The situation in Europe changed so quickly that the British, who had expected that the new Prussians would be locked in a long and stalemate with the French, which would give the British countless time and opportunities to intervene on the continent and cause trouble on the continent. But the swift victory of Prussia even instilled a fear in the British.

For many years, France has always regarded itself as the largest army power in Europe, and has always felt that its army is invincible. In this regard, the British were not convinced, the lobster soldiers of the British Empire and the French Army had fought more than once, and they could be regarded as winning and losing each other. So the British did not consider their army inferior to the French army. Later, the British Army was armed with rifles that used smokeless gunpowder and steel rifled guns, ahead of the French. So the British feel that now, the title of the world's first army should be worn on their heads. Well, the current British Army, should, perhaps, be a little more powerful than the French Army, right?

However, although the British think that their army is already stronger than the French army, but if the British army and the French army go head-to-head, they are afraid that no matter how confident the British are, they dare not say that they will win, the army is not a navy, the Royal Navy beats the French Navy, and even the European Navy is not under any pressure, but when it comes to the army, the British do not have so much confidence.

So when the Prussian Army defeated the French Army with tube guns and high-explosive shells, it was as easy as defeating a backward indigenous army. The British were also frightened. They couldn't help but ask, if the British Army and the French Army were allowed to switch places, would the British Army be able to withstand the Prussian attack.

Although he was very reluctant to admit it, after understanding the whole course of the operation, even the most confident people in the British Army had to admit that it was impossible for the British Army to withstand the attack of the Prussian Army, and it was even impossible to appear to be stronger than the French Army.

"It's good that we don't have a border with those Prussian barbarians. And we have the great Royal Navy. "The British felt that God was so good to the British Empire. At the same time, vigilance was raised against the Prussian Army. And began to prepare measures to guarantee the "balance of power on the European continent." For example, to suppress the Prussians, especially after Scrooge deliberately leaked the news to the British, the news that the Germans had not yet fully mastered the technology of making homemade high-explosive shells, and the shells they purchased from Scrooge were used to the fullest. This means that in the short term, the Germans will not be able to launch a new operation, and the British must seize the opportunity to find fault with the Germans.

However, at this crucial time, something happened in England, because Prince Albert, who had lived for many years of Sulponamide in Scrooge, was finally called by God to go somewhere. Although for so many years, His Royal Highness the Prince, who was almost a de facto king, had never been in good health, and there was not much time to see things, and more government affairs were agreed upon by the ministers and Her Majesty the Queen. In many cases, it feels as if there is no Royal Highness the Prince, and there seems to be no problem. However, when Prince Albert died, it was immediately discovered that there was no influence of His Royal Highness.

First of all, it was as if Her Majesty had suddenly been defeated. Her Royal Highness hid in Windsor Castle, and it was almost difficult for the ministers to see her. Originally, the queen had been trying to reconcile the different opinions of the ministers and make trade-offs, but now suddenly no one was doing it. The ministers also tried to get Crown Prince Edward to come out to take this position, but Her Majesty the Queen has always believed that the reason why His Royal Highness the Prince collapsed and died so early was completely caused by this unfilial son. So resolutely oppose him coming out to take charge of things, in fact, if it weren't for the lack of other suitable candidates, the queen would have replaced the crown prince a long time ago.

Well, the queen doesn't care about herself, and she doesn't let the crown prince take care of it, but just says that the prime minister will be fully in charge. Of course, the prime minister is not incapable of full authority, but this series of power changes has delayed a lot of things. However, this is where the tradition of the true unification of the English king began.

By the time the Prime Minister, Mr. William Eurt Gladstone, straightened things out, it had already taken many months, and it was the summer of 1869. This summer, a new technological miracle gave the British another shock, and the Americans, Germans, Tongguò, used synthetic ammonia fertilizers and pesticides to achieve unimaginable bumper harvests in agriculture.

Fortunately, because the output of chemical fertilizer is still very limited, the impact on the world grain market this year is still very small, but by next year, at most, the year after that, it is almost impossible for agriculture without chemical fertilizer to be competitive in the international market. Therefore, the UK should also do its best to break through this technology. If you can buy it from the Americans or Germans, of course, it is good, if you can't buy it, then you should export the product first, and at the same time seize the time to develop it. The British are still very confident in their own technical level, and they believe that it will not be difficult for them to make these things when the basic direction has been understood.

