After Wu Youping left the house, he headed straight for He Rui's headquarters. At the gate, he took out the prepared request letter and business card and handed them over.

The guard took the card, looked at it, and told Wu Youping directly, "The Governor is not seeing guests today."

Wu Youping said no more and just waited outside the gate. Not long after, a group of soldiers was seen approaching the Governor's Office, and He Rui was among them. Wu Youping walked forward, and the accompanying guards immediately stepped up to block him.

Seeing this, the guard at the gate hurriedly stepped forward and handed the request letter and business card to He Rui. He Rui opened it and saw that Wu Youping was a merchant's son. He didn't make things difficult for him and called him over. "I have said many times that as long as merchants obey the law and pay taxes on time, there is absolutely no danger in Siping. Go back and tell Boss Wu not to worry."

Wu Youping reached into his schoolbag, pulled out several books, and said sincerely, "Governor He, I studied at the Tangshan Railway and Mining School in Tangshan—formerly the Shanhaiguan North China Railway Official School—and graduated in 1914. A few days ago, some teachers and classmates sent me these works of yours. After reading them, this student deeply admires the Governor's vision and insight. I came to request a meeting this time because I have some doubts I wish to ask about in person."

He Rui was stunned hearing this. He looked at Wu Youping again. Seeing this young man in a student suit, looking composed and fearless, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. He said gently, "This student, I wonder what questions you have?"

Wu Youping stared at He Rui, expectation in his eyes. "Why did Governor He write *The Fate of Japan*, but not a book called *The Fate of China*?"

He Rui laughed heartily, feeling very fond of him. He patted Wu Youping on the shoulder. "Come, let's talk inside."

The two sat down inside the headquarters. A guard brought plain boiled water. He Rui said naturally, "Thank you." There was no air of warlord arrogance at all.

Wu Youping felt some admiration in his heart and couldn't help but feel a few degrees closer.

"Report. The meeting is ready," a guard came in to report.

"Good," He Rui responded.

Seeing that He Rui was busy with official duties, Wu Youping didn't probe further and went straight to the point. "Governor coming to Siping, do you plan to develop industry? Siping is rich in coal and is a railway hub; there must be great potential."

He Rui smiled. "Why not talk about the fate of the nation?"

Wu Youping smiled. "If one cannot govern a single room, how can one govern the world and the nation?"

He Rui liked him even more and laughed. "This saying is true, but not entirely true. You are a graduate of the Shanhaiguan North China Railway Official School, studying railway and mining machinery. Mechanical equipment is certainly important, but without an overall train of thought, without understanding the principles of economic operation, without supporting industrial policies, and without government public financial tilting—if you just mechanically copy textbooks, even if you build a few factories and develop a few mines, I'm afraid it will be hard to change the country's current situation."

"Then this student asks the Governor: what should we do to be correct?"

"Since Student Wu has read political science, do you know why neighboring countries are vastly different, while countries separated by ten thousand *li* might be quite similar?"

"Geopolitics is the science of recognizing the state as a geographical organism or a spatial phenomenon. It is not unique people who create a certain country; rather, restricted by its geography, environment, and climate, these determine a country's various development possibilities. Its emphasis lies in discarding subjectivity and seeking truth from facts."

"Exactly so." He Rui was certain Wu Youping had truly read his books. "The world China is in today is the world after the Great Geographical Discoveries. The Western powers used the historical opportunity of the Great Geographical Discoveries to take the lead on the path of industrial civilization. Thereby, they gradually changed their socio-economic conditions. Utilizing the high efficiency and high output of industrial civilization itself, and using trade advantages, they gradually seized the pricing power of industrial and agricultural products, exploiting other backward regions of the world. And our China, on the whole, is still a backward agricultural country. The urgent task right now is to reform the social system and clear the obstacles for comprehensive industrialization."

Wu Youping nodded repeatedly but couldn't help sighing. "I just didn't expect China's fate to be such a torment."

"When our generation of aspiring youth sees the status quo of China, none are not heartbroken. All want to change China's status quo. Even the Manchu Qing, corrupt to that extent, struggled with all its might, only failing to change the status quo. Since no one in China wanted to reach this point today, yet such a situation is before our eyes, there must be things that are being strenuously maintained by some people that led to China's status quo."

"Exactly so! Governor He!" Wu Youping was overjoyed, almost shouting, "I study mechanics. Although I feel catching up is very difficult, as long as we have time to delve into it, we can solve it. However, the Great Powers grow stronger day by day while China accumulates poverty and weakness. Presumably, there must be other factors causing China's accumulated poverty and weakness."

"State operations are nothing more than production and distribution. Take industry as an example. Manufacturing machinery requires investment costs. Producing with machinery also requires operation and debugging. During this, not only is there not a penny of output, but massive investment is required. Even when the machinery is running, it requires various maintenance. Therefore, to transform an agricultural country into an industrial country, when the state allocates the budget, it should give long-term investment to industrial incubation. And this investment cannot pursue returns within a single cycle. First-mover countries had hundreds of years to develop; as long as the direction was right, accumulating slowly, there would eventually be a day of breakthrough. However, late-comer countries, without exception, first squeeze resources from agricultural income for industrial investment, using tariff barriers to protect domestic industrial development. Wait until the industrial level rises, then gradually open the market to let domestic industrial products compete with similar products in the world, to ensure domestic industry does not lose vitality and enterprising spirit."

Wu Youping nodded repeatedly. He Rui had described the development of Germany and Japan in his book; they both walked this path.

He Rui continued, "At this time, China should prioritize solving the national security problem. If national defense problems cannot be solved, domestic industry absolutely has no environment for realization. And after solving the national defense problem, we should establish an advanced government that fits China's national conditions and status quo to drive the realization of the entire country's industrialization."

"Governor He, I have read all of this in your book. But what is an advanced government? What fits China's status quo?" Wu Youping finished speaking and felt it was greatly insufficient; he wanted to express what was in his heart more aptly. Thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered his question from just now. "Governor He, what caused China's accumulated poverty and weakness?"

"Haha, do you want to find the culprits of this poverty and weakness and get rid of them?" He Rui laughed.

Wu Youping answered loudly, "Yes!"

He Rui sighed slightly. This was a characteristic of youth: having strong emotions of opposition between good and evil, always wanting to immediately find the person or thing responsible for the problem. "Student Wu, if we execute according to the policies I mentioned, can China walk onto the path of a wealthy country and strong people?"

"Yes!"

"What opposes this policy is the resistance stopping China from becoming rich and strong. That is the object we must confront. These resistances are often not a certain person, nor certain people. You graduated from the Shanhaiguan North China Railway Official School; you should have heard about people stopping railway construction over there because they feared affecting ancestral graves and *feng shui*. Are there still such things now?"

Wu Youping had naturally heard of it and could only sigh.

He Rui smiled. "Those people didn't do that to make China poor and weak; they just hadn't received an education like you. Moreover, when building railways now, counties without railways see the benefits enjoyed by counties with railways and all hope the railway passes through their county. They won't stop it anymore. This is progress. So China's fate is a progressive process of knowledge driving out ignorance, civilization defeating barbarism, and unity replacing isolation. This is not only China's fate but will also be the fate China brings to the world. And the starting point of this fate begins right here in Siping."