Dominate the Country

Just as the new and old cabinets were being replaced, Chen Ming was also working on the establishment of the ‘Dawn Fleet’ in order to implement his Black Kingdom plan in the future.

Chen Ming was not interested in the war in America.

What was there to be interested in? Chen Han’s advantage was obvious. Even if Spain had an additional United States, even if the British backed them up, and the Portuguese got involved, it would still be an adult beating a child. Chen Han had all the advantages.

Now Chen Ming felt that war was a more cruel game. Although it cost lives and blood, the game was still a game.

And the current American war was like a table tennis match. Chen Han was the Chinese team in the future. Where were the opponents?

Even Chen Ming’s current mood could be described in one sentence: I think all of you are garbage!

But other people would not have such confidence, although the reason for the worry came from within. There was no need to say more about the representatives of the vassal states like Shi Wenxuan. Just take the Marathas who had just been beaten up in pain, they were very bitter now.

Just when Emperor Chen began to form a transport fleet with paddle steamers as the main force, and just when the Suez Canal project was about to be completed, an agreement between the British and the Marathas was being signed in the Buckingham Palace in Europe.

Chen Ming didn't know this at all.

In order to punish the British, the Sikhs in Punjab launched a major uprising in this year and established the Sikh Kingdom. Sikh leader Ranjit Singh ascended the throne.

The Marathas didn't want to see the northwest region fall away from their hands, but just after the anti-rebellion army set out from the city of Delhi under their control, the Gorkha Kingdom in the north declared war on them. As a great empire that actually controlled northern India, the Marathas had 300,000 troops, of which 50,000 were Western-style troops trained first by the French and then by the British. This is a huge army, but Peshwa Baji Rao, who dominated this army, is a veritable "weakling".

The strong body of the Marathas has a severely shrunken brain.

Because the Peshwa system implemented by the Marathas is so ridiculous. Peshwa is a political system established during Shahu's reign. The power of Peshwa is equivalent to that of the British Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister of China, and is set up to ensure that the country can still function normally at the most critical moment. However, after Shahu's death, the governance of the country gradually fell into the hands of the Peshwa at that time, and the monarch became a nominal head of state. The Maratha Kingdom also changed from a centralized country to a country governed by multiple local heads of state.

The current Maratha Kingdom should be said to be a large alliance of Maratha chiefs.

The huge army of 300,000 people belongs to the entire alliance, not to Peshwa Baji Rao alone.

When the Gorkha army declared war on it without declaration, and when the Mysore army also declared war on it without declaration, the Marathas themselves were confused. Should the army be concentrated in the northwest and north first, or in the south first?

Although this war lasted less than half a year, the ruling authority of the Marathas in northern India was greatly weakened.

The Sikh Kingdom gained independence, and most of the Uttar Pradesh was taken away by the Gurkhas. Similarly, part of the land of Orissa in the south was also taken away by Mysore.

The war made the Maratha rule in northern India shaky. Baji Rao and Holkar, Scindia, and Bhonsle, the three powerful figures in the Maratha Kingdom, knew that in order to maintain their existing interests, they had to unite closely with the British.

This secret agreement was born between the Marathas and the British before the war was over. At that time, the biggest dispute between them was who was in charge. The result now is that the Marathas have surrendered.

George III looked at the agreement silently. Although the signing of this agreement was silent, he knew in his heart that this was a time bomb. In terms of India's interests, the British tied the Marathas tightly to their warships, and at the same time, the British also stood firmly on the side of the Marathas. This is a hidden danger that triggered the Sino-British war!

I don't know since when, in the Indian situation, Great Britain has needed to be more and more concerned about the feelings of the Chinese.

"Dear Viscount Castlereagh, I don't want this agreement to be publicly displayed in front of everyone one day." Although George III signed the agreement, he was unwilling to go to war with Chen Han one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand times.

"Yes, your Majesty. No one wants to go to war with China. It would be a disaster for any country."

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, then British Foreign Secretary, said to George III in a gentle tone.

Since the death of Pitt the Younger, the British political arena has begun a revolving lantern of prime ministers. Henry Addington, William Wyndham Grenville, and the Duke of Portland-William Henry Bentinck, three people have sat on the throne of prime minister in less than three years.

The current British Prime Minister, the Duke of Portland, is a political decoration. As early as 25 years ago, he served as prime minister for more than half a year, but just like the current situation, he did not hold any real power and was only in name only. The real power belonged to Spencer Percival, who had even moved to 10 Downing Street and wrote the speech for George III at the opening of Parliament in 1807.

This secret treaty between the Maratha Kingdom and Britain was endorsed by Spencer Percival and pushed hard by Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh.

With the Suez Canal about to be opened, the connection between the British Empire and India was bound to become even closer. Similarly, when the European war was endless and there was no end in sight, India's interests - the interests of the East, were crucial to the British Empire.

