British Prime Minister Churchill's days were getting harder and harder. After Britain and France declared war on Germany, Germany, having swallowed Poland, began military operations in Northern Europe to secure its source of iron ore in Norway. After diverting a considerable number of battleships to the Indian Ocean, Britain could only strengthen its forces in the North Atlantic by weakening the Mediterranean Fleet. Now the Mediterranean Fleet existed in name only, and Britain couldn't even cobble together a decent fleet to suppress the Italians.

After paying such a price, what they got in return was one piece of bad news after another from the Indian Ocean.

"The Chinese are attacking Mumbai!"

"The Chinese have landed in India!"

"The Chinese are bombing Delhi!"

Every piece of news made Britain sit on pins and needles. After inquiries with the Indian colonial authorities, it was discovered that these were all fake news. Mixed in with this crowd of news were reports that China was attacking Sydney and landing in New Zealand. The world hegemony that the British Empire had painstakingly built was collapsing rapidly under the impact of the waves, just like a sandcastle on the beach. At the same time, some strange rumors began to circulate in Britain.

"Churchill is an American spy!"

"Churchill will trade Britain's overseas colonies for American support!"

"Churchill is trying to destroy the British Empire!"

"Churchill is deliberately adopting a tough stance against China just to start a war. After starting the war, he can use the situation to logically sell out Britain's interests. This man is bound to sell British land to the United States."

...

In London, in Liverpool, in Birmingham, in Coventry, all kinds of rumors and leaflets were being distributed and spread like crazy. Since it was a war cabinet, it naturally had comprehensive regulatory powers, including news censorship. After some investigation, British intelligence agencies easily discovered that these messages were spread by Irish anti-British organizations. After a fierce round of arrests, the direct perpetrators were thrown into prison. Under severe torture, some Irish people confessed the masterminds behind the scenes. After investigation, the British side found that these masterminds were Germans.

The case was solved, but Churchill did not feel happy. What made him uneasy was not the hostile actions of the Germans, but that these rumors pointed out Churchill's intention to rely on the United States. Churchill was no fool; in a situation where everyone was pushing the wall down, Britain simply could not resist on its own.

China has a population of nearly 800 million, the Soviet Union has 160 million, and Germany, after merging with Austria and other places, has a population of 80 million. The combined population of these three countries is over 1 billion. The local population of Britain is 45 million. The total population of these three countries is 20 times that of Britain.

As a colonial empire, the industrial strength of Britain's colonies was not strong. The colonies themselves were divided into different classes. The worst thing right now was that Australia and New Zealand, which China was attacking with all its might, were Britain's direct descendants, or at least the direct descendants of British criminals. These were Britain's die-hard supporters, second only to Canada. India, the most populous country among British colonies, already had many local people clamoring for independence. The Chinese fleet was fiercely striking British naval forces in the Indian Ocean, and it looked like Britain was about to lose contact with India.

In such a situation, Britain could only find external aid. The French were clinging to their Maginot Line. Looking around the world, the only one with strong industrial capabilities and a large population was the United States.

Churchill certainly knew about the isolationist attitude within the United States. He was even clearer that the United States did not gain the expected benefits after World War I, so it would be extremely difficult to persuade them. Therefore, Churchill could only offer a huge price. Just as he was making preparations, such rumors appeared. What attitude the hardliners in Britain who insisted on the interests of the British Empire would take was something that didn't even need thinking about.

And this timing was really too good, and the entry point of the "rumors" was even more pungent. Churchill had originally intended to wait for some more critical periods and use the crisis to trade with the United States. Handling it this way could minimize resistance within Britain.

But these rumors appeared at this time, and they slandered Churchill beforehand, claiming all his actions were intentional and long-planned. If Churchill really made such a decision in the future, it would amount to confirming such rumors. Regardless of what state Britain would be in after the war ended, Churchill's own political future would be completely finished.

With great resentment, Churchill dispatched two groups of special envoys. One group naturally went to the United States, and the other went to China. Since Britain could not fight on three fronts, and could not even maintain a two-front war, the rational choice was naturally to temporarily make peace with the most troublesome one. China dominating the Western Pacific would not shake Britain's foundation, but the appearance of a unified hegemon on the European continent would be the beginning of Britain's destruction.

At this time, China naturally would not be polite to Britain. The British envoy proposed a ceasefire to Chen Ke, and Chen Ke said it could be considered. "What happens after the ceasefire?" Chen Ke asked.

