Even during wartime, the Great Powers always had plenty of channels to exchange news with each other. He Rui's open letter appealing for legal experts from around the world to attend the trial of colonial crimes was not only delivered to the heads of state of various countries, but was even published openly in newspapers in France and Hungary.

From 1928 to 1938, France experienced a wonderful "Golden Decade." Even though France was defeated in 1940 and subsequently joined the Allied Powers to declare war on China, in early 1942, the ordinary French populace still held deep affection for He Rui, who had created France's Golden Decade.

*Le Figaro* not only published the full text of He Rui's open letter but also ran introductory articles about France's former Indochina colonies. Inside the editorial room of *Le Figaro*, editors were flipping through stacks of reader mail. Letters with just a few sentences were glanced at and set aside; only those with a certain volume of text were read carefully. Particularly long letters were read for a bit longer before being placed in another pile. Once the text exceeded a certain length, it ironically lost reading value.

As if possessing the ability to see through walls, just as the editors had read through more than half of the reader mail, the Editor-in-Chief walked out of his private office and asked the editors, "What is the general situation?"

The Editor-in-Chief thought the French public would discuss the former French Indochina. Unexpectedly, the editor responsible for reviewing comments on Indochina spread his hands; there were hardly any letters in front of him. The Editor-in-Chief looked at the other editors and found that the editor with the most letters was the one responsible for discussions on the French political system.

"How troublesome," the Editor-in-Chief muttered before calling out, "Joseph, come to my office."

Watching Joseph carry several stacks of letters regarding the French political system into the Editor-in-Chief's office, the other editors showed not a hint of jealousy. Instead, they took the opportunity to stop their work. By habit, this conversation would take a long time. Everyone was tired from reading, so it was a good time to rest and chat for a while.

The editor responsible for economic content took out a small paper packet from his drawer, carefully opened it, and brewed the tea leaves inside. In the past two years, due to the war, the trade route for Chinese tea to Europe had been cut off. Even worse, during the time the Germans occupied France, they had frantically scrounged for tea.

When the faint aroma of tea wafted from the teapot, several cups had already been placed in front of this brother. He helplessly poured half a cup of tea into each cup, then hugged the teapot to his chest. The others went to add hot water, holding the cups in their hands and sipping slowly. One editor cursed, "Damn Germans, they've been importing tea from Russia all along!"

Hearing this, the editors began to curse Germany one after another. Especially the editor who most staunchly supported the democratic system, who loudly cursed the evil of the German dictatorship.

Meanwhile, inside the Editor-in-Chief's office, Editor Joseph, sitting across from the Editor-in-Chief, carefully summarized: "At this stage, our people are very interested in China's republican system under centralized power. They believe France needs a leader like He Rui. Even if such a leader cannot emerge at this stage, we must at least create the corresponding political environment."

The Editor-in-Chief did not answer immediately. Before the war, there were quite a few right-wingers in France clamoring for France to adopt a dictatorship, but this was obviously angry talk directed against the system of the French Third Republic; France had absolutely no popular or economic basis for implementing a dictatorship.

In the past thirteen years, the French public found that both China, which brought France a beautiful era, and Germany, which brought France a shameful defeat, were very centralized in their national leadership.

In modern political systems, the difference between China's republican system and the European democratic system is actually quite small. Under the European democratic system, government officials who are only responsible to the current administration are produced through elections. Under China's republican system, although elections are de-emphasized, the responsibility borne by the ruling party itself is far greater than in the democratic system.

Now the French people expect a responsible French government to appear, led by a statesman like He Rui, rather than the irresponsible politicians of the French Third Republic.

He Rui declared that he wanted to finalize the verdict on global colonialism. This boldness gave the French public a huge shock. The French public's attitude toward protecting the French colonial empire was very divided, with many supporters and opponents. Regardless of whether they supported or opposed it, most French people believed that if the French people continued to listen to the manipulations of this bunch of politicians, they would only shed blood in vain under government orders. And after defeat, the French government would continue to shamefully choose surrender.

