On the streets of Paris, soldiers of the German occupation force on leave were sightseeing in this beautiful city. When they saw delicious food, they would buy it from vendors. Soldiers looting would not bring long-term benefits to Germany; in order to better obtain resources from France, the German upper echelons naturally would not directly kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Now, French arsenals and automobile manufacturing plants had resumed production and begun to provide large amounts of equipment to the German army. To ensure this tribute could continue, the German Occupation Command issued strict orders that crimes committed by German troops against civilians would be severely punished. At the same time, "the honor of the German Army" was vigorously promoted within the occupation forces.

Ordinary German soldiers would visit famous French attractions, such as the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Some more adventurous young German soldiers went to the grayer areas of those cities. For example, Mark and three other soldiers, led by their assistant squad leader, went to broaden their horizons in a place where it was said streetwalkers abounded. Places like the Moulin Rouge were for officers; German privates couldn't afford them.

As the group passed through the French streets, they suddenly heard a sharp whistle from ahead. As soldiers, their reaction to such things was far beyond that of ordinary people. The German soldiers immediately ducked behind a corner to hide, and the assistant squad leader's hand rested on his pistol holster.

With the sound of whistles, the sound of a large group of people running could be heard. Mark saw a small squad of men in black SS uniforms walking quickly towards them. When passing the Wehrmacht soldiers, they merely swept them with cold gazes but did not stop.

Following behind these SS men was a large group of guys wearing earth-yellow uniforms; just looking at the color of the uniforms, they were quite similar to the disbanded German SA (Stormtroopers). These people were obviously French, and they showed clear awe when they saw the German Wehrmacht soldiers. Soon, the sound of human voices came from the street. Mark and the others looked over and saw a group of people being dragged out. From the windows upstairs, many clothes and items were being thrown out. Although Mark didn't understand French very well, he could hear the word "Jew" popping out from time to time amidst the noise.

Seeing that Jews were being arrested, Mark and the others felt a wave of nausea. Their beloved Führer Hitler had already liberated Germany from Jewish usurers, foreign aggressors, and capital consortiums; the German homeland was no longer poisoned by these people. But they hadn't expected that in a foreign land, Germany still had to complete the same task. Mark and the others immediately slipped away from such a messy business, unwilling to get involved.

Mark and the others did not know that after they left, a window on the second floor of the street corner where they had originally hidden was opened a crack, and someone looked out through the slit. Seeing Mark and the others leave, the French Communist Party members inside all breathed a sigh of relief.

Since the surrender of France, the French Communist Party (FCP) had begun to go underground. The FCP had never liked fascists, so it was normal to be detested by fascists now. But the fascists' detestation was not just verbal; they were truly using actions to crack down on the FCP. At this stage, the FCP leaders who had exposed their whereabouts had all been arrested. Although this did not scare the heroic French people—and the number of FCP members had actually increased—such losses were still regrettable.

Closing the window, this FCP cell continued its meeting. The person in charge of this party cell said, "At this stage, only China will truly aid France, so we must send personnel to China and strive to meet Mr. He Rui."

Mentioning He Rui, the party cell leader didn't notice that his tone had unconsciously become respectful. The FCP members frowned slightly, and someone said with a lack of confidence, "How can we meet Mr. He Rui?"

Over the past decade or so, in the eyes of ordinary French people, He Rui represented prosperity and wealth. In newspapers, whenever Sino-French cooperation was involved, there would basically be effusive praise for Chairman He Rui's outstanding economic ideas. Even though many in the FCP criticized He Rui as a capitalist roader, whether praising or criticizing He Rui, the French people's feelings towards He Rui had been constantly reinforced over these dozen years.

Since the French cabinet fell like a revolving lantern and politicians constantly erupted with various scandals, the French public had despaired of their own politicians. Distance creates beauty; He Rui, tens of thousands of kilometers away, unconsciously became the carrier for many French people to entrust their beautiful ideals. French people's private lives were generally relatively open; learning that He Rui actually married two wives made the French people like He Rui even more. Although having a mistress looked cool, how could it be cooler than giving wives a legally recognized status? After all, marrying two wives in France was bigamy and would lead to a lawsuit.

