In 1918, the roar of the machine was not a description, but an elaboration. Factories require power, and Russia uses steam power, with large boilers as the source of power erected high and a rumbling roar driving various transmissions. The centralized supply of steam power is already a very advanced technology, and almost every large and medium-sized equipment needs an independent steam drive device.

In the earth-shattering roar, the humid environment full of scorching steam, and all kinds of fires can be seen everywhere, it is already extremely difficult to maintain mental and physical normalcy in such an environment, let alone concentrate on work. Industrial workers are faced with extremely harsh working conditions, as well as the frenzied oppression of capitalists, if there is really no other way to make a living, who would want to be a worker.

So after entering the People's Party factory, Berkov clearly felt that the machines in the People's Party factory were also roaring, but compared to the Russian factory, it was nothing in comparison. Comrade Berkov was surprised to find that most of the factories of the People's Party used electricity as a source of power. Even in heavy industrial companies like the Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant, the trains that pull ore from the river to the factories are steam-driven, and some large equipment is also steam-powered, but small and medium-sized equipment has been switched to electric motor drive.

Compared to heavy steam-powered equipment, electrically driven equipment is significantly smaller in size and weight. As a direct result of the reduced dead weight, the operating speed of the equipment is greatly increased. For example, the crane in a steel mill, if it is powered by steam, cannot be so lightweight, but it has enough power. Bundles of steel bars, several stacked steel plates, and rolls of rolled steel sheets can be easily lifted by the crane, and then used the rotation of its own boom to move. Most of the movements that Berkov saw in the Russian steel mills were transported by rail vehicles.

Originally, Berkov thought that the strength of the People's Party should be a large enterprise cluster that stretched for several kilometers or even a dozen kilometers, and even such a group of enterprises was not completely absent in Russia. Such business complexes exist in Moscow, St. Petersburg. After seeing the production of the People's Party's enterprises, although Berkov did not yet understand the technology behind it, he intuitively understood that it was a powerful force beyond the existing level of Russian industry.

Not only enterprises such as steel mills, but also military factories that produce guns and bullets, enterprises that produce various civilian equipment. The BJP has almost fully electrified. Of course, the result of electrification was a frequent occurrence of various failures, and in a few days there were more than a dozen major production interruptions caused by power failures that Berkov saw with his own eyes. There are even more small problems, and Berkov doesn't even want to bother to count them.

According to the information of the Bolsheviks, China had a population of 400 million, and if there were hundreds of cities like Wuhan, China would have the industrial power to almost completely overwhelm Russia. To arrive at such a conclusion only requires simple arithmetic ability, and does not even require a high level of political profundity.

After visiting the Wuhan Industrial Zone of the People's Party, Berkov visited the four-story residential area of Wuhan New Town. There are civil express railways between residential and industrial areas, buses, and a large number of Chinese workers riding bicycles to work. Inside the residential area are kindergartens, schools, hospitals, post offices, gardens and green spaces, squares, and recreational facilities. In broad daylight, the residential buildings in the community are deserted, and the school and kindergarten will be very lively after a while. In particular, kindergarten teachers often take their children to play in the green space, and a large group of small children follow behind the male and female teachers, some are screaming, some are laughing happily, and some are crying inexplicably.

Berkov is not married, let alone has children. Seeing such a large group of little dolls, he just couldn't help but smile on his face.

By the end of the day shift, the community was lively. People come and go, and the sound of stir-frying can be heard from the windows of every kitchen, wafting the aroma of various meals. The front of the steamed bun shop is always crowded with the most people. After eating, adults and children went out for a walk. Many people gathered around the radio in front of the store, listening to the radio and chatting and playing cards.

It was getting late, the lights were lit up in the windows of every house, and the children who were running around outside came home one by one at the shouts of their parents, and the streets gradually fell silent. Later, the lights of the city fade out. Workers in three shifts arrive at the time of commuting, and most of the workers who return late will eat something at the supper stall before going back to sleep. On top of that, the night in Wuhan is shrouded in the silence of sleepland, and it is not until dawn that it comes back to life with the crowd going to work and school.

