Chen Ke was preparing to meet with the Japanese Emperor and his party, who had been "inspecting" China for half a year, and then send them back to their country. In fact, Chen Ke's intention was that whether he met them or not didn't matter, as long as they were sent back to Japan safely. However, Emperor Hirohito insisted on meeting Chen Ke once, and Chen Ke couldn't refuse this face-saving gesture.

Just as this matter was being put on the schedule, Chen Ke's secretary revealed a private message to Chen Ke, "Comrade Shang Yuan's secretary called and said that Comrade Shang Yuan is preparing to come to Zhengzhou. But his health is very poor right now..."

Chen Ke's secretary felt that Comrade Shang Yuan's secretary was really bold enough, but he dared not fail to report this matter to Chen Ke. No one dared to challenge Comrade Shang Yuan's status and position. If something happened to Comrade Shang Yuan due to the bumps of the journey, Chen Ke would definitely not be happy, and he would certainly blame himself considerably.

"In that case..., then arrange the meeting with Hirohito in Beijing." Chen Ke made the decision quickly.

"Yes, I will go arrange it immediately." The secretary was relieved as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and he walked quickly out of Chen Ke's office.

In January 1940, Chen Ke flew to Beijing.

This ancient capital had changed a lot now. The urban planning department paid great attention to protecting Beijing's city walls, only opening up passages where necessary. The wooden gates of those city gates also remained, now completely preserved as cultural relics.

Shang Yuan's home was very close to the former National Grand Data Archive. Even though Beijing had been liberated for so long, the vast ocean of data and materials had not been completely organized. Shang Yuan lived close to here, which also made it convenient for him to go to the data archive every day.

As soon as he entered the courtyard where Shang Yuan lived, Chen Ke smelled a faint scent of traditional Chinese medicine. He had ordered beforehand not to disturb Shang Yuan. At this moment, after the group of people entered quietly, Chen Ke saw Shang Yuan's secretary, with a look of joy on his face, coming out of the kitchen carrying a medicine pot. He stepped forward, took the medicine pot, and carried it into Shang Yuan's room.

Shang Yuan, sitting on the sickbed, did not expect Chen Ke to appear here in person, but in a flash of thought, he understood what was going on. Just as he wanted to call his secretary in, Chen Ke spoke up and interrupted Shang Yuan's intention, "Brother Wangshan, I think that child did a good job. Your health is not good. If something happened due to the bumps on the road, how did you plan to let that child or other personnel apologize for their offense?"

"Life and death are fated. If something really happened, it would be my fate. But Wenqing, you came here personally like this. Even if it doesn't delay work, how will others view it?" Shang Yuan said as he sat up with Chen Ke's help.

"No matter what I do, there will be people talking, so let them talk." Chen Ke didn't care at all. Under Shang Yuan's guidance, he used gauze to filter out a bowl of herbal soup.

Shang Yuan picked it up and drank it. Then he took a cup of warm water that was already on the tray and rinsed the bitter taste from his mouth. Only then did he say: "Wenqing, Huitian wrote me a letter, talking about his views on many current policies."

"Oh." Chen Ke replied calmly, "Then Brother Wangshan, are you preparing to discuss this policy with me, or are you preparing to discuss the act of Comrade Lu Huitian doing this itself?"

"Both, I suppose." Shang Yuan said somewhat wearily, "I don't think it's appropriate for Huitian to do this, but thinking about it carefully, when he was in Hubei before, everyone said he had problems. At that time, you supported him. Looking back now, I feel you did the right thing at the time. Towards comrades, one must be tolerant enough."

"I'm not planning to do anything to him now either. It's just writing a letter, isn't it? We advocate freedom of speech." Chen Ke really didn't care about this at all. Transistor technology was progressing very fast. China had now begun mass production of transistors, and the development of initial integrated circuit boards was also going quite smoothly. Chen Ke once felt that he might not be able to see the information age, but now it seemed this worry was slightly superfluous. With these things, China would soon be able to start developing the initial military network. At least chatting or something would still be doable. After entering the information age, the channels for everyone to speak would reach an unprecedented level. Compared to that time, this little bit of Lu Huitian's business wasn't worth a damn.

"Then let's continue to talk about this content. I am relatively in favor of Comrade Lu Huitian's ideas. We cannot treat other countries as if they are not human. Wenqing, you are really too arrogant in doing this." Shang Yuan said.

"Arrogant?" Chen Ke couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Brother Wangshan, am I really arrogant? Then let me ask you a question now. Is pulling up seedlings to help them grow correct? You must give people the power of free choice. If we forcibly stipulate a set of stuff for Southeast Asian countries, do you think this is suitable for Southeast Asian countries?"

