Since the Anglo-German peace and the beginning of the German withdrawal from France, the Free French government had fallen into division. Some Free French members returned to France after Germany completely withdrew. Some left-wing members, mainly from the French Communist Party, supported the *Pacific Charter* more firmly, believing that France must now undergo a revolution to be liberated from colonialism.

Although de Gaulle did not leave, he was also in a very difficult position. Because the Vichy government used the turbulent situation as a reason not to hold new general elections immediately. De Gaulle had already been sentenced to death in absentia by the Vichy government. He probably wouldn't be killed if he returned to France, but he was destined to face imprisonment.

Another reason de Gaulle was unwilling to return to France was that French politics had undergone what could almost be called a fundamental change. The failure of the Western European campaign led to the complete rise of the right wing in France after the German army withdrew. Although there were great differences within the French right wing, they reached a consensus on completely denying the French democratic system.

The French right wing believed that it was totalitarians like Richelieu and Napoleon who created the glory of France. Bismarck and Hitler, who defeated France twice, had one thing in common: they were centralizers. Therefore, the French right wing strove to establish a totalitarian government and began to persecute the left wing and democrats in France.

De Gaulle, who was nearly two meters tall, didn't talk much these days and looked depressed. Although de Gaulle himself also felt that the system of the French Third Republic was too chaotic, de Gaulle himself only hoped to establish a more efficient government on the basis of the French democratic system to avoid the chaos of France in the past few decades. Instead of directly overthrowing the democratic system and establishing a centralized government.

De Gaulle knew that his political stance could definitely not fit in with the right wing that now occupied the advantage in France. If he returned to France, he would definitely not have a good end.

De Gaulle didn't agree much with the philosophy of the French Communist Party either, but China still did not recognize the French Vichy government on the grounds that "France has de facto joined the fascist camp." Once de Gaulle left the Free French government, he would also lose the financial support given by China to the Free French government. If France was still occupied at this time, de Gaulle could still go to French colonies if he left. As Germany withdrew from France, the French colonies also chose the Vichy government. If de Gaulle left at this time, he would lose everything.

In such depression, de Gaulle sat in the room with half-drunk wine on the table. Suddenly there was a commotion outside. De Gaulle looked out through the window screen and saw several people in black uniforms walking into the Free French office building. These people were wearing uniforms of the Chinese Ministry of State Security. The person in charge of the Free French government welcomed them out, talked for a while, and walked inside.

A moment later, de Gaulle's office door was knocked on. Soon, de Gaulle arrived at the conference room. People from the Chinese Ministry of State Security were recounting the evidence they had collected. De Gaulle understood after listening for a moment. Someone in the Free French government tipped off the British, allowing the British to know China's military deployment, which nearly caused a failure of the Chinese Air Force.

De Gaulle had little interest in continuing to listen to this mess at this time. He believed that the Chinese Ministry of State Security was not lying. There must be some people within the Free French government now who would do this. The reason those people stayed was the same as de Gaulle's. It was not surprising for this group of guys to do something like selling intelligence.

The conversation continued until de Gaulle heard that some French Jews were involved in this matter, and they leaked secrets to Britain together with some people in the Free French government. De Gaulle immediately said unhappily, "I'm afraid the Jews are the masterminds!"

Everyone in the room looked at de Gaulle. De Gaulle continued grumpily, "Historically, Jews have been famous for doing these things, and now only Jews can come up with the money to bribe Free French government personnel!"

After expressing such a view, de Gaulle stood up and left the conference room. De Gaulle was even less interested in the current situation. As for what would happen in the future, let's talk about it after huge changes occur in the future.

De Gaulle didn't expect that the future changes would be so fast. On October 27, when China stabilized the Cam Ranh Bay base, the Cambodian National Assembly passed a resolution declaring war on Britain and inviting Chinese troops to enter Cambodia to protect Cambodia's safety.

When China was in Cambodia, it had already begun to build local ports and airfields. Now the airfields were completed, and the docks had been expanded and dredged to be able to dock 10,000-ton cruisers. The Chinese Air Force was the first to transfer to Cambodian airfields. At this time, the Sino-Japanese Coalition had been renamed the Asian Coalition. Korea, Champa, and Upper Burma all declared war on Britain, and all three countries joined the coalition.

