The Dutch Foreign Minister stayed at the Hotel des Champs-Élysées. Lying on the soft, large bed, he felt the immense power of "Great Power Diplomacy" in his relaxation.

The conversation that had just concluded made him feel that France was indeed a major European power. Despite its poor performance in the ongoing Second World War, France had at least endured. While other nations were still bobbing in the vortex of the war, struggling not to drown, France had already begun to contemplate and layout the future of post-war Europe.

To the Dutch Foreign Minister, the outline of the future France sought to build was clear. Its main goal was to establish a collective defense system on the European continent and exclude Britain as much as possible. To achieve this, France was even willing to cooperate with a Germany that had eliminated racism and militarism.

The French Foreign Minister had even hinted to him that as long as the European continent excluded Britain, China would be happy to see a peaceful Europe.

Faced with such a statement, the Dutch minister didn't dare fully believe China would be so wide-ranging, yet he couldn't help but hope for such a development.

In the traditional European view, this was the essence of Great Power Diplomacy—only major powers could negotiate with one another based on equal terms. What the French minister had described was undoubtedly a result that could only be achieved through such high-level statecraft.

Since the Netherlands was weaker than France, the French Foreign Minister inevitably displayed a Great Power mindset. He had bluntly stated that Britain must undergo a "thorough liquidation of its colonialist and racist crimes" and asked for the Dutch minister's opinion.

Britain had been able to act as a continental "shit-stirrer" for centuries not because European nations were foolish, but because they indeed needed to borrow the strength of this extra-regional power. Thus, the Netherlands did not particularly look forward to a complete liquidation of Britain; they hoped that a post-liquidation Britain would retain some strength to balance the power dynamics on the continent.

Therefore, the Dutch Foreign Minister could only state cryptically that Britain bore an uncompromising responsibility for the tragedies that occurred in Africa! He added that they expected such a liquidation to be reasonable and not excessive. As for joining the Coal and Steel Community, he promised to convey the proposal personally to the Dutch government.

In the Dutch minister's view, if China's wrath was mainly directed at Britain and Germany, the Netherlands would certainly not fight to the death like those blockheads in Belgium.

If the issue could be resolved by merely modifying some domestic laws, issuing government announcements, rewriting a few passages in textbooks, and toppling a few statues, then Britain could go to hell for all he cared.

This sentiment was not unique to the Netherlands. When Chinese secret envoys contacted Sweden and Norway, they encountered a similar attitude. The highest hope of Sweden and Norway was to ensure their own security; neither had any interest in colonialism nor any intention of dying for another country.

Synthesizing these reactions, the Military Commission of the Chinese Civilization Party assembled a mosaic of the continent. "Grey nations," whose primary goal was to survive the war, occupied most of Europe outside of the Soviet Union.

The "Deep Blue," representing those committed to the fight, included only Germany, Britain, and Belgium. The United States, also still fighting, was colored "Light Blue."

Previously, China had engaged in a war of attrition with the United States because the US had chosen a strategy of holding key strongpoints. Both sides had persisted at any cost to seize these strategic locations.

Particularly after MacArthur was dismissed and Eisenhower took office, China was in the midst of firebombing the Great Lakes region. MacArthur had been impeached by Congress for his "Elastic Defense." After taking over, Eisenhower threw the last elite remnants of the US Air Force into a death struggle against the Chinese Air Force and once again dispatched the Army into Canada.

In response, Chinese forces crossed the US-Canada border to fight on American soil. Once the elite of the US Air Force and Army had been exhausted within two months, the Chinese military withdrew to the territories of the five indigenous North American nations.

Following this, Eisenhower attempted suicide and resigned as Army Chief of Staff. His successor, Matthew Ridgway, was a highly conservative and capable soldier. He ordered the US military to hold the border and strictly forbade firing the first shot, causing the combat between China and the US to subside.

From both a military and political perspective, this was the stage where peace was most achievable. China held the advantage; if it could resolve Britain and Germany, the US would find it impossible to maintain a state of war and would inevitably sign an armistice.

Li Runshi, who was in charge of the Military Commission's work, found that the extermination he had feared had not erupted; instead, the West had accepted reality. The foundation for this acceptance was precisely the severe military strikes China had dealt to Britain.

This fact greatly deepened Li Runshi’s understanding of the world. Different levels of civilization indeed led to vastly different diplomatic methods.

Having resolved this issue, Li Runshi still did not issue crude orders regarding Britain. Since the European nations wanted to see the fate of those who resisted to the end, China had to satisfy their expectations. Although such a practice seemed primitive to the Chinese, they had to "do as the Romans do" and see it through.

Li Runshi took a considerable risk in judging that the United States would not send a massive fleet to protect Britain, and formulated a military plan based on that assessment.

On December 1st, the Japanese fleet, which had been operating in the South Pacific, surged northward and reached the western coast of Britain. They began executing the "East Wind" operational plan. Under this plan, 300,000 WPLA troops were to be landed in Ireland to liberate and unify the entire island.

