"How is the contact with the Chinese intellectual circles going recently?" Sir Humphrey was not discouraged even though he had been rejected by two powerful regions in China, the Northwest and Jiangsu. The world was large, and no amount of conspiracy could fill it all.

"There are already quite a few people willing to come to Britain as visiting scholars," Sir Humphrey's deputy, Bernard, replied immediately. After a moment of hesitation, Bernard continued, "But can these people play any role after returning to China from Britain? Many of them are marginalized people in China as well."

Sir Humphrey was very clear about this, but there were some things that even the British Empire could not do anything about. To be fair, no matter what nonsense those racists spouted, China was at least acknowledged as a member of the civilized nations of the world, it was just that its "level of civilization" might not be high compared to other countries. Chen Ke's major achievements in science had almost single-handedly reversed the attitude of European countries towards China. During World War I, a large number of Chinese doctors and nurses made the British lower class realize through their rescue work in Britain and France that China was not an ignorant and backward country. The British government was also forced into a corner at that time; in the whole world, only China could provide so many medical personnel. When the Chinese doctors and nurses left Britain and Britain's overall medical level fell sharply, the British government discovered that Chinese doctors and nurses had reversed the British people's view of China through their own work.

If the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China did indeed make the great powers despise China, then after the People's Party seized political power in China, this trend was reversed in another direction.

The German Emperor had once propagandized the "Yellow Peril" with ulterior motives. Now the German Emperor was in exile abroad, but his words had become a prophecy. After the People's Party seized power in China, it demonstrated considerable combat effectiveness. The Japanese Army, which could defeat Russia, became a weak force without the power to resist when facing China. With the "Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty", Europe and America no longer considered crossing thousands of miles of ocean to attack distant China. Throwing hundreds of thousands of troops into China would cost a lot of money. Once these troops left the protection of naval guns, they would have to face China's planes, tanks, and cannons. Only a fool would spend huge sums of money to add to China's glory of defeating foreign countries.

Since they could not invade China militarily, they could only cultivate pro-British forces in China. At this time, Britain realized the consequences of its past arrogance. During the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, they thought they could punish China, so they took many photos. The People's Party didn't even need to deliberately fabricate any content; just bringing out the photos taken by those countries when they were complacent was enough to incite extreme hostility among the Chinese people towards Britain.

As for religious cases and various unequal treaties, the People's Party had too many things they could utilize. In those concessions, after every patriotic education campaign organized by the Chinese government, foreigners dared not go out for a long time. Being thrown stones at was considered light; even if they were beaten up, the police would pretend not to see it, or come up slowly to break up the fight with bias.

Some Chinese literati who did not know death also tried to write some articles "clarifying the facts". One of them wrote that Britain's use of violence to open China's door promoted China's modernization in the long run. Then this "scholar" immediately lost his job. Not only that, but the words "traitor" were written all over his door and walls, and he was harassed all day long. If the People's Party hadn't protected him, this guy would probably have been beaten to death. Finally, after this "scholar's" wife divorced him and took the children back to her parents' home, the scholar hanged himself.

Facing such an unfavorable situation, the British could only adopt more circuitous means. Regardless of good or bad, they would first gather a group of people willing to be pro-British, and then arrange for them to be visiting scholars. Future matters would be discussed later. Britain had already seen the most obvious proof from the United States. There was a saying in mainstream American society: "My dad taught me two things since I was young. The first is to believe in God, and the second is to hate the British."

After arranging the visiting scholars to Britain, Humphrey asked, "Is the attitude of the Qi Huishen and You Gou families towards us still the same?"

The high-level officials of the People's Party not only had deep origins with the Beiyang clique, but quite a few also had origins with the British. Qi Huishen and You Gou's families were from big comprador backgrounds, which was the breach the British wanted to breakthrough the most.

Bernard replied, "Qi Huishen's father has already transferred all the businesses he managed to his clan. He sold all his own property and deposited the money in the bank to earn interest. The You family now specializes in business with Southeast Asia and no longer does business within China."

After saying this, Bernard said in a tone that was hard to describe, "These Chinese are really too cunning."

The insidious and vicious nature of the People's Party naturally did not need to be mentioned, but the leader of this party, Chen Ke, gave people an indescribable feeling. The analysis result of the British intelligence department was that Chen Ke had received a good aristocratic education since childhood, especially a comprehensive education in politics, economics, and diplomacy. But they could not find out which schools in Europe Chen Ke had attended, nor could they find out which European professors Chen Ke's family had hired to teach him. The only thing that could be certain was that Chen Ke must have a background in learning Western culture.

