The current leader of the Northeast Government was General He Rui, serving as Chairman, while the chief executive was the Director of the Northeast Administrative Office. After discussions within the party, Wu Youping was elected unanimously over Xu Jia for the position.

It was said that the Civilization Party School had a new German guest professor teaching a course on Geopolitics, and both Wu Youping and Xu Jia had enrolled. They happened to run into each other at the school gate. Wu Youping went up to greet Xu Jia, and seeing Wu Youping in high spirits, Xu Jia shook his hand and laughed, "I didn't know Germany had scholars researching Geopolitics."

Wu Youping also laughed, "You'd have to ask the department in the Education Bureau responsible for collecting scientific information. Their intelligence gathering has problems."

Xu Jia nodded, "Those things aren't under the jurisdiction of the Statistics Bureau." With that, both men laughed.

Some students were surprised to see that the two former competitors harbored no ill will toward each other. However, the senior members who had attended the discussion meeting didn't feel this way, and the two candidates themselves cared even less.

Anyone with a high enough rank and sufficient seniority, who had participated in the work of building the Northeast Government from the grassroots level, knew very well that the position of Director of the Northeast Administrative Office was like sitting on a fire. Whether one was selected or not made little difference.

At this moment, both Wu Youping and Xu Jia were very curious. Principal He Rui himself was a master of Geopolitics, so what kind of figure could serve as the guest professor of Geopolitics at the Party School?

As they walked toward the classroom together, Xu Jia asked, "That Professor Karl is quite interesting. Sending us the syllabus first, what does that mean?"

Wu Youping came from the Railway College, which had foreign professors. He shook his head, "Old Xu, did you prepare any questions?"

Xu Jia replied, "Of course I did."

After answering, Xu Jia was puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"

Wu Youping intended to answer but remembered something, "Let me ask, there aren't any foreign lecturers at the Baoding Military Academy, are there?"

Xu Jia shook his head.

Seeing Xu Jia give a clear answer, Wu Youping explained, "Our Northeast is currently relying on exam-oriented education with forced indoctrination, preaching education for all without discrimination. When foreign professors teach, especially German professors, they often start the first class by asking questions to judge the students' level."

Xu Jia was greatly surprised, "They start with a display of authority? A warning shot?"

Wu Youping shook his head and replied, "I don't think so."

While they were talking, everyone had already entered the classroom. Although the class was scheduled for ten o'clock, the students had all arrived by nine-fifty. At nine-fifty-five, a foreigner walked into the classroom. Wu Youping and Xu Jia, sitting at the same desk, stared at the newcomer, feeling that he was somewhat hard to describe.

This professor was neither good-looking nor ugly, neither handsome nor hideous. He was of average height and build. He had all the necessary human features, and his facial features were reasonably placed. However, it was truly impossible to form any impression of this person.

At least in the eyes of Xu Jia and Wu Youping, two young men with rich work experience, the German professor before them lacked presence to this extent.

Professor Karl stood at the podium, composed and relaxed. He looked over the room full of students with his amber eyes, then said in Chinese with a slight Northeast accent, "Prepare for class."

Class Monitor Wu Youping immediately stood up and shouted, "Stand up!"

The students stood up and said loudly, "Good morning, teacher!"

Professor Karl replied in Chinese, still with that slight Northeast accent, "Good morning, students."

"Sit down!" Class Monitor Wu Youping shouted.

After the students were seated, Professor Karl began to ask in German, "Students, do you have any questions?"

Acting as the interpreter was a rather handsome European employee, formerly of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, though it was unclear whether he should now be considered Czech or Austrian. Perhaps because he had started learning Hanyu Pinyin together with the Northeast Government crowd, this European employee who worked with the "minor language" of German had a very standard Mandarin accent.

Seeing no one answer, Professor Karl waited for a moment before continuing, "If everyone has no questions, this class is dismissed."

Xu Jia looked at Wu Youping in surprise, and Wu Youping showed a bitter smile. He had encountered a similar situation at the Tangshan Railway College. For foreign professors, especially German ones, compulsory education was education for all without discrimination. But university education depended on personal interest; whether students had a strong desire to learn was the basic condition for professors to select students.

So Wu Youping raised his hand, and Professor Karl asked, "Please speak, student."

Wu Youping stood up and asked, "Professor, the concept of the free market is proposed in *The Wealth of Nations*. From the perspective of Geopolitics, what is the free market like?"

Dr. Karl, formerly a Major General, was delighted. He recognized He Rui's level of Geopolitics highly, which was why he had staked everything to lobby the former leaders of the German General Staff who still held influence to transfer air force R&D capabilities to the Chinese warlord in the Northeast. He hoped to create more strategic rivals for Britain.

However, agreeing with He Rui did not mean Professor Karl thought He Rui had high-level subordinates. He Rui was not equivalent to China; this was Professor Karl's view. Now, hearing a high-ranking official under He Rui ask a political question at the level of *The Wealth of Nations*, Professor Karl was truly surprised.

"If a free market exists, there must be a prerequisite question: Whose free market is it?" Professor Karl asked in return.

