It can be said that O'Brien sacrificed his personal and family happiness to fulfill his career as the countess's personal maid.

Her enthusiasm for the job itself was far greater than her loyalty to Cora, so when O'Brien suspected that Cora was going to fire her, she was so angry that she actually slipped the pregnant Cora on the soap, causing her future injuries.

The tragedy of the stillbirth of the new Earl of Grantham.

The countess didn't know the bad things O'Brien had done. She naively believed that she and O'Brien were masters, servants and friends.

Any other maid would definitely be grateful to be treated like this by her master, but O'Brien is not like that at all.

She only recognized her as master and servant, and said personally that she and the Countess had never been friends.

That's not right. She also thought that she was qualified to be the countess's friend at first.

But after being reminded by Cora to pay attention to his identity several times because of making suggestions, this idea changed.

O'Brien later discovered that Cola never intended to fire him, but he began to regret it after he misunderstood that Cola had advertised for a maid to the old lady.

Although O'Brien is a very bad person, he is not completely without conscience. Perhaps in foreign countries, religion restrains the evil thoughts in people's hearts.

When the countess was seriously ill, O'Brien's meticulous care day and night was just to make his conscience feel better.

But after she got a new job opportunity and had the opportunity to go to India with the new owner, she quietly left Downton Abbey and the countess, leaving the housekeeper and the countess in a mess that they were unprepared for.

All in all, she is just a selfish and calculating scheming woman.

And Bates is just a target of her scheme, so she may not really hate him to the core.

"Gao, do you have any basis for what you say? I don't want you to be someone who relies on guesswork."

Robert tried to teach him in this way, but unfortunately Gao Bin had his own opinions.

"Father, you can ask the servants what they think. If any of them says that they like O'Brien, I am willing to apologize to her personally."

Robert subconsciously looked at Carson.

Carson hesitated, shook his head and said:

"Miss O'Brien did do a lot of disgusting things."

"Well, even so, you can't just frame someone without evidence."

Having said that, Robert actually believed Gao Bin's words and decided to find an opportunity to deal with O'Brien.

After all, she is my wife's personal maid, so I must have a reasonable reason to deal with her.

"Carson, go back and comfort Bates, let him work with peace of mind, and don't think about things."

"Okay, young master, emm~ By the way, Mrs. Patmore has a problem with her eyes. She often suffers from blurring. I'm afraid she won't be able to continue to do this job."

"What's going on?" Robert felt a little annoyed. Accumulation of small things can indeed easily ruin a person's mood.

"It should be cataracts, Dr. Clarkson said."

"Can it be treated?"

"Yes, but you need to be hospitalized for surgery."

"Then arrange to go to Crowley Hospital for treatment as soon as possible. This kind of disease cannot be delayed." Gao Bin said.

"But then, kitchen work..." Carson wondered.

In this day and age, it’s not that easy to find a loyal and excellent cook.

"Father, maybe we can borrow a cook from a relative's house."

The Crowley family has many relatives, and the UK can find suitable people.

"Okay, I need to make a few calls." Robert sighed.

"Then let's do it this way. Don't let Mrs. Patmore cook for the next two days, and let Anna accompany her to the hospital to settle down." Gao Bin said again.

"It's my young master. Thank you for your kindness. I thank you on behalf of Mrs. Patmore."

"You're welcome, go make arrangements quickly. Treatment is important. Tell Dr. Clarkson that the money for the operation is on the manor's account."

"Yes, Mrs. Patmore must be very grateful for your generosity."

After Carson left, Robert spread his hands:

"As you can see, managing an estate is not an easy task, and it is even more complicated than managing a company."

"You can try to hand over the management work to Matthew. He will soon become your second son-in-law, and he will also be a part of this family."

Robert smiled:

"You are very generous, you know I want to hand over the manor to you."

"It doesn't make any difference. I just let Matthew take care of it, not let him inherit the ownership."

"Okay, I understand. Next, we can involve him. How about the company?"

"Not bad, the military has added another alcohol order. It seems that war is imminent."

Robert fell into deep worry:

"After the Napoleonic Wars, no large-scale war broke out on the European continent. Now, this balance is about to be broken."

