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Arthur Balfour's cabinet, which has now become a difficult to ride a tiger, has invested hundreds of thousands of troops in the Middle East, spent a lot of military spending, but victory is still far away. If Britain could not win, it would not be able to contain China's ambitions, and the colonial system that Britain had painstakingly built would threaten to collapse. In addition, it is no longer possible to repay the military expenses of this dispatch by plundering the oil resources of the Middle East, and to make a lot of profit from it. But now it's impossible to stop. Britain and France provoked the war, but when the war will end is not in their hands, and it depends on whether China is willing to end the war. From the moment, it seems impossible. Therefore, Britain had to bite the bullet and fight it down! If victory is not achieved, it will be a disaster for Arthur Balfour's cabinet!

"Your Excellency, I think it may be time for us to consider whether we can end this war with dignity. If we continue to fight, we will only pay more. If you lose, you will lose a lot! Lord Lansdownne, the British Foreign Secretary, said.

Everyone looked at him in amazement, everyone was now trying to figure out how to make Britain win this war, but Lord Lansdowne, as the foreign secretary, put forward a completely different point of view, which made everyone unable to adapt for a while.

"What are you talking about, Your Excellency? You are the Foreign Secretary of the British Empire, how can you make such a point? The British Empire must win this war! Edward Gray, the British Colonial Secretary, jumped up at once, like a cat that had been stepped on by its tail.

"I'm just responsible for the British Empire!" Lord Lansdoorn said coldly.

"Your Excellency, do you mean that we have no chance of winning this war?" Prime Minister Arthur Belfour asked.

"Nope. Your Excellency Prime Minister, we will do our best to win! Lord Landsdowne had not yet answered, Field Marshal Neville Powers Sir Chamberlain had already answered first.

"I don't know if we're going to win, but it's always right that we prepare ahead of time, so we don't have to rush when the time comes!" Lord Landsdownne said.

"But will the Chinese agree to end this war?" Although, we still have the advantage on the battlefield at the moment. But the Chinese did not do their best. The troops they have invested in the Kingdom are only a third of ours. Once the Chinese increase their investment, it will be very difficult for us to continue to maintain our advantage. In such a situation, I do not believe that the Chinese will end the war with a tiger! Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Thomson Ridge said.

"The Chinese have already begun to increase their troops. According to our latest information, a group of Chinese troops had already boarded and set off from Singapore three days ago, and in about half a month, they would appear on the battlefield! Lord Chancellor John Fisher said.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, it seems that we need to continue to increase our troops in the Middle East. The British Empire must commit at least 100,000 more troops, and France must also commit the same number of troops, so that we can continue to maintain our superiority! Field Marshal Neville Powers Sir Chamberlain said.

Prime Minister Arthur Belfour couldn't help but frown. Once again, Britain and France committed 100,000 troops each, which would bring their number of troops in the Middle East to more than 600,000. With such a huge number, it is not an easy task to be responsible for the logistical consumption of these armies! But. Now that the Chinese have begun to increase their troops, this undoubtedly shows that the Chinese have begun to increase their investment and are ready to fight back. If it had not increased its troops, the British Empire would probably have lost the war.

"The matter of increasing troops. The War Department will look at it, and the Cabinet will fully support it. Lord Landsdowne, what do you think we can do to end this war with dignity? Prime Minister Arthur Belfour asked. Now he feels more and more that the Middle East war is a bottomless pit, and if the war can be ended with dignity, it should be a good way!

Lord Lansdowne shook his head, and then said, "I don't know, but at least the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait can't be saved!" In addition, the oil fields that the Chinese have already found in the Middle East, we don't want to share! ”

If, before the start of the war, this condition seemed unacceptable to the British. However, at present, since it is impossible to defeat China militarily, such conditions are justified.

"Your Excellency, you can contact the Chinese and see if it is possible to end the war with dignity!" Prime Minister Arthur Belfour said.

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister. However, we cannot hope too much for this. It is very difficult to resolve this dispute through diplomatic means. It may be possible to use diplomacy before the outbreak of war. But now that the war has reached a stalemate, it will be more difficult to resolve the issue diplomatically. The key is whether we can win on the battlefield. Lord Landsdownne said. Military strength has always been a guarantee of diplomacy!

