The US Pacific Fleet's visit to Japan was purely for show. According to the Washington Naval Treaty, which had already expired and become invalid, the combined tonnage of the Chinese and Japanese navies exceeded that of the US Navy. On the American strategic map, the primary direction of choice was naturally the Atlantic. The North Atlantic economic circle remained the world's largest economic circle even into the 21st century, and in the 1930s, it was naturally the strongest economic region. It was also America's primary strategic direction.

For the United States, the current strategy was "South first, West second," while adopting a defensive strategy for the North Atlantic in the east. Although Roosevelt shouted slogans like "Good Neighbor Policy" and "abandoning the Monroe Doctrine," believing the words of Americans was less satisfying than finding a rope to hang oneself. Towards Latin American countries, the US adopted a policy of extreme control. Just after Roosevelt shouted about being a good neighbor, when the Cuban people rose up against the dictator Machado and established the San Martin government in 1933, Roosevelt immediately dispatched 30 warships to intervene. In 1934, the US-trained Nicaraguan National Guard murdered Nicaragua's national hero, General Sandino, and supported and propped up reactionary dictatorships in Latin America.

To the east of the United States lay the powerful Great Britain. The US was not yet ready to tear up its relationship with Britain, so it maintained a defensive policy in the North Atlantic.

As for the Western Pacific, the US implemented a policy of infiltration. Unlike the post-WWII era where many independent nations appeared in the Western Pacific, in 1937, aside from the US colony of the Philippines, there were only seven countries: China, the Soviet Union, Japan, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Siam, and Australia and New Zealand, which belonged to the British Commonwealth.

After the Japanese Restoration faction launched their revolution, the US had hoped to increase its voice in the Western Pacific by doing something with Japan. After the Takahashi Korekiyo cabinet was formed, they worked hard to strengthen relations with the US, making the US their largest market. Since Japan was in turmoil, the US could have used its economy to severely punish Japan. However, the Japanese Restoration faction implemented a policy of leaning completely towards China economically. China, which had once been dedicated to striking at Japan, changed its face as fast as flipping a page and actually started a "Good Neighbor" relationship with Japan. America's wishful thinking was instantly dashed.

What angered the US the most was the financial cooperation between China and Japan. China, which had once been forced to apply for credit loans from the US, was actually issuing credit loans to Japan. Penetrating the Japanese financial market was something even the US hadn't been able to do. The combined naval tonnage of China and Japan exceeded the total tonnage of the US Navy. If China and Japan continued down their current path, a Sino-Japanese alliance was very likely. The US had a superior geographical location because it sat between two oceans. But every advantage has its disadvantages. If there were powerful forces on both oceans, the US would be in a position of being attacked from both sides, and a two-ocean offensive would turn into a two-ocean defense.

So the US sent the Pacific Fleet to Japan to demonstrate its power. From China's perspective, doing this was forcing Japan into China's embrace. But in the minds of the Americans, they believed that doing so would increase the US voice in the Western Pacific. Because the US was not Britain; it didn't have that many global interests. If any challenge succeeded, the US could make a profit; if it didn't succeed, then it didn't succeed. After all, those interests didn't involve the US in the first place.

"Whoever has the biggest fist has the biggest say"—this was the world order of 1937. On this matter, the US attitude was naturally to conform to the trend of the world. At least in substance, it conformed, while verbally shouting slogans that were slightly more moderate than those of traditional imperialist countries. After all, the feudal system within the US had no foundation, and the capitalist system had developed better.

The commander of the Pacific Fleet, who had been ordered to come and demonstrate, watched the aircraft groups constantly flying overhead from his flagship, feeling extremely displeased. The commander was already very unhappy, and the officers below him felt a bit trembling with fear. They all thought China was a backward country, but the size of the Chinese Air Force planes appearing above the US fleet was far larger than the American servicemen had imagined. Despite their large size, their flight speed was faster than American Air Force planes. Many American servicemen even suspected that these Chinese planes weren't made of metal; the larger the plane, the heavier it should be, and the heavier it was, the slower it should fly. Even Britain and France didn't have the ability to manufacture such large, high-speed fighter jets.

What made the US feel even more troublesome were China's aircraft carriers. The four aircraft carriers all looked different in appearance and size. According to reports from US Air Force reconnaissance planes, the carrier that appeared to be China's latest launch had a very strange shape. In addition to the "ski-jump" on the flight deck, a horizontal side runway also appeared on the front side of the hull. This odd design was completely different from current mainstream carrier designs.

