The sun never sets in America

Chapter 426 Reaction and Prussian Action
[The Times: France declares war on Spain. This is a complete conspiracy! ! 】

[Manchester Evening News: A funny farce, the French once again performed a drama from the Palace of Versailles in Paris to all Europe and even the world. The director may be Napoleon III himself——]

[London Financial News: It is reported that because of the war between France and Spain, the stock markets of many European countries have been in turmoil. The European economy has officially entered a period of recession. It is an inevitable fact that funds will flow out. According to estimates, at least half of the funds have been lost. It flowed to America and to Han, and its total value may exceed 300 million pounds-——]

When all the British woke up early in the morning on April 28, they were surprised to find that the media, large and small, throughout the UK were full of news about France and Spain.

One of the most sensational small newspapers even used shameless fake news such as "Napoleon is resurrected and the English Channel may be lost" to scare our lovely "British citizens".

Some newspapers even strongly criticized the current British foreign strategy. The craziest one, the Sako Street Daily, even used a headline like "The Russell Cabinet is about to fall", which made conservatives angry.

If the news in the newspapers was just to scare people, then after learning that the French army broke through the first line of defense composed of hundreds of thousands of Spanish troops in just one and a half days, those parliamentarians with special intelligence, Finally woke up from the so-called "balanced dream".

Even at a regular meeting of the House of Commons today, MP Stirling from the West End raised direct questions about why France should be indulged.

One of the lines, "Are you afraid of the French?" has become the most lively topic among British upper class society recently.

Even in the eyes of some people, this is a manifestation of the incompetence of the Russell Cabinet. A Manchester postmaster named Spencer even declared that "the Russell Cabinet is a puppet cabinet supported by France within the British Empire", and then there is a lot of so-called evidence. .

"Your Majesty, is it because of France?"

"France is like a gangster who broke into Miss Spain's boudoir, while her fiancé Great Britain could only watch everything happening in the room like an Alzheimer's. Finally, when the battle was over, he sighed: France is so powerful!!"

Looking at the "flower basket" in Haqia's hand, as well as the colorful flowers on it, and the aroma that hit her face, Queen Victoria didn't even have the slightest hint of happiness. She just lazily stretched out a finger and pointed at the table. The meaning was obvious. ,"lay down".

Feeling the "questioning" in it, Hachia's heart trembled and he continued:

"There are so many more..."

.............................................

Whether Queen Victoria herself admits it or not, and whether those members of the British royal family admit it or not, the more advanced the times, the less space is left for them to "move about".

“Suppose we had issued a stern warning before the French attacked Italy, would Europe be like this today??”

This is the biggest dilemma in the UK at present. France's declaration of war on Spain only makes this contradiction visible to more people.

The scene at that time was, as Crowfat himself said:
"In the House of Commons, for the first time, I saw leather shoes flying around. I have to say that some feet really need to be cleaned, but what needs to be cleaned even more is the soul of the British Empire, the soul of this country, which has changed. Over-reliance on diplomatic strength and the so-called offshore balance has allowed the entire Europe to see Britain's incompetence. This war should have ended before the war. It could have ended with a decent ending, but our vanity, we His weakness destroyed this best ending!!"

After all, unity is the most important thing! !

When Hachia saw the opportunity, he immediately stepped forward to ask. After seeing the nod, he stood behind and pressed the Queen's shoulders.

"Your Majesty, France is our defeated general. Napoleon can't do it, and it wouldn't be possible if it were his nephew!!"

Hachia carefully placed the flower basket on the table, and then stood behind him without saying a word, looking no different from an ordinary attendant.

Queen Victoria leaned back on her chair and sighed, feeling quite tired.

Hakia, the Lord Chamberlain of Buckingham Palace, said he was a minister, but he was actually a gardener.

Haqiya asked tentatively, and the strength in his hand also slowed down a bit.

Hundreds of words of harsh opinions were eventually deleted by Crowfat himself when it was published. After all, sometimes people always have to compromise.

"This one is no longer good and needs to be removed!!"

This person was a gardener. He was appreciated by Queen Victoria because he presented a pot of roses of different varieties. After several years of experience and the retirement of the old minister, as a thirty-five-year-old "young man", Hachia In this way, relying on his flower arranging skills, he climbed to the upper floor of Buckingham Palace.

As for whether Britain will participate in the war, it is now a very lively topic in the UK. British novelist Crowfat wrote in an ambiguous tone in his new book "London in the Rainy Season":

This book was published a few years later, and the time when this article was written was exactly April 1864, . The most accurate time period can even be traced back to the morning of that day, when Sterling was next The House finished with the curse "Go to hell."

Such an almost "anti-intellectual" statement has actually been recognized by a lot of people. In their opinion, if it is not a puppet, how could it be so weak.

