Zhao Tianlin was considering how to handle He Rui's arrangements in his mind and prepared to stand up and leave. Just then, he heard Secretary Song Danshan ask, "Chairman, what is the second thing?"

Now Zhao Tianlin remembered that He Rui had said there were two things to do, so he quickly sat down again. He Rui said, "The number of people coming from inside the pass is too large. Our education must be strengthened; compulsory education and the literacy campaign must be persisted in."

Zhao Tianlin immediately asked, "What about the budget?"

He Rui answered decisively, "The Department of Education should prepare the budget and submit it."

Since He Rui spoke so readily, Zhao Tianlin also stood up readily to leave. The Statistics Department managed statistics, and the Department of Education also had its own statistics and budget departments; the two sides exchanged a lot of data in their work. Regarding compulsory education, Zhao Tianlin completely agreed with He Rui's view.

Since He Rui wanted a budget, Zhao Tianlin naturally wouldn't be stingy about submitting one. The leaders of relevant departments in the Department of Education gathered in Zhao Tianlin's office. Hearing that Zhao Tianlin wanted to formulate an education budget with a target of '40 million people', the conference room fell silent for a moment.

If calculated at one teacher per 100 people, 40 million people would require 400,000 teachers. With the current three-person rotation model, that would be 1.2 million.

After exchanging glances, the head of the Statistics Division plucked up the courage to tell the numbers to Zhao Tianlin, finally saying, "Director Zhao, based on the standard of 12 yuan and 300 *jin* of grain per person per year, this would be 360 million *jin* of grain, and 14.4 million yuan in funds. This doesn't include expenses for textbooks and teaching aids. Adding those, the funding will exceed 20 million yuan."

Everyone thought Zhao Tianlin would be scared by this number, but unexpectedly, Zhao Tianlin just pushed up his glasses and answered decisively, "Prepare the budget, and I will submit it."

Seeing Zhao Tianlin so determined, a sigh resonated through the office. Without waiting for the sentiment to ferment, Zhao Tianlin slapped the table with a *pa*. The cadres of the Department of Education were startled, and the room instantly quieted down. Zhao Tianlin kept a straight face and said, "Comrades, don't worry about money; that's not something we should worry about. There is another matter we need to work on recently, which is vocational education. The vocational education carried out for workers in factories is dragging us down. We rolled it out according to the German vocational education system, but the results are not obvious. Is this because there's a problem with our set education standards, or because not enough time has passed to see the effects? Everyone needs to start conducting investigations."

Hearing this, the head of the Statistics Division spoke up right then, "Director Zhao, we don't have that many personnel."

Everyone thought Zhao Tianlin was going to force the work on them, but they heard Zhao Tianlin offer a method. "Yes, we don't have that many personnel. Recently, Governor Wu Youping made an attempt in Jilin, letting teachers participating in training join in municipal statistics work and other tasks. I think we can draw on this."

The head of the Inspection Division responsible for monitoring teaching quality frowned. "Suddenly increasing this work, won't this unsettle the teachers?"

Zhao Tianlin already had arrangements. "Suddenly increasing it certainly won't do. We will incorporate these tasks into the teachers' training schedule, making it fixed and normalized."

Seeing Zhao Tianlin so insistent, the cadres couldn't find reasons to object, so they agreed. After the meeting ended, Zhao Tianlin made a phone call to Xu Jia, the Director of the Statistics Department. "Director Xu, the task of adjusting the teachers' schedule mentioned last time has been assigned. Has the work arrangement content on your side been decided?"

There was silence on the phone for a moment. When Xu Jia's voice sounded, it was quite excited. "Thank you, thank you! Director Zhao has been a great help. By the afternoon of the day after tomorrow at the latest, I will personally deliver the work arrangement to Director Zhao."

Zhao Tianlin was about to hang up when he suddenly remembered something. "Director Xu, write the confidentiality requirements in as well."

Xu Jia answered immediately without thinking, "No need, we won't ask teachers to engage in work requiring confidentiality. Our Bureau of Statistics has to submit so many statistical figures in the form of government work reports every year; the data is all public. We are only worried that the numbers aren't precise. Aside from personal information, we have no content to keep confidential."

