"Your Excellency Palmerston, we must send our troops to India as soon as possible!"

After reading the contents of the telegram, the Home Secretary raised his head and made a solemn suggestion to Prime Minister Palmerston.

"Of course, I know that we need to send troops as soon as possible, but before we can send them, we have to go through the process that needs to be done!" Palmerston replied to the Home Secretary in a slightly irritated tone.

In Britain, everything is inseparable from consultation.

Especially when the use of the army is required, consultation is an indispensable thing, and only after the king, the cabinet, and the upper and lower houses have all agreed that the kingdom of Britain can really use the army.

Even when Britain is at stake, the Prime Minister of Britain must complete these steps.

Of course, there is another shortcut, and that is for the Prime Minister to announce the dissolution of the Cabinet.

The upper and lower houses can then vote directly on the proposal to use the military, and then elect a wartime cabinet again.

With the consent of both the upper and lower houses, the king also had no reason to object.

However, Palmerston clearly did not dare to dissolve the cabinet.

Because once the cabinet is dissolved, then Palmerston is likely to be ousted directly.

Even if Palmerston knew that this method was slowing down the time of sending troops in disguise, he did not dare to directly announce the dissolution of the cabinet for the sake of his own rights.

Immediately afterwards, Palmerston summoned the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister's Secretary and gave them notice of the interim Cabinet meeting.

After hearing this, the cabinet secretary general and the chief secretary's secretary also showed a hint of surprise on their faces.

It seems that the Earl of Clarendon's report is more serious than I thought.

The cabinet secretary couldn't help but say something in his heart.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, in what name should we invite the ministers over?" The Cabinet Secretary asked Prime Minister Palmerston what had happened.

"You tell the ministers of the ministries right away, and you say that something is wrong in India!" Palmerston sighed and replied in a low tone.

The Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister's Secretary widened their eyes, and they couldn't believe their ears at this moment.

India can be said to be one of the lifeblood of the entire Kingdom of Britain, and there are hundreds of stocks listed on the British Stock Exchange alone, the largest of which is called the East India Company.

With a value of almost 10 million pounds in the entire market, it can be said to be a veritable giant.

If something happens to India, the East India Company's stocks and bonds are bound to plummet.

If it is not good, the whole of Britain will usher in another economic crisis because of the Indian problem.

Of course, none of this is very important, it is important that the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers himself bought a significant part of the shares of the East India Company.

If these are not sold quickly, then his assets will be reduced by at least a third.

"Is the situation serious?" Thinking that his assets were likely to shrink, the cabinet secretary asked in a panic.

When the cabinet secretary said this, he immediately felt a wave of remorse.

As the secretary general of the cabinet, he really didn't believe that he could ask such a low-level question.

Whether the situation is serious or not is a question that the cabinet should consider, and all they have to do is to "assist the left" cabinet.

If the Cabinet Secretary wants to know if the situation is urgent, he only needs to ask the Secretary of the Foreign Secretary.

Count Clarendon couldn't have gotten the message himself!

Although the Cabinet Secretary asked a question that should not have been asked by him, Palmerston did not reproach him for overstepping his authority, but told the Cabinet Secretary the contents of the telegram.

"Nearly a third of the Indian army we hired has defected (in fact, only the Bengal regiment has defected), and the remaining two-thirds are still on the sidelines!

Now in India they are still loyal to our army, and only the Sikhs are left!

And our army in India is now only about 20,000 people! Prime Minister Palmerston gritted his teeth and scolded angrily: "Those immature dog mongrels must have expected that our army would not be able to quickly support the past, so they chose to rebel during this time period!"

They must have been calculated a long time ago! ”

"Your Excellency, I'll go and inform them!" The Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers acted quickly.

The cabinet secretary-general, who left the prime minister's office, did not immediately send someone to inform the ministers, but immediately ran back to his residence in a horse-drawn carriage, and then quickly found the bearer bonds of the East India Company and the Indian neighboring companies that he had purchased.

The Secretary General of the Cabinet handed over the bonds to his trusted steward, and ordered him to go to the Paris Stock Exchange at once and sell them all.