Under He Rui's leadership, the Chinese government not only had clear political concepts but also policies capable of leading China forward, and a clear strategy to win the war. Compared to China's republican system, France's current system was undoubtedly the dregs of humanity.

The Editor-in-Chief of *Le Figaro* felt that the French public's views were similar to his own. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Joseph, if the Chinese army attacks, will you surrender?"

Joseph was stunned. He had joined *Le Figaro* right after graduating from university in 1928. His first ten years in society happened to be France's most beautiful ten years. So Joseph always felt that He Rui was a friend of France, and to some extent, even a leader guiding France's progress. Given the current situation, war between China and France was likely to break out. But Joseph really couldn't bring himself to see He Rui as an enemy.

After thinking for a moment, the thought in Joseph's heart blurted out, "If Mr. He Rui uses half a year to reorganize France and then leaves, I absolutely will not resist."

This time it was the Editor-in-Chief's turn to be stunned. Editor Joseph's view also fit the Editor-in-Chief's mood quite well. If He Rui appeared in France in the capacity of restoring order, he also had no intention of opposing it. France had become rotten from the inside; as long as France could truly be saved, it really didn't matter whether the person saving France was Chinese or French.

At this time, the French Vichy Government was also discussing He Rui's open letter. Compared to the French public, the leaders of the new government were not so sentimental. After being liberated from German occupation, the French government analyzed the current world situation and reached several consensuses.

Through a review of the Western European campaign, the French military discovered that the breakthrough in the Ardennes Forest only reduced German losses; even without the Ardennes breakthrough, the French army would still have failed. Given the comparison of military strength between France and Germany, France would still not be a match for Germany within five years. Germany remained France's greatest threat at this stage.

After the end of China-France economic cooperation, the French economy lost the support of the Chinese economy. The strong Franc plummeted, and France's Golden Decade could no longer be reproduced. The French economy was now not only suppressed by the United States and Britain but even far surpassed by Germany. The French economy, once the envy of the world, was truly finished.

The total failure in military and economic affairs led to the French public having zero confidence in politics. The reason France's political system could still be maintained now was simply because the French public had not yet made a decision. Once the French people had a new choice, the current political system would be immediately abandoned.

Faced with total collapse in politics, economy, and military, the new French government found it had no way to cope. And He Rui's open letter undoubtedly gave the French upper echelon an opportunity.

The Minister of Economy was the first to speak to the Minister of Education: "Mr. Minister of Education, I believe it is necessary to dispatch French academics to Southeast Asia to present our views on the unjust trial."

The Minister of Education understood the underlying meaning and immediately replied, "I also believe it is necessary to communicate with China and express France's attitude regarding their wrong choices."

Hearing the views of the two ministers, other cabinet members immediately went with the flow, all expressing that this should be done. Everyone's gaze then fell on President Pétain.

Pétain's reputation in France at this time was not very good, but compared to history, his reputation was much better. France's defeat was not Pétain's responsibility, and Pétain's policy of surrender had at least avoided greater personnel losses for France. Moreover, Germany withdrew from France in 1940, although it caused great losses during the occupation. However, France had already experienced the defeat of 1871; compared to that time, the losses were not unacceptable. In a situation where the group had no leader, Pétain managed to sit in the position of President.

Seeing the cabinet members express their stance in this way, the aged Pétain expressed in a weak voice, "I agree to send legal experts to China."

The French upper echelon said "legal experts" with their mouths, but in their hearts, they were thinking of representatives for secret negotiations with China. Fortunately, France had agreed as early as 1926 to send a large number of legal experts to China to participate in the Asian International Tribunal to try the massacre case by the ANZAC corps in the British army. This time was also a familiar road.

The only problem now was guaranteeing the safety of the French personnel, but this matter was not considered difficult. France had colonies in East Africa; as long as they didn't make a big fanfare when selecting personnel, they could use ships to transport the experts to ports in the East African colonies.

