On June 18, 1924, the Political Consultative Conference was convened in the capital. The poor implementation of the Republic's system had long been confirmed by countless facts. The new government unified the country by force, and the system suggestions proposed were all passed.

After the important practical content was passed, some content more focused on form was brought up. Seeing the proposal regarding where the capital should be located, a Hunan PCC representative immediately stood up and said with a heavy Hunan accent, "The Ming and Qing dynasties established their capital in Yanjing [Beijing] because it was close to their base of operations, facilitating a retreat. Now that railways and steamships have broken geographical restrictions, the capital is too far north. From Yunnan to the capital, one has to traverse almost the entire country. The capital should be located in the center of the realm. I believe that Kaifeng and Nanjing are both top choices."

The southern PCC representatives all agreed and spoke up in support one after another. Among the northern representatives, except for those from the capital itself who wanted the capital to remain there, even Tianjin did not support the capital continuing its tenure.

At this PCC meeting, supporting and opposing opinions were clearly listed on a large blackboard. Soon, moving the capital became a consensus. The discussion turned directly to 'where to move the capital.'

He Rui was meeting with Soviet envoy Joffe at this time. Joffe first congratulated the new government on completing China's unification, then presented a handwritten letter from Comrade Lenin. "Chairman He, Comrade Lenin asked me to convey his gratitude to you. The medicine you sent has indeed greatly alleviated Comrade Lenin's pain."

He Rui smiled, "Please convey my thanks to Comrade Lenin for me, thanking him for using the medicine we provided."

The conversation between the two was relaxed at this moment, but the topic was actually very serious. Due to China's insufficient chemical technology, a number of German chemical experts were currently hired to join the penicillin extraction project, but industrial production had not yet been achieved. The penicillin produced in the laboratory was brownish-yellow, not high-purity pure white powder.

Previously, the cooperation between the Northeast Government and the Soviet Russian government on sulfonamide was very successful. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, when asked if there were other drugs available, the Northeast Government provided penicillin.

The Soviet government naturally wouldn't inject Comrade Lenin with the medicine as soon as they got it. They certainly conducted a large number of experimental treatments and would only do so after confirming the efficacy and safety. Even so, accepting treatment at some risk also proved from the side that Comrade Lenin was worried about internal issues within the CPSU after his death.

However, the result at this stage was naturally happy for everyone. Penicillin effectively killed various germs, and Comrade Lenin's fever subsided. After the highest level of nursing and recuperation in the Soviet Union at this time, he resumed work.

With such a case, the Soviet purchasing delegation placed large orders for drugs and vaccines a while ago. Even for the newly introduced drug artemisinin, hearing that it was for treating malaria, the Soviet purchasing delegation bought it first before asking questions.

The Sino-Soviet trade was not a one-sided surplus for China; the Soviet Union also increased exports of raw materials such as ores and timber. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the status quo of maintaining a trade balance while the total trade volume increased rapidly.

Of course, Comrade Joffe's purpose here was definitely not to discuss trade issues. "Chairman He, the CPSU Central Committee has agreed to the Chinese side's request for defining the border, and specific boundary survey work can already begin. After recovering, Comrade Lenin recalled the proposal for Sino-Soviet strategic trust previously put forward by Chairman He and would very much like to conduct bilateral discussions on this issue. Regarding the agreement of non-stationing troops already implemented at the border, our country would like to know if it can be fixed by treaty."

He Rui knew that the Soviet Union had indeed made concessions on this matter. China had China's nationalist sentiments, and the Soviet Union had the Soviet Union's nationalist sentiments. The CPSU agreeing to cough up tens of thousands of square kilometers of territory occupied during the border demarcation after 1870 and implementing joint management of border waterways entering the sea was already the limit of what the CPSU could do.

In the current situation, strategic trust was the top priority. He Rui didn't mention those issues and told Joffe directly, "I think the content of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty does not need to be complicated. Two articles are enough. Article 1: China and the Soviet Union shall not use force against each other and shall resolve conflicts and contradictions between the two countries through negotiation. Article 2: Neither China nor the Soviet Union shall allow any third country to use its territory to launch military attacks or threats against the other party. For China and the Soviet Union, two countries with a long border line, the emergence of contradictions and differences is inevitable. Comrade Joffe, do you have children?"

Joffe was stunned, not knowing why He Rui suddenly brought up children, but this was not a question worth hiding. The Soviet Union was also collecting basic information on Chinese leaders through various channels, and the basic fact that He Rui was currently unmarried and childless was no secret to the CPSU. Joffe smiled and said, "I have children."

