On September 15, the British delegation arrived in Saigon. Seeing the tropical palm trees and the azure sky outside the porthole, and feeling the humid air rushing towards him, Churchill, who was among the delegation, couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

Other members of the British delegation knew that Churchill was here representing the hardliners within Britain, and some statements had to be made by Churchill. But the other delegation members did not feel high-spirited just because Churchill was full of fighting will; on the contrary, the morale of the British delegation members was not high.

When Britain had no choice but to send a delegation, some things had already been decided. The purpose of the British delegation was merely to strive for a few more benefits within the possible scope, and the so-called 'possible' was only relative. One didn't even need intelligence on China provided by British intelligence agencies; just looking at the descriptions of China's current status in European newspapers was enough to understand that the impact of the Sino-British war on China's economy was not obvious.

China not only supported the war with its own strength but even had spare capacity to fully popularize bicycles—a commodity that couldn't be considered cheap even in Europe—throughout China. In Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Jiangning (Nanjing), the Wuhan tri-cities, Beiping, Tianjin, and the new capital Zhengzhou, the roads of Chinese cities where large numbers of European reporters went were full of various styles of bicycles and human-powered tricycles.

In Europe, the bicycle was more of a means of transportation. In China, the bicycle had become a means of transport for goods, and its appearance naturally fit the needs of transport functions very well. Reinforced frames, wide rear seats. And the flat pallets added outside the rear wheel axle could all provide auxiliary functions for transport.

With the help of these attachments, not only could China's tricycles transport mountain-like loads of goods, but bicycles could do the same. Those Chinese riders, with balance and handling abilities that left European reporters dumbfounded, rode bicycles carrying large and small bags on city streets and roads leading from rural areas to cities. So much so that European reporters who had just arrived in China mistakenly thought that China had begun using bicycles in large quantities long ago. The young reporters' reasoning was very sufficient: if the Chinese did not have long-term accumulation, how could they have mastered such terrifying riding abilities?

Apart from these daily sights, many European reporters with insight into economics discovered that the Chinese government was not only building thermal power stations in large numbers, but these power stations also used turbine power generation, which was considered very advanced even in Europe and America. There were quite a few German engineers and Soviet engineers in China's technology R&D teams. And there was no lack of mathematics professors from Europe in Chinese universities.

What Chinese newspapers reported was the regional economic construction currently underway in China. Factories in the core cities of economic zones were being built in large numbers. Roads, railways, and shipping were spreading out across the Chinese land, outlining the transportation network China was building.

And Chinese private capital, especially private capital that had dealt with Britain for decades, was also striving to open factories. China's textile industry, which once teetered under the impact of foreign capital and factories, had developed at an astonishing speed just because it received protection provided by the Chinese government in the past three years.

And compared to the development of other industries, the textile industry—this easiest-to-develop light industry—did not appear particularly outstanding. The British side could roughly determine that the war had merely increased the financial burden on the Chinese government, while China's domestic development was very strong.

Looking back at Britain, the war forced Britain to send an expeditionary force far away. The Indian tax revenue in '25 was a deficit of over 11 million pounds, and '26 in India would definitely be a deficit too. As for '27, if the war did not end, it would also be a deficit.

The economy of the British homeland was even worse than that of India. The cost of mobilizing the army had long exceeded two hundred million pounds. As for what the future would hold, the British Treasury was unwilling to provide figures.

In addition to this, the attitudes of Italy and Spain towards Britain were becoming increasingly tough day by day. The Soviet Union, which originally presented a defensive posture facing countries like Poland and Romania, had also undergone some different changes at this time. Romania was a bit better off, but Poland was extremely vigilant about any disturbance from the Soviet Union. The Polish government had formally submitted a request to the British government for Britain to provide more aid to strengthen Poland's military power to cope with some military movements on the Soviet border.

Right now, Britain lacked nothing except money. In this world, money is not omnipotent, but one absolutely cannot do without money. The British upper class did not choose to negotiate with China because they were afraid of China, but entirely because the Sino-British war was pointlessly consuming Britain's precious wealth. Even if the war turned into a standoff now, Britain would have to continue throwing money into this bottomless pit.

Of course, the sober understanding of the British delegation did not make them express a willingness for peace from the very beginning. As soon as the Chinese and British sides sat down in the conference room meticulously prepared by the French, Churchill stood up and said in a standard British upper-class London accent: "If China wants to negotiate, it must withdraw behind the border line!"

How could the Chinese representative let Churchill clamor like this? He shouted back immediately: "We withdraw behind the border line, and then let you Anglo-Saxon Bandits continue to massacre the Myanmar people? We entered Myanmar to wipe out the Anglo-Saxon Bandits at the request of the Myanmar people. Now that the Anglo-Saxon Bandits have not been thoroughly exterminated, the war pursuing justice and peace is not yet over."

The brilliant cursing match between the warlike parties lasted for more than half an hour, which delighted the interviewing reporters. This report would definitely mobilize the readers' emotions and greatly increase sales.

This cursing match was so brilliant that after the newspaper reports, a hell joke that would be passed down to later generations even emerged.

"What color is the mermaid in the sea?

It is black.

Why would it be black? That's not how it's written in fairy tale books!

No, in Andersen's time, if a female was fished out of the sea, she would certainly be a Black person."

Although the delegations of both sides cursed fiercely, they were actually just striking a pose. Precisely because everyone knew what the final result would be, there was absolutely no reason to appear weak. Even the Chinese Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing, who was considered 'mild', did not feel discomfort at this cursing; as for the British side, it was the same.

Thus, both the Chinese and British sides stated on the same day, "Country X has absolutely no will for peace talks, so our country has decided to terminate the peace talks."

As the peacemaker, the French side bore a lot of pressure, although France believed there would be no change in the general direction of the peace talks. But neither China nor Britain would lower their stance immediately. At this time, it depended on exactly how the French side communicated.

Two days later, before the Chinese and British sides had made their stance known, the US government issued a statement. They first severely criticized that hell joke, believing it was very wrong for the Chinese side to be so unserious in the face of peace. Moreover, China's use of the term 'Anglo-Saxon Bandits' was full of racial discrimination.

Yan Huiqing was amused when he saw this expression. The one being discriminated against was originally you, the United States. After dealing with Britain, it would be the turn of the United States to suffer China's discrimination. Unexpectedly, the Yankees really had quite the intuition.