On the morning of January 13, 1942, before the barracks in Mumbai had conducted their morning drills and before the naval vessels had begun their daily flag-raising ceremonies, three Chinese Air Force aircraft arrived over Mumbai and began dropping bombs on the British barracks and the British warships in the military berths.

This is the sorrow of completely losing air superiority in modern warfare. To maintain air superiority in India, the Royal Air Force had lost nearly 1,200 fighter jets in the past two months. This amounted to the aircraft of 12 air groups and represented 30% of the RAF's total current strength of 4,000 fighters.

The reason for such heavy losses was not complex: China had deployed 74 air groups to the India Theater, with over 7,000 fighter jets. With a 6-to-1 numerical advantage, the Royal Air Force simply could not hold on.

Looking down at India from a higher altitude, one could see the Chinese Air Force forming two long corridors in the air, originating from airfields in the mountainous regions of northern India and near the Deccan Plateau in the east. The round-trip distance for both routes was around 2,000 kilometers. Since the J-9 fighter had a maximum range of 4,800 kilometers, the fleets still had over 2,000 kilometers of flight range available for combat missions after reaching Mumbai.

Since the J-9 fighters were equipped with autopilots, Chinese pilots only needed to fly manually during combat maneuvers; the rest of the time, they could sit comfortably in their cockpits and rest.

There were few targets of military value in the urban area of Mumbai, and they were subjected to intensive strikes within the first two hours of the attack. Because the Chinese Air Force did not attack core infrastructure such as bridges, railways, and telegraph stations, not only could military intelligence be transmitted quickly, but civilian news also began to spread rapidly.

At this moment, various radios were rapidly transmitting and receiving signals. British official radio stations, civilian commercial radio stations, consular radio stations of various countries, and radio stations leased by major international newspapers were all sending news quickly. Within two hours of the start of the attack, London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, and Washington all received intelligence that Mumbai had been subjected to large-scale bombing by the Chinese Air Force.

Among these dense radio signals, several radio stations were communicating with a few Air Force node command aircraft equipped with a large amount of electronic equipment, which were heavily protected by the Chinese Air Force. Since the British army no longer had an air force in India, these node command aircraft, which were easily vulnerable to attack, were also deployed to the front lines. These special aircraft had a range of over 7,000 kilometers and were not installed with combat systems. A large amount of space was used to install electronic equipment and house the technical personnel operating it. Their electronic equipment could filter out the required signals from the complex noise.

As soon as the air raid ended, more than 1,200 elites of the Indian National Army divided into three teams and headed straight for the three armories within Mumbai city. They had received systematic training in China, and each unit was organized according to the infantry model of the previous era in China. Every platoon-level combat unit had its own walkie-talkie team, capable of contacting headquarters up to the battalion level at any time.

The soldiers guarding the armories were mostly local Indians. Seeing soldiers waving flags running towards them from a distance, several Indian officers exchanged glances and immediately pulled out their pistols, aiming them at the British officers in charge of the armories.

Upon seeing this, the British soldiers immediately raised their rifles. With the crashing sound of bolts being pulled, these British soldiers found themselves pointed at by the gun muzzles of Indian soldiers who outnumbered them several times over. The British officers knew that they had no possibility of resisting, yet they still asked with feigned indignation, "Are you going to betray us?"

The Indian officer replied with a stern face, "We are Indians; I am only loyal to India!"

After speaking, the Indian officer shouted, "Disarm them!"

The British officers and soldiers had no will to fight and were obediently disarmed by a group of Indian officers and soldiers who, just minutes ago, had been servants of the British. At this time, the Indian National Army had arrived in front of the armory, and officers from both sides stepped forward to salute. The Indian officer said somewhat uneasily, "The keys to the armory are not in our hands."

The Indian National Army officer showed no displeasure. He called over a dozen soldiers carrying equipment and had them connect impact drills to a generator. When the generator began to roar and the instrument indicated that the voltage was sufficient, the Indian National Army commander asked, "Where is the wall thinnest?"

Hearing that they were going to chisel through the wall, the Indian officer immediately said, "The door is still the thinnest."

The National Army commander immediately had the soldiers take out electric saws and asked again, "Where is the thinnest part of the door?"

The alloy saw wheels spun rapidly, and sparks flew as the thick wooden door reinforced with iron sheets was subjected to intense friction. The sparks splattered onto the bodies and masks of the National Army engineers wearing specialized clothing, causing them no harm. Soon, a gap large enough for a person to crawl through was cut. In the interval while the saw wheels were being changed, several soldiers crawled in.

