Watching He Rui fast asleep, Zhou Yinshan was tempted to wake him. In the end, he turned back to see what exactly He Rui had accomplished in just over a day.

He Rui had not only selected the candidate students but had also graded all the exam papers. Flipping through the top few answer sheets, Zhou Yinshan revealed a smile.

Faced with the question of how to thoroughly eradicate bandits, one student had given a rather nonsensical answer. *To thoroughly wipe out bandits, one would probably have to set up numerous grain storage points for the troops in the countryside. However, such a massive undertaking is almost impossible, so we might as well just engage in tuntian [military-agricultural colonies].*

Checking the name on the paper, it turned out to be the well-known troublemaker Cheng Ruofan.

Zhou Yinshan felt Cheng Ruofan was dissatisfied with He Rui’s question and deliberately gave such an absurd answer. Such a disrespectful attitude was indeed inappropriate.

Looking at He Rui’s grading, he had underlined the suggestion of "tuntian" and written a sentence next to it: *Why not?*

Is this guy stupid? Zhou Yinshan continued to flip through; such "stupid questions" appeared one after another, baffling him.

Putting down the papers, Zhou Yinshan recalled his time studying abroad in Japan with He Rui a few years ago. He Rui had a bright and friendly personality, never shrinking from a challenge. Many times, He Rui would debate with Japanese classmates at the academy, the sharpness of his questions startling Zhou Yinshan.

Was He Rui’s grading meant to bring these issues out to fiercely criticize the students?

He blew out the candle and got up to leave. Zhou Yinshan made a decision in his heart: if He Rui went too far, he would definitely intervene to stop it. Allowing He Rui to recruit students at the school was because Director-General Duan Qirui had given the order and the Ministry of War had issued an official letter. This did not mean the Baoding Military Academy would allow a graduate of the Japanese Army War College to run wild here.

May 27th was He Rui’s third day at the Baoding Military Academy. Early in the morning, He Rui gave Zhou Yinshan a list of over a dozen people; these were the students entering the next round.

Zhou Yinshan didn't ask questions and assigned an instructor named Li Guodong to interview these students together with He Rui.

The interviews were conducted one-on-one, and only four students were interviewed the entire morning.

At noon, in the cafeteria, Cheng Ruofan, who had finished his interview, ate his meal in low spirits. His tablemate Xu Chengfeng gnawed on a mantou and asked, "Did you do poorly on the exam?"

Cheng Ruofan shook his head.

Sitting opposite was Zhong Yifu, a lean and capable youth. He followed up, "Did that Commander He scold you because you answered the questions like that on purpose?"

Cheng Ruofan shook his head again. Not only that, Cheng Ruofan sighed with a look of despair, appearing as if he couldn't even stomach his food.

"What exactly happened?" Xu Chengfeng couldn't figure out what was wrong with his friend.

Under everyone's pressing questions, Cheng Ruofan said sorrowfully, "Germany cannot win."

Though the words were few, Xu Chengfeng and the others at the table stopped their chopsticks. Students at the adjacent tables who heard this also turned their heads, looking over in astonishment.

Since the outbreak of the World War, the cadets at the Baoding Military Academy had paid close attention to it. The vast majority of instructors believed the Entente Powers possessed strength superior to the Central Powers, and although the United States had not entered the war, it was unlikely to join the Central Powers. Therefore, the Entente Powers would win.

However, Cheng Ruofan was the most die-hard supporter of the "Germany Must Win" theory. Whenever the World War was mentioned, Cheng Ruofan would beam with delight, talking eloquently about the reasons for Germany's inevitable victory.

Moreover, Germany had maintained the upper hand for the past half-year or more; the annihilation of 270,000 Russian troops at the Battle of Tannenberg was cited by Cheng Ruofan as proof of Germany's assured victory. Whenever he fell behind in a debate, he would bring out this battle as a case study to hard-counter his opponents.

For such a guy to say "Germany cannot win" was no small matter.

The students at the table stopped eating and asked one after another. Students at the next table, holding their mantou, chewed while asking what was going on. Students who hadn't heard Cheng Ruofan's statement crowded over to ask, and upon learning that Cheng Ruofan had actually changed his stance, immediately joined the ranks of the interrogators.

