June 20th. In Khartoum, the capital of the British colony of Sudan, Stevenson, a secretary from the Governor-General's office, met with the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I. He said respectfully: "Your Majesty, we ask that you immediately proceed to the border between Ethiopia and Sudan. We have made the necessary contacts; the nobles and people loyal to you are ready to welcome you home."

Haile Selassie I looked at the British official, his heart filled with doubt. He had arrived in Khartoum from London six months ago, and while the British had been polite, they had shown no urgency in helping him return to Ethiopia. This sudden, desperate request meant something major must have changed.

"I heard that Chinese troops have already entered Addis Ababa," Haile Selassie I probed. He knew that the World People's Liberation Army (WPLA) had entered Ethiopia at the invitation of the Committee for Unity and Cooperation to fight the Italian invaders. Although he didn't know the exact situation, he used this as a gambit.

Hearing this, Stevenson could no longer maintain his composure, and his face soured. He replied with difficulty: "Your Majesty, I do not know who is spreading such false rumors. I can assure you that Chinese troops have certainly *not* entered Addis Ababa!"

Haile Selassie I didn't actually know the truth, but he was certain the Italians had been defeated. Now that Britain and Italy were both members of the Allies—whose common enemy was China—Britain's haste to send him back was clearly intended to prevent China from gaining control of Ethiopia.

"Very well. When do we depart?" the Emperor asked. Though he knew the British were using him, he also did not want a communist nation like China controlling Ethiopia. Compared to Italy, China was undoubtedly far more powerful. Even if the Chinese didn't attack Ethiopia, many European nations could defeat Italy. But from the intelligence he had gathered, even the entire Allied bloc might not be a match for China.

The British escorted Haile Selassie I by train toward the border. About 100 kilometers from the frontier, a large number of troops appeared walking beside the tracks. Judging by their uniforms, they were Italian soldiers leaving the Ethiopian border.

Every one of the Italian soldiers looked dejected, marching listlessly under the scorching sun. Seeing his enemies in such a pathetic state, Haile Selassie I felt immense joy. Those damned Italians had finally suffered a shameful defeat.

But on second thought, he grew nervous. As far as he knew, communist nations opposed monarchies and supported the formation of "people's governments." He had to get back before the Chinese could put forward their own proxy in Ethiopia.

The Italian soldiers had no idea that the train passing them carried the very Emperor they had once been so desperate to capture. All the Italians could think about was reaching the next station, getting on a train, and heading for an Egyptian port to leave this godforsaken place as quickly as possible.

The defeat was so absolute that the Italian army had lost all will to fight. On the ground were the countless combined forces of the WPLA and local Ethiopian militias; above were Chinese fighters constantly bombing and strafing. The Italians had resisted for only two days before choosing to retreat. Not even Mussolini's direct orders could make them hold their ground.

The British, for their part, closely monitored the movement of the defeated Italians. They had required their allies to proactively disarm upon entering Sudan and kept a tight watch along the route, fearing the Italians might cause trouble.

For the first few days, the defeated Italians were extremely cooperative, much to the Britons' delight. Britain had originally planned for the Italians to retreat from the border to Alexandria on the Mediterranean in two weeks. However, during these days, the Italians did nothing but march day and night, aside from eating and sleeping.

Finding their equipment too heavy, the Italians followed the agreement and turned over all weapons and ammunition to the British for transport. Only a small guard force carried rifles, and officers carried pistols. The rest of the Italian soldiers marched empty-handed.

With a shortage of trains and ships, the Italians didn't wait for assistance. Instead, they marched north in neat columns, covering over 60 kilometers a day on foot.

By shedding their burdens, the entire army retreated rapidly. The rearguard was constantly moving north, significantly shortening the round-trip distance for trains and ships, thereby reducing transport time. Although rail and sea were the primary means of transport, over 10,000 defeated Italians managed to march 2,000 kilometers in just seven days to reach Alexandria. This average retreat speed of 300 kilometers per day shocked the British, leaving them wondering how an army capable of such marching could have been defeated so thoroughly.

However, the British had no time to analyze the Italians' speed. On June 29th, WPLA ground forces, supported by a powerful air force, attacked Port Sudan and captured this vital Red Sea port in a single day.

Port Sudan, built between 1906 and 1909, handled 95% of the country's exports and 90% of its imports, shipping cotton, gum arabic, peanuts, sesame, and livestock. It possessed large oil refineries and industries such as ship repair, cotton ginning, metalworking, and food processing. Due to the hot climate, the area was also a major producer of salt.

The British government had expected China to attack Khartoum—the political and economic center—first and hadn't expected the WPLA to seize the port instead. But looking back at the results, the British could understand: by taking Port Sudan, the WPLA effectively controlled most of the Red Sea and could even launch a direct sea-based assault on the Suez Canal.

