Daming 1805

Chapter 421 "War Threat"

Grenville was also a diplomat. Although he relied largely on his cousin's trust, he was also capable of dealing with people.

So even though he was flustered and exhausted, he finally managed to deal with Malthus with all his strength.

Then he didn't dare to stay at the prime minister's residence, and went directly to the parliament at the Palace of Westminster.

Then he was immediately hit with a new blow.

Requesting the parliament to open the same industry to the joint venture between Charlotte and Zhu Jingyuan in accordance with the plan discussed by the cabinet and referring to the cooperation method between the Crown Prince of Charles and Zhu Jingyuan of France has undoubtedly met with a lot of doubts and opposition.

According to the consistent cognition of the people in the parliament, even if the request is reasonable to a certain extent, there must be opposition parties who will come out to resist it.

Even if the bill is approved by most people, it is difficult to pass it after one discussion.

Not to mention the special proposals that affect the power of the royal family and open up key industries to Ming Dynasty.

Faced with a sea of ​​doubts and objections, Grenville became frizzy after answering and explaining for a long time.

Grenville seemed to be furious, knocking on the speech platform vigorously and roaring loudly:

"You can think that if we don't immediately pass the laws related to the joint venture between Her Highness Charlotte and Prince Dashi, Britain will immediately... Britain is already facing the threat of war from the Ming side.

"If this law cannot be passed today, then I will not occupy the position of prime minister and deal with a bunch of messy things here and there! Whoever you like to be, whoever you like to do, I will quit !"

After Grenville yelled, the scene immediately fell silent.

Grenville provoked two monstrous events at once.

One, of course, is the so-called war threat from Ming Dynasty.

The other was Grenville's own threat to resign.

What Grenville said was actually all from the heart.

He is really worried that if this matter is not handled properly, it will trigger the threat of war from Ming Dynasty.

Of course, it's just a worry, not something that has happened, so Grenville is exaggerating a little bit here.

But my threat to resign was completely real.

Grenville was really fed up with the Prime Minister's errand, and really didn't want to continue doing it.

After the scene was quiet for a long time, Henry Addington stood up and said cautiously:
"Your Excellency Grenville, please don't be impulsive, what is the threat about Daming?

"You have really received news from Da Ming. If we don't cooperate with His Royal Highness Charlotte on this matter, will Da Ming really want to launch a war against Britain?"

This is of course not the case.

Daming did not give any news or threats. This is actually Charlotte herself playing tricks on the tiger.

If it is a general matter, according to the logic of a normal politician, if Grenville accidentally said something wrong, he must tactfully deny it, at least not give a clear answer.

But now Grenville was on fire, still in a state of exasperation and exasperation, and said aloud:

"Yes, yes, if we don't accept Queen Charlotte's request, the British will wait for a new war to begin!

"No Europeans will come to the British aid this time! This is the British own war!
"I believe that my ability is limited, I can't handle these things, and I can't bear this responsibility.

"If the parliament doesn't cooperate, then please ask His Highness the Regent to hire someone else!"

Grenville was also less respectful of the Prince of Wales.

Grenville has even considered immigrating to Dongyi country directly after resigning.

In the past, the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty had very strict censorship of Thai and Western immigrants, and most of the vassal states did not welcome Thai and Western immigrants.

After Dongyi Kingdom came into existence, the situation changed significantly.

Although Dongyi Country's review of Thai-Western immigrants is still very strict compared to other Thai-Western countries.

But it is not difficult for a politician with a background like Grenville.

In addition, the main residents of Dongyi Kingdom are Thai-Western people, and it is geographically close to the colonies of Britain and France, and the climate is not very different from that of Taixi.

So now Dongyi Kingdom has become the first choice for immigrants from western and middle-class people.

Or immigrate directly to the United States.

Grenville subconsciously felt that in the state of parliament, his request could not be met.

So I already thought about ending the meeting and going back to pack my things.

However, the development of things often does not go in the direction expected by the parties.

Grenville was in despair, and when he made the decision to give up completely, things turned around.

Grenville's war threat made most of the members directly persuaded, including opposition members.

Although many congressmen also have doubts in their minds, whether Da Ming will really continue to start the war, but they dare not gamble.

Grenville's resignation threat also played a role. The current British Prime Minister is really not something ordinary people can provoke.