The navy of the Asian Coalition entered Cam Ranh Bay, and the Marine Corps was still on the way. At this time, the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand had repeatedly explained to the Thai government that China would absolutely not invade Thailand militarily, nor would it force Thailand to join the Asian Coalition. As long as the Thai government did not join the British side, China would never take any military action against Thailand.

The King of Thailand dared not fully believe China's request, but the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand proposed to Thailand that they wanted to build a railway through the Indochina Peninsula passing through Thailand. The King of Thailand wanted to refuse very much, but he dared not say it out loud. Recently, Thailand already knew that the Upper Burma National Defense Force had annihilated six British brigades. Upper Burma bordered Thailand. China would not invade Thailand, but the Upper Burma Army might not necessarily refrain. Cambodia, which had just joined the Asian Coalition, might not necessarily refrain from invading Thailand either. It was even possible for the two countries to invade Thailand together.

Thailand was also considered to have seen the world. When Upper Burma and Cambodia invaded Thailand, China could come forward as a mediator. At that time, if Thailand wanted the two countries to leave Thailand, it could only agree to China's request to build the railway. Imperialist countries in this world all did this, and it was impossible for China to be exceptionally special.

The Chinese Ambassador had requested to see the King of Thailand twice in the last two days, mostly talking about the Indochina Railway. As the saying goes, things shouldn't happen more than three times. The King of Thailand had to ask, "What requirements does China have for this railway?"

The Chinese Ambassador replied, "I have talked with the Thai Minister of Finance. Thailand does not have the financial resources to afford this railway. China is willing to lend money to the Thai government, and Chinese railway enterprises will build this railway. Of course, during the process of building the railway, the Chinese government will hire Thai labor as much as possible to increase employment opportunities for Thailand. During the construction of this railway, the Chinese government will also provide training for Thai railway staff to ensure that after the completion of this railway, Thailand can operate this railway immediately..."

The King of Thailand listened quietly, but what the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand talked about was how China would build the railway, help Thailand with employment, and help Thailand operate it. When the Chinese Ambassador finished speaking, the King of Thailand waited for a while longer. Seeing that the Chinese Ambassador had no intention of continuing to speak, he couldn't help asking, "Is that all?"

"Your Majesty, technical problems during the specific railway construction process can only be discussed when encountered. This is all my country's view at this stage. More specific content is in the document I submitted."

The King of Thailand knew that when foreign countries built railways, they would demand ownership of minerals and land within 5 kilometers on both sides of the railway line. He had been waiting for the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand to raise this matter, but he didn't expect not to hear it all along.

Since the Chinese Ambassador didn't mention it, the King of Thailand was not prepared to create side issues. After sending away the Chinese Ambassador, the King of Thailand immediately studied the document submitted by China with the civil officials in the palace. After studying it thoroughly, the report only contained content about loans, repayment, railway construction, and railway operation, without any request infringing on Thailand's sovereignty. The King of Thailand didn't expect that China actually proposed a suggestion that looked very peaceful. Most importantly, China's plan to build the railway was very peaceful. Apart from requirements for the construction period, there were surprisingly no requirements even for operating the railway.

Looking only at this document, China just wanted to lend money to Thailand and then build this railway, and the ownership of the railway also belonged to Thailand. The Chinese side believed that Thailand had no experience in operating railways. In order for the railway to operate well, the China-Thailand joint venture railway company would obtain the operation rights for 5 years first. In the joint venture railway company, the proportion of Thai employees exceeded 70%. China only had managers responsible for operations in the railway company and did not hold equity in the railway itself.

Such a fair contract made the King of Thailand even more worried, but he really didn't have the courage to resist. After a day of discussion, the King of Thailand finally decided that as long as China didn't force Thailand to participate in the war and allowed Thailand to be peacefully neutral, other things would be endured for now!