"Then Comrade Joffe must know that children often argue and fight over some issues, and finally swear oaths never to interact with each other again. As parents, we just listen and let it pass. In fact, countries are the same; differences and disputes are the norm. Why don't we care much about conflicts between children? Because neither of us thinks that because of such disputes, the children will run home, pick up a gun, go to the other's house, and start a massacre. After the children sulk at each other for a while, they will happily play together again."

Joffe felt this metaphor was a bit strange, especially as it downplayed the sharpness and importance of conflicts and differences, but the meaning inside was easy to understand. Once these two articles were truly implemented, it meant that the contradictions between the two sides had not escalated to hostility. Conversely, once the hostility between the two sides rose to a certain stage, these two treaty articles would definitely be broken.

These two articles did not involve a third party and did not pose a threat to other countries. Because of this, both China and the Soviet Union had their own freedom of action in other aspects.

Before this trip, a series of views put forward by the Soviet Diplomatic Committee were submitted to the CPSU Central Committee. The CPSU Central Committee members put forward many of their own views and even objections. Only these two articles were untouched by anyone; no one expressed opposition, nor did anyone express support. This could be considered the bottom line.

Joffe asked again, "Does Chairman He think the current mode on the border can be determined by treaty?"

"The mode implemented on the border is an execution-level issue. It is best to determine it by a security mechanism rather than a treaty. The world is constantly changing. The volume of civilian trade on the Sino-Soviet border is not large now, but it may not be so in the future. In the coming decades, smuggling, and even armed smuggling, may appear. A treaty cannot predict such things. Within a certain period, the deployment of armed forces will be carried out according to the situation at that time. What is needed then is effective cooperation between the two sides, not a rigid treaty."

Joffe nodded slightly but felt that this statement did not mention the key point.

He Rui continued, "Military equipment also changes with each passing day. With the development of military equipment, the deployment of Chinese troops will move backward. However, the Soviet troops can only be deployed along the Trans-Siberian Railway. For example, it is not a big problem for our troops to be 500 kilometers away from the border. Is it possible for the Soviet Red Army to withdraw 500 kilometers reciprocally and live in the primitive forests of ice and snow?"

Hearing He Rui's description, Joffe's mood completely relaxed. Because large tracts of land, including areas south of Lake Balkhash, were conceded in the demarcation, many CPSU committee members were very dissatisfied and took a rather tough stance on the issue of not stationing troops at the border.

Some of them proposed that the distance of Chinese troops from the border must be much farther than that of the Soviet Red Army, and absolutely would not accept reciprocal distance. This made Joffe feel that the negotiations would encounter problems in this regard. However, He Rui's statement fully demonstrated sincerity. If subsequent discussions could be this smooth, this meeting would be fruitful.

Just as Joffe expected the best result, He Rui was very pragmatic about Sino-Soviet strategic trust. The core was the 'two articles of Sino-Soviet friendship' he proposed: mutual non-restriction, mutual non-war, and peaceful resolution of contradictions and differences.

Before this trip, Joffe had communicated with Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky. Although Comrade Lenin's face appeared pale due to just recovering his health, his voice was still powerful. "China's main strategic direction is in the south, and our main strategic direction is in the west. He Rui is a leader who understands the period of strategic opportunity very well. If we try to gain advantages through bargaining at this stage, it will only make us waste this period of strategic opportunity. Thoroughly solving the border issue with appropriate goodwill at this time can save our country a large amount of strategic resources."

Comrade Stalin felt that too much was given up, but in principle, he did not oppose Comrade Lenin's view. Comrade Trotsky was not concerned with territorial changes; he hoped Joffe could learn more about China's current economic policies during the meeting.

This founder of the Red Army, with long hair like a lion's mane, seriously put forward his view. "China completed land nationalization through redemption but distributed the land, forming the world's largest small-peasant country. This is difficult to explain using Marxism, and I am very interested in this."

After discussing views on the border issue, Joffe frankly conveyed Trotsky's question. He Rui didn't have much interest in Trotsky, nor had he seriously understood this person's deeds and thoughts. But this question still had to be answered. "We in China face a very realistic social problem, which is that there are too many unemployed people, and the economic foundation has been completely destroyed. Distributing land has indeed created the world's largest small-peasant country, and the small-peasant economy is undoubtedly backward. The reason why the Chinese government chose this policy lies in the fact that after analyzing and measuring China's current situation, social stability is prioritized above all else."

Trotsky was not considering the economic policy of China's new government with an attitude of looking at Oriental scenery. Joffe continued to ask, "Comrade Trotsky is very interested in the subsequent development of this policy. He would like to ask Chairman He for his design and views on subsequent development."

He Rui didn't hide anything and explained the general development ideas to Joffe. The two recorders from the Soviet side scribbled away, striving to submit the most complete and accurate record to the CPSU Central Committee after the meeting ended.

