Tang Gui initially didn't quite understand what He Rui meant by 'threat'. But Xu Chengfeng clearly expressed agreement with He Rui's viewpoint. Wu Youping and Xu Jia looked thoughtful, obviously agreeing with He Rui and Xu Chengfeng's views, but they were considering other things.

Facing such a situation, Tang Gui was somewhat anxious, but quickly calmed down. Even in such a high-level meeting, Tang Gui was still unaffected by the comrades' attitudes and thought about the matter itself.

Tang Gui was sure there should be no contradiction between himself and the comrades; this matter was not targeting him, but the Japanese. Now the focus of the problem was what the 'threat' was.

He Rui looked at Wu Youping and Xu Jia. The work these two had done so far was very different. Xu Jia had always done personnel work, a proper Organization Department path. Wu Youping's path was more diverse; except for not participating much in land reform work, he had more experience than other comrades in municipal administration, finance, industry, and other aspects.

He Rui still hesitated about which of these two was more suitable to be the supreme administrative officer of the Northeast Government. According to high EQ, both young comrades had outstanding strengths; according to low EQ, both comrades had serious deficiencies in work experience and resume.

If these two could combine their strengths into one, they would be the most suitable candidate at present. However, they didn't have enough time to complete such an organizational process.

He Rui was about to return the topic to the purpose of this meeting when Tang Gui preemptively said, "Chairman, I have something to say."

Seeing He Rui nod in agreement, Tang Gui immediately said, "If our Northeast government proposes to the Japanese government to invest in the Bank of Japan, the Japanese side will definitely think we are either crazy and have lost the ability to raise serious political topics, or think we are prepared to use military force to force the Japanese side to accept our rude request."

He Rui hadn't expected Tang Gui to have already sorted out his thoughts. He only felt that Tang Gui indeed did things methodically and practically. He insisted on understanding things he couldn't figure out.

Diplomacy was not Tang Gui's forte, but his serious attitude was the reason why Tang Gui could become the Secretary of the Civilization Party.

The four people other than He Rui and Tang Gui actually didn't care about Tang Gui's speech on diplomacy, but at this time they all paid attention to Tang Gui. Xu Chengfeng laughed, "Secretary Tang, my words were out of anger at the Japanese, not at you."

Tang Gui certainly understood Xu Chengfeng's thoughts. Having figured out the internal logic of 'diplomatic threat', Tang Gui was also full of unhappiness. Since Xu Chengfeng understood it from the beginning, it was normal for him to be unhappy.

Xu Jia had seen too many changes in comrades' thinking. At this time, he didn't want the topic to develop in a meaningless direction, so he interjected, "Is the war between industrialized nations mentioned by the Chairman a metaphor, or really talking about war?"

He Rui liked Xu Jia's keenness very much; this was also He Rui's expectation for Xu Jia if he served as the supreme administrative officer of the Northeast. If Xu Jia could grow up quickly in work, with considerable experience in the Organization Department, Xu Jia might do the job well.

If Wu Youping became the supreme administrative officer of the Northeast, something going wrong was inevitable. But Wu Youping's work experience in several practical departments could allow Wu Youping to stand firm and grow.

But the position of the supreme administrative officer of the Northeast Government was not an internship; one had to bear responsibility. If the performance of the two was unqualified, they had to bear the political consequences, that is, step down. He Rui was worried that at that time, the two would lose themselves due to setbacks.

Wu Youping asked, "Chairman, you said before that our work is to prepare for war with Japan; is this the war you were talking about?"

These two people's words were really characteristic. He Rui was amused. He didn't answer Wu Youping's question but turned to ask Xu Jia, "Comrade Xu Jia, what do you think the war metaphor and war refer to?"

Xu Jia answered immediately, "Chairman, Japan is not the only industrialized nation in this world. If we fight, we will definitely go to war with various industrialized nations."

Sure enough! He Rui answered happily, "In the works of communist predecessors we studied, Mr. Marx proposed that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. All industrialized countries inevitably face the problem of domestic production capacity exceeding domestic demand. To obtain excess profits, they must fight for the world market and implement commodity export and capital export. To fight for precious markets, war will definitely break out. Japan probing to touch our Northeast's economic core this time is to accomplish this purpose."

The comrades listened seriously. Tang Gui had participated in specific work such as land reform. During the work process, there were thousands of threads, and various problems emerged one after another. He only felt he did his best but also left many regrets in the process.

