I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 76

The Hidden Tycoon of the British Empire 76 (76/537)

The First Strike Always Loses (2)

When people experience an unexpected accident, their vision narrows, and their judgment becomes impaired.

If such events occur consecutively, it is only natural to fall into a state of panic.

Even Lin Zexu was no exception.

He was almost fleeing as he hastily returned to Guangzhou by boat.

Gradually regaining his senses, Lin Zexu felt a strong sense of unease for some reason.

‘…What is this? Why is it turning out this way?’

He hadn’t expected to confiscate opium at this meeting, and Killian’s point that there might be other motives was undeniable.

He knew from the beginning that the amount of opium stored on Lintin Island was enormous, even if he didn’t know the exact quantity.

He had no power to confiscate their goods on an island under British de facto control, unlike in Guangzhou.

Ultimately, unless someone had a gun to their head, no country would willingly give up such a vast amount of merchandise.

Because it was all money.

From the start, the justification wasn’t great. If the opium had entered Qing territory, it could be clearly concluded that there was an intention to distribute it there.

However, the goods stored on Lintin Island had not yet been transported anywhere.

Of course, it was obvious that all of it would eventually enter Qing territory, but who would accept it if you said, “You’re going to commit a crime, so I’ll punish you in advance?”

So, Lin Zexu’s real purpose was to pretend to negotiate about opium while confirming whether the British had any connections with Joseon [ancient Korean kingdom] or Japan.

But he never expected this kind of thing to happen, not even in his dreams.

“You moronic bastards! Do you know what you’ve done? I clearly told you to investigate secretly, but you killed British merchants and set fire to their ships? What you’ve done is tantamount to declaring war on Britain!”

To enter the opponent’s territory for negotiations, then murder merchants and burn merchant ships?

This was an outrageous act that would justify the other side sending an army to attack immediately.

“Lord Governor! We are innocent!”

“Innocent my ass! The evidence is too clear!”

“We were only secretly searching their ships as per your orders! But suddenly, flames erupted from the ship, and we just barely managed to escape. How could we have committed murder!”

“What nonsense are you spouting! Are you saying the British set fire to their own ships and reported the merchants as missing?”

Lin Zexu, about to lash out, stopped himself as he realized the nature of the unease he had felt earlier.

What if the British had noticed his intentions and staged a false flag operation [an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party] to pin the blame on him?

They had been constantly asked to provide evidence of trade with Joseon or Japan, so it wouldn’t be difficult for them to guess his intentions.

It was nearly impossible for Qing ships to catch up with British merchant ships at sea, so investigations were only possible when they were docked in port.

But they wouldn’t have evidence when docked in Guangzhou, so they had to strike at their base on this island.

What if they had anticipated that and set a trap, and he had fallen for it perfectly?

It wasn’t impossible.

No, it made perfect sense.

Could his subordinates, no matter how lacking in judgment, really commit the act of killing merchants and setting fire to ships?

“If you really didn’t kill them… No, it’s still meaningless. Now that the evidence has emerged, anything I say will only look like an excuse.”

“But we are truly innocent!”

Damn it. This is really giving me a headache.

Should I really push the claim of innocence?

Or, perhaps, is there a way to be more assertive?

Rather than making clumsy excuses and getting beaten up, it might be better to take a stronger stance.

In any case, the Emperor had said to use force without hesitation if necessary, so even if his subordinates really burned the British merchant ships, it would be a result of obeying the Emperor’s orders.

-They kept denying the objective fact that they had sailed to Joseon or Japan, so I investigated, and a fight broke out because they resisted.

If he said that, Beijing wouldn’t be able to hold him responsible, would they?

He was just faithfully following orders.

No matter how much he racked his brain, this seemed to be the right approach.

‘Yes, rather than making clumsy excuses, it would be safer to push it as a result of following His Majesty’s orders.’

If only the burning of the merchant ships was considered, it might be thought of as a British false flag operation, but there was still an unresolved challenge, so it was too risky to jump to conclusions.

It was possible that someone other than his subordinates, who had received his orders, had killed the British merchants and burned the merchant ships.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that all the opium had been burned.

Even if the burning of the merchant ship was a false flag, there was no reason for the British to burn the opium.

If they had burned only a portion of the opium, that would be one thing, but it was clear that almost all the opium stored on Lintin Island had become unusable.

If the damages suffered by the British merchants were calculated, it would be an astronomical sum.

If the goal was only to build a justification for declaring war, the deaths of the merchants and the burning of the merchant ships would have been sufficient.

There was no need to render the opium unusable.

The fact that the accident had occurred meant that the possibility of a false flag operation was not very high.

In Lin Zexu’s mind, neither the British merchants nor the British government had any reason to ruin the opium merchants.

They had been happily selling opium until now, and now they were furious that they couldn’t sell it anymore, so they burned it?

Even with simple reasoning, it didn’t add up.

“Could His Majesty have issued secret orders to someone other than me?”

Now that the situation was sorted out, it seemed that a rough outline was visible.

If the Emperor truly desired war.

If it was a situation where war was unavoidable no matter what he did, then as a subject, he had no choice but to better serve the Emperor’s will.

The confusion in his head subsided, but a huge sense of pressure weighed heavily on his chest rather than relief.

Lin Zexu’s eyes, gazing at the land that was beginning to reappear in the distance, were heavily laden with worry.

* * *

If you’ve come to the 19th century, living with the sensibilities of the 19th century is a good way to avoid going insane.

