For Britain, maritime interests cannot be challenged. Although the French were bombed in Dakar, the British were secretly happy, but the entire British government was quite nervous about such a ghost-like warship.
Because the information is too sparse, vague, and excessively sensational, the United Kingdom is still not sure that this warship belongs to Ryukyu, nor does it believe that Prussia's industrial level can build such a heaven-defying warship.
Therefore, although the United Kingdom invested the most warships in the manhunt plan in the Atlantic, the caliber and tone of its external propaganda was still very low. Even within the British government, it was believed that this was an excuse for the stupid French to cover up their weakness.
In the eyes of these British politicians, the powerful France, the grand nephew of Napoleon, failed to even win the Ryukyus and signed a humiliating treaty. Such a country should be removed from the list of great powers.
God knows what happened in Dakar. They would rather believe that Victoria's father-in-law William I did it than admit that the Chinese have such ability.
It was not until the mysterious warship reappeared in the Iquique naval battle a few days ago that the British government was shocked. At this time, they began to face the Dakar bombardment more than two months ago. Now they finally figured it out. That warship is Xiao Letian's trump card.
Humiliation, a strong sense of humiliation welled up in my heart. The politicians who had previously laughed at the impossibility of the Chinese people forgetting what they had said before, began to accuse Prime Minister Derby of being incompetent, idiotic, indecisive...anyway, all the dirty things. The water was poured on the frail old man.
Anyway, the Earl of Derby is not very popular. His bad temper has offended many people throughout his life, and now there are quite a few people who are adding insult to injury.
The Earl of Derby was of course very angry. The Chinese and Prussians joined forces to play tricks on Britain, which made him feel very humiliated. In fact, it doesn't matter whether the warship is a warship or not. With Britain's industrial strength and shipbuilding level, as long as you can have a general understanding of the warship's intelligence or a hand-drawn drawing, you can imitate a warship with better performance.
The empire's heritage will never be defeated by a single warship! But this kind of humiliation is completely unacceptable to the British who already rule the world.
This top-secret information has not yet been made public. Newspapers have only published fragments of the Iquique naval battle sporadically. The public does not know that the ghost ship that bombarded Dakar has reappeared in South America.
However, intelligence cannot be hidden from the big shots. The powerful factions in the upper and lower chambers have been gearing up for a long time. Not only do they want to teach Prussia and the Chinese a lesson, but more importantly, they want to teach the Earl of Derby a lesson.
This annoying old man should be content with having served as prime minister for three terms. Now that gout is so serious, does he still want to occupy the prime minister's seat? He had to step aside and let Benjamin go.
During this period, the Earl of Derby was under pressure both internally and externally to be conservative. Even the Queen sent someone to express condolences to his health. Derby knew that the Queen was talking about her gout on the surface, but in fact the subtext was very clear: "Are you okay?" Can you withstand it? If you can't do it, just say so. After working together for half your life, the royal family has to give you a step down and let you abdicate with honor! You can't really be impeached and thrown out of office...'
Derby smiled bitterly and shook his head. Everyone said that Britain is hypocritical, but this sentence cannot be applied to Queen Victoria. This old lady's reputation is too high. Who dares to say that she is not good at all? The entire British people That life can be torn apart.
Just when Derby was having a headache, an unexpected visitor suddenly came. "The Prime Minister... Mr. Benjamin, the Cabinet Secretary of Finance, came to visit unexpectedly!"
Derby was stunned for a moment, and then he realized clearly that the two attacks in South America that resulted in the tragic deaths of British citizens had made Benjamin lose his patience, and he decided to have a decisive battle for the last time.
"Benjamin, please come in... take out the bottle of whiskey I treasure, and send some ice cubes along the way!"
Benjamin Disraeli. A skinny little old man, with a goatee, a neat top hat, two very refreshing thick eyebrows, and sharp eyes.
To say that he is an old man is of course to compare with the young waiter. In front of Derby, he is still a junior who must take the initiative to bow.
"Haha, Benjamin! It's a coincidence that you came here. I happened to open a bottle of old whiskey to have a taste..."
Benjamin smiled and handed his hat to the waiter behind him, took the wine sent by Prime Minister Derby and said with a smile, "How is your gout, Prime Minister? You should drink less wine..."
"Hahaha... I have reached the age where there are no taboos. What's the difference between drinking less and drinking more? I have decided to submit my resignation next year. My body really can't bear it!"
Benjamin did not expect that Prime Minister Derby, an old man with a bad temper, would take the initiative to say such words. He was stunned and quickly put the wine glass on the table and spoke seriously.
"Prime Minister, you have misunderstood me! I know that there are indeed many voices in the upper and lower houses of Congress who hope that I will replace you, and I do not hide my coveting of the position of Prime Minister... However, the basis of everything is to not damage the empire on which the sun never sets. You can only fight for it based on interests! This is my bottom line..."
"Today I am not here to put pressure on you, but to give you advice... As a politician of the empire, I am pleading with you!"
Benjamin suddenly stood up and bowed to Prime Minister Derby and said, "Please Prime Minister order a war! The Ryukyu in the East must be wiped out, and the arrogant Xiao Letian must die!"
"Death?" Debi didn't expect Benjamin to say such a thing. He was silent for a moment and suddenly asked, "Benjamin... you are an old politician, why would you make such a request? This is not something you can say. ah?"
"Going to war with Ryukyu? What excuse do we use? Does Xiao Letian have any leverage in our hands? If we start a war rashly, how can we explain it to Europe?"
"What's more, the conflict between Xiao Letian and the Russians has become more and more intense. Even the fools of the Far East Volunteer Army know that Xiao Letian is responsible for it... What is the enemy of the enemy? Someone is helping us to restrain the Russians, but you have to ask him Start a war?”
"Not only that, you know the relationship between Xiao Letian and Prussia very well. How do you explain Prussia's declaration of war on Xiao Letian? Besides, don't you agree with this strategy of helping Prussia teach France a lesson?"
"We are the leader in the world, and now France is closely followed by the second place. Let the third, fourth and even fifth place fight back and forth, and let the second place keep rotating. This is not very Is it a good thing? Will you, Benjamin, not be able to see through it?"
"If you don't give me a good explanation, then I will doubt your ability to lead this country!"
