Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 134 London's Fury and Schemes in Mexico

Chapter 134 London's Fury and Schemes in Mexico

10 Downing Street, Westminster, London.

This is one of the most powerful places in the world in this era.

The British conquered most of the world with their warships and cannons, making Great Britain the empire on which the sun never sets.

And as one of the leaders of this country, Prime Minister Henry John Temple Palmerston was undoubtedly a very competent person.

However, Palmerston's expression isn't very pleasant right now.

"The War Department allocated a full four hundred thousand pounds in military funds for the invasion of China, and now you're telling me that it was stolen by a few dozen Qing Chinese in front of hundreds of soldiers?"

He stared at the messenger who had returned with the letter, displaying his boundless rage without reservation.

Four hundred thousand pounds is no small sum.

Today, the total tax revenue of the British Empire is only around £56 million.

After the First Opium War, the Qing government paid an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars, which was equivalent to only 6.2 million pounds.

Moreover, due to the Crimean War, this year's fiscal deficit may reach as high as 20 million pounds.

He managed to scrape together the £400,000 from other sources, and argued about it countless times in Parliament.

Now you're telling him the money was stolen?

He'd rather his wife had been stolen away!

"Mr. Prime Minister, please calm down."

Lord Granville, the Privy Councilor, advised, "What's done is done, there's no use in getting angry. What we should do now is come up with a solution."

"Calm down? How can I calm down? This is a serious case of administrative negligence and a failure to ensure safety!"

Palmerston's anger grew even stronger. He slammed the letter the messenger brought back onto the table and said, "You all should take a good look at it and see what they're saying in the official documents."

"Forty thousand pounds vanished in front of hundreds of soldiers, and not even a single Chinese robber's body was left at the scene."

"My God, even my little grandson wouldn't believe such a thing, and they actually dared to write it on a letter and send it back!"

Chancellor of the Exchequer William Eulter Gladstone picked up the letter and read it, exclaiming in shock, "Do the people of the Far East think we're all idiots?"

"Unfortunately, that's probably what they think."

Palmerston narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Gentlemen, I propose that the Admiralty, the Colonial Department, and the Military Intelligence Department launch a joint investigation at the highest level, led by a commissioner, to go directly to Hong Kong to investigate the whole story of the incident."

"Don't overlook even the slightest suspicious detail along the route of military funds from the country to the Dongfan Banqueting Bank!"

He coughed a few times to calm himself down, and then said, "In addition, we will hold the Governor of the Hong Kong Colony, the Royal Navy Admiral, and the Army General accountable and bring them back to the country to be questioned."

First Lord of the Admiralty James Graham stroked his mustache and said, "Palmazon, do you suspect there's a mole among them?"

"If it weren't for an inside job, would the money just grow wings and fly away?" Palmerston retorted. "I've finished speaking. Who supports me? Who opposes me?"

The cabinet ministers exchanged silent glances, then finally spoke in unison: "Yes, Prime Minister!"

Palmerston nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Do you have any other suggestions?"

War Secretary Fox Moore Ramsey pondered for a moment and then asked, "Mr. Prime Minister, assuming they are telling the truth, how should we respond?"

"Ramsey, that's a good question."

Palmerston paced around the room, sorting through his thoughts. "Assuming the people in the Hong Kong colony weren't lying, and it really was stolen by the Chinese, then we have a reason, a reason to directly wage war against China."

"No, no, no."

But he quickly dismissed his own opinion: "Whether it's true or not, this will become our pretext for a large-scale troop increase in the Far East."

Ramsey said knowingly, "I understand. In that case, I propose that the Royal Navy of Hong Kong take the initiative, approach Guangzhou, demand compensation from the Chinese government, and at the same time raise the issue of treaty revision, thus paving the way for further war."

Other members of the cabinet also put forward their own ideas, and soon a series of opinions against the Qing court were compiled into a book, ready to be put forward in the parliament the next day.

While a group of people were discussing it, the letter that the messenger had sent back finally reached the hands of Foreign Secretary George William Frederick Villiers.

Villiers read the letter carefully, and when he saw the description of the weapons, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

High-powered grenades, metal bullets —

But he didn't say it aloud. Instead, he waited quietly until the meeting was over and the other cabinet ministers had left before slowly speaking: "Palmazon, I've discovered something interesting."