This was the teaching method Professor Karl hoped for: to improve the students' understanding of Geopolitics through the process of raising questions, analyzing problems, and drawing conclusions.

Wu Youping had prepared. The economic development set by He Rui for the Northeast was to first destroy the old social system and replace it with high-intensity state management. After resolving the feudal order pressing down on the people, the people would first enter a small-commodity society to accumulate transaction volume, thereby promoting the level of economic development and liquidity.

In books describing this stage from abroad, Wu Youping found the content about industrial division of labor and comparative advantage in *The Wealth of Nations* very interesting. Hearing Professor Karl's rhetorical question, Wu Youping replied, "Countries naturally have their internal markets, and international trade itself can be seen as a free market. All economies trade in the market, and each economy possesses its own pricing power based on average social production efficiency and logistics levels. different levels of industrial development cause the transfer of pricing power; this is the free market."

Professor Karl hadn't expected Wu Youping to understand to this stage and was delighted. People with such cognition were most suitable for lectures on Geopolitics because they had finally entered the water and could survive in this vast ocean by their own strength. Such talents had the opportunity to dive into deeper waters, even advancing towards the underwater abyss.

He turned around and wrote two terms on the blackboard: 'Wokou War' and 'Opium War'. The interpreter beside him hurriedly wrote the corresponding Chinese characters. Wu Youping couldn't help but frown; these two terms greatly stimulated him.

Not only Wu Youping, but other students also had similar reactions.

"When Adam Smith wrote *The Wealth of Nations*, Britain had already seized world maritime hegemony. They controlled the logistics of the global market and had the ability to use maritime power to forcibly open the doors of markets in various countries and regions around the world. In the Wokou War era of China's Ming Dynasty, the Wokou maritime power was also the strongest in East Asia, capable of projecting its armed forces to China's coastal areas. The wars of these two eras have similarities at the logistics level! Do you agree?"

Listening to this question, Wu Youping recalled the courses in the Party School, hesitated for a moment, and had to nod in admission.

Professor Karl then continued, "The causes of the wars were also very similar. Sino-Japanese trade in the Ming Dynasty and world trade in the Qing Dynasty both led to one result: precious metals from Japan and the whole world were flowing into China on a large scale. Countries trading with China were becoming impoverished. The greater the trade volume, the faster the rate of impoverishment."

There was silence in the classroom. Wu Youping swallowed, and a thought almost blurted out. Beside him, Xu Jia voiced the reason, "Because of this, they wanted to invade China?"

As a German, Professor Karl didn't care much about China's standpoint. Geopolitics was not a demagogic doctrine, but a discipline starting from the natural environment. The proportion of human nature in it was very limited.

However, Professor Karl was well aware of emotions, so he replied as tactfully as possible, "If China doesn't care about the life and death of other countries, why should other countries care about China's life and death? If everyone is interested, we can discuss the Celestial Empire's tributary system later; it is the most excellent balancing method I have seen in Chinese history. Regarding the issue under discussion now, we must first clarify the preconditions for the outbreak of war. In that era, China controlled decisive commodities. Only China could produce them, and China could sell them at prices that other countries absolutely could not compete with. This was the decisive factor determining world trade. The free trade proposed by this student, at that time, was only the freedom for Japan and countries around the world to choose different Chinese sellers. There was no freedom of whether to trade with China or not. Such trade caused thousands of tons of precious metals to flow into China, leading to the impoverishment of those countries' domestic economies. Gold and silver are special commodities because they have monetary functions. China earned away the currency of Japan and the whole world. To reverse such a trade trend, there was only one method: to snatch the currency back, or to find a new dominant commodity to balance trade with China."

The students had learned part of this content, but He Rui had been the one lecturing, so it hadn't been this intense. Now, listening to the German Professor Dr. Karl's explanation, although they felt it made sense and opened a completely new perspective, anger surged straight to their heads.

Professor Karl turned around and continued writing on the blackboard. During this time, everyone looked at each other and even spoke in low voices. The words exchanged were not directed at the content Professor Karl was teaching, but were largely unfriendly.

Just as Wu Youping was feeling very unpleasant, he felt someone nudge him. Turning to look at Xu Jia who had nudged him, he heard Xu Jia whisper, "What this professor says seems to be correct?"

Wu Youping was stunned, then heard Xu Jia continue, "Building an army capable of defending the country is indeed the foundation of a nation."

"I think this professor is completely..." Wu Youping stifled the words 'not Chinese'. Although Professor Karl was plain-looking and lacked presence, the professor was truly not Chinese, so he naturally wouldn't look at problems from a Chinese standpoint.

Xu Jia pointed to the front. Wu Youping turned his head and saw the professor had written 'Logistics', 'Dominant Commodity', 'Trade Dominance', and 'Trade Balance' on the blackboard, drawn lines connecting them, and written several possibilities of relationships on the connecting lines.

