On February 14, the first cocktail party was held in the newly established Anglo-Japanese Joint Command. The previous commander of the British Command in India was recalled to the country due to a series of defeats. The newly appointed Lieutenant General Lawrence served as the Commander of the Anglo-Japanese Joint Forces, and the Deputy Commander was Nagata Tetsuzan from Japan.

The headquarters was located in Dhaka, the capital of the Bengal region of British India. The local governor's mansion here was magnificent, with a wide lawn of oily green, trimmed very neatly. Lieutenant General Lawrence and Lieutenant General Nagata each took a glass of wine from the long table where drinks were placed, walking and chatting side by side on the gravel path.

Nagata praised frankly, "Bengal is truly a beautiful place."

Lieutenant General Lawrence nodded. "Yes, Bengal has rich products and beautiful scenery. We must never let the Chinese invade Bengal."

"The purpose of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is to defeat China's aggression," Nagata said sincerely.

After expressing his gratitude, Lieutenant General Lawrence asked, "I wonder when General Ishiwara will arrive?"

"Lieutenant General Ishiwara is arranging the work of the 15th Army, and he has contracted malaria. Although he is recovering through treatment, it should be a while before he comes to Dhaka," Nagata replied. This time the Japanese Army sent out its elite. Nagata served as the Deputy Commander of the Anglo-Japanese Joint Forces. Three Japanese divisions formed the 15th Army, with Ishiwara serving as the commander and Okamura as the army chief of staff. Ishiwara falling ill indeed made Nagata very worried. Fortunately, the drug treatment was very effective, and nothing bad happened.

The Japanese Navy also sent a squadron. The flagship was the cruiser *Isuzu*, commanding two cruisers and a transport fleet. The squadron commander was Captain Yamamoto Isoroku.

Hearing that Ishiwara had contracted malaria, Lieutenant General Lawrence quickly said, "General Nagata, I will send someone to deliver quinine."

Nagata expressed his thanks and continued to discuss the judgment of the Chinese army with Lawrence. Since Ishiwara had provided an analysis report long ago, after this conversation, Nagata felt very 'regretful' about the British army's mountain combat capability. Although General Lawrence clearly stated that the British army would defend Yangon to the death, as the conversation continued, to a military strategist like Nagata, the statement of defending Yangon seemed a bit like trying to hide something but making it more conspicuous.

The plain area is where Britain can exert its advantages. When Lieutenant General Lawrence mentioned military arrangements, most of what he said was about the defense system arranged on the Indian side along the traditional border between India and Burma. That is to say, Burma is indeed very important, but it is by no means important enough for the British to defend it at all costs. This was completely consistent with Ishiwara's analysis, making Nagata completely sure that Ishiwara's view was correct.

Before leaving the country, the Japanese Expeditionary Force had established the principle of not pulling chestnuts out of the fire for Britain. Now finding that Britain did not have the determination to defend Burma to the death, the Japanese army had even less reason to become a consumed force.

The exchange between the British and Japanese commanders was very frank. The exchange time was not long, but it was very enjoyable. As the two walked back along the gravel path of the vast mansion of the Governor of Dhaka, the capital of Bengal, they heard music playing. The ball at the cocktail party was about to begin. General Lawrence laughed, "General Nagata, let's go back quickly; they are sending us a signal now."

Nagata knew the European rules and followed Lieutenant General Lawrence to the dance floor.

On the morning of the next day, several Chinese envoys came to the Anglo-Japanese Joint Command. The envoys behaved neither humbly nor arrogantly when entering the headquarters, which made Nagata sigh in his heart. The Chinese army had won repeatedly under He Rui's leadership and had accumulated considerable confidence.

Everyone had no intention of a long talk. After delivering the document, the Chinese envoy stood up and left. Everyone in the headquarters soon learned that the content of this document was: 'The Chinese army appeals to the British Command in India to designate the site of the massacre as a demilitarized zone for tribunal investigators to conduct on-site investigations.'

