"Is this where we stop?" Shang Yuan asked with a touch of regret as Chen Ke sat by his sickbed, peeling an apple for him.

Chen Ke did not answer immediately. He skillfully manipulated the peeler, stripping the skin from the rotating flesh in a continuous ribbon that carried away very little of the fruit itself. This was a task Chen Ke rather enjoyed. If he were alone, he would often be too lazy to peel it, simply washing the apple and gnawing on it directly. For him, these small things that made life a bit more comfortable were only interesting when someone else needed them.

Handing the peeled apple to Shang Yuan, Chen Ke picked up another one for himself and began peeling it, answering in a leisurely tone, "For the time being, yes. Digging in and digesting these territories will take time. Five years isn't much."

Shang Yuan didn't dislike apples, and since Chen Ke had peeled it, he didn't decline. Taking a slow bite, Shang Yuan said, "Since we have these regions, we already have a springboard for advancing into Australia."

"I'm not considering that issue right now," Chen Ke said as he continued his handiwork. He wasn't quite as meticulous when peeling for himself; perhaps because of this, he peeled it quickly and well. After finishing, Chen Ke also took a bite before chewing and speaking, "The consumption of war has been greater than I imagined. Fighting up to this point, we've already burned through five hundred thousand tons of fuel. That's three percent of the Daqing Oilfield's annual output thrown in just like that. If we fought for a year, a third of Daqing's production would be consumed by the war. Even knowing beforehand that consumption would be high, you only realize how terrifying it truly is after the fighting actually starts."

"Heh," Shang Yuan chuckled. He knew he was unlikely to return to frontline work, so his mindset had become quite peaceful. Shang Yuan asked, "There's a question I've wanted to ask you for years. I know you always pick the best apple for everyone else, but why is it that when I hear the sound of you chewing, I always feel like the one you're eating is the sweetest and crispest?"

"Oh? No wonder every time I eat an apple with my daughter, she insists on swapping the one in her hand for the one I've bitten." Chen Ke suddenly realized.

"Haha. I suppose that counts as food tasting," Shang Yuan laughed.

Chen Ke had intended to ask if Shang Yuan wanted to eat the one in his hand, but he knew Shang Yuan was absolutely not that boring of a person. So Chen Ke took another bite and said, "Brother Wangshan, back when we first started the revolution, we always felt that once the Manchu Qing court was overthrown and the imperialists were driven out, China would get better. Back then, I knew the Manchu Qing court was rotten to the core, and the imperialists were paper tigers. But at that time, I felt the Party's ranks would definitely have this or that problem. I just hadn't experienced it personally, so I didn't know why they would degenerate. Now that the first two things have become reality, my view on the third matter is not quite the same as before."

If Shang Yuan had heard Chen Ke say ten years ago that the Party's ranks would definitely have problems, he would have immediately wondered which person or people were degenerating. However, now he no longer thought that way. After Chen Ke conducted a comprehensive analysis of the feudal system and proposed that China's primary task at present was anti-feudalism, the People's Party's direction of political struggle had been established. China possessed a feudal system that had developed to an unparalleled stage—it could be called the pinnacle of feudalism. As long as they could cross this threshold and step into a more advanced, progressive era, all the blood shed in thousands of years of Chinese history would have value.

But this was a severe test, a terrifying task. After realizing this, Shang Yuan even felt a sense of relief about leaving the front lines of the political stage. He knew he no longer had the strength to transform others, let alone transform himself. So Shang Yuan sighed, "The ten-thousand-mile Long March has only just taken the first step."

"It has only taken the first step," Chen Ke said, still gnawing on his apple.

"Do you still want to push the Southern Advance strategy?" Shang Yuan withdrew his thoughts and asked. Thoroughly transforming China was a long-term task; whether to implement Chen Ke's Southern Advance strategy was the immediate one. The British attitude this time allowed Shang Yuan to see an opportunity. The once seemingly unchallengeable Britain had thoroughly revealed its fatigue. After obtaining Borneo, Sulawesi, and other islands, China had a springboard for moving south.

Chen Ke seemed quite satisfied. "I plan to see how things go. The British are very shrewd; they can't possibly fail to see the potential for a chain reaction. Everything needs a process. When a wall is about to fall, everyone gives it a push. By the way, Brother Wangshan, where do you plan to go after you retire?"

"I want to go to Beijing," Shang Yuan said without a hint of hesitation. "Originally, I planned to spend my life doing scholarly work. Now that I've finally stepped down, I want to go to Beijing to participate in the compilation of historical data."

"Then I'd like to give you a mission. Conduct archaeological work on the Manchu Qing imperial tombs, and after the excavation is complete, dismantle them all," Chen Ke replied.

Shang Yuan hadn't expected Chen Ke to issue such an order. Dismantling the imperial tombs was something that would shake China.

But Chen Ke had no such feeling at all. He tossed the apple core left after gnawing off the flesh into the trash can. "There's no need to dismantle Yongzheng's tomb. He has value in retaining the title of Emperor."

