On January 27, it snowed in Hangzhou. The early spring snow fluttered down, shrouding this famous Jiangnan city in pure whiteness. Those ancient Jiangnan buildings revealed another kind of beauty in the white snow, different from the cold and rigid lines of the north, elegant and calm, like a lady from a noble family.

In front of the glass windows of the corridor on the 6th floor of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission building in the new urban area of Hangzhou, scholars of various ancestries stood. All of them saw the snow scenery of Hangzhou for the first time, and were intoxicated by the beauty composed of natural weather, architecture, and scenery.

Until the bell rang in the office, the legal experts restored their expressions, cold and steady, like the text in thick judicial codes.

There were thousands of legal experts from various countries attending the Asian International Tribunal, so two venues were set up. The main venue was in Shanghai, including executive departments such as prosecution, interpretation of law, trial, and defense. Observation groups from various countries were also in Shanghai to attend and participate in the discussion of the entire case at any time. These departments required the most manpower.

The auxiliary venue was set in Hangzhou. Among the various departments coming to Hangzhou, mainly those not needing to participate directly in the trial, the Presidium responsible for discussing all rules came to Hangzhou.

The members of the Presidium did not participate in the trial, which might seem incredible to ordinary people, but it was just the most basic principle for legal scholars. The Convener of the Presidium, Zhao Tianlin, said, "Given that the Asian International Tribunal is convened by China, we tend not to serve as chief judges."

Other legal experts as members of the Presidium remained silent until the Austrian representative Ferdinand broke the silence, "Professor Zhao, the International Tribunal is an academic organization. I think this kind of recusal has little significance."

Zhao Tianlin nodded. "Indeed, it has little significance. But the International Tribunal is operating for the first time and has not yet formed a set of regulations. Therefore, legal personnel of Chinese origin not serving as chief judges conforms to the perception of public order and good morals."

Although the law is cold, the law serves the human world. This world is full of various positive and negative thoughts, vibrant yet harboring murderous intent. So the members of the Presidium did not oppose Zhao Tianlin's view. Of course, they didn't strongly support it either; everyone just maintained a tacit silence.

Zhao Tianlin asked the staff to remove the Chinese judges from the list of chief judges, and the staff began to introduce the remaining candidates for chief judge. Hungary really couldn't produce any incredible judges. The truly competitive judges were all legal experts from five countries: Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Austria.

After the staff introduced these candidates to the 12-member committee, the first round of voting began. The voting adopted a secret ballot, and the selection was multiple-choice rather than single-choice. The goal of the first round was to select 20 judges with the most votes from the list of 50 people as candidates.

The voting results were quickly obtained through vote counting. Among the 20 candidates, there were 7 from Britain, 5 from France, 3 each from Germany and Italy, and 2 from Austria.

The second round was to interview the 20 people one by one. Select 10 people from them.

These selected lists were made public immediately. Because China voluntarily gave up competing for the chief judge, and the United States failed to be shortlisted because its political tradition was inherently barbaric and evil. Ordinary Europeans should not know much about the legal circle, but those who made the list of 20 were all resounding figures in the European legal circle. Insiders in the legal circle, even if not familiar, had at least heard of these people's reputations and deeds. The legal experts participating in the International Tribunal faced the list and began to evaluate it on their own.

It was not only people in the legal circle who got the list but also a large number of media personnel. They were called media personnel because with the popularization of radio stations and the emergence of radios, a new medium, broadcasting stations, appeared in the United States, China, and European countries. Newspapers no longer completely ruled the media.

After getting the list, major media immediately sent the news to all parts of the world. The names of legal experts previously unknown to the public immediately spread throughout the world with the introduction of the media.

Britain was forced to respond to the challenge. Precisely because of this, Britain dispatched a powerful team. It was called the joint expedition of the British Empire Bar Association and Fleet Street. Although Fleet Street sounded like a naval organization, it was actually the place where British media was most concentrated. With such powerful media power, Britain soon received the latest news.

