I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 93

Joint Operation

It’s often said that luck is as important as ability for a politician to achieve greatness.

To ride the momentum, one must go with the flow, but if that flow never comes, they are bound to be buried.

Some people create the flow themselves, but that’s only possible when they have a certain level of name recognition.

If someone unheard of throws out an agenda that penetrates the entire society, it will simply be buried quietly in the 19th century.

From that point of view, wouldn’t it be fair to say that most successful politicians are somewhat lucky?

Even Gladstone, who would undoubtedly be among the top in the history of all British Prime Ministers, would certainly be no exception.

It should be, but…

“No, won’t this mess up all my plans?”

“It won’t mess them up, but it looks like we’ll need to make some adjustments.”

Gladstone’s ambitious plan to leave the Conservative Party and join the Whig Party, trying to create some buzz, faced a huge obstacle before it even started.

-Queen Victoria’s Declaration of Celibacy! ‘I will not consider marriage until social problems are resolved and citizens live a life of peace of mind.’

-‘I will live with the mindset of being married to the nation.’ Her Majesty the Queen’s sincerity for the people.

-The true face of a monarch who cares for the people. Seeing the familiar shadow of Queen Elizabeth in Queen Victoria.

Every newspaper on the street was filled with Victoria’s bombshell declaration, and the main topic of conversation in social circles and pubs was Victoria’s celibacy.

Even while riding in a carriage to meet Gladstone, the stories of people talking loudly about this issue were heard through the door.

In this situation, even if Gladstone betrayed the Conservative elders and went to the Whig Party, no one would really care.

In a way, it’s fortunate that this article came out before it was actually put into action.

If the water had already been spilled [if the action was already done], I would have had to rewrite the plan from the beginning.

“But you don’t seem as surprised as I thought. Everyone around me is in an uproar because of this article.”

“Ah, well, I talked to Her Majesty last time. She kept saying that she didn’t want to worry about marriage issues.”

If I just waited indefinitely for my position to rise, the pressure to marry would increase, so it was true that I needed to take action.

She said she had a good idea, but I never thought she would just blurt it out like this.

It’s a bit shocking, but in terms of effectiveness, there’s nothing more effective than this.

People are already praising the Queen’s decision, reminiscing about the past, as there is also the case of Elizabeth.

Marriage to the nation.

The wording ‘I will serve the British Empire as my husband.’

Doesn’t it feel like some romantic resonance that only a queen can give, unlike a man?

-In the past, Queen Elizabeth defeated Spain and laid the foundation for England to grow into the British Empire. Queen Victoria also defeated the great empire of the East, Qing Dynasty [the last imperial dynasty of China], and proved that the British Empire is the strongest country in the world. Is this a coincidence?

If she didn’t have basic popularity, there would have been criticism that she was comparing herself to Elizabeth, but fortunately, Victoria and the royal family are currently very popular.

She is much more interested in the daily lives of citizens than previous kings and actively voices her opinions.

At the same time, she is not autocratic and respects the parliament, and she carefully manages the composition of the royal maids so that they are not biased towards one party.

The young queen is doing such a good job that intellectuals and citizens can’t help but love the royal family.

Most of the people who want the Queen to marry are hoping that this wonderful Queen will quickly have an heir.

But now that she has made her intentions so clear, those who make a fuss about marriage will be criticized instead.

If she continues to improve her political skills like this, she may be evaluated as the best monarch in the history of the British Empire.

But that’s that, and this is this.

Gladstone, whose ambitious transfer plan was put on hold, sighed, tapping the newspaper.

“Nothing seems to work out. They say that people who are not meant to be successful will not be successful no matter what they do. I hope I’m not one of those people.”

“Of course not. If that were the case, you wouldn’t have won the election at once as soon as you entered politics.”

There’s no way a man who became Prime Minister in the original history would be an unsuccessful person.

However, it was true that most of the opportunities for Gladstone to stand out were lost because of me.

Originally, he should have boldly confronted the elders, saying that an immoral war was not allowed before the Opium War, and showed his presence, but such a big event disappeared.

In addition, Charles Wellesley, who should have been much more insignificant than Gladstone, is called the hope of the Conservative Party, and his rival Disraeli has entered politics much faster.

Compared to Gladstone in the original history, it is no exaggeration to say that he is suffering from a level of oppression that is abandoned by the sky.

Well, it seems reasonable that he feels like nothing is going right.

