After the German army successfully broke out at Demyansk, of the original 120,000 troops, the total number capable of immediately returning to combat was only 20,000. This included 6,800 from the Totenkopf Division and over 14,000 Wehrmacht troops.

Of the remaining 100,000 troops, nearly 10,000 had been killed, 40,000 had fallen ill, and the rest were exhausted and completely unable to fight.

These units were immediately formed into a combat group and established a defensive line approximately 70 kilometers long along the outer edge of the original Soviet encirclement. They were placed under the unified command of Eicke, who was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer in April.

Commander Eicke immediately formulated a plan for a counter-attack against the Soviet Red Army, which was expected to pursue them. Although both the Totenkopf Division and the Wehrmacht were extremely fatigued, the Totenkopf Division still possessed a tenacious determination to fight. They had survived four months of encirclement in the freezing snow and ice. Now, with a large number of German troops behind them and a continuous flow of supplies, the Totenkopf Division believed it was fully capable of dealing a heavy blow to the pursuing Soviet forces.

However, after waiting for several days, the Red Army never appeared on the muddy ground of western Russia. This was not because the Red Army was afraid to fight, but because they had also endured the harsh natural environment for more than four months of winter, suffering massive casualties.

The cost paid by the Soviet Northwestern Front, which had surrounded the German forces, was as high as 245,511 men, of which 88,908 were permanent losses and 156,603 were sick or wounded. Upon hearing this news, Stalin merely cursed the limited strength of the Southwestern Front but did not issue orders to continue the offensive.

During the brief respite on the front lines, the German propaganda machine went into full operation. The horrific losses in the winter defensive battles were glossed over, with German propaganda emphasizing: "The German army has triumphed over the Russian winter; Russia's greatest advantage no longer exists!"

As a member of the Allies, German propaganda spread rapidly in countries like the United States, Britain, and France. Especially in the United States, the American people felt greatly encouraged by Germany's success in the winter. Discussions about the war in American newspapers also changed to: "If the Germans can do it, we can certainly do it in Canada too!"

Compared to the United States, Canada was a place similar to the Soviet Union—equally freezing, equally muddy and slippery. A consensus formed among many well-informed people in the U.S. that China would likely not directly attack the American mainland, but would instead attack Canada.

As an imperialist nation, the American intellectual community easily understood the benefits of China attacking Canada. If the United States merely held the U.S.-Canada border and did not enter Canada to fight, China could easily crush the Canadian army and successfully occupy the country.

If the U.S. sent troops, both China and the U.S. would likely fight a protracted war near the U.S.-Canada border. As long as China did not intend to completely destroy the United States, the difficulty of reaching an agreement with the U.S. would be much lower.

The Roosevelt administration was not influenced by such amateurish geopolitical assessments. Before these so-called intellectuals had their late realizations, the Roosevelt cabinet had already analyzed these possibilities very clearly.

At this time, members of the Roosevelt cabinet were nervous about the latest news. After a three-month disappearance, He Rui reappeared in public by participating in May Day (International Workers' Day).

May Day is extremely closely tied to the United States. In the 19th century, as the U.S. and many European countries transitioned from capitalism to the imperialist stage, capitalists constantly increased labor hours and intensity to stimulate rapid economic development and extract more surplus value to maintain the high-speed capitalist machine, cruelly exploiting workers.

In the United States, workers had to work 14 to 16 hours a day, some even as long as 18 hours, but for very low wages. A supervisor at a shoe factory in Massachusetts once said: "Let a strong, healthy 18-year-old boy work here at any one of these machines, and I can make his hair turn gray by the time he is 22." Heavy class oppression incited immense anger among the proletariat. They knew that to fight for their survival, they had to unite and struggle against the capitalists through strike movements. The condition proposed by the workers was the implementation of an eight-hour workday.

In 1866, the Geneva Congress of the First International proposed the slogan for an eight-hour workday.

