London. Trafalgar Square.

This square was built to commemorate the Battle of Cape Trafalgar more than 50 years ago. Although the square is not big, it is located in the most prosperous area of the wheelset, and the crowd is crowded. To the north of the square is the famous National Gallery; The northeast corner of the square is the famous Martin Church. In the center of the square, there is a tall column monument, which commemorates the famous British naval commander, admiral and national hero Horatio, who died heroically in that famous naval battle. Nelson.

But now, in the middle of Trafalgar Square, right in front of the monument to the columns, thousands of people, raising their fists and banners, are shouting and demonstrating with excitement.

These crowds, the oldest of whom were seventy or eighty years old, and the younger ones were only a few years old, followed the leaders of the crowd and continued to shout slogans such as "No war, no peace" or "Return my relatives, your lordship will come to the stage", and the momentum was huge, causing a sensation in the whole square and even several blocks, attracting more people to come and watch. On both sides of the square, hundreds of military and police officers stayed cautiously and cautiously, keeping their distance and restraint from the crowd.

When the newspapers revealed the news of the disastrous defeat of the expeditionary force against China, public opinion in London surged undercurrent, and finally, today, it suddenly exploded. Those who gathered in Trafalgar Square to demonstrate were the families of the soldiers of the expeditionary force who participated in the war against China.

I don't know who came out with the news, saying that the members of the cabinet brazenly launched an expedition against China in disregard of the opposition of the former prime minister and the majority of parliamentarians, and when there was a serious shortage of weapons, equipment, and salaries, they rashly attacked and fell into the trap of the enemy army, resulting in a great defeat. Moreover, now, when the expeditionary force has been completely wiped out and tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed or wounded, the cabinet is actually preparing to embezzle the pensions of the soldiers who died in the war for military expenses and plan for another expedition to China. Moreover, more than 10,000 British soldiers were captured by the enemy, and the British Empire did not even take measures to ransom the boys. Presumably, the bureaucrats of the cabinet government did not care about the expeditionary soldiers who were killed in battle or taken prisoner, and regarded them as if they were a mustard.

As a result, under the organization of some well-intentioned people, the families of thousands of soldiers of the expeditionary force in the London area came to Trafalgar Square in an organized manner to hold demonstrations.

At first, it was morning, but some of the soldiers' families were shouting slogans, but with the arrival of hundreds of military and police, the protesters gradually became less and more vocal. However, as the news spread, thousands of workers and small businessmen from all walks of life who had been retired from the army for many years and are now middle-aged came to the square to support the military families and make the noise even louder.

"We want bread!"

"Lord Almighty, please save the families of the poor soldiers of the Expeditionary Force, who are about to starve to death by the British government!"

"Give back my brother!"

Slogans came and went.

By the afternoon, the entire square had been enclosed, and several blocks around the square were paralyzed.

At this time, in the parliament of Westminster, the cabinet ministers, who were repeatedly chattered by the demonstrators, are now facing accusations in the parliament.

Some members of the House of Commons spoke like prophets claiming that they had long been opposed to waging war against China, but the Cabinet, especially Prime Minister Palmerston, invited the Queen to give a speech, inciting them to vote in favor. Others, on the other hand, accuse the commanders of the expeditionary force appointed by the cabinet ministers for not knowing how to fight at all, and for allowing the mighty British Expeditionary Force to suffer an unforgivable defeat in such a short period of time.

Liberal MP Tony. The deputies directly proposed a vote of no confidence in the Palmerston Cabinet and were prepared to exercise the powers of Parliament.

He shouted straight to the point in parliament: "The action of waging war against China is itself stupid." Palmerston's cabinet has failed the rights given to them by the parliamentarians. They only want to start a war and profit from it, without knowing the serious consequences of a war. Once victorious, it will also bear the serious consequences of destroying Guangzhou, Shanghai and other eastern cities, leading to the cessation of Sino-British trade, and killing many innocent people, and the new taxes for this will be added to the heads of the people. And once defeated, it will have to suffer the consequences of the humiliation of the British Empire, as well as heavy casualties and war losses. Now the entire responsibility for the crushing defeat of the expeditionary force must be borne by the members of the cabinet. I propose a vote of no confidence in the members of the Cabinet. ”

The Whig MP to which Palmerston belonged replied: "Although Palmerston proposed to start a war against China at the beginning, it was for the honor of the British Empire, and the Chinese Empire was aggressive, continuously waging wars to invade neighboring countries, further compressing the territory of the British Empire in the Far East and the East Indies and other places, I am afraid that sooner or later it will extend its tentacles to India, and it must be contained by war strikes." Moreover, waging war was a collective decision by parliament! ”

Palmerston waved his hand to stop the help of the Whig MPs, and said directly: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to say more. As Prime Minister, I admit that the responsibility for the fiasco of this expeditionary war against China lies with the Cabinet, and even more so with me! I therefore solemnly apologize to the Parliamentarians and, through you, to the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. I also apologize to the Cabinet and Queen Victoria for always supporting me! ”

Speaking of this, Palmerston glanced at the MPs in the audience, and his eyes were hot. Ben palpitated for a while, lowered his head and didn't dare to look at each other.

