PS: Today's four shifts are completed! Ask for subscriptions, monthly passes and likes! Thank you book friends for waiting for your monthly pass for the next century and the ocean!

The sudden attack of the Manchu Qing by the Xinhua Kingdom, the capture of Guangzhou in a very short period of time, and the subsequent rapid expansion into the entire territory of Guangdong, once again turned the situation in the Far East upside down. With the rise of the New China Kingdom from the South Seas, the Spaniards and the Dutch were driven out of the East, and the most important forces in the entire Far East were only the Xinhua Kingdom, the British, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty. As for small countries such as Thailand, Japan and North Korea, they are not qualified to participate in the international game. However, the invasion of the Manchus by Xinhua also changed the situation in the Far East.

The British ventured into an attack on the Manchus, only to be surprisingly victorious. Before the Opium War began, the British government had a slight fear of China, the most populous country in the world. Fearing that it would not be possible to defeat the Manchus in the Far East. As a result, the Manchus were vulnerable, which surprised the British and was even more delighted. A huge market with a territory larger than the whole of Europe and a population several times larger than Europe has opened up to them. British merchants were eager to sell their goods to China and make a huge profit. However, at this time, Xinhua launched a large-scale attack on the Manchus, which seriously affected British interests and posed a serious threat to Britain's Far East strategy.

At the end of October 1842, Sir Pottinger, the British minister to China, who was supposed to take up his post in Beijing, arrived in Singapore aboard a British Far East Fleet warship. By order of the British Foreign Office. After the signing of the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing, Sir Portiter was to take up his post in Beijing to defend the interests of the British Empire in China. But. The sudden change of circumstances forced him to change his formation and go to Singapore to discuss the current situation in China with the British Governor of the Straits Settlements Bonham and the British generals stationed in the Straits Settlements.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the progress of the Xinhua Army has far exceeded my expectations, and it is estimated that they will soon be able to take the whole of Guangdong. That's half the size of the UK mainland, with a population of over 10 million. If Xinhua gets this territory, their strength will inevitably be even stronger. Moreover. Judging from the current attack posture of the Xinhua army, they will definitely not only be satisfied with Guangdong, but will definitely expand to other provinces of the Qing State. The stronger the Xinhua Army, the more powerful it is for our British Empire. the greater the threat. Sir Portratcha said worriedly. A powerful Xinhua state. It was not in the interests of the British Empire. In particular, the relationship between Xinhua and Britain was not as friendly as it had been suggested. There is a high probability that there will be a conflict between the two sides, or even a war. The stronger the Xinhua Kingdom, the more difficult it will be for Britain to defeat the Xinhua Kingdom at that time. And the future of these officials in the Far East will be bleak.

"Hmm!" Governor Bonham nodded. For Xinhuaguo, he must have a better understanding than Sir Portlander. Xinhua has become a well-deserved overlord of the South Seas, and in terms of the military strength of the New China Kingdom, even Britain has no certainty of victory in the South Seas. The main bottleneck of Xinhuaguo. It's just that their population is too sparse. They did not regard the natives of the South Seas as human beings, which of course gave them a lot of slaves and resources. But it also makes Xinhuaguo's labor force extremely scarce. This is an important factor restricting the development of Xinhua Kingdom. However, China, which is close at hand, has a large population, which is several times that of the whole of Europe. Moreover, the Chinese, like the people of Xinhuaguo, are all of the same culture. Once the new Chinese gained China's population, their weakness would cease to exist. It can be predicted that the development of Xinhua will be more rapid in the future, and it will be even more impossible for Britain to defeat Xinhua at that time. Britain may follow in the footsteps of the Spaniards and the Dutch, and even the most important Indian colonies will be threatened. After all, the distance from Xinhua to India is much closer than the distance from Britain to India. With the powerful naval strength of Xinhua, it is completely capable of launching a large-scale attack on India. And will the British troops stationed in India be able to withstand the attack of the Xinhua army? Governor Bonham was not sure. If that day does come, it will be a terrible scene for the UK. Britain will face the most serious challenge since its rise.

"Now Xinhua has a population of only four million, but their army has reached 200,000. If they had gained 10 million people in Guangdong, or even more in southern China, I really couldn't imagine how much their army would have expanded. Brigadier General Bletton, the commander of the British Army in the Straits Settlements, said in horror. He had only 5,000 men at his disposal, which was already the entire strength of the British army in the Straits Settlements. If there was a war with Xinhua, he believed that with his little troops, it would be impossible to hold the Straits Settlements.