The British garrison in Egypt was now in a state of total alarm. WPLA headquarters claimed to have six million troops, with an expeditionary force of 600,000 marching toward Egypt.

Assessments by the British government suggested the actual WPLA strength was only 1,536,000. The British in Egypt had no idea how the government experts had calculated such a precise number. Fortunately, the British commander in Egypt didn't care, as the British government's reputation in the colonies was at an all-time low. The colonial authorities generally felt they had been abandoned.

Currently, Britain had indeed sent five divisions of reinforcements, bringing their total strength in Egypt and Sudan to 300,000. Но how could 300,000 men stop a WPLA force of 600,000 marching north?

Just then, a rumor suddenly erupted in Cairo and the Suez Canal Zone: the Churchill government was going to order the scuttling of a large number of ships in the canal to completely block it and prevent the WPLA from passing through.

The most intense reaction to this news came from the Egyptian employees of the Canal Zone. Accompanying the news of the blockage was word that the Suez Canal Company would stop paying its Egyptian staff.

While a few Egyptian employees came from wealthy families and didn't worry about food, many more relied on their jobs with the Canal Company to support large families. Since China had taken control of the southern exits of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, wages had already been greatly reduced, with only a minimum payment provided. More importantly, the job itself provided a sense of security and status—it proved these employees held a higher position than other Egyptians.

Once they lost everything, the employees had nowhere to turn.

In this state of despair, a significant number of low-to-mid-level Egyptian employees in the Canal Zone received various invitations. The initiators were influential young radicals from Cairo and the Canal Zone. Previously, these employees with stable jobs would never have associated with such radicals. But now, even with their suspicions, most of those invited attended.

At the gatherings, these young radicals did not hide their views. Each asked the same question at their respective meetings: "If China liberates Egypt, shall we cooperate with them?"

This question did not trigger fierce nationalist sentiment. Among the educated classes of the Arabian Peninsula, cooperating with the strong was an understood choice—even a consensus. For thousands of years, various powers had marched through the region, and they had never been able to maintain independent status. Faced with this, the region had even developed methodologies for actively bringing in powerful external forces to be utilized by the locals to the greatest extent possible.

Because the Quran mentions China several times—including the famous saying "Seek knowledge even if it be in China"—the region maintained an awareness of China despite the lack of direct relations for many years.

Not only religious texts but cultural works also provided an awareness of China. A famous story from the *Thousand and One Nights*, "Aladdin's Lamp," is set in a city in Western China. Aladdin was Chinese. Many other stories in the collection share a Chinese background, reinforcing the people's recognition of China.

However, the Egyptians in the Canal Zone were educated and were not easily deceived. They asked, either directly or subtly: "What do we get?"

The young radicals answered without hesitation: "The Chinese have stated that Egypt can obtain complete independence. Furthermore, the Suez Canal will belong to Egypt. At that time, all of you will replace the expelled British and take over their positions!"

The Canal Zone employees were now essentially certain that China had infiltrated Egypt through various channels and that the young radicals before them had chosen to join the Chinese side. Reflecting on the news of the past two years—especially the fact that China had blockaded the Red Sea for the last six months—it was clear the British were no longer reliable.

The employees weren't sure if China would dominate the canal after driving out the British, but they felt it was better to have another friend and potentially hedge their bets.

Seeing they had moved the employees, the radicals proposed their plan. It was not complex: currently, there were no British ships in the southern canal; they were all moored in the north. Since the British intended to block the canal, it would be better to strike first. In coordination with Chinese air strikes, they would scuttle a large ship at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal.

Only in this way could they ensure the canal wouldn't be permanently blocked. Once China liberated Egypt, they could quickly clear the sunken vessel and restore traffic.

Even among Egyptians, there were various positions and judgments. By July 1st, the British had learned of this plan. Since it was wartime, they immediately moved to make arrests. But the young radicals had already gone into hiding, and British intelligence could not find them.

The British urgently contacted the nominal ruler of Egypt, the King of the Farouk Dynasty, asking the local power to arrest the radicals. Before any results could be reached, on July 2nd, the Chinese Air Force took off from airfields in Yemen and began a fierce bombardment of British warships at Port Said, the northern entrance of the canal.

Britain had deployed over 500 fighters in the Suez Canal region. As the first wave of Chinese attacks began, the British Air Force scrambled heroically to meet them. However, Chinese fighters taking off from Iraq soon arrived, quickly gaining numerical superiority.

The battle lasted less than two hours before China seized air superiority. They then launched a fierce assault on the British warships, which hadn't even finished raising steam. Trails of torpedoes cut through the water toward the ships. In the sky, J-10 fighters, using massive amounts of aluminum foil (chaff) for interference, flexibly penetrated the anti-aircraft nets the British had worked so hard to build. These pilots had participated in the great carrier battles of the Pacific; the British anti-aircraft fire appeared amateurish to them.

