On the morning of May 6th, the campus of Northeast University was already bustling with noise. While the youths in Beijing needed secret liaisons to organize, the students in the Northeast's universities had no such restrictions. Young students stood on high places delivering speeches, and some were putting up posters; the campus was already seething with excitement. The boys cursed Japan loudly, and although the girls also felt indignant, hearing the boys cursing, some girls couldn't help but frown.

Fortunately, the boys weren't completely tactless. Those with girlfriends hurriedly signaled the cursing guys that there were girls nearby. Even the reckless young boys immediately restrained themselves.

When Director of Education Zhao Tianlin arrived at the school, the gate of Northeast University was tightly closed, with guards and security personnel standing in a row at the entrance. Although there weren't many people, the hot-blooded young students still didn't dare to clash with them.

Seeing Zhao Tianlin arrive, the President immediately stepped forward anxiously. "Director Zhao, the students are clamoring to parade in the streets! We can't persuade them otherwise no matter how hard we try."

"I see you're persuading them quite well," Zhao Tianlin laughed.

The President was just pretending to be pitiful; he actually had a clear idea in his heart. Seeing Zhao Tianlin didn't intend to blame him, the President said, "Director Zhao, I think organizing the students to parade on campus, circling the teaching building a few times... what do you think, Director Zhao?"

Zhao Tianlin was truly amused by this compromise plan. After laughing for a while, Zhao Tianlin shook his head. "If you let the students parade, at least let them walk around the school a few times. If you don't let them parade, hold a meeting for them."

The President didn't want the students to run out and parade either, but if he held a meeting, he didn't know what to say to the students. Just saying some patriotic words—every school in the Northeast conducted patriotic education. Repeating those words, even the President himself felt they lacked novelty.

Zhao Tianlin didn't say much. He stepped forward through the sparse interception line formed by guards and security personnel and walked straight into the midst of the students.

"Hello, President Zhao!"

"Hello, Teacher Zhao!"

The students greeted him one after another. Many students in Northeast University were graduates from Siping, and quite a few recognized the elegantly dressed Zhao Tianlin. especially the law students whose classes Zhao Tianlin had substituted for, immediately came forward to greet him.

Chen Xingwang, the monitor of Class 1, Grade 2 of the Law Department, stepped forward and said, "President Zhao, we just want to go out and parade; we absolutely won't cause trouble. Please agree to let us go out and parade to respond to the movement of the whole country to recover Shandong."

Zhao Tianlin didn't answer but walked straight to a table that had been moved out and climbed onto it. The students nearby hurriedly steadied the table. Zhao Tianlin stood steadily on the table, asked for a megaphone, and shouted to the students, "Fellow students, I am Teacher Zhao Tianlin of the Law Department. You can parade anytime. At this time, first figure out what exactly happened. I'm going to the auditorium now. Those who want to know what's going on, go to the auditorium together; I'll explain it clearly to everyone."

The students only knew the general idea of the matter. Hearing that President Zhao Tianlin was actually going to explain the inside story clearly to everyone, curiosity immediately suppressed anger. Various class monitors greeted their classmates one after another, "Let's go, grab a seat in the auditorium first."

For university students, grabbing a seat was a daily required course. Almost reflexively, nearly half of the people followed the class monitors toward the auditorium. The remaining half, seeing everyone moving, naturally followed.

Zhao Tianlin jumped off the table and patted the student who helped steady it. "Thank you."

Then he said to the Northeast University President who came forward, "Prepare the speakers and microphones."

The President hadn't expected Zhao Tianlin to move the students with just a few sentences. He truly admired him and hurriedly ordered the staff to prepare quickly.

Twenty minutes later, Zhao Tianlin was already on stage explaining to the students the ins and outs of the Paris Peace Conference and why the Beiyang government would require the Chinese delegation attending the conference to sign the agreement betraying Shandong's rights and interests.

Although the Northeast was relatively close to Beijing, the psychological distance to Beijing was probably even farther than from Shanghai to Beijing. The students originally thought the Beiyang government was simply afraid of the Japanese devils, so amidst their indignation, there was also a feeling of resentment that iron failed to become steel.

