After Chen Ke returned to Zhengzhou from Beijing, two foreign guests were waiting for him. These two could be considered "acquaintances": one was Comrade Ho Chi Minh, and the other was Mr. Aung San, Secretary General of the "We Burmans Association". Chen Ke was naturally familiar with Ho Chi Minh, and Aung San was the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, also a figure known as the Father of the Nation of Myanmar.

regarding Aung San, Chen Ke's impression was that he had once collaborated with the Japanese, but this did not make Chen Ke underestimate this man. Aung San's purpose in collaborating with the Japanese was to overthrow British colonial rule in Myanmar. Moreover, historically, this person later stabbed the Japanese in the back. This showed that he was not a true traitor to his country.

The purpose of these two appearing in Zhengzhou need not be said; they hoped to hitch a ride on China's liberation of Asia and obtain their countries' liberation from British and French colonial rule.

For China, this was naturally a good thing. Annam (Vietnam) naturally did not need much explanation; the collapse of French colonial rule was only a matter of time. And Myanmar's strategic position was very important; after solving Myanmar, China would be able to further suppress the UK.

And neither of these two were fools; historically, China was the suzerain state of these two countries. If it turned out that British or French colonial rule was merely transferred to Chinese colonial rule, they would absolutely not agree. Comrade Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam and had quite a bit of confidence in China. Mr. Aung San was not so confident.

Chen Ke said calmly: "Our country is willing to reach equal state relations with Vietnam and Myanmar on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. On this point, I think you can actually communicate with the Korean comrades. If they think we are colonizers or aggressors, then I think you can also suspect us."

Korea was China's vassal state, and the comrades from Vietnam and Myanmar were very clear about this. Moreover, Vietnam was right next to Laos, so they were very clear about the changes in Laos.

The biggest characteristic of the colonial system lay in the fact that the people of the colony were not equal to the citizens of the colonial country. The colonial country possessed various privileges in the colony and frantically exploited it. Just as Vietnamese people were Vietnamese people; no matter how they were colonized by France, Vietnamese people could never become French citizens. But Laos, which was once a French colony, was now China's Laos Province. The Lao people were never French citizens, but now as Chinese citizens, they enjoyed all the rights possessed by Chinese citizens. It had been twenty years since the end of World War I, and the new generation of Lao people no longer felt any different from Chinese people in other provinces. Within the Chinese government, there were already Chinese officials of Lao origin. Vietnamese border residents who had seen the standard of living in Laos often simply sent their children across the border to schools in Laos Province to learn Chinese. Such "international students" were plentiful on the China-Vietnam border. Now it had reached the point where those who hadn't attended school on the Chinese side became undocumented Vietnamese. Having attended school on the Chinese side made one's status different.

Because if one understood Chinese, one could cross the border to find a job. Moreover, there were quite a few Overseas Chinese in Vietnam; when looking for errands under them, whether one understood Chinese and whether one had attended a Chinese school made a big difference.

Comrade Ho Chi Minh actually had some criticism in his heart; Chen Ke cited the example of Korea but didn't mention the closer Cambodia at all. China had "special interests" in Cambodia, but these special interests were completely different from colonial rule. China first of all respected Cambodia's sovereignty, and all land leases were signed contracts. Not only did they pay, but they also recruited quite a few locals to work in factories opened by China. Being able to go to a Chinese factory to work meant high income and good treatment; in Cambodia, one would also be a person of status.

China also never interfered in Cambodia's internal affairs, let alone committed illegal acts. It was just because the Chinese were relatively wealthy that it triggered the envy, jealousy, and hatred of the locals. But generally speaking, China's influence in Cambodia was still quite positive. There were even quite a few people on the Cambodian side considering whether to just merge into China.

Ho Chi Minh naturally had no intention of letting Vietnam merge into China, so he could also understand why Chen Ke simply didn't mention the example of Cambodia.

Of course, these two coming to China could be considered having made up their minds. Ho Chi Minh and Aung San had the same request for China: requesting China to send troops into their two countries to use force to drive out the local colonial rulers. And this was something Chen Ke was not very willing to do.

"Comrade Ho Chi Minh, we are willing to provide weapons and training. We can even provide military training bases for you in North Vietnam Province. You know that we are not currently directly at war with France; fighting the British is already very strenuous for us. I hope the Vietnamese comrades can rely on their own strength to obtain national independence," Chen Ke suggested.

Comrade Ho Chi Minh immediately replied: "Could your country's troops disguise themselves as our country's troops?"

