On February 24, the Asian International Tribunal issued a routine press release. Since the object of this trial was 60,421 criminal suspects, in order not to let the trial drag on for a long time, 7 Chief Judges were set up, including 3 from Britain, and 1 each from France, Italy, Germany, and Austria.

35 judges were set up: 5 from Britain, 9 from France, 5 each from Italy, Germany, Austria, and China, and 1 from Hungary.

A prosecutor team was set up to be responsible for reviewing the criminal facts and filing lawsuits. Since countries around the world had sent legal personnel at this time, each country sent 4 personnel to form the prosecutor team.

A Lawyer Service Center was set up. Anyone who wants to provide lawyer services will obtain defense qualifications as long as they pass the lawyer qualification certification of the Asian International Tribunal. If invited, they can provide lawyer services for specific persons. If the criminal suspect does not apply for a lawyer, the Asian International Tribunal will appoint a lawyer for them.

All the above personnel arrangements were decided by the Presidium of the Asian International Tribunal, valid only for this trial, and did not become the general process of the Asian International Tribunal.

...

After the content was published in the newspapers, the outside world naturally discussed it, but couldn't pick out any special problems. Although the big shots in the legal circle responsible for formulating the process stated that 'justice cannot be influenced by public sentiment,' they privately organized personnel to browse through the snowflake-like telegrams and letters one by one to analyze public comments.

Governments of various countries also had their own channels to communicate with their domestic judicial figures. When the governments of various countries confirmed that the Chinese government really did not manipulate the Asian International Tribunal, but really ran this organization as an academic institution operated by experts from various parties through committees, Britain and France had their own thoughts. However, Britain and France soon found that the scholars didn't buy it.

After several failed attempts by the French department responsible for this matter, they had to submit a report with some annoyance. The general idea of the report was: Since British and French experts are not the leaders in the various committees of the Asian International Tribunal. Although experts from various countries don't say it, they know it very well in their hearts. Therefore, British and French experts cannot obtain dominance.

Because the academic circle hopes to obtain independence, respect, and a relationship with the government that ensures the good operation of the academic organization. At this stage, British and French experts identify with their current status and enjoy the current working environment. They do not want to lose these by strengthening relations with their own governments.

...

The French upper echelon knew the nature of their domestic legal circle and their own strength very well. Now the French Republic couldn't even settle domestic affairs, let alone settle the Asian International Tribunal. At least the Asian International Tribunal was actually striking Britain. As long as this goal could be achieved, the French upper echelon could temporarily be satisfied with this situation.

On February 25, the Asian International Tribunal announced that the investigation team would arrive in the massacre area on March 4 to conduct on-site inspections. As soon as the news came out, the somewhat weary onlookers became excited. It started, finally started!

On February 26, the British army in Yangon began to move north. Outside the British army station, Burmese people avoided one after another, fearing being involved. In the past few decades, Britain had long been accustomed to the appearance of people in the Lower Burma region daring to be angry but not daring to speak. The British army did not pay attention to these Burmese people; their attention was all on the Chinese army they would soon encounter.

The British Command in India did consider that this was a conspiracy of the Chinese army, trying to lure the British army to attack. In this military operation, all troops marched in a rigorous manner, giving the Chinese army no opportunity. In terms of campaign objectives, the British army was not obsessed with regaining the area north of Yangon, but to demonstrate the existence of the British army in this area. By preventing the investigation team from entering the area, breaking the insidious plot of the Chinese government.

Among those fleeing Lower Burmese, most fled out of habit. There were also some members of the Burmese independence movement who had established relationships with local forces, aiming to provide intelligence on the British army to the Republic National Defense Force.

On the side of the Chinese National Defense Force, through intelligence provided by members of the Burmese independence movement, the designation of the British army had been roughly determined. For this offensive, Britain invested about 60,000 troops from 3 British Army divisions transported from the mainland, and about 60,000 troops from 30 regiments transported from India.

The Japanese troops in the Anglo-Japanese Joint Forces moved to higher ground after disembarking at Chittagong and began to build a defense system, not participating in this campaign. This reassured the Republic National Defense Force a lot. The Japanese army and the Republic National Defense Force were both East Asian armies, having that ruthlessness in their bones. There was no lack of cunning in assessing the situation. The Japanese army not participating in the action was a certain attitude.

The British army moved very slowly. It was thought that they should be able to march more than 50 kilometers by February 28, but unexpectedly, the British army insisted on 'crawling' for 4 days to cover these 50 kilometers.

On March 2, when the British army finally arrived 50 kilometers north of Yangon, the Anglo-Japanese Joint Command immediately received two pieces of news. The British army north of Yangon was attacked by the Chinese army, which was expected by Britain. And a Chinese army killed out from the Siliguri Corridor and invaded the West Bengal region, which the British army had also considered. However, the Chinese army killing out from here had ample firepower, especially since they actually found a small path through the mountainous area and launched an attack on the defense system established by Britain from both front and rear directions. Four infantry regiments of the British Indian Army collapsed in an instant, and the two British infantry regiments serving as the core of defense instantly became isolated islands.

The Chinese army left a part of the troops to besiege these two British infantry regiments, and most of the troops began to attack towards the West Bengal region.

Both the south and the north were attacked, and the already tense Anglo-Japanese Joint Command became even more tense. As the deputy commander of the joint forces, Nagata Tetsuzan looked at the flustered British army, and a familiar feeling arose spontaneously. Wasn't this the situation after the Japanese army was attacked in Korea? As the enemy, the Chinese army was large in number, the offensive spearhead was very sharp, and the progress was amazing. Although the Japanese army resisted with all its might, all efforts paid a huge price but were useless. That feeling was too terrible!

Based on Cheng Ruofan's experience, Zhong Yifu, the First Committee Member of the Southwest Bureau, would definitely be sleepless for a few days after the battle started. In order not to increase pressure on Zhong Yifu, Chief of General Staff Cheng Ruofan ran to inspect the Burma Road before the war started.

In the mountains, this road, which had been built for more than a year, wound up in the mountains and was quite complete at this time. The road surface changed from the initial stone roller crushing and rammed earth treatment to layered rammed gravel road. After these treatments, the solidity of the road surface was greatly improved, and the water seepage problem was also greatly improved. Trucks and animal carts traveling on the road walked much more briskly.

What satisfied Cheng Ruofan even more was that bridges had been built in many places. Places that originally required climbing over mountains and walking dozens of *li* of mountain roads now had bridges built. Just a not-so-tall reinforced concrete bridge often saved a dozen or even dozens of *li* of journey.

Following these bridges, Cheng Ruofan went to the destination of his inspection this time: many small hydroelectric stations.