At 10 Downing Street in London, Prime Minister Lloyd-George was worried about the next international situation for the British Empire, and under the influence of the October Revolution, proletarian revolutions broke out in a series of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and Mexico.

Although these revolutions failed, the ideas of the proletariat continued to spread, the British Empire was affected by unemployment, the workers' movement broke out, and the proletarian revolutionary party had emerged in India.

Forced to be helpless, Lloyd-George could only agree to the autonomy of Ireland, of course, he actually wanted to learn from Bulgaria, send all the Irish away, there are so many colonies in the British Empire, just give them a piece of land to establish an independent state.

Of course, this kind of thing is just a matter of thinking, and as long as the capitalists are not willing to give up these cheap labor for a day, this cannot happen in the British Empire.

No sooner had the Irish been appeased, the independence movement in Egypt erupted, beginning with anti-British student demonstrations in Cairo in 1919, followed by student strikes, workers' strikes, merchants' strikes, and now an armed uprising.

Formed guerrillas had emerged in the Egyptian countryside, attacking the local garrisons of the British, sabotaging the railroads built by the British, and even occasionally breaking into the cities and engaging in street battles with the British.

Some of the policies implemented by the British government in the First World War had already been manifested, and in the face of these rebels, the local garrisons of the British did not exert any effort to suppress them.

Obviously, the unfair treatment after the world war has made the British soldiers lose their interest in serving the country, and they did not take the initiative to suppress these Egyptian rebels at all, but just stuck to the city and let the situation deteriorate.

The London government may or may not know about these circumstances, not only the soldiers do not want to fight, but even the officers do not want to go to war now.

Their poor fiscal policies during the war had left many of the officers who had worked for the British Empire in the world war hopeless.

They bled their lives on the battlefield, only to return home to tell them that they were bankrupt, that their fiefs had been repossessed by the government, that their families no longer knew where they had gone, and that when the British Expeditionary Force returned home, the government of London was nearly overthrown by these angry officers.

Although it was suppressed, the British Empire's lack of fighting spirit has become a fact, but fortunately the British did not add many colonies in this world war, otherwise Lloyd-George would have been even more worried.

For example, the great uprising in Iraq in history has nothing to do with them, it is a matter for Bulgaria.

However, Ferdinand has never received the news of the great uprising in Iraq, which is estimated to have been extinguished before it began, and not only Iraq, but all the colonies of Bulgaria have no way to survive the uprising.

After all, Bulgaria's method of sitting together is a bit ruthless, one person rebelled and the whole village was exiled, and in just three or four years, more than 3 million people in the Asian colonies were exiled to Africa, and more than 2 million people were sent to the mines, probably no one had the ability to make trouble.

There is no way to compare this with the British, the fiefdom nobles hated the rebels, these people were smashing their jobs, and they usually put out the hidden danger in the cradle without the government's order.

Such a small matter naturally does not need Ferdinand's care, so in general, the Bulgarian colonies are still calm.

Of course, don't look at the Egyptians who have been making a revolution for so long, in fact, their results are very limited, and the British army, except for the cannon fodder troops, the pure British casualties have not exceeded three digits.

Lloyd-George saw that the British Army was retaliating against the previous government's repression.

The rebellion has been going on for nearly two years, and it has not been suppressed, and the tens of thousands of garrisons in the colony, the number of casualties adds up to less than three digits, perhaps the number of casualties they caused in their lives is higher than the number of casualties on the battlefield!

Of course, the British were not without repression, and in 1919 they sent 60,000 troops to suppress the peasant uprising. This is really a peasant uprising, although the momentum is huge, in fact, most of the rebel army is cold weapons, and the colonial troops can handle it.

Like India's "non-violent non-cooperation" movement, the Egyptian people are also campaigning for independence "through peaceful means", so it is not correct to say that they are in revolt.

Except for a few guerrillas who really attacked the British army, most Egyptians also chose protests, demonstrations, strikes, and other peaceful means to fight for independence.

The so-called critical situation is essentially a situation in which colonial officials are adding to the cabinet, or in other words, they are fighting for their own interests.

But if this chaos continues, it is also a problem, what should be done about the economic losses of the capitalists? And what if the unrest continues and ends up affecting the navigation of the Suez Canal?

Both Bulgaria and France have shown close attention to the situation on the current issue, and even Bulgarian Foreign Minister Medev has proposed to him that Bulgaria can help if the British Empire is unable to maintain social stability in Egypt.