At this stage, the Chinese army had already liberated Sri Lanka and almost the entirety of India. As long as French ships were not sunk by British submarines, these French experts and negotiation representatives could successfully make contact with China. Compared to Britain, which directly attacked the French Mediterranean Fleet after the Western European campaign, France completely trusted China's level of civilization.

In Berlin, Hitler asked Professor Karl, the President of the Academy, "Professor, are you willing to go to China?"

Professor Karl replied politely, "If the Führer wishes for me to undertake academic discussions, I will go to China."

After speaking, Professor Karl observed Hitler. He saw hesitation in Hitler's expression, as well as some anticipation, a look of trying to find a reasonable explanation for himself. Hitler's reaction made Professor Karl feel somewhat emotional; among those still alive today, He Rui was undoubtedly the person who gave Hitler the strongest sense of frustration. From the Munich Conference to before the Western European campaign, if Britain and France had adopted He Rui's policies, Nazi Germany would very likely have been defeated.

China was even ahead of Germany in the military field. He Rui's paper "The Transformation of Time and Space on the Battlefield" was regarded as a golden rule by the German General Staff. This was not the German General Staff deliberately using a tiger's skin as a banner, but because the military experts of the German General Staff read from this paper a highly condensed combat theory and practical operation of armored forces and ground-air integration.

Besides strategy and military affairs, although Hitler's economic policies had achieved huge success, France's economic achievements in the same period were not inferior to Germany's at all, and were even more brilliant than Germany's. As a world currency, the Franc fought back and forth with the Pound and the Dollar. Not to mention the German Mark acting as a world currency; if it wasn't treated as waste paper after leaving Germany, that would be considered Hitler's great success.

Being suppressed by He Rui in every field caused Hitler to seem to have an obsession with He Rui. Moreover, He Rui adopted an attitude of ignoring Hitler, so that Hitler himself couldn't figure out his attitude towards He Rui.

Just as Professor Karl thought, Hitler indeed didn't know what exactly he wanted to get from He Rui at this time. From a geopolitical perspective, Germany and China, located at the two ends of the World Island, had very broad space for cooperation. But from political concepts, Hitler knew that there was no possibility of cooperation between Germany and China.

More importantly, Germany did not have a strategy to dominate the globe. China not only had one, but was also steadily implementing it. Once Britain thoroughly lost India, the entire world would be divided into two.

Hitler, who had been silent for a while, felt he had to break this damned silence, otherwise he would have a feeling akin to drowning. Hitler asked, "Professor, do you think He Rui's open letter is a hint to attempt negotiations?"

Professor Karl knew what Hitler wanted to hear, but as an expert, the Professor replied, "Führer, He Rui has no intention of negotiating with Europe and America. Even if He Rui hopes to facilitate negotiations, he only hopes that Europe and America will surrender."

Hitler was not unhappy because of this explanation; instead, he felt that He Rui ought to have such boldness. If Germany and China swapped places, Hitler definitely wouldn't have any intention of negotiating a truce either. Having confirmed this point, Hitler made up his mind. "Professor, I appoint you to lead the German legal experts to go participate in the Southeast Asian trial."

Professor Karl indeed really wanted to go participate in this "grand event." As a geopolitical expert, he really wanted to understand He Rui's true thoughts. Although Professor Karl felt that He Rui's proposal to liberate the whole world should be real, Professor Karl believed there were too many unreasonable parts in this plan. A geopolitical master like He Rui shouldn't make these unreasonable judgments.

At this time, General Montgomery, Commander of the British Command in India, listened to the order brought by the British special envoy. "General, the War Office has agreed to your retreat plan. As for the specific execution, please take full responsibility."

General Montgomery's hand inadvertently pressed on He Rui's open letter. He asked, "What about apart from this?"

"The government requires the announcement of a statement allowing for India's future independence," the special envoy replied.