Marita's eighteenth birthday ceremony was very lively, with blessings and gifts from all walks of life from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland piling up throughout the room.

Australia and Canada also sent special gifts to congratulate her on her 18th birthday.

However, Marita felt that this birthday party was not at all lively in the past, but felt a little lonely.

At the age of eighteen, she can finally experience the helplessness of life.

In the face of responsibility and the honor of the family, she can only choose to give up freedom and love.

Today's Europe and the United States have not experienced a ***, the power of tradition is huge, especially for a princess, challenging the tradition needs to face huge pressure.

Moreover, this kind of challenge does not necessarily lead to a good outcome, Jonas is so in love with Audrey.

Zhou Nan is both relieved and disappointed, both of them need to restrain their feelings that they shouldn't have, and this result is the best.

Just after the luncheon, Zhou Nan accompanied the Earl of Mountbatten, who had returned to England from India, and a group of British nobles chatted about the situation in Asia.

Etinny walked into the meeting room quickly with some gaffe, and seeing his heavy expression, Zhou Nan had a sense of foreboding.

After following Zhou Nan, especially with the influence of Stolko, Etinny has changed from an ordinary university lecturer to a qualified politician.

In normal times, he rarely behaves like this.

His brisk steps also attracted the attention of the others, and all eyes were on him.

When he came to Zhou Nan's side, he handed a note to Zhou Nan and whispered: "Just received the telegram from Nanhua, just an hour ago, dozens of violent incidents against Nanhua occurred in Palembang, causing a large number of casualties among Chinese and other ethnic groups. ”

From facing the complex emotions of feelings, Zhou Nan's mind has risen from personal to political events, and the only thing that is the same is the same complex mind.

It's finally happening! Although Zhou Nan also looked forward to this incident in his heart. But when this moment finally came, seeing the casualty figures on the telegram, Zhou Nan's heart was still extremely heavy.

He stood up and said loudly with a heavy expression: "Ladies and gentlemen, just an hour ago, disaster befell the emerging Nanhua, the Javanese could not pose any threat to the Dutch and Nanhua on the battlefield, but they targeted the unarmed civilians. Nearly 200 Nanhua people have left this world forever, and more than 400 people have been seriously injured. This is a horrific massacre of civilians, a provocation to civilization and a violation of the rules of the world. ”

Zhou Nan desperately infected himself, letting his eyes be full of tears, but the tears never fell.

The tears that fall are weak, but the tears in the eyes are more sympathetic and resonant.

Zhou Nan's hand trembled and handed the telegram to George beside him, took a deep breath, and said calmly: "I have no way of knowing who gave this order, nor can I know the name of the executor. However, at this moment, my heart is closely tied to the South Chinese people, and I feel the pain of hundreds of civilians who have been subjected to violence. Please allow me to retire for the time being......"

Zhou Nan bowed deeply, and when he raised himself, he looked up at the sky and held back the tears in his eyes.

Everyone was shocked by this sudden news, and when Zhou Nan was about to leave, they reacted.

George read the draft of the telegram in his hand and called out to Zhou Nan, who was about to leave: "Jonas, I am also saddened by the violence suffered by Nanhua. Violence against civilians is infuriating at any given time. At this point, Britain will stand with South China. ”

"Thank you!" Zhou Nan turned to him and saluted.

Mountbatten also stood up and said, "I think I still have some understanding of the situation in Asia. The indigenous peoples have never really been civilized, and they have never recognized the universal rules of the world. To deal with them, you always have to hold a gun in one hand and sugar in the other, and only the muzzle of the gun can really make them obedient. ”

Although this guy doesn't talk like a politician, he doesn't talk roughly. Everyone else nodded their heads, and they were all used to showing their superiority at all times.

Although the arrogant British lost the future in World War II, even in the face of the nouveau riche United States, their hearts are still full of superiority, let alone Asians.

In their hearts, I am afraid that they regard the Chinese as inferior, and as for the natives, they are even inferior, or even just see them as tools.

Zhou Nan didn't care about their arrogance, and even took advantage of this to pick them up, and then use their mentality to gain their support.

Nanhua has been waiting for such an opportunity since Nanhua decided to occupy Palembang and occupy the fertile farmland around Palembang, and then marched on Sumatra.

At any given time, groups that claim to be civilized need to find an excuse, or a justification, for their actions, even if their intentions are dirty.

South China sent troops to protect the property of overseas Chinese, which is a righteous act, but it is limited to that.

