Li Runshi respected Comrade Stalin very much. regardless of how many people in the Soviet Union or the Chinese People's Party opposed Comrade Stalin, Li Runshi always considered Comrade Stalin a steadfast communist and a great leader. Historical materialism holds that everyone can only strive within the reality of their own existence. In this regard, Li Runshi even sympathized with Comrade Stalin. The greatest servant of the People's Party was Chen Ke, who dedicated everything to the Party and the people. Similarly, this dedication was rewarded; the comrades of the People's Party truly believed in Chen Ke's authority. Comrade Stalin undoubtedly lacked such authority. In a sense, Comrade Stalin lacked the sense of security that the People's Party possessed.

However, no matter how Li Runshi viewed Comrade Stalin, Comrade Stalin's own power could not be ignored. For example, when facing Li Runshi, Comrade Stalin showed sufficient recognition. He asked bluntly whether China intended to go to war with Britain in the near future.

"Yes, we indeed have this preparation. Moreover, we do not wish to have any involvement with German fascism," Li Runshi replied equally bluntly. Comrade Stalin's spirit was as hard as steel; any "tactful" move would only invite Comrade Stalin's contempt.

"Then what do the Chinese comrades hope we will do?" Comrade Stalin asked.

"Chairman Chen Ke hopes that the Soviet comrades can negotiate with Britain and France to conclude a mutual assistance pact against aggression between Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, valid for 5 to 10 years, including military aid. The three countries would guarantee the security of Central and Eastern European countries. Conclude a specific agreement for mutual assistance among the three countries." As Li Runshi spoke these words interfering in Soviet internal affairs, he lit a cigarette for himself.

Uncle Steel smoked his pipe, quietly reflecting on Li Runshi's request. The Soviet translator racked his brains hoping his translation had no errors, while feeling shocked and surprised. China's request was simply too bold, and Comrade Stalin actually had no overreaction, which was a very rare thing.

After pondering for a good while, Uncle Steel finally said, "Do the Chinese comrades believe that Britain and France will resolutely refuse this request?"

Li Runshi answered clearly, "If they agree, it would not be a problem for us either. Clarifying the conditions of war is of major help to the victory of the war."

From Uncle Steel's words, it could be heard that the Soviet side had such intentions even before Li Runshi explicitly made the request. That China made such a request gave Uncle Steel a great surprise.

The People's Party actually did not believe such efforts could succeed. The policy of appeasement was an explicit agreement for Nazi Germany to act freely in Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe. After World War I, the Soviet Union lost a large amount of Russian land due to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. These countries that split from Russia became a buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union. If Germany acted freely in Southeast Europe, it would only lead to tension between Germany and the Soviet Union. After all, a Germany controlling the vast area of Southeast Europe would most likely make a move on the Soviet Union.

Comrade Stalin seemed to be thinking very seriously. He changed several bowls of tobacco before making his own judgment. "What do the Chinese comrades believe the result will be after this kind of negotiation fails?"

"If the negotiation fails, and Germany is determined to go to war against France, then Germany will propose a non-aggression pact to the Soviet Union," Li Runshi replied. This answer made Uncle Steel's expression tense for a moment. Li Runshi knew very well without even looking that when Chen Ke, with the posture of a conspirator, proposed that Germany might first use the appeasement policy to expand its influence into Southeast Europe, and upon meeting resistance from Britain and France in expansion, would turn to reach a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, there was also significant disagreement within the People's Party. Many comrades did not believe Chen Ke's judgment. It wasn't that they didn't believe Hitler wouldn't do this, but that everyone didn't believe the politicians of Britain and France could be so stupid.

Li Runshi also took a lot of effort to understand Chen Ke's thinking. In modern times, China had forfeited its sovereignty and humiliated the nation, but it was mainly the power of the Manchu Qing that suffered the blow. Just as Chen Ke evaluated the Treaty of Versailles, Germany's eventual rise of fascism was not due to the Treaty of Versailles, but the Great Depression, an event that impacted the entire capitalist world of Europe and America, as well as the chronic illnesses that the capitalist system could not solve, leaving Germany to solve the immediate reality problems with force. In the late Qing Dynasty, China's population exploded while the level of productivity made no progress at all. Foreign invasion triggered internal problems in China.

