Chapter 124: Big bad news

Walton did not wake up early today as usual in his usual routine! Because Prime Minister Gladstone finally agreed to his plan to transfer 20,000 British troops and 30,000 Indian servants from India to attack Sumatra! After being busy for nearly a week, he could finally get a good rest!

Now that the Straits Settlements under his jurisdiction are in place, he only needs to wait for the Dutch to ask for help from the British Empire after they have met with a lot of money in front of those Chinese troops, and then he can rightfully wave his army south! Expand the Empire's colonies in the East Indies! It is with such a beautiful dream in mind that Walton sleeps exceptionally sweetly today!

However, his dream was soon shattered by the sharp whistle of the British patrol on the street!

Getting up from the comfortable and warm bed, Walton put on his pajamas, frowned, and opened the window of the room facing the street outside!

I saw that the originally wide and bustling street was now full of people watching the excitement, and a group of British soldiers with Enfield rifles had blocked the entire street. Moreover, from time to time, you can still see a few panicked, well-dressed white gentlemen, hurrying towards the southwest of the governor's palace in a carriage!

"What the hell is going on?" said Walton, looking at the bustling street where banks from all over the world were located, and his heart was full of puzzlement.

"Bang bang ......!"

At this moment, a violent knock came from the living room downstairs, and Walton could hear it very clearly even from a floor away!

In the entire Straits Settlements of the British Empire in the Far East, Sir Walton was the first real power figure in the military and political affairs, and it was rare for someone to dare to smash the door of his governor's mansion so recklessly!

"There must be something urgent, right?" Walton frowned, opened the bedroom door, and walked towards the living room on the first floor, for some reason, an indescribable uneasiness suddenly welled up in his heart, as if something bad had happened!

"Your Excellency the Governor, something is wrong!" Before he could reach the top of the stairs, he saw Admiral Peyton, the commander of the British Far East Fleet, who was panicked and sweaty, and ran up quickly!

"What's going on? Rush you to look like this!" asked Walton, frowning. In his eyes, as a citizen of the British Empire, he must maintain a gentlemanly demeanor at all times! Resolutely distinguish himself from those dirty yellow-skinned monkeys who live in the Far East and are still in feudal society!

Peyton, who had been made to lose all his powers by the news he had just gotten, did not pay attention to the uncertain look on the governor's face, but continued in a panicked voice: "My lord, we just got the news that the treasury of the Bank of England and HSBC was all stolen last night!"

"What?" said Walton in shock when he heard his words. At this time, he didn't care about any gentlemanly demeanor, so he took two quick steps, grabbed Peyton's arm, and asked loudly: "You repeat, the Bank of England and HSBC were really stolen?"

"Yes, just last night!" Peyton shook his head bitterly, he knew what this result meant for the current Straits Settlements Governor's Palace!

The Bank of England and HSBC are among the largest banks in Britain, and they not only have a deep domestic background, but also have very deep cooperative relations with various British colonies! If the vaults of these two British banks in the Straits Settlements are ransacked, then at least in a month's time, nearly 80,000 soldiers and generals of the navy and land armies will receive less than a penny salary, and warships will have no money to buy coal, let alone maintenance! Moreover, within this year, all the customs duties, commercial taxes, and other tax revenues collected by the Straits Settlements from here, as well as the wealth they have looted from the colonies, will be lost; plus the nearly 20 million pounds of war appropriations that they had just arrived in Singapore a few days ago to prepare for the current South Seas War have also been lost! It can be said that the military and political affairs of the Straits Settlements of the British Empire are basically paralyzed when there is no longer a penny on the books of the Governor's Palace!

"What a loss!" asked Walton, whose face was pale and his voice trembled!

"The two banks' coffers have been looted, and the economic losses caused are at least more than 60 million pounds!" Peyton said slowly, with a painful expression.

Hearing this, Walton sat on the ground with a pale face, his eyes staring blankly ahead, this time he really planted it! Not only did the military operation that he had prepared for a long time go south to expand the British colonies was all in vain, but it was still a question whether he could sit in this position! Those bankers with deep backgrounds would definitely take their anger out on him if they couldn't catch the murderer!

"Who did it, which bastard did it, who was so bold?" As Walton's voice went from low to high, it finally developed into a roar that soared into the sky!

The servants who were busy in the Governor's Palace, although they didn't know what made the usually mild-mannered Governor get so angry, but they wisely lowered their heads! At this time, the result of setting themselves on fire would definitely not be better!

Looking at Sir Walton, angry, his eyes were red, and he looked like he was gritting his teeth, Peyton couldn't help but shudder, "I don't know yet, but according to the reaction of the presidents of the two banks, those people entered the bank after twelve o'clock at midnight yesterday, and they were wearing black clothes, and only two eyes were exposed on their bodies, so it was impossible to tell whether they were white or yellow, and we also got the news that the people in their lead could speak English and French!"

Hearing Peyton's words, Walton couldn't help but say in a cold voice: "Did the French do it?"

"It's not certain yet, but we can't rule it out! Although there are many people in the world who can speak English and French, there are few countries or forces that can plan well and have the courage to rob the banks of England!"

After listening to his words, Walton slowly got up from the ground with Peyton's support, and after calming his mood a little, he continued to ask with an ugly face: "There must be a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, and antique banknotes stored in the two banks, and besides, it is not so easy to smuggle such a large sum of wealth out without knowing it! They will definitely leave a trace! Now you immediately order that all land and sea routes in and out of Singapore be blocked, and all ships that entered the port yesterday will not be allowed to leave the port!" And you're going to have to do a thorough survey of the city, and check the nearest port entry and exit records, as well as ship berthing records, and catch these bastards at all costs!"

"Yes, Lord Governor, I'll do it!" replied Peyton solemnly.

Looking at his back as he left in a hurry, Walton muttered to himself with a lonely expression: "I hope they haven't shipped this wealth out of Singapore yet, otherwise everything will really be over!"