"Why?" Shang Yuan was somewhat surprised.

"Although the Five Dynasties period managed to achieve the integration of gentry and commoners in paying grain tax, Yongzheng was able to withstand the pressure to implement this during the Qing dynasty. He counts as a real figure," Chen Ke replied. "Moreover, if Yongzheng could have done it, I'm afraid he would have abolished that Banner status rubbish long ago. He counts as a Manchu Qing Emperor, not a bandit chieftain. Keep his tomb."

"Is this revenge?" Shang Yuan couldn't help but ask.

"It is retribution," Chen Ke replied with a cold smile.

Chen Ke rarely brought up emotional matters, so Shang Yuan considered it from a political perspective rather than Chen Ke's personal likes and dislikes. Thinking it over, dismantling the Manchu Qing imperial tombs wasn't really a big deal. In these times, the Manchu Qing's reputation stank to high heaven. The Bannermen had all changed to Han surnames and didn't dare mention their origins at all. Dismantling the imperial tombs would probably just be a relatively delicate civil engineering job.

Thinking that he himself had once been a subject of the Manchu Qing, yet now he was going to dismantle the imperial tombs, Shang Yuan suddenly felt a wave of absurdity. The most ridiculous part was that Shang Yuan didn't even think there was anything morally improper about doing so. As for the issue of influence, wasn't Yongzheng's tomb being left alone?

After tidying up his mood, Shang Yuan asked, "Wenqing, I want to ask you, have you chosen a successor?"

"Comrades are elected according to the system; it's not like I'm appointing a Crown Prince. I'm not choosing any successor," Chen Ke laughed.

Shang Yuan shook his head. "I know you are free and easy, but you can't completely wash your hands of it. There's nothing wrong with doing things according to the system, but this time is different. This isn't a question of passing the throne. In history, which founding leader's first generation of succession wasn't a bloody storm? You have to look at this problem realistically."

"We'll talk about it when the time comes. I don't even know how I'm going to die yet," Chen Ke replied. When discussing his own life and death, Chen Ke could always be very realistic.

After visiting Shang Yuan, Chen Ke returned to the Military Commission office. The comrades of the Military Commission were already waiting there, and the discussion was quite lively. Everyone was rather excited about Britain's attitude. Absolute power equaled absolute truth, and military men were the group that believed in power the most.

Seeing Chen Ke push the door open and enter, all the comrades stood up. Chen Ke walked to the chairman's seat. "Sit," he said.

"Will the British go back on their word?" He Zudao asked first.

"I don't know," Chen Ke answered extremely crisply. This bucket of cold water instantly made the atmosphere somewhat awkward.

After a moment of stunning silence, He Zudao continued to ask, "Then how do we continue to strike at the Dutch?"

"Attack Belitung Island and Bangka Island," Chen Ke replied.

The eyes of the Military Commission comrades immediately fell accurately on the positions of these two islands on the map. These two islands were west of Borneo, guarding the eastern exit of the Strait of Malacca. If these two islands were seized, China could use them as a springboard to attack Sumatra. This was a very powerful threat. Pu Guanshui couldn't help but ask, "If Britain agrees to the agreement, will these two islands have to be returned to the Dutch?"

"Yes," Chen Ke replied. "If Britain refuses to agree to the agreement, then we can continue to attack the Dutch. We have to give the Dutch some pressure now as well."

"Will the British misunderstand?" Chai Qingguo asked.

Chen Ke replied, "No. We must trust the intelligence of the British. We'll wait another month before making a move. If the British misunderstand, then let them misunderstand."

Seeing that Chen Ke was speaking in short sentences, it seemed he had made a very great resolve. The discussion became less heated. Pu Guanshui tentatively asked, "So the war ends just like this? Will there be no more fighting for the time being?"

"War is the continuation of politics. 'When Qin lost its deer, the whole world chased after it.' The general trend of future world changes has already been determined. The doomsday of Britain as the world hegemon will arrive sooner or later," Chen Ke answered this question. "But, why is it that Britain won't lose its hegemon status now, but will lose it later? Why is it that those future enemy countries aren't coming out directly to oppose the United States right now?"

Explaining the economic crisis to the comrades was actually quite difficult. The biggest problem was that no one had really seen one. Most countries on the Asian continent were agricultural nations. An agricultural nation was an existence in perpetual crisis or potential crisis. Industrial nations at least had a few good days. Lecturing on theory was easy, but getting everyone to completely understand this thing from rationality to sensibility was truly difficult.

Fortunately, the comrades were all senior military officers and were relatively knowledgeable. After understanding the economic crisis, the comrades easily understood why other countries wanted to participate in the war. Some couldn't go on without starting a war, and some couldn't continue without destroying the existing international order.

"Opposing the Treaty of Versailles and opposing colonialism are two different things," Chen Ke said to the comrades at the end.