In the car, the pot-bellied Churchill, clamping a Manila cigar in his mouth, rode through the streets of Saigon. Churchill had been to South America and the Caribbean, where the climate was quite similar to Saigon. However, the feeling of the two places was still different; overall, the Caribbean felt a bit warmer and more humid than Saigon.

There weren't many places to see in Saigon. After circling around, they approached the suburbs. The suburbs were areas for the poor, and Churchill had absolutely no interest in those tropical huts, so he ordered the driver to turn around and drive back to the city center. The car stopped in front of a French-style building in the city. Churchill stepped out of the vehicle, and a French butler had already come out to welcome him, guiding Churchill into the building.

At this time, the banquet was already prepared, and quite a few guests had arrived, chatting in the resting areas on both sides of the building's spacious main hall. Among the guests were quite a few Chinese people, who were chatting happily with the French. Churchill bore the role of a hardliner; to use a Chinese saying, someone has to sing the red face, and someone has to sing the white face (play good cop, bad cop).

For ordinary negotiations, this kind of personnel configuration was very useful. But for nations, especially for powerful nations, it was just a formality, because what powerful nations feared most was misjudging each other. Even if ordinary people couldn't reach a deal, a fight was about the limit, and situations of accidental killing rarely occurred. If great powers went to war due to misjudgment, the losses would be staggering. Therefore, great powers must avoid misjudgment.

If they didn't want misjudgment, great powers had to clearly put forward their demands. Both sides judged their own and the other's strength, judged the other's bottom line, and finally rejected or agreed to a part of the other's demands, ultimately reaching a compromise. Therefore, there is a saying in diplomatic circles: 'An agreement that makes both sides uncomfortable is the best agreement.' No one likes to be uncomfortable; an agreement where both sides are uncomfortable is an agreement where each gets what they need.

Churchill believed that the level of the current Chinese government's diplomatic team should not be low, which was why Churchill would seemingly unscrupulously express his own views. Because Churchill represented the extreme conservatives of Britain, if the speeches of the extreme conservatives could not be spoken, Churchill's own political value would not exist.

Sitting by the bar counter, Churchill asked for a drink. The waiter took out a few bottles of wine from the white cabinet behind him. As the cabinet door opened, a comfortable cool air rushed towards his face. Churchill stared at that large freezer for a moment and saw that the logo on the freezer was in Chinese characters; it was possibly made in China. He felt somewhat surprised in his heart at China's development in recent years.

The ice-cold cocktail felt very comfortable to drink, quickly dispelling the summer heat and making a fat man like Churchill feel cool from the inside out. Holding the cocktail and looking at those Chinese and French people chatting warmly in the venue, Churchill felt he probably had nothing to chat about with them. Looking again at those relatively lonely fellows, he saw a familiar young face.

That person was Li Shiguang, Director of the Western Europe Department of China, playing a hardliner role just like Churchill. At this time, Li Shiguang also saw Churchill. Their gazes collided in the air for a moment, but there was none of that swords-drawn, bows-bent intensity of the negotiation table. Everyone turned their gaze away by coincidence; Churchill continued to drink his cocktail, while Li Shiguang stood up and walked towards the lawn outside the building.

The one convening this banquet was the Governor-General of French Indochina, but the ones truly playing a role were the members of the French delegation. French diplomatic personnel constantly communicated with members of the Chinese and British delegations, seeking conditions for both sides to continue talking. The attitude of the British delegation was very clear: to reach a peace agreement, China must retreat behind the border. The Chinese delegation had Li Shiguang, this member acting as a hardliner, state his position. Li Shiguang's attitude was clear, "According to convention, the Line of Actual Control shall be the armistice line."

French diplomatic personnel were not surprised; their job was only to help both sides communicate. As for how China and Britain considered it, that was not France's job. In private, French diplomatic personnel even hoped that since China and Britain had encountered a deadlock in negotiations, they should hurry up and start breaking out in conflict militarily. Any military action that weakened Britain, as long as France didn't pay the price, France would welcome very much.

The negotiations dragged on meaninglessly like this, and time soon reached October 2, 1926. From south to north, China had begun the autumn harvest at this time. This year saw another bumper grain harvest, especially with the completion progress of water conservancy construction in various places.

He Rui maintained an encouraging posture, but in his heart, he was far less joyful than he looked. The agricultural achievements obtained now relied to a large extent on extracting groundwater for irrigation, and the current irrigation was also flood irrigation; not even sprinkler irrigation had been achieved, let alone drip irrigation. If extraction continued like this, groundwater resources in many regions of China would be destroyed.

But He Rui was not afraid. In another 20 years or so, the level of technological development should be able to begin entering a stage of new energy development dominated by photovoltaics. At that time, China could use photovoltaic-desalinated seawater and transport large amounts of fresh water inland for irrigation. Agriculture that depended on the weather would turn into another production mode. If it was just over-extracting groundwater for 20 years, it shouldn't take too long to recover. Moreover, with current water extraction capabilities, it really couldn't be called over-extraction.

Distant worries were not a problem; what needed to be solved were immediate worries. At the subsequent Military Commission meeting, Zhong Yifu, who had made a special trip back from the Burma Theater, also attended. He Rui's gaze fell on Zhong Yifu, and he stated his requirements, "Now the negotiations have entered a deadlock. We want to make the British give up their negotiation preconditions. We must strike the opposing British forces without expanding the war. The Burma Theater must complete this task."

