Ramsey sighed: "Your Majesty, the United Kingdom has risen with maritime trade, and the Royal Navy is proud of the top of the world's powers, and has always attached importance to the navy, and the main military expenditure is to develop the navy, compared with the Royal Navy, it has always paid not enough attention to the development of the army. Therefore, although army soldiers are not well paid, they are not able to recruit much. can maintain 160,000, which has withstood the huge pressure of financial expenditure. ”

Earl Derby suddenly said, "What's going on with Canning over there?" I remember that the year before last, when the natives of India rebelled in a big way, and the British soldiers in India were only more than 40,000 European soldiers, and although the United Kingdom sent nearly 100,000 troops from various places, less than 20,000 of them were sent from Great Britain, and the rest were mobilized from other overseas territories, especially 80,000 Sikhs from Punjab. It is best to recruit a total of 300,000 indigenous soldiers from India proper, and let the indigenous soldiers of India help us put down the rebellion there. Why don't we continue with this approach? Those indigenous Indian soldiers shouldn't have been disbanded yet, right? ”

Prime Minister Russell said dissatisfiedly: "Earl Derby, you also said that the pacification of the previous Indian rebellion relied on the transfer of Sikh soldiers to India to govern India. But this time, don't you know that the main force and leader of the Indian rebels this time is the Sikh rebels? In addition, the 300,000 indigenous soldiers of India, because the Indian Viceroyalty has been unable to pay enough salaries, have disbanded more than 100,000 troops, and some of the remaining indigenous troops have participated in the rebellion because of their lack of money. Those who are natives are unreliable! ”

Earl Derby said calmly: "But the Sikhs are not a whole!" The rebellious Sikh army is only the rebels of the Sikh Kingdom in the area of Punjab today, originally in all parts of India, especially in the Bengal region and the Madras region of southern India, and even Ceylon and Persia, there are many Sikh soldiers loyal to the British, they are all commanded by the officers of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they are dedicated to fighting, isolated from the world, presumably they do not know the matter of the Sikh rebellion in Punjab, it is unlikely that they will be sent to attack the Sikh rebels, and they will be transferred to Calcutta to attack the invading Burmese army, It's always no problem. In addition, with such a vast territory of India and hundreds of princely princely states, we can use the name of Her Majesty the Queen and the United Kingdom to knight and award medals to some of these princes who have always been close to Great Britain, and even give them rewards and fiefs, etc., to win them into the arms of Great Britain, and then use their armies to organize and help us pacify those rebels. ”

Prime Minister Russell still forcibly defended it: "These betrayers, inferior peoples, are not reliable." Even the Irish began to betray the United Kingdom, not to mention the Orientals? Unless we promise them to establish an independent kingdom of their own people, without direct interference in their internal affairs. ”

Victoria frowned, interrupted Russell's words and shouted: "Prime Minister, this king thinks what Earl Derby said is reasonable, why not try!" Besides, now that the kingdom has reached this critical juncture, don't care about the minutiae. As long as the rebellion in Ireland and India can be put down as soon as possible, whatever conditions are available, you can agree to them first. ”

Russell then noticed that the queen was dissatisfied with herself. Although the United Kingdom of Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy, and he, the prime minister, is also elected by the parliament, Queen Victoria's status is noble enough to influence the attitude of the majority of members of the parliament, and his prime minister is still appointed by the queen from the apparent procedure, so he quickly admits his mistake: "Okay, Your Majesty, our cabinet will unite those local forces loyal to the United Kingdom, even if they agree to some conditions that are not too excessive, as long as they help the United Kingdom to put down the rebellion!" ”

Everyone can also see that Her Majesty is really frightened by India and Ireland, especially the Indian rebels, and is already a little panicked. Think about it, after all, with so many people in India, how many troops does the Kingdom of Great Britain have in total? You can't send them all to India. But the best way to not watch India fall under the hands of the rebels and take it away from Great Britain is to win over a group of local princely princes and crush the rebellious armies. It is better to cede some of India's interests and let the princes of the princely states have their own domains, or even become independent vassal states of the Kingdom of Great Britain, rather than lose all of India. Today, more than one-fifth of the Kingdom of Great Britain's economy and trade depend on the markets and raw materials supplied by overseas colonies such as India.

