London, inside the Cabinet Residence at 10 Downing Street. British Prime Minister Palmerston, Foreign Minister Kleoladern, and War Secretary Herbert are watching the news from the Far East.

A telegram from Ottoman Turkey claimed that not long ago, the Chinese Empire had formally annexed Annam, making Annam two provinces under its direct rule. At the same time, there is also news from Myanmar that it seems that an unknown number of Chinese troops are infesting northern Myanmar, and the situation is unclear.

Palmerston threw the telegram in his hand on the table and said, "That traitor in the East is so ambitious that he has even annexed Vietnam one after another. The French Minister to China, together with the Governor of Hong Kong Island, exerted pressure on them, but in vain. This is contempt for the Empire! It's time to teach that rebel leader a hard lesson! ”

Kleralarden hesitated: "Sir, not long ago, the Sino-British Trade Agreement was signed with the other party, and if we send troops to attack, I am afraid that these treaties will all be nullified, and the Chinese will not open the treaty ports, and those British merchants will go to the Parliament and the Queen to make trouble." ”

Herbert said, "Kelladeen, you are too weak. Afraid of this and that, how can you make it succumb? Great Britain believed in cannon diplomacy and never expected diplomacy from others. If the Chinese do not open their treaty ports, they will be beaten until they are opened, just like fifteen years ago! ”

Palmerston slapped the table: "Well said! Kleradern, you foreign minister, have completely lost the demeanor of when I was a foreign minister! The barbaric and backward Orientals still call themselves empires and are arrogant, and they do not teach them any lessons, but they are afraid that the interests of Britain in the Far East for decades will be buried. ”

"The Shanghai Concession has been occupied, and the rebel leader has brazenly attacked the British fleet in the Far East twice, which is really arrogant. Some time ago, because of the Crimean War, it was impossible to send troops there, but now that the war is over, the workers in the country are no longer making trouble, and they can send troops to the Far East. If they don't contain each other, I'm afraid that Hong Kong Island and Malacca will slowly be infiltrated by it. ”

Clarardern's face was flushed with words, and he could only hang his head and say, "Sir is right. It's that I'm worried about it. ”

Palmerston smiled: "Aren't the French staring at Vietnam?" Kleradern, you yourself should go to Paris and persuade the arrogant emperor that they should send an army and England a strong navy to the Far East, and not only to teach the rebel leader a lesson, but also to capture their capital, drive out the rebel chief, and station our plenipotentiary there, which is the most appropriate measure. After that, let all their port cities open up to trade with Great Britain and reduce customs duties, which is what I want Great Britain wants. Vietnam can be ceded to them by France, and I am sure they will also be very interested. ”

Kleradern hurriedly agreed.

"However, our fundamental interests in the East have always been in India. Hearing that there has been some injustice in India recently, Herbert returned the troops of the Crimea to India as soon as possible. There's no mess there! Palmerston said to Herbert.

Herb nodded, the Crimean War drew a lot of troops from India, although the Indians were relatively weak, but after a long time, they were really afraid of chaos.

Kleillarden returned to business and asked, "Sir, how many troops do you think it would be better to send to the Far East?" I am worried that if there are too many troops sent, overseas military spending will be tight, and if there are fewer troops, the Taiping Holy Kingdom will have a large number of troops and it will be difficult to capture it. Moreover, there are too many soldiers killed in the war in Crimea, and the pension allowance has to be spent a lot. Once the war breaks out, I don't know how many young men will die in the Far East, so it's prudent. ”

Palmerston turned his head to look at Herbert, the Minister of War, and the military side still asked for his opinion.

"Sir, in my opinion, it is enough to send an army of 30,000 troops. Among them, 15,000 people were directly sent by India and Bangladesh, 7,000 people from the navy of the three places in the strait and Hong Kong Island, plus 10,000 people withdrawn from Crimea, which should be enough! Among them, there are cavalry such as the Queen's Guards Dragoon Regiment, the Probischuck Cavalry Regiment of Punjab, and the Finn Indian Cavalry Regiment, as well as regular infantry and artillery, which is enough for those backward Orientals! Herbert said proudly: "Sir, after all, you just want to teach those rebels a hard lesson, and you have not thought of directly occupying it, an India already needs too many troops and energy." After all, the country is too big to be pacified for a while, so it is better to subdue it and let it obediently become a trading place for the British. ”

Palmerston nodded, Herbert was worthy of being his confidant and knew his thoughts very well.

