The Ottoman Empire was Britain's traditional trading partner, and the countries bordering the Mediterranean were huge markets that Britain could not give up.

After the defeat in the Mediterranean naval battle, British strongholds in the Mediterranean fell one after another, and the government of London was as ignorant as a blind and deaf man.

Britain's overseas intelligence network has traditionally been passed on by businessmen and diplomats, and the rest of Europe has done the same.

So every time Britain carried out a naval blockade, it could turn the other side blind and deaf, but it was precisely because of this indiscriminate piracy that they inadvertently dug their own graves.

The Austrian navy and armed merchants retaliated frantically after the victory in the Mediterranean naval battle, and for a time the news of the attack on countless British merchant ships reached London.

As I have said many times before, merchant ships in this era had gun emplacements and guns, and they were warships if they were simply refitted.

Then let's talk about the so-called naval blockade of the British at this time, since there was no international law at this time, so the blockade of the British was to issue privateer licenses to the army and merchant ships.

That's right! It was the disgusting Spaniards back then, so those British merchant ships were not innocent, after all, many of them also contributed to the British blockade plan.

In the case of the Age of Discovery, these merchant ships were captured in the area of war, and the shareholders and owners could only consider themselves unlucky.

But due to the constant victories of the British Empire at sea, as well as the financial innovations of the City of London, almost all ocean-going vessels were insured.

At this time, the loss of British merchant ships and cargo in the war would undoubtedly result in huge payouts, and in this economic crisis, it was very likely that the banks behind the insurance companies would go bankrupt.

The financial giants in the City of London will not allow this to happen, and they will keep pressuring the British government.

On the other hand, even if they receive the compensation, those merchants who trade with the countries bordering the Mediterranean are not willing to continue to consume, because they will have to pay liquidated damages for the overdue arrival of goods, and at the same time, it will also reduce their share of the local market.

The main competitors were the Austrian merchants, after all, the British could produce it, and the Austrians could produce it, usually with better quality and better prices.

In the past, the British could monopolize the market by keeping other countries out of the country by means of agreements and treaties, but with the war, all of this became waste paper.

Austria made many concessions to Britain on diplomatic and commercial issues in order to ease the contradictions with Britain.

In colonial times, if Franz did not want to be trapped on the European continent, he had to obtain the consent of Britain, the overlord of the seas, either with money or with a sword.

But whether it is money or swords, the specific use is not static.

Historically, the end of privateering licensing would not have to wait until the Paris Declaration of 1858, but the British should revisit this double-edged sword.

At this time, the merchants who had already traded with the Austrian Empire were not in a hurry, after all, when the British controlled the Mediterranean, they could use the British flag, and when it was the turn of the Austrians to control the Mediterranean, they could change to the Austrian banner.

The intelligence they brought back was the only clue to the British, but it was still difficult to reconstruct the full picture of the Mediterranean naval battle from a few words.

In particular, why did the huge fleet led by Edward Hobart Seymour the elder return in vain in Crete, according to the British naval estimates, the Austrians did not have enough strength to defeat such a powerful fleet.

If there were, then the Austrians had no need to wait for reinforcements from the French Great Eastern Fleet.

The second was the fall of the island of Malta, which had been a battleground since ancient times, with a large number of defensive structures and the Mediterranean Fleet patrolling the surrounding seas.

The Austrians could not have unknowingly transported tens of thousands of troops to the island through local Greek traitors, as they had done in Crete.

Moreover, in the eyes of the British, even if tens of thousands of Austrian troops landed on the island, it was impossible to easily take the island of Malta.

The only plausible explanation is that there is a traitor on the island.

The British succeeded in deducing an unbelievable answer with a small number of clues.

As for the so-called sea monsters of those merchants, they were selectively ignored by the British high-level, after all, it was just a joke to fool the people, how could they be fooled?

At this time, the British government firmly believed that this war would be a breath-holding war, after all, land is different from the sea, and there are not so many variables.

And according to the latest British intelligence, the French army has occupied the heart of the Kingdom of Sardinia and penetrated into Austria.

Although this was contrary to the original intentions of the British government, Austria had become Britain's worst enemy by this time, and the temporary occupation of the Kingdom of Sardinia by France was acceptable.

After all, France, which was greatly damaged after the war, still has the right to bargain, and it will not be at the mercy of the British Empire at that time.

Coupled with the fact that Viscount Stratford had already been sent to Istanbul, he would surely be able to convince the Sudanjid that the Ottoman Empire would send troops soon.

In addition to this, there were the Hungarians, and the Austrian Empire's delay in dealing with the Hungarian rebels also showed that its strength and national strength were already stretched.

Based on all these inferences, the British government was convinced that the Austrian Empire would not survive in the first place, so the top government did not approve the new expedition.

British Admiral George Eden had an extremely crazy plan to assemble the most powerful fleet ever built by mankind, which would have at least a hundred battleships.

Theoretically, this fleet would crush all possible enemies with its sheer numbers, but the reality was that the British government was categorically opposed to this plan.

Not to mention the impact on the region of the redeployment of the South and North American and West African fleets, the costs and time wasted during the period alone are a major problem.

Besides, sending the entire North Sea Fleet and all the spare ships, at this time the British Royal Navy simply did not have so many qualified captains and sailors.

If recruited on an ad hoc basis, are these recruits really capable of fighting a ferocious enemy?

Moreover, due to a series of erroneous deductions, the British government always felt that it was a traitor from within, which led to the defeat of the first two naval battles in the Mediterranean.

As for whether there are traitors within the British government? Of course! There is no country in this era that does not have a few traitors in its government.

However, do they have anything to do with the defeat of the two naval battles in the Mediterranean? Of course there are! As long as you want to find it, there are many factors that determine victory or defeat.

Since a nail on a horseshoe can decide the outcome of a war, a sail, a cannonball, a pair of leather boots, and even an expired can of corned beef can naturally do.

For a time, the entire British political scene was jumping, but the Hamilton family, who were really the closest to the Austrian Empire, escaped.

(The elder Hamilton has retired, and Gordon, the family's apparent helmsman, is in Hungary.) ）

(End of chapter)