“But what should I really do? I was going to move my party affiliation while creating as much buzz as possible, as you advised, but I can’t do that now… Should I scrap the plan altogether? But if I just move my party affiliation, I might not be able to establish myself properly in the Whig Party…”

“You absolutely can’t scrap it. In the first place, you were trying to become the savior of the Whig Party with the title of a promising young politician who betrayed the Conservative Party. But if you take out the part where you betrayed the Conservative Party, it’s neither soup nor bread [it’s worthless]. For the sake of your future, you can’t scrap the plan. Of course, you need to refine it a little more.”

“It’s difficult, it’s difficult. But are you really okay with helping me like this? I’m really grateful, but if someone finds out about this, you could be attacked as a traitor within the party, right?”

“It’s okay. It’s unlikely to be known, and even if it is, I have countermeasures in place. And this is not just helping you, it’s helping the politics of this country become healthier.”

The only person who can reveal the fact that I helped Gladstone harm the Conservative Party is Gladstone.

But he had no reason to reveal that fact unless he was planning to commit suicide and take me down with him.

Moreover, even if he did reveal it, I had finished the behind-the-scenes work so that I could be framed for falsely accusing me.

Surely I wouldn’t do such a dangerous job without a safety device.

“If the country becomes healthier…?”

“If things continue like this, the Conservative Party will be in a situation that is virtually a one-party dictatorship. A general election will be held next year or the year after, but honestly, in the current situation, can the Whig Party win 200 seats? I don’t think they can even get 150 seats.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Then the Conservative Party will be able to do whatever they want without paying attention to anyone. Even the House of Lords, which can put a check on the House of Commons, is dominated by the Conservative Party. This is virtually a one-party dictatorship.”

“So you’re helping me go to the Whig Party to prevent such a situation? You certainly have a broad perspective. Most lawmakers would want their party to have a one-party dictatorship… No, maybe you can think that way because you’re not technically a lawmaker yet.”

Gladstone, who understood on his own, nodded, admiring.

Certainly, as he said, I am a member of the House of Lords and a cabinet minister, so I am a bit different from the members of the House of Commons.

I was guaranteed a lifetime seat, and my position as a minister was firmly established, so even if the party was shaken a little, I wouldn’t be shaken.

“You can understand it that way. Anyway, the most important thing is that if the British Empire is to stand tall as the hegemonic power in this world for more than 100 years, not just 10 years, then politics must be right. And power that is not checked will inevitably rot. The signs are already visible. Isn’t the reason why you broke up with the elders of the Conservative Party because you spoke frankly to them?”

“…That’s true. But the more I talk to you, the more I realize that you have something special. Anyone can say that, but if they were actually in that situation, they wouldn’t be able to put it into action. If you don’t lose this heart, it seems that it won’t be easy for the Whig Party to overtake the Conservative Party, no matter how hard I try.”

“If we compete in good faith, better policies will be adopted as a result, and that will lead to the development of the country and the happiness of the citizens. Who wins and loses is only a secondary issue.”

“Competition in good faith… Okay. I will never forget what you just said and keep my original intention. I’m so glad to have someone like you as my junior.”

“I don’t know how lucky I am to have you as my senior.”

If that weren’t the case, I would have had to use a slightly dangerous method to weaken the power of the Conservative Party, but thanks to you, things are going so well.

It’s difficult to attract attention because of Victoria’s bombshell declaration, but unlike Gladstone, I can contact Victoria at any time.

In other words, I can highlight this situation as much as I want by having her, who is currently the center of attention in England, on my back.

“Senior, I have a good idea, so let’s proceed with the work as it is. However, since we still need to create buzz, it would be better to make the issue a little bigger.”

“Make the issue bigger? How?”

“At first, we were going to portray it as our old fogeys [old-fashioned people] in the Conservative Party didn’t like our senior, who values morality and principles, so they kicked him out. Let’s add a little more of the opium flavor that is currently a hot topic.”

With this, we can naturally link it to Victoria’s announcement and the Conservative Party will suffer even more damage.

I think about 50 seats will definitely be lost in the general election, right?

I’ve been raising him a bit lately, and Prime Minister Robert Peel is so arrogant that he thinks he’s in his own world. This will instill humility again.

We shook hands with bright smiles and made plans for the future.

The balance of power must be maintained. For now.

* * *

A week has passed since Victoria dropped a huge bombshell in British society.

During that time, Gladstone and I were busy picking out the cancerous presences in the Conservative Party that would benefit from disappearing from British politics on this occasion.

During that week, London was still noisy and chaotic.

