"What? Someone wants to attack India?" Prime Minister Jenkinson looked at the foreign minister who seemed to be in high spirits with a look of surprise. After a pause, he asked: "It can't be the Ming Dynasty, right?"
"Of course not," George Canning laughed. "Before the 'Thousand Ship Plan' is completed, the Ming Empire will not even touch Malacca and the East Indies. If they don't control Malacca, how can they attack India?"
"Not Daming? Who is that?" Jenkinson was stunned.
"It's Daikin," Finance Minister Robinson, who is also chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, interjected. "Prime Minister, the Indian Affairs Committee has received a telegram from the East India Company. The telegram said that Qishan, the Consul General of Daikin in Calcutta, submitted a note to the Governor's Palace. The note said that because the East India Company smuggled Ya pieces to Bukhara and Samarkand, which caused great harm to the local people, it requested a ban on the Ya pieces trade and compensation, otherwise Daikin would send troops."
"Girl?" Jenkinson glanced at the already energetic George Canning and said, "Then let the East India Company exercise some restraint. Anyway, places like Bukhara and Samarkand don't have much oil."
"Prime Minister, this is not a question of oil and water," Finance Minister Robinson said with a frown, "but a question of the majesty of the British Empire and the international free trade system led by the empire..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted impatiently by the Prime Minister, "Frederick, this is not the House of Commons, so there is no need to say these high-sounding words."
"Yes, Prime Minister." said Finance Minister Robinson. "Emperor Daoguang of the Great Jin Kingdom wants to claim 21 million silver dollars...equivalent to five million pounds!"
"What? Is he crazy because of his poverty?" Prime Minister Jenkinson even suspected that he heard wrongly. "Frederick, is it possible that he made a mistake?"
"Prime Minister, the committee has repeatedly confirmed it!" Robinson said, "The committee believes that Emperor Daoguang is either crazy about cultivating immortals...or he is deliberately provoking!"
"Deliberately provoking?" Prime Minister Jenkinson felt incredulous. "Why? How dare he provoke the British Empire?"
George Canning shrugged and said: "He may be crazy, but he may also be...instigated by someone else!"
Not to mention, although this George Canning will act randomly when he gets high, he is still very smart, otherwise he would not become a big boss in the Tory Party!
"George, what do you mean..." Jenkinson frowned, obviously already knowing what George Canning meant.
"Prime Minister," George Canning said, "This is the Ming Empire testing our reality! If we cannot defeat opponents like Dai Jin, then the Ming Dynasty will resolutely implement their 'Thousand Ships Plan'... .Even if we resolutely follow up, they will come up with a larger-scale shipbuilding plan. And our population and industrial strength are simply not comparable to that of Ming Dynasty. Once we start a shipbuilding competition with Ming Dynasty, we will definitely lose everything in the end! And when Ming Dynasty When their naval strength far exceeds ours, that’s when they launch an attack on us!”
Finance Minister Robinson also said: "Prime Minister, I agree with George! Ming's 'Thousand Ship Plan' and Dai Jin's provocation appeared at the same time... This cannot be a coincidence!"
Prime Minister Jenkinson nodded and agreed with the views of George Canning and Robinson. He frowned deeply and said: "This is indeed not a coincidence, but another major event that our British Empire has encountered on its journey to eternal glory. Challenge...The Ming Empire is another Napoleonic Empire!
Moreover, the Ming Empire was a greater threat than the Napoleonic Empire. It had a larger population, more advanced technology, and greater industrial strength. After all, Napoleon only owned breech-loading rifles and breech-loading artillery, while Ming Dynasty now owned the Hongwu Emperor-class ironclad! "
George Canning took over the topic with great energy at this time, "But in the end, the one who wins this struggle must be our British Empire! Because compared to Emperor Napoleon's empire, the Ming Empire has an insurmountable weakness... ..The Ming Dynasty does not belong to Western civilization, so we will be able to lead the entire Western civilization to fight against the Eastern civilization of the Ming Dynasty. This is not a struggle between more than 20 million people versus 360 million people, but a struggle that includes Americans, Indians, The Turks, Arabs, all Spanish-speaking people, and even the Rakshasa people, with a population of more than 500 million, are fighting against the Ming Dynasty’s 360 million people. Even if we compare industrial strength, our side is not as strong as the Ming Dynasty. On par!
Although Ming Dynasty is powerful, it has no powerful allies that it can truly rely on. Dajin may be used by the Ming Dynasty, but this country has a feud with the Ming Dynasty, and it is also a buffer between the Ming Dynasty and the Rakshasa. If she really turns to Da Ming completely, then Rakshasa may attack Da Jin, and then Da Ming will have to protect Da Jin. This will not harm us. "
Jenkinson couldn't help but frown when he heard George Canning mention Rakshasa... Although Nicholas I of Rakshasa was falling into a trap carefully laid by the British Empire, this country was too big after all, and its population There are too many and it’s hard to control!
George Canning was still analyzing excitedly at this time: "In addition, there is a very powerful time bomb around Ming Dynasty... That is Japan, which has a population of nearly 30 million and some heavy industries. Country! Anyone who has been to Japan knows that it is a very miserable country, and Japan’s misfortune all originated from the Ming Dynasty!
Although the Ming Dynasty did not annex Japan or even split it, it still caused great harm to Japan. Because the Ming Dynasty's various industries and finance were too powerful and controlled the entire East Asia except Japan, it completely stifled Japan's normal development... Although Japan is doing its best to develop industry, Still overwhelmed by Daming.
In order to obtain huge profits, those Japanese chaebols who were eager for money even treated their own girls as commodities and continuously sold them to the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang. At the same time, they put the Ming Dynasty products in Japanese-made packaging and shipped them back to the country for sale. This made Japan's middle and lower-level samurai feel huge humiliation... Therefore, the Japanese samurai class generally hated the Ming Dynasty and the profiteers who colluded with the Ming Dynasty. As long as we can give the necessary support, they will definitely set off a riot, overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, which is very weak towards the Ming Dynasty, confiscate the properties of all profiteers who have taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty, and then turn the entire country into a barracks against the Ming Empire! "
George Canning is right, Japan is really a country that can explode at any time.
The competitiveness of Made in China has always been extremely strong! Historically, gold, silver, and copper have been flowing out of Japan all year round. Since the beginning of Sino-Japanese trade, Japan has probably been running a deficit until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
And the Ming Dynasty in this timeline was the first to industrialize! Moreover, it also captured more than 10 million square kilometers of mainland, and also occupied Siam, Burma, Annam, Chenla, and Nanzhang. Daming’s capital also controlled the industries of Malacca and the Dutch East Indies - which was actually The white people are responsible for suppressing the indigenous people, and Ming Capital is responsible for exploiting the indigenous people. Then the white people and Ming Capital happily share the money... In short, Ming's industry has the advantages of scale, technology, cheap raw materials, and a huge In the domestic and export markets, Japanese products simply cannot compete with them. Even if the Tokugawa shogunate instituted tariff protection, it could not stop the continuous flow of smuggled goods.
And the only "commodity" produced in Japan that is extremely competitive in the Ming Dynasty is a bit sinful... so it is not surprising that Japan has been turned into a powder keg.
Since it was a powder keg ready to explode at any time, how could the British Empire not light the fire?
Jenkinson already had an idea. He said to Chancellor Robinson, who was also the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee: "Frederick, I think the East India Company must give the heaviest blow to Emperor Daoguang...if he really dares to invade. of India!"
"Yes, Prime Minister!"
"George," Jenkinson said to the Foreign Secretary again, "I need a plan to support the patriotic Japanese warriors!"
"Yes, Prime Minister!"
