**Chapter 843: World People's Liberation Army (11)**

On August 10th, Wu Youping finally regained consciousness. He looked at the walls around him—white on top and green on the bottom—having no idea what had happened. It wasn't until his vision cleared and he saw the IV drip and the medical equipment that he guessed he had fallen ill. But as to how he had collapsed, Wu was completely in the dark.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps approached, and several doctors walked to his bedside. The leader wore a mask, obscuring his face, and said, "Premier Wu, do not move. Your condition is still very serious."

Wu didn't know his own status, but hearing he was in serious condition, he immediately said, "Doctor, please contact my secretary."

Hardly had he spoken when more footsteps rang out, and Wu's secretary rushed into the room. Seeing Wu awake, the secretary leaned down and said, "Premier, the doctor says that as long as you've regained consciousness, you can pass the critical stage."

Wu felt these words were truly hard to believe. He had been pushing his body to the limit through work and had long felt that the day he collapsed, he might not get back up. Since he was still lucid, he voiced his most urgent thought: "Contact the Chairman and say I wish to see him."

The secretary was momentarily taken aback but replied immediately, "Yes," and turned to leave.

Wu stopped speaking, hoping to use his remaining strength to wait for He Rui. In the face of death, he only wanted to see He Rui one last time.

To his surprise, it wasn't long before He Rui's familiar figure appeared before him. Before Wu could speak, He Rui said, "Youping, I've asked the doctors. They say this isn't a brief flare of lucidity before the end. Don't overthink it."

Hearing He Rui say this, Wu felt a great weight lift from his heart and shared what he wanted to say. "Chairman, I have work matters to discuss with you."

He Rui turned to look at the secretary and the doctors, and they immediately left the room. Once only Wu, He Rui, and the guard at the door remained, Wu said in a low voice, "I'm afraid I cannot continue. I ask the Central Committee to immediately appoint a new Premier."

He Rui shook his head. "That wouldn't be quite according to the rules. This isn't a general election; the Vice Premier can serve as Acting Premier."

Wu reflected and accepted He Rui's view. "In that case, I have no concerns about other work, but I am still uneasy about the aid to the Soviet Union. The budget for dispatching the WPLA to the USSR has not been finalized yet."

He Rui knew Wu was extremely responsible; a perfunctory answer would never satisfy him. He explained patiently, "Don't worry. The first wave consists entirely of our Air Force units. The organization of the second wave hasn't been finalized yet; currently, there are three mobilization routes: via the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Mongolian Railway, and through Pakistan in the Indian Ocean. Let the comrades in the State Council handle these; you just focus on your recovery."

He Rui patted Wu's arm gently. "Youping, on the day of victory, we will review the returning victorious troops together."

Seeing that his collapse hadn't affected national affairs, Wu finally felt at ease and replied, "Chairman, I knew a month ago that we had already won. From the data, 71% of the extra currency we issued is now backed by actual content in the new world economy, and the remaining 29% can be completed within the next two years. By then, our annual GDP will be equivalent to 163% of America's. Based on a 33% tax rate, the funds we spend on the war are 53% of America's total annual industrial and agricultural GDP. The US military budget currently accounts for 40% of their GDP; even if they push it to the limit, it will at most match ours. And I'm only calculating what China contributes; adding what the liberated areas bear, our war budget exceeds the entire Allied camp."

At this point, Wu felt his heart race again and his head spin; he could speak no more.

He Rui patted his arm again. "Since you know the war is won, then listen to the doctors and defeat this illness. When the time comes, you will win along with the people of the world."

Wu wanted to nod but lacked the strength, only blinking his eyes.

"Rest well. I'm going back to work now," He Rui said, rising to leave.

As he stepped out, the attending physician immediately approached. "Chairman, the Premier must rest quietly..."

He Rui replied instantly, "Don't worry, I have already ordered that no one is to disturb his rest."

The physician continued, "Chairman, we actually suspect the Premier has suffered some myocardial infarction... the infarcted tissue cannot be recovered."

The doctor was apprehensive while delivering this medical information, as families often lack medical knowledge and cannot accept the sudden loss of a loved one. Explaining the danger clearly often triggered emotional outbursts. But as the attending physician, he had to say it.

Amidst this apprehension, he saw He Rui, looking pained but speaking in as calm a voice as possible: "I understand the situation with myocardial infarction. Doctor, I make only one requirement: you must keep Premier Wu alive no matter what. I am making the decision for his family; you do not need to perform conservative treatment. As long as it keeps him alive, use every advanced technology and piece of equipment, assemble the best doctors in the country, organize teams, and research solutions. I don't care if your treatment results in countless papers on new medical approaches. If the expert team decides a plan requires custom equipment no one has dared to propose before, the Central Committee will cooperate."

The physician felt a chill run down his spine, cold sweat breaking out. He Rui's seemingly cooperative approach was actually like placing the doctors over a fire to roast.

He Rui continued, "Regarding the problems caused by myocardial infarction—fibrillation, thrombosis, inflammation, and other complications—unconventional treatments are required. I'm telling you, drugs including pethidine (Demerol) can be used. If it reaches an emergency, you can open the chest and use manual cardiac massage to restore the heartbeat. I only ask that you help the Premier pass the most dangerous stage and enter a recovery period. Doctor, do you understand what I am saying?"

