Dawn broke. After finishing breakfast, the Chinese Minister to the UK picked up the prepared documents in his office and began to read them aloud. This was the content sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, requiring the Minister to memorize it by heart.

Over the past two days, the Minister to the UK had already memorized the content firmly. Reading it aloud a few more times now was mostly because the appointed time with the British Foreign Secretary had not yet arrived, and he needed to wait a while longer. Moreover, the wording of this document was quite beautiful, and it was indeed worth reading repeatedly.

At 9:30 AM, the Minister went out. In a country like Britain that treats a sunny day as high summer, the summer sky was still not clear. The sky was gray, and the streets were also gray. In such a dark-colored world, perhaps only the women on the streets, whose numbers far exceeded men, could be considered scenery. Beneath their coats were either work clothes or professional attire. Some women went directly onto the streets wearing uniforms—postal uniforms, police uniforms, and even military uniforms constituted a special wartime scenery on British streets.

Getting on a tram, the ticket inspector and driver were both women. At the next stop, a newly boarded woman walked onto the tram. The Minister and his attaché were sitting in the front of the tram. The woman walked up to them, bowed slightly, and leaned close to the two. Under the gaze of the two men, this woman inserted two white feathers into the breast pockets of the two men respectively. Then she stood up and walked toward the back of the carriage.

The Minister took off the feather and sighed slightly as he watched the woman's back. He saw the woman walk up to a man further back and, following the same pattern, insert a white feather into the man's breast pocket.

This was the 'White Feather' campaign that had been popular in Britain for two years. After young men were sent to the front lines in the war, women began to come out to work in large numbers. At this time, a novel called *The Four Feathers* also became popular. In the novel, the protagonist received four white feathers because he wanted to escape the war and return home. These were sent to him by his comrades-in-arms and his fiancée. These feathers symbolized the cowardice of his escape, so they gave white feathers to young men.

Women began to imitate this plot and give feathers to men. Not only did they openly pin white feathers on men seen on British streets, but they also wrote letters to men who didn't go out, enclosing white feathers in the letters. This humiliation did not distinguish between targets; as long as they saw a man suitable for the battlefield, those women participating in the White Feather campaign would do so.

As the Chinese Minister to the UK, such an action naturally had no lethality. So the Minister and his attaché just pulled out the feathers and tossed them out of the car window.

But British men didn't have such a mindset. Many of those who received feathers committed suicide out of shame and indignation. Even retired men, or men physically completely unsuitable for the battlefield, would apply to return to the battlefield again, and many died in the hail of bullets just like that.

Over the past two years or so, the Chinese Minister's mood regarding this matter had changed. Initially, out of indignation at 'hens crowing like roosters' (women usurping authority), the Chinese Minister sympathized greatly with British men and was very indignant at British women. By now, the Minister was long accustomed to it, and even felt some gloating over the chaos in Britain.

Such emotions only dissipated when the Minister arrived at the British Foreign Secretary's office. Composing himself, at the end of the routine greetings, the Minister got straight to the point and asked the British Foreign Secretary a question: Did Britain want to use the power of the Czechoslovak Legion to attack the Bolsheviks?

The British Foreign Secretary was somewhat surprised. There was nothing surprising about the question itself; what surprised the Foreign Secretary was that this question was actually raised by the Chinese Minister. In his personal impression, as well as the Foreign Office's evaluation of the Chinese Minister, the Chinese Minister had never shown professionalism in diplomacy.

Now that this question was somewhat professional, the British Foreign Secretary still couldn't regard the Chinese Minister as a qualified diplomat, so he replied, "There is no such thing."

If it were in the past, the Chinese Minister would have tried to fish for information in a roundabout way, and then said some obscure and unintelligible content. Just as the British Foreign Secretary was waiting for things to develop in this direction, the Chinese Minister said, "Your Excellency Secretary, may I interpret your words as meaning that your side does not need the support of our country's Northeast region?"

The British Foreign Secretary began to get serious, so he smiled. "Has your government already controlled the Northeast?"

Ignoring this ridicule and difficulty, the Chinese Minister replied, "Any local Chinese governor is a patriot, and the Chinese government is composed of such patriots. On the contrary, is the British government ready to face a Bolshevik government completely uninfluenced by Britain?"

The British Foreign Secretary became a bit troubled; he couldn't decide whether to treat the Chinese Minister as a diplomat with whom he could discuss the world situation. In such hesitation, the British Foreign Secretary heard the Chinese Minister continue, "Your Excellency, the Bolshevik government you are facing signed the *Treaty of Brest-Litovsk* with Germany, making seemingly huge concessions in the treaty. But for Germany to truly obtain these benefits, it must defeat the Entente Powers. Do you think Germany can do it, Your Excellency?"

