Chapter 321 War Authorization
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Britain in 1843 was in rapid development. In the Opium War, Britain defeated a powerful country in the East, which made tens of millions of British people ecstatic. They shouted that a broader market than Europe had been opened by them. The factory owners began to desperately expand their production scale, dreaming of selling their goods to China. There were also countless adventurous people who took merchant ships to China, preparing to go to the legendary country to hunt for gold.
It can be said that the victory of the Opium War caused the whole of Britain to fall into madness. However, they will soon know that things are not as beautiful as they are. Even if Britain opened up the Chinese market through force. Although China has a population of more than 300 million, it is still dominated by a self-sufficient small peasant economy. In addition, most Chinese are very poor and have no money to buy British products. The goods shipped to China cannot be sold at all. Increasing production scale in the UK's domestic factories will only cause their products to be backlogged, and ultimately affect their economy. Of course, because the sudden attack on the Qing Dynasty by Xinhua Kingdom was also believed by many British people to be the reason for their unsalable goods. After all, war will have a serious impact on economic and trade.
The new British cabinet, led by Sir Robert Peel of the Conservative Party, was the second time he had come to power to form a cabinet. His predecessor, Viscount William Lamb, successfully promoted the British war against the Qing Dynasty, making him get a big advantage. Sir Robert Peel also thought so. He thought that after opening up the Chinese market, Britain would achieve a new round of rapid growth. At that time, his prestige will increase rapidly and his political life will become longer and longer. However, now it seems that the facts are similar to them are too far apart.
More and more small businessmen are on the verge of bankruptcy. These businessmen are keen to ask the government to solve their problems for them, which makes Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel miserable. He has held many cabinet meetings in a row, but none of them can come up with an effective measure.
On the afternoon of May 12, 1843, British Foreign Secretary George Hamilton Gordon hurried to the Prime Minister's House and asked to meet Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, the fourth Earl of Aberdeen, and had a high influence in the British upper class.
"His Earl, is there something going on when I'm so anxious to come to the Prime Minister's House?" asked Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.
"Prince, I have received a report from the Governor of India Lord Ellenborough and Sir Vernant, Governor of the Straits Colony. They requested the Cabinet and Parliament to pass a resolution. Her Majesty the Queen will grant them the war authorization." said George Hamilton Gordon.
"War authorization? What do they want to do? Will war start against the Qing Dynasty again?" Sir Robert Peel asked in surprise. You know, the Opium War has just ended. Although Britain has made huge profits through this war, if the war begins again, it will definitely attract a lot of opposition. The current cabinet is already in a mess, and Sir Robert Peel does not want to cause trouble again.
"No. It's not the Qing Dynasty. It's the New China. Lord Ellenborough and Sir Wenxian, both believe that we should declare war on the New China immediately and defeat them! This is the report they submitted, please check it out." Count George Hamilton Gordon said. Then he handed the report to Sir Robert Peel. He had read the report himself and agreed with the views of Lord Ellenborough and Sir Wenxian.
Sir Robert Peel took the report and read it carefully. The report was very long, and Sir Robert Peel spent more than half an hour reading it. During this period, Count George Hamilton Gordon did not disturb him, but quietly drank a cup of black tea.
"It seems that the New China has really become a big trouble for us. They will definitely not be able to obtain the vast territory and population of the Qing Dynasty. Otherwise, our path to expansion to the East will be completely cut off." Sir Robert Peel closed the report and said with a serious look on his face.
"Your Excellency, not only is our path to expanding eastward cut off. Perhaps even India will be threatened. Although the establishment of Xinhua Kingdom was not long, this country is extremely aggressive. Once they gained the population of the Qing Kingdom, how many armies could they arm! At that time, India, which is close to them, will definitely become their expansion target." Earl George Hamilton Gordon said. When he thought of the defeat of the Qing Kingdom by Xinhua Kingdom, Xinhua Kingdom had a population of hundreds of millions, this made him feel scared.
Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel nodded. As an outstanding politician, he could even be called the founder of the British Conservative Party. Of course, he could see the crisis in it.