One thing that Berkov noticed during his visit was that there were no rich areas and no slums in the bustling city of Wuhan. The living environment is almost identical, and all the shops provide services to everyone equally. Even the few foreigners in Wuhan buy all kinds of goods in Chinese shops. Of course, there are also a small number of exotic shops owned by foreigners, which are also open to Chinese.

There were no prostitutes soliciting customers, no beggars, and this 1918 Chinese city looked ordinary, and this sense of equality and ordinariness surprised Berkov the most. The style of the city is very much like the feeling that the People's Party gave to Berkov, very calm, very calm, and at the same time energetic. In this city, people can't help but have a desire to live happily and smoothly.

At the end of the visit, Comrade Berkov also had a desire that the People's Party, which was able to build such a city, might be able to live in peace with Russia. Chen Ke also gave enough respect to Comrade Berkov's sincere request, "Comrade Berkov, I think that peace based on the Nebuchu Treaty is a good choice for both China and Russia. We are ready to establish complete good-neighborly relations with Russia on the basis of the Nebuchu Treaty. After saying this, Chen Ke sincerely wished that the Bolsheviks of the Communist Party of China headed by Comrade Lenin would win a complete victory in the Russian Liberation War at an early date. Then let Zhang Yu send Comrade Berkov away.

Comrade Berkov understood that in the face of the communist party of the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, Chen Ke finally revealed his true face as a nationalist. According to Berkov's judgment, Zhang Yu, who was in charge of receiving the Bolshevik deputies of the Communist Party of China, should be an important figure in the People's Party. So Comrade Berkov and Zhang Yu discussed the nationalist tendencies of the People's Party, even imperialist tendencies.

Zhang Yu replied quite simply, "Comrade Berkov, as far as we know, the Bolsheviks of the Communist Party of China are also negotiating an armistice with Germany, and they are likely to accept the extremely harsh armistice conditions of the German side. I can't help but ask the question why you did that with Germany. It's really puzzling. ”

After listening to Zhang Yu's threatening words, Berkov felt that it was pure nonsense to continue negotiations with the People's Party at this stage, and the People's Party seemed to have made up its mind to attack Russia. This act of falling into the grave caused a strong patriotic and righteous anger boiling in Comrade Berkov's heart, as well as a deep hatred of the reactionary ideas of the People's Party.

Seeing off Berkov, Zhang Yu unexpectedly received an invitation from the British Consulate, and as the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zhang Yu could only take his secretary to attend the diplomatic ball at the British Consulate. At the meeting, the British minister to China asked whether the People's Party wanted to make Wuhan the capital.

This is also something that has been discussed within the BJP, and the model of mobile central government, which Chen Ke pioneered a few years ago, largely solved the problems encountered by the provinces at that time. The troubles at that time were solved, which brought new ones. The BJP is not at all in debate about where it is. Wuhan is now being built very well, but the comrades have found that Chen Ke has not shown any intention of making Wuhan the capital. Zhang Yu didn't want to worry about it, he smiled and said, "Isn't Mr. Minister used to the climate in Wuhan?" ”

"Not really," laughed the British minister, "but the construction of an embassy in your capital is also something we need to do." ”

"Can we wait for the time being after we complete the reunification of the country?" Zhang Yu smiled, "Or does Mr. Minister not trust us?" ”

Of course, the British minister knew that Zhang Yu was joking, although he was actually looking forward to the defeat of the People's Party's unification war, the British minister still laughed and said: "Minister Zhang is really funny. ”

After talking about the recent trade problems for a while, the British minister introduced the one who walked up to the two men, "I think Minister Zhang must have met the Russian minister." ”

Of course, Zhang Yu has met the Russian minister, but now the minister has a feeling that he is not worthy of the name. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Romanov dynasty fell. The October Revolution overthrew the Kerensky Provisional Government, which had come to power after the February Revolution. However, the Russian minister in front of him is still the minister appointed by Tsar Nicholas II, who does not know where he is now. It was only because the attitude of the Entente countries towards China, Britain and France was still quite ambiguous, and because the collapsed Russian Kerensky Provisional Government had no time to deal with the Chinese question when it was in power, that this gentleman could continue to be called the "Russian Minister".