In 1877, the first national strike in American history began. The working class took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding improved working and living conditions from the government, shorter hours, and the implementation of an eight-hour workday. Soon after the strike began, the ranks expanded, union membership surged, and workers everywhere joined the movement.

Under the powerful pressure of the labor movement, the U.S. Congress was forced to enact laws for an eight-hour workday. However, some capitalists simply ignored them, and the law was nothing more than a piece of paper.

On May 1, 1886, more than 350,000 workers from over 20,000 enterprises in the United States stopped work and took to the streets for a massive demonstration. Workers of all colors and trades joined in a general strike. In Chicago alone, 45,000 workers flooded the streets. This paralyzed major American industrial sectors—trains became like frozen snakes, shops were silent, and all warehouses were closed and sealed.

With Chicago at the center, a massive strike and demonstration involving about 350,000 people took place across the U.S., with demonstrators demanding improved working conditions and an eight-hour day. On May 3, 1886, the Chicago government sent police to suppress the movement, shooting and killing two people. The situation escalated, and on May 4th, striking workers held a protest at Haymarket Square. Due to an unidentified person throwing a bomb at the police, the police opened fire, resulting in the deaths of four workers and seven police officers, in what became known as the "Haymarket Riot" or the "Haymarket Massacre." In the subsequent sentencing, eight anarchists were charged with murder; four were hanged, and one committed suicide in prison.

To commemorate this great labor movement and protest the subsequent sentences, labor protests were held worldwide. These activities became the precursor to "International Workers' Day."

In July 1889, at the founding congress of the Second International organized by Engels, it was announced that May 1st of each year would be International Workers' Day.

Naturally, the United States would not set May 1st as Labor Day. In August 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the American Labor Day bill, independently setting the first Monday of September each year as Labor Day. Americans would have a one-day holiday, and people across the country would generally hold parades, rallies, and other celebrations to show respect for labor. In some states, people would hold picnics after parades, eating, drinking, singing, and dancing. At night, some places would set off fireworks.

Roosevelt's cabinet did not consider whether He Rui's choice to reappear in public on this day was intended to mock the United States, as most cabinet members were unaware of the history behind May 1st.

But He Rui's reappearance was a signal. He Rui had recovered his health and could once again take charge of China's policy direction. Seeing that China, America's greatest enemy, had avoided a potential internal power transition, the members of the Roosevelt cabinet felt intense pressure.

Roosevelt felt the same pressure, and he intuitively felt that perhaps his failure to release more signals through diplomatic channels when He Rui was ill was an unwise decision. Now that China would again follow the direction pointed out by He Rui, things were becoming very dangerous.

If He Rui knew Roosevelt's thoughts, he would likely think Roosevelt was under too much pressure, causing a lapse in judgment. If Roosevelt had released many signals to China, He Rui would have fully exploited them to strike at the Roosevelt administration once he reappeared.

Engaging in extensive private diplomatic probing is very easy for an interested party to exploit, eventually turning it into a diplomatic scandal. If Roosevelt dared to discuss a Sino-American ceasefire with the goal of deceiving China, the Chinese side would explain these negotiations as Roosevelt trying to deceive the American people—pretending to keep fighting while secretly negotiating for peace with China for his own sake.

As long as China released this information, Roosevelt would have to defend himself. His defense would naturally be, "I was deceiving the Chinese."

Such an explanation would not be accepted by the American public, and if members of the Roosevelt cabinet still wanted to negotiate with China, they would first have to explain this issue. They would have to make China believe that this time the Roosevelt administration's negotiations were sincere and credible.

In reality, such an explanation is generally impossible to gain China's understanding; the only possibility would be the fall of the Roosevelt cabinet and the new president's cabinet first expressing great sincerity to China.

