Regardless of the outcome, this inspection itself gave the leading figures in the academic world quite a shock. With a large, completely independent team outside their circle occupying a brand-new field, Chen Ke had the capital to shuffle the deck and start over. These tens of thousands of young people came from various disciplines and, after completing the most critical work in nuclear weapon development, were brimming with confidence. If they really wanted to exclude the old guard, they could do it.

Seeing Chen Ke’s firm attitude, one of his students felt compelled to speak with him privately. "Teacher, are you really angry about that matter?"

"Time is tight, and I’m about to return to Zhengzhou, so let’s not beat around the bush. I want to talk to you about science, so don’t talk to me about democracy. Making a fuss like that is like a chicken talking to a duck; there won't be any result," Chen Ke immediately cut him off.

"Teacher, can you speak more plainly? If you keep it too simple, I can’t keep up with your train of thought," the student replied.

"Science is the law of this world, a law that is the same for everyone. It truly treats everyone equally; 'Heaven and Earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs.' Science makes no distinction between people on Earth; this is the most broadly defined universality and equality. Since the state has not yet withered away, I hope to establish a system in China that can promote scientific progress. In the development of nuclear weapons this time, my methods and attitude were, in a sense, very unscientific. If such an attitude becomes the method for doing things in the future, I believe it will be significantly detrimental to China's scientific development." Chen Ke knew his own business very well.

Chen Ke’s student perhaps understood a bit of Chen Ke’s thinking, but clearly, he didn't feel any joy. Since Chen Ke was emphasizing his own errors at this moment, others couldn't expect to fish for benefits from this situation.

"Natural laws are the same for everyone, but in the process of building a scientific cognitive system for human society, many contradictions will inevitably arise. The core of these contradictions is the control of social resources by different strata and classes. Democracy must first be based on science, and democracy is not a model with universal applicability across all of society. There is never any democracy to speak of between two sides in a 'zero-sum' game. For example, there is no democracy between criminals and victims. Between the bourgeoisie and the employed proletariat, when facing common interests, they can still coordinate through democracy. But when discussing wages or the distribution of power, where one chooses to agree or disagree with the other's demands, there has never been any democracy to speak of. Just like this nuclear weapon development, no matter how many of you there were, there was no democracy to speak of in the project. Democracy has never had so-called comprehensive applicability. Now I want to talk to you about science, so don't talk to me about democracy. They are not the same thing."

After all, this student of Chen Ke’s was a top scholar with a sharp mind. Even if he wasn't clear on exactly what kind of scientific and democratic system Chen Ke wanted to build, he understood that Chen Ke was someone he couldn't fool right now. Since he knew he couldn't fool an expert like Chen Ke, he chose to remain silent while at a disadvantage.

The purpose of Chen Ke’s conversation was merely to let the other party understand his thoughts, and he was also testing the other party's thoughts. At any rate, it was wartime, not the time to launch massive political actions. The wedges that needed to be driven in should be driven in first; as for what results they would produce, that would wait until the time for action came.

After inspecting the nuclear weapon project, Chen Ke let those academic leaders who were on pins and needles go back first. He stayed behind to arrange the scientific research system for the nuclear industry department before returning to Zhengzhou with the comrades from the Central Advisory Commission.

On the way, the comrades discussed enthusiastically. With such a powerful weapon, China had nothing left to fear. The only regrettable thing was the production cycle and the enormous cost of nuclear weapons. Now, looking back at Chen Ke’s arrangements for the expansion of domestic power systems and the like, the comrades finally understood the purpose. Without such an unprecedentedly large-scale power grid, the difficulties China would face in expanding its production capacity, which was already trending towards its limit, could be imagined.

Chen Ke didn't feel there was anything special about this. In his original timeline, China only roughly guaranteed that its mainland would not suffer large-scale external invasion after possessing nuclear weapons. Chairman Mao’s attitude towards developing nuclear weapons was "I must have it." As for after having it, Chairman Mao said, "The greatest power of a nuclear weapon is when it is on the launch pad." Chen Ke admired this greatly.

Later, China never joined the so-called "nuclear arms reduction treaties" because, according to the standards for offensive nuclear weapons of the United States and the Soviet Union, if China joined the treaty, it would not only be unable to reduce its number of nuclear weapons, but under the treaty's conditions, China would actually have to increase its number of nuclear weapons.

In the current timeline, Chen Ke had already made up his mind to at least work out the Nuclear Winter theory. China would build as few nuclear weapons as possible. A weapon of strategic balance just needed to balance. Of course, these were not topics for discussion right now; at this stage, China was still primarily focused on experiments. That stage was still far off.

A whole pile of the latest news regarding the world situation had appeared in less than ten days. Fatty Qiu’s "crying at the Qin court" style of plaintive performance moved the United States a bit, and the US side made a proposal to China.

The United States could recognize the colonies in the West Pacific and Indian Ocean that had gained independence so far, but the United States believed that the sovereignty of Australia and New Zealand could be considered. Roosevelt proposed Wilson’s suggestion of "national self-determination." This made the comrades of the Central Advisory Commission laugh again.

