Watching He Rui's tall figure disappear inside the gate of Tokyo University, Lü Feng felt very envious in his heart.

He Rui was a military cadet sent by the Republic of China to study in Japan. Shortly after graduating from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, he entered the Japanese Army's Second Division, the Sendai Division, 29th Infantry Regiment for an internship, serving as a Warrant Officer Probationary Platoon Leader.

Before his internship expired, the Beiyang Government reached an agreement with the Japanese government on the entrusted training of officers. The Beiyang side naturally hoped that officers could enter the Japanese Army War College for study. However, the Japanese side proposed that only those recommended by a Japanese Division Commander could obtain the qualification for the Army War College exam. Chinese officers who were not recommended could only be trained in a special training class opened by Japan.

The Beiyang side felt this was the Japanese side making things difficult, but unexpectedly, He Rui actually received a recommendation from Division Commander Nanbu Tatsunai and passed the exam for the 27th Class of the Army War College with excellent grades.

Lü Feng was not in Japan at the time, and naturally didn't know about this when he first arrived in Tokyo. The Counselor of the Republic of China Embassy in Japan had no interest in paying attention to military officers. This soldier, He Rui, became famous in Japan relying precisely on achievements in academic fields such as politics and economics. The reason Lü Feng paid attention to He Rui was that He Rui made a much bigger noise than being admitted to the Japanese Army War College.

During his time at the Army War College, because of his kind personality, excellent grades, and profound knowledge, although he was Chinese, He Rui quickly gathered a group of Japanese classmates. He often chatted freely with them about world affairs during breaks or in izakayas, and they got along very heartily. At He Rui's suggestion, this group of young officers ran a mimeographed tabloid called *Military Soul* at the Army War College. Under everyone's recommendation, He Rui became the deputy editor-in-chief.

It happened to be the spring of 1914 when He Rui began to publish "Introduction to Geopolitics" in series in the tabloid, proposing "a science that recognizes the state and nation as a geographical organism or a spatial phenomenon." As soon as this theory came out, it was greatly ridiculed.

The spirit of the samurai prevailed in Japan, and they favored the taste of "worrying about the world." There have always been innumerable arrogant people, like crucian carp crossing the river. Many lower-ranking samurai regarded wild words as a shortcut to success to impress the upper echelons. This method was commonplace in the Japanese upper echelons, among the people, and in the press. Suddenly, a Chinese person popped up to mix in, boasting shamelessly, and became a laughingstock in the press for a while.

He Rui was unmoved and continued to publish articles in series on geopolitical views and how to use the methodology of this discipline to analyze the current international situation. He preliminarily deconstructed the concepts of state and nation, and deduced the opposing and cooperative relationships between Sea Power, Land Power, the Euro-Asian World Island, other islands, and the Americas.

At this time, the situation in Europe was already very tense. A certain provocative officer, Ishiwara Kanji, submitted a contribution to the *Military Soul* tabloid, openly teasing: "If He-kun really has something to say, can you use your bullshit geopolitics to predict the European situation? If it is accurate, I will definitely bow to you as my teacher; if it is not accurate, stop lying and deceiving people in Japan."

He Rui immediately accepted the challenge and began to deduce the European situation in the tabloid, publishing four or five articles in a row. Using public intelligence published in major European newspapers such as *The Times* and *Le Figaro* as the base material, he gradually deconstructed the European situation and finally locked onto the Balkan Peninsula.

In addition to strategic deduction, He Rui also solemnly suggested at the end of the article that the Japanese Ministry of Finance should act immediately to organize and coordinate major Japanese industrial enterprises to quickly enter a wartime production footing, adjust the annual industrial and agricultural production plans, and replan the import and export trade plans for the whole year and even the next few years. What was especially urgent was to seize the current final window of opportunity to help coordinate bulk commodity trade, take out precious foreign exchange, and immediately start panic buying—the more the better, the faster the better, even at the cost of spending all foreign exchange or even going into debt. He further suggested that the Japanese banking sector intervene in Yen exchange rate management with a positive attitude.

