The State of Washington possessed a diverse and vibrant geography. The towering Cascade Range ran north to south, splitting the state like a wall into two distinct parts. The western third was a land of heavy rainfall, home to Mount Olympus and temperate rainforests. The eastern two-thirds consisted mainly of the Columbia Lava Plateau, with the Rocky Mountains cutting across the northeast corner and vast desert regions created by the rain shadow of the mountains.

Due to this rugged terrain and the impact of the war, the population of Washington State in 1945 was only around 300,000. However, more than 400,000 released Black soldiers were currently stranded there. Under this immense pressure, the state had organized a National Guard force of 30,000 men.

By late March 1945, these 30,000 Guardsmen, stationed in various districts, found themselves subjected to a coordinated series of sudden strikes by the organized Black veterans.

The United States National Guard—important reserves for the nation's armed forces—traced its name back to 1824 in New York. After the Civil War, the term became the popular name for the militias established by each state. The Militia Act of 1903 had integrated these organizations into the Guard, and the National Defense Act of 1916 had finally made "National Guard" the official designation for organized militias receiving federal funding.

But in 1945, the federal government was drowning in debt. There was no money to pay the state militias. The 30,000 Washington State Guardsmen were little more than local vigilante groups organized out of fear of the massive influx of Black veterans.

Some of these units possessed a strong will to fight and resisted fiercely when attacked. However, their organizational capacity was mediocre—only slightly better than cowboys who had never received institutional training. Despite their spirited resistance, they were swept away by the Black forces, who were armed with state-of-the-art Chinese equipment.

Faced with the Black veterans' artillery, most of the Washington Guard units surrendered quickly. Having survived a long and brutal war, the white militiamen saw no reason to throw their lives away now that the conflict was ostensibly over.

The objective of the Black veterans was straightforward: immediate citizenship for the Black people stranded in the state, and the passage of laws by the Washington Legislature granting them full voting and elective rights.

With nearly 30,000 Guardsmen captured, the implementation of this plan accelerated rapidly. Months earlier, the Chinese military had conducted a general invasion roughly five hundred kilometers into US territory; the "brave" Americans who had resisted to the death were mostly gone. Those who remained knew all too well the terror of a modern army with guns in hand.

On April 4th, both houses of the Washington State Legislature convened in an emergency session to vote on several pieces of legislation. Although the white legislators were reluctant, they voted in favor, convinced that the laws would eventually be overturned and that the Black people would face a future reckoning.

With this mindset, several bills passed with over seventy percent support. Some legislators even whispered reassurances to their colleagues: "If those Black people dare to register as citizens, we’ll have the evidence we need to arrest them later."

Hearing this, the comforted legislators felt much better. Although they weren't entirely sure who would be coming to make the arrests, the sentiment felt right. For centuries, Black people had been the objects of oppression and capture; the idea that they could suddenly rise up and become the dominant race of a state through the ballot box was unprecedented.

On April 6th, the Black veterans began a mass registration for state citizenship. The Chinese government made no official statement on the matter, but it noticeably increased air and naval patrols in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes and Washington State sat on opposite sides of the country, but the Lakes faced America’s industrial heartland, just a short distance from the capital. This small demonstration was enough to paralyze the federal army in the East.

By April 8th, seats in local and state government across Washington were up for re-election, and every single one was won by a Black candidate. On April 10th, as the first wave of Black representatives appeared in the towns, cities, and the State Legislature to take their places among the white "lords," the white population of Washington finally felt the icy touch of fear.

That day, many white residents began packing their bags to flee the state. Along the way, they discovered that the cities of neighboring Oregon, Idaho, and Montana were also filled with large numbers of Black people. Terrified by their experience of Black political power, the refugees continued their flight toward ever more distant regions.

On April 14th, the Nazi German government once again publicly appealed to the United States to fulfill its obligations as an ally and help the Reich against the Chinese. The appeal made it into a few newspapers but triggered no reaction. America was struggling to save itself; it had nothing to spare for Germany.