So in July of that year, Scrooge welcomed a distinguished guest at Duck Castle - Sir Buckley, Commercial Counsellor of the British Embassy in the United States, and Mr. Hill, the representative of the British pharmaceutical factory in Edinburgh, who was visiting with Sir Buckley.

Speaking of which, Scrooge and Buckley are also old acquaintances, because when the sulfonamide technology was shared, Buckley's family was involved. Although Hill of the Edinburgh Pharmaceutical Factory met for the first time, MacDonald Chemical & Pharmaceutical Company and the Edinburgh Pharmaceutical Factory had a lot of business dealings.

"Welcome, Lord Buckley, what is the wind that has brought you to me?" Several people sat down in the reception room, and the housekeeper Anna served a cup of black tea to both the guests and Scrooge. When Scrooge was receiving guests at home, Anna went back to her old job and became Scrooge's secretary.

"Of course I'm here to enhance our friendship," Barkley habitually came up with a diplomatic phrase first, but he immediately remembered that Scrooge was not a politician, but a big businessman, and they were old friends, and he also knew that although Scrooge had a lot of aura, but, in essence, Scrooge was not a very cultured person, and he couldn't talk about things with too many aristocratic euphemisms, it was best to come straightforwardly, which was the most convenient. And Mr. Scrooge MacDonald has the great advantage of not caring whether people are polite or not. When you are talking to a so-called "aristocrat", a "big man" on the political zhì, or something, you should be careful not to inadvertently offend these people in words. But when talking to Mr. Scrooge MacDonald, there is no need to worry about that. Mr. MacDonald never cared about any of that. None of this constitutes an offense against him, only an offense against him if it blocks his way to wealth. The trouble now, however, is that it seems that he is going to do something that is going to block Mr. MacDonald's financial path.

"That's right, Mr. MacDonald. I came to you because we noticed some business cooperation between you and the Germans. Now, there is reason to fear that such cooperation would be detrimental to some of the interests of the British Empire. Barkley thought about it for a while, and simply said directly, "Recently, the Germans have launched a series of wars with your company's weapons, which has greatly damaged the peace and balance in Europe. This is undesirable to the British Empire, and contrary to your long-standing commitment to world peace and human rights. ”

"Sir Buckley, you must know that Prussia was not yet Germany when I sold weapons to Prussia. Moreover, in the first few wars, Prussia was all about achieving national unity. In this way, we will get rid of the control and oppression of the German nation by other countries. Personally, I believe that this is the cause of national liberation. Therefore, selling weapons to them does not contradict my purpose. I don't take it seriously to the misunderstandings of people who don't know about me, or the slander of people with ulterior motives. Scrooge replied sternly.

"But is this also a national liberation in which the Prussians demanded reparations of up to five billion francs from France and seized Alsace and Lorraine, which had previously belonged to France?" Sir Barkley asked.

"Personally, I think the Germans have gone a little too far, and in legal terms, they may have been a little over-defensive." Scrooge said.

"So for the sake of world peace, should you suspend the export of weapons to the Germans?"

"That's a question." "I don't think it's a good idea to restrict arms exports to the Germans, but the technical capabilities of the Germans are actually pretty good, and even if I stop selling them to them, they'll soon be able to produce these things themselves." And it also goes against the principles of free trade. I agree that in Europe, the balance of military power has been upset, but it is unrealistic to expect to return to the balance of stone sticks when bronze weapons appeared. If there's a new balance, it's just bronze and bronze, right? ”

The so-called "bronze and bronze balance" undoubtedly refers to the fact that European countries have raised the level of weapons to a level comparable to that of Germany. How to improve it? That, of course, was the purchase of those toys from the McDonald Infantry Weapons Company.

"There's some truth to what you're saying." Sir Barkley said that while he did not find any truth in Scrooge's utterly hypocritical gadgets, he did not come to discuss moral issues, and that "the technique of demobilizing artillery and high-explosive shells must be quickly spread among civilized nations in order to prevent the situation from becoming unbalanced." I am sure that for such a noble purpose, you will open up this technology. ”

"Technology transfer to both the UK and France is not a problem. But I'm in business after all. Therefore, products produced using the technology I have transferred, as well as this technology and related technology based on it, may not be sold to other countries until the expiration of the patent term. In particular, it must not be sold to Spain. You know, Spain has done a lot of bad things in the Americas, especially in Cuba, that are contrary to the conscience of mankind. We do not want to use weapons with our technology when they slaughter peaceful inhabitants. As for the specific details, we can let the people below negotiate a rough term first. ”