London

In the office of the Prime Minister, William Lamb, Viscount of Melbourne, he was chatting leisurely with Sir Henry John Temple, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, about the serious pollution of the river by the industrial wastewater discharged from the Thames River, which caused more than 20,000 Londoners to suffer from severe diarrhoea and gastrointestinal diseases.

"This is too bad, the government must do something about the mercenary factory owners, London cannot afford to lose the Thames, and I have instructed the Minister of Industry to draw up a report on this to regulate the behaviour of the business owners."

"I am not optimistic about this, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, any bill that tries to stop industrial development will be very difficult to pass in the House of Commons."

"I know that the damned capitalists have bought off the politicians, they have kidnapped politics with money, and the British Empire has suffered no more than 1,000 casualties a year in its global expansion, and the severe pollution of the Thames and the winter smog alone kills more than 7,000 people every year, and more than 100,000 people suffer from various diseases, which is absolutely unbearable."

"The best way to get rid of pollution is to relocate factories, and the problem is that these factory owners provide enough wages and taxes to support the prosperity of the British Empire and its status as the world's factory, and we have to make trade-offs between them......

At this time

There was a soft knock on the door, and Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey poked his head in to look at it, and whispered; "I beg your pardon, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Lord Arthur Wellesley, Minister of the Colonies, who is already waiting outside, saying that there is an urgent matter that requires him to see you immediately, and I do not know ......"

"Oh, let him in Owen, and you can listen and take a note."

"Understood, right away."

Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey retracted his head and closed the door.

It didn't take long

Lord Arthur Wellesley, Minister of State for the Colonies, walked in with an urgent email in his hand, followed by Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey with a notebook and pen in hand, and he found a chair at the edge of the Prime Minister's office and sat down, opening the notebook to take note of the meeting.

"Your Excellency, should I take a moment of refuge?"

"No, no, no...... Dear Sir Henry, this is an e-mail requesting assistance from the newly formed Tang Kingdom in North America, in connection with the current war between the United States and Mexico, and I think it is important to hear your valuable opinions. ”

Lord Arthur Wellesley, Minister of the Colonies, gracefully gestured to a seat, and then placed the mail in his hand on the table in front of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister William Lamb didn't ask too much, opened the confidential diplomatic email and read it for a while, then thoughtfully pushed it to the side of the table for Foreign Secretary Henry to circulate.

There has been a brief silence in the room, as the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary digest the newfound information and consider what to do.

A moment later

Sir Henry, the Foreign Secretary, raised his head, closed the confidential diplomatic mail with his hand, and said thoughtfully; "Now it seems that this Tang Kingdom has shown a certain value. And the discovery of a sizable gold mine in San Francisco means that they have a certain ability to pay. For example, the request to transport Chinese immigrants across the ocean can bear a considerable part of the cost. The question now is whether it's worth the investment? ”

"That's the problem." Lord Arthur Wellesley, Minister of the Colonies, shrugged his shoulders and sat down in the chair beside him, before speaking;

"The value of the Tang Kingdom is twofold;

On the one hand, the existence of the Tang Kingdom could disintegrate the United States' claims to the Oregon colonies, curb its ambitious expansion attempts, and reduce the pressure on Britain in North America.

Let's be honest

If there is no Tang Kingdom in the way and the United States can smoothly expand to the west coast of North America, we will not be able to keep the Oregon colony, which is an unavoidable fact at present.

The second aspect

From an international strategic point of view, a strong and unified United States is strongly hostile to Britain, and this has undoubtedly been expressed in the "Monroe Doctrine." It sought to divest the influence of the British Empire from South, North and Central America, a situation that we absolutely could not accept

A divided North America is more in line with the global strategic interests of the British Empire.

Unfortunately, neither Canada nor Mexico can afford to confront the United States, they are too weak. ”

"Does the Tang Kingdom have such strength? Judging from the documents, they only have a population of about 100,000 people, and can only be regarded as a strong tribe. William Lamb asked as he took the diplomatic mail back, looking at it.

"To be exact, I think it has that potential." Lord Arthur Wellesley, the Minister of the Colonies, didn't mind saying a few kind words for the Tang Kingdom, and he had privately taken a certificate of equity in the American River Gold Rush Company.

As a particular gentleman, it is impossible to eat dry and wipe clean without admitting it.

In case the Tang Kingdom is defeated by the destruction and decay, the stable income worth 20,000 pounds a year will be lost.

For Lord Arthur Wellesley, this is almost equivalent to 1/4~1/5 of the family's annual income, and it is not easy to give up.

He pondered his sentence, and then said;

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister;

Western North America is a vast and undeveloped area full of wilderness, sparsely populated, with harsh terrain of high mountain deserts and Gobi deserts, roads and infrastructure that are almost equal to zero, and are not suitable for large army operations.

The developed area of central North America is more than 2,600 miles away from Los Angeles, which has brought insurmountable difficulties to the western expedition of the US military.