With unconscious admiration for He Rui, someone said, "If we can't get to China, how can we possibly meet Mr. He Rui? Can we send letters to Mr. He Rui? Would these letters even be sent out?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the FCP members were temporarily speechless. The Germans had begun to implement surveillance in the occupied zone; let alone writing to He Rui, once the identity of a Communist was exposed, one might be suddenly taken away.

Just when everyone was about to give up thinking in this direction, footsteps came from the corridor. The people in the room immediately stopped talking. They heard a knocking sound on the door, the agreed code signal. It knocked three times in a row before the people in the room opened a crack in the door. Soon, the person outside slipped in and closed the door smoothly. Walking among the comrades, the courier whispered, "Latest news: there are quotas to go to China, and you can bring your whole family."

The FCP members were stunned by this news and couldn't speak for a moment. After a pause, the FCP members hurriedly began to ask questions. Several people asked at once, making the courier not know whose question to answer first. Afterward, the courier asked the party members to speak one by one, and he answered them one by one.

There were many International Brigade members in the FCP who had participated in the Spanish Civil War. Through the connections of the International Brigade, they learned that two Chinese ships would go to the UK soon, and there would be some empty seats on the return voyage. The members of the International Brigade informed them that FCP members willing to fight fascism could go to China to join the Anti-Fascist Liberation Army.

Now that France had fallen, jobs were not easy to find. If everyone left, their families might not be able to hold on, so they were allowed to leave France with their families and go to China. The Anti-Fascist Liberation Army would settle the families of these members so that they could live well. FCP members would not have to worry about their families' livelihood, nor would they have to worry about implicating their families if they were arrested.

At this time, a burst of wailing came from outside again. The FCP members stopped the meeting and hid by the window to look down. They saw a group of Jews being escorted away from their residence by a French right-wing organization. Children were crying, women were sobbing, and bruised and swollen men were shedding tears but dared not disobey the orders of the German fascists and French fascists. These people were not restricted by law at all; they directly used violence to realize their ideas. If they resisted again, they really might be killed.

The FCP members saw some people on the opposite floor open their windows and shout loudly, "Jews, get out!" There were also some who hid behind windows watching everything that happened. When they noticed the FCP members looking at them, they hurriedly drew the curtains tight and disappeared.

This was the status quo in France. The Nazis publicly stated they would persecute Jews, and they did so. The Nazis also announced they would eliminate the Communist Party, and they would do that too.

The leader of the action team downstairs was a Nazi Gestapo officer, and following the Gestapo were all French right-wingers. The Germans were new to France; how would they know who was Jewish? It must have been French people who betrayed the Jews. Besides hating Jews, these people also hated left-wing organizations like the FCP. Since the French right-wingers would betray Jews, it was unlikely they would show mercy to the FCP.

After the Nazi action team left, the FCP members in the room fell silent. After a good while, someone asked, "How many family members can we bring exactly?"

July 14th was Bastille Day. De Gaulle went to review the French troops continuing to fight in the UK early in the morning, and immediately announced that French pilots would perform a military mission to bomb the German Ruhr area together with British pilots.

Regarding this sortie, de Gaulle's heart was heavy. If he could refuse, de Gaulle would have refused. But the British had made a request; if he wanted the French troops in the UK to leave, de Gaulle had to show an attitude of cooperation. Even if bombing the German Ruhr area was a mission with a ninety percent chance of death, Britain needed to use such an action to show Germany that Britain would not unilaterally suffer German bombing. If Germany continued to bomb British industrial zones, they also had to be careful that German industrial zones would be bombed by the British army.

De Gaulle fully felt the treatment suffered by a defeated nation. Britain dared to make such a request to France, yet dared not ask the Chinese Volunteers to participate in such a military operation. De Gaulle watched the French pilots flying low over the reviewing stand in planes painted with French flag insignias, then flying towards the east. De Gaulle could only pray in his heart, hoping that these French pilots could return safely.

