The tram construction project in London has been suspended, and there are still unerected telegraph poles lying on the ground on the side of the road.
This makes the originally neat road look a bit messy.
The dark, extended version of the public carriage passed quickly on the street, ringing urgent bells from time to time to remind pedestrians to give way.
Men wearing top hats, black suits, long skirts, and hooded women are constantly on the street.
The war seems far away from here.
The investment of large amounts of government funds has allowed factories to operate at full capacity, bringing abnormal prosperity to the city.
The bell on the carriage kept ringing without slowing down at all, but it could always avoid the pedestrians occupying the road.
The busiest place is outside the stock exchange. There has been an endless stream of people buying war bonds recently.
Perhaps, everyone hopes to express their love for the Great Empire in this way.
In the Prime Minister's Office, Temple had not been able to get a sound sleep for many days.
In a war situation, various tasks are complicated, and many young people have never experienced such a situation.
The last time the country was in this state was during the Anti-French War.
At that time, Napoleon conquered most of Europe, and he tried to include his biggest rival, the Great Empire.
But the Great Empire used its victory to tell the European continent that the Great Empire was invincible.
But this time, people can't see the smoke of war.
Most people have never been to the colonies in the subcontinent. They don't know how important it was to the Great Empire.
They didn't know how much cotton and grain they provided to the Great Empire every year.
But these people knew that to safeguard the honor of the Great Empire, the Queen's dignity should not be violated.
Those chaebols know that the subcontinent is the largest market for the Great Empire, and the most important raw materials come from there.
It is the rich population, cultivated land and resources there that have supported the development of the Great Empire for so many years.
Although the Great Empire also had many colonies in Africa, the level of development here was too low and it was not as valuable as the subcontinent.
Therefore, almost everyone in the current Great Empire supports this war to defend the subcontinent.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the latest information is that the Renaissance Army has occupied the Island of Ceylon. Part of our Indian fleet was besieged in Singapore, and part of it was destroyed by them on the Island of Ceylon."
"Later, with the cooperation of the Baath Army Navy, the Holy Army captured Calcutta, and Governor Ramsay surrendered to the Holy Army. Commander Robert withdrew to Bombay. The entire eastern region was occupied by the Holy Army. Now we are the only one left in the subcontinent.
Peshawar region in the northwest, and Mumbai region in the west."
"The good news is that our first expeditionary force has arrived in Bombay, and they stopped the Holy Army in Nagpur."
There was no emotion on Temple's face. He took off the pipe from his mouth and glanced at his secretary.
"How is the Navy prepared?"
"The Great White Fleet is undergoing sea trials. Minister Sandwich said that the procedures will be simplified and the navy will be able to set off at the end of this month. He has already dispatched a fleet to arrange various supply points."
"I understand. Let the people from the Sixth Office help keep it confidential. The Renaissance Army must not be allowed to know about the fleet's situation and itinerary."
"We are now playing a game with the Renaissance Army, just like a match in a boxing ring. Even if we are passively beaten, as long as we knock them down with the last blow, we will win."
Temple picked up the pipe again and took a deep breath. The tobacco from the Caribbean was very strong and fragrant. The nicotine relieved the fatigue of the cerebral cortex and made his brain much clearer.
"Let the two regiments sent by the army to Grenada and the Canadian provinces set off as soon as possible. Before the end of the year, I hope that the war in South Amelia can start again."
"Those Chinese settlements in the central part of Canada must be cleared up. The Renaissance Army wants to fight us in the subcontinent, but we insist on spreading everywhere. I want to see if they can take action."
"The war of words between Pu and Austria has been going on for so long. Why haven't we started a war yet?" Temple asked.
The timing of the war between Pu and Austria was very poor.
Originally, when the Great Empire and the Renaissance Army went to war, they could win a few allies.
At worst, we can share some benefits with them in the East.
However, because of the Prussian-Austrian dispute, all countries on the European continent were involved. As a result, the Great Empire's diplomatic activities to win over allies completely failed.
But now, the Renaissance Army has led a group of subordinates to declare war on Dayang. It claims to have dozens of countries.
Almost the entire Pacific coast became the enemy of the Great Empire.
"Prime Minister, armies from both sides are already massing towards the border. This is a big war. Both Pu and Austria have assembled hundreds of thousands of troops."
