Meeting He Rui for the first time, Joffe felt something familiar about him. This surprised Joffe; He Rui's appearance was completely unfamiliar to him, and the temperament of this tall Chinese warlord chieftain was also very different from that of the Bolshevik Central Committee members.

He Rui reminded Joffe of Comrade Lenin. Comrade Lenin also had moments of anxiety and times when he showed irritability or even anger due to personal moods. But when Comrade Lenin was prepared, a natural focus emanated from him. He Rui gave Joffe the same feeling.

It seemed that just as Comrade Lenin had predicted, this warlord chieftain He Rui had long been waiting to negotiate with the Bolsheviks.

After the exchange of greetings, He Rui, dressed in a black military uniform, sat opposite Joffe and inquired about the hardships of Joffe's journey in French, which had stiff grammar and a strong foreign accent. Although this French was not praiseworthy, it allowed Joffe to feel a warm side of He Rui.

However, Joffe chose to converse with He Rui in Russian. "Your Excellency, you are supporting the White Army that is launching attacks against us."

He Rui replied in Chinese, "Yes, we must fulfill our obligations as a member of the Entente Powers."

"I saw in the newspapers that you stated you do not recognize the Communist Party government."

"I not only do not recognize the Communist Party government, but I also do not recognize the White Russian regime. As the Chairman of a local Chinese government, I do not unilaterally recognize the power of any political entity."

"Yet you acted on your own initiative to seize the Chinese Eastern Railway."

"Commissar Joffe, do you wish to discuss with me my jurisdiction over the locality as the Chairman of the local government?"

The first round of conversation was temporarily interrupted. Joffe was certain that this warlord chieftain He Rui indeed held real power over the entire Northeast. This fact made Joffe more curious about the current situation in China. Various intelligence indicated that the struggles between various warlords in China were very fierce, and wars had broken out between them. Yet He Rui, a warlord who could be counted among the top three in China, displayed a higher pattern, as if he were the central government of China.

Possessing heavy troops and self-respect, yet superficially adhering to the systems the country should have. If He Rui were a European, he would be a prince with the first right of succession within an empire in chaos, patiently and un-conservatively preparing to take over the supreme power that would sooner or later belong to him.

...Is this what a Chinese warlord looks like?

After adjusting his mindset, Joffe started the next topic. "Thank you for the meeting minutes you sent. I saw you said you are a steel-like communist."

"It's 'die-hard', not 'steel-like'," He Rui corrected.

This remark put the translators on both sides in a difficult position. He Rui's translator found he couldn't explain the subtle difference between 'die-hard communist' and 'steel factory-ist'. The Russian translator brought by Commissar Joffe didn't understand the relationship between 'steel rod' and 'steel'. Thus, translators on both sides looked at He Rui.

He Rui switched to explaining in his stiff French full of exotic flavor, "'Die-hard' refers to using Marx's scientific socialism and communist concepts as one's methodology for analyzing the world. 'Steel' refers to considering oneself a communist and steadfastly adhering to this view."

This explanation gave Commissar Joffe quite a feeling, but the distinction therein couldn't be figured out immediately. But Comrade Lenin had talked with him for a long time before Commissar Joffe set off, and a part of it happened to be very consistent with what He Rui said. A sense of respect for Comrade Lenin arose in Commissar Joffe's heart; accurate prediction of things that hadn't happened yet was one of the reasons why Bolshevik party members admired Lenin incomparably.

Recalling Comrade Lenin's instructions before departure, Commissar Joffe asked, "Your Excellency, what kind of country do you want to build China into?"

He Rui replied, "Humans have five kinds of needs, presenting a hierarchical progressive relationship: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization."

Joffe felt there was too much content to remember clearly at once. He Rui stood up and wrote the Five-Level Hierarchy of Needs theory on the blackboard in the conference room. Then he continued, "Physiological needs: food, water, air, sleep, sexual needs, etc. They are the most important and powerful among human needs. Comrade Joffe, have you ever been a worker? Do you know how terrible the workers' working environment is? If you knew... those textile factory workers work in two shifts. To save costs, capitalists only arrange one-half of the bunks for workers. After the day-shift workers get up to work, the bunks are immediately used by night-shift workers. Not only in Russia, but in all industrialized countries, it's like this. In such an environment, terrible food, foul air, and insufficient sleep torture workers to the brink of death, let alone sexual life between couples. Or it happens nakedly in such a harsh environment to extract a little pleasure that is better than nothing. Under such circumstances, revolution is not only inevitable but necessary!"

For a moment, the image of He Rui as a 'Prince' that Commissar Joffe had barely established in his mind collapsed instantly. A noble Prince Excellency could not possibly have such a profound understanding of the people's suffering. Even if he knew, he would describe it with disgust rather than being full of sympathy for the workers.