Shang Yuan didn't expect that Chen Ke had actually thought this much. He pondered for a moment before saying: "But you can't sit by and watch either. I feel this is inappropriate."

Chen Ke asked: "Brother Wangshan, copies of key documents within the party are sent to you. You have read that report written by Comrade Li Runshi, right?"

"I have read that. That comrade is really remarkable." Shang Yuan replied.

Chen Ke smiled: "Since you have already read it, Southeast Asia is currently in a stage of power struggles. Our People's Party's experience in this stage is very insufficient, and even the things those careerists within the party have done before were of a higher grade than them. If we don't observe now but directly mix in, what does that count as?"

"But letting things drift like this now, I'm afraid uncontrollable things will happen." Shang Yuan did not support this.

"Hehe!" Chen Ke smiled with a bit of helplessness, "'Using copper as a mirror, one can straighten one's clothes and cap; using history as a mirror, one can know the rise and fall; using people as a mirror, one can understand gains and losses.' I have said countless words and stated many theories. By now, the theoretical level of comrades in the party, I estimate many people can surpass me when debating. But what use is this? Discussing a perfect theory again, if it cannot be linked with reality, is still useless. When has true reality ever been perfect? What relationship does actual reality have with being bright, presentable, and radiant? Have the comrades really forgotten the hardships of the revolution?"

Shang Yuan fell silent now. This viewpoint could not be refuted. Pie might fall from the sky, but most of the things brought by pie falling from the sky were tragedies.

Chen Ke intended to stand up from the chair, but after thinking, his heart softened and he sat back down, "Brother Wangshan, I have never looked down on people. If I looked down on people, I wouldn't give them any power of free choice. I respect everyone very much, so I agree that they should have the power of free choice. If I really looked down on them, couldn't I use political tactics or government means to make them all obedient on the surface? But I believe that with China's thousands of years of civilized accumulation, and now encountering the threshold of a great change unseen in three thousand years, perhaps the revolution can push China over this threshold? I really hope to allow the people of China to awaken, to recognize the essence of the world, to recognize the essence of science and democracy. Then, the blood shed in China for thousands of years will all have value."

Hearing these heartfelt words from Chen Ke, Shang Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly. Having reached his current realm, he already knew how difficult this matter was. If Shang Yuan had ever had such fantasies when he was young, he had obviously given up on them now. At this time, Shang Yuan didn't want to hide anything anymore. There was actually nothing to hide from Chen Ke. He said: "Wenqing, let me ask you, if everyone in the world were like you, what do you think this world would look like?"

"Brother Wangshan, am I that terrible, that annoying?" Chen Ke deliberately pretended to look hurt.

Shang Yuan would not be deceived by Chen Ke's appearance, "Wenqing, among the comrades in the party who truly understand you, how many do you think are not afraid of you? Those comrades who are not afraid of you are all those who do not believe that an absolutely correct theory exists, who believe that the truth of this world is relative, and who are true materialists."

Chen Ke very accurately grasped Shang Yuan's original meaning. He asked: "Brother Wangshan, do you mean to say that our current society is still relatively low in ideological level?"

"Yes, you want to forcibly pull China to an unprecedented height now. I think it feels very much like a castle in the air." Shang Yuan replied.

Chen Ke laughed loudly after hearing this, "Brother Wangshan, your logic doesn't make sense saying this. From China's standpoint, if there weren't other countries performing mistakes for us once over, if there weren't other countries opening up many brand-new fields through their own channels, we couldn't treat China as a test subject, could we? Then looking at it from another angle, if we forcibly pull those Southeast Asian countries into the so-called socialist stage, do you think they wouldn't be castles in the air?"

Hearing these words, Shang Yuan was rendered speechless. Sometimes logic is something you dare not analyze carefully. Once analyzed, many logical contradictions appear. While Shang Yuan was somewhat stunned, Chen Ke continued: "China and foreign countries are different in many places, even having many fundamental differences. But for the species of human beings, the attitude of seeking truth from facts is exactly the same. Xunzi believed that a person from birth to death, the realm of understanding they can finally reach might differ, but everyone has the opportunity to achieve a cognition of the truth of the world. We cannot deny that they have this possibility from the very beginning. If we do that, we wouldn't even be as good as the old predecessors from more than two thousand years ago."