Zhong Yifu heard an unshakable confidence in He Rui's calm voice, and a flame-like impulse also was born in his heart. However, this excitement did not last long; Zhong Yifu tried hard to make himself understand He Rui's order. This was not asking Zhong Yifu to fight a decisive battle with the British army, but to conduct a very precise strike.

He heard He Rui continue: "So the goal of the battle is to convey our attitude and display our strength. Let Britain understand that dragging it on will only make them suffer greater losses."

"I wonder if the General Staff Department has a plan?" Zhong Yifu asked.

He Rui didn't make a sound. Chief of General Staff Cheng Ruofan said: "There is already a plan."

Saying this, he took out the report and distributed it to the comrades of the Military Commission present at the meeting. Zhong Yifu browsed quickly. Currently, China and Britain had stationed heavy troops in Yangon on the southern line and the Siliguri Corridor on the western line. Between Yangon and the Siliguri Corridor was a continuous mountain range, not suitable for conducting war.

South of the Assam region occupied by the Chinese army was the 'Rain Pole', Cherrapunji. Cherrapunji was located in the Meghalaya region of Northeast India, situated on the east-west oriented Khasi Hills south of the Brahmaputra River, about 300 kilometers from the Bay of Bengal. It was a low-lying depression.

During the rainy season, the river waters burst their banks, and this place actually turned into a lake and swamp. Because the floodwaters were relatively warm, before reaching Cherrapunji, the southwest airflow first blew over the accumulated water in the lowlands, so it was saturated with a large amount of water vapor, causing rainfall in Cherrapunji to skyrocket.

From August 1860 to July 1861, 20,447 millimeters of rain fell in one year, winning the title of the world's "Rain Pole". The average number of rainy days per month in the rainy season from May to September was 25 to 28 days, both ranking first in the world.

Precisely because of the existence of the 'Rain Pole' Cherrapunji, plus the mountains east of Cherrapunji, a true natural moat was constituted, forming a natural boundary between the India region and Myanmar. With the Sino-British war proceeding to this point, if one wanted to launch an attack, one had to march on Yangon or set out from the Assam region, pass through the Siliguri Corridor where the British army had already vigorously constructed defensive positions, and enter the West Bengal region of British India.

The General Staff Department proposed three plans. The best method was naturally to bypass the Siliguri Corridor defense line constructed by Britain and enter the West Bengal region. The second was to thoroughly destroy the Siliguri Corridor defense line constructed by Britain, and from then on be able to freely enter and exit the West Bengal region. The third was to seize the Yangon region and occupy the entire Myanmar.

If speaking of campaign difficulty, seizing Yangon was the easiest choice. Yangon was located on a plain, easy to attack and hard to defend. But Zhong Yifu felt that fighting this way conflicted somewhat with He Rui's expectations.

Soon, Zhong Yifu made a decision, "Chairman, with the current strength of the Burma Theater, we can consider thoroughly smashing the West Bengal region constructed by Britain. The reasons are as follows: We can indeed bypass the Siliguri Corridor defense line constructed by the British army and enter the West Bengal region to fight. But the result of doing so is that the troops we send out can only be light infantry, which will be difficult to contend with the British army equipped with fiercer firepower on the West Bengal plain. If the troops encounter danger, the losses will be great.

If we destroy the British Siliguri Corridor defense line and annihilate this British army, the losses may not necessarily be more than when the troops encounter danger. The Siliguri Corridor defense line is 30 kilometers long, and the number of British troops stationed on the defense line is about 150,000. Even if the British army can replenish a certain number of troops during the battle, their number will not exceed 250,000. We have already stationed 180,000 troops in the Assam region; with current troop strength and firepower, we can launch an attack. If we urgently mobilize another division and two other divisions begin to reinforce, our troop strength can also be in a complete advantage."

Speaking of this, Zhong Yifu exhaled confidently, "Chairman, based on the performance of the war up to now, the British army's combat ability is very weak."

He Rui could see that when Zhong Yifu made the judgment that 'the British army is very weak', he had made a great resolve. He couldn't help but be amused by Zhong Yifu. In He Rui's view, the infantry infiltration tactics of New China were the most invincible tactics before the armored mechanization of armies. The British army was not the fully motorized army in the Korean War; it could not possibly be an opponent for the current Republic National Defense Force.

But what made He Rui happier was that Zhong Yifu made a quite reliable judgment. Eating up the 150,000 British troops on the Siliguri Corridor defense line in one go could give the British government extremely great help in getting rid of pressure from the British public. Now the British government was striving to adjust the direction of public opinion, creating an atmosphere that 'Myanmar has no meaning'. The British upper class already had a full consensus on this. If it weren't for those die-hard conservatives in Britain continuing to desperately incite the bullshit that 'the British Empire fears no challenge', the Chinese and British sides would probably have already started negotiations by now.

Those die-hard factions in Britain, those British people who couldn't see reality clearly, all continued to indulge in the fantasy of the British Empire's glory. So they truly believed 'the British Empire fears no challenge'. Since this was the case, a clean and efficient campaign would help them wake up.

"Commander Zhong, decide which plan to choose as soon as possible, and then start proceeding with the General Staff Department on how to implement the war plan." Saying this, He Rui raised his wrist to look at his watch, "It is now October 3, 1926. I hope the plan can be determined before October 6, and start as much as possible when the rainy season ends on October 15."

Zhong Yifu immediately stood up and saluted He Rui, "Yes! I will resolutely complete the mission!"