On the morning of October 31, the British Air Force took off to begin patrolling, but by 11:00 AM, there was no sign of the Chinese Air Force. While nervous, the British Air Force couldn't help but speculate: could it be that the Chinese Air Force couldn't withstand such fierce air combat either?

Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, Commander of the Singapore Theater, received a piece of news that put him under immense pressure: the Chinese Army arrived at Kuantan, an important port in Malaya, around 10:30 AM, and quickly launched an attack.

Once Kuantan Port fell, China could use the port of Kuantan for landing. Yesterday's great air battle proved that with the full support of the United States, the British Air Force could block the fierce attack of the Chinese Air Force. But the huge number of Chinese Army troops had powerful air cover. When these Army troops rushed towards the Malayan capital Kuala Lumpur and the important seaport Singapore in huge numbers, the 100,000 Commonwealth troops probably couldn't resist them.

Soon, Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the US Forces in the Philippines, received a call from Singapore asking if the US military could send troops to the Philippines to participate in ground combat. MacArthur also received yesterday's report. The huge number of Chinese Air Force planes made MacArthur feel that the pressure of the war in front of him was too great. Unless the US government declared war on China, relying only on the military resources of the Philippines alone was not enough to stop the Chinese Army's offensive.

Receiving the urgent telegram from the British Commander of the Singapore Theater, MacArthur was not in a hurry. His gaze fell on India, northwest of Singapore. The importance of India to China needed no elaboration. MacArthur believed that India was likely to start chaos under China's attack at this stage. Britain not only could not get reinforcements from India but also had to transfer troops and materials from the already fragile Singapore region to aid India.

This was not only MacArthur's view but also the entire view of the Philippines Command. The Philippines Command believed that even if Britain did not transfer Singapore's strength to maintain the war in India at present, as long as Singapore could not get continuous support, even if the US forces in the Philippines fully supported Singapore, the use would be limited.

Although the Southeast Asian region produced oil, its refining capacity was very weak. The industrial capacity of this region alone could not maintain large-scale operations for a long time. Just yesterday's sortie consumed a large amount of gasoline. If it weren't for several large oil depots newly built during the US strengthening of the Philippines, and the regular oil transportation from the United States, the US Air Force couldn't withstand such consumption either.

It was not until 2:00 PM that MacArthur sent a telegram to the British Command in Singapore, stating that the Philippines could not provide ground support to the Singapore Theater.

At this time, the Chinese Army attacking Kuantan had entered the final stage of the battle. In this battle, the British garrison had the designation of a division, but the troops were Commonwealth forces, and their will to fight was very weak. Although they did not collapse at the first touch initially, the Malayan local troops among the defenders collapsed immediately after being bombarded violently by the Chinese Air Force. The Chinese Army swarmed in through the gap, quickly dividing the British defense system, leading to the continued collapse of more Malayan local troops.

Although there were still a few British strongholds in the city resisting desperately, no matter how fierce this scattered resistance was, it had no impact on the entire war situation.

Before the battle was over, the National Defense Force had already controlled the port and began to signal the Navy.

At 3:00 PM, the Air Force and Artillery cooperated with each other and razed several British strongholds in one fell swoop. At this time, a Chinese frigate of more than 600 tons sailed into Kuantan Port and slowly docked at the port berth. As soon as the ship stopped steadily, the naval liaison personnel immediately lowered the gangway and went ashore quickly.

Saluting each other with the Army personnel who came to meet him, the two spoke almost simultaneously, "When can we start?"

Both were stunned for a moment, and then both smiled. This time it was the Navy comrade who spoke first, "Did you get the plan?"

"Got it, and the personnel have been allocated. Can we start now?" the Army comrade replied. The plan was formulated in units of 10 minutes, and the steps were very detailed. Fortunately, one of the several basic construction ideas of the National Defense Force was "STEM thinking," plus the enemy opposite was not strong, thousands of equipment parts were all ready. The Army provided sufficient manpower, and the personnel for management, distribution, and execution provided a 10% redundancy.

The Navy comrade raised his hand and looked at his watch. "It is 3:18 PM now."

"Mine too." The Army comrade's watch showed the same time.

"Let's start at 3:40."

"Okay."

After speaking, the two saluted each other and turned away.

