The greatest threat to the first place is always the second place, which is the fundamental psychological appeal of the British Navy to pursue the principle of double power, in the eyes of the British, the size of the Royal Navy must exceed the combined strength of the second and third naval powers in the world at that time. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This is actually a conscious widening of the distance between the second place and the second place, so as to ensure the national security of the United Kingdom. The Navy is committed to such principles, and in fact the whole of Britain is pursuing the same core philosophy.

If the first place wants to go on forever, then you have to desperately distance yourself from the back echelon, but it is definitely not enough to bury your head in developing your own strength, and you also have to have a certain amount of tricks to stumble on the second and third places.

It's like a long marathon, where the first place finisher keeps sprinting forward, and then throws sand and lime back from time to time to disturb the competitors.

If the second place is really pressed too hard, then Britain can also roll up his sleeves and rush up to a fat beating, and he vomits blood all over the ground and then rushes forward again.

This is the fundamental national policy of the empire on which the sun never sets, and every dispute and war between him and other European powers is actually protecting his absolute leadership.

When the United States was competing for hegemony with the Soviet Union, the United States did not hesitate to make an ice-breaking trip with China, providing a large amount of science and technology and funds to China, and sharing countless intelligence, and China and the United States also had a honeymoon period at that time.

Later, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Europe had a hot brain and an EU, and the United States found that the euro was very competitive against the dollar, so there was a Kosovo war, and the European capital that fought it fled one after another.

Japan had its glory after World War II, but the Plaza Accord brought decades of decline to Japan.

At that point in time, China had become the world's second largest economy, its military strength was also rapidly expanding, and the United States was targeting China again.

This is a routine, a routine that must be played by any number one in the world, and the same is true of the empire on which the sun never sets, and the closest economic and military strength to Britain in the world at the moment is none other than Britain's 'friendly' neighbor France.

"Dear Prime Minister, please tell me, who else can we support if we do not support Prussia in this war?" said the Queen.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I let your majesty down...... I have realized my mistake and I will fix my plan in time...... If I need to, I will take the blame and resign after the war is over!" sweat rolled down Benjamin's forehead.

Queen Victoria just wanted to knock Benjamin, she didn't mean to force the prime minister to abdicate, and the expression on her face softened when she saw that her words had an effect.

"Sit down, Ben, you don't have to be so nervous, I believe in your ability, as long as you find the right direction, then you will definitely show your talent in the right direction, I firmly believe in this!"

"France really needs to be beaten, it has been 21 years since Charles Louis Bonaparte came to power, and in these years, France's overseas colonies have expanded fivefold, won the Crimean War, the Qing War, ordered attacks on Vietnam and Mexico, and even surpassed us ......in the operation of the Suez Canal."

"He is not a friend of England, and he will never be a ......," the queen said very firmly, "what are the Napoleonic families?

"Look at the many kingdoms in Europe, which royal family has not been inherited for thousands of years?England, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Austria...... Even including Tsarist Russia, all the royal families actually have their roots in the earliest dynasties!"

"The Habsburgs, the Capetians, the Hohenzollerns, the Romanovs, and so on...... After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was these families that sustained the vast aristocracy of Europe, and we intermarried, allied with each other, and fought with each other......"

"Unification and contradictions maintain the inheritance of European civilization, although the war is endless, but the spirit of our faith is unchanged, our blood is pure!"

"Don't forget the kinship between the King of Prussia and the British royal family! But what is the Napoleonic family? A warlord who started by war! And then the villains who took advantage of the civil strife in France, how can the blood of the European royal family defile them!"

"Now do you think I'm going to turn my face with my loved ones for an outsider?"

Benjamin wiped his sweat, he couldn't refute the queen's words, this is the reality of Europe, the Napoleonic family is too shallow, although he has put a halo on himself by marriage, but compared with these thousand-year-old families, it is still not enough prestige.

Those big families that have been together for thousands of years naturally reject these newcomers, and no one is willing to let the newcomers take away their old power, this kind of psychology has always existed and will not change.

Benjamin finally knew what he was wrong with, he completely forgot to analyze the problem from the perspective of the millennium family, he has always regarded himself as the prime minister of the United Kingdom to analyze the competition between countries, and thoroughly use interests to deduce the situation.

But this is not the case, the queen has additional considerations, which are not enough for outsiders.

At the end of the meeting, the queen took a telegram from the coffee table next to her and handed it to Benjamin: "This is a letter sent by the Great Qing Dynasty, which clearly states that this year, the Tongzhi Emperor of the Great Qing Kingdom will come to Europe for a study tour and a state visit, and Britain cannot avoid it, and the Qing Kingdom has finally officially issued its credentials!"

"Credentials?" Benjamin was stunned, "Why didn't the Ministry of Foreign Affairs get this credential?"

The queen smiled faintly, "Maybe the Qing officials don't know the British system, they think that I am a dictator like the emperor of the Qing Dynasty...... They thought it was a private telegram, but they didn't expect it to be a national letter after I read it, so I'd better leave this kind of matter to you to deal with!"

Emperor Tongzhi's trip to Europe, the Qing Dynasty was absolutely opposed, but there was no way that the emperor was willing to go out to study, and Xiao Lotian was escorting the little emperor out of the palace with the army at that time.

Even if the Manchu court is no longer willing, it has to pinch its nose and admit it, and it must not issue a statement to abolish the emperor! Since the state of affairs cannot be changed, it can only push the boat with the flow.

The face of the emperor of the Qing State still has to be there, and the Ministry of Rites drafted a telegram to send it to Zaichun in advance to the government of the country that is about to travel, which is a polite advance notice.

However, it was precisely because the Ministry of Rites did not understand the British constitutional monarchy that the credentials that should have been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs happened and were sent directly to Buckingham Palace.

After reading the letter of state, Benjamin suddenly asked, "What kind of etiquette should we use to greet the emperor of the Qing Kingdom?"