In March 1920, Professor Karl bade farewell to He Rui, accompanied by his assistant, Rudolf Hess. The current He Rui might not even have granted an audience to the British Minister to China, John Jordan, yet he cancelled two meetings to carve out time for this.

"Your Excellency, I have come to say goodbye."

"Thank you for the courses you provided us. I truly wish Professor Karl could remain in the Northeast as a professor."

Facing He Rui's sincere invitation, Professor Karl shook his head. "I must return to Europe. I intend to use Geopolitics to enlighten the people, to let the people of Germany and Austria, who have lost hope in the future, see hope once again."

This was not a mere excuse. Professor Karl had founded the *Journal of Geopolitics* and persisted in lecturing on the political situation via radio broadcast every month.

The 'World Politics Report' column made Professor Karl a household name in Germany at the time. He was also one of the founders of the German Academy, having published a considerable number of articles, commentaries, and journals, providing the German people with a perspective to understand the world.

"I thank Your Excellency for agreeing with my views on the new world order. However, Your Excellency's views are perhaps too radical and too optimistic. I do not believe in the possibility of a World Government. Your Excellency must understand that any government faces opposition or even the threat of rebellion. A World Government would especially face such threats," Professor Karl replied.

In his theoretical research, Professor Karl had gradually realized that separate concepts of land power, sea power, military tactics, and geostrategy were all too narrow. One had to stand on a higher vantage point, comprehensively researching geography, military affairs, and politics, to obtain a universally applicable answer from a higher dimension and truly solve Germany's predicament. His theory roughly followed the line of Organic State—Living Space—Autarky—Axis Powers—Pan-regions.

However, in He Rui's cognition, the entire world, or rather the vast majority of nations, would eventually fall under a World Government system. This conflicted with Professor Karl's cognition.

Knowing he could not keep Professor Karl, He Rui asked for his evaluation of the Party, government, and military cadres in the Northeast.

Although his appearance had no attractive features, and his gaze was neither sharp nor distinctive, Professor Karl's amber eyes lit up. "Your Excellency, based on my limited research of the Northeast Government, I believe it has adopted the German education system, organizational system, and mobilization system. Your Excellency has a profound understanding of Germany. The officials and cadres of the Northeast Government are excellent, but they have not received German higher education and are very unfamiliar with the use of logic. If the government Your Excellency has established can continue to operate, I believe that in at most twenty years, Your Excellency will possess a government and talent pool no less capable than those in Europe. Even now, the level of personnel Your Excellency possesses far exceeds your industrial strength."

Facing such praise, He Rui politely expressed his gratitude, then asked, "If Your Excellency sees any outstanding talents in organizational construction, could you recommend them to work in the Northeast?"

Professor Karl nodded. "I would naturally be happy to provide such assistance. Furthermore, I have a request for Your Excellency."

"Please speak."

"When Your Excellency becomes the leader of China, I hope Germany and China can cooperate in all aspects. Your Excellency said that China was once the world's largest consumer market. I also hope China can, as Your Excellency expects, build the world's largest unified single market and become the axis of the world economy. Germany's population and geographical environment determine that it cannot assume such a role."

If these words were spoken by a scholar in the 21st century, He Rui would find them normal. But hearing them from a scholar in the first two decades of the 20th century, He Rui sighed from the bottom of his heart, "I truly hope Chinese officials can reach Professor Karl's level within twenty years."

The farewell did not last long. Professor Karl left the Northeast Government building with Rudolf Hess. A car was already waiting for them. Watching the power lines for the trolleybuses under construction on the streets of the Northeast, Rudolf Hess asked in German, "Professor, given the speed of development in Northeast China, will Japan launch a surprise attack on them?"

"What do you think, Rudolf?" Professor Karl did not answer directly.

"I think a surprise attack will not happen."

"Correct. Japan has already lost the opportunity for a surprise attack. To defeat Northeast China now, they can only dispatch a massive army to launch a protracted and fierce war. As an island nation, Japan cannot sustain a long-term, high-intensity war."

Hearing Professor Karl say this, Rudolf Hess was somewhat puzzled. "When Your Excellency lectured those soldiers, you did not point out this fact to them."

Professor Karl did not answer Rudolf Hess's question. Facing the officers of the Northeast Army, Professor Karl did not wish to make such a definite prediction. After all, with his understanding of Japan, he dared not be certain whether anyone in Japan would resort to extreme measures. Another reason was that Professor Karl believed a war would inevitably erupt between China and Japan over dominance in the Far East. Until one side was completely defeated, the possibility of war would always exist.

From Professor Karl's observations, Chinese soldiers were very enthusiastic about attacking Japan. Since that was the case, Professor Karl was happy to see war break out. Or rather, Professor Karl would be happy to see any war that could shatter the current international order. If the British were to have another Boer War or Afghan War, Professor Karl would thank God for the manifestation and would not hesitate to help it along.

But Rudolf Hess clearly did not yet understand Professor Karl's thinking. However, Rudolf did not pursue the matter. He abandoned this question and raised the next one. "Professor, do you think He Rui will persist in overthrowing the Versailles System? If he becomes the leader of China, Britain will be forced to accept this reality."