Looking at the facts regardless of appearances, the army of the Tang Kingdom was able to completely annihilate more than 1,700 American troops who invaded the Rio Rancho area with very few losses, which verified its combat effectiveness from the side and was enough to resist the large-scale invasion of the American army.

Now as ordered

According to various intelligence, the US military invested nearly 10,000 troops and tens of thousands of civilian workers in the west, and did not hesitate to pay a huge price, intending to crush the other side with strong strength and destroy the Tang Kingdom in one fell swoop.

Why?

It is precisely because once the United States succeeds, it will sit on the advantages of the two oceans and achieve tremendous strategic benefits. It can also take the Oregon colony lightly, threaten Canada to the north, and shock Mexico to the south, and establish the hegemony of North America like a tiger out of the cage.

And all this is exactly what the British Empire wants to see.

Totally conceivable

After the United States succeeds, it will go all out to implement the "Monroe Doctrine" and go all out to squeeze and strike at Britain's dominant influence in North and South America and Central America, which will actually harm the global strategic interests of the British Empire.

The weakness of the Tang Kingdom lies in its sparse population, and they are able to resist and eliminate 1,700 U.S. troops with a population of 100,000 and less than 2,000 troops, which has proven to have the potential to confront the United States.

If its population expands to 200,000, 300,000 or more, and its army expands to 5,000 or even 10,000, will it be able to resist a large-scale invasion by tens of thousands of US troops?

This is a very interesting topic, no one dares to play such a package ticket, but I think that the Tang Kingdom has such potential.

In fact

We have no more options, and many years ago, the Canadian militia had a mediocre performance in the war with the United States, and could not have pinned more hopes at all.

And now the U.S. military is advancing in Mexico, and the Mexican army that is fighting has collapsed, which is a great disappointment for us.

In today's North American chess game

The outstanding combat effectiveness displayed by the army of the Tang Kingdom is undoubtedly eye-catching, so why shouldn't we give them more opportunities?

Aid is not given all at once, and depending on its performance, I believe that it is time to step up the aid. ”

Lord Arthur Wellesley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, drew frequent nods of approval from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.

The two pondered for a moment, and Sir Henry John Temple, the Foreign Secretary, was the first to express his opinion, saying;

"I recently spoke privately to the War Secretary that the British Army has been used to the fullest extent and that in order to deal with the growing Crimea problem, the British Army should rapidly expand from the current 247,000 to a target of 420,000.

Such a large expansion of the army will go through difficult bargaining in parliament, and the future is uncertain.

In this case

The British army was unable to support expansion in Southeast Asia and North America, and they could not even draw a single infantry company.

The rise of the United States has become one of the greatest enemies of the British Empire in the entire North and South Americas.

North and South America are an inseparable part of the global territory of the British Empire, and in order to safeguard the global interests of the British Empire, I am in favor of increasing the assistance to the Tang Kingdom, which can be appropriately strengthened on this basis.

If you can solve it with money or some materials at the bottom of the box, don't risk the lives of British boys.

Judging from the previous performance, the Tang Kingdom has a bright feeling militarily.

Moreover, its national strength is weak and its population is sparse, and it is impossible to predict that it will be able to break away from the support of the British Empire for tens or hundreds of years to come.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to compete with the North American powers.

As a valuable pawn, I'm looking forward to seeing the amazing performance of the Tang Kingdom. ”

"So, you've agreed to increase the aid?" Prime Minister William Lamb asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I agree."

"Well, the appeal of the Tang Kingdom is supported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Colonies, and the reasons are quite strong, and I am also curious...... Want to see what this little kingdom can do? Prime Minister William Lamb flipped through the diplomatic emails in his hand again, then picked up his pen and wrote a few words, and said with a smile on his face;

"Since you are supporting, you can simply be generous, the Royal Navy has some sail warships to be eliminated that can be dialed over. I remember that there were two heavily polluting artillery factories in London, which were simply dismantled and given to them with equipment and men, as well as some cement factories and steel factories.

As for the immigration requested by the Tang Kingdom, it can be transferred to the Weihaiwei colony in the Far East of the empire, and the cabinet will apply to the parliament for special financial support for this purpose.

Besides

On the diplomatic side, Sir Henry was asked to contact relevant friendly countries in Europe to jointly put pressure on the US side.

Don't forget to bring the French with you, I don't want to see the French go all over the matter, secretly taking pleasure in harming the interests of the British Empire.

These damn Frenchmen! ”

Prime Minister William Lamb signed his name on diplomatic mail, then turned around and instructed Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey;

"Owen, according to this document, quickly draft a bill for special assistance to the Tang Kingdom, and put it in the bill to be submitted to the parliament for voting next week, we must act as soon as possible, the situation on the battlefield waits for no one."

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Owen Spacey stepped forward and took the papers in his hand, stacked them on top of his notebook, and immediately turned to leave.

Priority must be given to the things that the Prime Minister personally commands.