I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 218

< A Hair-Trigger Situation (2) >

A high-end townhouse in Westminster.

Any influential politician would own at least one mansion here.

Still, the townhouse of a figure significant enough to represent a party stands apart, even in appearance.

Perhaps because I haven’t visited such a place since entering Buckingham Palace, returning felt quite different after so long.

“So, you really told Her Majesty that you might participate in the war?”

“I said I would last time.”

“No… I thought it was some new kind of joke. Doesn’t Your Highness occasionally make lighthearted jokes?”

“Even so, would I have invited the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for frivolous banter?”

Gladstone, a leading figure of the Liberal Party and connected to me in various ways, readily made preparations as soon as he received my message that I would visit.

Of course, he had to treat the most popular figure in the British Empire and the Prince Consort with the utmost respect.

Even though I was nagged and rushed out of the house, I still receive such treatment outside it.

“Coming at night like this, it seems you had a big fight with the Queen after mentioning participating in the war,” he said.

“A fight? Nothing like that happened.”

“Ah, so you were unilaterally defeated.”

“It’s not that I was defeated, but I was simply fulfilling the duty of a good husband by accepting all of my wife’s complaints.”

Previously, after calling Disraeli and Gladstone to discuss the upcoming schedule, I told Victoria about the matters we had discussed.

I expected that she would gladly understand since it was all for the sake of the royal family and our children…

-You’re going to the battlefield? Is the opposing country… Russia? Are your ears already failing… Did I mishear?

Denial.

-Are you kidding me right now? Even if you go as a commander, you are representing the royal family. What if something happens to you out there? What about the morale of the entire army, or me and the children? Absolutely not!

Anger.

-Okay, okay. Then let’s do this. Since you’re also a naval admiral, how about saying you’ll participate but carrying out operations at headquarters in the home country?

Even compromise.

I thought she might accept it after going through the stages of grief, but our Queen was not that easily swayed.

-Oh, really? Then go! I absolutely cannot allow you to participate in the war! Not until we have at least ten children. Go-!

Is it because it’s not related to death? I never expected the 5 stages of grief theory to fail so miserably.

“So, you’re saying you were kicked out of the palace for upsetting Her Majesty.”

“Kicked out? I could have just closed the door and locked myself inside, but it’s not that I don’t understand her feelings. I’m just doing as she says for now.”

“Well… Her Majesty is pregnant right now, so she must have been taken aback when her husband said he would go to the battlefield. She will gradually stabilize over time.”

I was also thinking of Victoria, so I deliberately kept quiet and didn’t say anything until she entered a stable period.

But if I’m going to go anyway, isn’t it better to say it in advance rather than when something happens?

“To be serious, this is a war that might happen in a land that has nothing to do with the British Empire. If the royal family turns a blind eye while forcing citizens to shed blood, they won’t receive good words [public approval]. Me going to the battlefield is not a choice but a necessity. Victoria knows it in her head too. It’s just hard to accept emotionally.”

“Does Your Highness really believe that war will break out?”

“Don’t you think so?”

“I was originally half in doubt. After hearing Your Highness’s words, I’ve turned towards certainty.”

He gently placed his glass down and continued.

“The Russian minister desperately wanted to hear reasons why his country wouldn’t fight them. That means they are eager to cause trouble.”

“Like a reckless child looking around before causing an accident?”

“That’s an accurate analogy. And if Russia, of all countries, is involved, Parliament will never hesitate to go to war. We also have a reliable ally in France.”

It’s unfortunate, but this is the attitude of various countries looking at the war before World War I broke out.

As modernization progresses, the level of weaponry in each country is evolving at a terrifying rate, but people’s perceptions are not keeping up with that pace.

They had been constantly at war, but that was not a full-scale war between European powers, but merely violence trampling on weak countries in Asia and Africa.

In other words, no one currently knew what would happen when powerful countries equipped with modern weapons clashed head-on.

Until now, there were more deaths from epidemics and endemic diseases than casualties from battles.

The fact that I thought I couldn’t avoid war was largely due to these reasons.

Unlike the European countries after experiencing World War I, which tried to avoid war at all costs, the current British Empire and France were closer to the stance of ‘War? We might do it if it’s beneficial.’

Originally, pain is inevitably required for a global consensus to form.

No matter how much someone with future knowledge shouts, ‘Everyone, war is self-harm! I’m telling you, it’s cutting off your nose to spite your face!’, it will just be empty words.

“Can I assume that the Liberal Party’s opinion is already unified?”

“Of course. Parliament will express deep respect for Your Highness’s decision to participate in the war as a naval admiral to set an example for the citizens. However, some people are worried that if Your Highness goes, there might be pressure, or something similar, on the members of Parliament.”

Well, there won’t be any crazy people telling the members of Parliament to take up arms and fight, but members of Parliament with sons of the right age to join the military might be worried.

“I will take that into consideration. However, I believe that if you truly want to maintain your privileges, you need to fulfill your responsibilities to some extent. Just as I will never be on the front lines shooting a gun, the children of the members of Parliament will never be charging on the front lines, even if they die and come back to life.

I can’t force them to enlist, but wouldn’t it be inevitable that someone who has risked their life for the country and served in the military is treated better than someone who hasn’t?”