Professor Karl asked in return, "Rudolf, what foundation do you think the British order in the Far East is built upon?"

Rudolf Hess frowned slightly. Seeing that his assistant still could not comprehend, Professor Karl simply tossed the question to him as an assignment. "Rudolf, you can research this question when you have time. Once you understand it, you will understand He Rui's attitude toward the Versailles System. In my view, He Rui is very clear that he actually has no power to choose. Or rather, if China wants to restore its historical status, it has no other choice."

This answer gave birth to a thought in Rudolf Hess's mind: great powers possessing vast territories must inevitably become world hegemons. But soon, Hess remembered Professor Karl's evaluation of He Rui—'He Rui does not wish to dominate the world.' This confused Rudolf. What exactly did He Rui want?

***

He Rui's thoughts were very simple: to see exactly how much Professor Karl's course had helped upgrade the Party, government, and military cadres of the Northeast. Everyone had written study reports, and He Rui was very patient when reading them. Sounds of joyous laughter rang out in the office from time to time; this was one of He Rui's few moments of relaxation.

Geopolitics is actually a combination of geography and politics. It views geographical factors (such as geographical location, territory size, population, ethnicity, resources, economic strength, and strategic armaments) as fundamental factors influencing or even determining a country's foreign policy decisions. Based on these geographical factors and the regional formation of political patterns, it analyzes and predicts the strategic situation on a world or regional scale and the political behavior of relevant countries.

A landlocked country cannot dispatch a fleet capable of decisive battle on the ocean. Therefore, countries with ports exclude this possibility when engaging in maritime warfare.

However, it is possible for a landlocked country to cooperate with a country possessing a coastline, helping the latter complete fleet construction, thus participating in maritime warfare from another angle. This is something all nations must take into consideration.

Thus, in the beginning, after Britain seized world maritime hegemony, the "Blue Water School" theories emerged. Later, Mahan in the United States, needing to secure military funding for the US Navy and addressing the reality of the US as a super-large island nation, proposed *The Influence of Sea Power upon History*, gaining fame for a time. Only then did some scholars jump out of this limitation and propose theories of "Land Power" to counter Sea Power theories.

These were all things He Rui had taught, and contents Professor Karl had also covered.

One could see the influence of this learning in the study reports of the Northeast Party, government, and military cadres. A considerable portion of them had no world vision at all; the reports they wrote were undoubtedly copied from books. They modified the outlines in the textbooks, changed the wording, and cobbled together something to hand in.

By university standards, this could be called plagiarism.

A minority of cadres had clearly begun to construct their own cognitive systems, so this group of comrades became the source of joy for He Rui. He Rui had also gone through this process and knew that comrades found it very painful and strenuous. But those childish ideas truly stimulated He Rui's nerves. Just like watching a toddler stumbling while learning to walk and babbling while learning to speak, He Rui really couldn't hold back his amusement.

For example, the former teahouse owner, now Director of the Price Bureau, Han Haitao, proposed the idea of allying with Britain to resist Japan. Based on Japan's current efforts to expand in the Far East, Civil Party member Comrade Han Haitao believed that Japan's utility to Britain was declining. If Britain could be made to understand this, it would abandon Japan.

If Comrade Han Haitao had merely proposed an intuitive alliance with Britain against Japan, He Rui would have felt the idea had some merit. But Comrade Han Haitao had performed an analysis, which revealed the blank spaces in his geopolitical understanding. For instance, Comrade Han Haitao believed Britain was unaware of Japan's expansionist ambitions. This argument made He Rui laugh out loud several times.

These industrial nations had been scourging the world for hundreds of years. Everyone was a thousand-year-old fox; why play innocent tales from *Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio*?

He Rui wanted to write a critique but paused. Comrade Han Haitao had, after all, studied seriously. So He Rui simply underlined that passage and wrote a question: 'Has Britain been hoodwinked by Japan? If so, how did Japan manage it?'

Apart from these, there were also very outstanding comrades. Xu Chengfeng's report included an attached paper, "The Inevitability of War Between the Northeast and Japan." The paper used Geopolitics to analyze the possibility of war between Japan and the Northeast.

Xu Chengfeng believed the most likely timing for Japan to fight the Northeast was during the stage of the Northeast liberating China. Because at this stage, countries all over the world would tend to maintain China's continued division. Any country with a proper strategic view could understand that China's unification would inevitably change the entire world status quo. Therefore, countries of different standpoints would all dislike seeing such a situation.

Based on this world status quo, Japan could gain immense benefits from military action in China.

The more battle-hardened a an army is, the stronger its ability to withstand setbacks. At this time, because the Northeast Army lacked extensive combat experience, any defeat would deal a massive blow to the army's confidence. The endurance of the two armies was also different.

At the end of the paper, Xu Chengfeng argued that launching a preemptive military strike against Japan before the unification war would secure a strategic window, allowing the Northeast Army to smoothly liberate all of China.