He Rui continued, "Safety needs: people need stability, security, protection, order, freedom from fear and anxiety, etc. A precarious life cannot give people a sense of security, and the class possessing capital spontaneously or consciously uses such threats to force people into labor. Such guys even take pride in boasting that they gave people job opportunities. Their destruction is simply certain."

Commissar Joffe knew the harsh living environment of the Russian working class very well, and hearing this, he couldn't help but nod slightly.

"Marx said that the capitalist system turned all professions respected and possessing feudal privileges into hired classes. People's need for belonging and love: a person demands to establish emotional connections or relationships with others. Making friends, pursuing love. These have become unstable and lost their sacred halo because the feudal system was destroyed and professional privileges were lost. Next, the need for esteem: self-esteem and the hope of being respected by others also cease to exist. The final impulse, the need for self-actualization, has also become a privilege that only the bourgeoisie can possess. People's pursuit of realizing their abilities or potential and perfecting them has become impossible because they do not own assets. I think Commissar Joffe must have seen many such people in Russia."

For a moment, Joffe almost couldn't figure out whether he was in China or Russia, because the warlord chieftain opposite, equivalent to a 'Chinese Prince', described society in a way that highly overlapped with the current situation in Russia.

Opposing the Bolshevik Red Army was the White Army, and the White Army was not a unified organization but composed of Tsarist royalists, militarists, and moderate socialists. Among them, the greatest enemy was not Kolchak or Denikin, but the moderate socialists, the Mensheviks.

Of the five levels of needs He Rui mentioned, the first two referred to the suffering masses of Russia, and the latter three undoubtedly referred to the White Army.

Joffe hated the White Army incomparably, and he couldn't help but feel indignation at He Rui's calm analysis. He said loudly, "Your Excellency, are you finding excuses for the White Army?"

"Whether Red Army or White Army, they are all just humans. One of the basic concepts of Marxism is historical materialism. More than 2000 years ago, a Chinese sage said that barbarian infants and Huaxia (Chinese) infants cry exactly the same when born, but after growing up, they possess completely different customs. This is the result of the environment's influence on humans. In my eyes, humans themselves are not much different. Does Commissar Joffe think humans themselves are different?"

Joffe was speechless for a moment. He wanted to tell He Rui loudly that people were different. But as a Marxist, a Bolshevik deeply influenced by Comrade Lenin, Joffe knew that saying so was wrong. Comrade Lenin agreed with the theory of class influence but did not agree with the theory of bloodline.

So Joffe fell silent temporarily, pondering what He Rui said. However, before Joffe could come up with a line of thought, He Rui continued, "Regarding what kind of country to build China into, any country is composed of people. First, China must solve the people's physiological needs, liberating them from the predicament of hunger and cold. Second, China must solve safety needs, liberating it from the harsh strategic environment threatened by foreign countries. I am now only doing my best to complete the first step in the Northeast; as for the second step, it is in progress."

Out of a bad mood, Commissar Joffe asked, "Is seizing the Chinese Eastern Railway Your Excellency's action to solve safety needs?"

Once the words were out, Joffe regretted it a little. The last meeting collapsed completely on this issue. Although Joffe understood He Rui's irony last time, with the conversation reaching this point, Joffe felt he had to talk about this.

Contrary to Joffe's expectations, He Rui smiled. "Commissar Joffe is right; I implemented the action of recovering the Chinese Eastern Railway precisely to solve China's safety needs. My understanding of the specific situation of the Russian Revolution is limited, and I don't know if the Russian Revolution has solved the problem of physiological needs. But I guess the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) is striving to implement plans to solve safety needs."

Hearing the translator relay He Rui's words, Comrade Lenin's instructions in Commissar Joffe's memory were activated. Comrade Lenin's wording was very different from He Rui's, but the direction of their focus was exactly the same.

Picking up the teacup and taking two sips, Commissar Joffe's agitated emotions quickly calmed down. The purpose of coming to China this time was no different from the purpose of negotiating with Germany before. The Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks), or rather Comrade Lenin, expected to reach a peace treaty with China to solve the survival problem facing the Bolshevik regime.

Since He Rui had the same judgment, Joffe didn't want to say more. Signing the *Treaty of Brest-Litovsk*, the Communist Party promised humiliating conditions of ceding territory and paying indemnities, which almost shook Comrade Lenin's leadership position.

Signing the *Treaty of Brest-Litovsk* with Germany was because Comrade Lenin believed Germany would collapse, and afterward, the treaty would cease to exist. But the Northeast controlled by He Rui showed absolutely no signs of collapse. If he ceded territory and paid indemnities to gain He Rui's recognition, he might really have to fulfill the treaty. Commissar Joffe personally could absolutely not bear such a heavy responsibility.

Just as Commissar Joffe fell into a dilemma, He Rui laughed. "Commissar Joffe has labored all the way; why not go back to the hotel to rest first?"

Given such an opportunity, Joffe immediately expressed his thanks. Watching Joffe's retreating figure, He Rui ordered his secretary, "Notify the comrades, meeting."