Obviously, ordinary Chinese people and most comrades within the People's Party could not understand the feelings of Britain and France, two countries that paid the price of millions of lives in the First World War. Such a protracted war that swallowed countless lives consumed the vitality of both Britain and France. Such a war had no benefits at all. The warring parties faced the simple choice of either victory or destruction. Who would be willing to throw themselves into such a war?

Britain's appeasement policy was to avoid war as much as possible, and there were even plans to control the war. For China, such a war was "exciting" and "impassioned." It could even "wipe out shame." Chen Ke, a leader capable of launching a war, did not have this kind of thinking, but most Chinese people did not see the danger after victory. If one believes that war is controllable, then victory is even more dangerous than defeat.

"The Chinese comrades want to go to war with Britain before Germany goes to war with Britain and France, so they hope that Germany will act against Britain and France after the war starts. Is that what the Chinese comrades hope for?" Uncle Steel asked.

"Yes." Li Runshi did not intend to tell Uncle Steel any lies; that would be meaningless.

The meeting temporarily ended here. After sending Li Runshi away, Uncle Steel immediately convened a high-level meeting of the CPSU Central Committee to discuss China's strategic planning.

The Soviet comrades did not dislike this plan. Whether China weakened the power of Britain and France, or Germany went to war with Britain and France, these were all good things. China had only one core request for the Soviet Union, which was that the Soviet Union should not lend passage to countries attempting to attack China. This point didn't even need China to emphasize specifically; it was absolutely impossible for the Soviet Union to do so. This was not because the Soviet Union was so genuinely friendly to China, but because the Soviet Union would absolutely not allow armies of other countries to step onto Soviet territory.

Whether to implement such a plan was actually not important to the Soviet Union. As long as China still stood behind the Soviet Union, as long as China was willing to maintain a friendly relationship with the Soviet Union, and even willing to provide comprehensive aid to the Soviet Union at critical moments of war, the Soviet Union had a final reliance. Sometimes trust is a laughable thing. The reason for the Soviet Union's trust in China was because China seemed to have no interest in invading the Soviet Union.

The reason the Soviet high command believed China had no malice towards the Soviet Union was definitely not the peaceful life and trade of the two peoples on the Sino-Soviet border, but that the Chinese army was far away from this border. China did not have any large-scale military facilities targeting the Sino-Soviet border; this border was transparent to the Soviet Union.

According to data collected by Soviet officials, the standard of living of the Chinese people was generally higher than that of the Soviet people. China's population was far greater than that of the Soviet Union. In the past dozen years, very few young Chinese people who went to the Soviet Union were willing to stay there. Even if they married a Soviet wife, Chinese people would choose to take their Soviet wife back to China after earning money. In the intelligence collected by the Soviet side, the reason Chinese people refused to stay in the Soviet Union was "Too cold!" Not to mention Chinese people, even the Soviet people living on the Sino-Soviet border preferred to move to China in the south to live. Russia's desire for warm territory is unimaginable, so they could imagine the reason why China did not covet the frozen territory enough, because China had a Britain further south to attack.

Without much discussion, the CPSU Central Committee after the Great Purge maintained a high degree of consistency. Uncle Steel asked comrades to discuss a problem, and the comrades only discussed the specific problem. Everyone was smart. From all aspects of information, China had proven that they were preparing to go south. Moreover, the People's Party was very sober at this time; they were unwilling to risk taking on the whole world alone to go south. The cadres of the CPSU Politburo discovered that China wanted to use Germany. The only question was whether Germany would turn around and take a fierce bite out of Britain and France, who were adopting a policy of appeasement.