Of course, although he is said to be at the top, he is actually still a slave who shouts and drinks around.

Queen Victoria replied in a very calm tone: "You also think we are afraid of the French??"

Looking at the white "gully" below, Hachia didn't react at all. After all, he had seen too much.

"No one is to be blamed for anything, only ourselves. It is we who have raised our enemies into lions with our own hands. We are the biggest masterminds behind the chaos in Europe!!"

The Russell cabinet's attitude towards external criticism is the same as "no acknowledgment, no explanation, no answer".

And if it is not done well, it will easily damage the "prestige" of the royal family in the UK. You must know that the UK is a constitutional country, and everything depends on how to maintain the constitution and how to limit the power of the monarch.

"If we join the war as quickly as possible before the Russians invade the Ottomans, just like the last war, even if we express ourselves firmly enough, the Russians who have already failed once will not have the courage to fight decisively. I Dare to use my personality to guarantee——"

"Ugh……"

It was obvious that I couldn't speak at this time.

Such a trend of public opinion naturally affected Buckingham Palace. Even if Queen Victoria wanted to "neutralize" it and mix in this sea of ​​boiling public opinion, it would not be that easy.

At that time, Crowfat was on the periphery of the meeting. He was an "honorary citizen" of London, and that paragraph was written at that meeting.

This is the smart thing about him, he knows exactly when to say something and when not to say something.

In Buckingham Palace, the fragrance of flowers is overwhelming, and more than a dozen gardeners are selecting the most beautiful varieties, picking them and sending them to the palace for Queen Victoria's evaluation.

But don't forget, this is the British Empire, the beginning of industrialization, and the first country in Europe to have a constitutional monarchy. Coupled with the number of local workers, there is an inherent risk of further decline in imperial power.

"Your Majesty, are you tired? I'll press the button for you..."

"Your Majesty, this is today's new flower. It tastes even better today than yesterday..."

And those people were naturally unwilling, which led to the current scene of heated public opinion in the UK. In essence, they were still putting pressure, especially putting pressure on Russell himself. Among the nicknames those people gave Russell, "Coward Russell" ” and “Russell the Junkie,” are definitely the most mentioned.

Even though the British royal family at this time was still dominated by nobles due to the progress of the first industrialization and the limitations of the times, the upper and lower houses were still ruled by nobles, and civilians had no chance at all.

"You're right, it's impossible, they will never have a chance!!"

Hachia's right words directly ignited Queen Victoria's fighting spirit.

Then he said:

"Do you think we should declare war??"

“Declare war on those stupid Frenchies??”

Two consecutive sentences that were almost the same, but became clearer and clearer, made Haqia even more afraid to answer, so he could only use one sentence:
"This is what the cabinet should do."

"Yes, that's what the cabinet should do!!" Queen Victoria said next, making the atmosphere tense again.

At this time, an attendant broke in and broke the peace:

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Russell hopes to meet with you!!"

Queen Victoria's face changed slightly, and then she continued: "Ask him to wait for me in the tea room. By the way, give him the blueberry cookies I made yesterday afternoon and tell him that I like blueberries very much..."

Behind the scenes, Hachia kept guessing about "Blueberry".

And when Queen Victoria went to dress up and prepare to meet guests, thousands of miles away in Berlin, the largest mobilization was going on.

…………

Looking at the weapons production line in the factory and the weapons rolling on it, Bismarck, who came to inspect, kept looking at the weapons in front of him, and finally spoke:
"Schulte, how do these rifles compare with the Han Army's Type 20??"

Schulte was a dark-haired Germanic man with a bald head in front and hair in the back. After hearing Bismarck's inquiry, he replied with a Hamburg accent:
"Prime Minister, this rifle is a new type of rifle that we mixed based on the Type 20 rifles circulating in the black market and the technology developed by Mauser Company. The length of this rifle is a little longer than the Type 20 rifle because of consideration In the early stages of the war, our army's need for offense was greater than for defense in the trenches..."

"If we use a rifle that is too long, something will happen that is too heavy and difficult to use..."

(In the trench period, the length of the rifle was reduced a lot compared to the original, essentially to adapt to the space of the trench and facilitate movement in the trench. This experience was summed up by the Han army and later expanded to the world)

After hearing this, Bismarck didn't say anything. He directly picked up a brand-new rifle that was being tested next to the production line, pulled the bolt hard, looked at the ballistics inside for a long time, and finally said: "Alas, it is still the same as the rifles of the Han people. The difference is that at least their ballistics are smoother than ours, and ours still has some flaws..."

