Make France Great Again

After nearly a month of intrigues, the new cabinet of the war faction headed by Palmerston finally got rid of the constraints of the peace faction, and with the secret support of Prince Albert, began to make strides in the direction of centralization.

Palmerston is now more powerful than when he last served as Prime Minister, and London's public opinion circles have also erupted into a new round of climax after the establishment of the war-minded cabinet.

Under the dual stimulation of the Romanian financial backers and certain "foreign forces" behind the scenes, newspapers headed by "Advertisement Morning News" began to shout slogans to expand the size of the British Army.

Once the slogan appeared, it quickly aroused widespread support from people from all walks of life and officers of the British Army.

As we all know, the British Army has fallen into a "curse" of layoffs and downsizing since the Napoleonic War in 1815. Especially in an era when the older generation of generals headed by Wellington are gradually withering away, the British Army with sea power as its core has become an existence that is neither loved by father nor loved by mother. As a soldier, in addition to feeling the constant support of instructors, Apart from being beaten with a whip, you can basically get nothing, and being a second-class soldier in the army is even more humiliating.

The volunteer troops that were once full of "patriotic" enthusiasm completely disappeared during the Napoleonic Wars, and were replaced by drunkards and vagrants who were poor and unwilling to enter the factory. They were forced by the British army in various ways. Sexual means were introduced into the troops, alcohol and opium were used to anesthetize them, and whips were used to teach them obedience. In the mouths of British officers, you will always hear insulting words such as "pig" and "scum", and these forcibly recruited "soldiers" also have no sense of honor. They are willing to degenerate. They have no shame, and their lives have no other use than dying for the Kingdom of Britain (but who turned them into such people?),

Even so, the total strength of the British Kingdom is only a little over 100,000, of which about 23,000 troops are scattered in India, 36,520 troops are scattered in other British colonies, and the remaining 44,980 troops are stationed in Britain. (referring to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland).

Among the 44,000 people, there are nearly one-eighth of the officers. Most of them are children of the nobility. They all imitate the way of the Duke of Wellington. The purpose of entering the army is to leave a legacy for their descendants. Subsistence work.

After all, Britain strictly implements the primogeniture system. If the remaining children are not talented and unwilling to join the army, the only way to go is the monastery.

This resulted in an average of every British officer commanding 7 soldiers. What's even more terrible is that the military rank of these noble children was only at the school level.

Just imagine, a major commanding 7 soldiers fighting, the scene is too spectacular.

Moreover, Britain not only has many officers at the captain level, but also many officers at the general level. It is because of God's favor for the British people that the generals in Britain generally live a long life. It is said that the Duke of Wellington, who died only a year ago, was 70 years old. There are 13 officers over the age of 60, and 37 generals over the age of 60, not to mention those "little fresh meat" generals between 40 and 60 years old, which will soon exceed three figures.

The one-stop service of redundant troops has been fully realized. The current British army command system has completely presented a situation of overlapping rights, and many people simply do not know whose orders they should obey.

However, the situation of the Ministry of War government cannot be changed in any way, because those who can stay in the Ministry of War and eat the royal food are either generals with great military exploits or the children of a certain big noble.

A slight movement will pull out a series of people, and which noble dares to really make desperate reforms.

It can only be accepted in full, which leads to the annual military expenditure of this army of only 100,000 people reaching a terrifying 9.5 million pounds, which is an expenditure of 244.8 million francs when converted into francs.

Such a huge expenditure can fully support France's previous 400,000-strong army and part of its navy.

Of course, for those aristocratic children who are squatting in London and eager to "make achievements", 40,000 troops are simply not enough to support their grand strategic blueprint.

Now that Palmerston, the main battleground against Russia, has come to power, it means that the war is about to begin.

How could the 40,000 British army left behind be an opponent with a large number of cheap Slavic livestock?

For the sake of cheating and cheating... No, for the glory of the queen, the real thing is for the cabinet to allocate more money to expand the army.

In this way, under the fanatical advocacy of certain groups, Palmerston could only convene a (small) cabinet meeting on whether the army should be expanded.

Participating in the meeting were the Foreign Secretary, the War Secretary, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, all of whom were important components involved in this proposal.

After the (small) cabinet meeting began, Palmerston first felt honored that he could lead Britain once again, and then started praising Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, which made people sleepy. At the end of the speech Palmerston really entered the topic of the cabinet meeting.

