Inside the magnificent halls of Buckingham Palace, Winston Churchill met with the reigning King of the United Kingdom, George VI. To Churchill’s surprise, the King did not even inquire about the three hundred thousand British soldiers killed on the beaches. This rendered Churchill’s prepared remarks entirely redundant.

Since the King didn't ask, Churchill inferred there must be something more important at hand. Britain was a nation that could endure significant loss of life, provided those deaths were deemed "valuable." By now, Britain had seen over seven million of its people killed or captured in combat, with millions more missing or dead from non-combat causes. Three hundred thousand was a drop in the bucket compared to that.

From Churchill's perspective, the death of those three hundred thousand proved one thing: Britain's conventional defenses were utterly incapable of protecting against China’s specialized bombardment. Even though Chinese troops had not yet landed on British soil, the prospect of street-to-street fighting—exchanging lives for time—had lost its value.

As expected, King George VI's eyes were rimmed with red. He spoke with a mix of grief and indignation: "I have contacted the American President to demand that the United States fulfill its promised military aid. President Wallace stated that he is currently unable to convince Congress. Therefore, I have decided to send the Queen and the Princes to the United States to lobby Congress personally. Only with American aid can we save Britain from its current predicament."

Churchill's heart sank. He knew His Majesty was making arrangements for the end. China had consistently used the "liquidation of colonial crimes" as its justification for the war. As the world's once-greatest colonial power, Britain’s "crimes" were numerous indeed. The fact that the King wasn't even considering surrender negotiations with China showed that he, too, had reached a state of despair.

Moreover, Churchill noticed that the King had no intention of dismissing him as Prime Minister. This meant Churchill had no way to escape his responsibilities. There were three ways for a British Prime Minister to leave office: losing an election, resigning, or being dismissed by the Monarch. With the King preparing to flee to America and the Labour Party not yet calling for a general election, two of those paths were blocked. Only the path of voluntary resignation remained for Churchill.

Finally, Churchill asked, "Your Majesty, whom have you chosen as your traveling party?"

"Some from the House of Lords wish to accompany us," George VI replied. After a pause, he asked, "Does the Prime Minister wish to go as well?"

Churchill certainly wanted to, but a sense of indescribable desolation made him shake his head. "Your Majesty, I shall defend Britain unto death."

In this solemn atmosphere, the King's previously stern expression suddenly wavered. The monarch hesitated before asking, "Is there truly no channel left to negotiate with China?"

Hearing this, a surge of fury rushed through Churchill's chest. He tried his best to speak calmly to the wavering King: "Your Majesty, among our enemies are millions of Black soldiers. During Britain's history of the slave trade, tens of millions of slaves were thrown into the sea to drown. How do you intend to negotiate with them?

Regarding our invasion of China, how do you intend to negotiate with the future victors?

The great era of Britain was built upon a pedestal made from the bones of hundreds of millions. If you were to pull even the smallest bone from that foundation, the entire pedestal would collapse. Your Majesty, do you truly wish to completely negate Britain’s greatness?"

George VI looked as if he had been struck. He was pained at first, then soon became resigned. After a long silence, he sighed, "I never personally ordered the killing of people in the colonies..."

Churchill had spoken those words largely to bolster his own spirit. Hearing George VI attempt to distance himself from the reality of their situation made his anger flare up again. So, the bad deeds were to be borne by British civil servants and political parties, while the Royal Family kept the good name?

In the past, Churchill would have maintained their mutual decorum. Now, he felt no reason to coddle the King. He replied immediately: "Your Majesty, as far as I am aware, during your reign alone, the British government has killed between six hundred thousand and 1.3 million people in the colonies. Had China not launched this war, that number would likely have reached two million. As the master of Britain, you may claim you did not know, but those deaths are very real."

George VI's face twisted as if he had been lashed—anger and resentment mingled on his features. But he did not give Churchill the satisfaction of a response. He stood up abruptly and said unpleasantly, "Today's meeting is over."

With that, he turned and left, leaving the Prime Minister—who had failed to lose his job—standing alone in the hall.

On November 1st, China began dropping massive quantities of leaflets over British industrial cities such as Manchester and Birmingham. As the leaflets fluttered to the ground, the British public rushed to pick them up. They found that the leaflets were not calls for surrender, but rather demands for residents to evacuate immediately to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

The bombardment was scheduled for November 5th. The British government didn't even bother to issue global telegrams condemning China's "humanitarian atrocities" of large-scale urban bombing. To the British government's surprise, Nazi Germany proactively inquired if Britain needed assistance.

