"The core regions of Western Europe... Germany can touch them, but the Soviet Union cannot?" Chen Ke's tone held a hint of malice.

Some comrades who still had an impression of "The True Story of Ah Q" couldn't help but laugh out loud. This was an adaptation of "The monk can touch her, but I cannot?" Of course, those who laughed were the comrades who supported China going all out to prepare for the second phase.

"The Soviet comrades believe that after liberating Europe, they will be able to obtain Europe's industry, technology, and equipment. After all, the industrial strength of the entire Europe is still above that of the United States," Chen Ke explained.

A major reason for the technological explosion in the United States was the plundering of a large number of scientists from Europe after World War II. In fact, it was not until the 1980s that US technology fully caught up with and began to surpass Europe. Even so, Europe could still stand up to the United States in many high-tech areas. Hundreds of years of accumulation was no joke.

If the Soviet Union could solve the Axis powers, not to mention anything else, their chemical industry would immediately step into the world-class level. Chen Ke had taken specialized courses on looking up information during university, which described the history of various major indexes. In the field of chemistry, German indexes were the most authoritative back then. After World War II, the United States took a large number of German technical data and personnel to the US, and only then slowly absorbed and digested them, eventually surpassing Germany.

In the 21st century, the GDP of the EU was above that of the United States. If they could form a new European state with Russia, this new state would not only have an economic scale close to the sum of China and the US, but would also surpass the US in everything from raw materials to nuclear weapons, from military power to population. Even if China and the US joined forces, Russia's nuclear weapons would serve as a protective umbrella. Chen Ke was very clear about this.

If the Soviet Union could liberate Europe, it would be equivalent to the Soviet Union immediately becoming number one in the world. If such a thing happened, even Chen Ke, relying on China's population and education system plus twenty years of desperate effort, would still have to hope for the Soviet Union to make some mistakes on its own to have a possibility of keeping pace with this new Soviet Union. Even if the efficiency of the Soviet Union's crude integration ability was comparable to that of Nazi Germany, in the short term, the Soviet Union would undoubtedly possess huge technological and economic advantages immediately. Facing such a Europe, the United States would only be able to adopt a defensive posture.

A strong and unified Europe, exerting its advantages in technology and industry, could build a navy capable of crossing the Atlantic to attack the United States within ten years. Of course, before that, Britain would definitely be conquered. A unified and powerful Europe was not only a nightmare for Britain, but also a nightmare for the United States.

Some comrades also thought that Chen Ke was perhaps too lenient towards the United States. To this, Chen Ke had nothing special to explain. He did not believe that placing a few aircraft carriers next to the US coastline or dropping a few atomic bombs on the US mainland would force the US to surrender unconditionally.

Although he did not have a particular sense of identification with the strength of the US militia, Chen Ke believed that if China were to invade the US, it would mean fierce battles in every town and every village. The battles in Australia and New Zealand had already proven this point. Even if China killed hundreds of millions of Americans and occupied the US, what would it prove? Prove that Chen Ke could become the greatest conqueror surpassing Genghis Khan in history? The greatest butcher? Prove that Chen Ke had the ability to overcome the sequelae brought about by public security warfare that even the US could not overcome?

The soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army fought for the people. They were defenders and liberators, not butchers. As the founder and leader of this army, Chen Ke had even less reason to let the Party and the loyal army of the people send their lives away for a meaningless war for imperial hegemony.

The final strategic judgment of the Military Commission and the Standing Committee of the Politburo was that what the United States desired most now was to strike at Nazi Germany. The greatest interest in striking at Nazi Germany was to maintain a previously divided Europe. On this point, the interests of Britain and the United States were aligned. As for the Soviet Union, the United States had no solution either. Crossing the Bering Sea to kill into Soviet territory was not a problem, but the battle line that the United States would maintain at a huge cost of transport capacity would have to face a large number of Soviet troops, as well as Chinese weapons and logistical supplies close at hand to this battlefield.

If they wanted to kill into the Soviet Union from the North Atlantic... the United States would first have to pass through the occupied territories of Nazi Germany. The Nazis would absolutely not let the British and Americans pass through their occupied territories, nor would they think that the British and Americans approaching the Nazi occupied and controlled areas would have any goodwill.

Therefore, unless the Americans really lost their intelligence, they would not attack the Western Pacific defense system that China had also more or less completed constructing after completing their armament in 1942. Given American interests and the opponents the US could choose, Nazi Germany could be considered the best target to strike.