In an exceptionally weird atmosphere, Grenville's initial proposal was passed by an absolute majority.

Then Grenville was dumbfounded...

When the speaker printed the text of the bill and sent it to the regent Prince of Wales for confirmation, Grenville realized that he had made a mistake.

After this incident is declassified, it will definitely prove a political scandal.

But at the same time, this incident also gave Grenville a taste of sweetness.

It turns out that Daming's threats are so useful!
Grenville left the parliament hall with extremely complicated feelings and returned to his prime minister's residence.

Notify the other members of the cabinet of the news of the passing of the bill, and send it to the American court by telegram.

Queen Charlotte will receive these relevant messages when she arrives in the United States.

Then he continued to deal with the naval treaty with anxiety.

The sensational news such as "The bullying of Princess Charlotte by British officials and parliament led to the threat of war from the Ming royal family to Britain" can only be ignored.

For Grenville, the naval treaty is relatively simple compared to the troubles in the United Kingdom.

With the help of the naval generals headed by Nelson, the cabinet headed by Grenville quickly determined the UK's negotiating goals and bottom line.

Other countries have already postponed the discussion on the depth of cooperation with Ming Dynasty, and concentrated on dealing with the naval treaty, so the speed of determination is faster.

So in just fifteen days, the Taixi Naval Development and Control Conference was held in Paris, the hometown of the French Crown Prince Charles who proposed this proposal.

After the opening ceremony of the meeting, the first meeting started immediately, in which countries first explained their main goals.

After their respective explanations, all parties involved in the meeting found that, except for Lucia, who is the tallest, and the Netherlands and other countries that are already obviously weak, the goals of other major countries in the West and West are "not bad."

Britain, France, Spain, Prussia, Austria, Italy, and Ottoman countries all hope to limit the total tonnage of naval capital ships to between 25 and [-] tons.

At the same time, the tonnage of a single ship is limited to between 360 and [-] tons, and the caliber of the artillery is limited to within [-] mm.

Obviously disadvantaged countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark require lower standards, and their opinions are not important.

The more important one, and the one who obviously differs from everyone's opinion, is Lucia.

Lucia demanded a share of 40 tons of battleships.

And it is required to relax the tonnage limit of capital ships to [-] tons.

Widen the gun caliber to four hundred millimeters.

It is directly one level behind other major countries.

Although most of the representatives knew that the amount that Lucia directly asked for must have the intention of a big mouth, and the subsequent actual negotiations can definitely be reduced.

However, the amount of target demanded is so large, which shows that the other party's bottom line is not too low...

The main difficulty in the follow-up negotiations is obviously Lucia, and the difficulty of the negotiations will certainly not be small.

After the opening statement exchange, Talleyrand, the representative of France and the host of the meeting, looked directly at Lucia’s representative Wedemeyer to remind and suggest:
"Lucia's current target amount is obviously higher than that of other countries.

"When everyone hopes to limit the total tonnage of capital ships to about 20 tons, it is meaningless to require the construction of capital ships of 40 tons, right?
"After learning about the targets of other countries, Lucia should reassess the target tonnage, right?"

After hearing the goals of other countries, especially the goals of Britain, France and Spain, Wedemeyer was actually a little surprised.

He knew that the current state of these three countries was not good, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.

Only a capital ship tonnage of about 20 tons is required, which is only the size of five [-]-ton capital ships.

Compared with Lucia's ideal goal, it was directly doubled.

Europa's traditional major naval nation has only finished the world war for a few years, are they all so stretched now?

But in the face of Talleyrand's request, Wedemeyer had no intention of giving in at all.

The 40 tons proposed by Lucia is really not a wild asking price. Lucia really plans to build so many battleships.

In Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, the tonnage of the capital ships of the Imperial German Navy before World War I reached 72 tons.

Under the leadership of Ming Dynasty, the Thai and Western navies in this life directly skipped the traditional dreadnought stage and entered the era of ultra-dreadnought-class high-speed battleships.

The unit tonnage cost of their [-]-ton battleship is significantly higher than that of the traditional dreadnoughts of the Second German Empire.

However, with the current size of Lucia, there will still not be much pressure to build a 40-ton capital ship.

Other countries have no clear needs, so they are not prepared to squeeze their potential to the limit.