Therefore, regardless of how much the Chinese have increased their weight on the Indian issue, regardless of whether a war will break out between China and Britain in the future, Britain cannot give up India's interests. If China continues to attack the Marathas, Britain must show its willingness to fight regardless of whether it has the strength to resist China.

In 1808, the British's financial expenditure exceeded 80 million pounds, of which military expenditure alone was as high as 50 million pounds. The British fiscal revenue is only 60 million pounds. High personal income tax, inheritance tax, real estate tax and other indirect taxes have brought the British fiscal revenue to an unprecedentedly high figure. The current annual fiscal revenue of 60 million pounds is not the final amount. The British fiscal revenue is increasing every year. of. But the limit of this number is approaching.

More importantly, such a high indirect tax would not have been accepted by British aristocrats and capitalists during non-war periods. When peace is restored in Europe, indirect taxes such as personal income tax, inheritance tax, real estate tax, etc., if not all abolished, will definitely change the tax amount. The British fiscal taxes will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.

But think about the huge and suffocating debt of the British? The annual benefit from the national debt of several hundred million pounds is as high as 20 million pounds. The future Great Britain cannot leave India.

As the leading figure in foreign affairs of the British Empire, how could Robert Stewart not know the power of China? He knew very well that once Britain started a war with China, it would probably be a greater disaster for the British Empire than the Napoleonic War. But reality forced him to push the distance between London and Hyderabad closer.

You must know that after the signing of this agreement, the British can permanently station a conventional army of 10,000 people in the territory of Baji Rao; in order to maintain this army, the Marathas will give up a land of 500 Ten thousand rupees of tax revenue supplied the territory to the British army. Baji Rao, on behalf of the Marathas, also promised not to employ any Europeans who were hostile to the British, and the Maratha kingdom's international relations would also be controlled by the British.

In addition, the Marathas also ceded part of the territory between the Ganges and Jumna rivers to the British, and the British almost connected the territories in Madras and Bengal.

Such huge gains are also the biggest reason why George III clearly did not want to continue to intensify conflicts with China, but still signed his name on the treaty.

…

The current weather in London is really not ordinary cold and cold. Just like the current situation in Europe, the clouds are gathering and a war is about to break out.

However, such weather did not affect the Irish gentleman Carroll Audley Smith who had just arrived in London. He was a well-known landowner in County Galway in western Ireland, but secretly Smith was an Irishman. The leader of the anti-British forces.

After the European Office put on the French vest, it took several months to convince Smith of their identity. Now Smith has come to London with two entourages. He is staying in an inconspicuous hotel. He is leaning over a desk and reading a letter carefully.

These letters he had just received had no name on the envelope, just a bottle seal. This seal is exactly the one that Smith taught the European Office liaison officer [French] before leaving Ireland.

The content in the envelope is very simple, it is about the meeting in two days. Location, time, contact codes and some points to be careful and vigilant about in London.

While Smith was flipping through the letter sent by someone from the European Office, Xie Qinggao was also reading a stack of letters. Here are some letters from Poland.

Because of the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, the friendship between Napoleon and Russia was rapidly dying. The establishment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw excited many Polish people. But the forest is so big that there are all kinds of birds, and there are always a few weirdos among Poland's millions of people - they are rebelling against France.

Yes, Poland's current trend is to support France and boycott Russia. The latter's bizarre political ideas also included resistance to Russia, but they also resisted Napoleon. They wanted to strive for the complete independence of the Polish nation, instead of becoming Napoleon's vassal as it is now.

Some of these people were from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, some were rebels from Russian Poland, and some were rebels from Austrian Poland. It's ridiculous.

He hasn't learned to crawl yet, and he wants to run away.

If Xie Qinggao were one of them, he would completely hide his anti-French attributes at this time and hug Napoleon's thigh as much as possible. Because the dawn of Poland, the dawn of Poland, is Napoleon and his imperial army.

The contents of this stack of letters are all the same. First they are polite greetings and thanks, without any nutrition or sincere feelings, and then they ask for money! Yes, it requires money!

How come you don’t need money to make a ‘revolution’? They need money very much, and they also know that the European Office has money and is willing to use it to help the oppressed Polish people move towards freedom.

There was only the sound of flipping papers in the study, until a knock on the door broke the silence. Xie Qinggao's secretary walked in.

"Sir, Sir Smith is here to visit." This Sir, whose surname is also Smith, is one of the relatives of the European Office in London. As a member of the British Parliament, Smith can always come up with information that Xie Qinggao is interested in. Of course, this is not free.

In return, one of the Smith family's businesses, White Company, is a famous middleman in Sino-British trade.

"Please let him in." Xie Qinggao threw away the stack of letters in his hand. This thing is meaningless. Smith's visit can arouse Xie Qinggao's enthusiasm.