10 Downing Street, London, UK.
Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, who has been the owner of this increasingly dilapidated Prime Minister's Palace since 1812, is sitting in his narrow, dark, and somewhat messy office at this time, as usual, flipping through reading a briefing sent by Sir Harker, his cabinet secretary.
As usual, Sir Harker always puts the good news at the top of the briefing, so that the Prime Minister can have a positive attitude when facing the bad news later.
Today's good news mainly comes from Petersburg. The idiot Nicholas I finally couldn't resist the temptation. After the British King George IV verbally agreed to the marriage contract between Grand Duke Alexander and Princess Alexandra Victoria, he agreed to sign a contract with the United Kingdom and France. The Entente jointly intervened in the Greek War of Independence. With the participation of Rakshasa, the British banking industry's investment in the Greek War of Independence will finally not be lost. Moreover, the defeated Turkish Empire will completely crawl at the feet of the British Empire and seek asylum... If the Turks do not do this, the ambitious Nicholas I will sooner or later be severely injured and isolated after the defeat. The Turks were completely torn to pieces!
Turkey's surrender means that the Suez Canal and the oil fields in Wallachia can be completely controlled by the British Empire!
With the oil from Wallachia, the British Royal Navy will have more powerful power, and controlling the Suez Canal means that the British Empire controls the throat of Eurasian trade, and also has the ability to quickly move fleets from the mainland or the Mediterranean. The ability to mobilize bases along the coast to the Indian Ocean.
Finally, the success and prestige of Rakshasa in supporting the Greek War of Independence would frighten Austria and Prussia... This would be conducive to Britain drawing them to its side to form a coalition of Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria. , Turkey Five-Nation Alliance.
With the alliance of these five countries, the British Empire can not only suppress the Rakshasa in the direction of Europe and the Middle East, but also possibly contain the powerful Ming Dynasty in the direction of the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific...
The bad news that made Prime Minister Jenkinson very worried, of course, came from Ming Dynasty!
The British Embassy in Ming Dynasty sent a telegram today, once again reporting on the progress of the Ming Dynasty Navy's "One Thousand Ship Plan"!
Not long ago, the Ming Dynasty Council approved the "Dockyard Subsidy Plan" proposed by the Ming Dynasty, and planned to provide high subsidies to encourage domestic shipyards to build no more than one hundred 20,000-ton shipyards... ...This is real money, which shows that the Ming Empire is determined to provoke a shipbuilding competition for ironclads!
This is a challenge to the world's maritime hegemony that the British Empire has controlled for nearly two hundred years!
Although the Ming Dynasty's revival and miraculous rise became the world's leading industrialized country, Britain's maritime hegemony became very unstable. However, the wise politicians of the British Empire still found a way to stabilize the behemoth of the Ming Dynasty in an era when sail battleships and motor battleships dominated the world. That was to use the European market and American gold and silver to win over the Ming Dynasty, which had huge industrial production capacity. Ming capital could profit from maritime trade under British rule.
Over the past 100 years, most of the gold and silver produced in the New World flowed into the Ming Dynasty, making the Ming Dynasty the country with the most gold and silver in the world!
Of course, the UK does not suffer in this process either. Because on the one hand, Britain can accelerate its own industrialization process by absorbing the industrial technology of the Ming Dynasty (the most advanced ones cannot be absorbed, but there are still sub-advanced ones. Even if the Ming Dynasty does not transfer technology, won’t the British copy it?); on the other hand, the British There is also the private territory of India...
But as the steam ironclads completely eliminated the sail battleships and the sail battleships, the rules of the game on the sea have fundamentally changed!
In the era of sail battleships, because Ming merchants were accustomed to using hard sailing ships, Ming's shipyards had always had trouble with warships using soft sails. The Ming Navy had no place to recruit sailors who could skillfully use soft sailing ships. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's navy has been in a position to catch up with the West during the Age of Sail, and has never been able to catch up.