Since the task of introducing the audience had been accomplished, the British minister left Zhang Yu and the "Russian minister" aside under the pretext that he wanted to talk to the Belgian minister.

Zhang Yu's foreign language is not very good, and he basically relies on translation to the outside world. The Russian envoy also knew that Russian was not the main language of China's foreign exchanges, and when the two of them and their entourage went to a secluded place, the Russian envoy simply spoke French. Zhang Yu's interpreter listened carefully to the words of the Russian envoy and carried out the translation work in a timely manner, "I heard that your country has provided some medicines to Britain and France, and I wonder if your country is willing to uphold the obligations of the Entente members and also provide these medicines to us. ”

Unscrupulous means for victory are completely within the scope of Zhang Yu's acceptance, but Zhang Yu, like the comrades of the People's Party, believes that the scope of application of "unscrupulous means" should be in "cultivating internal strength," not getting some drugs from unknown sources to eat, and then bursting out with "combat effectiveness" under the effect of drugs.

In fact, the People's Party's internal concern about the "Shengong Body Protection Pill" was also after Chen Ke recommended this drug to Britain and France. However, the drug was as addictive as Chen Ke "expected". The comrades who volunteered to use these drugs for experiments were determined comrades, and they still encountered great difficulties when they quit. The prisoners who tested the drug almost used the method of treating mental illness, tying up plates and even electric shocks to achieve physical abstinence, and they still encountered great problems in psychological dependence.

Of course, the effects of this drug are indeed very terrible. The comrades on probation created the work of continuous copying, exercise, and even the calculation of a large amount of data without sleeping for three days in a row. Foreign devils are eager for this drug, and Zhang Yu can fully understand it. If you don't consider the side effects of the drug, every time Zhang Yu imagines the scene of millions of foreign devils entering China after taking the drug, he does feel a little hairy in his heart. In the face of such a terrible demonic medicine, Zhang Yu felt more of a heartfelt fear of Chen Ke's "chemical genius".

"Do you want to use this drug?" Zhang Yu asked.

"I want to use Russian industry in China as collateral to buy some of this drug." The Russian minister said eagerly.

Zhang Yu was a little stunned by this, this "Russian minister" actually did not have the right to dispose of Russian property in China, and his offering of such completely unrealistic conditions was really not in line with the status of the minister. However, Zhang Yu quickly figured out that if the "Russian minister" could send this drug back to China as quickly as possible to curry favor with the Russian forces that were at war with the Bolshevik government of the United Communist Party, it would be very likely that he would continue to serve as the "Russian minister."

However, this idea was quickly overturned by Zhang Yu himself, and if this drug was needed, it could actually be recommended by Britain and France to the Russian side. Russia was notoriously poor, and it was not a heavy burden for Britain and France to give Russia a portion of the medicines. But why did the British minister take a long detour to let Zhang Yu contact the "Russian minister", who God knows how long?

Therefore, after agreeing to reach a sales intention "in principle", Zhang Yu left the Russian minister and found the British minister. The British Minister was talking with the Dutch Minister at this time, and when Zhang Yu asked what the Entente countries thought of the current Russian government, the British Minister said with satisfaction: "Do you know that the Moscow government is negotiating with Germany?" ”

"Huh?" Zhang Yu knew that Chen Ke had predicted this, and when the British minister provided more accurate information, Zhang Yu could only pretend to be stupid and say, "I don't know for the time being." ”

"Then you know now." The British minister, Masuse, said, "The Entente will absolutely not accept this action taken by the Moscow government, let alone the choice of the Moscow government to withdraw from the Entente." ”

"That means the Entente doesn't recognize the Moscow government?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Yes, the Entente does not recognize the Moscow government, and it is impossible to establish diplomatic relations with the Moscow government." The British minister said very seriously.

Although I don't know if the British side has heard any rumors, the first thought in Zhang Yu's mind now is that even if he joins the Entente, the Chinese government of the People's Party is still a second-rate role that needs to be guarded against in the eyes of Britain and France. The next thought was to see if someone inside had leaked the news to the Entente.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu nodded slightly, and said to the British minister: "I know." ”