"Your Excellency, we will do our best!" Field Marshal Neville Powers Sir Chamberlain said in a deep voice. Because of the unsmooth war, he, the field marshal, also deeply felt that his face was dull!

Like Britain, the French government is also saddened by the war situation in the Middle East, the war has been going on for two months, France has paid huge casualties, but victory is still far away, which makes the French people who have been waiting for it incomprehensible. The industrial and commercial capitalists, who were eager to share in the huge oil profits in the Middle East, expressed their bitter dissatisfaction with the incompetence of the French army. You must know that the military expenses of the French war this time were mainly funded by these industrial and commercial capitalists, and if the French army could not win, wouldn't their investment be wasted? What the most important thing for the capitalists is profit, and this kind of loss-making business is absolutely unacceptable to them.

In such a situation, the French government was in a state of turmoil, and outside the Élysée Palace, there were crowds of protesters almost every day, leaving President Emile-François Loube exhausted. At the same time, the business capitalists also complained that they would stop supporting the war if there was no hope of victory before the end of the year. Without their support, the army fighting on the front line would probably lose supplies, which would be a huge disaster for the French government.

President Emile-François Lube and the French government had no choice but to repeatedly increase troops in the Middle East, and at the same time communicate with the British side, asking the generals on the front line to do their best to defeat the Chinese. Otherwise, both governments will be doomed.

Therefore, the British government and the French government have sent more troops to the Middle East, desperately trying to continue the battle.

At the same time, Lord Landsdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, also met with the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom and put forward the idea of a peaceful solution to the war in the Middle East. However, this has not received a response from the Chinese side. At this moment, China is fully implementing the plan to counterattack the British and French forces.

On 9 December, a large fleet of hundreds of ships was sailing in the Gulf of Aden in the western Indian Ocean. Of course, most of them are transport ships. These transport ships were loaded with soldiers from the Seventh Army of the Chinese Army. They did not enter the Persian Gulf from the Indian Ocean, as the British and French imagined, but drove directly into the Gulf of Aden. Of course, the actions of the fleet were completely secret, and on the periphery of the fleet, the heavy cruisers of the Indian Ocean Fleet. Light cruisers and destroyers, formed a tight defense, expelling all foreign ships encountered along the way in advance, ensuring that the whereabouts of the fleet were not revealed.

A hundred kilometers ahead of this fleet, there is also a small fleet sailing west, this fleet, consisting of five transport ships and a light cruiser, as well as two destroyers. These five transport ships are not ordinary transport ships, but submarine carriers of the Navy. With the performance of the 'Shark-class' submarines, they could not sail from the Chinese naval base to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on their own to launch an attack on the British and French navies, and only relied on submarine carriers to bring them from their bases to the area of engagement, and then carry out the operation.

A submarine carrier is nothing more than a transport ship with a displacement of more than a thousand tons, but with booms on both sides to tie the submarine to it. Before the operation, the submarine was put into the water. At the same time, the submarine carrier also assumes the role of rest and life for the submarine officers and men, after all, the premise is only a little bigger, and it will be depressing to squeeze in 20 people and live in the water for a long time. When there is no combat mission, returning to the mothership to rest can undoubtedly improve the living conditions of the officers and men. In addition, the submarine carrier is also capable of providing submarines with logistical supplies, simple repairs and other functions. Before the performance of submarines is greatly improved, submarine carriers will be indispensable and important auxiliary warships in the submarine operations of the Chinese Navy.

In this counterattack plan against Britain and France, the submarine undertook the most important battle plan. The Chinese Navy's submarine force has only 20 'Shark-class' submarines in total, and half of them have been dispatched at one time, which shows the importance attached to this operation.

Brigadier General Su Leping, commander of the submarine force, was also personally responsible for directing the battle. The battle plan was very simple, the submarine force used the cover of night to pass through the Guò Mandeb Strait, infiltrated the British and French fleets, and carried out the mission of free hunting. The primary targets of the hunt were the British Navy's 'Dreadnought-class' battleships and the French Navy's 'Lone-class' battleships!