The physician looked into He Rui's sharp gaze, unable to figure out how the leader knew so much about the key points of managing an MI. The Chinese medical community had heard that it was He Rui who came up with sulfonamides and antibiotics, and that he had provided decisive ideas for treating malaria and tuberculosis.

However, medicine is specialized; there was no necessary link between a pharmacologist and a surgeon. Yet He Rui's points were quite accurate and not at all excessive. At least he understood clearly how grave Wu Youping's illness was.

Finally, the physician nodded. "Chairman, if doctors could guarantee results, no one would ever die. I can only promise you that we will do everything humanly possible."

He Rui simply gave an "Mhm" and walked past the doctor toward the stairs. The doctor watched his back, wondering if the leader was a bit too harsh.

In truth, the doctor misunderstood him. He Rui looked so cold only because he knew that pleading with anyone was useless now. What could improve Wu Youping's chances of survival, besides his own mindset, were bold and meticulous treatment and care. Based on his knowledge of Wu's wife, she was not one to make decisive judgments. A family's hesitation would affect the doctors' resolve. Therefore, He Rui was willing to take responsibility. If it could save Wu Youping, he didn't care about others' opinions or criticism.

On the way back to his office, He Rui stared out the car window in silence. Managing China required immense mental and physical energy; Wu Youping had been ground down by the heavy workload. He Rui felt he himself might not last much longer either.

From today's exchange, Wu Youping did not fear death, a trait he shared with He Rui. The reason He Rui had to persist was only that he didn't want his death to affect China winning the war, or the direction China took after winning.

Historically, the US won World War II, but as soon as the last leader with strategic vision, Roosevelt, died, his successors lacked his ability and thoroughly botched the post-war layout he had planned. Though the US remained powerful, it lost many opportunities. He Rui didn't want China to go down a "wicked path" like the historical United States.

And the reasons that could lead China astray were precisely contained within what Wu Youping had struggled to say. China was truly wealthy now—incredibly wealthy. To what extent? While the other major powers had all entered a total war footing, China had carried the cost of the war using only a 33% tax rate, without even needing a total mobilization.

Furthermore, that 33% didn't fully include the "Special War Tax." This wasn't unique to China; almost all Allied members were implementing it. Companies engaged in military production had to hand over profits exceeding a certain amount to the treasury.

If He Rui included that money, the tax rate would be around 36%, completely exceeding the war expenditures of the Allies.

With the highest combat efficiency, the highest military spending, ample manpower, and the highest average education level in the military, as long as He Rui didn't suddenly die, winning the war was a high-probability event.

Wu Youping's view was simple: he knew the war was already won.

*Youping, you must live!* He Rui thought silently to himself. Over the years, he had experienced the departure of too many comrades and friends; he found that his tolerance for this hadn't increased, but rather that he could bear the loss even less.

Returning to his office, it took He Rui some time to recover enough to continue working. He picked up the file his secretary had placed first—it was about the Indian National Congress (INC) in the North colluding with the British.

The summary of the file surprised him. It wasn't that the INC colluding with Britain was strange, but that they were doing it *now*, which He Rui found puzzling. Britain was currently incapable of helping the INC; while this meant they weren't a threat, it also meant they could offer no support.

He Rui hadn't paid much attention to India lately. Looking at the report, the first part of the details mentioned that Northern India had named itself "Bharat" (婆罗多). This made He Rui chuckle.

The name "India," especially its English form, was viewed by some Indians—especially Hindus—as having strong British colonialist connotations. Some anti-colonial revolutionaries from a Hindu background claimed the British colonial rulers created the name "India" as a "symbol of slavery," and that "Bharat" was India's original self-designation.

In truth, this was a Hindu-centric view. The name "India" had a long history; in Sanskrit, the pronunciation of "Indus River" was *Sindhu*. Ancient Chinese texts referred to India as *Shendu* and *Tianzhu*, which were phonetic Chinese transliterations of the local pronunciation at the time.

The pronunciation of *Sindhu*, following the accents and terminologies of surrounding nations, became *Hindu* in Old Persian, *Indu* in Ancient Greek, and *India* once it reached Europe. These pronunciations shared a common origin in the Sanskrit term and were quite ancient.

China's use of the name "Yindu" (India) was thanks to the monk Xuanzang, who had traveled there for sutras. Xuanzang had deep feelings for India and felt the pronunciation of *Shendu* was fine, but in Chinese characters, it didn't look like a good word. Thus, he determined the place of his studies should be called "Yindu." Thereafter, *Yindu* and *Tianzhu* gradually became China's official names for the region.

Now the INC naming their state "Bharat" was truly interesting.

The term "Bharat" originally referred to the ancient "Bharata tribe," a tribe of Aryans who invaded India during the Vedic period, around the 10th century BC.