After all, in the general perception of the Chinese populace, there were always a few bad people in the imperial court, but more were muddled people.

But after listening to Zhao Tianlin's analysis and explanation, the students were truly angered. It turned out the Beiyang upper echelon was not only not muddled but actually all shrewd individuals. The reason the Beiyang government agreed to sign was not that they were scared by Japan, but because they had previously accepted a lot of money from the Japanese.

The atmosphere in the auditorium became increasingly intense. Suddenly, a student jumped up and shouted, "Down with the Beiyang government!"

As if the magma inside a volcano had finally found a breakthrough, fierce shouts of "Down with the Beiyang government!" and "Down with Japanese imperialism!" echoed in the auditorium.

Looking at the agitated students, the President finally felt uneasy in his heart and quickly looked at Zhao Tianlin. He saw that Zhao Tianlin was not only not uneasy because of the students' intense emotions but, after waiting for the students to shout for a while, took the microphone with the loudest volume in the venue and took the lead in shouting slogans.

With Zhao Tianlin, who possessed the most information and the loudest volume in the venue, taking the lead, the students shouted along desperately one by one. The turbulent currents of different emotions were quickly guided by Director Zhao Tianlin toward the direction of defending the motherland and building China.

The President of Northeast University finally breathed a sigh of relief. Based on his experience, at this stage, there was no need to worry about the students causing trouble on a large scale. Even if some students did something intense and out of line, they would be a very small minority and couldn't influence the views of the majority of students.

Seeing Zhao Tianlin solve the big problem facing the school so easily, the President felt both happy and admiring.

The influence of the May Fourth Movement started from Beijing and spread rapidly to the whole of China. The intense actions in the Northeast region were quickly controlled by the government, but the governments of other provinces did not have the control capability of the Northeast government. Demonstrations, strikes, and class boycotts broke out in provinces with a relatively high degree of industrialization across the country.

The Japanese side soon received the news. Reports on this matter began to appear in Japanese newspapers like *Asahi Shimbun*. When slogans boycotting Japanese goods began to appear on a large scale in various cities, the Japanese government had to take it seriously.

Japan's current Hara Takashi cabinet Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo met with Ishiwara Kanji for the second time. Ishiwara Kanji still went with Professor Taira Toyomori, but this time Ishiwara remained silent, looking completely like an obedient mid-level officer meeting a high-level official. Takahashi Korekiyo initially discussed the situation in China with Taira Toyomori for a while. Seeing Ishiwara Kanji's demeanor as steady as an old dog, he was somewhat surprised.

When Takahashi Korekiyo saw Ishiwara Kanji last time, he felt Ishiwara could understand counter-cyclical construction and was considered insightful within the army. However, last time, Ishiwara Kanji's words clearly showed a lack of confidence in the cabinet. Now the Hara Takashi cabinet was actually implementing counter-cyclical construction, resolving contradictions and building the country through concessions to the Japanese public. Seeing Ishiwara Kanji silent, Takahashi Korekiyo instead wanted to hear Ishiwara Kanji's views, so he asked, "Ishiwara-kun, what do you think is the appropriate military expenditure?"

Ishiwara Kanji thought for a moment and answered decisively, "Your Excellency, military expenditure is determined to achieve military strategic goals. This subordinate does not know which military strategy Your Excellency subscribes to."

Hearing this, Professor Taira Toyomori felt a momentary chill. Daring to point out the sharp domestic contradictions in Japan directly to this extent, Ishiwara Kanji indeed had guts. Professor Taira Toyomori was also quite curious about whether Takahashi Korekiyo dared to face this question directly.

Japan had a small territory and lacked resources. Relying solely on itself, Japan couldn't even maintain normal industrial development. So the mainstream in Japan was expansionism; the difference only lay in whether the expansion method was primarily military or supplementarily military.

Takahashi Korekiyo was considered a moderate, so how moderate could Takahashi Korekiyo be?

Taira Toyomori lowered his head and picked up his teacup, seemingly drinking tea, but actually focusing all his attention on Takahashi Korekiyo, waiting to see how this premier economist in Japan would answer.