Finding a "sucker" in their hour of desperation, the British government replied readily: "If the German government can provide anti-aircraft assistance for these cities, the British government would be most welcome."

In Germany, "Anglophilia" was a tradition, largely because the British monarch was of German descent. Furthermore, Germany had always believed Britain possessed the world's most advanced shipbuilding technology and held the British Navy in high esteem.

Seeing an opportunity to do Britain a favor, Nazi Germany immediately redeployed two anti-aircraft battalions from its coastal defense system to Britain.

The British government mobilized its maximum transport capacity to send the two German battalions to Manchester. The Germans used vehicle-mounted 88mm cannons. Known as the "anti-everything gun," this superb weapon was originally built for anti-aircraft use. On the Eastern Front, the German army had fully exploited its potential by mounting it on vehicles to give it high mobility—a significant innovation.

The two anti-aircraft battalions entered Manchester on the night of November 3rd, finding the city empty. The German troops had already fought the World People's Liberation Army in North Africa and knew that China would eventually enter Germany. Thus, these two battalions were filled with the courage to fight.

On November 4th, within the deserted city of Manchester, the two German battalions had ample space to set up their positions. In their spare time, following European military tradition, the German soldiers entered the empty British apartments to scavenge.

To their disappointment, the fleeing British families had taken all their valuables. There was nothing of worth to be found. In the end, the German soldiers took random trinkets as souvenirs, adhering to the thief's code of never leaving empty-handed.

The German soldiers also discovered there was no food in British homes. Even when they occasionally found a scrap, it was of poor quality and tasted terrible. Colonel Schmidt, the commander of the two battalions, recalled the end of the First World War when Germany launched the "Kaiser's Offensive." The German army had pushed back hundreds of thousands of British troops and found that the British front lines still had meat and alcohol. The food the Germans had then was remarkably similar to what they were finding now in the homes of British civilians: nutritionally poor, foul-tasting, and extremely scarce.

At 8:00 AM on the morning of November 5th, Chinese jet fighters flew over Manchester. The German guns opened fire, but it was clearly ineffective. Soon, leaflets began fluttering down again. The German soldiers picked them up and read: "At 10:00 AM British local time on November 5th, Manchester will be bombed. Residents who have not yet left the city are urged to do so immediately to avoid unnecessary casualties."

The German anti-aircraft crews felt the Chinese leaflets were overly arrogant, and many began cursing. However, Manchester was deathly silent, and the British military—who were only supposed to be there for liaison—were nowhere to be found. This made the two German battalions feel uneasy.

By 9:00 AM, the Germans tried to contact the British command by telephone, but no one answered. This made the German Colonel very suspicious. He had been an eighteen-year-old youth at the end of the First World War and had survived entirely on his instinct for danger.

Now, that intense sense of unease returned. The Colonel immediately ordered his subordinates to pack up their anti-aircraft guns and move toward the outskirts. Disassembling the guns took time; by the time the unit was ready to move, it was already 9:45 AM.

As they drove toward the city limits, they saw neither British civilians nor British soldiers. The entire city felt like a massive cluster of tombs. The Colonel felt as though danger had materialized into something tangible, filling his heart and the air around him.

Just then, the low drone of bombers echoed from the sky. The Colonel decided to take cover first, ordering the convoy to pull over alongside the buildings. He picked up his binoculars and saw neat formations of Chinese Air Force bombers flying over in what seemed like an endless stream, at an altitude of approximately five kilometers.

"How arrogant!" the Colonel cursed. The maximum range of an 88mm gun was eight to ten kilometers. By dropping bombs from five kilometers, the Chinese bomber formations were completely ignoring their anti-aircraft fire.

Then, the bombs fell like rain. The Colonel saw a mushroom cloud erupt in the street ahead. Then, the air warped, and a flood of fire surged down the empty streets. The windows on both sides of the street shattered, glass flying through the air before being completely consumed by the flames.

Naturally, the Colonel closed his eyes before the indescribable heat. He and the two German anti-aircraft battalions were swallowed by temperatures of several thousand degrees in just a few seconds. The Colonel and the German soldiers wanted to scream, but the moment they opened their mouths, the intense heat instantly scorched their throats, stripping them of the ability to cry out.

