The Portuguese were far more reliable than the French in the matter of laying mines, not that the French were unreliable, but Allen Wilson was not sure that he could fool the French into shedding blood and dying for British India.

    If Allen Wilson had a say in the matter of Indian independence, then the partition of India and Pakistan on the basis of religion certainly had a share of Christians, and the vast majority of the inhabitants of Portuguese Goa were Catholics.

    But he had no say in the future of British India now, and if he had, he could have had a good talk with Ali Jinnah, the leader of the PML-N, about Goa.

    He believed that Arijana was in a minority position and did not mind giving Nehru a hard time on Christian rights.

    Almost simultaneously with the start of the Battle of Mandalay, on the Western Front in the European Theater, the Allied armies opened their offensive, and before dawn the general Allied attack on the Rhine began in earnest as the 1,400 guns of the First Canadian Army roared to life.

    The Allied command on the Western Front believed that once the Rhine skyline was breached, the German resistance at home would be quickly crushed.

    "We should be thankful to be safe and sound in the midst of this world war, which is a great loss to all mankind," Allen Wilson joked with John, the commissioner of the Turkish state of Junagadh.

    "If I hadn't been physically unfit to serve in the army, I would have enlisted and fought to the last for the British Empire," John took the glass of wine and swore with conviction, then sipped the whiskey in one gulp and exclaimed, "But peace is always precious, isn't it?"

    "Of course! I absolutely believe that the citizens of the British Empire bravely entered the middle of the war," Alan Wilson gave his opponent a heartfelt look, "so Prime Minister Chamberlain was actually fighting for peace, with understandable intentions in the first place, but it's a pity the Prime Minister was dealing with a madman."

    There was something politically incorrect about that; after the Great War, of course, Churchill's resistance would be affirmed as if it were politically correct, a mistake no Briton could afford to make, except that the consequence would be as minor an afterthought as Churchill's immediate defeat.

    Standing on the upper floor of Ali Khan's palace, Alan Wilson rested his hands on the fence and looked down at the representatives of the Turkish state and the people of Portuguese Goa.John, who was beside Alan Wilson and also looking at the scene, opened his mouth and asked, "What about the Portuguese Viceroyalty?Alan, you should know."

    "Knowing that Salazar is the leader of the **** kind," Alan Wilson gushed at John in an indifferent tone, "but Portugal ended up not joining either camp and maintained its apparent neutrality, in fact I'm sure now that both Franco and Salazar are ready to stand beside the victor and hail the coming of peace."

    "Oh!"John nodded his head at that, reversing his position and leaning back against the fence with his back to the hall in agreement, "Who says it isn't?"

    Heh!The two men laughed heartily as Alan Wilson nudged his mouth and rushed down, "Let's talk to the Portuguese, I'm sure they'd love it."

    "I agree!"John stood up, patted his lapel and walked off with Alan Wilson.There was a rare buzz of activity throughout the hall.

    The entire city of Hyderabad was in a jovial mood, too.Not that the locals were particularly happy to see the colonizers and other representatives of the native states invited by Ali Khan, and not for charity.

    The Indian festival in honor of the black sky, which has its origins in ancient harvest rituals, is held in February and March each year. During the festival, groups of Hindus celebrate the coming of spring by singing and dancing and jumping around bonfires, throwing water on each other and sprinkling red powder or water on passers-by.

    Ali Khan, though a pacifist, did not harm the people under his rule because of their customs.

    The representatives of the native states had things to do with the representatives of the native states, and Alan Wilson had work to do for the commissioner, and soon invited the people of the Viceroyalty of Portuguese Goa, and found a secluded corner to sit down and talk.

    In the middle of the royal palace in Hyderabad, which was not overcrowded, the invited guests were carefully considered: first of all, small states were not invited, not to mention the fact that there were currently more than 500 states in the subcontinent, but not many of them could be recognized.

    Including Hyderabad, a total of fifteen states have been recognized as having some status, and the rest are just slightly larger landowners with very limited power and influence.

    And the monarch of the Kashmiri land state was not among the invitees, so the total number of land state representatives invited this time was fourteen, Allen Wilson did not pay attention to the situation on the land state side for the time being, but sat down with the representative of the governor of Portuguese Goa.

    Shaking the wine glass in his hand, in a relaxed tone of voice opened his mouth and praised the current Allied Army opened in the Rhine River, in a matter of days will be able to completely subjugate Germany, while the Junagadh Tupang Commissioner John was on the sidelines to respond to the same.

    "I don't think the Germans can hold out for six months if they put up a fight, and it's unlikely that the citizens of London are ready for champagne by now," Alan Wilson said smugly, showing the arrogance of old imperialism.

    If it had been an American in front of him, he probably wouldn't have eaten his words, but it would have been different if it had been a Portuguese.At all times, Britain had kept the Portuguese at bay.The contrast of strength was just so stark!

    "The lesson that this world war has taught us is that the Germans must be made to feel that in their hearts and in their strength they cannot be a threat to world peace," sang John, as if the disintegration of Germany was imminent.

    Two people a red face and a white face, in front of the Portuguese representative to speak out, as if the mighty Third Reich is two people talking and laughing to make it ashes in general, so in front of the Portuguese Pedro do not know what to say is good, can only with an awkward smile can not stop nodding.

    "Speaking of which, we must thank Mr. Salazar for his friendly neutrality in the middle of the war," Alan Wilson said the term friendly neutrality very heavily, a pair of eyes looked directly at the Portuguese representative in front of him.

    Who does not know that Salazar and Franco, and the two leaders of the Axis countries are similar in nature, long wavered between the Allies and the Axis countries, almost became a member of the Axis countries.

    Alan Wilson said he was complimenting the Portuguese, rather than being sarcastic.Just when Pedro was a little embarrassed, John, on the other hand, appropriately persuaded, "In fact, in the national point of view are nothing, each country has to think about their own country, is not it Pedro?"