On November 3, MacArthur ordered that five P-47 groups remain in the Philippines, while all remaining flight groups be sent to Singapore to participate in the war. At the same time, MacArthur sent a telegram to the US Army General Staff, requesting the urgent transfer of another 10 air force groups to the Philippines to strengthen Philippine defense.

Other officers in the headquarters did not object. They had privately submitted various telegrams to the Army General Staff and the Navy Command, but all telegrams were like stones sinking into the sea without any reply. Even the dullest officer understood that the higher-ups had adopted a tacit attitude towards MacArthur's decision. MacArthur's request for the United States to transfer another 10 air force groups at this time further confirmed the attitude of the US upper echelon. This battle was unavoidable.

At this time on the Malayan front line, the air battle that had ceased for a few days broke out again. Over Kuala Lumpur, the air battle was fought from morning to evening before it had to be suspended. China's 10 airstrips in northern Malaya were extremely lively at this time. With airfields and control over vast areas outside the cities, Chinese pilots could receive the fastest rescue once they parachuted. The enemy pilots were not so lucky; more than 70 enemy pilots were captured in just one day today.

Aerial photography equipment was installed on Chinese fighters, making it very easy to count battle results. Early in the morning of November 4, the pilots went from air-conditioned tents with mosquito nets to the toilets, then quickly went to the cafeteria to eat, but were soon stopped at the entrance of the field cafeteria.

Air Force staff officers held a list, and anyone whose name was called was taken away immediately. These Air Force comrades had all shot down more than 3 enemy planes. Everyone thought they were going to receive commendations or even medals. Unexpectedly, at the gathering place, an Air Force senior colonel first expressed commendation to the comrades, and then told them, "Comrades, now the troops require you to return to the Air Force Academy with us immediately."

Hearing this order, a pilot immediately raised an objection. "Comrade Senior Colonel, I want to stay on the front line. My wingman was shot down near Singapore two days ago. I want to shoot down as many enemy planes as possible to avenge my wingman!"

Although not many people expressed this attitude, most Air Force pilots had similar feelings; they were willing to stay here and continue fighting.

The senior colonel did not criticize the few comrades who jumped out. He just said seriously, "Do you think this war will end just by taking Singapore?"

The pilots had all studied in military academies after graduating from high school. With everyone's education level, they naturally understood that the war had just begun.

The senior colonel continued, "The war has just begun. We now have hundreds of thousands of pilots with no actual combat experience. They need comrades with combat experience to train them to improve their chances of survival on the battlefield. Comrades, your teaching time back at the military academy will be at most three months. After three months, anyone willing to return to the front line can come back. Now you must return to the military academy; this is an order!"

It is the bounden duty of soldiers to obey orders. Since the senior colonel made it clear that this was an order, and this order itself was more beneficial to the development of the Air Force itself, the pilots all chose to obey the order.

The vacancies left by these pilots were immediately filled by newly arrived pilots. The newcomers undertook the work of wingmen in the troops. All captains required wingmen to try not to participate in combat during air battles. In addition to undertaking the task of wingmen, the most important task for these newcomers was to observe air battles at close range and accumulate more experience.

The aggregated data of the Air Force was quickly sent back to Beijing. After He Rui got this report, he immediately read it as a priority. Now the Army Aviation on the Indochina Peninsula front line had increased to 20 groups, exceeding the sum of all fighters of Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands in Southeast Asia.

The 97 pilots withdrawn this time were first concentrated to participate in the discussion of air combat tactics. After results were obtained in this stage of discussion, some of these pilots would return to the front line with the latest air combat research to teach the research results to frontline troops, and some would serve as instructors in various aviation academies.

After reading the report, He Rui stood up and walked to the window, opening it. Cold air rushed in. He Rui lit a cigarette, considering whether to go to war with the United States now.