The British Foreign Secretary was attracted by the topic and actually forgot that the person in front of him was the Chinese Minister. The British Foreign Office had discussed this matter, and the judgment reached was that Germany was bound to lose, so the Russian Bolshevik government could completely disregard the *Treaty of Brest-Litovsk*.

"Your Excellency, the Bolshevik government used the signing of the *Treaty of Brest-Litovsk*, which was also in the form of a secret treaty, to break away from the war. Even if Germany is bound to lose, it can stop fighting on two fronts and launch a full-scale offensive on the Western Front. The Entente Powers must make huge sacrifices to defeat Germany. After victory, the Entente Powers will not have the strength to continue attacking Russia. Even a country like Britain should feel it thorny to face a Bolshevik government possessing such diplomatic ability."

After the Chinese Minister finished speaking, he stared at the change in the British Foreign Secretary's expression. What changed was not only the British Foreign Secretary's face; the Chinese Minister's mindset was also changing. When diplomacy was no longer the continuation of some politeness but a discussion on the world situation... such a feeling was too fresh.

The British Foreign Secretary finally decided to have a good talk with the Chinese Minister, so he asked, "And then?"

Previously, facing such a question based entirely on realistic strength, the Chinese Minister would have fallen into embarrassment. This time was different; the telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China raised the questions that would be encountered, as well as the basis for solving them.

The Chinese Minister didn't discuss the Republic's strength; instead, to deepen consensus, he expounded a logical chain to the British Foreign Secretary.

In the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks occupied Russia's prime industrial cities and established stable management. Although the White Army had gained the countryside and its leaders had great prestige, the White Army's weapons and equipment could not be supplied continuously. If the war entered a war of attrition, the Red Army would gain an irreversible advantage and eventually completely destroy the White Army.

The British Foreign Secretary didn't feel this was superfluous. As long as it could truly solve the problem, spending this little time to deepen consensus couldn't be called a waste at all. Moreover, the Foreign Secretary could also sort out his own thoughts at this time. The Chinese Minister initially mentioned Britain using the Russian White Army, the Czechoslovak Legion, and the military industrial production capacity of Northeast China. The relationship between the three had become clear.

Hearing that the Chinese Minister's line of thought was also like this, the British Foreign Secretary had already begun to judge the feasibility of this matter.

Just then, although the Chinese Minister tried his best to suppress the impulse, he couldn't help but ask, "How does Your Excellency Secretary view such cooperation?"

Hearing this question full of the style of the weak, the British Foreign Secretary discovered that he was still facing that same Chinese Minister. He thought the person who could make such wise deductions had become stronger, but actually, he hadn't.

At this time when the Republic clearly held the initiative, if the British Foreign Secretary were serving as the Chinese Minister, he would at least ask, 'Is Britain willing to accept this proposal?'

However, the British Foreign Secretary didn't dislike weak and incompetent opponents at this time; such people would only allow Britain to obtain greater benefits. So the British Foreign Secretary gave the Chinese Minister a cordial smile. "Your Excellency Minister, I think you have a misunderstanding of Britain's strength..."

*Cough cough cough...* Thousands of miles away, He Rui choked on water. Zhao Tianlin, sitting opposite He Rui, noticed that He Rui was rarely somewhat distracted, so he stopped his report on vocational education in the Northeast and looked at He Rui.

He Rui finally calmed his coughing. He didn't want to say it, but couldn't help saying, "I'm still a bit worried about that bunch in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic."

Zhao Tianlin sighed slightly, but his expression quickly returned to firmness. "Chairman, since the situation has reached this point, the British have to agree even if they don't want to. Besides, we just need London to take the initiative to talk to us; whatever those people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say has no impact on us."

He Rui hadn't expected to be comforted by Zhao Tianlin, and could only sigh slightly. Zhao Tianlin was right, but He Rui still hoped the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic had the ability to strive for the greatest benefits for China.

This was not only beneficial to He Rui but also to Duan Qirui. It wasn't that He Rui had any good feelings for Duan Qirui, nor was He Rui grateful to him. It was just that in present-day China, Duan Qirui was the force striving to maintain that China wouldn't continue to split. Before He Rui had the strength to liberate all of China, He Rui didn't want a full-scale civil war to break out in China.

However, He Rui quickly put this thought aside. He had already done his best; as for what the result would be, he could only leave it to fate. This communication between He Rui and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic made He Rui certain that these guys were unreliable. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic lacked a global vision, which already proved they were completely unqualified diplomats.

Without a global vision, there was no way to understand the world based on a global vision. Even if he formulated an incredibly detailed negotiation plan for that bunch in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they would still reveal their true colors at some moment, letting people see through their essence. This was inevitable.

So He Rui completely gathered his thoughts and began to listen to Zhao Tianlin's education report with full concentration. China's future lay in the new generation receiving education; as for those guys from the old era, let them be.