"Come here, please ask the Minister of Finance, Minister of the Army and Minister of the Navy to come to me. There is an urgent matter." Sir Robert Peel ordered. If war authorization is given to the Indian colonies and Straits colonies, the first step is that the British cabinet must reach an agreement. Only after that can the resolution be submitted to the Parliament and submitted to the Parliament for review. After the review is approved, the Queen of England will officially authorize the war to be launched.
"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister." The secretary of the Prime Minister's Office quickly sent someone to notify these important cabinet members.
Soon, the main members of the British cabinet gathered in the small conference room of the Prime Minister's Office. However, the three people who arrived later did not know what had happened. They thought it was for the bankrupt businessmen again.
"Gentlemen, here is a report, let's take a brief look." Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel did not say much, but directly circulated the emergency report sent by Lord Ellenborough, Governor of India and Governor of the Straits Colony to everyone first.
"Prince, are we going to start a war against Xinhua?" After reading the report, Navy Minister Sir George Coburn asked. In fact, as early as the end of the Opium War, many people in the British Army and Navy advocated that Britain and Britain took advantage of the situation to clean up Xinhua. However, at that time, the large-scale dressing of the British Army and Navy had not yet ended, so the plan to start a war against Xinhua was suppressed. Now, the dressing of the British Army and Navy has been basically completed, especially the Asian troops, which have been equipped with new weapons one after another. If the war is started, it is not impossible.
"Prime Minister, I fully agree with the views of Lord Ellenborough, Governor of India and Sir Man-Han, Governor of the Straits Colony. The development of the New China has seriously endangered the interests of the British Empire. We cannot continue to sit idly by the development of the New China. This country must be eliminated and they are destroyed when they are not very powerful! Otherwise, we will pay a greater price in the future." Sir George Nugent, Minister of the Army, directly expressed his attitude.
"Sir Robert Peel, what about your opinion?" asked Sir Robert Peel.
"Your Excellency, I have no objection. Now our goods are in urgent need of overseas markets. Xinhua is also a rapidly developing industrial country. They are actively competing with us for the Eastern market, defeating them and eliminating Xinhua, and finding more markets for our goods. Therefore, I agree to start a war against Xinhua." Secretary of the Finance Minister Henry Goulburn also said.
"Very good, since that's the case, the cabinet will reach an agreement. Next Monday, I will make a formal resolution to the parliament, hoping that the parliament will pass." Sir Robert Peel said. When the last war against the Qing Dynasty, the previous cabinet took a lot of effort to get the parliament to pass the war resolution, and for this, it was hesitant to use the influence of Queen Victoria and Duke of Wellington. However, the British army soon won the victory, which greatly stimulated the members of the British Parliament. Sir Robert Peel believed that this war resolution would be easier to pass.
"His Minister of the Navy and Minister of the Army. As expected, the parliament will definitely pass the war resolution. However, what I want to know is, can we defeat Xinhua? Especially in Nanyang, thousands of miles away, defeat Xinhua. You must know that Xinhua is not a weak country. They can even be regarded as a military power." Sir Robert Peel asked. In fact, this is the issue he is most concerned about. If he loses a war, he is probably the first one who is unlucky.
"Prime Minister, please rest assured that the main reason for the strength of Xinhua is their weapons and equipment. Now, they no longer have the advantage of weapons and equipment. We have a total of 46 "Apollo-class" warships in the Far East and the Indian Ocean. This new warship is enough to restrain Xinhua's "Shark-class" warships. There are dozens of old warships. In terms of naval strength, we have a decisive advantage." said Sir George Coburn, Secretary of the Navy.
"The Prime Minister, the army is the same. The army has more than 20,000 people in the Straits Colony, and we still have hundreds of thousands in India. As long as the navy can win, the army can land in Xinhua and completely destroy Xinhua." Army Minister Sir George Nugent also said. The British Army also replaced it with a new breech gun and breech gun, which greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the British Army. This gave the Army Minister Sir George Nugent great confidence. The history of Spain and the Netherlands defeating Xinhua will never repeat itself.
Chapter completed!