"If China and Germany go to war with Britain successively, we will be in a very favorable position." CPSU elder Comrade Dzerzhinsky stated his view, which was also the view of everyone in the CPSU. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, and nothing can gain greater benefits than sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight. China's request was abrupt, but not excessive. The Soviet Union could do this, or choose not to do this. The CPSU had complete decision-making power. Even if they refused the People's Party's request, the CPSU would not have any losses. Not to mention that even if the People's Party did not make this request, the CPSU was already preparing to do so.

Uncle Steel certainly understood the benefits of doing this. No matter how he calculated, the result would just be a war between the Soviet Union and Germany. Germany was forced into a miserable state by France. Even if the economy seemed to be recovering well, its national strength was still very weak. Uncle Steel genuinely hoped that Germany and Britain and France would have another tragic war. If the war was fought until heads were broken and blood flowed like in WWI, when both sides were bleeding rivers, the Soviet Union's millions of troops could sweep south, flatten Western Europe all the way, and complete the great cause of liberating Europe.

Even if they couldn't wipe out France, being able to swallow Germany, march into Central and Eastern Europe, and recover the European lands lost by the Soviet Union during WWI would also be a complete strategic victory.

The problem lay in the fact that the request made by China made Uncle Steel clearly feel one thing: the Chinese side's judgment on strategy had also reached this step, and China seemed to have a further judgment on strategy. It was like an excellent chess player who had already seen three moves ahead, but he felt that the person next to him obviously saw five moves ahead. This feeling was very uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable.

The meeting finally passed the matter of the Soviet Union negotiating with Britain and France. Not only did they agree, but the Soviet Union immediately sent diplomatic representatives to do this. Even though the Soviet Union and Britain and France had a very unpleasant falling out during the Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union still did this. At the same time, the Soviet side began to probe Li Runshi in every possible way, trying to extract China's strategic deployment from Li Runshi.

Li Runshi was a person who paid great attention to overt schemes. He firmly believed that any conspiracies and tricks would be utterly defeated when facing overt schemes. Materialists always believe in facts, and the People's Party especially so. Just as the People's Party only cared about the United States' attitude towards the Western Pacific, which was an important variable determining China's strategy. As for Germany's affairs, China had already estimated that Germany's economy had fully entered a state of war by summarizing Germany's economic data and the government's economic decrees.

This approach of the Soviet comrades left Li Runshi somewhat speechless. Because China had already told the Soviet Union everything that could be said. It couldn't be that they even had to tell the Soviet comrades China's detailed military deployment. Uncle Steel's shrewdness made Li Runshi feel very good, while the petty behavior of the Soviet comrades made Li Runshi somewhat disappointed.

At the same time Li Runshi was sent to the Soviet Union, China's secret envoy also arrived in Berlin. Little Mustache was very interested in the arrival of the Chinese secret envoy. Of course, he was ready for war, but before the war, Little Mustache still had his own worries. China stood behind the Soviet Union, which meant that the Soviet Union could get millions of reinforcements at any time. Having cooperated militarily with China for so long, the German military knew China's strength better than other European and American countries. That was definitely not an army that could be ignored. So Little Mustache made ample preparations for the arrival of the Chinese special envoy.

It was just that as the Führer of Germany, Little Mustache himself was also a person who couldn't stay idle. With this little time before waiting, Little Mustache began to approve documents. The Nuremberg Race Laws issued in 1935 had "loopholes." The laws had a special appendix allowing Germans of half-Jewish and quarter-Jewish descent to submit applications for special permission.

In the second half of 1938, Hitler instructed Air Marshal Göring to draft a document stipulating that families where the father was Jewish and the mother was Aryan were prohibited from moving to the Jewish ghettos, and stipulating that their children could join the army. In other words, as long as you were not from a purebred Jewish family of usurers, but a working class, German citizens could apply to detach from Jewish ancestry and become honorary Aryans. Especially those military families, as long as they received Hitler's special permission, could continue to serve. Hitler allowed soldiers who intermarried between quarter-Jewish blood to continue serving. But they could not be promoted unless they received Hitler's personal special permission. So a large number of applications arrived at Little Mustache's place.

