I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 400

1868.

Europe seemed more peaceful than ever.

The most recent major disturbances were the war in Spain and the North-South conflict [American Civil War].

However, even that was just a problem for Spain, located at the western edge of Europe, and since it didn’t affect Europe as a whole, it wasn’t a very tangible issue.

In fact, the war itself ended so quickly that many didn’t even know Spain and the North-South had fought.

Asia was noisy, and the Americas were still loud with communism versus capitalism, but Europe was out of the fray.

Rather, the economy was improving day by day, and the amount of food coming from the New World was increasing, so people considered this a golden age.

The British Empire was, of course, even more so, and even France, where demonstrations used to be rampant, was now entering a phase of political stability.

Prussia, under the rule of the Iron Chancellor Bismarck, was increasing its national power day by day, and Russia was also emerging from chaos and establishing itself as a proper nation.

The only source of anxiety was the increasing possibility of a clash between Prussia and Austria, but people dismissed it as a distant future event and tried to turn a blind eye.

Thus, on the surface, it was a peaceful era without any problems, but that didn’t mean there were truly no sources of anxiety.

First, the conflict between Prussia and Austria, which people were dismissing as a future problem and not paying attention to.

The ruling powers of Prussia, led by Bismarck, had no intention of completely crushing Austria right now.

In the past, they had engaged in fierce battles for the leadership of Germany, but that was because Prussia didn’t have many other places to expand.

Now that they had acquired the Philippines and secured France’s promise of cooperation when pressuring Austria later, there was no need to rush.

Anyway, considering the difference in growth between Prussia and Austria now, Austria was bound to fall further and further behind as time went on.

When that time came, they could bring Austria to its knees more easily, so there was no reason to bicker now.

However, this only meant that they wouldn’t fight now because they could definitely crush Austria in the future, not that they would laugh and promote friendship peacefully.

The conflict that was brewing was bound to happen.

However, not everyone agreed with Bismarck’s stance.

There were those who believed that the kingdom should belong solely to the king.

There were plenty of Junkers [Prussian noble landowners] who didn’t like the prime minister taking the lead and wielding power.

The current king, Wilhelm, had appointed Bismarck himself, so he often yielded to him when opinions differed, but in the eyes of the royalists, this was nothing short of humiliation of royal authority.

“A country Junker who only had influence in a rural backwater…”

“The owner of this country is His Majesty and us, but isn’t something going wrong?”

If Bismarck had been from a noble family who wielded power in the central government, the situation might have been slightly better, but he was not from a prestigious family.

Crown Prince Friedrich detested him for acting as if he were the owner of the country, and he openly said that the era of the prime minister would end when he became king.

Bismarck knew this, but he didn’t openly confront the Crown Prince.

After all, the current king was in good health, and Bismarck’s position was bound to become more solid over time.

So, there was no need to humor the Crown Prince, who didn’t know the ways of the world.

But he never imagined that the Russian Emperor would exploit that gap and seduce the Crown Prince.

And he never dreamed that they would be conspiring together.

Who could have imagined that the reason for tarnishing the face of the British Imperial Family was to bring down his own prime minister?

But the die was already cast, and as the Crown Prince accepted Alexander II’s proposal to take the lead, the quagmire deepened.

* * *

“Sorry to have kept you waiting. We’ve received confirmation from Europe that it’s okay. They would like to invite Chairman James to hear the story directly, if that’s alright with you.”

“They want to confirm each other’s faces and then have me reveal my cards, huh? That seems like a very reasonable approach.”

“Honestly, I thought they might refuse, but I’m glad things worked out well.”

Bakunin breathed a sigh of relief, and James secretly rejoiced.

“So, I can just take a ship from here and go straight to Europe?”

“Yes. Of course, we need to create a suitable reason for someone as prominent as Chairman James to move.”

“That’s true. The company needs to coordinate the schedule as well. So, which country should I visit?”

“Prussia. They said they would take care of the details, so you just need to visit Prussia. Then they will contact you.”

“…Prussia?”

He thought it would be Russia in eight out of ten cases, but Prussia? Did he just win a 20 percent chance?

It was a bit unexpected, but in some ways, it was a relief.

If they had asked him to come to Russia, he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint who was behind it until he met them, but since Prussia was the destination, it was very clear who was calling him.

At first, he had slightly suspected Bismarck, but it wasn’t him.

Bismarck might try to investigate Killian to find his weaknesses.

Even if they were allies, there were no eternal allies in this world.

They should always be prepared to stab each other in the back.

So, he deliberately threw the bait of the North-South war to test the waters.

If the Prussian side had shown a troubled reaction to this information or had tried to bury it, James would have seriously put Bismarck or his faction on the list of suspects.

The North-South war was an issue that could significantly damage not only Killian but also Prime Minister Guizot of France and Bismarck of Prussia.

How much did Prussia and France lose by participating in the North-South war?