Such foolishness has happened many times in history, always ending in a mess that cannot be resolved. Even in the 21st century, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Germany and France pushed for the "Minsk Agreement" negotiations in 2014 to "buy time" for Ukraine so it could "strengthen its military power." In the eyes of Western countries, Ukraine's military strength at the time was simply unable to compete with Russia. Reality did indeed develop as the West had seen; as seen now, Ukraine used those seven-plus years to become stronger. Compared to the Ukraine of 2014 and 2015, today's Ukraine has indeed seen a significant military improvement.

This statement was made by Merkel in response to questioning from the German media, who believed she was too pro-Russian. On the surface, Merkel appeared shrewd and cunning, having deceived Russian President Putin. Thus, Merkel was not only not pro-Russian but was a staunch anti-Russian fighter.

However, politically, Merkel lost significantly. At least on a diplomatic level, everything Merkel said would become untrustworthy. Just as Hitler's political credit completely collapsed after tearing up so many agreements.

Political credit is a very important political asset. To this day, He Rui has indeed struck at many Western countries, but this does not mean his political credit has been affected. Because the cultural level in the West is quite low, reaching only the level of "If I say I will kill your whole family, I will kill your whole family." Conversely, because He Rui never lies and always does what he says, his political credit has been reinforced.

As for He Rui attacking whoever he says he will, in Western culture, this is a symbol of strength and justice. Because in Western culture, victory equals justice. When Western countries attacked others, their repeated victories further reinforced this bandit logic.

And the West must reinforce this bandit logic to provide an innocent defense for their own actions. If the West also started shouting, "The victor of a war is not necessarily righteous," then all subsequent Western victories would be questioned. All the arguments supporting white supremacy and Western exceptionalism would be overturned and nailed to the pillar of historical shame amidst the evidence of countless Western crimes.

He Rui looked at the latest report, reassessing the course of the war in his heart. He Rui had initially felt that the Western resistance would not be so intense and that they would back down when they saw the situation was going poorly. However, the facts proved that not only had the West not backed down, they actually had an even more crazed flavor.

Although He Rui considered himself very firm, he also had to admit that having been born in the era of China's rise, he was inevitably influenced by the world at that time. The West then was truly a paper tiger; in the face of China's overwhelming industrial advantage, the Western resistance was fierce in words but weak in reality. The bear-like appearance of those declining nations was laughable.

But the West now was different; every country had a complete industrial chain from the 1930s and 1940s and a powerful social mobilization system. Therefore, the West at this time still had the ability to launch massive wars and send hundreds of thousands or millions of soldiers to their deaths on the battlefield. Their domestic populations could also endure hunger and material shortages.

If it were the 21st century, the level of nutritional intake in Britain, which was just enough to avoid starvation, would inevitably lead to massive domestic opposition.

Of course, the reason the 21st-century UK could afford to be anti-war was because only the United Kingdom of Great Britain remained. In 1942, Britain still had vast colonies.

As He Rui was reading the documents, his secretary walked over. He Rui immediately raised his arm. "Don't try to persuade me."

Although the secretary was a bit troubled, he continued: "Chairman, the doctor asks that you do not work more than four hours a day. Excessive working hours are detrimental to your health."

Hearing this, He Rui showed no intention of compromising. Among the many reports he had seen recently, Li Runshi was making very rapid progress in gaining the support of comrades within the party. This was Li Runshi's leadership charisma; as long as they were comrades who truly put the cause first, they were easily won over by Li Runshi's deep philosophical level and exquisite methodology.

Therefore, He Rui was not afraid to die at this moment. Or rather, He Rui had never been afraid to die; what he feared was being unable to save China. Now China had been saved and had entered a completely new stage of development. While He Rui's death would be a shock to China, it could not pull China off its path of rapid development.

Tapping the large stack of files in front of him, He Rui said, "I'll finish these. Just these."

Actually, He Rui didn't need to care about the secretary's opinion, but he still didn't want to make things difficult for him. The secretary himself meant no harm; he was also there to work, and there was no need for comrades to face unnecessary criticism.