On October 28, in the Royal Palace of Thailand, China and Thailand signed the "China-Thailand Railway Network Plan." When the applause rang out, the Chinese Air Force had already arrived over Malaya and bombed the air bases in Malaya.

Britain had set up radar stations near several air bases in Malaya to detect incoming Chinese Air Force in advance. The British Air Force took off immediately to meet the enemy. After all, the British Air Force was a force that had experienced the Battle of Britain, especially equipped with advanced fighters like P-47 and P-51 employing turbochargers. Fighting a big battle with the Chinese Air Force, they were not at a complete disadvantage.

But after repelling the first wave of Chinese Air Force attacks, the second wave of Chinese fighters arrived on the battlefield immediately. Fortunately, the British Air Force Group from the southern airfield came to help, and withstood the second wave of Chinese Air Force attacks.

Just as the second wave of Chinese planes left, the third wave followed. The British pilots didn't have mirrors, otherwise, they could have seen their pale faces. And the balance of the air battle tilted rapidly towards the fresh Chinese forces at this time. Originally, the losses of the Chinese and British armies were basically equal, but now as soon as the battle started, it became 1:2. If the British army damaged or shot down one Chinese plane, they would lose two themselves. The British Air Force didn't want to give up the airfield and fought desperately to repel the third wave of Chinese attacks. Before they could catch their breath, they faced the fourth wave of Chinese attacks.

Watching the vigorous Chinese planes appear in their field of vision, the British Air Force pilots who had already sortied twice in one day helplessly gave up the sky over the airfield and retreated to the southern airfields. The British airfields were still guarded by anti-aircraft guns, but this little anti-aircraft firepower was not enough to look at in front of the overwhelming Chinese bombers. Within a few minutes, the British airfields and anti-aircraft firepower disappeared in the explosion flashes of aerial bombs falling like raindrops.

The Chinese Air Force did not stop but continued to launch attacks on airfields further south. The British Air Force, which had just landed to take a breath, had to take off again. This time the British Air Force was really unable to fight anymore and could only continue to retreat south. The Chinese Air Force immediately destroyed this airfield completely.

In just one day, two of the six British airfields were destroyed. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, Commander of the Singapore Theater, rubbed his temples, still unable to solve his headache. He took out a bottle of green Chinese-made *Fengyoujing* (Essential Balm), smeared some under his nostrils, and after two breaths felt a coolness rush straight to his forehead through his nasal cavity, and his brain finally cleared up a bit.

He clearly realized that if the fighting continued, British airfields would all be destroyed. But China relied on the orthodox military method of "overcoming ten with one force." No matter how rich the Lieutenant General's combat experience was, there was no way to crack this. Unless he could conjure up planes and pilots out of thin air like God.

At this time, Vice Admiral Phillips, the theater fleet commander, spoke. "Commander, if we wait for the Chinese Air Force to continue destroying air bases now, we will only be completely passive. The best method at present is to send the navy to attack Cam Ranh Bay and engage in a decisive battle with the Chinese Navy. As long as the naval and air bases in Cam Ranh Bay are destroyed, China's offensive can be contained."

Lieutenant General Arthur Percival doubted very much whether the British fleet could survive in front of China's huge number of air forces, and he frankly expressed his worries.

Facing such a question, Vice Admiral Phillips answered confidently, "According to our intelligence, Chinese torpedo planes haven't arrived at Cam Ranh Bay yet. With the anti-aircraft firepower on our battleships, plus aircraft carriers, and the cooperation of the air force from land airfields, we are fully capable of countering China's air raids. Commander, if our airfields are bombed, the ability to go north and attack will be greatly weakened. Now is the stage when our army is strongest, and the enemy is relatively weak. It is also the time for us to strike."

Lieutenant General Arthur Percival didn't know whether to believe Vice Admiral Phillips's view. Since the start of the European campaign, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival had discovered that war was no longer the war he was familiar with in his decades of military career. It was so in the European campaign, and it is so now.

But after thinking for a good while, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival found that he didn't know other ways of warfare except adopting traditional war thinking. Finally, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival decided to believe in the famous naval admiral Vice Admiral Phillips. "I agree with your sortie, Vice Admiral."