On August 18th, the weather in Moscow was exceptionally fine. The azure sky was clear and transparent; even the thick columns of smoke billowing from the industrial district's chimneys failed to make the air appear murky.

Observing such a scene, members of the Chinese technical support team in the Soviet Union couldn't help but feel sentimental. China's industrial zones were too massive and closely packed, resulting in an enormous pollution footprint. Once smog appeared, it would blanket several cities or even entire provinces in a single, massive shroud of gray.

Compared to China, although the Moscow region had many factories, there were no other large industrial clusters within several hundred kilometers. No matter how much pollution the Moscow industrial zone released, it would be dispersed by the wind, avoiding the problem of overlapping pollution from neighboring industrial belts.

The Chinese experts were in the mood to discuss such things not only because they had been tormented by air pollution back home, but also because the recent work upgrading Soviet industrial technology had yielded remarkable results. The upgrades possible within the existing Soviet operational model were essentially complete. If they wanted to proceed further, they would have to build factories and establish rules according to the Chinese production model.

The Soviet side considered the Chinese corporate production methods to be "following the capitalist road" and rejected them on institutional grounds. With further progress appearing slim, the Chinese aid team relaxed, finding themselves with more leisure time.

And when people have idle time, things tend to happen. While the discussion of weather was serious enough, the proportion of young people among the personnel here was high, and most of them were unmarried. After all, when recruiting for support in potentially dangerous regions, the preference leaned toward single youth. Now that the Moscow region was temporarily safe, these idle young men began attending dances with Soviet beauties, visiting Moscow's historical landmarks, or flocking to the internal restaurants run by the Chinese aid team.

During the war, the Chinese government sold supplies to the Soviet Union without immediate settlement, essentially letting the Soviets use them on credit. China had also dispatched tens of thousands of experts and technicians to help the Soviet Union upgrade its industrial technology, significantly increasing Soviet military and civilian output. Both forms of assistance provided immense help to the Soviet Union.

However, among ordinary Soviet citizens, what became truly famous wasn't this industrial aid, but rather the "Chinese Restaurants" and "Chinese Vegetable Gardens" in the Moscow and Ural regions.

Most Chinese people, both men and women, love to grow things. The popular foundation for vegetable gardening is quite deep. Whether in the Moscow or Ural industrial zones, there was plenty of waste heat and even carbon dioxide available from boiler exhaust. The power supply in these two industrial zones was also sufficient to energize the violet lamps in the greenhouses.

Thus, greenhouse gardening, which began more as a form of entertainment, somehow transformed—after receiving domestic greenhouse technology and equipment—into projects with an annual per capita vegetable yield exceeding one ton. Since the 50,000 aid personnel couldn't possibly consume ten thousand tons of vegetables, they began setting up internal cafeterias to eat alongside the Soviet workers and technicians from the same factories.

Later, for some reason, Soviet officials became keen on visiting the grassroots level to eat in the factory cafeterias. The reputation of Chinese restaurants spread like wildfire, quickly becoming synonymous with "high-end enjoyment" in the Moscow and Ural industrial zones.

Due to the many regulations under the Soviet wartime state, Chinese aid personnel couldn't even spend their rubles if they had them. Consequently, when Chinese young men wooed local girls, they would take them to the Chinese restaurants. Many Soviet girls discovered that with a meal of four dishes and one soup, they could eat for two weeks without ever having the same dish twice, leading them to believe that Chinese young men were sincere, considerate, and generous.

On August 18th, the food at the Moscow Tractor Factory was no different from usual. Today was much like any other; a portion of the vegetables from the tractor factory's greenhouse was taken away and supplied to the kitchen for patients at the Moscow Military Hospital.

At that time, Stalin and several Politburo members happened to be visiting the military hospital and stayed to have a "patient's meal." The meal included chive and eggs, sliced pork with green peppers, steamed eggplant, and broccoli with minced garlic. Stalin and the others ate comfortably and were quite satisfied with the hospital's food supply.

After leaving the military hospital and returning to the Kremlin, Stalin convened a Politburo meeting. Molotov, who had not gone to visit the wounded, handed a document to the Politburo. The document indicated that the current US President, Wallace, represented those who wished to establish good relations with the Soviet Union. Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's highly trusted personal advisor—known as the "Shadow President"—shared Wallace's desire for friendly US-Soviet relations.

Once the Politburo members finished reading the report, Molotov provided his analysis. "While we cannot be certain if Wallace can truly grasp Nazi Germany's real intentions, it is at least unlikely that he would deliberately deceive the Soviet Union. Furthermore, considering that a staunchly anti-communist figure like Truman remains in Moscow, it is very likely that Truman has been entrusted with some new diplomatic mission."