The two directors reached an agreement, and the matter progressed very quickly. Not waiting for the afternoon of the third day, Xu Jia personally brought the plan to visit Zhao Tianlin on the afternoon of the second day. Facing Xu Jia's gratitude, Zhao Tianlin also unceremoniously put forward a request. "Does Director Xu have any talent suitable for diplomacy? If you feel there are promising ones, recommend a few to me."

Xu Jia was quite puzzled. After asking clearly about Zhao Tianlin's needs, he suggested, "Why doesn't Director Zhao select talent from the university?"

"I'm worried about their reliability. I can only select students with good character and academic performance, but can they pass the political review?"

Xu Jia thought about it and felt Zhao Tianlin's worry made sense. Although what Zhao Tianlin was looking for wasn't personnel to provide to the foreign affairs department, for someone to go and entangle with the British, reliability was still the first priority. After thinking, Xu Jia agreed. "I'll go to the Foreign Affairs Department and borrow two people for Director Zhao. After that matter is resolved, just let them return to their unit. Or why doesn't Director Zhao simply hand the matter over to the Foreign Affairs Department?"

Zhao Tianlin shook his head. "After all, it was proposed by the Chairman; I still want to finish it personally. Moreover, I also want to see if diplomacy is as I imagine it."

Xu Jia felt Zhao Tianlin's curiosity was a bit excessive, but it wasn't good to say anything else, so he laughed. "Since that's the case, I only have one request: please provide reports in a timely manner during the process, Director Zhao."

The two settled on the terms of exchange and went about their business. Soon, two young men appeared in Zhao Tianlin's office. One was named Huang Zhen, the other Chen Xinli. After listening to Zhao Tianlin's arrangement, the two just looked at each other and replied, "We will listen entirely to Director Zhao's arrangement."

Having made the arrangements, Zhao Tianlin took the two and went straight to the British Consulate in Fengtian. As soon as the Consul saw Zhao Tianlin, he immediately greeted him warmly. "Dr. Zhao, good afternoon."

"Mr. Henry, good afternoon. I came this time to discuss the matter of the Russians in the concentration camp." Zhao Tianlin got straight to the point while shaking hands.

"Did the Russians cause trouble?" Consul Henry led Zhao Tianlin toward the reception room. Initially, his steps were brisk, but as Zhao Tianlin spoke, Consul Henry's steps began to seem heavy. When they entered the reception room, Consul Henry sat on the sofa, his face as dark as water. "Dr. Zhao, are you accusing the British Empire?"

Zhao Tianlin slammed a big label on him right away. "That's right, we are accusing the British Empire and the French Republic. There are twenty thousand people after all. If not handled well, I'm afraid it will turn into a humanitarian crisis!"

Facing the flying label, Consul Henry felt somewhat aggrieved in his heart. Twenty years ago, Russia was still Germany's intimate friendly neighbor. Even after joining the Entente Powers, Russia had never been a friendly country to Britain. What did the lives of twenty thousand Russians have to do with the British Empire?

But this couldn't be said publicly. Consul Henry decided to use stalling tactics. "Please let me send a telegram to Ambassador Jordan regarding this matter."

Zhao Tianlin didn't dawdle either. Standing up, he said, "This matter will have repercussions, Mr. Henry."

Facing this statement, which he didn't know whether to count as a threat, Consul Henry decided to pretend he hadn't heard it.

After sending Zhao Tianlin away, Consul Henry thought about it and felt he'd better not send a telegram to Ambassador Jordan. There was absolutely no need to disturb Jordan with such a crappy matter.

This happened on May 2nd. On May 3rd, Jordan sat in the armchair in his office in the morning as usual and picked up the newspaper. Now he had to read the *Northeast Daily* every day; this newspaper was very valuable in the eyes of senior civil officials. Then, the headline on the front page made Jordan suspect he had read it wrong.

Composing himself and looking carefully, he hadn't misread the headline: "Britain, France, and America Ignore Humanitarian Disaster." Jordan looked at the newspaper header again; it was indeed the *Northeast Daily*. for a moment, Jordan couldn't figure out what exactly He Rui meant. In these years of raging war, what kind of major event could be called a humanitarian disaster?

The news started with a small story.

