Hearing the British government's instruction for the Commander of the British Army in India to announce a declaration allowing for India's future independence, Montgomery felt that the cabinet was still playing their traditional political games, phrasing the decision to abandon India so euphemistically. Although he knew that politicians never did anything decent, Montgomery did not dwell on their ugly faces. As a British soldier, he felt a profound sorrow washing over him like a tide, giving him the sensation of impending drowning.

But Montgomery did not have much time to immerse himself in these emotions. The sound of air raid sirens from outside brought him back to a commander's mindset. Just as he stood up with the special envoy, an orderly ran into the headquarters. "Report, Commander, the shelter is ready."

Montgomery told the orderly to take the envoy to hide, but the envoy decisively refused. "Commander, I want to see the latest situation."

Seeing the envoy was so bold, Montgomery had someone accompany him to the observation post. The observation post was established in a civilian house in Delhi. The air was filled with the smell of excrement; the envoy was not yet fully accustomed to such an atmosphere, but he made no complaints.

Inside the observation post disguised as an ordinary house, the envoy looked towards the sky with binoculars. He saw the faint silhouettes of a large group of fighter planes in the sky. A few Chinese fighters dove down alone, leveled off at an altitude of several hundred meters above the ground, and began to fly over Delhi.

At this moment, air raid sirens blared throughout Delhi, yet no British fighters took off to intercept them. The envoy knew that Britain had left only a minimum air force at home, sending everything else to India. These planes had been almost completely lost in the past two months—nearly 4,000 fighters and over 500 pilots. To hold onto India, Britain had exhausted its war projection capability.

But these efforts had not changed the war situation in the slightest. The Chinese Air Force occupied India's skies with absolute numbers and conducted daily air raids on the British forces in India. The British forces in India once reached a scale of 700,000, but according to General Montgomery, fewer than 400,000 were still capable of fighting.

The other 300,000 British troops had either been killed or wounded by bombing, or had lost contact with the main force due to the ceaseless Chinese bombardment. If the British troops scattered across India wanted to reach Delhi, they could not carry any heavy weapons and could only move in dispersed groups with light arms. Even if such troops returned to Delhi, they would be useless stragglers. With the power of modern artillery, troops without heavy weapons would collapse at the first blow when facing a regular army with complete artillery units.

In the blink of an eye, the few Chinese reconnaissance fighters had flown past Delhi. To avoid exposing their firing points, the British forces did not open fire. The Chinese Air Force did not conduct indiscriminate bombing either, merely flying over Delhi at an altitude of several hundred meters. Afterward, a few more Chinese fighters flew past in the same manner, without any combat erupting during the interval.

The envoy was momentarily unsure what the British forces were doing. He asked the officer accompanying him. The British officer replied with a wooden expression, "The purpose of the Chinese military doing this is to confirm that our heavy equipment has not left Delhi. They are probably waiting for the Indian rebel armies to arrive and besiege us."

Hearing this, the envoy didn't know what to say. The British War Ministry had already determined that the British forces in India needed to break out, but this was India, millions of square kilometers in size, not Dunkirk, which was only a few dozen kilometers from the British homeland.

Now, everyone in Britain used "Meyer" to refer to the Nazi German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. This was because of a rumor that during the Siege of Dunkirk, Göring had stated that if the Luftwaffe under his command could not annihilate the British and French Allied forces in the encirclement, he would change his surname to "Meyer." Meyer is a common Jewish surname; in Germany, where racism was at an all-time high, this was undoubtedly a poisonous oath. Yet the Dunkirk evacuation was successful, and Britain was very proud of this.

Before coming to Delhi, the envoy had heard about the current situation. Seeing the peaceful scene where the Chinese Air Force seemed to stay out of the British Army's way with his own eyes, he felt the situation was even worse. The Chinese Air Force did not attack civilians or cities, but British heavy equipment and supply convoys would face fierce bombing the moment they left the city.