The Army needed to transport armored equipment ashore through Kuantan Port very quickly, and the Navy needed it too. Even if only for the desire to fight, once the Navy began large-scale transportation in Kuantan Port, it was possible to attract the British fleet to attack. Presumably, the British army would not let a fleet without air protection come to attack alone; the British Air Force would also send planes for escort. Fighting in an area controlled by China, not a single shot-down British pilot could think of escaping. As long as the British Air Force was annihilated, that British fleet, no matter how confident, would be completely sunk.

The Navy comrade's understanding of the British Navy was correct. At this time in the Indian Ocean, a fleet centered on three new "King George V-class battleships" had arrived in the outer sea of Rangoon, Burma.

On October 26, China recognized Burma's independence and stationed air forces in Upper Burma. On October 27, with the cooperation of the Chinese Air Force, the Upper Burma National Defense Force, which had already entered Burma for combat, cooperated closely with the Burma People's Army and eliminated the last two British army positions in Burma. The troops went to the border line between Burma and Bengal to build defensive positions.

Since Britain had declared war on China, it was naturally impossible to have any scruples. On October 26, the British Indian Army launched an attack on the Siliguri Corridor defense line on the border between the Republic of Assam and India.

The Siliguri Corridor defense line was 30 kilometers long and was a border defense line built by China to help the Republic of Assam. The Republic of Assam was not enthusiastic about war, but the people of the Republic of Assam were very vigilant against being invaded again.

Entering September, the Republic of Assam fully activated the defense line and placed three divisions before and after the border line. As soon as the British army began to attack, the troops immediately entered the Siliguri defense line. This defense line was built completely in accordance with the mode of modern warfare; it was very solid, and there were no dead angles in defense. Eight British Indian brigades attacked continuously for three days without making any progress; instead, they lost troops and generals.

Seeing that the situation could not be opened in the Assam region, the British Command in India decided to shell and bomb Rangoon on a large scale. Generally speaking, even if an important port city like Rangoon was lost, Britain would not destroy it. Britain had plenty of sensible people; although the British Empire suffered setbacks, it could always get what it wanted. Keeping Rangoon Port, Britain could come back later.

After serious thinking about the current situation, the sensible people in Britain concluded that Britain could not defeat China independently, nor could it win by dragging in France and Germany. The current priority was to wait for the United States to complete general mobilization and enter the war to ensure that they would not be defeated. As for whether China could be defeated, the British sensible people believed that it depended on the attitude of the Soviet Union.

If the Soviet Union joined the Anglo-American side, pressure could be applied to China from every direction. If the Soviet Union stood still, China could only be driven back and blocked, but it was impossible to defeat China.

British Prime Minister Attlee was preparing to meet with US President Roosevelt, and the two sides would jointly issue the *Atlantic Charter*. The reason why the United States wanted to ally with Britain was that the United States wanted to compete for the position of leading the future world. In pursuit of a global free market, the attitudes of China and the United States were no different. Therefore, the US representative had proposed that Britain must promise to liberate the colonies.

Even if China was defeated, it was impossible for Britain to continue colonizing Burma, and the important Burmese port of Rangoon would become an important anchorage for China in the Indian Ocean, so there was no need to keep Rangoon. Shelling Rangoon could also let the Burmese see how terrifying Britain's anger was, and could also weaken the will of the Burmese to fight against Britain.

In addition to political factors, there was another factor purely related to war. Britain received intelligence that China was preparing to place a torpedo bomber attack unit in Rangoon. If they didn't destroy Rangoon now, Britain would have no chance later.

The King George V-class battleships were new British battleships approved for construction when former Prime Minister Chamberlain was in office. These battleships started construction in 1937 and were launched successively from 1940 to 1941. Britain and the United States began military cooperation in 1938, and the P-47 and P-51 fighters were the result of cooperation starting at that time. Britain provided engine technology to the United States, and the United States provided radar technology to Britain. In the cooperation of 1941, American companies obtained orders for air and surface search radars on five King George V-class battleships.

Now, the radars of the *Duke of York*, *Anson*, and *Howe* battleships did not find signs of the Chinese Air Force. The signals from the sky were the British Air Force's P-38 Lightning fighters and F2F Wildcat fighters. Britain knew the principle of using good steel on the blade. Although P-47 and P-51 had the potential of top fighters and although there were still various problems, they were sent to the battlefield with the fiercest fighting. The aircraft escorting in the Indian Ocean this time used the older P-38 and F2F.