For Little Mustache, racial superiority was an unshakable concept, and anti-Semitism was a policy that must be adopted, but in actual execution, it was another matter. Just as in 1938, Little Mustache himself said to his adjutant, "Regardless of what contemporary people say, there were indeed many heroic Jewish soldiers and Jewish officers in the First World War. Precisely because of this, we can give them special permission, because children cannot choose their parents." Little Mustache indeed personally reviewed the special permission applications of thousands of ordinary soldiers. Perhaps it was a kind of compassion for them that made him give special permission to a considerable part of them.

Perhaps because he was about to make contact with the Chinese side, Little Mustache was somewhat restless, and it was hard to concentrate when reading documents. Little Mustache certainly believed that the Aryans were the most excellent race, but this did not mean he looked down on the Anglo-Saxons. And for Little Mustache, the Chinese were a difficult object to determine.

This was a country with a civilization spanning thousands of years. Little Mustache hated Marxism, so he naturally would not agree with the materialist view of history. Since he refused to agree with seeking truth from facts, Little Mustache had a "mystical view" when facing history. For example, Little Mustache believed that China's Tibet was the center of the world. That China, possessing the center of the world, also possessed the strength to influence the world, made it hard for Little Mustache to come up with a viewpoint for treating China. Compared with Aryans, were Chinese more excellent? If they were not as excellent as Aryans, how much worse were Chinese than Aryans? These nonsensical "mystical views" sometimes often brought Little Mustache considerable confusion. After all, everyone hopes to be able to know the world; even if they cannot set the rules of the world, at least they want to understand the rules of the world.

Until the Chinese special envoy arrived at Little Mustache's official residence, Little Mustache still hadn't figured out this question. Looking at the thick stack of applications to become Aryans, Little Mustache sighed rarely, and signed the "Approved" order on the few documents he was already holding.

The ostensible purpose of the Chinese special envoy's arrival in Germany this time was to discuss the submarine issue with Germany. China's forced excavation of the Kra Canal triggered fierce opposition from Britain, and the British side simply began to make things difficult for Chinese merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. Frequent interceptions of Chinese merchant ships and requests to board for inspection emerged one after another.

China had already delivered the main components of more than 20 submarines to Germany, including the blueprints of the submarines which were also delivered to Germany. But facing Britain's increasing harassment day by day, the Chinese side was worried that they could not effectively deliver all submarine components to Germany.

As a smart person, Little Mustache did not believe that the Chinese side would travel thousands of miles to Germany just for such a small matter. Just thinking about it simply, Little Mustache could roughly guess that the true idea of the Chinese secret envoy was most likely to probe Germany's attitude towards Britain.

China wanted to strike Britain in the Pacific. The best way was for Germany to take action against Britain in Europe. At that time, all of Britain's power would be concentrated in Europe, and the entire Pacific would almost become a defenseless area. Of course, for Germany, the best method was for China to fight to the death with Britain in the Pacific, causing the British Royal Navy to be completely transferred to the Pacific region and be annihilated. At that time, Germany's strategic situation would undergo a huge change. A Britain without a fleet was nothing.

Since the Chinese side was probing Germany's attitude so seriously, Little Mustache wanted to probe China's bottom line first even more.

For the Chinese special envoy, the purpose of this trip was quite simple; he just wanted to confirm Little Mustache's attitude. In China, the People's Party had democratic centralism; in the Soviet Union, at least there was a Politburo. In Germany, Little Mustache was a true "dictator." This was not because Little Mustache himself loved dictatorship so much, but because the people who truly followed Little Mustache were very limited. These German generals naturally shouted about revenge, but few really had the courage to fight a war like WWI. For the war, before facing the enemy, Little Mustache first had to struggle with these generals.

So as long as they could determine Little Mustache's position, China could determine Germany's future direction. Those Junkers, those two-bit idiots, were truly unreliable.