“I agree with that. No country that hasn’t properly treated its soldiers has had a good ending. If Your Highness and the children of other members of Parliament show themselves enlisting voluntarily in a war against a powerful country like Russia, the public’s view of the privileged class will soften.”

In these respects, Gladstone and I agreed, so there were no obstacles to the discussion.

Wellesley was originally the son of the Duke of Wellington and a soldier himself, so there was nothing more to say.

“But what if a war actually breaks out?”

“The result of the war?”

“Your Highness seems to take the victory of the home country as an absolute constant, but isn’t Russia also a formidable power? The Russian side may also believe that they will suffer a lot of damage, but at least they will not lose.”

“That may be the case. But those Russians are just a bubble. If a war breaks out, everyone in the world will notice their structural weaknesses.”

“A bubble… Well, Russia does have a somewhat deformed structure.”

Of course, that bubble is not just a little big, but so vast that even if you remove it and remove it, you can’t see the contents.

Russia was not an easy country, enough that even a country with the size of the British Empire could be crushed and suffocated by the bubble.

Excluding the British Empire, maybe France or Prussia.

That’s only when the condition is that they don’t push into the Russian mainland.

If the goal is to completely defeat, occupy, and subjugate Russia, that was impossible even for the British Empire.

Russia’s real scary point is its tenacity to keep pushing soldiers in regardless of whether their damage is great or not, and its sustainability to withstand even if the damage gets bigger.

Of course, that tenacity comes from constantly grinding the serfs who have not yet been properly liberated.

The sustainability is also a trap that Russia’s economy is originally supposed to be ruined, but they endure with the amazing mental victory that it’s normal for the economy to be ruined.

Because they couldn’t overcome these characteristics of Russia, Napoleon and Hitler also piled up mountains of countless Russian soldiers’ corpses, but they had no choice but to retreat in the end.

Of course, I wasn’t trying to subjugate Russia in the first place, so I had no intention of making such a foolish move.

It’s enough to just keep catching the Russian soldiers who crawl out of their territory.

“In conclusion, Russia, which is still stuck in the pre-modernization stage, cannot beat us unless it’s within its own country.”

“Hmm.”

“But winning is winning, and if we actually fight properly, our army will also suffer great damage. Even if we kill 100,000 enemy soldiers, it would be meaningless if 10,000 of our soldiers are sacrificed.”

“That’s true. If the damage is great, even if we win the war, criticism will arise as to why we even fought this fight in the first place.”

The public is originally fickle, so even if it’s a war supported by the overwhelming majority, if the results aren’t good, they will be bombarded.

It’s dirty and petty, but what can a politician do? They have no choice but to endure it.

“So, I hope that our British Empire doesn’t take the lead in this war.”

“Yes? Then why have we been having this conversation until now…?”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I didn’t say don’t take the lead at the very front, but that we shouldn’t pull our feet out altogether. Let’s have an attitude of thanking our allies who will shed more blood than us in advance.”

“…Let France take the lead and we step back?”

Kuh, as expected of our senior Gladstone. Even if I say it vaguely, he understands perfectly.

That’s right. We’ve been putting so much effort into raising France, so when else would we use them if not now?

To be honest, that’s why I’ve been so nice to them until now.

“But Your Highness. Wouldn’t France be thinking the same thing as us? That the British Empire will fight Russia head-on and they will only be implementing a strategy to assist…?”

If you’re a sane person, you should think and act as Gladstone said.

But isn’t the essence of diplomacy to make it impossible to pull your feet out even if you want to?

I lightly wiped the water droplets on the wine glass and opened my mouth.

“In that case, let’s work together on something. Creating a justification.”

“…A justification?”

“A reason why France must fight Russia in the forefront. A justification for France to become a hero protecting the peace of Europe.”

If someone from the ruling party or I directly intervene, it will be too obvious, so it’s best for someone from the opposition party to do the work.

“What benefits can I get from doing that?”

“Gladstone and the Liberal Party can show off that they are still alive and minimize the loss of seats in the next election.”

An offer that the Liberal Party, which has been completely pushed back by the Conservative Party, which has overcome the cholera crisis and further increased its popularity, can never refuse.

After being lost in thought for a moment, he chuckled and picked up the glass in front of him.

“Then shall we make a toast? For France, who will become the hero of Europe.”

“May God bless the great hero France.”

Russia and France.

We put the two European powers on the scale and exchanged glasses, spending a friendly time after a long time.

And I finally brought up the most important reason why I was here today.

“Um… I’m sorry, but can I sleep here tonight? It seems my wife needs a day or so more.”

“Hehe, please do.”

Even the Prince Consort of a superpower who casually talks about how to cook the two great powers is just a sinner in front of his pregnant wife once he says he will go to the battlefield.

I pretended not to see Gladstone’s meaningful smile as he brought another bottle of wine and changed the subject.

“Ah, come to think of it, it’s already been several years since we met at Eton [a prestigious boarding school]…”

Hey, don’t laugh.

It’s not that I’m not going in because I’m aware of the situation, but that I’m giving my beloved wife time to calm her heart!

So, can you erase that understanding smile from your face right now?