Britain was really familiar with shelling ports of backward countries. Finding no Chinese fighters, a total of 30 45-caliber Mark VII main guns on the three King George V-class battleships loaded high-explosive shells and began to bombard. Each of these shells was filled with hundreds of kilograms of high explosives. After the shell landed, buildings within a radius of dozens of meters were instantly reduced to nothing.

The 45-caliber Mark VII main gun could fire shells to 18,000 meters, which was 18 kilometers away. In naval battles, such extreme shooting didn't make much sense, just wasting ammunition suddenly. But when shelling a city, as long as the shell landed in the city, it could cause huge damage. As for which people were hurt, Britain not only didn't care but never considered it. For hundreds of years, when facing the resistance of colonial people, colonialists always massacred them first.

Before long, thick smoke was already rolling in the urban area of Rangoon. And the radar monitoring personnel reported to the top, "Report Commander, a group of planes coming from the northeast was found on the radar. We think it should be the Chinese Air Force."

These words were said with a lack of confidence. Hearing the news, the British Fleet Commander immediately determined that it was the Chinese Air Force. In current Asia, only China could dispatch large aircraft groups in a place like Burma.

"Aircraft meet the enemy, ships retreat, maintain air defense formation during retreat," the British Fleet Commander ordered.

Air combat unfolded fiercely immediately. British fleet observers were horrified to find that the P-38 fighters and F2F fighters, which performed well in the Battle of Britain where enemy aircraft were discovered in advance, now also discovered the enemy fleet first, but as soon as the battle started, P-38s and F2Fs began to be shot down.

With the unfolding of the air battle, the Chinese J-9 fighters, which did not show advantages when facing P-47 and P-51, suddenly showed amazing combat effectiveness. Climbing, diving, spiraling, and other aspects all exceeded British aircraft. Especially in the combat style of the Air Force, the Chinese Air Force showed strong aggressiveness, and all flight movements were extreme.

In less than 15 minutes of engagement, half of the British Air Force planes were damaged and withdrew from the air battle. The remaining British Air Force requested coordination from the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower.

These words sounded very comfortable and angry in the ears of the British Fleet Commander. The fact that the anti-aircraft firepower of the British Navy provided help to the Air Force proved that the British Navy was still the side with more combat effectiveness. But the mission of the Air Force was to cover the Navy. Being unable to hold on so quickly showed how useless the British Air Force was.

Fortunately, the coordination exercises between the British Navy and Air Force had been going on for more than half a year. The Fleet Commander immediately agreed to the request of the British Air Force. The British Air Force immediately gave up the hard fight with the Chinese Air Force and began to fly into the range of the British Navy's artillery. The role of the British Air Force at this time had changed to bait. As long as the Chinese Air Force chased the British Air Force, it would enter the anti-aircraft fire of the British Navy and be shot down by equipment with new air defense fire systems.

In the high-power Zeiss optical observation lenses of the British fleet observers, the Chinese Air Force surprisingly did not fall for it. They saw them circling outside the British anti-aircraft fire like a pack of cunning and vicious wolves. Although they didn't pounce to attack, they didn't retreat either. Looking at their appearance, they should be looking for a fighter opportunity.

The British Air Force fighters kept stepping forward to provoke, hoping to lure the other side to rush over. The planes of both sides danced in the air like butterflies wearing flowers, as if performing a beautiful waltz. But this waltz was spinning on the line of death. All British anti-aircraft guns were ready, and the British Air Force deliberately gave way to some air cover, exposing the British fleet to the Chinese Air Force.

The British Fleet Commander was also waiting. At this time, the fleet had sailed 10 nautical miles out to sea and continued to sail to the open sea. If the Chinese Air Force pounced down to attack, the British fleet could take various maneuvering sailing actions at any time to avoid bombs.

At this moment, the optical observer's call came into the bridge. From the receiver, the observer's nervousness could be heard. "Sir, another batch of Chinese planes is flying close to the sea surface. They are all J-9 fighters. Damn it, those planes should be carrying torpedoes!"

Everyone in the bridge was stunned. The reason why they dared to run to Rangoon for shelling was that they heard that Chinese torpedo attack aircraft hadn't arrived in Rangoon yet, and the Chinese Air Force in Rangoon consisted of fighters like the J-9 that only had air combat and bomb-dropping capabilities.

At this time, the voice of the optical observer came from the receiver again. This time the observer's voice became panicked. "Report Sir, confirmed that those J-9 fighters are all loaded with torpedoes! Confirmed that the enemy's torpedo attack aircraft are flying towards our army!"