The comrades on the Chinese side felt somewhat uneasy. Speaking so frankly about the country's development direction to a foreign country always felt a bit wrong. Moreover, even though He Rui had extremely high prestige and leadership in the Civilization Party, not all comrades fully agreed with the development direction proposed by He Rui.

He Rui himself didn't care about spreading policies and concepts to the Soviet Union. As a transmigrator, if he didn't even have such confidence and vision, it would be a bit of a failure.

The talks went on for a long time, and it was already late when they ended. The work of entertaining Joffe was naturally the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel. He Rui continued his work, browsing the daily topic report of the PCC meeting.

Seeing the matter regarding moving the capital, He Rui couldn't help smiling. It could be seen that the southern PCC representatives had quite a grievance against the current capital, and the reasons for moving the capital were very sufficient. Geographically, the current capital was too far north, which was inconvenient for transportation from various places to the capital. In terms of national security, the current capital was too close to the Soviet Union and Japan. Although China didn't need to fear foreign invasion now, the memory of foreigners attacking China from the sea every time was very deep.

There were three cities as candidates for the new capital: Nanjing, Kaifeng, and Luoyang. These three cities were all ancient capitals, and their geographical locations were in the 'center of the realm' in various senses.

While He Rui was reading, the secretary brought in a set meal. Green pepper fried pork, rice, and seaweed egg drop soup. Before eating, He Rui picked up a pen and wrote on the report: *Luoyang is geographically narrow and lacks space for urban expansion. Nanjing has the same problem and also suffers from floods. Kaifeng is located in the suspended river section of the Yellow River, with obvious safety issues. Request the PCC to discuss the following suggestion: Move the capital to Zhengzhou, directly administered Henan.*

Putting down the pen, He Rui picked up his chopsticks and started eating. It must be said that the dinner, similar to a 21st-century rice bowl with toppings, gave He Rui a nostalgic sense of peace.

Ten days later, the CPSU Central Committee held a meeting. Comrade Joffe introduced this trip to China. The CPSU committee members did not attach special importance to this. In the past few years, from Soviet Russia to the Soviet Union, Sino-Soviet relations had been stable. Many CPSU committee members didn't think there would be any major trouble in relations with China.

The doubts raised by many committee members before Joffe's departure were largely bringing the most important contradiction within the CPSU at the moment—the contradiction over what development direction and economic line the Soviet Union should take—into the discussion of Sino-Soviet relations.

Initially, Joffe's report made many committee members feel very bored. It was normal for things to develop this way; it would be abnormal if they didn't.

When Joffe finished introducing these, some Central Committee members thought about adjourning quickly to go back to their own work. Of course, the committee member in charge of railway work wanted to linger a bit longer; managing railway transport work would only turn a renowned and highly praised comrade into an incompetent villain spurned by thousands. It wasn't that there was any change in the comrade himself; doing this job was destined for such an outcome.

At this time, Committee Member Trotsky knocked on the table, and other committee members immediately focused their attention. Among the CPSU leaders, Trotsky had great influence. Although his status had relatively declined over the years, the CPSU committee members would not underestimate Trotsky.

"Comrades, I entrusted Comrade Joffe to ask Chairman He Rui some questions. Chairman He Rui also gave very interesting answers. This part of the content is ready. The document will be distributed to everyone now, and I will narrate this part of the dialogue."

After Trotsky finished speaking, the secretary distributed the printed interview dialogue to every CPSU committee member. Trotsky personally began to narrate.

He Rui believed that after China quickly restored social stability, it would guide productivity towards the industrial field. Construction related to national security and the overall direction of the industry, as well as related infrastructure such as transportation and transport, would be borne by national finance. In terms of urban infrastructure construction, private asset investment would be driven through continuous long-term construction.

Hearing this, many CPSU committee members were already somewhat shaken. Comrade Lenin's New Economic Policy was already the focus of debate within the CPSU, but if such a policy wasn't adopted, what economic policy should be adopted? The committee members had their own views but couldn't put forward a complete theoretical line of construction.

He Rui's policy was obviously different, with a rather holistic vision.

Soon, a bigger shock came. Regarding the question of whether China would experience fierce contradictions due to the market economy, He Rui gave his view.

'The biggest challenge facing social fairness in the future is that laborers can only obtain remuneration through labor, while the stratum that controls capital and means of production can obtain superimposed returns. This is a typical manifestation of the impossibility of achieving both efficiency and fairness...'

Trotsky narrated until his mouth was dry and picked up a glass of water to drink. The CPSU committee members took this time to browse quickly, but a considerable number of committee members felt that they read it but couldn't understand it. This surprised them.