Everyone in the headquarters looked at the map. The terrain of Burma is a plain surrounded by mountains. In the southwest point of the plain by the sea, it is Yangon, the capital of Lower Burma, which Commander Lieutenant General Lawrence said he would 'never give up.' Now the Burmese territory controlled by Britain only remained in the southern part of the Burmese plain. The 'non-combat zone' proposed by the Chinese military was within the range of 50-100 kilometers north of Yangon. If this place was defined as a non-combat zone and left to the Asian International Tribunal for investigation, it would mean Britain had no room to resist at all.

Although Nagata admired He Rui's means very much, he also felt that He Rui doing this was really quite excessive. It even smacked of bullying too much! Looking at the British officers in the headquarters again, each one was quite angry. This made Nagata couldn't help suspecting, were these British officers really angry, or were they pretending? At least Nagata felt a strong provocative meaning from the document sent by the Chinese military.

The area north of Yangon, Burma, is part of the Burmese plain, but it is adjacent to the mountains of western Burma. If the British army tries to seize this area, its retreat path is likely to be cut off by the National Defense Force suddenly killing out from the nearby mountains. If Britain wants to win a victory, at least it needs to mobilize troops of about 200,000.

Listening to the discussion of the British officers, Nagata found that these guys began to form an idea: 'We must not let the Chinese conspiracy succeed!' But based on the record of the British army fighting the Chinese army before, Nagata was really not optimistic.

At this time in Kunming, the Chief of General Staff and Southwest Bureau Committee Member Zhong Yifu were discussing whether to drive the British out of southern Burma. Zhong Yifu became more confident as he fought, "Taking Burma completely at this stage will not affect the intensity of our blow to Britain. And from a military point of view, Britain should be very clear that it actually cannot hold Burma. I think instead of spending so much thought, it's better to cut the Gordian knot."

Cheng Ruofan had a good relationship with Zhong Yifu, so the two communicated very frankly in private. Cheng Ruofan shook his head repeatedly. "Not necessarily. After we take the entire Burma, we give the British a chance to land on the coast. We have no navy at all; how many troops do you plan to deploy for defense? 100,000? Or 200,000? If the British army still maintains a presence, you can completely pin them down with 50,000 troops."

Zhong Yifu felt this was the view of the Central Military Commission, so he followed Cheng Ruofan's train of thought and said, "If you say so, our target of attack is actually here!"

Saying this, his finger pointed to the Siliguri Corridor. Cheng Ruofan did not comment but asked, "How is the road construction going?"

Zhong Yifu answered decisively, "Those Indian prisoners worked very hard under the command of their British masters. Now the road has been completed, but given the precipitation in this area, I don't know who should be responsible for road maintenance."

Cheng Ruofan nodded slightly; this was where the problem lay. China was fighting on exterior lines, and the logistical pressure was very high. And this was under the condition that domestic land reform went smoothly, and a lot of grain did not need to be transferred from Hunan and Hubei but was transported directly from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Even so, this still required a huge cost.

These costs were completely within China's tolerance for now. The biggest problem was exactly what Zhong Yifu said: who should maintain the completed transportation lines in Burma, and how to maintain them. Without exaggeration, as long as this problem was solved, at the current stage of the Sino-British war, the Chinese army could completely beat up the British army however they wanted. That was really fighting however they wanted.

Just then, the Southwest Bureau committee member in charge of civil affairs asked a question, "Chief of Staff Cheng, I wonder how our domestic tea sales are now?"

"What do you mean how?" Cheng Ruofan was confused by this question and looked at Zhong Yifu. Judging from Zhong Yifu's nonchalant expression, Zhong Yifu actually knew what this Southwest Bureau civil affairs committee member wanted to say, but Zhong Yifu did not speak for the civil affairs committee member. So Cheng Ruofan turned to the Southwest Bureau civil affairs committee member, waiting for him to continue to explain clearly.

The civil affairs committee member continued, "If the quantity of tea provided in our supply and marketing cooperatives increases by two times, mainly black tea, I don't know if our domestic market can buy it all."

