Wild North America 1846

London

Prime Minister William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, was chatting leisurely with Foreign Secretary Sir Henry John Temple in his office in Downing Street. The topic was that industrial wastewater discharged from the Thames River had seriously polluted the river, killing more than 20,000 London citizens.

Severe diarrhea and gastrointestinal diseases occurred, which caused strong social repercussions after being reported in newspapers.

"This is too bad. The government must do something about those profit-seeking factory owners. London cannot lose the Thames. I have tasked the Minister of Industry to draft a report on this to regulate the behavior of business owners."

"I am not optimistic about this. Dear Prime Minister, any bill that attempts to prevent industrial development will be difficult to pass in the House of Commons."

"I know that the damn capitalists have bribed politicians and kidnapped politics with money. The British Empire has suffered no more than 1,000 casualties a year in its global expansion, but the serious pollution of the Thames River and winter haze alone have caused thousands of deaths every year.

More than 7,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands suffered from various diseases. This is absolutely an unbearable situation."

"The best way to eliminate pollution is to relocate factories. The problem is that these factory owners have provided sufficient salaries and taxes, supporting the prosperity of the British Empire and its status as the world's factory. We must make a choice between this..."

At this moment

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey poked his head in to take a look, and whispered: "Excuse me, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, Lord Arthur Wellesley, Secretary of the Colonial Office, is already waiting outside.

He said he had urgent matters and needed to see you immediately, I don’t know…”

"Oh, let him come in, Owen, and you can listen together and take minutes of the meeting."

"I understand, now."

Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey retracted his head and closed the door.

not long after

Colonial Secretary Lord Arthur Wellesley walked in with an urgent mail in his hand, followed by Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey with a notebook and pen in his hand. He found a chair on the edge of the Prime Minister's Office.

Sit down and open your notebook to record the meeting.

"Your Excellency, should I stay away for a while?"

"No, no, no... Dear Sir Henry, this is an email about the newly established Tang Kingdom in North America requesting assistance. It involves the current US-Mexico-Tang War. I think it is necessary to listen to your valuable opinions."

Lord Arthur Wellesley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, made an elegant gesture to sit down, and then placed the mail in his hand on the table in front of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister William Lamb didn't ask any more questions. He opened the confidential diplomatic email and read it for a while, then thoughtfully pushed it to the side of the table for Foreign Minister Henry to circulate.

There was a brief silence in the room as the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary digested the new information and considered their response.

a moment later

Foreign Secretary Sir Henry raised his head, closed the confidential diplomatic mail, and said thoughtfully: "Now it seems that the Tang Kingdom has shown a certain value. And a considerable gold mine was discovered in San Francisco. This

It means that they have a certain ability to pay. For example, in the case of transporting Chinese immigrants across the ocean, they can bear a considerable part of the cost. The question now is whether it is worth continuing to increase investment?"

"That's the problem." Lord Arthur Wellesley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, shrugged, sat down on the chair next to him, and then said;

“The value of the Tang Kingdom lies in two aspects;

On the one hand, the existence of the Tang Kingdom can dissolve the United States' demands for the Oregon colony, curb its ambitious expansion attempts, and reduce the pressure on Britain in North America.

To tell the truth

Without the Tang Kingdom standing in front of us and allowing the United States to smoothly expand to the west coast of North America, we would not have been able to keep the Oregon colony. This is an unavoidable fact at present.

Second aspect

From an international strategic perspective, a strong and unified United States has strong hostility towards Britain, which has been undoubtedly reflected in the "Monroe Doctrine". It attempts to peel away the influence of the British Empire from South, North and Central America.

This is a situation we absolutely cannot accept

A divided North America is more in line with the global strategic interests of the British Empire.

Unfortunately, neither Canada nor Mexico can shoulder the important task of confronting the United States. They are both too weak."

"Does the Tang Kingdom have such strength? Judging from the documents, they only have a population of about 100,000, so they can only be regarded as a relatively strong tribe." William Lamb took the diplomatic email back and asked while reading it

.

"To be precise, I think it has such potential." Lord Arthur Wellesley, the Secretary of the Colonial Office, did not mind saying a few good words for the Tang Kingdom. After all, he privately took a share certificate of the American River Gold Mining Company.

.

As a refined gentleman, it is impossible for him to refuse to accept his debt.

If the Tang Dynasty was defeated, the stable income worth 20,000 pounds a year would be wiped out.

For Lord Arthur Wellesley, this is almost equivalent to 1/4~1/5 of the family's annual income, and he cannot give up easily due to both emotion and reason.

He considered his words and then said;

“Dear Prime Minister;

Western North America is a vast and wild undeveloped area, sparsely populated, with harsh mountain desert and Gobi terrain, and almost zero roads and infrastructure, making it unsuitable for large group operations.

The developed area in central North America is more than 2,600 miles away from Los Angeles, which brought insurmountable difficulties to the US military's western expedition.