This paper by Xu Chengfeng was originally He Rui's proposal. Initially, the comrades' comprehension ability was insufficient. Although everyone studied seriously and worked with all their hearts, they couldn't yet turn it into their own knowledge.

In other words, everyone viewed this strategy as a task, rather than deducing such a strategic arrangement through mastering more complete cognitive abilities.

If one looked purely at the writing, Xu Chengfeng's paper was no different from what He Rui had proposed before. But one could tell from the text that this fellow Xu Chengfeng had truly deduced this strategic decision based on his own understanding of the world.

Several other papers He Rui approved of were similar; once comrades approached issues from a world perspective, things became much clearer. Among these papers that could be called the 'Way of Kings,' Cheng Ruofan's paper had a particularly unique angle.

This fellow's paper title was *The Foundation of the British Order in the Far East*. Compared to the length of other papers, Cheng Ruofan's was much shorter, merely three or four hundred words.

In just these three or four hundred words, Cheng Ruofan clarified one thing. The British order in the Far East was built upon a 'lie.'

Britain had constructed a lie of 'Great Power unanimity' in China, and these Great Powers included Japan. But when facing Japan, Britain constructed a lie that 'China will inevitably accept the British order.'

Since China would accept the British order, if Japan wanted to strike at Britain, it would have to strike China first, forcing China to choose to support Japan.

On the foundation of these lies, the balance of the Far East order was constructed. Britain, that seasoned stick-stirring the pot, was once again using the contradictions between China and Japan to seek benefits for itself.

Britain, originally an extraterritorial country, had instead become the balancer and peacekeeper of the Far East region.

At the end of the paper, Cheng Ruofan directly proposed, 'If we want to puncture this lie, after China is unified, we must soundly thrash Britain to prove the existence of this lie to the whole world.'

Xu Chengfeng's paper was a view on China's grand strategy at the current stage; Cheng Ruofan's paper was a view on the grand strategy of the future.

He Rui leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette. Professor Karl's course was undoubtedly excellent. Moreover, Professor Karl was different from He Rui; He Rui could not speak freely on many matters. If he could completely ignore the limitations reality's economic conditions placed on people's thinking, He Rui would have long since taught everything he knew to his comrades.

But China was China after all. Even now, with limited industrial strength and insufficient understanding of the world, comrades like Xu Chengfeng and Cheng Ruofan could still expand their horizons through learning. This made He Rui very happy.

For a moment, He Rui suddenly had the urge to go drinking with geishas.

He Rui knew that to outsiders, his 30-year-old self did not lust after women, nor men. He only worked and studied every day. One could say he touched none of the vices: eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, or smoking opium. In traditional Chinese culture, such a life could be called a model.

In real life, anyone who knew He Rui lived like this felt he was very strange. Possessing such status yet living such an austere life was completely illogical. One had to know, He Rui even washed his own underwear and socks.

But such reasons had nothing to do with He Rui's asceticism. Recalling his youth spent indulging in sensual pleasures and extracting joy, He Rui felt it was very childish, yet indeed passionate.

In a sense, that era of reckless behavior had helped He Rui solve quite a few cognitive problems.

For instance, the 'Eight-Nation Alliance' project at the Macau hotel allowed He Rui to satisfy his low-level tastes, and then he became desensitized.

After indulging in joy and extracting all joy, He Rui no longer had a need for it. Moreover, too much is as bad as too little; He Rui had lost interest in these things.

This could be considered a form of retribution. When eating can no longer bring joy, only two functions remain: eliminating hunger and replenishing nutrition.

Soon, withdrawing his thoughts from memories of the past, He Rui began preparing for the upcoming paper exercise. Since Northeast Army Commander Xu Chengfeng already understood the necessity of a preemptive strike against Japan, the value of this exercise would presumably be greatly enhanced.

Just as He Rui expected, Xu Chengfeng had already completed the discussion meeting for the Northeast Army Headquarters exercise high command.

Although called a discussion meeting, it was more like a study session. Professor Karl's Geopolitics course had opened Xu Chengfeng's horizons, allowing him to understand He Rui's strategic thinking. The high-ranking military officers had already treated the war against Japan as a job and had been working hard on it for several years. Now that they finally understood that this battle had to be fought, they were quite emotionally agitated.

Cheng Ruofan, as the Chief of Staff of the Northeast Army, was one of the unagitated ones. So Xu Chengfeng sought Cheng Ruofan out privately. The two sat under a tree behind the headquarters. "Ruofan, can't you show some spirit?"

Cheng Ruofan shook his head. "I can't fake it, and I feel I have plenty of spirit."

Xu Chengfeng sighed. "I know you have plenty of spirit, but can't you let the comrades see it?"

"Why?"

Xu Chengfeng put away his emotion and replied with a serious face, "Because the comrades need to know we have confidence in the war."

Cheng Ruofan looked at Xu Chengfeng's square face and sighed inwardly. When it came to the demeanor of a commander, Cheng Ruofan truly fell short of Xu Chengfeng.