Malenkov, the Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (equivalent to a Chinese Vice Premier), asked, "Has Truman received his authorization yet?"

Molotov replied, "Truman is likely waiting for new authorization."

The gap between having authorization and waiting for it was vast, so the CPSU Politburo members stopped discussing that point. Everyone looked toward Stalin. Recently, an unspoken consensus had emerged within the Politburo: if Germany truly withdrew from Soviet territory, the Soviet Union could consider a temporary peace with Germany.

Just like the previous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the CPSU still viewed this as a stalling tactic. Germany had caused the Soviet Union heavy losses, and this great enmity had to be avenged. However, if they continued to fight Germany now, the Soviet Union would only suffer greater losses. China, meanwhile, would use the opportunity of the protracted Soviet-German war to continue its rapid global expansion.

If the Soviet Union exited the war, China would have to fight the Western powers, while the Soviet Union could recuperate and wait for new opportunities. Therefore, making peace with Germany was not a bad choice.

Of course, given the volatility of Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union did not trust any Nazi promises. Thus, a US endorsement was necessary before Stalin could make a decision.

Stalin had already pondered the current situation many times. Seeing that his comrades remained silent, he asked, "Comrade Malenkov, have the latest figures come out?"

Hearing Stalin ask for data, many Politburo members looked at Beria, the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs. Over the past three months, the KGB had conducted a new round of purges. The targets were not anti-Stalinist conspiratorial groups, but rather local cadres who had been considered Stalin's loyalists.

The reason for targeting them was the CPSU's great emphasis on computers. They had invested immense manpower and resources and achieved fruitful results. Computers were rapidly becoming widespread in the Soviet Union, and computing power had increased several hundredfold. This provided enough capacity to calculate the country's resources and operational data.

The results shown by these calculations shocked the Politburo. Too many figures simply didn't add up, and the discrepancies were enormous. Stalin immediately ordered the KGB to conduct a thorough investigation. With the vast amount of data available, the KGB's targets were clear before they even struck. After this rigorous investigation, it was discovered that many comrades who claimed to be Stalin's loyalists were extremely irresponsible in their work. To please Stalin, they had fabricated all sorts of data.

Stalin did not show mercy and promptly arrested these individuals. Those with serious crimes were executed, while those with lighter offenses were sent to penal battalions and deployed to the front lines.

After gaining control of a vast amount of data, Beria not only investigated the fabrication of figures but also inspected production processes. The Soviet economic model was often called a command economy because all production had to be executed strictly according to central arrangements.

Previously, the central government simply didn't have enough manpower to conduct audits. Now, with the computer—a tool that was entirely unemotional and unaffected by any social considerations—as an assistant, discrepancies in production data quickly became apparent.

By investigating these suspicious points, and with Malenkov, who controlled many reports, providing cooperation to Beria, many problems were unearthed. Whether it was corruption, negligence, or technical upgrades and equipment replacements that should have been adjusted but were obstructed by superiors—a multitude of issues were identified and began to be resolved.

In just these few months, industrial production had noticeably improved, and the penal battalions had received a large influx of new personnel.

Beria's reputation rose once again, ascending from the level of an executioner to something akin to the God of Death. After all, those lazy cadres could never have imagined how the KGB could suddenly seize upon matters that the central government had previously been unable to know.

Malenkov didn't care about Beria; at this stage, he was working closely with Molotov and Beria. He had also earned the praise of Comrade Kirov. The reason everything was going so smoothly was that Malenkov's grasp of Soviet data was becoming increasingly precise.

"Comrade General Secretary, according to our calculations, if Germany begins withdrawing from Soviet territory in September '43, we will be able to restore the reconstruction of local organizations by March '44. At the same time, based on the data, by November '44, we can have 25,000 T-34-85s (T-34 tanks equipped with 85mm guns) and 30,000 aircraft, all of which are copies of Chinese fighters. Our military's jet engines will also enter mass production..."

Malenkov had an extraordinary memory and introduced his work in an orderly fashion. Furthermore, with computer assistance, the method of task allocation, which previously relied solely on official experience, had undergone a massive change. As long as the parameters were set, the computer could run continuously. The management of officials' work shifted from issuing orders to periodic assessments. Malenkov believed that by using this method, completing plans would become much easier.

