**Chapter 856: Aiding the Soviet Union (13)**

Major Miao Daduo was assigned to the intelligence section of the air force operational system aid group. Despite his very "earthy" name, Major Miao was not from a rural household. He was born in 1915 into an ordinary urban family in Siping. His parents were originally peasants who had moved to the city; his father, Miao Shengxiao, made a living doing manual labor.

Upon He Rui's arrival in Siping, a new social system was immediately established. Miao's parents joined a construction company and a sugar refinery, respectively, becoming ordinary frontline employees.

In the years that followed, the Miao couple lived a modest life. Following the system built by the He Rui government, Miao Daduo started primary school at age six and finished at ten. In the year he was to graduate, the education system was reformed, establishing a five-year compulsory education system.

Compared to those before him, Miao Daduo studied for an extra year to complete his compulsory education. Afterward, as the son of a Northeast worker family, he and his classmates entered junior high, and more than 40% of them went on to senior high. Upon graduating high school in 1932, he joined the military. In 1934, he was admitted to the military academy, graduating from the Shenyang Military School in 1936 with the rank of second lieutenant.

Over the next six years, Miao worked in the units for four years and spent two years in advanced studies. Before coming to the USSR, he had become a member of the military intelligence department.

Once in the Soviet Union, Miao was very focused on his professional duties. Relying on Russian that was grammatically passable—though his trilled 'r' was lacking—and an iron liver for vodka, he integrated reasonably well with the Soviet personnel.

Seeing the large influx of new Soviet mathematical experts, Miao did not rush to communicate but instead observed them while carefully studying their basic profiles.

Aiding the air force operational system was a major undertaking, and the Soviets were forced to provide a roster of the personnel receiving training. These rosters contained only basic data, yet to a trained officer like Major Miao, that data contained a great deal of interesting information.

From the founding of the USSR in 1922 to 1942 was exactly twenty years. Regardless of the problems during its establishment, the great achievements the Soviet Union had made were beyond doubt. Taking the mathematical talents recruited by the Air Force as an example, they were all very young—none over thirty, and some even just twenty and fresh from university.

Since its founding, the Soviet Union had invested heavily in education. These youths had been educated under the system established by the Soviet government. Those twenty-year-old graduates had been born, raised, and educated entirely within the USSR—the first pure generation of Soviet-trained university graduates.

As a native of the Northeast, Miao Daduo could well understand the life paths of these young Soviet mathematicians, for he had walked a similar road. While in school, they didn't know much about specialized subjects, simply believing that the higher the degree, the more capable the person. As for exactly where that capability lay, it was beyond Miao's understanding then.

Through one exam after another, stumbling through to high school graduation, Miao hadn't known how "great" a university was, only that by taking one more entrance exam, he might enter those once-distant halls of education. This transformation had thrilled him.

Before he could fully process this, military recruiters arrived at the school. To the people of the Northeast, the military was a very familiar presence; during the war between the Northeast Government and Japan, out of a population of 30 million, the combined active and reserve forces had reached 4 million. Miao's parents, as workers with over seven years of experience, had both been enrolled in the reserves.

To the locals, that conflict had been a total war for the entire Northeast. Aside from a few families disqualified due to their social background, every Northeast household had at least one person in the reserves. It was a collective memory. Miao had been only eight then; though he hadn't known exactly what was happening, he had a deep impression of the changes around him.

Between joining the military and taking the university entrance exam, Miao had chosen the military. Because the government arranged jobs for veterans, his parents felt it was the better choice—certainly more reliable than the university life the family had never encountered.

The Soviet mathematicians before him had likely faced a similar choice. However, they had chosen university and thus followed a different path. While Miao felt some envy, he didn't regret his own choice for a second.

After analyzing the basic profiles of the Soviet students, Miao and his colleagues discussed where to start building relationships with them. Chinese intelligence was not adept at traditional clandestine gathering, and since their opponents were white, they naturally lacked the conditions to infiltrate European and American circles. Thus, the Chinese intelligence community had invested heavily in public information analysis and had made significant progress.