On April 15th, the Southern states collectively passed the "American Family Reunification Act." The "American families" in question were the Black families of the South. According to the law, if a single Black person attained citizenship in Washington State, their family members in the South would be "reunified" with them by being sent to Washington.

To the non-Southern elites in both houses of Congress, this was nothing short of open rebellion. But at this moment, Congress was powerless. Among the forces supporting the acquisition of Black citizenship in America, none was more formidable than the ten-million-strong Chinese military.

During his life, President Wallace had tried to push for an armistice with China, making considerable progress. But the war had lasted a long time, and the issues of independence for Alaska and Hawaii made it impossible for an armistice to pass easily through domestic politics. Now, Wallace was dead, and Eleanor Roosevelt was President. The Sino-American armistice remained "on the way."

"...Given that a state of war still exists between China and the US, if the federal army is deployed, the Chinese military will likely launch another offensive in the Great Lakes region."

President Eleanor Roosevelt listened to the briefing from General Matthew Ridgway, the current Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She felt that men were truly unreliable creatures, prone to twisting relatively simple matters into convoluted knots.

Ridgway did not know what the President was thinking. He had recently completed a survey of the military and found that the federal army had completely lost its appetite for war. The soldiers only wanted to get as far away from the conflict as possible and return to their families. Even if they had once been filled with hostility toward China, socialism, or communism, they now had no interest in fighting those forces.

To these federal soldiers who only wanted a return to peace, as long as the Black veterans weren't parading in front of them, they didn't care if a Black power base was established in the Northwest.

Ridgway had hoped to hear Eleanor say something that reflected this reality. Initially, however, she only listened in silence, her lack of reaction putting immense pressure on the General. Regardless of the circumstances, the woman before him was the widow of the powerful FDR—a woman even he could not make bow.

After a long silence, Eleanor finally spoke, her tone etched with impatience. "Does the federal army have no confidence in dealing with invaders and lawbreakers?"

For a moment, Ridgway was stunned. The question itself was nothing new; he had met many powerful "old ladies" before. When women faced problems they couldn't solve, they often resorted to an exaggerated show of strength. In short, it was virtually impossible to get one to admit they were wrong.

In the next instant, Ridgway despaired of his President. America needed a leader like He Rui—someone who could solve problems—not a President who used the system to interrogate her own cabinet. It was easy enough for a President to blame subordinates, but cabinet members chose to serve either for power and status or to achieve some lifelong ambition. Ridgway wanted to serve America in its darkest hour, not play servant to an old woman.

He considered the two parts of her question. If they could have defeated China, Ridgway would never have reached his current position. His predecessors, when they held the post, had possessed several—even dozens—of times more troops and supplies than he did. Their prestige far outstripped his. If those men could not achieve the impossible, how could she expect it of him?

As for suppressing the Black uprising, even Ridgway knew that while they were destroying American traditions, they were doing so through legal procedures. Legally speaking, they weren't rebelling or defying American law; they were merely fighting for their own legal status.

Ridgway found himself unable to answer. Fortunately, before he and Eleanor could come to blows, an agent arrived with a report. Eleanor immediately suspended the meeting.

As Ridgway stepped out, he saw several middle-aged and elderly women standing outside—likely the President's close friends. As he reached the corner of the corridor, he looked back to see Eleanor greeting the women at the door, embracing them. The women offered the shallow, "plastic" comforts typical of such circles, looking every bit the picture of heartwarming sisterhood.

Seeing this, Ridgway felt like a fool. He had harbored a naive hope that Eleanor might display a "feminine charm" that would reunite the wavering United States. Instead, she was just a woman crushed by the terrible reality of America, a woman who needed her girlfriends to comfort her.

When her husband, President Roosevelt, was under pressure, he would seek solace from his mistresses, but he would always emerge with the best possible solution for the time. And he never allowed his personal needs to interfere with public duty. At the very least, Ridgway had never heard of FDR having his mistresses come to the White House for public displays of affection and comfort.