Stalin soon realized that Malenkov leaned toward making peace with the Allies. Therefore, the data presented focused on the favorable aspects of peace. Stalin, however, was somewhat hesitant. He wasn't particularly worried about Chinese retaliation; a man as clever as He Rui would never make an enemy of the whole world. But Stalin feared that making peace with the Allies would be viewed by China as a betrayal. Thus, the Allies might play some tricks when relations between the Soviet Union and China significantly cooled. In that case, the Soviet Union would lose far too much.

Stalin wasn't the only one worried about Germany breaking its word; the other members of the CPSU Politburo were also very concerned. Even the US special envoy, Truman, was anxious. However, Truman's concern was entirely out of American interests. Waiting for news in his hotel, Truman had already sorted out the general outline. The United States not only hoped for a ceasefire between the Soviet Union and Germany but also wished for the Soviet Union and China to turn against each other.

As for whether the Soviet Union would join the Allies, Truman was not optimistic. If the United States and the Soviet Union were to swap places, the US would surely also want to watch the whole world fight and be ground down together. Therefore, no matter how much the Soviet Union offended China, its bottom line would be to avoid military conflict with China. What the US needed most now was for the ceasefire to be executed smoothly. Thus, Truman was full of doubts regarding Hitler.

It must be said that Truman was overthinking. At this time, what Hitler looked forward to was not trapping the Soviet Union, but resolving the war first. The summer offensive appeared to be going smoothly, but the Soviet frontline units were mainly composed of the old, the weak, and penal battalion troops lacking combat will.

In the past, Hitler would surely have thought the Soviet Union was at its end, only able to fill the lines with such cannon fodder. Now, however, Hitler didn't see it that way, because the designations of those elite Soviet units had not appeared at the front. Information obtained from interrogating prisoners indicated that those elite units were undergoing personnel replenishment, equipment refitting, and training. Because the best supplies and troops were given to the elite units, the overall quality of the Soviet frontline troops continued to decline. This also meant that once the October rainy season and the muddy period arrived and the German offensive stalled, the elite units of the Red Army would launch a counter-offensive just as they had last year.

Therefore, Hitler also believed it was necessary to make peace with the Soviet Union now. However, peace could not be achieved by a unilateral German withdrawal. Germany no longer expected to carve out Soviet territory; its demands had been reduced to establishing a demilitarized zone at the border. Since the Soviet Union was willing to sign such a treaty with China and effectively implement it, Hitler felt the Soviet Union should be able to do the same with Germany.

Soon, August 19th arrived. Truman received authorization from the new President Wallace, allowing him to judge whether to initiate a call for Soviet-German negotiations. Truman immediately requested to see Molotov and presented the formal request for Soviet-German negotiations.

Molotov did not get excited; he asked coldly, "If Germany refuses to participate in peace talks, or refuses to implement the agreement after negotiations, what will the United States do?"

If it had been two days ago, Truman would surely have talked around the subject. Now, Truman replied decisively, "If Germany does that, the United States will announce its withdrawal from the Alliance."

Molotov was finally somewhat moved, but he still asked, "Has the Congressman received authorization from within the United States?"

Truman stood tall and replied proudly, "That is correct! I have received authorization from the US government!"

In the face of such a major matter, Molotov did not easily believe him. He sent a telegram to the US government for verification. A clear reply soon arrived: "The US government has indeed authorized Congressman Truman to judge the credibility of the Soviet-German negotiations and to make his own judgment."

With things having reached this point, the war-torn Soviet Union had little choice. The meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Starting from August 19th, both the Soviet and German armies ceased hostilities, and the German army even retreated 30 kilometers to show sincerity.

This meeting didn't involve much haggling. The Soviet representatives looked very cold and did not hide their hostility toward Germany. Although they hadn't crushed the Soviet Union, the German representative, Ribbentrop, whose side had gained quite a few advantages during the war, completely ignored many of the hostile terms used by the Soviet side. In Ribbentrop's view, if he were cursed out by the Soviet representatives but reached a ceasefire agreement in exchange, he wouldn't mind the Soviet representatives venting their resentment over their defeat.

The contents of the Soviet-German negotiations included the complete withdrawal of German troops from Soviet territory, the demarcation of the demilitarized zone, and the timing of prisoner exchanges. Given the importance of these negotiations, the Soviet Union did not raise the issue of reparations. Germany also didn't raise the demand for a buffer state between the two countries.

Both sides knew that as soon as the other side recovered, war would likely break out again. But the most important issue now was no longer when the Soviet Union and Germany would fight again, but rather that neither was willing to stand by and watch China easily obtain world dominance, forcing both to become minor lackeys under Chinese global hegemony.

Compared to strategic interests, many things can indeed be put aside.

