Churchill was a very interesting person. Before World War II, he liked to show off with his maverick attitude. After World War II ended, the wartime cabinet had to be dissolved. Churchill resigned, and a general election was held. The Conservative Party, originally full of confidence and believing that Churchill's contributions during the war would ensure a smooth election, suffered a disastrous defeat. Although Churchill himself was elected as a Member of Parliament, the Conservative Party only won 197 seats, while the Labour Party won 393 seats, gaining the right to form a cabinet. Labour leader Clement Attlee was elected Prime Minister. This was mainly because the goal of building a welfare state proposed by the Labour Party had a huge attraction to the British society that was destitute after the war. Churchill, who led the British people to victory, was abandoned. He later quoted the ancient Greek writer Plutarch: "Ingratitude towards their great men is the mark of a strong people." Churchill formally stepped down from the post of Prime Minister.

Chen Ke was very familiar with this sour tone; incompetent people all had this tune. In the era when Chen Ke himself was good for nothing, he loved this kind of sourness the most. So when Churchill brought troops to Asia to demonstrate, Chen Ke felt somewhat delighted. The greatest hobby of an incompetent person is to bluff and bluster. Chen Ke knew this well; these people were the objects of the most ruthless purges within the People's Party.

Churchill had to face the pragmatists of the People's Party. The comrades of the People's Party at least knew that whether one was smart or not, a sage or not, was a personal issue, but self-righteousness was a fundamental issue of self-destruction. The development of events even exceeded Chen Ke's expectations. Regardless of under what circumstances the British fired the first shot, it was the British who fired the first shot after all. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army immediately followed tradition and did not give the British demonstration fleet a chance to fire a second shot.

Commander Zhu Yao's telegram still revealed some timidity. He either pretended or played dumb and sent a telegram, saying very bachelor-like at the end that he was willing to take responsibility. Chen Ke was a bit angry about this. He was not angry because Zhu Yao fought this battle. It was because Zhu Yao's approach was too affected, hypocritical to the point of being excessive. Therefore, in his reply, Chen Ke did not mention the war issue at all, but asked what the Military Region Party Committee actually wanted to say.

After dealing with Zhu Yao's matter first, Chen Ke invited Li Runshi over, and the two talked about this matter.

Li Runshi had already finished processing other matters. First, China issued a notification to major countries, informing them that after the British naval fleet fired on Chinese aircraft, China first asked the British to hand over the perpetrators, but the British fleet refused to obey. China had no choice but to annihilate the British fleet.

This was news enough to make other countries dumbfounded, and also news that Chen Ke and Li Runshi didn't care about at all. Both of them were very pragmatic beings; there were few things in this world that could make these two feel at a loss. Even the war with Britain did not disrupt the pace of Chen Ke and Li Runshi in the slightest.

After discussing this matter, Chen Ke talked about things that made him feel at a loss. This matter had nothing to do with foreign countries; it was purely China's domestic affair. Chen Ke's dream for China did have some expectation that "the six hundred million in this land are all Shuns and Yaos". If every Chinese could reach at least the level of Confucius, the realization of communism should be stress-free. And Li Runshi was obviously superior to Confucius.

"Where does Chairman Chen think the problem hindering human progress lies?" Li Runshi did not feel that Chen Ke's idea was arrogant at all, although this idea was indeed very arrogant.

Chen Ke replied: "I have done little research on physical reasons. Biologically, everyone is subtly different. But socially, the biggest problem is that everyone wants to entangle all problems together. In essence, Chinese culture is advanced enough, but many people are taking shortcuts. They all want to make good use of the thing 'good guys and bad guys' alienated by Confucianism, wanting to establish a concept of either absolute good guys or absolute bad guys. As long as such an ideological system and cognitive concept are established, then everyone only needs to be able to prove that they are correct in one place, and then they can make themselves absolutely correct good people. Then use this to establish their unshakable position. In the final analysis, it's still that metaphysical set."