"Who produces the black tea?" Cheng Ruofan asked.

"The black tea plantations in the Assam region," the Southwest Bureau civil affairs committee member replied.

Cheng Ruofan found this idea quite interesting, and he also felt he understood why this matter seemed a bit strange. Because selling goods is originally the work of civil affairs, but this trade was completed in the war zone. So Zhong Yifu actually managed this, but Zhong Yifu couldn't propose it.

Since the comrades of the Southwest Bureau were so clear about the organizational structure, Cheng Ruofan couldn't let everyone down. He said, "You prepare a little; I will send the report to the central government."

The Central Military Commission manages war, not business. So He Rui entrusted this matter to Premier Wu Youping for discussion. After reading the report, Wu Youping also felt it was strange. The Assam region was now a military control zone. The State Council managed civil affairs, and the civil affairs department ran over there to conduct an international trade, importing black tea from a foreign country to the domestic market. From a normal economic perspective, the domestic market also had to transport goods to the Assam region for sale.

Just such a thing was nothing for current China. In the mountains of Southwest and Northwest China, the Republic government was doing the same thing. But involving foreign countries, it felt very uncomfortable.

Wu Youping convened a meeting of relevant departments. Before people arrived, Wu Youping thought over and over again, trying to extract some key points from it. When the comrades from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security arrived, Wu Youping asked, "If we implement domestic land reform in the Assam region and Upper Burma region, and establish a government system like ours, what problems do comrades think we will encounter?"

The ministers had to read the news every day. Place names like Assam and Upper Burma were not unfamiliar to the ministers. Everyone looked at Wu Youping. Seeing Wu Youping looking calm, the brows of the participating ministers couldn't help frowning. After a burst of silence, the Minister of Civil Affairs spoke first, "I think the difficulty is not very big. We have indeed accumulated a lot of experience in mountainous areas. Those places have language barriers and backward political forms. Our work teams still pushed the work forward."

Hearing this, Wu Youping was not blindly optimistic. The calmer the previous statement, the more often it means that what follows must be a very sharp question.

Sure enough, the Minister of Civil Affairs asked, "If it is in the Assam region and Upper Burma region, for these regions, who is the central government?"

Hearing this, Wu Youping suddenly realized. Implementing land reform in the Assam region and Upper Burma was only slightly difficult. But legally, and in terms of accountability to the domestic public, the question of 'who is the central government' was a stumbling block lying across all actions.

The meeting lasted for about an hour. Wu Youping immediately went to find He Rui and reported the questions raised by the comrades at the meeting to He Rui. After the report, Wu Youping stared at He Rui, wanting to see if He Rui would be unhappy or give a decisive solution firmly.

Unexpectedly, He Rui was not in a hurry or panic, smiling calmly, "Youping, at such a time, what we have to consider is to stand with those countries that share common values with us."

Wu Youping was stunned. He Rui's understated answer indeed made Wu Youping unable to understand, and he couldn't even think of how to communicate.

He Rui laughed, "Grasping the point of having common values makes it easy to solve foreign affairs."

"...Common values, isn't it developing productive forces?" Wu Youping tried hard to communicate with He Rui.

"That's right. Developing productive forces is our common value. Based on common values, we have to talk reality with the Burmese people! The reality is simple: we can give the Burma region all the facts of independence, but we just can't let Burma be independent! You know why, Youping."

Wu Youping didn't expect 'countries with common values' to appear so quickly, and his heart was greatly shocked. Even so, Wu Youping thought for a moment and replied, "If we let Burma be independent, we are openly challenging the current international order. Even if France is willing to cooperate with us now, as long as we support Burma's independence, France will immediately stand on our opposite side!"

"You are right. Therefore, at this stage, the central government of Assam and Upper Burma is our Republic government. This is the reality that must be admitted at present. After clarifying this point, do you have any other questions?"

Hearing He Rui say this, Wu Youping stood up and replied, "No more questions; I'll go prepare for the next meeting now."