It was impossible for hundreds of thousands of British troops to march to the Middle East carrying only rifles and whatever ammunition and food they could carry on their persons. Although they didn't need ships to go from Delhi to the Middle East, they had to walk 1,900 kilometers on two legs. This route had to cross deserts, wilderness, and rivers. If the British Army really did this, the Chinese wouldn't even need to act; the Indian rebels along the way could wipe them out.

Just as the envoy was at a loss, he heard the officer accompanying him say, "Your Excellency, I actually think breaking out is better than staying in Delhi to become prisoners. Delhi's food won't last much longer. At this stage, no part of India listens to the Governor-General's orders, and no food is being transported to Delhi at all."

The British envoy paused for a moment before realizing that this was India, not the British homeland. In the British homeland, British Army supplies could at least be met. If worst came to worst, they could directly requisition grain from nearby villages and towns. But right now, the British Army only controlled limited cities like Delhi. Once they left the cities, their safety could not be guaranteed at all. Even if the local Indians dared not attack the British Army, the British Army did not have the ability to conduct countryside sweeps to collect enough food from rural India to meet the needs of the troops in Delhi.

The Chinese fighters in the sky continued to fly over Delhi in groups of a few, but the large formations never launched any attacks. The envoy asked the officer beside him, "Are the Chinese always like this?"

"Yes." The officer nodded. "The Chinese Air Force flies until dark before returning. During this time, as long as we don't move, the Chinese won't move either."

Hearing that China was not actively attacking, the envoy felt inexplicably relieved, but then became even more agitated. He looked in astonishment at the numb-faced officer, then at the few Chinese planes strolling through the sky like they were in a garden. Only one thought remained in his mind: if China was monitoring Delhi all day long, wouldn't it be even more impossible for the British to move a single step?

Fortunately, the Chinese planes truly did not actively attack as the British officer said. The envoy simply returned to the British headquarters, where he saw the officers working calmly, as if there were no Chinese planes passing overhead at all.

When Montgomery saw the envoy enter, he didn't wait for the envoy to ask questions. He called in a few staff officers. The staff officers immediately introduced the British retreat plan to the envoy.

The British Army was not waiting to die. Since they couldn't leave with heavy weapons, the British Headquarters in India had devised a plan to leave India on foot. The core of this plan lay in the assumption that those princely states relying on Britain could provide a certain amount of supplies along the way.

If this hypothesis held, the British Army would split into small teams and advance toward Iran along a web-like network of routes. In China's classification, Iran belonged to the nations oppressed by imperialism. If China adhered to its own philosophy, it would not attack Iran. The British Army only needed to travel 50 kilometers a day for 30 days, crossing the Indian desert, crossing the Indus River, and passing through the wilderness of Balochistan to reach Iran.

The more the envoy listened, the more wrong it felt. By the time he finished listening, he felt the British Headquarters in India had gone mad to devise such an outrageous plan. But apart from this plan, the envoy couldn't think of any other possibilities.

At this point, Montgomery said, "Ten days ago, a unit already set out. They have now moved to a position 600 kilometers from Delhi."

"General, why did you make such a decision?" the envoy asked painfully.

"I can't just let the entire expeditionary force surrender," Montgomery replied.

In his silence, the envoy suddenly felt he could understand Montgomery's decision. If a few thousand... no, if a few tens of thousands of British troops could really enter Iran, the defeat in India would not be so tragic. At least the British War Ministry could announce the reconstruction of the Army in India with this breakout force as the core. Montgomery's seemingly absurd military decision was actually fighting for the last shred of dignity for the British Army.

Just then, an officer came in from outside. Montgomery ordered the officer, who was looking at the envoy, "Speak."

The officer replied, "Report, Commander, today we dispatched another three regiments to attack toward the northwest."

The envoy savored this news, feeling that these officers were quite skilled at using rhetoric. Describing a retreat to the northwest as "attacking toward the northwest" gave it a rather inspiring feel.

