France and Britain were so close that one could buy *The Times* in Paris. On the front page, a photo showed Chamberlain standing on the gangway of his plane, waving a piece of paper in his hand. The news report stated that Chamberlain told the government dignitaries and social celebrities welcoming him at the airport: "My good friends, this is peace for our time!"

Li Runshi quickly flipped through the newspaper, finding few articles about China. The reports praising Chamberlain's policy made absolutely no mention of what had happened to Czechoslovakia.

According to Chinese intelligence, a few hours after Li Runshi left Munich, the Czechoslovak representatives signed the Munich Agreement under coercion from Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. The next day, the Czechoslovak government publicly announced the news domestically and declared an end to the general mobilization. Inside the border defenses, the Czechoslovak people, who had been preparing to defend their motherland with grief and indignation, suffered a mental collapse. Many simply threw down their weapons and left the army. The regular Czech army was no better; many soldiers immediately expressed their desire to retire, and quite a few simply deserted.

On the fourth day after the agreement was signed, which was yesterday, the German army had already entered the Sudetenland, encountering not a single Czech soldier along the way.

The Chinese government fully supported Li Runshi. After the Czech government announced its acceptance of the Munich Agreement, the Chinese government declared, "Since the Czechoslovak government has abandoned resistance, the Chinese government's previously announced commitment to provide aid to Czechoslovakia is hereby annulled."

The Polish and Hungarian armies, participating in the partition of Czechoslovakia, completed their pre-determined occupation operations, and Czechoslovakia's territory instantly shrank by a large circle.

When Li Runshi's car stopped in front of the French Chamber of Commerce, he put away the newspaper and stepped out. The representative of the French Chamber of Commerce was already waiting at the door. Seeing Li Runshi arrive, the Chamber President immediately stepped forward to shake hands and embrace him, saying warmly, "Mr. Premier, the representatives of the Chamber are already waiting for you."

The French Chamber of Commerce was the French civil organization that had filed the most lawsuits against the Chinese government over the years, yet it was also the French civil organization most friendly to China. Whether being friendly or filing lawsuits, the merchants' goal was to make money, and they adopted whatever means maximized their interests.

This time, the French government seemed frightened by the Chinese government's reaction and temporarily did not interact with Li Runshi. Li Runshi had not received orders to interact with the French government either, but he had accepted orders to explain China's views to the French business and academic communities.

In the following days, Li Runshi held exchanges at the French Chamber of Commerce, the University of Paris, and the University of Marseille. After Li Runshi left, only the French commercial newspapers published a few more articles about China's intense diplomatic reaction. More news was about French stocks surging due to the news of peace.

It seemed that the matter was over, and Europe was in the joy of the arrival of peace. Most European people who experienced this event were left with a very bad impression of China, especially in the diplomatic field. From the end of the Munich Conference in September 1938 to February 1939, European countries basically did not invite Chinese embassy and consulate personnel to participate in their public activities.

But by the end of January 1939, the military budgets of Britain and France were released. Britain's military budget was as high as 3 billion pounds, equivalent to 12 billion US dollars. France's military budget was 30 billion francs, equivalent to about 7 billion US dollars. No matter what the British and French governments said about peace having arrived, their physical reactions were quite honest.

Not only were military expenditures increased and equipment replaced, but Britain and France also persisted with last year's equipment renewal plans. Britain added another 2 billion pounds of investment to support the equipment renewal of Britain's old and backward large-scale enterprises.

France was not to be outdone in armaments. Although the cabinet changed like a revolving lantern, and although no French political party wanted to fight, France did not slacken in its war preparations, including adjustments to the total mobilization system for wartime production.

Thus, the seemingly frozen Sino-French relations suddenly returned to a warm state. At this time, the United States was implementing high tariffs. France did not want to import machinery and equipment from the United States, and it was even more impossible to import equipment from Germany. Because Britain was undergoing equipment renewal, the machine tools produced were not enough for Britain's own use in the short term.

On February 14, Valentine's Day, the French newspaper *Le Figaro* published a piece of news: more than 6,000 ordinary lathes purchased jointly by more than forty French enterprises in China had set sail and would arrive at French ports within a month.

As soon as this news came out, France was shaken. Although ordinary machine tools were not extraordinary mechanical equipment in France, importing ordinary machine tools from China made most French people feel that something was wrong. The general view of the French people was: Can France's machine tool manufacturing industry not even satisfy France's domestic machine tool production?

French newspapers began to track this hot news, and soon other newspapers broke the news that French companies had started importing machine tools from China as early as 1936. Moreover, the imported machine tools were not "ordinary machine tools," but machine tools with a certain degree of precision. According to news from industry insiders, the price of machine tools with a certain degree of precision produced in China was 60% of that in France. This price was almost the price of ordinary French machine tools. In the past three years, French enterprises had quietly imported tens of thousands of Chinese machine tools.

Due to the relationship between China and France, ordinary French people were more surprised than resentful about this. What surprised France was that China, this weak country, actually possessed such strong industrial manufacturing capabilities unknowingly.