Just as the secretary wanted to say something more, the door opened, and Wu Youping walked in with a smile. "Chairman, I have been entrusted by the Politburo to monitor your schedule. You mustn't be annoyed with me."

He Rui laughed. "It's always been you who's annoyed with me. How could it be reversed now?"

Wu Youping pointed to the secretary. "Help the Chairman up; we're going for a walk."

Once He Rui stood up, Wu Youping gestured to the secretary. The secretary understood and quickly put the files away.

He Rui acted as if he didn't see it and walked with Wu Youping in the early summer garden. Wu Youping asked, "Chairman, is the great battle in North America really about to happen?"

He Rui nodded. "You've surely seen it. Now it's the United States that wants to fight us, not that we must fight them."

Wu Youping nodded slightly and said helplessly, "Initially, I also believed the judgments of some economic and commercial experts. They always felt that the U.S. would quit while it was ahead—that as long as we showed powerful strength, the American public would become entirely anti-war. Now I know that is not the case."

"With sharp weapons in hand, the desire to kill arises. The United States can still keep fighting now, so why wouldn't they?" He Rui replied.

"Chairman, I want to ask you, if you were in this environment, would you keep fighting?" Wu Youping posed the question again.

He Rui shook his head. "If it were me, I would first negotiate with China on the status of the Philippines to ensure it remained under U.S. control. Then I wouldn't participate in the war, but would instead use the status of a neutral country to reap benefits. Why fight when you clearly can't win?"

Wu Youping felt He Rui was bragging a bit and laughed. "Haha, but before the war broke out, how could one see our strength? At that time, many of our technologies had not yet achieved breakthroughs. Forget the Americans; even our own people didn't know our military technology was so powerful."

"Therefore, the United States loses because of its comprehensive backwardness. The problem with the capitalist system is that its drivers cannot be the central government for long. America's strong culture of feudal states also dictates that its waste is extremely high, and a vast amount of resources cannot be utilized effectively. Youping, which state of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods do you think the U.S. resembles?"

"I'm certain it's not the State of Qin," Wu Youping laughed.

He Rui proceeded to give his own view. "I think the United States is like the State of Qi. Think about how Xunzi evaluated Qi."

"Hmm." Wu Youping thought for a moment and replied: "The State of Qi was able to prosper and become strong by virtue of its fish and salt wealth. It can be said that Qi's strength was built on an economic foundation. When it lost its vast wealth, even the maintenance of its special elite troops—the 'Qi Ji-ji' (skilled fighters of Qi)—became difficult. Because the combat power of the 'Qi Ji-ji' was built on the basis of generous pay and required vast wealth for rewards. After the restoration of the state, without strong financial support, it was difficult to reorganize the 'Qi Ji-ji.' Therefore, the newly formed troops were not the same as before."

He Rui was about to offer praise when Wu Youping added: "This is what Chairman Li said."

Hearing it was Li Runshi's view, He Rui smiled. It seemed Li Runshi had already begun to fulfill the responsibilities and duties brought by his position. The job of the Party Chairman is not to manage things the Premier should manage; otherwise, there would be no need for the position of Premier.

The duty of the Party Chairman is to point the direction, formulate strategy, and get the comrades within the party to accept them. Then, work is assigned to various departments; if a department cannot effectively execute, either the people are changed or a new department is created to do the work.

Just as the Warring States period serves as an analogy for the present, China is not even the State of Qin...

Thinking of this, He Rui asked, "Who does Chairman Li believe is more like the State of Qin?"

"The Soviet Union," Wu Youping replied immediately, a look of hesitation in his eyes.

"Haha, well said. Indeed so." He Rui expressed complete agreement. "Chinese civilization has already transcended the Warring States era; we were never a nation within this game. It's just that the Manchus were too much of a mess, forcing China to degenerate to the point of having to participate in such a foolish game. Chairman Li's view is entirely correct."