On the first day of the operation, 43,891 officers and men were landed on the island. Over the previous month, the Irish Youth Sinn Féin had already liberated vast rural areas. Guided by the local population, the Northern Irish capital of Belfast was liberated on December 3rd, and all British military presence in Ireland was eliminated.

On December 4th, the Youth Sinn Féin announced the establishment of the Republic of Ireland, with territory encompassing the entire island and its offshore islands.

China announced its recognition of the Republic of Ireland on December 5th. On December 6th, the other liberated nations followed suit.

On December 7th, the Republic of Ireland announced its entry into the World Anti-Colonial and Anti-Fascist Alliance and declared war on the Axis.

On December 8th, bomber formations taking off from Ireland began striking Britain. 186 Irish volunteers participated in that day's raids.

As Britain was finally reduced from an Empire where the sun never set to a United Kingdom consisting only of England and Scotland, the Chinese government at last formally presented its peace demands.

Upon learning that China had finally issued formal requirements, the British Foreign Secretary burst into tears. While there was humiliation in those tears, the greater part was the release of the grievance of having finally waited for a chance at peace.

Throughout the war, the British elite had hoped for China to present peace terms early, but China had consistently refrained from doing so. Under pressure from the upper class, the British Foreign Office had actually formulated many plans, ranging from recognizing China's hegemony in all of Asia to recognizing it in both Asia and Africa.

It wasn't that Britain didn't know it couldn't win; it was that it didn't know how to exit the war. As long as China agreed to peace, Britain's posture was actually quite flexible.

Wiping away his tears, the Foreign Secretary carefully examined China's conditions. They hadn't changed: Britain must admit the errors of colonialism, oppose racism, and punish those responsible for the murder of locals in the colonies.

Beyond this, China did not demand territory or official reparations.

Soon, the British Cabinet convened a meeting. Among the group of cabinet members whose faces were pale from the torments of war, Prime Minister Churchill was absent. As of December 7th, Churchill was still insisting on the policy of the British people resisting to the end.

When it seemed likely that China would drive millions of Black troops to conduct an extermination campaign on the British Isles, the Cabinet could still tolerate Churchill as Prime Minister. Now that this possibility had been removed, Churchill's utility had reached its end.

The British Prime Minister is the First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Second Lord of the Treasury. While the Chancellor often seems inconspicuous during wartime, the ability to continue the war rests entirely on how much money the Treasury can secure.

Seeing that his colleagues, including the Secretary of State for War, remained silent, the Chancellor asked the Home Secretary, "What is the Labour Party's reaction?"

The Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for the Home Department are not the same; the Home Secretary’s role is similar to that of the Soviet NKVD, dealing with various internal domestic contradictions. Intelligence agencies fell under the Home Office rather than the Department of the Interior.

The assembled ministers all knew the Chancellor was expressing a desire for peace, and they looked to the Home Secretary. He immediately briefed them on the situation. With the bombing of Britain and the mass movement of people to the countryside, elections were impossible. If the Conservatives removed Churchill and began diplomatic activities aimed at peace, Labour would have no ability to trigger a general election.

Assurred that Labour could not seize the opportunity to hijack the process, the cabinet ministers were relieved. They began discussing how to negotiate with China.

Though Britain had shrunk from a global empire to a nation on the British Isles, it still had its final shred of dignity—China had not yet invaded its home soil. The opportunity had not vanished; Britain could still maintain its final modicum of face.

The cabinet members were quickly assigned their respective tasks, which primarily involved persuading the British upper class. If the elites, such as the noble lords in the House of Lords, were determined to reject an armistice, the plan would fail.

Fortunately, about half of the noble lords had already fled to the United States. Those remaining in Britain were the ones truly prepared to fix bayonets and fight once China invaded. These lords didn't actually want to die; if an immediate armistice were possible, they would likely agree.

Having assigned the tasks, the cabinet members immediately set to work. But the MPs soon found they were mistaken. The noble lords in the House of Lords opposed the armistice. Although they did not voice their opposition publicly, they used the procedural rules of the House to block a vote, claiming that since the number of lords present was insufficient, the meeting lacked legal validity.

The MPs in the House of Commons were furious, but there was nothing they could do. They could only continue communicating with the lords to find out what they really wanted.

But before a conclusion could be reached, on December 10th, the 38th Army of the World People's Liberation Army took the lead in crossing the sea from Ireland and landed in Southwest England.

As soldiers of various ethnicities stormed the British beaches, the British troops across from them either fled or immediately lowered the Union Jack and came forward to merge with the WPLA units.

The British noble lords still wanted to play games with the British system, but the ordinary British people had completely despaired of it. Under China's political offensive, ordinary British soldiers were reluctantly convinced that China did not wish to colonize or occupy Britain.

Since war inevitably meant death, no matter how "docile" the common British people had been rendered over 400 years of domestication, they still believed their own lives were more important than those of the British lords. If people had to die, it was better for the lords to die than themselves.