Gu Weijun had long decided to make a living in diplomacy. Having served as the Acting Foreign Minister for the Beiyang government over a decade ago, he was now about to become the Acting Foreign Minister of New China. Seeing that he would likely officially become the Foreign Minister within a year or so, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion while chatting with his father-in-law and wife.

His wife, Tang Baoyue, wasn't too surprised. As a key civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it would be strange if Gu Weijun didn't become the Foreign Minister. Gu Weijun's father-in-law, Tang Shaoyi, had already retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was more concerned about the People's Party's thoughts on the British. Tang Shaoyi said, "Whether there are British people supporting the Netherlands behind the scenes is a matter that must be considered."

"The Central Committee has already issued orders to deploy troops along the Sino-British border. Once the British take any military action, we will immediately send troops," Gu Weijun replied.

"..." Tang Shaoyi was stunned. After a long while, he asked in surprise, "Are we not going to investigate first?"

Gu Weijun explained to his father-in-law, "The Central Committee's meaning is that since Britain will be an enemy sooner or later, and we will have to fight them eventually, even if we fight the British by mistake now, it's not a big deal."

Hearing this unreasonable attitude, Tang Shaoyi had a mixture of expressions on his face. Finally, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Tang Baoyue didn't expect her father to cry and was startled. She quickly took out a handkerchief and handed it to her father, asking in surprise, "Father, what's wrong?"

Tang Shaoyi wiped his tears indiscriminately with the handkerchief. He let his daughter sit down and said with a slightly choked voice, "I didn't expect to see such a China in my lifetime. Thinking of the past, I just couldn't help myself."

Gu Weijun could understand Tang Shaoyi's excitement. Since childhood, he had decided to serve his country because he saw China being bullied by foreign countries. When the People's Party first started the revolution, it coincided with the Russo-Japanese War, and the Qing Dynasty actually "remained neutral" in a war fought on Chinese soil. Now, Russia had spat out the territory it had seized from China, and Japan had long been beaten violently several times. What China lost in the First Sino-Japanese War had been taken back. Japan now dared not make any military threats against China at all.

Even facing the world hegemon, Britain, China now had an attitude that as long as they fought, they would definitely win, so there was no need to consider whether the British were wrongly accused. Even seeing it with his own eyes and experiencing it personally, Gu Weijun felt like he was dreaming. However, this was not a dream. The total size of China's army, navy, and air force had expanded to 5 million, and the total number of engineering and railway troops had also reached 5 million. When millions of troops marched south, the Indochina Peninsula could be taken in a snap of the fingers.

Even if the British counterattacked, so what? If Britain didn't counterattack, China would at most fight in the Indochina Peninsula and Burma. If Britain counterattacked, China would march into India. On the vast land, China feared no enemy.

Tang Shaoyi had the same understanding. The People's Party not only possessed powerful military strength, but its leader, Chen Ke, had a heart of stone and would absolutely not waver or fear. After sighing for a while, Tang Shaoyi asked, "Then what are the plans for the Netherlands?"

"As far as I know, I'm afraid war will be declared very soon. It just takes some time for pre-war preparations," Gu Weijun replied.

Hearing his son-in-law's words, Tang Shaoyi sighed, "Is the People's Party preparing to expand the territory?"

In fact, the People's Party had already expanded the territory. Vietnam Province and Laos Province were territories that China had not officially incorporated for hundreds of years. In the industrial age, high mountains, deserts, and tropical rainforests could not stop the footsteps of an industrial country. After a few railways were built into them, these wild southern lands became an inseparable part of China. Tang Shaoyi had been involved in diplomacy for so many years, so he naturally knew the traditional relationship between Southeast Asia and China. If a war between China and Britain really broke out, China would just be reigning over this "old territory" of Southeast Asia again.

"This hasn't been said. We'll take it one step at a time. Weak countries have no diplomacy," Gu Weijun replied. "Weak countries have no diplomacy" is one of the orders of this world. When China was a weak country, naturally there was no Chinese diplomacy. When Britain and the Netherlands became weak countries, naturally there would be no diplomacy belonging to them either. What cannot be won on the battlefield naturally cannot be won at the negotiation table. This is the same for everyone.

Hearing the phrase "weak countries have no diplomacy," Tang Shaoyi couldn't help but burst into old tears again. It took him a good while to hold back his tears. "Thinking back to the various things of the Qing Dynasty and even the Beiyang government, it is truly heartbreaking. Clearly, China could be so powerful, yet it was bullied by foreigners to that extent. In the past, it was I who couldn't see through the situation and wanted to serve them. Sigh!"