He pointed to the weapon description in the letter and asked, "Does this description look familiar?"

Palmerston glanced at it, his expression somewhat blank, clearly not remembering.

Villiers cautioned, "California."

Palmerston suddenly realized: "Yes, there is indeed such a description in the intelligence coming back from San Francisco, California."

"And those who possess such weapons are all Chinese."

Villiers added, "Bermazun, I think the behind-the-scenes forces in North America that we discussed last time have surfaced, and it should be this group of Chinese people."

Palmerston frowned and said, "George, are you saying that the forces manufacturing weapons are Chinese? The evidence isn't solid enough, is it?"

Villiers said slowly, "No, the evidence is enough, because I have another piece of intelligence that was just delivered yesterday that I haven't told you about."

"The consul in San Francisco returned to London last night and reported to me that California has been taken by the Chinese."

""

"What?!"

Seeing the shocked Palmerston, Villiers repeated: "Tens of thousands of Chinese set out from San Francisco, took over many cities such as San Jose and Sacramento, and expelled all diplomatic personnel in San Francisco."

"California's gold reserves are a source of confidence for the US, our country, and even European stock prices. The fact that the Chinese have acquired them is not in the interest of all white people, but only in the interest of the Chinese themselves."

"Patrick, we need to come up with a plan as soon as possible."

San Francisco.

The original city hall sign has been removed and replaced with a few strong, ancient Chinese characters: San Francisco Municipal Government, Lingxi Province.

Guilliman sat in his office, rapidly processing documents.

He signed a document titled "Implementation Plan for Renaming the Streets and Neighborhoods of San Francisco," and then said, "I've looked at the proposed names, there are no problems, let's start implementing them today."

"Once the name change for San Francisco is completed, a document will be issued for the name changes of other cities and counties, and the template will be based on San Francisco's."

"Yes."

The secretary hurriedly left the office to get to work.

Guilliman rubbed his temples, about to work on the next document, when the office door was pushed open again without knocking.

Without looking up, he continued to bury himself in a budget document for the Sacramento River water conservancy project, with a stack of official documents on his right that was almost half a person high.

The only person who could walk in without knocking at this hour, besides Su Song, is one other person.

"My lord, please sit down and wait for me to finish processing this document."

Zeng Tai was holding two cups of tea. Upon hearing Guilliman's words, he placed one cup on Guilliman's desk, took the other cup, and sat down on the sofa in the office.

Guilliman quickly finished the report, picked up his teacup and took a sip: "You've come at the right time. There are some things I wanted to report to you."

"No rush, have some tea first."

Zeng Tai looked around the office. A map of California hung on the wall, a mountain of documents was piled on the desk, and there was a bed in the corner.

"Did you sleep here again last night?"

"There's too much to do, every little bit of time saved counts."

Guilliman pulled the signed document from the table and handed it to him. "Take a look at this."

Zeng Tai took it and opened it; it was the "Implementation Plan for Renaming the Names of Streets and Districts in San Francisco".

The first page contains the general principles, explaining the purpose of this name change: to eliminate Spanish and English place names left over from the colonial era and to use Chinese names uniformly, in order to facilitate administration and immigrant identity.

The second page begins with a detailed table, with the original name on the left and the new name on the right.

Mission Street was renamed Sanfang Street, Market Street was renamed Xinshi Street, Broadway was renamed Beizhi Street, and Lombard Street was renamed...

Street changed to Nine-Bend Alley —

Zeng Tai chuckled halfway through the article: "Nine-Bend Alley, that name is quite fitting; the street really does meander like a winding intestine."

"There's nothing wrong with the name change, is there? What's wrong?"

Guilliman replied, "Keep reading, the rest of the Lingxi Province is listed below."

Zeng Tai flipped through the pages: "San Francisco to Lingxi Province, San Francisco unchanged, San Jose to Jinchuan, Santa Clara to Luxi City, San Mateo to Songgu, Monterey to Haining, Santa Cruz to Wanghaitai —"

"That's a good change. When immigrants have children on this land in the future, they can't let their children always have foreign names."

"I'm afraid he won't be able to change his way of speaking anytime soon," Guilliman said.

"You have to change your way of speaking, even if you can't. You get used to your name after saying it a few times."