When the British public learned that there were 7 British people in the list of 20, making it the country with the most finalists, the British public's mood immediately became happy. Although they didn't really know why they were so happy, the happy mood was uncontrollable.

However, there was no such optimism in the British Foreign Office. On the contrary, British diplomatic personnel looked quite lost, even like they had lost a battle.

The British Foreign Office had made various preparations, even considering the possibility that the chief judge would be a Chinese judge, and prepared a large number of speeches to counterattack China immediately. However, various preparations were made, but the possibility that no Chinese judge would be selected was not expected.

Since the regulations of the Asian International Tribunal were all public, and the latest progress would be released regularly at press conferences, the British Foreign Office had to accept China's statement that 'the International Tribunal is an academic organization,' and was deeply annoyed by it.

In terms of possibility, the British government could certainly attack an academic organization, but the British government was not that stupid. Not to mention that there were a large number of British legal experts in this 'academic organization,' just the government attacking the academic organization itself would become the laughingstock of Europe, not to mention that such an attack would truly anger the academic circle and some private individuals.

Therefore, the British Foreign Office's view was that among the legal experts from various countries participating in the International Tribunal, the number of Chinese legal experts was less than 10%. If the number of selected Chinese experts exceeded this proportion, they would criticize the Chinese government for using the academic circle. If the number of Chinese experts was lower than this proportion, they would mock that the strength of Chinese legal experts was not recognized by European legal experts.

However, Zhao Tianlin actually used 'recusal' as a reason not to send anyone to participate in the selection of the chief judge, leaving the British Foreign Office unsure of what to do for a moment. This was like in a battle that was sure to be won, the opponent suddenly didn't show up for reasons of high integrity, while Britain had to continue to show up. This left the British Foreign Office unable to find a way to crack it.

In the end, the British Foreign Office had to make a decision not to speak actively for the time being.

The results of the second round of selection came out two days later. Among the 10 people, there were 4 from Britain, 3 from France, and 1 each from Italy, Germany, and Austria.

The British people rejoiced, and the French people were also happy. However, the British Foreign Office vaguely felt that there seemed to be some conspiracy in this. They hurriedly sent a telegram to the British delegation participating in the Asian International Tribunal, asking the delegation for their views on these personnel.

The telegram came back quickly, and the content was exactly as the British Foreign Office expected. These 10 people were big shots with reputations outside in the European legal circle. With their strength, they were fully qualified to obtain this status. At least in the legal circle, everyone sympathized with the losers but would not accuse the elected people of any problems.

The British Foreign Office held a meeting overnight. The Foreign Secretary's view was, 'The Chinese deliberately increased the proportion of British legal experts to demonstrate their impartiality.'

Some participants with relatively low levels thought that letting legal experts from the British Isles try Australians was China wanting to see Britain's joke. Hearing this, the Chief Secretary of the Foreign Office immediately darkened his face, "The Chinese are not that narrow-minded! They precisely want to highlight their impartiality! To establish the image of the Asian International Tribunal!"

After speaking, the Chief Secretary of the Foreign Office couldn't help pulling his tie to lessen the constraint felt on his neck. When breathing became easier, seeing that those guys still hadn't fully understood, the Chief Secretary felt even more unhappy. But at this time, the Foreign Office needed unity, and everyone must contribute their intelligence. The Chief Secretary suppressed his unhappiness and continued to explain, "Those experts know very well that under such high attention, no problems can occur in any judgment. Any problem will be discovered by people, ranging from being ridiculed to ruining one's reputation. The Chinese also know this very well. Therefore, the greater the number of British chief judges, the more beneficial it is for China. You think the Chinese want to see Britain make a fool of itself; this conclusion is not wrong. So China precisely wants to give British legal experts more opportunities to make mistakes!"

The British Foreign Office was full of smart people. Hearing this, everyone fully understood. At this moment, the British Foreign Office had a deeper understanding of China's insidiousness.

Hiding China in the shadow of academic institutions and using academics to trap Britain. Darkness under the lamp, dark! This is truly dark!