After writing these, Professor Karl felt that this group of high-level personnel of the Northeast Government should have calmed down a bit, so he continued his lecture. "The rise of the German Empire did not exist because of the emergence of German states, nor was it the mantle of the Holy Roman Empire. The German Empire emerged from the Zollverein (Customs Union) initiated by Prussia. This customs union combined the fragmented German regions, allowing the various economies of the German region to gradually develop the geopolitical advantages of their own economies. Only at such times do geopolitical advantages have value. But China is different. China and Japan had long formed their own subject states and built internal markets. In the markets of two different countries, and in the trade between the Qing Dynasty and countries around the world, China was the dominant force demanding other countries implement free trade. This is a point students must understand and agree with."

Having said this, Professor Karl looked at the classroom, which had erupted in sighs and discussions, and continued, "If everyone cannot accept and agree with this concept, then everyone need not come to class anymore. Because this is the foundation of what I am here to teach."

Xu Jia didn't even have time to react to the content of the course; he was completely shocked by Professor Karl's European university professor style. For a moment, Xu Jia remembered the 'compulsory education with exam-oriented education as the core' that the Northeast was implementing, mentioned in his conversation with Wu Youping before class. Since it was called compulsory education, there was no question of whether one wanted to learn or not; one had to learn even if one didn't want to.

In Professor Karl's classroom, if you didn't agree, you got out. The basic rule of education for all without discrimination didn't exist at all. Amidst the students' low discussions, Xu Jia whispered to Wu Youping, "So this is how European professors teach?"

Wu Youping shook his head, "Only professors at European universities do this."

"Do all professors do this?" Xu Jia was greatly interested.

Wu Youping shook his head again, "Only those professors of specialized courses do this. Do you know? Professor is a very noble and decent profession in Europe. In a department, no, in a major, there is generally only one professor. This professor is the leader of this major. Unless this professor is removed, others cannot be promoted to professor."

Xu Jia worked in organization, and was truly interested upon hearing this. He immediately asked, "Then what about the other professors?"

"The others are only associate professors, not professors," Wu Youping answered in a low voice.

"Interesting, interesting." Xu Jia felt that this method perhaps should be tried in the organization as well.

The content couldn't be finished by the end of the class. Soon, some people gathered in He Rui's office, and high-ranking cadres also called He Rui's office to ask about Professor Karl's background.

He Rui only told everyone to listen to the class well and didn't say more.

For He Rui, Dr. Karl Ernst Haushofer represented a professor of a fairly high level in Europe. A ruthless character.

In his long-term theoretical research, Haushofer gradually realized that separate land power, sea power, military tactics, and geopolitical strategies were all too narrow. One had to stand on a higher standpoint and comprehensively research geography, military affairs, and politics to obtain a universally applicable answer in a higher dimension and truly solve Germany's predicament. His theory roughly followed the line of Organic State — Lebensraum — Autarky — Axis Powers — Pan-regions.

He believed that in the process of survival and development, a state is a dynamic organic body. Its borders are not determined by geographical rivers and mountains, but by culture. "Our duty is not only to protect the existing land but also the German culture outside the vast borders." Culture itself cannot bring expansion, but culture is a more useful means of control than military and commerce. The borders of a state should adjust dynamically with culture. Thus, the existence of a state depends on its living space (Lebensraum), and the pursuit of living space is the basis of national survival. Germany's population density was too high, while the colonial empires' population density was very low. This gave Germany a mission to expand border territories and turn weak countries into buffer states to realize Germany's survival and development. Germany's neighbors were small fellows; their existence and instability were important reasons for regional conflicts and international contradictions, and they should be incorporated into a more orderly and efficient order. At the same time, although small countries like the Netherlands and Belgium possessed vast colonies, their own weakness made it impossible to effectively utilize existing resources. Under German governance, the utilization of these regions would become more efficient. Afterwards, a closed, self-sufficient economic belt would be formed, allowing the economy of this region to be reasonably allocated and no longer suffer great shocks from fluctuations in the external environment. When a country is completely self-sufficient materially and possesses influence radiating to vast surrounding areas culturally, an "Axis Power," a regional pillar state, is born. The radiation area of the Axis Power is called a "Pan-region." Ultimately, the world will be stably ruled by several Axis Powers over Pan-regions, forming a new world order. In his ideal world, there were four major Pan-regions dominated by four Axis Powers:

Pan-America: North and South America dominated by the United States.

Pan-Europe (Euro-Africa): Europe and Africa dominated by Germany.

Pan-Asia: East and South Asia dominated by Japan.

Pan-Russia: From the Arctic Ocean to India dominated by the Soviet Union.

To achieve this goal, one must unite with the Soviet Union and Japan to comprehensively attack the old colonial empires. The Soviet Union was the most important force, Japan was a rising emerging force, while Italy was just a dispensable pawn. The British Empire was in continuous decline. The three must first comprehensively dismember the British and French empires while avoiding war with the United States. Finally, the three would advance south together, thoroughly driving the United States out of the Eurasian continent, leaving it to develop on its own in the Americas, forming a new world order.

In He Rui's view, as an introductory course in Geopolitics, Professor Karl was a very excellent person. Professor Karl had already jumped out of the limitations of Anglo-Saxon civilization.

And this was also the foundation for He Rui establishing the Civilization Party. In He Rui's view, such cognition was far from enough; it had to be replaced by a more advanced civilization.