No matter how much the Dutch wanted South China to expand its military scale, both Britain and the United States and the Soviet Union resolutely opposed South China's army entering the frontal battlefield.

South China wants to occupy the oil fields and iron mines of Sumatra, but there is no suitable excuse.

So, Nanhua has been waiting.

Today's violence in Palembang is such an opportunity to send troops.

On the island of Java, the Chinese never thought of expanding their military scale, and although it has the most fertile land in all of Southeast Asia, there are too many Javanese there.

On that small island, where the population of various ethnic groups exceeded 50 million, the number of Chinese on Java was now less than 1 million, and it was impossible to occupy it.

Today, when the trend of national independence is becoming more and more intense, even Britain, the United States and the Netherlands have begun to conditionally agree to the independence of various nationalities, and it is impossible for the Chinese to occupy it.

But it is possible in Sumatra, because even the British would rather be neighbors with the Chinese than with the Javanese, who are completely unruly.

Nanhua did not want to occupy the whole island of Sumatra, but only a region in the northeast. So, this strategic goal is possible.

The island of North Sumatra belonged to the Acehnese, and if South China occupied the northeast, it would control the Strait of Malacca together with the British, and separate them from the Javanese.

But it will not be easy to get the British to agree to Nanhua's occupation of the area, and Nanhua will need to make more compromises, at least in the case of Malaysia.

This outbreak today is actually very suitable, because Zhou Nan is in the UK now, and he happened to be with many British bigwigs today.

Zhou Nan was able to fully communicate with them on this issue as soon as possible and obtain the support of the other party.

After a while, a phone call from London also came, and their government also received the news.

Attlee, along with Foreign Minister Bevan, including Hou Cong, the ambassador to South China, flew to Grams Castle.

The power of the British royal family has always been constrained, and they have not been able to make a voice on many international issues.

But the current royal family is stronger than later generations, that is, many of their important positions are still controlled by the aristocracy, so the opinions of the royal family are more respected by the government than later generations.

During the two hours of waiting for their arrival, both Zhou Nan and the British side received more detailed information from different sources.

In this violent incident, the losses of the Chinese were not large, and the most casualties were Malays, Malays, Wus and other ethnic minorities.

Because most of the Chinese women and children have moved to South China and Bangka Island, most of the people who remain here in Palembang are young and old.

The peasants who have emigrated from the country have not yet dispersed, and they are all groups of hundreds of people, receiving planting knowledge and militia training in the tropics.

Therefore, although the target of this incident was mainly Chinese, the number of Chinese casualties accounted for only about one-third.

No one will admit that Nanhua deliberately indulged this incident, Zhou Nan is a hard-hearted person, and in the face of Nanhua's overall interests, he also thinks that this sacrifice is worth it.

However, when this incident really happened, he still felt a little sad in his heart.

Moreover, the occurrence of this incident will also affect the investment attraction that Nanhua attaches the most importance to now.

However, Zhou Nan believes that as long as Nanhua can occupy an advantage in the short term, the impact will not be great.

If South China shows its strong military power, it may do more good than harm.

Because Nanhua also needs such an opportunity to show its strength, which is an important way for a country to gain an international position.

Since November 46, when the Netherlands announced that the East Indies would be allowed to become independent, South China's army building has been ahead of the same region.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Nanhua had trained 20,000 troops, and now almost a year has passed, and Nanhua has now trained more than 50,000 soldiers.

Excluding the 10,000 naval and logistical units, more than 40,000 soldiers could fight.

And these people, like the Dutch army, had the same weapons and equipment.

The Dutch are currently hiding in the mountains where the Javanese have beaten their heads. Their military might, if not for the support of the United States and the USSR, would simply not be worth mentioning.

Therefore, although there are not many soldiers in Nanhua, if they only carry out military operations on the island of Sumatra, the strength of the cards is far greater than that of the Javanese.

Nanhua needs an excuse to occupy a larger area, and it also needs such a war to show its strength.

So although Zhou Nan pretended to be very sad on the surface and did feel a little sad in his heart, he actually had a hint of joy in his heart.

(From Chinese New Year's Eve, only the second day of junior high school rested, drunk and dreamed for several days, and everyone was wasted.) Starting today, I will try to get back to normal as much as possible. At present, I owe you two more, and then I owe the alliance leader more, and the monthly pass plus more, a total of five more, I want to work hard. ）