The US fleet was originally here to demonstrate, but now it was sandwiched from both sides by the Chinese and Japanese fleets, which outnumbered the US fleet. If war really broke out, this would be a situation of being attacked from front and rear. Flying in the air were not only planes taking off from aircraft carriers, but also a large number of land-based aircraft. The sky was full of planes. Planes with different paint schemes crisscrossed in the sky, pressing in, driving away, and then separating. From time to time, large aircraft groups passed through this sea area in neat formations. Judging from the size of the planes, they were probably bomber groups. In short, except for the lack of live ammunition firing, this was a simulated war.

"Do the Japanese allow Chinese planes to take off from Japanese airfields?" the US fleet commander said in astonishment. Most of the planes in the air were Chinese. To maintain such a number of planes on the battlefield consistently meant either China had a huge number of planes and enough airbases close to the US fleet, or Japan allowed the Chinese Air Force to use Japanese airfields. Obviously, the US Pacific Fleet commander leaned towards the latter explanation.

"Sir, the objective has been achieved. Should we end the exercise and return to the Philippines first?" the Chief of Staff asked tentatively.

After more than a day of confrontation, the navies of China and Japan had completed their encirclement posture of the US Pacific Fleet. The "exercise" had reached a point where it should be wrapped up. According to US Navy reconnaissance, China's two fleets, each centered on two aircraft carriers, were located to the southeast and southwest of the US Pacific Fleet, and the distance from the US fleet was increasing. However, the density of planes appearing over the US fleet showed no tendency to weaken.

The fighter groups escorting the bomber groups were able to join the formation before the bombers appeared within the US air defense circle, while the torpedo bomber groups outflanked from all angles. The strike routines in the "exercise" were becoming more and more proficient. And this was happening while the Chinese carrier formations were moving further and further away from the US fleet.

The US Pacific Fleet had dispatched battleships this time. Apart from closing in for shelling, they had no effective method of striking the Chinese fleet. The Pacific Fleet also tried to close in on the Chinese fleet quickly several times, but the Chinese carrier formations ran like rabbits. The large carrier formations were even able to slowly but continuously widen the distance from the US fleet.

Navies are all about face. At this stage, it was impossible for them to continue playing a wretched game. Because if this were an actual war, the US fleet would have already been destroyed multiple times. It was enough to lose face to a certain extent; continuing to lose face would violate the glorious tradition of the Navy's white gloves.

Everyone ate from the Navy's bowl. Not only did the US fleet understand the result of the exercise, but the Japanese fleet also understood the power of the Chinese Navy. The shock the Chinese Navy's power caused the Japanese Navy was even greater than that caused to the US Navy. The number of shelling-type warships in the Chinese Navy was still lower than that of Japan; this was obvious at a glance. Even though China had caused considerable losses to the Japanese army in repeated naval battles, it had not been able to reverse the trend in this regard. After all, the main direction of China's naval construction was not shelling-type warships.

But the construction speed of the Chinese Air Force was far beyond Japan's imagination. This "Sino-Japanese Joint Military Exercise" was an emergency state, and Japan had not provided airfields to China. The Chinese Air Force planes took off from Qingdao, Tianjin, Lushun, Korea, and even Taiwan. So many planes appearing continuously in the "exercise area" caused great panic in the Japanese Navy.

If Japan insisted on fighting China, Japan's current air power was simply insufficient to compete with China. China's aircraft carriers possessed powerful mobility and carrier-based combat power. Not only was the US fleet tracking the Chinese fleet, but the Japanese Navy was also tracking the Chinese fleet. The race between the Chinese carrier formations and the US fleet also involved the Japanese forces.

With Britain's help, the Japanese Navy had finally gained the ability to build high-speed battleships on its own, but China obviously had the same ability now. The Japanese naval officers participating in the Showa Restoration were all very young. They knew that given the gap in national power between China and Japan, what kind of situation it would be if China went all out to build battleships. Japan was forced to accept the Washington Naval Treaty because the US threatened Japan at the time: if Japan built one battleship, the US would build two. If Britain and Japan dared to build two, the US would build four. Backed by sheer industrial capacity, the US forced Britain and Japan to the negotiating table. Because both countries knew that in a shipbuilding race, the US held the advantage.

And now in East Asia, the former hegemon, China, had regained its powerful strength. China looked like it had the same ability and vigor as the US back then.

After this secret contest, the Japanese Navy finally recognized the situation clearly. Kita Ikki clearly felt that the Navy, which had once thought highly of itself, had finally lowered its "noble head" under the leadership of Yamamoto Isoroku and began to cooperate with the transitional government.

The reaction from the US side was not as friendly as Japan's. Just five days after the "Sino-Japanese Joint Exercise" ended, the US sent a telegram to China, suggesting a new round of naval limitation treaty negotiations be held in Washington. Roosevelt specifically invited Chen Ke to go to the US to attend the meeting.

