal to those of whites. Especially during the Great Depression, the military at least paid regular wages, which led to a ban on hiring Black people during that era.

As the war progressed, manpower began to run short, so a bill to allow Black people to serve was submitted to Congress. According to this bill, Black recruits could receive treatment "similar to whites," and in return, their enlistment would be subject to no additional restrictions. This bill caused strong unease among the congressmen, especially those from the Democratic-controlled Southern states.

On May 13th, *The Washington Post* published a report on four US divisions being sent to fight in the Solomon Islands. Although filled with praise for the US military, it was the first report to describe the brutality of the battlefield in detail. In that tropical archipelago, every day, the British-American Allied Forces led by the US were engaged in a bloodbath with the Chinese military. The US land, sea, and air forces fought bravely, inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese. Simultaneously, the US military was also suffering horrific losses.

The report left many American readers in tears and chilled the hearts of the congressmen. Unlike ordinary Americans who didn't understand the power of 155mm artillery, the congressmen had visited many live-fire exercises and knew a 155mm shell left a crater at least ten meters in diameter.

The report stated that the two armies were firing tens of thousands of 155mm shells every day, while the air forces fought from morning till night. To maintain supply lines, the two navies constantly clashed. Carrier groups were vulnerable near the island-dense Solomons, so most ships involved were battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, all of which had to fight at night. In daylight, these ships would become sitting ducks for both air forces.

Dark nights or torrential rain only stopped the air forces; beneath the waves, submarines from both sides stalked transport fleets. Submarines, in turn, were hunted by escort groups; once locked on by anti-submarine vessels, they had little chance of escape.

Just in April, the Chinese military intensified its bombardment of the Solomons, causing massive casualties to the US Army. To cover the ground forces, the US Air Force had to fly high-intensity sorties, and its losses skyrocketed. By May 9th, when the draft was finished, US casualties in the Solomons had exceeded 100,000 and were rapidly increasing.

The reporter clearly wasn't trying to demoralize the military; in his report, he interviewed a US soldier. The reporter asked, "With the current situation, casualties might exceed 200,000."

In the report, the soldier replied firmly, "Even if there are more casualties, we must fight on."

Such a politically correct report truly terrified the congressmen. Before the war, they could certainly shout about "bleeding the last drop" and "fighting to the last man." but seeing that casualties might really exceed 500,000 in the short term, they found themselves under immense pressure. The deaths of the soldiers themselves were secondary, but their families represented votes. 500,000 casualties might have limited impact, but at the current trend, they could break 2 million. With a US population of 110 million, 2 million casualties meant 1 out of every 50 people. By then, votes would certainly be affected.

Moreover, with the entire globe at war, America could no longer absorb Europeans through "war green cards." Thus, the enlistment of Black Americans quickly became an excellent choice. Currently, Black Americans had no voting rights; no matter how many died, it couldn't affect the polls.

From the perspective of white supremacists, if Black Americans, regardless of age or gender, could trade lives one-for-one with the Chinese on the battlefield, they would surely be moved to tears and thank God: "After all these years of eating the white man's grain, they've finally given something back!"

Thereafter, the direction of the bill discussion shifted. The congressmen no longer refused to let Black people serve, but the "masters" from the Southern states, from a realist standpoint, raised new questions. Although a Black life was far less valuable than equipment, America could afford the weapons. But the purpose of equipping them was to have them kill Chinese on the battlefield; the white army hadn't been able to do that yet, so could a Black army?

This was a sharp question, and many congressmen felt the combat power of a Black army was highly doubtful. At this point, a representative from Texas offered his view: "I believe Black people will perform excellently in night combat."

The room fell silent, but the answer was so unique that after a brief pause, many of the self-important congressmen burst into laughter. Using their "advantage" for night combat was indeed a path they hadn't considered.

The Texan representative's expression didn't change. Once the laughter subsided, he continued, "The climate of the Solomon Islands is similar to Africa's."

The congressmen didn't laugh again. What they needed now was facts, not the actual combat power of a Black army. The Texan's answer was enough, because his meaning was that a Black army could at least be used as cannon fodder. As for whether they could win, that wasn't really a consideration for the "masters." If Black people were truly battle-hardened and successful, the congressmen would be even more afraid.

On May 15th, Congress passed the bill for Black enlistment. On May 16th, recruiters across every state moved into action!

At this time, the US military relied on conscription, not voluntary enlistment. Conscription was a civic duty; at the state's command, any eligible citizen receiving a notice had to go to the front.

Up to now, the young men willing to serve had already joined. This group included many talents; for example, most teachers and students in science and engineering at various universities had chosen to enlist. At Columbia University, 70% of eligible male faculty had joined, forcing the university to suspend enrollment because it could not maintain normal teaching. Other universities were in similar straits, so in 1942, the number of new freshmen in US universities was less than 20,000, and mostly female.

Roosevelt's sons had all joined, as had scions of the Kennedy and Bush families. These were not isolated cases; all upper-class families had male members in the service.

Those who hadn't joined by now were either lucky or had used connections to avoid it. Conscription had entered a difficult phase. But Black people, previously prohibited by law, had not joined. Now that the door was open, recruiters found themselves finally relieved of their heavy KPIs. They took their rosters and drove to Black neighborhoods, dropping off notices house by house. The order had come down: this round required over 1.2 million Black recruits. Just delivering the notices was a massive task.

This matter was so large that He Rui received a report on May 18th. Most of the Military Commission comrades were busy elsewhere; Cheng Ruofan, who had been in Beijing, was now in Guangzhou preparing for the official formation of the World People's Liberation Army. Only Hu Xiushan remained, and while he was good at everything, his sense of humor was a weak point.

He Rui looked at the other staff and swallowed the urge to laugh. Black humor aside, He Rui thought for a moment and sent a telegram to Li Runshi: "Comrade Li Runshi, please contact the American Black comrades in the World People's Liberation Army and ask them to write anti-discrimination and anti-racism flyers in Black slang."

Historically, there had been cases during the Korean War of entire Black units surrendering to the People's Volunteers. He Rui didn't know if the current Black army realized that America's institutional racism was their enemy, but he had to try. One of the key points of politics is to "make friends many and enemies few." To defeat America, Black Americans were entirely capable of being united with. In the World People's Liberation Army, there was plenty of room for our Black brothers.