"Doesn't Germany follow an 'Iron and Blood' policy?" Chen Tianhua did not think Germany was "boneheaded." Among the rising stars of the world, Germany—a nation built on industry and war—had always been highly praised by young Chinese intellectuals.

"Chancellor Bismarck was a civilized man; he was a diplomat. He served as an ambassador in Russia and France and spoke several foreign languages. Facing that group of pigs in the German parliament, he could only use language pigs could understand to articulate his reasoning." Chen Ke was not impressed by the "Iron and Blood" policy. "Xingtai, let me ask you: if something is publicized with great fanfare, what does that indicate?"

Chen Tianhua thought for a moment and gained some insight. "To publicize something indicates that it is lacking."

"Exactly. Chancellor Bismarck publicized 'Iron and Blood' in the parliament precisely because the dregs in the German parliament were all cowardly fools. The Germans today are no different from those in the Chancellor's era; they've simply parrot-learned a slogan of 'Iron and Blood' from him. Furthermore, after Bismarck established the Little German Empire through three wars, he devoted himself to peace. He formed the Three Emperors' League. In his later years, he opposed all that 'Iron and Blood' shouting."

Chen Tianhua had not been exposed to the vast amount of later research on Bismarck; in fact, he wasn't even very clear on the Chancellor's life. But since Chen Ke said so, he accepted it completely. He asked, "So the Germans are only making verbal threats?"

Hearing the trace of trepidation in his tone, Chen Ke laughed. "Xingtai, tell me the truth: are you worried because we haven't made preparations to fight the foreign devils?"

Chen Tianhua knew this was Chen Ke's tactful way of asking; Chen Ke simply hadn't used sharp words like "are you afraid." But re-reading Chen Ke's previous words, Chen Tianhua realized he might have been acting on emotion. The core of what Chen Ke said was "not being prepared to fight the foreign devils."

"Indeed, we are not prepared for that," Chen Tianhua replied.

"If you aren't prepared, then go study the contents of the Boxer Protocol; everything is specified there. Exactly how many foreign troops are in China and where they are stationed. In our intelligence work, we don't necessarily have to hunt for secret documents. The more common the information, the easier it is to collect. Then, using social analysis to examine the intelligence, everything becomes clear."

Chen Ke began to explain common knowledge from the future. "For example, if the Germans want to go to war, the first thing they must do is prepare food and ammunition. Many of the intelligence systems we've established are engaged in business; such news travels fast in those circles. Furthermore, the Germans cannot conjure men out of thin air. If a fight starts now, they can only use the small force they have in Qingdao. What do they have, four thousand men in total? A dozen or so warships? If the Germans rely on those four thousand men to invade our base area, isn't that just delivering meat to our door? If their warships enter the Yangtze, can we truly let them reach all the way to Wuhan?"

These words were filled with murderous intent, and Chen Tianhua was dazed by Chen Ke's sharp attitude. "But after war breaks out, our economy will surely be affected."

"Being affected is because our own industrial capacity is limited; I generally don't view these two issues as one and the same," Chen Ke replied.

It took a great deal of effort for Chen Tianhua to understand Chen Ke's meaning: Chen Ke actually didn't care about war at all. Furthermore, based on his understanding of Chen Ke, he sensed that Chen Ke even had an intention of looking forward to this war.

"Chairman Chen, if we fight the Germans, what will Britain and France think?" Chen Tianhua couldn't help but ask.

"Haha," Chen Ke laughed. The foreign devils might appear to be a monolithic block when it came to exploiting China, but that was not the case at all.

"Xingtai, during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan issued bonds, clearly intending to fight Russia to the death. And the result? The war bonds were issued nonetheless. In the Boer War, although the Boers did not receive comprehensive support, there were plenty of European and American nations secretly selling arms to them. What Europe and America want is profit; as long as it fits their immediate interests, they will do it. As for whether the ones being struck are 'white pigs,' the other white pigs don't care. Therefore, this requires diplomacy to drive it forward," Chen Ke explained patiently.

Chen Tianhua was already a true revolutionary, but he did not have Chen Ke's vision from a hundred years downstream. Thus, he was awed by Chen Ke's boldness. He asked with little confidence, "Chairman Chen, have you come this time to negotiate with Europe and America to ultimately reach an agreement, or are you prepared to fight them?"

"What do you think I've come for?" Chen Ke laughed.

"I... I think you've come to reach an agreement," Chen Tianhua finally gave an answer.

"Exactly. I'm here to sign an agreement. Europe and America want to sign one too; it's just that our stances and perspectives on interest differ. Therefore, whether it is war, peace, meetings, or insults—there is no difference. The only difference is what result is ultimately achieved." Chen Ke hoped Chen Tianhua would serve as Foreign Minister, and he explained this to him in detail.

Chen Tianhua knew Chen Ke's intentions, but having reached this level of discussion, he had a new discovery. "May I take it that diplomats simply apply 'powder and rouge' to the result? That what is said on the surface is actually meaningless?"

"Creating that result is not the work of diplomats. But applying powder and rouge to the result—if one were to use a metaphor, it's like a person's eyebrows," Chen Ke also gave an answer.

Chen Tianhua pondered this sentence for a while and couldn't help but laugh. "It is indeed so. Eyebrows seem useless, yet if someone truly had no eyebrows, things would be completely wrong."

After laughing, Chen Tianhua became serious again. "Chairman Chen, what do you think about this German matter?"