Like the style of those Japanese madmen, He Rui's article earnestly admonished Japanese Minister of Finance Takahashi Korekiyo, citing the Art of War: "He who makes many calculations before battle will win; he who makes few will lose. Much calculation brings victory, little calculation brings defeat; how much more so with no calculation at all?"

After this conclusion was published, it was rightfully met with ridicule and became a joke in the Japanese military circles for a time. Everyone joked about this "divination" style prediction when they met. Ishiwara Kanji even openly mocked: "There are really too many fools in our Japanese military circles; even a regiment can't hold them all. Now even a Chinese student has learned to be a *baka*."

This matter caused too much of a stir in Japan, so Counselor Lü Feng knew about it. Given the capability of the Republic of China's overseas embassies, they actually didn't have the ability to take the initiative to do anything. To fill the content of the report, Lü Feng wrote this matter into the report and sent it back to China. After the report was sent up, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, with no further news.

He Rui, however, soon had results. He didn't let the many Japanese mockers wait too long. The situation in Europe took a sharp turn for the worse that summer. With a gunshot in Sarajevo, World War I broke out comprehensively. Except for not accurately predicting the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire joining the war for strange reasons, He Rui hit the mark on all other parts, including time, location, and even the process.

This matter immediately caused a sensation throughout Japan. The editors of *Asahi Shimbun* and *Yomiuri Shimbun* took the *Military Soul* tabloid they had found with great difficulty and were shocked by the high degree of overlap between the predictions above and reality. They tried to send reporters to interview He Rui.

In the interview, He Rui did not predict out of thin air like a charlatan. Instead, he substituted known information into the theory proposed by He Rui for deduction, and once again made analyses and predictions on the war situation and Japan's economic trends.

After the newspaper editors sent out the interview content, they waited anxiously. Soon, as He Rui predicted, Japan began to receive a large number of orders, and the economy quickly became active. News of the war situation from foreign countries came back later, but it was also the same as He Rui's prediction.

Now, interview invitations from all walks of life in Japan came flooding in. The articles He Rui had previously published in the mimeographed *Military Soul* tabloid, which only circulated among a small number of army officers, were dug out immediately. They were "reprinted" intact in the political and economic sections.

Since then, the "Geopolitics" proposed by He Rui transformed from wild words into an object of study. It strode forward from wild words ridiculed by everyone towards becoming a recognized prominent field of study.

As early as 1914, when He Rui published "Introduction to Geopolitics," he was accidentally noticed by Associate Professor Taira Toyomori, a scholar studying international law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo. After reading He Rui's series of articles, Associate Professor Taira Toyomori met with He Rui privately for academic cooperation.

Since then, He Rui's amateurish descriptive method quickly transformed into the conventional writing style of the academic circle, gaining higher acceptance in the academic circle. Professor Taira Toyomori also published his own research results, was recognized by the academic circle, and obtained a professorship.

Afterward, Professor Taira Toyomori hired He Rui as a special lecturer to lecture at the Faculty of Law of Tokyo University. The two cooperated to design 30-50 class hours based on "Geopolitics" to teach geopolitics to a group of students in the Faculty of Law. This was already February 1915.

At this point, the Embassy of the Republic of China in Japan still felt nothing. Lü Feng felt that this matter had to be taken seriously, so he wrote a detailed report. In order not to let the report sink into the sea again, Lü Feng dared not go through the formal official channel. Instead, he entrusted his teacher, who is now the Educational Director-General of the Beiyang Government, to hand the report to Director-General Duan Qirui of the Beiyang Government. It finally attracted Duan Qirui's attention.

Diplomatic matters had to rely on the connections of the Ministry of Education to be known by the higher-ups; Lü Feng was also very sad about this. Fortunately, after Chief Duan said a word, the Beiyang bureaucrats took action. The Ministry of Finance corresponded with He Rui every month, asking him to provide advice on foreign countries and trade.

Now that He Rui was about to return to his country, Lü Feng had some expectations in his heart. He Rui, whom the Japanese cared about so much, must be capable. It is a good thing for such a young man to serve the country.