The so-called flaws are actually not flaws at all, just a little rough. But in the eyes of the well-informed Bismarck, this is the "gap" between Prussia and Han. Just like the territory and military achievements of both sides, it will always be the same. There was a natural chasm that the Prussians could not cross, just like the English Channel that the French could never cross.

It can even be said that if the French could really cross the English Channel, then they would not be French.

Schulte was a little unconvinced when he saw this, and explained: "We just have a gap in raw material processing, but that can only mean that their machines are more advanced than ours, but it does not mean that the Han people are more powerful than the Germans!!"

"If you give us a few years, we will definitely achieve what they do!!"

Schulte is a typical aristocrat with the surname "Feng", and he has the pride of an old aristocrat in his bones.

He also admitted that Bismarck said that Han was far ahead, but he was unwilling to admit the so-called "civilization superiority."

Because in his opinion, this was an insult to the Germanic nation.

"Then when are you talking about a few years, two years, three years, or three years later, Han's technology has improved again, and you have to wait another three or two years, and you will be trapped forever. At this time, following the Han people..."

"This……"

Schulte was made angry and annoyed by Bismarck's almost "self-deprecating" words, but in the end he just couldn't answer.

Bismai felt sad, but he quickly came out and asked a new question:
"Where's the machine gun? How about the machine gun??"

Bismarck's enthusiasm for machine guns was no less than that of Americans who had suffered heavy injuries from machine guns. In his view, machine guns were simply weapons tailor-made for Prussia. The rigorous Prussians always had a rigorous set of tactics for attacking. What this set of tactics lacks the most is a weapon that can be used by individual soldiers or even provide cover. This weapon is the machine gun invented by the Han people and has shone in the American battlefield.

"We have basically designed two plans for machine guns, one is air-cooled similar to the Americans, and the other is water-cooled like the Han Dynasty..."

Although Schulte's design was rigorous, it would inevitably fall into the trap of plagiarism, which disappointed Bismarck, who was waiting to see the Prussian's innovation.

As if sensing Bismarck's mood, Schulte added:

"One of our engineers named Taylor proposed a universal solution. He believed that the Han method of separating light and heavy machine guns was too troublesome and a waste of resources. Moreover, he was not very satisfied with the rate of fire and hoped to get Funds are needed to develop a machine gun with the highest rate of fire in the world and the ability to combine light and heavy weight. It can even match our army's 7.65mm bullet, just like the 7.6 on the Han machine gun..."

"Tongyun, is it the kind of bullet transportation used by the Han people??"

Bismarck did not understand the meaning of the other party's words for a moment.

"Yes, it's just to combine the light machine gun and the heavy machine gun into one, and design a machine gun that is fully accessible and has the highest rate of fire in the world..."

When he said this, Schulte's face clearly showed pride.

Bismarck, who was opposite him, asked:
“Can we do it??”

Obviously, Bismarck did not appreciate Prussia's industrial strength at this time.

"It's not possible now, but it will be possible in a few years."

Schulte's words obviously did not satisfy Bismai.

"Forget it, let's produce water-cooled machine guns first. As for the Americans' air-cooling, wait until they make a name for themselves in America..."

Bismarck's words were full of distrust of American weapons.

Schulte wanted to say that air cooling was better than water cooling, but judging from the Prime Minister's look, he probably wouldn't believe it.

After all, in today's military industry, especially in the army military industry, Han has become the target of imitation by most countries.

For no other reason than because Han's weapons could bring "victory" and were powerful enough.

"By the way, have you ever heard of the rumor about a flying pig??"

"Is this the real reason for the failure in the Youzhou War??"

The flying pig that Pismai talked about was obviously the airship that shined in the Youzhou War.

"I've heard of it, but I think it's impossible. With current technology, it's impossible to send such a big guy who can be attached to a bomb into the sky!!"

"Not even Han Chinese..."

In Schulte's thinking, such technology is impossible to appear now, at least in this era! !

"No, I think it's very likely to be true. Otherwise it would be impossible to explain why 800,000 people surrendered so easily. There must be something terrifying that broke through their psychological defenses..."

"This thing may be this mysterious flying pig!!"

Bismarck was quite keenly aware of something wrong. After all, no matter how you look at it, there are too many loopholes.

The biggest loophole is the Americans' secretiveness. You must know that the United States is the loser, and they are still covering up. It is obvious that they know something and are even studying something.

Bismarck accurately saw through the tacit "tacit understanding" between the two countries in the Americas.

Before leaving, Bismarck told Schulte to speed up the completion of weapons production.

He even said:
"We have no time. The French are about to conquer Spain, and even the entire Iberian Peninsula. The British cannot hold on for too long. The deal with Austria can only be a joke. We Prussians must use iron and blood to get it. Everything that belongs to Prussia, to the Germans, and even to Germany!!”

(End of this chapter)