Looking at these East India Company bonds, the housekeeper suggested to the cabinet secretary: "Master, now that the East India Company's bonds are rising very strongly, let's wait and sell!" ”

The cabinet secretary shook his head and responded to the butler, "Can't wait any longer!" If we wait any longer, the East India Company will probably be on the verge of bankruptcy! ”

When the butler heard the response of the cabinet secretary-general, he was immediately taken aback, and he cautiously asked: "Master, is it that the cabinet wants to completely turn the East India Company into state ownership!" ”

"It's worse than that!" The cabinet secretary told the steward: "There is a long-planned rebellion in India, and the army that started the rebellion accounts for a third of the entire Indian army.

You have to sell all the bonds within today, you see? ”

After listening to the reply of the cabinet secretary, the housekeeper's expression was also a little panicked.

He had doubts about whether the British army would be able to put down the rebellion.

After all, nearly a third of the army was involved in the rebellion, and it would take at least two or three years for Britain to completely suppress it.

During this time, the East India Company had already gone bankrupt I don't know how many times.

"I'll be right away!" The housekeeper hurriedly responded to the secretary general of the cabinet.

"Remember, don't tell anyone else!" Before leaving, the secretary general of the cabinet also made a special instruction.

The butler agreed to the words of the Cabinet Secretary, and after the Cabinet Secretary left, the butler disguised himself and arrived at the stock exchange with the bonds and stocks, and he found the "professional manager" in the exchange, and asked for all the East India Company bonds to be exchanged for pounds.

The "professional manager" who was in charge of exchanging money for the steward, after seeing that the amount of money the steward was so large, painstakingly dissuaded the steward from exchanging only half of it, because the bonds of the East India Company were still on the rise.

Now the exchange is simply "losing money".

However, the housekeeper who already knew the inside story would listen to the persuasion of the "professional manager", and he still insisted on choosing to exchange them all.

The "professional managers" had no choice but to "reluctantly" buy back all the bonds of the East India Company.

The butler then left the stock exchange with the exchanged pounds.

Shortly after the butler left, a panicked aristocrat entered the stock exchange, also holding the East India Company bonds.

The panicked aristocrat approached the "professional manager" and demanded that all the East India Company bonds in his hand be exchanged for pounds, and the "professional manager" obeyed the nobleman's order to exchange them.

When the "professional manager" had handed the pound check to the nobleman, he curiously asked the nobleman why he was in a hurry to exchange it.

The nobleman, who had obtained the Bank of England notes, breathed a sigh of relief, and he decided to tell the "professional manager" the truth: "According to the information that has just arrived, the native soldiers of India have launched a massive rebellion a month ago!"

Today, the rebellious native soldiers of the whole of India are already half of the native soldiers of all India! ”

As soon as these words came out, the expression of the "professional manager" immediately became dull, and he understood that the bonds and stocks of the East India Company were finished.

Sure enough, after the aristocracy broke the shocking news, all the retail investors who had bought the bonds and shares of the East India Company gathered around the trading desk and the "professional managers" of the exchange as if they were enchanted.

There was an air of madness and despair throughout the hall, and on the blackboard behind the stock exchange counter, the price of the East India Company was falling again and again.

In just ten minutes, nearly a quarter of the East India Company's market value had evaporated out of thin air.

India-related bonds and equities have also continued to fall.

……

Let's turn our attention to 10 Downing Street, where an interim cabinet meeting is taking place, and they're going to discuss the question of the Indian uprising.

The Duke of Newcastle, as Secretary of State for War, made it clear that Britain should send troops to India as soon as possible to suppress Indian troops.

Other ministers also expressed support for the Duke of Newcastle's proposal, although they believed that the dispatch of troops should wait until the House of Commons agreed before acting.

Never act ahead of time, or it will cause unnecessary trouble.

Palmerston, who heard the support of all departments for sending troops to punish the rebels, smiled and nodded to the crowd: "Everyone! Now that we've agreed, let's move on to the next step! ”

After the interim cabinet meeting, Palmerston left 10 Downing Street in a horse-drawn carriage and headed for Windsor Castle.

After a long journey of several hours, the carriage finally arrived at Windsor Castle.

Palmerston, who entered the Windsor Castle Rooms, saw Prince Albert again.

Before Palmerston could speak, Prince Albert said directly to Palmerston: "I already know the specific things!"

Victoria asked me to tell you that she supports your actions on behalf of the King of the Kingdom of Britain!

Now you have to do only one thing, and that is to win support in both the upper and lower houses.

This shouldn't be a problem for you! ”