Chen Ke replied earnestly: "Then first you must have an army; you yourselves must first organize an army, make a name for yourselves, and fight a few battles. I am not afraid of casualties among our troops; helping colonial countries obtain liberation is our responsibility. However, a country's liberation must rely on itself. I don't care about France; what I care about is you, Comrade Ho Chi Minh. If foreign troops' bayonets help you obtain liberation, do you think the Vietnamese people can accept that? If someone accuses you, saying Comrade Ho Chi Minh is a foreign puppet, how do you prepare to answer?"

This really couldn't be considered Chen Ke shirking responsibility; Ho Chi Minh was a very passionate national liberator, and after listening to Chen Ke's words, he also felt that Chen Ke's words made some sense.

Seeing that Comrade Ho Chi Minh had already understood this point, Chen Ke turned to Aung San. Having heard what Chen Ke just said to Ho Chi Minh, Aung San could also understand. He originally thought Chen Ke meant the same thing for him, but Chen Ke said: "Because we are currently at war with the UK, we China can immediately send troops to liberate Myanmar. However, we likewise request your side to form your side's military forces. I think Mr. Aung San can understand the reasoning. After we finish fighting the British, we absolutely will not stay in Myanmar for long. At that time, Myanmar must also have its own military forces. I feel that for people liberating a country, if they haven't even touched a gun, that's not appropriate. Mr. Aung San, what do you think?"

"Then does China want us to also immediately start forming an army now?" Aung San asked.

"We need you to immediately prepare manpower after you go back, to guide our troops," Chen Ke replied.

There wasn't much to discuss excessively about this kind of thing. The two ultimately reached an agreement with China: once the two countries were established, China would inevitably be the first to recognize the two new governments. China also guaranteed that it would withdraw from the territories of the two countries immediately after completing military operations. In addition, China also promised to provide military equipment to the two countries; even when the Chinese army withdrew, Chinese equipment would be handed over to the two governments on the spot as a gift from China.

Comrade Ho Chi Minh was naturally very satisfied with this condition. Aung San hoped that China could temporarily defend the border between India and Myanmar. He was very clear that even if China provided a large amount of equipment to Myanmar, Myanmar did not possess the strength to fight the UK. In this regard, Chen Ke also expressed understanding. But Chen Ke stated that once the Sino-British war ended, China would withdraw its troops as early as possible.

If Chen Ke had passionately expressed that he wanted to help Myanmar, Aung San would probably have been quite afraid in his heart. Instead, Chen Ke repeatedly mentioned that China would withdraw after driving away the British, which made Aung San actually not want China to withdraw so easily. After the negotiations ended, China immediately used its own channels to send the two back to their countries as soon as possible. On one hand, arranging training bases in Laos Province and North Vietnam Province; on the other hand, ordering the Southern Military Region to prepare troops to liberate Myanmar.

Before the Kra Canal opened, the Chinese Air Force had already mastered the skies of the Bay of Bengal. After the canal opened, the strength of China's Indian Ocean Fleet immediately swelled. Especially the submarine forces that needed good maintenance; they no longer had to travel thousands of miles from India through the Strait of Malacca, but could directly pass through the Kra Canal to reach their home port in Cambodia.

The British Navy still existed in the Indian Ocean, but their surface ships could no longer enter the Bay of Bengal. After a series of battles with China, the British Navy had already suffered heavy losses. The thirty-some Chinese submarines that had newly entered the Indian Ocean set out from Ceylon, patrolling back and forth along the west coast of India. Whether military ships or civilian ships, they were sunk upon encountering British vessels. Of course, China also sent word to the British side: if the UK sent ships to India to transport those Australians and New Zealanders, as long as the British side notified in advance and there were Chinese people going on board to supervise, China would absolutely not obstruct such voyages.

In the timeline Chen Ke was from, the Americans relied on naval bases distributed all over the globe to control the safe movement of shipping lanes. And American policy toward civilian ships was quite mild. But in Chen Ke's timeline, to control maritime shipping lanes, fierce slaughter had to be carried out. The side controlling the shipping lanes could stop any navigation by other forces at any time. This was the bloody reality.

For more than half a month, the UK had encountered a severe blockade at sea. Hundreds of thousands of tons of ships had been sunk. This caused a huge blow to the connection between the UK and India. To continue existing in the Indian Ocean, the UK was already running ragged; the Bay of Bengal could already be considered an inland sea for China.

On April 1, 1940, the landing fleet of China's Southern Military Region began to advance toward Myanmar.