After breaking the nets, the J-10 pilots released their bombs from an altitude of only 100 meters, accurately hitting the British ships or blowing away shore-based anti-aircraft positions.

The bombardment lasted two hours. One by one, British warships were blown in two by ammunition magazine explosions or capsized outright. Once the British fleet was thoroughly sunk and the air force driven from the zone, Chinese heavy bombers arrived over the British Army units in the Canal Zone, dropping thousands of tons of bombs on command centers and barracks.

Although the nearby Egyptian crowds were terrified by the ferocity of the air strikes, their excitement at seeing the British garrison suffer such devastating blows from the sky outweighed their fear. More and more Egyptians gathered on high ground outside the battlefield to watch. Every bomb that exploded in a British camp triggered a round of cheers.

The bombing was only the beginning. On July 3rd, the WPLA landed on the Egyptian coast 50 kilometers from the Suez Canal and, under air cover, began outflanking the British defensive lines. The British Army launched a spirited counter-attack, but their bravery was met by the Chinese Air Force covering the infantry movement.

While the British Army considered itself more valiant and skilled than the Italians, they performed no better when faced with such intense aerial strikes. At least the Italians, seeing they couldn't win, rationally chose a rapid retreat. The British instead chose to retreat and hold, preparing to launch an attack after nightfall.

Night finally fell, and the British Army gathered its surviving Matilda tanks to attack the expected rear of the WPLA advance.

After they had driven 30 kilometers, they suddenly heard the sharp whistle of falling bombs. Moments later, the bombs exploded within the British infantry columns.

Some well-informed British officers immediately remembered that in the Pacific War, both China and the U.S. had used night-combat systems. These systems utilized several types of radar to accurately determine altitude, horizontal attitude, flight direction, and to search for enemy aircraft.

While this night-combat system didn't allow pilots the same efficiency as during the day, it provided a massive advantage for night bombing.

Realizing what kind of enemy they were fighting, the British commanders demanded that the overall commander stop the operation. If they continued, the British army would likely be the first to perish.

Meanwhile, the WPLA units continued to push forward through the night. The officers and soldiers of the black units, in particular, had great confidence in night operations. After a night of forced marching, the encirclement of the British was mostly complete. At dawn, the Chinese Air Force resumed its fierce attacks, while the WPLA infantry continued their advance despite their fatigue, striving to complete the movement.

From the sky, parachutes opened from time to time. When they landed, the WPLA soldiers obtained weapons, ammunition, food, and fresh water from the dropped crates.

The soldiers were parched; they immediately opened plastic jugs of fresh water and drank greedily. Many weren't satisfied with drinking and poured water into their helmets to wash their faces, brush their teeth, and even dump distilled water over their heads. This makeshift shower, though incomplete, made the soldiers feel much more comfortable and cleared their heads.

After a hearty meal, the units continued forward. They finally completed the encirclement before dusk.

The British Army did not attempt another night raid, but in the early hours of July 5th, they launched an attack on the encirclement with tanks leading the way.

Since their opponent had no armored units and consisted entirely of light infantry, the British commander had over a hundred Matilda tanks line up in a neat parallel formation and advance. Their tracks kicked up clouds of sand as a large number of infantry followed behind, launching an assault on the WPLA lines.

The Egyptian desert was quite flat, with no obstacles in sight. The tanks soon covered two kilometers and encountered a wide, shallow trench.

This was a delaying trench the WPLA soldiers had spent the night digging. The Matilda tanks were forced to slow down. As they crossed the trench and their fronts appeared in the sights of the infantry in the field trenches, the RPG-7s delivered via airdrop began to fire one after another.

In less than fifteen minutes, nearly a hundred Matilda tanks were destroyed. The remaining British tank crews had no idea what was destroying their allies, but they knew that continuing the charge would lead to no good end. Yet they did not retreat, for they had nowhere else to go.

For the past hundred years, Britain had relied on courage to win incredible victories time and again, so the remaining crews attacked with that same courage. Many tank commanders shouted: "We must not learn from the Italians!"

And so, the Italians who fled lived. The British tank units that attacked so bravely were entirely annihilated.

At that same moment, a large number of parachutes landed on the outskirts of Cairo. Twenty-five-year-old Captain Nasser led his hand-picked members of the Free Officers Movement as they received airdropped weapons and ammunition.

Once the 1,200 men were equipped, Nasser stood before them and shouted: "Long live Egypt!"

The soldiers were all young, and no further slogans were needed. Their young faces were set with determination as they echoed "Long live Egypt!" before striking toward the interior of Cairo according to plan.

These young officers had long understood that while Britain was Egypt's enemy, it was not the only one. Perched within Cairo was Egypt's greatest enemy: those damned traitors who called themselves a dynasty! 州。