At this time, there were four main powerful countries in Europe, namely the British Empire, France, Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, due to various reasons, the focus of these countries was not on the European continent.

For the British Empire, because it is far away from the British Isles, its attention is mainly focused on the competition for overseas colonies. This is the basis for maintaining its dominance of the world. It is not actually interested in dominating the European continent.

However, the British strategy is to maintain the balance of the European continent and keep European countries in check with each other, thereby maintaining its status as the European arbiter.

For France, it has always regarded itself as the hegemon of the European continent, and it is also an established European power. It has been competing with the United Kingdom for overseas colonies.

However, due to the heavy losses in the Napoleonic Wars and Britain's huge naval power, it was no longer able to compete head-on with Britain. Therefore, its strategic focus began to be readjusted back to the European continent, with the intention of reestablishing its leading position in Europe.

For Tsarist Russia, although it has a vast land area and a large population, due to its late development and relatively weak naval strength, it is no longer able to compete with European powers for colonies overseas.

In addition, he suffered a blow from the British and French coalition forces in the Crimean War, and thus put away his ambition to dominate Europe.

After that, it mainly focused on expansion in Asia and Central Asia, and was no longer so enthusiastic about European affairs.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, due to its complicated domestic ethnic conflicts and the many conflicts between various ethnic groups, it required a lot of energy to maintain internal rule.

Therefore, it is relatively less involved in external affairs and has no sharp conflicts with other countries.

Therefore, in the 19th century and even the early part of the 20th century, the overall situation on the European continent was relatively stable. Although there were frequent frictions and even wars between countries due to their interests, large-scale wars were not yet possible due to their own agendas.
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The key to breaking the balance is that Austria-Hungary has become weaker, and Hans, who is between it and France, has risen.

The latter is the key!

"This battle is inevitable. Father, once the war starts, young men will have to face it on the battlefield. By then, the manpower in our manor will be stretched thin. You must be prepared in advance."

Robert has another headache:

"My child, forget about others, but you can't go."

"Don't worry, I'm not that impulsive. Providing logistical support for the military is also one of my responsibilities. If it works well and gets some military exploits, I'm afraid your title won't be as good as Matthew's."

This was definitely a joke, but Robert felt somewhat helpless in Gao Bin's words.

If it weren't for the bloodline issue, the title of earl would definitely fall on his head.

"I'm sorry about my child," Robert said.

"No, this is just a joke, father."

"Perhaps we can use our military exploits to gain a brand new title?"

"Is this necessary?"

"We'll see when the time comes. I will fully support you."

Gao Bin was noncommittal.

Robert motioned for him to sit down and poured him a glass of wine:

"Let's talk about this war. What do you think the future will be like?"

"It's hard to say, but the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Italian-Turkish War gave all the peoples in the Balkan Peninsula the hope of overthrowing Ottoman rule. The first Balkan War is the best example of this.

Although with the intervention of European powers, the Ottoman Empire was eventually forced to withdraw its troops from the Balkans.

However, after the Ottoman Empire withdrew, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia again set their sights on the Balkans, and the two sides began to have conflicts over the struggle for the Balkan Peninsula.

Coupled with the crazy rise of Germany, although I hate to admit it, they have far surpassed Britain and France in industry, and are second only to the ugly country on the other side of the Atlantic.

What's even more terrible is that in the process of their rise, the Germans fought a Franco-Prussian War with France, which not only caused France to lose Alsace and Lorraine, but also directly caused France to lose its European hegemony. The relationship between Germany and France

Deteriorating rapidly.

At the same time, Tsarist Russia was dissatisfied with the powerful country that appeared around it, especially the close relationship between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This led Tsarist Russia to gradually get closer to Britain and France.

These contradictions continue to intensify, and the energy they erupt is difficult to estimate.

So how this battle will evolve and what direction it will eventually take, no one can say for sure!"

If others can't tell, he can definitely tell, but he just doesn't want to say it.

Predicting once or twice can be regarded as foresight. If the prediction is accurate every time, it would be a bit scary.
Chapter completed!