10 Downing Street, London, UK.
It was a beautiful afternoon. British Prime Minister Lord Jenkinson of Liverpool had just met with Grand Duke Michael of Rakshasa Kingdom who was visiting the UK.
The Grand Duke accompanied Grand Duke Alexander, the Rakshasa Crown Prince, to London to meet Princess Victoria - the young couple were so in love that they ran around Kensington Palace hand in hand. Obviously, Princess Victoria was very satisfied with her fiancé, because after she was tired from running, she gave Grand Duke Alexander her doll to play with, and then the two of them even led Her Royal Highness the Princess' Cavalier King Charles Spaniel at Kensington Palace Stroll on the lawn.
What satisfied the Earl of Liverpool even more was that when he deliberately mentioned the marriage between Grand Duchess Natalie and Zhuge Weidao, Archduke Mikhail showed an expression of disgust and dissatisfaction, and quickly started talking about it. This topic was a bit embarrassing for the Tsarist family.
Obviously, the tsarist family was extremely dissatisfied with this almost scandalous marriage!
It seems that the friendship between the two families, which has been established since the days of Marquis Zhuge Youde and Catherine the Great, is likely to end because of this marriage.
In addition, the Earl of Liverpool also tested the Rakshasa's views on the ongoing war in Afghanistan.
Grand Duke Mikhail only expressed his hope to mediate the conflict between Great Britain and Dajin, and at the same time hoped that the British Empire could respect the territorial integrity of Dajin - only territorial integrity, no sovereignty integrity!
In other words, the Rakshasa Kingdom can accept the loss of part of the sovereignty of the Great Jin Kingdom...
In addition, Mikhail did not say that Britain would not be allowed to invade the territory of Dajin.
This meant that Great Britain could use an invasion to force Daikin to accept a treaty that would cost them a lot of sovereignty.
After returning to No. 10 Downing Street, the Earl of Liverpool began to think about the unequal treaty.
First of all, Daikin has to pay compensation!
Pay a large sum of money until you vomit blood!
Secondly, Dajin must hand over part of its customs to officials appointed by the British Empire to manage it, and set a fair and reasonable tax rate. As for the tax rate, it cannot be decided unilaterally by Dajin. It must be negotiated between Britain and Jin. This is called unilateral agreement on tariffs!
The third is unilateral most-favored-nation treatment - that is to say, Great Britain must enjoy all the preferential treatment that Daikin gives to Rakshasa and Daming, and Great Britain does not have to give any preferential treatment to Daikin.
The fourth is unilateral extraterritoriality - that is, if people from the British Empire commit crimes on the land of Dajin, they cannot be handled by the Dajin Kingdom themselves, but must be handled by the British consul. If the crime involves personnel or interests of Daikin, it will be heard through consultation between officials from both parties.
The fifth is freedom to preach...
Just as the Earl of Liverpool thought of this, there was a sudden knock on the door of his office, and then the voice of Sir Harker, his cabinet secretary: "Mr. Prime Minister, urgent call from Calcutta!"
Sir Harker's voice sounded very anxious, and the Earl of Liverpool's heart twitched, and an ominous premonition came to his mind.
"Come in," said the Prime Minister.
The door of the office was pushed open, and then Sir Harker was seen hurriedly walking in. His big white face, which usually remained calm no matter how big things happened, was now full of panic.
The Earl of Liverpool was also a little panicked. The last time Sir Harker was so panicked was because Napoleon escaped from Elba Island!
"Sir Harker, what happened?" asked the Prime Minister.
"Earl," Sir Harker said as he handed a telegraph newspaper to the Earl of Liverpool, "something big has happened. Peshawar has been captured by the army of the Kingdom of Jin!"
"What?" Earl of Liverpool couldn't believe his ears, "How is this possible? Aren't the Salang Pass, Kabul, and Khyber Pass all in our hands? How could they capture Peshawar? Did they fly there? "
Sir Harker nodded in admiration, "Earl, you are so wise. In fact, they suddenly parachuted into Peshawar in a large airship! According to the report of the British officer who escaped from Peshawar, the soldiers of the Great Jin Empire took more than a dozen A large airship flew to Peshawar yesterday afternoon local time, and then parachuted directly to Peshawar Castle, catching our people off guard..."
