Grenville hesitated for a long time before making a decision directly.
Grenville responded directly to Will Wang and Libot that the tests they planned could be implemented.
That is to say, the remaining Tianzhu people in the British stronghold were driven into the interior of southern Tianzhu, which had become a wilderness.
If the people of Tianzhu can live on this continent that has been ravaged by the plague for a long time, it means that the plague has completely subsided.
If they are all dead, it means the plague is still going on...
Then Grenville began calling incessantly.
Call your family, your closest relatives, your more important friends, and members of the same faction who have to keep in touch.
You can only make this call yourself, you cannot arrange for subordinates to handle it, because this matter is very personal.
Grenville would like to remind them that if they have bought land, real estate, or manor in Tianzhu, please make sure that the property rights are clear.
If you are interested in purchasing but have not yet made a move, complete the transaction as soon as possible.
Now that Nan Tianzhu's asset prices have reached their lowest point, Nan Tianzhu is also likely to leave the United Kingdom soon.
If a family is planning to arrange for members to stay in Tianzhu, they should start the journey as soon as possible, otherwise they may not be able to catch up.
Now, the social order of the entire southern Tianzhu has completely collapsed, and most of the areas have turned into wastelands.
There may still be some remnants of the population in the local interior, but they have become absolute "residuals" and cannot form settlements at all.
Most of the ordinary British immigrants in the area also left and were moved to Southwest Mozhou.
At present, local land, manor, and real estate are unable to generate any income.
But in this extreme situation, some British people are secretly acquiring various fixed assets in the southern Tianzhu area.
Among these people, in addition to a small number of clever private businessmen, there are more well-informed senior civil servants, as well as a small number of equally well-informed nobles.
They all got the news more or less and knew that the United Kingdom would hand over South Tianzhu to the Ming Dynasty sooner or later.
According to past experience, after Ming Dynasty received land from other countries, it would not recognize the noble status of local people.
At the same time, local people will not be allowed to retain all their original wealth.
However, so far, most of the areas taken over by the Ming Dynasty will allow those who are willing to stay to retain some properties.
The most typical reference object is Dongyi Kingdom.
The key is that when the Ming Dynasty accepted Long Island and the Chesapeake Peninsula, which was later the Dongyi Kingdom, all the people who were in the Dongyi Kingdom at that time were granted status and registration as citizens of the Dongyi Kingdom or above. Registered.
Therefore, these well-informed civil servants bought more or less land, real estate, manors, forests, etc. when land prices in Tianzhu dropped to freezing point...
There are also many families who are preparing to arrange for a family member to go to Tianzhu and wait for Daming to receive them to deal with and contact them.
Their intention is already obvious, which is to use this handover opportunity to obtain household registration status within the Ming Dynasty system.
With status within the Ming Dynasty system and local land in Tianzhu, there is a basis for formal immigration to Tianzhu.
Tianzhu was far closer to the mainland of China than Dongyi, and had a higher status in the Ming Dynasty system.
The behavior of these businessmen, civil servants, and nobles is a typical behavior of using information gaps to invest or speculate.
The cost can be said to be very low, and now the value of Nan Tianzhu's asset certificate is almost useless paper.
The risk of investment is not high. After all, Ming Dynasty is a civilized country, and past operations are traceable.
But the final returns can be very high.
After the Ming Dynasty obtained Southern Tianzhu, it would definitely immigrate to Southern Tianzhu and redevelop the land in Southern Tianzhu.
The assets that these businessmen, nobles, and civil servants have acquired for almost nothing will be promoted with the redevelopment of South Tianzhu.
Although there is a high probability that they will be compressed according to certain standards, according to the asset standards that can be preserved in the past, they can still become the middle class.
There is also the more critical identity and household registration within the Ming Dynasty system.
Grenville made phone calls for most of the day and did not deal with any government affairs the whole day.
In the early morning of the next day, before dawn, Grenville was still sleeping in bed when he was called by the servant of the family.
Then Grenville received a message from Ming Dynasty.
The official news of the Ming Dynasty signing a cooperation agreement with Lucia, Prussia, and France to connect continental railways, build a free trade zone, and the Royal United Trading Company, as well as an invitation from the Ming Dynasty to the United Kingdom to join the cooperation agreement.
It was classified as important information by British intelligence personnel, so Grenville was called out overnight.
Grenville climbed up with his tired and sleepy body, took the document and took a look at it, and then he became serious:
"It turns out that Ming Dynasty is pulling these countries to do this..."