Shang Yuan did not answer immediately. At this moment, he finally understood where the conflict between Lu Huitian and Chen Ke actually lay. From the perspective of the bureaucratic system, the people they wanted were just people who could understand and abide by the rules formulated by the bureaucrats. And in terms of formulating rules, Chen Ke's level was probably above Lu Huitian's. But what Chen Ke pursued was not to create a group of educated, clever citizens, but attempting to let the people understand the world from the bottom of their hearts, thereby obtaining liberation.

From the perspective of the bureaucratic class, this was very much like a terrible disaster. People who had no awakening themselves but mastered a lot of power would absolutely not have a scientific attitude. Handing power to people who did not understand science would inevitably be a true disaster. And what about people who understood science and recognized the world? For the bureaucratic system, they were not necessarily good news either. Chen Ke was a very practical person. He firmly believed in the law of the jungle, and the path he chose was to attempt to make all the people become the strong. The unknown world Chen Ke looked forward to did not look very beautiful to the bureaucratic group who were already the strong now; on the contrary, it was very terrible. At least Shang Yuan was not optimistic at all.

But Shang Yuan could not criticize Chen Ke, because Chen Ke's ideal was a true ideal. For people who created great achievements, they must establish the ideal of this achievement. What outcome would an organization without ideals, purely realist, have? There were too many examples in China's history.

Just like Xunzi, whom Chen Ke highly esteemed. He was one of the few Confucians who went to the State of Qin for inspection. The then Prime Minister of Qin, Fan Ju, who held power over the court and the wild, asked Xunzi: "What have you seen since entering Qin?"

Xunzi vigorously praised the State of Qin from multiple angles.

First was the advantage of Qin's situation, "Its strongholds are dangerous, its terrain convenient, its mountains, forests, rivers, and valleys are beautiful, and the benefits of natural resources are many. This is a topographical victory."

Next were the people of Qin, "Entering its borders and observing its customs, its people are simple. Their music is not licentious or polluted, their clothing is not frivolous. They are very fearful of officials and obedient. These are the people of antiquity."

Next were the officials of Qin, "Reaching its cities and government offices, its hundred officials are solemn, none are not respectful, frugal, reverent, loyal, and trustworthy without being coarse. These are the officials of antiquity. Entering the capital and observing its scholar-officials: when they go out of their gates, they enter into the public gates; when they go out of the public gates, they return to their homes. They have no private affairs. They do not form cliques or factions. They are aloof and none are not clear-sighted and public-spirited. These are the scholar-officials of antiquity."

Finally was the administrative efficiency of Qin, "Observing its court, its court is quiet. It hears and decides a hundred matters without delay, appearing tranquil as if there were no governance. This is the court of antiquity. Therefore, being victorious for four generations is not luck, but number (fate/method). This is what I have seen. Therefore, it is said: At ease yet governed, concise yet detailed, not troublesome yet achieving merit. This is the utmost of governance. Qin is like this."

However, regarding the essence and future of the State of Qin, Xunzi was not optimistic at all. He said: "Although this is so, it has its worries. It possesses all these several things completely, yet if one weighs it by the confused name of a King, then it is far from reaching it! Why is this? It is because it almost lacks Confucians! Therefore it is said: Pure means King, mixed means Hegemon. Lacking one of these means destruction. This is also Qin's shortcoming."

Current China, seeing that it was about to become the hegemon of the West Pacific, its geographical advantages and products were unparalleled. The common people of China were industrious and willing to work, and also knew to revere and obey the government. And although the Chinese government had many problems, it was also well-trained and had the fresh atmosphere of a founding period. As for China's efficiency, a person as modest as Shang Yuan felt it could be considered number one in the world.

Not to mention that there was a leader like Chen Ke now. With Chen Ke's power, as long as Chen Ke did not have a mental breakdown, Shang Yuan did not fear any challenge China faced. However, just like the State of Qin which was strong enough to unify the world and had advanced technology and systems. Because it lacked an ultimate political ideal, with just internal turmoil, the whole country collapsed and vanished in an instant.

From this perspective, Chen Ke would rather let other countries choose their own paths under the situation where they must acknowledge China's strength, and did not adopt the model of forced homogenization like the State of Qin. This was a manifestation of truly absorbing the lessons of history.

Chen Ke attempted to establish the equality concept of "the people are the masters of the house" and attempted to establish the political concept of communism where humanity eventually liberates itself. No matter how one looked at it, he was establishing a soul for this country. This absolutely could not be said to be wrong.

But for some reason, even if Shang Yuan believed very much that Chen Ke was not wrong, he just couldn't link Chen Ke with being correct no matter what.