Lucia's idea is that if the highest goal cannot be achieved, it will be reduced from 32 tons per ship to [-] tons per ship, and the total tonnage will be reduced to [-] tons.

Of course, it is impossible to say this kind of goal that is close to the bottom line.

So Wedemeyer was very decisive, and with a bit of pride, he responded very seriously to Talleyrand:
"Lucia's naval construction plan was established based on her own actual needs, not for any other country.

"The target tonnage and scale are Lucia's current real needs, and there is no need to re-evaluate."

Now there was obviously some confusion in the venue, and representatives from most countries began to whisper.

Talleyrand's expression was also a little ugly:
"The goal of this meeting, which is also the goal of our Highness Charles' proposal to sign a naval treaty, is to call on the countries of Europe to take the initiative to limit the size of their naval armaments in order to maintain and guarantee the peace and development of Europe.

"Based on this premise and goal, all countries in Europe are actively restricting their own shipbuilding plans.

"Lucia's so-called building according to her own actual needs is to go against this general trend and trend, and to deviate from the direction of all other countries in Europe.

"More importantly, this kind of behavior has a very obvious suspicion of 'militarism'."

The key to being an enemy of the whole of Europa is the militarism.

These two natural accusations immediately reversed Wedemeyer's mood, which was somewhat complacent.

Lucia didn't want to be an enemy of the whole of Europa, and she didn't dare to "be warlike", which was directly warned by Daming.

Wedemeyer was a little worried.

Whether it is militaristic or not seems to be a comparison.

Originally, Lucia felt that her plan for a 40-ton naval capital ship did not seem militaristic in comparison to Ming's plan.

But compared with the European countries that are a little bit stretched, it seems that they are really suspected of militarism.

Wedemeyer had no choice but to say euphemistically that he needed to reconsider.

Then, the first day of the meeting was over, and the representatives from various countries immediately returned to their residences, discussed internally and reported to the rear.

Two days later, a new round of meetings began, and Talleyrand asked the Lucians to speak first.

Lucia's Wedemeyer directly stated that Lucia is willing to limit the total tonnage of the capital ship to 32 tons.

In Lucia's view, this was a huge concession.

But other Western countries, including Talleyrand, frowned obviously after hearing this.

Talleyrand was about to continue persuading and talking about Daming's threat, but the representative of Prussia asked to speak.

Hardberg of Prussia said gravely:

"Prussia asked to revise the target tonnage of our capital ship, and we want to increase the total tonnage to 32 tons."

This time, the representatives of various countries with ugly expressions exclaimed directly.

Talleyrand's expression became even uglier, and he almost burst into foul language in his heart.

What are you guys doing here?
It's all right for Lucia to make such a small concession. Why are you still retreating from Prussia?

32 tons of cutting-edge high-speed battleships, can you Prussia afford it?
To be honest, Prussia can really bear it.

Even the damaged traditional naval powers of Britain, France and Spain can barely bear it now.

They just don't want to squeeze the potential too much, so they have the intention to sign a naval treaty.

Relatively speaking, the pressure on Prussia is less than that of England, France, and Spain.

Prussia was the country with the least losses in the world war.

If it weren't for the same compensation to Daming, Prussia in Nigeria would have even felt like a victorious country.

The Prussian economy at this time may be stronger than the German Empire before World War I.

The German Empire can build 72 traditional dreadnoughts, and now Prussia can build more than 30 tons of high-speed battleships.

And now it is confirmed that the technical support provided by Daming can be obtained, and there is no technical problem.

At the same time, Prussia's shipbuilding target plan at this time is very flexible.

Although there is a general target range, Hardberg's actual task is to "play by ear."

Originally, the Prussian navy was oriented towards Britain, France, and the West, and its pursuit was not obviously weaker than these three traditional naval powers.

The three countries proposed a shipbuilding plan of about 20 tons, and Prussia followed directly.

But after the Lucian spoke, the Prussian immediately realized that he seemed to have found the wrong person all along.

Britain, France, and Spain have now drawn, and Prussia will fight against its neighbor Lucia in the future.

Lucia wants to build a capital ship of 40 tons, and Prussia must not only have 20 tons.

So after Hardberg discussed with his king on the phone, he directly changed the goal of the negotiation.

Directly followed Lucia tit for tat.

(End of this chapter)