"Is there any news from Tsarist Russia? Are they willing to join forces with us to take action in Central Asia?"
"According to the information in the Foreign Secretary's newspaper, the words of the Tsarist Russians were vague. They claimed that their economic situation was severe. There were still serf uprisings in the country. They also said that the number of troops deployed by the Baath Army in Central Asia had not decreased at all."
They are all diplomatic terms, and I don’t want to translate them.
Temple was not surprised. Everyone wanted to see what the Great Empire was capable of.
These countries on the Europa continent are smarter this time.
Huh... just wait and see.
Temple thought to himself.
"Don't worry about them. Our empire will fight this battle ourselves," Temple said.
"By the way, Prime Minister, we found that the French are buying our national debt in large quantities, in very large quantities, and the financiers in Paris are still buying our national debt from others," the secretary continued.
"Those loan sharks want to make whatever they can get."
"Yes, the French are so abominable. We found that the number of merchant ships from France to the East increased by 50%. And our trade volume in the first half of the year dropped by 30%."
"Not only France, the Netherlands, Prussia, and even Austria's trade share is increasing. The Baath Army only blocks our ships, but ships from other countries can pass without hindrance."
"We haven't had a ship to New South Wales for a long time, and now we can only communicate there through Dutch ships."
"Prime Minister, there is now a voice questioning whether it is worth going to war with the Baath Army for the Straits Settlements. The trade losses are too great. The most important thing is that we have suffered losses, but the Baath Army's foreign trade has not been affected."
The Secretary of Finance had already told him about the situation mentioned by the secretary. He believed that as long as the war was won, all this would be worth it.
"Humph, don't they know? Without the colonies on the subcontinent, the economic aggregate of our Great Empire will be cut in half. It is equivalent to half of our family property."
In a society composed of capital, people are divided into groups according to capital, and they are loyal to the capital they control.
Just like the current Great Empire, big capitalists support the war against the Baath Army because they have a large number of industries in the subcontinental colonies and the Straits Settlements.
The opponents are those traders, who have no real industry in their hands.
The Greater China Circle under the control of the Renaissance Army accounts for almost half of the global market.
Although the original business share of the Da Ying Empire in the Great China Circle was also decreasing, Dong Shuheng would still artificially maintain the trade balance, just like he had previously imported a large amount of pig iron and steel from Da Ying.
At that time, many traders could still make money from the East.
Now that the two sides have severed diplomatic relations, not a single item of Da Ying's merchandise can be sold.
But daily necessities like tea still have to be imported. They cannot import themselves, they can only buy them from merchants in other European countries, and they have directly changed from wholesalers to retailers.
The government cannot issue an order prohibiting people from drinking tea, nor can it prohibit noble ladies from decorating their long skirts with exquisite silk.
After all this calculation, it is the Great Empire that is suffering the loss now.
"Prime Minister, it turns out that a squadron of the Indian Ocean Fleet sank more than a dozen Renaissance Army transport ships in the Nanyang region. However, the latest news is that this squadron was discovered and destroyed by the Renaissance Army."
"These warriors have done a good job. This kind of breaking of engagements can be carried forward. I will discuss it with Minister Sandwich later. We still have many sailing warships that can sail long distances without relying on supplies."
"Prime Minister, the Merchant Shipping Association reported that since the declaration of war, we have lost more than 500 merchant ships in the East."
"More than 300 of them were captured or sunk by the Renaissance Army in the South and Indian Oceans, and more than 200 were sunk or captured in the Atlantic. As far as we know, the Donghua Fleet even went north to the Caribbean to attack us.
Merchant ship."
"The Prime Minister cannot continue like this. We have to make them pay."
Temple's chest felt tight after hearing this. The Great Empire had never been so angry before.
"Okay, let Sandwich come to me." Temple finished listening to the secretary's report. The first person he wanted to see was the Lord of the Admiralty.
The crux of all problems is that China's navy is currently weak and unable to protect its huge maritime interests.
After a while, the somewhat haggard Lord of the Admiralty Sandwich arrived at the Prime Minister's Office.
He's been under more pressure recently than Temple.
For half a year, he spent almost every day in the shipyard.
In order to allow the sailors to become familiar with the ship as quickly as possible, he even asked the sailors to participate in the installation work of the warship.