The Governor of Hong Kong Island, Bao Ling, had already reported to him about this Eastern Empire, and in Palmerston's view, it would be detrimental to British interests in the Far East to keep the entire empire in turmoil for a long time. Britain has countless colonies, and the price of direct rule is too great for a country like this ancient civilization with a long history, a large population, and a share of its pride. Consider, with a population of hundreds of millions, more than ten times that of Britain, such a country is not suitable for direct rule, but more suitable as a market for dumping goods.

As long as the two goods of tea and raw silk of that country are in their hands, and let them become the raw material base of Great Britain, it is much more cost-effective than directly occupying it.

Moreover, although this rebel army was hateful, it was very knowledgeable about current affairs, much more enlightened than the Qing state established by the original Tatars, took the initiative to sign a treaty of trade with the British, opened treaty ports, and treated British merchants and missionaries kindly and friendly, not as closed and ridiculous as the original Manchu Qing.

Of course, this rebel government was not honest, and even challenged Britain twice, killed many British soldiers, captured warships and did not return them, and recovered the concessions in Shanghai and other places, which Palmerston could not tolerate.

It just so happens that now he dares to invade Vietnam, which the French have been eyeing for a long time, just gives Palmerston a reason to drag France into the water and deal with this Chinese empire together.

But Palmerston just wanted to teach the new ruler of the East a hard lesson and make him obedient. If it were to be defeated completely, not only would Britain need to spend a huge amount of troops and military spending, but it might lose more than worth the loss if it lost a lot of soldiers. On the contrary, trade with them may be affected by the war. Maybe it was taken advantage of by Tsarist Russia in the north because of this. Palmerston knew that the polar bear had been expanding its territory and was staring at the surroundings.

"A slight blow will suffice, and let it take the initiative to ask for an armistice, and promise not to infringe on the interests of Great Britain. The capture of the capital is enough, otherwise this behemoth will have to live in strife again. This is not in the interests of Great Britain! And ......" Palmerston was just about to continue, when the sound of horses' hooves sounded outside the door, and through the window, he saw his personal assistant hurriedly jumping off his horse with a telegram, and seemed to be in a hurry, and he immediately realized that something was wrong, and stopped.

There was a knock on the door and it was immediately pushed open, and the assistant rushed in panting, shouting: "Sir, there is urgent news from Bombay, it is sent by the Governor of India, Earl Canning, personally, saying that there have been soldiers' riots in many parts of India, which has triggered an uprising among the indigenous people of India. ”

"They had just abolished the puppet monarch of Odeh and completely annexed Ode, and were about to celebrate, when a rumor about bullet lubricant caused discontent among the soldiers among Hindus and Muslims. One hundred and three Indian soldiers of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment in Meerut, near Delhi, openly refused the bullets fired by the British colonists, and the officers not only tied up the 100 men, but also sent all the Indian soldiers of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment to the army prison for imprisonment. The 11th and 20th Bengal Hussars stationed in Meerut responded to the rebellion, and the rioters released the soldiers of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and attacked the British settlements in the area, killing all the Europeans and Indian Christians they could find, and burning down their houses. ”

"What!?" Palmerston was taken aback, and Huo Di threw the teacup in his hand out of his hand.

He had been a foreign minister, and he knew about those places in British India, and although the city of Meerut, although it was not large, it was close to Delhi, and there were many troops stationed there. The rebellion of the three cavalry regiments, and the rest of the soldiers of these cavalry regiments, except for the officers and backbones, were almost seventy or eighty percent of the soldiers of Indian nationality, and although these Indian soldiers came from different places, they basically believed in Hinduism or Islam. Moreover, many of the troops who had been transferred from India to the Crimean Peninsula had not yet returned to India, and the British soldiers in the entire Indian colony were not very numerous, and once the rebellion of these Indian native soldiers caused a sensation and a herd effect, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He hurriedly asked urgently, "What is the follow-up situation?" Is the rebellion under control? ”

The assistant said in embarrassment: "Sir, everything is terrible, the situation is completely out of control!" The Earl of Canning sent an urgent letter for help, asking Sir to send troops to the rescue as soon as possible. ”