10 Downing Street, London, UK.

Robert Earl of Liverpool, who had been the owner of the increasingly dilapidated Prime Minister's House since 1812, was the master of the increasingly dilapidated Prime Minister's House. Banks. Jenkinson, as usual, was sitting in his cramped, dimly lit and somewhat cluttered office, flipping through the briefings from his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Harker.

As always, Sir Huck always puts the good news at the top of the briefing so that the Prime Minister can have a positive mindset when it comes to the bad news that follows.

Today's good news comes mainly from Petersburg, where Nicholas I that fool finally couldn't resist the temptation to verbally agree with Archduke Alexander and Alexandra in England. After Princess Victoria's marriage, she agreed to sign an entente with Britain and France to intervene in the Greek War of Independence. With the addition of Rakshasa , the British banking industry's investment in the Greek War of Independence will not be lost. Moreover, the defeated Turkish Empire will also completely prostrate itself at the feet of the British Empire and seek refuge...... If the Turks did not do this, the ambitious Nicholas I would sooner or later tear apart the defeated and isolated Turks!

And the submission of Turkey means that the Suez Canal and the oil fields of Wallachia can be completely controlled by the British Empire!

With Wallachian oil, the Royal Navy would be more powerful, and control of the Suez Canal would mean that the British Empire would be able to hold the choke point of Eurasian trade, and would have the ability to quickly move fleets from bases on the mainland or on the Mediterranean coast to the Indian Ocean.

Finally, the success and prestige of the Rakshasa in supporting the Greek War of Independence would have terrified Austria and Prussia...... This will help Britain draw them to its side and form a five-nation alliance of Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, and Turkey.

With this five-nation alliance, the British Empire could not only suppress the Rakshasa in the direction of Europe and the Middle East, but also contain the powerful Ming in the direction of the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific......

And the bad news that worries Prime Minister Jenkinson is, of course, from Daming!

The British embassy in Daming sent a telegram today, once again reporting on the progress of the "1,000 ships plan" of the Daming Navy!

Not long ago, the Ming Dynasty Council has passed the "dock subsidy plan" proposed by the Ming court, and is ready to provide high subsidies to encourage domestic shipyards to build no more than 100,000 20,000-ton docks...... This is real money, which shows that the Ming Empire is determined to provoke a shipbuilding competition for ironclad ships!

This is a challenge to the world maritime hegemony that the British Empire has held for nearly 200 years!

Although the revival and miraculous rise of the Ming Dynasty and its ascension to become the world's leading industrialized country made Britain's maritime supremacy very unreliable. However, the wise statesmen of the British Empire still found a way to stabilize the behemoth of the Ming Dynasty in the era when sail battleships and sail warships dominated the world, that is, to use the European market and the gold and silver of the Americas to win over the Ming with huge industrial capacity, so that the capital of the Ming Dynasty could profit from the maritime trade ruled by the British.

In the past 100 years, most of the gold and silver produced in the New World have flowed into Daming, making Daming the country with the most gold and silver in the world!

Of course, Britain did not suffer in the process. Because on the one hand, Britain can absorb the industrial technology of the Ming Dynasty (the most advanced cannot be absorbed, but the sub-advanced ones are still there, even if the Ming Dynasty does not transfer technology, the British will not copy it?) accelerate the process of industrialization of oneself; On the one hand, Britain also has India as its own territory......

But with the complete elimination of sail battleships and sail battleships, the rules of the game above the sea have changed radically!

In the era of sail battleships, because the maritime merchants on the side of the Ming Dynasty were accustomed to using hard sailing ships, the shipyards of the Ming Dynasty had always been incomfortable with the use of soft sail warships, and the navy of the Ming Dynasty had no place to recruit sailors who could be skilled in soft sailing ships. Therefore, the navy of the Ming Dynasty has always been in the position of catching up with the West in the era of sails, and has never been able to catch up.

But in the days of steam ironclads, the situation was completely different!

Daming's machinery and metallurgical industry is leading the world, and building steam ironclad ships is just right!

Therefore, Earl Nelson, the "god of war" of the British Navy sitting in India, sent a telegram of more than 10,000 words from India as early as when the Admiralty of the Ming Dynasty proposed the "1,000-ship plan", warning the British government that the sea power of the British Empire was encountering unprecedented challenges...... The advantages that had been built on sails and sail ships in the past were gone with the advent of steam ironclads.

Therefore, Admiral Earl Nelson strongly suggested that the British Empire come up with a corresponding shipbuilding plan as soon as possible - the Ming Dynasty has a "thousand ships plan", why does Britain have a "one thousand ships plan", right?

But the problem is, the British Empire can't keep up!

Not to mention 1,100 ships, even if a thousand ships are 80% off, and if you build 800 ships, it is not enough for the British Empire to spend the last copper plate in its pocket.

But don't follow...... Then when the Ming Dynasty completes the "Thousand Ships Plan", the maritime hegemony of the British Empire will be gone!

Of course, between "not following" and "following", Prime Minister Jenkinson has a third choice, which is to immediately put on a posture of war and threaten to force the Ming to abandon their "1,000-ship plan".

But the question is...... Once the Ming refuses to give up, can the British Empire win the Ming now?

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Jenkinson, who had led the British Empire in the war against Emperor Napoleon, fell into deep anxiety.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door of the Prime Minister's office, and the voice of Sir Huck came from outside the door: "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, it is me." ”

"Oh?" The Prime Minister put down the briefing in his hand, "Huck? Come on in. ”

Then I saw the door of the office being pushed open, and a gentleman with a very good look, wearing black-rimmed eyes, and a mild-mannered demeanor, walked in, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs...... Something strange seems to be happening. ”

"Strange things?" The Prime Minister scratched his bald head, "Okay, please let them in." ”

"Yes, Prime Minister." Baron Huck nodded, then turned and left the Prime Minister's office, and it wasn't long before he walked in with a bald man with a pale face and a fat man with a dignified appearance.

The Prime Minister looked at the bald man and asked with concern, "George, how are you?" Would you like to get some tincture? ”

The man who was called George by the Prime Minister was the biggest thorn and addict in Jenkinson's cabinet, Foreign Secretary George Brown. Canning...... His favorite tincture! It is said that because he suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, he has been taking medicine for a long time to relieve the pain, and as a result, he is addicted.

I don't know if it's because he often bumps high, he, the foreign secretary, will do something from time to time, which makes Prime Minister Jenkinson a headache. For example, when the Spanish colonies in the Americas became independent one after another, he, the foreign secretary of the British colonial empire, did not support Spain, but colluded with US President Monroe to support the anti-thieves who wanted independence!

As a result, the European powers of France, Austria, Prussia, and Rakshasa were dissatisfied with Britain.

And the ongoing Greek War of Independence is almost the same as George. Canning's ...... When the Greeks were just starting to stir up, Metternich of Austria supported the Turkish suppression, and Alexander I was undecided. Canning's sudden declaration of recognition of Greek independence without informing European powers such as Austria and Rakshasa also facilitated British banking loans to the Greeks.

Although no matter George. Canning liked Hulai, but he was so influential in the Tories that Earl Jenkinson of Liverpool had to be regarded as the second most important man in the government.

"Okay, a pick-me-up." Talking, George. Cunning was already seated in a chair across from the prime minister's desk.

And with George. Robinson, the Chancellor of the Exchequer who came with Canning, sat down and handed a copy of the telegram to the Prime Minister, the Earl of Liverpool, and then took a small glass of Y-slices handed by Huck and drank it down, and then said excitedly, "Earl, there is a threat to attack India!" ”