Chen Ke had sent the white people in Australia and New Zealand to India. From the perspective of national self-determination, that was also China deciding the issues of Australia and New Zealand. This matter actually couldn't be examined too closely; if China wanted to criticize the United States, it could very well talk to the US about the national self-determination of the Native Americans.

Laughter aside, everyone saw that Roosevelt was also putting forward his own position. No matter how partial the United States was to Britain, the United States did not explicitly support Britain's colonial system. This stance was actually very important.

Another important piece of news was that the Shah of Iran, Pahlavi I, proposed restoring oil trade with China. It seemed this king had made up his mind to stand on China's side. In the report submitted by Li Runshi, Pahlavi I requested that China agree to guarantee Iran's national security. Especially in the case where Pahlavi I was to nationalize the British oil companies in Iran.

Foreign investment in Iranian oil included a share held by China, though the proportion was not large, only 3.25%. Li Runshi’s attitude was that Iran could be allowed to use oil to pay for the buyback of these shares. The first request Iran made to China was to help Iran build a modern army according to Chinese military standards.

Attached to the back of the report was a calculation list from the industrial and banking departments. According to Pahlavi I’s trade request, if Iran exported all its oil to China in the next five years, and China exported oil drums, refined oil, new oil equipment, provided oil equipment maintenance, arms, and troop training to Iran, Iran wouldn't get a penny; they would probably even owe China money.

This couldn't even be considered exploitation. Previously, the British just took the oil and left nothing for Iran. China, on the other hand, was very generously settling accounts according to international oil prices. No powerful nation would possibly offer Iran such favorable treatment.

You Gou was very clear about this work. After reading it, she raised another question, "Should we provide loans to Iran?"

"Loans for what?" Zhang Yu’s professional field was not industry, so he was a bit puzzled.

You Gou spoke like a landlady discussing rent collection: "Iran now needs a railway network, as well as many domestic civilian water conservancy facilities. I haven't specifically calculated the fertilizer exports yet, but before long, Iran will need to import large quantities of fertilizer from China, or import the technology to produce fertilizer. Trying to build an industrial system is naturally an arduous process; even buying industrialization isn't something that happens overnight."

Zhang Yu nodded in deep agreement, then said something very knowledgeable, "Even transporting the 30 million tons of crude oil Iran can sell us back to China annually is definitely not an easy task."

Anyone who had learned elementary school arithmetic could calculate this division problem. Even if China's oil tankers reached the 30,000-ton level, it would take 1,000 round trips to transport 30 million tons of oil back to China. Assuming a ship's maximum transport capacity was 5 trips a year, China would need 200 ships just to haul oil from Iran. This was not a trivial matter for industrial China either.

Zhang Yu had once believed that the Soviet planned economy model was more reliable. Given the traditional nature of Chinese civil officials who expected "exhaustive calculations," engaging in industry itself required very powerful planning capabilities. However, after the implementation of the segmented assembly shipbuilding method guided by Chen Ke, which allowed shipbuilding on flat ground, Zhang Yu suddenly realized the truth. The planned economy had an essential flaw. Unless it was someone like Chen Ke who could always be advanced enough to transcend the times, the person making the plan would themselves have a backward understanding of the world.

To expand production capacity, one had to engage in redundant construction. Judging by the level of China's shipbuilding industry over a decade ago, even if they smashed their pots and pans to scrap iron, they couldn't have created such large shipbuilding capacity. Chen Ke’s construction arrangements at the time made the comrades in the shipbuilding industry want to die. But once a series of key technologies were completed, the shipbuilding industry took on an entirely new look based on breakthroughs in other industries. Viewed solely from the perspective of the shipbuilding industry, the new investment was much less than the old investment, and the input-output ratio was frighteningly high.

After this, Zhang Yu understood a problem. Since Chen Ke could not be replicated, the planned economy that shone brilliantly in Chen Ke’s hands had a major defect. Who would plan? Who could stand at the forefront, transcending this era, and use the technologies already possessed by this era to open a path to a completely new road? Without such a person, there was no way to engage in high-intensity planned economy.

Chen Ke requested the establishment of a scientific and technological system that could operate well even after removing an existence like him. Zhang Yu was extremely in favor of this. This was seeking truth from facts, an attitude responsible to the revolution. The practice of those in the scientific community who wanted to occupy a small hill in a certain field while acknowledging Chen Ke’s authority was very much like turning one Chen Ke into a dozen or dozens of little Chen Kes. Zhang Yu did not object to someone taking the lead to integrate; in this industrial age, what everyone needed was cooperation. Since it was cooperation, someone had to come out to lead.

But the fact that Chen Ke himself existed as a "server" was not valued. Those people did not consider themselves servers, but considered themselves leaders. This was putting the cart before the horse. If this model became the tradition of the future scientific community, it could even be described as holding the sword by the blade.

When the strong gain power, they must have the self-awareness of being a server. Zhang Yu also felt that this requirement was indeed too high. But the success of the People's Party was entirely built on the foundation of this attitude. Zhang Yu believed it was necessary to think of every possible way to maintain this tradition.