Montgomery turned to the envoy. "Mr. Envoy, after you return to London, could you urge the War Ministry to send troops through Iran into the Indian region to support our forces?"

Montgomery did not believe his actions could deceive the Chinese military. Now, he only hoped that the Chinese military did not have the capacity to intercept all the British troops, allowing at least one British force to break out.

***

As Montgomery expected, the India Theater Commander, Yu Cen, had already received news that the British were breaking up into parts to escape. Although the Chinese Air Force could also conduct large-scale bombing in India, such target-less bombing could very easily accidentally injure the people of the Indian region. The essence of the India Campaign lay in being 70% political and 30% military. Accidental injury to the Indian populace would cause very serious political problems.

Dispatching the army to strike the British forces created the possibility of being exploited by the Indian regions. The local Indian upper class was so cunning that Chinese soldiers were very wary of them. There had been instances where local Indians reported false intelligence to China, attempting to get the Chinese army to attack another Indian separatist faction.

To pursue the British Army independently with minimal losses would require the use of armored units. If the scale of the armored units was large, Chinese logistics couldn't keep up. Regardless of whether the current British submarines came from Germany, the Chinese Navy had not entered the Indian Ocean on a large scale in the past few hundred years. British submarines, familiar with the hydrological conditions of the Indian Ocean, posed a massive threat to the Chinese fleet within it.

Yu Cen had the staff department propose a plan while he continued his previous work of promoting the independence of various Indian regions. At this stage, the Muslim regions of India had all declared independence, and the southeastern regions, dominated by those considered "untouchables" by Hindus, had also declared independence. The only part that temporarily seemed intact was the region dominated by Hinduism.

A few years ago, China had established many research institutes; the South Asia Institute belonged to the Military Commission. Comrades from the South Asia Institute submitted an analysis to General Yu Cen regarding the currently seemingly intact regions of India. The King of England had for a time styled himself as Emperor; this crown came from the Mughal Empire of India.

The researchers at the South Asia Institute believed that while China certainly could not restore a feudal system, Mughal, as a very traditional title, was necessary to preserve. If they imitated China's restoration of the Lanfang Republic in Borneo and established a Mughal Republic centered in Delhi, the Indian people likely would not object.

Currently, there were hundreds of princely states led by princes across India. These states were all loyal to the Indian Imperial Government, which was the British Government. Rebuilding a Mughal Republic would not be difficult.

The researchers at the South Asia Institute believed that the contradictions between the hundreds of princely states and the various regional governments in India would inevitably intensify. Civil wars of varying intensities could break out within the various independent governments of India.

China opposed "four big mountains," one of which was the feudal system. If civil war broke out in India, China could not stand on the side of the feudal lords. However, if the Chinese army went on a killing spree in India, it would also affect the relationship between China and the various countries in the Indian region. The best method was to let the various Indian states resolve it themselves.

Yu Cen listened to the report and felt his head swelling. He didn't force a solution but directly sent a telegram to the Military Commission, reporting the latest situation. Soon, the Military Commission sent a reply, telling Yu Cen to contact the Southern Bureau.

Seeing the telegram, Yu Cen immediately remembered various rumors about Li Runshi, the Secretary of the Southern Bureau. Looking at it now, these rumors were likely all true. Li Runshi was already a candidate for the next leader of the Civilization Party.

Yu Cen was only interested in fighting wars and had no thoughts of his own regarding who the future leader would be. Moreover, He Rui was only 52 years old, far from having an urgent need to select a successor immediately. Yu Cen sent a telegram to Li Runshi.

He thought Li Runshi would take a few days to reply, but he received Li Runshi's reply that same day: "It is best for our army not to intervene in India's internal affairs. The Party will dispatch personnel to do the work in India. Regarding specific details, comrades will immediately head to the India Headquarters to communicate."