Cheng Ruofan had no appetite left; he stood up, pushed through the crowd, and walked out. Xu Chengfeng saw Cheng Ruofan reach the door and raise the back of his hand to wipe his eyes—he must have been moved to tears by the necessity of admitting Germany would lose.

"Chengfeng. That Commander He has some tricks," came Zhong Yifu's voice from the side.

Xu Chengfeng turned to look at Zhong Yifu and saw him also turning back from the direction Cheng Ruofan had left. "Chengfeng. Let's go ask Ruofan later what exactly Commander He said to him."

Like Zhong Yifu, Xu Chengfeng’s curiosity was piqued. But feeling that Cheng Ruofan couldn't say anything at the moment, he replied, "Instead of finding Ruofan, it’s better to find Commander He."

"That's good." Zhong Yifu nodded repeatedly, picking up his chopsticks and eating as he spoke. "But will Commander He talk to us?"

"We'll wait for him outside this afternoon," Xu Chengfeng felt this wasn't a problem.

When Xu Chengfeng arrived outside the classroom where He Rui was interviewing that afternoon, he saw thirty or forty students already gathered there. The classroom door opened, and Instructor Li Guodong, who was interviewing alongside He Rui, walked out. With a dark face, he asked, "What are you all doing?"

One of the students replied, "Instructor Li, we would like to ask Commander He about the development of the World War."

Since everyone had the same goal, Xu Chengfeng didn't make a sound.

Instructor Li walked back into the classroom and came out after a while. "Commander He agreed to chat with you all. But don't make a racket, do you hear!"

"We hear you!" the cadets replied in unison. Immediately, they swarmed into the classroom. By the time Xu Chengfeng got in, there was only a little space left in the back row against the wall.

He Rui had already sketched a rough topographical map of Europe on the blackboard and was drawing the borders of the belligerent nations and the battle lines.

Xu Chengfeng was first in the school in cartography; seeing the map He Rui outlined, he couldn't help but feel some admiration.

After He Rui finished drawing, he turned and began to speak.

Xu Chengfeng originally thought He Rui’s explanation would be similar to the instructors', only raising some unique viewpoints. Unexpectedly, He Rui started by describing the morphology of the European battlefield.

On the Western Front, over five million troops were crowded together with hundreds of thousands of artillery pieces, dense trenches, barbed wire, and hundreds of thousands of heavy machine guns. On the Eastern Front lay the vast East European Plain. This had already determined that the forms of warfare on the two fronts would be vastly different.

Afterward, He Rui drew out the plains, mountains, and rivers. Xu Chengfeng immediately felt a faint sense that his previous vague perceptions of the Great War were correct.

Artillery, airplanes, machine guns, self-propelled artillery. He Rui described the war occurring in Europe. And he made predictions about the future of warfare.

The more he listened, the more anxious Xu Chengfeng became. When He Rui predicted that armored vehicles weighing over a dozen or even dozens of tons would soon be thrown into the battlefield, making the already bloody war even bloodier, Xu Chengfeng could listen no longer and left the classroom without a word.

Compared to the packed classroom, the air outside was much better, the hot summer wind blowing against his face. Xu Chengfeng felt an indescribable anxiety in his heart; even after taking off his jacket and baring his upper body, this sense of anxiety could not be dispelled.

Xu Chengfeng's ideal in joining the army was to defend the country and resist aggression. Information from abroad showed that the European Great Powers were powerful and well-trained. He truly couldn't find a way to defeat them. Xu Chengfeng could only hide this sense of defeat in the bottom of his heart, daring only to mention it slightly when talking deeply with a few good friends.

Regarding the World War, Xu Chengfeng didn't support anyone; he only hoped both sides would fight until they were mountains of corpses and seas of blood, their vitality greatly damaged. That way, China would have it much easier.

In He Rui’s description just now, the gap between China and the European Great Powers had exceeded the limits of Xu Chengfeng's imagination. Even if Europe was shattered after the World War, their strength, tempered by the battlefield, would only leave China even more defenseless.

The sense of defeat erupted with unprecedented intensity, making it almost impossible for Xu Chengfeng to breathe. Is China really doomed to lose forever?