Make France Great Again

Late June 1856.

The transport ship carrying the Governor of Gabon, Jérôme Patterson, and 5,000 members of the Croatian Foreign Legion boarded a ship from the port of Toulon and sailed out of Gibraltar under the escort of the French Mediterranean Fleet, heading towards Gabon in Central Africa.

Seeing this scene, the then commander of the British Army in Gibraltar thought that the French army was going to send troops to fight overseas.

Therefore, the commander in Gibraltar quickly dispatched his steamship to London to report the news.

[PS: Gibraltar during this period was not equipped with a telegraph, but Malta was equipped with a telegraph under the influence of the Crimean War.

I have to say that this is a "great feat" for Britain! 】

When the steamship arrived in London, it was early July.

At this moment, Palmerston, who relied on the prestige brought by the Crimean War, still holds the position of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Britain, but his Prime Minister is currently shaky.

There is increasing criticism of Palmerston both in Parliament and outside the system. The third force (referring to me, public opinion), on which Palmerston has high hopes, has also begun to backlash against him. Some newspapers openly called him Maston was "Cromwell entrenched in the position of Prime Minister".

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

Just wait for the right moment, and Palmerston, the war hero, will fall directly.

As Prime Minister, Palmerston also knows that he is now in a critical situation.

If he continues like this, he will be taken down sooner or later.

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

However, Palmerston could never think of any other solution besides war.

In Palmerston's view, one and only one war can bring his approval ratings back to those of the Crimean War.

However, who to fight a war with is a big question.

If it is too weak compared to the British Kingdom, the people will only think that Britain's victory over its opponent is a matter of course.

If his strength is similar to that of Britain, the people may directly consider replacing him as prime minister.

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

However, such an opponent is really difficult to find.

Just as Palmerston was thinking about how to find a suitable opponent for Britain, a knock on the door came from outside.

After coming back to his senses, Palmerston quickly flipped through a few pages of the file spread out on the table, and then said to the door: "Please come in!"

The door to the Prime Minister's Office slowly opened, and the Cabinet Secretary appeared at the door.

The Cabinet Secretary who entered the room adjusted his clothes slightly, and then reported to Palmerston in his standard London accent: "Well... Dear Prime Minister, the Secretary of War hopes that he can come with you here. A brief meeting, he said that this meeting does not need to take up too much of your time..."

The Cabinet Secretary rattled off key information to Palmerston, mixed in with a bunch of nonsense.

"Where is the Secretary of War now!" Palmerston immediately asked the Cabinet Secretary-General.

"The minister is waiting outside the room now!" the Cabinet Secretary responded to Palmerston clearly: "If you need it, I can help you. Call him in!"

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

"Then I'll go over right now!" 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 Cabinet Secretary stopped, showed a professional smile again and said to Palmerston: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, do you have any other orders?"

"Well..." Palmerston hesitated for a moment and then asked the Cabinet Secretary: "We have been together for almost two years. What do you think of me?"

The Cabinet Secretary's expression became tense. After a few seconds, he regained his smile and responded to Palmerston: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, your mother is undoubtedly an excellent Prime Minister!"

"In your opinion, every prime minister is probably a good prime minister!" Palmerston responded to the cabinet secretary with a hint of sarcasm.

The Cabinet Secretary responded tactfully: "Every Prime Minister becomes Prime Minister after being jointly elected by the House of Representatives and the Royal Family, and a member of the House of Representatives is made up of all responsible British gentlemen (landowners and capitalists). They are jointly elected, so I think every prime minister is an excellent prime minister!

My duty is to assist every prime minister to accomplish what they want to accomplish! "

The Cabinet Secretary's impeccable answer made Palmerston feel like he had been punched in cotton. He nodded and said to the Cabinet Secretary: "I understand! Now you can go and invite the Secretary of War. Got it!"

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

Watching the Cabinet Secretary leave, Palmerston had a bitter smile on his face. He raised his head and looked at the ceiling above his head and murmured: "Loyalty is such a luxury for a professional bureaucrat, but I want to Gotta get it!”

After a while, the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for War, appeared in front of Palmerston.

"What happened? Duke!" Palmerston, sitting opposite the Duke of Newcastle, asked curiously.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I have two pieces of news here, one of which is from France, and the other is from the Qajar Dynasty (Yin Lang's dynasty in the 19th century)! Which one do you want to listen to!" The Duke of Newcastle said to him solemnly. said Palmerston.

"Let's talk about France first!" Palmerston decisively chose France. He himself was wary of his neighbors across the strait.

After all, the feud between France and Britain lasted for nearly a millennium.

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

Palmerston did not believe that a Crimean War could completely reverse the relationship between the two countries.

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

It's just that Britain will not take action against the French Empire until the French Empire chooses to completely smash the European balance system.

The Kingdom of Britain was also unwilling to bear the costs of a second Napoleonic war.

Although the French Empire currently controls the discourse in Europe, other countries still have the right to speak.

Although the Austrian Empire is united with France, this does not mean that Austria is ready to talk to France.

The Kingdom of Britain does not need to worry too much about Europe.

"Our troops stationed in Gibraltar came to report: In late June, a large fleet from France left the Mediterranean!" the Duke of Newcastle said to Palmerston word by 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 HMS 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 going to do?"

"I don't know either!" the Duke of Newcastle responded to Palmerston, shaking his head.

"It stands to reason that this army should not be a fleet destined for America. Three thousand people cannot determine the victory of a battle..." Palmerston eliminated the possibilities one by one in his mind.

After thinking for a moment, Palmerston decided to put France's question aside for now. He asked the Duke of Newcastle again: "What happened to the Qajar Dynasty again?"

"According to information passed on by government officials within the Qajar Dynasty who are leaning towards us, the King of the Qajar Dynasty, Nasser al-Din Shah, has decided to send an attack to Herat in October! The Qajar Dynasty should be in a state of preparation for war at present. !" replied the Duke of Newcastle to Palmerston.

"Is the Qajar Dynasty crazy?" Palmerston couldn't help but exclaimed. He really couldn't imagine how much fake wine Nasser al-Din Shah drank before he dared to provoke the great British Kingdom like this.

The Russian Empire, which originally supported them, is now trapped in a situation of two governments. How dare they directly send troops to Herat.

[PS: Herat is located in the northwest region of Afghanistan. It is the strategic center of the entire region between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Yaksar 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 on earth are 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 expressed his thoughts to the Duke of Newcastle: "Do you think this French action may 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 happen to their supplies along the way!"

"How do you explain France sending troops out at this time? Where are they going? Why did the Qajar dynasty insist on attacking Herat?" Palmerston said to the Duke of Newcastle in a solemn voice.

"What is France's purpose?" The Duke of Newcastle continued following Palmerston's train of thought. "Even if he sends troops to help and successfully captures Herat! This seems to be of no benefit to him. He can't think We must 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 like his uncle in some aspects!" Palmerston continued along the wrong path As his thoughts moved forward, he had determined in his mind that France was related to the Qajar dynasty. (In fact, the Qajar dynasty listened to the deception of the Southern Russian Empire, so they went to Herat to die.)

"I think it's better not to be so arbitrary!" the Duke of Newcastle said cautiously.