"Will we lose industrialization?" Princess Victoria looked at her most respected political teacher with some confusion, "Viscount, after we lose 30%, won't we still have 70%?"
Viscount Melbourne shook his head and said: "No, after we lose 30% of India, we will lose our scale and cost advantages...and the 30% sold to India is still the most profitable and has the least competitive pressure. 30%. If we lose this 30%, our industry is likely to eventually lose all profits due to rising costs and declining gross profit margins. The industrial products produced by the German Customs Union, the United States, and France will suffer lower costs due to , the market is larger, thereby gaining greater advantages. Sooner or later, their products will squeeze out our markets in the United States and continental Europe little by little, and finally completely squeeze out our products.
By then, our industry will only be able to serve the more than 20 million people in the mainland and the millions of people in Canada..."
Although Britain is the first industrialized country in the West, it is an island country with a narrow territory and a limited population. The resources, markets, capital, and even talents for her industrialization development all come from overseas. In addition to having the geographical advantage of being far away from the chaos of the European continent, other aspects seem to be disadvantages... If it were not for the huge and rich colonial market of India, Britain's local industry would be competing with Germany, France, In the competition between continental industrialized countries such as the United States, which has a much larger territory than the United Kingdom, it is almost impossible to win.
You must know that the population of the UK today is only more than 20 million, while India has a population of as many as 200 million!
Although 200 million Indians do not have much purchasing power due to cruel exploitation by the British. But India’s middle and upper classes are still rich! They were very willing to pay for British industrial products of low quality and high prices. Moreover, British industrial products almost monopolize the Indian industrial products market... In India, British industrial products have no competitors, that is, they are just making money! Even in the UK, things are not that good.
Come and try it quickly. 】
"Your Royal Highness," the Duke of Wellington added, "in addition to the export of industrial products and the purchase of raw materials, we can also extract tens of millions of pounds of wealth from India every year... Just between 1757 and 1815, We have obtained as much as 1 billion pounds of wealth from India. Before the outbreak of the war, the East India Company and the Indian Imperial Government received a net income of 44 million pounds a year from India, of which 16 million pounds were remitted in the form of taxes and interest. Back in our country, it accounted for 16% of our country’s fiscal revenue before the war!”
The benefits of British rule in India were really huge! Even after the Indian Empire nominally separated from Britain, she still had to pay 16 million pounds to London every year in the name of repaying the interest on the loan - this so-called loan was the debt formed by the Indian Imperial Government's "acquisition" of the East India Company's assets. . The book value is several hundred million pounds, and the annual interest payment alone costs 16 million pounds!
In addition, the Indian Empire has issued bonds worth 1 billion pounds in London, Paris, and Frankfurt in recent years to support the British Empire in the war with the Ming Dynasty... Even before the British Empire officially declared war on the Ming Dynasty, the Indian Empire relied on Most of the anti-Ming military expenses were raised by levying high taxes in India, apportioning war bonds and issuing bonds in Europe.
It can be said that Indian Asan has dedicated everything to the prosperity of the British Empire for more than a hundred years!
How could Father Ying be willing to let go of such a filial godson?
As for the serious consequences of losing India, you can imagine it with your heels... Britain will embark on the road of gradual de-industrialization and never look back. Although the UK can still rely on the special terrain of the British Isles to take advantage of the unrest in Europe to absorb capital and avoid risks, it wants to rely on a market of more than 20 million people to compete with large-scale rivals such as the German Customs Union, France, and the United States. That has no chance of winning at all.
And without industrialization... Britain's national power will further decline. I don't know whether Europe can continue to be a troublemaker!
"Your Royal Highness," Viscount Melbourne said in a very worried tone, "the consequences of losing India will be very painful, and the consequences of losing industrialization will be extremely fatal... If we lose 80% of industrialization, then It will mean that 80% of the population in London will lose their source of income! In a city of 200 people, 1.6 million people will have no food, no clothing, and no house to live in... This means that the Great Revolution that happened in Paris It will also sweep London and even the entire UK!”
"Oh, God!" Princess Victoria suddenly became "fat and discolored", and her baby-fat face was full of fear.
"We can't hand over India!" screamed Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kensington. "Britain must not be like France... and the king has no power to do that!"
Duke Wellington and Viscount Melbourne glanced at each other. Duke Wellington said: "Madam, whether the king has the right to do this depends on whether anyone is willing to stand up and stop him!"
"Stop?" Princess Victoria was startled by the suggestion, "But he is the king! Who can stop the king?"
The Duke of Wellington said: "In fact, in 1640 and 1688, someone stopped the king from trying to do something wrong!"
"Oh God!" Princess Victoria looked at the Duke of Wellington, "Duke, you don't want to be Cromwell, do you?"
"Your Royal Highness," said the Duke of Wellington, "I am loyal to the Crown...but my loyalty is to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom, not to the Emperor of India!"
Princess Victoria was still trembling, looking at the Duke of Wellington like a frightened chubby little animal, "Duke...the king is also the emperor of India!"
"No," Viscount Melbourne reminded at this time, "it was actually the Emperor of India who also served as the King of the United Kingdom! Emperor William first became the Emperor of India, and then became the King of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Hanover. And after becoming the king, he Edicts are still issued in the name of Emperor William rather than King William IV! This is like Nicholas I usually only calling himself Emperor Rakshasa or Tsar Rakshasa, and rarely calling himself King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania or Grand Duke of Finland. People Everyone only knows that Napoleon is the emperor of the French Empire, but few people will remember that he is the king of Italy. So legally speaking, Emperor William is the emperor of India first, and then the king of the United Kingdom and the king of Hanover! And most of them This is how the English view Emperor William now!”
The words of Viscount Melbourne did not unjustly accuse Emperor William... Emperor William indeed preferred to be the Emperor of India. If he was asked to choose between the two crowns of the Indian Emperor and the British King, he would definitely would choose the Indian Emperor.
And the Indian emperor can be passed down...to Emperor William's own heirs!
The king of the United Kingdom can only be passed down to Princess Victoria in the future!
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that Emperor William wanted to keep India and gave up the idea of a United Kingdom.
"But, but... Is this, is this legal?" Although Princess Victoria is only 15 years old, she grew up in an imperial family and received British imperial education since she was a child. Of course she knows what it means to seek to usurp the throne!
However, the rules of the game for British usurpation are different from those of Chinese usurpation. Only by following the law can the usurpation be justified!