“Your Majesty, did you know that the number one topic in social circles right now is interpreting the hidden meaning of what you said last time?”

“Really? What’s the most likely interpretation?”

“First of all, there were also comments that Your Majesty’s standards are too high. There is speculation that you don’t want to get married because you don’t have a man you like because your standards are too high.”

“Well, that’s not wrong. Most of the people who are being mentioned as candidates don’t meet my standards.”

“Next, there is also a realistic speculation that you don’t want to share some of your authority with your husband if you get married.”

In fact, many people predicted that this realistic factor also influenced Elizabeth’s decision not to marry in the past.

No matter how much of a queen she was, it was an era when she had no choice but to listen to her husband to some extent if she got married.

“Hmm… I haven’t really thought about that at this point, but it’s too far-fetched. Aren’t there any people who are worried that I might really live as a single person for the rest of my life?”

“Why wouldn’t there be? In fact, most of them are worried about what will happen if that situation really comes.”

Victoria clearly stated that she would not even think about marriage until all domestic and foreign problems were resolved.

So, does that mean that she will consider marriage again if the domestic situation stabilizes?

But it is not logically possible for this huge country to continue to have peace and prosperity without any minor problems.

Accidents are bound to happen, so there is a possibility that she will continue to insist on being single for this reason.

She’s young now, so she’ll probably stop after a few years, but what will happen if this situation continues for two or three years?

“Even after I said that, the royal family and privy councilors came to me in droves as if they had made an appointment. They were trying to hold a hearing, asking if I was serious, if I really didn’t want to get married, or if I had someone else in mind.”

“So what did you say?”

“What did I say? I said it meant exactly what it said, so don’t try to interpret it too much and just accept it as it is.”

The Queen loves the country and the citizens so much that she will do that… Those rascals who are trying to find fault… She must have shot them down like that, so of course they had no choice but to be quiet.

“There won’t be any people making a fuss about marriage for the time being, but since you’ve said it, the citizens will expect Your Majesty to put heart and soul into the people’s livelihood. You know that if you don’t do as well as expected here, it could backfire, right?”

“Of course I know. But I said that after calculating everything. I’m confident too.”

“Okay. Just one more thing. Now that Your Majesty has declared celibacy, there will be no one to bother you, but when you change your mind later, you will need a good reason for that. A king’s declaration should not be shaken so lightly.”

Once a word is spoken, it cannot be taken back.

Therefore, those with high status and position need to be careful and think twice or three times before speaking, and that is even more true for a king.

If the Queen makes a celibacy declaration with great enthusiasm and then reverses it like flipping her hand, who will take the Queen’s words seriously after that?

Rather, she will not be able to avoid criticism that she used a shallow trick to marry that man.

“The minister is right. Now that I have officially said that I will live with the mindset of marrying the country, this heart must not change for the rest of my life. So, even if I say that I have decided to get married, it should not feel like I have reversed my previous declaration.”

“Is there a way to do that?”

“Why are you asking when you know? You just need to do such a great job that it won’t be unreasonable even if the minister reverses my celibacy declaration. Well, if you become Ireland itself, it won’t be too wrong to say that I’m marrying the country, so I can say that I didn’t lie.”

I was doubtful, but is this really the flow?

Of course, if everything goes according to my plan, I can use marriage as part of a policy of embracing and truly uniting the British Empire… I never imagined that Victoria would foresee even this and cause this.

Anyway, the fact that I have to work hard in the end does not change, but I have already said things, so I can’t help it.

Ah, that’s why they say people should be careful when speaking.

“Your Majesty. Then, could you help me a little so that I can meet Your Majesty’s expectations?”

“Of course I have to help. This is the first time the minister and I are working together on something.”

Oh, come to think of it, I’ve known her for quite a while, but this is really the first time I’ve worked with her on something.

Like Victoria, who is sparkling her eyes with anticipation, I also felt something unfamiliar and strange.

“Since Your Majesty said that you would look after the people’s livelihood with the mindset of marrying the country, you must show proof of that. Please strongly preach the message that you will eradicate corruption and the influx of opium that are eating away at the lives of the citizens. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Originally, the royal family does not deeply intervene in politics, but it is not a big problem for the royal family to urge the political world to take action.

Especially if it is a part that is closely related to the lives of the people, there is no need to say more.

Now that things have come to this, let’s go beyond cutting out the rotten flesh of the Conservative Party to balance the parliament and raise the power of the royal family to a higher level.

This is the first joint operation with Victoria.

Let’s go as flashy as possible.