Chen Ke himself used to be proficient in this, simply because he was a piece of trash, so he hit walls everywhere. When he stopped thinking he was correct, he began to possess power instead. If it weren't for the fact that Chen Ke had already begun to try to hold high the banner of materialism at that time, he probably would have gone to the other extreme. That is, power is everything, and bad guys are beings with ability.

As a famous theorist in the party, Li Runshi naturally understood this very well. He laughed: "This requires changing human nature, transforming one's own biological nature. How can human beings understand themselves so easily? Moreover, most people do not have the ability and opportunity to try another kind of life. But one thing is inevitable: no one can walk on an absolutely correct path. History is spiraling upward after all."

"So I hope Comrade Li Runshi can do more work in this area, do more work in human behavioristics and ideology." Chen Ke replied.

Li Runshi didn't expect Chen Ke to assign him a new task again. He immediately refused, "My research in these works is limited..."

Chen Ke interrupted Li Runshi, "You must have heard the rumor that I want you to be the next Party Chairman. I must tell you, this is true."

Li Runshi was stunned. Chen Ke's words were really too unexpected; this was not a joke. This would be a decision determining China's future. And Chen Ke himself was not a person who would joke about such things.

"I hope to destroy everything of old China, including China's old thoughts. Push the people to a higher realm, let every person become a laborer, become a member of the ruling class. This certainly requires the development of productive forces as a foundation, but the mere development of productive forces cannot achieve this." Chen Ke answered calmly, as if it was two completely different matters from the intensity of the content he was discussing.

"It is very difficult for a person to seek truth from facts. To seek truth from facts, one must first clearly recognize how incompetent one is. Even if we point out the correct path clearly and plainly, those who have not experienced it simply haven't experienced it. The ensuing problem is that a person cannot find their own positioning; they don't know who they are. The people will go to choose imitation, and imitation is the most harmful thing, because science needs no imitation; natural physical and chemical laws exist inherently. That must be 'grasping the mandate of nature and using it'. As for imitating other people's behavior, the vast majority of purposes are to imitate success. Success cannot be imitated, because in this world there is only the matter of whether the work is completed, and there is no such thing as whether it is successful. Today's success is very likely the foreshadowing of tomorrow's failure. Today's stepping stone may be tomorrow's stumbling block. Imitating success is trying to grasp the past, hoping to control the future, instead of living in the present. Who can imitate the reality of the present? There is simply no way to imitate."

"If every Chinese person can look at problems by seeking truth from facts, not going to learn to seek truth from facts, but really seeking truth from facts, then China will really enter a great era. This is beyond doubt."

Li Runshi listened quietly to Chen Ke's words. People's Party members probably all realized this; those who didn't realize it would also be purged. But to make the whole of China reach this level, the workload was a bit too large. And it was plainly unrealistic. So Li Runshi asked tentatively: "Is Chairman Chen dissatisfied with some comrades?"

"If I were dissatisfied with anyone, then I wouldn't need to do anything else, just be dissatisfied every day. Have you seen Comrade Zhu Yao's telegram?" After Chen Ke finished speaking, he handed Zhu Yao's telegram to Li Runshi.

After reading it, Li Runshi slightly associated it with Chen Ke's words, and he couldn't help laughing.

Chen Ke also smiled helplessly, "No one should go learn from others. On this point, I somewhat can't help wanting to promote quite a few of Confucius's thoughts. But what I fear now is that someone wants to take the opportunity to stir up trouble, creating some stuff like 'Great Sage and Supreme Teacher'. Regardless of whether this hat is put on Confucius's head or on my head, this is a great failure of the revolution. Those who can truly do things know that they are full of deficiencies, and every thing they do has problems. The more people who damn well don't do things, the more they like to clamor about justice, the more they like to advocate the existence of absolute justice. Because justice does not need practice, justice does not need scientific verification, justice only needs self-appointment."