Uncle Man of Steel hoped to defeat the Fascist Axis powers through a decisive battle, which was also commendable in strategic design. If it could be realized, Uncle Man of Steel could be considered to have seized the last window of opportunity before the US armed itself. Liberating Europe in one fell swoop, even if the United States wanted to intervene, it would encounter extreme difficulties.

As for China's aid to the Soviet Union... the Soviet comrades already owed China five years of trade money that they hadn't paid, and China had already done its utmost at the current stage. Leaning in too much to provide aid would probably produce a very poor effect.

Of course, external problems at the current stage were easy to solve. Chinese transport ships had already begun trading with Iran. Freighters unloaded guns, ammunition, factory equipment, railway construction equipment, etc., and then loaded up full barrels of oil before sailing for China. Possessing two oceans at the same time, China was perfecting its own strength, preparing to welcome an even more violent external storm.

Before that, what needed to be solved was the issue of the new change of term.

When Chen Ke sought Lu Huitian for a talk again, Lu Huitian asked straightforwardly: "Chairman Chen, do you not wish for me to participate in this election?"

"Of course I can make that choice, but what benefit would doing so bring to the revolutionary work?" Chen Ke asked in return.

After hearing this, Lu Huitian understood that Chen Ke would not relax in the slightest on the line. He sighed, "If you feel it is necessary, I can not participate in this election."

"What I feel is necessary is to let the comrades choose for themselves. After all, the State President is elected by the National People's Congress. The Party leads political party affairs, leads ideology and political direction, and cannot interfere in this matter," Chen Ke replied.

Because he had solid trust in Chen Ke, Lu Huitian was stunned on the spot. "Are you preparing to expand the authority of the NPC?"

Chen Ke first poured a cup of tea for Lu Huitian before continuing, "Comrade Lu Huitian, currently within the Party, it is believed that we have differences in line. You and I must both admit this matter, and I believe you will also admit this matter frankly. The line you hope for is a line where the bureaucratic system dominates national development. Do you have any objection to this judgment of mine?"

Lu Huitian knew that he would have to talk to Chen Ke about this sooner or later. Originally, Lu Huitian had no connection with the intellectual circles. Not long ago, the intellectual circles took the initiative to stick to him, hoping to support Lu Huitian to become the Chairman. The proportion of intellectuals in the NPC was not low. With the support of such a group of people, the possibility of Lu Huitian being elected as State President would be greatly increased.

As an old revolutionary for so many years, Lu Huitian would not think that he had suddenly become a person who "lived up to the high hopes of the world". This abnormal change made Lu Huitian feel that there must be some major problem. After inquiring in many ways, he found out that Chen Ke and that group of people in the intellectual circles had a very unhappy falling out. But Chen Ke had never made any public speech, and the intellectual circles could not possibly expose themselves as having conflicted with Chen Ke. Daring to make the contradiction public like this, no one would stand on the opposite side of Chen Ke.

The intellectual circles of the Republic were created by the People's Party single-handedly. Lu Huitian did not feel happy at all about these guys rising up to rebel. Not only was he not happy, but he was actually prepared to fiercely rectify this group of people. However, Chen Ke would never use such administrative means to punish people. Lu Huitian admired this very much, but felt that Chen Ke doing so was already untimely.

Since Chen Ke brought up the divergence in line, Lu Huitian simply spoke directly, "Chairman Chen, the comrades respect you very much. So seeing you being bullied, we feel we cannot sit by and ignore it. I indeed want to comprehensively adjust the national system through the method of total war. As for those jumping clowns in the intellectual circles, do they still think the earth won't turn without them? Your current approach is seeking the far over the near. At this time, we should cut the gordian knot and solve the problem."

Chen Ke shook his head, "Wildfires cannot burn it all; the spring breeze blows and it grows again. Even if these people are hacked into a thousand pieces and their nine generations exterminated, it will not solve the fundamental problem. Human understanding of problems is sometimes very interesting. If there is a pig bladder and a small gold bean, the vast majority of people will choose that pig bladder. Because it looks big, is easy to see, and easy to grab. The small gold bean is small, hard to find, and hard to distinguish. But if both things are thrown into the sea, the pig bladder will float on the surface of the sea, while the small gold bean will immediately sink. The surface of the sea, no matter how broad it looks, is limited. Everyone squeezes each other. In the blink of an eye, the surface of the sea is fully occupied. Compared to the surface, underwater there is infinite space, infinite depth, and infinite things to dig. Yes, underwater it is dark, there is huge pressure, and heaven knows what kind of dangers. But as a small gold bean, it can withstand it. Once a monstrous wave is set off on the surface of the sea, the pig bladders will all be finished. The gold bean can remain safe and sound underwater."

