Chapter 446: The Yingyi has no generals, and the adjutant is the vanguard
After Palmerston said these words in a heavy tone, the three ministers present were stunned for a moment. They couldn't believe what they heard.
After a while, the Duke of Newcastle came back to his senses and asked Palmerston: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, could it be that the Russian Empire has declared war on the Kingdom of Britain?"
"No!" Palmerston shook his head and replied to the three ministers present.
Before the three ministers could breathe a sigh of relief, Palmerston continued: "It's worse than declaring war! According to intelligence from the Near East, the Russian Empire's fleet regarded our fleet as an helper of the French fleet, and then attacked
Our ships attack!"
The three ministers present could not believe their ears. The fleet of the Russian Empire launched an attack on the British fleet? Isn't this just lighting a candle in a latrine - looking for shit (death)!
"What are the casualties of the fleet?" Duke Newcastle asked first.
"There were no large-scale casualties. It was three Russian steam clippers and a double-decker battleship that attacked the British fleet!" At this point, Palmerston's voice could not help but contain a hint of arrogance and contempt unique to the Anglo-Saxon people.
: "But what they are facing is the latest steam double-decker battleship of our British Empire! The Imperial Navy not only withstood the attack of the Russian Empire, but also sank a Russian steam clipper!"
"In other words, the Russian Empire is already in a state of war with us?" The Duke of Newcastle said with a sense of excitement that he was eager to try.
As long as there is a war between the British Kingdom and the Russian Empire, the shackles "binding" on the British Army will be lifted, and the British Army will also be able to obtain more resources.
At this moment, the Duke of Newcastle really loved those Russians.
If it weren't for them, the Duke of Newcastle would still have to quarrel with Gladstone for a long time.
The Duke of Newcastle suppressed his inner excitement and couldn't help but steal a glance at Gladstone.
Now Gladstone was standing there with dull eyes, "War between the Russian Empire and Britain" kept echoing in his mind.
"Now, we have to do something!" Although Lord Clarendon's voice was very low, it was extremely clear in this quiet "secret room".
"Yes! We must do something!" the Duke of Newcastle agreed, and then looked at Palmerston.
After experiencing a brief absence, Palmerston readjusted to his original state. He first glanced at Gladstone, then at Clarendon and Newcastle, and finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind:
"Since we have entered a state of war, the 80,000 mentioned before can be overturned, Minister Pelham!"
"Yes!" The Duke of Newcastle responded to Palmerston with a solemn expression on the surface, but in his heart he had already judged his family's little profit.
"From now on, Britain will recruit a large number of people who are willing to join the British army! The number will be around 140,000, which means you still need to recruit 100,000 people!" Palmerston issued strict orders to Newcastle, "Remember! What I want is
A team capable of fighting is not a disorganized army!"
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, can the War Department go to the factory to "recruit" workers?" The Duke of Newcastle tentatively asked Palmerston if he could rape men in the factory.
After all, the discipline and will of obedience of workers these days are much higher than those of lumpen proletarians randomly picked up from the street.
It's just that arresting workers without authorization can easily cause unnecessary trouble.
"Okay!" Palmerston did not hesitate too much. He also knew the problems faced by the War Department, so he relaxed the conditions appropriately.
How can workers who are part of the empire "do nothing" in the factory? The battlefield is their final destination.
"I guarantee that we will be able to train qualified soldiers in the shortest possible time!" With Palmerston's guarantee, the Duke of Newcastle could let the military police below arrest the workers.
"Minister Gladstone, I don't bother you with the issue of army appropriation!" Palmerston said to Gladstone sincerely.
Huge expenditures in a short period of time will inevitably lead to financial turmoil in the empire. In this case, it is a test of the skills of a qualified finance minister.
"I can only do my best!" Gladys responded to Palmerston with a reluctant expression on his face.
After explaining the tasks of Gladstone and Newcastle, Palmerston looked at Clarendon again, pointed his halberd at Lord Clarendon and said: "Minister Villiers, you should go to Buckingham Palace immediately to tell Queen Victoria and Queen Victoria the news.
Prince Albert!"
"Yes!" Clarendon took the order and left, followed closely by Gladstone and Newcastle.
Palmerston was the only one left in the room, sitting alone on the sofa and staring at the sky outside the window. After a long time, the Prime Minister's secretary pushed the door open again and said, "Prime Minister!"
After coming back to his senses, Palmerston still looked at the secretary with a slightly dull look, then pointed at the secretary and ordered: "Call the Russian Ambassador, Baron Brunol, over now!"
"Yes! Prime Minister!" the Prime Minister's secretary straightened up and replied firmly to Palmerston.
About half an hour later, the Russian ambassador, Baron Brunol, appeared in front of Palmerston, looking at him with confusion.
Facing the doubtful Brunol, Palmerston still politely announced to him that the Kingdom of Britain was about to draw up a war with Russia!