"In view of the current situation faced by Britain, Britain should expand the number of its troops. I hope you can speak freely! Thank you!" After speaking, Palmerston made an invitation gesture to the three ministers.

The first person to respond was the Duke of Newcastle, who was the Secretary of State for War. "Can I say a few words first?"

Gu Qin/span Prime Minister Palmerston, Foreign Secretary Clarendon, and Finance Minister Gladstone all cast curious glances at the Duke of Newcastle.

The Duke, who had been serving as Minister of War since the beginning of Russell's cabinet, actually changed his temper and became the leader? For a while, Palmerston and others all speculated whether it was because some of the aristocratic sons behind the Duke of Newcastle had united to make trouble.

"Minister Pelham (the full name of the Duke of Newcastle is Henry Pelham Alexander Clinton), please speak!" Palmerston responded to the Duke of Newcastle with a friendly smile.

"Cough...cough" the Duke of Newcastle cleared his throat, reorganized his words and said: "I think our country's army should indeed be slightly expanded. A team of only 40,000 people cannot maintain the safety of the mainland at all!"

"It must be the interests of the aristocracy behind you!" Palmerston couldn't help but complain in his heart, and asked Newcastle in a consultative tone: "Then Minister Pelham, how many troops do you think Britain needs to maintain the security of the mainland!"

"According to my humble opinion, if you want to maintain the security of the homeland and prepare for possible raids, you must at least retain an army of 150,000 to 200,000 people!" The Duke of Newcastle startled the three people present as soon as he spoke. Jump.

Especially the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gladstone. At this time, Gladstone's expression was like that of a man who was constipated and couldn't relieve himself even if he wanted to.

Did he not know what to say and expand Britain's native army to 150,000 to 200,000? Not to mention whether Britain's current population can withstand the mobilization brought about by the expansion, the military expenditure alone is a large expense. If not, the original military expenditure of 9.5 million pounds will have to be doubled. to three times.

It is conceivable that if Newcastle's proposal is successful, the noble children will indeed get what they want, but the price will need to be borne by all Britons and the province.

Thinking of this, Gladstone immediately said loudly: "I object!"

Seeing his finance minister objecting, Palmerston finally breathed a sigh of relief. If there were no objections from the small cabinet, it might really be passed. These days, the weight ratio of the House of Representatives obviously suppresses the House of Commons. Once submitted to the House of Lords, the consequences would be disastrous.

Gladstone's objection relieved Palmerston. Palmerston glanced at Gladstone gratefully: "Minister Gladstone, what is the reason for your objection?"

Gladstone said to Palmerston with a straight face: "British finances cannot afford the huge military expenditure!"

"Impossible!" the Duke of Newcastle responded decisively to Gladstone: "Based on Britain's current expenditure, we can fully support an army of 150,000 to 200,000 people!"

"If we only pay attention to the army and not other aspects, Britain can indeed support such an army, but we cannot only pay attention to the army and thus ignore other aspects!" Gladstone responded appropriately.

"I don't mean to maintain it at around 150,000 to 200,000 people. We must ensure that we can quickly mobilize an army with combat effectiveness during the war!" The Duke of Newcaster retreated slightly and faced the Glades Passage: " Then, 100,000 people will be enough!”

"100,000 people?" Gladstone once again estimated the annual cost of soldiers and the income they generated, but shook his head and said, "100,000 people is still too much. It would be a waste to put it in the mainland!"

"80,000! At least 80,000!" The Duke of Newcastle gritted his teeth and discussed with Gladstone as if he had made a great determination.

"8..." Gladstone was about to say something when he heard a knock on the door from outside.

Palmerston, who was having a small cabinet meeting, frowned slightly, then stood up with an apologetic smile and said, "Please wait a moment!"

Palmerston walked to the door, opened the door, and the figure of the Prime Minister's (private) secretary appeared at the door.

At this time, he was looking at Palmerston in a panic, and spoke quickly as if he had borrowed a mouth: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, important information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"

Palmerston took the information, looked at it carefully, then took a deep breath, his face became even heavier.

"Okay! I understand!" Palmerston nodded to his secretary after putting away the information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then closed the door and said to everyone present in a heavy tone: "Everyone, I'm afraid we are going to be in big trouble!"

Please know the website address of this book: 123 Dubi mobile version reading:

"Click here to report an error" "Add bookmark"