At this time, German Führer Hitler was receiving German Air Force experts in Berlin. Goering truly understood the air force. Although Marshal Goering would say some arrogant words when facing other branches of the military, when he brought the air force experts to report to Hitler, Goering did not say a word. He listened attentively to these professional explanations and did not interrupt the experts.

"...My Führer, this is the intelligence we obtained from the wreckage of captured Chinese aircraft. According to our current analysis, the manufacturing level of Chinese aircraft is quite high, and there is a great deal of content worth our learning." The air force technical expert finished speaking and carefully waited for Hitler to speak.

Hitler himself did not understand the air force, nor did he understand industrial R&D. The German air force expert's explanation just now only allowed Hitler to roughly understand two things: the Chinese Air Force's fighter planes were quite advanced, and the German Air Force was preparing to copy the same aircraft using the shot-down Chinese Air Force fighter as a blueprint. The German air force expert also believed that, judging from the combat records of the German army against the Chinese Air Force, the German Air Force should popularize the four-plane air combat formation mode and completely cancel the three-plane mode in the German Air Force.

As the German Führer, Hitler's job was not to personally command the German Air Force's technological development or tactical choices, but to decide how much money to allocate to these departments. Since it was Goering who came this time, Hitler expressed that he would support the needs of the German Air Force.

After the experts left, seeing that Hitler did not blame him, Goering was also relieved. He was just about to leave when he heard Hitler ask, "Goering, do you think the Soviet Union has received military technical support from China?"

Goering was shocked in his heart. He didn't know if Hitler's question meant he was worried about the Soviet Union actively attacking Germany, or if Hitler was considering actively attacking the Soviet Union. Goering did not want to go to war with the Soviet Union. This was not because Goering loved peace, but because the Soviet Union's strength was very powerful.

Since the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany had rapidly increased. German personnel who had been to the Soviet Union all expressed amazement at the economic achievements the Soviet Union had made. Germany had always looked down on the Soviet Union, thinking it was a sparsely populated agricultural country. If the lives of Soviet farmers were better than those in Germany, it wouldn't surprise Germans too much. After all, the per capita land area of the Soviet Union was there, and Russia had always been a major exporter of agricultural products in Europe.

Current exchanges between Soviet and German personnel were concentrated in cities. Seeing the food, clothing, housing, and transportation of the Soviet people, German personnel felt a strong disparity. In many aspects, the standard of living in Soviet cities was faintly above that of Germany.

Goering had always considered himself not to have as "ambitious" ideals as Hitler. Germany's current situation had already exceeded Goering's highest ideals, and Goering did not want to enter a new gamble.

Seeing Goering not answering, Hitler stared at him. Goering had no choice but to answer, "According to our intelligence, the Soviet Union has not introduced technology from China."

"Is it that the Soviet Union itself did not introduce it from China?" Hitler pressed. He had held several meetings with the German Ministry of Economics in the past few days, and the results made Hitler very unhappy. Even though Germany had gained huge benefits and obtained massive amounts of materials from the war, if Germany wanted to continue maintaining the current situation, it needed even more massive amounts of materials. Unless... Germany could solve its food and energy dilemma once and for all.

Attacking the Soviet Union carried extreme risks; Hitler was well aware of this. But if the war could be won, the Third Reich that Hitler proclaimed could truly survive. The more he talked with economists, the stronger Hitler's impulse to continue waging war became.

Seeing Goering still unable to answer, Hitler said, "Go investigate."

"Yes!" Goering responded and took the opportunity to take his leave.

Hitler stood by the office window, looking at the street scene outside, his heart filled with mixed feelings. The Soviet Union was a behemoth, and Stalin was an opponent Hitler feared. But under Stalin's command, this behemoth was annexing the three Baltic states. And Britain, which stubbornly refused to make peace, was sending people to the Soviet Union one after another, seeking an alliance with the Soviet Union.

Facing such greedy opponents, Hitler had to seriously consider what Germany should do if Stalin actively launched an attack on Germany.

In Hitler's view, the best way was nothing other than a preemptive strike.