The Xinhua Kingdom has always been reckless, waging constant foreign wars to obtain the population and slaves, as well as the funds needed for the country's development. However, what is surprising is that the perennial war not only did not drag Xinhua down, but made Xinhua develop faster and faster. In particular, in the achievements of industrialization, they have initially established a complete set of industrial systems in just a few years. You must know that it took decades or even hundreds of years for Britain to get to this point. Of course, Xinhuaguo is standing on the shoulders of giants. Xinhua has introduced a series of industrial equipment from Europe with a huge amount of money, plus technical workers hired from Europe with high salaries, as well as workers trained by Xinhua itself, under the planning of Long Yufei, a double doctor of machinery and metallurgy, it can quickly realize industrialization without detours. If it weren't for these reasons, it would have been impossible to industrialize in the impoverished Nanyang.

"Your Excellency the Governor, we can no longer sit idly by and watch the rapid development of Xinhua Kingdom, we must take certain measures to restrict the expansion of Xinhua Kingdom!" Sir Portrichard said that he was already feeling the danger in his own hands.

"Restrictions? How to limit? Do you want to start a war with Xinhuaguo? Although, the defeat of the Qing State made the domestic bureaucrats swell their self-confidence a lot. However, Xinhuaguo is not a Qing country, and it is not so easy to bully. Even the Spaniards and Dutch were easily defeated by them. If there is no certainty of victory, China will not agree to start a war with Xinhua! Governor Bonham said. He was also worried that if it could not defeat the new country, Britain would lose more benefits, and I was afraid that it would not be able to protect even the Straits Settlements.

"Shall we not do anything?" Sir Portrichard said angrily. The current British Empire is the overlord of the world! Faced with a small country that has only been established for a few years, it is helpless.

Governor Bonham's faces were also a little unnatural, if it had been another country, Britain would have declared war on the other side a long time ago. But Xinhua is different, although Xinhua is not big and has a small population, but their military strength is extremely perverted, even Britain is not sure that they will defeat the enemy after crossing more than half the world. Fighting a war is not a trivial matter, and if it is won, it will naturally be able to gain huge benefits. But what if defeated? That's also going to pay a huge profit.

"Your Excellency, we need to wait for the right time now. In response to Xinhua's 'Shark-class' cruisers, China's Admiralty has developed a warship that can restrain them. Now the production of such warships is being intensified, and with the shipbuilding strength of the British Empire, soon we will be able to have dozens of such warships. The naval artillery and the army's new rifles and artillery have also been designed and are being mass-produced, and in terms of performance, there is no gap with the new rifles and artillery used by Xinhuaguo. After we have completed our preparations for war, it is time to launch a large-scale war against Xinhua. When the time comes, with the strong strength of the British Empire, it will definitely defeat the new Chinese state. Commodore Allen, commander of the British Far East Fleet, said. Over the past few years, the reason why Britain has maintained restraint in dealing with Xinhua is that it has strived to catch up with Xinhua in terms of weaponry and equipment in just a few years. In the previous wars between Xinhua and Spain and the Dutch, the main reason for winning was that they took advantage of weapons and equipment. Brigadier General Allen believed that as long as the difference in weapons between the two sides was not large, Britain could easily defeat Xinhua.

"I hope so! However, the longer it drags on, the stronger Xinhua will become, and the more unfavorable this will be for us! Sir Porttharder said.

"Your Excellency, there may be some other means we can take to stop the expansion of the new Chinese kingdom. The military strength of the Qing State was too weak, especially in terms of weapons and equipment, and they were still in the era of cold weapons. It is basically impossible for the Qing army with big swords and spears to resist the invasion of the Xinhua army. Perhaps, we can sell a sum of weapons and equipment to the Qing State, on the one hand, we can strengthen the strength of the Qing army, and on the other hand, we can also make a profit from it. Governor Bonham said.

"That's a good idea. However, will China agree to our arms sales to the Qing Kingdom? Sir Potterchar asked, a little worried. After all, the Qing State was a hostile country to Britain, and selling weapons to the Qing State would threaten British interests.

"Compared with the Qing State, the Xinhua Kingdom is our biggest enemy. The enemy of the enemy is the friend, I think, for the sake of the British Empire, the bureaucrats at home will agree! Governor Bonham affirmed. (To be continued......)