Chapter 845 Palmerston hungry for war

Late June 1856.

The transport ship carrying the Governor of Gabon, Jerome Patterson and 5,000 Croatian foreign corps, took a boat from the port of Toulon, escorted by the French Mediterranean Fleet, and sailed out of Gibraltar, heading for Gabon in Central Africa.

When the then commander of the British Army in Gibraltar saw this scene, he thought that the French army was going to send troops to go on an ocean expedition.

Therefore, the commander in Gibraltar quickly dispatched his steamship to London to inform him.

[PS: Gibraltar in this period was not equipped with telegraphs, while Malta was equipped with telegraphs under the influence of the Crimean War.

I have to say, this is a “great feat” in Britain! 】

When the steamship arrived in London, the time had come to the beginning of July.

At this moment, Palmerston, who relied on the Crimean War to bring his prestige, still holds the post of Prime Minister of the British Kingdom, but his Prime Minister is currently shaky.

There are more and more criticisms of Palmerston in the parliament and outside the system, and the third force (referring to the public opinion I) that Palmerston has high hopes for has also begun to fight back against Palmerston. Some newspapers openly called him Palmerston. Maston is “Cromwell in the prime minister’s position”.

To make matters worse, the royal family also expressed dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Palmerston’s dictatorship in the cabinet.

At the right moment, Palmerston, the war hero, will fall directly.

And as Prime Minister Palmerston also knows that he is now in a precarious situation.

If it goes on like this, sooner or later, he will be brought down.

Therefore, Palmerston must find some ways to break the game.

However, Palmerston could never think of any other way than war.

In Palmerston’s view, only a war can bring his popularity back to the Crimean War period.

But who to go to war with is a big question.

If it is too weaker than the British Kingdom, the people will only take it for granted that Britain will defeat the opponent.

If the strength is similar to that of Britain, the people may directly consider replacing him as the Prime Minister.

You have to find an opponent who is neither too weak nor too strong.

However, such opponents are really hard to find.

Just when Palmerston was thinking about how to find a suitable opponent for Britain, a knock came in from outside.

Palmerston, who had regained his senses, hurriedly turned over a few pages of the dossier on the table with his hands, and then said to the door, “Please come in!”

The door of the prime minister’s office slowly opened, and the cabinet secretary appeared at the door.

The cabinet secretary who entered the room tidied up his clothes a little, and then reported to Palmerston in his standard London accent: “Well… Dear Prime Minister, the Secretary of War hopes that he can have a game with you here. A brief meeting, he said that this meeting does not need to take too much of your time…”

The cabinet secretary rambled on key information mixed in a pile of nonsense to Palmerston.

“Where is the Minister of War now!” Palmerston immediately asked the cabinet secretary.

“The minister is waiting outside the room now!” the cabinet secretary responded clearly to Palmerston: “If you need, I can help you call him in!”

“Of course!” Palmerston nodded and responded to the Cabinet Secretary.

“Then I’ll go over here!” The cabinet secretary turned around and prepared to leave.

Before the cabinet secretary walked out of the door, Palmerston’s voice reached his ears again, “Wait a minute!”

The secretary of the cabinet stopped and said to Palmerston with a professional smile again: “Your Excellency Prime Minister, what other orders do you have!”

“Well…” Palmerston hesitated for a moment, then asked the cabinet secretary: “We have been together for almost two years, what do you think of me?”

The cabinet secretary’s expression froze, and after a few seconds, he resumed his smile and responded to Palmerston: “Your Excellency Prime Minister, your mother is undoubtedly an excellent Prime Minister!”

“In your mouth, every prime minister is probably an excellent prime minister!” Palmerston responded to the cabinet secretary with a hint of sarcasm.

The Secretary-General of the Cabinet responded tactfully: “Every Prime Minister becomes a Prime Minister through the joint election of the House of Representatives and the Royal Family, and a member of the House of Representatives is made up of all responsible British gentlemen (landlords and capitalists). Common election, so I think every prime minister is an excellent prime minister!

My duty is to help every Prime Minister accomplish what they want to accomplish! ”

The cabinet secretary’s watertight answer made Palmerston feel like he had punched cotton. He nodded and said to the cabinet secretary: “I see! Now you can go and invite the war secretary over here. It’s gone!”

“Yes! Prime Minister!” The Cabinet Secretary bowed again to Palmerston and left the room.