Based on their experience in Southeast Asia, the Chinese intelligence departments believed that one dollar spent on propaganda often yielded better results than five spent on the military. Miao had been assigned to Borneo then; the propaganda concept formulated there emphasized that the people of Borneo had varying proportions of Chinese blood.

In truth, after the fall of the Lanfang Republic, the number of its descendants was small. But the Borneo population was of Asian descent, genetically close to the ancestors of the Chinese and vastly different from European colonizers. This propaganda had been an unprecedented success, especially when Chinese troops entered Borneo, eliminated the colonizers with ease, and conducted trials—including public trials and executions of Chinese nationals who had participated in the colonizers' crimes.

Throughout that process, the scale of combat was limited and few were killed—only a few thousand. Yet millions of Borneans now identified as being of Chinese descent, becoming a strong pillar for China in Southeast Asia. That was the power of propaganda.

The people needed a hope and a guarantee of a better life; China had proved it could provide both. Having accepted the propaganda, the Borneans naturally chose to identify as Chinese to secure a more reliable future.

But for the USSR, such a method was inappropriate. Miao and his colleagues realized the Soviet people didn't need Chinese guarantees; they needed guarantees from their own government.

Before coming to the USSR, the aid personnel had undergone training. One rule was that they were forbidden from communicating with the Soviet people from the perspective of a "benefactor." So Miao asked, "How should we highlight the role of our aid?"

Among the attendees were experts in both military and civilian technology. While the military personnel like Miao saw no clear breakthrough, those from technical backgrounds replied: "We don't need to highlight the role of our aid at all. What matters is the extent to which the Soviets realize its value. Once they do, they will surely formulate policies to accelerate their learning. By then, even if the Soviet experts don't realize the importance of our aid, they will at least know that the faster and deeper they learn, the more they will be utilized. Then, they will gravitate toward us of their own accord."

The intelligence personnel realized that only with the guarantee of their own government would the Soviets approach the Chinese aid group. The Soviet government would inevitably be wary of Chinese influence and would deliberately control such interactions. Hearing the technical staff, they realized they could simply wait for the Soviets to take the initiative.

But as the situation shifted, the Chinese intelligence officers became wary of the *reasons* for this proximity; the Soviets weren't coming for China's benefit, but for their own. Thus, those who approached would certainly include those seeking to acquire more Chinese technology.

In this sudden shift of thought, the Chinese perspective also changed. The Soviets went from being potential tools to being objects of necessary precaution.

Facing the concerns of the military-background intelligence officers, those from technical backgrounds smiled and urged patience, explaining the current situation: "The technology we are providing, in the permitted areas, is shared without reservation. Therefore, we have no reason to worry when the Soviet experts approach us. As for the aid we *don't* wish to provide, based on our understanding, it is entirely beyond the scope of this technology. Although they share a general direction, the technical paths taken are now indistinguishable. So comrades, have no fear; work boldly."

In Beijing, He Rui sat by the window of the recovering Premier Wu Youping, saying something similar: "Youping, we already possess a generational advantage in electronics over every other nation, so you have absolutely no need to worry. Furthermore, in the future, even if the electronics industry develops explosively, we will still hold the industrial and labor advantages. As long as other nations engage in free trade with us, China will be invincible. If they don't, and instead erect trade barriers, they will have to face the industrial pain of lagging behind us. If a great or middle power invests desperately in a certain field, they might gain a certain advantage there. But China crushes across the entire industrial spectrum, not just in individual sectors. As for other nations being able to surpass us in some areas, that would be a great thing! China can gain experience extremely beneficial to us from their development."

Hearing He Rui's analysis, Wu Youping felt his worries vanish. Although he had long passed the critical stage, he still frequently felt chest pain and shortness of breath. He knew this was due to myocardial necrosis, which was irreversible.

Thinking of his future inability to work, Wu suddenly asked, "Chairman, I heard you ordered the attending physician to take any extreme measure necessary if my life was at risk. Is that true?"

He Rui hesitated for a moment but nodded. "Yes. I did issue such an order. I requested that they prioritize saving your life above all else. As for any collateral damage caused in the process, we simply set that aside."