Now considering the strategic opportunity period, he inevitably felt some lingering fear. During the period when He Rui carried out the revolution in the Northeast, Russia was in internal chaos, and Japan was working overtime to make money from the European war. Britain, France, and the US were all mired in war and had absolutely no strength to deal with the Northeast.

The Beiyang Army inside the pass, because of Yuan Shikai declaring himself emperor and the Beiyang internal strife triggered after Yuan Shikai's death, completely did not intervene in Northeast affairs. He Rui led the comrades to arduously complete land reform under the situation of no external pressure and began to attract large amounts of investment, reaching today.

As an 'old cadre' who joined He Rui's team less than ten days after Xu Chengfeng, Tang Gui knew the initial team of fifty people who went outside the pass. At that time, let alone Japan sending troops, if the Beiyang Army sent just one regiment, they could have crushed this small team of fifty.

Four years later, the Northeast Army had 120,000 regular troops, producing guns and mortars themselves. The Anhui and Zhili cliques of Beiyang already dared not take the initiative to attack the Fengtian clique. This was undoubtedly the result brought by the strategic opportunity period.

Now since He Rui said a new opportunity period must be fought for through war, presumably only in this way could further success be achieved.

Xu Chengfeng was high-spirited. "Chairman, the troops have begun confrontational exercises. Except for artillery which has absolutely no way to simulate live ammunition, our army has already been able to gain advantages in squad-level confrontational exercises. As long as there are large-caliber artillery pieces, we can complete division-level confrontation with Japan within two years."

Speaking of this, Xu Chengfeng looked at Zheng Silang. "Comrade Silang is a military representative at the automobile manufacturing plant; he must be very experienced in field towing of heavy artillery."

Zheng Silang chuckled, thanking Xu Chengfeng for his help in his heart. Originally, he felt being a military representative at the automobile manufacturing plant was a kind of 'exile'. After working at the automobile manufacturing plant, Zheng Silang increasingly felt it might not be the case.

In *Journey to the West*, Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, held the Ruyi Jingu Bang. According to the book, this Jingu Bang weighed 13,500 *jin*. That is, less than 7 tons.

The 150mm heavy artillery produced in Germany had a range of over 10 kilometers, said to be able to reach 15 kilometers. The weight exceeded 7 tons. Field artillery of this caliber could not be towed by existing horses in China and had to be transported by vehicles.

Among the projects Zheng Silang participated in, there was one targeting heavy-load trailers. And a project for rapid transportation of large numbers of personnel.

These contents naturally didn't discuss military use, but as a cavalryman, Zheng Silang could fully see the meaning therein. So although Zheng Silang was very grateful for Xu Chengfeng's help, because of confidentiality regulations, he couldn't tell Xu Chengfeng that He Rui's arrangement for Zheng Silang indeed looked like 'exile', but was actually not exile at all.

When He Rui let Zheng Silang return to the army, Zheng Silang would definitely make the comrades' eyes light up, seeing the new equipment everyone dreamed of.

So Zheng Silang just smiled but said nothing.

Xu Jia was considering the confrontation between China and the great powers at this time. Hearing He Rui explain that the reason for the war against Japan was actually to win a strategic opportunity period, he also felt suddenly enlightened.

As for what to do in this strategic opportunity period, Xu Jia thought it was naturally to liberate all of China. Just as He Rui began to gain political power in the Northeast four years ago, and then implemented the New Policies in the Northeast.

Just as he wanted to ask about Russia, Wu Youping already asked, "Chairman, besides Japan, the great powers around us also include Russia. I think although Russia suffered damage in the civil war, it won't decline so simply. Is the Chairman preparing to ignore Russia or appease Russia?"

Since Wu Youping voiced Xu Jia's thoughts, Xu Jia listened seriously to He Rui's answer. He heard He Rui reply, "I said before that the current leaders of the Russian Bolshevik government are excellent strategic builders. So I hope very much to reach peace with the new Russian regime under a non-imperialist model. Although such expectations rely too much on individuals, when there is such an opportunity, I inevitably have to dream such a dream."

Xu Jia couldn't help smiling at He Rui's expression of 'dreaming', and other comrades as well as He Rui all laughed out loud. After laughing for a while, Xu Jia pressed, "Chairman, what if our dream cannot be realized?"

He Rui stopped smiling. "If the Russian Bolshevik government insists on the imperialist model, we can only respond with the imperialist model. In this regard, we must make it clear and plain to the Russian Bolshevik government. What the final result between the two countries will be depends on their own choice."