The British intelligence department somewhat believed the rumors that Chen Ke might be a descendant of the Manchu Qing imperial family. Only the imperial family could afford to give their children such an education. As for why Chen Ke, coming from the imperial family, was so ruthless towards the Manchu Qing, this was not a problem for the British. Power struggles had always been fierce and cruel. Although it seemed strange that Chen Ke did not proclaim himself emperor, it was not inexplicable. Chen Ke's status in China was even more respected than an emperor. The British were not ignorant bumpkins; trading the destruction of the Manchu Qing for a powerful China was difficult for those outstanding figures to do themselves, but it was not unimaginable. Not to mention that after Chen Ke was poisoned by Marxism, there would definitely be great differences.

"Domestic opinion in Britain wants to break up the Sino-Soviet alliance. Since China hates foreigners so much, we might as well start from this aspect," Sir Humphrey ordered.

Major countries in the world would feel uncomfortable when looking at the map of China and the Soviet Union. These were two true great powers with a combined land area of over 30 million square kilometers and a total population of over 700 million. The territories of these two countries stretched from the west coast of the Pacific Ocean to near the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Although the Nordic countries had blocked the Soviet Union's path into the "North Atlantic", the core economic circle of the world, the Nordic countries were all defeated opponents of Russia. The Russian army performed poorly in World War I, and the Red Army also suffered a setback under the city of Warsaw, but the Soviet Red Army still drove away the interventionist forces of the Entente Powers and eliminated the domestic White Army. Countries could look down on Russia verbally, but no country wanted to invade the Soviet Union. Especially now that the major industrial countries in the world were very anti-war after World War I, Europe and America understood that they could not organize another attack on the Soviet Union.

In this matter, the British saw that Chen Ke was still ahead of other forces. The People's Party and the Russian Bolsheviks resolved the border issue first with an extremely long-term perspective. The Soviet Union made huge concessions and quickly received huge returns. In this world, only China could provide medical and technical personnel numbering more than a hundred thousand, as well as assistance of million-ton level materials without counting the rewards.

The Chinese government vigorously publicized that it had resolved the long-term border issue with Russia, claiming that under the correct attitude of the new Soviet government, the events that had occurred between China and Russia in the past had all been resolved. China and the Soviet Union should put down their burdens and run towards tomorrow together. Zhang Yu, who was in charge of propaganda work, had excellent ability and made this propaganda campaign almost perfect. Sir Humphrey saw clearly that China was very careful to distinguish Russia from the European and American powers. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were even one of the required test contents in junior high school politics classes. So far, China had only publicly declared the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" when establishing diplomatic relations with two countries. One was the United States, and the other was the Soviet Union.

By now, Sir Humphrey had already smelled the malice faintly contained within. There was a Pacific Ocean between China and the United States, so large-scale mutual interference was basically impossible. There was a long border line between China and the Soviet Union, and if they interfered with each other, it would only end in mutual destruction. So China made its attitude clear.

Then what about countries that did not establish diplomatic relations with China based on the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence"? China was not strong enough now and did not have the power to do anything. When China became more powerful, what kind of philosophy would it use to deal with these countries? Would it adopt the mainstream method of great powers interfering with weak countries in the world today?

Bernard knew Sir Humphrey's thoughts very well. He tentatively said, "I heard that there are some relatively extreme views on the Japanese side. They believe that as long as Chen Ke is eliminated alone, the whole of China will be completely different."

Hearing this, Sir Humphrey almost wanted to sneer. Assassination? Not to mention the Japanese's notorious reputation in China, whether they could sneak into China to carry out assassination was a big question. Even if the assassination was successful, did the Japanese think that Britain would endorse Japan?

Now there was a trend of thought in Britain that believed that Britain shielding regicides and triggering the European war was a wrong choice. Morally speaking, a regicide was a regicide, and Britain had set a bad example. Even if Germany failed, it could not be considered that the act of regicide was correct. If this were promoted, in case people in the colonies killed the King of England and Emperor of India, according to Britain's practice, those people in the colonies could completely call themselves Serbia.

Moreover, the British side obtained a large amount of data after the war. These data could prove that as long as it dragged on for two more years, the German economy would have collapsed due to frantic war preparations. At that time, even if the war still broke out, Britain's losses would definitely not be so great.

In the final analysis, it was Britain itself that was declining. Sir Humphrey had to admit this fact in his heart. After Britain dominated the world for half a century, too many great powers had risen in the world. And Britain's own strength was already somewhat inadequate.

Thinking of this, Sir Humphrey said to Bernard, "If the Japanese hint anything to you again, then tell the Japanese clearly that Britain firmly opposes any action to unilaterally change the situation."