On October 19, 1944, Mussolini walked into the Fascist headquarters. Unlike before, the members of the Grand Council of Fascism—notoriously unpunctual—had all arrived earlier than Mussolini. Consequently, the Grand Council session actually convened on time.

Seeing that the crisis had finally made these fellows nervous, Mussolini stepped onto the podium with a measure of satisfaction and delivered a speech on "carrying the war through to the end."

"...As descendants of Caesar, Italy must never surrender to the yellow race!" Mussolini concluded the first segment of his speech in a sonorous and powerful voice.

As soon as he finished, Dino Grandi, a veteran of the Fascist Party, shouted, "Two thousand years ago, Italy was trading with the Great Qin! Back then, Caesar had no intention of going to war with China!"

Mussolini was stunned by these words. The Fascist council members broke into applause for Grandi’s view, and many even hissed at Mussolini.

Witnessing this, Mussolini knew things had gone awry, yet he insisted on finishing his speech about fighting to the end.

Immediately after the speech concluded, Grandi stood up and shouted, "The war has reached this point precisely because Mussolini's dictatorship has led to Italy's defeat! we must hold him accountable for this responsibility!"

Most of the Fascist council members expressed their stance with applause. Seeing this, Mussolini finally realized that his opponents had come prepared. Finding himself trapped in a snare set by his rivals, Mussolini immediately shouted, "I demand a recess! A recess immediately!"

Grandi sneered, "Heh, whether to recess shall be decided by a show of hands from the council members!"

The attending members immediately began to vote: twenty against a recess, eight in favor. Once the tally was finished, Grandi stared at Mussolini and barked, "According to the rules, the session continues! I now propose the motion to dismiss Mussolini from his position as Prime Minister!"

Mussolini knew the situation was beyond salvage and slumped into his seat. The voting proceeded regardless of his attitude, and in the end, Grandi's proposal passed with nineteen votes in favor, eight against, and one abstention.

Seeing these men actually dismiss him, Mussolini forced himself to stand and sneered at them, "As surrenderers, you people will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame!"

With that, Mussolini turned and left the Grand Council. Returning to his residence, he immediately contacted the King of Italy, requesting an audience the next day. In Mussolini's eyes, these spineless council members were merely cowards who had been frightened. To dismiss Mussolini required the King's consent. As long as the King did not agree, Mussolini remained the Prime Minister of Italy.

Soon, the King's side responded, agreeing to Mussolini's audience the following day. Mussolini tested the waters, asking, "Does His Majesty know about the farce in the council today?"

It was an aide-de-camp who answered from the King's side, his voice sounding very solemn over the telephone: "His Majesty has always placed great trust in the Prime Minister."

Having received such confirmation, Mussolini breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately sent a telegram to Hitler in Berlin, stating that Italy was willing to agree to the plan for the "Fortress Europe" (European Barrier).

Originally, when Germany proposed the Fortress Europe plan, Mussolini hadn't opposed it in principle, but he had objected to Germany's price. The Italian economy was in poor shape and could not bear the vast funds, manpower, and resources required by the plan.

Now, Mussolini still didn't want to pay, but if the Fortress Europe plan were executed, Germany would have to send troops. Once German forces reached Rome, Mussolini would no longer have to worry about those cowardly oppositionists.

The next morning, Mussolini headed to the Royal Palace early. The King of Italy was Victor Emmanuel III. Upon seeing Mussolini, Victor Emmanuel III spoke first: "Mussolini, according to the motion submitted by the Council, you have been dismissed!"

Mussolini was shocked, but Victor Emmanuel III gave him no chance. He looked at the Captain of the Guard, who immediately waved his arm. A group of Carabinieri rushed out from the surroundings of the audience hall, surrounding Mussolini.

Faced with this situation, Mussolini thought of the Praetorian Guards in various palace coups throughout ancient Italian history. He had planted many informants in the King's guard, thinking he could avoid personal safety issues when meeting the King. He hadn't expected that the role of the Praetorian Guard this time would be played not by the Royal Guard, but by the Carabinieri.

The Carabinieri did not mistreat Mussolini. The leading captain even gave Mussolini a salute: "Duce, since His Majesty the King has made his decision, please leave with us."