The Cabinet Ministers, under the supervision of Queen Victoria, had already agreed on the size and number of troops to be deployed, and just when everyone thought that the meeting was about to be dissolved, and they rushed to carry it out separately, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for the Colonies, William Jurte Gladstone, stood up and objected: "Your Majesty, Cabinets, now that the Kingdom of Great Britain has completed the Industrial Revolution and has become the 'factory of the world', the United Kingdom should fully exercise liberal governance. Give full freedom to the merchants and the common people, and give full play to the policy of free trade, and there should be more freedom for those colonies. I am therefore opposed to the excessive sending of troops from Great Britain itself and the thankless efforts to put down the Indian rebellion and continue to be a colony under the direct rule of the United Kingdom. Rather, he agreed with the Earl of Derby's suggestion to rely mainly on the soldiers of the princely princes recruited in India and the soldiers of the original East India Company in India to quell the rebellion, and after quelling the rebellion, to prop up some native forces in the region, and turn them into subjects under the indirect control of the United Kingdom, rather than directly ruled colonies. ”

Russell and the Earl of Derby shouted in unison: "Nonsense! Gladstone, are you crazy? If you weren't a member of the Liberal Party, I wonder if you're an Englishman. He even spoke for those Indians. Is it rare for you not to know the importance of India to Great Britain, to Her Majesty, to all the people of the United Kingdom? ”

Gladstone retorted: "I only know that it is much more cost-effective to control India indirectly and make full use of the resources of its land and the people there than to rule them directly!" Since the Indian rebellion a few years ago, to now, more than four years after the rebellion, the United Kingdom's fiscal taxes and trade profits from India have been reduced from 40 million pounds a year to an average of only 7 million pounds a year! Even in 1857 and 1858, due to the riots in various places, taxes could not be collected, trade in raw materials and other goods could not be carried out normally, and military spending increased sharply, and even millions of pounds were lost. This was when more than half of the territory of Mumbai and Madras had not been disturbed by the rebellion, and the cotton produced in Mumbai and the gold and precious stones of Madras were able to be transported back to Europe smoothly. Now that the Indian rebellion is in full swing, not only in the Bengal and Mumbai districts, but also in the Madras region, it will be very difficult to send troops to quell all of them. According to my suggestion, it is better to concentrate on the territory of the United Kingdom which is most advantageous to our United Kingdom in the area of Bombay and the city of Calcutta in Bengal, and for the rest of the territory, we can first announce the abandonment on the surface, and give it to the princely princes who are powerful and inclined to the United Kingdom, and directly support the forces of these princely princes, let them send troops against those rebels, and kill themselves, and when the victory is decided, the British can send troops and support them as agents of the kingdom, or directly get rid of them and occupy them directly. Alternatively, this would allow for a quick and relatively small cost of stabilizing the situation in India. ”

"Crucially, this will ensure that the United Kingdom of Great Britain's cotton needs in the Bombay jurisdiction and the trade in tobacco and commodities in the Kolkata region will not be disrupted, and that the United Kingdom's interests in India will not be fundamentally harmed!" Gladstone continued: "Moreover, with the reduction in the number of troops, military spending can also be affordable. According to the original scale of the cabinet's troop contribution, especially the number of troops on the island of Great Britain, India's military expenditure alone would require at least £5 million for the navy, and 70,000 troops for the army, and even £8 million in additional spending. And not only that, because it was only to put down the rebellion in India. The rebellion in Ireland had to be resolved, but it also required a lot of military spending. According to the size of the troops, Wales and Scotland sent 20,000 troops, plus 20,000 English soldiers on the island of Ireland, not counting the expenses such as sending ships to transport, even if the military expenditure of these 40,000 people would need more than 3 million pounds, and if the war lasted more than 4 months, it would need to be increased. In addition to the military expenses of the troops, the lack of troops in Great Britain caused by the dispatch of troops, as well as the soldiers needed for the subsequent suppression of the rebellion in the two places, required and greatly expanded the army. Even if 100,000 men were to be recruited first, the cost of recruitment, training, equipment and provision for these troops would be expected to be no less than £15 million, and at least £40 million would be required if 300,000 were to be recruited. God, this is an astronomical amount for the finances of the Kingdom of Great Britain, no matter how rich the United Kingdom is! ”