Wu couldn't help but chuckle at the phrase "collateral damage." But the laugh left him short of breath and his heart aching again. Knowing this was due to his emotions, he said as calmly as possible, "Chairman, 'collateral damage' is truly a massive subject. I've been reflecting on it lately—sometimes feeling happy, sometimes very worried. If policies are poorly formulated or executed, the collateral damage can be severe."

Having handed over military command, He Rui could now discuss economics calmly. Seeing Wu's concern, he advised: "Ultimately, collateral damage is the result of incomplete industrial development. Every industry has its cycles, and their development inevitably leads to collisions and contradictions. Since choices must be made, collateral damage is inevitable. So we look forward to future Chinese industry developing more smoothly, and to the global economy triggered by technology diffusion having more vitality and stability. If so, the pain from collateral damage will be less."

Hearing that He Rui only dared to speak of *reducing* the pain of collateral damage rather than the damage itself, Wu dropped the subject. He switched to another: "Chairman, based on our experience applying computers to various fields—especially national economic management—the USSR will surely invest heavily in its own computer industry. Are you truly not worried?"

"Let me first tell you technically how far Chinese computer industry has advanced." He Rui intended to thoroughly dispel Wu's anxiety.

Wu, however, felt he truly had no interest in specific technology, as it had already advanced beyond his comprehension. He declined the technical explanation: "Chairman, what I most want to know is: if the USSR doesn't adopt our industrial model, can they still build their own computer industry?"

"Not necessarily. But they can only build it on a limited scale, because the cost of developing the electronics industry is too high—so high the USSR simply cannot afford the investment. Even if they threw everything they had into it, they would face the problem of an excessively long period to recoup their investment.

Youping, it's not actually a matter of only China being able to handle the electronics industry. Our advantage lies in having 300 million workers, over 100 million of whom are true industrial workers. In the future, China will inevitably have a population over 1 billion. Only such a massive population with considerable purchasing power—along with the billions within the Chinese-led world economic system—can sustain the series of powerful tech enterprises and industrial upgrades China will possess.

The Soviet population has already determined their future upper limit. And their culture has determined they cannot build a massive economic circle. Thus, their achievements will be limited. Of course, for Russia, this is already an unprecedented peak."

Wu no longer cared about Russia's future; his mind was captured by the prospect of a future Chinese population of over a billion. Back in 1915, foreign and domestic scholars alike had argued that China couldn't develop because of its large population. Even within the He Rui government, some had viewed the massive population as a burden rather than a driver—though no one dared say so publicly.

But the government had proven through facts that the population was a driver, not a burden. Especially now, as the future of winning the world war grew clearer, Wu knew well how much resources China would obtain from the world to enrich itself.

With that wealth, China could surely complete nine-year compulsory education within a decade and provide further education almost for free to all who desired it. Once the education problem was solved, China would continue to grow even more powerful.

With nearly 700 million people now, Wu remarked with emotion, "I truly wish to see the day when our population doubles again."

"Heh," He Rui gave a dry laugh, unwilling to discuss that point. He instead turned to "showing off" to Wu. After all, the breakthrough in electronic computing had been an unexpected surprise even to him. Once given the correct guidance, the strength displayed by Chinese technical personnel made He Rui want to shout "Long live the working people!"

"Youping, at this stage I won't talk about materials or design logic. I'll just speak of the instruction sets—the series of standard diagrams for logic gate switching designs we developed through experimentation, which were in the air force command system we aided the Soviets with."

As He Rui finished, Wu replied, "I know those; they indeed played a massive role in government work. Is that what you call an instruction set?"

Wu wasn't joking; as much of the calculation required by the government was specialized, it required rigorous proceduralization.

He Rui shook his head. "That is a program, not an instruction set." He then explained the difference.

Computer instructions are the directions and commands that tell a machine to work; a program is a series of such instructions arranged in a certain order. Executing a program is the process of the computer working. An instruction set is the collection of commands used by a CPU to calculate and control the system, and each new CPU design defines a series of such instructions to interface with other hardware circuits. Whether an instruction set is advanced relates to the CPU's performance; it is a major hallmark of that performance. The strength of the instructions is a key metric, and the instruction set is one of the most effective tools for increasing microprocessor efficiency.

"We have already integrated the instruction set into the chip." He Rui made his final reveal to Wu with pride.