The discussions between Britain and the Netherlands were conducted in an entirely friendly atmosphere. The Netherlands was no longer the "Sea Coachman" that once vied with Britain for world hegemony; they knew perfectly well they could no longer compete with Britain. They could only survive under the world order led by Britain. The tragic First World War made it very clear to the Netherlands that it was no longer a player capable of standing at the center of the stage.

After the discussions ended, the British representative returned to Singapore to report to the Governor. After introducing the content of the negotiations, the British representative was still somewhat unconfident. "Will the Dutch act according to our wishes?"

"What else would they do if not this?" the Governor of Singapore retorted. Gone were the days when the Dutch could make pots of money just by relying on spices. If one wanted to suck blood in the West Pacific, the only target was China. Of the six great powers in the West Pacific—Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, Japan, France, and China—the Soviet Union was too far away and had no interests in the West Pacific, so the Netherlands had no reason to have any friction with the Soviet Union in the Far East. The naval strength of the remaining four countries far exceeded that of the Netherlands. The only one with money but lacking a navy was China.

"But are we really only cancelling the deposit business of the Bank of China in our colonies? Their deposit business was originally quite limited, so this won't have much impact on China." The British representative asked this question. If the Dutch were to fall out with the Chinese, Britain's approach seemed a bit too polite to the Chinese.

The Governor of Singapore did not explain much. In the plan from the British homeland, Britain did not need to deal any heavy blow to China's overseas economy at all. Some things could not even be known by the negotiators; if too many people knew, the possibility of leaking information would increase.

In the plan from the British homeland, Britain wanted to instigate the Netherlands to severely crack down on China's banking industry in the Dutch East Indies, while Britain would only close down a small portion of the banking interests of China in Britain's Southeast Asian colonies. The anger of the Chinese would definitely be directed at the Netherlands, and at that time, the Netherlands could pull Japan in to take the blame. China no longer bordered Japan, and China's naval strength was inferior to Japan's. Britain only needed to ensure Japan's comprehensive naval superiority over China in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. What could China do? Britain, Japan, and the Netherlands would form a linked trap, tightly ensnaring China. Unless China could accumulate immense strength to completely overwhelm the quasi-alliance formed by these three countries at sea. In the eyes of the British, this would take at least twenty years.

As for what would happen in twenty years, Britain never cared. The British Empire had experienced one challenger after another for hundreds of years; they knew perfectly well that Britain's enemies were always changing. All Britain had to do was ensure the dominant position of its own navy. Perhaps it would be China that couldn't hold on in twenty years. Strategies needed time to test their results.

Britain began to make some moves according to the agreement, and of course, they were merely moves. But the British seemed to have underestimated the intelligence of the Dutch. The Dutch also made some moves, which were likewise merely moves. The Chinese in the Dutch East Indies felt danger and pressure, but it was just danger and pressure, nothing more.

If it were an ordinary conspirator, they might have started to feel uneasy by now. But Britain had been a conspirator for hundreds of years, and they had enough patience. Time dragged on until the end of 1932. The Great Depression had been going on solidly for three years, and by the calendar, it was about to enter its fourth year. The Netherlands finally couldn't hold back anymore. Under the pretext of a tax audit, the Dutch government demanded that the Bank of China provide its information. At the same time, the Netherlands also began to carve out land near the plantations run by the Chinese according to the agreement, to be "managed" by the Japanese.

These few months were not too long for the guys playing conspiracies. For China, however, it was unimaginably lucky.

During these few months, China's industry made tremendous progress. Thanks to the Great Depression, American laboratories finally developed a prototype of an anion sputter coater. Given the relationship between the People's Party and the major American consortiums, the People's Party spent gold to purchase the machine and the corresponding process design. The total weight of this real gold was heavier than the machine and the blueprints combined. The principle of the laser had been proposed by Einstein as early as 1916, and the ruby and sapphire crystal experiments in the People's Party's laboratories had basically entered the stage of volume production after huge investment.

The rest was simple. The carbon dioxide laser generator was the graduation experiment of Chen Ke's university roommate in the physics department. When Chen Ke was young, he was a utilitarian bastard, and also a bastard with a not-so-low IQ. He also had enough interest in natural science. University theses weren't about how complex the theory was; as long as the mathematical principles weren't involved, he could remember the explanation of such pure theories just by listening once and looking at the materials. At that time, the key production issue everyone discussed was this optical coating problem. After solving this problem, the remaining odds and ends, although important, were things that could be solved in the electrical parts market.

The money was spent, the scientific and technical personnel were down-to-earth and willing to work, and the People's Party's basic experimental accumulation was thick enough; what was lacking was the core equipment. As soon as the American equipment arrived, the stumbling block for China's laser was kicked away. The "Technology Tree Plan" itself was a joint research plan. More than a dozen related department laboratories worked in three shifts, twenty-four hours a day. More than two months after getting the machine, the first ruby laser finally appeared in this world.