Prime Minister Russell also did not expect that the original decision to send troops to India and Ireland to quell the rebellion would require military spending to reach such a level, which does not mean that the original agreed plan to send troops will be calculated before and after, and the first batch of direct military expenditure will need about 16 million pounds, which is almost twice the annual military expenditure of the entire British Kingdom Navy. And if you want to recruit 100,000 recruits in the future, it will cost 15 million pounds in half a year, not counting the heavy equipment for the purchase of warships and giant artillery. He was a little embarrassed, after all, Gladstone was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and was helping him share the financial burden as prime minister. Where to raise such a large amount of military spending? He had a headache.

Queen Victoria was also taken aback by Gladstone's military budget, as the king of the United Kingdom, her annual fixed salary is only 700,000 pounds, which is enough to make her entire royal family more than 20 times the income.

She was well aware that the United Kingdom's military spending, navy and army, and aid to allies this year added up to more than £23 million. Not to mention that because of the impact of the Crimean War and the last Indian rebellion, the large-scale overspending that has been in place for several consecutive years has not been filled, and the military budget has been in a state of deficit, not counting some other Persian wars and other impacts. Only then was the expeditionary force to China realized. Now that we want more military spending, where will we get it?

She looked at the Earl of Derby in embarrassment.

The Earl of Derby understood what she meant, and said directly to Gladstone and Russell: "The rebellion in India and Ireland must be put down!" We must not be timid because of the shortage of military spending and delay the major event of sending troops to quell the rebellion! It's still the same way, borrow from the bankers in London, and if London is not enough, it will be the whole of Great Britain and even the whole of Europe! No matter how high the interest rate is, you must immediately raise military expenses and send troops immediately! I can lend half of the Stanley family's fortune and all my personal fortune to the Cabinet without interest, and I can probably have 700,000 pounds sterling for military expenses, to show my support! ”

With that, Earl Derby looked at the other members of the cabinet. Seeing that the respected Earl of Derby behaved like this, the other cabinet members were helpless, and they also expressed their willingness to lend part of their family and personal property to the kingdom as military expenses, or they were willing to contact a certain bank and persuade the bank owner to lend money to the kingdom for the army.

Victoria was overjoyed, and now said that on behalf of the royal family, she is also willing to donate 500,000 pounds and lend 500,000 pounds to show her support for quelling the rebellion!

The next day, Queen Victoria and Russell gave a public speech in Westminster Abbey, calling on the nobles, bankers, and factory owners of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to donate or borrow money to help raise military funds to quell the rebels in India and Ireland. The news spread, and for a time, the whole of London, and even the Kingdom of Great Britain, set off a patriotic upsurge.

In less than a week, all classes of Great Britain have raised £27 million in military spending, including £23 million in loans. This not only exceeded the originally expected direct military expenditure of 16 million pounds, but also almost raised the funds for the expansion of the army to recruit 100,000 troops.

As a result, the 25,000 British infantry and artillery units in Wales and Scotland, which were the first to go out, were assembled within a week of the military funds being raised, and they were divided into two forces on troop transports and escorted by several warships, and successfully arrived in the eastern part of the island of Ireland and landed.

A few days later, the 60,000 British native army and 30,000 navy assembled formed a mighty expeditionary Indian fleet on warships, troop transports, and merchant ships.