In this way, they can have a more intuitive understanding of the entire hull structure of the battleship.
In the fall of the "Warrior" and the "Black Prince", the biggest losses were not these two warships, but the navigation experimental parameters on these two warships, as well as the officers and soldiers on these two warships who had experience in driving ironclad ships.
Recently, Da Ying has also been trying to negotiate with the Donghua Empire to redeem those captured naval officers and soldiers.
However, the Daying Empire had too few chips and could not give up its hostile relationship with the Donghua Empire, so the stalemate continued.
The Donghua Empire knew that the biggest obstacle to the peace talks between them and Grenada in the Great Empire was.
Therefore, Daying is Donghua's biggest enemy.
After the establishment of the empire, the Donghua Navy had Buenos as an excellent Atlantic supply port.
Nie Dahua frequently led his fleet from here to the north to launch raids against Dayang and various states in the Grenada Alliance.
Donghua's two newly purchased "Zhenhai" class destroyers "Zhaoyuan" and "Mingyuan" from the Fuxing Army have also been put into service, plus four "Jianghe" class frigates. The Donghua Empire established its own Atlantic Fleet
.
Although the scale is small, it is more than enough to carry out sea raids.
In recent months, Liu Zhongyun has captured hundreds of large merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean, and even more have been sunk by them.
Most of these large merchant ships are also armed, but they are obviously far inferior to ironclad ships, and their speed is not as fast as ironclad ships. Once discovered, they can hardly escape.
These captured merchant ships were taken to Donghua and sold to the sailing merchants, so that they could buy another fleet.
For this reason, Zhumu also granted Liu Zhongyun the title of nobility.
…
Sandwich walked into the prime minister's office, which smelled of smoke.
"Mr. Sandwich, I just heard bad news. The merchant ships of our Great Empire are being attacked by the enemy. We must do something, otherwise, there will be no way to give an explanation to the people, and the people will lose confidence in the government.
." Temple said.
"I've also heard about this. It's a shameful thing for a fleet to attack a merchant ship."
"This matter is difficult to handle. We have only two ways. One is to escort the merchant ships, but that requires a large number of warships. Even if our Great White Fleet is in service now, it cannot do this. Besides, our Great White Fleet still has
It has an important mission.”
"The second is that we carry out reciprocal counterattacks against the enemy, but the main route of the Renaissance Army is in the Pacific, and they have almost no merchant ships running in the Atlantic. They all trade on the mainland."
"I feel that the Renaissance Army did this intentionally. According to their strength, they could have sent merchant ships to Europa for trading, but they did not."
Temple nodded, hearing what Sandwich said was true.
Could it be that the Renaissance Army had been preparing to go to war against the Great Empire a few years ago?
"I have ordered a heavy tax on all merchant ships passing through Cape Town. Those mainland countries want to take advantage of our war to make money for themselves, which is simply wishful thinking."
Temple's actions will only prevent ships from docking at the port of Cape Town. That is not the only port in southern Africa.
Sandwich didn't say anything. He continued what he had just said: "But if we want to send the fleet to the Pacific, we must avoid the areas controlled by the Ba'ath Army."
"Now the entire Pacific is under the control of the Renaissance Army, especially those important strategic locations, such as Ceylon, Malacca, and the Strait of Magellan. Our warships need to bear huge risks to avoid these places. Even if we can finally
If we successfully enter the Pacific Ocean, we will suffer great losses, so this matter needs to be decided by you, Prime Minister."
"This is sacrificing the lives of our naval officers to safeguard the dignity of the empire."
"Sandwich, you are also a soldier. Do you think that for a soldier, life is more important, or dignity and honor?"
"Dignity, my Lord," Sandwich replied without hesitation.
The two of them did not know that because of their decision, the navy of the Great Empire lost its valuable naval talent reserve.
Although they also had a huge impact on the Pacific route of the Renaissance Army.
However, due to diseases caused by lack of supplies and shipwrecks caused by complicated sea conditions, only ten of these large naval warships that broke into the Pacific remained.
Looking back, they discovered that although these sailing battleships were outdated, the crews on those battleships were valuable naval seeds.
The navy has been dominant for hundreds of years, not because of its strong ships and powerful guns, but because of its experienced and pioneering naval officers and soldiers.