The US President and the British Charter meant that the United States was actually preparing to participate in the war. Since a war between China and the United States was inevitable, He Rui was no longer anxious. Given the current war situation, He Rui even hoped that the United States would participate in the war a little later.

Historically, Japan used a small number of elites as the backbone to launch a surprise attack and took Southeast Asia in one fell swoop. Now the elites of the British and American Air Forces gathered in Southeast Asia and resisted very tenaciously. He Rui was very happy to see the enemy using elites to maintain combat in distant areas.

Taking the Air Force as an example, the goal of the Chinese Air Force was to cultivate hundreds of thousands of high-level pilots, rather than obtaining a small number of ace and super ace pilots after cruel war elimination. Therefore, Chinese pilots who shot down 3 enemy planes would be sent back to the rear to participate in research and teaching, improving the strength of the entire Chinese Air Force through the scientific research and teaching of these pilots.

In contrast, for Britain and the United States, due to the long battle line, the losses on the front could not be replenished quickly, and they could only rely on ace pilots to maintain frontline combat. At this stage, Britain and the United States had not yet shown fatigue. But no country could withstand such losses. As one fell and the other rose for a few months, the gap in the foundation of both sides would appear. When Britain and the United States discovered this gap, they could only catch up at several times the cost. He Rui was not sure what specific price Britain and the United States would pay, but judging by objective laws, the price would be very high. So at this stage, if the United States did not declare war on China, it would be beneficial to China.

Should he deliberately create some illusions for Britain and the United States? Such an impulse even arose in He Rui's heart. But He Rui quickly dispelled this thought, because an open conspiracy was much more efficient than a conspiracy, and He Rui had confidence in letting China execute an open conspiracy.

After confirming his thoughts, He Rui returned to his desk and called Foreign Minister Li Shiguang. "Minister Li, we have ascertained that among the planes shot down by our army in the Singapore area, many pilots were American pilots. We demand that the United States explain this."

Li Shiguang had already received the latest news. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Chairman, does this mean the United States is going to declare war on us?"

"No hurry, let them go through the process." He Rui gave a solution that was very much an open conspiracy.

On the same day, the US Secretary of State received news from the US Ambassador to China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the US Ambassador to China and showed the latest news, including planes painted with US Air Force markings shot down in the Singapore area, and the confessions of these captured pilots admitting that they were US Air Force personnel and accepted the order of MacArthur, Commander of the Philippines Command, to participate in the war in Singapore.

Secretary of State Hull thought he would have received these accusations from China three days ago. Receiving them only now proved his guess that the Chinese government believed that the current stage was not the best time to declare war. What Secretary of State Hull hoped for most was that China would declare war on the United States first. Although domestic isolationism in the United States was strong, isolationists would not cower when actively declared war upon by a foreign country. This solved the problem of US President Roosevelt's excuse for declaring war.

If settling for the second best, and China did not actively declare war, it would depend on whether the US Republican Party would make a big fuss about this matter. At this stage, the Republican Party, representing the interests of local American enterprises, was increasingly accepting of war.

In order to confirm his thoughts, Hull first instructed his secretary to inform the US Ambassador to China, "Regarding China's accusations, the US government still needs to investigate. Once there is accurate news, the US government will notify the Chinese government. Since the Chinese government believes that the captured pilots are US military personnel, even before the situation is clear, the US government requires China to abide by the Geneva Convention and treat the captured personnel well."

Towards China, Hull just used the word "delay." After explaining this, Hull went to New York to attend a lunch with the Republican Senate Leader the next day. It was late at night when he arrived in New York by train, and he saw that the city was still full of lights and festivities. The Great Depression had ended eight years ago, and New York had at least superficially returned to its former appearance.

The number of homeless people on the streets was much smaller, and there were not as many young people as before. Without these people, the streets looked more orderly. Hull knew that this was all due to war preparation. With a large number of young people conscripted into the army, plus the full pull of the military industry, US employment was very good. When employment was good, there were fewer homeless people.