Chen Ke declined to go to the US for the meeting on the grounds of a tight schedule, but the Chinese side agreed to send representatives to Washington to attend the meeting. The representatives of China and Japan for this meeting traveled to the US on the same ship. This was a very interesting statement. Two countries that had once been at each other's throats were now showing a posture of merging. When the representatives of China and Japan appeared in Washington, the faces of the representatives of both the host, the United States, and the world hegemon, Great Britain, were not very pleasant.

In this era, the number of countries in the world capable of building large warships could be counted on two hands: the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China, and Japan. Even the Soviet Union's shipbuilding level was rather vague. It wasn't that this country lacked the ability to build large warships, but that the Soviet Union didn't have a satisfactory naval strategic direction. The Soviet Union was a very tragic country, or rather, Russia was a very tragic country at sea. Whether it was the North Atlantic economic circle or the Pacific economic circle, this country was just one step away from entering them on the map, but it was firmly blocked out of these two major economic circles.

In the North Atlantic, the Soviet Union either had to take out Norway and Sweden or swallow the three Baltic states. If it adopted the approach of invading the three Baltic states, mere occupation wouldn't achieve the goal; the Soviet Union still had to break through the Baltic Sea to freely enter and exit the North Atlantic. In the Pacific, Soviet naval bases could only be located in uninhabited frigid zones. As for the Black Sea outlet, unless it swallowed Greece or Turkey, the Soviet Union was completely constrained by the Black Sea Straits. Even if the Soviet Union could rush into the Mediterranean, there were still the British-controlled Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar at both ends.

Such a tragic maritime situation made it impossible for the Soviet Union to determine what kind of naval route it wanted to take. If it simply churned out dozens of advanced battleships, the Soviet national power really couldn't afford it.

So the Soviet Union did not participate in these naval negotiations. However, the attendees took this opportunity to fish for information about the Soviet Union from the Chinese representative, Zhu Yao. Because the Soviet Union was frantically conducting purges at home.

Comrade Trotsky, after serving as Party Secretary in the no-man's-land of East Siberia for a period, finally figured things out. He wrote a sincere letter to Moscow, admitting his mistakes. He admitted fault for his erroneous actions that had practically split the Central Committee of the CPSU. Uncle Stalin ("Iron Man") was decent enough; he agreed to let Comrade Trotsky return to Moscow to continue working.

But the situation did not stabilize because of Trotsky's submission. Uncle Stalin was not Comrade Lenin, and certainly not Chen Ke. Comrade Lenin had immense prestige, yet even so, there were many who opposed Lenin's opinions. Uncle Stalin came to power through tougher methods, using the purging of dissidents as a means. Even if Uncle Stalin's views were correct, and even if China gave the Soviet Union a lot of support, making the Soviet Union's construction and development easier than in Chen Ke's original timeline.

But the People's Party led by Chen Ke had caught a good time. By showing weakness, China had never been excluded from the world economic circle. Plus, China could always provide some commodities needed by Europe and America, and the west coast of the Pacific was a fringe region of the world, so China could still opportunistically maneuver very well. The Soviet Union was too close to the Western Pacific, yet hadn't been able to step into it. Blocking the Soviet Union out of the Western Pacific was an inevitable choice for those European governments that feared communism.

The forced accumulation mode adopted by Uncle Stalin triggered great dissatisfaction among the Soviet public. To be fair, even if Chen Ke had traveled to the Soviet Union, he would have had no better way to solve the Soviet Union's problems. The biggest difference between the Soviet Union and China lay in the fact that Chinese tradition held that the Emperor was good, while officials and local tyrants were bad. This attitude allowed China to submit relatively easily to a central authority. The People's Party could easily gain the obedience of the people. When the People's Party led China so that everyone had food to eat and children could go to school, this was the best government the ordinary Chinese people of the old era could imagine.

Russia's tradition was very special; they believed that rural autonomy was the best, both morally and practically. This cultural tradition, which seemed very weird to China, was real and existent. Uncle Stalin's heavy-handed tactics triggered a fierce backlash.

At this time, the Kirov assassination occurred. There is a saying that during the 17th Congress of the CPSU, an informal meeting was held, attended by delegates worried about the state of the country, especially agriculture. During the secret ballot, Stalin's name was crossed out more times than anyone else... Some even said that Stalin was not elected at all, and only barely became a Central Committee member when it was decided to increase the number of Central Committee members at the last minute. The most popular central leader among the delegates at the 17th National Congress was Kirov. When he finished his speech, the delegates applauded and cheered for him, and the applause and slogans like "Long live the proletariat of Leningrad" lasted for several minutes.