Sitting in his car, Ridgway felt a chill in his heart. Back at the General Staff, he reviewed the reports submitted by his officers. America’s fuel reserves were exhausted. To date, American oil companies had not fully restored production. This meant that even if the Army were willing to suppress the Black veterans in the West, they could at most reach the region by rail and would then be forced to fight on foot or with pack animals.

As for utilizing horses, the military could neither procure enough mounts nor sustain the supply of fodder required to keep them alive.

While morale at the General Staff was low, they were at least facing reality. They estimated that a single division would be nowhere near enough to restore order in the West. The Air Force lacked sufficient fighters for cover, and those they had lacked fuel and parts. The Navy, meanwhile, had no survival capability in the Pacific.

Under these conditions, a hasty suppression campaign would almost certainly result in the annihilation of the federal forces.

If they did not act, the Black veterans would soon secure the majority of legislative seats across four northwestern states according to American protocols and begin drafting state laws. It was even likely that they would soon appear in Congress as Senators and Representatives from those states.

At that point, America would face a choice: fight a civil war before the watchful eyes of the Chinese, giving them the perfect opportunity to shatter the nation completely, or swallow its pride and allow the four states to become entirely Black-dominated.

Having finished the report, Ridgway pulled out a sheet of stationery and began writing his resignation. He had taken the post of Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to save America. Since it seemed America could no longer be saved, he felt it was time to hang up his hat.

Ridgway did not know that at that very moment, Eleanor’s "plastic sisters" were recommending a completely new list of cabinet members to her. These women, coming from elite backgrounds or having long exposure to the circles of power, understood the basic rules of politics. They believed Eleanor needed to build her own cabinet quickly, and that those appointed should be obedient. Furthermore, these women possessed a fierce confidence in their ability to handle men, whom they regarded as childish and easily conquered.

Had Ridgway known he was on the list of those to be replaced, he would likely have felt a great sense of relief.

While America still had the energy for internal power struggles, the Nazi leadership—who had appealed for American aid knowing full well it was impossible—was in a state of absolute agony.

Many within the Nazi elite were considering surrender. But Britain was finished, and France had chosen self-preservation, refusing to participate in the war. German pride also forbade a surrender to the French.

Of the two great powers currently attacking Germany, one was the Soviet Union. Although they had been defeated in the Polish campaign by Manstein’s counter-attack, the Soviets showed no sign of wavering. Their Army Group South had first conquered Romania, establishing a temporary border with the Chinese at the Carpathian Mountains, thereby stabilizing the southern sector.

They had then diverted the forces of the South Group to join the Center Group for a second offensive into Poland.

Manstein’s counter-attack had been successful in dealing the Soviet Center Group a heavy blow, but it had also exhausted Germany's strategic mobility. The Wehrmacht could now only hold its ground, while the Soviet saturation artillery dealt them devastating punishment. Though every German counter-thrust achieved some local success, the lack of mobile reserves meant that successful units were often surrounded and annihilated by the subsequent waves of Soviet troops.

Having lost a vast number of elite soldiers, the Wehrmacht was now facing the reality that even Warsaw could not be held. The Polish government-in-exile had declared its cooperation with the Red Army, and the USSR had recognized its existence. Now that the Poles had their own government, they were no longer willing to support Germany against the Russians. Germany had, for all intents and purposes, lost Poland.

Given the traditional image of "barbaric" Russians, the German elite would not consider surrendering to the Soviets unless absolutely forced. Of course, that was what they said publicly; in truth, they knew they had committed countless crimes in the Soviet Union and would likely face execution after a military tribunal.

The only remaining choice was surrender to China. Germany had once looked down upon China, but that was ancient history. The Nazi elite now acknowledged that they were inferior to China in theoretical construction, inferior to the He Rui government in leadership capacity, and merely eating the dust of the Chinese in the military field.

If the forces attacking Germany now were composed of pure-blooded Chinese soldiers rather than millions of Black troops, surrendering to them in the face of defeat would have been a perfectly acceptable choice. But the current Wehrmacht simply could not stomach the perceived humiliation and despair of surrendering to Black men.