Then Grenville soon relaxed again:
“Since the United Kingdom has also been officially invited, it means that the United Kingdom was not deliberately left out.
“The railway cannot cross the English Channel directly, so the UK cannot become the main contracting partner country.
"This explanation is completely reasonable. My worries before were all in vain...
"It's just...the problem is..."
After Grenville read the briefing, considering the impact of the briefing and the feasibility of Britain joining this kind of cooperation, he couldn't help but start to worry again.
From my own perspective, from the perspective of British private businessmen, and considering the interests of British local capital, I would of course not join this kind of cooperation.
Because this is another time when Ming Dynasty is forcing itself to deepen its ties with the countries in Europe and the West.
Ming's capital will invade the British market more deeply, which will harm the interests of local British businessmen.
The Ming royal family will establish a joint venture with the British royal family, which will strengthen the power of the royal family.
The key is that from the standpoint of the British Prime Minister, he cannot completely refuse to join this cooperation agreement.
If all other mainland countries join and only the UK does not join, then the UK will be completely marginalized.
Especially now that Prussia and France have become the main contracting partner countries.
Grenville adapted to life as prime minister, but his personality changed little.
Thinking of this conflict and trouble on the forehead, I suddenly had the urge to give up.
I wish I could just run to Tianzhu...
When he encountered difficulties and fell asleep, Grenville put down the message files, returned to bed and fell asleep again.
After dawn, Grenville got up again, ate breakfast with a sad face, and went to the cabinet meeting.
The Prince of Wales, Regent of the United Kingdom, and his daughter Princess Charlotte also attended the cabinet.
Two years ago, Charlotte left the United States directly because the British court was opposed to cooperation with the Ming Dynasty.
Later, after the cooperation between Britain and Ming Dynasty in the design and construction of warships and many industries officially began, Charlotte came back.
And from that time on, Charlotte began to participate more and more directly in British government.
Charlotte is eighteen years old this year and looks fully grown.
Now it feels like he cares more than his father.
Grenville is a bit sad.
Today, Grenville and the ministers had just finished saluting and saying hello, and the Prince of Wales had nothing to say as usual.
Charlotte spoke directly:
“I received a message from His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, inviting us, the UK, to join the continent-wide trade cooperation agreement organized by Ming Dynasty.
“Now I hope that the cabinet will cooperate as soon as possible to start actual negotiations, complete the signing of the agreement, and implement it as soon as possible.
"The cooperation with the royal family will also be promoted simultaneously. I will directly go to Daming to participate in the talks as a representative of the royal family."
Grenville was immediately confused and instinctively stopped Charlotte:
"Your Highness, we cannot make such a rash decision. Directly joining this kind of deeper economic cooperation may not be the most beneficial to the United Kingdom."
Charlotte responded naturally:
"Joining may not be in the best interest of the United Kingdom, but not joining would certainly be in the worst interest of the United Kingdom.
“This is no longer the union of the entire Western continent, but the union of the entire Old Continent.
“The whole Old World royal family is cooperating and we, the British, are being excluded and this is a crisis of unprecedented magnitude.
"Do all of you here agree with this judgment?"
Grenville was speechless and could only nod silently.
Charlotte then continued:
“So the issue of participating in cooperation is not an issue that needs to be discussed at all, it is an issue that must be decided immediately.
"If the United Kingdom refuses to join, I will let the United States join.
"At that time, it will not be the whole old continent isolating Britain, but the whole world will be isolating the British mainland.
"Can you think about such consequences? Do you dare to face such consequences?"
Grenville shook his head helplessly.
The union of the entire European and Western continent can make the British uneasy.
In its original history, the American Revolutionary War was actually a semi-open anti-British alliance war.
France openly directly sent troops, generals, and warships to fight. The Spanish also participated in the war to recapture Florida, and countries like Lucia followed suit.
At that time, the entire European continent was openly or covertly supporting the United States and jointly fighting against the British.
The UK felt unprecedented crisis and pressure at that time.
After the American Revolutionary War, the British contacted the Qing Dynasty in a daze in order to find allies.
George III arranged for Macartney to send gifts to Qianlong.
The cooperation between the British and the Qing Dynasty was obviously fruitless, but the French Revolution broke out immediately, and the British joined other Thai and Western countries to form an anti-French alliance.
The British anxiety of being isolated from the entire continent simply disappeared.