Lloyd-George was even more angry, and now he really envied the Bulgarian system, there were not so many domestic constraints, and the government never had to worry about the stability of the colonies.

But let the Bulgarians help, forget it, the British Empire can't afford to lose that person, and more importantly, it's easy to ask God to send God, once Bulgaria is put into Egypt, it's hard to say whether the Suez Canal is still not the British Empire.

Lloyd-George asked: "Mr. Gray, how are the negotiations between the Foreign Office and the Egyptians going?" ”

Gray shook his head and said, "Egyptian Prime Minister Adri rejected our kindness, they did not agree to legalize our garrison!" ”

Lloyd George said coldly: "Damn it! Didn't the Egyptians know that once they left our protection, they would soon be colonized again? ”

Gray smiled wryly and said, "The Egyptians think that being colonized by us is no different from being colonized by Bulgaria, and they judge that we will not let Bulgaria control the Suez Canal.

Prime Minister Adri also sent a diplomatic note, in which he believed that once Bulgaria really took military action against Egypt, whether the British Empire would garrison troops or not, it would be the same result, and they thought that we were an excuse to continue colonizing Egypt! ”

Well, this Bulgarian threat theory did not work, and the Egyptians said that they would not eat it, and they had already decided that Britain would not give up the Suez Canal.

Lloyd-George had to admit that the Egyptians' guess was very accurate, and without the Suez Canal, the British would have to go around a big circle to India, which was not conducive to the British Empire's rule over India.

Lloyd-George complained helplessly: "Well, tell the Egyptians that our patience is limited, and if we can't reach an agreement, we will have to resort to military means!"

By the way, what is Bulgaria doing now? They are really a little uneasy, and the Empire's specially customized plan to deal with them has not been used until now! ”

Gray thought for a moment and said, "It seems that they are engaged in some kind of 'ten-year plan', by the way, they just bought Bessarabia Province and the Crimean Peninsula from the Russians!"

In addition, not long ago, the Bulgarian government submitted a bill to the National Assembly to open up the stock market. Not only was the result vetoed, but their parliament also issued a decree permanently banning the stock market and securities trading. ”

Lloyd-George thought for a moment and said: "I have also heard about that decree, and the newspapers of London are everywhere these days, and it is estimated that the capitalists in Bulgaria are going to be blown up!" ”

Mr. Gray shook his head and said: "No, in fact the Bulgarian capitalists are not angry, it is our domestic capitalists who are really angry!"

Judging from the intelligence gathered by the embassy, the Bulgarian capitalists were also very supportive of this decree, believing that restricting the messy stock market would allow their descendants to do business well and pass on their industry from generation to generation!

If nothing else, this decree is likely to appear in the Bulgarian Constitution, and the old gentlemen of their parliament believe that the stock market is a bare-earned and traditional Bulgarian virtue that must be extinguished in the cradle! ”

Lloyd-George rubbed his forehead and said, "This is really a conservative country, it seems that they are rejective of any virtual economy, which seems to be a good thing for us!"

Otherwise, once the stock market is opened, the Bulgarian government's fiscal revenue will increase by at least 50 percent, and their total economic output will surpass that of France in a short time! ”

Gray replied, "Of course! It was this conservatism that had restrained Bulgaria's foreign expansion, and in fact they had always been only interested in what was on their doorstep, and even when they managed to enter the Americas, they gave it up themselves.

Even if they had Ferdinand, the greatest king of the century, it would not change the conservative nature of their nation, and they were more interested in the continent than the sea! ”

Lloyd-George thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, leave them alone for now, let the Bulgarians continue to work hard, as long as we integrate the three North American countries, they will find that these efforts are in vain!"

What are the French and Japanese doing? I don't believe they're going to be that good! ”

Gray thought for a moment and said, "The French have not had a good time lately, the Moroccan Lady Riff has established the Republic of Reve, and the French and Spain are busy putting out fires.

In addition, the economic situation in France is not developing very well, and some people in the country have already proposed to expel the more than 7 million Italians and Germans, and if the operation is not good, the possibility of civil strife cannot be ruled out!

The Japanese have been very restless lately, and they have just been blocked back from the Pacific by us, and it seems that they are very unwilling, and the Japanese government is beginning to expand its military again.