Sergei Kirov (1886-1934) joined the Bolsheviks in 1904, was elected to the Central Committee in 1923, became the Secretary of the Leningrad Provincial Committee in 1926, and a member of the Politburo in 1930. He was elected to the Secretariat at the 17th National Congress in January 1934, serving as a Secretary of the Central Committee.

On the afternoon of December 1, 1934, Kirov was shot and killed instantly at the Smolny Institute in Leningrad.

The assassin was a traitor who had been expelled from the party. This person had been detained by security personnel near the Smolny Institute twice before, and weapons had been found on him, but he was released both times. He even infiltrated the Smolny Institute on December 1, 1934. When he shot Kirov, Kirov's captain of the guard was far behind him.

Kirov's assassin was caught on the spot, and Kirov's captain of the guard was also taken away in a truck for interrogation. However, on the way, the vehicle had a "car accident," and the captain of the guard died in the "accident." Later, the two NKVD officers escorting the captain of the guard were also killed. After this case occurred, not even a simple investigation report was published, and the assassin and 49 so-called accomplices were executed. Thus, the direct witnesses to Kirov's assassination were all dead, and the "Kirov Case" became a mystery: who exactly instigated the assassin to kill Kirov?

On the day of Kirov's assassination, without discussion or approval by the Politburo, Stalin made the following amendments to the Soviet Criminal Code:

First, judicial organs should accelerate the trial of criminals accused of planning or taking terrorist actions. The investigation of terrorist activity cases must not exceed ten days.

Second, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union will not consider applications for pardon from such criminals. Once a sentence is passed, no appeal is allowed, and no pardon is allowed.

Third, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) shall execute the death penalty immediately after such criminals are sentenced to death.

The above provisions were called the "Kirov Law" in the West. Its appearance provided a legal basis for the large-scale purge movement, and the Great Purge, which lasted for four years, began.

From December 1, 1934, to 1935, the targets of the Great Purge were merely the "assassins of Kirov." According to relevant data, more than 500,000 "assassins of Kirov" were purged. This was the first stage.

1936 was the second stage. In this stage, the most famous event was the first "Moscow Trial."

During the Great Purge, three trials were held in Moscow, and the main characters on trial were former party and government leaders. These three trials were later called the "Moscow Trials."

The first Moscow Trial had 16 defendants.

From August 19-24, 1936, a public trial of 16 defendants was held in Moscow. Among these 16 defendants were Zinoviev and Kamenev. The charge was organizing a "Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center" and plotting to assassinate party and state leaders headed by Stalin; Kirov was assassinated by their planning. All defendants refused to admit guilt. As a result, the 16 defendants were sentenced to death and immediately executed by firing squad.

During the first "Moscow Trial," the NKVD, headed by Yagoda, which was responsible for the Great Purge, made some technical errors, and some charges could not be established. For example, one charge was that a representative of the "Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center" had met with Trotsky's son, Sedov, at the Bristol Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1932. A week after the 16 defendants were executed, the Danish *Social-Demokraten* pointed out that the hotel had been demolished long before their meeting, and Sedov was taking exams at the Berlin Institute of Technology at that time.

On September 25, 1936, Stalin and Zhdanov instructed the Politburo members: "Yagoda is obviously incapable of exposing the Trotskyite and Zinovievite bloc." The NKVD led by Yagoda "is at least four years behind in this matter," and "it is absolutely urgent to appoint Comrade Yezhov as the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs."

In January 1937, the second "Moscow Trial" was held.

The name of the second "Moscow Trial" was the "Anti-Soviet Trotskyite Center Case." The defendants were G.L. Pyatakov, K.S. Radek, and 17 others, of whom 15 were executed by firing squad.

In February-March 1937, the CPSU held a Central Committee plenary session. At this plenum, Stalin put forward a thesis: as the socialist construction of the Soviet Union develops smoothly, the class struggle will become increasingly acute. At this plenum, Stalin pointed out that there were still Japanese, German, and Trotskyite spies within the party; Molotov pointed out that there were "enemies of the people" within the army; Yezhov made a special report on "espionage activities."

Shortly after the conclusion of the February-March 1937 plenum, the NKVD moved into high gear. The spearhead was first aimed at the delegates of the Party's "17th National Congress" and the elected Central Committee members. Of the 139 Central Committee members and candidate members elected at the "17th National Congress," a total of 98, or 70%, were arrested and executed in 1937-1938; of the 1,996 delegates to the "17th National Congress," 1,108 were arrested for "counter-revolutionary activities."

The Chinese side naturally refused to interfere in the Soviet Union's internal affairs. Chen Ke knew that reversing this situation would have to wait until Comrade Beria took over the KGB (NKVD).

Facing the attitudes of the representatives of various countries, China had only one answer: "We never interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union."