Palmerston looked at the opposition seats and then said something that surprised the House of Representatives: "You don't have to go through the no-confidence voting process. I formally propose to resign as Prime Minister and to be re-elected by Parliament to form a new Cabinet. ”

Speaking of this, Palmerston paused slightly, stretched out his powerful arm full of old tendons and waved his hand, quieting the parliament that caused the riot a little, and continued: "However, what I want to say is that the decision to launch a war against China this time is right, and what is wrong is that it was launched too late, and the scale of the expeditionary force against China is too small and too inadequately prepared!" ”

"The distant Eastern Empire has risen strongly. Ladies and gentlemen, do not think that this is the backward ancient country of the East ruled by the Tatars 20 years ago, and that a few warships and a few thousand soldiers could capture all their ports and even their capitals. Now, you have also seen that they have a strong enough military strength, not only the army is strong, but even the navy is not weak, and in a short period of time, four naval fleets have been formed, and in one fell swoop, the expeditionary force sent by the British Empire, with 50,000 soldiers and more than 100 warships, was defeated in one fell swoop. As a result, our expeditionary force even only occupied Hong Kong Island, which we originally occupied, and failed to even occupy the city of Canton. What does this mean? It shows that their strength has exceeded our previous imagination! ”

"Moreover, I have collected some information in the past few days, and I have learned that this Eastern Empire, its industry, all walks of life in the country, are booming, and the speed of its development is even greater than that of my Great Britain. Their home-made artillery is even better than our most advanced artillery; Their own cotton cloth is driving the cotton market of our British Empire out of the Oriental world, and quickly occupying the market there; And the kind of crude oil they extracted, the kind of black oil that burned the expeditionary fleet, has been hoarded in an unimaginably large amount, and this kind of crude oil, we have only just begun to explore, and we have not been able to grasp a complete mining area at all. ”

"Therefore, I have to admit my mistakes. That is to ignore the country, and our cabinet did not pay enough attention to this Eastern Empire, resulting in the current situation. Palmerston's voice turned from low to high, and he said, "Here, I implore you to be fully vigilant against this Eastern Empire, and not to allow it to develop any longer. After the dissolution of the current Cabinet, I hope that the next Cabinet and all members of the Cabinet will learn the lesson of this time and launch the next new expedition to China as soon as possible, and the new expeditionary force will be larger and more prepared! ”

Palmerston's remarks caused an uproar in the entire parliament, but the deputies could not help but ponder, and many of them even felt that it was extremely reasonable to launch another expedition.

The parliamentarians exchanged heads and discussions, and the crowd became excited.

However, Liberal MP Tony . Ben still sneered: "Sir is self-aware, and it is commendable to resign on his own initiative." However, to launch an expedition against China again, the expeditionary force will be even larger? Do you know what that means? ”

Without waiting for an answer, Tony. Ben went on to say: "This requires a huge amount of war money, and it requires the collection of more taxes from the lower classes of the people we represent, and in the end it will be to the detriment of the British people!" The demonstrations in Trafalgar Square have not yet dispersed, and I do not know whether the resignation of Sir Sir will calm their anger a little, but I do know that the pensions of their relatives who died in the Far East, the soldiers of the British Empire, must be paid. And the young men who were captured must also be brought back to England as soon as possible. And all of this requires a lot of money. Get these things out of the way before you build your so-called larger expeditionary force. ”

Tony. Ben's words sunk the hearts of the members of parliament who had been a sensation to the bottom. Yes, the families of the soldiers who died in the expeditionary force in the square are still demonstrating and asking for pensions. There are still so many prisoners, I don't know if the Eastern Empire wants a ransom or war compensation, after all, this war was provoked by its own side, and it was attacked to the edge of Guangzhou.

Moreover, the most important thing is that India has just quelled the rebellion a little, and it is not completely pacified, if the eastern country interrupts its trade with the British Empire because of this war, although it will not be really interrupted, it will at least be seriously affected, and I am afraid that the trade income and fiscal revenue will be reduced in the coming year. Where did they find the huge amount of money to organize an even larger expeditionary fleet?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer hiding in the corner is already pale, but anyway, the cabinet is dissolved and he is going to resign, and he doesn't want to say anything more, so leave it to the successor.

The details of the discussion in the British Parliament did not reveal too much. But the news of Palmerston's apology and resignation for the crushing defeat of the expeditionary force soon spread throughout Britain and Europe, and politicians from all over the country were taken aback.

In any case, they never imagined that the British expeditionary war against China would end like this, and that the powerful British expedition would end like this.

And the impact of the crushing defeat of this expeditionary force is still ongoing.

But no matter what, the entire Western world knows one thing, that is, the invincible world's first power, the British Empire, was defeated in the hands of the Chinese Empire in the East, which also marks that the Eastern world has risen into a powerful country in the world.