Palmerston, who watched the cabinet secretary leave, showed a bitter smile, raised his head and muttered to the ceiling above his head: “Loyalty is such a luxury for a professional bureaucrat, but I want to Gotta get it!”

After a while, the Duke of Newcastle, Minister of War, appeared before Palmerston.

“What happened? Duke!” Palmerston, who was sitting opposite the Duke of Newcastle, asked curiously.

“Your Excellency Prime Minister, I have two news here, one is news from France, and the other is news from the Qajar Dynasty (Yin Lang’s 19th-century dynasty)! Which one do you want to hear!” The Duke of Newcastle said solemnly. Palmerston said.

“Let’s talk about France first!” Palmerston resolutely chose France, but he himself was wary of his neighbors across the strait.

After all, the hatred between France and Britain lasted for almost a thousand years.

The most recent war between the two countries was decades ago.

Palmerston did not believe that a Crimean war could completely reverse relations between the two countries.

Not to mention, the various alliances (currency union, customs union) formed by the French Empire on the European continent in the past two years.

It’s just that Britain will not do anything to the French Empire until the French Empire chooses to completely smash the European balance system.

The British kingdom was also unwilling to bear the cost of the second Napoleonic war.

In current Europe, although the French Empire controls the right to speak, other countries still have the right to speak.

Although the Austrian Empire is united with France, this does not mean that Austria is following the lead of France.

The British Kingdom doesn’t need to worry too much about Europe.

“Our troops stationed in Gibraltar are here to report: In late June, a large French fleet left the Mediterranean!” The Duke of Newcastle said to Palmerston word for word.

“How big is the fleet? How many people are there?” Palmerston asked the Duke of Newcastle.

“Gibraltar said that the French fleet was personally led by the ironclad Friendship… According to the number of troop transports, there should be at least 3,000 people.” The Duke of Newcastle responded to Palmerston.

“More than 3,000 people?” Palmerston frowned and muttered to himself, “What is France doing?”

“I don’t know either!” The Duke of Newcastle shook his head and responded to Palmerston.

“It stands to reason that this army should not be a fleet destined for the Americas, and three thousand people cannot decide the victory of a battle…” Palmerston ruled out the possibilities one by one in his mind.

After thinking for a while, Palmerston decided to put aside the question of France. He asked the Duke of Newcastle again: “What happened to the Qajar Dynasty?”

“According to the information passed on by government officials who tended to us within the Qajar Dynasty, the king of the Qajar Dynasty, Nasser al-Din Shah, has decided to send an attack to Herat in October! At present, the Qajar Dynasty should be in a state of preparation for war. !” the Duke of Newcastle responded to Palmerston.

“Is the Qajar Dynasty crazy?” Palmerston couldn’t help but exclaimed, he couldn’t imagine how much fake wine Nasserdin Shah had to drink before he dared to provoke the great kingdom of Britain.

The Russian Empire that originally supported them is now caught in a situation of two governments, how dare they directly send troops to Herat.

[PS: Herat is located in the northwest region of Afghanistan and is the strategic center of the entire region between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Yaqsar River to the west and north and the Indus River to the east.

The previous competition between Britain and Russia in Central Asia revolved around Herat. 】

“I don’t know either! What the **** is the Qajar dynasty thinking!” The Duke of Newcastle also shook his head and responded to Palmerston.

At this moment, Palmerston suddenly thought of a possibility, and he hurriedly told his thoughts to the Duke of Newcastle: “Do you think this French operation will be related to the Qajar Dynasty?”

“Impossible!” The Duke of Newcastle swallowed and shook his head in response to Palmerston, “If France really wants to go, what will they do with the supplies along the way! ”

“How do you explain that France sent troops out at this time, where are they going? Why did the Qajar Dynasty want to attack Herat?” Palmerston said to the Duke of Newcastle.

“What is the purpose of France?” The Duke of Newcastle continued following Palmerston’s train of thought. “Even if he sends an army to help out and defeats Herat successfully! It doesn’t seem to do him any good, he can’t think about it. Support the Qajar Dynasty!”

“It’s not impossible! Maybe the French Empire wants to fill the vacancy of the Russian Empire in Central Asia! Jerome Bonaparte is in some ways his uncle!” Palmerston continued along the wrong As his thoughts moved forward, he had already decided in his heart that France had something to do with the Qajar dynasty. (Actually, the Qajar Dynasty listened to the deceit of the Southern Russian Empire, so it ran to Herat to die.)

“I think it’s better not to be so arbitrary!” said the Duke of Newcastle cautiously.

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