Worse still, they remained alive in this agony for a dozen seconds, experiencing the taste of a living hell. Only when their uniforms and flesh began to burn together in the high heat did they finally find release in death.

After the shockwaves and flames from thousands of thermobaric bombs passed, the entire city of Manchester was ablaze. Cameras mounted on the Chinese bombers recorded everything, providing valuable research data.

Meanwhile, in the General Staff Headquarters in Beijing, several staff officers at the general rank were engaged in a discussion titled "The Utility of Nuclear Weapons and the Humanitarian Necessity of Promoting the Nuclear Winter Theory."

Major General Hong Wei, Deputy Director of the Operations Department of the General Staff, said, "Gentlemen, shockwaves and high heat are the primary damage effects. The radiation zones caused by nuclear weapons are extremely detrimental to the logistics and supply lines required for our troops to continue fighting. Therefore, I agree with the Chairman's view: nuclear weapons possess their greatest deterrent power while they are still on the launchpads!"

These generals had all participated in the assessment of nuclear weapon tests, so no one opposed Hong Wei's view. Major General Li Hongjun sighed, "Military technology has developed to its current level, even nuclear weapons have emerged, yet the most effective means are not much different from the way the Romans salted the earth at Carthage two thousand years ago. I don't know if one should call it a tragedy."

Such an expression was quite lyrical. However, compared to the hollow logic of later sentimental writings, Major General Li Hongjun's lament was truly compassionate—the kind of reflection only soldiers who had traversed battlefields could have, and a luxury only soldiers in a position of absolute superiority could afford.

Lieutenant General Hong Wei nodded. "But I believe there is a necessity to use nuclear weapons. Only by demonstrating this strategic strike capability can we ensure that for a considerable period in the future, there is sufficient awe regarding global war. The conceptual frameworks constructed by human society are the strongest breakwaters; without such imagination, peace cannot be supported. History proves that once these ideological structures of human society are deconstructed and dismissed as nonsense, war will inevitably break out."

In the hallway, Li Runshi happened to be passing by and stopped when he heard the officers' discussion. Another officer inside said, "But the radical changes in human society will inevitably lead to the breakout of war. As the saying goes, 'Even if a country is large, it will perish if it loves war; but even if there is peace, it will be in danger if it forgets war.' Yet in the industrial age, the manifestations of social crisis are vastly different. I believe even the worst life in an industrial age is far better than that in an agricultural society.

So, will this fundamental improvement in living standards lead to the cost of war being so high that starting a war becomes worthless? Will it lead to a situation where there is conflict between nations, but war never breaks out?"

Li Runshi appreciated this line of thinking. However, other comrades in the room laughed and said, "Don't speak so circuitously. Be more direct."

The officer explained, "To put it simply, if everyone has shoes to wear, will that greatly reduce the probability of war? Industrial wealth is built upon an industrial lifestyle, and war only destroys that lifestyle. Even if you defeat the opponent, the wealth you can plunder is simply not enough to compensate for the cost of the war. This makes a war intended to completely defeat an opponent utterly worthless."

When the discussion reached this level of depth, the people in the room could not reach a conclusion. After all, no one had the ability to calculate the forces and interests of a world where everyone had entered the industrial age. The scale of the question had become an obstacle to the discussion.

Hearing this, Li Runshi continued walking. Even Li Runshi could not be certain how the world order established by China would change the world. He was only certain that the future China must establish a new world that opposed war. The analysis provided by these soldiers from their own perspective suggested that the path of opposing war was likely the correct direction.

Of course, Li Runshi always advocated for struggle. Conflict between nations was the manifestation of struggle, and he did not believe for a moment that the future world could eliminate conflict. He simply hoped the world would never again break out into war.

To end the war, the Chinese Air Force was carrying out devastating bombings of British industrial cities. Simultaneously, over the island of Ireland, it was a rare clear day. In the azure sky, one white parachute after another opened, slowly descending.

The World People's Liberation Army had made a risky decision: to conduct an airborne landing in Ireland. While British cities were being dealt devastating blows, they would turn Ireland into China's bridgehead.

The soldiers who landed immediately unhooked their parachute lines. Irish Republican Army members waiting nearby approached with agreed-upon flags. When they met, they heard pure Irish accents from the mouths of the WPLA paratroopers: "Comrades, we are back. The doomsday of the British devils has arrived!"