In a safe zone twenty kilometers from the front lines, the British and French military observation groups were holding a joint dinner. Outside the tent, the Japanese army was wallowing in the vortex of war, while inside, the British and French officers ate with relaxed spirits. Just a few years ago, the positions of the British and French soldiers versus the Japanese were exactly the opposite. This massive disparity did not make the British and French officers feel any guilt; instead, like the Japanese officers before them, they treated the bloody battlefield before their eyes as a subject for dinner table conversation.

A row of military field tables was arranged in a line, simply lacking a tablecloth. On the left were the British officers, on the right the French. The commanders of both sides sat in the center of their respective groups, facing each other.

Cans were opened one by one by the British officers—either beef or fruit. Accompanied by cheese and cold bread, the quantity was plentiful, yet the sight made the corners of the French officers' mouths twitch upwards as they looked at their own empty plates. It was evident that these French officers had eaten British canned food in the trenches.

Britain had countless "jokes about France," but the British would not actively bring up cuisine in front of the French. Self-knowledge was a trait shared by the upper classes of all nations.

A French chef had already lit Northeast-produced charcoal in a portable stove using solid alcohol also produced in the Northeast, but the French baguettes were set aside and not immediately toasted. The French chef opened a large crate filled with items wrapped in burlap; opening one revealed beef.

Seeing the surprised looks on the British blokes' faces, Major General Louis, head of the French observation group, wore a confident smile. "Although Manchurian-Mongolian beef is not as good as French beef, it is at least edible."

This remark was truly full of French flavor—confidently sharp-tongued. But the aroma of the steak prevented the British officers from retorting for the moment. British Major General James nodded and asked, "These Indian jute bags indeed preserve freshness very well."

Both sides exchanged smiles, temporarily tied.

The French chef was not only skilled at steak; various dishes were brought up one by one. When a fish dish was served, the British officer, Major General James, stroked the beard on his chin thoughtfully. Only after confirming the content of his memory did he ask, "This reminds me of the stuffed carp described by Monsieur Hugo in *Les Misérables*."

Major General Louis smiled knowingly. "Yes, stuffing the carp with minced meat and cooking it whole. The meat comes from Northeast pigs, not rodents."

The British and French officers were all educated upper-class men, and hearing this, they all smiled. In *Les Misérables*, Monsieur Hugo wrote with humor: Some customers came from far away. One morning, Hucheloup had a sudden inspiration; he wanted to introduce this "specialty" to passersby. He picked up a brush, dipped it in a pot of black paint, and since his spelling was as unique as his cooking, he casually scrawled these eye-catching words on his wall: *carpeshogras* (phonetically similar to stuffed carp, but misspelled).

One winter, rain and sleet, acting on a whim, wiped out the 's' at the end of the first word and the 'g' at the beginning of the third word. What remained was: *carpehoras* (which sounded like: carp with rats).

This insignificant advertisement written to attract diners, with the help of the season and the rain, turned into a profound piece of advice...

Since everyone was a peer who had read Hugo's novels, the atmosphere naturally became harmonious. Given that the Frenchmen's proud sharing was also a form of goodwill, the British officers shifted the topic to Japan. "If compared to the Japanese army's food, rat meat carp would also be a delicacy."

Everyone roared with laughter—a laughter of shared feeling. Those almost purely vegetarian rations were truly a torture in the eyes of British and French officers.

Soldiers who have experienced war know that while war is tragic, the battlefield is boring. Facing a table of gourmet food, no one was in a rush; they ate and talked. Major General James sighed, "I didn't expect the Japanese army to actually use 900 heavy guns on the battlefield."

The French officers felt the British bloke was making a fuss over nothing. A Lieutenant Colonel named Malone swallowed the stuffed carp in his mouth and expressed his confusion. "Compared to Bulgaria and Romania, the number of troops mobilized and the firepower of the Japanese army are nothing special. During the Great War, the Bulgarian front maintained hundreds of thousands of troops, and Romania mobilized over two million men. The number of heavy guns in a single battle would also be around 200."

Other French officers added their views. "Bulgaria has a population of 4 million, only one-tenth of Japan's, yet it mobilized up to 1.2 million men. truly astonishing. I remember a novel that seemed to describe a city where only women and a hunchbacked bell-ringer remained. The other men had all died in war, and the men who didn't die on the battlefield but returned to their hometowns were driven away by the women who had stayed behind."

This novel was a bit obscure; although a very small number of officers had an impression of it, they couldn't remember it clearly. French Lieutenant Colonel Malone didn't pick up on this thread. He sighed, "Romania has a population of 7.5 million and mobilized 1.26 million, 10,000 fewer than Bulgaria, yet suffered 620,000 deaths. Those Eastern European countries are all lunatics."

Hearing these figures, the British officer couldn't help but sigh, "Think of those Serbian regicides."

The British and French officers all smiled bitterly. Serbia, with 4.5 million people, mobilized 750,000. Because the war was fought across the entirety of Serbia, according to the country's own statistics, Serbia lost 1.1 million people in the war. Although post-war Serbia preserved its independence, the country was in a state almost equivalent to national extinction.

Major General Louis, head of the French military observation group, was somewhat puzzled. "General James, even Serbia could use over 200 heavy guns in a battle. Why are you surprised by the Japanese heavy artillery group? In my view, this scale of artillery is just meeting the requirements of war. If it were those Jerries, I think they would commit 1,100 heavy guns, or even more, to a battle of this scale."