In particular, Prussia even missed a golden opportunity to push Austria because of it, which almost dealt a major blow to Bismarck’s leadership.

He managed to recover somehow later, but for Bismarck, participating in the North-South war was a topic he wanted to bury at all costs.

What would happen if it was revealed that this was all a puppet show played out in the hands of the British Imperial Family?

Of course, Killian would receive the most criticism, but the prime ministers of France and Prussia could not escape the criticism of being incompetent.

Deceiving is natural in international diplomacy, but being deceived is incompetence, a truth that has been universally accepted in every era.

When Bismarck learned of this fact, the best course of action was to leave it as blackmail material that could be used at any time and not bring it to the surface.

So, since they decided to accept this offer, the conclusion was that the guys digging into Killian’s past in Prussia were not Bismarck.

Then there was only one answer.

-Someone who doesn’t care at all even if the British Imperial Family and Bismarck take a fatal blow, and who has the power to handle the aftermath even if they do such a thing.

There was only one person who fit this description.

‘Wilhelm raised his successor poorly.’

James, who had grasped all the circumstances in an instant, shared a hearty toast with Bakunin as if he was looking forward to it.

And the very next morning, a letter was sent from Richmond to Washington, and its contents were immediately telegraphed to London, Great Britain.

* * *

After sending James to the American continent, I was receiving telegrams from America in real-time and investigating the situation by adding my own analysis.

Of course, I wasn’t entirely entrusting the work to James alone in America.

In preparation for when he didn’t produce proper results, I was conducting my own investigation internally and thoroughly cracking down on internal affairs to weed out any potential traitors.

In addition, I had prepared countermeasures for various scenarios so that I could take action as soon as the culprit was revealed.

It was at that point that James’s report came in, stating that there was a 99.9% chance that the Crown Prince of Prussia was involved.

“Friedrich… Friedrich, huh? That’s subtle.”

“The Crown Prince of Prussia seems to have lost his nerve.”

“Your Majesty, let’s get evidence and make it public. Even though they are an allied nation, it wouldn’t be bad to set an example like this once in a while.”

Disraeli and Gladstone, who heard the information I was telling them, became of one mind for the first time in a while and passionately advocated for stepping on Prussia.

Not just anyone, but a person who will become the king of a country is engaging in collusion to harm the imperial family of another country?

This was an outrageous act that crossed the line far too much.

If they could just get evidence, it was a golden opportunity to summon the ambassador and curse at him without him saying a word.

“If we set an example, what do you want to do?”

“Of course, we should make them issue an official apology and unconditionally agree to what we want to do for the time being.”

“Prussia is already likely to cause problems with the conflict with Austria, so isn’t this a good thing? If we take this opportunity to make Prussia and Austria conclude a peace treaty, we can eliminate potential risks and raise our prestige, so wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?”

Indeed, both are good suggestions.

In exchange for turning a blind eye to this matter, we can make them unconditionally take our side on major issues in the future, and if we even make them conclude a peace treaty with Austria, we can gain many benefits both internally and externally.

It’s definitely true, but wouldn’t it be boring to end it there?

If we’ve caught such a solid case, we should come up with a plan to use it more long-term.

Besides, not only Prussia but also the South was involved in this, wasn’t it?

And although it’s not written in James’s report, it wasn’t just Friedrich of Prussia in my opinion.

Even if he is the Crown Prince, he is not yet the king, but only a person who will become the king.

No matter how bad his relationship with Bismarck is, it doesn’t seem likely that he would have the guts to turn a knife towards the British Imperial Family.

“Friedrich is as good as confirmed, so I’ll dig a little deeper. And we must never let this rumor spread inside the parliament. Keep it between the two of you for the time being.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll thoroughly keep my mouth shut.”

The most frightening thing in the world is a surprise attack from an unseen place, but now that I’ve grasped it, there’s no reason to be afraid of whoever the opponent is.

Rather, now that I’ve grasped the overall picture, the thought that I might be able to use this to my advantage is creeping into my head.

In fact, I’ve been feeling like not only the Crown Prince but also Bismarck has been wary of me lately, but wouldn’t this be a good opportunity?

An excellent opportunity to put Prussia in its place, raise Bismarck’s prestige at the same time, make him indebted to me, and alienate Prussia from its neighboring countries.

The problem is how to naturally create a connection with Friedrich…

“Ah, but Your Majesty. Now that I think about it, wasn’t Crown Prince Friedrich one of the groom candidates that Your Majesty had picked out for the princess?”

“…Huh?”

“Now that things have turned out this way, wouldn’t it be better for Your Majesty to tell her to remove him from the list of candidates?”

“That’s right, he was.”

Victoria’s project to find a son-in-law, wanting to marry off Adelaide somehow.

The Crown Prince of Prussia was definitely one of those candidates.

“Yes, I’ll use this.”