...Recently, Mr. Malinowski, an Austro-Hungarian anthropologist observing in the rainforests of the Pacific islands, recounted an incident. He described to a local cannibal: "A war is happening in Europe; tens of thousands of people die every day."

The cannibal native asked in amazement: "How can you eat so much human flesh?"

When the anthropologist Mr. Malinowski explained that Europeans do not eat human flesh, the cannibal was stunned and said in confusion: "If you don't eat them, why kill them? Your place is too savage!"

There is a saying in Europe: before the war breaks out, most people will think victory is more important than life. When the war ends, most people will think life is more important than victory. In the world, life is the most important. Therefore, various international treaties emphasize the preciousness of life and the importance of humanitarianism.

The *Geneva Convention* contains content on ensuring the rights of prisoners of war during war, and it has been recognized by all countries.

Now, there are about twenty thousand Russians stranded within China's borders. They no longer have their own government, and no one cares about their lives. Based on the spirit of humanitarianism, the authorities in Northeast China have taken them in for several months. Excessive financial expenditure has exhausted the financial resources of the local authorities in the Northeast.

These Russian people applied for political asylum in Entente member countries like Britain, France, and America, yet no one cared. The Northeast authorities urge countries like Britain, France, and America to face this fact squarely and provide customs clearance services in a timely manner, so that these European white people can obtain refugee status as soon as possible and go to the territories of Britain, France, and America that they dream of...

Jordan had engaged in direct diplomatic confrontation with He Rui and knew He Rui had diplomatic ability. After reading this news, Jordan felt He Rui's image had changed somewhat. How did that elegant and sharp diplomatic figure suddenly start rolling on the ground like a rascal?

According to the report provided by Morrison, Director of the Northeast Investment Promotion Bureau, thousands of Chinese poured into the Northeast every day. He Rui not only didn't stop it but encouraged these immigrants. Over a million Chinese immigrants entered the Northeast in a year. How could twenty thousand Russians cause the Northeast's finances to collapse!

He Rui mentioned Russians, meaning they were 'European white people'; this emotional card was played with flying colors!

Thinking of this, Jordan immediately ordered a telegram sent to the British Consulate in Fengtian to ask what exactly was going on. At the end of the telegram, Jordan emphasized that they must figure out what He Rui's objective was.

Two days later, the same news was published in *The Times* and *Le Figaro*. Although Britain and France had now lost millions of young men and the public had no sympathy for any Russians, seeing that 'European white people' were about to 'run out of food' in the Northeast under General He Rui's rule, it was inevitable that some sympathy would swell.

The 'joke' at the beginning of this news article indeed set the mood. With the war having progressed to this point, ordinary people in Europe also felt it was unbearable.

In such a time of raging war, the influence of the matter in Europe couldn't be said to be nonexistent, but it could only be said to be insignificant.

But in Asia, it was different. Consul Henry saw the news in the *Northeast Daily* and received Jordan's telegram, so he immediately asked to see He Rui. He Rui didn't see Consul Henry, only sending someone to tell him that this matter was the responsibility of Zhao Tianlin.

Left with no choice, Consul Henry invited Zhao Tianlin to the consulate for discussions. Zhao Tianlin was not polite this time, simply asking how the matter should be handled.

Consul Henry continued to play diplomatic tricks, answering with a serious expression, "Dr. Zhao, you have to discuss this matter with the Russian officials."

"Very well! We will discuss it with the Russian officials." Zhao Tianlin nodded. After speaking, he stood up and said, "In view of the reactions of countries like Britain, France, and America, we will implement strict epidemic prevention inspections on people from the above countries entering the Northeast region."

"What?" Consul Henry didn't understand.

Zhao Tianlin repeated it once more. "We will implement strict epidemic prevention inspections on personnel and goods entering China from countries like Britain, France, America, and Japan!"

It took Consul Henry a bit of time to understand what this meant. Strict epidemic prevention inspections meant that the flow of personnel would be greatly affected, and there was also a diplomatically insulting implication in it.

Such 'Europeanized' diplomatic means were unheard of and unseen by Consul Henry in China. This stern-faced diplomat muttered in his heart: *Is this necessary? Is it worth it?*