Before this matter could fully ferment, on March 14, 1939, under German instigation, Slovakia declared independence. That night, Hitler summoned Czechoslovak President Hácha to Berlin and notified him in the early hours of the next day (the 15th) that Germany would send troops to occupy the Czech lands and turn them into a "Protectorate." Under German coercion and inducement, Hácha accepted the terms of surrender in Berlin and immediately became the President of the puppet regime, the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia."

Now, no one discussed France buying machine tools from China anymore. The British and French governments were completely shocked by this news. British Prime Minister Chamberlain immediately telegraphed Hitler, demanding an explanation.

Hitler replied immediately, stating that Germany had not annexed the Czech lands but had become the protector of the Czech lands, so Hitler could not understand Prime Minister Chamberlain's shock. Germany becoming the protector of the Czech lands was beneficial to the current European situation. From then on, the Central European issue was resolved.

Chamberlain no longer knew how to explain this to Parliament, because he had told Parliament that Hitler guaranteed he "would never ask for a single Czech person more." This was obviously a scam, a scam for which Chamberlain could not offer a solution.

The French government expressed opposition casually, but after the implementation of the Munich Agreement, France's influence in Poland and Hungary collapsed. The current Polish government had become a pro-British government, and pro-Nazi political parties came to power in Hungary, implicitly standing on the opposite side of France.

Before Britain and France could negotiate a result on this matter, on March 17, the Spanish rebel Franco occupied the whole territory of Spain, and 250,000 Republicans crossed the border into France. France disarmed the 250,000 people and temporarily resettled them as refugees. Earlier, in September 1938, the International Brigades had already left Spain.

Now, France suddenly discovered that Germany, Italy, and Spain surrounding it were all fascist countries. France instantly fell into a very unfavorable situation.

Now, the French public began to panic. For emergency war preparation, French enterprises began to place large-scale orders with Chinese machinery factories, and even directly purchased equipment used in China for less than two years, loading them onto ships and transporting them to France, striving to improve the production capacity of France's manufacturing industry in a short time.

French Prime Minister Daladier went to Britain and, after consulting with British Prime Minister Chamberlain, sent diplomats from both countries to the Soviet Union to discuss the European situation with the Soviet government.

In Germany, Hitler demanded the latest data from the German army. In this annexation of the Czech lands, only one Czech company commander led his troops in weak resistance; the other Czech troops completely abandoned resistance. Therefore, Germany emptied the Czech weapons and equipment inventory, transporting 1.5 million rifles alone. Now the scale of the Wehrmacht had expanded to nearly 3 million, and the weapons and equipment obtained from the Czech lands were enough to arm half of the Wehrmacht.

Originally, the Wehrmacht believed it would only possess comprehensive war capabilities by 1940. These weapons and equipment from the Czech lands, including a large number of tanks, could be used by the Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht already possessed the strength to conduct military operations with a million troops.

At this time, the anti-war faction within the Wehrmacht completely disintegrated. Because of the success of the Munich Conference and the annexation of the Czech lands, those previous anti-war factions began to believe that Germany could win the coming war. This group of people also began to fully devote themselves to the ranks of launching war.

The German General Staff believed, based on the latest news, that tens of thousands of Chinese machine tools would all arrive in France in June 1939, and France could also use China's production capacity to rapidly improve military industrial productivity. At the latest by June 1940, France might complete the update of light weapons and light artillery for the French army.

At this time, Polish Foreign Minister Beck came to Berlin to meet with Hitler. Beck refused Hitler's request in 1938 for Poland to join the "Anti-Comintern Pact." The two sides parted on bad terms.

Before the Munich Conference in 1938, Hitler formally courted Poland to join the "Anti-Comintern Pact" and form a united front with the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Romania, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Ribbentrop met with the Polish Ambassador, proposing that the alliance must be premised on the return of Danzig to Germany and the construction of a highway in the Corridor area to connect German territory. If Poland agreed, Hitler would give Poland territory in northern Ukraine in the future and extend the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact for 25 years as compensation.

After the death of Piłsudski, the Polish government was divided into three forces: the President, the Foreign Minister, and the military commander. Poland believed that if it joined the military alliance led by Germany, it would be reduced to a satellite state, and eventually its national status would be threatened, swallowed by Germany just like the Czech lands. Therefore, Beck refused the proposal, and the views of the Polish Foreign Ministry and military leaders also aligned.

Since Poland was unwilling to join the Nazi camp, Hitler immediately ordered the military to draw up a plan to invade Poland, "Case White." The plan had been started long ago; the day after Hitler proposed it, the plan was delivered to him. Hitler approved it on April 3, 1939. Since then, Nazi Germany began preparations for war.

Except for China's shipbuilding plan, President Roosevelt was very satisfied with most of the recent world situation. When Secretary of State Hull arrived at Roosevelt's place, Roosevelt even asked in a relaxed tone, "I heard some people think that the action taken by He Rui in Munich was a genius business plan?"

Secretary of State Hull replied with a serious expression, "Mr. President, I originally thought that Mr. He Rui hoped to promote the outbreak of war. Judging from the actions of the Chinese representatives at the Munich Conference, Mr. He Rui really wanted to prevent the outbreak of war. His actions really surprised me."