On August 21st, the Soviet and German negotiators reached a ceasefire agreement and submitted it to their respective governments. Hitler was currently questioning General Manstein, commander of the North Group, who had rushed back from the front: "How long do you think it will be before the Soviet Union possesses the strength to invade Germany on its own?"

Manstein didn't want to please anyone, especially after fighting such a long war and experiencing all sorts of nonsense. Whether it was Hitler or the "red-trousered aristocratic gentlemen" in the General Staff sitting in their offices, they all made Manstein feel annoyed, or even disdainful.

Thus, Manstein replied frankly, "Based on current Soviet strength, by January 1945 at the latest, the Red Army will possess the capacity to invade Germany alone."

Manstein's judgment shook Hitler, but he felt Manstein's attitude was very sincere. Moreover, Hitler had already dismissed so many generals from the General Staff that he had few trustworthy ones left. Generals like Manstein, Model, and Paulus had performed excellently in the winter campaign of 1942.

"How long will it take for the North Group to retreat back to the country?" Hitler continued.

Hearing Hitler didn't mention anything other than the retreat, Manstein's opinion of him unexpectedly rose slightly. After a moment's thought, he replied, "It will take three weeks."

Hitler was somewhat surprised; he had thought it would take at least two months, maybe even three. Although Hitler didn't intend to cause trouble, there was no guarantee what the Red Army might do. But if the retreat only took three weeks, it meant the German retreat speed would be far faster than the Red Army's pursuit. Once the German army retreated within its borders, based on Hitler's judgment of Stalin, Stalin would absolutely not dare to actively cross the demilitarized zone to cause trouble.

"Will we abandon a lot of equipment?" Hitler asked.

Although Manstein felt Hitler was underestimating him, he shook his head and replied, "We will try to bring back all our equipment."

Although the German army was ending its war with the Soviet Union, it would next have to fight the powerful Chinese military. Abandoning a large amount of equipment would affect German combat efficiency. While Manstein knew they would surely leave behind some worthless gear, as a military strategist, he was unwilling to let his tactical command capabilities be questioned.

Seeing Manstein so confident, Hitler didn't say much more. He stood up and extended his hand to Manstein. "Colonel General Manstein, I will see you at the decoration ceremony in Berlin."

On August 22nd, Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and Nazi German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop signed the ceasefire agreement in Geneva, Switzerland. Britain, the United States, and Italy all sent diplomatic personnel to observe the signing.

However, according to a verbal agreement, the ceasefire would be announced on August 27th. From the moment the agreement was signed, both sides completely ceased fighting, and German forces began to retreat.

The German General Staff had initially thought the fastest to retreat would be the North Group. To their surprise, the South Group, commanded by Paulus, began its retreat with astonishing efficiency. By August 27th, the day the agreement was announced, the South Group had already retreated 400 kilometers, while the North Group had only retreated 230 kilometers.

Paulus, commander of the South Group, didn't find this surprising at all. As a staff-oriented commander, Paulus had barely slept these past few days, handling all sorts of information continuously. Under this meticulous command, the South Group's movements were neat and orderly, always maintaining a complete rearguard line ready to respond to any Red Army breakthroughs. Other units retreated rapidly through the flat Ukrainian region without worrying about their rear.

The reason Paulus dared to do this was largely because after retreating 600 kilometers, he could reach the standard-gauge railways built by Heydrich, the Governor-General of Poland. Even heavy Tiger tanks could be loaded onto trains for transport. The South Group's infantry retreated by train, while the armored and motorized units retreated using their own vehicles, providing cover for the infantry under the protection of the Air Force.

Initially, Hitler feared that if the North and South groups retreated too quickly, the Center Group would be left isolated. Unexpectedly, General Model, who had been urgently promoted to the Center Group, displayed astonishing staff capabilities and was equally outstanding in organizing the retreat.

General Model had made his name through defensive warfare. In the Battles of Rzhev, he had won against superior numbers, held the salient, and maintained a continuous threat to Moscow. Throughout the Rzhev campaign, Model directly commanded battalion-level units within the defensive lines, demonstrating an incredible capacity for elastic defense.

Hitler looked at the orderly retreat of the Center Group's units on the map, as if seeing the flavor of the Rzhev elastic defense in them.

Just as the German army expected, the elite units of the Red Army were desperately chasing them. Stalin did indeed want to attack the disorganized Germans during their retreat; since the Germans were in full retreat, they wouldn't turn back just because a few units were annihilated.

However, no matter how hard the elite Red Army—the Guards—chased, they could never catch up with the Germans, except for occasionally picking up broken equipment the Germans had abandoned.