The Bharata tribe had achieved hegemony in Northern India for a time during the Vedic era, perhaps equivalent to one of the "Five Hegemons" of China's Spring and Autumn period. The ancient Indian epic *Mahabharata* (composed between the 4th century BC and 4th century AD) primarily tells the story of the rise and civil wars of the Bharatas (according to the epic, the tribe was named after their ancestor, Bharata). Although heavily fictionalized, it reflects part of the history of Aryan tribes gradually taking control of India.

From a historical perspective, the "Bharata tribe" could not possibly be the source of the main Indian ethnic group, at best being an influential regional regime. After all, the subcontinent was then filled with hundreds of small states, the Bharatas being just one. It wasn't until the 3rd century BC that Ashoka's Maurya Empire managed a tenuous unification of Northern India.

However, the *Mahabharata* was also a primary religious text of Hinduism. Under long-term Hindu influence, "Bharat" gradually became a spiritual symbol for the Kshatriya caste (royalty and nobility), and many later Indian ruling classes and nobles considered themselves "descendants of the Bharatas." Ultimately, "Bharat" became an alternative name for Indians themselves.

Reflecting on it, He Rui felt that the Bharat established by the INC was "so-so." Their control covered Northern and some Central Indian regions; if the INC could cede the Delhi area—the capital of the last Indian dynasty, the Mughals—and allow the Mughal dynasty to be restored, then the other regions truly would be relatively traditional Northern India. There was nothing wrong with the people there calling themselves Bharat.

Of course, since the INC didn't want the title "India," it might be taken by the Irelan (Iranic/Indus) region in the West. This area wasn't called Pakistan yet, and its largest river was the Indus—the *Sindhu* of Sanskrit.

Having roughly determined that Bharat would be a Hindu state, He Rui relaxed. His move to have India return to the state of its various historical civilizations building their own nations could be said to be aimed at eliminating strategic threats to China's southwest. But He Rui truly believed that simpler nation-states, especially in regions like India, would develop better the more homogenous they were internally.

Based on the history of India in the other timeline He Rui knew, the country was riddled with contradictions and heavily fragmented, leading to continuous internal friction. Ultimately, "Modi the Great Immortal" had to resort to a fascist model to forcibly shape an Indian national identity, making the Muslim minority a target for suppression.

Fascist methods rapidly consumed India's internal vitality, much as Hitler's Nazi Germany—seemingly vigorous—had quickly fallen into a state of stagnation.

In more homogenous states, because the number of people who can be defined as internal enemies is small, such friction ends quickly, and the fundamental national contradictions are highlighted more strongly, forcing the state to undergo reform. The things Modi did, because India had 200 million Muslims and tens of millions of Sikhs, meant those contradictions could be exploited long-term, making true Indian reform extremely difficult.

Thinking of all this, He Rui felt China could just watch how the various Indian nations developed and stopped his analysis to focus on the files. One report mentioned that the INC was actually hiring large numbers of British people abandoned by the British Army in Bharat, and in secret meetings, asking Britain to exchange technicians for British civilians in Bharat.

He Rui felt there was nothing wrong with this; if they could fully utilize British resources, it would indeed help Bharat. More importantly, doing so now would create some problems for Bharat's future development. After all, Britain was no longer the most powerful nation; since they could no longer through colonial means forcibly turn the Indian region into a market for British goods, the technology and equipment Bharat bought from Britain could not provide super-profits. Without profit, the British economy—lacking orders—would plummet. In less than twenty years, Britain would automatically de-industrialize.

Since that was the inevitable course, He Rui set the file aside. because Bharat currently lacked an outlet to the sea, China couldn't conduct large-scale trade with it, so He Rui had no interest in the place.

The second file concerned communications between the WPLA and the Jews who had been forcibly relocated to Madagascar after its liberation. Some of these people were indeed requesting to return to the Israel region to re-establish their nation.

Seeing this, He Rui hesitated for a few seconds about the choice of inserting a "shit-stirrer" into the Middle East. He quickly shook his head to dispel the thought.

Israel's career as a Middle Eastern shit-stirrer had essentially gone bankrupt after 1924. A force like Hamas alone had shown strong combat power. Israel had existed in the Middle East for over 70 years, and its greatest result was that the overall military strength of the Arab region grew stronger by the day *because* of Israel's existence. That was a situation He Rui did not want to see.

Continuing with the file, the WPLA had told the Jews in Madagascar that after victory, if the European nations that persecuted them could not ensure their safety upon return to their homelands, the WPLA would carve out a piece of land in Europe for them to establish an independent state.

Among the Jews in Madagascar, over 60% favored the plan for an independent state in Europe. Less than 20% leaned toward a state in their ancestral land of Israel. The remaining 20% had no clear stance.

He Rui looked at the map of Europe, his mind already made up. Since they were to be given space in Europe, it should be carved from the border between Germany and Poland—the two who had persecuted them most harshly. For instance, the cradle of Prussia: East Prussia would be an excellent place.

If that wasn't large enough, then throw in Danzig as well. That should be enough for them to survive. And if the Jews felt they couldn't make it in Europe, they could always migrate to America.

At this thought, He Rui gave a cold laugh. It seemed his machiavellian level was still holding up; age hadn't caused his sense of humor to decline.