Checking into a high-class hotel, just as the elevator door was about to close, it was suddenly blocked by someone outside. The elevator operator opened the door again, and two scantily clad, gorgeously dressed women walked in. Seeing Hull dressed sharply and with extraordinary bearing, they stared at Hull with enthusiastic eyes for a while.

Hull smelled the alluring perfume scent emanating from the women, but he didn't have any reaction himself. Instead, he remembered Roosevelt's new lover, that Swedish princess. Nordic people were enthusiastic, open, and straightforward. In the eyes of conservative Americans, such a princess could only be easily handled by a strong man like Roosevelt.

In the elevator, Hull looked straight ahead. When he walked out of the elevator, he heard the two women behind him chuckle. Hull was also helpless and could only sigh that the United States was also changing, transforming towards the path Europe had once walked.

After resting for a night, Hull met the Republican Senate Leader at noon. The leader came to New York to attend the baptism of a newborn of the Bush family. Hull had an impression of the Bush family; it wasn't that no one made money during the Great Depression era, and the Bush family's financial company was one of them. Moreover, the Bush family's fundraising ability was quite famous within the current Republican Party.

The two sat in a relatively secluded location. The Republican leader leaned back in his chair, looking not very friendly. Hull asked, "According to the agreement, Britain has already opened up the sale of US goods to British colonies. But recently China has blocked a considerable part of the shipping routes, and it is difficult for US goods to go to India."

It could be seen that the Republican Senate Leader seemed to have been hit hard, and his face looked even uglier. Hull was not worried that the Republican leader would fly into a rage, because the Republican Party's base was local American industry. A large part of the reason why Roosevelt wanted to start a foreign war was to find a huge market for US goods. In this regard, there was no conflict between the Republican Party and Roosevelt.

It took a good while for the Republican leader's face to return to calm. He let out a long breath before saying, "Mr. Hull, I heard that MacArthur ordered the troops in the Philippines to fight with the British."

"I think the United States must stand with Britain." Hull cleverly avoided the Republican leader's frontal attack.

But the Republican leader was not led astray. He continued, "This will trigger a war."

Hull continued to avoid frontal attacks and sought to persuade the other party. "What the United States is most competitive in is agricultural products and raw materials. The share of ordinary industrial manufactured goods in the Asian Economic Community is getting smaller and smaller. When does Mr. Leader think the expanded Asian Economic Community will fully open up to US goods?"

The Republican leader fell silent again. The Republican Party was also analyzing how to attack Roosevelt internally. The problem Hull mentioned was exactly the pressure the Republican bigwigs were bearing now. Those local American companies supporting the Republican Party did not have a friendly view of China because after China liberated several former colonial countries, local American companies also sought to open the markets of these colonial countries, but all failed.

Judging from the laws of economic activity, China and Japan could produce goods of comparable quality to the United States. China and Japan were close to these independent countries, and transportation costs were low, so it was not strange that US goods suffered a crushing defeat in the Asian Economic Community.

But human beings were not accustomed to such thinking. American companies were more inclined to believe that it was China's control and unfair competition that caused US goods to lose the Asian market. And this emotional attitude had an increasing influence, so that the Republican Party was under huge pressure.

The Republican leader pondered for a while and decided to lure the snake out of the hole. He asked, "Does the President think he can defeat China?"

Hull continued to avoid the direct question and sought common ground with the other party. "The President just hopes to build a free market. I think this is also the future that most Americans expect."

The Republican leader indeed agreed relatively with Roosevelt's philosophy in the general direction. And discussions within the Republican Party also believed that it was impossible for China to open the Asian Economic Cooperation Organization it led to the United States. Facing such a situation, forcing China to accept the order led by the United States through war was actually the only way that could be seen now.

The reason why the Republican Party advocated isolationism was largely that the United States paid a huge price in World War I but failed to obtain markets. To date, what the Republican Party saw was that Britain would rather make peace with Germany than open up the European market. So they were even less willing to participate in the war.