Tang Baoyue didn't quite understand these things. She couldn't help but want to make a joke to ease the atmosphere. "How come I hear rumors outside that Chairman Chen is actually a descendant of the Aisin Gioro family?"

"That is absolutely impossible," Tang Shaoyi immediately interrupted his daughter. "Since Chairman Chen said he is Han, then he must be Han. How are the Manchus worthy of being related to us Han people?"

Being scolded by her father like this, Tang Baoyue also knew she had said the wrong thing. She didn't continue the conversation and just sat quietly accompanying them.

Tang Shaoyi ignored his daughter and turned to his son-in-law, "Since the Central Committee believes we can definitely win, Shaochuan, you must do your job well. This is a major event!"

China was already preparing for war, but the Dutch had not discovered signs of this. While this was partly because Dutch intelligence work in China was poor, the Netherlands also had its own "difficulties."

As colonialists, their main job was to oppress the people of the colonies. The Netherlands, an old colonialist, was different from the new colonialism of the United States, which did not jump to the front stage directly but acted as the behind-the-scenes boss of the colony "pig farm." The colony was the Netherlands' "hunting ground," and the Dutch held the power of life and death in the colony.

Originally, the Chinese in the Dutch East Indies were fat sheep. After China's resurgence, the Chinese had backing. Not only did their businesses grow bigger and bigger, but they also dared to use legal weapons to protect their interests in the Dutch East Indies with the support of Chinese enterprises. Previously, Chinese people didn't pay attention to the law, so they could be molded at will. The "hard bones" shown by Wang Qinian after being arrested set an example for the overseas Chinese in the Dutch East Indies. In addition, the Chinese Grand Fleet took a "tour" to the Dutch East Indies, which greatly shocked the local Dutch rulers. The Dutch side felt immense pressure, so they had to make a move to strike at the Chinese people's "arrogance."

China mobilized a large number of troops to the Sino-British border, not only on the border of Burma. From north to south, in the former Russian Kazakhstan, now China's Western Regions Province, in the areas bordering India and Afghanistan, in the Tibet region, and in the Burma region, China increased its troop deployments.

The British were not stupid. Looking at this posture, they knew there was an ulterior motive. China and Britain were far from the point of needing to meet with arms. So the purpose of doing this remained only one, and that was to intimidate Britain not to act recklessly. Obviously, China was going to make a move on the Netherlands.

After the British Minister tried every means to see Chen Ke but was delayed in every way by Acting Foreign Minister Gu Weijun, Chen Ke finally met the British Minister on August 4, 1935. The British side knew that Chen Ke actually spoke very frankly. He didn't even exchange pleasantries and asked straight away, "Is the Chinese side going to declare war on the Netherlands?"

"Yes," Chen Ke replied frankly.

The British Minister said loudly, "We, Britain, oppose China taking such an action!"

Chen Ke looked the British Minister up and down and replied in a very friendly yet regretful tone, "As a descendant of drug dealers, don't you feel you should be ashamed to say that?"

The British Minister certainly didn't feel there was anything to be ashamed of. Winning against China in the Opium War was still a glory for Britain. Hearing Chen Ke's words, the British Minister immediately understood China's attitude. He replied solemnly, "We, Britain, firmly oppose China's practice of intensifying contradictions."

Chen Ke smiled and said, "You don't need to oppose our practice anymore. By the time you arrived here, our National People's Congress has already passed the decision to declare war on the Netherlands, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formally submitted the declaration of war to the Netherlands."

China's swift approach to war startled the British. They originally thought China might still resolve the recent conflicts through diplomatic channels by exerting pressure and demonstrating. They didn't expect China's approach to be even more ruthless than Britain had imagined. They mobilized troops not to exert pressure, but to really prepare for war. Now things were clear. If Britain fought together with the Netherlands, Chinese troops would rush across the Sino-British border like a tide and kill their way into British colonies.

The Minister to China was a smart man. He didn't make any ruthless remarks. Because with his status, he could not decide Britain's strategy towards China. Especially, he could not decide the strategic issue of whether Britain should go to war with China. Speaking rudely at this time was meaningless. The British Minister glared at Chen Ke with hatred, stood up, and took his leave.

Just at this time, China's special task force had already arrived at a distance of 300 kilometers from the destination, the Dutch East Indies city of Balikpapan.

Balikpapan was an important oil-producing area. Southeast Asian oil was mainly light oil. Although it couldn't compare to the high-quality light oil of later-generation Libya that could be poured directly into diesel engines, its overall quality was still much higher than the oil produced locally in China. China's first target was Borneo, which was the land of the former Lanfang Republic, so they definitely had to capture Balikpapan.