"What? Airship? But where did they get the airship?" the British Prime Minister asked in surprise.
"This airship is probably... from the Ming Dynasty!" Sir Harker replied, "Of course, this is just a conjecture without any conclusive evidence."
"Damn it!" the Earl of Liverpool's face turned livid, "Huck, go call and convene a cabinet meeting!"
"Earl," Sir Harker did not move, but said to the Earl of Liverpool with a sincere face, "I suggest that you have a good talk with the Duke of Wellington and Mr. George Canning, the Foreign Secretary, and then convene the cabinet. Meeting... This is especially important for this government!”
The Earl of Liverpool immediately understood what Sir Harker meant - he wanted him to ask the Duke of Wellington to go to India as governor-general!
This is not only because the Duke of Wellington is a talented strategist, but also because the Earl of Liverpool must convince people that this government can handle the crisis in India well. Otherwise, the Liverpool Cabinet, which has existed for fourteen years, will surely collapse before the situation in India improves or worsens further!
"Okay," the Earl of Liverpool nodded, "quickly call the Duke of Wellington and George Canning."
"Yes, Prime Minister!"
...
"What? Prime Minister, you want me to go to India and become the Governor-General?"
Before the Duke of Wellington had finished reading the telegram from the Governor-General of India, he heard a very embarrassing suggestion.
Let him be the Governor-General of India. Although the Governor-General of India is a fertile vacancy, a person of the Duke of Wellington's status can no longer look down on the small amount of money. What he wants is the Prime Minister's throne under the Earl of Liverpool... He has been sitting there for so many years, it's time for a replacement, right?
But India is indeed a big trouble!
If India is in ruins when he is prime minister, his reputation will be ruined, and he will not be able to continue to be prime minister.
Therefore, it is the best choice to win in India first and then return to England to become Prime Minister. But the question is...can it win?
The Earl of Liverpool seemed to understand the Duke of Wellington's thoughts, and immediately said to the Duke: "Duke, the situation in India is extremely critical now. The Cotton Expeditionary Force trapped in Afghanistan is likely to be attacked by the Jin and Afghans next spring. Joint attack!
What is even more dangerous is that some careerists among the princely states across India and the mercenaries of the East India Company are likely to take advantage of this crisis to attack us... If there is turmoil in India, the Ming Empire will definitely take more adventurous and Radical policy. In fact, the invasion of Afghanistan by the Jin Empire was carried out under the promotion of the Ming Empire. And the airship on which the Jin soldiers parachuted into Peshawar must have come from the Ming Dynasty!
If we cannot stabilize the situation in India quickly, then everything will be over. "
British Foreign Secretary George Canning, who was sitting next to the Duke of Wellington, took a sip of Yapian tincture to relieve the anxiety in his heart, and then said: "Duke, India is the most important colony of the empire. If India falls into chaos, , if the Ming Empire takes the opportunity to launch an attack again, then our hard-won empire will fall apart in a very short period of time! I think you don’t want to see the greatness of this country end in the hands of our generation, right?”
Of course, Wellington would not be driven to the dangerous place of India by George Canning's drugged words of encouragement - what he needed was the assurance of victory!
Because only by winning could he have the leverage to bargain with the Tories and Whigs, or directly ask the King of England to appoint him as wartime prime minister.
So he said nothing and just looked at the Prime Minister.
The Earl of Liverpool said: "Duke, what do you need? Just ask."
The Duke of Wellington said: "I need British troops, real British troops, not Indians with no fighting spirit, at least one hundred thousand!"
"One hundred thousand?" George Canning exclaimed, "Isn't this too much?"
The Earl of Liverpool said: "Okay! I will give you 100,000 British troops!"
Duke Wellington said again: "Well, when these 100,000 expeditionary troops are gathered together, I will take them to India!"
