"That is, with our existing industrial capabilities. We cannot provide enough ammunition to the front lines!

There is a problem of production capacity here, and what is even more frightening is that we are also facing a shortage of raw materials for making explosives.

According to the current production, our explosive raw materials are only enough to last until the beginning of next month. In other words, after the beginning of next month, even if we can produce enough bullets and artillery shells, we will still have bullets and artillery shells without explosives."

"How could this happen?" Winston was also shocked.

He thought that the difficulties he would face would be many and thorny, but he never thought that there would even be no explosives.

"The most important ingredient in gunpowder and gunpowder now is nitrocellulose.

As you all know, England does not grow cotton.

Moreover, the production of sulfuric acid requires pyrite. But we in England only have one pyrite, and it is a poor ore. The output cannot satisfy our consumption at all.

Therefore, if we cannot get the raw materials as soon as possible, we will have no ammunition at the beginning of next month." The Minister of Industry spread his hands helplessly.

It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice, and industrial raw materials are industrial rice. Without raw materials, even gods can't make industrial finished products.

"Also, our food is also in crisis.

At the beginning of the war, the Ming army threw incendiary bombs at several of our large grain depots. This caused us heavy losses!

We were originally planning to purchase from the United States, but at that time the Army said it would give priority to the supply of weapons and ammunition. Therefore, all the transportation capacity was given to the Army.

Here, we only imported one shipment of 5,000 tons of wheat.

In other words, if there is no external food supply, we will run out of food this winter."

"There is not enough coal. We would like to dig more coal. But the workers have been drafted by the army. Now the number of workers working in the mines is only 30% of the normal number.

Coal production is severely insufficient, which has affected factory production and train operations.

This is not the most fatal thing, winter will come in two months. If there is no coal for heating in winter, many people will freeze to death."

"We are also in trouble here. Without coal, steel production has begun to decline."

"There are not enough workers in our iron ore mines."

"We also need manpower and coal here!"

The ministers present began to complain and asked Winston for all kinds of supplies.

Some want food, some want people, and some want coal and ore.

Fortunately, no one asked for money!

Now everyone knows that asking for money is useless. The price of bread on the streets of London has risen to fifty pence a pound.

This is almost the entire wages of a strong laborer for two days!

People are already starving on the streets, and some have started marching and complaining.

However, these were all dispersed by the London police.

Because many factories have shut down, many people have lost their jobs.

Men can still go to the battlefield to fight, and at least the army has food to eat. But civilians are in trouble, especially women, the elderly, and children.

The army and the government don't want such useless people. They can only go to the relief office to get a few slices of bread every day.

A few slices of bread were simply not enough, and people were already starving to death in the East End of London.

Winston slumped helplessly in his chair. What he saw was an empire in decline, an empire that was about to collapse.

The Germans were just 20 kilometers outside London. Even sitting in the Prime Minister's Office at No. 10 Downing Street, you could hear the rumble of artillery.

For thousands of years, London has never faced enemy artillery fire at such close range.

Winston took a deep breath, then tapped the table with a wooden hammer.

The quarrels among the ministers immediately slowed down, and everyone looked at Winston, waiting for the Prime Minister's speech.

"Gentlemen!

We have reached the last moment, we have no weapons and ammunition, we have no food and clothing.

We don’t even have anyone anymore!

In the past six months, our army has lost a total of approximately 43,000 troops.

Together with the losses in Russia and Gibraltar, our Army has lost over six hundred thousand men.

At this moment, there are 450,000 soldiers fighting on the front line.

It is not enough for a country to have an army. We do not have enough workers and we do not have enough farmers.

The productivity of women and children is far less than that of a normal man.

We can't hold on any longer. If we hold on any longer, the Germans will invade London and destroy the civilization created by our ancestors.

Now...gentlemen!" Winston's throat seemed to be stuck suddenly, and he was silent for a moment before continuing: "For the people to survive, for the sake of the children and the elderly, no longer starve to death.

I propose to surrender to the German Empire." Winston lowered his head.

He was the first prime minister in the history of England to propose surrender to the enemy. Moreover, he also surrendered England itself and even London.

There was silence in the conference room, no one spoke. Everyone looked at each other!

Everyone knows that speaking out on this matter is a dangerous thing, and if you fail to do so, your political career will end.

At this time, if you can't speak, don't speak.

No one spoke, and neither did Winston. Although Winston already knew that his political life was over, he still had to hold on.

After all, he still has sons and grandsons, and the Winston family still needs to be active on the political stage in England.

There was silence in the conference room!

Five minutes! Ten minutes! Fifteen minutes! Twenty minutes!...Half an hour!

For a whole hour, no one here spoke.

The Minister of the Navy suddenly stood up and wanted to walk outside.

"What are you going to do?" Winston asked quietly.

"I'm going to the bathroom." The meeting had been going on for three hours, and the old guy couldn't stand it any longer.

"You can only leave after expressing your stance." Winston said in a deep voice.

"This...!" The Lord Admiralty choked. He didn't expect Winston to come up with such an idea. Everyone is here today, and they won't be allowed to leave unless they express their stance.

Good idea!

Everyone looked at the Lord of the Admiralty, who was so suppressed that his face turned red, especially under the gaze of so many people, which made him feel even more uncomfortable.

"Okay! I agree." After the Navy Minister finished speaking, he rushed out of the conference room.

Winston leaned back in his chair and looked at the remaining ministers.

The ministers finally realized that they would not be able to pass the test without an attitude today.

"Okay! In order to let more people survive, I also agree to surrender." The Minister of Industry sighed helplessly.

He was the first to take the initiative because he knew clearly that Britain's industrial capacity had reached its lowest point.

Even if the soldiers on the front line wanted to fight, they would soon be out of ammunition and other support.

"I agree too!" the finance minister said with his head lowered.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, he knew that England's granaries were running out of food.

The people are starving!

If this continues for a long time, the people of England will starve to death without the Germans coming.

"I agree too!"

"I agree!"

“I agree!“

...!

Agreements came one after another, and Winston's face became more and more solemn.

There were tears in his eyes. These were tears of humiliation. Surrender, or unconditional surrender. It means that England will suffer greater humiliation in the days to come.

The victors plundered and oppressed the losers, they had all done this with their own hands.

Now that they have become losers, their hearts are filled with mixed emotions.

"Now that everyone agrees, we will send a request for peace talks to the Germans. At least, we must fight for some rights for us.

Even a little bit is good!" When Winston said this, he felt sad!

How did the mighty British Empire get to where it is today?

He actually had to rely on surrender to barely survive and live in humiliation.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

When Li Xiao's airship landed at the landing field in the capital, he just received the news that the British had announced their defeat and surrender.
To be continued...