British politicians have also completely established the diplomatic concept of being a troublemaker and will never allow the European and Western continents to unite again.
The British people in this world have never felt that kind of anxiety before.
Now Charlotte's statement creates even more terrifying anxiety.
In a world where all continental countries cooperate and only Britain is excluded, no British politician would dare to try.
No matter whether cooperation is beneficial or not, no matter how we deal with it in the future, we cannot refuse it directly.
So, under Charlotte's intimidation and orders, and with the tacit approval of the Prince of Wales, the British participated in the cooperative affairs as a matter of course.
Charlotte also naturally stated that she would personally participate in the negotiations as a representative of the royal family.
Charlotte's goals are clearly both public and private.
She was indeed planning to take the opportunity to see Zhu Jingyuan, and was even prepared not to come back in the short term.
Charlotte feels that she is already nineteen years old now, and will be twenty years old after the new year.
According to the imaginary years, they have reached the age agreed by His Royal Highness Prince Dashi and they can have children of their own.
Zhu Jingyuan had memories of his previous life, so he specially introduced the risks of dystocia to Charlotte, and specifically optimized the medical technology for caesarean section.
Charlotte was also very careful and attached great importance to this, and planned to give birth to the child in Daming directly before returning.
Although the ministers headed by Grenville instinctively wanted to complain, Princess, are you negotiating or going to see your lover, but in the end no one dared to say it.
But Grenville thought of something else, and reminded and suggested Charlotte:
"Your Highness, if you see His Highness Prince Dashi again, you can discuss the Southern Tianzhu deal with him.
“In the past few years, an extremely severe and widespread plague has broken out in the southern Tianzhu region.
“Based on recent reports, it’s likely that there aren’t many people left in the area.
"The current situation in Nan Tianzhu should have met the requirements of His Highness Prince Dashi."
When Charlotte heard this suggestion, she immediately frowned instinctively:
"So...I have always been curious about why there is such a coincidence...
"Jingyuan...His Royal Highness Prince Dashi is unwilling to accept the old, weak, sick and disabled people in Southern Tianzhu, so a plague broke out there?
“It reminded me of some records I’d seen in America.
“In the early days of the Yinzhou colony, the colonists deliberately sold blankets used by smallpox patients to the local Yin people.
"This led to a large-scale outbreak of smallpox in the settlements of the Yin people...
"So what exactly is going on with the plague in Southern Tianzhu?"
Grenville thought of what his cousin and predecessor had done, and sighed helplessly:
"Your Highness...it's better not to get involved in these details."
Charlotte had some suspicions in her mind, so she was a little disgusted with these British ministers, and instinctively wanted to question them:
"Why don't you ask? What do you know? Why don't you tell me?"
Grenville hesitated to speak and looked at the Prince of Wales.
The Prince of Wales, who had been silent, shook his head:
"Charlotte, please stop asking."
Charlotte didn't realize the problem immediately, but subconsciously felt that it was better not to ask now.
So I stopped asking questions with doubts and continued to discuss practical issues.
After the cabinet meeting, Charlotte followed her father back to the palace where he lived.
Charlotte looked at the surrounding environment and when she confirmed that she and her father were alone, she couldn't help but ask directly:
"So, Dad, is the plague in Southern Tianzhu caused by us British ourselves?"
The Prince of Wales nodded helplessly:
“Don’t say it publicly, and don’t question the ministers anymore.
"Prime Minister Pitt has taken the blame and other ministers have continued to follow the plan and get things done.
"If you don't know these things, you don't need to bear the corresponding blame, and you don't have any responsibility.
"This kind of thing... simply knowing about it and not stopping it can be regarded as a moral fault.
"So don't take the blame on yourself.
"In the event that the truth of the relevant matter is exposed in the future, when you are questioned by reporters and congressmen, you must firmly state that you are completely unaware of it.
"You had no involvement and no one publicly reported it to you, so no one can prove you knew.
"Do you understand what Daddy means, my dear?"
Charlotte finally understood what her father meant and why he didn't allow her to pursue questions in the cabinet.
My father is indeed weak in character, completely devoid of decision-making and lack of responsibility.
But correspondingly, his ability to distance himself from responsibility is also first-rate.
It can even be said that it is like instinct and does not require special learning at all.
This may also be due to personality.
I had just sent out the leave request and was just lying on the bed getting ready to go to bed when a call came in. I quickly got up and coded a chapter.
(End of chapter)