"What requests does China have?" the British envoy asked back.

"We demand that Chinese citizens have the right to enter Australia and New Zealand freely without visas, the right to settle without censorship, and all rights including mining, purchasing land, and conducting business. The Straits Settlements must be dissolved, and Ceylon and Burma must also be granted independence. Britain will hand over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to China. Oh, right, the lands cut off from Northwest China in the agreement reached between Britain and Tsarist Russia back then, including Aksai Chin, also need to be returned to China."

Hearing Chen Ke open his mouth like a lion, the British envoy felt angry in his heart. If it weren't for the fact that he was almost inspected down to his underwear, the envoy truly regretted not hiding a small knife or similar weapon to pull out at this moment and stab Chen Ke to death.

Chen Ke seemed not to see the grief and indignation peculiar to the weak in the British envoy's eyes at all. He continued in a very matter-of-fact tone, "If Britain reaches a peace agreement with China now, Britain can focus its attention on Europe. If Britain refuses to do so, you will have absolutely no chance to use the resources in India. Not only will you be unable to use them, but you will also have to spend extra strength to maintain your presence in the Indian Ocean. I personally believe that a country with huge political wisdom like Britain can distinguish how to choose at this time."

Since these were conditions proposed by Chen Ke, they were equivalent to China's final demands. The British envoy retired temporarily; he prepared to send a telegram to Britain to explain China's demands clearly to the British homeland.

"By the way!" Chen Ke added a sentence as if he had remembered something, "Before the war in Europe ends completely, we demand to temporarily take over Australia and New Zealand. Since we sincerely hope for peace, we are naturally also worried that Britain will provoke a war against China after winning in Europe."

Suppressing his anger, the British envoy confirmed that Chen Ke had nothing else to say and left in a huff.

Churchill naturally could not accept such peace conditions. He would rather yield all this to the United States and lure the United States to pull chestnuts out of the fire, than offer all this to China as the price for a defeated seeker of peace.

After the British envoy told Chen Ke of Britain's decision to fight to the end, Chen Ke expressed no surprise. Unless the British were crazy, or a genius of the ages appeared, it was absolutely impossible for Britain to express agreement.

"I express appreciation for Britain's bravery and firmness. A country should have backbone." As if China was not at war with Britain at all, Chen Ke said in a sincere tone, as if he was discussing the philosophy of life with the British envoy.

The British envoy was initially confused by this tone devoid of hostility. After being slightly confused for a moment, the British envoy remembered that Britain was currently at war with China, and Britain had paid heavy sacrifices. If Chen Ke had said this in a sarcastic and mean tone, it might have been fitting. But Chen Ke used a perspective like God agreeing that the British should have more "backbone", like a human viewing the dying struggles of a beast. This was a true insult.

As an envoy, this British gentleman rarely lost his composure, but in front of Chen Ke, the muscles on his face twitched spasmodically. Chen Ke didn't care how this gentleman of the British Empire behaved. He continued: "Since your country has made a decision, let's talk about the follow-up issues under this decision. We have caught quite a few resistors in Australia and New Zealand. They are all direct descendants of your Britain. We are using ships to transport them out of Australia and New Zealand. is the British side prepared to receive them in Burma or in India? If you don't reply, we will send them to India."

The amount of information in these words was too large. The British envoy never expected that China would actually start forcibly migrating the local residents of Australia and New Zealand. That was a population of several million. Forcibly transporting them from Australia and New Zealand to India was a terrible task.

After sending away the burning-with-anxiety British envoy, Chen Ke finally breathed a sigh of relief. Forcibly migrating so much population was also a very difficult task for China. But this was also a necessary approach.

In any case, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army could not engage in massacres, let alone genocide. Leaving this bunch of white people from Australia and New Zealand locally, or locking them in concentration camps, would be very troublesome things. In the education Chen Ke received, when it was destined that trouble could not be avoided, then one might as well take the "most troublesome" path that wasn't asking for trouble. Placed in this operation, it meant sending the white people of Australia and New Zealand back to India under British rule.

Of course, Chen Ke absolutely did not harbor any good intentions. When these millions of white people arrived in India, which had almost lost contact with Britain, the British authorities in India could use these people to suppress the local independence tendencies in India on the one hand, but similarly, these people would also intensify the internal contradictions in India. And these were all Britain's own problems.

Forced repatriation was certainly a "humanitarian crisis" to some extent, but when these people returned to "British soil", they were at least still alive. That was enough.