"What! Prime Minister, you can't do this!" Blonov couldn't help shouting excitedly.
"I'm so sorry! If the Russian Empire hadn't launched an unauthorized attack on the Kingdom of Britain within a few hours, the relationship between our two countries might not have fallen out at this point!" Palmerston sighed with pretense of melancholy, as if
He is sad about the coming war.
"It's so ridiculous!!" Brunoor shook his head and said to Palmerston with a sincere expression: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I don't know where you heard this news, but you must believe that the Russian Empire has great influence on the Kingdom of Britain.
We have always been very respectful and we will never do such a heinous thing. Someone must have framed it!!"
"Mr. Ambassador, I don't want to find out who is right and who is wrong!" Palmerston said to Minister Brunoer with a tough attitude: "Since the fleet of the Russian Empire has attacked Britain, it must bear the corresponding price!"
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, do you have to turn the originally harmonious relationship between the Russian Empire and the British Kingdom into a life-or-death enemy?" Brunoer humbly defended the friendship between Russia and Britain.
"Since the Russian Empire opened fire on Britain, we have become life-and-death enemies!" Palmerston responded uncompromisingly to Bruno.
Since Palmerston became the main militant, he has been destined to go all the way to darkness.
Once Palmerston's attitude is not militant enough, those who originally supported him will immediately abandon him and defect to those who are more militant.
Since the people of London could not wait for the truth to be found out, Palmerston simply declared war directly.
Once the war started, it was difficult for Britain's cabinet to change.
For his own sake and for the sake of Britain as a whole, the Russian Empire must bear the consequences.
"In that case, I have nothing to say!" Brunoor responded to Palmerston with a cold face: "Then we will see you on the battlefield!"
"See you on the battlefield!" Palmerston also replied.
On November 2, 1853, London, which had been rainy and cold for several days, finally welcomed the sunshine.
In such weather, Lord Clarendon went to Parliament to read Queen Victoria's declaration of war on the Russian Empire.
The letter not only portrays Britain as a savior from the standpoint of defending the Ottoman Empire, but also criticizes the Russian Imperial Fleet's "undeclared war" against the British Fleet.
After Clarendon finished reading, Prime Minister Palmerston came to the stage to give a war speech. The entire war speech received continuous applause, so much so that Palmerston had to stop several times to wait for the applause to end.
Immediately after his speech, Palmerston announced a vote on whether war should be declared on the Russian Empire.
In the end, the House of Lords and Commons of the British Kingdom overwhelmingly agreed to declare war on the Russian Empire.
Then Palmerston took advantage of the situation and put forward a proposal on whether military expenditures should be increased. The proposal called for a 50% increase in the military budget for the British Army. This means that the House of Lords and Commons need to allocate 4.75 million pounds, which adds up to 14.25 million pounds.
expenditure.
This proposal received overwhelming approval in the House of Lords, but was resisted by some people in the House of Commons. They believed that increasing the financial budget was just to make the children of the nobles live a better life, and would not improve the army at all.
Quality, some extremists even shouted slogans asking the nobles to get out of the army.
However, after Palmerston used nationalist mediation, the House of Commons also approved the order.
The next morning, Prime Minister Palmerston informed Queen Victoria of the results of the vote in the House of Lords and Commons, and accompanied Queen Victoria to St. James's Palace.
In St. James's Palace, Queen Victoria, who was in formal attire, summoned the Russian Ambassador Brunel under the witness of a large number of nobles, the Prime Minister, and the Foreign Secretary, and conveyed the British declaration of war to Brunol.
After Baron Brunoer burned Britain's declaration of war, he left the Kingdom of Britain with the members of the embassy.
The Kingdom of Britain, which had gone through the steps of declaring war, did not immediately take action. Instead, it conducted the next round of candidates for the commander of the British Expeditionary Force.
After several rounds of fierce confrontations, the sixty-five-year-old Lord Raglan was finally appointed as the commander of the expeditionary force, and the forty-two-year-old Sir John Burgoyne was appointed commander of the engineers.
It can be said to be a veritable "old people's group".
In the command that Raglan is about to prepare, there are also five senior officers as assistants. Most of them are about the same age as Raglan, and the youngest of them, the Duke of Cambridge, is Queen Victoria's cousin.
While Britain was engaged in a long dispute, the French Empire, her life-and-death enemy on the other side, was carrying out industrial production in an orderly manner.
Among them, the Minie gun, the Grand Napoleon cannon, railway tracks and locomotives have become the focus of production. Each Minie gun is quickly packaged and packaged after leaving the factory, and then transported by rail to the Toulon port, where it takes a transport ship. Among them
Most of them arrived in Constantinople and were handed over to the army of Abdulmecid I, while the remaining small part was quietly transported to the Syrian Province (the Ottoman province of Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and part of Saudi Arabia).