England.

Putsmouth Harbour.

A strange-looking ship that looked like a giant turtle lying on the surface of the sea returned to Portsmouth Harbour with smoke in its mouth.

On the port.

The high nobility of the British Empire, the dukes and marquises, as well as King George III and his prime minister, William Pitt Jr., stood on the edge of the harbor, watching the ironclad ship return to port.

As the turtle boat stopped.

A man of about forty years of age, with two stars on his shoulder, stepped down from a ladder sticking out of the deck.

When he came to George III, he took off his hat and saluted respectfully.

This is Vice Admiral Nelson, who was captured by the Ming Navy on the battlefield in the Indian Ocean, and was later ransomed by the British Indian Viceroyalty for nearly 200,000 pounds.

And this ship he just walked off the ground.

It is the first ironclad ship with actual combat significance produced by the British Empire after several years of research and development!

It was named the battleship "Warrior".

It is a battleship that brings together all the advanced technology of Britain.

Steam engine, armor, 10-inch copper-rifled cannon.

In order to regain hegemony on the seas, Britain began to tighten its belts and go all out to promote the development of ironclad ships in recent years.

And the final product.

It is this "Warrior" ironclad ship.

"Your Majesty, this is an epoch-making battleship! Only 10 such ironclad ships are needed for us to block the Chinese navy in the waters east of the Cape of Good Hope! ”

Can it really be?

Hearing Nelson's words, George III was a little skeptical.

But he still said with a smile on his face: "But such a warship is indeed too expensive. ”

"But he's invincible!" "The Warrior's armor is thick enough to withstand the bombardment of the main guns of any Chinese warship, and the five 10-inch rifled guns it is equipped with are enough to penetrate the armor of any Chinese warship," Nelson said. ”

"The Chinese are not good at naval warfare, their maritime tactics are simply old-fashioned according to the script, as long as they have similar weapons, our navy can definitely suppress them!"

Nelson said.

"So, what we need now is to establish military ports at key points in some oceans to meet the needs of naval warfare in the new era, we want to control the Caribbean Sea, and at the same time we need to station enough warships at the Cape of Good Hope to prevent the Chinese naval forces from entering the Atlantic."

George III sighed.

Once the warships of the British Empire were cruising the whole world.

But now.

However, they can only consider relying on important nodes for defense.

On the way back to Windsor Castle.

Nelson and Williambert Jr. returned in the same carriage as George III.

Williambert Jr. was analyzing the power landscape of the world to George III.

"Your Majesty, the world now is completely different from ten years ago, ten years ago, the center of power was concentrated in Europe, Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia At that time, the United States had not yet appeared, China was closed to itself, at that time, the British Empire only needed to maintain balance in Europe, support one faction, suppress one faction, and not let the European continent be ruled by any powerful country, with naval superiority, the British Empire could seize the hegemony of this world. Because as long as there are more than two great powers on the continent, they must maintain a sufficiently strong army. As a result, it was not possible to devote enough money to the navy to threaten the supremacy of the British Empire. ”

"But now the situation is different, the current pattern of the world is not the juxtaposition of all powers, but one super, how strong! And the bad thing is that this superpower, not in Europe! Because if they were in Europe, those European countries that felt threatened would certainly unite. But this superpower is far away in East Asia, and for most European countries that have no world interests but only regional interests, they do not want to offend this superpower thousands of miles away. ”

Needless to say, this superpower, whether it is George III or Nelson, knows that it refers to the Ming Empire.

"The emergence of this superpower has upset the logic of balancing diplomacy, because no country in Asia is qualified to balance China, and similarly, in Europe, no country is worthy of balancing China – unless Europe unites."

"But union is impossible, isn't it?" George III said.

"Yes, only Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, whose interests have been damaged, may unite."

"What about Russia?"

George III asked.

"Them."

William Jr. Pete frowned.

"We can try to talk to Russia, but don't get too much hope."

George III nodded.

France, Britain, Spain and other countries united to deal with the Ming Empire.

Even if they were defeated, they would at best retreat to Europe - they would not believe that the Ming Empire was capable of crossing the Eurasian continent to attack the mainland of these Western European countries.

But Russia is different.

Once Russia chooses to oppose the Ming Dynasty.

Their homeland is absolutely threatened.

The Ming Empire also controlled the nomadic tribes of the East.

They could graze their cattle all the way to Moscow along the steppe belt of the Eurasian continent.

Therefore.

Russia may not dare to make a bet.

"Actually, we'd better not bring the Russians in."

Nelson said.

George III was stunned.

"They're good buffer states, aren't they?" Nelson spread his hands.

"Who wants to be a neighbor of the Ming Empire now?"

"In other words, the diplomatic effort we need to make is to unite as much as possible with other European countries that have conflicting interests with the Ming Empire, and perhaps the United States, to maintain a basic balance with the Ming Empire?"

George III said with a bit of a headache.

Nelson and William Pitt Jr. glanced at each other.

Now the British Empire could not find any country that could balance with the Ming Empire.

It is necessary to unite half of Europe.

But even so.

An alliance of these countries.

It doesn't look like much. Join the group for warmth.

"It's just a group for warmth"

Paris.

Napoleon, dictator of the French Republic, kept a letter from the King of England on his desk.

Fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop.

Then he raised his head and said: "In principle, France agrees to unite with Great Britain, but . Britain wants to support the French conquest of Italy, or to support me to be crowned King of Italy, and on the Spanish side, I want to marry Princess Maria Isabel of Spain, and Britain wants to support Isabel as the first in line to the throne of Spain! ”

Napoleon said.

France, Italy, Spain.

If you win these three territories, you may be able to go further.

Let's say reviving the Roman Empire or something

(End of chapter)