Mussolini had intended to say some harsh words, but in front of so many people, he decided to maintain his dignity. Without bidding the King farewell, he turned and left. This leader of the Italian Fascist Party, who had seized power in 1922 and become Prime Minister, was finally driven from power after twenty-two years of rule.

King Victor Emmanuel III appeared very calm while dismissing Mussolini. But after Mussolini was led out, an uneasy expression finally surfaced on his face.

The reason for dismissing Mussolini was that Victor Emmanuel III was certain that Europe could not win the war. Furthermore, France had already chosen to leave the Allies, and Spain was not only entirely occupied by the World People's Liberation Army (WPLA) but had also begun a comprehensive revolution under the guidance of WPLA personnel.

If Mussolini wasn't removed now, Italy would have no way to conduct peace talks with China. But the question was how Italy, after removing Mussolini, could successfully complete negotiations with China—and how to handle those Fascist military units during the process.

While King Victor Emmanuel III was agonizing over these issues and convening Italy's current elite for discussion, a large number of Sicilian-born Italian prisoners of war had already gathered at the port of Tunis in North Africa.

The WPLA personnel who had entered Sicily for liberation work included a large number of Italian citizens. Therefore, after taking Sicily, they quickly took over the government and conducted a thorough cleaning of the island based on the local government's household registration archives.

Currently, the validated and revised Sicilian household registration data in the WPLA's hands covered 99% of the local population. These Sicilian prisoners, brought to Tunis—not far from Sicily—had all undergone political screening to ensure they were officers and soldiers from ordinary Sicilian working-class backgrounds.

"Pratini."

"Present."

"State your place of origin."

"My home is..."

Tens of thousands of prisoners were lined up in over a hundred columns. There were many in the WPLA who understood Italian; China's foreign language academies had educated and trained hundreds of thousands of personnel over the years who knew the languages of most industrial nations in the world, and they supplemented the shortage of manpower.

After inquiry and verification, the first batch of 3,000 qualified Sicilian local prisoners boarded the ships. These prisoners were initially somewhat worried; they didn't believe the words of these "Chinese military lords." Not only were they, as prisoners, being allowed to go home, but their families had supposedly been allocated land.

But the 300-kilometer voyage was not long. As the sun slanted westward, the silhouette of the port of Palermo appeared before these ordinary Sicilians. Under the fiery red sunset, Palermo looked peaceful and graceful. But these Sicilians did not think so.

When they had left, the one lording it over Palermo was a Governor even more fierce than the Mafia. Although this Governor also pocketed some money, he was exceptionally brutal toward the Italian Mafia. Many families had been suppressed by the Governor's iron fist and bloody methods, so although the Sicilian people lived a hard life, it was at least relatively quiet.

The ship docked. Far off in the port, the lights were bright, and squads of Black soldiers were setting up cordons, which were crowded with people. This made many Sicilian prisoners feel that perhaps something major had happened.

But as they were escorted by the African units toward those people, the Sicilian prisoner at the very front suddenly cried out, "Mama! Why are you there?!"

This shout startled the surrounding Sicilian soldiers. However, during these past few days, those disobedient Italian prisoners had been dealt with quite harshly by the African camp administrators. Even though they were shocked in their hearts, the Italian prisoners maintained at least basic order.

Then, the people from both sides finally drew close. It turned out that the crowds far off on the pier were the relatives of these prisoners. Thus, dozens of tables were set up in the middle of the isolation lines between the two sides.

The prisoners' side shouted for parents, brothers, and sisters. The people on the opposite side called out the names of relatives they had originally thought dead in the war.

When the clerical staff completed the verification and signatures, the relatives were taken to a temporary camp for residence. The Sicilian local autonomous government established by the WPLA provided simple food and accommodation. After these relatives reunited, they ate this simple food, crying, laughing, and talking about everything since their separation. The camp did not quiet down until late at night.

The next day, these families crowded onto packed trucks and headed toward their hometowns. To solidify its influence, the trucks insisted on delivering all the Sicilian people right to their doorsteps. From a cold political calculation, since the military's trucks could deliver these prisoners to their doorsteps, they could also bring soldiers to these people's doors to handle these families by various means.

