When the young comrades faced He Rui, there was none of the forbearance necessary for diplomatic occasions. Cheng Ruofan's delicate face flushed red as he said loudly, "Chairman, Russia is as weak as it is now; we can definitely recover the lost territory!"

Although Xu Chengfeng wasn't as agitated as Cheng Ruofan, he also said from the bottom of his heart, "Please rest assured, Chairman, we will never fear life or death!"

As an instructor in the military academy for Cheng Ruofan, Xu Chengfeng, and others, Zhou Yinshan, now the Dean of the Staff Department of the Northeast Military Academy, also felt young hot blood boiling in his chest. The Northeast Army had preliminarily solved the basic equipment problem for 120,000 troops. With the Northeast's current mobilization capacity, it could fully mobilize more than 200,000 troops. If these troops were brought out to fight Japan, it wouldn't be enough, but dealing with the Russian Far East would be more than sufficient.

But Zhou Yinshan was much older after all and still maintained basic calmness. However, even Hu Xiushan, whom Zhou Yinshan considered to have the most obedient attitude, spoke up. "Please think twice, Chairman; opportunity knocks but once."

So Zhou Yinshan looked at He Rui. Based on Zhou Yinshan's understanding of He Rui, this classmate who studied in Japan with him would never easily state strategic arrangements. If he said it, he must have conducted profound analysis and judgment.

Zhou Yinshan didn't understand what kind of thinking He Rui had to propose the decision not to recover all lost territories between recovering lost ground and appeasing Russia.

He Rui completely understood the feelings of the young comrades. He Rui, like everyone else, once had such intense emotions. The comrades were right; purely from a military perspective, the Northeast's strength could indeed fight Soviet Russia and force Soviet Russia to spit out the Chinese territory it had swallowed.

From a tactical perspective, this was a very reasonable consideration. It was even a very good consideration.

But from a strategic perspective, this consideration was completely inappropriate. Especially now that Mongolia had been recovered, considerations at the strategic level did not support the need for tactical victory.

After everyone had expressed their attitudes, He Rui asked, "Who is our ultimate enemy strategically? What is the result of the comrades' consideration?"

Zhong Yifu answered decisively, "Whoever occupies our territory, whoever damages China's interests, is China's enemy!"

As soon as these words came out, most of the high-ranking party, government, and military cadres nodded in agreement. Even Zhao Tianlin loudly agreed with a flushed face due to excitement.

After everyone expressed their attitudes again, He Rui continued, "Comrades, what is the name of our party?"

Everyone hadn't expected He Rui to ask such a question and couldn't help looking at each other. Wu Youping answered loudly, "The Civilization Party."

"Civilization—is it confined to the civilization of one country, China, or does it cover the entire earth, covering the five continents and four oceans? If we follow what everyone said, we can completely build a great power China, and then, following the model of European civilization, develop into an imperialist power. If we are lucky enough, we can eliminate other imperialist countries in our lifetime and establish a Chinese imperialist civilization that oppresses the world. If we are unlucky, one day after we die, our descendants will say while offering sacrifices to us that although China did not eliminate imperialism, it eliminated other imperialist countries. From the perspective of civilization, do you think this is a drama or a tragedy?"

He Rui could always be surprising, and this time was no exception. Zhou Yinshan tried hard to understand the meaning in He Rui's words but couldn't understand the obvious denial in He Rui's words.

In Zhou Yinshan's view, China becoming the sole imperialist country dominating the world was an extremely difficult thing, but the matter itself was full of honor and glory, a great achievement that could wipe away all history of humiliation. However, He Rui did not agree with this matter.

Unlike Zhou Yinshan's silence settled by life experience, Xu Chengfeng asked straightforwardly, "Chairman, our China ruling the world will definitely bring peace and tranquility to the world. What's wrong with this!"

As before, He Rui frankly answered the comrades' question. "Because world hegemony under the current level of productivity must be based on economic activity. Of course, I don't know if the future world will develop to a human social order free from economic activity as the center. But at this stage, it is still such a development process. Since it centers on economic activity, the imperialist civilization and imperialist order must have a need that must be satisfied: the dominant country must obtain excess profits. Comrades have more or less participated in our trade activities; have we made much money in trade?"

This question was so realistic. Zhou Yinshan thought of his observations over the past year and couldn't help answering, "Very little; we almost made no money!"

Seeing the instructor speak, the comrades in the army didn't say much more. The comrades working in the government felt that saying this was the same as not saying it; everyone had long felt strong dissatisfaction with the profits the Northeast obtained in international trade.

He Rui felt much more relieved at this time. Since everyone had seen it, things were actually easier to communicate. "Comrades, our profits are extremely small, so who earned most of the profits? Everyone definitely has their own ideas. I ask everyone a question: if our China becomes the only imperialist country in the world, what will people of insight in other countries think when they see unfair international trade? Will their thoughts be the same as ours?"

Xu Chengfeng expressed his emotions adhering to the standpoint in traditional Chinese culture. At this moment, he only felt He Rui was simply being unreasonable. Forcing himself to deduce the situation according to He Rui's line of thought with such emotions, Xu Chengfeng discovered in his annoyance that what He Rui said might be right. Xu Chengfeng himself might accept China not seeking excess profits, but the majority of Civilization Party comrades might not necessarily think so.

At this time, Zhong Yifu said, "Chairman, it won't be too late to talk about it then!"

He Rui waved his hand immediately. "Are everyone underestimating ourselves too much? Do comrades feel they won't see the day when China leads the world in their lifetime?"

After this question was asked, some comrades wanted to laugh. That was a kind of 'dumbfounded laughter' when an illusory future was forcibly pulled in front of them. But looking at the serious expressions of the army comrades and the serious looks of some high-ranking leading cadres, the smiles disappeared not long after surfacing on their faces.

He Rui continued, "It is not difficult for China to recover and become the world's most powerful great power, because imperialist countries are all paper tigers, easily punctured. So we must seriously consider what kind of civilization the Civilization Party represents and what kind of country our China wants to become. Strategically speaking, regarding our negotiation with Russia this time, the most favorable situation for China to liberate the whole world is not China recovering all lost lands through war, but China and Soviet Russia completing security and mutual trust under a non-imperialist model. Please remember, the basis of mutual trust is that neither side is based on the imperialist model. I promise everyone, if Soviet Russia negotiates with us in an imperialist model, I will fight Soviet Russia together with the comrades to recover all the territories taken by Tsarist Russia. On this point, my position is completely consistent with everyone's."

Hearing that He Rui wasn't simply avoiding war, Xu Chengfeng and others breathed a sigh of relief. He Rui struck while the iron was hot and said, "If Soviet Russia has excellent strategists, the kind with a global vision who truly want to build a better future for the human world, I will conduct peace negotiations with Soviet Russia at the strategic level to build strategic security for China's future of liberating the whole world. As for comrades' expectations, we will communicate through study sessions."

Zhou Yinshan couldn't figure out what exactly He Rui's thoughts were. Although he didn't know He Rui's thoughts, Zhou Yinshan intuitively felt that He Rui was planning a very formidable future. For a moment, Zhou Yinshan didn't know whether to look forward to this future or to trust He Rui.