Li Runshi certainly wouldn't think that Chen Ke was unhappy because of Zhu Yao. Even if he was, it was because Zhu Yao tried to learn "to be responsible for the whole". It is already remarkable for a person to be responsible for themselves and for their own job; who can be responsible for the whole? At least the system itself has determined everyone's responsibilities. Zhu Yao beating the British hard had already taken responsibility for his duty. The system did not hand over the power to declare war and diplomatic power to Zhu Yao; Zhu Yao's statement was obviously crossing the line. And most importantly, Zhu Yao's crossing the line was not because he wanted to cross the line himself, but because he didn't figure out what was going on.

Li Runshi never thought there was any need to sanctify thoughts and systems. He could completely understand Chen Ke's dissatisfaction and even unease. And Li Runshi understood at this moment the reason why Chen Ke wanted Li Runshi to be the next Party Chairman. Because Li Runshi himself was clear about these things, and was sincerely willing to explain these things clearly to the people.

"Is Chairman Chen afraid that Comrade Zhu Yao has even more incorrect ideas?" Li Runshi asked.

"Yes." Chen Ke replied, "Not just Comrade Zhu Yao, I am afraid other comrades have even more incorrect ideas. For example, now that I criticize Comrade Zhu Yao, immediately someone will try to find the so-called correct handling method from it. They think Comrade Zhu Yao did wrong. In fact, I don't think Comrade Zhu Yao did anything wrong at all; I just think Comrade Zhu Yao didn't do it scientifically enough. If I say this, there will be comrades who think Comrade Zhu Yao didn't do wrong, and they can learn from Comrade Zhu Yao's approach. No grass grows on a busy road, no hair grows on a smart head. But in order to make others say they are smart, they shave their heads bald; that is called self-righteousness. This is the most terrible thing."

"Was it because Comrade Stalin was afraid of the CPSU comrades being self-righteous and trying to maintain iron discipline that the Great Purge was implemented?" Li Runshi asked.

"This is definitely one of the reasons." Chen Ke replied, "The Long March of the revolution has really only taken the first step."

As if to prove Chen Ke's pessimistic expectation, at the Politburo meeting, sure enough, someone accused Zhu Yao of disregarding deployment and starting hostilities without authorization. And hearing Chen Ke clearly state "victors are not to be condemned", the eyes of some comrades immediately changed, and the words they spoke also changed. Li Runshi saw it very clearly, and he also believed Chen Ke's pessimistic expectation.

But the southward strategy had become an unshakeable matter at this time. The British delivered meat to the door. After China destroyed three battleships, three heavy cruisers, and more than a dozen light cruisers and destroyers, the British Asian Fleet suffered an unprecedented blow. If the British wanted to retaliate against China, or at least wanted to maintain naval power in Asia, they would have to transfer other fleets to Asia.

After receiving the news of the naval battle, the first reaction of all countries was surprise. They used various channels to inquire whether this matter was true, and if it was true, to what extent the follow-up of the matter had developed.

Combat and declaration of war were two different matters. Even though Britain suffered such a big loss, the British cabinet did not reach a complete consensus on declaring war. The scale of this battle was indeed large, but the British were simply not prepared for a war with China in Asia. Chamberlain had focused all his energy on strengthening the national defense of the British homeland for two years; this was a completely defensive posture. The people in the cabinet jumping up and down wanting to fight out first were people like Churchill, and such people simply did not occupy any advantage in the British cabinet.

At this time, Churchill was in Singapore. After the demonstration fleet was annihilated, this blustering person had no effective response at all. The fleet in Singapore was simply not enough to launch an attack on China. The industrial capacity of British colonies was very weak, especially in Asia and the Indian Ocean region. There was no home port in the Far East capable of repairing British warships, and the level of India's shipbuilding industry was simply not enough to support shipyards meeting British naval standards. However, blustering people have their own qualities that ordinary people cannot reach. That is talking big!