"Our People's Party loves peace, and our Chinese people love peace; therefore, we will never fire the first shot," Chen Ke used a diplomatic cliché frequently used by the later Party.

"What exactly does that mean?" Chen Tianhua clearly did not have the boldness of the leaders of New China.

"We will never fire the first shot, and I will never give the enemy a chance to fire a second," Chen Ke said the full sentence. There were many examples in history of never firing the first shot, such as the Xisha Naval Battle. Chronologically, South Vietnam fired the first shell, but the well-prepared People's Liberation Army immediately returned fire. Due to the firing angle and rate, it was actually the Chinese shells that hit the enemy first. This fit the realm of a master's "striking after the enemy but hitting first" in martial arts legends.

In that entire naval battle, South Vietnam essentially fired only 1.5 shells, while the PLA fired over 600 shells and 3,000 rounds, not including the grenades the PLA threw onto the South Vietnamese ships during close combat.

That was the true attitude of loving peace: "If we seek peace through struggle, then peace will survive; if we seek peace through compromise, then peace will perish." Ever since that naval battle, South Vietnam never engaged in another naval battle with the PLA. The Korean War and the Sino-Indian War were the same. A single war bringing over half a century of peace can truly be called a deed of boundless merit.

"Xingtai, I want to share some of my personal views. Let's treat this as a heart-to-heart talk, shall we?" Chen Ke said.

"Sure." Chen Tianhua naturally wouldn't refuse. A heart-to-heart talk, a kind of abstract meeting, was also similar to a private lesson, covering very conceptual things. To receive private instruction from Chen Ke was something very important.

"My family's ancestral attitude toward work goes like this: if you truly want to earn someone else's money, then wait for them to come to you. If they come to you, it shows they need you. Since they need you, they must bring money. If they don't bring money, we don't work for them," Chen Ke said.

The logic was sound, but it sounded too idealized to Chen Tianhua. He waited silently for Chen Ke to continue.

"Therefore, if you want someone else to do something, don't waste words; bring money, bring benefits, and seek cooperation from them. Try to secure the opportunity to spend that money. In fact, our revolution follows this very path. All that talk of us 'leading the masses' in revolution is nonsense. The truth is that the masses support us in revolution. Of the many things we've established, which one wasn't us working hard to let the masses gain income and benefits through labor? Without the support and understanding of the masses, if it were just us few performing by ourselves, would that be anything but a monkey show?"

Hearing this, Chen Tianhua couldn't help but think of the livestock farm he had established in Hebei. Although the farm ultimately failed, that was the result of a conflict between the system and interests in the broader environment; the farm itself had not failed. His experience in Hebei had given him profound lessons; whenever he encountered problems in his work, Chen Tianhua would often think of that experience.

"Then what does this have to do with negotiations?" Chen Tianhua was somewhat puzzled.

"To get something done, there are two methods. The first is to talk about interests. If interests or stances cannot be reconciled, yet the matter must still be pushed forward, we can only adopt the second method—and that is to take the other party's life. At this stage, we are still approaching it from the perspective of interests. As long as it aligns with our stance and is within our acceptable range, anything can be negotiated. I believe Britain and France can reach a compromise on the basis of shared interests. But there are also nations accustomed to dealing with the Manchu Qing; they believe that as long as they strike us with force, we will be forced to yield to them, regardless of victory or defeat, for fear of being unable to sustain such a war for long. Toward such people, we can only take their lives on Chinese soil at this stage. This is a Homeland Defense War against aggression. In such a situation, a People's War will surely win."

"Can we definitely win?" Chen Tianhua had never participated in a foreign war, nor had he seen a precedent for a Homeland Defense War winning, so he was somewhat skeptical of Chen Ke's confident assertion.

Chen Ke had seen many such examples, setting aside the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In the Afghan War that Chen Ke had personally witnessed—with the advanced military technology and methods of the United States, the Afghan Taliban was originally powerless to resist. Yet the American devils were dragged by a continuous war of attrition until they were forced to withdraw; that was an unmistakable fact. And in 1911, the foreign devils were completely incapable of reaching the level of power of the 2011 US military.

So Chen Ke replied with righteous conviction, "We will surely win."

In the following days, Chen Ke visited the British and French legations in succession and met with several foreign banks, including HSBC, the Chartered Bank of the UK, the Russo-Asiatic Bank of Russia, and the Banque de l'Indochine of France. He pointedly left Germany to one side.

The People's Party had already reached a basic agreement with the customs authorities led by the British, with plans for both sides to reach a forty-million-pound quota trade agreement as soon as possible. Chen Ke now suggested a "Treaty of Friendship, Navigation, and Commerce" to bring in the Beiyang government as well, aiming to reach a trade agreement of one hundred million pounds per year.

Once this "pie in the sky" was thrown out, although the British and French ambassadors did not think it would be easy, if they could truly complete a quota trade agreement of such a scale, they would immediately become national heroes. As for the foreign bank consortium, although they generally considered Chen Ke a great braggart, they all believed it was only a matter of how much he was bragging. The actions in the People's Party base areas led them to believe that Chen Ke truly wanted to push this matter forward.

The British side immediately sent a formal letter to Yuan Shikai, inquiring about matters related to this.

Yuan Shikai never imagined Chen Ke would cause such a stir. After reading the letter, he didn't even have the heart to utter a couple of curses.