Putting aside appearances and looking at the facts, the army of the Tang Kingdom was able to annihilate more than 1,700 U.S. troops who invaded the Rio Rancho area with very few losses, which verified its combat effectiveness from the side and was sufficient to resist a large-scale invasion by the U.S. military.

Now as ordered

According to various intelligence reports, the U.S. military has invested nearly 10,000 troops and tens of thousands of migrant workers in the west, intending to crush the opponent with strong strength and destroy the Tang Kingdom in one fell swoop, regardless of paying a huge price.

Why is this so?

The reason is that once the United States succeeds, it will have the advantage of both oceans and gain great strategic benefits. It can also easily capture the Oregon colony, threaten Canada to the north, and frighten Mexico to the south. It will establish its dominance in North America like a tiger emerging from the cage.

And all this is exactly the situation that the British Empire least wants to see.

It's entirely conceivable

After the United States succeeds, it will fully implement the "Monroe Doctrine" national policy and try its best to squeeze and attack Britain's dominant influence in North, South and Central America, which will actually harm the global strategic interests of the British Empire.

The weakness of the Tang Kingdom lies in its sparse population. They were able to resist and eliminate 1,700 US troops with a population of 100,000 and less than 2,000 troops, which has proven their potential to fight against the United States.

If its population expands to 200,000, 300,000 or more, and its army expands to 5,000 or even 10,000, will it be able to resist a large-scale invasion by tens of thousands of US troops?

This is a very interesting topic, and no one dares to make such a guarantee, but I think that the Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty has such potential.

in fact

We have no more choices. Many years ago, the Canadian militia performed mediocrely in the war with the United States, and there is no way to place more hope.

But now the U.S. army is marching forward in Mexico, and the Mexican army has collapsed, which makes us very disappointed.

In today's North American chess game

The outstanding combat effectiveness displayed by the army of the Tang Kingdom is undoubtedly eye-catching. What reason do we have for not giving them more opportunities?

Aid is not given all at once. Depending on its performance, I think it is time to strengthen aid."

The words of Lord Arthur Wellesley, Secretary of the Colonial Office, caused the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary to nod frequently in agreement.

The two thought for a moment, and the Foreign Secretary, Sir Henry John Temple, was the first to express his opinion. He said;

“I recently communicated privately with the Secretary of State for War that the British Army’s strength has been stretched to its limit. In order to deal with the increasingly serious Crimea problem, the British Army should rapidly expand from the current 247,000 troops to a target of 420,000 troops.

Such a large-scale military expansion will undergo difficult bargaining in parliament, and the future is uncertain.

in this case

The British army did not have the ability to support expansion in Southeast Asia and North America. They could not even spare an infantry company.

The rise of the United States has become the greatest enemy of the British Empire in the entire North and South America.

North and South America are an integral part of the global territory of the British Empire. In order to safeguard the global interests of the British Empire, I agree to increase assistance to the Tang Kingdom. On this basis, it can be appropriately enhanced.

If something can be solved with money or some supplies from the bottom of the box, don't risk the lives of young British people.

Judging from its previous performance, the Tang Kingdom impressed people with its military performance.

Moreover, its national strength is weak and its population is sparse. It is impossible to break away from the support of the British Empire in the foreseeable tens or hundreds of years to come.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to compete with North American powers.

As a valuable chess piece, I am looking forward to seeing the amazing performance of Datang Kingdom."

"So, you agree to increase assistance?" Prime Minister William Lamb asked.

"Yes, dear Prime Minister, I agree."

"Well, the demands of the Tang Kingdom are supported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of the Colonial Department. The reasons are quite good. I am also curious... I want to see how amazing this small kingdom can be?" Prime Minister William Lamb once again

He flipped through the diplomatic mail in his hand, then picked up his pen and wrote a few words, with a smile on his face and said;

"Since we are providing support, we should simply be generous. The Royal Navy has some sailing warships that need to be phased out. We can transfer some to them. I remember that there are two heavily polluting artillery factories in London. I simply dismantled them and gave them the equipment and personnel.

Some cement plants and steel plants.

As for the immigration issue requested by the Tang Kingdom, it can be transferred to the Weihaiwei colony in the Far East of the empire. The cabinet will apply to the parliament for a special fund for this purpose.

Apart from this

The diplomatic side asked Sir Henry to contact relevant friendly countries in Europe to jointly put pressure on the United States.

Don't forget to bring the French with you. I don't want to see those French guys playing both sides on this issue and secretly taking pleasure in harming the interests of the British Empire.

These damn Frenchies!"

Prime Minister William Lamb signed his name on the diplomatic mail, then turned to Cabinet Secretary Owen Spacey;

"Owen, based on this document, quickly draft a special aid bill to the Tang Kingdom and place it in the bill that will be submitted to the parliament for a vote next week. We must act as soon as possible. The situation on the battlefield waits for no one."

"Yes, Your Majesty the Prime Minister." Owen Spacey stepped forward, took the document into his hand, stacked it with his notebook of meeting minutes, and then immediately turned around and left.

Matters ordered by the Prime Minister himself must be prioritized.