None of this is counting, neither of these two pieces of news has anything directly related to the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the third piece of news has made Gladstone's hairs stand on end.

The third piece of news is that the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire has attacked the east coast of the Indian Ocean on a large scale, and has captured the sphere of influence occupied by Great Britain, Muscat, Mukara, and even Aden, an important port of the British Kingdom at the mouth of the Red Sea, has also been captured by the Chinese Imperial Fleet. This is not counting, intelligence shows that the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire really seems to occupy the entire Indian Ocean, and after a little looting of the ports on both sides of the Red Sea, it will go south to attack East Africa, and it seems that it has gone straight to Cape Town, the most important overseas colonial stronghold of the Kingdom of Great Britain in southern Africa.

The Earl of Derby had already read the note quickly, his face was very ugly, and he sighed to Gladstone: "Something is wrong, this situation is completely beyond the control of our Kingdom of Great Britain. Europe is going to be in chaos, and the whole world is going to be in chaos! ”

Gladstone could not have imagined that he would encounter such a major problem as soon as he became prime minister, and he could only solve them one by one according to the information he received. And all this, he was originally just the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he usually heard and witnessed the cabinet handling external affairs, but when it was his turn, he was a little dazed. Before a new foreign secretary is in place, he has to turn to the Earl of Derby, who has been foreign secretary and prime minister for a long time.

Derby seemed to understand Gladstone's difficulties, and after a moment of silence, he slowly spoke his thoughts: "Mr. Prime Minister, my advice. The first piece of news is the internal turmoil in Tsarist Russia, and now our Kingdom of Great Britain is now concentrating on solving the invasion of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire and the Danish problem, and there is nothing that can be done about Tsarist Russia. Whoever eventually becomes the Tsar, we congratulate and stand on whose side. Until then, we will not be busy making a statement, but only calling on European countries to wait and see what happens, and not to interfere more.

The second piece of news, the invasion of Denmark by the Kingdom of Prussia, we must resolutely vote against it! This must be the reason why Prussia has accumulated a lot of wealth and power in all these years of trading with the Chinese Empire, and wants to show their strong military power. They were hell-bent on unifying Germany and restoring the so-called Holy Roman Empire. I can assure you that Prussia, having defeated Denmark, will not be satisfied, will not rest, and will go to war with Austria until it is finally victorious or defeated. I have a hunch that this Prussia may well be the ultimate victor! It is enough for the two superpowers of France and Tsarist Russia on the European continent, and the others, Austria, Prussia, and the Ottomans, are already strong enough, and they cannot be allowed to continue to develop, otherwise, sooner or later, the entire European pattern will be broken, which is not good for our Kingdom of Great Britain.

Another point is that we did not pay much attention to the Kingdom of Prussia before, because it had a particularly good relationship not only with Tsarist Russia, but also with the Chinese Empire, and with Austria and Great Britain, so that we subconsciously neglected to be wary of them. In fact, recent investigations have found that it was the collusion between Prussia and the Chinese Empire to engage in trade that made the Chinese Empire rapidly strong and Prussia also began to become strong. We must be cautious and beware of the day when the Kingdom of Prussia and the Chinese Empire unite to divide up the European continent. ”

"As for the third piece of news, this is particularly important and directly related to my Kingdom of Great Britain." The Earl of Derby continued: "Didn't you say that the Bao Ling went to the East to negotiate peace? Even if you haven't arrived at Seikyo yet, you should be there soon. Or it was intercepted by the warships of the Chinese Empire halfway! Bao Ling's departure was not just on the way to the Red Sea and East Africa by the Indian Ocean fleet, and it was probably like this.

If it is true that Bao Ling was seized, then everything is obvious, this is the Chinese Empire is retaliating! ”

The corners of Gladstone's mouth suddenly became bitter, he may be the most angry prime minister among the many prime ministers of the Kingdom of Great Britain in recent years!

I can't imagine that the mighty Kingdom of Great Britain has now become like this. Just because of the defeat, he retreated again and again, and he was afraid of being retaliated against by the eastern country! The envoy of the Chinese Empire in Europe could not find it, and he deliberately avoided it, and sent an envoy to the far east to negotiate peace. And such a grievance was deliberately delayed and detained in disguise, the fundamental purpose is to take revenge!

The other side is an Eastern country, a backward country that has just risen, and it is not these European countries at all, and it abides by international conventions such as the Treaty of Paris, and a country is defeated and declares an armistice. And this barbaric Oriental country, which has no such rules at all, even pursued it relentlessly, and after conquering Ceylon, India, an overseas colony of Great Britain, even the idea of attacking the Red Sea coast and even Cape Town, Africa, is how much to ignore the former British Empire!

But even so, Gladstone couldn't do anything. What else can be said? The crushing defeat of the expeditionary fleet and the expeditionary army that had been painstakingly assembled not long ago announced the decline of the once empire on which the sun never set, and the eastern country, which was once vulnerable and backward, has risen strongly.

In terms of military force, in a short period of time, far overseas, it is no longer possible to defeat the other side.

Gladstone asked directly, "Sir, how are we okay?" ”

Derby looked gloomy and said: "There is no way, I can only endure for the time being, accumulate strength, and wait for the navy and land of my Kingdom of Great Britain to become strong again, enough to defeat all the naval forces of the other party, and then reoccupy it." Until then, the only way to do this is to give up Cape Town and the territories of southern Africa.

In this way, the other European powers will also be dissatisfied with it, and we will unite with France, Austria, and the Ottomans to fight against the Chinese Empire. ”

Gladstone could only nod: "Then we can only go back to the original way, give up the dignity of the Kingdom of Great Britain and sue for peace with the Chinese Empire?" ”

"I'm afraid that's all it takes!" Debi said: "We still have to consider practicality, and fight hard with the Chinese empire, even if we defeat the other side and take back India, I am afraid that the heavy losses we will be unbearable." It's better to bow your head for a while and accumulate strength. ”

"I see!" Gladstone's mood was gloomy, and he looked up and said, "Thank you, Count! I immediately published an article in The Times, apologizing to all the citizens of Great Britain, and at the same time, publicly appealing to the Chinese Empire to stop the war and officially declaring the defeat of the Kingdom of Great Britain. All the charges are on me. ”