In the conference room converted from the grand dining hall of the battleship *Xinyang*, Yu Cen, Commander of the Chinese European Command, spoke up, "France has been defeated."

No one voiced any objection. Although some felt France might still have a sliver of a chance, that opportunity no longer depended on France itself. As *The Art of War* states, "Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack." Given the current situation, Germany had already secured a position where it could not be defeated by France. If France wanted to defeat Germany, they could only rely on Germany making mistakes themselves.

From the intelligence obtained so far, Germany had controlled their armored clusters, refraining from sending them to attack heavily fortified defense lines. France had lost its last possibility of victory.

Seeing that the comrades had no other opinions, Yu Cen looked at Chief of Staff Lin Hu. In Lin Hu, Yu Cen always felt he could see traces of the current Chief of General Staff, Hu Xiushan. The two were vastly different in height and appearance, but their attitude and methods towards military work were highly consistent: reticent, spending their days looking at maps and reports, listening to briefings, and inspecting the front lines. Everyone felt at ease with any work they were responsible for.

Lin Hu seemed not to notice Yu Cen's gaze, staring only at the sand table in front of him. Yu Cen didn't know what Lin Hu was thinking, but Lin Hu's silence proved he felt there was nothing to say.

Yu Cen turned to the liaison from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs beside him and asked, "To what extent has the evacuation of nationals been completed?"

The comrade from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied, "Commander Yu, the order we received is to wait until June 10th, when the two newly dispatched Japanese carrier battle groups rendezvous with us, before returning home."

After answering, the diplomat added, "Commander Yu, do you feel there is any danger?"

Yu Cen was momentarily speechless. Even with the rendezvous of four Chinese and Japanese carrier battle groups, safety was impossible on the high seas tens of thousands of kilometers away from China. None of the powers surrounding the North Atlantic wanted to see the presence of Chinese carrier battle groups. It was just that the greatest threat in Europe right now was Germany, and France actually hoped China would declare war on Germany. Both Britain and the United States likely had plans to attack the Chinese carrier battle groups, but Britain was currently too preoccupied to do so. The United States didn't dare, or at least was indecisive in the short term.

Countries around the world believed China had sufficient strength, and they also believed China had the resolve to use its power. All the North Atlantic powers were like a wolf hitting a hemp stalk—afraid of both ends. Nations didn't want to trigger a war with China, nor did they plan to expand the war. The Chinese fleet hadn't cut off shipping lines or launched attacks, which allowed for this relatively peaceful existence.

But Yu Cen felt the current situation could only be maintained until the end of June. The ostensible reason for the Chinese Navy running to France this time was the evacuation of nationals. Over the past few days, Yu Cen discovered that the unofficial work was to evacuate as many French engineers, scientists, and merchants with close trade ties to China who were willing to go to China as possible.

As a soldier, Yu Cen didn't understand finance. However, there were many personnel from the Chinese banking sector in the evacuation fleet. They even used the fleet's radio for high-frequency communication with China every day. It was said they were facilitating the transfer of French money into accounts at the Sino-French Cooperation Bank. The Sino-French Bank was headquartered in China and was one of the settlement banks for Sino-French trade. Many French merchants, unwilling to live in a German-occupied France, chose to run away with their money.

Yu Cen now began to understand why there was such a major operation to dispatch two carrier battle groups to France. Recently, many French merchants who decided to go to China had been transporting large amounts of pounds, dollars, gold, silver, jewelry, and antiques onto Chinese ships. "Vaults" had been set up on both battleships and aircraft carriers of this expedition to store banknotes and precious metals. The large number of cargo ships provided storage for other items. It turned out the higher-ups had already judged that France would be defeated and sent such a massive fleet to France to act as movers.

As a soldier of the Chinese National Defense Force, Yu Cen's only feeling about money was the new salary figure that appeared in his bank account every month. The feeling of being forced by the mission to sit atop a gold vault made Yu Cen very uncomfortable; by comparison, he wished he could be thrown into the war. For example, quickly taking over French Indochina.