Roosevelt nodded in deep agreement. When the Munich Conference was convened this time, France invited China to participate together, and Britain invited the United States to participate. Roosevelt wished Europe would fight immediately, so how could he be willing to participate? He only stated painfully afterwards that the United States did not want to see the result of the Munich Conference. But he also pushed the boat with the current and acknowledged the Munich Conference.

In contrast, China had never acknowledged the result of the Munich Conference from beginning to end. When the European situation deteriorated rapidly, at least some European people who had negative comments about He Rui in the short term began to turn to believe that He Rui was indeed a leader with vision.

Roosevelt couldn't help asking, "Hull, do you think Europeans will ultimately choose to obtain support from China?"

Secretary of State Hull thought for a moment and shook his head, "Mr. President, I think Europe will still choose to obtain support from the United States."

Roosevelt was about to ask Secretary of State Hull whether Europe would place all its hopes on the United States, or how much expectation Europe would place on the United States, when Hull continued, "Mr. President, Mr. He Rui's influence in Europe is far greater than what appears on the surface."

Roosevelt had not participated in US foreign affairs since his youth, and even less so after becoming disabled, so Roosevelt asked, "Hull, can you be more detailed?"

As Secretary of State, Hull was in charge of US diplomacy and had dealt with most European diplomats and a considerable number of politicians. He was not sure if President Roosevelt had studied He Rui's global influence, but he believed he must tell President Roosevelt about this now.

"Mr. President, He Rui began to appear on the international stage in 1916. He already had some fame in the Allied countries during the Great War in Europe. Since then, there has always been news related to He Rui in European newspapers. In the past twenty-plus years, the older generation leading the Great War in Europe has withered away one after another, and these post-war politicians have risen and fallen. Plus, He Rui has focused a large part of his attention on writing books. Europeans under the age of 35 are even more familiar with He Rui than with most of their own country's leaders."

Roosevelt was stunned. He thought He Rui's influence stemmed from the Sino-Japanese War, the Sino-British War, and Sino-French economic cooperation. These major events indeed had the greatest impact on Britain, France, and the Netherlands. The core population of 100 million in these three countries was truly impacted, and their lives were even affected because of He Rui.

Hull, as Secretary of State, had a perspective beyond this scope, even entering the realm of ideology a bit. This gave Roosevelt a vague sense of unease.

Secretary of State Hull continued to explain, "In the Europe of the past, when the East was mentioned, they thought of Russia and Turkey. In the Europe of today, when the East is mentioned, many of them will think of He Rui. He Rui's appearance has to a certain extent changed Europe's view of geopolitics. The Far East is no longer the edge of the world, but a very important part of the whole world."

Speaking of this, Hull smiled bitterly, "Mr. President, do you know? Now if you ask an ordinary French person what kind of person He Rui is, that French person will likely tell you that He Rui is a Chinese emperor who married two wives."

Roosevelt was confused for a moment about what Hull meant. It was meaningless to bring up He Rui's personal life at such a time. It was no secret that He Rui married two wives, and even the new marriage law promulgated by China fixing monogamy was no secret. As for the fact that He Rui married two wives itself, it was not a problem in the world's upper circles. Which upper-class figure in Europe and America did not effectively have three wives and four concubines? Take Roosevelt himself for example; he had several lovers, and even Mrs. Roosevelt was very clear about these lovers. She just didn't want to fall out with Roosevelt for the sake of face.

In Washington, everyone knew that Roosevelt was very popular with women. Those friends and acquaintances also had their own lovers.

As for He Rui being a Chinese emperor in the minds of Europeans, it did not show the ignorance of Europeans. Because a large number of Americans also believed that He Rui was the Chinese emperor. The funniest thing was that even knowing that China was already a republic, many Americans insisted that He Rui himself was still the Emperor of China. In the United States, this was not uncommon. Quite a few farmers in the American countryside still thought that US President Washington had been the King of the United States!

Seeing Roosevelt looking at him without saying a word, Hull knew that Roosevelt did not understand the meaning inside these words. Hull asked, "Mr. President, find any ordinary French person, and he knows that He Rui is the leader of China. But this person does not know who the President of the United States is."

Roosevelt's face instantly darkened. This was not because he was unhappy feeling his limelight was suppressed by He Rui. Roosevelt began to understand what Hull meant by saying earlier that He Rui's influence in Europe was far greater than what was seen.

Ordinary French people not only didn't know who the US President was, but probably didn't even know clearly who their own President was. Let alone those cabinet members who changed like revolving lanterns. But French people not only knew He Rui was China's leader, but even knew about He Rui having two wives, which was enough to prove to what extent He Rui's influence had reached.

As for the influence in the ideological field emphasized by Hull, that was accumulated through book after book and article after article. Roosevelt himself had read several books written by He Rui and appreciated them quite a bit. In contrast, Hitler, whom Roosevelt wanted to use, although his *Mein Kampf* was very famous, Roosevelt bought it but never picked it up, let alone read it.

"...Hull, is it too late to publicize me to Europe now?" Roosevelt asked.