As early as 1910 when Churchill served as Home Secretary, he was criticized for his unyielding attitude towards workers' strikes and demonstrations. During his tenure, he repeatedly ordered the military and police to suppress strikes and demonstrations. The most famous action was the "Siege of Sidney Street" in January 1911. After the police learned that a group of Eastern European anarchists had robbed a jewelry store, Churchill personally arrived at the scene to command the siege operation, mobilizing cannons and troops. A photographer took a photo of Churchill at the scene. The incident of Churchill being photographed at the scene of the Sidney Street killing was exaggerated. Conservative Party leader Arthur Balfour mocked Churchill: "He (Churchill) and that photographer are both disregarding their precious lives. I know what this photographer is doing, but what is this honorable gentleman doing?"

In October 1911, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. At the beginning, many frictions occurred between him and his subordinates. He required subordinate officials to strictly obey his authority, dismissed officials who did not submit to him, and allowed grassroots officers and soldiers to publish remarks criticizing their superiors. Although it attracted praise among the grassroots, it caused dissatisfaction among the four Sea Lords directly under the First Lord of the Admiralty.

Such a character was very good at propaganda. After learning that the deterrence action he led had completely went bankrupt, Churchill did not say anything to the British cabinet, but spoke to the media through channels, "We suffered a shameful sneak attack by the Chinese. The Royal Navy made terrible sacrifices. Now Britain is in a state of war. In this war, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. You ask: what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory. Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

The British Empire still had an extreme psychological advantage over China. After Churchill's extremely inflammatory speech was made public, a huge wave was immediately set off in Britain. The whole of Britain demanded severe punishment for China, reproducing the victory of 1840 again. Without even trying to win over enough allies first, British MPs demanded that the British government declare war on China.

Churchill's provocative actions against China first were completely ignored, and the action of British warships firing the first shot was also completely ignored. In short, no one mentioned Churchill's responsibility anymore, which annoyed Chamberlain extremely.

Chamberlain himself did not oppose declaring war on China, but Chamberlain's plan was not such a simple declaration of war. Instead, Britain should unite allies first, and use propaganda to portray Britain as a passive defender of justice. These plans were all messed up by Churchill. What Churchill showed was an empire that immediately became exasperated after encountering a challenge, a hardliner who adopted war against China condescendingly to maintain his dignity.

It was just that things had reached this point and there was no room for mediation. Under the strong pressure of the Parliament and the Cabinet, the British government formally declared war on China on February 4, 1939.

Chamberlain's uneasiness was subsequently verified by facts. Britain's condescending attitude did not bring benefits to Britain. This attitude was considered by many countries as Britain intending to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. At least the United States thought so. Although the US Congress did not like China, which filmed "The Legend of Maoshan Slayer", the US upper class also felt uneasy about China's increasing voice in the Pacific region. But the Americans' deep-rooted hostility towards the British, as well as Roosevelt's inclination towards Britain, set off an intention in the US requiring the US to "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight". Even Roosevelt himself believed that this was not the time to fully support Britain.

France and Britain were relatively consistent in dealing with Germany, only France was in a defensive posture at this time. They hid behind the Maginot Line themselves, opposite the "Siegfried Line" being built intensely by the Germans. The French could only support the British spiritually.

The Soviet Union and Germany maintained an extremely welcoming attitude towards the war between China and Britain, and both countries hoped that Britain would suffer a big loss in Asia. This was a good thing for both the Soviet Union and Germany.

The only one who jumped out to truly support Britain was Poland. The Polish authorities strongly condemned China on one hand, and even considered following Britain to declare war on China. Moreover, the Polish authorities also expressed to Britain that they were willing to send troops to accompany Britain on an expedition to China. Given Poland's weak navy, Britain believed that letting the Poles participate in this war together would be a burden on Britain's exertion of its own war capabilities. Therefore, the British government formally stated that it welcomed Poland's attitude and welcomed Poland to declare war on China. But Britain politely refused Poland's request to send troops to participate in the war.

Although a considerable part of the Polish authorities didn't even know where exactly China was located. On February 6, 1939, Poland formally declared war on China.

The British declaration of war on China was later recognized as the beginning of the Second World War.