Other residents in the villages looked on in amazement as these reunited families climbed down from the trucks, their eyes filled with envy. It was unclear whether they envied these families for their reunion or for being able to ride in such motor vehicles as trucks.

Many small children, ignoring their elders' restraint, ran up to the side of the trucks, patting the wheels that were as tall as they were, or trying to climb up. Some bold little mischief-makers even wanted to climb into the trucks.

The drivers opened their doors and got down, taking out small bags of candy prepared in the driver's cabs to distribute to the children. With China's construction over the years and the liberation of Southeast Asia, China's supply of cane sugar was fully met. These candies were high-quality hard candies that would be considered top-tier in Europe. After eating a piece, the children all broke into smiles.

Of course, there were also some unruly boys who tried to snatch others' candy, only to be ruthlessly disciplined by the drivers.

On the first day, 3,000 prisoners were released, and the speed of release thereafter became much faster. In four days, over 60,000 Sicilian prisoners were released and returned home.

Just as they had heard, not only had they survived the war where life and death were uncertain, but upon returning home, they found that their families had received land confiscated from the lords and the Mafia. What shocked them further was that a brand-new order had been established in Sicily, where all forces and individuals who disrupted production suffered punishments, including the death penalty.

Public resources such as water sources and roads, which had once been monopolized, were all nationalized. Although the people still had to pay a fee when using them, the amount was on a completely different scale from before; this money was truly used only to maintain the public resources and pay the salaries of the national management personnel.

These public expenditures were all formulated under the supervision of the People's Representative Assembly. Even if the current Sicilian people did not dare to question anything, they at least possessed the right to be informed.

In addition to this, every day a large number of Italians with northern accents arrived in the villages. They worked while learning alongside the political cadres of the WPLA.

Some more social Sicilians spoke with these northerners and learned that they were members of the Italian Communist Party or other left-wing parties. They had come to Sicily to learn revolutionary experience, as well as experience in mobilizing the masses and conducting administrative operations. Once all of Italy was liberated, these Communist and left-wing personnel would return to the Italian Peninsula to carry out a comprehensive revolution across the whole of Italy.

The Sicilians didn't entirely believe this talk, but they had seen how the Italian members of the WPLA, leading Black, White, and Chinese soldiers, had swiftly occupied Sicily and used unprecedentedly bloody methods to round up the officials, nobles, landlords, capitalists, and Mafia who had once plagued the Sicilian people, hanging them from utility poles, trees, and in front of their mansions.

The Sicilians might not have understood revolution very well—since the last Sicilian uprising was back in 1872—but they understood violence very well, especially this kind of all-sweeping violence. When violence, like a violent storm, swept away that group of once high-and-mighty, vicious people, the people who had once been suppressed so hard they could barely breathe could finally straighten their chests, and while breathing deeply, they could also let out their own cheers and curses!

The changes in Italy quickly reached Britain. Not just Italy—the WPLA had also landed in Greece. In Greece, those guiding the WPLA were the Greek people among them. Once the WPLA entered Greece, local Communists and leftists responded in succession.

According to intelligence obtained by Britain, the WPLA immediately gathered these "Greek traitors" and began training them. The training included not only military training but also political training. Greece and Sicily were both similar agricultural societies; by the standards of Britain and China, they were far from reaching the level of industrial societies.

This training was very suitable for these non-industrialized countries, involving nothing more than thorough land revolution and relentless strikes against all forces and personnel that hindered the normal operation of society. "Tyrants" of water, roads, and ships, along with the feudal forces they relied on, were all targets of the strikes.

Although they felt the all-sweeping power of the revolutionary storm, the British government was powerless at this time. Decades ago, the British government could still arrange its own people to be the King of Greece; now, Britain couldn't even leave the British Isles.

To guard against the revolutionary armies attacking Britain from the sea, the British government conscripted a large number of civilians to begin building defensive fortifications along the coast. Fortunately, Britain had been able to formulate clear policies for four hundred years, and under these clear and distinct policies, the British government could afford not to act like human beings for four hundred years, giving no way out for the "poor ghosts." They either worked to death in factories or went to overseas colonies to plunder and kill.