Walking inside with flashlights, they saw that the warehouse still contained half a warehouse full of supplies. Pulling down the canvas covering the wooden crates, a greasy smell unique to munitions wafted over. After taking down a few crates, prying open the lids with crowbars, and lifting the straw, Lee-Enfield rifles wrapped in oilcloth were revealed. Heavy small boxes were opened, revealing full loads of shiny yellow bullets.

Just as the inspection reached this point, the intense sound of sawing the door paused again. The gate was slowly pushed open amidst creaking sounds, and the cheers of the soldiers outside drifted into the warehouse. The uprising Indian soldiers had not figured out how to break the sturdy warehouse gate; seeing the problem solved so easily, they could finally be sure that the insurgent army would at least not face a shortage of ammunition.

The officers of the Indian National Army immediately began calling headquarters using walkie-talkies. The effective communication range of these walkie-talkies was around 15 kilometers. Not only did Chandra Bose at the uprising headquarters hear the news clearly, but the Chinese fighter jets cruising "slowly" at low altitude at a speed of 180 kilometers per hour also received the message.

Ten minutes later, the India Command also received the news. General Yu Cen touched his chin and looked at Mumbai, 1,000 kilometers away on the map, feeling somewhat emotional. He had attended a training class on the warfare of the next era, where prototypes of automatic networks were demonstrated.

These networks included wired and wireless networks, controlled by computers, requiring no human manual connection. Moreover, as a lecturer for the training class, He Rui had introduced the technical level this network would achieve in the future. Frontline combat would be directly presented within the headquarters via satellite, radio, and wired networks through audio and video.

Originally, the general staff needed layers of signal transmission, but now they could sit thousands or even ten thousand kilometers away and directly see various images that the equipment of frontline combat troops could see, and conduct direct voice communication with frontline troops.

Yu Cen knew very well that even in that era, it would be impossible for the headquarters to directly command the combat of frontline troops. However, this combat system provided the headquarters with the most timely information communication, allowing the headquarters to grasp the situation of frontline combat troops at any time. For the military, this was a revolutionary advancement.

Even if this was only the form of future warfare, the intelligence communication that could be achieved right now was already revolutionary. Yu Cen could grasp the latest intelligence from over 1,000 kilometers away within 15 minutes. Even if the Mumbai uprising failed, this information already held significant meaning for the headquarters directing the entire war situation.

Yu Cen, responsible for the entire India Theater, was very busy, but he still prepared to watch for another hour. By now, the Chinese military had completed its military reforms. One of the biggest changes was that the scale of general staff departments at the corps level and above had expanded several times compared to before. The new communication systems allowed the general staff to obtain ten to dozens of times the amount of effective information as before. The ability to handle various situations had also greatly improved.

Yu Cen could focus on or ignore any specific battlefield according to his own ideas, and the work of the increased number of staff officers was to process massive amounts of effective intelligence. The vast majority of Yu Cen's work was signing orders, not issuing them.

For the next hour, Yu Cen did not say a word. It was not Yu Cen who was responsible for the support command of the Mumbai uprising. A large amount of transmitted data showed that the Mumbai uprising was proceeding exactly according to plan. After seizing the armories, the Indian National Army quickly contacted follow-up troops and began arming them.

The returned information contained a large number of details. For instance, Chinese liaison personnel notified the Indian troops who had finished receiving weapons via radio, telling them to carefully wipe off the gun oil and conduct live-fire practice.

Hearing this news, many Chinese officers, including Yu Cen, smiled. This was not mockery, but satisfaction with the work of the Chinese personnel. Previously, there had been many instances where Indian insurgent armies receiving new equipment forgot to wipe off the gun oil and did not conduct live-fire practice, leading to massive failures to fire during combat despite having weapons. In the ongoing Mumbai uprising, these details were being attended to. This was enough to prove that the Chinese military was growing very fast.

An hour later, General Yu Cen left the command room directing the Mumbai uprising and returned to his office. Many documents had already been placed on his desk. As the general flipped through the latest information, the war situation gradually formed in his mind. The British army seemed to have huge numbers, but in reality, it was constantly disintegrating. The Mumbai uprising was undoubtedly a fatal knife thrust into the kidney of the British army; the British forces could only divide their troops to come to the rescue. The already stretched British army would only become more exhausted from running around.

