The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1109: Dragon Trapped in Shallows
A few weeks ago, London, England.

Prince Albert and a group of British ministers did not know where Patagonia was, but they knew clearly that the Austrian Empire had infringed on British interests.

How can we tolerate this? Of course we can’t tolerate this!
So the British government once again rejected the peace proposal of the Austrian Imperial Mission. Baron Brooke left the meeting room expressionlessly and boarded the ship back home.

To be honest, it was impossible for a 19th century financial practitioner to have no expectations for the City of London, but at this time Baron Brooke could not hide his disappointment.

The British people's ability to innovate financially is really limited. They still rely on lending and exploiting information differences to make a profit. They cannot make more money, nor can they let the money go where it should go.

Graft and corruption are everywhere. Baron Brooke can assert that Britain's future economic growth rate will not keep up with the speed of debt expansion, and the country will eventually become a weak shell.

Meanwhile, Downing Street.

"The Austrians are really pushing their limits!"

Prince Albert slammed the table in anger, which even shocked himself. You know, in the previous 29 years, Prince Albert had always been known as a gentleman with elegant manners.

But he didn't know when he started to behave impolitely unconsciously. He thought maybe he wanted to appear angry enough to express his determination to safeguard British interests.

However, the new British Prime Minister Edward Smith-Stanley looked helpless, because Prince Albert's choice of neither war nor peace was really too much to bear.

Bankers in the UK are already panicking as the insurance compensation date is getting closer. If the British government can't come up with a solution, they will have no choice but to go bankrupt.

A large number of ocean-going companies will also go bankrupt. In just over half a year, Britain's market share in the Mediterranean region has dropped by 90%.

If this continues, Britain will lose all the goodwill and market it has accumulated in the Mediterranean region over hundreds of years.
This time it was devastating for Britain's Mediterranean trade routes, because it was not just Austria that could fill the gap left by Britain.

At the same time, there is more than one country that wants to get rid of British control. The cooperation between the two sides has led to the current situation.

Ottoman and Egyptian primary products such as cotton and wool can be sold to France and Austria, and Austrian and French industrial products can also fill the gaps left by Britain.

Moreover, due to the shortened transportation distance and the lowered tariff barriers, both sides can earn more, and everyone has discovered a problem: life is not as good as that of the British.

Greece's relations with the British Empire were also becoming increasingly distant. The adverse impact of the Don Pacifico incident was still ongoing, and coupled with the incident on the island of Crete, the seeds of hatred had been sown between the two sides.

The little bit of goodwill that had once aided Greece had long since worn out, and coupled with the fact that the Austrian Empire's influence was constantly extending into the Balkan Peninsula, the Greek government began to waver.

Especially after the two Mediterranean naval battles, a large number of Greek government officials turned to Austria. In addition, there is another point, that is, King Otto I of Greece and the Emperor of the Austrian Empire are cousins.

Given this relationship, it is not surprising that the Greek government changed its direction.

However, what gives the British government the most headaches are not these, but the important nodes in the Mediterranean region, Malta, Cyprus, and Gibraltar which has been besieged for several months.

Although the Austrians did not continue to attack Gibraltar directly, they did not allow British supply ships to enter Gibraltar. Therefore, the local British troops could only eat dry food. In theory, the Gibraltar defenders had enough food reserves to last for two years.

But the reality was that Spain was suffering from severe disasters, and the British troops on the island had long since sold their food to the Spanish at high prices to make extra money, so they now had to buy it from the Spanish at a higher price.

Britain and Spain have been hostile for hundreds of years. It is almost impossible to say that the Spanish have no resentment towards the British who bullied them at their doorstep.

As a result, the food that the Spanish sold to the British was not only expensive, but also often had additives added to it. Saliva, urine, excrement, dirt, blood of patients, dead rats, cockroaches, and potentially poisonous plants.
This eventually led to an outbreak of plague in the Gibraltar region, but the Spaniards were not at all panicked, after all, the plague had been raging on the Iberian Peninsula for a long time.

“Your Highness, the Austrians are greedy, but the British Empire’s global interests are being undermined across the board.

The damned workers at home, the disgruntled farmers, the critics who are upsetting the social order, and the Irish in the Jewel Isle."

(The island of Ireland is also known as the Jewel Island. Some British officials do not like the name of the island of Ireland. They even hate the term Ireland, believing it to be a symbol of lowliness, dirtiness, barbarism, and stupidity.)
Edward Smith-Stanley was not a strong man. More importantly, there were many hidden dangers within his cabinet that prevented him from becoming strong.

Prince Albert didn't want to listen to the boring man's clichés at all. He had heard similar words countless times, and he himself was aware of the current situation.

Americans in North America who wanted to rebuild borders and exploit Britain, the indigenous people and guerrillas in the Central American colonies, as well as the remnants of the French army and infiltrated Austrian spies.

South America was also in turmoil, with uprisings everywhere, especially in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

The warlord Juan Manuel de Rosas was not a peaceful man. After eliminating dissidents, he had been trying to break free from British control.

There was no guarantee what this guy would do if he knew the Austrians were coming to Patagonia.

This was one of the reasons why Prince Albert opposed the Austrian Empire's claim to Patagonia.

The European continent was in a mess, and Russia had declared war on the Ottoman Empire. If Russia was allowed to continue to grow, Britain, which had hegemony not only in the Mediterranean region but also in the Near East, would have to give up its power.

Although the rebellion on the Indian subcontinent had ended, the biggest threat to Britain had never been eliminated. The new king of Afghanistan, Akbar Khan, had been eyeing northern India.

In the Nanyang region, in addition to the Qing pirates who occasionally harassed British merchant ships, the resentment of the Nanyang countries towards Britain was also increasing, and a major rebellion even occurred in Myanmar.

For Britain, rebellion is not terrible. What is terrible is the increased security costs and reduced labor force caused by the rebellion.

This would lead to lower colonial incomes, which would lead to further reductions in investment, which would in turn lead to more rebellions.

If any other country in the world faced such internal and external troubles, it would have collapsed long ago. But the British Empire is different. Its foundation is deep enough and it has the ability to hold out a little longer.

“Maybe we should support the Hungarian cause.”

Prince Albert said meaningfully that he didn't have many cards in his hand at this time. The Hungarians must have their own unique characteristics to have been able to hold out for so long. Maybe they should be given some more practical help.