The British "docile subjects" created by four hundred years of unswerving policy were quite obedient, especially after the previous round of starvation that had seen people die of hunger. The British subjects became even more submissive. If the government provided food, they would obediently go to build fortifications.

By October 28, a defensive line hundreds of kilometers long had been completed along the coast of Britain facing Belgium and France. After the civilians who built the line left, hundreds of thousands of troops entered the fortifications to begin preparing for anti-landing operations.

On October 29, the Chinese landing forces did not appear, but bomber formations escorted by jet fighters arrived. What fell from the sky this time were not ordinary bombs, but thermobaric bombs.

These thermobaric bombs had been fully verified and upgraded during the island-hopping battles in the Pacific. The fortifications guarded by hundreds of thousands of British troops could indeed cause trouble for sea-landing forces, but they were utterly useless against thermobaric bombs. As thousands of thermobaric bombs covered these fortifications, over 300,000 British soldiers died in a single day.

British Prime Minister Churchill received the news the next day: the British troops guarding the coastline were retreating toward the cities under the leadership of their officers. London was the target for most of the retreating troops.

Churchill was initially shocked that the British army could be so undisciplined, but upon hearing the news that 300,000 British troops had died in one day, and confirming that these bombs were the "gas bombs" that had once been so famous in the Pacific War, Churchill’s face turned ashen, and he asked his secretary to leave first.

Sitting in his chair for a long while, Churchill pulled open a secret compartment in his drawer. Inside was a pistol, with a box of ammunition placed next to it. Churchill picked up the pistol, feeling the weight in his hand, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Even in the early winter of late October, Churchill couldn't help but tremble all over from the terrifying feeling of suicide.

But Churchill considered himself a man of dignity. Two days ago, he had met with the Spanish ruler, Franco. Franco had once given Churchill the impression of being as arrogant and poised as a rooster. But the Franco before him was already as dejected as a defeated cock, his whole being withered.

Furthermore, Franco had not proposed any plan to counterattack Spain and regain power; he merely requested to go to Germany. Hearing this made Churchill feel a sense of sorrow. Currently, Chinese submarines had begun patrolling beneath the surface of the North Atlantic; while engaging Allied submarines, they also cut off the North Atlantic shipping lanes. With Britain about to be attacked, the only countries Franco could go to were Germany and the United States. And Franco chose Germany, which had once helped him.

Churchill, however, hadn't decided where he would go once China occupied Britain. Theoretically, the United States was the best choice. But Churchill, as the British Prime Minister, was unwilling to end his life in a foreign land as a fugitive.

Moreover, could the United States truly survive the global storm stirred up by China? Churchill wasn't that confident. According to intelligence from the US, over the past few months, China and the US had engaged in brutal air battles along the borders, and the US Air Force had finally been exhausted. The Chinese Air Force then carried out saturation bombing of the Great Lakes region and the New York area. Although the US Northwest industrial zone, of which they were so proud, had not yet been wiped from the face of the earth, it had been bombed beyond recognition.

The industrial zones on the US West Coast were also basically completely destroyed by now, and the Great Lakes region could no longer maintain production. American industrial production, which had once looked down upon the world, had suffered a tragic blow. While the current United States was not quite an agricultural country, China's industrial capacity was undoubtedly overwhelmingly superior to that of the Allies.

Churchill believed that if he fled to the US only to be captured by the Chinese army as they fought their way into the country, it would be a colossal joke. It would be better to end his own life decisively before the Chinese army broke into 10 Downing Street.

But thinking that suicide might be very painful, Churchill put away the pistol and summoned his personal physician, inquiring about what kind of poison could be fatal in a short time.

The personal physician showed a look of sympathy after hearing Churchill's inquiry, but he did not stop him. Instead, he calmly described potassium cyanide and several other drugs and chemicals that could take effect quickly.

After listening, Churchill felt he had mastered the method of suicide and asked the doctor to procure those drugs.

However, just as the doctor left, the telephone rang. Churchill didn't really want to answer, as the telephone only brought bad news. But his self-respect made him pick up the phone regardless. The person on the other end said, "Sir, this is the Aide-de-Camp. His Majesty wishes to see you."

*Am I to be dismissed?* Thinking of such a possibility, Churchill’s heart suddenly filled with joy.