London. The apse of Buckingham Palace.

Victoria's face was gloomy, and her husband, Prince Albert, had fallen ill again, this time more seriously than before, for several days, and several court physicians and London's most famous physicians had been called in, but there was no improvement. Victoria also put aside the affairs of the empire, closed herself to the cabinet ministers, and accompanied her husband for several days in a row, her eyes bloodshot and extremely tired.

Looking at her husband lying at the head of the bed, Victoria's heart felt sour. Her husband, Prince Albert, was only in his early 40s, and the sunny, healthy, charismatic, and elegant man he was now curled up at the head of the bed like a shriveled old man, coughing from time to time, and Victoria felt a kind of heart-digging pain.

She couldn't help but be upset! The United Kingdom's state affairs are not going well, and now even its own family affairs are restless.

A while ago, the 50,000 expeditionary forces of the British Empire against China were unbelievably defeated by that eastern country, or were all wiped out! Palmerston, the prime minister, resigned because of this incident, and the former prime minister, Earl Derby, acted as a peacemaker, rushing to the Far East despite the age of 60, humiliatingly agreeing to the conditions of that eastern country, signing a treaty that would disgrace the British Empire, and bringing back the captured British soldiers. And that was also called the contract of the Treaty of Nanking, and Victoria knew that it was the deliberate revenge and retaliation of that hateful Oriental country twenty years ago. In particular, the content of the treaty, not to mention the loss of the Straits Settlements by the British Empire, but also humiliatingly promised the other side to assist in the arrest of its own prime minister, Sir Palmerston, who started the war, which is undoubtedly a great insult, which made the British Empire lose face and make Sir Palmerston extremely chilled.

But that's politics! The only way to do this is to bring back those captives and accumulate strength. If it weren't for the fact that the Indian rebellion was only initially pacified and had not yet been completely resolved and stabilized, if it weren't for the fact that the treaty on the Persian side had just been signed, the Suez Canal and France were still fighting, and the British Empire still needed a lot of troops to garrison and deter between the Ottoman Empire and Iran, Victoria really wanted to directly launch a second expedition against the Chinese Empire, as Sir Palmerston said.

Let the country in the east and the emperor named Feng Yunshan be proud for a while, Victoria swore that it would not be long before she would return these humiliations to the other party, she wanted to see the other party submit the letter of surrender and the scene of reparation, so that she would be happier and the prince would be happy.

Everything will be fine! Victoria said softly to herself. She instructed the nurses and maids to take care of the prince, pushed open the door of the apse, and walked out.

Several important cabinet members stood there. He was followed by some other cabinet members, and even some parliamentarians and nobles and generals who did not usually show up, all standing under the steps outside the gate at this moment, looking over with blank eyes.

Earl John Russell, the former Foreign Secretary, succeeded Palmerston, who had resigned, as the new Prime Minister, and led some of the new cabinet members, Sidney Herbert, Minister of War and War, Panmel Ramsay, and the former Prime Minister, who had just returned from the Far East in a hurry, and now the new Foreign Secretary, Earl Derby, stood at the foot of the steps outside the palace, and when they saw Victoria coming out, they hurriedly rushed up and surrounded her.

"What's wrong?" Victoria tried her best to make her tone more relaxed, but she still trembled slightly. She knew very well in her heart that when the new prime minister and cabinet members, who were all cabinet members who were all at the core of military affairs, came to see her, something must have happened, or something related to the war. The Prime Minister and the members of the Cabinet waited for themselves collectively at the gate of the apse of Buckingham Palace, how many years have not seen such a scene, that was only when Napoleon III succeeded in the coup d'état of the French Republic and seized the power of France, and other times, even the Qing Dynasty in the Far East carried out a campaign against the British Empire 20 years ago, and the Crimean War that broke out a few years ago, did not make these cabinet members so out of shape.

Hearing Her Majesty's questioning in the same tone as usual, Russell, who was a little flustered, calmed down. The rest of the cabinet also breathed a sigh of relief. Queen Victoria, who has been on the throne for 23 years, has such a profound influence on this empire on which the sun never sets, and during her time as queen, the British Empire has expanded extremely much, and its national power has reached unprecedented prosperity and strength, so the queen's influence on them, cabinet ministers and MPs, is so great that they often forget that they are in the United Kingdom, a constitutional monarchy, and they are extremely obedient to the queen's orders and decisions. Even an iron-fisted prime minister like Palmerston needs to consult Queen Victoria for some major events, and many other national affairs have to refer to the Queen's opinion, or even be decided by the Queen.

