The expedition took almost a month and returned to the vicinity of the Gulf of Saldania. There, they set up a barracks and enclosed themselves in it, and no one was allowed to enter. At the same time, the high-speed traffic boats that had been docked in the bay of Saldanha also quickly left the bay and headed north.

In India, on the other hand, the East India Company finally held an enlarged meeting to discuss the situation in South Africa, and the British in India knew more about the situation in Europe than in South Africa, because they could get news of the continent through Turkey. Today, the French have established a cable telegraph system throughout Europe, organized a transnational cable telegraph union, and even had telegraph offices in Petersburg and Istanbul.

Of course, it was not good news from the Turkish side, and many British people in India did not dare to fully believe it, but the situation was unfavorable, but it was certain. Especially after the news of the naval battle in the North Atlantic, the British in India were quite nervous, and they all knew that if the British lost the war, then they should not think that they would be able to keep India.

Governor Prima felt that the East India Company's gang of men would certainly be willing to take in more reliable Englishmen for the sake of keeping India. But the East India Company guys didn't think so. Do they think that even if all the people in Cape Town come over, they can change the basic balance of power? If in Europe, in the end, the French won, then the French will be able to hold India with a little more men from Cape Town? It's all a dream.

Therefore, the key to India's future depends on the outcome of the war in Europe. If the European side had won, the East India Company would not have had to let the British from Cape Town come here at all. If the European side lost, what would be the best course of action for the princes of the East India Company? Of course, before the French could fight, they hurriedly scraped a handful of land in India, and finally grabbed a handful before leaving, and then, the British, who had a lower status and less money, took these looted softness and ran to other places, such as Australia or some other place. As for the lower and higher ranks, they had more money to scavenge, and they had more outlets, and they had already prepared certain channels to deposit the looted money into the Bank of Rome before the French called. Then they changed their names, bought an identity in Austria or the German states, and then came to Paris with a swagger, and lived happily ever after, (financially) and completely free.

In that case, what are you going to do with those guys in Cape Town? Let them come over and divide the money?

Since this is the idea, the speed of the East India Company's reaction can be imagined, in short, the representatives sent by the Governor of Prima were kicked like a ball from this department to that department, and from that department to this department, in short, each department has its own set of narratives, and has a road map, and this set of road maps all points the "next step" sign to another department.

I don't know if Kafka, who wrote "The Castle" in later generations, did something similar about running official documents. However, if he could travel this book over and show it to Major Jossen, he would definitely feel that he was exactly the "K" in the book.

He followed the roadmap given by those guys from the East India Company and ran like a stupid dog. He was first told by the company that the matter could only be carried out at the request of Mr. Gilbert Eliot-Murray-Kiningmond, Earl of Minto, Viceroy of India.

"Ah, my friend, you know, companies are very constrained these days when it comes to dealing with some of the political issues. Something like this, without the approval of Governor Eliot, would certainly not work. ”

So he was kicked from Mumbai in the west of India to Kolkata in the east of India. And then what?

"As you know, my friend, we don't have the power to make decisions, and you know that under the Act of 1784 (the East India Companies Act), such a major decision had to be authorized by the Board of Management. And the management board, now in the country. ”

Under the East India Company Act of 1784, the East India Company was subject to the orders of the British government in political matters. To accomplish this task, the Act established a Governing Council on Indian Affairs. The committee includes the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Secretary of State and four Privy Council Advisers appointed by the King. Under the Act, all actions involving various political decisions must be approved by the Committee.

"That's not right." Major Chausson said, "I remember that by 1786 the Council had delegated more powers to the Viceroy of India under the new Enabling Act. ”

"Ah, the Enabling Act of 1786 did delegate most of the powers to the Governor-General, but the extent to which the Act gave Governor Eliot the discretion was limited to India, and at best extended to the Far East, which was not part of the Far East." The mustachioed officer replied, "So, even if Governor Eliot were to make such a request, it would be clearly out of bounds, and Governor Eliot would not have the authority to approve such an action unless it was approved by the Committee." ”

"But...... If we can get the Commission's authorization, it means that the blockade in the UK has been broken, and we don't need it. Major Johnson said.

"yes, you're right." The mustachioed official nodded and said, "Who said it wasn't, but rules are rules, and if you don't follow the rules, isn't it a mess?" Besides, if you don't follow the rules and something goes wrong, who do you think can afford to take this responsibility? I have just heard you say that on the Cape Town side, the supremacy of the sea is in the hands of the French. In case, I mean in case, our ships were hit by their steam warships, and then sunk, and at once a whole bunch of noble people died. And the reason for this loss is that we overstepped our authority to make illegal decisions, and this responsibility is too great...... Well, so, I suggest, you should go directly to the company, don't get involved in politics, just rent a boat from them in the name of ordinary business practices......"

So the mustache successfully completed a defensive clearance. Major Johnson didn't even see the Governor, so he kicked him directly from the penalty area on the east side of the court to the vicinity of the penalty area on the west side of the court. Ah, it should have been kicked from Kolkata in the east of India to Mumbai in the west of India.

And then what? Well, of course, there are more ways on the company's side.

"Sir, you have already shown us the letter from Governor Prima, and we have already recorded this matter, and this record has been signed and filed, so you can now say that this is a simple economic act, and it is difficult for our superiors to pass it. Of course, if there is no opinion above, I certainly have no opinion either. Well, I can give you an explanation, you go directly to our people, in fact, the power to make the decision is in their hands, even if you convince me, I have no right to make a decision, I can only hand in the information. ”

So, Major Johnson went to run the "superior", the "superior" equal, the "superior" superior. It wasn't until he felt that he could sign up for the marathon at the next Olympics and easily win the gold medal that he finally got a reluctant result.

"You know, the sea control in this area is not in our hands. Our ships will be very dangerous as soon as they encounter enemy warships. ”

"It's not a problem, sir, the characteristics of the steamship are so obvious that we can detect them in advance and avoid them."

"And what about the night? Can we avoid it early at night? ”

"We do need to be careful at night. However, they may not have enough coal and good enough maintenance to maintain the high-density cruising ...... warships."

"But overall, it's still dangerous, right?"

Seeing that Major Johnson was silent, the superior of the "superior" smiled slightly: "I think you can completely bypass our company, just as you bypassed the governor." You can just go to the captains, talk to them, and we'll pretend we don't know anything......"

So Major Jossen was kicked from the top to the bottom again, and went directly to talk to the captains. And then......

"How is this possible? They pretend not to know? If something goes wrong, isn't the responsibility on our heads? How can they pretend not to know? It's not going to work, it's not going to work, these upper-class bastards, they pout their butts, I know what they're going to pull! My friend, listen to me, it really won't work unless you add money......"

It is possible to add money, but the price that the captains below ask for is a bit too lion-mouthed.

"Why is it so expensive?"

"Isn't that normal? You think, this route is very risky, and it has to fool the superiors, at least we can't let them send me another task when we run this job, and the guys above are pretending not to know, not really not knowing, so our income has to share a lot of profits with the above, and even, the bulk of the profits, must be theirs. And then, you know, if our ship is going to the Turks, I will take some cargo and make a fortune along the way. But when I ran to Cape Town, I couldn't take anything along the way. That's running an empty boat...... So, my friend, my price is really not expensive, it is really, very conscientious. ”