However, the biggest threat to the United States right now was no longer Britain, but China, which was more powerful than Britain. With China's size, the markets eaten by China were even less likely to be spit out. And at present, for its own interests, Britain finally softened to the United States and signed the *Atlantic Charter*.

Thinking of this, the Republican Senate Leader said, "I think MacArthur is a patriot."

Hull nodded then and answered directly, "Yes. He is like us, a patriot."

Having said this, a preliminary consensus was finally reached. Since everyone was a patriot, there was naturally much to talk about. At this time, the waiter came with a tray to serve the dishes. Hull happened to fall silent and drink coffee slowly. When all the dishes were served, the two chatted while eating.

Verbal appreciation was not enough; Hull needed the Republican leader to give a clear word that he must not initiate an impeachment investigation into MacArthur's decision. This was actually not easy, because MacArthur's action itself was dragging the United States towards war.

Just as Hull expected, after eating a piece of beef, the Republican Senate Leader said, "But our Republican Party still opposes war."

Hull cut a piece of beef, raised his fork, and said, "Mr. Leader, China is already prepared to impose war on the United States. For example, if the United States only declares war on China when US territories and colonies in the Pacific are attacked... Then if only US territories and colonies are left in the Pacific, won't the United States go to war with China?"

The Senate Leader thought for a moment and shook his head slowly.

Hull shook his fork. "Then, Mr. Leader, how many islands in the Pacific does China have to cut off to constitute a threat to the United States?" After speaking, Hull put the beef into his mouth and chewed.

This time it was the Senate Leader's turn to bite his lip gently. Hull's question was very persuasive: "What is America's bottom line?"

Finally, the Senate Leader gave the answer: "China must never take Australia and New Zealand."

Cutting the beef, Hull said, "But isn't everything China is doing now for the purpose of taking Australia and New Zealand? Unless, Mr. Leader can issue a warning to China."

This question made the Republican leader feel that he had been set up by Hull. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Shouldn't such a statement be issued by the House of Representatives?"

"What if before such a statement is issued, someone in the Senate impeaches or investigates General MacArthur's decision?" Hull asked.

The Republican Senate Leader finally understood Hull's line of thought. He did not answer immediately but just began to eat quietly. When he had drunk half of his after-dinner coffee, the Republican Senate Leader said, "I can guarantee that there will be no impeachment investigation against MacArthur. But will he be defeated?"

Hull did not spoil the Republican Senate Leader either. "If China would be defeated by the forces of the Philippines Command, China would absolutely not dare to launch the current war."

Hearing this, the Republican Senate Leader stood up abruptly to get his coat. Hull also stood up and asked, "Mr. Leader, is your promise just now valid?"

The Republican Senate Leader glared at Hull fiercely and answered very unhappily, "Valid."

Too lazy to talk to Hull anymore, the Leader left the table. But he heard Hull say sincerely behind him, "Thank you!"

MacArthur, Commander of the Philippines Command, did not expect how many people were supporting him through various efforts behind his back. The current war situation made MacArthur feel very wrong, but he couldn't say where it was wrong.

On the surface, the US Air Force that took over the British army's defense of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in air combat did contain the attack of the Chinese army, but such air defense was not enough to contain the Chinese Army from seizing Kuala Lumpur.

Although there were many US Air Force planes, there were also many Chinese Air Force planes. All the strength of both sides was used in air combat, hoping to defeat the opponent's air force and seize full air superiority. Although the Chinese Air Force could not seize air superiority, it also made the US Air Force unable to launch attacks on the Chinese Army. The Chinese Army, however, did not launch a decisive attack. In the view of the Philippines Command, there must be a problem. MacArthur felt even more that there was a problem. What's more, the commander directing this campaign was Zheng Silang, who had the reputation of a brave general.

Looking at the map for a long time, MacArthur suddenly shouted, "Damn it!"