Zeng Tai handed the documents back, looked at the height of the stack of official documents, and asked, "Do you have any other interesting news? Tell me about it."

"There really is one." Guilliman pulled a document out of the pile. "The news from Yongle is that Hawaii has been captured."

Zeng Tai took the briefing and began to read it.

The briefing was very detailed, from the purge of American plantation owners to the capture of ships and the night raid on the royal palace, and then to the successive conquest of the four islands, every step was described clearly.

The last line is in Yongle's handwriting: "The four islands of the archipelago have been pacified, and the king and parliament have all surrendered. We request Your Majesty to bestow a new name upon them to establish a proper territory."

"That Yongle kid is quick and efficient."

Zeng Tai put down the briefing and asked, "What happened to that King of Hawaii, what was it called, the Fourth King?"

"He's under house arrest in the palace, along with his family. The members of the House of Lords and the House of Representatives are also imprisoned."

Guilliman said, "The governor of Maui was killed in battle, the governors of Hawaii and Kauai surrendered, and the governor of Oahu, who was originally a member of the royal family, was placed under house arrest along with the king."

Zeng Tai nodded, then suddenly asked, "Is the name Hawaii what the local natives call it?"

"Yes. The local indigenous people call themselves Hawaiians, hence the name of the archipelago."

97

"Now that we've taken it, we should give it a Chinese name."

Zeng Tai leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought: "Hawaii, Hawaii—Waitsea?"

He suddenly slapped his thigh: "Let's call it the Province of Hawaii!"

"Waistland?"

Guilliman muttered the two words to himself, then nodded after a moment: "To awe the barbarians, that's a good name. It's convenient for transliteration and also carries the meaning of domination."

Just then, there was another knock on the office door.

"Come in."

A young assassin entered through the door. He bowed to Zeng Tai and said, "My lord, an urgent report from the southern border."

"What's wrong?"

The young assassin recounted the events in a concise and efficient manner, concluding, "When that guy named Santa Ana was dragged out, he was quite arrogant, shouting in Spanish that he was the president of Mexico and demanding diplomatic immunity."

Zeng Tai: "Where is he now?"

"They are being escorted to Los Angeles and are expected to arrive in San Francisco in three days."

"it is good."

Zeng Tai nodded, letting the assassin leave first. After the door closed, he looked at Guilliman: "Has the Dark Angels found out anything about the situation in Mexico?"

Guilliman recalled a great deal of information from his mind and slowly said, "Santa Ana was president eleven times. Every time he came to power, he held absolute power. Every time he stepped down, he went into exile overseas and then made a comeback."

"His last period in power was two years ago. After the outbreak of the Crimean War, Britain and France paid less attention to Mexico, and Santa Ana seized the opportunity to stage a coup and regain power."

At the beginning of the year, Mexican liberals launched an uprising in several southern states. In early August, the insurgents stormed Mexico City, Santa Ana's guard mutinied, and he fled the capital overnight, heading north.

Then, they crashed into our border post.

Zeng Tai asked, "Who's in charge in Mexico City right now?"

"Juan Álvarez, the leader of the liberals, is a veteran general. But many people are not convinced by him, and the conservatives and liberals are fighting each other, with each region acting independently."

"In other words, Mexico is currently too busy to attend to anything else."

Zeng Tai walked up to the map of California on the wall. The map only showed San Diego at the southern end; Mexico was not visible further south.

But in his mind, he automatically filled in that vast land.

Mexico, with a territory of over two million square kilometers, stretches from the Sonora Desert in the north to the Yucatan Peninsula in the south. It is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, California to the north, and the Isthmus of Central America to the south.

This land is home to nearly eight million people, and has silver mines, a good harbor, and large tracts of arable land.

"That Santa Ana who was arrested, he's still president, right?"

Guilliman said, "To be precise, he was removed from office due to a coup, but he still holds the legal position."

"In other words, this person still has the title of president."

Zeng Tai turned around, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Then he'll be useful."

"You mean, keep this man around so we can use him as a claim when we go to war with Mexico later?"

"That's right."

Zeng Tai said, "But there's no rush now. We have to take things one step at a time. Let's take good care of Santa Anna first and make sure he doesn't die. Right now, we need to sort things out in Lingxi Province and Weiyi Province. When the time is right, this man will be a valuable asset to us."