Transistors relied entirely on technical accumulation. The Solvay Conference was held once a year, and Chen Ke held the title of a scientist in the photoelectric effect. Out of courtesy, the Solvay Conference would also send an invitation to Chen Ke. Chen Ke didn't go himself; he always sent a team to go on a pilgrimage every year. When they came back from academic exchanges, if Chen Ke felt he had heard of the translated terms, he would appoint them as directions for study and research. Transistor theory was just very ordinary knowledge in universities in the 21st century. Chinese universities were still places that forced students to memorize theory wildly; if they couldn't recite this stuff, they would fail the course. With these specious directions as guidance, and massive research funds thrown in, after massive investment and experimentation, first germanium transistors, then silicon transistors, appeared successively.

The People's Party's technology at this stage fully reflected the "Chen Ke Model". Often, without even theoretical preparation, under the guidance of the leadership's will, they would run wildly towards a certain "unknown direction". The popular joke in the "cutting-edge fields" of the Chinese scientific community was "If there are difficulties, overcome them and advance; if there are no difficulties, create difficulties and advance." Chen Ke was undoubtedly the culprit who "created difficulties".

The true significance of these two breakthroughs had not yet been fully comprehended by the Chinese scientific community, but Chen Ke was already blooming with joy in his heart. The model of prioritizing technological breakthroughs had a terrible problem, which was that there was basically no accumulation. Once one wanted to expand, one would immediately feel the problem of insufficient foundation. But now it was the Great Depression. Whoever held gold could go anywhere and be successful. Technological breakthroughs brought a lot of problems and incomprehension in China. These problems and incomprehensions for the Chinese scientific research teams might not necessarily be problems and incomprehensions abroad.

During the Great Depression, there was very little technology in this world that could not be bought and sold with gold, and very few people could remain unmoved in the face of respect, generous rewards, excellent laboratory conditions, and potential future scientific research results. The door to the People's Party's treasury was rarely open at this time. Personnel holding gold visited Europe and the United States everywhere based on intelligence collected over the past decade or so.

The electronics industry was the future money-printing machine, and the Ministry of Finance dared not raise any objections. Most of the leading products in the People's Party's foreign trade came out under Chen Ke's personal leadership or "personal care". What's more, the purpose of this round of technology bottom-fishing was clear. Every technology and every famous scientist was reported. The auditors of the Ministry of Finance just couldn't understand the scientific principles involved, but they couldn't think that some people were full and had nothing better to do than to suffer from hysteria.

With such great news, the Dutch act of self-destruction did not bring any unhappiness to Chen Ke. In this critical period of racing against time, the hesitation of the Dutch caused terrible consequences for themselves.

"Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue the most solemn protest against the improper means of the Dutch." Chen Ke only gave such an answer.

As one of the 12, Li Runshi certainly knew China's future grand strategy. He was just curious why Chen Ke was so happy. Chen Ke didn't mention the matter of technological progress. To Li Runshi's question, Chen Ke replied: "The Dutch and the British completely don't understand why we built hospitals there." After speaking, Chen Ke wrote a note and let Li Runshi go study the confidential documents himself.

The content of these documents was relatively simple. Doctors of Chinese veteran origin had conducted a large amount of "social practice" in the Dutch East Indies. Using plantations as cover, they had long conducted many trekking marches in the Dutch East Indies. This was work that came at a huge cost. There were many natives on the Dutch East Indies archipelago, including cannibals and headhunters. It wasn't that these natives had any moral problems; they would eat anything when starving. The tropical rainforest covered with thick vegetation was by no means a friendly existence.

After looking at the secret documents filled with death, Li Runshi thought for a good while before suddenly realizing. The four words "Guerrilla Warfare" popped into his mind. This was the strategy the People's Party really wanted to implement. In such a terrible environment, the Dutch colonialists could absolutely not go deep into the "vast rural world" of the Dutch East Indies. The People's Party, however, could use well-trained teams to fight guerrillas in the Netherlands. Although those cannibals and headhunters who dared to eat human flesh were savage, they might not necessarily be impossible to cooperate with. In fact, they were rather simple objects to contact. Doctors who could carry medicine, were powerful, had kung fu skills, and could fight ten people alone while saving lives and healing the wounded had exceptional "persuasiveness" to these natives.

After finishing the materials, Li Runshi understood that Chen Ke's meaning at this stage was to "watch the changes quietly". The People's Party was not afraid of the Dutch going too far; the People's Party was afraid of the Dutch not going too far. Besides the Netherlands, Li Runshi was also quite worried about Japan's attitude, but Japan was still shrinking in the back now. No matter how worried, they had to wait for Japan to step onto the front stage like the Dutch first.