Putting down the documents, General Yu Cen thought for a while, then picked up his pen and began to write a report, "...The above is the development of the war situation. According to the judgment of the India Theater Command, the speed of the collapse of British colonial rule in India far exceeds pre-war assumptions. Within a month at most, the British forces in India will be completely annihilated. However, this also poses a new question for our army: in what manner will our army exist in India? This matter concerns the situation in India; I request instructions from the Chairman."

He Rui soon received the telegram. After reading it, he also felt that this matter must be discussed. Yu Cen was selected as the commander of the India Theater largely because, among many candidates, Yu Cen was the most radical one. When describing the operational plan against India, he frankly proposed "liberating India in three months." Other candidates believed it would take at least 4-6 months.

The "liberating India in three months" Yu Cen spoke of referred to the period from mid-December 1941, when the Chinese army launched a large-scale offensive, to early March 1942, when India would be completely liberated.

He Rui also felt this timeframe was about right. But looking at it now, the Indian people's attitude towards seeking liberation was extremely intense. By early February 1942, the British Army in India would likely be annihilated, and British rule in India would be completely destroyed. As Yu Cen stated in his telegram, if the Chinese army could not immediately change its mode of presence, large-scale conflicts might break out within the Indian region.

As for what would happen to the more than 400 million people in India, He Rui could not accurately judge either. Thinking it over, He Rui originally wanted to let Li Runshi be responsible for India work, but he thought of that sentence, "I thought for ten days and ten nights, but I couldn't understand why India wanted to mess with us." The culture of the Indian region was vastly different from that of China, and it was indeed very difficult for Chinese people to figure out Indian thinking.

In the end, He Rui could only invite Foreign Minister Li Shiguang over to inquire about the recent establishment of diplomatic relations with Bangladesh.

There was no excitement in Li Shiguang's expression; he replied somewhat wearily, "Chairman, no consensus has been reached within the Bangladesh region yet. I strongly suspect that a civil war will break out in the Bangladesh region."

He Rui thought for a moment before replying, "I don't think it's necessary to elevate some internal brawls to the height of a civil war."

Li Shiguang was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then nodded in agreement, "Indeed, Bangladesh probably cannot be said to have a civil war. However, the struggle between races will likely be very fierce."

He Rui did not want to discuss these troublesome matters either, so he went straight to the main topic. "What plans have the research institutes responsible to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed?"

"Chairman, the South Asia Institute is mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce," Li Shiguang reminded him.

"Oh," He Rui replied, only then remembering the specific division of labor. But since Li Shiguang couldn't have made the trip for nothing, He Rui asked, "Is there any progress in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' recent contact with South America?"

"Most South American countries have stated that they have no intention of intervening in the war. But South American countries have privately indicated that they are under huge diplomatic pressure from the United States. Our country is conducting discussions with South American academia through academic discussion platforms, trying to make South American countries understand that the United States does not have the ability to invade South American countries while fighting the Asian Coalition. And our country does not seek for South American countries to join the Asian League, nor does it seek for South American countries to interrupt trade with European and American countries. So far, South American countries have all expressed understanding of our country's attitude."

He Rui praised, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done its job well."

Li Shiguang also felt that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had done its best, and the requests made by He Rui and the Central Committee were indeed very reasonable. China had no plans to attack South America in the first place, while currently, Europe and America were vigorously fabricating various false news, wanting to make South American countries believe that China's goal was to conquer the world, and resource-rich South America was an object China was bound to conquer.

Fortunately, the purpose of Europe and America was to use South America, and South American countries were not deceived; they did not choose to declare war on China. All China needed was merely this point.

Li Shiguang suddenly remembered another matter. "Chairman, there are now more than 100,000 South American leftists coming to China to join the World People's Liberation Army. This matter has made the leadership of many South American countries feel vigilant. Does the Chairman have any suggestions on this?"

"How can the World People's Liberation Army lack South American members?" He Rui asked in return.

Foreign Minister Li Shiguang was somewhat helpless. "But the United States is lobbying South American countries on this matter. The United States states that in the future, these leftists will lead the Chinese army to attack South America. Therefore, the United States hopes that South American countries can suppress the left, especially the Communist Party."

He Rui was not surprised at all. He asked, "In the Foreign Ministry's analysis, will the United States become completely fascist? After all, the United States has a deep tradition of racism, which is fertile soil for fascism."

Li Shiguang replied solemnly, "Chairman, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that it is becoming increasingly likely that the United States will comprehensively suppress the Communist Party USA and the left in the form of law. I wonder which part of the American masses the Chairman thinks we should address our propaganda to at present?"

He Rui thought for a moment and replied, "Speak to all Americans. This message only raises one question: Who are the real Americans!"