***

At this moment, He Rui had just finished a meeting with the General Staff. The General Staff had already completed the military deployment to take over French Indochina. Currently, all the personnel in French Indochina who could be called "force departments" added up to no more than 50,000 men. The General Staff's military plan mobilized 200,000 troops. The Army would cross the border and head south, controlling cities and roads along the way. The Navy, under air cover, would first urgently transport a brigade of Marines south to take over Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay, providing ports for subsequent large-scale maritime transport.

All brigade commanders participating in this military operation attended the meeting, and one by one, they recounted their missions to the General Staff led by He Rui. In mission-type warfare, frontline commanders responsible for executing complex combat tasks had a great deal of autonomy. Since they had autonomy, commanders had to formulate their own contingency plans for various possible situations.

He Rui didn't need to ask questions or make assessments; he just sat there and listened. After this round of meetings ended, He Rui had a basic judgment of these candidates. Most brigade commanders were capable, but the performance of three brigade commanders was worth considering. However, He Rui remained silent because personnel selection was the authority of the General Staff. He Rui couldn't be entirely sure if these three poorly performing brigade commanders were actually incompetent or just too nervous during the meeting.

Ending this meeting, He Rui had a working lunch with Li Runshi. Li Runshi's work capability satisfied He Rui greatly. Without He Rui asking, Li Runshi had already recounted the invitations extended by the domestic academic, industrial, and educational sectors to outstanding scholars and engineers in France.

The most precious thing in the world is talent. China had little interest in France's money, but immense interest in French talent. If these talents could be invited to China, it would undoubtedly be a huge wealth.

After introducing the situation, Li Runshi summarized, "Chairman, judging from the current situation, we can probably invite about 20% of the people. Once France is defeated, the German side will likely place these experts under surveillance. Although we have also established transportation lines, future work progress will be greatly affected."

"En. You have already done very well." He Rui immediately gave Li Runshi a reassurance.

Li Runshi then continued to ask, "We are encountering another problem now. A very large number of Jews are trying every means to come to China. These Jews have caused considerable impact on our normal work. The Jews' ability to forge documents is indeed about the same as the rumors say."

Since Germany began publicly persecuting Jews, a large number of Jews had fled to other European countries. Anti-Semitism was a tradition throughout Europe; even the United States was unwilling to accept these fleeing Jews. In the past two years, several ships full of Jews had entered US territorial waters, but the US resolutely refused to accept them. In the end, the ships could only return to German ports, and these Jews were arrested by the Nazis as soon as they disembarked and thrown into concentration camps.

He Rui didn't want to see massacres, but he also had no interest in letting a large number of Jews enter China, so he waited for Li Runshi to propose a plan.

Li Runshi continued, "I think we can open up a temporary settlement for Jews in the area near Saigon."

"I agree with your suggestion." He Rui immediately expressed his support.

Seeing He Rui answer so readily, Li Runshi added, "Arrangements regarding the independent statehood of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Cochinchina are also ready. Based on our experience, we have prepared about 50,000 cadres to go south to temporarily take over local political power. I wonder if the Chairman has informed Japan about the execution of those imperialist lackeys."

He Rui answered decisively, "It has already been said. You don't need to care what the Japanese think; they will definitely oppose it anyway."

Li Runshi moved to the next work arrangement. "The work of establishing the Anti-Colonial Guerrilla Training Center is proceeding very smoothly. Many guerrilla units hope to return to their countries immediately to begin anti-colonial actions. I have already let the more mature and steady personnel return to their hometowns to prepare for uprisings, while the more radical personnel are temporarily staying in the training camps, ready to fight back at any time."

He Rui's view was slightly different from Li Runshi's. "Colonial governments never do anything human. I believe it won't be long before the British colonial authorities commit large-scale crimes against humanity. At that time, we will send troops on the grounds of stopping crimes against humanity. The current stage is not suitable for letting those guerrillas return to those countries to conduct armed liberation struggles first."

Li Runshi raised a different opinion. "If there is no prior preparation, I'm afraid the cooperation we get locally won't be enough."

"No. European and American colonizers have carried out hundreds of years of massacre and oppression in the local areas. Although the locals resist, they know they can't win. I believe that when we first take over the local areas, we will be considered new, more powerful colonizers. Comrade Li Runshi, we discussed this before: colonial people really have no way to empathize with us. What you mentioned earlier is the method for a coup within a sovereign state. This method suits Spain, but it doesn't suit colonies."