At the same time, they have also accelerated their penetration into the Far East, and we are not sure whether he is going to take advantage of the Russians, or attack the kingdom of Arisga, or ......"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer suddenly said: "Maybe we can hold a meeting to limit the naval strength of the countries, our financial expenses are too great, and if we don't take action, once there is an arms race, it will be very disadvantageous for us!" ”

As a result of Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the strength of the Royal Navy of the British Empire increased by at least one-third compared to the same period in history, and the increase in strength also came at a cost, and the corresponding naval military expenditure of the British also increased by one-third compared with the same period in history.

Lloyd-George was still hesitating, and after thinking about it, Gray said: "This is not a big problem, and only France, Bulgaria, and Japan can pose a threat to us if they have the strength to expand their military in the world today."

Now the French are having a hard time, they are under great financial pressure, and it is in his interest to limit the size of the navies of various countries; The strategic center of gravity of the Bulgarians is now not on the ocean, they should have an indifferent attitude.

The last Japan, to be honest, I don't understand them anymore, it is already very difficult to support the current navy with their finances, and it is really unacceptable that they dare to continue to expand their army! ”

After hesitating for a moment, Lloyd-George suddenly said: "This question will be discussed later, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can make preparations first to test the attitude of various countries."

Now let's talk about the endless rebellions in the colony, if not dealt with as soon as possible, this situation will be contagious! ”

The colonial minister smiled bitterly and said: "I think this question should be asked to the army first, if the army is willing to contribute, these are not problems!"

We all know that these are petty fights in the colonies, and as long as there is no one behind them, it is easy to extinguish.

But now, judging from the reports from all over the world, our army is not active in suppressing the uprising, and this situation must be changed, otherwise the hegemony of the British Empire is likely to collapse! ”

This question is why, everyone knows that it is nothing more than the fact that during the world war, some of the government's actions in order to raise funds were not honorable, plus the world war did not last as long as in history, and the strength of the British aristocracy was not so badly weakened!

Although the coup d'état they launched failed, it does not mean that they will not fight back, and now they have told the London government with practical actions that without their cooperation, the British Empire's position as the world hegemon cannot be maintained!

Lloyd George said with a wry smile: "This is indeed a headache, I didn't expect these military aristocrats to have such a great influence in the army!" ”

The Secretary of War suddenly said, "No! This is not only made by these aristocratic officers, they do not have such strong strength, in fact, ordinary soldiers are also very dissatisfied with the government's behavior!

You must know that during the world war, their military salaries were not as much as ordinary workers in the country, and the post-war pensions were also unexpectedly low, and the pensions of army soldiers were less than half of those of navy soldiers. ”

Everyone has set their eyes on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now if they want to fight, let's raise the military salary first, otherwise there will be no one to work hard if there is no money!

Being stared at so numb that the Chancellor of the Exchequer thought for a moment and said, "Can we learn from Bulgaria and give the soldiers land as a salary, the British Empire has land!" ”

Lloyd-George shook his head directly and said, "I'm afraid not, I think any Englishman has no interest in our land now!" ”

Needless to say, the land tax and inheritance tax collected during the world war have discouraged everyone's enthusiasm for land.

And Bulgaria has never increased the land tax once, the agricultural tax of 5% is all, and the military aristocracy has also halved, compared to the British Empire, which was once as high as 80% of the land inheritance tax, idiots are interested in land?

Even telling the soldiers that all their land is exempt from taxes now has no effect, after all, the government's actions have hurt them deeply, and it will be difficult to re-establish their credibility.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer reluctantly said: "Then the only way to do this is to increase military salaries, our fiscal situation is not very good, how about I suggest an increase of 20 percent?" ”

The Minister of War shook his head and said: "I'm afraid not, according to what we know, we must increase military salaries by at least 50 percent in normal times, triple military salaries in wartime, and triple pensions in wartime to arouse everyone's enthusiasm!" ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer exclaimed: "Why don't you rob it, with such a high military salary, your standards are about to catch up with the navy?" ”

The War Secretary asked rhetorically, "Is there anything wrong with this?" Do you still want the soldiers to work for a lower salary than the average domestic worker?

Do you think they're all stupid? Don't forget that they are basically veterans who came down from the world war, who will give you your life if you don't give money? ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we recruit mercenaries, maybe it's cheaper?" ”

The Minister of War just smiled coldly, and everyone shook their heads, mercenaries are no longer useful in these years, and the kind of cheap and capable soldiers have long ceased to exist.

Lloyd-George interrupted the argument between the two and said: "Let's try to increase the salaries of the soldiers on the front line first, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact the Egyptians again, if it really doesn't work, let's try the Egyptians first!" If it works, it's worth it! ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer thought for a moment and said, "Okay then! ”

……