"Your Majesty, an urgent telegram from India has just arrived from Constantinople." Russell licked his dry lips and tried to make his voice softer, he knew that the next news would scare the queen, and he didn't know how to speak, so he tried to make his voice sound better and appear calmer: "There is another large-scale rebellion on the Indian side, it should have happened two months ago, and the Indian Governor Canning may think that with their Indian army they can be quelled, so they deliberately conceal it." Unexpectedly, the rebellion became bigger and bigger, they couldn't suppress it, and the situation in India was already very critical, so they urgently sent a telegram to London for help! ”

Victoria thought it was the remnants of the Indian rebels in previous years, and she didn't care, but when she heard that the trouble was getting bigger and bigger, even the Indian Governor Canning couldn't suppress it, so she was still a little surprised, and said, "What's wrong?" ”

"Your Majesty, there has been a sudden rebellion in the Sikh kingdom around Punjab in northwestern India, and the rebels, with the help of some princely princes, have captured the city of Delhi......"

Before Russell could finish speaking, Victoria interrupted him, with an angry expression on her face: "What is Canning doing?" Even the city of Derry was captured by the rebels! So Canning didn't make any moves? Won't he send troops to take back the city of Derry? ”

Rose looked embarrassed and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, as you said, Canning mobilized the British Empire troops from Mumbai, Ceylon, and Kanpur, as well as the Gurkha soldiers and the Bengal legions, to rush to Delhi City, ready to defeat the Sikh army. But unexpectedly, the princes of the princely states in India and the remnants of the rebels in the previous years rose up to rebel against the British Empire, and with their help and response, the Sikh rebels were overwhelmed, capturing Arag and Moradabad around the city of Delhi, and entering the northern and central regions of India in one fell swoop. ”

"Before the British Empire's rescue troops in India reached Delhi, a large group of Sikh cavalry, with the assistance of Vadodara and other state soldiers, besieged the city of Mumbai, and the city was broken by the rebels that night! The Governor of Mumbai, Sir Odeh, was also captured by the rebels and publicly hanged by the Sikhs the next day, and hung in the Bombay Tower! Speaking of this, Rose hesitated a little but finally said: "According to insiders, the reason why the city of Mumbai was breached was because nearly 2,000 Irish soldiers in the city abandoned the defense of the city gate, seized the warship and fled, allowing the rebels to enter directly. And ......"

"What!?" Victoria glared at Rose viciously and walked up to him: "What did you say?" Mumbai is all occupied by rebels!? Odd is a shit, Canning is also a bastard, not only lost Derry City, but also Mumbai? Or did our Irish soldiers within the British Empire act as an internal response? ”

Victoria's eyes were red, her face was full of anger, her nostrils were closed one by one, and she was obviously burning with anger and couldn't hold back her anger, and asked Ross and the cabinet ministers behind him: "What you say is true?" Is the whole of India occupied by the rebels? Ramsey, you are the Minister of War of the Kingdom, and the garrison of India is under your jurisdiction, tell me what is going on! ”

War Secretary Panmur Ramsay looked ashamed: "Your Majesty, what Mr. Prime Minister said is true. India was attacked by rebels, encountered a huge conspiracy from the east, not only Delhi and Mumbai were captured by the rebels, according to Governor Canning's urgent distress telegram, the Bengali army of Burma and the rebels of the Bengal Army have joined forces to occupy Dhaka and approach Kolkata! Therefore, Governor Canning urgently appealed to the War Office and the Cabinet for help, and sent assistants to London to prepare to see the Queen for help. ”

"Canning, this useless dog thing! If he loses India, he will apologize to the United Kingdom and to me. Victoria huffed and scolded: "The United Kingdom has so many troops in India that it can't suppress those rebels. ”

The Foreign Secretary, the Earl of Derby, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, now is not the time to get angry!" Canning is not to be held accountable for the time being, but there are two things that matter most at the moment: First, since that happened to the Irish troops in Bombay, it is likely that they have betrayed the United Kingdom. Your Majesty, the Irish must be guarded against! If the Irish army betrayed the United Kingdom, it would be a big deal, even more terrible than the loss of India! I propose, therefore, that troops must be sent at once from the British mainland to Ireland to be stationed, and that the Irish men in particular the army should be kept under strict control, and that they should be scattered to prevent them from a mass rebellion. Second, on the Indian side, the situation has reached a critical moment that brooks no delay. Calcutta must be defended, and all the native British troops that could be mobilized must be mobilized at once and sail to India, so as to regain the lost territory under the United Kingdom as soon as possible. ”

The Earl of Derby was old, and his words made Victoria calm down a lot.

"The Count is right! This king is in turmoil, and has been completely disturbed by the affairs of India. Rose, and Herbert and Ramsay, if you have no other opinions, do as the Count says. Victoria closed her eyes and waved her hand, looking tired.

She felt like she was going to fall, but she was just holding on. Her husband, Prince Albert, was still ill, but he encountered such a large-scale rebellion in India, which was even more violent than the rebellion a few years ago, and even Mumbai and Delhi were captured, and I don't know how much military spending and how many troops were dispatched to quell the rebellion in India.

Victoria, who has always been calm and confident, felt burned out for the first time, and her whole body was weak and frustrated.