Major General James did not answer immediately; instead, he raised his glass and drank. French Lieutenant Colonel Malone thought the Major General's view on heavy artillery was a bit baffling, so he offered his own opinion. "Japan possesses the world's third-largest navy. The main guns of its battleship *Kongō* are 356mm. Producing 150mm field guns should not be a technical problem for Japan."

Seeing the topic veering completely off course, Major General James had to explain. "Gentlemen, both Manchuria-Mongolia and Japan have a core national population of 40 million. By European standards, they could completely mobilize an army of 6 million. Even Italy mobilized 2.85 million troops. Manchuria-Mongolia and Japan have each mobilized 2 million troops, which is far from their upper limit. But isn't it a very strange thing for us to use European war standards to measure Asian, yellow-race nations?"

The British and French officers were stunned and fell silent. Some frowned in thought, while others silently continued eating.

At this moment, the French chef had finished all the dishes. The baguettes had also been heated, sliced, and served. Major General Louis silently picked up a piece, dipped it in the sauce of the stuffed carp, and put the bread in his mouth. The crispy crust and the soft, sweet interior of the baguette made Louis, who was in a foreign land, think of his hometown.

Swallowing this mouthful of food, Major General Louis raised his glass, took a sip of brandy, and then asked, "General James, do you believe that current-day Japan already possesses strength surpassing Italy?"

General James shook his head. "What I really care about is China's Manchuria-Mongolia. They actually possess the strength to confront Italy. Although the Manchurian-Mongolian army's artillery is only of 120mm caliber, its range is not inferior to the Japanese 150mm artillery. They also show outstanding performance in army-group level artillery command. Ten years ago..."

Speaking to this point, Major General James was a bit agitated. He raised his glass and took another sip. As the alcohol went to his head, he shook his head and sighed. "Sigh... I don't want to blame anyone, but the synthetic ammonia technology provided by France to China's Manchuria-Mongolia allowed the Manchurian-Mongolian government to acquire the capacity to produce gunpowder and explosives equal to the Germans. It has allowed this war to spiral completely out of control..."

When the French officers heard British Major General James say "I don't want to blame anyone," they knew they were about to be blamed. Unexpectedly, Major General James actually found something to blame them for. Lieutenant Colonel Malone immediately said with a drawl, "Oh... I feel that the munitions orders for which Britain provided funds to Russia played a greater role!"

The atmosphere, which had briefly thawed due to the gourmet food, immediately returned to the usual British-French verbal sparring. Officers from both sides exposed each other's past misdeeds with or without smiles. After a round of sparring, both sides barely reached a consensus. The current out-of-control situation in the Far East should be blamed on the Germans, the Russians, and those short-sighted colonial governors of both sides.

In order to quickly arm the colonial troops sent to Britain and France, these governors placed orders related to military equipment with the Northeast. Quartermaster supplies expanded step by step into military equipment, finally allowing the Northeast to possess its own military industry.

The sound of the night shift artillery exchange between the Chinese and Japanese sides drifted into the tent, bringing a bit of harmony back to the atmosphere between the members of the British and French military observation groups who had temporarily paused their quarrel. A British officer asked, "General Louis, what is your opinion on the organization of the heavy artillery groups on both sides?"

As a general from Europe's number one army power, General Louis listened to the shelling outside and answered leisurely, "According to current intelligence, the Japanese army has no army groups; all heavy artillery is under the command of the Manchuria-Mongolia Expeditionary Army Headquarters. A Japanese heavy artillery regiment has 40 150mm field howitzers, as well as other heavy artillery. The Manchuria-Mongolia Expeditionary Army Headquarters can command 23 heavy artillery regiments, proving they have European-level artillery combat organizational capabilities. The Northeast Army's artillery relies to a large extent on its aircraft superiority... Oh, those damn Jerries!"

The British officers also deeply agreed with this. During WWI, aircraft production by country: Germany 47,300; Austro-Hungarian Empire 5,400; France 52,100; Britain 47,800; Russia 3,500; Italy 12,000; USA 13,800.

The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany could not possess an air force. Germany, which was a major aircraft power during WWI, saw its manufacturing teams suffer massive unemployment. According to intelligence obtained by Britain and France, a German aircraft R&D and manufacturing team had come to the Northeast and began developing and manufacturing aircraft for the Northeast government.

Initially, no one really took this team seriously; after all, it was just a very small team, almost negligible compared to their European and American peers. Yet unexpectedly, this small team produced such outstanding work. Today, during the day, the British and French military observation groups saw with their own eyes how the Northeast Army's monoplanes flew with agility, slaughtering those sluggish Japanese biplanes in the air.

More accurately, those Japanese biplanes, which possessed WWI-level technology, were all shot down by the Northeast Army's aircraft, which were excellent enough to rival the latest British and French planes. This war in the Far East not only had the intensity of the European battlefield, but its combat intensity was also not inferior.

Major General Louis suddenly wanted to ask the British officer about tanks. Back then, Britain had used poison gas and tanks when breaking through trenches, and both had achieved significant results. Poison gas aside—the Japanese side had not widely distributed gas masks. Then one of the remaining choices was tanks.

But Major General Louis did not ask the question. He felt that even if he asked, the British officers would not answer. As for whether tanks would appear, they just had to wait and see. During the four years of the Great War in Europe, all parties had figured out trench warfare. Japan, as Britain's long-term ally, couldn't possibly not have thought of tanks.

At this moment, there was little food left on the table. Britain's Major General James downed the last mouthful of wine and stood up. "General Louis, thank you for your meal. We have discussed a lot today; let's leave some topics for tomorrow."