Chapter 1128: London

Foreign Affairs Department.

Dong An returned from the Imperial Palace and selected the officials who would accompany him on the diplomatic mission.

After three days of preparation, he traveled north by steam locomotive, arrived at the Heilong River under the protection of the Black Tortoise Army, met with the officers of the Ross nation guarding the north bank of the Heilong River, and informed them of his intentions.

It was already different from the contempt held for the Great Song a few years ago.

Today's Ross soldiers felt both fear and hatred toward the Great Song.

They dared not slight the diplomatic mission of the Great Song envoy heading to Petersburg.

Because this might concern their fate in the Far East.

Consequently, they dispatched three hundred soldiers to escort Dong An westward alongside three hundred Black Tortoise Army soldiers.

At the same time.

Britain, London.

The news of the total annihilation of the Coalition Navy and Army in Tianzhu arrived with a battered warship, stirring up huge waves in this political center of Britain.

When she learned of this news, Queen Ashley was having afternoon tea at Waterham Palace with the wives of several members of parliament.

The tragic news caused the Queen to faint on the spot, sparking no small amount of chaos.

At the same time, Prime Minister William was meeting with the Diplomatic Minister from Poland, having lunch with him.

When an official whispered the news into his ear, the smile on his face stiffened.

Without even offering an explanation to the Polish Diplomatic Minister, he left the room and headed straight for Waterham Palace, which left the uninformed Polish Diplomatic Minister feeling very dissatisfied.

But William clearly could not care about such things now.

On the way to Waterham, he encountered the Field Marshal, the Duke of Welling, and the Navy Marshal, Count Thompson.

Without a doubt, the expressions of the two were as grave as William's.

Along the way, the three did not even say a single word.

Because this news left them too shocked; their hearts were trembling, their minds were a mess, and they simply did not know what to say.

Both the navy and army were completely wiped out, and Tianzhu, the pearl on the Queen's crown, had fallen into the hands of the Great Song.

For Britain, their hegemony might be shaken because of this incident.

When the three arrived at Waterham Palace, Ashley had already slowly regained consciousness.

But having suffered such a great blow, her spirit was somewhat lethargic, and she could only lie half-propped on the bed to receive these three core figures of Britain.

"How authentic is this news?" Ashley asked in a weak tone; even now, she refused to believe the fact, hoping the three would tell them it was a rumor.

"Your Majesty, I fear this news is true." Welling and the two Marshals exchanged glances, their faces heavy.

Ashley closed her eyes in pain, "So, in the distant East, a nation even more powerful than our Britain has risen?"

"I fear that is the case," William said again.

"According to the intelligence we have received so far, the Great Song has built a brand-new type of warship. According to the soldiers, the hull of this new type of warship is covered in iron plating; our explosive shells have no effect on it at all, and its power is even more formidable than our steamships. If they hadn't utilized the cover of night, they would never have been able to return alive," Thompson added more details at this moment.

This fifty-six-year-old British Navy Marshal had kept his brow furrowed from the moment he received the news until now.

If one listened carefully, one would notice he was deliberately suppressing his trembling voice.

In his life, he had never been as terrified as he was today; this was a fear of an unknown power.

According to what the soldiers said, the destruction of the Coalition's five hundred warships was mainly caused by the Great Song's twelve new-style warships.

This meant that their navy, of which they were so proud, was as weak as an infant before the Great Song Navy.

With this, their maritime hegemony was likely heading toward an end.

"Queen, we must admit a reality: the Great Song's muskets, artillery, and warships all surpass us in every aspect. We are powerless to confront them in the Far East," the Duke of Welling sighed. "Now we should be more worried about whether the Great Song will take the next step of retaliatory action, seize more of our colonies, or even... invade Britain."

Ashley's body trembled slightly; she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up straight.

The Duke of Welling had reminded her that now was not the time for self-pity.

She did not understand the Great Song, nor did she understand the character of that Great Song Emperor.

But there was no doubt that as long as that Great Song Emperor was willing, he could cut away Britain's overseas colonies bit by bit, just like cutting a cake.

And she would have no way to stop it; the Coalition's disastrous defeat in Tianzhu had already proven this.

Neither Britain's navy nor its army could contend with the Great Song's military.

"The days ahead will be the darkest for the Western world," Ashley got off the bed. "Think about what we did in Dongtu after we occupied Tianzhu? If one day the Great Song establishes a colonial stronghold near the Western Lands, will they treat us the way we treated the natives back then?"

William and the others did not speak; this topic was too heavy.

After a long while, William said, "As long as we stand united against a common enemy, I believe the Great Song people cannot do it. From now on, we must increase our smearing of the Great Song and let the public unite around us. If the Great Song people want to fall into the quagmire of war, let them come. We British are not as easy to deal with as those natives."

"But William, Britain is just an island. What if the Great Song blockades our coastline?" Thompson raised his biggest concern at the moment.

His words caused another silence in the room.

Looking out the window, Ashley pondered for a long time before suddenly saying, "From the current situation, it is difficult for us to confront the Great Song militarily. We need time to catch up in equipment, and at the same time, further understand this nation of the Great Song. For this, we need to try to improve relations with the Great Song, even if it means sacrificing some interests to do so."

Looking out the window, Ashley pondered for a long time before suddenly saying, "Judging from the current situation, it is difficult for us to compete with Great Song militarily; we need time to catch up in equipment, and at the same time, further understand this nation of Great Song. To this end, we need to try to improve our relationship with Great Song, even if it means sacrificing some interests to do so."

"Then we can only prepare for the worst and unite the entire Western world to fight the Great Song to the death," Ashley clenched her fists tightly.

Pausing, she continued, "However, this is the worst-case scenario. Even if there is a glimmer of hope, we must try to improve relations with the Great Song. Don't forget, our weapons as Westerners are not just warships and artillery, but also our ideology. If we can use the weapon of ideology to subvert the Great Song and cause internal chaos, that would be the best for us, wouldn't it?"

Pausing for a moment, she continued, "However, this is the worst-case scenario. If there is even a glimmer of hope, we must try our best to improve our relationship with Great Song. Do not forget, our Weapon as Westerners is not just Warship and Artillery, but also our ideology. If we can use the weapon of ideology to subvert Great Song and cause internal chaos, that would be the best outcome for us, wouldn't it?"

At this moment, William thought of something and said, "I fear those bastards in the Tory Party won't easily agree to let us improve relations with the Great Song; they will surely accuse us of being weak."

"That is indeed a problem, and this is also what you will be busy with next. I believe you can make them shut up," Ashley frowned.

"Yes, Your Majesty," William replied. He had naturally brought this up to gain Ashley's support.

"Yes, Your Majesty." William responded; he naturally brought this matter up because he wanted to obtain Ashley's support.