Yet the Slavic Russians and the Black WPLA continued their steady advance toward the German mainland. The Soviets had even taken up the slogan: "On to Berlin, Capture Hitler Alive!" Berlin sat in the north, close to the Polish border; once the Red Army secured Poland, the march on the capital was the next logical step.

German military leaders had several times attempted to broach the subject of "ending the war" during audiences with Hitler, only to be ruthlessly rebuffed. The General Staff, finding no other way, wanted Manstein to propose "other solutions" to the Führer.

Manstein was not so easily fooled and firmly rejected the officers' proposal. Left with no choice, the officers began to organize in secret.

On April 11th, Heydrich met with Hitler, presenting him with files obtained by the Gestapo. Hitler looked at the list of officers plotting rebellion and showed no anger. Instead, he asked Heydrich a question: "Heydrich, if we are defeated, what is the outcome you most desire?"

Heydrich’s blue eyes were like ice as he answered calmly, "Führer, I hope that the capacity for action accumulated by our national movement can seep into the lifeblood of the German people. I hope they can use the methods of organization and the ideologies learned from our movement to arm themselves, providing the strength for Germany’s next struggle and its next revival."

A wave of emotion washed over Hitler. Until now, the other Nazi leaders had been considering their own escapes. He had heard that Göring and several others were preparing secret submarines to flee to America upon defeat. Goebbels, ever loyal, was planning his suicide, while Rudolf Hess intended to stay by Hitler’s side until the end.

The most loyal could only prepare to die for the movement, yet Heydrich was considering how to pass on the Nazi ideology, knowledge, and capabilities.

After the initial emotion, Hitler felt a pang of heartache. He had decided to make Heydrich his successor, and the Party elite agreed he was the most suitable choice. Yet the fact that such a talented man would never have the chance to exercise his power caused Hitler immense pain. In that agony, his resentment spilled out: "Heydrich, if Germany is destroyed, it will only prove that the Germans were not a noble race after all. A weak and incompetent people deserve only death. And death is nothing to be feared; at least they avoid becoming slaves, and avoid the shame of living on in a more debased state."

Heydrich was unmoved by the poisonous words. He spoke calmly: "Führer, while the Third Reich may not last a thousand years, the German people have existed for two millennia since the Roman era, and they will endure for at least two millennia more. Führer, in the decades to come, countless slanders will be hurled at you. But with the passage of time, those views will inevitably fade. Two thousand years from now, when the German people speak of their most glorious history, it will surely be your great feat of conquering Europe."

Hitler felt Heydrich’s sincerity, and his gratitude was beyond description. For a moment, he was overcome with emotion. He raised a hand and waved it dismissively. "You may go."

"And these men...?" Heydrich asked, referring to the list.

Hitler didn't even look at the names. "Those men will only nail themselves to the pillar of shame," he said with disdain. "If we execute them now, we would only be granting them a dignified death."

Heydrich said no more. He rose, gave the Nazi salute, and left the office. Once alone, Hitler slumped back in his chair, his mind a blank. Germany was now alone against the two giants of China and the USSR. China, in particular, had completely resolved Britain, reducing it to its boundaries of five centuries ago. Even the American colossus had been beaten to the point where it no longer dreamed of hegemony. France was ready to collude with the Chinese to build a new, French-centered Europe.

The thought that his own efforts had paved the way for China to conquer the world, and for the USSR and France to dominate Europe, made Hitler unwilling even to think.

But he couldn't simply blame China. As far back as the Munich Agreement, He Rui had warned him of the risks of starting a war. Had Germany stopped then, it might never have reached this point. Even knowing that He Rui had long been prepared for war, Hitler had to admit the Chinese leader’s political foresight far exceeded his own and that of any other Great Power leader.

Just then, Martin Bormann burst into the room. His face was flushed, and he was gasping for air. Rushing to Hitler’s side, Bormann used the last of his breath to shout in an off-key voice: "Führer, He Rui is dead!"