The strategy formulated by Chen Ke was simple: sustain the war by means of war. After capturing Balikpapan, China could utilize the local oil wells on the spot. The Chinese side had long designed and produced several field oil refineries. Even if the output of the refineries wasn't high, it was still much more convenient than transporting fuel across the South China Sea from thousands of miles away.

With that little bit of military strength of the Dutch, it was simply impossible for them to sabotage these refineries. The only ones capable of sabotage were the British. Of course, if Britain decided to have a war with China for the sake of the Dutch East Indies, then China wouldn't mind having a land battle with the British in Burma and the Indochina Peninsula. Viewing the war purely from the perspective of odds of winning, fighting a land battle with the British undoubtedly had higher odds. If the war really developed to this step, China would cross the Strait of Malacca directly from Singapore. At that time, the Dutch East Indies would only be finished faster.

As for British retaliation, China's submarines and land-based torpedo attack aircraft had verified many times that they could annihilate a large formation of battleships within 200 kilometers at sea. If the British battleship formation with WWI levels came over to retaliate, it would just be acting cute and seeking death.

As for economic issues, with the Great Depression developing to this point, apart from Germany and the United States "temporarily walking out" of the Great Depression, other countries could only be described as "getting used to it." The economy driven by China through the liberation of the Dutch East Indies would be far more massive than that little bit of trade. China did not live by exploiting colonies, but by developing productive forces and increasing national strength through labor. Calculating purely by cost, this vast Dutch East Indies was vast "means of production." Once this war was won, such huge means of production would be incorporated into China's production system. The war dividends would be enough to drive China's economic construction for ten years.

The doubts within the People's Party about this war were only about whether it could be won. No one had jumped out to oppose the war yet. The banks and the Ministry of Commerce were staunch supporters of the war.

Before the war, China had already notified the Soviet Union of China's decision. Chen Ke clearly and unmistakably told Uncle Iron Man (Stalin) that China didn't want to drag the Soviet Union into the water, but hoped the Soviet Union could abide by the content of the "Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty" and not provide any passage to potential anti-China countries.

Seeing that China really had no intention of dragging the Soviet Union into the water, Uncle Iron Man immediately replied, "The 'Sino-Soviet Friendship Treaty' allows no desecration."

As for the reason for declaring war, there was no need for a reason to declare war these days. It was easiest for China to find examples of being bullied. After listing a series of Dutch crimes, China formally declared war on the Netherlands.

The Dutch obviously didn't expect China to decide on war so crisply and neatly. There were no signs of the Dutch fleet gathering on the sea surface near Balikpapan.

The special task force had a layout of two aircraft carriers and two battleships, while underwater there was a powerful strike force composed of 32 submarines. Reaching a distance of less than 150 kilometers from Balikpapan, first the reconnaissance aircraft, then the destroyers serving as the vanguard surface combat group, and the submarines underwater all discovered the tracks of Dutch warships.

Different from the last grand parade, the Chinese Fleet Commander Zhu Yao issued the order, "Begin the attack!"

The commanders and fighters on the aircraft carriers who had long been waiting at their posts immediately took action. After adjusting the direction, the flight flag was raised on the conning tower of the warship. The ground commander, wearing a conspicuous bright yellow vest and a helmet, squatted down neatly. He bent his side leg, placed his left hand on his left leg, extended his right arm flat, pointed his index and middle fingers in the direction of the aircraft takeoff, clenched the other fingers of his right hand into a fist, and turned his face sideways towards the takeoff direction.

Then the first aircraft began to slide on the deck. The speed of the aircraft sliding became faster and faster. After the fuselage crossed the edge of the takeoff deck, the aircraft sank downwards as if falling. Even though all the staff on the deck had seen this situation many times, their hearts still couldn't help but sink fiercely like the aircraft. A moment later, that aircraft was seen slowly climbing upwards from a farther place. The aircraft didn't fall but continued to fly.

The pilot of the first flight must be the pilot with the highest skill. Because there was no catapult, the takeoff distance for the first flight was the shortest, and the loss rate of the first flight pilots of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was the highest. Seeing the successful first flight, a loud cheer erupted on the entire warship!

The pilots behind had it much easier. After four or five aircraft flew out consecutively, the pilots behind could even make the aircraft take off before gliding to the end of the ski-jump deck. Every aircraft smoothly retracted its landing gear and joined the formation of the preceding aircraft circling the aircraft carrier. The scale of the air group in the sky became larger and larger, and finally, a large air group totaling more than 50 aircraft headed towards Balikpapan.

Watching the air group disappear from sight, on the battleship serving as the flagship, Commander Zhu Yao couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.