Lu Huitian completely disagreed with Chen Ke's view on this matter. "We can use powerful administrative power to resist the storm!"

Chen Ke shook his head. "Your view is very common, but this is actually impossible to achieve. We are all materialists. The solidification of any one thing means death. We can participate in the laws of social operation, but we cannot create a set of laws ourselves. I oppose the government dominating everything, not because it shouldn't be done, but because the government cannot do it. Things that cannot be done, no matter how hard you try, still cannot be done! Rather than making a big pig bladder of an absolute government, and even having nothing better to do than to apply powder and paint to beautify it, it is better to properly find a gold bean that is bumpy on the surface and whose shape cannot even be called regular. Although everything in the world will move towards its own end, that gold bean will be much more durable than the pig bladder, right?"

"Doing this comes down to interests in the end." Lu Huitian found this very hard to accept. "At least in politics and system, there must be some ideals, right?"

"Communism is the most about interests, and what Communism talks about is the interests of all mankind. Is obtaining comprehensive liberation not an interest? Back then when we were in Fengtai County, no one could guarantee the people's interests. Even if we, these outsiders who had just arrived, were willing to stand with the people, didn't the people still follow us and walk together? You have been in Hubei for quite a few years, you must have been to the steel plants many times. The deafening noise, the high temperature of thousands of degrees, one moment of carelessness means serious injury, falling into the molten steel means the whole person is immediately burned away, not even bone dregs can be found. That environment is probably even more terrifying than during the floods. The people still stand with us. And the work we do is to ensure as much as possible that everyone does not have accidents under normal work. We People's Party members, as the vanguard of the laborers, also have to go to the hardest environments to work, fighting high temperatures and promoting production. We labor there, and the working people also labor there. Did everything China has right now fall from the sky? Wasn't it still created together with the people? what I have never understood is, leaving perfectly good experience not to continue digging deep, but creating a system where bureaucracy dominates, is for what?" Chen Ke's attitude was very clear.

"No matter how correct the theory is, problems will be encountered in practice," Lu Huitian replied after a moment of silence.

Chen Ke shook his head, "Do not be afraid that the people are not used to it. Back then, the people were also used to having an Emperor, right? Where is the Emperor now? The most important characteristic of social development is to eliminate lies. I oppose the bureaucratic system leading everything because the bureaucratic system being able to lead everything is itself a lie. It is something that simply cannot be done. The moment the bureaucratic system detaches from the masses, this will be a pair of opposing contradictions."

Hearing Chen Ke's words, Lu Huitian replied calmly: "Even if the People's Party acts as the vanguard of the laborers, even if the bureaucratic system acts as a servant, there are many problems that are still very difficult to solve. The problem right now is that there is no very clear, very operational system. Some words I dare to speak to you, but I have no way to say to other comrades. The reason I hope to establish a bureaucratic system is that I feel the problem now lies in the distribution system. I know you want to expand the authority of the NPC, but what does the NPC do? I think you are very clear, if the NPC really grasps power, then it is a unit for dividing the cake. They will decide the final distribution system, and that will trigger a terrible long-term chaos. If the bureaucratic system decides the distribution power, it only needs to supervise. But if the NPC grasps the distribution power, that means disaster. I don't like those NPC representatives who claim to support me at all. When they try to influence the Party's policies for their own interests, I feel that shooting them would be letting them off lightly. You definitely understand what I mean by saying this."

The conversation had reached this point, and it was at its end. Lu Huitian was frank to an unparalleled degree, and Chen Ke was very moved. "Comrade Lu Huitian, our Party combines science and democracy. Science is the foundation of everything. The foundation of democracy is likewise science. This point cannot be shaken. I created so many negative examples, the goal is actually only one, which is to let everyone see what kind of result not talking about science and not talking about democracy will ultimately have. Humanity progresses in this process of constantly making mistakes. Looking at the present from the future, what we are doing now is all a pile of stupid things."

Lu Huitian did not expect Chen Ke to actually say such a sentence. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed out loud. "Is it all a pile of stupid things? Alright, Chairman Chen, no matter what my personal understanding and propositions are, as a Party member, I will obey the Party's resolutions."

Chen Ke nodded seriously, "Yes, every People's Party member, including myself, needs to stick to this discipline."