In the early hours of August 29, at a time when almost all Londoners had fallen asleep, the Prime Minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street in Westminster, central London, was still brightly lit. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

India, a country that became a colony of the British Empire with its vast territory, rich products, large population and superior strategic position, has a self-evident status and importance in the entire colonial system of the British Empire. A few hours earlier, an urgent telegram from the Far East had made it clear to all the top officials of the British Empire that the Queen's crown jewel was in an unprecedented crisis.

A small military conflict that originated from the expansionist policies of the British Empire, which almost all the top officials of the empire did not pay much attention to, turned into the current outcome, which no one expected at the time.

Truth be told, Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith is a good prime minister. As the leader of the Liberal Party, Asquith's personal ability is unquestionable, not to mention the praise of his political opponents, but only his cabinet members Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Richard Haldane, Edward Gray and others, to be able to completely control such a strange group of talented people without hearing any whispers of dissatisfaction, which shows what kind of person Asquith is.

The Liberals have traditionally tended to be peaceful, but this is only relatively, and in fact these Brits, regardless of their party, are not good men. For example, the militaristic War Secretary Richard Haldane, and the supporter of the British Empire's expansionist policy, Prime Minister Asquith.

However, at this moment, in the gloomy meeting room of Whitehall in London, the Imperial Prime Minister Asquith seemed to have an extremely headache.

Looking at the group of cabinet members who were still chattering, Asquith pressed his temples, raised his head and frowned, and said with a dark face: "I think we must now make a decision on this issue related to the military conflict with the Chinese, and the situation no longer allows us to delay." ”

"Revenge! We must make the Chinese pay for their stupidity. Churchill saw that everyone's eyes seemed to be looking at him, and he stood up with some excitement and said, "The British Empire must not make any compromises or concessions to those damned yellow-skinned monkeys. ”

"If you can accurately tell me that our army can eliminate the Chinese in a very short time, of course I don't mind that we will immediately start a large-scale war with the Chinese." Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George looked at the somewhat agitated Admiralty and said, "The problem is that we can't yet, isn't it?" Winster? ”

Although Churchill was the Lord of the Admiralty, he knew the final answer to this question. Hearing this, Churchill had no choice but to close his mouth and sit down.

"Don't get too excited, Winston, we don't want to give in to the Chinese." Asquith glanced at Churchill with some dissatisfaction, turned his head to look at Churchill's side of the War Secretary Haldane and said: "I want to know, China, should say the real strength of China's southwestern army at present." ”

Haldane swallowed with difficulty and said, "According to the information we have so far, we know that their army currently has the strength of sixteen infantry divisions, and there are two other divisions being formed, and the total strength is expected to exceed 200,000 people. They were well-armed and well-trained, and judging from the just-concluded Battle of Prome in Burma, their overall combat effectiveness was comparable to that of the Imperial Army, and in some respects it could even be said to be slightly superior. Our forces deployed in India are no longer capable of stopping their offensive. ”

After saying this, Haldane's face turned red, he felt that he had the meaning of putting gold on his face, what is the overall combat effectiveness and the Imperial Army, you know, people only rely on a reinforced regiment to block the strength of a division of the Imperial Army for five days and five nights.

"That is to say, the empire must now mobilize at least 200,000 elite army forces to India and Burma in order to maintain equal strength with the Chinese and contain their attacks." Asquith nodded, and continued, "But in fact, this is impossible in the short term or long term, is it?" Richard? ”

"Yes, Prime Minister." Haldane replied with some difficulty, though he was extremely reluctant to admit it, but it was true.

Foreign Secretary Edward Gray said with a gloomy face: "Yesterday the French Foreign Minister sent a telegram, hoping that we can carefully handle the conflict with the Chinese and pay more attention to the situation on the European continent, instead of spending too much energy on other unnecessary areas. ”

"So, we must now put an end to this boring conflict." Lloyd George said: "Assuming that we go to war with the Chinese in an all-out war, we cannot defeat them in a short time, and we will inevitably plunge the Imperial Army into a quagmire." If the Germans had seized the opportunity to attack at that time, it would have been a disaster for the global policy of the Reich! ”

"Therefore, we might as well take appropriate concessions now and end this conflict with the Chinese as soon as possible." Asquith nodded, agreeing with Lloyd George's point.

"Such a concession is a great shame for us!" Churchill knew that the Prime Minister might well have made up his mind at this time, but he couldn't help but say something.

"I repeat, our concessions are temporary. Our aim is to buy time and stabilize the current situation. Asquith gave the loud-voiced Admiral a stern look, and continued: "After all, the Chinese do not pose a real threat to the empire, and our biggest enemies now are the Germans who are ready to move!" ”

"As long as we defeat Germany, it will not be difficult to solve these troubles brought to us by the Chinese today in the future." The Minister of War said in due course.

"Prime Minister, we can make a deal with China's southwest, but we should not ignore the threat they pose to the British Empire. It is not in our interest for a strong China that is hostile to the British Empire. The current situation is that with the rise of southwest China, the power of all parties in China has begun to become unbalanced, and in order to prevent the unification of China in the southwest, I personally believe that it is necessary to increase support for the Yuan Shikai government to ensure our interests in the Far East. The foreign minister seemed to suddenly remember something, and then said: "Moreover, Japan has always been eyeing China, as our ally, can we appropriately borrow their strength to contain the Chinese?" ”

"I have no opinion on increasing the support of the Yuan Shikai government." Lloyd George shook his head and said, "But I don't think it's advisable to use the power of the Japanese to contain the Chinese, the Japanese have been eyeing China's Yangtze River region, and it is not in the interests of the empire to let the Japanese participate more in China's affairs." ”

"So be it!" Asquith looked a little tired, and it was clear that he agreed with the Chancellor's opinion. If Asquith is more or less hostile to China, he has no good opinion of Japan, which is the same eastern country as China. Looking at Foreign Minister Gray, Asquith said: "Send a telegram to Beijing immediately, and ask Zhu Erdian, the minister in China, to reach an understanding and peace with southwest China as soon as possible on behalf of the imperial government." On the issue of Japan, we might as well maintain the status quo. ”

The sky outside the window had begun to darken, and after a night of discussion, Prime Minister Asquith finally made a decision. There is little opposition to this solution, which is currently the best solution, from the entire cabinet.

Due to the time difference, compared with London, which has just dawned, Beijing at this time is the time of the scorching sun. In the British Legation in China, the British Minister to China, Zhu Erdian, who had just enjoyed a sumptuous steak lunch, was drinking afternoon tea and thinking about the increasingly chaotic situation in the Far East.

These days, Zhu Erdian has always had a belly of fire in his heart. With the spread of the Communist Party's provocation against the British Empire, and the subsequent defeat of the Imperial Army in military clashes between the two sides, the situation in China, which had just stabilized, began to become turbulent again. At the same time, Germany, France, and the United States, which had long been eyeing the interests of the British Empire in China, were even more behind the scenes, stirring up trouble, and Japan, an ally of Japan, which was now gradually becoming perfunctory and disobedient to the Empire.

Just as Zhu Erdian was sorting out these thoughts with great trouble, an embassy staff member broke into his room with a telegram in a panic. For this rude behavior of his subordinates, Zhu Erdian was extremely annoyed in his heart. However, before he could open his mouth to reprimand, the staff member hurriedly said: "Your Excellency, an urgent telegram from London!" ”

Zhu Erdian, who was forcibly suppressing the anger in his chest, took the telegram handed by his subordinates and hurriedly glanced at it, but this glance instantly made his mind blank. At this time, there was only one piece of information left in his mind: the Imperial Army suffered a crushing defeat in Burma!