Looking at this place with the emotions and morals of a modern person, it only looks like a den of psychos and sociopaths, so it’s hard to maintain sanity.

Compromising on some things is good for me and those around me, but there are still areas that I can never accept physiologically.

For me, drugs were one of those areas.

Even without bringing up moral reasons, drugs are not something that can be perfectly and absolutely controlled.

Right now, I’m only selling them to other countries, but is there no possibility that this stuff could be sold in large quantities in England if I’m not careful?

Such a thing didn’t happen in the original history, but with the butterfly effect, who knows what might happen, so I can’t approach this issue with the complacency that “it’s all good.”

And as a result.

William Jardine, who had not only lost his fortune but also been left with enormous debts, sat blankly in front of me with a soulless face.

I could well imagine what it was like to be plunged into the abyss overnight, but that was that, and this was this.

I asked him, who was staring at me with empty eyes like a zombie,

“What is the extent of the fire damage?”

“…It’s all burned. It’s all burned… I think only a few dozen boxes can be recovered at best.”

If only a few dozen out of 30,000 boxes could be salvaged, that meant less than 1% was left, so it was safe to say that it was all burned.

Other merchants also suffered enormous losses, but Jardine had a uniquely large amount of opium, so he would have suffered unimaginable losses.

“I never thought the Qing [the last imperial dynasty of China] would do such a thing. The Governor-General keeps denying that he ever gave such an order.”

“Everyone saw those bastards take our opium and load it onto the ships, but there’s a limit to how much nonsense they can spout! Besides, our merchant ships were burned, and people have gone missing! We need to send warships immediately to devastate the port and get reparations! What is your duty, Minister! You must guarantee the rights and safety of the citizens!”

“Ah, of course, I will. That’s why I called you here. Now that things have come to this, war is unavoidable, but we have to wait at least years for the war to end. Considering the process of receiving reparations, it will take at least three to four years, won’t it? What I’m worried about is whether you can hold out until then. I know you owe the East India Company a considerable amount of money to purchase opium.”

“That’s… well…”

As soon as the story of debt came up, Jardine’s complexion turned ashen in an instant, after having been shouting at the top of his lungs.

It was sad that the Qing had burned all the opium, but would the East India Company, which had given him credit, say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, please don’t pay back the money for four years?’

The East India Company, which had already lost its monopoly on trade and whose performance was declining day by day, was desperate to make a profit.

“This, this is because the government didn’t protect us, so the government should protect us until the reparations come in…”

“Well, I don’t know. If you had suffered damage while engaging in normal trade, that would be one thing, but this is, strictly speaking, an attack by them while trading in items prohibited in Qing, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we look into how this works legally?”

They were harmed while arbitrarily trading in illegal items, but would they get anywhere asking the government to compensate for the loss?

Jardine’s eyes, slowly regaining their reason, began to tremble wildly.

“Then, what should I do? If I can’t pay, it’s not just a matter of going bankrupt.”

Considering how viciously the opium cartel and the East India Company recovered their money, Jardine was already as good as dead the moment he lost all the opium in his possession.

If he returned to England, he would be found floating in the Thames River in less than a month, with a bullet in his head, without anyone knowing.

“Oh dear, I feel heavy-hearted too. If I had known that the Qing were such crazy bastards, I could have taken precautions in advance.”

“Minister, I will die if I go back like this. Please, somehow…”

“Actually, it seems right for me to take responsibility in good conscience since I trusted the Qing too much, as you said.”

“Really? Thank you! Thank you, Minister!”

“To do that, there are some things I need to know.”

Only cracking down on local merchants won’t be able to strike a blow to the main body of the opium cartel in the mainland.

Of course, if the local business fails, they will collapse together, but who knows if these guys will bring the opium back to their home country and sell it in desperation.

If you’re going to smash them, do it perfectly. And we need to tie up all the politicians who are backing them and send them away together.

“Tell me who the merchants have been trading with so far, what connections they have made in their home country, and what lobbying records they have in the Cabinet and Parliament. Then, no matter who comes, I will take responsibility and save your life.”

“…Yes? But, that’s…”

“I’m not asking for this for no reason, but because I need to know who is trying to take your life so that I can respond. How can I protect you if I don’t even know who the opponent is, whether it’s a merchant or a member of Westminster [the British Parliament]?”

You don’t want to spit out the information? Then just run away as a debtor and get caught and die.

Even if a war breaks out, the victory itself is already a predetermined constant.

So, we must consider what will happen after this war is over.

If we are optimistic that we will only be on a roll because we will ultimately bring huge benefits to the home country, we are likely to get hit in the back of the head.

The opium-related people who suffered the only losses in this war were highly likely to not look favorably on me.

There must have been many who agreed to send me to solve the opium problem, but apart from the fact that the war brought enormous benefits to England, the opium business suffered a huge deficit, didn’t it?

Those guys will probably tear me apart, saying that I failed in diplomacy, and pressure me to step down from my position.

Anyway, I never intended to tolerate the opium cartel from the beginning, so I have no intention of improving relations with them.

My Great British Empire didn’t need drugs like that from the start.

“Really… if I provide the information, can I survive?”

“Of course. It will be difficult to do the opium business again, but there are many things to do in the New World, so I will take care to help you get back on your feet there.”

With everything lost and only debts left, the answer for Jardine was already determined.

Without continuing his contemplation for too long, he eventually took a rough breath and nodded his head.

Finally, from his mouth, traces of dirty collusion began to emerge, which would become a useful weapon for me to seize and wield after the war.