Hearing this, Li Runshi felt somewhat uncomfortable in his heart, and his expression couldn't help but darken slightly. He Rui didn't continue speaking but offered Li Runshi a cigarette. Li Runshi smoked slowly, organizing his thoughts. The child sponsored by Ye Shengtao had already started studying in China. While conducting colonial liberation work, Li Runshi had also met with this child and asked about his future thoughts. The child had timidly spoken his heart, "Study hard in China, find a job after graduation, and stabilize in China. Then find a way to bring the whole family to live in China."

Talking with other foreign personnel being investigated, Li Runshi found that all colonial personnel who entered China relatively passively due to luck only wanted to live in China and bring their families over. As for those who actively sought help from China to drive out colonialists, apart from eagerly expecting China to give them massive military and material aid, they had no intention of staying in China at all.

What was the proportion of revolutionaries among those colonial people? Li Runshi felt there might be one in a thousand, probably less than one in a hundred. People who opposed colonial oppression in their hearts were either directly oppressed by colonizers or were from the intellectual class; the proportion of such people was less than one-tenth.

The result of the analysis actually made Li Runshi feel not too good. The difficulty of the great unity of the world's people was too great.

He Rui took a few puffs and moved to the next task. "How is the contact with the world revolutionary faction going?"

Li Runshi rallied his spirits. "Tens of thousands of people have already expressed willingness to join the World People's Liberation Army. Although people from the Third International still want to intervene, after our work, we have basically eliminated the organized actions of the Third International within it. It can now be confirmed that hundreds of thousands of people are watching. They do not believe China will launch a world people's liberation action."

"Good work, continue contacting them," He Rui praised.

Seeing Li Runshi's mood was still a bit low, He Rui encouraged, "I have a dream. When the World People's Liberation Army has gone through a series of liberation wars and finally launches an attack on Europe, the commander-in-chief will be a foreigner. More than half of the officers and soldiers in this army will be foreigners."

These words made Li Runshi laugh despite himself. Just a moment ago, He Rui had coldly stated that when China defeated various colonial governments, one shouldn't think the colonial people would view China as liberators. Now he was expecting the majority of the World People's Liberation Army members to be foreigners. He Rui had always criticized "wanting this, that, and everything," but these words sounded full of the flavor of "wanting this, that, and everything." Could it be... was the world coalition army in He Rui's heart dominated by white Europeans?

He Rui did not continue discussing this issue but moved to the next arrangement. "In a few days, we will go together to watch the nuclear weapon test explosion. With nuclear weapons as a trump card, the global liberation war only needs to wait for the completion of conventional weapon equipment."

Li Runshi's rank already allowed him access to core secrets like nuclear weapons. When he was in Shaanxi, Li Runshi had dealt with a fertilizer storage center explosion. Centered on the fertilizer storage point, all buildings and trees within a radius of several hundred meters were destroyed by the violent explosion. That scene gave Li Runshi a huge shock.

The power of that explosion was only tens of tons of TNT equivalent. In the classified report, the explosion power of a nuclear weapon was described as reaching 100,000 tons of TNT equivalent. With one nuclear bomb, a city would be turned into ruins. Such destruction made Li Runshi feel uneasy.

A thought popped up in Li Runshi's mind, but he couldn't say it out loud. He could only give a grunt of acknowledgement.

On June 2nd at 10:23 AM, seismic observation equipment around the globe received a signal. It was an earthquake with a local magnitude of about 2.7. Europe, in the midst of war, had no mind to pay attention to this matter. Although seismic observatories across the United States observed this earthquake, they merely considered it an ordinary earthquake with its epicenter in northwest China.

Earthquakes of this magnitude occurred frequently around the globe. Although this earthquake was recorded, no one really cared. But in Lop Nur, Li Runshi felt the ground briefly heave like a wild horse, and a new sun, more dazzling than the sun itself, rose into the sky. Even wearing thick goggles, Li Runshi still felt that only this brilliant sun remained in his field of vision, so much so that the originally blue sky was momentarily contrasted to look like night.

This was the energy that could be released at the atomic level, and this world, including the humans on it, was composed of various atoms. When the power of science was displayed in the form of absolute destruction, that question in Li Runshi's heart beat more fiercely.