But in the era of steam ironclads, the situation was completely different!
The Ming Dynasty's machinery and metallurgical industries are leading the world, and building steam ironclads is just the right match!
Therefore, Lord Nelson, the "God of War" of the British Navy who was based in India, sent a message of more than 10,000 words from India when the Ming Dynasty Admiralty proposed the "Thousand Ship Plan", warning the British government that the British Empire would Sea power is encountering unprecedented challenges... The advantages established in the past based on sail and machine-rigged ships have disappeared with the emergence of steam ironclads.
Therefore, Lord Admiral Nelson strongly suggested that the British Empire come up with a corresponding shipbuilding plan as soon as possible - the Ming Dynasty had a "Thousand Ship Plan", so why did Great Britain have to have an "Eleven Hundred Ship Plan"?
But the problem is, the British Empire cannot afford to keep up!
Not to mention 1,100 ships, even if a thousand ships were built at a 20% discount to build 800 ships, it would not be enough for the British Empire to spend the last copper in its pocket.
But if you don’t follow...then when Ming Dynasty completes the "Thousand Ships Plan", the maritime hegemony of the British Empire will be gone!
Of course, between "not following" and "following", Prime Minister Jenkinson has a third option, which is to immediately assume a war posture and threaten Ming Dynasty with force to force Ming Dynasty to abandon their "Thousand Ship Plan".
But the question is... once Ming Dynasty refuses to give up, can the British Empire defeat Ming Dynasty now?
Thinking of this, Prime Minister Jenkinson, who once led the British Empire to fight against Emperor Napoleon, fell into deep anxiety.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door of the Prime Minister's office, and Sir Huck's voice came from outside the door: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, it's me."
"Oh?" The Prime Minister put down the briefing in his hand, "Huck? Come in."
Then I saw the door of the office being pushed open, and a very upright-looking gentleman with black-rimmed eyes and a gentle manner walked in, "Your Excellency, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are asking for an audience... It seems that Something strange happened."
"Something strange?" The Prime Minister scratched his bald forehead, "Okay, invite them in."
"Yes, Prime Minister." Baron Harker nodded, then turned and left the Prime Minister's Office. Not long after, he led a pale bald man and a dignified-looking fat man in.
The Prime Minister glanced at the bald man and asked with concern, "George, how are you? Do you want me to give you some Yapian tincture?"
This man, whom the Prime Minister calls George, is the biggest thorn in the side and drug addict in Jenkinson’s cabinet, Foreign Secretary George Canning...his favorite yupian tincture! It is said that because I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, I have been taking medicine for a long time to relieve the pain, and I have become addicted.
I don’t know if it’s because he often gets high, but as the Foreign Secretary, he will cause trouble from time to time, which gives Prime Minister Jenkinson a great headache. For example, when the Spanish colonies in the Americas became independent one after another, he, the foreign minister of the British colonial empire, did not support Spain, but colluded with US President Monroe to support the independence rebels!
As a result, European powers such as France, Austria, Prussia, and the Rakshasa Kingdom were dissatisfied with Britain.
The ongoing Greek War of Independence was almost caused by this George Canning... When the Greeks first started to make trouble, Metternich of Austria supported Turkey's suppression, and Alexander I was hesitant. As a result, George. Canning suddenly declared recognition of Greek independence without informing European powers such as Austria and Rakshasa, and also facilitated British banking loans to the Greeks.
Although George Canning liked to mess around, he had great influence in the Tory party, so Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, had to regard him as the second-ranking figure in the government.
"Okay, let's refresh ourselves." As he spoke, George Canning sat down on a chair opposite the Prime Minister's desk.
The Finance Minister Robinson, who came with George Canning, sat down and handed a copy of the telegram to the Prime Minister, the Earl of Liverpool. Then he took the small glass of pornography handed by Huck, drank it in one gulp, and then He said excitedly, "Count, someone is threatening to attack India!"