Stalin ordered that the Red Army must not enter the demilitarized zone. Seeing the Germans running so fast, the Guards units of the Red Army simply marched through the night, striving to catch up. At this point, the Red Army wasn't even thinking of finding a chance to destroy a few German units; they only wanted to catch up and "force" the Germans out in a following-and-observing posture.

But as for night marching, the German army had rich experience from as early as the Polish campaign, which peaked during the French campaign. To catch up with the armored units that had raced off to who-knows-where, various infantry divisions didn't sleep for three days and nights, relying on drugs to keep marching. Now, the German troops invading the Soviet Union only wanted to get home safely; how could they give the Red Army a chance?

Both armies marched day and night. By September 6th, all German troops had withdrawn from Soviet territory. On September 7th, a vanguard unit of the Red Army reached the border of the demilitarized zone and encountered the Allied verification personnel stationed there.

The propaganda machines of Britain, the US, and Germany worked at full capacity to broadcast the news, especially emphasizing that the Red Army had fully complied with the ceasefire agreement and had not entered the demilitarized zone.

When Japanese Prime Minister Ishiwara Kanji saw the news, he immediately sent a telegram to He Rui, violently attacking the Soviet Union's "traitorous" behavior. He stated, "Japan will never betray its allies!"

He Rui didn't feel the Soviet Union had betrayed China. The Soviet Union would naturally prioritize its own national interests. What truly made He Rui sigh regarding the Soviet-German ceasefire was Nazi Germany's calm judgment. Hitler knew very well that Germany's greatest threat was no longer the Soviet Union, so he made a decisive choice. Initially, He Rui had somewhat doubted whether Hitler might choose to crush the Soviet Union first for the sake of pride or other reasons.

At the Politburo meeting, the comrades did not show any displeasure. It was clear that they also felt both the Soviet Union and Germany had made the best choice.

Li Runshi raised a question: "Chairman, since the Soviet Union and Germany have signed a peace agreement, should we ask the Soviet Union to start repaying the debt for our aid?"

He Rui shook his head. "Our priority at this stage is to bring back our comrades who were aiding the Soviet Union. As for the debt, we only need to tell the Soviet side that since they have stopped fighting, future trade will return to a credit-on-account model, with a settlement audit every quarter."

Hearing that He Rui was not in a hurry to press for the debt, the comrades neither opposed nor supported him; no one truly thought the Soviet Union had done anything wrong. However, since the Soviet Union had done this, especially making peace with the Allies privately without consulting China first, it was only right for China to use the debt repayment as a way to prod them.

Li Runshi shared He Rui's view. The Soviet Union had already unintentionally done enough for China, and its "betrayal" would only become its own burden. China had secured both the substance and the prestige. The Chinese government had already publicly expressed its regret and stopped Sino-Soviet military-technical exchanges. Ending the matter there was the best choice.

However, seeing that the comrades were still somewhat unwilling to let it go, Li Runshi laughed. "Comrades, the peace agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany is actually announcing to the whole world that China is already the dominant power. To deal with China, even the deep-seated hatred caused by the Soviet-German war can be temporarily put aside. No amount of money could achieve such a propaganda effect. I don't think everyone needs to be angry."

These words seemed to ease the comrades' tension slightly, yet they also didn't seem to fully relax. Li Runshi could only continue, "I believe that, judging by Soviet interests, they have lost the strategic window to stop China from becoming the world's dominant force. There is a saying in China: 'It's lonely at the top.' Whether we agree or not, China has indeed become the dominant force. From now until the moment China loses that dominance, any country dissatisfied with the current world order will inevitably become a force challenging the new order established by China. This is the reality we face.

So, comrades, shall we persevere or give up? Have you made your decision?"

Li Runshi's words gave many comrades a sense of sudden enlightenment. Realizing that China was already at the center of the world and seeing the current situation of the Great Powers sharpening their blades for a counterattack, the comrades discovered that the feeling of standing at the peak of the world was not the same as the imagined glory of a victorious empire with the surrounding nations paying homage.

The feeling of being surrounded by enemies wasn't pleasant, even if logic told them this was the fate of a world hegemon. When China wasn't yet the hegemon, it had played every trick, both overt and covert, to undermine the British hegemon and enjoyed it immensely.

Not only China, but other countries were also doing the same at that time! Even France, a member of the Versailles system, was undermining Britain. This was the situation China would face from now on.

Finally, Premier Wu Youping spoke. "Then, let us get to work. Resolving the issue of the United States will require even greater effort from us."