When the tremors and intense light dissipated, the huge mushroom cloud, calculated in kilometers, was clear and towering in Li Runshi's eyes over a hundred kilometers away. While everyone else around him fell into jubilation, Li Runshi saw He Rui leave the heavily protected observation room without a word. He hurriedly followed and saw He Rui leaning somewhat wearily against the wall, lighting a cigarette. Observing He Rui's expression carefully, Li Runshi couldn't see any joy. He Rui was exactly fifty years old this year. Although he didn't appear senile, the unconcealable white hair and the largely graying stubble made He Rui look exceptionally tired.

Seeing that He Rui really had no happiness whatsoever, Li Runshi finally voiced the question in his heart, "Chairman, will you order the use of nuclear weapons?"

He Rui hadn't expected Li Runshi to ask such a question. These days, He Rui had considered this question many times. If China faced a crisis and had to use them, He Rui would not have the benevolence of a woman. But to use nuclear weapons as offensive weapons, He Rui couldn't make up his mind no matter what.

Liberating the world was different from conquering the world, and completely opposite to slaughtering the world. He Rui himself still couldn't clarify his mood, so he simply asked Li Runshi back, "If it were not in a time of crisis, would you use them?"

Li Runshi fell silent with a wry smile. Seeing that Li Runshi didn't speak for a good while, He Rui dropped the cigarette butt and stomped it out. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Li Runshi say, "If evil must be destroyed, I would use them."

He Rui's eyes lit up. Li Runshi's answer made He Rui's originally somewhat chaotic thoughts completely clear. He wanted to praise him with "Exactly so," but the words wouldn't come out. Just then, He Rui's secretary walked over quickly. "Chairman, everyone is waiting for you to speak."

Taking the opportunity, He Rui said no more, only patting Li Runshi's shoulder as he passed him. "Let's go, the comrades are waiting for us."

On the night of June 3rd, Britain evacuated the last batch of the British Expeditionary Force to Britain. On this night, the British Ambassador to China passed a request from the British government to the Chinese Foreign Minister, "His Majesty's Government hopes that the Chinese Volunteer Army can transfer to Britain to resist the Nazi German offensive together with the British and French Allied forces."

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Shiguang did not give the British government any answer, merely stating that the Chinese government would consider the matter.

On the morning of June 4th, the more than 40,000 elite French rearguard troops guarding the beach surrendered. The first phase of the Battle of Western Europe ended. The German army immediately adjusted its deployment, and the German General Staff submitted the "Case Red" (Fall Rot) they had formulated amidst their busy schedule to Hitler.

Case Red was the military plan to completely defeat France. German Army Groups A and B would head south together. The armored forces were divided into Panzer Group Kleist and the newly formed Panzer Group Guderian, belonging to Army Groups A and B respectively.

Hitler was already completely convinced that he had won. He had won this Battle of Western Europe where the few defeated the many, and the weak defeated the strong. The German Führer approved it without even looking at Case Red in detail. Hitler immediately ordered the promotion of Chief of General Staff Halder and Rundstedt to Field Marshal. Due to lack of time, Hitler could only promote the responsible generals by one rank first.

At this time, the Japanese carrier battle fleet had arrived at the destination at top speed, and the four carrier battle groups of China and Japan had rendezvoused. But the pressure felt by the four carrier battle groups increased sharply. By this point in the war, four US carrier battle groups had already assembled in the Caribbean region, declaring to the outside world that they were beginning military exercises. But this exercise was clearly putting pressure on the Chinese carrier battle groups. Although theoretically judged, the US would not go so far as to launch a surprise attack on the Sino-Japanese carrier battle groups, war was just like that. As long as the US annihilated these four carrier battle groups, it could gain the initiative in the Pacific for a certain period. This possibility could not be wishfully ruled out.

Foreign Minister Li Shiguang noticed another matter. The French government had been requesting China to declare war on Germany for a while, but after the Dunkirk evacuation was completed, the French government no longer mentioned this matter to the Chinese government. Li Shiguang reported this to He Rui and heard He Rui say, "If France chooses national resistance against Germany, we will support France."

Li Shiguang waited for a while, and seeing He Rui didn't continue, he asked, "What if France chooses to surrender?"